jpomie's posterous

July 4th - a couple days after . . .

July 4th was hot. There were parades. Kids had fun. There were barbeques. And, of course, fireworks.

But this year, celebrating July 4th or at least enjoying it was tough. I had a lot on my mind. Specifically, I was thinking of a good friend of mine sitting in a federal detention center in another state for a crime he never committed or attempted to commit in any manner. He was simply pulled over for a traffic stop and asked for his identification . . .

You see, my friend is an illegal immigrant. Not by choice. He was brought here by his family when he was 13. He went to school here just like everyone else. He and his siblings have applied all of the appropriate paperwork to become citizens as they became adults. His parents have also filed the appropriate paperwork. Kind of rare to hear about the people that take the time to do things the legitimate way. It could have been the typical story - brought to the US and he could have just ignored everything and taken his chances.

But, he didn't do that. But, he is being treated as if he did. And, the govertment has informed him that they are seeking to deport him.

To say this is a tragic implementation of our justice system wouldn't be sufficient. It's just sad. My friend is a productive member of society working tireless hours as he runs a independent retail store that is quite successful. He is known in the community as a caring, thoughtful person who would do anything to help another person.

And, back to his intentions. Paperwork. Ah yes, the citizenship paperwork I referred to. He has been involved in the filing of paperwork to gain his citizenship for years. It is a long, drawn out process with no visible end in sight. And, there is no apparent urgency regardless of how you attempt to adhere to the rules. But, he has always maintained that he is going to get it done the right way.

So, here I sit this morning drinking a cup of coffee and wondering how he is doing. He has been in the detention center for 6 days now and he is being told it will be up to a month before he may get a trial. There's no consideration being given to the fact that he was brought to the US when he was under 18, that he has filed all of the necessary paperwork and/or that he has never sought to blatantly hide the fact that he is on the path to citizenship. He has legal counsel and they are working to expedite the process as much as possible.

We hear stories every day about people crossing the border, committing crimes, etc. We know the stories because this is what we are all subjected to. But, when small stories that involve people like my friend happen, there's never a whisper. Even in writing this post, he wouldn't be pleased as he doesn't want the attention. In fact, he has insisted that nobody make a fuss and keep this very private. It is very difficult to abide by these wishes, but I will do so.

July 4th was hot. There were parades. Kids had fun. There were barbeques. And, of course, fireworks.

But, for some, July 4th isn't all about celebrating indepdence day. It is about hoping for freedom. From a jail cell. For a crime you didn't commit.

"If you go through a lot of hammers each month . . .

"If you go through a lot of hammers each month, I don't think it necessarily means you're a hard worker. It may just mean that you have a lot to learn about proper hammer maintenance." 
— Jack Handey

I love a good Jack Handey quote!

Observations from a moving horizontal elevator (aka – Bart)

I had a peaceful trip into San Francisco today on the Bart. I was in a good mood (both ways!) and really took notice of all of the people who I was traveling with. Here are just a few of my observations from today’s ride.

·         To the girl sitting next to me. I don’t know if it is your sandwich or your body odor, but either way it is BAD.

·         To the woman sitting behind me on her cell phone. You are right. The IRS will never figure out that you are lying on your taxes. They are amateurs.

·         To the woman putting on an ‘excessive’ amount of eye shadow. Go for it! Make those other raccoons in your office jealous.

·         To the guy who was sleeping in the door seat (meant for the elderly, parents with children and the handicapped). Don’t worry about it. The blind guy didn’t need a seat anyways and he had probably been sitting all morning. Seriously. Don’t even offer to move.

·         To the guy with the jeans hanging all of the way down your rear so that we all get to see your green boxers. Pulling them up so they were only half way down your rear was a class move. Class!

·         To the guy wearing his hoodie over his head so you could only see his mouth. Fierce! Just fierce!

·         To the woman who fell and almost caused a domino effect of people down the aisle. Just a heads up, this Bart thing moves! I might recommend holding on and not trying to 'power stand'.

·         To the people all listening to their music loudly during the ride. Sweet! I like music too! I am not sure I like listening to the music you’re listening to, but I guess I don’t have a choice. I said, I GUESS I DON’T HAVE A CHOICE. Oh, you can’t hear me. Yeah, that’s probably because your headphones are so LOUD!.

Ok – just had to put that out there as I wrote this on my way back. I should keep a running list as it is kind of fun. As for me, I was the guy just people watching and smirking as I thought up most of these during the ride :-)

"The cut, the stranger and the big guy lying on the floor" - a funny, but true story

I have a scar that revolves around my right index finger. It is a resut of a glass breaking while washing the dishes one day in college. The scar is not the story though, it is what happened afterward that makes it a good story. 

So, it's winter in Kalamazoo, MI. Cold outside! I just got home to a 'supposedly' empty house that I shared with 4 other guys. We had a schedule and it was my turn to wash the dishes. So, upon getting home, I just chose to get it over with instead of the typical delaying until somebody yelled at me (hey, it was college, give me a break). 

Towards the end, I was washing out a glass when it shattered and the edge of the glass sliced into my finger. The cut was quite deep (to the bone) and revolved around the finger with the end result being that it was hanging more than it was attached. 

I didn't panic as I was raised in a medical family and blood doesn't have any affect on me (remember this for a bit later), so I grabbed a pot and filled it with cold water while trying to get a handle on the bleeding. 

Meanwhile, I had turned on the stereo and it was quite loud. So, my yelling didn't do much in terms of attracting any attention. Plus, I thought the house was empty. But, I had to do something, so I kept the pot filled halfway with water, left my hand it in and ventured over to the fridge where I grabbed a lot of ice to slow the bleeding. 

At this point, I thought I'd take a chance to see if any of my roommates were home before I called 911 as I didn't want to do that - at least not yet. I ventured up the stairs to the 2nd floor where two of my roommates lived. One of the rooms was open and vacant and the door was closed to the other room. I was holding the pot with one hand while I kept the other hand immersed in the water. The water, as you can imagine, was dark red as so much blood was escaping. 

I kicked the door with my feet to see if anyone was there. I didn't hear anything at first, but then I heard a muffled voice. This was the room of a guy who was an amatuer body builder and he tended to bring home some unique women at times. I heard a definite voice a moment later and yelled that I needed help as I was bleeding. 

I heard some shuffling and then the door flew open only to reveal my roommate naked, with a strategically placed towel and a 'stranger' in his bed. He started to ask what was wrong just as his eyes hit the pot that I was holding. It was right at this point that I learned that my roommate didn't like the site of blood and, in this case, fainted when presented with it. So, this bulk of an individual proceeded to collapse to the floor without so much as a whimper. This left me in my original predicament. 

However, in all of the fuss, I have forgotten about the 'stranger' who was still laying in the bed, covered by a sheet and now staring at me. Well, she obviously was going to have none of it as she stood up completely naked and announced that I needed to go to the hospital. I stood there staring (with good reason) as she hurriedly dressed, grabbed her things and then hustled me down the stairs towards the door. 

Now, we get to an interesting point as she had caught a ride with my roommate. This left us with two cars at the house - mine and his. Mine was a stick shift and my new found friend, the 'stranger', couldn't drive a stick. So, taking action, she shot upstairs, grabbed his car keys and we left in my roommate's car while he still lay on the ground upstairs. 

The story does not end here. 

She drove me to the local hospital where I assumed that I would just get out and she would return to the house. But, that was not to be - she announced that she was going to drop me off and then join me inside the emergency room. I didn't really care at this point as the pot was getting more and more full of my blood and I was getting a bit dizzy. 

I ventured in to the hospital, went through triage and was asked to sit for a moment while I waited to be taken back to an area where they could treat me. The 'stranger' joined me a moment later and asked for an update. Soon afterwards, I was asked to come in the back. I stood and began walking towards the treatment area and noticed that I had a shadow, the 'stranger'. By the way, I still didn't know her name at this point. 

I was asked by the hospital attendant if she was with me and I nodded yes as I really didn't care to explain. We were ushered into an area and the pot was taken away to be dumped and appropriate bandaging was put in place to help stop the bleeding. All the while, the 'stranger' just kept sitting there and watching the process. 

The doctor arrived moments later and began evaluating the cut and the resulting damage. In order to do so, he had to have an assistant hold my hand and he had to pull up the skin to look internally. While he was doing this, the 'stranger' appeared in my line of sight as she was now squatted behind the doctor and staring into the wound that he was trying to get a handle on. 

At this point, the doctor noticed her and asked me in an offhand way if we were boyfriend/girlfriend. To which I answered that we were not and that I didn't even know her name. This caught him by surprise and his turned to address her to see what the situation was. The 'stranger' having heard this conversation, promptly introduced herself as Ellen (name changed to protect the innocent, yet strange) and extended her hand to greet him. The doctor turned back to me and I just shrugged as I wanted to have my finger sewn back on and didn't care who Ellen was at this point. 

As the evaluation continued, our new found friend Ellen started asking questions about the damage, the treatment, etc. At one point, she asked if the doctor could pull up the skin on my hand so that she could see underneath. Wow, my head was really spinning at this point, but I even knew that this was getting really weird. 

The finger was eventually sewn up and I was given ample amounts of pain killers to go along wth my newly wrapped hand. It was time to leave and I was extremely foggy. 

Ellen now guided me to the car and promptly took me home. Upon returning to the house, we found my previously passed out roommate sititng on the couch watching television. As we entered, he was visibly upset as we had left him on the ground and that Ellen had stolen his car for all intensive purposes. After a few minutes and realizing how hurt I was, he calmed down. 

But, we found ourselves sitting with Ellen. A girl who by now had creeped me out more than a little even though she had helped me out in a tremendous jam. And, a girl that my roommate never intended to know more than the afternoon. We were both uncomfortable. But, Ellen was not and kept talking about the experience. 

Soon afterwards, I passed out from the painkillers given to me. My roommate took Ellen to wherever she lived. And, we never saw her again. 

So, I have a unique scar on my right hand. But the scar will never measure up to the story that accompanies it. It is a story that I have told literally a hundred times and I always smile when I think back to the whole situation. 

Comments (0)

Posted

Friday Fun - What if Twitter had REAL shopping?

Ok - so this whole post is meant as pure fantasy. Though, in reality, it is a viable question given the amount of traffic Twitter generates and their focus on driving REVENUE on their platform. What is Twitter had a REAL shopping platform? Where they earned REVENUE based on sales?

So, nobody asked me my opinion - but, that's the point of this post. Perhaps the brains over there are already on to this - I wouldn't doubt it.

The approach here would be to take advantage of their already existing addressing protocol (search.twitter.com, api.twitter.com, etc.) and launch a shopping area at http://shop.twitter.com.  Something like this perhaps?

Ok - just a snapshot, but you get the point and you can hopefully see the appeal. Twitter's already working with partners to get them to sponsor tweets and put these unique ads into your streams. Well, this isn't so much of a shift as it is a further exploration of many of these relationships.

Dell is arguably the most successful retail seller on Twitter. In order to do this, Dell has multiple channels set up to sell all throughout Twitter. But, they are dependent on people following their Twitter handles. Shift to this strategy and Dell can now push specific products and/or specials through the Deal of the Day that is no longer subject to people following their unique Twitter handles.

Example:  Twitter user (me - @jpomie) visits http://shop.twitter.com and sees a GREAT deal on a Samsung television.  It is absolutely great - I can tweet it right there into my stream.  Right there, the shopping platform extends its reach and it can potentially be retweeted by many people who may find the deal useful.

Now, take it a step farther and allow Twitter users to input keywords, brands, etc. that they would like to know about into the Shop settings area and their stream will then populate with anything relevant at set time parameters.  Or, they can just ask to have the Deal of the Day inserted into their stream on a regular basis. Again, allowing these brands to extend their reach and also be subject to retweets.  Something like this perhaps?

It would be great to see something like this (if I sign up for it to be sure - not the spam approach) as it makes the stream not just about 140 characters - whitty comments or not :)

If you look at the above example of http://shop.twitter.com, you can see this can adapt to a lot of scenarios. The Gap promotion through Groupon was highly successful in terms of the amount of the discount certificates sold. Why could this be accomplished here in the same manner? It could be independent or in collaboration with any of these players. Just imagine the viral capacity of the Twitter ecosystem . .

Additionally, Twitter could really provide some focus on non-profit organizations. They already are working to sell Fledgling Wine to donate money to wipe out literacy in poor countries. This would seem like a great platform to push this message out on and achieve success for these types of organizations. There are MANY approaches that can be taken with this type of shopping platform.

The transactions and subsequent payment for these products are really exciting to think about because there's so much there to tap into as part of this platform approach. Just from the payment side as an example - a Twitter user could sign up for automated payments through the Shop in the settings and would only need to hit Buy and the entire transaction is complete (One Tweet Pay!) - all done behind the scenes.  And, that exciting feature could be extended outside of their environment and would make for a very appealing payment mechanism.  

Ok - I've had my fun and now it is time to return to my regularly scheduled programming. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Friday Fun - What if Twitter had REAL shopping? 

Cheers!

Vacuum or Modern Day Torture Device?

The title is supposed to be on the humorous side, but in reality my vacuum turned out to be quite a violent machine.  It is aptly named The Dyson Animal.

Just look at it - it is essentially an Evil Transformer come to life!

So, why is it a Modern Day Torture Device?  Well, I found out the hard way.  I decided to do a little clean up this weekend around the house and grabbed the 'vacuum'.  I was barefoot (big key to the story) and began my work in the bedrooms.  

As I was finishing up one of the bedrooms, I lifted the 'vacuum' from a landing down a step to the main carpet.  When I did so, the head of the 'vacuum' - still running full speed - dropped down and for some reason (who know why?), I stepped into it.  OUCH!!!!!!

This is where the machine turned into a Moder Day Torture Device.  It snapped my index toe!  Not just a little "Ow, that hurt!" - it snapped the toe - purple and black and now walking with a limp.

So, a bit of advice for those who may possess this type of 'vacuum':
1.  DO NOT use it while barefoot - this is my fault.
2.  If you ever need to get someone to talk, simply remove the shoe, turn on this machine insert toes.  They'll be singing any tune you want.

Now, please excuse me while I go get some ice. 

Arizona - You've officially lost your mind - aka, AZ legalizes carrying concealed gun without a permit

Just your typical Saturday morning at my house.  Drinking coffee, letting the little one run around and have fun and taking some time to catch up on news.  So, no sooner had I settled into my couch when I read that Arizona's governor, Jan Brewer, signed into law a bill that legalizes carrying a concealed gun without a permit.  It goes without saying that I spilled my coffee.

The iPad - a skeptic's view after 6 days

Let me start off this review by saying that I was a big skeptic of the iPad on the day it was announced and even wrote that it had no place in my life.

I sat and watched the momentum build in the following weeks and, simply put, caved in and decided to jump on the 'early adopter' train.  I easily justified it as I currently am building a very exciting (my opinion) payment application and I felt it would be good to understand the potential of the new screen real estate.  Yep, that's how I talked myself into it.

Last Saturday arrived and I found myself in the vicinity of the Stoneridge Mall where there was an Apple store.  I parked the car and walked in - fully expecting to see a massive line.  But, there were only about 5 people in line.  Fifteen minutes later, I was back in my vehicle and driving home so I could it all set up.

So, its been 6 days.  Am I still a skeptic? Am I ready to take it back because its not a laptop?  Absolutely NOT!

I believe that Jason Calacanis has written one of the best reviews about the device itself - http://www.ipad-answers.com/ipad-reviews/my-48-point-ipad-review-after-72-hours  So, I am going to focus on why it works for me and, ultimately, why I was so wrong.

To begin, the iPad is what you make of it and it has a lot of potential.  

Here's where its made a difference in my household.
Reading - I cannot say enough good things about how I love the screen real estate when it comes to reading.  I have used 3 book applications and have found my favorite to be the Kindle application.  I've found myself reading regularly at the end of each day since I've bought it.  I have wanted to read so many books, but frankly haven't wanted to buy the Kindle itself and I didn't want to buy the paper books (hate storing them afterwards).  This is just the perfect marriage of functionality and readability for me.  And, my wife is constantly using it to read when I'm not. 

Personal Note:  The iPad can cause internal household disputes :)

Interactivity - This one is a personal finding.  But, there's just a difference having the iPad around in the Living room or outside vs. a laptop.  Sure, its just perception, but if someone has a laptop it feels like they're not paying attention.  This device is so unobtrusive that it just blends in and doesn't interfere in social situations, etc.  Also, with my daughter, its a constant source of funny videos for her - a big plus here is that she's not tapping on a keyboard like she would if I sat her in front of the desktop or laptop.  She's young so she likes to touch everything - the screen, keyboard, mouse - you name it.  With the iPad, she is welcome to touch the screen and she really gets the functionality even at her young age.

The Ultimate Tool  - This may not apply to a lot of people, so I'll just say that if I find the device to be very full featured if you set it up.  Yesterday, I took my daughter to a class and while I was there, I was on the iPad remotely connecting to my home desktop.  I was able to send emails, adjust documents and more - all from this remote location with Wi-Fi.  In just a few days, I've set up remote hosting access (Rackspace), remote file access (Box.net), remote desktop & laptop access (Teamviewer) and a few other items that truly allow me to feel connected all through this little 9+ inch, flat device.  I need this kind of regular interaction, so to me, its almost too good to be true.

Battery - This is a rehash of so many reviews, but it would be a disservice not to mention how incredible the battery is in the iPad.  I've been on the same charge for 2 days with regular usage and I'm still at the 45% battery range.  And, that's with Pandora playing on a fairly regular basis.

I am a big fan of the iPad.  For me, its a game and life changer.  But, that being said, I have told several people I know to hold off and not to jump in yet.  Simply because I know that they are not avid computer users and I think the cost is prohibitive for just general, everyday use.  I think Jason's article (http://www.ipad-answers.com/ipad-reviews/my-48-point-ipad-review-after-72-hours) really does a good job of outlining who should and should not buy this device.

So, it has been 6 days and I can say, without hesitation, that the iPad has already had a profound effect on how I work and live.  That may seem like a dramatic statement, but its true.

I can only imagine what the next 6 days will bring . . .

Friday Question - Where do I get all of my energy? Answer is . . .

Tethering + Ad-Hoc Network = Geek Moment

Well, I did it - didn't think I could do it, but with some innovation and calm, I was able to create my own mobile ad-hoc network that allows for other devices around me to gain wireless Internet.

How did I do it?  Well, I'm more than happy to say, but to err on the side of not wanting to get in trouble with any specific carriers, I'll just keep it to this for the moment.

Laptop tethered to mobile phone in a non-jailbreak/non-root manner with a 'unnamed carrier' - result = wireless Internet anywhere.  Yeah!

Then, adjust settings of Internet connection to allow for any other users to access same Internet connection - this is a few steps, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Form ad-hoc network and then connect host computer to it - just a couple steps.

Then, taken device that uses WiFi (in my case an Ipod Touch) and locate new network.  Mine popped up right away.  Connect up.

Now, feel free to access WiFi from ad-hoc network that originates from mobile phone.  Yeah!  

My own portable wireless network with no equipment needed. 

And, best of all - ITS FAST!

Ok, Geek Moment over - just had to shout about it a bit.