Microsoft Live Search

Okay, if you know me, then you know that I am a big fan of the Mac.  Love the Mac.  I have a PC at home, but I never use it.  I only use my Mac.  Now, that being said, I simply must give kudos where they are due…

I have a new best friend in the world of searches conducted on my mobile device: Microsoft’s Live Search.  Sure, I used Google Maps for a while, but I’ve learned that when it comes to performance and features, my hat is off to Microsoft.  Live Search lets me do several things: search by categories, search and view maps (road, which is a standard map, and aerial, which is a satellite view), get driving directions, get traffic updates, search for movies (by theater and by movie) and last, but certainly not least in today’s economy, search for the best gas prices.

I first found Live Search when I was vacationing in Florida with my family.  I was in an area of the state that I had never before been to, and I wanted a way to find my way around the town without the need to unpack the laptop that I brought along just in case.  

I downloaded the Live Search application, and within two minutes I had found a listing of movie theaters and on top of that, I could view the list of movies playing there AND get directions to the theater from my location.  This was ideal for me because it was raining horribly that day and I needed something to do with the kids since the beach was out of the question.  To make things even better, I was able to use the “Search near here” function and find a few restaurants close to the theater.

Navigating the application couldn’t be any easier.  It’s simply a matter of telling the application where you are by either entering (or speaking) your city, choosing the city from a list or from contacts, or by choosing it on a map.  That’s the hardest part.  After that, you simply enter, or speak, the location you wish to find.  And let me answer the question now: yes, the “Speak” function works very well.  I have not had it fail to return an accurate result yet.

But what if I want some one else to meet me at my chosen destination?  No problem.  Live Search allows me to “SMS to a Friend” the data that I have on my display.

The bottom line here is simply this: if you have a mobile device (mine happens to be a Motorola Q) and need a killer application to search maps, get directions and more, then you owe it to yourself to go and download your free copy of Microsoft’s Live Search.

 

Back, and Trying to Get Healthy

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, and that has largely been due to a health issue.  But, after a 3 1/2-hour ER visit yesterday, I’ve finally got the answer to the problem. 

I’ve been having difficulty swallowing, and until late yesterday, was even having challenges getting liquids to go down.  It’s as if my tongue just can’t get the food back to the right spot in my throat for it to take over the job of getting it down - it always feels like I’m going to push it down my windpipe. 

My family doc checked me out and recommended a Bairum swallow (eew!), which had been scheduled to happen this morning.  As it turned out, I went to the ER yesterday morning freaking out because I was having to work a bit harder to breathe.

The good folks at the ER were nice enough to get me in for a Barium swallow test (but I didn’t get to see the moving x-ray image!) and a couple of good things came of it.  Firstly, I learned that I do not have any obstructions in my esophagus.  Secondly, I learned that I have a 3cm hiatal hernia and moderate dysmotility.  Essentially, this means that a bit of my stomach has herniated up into my esophagus and is having a negative affect on the way in which my esophageal muscles are working.  I’ve learned that a lot of people suffer from this type of ailment, which is a fairly common result of GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease).

So not only am I officially diseased, now I am on a course of heavy duty antacids (and probably will be on some sort of antacid for the foreseeable future), and in a couple of weeks should be able to start getting back into the swing of a modified solid food diet.  Until then, I’m doing protein shakes, Carnation instant breakfast drinks and (thanks to the awesomeness that is my wife) some killer tasting smoothies.

I’ll have an update on this new wrinkle in life from time to time.  Until then, it’s back to work!

Twitter Pic

I spent some time yesterday cruising through my Tiwtter (www.twitter.com) followers and their followers and their followers and so on.   I began to notice something - when clicking through someone’s list of followers, I tended to click on avatars that were visually appealing or, at the very least, sparked my curiosity. 

The idea here is that even with a web service that is designed for people to send text messages to a broad audience, the visual associated with that person is an important factor in gaining followers.  In an effort to attract followers, people naturally tend to use the techniques practiced by advertisers for many years: sex, humor, good color mix and the occasional traditional (boring) head shot. 

These images are selected to be a representation of who we are - a way of saying, “hey, I’m attractive, follow me” or “check it out, I’m a really funny guy” or “indeed, I am so artistic it hurts.”  Whatever the case may be, each of us makes a choice to show our sexy, funny, artistic or just plain boring sides to the world.  In the case of Twitter, it’s in an effort to get people to follow you - to have people interested enough in you to care what you might have to say, whether it’s about a great piece of software code you wrote or that you stayed up too late last night having drinks with all of the wrong people.

As of today, I am following 34 people and am being followed by 26.  Is my Twitter pic effective?  Could be… I only know 10 of the people that are currently following me.

Gettin’ Down and Dirty with Scrum

I’ve recently been approached about the possibility of becoming a certified Scrum Master.  I’m actually quite excited about the prospect, as I’m very interested in the Agile project management methodology.  My employer engages clients with an Agile approach called “sureSolve”, which is a mix of agile development methods.  What it lacks in terms of project management is made up for by Scrum.

I’ll be posting my Scrummy little adventures here from time to time and I’m going to try to become more actice in the Scrum community.

What about you?  Do you practice Scrum?

Back From Chicago

My family and I traveled to Chicago this last weekend.  I would say that my wife and I had our kids in tow for the trip, but it’s more like my wife and kids had me in tow, considering that I really despise travel.  The hurry-up and wait routine at the airport, the “why did they tell me to get on the plane when we’re just going to sit here for another 20 minutes before the captain announces that we’ll be pushing back from the gate in about 10 minutes,” and the inevitable turbulence. 

Yes, turbulence - that’s what gets me the most of the whole thing.  It’s not that I don’t want to see other places in the world, it’s just that getting there and back is freakin’ terrifying to me.  The saving grace is that my last few flights have been with my family, so I’ve had my kids to distract me from focusing on the panic attack lurking around the corner.  I find that the fear response lasts for quite a while.  When I find myself outside of my element (e.g. my usual routine), I get so stressed out that even eating can become a challenge beacuse I’m just so out of sorts that I have no appetite.

But enough of my bitching.  Travel is what it is and I will just have to rise above my fears and continue to do it for work and for family. 

My wife and I decided that the brginning of Spring Break might be a good time to get the kids out for a weekend in a great city with a lot of good museums and kid-friendly activities.  After arriving at O’Hare in near blizzard conditions, we headed to the hotel (Silversmith) and then took the kids to the Adler Planetarium.  Dinner that night was at Italian Village.  Saturday was devoted to the Shedd Aquarium and Navy Pier.  We had a fun dinner at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.  Sunday was brunch, back to Navy Pier and then back to O’Hare for the flight home.

When it was all said and done, the kids had a great time and my wife and I enjoyed watching our kids have their first experience in Chicago.  We’ve promised to take them back some summer, when we can go to the parks and the zoo.

How Does a PM Pack?

I was recently asked to answer the question: How does a PM pack?  Well, it depends on the destination.  Project managers are known to need a lot of material at their fingertips in order to make decisions (or at least to be able to ask informed questions).

If the destination is a client (size does not matter here), the PM needs to pack, at minimum, the following:

1) Laptop with:

•  
  • Local copy of ALL project documentation - never know when the connection to the document repository will break - if the documentation is not available electronically, the PM should at least have a copy of the statement of work, any change requests and requirements documentation.
  • MS Office - preferably the latest version - not so much for functionality so much as to give the PM something to complain about other than client requirements or gantt charts - this is known as the “friggin’ ribbon syndrome”
  • MS Project - gotta have it, no matter how much you hate the way it levels.

2) Laptop bag containing the following:

•  
  • Mouse - preferably a wireless one - preferably a MS Presenter Mouse 8000.  (Dear Mr. Gates, this is the best product to come from MS in years)
  • 1 pair of backup batteries for said mouse
  • At least one USB storage device (minimum 2 GB)
  • Electronic copies of any/all PM reference material you have found to be useful in your career (I have about 5 PDF docs outside of the requisite PMBOK that I reference from time to time)
  • 3 uni-ball Signo micro 207 pens (1 red, 1 blue, 1 black)
  • 2 hi-liter markers (no particular color - you decide.  Make it fun for YOU!)
  • 1 Calculator (I rely on my gold ol’ TI-80)
  • 1 pack of post-it notes - no particular color
  • 1 .5mm mechanical pencil
  • Smart phone (geesh! cell phones are like, so 2004!)
  • USB cable for said smart phone
  • Minimum of 1 Moleskine notebook
  • iPod or Zune
  • USB cable for said iPod or Zune
  • Power supply for laptop
  • Spare tie that can match most any color shirt
  • Business cards
  • 1 good book - as long as the subject of that book is project management
  • Mini stapler - scoff if you will, but they can come in handy

If the destination is a personal vacation (location doesn’t matter here), the PM needs to pack, at minimum, the following:

1. See 1 and 2 above.

A Good and Bad Day for Entertainment

Yesterday was both a good and bad day for entertainment for me.  I took my kids to see “The Spiderwick Chronicles”, which they were quite excited about.  My daughter had read the first book in the series and kept trying to whisper to me what each character was and what was going to happen next.  My son hasn’t read the books yet, but he digs anything with battles between fantasy creatures.  I have to admit that I thought the movie was pretty good, too.  the effects were well done and the story was good enough to keep me interested.  If you’re looking for a good popcorn flick with plenty of action and adventure for the kids, this might be a good one for you.  If your kids can handle a Harry Potter movie, they can handle this one.

So that was the good.  On with the bad.  I hate to admit it, but I watched NBC’s “Knight Rider.”  I used to watch the original show when I was a kid, and even then I thought, “This show is crap.”  Well, even with age, some things never change.  The writing was horrible.  For example, an SUV of bad guys is wrecked and K.I.T.T.’s passengers get out to check out the wreckage.  The lead baddie that was driving is still with us, but only for a moment.  His dying words are, “This doesn’t change anything.”  This might work for 12-year old kids who haven’t yet experienced very sophisticated stories, but if that’s the intended audience, I would recommend that NBC not broadcast the show from 9-11:00 PM, when most sane parents have their kids in bed.

Additionally, I am surprised that NBC bothered to run commercials during the show at all.  Considering the show was basically one big (and surely expensive) Ford commercial, I don’t think it was necessary for us to be subjected to more Ford car ads.  Don’t know what I mean?  Watch the “big car chase” and you’ll see what I mean.  Every car, SUV, etc that appears is a Ford.  Sure a Volvo shows up at the end of the chase, but they’re owned by Ford as well. 

And lastly, David Hasselhoff makes an appearance at the end of the show.  Based on what I saw last night, I would rather see him drunk again eating a burger.

Bottom line: “Spiderwick”, fun action/adventure for the family.  “Knight Rider”, resurrected crap that needs to go away.

Congress and Clemens

I don’t really care.  The commissioner has said that moving forward, no drugs for players.  What’s done is done.  Why is my government wasting time searching for steroid use in baseball?  It’s an embarassment.  It’s a circus.  It’s theater.  Has any other country’s government gone this far with their atheletes?

It’s difficult to find words for this because it is so outrageous that tax dollars are being spent to have a room full of political blowhards questioning people that, should ANYONE truly care, be questioned by an MLB inquest. 

So, like many things run in Washington, who’s getting paid here?  What are these congressmen getting out of this?  I’m not the only person blogging or otherwise raising my voice about the pointless nature of going after Clemens, but our voices don’t appear to mean anything to our elected officials.  Shame on anyone in congress that feels that this is a valid use of their time, and shame on anyone that votes for these fools again.

Testing Motorola Q Mobile Blogging

Just a quick test of blogging via my Moto Q. While the interface doesn’t seem to be designed with mobile devices in mind, it’s workable. I doubt that I will blog via a mobile device again. I love my Q, but typing out a full blog posting could get really old. Fast!

My Obsessions

I’ll forgo preamble and just jump right in to the list…

• Moleskine notebooks
• Fine pens (mostly Pelikan, Waterman, and S.T. Dupont)
• Eighties music (admit it, you know you like Ah Ha just as much as I do)
• Guitars (I own two acoustics - Ovation and Martin, and two electrics - Fender Strat)
• Books (love to buy them, but I’m very slow to read them)
• Movies (”Alien” tops the list)
• Mac computers
• iPod
• Endlessly changing my ringtones and notification sounds on my Motorola Q phone
• Battlestar Galactica (curse you Ron Moore and David Eick for crafting such a compelling show!)

That’s about it.