Food Truck Wars!

Imagine walking down the street and smelling fresh bar-b-q one step and the fresh aroma of a donut the next while walking through lines of people waiting to taste the food of their choice.  This is the story of my lunch today.

Today I attended my first ever Food Truck War and thought it to be very interesting.  The Oviedo Mall hosted this event and there were 40 food trucks in attendance along with live Jazz music, local radio stations and good Florida weather.  For my first event of this nature It was a little crazy.  There were so many people and it was a touch on the hot side but the breeze made it nice.

My Father-in-law and I waited in line to get lunch for us and our wives for probably 45 minutes and I'd love to tell you it was worth the wait, but for the cost it was a little much.  I bet if I hadn't waited that long I would have enjoyed my Philly Cheese Steak more.  Thankfully we brought lawn chairs and had a nice shady place to site that our wives had commandeered for us amidst all the people walking around the bazaar.

I really enjoyed seeing all of the trucks use of social media.  They had everything from QR Codes to using iPads for orders and accepting credit cards using Square (I will soon be sharing the benefits of this device, stay tuned).  I was super excited to see how many of these businesses are adapting to this generation by allowing us to pay with our phone or us credit cards on the go.  What cool ways have you experienced technology affecting your every day adventures?


All in all, it was an ok first visit, next time I will be wearing sun-screen and possibly a hat.  If they had only hired a walk around/close up magician (aka, Kevin The Magician) the event would have been an even bigger hit!

To sum it up:
Pros: Great selection of food and a very popular event, I would go to something like this again.  The use of technology and social media is growing
Cons: Prices were a little steep at all the vendors and efficiency of line management was not good, crowd entertainment would have helped the lines go by faster.

What similar events have you been to and what was your experience?

What do you Play?

I read a recent article on www.LifeHacker.com that helped me understand how these "free" games affect my devices' batteries.  Take a look when you get a chance.

Free Apps kill your battery

On a more personal note, I just recently got an iOS device and have started playing games more.  I use Game Center and my username is: RedHeadKev87

Games that I play are: 
Words with Friends
Scramble
Monopoly Hotels
Tiny Heroes
Texas Hold'em


Hit me up!

Being Smart with your Smart Phone

I have an iPhone that I really enjoy using.  Its something that I wanted for a long time and saved up for.  Smart phones today are becoming more and more of a necessity: Business, personal, keeping up with friends.  There are so many uses for these handheld computers and we put so much trust in this little device, to lose it, or worse have it stolen, would make us freak out.  

There are three settings that I enabled, that are really easy to set up, that without them, I have no hope, but with them I have some hope for: recovering a lost/stolen phone and/or recovering my data. 
*This is mainly for iPhone users running iOS5

Too Long Didn't Read: Summary of what is to come

1) Find my iPhone- Get your phone back if it is lost or stolen

2) Passcode Lock- Keep others out of your personal information

3) iCloud- Recover your data/backups if anything happens to your device 

Number One: Find my iPhone

In my mind, this is must have to protect your investment*.  To provide any chance of recovering a stolen phone this must be turned on.  In order to have this you have to have iCloud set up and if you are running iOS 5, it most likely is turned on.  This will also allow you to have your phone make a sound if it is lost in your house! 

It settings > iCloud > Find My iPhone > On

 

For a great free way of tracking any of your apple products down download the Find My iPhone App

*By the Way, in case you ever lose your phone or get it stolen and chose not to turn this on, your phone is not "only $200." You pay ATT/Verizon/Sprint that subsidized cost by signing up for a 2 year contract.  The value of an iPhone starts at $649.  You won't be able to get a new phone for less than that within two years (carriers can offer discounts to loyal customers prior to the full commitment has been reached in some situations)

Number Two: Turn on Passcode Lock

I strongly recommend enabling this feature because it will help keep your information safe.  I have my Mint.com account, and bank/credit card apps on my iPhone and I would rather people not have the freedom to look at that.  This is a security feature that can prevent others from accessing your phone right away and can potentially turn off a thief because they know it will be harder to manipulate your device. 

Settings > General > Passcode Lock > Turn Passcode Lock On (1) > Enter in a unique 4 Digit Passcode > Reenter the same passcode.  

Next time you press the sleep awake button you have to put in your passcode.

    

One thing that I enabled, that I have grown to enjoy is found in number 2) Require Passcode After __ Minutes.  This is great for when I accidentally press the Sleep/Awake button or had just set it down and got another text message.  Keeps me from having to constantly put in my 4 numbers.  I think a minute is great for most.  I use 5 because I tend to go back to my phone within that amount of time.

Number 3: iCloud

I have heard of some people saying they don't understand the cloud or what its purpose is.  I have found this to be of extreme benefit for me.  The purpose: To be able to access your backed up data from the internet (Wifi or 3G/LTE).  Backing up your phone is a must and many people are disappointed when the worst of the worst happens: Lost/Stolen device, Water Damage, Freak accident and your logic board on your device crashes (that happened to me).  "iCloud backs up your iOS device daily over Wi-Fi when it’s connected to a power source." Apple's Website.  I believe there is no reason not to enable this.

For more information on all that it can do:  Apple iCloud

I hope that you consider these setting adjustments because I want you to protect the investment that you have made.

Helpful Headphone Handling

Cable management is something that always bothers me.  From having headphones to all the wires behind a TV or computer desk there has got to be a better way to manage my cables!  As I find more ideas I will post them here, but one video I watched recently has helped me with my headphone cables.  Less than a minute video and takes less than 25 seconds to wrap your cords to have them not get messed up in your pocket or bag.

How do you wrap your headphones?

http://youtu.be/klkBc9rFX5M

Trusting and Saving: My Balance

This is an excerpt from my journal this week.  I have been trying to read through the notes that I take during church and allow God to make them more real for me and not just words I heard in a building on Sunday:

“Financial freedom does not mean we can stop trusting in God to provide for us each day” - Isaac Hunter Pastor of Summit Church in Orlando, FL on March 4th 2012

Regardless of how we are doing financially, we can never stop trusting in God to provide for us daily.  Lydia and I are doing pretty well financially right now, saving money, and we don’t have too many expenses.  We are trusting God to provide a house for us when we get to Kennesaw as we live with her parents now finishing our support raising.  

The Enemy wants to use money and have a hold over us, he wants to control us and bring us down when we put our trust in anything other than God.  If we put our trust in Christ to provide for us, whether or not we have a large emergency fund, we will always have what we need; not necessarily everything that we could want but that which we need in order to do what God has called us to do.

This is a tough mindset/balance for me because I want to provide as much as I can for my family, providing stability and security as God has called me to as the head of my household.  To invest in our future, to prepare our kids for their future and to glorify God with our finances are all things I desire to do and want to do them while trusting in God to provide on a daily basis: "Give us each day, our daily bread" Luke 11:3 (from the Lord's Prayer)

  

What is the balance of trusting God to provide everything that we need daily and planning and saving to provide for my family?

It boils down to where we put our trust: Do we put our trust in the things of this world that moth and rust can destroy, or do we constantly trust in God to meet our needs?  Matthew 6:19-21

Where does all my money go?!

So, a few years ago I couldn't keep track of where all my money went.  In paying rent, purchasing groceries, having two credit cards and a debit card plus a check book was getting really stressful.  A friend of min told me about Mint.com and since I have set it up, it has been such a relief.

The idea of Mint.com is that you allow Mint to view your finances from all your accounts into one.  I agree that you might find this a little scary, and the issue is not that you are giving someone access to your money, you are making it easy for you to see where all of your money goes!  Wouldn't you prefer to know where your money went then to look at your account and think someone stole your wallet?

Here is a great CNN Money Report on Mint and how it can save you money.
"Coolest feature: With one click, turn your average spending into a monthly budget -- and then adjust amounts in each category until you find a balance you can live with. "   -CNN above link

I now use mint to track my spending, make sure I have paid my credit card off in time with its "Alerts" and am saving for large purchases with its "Goals" application.  It is free and easy to use and I have found that I am more at ease using Mint.com than trying to balance multiple accounts and get fees for forgetting this or that.  And there's an App for that!

What would you do if you knew where your money went and what would you save up for?