Heart Breaker

I was looking through some photos Lisa shared with me from her graduation. She took the time to scan in many pictures (Thanks!) for a memory board. This one in particular is just awesome. This is Scoter when he was just a little puppy. What a little heart breaker!


Oh, and this marks post 100 - I guess that counts as a significant milestone.

This is probably a good time to take a pulse on how we're doing in the rat race.

• Jessi is working part-time as a teacher so she can focus more energy on her business, Univera. Like any start-up it's a slow start, but Jessi is making progress. Thankfully we have a team in place to provide moral, tactical and spiritual support.
  
• We're deep in the process of looking at real estate (know of any good duplexes?). We've really only looked at 30 or so places, so we still have a ways to go. According to Dolf de Roos, the law of large numbers is 100-10-3-1: look at 100; submit offers on 10; have 3 actually considered; and buy 1. Our goal is to purchase something in '08 and with October just around the corner we need to pick this up.
  
• I still have an unhealthy level of enthusiasm for creating a profitable website business.
• I'm slowing down with Bob the Autographer. I met my goals for the company and don't think I have the energy to scale it to a level where it becomes a self-sustaining business. The rat race is about creating passive income and the economies of scale required to reach that level are quite daunting.
  
• 401Ks and IRAs are going strong
• We're both eating healthier and exercising more
• We've both been able to volunteer at our church.

Overall, I say we're making progress, though it seems slow from day to day. We have a great foundation set and we really need to start focusing on our projects to help them grow.

Top ten cookies

After dinner tonight James and I got into a discussion of our top ten favorite cookies. Not together, but we each had our own top ten lists...It was deliciously fun to talk about the best cookies in the world so I decided to share them. Here it goes...

Jessi's top ten favorite kinds of cookies

(Keep in mind this list could probably go on forever. These are just the kinds of cookies I could eat mountains of.)

1. Danish butter cookies with sugar crystalsThese cookies are so buttery and delicious. I find myself always saying, "Oh, I will just have one or two" and before I know it the whole tin is gone :)

2. hot peanut butter homemade

I pretty much love anything with peanut butter in it. My favorite food is banana's with peanut butter, but these cookies are so good when they are just falling apart. I like to wash them down with icy milk.





3. fudge stripe cookies


For store bought cookies these are probably the ones I buy the most of. I like them cause they are slightly crunchy but still smooth.







4. pecan sandies

Crunchy, sweet, nutty, great dipped in milk. Nuff said.





5. fudge dipped oreos

I actually haven't had these in years, but I remember as a kid always wanting to buy them and we only got them one of two times. And I probably ate most of the package by myself. I don't even know if they make them anymore...but I should look for them...yum.





6. mexican wedding cookies

My sister used to make these when we were younger for potlucks and bake offs...they are so powdery and tasty. I think the recipe is pretty much butter, flour and powdered sugar...nothing bad about it.





7. warm, soft molasses cookies

This is probably the one cookie I am particularly picky about. I like them only homemade and they can't be overdone or underdone at all. It has to be the perfect thickness and chewyness and I only really like them just out of the oven. But if all those things are just right...it is totally worth it.





8. girl scout samoas

I know most people think I am nuts, but this is the only girl scout cookie I really like. That's all I have to say about that.








9. safeway cookies with inch of frosting

I can really only eat about one of these cookies before I feel sick...but it was totally delicious while I was eating it. I think it is the excessive amount of frosting on the top. I wish I could eat more...it is just too good.







10. circus cookies

Circus cookies...classic...I could eat a whole bag of these if I wasn't paying attention.






So, there you have it. The best cookies in the world according to Jessi Furlo.

Thanks for reading.

Jessi

Transparent Screens

Jessi was using Stumbleupon this evening and came across a cool slide show where this person had images continuing out of a computer screen. It's very well done and Jessi wanted to know how it was done. So, we decided to play around and following are our two results. Not bad.

Our first attempt:

Our second attempt:

Here's the link to the original art. His is much better.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/w00kie/sets/180637/show/

Lasagna mania

Ok, I know that when I post I really post...this is the last one for now...I promise.

I was just going though some pictures on the camera and noticed some that James had taken of me making lasagna recently.

This is not just any old lasagna though...this is lasagna from "My Treasury of Recipes" Volume 2 written by James' Grandma Furlo. I was so excited to get the collection of recipes when James and I got married...I felt like I was truly being initiated into the Furlo clan. I did not however, fully experience the initiation until I actually opened the cookbook in order to cook something.

On first glance I noticed several things about the recipe and the cookbook in general that tipped me off that this was not going to be a "novice recipe".

Number one, after each line in the recipe it said "see instructions on attached page".

Number two, the red sauce to be layered in the lasagna called for "1 gallon of tomato sauce (pureed tomato could be substituted)" as well as several other things. At this point I stopped and thought to myself..."oh my gosh, how much lasagna is this going to make?"

Number three, there were no step by step instructions to be found anywhere...not even for other recipes in the book. James' response to this one was, "by the time you get to the level of cooking in my Grandma's cookbook she assumes you already know how to cook."


Having never made lasagna before I was a little worried by this time. I decided to throw all caution to the wind and try it anyway. After going to the grocery store and buying enough lasagna supplies for what seemed like would feed 30 people, I began putting the ingredients together. I am still not sure if I did everything "correctly" but the lasagna turned out to be delicious. We were able to share it with our good friends for dinner that night. And I can say with confidence now that, yes, I am truly a Furlo and can't wait to try the next recipe.

Thanks for reading,

Jessi

p.s. No, I will not share the lasagna recipe with you...you will have to become a legal Furlo (with proof) before you will get anywhere near these recipes...believe me, I know.

Art day

Since beginning to work part time I have officially claimed Fridays as "art days". This could mean a variety of different things but in general it means I get to research and do things related to painting, ceramics, sculpture and pretty much any other form of art that distracts my interest. On my first art day I researched pottery wheels and kilns. Let's just say I will have to wait a few more art days in order to save up for the equipment that I want. Which for the time being is ok since our apartment is kind of small and I really would like a separate art studio before I go all out.

I have currently been entertaining myself with two on going projects. One is a scrapbook of our trip to Paris...I must thank one of our good friends, Kellie Parry, for getting me into scrapbooking...I always watched from a distance when others put together projects like these while secretly hording paper memorabilia in hopes of someday making something great with it. I have started down the long and addicting path of scrapbooking and don't feel compelled to leave it anytime soon.

My other project is a series of miniature black and white acrylic paintings that focus on religious clip art. I noticed the clip art in one of the bulletins from James' church in California a while ago and I liked the idealized images that represented passages of scripture and messages throughout that week's bulletin. The images were simple, concrete, black and white and yet somehow they looked so broken almost like a puzzle that was not quite put together all the way.

Anyway, I just liked looking at them and thought it would be a fun project to capture some of them in paint for a small series. I am sure when I am finished I will notice more profound things about the images and how they go together, but for now it is just nice to be painting again. The pictures are a preview of two of the paintings I have finished so far.

Jessi

The haircut

Hi...

I guess it has been a while. You might go as far as to say that I am a new person since the last time a wrote. I got married. I am working part time. I got a haircut. That's what this post is supposed to highlight. So without further ado...pictures of the finished product. That's if for now. I better add some more blog posts to make up for lost time.

A World Without Microsoft and Apple

Sometimes I really feel like I'm slow to pick up on things, but then suddenly it hits me and strategies other companies have been working on make complete sense. I mean, I always thought the strategy was a good idea, but I typically didn't see the undeniable compelling reason for the strategy... until later. Today it revolves around the World Wide Web.

The web is an amazing thing. Yes, it's amazing because of all the user generated content, the copious amounts of tutorials, the ability to buy something from the other side of the world and much more. However, the most amazing part is that they're all built off the same language: HTML. Unlike current operating systems, everyone uses the same language when programming a website. Sure, sites get to HTML differently, but in the end it's all displayed exactly the same. That's amazing!

Thanks to this standard, this means is that if you create a product that can display HTML, you can display web content. That's why there's Internet Explorer, FireFox, Safari, Opera and many more browsers. However, we're also starting to see browsers on other systems as well, like our cells phones, Unix and our gaming consoles.

This means that you don't need Windows or OSX to view web sites.

Furthermore, as bandwidth becomes faster and web programming becomes more advanced, we'll be able to do more and more within our browser. We can already do everything Microsoft Office offers (though not as feature rich... yet) and even Adobe has aPhotoshop capable website now. Eventually, we'll be able to do 90% of we normally do on our computer within a browser, and then the device we use won't matter.

Furthermore, the browser itself might become antiquated for something more robust. Widgets are already starting to blur the browser line and I'm willing to be that something else will come along which will act as the tipping point for the death of our Microsoft-Apple Duopoly.

So as the web becomes more advanced, I fully expect to see competing operating systems that only offer a browser. I expect Microsoft and Apple to specialize in high-end programs while people do regular activities on a myriad of other devices andOS's. For consumers this is awesome.

This is why the strategies of these companies suddenly makes sense:

Microsoft wants to establish itself on the Internet. They realize that the value isn't in the browser, as I just showed, but in what people view through the browser. Now, I don't think Microsoft is executing their strategy very well, but I like where they're headed.

Apple is trying to establish their operating system on other devices with iPhone and AppleTV. They've also created MobileMe which is an attempt to bridge the gap between their operating system and the web. I think they'll do a good job establishing an ecosystem for media, but beyond that I'm not sure.

Google realizes that they are rooted in the web and are trying like mad to create similar applications found on desktops. They want to be that driver of change in the hopes of neither Microsoft or Apple catching up. This is partly why Google is making Android - they want to show people that it's about the applications and they can be operating system agnostic.

Of course, then there's XML which is an open-standards way of saving data. Imagine this: I can view my data (say, email) on any web page that will accept my data (Gmail,mobileMe, MSN , etc.). Then the competition will be for browsers that perform the best and websites that let me work with my data the best. I should be able to flow freely between browsers, websites and devices without any change in my data.

Obviously, current website owners, and operating system owners, don't want this to happen because there's value in hooking customers in. Of course, this raises an even more fundamental question: Who does the data belong to anyways? Gosh, this sure sounds like the same question the music industry is facing...

What I do know, is that the web is enabling standards to be set which will enable data to be shared freely. This will promote innovation to improve web applications because they can't lock customers in, but instead must genuinely offer a better product consistently. As applications get better our dependency on Microsoft and Apple based applications will decrease. Good-bye Duopoly.

For consumers this is the best outcome. For businesses, it's probably scarier because it's not as easy, but it'll be good for them too.

An Internet of Things

The latest tech concept I've heard is being coined as "An Internet of Things". The basic idea is that items in our lives will, in some way, become connected to the Internet. The items will share and store information via the Internet. It's actually a very exciting idea. So, let me give a couple of examples to help explain the idea.

Your TV
An obvious item to be connected to the Internet is your TV. Yahoo is currently working on an idea to bring widgets to your TV. So you'll be able to watch your favorite show while a news feed, weather, clock, and stock ticker are across the bottom. That's a cool idea.

Let's take this to the next level. When you see a commercial you like (those of you who haven't discovered DVR yet), you can click a button to have an email sent to you to print off a coupon or simply serve as a reminder for the commercial you saw.

Oh yeah, and a browser is mandatory.

This could all be achieved though a set-top-box, but eventually these should just be built into the TV, allowing me to do the following at a minimum: Watch and DVR TV. Download movies, TV shows, pictures, music from anywhere. Display widgets, photo feeds from anything with an RSS feed. See who else is watching TV and share items with them. Basically, combine the TV with Xbox Live and AppleTV. I'm waiting.

Your Car
I believe this is already starting to become connected to the Internet, but just imagine the possibilities. For starters, there should be a website you can visit which displays data your car has been sending to a server in the cloud. It provides you with statistics such as: how far you drove, when you drove, average trip length (time and distance), what the weather was at the time, etc. You could learn when you like to drive, under what conditions and so on. Let's take it a step further.

When you fill up with gas, the amount you paid, how much gas you got and what your mileage is should be sent to the server. You could then view stats around gas costs and use. When your miles/gal drop below a certain threshold (you get to set it, not just the manufacturer) you get an email saying it's time for a check up.

Furthermore, other diagnostic information should be sent to the server: Tire pressure, spark plug timing, etc. You could set an alert to send you an email to get your oil changed every 3,000 miles (or whatever interval you set), and you should get a txt message on your phone so you'll get it when you're in the car, when you actually need it.

How cool would it also be to connect your car's GPS to the Internet? Lost your car? Use your phone to locate where your car is. Also, be able to view on a heat map where you travel the most. If you have a smartphone, write a quick review of a store you visited, which will be paired with your location.

So, imagine you take a trip from Michigan to California. You could write a review at each Harley-Davidson dealership you stop at. Friends could subscribe to your trip and follow you. They'll know where you're located, where you're shopping and sleeping. They could leave comments (maybe?) on an automatically generated blog of your trip (to be set as a widget on their TV). Then, if they ever decide to take a similar trip they know to ask you and could potentially view your stats of the trip too. You too could analyze your trip on a myraid of statistics. Beautiful.

Even More
Another great device that makes sense to connect to the Internet is your refridgerator for your shopping list. Here is where RFID tags can come in handy to identify what food your missing. To a limited extent your washing machine and lights could also benefit. What else makes sense to you?

Soon, some of these concepts will start to be a reality, which is pretty cool. Though, this does introduce a new concept/problem to be covered at another time. It's the idea that to enable greater personalization requires greater transparency, or less privacy.

Quick Video from the Jordan River

A friend of mine spent a couple weeks in Israel. He traveled all around and even got to play some basketball while there. He's posted many videos, but this one really struck me and I wanted to share it. So... Here it is.

Red Lights Without a Phone

So the other day I left my phone at my apartment. Jessi had a conference call and my phone was the only one that could conference all five in (yeah, iPhones rock, but you knew that already). Anyways, because of this I had to drive without it.

While driving, I noticed the red lights were extra long. Gosh, they were taking forever to change! Then I realized that I've actually gotten into the habit of checking my phone while stopped. I figure I'm not moving and I get bored easily. I read a few emails, twitter, check on blogs or do whatever.

I guess I didn't realize how pervasive this phone has become in my life. Honestly though, I'm not sure if I should be concerned or excited. On one hand, I'm able to be more productive and do small things I normally wouldn't take time to do. On the other hand, I'm constantly plugged in and distracting myself (even though I'm stopped). What do you think? Is this a good or bad thing?

Vertical Storage

So I ran my idea about one surface for all activities by Jessi and... well let's just say we came up with a compromise. Now I've got another idea. Let me know what you think.

I got this idea from airplanes and the way they handle storage. Their main problem is a lack of space and I'd argue most people have that same problem. So... how about this:

What if storage was built into the ceiling and floor? You press a button and a shelf comes out of the ceiling or pops up out of the floor. This way, you won't need to have shelves up against the wall - effectively creating more space. Yes, your house might be a little taller, but it's so much easier to build up than expand sideways.

I don't think I'd make the shelving hydraulic, but instead use counter weights - mini elevators if you will. I'm also not sure how many I'd have. You could, theoretically, have then all over the house, but maybe in the middle of the room would be best (because you'd put other stuff near the wall). Maybe I should go watch Back to the Future II again to get more ideas...



PS. For you worriers out there, I'm not blogging while on my honeymoon. When I write, I tend to write a few at a time (I can't control it). So I schedule them to go live at later intervals. This one happens to make sense in the middle of our honeymoon.

First Ajax Script

I had a mini-land mark happening recently. I was creating a web page that allowed a user to scroll through images of a photo library. Now normally this wouldn't be that big of a deal because they're just new links/pages. However, this page was different because there is music playing in the background. I couldn't have the entire page refresh because then the song would start all over. Lame.

There are a couple ways to tackle this problem and I decided to try doing it with Ajax. Basically, Ajax allows you to update only parts of a page without reloading the entire thing. It sends a simple command to the server which returns only that part. This has two benefits. First, once the page is loaded, updating information on the page is really fast. Second, it allows for cool visual effects including, like I'm doing, letting things continue to run while other parts change. If you use Gmail, many parts use Ajax.

So I found a good tutorial and followed it. To my surprise, Ajax is extremely easy to use. The cool part about it is that it's not a new language, it's simply a new way of using existing languages (javascript with PHP, Perl, ASP or XML for those keeping score). So, from now on, I'm sure almost all my web pages are going to be using Ajax just like many of my pages currently use javascript and PHP.

Ready to Get Married

Welp, I'm ready to be married. The big day is on Sunday and it looks like it's going to be great. Jessi and I had our last date before being married. We went to a nice restaurant, got ice cream for desert and watched a movie (Batman is a must see, by the way). We dressed up and really had a good time. It kind of reminds me of getting closure. We were able to "finish off" that part of the relationship officially and now move on.

It was so nice, mostly because we just took a break on our crazy schedules to reflect on where we've been and dream about where we're going. We recalled funny stories and talked more about our plans for the future.

We've really been laying the groundwork this last year and have a solid foundation in place. We've been doing research on different business and investments (and putting our feet in the water a little). We've also been bringing people onto our team to help us achieve our goals. In this last month we put the final pieces together to... You know what? I'm going to stop because this is starting to sound more like a business merger instead of a marrage.

Where was I? Ah yes. I'm so thankful to have met Jessi. Besides helping me dress better, she has been a blessing in my life. I'm ready to marry her and it's going to be great. Family starts showing up today and the party will last until Wednesay and then we'll be off to Paris for our honeymoon. Very, very exciting!

Clothes Tranformation

I met Jessi on a blind date our freshman year at Willamette. It was a mass blind date where older girls on the cross country team set the freshman runners up. I was told we were going to go bowling and to "wear something casual".

I really like the super-casual look.

At the time, I didn't own a pair of jeans, but I did own a suit for church on Sunday. So, I showed up wearing workout shorts and a t-shirt... Yeah, great impression. I know (now).

Eventually a polo shirt was given to me. So I wore that around with my workout shorts. At one time, Jessi's roommate, only seeing the top half of me congratulated me on finally getting respectable clothes. Of course, then she saw my shorts and proceeded to attack me for my poor fashion sense.

Believe it or not, it gets colder in Oregon than central California. So I bought a couple pairs of jeans to keep warm. Man, my stock sure shot up fast! Suddenly I almost looked respectable.


When I got accepted to grad school I decided it was time to really up my game. I bought some polo shirts and some khaki pants. I even went all out and got some dress shoes. For the first time in my life I had "business casual" outfits. Thankfully my mom and Jessi took the time to explain what worked together and what didn't.

Once I graduated and got a job in Oregon I decided to splurge and bought some khaki cargo shorts. I didn't actually get them because they look better than workout shorts. I got them because I wanted pockets. Yes, before graduating I had my wallet and keys hanging from a lanyard which I swung around my neck - no pockets needed.


I'm sure my wardrobe will continue to transform, but it really stuck me when Jessi and I were flying recently. We were traveling - a completely casual situation. Historically, I would wear warm-up pants with a sweatshirt while flying. That day I was wearing my khaki shorts, a polo shirt and flip flops. I sure looked a lot different than my "kid" self.

I like to think my choice of clothing has come a long way despite me being such a slow adopter in the clothing space.

Kenny Loggins Concert

Jessi and I had the pleasure of seeing Kenny Loggins live at the Cuthbert Amphitheater in Eugene on Sunday (quite a busy weekend indeed). The concert started at 7:30pm and went until 10pm. It was so much fun! He played many of his classics (Pooh Corner, Conviction of the Heart, Danger Zone, Footloose, etc.) and a few new songs. Here's a pretty sweet music video of Danger Zone.

The best part was Jessi's reaction. She knew I liked Kenny Loggins and had all of his CDs. She had also heard him on the radio, so she knew he wasn't some no-name artist. The fun part was when she realized she knew all of his songs and was able to sing along with me. Ah yes, it was a blast.

Now we have to rent the movie Footlose so she can watch the whole thing with Kenny Loggins' song. Here's a picture of the night:

4th of July Celebration

Jessi and I got to hang out with the Parry Family this 4th of July. It was a ton of fun! We went to a parade, played Rock Band, had a Bar-BQ, shot off fireworks and watched Independence Day outside on a projector. Needless to say, it was one epic event. It started at 11am and I didn't get to bed until 2am. Below is a little video of the day's events. There's also a slide show with more pictures detailing what happened. Is this a sign of things to come with the new camera? We'll see.





When it started to get dark we really started playing the with camera. So, some of the pictures are... well... weird. Some, like the pictures of the fireworks, are pretty cool.

New Camera

Jessi and I just got a new camera in preparation for our honeymoon in Paris. It's a Canon Rebel XTi. In just the few hours I've been playing with it, it seems like a great camera.







Here's one picture that Jessi took.

One Surface, All Activities

The count down is on: 26 days until the Wedding! So in preparation Jessi and I have been looking at apartments for "our new life together". It's really exciting and has also got me thinking.

This is an opportunity to rethink the way I live my life we live our lives. I mean, there are going to be so many changes it may not hurt to experiment a little bit. Right? :)

Here's my idea: What if we did everything on one surface? One surface, all activities. I think of it like my computer screen where I have one desktop where I do everything. I don't switch computers or go somewhere else - I bring the file to the front, to me. What if we just had one big table where we use our computers, eat food, watch movies, play board games and fold clothes. I almost added sleeping on it, but that almost seems a little extreme.

Now that I think about it, this wouldn't be much different from the way I already live. My living room and kitchen are one room and that's also where I use my computer, watch movies, cook and eat. As a matter of fact, that's also where I sleep since I started sleeping on the floor.

I guess the biggest difference is the size of the table. Currently I have a small card table which barely fits my computer (thankfully I have a TV tray right next to it). I'm thinking of a table that is closer to a piece of ply-wood: huge! That way both Jessi and I can be at the same table with multiple things on it for each of us at the same time.

Of course, there is the issue of where such a large table could go. Would it just overwhelm the living room and leave the kitchen under utilized? Maybe the solution is to have two or three large work areas (like an extra computer monitor?) we move between. What I'm really trying to get at is not having "dedicated" areas I suppose.

What do you think? Is this really a revolutionary idea or are people already doing this? How can I tweak this idea to really shake things up?

Califonria Trip

Jessi and I have spent the last week in California hanging out with my family and it's been a lot of fun. We came down on Friday to watch Lisa graduate from Los Gatos High School. We got to the school early and spent the day saving our seats. We had great seats and the ceremony was excellent. On Saturday Jessi, Lisa, Matthew, my cousin Tyler and I went to Chuck E. Cheese's to play. It's been a family tradition to go there after the last day of school to celebrate the end of the school year. I know, it sounds kind of goofy, but it's a lot of fun. On Sunday we went to church and then had a party for Lisa. There was good food, lots of good friends and a pinata! We all had a really good time.

The rest of the week I worked at the Cupertino campus while Jessi hung out with my mom and sister. He got to do some shopping and, most importantly, sleep in until 9:00 each day. On the evenings we hung out and simply enjoyed each other's company. It really was nice to just hang out for a little bit.

Jessi and I will be returning tomorrow, Sunday, to Oregon. I'll keep working and Jessi will continue her summer break. I sure hope she doesn't go nuts! To stay busy she'll be finishing up some wedding plans, finding a place for us to live once we're married, and doing some art. It's been a ton of fun in California, and now I'm ready to get back to normal life.

Why I Love iPhone

My affection is rooted in the device's versatility. You can do so much on such a small device it's amazing. Let me give you this morning as an example.

1) I woke up this morning using the alarm clock (I might have pushed the snooze once...)
2) Checked my email quickly (nothing super important)
3) I called Jessi to say good morning and wish her a good day at work.
4) I checked my work calendar to review when my meetings are today.
5) I looked up where I was having breakfast with some friends using the map.
6) While going to breakfast I listened to my audio book (a Walt Disney Biography).
7) I saw a sign I liked and took a picture of it (of a ninja school).
8) I then emailed that picture to Flickr and Facebook (which is also linked to Twitter) to share with friends.
9) Finally, I checked Twitter and Google Reader in Safari for any cool news.

This is just one morning and these are very diverse activities! I would even go so far as to say none of these were just plain goofing off - they all had a purpose that enriched my day. So yeah, the device looks cool, but the real attraction is all the different uses. Now if it can just replace my keys and credit cards (plus shave my face) I'll be set.