Technolust

I almost saw Mount Rushmore ... and it was amazing.

2015-06-04T05:04:00.001-06:00

Sometimes the best trips are the ones in your own backyard. Mount Rushmore is about 375 miles from Denver — a mere 6 hour drive. Combine that with an abundance of spare Hilton points and you’ve got the makings of a spontaneous weekend getaway. Little did I know it would be a personal lesson in going with the flow. Not one of those annoying “growth opportunities”, but rather a further awakening to the joy of the journey.

My wife called me on Friday afternoon before the Memorial Day 3-day weekend. Work has been stressful for both of us, and she needed an escape. “Hey honey. Want to drive to South Dakota this weekend?” “Sure!”, I replied. “Really? Who are you, and what have you done with my husband?"

So early Saturday morning, we we packed the truck and set out for Rapid City, SD — our base of operations for the long weekend. About 30 minutes into the drive I realized I had left my sunglasses at home — a casualty of packing in the morning instead of the night before (something I *never* do). But the weather cooperated by giving us cloudy skies, rain and fog most of the way. No sunglasses, no sun, no problem.

As we neared Rapid City, it was still early in the day, so we decided to hit the first of our Rushmore-adjacent attractions, Bear Country, USA. Bear Country is a drive-thru wildlife park. With windows securely up, we slowly drove past wolves, buffalo, elk, and more. Animal areas were wide open, separated by fences and cattle grates. As one might guess, the big attraction was a HUGE bear section, started off by 2 bears pacing across the road at the entry gate. This was clearly normal, as a sign nearby read, “Drive forward slowly. Bears will move.” Awesome! After the drive-thru area was “Babyland”, a walking area with a number of baby animals, including cute bear cubs. We certainly welcomed a bit of leg-stretching after the long car ride. I was relieved to purchase sunglasses in the gift shop, which I would not use for the remainder of the trip.

Having given the bears and other animals a good looksie, we proceeded to our hotel in Rapid City — the Hampton Inn. We found the sights of the town quite interesting and noted that this appeared to be where America’s middle class had disappeared to (meant in a most positive way). I contrasted it to my recent trips to Houston, where the divide between the “haves” and “have nots” struck me as quite extreme. But back to the trip. We arrived at our hotel around 3pm. I had already checked in online and selected a room nearest the pool for the kids. I noted that their official check-in time was 4pm, but was hoping we could check in a little early and unload our gear. I walked in and gave the front desk attendant a friendly greeting. I was informed that our room was not yet ready, as Housekeeping was running behind. Should be ready by normal check-in time. “No worries”, I replied, “we’ll just go hit the mall for a bit” (across the highway). So we trotted over to the nearby Rushmore Mall. I swear it had a time bubble over it. Having 80’s flashbacks, I half expected to see teens in parachute pants in the food court. It was nice. Noting that I really didn’t like the sunglasses we found at the Bear Country gift shop, I bought a pair of Wayfarers at a kiosk in the mall. These would also go unused over the weekend. We returned to the hotel a little after 5pm, having given ample buffer to ensure our room would be done. Nope. Housekeeping was, in fact, working on it at that very moment but it would be another 30 minutes or so. Really? “Okay”, I said politely, determined to go with the flow, “we’ll go grab an early dinner”. Despite my pleasant demeanor, the front desk attendant seemed worried. Perhaps he had looked up my profile on the computer and somehow thought my Diamond status made me important (I’ll take a second to wallow in the self-importance granted by my employer-paid business travel. Okay, done. Back to reasonable humility). The front attendant went to the back and grabbed a key, with which he opened a lock box in a bank of about a dozen to the side of the front desk. From it he withdrew and important looking envelope. He emptied its contents onto the counter in front of us — a $25 Darden Restaurants gift card and 2 $10 Starbucks cards. “Please accept our apologies”, he said. “Very well, I accept”, I said with a chuckle. As my wife and I headed back to the car, she turned to me and noted, “Since we’re staying on points this weekend, they essentially are now paying us to stay here”. It’s good work if you can get it.

Dinner. Room ready. Unpacking, etc. Fast forward to Sunday morning.

We got up early, enjoyed our complementary hotel breakfast, and headed out for the main attraction of our weekend getaway — Mount Rushmore. The heavy rain and fog were foreboding, but we pressed on. We got to the monument, paid our fee, and parked in the garage. As we walked up toward the viewing platform, we passed others already on their way back to the parking area grumbling, “Dammit, can’t see a thing!”. Undeterred, we continued. Arriving at the viewing platform, we indeed could not see a thing. I laughed loudly, and remarked, “This is my second trip to South Dakota and I *still* haven’t seen Mount Rushmore!”. I talked the girls into standing in a typical spot to pose in front of the monument. Frankly, I think the picture came out cooler than if we had been able to see it. We all had a laugh and proceeded down the Presidents Trail to get closer to the monument. It was a bit of a hike with 250 steps. Arriving at the end of the trail, we looked up from the base of the monument and could see the fuzzy outline of 4 heads above. We snapped a couple more touristy photos and headed back. This was one of those moments where it really struck me that it was all about the journey. The destination just provided a goal to keep us moving forward.

Cold and wet, we left the monument and proceeded to the nearby town of Keystone, SD to get some lunch. We found a little country cafe, which turned out to be warm and friendly, but the food was pretty lousy (I would later sadly pen a 2-star Yelp review). As we finished our lunch, everyone’s phones started going off with an emergency alert of flooding in the town. Kind of eerie, actually. We hastily paid the check and hopped in the truck to head back to Rapid City — apparently just in time, as we saw the creek rising and water beginning to spill onto town bridges as we drove by. Our trip continued to be an adventure.

We headed back to the hotel, quite tired from the rain and cold. While Bonnie and Aily napped, Emmi and I grabbed our laptops and headed to the hotel lobby to work on our homework (hers for Broomfield High School, mine for IBM). After finishing our work, we woke the others for an afternoon excursion — the Reptile Gardens, 2014 Guinness record holder for largest reptile zoo in the world. Aily grumbled that she wasn’t interested and wanted to sleep more. Pity, since she is the big snake fan in the family. So we left her snoozing and headed out to see the snakes, turtles, and other assorted interesting reptiles. The rain continued to come down hard, but most of the park was indoors. We also caught a bird show, which thrilled Emmi, our budding ornithologist.

Dinner. Pool too cold for the girls and dad too tired for the gym. Went to bed early. Fast forward to Monday morning.

Mother Nature having a sense of humor, the weather broke for our drive home. Gleefully donning my new wayfarers, i dialed up "home" on the GPS and steered toward Denver. We stopped at the Mammoth Site along the way -- a huge archaeology dig. Definitely a must-see near Hot Springs, SD. One teen was enthralled, while the other experimented to see how far her eyes could physically roll back into her skull. The rest of the drive was mellow. Rain and sunshine alternated as the miles ticked by. 80s songs on satellite radio filled the silence and reminded the girls of just how square their parents are.

Arriving home, we half unpacked the truck and settled back in. Maybe we'll see amount Rushmore next time.

The Quantified Self

2012-04-28T08:21:00.000-06:00

I've read some articles lately on the notion of the Quantified Self -- self-knowledge through statistics. I previously found such concepts useful in limited ways, like tracking my calories and my run distances and times. I've decided to crank this up a bit.

http://bigthink.com/ideas/meet-the-urban-datasexual

http://quantifiedself.com/

I recently purchased a Fitbit Ultra which will track my daily activities and sleep patterns. The fitbit mobile app and website provides a nice dashboard view and allows me to set goals. The system also integrates nicely with other apps like Runkeeper (my preferred mobile GPS app for tracking my runs) and MyFitnessPal (my preferred mobile app for tracking weight and food).

I tried out the Fitbit's sleep tracking for the first time last night. The small device clips to a comfortable wrist band and tracks movements during the night. It shows sleep / activity patterns on a bar chart and calculates actual sleep time and sleep efficiency. While I am normally a light, restless sleeper, I slept like a log last night. This was reflected in my fitbit results of 98% sleep efficiency. I suspect this might have been the result of having no caffeine all afternoon or evening. It will be interesting to measure this over time and attempt to determine root cause for my frequent restless nights -- one of the reasons I find such data collection both fascinating and useful.

I'll post more as I integrate the Fitbit into my daily routine, sync it with my other lifestyle apps, and find ways to make use of the resulting data.

Batch 19

2012-02-29T14:57:00.001-07:00

My buddy Brandon shared an interesting new brew with me recently -- Batch 19 (http://www.batch19.com). It's an American Adjunct Lager. Not my favorite style, but I'm generally open to trying new brews.

I found this beer poured nicely, producing a creamy white foam. It was very clear with a nice golden color.

Aroma was sweet with a bit of malt and a touch of caramel.

I found the taste to be light and crisp with some pronounced hoppiness, though not as citrusy as many hoppy beers (like IPAs that I favor). It had more of a Carbonation was moderate, which I certainly appreciate. The finish was dry, clean and bright.

This will make an excellent summer beer due to its light and refreshing nature.

I think Coors has a hit on their hands with Batch 19.

Scentsy

2012-02-27T09:32:00.002-07:00

Last year at the North Suburban Thunder fundraiser auction, Bonnie and I won the bid on a Scentsy basket. It included a warmer, a couple scent blocks, and a couple other goodies. I didn't think much of it at the time, but I have REALLY enjoyed it over the past several months. I had been thinking of buying a couple extra warmers (as I transport our existing warmer from the bedroom to my office to the main floor of the house quite a bit), some extra scents, and something for the car as well.

Bonnie came to me and suggested that she would like to consider signing up for the Scentsy business, if for no other reason than to get some discounts on these wonderful products we've been enjoying.

As I looked at the business materials, I was impressed. I've certainly done MLM before, but this looked very friendly and could support a low-key approach. So I'm announcing that Bonnie and I have started our own Scentsy business. No need to run for the hills. We're not beating the bushes and rapidly scheduling parties and all that. Our kit will be in this week and we'll have lots of great testers to smell and some fun products to share with anyone who is interested. We'll be announcing our launch party very soon as well as setting up an online party. We've got our web site up for those who would like to browse products and order. (http://robandbonnie.scentsy.us)

If you'd like a physical catalog, would like to see some of the products first-hand, and/or would like to smell some of the great scents, let me know and we can arrange a meet. You can message me here on FB, post a comment here, or e-mail me at scents@wg-family.net).

Cheers!

Rob

The Passing of a Dear Friend

2012-01-24T15:59:00.000-07:00

It was cold and grey as I set out to bury my best friend. The frozen ground held firm and the old rusty shovel head broke. I grabbed a hand trowel and continued to dig, scooping the cold damp earth out of the hole with my bare hands. My dog Balder and cat Meriadoc sat quietly alongside the growing mound of dirt. Thin roots from the nearby aspen trees snaked in along the edges of the open grave. As I opened the small box containing my late companion, the smell of death filled my nostrils. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I placed her small, furry body into the earth. Balder sniffed at her, then laid down with his head between his paws, his silent goodbye given. The wind quietly rustled the aspen leaves as I scooped the rich soil over her with my stiff hands.

My dear Tribble -- thank you for 14 years of loyalty and love.

Another step further into the cloud - expanding use of Google Voice

2011-08-25T10:50:00.000-06:00

I received a letter in the mail earlier this week indicating that the AT&T mobile numbers and account numbers for all IBM employees (myself included) had been inadvertently published to the Internet. Lovely! One of AT&T's remedies was to offer a free phone # change to anyone affected. I thought to myself, time to make some lemonade from their data breach lemons.

I took this as an opportunity to make my break to fully using Google voice. I already had GV forwarding to my mobile phone and have been using it as the voicemail service in lieu of AT&T voicemail, but lots of folks call or text me directly on my phone. The new mobile # is a clean start. I now give out just my Google voice number, which supports voice and text and selective forwarding (to my mobile, Vonage business line, or whatever).

The google voice app works nicely on my iPhone and iPad and I'm trying out the free VoiceMac app on my Macbook pro. Loving that voice and text are now everywhere.

Morning

2011-08-20T06:32:00.001-06:00

I love this time, early in the morning before the rest of the household wakes. The morning air is crisp. It's light out, but the crickets are still chirping. As the aroma of brewing coffee spills out from the kitchen to the dining room, I plop down in a comfy chair and face the choice -- kindle reader for some escapist fiction or tech news and social networking. As the coffee finishes brewing with a gurgle and splatter, i grab my cup from the Keurig and settle down into the joy of quiet calm.

School Supplies

2011-08-15T10:06:00.001-06:00

I went out yesterday to do the annual shopping for school supplies. Interestingly, this year's list seemed lest daunting than previous years. What didn't change was the chaos of the school supply aisles at the local megamart. It was complete madness. Parents scrambling everywhere, employees restocking the quickly emptying shelves as quickly as they could. As usual, they couldn't keep up with certain key items -- most notably on my list, dry erase markers. I went to multiple stores and none of them had them in stock.

Then it struck me. Why the !@#$% am I buying dry erase markers? "Feck that!", I said to myself (or perhaps out loud, judging by the startled reactions of other parents in the school supply aisle). And hand sanitizer and kleenex and ziploc bags? And copy paper?!? Feck those, too!

This year, I'm sending my kids to school with the actual school supplies. After paying textbook fees, tech fees, bus fees, and even $50 for a bloody parking pass at the high school, I'm pretty well fed up. I believe we need to fund our schools appropriately and they need to operate within a reasonable budget. Foisting the cost of office supplies off on parents simply sweeps that problem under the rug instead of dealing with it.

So I'm making my stand. It's stupid and petty, but this is my stand. I appreciate that the schools have a budget crisis, but they need to get their hands out of my wallet and deal with it!!

Kindle Cloud Reader

2011-08-11T08:32:00.003-06:00

I'm a fan of eBooks. While I have a couple overflowing bookshelves, most of those tomes are older, as all of my book purchases have been electronic for several years now. The turning point was around March 2009, when Amazon released their Kindle app for iPhone. While not the most compelling form factor, the portability afforded by the iPhone app was irresistable. When the original iPad came out and Amazon published their Kindle app for it, I was completely sold. iBooks? Nook? Nah ... I'm all in with Amazon for my library.

My wife and I share an Amazon account. This has the interesting side effect of allowing us to not only share books, but share bookmarks as well (since they're attached to the book and synced across devices).

I find reading books on my iPad2 to be a compelling experience. The Kindle app just gets out of the way. No flashy animations, no UI elements ... just my book.

Amazon recently released their "Cloud Reader" (http://read.amazon.com). This is clearly a response (at least in part) to Apple's policies that disallow linking to the Kindle store to buy books (which I find to be a little bit of an inconvenience, but certainly not a deal-breaker). I say disallowing because Apple's requirement of a 30% cut isn't remotely feasible in the current eBook business model.

I decided to check out Amazon's cloud reader on the iPad and was surprised to find it to be quite comparable to the iPad app.

Here's the reading experience on the iPad app (left) versus the cloud reading app in a browser (right).

If you could hide the browser toolbar, you'd swear you were in the local app. Gesture to swipe between pages (though not quite as smoothly as the app), change fonts, set bookmarks, and more.

Browsing your library is nice and clean, even enabling you to cache your books locally for offline reading.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see the Kindle app go away on the iPad in favor of their cloud reader. An interesting link back to Apple's original vision of web apps on iOS.

I think Amazon has the right vision for consumption of their eBooks. I continue to be an Amazon eBook fan.

Education for 50p

2011-08-05T16:44:00.002-06:00

A lovely e-mail hit my inbox today confirming new school fees for this year. Let me just note that when education budgets get slashed, rather than cut costs, they now foist the burden onto parents. We have textbook fees, bus fees, tech fees, athletics fees, and absurd school supply lists that include paper towels, tissues, ziploc bags, dry erase markers and more. I even had a fellow parent tell me their required supplies list included "large bag of skittles" for each student.

Are our schools now being run by RyanAir?

There's no such feckin' thing as an education for 50p.

Budget cuts result in textbook/material/supply fee for students
As a result of a $25.5 million budget shortfall for 2011-2012, the Adams 12 Five Star School District has instituted a Textbook/Material/Supply Fee that will be assessed to all students.
The determination to assess a fee came after a comprehensive effort to collect feedback from our community last spring with regard to the budget reductions and challenges we faced as a district. After numerous surveys, and conversations with our community and staff, the board of education approved the fee assessment of $30 for all high school students and $45 for elementary and middle school students.
State law, C.R.S. 22-32-109(1), -110(o), -117(2)(6), allows for such a fee. It states school districts can charge fees for textbooks and supplies. In addition, Colorado law requires the district to exempt this fee for students who receive free or reduced lunch benefits pursuant to C.R.S. 22-32-109(1)(u).
This fee is non-refundable. Payment can be made at individual school sites for all school and district fees. Cash, check or credit cards are accepted, and if necessary, individuals may set up a payment plan with the school to avoid financial hardship.
If you would like to learn more about the budget cut process that took place last spring, please visit www.adams12.org/budget_cuts/plan.
Thank you for your continued support of the students and staff of Adams 12 Five Star Schools.

Keurig My K-cups

2011-07-03T10:17:00.001-06:00

I've been enjoying my new Keurig Platinum coffee maker. I've worked my way through most of the included sample pack of K-cups and found a couple favorites. Gloria Jean's Butter Toffee with a splash of Coffeemate Italian Sweet Creme (not too much or it becomes overly sweet) and Coffee House Chocolate Glazed Donut top my list. The rest of the family appears to be addicted to Chai Latte.

Today I decided to try the My K-Cup accessory that provides a filter basket to brew your own ground coffee. I used Starbucks tribute blend, ground coarsely for French press. I found the resulting brew to be drinkable, but not stellar. Having used this brew in both a drip system and my french press previously, I found it to be about halfway between the two. It seemed a bit watery with only a light aroma. This contrasts with K-cups that fill the kitchen with delightful coffee aroma, the wafting of which draws the rest of the family and results in rapid consumption of K-cups. On the plus side, there were no grounds in the cup as is often the case with French press.

My take on this is that the My K-cup accessory can produce a reasonable brew with your own beans in a pinch. It's certainly better than a drip coffee maker and the single cup portion is handy. However, if you're a serious coffee lover with a French press, I recommend using that for your beans. As for me, I have found some great K-cup varieties that surpass what I'm getting from my French press and will use the Keurig for most of my coffee. I'll pull out the french press when I want something not available in K-cups.

Google+

2011-06-29T12:07:00.000-06:00

Here is why I'm excited about Google+:

Google believes that with Circles it has solved the tough sharing problem that Facebook has inexplicably failed to crack. “With Facebook I have 500 friends — my mom’s my friend, my boss is my friend,” says Shimrit Ben-Yair, the product manager in charge of the social graph. “So when I share on Facebook, I overshare. On Twitter, I undershare, because it’s public. If Google hits that spot in the middle, we can revolutionize social interaction.”

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/06/inside-google-plus-social/all/1

My concern is that they're opening it up in a limited fashion. The interwebs are all a-twitter (pun intended) with news of Project Emerald Sea (Google+). That buzz will be wasted if the service isn't widely available to leverage network effect. A gradual roll-out ala Orkut or Google Wave will kill it.

You've really got something killer here, Google. You're addressing a pain that Facebook should have solved by now! Ramp it up and take 'em on.

Denver Auto Show

2011-03-31T09:20:00.001-06:00

I attended the Denver Auto Show yesterday. Apart from the "ooh, shiny new cars" reaction I generally have to the auto show, I have some observations.

I noticed that several auto makers were featuring hybrid options. I generally found that these hybrids differed little from their gas-only counterparts. There seems to be an overall trend of making hybrid technology just another drivetrain option rather than a unique model. So more like Ford's hybrid strategy (it is difficult to distinguish a Hybrid Escape from it's gas-only counterpart) rather than Toyota's Prius strategy (which I personally favor, but probably doesn't accomplish the goal of driving mass market adoption of electric tech). Notable exceptions were the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt.

It was interesting to note that Nissan had the Leaf out on the floor, available for everyone to sit in and explore. Nissan reps were friendly and knowledgeable. They invited questions. By contrast, the Chevy Volt was closed and on a rotating pedestal. Nobody was taking questions. It felt like they were saying "See, we actually made it. It's here. Now shut up." Alas, GM, you need to do more than make an electric car. You need to fundamentally transform your culture and how you approach the car business. You need to reinvent yourself, not just roll out a new model with a new power train under the same old business model. Go visit Nissan and Scion for some ideas.

I was surprised to find that Ferrari of Denver had a couple of their cars open. It was a bit thrilling to nestle into a Ferrari California and a Lotus Evora.

Jeep had a fun event going. They setup a trail course at the back of the show with obstacles that showed off articulation, ground clearance, suspension, and hill climb/descent. Particularly fun was the 18 foot hill with a 36 degree incline & decline. We took it with the Grand Cherokee Overland, which features variable ride height (a feature I have drooled over on the Range Rover) and hill descent mode. It was amazingly civilized, yet clearly had some great trail capabilities. Based on my Wrangler experience last year, I'm still not buying one. Our rep did note that they have a new Pentastar 3.8L V6 engine. Gee, why would they change that out? I believe Chrysler is another auto maker that needs a business and culture reset.

Most beautiful car at the show had to be the Aston Martin Rapide. The Lamborghinis in the booth next door were green with envy.

I sat in the Fiat 500. It gave felt like an Italian espresso machine (or perhaps a cheap knockoff of one, since the surfaces I expected to be metal were all plastic). I emerged from this tiny plastic-laden runabout exclaiming "Can I get a cappuccino here?!?" It felt really cheap and flimsy. I don't think this has a chance in the American market. Super compact buyers will more likely turn to the Mini Cooper or Scion's new offering. Smart was noticeably absent from the show. Or perhaps they'll go just a tad bigger and pick up the Honda Fit (my personal favorite), the newly-designed Ford Fiesta (which looked quite funky) or the Lexus CT hybrid (which I totally loved ... it felt like a luxury fit and had hybrid synergy drive to appeal to my green side. Unfortunately, it's $31k price tag struck me as unreasonable for this category when compared to a $17-19k Honda Fit sport).

Luxury car makers Infiniti, Audi, BMW and Mercedes appeared to have their standard offerings for the most part. I was really hoping to see the Range Rover Evoq, but it was missing from the show. The Range Rover Sport tickled my fancy, though.

Cadillac has some aggressive-looking designs and is very focused on performance. However, their interiors continue to disappoint. I think they've become too focused on performance in their desire to be the first choice for midlife crisis purchases and have forgotten their luxury car heritage.

Overall, I found the show to be enjoyable. There was certainly less flash and less schwag than I've seen in prior years, suggesting a much leaner industry. There was plenty of evolution, not much revolution (Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt notwithstanding).

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Apple and the Enterprise

2011-01-19T14:40:00.000-07:00

I just stumbled across a podcast from Apple that features customer stories about how they are using iPhone and iPad in the Enterprise. It is clear that iOS devices are being recognized as more than consumer gadgets. I believe this is the tip of the spear in the "consumerization" of the Enterprise. While the companies in this podcast have embraced the iOS mobile platform, many others (like my employer) have attempted to resist. But these technologies are too pervasive, and their presence in corporate environments, even those where it is unsanctioned, is unmistakable. It would be far better for corporate IT to embrace emerging mobile platforms and drive responsible use than to ignore them. On the other side of the coin, it would behoove Apple to listen to their enterprise customers and build in the necessary safeguards to make their platform palatable for corporate security. Personally, I'm hoping we will soon see the ability to divide corporate data from personal data within the device. If Apple is the first to bring that to market, it may slingshot them ahead of Android for business use.

Chrome OS: The Network Computer

2010-12-08T07:09:00.001-07:00

I have been seeing a number of stories about Google's Chrome OS release and their push to Netbooks. Most noteworthy was Om Malik's thoughtful article. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OmMalik/~3/BHOm3IV9Kns/

I have mixed feelings on the concept of the network computer. Several years ago, when Larry Ellison was tilting at this windmill, I didn't think it was feasible because Internet connectivity was nearly ubiquitous enough to make full-time cloud-based computing feasible for mobile users. There were certainly good use cases, like branch offices, with full-time connectivity that worked for the concept.

Now, with easy-to-find Wifi combined with 3G services, I think the idea of cloud-based computing with a Network computer (a cloud book?) is reasonable. Will I run out and buy a Chrome Netbook for myself? No, I really enjoy my iPad. Would I consider one for my kids? Absolutely.

I think Chrome OS netbooks could finally provide some good competition for the iPad. I am hoping to see Apple fire back with robust MobileMe services early next year. When vendors compete, consumers often win.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Travel experience - Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-26T04:38:00.000-07:00

I flew out of Denver on Thanksgiving - the day AFTER the busiest travel day of the year. The volume at the airport was about the lightest I have seen for DIA. As we approached the security lines, I noticed 4 lanes were open. Three of them had the new Level3 scanners, but the one to the far right (on the North security checkpoint for you DIA flyers) only had the traditional metal detector.

My wife and kids and ran through the normal security drill. We took off belts and shoes, double-checked that pockets were empty and placed our belongings in bins. I pulled out my wife's netbook, but happily left our iPads in the bags (I still don't quite understand distinction between the two for screening). The five of us walked through the metal detector without incident and then began to gather our belongings and put ourselves back together. A minor inconvenience at most. Entirely acceptable.

As we were waiting for the kids, I glanced over to the other lines to see if the Level3 machines were being used. Most passengers seemed to be going through the old metal detectors, with the Level3 machines being used very sparsely for secondary screening. I did not see anyone getting "the pat down".

I'm not sure whether the media over-hyped the security checkpoint issues or the TSA dialed things back significantly. I suspect it was the latter. If they have, indeed, dialed it back, I wonder whether how temporary that is.

In any case, although I was geared up for some minor civil disobedience (having my junk groped in defense if liberty), security screening turned out to be a complete non-event.

Another quick travel note - getting a nice steak and glass of wine out on Thanksgiving is actually quite challenging. Settling for a burger and an inexpensive Australian Cabernet while enjoying the excited chatter of a couple dozen cheerleaders and their parents was just as good!

Geek-to-fit: Day 3

2010-11-14T22:00:00.000-07:00

Weigh-in: 229.5

Right-o! 4 lbs lost in 3 days. A very strong start.

Made egg whites with fresh tomatoes for breakfast. This healthier eating thing doesn't suck.

Busy day out and about. Still managed to get in some walking. Not running due to the ankle injury. Probably overdoing even with this, but I can't just sit around!

Big food challenge at lunch. Bonnie asked me to pick up Carl's Jr for the family since we were on-the-go with cheer activities. I managed to resist a big, heavy burger and discovered a great Apple Walnut Grilled Chicken Salad on their menu. Under 500 calories with dressing and candied walnuts. Still less than even a McD double cheeseburger (which weighs in at 550). Feeling good about being more mindful of what I put in my body.

Tried out Cardio Boxing class on "Your Shape: Fitness Evolved" on the Xbox 360 with Kinect. That class was a total blast. I took several short classes and was pleasantly surprised to see that the game estimated almost 400 calories burned. I was already under my calorie count, so I decided to indulge in a piece of the Key Lime pie we had in the fridge from Village Inn. Ya know, key lime pie never tasted so good!

Hoping many more days flow this well for diet and exercise.

Geek-to-Fit: Day 2

2010-11-14T00:59:00.000-07:00

Weigh-in: 231.5

So after a disheartening fall and ankle injury last night, I was surprisingly upbeat. I was convinced I could find other compelling ways to get my cardio conditioning while my ankle healed. A crazy idea hit me ... go buy the Microsoft Kinect I had been drooling over. That should be low impact, right? Um, sure ... Kinect adventures had me lunging from side to side and jumping to control a river raft. Your Shape: Fitness Evolved had me doing running in place, squat thrusts, and the Tai Chi warrior pose. My ankle swelled to the size of a softball. Worth it? Heck, yeah!

A little advanced planning enabled me to go out to Village Inn with the girls and NOT consume 1,000 calories. Managed to get a very nice, large breakfast for under 500 calories. Discovered that I'm quite fond of egg white omelets. Going to have to switch to those at home for breakfast.

So all-in-all, a good day. Got in about 400 calories worth of exercise and enjoyed eating responsibly. I'm finding coffee and tea to be staples, but have cut soda out of my diet. I've got more energy, which is encouraging.

Geek-to-fit: Day 1

2010-11-13T00:59:00.000-07:00

Weigh in: 233

I'm using some cool tools with the new effort. Being a technophile, I find that to be a major source of motivation. Tracking my weight, diet and exercise with My Fitness Pal (on iPad). Using Nike+ to track run distance and time (and therefore calories). Both of these post automatically to Facebook so my friends can keep me accountable.

Food-wise, I'm leveraging some Arbonne Figure 8 tools to help keep my calorie count down while keeping nutrition up and abating hunger as I adjust. Their chocolate protein shake makes a good low-cal lunch at 170 calories. The diet snack chews taste like tootsie rolls and provide 30 calories and some great hunger-control between meals. Finally, the fizzy drink tablets (tasty Pomegranite) replace my usual after run glass of Soy Milk with a 10 calorie water-based drink while still providing some protein and nutrients to help with run recovery.

So on to how the day went.

Started off the day with my regular weekly architect review board meeting at Einstein Bros. Bagels. I find this to be a good venue, as they have healthy, low-cal offerings like their Bagel Thin sandwiches with egg whites.

I had meetings to attend over lunch, so I really appreciated the ease of an Arbonne shake instead of going out to fetch fast food or making something in the kitchen. A couple chews in the afternoon kept me going.

The challenge ... I went to Starbucks with my daughter Brittany so we could go review and update the family calendar over a latte. Wanted an eggnog latte, but knew they would be very high calorie count, so I sized it down to a Grande instead of my usual Venti and asked for nonfat milk. Would have also gotten sugar free syrup (the combination makes a "skinny" latte), but the EggNog latte is made with actual eggnog instead of syrup. Decided to go ahead and splurge, but was later floored to see the calorie count of this version of the drink still weighed in at 480. It was tasty, but not really worth it. I expect I'll be going with regular coffee next time. A small price to pay for fitness.

Dinner was Chili Mac. Portion control was key here. 1c and 1/2c serving spoons are great for this. Thanks to My Fitness Pal, I was able to see my remaining calories for the day and determine an appropriate portion size. I was also able to put in some exercise to estimate the calories I would be credited so I could finish the day within my calorie goal. It was nice to make informed decisions about what and how much to eat. I felt more in control than ever before. Clearly calories consumed and calories expended are levers I can pull to steer toward my goals.

The day was full and I didn't get in my planned morning run, so I decided to head out about 8:30pm to get some miles in. Set Nike+ on my iPhone for 3.1 miles and headed out. I was encouraged by the fact that in spite of keeping my calories down for the day, I still had plenty of energy. I was setting a solid pace. Then it happened. At about 1.45 miles, I was crossing a patch of leaves that covered the sidewalk. I caught the edge of the sidewalk and turned my ankle badly. I yardsaled. It must have looked spectacular to passers-by. I got up, but couldn't put any substantial weight on my left ankle. I limped the 2 1/2 blocks home, despondent. As my ankle began to swell (even iced), it occurred to me that this was one of the things that threw me off track earlier this year. I'm clearly going to have to find some other ways to get my cardio training while my ankle heals. That's okay, though. It's a minor roadblock and I am highly motivated.

The journey continues tomorrow.

Geek-to-fit: Day 0

2010-11-11T18:19:00.000-07:00

So a little background to start. I used to lead a pretty sedentary lifestyle. Then I divorced and started a new life. I went from 255 lbs down to 215 and cultivated a healthier lifestyle, including eating healthy foods and running.

In February 2010, I ran the Polar Bear 5K on a sprained ankle, seriously exacerbating the injury, which took me out all summer. That, combined with a ramping up of the kids' activities (and eating less healthy foods due to being so busy), pushed me back up to my current weight of 233. I'm not liking that at all.

So I'm making a fresh start of it. I'm getting back to my running schedule of at least 3 days per week and eating healthier foods. In addition, my lovely wife just started an Arbonne business, so I'm going to be trying out their Figure 8 products.

I'm going to blog the whole process. I'm going to be very transparent, so I ask my friends to be supportive and positive, but hold me accountable.

Check back for regular updates.

Verizon doubles Early Termination Fees

2009-11-05T17:11:00.001-07:00

http://bit.ly/4D9xny (via @iPTIB)

Verizon is doubling their Early Termination Fee (ETF) from $175 to $350 with a montly reduction of $10 as you progress through your contract.

I can't say that I blame Verizon specifically for doing this.  I expect that it is in response to higher subsidies they are paying for smart phones.

However, this does raise the bigger issue of carrier subsidies allowing the price of smart phones to remain artificially high.  If these devices were being sold to consumers at their ACTUAL prices, the market would be adjusting the costs downward rapidly.  Who do YOU know that would be willing to pay $500 for a Blackberry or $600+ for an iPhone at this stage in the game?

Hello world

2009-11-01T08:44:00.001-07:00

First post via Posterous.

---
Rob Witte
rob@witte-family.net

"No trees were killed in the sending of this message, but a significant number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced."

Posted via email from rwitte42's posterous

First impressions of HP Mini 110 Netbook

2009-10-26T09:36:00.001-06:00

I bought my wife Bonnie a new HP Mini 110 netbook over the weekend. Cute little thing … 1.6 Ghz Atom Processor, 1GB memory, 160 GB hard drive. I bought a 2GB stick of memory to upgrade it (1 memo slot, so it now has 2GB). It's got Ethernet + Wifi, no 3G. It runs Windows 7 starter edition. I paid a little bit of a premium to get her the Studio Tord Boontje edition because it was so lovely.

My initial thoughts are extremely positive on this netbook. First, Windows 7 appears to have the glitz of Vista with the solid performance of XP. It's not an earth-shattering update to Microsoft's OS, but I believe it is what Vista should have been. It's much like Windows XP, a course-correction from its predecessor.

The form factor of this netbook is compelling. It's 2.7 pounds with a 10.6" screen. While I find it to be a bit cramped (compared t the 17" Macbook Pro I happily lug around), I could definitely see light usage in a coffee shop or other mobile venue. I'm sure Bonnie will enjoy using it on the road. For home use, I could see plugging this into a larger monitor and connecting to a bluetooth keyboard and mouse for more comfortable computing. We're considering a USB-powered 350GB external hard drive for additional storage. Sam's club has a 2-pack of them for about $150.

Frankly, I found myself with a bit of notebook envy. It's small, it's stylish, and while it is no powerhouse it is certainly ample for basic uses like web apps, local word processing, and such. The netbook is a compelling form factor and I believe it is here to stay.

If Apple made one and it ran Snow Leopard, I would have gladly paid a premium to buy that for Bonnie (and budget for one for myself).