Rick's World

On January 29, 2010, I wrote a blog article about how the iPad had just been announced.  I wrote in that blog that even though my first impression of it was a bit negative, I was still going to buy one.  On February 2, 2011, just a couple days over a year later, I started a new job working full time developing applications for the iPad!  What a difference one year makes!

This job that I started doing iPad development in, is my first ever job where I was not doing Windows programming.  Not only did I find a new job, but I essentially changed careers at the same time!  It was interesting how all this happened.

Ever since the iPhone SDK (now called the iOS SDK) first came out in 2008, I've been interested in it.  I started programming on the iPhone way back in 2008 with the beta SDKs.  Within a couple months, I had my first iPhone app completed and launched on the App Store.  It was NOT a very good app.  Most of the time your first app in a new development platform isn't going to be very good because you are still learning how to use it.  The app never really sold much.  Maybe 10-20 copies a MONTH.  Needless to say it wasn't  a very profitable app.  I toyed with several other iPhone apps along the way but never really made much progress on mastering iPhone/iOS development.  While doing this, I continued to work at my current full time Windows development job.  This was a job I was not very happy at, but I took the 'comfortable' route and continued to work there and collect a paycheck.  Over this time, my iOS development stagnated and largely grinded to a halt for a year or so.

In January of 2010, they announced the iPad (as I mentioned in that blog).  In March of 2010 they released the first betas of the iPad SDK.  This SDK was very similar to the iPhone SDK, with a few additions, so I already had somewhat of an understanding of it.  But I hadn't done much work on the iPhone SDK in over a year so I was really rusty.  Of course the release of the iPad renewed my interest in iPhone development, so I decided to adapt my first app to the iPad and 'refocus it' from kind of a joke app to a serious photo editor application for the iPad.  I took parts of that old app and started a new project I called Photo Maker as my photo editor for the iPad.  I spent about a month working on it in the iPad simulator.  The iPad hardware hadn't been released yet so I had no way of testing it on the real device.  Since the SDK was also in beta, I had no way of seeing how any other iPad apps worked so I didn't know the right way to do iPad apps.  I just continued developing it in the same style as my first app.

A month later, the iPad was released, I bought one and they released the final SDK.  I bought my iPad and started downloading iPad apps and seeing how they worked.  I realized that the app I was writing had a UI that was completely wrong for the iPad, so I started the app over.  I basically threw out a month's worth of work and started again fresh.  This time I was determined to do it right.  After a few weeks of working on the app, I was really starting to enjoy myself.  I made the decision right then and there that I was not going to give up this time.  I was going to devote my every spare minute to learning everything I can about iPad programming and try my damndest to do it right this time.

I spent a couple months working on it and released it in June of 2010.  It made some sales, around 10-20 copies a day.  Again certainly not enough to live on, but quite a bit better than that first app.  Once that first version was released, I dove in and started working on updates.  I've released several updates since then and I continue to work on it on a regular basis.

I had been wanting to leave the field of Windows development for years, but never really put much effort into doing so.  I'd apply for an occaisional job here and there, but again only in Windows because I thought that was all I'd ever get hired for.  After all, I had no work experience doing any kind of Mac/iPhone/iOS development, so noone would hire me.  I continued my day job of working in Windows (unhappily) and my night job of working on the iPad (and enjoying it immensely) for months.  I was not happy at my job but I was too lazy to do anything about it.  I got comfortable.  Of course, while I was comfortable, I was VERY unhappy at my job and this showed.  I complained all the time at work and clearly was not a happy employee.  In early December of 2010, my company decided that they'd had enough of that and they fired me.

Getting fired that day was the best thing that ever happened to me.

So now here it is, early December of 2010 and I am unemployed.  December is NOT a good month to be looking for a job.  It's the end of the year, so a lot of people are thinking of vacations, yearly budgets are used up, and noone is hiring.  Despite that, I started looking.  Of course I started looking for a Windows development job, thinking that's all I could ever get hired for.  I had plenty of money in the bank.  I could have easily lasted a year unemployeed so I wasn't stressed out about it.  I spent the month of December looking for that Windows job without any luck.  Despite my Windows job hunt, I knew what I really wanted was a job doing iPhone/iPad programming.  I wanted to get out of the Windows world.  I'd spent the better part of the last year working towards that goal.

I had been attending the Ft. Lauderdale CocoaHeads Users Group for many months before that ominous December day.  I continued to do so.  It was at one of these meetings that I mentioned that I was unemployed and looking for a job.  I said that I was looking for a Windows job - to which my fellow CocoaHead's members (rightfully) looked at me like I was crazy.  Why the hell was I looking for a Windows job if I was doing all this iPad development?  That same night, I happened to get an email from a former CocoaHeads member who was now working out in California.  I mentioned to him that I was looking for a new job and I'd like to work on iPads in that job.  Turns out he was the hiring manager at his company out there (which I didn't know!) so he started forwarding iOS job listings he saw to me.  He also suggested that I forward him my resume in case he came across any jobs I might qualify for.  Of course it had never occured to me to contact him before about this since I figured, why ask a guy in California to help me find a job in Florida?  But I sent him my resume anyway.  I figured it couldn't hurt.  He takes one look at my resume and writes back to me saying it was horrible!  He suggested some changes to it to better emphasize my iPad experience (since that's what I wanted to find a job in).  I took his suggestions and updated my resume.  I submitted it to several jobs and a week later I had a job offer doing iPad programming!

I had sent my (iPad development) resume in to the company I now work for.  They contacted me right back and asked me to come in for an interview.  I came in and they brought me into the meeting room.  I had brought my iPad with me with Photo Maker loaded on it to show them, to prove that I could do the iPad job.  Of course when I get there, they say they are going to interview me for a Silverlight (Windows development) position!  The company was also hiring for Windows and my resume showed some Silverlight experience so apparently there was some confusion on their part there.  I told them that I had actually been brought in for an iPad development interview.  So, they shuffled interviewers and brought over the head of the iPad team to interview me.  We chatted and seemed to really hit it off.  I showed him my app and pointed out various parts of the program and how I had written them.  He showed me the early prototype of the company's iPad app.  I went through his app and described my guesses as to how they had written it.  We seemed to get along really well in the interview and I thought I he liked me.  I later met the owner and chatted with him for a while.  They thanked me and I left.  Not an hour later they called me to offer me the job and wanted me to start the next day!  I told them I would take the job, but I needed to start in two days, so that I could make a few prepartions for the job.  They agreed and two days later (on February 2, 2011) I started the job.  I'm still there now.

My friend out in California turned out to be instrumental in me getting this job.  He helped me write a good resume that got me a job - a job I never thought I could get.  Looking back on things now, I think what got me that job, in addition to the resume, was the fact that I had a proven track record in iPad development.  I had a published iPad app on the App Store and I could prove in person that I was knowledgeable about this stuff.  The iPad is a very new platform (just over a year old now), so you are not going to find anyone with 5 years of experience on the thing.  However, in leiu of that, a proven track record of ability at the platform had substitued for work experience.  This never occured to me.  I learned a lot from this experience.

This is my first job where I work on a Mac all day.  I don't even run Windows anymore.  This is a GOOD thing.  I am very happy about that fact.  I have started a new career, and I find my enthusiasm about software development renewed by this shift to iPad work.  For the first time in a long time, I actually enjoy my job.  I am also doing very well at this job and never complain about things.  Is the job perfect? No.  No job is.  But it is a far cry better than the job I left.  I was unemployed for two months, but when I found a new job it was so much better than my old one (and making more money!) that I am glad I lost those two months of work.  I never want to go back to Windows programming.

I've written in the past about all the issues I've been having with my 2005 Honda Accord.  Well, those issues are over.  I no longer have a Honda Accord.  Several weeks ago I traded it in and bought a Lexus.

In my previous blogs, I had gone on and on about how I had a 100,000 mile warranty on the Accord and that I was hell-bent on keeping the car until that warranty expired.  Well, something happened several weeks ago that pushed me over the edge and made me decide to get rid of it.  On September 16th, the monthly meeting of the Ft. Lauderdale CocoaHeads user's group was scheduled to occur.  CocoaHeads is a user's group aimed at people who write software for Macs (as I do).  So I went to work that day, and then left work at the end of the day.  I was driving north on the interstate and everything in the car was going fine.  I continued north until I reached some bumper to bumper traffic.  So I slowed down and inched along for a while.  Everything seemed fine.  After a little while of this I happened to notice that one of the 'check engine' lights on the dash had just lit up.  I didn't think much of it.  So I continued to inch along in traffic.  At a couple points there, the traffic would open up in front of me enough that I could accelerate and make some distance.  So I'd press the accelerator.  The problem was, the car didn't accelerate.  It continued to plod along very slowly.  Since the traffic never stayed open for long I didn't think much of it.  I just figured maybe I had missed pressing the pedal right with my foot or something.  But after a bit more crawling, the traffic opened up again in front of me and I hit the gas.  Again no acceleration.  I tried several times to make sure I was hitting the pedal right.  The car would just barely move.  I tried everything I could do to get it moving faster without much luck.  Great.  So now my damn car is crawling along the interstate going maybe 30 MPH while every other car around me is zipping past me.  Plus, I'm in the center lane going very slow.  Obviously something is wrong with my car and I need to take the thing in in the morning and get it fixed.  By this time,, it was probably the 12th time I'd taken it in for some kind of repair this year.  I'd had it.  I said to myself right there as I crawled along the interstate, that this car was history.  Obviously, with this car trouble, I wouldn't make it to the CocoaHeads meeting, so I decided to see if I could make it home.  With some effort I was able to maneuver it over and pull off at the nearest exit.  I eventually discovered that the car did accelerate, it just did it VERY slowly.  A light would go green and I'd step on the gas.  My car would be lucky to hit 30 crossing the intersection.  If I kept pressing the accelerator, it would slowly accelerate up to speed, but meanwhile I'm blocking traffic as my car plods along.  So I ened up driving the 20 miles or so from where I was home, in a car that was driving at an average speed of maybe 30MPH.  It took a while.  I took it to the dealership the next morning to get it fixed.  Oddly enough it drove fine.  But the dealership checked it out and determined that the sensor that detects when I press the accelerator had failed and so it couldn't tell I was pressing the accelerator.  Hence the car wouldn't accelerate.  They fixed the car under my 100,000 mile warranty and returned it to me with no cost to me.  Despite that, I knew it was time.  The car was breaking down so often that I didn't trust it.  It was time to get rid of it.

So I have my Accord back and it's working fine (for now).  I decide to start hunting for a replacement car.  I knew immediately that I was going to buy a late model used car - something with low miles and 2008 model year or newer.  I also knew that I was going to buy the car, not finance it.  A good friend suggested that I look at buying a Lexus.  So that weekend (the day after I got my car back) I went used car shopping.  I first went to JM Lexus.  I had done some research on their site and had narrowed it down to a 2008 or 2009 Lexus ES350 sedan.  I drove up to the dealership, looked around, test drove a couple of the Lexuses and liked what I saw.  But I wasn't sure it was the best deal.  So I left without buying a car and drove to a few other places.  I went to two different CarMax dealerships and looked around.  Nothing much there I liked.  I found a nice Acura TL at one of the CarMax dealerships, but I thought the price was a bit high.  It was almost as much as the used Lexuses I had looked at.  I looked at some late model Nissan Maximas.  No luck.  I looked at an Acura dealership for an Acura TL.  I found a decent TL there, but I mentioned to the salesman that the TL was expensive.  I could buy a Lexus for the same price.  He asked me how much I would be willing to pay.  I gave him a number $4K less than the sticker price and he agreed immediately.  This struck me as a bit shady, that he would so easily drop the price so much.  That meant the car was overpriced to begin with.  I wasn't comfortable with this, so I left.  I also went by a BMW dealership and looked at a few of their cars.  They were very friendly and helpful, but I didn't much like the cars.  They were OK looking but the Lexus had more features for the same price, so I ultimately ruled those out.

So after a weekend of extensive shopping, I didn't have much to show for it.  About the only decent car I'd found was the Lexus ES350.  The price was decent, the cars all looked brand new.  They were spotless.  It looks like Lexus is the way I'm going to go.  The problem was money.  I had the money I needed for the car sitting in a mutual fund account.  I had to sell the mutual funds and get the money transfered into my account.  I figured it would take about a week to do all that stuff, so I decided to not buy a car that weekend.  I would sell the mutual funds on Monday, give it a few days to get the money into my account and then buy the Lexus the following weekend.  So I sold the mutual funds, and got the money into my account.  It took about a week as I expected.  Once I had the money ready, I went back to the JM Lexus website and looked again at the cars they had for sale.  I figured I'd better do this since it's possible the cars I looked at the previous week had been sold.  I narrowed it down to a couple of possible cars, and contacted the salesman who had helped me the weekend before.  I told him I was ready to buy and would be coming in on Saturday to look at a couple cars.  If they worked out, I'd buy one right then and there.

Saturday arrives and I hop in my Accord and drive up to the Lexus dealership.  I show the salesman the cars I want to see.  We take a couple out and test drive them.  I settle on a 2009 Lexus ES350.  It was in good shape, had low miles (under 20,000) and had everything I wanted.  It had a few minor problems in the interior that had to be corrected though.  The salesman assured me that those would be fixed at no cost.  Lexus has a 3 year, 100,000 mile warranty on their used cars.  So, now reassured, I go into the office to buy it and fill out the paperwork.  I'm sure you can guess that it's here that the fun began.

We sit down in the office.  He gives me the sales price on the car.  I give him the key to my Accord so he can get it appraised for trade in value.  Of course I'd already looked up the trade in value online.  it was $9,000.  I had $20,000 cash from the mutual fund, so with those numbers in mind, I told them that the final cost had to be not one cent about $20,000 after trade in value.  On the first try, the low-balled my trade in value badly.  They offered me $5,000 for a car that had a trade-in value of $9,000!  I told them absolutely not.  My car was worth 9K, not 5K.  So they come back with another offer.  $6K for my car.  The final price is now $23,000.  That's $3K more than I told them I could spend.  I told them I could not afford anything over $20,000.  They then suggested that I finance that $3K difference over 3 years!  Um, NO!  I told them emphatically that I will not be taking out a loan and I will not be paying over $20,000.  After some more negotiating I got them down to a final value of $21,000.  I told them $20,000 or nothing.  So they said they couldn't sell me the car.  So they suggested I look at another car.  I reviewed my list of possible cars and found a 2008 model that was nearly identical to the 2009 model I had been trying to buy.  I suggested we go look at that one.  So we went off, found the car, test drove it, and it looked good.  It was also in better shape than the 2009 model I almost bought and had about the same 20,000 miles.  So I agreed to buy this one instead.

We go back to the office and start negotiating on that car.  We argue back and forth.  After much arguing, I get them down to $20,400.  I told them that I could only pay $20,000.  No more.  Granted it was only $400, but I was firm on this.  So they said we don't have a deal.  I can't buy the car.  So I thanked them and left.  Not 20 minutes later, I get a call on my cell phone from the head of the used car department.  "What can I do to put you in that car today?"  I said $20,000 even.  He agreed.  I asked me to come back and pick up the car.  By now I was already half-way home, it had been a long day and I was tired.  I didn't want to go back.  I told him that I'll buy the car but I couldn't go back today.  I would come back the next day and buy it.  I don't think he was happy about that, but he agreed.  So I went home.

I returned the next day, ready to buy the car.  My car is there right at the front of the dealership all shined up and with a 'Sold' tag on it.  I went in and filled out all the paperwork.  Not as bad as I expected.  I guess there's a lot less paperwork when you don't finance a car.  I was in there maybe 1 1/2 hours.  Of course they tried to sell me on an extended warranty, but I refused.  I didn't see much point in the warranty they were trying to sell me.  The car already comes with a 3 year, 100,000 warranty.  The warranty they tried to sell me was expensive and would have only extended that by 1 year and no extra miles.  I asked them if they would take a personal check for $20,000.  To my surprise, they did.  So I wrote the biggest personal check of my life and walked out the owner of a Lexus!  I had mentioned to them while doing the paperwork, that I had several pieces of stereo equipment in the Accord that I wanted to get taken out.  I was going to keep those parts.  They said they would have one of their techs remove the stereo parts and return them to me.  I should just come by the next evening and pick them up.  So I agreed.  I then moved all my stuff into the Lexus.  The salesman spent a lot of time with me helping me set up the car.  We programmed the radio stations.  We programmed the seat memory.  We programmed the Bluetooth interface for my cellphone.  All very well done.  I then drove off in my new(er), completely paid for car!

I've been driving the car for a couple weeks now and I have to say, I love it!  I still have to remind myself that the fancy car in my driveway is MINE.  It blows my mind that I OWN that thing.  I went out and bought a car outright and did not take out any kind of loan.  I've never done that before.  It's an amazing feeling.  It is such a weight off your mind to know that no one can take that car from you.  I'm proud of myself that I was able to stick to my guns and accomplish the goal I set out to do - NO LOANS.  The car looks and drives like it is brand new.  It does not look like a 3 year old car.  I'm very happy with my purchase.  When the time comes for me to buy another car, I will do the same thing.  I will buy it outright and I will buy it (slightly) used.  I will never buy a new car again.  My next car may also be a Lexus.  Who knows?  I'm really enjoying owning this car.

Some people thought I was crazy to spend that much buying a car, cash.  Why not just finance it?  That way you have all that money in case you need it.  Well, true, but what a lot of people just don't grasp is that when you finance a car, you have already spent all that money.  One way or the other, they are going to get that money.  Why not just get it over with at the beginning?  When I buy something, I prefer to buy it and not have to worry about payments.  I buy it.  I own it.  It's mine. You can't have it.  End of story.  It's much less hassle, and it's much less stressful.  Try it.  I have to say though that most people's reaction when I tell them that I bought the car outright is very positive.  Usually it's something along the lines of "That's great!"  or "I wish I could do that!"  This tells me that I made the right decision doing this.

Of course, seeing as how I just blew $20,000 on the car, I need to be ready for the NEXT car.  That means that next year is going to be 'rebuild the car fund year'.  I'm going to save $20,000 in my savings account by the end of next year.  That money will be saved for the next car I buy.  I already have enough money in savings to cover at least 6 months of expenses, so that isn't a worry for me.  I just want to have the car fund ready to go for the next car down the line.  Once that fund is restored, I resume my pay off the house early plan.  That plan has been delayed a bit, but I haven't given up on it.  I will achieve it.

Tomorrow morning I will be bringing my car in to the dealership for service.  This will be the fourth time I've brought it in, in the last month.  I drive a 2005 Honda Accord with 83,000 miles.  Up until around 82,000 miles, it ran wonderfully.  Then suddenly, around Christmas of last year, it started having one problem after another.  In just the last couple of months, I've replaced the power steering seals, the power steering pump, and the entire transmission.  It didn't cost me one cent.  Why?  Because when I bought this car back in March of 2005, I also purchased a six year, 100,000 mile extended warranty from Honda.  I'm normally against extended warranties, but for big ticket purchases that I keep a long time, such as cars and Apple computers, I want to not have to pay expensive repairs.  Just in the last couple of months, that warranty has probably paid for itself.  I also know myself.  When I buy a car, it's for the long haul.  I buy a car and drive it until it falls apart.  I drove my previous car - a 1999 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 for 6 1/2 years, 147,000 miles and 5 accidents (only one my fault!).  I beat that car to death before it finally died and I had to buy this Accord.  I bought this car fully intending to do the same.  I just never thought that a Honda with less than 100,000 miles and having never been in an accident would be less reliable than a 300HP Chevy sports car that's been through 5 accidents.  It's time to replace this car.

However, I am not going to replace it yet.  I'm going to suffer through this hassle until it hits 100,000 miles and that warranty expires.  I estimate that it will hit that point 11 months from now.  Why?  Because that warranty is my 'free ride'.  I could replace the whole engine in the next 11 months and it still wouldn't cost me a penny.  Is it aggravating to be constantly fixing it?  Yes.  But it's worth the money to put up with the hassle.  Once that warranty expires though, this thing is history.

But I will not be buying a new car.  I will be buying a late model used car.  They are much cheaper, don't suffer as much depreciation, and are just as reliable.  I also, will not be taking out a car loan to do so.  I will be buying it with cash.  My goal is to save up $20,000 between now and that 100,000 mile point.  I figure if I can save $15,000 or so on my own and then sell the Accord at that time, I could easily get another $5,000.  That puts me at the magic $20,000 point.  Once I reach that point, I'll shop around for a car, and see what I can find.  I may have to get a rental for a little while.  That's fine.  I'll deal with that.  I refuse to buy a new car.  Why?  They are expensive, they depreciate rapidly, and I hate having car payments.  I will not do that ever again.  I am through with borrowing money.  I don't use or even have any credit cards and I don't take out car loans.  Those days are over.  Ever since I stopped borrowing money and started concentrating on buying things with cash, my financial situation has improved so fast it's amazing.  I won't go back to those bad, borrowing ways.

The thing that has me most upset, is not that I have to buy another car in about a year, it's that I have to put my accelerated mortgage payoff on hold for that time.  I had originally planned to try to knock off $30,000 of my mortgage this year.  That's not going to happen.  Instead that money goes into the 'replace the car' fund.  The numbers don't change.  it's just what 'pile' they go into.  I'll have to resume the accelerated mortgage payoff next year.  I had planned to have my mortgage paid off my by 45th birthday (July 14, 2014).  That likely won't happen.  I might get delayed by a year as a result of this incident.  But this won't stop me.  I will pay off that mortgage early.  Once I do, look out world!  I will not owe money to anyone.  I will own my own house, I will own my own car and I will own everything inside that house.  A house or car that is paid off cannot be repossessed or foreclosed on.  That is a goal very much worth pursuing.

It's amazing what you can accomplish when you actually plan ahead.  I've done a decent job at that kind of thing in the past, but last year, I really kicked it into overdrive.  Last year was the first year that I actually started making plans for years in advance.  I made a plan on January 1, 2009 that I was going to spend the next year increasing my savings to $25,000.  I did this because I wanted to have enough cash in the bank to cover at least 6 months of expenses should I lose my job.  Once I reached that goal (and I did!) I would start paying extra towards my mortgage.  That started in January of this year and was a plan to pay off my house in 4 1/2 years.  Unfortunately, this trouble with my car will delay that plan slightly, but it won't stop it.  Five years from now, I will have another, paid off car, and I will have paid off my mortgage.

Mark my words.

Link: http://www.apple.com/ipad

A couple of days ago, Apple finally revealed the tablet computer that they've been rumored to be making for a long time.  It's the iPad.

My first thought upon seeing it was, "That's weird.  It's square!"  iPhones and iPod Touches have a much more widescreen aspect ratio to them, so this struck me as a bit odd.  I was also very dissapointed to see that it could still only display four application icons per row.  Then when they demo'd running existing iPhone apps on it, it looked very poorly done and very un-Apple-like.  I was also dissapointed that the low end model only has 16GB.  I was expecting something more along the lines of 32GB, 64GB and 128GB.  It also 'only' has a 1GHz processor.  As you can see, my first impression was a bit negative.

But I'm still going to get one.

Why?  Because what we saw on Wednesday, was only the beginning.  What we saw, I'm convinced, is an incomplete version of the iPad software.  It won't be released for 60 days (around the end of March).  In those 60 days, no doubt they'll iron out all these problems.  I've been a member of their iPhone developer program since the day it opened 18 months ago, so I've seen Apple go through the evolution of the iPhone OS before.  When a major new version of the OS comes out, things are a bit bumpy for a while, but Apple always straightens these things out.  The iPad version of the iPhone OS will be no different.  I expect that 60 days from now, Apple will release a greatly updated version of the iPhone OS - 4.0 - and this will be the OS that the final shipping iPad runs, as well as the OS on which the next iPhone will be based.  I think we also now know what the next iPhone will look like.  It will look just like a smaller iPad, though likely with a more widescreen display.

A lot of people are complaining that the iPad is missing a lot of features such as multitasking, a camera, etc.  I don't think these things matter too much, though.  The iPad is designed to be the computer for the computer-phobic.  It's very simple.  You run one application at a time.  A lot of people just can't wrap their brain around the idea of running more than one application at a time.  Because of this, multitasking really doesn't matter.  Also, the lack of a camera, I don't feel is a big issue.  Are you really going to carry this big tablet everywhere and take photos of things?  No.  Will you carry a small cellphone (the iPhone) around with you at all times and take pictures of things - yes.  That's why the iPhone has a camera and the iPad doesn't.  A camera isn't of much use on a device such as this.

What the iPad is good for, is a lot of basic computing tasks around the house.  For the last couple of years, since I bought my first Macbook (and now Macbook Pro), I've found myself using my desktop computer less and less.  It still has its uses, but for most things, a laptop can do the trick.  I find myself going more and more to the Macbook to do quick things like look up something on the web or check email.  The problem with the Macbook is that it's battery isn't designed to be 'on' for weeks at a time.  I have to frequently be turning it on, waiting for it to boot up, doing some quick thing, and then turning it off.  But then, if I want do do something ELSE, I have to turn it back on and repeat that whole time consuming process.  An iPad on the other hand, is always on.  You pick it up, hit a button and boom, you have the web, you have your email, etc.  It's great for quick little computing tasks around the house.

Ever since I got my iPhone, I almost never check my mail on the Macbook or MacPro.  It's so much easier to just grab it off my belt, fire off a quick email, and put it back on the belt.  The iPhone is great for email.  The problem is, it's not so great for web browsing.  Yes, it has a great web browser built in, but the screen is just too small to be of much use.  I can see the iPad filling this niche nicely.  It's big enough to easily read a web page, it comes on instantly and it doesn't have to be constantly put through a slow bootup, and shutdown process.  I also don't particularly care that the iPhone and iPad don't support Flash or Silverlight in their browsers.  In fact, I'm glad they don't.  I've always felt that Flash and Silverlight are 'cheating' when it comes to making web sites.  You can't make a website that works in HTML, so you just don't bother even trying.  Essentially Flash is a way of running something that is NOT a website in a web browser.  You are avoiding the problem by not even trying to fix it.  Instead of doing this, you should put your effort into using websites as they were meant to be used, or campaigning to expand the capabilities of web browsers in a standard way.

Another problem I've had with the iPhone is reading books.  There are a number of good ebook reading apps on the iPhone but the screen is just too small for me to spend much time reading on it.  The iPad on the other hand is the perfect size for this.  It's my Kindle killer.  I've been interested in the Kindle for a while, but I didn't like Kindle's monochrome screen and the slow refresh of it's screen.  It's good enough for simple, text based books, but once you start adding photos, graphics, line drawings etc to a book, it just doesn't do any of these things adequately.  The lack of color is a big drawback here.  The iPad has a big color screen and a MUCH faster (to put it mildly) refreshing screen.  Problem solved.  The iPad is going to launch the switch of books to digital media, just as the iPod did for music.

But what about the iPad vs. netbooks?  I've had this very argument with a coworker of mine who owns a netbook.  He scoffs at the idea of me paying a lot more for an iPad than he did for his netbook, which in most cases, has far superior technical specs.  Yes, you can pay less money for a netbook and get a very powerful little machine, but I just can't see myself using one.  They are thick, clunky, have tiny little keyboards, tiny little screens, and tiny little track pads.  The iPad is far simpler.  There is no clunky keyboard to get in the way - it appears when you need it and goes away the rest of the time.  The lack of a physical keyboard also makes it much thinner and lighter.  Netbooks also just run standard desktop Windows, shrunk down to fit on a small screen.  This is not practical.  While the UI conventions of Windows might be fine on a large desktop screen, they just get in the way on a small screen.  Apple is smart enough to realize this and design their software appropriately so that there is nothing cluttering up the screen getting in your way.  A lot of netbooks also still only run Windows XP - an operating system written 9 years ago, before anyone had even conceived of a netbook.  It is old, inefficient, susceptible to virii and generally does not make good use of the hardware it runs on.

In the short term, I'm buying an iPad to be my 'color Kindle'.  I'll use it to read books, browse the web, read emails and other simple tasks like that.  However, I know that this is just the beginning.  When the iPhone first came out, I instantly knew that it was going to be huge.  The potential was there for SO many interesting ideas - many of which I couldn't even imagine at the time.  The iPad is the same way.  It's everything the iPhone can do but with the HUGE benefit of a much larger screen.  This larger screen eliminates the last big thing holding back the iPhone.  There is so much potential in what the iPad can do, I don't even know what will happen.

But I plan to go along for the ride.

I just got off the phone with Chase.  I just closed my last credit card.  And when I say my 'last' credit card, I mean it.  I will never have a credit card ever again.

This move has been a long time coming.  Over the years, since I first went out on my own in 1993 or so, I've had credit cards.  I was never one of these people who went around with 15 credit cards, all maxed out.  I think at my worst, I had maybe 5-6 credit cards (including store credit cards).  I've had my share of high credit card bills.  At one point I was up to $7,000 on one card.  That scared the hell out of me.  It took me over a year to pay all that off.  This was a long time ago, though, during my 'ignorant youth', right out of college.  For the last 10 years or so, I've tried to maintain a VERY low balance - at most a couple hundred bucks every year.  But even that relatively small credit card balance every month really bothered me.  I hated the 'surprise' every month when that bill comes in and suddenly I have to write a check for $500-700.   That kind of money adds up fast.  18 months ago I decided to cancel all my credit cards but one and never use a credit card again.  I did so, leaving this one card as a 'safety net'.  However, in the last 18 months, I didn't need that safety net so today I closed that last card.  I am now operating 'without a net' and loving it.

Over the years, I've gradually moved more and more towards a cash-only life and away from credit cards.  Those high bills and that scary $7K bill were not the way I wanted to live my life.  I've gradually moved from a life of car payments, to a life of no car payments.  My last two cars I bought new, and paid off early.  My previous car I bought on a 4 year, 0% interest loan, but paid it off in 3 years.  I then drove it for 3 1/2 more years beyond that before it just wore out on me.  My current car I bought on a 4 year, 2.9% interest loan.  I paid off that 4 year loan in 2 years.  I've been driving my current car, payment-free for 2 1/2 years now and I think I can get quite a few more years out of it.  My next car will be bought cash, with no car payments.

My financial life has improved immensely since I started on this quest.  Three years ago, I had a situation where I needed to get my hands on $15,000 cash in order to execute some stock options at my job that would pay me several times that back.  I only had about $2,000 in my bank account.  I'm ashamed to say that I had to borrow that money.  Today, three years later, I now have over $40,000 in liquid cash that I could get my hands on if need be with no penalties.  This is all due to the fact that I do not owe money to anyone, for anything, (except my mortgage).  It's an amazing turnaround in such a short time.  This is due to the fact that I do NOT use credit cards and I do not have a car payment.  Think about that.  I am not making $500/month car payments anymore.  I am also not making $500/month credit card bill payments anymore.  That's an extra $1,000/month that I have available.  With that extra money I have built up a sizable cash reserve.  I can easily survive a 6 month layoff from work, should the need arise.  I can easily pay for just about any repair that may arise on my house.  I can literally go out and buy a car for cash right now.

One of my goals this year was to save up $25,000 in my savings.  I achieved that goal earlier this month - a month early.  The purpose of that money was to provide financial support for myself for at least 6 months, should I lose my job, and to provide a 'home improvement' fund for making any repairs, replacements needed in my house.  My goal for next year (and the next several years) is to pay off my house, early.  Starting on January 1, 2010 I will be making BIG extra principal payments on my mortgage every month.  My goal is to have my house completely paid off by July 14, 2014 (my 45th birthday).  That gives me 55 months to pay off about $130,000.  It is not going to be easy.  It will be a true test of my financial management skills to pull this off, but I know I can do it.

By my 45th birthday, I will owe nothing to anyone.  Once I achieve this goal (and I will) the possibilities are endless.

Link: http://twitter.com/rekle

On July 14, 2008 (my birthday!) I joined Twitter.  I'd been hearing a lot about Twitter for a long time before that so I finally decided to join and see what this whole Twitter thing was all about.  It's been over a year now and I wanted to give my thoughts about the whole experience.

Twitter is yet another one of those 'social media' web sites on the internet.  However, it is quite different from the other sites, such as Facebook in that it is on the surface a very simple site.  All you do on Twitter is post short, 140 character messages.  These 140 character messages have become known as 'tweets'.  You can then follow other people and read their own short messages.  That's it.  There's no games, there's no pictures, there's no nothing.  It's just these little messages.  It would seem that this very simple site would not be of much interest in people and it would die off rapidly.  That couldn't be farther from the truth.  Twitter has become incredibly popular.  There are now many different ways to post messages to and read messages from Twitter.  There is the Twitter website itself, there are lots of different applications for posting/reading messages for different operating systems (Linux, OS X, Windows etc).  There are also a large number of iPhone applications that allow you to access Twitter.

Twitter to me is yet another example of how a very simple idea is started on the Internet and it just takes off and evolves in ways that no one, including the founders even expect.  While Twitter itself has maintained it's simple structure, others have taken this structure and added on to it in clever ways to expand it's usefulness.  A number of URL shortening services, such as bit.ly have been created so that people can post long URLs in the limited 140 character message size.  Sites such as TwitPic have been created to allow the posting of pictures to Twitter.

What do I think the key to Twitter's success is, though?  The iPhone.  Why?  Because of the iPhone's relatively large screen, it's portability, it's camera and it's always on connection to the Internet, it means people can post comments to Twitter from anywhere at any time.  A number of well known news stories have announced first on Twitter.  When that plane crash landed in the Hudsan River in New York a while back, the very first photo published of the plane was taken with an iPhone's camera and posted to Twitter.  Earthquakes have been announced on Twitter.  The death of Michael Jackson was announced on Twitter.  I have an iPhone and as such, I too have instant access to Twitter.  Probably 99.9% of the 'tweets' I've posted on Twitter have come from my iPhone.  I use an iPhone app called Tweetie to access Twitter, though there are a number of other good Twitter clients for the iPhone, such as Twitterific, Twinkle etc.  Each has it's pluses and minuses, so it's up to the user to decide which works best for you.  I like Tweetie because it seems to be the most complete.  It does darn near everything you can do on Twitter in one easy to use application.  There is a new version of Tweetie (Tweetie 2) that will be coming out any day now.  I'll be buying that when it is released.

Why do I like Twitter?  The conversations.  I started my use of Twitter by following a large collection of iPhone developers.  I've been developing for the iPhone for while and I figured by 'eavesdropping' on the conversation of knowledgible developers, I could learn more about it.  I've learned quite a bit since then about iPhones and other things I never even expected.  I've gotten into political debates with people in the UK.  I've discussed iPhone programming.  I've discussed movies.  I've discussed TV shows.  It's all been interesting.  I've found links to lots of interesting articles on the Internet.  It's been an interesting experience.  I noticed today, that in the last year or so I've been on Twitter, I've posted messages there over 1,000 times!  That may seem like a lot, but it only works out to a couple a day.  That means I'm a fairly light Twitter user.  There are heavier users of Twitter who posted many times that number of messages.  These conversations are also interesting in how direct they are.  You are talking directly to the person (usually in 'public').  I've talked with the author's of books I've bought, I've talked with well known actors, I've talked with fellow programmers.  It's an amazing thing.  You name the celebrity, author, politician etc. and they are likely on Twitter.

It takes some time to get used to Twitter.  One thing to remember though, is that in order to get something out of Twitter you have to put something in.  You have to contribute.  You have to post messages.  Read people's messages.  Reply to them.  If someone asks a question and you know the answer, respond!  If you have some information you think might be useful, post a message.  You have to get involved with the conversation.  If you are just sitting there quietly 'listening' and don't say anything, you won't see much use in it.  I have to constantly remind myself to get involved in it.  I do more reading then posting, but when I do post, I often get responses.  The more you post, the more you respond to other's comments, the more response you will get and hence the more value you will derive from it.

Twitter is the main reason I've been so quiet on this blog lately.  Before I joined Twitter, if I had something to say, I would blog it.  Now, I just go on Twitter and post a quick comment about it.  I have to admit though, that I miss posting to this blog.  It's hard to get your point across in 140 characters on Twitter, but at the same time, because the messages are so short there, I can quickly fire off a comment.  With the blog I have to sit here for a long period of time, typing out my thoughts, editing it for grammar, adding links to websites etc.  The blog takes a lot more work.

Twitter has it's own 'language' that it tends to follow.  Messages are called 'tweets'.  Whenever you see someone on the Internet list a one word name following an '@' symbol, this is a reference to a user's Twitter handle.  For example, if you see me mention @rekle, that is a reference to my Twitter user name of 'rekle'.  The '@' symbol is used as a way of identifying a user.  I assume that this '@' symbol style evolved from the similar email address style.  If you see a word following a '#' symbol, such as '#iphone', this is a search tag.  You can click on these tags to find other people who are talking about the same subject.  You can search Twitter for messages in particular subjects.  If you do this and you find an interesting person talking about a subject you like, you can start following them.  Some Twitter clients, like Twinkle allow you to post messages with attached GPS coordinates.  This lets you find people nearby that are interesting to you.  I've always been a bit uncomfortable with posting my GPS coordinates on the Internet.  People don't need to know exactly where I am at this moment.  People don't need to know the exact location of my home or where I work, but if you don't have a problem with that, by all means, do so.

Some people may be bothered by the whole 'living your lives in public' that comes as a result of many social network sites, such as Twitter or Facebook.  I certainly am one of those.  I get around this by only publishing things that I wouldn't mind strangers knowing.  I'll comment in public on books or movies I like.  I'll help people with programming problems whenever I can.  I'll pass on interesting news stories I read on the Internet.  However, I do keep a lot of things private from Twitter and from this blog.  I never mention my family and what they do online.  If my family wants to talk about what they do, that's their business.  I never mention my exact address online.  People don't need to find me at my job.  My family and friends can do that, not strangers.  I never mention my salary, or the salaries of any members of my family.  I never mention what bank I use.  I never mention how much I have in the bank.  Those are all private matters that the world at large don't need to know.  Do I comment on ways to save money?  Sure.  Those are things that are useful to others.  (See my previous blog).  Do I comment on new technologies that I find interesting.  Yes.  Again these are things that I think others may find useful.  This is not any way invading my privacy or my families privacy.  I've talked in the past about friends I have who are homosexual.  I have refrained from ever mentioning their names.  Homosexuality is a very private subject and I certainly won't betray a friend's trust by 'outing' them in public without their permission.  I have friends who are dealing with bankruptcy, marital problems, etc that I don't talk about.  I won't betray their trust or friendship by 'outing' them on these things.  I think I've found a good balance of 'public' and 'private' online.

Let me know what you think.  You can reply to me here or on Twitter.

Over the years, I've developed a series of money habits that have served me well.  I thought I'd write about them in the hopes that someone else would benefit from them.

Don't Use Credit Cards - Ever!

Studies have found that people who use credit cards spend more money than people who pay cash or use a debit card.  I've found that when you use a credit card, it's very easy to lose track of how much you are spending.  Before you know it, you end up getting a massive bill at the end of the month.  This massive bill causes stress as you worry about how to pay it every month.  Do you have enough money to cover the bill this month along with all your other bills? After a while, you end up with a situation where you don't pay off the balance every month and the balance just gets bigger and bigger.  Eventually you reach a point where you can't pay it off.  This leads to more stress, and in some cases, bankruptcy.

But, Rick, I have bills.  I have to use the credit card to cover my expenses.  No you don't.  If you have to use a credit card to cover your bills, you have too many bills.  Put yourself on a budget.  Cut your expenses.  There are always things you can eliminate to reduce your bills.  Cut back on eating out.  Cut back on buying expensive clothes.  Cut back on buying books, CD, etc.  If it isn't a necessity, then it can be eliminated.  Let's face it, most stuff in life is not a necessity.  You don't need that cell phone.  You don't need the pay channels on your cable TV.  You don't need to get a large coffee at Starbucks every morning.  You need food, clothing, shelter and transportation.  The rest is optional.  Do you need to have that nice sports car for your 5 mile commute to work?  Um, no.  A cheap, decent car will do the trick.  There are always options for trimming your expenses.

What should you do instead?  Use cash or use a debit card.  That way, when you buy something, you own it, free and clear.  There's no big bill coming every month.  You don't get screwed by the credit card companies that charge 30% interest (or more) annually.  Plus, by using a debit card or cash, you are forced to be a lot more careful about how much you spend because the money immediately comes out of your bank account.  This will cause you to spend less and hence save more.

I have no credit cards.  I owe nothing to any credit card companies.  Everything I own, I own (except my house).  I've lived this way for over a year now with no problems.  Try it.  You'll like it.

Give Yourself a Paycut

I've found over the years, that I like to spend money.  The problem is, I spend too much of it.  With a habit like that, it's easy to get out of control and get yourself deeply in debt.  The solution I found to this was to give myself a 'paycut'.  What do I mean by that?  What I did was open a separate bank account in a different bank.  I then set up my direct deposit with my employer to deposit a certain amount of every paycheck into this separate bank account.  The rest of the salary goes into my main bank account.  I then pay all my bills and expenses through the main bank account and 'forget' that the other bank account exists.  That money doesn't get touched.  It's only for emergencies.  The reason I put it in an account at a different bank is so that I won't be tempted to transfer money from that account to my main account.  It forces me to pay more attention to my spending since I don't have easy access to that money.  Over time you will learn to live on less.  As you learn to live on lessm you can also start increasing the amount you put in this other account, so your savings will gradually increase and your expenses will gradually decrease.

Pay Only with Paper Money

Whenever you buy something, use only paper money.  Pocket the change and drop it into a jar at home.  After a year or so you'll have a couple hundred bucks in change.  Take it to the bank and cash the change in and you have some 'free' spending money!

Invest in a Roth IRA

A Roth IRA is a relatively new form of retirement account.  You can put up to $5,000 of after tax dollars into it every year.  While the contributions are not tax-deductable, the earnings are!  If you put $5,000 into a Roth IRA every year from age 30 to age 70, you'd have well over $1 million dollars, tax free!  Plus, the earnings on a Roth IRA are much more than the total of the contributions that you put into it.  This means that while you lose the short term tax advantages, in the long term you save a LOT more money.  This is a fantastic deal!  Do it now!

Put 15% of Your Salary in Retirement

Calculate what 15% of your yearly salary would be (salary * 0.15), subtract $5,000/year for the Roth IRA (see above) and then put the rest into a 401K plan with your employer.  Do this every paycheck from your first job out of college until you retire.  Combine this with your Roth IRA earnings and you will retire wealthy.

Buy a Car and Drive it To Death

Cars are a terrible investment.  They always go down in value.  Instead of buying a car, paying it off and then trading it in for another new car with new payments over and over again for the rest of your life, just buy a car, pay it off and drive it to death.  The car you buy should be a used car about 2 years old.  By buying a used car, you end up with a cheaper car and you lose less in depreciation.  You can easily buy a car, pay it off, and drive it for years after that.  Think about that.  Several years of no car payments.  If your car payment was $500/month and you didn't have any car payments for four years that's $24,000 you just saved.  You could buy a car, save up that $500/year for 4 years and then buy a $24,000 car with cash!  Then you take that car you just bought and drive it to death.  Over the next several years that you drive that, you continue to make those $500 car payments to yourself.  Then, when you are ready to buy a car, sell your old car, and add in that $500/month 'car payment' money you've been saving and buy another car cashe.  You'd never have to have car payments again if you do this!  How cool is that?

Pay Off Your House as Fast as You Can

When you buy a home, only get a 15 year loan that is no more than 25% of your take home pay.  Then turn around and pay as much extra as you can every month.  Pay off the house in less then the 15 (or at worse 30) years of the mortgage.  Then continue to make 'house payments' to yourself once you get it paid off.  You will have so much money in the bank you won't know what to do with it.

Conclusion

Over the years, I've found that these tricks lead to much less stress in your life.  You never have to worry about paying the car payment, the mortgage or the credit cards ever again.  Try them, you'll like them!

Here's a quick tip for if you want to have an iPhone application that targets both an earlier version of the iPhone OS and the new iPhone OS 3.0. Juse use the __IPHONE_3_0 precompiler define to compile specific code for iPhone 3.0. i.e.

#ifdef __IPHONE_3_0
// iPhone 3.0 specific stuff
#else
// iPhone 2.2 specific stuff
#endif

Link: http://iphonesdksnippets.com/

Just found a quick website with some snippets of how to do various things with the iPhone SDK. It's called iphonesdksnippets.com

I've been reading Twitter a lot lately. Here's the first in a series of comments that I've seen that I thought were really funny:

"Java seems to require more casts than someone who's broken every bone in their body" - @pilky