infrequent updates on this or that

I might just be insane

Full Metal JacketIn just over a month, I’ll be going to Las Vegas to compete in a hockey tournament, as I have done for the past two years. It’s a lot of fun and with two silver medals in a row, there is a fair expectation that we can upgrade to gold this year.

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!

Posted on February 24th, 2008 by Alistair
Filed under: Fitness, Health, Hockey | No Comments »

Macworld 2008 Impressions

Anticipation was moderate over this year’s Macworld, nothing like last year when the iPhone was all but a guarantee, but still high enough to garner attention from traditionally non-Apple news agencies.

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.

Posted on January 15th, 2008 by Alistair
Filed under: Apple | No Comments »

Lytophene

Main entry: ly·to·phene
Pronunciation: lee·toe´feen
Function: noun

: Hormone secreted by the body when encountering Finn while he is being cute (which is often). Creates a euphoric effect and a mitigation of stress on the person that interacts with Finn. When a person is under the influence of lytophene, they are likely to consider their current situation as better than before the release of lytophene.

A number of drug companies have tried to replicate the effects of lytophene, but without access to Little Finn, they have been unable to duplicate it.

Posted on December 13th, 2007 by Alistair
Filed under: Finnegan | No Comments »

TiVo: Just in time

For many years now, I have been lamenting the lack of TiVo in Canada. So, it was a happy/sad day today when I discovered that the set-top box will be available to us on December 11th, just in time for Christmas.

Happy? Well, I’ve coveted the system for years now and am excited about the opportunity to include it in the bundle of technology connected to my TV.

Sad? Primarily because it’s pretty close to Christmas and I’ve already committed most of my funds. This is another $350 (or so: $199+tax for the box and a minimum 1 year subscription at $129) that I shouldn’t be spending. Also, because it means that I’ll likely be watching more TV.

There are many cool things about TiVo:

  • It will record shows for you on a built-in hard drive, up to 80 hours.
  • You can auto-skip commercials upon playback.
  • An entire series can be pre-programmed to record, so I’ll never miss an episode of myself Adam Savage on Mythbusters.
  • You can search for content by keyword rather than having to know the show title.
  • Record another channel while you watch TV (perfect for when the Canucks are playing at the same time as I’m on Mythbusters).
  • Transfer shows to your computer, your iPod or burn a DVD with TiVoToGo.
  • TiVo will make suggestions for programs you might like, based on other subscribers who selected similar programming (much like Amazon makes suggestions after you’ve viewed/purchased a few books).

These are all great features for someone like me who isn’t home a lot but still has a few favorites on TV. The last one, though, is interesting for Canadians. I can only wonder if the suggestions are being made on the entire pool of TiVo subscribers (hence, more U.S. content) or if there have created a subset for Canadian subscribers.

I guess we’ll see if Corner Gas or How it’s Made (Canadian version) comes up when I get my very own TiVo.

Posted on December 3rd, 2007 by Alistair
Filed under: tech | No Comments »

CLI Theme

I found a fantastic theme for WordPress called CLI, named for the computing term “Command Line Interface”. It brings back memories of my first computers, way back in about 1980 or so, long before any windowing applications were available (or at least being commonly used).

You can find CLI at the author’s site or at Google Code.

Some things to try:

  • ‘ls’ (Unix command for list segments) will list the files and directories (which are just the categories in the blog)
  • ‘cd {directory}’ (cd is a Unix command meaning change directory) will change your location to the directory you specify. For instance: ‘cd Apple’ will change you to the Apple directory.
  • ‘current’ tells you want the current post number is. You can then type in that number and the corresponding post will appear.
  • ‘grep {keyword}’ (grep is a Unix command that is used to search text) will allow you to search all posts that have the keyword you specify. For instance: ‘grep Flock’ will find posts that have the word Flock in it.
  • ‘help’ will list all the available commands. Try them out!

Posted on November 19th, 2007 by admin
Filed under: Wordpress | No Comments »

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