Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #56: Secret Lives, Exploding Oatmeal, Ruined Coats, etc.

1. You never really know who a person is behind closed doors. You might have met someone a few times. A friend of a friend who had a beautiful wife and daughter and you think to yourself ‘he’s a lucky guy.’ On the surface, he seems cool, fun, and to put it bluntly, normal. Then over time, he ends up being a cheater, so not cool. Last but probably not least so far he ends up being arrested for child pornography. So not normal. This is a real guy I had met on a few occasions and thought seemed like a decent guy. It turns out some are just better at hiding the disgusting truth of who they are. Now he has no wife, no mistress, and no freedom as he’ll be spending probably many years in jail for what he was arrested for. Good, serves you right scumbag.

2. I decided to open up an Etsy shop to sell some of my better New England photography. I have been asked numerous times about selling my photos but it always becomes too time-consuming. This probably will too but if it’s a chance to make a little extra money why not try, right? Time is a flat circle though. I went to Etsy to start crafting my shop. Google wanted to automatically sign me in which was fine. Then the craziness happened. It turns out I already created an Etsy shop for my photography in 2017. I just forgot about it. So now I am just cleaning that up and should be ready to sell photos before this blog goes live.

My Etsy shop logo

3. I’ve seen some stupid drivers but I saw one that is right up there with the worst ever. I mean I can deal with idiots that don’t stop at stop signs. You know the ones who just roll slowly instead of stopping? But this particular idiot then outdid themselves. They either missed their turn, or they were just a complete ass clown. Instead of maybe turning around in a driveway, or at a road, this jerk did a U-turn onto the sidewalk and drove the sidewalk a good hundred feet back to the intersection. Disgraceful and dangerous. Oh and before you go thinking it was some young kid it was a middle-aged mother in a soccer mom van complete with a bumper sticker touting their kid being on the honor roll. Definite Karen.

4. I was sad when I noticed a giant tear in the back of my heavy winter jacket when I hung it up at work. I think I caught it on a door handle that pulled and tore it open. I will end up getting a new one soon since winter is not over. The funny part comes from when I mentioned it to my family this week. My sister said she had noticed the ripped jacket last week but assumed I knew. That means I was going all over the place for days with a shredded jacket that probably made people think I had stolen it out of a dumpster or something. Nice.

5. After updating my iPhone I was surprised by a new app. Image Playground allows you to craft AI images from descriptions, or even better from your own photos. It is for iPhone models 15 & up. I have spent way more time choosing random photos to see how AI sees them. It is so much mindless fun. That is until AI decides that your photo from when you were 3 years old has you looking like a little girl with pigtails. Yay, sorry for my Dutch Boy hairdo, it was the early 1980s after all.

Thanks Image Playground

6. I went for a walk along the beach to get some nice sunset photos and videos. There was a house next to the beach parking lot that was being worked on. As I walked down the beach I repeatedly heard the sound of one of the guys working on the house just yelling and screaming. I kept looking back but there didn’t seem to be a commotion. Plus during my time there no ambulance came for the guy. I’m figuring he should find a different job if doing house repairs causes him to yell out repeatedly. It was made funny since he didn’t seem to be actually hurt.

7. A weird phenomenon that seems to happen to me a lot lately is the following. I spend several hours working on content at my desk. When it comes time for a break, like to go take a drive or something, I immediately get tired and start yawning uncontrollably. I notice it a lot when driving that suddenly I am yawning on repeat. Why is that? I feel like maybe my brain is so focused on work that as soon as I take my foot off the gas my brain is like ‘cool, time to crash.’

8. My goal for almost my entire adult life has been to make my living solely in some sort of creative field. Writing books or travel writing, podcasts, videos, etc. Having been on this path for so many years I feel like I put a lot of pressure on every piece of content I do. At times I believe it’s like a lottery ticket I’ve created. With every piece of content I release it’s like maybe this is the thing that gets the right set of eyes on it to make my goal of being a self-employed content creator a reality. Sure it keeps me motivated to keep going as the next one could be the big winner. It also casts a shadow of disappointment over everything I do when it inevitably doesn’t become my breakout creation.

9. It’s a strange thing. I make the same amount of oatmeal. In the same container. Same microwave. Same amount of water. Same time. Yet despite this every now and then the oatmeal decides to overflow the container. I can never predict it but it seems like it happens right when I let my guard down. Wham! Oats all over the microwave. Yay, good morning.

10. I created a video based on my most embarrassing race ever. It’s up on YouTube now. To sum it up, dehydration and beer combined do not make for a pleasant mix. Anyway, working on that video got me thinking about running and wouldn’t you know it I ended up signing up for a 5K race in May. My body is nowhere near where it needs to be to run but I do have about 10 weeks. You get 15 minutes after you sign up that you can cancel your order and I will admit I was watching the timer tick down debating it. In the end, I’ll end up doing it and just lowering, I mean really lowering my expectations. At least I know I won’t be drunk and crying after this race like I was after the race in the video I made.

My most embarrassing race, but a funny story now.

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog: #54 - Earthquakes, Fluffy Cows, Old Menus, etc.

1. It’s a shock to the system when you realize that what used to work no longer works. No cryptic post here this refers to fitness. Now in my late 40s, I am struggling with weight loss. My brain remembers running loads of miles as the way I dropped over 40 pounds. However, this was also now over 13 years ago. My body can’t handle that sort of load. Also, my metabolism is naturally slowing. This is a bad combo when I add that I constantly crave bad foods. That means that if I want to get back close to my peak physical condition I am going to have to try new things like, ugh, eating way more healthy.

2. We had a rare occurrence this week. We felt an earthquake on Cape Cod. The epicenter was just off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It registered at a 3.8. Typically we get small shakes roughly every 5 years. Those usually average about 3.0. This was a good deal more intense. For me where I was I thought a large truck was going by. I was sitting by a window and could see that in the time surrounding the rumbling that no vehicles were in the area. It didn’t register until I started seeing people posting about the quake a few minutes later. Pretty wild.

3. My new phone has something called an ‘action button.’ It is a side button you can program to do a specific task with one click. For example, you can have it where it automatically takes a photo or video. I did something wrong and it ended up getting stuck while the camera was open. What did this mean? Well, I was trying to shoot a very specific slow-motion video. By the time I got the thing shut off, I had about 40 different 2 or 3-second video clips many of which were me getting increasingly angry at what was happening. Thankfully it is all set now, and even more thankfully I deleted all of those foolish videos.

4. It was a chilly sunset at Taylor-Bray Farm. There is a very cute Scottish Highland Cow named Spaghetti there. He is shaggy with pretty good-sized horns. I got him to come over near the fence as I filmed him. Granted he was more interested in the employee that was getting ready to feed him but that’s beside the point. I ended up in total with nearly 3 minutes of video of this cow and the only time I paused recording was the one time he mooed. Otherwise, he just stared like he was on something. Dang it cow, I just wanted cute moo sounds. Fine, at least the donkeys yelled.

A typical Scottish Highland Cow

5. I saw 2 of the strangest cars within seconds of each other in the same parking lot. One was parked next to me at the gym. It was strange because it was as filled with stuff as you could get in a normal-sized sedan. I don’t know if the person who owned it was living in their car, moving, or just was a hoarder who had a new haul. I don’t even know how they fit in the driver’s seat or drove without being pulled over because there is no way they could see out the back window. The other one from a distance looked like a cow dressed up as a car. When I got closer it was just that the white paint had been stripped away in lots of round patches exposing black underneath. The owner should just finish it off and get some bull horns, or a stuffed cow head for his hood ornament.

6. I ordered myself a new pair of running shoes online. Instead of getting the Brooks Ghost, which I’ve been wearing pretty faithfully since 2012, I switched to the Brooks Adrenaline. This wasn’t a random switch though. The original shoe I ran in was the Adrenaline. They are a stability shoe, typically for those with flatter feet. I did a foot scan a few years ago and my arches are far flatter after thousands of miles of running. I finally decided to try the stability shoes again to see if maybe they’d help me get back to running. Wrong. I mostly walked and even that had my feet hurting as much as they used to when I was marathon training. So I ended up returning them and getting a new pair of my usual Ghosts. At least I tried right?

7. Sometimes timing is everything. It was a very rainy day. I just happened to be heading down to the basement to put my laundry in the dryer. It was on my way past a window that I spotted an Amazon truck with its sliding side door wide open in front of the house. I waited for a driver to bring whatever package they had to the front door. Instead, I spotted the guy walking across the front yard coming from the side of the house. Rather than placing the package on the front step, the guy put it on the back deck. On one hand, it was out of sight of potential thieves which was good. On the other hand, if I hadn’t seen him the package would have sat out in the rain for hours at least. So I’m conflicted, but it all ended up being fine only because of my good timing.

8. An amazing gift arrived this week. It was a 91-year-old menu from a former Cape Cod restaurant known as The Bellows. It existed in Falmouth and was owned by a woman named Thekla Hedlund. I had written an article about it many years ago. It’s an amazing gift if you’re a lover of history. A woman saw the article recently because the website that I wrote for paid me once and then recycles my work with a fresh date on it. Yeah, they suck. Anyway, she sent me the menu that her grandmother had kept. This menu is a fascinating look into the popular foods and the prices from the Great Depression. I was very grateful and sent the woman a copy of my Hotels and Motels book as it has a chapter on The Bellows inside of it.

A really cool gift.

9. I am trying to do some more creative work in terms of photography in 2025. I have a new phone with a bunch of fun features for the camera. I also have some props like crystals, a selfie stick, a gimbal, and a battery-powered spinning colorful ball. All of these things would certainly make for unique photos and videos. The only trouble is that it can take time and effort to set up these unique shots. I don’t mind it, unless it is cold and windy which it has been since it’s winter. I still want to work on it, but it might be more of a spring project.

10. Cuteness Alert: I walked out on the Bass Hole boardwalk in Yarmouth Port. I was shooting a video and getting a couple of photos. I was all the way at the end packing up my gear since it was cold. A mother was coming down the boardwalk with her 2 kids. 1 was probably 6 or 7 and the other was probably 2. She was the cuteness. As I was walking back she was talking and she suddenly noticed me. She yelled to her mom ‘oh no there’s a person coming!.’ It was so adorable but I only said ‘hi’ as I walked by when I actually wanted to tell her how adorable she was. 

The Bass Hole Boardwalk

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #53: Liquid Crack, Secret Statues, Stupid Tattoos, etc.

1. I was saddened to learn that an old favorite energy drink was discontinued a year or so ago. RedLine drinks by VPX were super hardcore. Their little energy shots were the only energy supplement ever that affected me in such a way that I swore to never take them again. I had an old friend who would refer to RedLine as ‘liquid crack.’ I have been a Guinea pig for energy supplements for years. Now RedLine will join a list of products I enjoyed that have been discontinued because they are unsafe. I mean I guess that’s a good reason. I’ll miss you RedLine. Say hi in drink heaven to Ephedra Tea, Speed Stack, the original formula of Jack3d, and others.

RIP Redline

2. I am still in the learning phase of the camera on my new phone. This week I took a drive up to the Cape Cod Canal for some photos. I had a cool idea to attach my phone to my selfie stick which also has a tripod base. The idea was to get it all set so I could record myself driving out to this spot called Mashnee Island. It’s a beautiful scenic island with some homes on it. Anyway, I spent at least 10 minutes in a parking lot trying to get the setup to work to no avail. I gave up and didn’t even make the drive out to Mashnee. I went to the nearby Market Basket instead.

3. Icy mornings are no fun. They do make you appreciate spring and summer though. We had a storm this week where it was rain at first on Cape Cod and then transitioned to snow overnight. This meant that when it was time for me to leave for work I had to chisel caked ice off of my car windows and doors. After about 5 minutes of chiseling, I got tired and frustrated and decided it was time to leave regardless. Eventually, my windshield was cleared of ice by my heater and wipers. However, the first few minutes of my drive consisted of my head being cocked to one side so I could see out of a clear spot. Cold hands, neck pain, whatever.

4. I am not sure what is worse, or more disgusting. A person who chooses to not wipe their equipment off at the gym? Or a person who uses one paper towel to ‘clean’ every piece of equipment they use? I ask because there is a really gross guy at the gym who gets one paper towel and then reuses it dozens of times. No, he doesn’t spray cleaner on it repeatedly, nah, just one spray. I am sure it’s still sanitary. Then again this guy looks like 10 lbs of crap in a 5 lb set of beige overalls so I don’t know what I was expecting.

5. As a content creator I have to do a lot of promoting of my work. Nobody else will do it for me. One of the most annoying yet hilarious parts of my promotion comes from a few podcasting groups on Facebook. I share photos and links to my shows on a few such groups. I can count on the same thing happening nearly every time. I put up a post and within seconds there are comments or messages from these jackass people begging for me to pay them to promote my podcast. I now have to turn off notifications for comments on my posts. When these morons message me I immediately ban them on my Facebook podcast page. I am not sure how much the promoting on these podcast pages helps but I have to do all I can to put my name out there. Even if that means disabling notifications and banning people every time.

6. I saw a guy in the grocery store from afar. I thought he had a neat intricate beard on his face. When I got closer? Nope. It was a tattoo. This guy had cursive words inked onto his jaw. I think it might be hard for me to find a stupider idea for a tattoo besides someone who chooses to tattoo their entire head. Yes, I have seen that too with some psychopath at the gym. I’m definitely not anti-tattoo. I am anti stupid tattoos though.

7. It’s always fun when you throw your laundry in and about 5 minutes later realize that you forgot something in the pocket of a coat. Yeah, fun. It was the USB cord for my new phone. The best (worst) part was the washing machine being locked since I stopped it mid-cycle. I had to spend a few minutes figuring out how to unlock it. Then it was another few minutes rifling through sopping wet clothes to find the cord. Good times.

8. It took less than a week for my small dry-erase board to be rendered useless. It weighs nothing and came with 4 big squares of double-sided tape. In theory, it should easily stick to a wall or door. Sadly this was not the case. I had the board stuck snugly on a closet door. The first night I was awakened by the sound of the board falling off and hitting the floor. I thought maybe I hadn’t attached the board securely enough. I pushed on that tape until I was close to cracking the dry-erase board. A few days later I was sitting at the table when I saw it once again fall off the door. For now, I have given up on having this dry-erase board hanging anywhere. It is sitting face up on a table now as useless as can be. Money well spent.

9. I went with my buddy Steve on a fun afternoon photo trip to a few Outer Cape towns. I had a secret spot to show him, plus there was another spot I wanted to check out. These were both close to the beach in Wellfleet. The first spot, an interesting statue on the side of a summer house’s yard, was a success. We nabbed a few photos and got off the property. The second spot was a fail. I wanted to see the famed Oysterman House where Henry David Thoreau stayed on one of his trips along Cape Cod’s outer beach. It is on a secluded dirt road in the middle of nowhere. I was all for walking down the driveway, grabbing a photo, and running away. Unfortunately and ironically the only other house within sight was located next door. I only got about 10 steps down the driveway before I heard a car door shut and saw a person. I ducked back out to the road and we left that spot behind.

10. A bonus of the long walk back to the beach parking lot from the failed attempt at the Oysterman House was finding a fun toy left behind. We assumed it was a dog toy but it was a funny-looking stuffed duck. I was tempted to take it with me and do some sort of skits with it like when I owned a camcorder in high school. Steve wasn’t keen on a dirty dog toy hanging out in his truck so I had to settle for a quick photo.

Proof of the duck's existence.

11. A neat full-circle moment came when we went to shoot the sunset on top of Bearberry Hill in Truro. The last time I visited that spot was the last day I had a drink. The next day I gave up alcohol and have never looked back. That was nearly 4 ½ years ago. It was nice to be standing there in the same place but in a far different place all at once.

12. We ended the photo trip at the iconic Days Cottages in Truro. It’s basically impossible to take a bad photo there. The only problem was the weather got colder and very windy along the water. I was running around getting as many photos and videos as I could. I had to get a photo of colorful clothespins on a line. Unfortunately, the wind wouldn’t let it happen unless I held the line. This led to some frosty fingers but that’s a part of the dedication to the craft.

Cold hands don't care.

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #52: Neck compression, Sunset Skeletons, Coat Rack Excitement, etc.

 

1. I was wandering through Dick’s Sporting Goods this week. I was looking for a nice backpack. While browsing I came upon a rack of compression items. Compression sleeves for arms, calves, knees, etc. It dawned on me that there is no compression garment for those with stiff or sore necks. I thought for a minute and it became obvious why. Any compression sleeve for the neck would simply choke the person unconscious. I mean, you wouldn’t be thinking about your neck pain anymore, so there’s that. I do think the lawsuits would eliminate any profits the product made though.

2. I was taking a random drive to nowhere as I tested out the camera on my new phone. I ended up passing a sign with my name on it. Someone had taken a ‘Slow’ yellow sign and made it up with black tape. Besides my name, the little black figure had a baseball cap and fingers on one hand. I initially drove by but then turned around and went back as I thought this was more than a coincidence. I grabbed a photo and then proceeded to sit and wait as I felt something might happen. No more than 2 minutes later the daughter-in-law of the Lady of the Dunes called me. She asked if I had any photos from my work on my book that I could share with her. They are for other members of the family to see the area where Ruth Marie Terry was found. I am sure she would have called anyway but the timing of it after the sign made the story even better.

It's like I was meant to go that way.

3. A sunset shoot turned extra foolish. I walked toward a small river at the east end of a local beach. It was on this walk that I spotted a skeleton sitting in a beach chair watching the water. Sensing an opportunity for some humor I took a video and a photo with the skeleton announcing our relationship on social media. Sadly I was actually expecting a few people to not pay attention and think I was announcing a real relationship. No, not with the skeleton, but like they wouldn’t take 2 seconds to look at the photo and they’d just send congratulations or something. I was pleasantly surprised that nobody fell for that, at least not so far.

What a beautiful couple.

4. For the last several weeks I’ve had a soreness/tightness in my left hip flexor. I have been doing a lot more stretching to try to loosen it up but it wasn’t really helping. Sadly I came to the realization that the tightness was from sitting too much at work. Something similar happened during the initial months of COVID-19 when I was at home most of the time. The solution is easy. I had to turn my desk into a stand-up desk. The funny thing was how tired my legs were after an hour or so of standing the first day. All I wanted to do was sit but I figure if my hip flexor gets any tighter my leg is going to permanently look like Daniel Larusso at the end of Karate Kid when he’s doing the crane kick.

5. I don’t have a fear of spiders. Sometimes it’s hard for me to relate to those who do. This week one of my favorite clients was in the gym to train. After our first circuit of exercise, she went over to our water fountain to refill her bottle. A small light brown spider apparently crawled across the top of the bottle. I had my back turned but she screamed and launched her water bottle into the air. It hit the floor and water went everywhere. I thought she had accidentally pressed the hot water button on the fountain. When she said it was a spider I had to keep a poker face and not laugh. Once I knew she was ok it ended up being a hilarious scene.

6. I am now ‘I am super excited to get a coat rack’ years old. I needed one. I have been storing coats and long-sleeves and the like on a chair which looks very ‘teenage boy.’ So I got a rack. Well, it’s more of a pole with hooks all over it. I can finally start living like an adult as I get closer to 50. It’s not a wedding announcement to share with my mom but hey it’s the next best thing, right?

So exciting!

7. What is the appropriate time before turning in your vehicle to put your signal on? I often wonder. This week I got to see the two extremes and didn’t like either. I had one person wait basically until they were turning to put a signal on. This is sometimes complete with the driver barely slowing down so that leaves you to have to slam on your brakes to avoid hitting them. I also had someone who put their signal on probably 1,000 feet before their turn. This meant they passed several other roads and driveways with the blinker on. Either of these choices though is better than not using a blinker at all which sadly I see way more often.

8. Many years ago there was a girl I was nuts about. We worked together and we were really close friends. For those who watched The Office, she was Pam Beasley to my Jim Halpert. Honestly, our storyline was very similar. She even had a d-bag boyfriend like Roy. The difference came when she finally broke up with her boyfriend. In The Office, Jim goes for a job interview in New York but ends up turning it down to come back to finally ask Pam out. My story was akin to Jim going to New York and never coming back. We never ended up getting together. It came down to me thinking if I was a rebound relationship it wouldn’t last. It was dumb then and sounds dumb now. I am glad she ended up in a happy marriage with two kids. I often wish I had at least taken my shot though because who knows. This story is front and center in my mind this week because it was her birthday and I still remember and I still wish her a happy birthday. Happy Birthday to my Pam.

9. I have been good in 2025 by not going to any takeout restaurants (so far). However, despite that I have not been immune to eating poorly. One of my weaknesses is chicken wings. This gets elevated when I visit a local grocery store. The reason is because they have these awesome fried wings that remind me of a sub shop I used to visit near my house in the 1990s. They were called Wing Dings. I think a lot of places have them though. Anyway, the problem arises when I go to this grocery store and they have the wings in their deli section marked as ‘buy one get one.’ I mean how can I resist? Well, I know I can but I don’t want to. So yeah, no McDonald’s but buckets of chicken wings. Is that a good trade?

10. There are plenty of times that I feel like I am in my own head way too much. Overthinking. Expecting the worst. Feeling like perfection is the only way to succeed. Sadly, I know this isn’t the healthiest way to be, yet it still occurs pretty often. It is as if my brain has been trained a certain way and rewiring it seems to be a process I can’t finish no matter how much I want to. I had a quarter-life crisis. This is likely part of a mid-life crisis. I’m hoping there’s no old-age crisis but that’s likely death so at least I won’t have to write a blog about it.

Initial Impressions 2.0 #14: Foolish Cars, Band Attacks, Grampa's Donuts, etc

1. I don’t know what made me laugh and shake my head more, an old Chevy Suburban with small tires so it’s a few inches off the ground or a typical sedan car with huge tires. Both are equally stupid and cry out ‘Please look at me!’

2. Hashtags on social media are supposed to help people find relevant content. #sunrise #food #weaselseatingstrawberries #etc. If you use a hashtag to basically write another sentence maybe just write that sentence. #wenttothestoretobuydinnerandforgotmywallet

3. I have been listening to relaxing music on YouTube before bed for many weeks now. It does help my brain start to shut off and get ready for sleep. The downside? Because I play these types of videos almost every night my suggested videos section is nearly all relaxing music. Literally dozens of videos that are almost identical. I don’t want to stop listening to the music though so I guess eventually my entire feed will just be calming music.

4. Only recently have I realized that I have had the same wallet for at least 25 years. Is this common? I don’t think wallets expire so I’d assume that people just keep them until they literally fall apart. Does anyone out there have a wallet they’ve owned for decades? Maybe I should finally get a new one even though my current one is still surprisingly durable.

Is it time for a new wallet?

5. A local supermarket had its automatic exit door shut off due to it needing repairs. There was a sign saying to use the entrance door and sorry for any inconvenience. The entrance door is literally 3 feet beside the exit. I appreciate the sentiment but if someone is inconvenienced by taking 2 steps to the side they might need to think about InstaCart.

6. From the 1 In A Million department. I was cleaning the gym where I work at the end of the shift. I had a thick red band tied around a pole and quickly grabbed it and pulled it as I was trying to get done before a meeting. Well, the band decided to slam me right in the nuts. I let out a nice gasp and a few groans while I held the pole to not collapse. All in all a great ending to the work day. Stupid band.

7. I am hoping that 5 years from now I am looking back on the New England Patriots drafting North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye with the #3 pick as a watershed moment that led the team back to prominence. However, I also thought that about Mac Jones in 2021, and now he’s in Jacksonville. Fun Fact: Of the first 5 QBs picked in that 2021 NFL Draft, only #1 pick Trevor Lawrence is still on the same team. All the other 4 QBs, including Mac Jones, have been traded. Crazy.

8. I am excited for a new location of Hole In One Donuts to open less than 10 minutes from me. There are 2 other locations on Cape Cod in Eastham and Orleans. The reason I will always have a soft spot for them is not just because their donuts are great, but because their first location used equipment purchased from my Grampa’s donut shop, Sullivan’s. When he had to close the shop in Hyannis in 1993 the four sisters who own Hole In One bought some of the equipment. Not only did they use his equipment, but they also made the donuts the way he used to. So to me, it’s like having Grampa’s donuts still after all these years.

Soon to be Hole In One(Google Maps)

9. My USB core to charge my iPhone was old, frayed, and shorting out. Needless to say I needed a new one soon. The cord was so bad it would flip from charging to not charging nonstop which drove me nuts. Especially in the car when it would affect my music. I finally had enough while driving. It kept shorting out so I yanked it out of my stereo and whipped the cord out of the window. Because it was the sane, normal thing to do.

Get out! Stupid USB!

10. Irony is the fact that when I got my last iPhone a few years ago I got a pair of those Air Pods earbuds. I prefer the big old-school over-ear headphones so I just tossed them in the closet. I don’t want to get funny looks at the library wearing huge headphones so now I’m tearing apart my closet looking for those damn earbuds because if I don’t find them it costs like $100 to buy new ones. Boo.

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In My Footsteps: A Walk Around the Dwellable Travel App

            Named one of the ‘10 Best Travel Apps For Your New iPad’ by CNN the Dwellable App certainly lives up to that lofty praise.  Upon opening it the first thing that’s noticed is the gentle lapping ocean waves and a simple search feature. Most potential travelers will likely decide on a beach destination with this tempting and soothing imagery. Touching the search feature on the home screen causes a list of popular spots on the app pop up. This first step maybe all that is needed to find what you desire.

            Being a Cape Codder I chose this as my destination for a trial run. I was immediately amazed by the colorful photos. This was second only to the ease of finding what you are looking for. Cape Cod itself is divided into five subcategories: Upper Cape, Outer Cape, Mid Cape, Lower Cape, and Just Off Cape.  Each subcategory is accompanied by a number of rentals which can be scrolled through by touching an arrow. This is much easier than simply scrolling through hundreds of random listings.

            The most popular destinations, as far as number of rentals, are listed at the top in descending numerical order. As you become more specific in your selections the Dwellable App gets even better. Each individual property comes complete with several bright colorful photos that are so easy to scroll through that I found myself checking many different properties just to look at the photos. If a straight list is not your thing the app has a map feature with pins noting where rentals are located in the area you are looking to stay. There is also a ‘dateboard’ showing available properties in that area on the left and a calendar of scrollable dates on the right. These details make the timely chore of finding the right vacation rental seemingly disappear.

These property listings give you the pertinent information and much more. Not only do most give prices for renting each property but some also get prices for specific times and a calendar on screen to show you when said property is available. The property is described in depth with location, amenities, nearby attractions, and a little extra love which makes it feel so much cozier and less sterile than many other travel sites and apps. There is nothing important left out and at times it’s as if the owner is speaking directly to you.

            Contact information is highlighted on screen making your rental only a click away literally. The app is always adding new properties, evident by the call for property owners and managers to add listings in such areas as Rhode Island. If you are looking for a break from the same old sterile travel apps I highly recommend the Dwellable App. It is run by great people and the properties are nearly all owned by regular people, not hotel chains. It is easy to use and very visually appealing. Plus it’s free, so what’s not to like about that?

An example of a Cape Cod listing with colorful photos and contact info.

The home page complete with soothing ocean waves.