2010 in ReviewOther than a brief flight to Las Vegas for a software conference, we've had a quiet December in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with friends and family. At this time of year - we like to reflect on the last 12 months. The easiest way for us is through pictures. Here is just a small sample of photos showing you our life this year. In this email, I can only show you a few pictures, but if you read the newsletter online, you'll see a slideshow with 47 pictures. And, if you want even more details, you can go to our personal blog and click on the monthly archives.
View complete web album here.
Wow! What a year. We sure hope you had a good one too.
2011 is shaping up. You can see our complete schedule on our website. Here are our first scheduled appearances for the year:
- Jan 23-30: Holiday Travel Resort, Leesburg, FL
- Feb 2-6: FMCA SEA rally, Brooksville, FL
- Feb 8-10: Florida Grande RV Resort Webster, FL
- Feb 12: Brevard Geneaological Society, The Great Outdoors, Titusville, FL
Other Articles this past month
So you don't miss out on anything, here's a list of other articles we wrote this past month.
Our Technology of the Year for 2010
In looking back over the year, certain computer gadgets and applications stand out. We don't pretend to watch the entire industry (and anyone who does must have a team of 100s to help them!) - these are the products that have affected our lives and amazed us this year.
 Droid
There is no question but that our new cell phones are the most life-changing device to enter our world this year. We have the original Motorola Droid from Verizon. They are SOO obsolete now with the Droid X, Droid 2, Droid Incredible, Droid Pro and more all coming out after we got ours.
You really shouldn't even call this a cell phone, many call it a 'Smart Phone.' I like the term coined by David Pogue - 'App Phone.' You see, this is a computer with thousands of applications available. The fact that it also makes phone calls is truly secondary. Because the Droid plays music, it replaces our satellite radio; because the Droid has built-in GPS, it replaces our Garmin, because the Droid has a camera and it is always with us, it often replaces our other cameras; because the Droid is a book reader, it replaces our Kindle; because the Droid has unlimited Internet, it replaces a data card for our computers. The list is seemingly endless. Our Droids have become so valuable to us that, if we had to choose between our Spouse and our Droid ... it might be a close call!
We've written several articles on the Droid throughout the year, and we set up a special forum on our website just for Droid.
Gmail and Google Calendar
 One of the reasons that our Droids are so valuable to us is that we can read our email and watch our calendars with them. Because we use Google's tools, all our email and calendar items are 'in the clouds.' Nothing resides solely on any one device. Gmail collects all our email from a variety of addresses, and Google calendar tracks Jim's schedule, my schedule, and our business schedule. This information is synchronized automatically with our laptops, and our Droid phones.
If I want to add an item to our business calendar, I will see any appointments on Jim's and my personal calendar. Once I add that item, if Jim picks up his phone - or computer - or even someone else's computer, and looks at his calendar, he will see the appointment I just made for us.
As for email, there is no way I can keep up - period! But, the combination of Gmail and my Droid at least gives me a fighting chance. While I'm sitting in the Dentist waiting room, or while I'm a passenger and Jim is driving, I can be browsing my inbox on my phone, and deleting any garbage I see. When I get back to my computer and open my Gmail inbox, I am seeing the exact same inbox as on my phone - the deleted messages are in the trash. If I need to, I can respond to email on my Droid, but I prefer the computer for that.
Here are some of our articles on Gmail.
WordPress
 WordPress is a free website-maker, but it is so much more than that. You can create anything from a simple blog type of website, to a full-featured business ecommerce site. WordPress is the Legos of the Website builder world. You can put together anything you want if you understand how the pieces fit together.
I started building websites somewhere around 1999, I used Dreamweaver. I thought maybe I would become a website designer for hire, and I did work with a few clients. What I didn't like was the fact that, if the client wanted anything changed, they had to get me to do it. I believed that clients should be able to make their own changes, but teaching them how was just TOO much. I've tried various techniques, but none were easy. Until WordPress. All new websites we've made this year have been using the WordPress platform. Even our Membership Website: www.GeeksOnTour.com, we have re-created at www.GeeksOnTour.TV using WordPress. Right now both sites are active and it is probably a bit confusing, but we are committed to the path of WordPress and eventually the .com site will just forward over to the WordPress-only .TV site. We *LOVE* WordPress! And, we're not alone. According to Trends, there are approximately 640,000 websites that are built with WordPress. If you want a website, look no further than WordPress. We have offered one seminar on WordPress, you can download the WordPress Seminar Handout here. We are not offering that anymore for two reasons, 1) there is already a LOT of help available for WordPress on the Web and 2) It is still too complex for most travelers' needs. We want to keep our focus on the simpler stuff. The easy and fun software that help travelers plan, preserve and share their travels. We think Blogger fits that bill much more than WordPress.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) our own websites keep us much too busy to do client work, but the fact that we are now using WordPress means that we can do so much more with our own sites. Rather than managing our self-programmed membership system, we are now using a WordPress plugin called WishList Member. There is a large community of businesses that use this plugin, and we can get lots of support and ideas from them. Expect big things from our website this coming year ... thanks to WordPress!
Streets and Trips Megafile
This item is included in order to show that it's not always brand-new or grand inventions that make a difference in our lives. Sometimes it's an old one that has just improved in a small but oh-so-useful way. We've been using Microsoft's Streets and Trips software to plan our routes ever since we started living in our RV in 2003. And, we've known for many years about special data files for places like hot springs, wineries, or membership campgrounds. Until now, finding and loading the information from those data files has just been too cumbersome to make it worthwhile.
The folks at Microsoft took the time to compile all those data files into one 'MegaFile' and added some software features for displaying just the data you want. Now, rather than taking 10 minutes to find, load, and use a particular data file, the data we want is always available and it just takes one click to show or hide it as we're traveling down the road. I credit this megafile with allowing us to find one of the best stops of our entire summer. See video - Saratoga Hot Springs in Wyoming.
Discuss this in our forum.
 We've added a topic to our Forums specifically to discuss your picks for best technology of 2010. If you're a Geeks on Tour paid member, please visit and leave your comments. Even non-members can view the forum to see what's going on.
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