“at that time the Lord spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, “Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.” And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot. [3] Then the Lord said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush, [4] so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared—to Egypt’s shame.”
-Isaiah 20:2-4 (NIV)

Get uncomfortable with this and then consider what the original creative mind of God would come up with to get your attention. What customs and traditions are you relying on for your comfort, but others use to dismiss your actions as false piety? We are made in the image of God, not the image of a parrot. Listen to Him and be creative, because He created first.

Universal* Apps

These are roughly in alphabetical order. You may notice many apps are free games installed by my wife for the kids that use her older iPad which has become a greasy child-fingerprinted game console, an educational tool and a cartoon-watching powerhouse. I will talk mostly about the ones I have installed on my iPad.

• Adobe Ideas

This is free and is useful for creating color swatches from photos taken from the iPad camera or from your photo library for design projects and doodling in a vector based exportable format.

• Amazon Mobile

Great to search for items to buy from Amazon.com and for general pricing research.

• ATT’s Mark The Spot

If you have an ATT 3G iPad, you can use this app to report weak signal areas and make your neighborhood a priority for future service upgrades.

• Boxcar

This app is a helper app that enables push notifications for other apps.

• Dragon Dictation

A fun alternate way to enter text with your voice to be used to start an email, tweet, Facebook post or text message.

• Find My iPhone

Essential way to track down a misplaced or stolen iOS device like an iPhone or iPad. Also useful to monitor the travel progress of other family members.

• FTP on the Go Pro

Great tool for web developers to edit and upload files on an FTP server. I have published some basic web sites entirely from my iPad. See my basic site.

• iMovie

Fun way to record video, edit it and publish immediately while on the go. Works great for making slideshows too from still in your photo library with audio from iTunes.

• Instapaper

A great way to read articles sent to your Instapaper account from cluttered sites that would be too time consuming to read online. Synch online, read offline.

• Box.net

I installed this because a client used it, but found the notification of when files were accessed useful in dealing with Design clients.

• DropBox

An essential service for storing and keeping files up to date between devices. The app allows some offline access to synched favorite files also.

• Emoji Free!

Installed only to unlock emoji icons, a texting feature added by Apple to add feature parity with popular Japanese cell phones. Many iOS users add this to make tweets festive, even though invisible to computers and other mobile devices.

• GV Connect

An app interface for Google Voice, optimized for the iPad’s large display. Very useful to comfortably text two handed with others. Requires Boxcar for quick notifications while the app is closed.

• iBooks

Apple’s own Reader for ePub documents and PDf files, which includes a book store.

• iTeleport

One of my favorite tools to access and control my home computer remotely. Useful even while at home. Acts like a remote control if you use your mac as a media console for movies and music too.

• Keynote

Build presentations with sophisticated animations and present on site with the iPad to VGA connector.

• Kindle

Read and download purchased books from Amazon’s kindle store, a much larger repository of eBooks than Apple’s iBookstore.

• MobileMe Gallery

View and share images published to your MobileMe Gallery and access shared galleries from friends that use MobileMe.

• NewsRack

My RSS reader until I purchase Reeder, which I hear is highly recommended.

• NIV Bible HD

My favorite app for searching, reading and sharing text from the NIV Bible. I bought the iPhone version, then the iPad version, and then they updated both versions to be universal, which annoyed me, but it is still a great value, especially if you don’t want to read a slow-loading online Bible.

• Numbers

Great for editing and creating spreadsheets and importing and exporting Excel files sent by mail.

• Pages

Create professional documents and send them as PDFs complete with text styles and image layout. I make invoices with it, mostly.

• ProPresenter Remote

Useful to control a computer running Pro Presenter 4, maybe earlier versions too. sometimes I would hand it to my son to advance live song slides while I made last-minute edits to other presentation slides.

• Remote

Control iTunes on your home network. Adjust volume and playback on music and movies.

• Square

Accept Debit and Credit Card payments from customers with the free Square Reader headphone attachment.

• MobileMe iDisk

Access files on your iDisk, assuming you have a paid MobileMe account.

• Pandora

Stream music that Pandora thinks you will like. And listen to occasional short ads.

• PlainText

A clean well designed text editor for plain-text files. Synchs with a folder on your DropBox account too. Better than the notes app.

• PowerOne Financial Calculator

An iPad sized calculator with powerful free downloadable functions to calculate fancy things like mortgage payments and interest rates on loans.

• Sign-N-Send Free

A free app that lets me take an emailed PDF form and fill it out, add my signature to it, then email it back.

• Sound Hound

Listens to music playing, then tells you about the artist and title of the song, along with a few links to buy the track.

• Twitter

A solid app to tweet and read your friend’s timelines with.

• Weather+ Free

Find the weather forecast for one city at a time.

iPad Only Apps

• AIM For iPad

Send and receive instant messages with anyone still using this. Supports push notifications too. Very quick and responsive.

• Clock Pro HD Free

A great big clock, nice looking too.

• Craigslist Pro

Search craigslist.org and list items with photos right from your iPad. Way better than the regular site, optimized for the touch screen.

• Flipboard

Browse News and Articles by topic. Unique interface.

• Friendly for Facebook

Almost as reliable as the Facebook site. Free. Allows you to upload photos too.

• Garage Band

Create eight track audio and play with smart instruments. send audio files by email or send them to a Mac for further editing.

• Brushes – iPad Edition

The most responsive painting app for digital artists.

• Dictionary.com

Look up definitions. Whee!

• Discover – Wikipedia

Great interface to the encyclopedic amount information on wikipedia.

• eBay for iPad

Browse eBay listed items, and list your own stuff too.

• GoodReader for iPad

The swiss army knife of file management. Also uncompresses zip files.

• Inkpad

The best vector illustration app available for the iPad, from Steve Sprang, the creator of Brushes.

• Omnifocus for iPad

The most powerful project and context based task manager. Great if you like David Allen’s popular book “Getting Things Done”

• Photogene for iPad

The best iPad Photo editor I have found. When you don’t want to publish your photo as it is. Essential for the relatively low quality iPad camera (especially in low light)

• Writing Kit

Plain text and markdown editor that supports uploading images, researching and previewing written documents, as well as html export for stunning email, blogposts, and the web.

• Scrabble

A game that is fun for people who like words.

Feel free to ask me about any of these apps. There are a few essential iPhone apps that I use in my iPad, and wish the developers would make an iPad version or universal version of, because it is not my preference to tap on the iPhone optimized keyboard, but it will have to do for now. One example of this is the app, Moneywell for iPhone, which has a great mac companion app it synchs with. I use it to manage budgets and all of the financial details of my business and family.

View all of the Universal apps* in one image

View all of the iPad specific apps in one image

* A Universal app is one that is designed to work on both the iPhone and iPad.

Note: The stuff below this line is an ad. My post actually ends here.

This really bothers me. A guy that I knew asked me to draw something for him for a project he was working on. I told him I would do it for 2/3 of my normal rate, because he was a buddy of mine. Then, after a few revisions, when he was satisfied with the result, I invoiced him for the money, he said that he was going to pay me after his client paid him. Now, I didn’t sign up to be a partner in his business. I just was going to do something for him for a price that we agreed on and he’s been promising, then flaking on me for almost two years now. I don’t know what to do anymore. His client never payed him so he changed the terms on his own. I guess it was a lesson in life that some people won’t do what they say when things don’t work out for them. They pass on someone else’s flakiness and pretend like it doesn’t have anything to do with them. I think that if I were to want to have some sort of partnership where I shared in the risk with somebody else that was helping me out then I should also share the reward and not be saying here’s a flat rate for what you’re doing rather than a percentage of profits and explain the risk before hand. I don’t want this to happen again, because it turned a mutually respectful acquaintance into something like tense silence. I like to think that my relationships are worth more than that, and it is sad to see one sold so undervalued. I may need to request that a lawyer draw up some concise contracts for me to use in the future, because one day I may really need a paycheck to pay my bills and live on, and have contracts with higher stakes that I can’t afford to lose.

A Public Service Announcement:
There seems to be a lot of people I know who don’t understand how an iPod is supposed to work. Music is on your computer and a copy is on your iPod to playback. When your computer goes up in smoke and you have no backup, your music is gone. Reinstalling iTunes does not make your music reappear on a new computer. If you don’t have an external drive, get one. Copy your important photos and music to it. You will be glad you did when your system drive fails. They always do within five years. If your computer is three years old, you are on borrowed time.

When we are not inspired, challenged, driven or surprised, we seek diversion.
Many people seem to have a great desire to be entertained.
Entertainment is diversion without challenge.
Challenge is not encouraged often in television, because true challenge makes us turn off the television.
Entertainment has an element of surprise at times: in drama, comedy, horror, action, and almost every other genre.
Those who spend a lot of time engrossed in entertainment lose the experience of surprise and seek that experience with a continued, greater investment.
The entertainment industry capitalizes on this drive by offering more sets of channels to subscribe to and billed monthly for this ‘privilege’.
Entertainment is an imposter, attempting to compete with that which would satisfy our actual desires.
The most effective way to be inspired is through a mentoring relationship with a successful person who has accomplished an admirable feat or reached a worthy goal.
A great way to be challenged is to commit to a relationship that involves accountability to another who is stronger than us in an area of our own weakness.
One method to acquire drive is by learning to keep one’s commitments in an atmosphere of success and assured a future reward without immediate personal benefits.
Surprise occurs when we attempt things that we thought were not possible and achieve them or we witness a peer achieve them and can celebrate that in our community or group.
Without challenge to our habits or changes to our environment, surprise is unlikely.
Comfort is the enemy of satisfaction, and the friend of atrophy.
Rest is necessary, but should be earned with a continuing effort.
With wisdom, we must choose worthy endeavors and battles.
Assuming the battle is worth fighting, it is better to die in the heat of battle than to rest in the complacent coolness of peace.
Do not ask the question, “What shall I watch next?”, rather answer the question,
“Where should I go?” and wherever you do go; go well.

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
-James 1:27 (NIV)

I also learned that Ben’s mom, Kathy has started physically accepting the bone marrow transplant and working like we had hoped.

*This post is here because it started out as a tweet, but was impossible to do in 140 characters.

I don’t think I want to write more on this subject. It is getting a little boring to me. If anything comes up of interest, I will let you, my reader, know.
Thanks,
-Ezra

I stopped to get fuel on a roadtrip to and from Redding, CA and did a network speed test at one of the last stops at a Chevron just off of interstate 5

AT&T on the Edge Network

Well, there is not a lot of room for a slower connection than this.The good news here I see is that there are a solid five bars of signal strength, but only one kilobit per bar ratio for download speed. I suppose if I were to really thouroughly test this, I should have tried to make a call, but I had to attend to the pump, since the trigger released itself for some reason. Karyn does not have a lot of patience for my experiments going longer than a commercial break, especially when we have to get back on the freeway and make good time.

AT&T on the 3G Network

Not too bad. This is usable. I have no idea why it took four minutes to find the 3G signal, but I am glad it did. I did not turn off the 3G setting to get the first edge reading above, it just happened this way, oddly. I guess the edge network is what one uses to talk on while surfing the net with 3G?

Verizon on the 3G Network

Wow! This was way beyond
my expectations. I had to double check my network settings to be sure I was not connected to some other courtesy network. Nothing else around but freeway and grass besides this pump station.

Chevron Food Mart Location

Karyn was getting a few Gatorades at the food Mart, and I was not quite filling up our tank, besides doing these ‘geek tests’

MiFi on my dashboard

Today Verizon wins by an embarrassing landslide. I have never had a speed test result this high done from my iPhone while not on my home WiFi network

I wanted a way to work on my laptop when on the road, publishing web page edits and podcast episodes, because WiFi service is not everywhere. It seems like whenever I go on a retreat or camp, my iPhone has no service. A lot of times, on a retreat, it makes sense to be unplugged, but if I can’t make a call, that is a problem. So Skype can help in those situations.

I have 30 days to decide if I want to lock into this contract, so hopefully 5GB per month works for me for the next 24 months.