A Random Pattern

If you’ve been following MacHeist at all, you know there has been a fair amount of controversy surrounding the bundle sale at the end and subsequently, the whole event.  Most commenters appear to have dug in their heels at this point, on both sides of the issue.  Thus I see little room or purpose in further discourse on the subject.

There is a heart-warming end to the tale though.  A few of the developers / blogs involved decided on a friendly duel to settle the situation.  CocoaDuel was thus born.  Here’s the idea: each developer had something like a day and a half to write a holiday-inspired application and pick a favorite charity.  Then the unwashed masses (us) would get to vote on our favorite in the most meaningful way – with our wallets.  Yes, you get to give money to a charity, and in doing so help a developer win a case of beer (or appropriate substitution, of course).

I also should mention that all the apps are free, and some of them could be fairly useful.  They are also all supposed to be open-source, which means that you can play with or improve any of them you want to your heart’s content.

So yet again, I urge you to go vote.  This time, you’re getting an excuse to give a little extra money to a charity.  And really, who needs an excuse for that?!  

So some of you (well, one of you) accused me of leaving my better half out of the first part of the letter. Ha! You think I just forgot? That special lady gets a whole post to herself – more or less.

So, what’s up with Sara? I’m not going to provide pictures for the moment, but let’s just say she apparently was inspired by my recent hair-coloring efforts.   Now I won’t tell the colors, but I can affirm that there is more than one.  Any guesses?

I’ve got to be quick, ‘cuz I’m supposed to be in bed.  So here’s the rest of the update in speed form, lest I never put it up: Sara has been working her butt off, taking Tessa to all manner of appointments and trying to keep up with both the girls (who are quite a handful right now).  She organized Tessa’s class party since she is the “class Mom” (and indeed, she is one classy Mom).  She baked a ton of cookies for the MOPS group Christmas cookie trade (some of you will reap the benefits from that shortly).  She’s been buying and painting and cleaning and shopping and – did I mention buying? 

In short, she’s been taking care of her family, and sacrificing herself.  There aren’t words for how much I appreciate her, but I’ll try anyways.  Depending on how the lyrics end up, they may or may not get posted here. 

More to come soon – there’s still part three. 

So, first order of business: some fun tidbits from recent family life.

Selah, for a few months now, has been a mimic. When we lock our car, the horn honks if we hit the button twice. Whenever we do this, Selah tries to make the same sound as the car horn. If we hear a dog barking, Selah will try to mimic the dog. It’s been quite amusing.

Apparently this sound-mimicry was a precursor to a language explosion, as she’s been shocking us the last few days with the words she attempts to say right after we say them. This has led to a few close calls, such as Selah learning the word “sheesh” tonight.

Tessa, has become quite a pray-er. The other night at dinner she wanted to pray. Here is a partial list of things she told God she was thankful for:

• standing on the floor
• not spilling my drink
• the very very very pretty sky (incidentally a lot of things have been “very very” lately)
• Jesus
• Christmastime
• CI (her Cochlear Implant)
• People making my CI
• Being very very careful

Today, we couldn’t quite make out most of what she thanked God for, but we think she said “our silly silly family” and “mommy and daddy yelling” (guess we’ve got something to work on . . . ).

Stephen: well, check the picture for updates on me.

You can’t really tell from the picture, but I’ve got highlights in my hair now. It was a (late) anniversary present for Sara, but I don’t think she really cares for it.

Last for best: check out the new web album I just put up. The pictures didn’t come out the greatest ever, but that’s mainly because the girls can’t stay still. Sara’s also posted an update on Tessa’s site.

Peace and Love,

Step

Hi!

So . .. yeah.  Kind of overdue for an update around here.  This is just a quick note to let you know that I haven’t disappeared or been eaten by a giant purple monster or anything like that.  Updates are coming . . . sometime.  It’s holiday season, though, so don’t expect a return to daily updates for a while. 

Quick weblink of the day: new dream vacation location (here’s a video from Plitvicka Jezera National Park in Croatia) – and yes, I would like that print for Christmas!

Swim in the sea. drink of the deep.
Embrace the mystery of all you can be.

The story behind those words is poignant, but the poetry speaks for itself. (Warning: the hyperlinks are to emotionally-stirring content. Guard your heart and mind before following them.)
I long to someday write such powerful poetry. Even more, I hope to live such powerful poetry.

written in memory and hope, for all those lost, loved, and missed

My wife hit her dad’s truck coming out of our driveway today. Well, not exactly “hit”, more “scraped”. Not a big deal, but she was a little upset. After we made sure everything was alright, she headed back out to take the girls to a fall festival, while Dad and I did some work on the loft (pictures coming soon).

As they were driving, Sara explained to Tessa that she had a car accident, and that she felt bad about it because she made a mistake. (Can you tell we’re trying to teach Tessa some life lessons? ) She explained carefully that this wasn’t the same as the potty accidents that Tessa has sometimes. Tessa thought about this for a minute, and then interpreted it as only a four-year-old can:

“Mommy went poopie on Papa’s truck!”

Mommy couldn’t keep a straight face after this, and laughed so hard that soon Tessa and Selah were also laughing along.  Tessa was quite proud of herself for making mommy laugh.

Tessa wasn’t done yet, though. Since Sara had also explained that she had “been bad” and was “in trouble”, Tessa again coordinated this with her experience:

“Daddy spank Mommy!”

Err, no. I can only imagine how much fun Sara had trying to straighten those things out for Tessa.

The Final round of MDA came and went.  Victories were celebrated, dreams were crushed.  Those of you who took the time to vote after my plea Wednesday, Thank you.  It was a close and exciting vote.

The final winners were Atmosphere, Portal, and Cookbook.  Hijack was in fourth, by only 5 votes!  Unfortunately Whistler was a little further behind, and Blossom had the unfortunate job of holding down the final position.

In addition, there was some unexpected and unfortunate drama after the round finished, due to some fraudulent votes.  This was quite unfortunate, but seems to have been handled well (in my opinion).
The MDA experience is far from over.  In fact, anyone is welcome to continue following the development of the three winning ideas into final applications.  I’ll be posting updates here infrequently, when something particularly newsworthy or interesting happens.  If you’re interested in seeing a behind-the-scenes of how shareware / software is developed, it might be worth your time to follow along.  Head over to the forums, I’ll see you there. 

One last thing of note: Though only three app ideas were winners and awarded publishing contracts, several other ideas were very strong and had great community support.  There is a good chance, because of that, that some of the other apps will get picked up by other development teams.  I’ll be featuring that news here as well.  So far there is nothing official, but rumor has the following apps being looked into: Hijack, Whistler, Blossom, and Ground Control (4th-7th place in the MDA vote results).  Hijack has a particularly active group of supporters, with rough work-ups of code already in progress!  Ground Control has a great forum live and starting to hop with action.  I’ll be doing my best to support Whistler‘s development, though I can’t imagine a professional team not taking advantage of that idea.

Those of you who have been patiently waiting for other-than-MDA content on my blog, your patience will soon be rewarded.  :)  Thanks for sticking around – and let me know in the comments what you’d like to hear more about!

Alright, if you haven’t yet voted, you’ve got less than 24 hours to get to MDA and vote for my three favorites – Hijack, Whistler, and Cookbook!

Ok, that’s not really fair.  Go, read the descriptions of the apps.  Ask questions here or in the forums (or just search in the forums), then vote for what you think would be best.  But if you’re not quite sure, you can trust my seasoned opinion. 

Seriously, I think Hijack and Whistler are in danger of not winning.  Of course, it’s to also good app ideas like Atmosphere and Portal, but still . . .

Atmosphere I’m pretty sure will get done one way or another.  Portal’s a different question, there’s no guarantee that it will get done if it doesn’t win.  But the ones least likely to get done by other than the MDA dream team are Hijack and Whistler, and I badly want to buy both of them.

So your opinions count, even if you don’t think they do.  It’s easy, it will only take you about ten minutes, and I’ll appreciate it (even if you don’t vote for my favorites ).  Go, vote your conscience, and if you want let me know in the comments.

May the best app win!

(seriously, go vote.  Why haven’t you left yet?  Go, go!)

First, a quick run-down of recent blog posts, as well as mockups / idea developments of note:

Whistler – the music program for non-musicians – Another Whistler fan appears

My Dream App is getting closer final round – This MDA voter, not so big in Whistler.

Meanwhile, Whistler responds to requests from Judges and forum members to aim for simplicity and the consumer market, at least for now.

Portal has a three part series to wrap up it’s run, concluding with some of the best mockups yet and a clear vision from the contestant.  The special “Welcome screen” is an exciting new addition.
Atmosphere offers the most controversy on the board, with ardent defenders and detractors (possibly sparked by it’s runaway lead in last week’s semi-final vote). Mockups for the new forecasting feature are unveiled. This discussion of using a “time-slider” to move through the forecast is also provacative.

Hijack keeps it’s fans waiting, pushing anticipation until the last moment before the vote.  A mockup on how to post using Hijack is promised, but a video is hinted at.
Cookbook does a nice wrap-up of it’s core features and key benefits.  Recipe Management also underwent a few revisions to make the sidebar more friendly.
Blossom unveils several new mockups.  Ideas for rating individual webpages, a status icon, integration with OS X, and use of Leopard’s new To-Do list are presented.
Another voter weighs in with his pre-vote opinions.

Secondly, I have a surprise for you all.  I will be one of the judges in the final round, alongside some quite exciting and popular personalities.  So make sure, Monday or Tuesday (I think), to go to mydreamapp.com and vote (after reading the judges’ opinions, of course ).  See you there!  If you have questions, just ask in the forums or here in the comments.

This compilation of japanese advertisements is somewhat mesmerizing. There are some pretty impressive little mechanical tricks pulled off.