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Recently, a few people have asked me if it’s worth it to get an iPhone. It’s a personal decision for sure, but here’s an idea of how I use my iPhone in any given day. See if you can tell what the answer is for ME! I’ve listed in parentheses the iPhone applications I use.

5:30am - I awake to the sound of soft harps. (Clock)

5:35am – I do a quick check of my personal email (Mail), work email (iNotes), news (USA Today), and check the weather to see what I should wear and if I should bring an umbrella ella ella (WeatherBug).

6:15am - I listen to podcasts on the way to work. If it’s a Monday, you can be sure I’m listening to This American Life with Ira Glass (iPod).

7:00am - Once I get to work, I listen to a personalized music selection online while I get set up and plan my workday. (Pandora)

10:00am – During a meeting I might hear about a new technology so I check out the latest tech news. (CNET)

11:00am – While in the break room, someone asks a question I don’t know the answer to. While others sit and speculate, I pop out my iPhone and find the answer lickity-split. (Google)

11:30am – I might get a new client on my Meals on Wheels route, so I plug in their address and have my iPhone give me turn by turn directions to their house. (Maps)

12:30pm – Upon return to the office, I notice something weird that I must take a picture of. (Camera)

12:32pm – I upload said picture to twitpic via my iPhone Twitter client. (TwitterFon)

1:00pm – I receive a message via the Facebook iPhone app that my colleague/friend finally gets to bring her baby home from the hospital after being in ICU for several weeks! (Facebook)

2:00pm - I connect with several former colleagues who are looking for jobs. (LinkedIn)

5:00pm - As I leave the office parking lot, I hear a song on the stereo, and I can’t for the life of me remember the artist. I let my iPhone listen to the song and after 10 seconds of listening, it tells me who the artist is, what album, etc. (Shazam)

5:30pm – I call my husband to see if he needs me to pick up anything on the way home from work. (Phone) Yes, it’s true. The iPhone can actually be used as a telephone.

5:45pm - I get home and pull out the fixins’ for dinner. I follow the recipe using my iPhone. (BigOven)

7:00pm – I decide to practice my flute for a few minutes, and I make sure I’m in tune. (StayInTune)

7:30pm – I get totally grossed out by my flute cleaning rag which is dirty, so I pull out my iPhone and purchase a new one online. (Amazon)

7:45pm – I help my kids with their homework, and rather than look stupid by admitting I don’t know the answer to their questions, I discreetly look up answers on my iPhone. (Wikipanion)

8:00pm – I go on a walk around the neighborhood, and since it’s dark (and we can’t seem to keep a working flashlight in the house), I use my iPhone. (myLite)

8:45pm - I check to see if tonight’s episode of “The Real Housewives of Orange County” is a repeat. (i.TV)

10:30pm - I read a chapter of the latest book I’ve downloaded from Amazon.com. (Kindle)

11:00pm – I listen to “Rain with Thunder” as I drift off to sleep and dream about how I will use my iPhone tomorrow. (Ambiance)

I’ve run across some pretty interesting iPhone web apps over the last several months, so I thought I’d recommend some on my blog in case any of my fellow iPhone addicts want to try them out. Here are a few to get started…

hiHome – This is a cool way to see how much your neighbor’s house is worth! Oh, I suppose there are other more honorable ways to use this tool, but I’ve had fun being nosy. The site is an iPhone optimized version of Zillow, a real estate site that gives valuations for properties all over the US.

Stitcher – Ever get in the car in the morning only to realize you forgot to sync your iPhone. No need to miss the latest news podcasts. Stitcher lets you listen to streaming news and entertainment from your iPhone. I listen to the Silicon Valley Professional station which reads me the headlines to blogs like TechCrunch, WSJ Tech news, and CNET daily tech news. It’s a real person reading too…not an electronic voice.

iSkyGaze – Although I haven’t used this much yet, it’s an awesome idea. This application provides information on where and when constellations, planets, galaxies and other objects will be viewable from your location, as well as offering other cool facts about what you’re seeing.

iRuler – Super useful! I don’t need a ruler often, but when I do, I never have one handy. Now I do! iRuler turns my iPhone into a ruler, albeit a pretty short one — 2.5 in (or 6.5 cm) to be exact!

Many more to come!!

This morning my flute choir led the music for Central Presbyterian’s Easter sunrise service. This was our 15th year anniversary! Today was a bit chilly and windy, but we’ve experienced much worse. All-in-all it was a fun and moving experience as always. What luck to have such special friends to share such an important holiday. I’ve embedded below a short remix I created using online features of Photobucket. Enjoy!

Today I had some fun creating my own font using http://www.fontifier.com. It was really easy. I just printed out a template. Wrote all the letters and symbols on the template. Scanned it and uploaded it and voila! Next, I downloaded the font file to my hard drive and dragged it into my c:\windows\fonts folder (which installs it). Then I just loaded OpenOffice Write and clicked the down arrow to select a new font and there mine was! “Joyce’s Handwriting.”  Below is a sample.  I think I’ve managed to include a good number of characters.

One thing I love about IBM is the fact that I have easy access to an amazingly diverse group of over 300,000 people. I can find an expert in just about anything, at any time of day. I can easily find people with the same interests as mine. And I’ve expanded my interests thanks to colleagues who’ve shared a bit of themselves, whether personal or professional.

This morning while browsing my RSS feeds, I ran across a blog entry by Sacha Chua, a colleague and friend I met while working on Lotus Greenhouse earlier this year. Sacha is amazing. What I love about her is her ability to share knowledge in such fun and friendly ways. Business and technology doesn’t have to be dull, and Sacha proves that. Yesterday her blog entry talked about adding joy to your job title! I can’t wait to see what she chooses for her new title (she recently changed jobs) — right now, she’s “Tech Evangelist, Storyteller, Geek.”

I hope to meet up with Sacha soon to talk with her about her goal setting technique. She seems to have developed a cool system for herself, and I bet she’ll be able to provide some tips as I work on my new goals and objectives for 2008.

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I LOVE Jott! It allows you to send e-mail by voice. You call the number, it transcribes what you say, and sends an e-mail to whomever you choose. It’s a great way to get that spontaneous idea to someone when you’re not in a convenient place to send them an e-mail, but the idea isn’t urgent enough for you to call them. I’ve even been using this service to send reminders to myself and it’s been great.

One downside is that it will transcribe EXACTLY what you say….all your speaking imperfections, splayed out on the screen in all their glory. Below is one example of a message I sent to my husband last night. I knew he was coaching our son’s basketball game, so I didn’t want to bother him, but I did want to get the message to him.

Like, oh my gosh! Like, that’s so…like…embarrassing!