Eric Schwartz » blog

Current Thoughts – Being Single

Eric Schwartz — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:07:52 +0000

Originally from January 6, 2005, I found some old videos I made in my series, Current Thoughts.

Using an iPhone and Dropbox to perform a Wedding Ceremony

Eric Schwartz — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 20:43:29 +0000

I am always trying to come up with new ways to be more efficient. Recently I discovered Dropbox and setup a free account.

For those of you that don’t know about Dropbox click here and watch a short video. Basically the service allows you to sync files on multiple computers automatically. It does more, but that’s the simple explanation.

So how has this helped me? One of my fun jobs is being a wedding officiant. You know, the person who says, “I now pronounce you husband & wife”.

Once I installed Dropbox, one of the things I did first was put all of my wedding ceremony files into Public folder that lets me link directly to files in my Dropbox. Click here to view the public link to my Turkey Mix recipe. it’s delicious.

When I send copies of ceremonies to my clients, instead of attaching files in an email, I now provide a link. Whenever I makes updates to the file, the link will always open the current version.

One of my tools as a wedding officiant is my Levenger Circa notebook. It holds the entire ceremony and looks very classy while performing a wedding.

Earlier this week, Dropbox announced a free iPhone App (opens in iTunes), which allows you to:

Access your Dropbox on the go
Download files for offline viewing
Sync photos and videos to your Dropbox
Share links to files in your Dropbox

This gave me another idea. Why not use my iPhone instead of the Levenger notebook? Since I am able to access all of my files using the Dropbox iPhone App, I am able to view all of my wedding files, including ceremonies. What’s nice is that this App switches between portrait and landscape viewing, depending on how you are holding the iPhone.

I was concerned to rely on my network coverage, This App gives you the option of marking a file as a favorite. This downloads a local copy to the iPhone so network access is not necessary.

I haven’t used this method yet to perform a wedding, but am considering how to implement it. What would you think if an officiant was reading from his iPhone vs. a notebook while performing a ceremony? Is it too 21st Century?

Feeling Secure

Eric Schwartz — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:56:00 +0000

Living in the beautiful city of Agoura Hills I have always felt safe. Crimes happen, but overall Agoura Hills is a very safe place to live.I never really considered a home security system until this year. I never had anyone burglarize my home nor vandalize my property, but isn’t the point of a security system to deter crime from happening in the first place?

I was now on a mission to find a great system at a reasonable price. One of the challenges with finding a system is that I need it to communicate to the monitoring company wirelessly because I do not have a land line phone.

I contacted several national companies like ADT, Broadview Security, and Protection One and a local company called, AidAlert.

Broadview Security gave me a typical sales pitch and when I told the representative I was getting bids from

other companies, she immediately starting dissing them. She then contacted her sales manager by phone and made one final attempt at the getting the sale by offering to lower the equipment price by $150. I still said no.

I wasn’t convinced that companies like these would be able to offer the type of service I was expecting, so my search continued.

I discovered a relatively new company called, FrontPoint Security Solutions. Their take on home security is to go completely wireless. As soon as I viewed their website, I knew that this company understood me.

FrontPoint Security offers a “ready out of the box” home security system. FrontPoint uses the GE Simon XT, a 100% wireless control panel which connects with all the alarm sensors and links the home to the monitoring center.

What is nice about the GE Simon XT is that it communicates via cellular technology. No land line necessary.

If this wasn’t cool enough, there is more. I am able to access and control my entire security system using the web or use Alarm.com’s iPhone app to control my system. There is a similar app for BlackBerry’s too.

Monitoring fees with FrontPoint are actually less than going with some of the national companies. Basic protection monitoring is $32.99.

To get all the cool features you need to have Interactive monitoring at only $39.99 a month. This adds:

Remote Security Access (apps, web access)
Instant Security Alerts (email, text messages)
Wireless Video (video device must be purchased)

More information about FrontPoint can be found at frontpointsecurity.com or by calling 866-ALARM-30.

A Classic Shave

Eric Schwartz — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:29:00 +0000

I recently came across a coupon from the slickdeals.net website for a free starter kit at The Art of Shaving. The Art of Shaving in their own words, “…has become the best-selling men’s brand at high-end department stores…”

I’ve been used to shaving with Gillette brand razors for most of my shaving experience so the thought I trying trying a little more sophisticated was appealing.

When I went to the Canoga Park location I was greeted by a young lady that showed me the 4 elements of a perfect shave.

Prepare to soften the beard & protect the skin
Lather Up! For a close & comfortable shave
Shave with a good handle & proper technique
Moisturize To sooth, refresh & regenerate the skin

The following day I was ready to use my new starter kit. Sure enough it came with everything I needed for my shave. I even used a new Mach 3 razor to get the best shave possible

The starter kit included:

Pre-Shave Oil
Shaving Cream
After-Shave Balm
Pure Badger Shaving Brush

To my surprise I got a really good shave. It got me thinking and I started doing more research on the art of shaving. It turns out many people find that to get an even better shave you must use a straight or safety razor.

A safety razor is a razor is where the skin is protected from all but the very edge of the blade. Safety razors go back to the 18th century.

I decided that if I was going to get the full experience of a classic shave, I needed to throw out all my disposable blades and get a safety razor.

One of the more popular safety razors is the Merkur Classic made in Germany. It is smaller than a typical disposable at 3 x 1 x 1 inches, but the magic is the weight. This one comes in at 4 ounces. Instead of shaving with a lot of pressure, you use the weight of the Merkur is get your close shave.

I recently ordered this from Amazon and am looking forward to to entire experience.