Saturday Morning Motorcycle Ride with the Fellas: The Alpine Loop

Today I finally got to ride the Alpine Loop on my motorcycle. I've been hearing about it for years and for some reason I've never done if before. Jason VanWagoner and Zach Beynon joined the usual Kitt Rideout and I on this ride and I have to say- it was life-changing! It was breath-taking and amazingly beautiful.

Our route took us up Parley's Canyon and into Park City. We stopped for breakfast at the former Mt Air Cafe that is now a Squatters. The French toast was great (thanks Jason!). On our way to Heber we crossed over the crazy runners doing the Wasatch 100 a few times (good jorb Bunf and Brooke!) as the emerald green mountains lush with Spring provided an incredible backdrop. Down Provo Canyon we ducked into Sundance on the Alpine Loop Road. Coming down American Fork canyon was a pleasure- we briefly snuck up to see Tibble Reservoir and wrapped it all up coming over the mountains in Alpine via Suncrest into Draper.

I think I just might take the Favorite on this same ride tomorrow!

Geek convert

In the 3.5 years that we have been married, Chris has converted me to some pretty geeky ways. Let me paint you a quick picture. Chris and I sitting in bed with our lappy's blue glow on our faces chatting to one another (yikes!)



We have recently been claiming dibs on who gets to read the newly mailed WIRED magazine.



I'm guilty as an addict to Facebook.



I find myself reading (and understanding) the Sci/Tech section in the Google News section rather than the Entertainment section



And finally reading blogs via Google Reader. Maybe not so geeky, but a great shortcut/time-saver to keeping up on your favorite blogs.

THIS is what my Reader enlightened me with today. And I kinda felt like a kid in a candy shop!!! A great wellspring of information! Thanks WebDesignerWall!!!

WWDC? The Apple Keynote boiled down in 60 seconds

So, I spend a little over two hours watching the Apple Keynote address from the world wide developers conference last night. Steve was looking fairly gaunt, but his skills were still in effect. To keep you in the loop without the major time investment, check out this 60 second overview:

Not bad eh?!

Props to a certain Senior Lab Manager out there for nerdin it up with me on my previous prediction post.

Now I am looking out to hire a couple of high school kids who are bored with the summer already to sit in the inevitable line for me that forms outside the store so I don't have to... it might be an all-nighter!

Apple Predictions: iPhone 2, .Mac Update- How it Will Change the World.

Many of my friends and colleagues know that I am a hardcore Apple fanboy and that I like making predictions prior to a major announcement (although not documented prior to this blog, I think I have a pretty decent track record). As the web drools over any iPhone rumor it can get its hands on, I would like to raise the prophetic finger and make a few predictions:

The iPhone will change the world, again:

The embodiment of convergence, the iPhone revision 2 will usher in the true era of mobile computing, Web 3.0, and give us a taste of the coming Singularity.

With nearly global deployment and the accompanying "killer app" bundled in the form of Microsoft Exchange access, the adoption will be staggering. The driving factor? Businesses will have the excuse to tap into a cultural phenomenon and everyone will be able to fall in love with their little business write-off. Cue Apple's segue victory dance onto Micro$oft's entrenchment in the business world (Don't try and tell me about Vista's suck-cess either, cause nobody buys it- just check with your IT guy).

Web 3.0? Didn't we just start to understand Web 2.0? (Don't talk to a real developer about Web 2.0 or be prepared to be ignored completely and looked down upon at the same time). GPS + (decent) Mobile Web Access + the iPhone App Store = everything you've seen in a sci-fi movie come true... almost. Wrapping one's head around those variables takes a whole other post, but this is the basic gist: location-aware media-enabled devices accessing "the cloud" enable and accelerate the advancement of the next-generation of "high-tech" as we know it. Semantic Web you ask? Yeah, you just fell off the gant chart to Web 4.0, sorry. Blogging/Lifestreaming? You ain't seen nothing yet! Don't even get me started if the rumors around mobile video conferencing are true!

As for the Singularity... okay, maybe we are a ways off, but it brings up my next prediction.

Apple will also strike with a new .Mac eerily echoing Microsoft's Live Mesh:

Long overdue, .Mac will be revamped and come out swinging to be crowned the central "sync" point in Apple's tightly controlled single platform environment. Huh? It relatively simple, access everything in your digital life anywhere- files, pics, addresses, email... "Back to my Mac" on steroids. Me.com.

Live Mesh aims to connect desktop applications, web apps, and devices seamlessly. The new .Mac will deliver on this promise quicker, and without the confusion of the Micro$oft ecosystem.

(Written on Monday... posting last minute on Friday as to make sure I pre-empt the official announcement on Monday).

Catching up with old friends

I have always kind of worried about keeping tabs on friends. I remember going to Wasatch Jr. High thinking how am I ever going to see my Morningside (Elementary) friends again? Then in 9th grade worrying about how to stay in touch with friends that were going to Cottonwood or Olympus. Even having mission companions come and go... It's hard to realize that you won't be as good of friends in the future, because you will be in a different life place and so will they. Everyone gets married, goes away to school or on a mission, and then has children all at different times. It was so hard to connect with friends that were married while I was still single, or friends with children when I was still newly married. I will admit that facebook has helped a ton keeping in touch with people, because I'm not one to send a random email saying "what's up? let's be friends again!"

My trip to Palo Alto was full of pleasant little surprises. My two tiny nephews are so precious and fun to be around. My in-laws were completely gracious. I got to get a few swim workouts in, in the sunshine! I tried Thai food and gellato for the first time. Saw Steve Jobs house. But I also got to reconnect with an old Wasatch Jr. High friend. She gave me a mini tour of Stanford campus (including the swimming facility - it was amazing! As well as the chapel on campus.) She took me to San Jose and we shopped til we dropped. Her and her new husband even helped me tend the tiny twins for an evening. And we talked A LOT. To put it simply it was a great reconnection.

Side note: the first thing I ever said to her in 8th grade was something like "where did you get such a great tan?!" I have to laugh at it because it sounds like some kind of cheesy Jr. High pick up line... I guess it worked!!!