So as per my previous post, and somewhat as per Leif’s suggestion I’ve invested in some tracking technology to help me work out my running. I purchased the Nike + iPod system, and I have to say so far I am quite impressed, the web app for one is quite slick and they appear to have a lot of interesting ways to help motivate you to push harder.

If you aren’t familiar with Nike+ it is essentially a pedometer that connects to your iPod nano / touch. It allows you to track your distance and pace, when coupled with the Nike+ website it allows you to generate graphs of your runs, calories, distance, and all manners of neat things (the graphs are quite cool looking, see below).

An example of the Nike+ graph, my first run to boot.

The first and most obvious down side is that the sensor you put in your shoe is meant to go in Nike shoes which are not the best running shoes for the avid runner. However a third party makes a small little pouch that you can attach to your laces, allowing any shoe to make use of the technology.

For my part, because I run at the gym (around a track) I like this system because it doesn’t require me to keep track of how many laps I’ve done. However, one thing that appears to be lacking is that there doesn’t seem to be a way to set a goal to hit a particular distance for a single run, which I would like. Specifically because I am trying to just hit some milestones in the near future (5km, 8km, 10km)

In any case you may now notice a happy little mohawked character on the left bar here, and he will let you know what my progress has been. I think they borrowed a page form the WII MII idea, right now my Nike+ Avatar is pumped, but I am told if I slack off, he will get less happy with me.

My first goal is to run 60 kM in the next 4 weeks, which I think its probably attainable. I had a great run today, and my knee appears to be holding up with the new shoes.

So the long and short of it is that I am well on my way to the running goal.

As for the book front, I am currently reading: The limits of Power, the End of American Exceptionalism… more on that later.

.joe out.

My good friend Paul Lambert sent me a link the other day about Objective-J, another in the host of exciting new web technologies. I am about 20 minutes into the first tutorial but already enjoying it quite a bit. More later as I learn it.

.joe out.

So being the yuppie-nerd-coder I am, I spend a lot of my day hanging out in a coffee shop writing code. I had always frequented a coffee shop near by my house in the Mission-Elbow Park area called the purple perk. Now the coffee at this place isn’t the greatest, but I drink black coffee straight up so it doesn’t much bother me. They have great food, friendly baristas, and a generally pleasant atmosphere, but most importantly they have free internet to patrons. 

Recently the owner has decided to turn off the internet between the hours of 11:00  and 3:00 pm, which of course is his prerogative, it is after all his store. However upon inquiring about the reason for there being no internet I was treated with distain. What follows is a brief synopsis of our conversation.

Joe: Excuse me, I am just wondering if you guys aren’t doing internet anymore ?

Owner: Yeah, we don’t do it from 11:00 to 3:00 pm any more, because we don’t want guys like you hanging around drinking coffee and water all day, taking up seats.

Joe: Ok, but I don’t just sit here and drink coffee and water, I have lunch here and spend 15-20 bucks a day. You are going to lose my business.

Owner: I don’t care, I’d rather you not be here anyway.

Now by contrast, just by having a starbucks card (there are purple perk cards too) I get 2 hours of internet every day. I get free refill on the drip coffee (which as I said before is better than the perk’s, albeit not the greatest either). And I get treated as a valued customer by all the employees, and never asked to leave regardless of how much or little money I spend.

So in the end I suppose I am just trading off the atmosphere for being allowed to chill.

I understand the owner’s position, he doesn’t have the resources that starbucks does so he can’t have people not spending money taking up space, but at the same rate, will he start kicking people out who read a book with a cup coffee? Or what about two people who come for coffee and have a 3 hour conversation, are they also not welcome?

In general I really like supporting a guy with a face, and not a giant multinational corporation… but in this case the owner of the Purple Perk on 4th seems to be the one bent on profit at the expense of his customers, and he has therefore left me no choice but to go for the big guy.

.joe out.

So I am still pretty poor at keeping on top of these things, but who knows someone could possibly be reading right? Right?

What am I up to these days you ask, well I am endeavoring to ski a lot more this year since I am back in the land of quality skiing. I had a day at Lake Louise this last weekend, and it was pretty good, better than I remember it at any rate. I aught to be heading down to Fernie this coming weekend, so everyone make a sacrifice to the snow Gods on my behalf alright?

As for the working part of my life, I am presently working on two projects. One with Josh Merchant and the Spheric team. I’ve been given a great opportunity to do some architecture on a greenfield project which in my opinion is always much more fun than having to work within other people’s already established frameworks. 

My other job is at LIDAR services international, where I am doing all manners of cool things with lasers and helicopters. Frickin Lazers….

Calgary is much as I remember it, lots of people, lots to do, lots of everything. The land of more more more more more. I spend the bulk of my days working away at the purple perk on 4th street, it’s a great little place with free Wi-Fi so it’s easy to spend a day here highly caffeinated, and hopefully highly productive.

Speaking of which I best get back to the lasers.

.joe out.