Just Write

Before my iPhone, I never purchased a case for any of my prior mobile phones. I never felt the need, and the options were always very bland. With the popularity of the iPhone, the shear number of case and accessory options is quite astounding. In fact, there are so many options, and the number of review sites covering those options, it’s hard to make a decision. I’ve gone through 4 different cases already, and now my wife and I both have what will be our last case (by perhaps not last case color) for our iPhones.

After talking to my friend Travis, a case designer with Otterbox, he suggested that we give the Commuter TL a try. After doing more research on the case at various online outlets, I decided that it was worth a shot. I ordered a red one for me and a yellow one for my wife, only to be told later they look like ketchup and mustard. Perhaps a new insert is needed?

We’ve been using the cases for about 4 months now, and we both absolutely love them. They are easy to remove if you feel the need, yet provide plenty of coverage and protection. There’s a clear swatch on the back to let the Apple logo show through, and cutouts for all of the important elements. Most importantly, the way the enclosure provides an opening for the speakers means you aren’t forced to deal with the echo that so many iPhone cases provide.

Otterbox has likely earned a lifetime customer. As long as we own a phone that Otterbox caters to, we’ll be wrapping our phones in their sleek, functional cases. If you don’t own an iPhone, don’t fret. Otterbox provides cases for a number of smart phones and other mobile phones. Check them out at www.otterbox.com to see what your options are.

Editor’s note: Although I’m just now publishing this review, I would like to add that we plan on purchasing an iPad as early as tomorrow and we’ll be eagerly awaiting the release of the Otterbox Commuter and Defender series of iPad cases.

The title says it all.  Taken with a Flip Ultra portable camcorder, I unbox and prepare to charge our new camcorder, the Canon Vixia HF2o.  More to come once it’s ready to use, and I figure out what the heck I’m doing with it. Of course, now that I have our Just Write youtube account setup, I’ve already charged and taken a sample video with the new camcorder. I’ll post more as we get the chance to test it out further.

In the spring and summer, I find that we spend much less time playing video games and watching tv because we’re outside playing sports or working in the yard.  Our gaming consoles lay dormant, begging for some sort of activity.  The same can’t be said for our wireless phones.  I find that, while we don’t game much at home when it’s nice outside, we now spend more time gaming away from home.

Waiting in line at the grocery store, DMV, or movie theater?  That’s not the test of our patience that it once was.  Now, we get out our wireless phones and pull up our favorite game to kill time that previously would have spent looking for a clock and muttering the unspeakable under our breaths.

With wireless phones and devices that are more powerful than the computers and gaming consoles we played as children, you can almost always have your favorite game in hand, ready for the next time you’re stuck waiting.

Where do you game?

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again (and will keep on saying it).  Our family is incredible.  Be it the Gilligan side, or this weekend the Bennett side, our family always goes above and beyond to let us know that we’re loved and that everyone else is as excited as we are for the new addition coming to our family in September.

On 7/11/09, the Bennetts and the Fairweathers threw Amy another amazing baby shower.  This weekend held significance, not only for the fact that another baby shower was thrown, but also because the boys were given an opportunity to meet up.

While the women gathered to enjoy delicious food made by my mom and sister, share gifts, and tell stories, the men had a get together planned at Darcy’s Pint, a great Irish pub with the best Horseshoe you’ll ever eat.  When we were about 20 minutes outside of town, I received a call that my grandpa Fairweather was in a fair amount of pain, and not up to going out to lunch.  After dropping off Amy and my mother-in-law, I spoke with my uncle and cousin, and then made a trip over to my other grandfather’s home to pick him up.

After striking out on ordering pizzas from a few local establishments, we decided a quick trip to Subway for a round of $5-Footlongs would make the most sense, and get us to our destination the quickest.  1 footlong Turkey sub and 4 footlong Meatball subs later and we were on our way to New Berlin, IL to spend an afternoon with the guys.

It turned out to be a perfect afternoon.  We had lunch and then sat around and talked for a couple of hours while the shower was winding down.  There were 3 generations of Bennett men, and 3 generations of Fairweather men all told, with my dad, both of my grandfathers, my uncle Andy, cousin Nick, and cousin Sean in attendance.  We cut up, shared some laughs – some at each others’ expense – and genuinely enjoyed each others’ company.

I also was afforded the opportunity of spending a good hour and a half in the car with my grandpa Bennett.   I learned so much in that short period of time. It’s rare that just the two of us get to sit and chat.  We of course talked about Cardinals baseball and reflected on when I worked for him for a few summers as a child.  Our conversation covered the gamut of  subjects and made 7/11/09 ad day I won’t soon forget.

I introduced my Grandpa Bennett to my iPhone 3G, Bluetooth speakerphone in our ‘08 Nissan Altima, and clued him in to just how big of a geek I really am.  Geek or not, the technology came through in a pinch and allowed us to get everyone to the same location in a matter of minutes, and kept us from wasting time trying to get lunch from places that weren’t yet open.

Thank you to my Mom and my sister Christy for putting together a great baby shower, and also to my aunt and uncle Cheryl and Andy for hosting the event at their home.  Thank you to all of the guys for being flexible and making it possible for our lunch to go off without a hitch.

Check out the Just Write gallery for pictures that will be added as soon as everyone sends them my way and I have a chance to consolidate them.

Beta

Our site is in what I would refer to as an invite-only beta.  While the domain justwritestl.com is live, and anyone that wants to can conceivably access the site, I’ve only shared it with a few people.  The trusted few – you know who you are – are family and friends who will give honest feedback and provide constructive criticism. Then, there’s my mom.  She’ll no doubt help bolster my ego as opposed to critiquing the site with an unbiased slant.

I want to know what’s not working, what doesn’t look right, and what you would like to see on this site as it expands.  If there’s something you like, let me know that too, but I’m mainly looking for ways to improve these fledgling pages.

If you’re reading this now, you’re likely part of the aforementioned trusted few. That, or you’ve stumbled across a social bookmark or some SEO razzle-dazzle I pulled.  Please, take a moment to add a comment or two to any of the blog postings.  Check out the Contact page and fire us an email.  Shoot us an IM when that functionality is available. By all means, bookmark us anywhere you deem relevant.  If someone else has a family blog you think we could benefit from checking out, send that our way,

And if you’re a Mac addict, and have suggestions as to the best editing tools for a Mac, let us know.  I know Photoshop has quite the following, but if there’s a better value that will allow me to create precision custom imagery for our site to replace the current basic look and feel, I want to trial it if possible.

On June 28th, I created the Just Write website as a home on the web for Amy and I to post our thoughts, pictures, videos, and experiences for the benefit of our family and friends. The initial publish of the website was hosted through Apple’s Mobile Me and written using iWeb ‘09. While iWeb allowed me to quickly publish our website, it made it difficult for me to ensure that the website was authentic to Amy and I, and to make it Just Write, so to speak.

On July 7th I decided to sign up for hosting services using Just Host, and initialized the new Just Write blog using Wordpress. The next three entries are what I moved from our original blog, posted on June 28th, June 30th, and July 3rd.

Enjoy, and keep the comments coming. I hope to have the next iteration of the beta release of Just Write up and running in a few days. In the mean time, check out our blog and let us know what you think.

EAVB_IIXISJEHYZ

Our iMac - Tweetdeck install

On June 16, 2009, we made a fundamental switch in how we manage our digital lives. That was the day we ordered our 24” iMac, the day our dying Windows-based PC became an afterthought, used only to transfer our important financial files, photo and music collections. That was the day our conversion began.

When Amy’s laptop died a few months back, and my desktop became increasingly slow – to the point that even checking email became a hassle – we began discussing what we’d do to replace both. We determined that the desktop would be replaced with an iMac, and after seeing both the 20” and 24” models side-by-side, there was no way we could go with the 20. That’s not entirely true. There was no way I could choose the smaller one. That extra screen real-estate (and added processor speed, memory and HDD space) was too hard to pass up.

The iPhone 3G and the 24

Now that we’ve been using the iMac for about a week, we’re both convinced that we’ll never purchase a Windows-based PC again, unless it’s for the benefit of our child(ren). Knowing both

operating systems could be handy.
My iPhone 3G is now a willing accomplice to the productivity provided by our iMac. Using Mobile Me, I can sync my email, address book, and iCal with the push of a button, and always be in control of our calendar.

A new MacBook to replace Amy’s dead laptop is a likely future purchase. Until then, we have a desktop that provides us the functionality to manage our photos, edit video, keep our music current, and our lives in sync. Thank you Apple. I now look forward to multitasking on my home computer again.