Thoughts From My Life

PowerBlock Adjustable Dumbbells

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 20:32:34 MST

I recently purchased a set of PowerBlock adjustable dumbbells. Probably one of the smartest fitness purchases I have done. I own the PowerBlock Classic 45. These dumbbells can adjust from 5 to 45 pounds in 5 pound increments. This is all I need at this point, but they do have other sets that are capable of being upgraded to go as high as 130 pounds if you are looking for more weight.

There are newer versions that have more room inside the handles as well. The Sport 5.0 and Sport 9.0 series are the latest generation that have a little more room between the handles and actually go up to 50 pounds.

I was motivated to buy them because I am doing the P90X workout program. For a guy doing the classic version of the program and trying to build a little muscle, you really need to be lifting dumbbells to get enough strength training resistance. The PowerBlocks were a perfect fit for my house because I really don't have the room at my house to store it, nor do I want to pay to have a rack of dumbbells with the same range.

If you are looking for some dumbbells and are tight for money/room, then these dumbbells are a good option. I simply bought my used in the city I live in, but you can find them wherever. There are a few different brands too. The other popular one are the Selecttech Nautilus ones that Bowflex is affiliated with.

Published on Sat, 10 Oct 2009 20:32:34 MST.

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P90X

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:45:31 MST

If you haven't heard of P90X, it is the infomercial, workout program that is commonly seen on late night television or in fitness magazines. Basically, it is a DVD video workout program that involves lifting weights, pushups, chinups, cardio, yoga, and other workouts to get you in shape.

I have been doing it for a couple weeks on a more casual basis, but have started today doing the official program. Basically 90 days of fitness routines and diet. I'm going to take it easy on the diet, but will follow the fitness routines as close as possible.

I'm doing the classic routine, which is basically 1 strength routine followed by a cardio routine the next day. This is 6 days like this, one day off, and then repeat. After 3 weeks, it is a break week with 6 cardio, stretching, or yoga days and then back into another set of 3 weeks. After 90 days, presto.

I did my before pictures and measurements and will keep you posted on the 30 day, 60 day, and 90 day status.

Check out P90X on Amazon.

Published on Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:45:31 MST.

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Disable Away Mode in Windows Vista

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 04:24:50 MST

I had a really annoying situation with my Acer Extensa 5420 laptop recently. It would not sleep or go into sleep mode. I would press the sleep button, close the lid, and would even try to do it through the Windows Start menu's Shutdown section, but the laptop would still be powered on and usually just go back to the Windows login screen.

The problem of it not sleeping came from setting up a Windows Media Extender (otherwise known as my Xbox 360). When you set up a Windows Media Extender as part of your Windows Multimedia Center, it will ask you if you want to enable or turn on Away Mode. This is what can disable your sleep functionality. It is probably more suitable for a PC than my laptop.

At first, I remapped my lid closing action and sleep button to hibernate. Hibernate is where the laptop truly saves power because it saves the laptop's state to the hard disk. Sleep just puts the laptop into power save mode basically, but is still using a slight bit of power to keep things in memory. The difference is that sleep will go into and come out of sleep mode much faster than hibernate. However, hibernate actually saves more power if the laptop will be off for long periods of time.

Disable Away Mode

This was the real solution I was looking for. Basically, you need to go change your Power Options settings:

Go into the Start menu -> Control Panel
Click on Power Options. If you don't see it, you might need to click on System and Maintenance to find it.
There will be a power plan already selected (radio button). Click on Change plan settings for that plan.
Click on Change advanced power settings
Find Multimedia settings near the bottom and click the plus sign to expand it.
Click on the plus sign beside When sharing media.
There are two settings for On battery and Plugged in. Change the picklist to be anything other than Allow the computer to enter Away Mode. I picked All the computer to sleep.

Hopefully that works for you as well. I was sick of closing the lid on my laptop to come back and find that it had actually been running the whole time and killed the battery.

Published on Fri, 04 Sep 2009 04:24:50 MST.

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Amazon's On-line Store and Product Links

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 09:18:27 MST

I have been looking at others ways to increase revenue from my site recently. I recently signed up with Amazon as an affiliate to selling merchandise they carry. You earn commissions of varying amounts for the different items.

I have no idea how well this will work out, but being that I do review products from time to time, I thought I might as well add a link to a place where you can purchase them too.

Three Methods of Product Placement

I have done three things to get the products out there.

First, in posts where I review products that they carry, I will specifically add a little banner or advertisement square for the exact product that I am talking about. One example is my recent article about recovering pictures or files on a flash memory card. You will see an advertisement for Recover Pro on there.

Second, you will see at the bottom of posts there is a banner that has 2 or 3 advertisements for different products that Amazon carries. Over time, they analyze each page that their ads appear on and then tailor the product selections to the theme of the page.

Third, I have added a Thoughts From My Life Store. Basically, this is my own little on-line store that allows me to pick the categories and exact products I want to display. So I only went through and picked out items that I own or have used in the past that I would recommend. The other handy thing about this place is that if you ever see me talk about a product, there is a good chance you will find it in the store and can go read up on it at Amazon. Amazon has a lot of reviews, which I also have used in the past when buying stuff, even if I don't buy it through them.

Summary

Anyhow, the whole thing is a little experiment to see if I can generate a few more dollars and cents out of my traffic. Regardless, it does add some extra content and a simple way for people to go see reviews and such.

I'll keep you posted on whether I think it has been of value to me or not. I was using Chitika and Bidvertiser in the past, but the results have only been in the dollar or two a month range. Poor ad placement on my part could be the problem, but I have not been able to get them working better.

Published on Fri, 28 Aug 2009 09:18:27 MST.

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Checklist For Traveling - The Ultimate Guide

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 10:40:59 MST

This is what you freak out over just before you leave on the big holiday. Did you bring enough stuff? What happens if there is an emergency? The best thing to do is write your self a travel checklist a month or two in advance and keep it on hand all the time. Ask people who have been where you are going what you might need. If you are traveling with others, split the shareable items to lighten the load. Here is a travel checklist that you might find handy.

I got that idea for this post from 101 Great Posting Ideas That Will Make Your Blog Sizzle on I Help You Blog.

If you want to build your own, try using the following categories. My own list is farther down.

Before You Leave
Make sure everything is going to be okay at home while you are gone. Will Fido be taken care of?
Documentation Essentials
These can take the longest to be ready, so start early. You cannot even get on a plane nowadays if you do not have your passport on you.
Clothing and Shoes
You will not enjoy your trip if you don't have the proper outfit. Remember, some places you can buy what you need for less money than at home, if you have the time to do so.
Toiletries
Another biggie. If you need anything special and you are going somewhere it cannot be purchased, it can really ruin a trip.
Medical Supplies
Some people would lump this in with toiletries, but I like it in its own section. Typically things that would go in a red emergency kit.
Essentials
These are must haves that don't really fit into the other categories. I always take flat duct tape for fixing stuff. Sunglasses fit in here as well.
Extras
Same as Essentials except not as big a priority. Throw things in here that would be nice to pick up for the right price or a friend will let you borrow.
Food
That is right. It is good to take along some snacks, vitamins, and protein bars to help you through some days where you do not have the time to eat or what there is to eat is not very appealing.
Photography Equipment
This will appeal more to the photography crowd, but everyone will still take a camera. Make sure you do not have any down time with your camera because pictures is the biggest "souvenir" from your trip.

Keep in mind that this is never complete. If you have any suggestions, email them post a comment on this article. If I like them, I will add your suggestion and your url to the article. My checklist is for a lot of situations and you can scratch off anything you know you don't need.

Travel Checklist

Before You Go
Cancel subscriptions Redirect mail or arrange for someone to get it Leave copies of documents and itinerary with someone Arrangements for house/yard care Thermostat settings Lock windows, doors, garage Turn off water to toilet tanks and washer/dryers
Documentation Essentials
travel visa's for destination countries passport copy of passport drivers license copy of drivers license health card airlinetickets copy of tickets insurance phone numbers emergency phone numbers money belt American cash Mastercard, Visa, American Express copy of cards and phone numbers bank card copy of bank card small purse diving certification diving log book travel rewards cards (Aeroplan, Airmiles, etc)
Clothing
Pants, zip-off Sleeping pants/shorts long sleeve sweat shirt long sleeve t-shirt short sleeve t-shirts tank tops underwear black socks tall socks rain/windbreaker jacket, rollup/stuffable bathing suit knitted hat/tuque hair bandana brimmed hat fake wedding rigs (if theft is a concern) *Women Specific* skirt thin material bras (1 sports, 1 regular)
Shoes
runners sandals, sport sandals/birkenstock style) flip-flops, thin
Toiletries
toothbrush, travel size/childrens toothpaste, travel size brush ups (optional) brush/comb combination mini deodorant/anti-perspirant (1) birth control/condoms cream (face/body) nail clippers malaria pills razor Q-tips dental floss, travel size shampoo-conditioner, travel size tweezers bath gel/soap, travel size cloth detergent/dry soap packets plastic grocery bags contact lenses contact lens solution, travel size glasses/case visine/eye drops afterbite mini mirror hand sanitizer sani wipes *Women Specific* tampons (?) feminine cleaning wipes panty liners (?) hair elastics ( ) bobby pins nail file
Tenting
sleeping bag, appropriate rating pillow, mini/stuffable
Medical
band aids butterfly strips polysporin or equivalent penicillin Tylenol 3 syringes diarrhea pills pepto bismol Gravol or equivalent Throat lozenges Dimetapp or equivalent motion sickness wrist bands
Essentials
flat duck tape alarm clock/watch sunscreen ear plugs safety pins lip balm (with spf) sun glasses flashlight/LED headlamp extra batteries bug spray (deep wood brand?) power plug adapters power converter (if 110V and 220V discrepancies) toilet paper in a ziplock bag microfiber towel (pack towel) matches cinch cords elastic clothes line sink plug mesh travel bag or just big ziplock bag for all clothing blue and red pens, mechanical pencil notebook
Extras
mini photo album (10 pictures) umbrella clothes pegs deck of cards tea light candle lice comb calculator reading matierials handheld electronics and chargers (iPod, video games, etc)
Photo Equipment
camera backup camera (an old film canon elph works great) memory cards/film spare batteries battery charger lenses USB or connection cords flash tripod/beanbag film bag (for airport x-ray machines) digital backup device
Food
vitamins, daily packs granola bars fruit bars protein bars/Vector bars (don't have to be the expensive ones) sesame seed bars fruit snacks tea bags juice crystals (individual size for bottled water) nescafe (individual size)

Published on Sat, 22 Aug 2009 10:40:59 MST.

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Sorting Photos in Windows Photo Gallery

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:08:32 MST

I thought I would try out Windows Photo Gallery as a tool to work my photos. This application is included with Windows Vista. Basically you can import your photos into this application and then use it to tag, rate, filter, edit, and perform some other tasks to them.

Anyhow, I uploaded all my trip photos as well as the photos from others on my trip and I have over 3,700 photos to go through. What I did was put them all into the same folder and import them into Windows Photo Gallery. Next, I sorted them by Date Taken so that I had all the photos in the correct order (you need to make sure everyone had the same date setting on their cameras).

Once a double clicked on the first one, it opened up into full screen and it allows you to navigate through the photos one at a time. While looking at each photo, you can press the arrow keys to go forward or back. The other thing you can do is press the number keys 0-5 to rate the pictures with the corresponding number of stars. Check the screenshot below of my photo of Hong Kong blown up. Note the stars on the right hand side. You can click to rate the photo or just press 0-5.

Windows Photo Gallery - Photo View

Basically, I would go through the photos and rate them with a 5 or 4 if I deemed them worthy of developing or publishing. As I went forward and maybe saw a better candidate photo of the same location or person, I would quickly go back to the one I rated 4/5 and press 0 to clear its rating again.

At the end of this exercise, you now have a set of rated pictures. Windows Photo Gallery will then let you display sets of photos based on their rating. You can even select all of these filtered photos and copy/paste them into another folder or do whatever you want.

This is a very similar method to a lot of applications like Adobe Lightroom or even iPhoto on the Mac. Regardless, it is free and already installed on Windows Vista, so why not make use of it.

By the way, it also supports other media files like video.

Published on Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:08:32 MST.

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Recovering Pictures or Files on Flash Memory

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:58:10 MST

I had a scary moment on my most recent trip. My card appeared to fail after I had taken a week's worth of pictures in Nepal.

My Nikon D70s started flashing "For", which indicates the compact flash card inside needs to be formatted. I was unable to view the pictures and if I put it into a card reader and tried to access it on Windows, it just wanted to format the card.

I waited a month, until I arrived home, to try and recover the pictures. I tried 8 different programs and I found two that were able to do it.

RescuePro was one of them. They let you download a trial of it and see if it will actually work before you have to buy. It will access the flash card and then scan it. After awhile, it shows you thumbnails and will let you recover a small number of the files for free. If you see your files and think it is worth it, then you can pay the US$40 for a license.

Active File Recovery is the other one that worked. This program is a little more full-featured. It can recover files on hard drives as well. RescuePro was strictly for flash cards.

Anyhow, if you have ever deleted, formatted, corrupted, or had some other failure with files or flash cards. Don't just erase the card and start from scratch thinking you lost everything. Download a trial copy of RescuePro from the link above and see if you can spot your missing items. It will be well worth the $40 in a lot of cases.

Published on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:58:10 MST.

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Traveling Right Now

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 06:49:27 MST

In case you were wondering, I am traveling right in southern Asia. Currently in Sri Lanka actually. It has been a blast and I'll be back to blogging soon. Not that I have written many articles lately anyways.

Published on Sun, 02 Aug 2009 06:49:27 MST.

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Scrolling Horizontal Lines on Monitor

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 22:25:30 MST

Just to give you the run down. I recently purchased a different computer and in re-wiring everything, my monitor start to have fuzzy horizontal scrolling lines that would move slowly down the screen all the time. There were usually two on the screen at any given time and would takes several seconds to move to the bottom before another one would start at the top.

It seemed intermittent and I tried moving the cables around, but eventually it settled into being permanently there.

Solution

Anyhow, a friend of mine suggested that it could be interference as I was using the old VGA cable to connect to my computer. This is an analog signal and is subject to interference that digital cables are not. So I hooked up a DVI cable, since my video card also had that output on it and my monitor also had that input. That completely cleared up the problem and with the DVI cable I have none of those fuzzy lines moving down my screen.

Published on Mon, 01 Jun 2009 22:25:30 MST.

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Dell Studio Slim Desktop

Tue, 19 May 2009 08:05:40 MST

I finally upgraded to a new computer. My last new desktop was purchased in November of 2002, which is a long time ago in the computer world. I have done a couple of upgrades, but for the most part it was pretty original. It was a Pentium 4 2.4GHz with 1GB RAM, an Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 128MB video card, 160GB hard drive, DVDRW, and that was pretty much it. It didn't even have USB 2.0 on it.

That being said, I could still photo edit with it, do some video editing, watch videos, and even play WoW. I sold it for $80 the first day I listed it in the Buy 'n' Sell.

The New Machine

I am quite impressed so far with my Studio Slim. I found it used in my city for only $400 so getting a bit of a deal was even a better find for me. Anyhow, here are the specs.

Dell Studio Slim Specs

Intel Quad Core Q6600 (2.4GHz)
4GB PC6400 DDR2 RAM (4 X 1GB)
Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit
ATI Radeon 3650 512MB DDR2
320 GB Hard Drive
DVDRW
15 in 1 card reader
Bluetooth
USB2.0 jacks front and back
Firewire
spare PCI slot
spare 3.5" internal bay

All-in-all, I feel it is a decent machine, especially considering where I came from with the old one. It seems a lot quicker and now I can actually watch some of those high-def video files I have.

Slimline

It is half the width of my old tower, which is pretty neat. One thing I notice with this is that there is only 1 PCI slot and 1 3.5" bay. So upgrading is a bit hampered. The PCI cards that do go in it have to be the slimline models. My ATI Radeon card is one of the models that have that availability.

Noise Factor

My old PC had become brutal for the noise from the fans. I could have fixed that somewhat by just purchasing some new ones, but I wasn't investing any more in into it. The new machine is very quiet I have to say. Fans intake/outakes are on 3 sides of the machine too.

Current Issues

Fuzzy Lines

I currently have some fuzzy horizontal lines that scroll down through the monitor. I have had a few times where they are not present, but for the most part they are always there. Going to try a few different cable configurations to check for interference and then go through some settings and driver checks with my video card. Not sure why it is is doing it.

32 Bit Operating Systems

It came pre-installed with Windows Vista 32 bit. This means the 4 GB of RAM installed can't actually be fully used, because it is unable to do so. I will probably consider upgrading to 64 bit at some point. The difference isn't really between the 3.5 it is capable of and the 4 installed, it will be when I actually upgrade to more RAM.

Published on Tue, 19 May 2009 08:05:40 MST.

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Thoughts From My Life

PowerBlock Adjustable Dumbbells

P90X

Disable Away Mode in Windows Vista

Disable Away Mode

Amazon's On-line Store and Product Links

Three Methods of Product Placement

Summary

Checklist For Traveling - The Ultimate Guide

Travel Checklist

Before You Go

Documentation Essentials

Clothing

Shoes

Toiletries

Tenting

Medical

Essentials

Extras

Photo Equipment

Food

Sorting Photos in Windows Photo Gallery

Recovering Pictures or Files on Flash Memory

Traveling Right Now

Scrolling Horizontal Lines on Monitor

Solution

Dell Studio Slim Desktop

The New Machine

Slimline

Noise Factor

Current Issues