Hurry Up and Wait! If Patience Is The Key, Then Time Is The Lock...

It's 3am and my wife hasn't made it to bed yet.  I worry she isn't getting enough sleep but I know she is able to rest when needed.  This deadline of March 15th is hanging over our head as we grow closer and closer to the birth of our first child.  It is amazing the way fear turns to excitement, excitement turns into doubt, doubt turns back into excitement.  It's exhausting...

Ever since the "We're Pregnant!" moment, I have dealt with many emotions.  The ability to calmly resolve issues with my wife has become my newest skill; one of which I will never forget.  Now, in these last few weeks, the feelings have turned into a grey, murky fog with this beacon of light in the distance.  We know that like everything else, things of most importance are worth waiting for.  We continue to hurry up and wait while baby Gus takes in his last days in the womb.

I suspect the day he arrives I will be unbelievably inebriated with love and happiness.   I will flurry about until I catch my breath while my angst grows wiry trying to learn quickly the in's and out's of parenthood/fatherhood.  I have heard the warnings and the expectations of others and waded through them fairly easily.  Loss of sleep and mountains of poopy diapers in the coming years are the least of my worries.  I worry about being a father.

I can only hope to challenge Gus and give him the tools to navigate this world in his life to come.  I am never one to worry about things but I do not want to miss the opportunity to do everything I can to make sure baby Gus is prepared for what lies ahead.  The friends that are for life, the friends that become enemies, the heartbreaks, the good times, the bad times.  Of course, these are all before he is 2 years old, right?!

So, we sit around the apartment, waiting for the day our lives to change forever.  Man.....I can't wait!

Nexus One: Day 14 - Andoird 2.1 & my Fav Apps

Here we are again.  Only this time, I am no longer overwhelmed by my thick thumbs and have conquered the touchy-feely HTC touchscreen.  I now utilize the haptic feedback for the keyboard and can navigate this device with my eyes closed. Well.....almost.

In this demo I take 4 examples of ways to help yourself with the Nexus One.  This is not without saying that this functionality is also found in other mobile devices (especially other Android-based phones) but I feel the Nexus One has made it usable and easy and HERE is proof.

Whether you have seen these options before or possibly never seen them, this demo can give you insight on how to make the Nexus One more useful for you.  Get rid of the TomTom and put away your foreign language pocket dictionaries.  This phone (on phones like it) may very well do both and it's all free.



Thanks for checking out the demo...!

Please Rob Me?! 8 Ways To Be More Responsible Online

What?  Really?  A site dedicated to informing the public of your adventures?  You can not just walk out of the house and take the same non-precautions your parents did.  C'mon people, this is the 10's....uh, ok.  ;)   I fall into the range of kids that our parents rarely locked the door so this could be a tough sell.

Being responsible online is a bigger issue than one may think. Sites like http://pleaserobme.com/ stand for awareness (more than information) about a growing issue with the unbeknownst user wanting to graffiti their new Buzz update on the latest diner.  Or becoming mayor of the local Waffle House on http://foursquare.com.  It is this carelessness that can get your house uncovered, smothered and robbed!

Being proactive about your location safety can come in many forms.  One of most important no-no's is a series of updates stating an upcoming vacation or long absence.  With the uprise of twitter and Buzz, we have become maddened by the clouding of the non-essential, blotter style news that we are drifting into a pirates haven.  Thieves can have a twitter account, right?!  @iWantToRobYou......suprisingly not taken!  Makes me feel a little warmer inside....

Here are a 8 safety topics I would recommend to learn more about.  Take a second, buckle your social seatbelt and stop punching away on your phone for one minute.  We really don't need to know every time you pass by the boutique or tech shop to tout your thin, online ego...

1. Privacy Settings - Find them quick.  From foursquare to twitter to Buzz to facebook, you have a ton of privacy concerns that have already been brought up by the above statements.  Trustworthy sites make it easy to protect yourself. Make yourself aware of the depth you would like to provide to the public, if any.  Once you begin looking around, you may be surprised to see how much is actually out there.
2. Mobile Settings - Yes, your phone has a GPS.  Yes, I see you on my Latitude.  Yes, I am now bored with your location.  All phones ask who you would like to see your location.  Spending time with this familiar feature can provide easy access to turning this ON and OFF quickly.  
3. Your Updates - My personal policy is to update statuses mentioning my attack birds frequently so a would be robber will be deterred from getting pooped on relentlessly by my birds.  They are well fed.  Otherwise, I stick to ambiguous comments about the locations I am at.  I have nothing worth stealing so most of my updates are open but the advantages to being open, as opposed to anonymous, are yet to show themselves.  Use your own common sense on this.  
4. Pictures - It's always best to post pictures of your vacation when you return.  This can be a heartfelt gesture to your family and friends but your social network can include many people who don't need to know you fell off your bike in Times Square and here's the picture to prove it!  Wait til you get home, organize them and then post!  At least mobile pictures can be ambiguous...use playful comments.  Post a picture of Burger King and say, "Man, I love this place!" Then post to facebook.  Don't say, "Man, I love this place....looks like imma stay here til dinner time.  (So you can rob me!)"  
5. Digitally Cleanse your following - facebook is safe(?).  Don't quote me but at least you can confirm friends.  Unlike facebook, twitter and Buzz can become a hassle trying to cleanse your followers by hitting 'unfollow, block, report' just so you feel better.  It's the comparison to barnacles on a boat.  Spam followers inflate your following but when real people come through and notice you are not tending your flock, you lose a little social capital.  Stay on top of your followers!  It's time to clean house! 
6. Easy Target Syndrome - Yes, you!  The guy in the red shirt who hasn't looked up at this thread one time.  You are so busy with all your friends business you are forgetting you need to take some time to protect yourself.  This point is really easy to explain.  BE CAREFUL!  The police will not respond to "@911 Help Me!"  Lock your doors.  Tell family, friends and neighbors when you may be out of town.  Have a safety net for times there may be problems.  Give your landlord notice, tell pops you will be gone and don't stay gone for extended periods and notify twitter of every move. Well, unless you have menacing attack birds ready to poop on anyone who enters your home!
7. Google Yourself - Nothing represents a good old fashion confidence boost like a Google search on yourself.  For the most part, you will likely find other people in the world that share your name and yes, they do exist.  Google is probably the most comprehensive search tool available.  However, using other sites can only improve your technique for finding out who is talking about you.
8. Google Alerts - If you are web conscious already you probably already use Google Reader or Google News Alerts to scan comprehensive results and spoon feed these reports to you at an alarming rate.  Setting up a Google Alert is easy and can immediately send you details of when your name is found on the web.  Don't be shy!  Try several types of searches.  For example, I use "lucaslshaffer", "Lucas L Shaffer", "Lucas Shaffer" and "Lucas Lamberto Shaffer".  If any of these terms cross the wire, Google alerts me and I can be there before anyone else.  Be Smart!  This is very useful on many levels...

Many of these are common sense but still reflect a big part of what you CAN and CANNOT control.  You pretty much have the power to handle your online visibility and it's 'your' responsibility to monitor your online social life just as it is to monitor your in-person social life (if you still have one, yikes!)

Nothing is more important than the safety of everyones family and friends.  Take the time to learn to protect yourself, as well!

Snow Day Getaway

It is rare we see the snow in the south and yet in less than 1 year we have seen an accumulation of the flaky stuff in our area. Seeing the south in the snow is a revealing glimpse of another world. A world in which the trees are different, the rooftops shine bright and you get the feeling as if this is the first time you have seen this place.

One of the many things I enjoy about vacation is the unfamiliarity of the areas I visit. It makes me feel like I have stepped outside my comfort zone and each place I visit is new to me.

I guess that's what snow does to me.   I feel like I am somewhere else and my world has changed into a dreamy wonderland right out of a holiday movie.

So, Cheers to snow! I imagine living with it everyday can make it more of a hindrance than a cognitive catalyst!  I was able to take a mini-vacation and never leave my home with all thanks to the snow!

Nexus One: Day One

I am glad to say I now own the nexus one.  I saw an interesting piece of data come across the twitter feeds that said that only 80k have been sold.  So, of course, this means that not many people have it.  I must admit, I know of no other in my circle of tech geek friends.  I feel priveldged to be at a point with T-Mobile service to add such a great mobile device to my arsenal.

Well, here it is.  My first person demo of the nexus one.  I had no idea I would spend over 5 minutes just walking through some of these 'simple' details.  I first check out the animated logo as the phone turns on and then dive right into the basic operations.

After a quick look around, I flip it sideways and enjoy the high quality screen on landscape and jump right in to a few Google staple applications including Gmail, Calendar and Goggles. Without further adieu...



I plan to do a more in depth look at the nexus one which will uncover some things you may not be aware of.  For example, I would like to profile some uses with the camera options (much like iPhone) and also the auto-connect to Picasa Web Albums.  Until then....

Getting 'Baby Ready'...

It's beginning to feel a lot like...a baby!  As we have been lavished by gifts and finding out entire life is being summarized by one event, I can get quite lost in the days to come.  We finally have our furniture up and ready.  We have our car seat.  We have a ton of diapers and we have no more patience!  Bring him on...

Here are some photos of Gus's room and a few necessary items to make life easier.  Most of what you see is ours because some of YOU helped!  We have a great support system with family and friends and we feel loved by everyone who has extended help or just flat out extended funds!  We love you and we are happy you are all in our lives!

Nexus One: The Arrival

Even as I sit here, I am thinking about the progress of phones and the ergonomic gadgets that I have used to enhance my life.  And yet, this is my first touchscreen mobile device.  So, if I sound incredibly in awe at times and mention something many are over already then just rejoice in my pilgrimage.

The nexus one was a bit of a mythic creature where the insides are working bits and pieces of a brand; a company of such importance in my life I had an immediate attachment to this out the box.  Needless to say the overnight shipping was a dramatic series of status updates and tweets to stir the excitement for myself, among others.  I refreshed the tracking screen on Fed Ex many times in an effort to electronically tap the driver on the shoulder and ask him to hurry.

AND it 'finally' arrived in less than 24 hours.....I am already impressed.  I was heading to lunch as I refreshed my Blackberry and saw the "delivered" status.  I got that feeling my my chest where I can't think about much more than, "What now?"  My wife signed for it as the driver awoke her from her slumber. (^.^) I took a short lunch and swung by the apartment and BAM....

There it sits on my dinner room table.  Oh yeah.  I know what a Lithium battery warning mean.  Not my first overnighted tech gadget.  It might as well say, "CAUTION:  Lucas will be angry if you open this before he gets to open it!"  At least that's what Whitney sees.

I snatched it up, threw it in my truck and rode back to work.  It's like carrying a ticking bomb, except you cant want for it to explode and all the shiny screen bits get thrown at you like rice at a wedding reception.

I made it back to work, grabbed up a friend, Scott (G1 Owner), and we opened it up!

First thing Scott said was, "It looks like cologne."  He's right.  It was two boxes; one for the nexus one and the other for a docking station.  Both of these boxes share the same design.  A great idea or at least I like the prestige of the originality of the packaging as a whole.  Clearly, white is the obvious dramatic effect that reflects the google.com white space we all see every day.  "nexus one" in lower caps on the front and each shade of the Blue, Green, Red and Yellow bottom edge of the boxes match the "Google" logo colors and it's sharp; quaint, but effective.

As you can see here.  Very cool.  And just as Scott said, it does kinda look and feel like cologne packaging.  But it's heavy and solid and looks great as a desk display.  (lol)

Wasting no time, I pulled the phone box open to get my hands on this device.  Beautiful....peaceful, ready.  I stumbled through the directions only to find that the battery is bone dry and it needs to be charged.  Ok, no problem.  I have it.  I OWN it.

SO, I looked at the exterior and checked out a few more features and put it in my hand. It has a good weight.  Much like the iPhone but a bit more solid(?).  The matte finish makes the reflection of the screen stand out a bit.  The controls on the very button are part of the screen and not actually buttons as I assumed from the pictures.  I am impressed.  I haven't even turned it on yet.  This is going to be good.

The track ball is standard.  Nothing impressive, my Blackberry has a trackball and I have mastered the little rolling decision maker.

One of the offers was to engrave the nexus one with a statement or phrase or signature to the back of the case.  I thought for a moment and then decided on 'lucaslshaffer'.  I have recently focused all of my energy into creating a persona around this formal name cluster that I thought it fitting to put just that on my phone as it will be the point at which the world will connect to me.  And thru lucaslshaffer is what most people who know me now will see on the screen.  So, here it is...

Alas, this is just the arrival.  I have already began to put together the next post including video using my Flip (Thanks Whit!)  As for the charging station, it was standard. It was high-gloss and allows the nexus one to stand up and face the user at a slant.  It also has an audio output.  The 3.5 mm jack converts in to component L/R RCA jacks and is ready to play music at a corresponding input.  I will include some other pictures on the bottom of this thread.  

More to come as I struggle to find time to keep this blog and do many of the other things that are necessary to keep my head above water.  And my wife happy!