specs or functionality

How HTC is selling their new flagship android device:

The HTC One X is the Taiwan-based company’s flagship smartphone for the first half of 2012, and it features a 1.5GHz quad-core Tegra 3 processor, a 4.6-inch 1,280 x 720-pixel Super LCD 2 display, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for 720p video chats, 1GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal storage, embedded 4G LTE and Sense 4.0 on top of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. All that technology, mind you, is squeezed into a gorgeous 9.27-millimeter-thick unibody polycarbonate case. The U.S. version of this handset will feature a dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor and 16GB of internal storage, but the impact of this “downgrade” on the user experience is negligible — the phone is still lightning fast and beyond smooth.

How apple sells the iPhone:

Siri: "use your voice to set reminders, send messages, make calls and send texts". iCloud: "stores your music, photos, documents and more .. wirelessly pushes them to all your devices"

The only thing the HTC description offers to the man on the street is "lightning fast and smooth".  1.5ghz quad core, Snapdragon S4 processor. What the heck does that even mean?

Unless you graduated from Georgia Tech, this is all just technical jargon.  "9.27 millimeter thick"? huh? is that like a deck of cards, or half an inch?  Sure, the rest of the world uses the metric system, but this is the clueless US.  

Apple uses plain language and when they do mention specs, they tell you why that matters "Dual core A5 chip: up to 2 times faster performance and 7 times faster graphics".  

Who cares what all these crazy specs mean? Does it change the way I live my life?   Is it easy to use? Is it sexy and cool? That's what matters, and that's one of the reasons why Apple is sitting on $100 billion in cash and the most valuable company in history.

favs of 2011

A few of my favorite things about 2011

Albums
1. Bon Iver - self titled
2. Gungor - Ghosts Upon The Earth
3. Switchfoot - Vice Verses
4. Passion - Here For You
5. John Mark McMillan - Economy
6. Manchester Orchestra - Simple Math
7. Ryan Adams - Ashes & Fire
8. Dawes - Nothing Is Wrong
9. Augustana - self titled
10. Head and the Heart - self titled

Shows
Civil Wars at Presser Hall
the Atlanta Collective covering Springsteen's Nebraska with an Andy Hull solo set at Eddie's Attic
Music Midtown - especially Cage the Elephant
John Mark McMillan at Vinyl
Avett Brothers at Turner Field
Josh Fletcher, Louis DeFabrizio & Mike Herrera at The Drunken Unicorn
Gungor at Center Stage

Books:
Stearns - Hole in the Gospel
Unbroken - Hillebrand
Start Something that Matters - Mycoskie
Hunger Games  trilogy
Cash - the autobiography

Games:
Unlike most years, I didn't go to a ton of games this year, so my list is pretty small.
Watching the Cubs from a suite the first night of my job in Chicago.
Traveling up to Athens a couple times to watch the Dawgs.
Watching UGA beat up on Tech here in Atlanta. 

Running:
I focused on one big race rather than a series of smaller ones.  To avoid screwing up my knee, I ended up spending almost as much time in the gym as I did running on the road.
I ran over 300 miles, which included a couple of 5ks, a 10k, a half marathon, and the big accomplishment, a full marathon, the 7 Bridges Marathon in Chattanooga. 

What's up for next year?
Hopefully, more emphasis on friendships, giving, and relationships than events and things.

Weekly Wrap Up (12/12/11: biggie sized - since I was crazy busy last week)

-The last two weeks have been wild!

-Went to Key West with Cherie for a few days to celebrate our 2nd anniversary.

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-Wasn't super impressed by Key West - thought there'd be more beaches.  We just ate non-stop to make up for the lack of beach time
-Made it back to the Miami area just in time to see the Dawgs play a flawless first half, then get destroyed in the 2nd half of the SEC Championship.  SEC East Champs is still a great accomplishment after starting the year 0-2
-Spent a day at the Trump International Resort.  Great beaches & pools. The upgrade to a suite was nice as well.
-Got back to Atlanta with about 15 minutes to spare before the volunteer party at our church.  Santa came to the party!
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-Worked in Chicago the latter part of last week.  Going from 80 degree temps in Key West to temps in the teens in a matter of 4 days isn't fun.
-Cherie joined me on this trip.  Glad she got to meet my co-workers & see the office.  
-Ate at Mike Ditka's steakhouse on Thursday, company holiday party at one of Michael Jordan's places on Friday.  Our CEO & his wife took us to breakfast at a great spot in the Logan Square neighborhood on Saturday morning.

- Flew back Saturday afternoon with enough time to drop off our bags and change before we went to the Civil Wars show.
-Great venue too! Presser Hall at Agnes Scott
-Loved their set!  So good.  Perhaps the best show I saw this year?
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-Tuesday is the first "go hungry" day for Hungry For A Day.  Hoping for a big final push these last couple of days!  (There's still time to join us & help the less fortunate).

 

weekly recap (11/28/11)

-Spent Thanksgiving with my family out in Douglasville.  Great to see my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew (along with the rest of the aunts, uncles, cousins, and immediate family I see more regularly), not so great to go to Douglasville.

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-I ran a 10k without training for that distance on Thanksgiving morning.  It went better than I expected (came in just under 52 mins).  It sucks getting up early on a day you could be sleeping in, but pigging out guilt free on the big meal is a nice bonus!
-Finally launched Hungry For A Day this week!!  It's a relief to finally have it out there.  It's pretty neat to see the people that are getting behind it.  
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-We're right at two weeks away from our first day to go hungry (Dec 13).  Still plenty of time to sign up to go hungry! (www.h4ad.com) We're pumped about making a difference in people's lives! 
-Got to tour Southern Grounds Records this week thanks to my buddy Chad.  It's Zac Brown's label.  Zac is quite the entrepreneur! He does everything in house (design, screen printing, food - you name it)  Inspiring!
-Went to the UGA/Tech game on Saturday.  Have been to 5 of the last 6 with Cherie. 
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Great tradition to watch the nerds get beat down annually!

-December is going to be crazy busy for us.  We'll be out of town 3 of the 4 weekends.
-First up this weekend, Miami & Key West. Celebrating our anniversary a few weeks late.  Looking forward to warmer weather & some relaxing.

 

 

 

Weekly Wrap Up (11/21/11)

-UGA clinched the SEC East title and moves on to the SEC Championship in 2 weeks. First, we have to win the state title against Tech.  I got tickets today, so I'll be there! 

-Coach K of Duke passed Bobby Knight on the all time college hoops win list.  As a longtime Duke fan, it was awesome to see.  Even more awesome.. his gracious comments afterwards.  He gives honor to the ones who deserve it (his former coach Knight as well as his teams & the support of the university).  

-We ran a 5k that benefitted ALS in honor of my grandfather & Ashley Oltman's dad on Saturday.  Ashley is an organizational genius.  If we teamed her & C up on something - pretty much guaranteed success!  Somehow, I won 2nd place in my age category?  I'm blaming that on a small field.  It's always fun to combine a hobby with something that benefits a good cause! 
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-This week is Thanksgiving.  My all time favorite holiday! Football, family, & food (with no commercialism).  It doesn't get any better!

-Did lunch this week with some different guys.  Phong Nguyen, Garrett Kusmack, Chad Pearson.  Good dudes!  Love having people to share life with!

-Ate at Bones on Saturday; one of the best steakhouses in Atlanta.  I still love Capital Grille, but this place is great!

-The non-profit I've been working on for about 18 months or so is finally launching this week.  Everything isn't perfect and lined up, but there's people with needs and we want to capitalize on people's generous hearts around the holidays.  
-We're doing a beta launch tomorrow, with a full launch sometimes next spring.
-Would count it an honor for you to stay up with what we're doing:
-Can't wait to introduce you to our first project!

Weekly Wrap-Up (11/14/11)

 

  • We got another cat. Cherie decided Cameron the Cat needed a friend. I got out-voted 1-1.  I hear that happens pretty frequently to married guys.  I'm trying to name her Sanford (that's not going over so well)
  • UGA looked impressive against Auburn this weekend.  8 straight wins after starting the season 0-2.  They play that way and they'll give LSU a game in the SEC Championship.
  • Decided against running a second marathon this past week. I just never recovered from last month's 26.2 miles.  Ran a 6 minute mile this weekend - wanted to see if I could do it.
  • We're running a race to benefit ALS this weekend in honor of my grandfather.  You should get off your butt and come run it with us - http://mdjonline.com/bookmark/16309835
  • Attended our church's Vision & Leadership Meeting for volunteers.  More churches should invest in their volunteers!  Great night!
  • Celebrated our 2nd anniversary with dinner at the Sundial.  Incredible views, subpar service and food.  If you go, just go to the bar for drinks & a nice view to save yourself a few bucks. 
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  • Even though she spent 4 years in Athens, C thought R.E.M. was a rap group?!?!?!
  • We watched our wedding video this past week.  I think we'll start watching it once a year.  I think my favorite thing was seeing all the friends & family that celebrated with us that day.  Oh, and watching me almost missing the wedding was pretty awesome too.  You can see that here: 
  • We're finally making steps to launch Hungry For A Day.  Everything isn't perfect and lined up, but we're convinced that we can't sit idle any longer.  Look for a big announcement this week.
  • A few interesting links I ran across this week:
Here's a movement to get startups to pledge 1% of their future company to charity. Since most startups aren't making money, it's 1% of nothing.

The trailer for the Hunger Games movie came out today.. It looks like it just might live up to expectations:

Weekly Wrap-Up (11/7/11)

I'm thinking about starting a weekly wrap-up post.

I have a few friends that do it and it's usually my favorite post of theirs to read.

  • Not having to commute for work is pretty awesome!  I don't miss Atlanta traffic at all.  Hoping some big consulting deals come through - a sales career is awesome :)
  • It seems that Hungry For A Day is taking foreeeeever to start.  It drives me nuts, but there's some crucial pieces that just haven't fallen into place.  There's a few projects I can't wait to get people involved in!
  • After starting the season 0-2, the Dawgs are in position to win their division & play for the SEC Championship.  I want them to finish strong, but not sure I want to see us get flogged by LSU.
  • I'm still debating whether I'll run a second marathon next week in Pensacola. I just don't know how to determine if my body has rested enough from the one I did 3 weeks ago?
  • The John Mark McMillan album that came out last Tuesday is phenomenal.
  • Took Cherie for a drive up in the mountains yesterday in the convertible to look at leaves.  May make that a yearly tradition!
  • Had a cool halloween party on Monday night. Probably would have been more happening if we had it on a weekend.
    Photo
  • Now that my little cousins moved to Atlanta, we're getting to be more involved in their lives. Went to a choral concert one of them was in on Saturday - good times!
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  • Went downtown to Sublime Donuts & Octane Coffee on Sunday morning.  Great places!  
  • Our 2nd wedding anniversary is today.  Hard to believe it's already been two years.  After missing the rehearsal completely, I'm surprised I even got to the wedding. It's been a pretty great two years.  I'd be lost in so many areas without her around.  We're headed out to a nice dinner somewhere downtown tonight. Planning a trip out of town in a few weeks to celebrate.
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Mixtape Monday (a day late): Coldplay covers R.E.M.'s Everybody Hurts

I went down to Atlanta's revived Music Midtown last Saturday.

I was pretty pumped to see Manchester Orchestra once again & Cage the Elephant for the first time. Coldplay was the headliner. I'm a sucker for them, even more so when he played this as he lamented R.E.M. retiring this past week "for some crazy reason".

Here's my rough iPhone video:

Want more Coldplay/R.E.M.? Look up "In The Sun". A song Chris Martin & Michael Stipe did together for Hurricane Katrina relief.