I started a weight loss routine back in January to get back in shape and lose weight. Most of the impetus was due to the fact that my Term Life Insurance was twice what it should be. That's crazy! Since the company I work for, Shopzilla, Inc., was paying for my gym membership, I thought I'd take advantage of it. After the first 3 months, I lost about 10lbs. It stayed about that for the next 2 months. I then started kick-boxing and lost another 11lbs in the last 2 months. Kick-boxing really helped a lot with increasing cardio and strength training.

Changing your diet helps even more.

Now I just need to figure out how to lose 110lbs of wife.

Hell on Earth!

Thanks everyone for coming out to Bree's 1st Birthday Party. We had a lot of fun. I got a bit over-cooked, but at least most of the food turned out OK. We hope everyone had a great time swimming and eating.

Thanks for all the gifts.

Photos here.

The Free Software Foundation posted their 5 reasons for not buying an iPhone, via Daring Fireball. This is a bit ridiculous. Every Verizon phone operates pretty much the same way.

1. iPhone completely blocks free software. Developers must pay a tax to Apple, who becomes the sole authority over what can and can't be on everyone's phones.
2. iPhone endorses and supports Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) technology.
3. iPhone exposes your whereabouts and provides ways for others to track you without your knowledge.
4. iPhone won't play patent- and DRM-free formats like Ogg Vorbis and Theora.
5. iPhone is not the only option. There are better alternatives on the horizon that respect your freedom, don't spy on you, play free media formats, and let you use free software -- like the FreeRunner.

1. Verizon controls all softwae you put on your phone. You can't manually install anything. (MS Mobile phones might be an exception because Verizon doesn't own the OS.)
2. Although you can put music on your phones, I think Verizon controls everything that is broadcast through VCast.
3. I don't think any phone actually does this, unless you install the software that does it.
4. I don't think there are any Verizon phones that do this, most phones probably don't.
5. The FreeRunner is not a very good option and barely competes with the iPhone.

I only use Verizon as an example because I subscribe to them and I know how crappy their phones are. They are endorsing Google's Android OS, but that's a long ways away.

The Samsung Touch Of Color is a sight for sore eyes. Go buy one, Kevin.

Apple plans to release an application that will allow you to control iTunes remotely. I'm sure it will be a great app, except for one feature: the ability to change AirTunes Speakers. How sad is Apple that they can't add this one feature? If I were a betting man, I'd wager they won't support it.

Update: I guess I lose. Perhaps they got tired of me submitting complaints about this issue. It's even listed as a feature in the AppStore. That license for Signal just went to waste, at least the author got paid for making a good app.

Took the MacPro to TechRoom to diagnose the problem. They wanted to charge me $50 per drive (x4) to back them up, plus the $50 to diagnostic test. I only opted to have them backup the system drive. They kept it for a week, told me the problem was the original RAM modules. It wasn't the RAM. It's most likely the Video card. The computer seems to work fine when I'm not actually using it. Bleh, what a waste of $100.

Speaking of dumps, my MacPro also took a dump soon after. It's in the shop now. The three day turnaround is more like seven days. I need to find a good backup solution. Time Machine isn't good enough. Maybe I'll try out Carbon Copy Cloner. The last time I tried it, it didn't work so well. But, I do remember it had the features I needed.

It seems my Photos Server took a dump. Re-installing the OS is probably the only option at this point, although I'm not sure it's worth it. I might just end up paying the nominal fee for an unlimited Flickr account. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how I can integrate it into the Coppermine Photo Gallery software.

I've been waiting for this day for a very long time. The RHCP have called it quits. At least for a year anyway. Unfortunately, KROQ will continue to play their crap forever. I wish they would just go away-o.

The Incredible Hulk was so bad the last time around that they had to remake it. It doesn't even look like a sequel. It's like they're denying the Ang Lee directed Hulk never existed. Probably for the better, I wish I could. This new film actually looks pretty decent.

Bree needs your vote to become the Cutest Baby of the Month.

Update: I removed the link because the site was just spamming users with their emails.

This is the year for Politics as we're about to elect a new President. Why not help the cause and sign the petition for Proposition 3-17. It's a noble cause to bring a new Holiday to the States. Let's be a little more international and support our brothers and sisters across the pond. Go grab a Guinness and sign the petition.

So the new Apple TV v2.0 was released yesterday. It's a long overdue update. And the only plus is the new interface and Rentals. Other than that, it's not much to brag about. The interface is a good deal slower. My Movies is still not browsable by Genre or any meta data. They can do it for Rentals, but not for my personal movies. I don't understand why. It's just so annoying to scroll through 200+ movies to look for anything.

I would give v2.0 a C-.

I saw this post on Daring Fireball and had to try it out. I've never used del.icio.us before, but I hear it's a great way to organize bookmarks. Unfortunately, aside from my normal list of links, I don't really go into my history to browse. Instapaper is a clever idea. It's a quick way to bookmark sites to read later. What's impressive is the way that it's implemented. To install, you just drag a button (scriptlet) into your tool bar. When you see a page you want to read later, just click the button (scriplet) and it gets saved to the Instapper server. To register, you just provide an email address, the password is optional.

scriptlet: javascript bookmarks.