So I’ve had the iPhone for just over a week now (yes, I waited for v2) and I can honestly say it may become one of the top 10 products I’ve ever owned. Sure there are issues, like the abismal battery life in 3g mode, and the lack of copy & paste, but those two are minor, since I find I rarely need c/p and most of the time I just keep 3g off and use wifi. Most of the issues tend to be carrier related BS like no tethering. The exchange setup was brilliant, visual voice mail is a godsend, full safari browsing is glorious (flash will come I’m sure). Google maps with GPS saves me hundreds or thousands on a car GPS. Apps are a lifesaver for all kinds is things, but especially games for my boy. And the overall UI and industrial design is lickable. Well done, Steve. Well done.
Congratulations to my brother Roy Malone and his team “Team Bones” in their outstanding 3rd place finish in the 500 mile Eco Primal Quest 2008 Montana, perhaps one of the most grueling races on earth. If you haven’t seen or heard of an expedition length adventure race, it is a multi-discipline, co-ed, 4-person, non-stop, brutal 10 day race with navigating over, under, between and through every kind of terrain, water, sky you can imagine. These guys barely stop to rest and eat. Roy is the captain and a long-time racer. I’ll be curios to find out if this was more or less painful than the Utah Primal Quest of 2007, which I believe was one of his hardest.
At about 50 second in, you see Roy putting down some Top Ramen. And that might be his foot getting the ol’ tape job a few seconds before that.
Nothing like impacting a person’s wallet to drive change in the consumption of worlds resources and the degradation of the environment. Not that I don’t care about the wellness of the earth on a moral, or some other ground… but this will certainly help. So, though I would buy a Prius or some other evo-conscious vehicle , I have to think the resources consumed and waste produced by a new car created is greater than sticking with my old F150. It’d be interesting to do the math so I can feel better about my decision when I get that look from Prius drivers. But by some means, reducing my fuel consumption, I will reduce the monthly costs to my family budget, and thereby helping the environment. So, maybe it’s time to ride the bike. I’m feeling better already.
I’m in California today so I decided to drive up to see my mom and sister who’re building an amazing house on the American River. They build homes on spec, and custom homes in the Sierra Nevada Foothills. On my way up I stopped at Raley’s for sandwiches for the crew (which today was just the two of them and their long-time friend and fellow contractor, Dan).
I often forget how amazing these two women are. My mom started building homes something like 28 years ago when she decided to jump-start a room addition to our little house in the Foothills. The general contractor couldn’t start immediately, so she asked what she could do to help, and he jokingly said she could tear down the stucco walls. She didn’t take it as a joke, and we all took a hammer to the walls. Soon enough, the contractor offered her a job fetching items for the job. But it didn’t take long before she had her own apron and hammer.
Like all of use, my sister swung a hammer during summers in high school, and during college. My brother got his general contractor license, but eventually went on to the lending business, and like I, now sits behind a desk and computer. During college, my sister got her license and partnered with my mom to build the Foothills’ finest homes.
I often wonder how many houses they’ve built over the years. I don’t think anyone ever kept track. Some day, I’d love to go photograph them all.
Some of the improvements our sister company ancestry.com has made over the last few months have been amazing. Hints on trees are much improved and the things they have in the hopper over there are getting pretty exciting. The numbers show (and below) - as millions of people create trees, dig for records and share their research with family and friends. Impressive work guys.
Fortune Magazine ratedBellevue, WA as the top place to live and launch a business in the US. While I’d still rate San Francisco at the top, we tend to agree with the overall sentiment.
