What I am working on next:

Coming this week:

iPad or ____ Ebook reader

Midlife crisis on the cheap

Tech for old folks

Dunlap's disease or Why you really need to exercise all the time.

Stay tuned.

Love for the Iron Horse

As a lover of most things on wheels I am always seduced by the beauty and elegance of motorcycles. In college I rode a mountain bike extensively but I was always afraid to venture on to a motocycle of any size.My oldest brother had a Yamaha Seca 750 that I rode on once- 30 years ago- and I had ridden scooters in high school, but never any thing with real power. Being in Michigan you need a vehicle for the winter so a motorcycle would not cut it when it came time for me to buy my first vehicle.

Of course now I have different concerns- three young kids , a loving wife, a career and my favorite the desire to not be paralyzed from the neck or waist down after an accident. The stats don't lie-you are more likely to to die or be injured on a motorcycle than in a car.

But when does the fear of increased odds of harm take a back seat to freedom and independence? To be fair, I already live under some pretty heavy risk factors so what difference does one more risk factor make? Isn't being optimistic and invincible part of the American psyche?

In spite the obivious dangers I am still drawn to the siren song of the iron horse.

Single Subject Netbook

I have a hunch that a lot of people have been thinking about buying a quite little Netbook to do some light computing on. Netbooks were all the rage before the iPad came out in April and started the immediate comparisons. Trying to be different or smart I purchased two Eee 1005HA's for my house. I am happy to report that in general they function as advertised- small, compact and portable. Just like a single subject notebook -wide rule.

I suppose if you do not want much out of computer they are perfect, but if you want more than nothing do not buy one because you will be disappointed. The netbook is the digital equivilant of the single subject notebook- limited in its function and capability. If you think that you want to take more than a few notes think again, the up and down scrolling will kill you, and that is only if you are successful in closing enough tool bars to actually see the text box. Much like with the wide rule notebook- by the time you finish your heading you've got room for one , maybe two lines before you need to use the back of the page.

Audio- maybe, video maybe not. Some Youtube content plays but it is a choppy affair, and forget about HD completely- unless you like to see live action as stop-motion animation.

So am I mad that I spent money on netbooks and not an iPad- nope. I think these will make great machines for my kids to start typing on and they will provide a great platform to do some basic surfing and document creation. For grown ups as long as you keep your expectations low, there may be a netbook in your future.

Welcome back to writing

I am coming back to writing after a long break. In the interim a lot has happened.

I finished a degree, an MBA in December 2009.

I had to sell my car and pick up a people hauling crossover.

I have started running and have completed two 5k races.

I was thinking about doing a Ph. D but I have decided to delay that in order to spend more time with my family.

In thinking about what to write about with this blog, we have decided to keep it simple:

Tech

Transport

Travel

Family

Golf

So stay tuned..

Hayden is Here

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The .9 is 1- Hayden was born 8.16 at 6:03 pm . He is doing well as is his mom. We are all very happy that he is here.

iPhone or Blackberry Bold

I have a month to decide. Bold or iPhone 3G. There are pro's and cons to each. After living with a Blackberry for about a year I realize why people love them and hate them. They are a constant reminder of work- the fun aspects of them are in after thoughts buried in the menu screens daring you to use them. And while you may feel more like a C-level executive when you use one, basically you are just a mid level manager trying to appear like you more important than you are. I really felt that I had grown up- leaving the toy devices behind and stepping up to the responsibility work. But a funny thing happened while I was growing up, the iPhone grew up too.

While it was still a media centric device with a best of breed media player- Apple added Active Sync enabling push email calendar and contacts. With that one addition they made themselves relevant to all of us working stiffs. But will it be enough- will I miss cut and paste or searching? or will the media satisfy me.

I guess we will have to wait and see.

Detroit is in sad shape

Basically we are on hold. An entire city waits and watches while the mayor lets his legal troubles mount and drag him and the city down in gutter.
I does not have to like this. He could resign and face his troubles as a private citizen out of the limelight. But alas that is not his style- he wishes to go out in a blaze of glory- so be it.

Over the next few weeks we will all bear witness to one of most spectacular political dramas ever caught on camera. I just hope the city can rise from the ashes yet again once Icarus does his thing.