I’ve come across a few items that I might normally add to the site’s Links section, but since I haven’t actually developed that page yet, I’m going to create this post as a starting point. All of these are also on my public Del.icio.us bookmarks page (along with a bunch of other stuff that interests me). Without further ado:
Hiring a Grant Writer
I found that previous one on Pamela’s Grantwriting Blog. Excellent stuff.
Another blog I really enjoy is Grant Writing Confidential (which I’ve mentioned before).
I’m watching Common Advisor, and still debating, but I love the concept.
The Nonprofit Consultant Blog @ Goldstein Consulting – often helps me with my professional mindset.
There are more, and you can hit the feeds over at the right of the page if you are interested in some of the blogs that I follow closely (you probably already know those are there).
Be free,
Jeff
A passionate play in three acts:
Act 1: Saturday – Separation Anxiety
Last Saturday we went to see visiting friends out in Castallian Springs to grill burgers and see how much their awesome kids had grown. We were sitting around after dinner and the eldest, Aidan, asked to see my iPhone. This precocious 7 year-old innately understands “cool,” but when I turned him on to one of my favorite apps – LightSaber Unleashed, he was REALLY smitten.
So while Aidan was having some fun keeping imaginary Sith lords off the deck, his parents and I discussed how much I love my iPhone and everything it can do. And right as I was saying how indestructible it was with the Agent18 Eco case on it, someone flipped the ironical switch… and there was a loud crash.
The Eco separates in the middle, and even though the young Jedi had a firm grip on it, he didn’t realize that he was only gripping the bottom. And the Force is strong in that one.
As Mick Jagger once said, “Sha-doobie… Shattered.”
Act 2: Sunday – Shopping
What Aidan didn’t know (until I told him, which may have made him feel a little better – poor kid was crushed about flinging my baby across the deck) was that I had been secretly pining for a new iPhone 3G for a year. I got the original one for Christmas 2007, and Apple came out with the 3G (with REAL GPS, not some “triangulation” as my friend Chad was quick to point out) shortly thereafter. So here was my opportunity! I got online the next morning, and ordered my new iPhone 3G. To be picked up at the store in Green Hills that afternoon.
At the Apple store, Blue-Shirt-Lilly and I had a blast talking about the improvements in iPhone cases and Mac keyboards, argued the benefits of touch screens, and laughed about a hundred other techie/geeky/Appley things. She was heading to a birthday party after she got out of work, and was quite amped up, which really made the shopping experience fun. I let her sell me a copy of MobileMe (which is perfect for my working style, I won’t know how I lived without it), and after about 20 minutes I had my slick new phone in a slick SOLID case, and some slick new software. We celebrated at The Cheesecake Factory. With cheesecake.
Later on that night, I posted a picture on Facebook, partly to show Aidan what a favor he had done me by forcing me to go get my lovely new lifeline to the world.
My friend Richard immediately posted a comment: “Jeff, the new iPhone is announced tomorrow so take it back…”
Doh.
Act 3: Monday – The Big Apple
Well. As it turns out, Monday was the start of Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference, and the keynote address is always a reveal for the developers (and the rest of the world not present at the WWDC) of new software, products, and partnerships. And it had long been rumored that a new iPhone was going to be announced.
As one friend said to me later, “If you didn’t know that already, you don’t deserve an iPhone.”
Props to the guys over at Gizmodo (Jason Chen, B. Lam, and Mark Wilson) – Monday I was able to watch the live blogging they did (along with awesome pictures – I need to know what camera B. Lam was using) while Phil Schiller and the rest of the speakers tag teamed and covered everything from marketshare to new Macs to the new OS “Snow Leopard”, but then my heart started running up the stairmaster just like when I’m about to click my final bid on eBay…
And then they announced it. The NEW iPHONE 3GS!! With a new OS and tethering and stuff! And the price? Same as the old 3G phone was yesterday!
The “S” apparently stands for Sucker Speed. Lilly didn’t know it, but I’d be surprised if she didn’t at least SuSpect that we were about to have a chat. I read my receipt and every page of the return policy on the website, prepared for battle, and picked up my new – suddenly OLD – phone to call my friend Lilly…
But actually… once everything was posted on Apple.com and the nice folks at the suddenly VERY busy AppleStoreInGreenHills were actually allowed to talk about it, I found out that I have 30 days to return my iPhone for a full refund, no questions asked. I’m still not sure if I have to eat the $18 activation charge or not. And I’m putting off installing MobileMe.
On June 19th I will set a personal record – I will have owned three different phones in as many weeks! So thanks Jedi Aidan. The Force is with us.
Be free,
Jeff
