Waiting is the Hardest Part

I have an odd relationship with the rumor mill. On the one hand, I know that there are people out there that are making things up strictly for the page views or to be able to say, "Hey! I started that rumor!" We'll call this the Peter Vescey group.  On the other hand, I have an insatiable curiosity for what might be coming down the pipe. This was very prevalent for me with the rumors about the iPhone coming to Verizon, information on the release of the Incredible, and most recently information about the Incredible moving to the new version of the Android OS, 2.2 or FroYo. When HTC announced that the handsets sold in 2010 would be moving to 2.2 before the end of the year, there was a bit of an uproar on the internet because people didn't realize that meant that all of the phones would be migrated before the end of the year, not at the end of the year.  Pretty soon, we were hearing about the HTC Evo being updated and it was. Then, everyone started asking questions about when the Incredible would follow its Sprint-based brother.  At least, I did, and since I'm writing this, I'm going to assume that everyone else was asking those questions right along with me.

I started checking the rumor mill. Pretty soon, there was word from somewhere (probably Peter Vescey) that the update would happen August 18th. To a tech-obsessed geek like me, this was the operating system equivalent of a pregnancy due date. You try and tell yourself that it's just a date. Nothing is confirmed and lots of things might happen between now and then, but it still gets ingrained in your mind that you have a definitive end date in site. When that "definitive" end date comes...and then goes...it's a bit disappointing.

Just like pregnancy, however, when things finally do start moving, they happen pretty quickly.  We had started hearing about a new date in early September. I again told myself not to get my hopes up while at the same time freely acknowledging that I would still get my hopes up. An odd thing happened, then. There was a leak of the official 2.2 build for the Incredible. People were excited and admonished people to let them know how it worked so that they, too, might upgrade. Soon after, a new rumor started: FroYo for the Incredible would drop the next day on the 27th. The labor pangs had began. On the 27th, Verizon indeed confirmed that 2.2 would be rolled out, albeit slowly, to the customers who had purchased the Incredible.

Here I am, now, on Saturday, the 28th, still waiting for my update. I know that every minute brings us closer to the arrival of the update. I know that in due time, my phone will also be updated and I'll be able to enjoy the improvements that come with the upgrade.  I have to say, though, all those logical, well-reasoned arguments don't make the waiting any easier. I wonder if going for a walk would help move things along?

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The Next Big Thing

I've been horrible about writing again. For this I humbly apologize. Here are some of the things that I've been up to with the phone.

The phone came in very handy while we were on vacation recently. We went to the store when we first arrived (using the GPS to get there), and by the time we were done there, it was dark out. My wife said that we didn't need the GPS to find the hotel since it was on the same road (we thought). After 15 minutes or so of fruitless driving, my wife turns to me and says, "Maybe we need to turn on the GPS." The Incredible, for the win.

I've found that I'm searching out new apps less frequently. I have my social apps (Facebook and Seesmic). I have my podcasting app (Google's Listen).  I have my game (Robo Defense). There really isn't a whole lot else that I need an application for at this point on the phone, so I'm not hunting. Maybe that would change if there was a better interface in to the app store. This is one way in which Apple does better than Android in being able to discover apps in a nice, desktop interface and then load those apps to the phone. doubleTwist is attempting to do something similar on their website, but there's much to be desired there as well.

Speaking of apps, I also haven't gotten any progress in on writing my own.  I was able to download and install all of the tools and in fact did the "Hello, World" example.  However, my laptop's hard drive crashed and I haven't gotten back to it. Trust me, though, it sounds really cool in my head.

Recently, there's been news that the Incredible is getting close to being updated. The update would be to the current stable version of Android (2.2) and will add some very nice features to the phone, including 802.11n wireless, an Amazon MP3 store, and wireless hot spot. The last one is the feature most interesting to me. There's been some speculation on if Verizon will be charging extra to make use of a feature that's built in to the operating system of the phone, but it remains to be seen how it will be handled. That feature is already available on the webOs Palm Pre Plus without any extra charge, so one would hope that there would be a similar thought for the more popular Android devices. We'll just have to wait and see, I suppose.  One other thing with the update is that I've been hearing that Froyo (the code name for 2.2) includes some optimizations that make the phone a bit snappier and improves battery life. This is also a very good thing. I'm able to mostly work around battery issues with shutting off WiFi and leaving the GPS off unless I need it, but it would still be nice to not have to be so paranoid about it.

I've really like the phone so far. I think that it has been a good utility for us, and I think that I haven't been on it nearly as much as Tracy had feared that I would be. Maybe I'm finally starting to grow up.

No, that can't be it.

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Regret, Avoided; Opportunity, Missed

Well, today Apple held the WWDC Keynote address and unveiled their latest iteration of the iPhone hardware and (newly-renamed) iOS 4.  There were, as usual, the applause and cheering that Steve Jobs has come to expect of his keynote crowds.  I was able to avoid any potential buyer's remorse and Jobs missed a huge opportunity for a great announcement setup.

Jobs started off by covering some of the statistics with regard to the iPhone, iPad and the application store for their mobile stores.  He also discussed their new advertising platform for those devices that they hope will make themselves, and the application developers, even more rich (The Fugitive reference).  Then he went on to cover the main event.

The phone itself is largely what we'd been hearing about for weeks, especially after the prototype was purchased by a rumor site.  It's using the same (or similar) chip to the iPad, developed in house and has a substantially upgraded screen that packs a lot more pixels in, apparently.

What I thought was going to be the best part about the keynote, though, didn't happen, but it was perfectly set up to occur.  I'll explain.  When Jobs was demonstrating the new screen, he was going to have a side-by-side comparison between the screen of the previous iPhone and the iPhone 4.  Jobs makes mention of the network being unpredictable.  Asks people to get off of the WiFi (which I thought was a slight jab at the Google IO keynote a few weeks ago).  Later on, in another demonstration, more connectivity issues.  I had everything that would happen next mapped out in my mind.

The Steve shakes his head and sighs in exasperation while a sympathetic and loving crowd looks on.  "Can anyone help me?" he might ask.  Cut to stage left.  Ivan Seidenber, CEO of Verizon, strides confidently on stage.  "Maybe I can help, Steve."  "Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenber? How can you help?" "Well, I know that you've been having some network issues for, well, a while, and I think it's finally time that we joined forces.  We can show the world exactly what the best hardware, software and network can look like when they're together at last." "I think I'd like that, Ivan.  I think I'd like that a lot, but keep in mind that from now on, I own you." "Yes, sir." "Thanks for playing."  Then there'd be a freeze frame of everyone laughing at Ivan.

It was perfectly scripted.  It just didn't turn out that way.  So, here we are; mostly minor-sounding upgrades to a three-year-old device with a new form factor.  And the same horrible network that's been hampering it all along.  And here I am without the test I had been wanting.  The test to figure out if it was strictly wanting the openness of the Android which fulfills the philosophical arguments of freedom and choice, or if it was simply a case of justifying second best.  I still feel as though I would have gone with Android.  I have become more jaded with each Jobs keynote, picking it apart and taking everything he says with a China-sized grain of salt.  He's trying to get his followers to be excited about adding in features that have been available everywhere else for years, but they only become "innovative" when they come to Apple.  Multi-tasking, folders, WiFi video chat.  These are not new things.  They're just new to Apple.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go listen to Pandora while writing an email on my phone, which I've been able to do from day one.

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The Potential for Regret

In my original statement on why I was going with and Android phone I talked about being fed up with waiting for the iPhone to be on Verizon along with Apple's overly-vigorous control of what is allowed to go on the platform.  I purposely and happily went with the Incredible and haven't regretted it.  At least, yet.  This upcoming Monday is Apple's World Wide Developer Conference.  It has traditionally been at these Conferences, specifically the keynote address, that Apple has announced the latest version of the iPhone.  There has been speculation for a long time that one of the announcements this year will be the inclusion of Verizon as a carrier for the iPhone.

This has started me wondering:  How much of my decision to go with the Incredible had to do with the stronger philosophical alignment that I have with the Android platform and how much was because it was already on my preferred carrier?  When the iPhone does come to Verizon (it seems fairly certain that it will, at least eventually) will I regret jumping in with Android?

If Monday comes with the announcement of the iPhone on Verizon, we'll find out how that makes me feel.  My thinking right now is that I'll still be fine with my decision.  I'm free to do with my phone what I want to do.  I'm free to develop software for the platform and not have to cross my fingers that Uncle Steve will approve the application.  However, I also admit that if Monday comes and goes without any official word of the iPhone coming to Verizon I will breath a bit of a sigh of relief because then I won't have to be confronted with the possibility of being disappointed.  I like not having to be confronted with my feelings.

Like the rest of the world, we'll just have to wait and see.

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Something's Developing

As many of you know, I am a professional geek who writes software for a living.  There's a lot more that goes in to my job, but for the most part, that's it in a nutshell.  One of the side effects of doing that for a living is that occasionally, I'll get an idea in my head and start figuring out how I'd program my way to a solution.  Only rarely, however, am I driving to actually start writing code.  This is normally because I find other things to distract myself.  However, a friend of mine said something as we were talking bout phones that stuck with me, so I decided to look in to what it would take to start making programs for the Android platform.  Turns out, not really that much.

Here's what you need in a nutshell:

1. Java Development Kit - This doesn't just mean that your computer is capable of running Java programs.  It means that you're capable of developing Java programs.  Java is a programming language that is object-oriented (which means that you think of everything in the software as an "object" and each object has certain attributes and capabilities) and tends to be pretty good for embedded platforms.  It's also pretty widely-used.  The download is freely available from Sun.
2. Some way to edit Java programs.  What Android (and, frankly, almost everyone else) recommends is using Eclipse.  It's a bit of a resource-intensive program, but for what it does, it does it well.
3. The Android development kit.  This is where you get the tools for writing specifically for the Android platform.  This includes the interface to the OS along with essentially a virtual phone to be running your software in (which you can see above).
4. Programming ability.  This wouldn't be absolutely necessary, I suppose, but it sure doesn't hurt.  I haven't really written much Java code in the past several years, but it has some strong similarities to the languages I normally write software in (C/C++).

After getting everything installed and set up, I was actually able to get a program running pretty quickly.  I'm interested to see if everything I want to do will be possible with Android.  It means digging around a bit with the documentation to find out what function calls I need to do, but it should be interesting.  I don't want to talk too much about what I hope to actually accomplish, but it will hopefully help with my biggest complaint about the phone so far.  I'll be sure to keep you posted.

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GPS FTW

As part of my commitment to a happy marriage, I took scuba lessons.  If you know my wife, that completely makes sense to you.  The lessons consisted of two weekends' worth of time allotment.  The first weekend was classroom work (horrible high school flashbacks) and pool work ("we're going to swim horizontally while pretending that we're swimming vertically").  That was the easy bit.  I passed that portion without any problems.  I'm still upset that I got that one wrong on the final test.  Regardless.  The second weekend consisted of what's referred to has "open water dives."  In other words, you're not in the controlled environment of the pool anymore, Toto.

We met early on Saturday morning and divided the group in to the various cars that would be traveling four hours to a quarry.  The quarry used to be a working rock quarry until they dug deep enough to hit a spring and fill the hole up with water.  They then stocked it with fish, sunk some interesting things to look at, and began charging such crazy, extortion-level prices for people (mostly scuba students) to make use of it that the Russian mafia was overheard to have said "that's a steep price."  The trip started mostly uneventful.  Those of us in the minivan were getting to know one another and enjoying scanning the radio for music we enjoyed.  There were five vehicles in the convoy all total.  For those who are wondering, of course I quoted some C.W. McCall as we pulled out of the parking lot.

Later on in the trip, things got a bit more fragmented.  One car missed where the interstate split and were on their own.  Traffic separated the lead van with the other three.  I called the lead van to make sure which route they were taking.  We were only a few miles behind them, but didn't see them again until reaching the quarry.  How does this relate to the Incredible?  With everyone separating, I decided to put the phone to a real-world test.  Battery life to the wind, I turned on the GPS.  It took me a little bit to find the address of the place we were going (Maps was a bit fickle about using the abbreviation for road instead of spelling it out), but soon I had the route planned out before us.

It was a bit more of a scenic route than I initially expected as it took us through the heart of a small town instead of staying on a road that eventually met back up with the road we were on, but the important bit is that it got us there.  I found that when the miles remaining to turn is in the double-digits, it decrements when it reaches four tenths of a mile remaining (e.g. 10.4 appeared as 10), but other than that, it was a perfectly good turn-by-turn direction system.  It fulfilled its purpose of getting us to the quarry and subsequently home.  Isn't that all you want out of a GPS system?

Over the two days we were there, I survived the sub-60 degree water and successfully didn't drown.  I passed the open water portion of the scuba classes and am now a certified open water diver.  The GPS passed a test that makes me feel better about not bringing my mom's Tom-Tom with when we make our anniversary trip, but I still need to get a car charger for the phone before that happens (stupid battery life).

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It's Not You, It's...Well, Mostly It IS You

Most of us have had that relationship that on paper should be great, but there's just something not quite right to us.  When trying to explain it, all we can really settle on is "It's just not working out."  Such has been my experience with doubleTwist.

I had high hopes for doubleTwist.  I had expected it to work for me in a similar manner to how I used iTunes with my iPod Touch.  However, after a week of using the program, it became obvious to me that it just wasn't going to make me happy.  There were too many things that I could point to and mention how it kind of bothered me.  None of these things were huge in and of themselves or what we would call "show stoppers," but they were nagging at me.  The performance was slower than I would have liked.  The podcasts were organized in a way that bothered me.  I had to manually delete the completed podcasts.  Then came the final straw: I provided feedback.  More appropriately, I received a response to feedback I had left in their forums.  The response was basically: "All of these are by design and can't be changed by the user."  I understand that engineers can get a specific work flow stuck in their minds (pot, kettle. kettle, pot), but to not even provide an option to order the podcasts in a way that the user might want? That, to me, is unacceptable.

So starting this week, I cut ties with doubleTwist.  It was an easy move to make at the time because that morning, for whatever reason, my podcasts decided to not sync through. So I listened to my podcasts by directly downloading them to the computer. Then I started looking in to other options.  The first thing that I really looked in to and tried was Google Listen.  It's an app on the phone, but it's also manageable through the Google Reader site.  This accomplishes one of the reasons for using a computer-based syncing option for the podcasts: Making the podcasts discoverable and subscribe-able through something other than the phone itself.  Mobile devices, in my opinion, are great for consuming certain content.  They tend to be less than great for discovering content to be consumed.  Integration with Google Reader lets me subscribe to podcasts through a web interface with a keyboard and a mouse.  Much better.  Listen, by default has one of the same small issues that doubleTwist had: it orders things by default from newest to oldest.  However, at least they provide you with an option to queue the files up in a specific order.  Not ideal, but it works.  I'm hoping that one of the new options I found in Reader will take care of the default case for me.  You're able to organize items there from oldest to newest.  I'll let you know how that turns out.

The app itself isn't perfect yet.  They need to provide play controls at the lock screen so I can pause and re-start the audio without having to unlock the phone and in some cases re-enter the application.  By the way, this is one way in which Android is (at least currently) superior to Apple's mobile OS.  I'm able to run an application in the background and not be locked in to the application as long as I want it to hear it.  Other than that and some small navigation issues (it's not yet immediately obvious to me which screen I need to be at for the different functions I want it to do), it's been working pretty well for me.  I'm able to set options in the app to not download items unless the phone is on wireless (using the home networking as opposed to hitting Verizon) and plugged in (not draining down the battery).  Throughout the day, it will occasionally hit the server to discover if there are any new items forthcoming, but it will wait to download them until the two conditions are met.  A nice solution instead of syncing, in my opinion.

So, that's it, then, doubleTwist.  I suppose I'll only see you again when I have some new purchased/ripped music that I want to be putting on the phone. I'm sure it will be an awkward and uncomfortable five or so minutes. Just like a real relationship.

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On the [Turn Left Now] Road Again

So it turns out that I need a car charger.  Not because I forget to charge or anything.  I can get the full day of battery through normal usage.  This includes listening to podcasts essentially the entire day and several text messages and phone calls (mostly from Tracy) throughout the day.  No, I need the car charger to make sure that I know where I'm going.  That's right, I turned on the GPS.

This weekend I had to drive to my brother-in-law's house to pick up his daughters for a birthday party.  I've driven there twice now but have a horrible memory, so I figured it was a good opportunity to try out the GPS turn-by-turn feature that they added with Android version 2.1.

The instructions that were given by the phone were pretty straight forward and it was very easy to hear and understand the voice.  I wasn't looking at the screen very much (for obvious reasons), but in the few glances that I gave it there was everything you'd expect on a GPS panel: Distance to go, next instruction, which way you're turning, a basic map, etc.

Here's the issue: In the 60 minute round trip, I burned through nearly half my battery.  I know that smart phones, with all of their features, are notorious for going through their battery quickly, but that's ridiculous.  I talked to the folks at the Verizon store and they weren't anticipating an expanded-capacity battery coming out any time soon.  I think people would snatch those up like hot-cakes.  I was also reading comments in a forum where a person was talking about the battery needing to get "broken in."  I was previously unaware that batteries were like a new pair of jeans, but it provides me with a little bit of hope.  As such, I've been unwilling to research if there's any actual truth behind it for fear of having those hopes dashed to the ground.  I'm strange that way.

The main two options for a car charger are the Verizon-sold one that has the permanently-attached cord or a DC adapter that simply has two USB ports on the end.  I would prefer going that route as it's substantially cheaper and would be able to be used with Tracy's phone as well.  The problem there, of course, is the concern that either the phone or the adapter wouldn't follow the USB protocol of asking the device how much power it needs before going to full power.  Basically, I really don't want my phone to explode.

But really, isn't that what we all want out of life?

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Working Out a Workflow

We fear change.

-Garth Algar

Over the past few years, I've had a pretty good work flow for syncing my iPod to the podcasts downloaded to the computer. I would plug in the iPod and wait for the sync, then I would kick off the download of the latest episodes and go to bed. In the morning, I would do another quick sync, unplug my fully-operational battle station...er...fully-charged iPod and be on my way. Some strange fluke of iTunes running and the iPod being plugged in kept the computer from going to sleep/hibernation. After nearly a full week with the Droid Incredible, I'm having to shift that a bit. It seems as though having the phone plugged in to the computer doesn't keep it from going to sleep. This means that in the morning, I wasn't having a fully-charged phone. With the battery life on the phone already much shorter than I would like, this is pretty much unacceptable. As such, I've been having to work out what process of steps I need to take to make sure that I have everything sunk and charged before I walk out the door in the morning.

Basically, I'm having to do more work before I go to bed now. I download the latest podcasts to doubleTwist, then sync my phone. As soon as that is completed, I unplug the phone from the computer and plug it in to its charger.

This might not seem like that huge of a change, but believe me, for me it is a large change. I'm very much a creature of habit. I always do the exact same sequence of steps when I'm in the shower in the morning. I always listen to my new podcasts in the same order. Therefore, changing my workflow, even a little bit, is kind of unsettling for me.

Another note about podcasts, while we're here: It looks as though the default media player doesn't mark the podcasts as played, so as it stands right now, I'm having to manually delete them. Also, they are being duplicated in the playlist for the individual podcasts, so I end up with at least two instances of each episode in the playlist. Hopefully, this doesn't mean that each one is having to be copied multiple times to the phone. That's using up space for no reason whatsoever.

I'm still taking suggestions for a replacement media player.

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One Day Down

One day is in the books now. I was brave and left my iPod at home, making the Droid my only device for the entire day that I was at work. A couple of quick thoughts:

• I need a more podcast-friendly media player. For some reason (don't know if it was doubleTwist or what), my podcasts were all double-copied to the phone. This means that I'm using more space than I need to. Also, the podcasts were in inverse order, so the oldest podcast was at the bottom. The signifigance here is that I will often let several episodes of a show build up and then listen to two or three at a time. With the current order, I have to manually start the next newest episode each time one episode is complete instead of allowing the player to simply cascade to the next. It's possible that's simply a changed setting, but I haven't found it yet.
• I'm concerned about battery life. I followed my normal routine throughout the day and I was at about 60% battery life by about the middle. Granted, other people were playing with the phone to see what it was like and there were more calls than normal because I had to talk to my wife about a few things, but I was a bit worried and shut off the WiFi while I was away from home. I don't want to have a case where I forget to shut off the WiFi and I'm out of battery because I had to search for something on the internet.
• Application interface on doubleTwist isn't exactly what I thought it would be. I had been under the impression that it would work very much like the iTunes app store where I could browse around inside the program for applications that would be sunk to the device the next time they were connected. This appears to not be the case. Instead, you can browse on the doubleTwist website for applications, scan the Q code on the screen with your phone and it gets installed that way. Slightly disappointing to me.
• I have fat fingers. The notification bar at the top of the screen is a bit hard for me to hit because you have to press and hold and the phone keeps interpreting that action as me wanting to grab the large clock on the home screen. This is a bit frustrating. Hopefully there's some form of setting where I can adjust the width of that bar. Otherwise, I might have to remove the large clock, which is doable but not preferable.
• I want to be able adjust the behavior of the optical track pad button. I'll admit it: I'm used to how the iPod/iPhone software handles the round button on the front of the device. I want to be able to click on it to wake it if it was sleeping; click to take me to the home screen; and double click to bring up the media controls. This is how I expect it to behave. Again, I'm hoping to be able to dig around in the settings.
• It's not immediately intuitive to me how applications keep running when I leave them. Is it something that I just have to get used to or will I need to change my workflow to use an application killer program to periodically go through and terminate the applications that I don't want to be running?
• The one and only feature that I miss from my previous phone is that I could close it to end a call. That's it. I just have to get my muscles used to ending a call in a different way.

All things considered, these are pretty minor nits. I'm very impressed by how smooth the phone is when scrolling from screen to screen or launching an application. The call quality is great and the voice search feature, once I get used to it, will come in tremendously helpful. The way humans work, though, is that it's the negative things that stick out. Overall, I'm very happy with the phone so far.

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The Impression That I Get

Keep in mind that as I write this, I have yet to install an application on the new phone. Right now, my computer is trying to sync everything that was previously in my iTunes library to the phone. I really hope that 8 GB of storage will be enough for now. Verizon was nice enough to send along a 2 GB micro SD card in the box. However, that was appropriated by my wife so that she could have her music on her new phone. In fact, one of the reasons that I'm still up is that I was spending a decent portion of my time to be setting up her phone.

One of the first things that I did was start working with doubleTwist to get the music set up. I thought it'd be a good idea to make use of it for Tracy's phone since it was able to import things from iTunes and she has a much smaller list of things to be imported.

Apparently, I did something incorrectly since things didn't get pulled in and I had to point to the music manually. Also, the program crashed a couple of times and syncing to the Rogue was a giant pain. It didn't fill me with confidence for it handling the Incredible.

After getting the cell phone completely charged (per the instructions that I read...well, at least the quick start part), I activated it per Verizon's instructions. Then, I signed in.

Instantly, all of my contacts were downloaded to the phone. Instantly, my mail was all set up. All of my calendar information is set up already. The keyboard is going to take a little bit of getting used to after the iPod keyboard.

doubleTwist has yet to completely amaze me. It seems to have imported my iTunes music sufficiently. However, subscribing to podcasts was a bit more cumbersome than I would have liked. I would have liked to be able to drag and drop files in to the program like I'm able in iTunes. I will take this opportunity to point out (and remind myself) that it's still technically a beta program.

I remain a bit concerned about the battery life. I used it for only a few hours with mostly just navigating around the screens and settings, and just before I plugged it in to the computer for the sync, we were down 1/8 to 1/4. That situation will require further monitoring.

I'm especially excited about getting apps installed on there. I'm definitely going with the Google Voice application. That will be my source of text messages so that I didn't have to add that to my account. I'm also going to be looking at the options for social networking.

So the bottom line right now is that it's still too early to tell for sure what all I think about it. Plus, there's the fact that I'm very sleep deprived right now. That never helps.

Final note: Could someone please speed up my network so that the syncing takes place faster? Thanks.

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Droid Day

It's here! It's here! It's really, really here!

OK, so I'm a little bit excited. The phone has finally arrived and I've gotten my wife's new phone set up, so I'm able to focus on getting things set up for me and my phone. It's currently charging while I excitedly page through the startup guide and the downloadable manual download and install doubleTwist. I find one of the doubleTwist setup screen especially humerus.

I think it's fully charged. And heeeeere we...go!

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Just a Little Bit of Panic

As we arrive at Droid Day, I have a short story to share about a little bit of panic that I had yesterday.

I was repeatedly checking my email yesterday for the shipping confirmation of our phones (my wife is getting a new one as well). I finally received an email from Verizon. This made me happy. Well, until I opened it, that is.

Unfortunately, we are unable to complete this request because [your phone] requires a data feature added to your voice plan.

This mildly upset me. You see, we knew going in that we were going to need a data plan. That was one of the things we discussed the most about making this move. We added it to the order. I looked up the order confirmation from Verizon to verify that it was there.

So I grabbed my phone and went to another room for some quiet. I was ready. I had my order number handy. I had my ire prepared and woe be on any phone representative that would dare contradict my position that we had fulfilled every requirement for the purchase.

"Hi, this is Mike." (Quotes are as close as I can remember.)

I calmly (no, really) explained the situation to Verizon Mike.

"Let me take a look here really quick."

I waited patiently, preparing all of my counter arguments.

"I have no idea why you received that email. Everything looks fine to me. I'll assign the order to myself and make sure that it gets sent out today. It's been a bit of a crazy day. I'm sorry about the confusion."

And just like that, everything was handled. I received the ship confirmation last night. I might subtly hint to my wife that the kids don't need to be picked up at normal times if the phones aren't here yet.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Now, I used to work phones in what at this point almost feels like another life. I like to think that I can tell when someone is genuinely good at doing customer service over the phone. Also, I know that some phone jobs are set up in such a way that the reps get better reviews or other things based on good customer feedback. So, I let Verizon Mike know that he did a great job and asked to be transferred to his supervisor to let his supervisor know that he did a great job.

"Sure. You might get his voicemail, but just hold on for one second while I transfer you."

So, i was transferred. However, after the beep I started talking and right as I was saying, "Hi, my name is Jason and I'm a long-time Verizon customer..." click. The voicemail hung up on me. That was a little rude of the computerized system. I don't know that I'll ever forgive it.

At any rate, while I know you'll never read it, thanks Verizon Mike for the help. I really do appreciate it, and you were friendly, helpful and efficient. Good for you.

Now, I just have to wait.

Well, nuts.

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Prepare for Trasition

In preparing for the pending arrival of the phone, I've been doing some research. I've been getting recommendations for apps to be loaded on it from friends and also been looking at a couple of other options from the media.

The recommendations for a Twitter client have been either Seesmic or Hootsuite. I'll probably end up trying several until I settle on one that I really like. One of the things that I wish Twitter did was to extend the API so that clients could push back the posts that have already been read. That way, when I've already read something on my phone, the client that's built in to my IM on my computer won't assume that they're all new just because I haven't read them there yet. But that's a rant for another time.

I've already mentioned that I listen to Leo Laporte quite regularly. One of the people that he has on his show This Week In Google is Lifehacker founder Gina Trapani who is a major advocate of the Android platform. In a recent episode, she mentioned a site named AppBrain which is essentially an Android app discovery site. It has another neat feature in that if you know someone's user name and they've signed up through AppBrain, you're able to look at the applications that they have installed on their Android phone. One of the best ways to find things that you have a good chance of liking is people's recommendations. AppBrain gives you the opportunity to take a look at what people are actually using, not just rating or saying is "awesome".

On the media side of things, I've been very concerned about how to handle music and podcasts on the phone. My job is one in which I sit at my desk and largely just work on my computer. A large part of my human interaction is accomplished through instant messaging. Also, I have some loud cube-neighbors. As such, I spend a good part of my day with my head phones on listening to podcasts (hence all the Leo references). I needed something to manage podcasts so that I wouldn't have to be manually downloading each episode each time. That gets to be a pain. In looking around, I found a program named doubleTwist. The more that I read about the program, the more I like it. It's essentially iTunes for everyone else. It handles iPods or iPhones like iTunes, but it has built-in compatibility with a plethora of other devices as well from other mp3 players to Blackberries to (wait for it) Android devices. It automatically handles moving music from your PC or Mac to your phone. It has a built-in Amazon MP3 store for finding and purchasing new music. It has a built-in Android app store. It has support for downloading and syncing podcasts. If it works as advertised, it's exactly what I want for a media manager for my new phone. I'll be providing a review of the program once I get the phone and get everything set up and installed. But for now, it makes me feel a lot better knowing that there is a solution out there that at least has the hope of providing me the functionality that I need.

Thursday is almost here...

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Dreaming of Electric Sheep

"Folks who want porn can buy [an] Android phone."

-Steve Jobs (supposedly)

I freely admit that I'm a gadget guy. There's always some new "toy" that I want to add to our house under the thin premise that it will make our lives "easier," but really I just want to be able to play with it and see what features are available. As such, it's really surprising to me (and my wife) that I've been able to hold off getting a smart phone this long. I've often looked at the different offerings, drooling over the possibilities. I think part of the delay has been the fact that I've always heard that Windows Mobile is horrible and Blackberries were too business-oriented for my tastes. That and Tracy was always there when I'm shopping for a new phone. When the iPhone came out, it was a huge step forward in usability, utility and (let's face it) fun, but it was on a network that I had no interest in tying myself to.

However, all of this has recently changed. We've realized a few times over the past couple of years how handy it would be to have internet access wherever we might find ourselves. Also, smartphones have taken significant steps forward, spurred on by the head start that Apple has given themselves with the iPhone. There have been constant rumors about the iPhone coming the Verizon (my carrier of choice because I'm an American and never leave the country), but nothing definite has materialized as of yet.

I had often thought that I'd wait until Verizon received their own version of the iPhone to take the plunge and own a smartphone. But as time has gone on, more of the decisions that Apple has made concerning what can and cannot be installed/done on the iPhone. If you read the quote at the beginning of this post, you'll see the reason that Steve Jobs supposedly stated in an email to a customer as far as why they have such tight controls on what can be done on the phone. I should point out that these are the exact same reasons that the People's Republic of China state as the impetus behind their vigorous filtering of the internet in to and out of China. However, I think that any reasonable person examining what is being done both with the filtering in China and Apple's position on the iPhone will see that it's not about porn, it's about control. I don't think Apple views people who purchase an iPhone as the owners of the iPhone, but rather a person that Apple has graced with allowing them to use Apple's phone. I have no interest in putting pornography on my phone. None whatsoever. I'm completely against it, in fact. However, I also have problems with a corporation dictating to me what I can or can't install or do on my phone.

One of the final straws for me was in listening to Leo Laporte's podcast network where he stated in several shows that he has dumped his iPhone for an Android phone, specifically the Nexus One. That started me down the path of planning to get an Android phone myself when the time came. Last week, pre-orders started for the HTC Droid Incredible on Verizon.

The family and I went in to the store as soon as they got a demo unit. I tried it out and found it satisfactory. Why merely satisfactory? Well, one of the big things about the Android platform is that it's very tightly tied to a Google account, so I'm not able to get a complete feel for the platform without being able to type in my username and password to get my contacts, email, and calendars on there. I did come away impressed with the speed with which it moved from screen to screen and the different little widgets to play with.

So, I pre-ordered the Incredible. Now I wait until April 29th, which is the release date for the Incredible. I'm looking forward to it, but at the same time, I find myself a bit nervous about getting it configured exactly the way that I want it to be and how I'm going to be managing the functions that I use two different devices for today (cell phone and iPod Touch). It's exciting but a bit daunting. It reminds me (on a much smaller scale) of when our first child was born. I know that I'm about to embark on a new adventure, but there's a part of me that has always hated change.

That's why I'm writing here. I'm hoping to document my transition to the new platform on this blog and sharing my experiences and lessons learned with everyone else.

Hope you can join me on the journey.

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Sunday With Doodle

Hopefully, it's been fairly obvious as I've been writing here that I love my kids. They're often hilarious, always interesting and occasionally infuriating. Doodle lately has been daddy's boy lately, so he's been needing some time to be with me. We thought that this weekend would be a good time for the two of us to get out on our own and see a movie, especially with the way that he's been talking so constantly about Wall-E. I figured that we'd get home from church, eat a quick lunch, put Squeaker (and Anne, to be honest) down for a nap and head off, just us boys, for the movie. As many things seem to go in my life lately, none of this went according to plan.

We arrived home from church, as planned, but Doodle was a bit frustrated about something which, honestly, is immaterial at this point. I had to physically lift him in to the house from the garage because he wasn't coming in. This only served to frustrate him even more. Before moving on, it 's worth mentioning that since he was a little past two years old, Doodle has worn glasses due to being severely far-sighted. He's been fantastic with his glasses for the most part, diligently wearing them every day and usually being careful with them so they don't break. Anyway, after lifting him in the house, I turned away and hear Punkin gasp. I turned back around and saw that Doodle had taken his glasses off his face and snapped them in half. Needless to say, he got a bit of a chewing out for that along with some time in timeout.

Then, of course, came the inevitable conversation between Anne and myself which could essentially be boiled down to answering the question "What now?" It was finally decided that we should head to a local eye wear establishment since they could get him new glasses today. You see, when hes' not wearing his glasses, one of his eyes severely cross in. In fact, this was how we first discovered that he needed glasses. At first we just thought he was being goofy after having discovered that he could cross his eyes. We never guessed at the time that his eye was crossing because the muscles were straining so hard to allow his eyes to focus on whatever he was trying to look at. Quite honestly, when he's not wearing his glasses, it pains me to see his eye cross like that.

We knew that heading out for this sort of shopping experience could get a little bit (dramatic pause) interesting. For one thing, we were scheduled to go to some friends' house for supper, which would come up quickly since we had to essentially cross town almost twice in the allotted time. Added to this is the fact that Squeaker hadn't had a nap that day yet. Both Squeaker and Punkin would essentially have to stand around while we focused our attention on Doodle with him trying on pair after pair of glasses. The solution, as it often is, was the promise of candy.

So, after much trying on of glasses and debate back and forth, we settled on a pair of glasses for the young man. They said that the glasses would be done in about an hour. Since it was then nearly three, we figured they'd be done a bit before four, which would have been just enough time to get home, gather the necessary things for supper. No problem. We went to a couple of other stores, looking for things that we might need for a potential camping trip in the near future and then went back to the eyeglasses store a few minutes before the assumed time of delivery.

Just Doodle and I went in to the mall to retrieve the glasses. Him because they probably wanted to check the fit of the new glasses on him and me because the last time we let Doodle go around the mall on his own, he came out with a bunch of stuff that we really didn't need. He is, after all, only three.

We got in the store and they went in back to check on his glasses. We were told that they had to "resurface one of the lenses," so it'd be another 15 minutes. I called Anne and delivered the bad news. "Just hurry," was the response.

While we were waiting, Doodle decided to take advantage of the time to talk a bit. He wanted to play a game called "What's Your Favorite..." in which he asks a question about a person's preferences. Each player takes turns answering the question. We talked about favorite superheroes, books, songs, and colors. We talked almost the entire time that we were waiting for his glasses to be done. The glasses ended up taking a half hour longer than originally anticipated instead of the fifteen minutes that we were told when we first got back. By the time we got back to the van, Squeaker was in nearly complete meltdown and Anne was quickly reaching wits end. We were late for our supper appointment.

Despite all of this, I really enjoyed that half hour that I got to spend with Doodle just talking about what he likes. He's the middle child and can often get lost in the shuffle, but when he's able to have the individual attention, he really seems to blossom. He's a pretty cool kid. When he's not destroying his eye wear, of course.

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NBA Draft In Hindsight

I've held off writing my review of the latest NBA draft for a very specific reason: I needed to make sure that there was enough distance between my current time and the time of the draft to avoid saying something that I might regret. I know that a good portion of my writing style involves writing such that you really hear my "voice" coming through the page, but I didn't want that voice in this case to be that of a raving lunatic. A mildly upset lunatic will have to do. I was so upset after the draft that I could hardly see straight. Here's the crazy thing, though: I actually wasn't all that upset about trading away Mayo.

Now I probably need to clarify a bit. In our mock draft, I desperately called for McHale to draft Mayo with the third pick. I know that the Wolves had a glut of guards at that point. In fact, some of the guards could have been viewed as having similar skill sets as Mayo. Both McCants and Foye were of similar statures to Mayo, at least physically. Mayo, however, brings a significant amount more talent to the table. There's a reason that a team selects in the top five positions in the draft. Either it's through shrewd dealings with other teams, or the fact that your team was horrible and in desperate need of help. The Wolves definitively fall in to the latter category. Falling in to the former category are the Pistons who, for all of their smart decisions in other cases, learned this the hard way in the 2003 draft when they skipped selecting Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosch, or Dwyane Wade because they had those positions "covered" and instead selected Darko Milicic with the second overall pick after the Cavaliers took LeBron. They've been haunted by that selection ever since. When you're drafting in those slots, regardless of how you received the pick, you need to select the best possible player. You don't draft with need in mind at all.
Mayo was widely considered the third best prospect in the draft, so when the top two prospects came off the board, he became a no-brainer. I would have been very upset with almost anyone else being drafted in this slot.

I was actually still awake when the trade came down. When I saw that the Wolves had gotten rid of a horrible contract (Marko Jaric) to go along with Mayo and received Love, Miller and a reasonably-serviceable defensive center (Collins), I thought that it was a reasonable trade for both sides. Did I like giving up the potential superstar in Mayo? Of course not. Did I mind giving up the potential headache in trying to get him signed? Again, of course not. I didn't think there would be too much of a problem signing Mayo to the rookie deal, but there were already people talking about how the Wolves would have a hard time getting Mayo signed to an extension. Then again, if you make your roster moves in basketball based on what could happen in four years, you don't deserve to be a basketball executive. Of course, we've been saying that about McHale for years, so anything is possible. I'm not crazy about Al Jefferson having to play more time at the center position when he and Kevin Love are on the court at the same time. However, I love the fact that the Wolves have a legitimate three-point threat in Miller. To me, the combination of Love and Miller makes the deal worth while. I would have liked to get one of the Grizzlies' young point guards and one of Milicic or Marc Gasol, but it's still a reasonable deal.

Now, if you've been paying attention, you're probably wondering what it was that infuriated me about the Wolves' draft night. It all comes down to the second round. The Wolves had the first pick of the second round along with the fourth pick (34th overall). By the time their pick came around, I looked at the "best player available" list. I saw two surprises in that list: Chris Douglas-Roberts and DeAndre Jordan. They were both thought to be border-line lottery picks, so to see them still available was a shock. Needless to say, I was very disappointed to see the Wolves pick someone I had never heard from and in researching him, found that he won't be a help for at least two years. Then the 34th overall pick came up and they were both still available. The Wolves picked...neither of them. They selected Mario Chalmers, a point guard who had hit the final shot to win the NCAA tournament. I suppose I could deal with that. Then they traded him away for two second round picks next year. How exactly does this make sense? Yes, there were stories about Jordan's "stock" dropping because of "poor workouts." The infuriating thing is that in games, you don't go through workout drills. You play basketball! Jordan is admittedly still quite raw. In 20 minutes per game, he averaged almost 8 points and 6 rebounds per game to go with 1.3 blocks. If those numbers were to hold over 40 minutes in a game, that would be 16 points (reasonable), 12 boards (very nice) and 2.6 blocks (great). What Big Al needs right now in a front-court mate is rebounding (check) and defense (check). Most importantly in my mind, is the fact that Jordan would allow Al to play his natural position. CDR is a very skilled scorer who gets to the basket and to the foul line, which are two skills the Wovles could really use. And the Wolves could have had both of these players. I love the thought of having a lineup of Foye, CDR, Brewer (defense), Al, Jordan with Kevin Love and McCants coming off the bench. That is a very young, skilled lineup. You're still hoping that Brewer, Jordan and Foye progress and make use of their potential, but that potential is huge. That's what upset me about the draft. Having two very high second round picks and getting nothing immediately useful out of them. Way to go, McHale.

The news that actually spurred me to finally write this all down is the Wovles trading a 2.8 million dollar trade exception to the Sixers for two players and a first-round draft pick. This means that if everything falls in to place as expected, the Wolves would have four first-round picks and three second-round picks in the 2009 draft. The Wolves would have to fall in the top ten after the lottery, the Celtics would have to be out of the top three, the Sixers would have to be out of the top ten, and the Miami Heat would also have to fall out of the top ten (I think). All of this has started me thinking that the Wolves strategy is to constantly have the Wolves' fans in the worst state in the world of sports. "Maybe next year..."

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NBA Mock Draft 2008

Yes, we know that the draft was last Thursday. However, the fact that both Gudy and Kamp are busy people with families and the illusion of a life meant that we weren't able to get this posted prior to the start. However, we assure you that the great majority of the picks were made previous to the actual selections. Therefore, we still feel like we're being honest. At least as far as you know.

1. Chicago Bulls - Derrick Rose, PG, Memphis

• Gudy - This is probably the obvious pick. He's from Chicago. He's a PG in the mold of Chris Paul. Everyone is claiming how PG's are more valuable in today's "New NBA", blah, blah, blah. I was going to be bold and creative and take Beasley, because he feels a need. But here's the deal with drafting: You do what makes your team better in the long run, and I feel that Rose makes the Bulls better in the long run. With him, they can shop Hinrich and Gordon for an upgrade at SF or C. He doesn't come with the baggage, or the apparent selfishness, that Beasley comes with. And, Chicago can save money and just give him Jalen Rose's old uniforms. It's really a win-win for everyone involved.
• Kamp - It's not just probably the obvious pick. It is the obvious pick. They have some more moves to do like signing Deng to a long-term contract, but the Bulls are looking good for the future.

2. Miami Heat - Michael Beasley, F, Kansas State

• Kamp - Another obvious pick, in my opinion. Beasley completely dominated the college game this past season. There are some character concerns along with questions about exactly how tall he is, but Beasley should step in and put up solid to very good numbers all season long. This will hopefully translate in to great numbers down the road. Selfishly, I want Miami to screw up the pick, but this is what I would do.
• Gudy - The one real question this raises is how will Dwyane Wade and Michael Beasley handle a shared spotlight. It worked for Shaq and Wade, since Shaq was the "crafty vet" who took Wade under his large, law-enforcing, wing. Now Wade is the vet, and will Beasley disrupt the pecking order? His talent is undeniable, though, and you worry about chemistry later.

3. Minnesota Timberwovles - O.J. Mayo, G, USC

• Gudy - Here's one (among many) major flaw in this exercise: We are both operating under the premise that each team makes their allotted pick. Essentially we're just drafting the slot. But in this case I want the T-Wolves to trade down to the 5-8 range, upgrade their team, and draft Kevin Love. Reports have Milwaukee, Memphis, and the Clippers salivating after Mayo. I'd love to pick up a PG from Memphis, a few extra picks so the Wolves can trade up and snag Augustine or Bayless at the point, or Hibbert at C, or get Villanueva from Milwaukee. Then I'd select Kevin Love, who aside from Beasley and Rose is the only other player I really like in this draft. I think he'd pair perfectly with Big Al - he does all of the little things that would allow Al to focus on scoring and rebounding. Since I don't have the ability to trade the pick, even in a fantasy/fictional scenario, Mayo is the pick. He's got perhaps the most talent of anyone in the draft, and he's easily the best player on the board. Take him, trade Foye and or McCants, and build around Mayo and Jefferson.
• Kamp - For the love of all that is holy, McHale, if you pick here, select Mayo. He has become the obvious third-best talent in the draft. I also wouldn't have a problem with the Wolves trading down to improve their team, but I'm not quite as sold on Love. The biggest advantage of selecting Kevin, besides his passing ability out of the post, is all of the really bad jokes/song references that will be made by talk radio. The biggest problem I have with picking him is the fact that he would cause Al to play another year out of position. In Gudy's senerio of possibly picking Hibbert (which I wouldn't mind doing late in the first round), you wouldn't be able to have all three players on the court at the same time since none of them can guard a perimiter player.

4. Seattle Supersonics - Kevin Love, PF, UCLA

• Kamp - I know that there are some that would prefer having Durant play power forward to completely abuse a slower defender, but I don't think that he has the strength to do that on a consistant basis. With Love, they have a big that can draw his man away from the basket and help open up the floor. They still would have dificiancies on the defensive end, but offensivly, Love helps make the world go 'round. And that's the kind of comment that I'm talking about.
• Gudy - This is a surprise here, especially with such an obvious need at PG, but I can see it. In response to your comments on Love above, Hibbert is pretty much going to be a backup in this league, anyway. With Love, Hibbert, and Big Al, the Wolves have an effective three-man rotation in the post. And I disagree about the three of them being on the court at the same time. Love could play a big three, with Al at the four, and Hibbert at the five. Then you have Foye and Brewer at the guard positions. That's a solid lineup, for a stretch.

5. Memphis Grizzlies - Joe Alexander, SF, West Virginia

• Gudy - I have two reasons for making this pick, and they both involve Memphis being the one team in the league that is consistently better than the Timberwovles at making the worst possible decision with player personnel. Alexander is the highest rising name in the draft. He's athletic, he's aggresive, and he's a project. With Love off the board, and the lack of ability to make a trade here, Memphis tries another home run swing on a knuckleball. Alexander should be slotting closer to 10, but Memphis is massively screwed up, and I think this pick makes sense if I'm channeling my inner Chris Wallace.
• Kamp - Wow. 40% of the draft so far is white. I'm shocked. I could see Joe being essentially a more athletic version of Adam Morrison with a worse shot. I would point out at this point that we should be making the pick that we would make if we were the team. Not what Chris Wallace or Kevin McHale would do. Also, they have Rudy Gay at the position right now, so I don't see how this pick makes much sense at all. But I still love you, Gudy.

6. New York Knicks - Eric Gordon, G, Indiana

• Kamp - The Knicks are a mess. I don't know of anyone outside of the Dolon family that thinks they're close to winning. I don't know how well Gordon will do as a pro, but he brings a lot of talent to the table. In my mind, he's a poor man's O.J. Mayo. He will be asked to run the point for stretches in New York or playing next to Nate Robinson when the Knicks go small.
• Gudy - I'm not sure I like this pick here. Gordon is already coming from one volatile situation at IU. The Knicks would be a terrible fit for him...well, for almost anyone, really. I should also mention here that I lost interest in this draft as soon as Kevin Love went off the board. Just wanted to point that out.

7. L.A. Clippers - Jerryd Bayless, PG, Arizona

• Gudy - I go Bayless here over Westbrook because of the Chauncy Billups comparisons. The Clips may be on the verge of losing both Corey Maggette and Elton Brand. They need to build from scratch. In Bayless, they get a floor general who can score on his own and distribute. He has the chance to become the best player on the court for their team, a la Brandon Roy. Had they more mature scoring and leadership options available, I would have gone with Westbrook.
• Kamp - Love this pick. They can't rely on Livingston coming back healthy at this point. Bayless could come in and go for a run with Thornton. His distribution skill are still in question, but when you're drafting in the top ten, you go for talent, and Bayless has that in abundance.

8. Milwaukee Bucks - Russel Westbrook, PG, UCLA

• Kamp - Milwaukee is another team that has a mess for a roster. If they're serious about shopping Mo Williams, they need a point. There's also talk about them shopping Michael Redd, so a guy that could play in either guard position really helps hedge their bets about being able to trade one or both of the players. Westbrook will hopefully provide them with a good young core to go with Bogut and Yi. I admit that my initial pick was going to be Brook Lopez, but I have to factor in the fact that they still have Bogut, Gadzuric, and Villanuava in the front court.
• Gudy - Makes sense, and as you mentioned, Milwaukee's roster is a mess right now, so I really can't argue drafting a point here.

9. Charlotte Bobcats - Brook Lopez, C, Stanford

• Gudy - Even though I'm supposed to take into account who I would pick here, there are a number of factors that went into this decision. First, Gallinari has stated he wants to play in NY. The Knicks didn't take him, so the Nets are the next logical destination for him. Second, Larry Brown loves ready-to-contribute college players, and if Brown's my coach, you make him happy. Lopez isn't a project, so he can step right in and be a bust alongside Adam Morrison and Emeka Okafor. With this pick, the Bobcats might have the most disappointing young frontline in the NBA.
• Kamp - For the Bobcats, it's a case of sticking with what you're good at. I don't think that Lopez with be a complete bust. He'll be a contributer to a team. The only problem is that I don't know if that team can be the Bobcats with the questionable moves that they've been making.

10. New Jersey Nets - Kosta Koufos, C, Ohio State

• Kamp - Right now all of New Jersey is horribly mad at the Bobcats for having taken the center that they really wanted. They settle for the second best white center in the draft. Koufos helps them a bit in the rebounding and should also help protect the rim (he averaged 1.8 blocks per game). As an added bonus, his name sounds like he could have been the villan of a mid-80's spy novel.
• Gudy - We have a slider on our hands. Who will take Gallinari?

11. Indiana Pacers - Danilo Gallinari, SF, Italy

• Gudy - Best player on the board. I rest my case.
• Kamp - Not a bad pick. With the flops of high-profile Europeans (e.g. Tskitishvili, Bogut), G.M.s should have a bit of hesitation with drafting them so high. Gallinari has potential. It's another question of if he will realize that potential.

12. Sacramento Kings - D.J. Augustin, PG, Texas

• Kamp - We finally start getting to teams that don't have complete messes for rosters. Sacramento has servicable pieces in most of the other positions, but lack much of anything at the PG positino. They would be very excited to have Augustin fall to them here. He'll step in and immediately upgrade the offense as possibly the second best pure PG in the draft.
• Gudy - As long as Sacramento keeps their defensive core (read: Ron Artest) intact, a PG like Augustin with such glaring defensive liabilities makes sense. I like the pick.

13. Portland Trail Blazers - Brandon Rush, SG, Kansas

• Gudy - I almost went Mario Chalmers here, which would free up Roy offensively at the two. But Roy has proven that he is at least adequate at running the point, and Rush will be a better pro, in my opinion.
• Kamp - I love this pick. Rush is my choice to be the player selected way too late for how good he is. Secretly, I'm hoping that if the Wolves make a draft-day deal, Rush will slide to the point where they'd be able to get him. I don't hold out too much hope of that happening, though.

14. Golden State Warriors - Marresse Speights, PF/C, Florida

• Kamp - The Warriors have no rebounding or toughness on the inside. Speights provides both of those after averaging over 8 rebounds per game in just over 25 minutes per game. If he maintains that over 40 minutes, he's a solid 18/11 guy with around 2 blocks per game. If they can teach him to pass out of the post, he could help them generate their fast break very well.
• Gudy - Right now, Speights is the anti-Joe Alexander. He's slipped further than...I can't even come up with a proper analogy here. Solid pick for the Warriors, who could use a solid big to help protect Andres Biedrins, if he stays.

15. Phoenix Suns - Mario Chalmers, PG, Kansas

• Gudy - Because Steve Nash isn't going to live forever, and because Barbosa is being talked about hotly in trade rumors as we speak, er, type.
• Kamp - Here's what we know: the odds of Phoenix actually being the ones to make and keep this pick are very, very low. In fact, Bill Simmons has written about the team that they could have had. I consider Chalmers to be projected higher than he deserves because of the Final Four heroics. My thought for right now is high bust potential.

16. Philadelphia 76ers - Anthony Randolph, PF, LSU

• Kamp - What's a team to do? They need size and a shooting guard. Unfortunately, the best prospects on the board at those positions have some major questions. We don't know if Randolph will be able to fill out to handle the rigors of holding down the paint. We don't know if Darrel Arthur will be able to keep himself motivated to give consistent effort. At this pick, the talent and potential of Randolph wins out.
• Gudy - I'm fine with this pick here. The 76ers are a young team that can afford to develop someone like Randolph. He seems to be a good fit here.

17. Indiana Pacers - Donte Green, SF, Syracuse

• Gudy - The Pacers just picked up TJ Ford from Toronto with a pick for Jermaine O'Neal. They'll have to start rebuilding their front court. Green is the best player on the board. This works.
• Kamp - Um, the Pacers already have a very good SF in Granger. Are either of them quick enough to defend shooting guards in the league? Questionable pick, in my opinion. They need size with the trading of O'Neal.

18. Washington Wizards - Robin Lopez, C, Stanford

• Kamp - Washington is in need of a big body for the middle that isn't a head case (I'm looking at you Brendan Haywood!) Lopez isn't going to be a top-flight scorer, but the Wizards have scoring covered. They need rebounding and defense, so Lopez won't have too much to learn.
• Gudy - They need a big, but that's all they're getting here. Lopez struggled with rebounding in a weaker PAC-10, we can't expect that the light is suddenly going to turn on in a faster, more talented NBA. At least this isn't a lottery pick, or this would have bust written all over it.

19. Cleveland Cavaliers - Roy Hibbert, C, Georgetown

• Gudy - Varejao is expected to be gone, and Ilgauskas isn't getting any younger. Hibbert will provide a more than serviceable option for the current rotation, and someone who can move into a more prominent role as time moves on. I like him almost infinitely more than Robin Lopez.
• Kamp - Excellent pick. I probably should have taken him the pick earlier, to be honest. Maybe I was secretly hoping he'd fall to the mid-20's so the Wolves could move up and get him.

20. Denver Nuggets - J.J. Hickson, PF, NC State

• Kamp - The Nuggets are currently one of the more disfunctional teams in the league. Who knows if Iverson or Anthony will be back for next season. What they need right now is some size up front to help Camby out with the rebounding chores and also to hedge their bets in case Nene isn't able to return.
• Gudy - My initial reaction to this pick: Who?!? I stand by my initial reaction.

21. New Jersey Nets - Chris Douglas-Roberts, SF, Memphis

• Gudy - Our fake Nets landed Kosta Koufos with their first pick. They'll be gunning for LeBron in a couple of years, and have been shopping Richard Jefferson to create cap space. CDR could and would provide them with instant scoring ability to make up for that loss, should it ever materialize. He was being talked about as a potential lottery pick just a few months ago.
• Kamp - Excellent pick by the fake Nets. Douglas-Roberts should be able to step in and contribute on a regular basis right away either from the bench or starting if they should trade Jefferson.

22. Orlando Magic - Courtney Lee, SG, W. KY

• Kamp - Easy pick. I knew that whichever of the two NJ didn't pick would be the choice here. They have their PG, SF and PF positions set for a while. They could really use an athlete that can get to the rim and score. Lee provides that.
• Gudy - I debated for about 1/2 second before I took CDR over Lee. That said, this is a solid choice for the magic, especially considering that the two best players in the draft with female names were already off the board.

23. Utah Jazz - DeAndre Jordan, C, Texas A&M

• Gudy - The Jazz need to get bigger. Jordan is a project, for sure, but who better to learn the game from than Jerry Sloan and Deron Williams? This is a nice fit for him, and he could be making a big splash in a couple of years.
• Kamp - The only problem I have with this pick is if Jordan is going to completely frustrate Sloan. Sloan strikes me as a guy that doesn't have patience for the "potential" guys.

24. Seattle Supersonics - Serge Ibaka, PF, Congo

• Kamp - Seatle, as previously stated, needs help up front. Using their second first round pick on a project big man can be afforded. The fake Sonics shake their fists in frustration at the fake Jazz. That's the pick they were going to make.
• Gudy - At the 24th pick, I can't argue with any selection, much less this one. However, Ibaka's people warned NBA teams to not take his client in the first round. Apparently, he's got a rather large offer from a team overseas. Chad Ford's latest mock has him going to the Wolves with the first pick in the second round.

25. Houston Rockets - Alexis Ajinca, C, France

• Gudy - Off the top of my head, I'd consider Houston a pretty international savvy team. Ajinca has been going all over the board in various mock drafts. He's a workout warrior that struggled in competition overseas, which is a huge red flag. He's also a project, but with Yao's injury history, I take my chances on the seven-footer.
• Kamp - Workout warriors always scare me. Sure, they have great measurables, but that doesn't always translate to play on the court.

26. San Antonio Spurs - 26. SA - Nicolas Batum, SF, France

• Kamp - Back to back French picks! The international melting pot of San Antonio continues. Finally Parker has someone with whom he can talk French. Batum is reportedly talented. We'll see.
• Gudy - I think at this point, you could say, "Batum reportedly has four legs and breathes nitrogen gas" and I couldn't refute it.

27. New Orleans Hornets - Darrell Arther, PF, Kansas

• Gudy - This pick is actually Portland's now, and I'm going with the "best player available" defense here.
• Kamp - Not a horrible pick for Portland. Though, I would point out that their front court is getting kind of crowded.

28. Memphis Grizzlies - Jason Thompson, PF, Rider

• Kamp - They need a big body after giving away Pau. Thompson should provide immediate rebounding help.
• Gudy - I'm not so sure about immediate, but at least he might get a rebound.

29. Detroit Pistons - Ryan Anderson, PF, Cal

• Gudy - At this point I shouldn't have to explain my pick.
• Kamp - And welcome to they "we're just picking guys off of a rankings list" portion of the mock draft!

30. Boston Celtics - Valium, Sedative

• Kamp - Well, they need something to calm down KG.
• Gudy - A solid pick, however, Valium lacks the jumpability and freakish athleticism that other prescription drugs could offer here.

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Congrats, It's a Puppy

I know that there are certain advantages and disadvantages to having been raised on a farm. Sure, I couldn't get a group of neighborhood kids together for a game of football, but I had a quiet area to call home and could pee outside without worry about being arrested. One of the things that I might not have appreciated as much as it deserved was being surrounded by animals and creation. There were birds galore, deer walking through the front yard, dairy cows providing fresh milk, more felines than you could swing a cat at, and a variety of dogs at various points. We had a Scottish terrier, a stray collie that hung around for a while, a cocker spaniel, and some little mutt of a dog. My wife, Anne, grew up in the city and never had a dog. She had a cat, but her mom drew the line at feline. Yeah, that line was on purpose. I'm sorry.

Anyway, as years of our marriage have gone by, it became very obvious that eventually, we'd be adding a dog to our family. Anne keeps claiming that it was part of our marriage license that I signed. I'm still going over the fine print. Because of Anne's personality, she researched the different breeds of dog in order to find one that fit our family. I tried looking on Consumer Reports, but didn't find much.

This past Thursday, we finally took the plunge in to dog ownership. She's a tiny (around three pounds) King Charles spaniel named Shelby. We've been working hard to keep the kids calm around her which is nearly a full-time job in and of itself. The kids have really gotten a kick out of having a puppy and none of them have crushed her yet. I consider that a victory.

All of my shoes remain intact for now and the poop has been confined to linoleum, thankfully. Anne is certain that eventually, I will consider Shelby to be part of the family and have more enthusiasm for having a dog. For now, I remain my normal, ambivalent self. At the same time, though, I find myself trying to understand things from my wife's perspective. This whole "owning a dog" thing is completely new to her. There's a newness about it that's almost like a breath of fresh air. Oh wait, that was just the dog. Gotta go clean that up.

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Today's Gaming Tip: Don't be a Dink

Here's a confession: I'm not a very high-level gamer. Sure, I enjoy playing video games and spend quite a bit (too much?) of time playing them, but I'm not very good. In a real-time strategy (RTS) game, I tend to "turtle" or hang out in my primary base building up my forces, fending off the paltry attacks that the computer brings to bear until I'm ready to break out and demolish them. In a first-person shooter (FPS), I walk very slowly and carefully, making sure to uncover every thing possible in a room before moving on just in case there's that extra health pack or ammo laying around that could make a difference in the next room. Neither of those practices is conducive to playing these games online. The people online playing an RTS have the first five minutes of any match mapped out to the point that they know exactly what each character will be doing, what will be built and what forces they need. It's like playing Axis and Allies against my brother (old-school geeky reference). The people playing FPS games online have obviously been bionically enhanced to heighten their reflexes so that the commands sent through their FIOS connection (to make sure that they have minimum ping) are exactly the right move at the right time. That or they have ESP so that they know exactly where to fire the rocket so that it splatters my virtual self all over the floor. But I'm not bitter.

Here's the thing, though: I know I'm not good. I'm OK with that. What I'm not OK with is a player who is more advanced being a dink. Let me give you a couple of examples.

I had been playing WarCraft 3 with a friend of mine online. Both of us were not very good. We both acknowledged that fact. We would play 2 vs. 2 battles against other people that the WC3 service would deem as being "on our level." We were playing one such match and completely got our butts kicked. As we're congradulating our opponents on a well-done match, one of them makes the comment that they created new accounts to play against lower-tier players. In other words, they were "slumin' it." So much for the match-making service.

Lately, I've been playing a bunch of Team Fortress 2. This is a completely online FPS, so there isn't a single-player campaign to get your feet wet. You're immediately thrown to the wolves, trying to learn the ropes. I was momentarily overwhelmed by the sheer number of servers on which you can play when by happy chance, I stumbled on a server marked as being just for someone like me: a complete Newbie. I was over-joyed. I was still noticably worse than the other people on the server, but I felt like I was among my own, for the most part. Then, tonight as I was playing, I asked what I thought was the fairly innocuous question of what control I use to activate the cloak for the spy, since I hadn't much experience running the spy before. Someone voice chats, "Don't tell him! Because then he'll play the spy and suck. Read the manual, noob!" In fairness, could I have looked at the keyboard layout in the options menu to find out? Yes, of course. It just didn't occur to me at the time. However, I didn't expect such a response on a server marked as being for people who aren't completely up to speed on the game. Silly me.

Destructoid had a very good tongue-in-cheek article about online gaming. One of the best lines in there, using the ever-interesting second person point of view, is "You, however, were never a noob. You were playing games online before the Internet was even invented." Let's try to remember, folks, that we all had to start somewhere. I'm starting with TF2. I'm trying to get better, and I think that I have. For one thing, I'm not trying to be a front-line soldier with my medic any more. That was just silly.

My name is Jeff Kamp, and, for now, I'm a newbie. So if you see my spy fumbling with his cloaking watch, please pause for just a second before killing me. I'm sure I'll give you ample time to actually take me out. Thanks.

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