I got this letter from my pal Javier:

Dear englishspeaking friends

As you might have already heard, we’re planning a little roadtrip in may 2008 starting from Zürich to Odessa (Ukraine). We’ll be driving about 3000km in 10 days in a car that should cost less than CHF 500 (~ $425). The cars will be sold in Odessa and the profit will be donated to a local NGO.

Intrested in joining us? Write an email before the end october that contains the following information:

1. Teamname
2. First name, last name and email-address of every team member.

The maximum number of cars will be 20, so: First come, first served!

Gentlemen, start your engines!

Carlo, Duri and Javier

P.S.: Excuse our english, but it’s not our fault that your german sucks.

To Whom It May Concern:

Please accept my SECOND FINAL attempt at paying off a balance for a charge I did not authorize. You see, I haven’t used your crappy credit card since 2003, and somehow one of those Internet companies charged $14.95 to an already expired, non-activated card (which I still can’t figure out how they were able to do). Unbeknownst to me, your company purchased the previous Credit Card company, MBNA, through which this Georgia Tech Alumni Credit Card was issued, and never bothered to get my account working for your paperless billing system.

You reported my account delinquent, and closed the account without contacting me. Ever. When I finally decided to pay you losers off using your phone system, since you couldn’t take any other forms of payments, I found out a month later, that you charged me $10.00 for paying off my $19.00 balance (14.95 plus all those huge late fees). Please accept this payment of $21.50 which includes another $10.00 in addition to the $10.00 fee and $1.50 who-knows-what charge. Keep the damn change.

Thank you,

a customer you will never have to deal with again.

It’s a great time to be a techy. Here’s my top 5 run down of why:

1. The Apple iPhone. I don’t want to sound like a Apple Fan Boy, but of all the techno-gadgets out right now, it’s got to be the coolest. When I was young, I was enthralled with a show called “Beyond 2000” and in some of the interviews with the designers of the Flying Car, “they” said that by 2008, there would be many families owning these flying cars. Well, we don’t have flying cars, but we do have a tiny hand-held device that can hold GBs of music, movies, TV shows, and pictures, can take and share pictures, provide maps of the world on command, satellite imagery, directions, and is a full-fledged Internet device that switches from on demand edge to wifi seamlessly. Oh, and is the best phone (dialing, answering calls, syncing contacts, visual voicemail) out there. Truly futuristic.
2. Rapid Web Development Frameworks. It is truly easy to build rapid, effective, database-backed, web applications and deploy them on the Internet, securely or publicly for anyone and everyone to just plain “get things done.” Technologies like Ruby on Rails, the Django Framework for Python, Java (maybe) and PHP (possibly), simple open APIs, easy cross-platform Javascript libraries, the Open Source stack of Apache on Linux, and the excited-ness and open-ness of the “Web 2.0″ community makes building these kinds of things fun.
3. DVRs. Tivos and Tivo-like technologies are fundamentally changing how we view television. My MythTV server (I keep rebuilding it) can record HD over the air, and content from my DirecTV box, very easily. When I miss something I want to watch, I order it off iTunes, or simply watch it on one of the network sites like nbc.com or abc.com or maybe a torrent network (or friend). Oh, and I don’t watch commercials. MythTV automatically detects them (using black screen fades, logo detection, and other algorithms), and I hit one key to skip all of ‘em. Watch for social networking type functionality, like interacting with other TV viewers (my friends) to really bump this technology to the next level.
4. VOIP. Skype, Asterisk, Vonage, and others make it easy for someone (me) to have a phone number in almost any area code (or toll free) that rings to multiple phones, soft(-ware based), or real, and then rings elsewhere, turns voicemail into text/e-mail, and receives faxes turned into pdfs and delivered to my e-mail inbox. Hosted VOIP services will be very disruptive technologies in short time.
5. Social Networks. Yes, it’s true: MySpace enabled all teenagers (and tweens and twenty-somethings) with a computer to make the ugliest web pages in the world — the equivalent of rainbow HRs, dancing baby animated gifs, and MIDIs playing in the background (you remember?) — technology-one-upped as photo slideshows between text, youtube videos everywhere, and embedded mp3s in the background. But, despite my cynicism, networks like Linked In, and now Facebook are mingling business and pleasure, and connecting people presently (friends, classmates, work-mates), historically (old class-mates, old pals), and forward-in-time (in groups and ways they didn’t know exist) in totally new ways. I think they also show some ads too, though I’m not sure. Even if they have no intrinsic value to many people right now, the fact that a majority (or is it closer to 99%) of all college students are using sites like Facebook on a day-to-day basis mean they aren’t going away when they get into the workforce. This kind of connectivity and open-ness will be demanded and expected in the workplace, soon.

Hey alright, I made it to 5. It really is a great time to be into technology. Highgroove Studios and all our ventures are doing fantastically, and we are simply having a terrific time working on all kinds of fun stuff, like web development using Ruby on Rails, apps on the iPhone, Facebook integration, and maybe some top-secret stuff, soon to be revealed….

If you’re into techno-babble as much as me, there are some events (in Atlanta) coming up that you might want to check out, including the Georgia Tech College of Computing Alumni Association’s Net Neutrality Panel, the Ruby User’s Group and Python User’s Group meetings (meetup), Startup Weekend Atlanta, and BarCamp Atlanta. Techno-babblers, rejoice!

I wasn’t going to post anything about this, but I’m here in Canada (home of a National Healthcare System), and I just watched Michael Moore’s documentary, Sicko.

I’m a mentor in the Big Brothers Big Sisters Program. While out at the park with my little brother, he got into an accident. He crashed his bike and was hurt. Many people around quickly jumped to his aide, some going out of their way and even injuring themselves to help him.

An ambulance was called. His mother came, and there was discussion about how they would pay for the ambulance ride. After some discussion, it was agreed that because his health insurance didn’t pay for the ambulance ride, they would drive to their doctor’s office later.

I couldn’t believe this, and I wasn’t going to let this happen. I paid for the ambulance ride, and I went to the hospital with him. How do you put a value on someone’s safety? How do you weigh the risk of $500 versus making sure a child is OK?

If you don’t think that America’s health care system is broken — wake up.

When Jodi lived in France, and I in Barcelona — when we got sick, we simply went to the hospital, or went to the doctor. We laughed at Jodi’s roommate who could never find out how to pay for one of her emergency hospital visits (she never did).  Why is that so hard for us Americans to do?

If 5 people can jump to the aide of one little boy, why can’t we all jump to the aide of 47 million Americans that can’t afford basic health insurance?

I just watched No End in Sight tonight with Jodi. It left me wishing it was just a movie. I mean sure, it had evil villains, greed, explosions, murders, violence, over-the-top acting — but alas, it was sadly a very real documentary.

It is just utterly amazing (enraging/frightening) to me how badly the Iraq war has turned out, not just for the Iraqi people, but for the U.S. and the current (and future) Administration. This movie does a most excellent job of *not* covering the already hashed out “illegitimate reasons” for the war and instead just focuses on the hard facts that caused the U.S. to essentially lose Iraq the moment after we invaded. I wish the simple explanation was that we let a few men (and Condi) with little to no direct military experience, no real knowledge of the Arab world, and no direct experience in Iraq just continue to escalate under mismanagement and lack of leadership (they are the leadership), but it can’t be that simple. After watching this video of Dick Cheney circa 1994 talking about how invading Iraq would be a quagmire, there has to be something we Americans are just too dumb for those in the Administration to let us in on.

I remember thinking while watching it, that anyone currently thinking of public service or in public service really needs to see this movie. I know I’m just a whiny liberal, and now probably a traitor for using the words “lose” and war in the same sentence, but I really just can’t wrap my head around what possibly it is that the Administration knows and is “protecting” us Americans from.

America needs leadership who can actually lead instead of simply wanting to lead. We need leadership that rewards loyalty as equally as dissent. We have a serious problem on our hands, and the worst thing we can do is not learn from our mistakes and move forward.

Random Political Rant Over.

+1 points for the Post Office, it was Efficiency Central for all the late filers, like me. I have never been in and out of the post office quicker.

-1 points to the Georgia Department of Revenue. What’s up with a 500-ES Estimated Tax payment form that just plain doesn’t work (see the download here — 2005_forms?). That’s right, it doesn’t even have the ability to select 2007-Q1 on the form. Isn’t that just, ummm, retarded? It really makes me start to wonder how many people actually don’t even bother to pay, or just don’t don’t even care. Judging by those late-night TV Ads: “do you owe the government lots of money….?” — probably a lot.

+10 points for my accountant who rules by the way. I’d totally refer you, but I’m keeping him all to myself and will hire him soon to expand globally (and set up a really sweet severance package for me quite a few years down the line).

Happy Tax Day everybody!

“If you’re not liberal when you’re young, you have no heart. If you’re not conservative when you’re older, you have no brain.”

– a mis-quote (or made up quote) attributed to Winston Churchill

Jodi and I are going to the Obama rally this Saturday at Georgia Tech.  A good friend of mine told me to watch out for cocaine and madrasses.  Who needs Dancing with the Stars when we have Fox News for good old entertainment?

I must have fooled Santa again this year, because instead of a lump of coal and some switches, I got a brand new bicycle!

I have to admit, I’m pretty bad about getting into these expensive hobbies, and I have been known to spend money on things I didn’t use as much as I promised I would, however, this time, I had it all planned out. A few months ago, I decided I wanted a bike, so one day soon after that, walking down the street with my Dad, Francis, and my lovely wife, we happened upon a garage sale, where an old mountain bike was on sale for 25 bucks. My Dad quickly plomped down $20 for it (what a barterer he is), and I had myself a bike. This proved ideal, because the bike was pretty cool, and despite a first gear that was hard to get out of, it worked and was fun. I was using it every day, to go to coffee shops, cafes, the grocery store, to take my dog for runs, and to run any errands. It was so much fun, that I even nabbed Jodi a bike that I spotted in another garage sale (from outside my window!) for $12.

The bike lasted a good while, until one day it just gave out. It couldn’t possibly have been those speed bumps and curb hopping that I was doing — this is the fun part about having a $20 bike, you’ll jump anything. Regardless, it became unusable, the chain consistently falling off, and finally just giving out completely. I began using Jodi’s bike, and realized I could use a nice one.

So, off to REI to check out the bikes. I found some cool ones, and debated getting another mountain bike for a road bike. I was impressed also by the urban/hybrid bikes, essentially they are lightweight mountain bike frames with 700cc (road) tires with treads. I then hopped on craigslist, and after cruising for a while, found one of the REI bikes I liked so much. It was for sale from a guy moving to Florida who already had an REI mountain bike, and an REI road bike, and was given the hybrid as a gift. He had ridden it all of about 5 times, and it was in perfect condition. I loved it, and I was sold. Christmas come early, I bought it right there, 2 weeks before Christmas.

I use it every day, and my dog loves it. We go on long rides through the parks and trails that run by our place in Midtown Atlanta. She runs along side on the leash, and with the new bike, I am braking most of the time to make sure she can keep up!

Jodi and I had a great Christmas, we traveled up to Charlotte, NC to see my family, and also traveled down to Columbus, GA to see her relatives during the weeks before and leading up to Christmas. We also drove up to see mamma’er’en’em on Christmas day. We even threw a holiday party the week before, where we played the “white elephant” game — a sure fire hit when the gifts ranged from an iTunes gift card (with 10 of the songs already picked out), to a mini-keg of beer, to a Starbucks gift-bag, to, a $3.50 bottle of Arbor Mist Strawberry wine (ewww).

We’re going across the street to a nice dinner with my good pal Omar and his fiance for New Year’s — it probably won’t be as good as the New Year’s Eve dinner Jodi and I somehow found ourselves in Milan, Italy at a tiny little family restaurant a few years back, but alas, that’s another story.

We take a momentary break from all the shameless self-promotion, to bring you this special update.

Things are going pretty well for me right now. I was just remarking to my beautiful, talented, and brilliant wife, Jodi Bell-Quinn, about how really good things are in general for us.

To be completely honest, Jodi Bell-Quinn and I are flat broke, and loving it. We immediately plonked down a big chunk of change a few days after our wedding on an amazing loft condo in midtown Atlanta where we’ve been sinking some more change into some pretty hefty renovations (warranting another blog post). Couple that with the fact that Jodi Bell-Quinn (do I have to buy her a new domain now) is now back in school getting her Masters in Architecture, and technically “retired” as she and Wes put it — but still working all the time. And, the fact that I’ve dropped down my full-time client’s hours considerably to focus on other stuff, well, “we ain’t got no money!”

Man, has it been fun, though. We’ve become kings of coupons, and leftover champions. I’ve even stopped showering and shaving just to cut down on the water bill (hah, that’s my excuse). I actually can’t say that it’s made me feel any less secure, or less happy. To put it quite cheesily: it’s hard to be broke when your life is so rich.

Heck, even my friends are doing well, some of ‘em even getting engaged without even telling everyone (no links there, but I could)!

Even little Jameson is doing quite well. I guess all those Dog Whisperer episodes that I’ve been getting really into have started to pay off.

Spaceship Discovery returned home today, and in honor of that, I’m wearing my vintage Columbia Space Shuttle 3/4 t-shirt. I am so indie-hip that it hurts sometimes. It really does.