However, I still look forward to each new announcement, hoping something really fantastic comes along. So, for today’s keynote, I decided to build a wee papercraft Steve Jobs from a site I found the other day. It’s easy: some thick paper, a paper-cutting knife, ruler and glue and you’re ready to go.

By the time I arrived, there was only a small line of perhaps 50 people. I expected there had been a longer line before opening, but I had no idea it was this long.

NASA must be feeling confident today, however, as the marketing surrounding this landing has been impressive. I have seen interest from CBC, Discovery and Space channels, but there is more as well:

• Phoenix updates on the Canadian Space Agency web site
• NASA’s Phoenix Web site
• Updates from MarsLander on Twitter

Very soon, Phoenix will enter the 7 minutes of terror (video) that will make or break this project.

NASA seems to have a lot of confidence that this project will succeed.  Good Luck, Phoenix!

The sun is shining on our fair city and I’m sitting outside as I wait for my appointment at the Genius bar (my MacBook Pro has a minor button issue) in the brand new Apple Store, the first in Western Canada.

Later, I’ll be filming Finnegan, my Duck Toller, for a movie I hope to put together later this weekend or next. I don’t really have a theme or plot in mind yet, but I’m sure one will emerge as the camcorder captures his antics.

Also, the much anticipated Stanley Cup Finals begin tonight with my favorite team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, vying for the Cup against the Detroit Red Wings, a venerable opponent.  I expect the series will be a good one, and while I am hoping the ‘Pens will win, I suspect it will be a tough go to get by the heavy experience and grit of the Wings.  Game on!

Here are some stats:

• 12: The number of drafts that are in my WordPress queue. I am having a tough time editing them for publication
• 7: The number of days per week I have more than 4 hours of my time scheduled
• 5: The number of books that are sitting on my desk at home, waiting to be reviewed
• 28: The number of hockey games I am scheduled to play before September 1st
• 4.25: The multiplier applied to my income to match the amount my home will cost me
• 2.6: The multiplier applied to my income to match the list price of a similar place in Langley
• 3: The number of minutes in my current commute to work (one way)
• 50: The average number of commuting minutes required if I move to Langley (one way)
• $40: Approximate monthly gas cost of my car today
• $550: Approximate monthly gas cost of my car if I commute to/from Langley
• 18: The number of students I have this term
• 60: The highest number of students I have had in a term
• 6: The lowest number of students I have had in a term

That’s all I can think of for now. Off to hockey.

A quick visit to the clinic and the doctor suggested the likely problem is a stress fracture , so he sent me off for x-rays.  Until next week at least, I am supposed to stay off my foot if I want to get back to normal walking.  A cane was suggested, which I purchased, but after a few days of that, I would much rather have crutches.  The cane has thrown off my alignment and I have more pain in my hip and knee than I ever did in my foot.

According to the doctor, that’s the end of Boot Camp, which is a hassle as I was training for the Vegas hockey tournament.  His opinion is that I should be good to go by the time the tournament begins, though.  I hope so.

Damn foot.

Yesterday it arrived and I took it home to install it. Having had many a router in the last 15 years or so, I was expecting problems when setting it up.

None.

I installed the Time Capsule Utility software, plugged in the power, connected to the modem and after three clicks through the connection utility, it worked. No extended calls to my ISP or flipping through manuals, it just worked.

Wireless access is flowing nicely through my home now. What about the backup part?

I opened the Time Machine preferences, activated Time Machine and told it to start backing up immediately. It did.

That’s about it. I’m impressed at how easy it was to set up, and the easy backup it offered to the Macs in my house.

I haven’t had a chance to evaluate performance, especially in the wireless area, but I’ll take a look at that over the next few weeks.

My morning routine started out normally: down 2 flights of stairs, let Finnegan (the aforementioned dog) out in the back yard to do his business, back upstairs to crack open some expensive dog food, throw back some food of my own - but that’s where my typical morning activities ended. This time I wrapped myself in cold-weather workout gear and head out into the early morning. As luck would have it, the rain was pouring down for my first day at Boot Camp.

I arrived early and found other participants in their cars, trying to keep warm before having to trudge around in the cold, rain-soaked field. At 6:00am, everyone congregated at the end of the field. We dropped off our gear and got right into it: 2 laps around the running oval and then back to the instructor for more. A few exercises later (pushups, crunches and some others), the instructor measured everyone (bicep, chest, stomach, butt, thighs) and gave us some more information.

Pretty easy. I figured this whole Boot Camp thing was going to be a cakewalk!

Until about 6:05am this morning. The moment I stepped on the field, I had to start running while holding weights over my head. Have you ever done that? It’s much harder than it looks, trust me. Many exercises like this one (movement combined with weightlifting), innumerable pushups, racing around a circuit of stairs and every combination of stationary weight-lifting and I was getting pretty damn tired.

Our instructor then paired me up with another participant in which we had alternate between exercises. The catch is that I had to do pushups while he ran the stairs circuit. So, the slower he was, the more pushups I had to do. But the faster he ran, the more winded he was when it was his turn to do pushups and my turn to run. It was pretty tough.

The end of class seemed to linger just beyond reach of each new exercise, like the elastic dental appointments that seem to stretch into infinity. Finally, we were done and I was completely wasted but happy that I made it through.

I wonder what Day 3 is going to be like.

I am by no means the best player on the team, more likely that I’d get thrown into the lower end of the skill tree, but I’m still part of the team so I’d like to feel like I am contributing.

Bringing my fitness level up is one way that I can improve my on-ice performance and give myself a little extra in the tank for a hard skate or race for the puck. I have been trying to find a way to get some exercise into my schedule, but with commitments during the day and evening, it’s hard to find time.

While I was reading the Georgia Straight yesterday, I saw an ad for Survivor Boot Camp. They have a 5 day-a-week program that trains you for an hour at a time over the course of a month. According to their site:

“The scope of the program is aimed at whipping you into shape by exposing you to a comprehensive fitness program. “

The next program starts March 3rd, ending just a couple weeks before the tournament begins - perfect! So here’s the downside: The class is at 6 o’clock. In the morning. Normally, at 6am, I would be curled up in bed, dreaming. Certainly not sweating off the pounds in a Boot Camp environment.

In one way I’m looking forward to someone leading me through an exercise regime. As I usually start working out and then drop the idea after a few days. In another way, I am terrified at having to wake up at 5am every day just to have someone Full Metal Jacket me around for an hour at a time I’m usually warm in bed.

We’ll see how it goes, MAGGOT!

The featured products included refreshed AppleTV and iPod Touch (added some functionality), iTunes with movie rentals and the star of the show: the MacBook Air, a super-thin notebook. The design is typically Apple, with sleek lines, minimalist crafting and a pricetag to match. It’s a beautiful machine but not one that made me jump up and decry my MacBook Pro purchase of 6 months ago.

However, for me, the real standout is Time Capsule. A wireless base station with a terabyte backup drive in it that functions as a network drive or as a backup location for Time Machine. To me, that’s a brilliant solution that allows me to add up to 1TB network storage and backup destination for the 2 (or sometimes 3) Macs I use around the house, replace my aging Linksys wireless router with a high-quality base station and minimize the growing number of digital devices in my home.

Before today, I was considering purchasing an Extreme Basestation, but with Time Capsule, I’m excited enough to have pre-ordered.