Begin Countdown Now.

365.. 364.. 363..

Inspired as I often am by my good friend Dr.Haggis' Blog SlashBoing, I have decided to half-ass a totally new project.

The 365 Days project is a Flickr group with the general goal of taking a 'self portrait' of oneself daily for a year.

The rules are broadly interpreted and mostly self-enforced. The idea is that you have to be in the photo. Whether it's your shadow, reflection, a photoshop trick, whatever, is largely debated. Also whether you have to take the shot yourself or can just compose it. (Or 'shots' - plural. The one above took 4 different shots, the 3rd taken by holding the camera under my chin.) I haven't decided if I'm going to follow any rules beyond - "Yup, that's a self portrait of me all right. Toss it up.". I'll think about it.

If you want to visit me at Flickr, go here. If you want to subscribe to my RSS Feed, the link is here. If you couldn't care less, go here.

Notable pics may get their own blog entry, the everyday "I'm a lazy sod" pics will not. But they should be online with regularity.

Well, that's it for me. What did you do today?

-iRob

[Edit] - Sorry for the multiple publish counts, I just can't let stupid spelling mistakes lie. - R

"My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes."
-Ronald Regan

Dodged a bullet

My chair tried to kill me today.

Just as I was sitting down only a few moments ago there was a sound like a gunshot and shards of black plastic sprayed across the room. A very bullet-like object whizzed into the corner and smacked against the wall. I ended up on the floor, resting on my shapely posterior - by way of my skull.

Turns out there appears to have been a problem with the knob on the bottom that houses a spring. One problem it currently is experiencing is a lack of attachment to the chair. I believe this knob used to be used to adjust the resistance encountered when leaning back into a reclined position. I never actually used it myself but I have made this assumption based on the new 'feature' the chair has acquired - A trap door.

To all appearances the chair is normal, and rests in an upright position. When a person, (Let's call him 'Unsuspecting Rester') sits down, all semblance of verticality ceases and the person does a back flip. Quite a good one for an amateur, actually. (I got a 7.4!)

Let's see - hm. O.K. It would appear that I'm still able to adjust the tension of the back by twisting the nut that remains, (giggle) however the nut and bolt themselves are greasy (see previous) - I don't want it to drip onto my new carpet. For now I'll put some paper towel down there.

For your viewing pleasure, here's all that I could find of the knob portion. The biggest chunk was still under my chair, and the slightly smaller one was in the corner behind my printer. (Let's call it the 'second gunman'.) I'm currently constructing my theory about the smaller 'accomplices' that were strewn roughly evenly across the entire room.

I don't want to throw away a $160 chair for one minor issue, especially since it's largely cosmetic. (Even if the chair is a murderous bastard.) There is a very small chance of my fingers getting caught in the exposed spring but I'm more worried about the grease getting on the carpet. I don't know where I can find a similar knob and the knob itself looks to have acted like a sort of wrench for the nut. I don't really need to adjust it but I would like it covered. Any thoughts?

You win this round Chair...

-iRob

"A gentleman is a man who can play the accordion but doesn't."
-Unknown

Smoke Signals

I have a new email account.

It's with Gmail, which is totally 1337. It is among the coolest web apps I've ever encountered, if not the coolest. It takes some getting used to as it totally changes the way you think about email, but once you get used to the idea of tagging and archiving instead of sorting and deleting, it's wickedawesome. To the max.

I can check it on my cell phone anywhere I have a signal. (This may be connected to the fact that my cell phone battery dies daily now.) I can download it to my computer, POP3 style. And for most ISPs, (not mine) you can have it check your home email account too.

All my current addresses forward to that, but it's better if you send it directly to the new addy @gmail.com. I've started giving it out, but I know I haven't reached everyone yet. If you should have it and don't, ask me for it. If you have it but shouldn't, well - give it back.

Cheers,
-iRob

Groovy Bith

Was in a Subway today grabbing dinner for iJenn. The music that was playing was the cantina music from A New Hope.

Seriously cool.

R

Resurfacing.

As the universal greeting of my last post implies, I'm back.

I've been without Internet access of any reliable nature for the past few month. I'd rather have been without water, or possibly air, but there you have it.

I started my new job on March 26, and moved into our new apartment last weekend. Between then I was living on the kindness of strangers. Special thanks to Dr.Haggis + Veritate, sith@heart + A, Dr.Smith + LaughingMagpie, and C. Your generosity was appreciated.

I'm going to be working through some extremely dated news for a while, as my communication lines were only restored yesterday. Life is better than it has been. Some more recent news: We're all moved in, if not yet settled. A huge thanks to all who helped, on both ends of the trip. I will miss Edmonton but it's good to be home.

That's it for now, stay tuned!

-iRob

“Absence from those we love is self from self - a deadly banishment.”
-William Shakespeare

Bah weep granah weep ninni bong!

In Bloom

Hey,

I'm in bloom. I paid my money and now have limitless WiFi at Starbucks. I'll have to drink a lot of espresso, but hey - I'm willing to make sacrifices.

Lilacs are in bloom too. I noticed them on 4th street outside the coffee shop. That means the festival is coming soon.

I probably won't be here but I encourage you to go. There's a lot to see, and when else can you wander down the middle of the street?

Cheers,

-iRob

*No Signal*

Today is the first day I woke up in the condo which will be my home for the next month. It is provided by a generous friend who bought it recently but will be travelling and unable to use it until mid June.

It benefits us both as he is more comfortable knowing that there is someone looking after the place, and I have a private place to myself for the next few weeks.

I'm grateful for his generosity but there is one thing I would change - The condo has no internet access of any kind. I think as someone who is naturally at home with technology I would rather be without water. Or air.

That means I'll be hard to get a hold of for the next while. Calling me is best, although I can read my email on my cell phone. (It's somewhat more tricky to write back.)

So posts will be infrequent for the time being, but I'll log in when I can.

Peace out, yo.
-iRob

Brought to you by the good people at Starbucks.

May the fourth be with you

Happy (belated) Star Wars Day!

Brought to you by: C3PO's. A delicious part of this nutritious breakfast.



C3PO's - A New Force at Breakfast.

-iRob

"I have a rock garden. Last week three of them died."
-Richard Diran

4.7 Kilopwns

Apparently, I've got game.

I have completed 4 runs for a total of 10.84 km. My average pace is 6'57" per km. My last run was 4.7 km.

This info is courtesy my shoes. You see, they talk to my iPod. Then it talks to the interweb which tracks when I run and how often, far, and fast.

(No - really. I'm serious.)

I have decided to get into running. This is a venture I previously entered into when J was in field school in the Caribbean. I found myself bored in a beautiful summer with nothing to do and lonely. So I bought a $10 pair of runners and went to it. After a while I developed a condition called Shin Splints. Of course, as I was young and ignorant I did not know that there was such a condition or that I had it. I simply believed that it was a muscle protesting because it hadn't been used in a while. (Obviously the solution was to run harder and faster.) Fun times. I had trouble walking for well over a month after that little adventure. Don't do as Donny Dont does.

But I digress.

A large part of the problem was my shoes. Now that I know this, on the recommendation of several friends I have paid a visit to the Running Room to get analysed. This apparently consists of taking off my shoes and walking around while they watch closely. Then they tell me what category of shoe I need. (Motion Control, Cushioning, Stability, etc.)

Apparently I do two bad things, I pronate (turning my feet outwards giving my footprints humorous appearance) and I roll them in as I walk. Apparently the two problems cancel each other out, so there's not much they can do to correct me. (They gave me a 'Cushioning' shoe. Comfy.)

So I brought the shoes to the counter to pay, and that's when the fun started. "OK.. don't pay for those yet." Said the clerk. "Pardon?" says I. "Here, take this." she says, handing me a coupon for 75c off 'Vector' brand meal replacement cereal. "Go down the street to the Safeway and buy a small box of this.". "Pardon?" I repeats. Apparently that cereal currently features a coupon on the box for 20% off all purchases at the running room. (!) So I did as I was told, and got cheap cereal and cheaper shoes.

The box also carries a coupon for a free $40 high-tech running shirt. There is also no limit to the number of shirts they will hand out, one per cupon. I'm a bit ashamed to admit that when the cereal went on sale for half-price the following weekend I went a bit critical... Reports are still coming in but we suspect I now own 5 identical running shirts. (Damn my frugal nature.) I'm now living entirely on breakfast cereal but it's worth it.

So as I'm finally about to buy the shoes and walk out with my free shirt, the clerk mentions (almost as an afterthought) "Oh, you don't happen to own an iPod Nano, do you?". "...yes..." says I....

Here's the deal: The shoes have a special pocket for a little electronic pod, about the size of a quarter but 1/4 inches thick. The pod never needs charging, and continuously communicates wirelessly to a small receiver that attaches to your ipod. This part is also around the size of a quarter. The iPod itself needs no update, as the software that is pre-installed on it natively supports this hardware, it is Plug and Play in the purest sense. It is extremely versatile and provides you with constant updates on your speed, caloric burn rate, distance travelled, proximity to your preset goals, etc. When you next sync the iPod it transmits this data to the Nike+ ("Nike-Plus") server and you are able to view your progress history and goals online. There is even a widget for it you can have on your desktop.

Oh - and it FREAKIN' TALKS.

Apparently it was 38 dollars. I know this because that's when they told me to stop throwing money on the counter as fast as I could. (from the "I'll start putting down money, you tell me when it's enough." dept.) I'm glad it wasn't expensive because I don't think leaving without it was optional.

I've gone out twice with the Running Room free group run and twice on my own. I've met some really nice people and am having a lot of fun. (Leave info in the Comments for this post if you want to join me, it's Wed at 6:30 and I do the 'Beginner 5K run'.) I know that I have run 8.6K of my goal to run 30K over 4 weeks. I'm currently 0.1K ahead of schedule, I've run 4 times in 2 weeks, and that I am the biggest geek ever. I really like running and my shoes are a toy. I couldn't be happier if they were made of candy.

(Well, maybe. Mmm.. candy.)

-iRob

"When your computer knows where your shoes have been, the stage is set for the revolution my friends."
-Old Cuban Proverb