2:20am, 07/04/08

Wii Fit is starting to become religion for me. It's not so much the exercises it has as it is the fact that it's getting me exercising again, and now it makes me think more when I reach for the fridge door - "oh shit, will my BMI jump half a point if I gorge on that oh so luscious smoked meat?"

So it's been 7 days since my last post on it, and my BMI is down another full point (-3.3 since I started), and I've lost another 2lbs (I jumped up a bit for a few days) for a total loss of 17.6 lbs.

I'm now doing some of the more hardcore things, including

30 minutes steppercize, with weights
10 minute "advanced" boxing routine that is about 50% faster than the 3 and 6 minute versions. And let me tell u, I punch the crap out of that air.
Advanced Hula Hoop, twice. Christ, that hurts.
Planks. OMG. Planks. I'm in such bad shape. I remember when I used to be able to hold these for 5 minutes. I can barely last 30 seconds.

I stopped doing the balance games, except purely for fun.My daily routine now is
15 mins Yoga
20 mins strength
30-50 minutes aerobics.

Diet's more or less the same, but I've added cheese and meat every other day now. Lots of sushi eatin' (sashimi, to avoid the rice).

0 comments | reply | link

3:45pm, 06/28/08

I spent the last of my paypal holdings (very meagre, all things considered) on a Lensbaby 3g tilt correction lens for my cameras. It arrives next week.

Back in the 1990s, I got to play with a genuine tilt and shift lens for my old Nikon camera. I rented this lens, which costs an arm and a leg, for one day, and shot about six rolls of film. I was not happy with the results. Back then, you composed, used the optical viewfinder to find your focus point and effects, and snap the film shot. I tried to do all the right things, including checking depth of field, changing perspective, the works, but once I got the film developed, I just wasn't thrilled. So I gave up on it.

Then a few years ago, the Lensbaby came along. Perspective correction / distortion, creative focusing for under $70? OMG. But it was truly manual - you had to hold the lensbaby tube in place, leading to unpredictable, and often shaky results.

Lensbaby 2 came out with better optics, but the same modus operandi. But was starting to jones on the photo results I was seeing. Some were intensely creative, and got me thinking about how I could apply this device in my photography work.

About a year ago, Lensbaby 3g came along, and offered fixed positioning (with quick changing of said position), and tight focusing controls. There were also creative bokeh options with aperture disks, macro, wide angle and telephoto options. But it was bloody expensive compared to the original Lensbaby and starting to approach the cheapest of the true perspective correction lenses (well okay, still about 1/3 the price, but the oiginal lensbaby was 1/12th the price).

Then I played around with a friend's camera and his Lensbaby 3g. In a word, wow.

So one's on the way. Can't way to start getting creative soon.

0 comments | reply | link

9:15pm, 06/27/08

Beata bought a Wii Fit off Craigslist within a few days of it becoming available, and I've been waiting for it for some time.

I started a loose, sortathere diet before getting the wii fit, and now have more or less finalised it, with some changes on some days. My daily diet consists of

- Apple or Orange + coffee in the morning. Sometimes two of each
- Orange and other fruit (varies) around late lunch, and more coffee. Usually espresso based.
- One main meal usually of tuna. Not canned tuna, but tuna steaks, either sashimi / sushi style (raw) or slightly cooked. I usually have a veggie with it, which varies, sometimes spinach sometimes salad, sometimes beans, sometimes green peas, sometimes in the forum of soup.
- Red wine with dinner. Usually a good Pinot. I'm wary of phenols and other crap in cheap wines. One glass.
- One more leisurely glass of red wine later in the eve.

That's it. Tuna's the main "meat". Sometimes I substitute bison (egggggsellent red meat choice). When I go out, I stick to tuna dishes... fortunately Vancouver's got a lot of tuna choices.

Oh and vitamins and supplements. Usually a multivitamin and Vitamin C.

So I was getting into this diet before the WiiFit, sorta... then the WiiFit came. My BMI was through the roof (FUCKING high, that's all you need to know). Weight... well it was more than I expected.

So after spending a week getting acquainted with the Wii Fit's various programs of Yoga, Excercises, Aerobics and Balance games, (and having my BMI drop by .5 and my weight drop by 3lbs (which means nothing at my weight), I came up with a workout plan:

- 20 mins yoga
- 30 mins exercises
- 20 mins aerobics
- 10 mins balance

And that's what I pretty much do today, but usually I do an extra 5, 10 mins of "calming" yoga at the end instead of the balance games. The balance games are for fun, and not so much for exercise. I do some (for me) difficult yoga poses. I do some easy, medium, and slightly difficult toning exercises (I'm creaky by the end of them), and where I really push myself is in the aerobics. I do 3 mins hula hoop (lol, no video, please), about 8 minutes steppercize (two rounds), then the knockout punch - two sessions of boxing, one beginner, one advanced. I'm dripping sweat by the end of those.

I try to do the 1 hour each day. So far in 22 days of Wii Fit, (15 disregarding the first week), I've missed four days. And the progress is starting to be real.

Day 7: BMI -0.5, Weight -3lbs
Day 12: BMI -0.7, Weight: -5.5lbs
Day 18: BMI -1.9, Weight: -9.9lbs
Day 23: BMI -2.3, Weight: -15.1lbs

I'd say out of that weight loss, probably 7-9lbs is real loss - the rest is probably water etc retention. But it's starting to show results, and I guess the coolest thing is, it's actually fun. Well I'll be honest. The yoga I'm meh on, the exercises I'm not jonesing on, but the hardest workout by far is the boxing, even the beginner one, and I really enjoy that. I could just do 60 mins of boxing each day - breaking it up into three or four 10 or 15 minute sessions.

More to follow, or you can see rare, barely occasional updates on my twitter feed.

0 comments | reply | link

12:10am, 04/09/08

So I bought an iPhone.

Yeah, I know, I've been critical of the phone in the past, but I recently dropped my cell phone, and I also shut off an old VOIP service we had (tip for Canadians, never use Primus Talk Broadband - the quality sucks), and well, it was time for a new phone.

So I found one online (they aren't available in Canada), and I bought it. It arrived a few days ago.

I have to say, I'm not quite sure what all the hype is about. I mean, let me talk about some of the "features"; I'll start with the good stuff.

- on the positive side, I was able to get it working with a new Yahoo! Messenger voice account. I can get voice calls straight to the iPhone on two new Y! Voice phone numbers I purchased and set up. I can even do outgoing calls on it via VOIP, which is super sweet. Don't ask me how I managed this though, I don't really know how it all works - black magic, I guess. I just read up about how to use the iPhone to do this online, and followed the instructions, and it seemed to work.

- voice quality is surprisingly good. I have friends who have iPhones, and they always sound like they're in a tunnel or something. Not sure why mine is better.

- range and battery life is really good. Much better than I thought either would be. I've talked on the iPhone for about 6 hours of talk time so far, and haven't had to recharge it yet.

- it's small and light. Sure, it's bigger than my old cell phone, but it's smaller than some other phones I've owned.

- I like how I can assign ringtones to different callers and groups. Pretty sweet.

- The colour screen is very bright and, well, colourful.

- the volume of the phone, especially in handsfree mode, is very good.

As for negatives, well I have a few.

- I haven't figured out yet how to get voicemail on this thing. Maybe because I'm in Canada, but I need access to my voicemail!

- The screen is very "muddy" and quite difficult to read. Much worse than I was led to believe by the various screen shots and publicity photos I've seen of the device.

- The built in contacts software completely sucks ass. Adding contacts is a complete cludge too.

- Weather option is built in as you may know, but I have yet to get it to work. Everytime I've tried so far, I get a "Network Error". I even tried putting in various N. Washington zip codes and still - network errors.

- The user interface is far too confusing. I don't have a clue what buttons I should be pushing here or there.

- I see a list of my contacts, but it's impossible to tell who is available or can accept calls.

- I can't seem to dial any of my imported contacts, at least via the Y! Voice system - I have to manually type in their phone numbers each time.

- I would have liked the ability to page the base station.

- There's no built in way to chat via IM. Considering the connectivity of this device, I expected that.

- I can't SMS from the iPhone.

- I wish it had the ability to page the base station.

Overall though, considering I paid $32 plus shipping for this thing, I can't complain much. And it's replacing my existing landline phone, thanks to its dual ability to use both VOIP and wired communications, so that's totally a positive. And getting a new phone number with unlimited incoming calls (no extra charges) for $24.95 a year is so cool, I got two - one based in Seattle, and one based in London, UK. And the calling out features are cool too - just a penny a minute to a lot of countries, and not much more to the rest of the world. It took about 30 minutes to set up, 14 hours to do the initial charge, and it works like a charm. A pretty good $32 investment, I'd say.

The only thing I wish is that this were a dual mode Skype phone instead of a Dual Mode Y! Messenger phone ;) I have a long standing Skype account and like their voicemail, and skype-out options much better. But at least it photographs well - Here's a photo of my new "iPhone".

3 comments | reply | link

5:15am, 03/08/08

About 4 years and six hours ago, I got the phonecall I was dreading. My Mom had passed away from cancer of the pelvis that had spread through the rest of her body. In the days that followed, I went back home to see her one more time.

It's been four years now since my Mom left us, and there are still times when, as I'm daydreaming or just having some downtime, I'll glance up, look at her photo, and start shaking and crying. I try to remember my Mom with nothing but happy memories about a good person and her impact on me and the world. But I also think there's something wired in me that triggers on days where, in the distant past I've had issues and situations with my Mom, and then regret and sorrow comes in, and just overwhelms me.

Today, I'll be going to that spot where some of her ashes were placed, and say hi to her, and tell her how much I miss her.

0 comments | reply | link

Mixelania

Photos from Algonquin Park
Photos from my trip to Algonquin Park this fall with my Mom and two brothers.

War Stories

Making Snow for the Fortress
One of the worst jobs I ever had... till I got out.

Webiffied

Tools I Use
The tools I use to build websites and lead a tech life.

iPod and iTunes Offline

iMark's iTunes and iPod isn't iPlaying anything right iNow.

Most Recent Songs

Fiddlers Green by The Tragically Hip

Around The Bend by Pearl Jam

Here With Me (Rollo's Chillin' With the Family Mix) by Dido

With arms open wide by Creed

truffle pigs by Matthew Good Band

In the News

Burundi and Beyond - NY Times
Great article by Peter Meehan - provided some background.

St. Petersburg Times
Side mention in an article about good machines

AP Story on Espresso
Background and information provided

NY Times - Grinders Article
Especially proud of this one - got the reporter to focus on grinders

Globe and Mail
LOL - showing bad reporting, dude says I'm an American-based site!

The Olympian, WA
Talks about my love for the El Sal Siberia Pacamara

Seattle Times - Clover
Interviewed for comments on the Clover brewer

NY Times - How it Works
Background and information for various espresso machines

Time Mag Article
Just a brief mention, article about roasting beans.

NY Times
Front page article about consumers getting into specialty coffee.

Washington Monthly
Quoted reference to what I wrote in an article at CoffeeGeek.

USA Today - Barista Jam
Intereviewed for my thoughts on what the epitome of espresso is.

WSJ Article
The Wall Street Journal has interviewed me 3 times. This is the first time my name got in a story.

Reuters Interview
Interview with Reuters, Jan 2 - this is the USA Today version.

My Other Stuff

CoffeeGeek
Launched Dec 22, 2001, this is THE online community for espresso and coffee fanatics.

CoffeeKid Website
It's all new, as of March, 2002. My personal coffee obsession site.

WebMotif Services
My company's site - needs an update!

Amazon WishList
Hey, if you feel the need to buy me something, check here!

Daily Visits

enGadget
Great gadget site run by the guy who used to do Gizmodo.

Google News
This is how I get my daily news fix.

DPReview Forums`
The most active forums for digital photography online today.

Daily Zen
Need my Daily Zen fix!

Jalopnik
A blog about car stuff. Vroom Vroom.

MoCo Loco
An industrial design blog. Very cool stuff.

Friends and Family Plan

Beata Blog
Beata's got her own blog! She updates it most days.

Riddla on Flickr
Matt Riddle's flickr account, updated regularly

Irdy Photos
Irdy, my friend from Jakharta, on Flickr

Recent Acquisitions

Canon 40D
Latest prosumer camera from Canon - a much better upgrade than the 30D

Fujitsu P1610
Great 2.2lb computer that does most of my travel / writing needs

28mm f1.8 Lens
A great lens for closeup work and full picture photography

Foodsaver Advanced
Finally got the right tools for freezing green coffee.

Canon 50mm 1.4
Most amazing lens I've ever owned. Produces stellar photos.

Canon 10-22mm
Super wide angle (full frame fisheye) zoom for my Canon 20D