* I might be off by a few years

Happy Birthday, Hilly

Good thing she was 21 at Avitable’s party…

Getting here wasn’t bad. A four hour flight from Salt Lake City.

online from the iPhone while in flight.

I will continue to rave on and on about how cool it was to Twitter and be online during the flight. I got a free pass for the GoGo Wireless service. And not just from the MacBook Pro, but from my iPhone, too. AT THE SAME TIME! Amazing how such a simple thing as getting online made me so happy – at 40,000 feet in the air, no less.

But tonight is the night for Avitaween.

Excited. Ready to get my drink on. Meet some bloggers I’ve not met before.

A full report with photos will be posted.

Now off to enjoy the day.

I had such grand plans for enjoying what may be the last nice weekend in October for Utah.

I wanted to get a new episode of Scooter Sunday done, but that didn’t happen [I even had the entire script and everything ready to go film].

There was a trip to Lagoon that I missed out on with my wife, her granddaughter, her daughter and her brother [there's always Universal Studios next week]

I did attend a friend’s 60th birthday party and had a few of these:

And I cooked a turkey [or at least monitored the progress of it]

But mostly I spent time starting at one of these:

Fighting a cold is no fun, but I did my best to shake it quickly. I ingested all sorts of natural and over the counter products and ended up waking up this morning to just a cough.

I feel tons better this morning. Which is good.

Because in 6 days, I need to be well and rested for this:

Six more days… Six more days…

Yep, that’s my iPhone

Yep. I’m now an iPhone owner, but it’s not my main phone. There’s a story to this. Read on.

Back in 2005, I entered a contest on Engadget where I won a Nokia N-Gage QD phone. The phone came with a pre-paid Cingular SIM card. I went and changed the number, got a new SIM card and have used the pre-paid phone on and off, mostly when my main Sprint phone isn’t getting the best of service.

I sold the N-Gage on eBay and bought a used Motorola SLVR-L7 (also from eBay), which was smaller and easier to carry and had longer battery life.

Then a couple of months ago, a friend at work was having some troubles with her Powerbook G4. I used my Mac prowess to get the data off of it and in return, she promised me I could have her iPhone – 1st Gen. Last month she bought a new iPhone 3GS and the next day at work, she brought me her old iPhone.

a bit used with some nicks and dings, but it works and it’s my first iPhone

Pre-Paid

So I took the SIM card from my Motorola SLVR-L7 and put it into the iPhone, hoping to instantly switch phones without any issues. Nope. Nothing.

Support From AT&T?

Turns out, that AT&T has all but dropped support for using any iPhone as a pre-paid phone. There is some minor support for iPhone 1st-Gen owners, but you would have had to enable the unlimited data plan before June 17, 2009. I didn’t get my iPhone until the first week of September. At this point, it became evident that I would need to both jailbreak and unlock my iPhone.

Jailbreak

There is no shortage of web sites that walk you through the process of jailbreaking and unlocking your iPhone. I found this site to be the best tutorial, with a step by step detail on what to do.

Almost There

After about 20 minutes of running the jailbreak and unlock, my iPhone was ready to go. I made a test call and sent a text message. All good so far. But then as soon as I opened Safari, it was a “No Go” again. Back out to Google, it turns out there was a fix for this, too. This site deserves kudos for making not only great instructions, but providing an iPhone app to change your carrier file to enable prepaid data access [it's $.01 per kilobyte, but it's available] for those times when I need to check Twitter or my email.

Wrong? Illegal?

I’ve shared this story with a few people that have asked how I was able to get an iPhone without having to sign a two-year contract and pay almost $80 a month for 450 minutes. Some have said this is illegal. The chat rooms are crying foul on those of us that have “skirted around” the system. But how can it be illegal or wrong when those of us that are prepaid users are paying for service still. AT&T still gets money from us. They are not losing anything on us users, unless you consider we are not under contract just because we have an iPhone.

For my particular phone, it was not subsidized by AT&T for me to have it. The person who owned it before did their two-year contract and she, being the rightful owner of the physical phone, gave it to another person to use. I see this as a way to have an iPhone while still remaining a prepaid customer that pays for each minute, text and kilobyte of data I use.

If someday I decide to make the switch from my main phone on Sprint to having an iPhone on AT&T, so be it. Then at that time, I’ll sign the contract and upgrade to the latest and greatest. For now, I’m happily content to be a part-time iPhone user and hang with all of the other cool kids in the mobile phone world.

CLICK THE PLAY BUTTON ABOVE or double click on the screen above

Vimeo version – Click here.

Two In A Row

With summer officially gone and fall started, I am doing what I can to get a few more episodes of Scooter Sunday in before it gets too cold to ride. The forecast is looking pretty cold and grim for this next weekend, so there will most likely not be a new episode next week.

Which means I should (that’s the key word there) be able to get caught up on my other blog posts I’ve been wanting to post.

CLICK THE PLAY BUTTON ABOVE or double click on the screen above

Vimeo version – Click here.

Winner Winner, Memory Card Winner

And as promised, based on random numbers picked for each comment left on this previous post, here are the winners of the SD cards:

• 1Gb SD card – Avitable
• 2Gb SD card – Sybil Law

And the winner of the 8Gb SD card is….

• Hello Haha Narf

Congrats to the winners. Emails will be going out soon with details on how to claim your prize.

I can understand, to some degree, why there may be opposition to a national health care system run by the government. Perhaps those who don’t want it already have great coverage and are fearful of losing it. And there may be some who don’t want their tax dollars going to care for others. And yet there are others that do not want government in the health care business [hint: they already are with Medicare], hoping for less government in their lives. If someone has valid concerns about this heated and sensitive subject, they should feel free to voice them in a civilized and professional manner.

However, I admit that I am very perplexed on why people are opposed to a president encouraging our nation’s children to continue their education for any reason other than they dislike and don’t trust the man. Equating President Obama to a dictator who ordered millions killed or some pedophile on the street offering candy to minors is a huge stretch of the imagination, unless of course you really hate and despise Mr. Obama and everything about him, then I could see how such comparisons are made. Denying which people are allowed to encourage your children is every parents right, especially if you really do believe that someone may be subliminally communicating a message that is against your wishes.

Giving your health care needs to another entity can produce some concerns for many. It may seem that people want more control in what doctor they go to, what kind of coverage they have, if they can get the type of care they need and getting the proper treatment for any serious ailments they contract.

Same with the trust you place in others to educate your children. You want them growing up to be healthy, wise and intelligent members of society, endeared with your ideals, your thoughts, your teachings and your beliefs. Giving control to others that provide insight to them is the unknown that causes concern. As a fellow parent, I understand that. But at some point, they grow up. Throughout their lives, they find mentors, teachers, leaders, clergy, friends, other parents, relatives and yes, even elected officials, that will influence them in various ways. Parents will instill a good set of rules, but as intelligent carbon-based life forms, these kids will seek out the advice of many, not just from their parent(s) or anyone else their parents liked or approved of.

And yes, I do see why parents are in an uproar about a speech from a President. It’s advice from someone they don’t like or trust. And no amount of logic or reason will change their minds: they simply don’t want their kids to hear what he has to say, even if it’s in line with what said parents believe and have already taught to their children.

I smell a heavy dose of hypocrisy here.

For health care, you are already trusting others to make decisions about your medical needs. You trust the company you work for that they will provide decent coverage so when you go to the doctor – who you are also trusting – to make a sound decision on what type of care, drug or procedure that is prescribed. Those kinds of coverage and decisions change, sometimes yearly. The rise in health care costs changes the type of coverage you get over time. Most, if not all of these changes, are out of our control.

The same hypocritical logic can be applied to who educates or advises your children. If you don’t trust a sitting President to offer sound advise, what about others like a priest or a member of the clergy? Perhaps you know them in person and can better judge their motives. Or you simply just like them because you don’t disagree with them on many levels.

So what does it take to trust an elected leader? For former President Bush, his reading of “My Pet Goat” to a classroom of elementary-aged students didn’t produce the same kind of uproar Obama is getting. His goal of promoting reading was positive. But isn’t encouraging kids to stay in school just as positive?

I was a vocal opponent of George W Bush as our nation’s president and his policies. But if he would have offered a health care solution, I would listen to his proposed solutions. If he would have hosted a national speech to students to encourage continued education, I would want my child to listen. Disagreeing with what he did in office didn’t mean he wasn’t capable of offering positive advise.

Not everyone is lucky enough to be covered by a health care plan. In fact, there are 47 million in this country that aren’t. There are even more that are covered, but not quite as well as what their needs require. And while anyone, for a price, can currently buy their own coverage [pre-existing conditions permitting], it’s not always the most affordable option.

With regards to education, I don’t think there is any parent that doesn’t want their child to excel in the classroom. But given a speech of advise from someone the parent doesn’t already like or trust, then any positive message from that individual will simply be rejected.

Until we can stop the series of dividing ourselves over political parties, race, religious beliefs and hatred, we will continue to see the public rejection of forward thinking and positive changes and messages in this country.

No one is asking you to agree with everything our elected leaders propose. Just to voice your concerns and offer up alternative solutions that benefit more than just yourself.

And no one is asking you to support every word that comes from the mouth of an elected official. Just to be open to the fact that children can learn something positive from someone you may personally disagree with.

In-N-Out

One of my favorite burger joints ever since I can remember is In-N-Out Burger. I grew up in California where there are many locations. But up until recently, In-N-Out hadn’t graced the Beehive State. The closest current location is a four-hour drive in St. George. Since my daughter and I were so close to Phoenix while visiting the Grand Canyon, it would seem wrong to not make the under two-hour trek to enjoy a tasty treat.

Fries animal style, Double Double, grilled onions, cheeseburger

Fortunately, the Salt Lake area will be getting In-N-Out locations this winter. I will have to limit my visits to once a month to keep it real [and keep me from turning into a tub of double-double goo].

Blogger Meetup

Marty and Kevin

One of the bloggers that I’ve been reading for some time now is Kevin Spencer. He’s a British guy living in Phoenix and is not only a big fan of The Cure and Depeche Mode like myself, but he also takes some very stunning and incredible perspective photos.

As it turns out, he had never met another blogger in person. I was his first, um… blogingly speaking. We decided to meet up at a place called The Fish Market.

The Fish Market in Phoenix, AZ

The food was very good and so was the company. Not only did I learn a lot more about Kevin than I knew from his blog, we had a nice chat about all sorts of subjects. And as he found out, I’m quite the chattering fool when it comes to discussing my favorite subjects.

And my daughter Tiffany joined in the conversation as well, being extra patient with her dad and a fellow blogger.

Marty, Tiffany and Kevin

It was great to meet Kevin in person and be able to put a face with the name and the pictures.

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A Quick Giveaway

Ok, to celebrate back to school time, I’ve got a few SD cards laying around that I’m going to giveaway. To enter to win, all you need to do is leave a comment on this post and mention who was your first blogger that you met in person. If you’ve not met anyone yet, then tell me what blogger event you would like to attend someday.

As shown in the picture, there is an 8gb SD card, a 2gb SD card and a 1gb SD card. I will pick 3 random comments [from 3 different people, for those that leave more than one comment]. I will announce the winners next week.

Arches National Park

The view most people know of Utah

It’s no surprise to my regular readers that I like to travel. It’s fun, I get to see new places and it gives me a chance to use up all of my vacation days throughout the year.

In the 21 years I’ve lived in Utah, I had never been to Moab until April of this year, when we went to TequilaCon 2009 in Santa Fe. We passed through Moab both driving down there and coming home. We also passed Arches National Park, which I found out that my wife had never been to [as I had not either]. So we decided to plan a trip during the summer.

Turns out the weekend we went was not only our one year wedding anniversary, it was also free entry to all national parks. Double Bonus!

So without further rambling, I’ll let some of the photos we took document the trip.

Standing Tall

Looking Pretty

the pathway to Delicate Arch

Incredible

Balance Rock

Who knew I was that strong?

A Window To The Sky

Stunning Sunset

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Grand Canyon

Welcome To The Grand Canyon

Every year, my daughter and I take a trip somewhere. Just the two of us. Previous years, we’ve been to Denver and San Francisco. This year, we discussed various locations that were within a reasonable driving distance.

My daughter had never been to the Grand Canyon. I had never been to either the North Rim or South Rim – only Grand Canyon West. So we started making our plans to go in August.

Now most people know that Arizona and August mean extreme heat. But it turns out the North Rim of the Grand Canyon isn’t as warm. The temps are much cooler there. But enough about the weather, let the pictures tell the story.

Fredonia, AZ

Grand Canyon North Rim

Tiffany, excited and happy

Nothing like getting photobombed by a squirrel.

And the next day, we went to the South Rim, where it was much warmer but still bearable, so long as we had water to drink.

Grand Canyon South Rim

The Unofficial Entrance to the South Rim

Afraid of heights? not this time.

… and neither is Tiffany

It looks Photoshoped, but it’s not. We were there.

Photobombed at the South Rim, too.

The Official Entrance to the South Rim

And that’s the end of the summer, as far as road trips go.

I love going to concerts. My first was Van Halen in 1982 and I’ve been to many shows in the last 27 years. I lost count on how many bands I’ve seen live, but I can easily say it’s over 1,000 different bands… seriously. Just scanning my concert ticket stubs and thinking of all the show I don’t have a ticket stub for, that’s a safe amount.

But out of all of those many shows, there is one band that I’ve seen in concert nine times: Depeche Mode.

The band never ceases to amaze me with what kind of show they put on. From the first time I saw them live in 1986 during the “Black Celebration” tour until the most recent show of the Tour Of The Universe, Depeche Mode have been one of the most amazing, entertaining and talented bands I’ve seen perform on stage.

This most recent date, here in Salt Lake City, had an extra bonus: Dave from Blogography was in town to enjoy this show. While the concert went off without a hitch, the lead up to this show wasn’t without it’s concerns. The band was forced to cancel a few of its dates, including two California dates, just weeks before the SLC date.

All of us were nervous about the show – even up to the day before during Dave Lake City 3 at the Rio Grande Cafe, Dave and I both hoping that there wouldn’t be a last minute cancellation.

But there wasn’t.

This was also my daughter’s second time seeing Depeche Mode, her first time being in 1998 for the Singles Tour.

Who the hell is that dude behind us and why is he not excited for Depeche Mode?

All three of us waited in anticipation, with big smiles….

When Bad Monkey pushes the button, the show will begin.

Dave has already posted a great set list and his thoughts on each of the songs performed. As for my thoughts, I’m with Dave on just about everything he said, especially with the selection of “Jezebel”, which isn’t one of my favorites from the new album “Sounds Of The Universe”. As with Dave, I would have preferred “Home”, which is one of my favorite Martin Gore songs. But regardless of that weak moment, The show was spectacular. I didn’t even miss hearing “People Are People” or “Everything Counts” [which is one of my all time favorite songs to hear live]. It was that good of a show. And I was able to capture a good amount of photos with my camera. Here’s a selection from the Flickr set:

The band on stage

Martin Gore at his finest moment

Dave was in top form, never missing a chance to be the frontman

During the final number “Waiting For The Night”

Thank you, Depeche Mode, for a kick ass show

BONUS: Video

And here’s a video of some of “Policy Of Truth” that I was able to capture on my camera.

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Green Day

Staged

Not to take away from the awesome show that was Depeche Mode live, I also recently went to another concert about a week before. Green Day played at Energy Solutions Arena [formerly known as the Delta Center] and put on a great show.

While sometimes blamed for getting too big and too popular and forgetting their punk roots, I have to admit that Billie Joe Armstrong has a great on-stage persona and is very good at building up audience participation. This was my third time seeing them live and I have never been bored or disappointed each of those times.

Here’s a selection of pics from my Flickr set from the concert on August 16, 2009:

Billie Joe on the big screen

Mike Dirnt on the big screen

Tre Cool on the big screen

… and the ending number “Good Riddance (Time of your Life)” – Billie Joe all by himself

BONUS: Video

And I was able to capture part of “Brain Stew” on video.