Interesting. Although, I don't like it for the same reason I don't like the Pair app.
I think communication between loved ones should be more personal. I don't think these types of relationships should be encouraged.
You should be calling your mother more. You should be taking the time out of your day to send a personal email or letter if they aren't technically savvy.
I get it, it's easy. Few taps on your iPhone and a postcard is on the way to your Mom.
I just think that life is too short to subject a relationship as important as the one you have with your parents to a mobile app. Can you imagine:
"Hi Mom it's Kelsey, here's a picture of me and my new dog, Snookums!"
-This message delivered to you with no effort at all by HiMom, the mobile app for terrible sons/daughters
Just call your parents. They love you and miss you.
I like Pair and I tried this app out. If you are on the run you want to have simple apps which helps you stay in contact with your friends. So far it was a pain for me to send my parents pictures. Now I can keep them up-to-date more regular which makes especially my mom happy. Doesn't mean that I do not call my mom again. It is just an additional way to share easily photos to them.
I get it, it's easy. Few taps on your iPhone and a postcard is on the way to your Mom.
Exactly why it's useful.
I just think that life is too short to subject a relationship as important as the one you have with your parents to a mobile app.
Constant postcards will be welcome (at least by my parents), in addition to the call. Especially useful if you have young kids growing up far from grandparents.
I've been living overseas for over a year now. I video Skype with my parents every week or two on Sundays. Otherwise my parents check out pictures that my girlfriend puts on Facebook every now and then.
I have to admit I am struggling to see this app would work for me. Postcards as emails aren't that useful (I may as well just send an email with a picture attached). Otherwise physical postcards are only interesting if you buy them from the place you are visiting.
I agree, but I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. This is not a substitute for calling or spending time with your loved ones. Sending physical media though is often a very nice gesture that people appreciate. In today's age of email and texts, it's nice sometimes to get a letter or postcard.
I am glad you had a positive experience with The Tenderloin. I had quite the opposite experience: I was nearly attacked.
He was spouting off stuff like "Stupid Americans!" and saying he was not afraid to get sued and that he would just return to his home country. Needless to say, I was pretty terrified. This dude was scary, and my friend (SF local) warned me about The Tenderloin.
Anyhow, I think it's great that you met such a positive and interesting character in one of the most unlikely places.
I lived in the TL a couple times (crashed at New Hack City in 2002 for a few weeks, and subletted from some DJs on Taylor St in 2003).
I directly saw 2 fatal shootings (two right outside the house at night, while I was sitting by the window cleaning a handgun and on IRC at 2am; called the cops who came by the next day; drug dealers -- saw a bunch of fights, dead people carried out of SROs, etc too), and got assaulted once (guy tried to grab my bag, it remained attached to me thanks to wire in the strap, some violence ensued, I ran off).
Not a place I'd suggest living if you have a choice. It may be gentrifying now, but the SROs are effectively permanent, so there's going to be a population of crazy and/or drug addicted people forever, and the criminals who cater to and prey on them.
I've been biking through the Tenderloin for the last couple of weeks since I started at Square. I've always been really scared as I bike through and have had a decent number of people yell at me. This was quite the opposite of that :)
The TL is terrifying when there's no one else around except some ne'er-do-wells. Anything goes in that situation. Where it's busy it's usually just unpleasant, running the Tenderloin gauntlet of a million aromas (the more belligerent cousin of the Mission gauntlet of a thousand aromas).
During the day time I'd be more concerned about stepping in human excrement or rivers of piss. In fact, walking to the BART tonight from the Tenderloin I dodged 3 piles of human shit and near-missed another.
The Tenderloin and Twitterloin are blights on this fair city, and its toxic presence is oppressively pervasive if you spend any amount of time downtown (or even further out, like Hayes Valley and the Castro). It's a startling example of complete public policy failure at all levels of government.
