Now that I’ve had my iPhone for a while, I can officially say that it has made my life better. It really is a joy to use, and one of the first devices to be intuitive and all-in-one.

I use it for: journaling, keeping lists, scheduling meetings, listening to podcasts, emailing, facebooking, listening to music/making music, checking finances, watching the stars, administering remote servers, dictating notes, reading the news, text messaging, and sometimes I even use it as a phone

So, in no particular order, here are my ten favorite iPhone apps that have made my life better:

• Pandora: This app lets you stream songs based on your musical tastes. You basically put in an artist and it creates a “channel” for you which is a collection of songs by that artist and others that are similar. So when I put in jack johnson, I get dave matthews and john mayer. It’s a great way to discover new artists as well, and if you like a song it makes it easy for you to buy it on iTunes.
• Gratitude!: One of the best ways to stay happy is to keep some kind of gratitude journal where you log five things that your grateful for each day. This little app makes it fun rather than a chore. It also has inspiration quotes that it displays. I feel happier already!
• Ocarina: I don’t use this app a lot but it makes my list just for inventiveness. It basically turns your iphone into a flute-like device. You blow into the microphone and press buttons on the top like a flute. There is even sheet music out there for it. I fairly easily learned how to play amazing grace on it by following some music. But the thing that puts it over the top, is that you can look a globe and hear others playing all over the world.
• Mint: Mint.com is *the* site to track your money on. It shows you your spending habits and it is so easy to use that I finally retired my copy of Microsoft Money. This app integrates with the site and shows you a subset of the info on your phone. Nice for seeing quickly how the bank balances are doing and getting alarms for crossing budget thresholds.
• GoSkyWatch: When I’m looking at the stars with the kids in the backyard, I always wished I could identify more constellations. Well, with GoSkyWatch, I can just plug in the direction I’m facing and it will show me all the constellation names based on my location and time of day.
• WinAdmin: This remote desktop client for the iPhone came in handy when I was on vacation at DisneyWorld and I needed to remote into a server to fix an  issue.
• Facebook: I’m not a huge facebooker, but I love the fact that I can easily update my status and pictures while on the guy as well as quickly checking in with friends pages from my phone.
• Jott: Every now and then when I’m driving, I’ll get what I think is a brilliant idea, but I have no way to write it down. And we all know the typing into your phone while driving is dangerous. This app solves that problem by allowing you to talk into your phone and then translating your recorded message to text.
• NY Times: I’m not a huge fan of the New York Times, but they really nailed how to present news in an iPhone friendly format with this little app. It’s become part of my morning ritual to fire this up while drinking my coffee.
• Public Radio Tuner: I’m a huge fan of Car Talk and Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me on NPR. It always stinks if I’m out of town on Sat morning and have to miss them. Now, no matter where I am, I can use this app to find and listen to a public radio station.

Even though I’ve found some great apps, I always look forward to hearing about new ones so let me know what cool apps you can’t live without!

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

-Arthur C. Clarke

Every day the news gets grimmer. The stock market is falling. Unemployment is rising and budgets are getting slashed. Many people and companies are feeling the pain.

This hit home for me when one of our larger clients began reducing their budgets, and it’s echoed as I talk to friends and fellow business owners. They have all froze hiring and are tightening belts.

Yet, there are rays of hope shining through the gloomy news. It’s all about what you focus on. Here are some things to keep in mind to get you through:

It’s not 1929: As much as people like to compare current times to the Great Depression, there are a lot of differences. Unemployment is nowhere near 25% and (thanks to FDIC) when a bank goes under your savings will not be lost. We’ve learned from the Great Depression and put policies in place to help prevent (or at least soften the blow) of another.

Economies have cycles: The market goes down and the market goes up. The key is to take advantage of it and invest at the right time. The market will go back up at some point and most likely in a dramatic way. In fact, if you are a long term investor this is a great time for you to be putting money in the market. You will be getting bargain basement prices and a lot of stock for your money — ever heard the phrase “Buy low, Sell high”?

Focus on what you have: Sometimes I think it’s best to ignore the doom and gloom of the media. It’s depressing to read the paper everyday and hear about how companies are closing and the market is dropping. Instead remember that you are still richer than 99% of the world. I assume you have clean drinking water? I assume your family is safe from famine and war? I assume you live on more than a dollar a day? Then don’t forget that you are rich when compared to most of the world.

Innovate your way out: Many great companies were started in downturns including FedEx, Microsoft, Starbucks, GE, Trader Joe’s and HP. Sometimes a downturn is what’s needed to shake people out of their cushy jobs to really pursue their dreams. There’s also opportunity in a downturn. I have friend that runs a repo company and business is booming!

“I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.”

-Louisa May Alcott

After supporting Molly during her two previous marathons, I finally got the itch to do one of my own. It would have been easier to just do the famed Chicago Marathon, but I wanted something different.

Running through tall sky scrapers just didn’t excite me. I’ve never really been a big city person. I wanted to find an interesting marathon that would inspire me for my first one.

I’ve always had a special place in my heart for Disney World. I have vague happy memories of going there when I was young to enjoy the nostalgia of main street, the imagination of fantasy land and the excitement of adventure land.

So when I heard that Disney World hosted a marathon where you get to run through all their parks — right through the castle no less — I knew that I had found the marathon for me. It also gave us the opportunity to have a family vacation that the kids would enjoy.

Once I picked out the marathon to run, I set out to find a training plan. I chose Hal Higdon’s beginner marathon course and told myself that I would stick to it as much  as possible. It was great to have the structure and know what I needed to run each week to keep progressing toward my goal of the marathon.

Throughout the summer and fall, I ramped up my running. In the fall, I completed the Batavia Half Madness Half Marathon in a time of 1:51 in beautiful warm weather. I even sprinted the last mile.

But as the cold Chicago winter set in, it became harder and harder to do my long runs. I had to move more and more of my running indoors which I find to be boring. I love the fresh air and so I finally started doing my long runs outside even though it was freezing and there was a foot of snow on the ground.

On the day after Christmas, I finally did my 20 mile run (my longest scheduled training run before the marathon) outside on the country roads of springfield while visiting family. Molly ran 15 of the miles with me and I felt great during the run. I was really able to get into the the zone and just focus on running.

After that run went so well, I knew I was ready for the marathon. We flew down to orlando and spent the three wonderful days at the parks with the kids. I took the day before the marathon as a day of rest and a chance to enjoy the marathon expo. At the expo, I got to hear some great speakers including Jeff Galloway and John “The Penguin” Bingham. They were great for getting me pumped up to run the next day.

On the day of the marathon, my alarm rang at 3:15 am. I had set out my clothes and gear the night before so I jumped into them, grabbed some coffee, and hopped on the bus for the staging area. Disney wanted all runners on the buses by 4 am to be ready for a 5:50 am start.

When I arrived at the epcot parking lot that served as the staging area, there was a rock band playing and amazing amount of people. You don’t realize how many people 20,000 is until you’re sitting in a big parking lot with them. It was great to realize that we would soon all be running together.

After a quick bathroom break and bag check, we began the march to our starting corrals which were about half a mile away. I guess Disney assumes that if someone can run 26.2 miles, then having them walk 0.5 miles beforehand shouldn’t be a problem.

In the starting corrals, we were entertained by big screen videos and espn hosts. Finally Mickey arrived to kick off the start of the race with fireworks. At last, we were running!

It was surreal to see thousands of runners surging through the orlando highways on a moonlit morning. After about ten miles of running, we reached the Magic Kingdom as the sun was rising. It was very cool to run through the theme park without all the other tourists around and give high fives to characters along the way.

Some runners were even stopping to take pictures with the characters. I was sorely tempted to do the same, but I had a race to run and a time goal to keep. The highlight of the magic kingdom, had to be running through the castle. Soon afterwards we were back on the highway running towards animal kingdom.

Somewhere along this road, I began to worry that I was not running at the right pace. I had always assumed that I would see the four hour pace group because that was my goal pace and how fast I thought I was running. After about 16 miles, I still had not seen them and began to worry that I was going too slow and never would.

So I started to slow down, and all the sudden some guy holding balloons passed me. It was the four hour pace group leader! I had been running ahead of them the whole time!

That renewed my spirits for a while and I stuck with them as we ran through animal kingdom. Then we were back on the highway for a long stretch before hitting Hollywood Studios and the big finish at Epcot.

Through mile 20 I stayed on pace with the four hour group, but around mile 21 I started to hit the wall. The four hour pace group slipped away from me and for the last five miles I had to take it easy.

By the time we reached the Hollywood Studios, I was ready to be done. I told myself that I would put in a good run for the last mile though through the world showcase and epcot though. During the last mile, I saw Molly and the kids so I briefly stopped to give them a hug and then pushed on to the finish. I picked it up for the last minute so I was able to come in right at four hours and fifteen minutes — a nice round number.

I didn’t get the exact time I wanted, but, as all the running experts say, you shouldn’t try for a goal time on your first marathon. Just finishing is a good goal and I’m happy with 4:15.

The four hour pace leader put it in perspective for me. I saw him at the finish line and thanked him for volunteering his time to run as a pace leader. I told him that I had stuck with him for many miles but could not keep up in the end. He asked if I set a PR (personal record), and I told him that it was my first marathon. Well then, he said, you just set a PR!

Overall, it was a great marathon and Disney sure knows how to put on a fun race. There was no shortage of bathrooms, food, water, characters, and inspiring sights to run through.  Heck, I’m already thinking about my training plan for my next marathon

“If you can dream it, you can do it”
-Walt Disney

That’s the question I’ve been asking myself with the new year upon us. The beginning of a new year is a great time for renewal and laying out your plan of where you’d like to go.

In the same way that a ship’s captain lays out the travel plan to avoid storms and reach the final destination, it’s important for you to chart a course so you can control where you want to go rather than letting the wind blow you where it will.

For myself, I’m on the verge of finishing my major goal from last year. In a few short days, I will be running my first marathon. So as I cross that off my list, I’m looking forward to sitting down with my compass to chart my course for the new year. This will mean laying out my annual goals.

As I lay out these annual goals, I’ll try to keep to the following principles:

• Keep them Limited: One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned from Leo at zen habits is that you can’t do everything. If you limit the number of goals you’re focusing on, you’ll feel less stressed and make more progress.
• Keep them SMART: This is an acronym for how you should create your goals. They should be: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.
• Keep them Role-Based: Stephen Covey introduced me to this idea and it was useful to bring some balance into my life. He recommends that you define different roles for your life (eg – Father, Business Owner, and Athlete) and set goals for each role.

But, as important as it is to lay out goals and work toward achieving them, remember that life is a journey and more often than not, it’s the striving for these goals that you should enjoy, not just finishing them.

As I close the book on my marathon training, I look back on my long runs as some of the toughest and yet greatest moments of my life. On my 20 mile run, for example, I pushed myself farther than I thought possible and yet felt fully alive. Even without completing the marathon, I’ve learned a lot about myself just by training for it.

So as you chart your course for 2009 don’t forget to enjoy the journey!

If a man knows not what harbor he seeks, any wind is the right wind.
-Seneca