As a mid-twenties middle-sized-city-dweller, this year has been the year of weddings. In fact, I'm on my way to one right now, chipping in this post right before I go help friends and family to their seats [I'm an usher]. [Congrats Seung-hee and Whitney!]

At the end of 2009, I'll have been to nine weddings this year, and I don't recommend that for a host of reasons, most of which you already know.

1. Broke Phi Broke - I am broke, straight up. I don't even want to calculate the costs for Weddings 2009. I know I'll be surprised. And I know I'll not want to go to weddings again. I'll factor in vacation days with this one. All corporate drones feel me, but those 3-day/4-day weekends add up and when you can't go home for Christmas to see little Soleil, then you might get a bit snuffed.
   
2. Exhaustion - These wedding weekends really pull a number on my work schedule and there's usually a period of limbo when I'm trying to reorganize and steer back on track. Those red-eye flights, though genius in conception, put your body to work. Sometimes, I enjoy them for the sadistic anticipation just to see if "I'll make it" the next day at work.
3. Time Sink - It's tough to actually spend time with the bride and groom during these things. It's monkey-style busy and there's so much going on that when I get to see the bride and groom, it's like a celebrity sighting. This is expected, so it's all good.

My friend, Dave, and I have a number of mutual friends and we've been hitting many of the same weddings this summer. Early on, we decided that good times are legit and worthwhile and at some point in the conversation one of us said, after noticing we'd be at the same weddings this year, "memorieeeessss," and of course we laughed at our own ridiculous, nonsensical phrase. But it capped a good night and the resulting year of weddings as been more than legit.

Amidst the ongoing membership to Broke Phi Broke, the red-eyed madness, wondering if a toaster is truly the right gift, and recalculating visiting my family for the holidays [I'll make it work], Memories 2009 is looking to be a banner year. Dave is capping it off big-time with his own wedding at the tail end of the wedding season. Congrats Dave and Ji-Hye!

I'll admit it, I'm just a sucker for a good party and a legit celebration.

HOLLA

I love Apple. Ever since I was sold the bill of goods by a Macevangelist, Ive been a convert and I'm not ashamed. The quality, the apparent security, the minimalistic design, and the easy integration with my iPhone all combine into an awesome MacMatrix. [That should have been a promotional burger co-released with the movie, but I digress]. Their launch to Microsoft-level competition [perhaps not market share, but definitely brand-awareness] was catapulted with the huge success of the iPod, the Kleenex of portable media players. Carried on through the iPhone and its unquestionable developer support and growing revenue, Apple has become a new face in the smartphone scene. It has arrived.

I also love Google. Gmail is the undisputed leader in hosting personal emails. So robust, Google was able to use the platform to launch a host of management software that was and is bundled and sold to small businesses for dedicated use. This is known as Google Apps. And they haven't stopped, nor are they really slowing down. Google Maps wants to show you where you're going. Google Voice wants to handle your phone calls for you - all of them. Google Earth wants to show you a glimpse of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Google Calendars and Docs want your day-to-day productivity to run on the cloud. The list goes on through Gtalk, Chrome, Picasa, Reader, News, YouTube, etc.

So people have signed in and signed on. People have waited for the coveted "invites" which, at the time, was a never-before seen marketing strategy that effectively replicates the trust, exclusivity, and credibility associated with "word-of-mouth" product evangelism.

And I'm just another "mouth." Google is in my life. I've signed up for the upcoming invites for Google Wave. I'm such a tool... but I'm still excited.

GOOG and AAPL are now coming to a point where they're in conflict with each other. Before this post gets any longer, I hope it's apparent that Google's advances in software are slowly encroaching on territory once reserved for Apple. Areas where Apple was able to blow away noticeable faults in software with their cutting edge hardware are now slowly being conquered by Google's shining code and seamless integration. Gleaming reviews of the HTC Hero running Google's mobile OS Android are catching my eye and the desire for better integration, sleeker user interfaces, and a one-stop-shop for "life management" software are winning me over.

In the marathon of consumer software competition [which is arguably more important than the hardware race], Google is setting the pace. The cloud is home court advantage and Apple might get left behind if they don't kick it up a notch with their juvenile MobileMe. With iTunes and AppleTV, Apple might be conquering the living room [not really], but Google is Genghis Khan-ing the software world.

All this doesn't not matter if Apple doesn't want to play. If they are content on providing quality hardware, then I suppose the point is moot [in which case they should hop on the Google wagon, quick]. However, with Google developing open source mobile software [Android] that supports:

• phone calls [Gvoice]
• sharing media [Picasa, YouTube]
• browsing the web [Chrome]
• email [Gmail]
• instant messaging [Gtalk]
• news [Gnews]
• GPS [Gmaps]
• organization [Gcal]
• productivity [Gdocs]

and an expanding application library, all I need is a slick phone with touchscreen and the works and I'm good to go. An obsolete iPhone with unsupported applications [not anytime soon, but that's the point] won't win any wars for Apple and I, for one, am waiting for a sweet phone to hit the market so I can hop on Android and hopefully drop AT&T like a bad habit.

I finished reading this book a couple months ago and I recommend reading it.

I was groomed as an engineer. In the machine of organized education, I was taught to reduce problems within feeble reach of some equations I had crammed in my head. Then, I was taught to use said equations to make something that worked to solve more "tangible" problems [still from a book, of course]. What happened was that the carefree, creative animal in my brain that likes to draw, imagine things, ask the "why not" questions, and color outside the lines was transformed into a dim-witted dribbling idiot. Unable to articulate what I wanted rather than what was "needed," I entered into the workforce only to realize that it's a great place to have my creative animal shot and killed.

I like creativity. Some argue that it's still in all of us, hidden in fear of being noticed and therefore never fed [the creative animal analogy stops now].

It's this very desire to want to be creative again that drew me to this book. Hugh MacLeod wrote a book borne of experience living somewhat of a creative life, written for people who've forgotten creativity.

Really, it's a simple book of forty, unapologetic chapters taken from MacLeod's life. Simple adages. Sound advice. Encouragement. Warnings. They can all be found in this book, and what's refreshing is that MacLeod doesn't pretend it's anything more than lessons he'd scraped together from being a YMCA-resident to a hit author and creative consultant. His experience helps to lend the book some credibility.  Throughout the book there are random business cards with drawings. That's his thing. That's how he got started: drawing on the back of business cards. I can see why he would include them in the book, and though some of them are witty, I wasn't a huge fan.

It's a short, easy read. It's even inspirational, if not fun.

An excerpt:

You don't know if your idea is any good the moment it's created. Neither does anyone else. The most you can hope for is a strong gut feeling that it is. And trusting your feelings is not as easy as the optimists say it is. There's a reason why feelings scare us - because what they tell us and what the rest of the world tells us are often two different things.