Jon Luciano

I download and try as many Blackberry apps as possible. You never know when you might find one that helps.

Before I get to the apps on the Blackberry, I wanted to mention that the most important app is the Blackberry Desktop Manager. I cannot stress the importance of backing up your data…and often. When something happens to your phone, its good to know that you can restore it without losing any contacts, data etc.

Without further ado - Here is a list of the apps that are currently loaded on my Blackberry Curve 8330:

Blackberry Messenger
This is probably the best instant messaging app out there. You can chat as much as you want as the app uses your data plan and not your text plan. The only downside is that this only works with people who also have a Blackberry.

Facebook
This app is pretty good, but there is room for improvement. The layout leaves quite a bit to be desired. The Facebook iphone app is better than the Blackberry version. However, this app is better than using the mobile web app for Facebook, which is slow and clunky.

UberTwitter
If you have Blackberry and like to Tweet, there is no better app than UberTwitter. This is the best Twitter app for Blackberry hands down. Pictures, locations, video…its all there.

Google Maps
With Google Maps version 3.2 (which has the Layers feature) is a must have. Turn by turn directions, layered with retail locations etc. Google Maps can replace your standalone nagivation system.

Google Talk / Yahoo IM
I don’t use these much, but are good to have. There is a paid app that aggregates chat clients.

Flickr
I am an avid Flickr user, so this app is great if I want to upload pics from my phone to Flickr. I don’t do this much, as I usually like to upload phone pics to Twitpic.

OpenTable
When you want to make a dinner reservation, OpenTable is the way to go.

Yelp
I’m happy that they finally decided to make a Blackberry app. In my opinion, Yelp is the best social review site. When you are looking for places to eat, or want to know about a certain business, Yelp usually is where I turn to look. I also like to rate places that I have visited.

ScoreMobile
This is the best app to look at sports scores. The interface is well thought out and is easy to change between sports.

ESPN
This really isn’t an app as its just a quicklauch icon to the ESPN mobile site.

Slacker Radio
This is the app to have if you listen to music on your Blackberry.

iHeartRadio
This app allows you to listen to your local radio stations on yor blackberry.

Pandora
If you don’t know about it, you should.

Opera Mini
Use the Opera Mini browser when you want to look at the HTML version of a web site and not the mobile version.

Google Sync
Google Sync allows you to integrate your Google Calendar with your Blackberry calendar. This is a very useful utility.

I love playing softball for several reasons. I love competition, I enjoy the exercise and I like hanging around my buddies. But I am 100% dumbfounded at the fact that there are guys out there that play softball like its the world series. Don’t get me wrong, I love winning. But to take softball so seriously is a joke. These softball superheroes are going to hurt someone some day because of the way they play. They come in hard to second base, they throw the ball hard when they don’t have to, they pick fights with the other team and they throw bats when they pop it up.

These are your Uncle Ricos of the world: “If only the coach put me in the game, we would have won state”. The softball superheroes are the guys that rode the bench in high school, wish they played in college but tell their buddies that they were all-american ball players.

This is a plea to the softball superheores to get a life, or at least take up another hobby. Come out to the ballpark, drink a few beers and enjoy playing softball with your buddies. I promise you that there is not a big league contract, a world series ring or even a trophy if you win your league. In most cases, you get a lousy t-shirt. I hope all of your anger and seriousness if worth the price of the t-shirt.

Gout is one of the most cruel and painful things to ever be introduced to the human body. I go to bed each night praying that I don’t wake up with a gout attack, and am thankful each morning when I don’t wake up with it.

To my surprise, not everyone has heard of this painful disease. However, the people that have heard of it and know someone with it, know how painful it is. It is unfortunate that gout does not get a lot of attention in terms of medical problem solving.

Gout is basically extreme bursts of arthritis. A gout attack happens when uric acid, which sits on a joint, crystallizes. Most people rid themselves of uric acid through normal digestion. But people with gout retain uric acid, leading to an attack.

When an attack happens, I am out of commission for about a week. There are a few days of ramp-up pain, a few days of extreme (don’t move) pain and a few days of ramp-down pain. I cannot wear a shoe during the extreme phase, therefore, I cannot work. Its a shame when I have to take vacation days due to a painful toe or ankle.

There are certain behaviors that I can change to prevent an attack, but I will always have gout. I can never rid myself of this disease; this is why I think the medical community should pay more attention to a cure. Many people in our country live with gout, too many to just prescribe a daily med that may or may not work. I know with other major incurable diseases out there (Cancer, AIDS, Herpes), gout will never get the attention is should have.

Be Well

I never thought it would come to this, but I had to unfriend someone on Facebook yesterday. It’s not that this person is a bad person, but I just couldn’t handle the number of Facebook posts. On top of that, it was someone that I went to high school with and kinda knew but not really and I certainly don’t have any type of relationship with now. As I started to feel somewhat guilty about unfriending this person, I began to think about why I unfriended them. The reality is that they added unnessecary clutter to my life. This is symptomatic of what I need to do with my life and unclutter my house, my inbox, my garage, my head!

I want to thank the high school friend that I unfriended on Facebook. They opened my eyes to a bigger problem and one that I will be taking care of this weekend. It feels good to unclutter, liberating really. I am going to start by cleaning my home office. There is so much paperwork and crap that I either need to throw out or file. Once that’s done, I am going to go through the shed. There is quite a bit of stuff in there that are “keepsakes” that I really don’t need or want.

I am about halfway through the book, but “The Power of Less” by Leo Babauta is an extraordinary book about how to unclutter and live better with less. There are several blogs out there that also give pointers on how to unclutter, I subscribe to www.unclutterer.com.

I am excited about freeing myself from useless stuff.

To unfriend someone from Facebook, simply go to their profile page and scroll down. On the left hand side, you will see “remove from friends”.