How To Evaluate A Business

In business school I learned an easy way to evaluate a business from Rob Wiltbank - an awesome teacher and co-author of the book The Catalyst. He called them the "6-ables". If a business passed each of these 6 "ables" then it was a good idea. Here they are:

1) Feasible - Can you actually do it? Sometimes there are limits of money, nature, technology and laws. This is really mostly important for starting up a company.

2) Reachable - Can you talk (reach) to your customers? You could have the coolest product or service, but you also need to be able to tell people about it.

3) Valuable - Do customers want what you're selling? It's not enough for YOU to think it's cool, your customers also have to think it's cool too.

4) Scalable - Can you do it a million times almost as easily as the first time? This is why Microsoft is so profitable: They write their programs once and then sell it over and over again. The more you can do this, the better.

5) Durable (secret sauce) - How hard is it to copy your idea? This is your secret sauce that will keep you different from everyone else. To me, this is probably the most important part, but it is especially important when looking to invest in a company. Another term for this would be "competitive advantage". Apple's secret sauce used to be Steve Job's vision for sleek designs and seamless interfaces - you can't copy him. We'll see how Apple does without Jobs in the future.

6) Saleable - If you want out, will someone buy you out? Or, can you get others to invest in your business? This means your business is valuable to someone else.

Bonus 7) Traction - Prove it (for new business ideas). Do you have any currently satisfied customers? How many? An idea becomes much more compelling if people are lining up to hand you their money.


Pretty cool, right? When talking with people, I work through this framework. It's fairly comprehensive and doesn't get bogged down in the details. Clearly executing on an idea is also critically important, but this is the first step to see if it's even worth pursuing.

For creating our property management company, we worked through each of these too. Here are our basic answers so far:

1) Feasible - Yes, lots of businesses do it. Getting properly licensed seems to be a challenge, but it's very possible.

2) Reachable - Craigslist makes it super easy to find new tenants. Property owners are a little different though. One possibility is going to the county property record books. Another is talking to friends and real estate agents. So yes, our customers are reachable.

3) Valuable - Definitely, especially the bigger places and for owners who live far away. Plus, we've got the training and time to keep owners out of trouble with tenants and the IRS.

4) Scalable - Kind of. It isn't like software where you write it once and sell it a indefinitely, but in a way it is. For example, we can use the same tools for multiple properties. There is definitely a time requirement that can't be scaled since this is a service type of business.

5) Durable - The secret sauce. :) I honestly don't know if what we have is durable. One factor will be our properties (and their locations) which can't be copied. Another will be our systems/policies and interpersonal skills. These are soft things, that if done right will be very hard to copy.

6) Saleable - Maybe. I hope so. That will all depend on how profitable we are.

7) Traction - We've already had a couple people talk to us. So there's interest, but no paying customers yet.


So, when you're thinking about starting a business, or joining one, run through these "ables" and see how it stacks up.


Image: TutorialBlog.org

Who Has Control of the US Government?

I was working on a fun project which involved taking a look at who controlled the House, Senate and Presidency each year for the past 50 years. Since I had the data sitting around, I decided to make a quick graphic of it. You can click on the picture to see a bigger version of it.

My goal was to convey who had control (the majority), but also show that often it's a very narrow majority each year. I'd love to hear your feedback on how to make it better. I'll make sure to share my final project too when it's done.

Passo del Furlo attraverso la Gola del Furlo e la Galleria Furlo

English Title: Furlo Pass through the Furlo Gorge and the Furlo Tunnel

My last name is Furlo. When spelling it out I say: "F. U. R. L. O. That's it. It's Italian." I feel that helps justify the lack of a "W" or "OUGH" people commonly want to tack on to the end. According to About.com, back in the 1,400s it became necessary to add a second name to distinguish between individuals with the same first name. Italian last names are especially easy to recognize because most end in a vowel and many are derived from 4 major sources:

1. Patronymic - Based on a parent’s name (Pietro Di Alberto - Peter son of Albert)
2. Occupational - Based on the person’s job/trade (Giovanni Contadino - John the farmer)
3. Descriptive - Based on a unique quality of the individual, these surnames often developed from nicknames or pet names (Francesco Basso - Francis the short)
4. Geographical - Based on a person’s residence, usually a former residence (Maria Romano - Mary from Rome)

"Furlo" is a geographical name.

Perhaps the coolest part about "Furlo" is that it actually comes from something historically significant in Italy. Plus, it's still around! I'd like to share that.

Gola del Furlo (Furlo Gorge)

Furlo Gorge is in the Marche region of central Italy (see map below), where the Candigliano River passes through it. le-marche-holiday-homes.com describes it as "an overwhelming chalk formation which the Candigliano River cuts through in order to later join with the Metauro River. The drive from Acqualagna to this natural phenomenon is truly a thing of beauty. The mountainous terrain surrounding this gorge also offers challenging routes for hikers and mountain bikers. Their efforts will certainly be rewarded with spectacular views."

That does indeed look like it would be awesome to hike around. Here's the map of where everything is within Italy.






Passo del Furlo (Furlo Pass) aka Galleria Furlo (Furlo Tunnel)

Unfortunately, the pass couldn't be completed without building a tunnel.

The South Entrance

According to Wikipedia, the Roman emperor Vespasian had the Furlo Tunnel (or Gallery) built to facilitate passage on the Via Flaminia in the narrowest point of the Furlo Gorge. The tunnel has a length of 38.30 meters (~42 yards) and a height of 5.95 meters (~20 feet). During the Gothic Wars (6th century), the Ostrogoth King Totila had the pass fortified, but his troops were ousted by the Roman general Belisarius. The Lombards conquered the pass between 570 and 578, and destroyed the fortifications. In the 1980s, traffic in the Furlo Tunnel was bypassed by the construction of two highway tunnels, but maintained the same name "Galleria Furlo".

The Furlo Tunnel was dug by hand through rock using chisels, which you can still see the marks of today. Here's a close-up picture of the plate they put up (left hand side of the picture above). Since Vespasian ruled between 69-79AD, I'm going to guess that 76DC = 76AD. This makes it the 5th oldest tunnel dug.

Fun fact: I looked up "gallery" on Dictionary.com and apparently it can mean a long covered area, narrow and open at one or both sides, used especially as a walk or corridor. It even says it could be an underground passage. So that's cool.

This map below shows the tunnel location (the dotted part). It's only 42 yards long. The yellow lines above are the new highway tunnels. If you follow the white road South (down), you'll notice that the road is called Via Furlo. That road leads to a town called Furlo, which looks to be a suburb of Acqualagna.





Here's the town:




Here, you can take a little virtual trip around the town compliments of Google Maps. You can see the gorge in the distance.





Given the way Italy generated their last names, there's a VERY high probably that my name comes from this very town. I like to think of this as my last name's "home town". ha ha. If you'd like to visit, I recommend checking out B&B Casa Furlo. It looks like a nice place to stay.

 It's pretty amazing how technology allows us to really dive into a place without actually having to go (though I still want to). It also helps that it has a fairly rich history (thanks Romans!). Thanks for letting me share where my last name comes from.

Image sources (which the photos above are also linked to):
Wikipedia.org
Panoramio.com
MarcheWorldWide.org
Lotsberg.net

Disneyland Half Marathon Sign-ups Start Today

I just signed-up Jessi and myself to run in Disneyland's Half Marathon on Labor Day weekend. My Mom, sister, and brother will also be participating. Exciting!

We'll get to run through the parks and I'm sure it'll be full of Disney's magic the entire time.

I'll probably start training in earnest in May. Until then I just need to figure out all the logistics surrounding the event.

You can learn more and sign-up here. Last year they sold out in 48 hours, so clearly this is a popular event.

[image: spirablog.com]

PC vs Tablet Shipments: Fun With Data

So, I got into a debate with my brother during one of our Furlo Bros podcasts over whether or not tablets (ie. the iPad) should be counted as a PC or not. What re-kindled the whole debate was Canalys' decision to include the iPad in Apple's PC shipment numbers. Which brought about the headline grabbing conclusion that Apple would surpass HP as the leading PC vender in 2012.

Matthew thinks the iPad should be counted. I do not.

With the latest Gartner PC shipment report, I decided to do some digging myself to see what the data shows. Gartner makes it fairly easy to look up each quarterly report and grab the data in semi-copy-and-paste friendly data tables. See below for all the links**. Here's what I found:

A couple notable points:

• HP is the current WW leader with 16% share of the market. Congrats team!
• HP also has some vicious Q4 swings in shipments. I bet the supplies chain loves it (not).
• I always thought Dell posed more of a threat, they do in the US, but not really on the world stage.
• Instead, Lenovo is on a huge growth trajectory! It looks like Lenovo will actually pass HP in either Q3 or Q4 of 2012.

Interesting. Now let's layer tablet shipment figures from IDC to see how they compare:

And I thought Lenovo was growing fast! That's unbelievable growth. But if the iPad, which is 60% of those tablet numbers, is indeed a PC, I would expect to see some sort of decline. I don't really. I can hear Matthew now telling me that it's the same as "buying a secondary PC". Really? That's what netbooks were supposed to be, and their growth numbers looked nothing like this. Instead, these look more like smart phone growth numbers, which are decided NOT PCs.

I firmly believe that tablets and PCs are going to easily co-exist. Instead people are going to give something else up (an iPod Touch perhaps...). The current trends agree.

Now, one of the things I like the Mythbusters is they wouldn't stop here. They would say, "OK. The myth of iPads equalling PCs is BUSTED. But let's assume they are. What would that look like?"

Doing some quick math, I agree with Canalys' conclusion. In Q4 HP shipped 14.7M PC's. That's a lot. In Q3 Apple shipped 2.3M Macs in the US and 11.1M iPads WW (13.4M total). With all the talk of huge iPad estimates for Q4 (at least 20M iPads), it's very feasible that Apple beats HP in Q4 and will continue to do so in 2012. Again, that's IF you count tablets as PCs.

Finally, I took a bigger step back and looked at total PCs vs Tablets:

Clearly tablets are growing like crazy, but they're still a very small piece of the overall pie. It'll still be about 3 years before tablets over-take PCs. (Which is genuinely a long time in the tech space)

Will there ever be a time when tablet's start replacing PCs? Probably. I think there will be something of a tipping point. Once cloud storage and productivity apps mature more, you will then see people ditching their PCs completely for tablets. That isn't happening yet, and it still doesn't change the fundamental premise that iPads are PCs, in the same way that microwaves are not ovens.

** Data sources (Yeah, I know...):
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1893523
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1821731
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1744216
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1632414
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1279215
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1207613
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1076912
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=939015
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=856712
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=777613
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=724111
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=648619
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=584210
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1451742
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1519417
http://www.idc.com/about/viewpressrelease.jsp?containerId=prUS22660011
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1401136
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1353330

http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS23228211
http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS23034011
http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS22933011
http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS22737611

Mortgage Payments Once A Month Or Every Other Week?

Last year I shared my DIY Loan calculator. It came in pretty handy for myself today because I was talking with a friend about the benefits of making half a mortgage payments every other week instead of the full amount once a month.

I'm currently on the once a month plan and wanted to know what level of savings I would get by switching to every 2 weeks. The idea is that instead of making a full payment every 1st of the month, you make half a payment on every other Monday (or whatever day of the week you choose). This has 2 advantages:

1. The amount of interest calculated on the balance is technically smaller because it gets cut down just a little bit mid way through the month. Yes it's small, but it does add up over 30 years.
2. A couple times during the year there are 5 weeks in the month. This means that at the end of the year you actually end up making 1 extra payment (26 half payments = 13 full payments). This dramatically reduces your principle.

Of course, there are also disadvantages:

1. You really need to plan your funds carefully to be ready for when those 2 extra payments happen. It's not impossible, you just need to be ready for it. You also need to make sure you can actually afford the extra payments.
2. The other disadvantage, especially for investment property, is that this reduces the cash-flow on your property. In the long-run (25 years later), it'll make a big difference, but you pay for it up front. When you first buy a building, there are often other repairs that need to happen too, so that money may be better spent elsewhere.

I was able to use my little calculator to figure out how much I would save. It is significant (~$30,000), and I'll pay off this property 5 years sooner, at which point the cash-flow becomes REALLY nice. The big question is whether I can afford it, and if the money would be better spent elsewhere.

I think my plan is to take that extra payment, divide it by 12, and put it into an ING savings account each month. Then, at the end of the year I can decide if I want to make a big dent on my principle, or use it somewhere else. Given my current low interest rate, I suspect I'll find other uses for it, especially since I own a new Jeep, but I'll withhold judgement for now.

2012 Goals: Work Diligently, Wait Patiently

It's time for me to share my goals for 2012. I've got 7 of them, and a mantra to go along with them: "Work diligently, wait patiently". This idea is that there are quite a few things out of my control for some of these goals. But if I work diligently and don't get frustrated, these goals can all be accomplished. I also tried to have a balanced set of goals too. Spiritual, physical, business, & family. I also tried to make each goal SMART:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-based

So, here they are in order of importance:


1. Read all Bible reading plan assignments
I have the Bible app on my iPhone and signed up for the Life Journal reading plan. It's important to be in the Word consistently, and this goal will help motivate me to do it.


2. Manage 1 other property
I told you this one would be back. Here's what needs to happen to accomplish this goal.

• Pass the RE exam test, which includes more studying
• Fill out the paperwork and pay the money to become licensed
• Finish writing the operating manual
• Register our business/open accounts... more paperwork and money
• Promote. Promote. Promote!

This is one of the examples were I need to be patient since much of the timing is out of my control.


3. Decide the fate of Univera: Fly or Die
First, I need to finish my education system, a sub-goal. Then I need to promote. My criteria for staying with the Univera business is > 10 new customers by the end of summer. If I can't find that many, I need to move on to something else. Univera is a great company, but it simply may not be the best match for me at this time.


4. Spend less money than last year
We spent too much last year. I already shared our "Great Experiment" and it's findings. Since we only have one large project scheduled (a new fence), we should be able to stay under last year. It should also help to not purchase multiple Jeeps.


5. Run 10 miles in <= 100 minutes
Jessi and I plan on running Disney's half-marathon during Labor Day weekend in September.  I don't want to be sucking wind the whole time, plus I need to get back in running shape. This goal reflects where I would like to be. To help, I'm going to try to walk/run on the treadmill every time I watch Netflix when Jessi isn't around.


6. Transition Bob the Autographer fully online
Remember Bob? It just so happens that while visiting family this Christmas, I got all the original designs from my brother. So the plan, when I have time, is to re-format and upload each design onto zazzle.com, commission somebody funny to write hilarious descriptions for each shirt, and rewrite the website to point to zazzle. Then I'll be able to sell all my printing equipment and free up some space in the garage. Plus that'll give me some cash to pay a comedian and promote the new site. This is cool because it'll take a significant burden off me to print the shirts while still allowing the dream of Bob to live on. There are some new Legos I wouldn't mind getting...


7. Teach Vinnie 3 new skills
This is something I've wanted to do ever since we got him, and setting it as an official goal with help. Here are the 3 commands I want Vinnie to learn:

1. "Come": about 25% of the time he'll come and zoom right by me. This needs to get up to 95% - especially outside where it's' more like 5% of the time - AND stop in front of me.
2. "Stay": This only works when he's waiting for food or to go outside. I'd like to be able to generalize this for any situation.
3. "Lay down": He doesn't do this at all. I'd like him to lay down and stay somewhere. Inside and outside. This will he helpful in all sorts of situations.

So that's it! 7 goals which I'm really excited about. Each one will have a big impact on my life too, which is good. I just need to work diligently and wait patiently for God's timing on these.

2011 Goals Review

So... 2011... A year with many ups and downs. At the beginning of the year when I shared my goals for 2011, I talked how it will be a year of hard work. In some ways it was, in others much less. Let's dive in.

Consistency, Persistence & Completion
These are the three words Jessi chose as our mantra for the year. Looking back, it was very appropriate because a couple of my goals took MUCH longer than I thought to make it happen, or not in some cases.

1) Connect with HS dudes . A+
I measured success on three things: 1) We find a regular time to meet as a small group. Yep. 2) We all know each other and say "hi" when we see each other. Yep. 3) I had a level 4 conversation with at least 2 dudes. This is harder to measure, but I've definitely had multiple meaningful conversations.
I'm looking forward to continuing my relationship with these dudes the rest of this school year, and beyond.


2) Manage 1 other property . C
Technically I didn't achieve this goal because we are still only managing one property, but it's not from a lack of trying! We finished our class, but haven't taken the test yet because... well... it's complicated... First, filling out, and processing, paperwork takes time. Second, we took the class online, and that simply takes A LOT of time. Third, the school we took the class from contracted out their online class. Then switched systems part way through the year, so they are in the midst of sorting everything out. We've been on the phone with them trying to figure it all out for the last couple of MONTHS!

• So, class is done... Check
• Getting to take the test is still being processes... lame
• We did finish the first round of our operating manual (it's required)... check
• We started talking with a couple potential clients... waiting for licenses before we can talk seriously
• I tried to buy another property but it fell through... lame

I'm pretty sure you'll see this goal again since I really want to do this and we're still working towards it.


3) Run a half-marathon . A+!
Jessi and I participated in the Corvallis Half-Marathon and I created an infographic to celebrate. This was actually a little touch and go for a bit because Jessi hurt her ankle in January while playing soccer and couldn't train for a few months. Plus it took place right in the middle of all my traveling - literally the day before I left for India, after being home for less than a week because of another trip. Still, we did it and it was fantastic! We're planning on signing up for the Disney Half-Marathon that takes place on Labor Day. We managed to rope my whole family in too.


4) Earn blue belt in jiu jitsu . A+!
Done. Boom. I tell people all the time, "Don't mess with me. I have a blue belt in jiu jitsu." Clearly I intimidate people now because I haven't been in a single fight since earning it. Though, the high schoolers do jokingly threaten me... Actually, it's when they start impromptu wrestling and they try to egg me on. I simply tell them that, like Bruce Banner, they won't like me when I start "wrestling" because my goal will be to JOKE THEM OUT instead of doing something as pansy as pinning them.


5) Fly in a Fighter Jet . B
As I wrote about, I had to change this goal a bit because flying in a fighter jet is pretty much impossible unless you're in the military thanks to the events on September 11, 2001. So I modified it: Fly a small airplane. At a resume/interview workshop I met someone with access to a plane. I shared my goal and he was able to hook me up. While in the air I was able to take the reins for a bit and actually fly. So A+ for my modified goal.


6) Find 3 customers . F
I've been loathing writing about this goal. Here's what's going on: I read a book by Kim Klaver called If My Product's So Great How Come I Can't Sell It? which talked about getting customers only - not associates. I loved the idea! Unfortunately, Univera doesn't have any materials for only acquiring customers... So I decided to make my own. I read another brilliant book by Bob Burg called Endless Referrals. In one small section he describes a system for attracting people and I decided to try it out.

I wrote a report on how to live healthy. It's really cool and looks like a small professional magazine - I'm really proud of it. Then I created a website which does three things.

1. First, it promotes the report, which I give away for only your name and email. I've also been saving up money to promote the site using classic advertising.
2. Second, it acts as a supplement to the report. It will send out 5 emails with follow-up information and downloads to free tools I created (also every professional looking).
3. Third, it also provides information on each product I sell. This includes a description and a video.

The idea is to create an education tool that genuinely teaches people how to live healthier - and provide tools to take meaningful action. Even if they never buy a product from me, they still find the information valuable. Plus, once they do reach out to me, I know they're serious about their health and the conversation is simply how I can best help them instead of trying to convince them to let me help them.

OK. Clearly a lot of activity, so why the F? I had a whole year and didn't finish the system. I actually have everything done except the emails, but I'm not a natural copy writer and so I procrastinated and worked very slowly. I suppose I could have hired someone but I didn't. I also didn't do any other activities to promote my business to reach this goal.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet. Part of me wants to scrap everything. Part of me wants to push through and finish this system to see what happens. I really need to discover my internal barriers on this project and over come them.

---

So that was my year: 4 I am very happy with and 2 I wish I did better on. In a little bit I'll finalize my goals for 2012 and share those too.

Christmas With The Furlos

Jessi and I spent the Christmas break in California with my family this year. It was a blast! As is a Furlo tradition, we made sure to jam pack each day with fun events. Here are some of the highlights:

• The day we arrived I got to help my dad move some construction equipment for work. There's something fun about driving around in big vehicles.

• The day before Christmas Eve we went tree shopping. Home Depot was giving them away for free!

• Christmas Eve at my Aunt & Uncle's house - thanks for hosting!
• Christmas at home, church in the afternoon, dinner at my Aunt's house with a hilarious game of Telestrations. We also opened little fun gifts. Here's Vinnie wearing a crown.

• Monday was shopping. The girls went early, the guys waited until later. Frustrated with a lack of iPhone 4S cases, we went home and used a Dremel tool to modify an old iPhone 4 case.
• Tuesday we went up to San Francisco to go ice skating and hang out in the city.

• Wednesday we went for a hike with my sister and then the girls went shopping for sewing materials and went to a sewing class.
• Thursday the girls went shopping in Carmel all day. It's a dog friendly city, so everywhere is open to dogs! The guys saw Sherlock Holmes. We ate S'mores later that night around a camp fire in my parent's back yard.
• Friday I met with a friend for breakfast, built Legos with my cousin, went on a long walk with my brother, visited Arby's to say hello to my old boss and went out to dinner with my family.

• Saturday we did Jeep trailer research in the morning (for hauling things) and then watched Harry Potter in the afternoon/evening finishing up with a podcast that night.
• Sunday we drove back home ready to take on the new year. Vinnie slept almost the entire way. And then other times he took matters into his own paws.

See what I mean about filling each day? It can be dizzying if you're not used to it, but I loved it! I'm glad we got to spend so much time with my family and I'm already looking forward to the next time. Now I just need to survive Oregon's winter weather... :)

Top 10 Favorite Posts

With the end of the year approaching, a reflective top 10 seems appropriate. I thought about doing the top 10 most visited posts, but that seemed boring. Instead, I present my top 10 favorite posts to write in chronological order. Begin!

1. Jiu Jitsu Blue Belt Videos!: An awesome test after months of training. Jiu jitsu is still fun and going strong.
2. Mustache March!: I'm already looking forward to next March.
3. Corvallis 2011 Half-Marathon Infographic: The race was fun and putting together this infographic was a blast too.
4. The Newest Furlo: Vinnie: The day our lives changed.
5. The Secret To Reaching Zero Inbox Email: I like writing these long-form types of posts.
6. Oh Vinnie... No More Eating Dead Rodents: This story by Jessi is just crazy. The reaction we got from it was hilarious too.
7. A Super Halloween: I just love how awesome Vinnie looks with his super suit on.
8. Flying In An Airplane: This was a very fun day, and a goal I reached.
9. The Proper Use Of The Null Hypothesis When Discussing Transformers: I really enjoyed writing this. It talks about the fundamentals of statistics and implies the basics of how Apologetics works.
10. Furlo Bros Podcast: A fun new project my brother and I are going on. We're still in the excited/optimistic stage which is always fun.

Too Big To Fail [Book Review]

I recently listened to the book Too Big To Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin. The book was well written, but I wouldn't say it was enjoyable because of what it talked about. Let me explain.

The book is the inside story of how Wall Street and Washington fought to save the financial system. It's written as a narrative pulled together from tons of interviews and news reports. THAT is very well done and the story is interesting.

The part that I didn't like was the entire premise: Wall Street (with the help of Washington) got themselves into an unmanageable situation driven by greed and the bet that the housing market would NEVER go down. The whole book is about them trying to stop the economy from collapsing overnight due to a few, extremely highly connected, financial organizations failing.

The book even notes at the end that their actions may have prevented an immediate collapse, but they by no means "fixed" the economy and some of the systemic problems.


After I finished the book and told Jessi that this would make an awesome movie. It turns out that HBO agreed and made one. The film was extremely good and stayed as true to the book as possible. The only thing I didn't like was that it was hard to track all the different people. If I hadn't read the book, I would of really struggled to follow.

I also found this 20 minute video that explains what happened. I highly recommend the first 5 because it explains how we got into this situation.




Do you need to read the book? Not really, but I do recommend watching the above video and finding a copy of the HBO show somewhere. At the very least it's educational on what happened.

[image: tvguide.com]

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! We hope the day is blessed and relaxing. We're lucky to be relaxing with family in California. We told our family we didn't want much this year: One of three things:

1. Nothing, or just a card
2. Something homemade (I do like cookies. Jessi likes pumpkin pie)
3. A donation to a charity on our behalf

I got the idea from my new favorite blog Mr. Money Mustache, and it fits right in with our desire to own less things. Plus, we hoped it would help ease the pressure of shopping/spending for our family. The experience for us was fantastic and we plan to keep it going in the future years.

OK. I'm off to go relax more with family.

My System: 15 Minutes Work A Day For Health's Sake [Book Review]

I first saw the above video about JP Muller and was intrigued. I ended up buying the book, though later found a free PDF version... oh well... During our trip to LA I decided to read it. Being on 90 pages, I easily breezed through it.
It's really fascinating. It's written in 1904 and rails against the problem of obesity and a general lack of good health. His solution is to do 15 minutes worth of exercises each day to help promote good "core health" (abs/back, organs, skin). It's kind of crazy that we're still dealing with the same issues today.
So, Jessi and I have been doing the exercises this week. My core is definitely sore! We'd like to keep it going as long as possible... we'll see... We do skip the bath in the middle and just take a shower at the end. Since we're just starting it takes us around 25 minutes, but it will easily be shorter once we have all 18 exercises memorized.
Since the book is free, I recommend downloading and checking it out. It's only 15 minutes.

Laptops? We Don't Need No Stinking Laptops!

More thoughts about our LA trip...

We decided to not take any computers with us except for our iPhones. We were only there for a weekend and neither of us had any official work to do. It seemed like a safe option.

What an experience!

First, going through security is much easier when you don't need to open up your bag to take out a laptop.

Second, I don't think I would need a laptop if all I did was consumption and basic creation (i.e. didn't need to create professional work). For example: I was able to check/reply to emails, check/make Facebook/Twitter/Google+ updates, and read news. I was also able to do quick info look-ups (Just how much are Disney tickets? Can we get a discount?)

Third, I was still able to do all the things I normally do on my phone: listen to my audiobook, check in to places, make calls, send texts, play games, etc. We used our phones a bunch for directions - we literally did zero travel planning and relied 100% on our phones. We also listened to Muppet songs while driving around with the kids since none of the local stations really interested us.

Fourth, and a surprise, other people started relying on our phone. Here are 3 examples:
1) While at dinner one of the girls wanted to watch a show. Her dad said he didn't have his computer so she couldn't. I pulled out my phone, set Netflix to "kids/family" and let her choose one. She watched Toy Story 3 the rest of the time in the restaurant.
2) Before that, I bought a last minute plane ticket for another family member using Hipmunk. That was actually my first non-app purchase on a phone.
3) Jessi got a couple calls asking for directions since they were lost. She put them on speaker phone, pulled up directions (AT&T does have one perk over Verizon), and got them to their destination.

Fifth, I was impressed with the battery life. We brought one wall charger and one car charger. We charged one at night and the other while getting ready in the morning. Then we switched off charging whenever in the car. Only once did I get down to 15% at the end of the day.

Sixth, we also decided to not bring our Canon Rebel camera. Our iPhones worked really well! The iPhone's camera still struggles with quick movement and darkness (see the cropped top picture), but the pictures themselves are good. I also really like having all the location data embedded and everything instantly streamed to my computer when I get home. I'm still probably going to bring the Rebel on "big" trips, but I can definitely see a time when I won't need to.


I really didn't miss my computer at all. If I didn't need to do professional content creation while visiting my family next week, I wouldn't bring my laptop then either.

The Magic Behind Disney's Magic

I am a major fan of Walt Disney and the company he created. He is an excellent example of the American Dream: he had a vision, and with the help of his brother, made his vision come to life in movies and theme parks. It's hard to calculate the impact Walt Disney had on the world, but it's huge. For example, I have a job because Walt Disney was the first major customer of Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard's oscilloscopes for the movie Fantasia.

OK. Why all the sudden gushing?

This weekend Jessi and I went to LA to watch her brother graduate from Biola University. The ceremony was fantastic! It was also great seeing all of Jessi's family again. On Saturday we all headed to the Magic Kingdom for a day of fun.

The rides are fun, but for me the real magic is watching how it all works. There is an unbelievable attention to detail within Disney that companies like Apple aspire towards. For example, while watching the Christmas Fantasy Parade, it suddenly dawned on me that there were no sounds of motors. The floats were clearly under their own power, but no noise.

Disney took the time to make all their floats electric powered. I can't even imagine the batteries in those things! The impact is profound: All you hear is the music and there are no exhaust fumes. I can't image it was cheap or easy to do that since all other parades chose standard gas engines to run their floats.

It also really struck me that the park is a human-centric endeavor. Sure, there are amazing engineering feats to make each ride work, but there are also a TON of people required to run the park. Each ride has a person standing at the start of the line and at least 2-3 people at the ride's beginning. It's A Small World even has a person at the end pushing some mysterious button while waving at us.

I think that's part of what makes the magic work. In some way, it's a fancy assembly line where every employee character has a small specialized role. They master that role, with a smile, and that's it. No job is terribly difficult, so Disney can screen solely on personality types. Plus, they make enough money that they can hire an abundance of people ensuring that more than enough people are watching each other in the park. It's incredible.

I wonder what system Disney uses to schedule everyone...

iPhone Home Screen Set-Up

My Brother recently got a used iPhone and we talked a little bit about how the home screen pages are set up. I thought it would be fun and perhaps instructive to share my set-up. It's in a semi-constant state of flux, but this seems to be working pretty well for now.


The Dock
My most used apps: Phone, Messages, Mail and Calendar. There are probably 3 other apps I could easily switch out with Calendar (FeedlerRSS, RTM or Camera), but it's what I have now.


Page 1
Generally, all the apps I use a lot are one tap away. I then have 3 folders full of all the social media apps I can't live without. :) I also like having the Camera in the upper right corner - it just feels right.

I used to have other mini-clusters the Photos-Instagram-Camera (like Facebook-Twitter-FeedlerRSS), but that's recently been lost.


Page 2
The land of semi-wanted apps. I put everything else into a folder. I'm not sure what I'm going to do once one of these fills up. Break the folder into 2 groups? Not sure, but for now it's working nicely.

I actually use the Reminders app regularly, but it's all using Siri, so it can hide on the second page. I also use the Music app regularly, but a quick double tap of the Home button and left swipe reveals the app and it's controls - so it too can hide in the A / V (Audio / Video) folder.

I also like to put stand alone apps along the left-hand side. Before folders, each left hand column was important, but folders makes that less necessary. I still think it looks more esthetically pleasing.


Page 3
This is my games page, which is in need of at least another folder (Sports and... something...). The iPhone is a fantastic gaming device and the GameChannel app promotes a couple paid apps, for free, each the day.

I think I've totally re-arranged my games page 3 times since October, so this is definitely something I'm still figuring out.


Notifications
I only show the weather widget. I don't show up-coming calendar events or new email (that's way too much info). I also turn off almost all badges, and all my alerts are banner.

Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed: 2 Case Studies

Unfortunately, it's rare to experience excellent customer service. Clearly its from a lack of training and the type of people attracted to that level of pay. However, I recently experienced two cases of excellent customer service and wanted to sing their praise.

DC Comics
I get the Superman comic, which is awesome. DC just re-started the series with "The New 52". Very exciting! However, last month I was surprised to find no comic and this month to get the next issue. Time to call customer service to see if I could get the missing issue. It went something like this:

• James: "Hi, I never got #2 of the new 52 Superman comic"
• Rep: "No problem, what's your name and zip code"
• James:
• Rep: "OK. It's processed and will arrive in 5-10 business day. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

BOOM. Done. That easy. I was on the line for less than 5 minutes. I was fully expecting to pay and had rummaged through our recycling to find my subscription number - neither of which were required. Here's what I liked about it:

• I didn't go through 5+ menu options
• I didn't need to verify myself over and over and over
• He understood my issue and solved it super fast

Hotels.com

Jessi and I are going on a trip soon. Due to changes, we now need a hotel room one night earlier. I get my confirmation number off TripIt.com along with their 1-800-number. Time to call customer service. It went something like this:

• Prompt: "Please enter your confirmation number"
• James:
• Rep: "Hi Mr. Furlo, how can I help you?"
• James: "I'd like to add one additional night to my hotel the night before my reservation"
• Rep: "Got it, add a night before. Let me check availability. OK. Got it, and it's a couple dollars cheaper."
• James: "Nice."
• Rep: "If it's OK, we'll just charge the room using the same card."
• James: "Perfect"
• Rep: "OK. You should have an email confirming it within seconds."
• I did. Forwarded it to TripIt and it updated everything perfectly.

WOW. Off the phone is less than 10 minutes. Here's what I loved about this:

• PEEVE: Asking me to verbally repeat my number after I already punch it into the phone. It feels good when systems interconnect like theirs.
• I didn't need to grab my card and repeat my number
• I actually saved money instead of it costing more!
• Again, she understood my request right away and solved it instantly

It seems there are a few really simple principles to great customer service:

1. Be quick!
2. Quickly identify the person calling and access their information (verifying is cool, asking me to repeat myself is not)
3. Drop the complex menu system (I'll "press 1" once or twice, then it's "0", no matter what, to talk to a real human. If your phone service has a huge menu tree - put it all online and let me do it there.)
4. Quickly identify the issue and possible solutions (The person should be trained enough to understand what's going on)
5. Empower reps to solve problems beyond the most mundane requests (about half my calls I request to speak to their supervisor, who is magically able to resolve my issue quickly. This is wrong. Either properly train people and hire people you trust)

Both DC Comics and Hotels.com are excellent examples. Good job!

[Bell Image | DC Image | Hotels Image]

Pandora Christmas Stations

While working I like to listen to Pandora. I love that I can put a couple stations together and just let it go - no thinking required other than "thumbs uping" the songs I like. If you haven't tired Pandora, I highly recommend it. To get you started, here are two Christmas stations I'm currently shuffling. Excellent for getting in to the Christmas spirit!

Disney (Holiday) Radio

Christmas Radio


[image source]

Furlo Bros Podcast

For the last several years my brother, Matthew, and I have been talking about technology and what we've coined, "The Corporate Opera".

Technology itself is awesome, and what makes it even more interesting is that it's an oligopoly market. A quick Wikipedia definition: An oligopoly market is one in which the market is dominated by a small number of companies. As a result, they are likely aware of each other's actions. Therefore, the actions of one company influences the actions of the other companies. As someone who studied marketing strategy, technology is an entertaining industry to watch. As someone who also watched many episodes of All My Children with my mom, it totally reminds me of a Soap Opera. Hence the Corporate Opera.

Anyways, for several years Matthew and I talked on the phone for hours about the happenings in the tech industry. We also tended to arrive to conclusions days before someone else would publish it on the web. That's probably because we're one of the rare examples of a marketer and engineer getting along. :)

For a long time we joked about starting up a podcast so we could get credit for saying it first. We also wanted to call it "Furlo Bros". Mostly because it sounds similar to those lovable plumber brothers. Plus, it was the name of our dad and uncle's construction company before we were born.

I honestly don't remember why we decided to officially start the podcast, but we did. 10 weeks ago we started recording our conversations, we set up our website at FurloBros.com and Matthew created that awesome logo. It's so awesome I'm pretty sure the creators of those lovable plumbers are going to make us change it one day.

Being only 10 shows in we're still finding our niche and squashing technical bugs, but we're ready to start telling people about it too. We think you'll find it entertaining and informative. So check out our new site and, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, +1 us on Google+, and subscribe to our weekly podcasts.

So what are my personal goals of Furlo Bros? (You knew I had these, right?)

1. Use as an awesome excuse to call Matthew at least once a week
2. Provide visions of future tech and insights/commentary before anyone else
3. To put on a show each week to at least 1,000 listeners
4. Gain a couple sponsors to pay for give-aways, review units, and hosting costs
5. To one day be a guest on TWIT

Cookie season!

I am in the Christmas mood and Christmas means cookies!

I cleaned the whole house yesterday and then pulled the Christmas

decorations out of the garage. We won't be at our house for Christmas this year so I was feeling kind of bummed about not getting a tree this year. Once I had everything cleaned I thought...I might as well keep sprucing up the place (to tree pun intended:). It is always fun to look at ornaments from the past years and dig out the garland, lights and stockings.

Speaking of stockings...we had an addition to the family this year so I

had to make another stocking for our pup! It turned out pretty good, if I do say so. I'm looking forward to the number of stockings growing in the future but for now our little family of two and a pup is great!

James set up the front room lights on a timer so I don't have to remember to turn them on. It was like magic when the sun was dimming and the

colorful lights glowed on! I am so lucky to have a beautiful home, a cute puppy and a man who loves me so much!

Now back to the cookies, where this whole post started! I signed up to make some cookies for a baby shower at school for two of our teachers. So, I decided to try out a new sugar cookie recipe since it was so close to Christmas. I've never really found a sugar cookie recipe that tastes good, is easy to work with both for drop cookies and roll out, and that doesn't completely melt when cooked. But, I think I may have found a winner! I tried it out before the shower ('cause you can't ever take a new recipe to a party without trying it!) and they turned out amazing! The dough doesn't need to be chilled, it can be rolled out or dropped on the pan, sugar coated or frosted! No wonder why it won the blue ribbon at the state fair! Here's the link if you'd like to try it out.

Here's to Christmas decorations, cookies, eggnog, but most of all here's to Jesus' birth.

Happy decorating!