2010

Since I’m really bad about getting Christmas cards and letters out (it has been many, many years), I thought I’d use my blog to publish what would have been my Christmas letter.  I can reach more people this way, anyway.

In many ways 2010 was much the same as the past several years, consumed mostly with my work responsibilities.  As many, but not all, of you may know, in late 2007 I got involved with a new business venture.  A friend of mine, Jared, contacted me to ask if I would be willing to create the cash register component of a Point-of-Sale system for a quick-service pizza restaurant being opened by a friend of his. Despite my hesitation to get involved in such projects in the past, I decided to undertake the challenge.  Soon we began to attract the attention of other franchisees in the chain, and before we knew it we were selling our product to others.  Since that time we officially organized Custom Register Solutions, of which I am part owner.  In 2010 we increased our size from 3 employees to a company with 15 people.  It has been quite a ride.  My brother Brent joined the company in June this year, helping to create the web site portion of our software.

In 2009 we were approached by some executives from the parent company of the same international pizza chain to see if our product could be adopted to some new and very specific needs.  It was pretty evident that we could, so since that time we’ve been working intimately with them.  We’re confident that we will be announced as their preferred POS vendor very soon (the only “iffy” part is when, not if).  Between the preparation for that upcoming announcement, the demand it will place on us when that happens, and our fast-paced development schedule in the company I have been working very long weeks for a little over 3 years now.  It is nice to be getting close to the realization of what was, at the time we started the project, an impossible dream.  We’re doing some very cool and innovative stuff, but I can’t talk about that just yet.

In spite of the many hours I spend working, I have still gotten involved in several other outside projects.  Everyone who knows me is well aware of my interest in audio, video, and photography, and I have always enjoyed working on any project that involved any or all of those three.  This year was no exception.  Early in the year I proposed the idea of a live Internet-streamed concert to an up-and-coming California-based artist named Sonnet who had become known in Utah for the soundtrack she provided for a popular television commercial, and she was gracious enough to accept.  Soon the project blossomed into an honest-to-goodness real music video as well, which my friend Dave would direct, and another friend Paul would shoot.  February through May included a lot of planning for those events, which took place the first through second weeks of June.  It was a very busy schedule, but it was also a lot of fun spending time with old and new friends as part of the crew.  Few of the final results have been posted on the Internet at this point , but I will be sure to let everyone know when they are.

I had the privilege of spending more time with family this year than most.  My youngest sister Christine graduated from BYU in Psychology in April, and my parents and sister Suzanne all flew to Provo to be there for that.  Christine was seriously dating her then-boyfriend Brennen at the time, and a week later they announced their engagement to be married in August.  Through the planning stages my mom came back to Provo to help Christine out for a few days.  The entire family came out for the wedding in August.  It was the first time that all of us had not just been together, but had the opportunity to go to the temple as a family as well.  It was definitely a memorable occasion which we are all grateful for.

After the craziness of the wedding wound down, it was back to work as usual for a couple weeks before I headed to Tucson for two weeks to help with the installation of our software in 13 store locations there.  It was hot and stormy the first week, and the second week it was hot and dry, but the condo we rented had no working air conditioning.  I spent many nights on the couch just trying to get comfortable enough to sleep, while working in the heat during the day.  I was glad to come home.

This year I also got to see one of my favorite musical acts, Celtic Woman, perform not once but twice.  They came to Salt Lake in May, and I took my friend Sarah as my date, and Dave and Paul tagged along as well.  Sarah spent several years in Ireland and enjoys Celtic music, so it was a treat for her to be able to go.  The girls in the group are pretty amazing.  I really enjoyed the concert, so when they went to Los Angeles at the end of August I decided to see them again.  This time I took Sonnet with me, who despite being ill that day had a good time.  It was also nice to see my new friend again and spend a couple days with her in her hometown.  We planned to work together to record a short Christmas album, but due to both of us having busy schedules that didn’t happen this year.  Maybe next year?

Other projects this year included shooting video for a handful of weddings, doing audio for an international dance/music festival in Sandy, UT, my annual trip taking pictures of fall leaves with my friend Dave, recording the commentary for a feature film, and being the regular sound guy for the Mountain Blue southern bluegrass A Cappella gospel group.  Mountain Blue kept me really busy in early December, with quite a number of performances in the first half of the month.  But I love anything involving audio, video, or photography, so any opportunity that comes is more than welcome.

I am spending my Christmas vacation at my parents’ home (as I always do) in Tulsa, OK this year, with nearly all of the rest of my family.  Only my sister Cheryl and her husband Blake and their kids won’t be there. Their family is getting big and it is becoming more difficult for them to all travel.  It’s sad that they won’t be there with the rest of us, but we understand why they can’t and they’ll be with us in spirit.  This year Christine will be bringing her new husband with her, so we’re excited to include a new family member in our festivities.  We’re very lucky that we have been able to have so much of our family together for Christmas for so many years.

Christmas is my favorite time of year, not just because I get to see my family, but also because it is the time of year when many people put their own desires aside and think of others, and because it is the time of year we dedicate to thinking about our Savior, Jesus Christ.  The spirit of the season is unique, and something I look forward to throughout the year.  It never lasts long enough.

Cool setup for taking pictures

I have started using a set of 3 devices that really make the process of taking pictures very cool.

• Canon PowerShot SD960 IS (really, any camera that uses SD memory cards would work here

• Eye-Fi SD/WiFi card

• Verizon MiFi2200

This combination lets me do some cool things. 

Using the Eye-Fi card in combination with the Verizon MiFi is pretty slick.  The Eye-Fi card has a Wi-Fi radio and it can be configured to connect to the Internet via the Verizon MiFi.  This means that I can:

• Automatically transfer pictures to my computer without removing the memory card from the camera, or plugging it in via a USB cable, even when my computer is not nearby.
• Automatically upload pictures to a photo sharing site on the Internet from anywhere Verizon has coverage.
• Geotag photos to record the location they are taken.

The Eye-Fi card transfers pictures automatically whenever it has a WiFi connection, so if I carry my Verizon MiFi with me in my back pocket as I take pictures, those pictures are totally automatically and silently uploaded to the internet and down to my computer as I am taking them.  I don’t have to do anything to make it happen; it all happens in the background.  I can be anywhere that Verizon has coverage and my pictures will be waiting for me on my computer even before I get home.

The Eye-Fi also supports the major photo sharing sites out there.  So when I want to I can log into my account and tell the Eye-Fi servers which site I want use for storing pictures, and the pictures are automatically uploaded to that site in real time.  I don’t have to transfer them to a computer first; as long as I’m in Verizon’s coverage area the photos will automagically appear on my choice of web site.

The Eye-Fi card also supports Geotagging, so the physical location of each picture is recorded automatically. 

Besides all of this cool functionality, I like saying that I connect my Eye-Fi to MiFi over Wi-Fi. 

Now if only I had the Eye-Fi Pro card, which supports the RAW images that I take on my DSLR camera...  Add one more thing to the wish list.

I miss doing audio :(

Most people following my blog probably already know that in addition to writing software, I also enjoy photography, video, and audio.  Unfortunately in the last couple of years the number of opportunities I have had to provide audio for different events has declined.  And I miss it.

About 4 years ago I bought my dream audio mixer.  Not that I had bad equipment prior to that, but I was starting to do events that began to push the limitations of the equipment I had at the time.  So I broke the bank (many people buy decent cars for a lot less) and bought something that would provide for any possible need I might ever have, the Mackie TT24.  And it’s glorious.

As luck would have it, about the same time I bought it was the same time that my connections to different organizations that needed audio support started to decline.  I was excused from my singles ward, which had provided many opportunities (both for the ward directly, and for people I met in and through that ward).  And many of the people I had worked with in the past had left the area.  Fortunately I was asked to be the sound guy for a vocal group that performed about every other Sunday night.  That kept me busy for about a year, and I enjoyed it very much.  But when the director of the group moved on to other things, my connection to the group was severed.

At one point I was asked if I could provide sound for a large benefit concert with several very well known performers in Provo.  But ultimately the job went to someone else, ironically because they decided that my “quote was too low” which to them meant I wouldn’t do a good job.  (I was really just trying to give them the best deal possible.  D’oh.)

Sure, I’ve done audio for other events on a much smaller scale.  Karaoke parties, deejaying, aside from a few church functions here and there.  But none have had a need for audio on a large scale.  Which means that my mega-amazing mixer, speakers, microphones, etc. don’t get used very much.

One of the things in my life that provides sanity is being able to jump around between different hobbies.  Up until recently, doing sound for different events was a big part of that.  So I miss having the opportunity these days. 

So if you are a part of a group that has need for audio on a serious scale… professional quality job with high-end equipment, and you’re in my area, I’d love the opportunity.  And in many cases I’ll do it pro bono if it’s for a charitable group or a cause I believe in, just because I enjoy it.

Busy Week!

So General Conference was this last weekend.  But I didn’t get to see much of it; both of the guys I’m working with on our Point-of-Sale application were tied up with other things, so all customer questions and problems fell on my shoulders.  So I pretty much missed most of Conference.  The part of the Saturday morning session when I could have watched because I wasn’t on a support call was missed because I only got four hours of sleep so I pretty much dozed off right after getting off the phone.  Fortunately I did record it, so I can watch it over the coming weeks.

Saturday night after conference Brad and I headed up to Riverton to visit some old friends.  Our friend Jessica had flown into town from Dallas, and wanted to meet a bunch of friends at Lalis’s apartment that night.  Jenn and Ariel were also there as well as some other people I didn’t know.  It was fun to see everyone.  Lots of good memories.

Since we hadn’t seen Jess since before her mission, Brad and I went to lunch with her yesterday.  Brad had to leave to get back to his studies, but I brought Jess back to my place and we watched August Rush and played some Guitar Hero for a bit.   (Don’t worry, Jared, I had my laptop and cell phone nearby during the movie, and took care of the issues that came up during that two hour window.  I’m not a slacker.)

In a few days I’m flying back to Spokane to help install our software in another Little Caesar’s up there, and to have a multi-day powwow with the rest of the Custom Register Solutions party patrol personnel.    Have you ever noticed that the word powwow is half Ws?

While I’m gone my living room is going to be painted (hooray!!! no more 1980s sleeping bag wallpaper!).  So between now and then I have to move everything away from the walls.  It’s going to be especially fun moving a 300-pound desk that has been sitting in the same place for ten years.  And the bookshelves which have been there for eleven.  I can’t wait to see who what is behind those.  I spent a few hours tonight moving my TV and audio equipment away from one wall so the wallpaper can be removed from behind it tomorrow.  (I’ll have to remember to take a picture of the wiring involved in a fully equipped home theater setup while it’s visible… it’s impressive.)  I’ll need to finish moving everything before Saturday morning when they want to remove the rest of the wallpaper.  I’ll also need to do a bunch of rewiring between now and then to “neaten up” the room.  No more visible wires dangling from the ceiling or clinging on the base of the wall around the corner into the next room… at least as much as I can get away with it, anyway.

As part of the living room makeover I plan to remove the computer and desk behind the couch to add a second row of stadium seating, and to build a new professional rack for all of the A/V equipment.  I was also going to mount my new TV on the wall, but the more I think about that the more I think that isn’t such a great idea; it wouldn’t be visible at all from the kitchen or one of the couches if it were on the wall.  So I’ll have to build a nice (and simple) stand for it at some point.  Things to ponder.

My friend Dave is also getting close to needing my help wiring his studio.  He’s has built a video editing / audio recording studio in his dad’s back yard and it’s now time to run the wires before putting up the drywall.  We went over the last little details before purchasing the wires last night.  But I still need to figure out how to terminate the wiring.  We’re going to be installing about 2 miles of wiring in a couple hundred cables, and I’ll have to add ends to the vast majority of them unless I can teach him how to do it.  Fun.

The POS stuff is going well.  We’ve had about twenty sales in the last two weeks.  And we’re getting more referrals all of the time.  Nearly everybody we show the software to is buying it.  I also just found out that we are trying to get into a tradeshow/convention thing in early November.  Which means I’ll have some big changes, as well as a demonstration video, to make between now and then.

If only I had something to do with my time.

Boredom & Hobbies

Warning: Random, probable nonsensical ramblings below.  I’m feeling too lazy to edit it into something cohesive and comprehensible.

While Brent and I were installing a stereo in his car yesterday our roommate Jordan came and went about four times in the space of about four hours.  He was bored and couldn’t find anything to do, so he kept hopping on his motorcycle driving around looking for something to do.  I don’t think he ever found anything.

I realize all of us get stir crazy and experience boredom from time to time, but it seems like it happens way too often.

How can we get bored so frequently when are so many things that we can do?  So many things to learn, so many hobbies we could take up.  I can’t find enough hours in a day to do everything I’d like to do yet some people can’t find enough things to do to fill in the hours of the day.

Conversely, I find it sad that most people these days get to a point where they are done with school and are starting their careers before they even know what they like to do.  It seems like nobody has hobbies any more!  And nobody is prepared to make decisions on what they’d like to do for their career.

Are we as a society trying to fit too many things we think are important into our time that we don’t have time to do things that may not seem important, but really might be in the long term?  Don’t we need to take some time and find something we enjoy doing instead of something we need to do?  Shouldn’t we cut down on the so-called important things that aren’t so important, and do more to make sure we enjoy life a little?  Isn’t life too short for us to spend it doing nothing more than school work and our jobs?

A hundred years ago everybody had to farm for their food, make anything that they needed around the house, even build their own homes.  Today we don’t have to fill our time with any of those activities, and as a result we should have more time on our hands, but it’s become filled with trivial activities.  Are those sporting events and television shows really as essential as we think they are?

An awful lot of the people I know spend/t so much time with school, homework, and the extracurricular activities that they felt had to be done in order to get into a good college that they haven’t taken the time to experiment with different activities to actually find out what they enjoy doing.  Then when it comes time to decide on a career they have no idea what to do because they haven’t experienced anything in life other than mindless busy work.  Then when they actually have down time they have no idea what to do with themselves… boredom.

I was lucky I guess.  I knew by the time I was 7 or 8 what I enjoyed doing, and what I wanted to do for a career.  And those are the things that I’m doing today… computers, photography, audio, video, electronics, and engineering and building different gadgets.  No matter how busy I am I always have something I could do that I enjoy doing. 

So, aside from work and school, what do you actually like to do?