Technology At Its Coolest...And Most Practical

I'm a sucker for new technology. While I may not be the type to camp out for a week to get my hands on a new gadget before anyone else, I'm generally an early adopter and definitely a geek at heart. Since joining Optaros (www.optaros.com) in June of this year, I've become a much greater user and follower of many of the Next-Generation, Web 2.0 enabled applications that are available. Two applications that I've come across and begun to use this week represent to me technology at its coolest...and most practical. Enter TripIt and Jott. As someone who travels quite a bit, I can see these apps really making my life easier on the road.

• TripIt (www.tripit.com) - Basically, you forward all of the travel confirmations (air, hotel, rental cars, restaurants) that you get via email to TripIt, and the application builds out a master online itinerary for your trip(s). Maps, directions and weather for your destination are automatically included in the itinerary, so no more having to pull that information yourself from separate sites. Plus, you can access the itinerary online from any computer as well as share your itinerary with friends, coworkers and family. The kicker, though, is that you can even email TripIt and ask it to email you a specific itinerary on demand...and this feature makes TripIt the killer app for anyone like me who has gotten to the the airport and can't remember his flight info or arrived at your destination and forgotten at which hotel you booked your reservation.
• Jott (www.jott.com) - Call Jott's excellent interactive voice response system, tell it whom you want to Jott, and then leave a voice message up to 30 seconds in length. Jott then transcribes your voice message and emails it to your recipient. The recipient can also pick the message up at jott.com and hear the actual voice message as well. You can Jott yourself (think to-do lists at 75 mph as you drive down the freeway), any contact that you set up to receive your Jotts, or even distribution lists (your son's baseball team, your sales team, etc.). You can even use Jott to post to your Blog, Twitter, Jaiku, and more.

Give TripIt and Jott a try and let me know what you think. And while you're at it, be sure and let me know about any other web apps out there that you think I'd get a kick out of.

What does it mean to LIVESTRONG?

In just about an hour or so, I'll be heading down I-35 to Austin for the 2007 LIVESTRONG Challenge Weekend. The LIVESTRONG Challenge is a series of cycling & running events put on by the Lance Armstrong Foundation (www.livestrong.org) each year to raise funds to support those living with, through & beyond cancer. Riders and runners raise funds throughout the year to qualify for the event and various levels of incentives, up to and including a private ride with Lance himself for the top fund raisers. It has become an annual event for me. After my own cancer diagnosis almost 5 years ago, I found myself drawn to the cancer community. My story is that of someone who got out easy...I found the cancer early, had it removed surgically, and was spared the brutality of chemo & radiation. But there are far too many others who have not been as fortunate as I have been.

During my 4 years of involvement with the Lance Armstrong Foundation and with my brothers and sisters from Cyclists Combating Cancer, an online community of cancer survivors who share the passion of cycling (www.ridetolive.org), I've seen far too many people fight the good fight only to lose to this horrific disease. Within CCC alone, we've lost close to a dozen of our teammates during that time. All of them were special people...husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters. In the last 2 months alone, I've been to the funerals for two friends from church who died of cancer. One was a wonderful and loving big bear of a man in his early 60's who died from pancreatic cancer. Another was a 36 year-old father of 2 who had valiantly fought brain cancer for 2 years. Then, a few weeks ago, we learned that my wife's grandmother has had a recurrence of the breast cancer that she fought 7 years ago and is now Stage IV (metastatic).

Sometimes, it gets to be too much to take in. About 3 weeks ago, I had decided that I was going to skip the LIVESTRONG challenge this year. Cancer was all around me, and the last thing that I wanted was to spend a weekend surrounded by it. Without fail, this weekend always has its emotional moments. Crossing the finish line of the ride by pulling into the area for survivors and being handed a single yellow rose is always special. But then there are the moments that are hard to watch...someone crossing the finish line and breaking down in tears as they complete their challenge in honor of a loved one no longer there. The people you see on the course that are obviously still shells of themselves from the treatments that have just completed or are still on-going. Meeting up with my friends from CCC to realize that someone who was there with us last year won't be with us ever again.

Not long after I had decided to skip this year's event, a very good friend and fellow survivor from CCC reminded me that this is the weekend that we use to recharge our batteries and recommit ourselves for battle. Sure it can be emotional, and cancer will be all around us. But so will incredible stories of survivorship. Stories of people who will never give up...those who fight tooth and nail against a disease that is no respecter of age, race, sex, financial or social status or anything else. It's a weekend to spend time with people who have become like family to me, most of whom I only see at this event each year. It is a weekend to appreciate the gift of life with those who have also been in the trenches and to hug and laugh an awful lot. The people in attendance are the living embodiment of what it means to LIVESTRONG. And that is why I must be there.

In honor of the LIVESTRONG Challenge weekend, Cyclists Combating Cancer and all of those who fight to make a difference in the war against cancer, I share with you the Lance Armstrong Foundation Manifesto:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SDBOHpKI6g

My Noisy Life

My life seems to go non-stop from the time I wake up until the minute my head hits the pillow. There are kids to get ready for school, workdays full of calls, email, meetings, out of town travel and other seemingly never-ending tasks, my kids’ teams to coach and assorted school assemblies, recitals and open-houses. Add to all of that a desire and need to stay connected to my wife and friends while still finding some time for myself and my interests and you end up with a pretty noisy life. And I’m not alone. My guess is that my daily run through the gauntlet is no different than that of the vast majority of people out there.

As the great Ferris Bueller once said, “Life goes by pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Spot on. That’s why I’ve started this blog, Noisy Life. It’s a place where I can reflect on the things going on in my life and in our world, both good and bad; a place where I can filter out the noise and listen for the truth and lessons that lie within. And if I’m lucky, perhaps some others will read it from time to time and share their thoughts and experiences as well. If that does happen, that’s where the true value of this blog will be found. There is little in life that is as valuable as gaining insight into the perspective of others. Whether you agree or disagree with their viewpoints, you come away a richer person for being able to question your own to find that you are either still firmly rooted as before or perhaps have gained a new perspective that you had never considered.

My guess is that this blog will cover the banal to the provocative. Everyday life, technology, sports, national & international affairs, politics, work, parenting, and leisure activities are all sure to be topics from time to time. Above all, it’s a place to slow down and turn the noise down just a notch or two. Welcome to my Noisy Life.

Save Ferris.