Courtesy of Shotzoom Software

Golfplan provides personalized tips, drills and instruction based on your Golfshot game statistics. If you don’t already use Golfshot for the iPhone and iPod touch, you can download it for free, or choose your own Golfplan categories.

Normally Golfplan retails for $4.99 in the iTunes App Store, yet as it showed up this past week as the Starbucks Pick of the Week, those of us with insane coffee addictions were able to pick it up for free. And seeing as I frequent Starbucks more than the next guy, I grabbed one every time I filled up my coffee tumbler with dark roast.

Golfplan Free Codes - First Come, First Served.

Related posts:

1. Starbucks Free App – W.E.L.D.E.R.
2. Starbucks No More
3. Lyte1k & Starbucks Giveaway

Courtesy of Highline Games

Weld words in the word machine! Create clever combos and multiply your score using gem and gold tiles. Increase your vocabulary using iOS 5’s in-built dictionary – discover definitions of words you never even knew existed!

Now would you consider yourself excited, but potentially disappointed that you couldn’t pick up a code for free from Starbucks? Well I’ve got you covered with the few I picked up each day I stopped in for coffee so don’t be too disappointed!

W.E.L.D.E.R. Free Codes - First Come, First Served.

Related posts:

1. Starbucks No More
2. Lyte1k & Starbucks Giveaway

This group is awesome! If I ever get involved in an a capella group, we’re totally going to do this. Who’s with me? We’d be all sorts of solid!

No related posts.

Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment

It was June 2001 when we last saw significant attention paid to the Diablo franchise when the Diablo II expansion Lords of Destruction was released.  Back then we were all focused on gearing up to take on Mephisto and Baal.  Or maybe we were busy tossing Wirt’s Leg together with a Tome of Town Portal and combining into some Bovine goodness with our Horadric Cube.  No matter.  We were busy saving Tristram from the unknowing evils from the depths below.

And then we waited.  Until June 2008 when Blizzard Entertainment told us there was to be more – Diablo III was coming.  Boy oh boy was I ever excited!

It’s nearly been four years since I last stayed awhile and listened to Deckard Cain.  And I’d be lying if I wasn’t jealous that a few friends of mine have been rocking the Beta launch & bragging about everything they’ve seen.  Yet the launch date kept getting pushed and pushed and pushed and then….

Diablo III coming May 15: http://t.co/biXxNSJj #D3 #signofrelease

March 15, 2012 6:02 am via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@Diablo

Diablo

BOOM!  May 15, 2012!  Funny enough that only a day ago I accepted a Scroll of Resurrection (more on that in a later post) from my brother to join him again in World of Warcraft.  And even funnier is that I noticed by committing to WoW for a solid year I’d get my copy of Diablo III for free (plus the trusty steed [Tyrael's Charger] to carry my mage around) – something I did in a heartbeat (math isn’t my strongest subject).

So I’m ready.

I’m ready to stand forth in the epic battle of good and evil. I’m ready to watch the never-ending onslaught of the undead meet their end as I rip through level after level. I’m ready to be engulfed by the haunting sounds of the Diablo III soundtrack. Yes. I’m more than ready.

Are you?

No related posts.

Courtesy of the Whitecaps FC

Extending their un-defeated season home opener streak to two games, the 2-0 triumph over the expansion Montreal Impact is a good start. What I hope it’s not is a similar false sense of security we felt after last years win against the Toronto FC. But I shall again, remain cautiously optimistic.

So what of the match itself (for those not wanting to watch the highlight pack above)? Nothing too special in my opinion, though I did have a few thoughts:

• The Y.P. Lee Fan Club – Lee was solid on the back line. In fact, the use of his head is the sole reason the clean sheet remained intact. Regardless of all that, if the number of fans cheering his every move (including a throw-in) and holding up posters of him at every opportunity is any indication, the Whitecaps FC have found a new demographic of fans.
• Sebastian Le Toux – His first half goal is down as the earliest score in an MLS opening match ever, just so you know. Moreover, his responsible play looks to be the perfect complement to the bombastic Eric Hassli.
• The Atmosphere – Either the Southsiders have signed half the stadium up or the fans have become quite a bit more savvy. And it was loud. Very, very loud. That said, definitely a shame that the roof remained closed at BC Place.

Were you there on Saturday? What did you think?

Related posts:

1. First Impressions of the Whitecaps FC
2. Protect What Turf?
3. Rainy Impressions of Empire Field

Courtesy of Clonny

And now as I roll into the sixth week of this lifestyle change, I’m looking for ways to continue the push towards better health. I’m constantly evaluating what I’m eating and how I can improve upon my food choices. I’m looking for easy ways to introduce exercise into my day whether it be taking the stares, getting off the bus a stop or two early, or even taking the scenic route to walk between points A and B.

Has it been easy? No. But I’m happy and that’s what matters the most.

No related posts.

How many of you can wait 21 more days? Winter is coming.

Related posts:

1. The Top 3 – Right Now TV Edition
2. Happy Valentine's Day
3. The Winding Down of Silly Season

No related posts.

Courtesy of PeterJBellis

In my books, all success no matter how small is success nonetheless. Even more so considering some of my previous adventures to get healthy.

Having seen a few of my coworkers meet success, I’ve signed up for the New Lifestyle Diet in hope that the regimented (and portion controlled) plan will help me see a similar transition to better health.

Combining 7 portion controlled meals with a 1 defined “Healthy Meal” (4oz of lean meat & 2c of veggies for dinner), the idea is that by “training” me to distribute healthy meals throughout the day and consider portion size, I’ll be able to better maintain my weight upon completion of the diet. And on top of my new eating habits, I also need to include a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise each day – the recommended exercise for beginners like me is a brisk walk.

Where you all come in is the support I’ll need to get through this. While much of the load will be borne by me, I’m empowering each and every one of you to kick my ass (I don’t swear often, so consider this serious) if it looks like I’m wavering. Help me keep sight of the goal & provide encouragement if need be. Join in on the conversation I’ve started on Twitter (#lyterforce is the official hashtag) & Facebook. Considering this crowd-sourced support!

If you’re doing the same thing, don’t be afraid to ask me for help. Let us share our trials and tribulations as we make an investment in our health and well-being! I’ll keep you honest if you promise to keep me honest.

And maybe we can re-write that book to show that our small successes were in fact one giant amount of success.

It’s life you know.

No related posts.

Courtesy of Márcio Cabral de Moura

• in any indoor public place – work, bars, restaurants, malls.
• on public transit or transit shelters.
• in taxis and work vehicles.

On top of this, a 3 metre non-smoking “buffer zone” was created around all public doorways, windows and air intakes. Some communities took it even further (as found on the BC Lung Association website):

Vancouver & Richmond

• Smoking is prohibited within customer service areas of food and/or liquor establishments (patios for instance).
• Within 6 metres of a door, window or air intake of a building.
• Within 6 metres of the perimeter of a customer service area.

And mostly unedited text from the BC Lung Association:

Surrey

• Smoking is prohibited in any common public area; in a taxi cab or limousine; on a school bus, public bus or any form of public transportation.
• Smoking is prohibited in an enclosed or partially enclosed shelter where people wait to board a vehicle for hire or public transit; in a building (except as otherwise permitted by the By-law).
• Smoking is prohibited in a vehicle if any occupant of the vehicle is under 19 years of age.
• (Smoking is prohibited) Within seven and one-half metres (7.5 m) of any opening into a building including any door or window that opens or any air intake.
• Smoking is PERMITTED in a private club or in enclosed premises that are not open to the public.

District of North Vancouver
In addition to BC Tobacco Law restrictions, the District’s new Smoking Regulation Bylaw, 7792 prohibits smoking within six meters of:

• A patio connected to a business.
• Any opening into any building, including any door or window that opens, or any air intake.
• A children’s playground, swimming beach, food concession, picnic area, skateboard park or playing field.
• The site of any public event or activity that the District has authorized by the issuance of a permit.
• The grounds of any municipal building used for public recreation.
• Lynn Valley Village or Maplewood Farm.
• A transit stop or transit shelter if other people are there.
• The new bylaw also prohibits smoking in taxicabs.

Pretty darn thorough aren’t they? And just recently we’ve also seen smoking banned in parks throughout Metro Vancouver! So what’s my issue you ask? As the title of this post outlines, there appears to be an extreme lack of enforcement and I’m pretty much fed up about it.

I can’t begin to count how often I’ve encountered someone “on fire” at a bus stop. Or just outside a door. Or underneath the open window that I happen to be sitting opposite to. And while I’ve been apt to speak up and politely ask the person to “extinguish” themselves, the replies have typically not included language found in most Disney movies. Heck, I’ve even heard language not found in hardcore adult movies (or so I’ve been told). In fact, only a couple of days back I ended up coming to the defense of a young mother (with kids in tow) who asked a teen to stop smoking at a bus stop after he told her to “mind her effing business.”

Now in the interest of disclosure, I don’t smoke. Never have, never will. And while my opinion is that each person is their own boss in such matters, I don’t feel that a smoker’s right to light up means I should be subject to toxins produced by the cancer sticks – especially when the law is on my side. But there’s the kicker. While the law may be on my side, I feel I have very little recourse but to subject myself to verbal battery should I try to raise the issue.

Should the police enforce the law? Bylaw enforcement officers? Parking enforcement officers in Vancouver? Definitely! Yet if that means we take them off the streets to go on a smoke hunt, then we’ve likely not got our priorities straight as they obviously have been tasked with other (and quite often more important) duties. So what should we do? I think Josh Lavoie poses a darn good suggestion on twitter:

@kmaximick @lyteforce You could easily pay for additional staff through the fines if they started actually ticketing people.

January 23, 2012 7:02 pm via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@joshlavoie

Josh Lavoie

Everything needs to start somewhere.

Slash rant.

Related posts:

1. The Express Bus
2. The Physics of Bus Travel