After a few days of iPhone use, I can honestly say that I am even happier with it than I could have imagined. The first thing I had to do was figure out how to get all of my contacts off of my old phone and onto the iPhone. Previously I had service with Verizon and took advantage of their Backup Assistant to store all of my numbers for me. I did a quick google search and couldn’t find a good solution for performing the transfer from the Backup Assistant to my iPhone contact list. I was able to login to the Backup Assistant website but unfortunately I could not export the data. However, I was able to print the data, though that really wouldn’t help. So I came up with the following method to manually copy all of the data and get it in to the iPhone.

1. Select Print Address Book from Backup Assistant website (popup window).
2. Copy all rows.
3. Open Excel and paste.
4. Format in Excel:
   1. Copy and paste the data into another sheet, this should remove the pesky check marks in each row.
   2. Move phone numbers around into separate columns specified by type.
   3. Use find and replace to replace all instances of “Mobile”, “Work”, “Home”, etc. with blank text, leaving only numbers in each cell.
5. Save the worksheet as a csv file.
6. Open outlook and create a new sub directory under Contacts.
7. Under File menu select Import and Export…
8. Import from another program of file.
9. Comma Separated Values (Windows).
10. Browse to the file saved earlier.
11. Select the sub directory created earlier.
12. Click Map Custom Fields…
13. Map Name to Name, Mobile to Mobile Phone, Home to Home Phone, etc.
14. You can use the Next > button to see how your data will map.
15. Click Finish.

From there you should be able to use the Outlook Contact syncing in iTunes to send your phone numbers to your iPhone. I think that was all of the steps. I didn’t think to write it all down until after I had successfully performed the sync. But then I realized that my work might actually help someone out. Leave any questions or comments below.

Our good friend Amy was in town this past weekend. On Saturday we took her and our friend Ken up to Rocky Mountain National Park for a hike. Amy had requested a hike to waterfalls, and I found a nice three mile route that would take us along the St. Vrain Creek and past three different sets of falls. This hike started at the Wild Basin Trailhead in the southeast corner of the park. After .3 miles we were treated to our first set of falls, Copeland Falls. Though not very impressive in size, the speed at which the water was flowing made for a thrilling view.

We continued down the trail and eventually reached the Calypso Cascades. I really enjoyed this set of falls and found them fairly easy to photograph. We stayed here for at least ten minutes admiring the strength of the water. From there we completed the final stretch of our hike up to Ouzel Falls. Though these falls have a larger drop than the others we had seen, it was hard to view that as it’s fairly hidden by trees. Perhaps an off trail hike is needed to really appreciate these falls. Overall I found the Calypso Cascades to be much more inspiring and powerful.

The hike was a huge success and I think everyone really enjoyed it. I know that I was happy just to be out hiking again. Hopefully I’ll get out again soon. Here are some pictures I shot along the way.

The day has arrived! My iPhone was dropped onto my porch this morning and I’ve been keeping busy with it thus far. I ordered it last Thursday and it was delivered just over a week later, so not too bad. I finally got it activated, though I haven’t made or received any calls yet so I’m not sure if it’s really fully activated or not. So far I’ve been working to setup gmail on it, along with downloading a couple of apps (facebook and pandora so far). I haven’t bought a case or screen protection yet, but that should come sometime this weekend. Alright enough with the blogging, back to the iPhone addiction. Send any suggestions my way.

Our entire team showed up last night for our weekly hockey game. That means three full lines up front and five guys playing defense. Unfortunately we didn’t use the large bench to our advantage, and we ended up skating down at the level of the team we were playing. According to last weeks standings our opponents were in second to last place, and I can see why. There were only a small number of skaters on their team that could play well. However, they probably thought the same thing about my team after watching us play last night.

We jumped out to a great 3-0 lead by the end of the first. But, as typically happens, our second period play was terrible. We allowed them to put in goal after goal and by the middle of the third they had a 5-3 lead on us. Eventually we managed to put in another goal, and despite some great attempts near the end, the final score was 5-4. This was our second loss of the season, but we should remain at least tied for first place.

Personally I had an assist on the first goal. I was playing defense and managed to keep the puck in our offensive zone. I took a quick shot, which the goalie deflected right to another one of our players. He immediately buried it in the back of the net. I don’t think I had any other points throughout the game. Currently I’m tied for third with most assists, but I’m hoping this gets me back into second place.

I participated in my second Bike to Work Day this morning. I left the house just after six and started on my preplanned route, which was different than my route last year. I decided on a new route with less turns and more off street riding, though it was slightly longer than last year. My goal was to make the nearly twenty mile ride in under three hours and hopefully closer to two.

I had the first part of the ride completely memorized and stuck completely to the plan until I got to the part of my ride where I was supposed to leave the Cherry Creek Trail and turn south down Yosemite Street. Somehow I missed this turn, and I realized it once I saw the Cherry Creek Reservoir dam in the distance. I turned south and followed signs to Hampden Heights Park, and after asking a walker for directions, I eventually found my way west to Yosemite.

From there I remembered that I needed to ride south to Belleview, take a left there, and ride about a mile over to Havana. At Havana I turned south once again all the way to Peakview Avenue. I took a left at Peakview and a quick right onto Lima Street, which I followed south on a much safer road than Havana becomes. Thus far I had only made one bad turn, but that quickly changed when Lima turned into Inverness Drive. At that point every street I passed was Inverness something: Parkway, Way, Lane, Court, etc. I couldn’t exactly remember which of the Inverness roads I was supposed to take, and I didn’t want to take my map out, so I just followed along what appeared to be the safest roads all the way until I eventually found the South Valley Highway.

Once on the South Valley Highway, which turns into Jamaica Street, I was close enough to the office that I knew which roads to take. It really just consisted of a right turn onto Meridian Boulevard, with one last big climb up to the office. Once in the parking lot I glanced at the watch and realized that I had done it all in just under two hours. After a couple changes to the preplanned route, I soon realized that instead of just under twenty miles I had done just barely over twenty miles. All in all it was a great ride, I just wish the whole thing wasn’t all uphill. Below is the route.

Since moving out of my parents house many years ago, I’ve nearly always had a Jimmy John’s within walking distance of home. Currently that is not true, but that should be changing by the end of the month when the franchise’s 17th Colorado location opens just up the street at 331 East Alameda Avenue. I’ve always been a big fan of their no frill sandwiches, especially after a late night of partying. Unfortunately, I don’t think any of the local shops are open nearly as late as the one on the campus of the University of Cincinnati. But this will definitely be nice when the Einstein Brother’s across the street closes after their lunch shift, though it may be hard to pass up the neighboring Chipotle. I’m sure I’ll make a stop within a week of opening.

A year ago I took my first whitewater rafting trip with a group called Class Five Chaos, and this weekend joined the same group for another trip down the Arkansas River. Once again there were about 150 people camping for the weekend, with well over 100 of those joining in on the rafting adventure Saturday afternoon. Just like last year, Kim and I drove down to the same campsite after work on Friday. After setting up camp and enjoying a couple of cold ones near a fire, we were off to rest up for the big day.

Unlike last year, the Royal Gorge section of the river was open, and that’s exactly where we took our rafts. This is a section of the river rated at class IV or V with rapids named things like Sunshine Falls, Boat Eater, and Wall Slammer. Despite the tough conditions and large group, I’m told that only one person ended up in the water all day and that was one of the guides who was trying to help keep another rafter in the boat. I guess he did what he wanted to do, but with it he ended up falling into the chilly waters himself. So it was a very successful trip full of lots of smiles and laughter.

After rafting, we all rode buses back to the base of operations for the rafting company where a party was setup. We had great bbq for lunch, lots of Shiner beer, two bands, and even a cornhole tournament. Of course Kim and I entered the tournament, and eventually went on to win the entire event. It took five victories, one of which was a complete shutout, but we came out on top in the end and won a set of smaller traveling cornhole boards from Shiner and a couple of CamelBak backpacks!

After the fun at the party wrapped up, it was back to the campsite for the annual flip cup tournament. We entered the tournament, but when it came time for our first match we couldn’t find our teammates and had to forfeit. We stuck around to watch most of the action though and had lots of laughs along the way. Along with the flip cup we also had more good times around campfires and eventually were off to bed. Sunday was a long drive back to Denver with sore bodies and not enough sleep. That’s the price to pay for an awesome weekend. Some pictures that Kim and I took from Friday are posted below. We forgot the camera the day of the rafting trip but I’ll keep my eyes out for any photos of the cornhole champs.

Well I did it. I ordered a new iPhone 3G S last night. Verizon eventually did announce the BlackBerry Tour a couple of days ago, but that wasn’t enough for me. Plus I was tired of waiting and didn’t want to wait even longer for the Tour to be released in the middle of July. At this point I couldn’t be happier. Well I guess I could be if I already had my iPhone in my hands, but that probably won’t happen for a week or two.

I ordered it online through AT&T so that I could take advantage of my company’s 20% service discount. I wasn’t able to get any money off of the phone itself, but I’ll definitely appreciate the $14 savings each month on my bill. Now I just need to decide what case I want to get and place that order so I’ll have it in time for delivery of my phone. Any suggestions for that? I’ve already heard good reviews for a number of products, but it can’t hurt to have even more.

My hockey team managed to lose our first game of the season last week in a game that I missed due to our traveling. I’m told that it was a close 5-3 loss, and that we had plenty of opportunities to take the lead. Oh well, you can’t win them all. Fortunately, we were able to get back onto the winning side of things last night! We were lucky enough to be facing-off with the last place team in the league, which proved to be a very easy win. We jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead within the first few minutes of the game, and by the time it was over we secured a solid 10-2 victory. I had my first goal of the season, and added another assist as well. That should keep me in the top three assist leaders, once the results get posted, even after missing a game last week. And I’m proud to say that I’ve fallen off of the penalty leader board. All is well for Eck’s Saloon.

After work yesterday Kim and I went out for a quick run before heading over to another couple’s house for dinner. We followed our normal route up to Washington Park and, due to our time constraints, decided to just run half of the park and then back home. Upon running into the park and toward the south side of Smith Lake I noticed something floating in the lake. No, what I saw wasn’t a paddle boat. It was at that point I recalled reading an article from the Westword about these floating islands that were going to be installed in the lake. According to a Denver Post article, “A group of volunteers and city workers launched four artificial islands made from recycled plastic bottles, foam, sod and plants into the Denver lake. The islands, called ‘biohavens,’ are meant to simulate wetlands by providing food and shelter for insects, fish, birds and turtles. They also might make the lake’s water a little cleaner.”

I noticed that the islands are not as green as the pictures in both linked articles above. The Canadian geese must have found their way to the islands and caused some damage. I noticed that the biggest island now has some sort of protective net or cover over it. I’m guessing that the islands are under careful observation and that something had to be done so that these biohavens have a chance of surviving. I’m curious to see if any noticeable change in wildlife occurs over these next few warmer months, though I read that success may not be measurable for at least a year. I hope the islands last that long.