Might I Schill for someone else for a moment?

I know, I know I keep swearing in public how I hate music and such, and while that is clearly tounge and cheek, I do find it a very hard subject to talk about with most people. With all that said, can I maybe...just maybe implore you to go and give Damezumari a chance?

See I am not convinced that they are going to be the cup of tea that most of my friends would enjoy*, but I spend an unhealthy amount of time listening to them on the internets, and they have just made their entire catalog available for download. This makes me over the moon happy. Not because it's for free download**, but because their records are very very difficult to track down and they don't tour. Also they sound like some nice fellows who put some thought into what they are doing, and you can't really ask for much more then that.

What's that, you want to know my favorite songs by the band? Sure I can do that.

Gravity is a Choice
Second Chance
A Bitter Means to a Bitter End
The Mark on the Wall
Becoming Instead of Just Being.

Those are just a few of the bands many many great songs. So yeah, if you enjoy it great. If not...well OK, that's fair.

*I like a good Rooibos fruit infused tea or a nice mint tea should you want to buy me some.

**Truth be told every time I look at a record distro I look for their stuff, and would be more then happy to pay full price for all of it.

Photos

I have been a huge slacker in the photography department this summer. I think the biking obsession got in the way a bit. Plus at my core I can only have so many hobbies that I am really pursuing, and since I will continue to play guitar constantly, either the biking or the photography will suffer.

Well this past Saturday, there were some Cyclocross races down in Harbor Town. I figured it would be a nice chance to take some photos. I was a bit suprised to see so many of my friends competing. My friend Charlie was sporting his new team colors.

Anyways, here some photos from that day.

Verizon Droid

Let me start of by saying that I am 100% in love with my droid. I feel it was the perfect phone for me, and my needs. I do not think it is the perfect phone for everyone. I feel that for the non-power user the iPhone might still be the best phone out there.

Some things that I think the iPhone has over the Droid.

1) The camera on the iPhone is a million times better. The camera on the droid so far has given me terrible results. However I couldn't care less about this. I'll explain why later.

2) I am willing to bet that searching the iPhone app store from the phone and web is actually a bit better then from android. Not a huge deal, but there is room for improvement. Like say being able to filter out pay or free apps after a search like "Terminal"


My expeirence with iPhone is pretty limited since I have never owned one and only used my friends phones, but some things I am in love with about the droid where the iPhone comes up short.

1) I don't really do much on Facebook, but the Facebook integration into contact is the win. I only wish you could add a face book account to someone in the case where there Facebook name is different from what you call them.* Due to this feature I don't really need the camera to work very well b/c It will simply use my friends Google or Facebook profile photo. No real need for me to have the camera.

2) If you are one the desciples of Google, the integrated Google Contacts, Calendar, and Email is 100% the win. There is another Google app that deserves it's very own bullet point.

3) Google Voice for the win. I can't say this strongly enough. While Google voice is still only in BETA and invite only, it has changed the way in which I view my phone. It allows me to have it take over all of my SMS and Voice Calling. To put this in perspective, you can in theory use zero minutes and zero SMS messages if you use a Google Voice number. FOR THE WIN.

4) VPN support out of the box. Well kind of anyways. I have yet to figure out how to get this working with CISCO VPN. I will have it solved before to long though.

5) It runs Linux. Look...this matters to me. Deal with it.


Overall for the non IT/Software Developer set, the iPhone is most likely still the phone for you. If your a youngster not super interested in technology or extreme control over your device, get the iPhone. There is nothing wrong with it. It's a VERY solid device. However if your the type who wants to be able to admin a server remotely and deal with your corprate life as well as your social life all from one phone, then the droid is the win.

*I am looking at you Alissa

On Cell Phones

Maybe it's because I really like the idea of many business competing for our dollars, but this warms the cockles of my heart. Whatever the reason may be, this is a good thing.