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Sunday, November 29, 2009

Up and At'm Turkey Trot 5k

The whole family did this one! It was low 40s with a light breeze, and I'm pretty sure it was the exact same course as last year. Plenty of rolling hills, but no huge ones that really destroyed us. Being sick the past two weeks, my training regimen was negligible, but I just did my best to keep up with Lauren and Mom (even if it almost killed me!). We found out later that mom actually won her age group! Woohoo!

It took us about 30 seconds to reach the start line, so I adjusted all the times accordingly.

30:57

Mom - 30:41
Lauren - 30:46
Dad - 37:36

Thursday, November 19, 2009








Sender: Fishel Sender: Fishel
This one was made of wood!









Sender: Fishel Sender: Fishel









Sender: Corey Sender: Corey









Sender: Mom and Dad Sender: Mom and Dad









Sender: Matt and Lynn Sender: Matt and Lynn


Wednesday, November 11, 2009

My Motorolla Droid!

As I was one of those folks anxious to get an Android phone as soon as I could swing it on Verizon, I thought I would do a little post about how it has been working out for me. So here it is, my new phone!
One key thing I've enjoyed is the ability to get a widget for putting my calendar events on my home screen. I never found a good way to do this and it was one of the most useful features for me on phones I've had in the past. I have been using the Blackberry Storm, which hasn't gotten very good reviews, but I have definitely gotten used to. I did a mobile programming course over the summer where we programmed exclusively for Android so I was excited about the possibility of having a phone that I could write applications for. Anyhoo, more about the Droid. One of they key selling points for me was the fact that it was almost the same dimensions as my Storm, yet had a slide-out keyboard.

Having to use a software keyboard was one of my biggest gripes with the Storm. Even with its tactile feedback, I really liked the feel of an actual keyboard. So combine that with a similar size and I was pretty stoked! One thing I don't understand about this design of this phone is its "underbite." See any similarities?
I don't really understand the need for the lip when they could have just made the screen a little larger or reduce the keyboard a little (I mean, do I really need a control pad?) Anyway, that is pretty minor, but still a little odd. Another design issue is the inclination of the phone to go from

to
without much effort at all. I've not had it a week and the back has come off as I pull it out of my pocket at least 3 times. Again, it's minor, but still worth mentioning. As I mentioned previously, this isn't my first experience with Android and they seem to be continually improving it. Currently my favorite feature is having 3 "home" screens to make my common things more accessible.
Pretty snazzy! Thus far it has been very responsive and everything seems to be working great. I'm not sure if it is possible, but I haven't found a way to set a sound for individual txt messages (I can only change people's ringtones), but otherwise I'm extremely satisfied. Everything works well and sync's with Google pretty easily. I've heard that Verizon is kinda being an ass about nickel-and-diming people for little things (now a tethering charge is 30 dollars a month? Screw you Verizon), but it is still nice to have a really good smartphone with Verizon's network coverage. Oh, and here is another little video clip of the dock for applications (for those less familiar with Android). Pretty simple and clean.
I may have more to come, but there are my initial impressions!