When iOS had Instagram and Flipboard as exclusive apps, I missed them. Now that I have both on my Android phone there is no reason for me to miss the tiny screen and limited options of my iPhone.

What I have gained is a much larger screen and more options for default applications. I am now anticipating AT&T releasing Ice Cream Sandwich for the Note.

The iPhone 5 better meet all of the expectations of the consumer or this very well be the downfall of Apple’s phone dominance.

Download the apk of Flipboard for Andoid

I attempted to explain to her that these were the friends she would have for the better part of her life because they had a common goal……battle…. to win……together. Thank you Hannah for being a better young lady than your father was a young man. I am very proud of you. So long 2012 Softball. Hello travel ball.

I can throw things. I can throw anything from anywhere and hit almost anything. Today I went to a carnival and threw a football from 30 yards into an open hole cut out of a backdrop, my open receiver. A game for children to throw from about 10 yards out. Before I threw it I actually told my buddies, “hey, check this out, here we go”. First throw, no warmup, in the hole. Someone actually said to me “No way, that’s what the cool kids do”.  I chew gum and while I was considering whether I should write this little factoid about myself, I popped a piece in my mouth. I then rolled up the wrapper and tossed it to the empty glass 10 feet away from me. Again, one throw, in the hole. See it in the picture attached.

On a daily basis, I throw something, somewhere, and 9 out of 10 times, I make whatever it is in to whatever I am throwing it in to. Now… I don’t know what it is but if I am screwing around and actually call someone’s attention to it, I seem to do it better. Jim Swanson started coaching with me this year and as we were cleaning up after a practice recently I grabbed a softball and from the outfield told him I would make it in a bucket at home plate. His smile motivated me. I felt my focus tunnel vision. Cocked my arm back and launched it towards the bucket. Care to guess what happened? It was 2 months ago and he still talks about it.

I see all of these videos on youtube of baseball, basketball, and football trick shots. Do you think I should do a video? Maybe not with balls in particular, random objects, a softball or two, a piece of gum ? It is a skill but what it’s good for? A dunk tank? Where does throwing accuracy rank on my list of many talents? Pretty high. Leave me a comment and tell me what I should do.

So here is my EPL Marketing Plan for the US. The biggest issue is making fans take ownership of a team like they do stateside. So if you live in Los Angeles you most likely like the Lakers and the Dodgers or Clippers and Angels. My idea is  create a web site that allows users to search their last name to analyze the number of people with that surname and where the majority exists in England.

Here were the results of my name Taylor from ancestry.com. I chose to see the England and Wales map.

I see that between 20.000 and 40,000 of my people live in the northern part of England. I now look for a map that shows the teams in the EPL.

The two cities that exists closest to the number of Taylors are Newcastle United and Sunderland. So now I have a decision to make.
What if the site gave me a brief synopsis of the teams, their fans, their standings, etc. Perfect for making an intelligent decision.

I would then be able to make a choice much like the one I made to choose the Dodgers over the Angels. In this case the site would most likely suggest Newcastle since they are ahead in the standings.

So I would then register as a member of the Toon Army 12th Man and would be connecting Americans, the longtime soccer snob,s to the country of which they probably came and the sport they so love.

All of this soccer thought has me exhausted. Lakers game is starting now so on that note I have another round ball to watch.

What a great screen the Samsung Note has!

I am on day number 4 of the big switch going from the iPhone 4 to the Samsung Note running Android. A big reason for the change was 4G and a bigger screen. One of the two reasons has been very positive. The screen size is fantastic on the Note and is 5.3”. The 4G is a joke even though I live in an area that AT&T shows as having coverage. I honestly believe my iPhone got faster download speeds. I wanted to write a review but after speaking to one of my colleagues it would be better to do a comparison according to him.

In the picture above you can tell the screen is very crisp and rather large. I love the bigger screen. I will summarize some of the differences and why I am most likely going back to the iPhone this weekend.

Apps

I use a Macbook Pro, which plays wonderfully with the iPad and iPhone. I have invested $100s in apps from the app store. Let me start by saying the first thing I did was sit down with my iPhone and compare the apps I had there to the Google Play store. I was able to get most of the apps with the exception of Instagram (not a deal breaker since it is getting an Android version soon) and several games.

I have a Slingbox. The iPhone never had an issue using SlingPlayer  connecting to my account, the Android app has caused me to spend too much time on forums attempting to figure out what is wrong only to have it suddenly work. I tried it again while I was writing this article and it again doesn’t work. Connecting using my computer on the same network works fine. For a $30 app I would expect better performance.

Slingplayer error on ATT Samsung Note

The Play Store is fine and has many applications to allow the same functionality as the iPhone with one exception. App security is horrible on Android. Since I have registered for the Play Store and downloaded applications I have seen a huge spike in spam, had my google account compromised, and chose not to install applications because of the permissions apps are asking for. Why does a picture app need access to the phone feature of Android? Here is a screenshot of a warning I got from Gmail this morning.

This never happened before I started downloading apps from the Play Store. It could be a coincidence but I doubt it.

Camera App

I use the camera on my cell phone more than I use the phone feature. In Daylight the camera on the Samsung Note is comparable to the iPhone. In low light it is not even close…. the iPhone is great and the Note is not.  See an example of a couple of pictures I took with Note. The picture at the top is low light in a restaurant setting and the one on the bottom is actually a picture with the sun directly in our face.

Multi-Tasking

Android is good at Multi-Tasking and since it was the first of the two platforms to have it they should be.

On the iPhone, you double push the home button and you get a screen that shows all of the running apps. Sliding side to side in this configuration feels natural and the implementation is very Apple-like.

On the Android, you long hold the home button and get a Task Manager screen, it is very much like the Task Manager you get on a  Windows Computer with the ability of choosing to end a task. I have to say these features are comparable for me . Check out the screenshot below for the implementation on the Galaxy Note.

Search and App Launching

This is also comparable on the iPhone and Samsung Note. Hitting search will allow you to search email, texts, apps, songs, etc.

Battery

The iPhone gets a horrible review from others when it comes to battery life and in every update in hardware or software folks wonder if the battery is going to last longer. I can only assume that these same users have never had the misfortune of owning a Samsung phone running Android.

The iPhone battery on a full charge will at least last through the day and most times when the battery is low I feel like I have really been using the device.

The Samsung Note battery is the worst. I actually took my phone back to AT&T because I thought something was wrong with the phone. I charged all day and with the phone on my desk and nothing running the battery lost half of it’s charge and by 8PM with what I would consider minor usage the battery was red with an X on it. The phone died before I got home. Potential deal breaker for all of the power users

Summary

The Samsung Note is a cool phone and I will most likely stick it out until the latest version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich, is pushed out. Instagram is on its way so I have that to look forward to. Though I will never use the S-Pen included with the Note it is kind of fun to have when playing Draw Something.

Keeping in mind I wanted a bigger screen and 4g speed I am getting what I paid for. The screen is awesome. The 4g speed is hit and miss.

In the end I love my iPhone more, but you can love two things at once right?

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Keep in mind that she just turned 12 in December, be easy on her. They do not call all of the traveling but they also do not call all of the fouls either. She scored in the video above, 6 points actually, and in the one below she played well while I was recording. I was never recording when I should have been like when she scored 14 points or when she had 10 points in the first half. I will try to get some video next season.

Here are a couple of the pictures of her in the new uniform also. Enjoy.

I need to give a special thanks to a former colleague. Dean Klotz wrote an article on his blog that I found inspirational for my situation. I took the time to do some additional training and master some of the skills I would need for my future job search. Thank you Dean

A quick summary of what happened. I was laid off. I filed for unemployment. I received 1 unemployment payment. I had 10 interviews and 5 secondary interviews before I decided on this position. Please refer to my previous blog post to understand how I was able to accomplish this. Getting a job was my new job, no joking around. If a door didn’t open, I kicked it down to get myself in front of the people that were responsible for hiring. It worked. No magic, not overly more qualified than other candidates. I just wanted to work. I wanted to work for a company and at a position I felt I would be challenged by.

While I am sure this will not be my last stop for the future, I am happy to report I am happy. If you are unemployed then stick with it. Also

It is the former generation’s responsibility to tell the current generation how they did it better. The facts are pretty indisputable however, I am going to live longer (hopefully) than the previous generation and my kids longer than mine. Some things…. the current generation does better. Like living. We are intimidated by change so we all romanticize the past. Human nature I guess, but absurd if you are part of a generation that fully knows this and then partakes in the romantics anyway.

So a few things are driving this post and they are as follows:

1. The dishwasher in our house stays full and no one empties it other than the adults.
2. When the dishwasher is full, the sink becomes a dumping ground for dirty dishes
3. I do all of the laundry in our house and I put the girls clothes on their bed and expect them to only put them away. Never happens unless I nag them hourly

While emptying the dishwasher seems easier than hand washing to me, Azul grew up in Mexico and did not have that luxury. The family did dishes every night, hand dryed, and put them away. She suggested that we stop using the dishwasher and have everyone wash the dishes as we used them. She explained that even when she moved to the states they would use the dishwasher as storage for grocery bags and other kitchenware. What?! In this century? Hand-washing? The kids groaned when we implemented the new rule and so did we once we realized we’d have to lead the charge by doing it also.

Implementation complete. Results: A great idea which has worked so far. While we still have to ask them to clean their dishes occasionally it seems to be much easier to manage than the alternative. Leave me a comment and give me some ideas on how to enforce this whole putting the clothes away and I might have an easier life rather than having to nagging Mr. Mom.