As I stated in a post in late February announcing my joining Brightkite as a community manager, I could have applied to any location based social network in the world but I wanted to work at Brightkite. Here is one of the reasons why. This morning, I sampled the nearby results of the top 4 location based Check-in applications for iPhone. Foursquare, Brightkite, Gowalla and finally Yelp.

Each of these apps delivered very different results. A few things to keep in mind. Foursquare and Yelp mostly rely on user generated Content. Gowalla does to a degree but I can’t confirm where they get their other data. All networks allow you to add a place to say where you are but this is work. So many people that are in rural America won’t take time to add a custom place with an address and description of what kind of place they’re at. They’ll open the app, see these results and after trying to search, they’ll give up and move on.

I tried using Facebook and it only listed a nearby high school. I’m assuming that there’s some techie kid at that school using Facebook for iPhone and added it. Other than that, it’s an empty database for this area.

Yelp found nothing which isn’t too surprising. Their database is strongest in large cities and only the most popular restaurants in town are on Yelp and all have at least one review and only 50% of the restaurants have a photo. Most Yelp reviews I’ve seen aren’t from people in New Hampshire. They’re mostly people from New York or Boston that were taking a weekend trip and reviewing places they went to. It’s been hard finding anyone in town that actually uses Yelp.

FourSquare and Gowalla rely so heavily on the user added places model that their results were simply terrible. Gowalla was asking if I wanted to check in to a campground that is 18 minutes away by car. There are other places around but both of those networks just threw some things up on the screen. I tried to check in to the campground on gowalla and it said this was too far away to check in.

Also, note that Foursquare’s nearest “place” is 8,000 meters away which is basically 5 miles. Gowalla’s nearest place is 9K meters. Brightkite lists the corner store at the end of my road and other businesses that I’m passing as I drive from Switch Road to Highway 4 to I-89 into Lebanon, NH. I did a few more look ups on my way in to town and Brightkite kept showing me places I was nearby as FourSquare results didn’t really change.

——–

Brightkite soared for a few reasons. One reason is that Brightkite has the largest database of places. They’ve partnered with companies that have millions of locations and Brightkite has agreements to borrow that data which means if Joe’s Coffee Shop is a registered business with a business telephone, they’re going to be in Brightkite. If they move to a new location, it will take a few days to a month or two but that new location will be in Brightkite. You can also add a place if it’s not in here but I can guarantee you’re going to find it unless it’s Joe’s side business, “Saturday Night Cock-Fighting.” Since he’s not paying taxes on that business and it’s not licensed, it probably won’t be on Brightkite. Just click “add a place” and you can check in at the tournament, post a photo and say, “Betting $50 on Quick Draw McGraw” if that’s your thing.

Brightkite was my favorite LBS when I was in Florida and it’s my favorite here in New Hampshire. Even if Foursquare and Gowalla had better products, I’m not going to spend the first 5 minutes of my meal adding each place in town to their networks. It doesn’t benefit me at all. With Brighktite, the locations are there and I can just check-in effortlessly. That’s a good thing.

Photos:
New Beginnings
My New House

It’s not like I’m going to Russia. It’s only a cross-country flight but it felt like a very long day. After an awesome day saying goodbye to friends, I went to bed at 1AM for a flight that leaves at 7:20AM out of SFO. After a call to Yellow Cab, I went to sleep, only waking up 4 hours later to my iPhone alarm clock notifying me that it was time. Clothes packed, stomach empty and teeth brushed. I hopped in the cab and a few tears fell. This was goodbye. It was real. This wasn’t a full on cry but it was there and sadness did fill my heart. I just stopped thinking about it. I glanced at my to-do list that will occupy my mind and distract me from the fact that I’m leaving the home I’ve had for a few years. San Francisco was the city I dreamed of living in since I was 15 years old and now I was leaving. That one last view of South San Francisco as I rode down 280 in the taxi and I felt something new and fresh. I felt a new beginning.

I was Boston bound on Virgin America. I splurged for the flight because I wanted things to be comfortable and problem free. Virgin took me down to LAX for a 2 hour layover and then it was off to Boston. I was seated in the good seats with access to power, Internet, unlimited food and cocktails as well as on demand TV & Movies. The distractions calmed me a bit but the day still felt like I was simply going on a business trip.

Boston was warm, about 25 degrees warmer than San Francisco. The air was humid and families reunited as I waited for my bag at the carousel. There were fears that my 8:15PM Flight arrival + checked bag would make me miss the last bus to New Hampshire that departed at 8:50PM. Luck was still on my side. I made it to the bus with 5 minutes to spare.

I’m no stranger to Boston as a tourist. People are generally pretty cold and keep to themselves. It’s not rude, just hardened. I’m used to it so I kept to myself as well and tried not to smile too much but people knew I was an outsider. I could feel that.

On Dartmouth Coach, I had access to water and free Internet. The seats were comfortable and the bus that departed at 8:50 arrived in Lebanon, NH at 11:45PM. It’s a 3 hour ride from Boston-Logan to my new home town on the bus. This $30 one-way coach goes from New Hampshire to Boston 4 times a day and it’s a line I’ll get more used to as I travel more. The cost savings of driving your own car and parking it in Boston doesn’t compare to the price of that bus so any time I fly out, it’ll be via Dartmouth Coach.

The bus pulled up and it soon hit me in the head that I have no way to get to my hotel. The hotel was 4 miles away and it was midnight and everyone there had a ride. I stood up hoping the New Hampshire kindness would present itself and I said, “I need a ride to a hotel near DHMC. I have no car and I just moved here from California. Can someone help?” Three people offered out of 12 that were on the midnight coach. We’re not in the big city anymore.

The kindness didn’t stop there. I arrived at the hotel and checked in mentioning I’m moving to town and ended up chatting with the attendant for 30 minutes as he told me stories of people who move to New Hampshire just like I do but most people staying there are just people visiting Dartmouth and touring the college.

It took until 1:30AM to finally fall asleep. California time is still in me but I did finally fall asleep right after a text message arrived from a friend in California saying that they miss me. I leaned over, grabbed the phone and replied, “I miss you too.”

My alarm went off at 7AM to that catchy 90s song by a band called, “Chumbawumba” where that guy gets knocked down and then back up again….you’re never going to keep him down. I called Sue who was the mother in law of a guy I connected with online. He had moved to Seattle but left his 1996 Nissan Maxima with her and it was being sold for $1500. The brakes needed checked but everything else was perfect. It had keyless entry, Bose speakers and leather interior and only 165K miles. It was a perfect car to get me through the next 2-3 months of driving. It’s a car that will get me to where I need to go. I won’t be taking any long distance drives with this thing but I’ll need it to get around and take care of business.

After 3-4 miles driving the car with Sue who was telling me stories of her grandkids, I was sold or I guess it’s safe to say that the car was sold. We pulled up to City Hall and I gave her cash. She was patient as we tried to transfer the title but since I don’t have a home address yet, I was stuck. After our chat she caringly gave me the title, shook my hand and said, “It’s signed, just come back here when you get the house and I trust you to transfer it all over out of my son’s name. Just call me next week to return the tags.”

I drove Sue back to her place and headed out to take the car to get maintenance and other diagnostics plus I need a state smog inspection done. After stopping by 5 places, I finally broke down and went Lebanon’s Nissan Dealership. Every car place was all full until next week with Labor Day pre-road trip maintenance making today’s schedule a total mess. Also, my check engine light is on so that was taken care of as well.

Maintenance was just under $600. Not bad to get the car inspected and a lot of work done. it was nearly 2PM so I had to drive and check out the cabin that I found on Craigslist 5 weeks ago. The owners were friendly and had saved the place for me this entire time. I lined up 4 places that day but really only planned on looking at one.

After a 20 minute drive, I pulled up to the new home that will be mine for the next year. This log cabin in Canaan New Hampshire is on 5 acres of land and the property line ends at the river running behind it. There’s a garden, hot tub, fire pit, back deck and large drive way big enough to have a baseball game in. There’s a garage which will mean I don’t have to shovel snow from around my tires every morning and everything about this place is brand new from the wood floors, to granite countertops to the gazebo and man-made beach overlooking the river. The owners live in one of the two cabins on the property and the main cabin is a tree level house where two apartments are on the bottom and I have the entire 2nd floor to myself where the basement is used for storage and the wood stove that heats the house.

Walking up the stairs to my apartment and I’m in a screen enclosed porch that overlooks the woods and could fit two pool tables. I walk through the door and a large kitchen with island and a spacious living room with stairs leading up to a loft that I can use for storage. Three bedrooms and an office is the space I’ll have to stretch my legs and I can have a roommate if I want but, at $1400 a month, it’s a place that’s 10 times as big in property and 5 times as big as what you’d get in San Francisco for the same price.

I knew this place is what I wanted upon seeing it but I had to think it over mostly due to the 20 minute commute to work. Back in SF, it took me 2 hours each way but this was driving and I was concerned because inviting friends to my place may be met with, “man you live too far out in the woods.” If I wanted this place, it was mine.

TomTom has a 1st Friday of the month happy hour. Most of my future colleagues were there. I met everyone, chatted it up and every one of the 50 people that introduced themselves said, “I read your blog.” It turns out, my simple blog post about moving to New Hampshire was passed around for a few weeks in the company. I’m pretty sure that my face got red every time someone told me that. I had some beers with my new coworkers and afterward, me and Mary went to Murphy’s on The Green for that amazing Albacore Tuna Salad that I had when in town for my job interview. We chatted about the company and my past. It was good to meet a colleague on a personal level and make a new friend.

Afterward, I hit the Canoe Club and ordered a scotch to do some people watching. Ended up chatting it up with a few nurses from the medical center and Daniel (aka the best bartender in the world) recognized me from when I was in town last and asked if I decided to move here. I finally, headed to EBA’s diner to chat with Hillary, the waitress who’s kindness convinced me that New Hampshire was something special and I saw a few more coworkers.

I laid out these details because I went to 4 different places in one night and each time, someone was there that I knew and who knew me as well. It’s a small town but the ability to hop around town being recognized and becoming a local even after 2 days in town is powerful. It’s a great feeling and something I can grow accustomed to very quickly.

Once this post is up and my photos are published, I’ll be moving into my new house. My suitcase is full of clothes, a soap and an air mattress. That’s all I have until my furniture and things arrive in a week from the moving company. To be honest, I can do without that stuff assuming the air mattress holds air.
A bit about Lebanon / Hanover. I’m very happy with the area. Hanover is full of locally owned places to hang out. The school gives this town an international flavor and the pricey entry point to eat and hang out here makes for a good experience but it’s still cheaper than SF or Vegas which is great! I can eat some pretty awesome food here for less than $15. Lebanon is exactly the opposite. It looks like New England. Houses are on hills surrounded by pine trees and there are covered bridges and everything is affordable. In West Lebanon, there is a plethora of big box retailers (take that San Francisco!) I have a BJs wholesale, Walmart, Staples, Office Max, Panera Bread, a mall, Home Depot and more. There are commercial retailers that simply don’t exist in San Francisco and this makes me happy. I can drive 5 miles from that stretch of “evil corporations” and be sitting on a lake front with my fishing pole in the water. Another mile out and I’m at TomTom’s Lebanon office where 300 employees are changing the world every day and another mile and I’m at Dartmouth college where 10K of the brightest ivy leaguers study and learn about the world and another mile will take me to the Appalachian trail with backpackers making their way up north with their full bears and worn shoes.

The whole area is so diverse and everyone is trustworthy, friendly and genuinely interested in your life as much as you are about there’s. In 3 weeks, the trees will be turning orange and the annual pumpkin festival will take place. 3 weeks after that and snow will start falling and I can learn how to ski. It’s an incredible place to live and I’m happy to be here.

Of course, these are just first impressions but I’m confident this is going to be a great home for me. Of course, I’ll keep you all up to date with what happens next. Thanks for following!

San Francisco's Bay Bridge

The Gothic Raygun Rocket Ship (SF Embarcadero)

The Gothic Raygun Rocket Ship (SF Embarcadero)

Downtown SF

The Gothic Raygun Rocket Ship (SF Embarcadero)

The Gothic Raygun Rocket Ship (SF Embarcadero)

The Gothic Raygun Rocket Ship (SF Embarcadero)

Photo of a photo

Sailing in San Francisco's Bay

Sailing in San Francisco's Bay

Sailing in San Francisco's Bay

Sailing in San Francisco's Bay

Sailing in San Francisco's Bay

Sailing in San Francisco's Bay

Sailing in San Francisco's Bay

Powell Street Station - SF

Fog Rolling in Over Twin Peaks

San Francisco Marriott & Hilton (I used to live right beside the hilton)

My Friend Justin Leung going Off to Bard College He'll be an hour from me when i move.

Fog Rolling in Over Twin Peaks

Rincon Hill Tower

Bob, Liana, laura and Me

Golden Gate Bridge and Marin Headlands from Lands End Park

Photographing a Missile Silo

Foggy Day at Golden Gate

Angel Island and SF Bay

Laura. I've known her for nearly 5 years. My best friend.

Dinner at Luna Park with Laura and Liana

Dinner at Luna Park with Laura and Liana

Going Away Dinner at Gordon Biersch

Going Away Dinner at Gordon Biersch

Going Away Dinner at Gordon Biersch

Going Away Dinner at Gordon Biersch

Saying goodbye to some of my closest friends.

There are simply too many photos over the past 3 years that convey the fun, adventure and memories I’ve had since moving here. I spent hours combing through hours of photos to find one that really displayed it and I couldn’t find a single photo that was better than the rest.

If you’re curious, you can use Flickr’s URL scheme to browse photos by date:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamjackson/archives/date-posted/2008/06. That’s the month I moved to San Francisco. You can change that year & month to anything you want. It’s a pretty cool feature. Everyone following along has made this adventure so much fun and I look forward to whatever is next. SF was an amazing time in my life. Really. Amazing.

I asked a few friends if it’s even worth reviewing at this point and most of my friends that were still on the fence said they enjoy my reviews of these things as I’m pretty honest so here’s my 35 minute blog post about it. With all that’s going on right now, I don’t have time to truly show stats, numbers and photos. Here are some thoughts on the iPad after 3 months of use.

iPad is in a new category. Tablets are not a new concept but tablet with a new OS, app store and form factor is a new concept. Apple took a huge risk and everyone was skeptical. I waited. I was mostly waiting for the iPad supplies to improve but also for the app store to get more apps and for people to weigh in on its use but I was pretty confident it was going to work for me. The one reason for this. My commute.

In less than 2 weeks, I’ll be a car owner for the first time in 2.5 years. I’ll be in a new city and work within a few miles of work. The iPad will be used less and I may end up selling it until version 2 comes out. Since March, I’ve spent 3-4 hours a day on public transit. 80% of that time was on buses and subways where using a laptop wasn’t practical. I used my iPhone to read news via Reader, Instapaper and books via Kindle. I’d arrive at work with a dead iPhone but I stayed entertained from 7:45 to 9:30 every day (later if I missed a connecting bus or train).

The iPad fits perfectly in my day to day work. Once I’m home, I’m on the iMac or MacBook until around 10PM when I grab the iPad, fire up YouTube and catch up with suscriptions before docking it and going to sleep. I’ll keep it on the coffee table if I feel compelled to Wikipedia something I see on television but TV watching is rare for me and I’m on the computer instead.

The iPad still gets 4 hours of use but the majority of that is in a situation where I could use an iPhone but couldn’t use a notebook so the iPad is absolutely perfect. In 2 weeks, that will no longer be the case. I’ll be up, hopping in a car and driving to work. I’m confident that the iPad will always be on my coffee table once that happens.

Why isn’t the iPad magical?

The iPad takes absolute trust, skill, practice and work to be a productive tool. Typing is 50% of what I can do on a standard keyboard. Navigating menus, selecting text and the lack of multi-tasking makes the iPad completely and in no way usable as a device to get work done. Period.

If you have time to master iPad and time to deal with being half as productive, then you’ll be happy having saved a few hundred bucks buying an iPad over a traditional laptop but power users will long for the keyboard, mouse and larger screen that a laptop offers.

I thought iPad would be what I managed email on in the morning. It stays plugged in to a dock beside my bed next to the iPhone. After 30 days of holding iPad above my head in bed deleting and filing emails, I gave up. It’s too large, and I’m constantly changing hand positions to move, delete, reply and mark emails as read. The MacBook sits on my lap, notifies me of Twitter replies, new emails and skype conversations all at once with screen real estate to spare. The iPhone has one hand position and I can do it all from that hand position. iPad is awkward and huge at 7AM when I just woke up. For the past 2 months, I grab my iPhone right out of bed to do email management. iPad just doesn’t do the job anymore.

I spent the money for office, painting and photo editing apps. It’s impossible. Sure, there’s the Apple keyboard support but trying to edit text, modify things and manipulate images is just not fun. It takes too much time and a $999 MacBook can do just as much albeit with a shorter battery life and lower pixel per inch ratio.

No, I don’t own an iPhone 4 yet. A lot of people I know that purchased iPhone 4 are ditching their iPad simply because iPhone has a great camera, better screen, muti-tasking and other cool conveniences that make for a better experience. I can see that but this is simply comparing a Core Duo MacBook versus a Wi-Fi iPad versus an iPhone 3GS.

What is The iPad good for?

As much as John Gruber wants to argue that iPad is a true productivity tool and it’s just the software that needs to improve, I greatly disagree. I feel like iPad is so large and so awkward that I’m only using it because it’s an iPad and because I paid over $500 for the privilege. I use it for 2 things.

Reading & YouTube

On my commute to and from work, I read articles and books. It saves me tons of time from having to read the news when I get home at night. I just sync up RSS via Reader as soon as I wake up and before I leave work. It’s a wonderful reading experience but if Kindle had a color screen, the iPad would be no better other than touch. I could get by reading RSS on Kindle if the screen wasn’t so bad.

YouTube videos are fun on iPad. I lay in bed, hold the iPad over my head or propped against my legs and watch videos from people I subscribe to. It’s mostly Modern Warfare 2 commentary a 2 random YouTubers but eventually my arms fall asleep and I’m forced to lay sideways or simply switch to my iPhone to get around the discomfort of holding a heavy 9.7″ screen over my head for 30 minutes.

iPad is great for the bathroom. You’re in the seated position and it’s a beautiful screen. Just saying.

I use iPad to look up recipes on epicurious and I’ve downloaded a few cocktail apps that know exactly what’s in my bar. You choose the liquor you have stocked and it shows you all of the drinks you can make. My 25+ bottle liquor cabinet has the potential for over 1200 drinks and the apps look great on the large screen but cooking and occasionally Googling something I’m curious about after watching Mythbusters is only 5% of my iPad time.

Where are The Apps?

I’ve been meaning to write this on TheAppleBlog for a few weeks but I was going to ask..where are all of the iPad apps? I mean iPhone apps are great! I can browse for 5 minutes and find something awesome, fresh and even discover a new app that can be a part of my daily life.

iPad…well I have 2 pages of apps. I only actively open 4 of them each day. YouTube, Reeder, Instapaper, Mail. Other apps like cooking, safari, cocktails and Netflix I use so rarely that only having an iPhone would be sufficient.

I know iPad is smaller in terms of numbers out in the wild so developers naturally want to make iPhone apps but the app store for iPad that shows top sales of free and paid apps has been stuck at the same 10 apps for 2 months. I have every one of those apps installed and very rarely do I see a new app pop up there that’s new and fresh. I think part of the problem is that there are so few iPads out there compared to iPod and iPhone devices but I also think developers don’t know what to do with iPad.

How much do they charge for an app? How do they make that app good? Is there a competing app from a larger company? I think innovation in iPad apps is harder for developers and most of the holes iPad needed to fill with software have already been filled.

What does iPad need to succeed?

I think iOS needs to be rewritten for iPad. I think productivity is simply a joke on iPad compared to Mac OS X on a laptop. I think they need to add FaceTime and make a smaller iPad that’s easier to handle when in bed or on a crowded bus. I think iPad should be cheaper because a 64GB model w/ 3G is only $100 less than a MacBook. Which would you choose?

There needs to be a lot of work done to iPad before it’s a true next-generation device that can truly be used to get work done.

The Future of Me and iPad

I’ll have to let you know. I’ll keep this iPad and probably get the next one. If I do a lot of air travel after my move to New Hampshire, I’ll keep it around. If I find myself with free time to just read on my couch and not be constantly glued to My Mac, I’ll keep it. I’ve already decided that iPad is not for getting work done. It’s meant to be a free-time machine. A machine that is there for you when you want to consume content. A machine that replaces your newspaper, book and MP3 player and it only works in times when you’d grab a book and disconnect from your computer.

I think it’s great for kids. It’s great for people who aren’t great with computers. It’s a good casual machine for web research but once you want to tweet out that URL, add it to your blog, add context and attach a photo to that blog post….you’re going to just grab your Mac. Next time you want to make changes to albums you’ve uploaded to Flickr, skype with a friend or write a blog post like I am now, it’s going to be about your Mac. Not iPad.

I’ll keep it around but I won’t invest in apps, cases and wait in line for the next model. iPad is a device for those of us with disposable income that can blow $499 (before tax) on a glass slate surface to entertain us when we’re bored. It’s like buying a touch screen logitech Harmony remote for your home theatre setup. You can do fine with 10 remotes but this $249 touch screen thing is pretty cool and it makes some things easier.

But guys with those remotes only impress people who are techie. Kids see the remote as fun. others envy you for only having one remote instead of 10 but most of the other people. Real people. People who aren’t impressed with flashy wasteful spending will just think you’re a douche and wonder why you wasted $249 on this tech hardware that will be out of date in 18 months. That’s iPad.

If you disagree with me because you have an iPad and find it useful…that’s fine but part of me feels that you hate my review because you are still trying to justify the purchase to yourself. Can iPad really do what you did on your Mac better? If so, I need to learn from you because I haven’t had that experience.

With that said, I’m going to sell a few things. Honestly, these are things I like a lot but selling them would net me an extra $3,500 for the move (new car, new house, travel) and I don’t “need” these things right now. Basically, I’ll have a laptop, I have headphones. The 30″ monitor is simply too large to ship. Well, it’s not too large but that panel feels flimsy to me and I’m nervous it won’t survive 2 weeks in moving depots and on trucks so I’d rather sell it now to a local than risk losing the investment completely in transit. All of the first links on each line are links to Craigslist posts.

• 1. iMac. It’s a great computer, less than a year old and has AppleCare. More info? Read the Craigslist Ad. Asking $1699 for it.
• 2. Dell 30″ LCD Display.  Asking $1100 for it. It has 191 days left on the warranty so if it breaks, you can still return it for a full replacement from Dell.
• 3. Shure SRH 840 Headphones. Purchased in March. They’re great but I don’t need 3 pairs of headphones.  Two years left on the warranty
• 4. Canon G11 Pro-sumer point and shoot camera. The new S95 is out. It’s better, smaller and has 720P HD recording but it doesn’t compare to the swivel LCD and manual controls of the G11. This was purchased in December.
• 5. Wine. Lots of wine. I’m going to pack up and ship the wine that’s over $70-$200 a bottle that I keep in the wine rack but I have about 30 bottles total of wine from $10-$40 that I’m just gonna sell for $10-$20 each. Pick your wine. Take it with you. Want a list of it? Email me. You have to be local. I won’t ship it.
• 6. Glass Computer Desk. Sorry I don’t have a photo of it by itself. It’s a large glass desk. Want it. $50. It’s yours. You gotta pick it up at my place in Twin peaks by 8-31 (that’s when the movers are gonna take it with them.
• 7. Sony LCD TV. I just got this in March from a friend. I don’t WANT to sell it but if someone pays what I’m asking, I will.  It’s a Sony Bravia 40” LCD TV 1080p (KDL-40XBR2). New, it was $1899. It works great! Awesome TV. One of the 4 HDMI ports does not work but I may just be retarded and not know how to fix that. It’s just a loose connection I think. I’m asking $1000 for it. New, you can buy the updated version of this TV for $1599 on Amazon. Save the shipping. Save the tax. come by my place and pick this up. Much easier. It’s going to be hell to pack and I don’t trust the movers to keep this clean and non-damaged. the edges are glass and the panel is wide open (typical for a TV) and I don’t think I can pack it up well enough to be safe.
• 8. Dell Dimension PC. It has 249 days left on the warranty (nearly one year) It’s a Quad-Core Intel Core2 chip running at 2.4Ghz w/ 8 gigabytes of gaming ram, a 500 GB HDD at 7200RPMs and a Western Digital Velocirapter 10K drive that has Windows Vista Ultimate installed on it. The video card is crap but that can be easily upgraded. It has an extra USB and Firewire card I added to have more ports available. I’m asking $350 for this machine that cost me $1200 in late 2008.

All of this is as is. Most under warranty. It’s a great lot of stuff just trying to downsize. I don’t have to sell it so no low-balling please but I would like to sell this to local friends and want to avoid packing it all on a moving truck where it could be destroyed. Email me your offer. adam@adam-jackson.net

Moving across country, for me, is always a timed affair. I spend more hours planning and orchestrating my move than actually lifting boxes. I bought my car over the Internet and it’s waiting for me when I get there. I’ve reserved my hotel and put a hold deposit down on a house I really like and yes that house has already been added to location networks so future friends can check in there. Moving is also my chance to start new. I sell things and buy things. I’m liquidating by getting rid of some things I can do without or things that can be upgraded for a few bucks more. My computer setup (that so many people have featured on blogs such as “dream setups .com” has been sold to a different friends. I’m having trouble getting rid of the 30″ Dell LCD due to its size and price. Ping me if you’re interested.

When discussing my buying habits with a friend on Twitter, his question was about my brand loyalty. He made the reference that I stick with a pretty small pool of companies in my buying habits. I’m going to list a few below if you haven’t heard of them.

• Express Jeans and Polos
• Gap Button Downs
• Abercrombie Underwear
• Shure Headphones
• Bose Speaker Systems
• Sony Televisions & Home theatre equipment
• Apple Computers
• Dell Computers
• AT&T or Verizon
• Starbucks Coffee
• Brenthaven or Chrome Bags
• Ford or Toyota Cars
• United Airlines or Virgin America
• Nike Shoes
• This knife store
• This gun store
• Canon Cameras
• Logitech Webcams
• iPhone or Blackberry
• Google Apps or Exchange Server
• LaCie Hard Drives
• Sephora for personal items
• Bank of America

Okay, we get it Adam. You’re picky about where you buy from. Why did I choose these specific companies for all of my purchases of those devices. I live in a nation full of choice where every product has over 100 competitors begging for my dollar. I have choice to spend my money where I want. There are some steps to gaining my trust and having me as a loyal customer for a lifetime.

First impressions

These are crucial. First of all, I generally don’t buy your product the first time. Remember, I’m loyal to another company so my first experience generally involves using a friend’s or being in a situation or at a company where they use that product exclusively. Who my friends buy from and what my company uses is a huge factor. That’s only the beginning but first impressions of your product help forge that lifetime of loyalty.

I look at design, comfort, taste, smell and usability but what I’m most serious about is the human touch. Can a real human help me with my problem in swiftly and professionally? If so, your product may not be the best but I’m going to be hooked and will remain hooked until someone shows me better service than you have. Loyalty programs are the single biggest reason I return to a store or company to give them money. This is why I hope and pray that someone will figure out coupons using my location. Please allow a bar to give me 2 for 1 drinks based on my loyalty at that spot.

I’m not tough to crack. No company is guilty until proven innocent. I give every company equal chances even if I’m loyal to another.

I would have never bought a Ford car until last year when the company gave me two cars each for an entire week with a gas and lodging budget and said, “go have fun. go for a road trip.” Then a few of their VPs read my reviews and tweeted them out. Scott Monty DMed me thanking me for taking that drive. This has a huge impact on me and the first site I visited when thinking about buying a car next month was Ford’s.

When I have account issues, I DM @BofA_Help (Bank of America’s Twitter account). Within an hour, someone calls me and works out my issues. The same goes for AT&T and for Comcast. I am one SMS away from a real human calling me and figuring out my problems. Companies that do this will have me for life. An Assistant to the CEO of Starbucks called me after my complaint about a bad experience on Twitter and they sent me a care package and some other incentives to keep using Starbucks. Even a PR Rep for Guinness beer sent me their anniversary brew and some bar towels as a thanks. These people found me through my loyalty of their brand, through blogs, tweets and Flickr photos. Search for any of these companies on my flickr stream (even shooters’ gun store in Jacksonville) and you’ll see photos I’ve taken there. That’s my way of thanking them for being there for me as a customer.

A Lifetime of Loyalty

The product must be up to my standards. If it’s a piece of technology, it has to not break and be reliable. I’ll pay as much as 50% over the price of a competing product if the company is reachable within 5 minutes of something breaking and if that product is reliable.

I also am loyal to companies that have shortcuts to coupons, service and saving money if you’re “in the know.” Did you know that for $50 more, you can buy a computer through Dell Small Business and get 1-3 years of on-site in-person repair of that computer? You can pay a little more and someone on the same day as your hard drive failure or motherboard burning of will come to your house with the part and replace it for you within 4 hours. Not many people know that. HP may have better and cheaper machines and better overal support but Dell will come to my house 4 years from now and replace any part of that machine within 4 hours. That’s service that makes me a loyal customer for life.

Every 2 weeks, Starbucks sends me a free drink coupon in the mail for my loyalty and they greet me when I come in any of the 5 stores I frequent with “hi Adam. the usual?”When I told my morning Starbucks I was moving they said, “when is your last day? Okay, drinks are on us that day. anything you want.”This Starbucks gets nothing from me after that day. They’re not going to see me the next day but as a thanks for 6 months of spending $5.50 every morning, they’re going to give me a send off gift. I’ll be loyal to Starbucks for life.

Service and company accessibility is always more important than product quality but if quality is bad, I’ll do all I can to be a tester to help them improve that quality. It’s a 2-way street. I help them and they help me. At some point, I have to say “goodbye.” I’ve only done this a few times. The folks at Etymotic Research (competitors to Shure) treated me like I didn’t know audio which I don’t. They told me Shures are for people who don’t understand how sound should be received. They told me I’m just a kid with no taste. They gave me some units to test and then charged my card when I accidentally kept those headphones beyond 14 days. When I gave honest feedback, they cut me off as a press person and simply called me stupid (in a nutshell). I’ll never buy or recommend those headphones again. It’s a two-way street. I’ve spent over $3,000 on Shure headphones since 2005 and will continue to do so and recommend them to friends. Etymotic won’t get my support anymore.

When do I move on? Well, service and support are huge but it’s also the product. If the product is bad, I’m done. United Airlines is an example of bad product but comfort. I understand their website, I have people there to reach out to if things go wrong but it’s a cheap airline and I get what I pay for. I know what to expect. They’re not great but they’re always the same. There’s no up or down and they don’t try to set the bar high so I’m never disappointed with their service but if Virgin America Power adapters don’t work or I get on a flight that doesn’t have Wi-Fi, expect a few tweets in anger even though I’ll happily board a United flight with zero amenities. VA has set expectations and if they take those away, I’ll start to lose loyalty.

The Cost of Loyalty

It’s expensive. Perks, freebies and knowing me by name means a lot but the price of this is pretty high. I’ve never been the kind of person that only buys premium products with a perceived better quality and service and I’m not one of those people that hates on a company when my $20,000 Bang-Olufsen speaker system doesn’t rock my socks off. Instead, I start with the cheapest set of earphones a company sells or cheapest iPhone case or cheapest and smallest latte and I rate it, reach out to the company and start a conversation. I mention them on Twitter and see if they respond. Over time, I weed out the companies that simply don’t care.

The cost of loyalty is expensive because I generally upgrade to the next best thing a company has. If I’m loyal to Shure and they release a new pair of headphones, I’ll skip meals to buy that new pair. I have to own it. This mentality has slipped a bit lately. I bought an iPad after everyone else and still haven’t gotten an iPhone 4. Ultimate Ears has this $1200 12 driver set of earphones and I haven’t bought those yet. I have the money but haven’t bought them and, for the past 6 months, I’ve been on a 3 year old MacBook and am waiting patiently for a new MacBook Air. I wait these days for things and don’t find myself skipping meals to buy whatever is the latest.

Loyalty as a Business Model

I give huge kudos to any company that their success is based on loyalty. It’s hard work. Every job I’ve worked in where I was directly involved with customer interaction would yield high results. I’m not boasting but I love seeing reviews of products I’ve worked on where the person says, “and they’re so responsive, so helpful and so easy to get in touch with. Whoever is running their support team needs a raise.” I’ve gotten letters from ex-clients back when I did IT who said that I was the only person who would answer their calls 24/7. I’d drop by on my lunch break to make sure they were happy and I’d remember every name of their employees and keep a mental list of their common issues and needs.

This kind of attentiveness to every customer will lead to prolonged success. More companies should do this and more people like me will line up for service, product quality and happiness when it comes to dealing with them.

Thanks, as always, for reading. Sorry but I’m not going to edit this one. If there were grammar mistakes…well sorry.

When I visited my new home in July, the first thing I noticed was the complete dismay of Yelp.com results for the city. Foursquare is actually pretty popular but, for the most part it’s a small town with very little tech focus. The thing is, the college has meant that Flickr Geo-tagged images and Foursquare are being used but I want to take it a step further. I want to enable information sharing in this part of the state. I won’t be jumping in head first but my over-sharing and data organization that has been a key for both my personal success and professional success in tech can have a huge impact on this area. Here are a few things I’ll be taking on.

Here are the Yelp restaurant listings for Hanover and Lebanon. As you can see, there are some photos, some reviews and some basic info like hours of operation but very little has gone into completing the places database for Yelp in this area. Here’s what I’m going to do to improve this.

• Photos of every restaurant that has a listing
• Info (hours, good for groups, takes reservations, accepts credit cards, etc)
• Voting up and giving “kudos” to good reviews so they show up at the top
• Friending people who review often, connecting with them and asking their assistance with rating my reviews so the most fair, honest and complete reviews are at the top.
• Connecting with Yelp to work in a Yelp Elite for Upper Valley area and make it to other areas of the state and visit places that are on Yelp but that have zero reviews
• Getting copies of menus and specials and putting these on Yelp as well

As an example, this review from Matt J. is amazing. He does a good job pointing out that the restaurant is categorized wrong, he gives useful info about it being good for dates AND mentions Daniel who is this FREAKING awesome bartender there. I talked to Daniel for over 2 hours when I was in town. He’s a great mixologist and one of the nicest bartenders I’ve ever met. We talked liquor, life and joked around all night but he did this with everyone. I left him a $20 tip. I was just amazed with his style. Now that review highlights this. I just voted that review useful and people in town SHOUlD be doing that and reporting errors if the restaurant is filed under “bistro”.

Foursquare, Gowalla and Brightkite all need some better listings. Actually, this isn’t an issue with Brightkite since they have millions of places pre-loaded where all of the content in the other two big-guys come from users. I’ll be asking for a level 3 superuser admin on FourSquare and updating the places for that area with details, tips, twitter accounts and confirming there aren’t duplicates of places and that addresses are correct. Of course, you can be sure I’ll be the mayor of every place in town.

Flickr needs a community. There are so many great photographers in upper valley that I’ve already reached out to. Now it’s about education and putting faces to names. I’ll be connecting with photographers, learning the best spots to get shots and encouraging these users to properly tag their photos with geo-data and other critical information to make it easier to find photos of the area. It was hard to find good pictures when I was planning my first visit mostly because the absence of good map data in the area. Places on Flickr: Hanover, NH & Lebanon, NH.

Twitter has a solid adoption when I did “people near me” on Twitter for iPhone and saw a few accounts. Most of this is due to the college. I’m not looking to get any Twitter clients there but I will be encouraging some local businesses to sign up to twitter. I doubt this will catch on and I’ll be getting some push back but as I meet more locals, it’s something I’m going to work on even if I start it for them and simply ask they put the account on their menu with a very easy to use promotion like, “mention us on Twitter @CanoeClubHanover and get 10% off any of our Single Malt Macallan Scotch”

Something that may take a bit longer to pull together is a blogging web-ring of sorts for Lebanon / Hanover. I was trying to find bloggers who live in the area and there are a few but I get the feeling that they’re not talking to each other and not interacting. There’s no meetup or social element to it but these bloggers are sometimes talking about the same events and things. SF is easy because everyone blogs so a directory would be information overload but I really want to connect people as I’ll be blogging about it as well and it will help me meet new people and also get some other tech initiatives accomplished in the area.

There’s a lot of work to do and if you think I’m leaving something out, comment below. I’m not trying to bring the tech revolution to this small town. In all honesty, I want to make it easier for ME to find reviews, photos, mention places I’m eating at on Twitter and connect with other techies. It’s not about the information as a whole. It’s about connecting people. I think this can be accomplished and I’ll get to make new friends and it’ll keep me busy on the weekend which is something I need in this normally quiet town.

I warned everyone

I got a phone call in early June from a recruiter. To be honest, I get calls from recruiters once a week asking if I want to interview for a job. I always say yes to talking to someone, but usually never actually interview once I hear what the job is. Even though I rarely pursue these things my advice is to always say “yes” and then listen. You never know where it will take you…

This time I was intrigued, so I talked to a few people about a possible job.  Since I was happy at my current job and had no intention of looking for another job, I wasn’t too disappointed when a couple of weeks went by and I hadn’t heard back.  Then the recruiter called and said, “It’s been narrowed down to a handful of people. Can you fly out there and meet with the company?” I said yes.

On Thursday, July 15th, I left work around 10PM to fly across the country for my interview.  Only a handful of people knew what I doing; I had emailed my parents and Laura saying: “I’m hopping the red-eye to Boston for a job interview. I’ll let you know how it goes.”

Then I sent this tweet, “I love telling stories. Not this time. Goodnight friends.”

But the truth is, I didn’t sleep on the plane that night. I was so nervous about taking a sick day and discreetly flying across country for an interview at a large company. I was alsoworried that after all the time and travel I wouldn’t get the job.  As I said, I was nervous.

One good omen took place, though, As I was about to board, my friend and mentor Dom Sagolla checked in via Foursquare at SFO and posted: “red-eye back east to hang out with friends.” I looked up and there he was, on the same plane I was on.  He was seated a few rows back, but still. The friend who’d helped me in so many ways was on my flight and – in essence – accompanying me in that journey east to a potential new beginning. At 5 AM eastern time I was 30,000 feet up in the air and the sun peaked over the clouds. We landed in Boston at 8AM.  I hadn’t been to there since 2004 when I went to Macworld with my friend, Matt. I was all of 16 then.  Now at age 24 I was coming back. In the intervening years so much has changed, technologically and in me. I was, as you can imagine, psyched.

I was also tired and hungry. My friend Ben had DMed me as I got off the plane saying the coffee in Boston isn’t as good as it is in San Francisco. He was right. But there were Dunkin Donuts everywhere. Must have been 10 for every 1 Starbucks. There was a lot of that recognizable Boston accent too. I asked around and was told that to get where I wanted to go I should hop on the Dartmouth Coach. (That’s a $30 one-way charter bus that leaves Boston for Dartmouth College three times a day. Although the drive is just over 2 hours, this bus takes 3.5 because of stops along the way.)

Yes, I was headed to New Hampshire. I was almost at my destination, a town called Lebanon.

I need to tell you a little about Lebanon, N.H. The town is 5 miles from Hanover, home of Dartmouth, and has a population of 12,000 people (which is actually pretty big for New Hampshire).  Both towns are tucked away behind the upper valley hills among hundreds of miles of trees. It’s safe to say I was in the middle of nowhere. The bus was full of people my age. At the time, I didn’t know two large colleges and an Ivy-League university were among those trees, or that the town I was interviewing in had a median age of 21 because of the huge influx of college students that are there year-round.

Back to my story: It was only 11:30AM (8:30 back in California) and I about to have lunch with two potential colleagues. They were dressed in button down shirts with slacks and were clean shaven. In NewEngland they call this “business casual.” It was casual Friday, so suits weren’t required that day. (I was glad I had bought nice slacks for the interview. No one wears suits in the startup world. In Northern California, your CEO comes to work in jeans.) On the east coast, jeans on a weekday are for college kids and baseball fans. This was new to me, but refreshing.

The people there mean business. Blackberry and Windows are winning over iPhones and Macs. I loved it. It felt so productive. And the company I was interviewing for felt like a real company – which is a stark contrast to the very casual and very Apple-y culture in Nor-Cal. Of course, both places and styles have their advantages, but I loved the change and the very different feel of New England.

The interview process was incredible. I’m pretty sure that I was talking and throwing out more ideas than they were asking for. Everything fit together. Every question I was asked felt right. I knew the answers and I could foresee exactly what it would take to deliver on the goal – the goal of getting the job and the goal of making the company that much better.

What company?  Be patient.

The day was going by too fast. After 5 hours of interviews I was dropped off at a hotel (one of 2 in the entire town), and the man who I hoped would be my future boss said, “How soon can you start?”  I really wanted to say “bright and early Monday morning,” but of course I wasn’t hired yet. Still, I think we both knew that everything in my past had prepared me for this job, and that I was the right fit. We shook hands and I went to my room hoping to finally get some sleep.

Back in San Francisco I waited. My day to day routine continued; I toiled at my desk and kept my focus. I was one of two candidates trying out for this position. The other guy was local and as time went on I began to assume that he’d get it. Maybe the job was simply a pipe dream. After 2 weeks, I composed a letter to the recruiter with a list of 10 colleagues, business partners and mentors as references, and a list of my Linkedin 30 recommendations from years of job experiences starting with my Assistant Management job at Apple when I was only 18.

I knew that if I got the job in New Hampshire, I wouldn’t be required to move (I could work out of any one of their offices in California, Boston or at the home base in New

Hampshire) but I decided I could be more effective being near the team and working closely with my colleagues. Because I spent hours researching New Hampshire and soaking up everything I could about the state, I included a note saying if hired I’d be thrilled to relocate to the Lebanon office. I didn’t ask for relocation assistance or any extra incentives. It didn’t matter; I was ready for a big change.

As I noted in my blog post at the turn of my 2 year San Franniversary, I wanted to live in more places than just San Francisco. Now feels like the time to explore a bit more. Afterall, I’ve been in SF far longer than I had originally planned. Of course, New Hampshire wasn’t on the list of places I wanted to live, but long ago I told myself that I’d go almost anywhere if I thought moving would be a productive and fun adventure.

As the weeks went by, I began falling in love with the small, bucolic town that I might be moving to. In New Hampshire, there’s no sales tax or income tax; the nearest mall is an hour away.  There areflowing tree-covered mountains that go for miles and they measure snowfall in feet.  The average low is 8 degrees but in summer it can hit 85.  In autumn the trees turn bright orange, yellow and red.  There are rushing brooks in spring. The morning dew nourishes the wild flowers in one season and creates fog or icy roads in another. It’s pretty magical.

The state is very green when it comes to recycling too, and there are as many hybrid cars as we have in San Francisco. There are families who are just getting by and lots of well-off families who spend their summers water skiing on the hundreds of lakes. It seems like everyone spends part of their winter snow skiing atop nearby mountains. Unlike San Francisco, New Hampshire is a place where you can get by on minimum wage and live well and save for retirement on an average income. (In Lebanon the median household income is just $45K.) The nearest city is Concord, the state capital, which was settled in the early 1700s.  It’s an hour away and the population is just over 50,000.

By now you’ve figured out that I’m moving. I got the job. When I got the call I was elated –and relieved.  I felt as if the recruiter was excited as well. His voice was pleasant as he said, “I have some good news.” To my surprise, I remained professional. This is just another day and I have to find out the details before I say yes. Everything being offered was in line with my expectations but, they didn’t know I’d take the job even if it was less than what they were offering. The fact is, I wanted this job no matter what. If you’ve observed my pattern over the past couple of years, you know I moved to the suburbs and now spend most of my time at home. It’s not because I don’t like SF, it’s just

that I wanted to work on myself a bit more and city life can be a bit overwhelming at times. Remember, I’m a southern boy who spent a lot of his time hiking in the woods and milking cows. Really. City life is awesome, but it can sometimes be too much, and it was getting in the way of healthy living and living the values I was raised with. Playing and partying became a distraction from work and a roadblock to expanding myself. While city life is fun from time to time, I wanted and needed a change.

Some of things I know I’ll like about living in New Hampshire include being able to get my concealed weapons permit (something I miss about Florida), and driving down to the general store to get some milk. It’s not like SF where guns are nearly banned and going out to get milk means an hour on public transit and paying twice what it should cost.But relocating to New Hampshire is about more than guns or milk, or even peace and quiet.  It will give me the opportunity to do a few other important things like:

• Spend time with people my age who simply don’t worry too much about their online reputation and persona. People in New Hampshire generally aren’t as involved in tech as I am.  I think that will yield some greater friendships than I’ve made in SF. (You can expect to see my tweeting to change quite a bit and become more personal and less about social media.)
• I’m going to take up skiing and snowboarding; I’m going to start fishing again; I’m going to join a bicycle team. The mountains and rolling hills of New Hampshire are incredible for those things.
• I’m going to use my free time on the weekends to finally finish writing the 3 books that have been on my mind for a few years.
• I’m going to get back to what made me happy once: is sitting around a bonfire in my back yard and falling asleep to the sound of its roar.
• I’m going to slow down a little bit, work hard, improve my skills and spend more time on myself.

To be clear, San Francisco has been and remains great. It’s one of the greatest cities in the world. But it’s still a city and I want to enjoy nature a bit more. City life may be in my future again, but for now I’m going to move to New Hampshire and slow down.

Another side note about moving to The Upper Valley of New England is that my friend Lee lives across the border in Vermont. She was a very close family friend when I lived in Florida. She’s the fun and lively Italian woman who taught me how to cook. (For any of you who have had my cooking, you know she taught me well.) She moved to Vermont a few years before I moved to SF and each year she invites me up to Vermont to ski. I always wanted to make the trek but never took the time. Now, I’ll be about an hour away from her and that makes me happy. I also have many friends and connections in Boston and New York City that I’ll be able to reconnect with. This doesn’t include all of the friends I know I’ll make after I settle in.

By now you’re probably wondering about my current job – how I really feel about Brightkite and if I’ve been unhappy there.  I joined Brightkite on March 1, 2010 and had no plans to leave after just 6 months. Let me be really clear on this: I wasn’t looking to leave. I was called out of the blue and said yes to this amazing opportunity for all the reasons I’ve just delineated.  I was a Brightkite user when they first launched in 2008 and never stopped using the service. Now that I’m moving, sharing photos with everyone with a Brightkite location attached to them will be more important than ever. I’m thrilled to be moving on after having worked for a company I respect so much.  I was a passionate and dedicated Brightkite user for many years before joining their staff.  I will continue to be a Brightkite user and booster.

As far as the future of Brightkite goes, it is huge. The entire team is doing some amazing things and I’m just happy that I was a part of it, even for a short time.  I’ll miss my colleagues. That’s all I have to say on the subject, thanks for asking.

————-

One more thing to get straight: If you’re thinking that San Francisco won and I failed you’re wrong. San Francisco didn’t win, I did. I’m a kid from a small town in Florida with a C Average high school GPA and no college experience. I arrived with an amazing girlfriend and a few hundred bucks in my pocket. Together she and I networked our way in. We attended tech parties, studied, worked long hours and dedicated ourselves to making it. It took one year to finally start saving money again and be happy in SF as a person – not just happy because of my job and career opportunities. The past years have been incredible and challenging, but I’ve been up to the challenge. I spent all of year 2 without Laura as my girlfriend but this journey will be made alone for the first time. I would like to share with high gratitude what having a life partner meant to me and how Laura’s support and love for the past 4.5 years has really shaped who I am as a person. She’s not as public as I am so I won’t say much else other than to thank her for everything. Along the way, I made more friends. I had what it takes to stay in San Francisco for many years beyond today, but I’m choosing to move to advance my career and have a new adventure.  Sorry, just had to get that out there before I get a dozen anonymous emails about “giving up”.

So, drum roll please…

On September 7th, 2010 I’ll be firmly settled in Lebanon, New Hampshire and starting my first day at TomTom. In case you don’t know, TomTom is a huge player in the GPS sector and they’re the leader as far as innovations in that market go. For many people TomTom is a household name.  They’re doing some truly terrific things.  I’m very proud to be their new Senior Project Manager for Content Production, Community Management.

The office I’ll be working out of was formerly TeleAtlas, the mapping company purchased by TomTom in 2007.  As a map geek and lover of technology and navigation I’ve long been a huge fan of TomTom Anyone who knows me knows my fascination with Google Earth, mapping and topography. This is a great fit.

This is a major career move for me for a few reasons that I wanted to jot down:

• This is the first public company I’ve worked for since Apple when I was a teenager.
• There are a few thousand employees at TomTom. My last 4 jobs have been at companies with less than 20 employees.
• I’m completely amazed at how small and friendly TomTom feels despite its size. This is a huge reason I’m joining.
• They’re doing amazing things at TomTom and I see a few ways to help that will directly make a difference to the company. This means so much to me.
• I’m being given the chance to fill a position that I’ve dreamed about since I was a kid. But it’s not about the title, it’s about the direct influence I’ll have over so much. You can bet I’m going to put everything I have into this position.

The first week of September will be spent packing and moving across country. I’ll need to rent a new apartment, change my driver’s license and buy a car that’s good in the snow. I’ll have a couple of days to do all that before starting my new job in a new town with new people.

The excitement I feel right now is similar to when Laura and I first arrived in San Francisco on June 1st, 2008 (photos). I feel the same way about this move. True, I don’t have someone to share it with, but that’s life. I’m going to own this move and it will be a chance to do something remarkable.

————-

In closing, I want to say thank you to everyone. Everyone I’ve met along the way who has given me the chance to chat with them about tech, in person or virtually.  An to  those of you who simply taught me something—anything—well, thank you too.  To all of you who replied to me on Twitter and supported my various life changes I say thank you. I’m simply ecstatic. I’m amazed. I’m overwhelmed with the love and support everyone has given me. (Of course, I’d be okay if the haters had never come forth, but that’s part of this journey too. They are also my teachers.)  Everything I did in San Francisco enhanced my life and my knowledge of people and of the tech business in so many ways. I’ll be back in SF pretty often, I suspect and who knows I might even find myself living in the bay area again later in life.

Dad told me yesterday, “San Francisco will always be there. Your family will always be here. Go have an adventure.”

Off I go. Again.

The photos used in this post are all iPhone photos taken within 24 hours on my trip to New Hampshire for the job interview.

Of course, Football isn’t really big here in SF and neither is is noticeable that the kids are back in school since kids aren’t really in SF or at least so many that you’d notice. Another stark reality of Fall in SF is that our Summer is actually the coldest time of the year and Fall doesn’t mean any trees are going to change colors. The trees here don’t really lose their leaves. The only thing I look forward to in September is that there will be far less fog in San Francisco than usual. Yeah, so what was I saying?

Well, I wanted to write some things down. I have some good news. I’m moving into a larger place next month. I love my current apartment but some recent “stuff” is going to mean I need a larger place. The good news is, I’ll be MUCH closer to work. For instance, it takes 1.5 hours to get to work each day and after the move, it will only take me 15 minutes and sometimes less. I’m looking forward to the shorter commute. I’m also going to have more time and a much better schedule to call my family more. It’s so hard to call them with my schedule and that pesky time difference. It looks like the new place will mean I can talk to my parents more often and they’re stoked about that.

I’ve decided to switch back to PC at least for my work computer. I can’t use the Mac anymore for work or at least for productivity. It’s just hard to get stuff done. It’s a great machine for having fun and socializing but just not great for getting work done. I need a strict process to work effectively and Windows is just boring which means there’s no distractions. I’m looking hard at the new Blackberry Torch as well but only if I can get that on top of my iPhone 4. I won’t give up iOS simply because it’s so much fun but I really miss long emails typed out on my Blackberry. The keyboard is amazing!

I desperately need to redesign this blog. I know that it’s terrible. Two people have been picked to help me but, with the move and getting a car, I’m putting that on hold.

I’m going to celebrate Fall by purchasing an SLR or at least an upgraded four thirds camera like the Ricoh G1 or some other fancy schmancy camera. I can’t afford the 5d Mark ii but something like the Canon 7d is in order. It’s time to upgrade my gear even if I shouldn’t be spending that money.

I’m also going to be getting a vehicle when Fall starts. I’m not going to buy a new one, just something cheap that gets me around. I really need to get a vehicle. Getting around is going to be impossible next month with the new place so a vehicle is a requirement. It’s a step that I’m finally becoming an adult!

Ah and some other good news. August 26th is my birthday. I’ll be having a small and private dinner among friends on the 21st (since I’m not in town for my b-day) and a sort of after party at an SF bar where anyone can come and buy me drinks. Of course you don’t have to but I’d gladly welcome it . I’ll be inviting people via Facebook.

Oh and yep. I’m flying out of SFO on the 25th and going back to Florida for 6 days. Going to spend time with my family, rest, relax, train with Dad and, of course, take tons of photos of my beautiful sisters. They grow up soooo fast! I’ll get back on the 30th and will spend the next 2 days moving into my larger place. It’s going to be a crazy week with the party on the 21st, 4 days of work, a 5 day trip to Florida and then right back for a move but I do things in sprints. With that said, I’ll leave you with something insightful….

Everything about life will be unexpected. The circle of life is perpetual and its kindness depends on your outlook and how you perceive it. Everything is as it will be and it’s up to you to stare back with a smile or a frown. One day, you’ll cease to be and someone else will have taken your place. Every step you take is a part of your legacy so step kindly and step with purpose and don’t forget to breathe cause you might smell the trees and the flowers and everything around you. It’s life. Smile.

Side-Note: My email is adam@adam-jackson.net. Terrible email address but I never ignore emails. If you take the time to write me, I will respond to you with an honest, “i’m really busy today so give me a few days to respond” or I’ll take an hour to give an honest answer. You took time to write so I’m taking time to respond.

This guy is around 15 years old or he may be even younger. He asked how to become a better writer. In his email:

Can I like pay you to consult with me on being a better writer and how to write good stories. It’s just not something a freshman grammar teacher will teach you. Aka, writing a blog post.

I responded with an inquiry to review a few of his public pieces and promised to follow up. Mondays are always a bit crazy so I gave him a short response last night but said I’d give a better answer, very soon.

Hmm. these are good. My only thought and I’ll try to keep this short….

Write about what you love, be fearless and share as much as you can. Be the one who speaks up ONLY after learning as much as you can about the subject and when you speak, mean it and stand by what you say but never be afraid to admit when you were wrong. Always say thank you to those who correct you and always apologize to those who deserve it.

Above all, write all of the time. Write as much as you can. that’s how you’ll become a better writer.

I said to myself that this wasn’t a good response but it was deep enough that it might take some time to decipher, much less than actually following through with my advice, which would take years.

Yesterday, while chatting with someone over Skype, I said that my high school GPA was a 2.4. While she scored an A in journalism class at a university, I scored a C on Mr. Ryan’s creative writing class in 11th grade. Here is a short story I wrote in 11th grade at the age of 15 and just before I went to San Francisco for my first Macworld Expo. Written on 10/08/2002:

“Do your homework!” he said.  Stood up and just then a gust of wind from the screen door blew my hair around like a whirlwind.  He took a step toward us and we ran to the back of the unfurnished house.  Every step we took had the sound of his footsteps.  Every floorboard creaked.  As we ran, I sneezed when colliding with a spider web; the mere feel of it makes me sneeze.  The blaring football game in the family room, or at least that is what the common name is, faded away then we were finally in our room.  I pulled my homework from under the UN sheeted bed.  There were drops of blood from my nose on the mattress when I was here last time.  Once again, there was a spider web.  I would rather spend an evening covered in these webs, than face the fate that my dear friend will face after I leave.

We both shook at the sound of glass breaking in the front lawn.  Well at least it was called a lawn; there was not any grass, though.  This has gone on every Friday evening when it is a full moon.  His mom does not stop her man.  Every time he touches this “STUFF”, he gets out of control.  That is why, although I get hurt too, mostly because of my lankiness, he is not there alone.  No matter how bad it gets, we can always sneak out through the window and hide in his tree house.  Tonight was one of those nights.

The window was broken in one of the outbursts of his father.  The hole was patched by duct tape.  I like always but my leg, hands and some of my body parts on the jagged glass.  Jason has always been good at getting out and only cutting his hands.  I immediately see a narrow cloud covering the moon, our path to the tree house is cut through the center of dead briar bushes; so wear something long to go through, and be no older than 10.  It is a tight squeeze.  The monster, that is his father, trotted out to the barn and the squeaking of it tore my ears off with a steak knife.  He grabbed an ax, and started chopping his way through the briars.  Involuntarily, a trickle of urine ran down my leg.  He was calling out our names saying he would not hurt us, and you could tell he was gritting his teeth while the words almost punched us in the face………

I don’t have any shame or embarrassment for posting this. It was a story I wrote after casually blogging from the age of 11 to 15. I’m still under the impression that I’m a terrible writer. I’ll admit to you right now that I am a bad writer. I lack proper punctuation and my writing level isn’t above high school age as you can tell from my use of small and easy to use words. I am bad at maintaining focus and staying on track with the original story as I sometimes steer off course to offer a side-note or mid-sentence correction that should be edited in later in a proper way.

I’ll give you an example of what’s important with great writing. It’s about the story. Most of my story telling abilities come from my father who spent 2-4 hours a day telling stories of Chinese masters and the adventures of the Samurai to groups of Aikido practitioners. Having attended his class 5 times a week since I was 2, most of these stories I’ve heard dozens of times but I began to teach the classes myself and public speaking and story telling began to become a part of me. I got better through repitition and by doing it every day. In my teens, I’d offer examples of principles he’d teach when he and I chatted on the drive home from class. I’d offer real world examples of a principle that’s merely explained by throwing someone to the ground and Dad would smile that I was able to properly bring things to a level that people would understand and he’d call me up to offer an explanation of what he just demonstrated in a physical movement and this lead me away from technical writing and more creative writing.

At Apple, I used that ability to sell computers and inspire my team at the store to follow policy but sell the Mac lifestyle to customers, how to hold yourself and how to convey the excitement of one-touch processing in iPhoto to a customer on the edge about paying $1799 for an iMac.

Throughout all of the public speaking, storytelling and teaching, I kept writing and never stopped. When you add up my posts on this blog, Tumblr, TheAppleBlog, Twitter and a few private blogs I keep for posterity and reflection, I write 2-5 thousand words a day. Only half of those are edited before hitting publish but I have never stopped writing. As an example, this post took about 25 minutes to write and it’s around 1,550 words.

My advice for an aspiring writer remains unchanged to what I said in that initial email. What I wanted to paint in his mind is that good writers aren’t born that way. Their lives lead them to it. My teaching, learning and creative spirit helped in so many ways. Being an only child until I was 11 coupled with moving to new schools every couple of years forced me to be alone a lot where my inspiration was limited by imagination and a notebook was my best friend. Blogging became that outlet and, even today, The Internet and blogging is where I get answers to whatever is bothering me. I don’t have a friend that I can confide in. I don’t have a sister that’s my age who can offer advice on life choices or hear my rants and raves. I have writing. When blogging (both short and long form) are the only way you can express yourself and get feedback from the world, it’s essential that you become good at it.

I’ll reiterate:

Write all of the time. Write when you’re tired and when you’re wide awake. Write instead of playing a video game. Write instead of watching 30 minutes of television. Back away from Twitter and write long-hand and then tweet a lot to get your succinct thoughts down to an art in 140 characters. Write privately about your day. Be descriptive and share everything about yourself because, through writing, you’ll learn more about yourself than any therapist or shrink could tell you. Let writing become your friend and lover and even if you’re absolutely disgusted with what you wrote and you know there’s bad grammar and punctuation, hit that publish button and see what happens.

You never know. It might be fun.