I'm finally doing it: I launched my first Kickstarter project earlier this month, raising money for an open source software project. It's got 12 days and a bit to go. We're 10% of the way there. Will we make the goal? I don't know... We'll soon see.
In fact, you can see, too. It's all public, right here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dlrdave/activiz-net-installers-featuring-vtk-510 -- it ends at 11:11 am on June 11th.
I would like to thank the people who have already pledged real money to this campaign: about half are people who really want the end result, and the other half are dedicated friends and family, whose moral support I have always known to be rock solid, but whose financial support of this project kind of took me by surprise. I am humbled, touched even, and honored to have you all in my life. You know who you are.
Kickstarter is awesome. I have been a backer of 5 projects since last summer. And I'm sure there are more in my future. It's a fabulous way to raise money toward completing artistic, technological, culinary endeavors and more. Stuff that you wouldn't normally be able to do because it costs more than you have, and there's no obvious way to get from A to B without having a rich uncle. Or worse, having a miserly rich uncle. Or so I'd imagine.
Karen Sabo, the creator of the first Kickstarter project I backed
last summer said to me "I love crowdfunding, don't you? It's so Stone Soup." And it really is, isn't it?
It's "crowdfunding." Everybody who cares about your project kicks in just a little bit, and they help you spread the word, and before you know it, you have enough money to do the awesome thing you've envisioned.
I'm a numbers guy: I'm constantly figuring, counting things, and running what-if scenarios through my brain. The average Kickstarter pledge is about $70. For my $11,000 project, it would only require 158 people pledging at the average level to fund it. Or 1,000 people coming in for honorable mention at the $11 level. Or 10 people who really, really care about it coming in at the $1100 level. It is sooo possible.
But consider this: even better than the money perhaps, executing a Kickstarter campaign shows you something tangible about your endeavor. It proves that some number of people really do care about the art you're building. Even the campaigns that don't hit their goal end up with some pledgers. That, to me, with this specific project, is the real reason I'm running this Kickstarter campaign. If it succeeds, then I will have tangible proof that doing the work is worthwhile, and there are people who care enough to make it happen.
And if not, ... well, I've already made contact with a small number of people who really do care, and that just may inspire future actions: Kickstarter campaigns or other endeavors.
How about you? Need some money to finish a project you've always wanted to do, but have
never tackled simply for lack of a large enough bank balance? Kickstarter might be for you. First, pledge to support a project that resonates with you. Perhaps even mine. :-)
Then check out their guidelines, and see if you can't come up with your own project to bring to life.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Rush Still Rocks
Rush.
The quintessential power rock trio.
They totally rock. Still. And they appeal to the thinker in me. And they do odd musical things now and again, like sections of songs in 7/4 time. And instrumental songs, where the music speaks for itself, no need for words. (YYZ, La Villa Strangiato, The Rhythm Method...)
And they don't care about blending in and being like the rest of the bands. They've got their own thing going, they do it well, and they still rock, after nearly 40 years together.
Cool facts about YYZ, sure you've heard them before: the percussive beginning of that song is the Morse code representation of the letters YYZ, which is the airport code for their home airport in Toronto.
I realized back at the end of last year / beginning of this, that I was lacking 12 of their studio albums. So I'm on a mission this year to collect one each month, and by the end of the year, I'll have them all in my music library.
Five down, seven to go.
As my cousin Erik pointed out to me: "If you don't have La Villa Strangiato running in the background of your psyche 24/7, you are not a true Rush fan." Well, obviously, La Villa Strangiato is *always* running in the *background* of my psyche... but in March, I actually listened to it in the foreground about 38 times while I was working. I tried to learn bits and pieces of it on my guitar, too, but dang! Some of those riffs are fast in there.
If I had HBO, I would have watched the 2013 induction ceremony on TV last night, recorded last month out in LA -- Rush was finally inducted after years of being overlooked. A well-deserved honor indeed. Congrats Geddy, Alex and Neil -- and keep on rockin'... At least for a little while longer.
Rock on, eh? Ten bucks is ten bucks.
The quintessential power rock trio.
They totally rock. Still. And they appeal to the thinker in me. And they do odd musical things now and again, like sections of songs in 7/4 time. And instrumental songs, where the music speaks for itself, no need for words. (YYZ, La Villa Strangiato, The Rhythm Method...)
And they don't care about blending in and being like the rest of the bands. They've got their own thing going, they do it well, and they still rock, after nearly 40 years together.
Cool facts about YYZ, sure you've heard them before: the percussive beginning of that song is the Morse code representation of the letters YYZ, which is the airport code for their home airport in Toronto.
I realized back at the end of last year / beginning of this, that I was lacking 12 of their studio albums. So I'm on a mission this year to collect one each month, and by the end of the year, I'll have them all in my music library.
- January: Counterparts
- February: Fly By Night
- March: Hemispheres
- April: A Farewell to Kings
Five down, seven to go.
As my cousin Erik pointed out to me: "If you don't have La Villa Strangiato running in the background of your psyche 24/7, you are not a true Rush fan." Well, obviously, La Villa Strangiato is *always* running in the *background* of my psyche... but in March, I actually listened to it in the foreground about 38 times while I was working. I tried to learn bits and pieces of it on my guitar, too, but dang! Some of those riffs are fast in there.
If I had HBO, I would have watched the 2013 induction ceremony on TV last night, recorded last month out in LA -- Rush was finally inducted after years of being overlooked. A well-deserved honor indeed. Congrats Geddy, Alex and Neil -- and keep on rockin'... At least for a little while longer.
Rock on, eh? Ten bucks is ten bucks.
Friday, March 08, 2013
My Next Prediction: Tesla Model S for the win
The Tesla Model S is the next game changer.
I do not frequently make predictions, but I don't see how the world can stay the same old, same old after Elon & co. rolled this thing out.
Last time I wrote about a game changer was a bit over 3 years ago about Apple's introduction of the first iPad model. http://dlrdave.blogspot.com/2010/02/ipad-will-be-another-game-changer-and.html Was I right? I don't know, you be the judge. Have any computer manufacturers struggled or gone out of business since then? Have millions upon millions of iPads been sold?
Anyhow... the facts now: the Tesla Model S is affordable to richer folks right now, and it runs COMPLETELY and ENTIRELY without using any gasoline. Not one single drop. Fuck you, Exxon-Mobil. Every single mile driven in one of these cars is powered by pure electricity, which could potentially be powered 100% by solar, wind and hydro sources. In fact, with the Tesla provided, solar powered, free (ok, really "included in the rather high sticker price") so-called super-charging stations scattered about the highways of America, you may be able to charge your car entirely on their dime and the constant influx of power from our brilliant closest star. Last time I checked, the sun keeps rising every day.
Personally, I cannot afford one yet. But as soon as I can, or as soon as they come out with a $20k or $30k model, sign me the fuck up. This car's the future, and I've wanted it since I was a kid.
The writing's on the wall. The future is now. The oil & gas companies can kiss the long run goodbye right now. And the other car companies can follow Tesla's lead, or say bye bye real soon. It's a new game, starting now.
I do not frequently make predictions, but I don't see how the world can stay the same old, same old after Elon & co. rolled this thing out.
Last time I wrote about a game changer was a bit over 3 years ago about Apple's introduction of the first iPad model. http://dlrdave.blogspot.com/2010/02/ipad-will-be-another-game-changer-and.html Was I right? I don't know, you be the judge. Have any computer manufacturers struggled or gone out of business since then? Have millions upon millions of iPads been sold?
Anyhow... the facts now: the Tesla Model S is affordable to richer folks right now, and it runs COMPLETELY and ENTIRELY without using any gasoline. Not one single drop. Fuck you, Exxon-Mobil. Every single mile driven in one of these cars is powered by pure electricity, which could potentially be powered 100% by solar, wind and hydro sources. In fact, with the Tesla provided, solar powered, free (ok, really "included in the rather high sticker price") so-called super-charging stations scattered about the highways of America, you may be able to charge your car entirely on their dime and the constant influx of power from our brilliant closest star. Last time I checked, the sun keeps rising every day.
Personally, I cannot afford one yet. But as soon as I can, or as soon as they come out with a $20k or $30k model, sign me the fuck up. This car's the future, and I've wanted it since I was a kid.
The writing's on the wall. The future is now. The oil & gas companies can kiss the long run goodbye right now. And the other car companies can follow Tesla's lead, or say bye bye real soon. It's a new game, starting now.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Windows Dev and Dashboard Prompt
First set up a cmd file (a batch file with a *.cmd extension) whose sole purpose is to set environment variables.
Mine, called DashboardEnv.cmd, looks like this on one of the machines where I have Visual Studio 2010 Express Edition installed:
@call "%VS100COMNTOOLS%\vsvars32.bat"
@set PATH=C:\Program Files\Git\bin;%PATH%
@set PATH=%USERPROFILE%\DevBox\cmake-2.8.10.2\bin;%PATH%
@set PATH=C:\Python27;%PATH%
@set PATH=C:\Qt\4.8.4-vs10\bin;%PATH%
@set PATH=C:\dev\tools\bin;%PATH%
As you can see by inspecting that file, it sets up the environment just like a Visual Studio command prompt, and then adds a bunch of useful stuff to the PATH environment variable: git, cmake, python, qmake, ninja and jom, to name a few. I have ninja and jom in the C:\dev\tools\bin directory -- they could be anywhere, you just have to add the right directory to the PATH here in this script.
Next, set up a cmd file in the same directory as the environment batch file to display a "developer cmd prompt."
Mine, called DashboardPrompt.cmd, looks like this:
@call "%~dp0DashboardEnv.cmd"
@title Dashboard Prompt
@echo.
@echo Environment set by "%~f0"
@echo.
@call "%COMSPEC%"
If you prefer the "git bash" prompt to the raw Windows cmd prompt, you can change the call COMSPEC line to:
@call "C:\Program Files\Git\bin\sh.exe" --login -i
After you have both of those setup, double click the prompt cmd file to test it out. Then you can create a shortcut to the prompt cmd file, put it on your desktop, or whereever you like, and then just double-click the shortcut to get a new instance of your customized developer prompt.
Some things I do to make the command prompt itself slightly less intolerable:
@call "%~dp0DashboardEnv.cmd"
The %~dp0 there means "drive letter (d) and full path of containing directory (p) without any double quotes (~) of this script file (arg 0) including the trailing '\' character (implicit in p)" -- so if you write a script that references another script in the same directory, using %~dp0 is a reliable way to reference it, regardless of how the batch file was invoked. See the output of "help for" in a Windows command prompt for all the gory details about possible letter codes you can use in such constructs.
So: to run dashboards or other automated builds with the same environment that you use for interactive development, you can write a script that uses your Env.cmd file.
Mine, called RunDashboards.cmd, looks like this:
@call "%~dp0DashboardEnv.cmd"
@title Run Dashboards
@echo.
@echo Running script "%~f0"
@echo. started on %DATE% at %TIME%
@echo.
@echo.
@echo Updating VTKLargeData...
@cd "C:\dev\My Tests\VTKLargeData"
@git pull
@echo.
@echo Updating VTKData...
@cd "C:\dev\My Tests\VTKData"
@git pull
@echo.
@echo Running VTK Release dashboard...
@cd "C:\dev\My Tests\VTK"
@ctest -S C:\dev\EasyDashboardScripts\EasyDashboard.cmake,ninja-Nightly-Release
@echo.
@echo Running VTK Debug dashboard...
@cd "C:\dev\My Tests\VTK"
@ctest -S C:\dev\EasyDashboardScripts\EasyDashboard.cmake,ninja-Nightly-Debug
One nice thing about guaranteeing the right environment is set for running a script like this is being able to just use "git" and "ctest" in the script itself.
Obviously, you'll need to adjust path values according to tool installations on different machines.
For more details on setting up to run dashboards on Windows, see this page over on the CMake blog. (Also published on the Kitware blog.)
Good luck -- tweet me @DLRdave or ping me on G+ if you use this technique.
Mine, called DashboardEnv.cmd, looks like this on one of the machines where I have Visual Studio 2010 Express Edition installed:
@call "%VS100COMNTOOLS%\vsvars32.bat"
@set PATH=C:\Program Files\Git\bin;%PATH%
@set PATH=%USERPROFILE%\DevBox\cmake-2.8.10.2\bin;%PATH%
@set PATH=C:\Python27;%PATH%
@set PATH=C:\Qt\4.8.4-vs10\bin;%PATH%
@set PATH=C:\dev\tools\bin;%PATH%
As you can see by inspecting that file, it sets up the environment just like a Visual Studio command prompt, and then adds a bunch of useful stuff to the PATH environment variable: git, cmake, python, qmake, ninja and jom, to name a few. I have ninja and jom in the C:\dev\tools\bin directory -- they could be anywhere, you just have to add the right directory to the PATH here in this script.
Next, set up a cmd file in the same directory as the environment batch file to display a "developer cmd prompt."
Mine, called DashboardPrompt.cmd, looks like this:
@call "%~dp0DashboardEnv.cmd"
@title Dashboard Prompt
@echo.
@echo Environment set by "%~f0"
@echo.
@call "%COMSPEC%"
If you prefer the "git bash" prompt to the raw Windows cmd prompt, you can change the call COMSPEC line to:
@call "C:\Program Files\Git\bin\sh.exe" --login -i
After you have both of those setup, double click the prompt cmd file to test it out. Then you can create a shortcut to the prompt cmd file, put it on your desktop, or whereever you like, and then just double-click the shortcut to get a new instance of your customized developer prompt.
Some things I do to make the command prompt itself slightly less intolerable:
- edit the command prompt window properties: with the window open, click on the icon in the top left corner, and choose "Properties" from the menu
- modify the properties of the window to allow "select-and-Enter-key to copy, right-click to paste" behavior by choosing the "QuickEdit Mode" checkbox
- set the screen buffer height (number of scroll back lines) to 9999, the max allowed
- set the window size to something larger so you can see more text at once (120 by 40-50 is nice depending on your usual screen)
- set the font to Lucida Console, and choose a font size large enough to read
- if prompted, check "modify the shortcut that started this prompt" on the way out
@call "%~dp0DashboardEnv.cmd"
The %~dp0 there means "drive letter (d) and full path of containing directory (p) without any double quotes (~) of this script file (arg 0) including the trailing '\' character (implicit in p)" -- so if you write a script that references another script in the same directory, using %~dp0 is a reliable way to reference it, regardless of how the batch file was invoked. See the output of "help for" in a Windows command prompt for all the gory details about possible letter codes you can use in such constructs.
So: to run dashboards or other automated builds with the same environment that you use for interactive development, you can write a script that uses your Env.cmd file.
Mine, called RunDashboards.cmd, looks like this:
@call "%~dp0DashboardEnv.cmd"
@title Run Dashboards
@echo.
@echo Running script "%~f0"
@echo. started on %DATE% at %TIME%
@echo.
@echo.
@echo Updating VTKLargeData...
@cd "C:\dev\My Tests\VTKLargeData"
@git pull
@echo.
@echo Updating VTKData...
@cd "C:\dev\My Tests\VTKData"
@git pull
@echo.
@echo Running VTK Release dashboard...
@cd "C:\dev\My Tests\VTK"
@ctest -S C:\dev\EasyDashboardScripts\EasyDashboard.cmake,ninja-Nightly-Release
@echo.
@echo Running VTK Debug dashboard...
@cd "C:\dev\My Tests\VTK"
@ctest -S C:\dev\EasyDashboardScripts\EasyDashboard.cmake,ninja-Nightly-Debug
One nice thing about guaranteeing the right environment is set for running a script like this is being able to just use "git" and "ctest" in the script itself.
Obviously, you'll need to adjust path values according to tool installations on different machines.
For more details on setting up to run dashboards on Windows, see this page over on the CMake blog. (Also published on the Kitware blog.)
Good luck -- tweet me @DLRdave or ping me on G+ if you use this technique.
Monday, December 31, 2012
'Twas the (Charitable Giving) Season
It's that time of year again. A chill wind blowing, long, dark nights, ... balanced by warm fireplaces and Christmas tree lights.
And time to figure out how to spread some Christmas cheer without filling the world with more "stuff."
As with recent years, we are continuing our tradition of donating to charities in honor of our loved ones instead of spending money on "too many" gifts. I encourage you to consider doing the same, and helping those who are less fortunate than we are.
We've donated to the following charities this Christmas season. We would encourage you to do so too, with the charitable organizations that are closest to your hearts. Write up a blog post, or put it on Facebook, or send us a note. We'd love to hear about what charities you love to support.
- Agros, http://oneseed.agros.org, helping the rural poor lift themselves out of poverty (give a goat, a flock of chicks or a can of worms to a family where it will make a real difference in the quality of their daily lives)
- Beads of Courage, helping sick kids and their families
- Big Brothers / Big Sisters, helping kids with mentors and role models
- City Mission of Schenectady, feeding hungry people
- The MAGIC Foundation, helping kids with growth disorders
- Starlight Children's Foundation, helping seriously ill children cope through entertainment, education and family activities
Give generously!
Here's wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year!
Sunday, September 02, 2012
Worn out
Today, Sunday September 2, 2012:
distance: 8.01 miles
time: 94.27 minutes
average pace: 11.77 minutes per mile
calories burned: 1065
fainted after the run: nobody
calories re-ingested at Perecca's after we were done: unknown, but of course, enough to call it brunch with a cupcake dessert...
Here's a picture of the bottom of my shoe:
http://instagram.com/p/PFE08LhqCO/
Think we'll be ordering new Five Fingers on Amazon later today.
Ciao!
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Chunk of Change for Charity
Back in February, DLR softWare LLC made its first charitable donation, based on the proceeds from Sgt Fitness sales in 2011.
Thanks to all the Sgt Fitness users out there, and those of you that voted for your favorite charity through the online voting booth at dlrsoftware.com, I wrote a check for $60.00 to The 3-Day for the Cure.
Spread the word: there are those you know who could actually use a dose of discipline from the old Sarge. And every copy sold through the app store adds $1.25 to the next chunk of change for charity.
Stay fit!
Saturday, April 07, 2012
Birthdays
Got a really cool present from my honey this year for my birthday (and a great card, too!). Thanks, baby! It's a t-shirt that looks like this:
If it seems familiar, it may be that you read this post of mine from August, 2010:
My writing's been immortalized on a t-shirt! And I get to wear it whenever I want!
I'm a lucky man. Grateful for what I do have this month, not so concerned about what I don't have. Tell me, though... what sounds younger: 45 years or 4.5 decades? My grandparents always told me you're only as old as you feel, and you can stay young at heart your whole life through. I always did think they were pretty right-on.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Marching
March, 2012: it was weird around here. It was just as warm as June or September usually is for about two weeks right in the middle of the month.
But that was mostly a good thing: I started riding my bike to work early this year, the week after we changed the clocks to what the Europeans call "summer time." (Stupid time changing. But that's another topic...)
RunKeeper tells me I've made 6 round trips to work on my bike this month. I swear I did 7, though: I must have forgotten to use the RunKeeper on one of my commutes that first week, because I swear I did 2 the first week, then 3, then 2 again. Apparently I only tracked one of those ones the first week, though. Maybe I didn't have enough battery power that day. I can't remember, it was a few weeks ago already.
Proud of this, though: I already cracked 40 minutes on one ride in this month.
Rock on.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Hello Leap Day
February 29th. An extra day. But it's a Wednesday this year, so in some ways, it hardly seems like it.
What are you going to do with it?
Just in case you're not sure, Seth Godin has some good ideas.
If none of that sounds appealing to you, you should check out Austin Kleon's new book, Steal Like an Artist. It's chock full of inspiration.
If you're still not inspired, you're gonna have to write your own blog. That's all I've got for today. :-)
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Bye bye "Big Money"
Can big money buy the Internet? No, I don't think it can. The Internet's simply too big to buy.
Here's a brilliant idea: let's eliminate money from the political campaigning process. We could eliminate "big money" completely, and take back Capitol Hill. Can you imagine: regular people being elected, and staying regular people for their entire duration in D.C./Albany/Sacramento/Olympia? And then going back to regular lives after their one or two terms?
Joel Spolsky got me thinking along these lines this morning with this Google+ post, and call me crazy, but I think he's got some valid points there.
In fact, I'd suggest taking it even one step further than simply giving away ads on the Internet for free: let's figure out how to ban the *sale* of TV, radio and Internet advertisements for anybody who's running for an elected position. And let's say that anybody who owns an outlet that contains advertising in their stream must provide 5% of that advertising time *for free* on an equal/rotating basis to *anyone* who wants a piece of it that is running for elected office.
It would soon "not work" -- because there would be so many candidates with so many free messages that the channel would be swamped, and the channel "owners" would simply not be able to show as many ads as they were receiving, let alone rotate through them on any sort of equality basis.
But, if we did this, even though we recognize in advance that it would not work well once a certain volume of candidates is reached, the people with money would have to figure out another way to influence the vote rather than simply spending a ton of cash on ads.
Of course, the people with money would still have an advantage. They'll be able to afford to actually physically go to many locations and appear in person in front of people. But for every other medium (aside from an actual physical presence) where money can buy influence, I think we should make the sale and purchase of such influence illegal. We should hold the SuperPacs, the TV stations, anybody who's involved responsible, and be able to charge them and proseucte them for violations. Possibly even taking things so far as to invalidate election results when violations occur.
What if we lived in a world where anybody could advertise their own political campaign free of charge in online video snippets? How would that change things?
Worth some thought, worth some discussion... even worth some action.
Here's a brilliant idea: let's eliminate money from the political campaigning process. We could eliminate "big money" completely, and take back Capitol Hill. Can you imagine: regular people being elected, and staying regular people for their entire duration in D.C./Albany/Sacramento/Olympia? And then going back to regular lives after their one or two terms?
Joel Spolsky got me thinking along these lines this morning with this Google+ post, and call me crazy, but I think he's got some valid points there.
In fact, I'd suggest taking it even one step further than simply giving away ads on the Internet for free: let's figure out how to ban the *sale* of TV, radio and Internet advertisements for anybody who's running for an elected position. And let's say that anybody who owns an outlet that contains advertising in their stream must provide 5% of that advertising time *for free* on an equal/rotating basis to *anyone* who wants a piece of it that is running for elected office.
It would soon "not work" -- because there would be so many candidates with so many free messages that the channel would be swamped, and the channel "owners" would simply not be able to show as many ads as they were receiving, let alone rotate through them on any sort of equality basis.
But, if we did this, even though we recognize in advance that it would not work well once a certain volume of candidates is reached, the people with money would have to figure out another way to influence the vote rather than simply spending a ton of cash on ads.
Of course, the people with money would still have an advantage. They'll be able to afford to actually physically go to many locations and appear in person in front of people. But for every other medium (aside from an actual physical presence) where money can buy influence, I think we should make the sale and purchase of such influence illegal. We should hold the SuperPacs, the TV stations, anybody who's involved responsible, and be able to charge them and proseucte them for violations. Possibly even taking things so far as to invalidate election results when violations occur.
What if we lived in a world where anybody could advertise their own political campaign free of charge in online video snippets? How would that change things?
Worth some thought, worth some discussion... even worth some action.
Sunday, January 01, 2012
All is Quiet
Happy New Year!
2011 is over. Welcome, 2012.
2011 was ok. It wasn't the worst year ever.
It was my bloggingest year ever: 35 posts. Not quite once a week. I'm going to aim for at least once a week this coming year... It helps that I had something I wanted to talk about publicly this year: Sgt Fitness.
Sgt Fitness. The first app I've done that I would consider "potentially useful to lots of people" up on the iPhone app store. Only dozens have bought it and downloaded it so far, but there's still more to come. Still hoping for an audience of thousands and more eventually. Turns out the hard part about selling an app is communicating about it, promoting it, marketing it, and actually getting the word out to the people who'd be interested in it. Building it and putting it up there is easy.
Looking forward to doing some updates to those apps in the coming days and weeks.
Make a resolution to get more fit this year. And, oh yeah: buy Sgt Fitness and let him help you keep your resolution.
So: Cheers to your health! And crank the U2 today, on New Year's Day.
2011 is over. Welcome, 2012.
2011 was ok. It wasn't the worst year ever.
It was my bloggingest year ever: 35 posts. Not quite once a week. I'm going to aim for at least once a week this coming year... It helps that I had something I wanted to talk about publicly this year: Sgt Fitness.
Sgt Fitness. The first app I've done that I would consider "potentially useful to lots of people" up on the iPhone app store. Only dozens have bought it and downloaded it so far, but there's still more to come. Still hoping for an audience of thousands and more eventually. Turns out the hard part about selling an app is communicating about it, promoting it, marketing it, and actually getting the word out to the people who'd be interested in it. Building it and putting it up there is easy.
Looking forward to doing some updates to those apps in the coming days and weeks.
Make a resolution to get more fit this year. And, oh yeah: buy Sgt Fitness and let him help you keep your resolution.
So: Cheers to your health! And crank the U2 today, on New Year's Day.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Friday, December 23, 2011
Do Not Follow
I was driving down the usual road, on the way home from work yesterday, following two cars in front of me, and they were following a big dump truck in front of them.
On the back of the big pine green dump truck was a big orange sign with black block lettering. I'm sure you've seen it. It said:
What are we supposed to do, pass you? Even with double yellow lines? If you don't want us following you, then GET OFF OUR ROAD!!
I feel like mounting a sign on the front of my car that says:
or maybe:
I would put it in mirror writing, so the drivers in front of me could read it in their rearviews. I would even say "please." I really would.
Those big orange signs are sort of like the TSA, a completely stupid waste of our money, time and mind share.
If you're on the road, and you're headed to where you're going... please, feel free to follow whatever vehicle happens to be in front of you. Sometimes "the signs" are better off ignored.
On the back of the big pine green dump truck was a big orange sign with black block lettering. I'm sure you've seen it. It said:
CONSTRUCTION VEHICLE
DO NOT FOLLOW
What are we supposed to do, pass you? Even with double yellow lines? If you don't want us following you, then GET OFF OUR ROAD!!
I feel like mounting a sign on the front of my car that says:
PLAIN OLD CAR
PLEASE DO NOT DRIVE IN FRONT OF ME
or maybe:
COMMUTER TRANSPORT
PLEASE PULL OVER IMMEDIATELY
MY WIFE HAS CHRISTMAS COOKIES WAITING FOR ME AT HOME
(THANKS, BABY)
I would put it in mirror writing, so the drivers in front of me could read it in their rearviews. I would even say "please." I really would.
Those big orange signs are sort of like the TSA, a completely stupid waste of our money, time and mind share.
If you're on the road, and you're headed to where you're going... please, feel free to follow whatever vehicle happens to be in front of you. Sometimes "the signs" are better off ignored.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Solstice
Solstice.
Longest night of the year.
We've got the travel itch again. We're gonna need to go someplace soon. A change of pace is on order. Hopefully it arrives pretty soon. They forgot to send me a UPS tracking number on this one, though.
Sleep well, mein freund.
Longest night of the year.
We've got the travel itch again. We're gonna need to go someplace soon. A change of pace is on order. Hopefully it arrives pretty soon. They forgot to send me a UPS tracking number on this one, though.
Sleep well, mein freund.
Wednesday, December 07, 2011
The Sgt Fitness Report, November
Steady and un-earth-shattering as she goes. Recap of month seven selling Sgt Fitness on the app store...
Weekly sales numbers for weeks 27 through 30: 2, 2, 1, 1
Monthly sales, November 2011: 6
Funds earmarked for charitable donation: $7.50
Votes for favorite charity: 0
Running totals: 45 units, $56.25 raised for charity
Weekly sales numbers for weeks 27 through 30: 2, 2, 1, 1
Monthly sales, November 2011: 6
Funds earmarked for charitable donation: $7.50
Votes for favorite charity: 0
Running totals: 45 units, $56.25 raised for charity
Tuesday, November 01, 2011
The Sgt Fitness Report, October
Another month of four. Recap of month six selling Sgt Fitness on the app store...
Weekly sales numbers for weeks 22 through 26: 0, 0, 1, 3, 0
Monthly sales, October 2011: 4
Funds earmarked for charitable donation: $5.00
Votes for favorite charity: 0
Running totals: 39 units, $48.75 raised for charity
Weekly sales numbers for weeks 22 through 26: 0, 0, 1, 3, 0
Monthly sales, October 2011: 4
Funds earmarked for charitable donation: $5.00
Votes for favorite charity: 0
Running totals: 39 units, $48.75 raised for charity
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Be As You Are
Be as you are.
After all, there's no other way you can be, actually.
Stop all the trying, and straining, and stressing, and faking, and pretending. And, please, for crying out loud, stop the whining and complaining. Just be.
It's ok. Nobody's really expecting you to be different than you are. And if they are, shame on them... Don't accept such silly, nonsensical expectations. Be as you are.
Accept it. Embrace it. Be proud of it. Nobody else is exactly like you. Not even if you have an "identical" twin.
Wear it. Own it. Love it. You.
Be as you are.
Carry on...
After all, there's no other way you can be, actually.
Stop all the trying, and straining, and stressing, and faking, and pretending. And, please, for crying out loud, stop the whining and complaining. Just be.
It's ok. Nobody's really expecting you to be different than you are. And if they are, shame on them... Don't accept such silly, nonsensical expectations. Be as you are.
Accept it. Embrace it. Be proud of it. Nobody else is exactly like you. Not even if you have an "identical" twin.
Wear it. Own it. Love it. You.
Be as you are.
Carry on...
Thursday, October 13, 2011
The Sgt Fitness Report, September
The low level background noise of the "not much marketing" slow and steady. Recap of month five selling Sgt Fitness on the app store...
Weekly sales numbers for weeks 18 through 21: 2, 0, 1, 1
Monthly sales, September 2011: 4
Funds earmarked for charitable donation: $5.00
Votes for favorite charity: 0
Running totals: 35 units, $43.75 raised for charity
Weekly sales numbers for weeks 18 through 21: 2, 0, 1, 1
Monthly sales, September 2011: 4
Funds earmarked for charitable donation: $5.00
Votes for favorite charity: 0
Running totals: 35 units, $43.75 raised for charity
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Ice(land), Ice(land)! baby
We just got back from an awesome trip to Iceland, our first visit to the northern Atlantic volcanic isle. After our last vacation trip, our friend Lara found a great deal on travelzoo.com including airfare to Iceland, three nights in a hotel, and a glacier walk. You could even add extra nights for a reasonable price, so we did: just one more. Three nights seemed too much like just a bit more than a weekend, you know?
Noontime, Friday: drive over, grab our first vacation lunch while still in town and meet up with Tim and Lara. After lunch, Robin surprised the rest of us with, what else? Home-knit Viking hats for all! Thanks to Shove Mink and her croshame ability, we started this trip in style. (Wait for it, wait for it: you'll see the photos below.) After that, straight down the Thruway to JFK airport, NYC. The first leisurely vacation dinner, then time to board the overnight flight to Iceland.
We flew through the night, sleeping on the plane, landed, took the FlyBus to our hotel, the Reykjavík Natura, and then stayed up mostly all day, wandering around downtown Reykjavík, checking out the local shops, bars and restaurants. First beer at The English Pub. Also the first shot of Brennivin, the classic Icelandic schnapps, semi-dramatically known as the Black Death. We found some lunch at a waterfront place called The Sea Baron, with really great "lobster soup," loaded with langoustines. I tried the Minke whale, too: ask me about that if you want to know. After that, we wound our way around and back to ye olde English Pub for another beer before the evening hit. The ladies made fun of the guys as we started nodding our heads from not quite enough sleep, and perhaps just one more beer/cider than we probably should have had.
We wore our hats constantly. People recognized us as "the vikings" everywhere we went. Most thought we had bought the hats somewhere over there and wanted to know where they could buy them. (Google Croshame, people, that's her, right there in all 10 of the top 10 results.) Shove, you could make a killing if you went over there for a few weeks during the summer and just made and sold these hats to tourists.
Here we were that Saturday afternoon:
We had an evening "northern lights tour" scheduled, so we headed back to our rooms on the 18:00 hotel shuttle to catch a one hour nap before the 19:30 tour... it ended up getting cancelled, though, because of the weather. Too many clouds to see them well. We tried to get it rescheduled for another night, but it kept getting cancelled each night. Too tired to venture back downtown again, we ended up ordering "take away" Chinese and having it delivered to the hotel.
Sunday, we got to go on a glacier "ice walk"... literally walking on the ice. A tour bus took a whole group of us down to Mýrdalsjökull on the southern coast of Iceland, and it was spectacular!
The ice of Mýrdalsjökull:
Vikings on ice (that's nice):
Most of the photos in this Best of Iceland photo album are from this glacier walk. It was incredibly huge, and we were just walking on a little "tiny" tongue of it sticking down from the mountain.
I kept singing (mostly in my head) the line about "the land of the ice and snow" from Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song for like three weeks before this trip. It stuck with me even as we toured the glacier that day. In fact, I've still been singing it since our return. It's funny, or maybe just the way things work: I looked it up on Wikipedia after we got back: they actually wrote that song after visiting Reykjavík in 1970 to kick off their tour that year. The words to that song describe Iceland exactly. You know there's no other place on Earth they could possibly be talking about. I find stuff like that amazing and fascinating.
The land of the ice and snow is also the land of fire and ash: balance in all things, the yin and the yang, ice and glaciers are cool male energy, while lava and eruptions are fiery passionate female energy.
Sunday evening dinner: hot dogs. At the most popular restaurant in all of Iceland. Pretty darn good, too. We'll be recreating these hot dogs best we can at our next annual chili/cocktail bash in January. They grill the buns, they put crispy fried onions, a smidge of chopped raw onions and a bunch of sauces on these dogs, and they really are quite yummy.
Monday, we went horseback riding on Icelandic horses, thanks to Íshestar. My horse's name was pronounced Ah-tee, emphasis on the "Ah," but I have no idea how you actually spell that. My guess is it's the Icelandic equivalent of Otto or Eddie. He was a bit of a stubborn beast. These tour rides are all single file, and mostly slow walking and trotting. Luckily, even the stubborn horses pretty much know to just follow the horse in front of them. After a little while, the leaders pause and say experienced folks to the left to move a bit more quickly, beginners to the right, to continue moving slowly. We all went with the beginners... but then, we all met up again at the half-time mark to give the horses a rest and a grass snack. After the break, Robin ventured on with the more experienced group to try riding a little faster. She loved it! We got back to the stables and she was giddy from galloping. She was beaming! They fed us a wonderful lunch as part of our package, and then offered to allow us to stay on for the afternoon sessions, too. Robin and I stayed on, and I even ventured to gallop with the faster group on the afternoon ride. On a new horse, this time, whose name I could not quite get, so I kept calling him "Buddy."
Back to the hotel, quick dip in the hot tub, venture into downtown again to find dinner. Dinner at the place with puffin on the menu. Not just plain puffin, but a puffin feast. And a lamb feast. And a langoustine feast. Feasts had by all. I would describe puffin meat as about halfway between duck and venison.
Tuesday, we rode on the FlyBus again, this time to the Blue Lagoon spa. Waded around the geothermally heated waters. Warmed up in the steam bath. Got massages while floating on a pad in the water. Ate lunch in our robes. Like the billionaires we are. Steam bath again. Back to the hotel, in to Reykjavík, shopping for gifts, quick before the shops close, then dinner at Hofnin, by the waterfront, at the recommendation of one of our cab drivers: best lamb in Reykjavík. After our cab back to the hotel, we walked out the back of the hotel, where about a dozen people were looking up into the sky, and there they were: the northern lights on display for even those in the glimmer of the city lights to see. They were faint green shifting curtains of light, but they were definitely the Aurora Borealis. It was Lara and Robin's first time seeing them: they were both thrilled by that, too.
Wednesday, we went on a whale watching cruise in the morning before we had to fly out in the evening. We saw Minke whales and dolphins. Got a couple of video clips of the action, not sure whether I'll call them "good" or not yet. And we let the teacher from Denmark (who was chaperoning a trip including 65 students, 65!) take a picture of us in our Viking hats. Cha-ching, Shove, Cha-ching! I asked her if it was true that the Danish people are some of the happiest people in the world, and she got a slightly skeptical look on her face and said, "No, I don't think so." But then she smiled.
Straight to the airport with you.
Ah, crap. Vacation's over already. Who said four nights was enough?
Iceland: definitely recommend a visit. And if you do: walk on the ice, it's incredible!
Noontime, Friday: drive over, grab our first vacation lunch while still in town and meet up with Tim and Lara. After lunch, Robin surprised the rest of us with, what else? Home-knit Viking hats for all! Thanks to Shove Mink and her croshame ability, we started this trip in style. (Wait for it, wait for it: you'll see the photos below.) After that, straight down the Thruway to JFK airport, NYC. The first leisurely vacation dinner, then time to board the overnight flight to Iceland.
We flew through the night, sleeping on the plane, landed, took the FlyBus to our hotel, the Reykjavík Natura, and then stayed up mostly all day, wandering around downtown Reykjavík, checking out the local shops, bars and restaurants. First beer at The English Pub. Also the first shot of Brennivin, the classic Icelandic schnapps, semi-dramatically known as the Black Death. We found some lunch at a waterfront place called The Sea Baron, with really great "lobster soup," loaded with langoustines. I tried the Minke whale, too: ask me about that if you want to know. After that, we wound our way around and back to ye olde English Pub for another beer before the evening hit. The ladies made fun of the guys as we started nodding our heads from not quite enough sleep, and perhaps just one more beer/cider than we probably should have had.
We wore our hats constantly. People recognized us as "the vikings" everywhere we went. Most thought we had bought the hats somewhere over there and wanted to know where they could buy them. (Google Croshame, people, that's her, right there in all 10 of the top 10 results.) Shove, you could make a killing if you went over there for a few weeks during the summer and just made and sold these hats to tourists.
Here we were that Saturday afternoon:
We had an evening "northern lights tour" scheduled, so we headed back to our rooms on the 18:00 hotel shuttle to catch a one hour nap before the 19:30 tour... it ended up getting cancelled, though, because of the weather. Too many clouds to see them well. We tried to get it rescheduled for another night, but it kept getting cancelled each night. Too tired to venture back downtown again, we ended up ordering "take away" Chinese and having it delivered to the hotel.
Sunday, we got to go on a glacier "ice walk"... literally walking on the ice. A tour bus took a whole group of us down to Mýrdalsjökull on the southern coast of Iceland, and it was spectacular!
The ice of Mýrdalsjökull:
Vikings on ice (that's nice):
Most of the photos in this Best of Iceland photo album are from this glacier walk. It was incredibly huge, and we were just walking on a little "tiny" tongue of it sticking down from the mountain.
 |
| Best of Iceland |
I kept singing (mostly in my head) the line about "the land of the ice and snow" from Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song for like three weeks before this trip. It stuck with me even as we toured the glacier that day. In fact, I've still been singing it since our return. It's funny, or maybe just the way things work: I looked it up on Wikipedia after we got back: they actually wrote that song after visiting Reykjavík in 1970 to kick off their tour that year. The words to that song describe Iceland exactly. You know there's no other place on Earth they could possibly be talking about. I find stuff like that amazing and fascinating.
The land of the ice and snow is also the land of fire and ash: balance in all things, the yin and the yang, ice and glaciers are cool male energy, while lava and eruptions are fiery passionate female energy.
Sunday evening dinner: hot dogs. At the most popular restaurant in all of Iceland. Pretty darn good, too. We'll be recreating these hot dogs best we can at our next annual chili/cocktail bash in January. They grill the buns, they put crispy fried onions, a smidge of chopped raw onions and a bunch of sauces on these dogs, and they really are quite yummy.
Monday, we went horseback riding on Icelandic horses, thanks to Íshestar. My horse's name was pronounced Ah-tee, emphasis on the "Ah," but I have no idea how you actually spell that. My guess is it's the Icelandic equivalent of Otto or Eddie. He was a bit of a stubborn beast. These tour rides are all single file, and mostly slow walking and trotting. Luckily, even the stubborn horses pretty much know to just follow the horse in front of them. After a little while, the leaders pause and say experienced folks to the left to move a bit more quickly, beginners to the right, to continue moving slowly. We all went with the beginners... but then, we all met up again at the half-time mark to give the horses a rest and a grass snack. After the break, Robin ventured on with the more experienced group to try riding a little faster. She loved it! We got back to the stables and she was giddy from galloping. She was beaming! They fed us a wonderful lunch as part of our package, and then offered to allow us to stay on for the afternoon sessions, too. Robin and I stayed on, and I even ventured to gallop with the faster group on the afternoon ride. On a new horse, this time, whose name I could not quite get, so I kept calling him "Buddy."
Back to the hotel, quick dip in the hot tub, venture into downtown again to find dinner. Dinner at the place with puffin on the menu. Not just plain puffin, but a puffin feast. And a lamb feast. And a langoustine feast. Feasts had by all. I would describe puffin meat as about halfway between duck and venison.
Tuesday, we rode on the FlyBus again, this time to the Blue Lagoon spa. Waded around the geothermally heated waters. Warmed up in the steam bath. Got massages while floating on a pad in the water. Ate lunch in our robes. Like the billionaires we are. Steam bath again. Back to the hotel, in to Reykjavík, shopping for gifts, quick before the shops close, then dinner at Hofnin, by the waterfront, at the recommendation of one of our cab drivers: best lamb in Reykjavík. After our cab back to the hotel, we walked out the back of the hotel, where about a dozen people were looking up into the sky, and there they were: the northern lights on display for even those in the glimmer of the city lights to see. They were faint green shifting curtains of light, but they were definitely the Aurora Borealis. It was Lara and Robin's first time seeing them: they were both thrilled by that, too.
Wednesday, we went on a whale watching cruise in the morning before we had to fly out in the evening. We saw Minke whales and dolphins. Got a couple of video clips of the action, not sure whether I'll call them "good" or not yet. And we let the teacher from Denmark (who was chaperoning a trip including 65 students, 65!) take a picture of us in our Viking hats. Cha-ching, Shove, Cha-ching! I asked her if it was true that the Danish people are some of the happiest people in the world, and she got a slightly skeptical look on her face and said, "No, I don't think so." But then she smiled.
Straight to the airport with you.
Ah, crap. Vacation's over already. Who said four nights was enough?
Iceland: definitely recommend a visit. And if you do: walk on the ice, it's incredible!
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