Tim Cimbura

Technology, Speaking, and Entertainment

Kids, Technology, and Facebook

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The other day I came across this story about a teacher:

The computer in my high school classroom recently started acting up. After watching me struggle with it, one of my students came up and took over the keyboard. “Your hard drive crashed,” he said.
I called the computer services office and explained, “My computer is down. The hard drive crashed.”
The help desk technician explained “We can’t just send people down on your say-so. How do you know that’s the problem?”
“A student told me,” I answered. “OK…We’ll send someone over right away.”

The point here is that kids “get technology”. Why? One big reason is because kids are not afraid to try new things. They just keep at it until they get it right. They also often have the luxury of time. They are open to learning.

I can’t believe how many adults fear Facebook.com. Recently, though, the population of Facebook users seems to be changing. Facebook started with young people on a college campus. Now many of my high school friends (that I haven’t seen for 20+ years) are joining. Even my mom joined Facebook. (Part of this was due to being somewhat blackmailed into it. If you ever want to see photos of the grandkids again…you need to join FaceBook.)

One question I get frequently is “Why should I join Facebook?”
I’ll answer in the form of a question “Do you value relationships with your friends and family…and your time?” If the answer is “yes”, I believe you should join Facebook. It’s free due to sponsored by advertisements that appear on the right side of the web page.

What is Facebook?
Facebook is also a great way to connect with people that you know and even people that you haven’t seen for a long time. Officially, it is called a “social networking” application. It’s kind of a personal web page and blog where you can interact with other people that also use Facebook. Facebook is a lot more controlled and legitimate than MySpace.com.

I use Facebook to connect with friends and family and to share what’s up. I’ve posted a bunch of photos on FaceBook to share with my Facebook buddies. The new version of iPhoto integrates with Facebook so it’s super easy to upload photos. There is a Facebook iPhone application so I can even update my page live from my phone and check on my friends as well while I’m on the road. Facebook helps you track birthdays, major events, and even find other people that live nearby or have common interests.

Once you begin connecting to many people via Facebook, it can become addictive. My wife and I were competing at one time to see who had more friends. Then she simply gave up. (To her credit I have 10 years more friends that she does…and a custom database I developed to keep track of them all.) Although Facebook can take a lot of your time, in the end I believe it saves you time. Why should you repeat the same story over and over to multiple friends? You can post your photos of your latest travels or family events and all your friends see it at once…and can even comment on it. It helps you to stay more connected with people around you that you value. Then when you do see your friends you can converse at a deeper level since they already are aware of the basics of what’s going on in your life.

When you know something about the personal lives of the people around you, it improves your work environment and fosters a culture where people care more about each other. Facebook will also allow you to create or join groups if you like for associations, clubs, fans, etc. Then you can automatically get notifications of events and things that may be of direct interest to you.

What’s a Friend?
There may be some confusion with Facebook regarding what a “friend” is. There are different levels of relationships you have in life but on Facebook they’re all called a friend. Facebook friends can consist of:

  • Close friends and family. Real friends.
  • Acquaintances or people you’ve recently run into.
  • People you want to maintain some minimal contact with such as people you haven’t seen in 20+ years. Maybe you’re curious to see what people are up to…and it may help to plan a reunion. Maybe you will rekindle a lost friendship.
  • Business connections…to get to know co-workers or contacts on a personal level.
  • Extended family…to find out who they are and get to know them a bit.

My Facebook Policies
To help me keep my sanity, I set some personal rules or policies for my usage of Facebook. They are:

  • I only connect with people that I actually know or have met in person. Occasionally, I will connect to a friend of a friend but I need to be sure that knowing about their lives will add value to my life. If someone posts annoying information, I can quietly and discreetly “defriend” them. Facebook doesn’t even tell them so as not to hurt their feelings.
  • I ignore almost all requests to add applications or play games. I don’t have time for that. “Trout slapping” and “poking” are not so much for me. I find a strength in the “Ignore” button. You can, too. Don’t feel obliged to join every cause that your friends are involved in.
  • My main Facebook photo is of me. It is not my kid, my dog, my favorite politician, or me with someone that might be confused with me. This makes it easy for people to identify who I am…even if they haven’t seen me for a long time.
  • I do not use Facebook purely as a marketing tool for my business. I have a genuine interest in using Facebook to get to know people and be social.
  • I do not post things on Facebook that I wouldn’t want anyone in the world to see. Even though there are privacy settings, Facebook is a public forum. Remember that potential employers may visit your Facebook page. Those embarrassing party photos may prevent you from getting a job in the future. Although Facebook has many privacy controls (and they are especially important for younger people), my privacy level is pretty open so that people can find me easily.
  • I maintain a clean and simple Facebook page so as not to confuse others or myself.

Here are some other Facebook tips that might help you:

  • When you post on someone’s wall everyone sees it. Avoid posting personal details about yourself or others that you do not what shared with all their friends or anyone that looks at their wall.
  • If you want to send someone a private e-mail, use a Message. If you want to be more direct, just send them an e-mail directly outside of Facebook. Often you can find your friend’s email address on their profile Info tab. This also helps you stay in contact if they change their e-mail address in the future.
  • Do not invite friends to message threads unless you know that they know the other people and are VERY interested in the topic. Currently, there is no way in Facebook to back out and remove yourself from a message thread. You just need to agree with everyone to stop chatting…and sometimes this is not easy…especially if you’ve never met the other people.
  • Look through your wall once in a while. If you see any inappropriate messages or photos that were posted by someone else, simply click on the Delete button next to each one.

I hope these ideas and tips help you make use of a great tool and help you overcome any fear of Facebook technology. Take the attitude of a kid and just try it out. The worst thing is that you decide it’s not for you. The best thing is that it improves your life. Hope to see you there.

More on Rejuvinating Idea Lists

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The more you understand about yourself and the people around you, the easier it will be to help them rejuvenate and maintain a healthy and lower stress life. Here are two more tools that you can add to your rejuvenate list:

(1) Strengths – These are the identified things that you are best at. When you work within your strengths and others support you in those strengths it helps you be the best that you can be. You can take an online strengths assessment that will provide you with this information and analysis. It can really help you with knowing where you might want to focus your energy in work and outside of work.

StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup’s Now, Discover Your Strengths — Marcus Buckingham

It is important that when you purchase this book you get a new (not used) copy. Each book includes a one-time use code that you enter on the web site to take the personalized strengths indicator.

(2) Love Languages

Another tool that you can add to your rejuvenate list is a listing of your love languages. To some people, a “love language” might sound all mushy and touchy feely, but it’s an important tool toward a happier life. Your love language is how you like to be loved. People express and receive love in different ways. Often we express love to others in the way that we like to be loved. Unfortunately, we might not be speaking a language that the other person understand. Dr. Gary Chapman identifies the five languages of love as: quality time, words of affirmation, gifts, acts of service, and physical touch.

Once you’ve identified how you and the people close to you like to be loved, you should post that for us as a reminder on our rejuvenate list so that we are more likely to remember and help to build them up by doing something about it.

Here are several of the “love language” books to help you understand and make use of these ideas:

25 Random Things About Tim – via FaceBook

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There’s this thing going around FaceBook lately suggesting you post 25 random things about you in an effort to get to know each other better. It’s pretty fun. You get to know yourself and others quicker. It’s a lot of conversation topics for the next time you get together. Here’s my stab at it…

1. I met my wife Brenda via eHarmony.com. (She wasn’t my wife at the time.) We lived only a mile away from each other and had common friends. We’re listed on their website as a success story.

2. I’ve had 18 teeth pulled and never had a cavity. It’s pretty easy to avoid cavities when you only have two teeth left. Seriously, I have 14% less teeth than most adults. I always ask for a discount when I get them cleaned. Dentists hate me. “Here’s some carmel corn. See you in a couple weeks.”

3. I speak fluent French and have spent about 6 months in France. I also took a couple of years of Spanish in school.

4. When I was 16 years old I had my jaws wired shut for almost eight weeks after having surgery to correct a severe overbite. (I was “buck tooth” as a kid and got harrassed.) During that time I could only drink liquids. I gained 4 pounds on a diet of ice cream, Carnation instant breakfasts, pureed soup, and fruit juice. I carried around wire cutters in case of emergency sickness.

5. I went scuba diving off the coast of the Mediterreanean Sea with only a 5 minute lesson in French and no training or certification.

6. I play trumpet, piano, and drums…with favorite music being jazz/blues/funk, musicals, dixieland, rock, and classical. I started piano lessons at the age of 5 from my grandmother who was already a 3rd generation teacher. Her grandmother had traded a horse for a square piano.

7. I’m a magician and juggler. I started performing for kindergarten classes when I was in second grade after learning a few tricks from my grandfather and with a good friend. By fifth grade, I was performing in front of the entire school.

8. I learned how to ride a unicycle at the age of 36 by hanging on (for dear life) to a rope stretched across my garage while attempting to balance. I now know that there are easier ways.

9. At the age of 16 I got my first computer programming job developing educational software for schools on the Apple II. I was making $4/hour. After starting my own business, I was featured in Infoworld magazine and the Star Tribune as a “real life whiz kid“.

11. I was introduced to the president of Apple Computer, John Sculley (formerly of PepsiCo) and didn’t even know who he was until he got up to give the keynote address. I’ve sat in Steve Jobs chair where he’s addressed Apple employees.

12. I worked selling althletic shoes and toys at Dayton’s in Rosedale. Dayton’s later became Marshall Field’s (owned by Target) and then Macy’s. My first day of work was the Daisy Sale. I gained a lot of respect for cashiers that day. I walked around practicing card tricks a lot of the down time. They didn’t provide any training on shoes…so I made it up. “What kind of shoe should I get?” “Do you like to do walk or run?” “I walk a lot.” “You should consider a walking shoe.”

13. I wrote a database that tracked every single item that appeared on the target.com website and another database that scheduled all the programming that is viewable on “Channel Red” in the entertainment section of Target stores.

14. I graduated from the University of Minnesota Intitute of Technology with a degree in electrical engineering and a minor in theater arts. This pretty much qualified me to be a robot in a musical. My advisor tried to discourage me from wasting my time with “those theater classes”. I graduated from college debt-free due to my consulting work.

15. I’ve visited the Grand Canyon several times and studied extensively how it was formed and what it can show us about the past.

16. My speaking topic “Child at Heart” was inspired by my grandparents, my kids, and my experiences in life. I’m passionate about bringing hope, laughter, and healthy innovative ideas to people.

17. My ancestor, Jan Cimbura had a book written about him because he was an upstanding citizen. The book was also made into a movie. I had it translated from Czech. Nearly every Cimbura in the world is related to me…though there are a few I wish that weren’t. The word “Cimbura” in Czech refers to a battlement or crenellation…the rampart built around the top of a castle with regular gaps for firing arrows or guns.

18. I have two precious daughters. Arianna Elizabeth Cimbura (meaning Holy Consecrated To God) and Brielle Madeleine Cimbura. (meaning Exhalted or Elevated…Madeleine is also a traditional sweet from France). They teach me a lot about life and give me tons of smiles and laughter every day. If we ever have two more daughters we’ll call them Brianna and Arielle…just to confuse everyone.

19. I was the first person to develop an application that allowed a personal computer to do magic tricks. I eventually updated this program to do several magical effects and based it on FileMaker Pro.

20. My handwriting was turned into a font. Some guy stole it and is selling it on his web site. I give the Tim Cimbura font away for free. Hopefully it makes him mad.

21. I went on a mission trip to Slovakia where I performed about 14 programs for the same audience at a kids summer camp. I brought over 150 tricks with me in one suitcase.

22. I love photography and won a contest to have one of my photos published on a calendar. I was also the cartoonist for our high school newspaper.

23. I work out at LifeTime Fitness about 4 times a week with group fitness classes like Hip Hop, Latin Fusion, Strike!, and kick boxing.

24. I was member of the year for the Minnesota National Speakers Association. I’ve been president of the Minnesota Fellowship of Christian Entertainers for many years.

25. I performed improv at ComedySportz during two workshops.

26. My Myers-Briggs profile is ENTJ (Extraverted Sensing Thinking Judging). I like that I’m in the same category as Steve Martin, Jim Carrey, and Harrison Ford.

27. My Strengths Assessment showed my top 5 strengths as:

Woo – people love the challenge of meeting new people and winning them over. They derive satisfaction from breaking the ice and making a connection with another person.

Learner – people have a great desire to learn and want to continuous
ly improve.

Positivity – people have an enthusiasm that is contagious. They are upbeat and can get others excited about what they are going to do.

Achiever – people have a great deal of stamina and work hard. They take great satisfaction from being busy and productive.

Significance – people want to have an impact on the lives of others and be recognized as a person that can help them achieve their goals.

28. I’ve traveled to: France, England, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Mexico, Portugal, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Canada, etc… and most of the U.S. (including North Dakota). I would love to travel just about everywhere else in the world.

29. I’m a Christian. I’ve had many doubts along the way as I struggled to understand the difficult questions and wondered how the Bible can work with scientific and historical facts. I’m always open to learning more…

30. I’d rather play sports than watch them. I played tennis and football in high school. I love biking, volleyball, swimming, and floor hockey. Dodgeball would be a lot of fun. Last year I ran my first 8K on a whim without any training. I was sore the next day.

31. I lost count of how many random things I was going to write somewhere in there.

Staycation Kit

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Here it is January 24th. It’s a cold, cold, cold day in Minnesota. Outside it’s around 11 degrees and it’s been cold for a few weeks. In fact, many people have colds. We’re pretty much stuck inside. It’s the time of year when most people in the northern states get the blues and lust for a warmer environment.

With the economy the way it is, many people have chosen to forego the family vacation to a sunny beach paradise. If you’re one of these people and you’ve cut the travel budget temporarily here’s exactly what you need: A complete “staycation kit” for under $100. If you are not aware, a “staycation” is a vacation that is spent at or nearby your home enjoying all that your present environs have to offer.

The point of all this is to get the feeling of being in a tropical paradise without actually going. It can be done. One key is to hit all the senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. When you do, you’ll feel more alive immediately.

Let’s get started. Most of what you’ll need you’ll already have around the house. A few things you’ll need to purchase. Gather the following items:
Beach Towel – Touch
Sunscreen – Smell and Touch
Pineapple juice, Coconut Cream, Orange juice, Rum flavor concentrate, Crushed ice (see recipes below) – Taste
Hawaiian Shaved Ice Party Package – Taste
Swimsuit, Shorts, Flip flops, Sunglasses
Hawaiian Shirt – Sight
Sunny Window – Sight and warmth

Waves The Best Caribbean Beaches and Hawaiian Dreams DVD – Sight and hearing
Glade Hawaiian Breeze Air Freshener – Smell
Jet X20 video game for PS2 or Kawasaki Jet Ski video game for PS2 – Sight and hearing
Palm Trees (optional) – Sight
Sea shells (optional) – Sight and touch
Add a couple of kids under the age of 10 and you’ll really add to the fun and realism (optional)

The best time to do this is during the afternoon. Put on your swimming suit, flip flops, and sunglasses. You’re going on an adventure right at home. Find the sunniest spot in your house…a window with the sun pouring in. Turn the thermostat up to 75 degrees and it’l be warmer than it is in Florida right now! Place the palm tree next to the TV and insert the Waves DVD. Grab your beach towel and lay it out on the carpet. Now spray the glade in the air for a tropical smell, slather on some sunscreen, and lay out for a while. Let the sound of the ocean and warmth of the sun soothe you. Read a book if you like on your beach.

After a good relaxation, get out the ingredients to make some refreshing tropical drinks.

Pina Colada (virgin, non-alcoholic)
7 oz Pineapple Juice
2 oz Coconut Cream
1 cup crushed ice
Add the pineapple juice, coconut cream and crushed ice to a blender; blend at high speed. Pour into glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry, a pineapple wedge, and serve.

Blue Hawaiian (virgin, non-alcoholic)
4 oz. Pineapple Juice
3 oz. Coconut Cream
1 oz. Orange juice concentrate
1 cup crushed ice
6 drops Rum Flavor Concentrate
Blue food coloring
Blend with crushed ice to desired consistency. Garnish with a pineapple slice and serve.

Another option is to make your own Hawaiian Shave Ice. You could even make a picnic lunch to eat on your private island or call “room service” and get a pizza delivered (Domino’s nearby?).

Our kids took this to the next level. They easily went along with the charade without even thinking. It was just another fun game for them…”the Hawaiian beach game”. They even used their imaginations to blow up a inner tube and jump into the water. (The shower is really near by.)

As you stimulate your senses, you’ll feel what it’s like to be in a tropical paradise without all the expense and hassle of traveling…at least for an afternoon. I highly promote travel to a warm destination. It’s definitely the best experience overall but sometimes it isn’t practical financially or in your schedule and the right thing is to stay home. These staycation ideas give you some of the fun. This may not help the economy but it will surely help your spirits.

Take lots of photos and don’t forget the Sunless Tanner when you go back to work to make everyone jealous of your time in the sun.

P.S. My wife and I also used the Waves DVD on a staycation anniversary celebration at a hotel nearby the Mall of America. It was dark outside and the sound of the waves really made us feel like the ocean was right outside our window even though it was in the middle of winter. The whirlpool hot tub helped, too.

Process Improvement and Thinking Outside the Door

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I often complete projects around the house. I like to think of myself as quite the handyman. I learned a lot growing up from my grandfathers about electricity, carpentry, plumbing, etc. The latest project was replacing of all the door handles to some nickel egg-shaped ones that are more trendy and stylish. Once complete, there was another pressing project. Replace all the door HINGES to match. I tend toward perfectionism and it really bothered me that they weren’t the same metal. There were somewhere around 60 hinges to replace on 20 doors…about 3-5 hours I estimated.

I’ve removed a door before by popping the pins on the hinges. It seemed pretty simple to replace the hinges the same way. So my first 5 doors went like this:
PROCESS 1
Requirements: 1 people, hammer, screwdriver, nail to help pop pin, drill (with screwdriver tip)
Time: 15 minutes/door
1. Pop the pins from the door.
2. Remove door.
3. Remove hinges from door and jamb.
4. Remove pins from new hinges.
5. Remove door and set to the side.
6. Install new hinges on the door and jamb.
7. Place door back up with the help of my wife.
8. Replace pins.

After a while, my wife got tired of helping so I thought of a way to do it on my own. Luckily, she was easily replaceable…by a folded newspaper that I slipped under the door to hold it up at the right height. (She is not replaceable by a newspaper in all circumstances.) I felt pretty smart about this process improvement. I also thought about the pin popping…maybe I didn’t need to do that either. So I eliminated one worker, some tools, and made the job simpler and faster:
PROCESS 2
Requirements: 1 person, drill, newspaper
Time: 10 min/door
1. Insert folded newspaper under door.
2. Remove 3 hinges from door and jamb.
3. Remove door and set to the side.
4. Install new hinges on the door.
5. Attach door hinges to jamb carefully while balancing on newspaper.
And so went the next 10 doors… I had a little helper during this period. Brielle would pick up the loose screws and place them into a little bag. It kept her busy.

Nearing the end of the job, my older daughter (4) Arianna showed up.
“Daddy, What are those?”
“They’re hinges.”
“Why are you taking off all the hinges?”
“Because I need to replace them all.”

Her question “Why?” is a common one for kids. It made me think for a moment. Why WAS I taking off ALL the hinges? Hmmm…Why not take off only one hinge…at a time? I tried it and it totally simplified the process:
PROCESS 3
Requirements: 1 person, drill
Time: 5 minutes/door
1. Remove one hinge
2. Replace the hinge
3. Repeat two more times.
You see, when you only remove one hinge at a time, the other two hinges hold the door in place! It was so simple and fast that I actually felt stupid at the end…that I had wasted my time doing almost all the other doors the hard way.

It required the outside perspective of my little girl to give me the new solution. I was so close to the problem and thinking about how I had done things in the past that it wasn’t obvious how to improve it. It wasn’t even that she exactly knew what the right solution was…but she did know what question to ask to make me think of it.

If you’re looking for creativity, it often helps to ask a child. If you can explain it to them then you must understand the problem pretty well. Defining the problem well is the first step. Then listen with an open mind to what solution they propose. It may lead you to the next big idea…a solution that could really help you.

2008 Movie Recommendations

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Here are our movie picks for 2008. They are clean films with good messages that will often make you laugh or cry. These are films we personally viewed in 2008, not necessarily those that were released in 2008. Enjoy…

Bambi II — Playful story of Bambi coming of age and father and son relationship with the importance of friendship.

Dan in Real Life — This is my favorite movie of 2008. It’s a funny, touching, and intriguing story about a widower and his struggle with love and family.

Enchanted — What happens if the real world collides with the cartoon princess world? A humorous look at real life and fantasy with big production numbers, great special effects and a good message. Kids will love it (although there are some scary parts) and adults will understand it all.

Get Smart — Really funny film about a secret agent that has just the bad luck that makes everything funny. I was laughing so hard I cried during the airplane bathroom scene. There are a couple of unnecessary swear words.

Heidi — A little orphan girl changes the hearts of many as she enters their lives.

High School Musical — Think “Grease” but cleaner.

High School Musical 2 — Clean, fun entertainment with lots of singing and dancing

Hope Floats — Cute romantic comedy about rebuilding life after hardship.

Horton Hears a Who — Funny, funny, funny with a great message. I laughed out loud with this film…and there is a great story that holds your interest. Many “Child at Heart” themes run through the story.

Kung Fu Panda — This is my second favorite film of the year. Fun and funny movie about an unlikely Panda with a dream to become a Kung Fu fighter.

Martian Child — Great film about a widowed science fiction writer that adopts a kid that thinks he’s from Mars.

Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium — If you can suspend your disbelief long enough to get into this film, you’ll learn some great lessons about life from a kids view.

Nancy Drew — Fun mystery film with enough suspense and action.

No Reservations — A heartwarming story about a chef who learns about life and priorities through tough circumstances and a little girl.

The Game Plan — Movie about a football player and what he learns from his unknown daughter.

The Kid — Great film about what a successful image consultant learns about life from a kid.

The Nanny Diaries — A funny and engaging story of finding yourself and adjusting life priorities.

Underdog — Fun adventure with a canine super hero. Our kids loved it.

Why Did I Get Married? — An amazing look at real relationships. It will make you laugh, cry, and think.

Goodbye DayTimer…Hello iPhone

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I’ve been a faithful user of paper-based calendars for the past 20+ years. Even as someone who is really into technology gadgets, I’ve avoided them in this part of my life to keep things simple. I never wanted to deal with the syncing disasters, battery hassles, and other issues I saw people struggle with on a regular basis. Well, I simply don’t need the paper anymore. I’ve finally found an electronic equivalent that works reliably and easily. It’s my iPhone. The iPhone has come of age. As of today, it’s even available at Walmart!

I live by my calendar. I need it to keep track of many appointments and events so it must be reliable. I have built up the level of trust with my iPhone over the last 6 months. I even use it to schedule fun in my day. I schedule times to go juggle with a friend and my oasis activities that rejuvenate me like working out at the health club. With the event on the calendar, I am more likely to complete those activities. The rejuvenating activities are just as important as my work activities because they keep me healthy and happy. I am also able to prioritize things better when I know I already have an activity that is important to me scheduled for that time.

The iPhone interface is so intuitive that even my kids totally understand it. Even my 2 year old can navigate and find any application they want without any instruction. So I got a couple of special games for them that they can use, for example, when we’re waiting for a doctor appointment. They are “ABC Animals” that shows ABC flash cards and gives them a chance to practice writing their letters and “Adventure” that includes some fun pre-school games where they can learn shapes, colors, etc.

My original iPhone investment was $200…the same as the cost of my old Motorola Razr a few years ago. I couldn’t wait to get rid of that piece of junk when my contract ran out. The size of the Razr was nice enough but the interface was awful. I was forced to scroll through up to three entries for each person in my address book just to find their phone number. Now, with the iPhone, finding a phone number is usually only a few simple finger flicks away. In addition, it seems that nearly every other day some new application becomes available that totally makes my original investment even more valuable. To those of you who are contemplating an iPhone purchase, I’m providing the lists below of all the iPhone applications I use regularly…so far.

Oh, and by the way, don’t forget that the iPhone also works as a phone!

Built-in applications I use nearly every day:

  • Calculator – Handy to have with you always
  • Calendar – Keeping work appointments and important events. I also share calendars with the family by using Google calendars so we can coordinate baby-sitting schedules, etc.
  • Camera – Take a shot and view it in the photo album
  • Clock – Time in multiple time zones
  • Contacts – All contacts are entered on my computer and automatically synced to the iPhone with other important information.
  • iPod / iTunes – Selected songs and podcasts I have with me always
  • Mail – Email
  • Maps – Turn by turn directions that follow your position and traffic info
  • Phone – Use the iPhone as a phone!
  • Safari – Explore nearly any internet web site
  • Voice Memo – Record quick voice snippets and sync with iTunes or email them
  • Weather – Get the temp and current forecast in your area
  • YouTube – Watch videos

Other important applications:

  • AroundMe – Find almost any important type of business around you (anywhere you are) like restaurants, gas stations, coffee shops, hospitals, parking, taxis, theaters, etc.
  • YouVersion Bible – The good book with multiple versions and daily readings
  • FaceBook – Keep in touch with friends and family
  • Google – Voice search of the internet
  • FlightTrack – Get more information about a flight and where it is than the people in the air
  • Google Earth – Visit details of nearly anywhere on our planet
  • GPS Tracker – Keep track of where you’ve been on a bike ride
  • LinkedIn – Track business contacts
  • Mobile News – Associated Press articles ready at the moment
  • Movies or Fandango – See what’s playing in theaters near you
  • PayPal – Send money electronically to people
  • Pocket Aid – First Aid and CPR instructions ready always
  • Shazam – Automatically recognizes songs on the radio just by listening a few seconds.
  • Starmap or Starry Night Mobile – Identify nearly anything in the sky
  • TiVo Mobile – Schedule recordings of TV programs at home from anywhere
  • WhitePages – White pages phone directory
  • YPmobile – Yellow pages phone directory
  • Amazon.com – Very cool app that will identify books just by taking a photo of the cover
  • Dominos Pizza – Order and track where your pizza is in the process
  • Chipotle – Order and jump to the front of the line
  • USA Today and FOX Sports – News
  • Currency – Convert money amounts around the world

Just for fun:

  • Cookbook – Betty Crocker’s recipes on the phone
  • Aerolite Free – Asteroids game
  • WildWest – Great pinball game
  • Cowbell Plus – iPhone percussion instruments
  • Cro-Mag – Racing game with cave-man theme
  • DigiLite – Digital drum set
  • GalaxyImpact – Little Brick Out for the iPhone
  • iXmas Tree – Decorate your virtual tree
  • Lightsaber – Star Wars saber fights
  • Zippo Lighter – Virtual lighter
  • iChess Lite – Play chess
  • myLite – Flashlight
  • Night Stand – The iPhone becomes a digital alarm clock
  • Pac-man Lite – The real game from the 80s
  • GalagaRemix – One of my favorite old arcade games
  • Relax – Create a virtual environments anytime…campfire, mountain stream, under the sea, etc.
  • RotaryDialer – The old dialing method available today
  • Sol Free – Free solitaire game
  • Wings – Fly over mountains and virtual scenery
  • Decibel – Meter to see how loud that music is
  • StopWatch – Great way to track time
  • Clinometer – Ultra level. See exactly how your iPhone is positioned.
  • iHeartRadio – Listen to internet radio stations easily

Techy Applications:

  • LogMeIn – Control computers remotely from the iPhone
  • Snap – See all the devices (printers, computers, etc.) on your local network
  • Air Sharing – Copy PDF, Word, Excel and other files to your iPhone
  • MobileFiles – Access your MobileMe iDisk on your iPhone
  • FMTouch – Sync a FileMaker database to your iPhone

Web sites designed for the iPhone:

  • Fedex Mobile – http://fedex.com/mobile – Track packages
  • Google Translate – http://translate.google.com – Automatically translate foreign language phrases
  • Weather Underground – http://wunderground.com – Get radar weather
  • US Bank – http://m.usbank.com – Great way to bank online via the phone
  • and many others…

More iPhone fun:

  • Remote – Use to control slides during a Keynote presentation
  • Crazy Candle – A birthday candle you can blow or shake out
  • Crazy Mouth – Place in front of your mouth for some funny stuff
  • EyeTricks – Optical illusions
  • iMilk or iSoda – Drink virtual milk or pop
  • iMunchies – Eat virtual popcorn
  • Walt Disney World maps, wait times, and dining – For our family trip

(Theses lists were updated 10/3/09…since technology changes a lot.)

Christmas Eve

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We’re away for Christmas visiting my wife’s family in a small town in rural Minnesota on Christmas Eve. After a delicious and filling meal, we went to the local church service. Being a small town with limited resources, we were not prepared to be wowed by amazlingly talented singers or a dramatic rendering of the Christms story with live animals in a nativity scene. We thought it might be simpler. For our kids, Arianna (4) and Brielle (2), this would be their first “grown-up” candlelight Christmas service.

As we entered the church, we were each handed a candle. It was an environment where only whispering was appropriate as we waited for the program to begin. It’s difficult to explain to kids the need to be quiet. Their favorite question comes up “Why?” “Because.” We sat down in our row and the girls eagerly awaited. Arianna leaned over to me and said “Dad, This is going to be awesome.”

The choir sang traditional Christmas songs and they read the story of the birth of Christ from the Bible. Then they served communion. Usually, our girls are in their own version of child care “church” so this was the first time ever for the girls to see this activity. They passed a plate by with bread. I gave one small piece of bread to each daughter and then passed the plate on. Brielle immeditately said out loud “Can I have some more?!”. Then they passed juice in mini-cups. My wife made eye contact with me, clearly communicating without a word, that the juice was not for the girls. This was an attempt to avoid grape stains on the kids new Christmas clothes. So, I passed the juice plate on to the next person skipping by the kids. Arianna then said out loud “I want a snack, too daddy!” Note to self: Kids do not have a whisper level built-in.

It’s a delicate balance between controlling your kids by telling them what is expected (to be quiet) and avoiding a complete meltdown that will make them turn up the volume 10 times. So now, we were stuck with kids that wanted “a snack” like everyone else. We pulled out the emergency rations from the diaper bag: “Princess Fruit Snacks”. It’s amazing how every crinkle and pop of opening a plastic bag can reverberate throughout the church.

The service was quaint. It wasn’t polished and perfected, but the substance was there. There were some special moments like when they lit the “candle of hope”…and it went out and later when the choir sang “How great our joy! Joy! Joy! Joy!” …and not one of them had a smile on their face. For Brielle, not understanding why her candle couldn’t be lit was the tipping point. She was quickly exited from the room.

I realize that my biggest worry during the service was what people would think of our daughters. Are they well-behaved? For their age, I believe they were. They’re kids after all. They should be allowed to act that way…and we should be OK with that. I’m sure Jesus would welcome them. He even said to bring the young children to him. We were there to celebrate Christ’s birth through a worship service. Amazingly, Jesus was a kid at his birth. In a special way, we’re all kids, too. We make mistakes and speak too loudly all too often.

That evening there were a lot of smiles generated in our row. I hope that as our kids get older we keep those smiles. Was it awesome? “Yes…Arianna, it was.”

Rejuvenating

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In my last post, I mentioned a tool called the “Rejuvenate List”. It has helped me and my family to live a higher quality life. Nearly everyone has a life that requires work…and work can get tiresome…after all it is work. For kids, positive life activities like play, fun, laughter come naturally. Rejuvenating is a process that helps to renew you with youthful vigor.

As adults, we have responsiblities and so these positive (or rejuvenating) activities often require a conscience effort on our part to build them into our lives. The more you are able to build rejuvenating activities into your life, the healthier and happier you will be. So it is important to know what things rejuvenate you and then to communicate that information about yourself to the people around you. That way, they can help support you in achieving something rejuvenating every day.

The process of creating your own personal rejuvenating list will help you to identify what things in your life build you up and give you more energy. Often these things are interests that you had as a kid and have grown into a lifelong passion. Sometimes you will aquire new interests that you find really rejuvenate you.

Think about the things in your life that you love to do. When was the last time you got a chance to do them? You owe it not only to yourself to make that a priority, but to others as well. It’s not selfish. In fact, being healthy and living a balanced life is the best thing you can do for others because it puts you in the best position to help them and make their lives better. In short, you need to rejuvenate daily to be the best person you can be.

Here’s a list of some activities you might list to get you started: Aerobics, Acting, Archery, Art, Astronomy, Badminton, Ballet, Baseball/Softball, Basketball, Bicycling, Boating, Body Building, Cars, Camping, Chess, Dancing, Clubs, Collecting, Computers, Concerts, Cooking, Diving, Fishing, Fitness, Golf, Hockey, Hiking, History, Horse Riding, Martial Arts, Music, Movies, Museums, Musical Instruments, Painting/Drawing, Pets/Animals, Photography, Reading, Running, Roller/In-line/Ice Skating, Sailing, Scouting, Shopping, Skiing, Snowboarding, Soccer/Rugby, Swimming, Ping Pong, Tennis, Theater, Travel, Video Games, Volleyball, Walking, Wind Surfing

Rejuvenating isn’t only about physical activities. It could mean taking a relaxing bath, a 20 minute nap, getting a massage, talking with friends, etc. For some people, it may be a time of prayer or solitude that helps you to refocus and prioritize life.

Here’s my personal rejuvenating list:

  • Alone quiet time in the morning air
  • Hip Hop, Latin, and Kick Boxing aerobics
  • Bike rides and walks around the lake
  • Sunshine and swimming
  • Being encouraged and appreciated
  • A day off from work with nothing to do
  • Getting outside and moving, feeling the expanse, looking up after sitting in front of a computer all day
  • Listening to an inspiring podcast, sermon, or music
  • Performing close-up magic
  • Practicing magic or juggling
  • Playing piano, trumpet, or drums…singing with Brenda and kids
  • Playing sports like volleyball, football, etc.
  • Playing with our kids
  • Watching live theater or jazz concert
  • Creating or building something new

Have your spouse, kids, or close friends create lists as well. Now take your lists and compare them for common activities. You may be surprised at what you learn about yourself and those around you. Anything that both you and your spouse (or entire family) enjoy together is a win-win! You can do those activities together and build you both up at the same time.

My spouse and I have the following rejuvenating activities in common:

  • Accomplishing things on my To Do list
  • Time with good friends
  • Traveling
  • Dancing
  • Having a clean and organized house
  • Seeing nature…a park
  • Getting a massage
  • Love and dating my wife
  • Watching clean comedy or a funny movie
  • Family time
  • Taking time for spiritual needs

I even write down those things I know the kids love, because it increases the likelihood that I, as a father, will make time to do those things with them and foster an environment that promotes those activities. Make a covenant with your partner and family to support each other to make these events happen more often in your lives.

Make your list today and post it on your fridge so everyone can see it. It can even be a conversation starter when friends come to your home. At the end of your day, look back. What did you truly enjoy doing today? How did it change your outlook on life?

Your Personal Oasis

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Today was a bitter cold and snowy day in Minnesota. It was only 2 degrees. It could warm up 31 degrees and just be freezing! The commute was awful. My wife spent nearly 3 hours driving in icy stop-and-go traffic. I shoveled the driveway twice. Add this stress to the normal workday, taking care of the kids, and all the things people do to get ready for the holidays and you’ve got reason to be crabby and frustrated with life.

That’s why, at 6 pm in somewhat blizzard conditions, the family piled in the car and we headed for Life Time Fitness and Marlena Nord’s Latin Fusion aerobics class. We listened to great music in the car. When we arrived, we put the kids into their excellent child care. We know the staff well and our kids love to get to run around in the gym and have fun just as if they’re outside in the middle of our Minnesota winter. They even have a setup of computers so the kids can get some “homework” time in…they’re only 2 and 4 years old. After the kids were settled in, mom and dad were on their way to a much needed break in the day.

Our aerobics instructor, Marlena, is from Venezuela and was born to dance. She is about the most positive and encouraging person you can meet. It’s as if she brings the sunshine with her wherever she goes. She even taught Donny Osmond how to “baila” (Spanish for dance) on TV.

I’ve been taking classes from Marlena for around 15 years and there is a reason I keep going back. Her classes are good for my health and fun! So, this Tuesday night in the middle of our week, for one hour, my wife and I were treated to Marlena’s instructions and upbeat latin music while we attempted to move our bodies in a somewhat similar fashion. It wasn’t always pretty on our side. There was a lot of laughter and smiling when we messed up or couldn’t follow, but the point is that we tried. We did something good for our bodies, we learned something new, and… the big one here… we had FUN at the same time. Exercise should be fun! If it isn’t, you’re a lot less likely to do it and gain any benefits from it. Taking care of yourself is a lifestyle and this class is something that is easy to build into the day. Another aerobics instructor from Life Time, Charmel always says “There are 1440 minutes in each day. I only need you to shake it up, be present, and not care how you look for 60 of them.” It’s true. It’s a small “sacrifice” for the benefits you gain.

A great separator in life are the people that get started. You don’t need to wait until new years resolutions to try it. Today is the best time. Don’t put it off. There will always be an excuse for not doing it. Get over it and do it today.

Another oasis in the week is Shannon Bruce’s hip hop aerobics class (also at Life Time Fitness) which I’ve been attending on a regular basis for four years. Shannon has an incredible ability to break down complex dance moves so that nearly anyone can follow them. You might not think that a 43 year guy would be into hip hop, but I am. There are people of many ages and, surprisingly untypical, there’s even a physics professor from the University! What these folks all have in common is a “Child at Heart” spirit. They are willing to take a risk at looking silly in order to try something new that will help keep them young and have fun doing it at the same time! In the process you can also build some great friendships.

The group fitness classes at Life Time work for my advantage through motivation and fun. I’m motivated by the teachers and the other people in the class. I believe that if they can do it, I can, too. The fun makes the time go by quickly. Since my brain is working all the time to try and follow the steps, it doesn’t get overly repetitive. By committing myself to working out regularly and eating right, I was able to lose 25 pounds and help control my high-cholesterol level naturally. The important point is to find what healthy activities are fun for you.

Your oasis is the part of your day you look forward to. It’s a reward for work well done. It keeps you going. It refreshes you. You are rejuvenated. An oasis is a gift to yourself. It’s something somewhat unexpected that you find each day.

I look at my exercise routine as an oasis. I will make a valiant effort to get there 3-5 times a week not just because my doctor said I should to stay healthy, but because it is my oasis. I look forward to it like beautiful palm trees and a serene quiet pool of clear water in the middle of a desert. I know that afterward, I will be renewed…and I didn’t even have to get on a plane to do it.

At the end of your day you can look back and say to yourself…”I’m so glad that I lived today…if just for that refreshment. The rest of the day was just a bonus.”

You can build other oases (plural) into your day. Hot cocoa after shoveling snow is an oasis. Laughing at a funny movie is an oasis. Playing piano or trumpet is another oasis for me. Anything that is enjoyable and builds you up can be your oasis. I have a tool called the “Rejuvenate List” that can help you in this regard. More about that in a future post. Kids naturally do things that build them up every day. Their jobs are to play. For adults we need to consciously build it into our day or we’ll skip it and get burnt out quickly.

What is your personal oasis today?