MyCntdwn HD, my first iPad app, has been approved and released by Apple.

My original plan was to just port (slightly modify) the existing MyCntdwn code to work on the iPad. After doing this for a bit, I decided that this just wouldn’t work. I needed to start from scratch.

MyCntdwn (and MyCntdwn 2) didn’t allow for the iPhone to be displayed in landscape mode. The layout of the screens were also very iPhone-centric. I needed to rethink most of the app for the iPad verison.

I developed and tested this application without owning an iPad. I hadn’t even touched an iPad until I had been developing the app for a few weeks.

During development, I decided that I needed to see how the pop-overs work, I ran to a local Apple Store and played with an iPad over lunch. I am glad that I did, my idea of how the pop-overs should work was wrong and I needed to change things.

I had an excellent tester though. He played with the app for a number of weeks. He provided a ton of feedback. He also let me play with MyCntdwn HD on an iPad a number of times. It let me find a number of issues that I couldn’t find just using Apple’s iPad simulator.

Some of this must have been what the initial iPad developers went through while developing apps before the iPad was released.

Even thought MyCntdwn HD was released last night, I have already submitted a small update to Apple. My next goal is to get the push notifications working on the MyCntdwn HD. I also have a few more updates planned to get some of the editing screens to work better (more intuitive).

Look forward for more changes.

Original Source: http://devblog.ryangrier.com/

Waiting for the Ferry

Here’s an image I took with my iPhone while waiting for the Cape May-Lewes Ferry in Lewes, Delaware.

Shortly after taking this picture, I saw a rat running across the rocks. That took away from the beauty a bit. 

Grier vs Food

We were on vacation last week in Wildwood, NJ. During our vacation, we decided to tackle the “tsunami” ice cream challenge at Dreamsicles Ice Cream Parlor. 

The challenge is 8 scoops of ice cream, 4 different toppings and whipped cream. Ryan had finished the challenge with a few of his friends the day before. Emily and Matthew wanted to do it. 

We finished the challenge pretty easily. I think it took longer to get the ice cream (and our picture taken) than it took to eat the ice cream. The kids loved getting their picture taken. 

Please excuse my crappy image above. I took a picture of our picture with my iPhone 4 and in some light, it makes skin look red (and yucky). 

P90x Round 2!

I’ve decided to go at it again. I started round 2 of P90x a few weeks ago. I know, I must be crazy.

So far, I haven’t been as super tired as I was during round 1. My body must be stronger and have better endurance. I remember the first 3 weeks of P90x, I spent most of my day wishing that I could go to sleep. I don’t have that problem anymore. 

A big difference this time is that I am eating more food. At the end of the last round, I was as light/skinny as I want to be. Now, I want to add a bit of weight (hopefully muscle). 

The last time I went through this, we didn’t take proper measurements to track my progress. This time, on Day 0, we took a number of body measurements. It will be interesting to see how they change during the 90 days. 

This is ericmcgregor’s photo (from flickr).

Fantasy Football Preseason Standings

Here’s some proof that Yahoo! Fantasy Football league hates me already. My team is the Bulldogs and Yahoo! has already got me in last place. 

Thanks Yahoo!.

Crazy Fish!

Here is a quick video I took at our latest trip to Dutch Wonderland. The fish in the creek were going crazy for the duck food. Some of the fish were coming much further out of the water than shown here, I just didn’t catch it on video. 

I also took this as a test to see how well the video on my iPhone 4 works. The video is also available in 720p (HD). But you’ll need to click on that option in the video.

MyCntdwn 2 2.2 has been approved and released to the Apple iTunes App Store.

This latest update has two new themes for you to use. The new themes are ‘Due Date’ and ‘Wedding’. These themes were highly requested.

I’ve already started thinking about the next big update. My plan is to move the server syncing (which can be annoying) to the background. It ruins the flow of the application when you are adding/editing events and you see the ‘Syncing with server’ screen a lot. I haven’t started on this work yet, but I plan to make it my main goal once the new iPad app has been submitted to Apple.

Enjoy the new themes!

Original Source: http://devblog.ryangrier.com/

Best Toilet Ever!

I found this (old) image and thought I would share it.

When we were shopping for our current house, we came across this little gem. Despite this awesome toilet, we had to pass on the house. 

P90X Graduate

I am a P90x graduate. I finished up last week. 

So. How did I do? I believe that I did very well. I lost a total of 12.4 pounds and almost 2% of my body fat (according to my scale). My results pictures (which you won’t see) also show some really nice changes. 

I believe that I was expecting more/better results, but I cannot complain with how things turned out. I am probably fitter now than I have been in my entire life. 

I do believe that I have slightly injured myself on the program. I either have Achilles tendinitis or Retrocalcaneal bursitis. It’s all self diagnosed, so I am not 100% sure which it is. As a result, I took a step back from the Plyometrics routine (which seemed to cause the issue). I substituted other cardio workouts in it’s place. This is something that I have been keeping a close eye on it.  

Over the course of the 90 days, I missed a total of 7 workouts. I probably also missed the same number of evening ab routine workouts. Every day wasn’t my best day. I just tried to keep showing up and “pressing play.” 

I plan on going through the 90 days again (after taking a week or two off) called “Round 2”. During this phase, I may try the modified Plyometrics workout (no serious jumping). I am also going to start adding more running into the mix. This next time, I will have to eat more than I did last time, I don’t want to lose anymore weight, I actually want to gain a few pounds.  

This is jayneandd’s photo (from flickr).

Beach Days

Over the July 4th weekend, we took a trip to the shore. My sister-in-law recently bought a beautiful new house there. The house is about 2 blocks from the beach and has enough room for the 10 people that stayed there.

We arrived late Friday night (after a wedding). OK, we actually arrived very early Saturday morning. Maybe around 2:00 AM. Instead of really exploring the new house, we put everyone in bed and went right to sleep. 

Saturday morning allowed us some time to explore the house. It’s a beauty. We ate breakfast, watched some delivery guys setup some items that were ordered, and finally got ready for the beach. We spent some time in the morning at the beach. We ate lunch back at the house and then hit the beach again for some more fun in the sun.

Early Sunday morning, Emily got sick. Some stupid stomach bug had infected her. I spent all day with her either on the couch or in the bathroom. I felt so bad for her. 

On Monday, she was all better and we went back to the beach. The kids had a ball there. I finally got a chance to boogie board with with Ryan and jump some waves. Emily was back to her normal self and had so much fun. The picture above was taken on Monday evening.

We left for home early Tuesday afternoon. Unfortunately, Emily’s stomach bug had infected me. It made for a long ride home. 

We had a great time at the beach. The kids are looking forward to going back down.