Test

Testing out wordpress iPhone app. The interface is simple enough to use, and now that I’m getting quicker typing it may be a viable option. The jury is still out so I guess we’ll see..

Why I Want Cuil to Succeed

"Please try your search again."

Yesterday, it was nearly impossible to avoid the talk of the supposed Google-killer, Cuil. As first blush, Cuil, which is pronounced “cool,” looks to be just the sort of search tool that would attract an iPhone generation of searchoholics. It’s sleek design and customizable layout look like a solid foundation upon which it will need to build expanded functionality to seriously compete with the likes of Google (or even Yahoo! or MSN Live for that matter).

Here are the two primary reasons I want Cuil to succeed.

1.) Competition is a good thing - Google has completely dominated the search industry for quite some time, with conservative market share estimates exceeding 60 percent. There is plenty of room for services that provide a different user experience than Google. I’d love to see a tool that integrated image and video into search results (perhaps allowing users to customize columns by media type).

2.) Functionality is not everything - In response to my support of Cuil, one of my colleagues made the point that design isn’t important with search. To be honest, the initial appeal of Google for many of us was its simlicity of design and ease of use. I recently read an anecdote from an interview with a Google executive who said that the registered trademark at the bottom of Google.com was added because early users often stared at their screens waiting for the page to finish loading, assuming there must be more than the single search bar. But even Google users know that search alone is not enough. The popularity of iGoogle and similar customizable services is evidence that design does matter for many users.

Hopefully Cuil will overcome early skepticism to provide a real alternative to Google. If not, can someone at Google at least try to improve the aesthetics of the site? Would a dark background be too much to ask?

Wandering

I’m not entirely certain why, but this week has been particularly tough for some reason. I think that all the uncertainty swirling around is starting to get to me. It isn’t even uncertainty relating to me really because our situation is the same as it has been since I accepted the job offer in San Francisco. We’re still waiting until we can begin a serious housing search (it still amazes me that six weeks out is “way too early to begin looking”). Although the move is become more real, when I actually try to picture us living in California it still seems bizarre. It’s silly, but even the notion of not having to drive to work seems so surreal.

I guess the BIG news this week was a potential job offer my parents are exploring in Denver. I love Denver and have always said that if it wasn’t for their professional sports franchises being the sports equivalent of the anti-christ (local sports teams are definitely something to be considered when selecting where to live in case you were wondering), then it would be a perfect city for me. I really hope the company makes my dad an offer, but I also hope that they are able to make the decision on their own terms. The development/project management job market is terrible right now. In an ideal world, my dad would get another offer from a local company and would choose between the two - they still might pick the Denver offer because it sounds like a great fit for him, but it would definitely be nice to have options.

Susie and I went to a movie with our friend Rachel last night. I think it’s fair that I call her our friend now because I think she’s awesome. We saw Angelina Jolie’s new film “Wanted,” which was exactly what I thought it would be - an inventive action film with terrible acting, writing, directing, and just about everything else. All in all, I found it pretty entertaining, but it was probably 45 minutes too long.

Work update: things are going well. I’ll be in Houston next Thursday and Friday for BMC’s Q1 earnings. It will be a good chance for me to get a little face-to-face time with clients before the move. I’m hoping that there will be opportunities for me to work with some of the west coast BMCers after the move, but I’m not sure how that is going to work out.

Lines and more lines

Well, it certainly has been an interesting weekend. Susie and I decided to go ahead and switch phone service providers and participate in the ‘iPhone’ madness. First, I woke up around 5 am on Friday to go sit outside an AT&T store near our apartment. Apple had been bragging that activation would probably take between 15-20 minutes per customer prior to the launch…yeah, not so much. After it took the first guy in line more than 45 minutes to  come out with his phone (still not activated), I knew that something was up. Turns out the demand was too much for the iTunes servers to handle and the entire system went down. So much for the “in-store activation experience.” Luckily, AT&T decided relatively quickly to let people purchase the phone and try to activate them later from home (similar to the system they used for the launch of the first iPhone last summer). I wasn’t able to get mine to work until around 3:30 Friday afternoon, but at least I was able to get back to work relatively quickly.

The biggest hiccup in my plan was that AT&T had decided to impose a BS one phone per person in line rule which meant that I couldn’t buy Susie a phone while she was at work. I figured she wasn’t going to be up for going to stand in line Friday night, so I decided to go back on Saturday morning while she was stuck at work. After another 3 hours of waiting, we both now have working phones, which are pretty awesome. Other phones may have similar features, but I doubt there is another mobile device that is as much fun to use as the iPhone.

Yesterday we finally saw WALL-E. Susie and I both loved it. Understanding how PIXAR continues to make such fantastically entertaining movies is beyond me. Have they made anything that hasn’t been great?

Not much else is going on this weekend. Today has been a “lazy Sunday” in every sense of the word. Besides making a trip to the store and going on a quick run this morning, it has pretty much been Susie reading the Maltese Falcon and me watching the Astros game (thank you Brandon Backe for giving us something to cheer about after a brutal two weeks).

Too Soon?

Apparently my weekend remarks about Starbucks’ rebound was premature. According to this article, the company is continuing to struggle. Here’s the money quote:

“The U.S. consumer is hurting more now than they have in the last 18 months,” said Langston, who expects the back half of the year to be “pretty dismal” for consumers.

“People look at spending $4 on a latte or $4 on a gallon of gas, and they’re probably going to pick the gallon of gas,” Langston said.

Ouch.

Everyone’s Got a Plan

So much has happened recently, it’s hard to pick a logical place to begin..

First, Susie and I are about to celebrate our first anniversary, and I am having the toughest time believing that it has already been a year. I can still vividly remember what it felt like standing at the gazebo holding her hands, fighting back tears and trying to remember to keep breathing. That day was simply magical, and every day since has been just as amazing. Here’s to celebrating another 50, 60 or 100 more together!

In other news, we are moving to California and extremely excited about the opportunity to live in San Francisco (now if we could only find a place to live…). We’ll be in the Bar Area celebrating our anniversary from Thursday through Tuesday, and I imagine the visit will only make us that much more antsy to get out there permanently.

I’m pressed for time this morning, so I’ll summarize everything else quickly. Work is good, our animals are hilarious, mom and dad are coping with the relocation news and Texas has gotten way too hot.

That’s all for now.

Random note of the day:

Apparently, Mike Tyson once said, “Everyone has a plan, until they get hit.” Who would have thought that something that profound would have come from Mike Tyson?

Back to Reality

What a vacation. I could not have asked for a better recharge than a 5-day rafting trip down the Salmon River in beautiful Idaho (by the way, who vacations in Idaho?). Some of the highlights were:

1.) Getting snowed on for the first two days of the trip (the water was a refreshing 35-40 degrees)

2.) Flipping the raft on the last day

3.) Private plane (flying commercial will never be the same again)

4.) Quality time with Susie, Mark, Bryan, Adam and Claire

All in all, it was one of the best trips I’ve ever taken. Susie and I both desperately needed a break from work, and the week gave us ample opportunity to evaluate where we are and where we want to be. If I’ve learned anything in my short 24 years of life it is that family is irreplaceable. You can try to fill your life with countless frivolities, but nothing will ever begin to compare with the feeling of being around loved ones.

Beautiful

My wife is a vision. It’s impossible to say goodbye in the morning as we both leave for work. So much has been wonderful this week. Work has been busy, but it seems more bearable knowing we will be on the Snake River rafting this time next week. Susie has been her usual perfect self - she truly is everything I ever hoped for plus some.

Finally got some news about relocating. I have been offered a job in our company’s San Francisco office that I am strongly considering. The more I am able to interact with the senior leadership at my company, the more convinced I am that this is the right place for me to be. Simply put - my company employs some of the brightest and talented people I’ve ever met. Hopefully there will be something solid the week after we return from vacation.

Big Big Day

Lots to report on the relo front today. Stay tuned.

IF by Rudyard Kipling

No time for blogging today, but I did receive this through one of my RSS feeds so I thought I’d share.

[IF]

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:If you can dream–and not make dreams your master,
If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings–nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And–which is more–you’ll be a Man, my son!

–Rudyard Kipling