I just completed my first half-marathon and I must admit it was much easier than I thought it would be. I am not a die-hard runner, I don’t count my calories and carbs every day, but I did make an effort to perform some easy steps to help me go from couch to half-marathon in a matter of months.  I have had several people ask me about the methods I used to prepare for my run so I thought I would share those here. I am not a doctor, nor a professional runner, so keep that in mind when you read the following. 

1. Get your doctor’s approval before you start exerting yourself too much. He will listen to your heart and possibly put you on a treadmill if he feels it is necessary.
2. You need a realistic goal. I suggest you find a local 5K and make that you first run. Do the math and figure out how much distance you need to add each month to reach that goal.
3. When I started running, people told me to be nice to my feet. After a year of “serious” running, I prefer to say be nice to your KNEES. Chances are you have owned athletic shoes with thick padding which is even thicker at the heel. You know the shoes I am talking about – they look like spaceships from Star Wars. I suggest you buy some low heel shoes and learn to run in these. These shoes actually flatten your feet when you run instead of striking heel first. This may sound counter intuitive, but it’s better in the long run because it puts less impact on your knee. You will need to train yourself to run like this though. Focus on hitting with the mid part of your foot and taking shorter strides if necessary. If you’ve been running in thicker heeled shoes, you will want to wean yourself off these with your new shoes. Now the thought of running 13.1 miles with my heel first sounds painful. The shoes I bought were called the Adidas Marathon 10. There are many other options available.
4. To stretch or not to stretch? Personally, I stretch very little before a run. I found that stretching actually fatigued my muscles making the run more difficult. Instead, I prefer a brisk walk before and after the run. This is not a sprint so your muscles are going to naturally loosen up a few minutes into the run.
5. Consistency is key. Depending on your goals you will want to run at least once per week. If you run less often, you won’t make much progress and runs won’t get easier. Even if you cannot get outside to run, then you should find yourself on a treadmill or elliptical. Don’t worry about the distance that is indicated on the machine, you need to exercise for the same duration as you would if you were running outside. So, if you have been running 30 minutes outside, then you need to spend 30 minutes on the treadmill. You should not run more than three times per week so your body has time to recover.
6. Cross training will lead to better running and fewer injuries. Cross training is simply doing another type of exercise with your legs instead of running all the time. This could be an elliptical or orbital or weight training.
7. There is nothing wrong with walking. In the beginning shoot for increasing your time on the track instead of speed. Start your run, if you get tired then walk, but DON’T STOP!! When you regain your breath run again. Eventually, this 30 minutes of run/walking will be heavily weighted on running with less walking. As a result, your distance will increase.
8. You will have good days and bad days. Don’t get upset when the exact same run is harder than it was the last time.
9. When you get into a rhythm, alternate short runs with long runs. For example, have short runs on Tuesday and Thursday, with a longer run on Sunday. Your longer runs need to get longer every couple of weeks to reach your distance goals.
10. Eat and drink well. Don’t have a burrito and diet Coke the day you run. You should be drinking constant amounts of water to keep your muscles hydrated well before your runs starts. If you start drinking one hour before run time, you’re doing it wrong. In my experience I have found that the days I don’t hydrate well are the days I have more difficult runs.
11. I take vitamins but your opinion may vary. I take a good multi vitamin, E&D for my skin, a B complex for energy, and fish oil for my Omegas. Some people say that fish oil helps lubricate your joints. Like I said before, be nice to your knees.
12. Find a partner and make a schedule. If you can find someone with your same skill level, then the runs will become much more enjoyable.
13. Keep positive.  If you are dwelling on negative thoughts then your performance will be impacted by the negative stress. On run day, do your best to avoid negative people and make a point to stay positive.  Conversely, I have also found that a run is a good way to clear my mind.
14. Remember you’re not training for a RACE you are in a RUN. The only person you need to impress is yourself.

After a year of “serious” running, I prefer to say be nice to your KNEES

Benefits of running:

You often hear about  the typical benefits of running like weight loss, better heart health, etc…  Admittedly, I don’t struggle with weight so these were of little concern to me.  However, one benefit I have noticed is the desire to eat better.  I spend all this time bettering my health by running, the last thing I want to do is un-do something positive by cramming a package of Twinkies down my throat. I also discovered that my back feels better and I sleep better at night. Regardless of your goals, I suggest you check with your doctor and start running.  You will never reach that 5k or marathon if that bag of Doritos is keeping you pined to the couch.

So here are some questions to the bloggers who are serious about monetization:

1. What other services, besides Google Adsense, do you use?
2. What plugin do you use to manage your ads?
3. Do you use any affiliate programs that do not require daily interaction?
4. What other recommendations do you have for monetization?

While you’re here, feel free to click on an ad. 

Windows Phone is the best mobile operating system available today. I have a Samsung Focus (running the Windows Phone Mango beta), an iPad, and the HP TouchPad. I have carried Androids, iPhones, and Blackberries and the Windows Phone is my system of choice.

I’m not talking about the old-school Windows Mobile 6.x phones that grew into a fragmented mess.  I’m talking about the written from scratch Windows Phone 7 that was released in 2010. Even with a horrible marketing effort from Microsoft, people who use it start to understand that its usefulness comes from its integration and simplicity. Just ask Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert. Or check out this article from Ziff-Davis last week on the stability of Windows Phone.

Step out of the Reality Distortion Field and you will realize that “other” companies create quality products. In fact, Windows Phone is the best thing to come out of Microsoft in years. (Although some would argue for Kinect.) The ease of use combined with stability and rich feature set makes for a truly remarkable product. I’m running on a Focus (which is a somewhat older WP device) and it is the smoothest, most responsive system I have.  I like my tablets but the Windows Phone operating system is smoother, more responsive, and less quirky. There won’t be a “Windows Phone Tablet” because Windows 8 (yes, the desktop version of Windows) will run on mobile platforms including phones and tablets.  It’s a shame there won’t be a WP Tablet because the hub concept would work perfectly on this form factor.  I’m sure there is a WP Tablet somewhere in a Microsoft lab, but it will never see the light of day.

By the way, after I posted my list of HP TouchPad annoyances, HP stated they were reevaluating their tablet strategy. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen this time!

As great as Windows Phone may be, it is still a relatively new system and there is obvious room for improvement. Here are my top annoyances of Mango:

1. Customization is lacking. Yes, I know this goes against the Windows Phone simple is better theme, but I saw a silly app called “Phone 8” that showed how basic customization could be performed without taking away from the live tile experience. The app demonstrates concept themes that vary the level of opacity of the tiles and allows a background image to be visible.
2. What in the heck is Tap-by-Turn navigation? Yes, I know that turn-by-turn is available through various third-party apps. I’ve also heard the speculation that Microsoft could not include turn-by-turn due to some licensing restriction with NavTeq, but this needs to get worked out. Tap-by-turn may work technically but it is a horrible compromise.
3. Where is the “Find on page” option in IE9? It was there in the original version of Windows Phone with IE8 so why is it missing now?
4. Limited multitasking has been a part of Windows Phone from the beginning.  It was ‘limited’ since it only allowed for managed apps to run simultaneously. You could easily listen to music with the built-in Zune media player, take a phone call and browse the web. However, if you wanted to listen to music with another app, like Last.FM, your music would stop as soon as you navigated away from the app. With the Mango build Microsoft has created a cool new hybrid technique that sits between full-blown multitasking (like WebOS) and a most recently used list (like iOS). This has promise as a multitasking system that doesn’t kill your battery. My issue is with the user interface implementation. To switch between tasks you are presented with a card-like interface that is similar to WebOS users. In Mango, when you hold down the back key you will see the five most recent applications. However, there is no easy way to close the app from this card view or change the number of items in the list. This really seems half-baked.
5. Why why why is there no way to take a screenshot? I would love to show you the multitasking card view, but I cannot grab a screen capture. I heard someone speculate that this is to protect potential copyright violations. Whatever! Every other OS in the world (including Windows) has this ability.
6. No Citrix client. This might not mean much to you, but in a corporate environment this could be a huge deal and prevent Windows Phone from being adopted as a standard. The Citrix guys blame Microsoft for not giving them the proper hardware level access in the API. We’ll see if that changes now that the Mango API has just been released.
7. No Cisco-EAP WiFi client. File this under “special corporate uses”, but this one is biting me since we use CEAP as our WiFi authentication method at work.
8. No Cisco AnyConnect client. Not having CEAP wouldn’t be that big of a deal if I could simply VPN/SSL in. However, that’s not an option either.
9. Some major apps are still not available. There are over 30,000 apps in the catalog. That is a huge milestone that was reached very quickly. This is even more remarkable when you consider that most of these are high-quality apps. There is definitely a limit on the number of fart apps. So what’s missing? For me, I am looking for UrbanSpoon and the Starbucks pay app. I find it ridiculous that the UrbanSpoon app is missing.
10. There are no folders. Since there are so many apps, why is there no way to organize these on the phone?  You can pin your favorites to the home screen but there is no concept of folders (The same feature is lacking on HP’s WebOS and the first few generations of Apple’s iOS).  The compensating factor is the ability to search for an app, but I would still like to see some type of multilevel organization structure in the app list.
11. You cannot search the full index of the phone.  You can search for apps.  You can search for emails in the email client. You can search for contacts in People Hub. You cannot search in one place and return all results on the phone like you can using the “Just Type” feature in WebOS.  This is a “Bing Phone” so you would think this would be possible.
12. Cloudy cloud story.   What is the ultimate cloud strategy for this platform? From day 1 of Windows Phone, you could login to www.windowsphone.com and find or lock your lost phone.  You could also log into SkyDrive and see your photos.  But does everyone know that?  There is little evidence of this on the phone or on the Zune software.  Why isn’t Zune cloud enabled?  I would love to see my phone synced with Zune through the SkyDrive cloud. Or take it further, why do I need Zune?  Why can’t I have a folder on my desktop that syncs with Phone via the cloud?
13. FlickR integration should be part of Windows Phone like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. I would like to browse the pictures hub and see FlickR albums listed as well.
14. Custom ringtones are a pain without a 3rd party app.  In traditional Microsoft style, they provided the guts and are waiting for a partner to build a usable implementation.  As it stands today, without an app, you can create a Windows Phone ringtone by setting the genre to “ringtone” using the Zune desktop software. This is a pain.
15. ActiveSync needs a private app store. Yes, as a corporate user I would love to have a private market place.  I think the natural place for this is on our ActiveSync server.
16. Why can’t I run Windows Phone apps in Windows? OK, this really isn’t a Windows Phone annoyance, but it is still annoying.  If WP apps are written in Silver Light, why can’t I run the apps as a gadget in Windows 7?  This would be huge and open up new doors for new types of apps and attract thousands of new app developers. Update:  This will now be possible in Windows 8.

Before I even used this tablet, I really liked idea of this device for several reasons:

• full multitasking (yes, REAL multitasking in a mobile architecture)
• inductive charging
• it’s not tied to any desktop software like iTunes
• it also includes Flash in the browser, but that is becoming less and less important as websites begin to convert to HTML5.

To level set, I have an iPad (1st Gen with the latest iOS) and a Windows Phone 7 (running the Mango beta) on a Samsung Focus. This note is not intended as an iPad Vs HP Touchpad vs Windows Phone showdown but undoubtedly there will be some comparisons made.

The HP TouchPad is nice, but…

Overall, the TouchPad is a REALLY GOOD entry to the tablet market.  I am really impressed when you consider that this tablet includes the first version of WebOS not running strictly on a phone (version 3.0.0). I keep hearing that an update is pending and some of my issues below will be addressed, but I haven’t seen anything yet. I would really like to see how the over-the-air update function performs.

After a week of use, I like this device.  Let me repeat that since I am about to list some annoyances:  I like the HP TouchPad.  However, it is obviously not a perfect device so here are the top items that I DO NOT LIKE:

1. HP made some questionable camera decisions. Where do I start with this annoyance? Let’s break this up into annoyance 1a and 1b.

1a. There is only a front camera. Why is there no rear facing camera? Don’t tell me “it doesn’t make sense” because HP included both cameras on their Slate 500. Even if HP decided it didn’t make sense, they should have included it anyway and let the developers and users decide how to utilize it.  I don’t expect people to walk around taking snapshots with a 10” tablet, but there are dozens of uses beyond snapshots.

• I can easily imagine a warehouse program that would use the camera to scan bar-codes. How can you take photos of large stock items with the screen facing away from you?
• Take Windows Phone’s Bing Vision as a great example why there needs to be a rear camera.  Bing Vision allows you to point the camera at a book cover and it will tell you all the details about the book and where to buy at the lowest price and download it from Kindle.
• Someone could also come up with a creative way to use both cameras as motion detecting security device.

If anything, you would think HP would want the feature just to say “me too” when compared to the iPad and the slew of Android devices.

1b. There is no camera app for the front facing app.  You read that correctly… In version 3.0.0 there is no way to take a photo with the TouchPad.

2. The browser is not good, bordering on bad. I’m not a fan of WebKit browsers in general, but this one is barely functional in some instances.  Since there aren’t that many apps available yet, the browser needs to be excellent — it’s not even close. You know when you go to Starbucks and you have to agree to the terms to use their AT&T wifi? Well, that language is all stacked on top of other sections and it is difficult to actually click the acceptance box. Try browsing through photos on facebook — it is a challenge to read all the comments for each photo. Try adjusting the volume in a YouTube video. The browser also scores the lowest of any modern browser on the ACID3 test.

3. The organization of apps and icons in WebOS is confusing.  It comes preloaded with two categories: APPS and DOWNLOADS. I still don’t know what the difference is. Worse yet, I cannot create my own folders to organize apps the way I want. On my iPad I created folders called “Reading” “Kids Games” “Music & Movies” and so on.  I would like to replicate this behavior on the TouchPad. This seems so basic and logical, but it took several updates to iOS and lots of begging before Apple finally added it.

4. Lack of quality apps hurts big time since this is what makes a tablet actually useful. Where’s Urban Spoon?  Where’s Netflix streaming? Windows Phone is up to “only” 25,000 apps but they reached that level faster than any other platform and they did it without a lot of junk type apps. I’m not impressed with a high number like the Android and Apple app stores since so many of their apps are pure junk.  How many fart apps are there in the Android App Store?HP could take a lesson from how Microsoft is courting app developers.

5. This is the newest, yet least fluid of any of the devices I own. My phone running the Mango beta is the smoothest, followed by the iPad, followed by the HP. The HP sometimes stutters as you navigate and browse. I hear the first update will address this issue, we’ll see.

6. Button clicking doesn’t always work. When I try to tap an on-screen button I see the little animated ripple on screen, but it doesn’t always activate the control. After several attempts, it usually kicks in.  After some reading, this seems to be systemic problem in WebOS phones as well. This is really annoying and needs to be fixed.

7.  I’ve come to like the swiping and throwing motions that are built into WebOS but they are not obvious at first to a new user like myself. Since this is a TRUE multitasking environment on a large screen (not on a phone) you would expect to see a close option or an “X” on each app. As computer users, this “X” is baked into our being.  Closing an app with the TouchPad is a two-step action to hit the home button to get to the task list, and then you throw the app away. Alternatively, you can swipe from the edge to the center to get the task list. Regardless, both actions require two steps.  It’s not bad, just different.

8. I guess the only way to switch between browser instances is to go to the task list? I don’t see a “tab” option anywhere. Once you get to the task list, the instances are generally stacked.  I still haven’t figured out how to get to the middle of the stack without closing every instance on top of it. Implementing something like IE’s QuickTabs or OSX’s Expose would be really helpful here.

9. The hardware itself is OK, but doesn’t feel as solid as the iPad. In fact, I had to replace my first TouchPad due to a defective case. Whereas the iPad has an alloy back, the TouchPad has a plastic case.  I was told the plastic is required for the inductive charging (but I don’t know for sure). Which, by the way, the Touchstone charger is really cool!  You can charge it in either orientation but if it is placed horizontally, it must be centered or it won’t charge.

10.  The Exhibition app doesn’t seem complete. Maybe I don’t understand this app but it is basically a display app (think screensaver) that scrolls through photos, displays your agenda, an animated clock, or any other “exhibition” app that someone creates.  When you set your preferences, you must click “start” and as expected it takes over your screen.  The problem is that if you select “clock” and “photos” it doesn’t rotate through these items as you would expect.  You must select a drop down to switch the display element.  If I have to do this, then why do I have to go through a set up process?  Here are my suggestions to improve exhibition:

1. Obvisouly, it should rotate through the items you selected in the setup without on-screen interaction.

2. There should be an option to auto start when placed on a charger or Touchstone. (Update:  Exhibition does auto start when placed on the Touchstone.  I’m not sure why it wasn’t but now it is.)

3. It should remember which Touchstone you are using and let you set preferences for each.  For example, my Touchstone at work would display my agenda and clock.  When placed on my home Touchstone, it would display photos.

4. Integrate alarms into the clock.  I can imagine a Touchstone by my bed that would replace my real alarm clock.

11. I want to use Bing everywhere. It’s good that Bing is the default map provider (I didn’t even see Google listed as an option), but why isn’t Bing available as one of the built-in web search providers? This is really inconsistent and a little confusing. This really needs to be tightened up by the HP guys. Perhaps they should give the user an option of all Bing or all Google in the settings. I am on a Google-free diet right now and this experiment is difficult with the TouchPad.

12. Minor hardware design issues may be limiting later. For example, the volume control should be two buttons vs a single rocker switch.  There should also be a usb port on the long side of the device for horizontal docking.

13. Changing the wallpaper requires a series of crazy steps.  Before you can change the wallpaper you need to realize that it can only be done from the “Screen and Lock” app under settings. That’s fine, but you also need to know that the image must exist in the “Wallpapers” folder on the device.  Once you understand these two items you can then browse photos with the “photos” app and click the “+” icon to copy images to the correct location then go set it with your “screen and lock” apps.  If that sounds confusing, it is because it takes TWO APPS to change your wallpaper. It’s too bad that you simply cannot long-click on any photo (in the web, in facebook, in the photos app, etc)  and set as wallpaper.  The good news here is that the TouchPad has integration into other services like Facebook.  When you browse with the photo app, you can see your FB photos as well.  This is a good implementation and similar to the way Windows Phone does with Facebook, Flickr, etc…

14. The power button does NOT turn the device off with a long hold like every other device in the world.  Yes, this function is needed.  You iPad owners know that an occasional reboot is required. You also need this for air travel. How do you turn this off anyway?

15. Inserting the text cursor into a precise place in the middle of a word takes several tries of tapping in the approximate area.  With iOS and WP7, you long tap the text area and get a very maneuverable cursor to drop EXACTLY where you want.  With WebOS it is probably quicker to erase and retype the entire word vs trying to do single character edits like this.

16. Why oh why doesn’t tapping the space bar twice insert a period?  I thought this was standard on every device.

17. There doesn’t seem to be a web service that allows you to locate, lock, wipe, loud ring, or display a message on a lost device.  I think every platform (even BlackBerry finally) has this type of service.

… it’s one of the best places to live in the USA, but it’s nowhere near perfect.  Here is the list if items that I see DAILY that bug me that should be fixed.  What would you add to the list?

• Bury the stupid power/telephone lines!  I know this costs money, but this is the largest contributing factor to making Broken Arrow ugly.  We would have fewer power outages during ice storms and high winds. Isn’t a highly reliable power/communications infrastructure desirable for companies looking for a new city? During the Lynn Lane widening it was very frustrating to watch truck loads of new utility poles planted in the ground and power lines swung over from the old ones.
• Bring in nicer mid-tier restaurants.  BA is a beacon for all things fast and fried.  Have you noticed there seems to a McDonald’s every three miles?  Does a town of 100,000 people really need that many Big Macs?  There’s a new one opening near Broken Arrow High School on 61st Street at Lynn Lane. Thank you Louie’s, Hideaway Pizza, Los Cabos, Leon’s, Ted’s, and Thai Garden for investing here.
• Speaking of over saturation (there’s a double meaning there, do you get it?), why do we need a gas station on EVERY corner.  They are so common place, that it seems odd when there is a corner without a QuickTrip.
• Broken fences, blown over fences, discolored fences, mismatched fences, patched fences…  I guess when BA experienced such dramatic growth in the 1970s and 80s, the responsibility of maintaining privacy fences along main thoroughfares was placed on the homeowner.  The problem with this, 30 years later, is that every yard now has a different type or color fence  and at some different stage in its life-cycle. UGLY.  I like what some of the newer neighborhoods are doing now.  They require wooden privacy fences to have metal poles.  This will prevent the pole from rotting and cracking which leads to leaning fences.  Also, many developers are integrating more masonry into their fences designs. Most importantly, some developers are placing the responsibility of fence maintenance on the association and not the individual home owners.
• Clean the thoroughfares.  Yes, this takes money and lots of it, but the Lynn Lane corridor between 71st and 101st is a mess.  The same thing can be said about 71st between Lynn Lane and Elm.
• Build better homes.  Who thought it would be a good idea to let Simmons Homes build some cheaply made homes on a prime piece of golf real estate?  These homes have only been standing for a few years and they already need painting.  This does nothing to increase the surrounding property values — in fact, it makes the nearby land less valuable.  Check out the questionable homes in question. I saw this weekend that Simmons is at again in Arlington Court (across fromFloral Haven).  These homes are cheap and odd.  How odd?  Very odd. Drive by and look what they are doing to this nice gated neighborhood. If you figure out what side of the house is the front, let me know.
• Fix the blight!  BA is trying to grow downtown and they are doing a good job.  It’s too bad all the Main Street feeders are lined with dilapidated shacks.  Condemn these homes, push them over and re-develop.  Typically, I am in favor of saving old structures, but these homes offer no historic or architectural value.
• Fix zoning.  Why is one of the prime areas of town (Lynn Lane between 71st and 91st) a heavy industrial area?  I guess it’s not 100% industrial since there are homes and apartments sprinkled throughout.  Yes, that was sarcasm.
• Raze Kirkland field.  Enough said…
• Who is the primary land planner/architect for Broken Arrow High School?  The chain link fence around the football stadium really highlights the steel beams under the bleachers.  Nice touch! (More sarcasm) Did the architect ever see Lewis Stadium at OSU or Skelly Stadium at TU? Both of these were called Rustoleum Stadium by their own fan bases. How long until the new stadium looks like Kirkland? What’s up with that steel building just south of the stadium?  Did they throw a dart and say “let’s put the building here so it will be difficult to build an athletic building near the end zone.” ???   The school should build facilities the Broken Arrow High School band can be proud of!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwYrPhLBvz8[/youtube]

Raymond has an MBA and is seeking employment as a Financial Analyst, Budget Analyst, Investor Relations Analyst or anything financial related.  Raymond’s geographic preferences are Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Stillwater, or any nearby city.  However, we will relocate as needed to Dallas/Ft. Worth, Kansas City, or other area.

• AdSense Manager – This plugin allows you place Google AdSense ads on your blog.  Using this plugin, I place one banner ad at the bottom of the page and as a widget on the right side.
• Akismet – REQUIRED plugin to kill spam.  Keep it updated and it will do an excellent job for you.
• Bookmarkify – This plugin places a footer on each article which allows you to share the post through email, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, StumbleUpon, and many many many other services.   There are other plugins which accomplish the same thing, but this is the one I started with and am familiar with.
• Enhanced WP-ContactForm – Allows you to create a CONTACT page with enhanced features referrers, spam protection, and allows the commenter to cc himself.
• Google XML Sitemaps– REQUIRED if you want search engines like Google, Bing, & Yahoo to index your site.  The sitemap is created automatically and is updated each time you create a new post. When the  sitemap is updated, the major search engines are notified automatically.  Very useful and efficient.
• IE6 No More – This is for the IT geek in me.  I’ve noticed on my blog and my wife’s photo site that there are still many people using Internet Explorer 6.  Do you realize IE6 was released in 2001?!? Many of the malicious attacks which are around today were not even conceivable when IE6 was developed. As a result IE6 is considered security Swiss cheese. Microsoft finally took the browser seriously in subsequent releases.This plugin places a banner at the top of each page for all IE6 users suggesting they upgrade to IE8 or another modern browser. I modified the plugin slightly for my use.
• Kontera ContentLink– The purpose of my blog is not to make money. However, I do have this plugin enabled to create paid links based on certain content.  I haven’t gotten a check yet.
• NextGEN Gallery– A REQUIRED plugin if you want to included photo galleries in your WordPress blogs.  Once you figure out the basics, this is extremely useful. This plugin is updated often.
• Official StatCounter Plugin– I use statcounter.com to track usage on all my sites.  This plugin automates the task of placing the invisible StatCounter code in your blog entries.
• Subscribe to Comments - This handy plugin allows your readers to subscribe to comments on your various posts.  I just added this one this week – I wish I would have thought to add it before.
• Random Image- While not a plugin, I use this script to rotate my header image.  With each new page load, this script displays a random image.

By the way, does anyone know what kind of tree this is?

Your vs You’re:

This is a personal pet peeve. A coworker had an email tag-line that stated: “Sometimes your the bug, sometimes your the windshield.” I wanted to tell him he was embarrassing himself with every email he sent, but he eventually selected a new tag-line. “You’re” is simply a contraction of “You Are.” Use “Your” to show possession.
• What is your problem?
• You’re it!

To vs Too vs Two:

Two is a number, Too means also or excessively, and To generally describes the receiver of an action
• Take this to Bob.
• I want to work. (In this case, to is used with a verb)
• I like pizza too (meaning also)
• I like pizza too much (excessively)
• I have two arms.

Lose vs Loose:

• Lose is the opposite of win.
• Loose is the opposite of tight.

A lot vs Alot:

• Alot is not a word!

Compliment vs Complement:

Compliment means to flatter someone. Complement means to accompany or complete.
• I compliment you on your work!
• Your blue tie complements your blue suede shoes.

Regardless vs Irregardless:

• Irregardless is not a word! Use regardless.

Whether vs Weather:

Whether means “this or that.”  Weather is the climate.
• Whether you select option one or two, you’re a winner!
• The weather outside is frightful.

Sight vs Site:

Sight is vision. Site is a place.
• You’re a sight for sore eyes
• This is my website

Its vs It’s:

This one is understandably confusing since it breaks the apostrophe rule for possession. “It’s” is simply a contraction of “it is” or “it has.”  To show possession, use “its.” A good test of this is to substitute the word “his” in place of “its.”  If it makes sense, then use “its” if it doesn’t make sense, use “it’s.”
• It’s my turn. (It is my turn.) (Test: HIS my turn?!??!)
• It’s cold outside. (It is cold outside.)
• The Hummer is known for its fuel consumption.  (Test: The Hummer is known for HIS fuel consumption.)

Waste vs Waist:

Waste means trash or to wrongly use. Waist is a body part.
• Don’t waste your money!
• She has a tiny waist.

Blessed vs Blest:

Someone help me out here. Can “Blessed” be used in place in “Blest” these days? I always thought this was the proper usage:
• Blessed are the meek – as in “Bless-UD”
• We are very blest

Peaked vs Peeked vs Piqued (added 1/5/10):

You might think that something peaks your interest because the word “peak” refers to the high point.  However, the correct word is “pique.”  This is a French word that translates to stimulate or anger. Here are the proper uses of these words:

• The lecture piqued my interest.
• The mountain peak was in sight.
• The dog peeked around the corner.
• The dog peeked at the mountain peak and his curiosity was piqued!

You and I vs You and Me (added 6/13/11):

I’ve been asked about this one several times so I decided to go back and add it to the list.   The easy way to fgure this one out is to remove the “You and” part and see if “I” or “me” makes sense.  For example:

• It’s up to you and ME to decide.  In this case, remove the part about you and say “It’s up to ME to decide.”  ”It’s up to I to decide” makes no sense.
• You and I should go to Starbucks. Again, remove the part about you and test this phrase by saying “I should go to Starbucks.”  Only a caveman would say “Me should go to Starbucks.”

Seen vs Saw (added 6/13/11):

No one has asked about this, but I have heard it incorrectly used several times recently.  Only use “seen” when there is a “have” preceding it.

• I seen a green car today. WRONG WRONG WRONG
• I saw a green car today.  RIGHT RIGHT RIGHT
• I have saw a green car today.  WRONG WRONG WRONG
• I have seen a green car today.  RIGHT RIGHT RIGHT
• You can also replace “I have” with “I’ve” and still be correct.  ”I’ve seen a green car today.”

Can anyone help me out? Who is this Mr. Roboto?

Domo Arigato. 

Charleston Vacation Gallery #2

Charleston Vacation Gallery #3

Anyway…. Volvo decided to put us in a book and an online video. Here is the online portion:

http://www.volvocars.com/us/footer/about/VolvoSavedMyLifeClub/Pages/default.aspx

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Just when you think the Mike Gundy parodies are dead, one more pops up. Since this is my church and my coach, I find it hilarious. Enjoy & Go Pokes!

[flv]http://www.theassembly.org/Coach.flv[/flv]

We’ve only had this dog two weeks and I’m not sure Riley (that’s her name) is up to the coyote challenge. This may be the nicest, most attention starved dog ever.  As Jerry Seinfeld would say, she is a “close-talker” – she definitely gets in your personal space.  If you sit on the floor, she will trot up to you and put her head into your chest. If you go to the restroom, she’ll follow you.  In the short time we’ve had her, she has come out of her shell little-by-little. Hopefully in another few weeks her true personality will eventually appear and she will be a little more outgoing. However, I have a feeling that Riley may be just another family member and not the coyote chaser we had hoped. She’s even scared of the cat. 

She is a very good dog. She lets the boys pull and tug on her. She barks (sometimes) when it’s time “to go.” She sleeps in her crate all night without making a peep. She loves to run! Here is a video of her running “zoomies” the first day at our house. (BTW, we’re not white-trash, those dilapidated barns in the video were on our property when we bought it.)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVi3cuQFtyg[/youtube]     

We named her Riley after Andrea Riley the sophomore point guard for Oklahoma State University’s women’s basketball team. Both Rileys are a little undersized, but lightening quick.  Our Riley’s full name is Riley McRib (because we ate at McDonald’s on the night we picked her up), but we also considered Riley Coyote and Riley Cyrus.  If she was a male, we would have named her Bullet — you OSU fans know why.

Here are some photos of Riley

I can’t say that I enjoyed my time in real estate, but I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy it either – I simply didn’t do it long enough to form an opinion.  I did learn a few things to help people though. Here are some chunks of real estate knowledge you should know. Keep in mind that these are not set in stone rules, but general guidelines which you should use according to your comfort level. I’m not a lawyer, just some guy who let his real estate license expire.

• In Oklahoma, Realtor Associates are independent contractors — they are not agents. Even though state law requires a broker to hold an associate’s license, they actually work for themselves. So, don’t let one tell you their commission is fixed. Yes, it’s true that some Realtors are bound by their brokers, but most have the capability to lower their commission by a certain percentage. In fact, most Realtors will tell you their commission is 7% but they will lower it to 6%. Ask for 5% or 5.5% and see what happens.

• It’s true that the Realtor who lists your house has to split the commission with the Realtor who brings the buyer. During your listing meeting, it is perfectly acceptable to negotiate a variable rate commission. That means that you will pay the 6% (or whatever) if the Realtors split it, but you will pay a lower rate if your listing Realtor also brings the buyer.

• Don’t let your Realtor persuade you into accepting an offer if you’re not comfortable with it. Consider this example: Your bottom line is $110,000, but your Realtor is pushing a $105,000 offer. If you pay 6%, then the difference you pay in commission is only $300. This is negligible amount and the Realtor won’t want to do the extra paperwork or risk losing the deal for a measly $300 which has to be split anyway. However, this “negligible” amount to the Realtor would net you $4,700 dollars in your pocket.

• Consider selling your house yourself. Set a time limit that you will try to sell it, then if you’re not having much luck, call a Realtor. A good closing company can actually guide you through the process and let you know what to do every step of the way. You shouldn’t have to pay anything additional, but standard closing fees will still apply.  You can’t simply stick a sign in your yard and pray that it sells.  You must market your home inside and out.

  • Clean your house, de-clutter it, mow, paint, do whatever it takes to give it curb appeal and make it homey. It’s a good idea to invite a neutral advisor to walk through your home and point out the good and the bad. Don’t take the comments personally, they’re there to help. There are people who stage homes for a living. Check out http://www.simplystagedhomes.comfor one local professional stager.

  • Create an attractive flier and place copies in a flier tube in your yard. Create a website. List your home on www.craigslist.org every week and link to your website.  Consider fee based services like Yahoo Real Estate.

  • By the way, it’s not a good idea to show your house alone. Hide your medications and anything valuable.

• Finally, if you decide you want to use a Realtor, I recommend my aunt who got me into this business. Gloria Allred has been a Realtor in the Tulsa area for over 35 years. She has seen it all. She is a broker for Coldwell Banker and manages their South-Tulsa office. Give her a call at 918-521-3440 or email her at allredg@cbtulsa.com.

After a grueling last leg through Oklahoma City & Moore, we finally arrived in Norman. My urge to urinate was growing as fast as OU’s score in the first quarter. We drove around for another seemingly 60 minutes (although it was only 10-15) until we found a place to park. Thankfully, we were able to sneak into a donor spot near Memorial Stadium. At this point, my bladder had grown to the size of Pistol Pete’s head. I felt I was going to suffer the same fate as Tycho Brahe (look that one up).

After a brisk painful walk, we made it to the stadium gates. As we weaved and coughed our way through what seemed like a Marlborough convention, I saw the “Men’s Restroom” sign shining like a beacon in a sea of crisp crimson caps.  I made it to the restroom, stood in a short line, and began to take one of the longest pees of my life. Do you remember that scene from Austin Powers after he wakes up from his cryogenic state? That was me, but I had clothes on and I am less hairy.

As my body was returning to normal, I heard a couple of guys commenting behind me on how long I was standing there. I acted like I didn’t hear anything and just focused on the empty bottle of Jack Daniels that someone left on the urinal. Keep in mind, I had the only orange on in a restroom full of Sooner fans. I was not about to talk back with my pants unzipped. After a few seconds, my left leg collapsed — someone knocked my locked knee loose and I nearly peed on myself. DID THAT REALLY JUST HAPPEN?!? I cut my stream off and turned around to see the guy behind me to the left staring above me at the cinder block wall on which the urinals hung. He had that look on his face like you did in middle school when you would tap someone on the shoulder and pretend it wasn’t you. However, this wasn’t a middle-school aged boy, this was a thirty-something year old man. On top of that, this wasn’t even your typical redneck OU fan that enjoys noodling for catfish or blowing up frogs while everyone else is at their day job. This was a clean cut person who probably did some type of professional work for a living. Still in shock that he would do that, I asked him “WHAT ARE YOU DOING” in a loud voice.  His face turned as red has his hat, but he kept staring ignorantly at the wall – but everyone else looked at me. (Yes, I zipped up by now.) I took a step closer and asked him again. Still no response.  I knocked his hat loose and he finally acknowledged I was there. The rest of the conversation is a blur because I was so dumbfounded that someone would actually do this to a complete stranger while taking a leak.  He eventually apologized. I looked up and saw 100 Sooner fans with dropped jaws. I accepted his apology and left.  The most disappointing thing about the whole ordeal was that I didn’t get to finish peeing.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK0-IHT56pA[/youtube]

However… I never imagined I would buy a Zune. According to the Apple commercials, Apple is the only cool company around. To buy MS would make me look like “PC Guy.” I like my iPod. Aside from some battery issues, it’s been a good device and is very easy to use. My problem with ipod has been with itunes. I don’t like itunes. It looks like a software relic and has been patched and glued together more times than a downtown Tulsa road. So, I bucked the trend and purchased a 2nd gen Zune for my wife for Valentine’s day. It’s an 8 GB flash model, and of course, pink. She loves this device and the Zune software. I have to admit I am very pleased with this purchase. I tried the original Zunes and was not impressed. It’s amazing how much progress they made from Gen 1 to Gen 2. (If you read the tech magazines, it’s not even the same device. Gen 1 was a rebranded Toshiba.) What is it that I like so much?

• The screen is very bright and clear. Even on the small flash-based device.
• Video playback is cool. If the video is widescreen, it will rotate the screen and the controls. So, if you need to increase the volume, then you don’t need to think about which way is really “up.”
• Sound quality is much better than my ipod with the same headphones. I don’t have the newest ipod, so sound quality may have improved with a newer codec.
• It plays all my WMA and WMV files without converting!! This is a huge pain in itunes.
• The Zune has an FM radio with a RDS. The radio is as clear as my car radio.
• Wireless sync. We were able to sync media content over our wireless network. (we may turn this off, I bet it kills the battery)
• The Zune software is a pleasure. Setup took a long time on her old PC, but it is very simple to use. Just drag the videos/songs/photos/etc… to the Zune icon and it syncs. There is no “undocking” or “ejecting” the device. You simply unplug it. All content is very organized. The photo content is especially attractive.
• The onscreen menu of the device is easy to use and intuitive. For example, it is simple to set a photo as your background because the control is where you think it would be and not buried under 24 layers of sub menus.

• The features are all controlled via flash updates. The device had Zune 2.0 software, but on the first sync it upgraded to 2.3 automatically. A Zune software upgrade is due soon which will include games. Check out this video of a game on a Zune: http://www.istartedsomething.com/20080221/video-xna-game-running-zune/
• If I ever upgrade my Media Center to Vista, then all my Media Center content will auto sync. This is really cool since I use Media Center as my only DVR. I’ll be able to watch recorded TV on the Zune.

What don’t I like about the Zune?? Not much – it works like you think it should.

• One thing that stood out was that the control wheel is different. With my ipod, you scroll in a circle. With Zune, you scroll up and down.
• Also, the included earbuds do not have great bass response and are too big for my wife’s ears.
• I don’t understand the integration between WMP11 and Zune.  Do my tag edits in WMP11 effect the Zune library?  WMP12 and Zune need to merge for simplicity 
• Since the laptop that runs the Zune software is old, we don’t get all the flashy animation.

Does this now make me a Microsoft homer? Not even close. I have yet to drop the cash to upgrade my Media Center to Vista. (Not that I think Vista is bad, but I don’t see a reason to upgrade.) However, I am no longer convinced that a single manufacturer makes the best media player now.

BTW, I also considered Sansa and Creative Zens. I liked these, but I liked the little Zune better and honestly I am concerned about the future of Creative.