My Side Door

I’m in the market for something relatively big and expensive.  Call it a car or a painting or a piece of industrial equipment…it really doesn’t matter.  So, where do I start my search?  Why online of course.

The item I want is manufactured to customer order and as a result most manufacturers offer them in custom colors with custom add-ons.  They have websites that talk about how great theirs is, with pictures of it, and customer testimonials about how awesome their product is.  There are technical specs about how physically large it is, what capacities they offer, and all sorts of bits of information that will help a buyer make a decision.

The odd thing, however, is most manufacturers do not list a price for their products online.  Talk about annoying.  One manufacturer has a class form to fill out to submit an online price request, which I did last night.

This morning I get a simple form email asking me some obvious questions (questions that I believe I answered when I submitted the form), for which the answer was once again answered.  Then, instead of getting pricing, I got a 2nd email, once again with more questions.

At this point, I became more than a little annoyed.  How many times are we going to email each other back and forth, before this company salesperson decides to let me in on the secret of the price.  I began to feel like I was taking part in an infomercial, with the classic, “but wait, there’s more!”.  Finally, I got back a fancy color PDF for the 2 products that would obviously work best for me, and that included….the PRICE!

I’m still clueless as to why getting a price out of this company was tougher than pulling my wisdom teeth.  Oh well…every business can’t always operate under the mantra that their product needs to be great, price accordingly, and then you don’t have to keep the price a secret.  If that’s what “Great” costs, then that’s what it costs.  I still think this company’s product might be great…just annoyed that I jumped through hoops to get it.

If you sell, manufacture, or provide a service, and are offering that product online, do yourself a favor and list the price.  Online consumers expect to the see the price.  If, for some unexplained reason, you cannot list the price, then absolutely, positively give the customer the price the second they ask for it.

The graphic you see at the start of this post has appeared at the bottom of the middle sidebar on the right for over a year now.  The graphic states, “I make comments participation is king”.  Tyson Crosbie created that graphic for those of us that participated in his soft edit comment process to proudly display on our blogs as a show of support for his approach to social media and photography.

It’s been a long time coming, but alas, right now I need your comments.  Tyson has published my soft edit on Flickr and for the process to work most effectively I need you to go to Flickr, view the 15 images- and via comment -vote for which image you believe best represents the words “spontaneous, inspired, and direct”.

And now that I’ve asked for a favor, a few words about the images and the experience of being photographed by Tyson.  Because I was a lucky winner of one of Tyson’s fine art photographs in his contest Living With Art, Tyson needed to come to my home.  As a result, the photos were taken there on the day I received #9.  Tyson’s wife Jamie was also present.  She told me this was the first time she’d seen Tyson take someone’s portrait.

In the past, I’ve had my portrait taken a few times.  The process in the had always been the same.  The photographer asks me to sit in a spot, look in a certain direction, tilt my head a certain way, and then a few clicks later, my portrait was complete.

That Saturday was very different.  Tyson gave me very little direction.  As you look at the images in the soft edit, you can probably identify the shots in which I was given the most direction.  These are the images, in which makes it becomes painfully obvious, I could never be a professional model.  Instead, for the most part, I was simply chatting with Tyson and Jamie about stuff.  Just talking about this and that.  Learning more about each of them, and them a bit about me.  Small talk, really…the kind you might do at a dinner party.  It was certainly nothing like what I expected a photo shoot to be like.

But the results…they speak for themselves.  Still, the process is far from complete.  To be the most effective, this process needs you to participate as well.  So head over to Flickr, and please, please comment.  Let me know what image or images you think capture those three words.

Thank you.

The keyboarding class at Copper Ridge Middle School is one of only a handful in the nation. My daughter Hayley is playing before today’s board meeting to help keep the program alive

This year, I am again riding el Tour de Tucson.  The event is now less than a week away, on November 22, starting at 7am for those of us riding the 109 mile distance.  For the last couple of weeks, it’s been the #1 thing on my mind.

I’m having a hard time determining if I’m as fit as last year.  This year I’ve been riding more rides that are 50ish miles in length, while last year we mostly rode 40ish mile rides.  Last year, I rode the around the mountain ride (Fountain Hills->Rio Verde) just once, and it almost killed me, which put strong doubt in my mind about the Tour.  This year, I’ve done that ride twice, on back-to-back days, and felt really good the first day, and as good as could be expected the second day.

I’m going to give myself credit for being in about the same shape.  Perhaps a little better or a little worse. If so, being a gold finisher and finishing in under 6 hours is within my reach.  Hopefully I don’t have any mechanicals, the weather is clean and clear, and I at least have a chance.

Anyway, because I’ve been feeling pretty good about the around the mountain ride, yesterday I decided to attempt the Bartlett Lake ride that Lance Armstrong used to do.  It’s 68 miles.  The ride starts by heading north up Pima, which is a mild gradual climb.  Then in the town of Carefree the climbing gets more difficult before reaching the high point at the turn off to Bartlett Lake at mile 20. At that point, you drop down significantly over a 14 mile distance to the marina.

Yesterday, it was pretty breezy.  In fact, it’s been windy fairly often recently, and it’s been frustrating to train in.  The wind was coming from the east, and thus all the way up Pima there was a strong cross wind, making the climb all that much harder.  Turning east in Carefree took me right into the teeth of the wind, so by the time I arrived at the turn off to the lake, I was pretty wiped, and just 20 miles in.  I began to drop down the hill toward the marina, when after 3 miles I went through a wash that causes a climb similar to the previous descent.  Just 1/4 mile up, I realized that 14 miles of this type of climbing just might kill me.

Riding alone, I did the smart thing and turned around.  Back at the wash, I stopped for a couple of minutes, and prepared for the 6-8% grades that the next 3 miles were about to present.  The climb out wasn’t actually as bad as I had feared, and then I was rewarded with the 35 mph descent back to Pima with the wind at my back.  The ride down Pima, normally the dessert of any ride, was no joy ride at all.  Again, the strong side wind meant I was unable to get over 28 mph, and there was a lot of work getting down the hill.  Total distance was only 48 miles in 3 hrs 25 mins, but it felt a lot harder than the 50 mile around the mountain ride.

Today, is my final training ride, I’m going to do the around-the-mountain ride in reverse (clockwise).  I’ve never gone in this direction, but it’s the direction that the Tour de Scottsdale does.

For the race next weekend, I’m going to try to ride smarter, attempting to save energy, while at the same time riding faster.  My basic plan will to be to avoid leading any pace lines whenever possible, and just stick to the wheels of faster riders.  Hopefully we can start a little closer to the front this year, which will allow me to be around strong riders that pull me around the course.  Anyway, that’s the plan.  We’ll see how it goes.  The only hitch in the plan will be riding with Chris Z.  He’s a slower starter, due to asthma and how long it takes his lungs to expand.  Once he gets going though, he’s at least as fast as I am.

I voted today, and the experience taught me something very important about myself. I’ll explain:

I arrived at the polls at 7:30am. There wasn’t much of a line, and I quickly moved to present my drivers license. My address on yge licrense isnt up-to-date (thank you DMV), so they told me, “No problem, you can still cast a provisional ballot.”

As I waited in that next short line I began to get nervous. Would my vote count? They were handwriting information about each voter, and what if there was an error? So I left the polling center, went to my car and retrieved my car insurance and registration. Returning to the sign-in, they then noticed I had received an early ballot and again directed me to the provisional balloting line.

I took another look at the carbon copy registration sheets and with my anxiety mounting, returned home and dug my ballot out of the trash. To this point I hadn’t given my early ballot much thought as my wife had ordered it for me. I procrastinated voting by mail and missed the deadline. Now I know why. I want my vote to count. And not just a little bit. I really want my vote to count, and there’s something about watching your vote go into the counting machine that’s comforting. It’s an acknowledgement that my vote has been counted.

Today, I didn’t get that satisfaction. Returning for the third time to my polling location, I was directed to drop my ballot in a bin to be counted later. I’m sure it will be, but I really wanted it counted now.

This is the first, and it will be my last attempt at mail-in or early voting. If (or should I say when) we progress to online voting that won’t scare me. But until then I’m going old school.

And funny enough, when I arrived at Starbucks this morning for my free coffee, a neighbor and I shared consenting sentiments, as she too had voted early by mail, and very much missed her trip to the polls.

What about you? Does early voting scare you? Or are you confident it works flawlessly?

I stop in to the local Starbucks almost everyday. Naturally, you eventually get to know the other regulars who transform from acquaintence to friend.

Recently a bunch of us regulars have all gotten iPhones. About a week ago, they were chatting about this game Wurdle. I hadn’t heard of it, but for $1.99 I decided it was worth the download.

Boy was that a mistake. Not because it isn’t with two bucks, but because it is so addicting. It’s ridiculous.

Wurdle is similar to the game of Boggle and employs the touch screen of the iPhone perfectly. Anyway, I now profess to being a Wirdle addict. If you see me playing it, please tell me to stop. I must cure this addiction.

This morning I received an email from one of my oldest friends.  A friend from high school, he’s an ex-navy guy, staunch Republican, and currently living in Kuwait, helping with something that he’s been a bit guarded in sharing details about.  Almost daily, he forwards me an email or two.  I imagine I’m on a rather large distribution list, though I don’t know, as I’m blind copied along with everyone else.  Usually the emails are jokes, while more recently, I’ve been getting some that are also politically minded.

Today, he sent an alternative to the proposed bailout, in which instead of the US government giving AIG $85B to keep it afloat, the US government would give each and every adult citizen $425,000 (the email assumes there are roughly 200 million adults in the US).

The email went on to say that individual Americans could use that money far better than AIG could, for things like paying off their mortgage, credit cards, etc.  And that AIG should simply be sold off for parts–liquidated for whatever it could fetch.

I was flabbergasted at the email, as it made no sense whatsoever, and replied, “You do realize the AIG bailout is a loan, don’t you?”  It’s not a hand out.  AIG will have to pay back the $85B, along with interest.  The same way Chrysler paid back their loan, and more recently, Mexico paid back their loan.  If AIG succeeds, this will be a huge boon for Americans, as it helps protect a significant financial company AND the interest revenue will funnel back into the tax pool.

To illustrate my point I said, “We wouldn’t allow citizens that live along a proposed $100M freeway to accept a cash disbursement if they’d just drive on a dirt road.”  The freeway is more important as a long term investment.

I honestly don’t know if the AIG bailout is a good investment.  It’s quite possible it’s a horrible investment.  But giving away money to citizens should not be compared to making an investment, as if the two things are interchangeable. This type of misleading email is simply preying on frenzied emotions right now.  If you get such an email, do yourself a favor, and just click delete.  Don’t forward it, and certainly don’t get caught up in trying to defend a silly notion.

Tyson Crosbie is a local Phoenix photographer that I have met “virtually” through Twitter.  Many of the Phoenix area folks I follow on Twitter have recently had Tyson help them create excellent avatars for their online profile, as well as head shots for their business profile/cards/resume/etc.

It was a little over a month ago, that I noticed Tyson would ask for community feedback on Twitter with regard to a recent photo session he had done.  He would post a link to flickr, via Twitter, that had soft edit images from the photo session.  In Twitter he would ask for people to comment/vote for which image they liked best as an avatar and/or the formal head shot.  Then as each person voted, they often would Tweet.  Thus, throughout the day, if you were following your Tweets very closely, you’d notice the conversation thread develop.  Here’s an example of Tyson’s most recent photo session, where he was looking for feedback.

Using Twitter and flickr in this way is such a cool example of social media that “works”.  Obviously, for Tyson, it has generated some business, but for the client, they get feedback from the very community which they are a part of, to help them select the image that the community feels best represents them.  It’s absolutely fantastic.

So, in honor of a cool idea, that is executed very well, I’m adding Tyson’s Badge to the side bar. The adjustable width theme I use here isn’t ideal for such badges, but hopefully I’ve adjusted it well enough that you can see the entire badge.  Clicking on the badge will take you to Tyson’s flickr page with each of his sets that can be voted on.  It’s worth the click, just to see the type of work he does.  I think it’s great, and am remiss in not getting myself into the queue for a digital make over.

I take notes on yellow legal pads for each phone call. These rough notes remind me who I talked to, their phone number, hopefully what property it is regarding, etc.. The trouble is, the legal pads are in the office, so that when I’m at home, in the car, wherever, away from my notes, I don’t have John Doe’s number handy.

Via Twitter, I was alerted to Evernote. I immediately understood how it could help me, so I asked for a beta invite and was granted one pretty quickly. So far, I’ve transferred all of my hand written notes to Evernote, which is great. I can now search those notes, and hopefully find names, numbers, email addresses, etc., for stuff I have captured. Let’s hope anyway.

For my needs, Evernote’s primary appeal is that is is online (and thus visible via the web from any computer).  I’m not using it much more differently than I might use Wordpad to do the same thing, again, except that it saves my notebook online.  Evernote can create multiple notebooks, thus I suppose I could do a notebook per call, or maybe per property, but what I really want is one ginormous log, otherwise the effort to name each notebook I create would be too much effort to bother with. Sure it might be nice for indexing and such, but I don’t need that as much as I just want to be able to quickly search a name or address.

So I like just having one notebook.  This brings me to the desire for a super-handy feature of the notebook, which is to have individual journal entries that were time stamped, automatically. This would capture my phone log better. Far better. I’d definitely love that feature.  It looks like I want to use Evernote in a way it wasn’t intended to be used (today), but the notion of lots and lots of tiny notebooks, just to keep my phone log doesn’t make much sense to me.

At any rate, if you want to try out Evernote, I can shoot you a beta invite. Just let me know.  It definitely has a bunch of features I’m not using right now.  I’m hoping that when I win my iPhone, I’ll be using Evernote all the time when I’m on the go.