Not sure if you’ve heard the news but – the Holiday season is upon us!

We’ve quickly been thrown into the purchasing, wrapping and other preparations that surround us at this time of year.  With each year that passes I always vow that “I’ll be better prepared next year”. A great aspiration but, by the time the next Christmas season rolls around, I’m usually back in the same crunch that I always find myself in.

Not this year! This year, I promised to make a conscious effort to make it a little less stressful and a little more magical without  the post-Christmas financial hangover. We started our shopping earlier than we normally do – allowing us to put thought into what we are buying for everyone  and spread the spending out over several months.

I also enlisted the help of technology.

Too often, we wonder around the mall with a mental list of the people to check-off the and, worse, only a mental tally of the money we’ve spent.

This year, I downloaded an application onto my iPhone called ‘Holiday Shopping List’. It’s just one of the many available in the App Store. This handy little addition has allowed me to build our list, assign individual budgets for each person, categorize folks, make notes as we shop and keep a running tally of what we’ve spent (both individually and in total).It also allows you to mark a person as ‘finished’ – one of my most favorite features!

Now, as we shop, I have a current list in my pocket. No more scribbles on paper for us! I love this application. It’s allowed me to keep a really accurate tally on our status of what’s left to do and what we have left to spend. For once, I’m in control of Christmas Shopping and not the other way around.

Such a little thing has made a big difference! With our shopping in a good place – it’s left us time to actually enjoy the time leading up to the big day. We’ve been watching holiday movies, baking cookies, checking out the Christmas lights – who knew that the pre-Christmas weeks could be so fun!

Happy preparing!

- jenn

It’s that time of year, where most people have their holiday shopping done, and I haven’t even started. You can ask my wife, and she will tell you that I have no clue what to buy a woman for Christmas, but let me shop for a Geek, and I’m all over it. I’m lucky that my wife is a Geek Chick, and this list can also apply to her!

So, what do you buy that special Geek/Gadget freak for Christmas?

1. A Smartphone – This one is a really bad gift unless you know they really want the commitment. Sure, you’re paying the up-front costs, but you’re also sticking them with a monthly bill of $60 or more. may be a good idea to offer to pay for a few months of usage. There are tons of models out there, and it will all depend on the person you’re shopping for. The safe bet is an iPhone, as it has mass appeal, is simple to use, and is also an iPod, so you can skip my next gift idea. I would buy my wife an iPhone if I was to get her a phone as a gift. For the geek out there, I think an Android phone is the way to go! If the person is all about work, and has no idea what the internet is, then go with a Blackberry.

I have a Dream. An HTC Dream. The first of the Android phones. And this is my review so far. I’ve had it for a couple of months now, and have taken it through it’s paces.

I don’t have an iPhone, and I’ve been known to openly bash Apple, even though I absolutely love their products. It’s a love/hate thing. I love my iPod touch, and am attached to it, but hate Apple and how proprietary everything they do it. I’m kind of an open source hippy sometimes.

My brother has an iPhone, he’s a technophobe, and his main use for it is to take pictures of himself while pooping at random public (and private) restrooms and then e-mail them to me. Luckily, they are from the waist up. Talk about a waste of an iPhone. Although, it’s no more of a waste than some of the applications that are out there. I mean, iFart? Come on?!?! You have a sophisticated piece of technology, and the best thing you can come up with is making it fart? Check out this video from CollegeHumor on cell phones, it’s great: http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1899978.

Okay, back to the point. I’m going to go on record, like many others, and say that Twitter is going to be the biggest thing of 2009, by far. Facebook is now trying to copy it with its new home page, and more and more people are using Twitter. It is no longer just a haven for geeks.

I’ve tried a few iPhone apps for Twitter, and have landed of TwitterFon (iTunes Link). It does pretty much all you need with regards to the feed, friends, following, replying, Tweeting, and even searching…and it’s free! I haven’t tried any of the paid apps yet, because I’m cheap, and this one does everything I need it to do. So, try it out, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Stay tuned for more ways to use your iPhone/iPod touch to its fullest.