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Thursday, May 31, 2012

Wobble-free

Total cycled this season: ~855kms
Remaining this summer: ~3145kms

I got my rear wheel back yesterday. It was supposed to be done by 5pm on Monday, but when I went to pick it up they told me that they were backlogged and it would likely be ready just before 6pm. Rather than wait almost an hour, I decided to pick it up on Tuesday.

I think it's straighter than when I first bought the bike. I'm really pleased with it, and I'm tempted to take the front rim in because it has a very slighty wobble. It cost me around $20 though, so I'll probably hold off.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Weebles, wobbles...

I went for a shorter than hoped for ride on Saturday afternoon.

About half an hour out, I happened to look down at my rear wheel and noticed a pretty nasty wobble. I pulled off the bike path and dismounted to check for any broken spokes. They were all reasonably fine. I noticed a few looser than the others, but nothing major. I spun the wheel and it didn't see as bad as when I was on the bike.

I got back on and continued to pedal and it seemed worse again. I have no idea how long it's been like that. I'm pretty sure it wasn't like that after I repaired my last flat, because I do recall looking down at the tires after that to make sure they were fine.

I ended up riding for about 38kms instead of the ~60kms I had hoped to ride.

I removed the rear wheel tonight and put it in the truck to bring with me to work tomorrow. There's a bike shop next door, Cycle Power, that I'll take it to to get fixed. Hopefully they can get it done tomorrow so I can get back to riding on Tuesday (weather permitting)

Friday's weigh-in put me at 229.4 lbs. That's progressing fairly well, but the weekends of temptation seem to put a dent in my progress. :) At my current rate, I should be at my 200 lb goal by August. Fingers crossed.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Trimming the winter fat (aka cycling 2012)

To say that I put on a few pounds over winter is a bit of an understatement. If I had kept it to around 10lbs I'd be happy, but I didn't. I put on more like 25-30lbs. I didn't stick with the bike trainer as much as I would have liked too. It wasn't anywhere near as appealing as I had hoped it would be. It was flat out boring, even when watching TV to pass the time.

While the weight gain didn't please me, I wasn't too concerned about it — obviously, since I let it happen. I figured once I could get out cycling, I'd regain control.

I resumed cycling in early April. The good weather came and went, although it leaned more toward the "went" so I only got out 4 times that month, but they were fairly long rides.

This month has been pretty good. I've managed to get out 10 times so far, which includes days cycling to and from work. I'm up to 648kms already this month.

My weight goal this year (aka summer) is to get down to 200 lbs. That was my goal last year and I scaled it back to 210, but I think I'm going to push for the full 200 this time. Or maybe 199 just to see it below 200. :)

My cycling goal is to crack 4000 kms by the time the snow flies, or when it's too cold to ride. I achieved 3000 kms last year, so there's nowhere else to go but up. With a slightly earlier start than last year, I think I can do it.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Home Studio Project

Over the last couple of weeks I've been thinking about taking a crack at portrait photography. I started looking for lighting and possibly making my own backdrop to save a few bucks.

One of my co-workers suggested that I check eBay for backdrops rather than make my own. I had a look last night and found a kit that included backdrop, the backdrop stand, and two lights w/ umbrellas and stands for $230. I ordered it this morning.

I've got enough space in our basement to set something up temporarily and I'll recruit either my wife or my daughter to be my guinea pig model. I'm also looking forward to trying out some of the lighting examples I read about in one of my books last summer.

I've had a rather boring winter with photography, aside from Instagram pics with my iPhone (which are pretty cool), so I'm hoping this will drum up some new inspiration.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Same 'ol same 'ol

One of the so-called rules of blogging is to never aplogize for the lack of updates, therefore there will be no apologies forthcoming.

Hasn't been much new & exciting happening lately, so I'll post a few little odds'n ends.

iPhone. Still diggin' it. Got way too much crap installed on it and have been slowly thinning it out.

Rocksmith. Haven't played it much lately. I have been picking away "unplugged" though to keep up the calouses. They just released an update to fix bugs and make the game a little more user-friendly, so I'm anxious to try it out.

Photography. Aside from the odd photo taken with Instagram on my phone, I haven't done much at all in over a month. Got no inspiration. The cold and crappy weather certainly doesn't help either. One thing I did do was pick up a pretty cool app called Portrait Professional. This is one slick app. I'm all for keeping a more natural look with portraits, but when used minimally, you can fix up the small imperfections without making it appear overdone. Now all I need is people to take photos of.

Computers. I picked up a D-Link DNS325 a couple of weeks ago. I was long overdue for getting a home NAS, and after my wife and daughter lost data with a recent laptop hard drive crash it was time. I wish I had done something sooner. Right now I have an old 500GB drive that I hacked out of an external USB hard drive, and an 80GB. Once hard drives come back to a more reasonable price, I'll be picking up a couple of 1TB drives to replace them.

Music. Look for something new(ish)?  Check out Ravenscode. They're also Canadian, eh? :)

C'est tous.

 

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Another year gone

Brief, and to the point — a year of ups and a few downs, not too unlike previous years.

It's time to focus on the positive things in life, no matter how insignificant you think they might be. As the saying goes, "It could always be worse", and if you take a moment to look around, you'll see that it's true.

Happy New Year to all of my friends and family, wherever you may be. If you're out partying tonight, play safe so you can contribute to the ups of 2012.

Keep the party alive, don't drink and drive!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

iCaved for an iPhone

My cell phone contract was due for renewal in January. My wife's has been expired for a year or two, but she had been waiting for mine to expire in case we could get some kind of deal.

She had been wanting a smart phone for a while. I had one for 3 years, and HTC Touch Diamond, that I've been cursing at for 2 years. I swore I'd never get another touch-screen phone. They're fun for anything but using as a phone. As a phone, they're slow and awkward. Or at least mine was. Probably because it was using an older Windows Mobile as the operating system.

I looked around at some Android options. The touch-screen/keypad combos. I was leaning heavily to those that were free with a contract. Nothing really stood out with my carrier, Telus.

I've always thought that Apple products were overpriced, so the iPhone wasn't even a consideration. At first. But I have an iPod Nano that I won years ago, and I use iTunes to sync my music. If I had an iPhone, I could use it for my music, and as a phone, and to run some apps that I couldn't find on the Android. But it was a touch-screen only phone. And it was by Apple. And it wasn't free.

The upgrade price for a 16GB iPhone 4S was $160, and if I got one, I'd have to get my wife the same. It only made sense to not have to learn two phones to do stuff. I could go for the 4 or the 3GS which were cheaper and also free, but considering the phone would have to last at least 3 years for us, it didn't make sense to get the older technology. I suppose the 4S will be at least two versions old by the end of a 3 year contract.

I Tweeted questions out on the net to see what owners of iPhones had to say about their phone. What they liked and disliked about it. What the battery life was like. Everyone liked their phone and didn't really have anything negative to say about them.

After a little debate with my wife over pros and cons, we decided that we'd get the iPhone 4S. It wasn't free, but it did do everything we wanted it to do and that's imporant when you're "stuck" with it for 3 years. She has always leaned toward a Blackberry because many of her friends have or had one, but I don't think it mattered too much since I was paying for them. :)

I did a little web researching and found that the 3 big carriers, Telus, Rogers, and Bell all offer pretty much the same things at the same prices. Whatever happened to competition?

My wife called up Telus last Friday to see what kind of deal we could get to stay with them, over switching to the competition. We've been with Telus since they were ClearNet (14-15 years?) and we've never really had much trouble with them.

As soon as she explained to the rep why she was calling, she was transferred to someone who could make it happen. Without any trouble at all, she got them to throw in Call Display, Free Evenings and Weekends (after 6pm instead of 9pm), and waive the $25 activation fee. Plus, without any hassle, she got them to add that to my account as well to save me a call. She then called the Telus store at the St. Laurent Shopping Centre to make sure they had a white and a black iPhone 4S in stock. They did, and they put them aside for us.

We stopped by there later that evening and I have to say it was a very pleasant experience.

We were greeted almost immediately when we arrived. My wife explained why we were there and the rep went to find the person my wife spoke with on the phone, Mohamed. Minutes later, he came out from the back with both phones on-hand and escorted us to a quieter area at the back of the store to assist us.

While we were talking with him, my wife asked about the $50 accessory credit that the store offered for new phone purchases. He explained that it was only for new customers, but suggested that we could always call Telus and see if they'd offer us a similar credit. While he processed the paper work, my wife called them on her cell phone. Oddly enough, she spent more time on hold with this particular call than she did when she called from home.

While she was on hold, Mohamed explained the AppleCare Protection Plan. It was around $80, per phone, but gave us coverage for 2 years and a one-time replacement if the screen got broken. That was my biggest fear with the iPhone. I had dropped my old HTC two or three times in the past, and it survived, but the iPhone is glass. We agreed to buy the two plans and after the fact, Mohamed said he'd knock 20% off each one of those as well. Who discounts something after you agree to buy it? :)

My wife finally got through to someone on the phone and Telus said they couldn't give us an additional credit for the "accessories" since we already got credited for some things. Not a huge deal because Mohamed had already said he'd discount accessories 20% for us which was better than nothing.

In the end, we got the two phones, two AppleCare plans and two Otterbox cases. And he also put two additional reusable Telus shopping bags into our bag for fun. All in all, a very enjoyable experience. Mohamed wasn't pushy. It never once felt like he was trying to sell us something we didn't want. He was friendly and joked with our daughter while we waited. Above all, he was patient with us, answering every question we had, and didn't seem to mind waiting while my wife was on the phone with Telus to try and get us the accessory credit. He even spent time showing us the basics of using our new phones.

Yeh, we spent way more than we had originally planned, and it is touch-screen only, which I swore I'd never buy, but after a few days of playing with this phone and the 57 apps I've installed on it :) I'd have to say that it is worth it. The touch-screen does take a little getting used to, but it works way better than my old HTC Touch Diamond.

Kudos to Telus and their store reps, in particular Mohamed.