Left Behind

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In late 2007, we started working on a web based version of powerOne. We started learning Rails on the back end and HTML and CSS on the front. Soon we would have dug into Javascript.

Then Apple announced its SDK and all web-based work, except marketing and a small amount of back end work stuff, like the library, went out the window. We shifted all of our focus to learning native iOS (at that time called iPhone). We got pretty good at it, too, especially for productivity style apps. And of course the work we did on powerOne was popular. We’ve had over 1.5 million downloads, not bad for a productivity tool.

But here I am six years later learning JS, HTML and CSS. The technology is amazing. I’ve never developed with anything so immediate in my life. It is magical to run a command in the console and see it immediately react in the browser window. No compilation time, no waiting on the simulator and debugger. And the basics, especially when using something like jQuery, is actually pretty easy.

Maybe it wasn’t the same back then. After all, Internet Explorer was still way behind on compatibility, there was no jQuery Mobile, HTML5 was really just rolling out. I can’t complain about my timing. But the frustration over not being better versed at such an amazing technology is palpable for me. I wish I would have done more of this earlier.

Tackle The Impossible

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Albert Wenger, inspiring me this morning:

It is not about building a smoother version of what already exists in the market. That is a transient advantage as existing companies (in banking, insurance, healthcare, etc) adopt technology. If you want to build something big and lasting you have [to] use the internet/mobile to do something that simply was not possible before (at least not at any meaningful scale).

I turn 40 this year. I’m tired of futzing around with the little stuff.

Congresses Continued Obsurdity: The Brow Beating of Apple

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Matt Miller wrote a great post on Congress’ absurd hearings on Apple’s tax status:

Why are we publicly browbeating an iconic U.S. firm in an era in which we should be encouraging every innovative company to locate and expand high-value work in America? What kind of message do hearings like this send to firms overseas (or U.S.-based multinationals weighing their capital plans) about America being open for business and hungry for job-creating investment?

Once upon a time, Democratic senators like Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts wisely quipped that “you cannot love employment and hate employers.”

But common sense has given way to easy grandstanding.

Congress is always quick to point out it is someone else’s fault. Don’t like the way US companies avoid US taxes? Fix the damned tax code.

Or better yet, let’s combine the IRS “scandal” [1] with the Apple tax “scandal” and have the IRS audit all Congressional member tax records. Then we can really see who is skimming.

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[1] Why is no one asking why these organizations are even being granted tax exempt status? We have a situation arise that would be the perfect opportunity to have a national debate but our President and Congressional members are busy hiding from partisan firebombs. Well, most of them anyway.

The Expectations Game

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One of the most stunning facts about my grandmother was that she was handling the bookkeeping for the family business at age 9. Age 9! Most kids are playing ball or barbies or whatever. My grandmother was doing the books for a successful auto parts and scrap business.

I discovered so much of myself in my grandmother this past week. At aged 9 and 10 I was trying to understand how to factually re-create baseball players and seasons through the use of statistics. I was creating dice and board based baseball games about that time. Like my grandmother, I had a head for numbers. (My mom’s side is stock-full of number-lovers too.)

Grandma Fannie was a true women’s-libber and an uncanny business person long before she could drive. Makes me wonder whether we expect enough of kids today. She can’t be the only one. What could kids accomplish if we just expected them to do it?

Fannie Freedman

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My grandmother passed away this weekend. Her funeral is today. She lived 95 years, all but the last couple very healthy.

My grandmother was an amazing woman. She was the oldest of four kids, born just before the depression. Her father did odd jobs after coming to the US and sometime before she was a teenager he bought a junk yard with some partners. Within a year the partners reneged on their deal and her father had to go to loan sharks to keep the business going.

Everyone in the family helped out in that business. My grandmother, a very independent woman, did bookkeeping, tore cars apart, worked the counter, everything. Today it wouldn’t seem like such a big deal but in 1930 that was still pretty unusual.

She learned to drive (I’m sure before 16) and took care of everyone. She met my grandfather at age 18, married at 21. They literally spent a lifetime together (72 years!) and she always remained independent.

My grandmother took care of people. She helped the old folks who couldn’t get out, she started the gift shop at the synagogue. Her father died of a sudden heart attack very early (he wasn’t feeling well, went to the doctors on the way home from work and had a heart attack while in the doctor’s office. Dead.) Everyone had to pick up the slack. My grandparents, who had moved to a city nearby, came back to Massillon to run the family business.

They had three kids together, six grand kids, and nine great grand children, so far. My grandmother always seemed to have food available. She always had some food ready to whip out for us kids, more than willing to make matzah brie for a noontime lunch or quick with some chicken dish she seemed to prepare in 20 minutes but tasted like she had been working on it all day. Wanted a little something in the car? There were pretzels in the backseat.

They were in their early 60s when they bought a lake house and spent their summers on the water, skiing, gardening and doing the things lazy summers are supposed to be about. In their 70s they moved to a new home and lived in it, independently, for over 20 years.

A couple of years ago my aunt died of cancer. My grandmother had a hard time after that. Her health started to slip, dementia started to creep in. Two years ago my grandfather passed away, just a week short of his 93rd birthday, and grandma couldn’t be on her own anymore. She was done and basically, over the next two years, willed herself to death.

My grandparents were very important to me. They were role models for business, for life, for marriage and responsibility. While it is a sad day, this is also a day that I feel very lucky. I’m lucky because I got to know my grandparents into my late 30s, because they got to know my wife and my children.

I came to town a few weeks ago to see her one last time. She was very weak, could barely roll over in her bed to talk. My dad told me she wasn’t talking much, a few minutes maybe. (Again, I feel lucky. I was able to talk with her for 20-30 minutes each the next couple of days.) My eldest daughter came with me, more to see her grandpa (my dad) then to see her great grandmother. On the first day we stopped in to say hello.

My grandmother got a huge grin on her face when she saw Laura, aged 7, recognizing her immediately. It was her last smile.