Making birds fly.

Had my girls yesterday and they said let's do something weird.. Well.. weird is my middle name.. I said let's make birds fly..

Mountain biking GPS Units - Garmin Edge 500 review

It's a known fact that I'm not one to stick with hobbies long term.  If you scroll down to the right you can actually see a widget I've created that shows just that, hobbies I don't do anymore.  One hobby that I started last year was mountain biking.  Now I do fully realize that I have obsessive compulsive disorder.  Mine is what is generally referred to as "compulsive hoarding".  Now I only say this half tongue in cheek because I generally am one that buys things for quantity not quality.  I have way too much "stuff".  Anyway, that small fact does have relevance to my mountain biking blog because I bought my first bike in July of last year.  I now have 4 bikes.  This is one hobby that I've actually kept up for the past 8 or 9 months.  The weather here in California allows me to ride most of the year but the past 60 days have been unusually rainy.  However, now that the rain has stopped and day light savings has kicked in, there really is no excuse for not riding one of my mountain bikes.  I thought to help me with my quest of becoming the least chubby man on my block, I would need to tackle this exercise thing from a different angle.  I'm a data guy.  I like to analyse information and track progress.  Well I found the perfect cure that will push me to using my mountain bike.  Garmin makes several models of gps units specifically designed for physical fitness activities.

 After speaking with a few of my friends that actually ride every day, I broke down and purchased a Garmin Edge 500.  Click here for the technical specs if your interested but in a nutshell, it does a few things that are really cool.  When you go on rides it tracks your average mph, elevation, outside temperature, distance and whole bunch of other cool stuff.  You can even get an added heart monitor and check your average heart beats per minute.  The technology is simply amazing.  Even better is the website that you upload your rides to.  http://www.garminconnect.com allows users to upload their activities so you can keep track of your progress.  You can reports that show how many miles you've biked for the month or how many feet of elevation you've climbed for the year.  Plenty of filter options to keep any OCD mountain biker busy.  Another great feature actually allows you to view a google map of your route.  You can actually play back your ride and it will show a small icon of you and display all of the data mentioned above on the map as you progress.  You obviously can change the time feature so you can fast forward.  Even better, you can download your previous ride to your device so you can try and improve your time from the last ride.  Ah.. I could go on and on, but instead of doing that, click here for a link to my first ride so you can see what the site looks like.  Don't laugh, I'm slow, fat and old so it won't be exciting.  Hope you enjoy.. Anyone for a cheeseburger? Nom.. Nom.. Nom..

Professional Blogger? What?

So the other day I was watching CNN in my motel room. I'm not much of a TV watcher, but it's nice to hear about world affairs in the morning other than The Count counting bats on Sesame Street. I can't really remember what the segment was about but I do recall the guest's title. Professional Blogger. This struck me as odd because I have never heard of this title before. As I looked from the CNN footer that displayed this unknown career to the person being interviewed, I become even more confused. Here sat a 40's something gentlemen, in a beautiful suit looking very… well very professional. CNN apparently brought in this "professional" to express his views on some news-worthy topic. Where the hell did they find this guy? Just browsing blogger.com and said, "Hey, this guys has an interesting point of view. Let's fly him in for an interview." Now I'm sure it's much more than this however it brings up a few questions that I can't get my arms around. The largest one is around today's media. Are we as a society really ready to throw out magazines and newspapers? I know, I know several large newspapers are online only and I can't even begin to think about how many magazines have gone out of business. Writing a column in a newspaper is kinda sexy to me. Being a columnist for GQ has a little girth around it you know what I mean? Will these individuals be stripped of their titles of Journalist, Writer and Reporter? Will we now see more and more of these people on TV being called "Professional Blogger" or "Social Media Writer?" Man it just sounds so cheap to me. Because I have this blog (which only I read), have I been propelled to a Professional now? I have even heard stories of people that get paid to blog about products. Obviously paid for by the manufacturer who is looking for some good "Public PR". Obviously as you have witnessed with my writing skills, I shouldn't quit my day job. There is something about this that I can't put my finger on. I believe it is a larger issue regarding how we receive our media, from whom and in what format. I need to noodle on that for a bit, but not too long, I'm way to ADD. Until then I will be silently waiting by my phone for the phone call from Fox asking me to come in and discuss Canned Meat on National Television.

Canned Meat

I have this strange fascination with things that shouldn't be. Zombies, aliens and monkeys flinging poo.. I guess that is why, to some extent, canned meat intrigues me. Now, I know that meat in a can cannot be good for you, however that is why I believe I am drawn to it's air tight sealed power. There are so many different varieties of canned meat I don't know where to begin. The most popular canned meat, is of course SPAM. I mean how many cans of meat do you know that have made their way into the Smithsonian? I digress. Sticking to the overarching topic of canned meat is very challenging for me. I get excited when I think of the possibilities that can be captures here in my electronic pantry. Vienna Sausages, Spam, those huge ass tins of ham. I've even seen canned hamburgers. Delicious, not so much, interesting absolutely. Eating canned meat is like a looking at a train wreck. You know you shouldn't do it, but there is a part of you that cannot resist the temptation. I am so enthralled in this area that I could create posts on the top 10 canned meat products. Not necessarily by popularity.. maybe more by shock factor. Yes, I will have some of the standard, very well known cans of goodness, but I'm sure my research could turn up some very interesting semi-edible parishables.

Time to start setting some goals for 2010

I do this every year and most of the time I really don't follow through too much. So, I'd thought I'd take a different approach. I'm going to set some realistic goals that I can actually accomplish. I still have a couple of weeks to think about what I want to do, but I'm looking forward to it. As you can see by my blog, I LOVE to read. So I will be setting some reading goals for '10. So many books a month etc.. That is something that I can accomplish. Also, need to re-look at saving for retirement. I do save quite a bit, but would like to augment it a little bit. Not quite sure what else.. Oh ya.. cooking. I do want to cook more. Maybe once a week at least. Well at least I can go back to this post and get some ideas. Excercise never hurt either. I love to mountain bike, but that definitely takes some serious committment. I have invested in my bike, so I need to use it. And photography. I've been kind of floating with that one and I need to improve my skills and be a little more creative.. and take more pictures.. well well.. after reading through this I actualy do have a few goals to start out with.. Yeehaw.

Google voice rocks

Wow.. where to begin. A free number that will forward to your home phone.. Free long distance in the US from any phone.. I'm in love.

Kindle DX vs the standard old paperback.

I read. A lot. Probably at least one book a week. I don't know what I would do if I wasn't able to read everyday. I thank my Mother for taking me to the library every week when I was a child. It is one of few hobbies I have that never goes away. Lately I have been on a classic gig and I love reading the old books. The recent books I have written are listed to the right of this post if your interested. But, I digress. The reason for this post is to discuss reading a paperback book (Paper in hand) or reading that same book on a Kindle. The Kindle looks awesome and I can't imagine having such a large assortment of books at your finger tips. The battery life can last weeks without charging and it is so small. I typically take a few paperback books with me when I travel and they can be heavy carting them around an airport. The books are significantly cheaper in electronic format which is another plus. But there is something about having a new book in your hand that no one else has read. The smell of the pages, the feeling in your hand is something that you just can't get with a kindle. There is also the re-gifting. One thing I really enjoy about books is giving them to someone after I'm finished. I look forward to sharing my experience with someone else. Can't do that on a kindle. Uggghh.. tough decision. Couple of things to consider.. The KindleDX costs 500 bucks. I spend about 2080.00 per year on books. Sounds like an easy descision.. but its not. Any thoughts?

Skinner Family Original Movie "The Hunter"

The kids and I decided to make a little movie called The Hunter. They were so cute. We drew a story board out and everything. This is what life is all about and why I look forward to my weekends so much. They are so funny.. they crack me up.

Book Review - The Electric Church by Jeff Somers

I really enjoyed this book. I haven't come up with a rating system yet so for now, if you like fast-paced action techno thrillers, read this book. This is set in the not so distant future with a corrupt government, one bad ass gunner and a mad scientist. Sounds like a cheesy hollywood movie but it's actually very well written. The Electric Church is an organization that was created to give people eternal life. This is done by removing your brain and placing it in a cyborg body. Sounds blah but these cyborgs are also monks and try to convert people into the electric church. As you can imagine, they get over zealous with their conversion tactics and someone has to stop them.. in steps Avery Cates, gunner dude. This book is an easy read and very enjoyable. I've kind of been on a scifi / action kick lately and this book definitely hit the sweet spot.

Love you long time

A friend asked if I would come with them while they were getting their nails done Now the obvious answer that any man would say is no, however I am working on being a more "liberal" friend so I agreed to go with her. I thought I would at least have an opportunity to be a people watcher, sit back and take in the various elements of Orange County women discussing their lives. Well I got a little more involved that I thought. I understand that many of my male readers my believe that my manhood has been knocked down a few notches and I'm ok with that... but I did get a pedicure, foot and hand massage and my eyebrows waxed. Did I just say that? Funniest thing you've ever seen. The greatest aspect was looking at all of the vietnamese workers laughing at me when they pulled the wax off my eyebrows. It actually was a very fun experience. My friend sat next to me and we laughed and laughed. I had a great time and it actually felt kind of nice to be pampered. Although I didn't get a Christmas tree painted on my big toe, I did enjoy the foot spa. (I can't believe I just said that). It was worth the hour (and 50 bucks) that I was there simply for the comic relief. He,he!!!