life, and a little more

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

Nov 28

metalman777exercise, running, tech, www fitness, nike, running, web 2.0 No Comments

I notice that I speak in hyperbole quite a bit, but  I don’t think I would over-exaggerate if I said that the Nike+iPod running system quite literally changed my life.

I had run on and off with my buddy Chris for a year or so.  Or rather, I’d stumble along behind Chris as he ran.  I never enjoyed it and most times when Christ would call to invite me on a run, I’d find an excuse not to go.

I needed some motivation and I needed it quickly.  My weight had climbed up to 244 pounds and my Mii on WiiFit was obese!  I had to do something.  We had an old iPod Nano lying around so I decided to invest $30 and buy the Nike+iPod Sports Kit.   With the sensor in my shoe, and the dongle plugged into the iPod Nano, the Sport Kit would track my distance and calories and automatically upload the data to Nikeplus.com.  I could track my progress and literally watch the fat melt off my chubby frame.

Fast forward 6 months and 330 miles and I’m down almost 20 pounds!  Nike+ has been awesome, to say the least!  So why the “break up” headline in the title of this post?  It all started with my other buddy Jack and a little website called livestrong.com.

Jack is a runner and I talked him into getting the Nike+iPod Sports Kit to track his runs.  He swore up and down that it wasn’t accurate.  I told him he was crazy.  Mine was spot on.  But he persisted and planted a seed of doubt in my mind.

Livestrong.com has been around for a while, and I actually joined it in 2008.  I just never utilized it much.

As I had lost a little bit of weight running every day, I thought I could lose even more if I actually ate healthier (I’m addicted to Wendy’s and Carl’s Jr!).  So I logged back into livestrong.com to start tracking my calorie intake.

I need to do another blog post just on the livestrong.com interface and how awesome it is.  As I got used to using livestrong, I noticed that there was something new on the website that wasn’t there in 2008.  It was simply entitled “Loops“.    Wait a sec, this looks familiar!  Kind of like the “map it” feature on Nike+!

I start clicking around and lo and behold!  I can create loops (aka routes or maps) that will calculate calories burnt, distance, and all that good stuff too.  It integrates directly into my caloric intake and is subtracted from my daily calories!  Very nice.

The biggest drawback to this new system is that I have to recreate all my running routes with the Livestrong map tool.  Good thing it only takes about 4 minutes per loop!  After a few minutes of work, I have the following loops built:

As you can tell, Livestrong is very web 2.0, with big buttons and overall prettiness.   I recreated the second loop, “6 miles around Bear Creek”, and actually ran the route the first chance I got.  I get home and what does my Nike+ tell me? I only ran 5.5 miles?  What the what?  A half a mile is a pretty big discrepancy!  I talk to my wife the math genius, and she does assure me that distance, when calculated correctly, is the constant in the equation of distance and time. Nike+ HAD to be incorrect.

If I wasn’t going to use Nike+ anymore, or at least count it as accurate, that meant I was going to have to track all my stats myself.  That didn’t phase me as I have done some spreadsheets before.  I quickly found a Running Log template that someone had created for Excel and set it up for my  personal use.  At the same time I visited Runningworld.com to find some help on nursing my strained calf back to health and found out by accident that they offer a free online Running Log as well.  All the work was done for me!

Runningworld.com is a great website with lots of tools for runners.  The one thing their Log doesn’t track is calories.

So now I’m in double redundancy using Livestrong and Runningworld, but it seems to be the only way  I can get an accurate count of how much I’ve ran.  At first accuracy didn’t seem so important, but the longer I run, the more accuracy is important.  Nike+  says I’ve run 330 miles, but what if it is 350?  That’s a big difference!

Social Networking Apathy

May 18

metalman777tech, www facebook, myspace, social networking, twitter 4 Comments

I’m not quite sure when it happened.  Maybe it was the week I was on vacation and didn’t have Internet access for most of the time.  Maybe it’s just been building up un-noticed for the past few months.  I have Social Networking Apathy.

Which is very unlike me.  I’ve been twittering for quite a while, even using a ping.fm chat bot in Google Talk to update my statuses on Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace all at the same time.

But some how my interests have changed.  I no longer want to tell everyone what I’m doing all the time, and  I don’t want to know what everyone is doing at any given time.  I love technology and web 2.0 and all that it gives us, but I think I’m getting information overkill.

I like to follow people I know on Twitter.  Following businesses or tech gurus has been enlightening as well.  The instantaneous access to information is very nice.  The question I must ask is this:  how in the world could you follow over 1000 people?  Do you really need to know that much stuff?  I have people starting to follow me that are following over 3000 other Twitter users.  What the frak?  Why add me to your list when you don’t know me?  Sigh…

So, I’m not tweeting so much anymore.  I might tweet once in a while, but for the most part, I think I’m done.

I almost feel the same way in regards to Facebook.  Almost, but not quite.  I like the fact that I’ve reconnected with a bunch of old high school friends.  I like seeing everybody’s pictures and shared items and links.   I just don’t want to spend so much time on it as I used to.  Life is too short to be on the computer so much (says the Mac Addict!)

Adium X Giants Ducky

Mar 05

metalman777apple, software, tech, www adium, apple, chat, mac, software No Comments

Just wanted to share this picture.  I use Adium X as my chat client on my Mac and just found this SF Giants Ducky Icon for it!  Awesomeness!

If you are interested in Adium, it supports many different chat protocols, including Yahoo Messenger, Gtalk, Facebook, Myspace, AIM, MSN, Jabber and more!  I’ve been using if for quite a while and love the way I can customize it!

The Evil Internets

Feb 26

metalman777comics, humor, www No Comments

Ran across this awesome comic on a blog post from Gizmodo.  I thought it was hilariously close to the truth!

Ubiquity and Wisestamp – Firefox Essentials

Feb 10

metalman777software, tech, www firefox, gmail, tech, ubiquity, web, wisestamp No Comments

No, I’m not talking in another language.  Ubiquity and Wisestamp are two plugins for Mozilla Firefox that I have been playing with this week.

If you have ever used Quicksilver or Butler or Launchbar for the Mac, then you will be familiar with Ubiquity right away.  For those of you who are even further confused, just watch the video below:

[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/1561578]

Ubiquity really does make your web browsing so much easier, especially if you use a laptop with no mouse.  I’ve been using it for a couple of days now and it is so easy to find something from the internet and send it to a friend via email or twitter.

Download it, play with it, and comment back and let me know how you like it.

Wisestamp is a very cool plugin that allows you to insert html signatures into your gmail, aol mail, hotmail, or yahoo mail account.

My custom signature is above, but you can customize it however you want!  If a custom, linkable signature for your email is something you want, then Wisestamp is something you must try.  Again, free software doesn’t cost you anything to try!

Google Earth 5 beta released

Feb 02

metalman777software, tech, www google earth, software No Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSuJq4UzkIA&feature=player_embedded]

Looks very cool! And its free!

Tools For A Better Lost Viewing Experience

Jan 23

metalman777Lost, www Lost No Comments

If you know me, then you know that I am mildly obsessed with the most awesome show on TV,  Lost!

Now, you can just watch every week  and be a casual observer of the show, but Lost takes on a total new dimension if you have the right tools.

There are many, many great blogs and writers who have many, many great thoughts deeper than mine and explain the intricacies of the show on an entirely new level.

The first and foremost authority on Lost would be Lostpedia.com.  I can literally spend hours and hours on that website.  Start with one topic, say The Smoke Monster, and from there, you can jump to the Black Rock, and then move to Danielle Rousseau’s distress signal.

Lostpedia fleshes out the Lost canon and is updated by faithful viewers every week.

Besides Lostpedia, I listen to some podcasts on my iPod to get the most of my Lost obsession.  These podcasts are a great way to learn more about the Lost episodes, and a great way to find out what I missed as I viewed the show.  My favorite Lost Podcasts are:

• The Official Lost Podcast (with Damen Lindeloff and Carlton Cuse, producers of the show.)
• The Lost Podcast With Jay and Jack
  
• The Transmission

I have run across two very good theories that might explain the story behind Lost.

• The Time Loop Theory
• The Mirror Matter Theory – which I personally think explains how things work on The Island. (reader beware: your head might literally explode after reading this website!)

There are many websites dedicated to Lost.  Some are better than most.  Here is a list of the few that I visit regularly:

• Doc Arzt and Friends
• The Lost Blog
• Dark UFO
• Dispatches from the Island (Jorge “Hurley” Garcia’s personal blog)
• The Tailsection
• list of every Lost Blog I personally subscribe to

I just keep learning!

Jan 08

metalman777tech, www blogs, google, google reader, greader, rss No Comments

I’ve been using Google Reader for a while now.  I even wrote a blog entry about it a while ago. So I was surprised that I found a feature that has been there all along and I just never noticed!

I can make a web page displaying all the blogs I subscribe to.  Pure and simple!  I updated the *BBB page of my blog to show this coolness.

Read below:

I love to write blog entries. I love to read great blogs even more (Google Reader is my RSS reader of choice). Below are some blogs that I scan most everyday. This page will be a work in progress, so check back in to see the changes. [UPDATE as of Jan 8, 2009! I just realized that I can make all the blogs I subscribe to in Google Reader public! Got to the bottom of this page to see them!!]

Here is a complete list of all the blogs I read daily in Google Reader, grouped by topic:

• Apple Stuff
• Battle Star Galactica
• Christianity
• Entertainment
• Essential Blogs To Read
• Lost
• Movie News and Reviews
• Music
• Photography
• Photoshop
• Techie Stuff
• The Office

Quicken Financial Life for Mac

Dec 30

metalman777apple, money, software, www financial, mac, quicken, quicken financial life for mac, software No Comments

[JUNE 9, 2009 - QUICKEN POSTED THIS BLOG ENTRY REGARDING QUICKEN FOR MAC 2010]

I blog about a wide variety of topics.  I’ve been a little surprised that my most read entry is about Quicken and its alternatives for Mac users.  (Read that entry here)

I was a little shocked that I’m the number two blog when a person googles Quicken alternatives!  Check it out below…

Yeah, that is pretty sweet for a small time blogger like myself.  I am also curious at the pressure to write another blog that will garner that many hits.  I hate doing anything for popularity’s sake, and I’m not writing a follow up entry for that purpose.

I have stumbled upon some interesting Quicken for Mac news.  It is concerning Intuit’s new product, entitled “Quicken Financial Life for Mac“.   It supposed to be a redesigned Quicken that is specifically built with Mac users in mind.

I captured a bunch of screenshots and will post them here.  But the best post I’ve found so far on this subject is from Apple Insider.  Click right here to go to that article.

I also try to sign up to be a beta tester for the Quicken product, but alas, I was rejected!  My “you are not cool enough to play with our software” letter is below:

So I don’t have any hands on experience to report.  Hopefully Intuit will release a product that is as good as their windoze version. The screen caps from Apple Insider look promising.  Below are the screen caps I took directly from Intuit’s website.

Buh Bye My Friend Flickr

Dec 13

metalman777pictures, www flickr, picture sharing No Comments

So I log into Gmail the other day and was kind of bummed to find the above email from AT&T.  I’ve been using Flickr for about 2 or 3 years now, so I’m more than a little sad to be losing this service, at least the Pro Version of it.

As you can see, I’ve uploaded quite a few pictures to my account.    Flickr has always been very easy to use and it has always been very easy to share pictures with friends and family.  I use Slide.com to import my different Flickr sets and make some pretty cool slideshows (just posted one here as a matter of fact) Now that I am being downgraded to a “free” version of Flickr, this is what I’ll be getting:

BOO!  100mb a month?  I can shoot that many pictures in just one sitting!  And as you might know, shooting low resolution pictures (like 300kb instead of 5Mb) will make printing said pictures a pain in the neck.  Grainy and horrible prints is what you’ll get!

So I’m looking around at different sites now. If I gotta pay, I’m gonna get the best one I can find.  Watch for at least one or two more posts to come and see if I can find the perfect picture sharing website.