• I’m still trying to get Fever (http://feedafever.com). Right now my hottest story is Weblogs Inc. Terms of Service…. thats not right. #
• Getting ready to go to a baseball game in the pouring rain.

  #notTHATintobaseball #

• I’m locked outside with the dog and @amyandrews isn’t answering the door. #
• Ah..the rough life of a dog…
  http://yfrog.com/5dcwzij (via @amyandrews) #
• I think the most impressive part of Feverº is its install and upgrade process. This is the future of web apps—more like desktop apps. #
• Unchecking “excerpt link” in Feverº just make a world of difference. #
• Ever since I switched to the 3Gs, my MobileMe syncing has stopped working. I have a ton of events that are on my phone, but not in iCal. Ugh #
• Nike+ is really impressive. I just wished it would incorporate the GPS and Internet of the iPhone. #
• Its really annoying that my iPhone calendar and my iCal are completely out of sync. MobileMe simply stopped working with the 3GS. #
• Things are getting interesting. Were at the hospital now. This is way too early. I’m scared put of my kind right now. #
• Let’s hope this Brethine does what it’s supposed to… #
• New pregnancy update video: http://andrewskids.com/2009/06/108/ #
• Convinced my sister-in-law to buy an iPhone. She loves it!

  Next, have her get a twitter account. #

• I really love the new camera in the 3GS — I use the touch-to-focus and video stuff a lot more than I thought I would. #
• I swear the post office has a grudge against my family. #
• Its about to get nasty outside. #
• Local radar: http://bit.ly/23aJ #
• Got a google voice invite, but I can’t seem to get my phone number(s) verified. #
• Waiting anxiously for the wii to finish updating… #
• Running windows so I can play with the IKEA office planner.

  I feel so dirty right now. #

• At my sister in law’s graduation ceremony. #
• The plan for the new office. Starting gutting the place today. http://bit.ly/hzWlp #
• Have you buried ethernet (cat5/5e/6) cable? I’m doing about a 125ft run. Experience? Conduit necessary? #

• Bounce Rate doesn’t mean much for a 1-page site, does it? #
• I don’t see the iPhone _ever_ being on Verizon. Verizon would have to give up on V-Cast and its habit of crippling phones. #
• This doesn’t look right at all: http://www.mostinspired.com/sites/view/ff8cbbc5cc6402d4839c80686939ac7d #
• Only 7 spots away from being in the Top 25 Finance apps! Help us get there by reviewing: http://bit.ly/SpendlyiTunes #
• #squarespace is going to give me an iPhone today. At least, I think they’re going to… #
• Horny Hottie is now following you on Twitter! #
• These guys are gonna make a billion dollars: http://fps.ngmoco.com/ #
• First Lesson Learned: Reminding negative emailers that your a person, will a family, and bills, seems to make them rethink their comments. #
• Should I be concerned that my new iPhone hasn’t shipped yet? #
• I’m not convinced that yesterday existed. #
• Spendly is now the 25th most popular finance app in the US! We’re now on the first page of finance apps on your iPhone/iPod! Thank you! #
• Ah, I see. I have to be excruciatingly detailed, but you can just post a one line explanation, and say “Just go there, you’ll see it.” #
• This is like pulling teeth. #
• It really amazes me that iTunes Connect doesn’t offer live sales stats and review/rating notices to developers. I’d pay extra for that stuff #
• How about you spend some time trying to answer your question yourself _before_ you bring me into the loop. #
• Blasting loud music directly into my ears.

  #squarespace #

• if I had a nickel for every time I hear “taking care of two babies at once is going to be crazy”, I’d be a millionaire. #twintuesday #
• It took me 3 days to find the loading indicator in FF3/Mac.

  Its to the right of the search input for some reason. #

• Skitch is amazing when used for bug testing/reporting. #
• http://bit.ly/gpkaH

  This is so “dead-on” for me right now. #

• What is a “DEPOIST”? http://twitpic.com/7k7lm (via @spendly) #
• Yet another free iPhone offer on twitter: http://bit.ly/G16Qt

  You should RT (or so I’m told). #

• iPhone 3Gs status: Prepared for Shipment

  I can’t wait. #

• Get to see my boys tomorrow! I love ultrasound day! #
• Scrapblog design ripped by it’s own home state. http://twitpic.com/7lc89 (via @mikegee)

  Wow, thats simply awful. Did you say something? #

• I seriously don’t charge enough money. #
• Are you a PHP badass? Do you know a PHP badass? Then come work with me: http://bit.ly/2PTbs #
• Is iTunes Connect broken for anyone else this morning? #
• Yesterdays sales report isn’t in iTunes Connect yet? Thats strange… #
• My iPhone still hasn’t shipped, yet says ” Delivers by June 19th” — I’m skeptical. #
• Going into what @twofish calls, “Mole Mode.”

  Catcha ya’ll on the flip side. #

• Mole mode has been ruined by Fireworks CS3 crashing. Who’s made the upgrade to CS4? Is it worth it? Is the text tool fixed? #
• “Is it ironic or sad that people will pay $4 for a latte that takes five minutes to make, but not an app that took five months?” #
• Strange. My iPhone has shipped, but with FedEx, not UPS like everyone else.

  I’m not complaining. #

• Estimated delivery Jun 19, 2009 by 3:00 PM. #
• Doing some un-scientific experiments with buttons on http://spendly.com #
• Finished work before 3am for once this week. Nice. #
• Uh Oh: “On FedEx vehicle for delivery” #
• Its here, its here, its here.

  Ok, I’m not really that excited. #

• I bought a 32 GB phone, not a 29.33 GB phone. I want my 2 GB back. #
• I thought this thing had GPS—it has no idea where I am… #
• And *still* no signal in my house…

  #dissapointing #

• Hard hitting news on CNN.com: http://twitpic.com/7t542 #
• Recorded, edited, and posted to youtube without having to touch my computer. Impressive.

  http://bit.ly/Oj8Gb #

• 2,477 Songs.
  17 Videos.
  179 Photos.
  30 Applications.

  10.6 GB Available.

  Thats just crazy. #

• Going in the Mole-Mode™ #
• watching/listening: http://www.branchrecords.com this is how record labels should work. (via @alexhillman) #
• I’m now subscribing to http://www.branchrecords.com

  ’bout god damn time. #

• ♫ Maybe (partial song) - http://iLike.com/t/8YKa (via @ingridmusic)

  I like me some Ingrid Michaelson. #

• My iPhone has no idea where I am:
  http://bit.ly/J5z77

  I’m guessing it’s basing this on my wifi, but isnt that what GPS is for? #

• hey new york, a grey, warm, soaking wet sponge called. it wants its description back. (via @ingridmusic) #
• I’m not 100% sure I get Fever yet, but I’m willing to try: http://twitpic.com/7xhgz #
• Going on hour 9 of a single charge with the 3Gs. Impressive. #
• I should also point out that I’m at 55% battery. I think I can go another 6 hours without a charge, easy. #
• Sweet! Make: marathon is on! #
• 1000fps makes everything look amazing: http://www.vimeo.com/4167288 #
• ~15hrs standby and ~4hrs usage and were at 19%. The new iPhone is all kinds of badass! #

• So far this morning: Stepped in dog piss. Caught the cat eating my cereal.

  This can only get better… right? RIGHT? #

• Auto-tine in the new: http://bit.ly/6JGbp

  This is amazing. #

• I had a nightmare last night… In it, I forgot the master password for 1Password.

  This is my life. #

• Spendly has been “In Review” for 8 days. I’m getting impatient.

  Its a _really_ simple app. Shouldn’t take more then 10min. to review. #

• I really want to love Vimeo, but they don’t make it easy.

  #waytooslow #

• Seriously, vimeo is worthless today. #
• Just has a _huge_ “ah-ha” moment — this design is finally going somewhere. Lets hope the client agrees. #
• just went to a website that gave me this error: “This website needs Netscape 7 to work correctly.” Wow..that’s bad… (via @amyandrews) #
• I’m getting a strange feeling that a new iPhone won’t be announced today… #
• I’m really stressed out right now. #
• I won’t be lining up for the new iPhone 3G[s].

  I’ll probably get it, but I’m in not rush.

  And seriously, [s]? About about the iPhone 3G28d #

• Spendly is apparently available for sale, but I can’t find it. #
• Woo Hoo! Spendly is live: http://spendly.com/ (via @spendly) #
• Um. Whats going on with Push notifications?

  Oh, and AT&T is ruining the iPhone. #

• Glad I got that out of my system. Its been killing me all day. #
• I hate to keep mentioning it, but I think http://spendly.com/ is one of my best web designs. #
• Spendly hasn’t been out for 24 hours and I’m already dealing with my first support requests. #
• Why is AT&T charging $30+ in random fees to get the new iPhone?

  Because they can. #

• Tomorrow’s gonna be rough. #
• Its hard to believe that iTunes Connect doesn’t have an iPhone app… #
• Made a minor update to Spendly and now iTunes is telling me its not available in the US.

  Man I hope that goes away quick. #

• I’m running way behind this morning. 4 hours of sleep will do that.

  #nooneelsetoblam #

• You know that http://spendly.com is available in the app store, right? Have you bought it yet? #
• Has anyone else out there ever had series session bugs with Safari 4 (beta or release)? #
• Nearly 40 minutes in, and still on page one. #
• Englisch.

  That is all. #

• Are programmers required to listen to death metal? #
• Telling me that you’ve already fixed the error—even though I _just_ got it again—means that its not fixed. #
• Campaign Monitor is all sorts of awesome. They’ve got one of the best designs on the web—without a doubt. #
• http://twitpic.com/70zxk - Evening roller coaster silhouette view at Hershey Park, Hershey, PA. This coaster is INSANE! (via @SteadmanTech) #
• Happy birthday @amyandrews! #
• There’s something about coding an HTML email that is comforting. Tables. Tables. Tables. #
• OK. Today’s the day I’m gonna win a new iPhone, thanks to @squarespace

  #squarespace #

• Ah, spacer.gif. So comforting. Brings me back to a simpler time. #
• You’re not following @spendly. I know it.

  You should. #

• Heading out for @amyandrews’ birthday surprise! #
• Got paid. Finally.

  Purchased iPhone 3Gs. #

• Didn’t realize I’d have to buy a dock with the new iPhone… the two I already have won’t work with it. Damn.

  Apple owns me. #

• iPhone purchased. Now its time to pay @springsandstruts and my car payment.

  #priorities #

• I hate when people tell me to clear my cookies. I feel lost for like 2 days afterwords having to re-establish them. #
• No free iPhone today, but this counts as my entry for tommorow.

  #squarespace #

• I really want to buy a gift certificate from popcap.com, but they don’t seem to allow me to anywhere, even though their help mentions them. #
• #squarespace

  That is all. #

• 1.5 hours until we pick a winner for today’s #Squarespace giveaway! Hmm…who will it be? (via @squarespace)

  Me. #

• The Hangover was perfect. I think you should go see it. #
• Hey, you know that thing you put a lot of time, effort and money into? Can I have it for free? #
• I love it when spotlight does this: http://twitpic.com/76323

  Finding everything but a core iLife app.

  #itjustworks #

• I wonder if @lealea knows that she’s in the @spendly screenshot: #
• Here’s @lealea in the app store: http://twitpic.com/76dzr #
• Its 3am. I’m awake. I have a 10am meeting at the clients office.

  #imstupid #

• http://bit.ly is pretty awesome—the click and conversation tracking are really useful. #
• So Spendly is now in the top 50 paid finances apps. I’m really stoked about that! #
• That could have all been done with a 2 line email. #
• Wow, this is really cool: http://img.ly/scape #
• I really do love that there are such great browsers out there that are constantly being updated: Safari, Firefox, and Opera.

  #screwIE #

• Since @amyandrews got the new LCD Cinema Display for her birthday, I’m trying out her 20″ HP monitor as a second display.

  My neck hurts. #

• Skitch is my new best friend. #
• I really, really hate Skype, but its an integral part of my business.

  #whattodo #

• Oh yea, Lunch. I forgot.

  There. Chips and beer. Problem solved. #

• Just ate about a tbsp of bad sour cream dip. Not as bad as I would have expected, but not something I’d like to repeat. #
• Annnd today’s #squarespace iPhone gift card winner is:…… STAY TUNED [it’s not 5pm yet! ;) (via @squarespace)

  Awful. #

• I’m chewing 12 pieces of Mentos gum.

  Yea, I’m pretty much awesome. #

• I’d love to have facebook.com/spendly but I’d have to have 1,000 fans for some reason.

  That actually pisses me off. #

• About to give away a free copy of Spendly over at @spendly — finding the perfect question now. #
• If you know a good finance related blog that’s looking for advertiser? Let me know. (via @spendly) #
• Grabbing some gas, then mowing the lawn, which hasn’t been touched in 2+ wks. Should be interesting. #
• Putting together a baby swing. #
• #squarespace

  That is all. #

• Day man, aaahhhah. #
• Yesterday was our best day of sales yet! Thank you everyone! #
• Oops, that last tweet was supposed to go out under @spendly.

  Oh well. #

• Just had an awesome breakfast to start with @amyandrews — good way to start our 1st anniversary! #
• Throwing together a few Google Ads for Spendly. I see they do mobile ads targeted at iPhone now — perfect! #

• So far this morning: Stepped in dog piss. Caught the cat eating my cereal.

  This can only get better… right? RIGHT? #

• Auto-tine in the new: http://bit.ly/6JGbp

  This is amazing. #

• I had a nightmare last night… In it, I forgot the master password for 1Password.

  This is my life. #

• Spendly has been “In Review” for 8 days. I’m getting impatient.

  Its a _really_ simple app. Shouldn’t take more then 10min. to review. #

• I really want to love Vimeo, but they don’t make it easy.

  #waytooslow #

• Seriously, vimeo is worthless today. #
• Just has a _huge_ “ah-ha” moment — this design is finally going somewhere. Lets hope the client agrees. #
• just went to a website that gave me this error: “This website needs Netscape 7 to work correctly.” Wow..that’s bad… (via @amyandrews) #
• I’m getting a strange feeling that a new iPhone won’t be announced today… #
• I’m really stressed out right now. #
• I won’t be lining up for the new iPhone 3G[s].

  I’ll probably get it, but I’m in not rush.

  And seriously, [s]? About about the iPhone 3G28d #

• Spendly is apparently available for sale, but I can’t find it. #
• Woo Hoo! Spendly is live: http://spendly.com/ (via @spendly) #
• Um. Whats going on with Push notifications?

  Oh, and AT&T is ruining the iPhone. #

• Glad I got that out of my system. Its been killing me all day. #
• I hate to keep mentioning it, but I think http://spendly.com/ is one of my best web designs. #
• Spendly hasn’t been out for 24 hours and I’m already dealing with my first support requests. #
• Why is AT&T charging $30+ in random fees to get the new iPhone?

  Because they can. #

• Tomorrow’s gonna be rough. #
• Its hard to believe that iTunes Connect doesn’t have an iPhone app… #
• Made a minor update to Spendly and now iTunes is telling me its not available in the US.

  Man I hope that goes away quick. #

• I’m running way behind this morning. 4 hours of sleep will do that.

  #nooneelsetoblam #

• You know that http://spendly.com is available in the app store, right? Have you bought it yet? #
• Has anyone else out there ever had series session bugs with Safari 4 (beta or release)? #
• Nearly 40 minutes in, and still on page one. #
• Englisch.

  That is all. #

• Are programmers required to listen to death metal? #
• Telling me that you’ve already fixed the error—even though I _just_ got it again—means that its not fixed. #
• Campaign Monitor is all sorts of awesome. They’ve got one of the best designs on the web—without a doubt. #
• http://twitpic.com/70zxk - Evening roller coaster silhouette view at Hershey Park, Hershey, PA. This coaster is INSANE! (via @SteadmanTech) #
• Happy birthday @amyandrews! #
• There’s something about coding an HTML email that is comforting. Tables. Tables. Tables. #
• OK. Today’s the day I’m gonna win a new iPhone, thanks to @squarespace

  #squarespace #

• Ah, spacer.gif. So comforting. Brings me back to a simpler time. #
• You’re not following @spendly. I know it.

  You should. #

• Heading out for @amyandrews’ birthday surprise! #
• Got paid. Finally.

  Purchased iPhone 3Gs. #

• Didn’t realize I’d have to buy a dock with the new iPhone… the two I already have won’t work with it. Damn.

  Apple owns me. #

• iPhone purchased. Now its time to pay @springsandstruts and my car payment.

  #priorities #

• I hate when people tell me to clear my cookies. I feel lost for like 2 days afterwords having to re-establish them. #
• No free iPhone today, but this counts as my entry for tommorow.

  #squarespace #

• I really want to buy a gift certificate from popcap.com, but they don’t seem to allow me to anywhere, even though their help mentions them. #
• #squarespace

  That is all. #

• 1.5 hours until we pick a winner for today’s #Squarespace giveaway! Hmm…who will it be? (via @squarespace)

  Me. #

• The Hangover was perfect. I think you should go see it. #
• Hey, you know that thing you put a lot of time, effort and money into? Can I have it for free? #
• I love it when spotlight does this: http://twitpic.com/76323

  Finding everything but a core iLife app.

  #itjustworks #

• I wonder if @lealea knows that she’s in the @spendly screenshot: #
• Here’s @lealea in the app store: http://twitpic.com/76dzr #
• Its 3am. I’m awake. I have a 10am meeting at the clients office.

  #imstupid #

• http://bit.ly is pretty awesome—the click and conversation tracking are really useful. #
• So Spendly is now in the top 50 paid finances apps. I’m really stoked about that! #
• That could have all been done with a 2 line email. #
• Wow, this is really cool: http://img.ly/scape #
• I really do love that there are such great browsers out there that are constantly being updated: Safari, Firefox, and Opera.

  #screwIE #

• Since @amyandrews got the new LCD Cinema Display for her birthday, I’m trying out her 20″ HP monitor as a second display.

  My neck hurts. #

• Skitch is my new best friend. #
• I really, really hate Skype, but its an integral part of my business.

  #whattodo #

• Oh yea, Lunch. I forgot.

  There. Chips and beer. Problem solved. #

• Just ate about a tbsp of bad sour cream dip. Not as bad as I would have expected, but not something I’d like to repeat. #
• Annnd today’s #squarespace iPhone gift card winner is:…… STAY TUNED [it’s not 5pm yet! ;) (via @squarespace)

  Awful. #

• I’m chewing 12 pieces of Mentos gum.

  Yea, I’m pretty much awesome. #

• I’d love to have facebook.com/spendly but I’d have to have 1,000 fans for some reason.

  That actually pisses me off. #

• About to give away a free copy of Spendly over at @spendly — finding the perfect question now. #
• If you know a good finance related blog that’s looking for advertiser? Let me know. (via @spendly) #
• Grabbing some gas, then mowing the lawn, which hasn’t been touched in 2+ wks. Should be interesting. #
• Putting together a baby swing. #
• #squarespace

  That is all. #

• Day man, aaahhhah. #
• Yesterday was our best day of sales yet! Thank you everyone! #
• Oops, that last tweet was supposed to go out under @spendly.

  Oh well. #

• Just had an awesome breakfast to start with @amyandrews — good way to start our 1st anniversary! #
• Throwing together a few Google Ads for Spendly. I see they do mobile ads targeted at iPhone now — perfect! #

• I fell asleep around 8pm last night. Guess I was tired. #
• Sent an invoice for $1,200.

  Should have been $12,000.

  Client was very appreciative of the discount. #

• Facebook has its own loading cursor. I shouldn’t have to see it…

  #facebookisslow #

• “If you so much as harm a hair on Stanley’s head, we will burn Utica to the ground.” —Michael Scott #
• So I live in (well, near) Binghamton, NY. We always call it Bing. Now Microsoft has taken that from us…

  #thosebastards #

• I hate IE6.

  Not sure if I’ve mentioned that before. #

• Totally thought I had a meeting right now. I’m 2 hours early. Guess I *can* eat lunch now. #
• Hulu Desktop tells me theres an update. Two issues: 1) I’m forced to install the update. 2) The update doesn’t work.

  I was so impressed… #

• Breaking Bad’s season finale felt a little too open ended… I was hoping for some more answers. Next season can’t come soon enough. #
• Preview of the Spendly website: http://twitpic.com/6flmv (via @spendly) #
• Watching the live DMB concert on the eve of their new album at http://hulu.com #
• The DMB concert is starting to pick up some energy with Cornbread! #
• Dave’s having some trouble singing Seven.

  #dmb #

• “If you hear me strugglin’, then just sing louder than me.” —DJM #
• It only took me a few hours to figure that all out… http://twitpic.com/6fx36 #
• It takes two men to replace Roi #
• Holy shit—this jazz jam is fucking amazing!

  #dmb #

• It took ‘em 10 years, but DMB finally released a (deserving) followup to BTCS. #
• Oh lovely… TimeMachine is backing itself up. I swear, every time I restart all my settings go crazy. #
• I’d be watching Conan tonight… that is, if we got NBC.

  #stupidlowpowersignal #

• Today is DMB day. #
• Taughannock falls on a misty morning: http://twitpic.com/6goo1

  One of my favorite places in the world. #

• Apple’s hiring a creative director—could you imagine interviewing with Steve Jobs?

  That’s my dream AND my nightmare. #

• I love skype calls with 7+ people.

  #sarcarsm #

• Its cool, I’m just gonna walk away from the phone for a bit. Just keep talking. #
• Just used facebook… like in a real life scenario.

  Needed to rent sound equip. Asked a local sound guru and he hooked me up. Cool! #

• This is pure genius: http://bit.ly/kz195 #
• Getting close to the launch of Spendly: http://twitpic.com/6hk8g #
• Say hi to baby b: http://twitpic.com/6j1pl #
• Time to find bugs. Not normally what I do, but a change of pace is nice… right? Right?

  Right. #

• Telling me that you can’t replicate the error doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. It just means you can’t find it. #
• Just put the wheels in motion to have the workshop converted into an office. Needs to get done before the kids arrive. #
• I really appreciate trac never remembering my login info and then not redirecting me to the page I was looking for to begin with… #
• Can I track Trac bugs in Trac?

  Thats a self-referencing loop or something… #

• For people so obsessed with security, there sure are a lot of security issues. #
• Lovely. Trac truncated my email address for some reason. #
• I really don’t need Trac sending me an email everytime I create a ticket. I already know that I created a ticket. #
• Its really great that there’s no way to view the bugs I’ve reported in Trac. #
• Apple makes 1/3rd of Palm’s worldwide revenue—at the 5th Ave Apple store alone! Thats mind blowing. #
• Whoa, I definitely shouldn’t have been able to do that… #
• I’m entering the titles of my bugs in mixed-case… I’m sure that’ll piss off someone. It’d probably piss me off. #
• I’m considering setting up a mail rule to automatically delete all emails from Trac.

  Is that a bad idea? #

• So apparently Trac just randomly refuses to attach images. And does so without any notice.

  Trac is awesome. #

• I’m officially naming this hat, the “bug testing hat.” #
• 13 tickets in 4 hours. These bugs are larger than I expected. #
• You’ve got to be kidding me…

  The last 4 hours have been wasted documented bugs that were already known. Even though I specifically asked. #

• Half my day down the drain because someone didn’t want to tell me about a known issue.

  Fuck me. #

• Now I’m holding myself back from telling this guy he just wasted 4hrs of my life. So frustrating. #
• I’m pretty sure I need to relax a little here… I can feel my blood pressure rising. This really pissed me off for some reason. #
• Telling me that its a “caching issue” also does not mean that the bug doesn’t exist. #
• I’ve never heard of a Mac user not having Safari installed…

  …until today. #

• Apparently I’m making shit up now. #
• Thats it, I’m done will all this bullshit for now. #
• This is just what I needed after today: http://twitpic.com/6k6o3 #
• How can I get the app store on my iPhone simulator? #
• Who’s got a licensed copy of ScreenFlow? #
• The Spendly site is just about done: http://twitpic.com/6klco #
• This is pretty: http://bit.ly/7MLhv #
• I’ve found myself checking iTunes Connect about once an hour—and thats no easy feat. #
• My next iPhone app is going to be something related to babies.

  #onestepatatime #

• What are your thoughts on iPhone specefic websites? Worthless or does it defeat the purpose of having a “full browser” on your phone? #
• I’m taking a ton of cues from the Pre for some new Spendly features. #
• I should probably shower at some point. #
• The more mistakes we make the more money I get to charge you.

  —Not me. #

• Paul Simon’s performance on Jimmy Fallon the other night was amazing! #
• I’m not going to WWDC this year, but next year it may make a hell of a lot more sense for me to be there. #
• Yesterdays grad party was a ton of fun. @amyandrews baby shower today should be fun as well. #

• I fell asleep around 8pm last night. Guess I was tired. #
• Sent an invoice for $1,200.

  Should have been $12,000.

  Client was very appreciative of the discount. #

• Facebook has its own loading cursor. I shouldn’t have to see it…

  #facebookisslow #

• “If you so much as harm a hair on Stanley’s head, we will burn Utica to the ground.” —Michael Scott #
• So I live in (well, near) Binghamton, NY. We always call it Bing. Now Microsoft has taken that from us…

  #thosebastards #

• I hate IE6.

  Not sure if I’ve mentioned that before. #

• Totally thought I had a meeting right now. I’m 2 hours early. Guess I *can* eat lunch now. #
• Hulu Desktop tells me theres an update. Two issues: 1) I’m forced to install the update. 2) The update doesn’t work.

  I was so impressed… #

• Breaking Bad’s season finale felt a little too open ended… I was hoping for some more answers. Next season can’t come soon enough. #
• Preview of the Spendly website: http://twitpic.com/6flmv (via @spendly) #
• Watching the live DMB concert on the eve of their new album at http://hulu.com #
• The DMB concert is starting to pick up some energy with Cornbread! #
• Dave’s having some trouble singing Seven.

  #dmb #

• “If you hear me strugglin’, then just sing louder than me.” —DJM #
• It only took me a few hours to figure that all out… http://twitpic.com/6fx36 #
• It takes two men to replace Roi #
• Holy shit—this jazz jam is fucking amazing!

  #dmb #

• It took ‘em 10 years, but DMB finally released a (deserving) followup to BTCS. #
• Oh lovely… TimeMachine is backing itself up. I swear, every time I restart all my settings go crazy. #
• I’d be watching Conan tonight… that is, if we got NBC.

  #stupidlowpowersignal #

• Today is DMB day. #
• Taughannock falls on a misty morning: http://twitpic.com/6goo1

  One of my favorite places in the world. #

• Apple’s hiring a creative director—could you imagine interviewing with Steve Jobs?

  That’s my dream AND my nightmare. #

• I love skype calls with 7+ people.

  #sarcarsm #

• Its cool, I’m just gonna walk away from the phone for a bit. Just keep talking. #
• Just used facebook… like in a real life scenario.

  Needed to rent sound equip. Asked a local sound guru and he hooked me up. Cool! #

• This is pure genius: http://bit.ly/kz195 #
• Getting close to the launch of Spendly: http://twitpic.com/6hk8g #
• Say hi to baby b: http://twitpic.com/6j1pl #
• Time to find bugs. Not normally what I do, but a change of pace is nice… right? Right?

  Right. #

• Telling me that you can’t replicate the error doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. It just means you can’t find it. #
• Just put the wheels in motion to have the workshop converted into an office. Needs to get done before the kids arrive. #
• I really appreciate trac never remembering my login info and then not redirecting me to the page I was looking for to begin with… #
• Can I track Trac bugs in Trac?

  Thats a self-referencing loop or something… #

• For people so obsessed with security, there sure are a lot of security issues. #
• Lovely. Trac truncated my email address for some reason. #
• I really don’t need Trac sending me an email everytime I create a ticket. I already know that I created a ticket. #
• Its really great that there’s no way to view the bugs I’ve reported in Trac. #
• Apple makes 1/3rd of Palm’s worldwide revenue—at the 5th Ave Apple store alone! Thats mind blowing. #
• Whoa, I definitely shouldn’t have been able to do that… #
• I’m entering the titles of my bugs in mixed-case… I’m sure that’ll piss off someone. It’d probably piss me off. #
• I’m considering setting up a mail rule to automatically delete all emails from Trac.

  Is that a bad idea? #

• So apparently Trac just randomly refuses to attach images. And does so without any notice.

  Trac is awesome. #

• I’m officially naming this hat, the “bug testing hat.” #
• 13 tickets in 4 hours. These bugs are larger than I expected. #
• You’ve got to be kidding me…

  The last 4 hours have been wasted documented bugs that were already known. Even though I specifically asked. #

• Half my day down the drain because someone didn’t want to tell me about a known issue.

  Fuck me. #

• Now I’m holding myself back from telling this guy he just wasted 4hrs of my life. So frustrating. #
• I’m pretty sure I need to relax a little here… I can feel my blood pressure rising. This really pissed me off for some reason. #
• Telling me that its a “caching issue” also does not mean that the bug doesn’t exist. #
• I’ve never heard of a Mac user not having Safari installed…

  …until today. #

• Apparently I’m making shit up now. #
• Thats it, I’m done will all this bullshit for now. #
• This is just what I needed after today: http://twitpic.com/6k6o3 #
• How can I get the app store on my iPhone simulator? #
• Who’s got a licensed copy of ScreenFlow? #
• The Spendly site is just about done: http://twitpic.com/6klco #
• This is pretty: http://bit.ly/7MLhv #
• I’ve found myself checking iTunes Connect about once an hour—and thats no easy feat. #
• My next iPhone app is going to be something related to babies.

  #onestepatatime #

• What are your thoughts on iPhone specefic websites? Worthless or does it defeat the purpose of having a “full browser” on your phone? #
• I’m taking a ton of cues from the Pre for some new Spendly features. #
• I should probably shower at some point. #
• The more mistakes we make the more money I get to charge you.

  —Not me. #

• Paul Simon’s performance on Jimmy Fallon the other night was amazing! #
• I’m not going to WWDC this year, but next year it may make a hell of a lot more sense for me to be there. #
• Yesterdays grad party was a ton of fun. @amyandrews baby shower today should be fun as well. #

• I can hear a dirty fan in my iMac. I don’t like that. #
• This guy is a fucking tool: http://bit.ly/xjbvB #
• Wow, Trac is really, really, really awful. #
• Why would Trac reformat my text to remove line breaks? Why would that make sense to anyone? #
• I’m not sure I can say it enough: Trac is ridiculously awful. #
• Playing in Xcode. #
• Real life vendor/client relations. http://bit.ly/H9zm6 (via @jnunemaker) (via @snookca)

  This is perfect. #

• This is a real dentist: Dr. Rod Stewart DDS #
• Just joined a twibe. Visit http://twibes.com/twintuesday to join #
• http://yfrog.us/0pn1gz #
• My mom just sent me a facebook friend request.

  Wow. #

• FYI @shaunandrews rocks. just sayin’. (via @lealea)

  I just want everyone else to know. #

• Listening to the new DMB album: http://www.pandora.com/davematthewsband

  So far, the drumming is spectacular! #

• Wrapping up a few things today. Tomorrow we’re going up to the lake for a long weekend. #
• “Why I am” from the new DMB album gives me hope for the band—and a renewed interest in seeing them live. #
• Man, the new highlight for selected tweets in tweetie is basically non-existant. #
• Yea, the DMB album rocks like no other DMB album has. I’m gonna go ahead and say its better than BTCS. #
• Hulu Desktop is pretty much awesome. #
• Wow, look at all the hours for which I haven’t been paid…

  #blametheeconomy #

• Managed to squeeze in a couple hours of work this morning. After some bad news, now its time to go kayak all weekend.

  See you on monday. #

• Thinking about getting back on the water. It’s a little cold but I’m dying to kayak some more. #
• The dock at Sheldrake Point, on Cayuga lake. http://twitpic.com/6btuu #

I’m a little behind on things, so I’m writing this post at the end of the week rather than the normal Monday morning post. This week was spent on the following:

• Getting in a small argument with a client about payment
• Wonder when another client is going to pay
• Working on the full marketing site for English360
• Getting English360 ready for a big demo next week
• Working on the customer/tutor areas for Veritas Tutors
• Visiting my only local client’s office to help write copy for their new website
• Pulling my hair out trying to learn Objective-C

Over the last few months I’ve been using Alex King’s great Twitter Tools plugin for WordPress. This plugin allows me to setup an automatic daily digest of my tweets and post them to this blog. I thought this would be a cool way to keep the site updated everyday, but in the end all it did was hide my real posts. So, starting today, I’ve turned off the daily digest. In its place I’ve setup a weekly digest. I’ve also setup a separate category just for these twitter digests. If it gets to be overwhelming again, I’ll simply remove these digests from the normal flow of this blog.

Sorry for all the crappy digest posts—I’m sure the majority of you didn’t care about them, and I’m certain I’ve lost subscribers because of them.

Here are a few of the things I’m working on this week:

• Wrapping up some updates to FinalsClub.org
• Tying up loose ends for English360
• Working on Customer Availability for Veritutors.com
• Marketing site for Spendly.com
• Trying to get CreativeLivingRoom.com live

Right now I’m just focused on consuming coffee.

Garrett Murray posted about his experiences as an iPhone developer managing customer support and the slant towards negative reviews based on resolved—but waiting for approval—bugs:

I panicked, tried to figure out how to get around this problem, and eventually talked to Google and they helped me solve it (I can’t say exactly how yet, but nevertheless Ego now has as close to “official” GA support as there can be in 3rd-party app). I submitted the update to Apple. Now, of course, I wait.

The waiting is the hardest part, or so they say. It seems that the rediculously complicated and slow approval process from Apple has some rather serious customer relations side effects:

…it means tons of email a day and tons of bad reviews. It means answering the same question (“My GA widgets all report zero… what gives??”) 20 times a day. It means watching negative reviews pour in.

As a new developer for the iPhone, I’m getting more and more worried about these types of problems. I’m taking a ton of risk creating an app: the cost of my time, the cost of my contractors—add that to the fact that Apple can reject my app for the smallest thing—and there’s a big possible downside. But, even with all that time and money invested in what could very easily be a failure, the upside is still worth it.

An app in the iPhone App Store is instantly exposed to thousands, if not tens-of-thousands or people who are willing, ready, and able to purchase it in a matter of seconds. Outside of the potential for financial gain, developing an iPhone is the “in” thing right now so any experience with the process is easily translated to client work. Also, its really, really fun to design for the iPhone.

For right now, the rewards outweigh the risks for many developers. But, that could change quickly. Apple needs to allow for some type of communication between developers and customers. Garrett says the same:

But my favorite part of this whole experience is that there’s no way for me to respond to reviews as the app creator. So I can’t go in and say, “Hey, by the way, version 1.3 fixes all this and we’re just waiting on Apple’s ridiculously slow and convoluted approval process!” I just sit by and watch.

I hope Apple is listening and working on fixing the problems with the current developer experience. From start to finish, the whole process is a ugly, overly-complicated mess.

What is a retainer?

A quick google search defines “retainer” as:

a fee charged in advance to retain the services of someone

A retainer is basically purchasing a service ahead of the actual performance of the service. In the web world, we can think of this as purchasing your time, or hours, in advance of actually using them.

Why would I want to offer my client(s) a retainer?

By offering your client(s) a retainer, you’re guaranteeing yourself a paycheck for the life of the retainer agreement. For instance, you can offer your client 80 hours a month for the next three months. At the beginning of each month, you collect a check from your client. The obvious benefit is that you now have a semi-regular income. As a freelancer, one of the biggest challenges is maintaining a steady income so you can pay all those bills pilling up on your desk.

Why would my client(s) want a retainer?

Ah, there’s always a catch. First off, you’re clients need to trust you enough to know that you won’t take the check and run off never to be seen again. Once that trust is established, why would a client ever give you money for services that haven’t been rendered? I’ll tell you way—because they’re getting those services (or hours if you will) at a discount.

You get a regular income «» Your client gets a discount

That’s the catch. Also, there are some other advantages for yourself and your client.

You get:

• a steady income.
• to easily plan your time for the next week, month, or possibly 3 months.
• to build a more trusting relationship with your client.

Your client gets:

• a discounted rate.
• to easily plan their workload for the next week, month, or possibly 3 months.

The other catch

So there are a few other details that may not seem obvious up front:

• What happens to unused hours?
• What happens when there’s too much work to fit into the allotted hours.

So lets look at an examples scenario using my favorite fictional character, Bill Brasky. Lets say that Bill’s hourly rate is $50 and hour. Jim, a small business owner, recently hired Bill to redesign is company’s website. Since there is a lot of updates and maintenance to be done on the new website, Bill and Jim agree to continue work under a 3 month retainer agreement. The agreement states that each month Bill will perform 40 hours of work at a discounted rate of $40 per hour, resulting in a monthly payment of $1,600—guaranteed payment for Bill and an 8% discount for the client, Jim. Now, in the first month, Jim only uses 35 hours of Bills time. Should Jim be reimbursed for that unused time?

I say no. Bill had to allocate 40 hours of his time for Jim’s project. The responsibility to use all those hours lies with Jim. If Bill knew those hours wouldn’t be used, he could have sold them to someone else. So, no, Jim does not get a refund for unused hours.

Now, continuing with Bill and Jim, in the 3rd week of month 2, Bill notifies Jim that they’re about to reach their agreed upon 40 hours for the month. Here’ the burden is on Bill to track the hours used throughout the month, and to let Jim know when he’s going to go over those hours. Jim agrees to pay for the excess hours at Bill’s normal hourly rate of $50, bill hourly for the remained of the month.

In Summary

Here are the overall points that you should know when considering offering your client(s) a retainer agreement:

• You get a guaranteed income
• You build a better relationship with your client
• Your client gets a great discount
• You can easily plan your time in advance
• Unused hours are lost
• Overages are billed at the normal hourly rate

Here’s a sample client retainer that I use for my clients. I’m not a lawyer, please don’t sue me—use this at your own risk.

A new blog from Amy and myself about our life changing experience, aptly entitled: Whoa, we’re having twins!

John Gruber points to a great article on the current state of computer UI’s by Steven Frank.

Steven brings up some really great points. The first one that stuck out to me was:

All major operating systems today still use basically the same hierarchical file system that we’ve used pretty much forever. Is it a natural fit for the human mind? Not especially. But it’s “artificially natural” by virtue of millions of people being very familiar with it. If you have an unnatural way of doing something that just happens to be readily understood by an entire generation, then the innovative new “natural” way of doing things you’ve invented might in fact be unnatural by sheer virtue of the fact that it is different.

I remember a conversation I had with Mike Gowen a long time ago (like, 4+ years ago) about light switches. The current light switch, basically a normal toggle switch, is the default standard. You flip it one way to turn lights on, and one way to turn lights off. What if there was some other, more natural way to control your lights—something we can’t even imagine—how would it beat out the standard, everyone-can-use-it light switch to become the new standard? There’s always the argument that “if it’s not broken, why fix it.” Light switches work great and are “natural” to our every day lives. They’re easy to use, and even a 2-year-old understands how they work.

Maintain Status Quo?

More-so, I feel this nagging feeling everyday. Like I’m doing something wrong. I often turn to other UI designs in the course of my work to see how someone else has solved a problem. I always think there could be a better way to solve it, but that the current solution is used so often that its the standard way of doing things. Which usually means its the easiest, and most usable solution.

Breaking the Mold

Steven goes on to detail an example of the Newton breaking the mold with a new method for data storage:

Every once in a while, there is an attempt to obsolete the concept of the hierarchical file system. The Newton had a very unique object storage system — essentially a system-wide “soup” of data objects, such as your calendar events, address book contacts, and so on. Any app could dip into this database and pull out objects, even those put there by other applications. Applications could then look at them, maybe even modify or extend them, without needing the original application to intervene at all.

The Newton’s method sounds ground breaking (and somewhat similar to how the Pre may handle its data) but, because the “ground breaking” method didn’t work smoothly with the standard method, it ended up causing more trouble than it was worth. I’m not certain that this was WHY the Newton failed, but I’m sure it didn’t help matters. As Steven states:

As amazingly revolutionary and beneficial as your new idea may be, you can’t escape this albatross of legacy data.

______-wide Search

Steven mentions a few semi-new UI methods that may be the start of slow change for the future: Spotlight and Quick Look. Both of these of OS X features that I’m sure you’re familiar with—and I really think Spotlight is the sign of things to come. A _______-wide search (system-wide, inbox-wide, etc…) is becoming a standard feature the users expect. One of the things that set Gmail apart from its competition was its excellent search capabilities. When Gmail first launched, it didn’t support folders—only labels and search. (This may still be the case, I haven’t used Gmail in ages.) You were incouraged (forced?) to simply archive everything. If you needed to find something you searched for it, it it worked well. I do this with a few folders on my computer. I have a folder for each client, and within that folder I have a folder for design comps—which on average contains about 150 files. Those comps are logically named, and if I need something I simply search to find what I need.

Its an interesting discussion…

Veritas — New customer and tutor sites.

FinalsClub — Site design updates.

English360 — Working on the new application design and new marketing site.