Blogging is sometimes, a lot like losing weight. You start out with the best of intentions. You have some early success. You stay consistent and disciplined. Then boom – you fall off the wagon. The fight to get back in the routine is tough.
That being said, I do have a good excuse. I have been crazy busy with my newest venture which will be announced shortly. As a part of this new launch, I will be announcing my first web based application. This is a big endeavor for me. I plan to begin releasing screenshots and information by the end of the month.
With that, I must get back to work. If all goes well, it won't be another 2 1/2 months before my next post.
This is reposted from a message I sent to the Testicular Cancer Email group, but I wanted it here for posterity.
One year ago today I thought everything was coming to an end. After two days of pain that came out of no where and a lot of testing, I was told that I had a mass inside my left testicle and that it was most likely cancer.
If you are like me, growing up when you heard "Cancer" that was the kiss of death, or so it seemed. I remember thinking, "I'm 29, just had our second child, about to finish my second college degree – now is a heck of a time for this to happen." I cried a lot. I was scared. I didn't know what was going to happen or when it would happen.
Two weeks later, I had my surgery. It was cancer, but appears to be the best case scenario for me. It was contained, no invasion, no elevated markers–nothing. Just a 2 by 4.5 cm mass of reality. That is how I see it. This has made me see the world differently. I appreciate things that I've overlooked before. I cherish every second that I spend with family and friends. I laugh more, I cry more, but above all, I enjoy life more.
I consider myself one of the lucky ones. I thank God everyday that it felt like someone kicked me in the nuts, otherwise, I wouldn't have gone to the doctor. I'm thankful that my case played out so well. In fact, I feel like I got off easy, at least compared to some of you.
So if you don't mind, celebrate with me a little today. After a year, my tests are still clean and I'm doing very well. I would also ask that you think a good thought for those that have gone before us, the doctors that work to find answers and those that are in the trenches fighting for their lives. If that last one is you, don't you give up. You fight with everything you have. Stare it in the face and don't back down. And those of you that have fought and won, you inspire us, encourage us and give us hope. Thank you for that.
A year ago, I thought life was ending. Today, I understand what living is really about.
With many people counting down the hours until MWSF begins, and more importantly, the Stevenote, I'm always amazed at the excitement that this event generates. People get all worked up over, what amounts to, announcements. Granted sometimes they are pretty cool announcements, but still, it seems a little over-the-top.
Regardless, I'll probably be swinging through the live text updates (gee thanks for the streaming video apple) to see whats up. Its always fun to see what rumors were totally dumb, which ones were true, and which ones were blown away by reality.
This weekend, I made a trip to Target, and while I was there, I had a chance to check out the Zune, Microsoft's new portable music
player. The thing that surprised me the most about the Zune, is how it seems to me that Microsoft has missed the marketing completely.
The player itself seems fine enough; four or five years ago I would have thought it rocked, now its just another player. The thing that disappointed me the most was that the one feature that I believe differentiates the Zune, the wi-fi sharing, was a no show at the display.
When I walked up to the end-cap, there were two Zunes staring at me. Right above the Zunes, a 30 page brochure was featured. I've never read 30 pages on any product at one time – especially at the store. For whatever reason, they believed it so important that the centered it, above the Zunes, so that you could get educated on what it does. Contrast that with Apple's approach to the ipod which is, put the product out and let people play with it. No manuals, no graphics to try and make it look cool and hip, just product.
The thing that disappointed me the most was that one of the Zunes, was just a dummy. For me, this was a huge disappointment and the reason why I think Microsoft has no clue when it comes to customers. It would have been easy to place two real Zunes on the display and allow them to share songs back and forth. Instead, you get to take their word for it that it works, works easily, and is fun. I think thats asking a lot from the customers, especially considering this entry is so late to the game. Instead of announcing that to the world, they give us a Zune, a dummy Zune, and a 30 page brochure.
As others have stated, the Zune is brick-like. Its think, too thick in my opinion. Its not very refined, which is why I think it would have
been great 4 years ago. When playing with the real Zune, I had trouble adjusting the volume, which lead to the very annoying, play a song and blast out the JBL's that were attached, drawing the attention of everyone in the area. I ran into problems, because the Zune is displayed vertically, but the video plays horizontally. When a video was playing, I would push up and down to no avail. I didn't realize that the volume turned when the screen did. So when viewing a video, volume is adjusted by pushing left and right.
Overall, I think the Zune is a fairly good entry into the market. Most of my gripes about the product are personal preference things. For example, I don't like having to flip the thing around to watch videos, I don't like how thick it is, there's no sex appeal etc. I do believe that their marketing for the Zune is very flat though. I talk with clients a lot about "why" someone should believe you. Microsoft didn't do a very good job showing "why" you should buy a Zune and not another music player. They certainly have not done a good job explaining "why" you should buy a Zune instead of an ipod. For now, I don't think Apple, or the ipod, have very much to worry about. Especially in places where both the ipod and the Zune are available.
May 15, 2007
10:12 am
When I walked up to the end-cap, there were two Zunes staring at me. Right above the Zunes, a 30 page brochure was featured. I've never read 30 pages on any product at one time – especially at the store. For whatever reason, they believed it so important that the centered it, above the Zunes, so that you could get educated on what it does. Contrast that with Apple's approach to the ipod which is, put the product out and let people play with it. No manuals, no graphics to try and make it look cool and hip, just product.
The thing that disappointed me the most was that one of the Zunes, was just a dummy. For me, this was a huge disappointment and the reason why I think Microsoft has no clue when it comes to customers. It would have been easy to place two real Zunes on the display and allow them to share songs back and forth. Instead, you get to take their word for it that it works, works easily, and is fun. I think thats asking a lot from the customers, especially considering this entry is so late to the game. Instead of announcing that to the world, they give us a Zune, a dummy Zune, and a 30 page brochure.
As others have stated, the Zune is brick-like. Its think, too thick in my opinion. Its not very refined, which is why I think it would have
