I've decided that I really do have to get my head out of the sand (a.k.a. away from the computer) and pay attention to the world around me. I know all the internet memes, I've seen Two Girls, One Cup (I definitely don't recommend it), and I've Dugg a few cool articles.
I even sort of know what's going on in the world at large. I know about the U.S. Presidential campaign, I know that David Letterman was miffed at McLean, and I actually know who the key players are.
What I didn't know was that Japan's Prime Minister, Yasuo Fukuda, stepped down on September 2nd, and we now have a new PM, Taro Aso. So like I said, time to start reading the Japan Times again, and watching the news on TV.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Operation Photo Rescue
So I hibernated on Saturday, but at least ventured out to do some groceries and miscellaneous errands. I needed a day of rest - but little did I know that the rest of the long weekend would be seeing some of the heaviest wind and rain, and some of the fiercest thunder and lightening, that we'd had in a long time. So several days of rest meant, of course, that I could work on all my projects...
Of course not. Instead I found a new past-time to help me further procrastinate the works in progress - Operation Photo Rescue (OPR). This is an organization set up to take and restore photos for people who've suffered fires, floods or other disasters that have destroyed their photos. I signed up to be a volunteer to restore some of these photos.
As an amateur Photoshop-ist, I really enjoy having short-term goals that let me hone my skills and sharpen my artistic eye at the same time, and I'm now busily working on my second and third photo restorals for OPR.
And there's a human side, too. My current photo is from, probably, the early 1900's, and as I work to recreate the faded details, I can't help but think of this man, probably long dead, but still living on through his ancestors, and I enjoy the project.
Just what I need - another distraction, another reason to procrastinate.
Of course not. Instead I found a new past-time to help me further procrastinate the works in progress - Operation Photo Rescue (OPR). This is an organization set up to take and restore photos for people who've suffered fires, floods or other disasters that have destroyed their photos. I signed up to be a volunteer to restore some of these photos.
As an amateur Photoshop-ist, I really enjoy having short-term goals that let me hone my skills and sharpen my artistic eye at the same time, and I'm now busily working on my second and third photo restorals for OPR.
And there's a human side, too. My current photo is from, probably, the early 1900's, and as I work to recreate the faded details, I can't help but think of this man, probably long dead, but still living on through his ancestors, and I enjoy the project.
Just what I need - another distraction, another reason to procrastinate.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Heavy Cloud but No Rain
I didn't get to enjoy the sound of the rain today, but it rained and blew enough during the night that I don't feel too deprived. And I didn't feel guilty doing very little today (thanks, Karin!). I didn't read my mystery/thriller/romance novel, but I did some relaxing and puttering around, playing with Photoshop, a little shopping and not much else.
Tomorrow will be different. Tomorrow is a day of activity, a day when I ride!
Gotta go - our dinner pizza is here!
Tomorrow will be different. Tomorrow is a day of activity, a day when I ride!
Gotta go - our dinner pizza is here!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Praying for Rain
I feel guilty even saying this. We've got a typhoon on the way - it's raining now, and is supposed to rain tomorrow and Saturday, too. And contrary to my usual pleas for a nice weekend, I'm praying that it does rain on Saturday. If it rains, I'll be able to lounge around in a grungy t-shirt, read a cheesy novel, and watch DVDs. I'm sort of looking forward to a day of 'vegging', and I know that if it's nice, I will simply have to go out to enjoy the weather. A long bike ride or even a weekend camping trip...
I suppose my choices aren't so bad!
I suppose my choices aren't so bad!
Monday, September 15, 2008
The Great Procrastinator
That is my new official title from now on. I think I may not excel at many things, but at procrastinating there are none better. I am perhaps the only person who can get bored because she has run out of things to do when procrastinating!
Sometimes I procrastinate blogging - avoid it, find something else to do. Sometimes, like now, I'm blogging to further procrastinate the other projects (far too many) that I have either "on the go" and waiting to get started.
Some things I should be doing today on this holiday Monday:
Oh - and what things do I do to help me procrastinate?
From the majority of items in this list, it appears that, though my real-world social life is non-existent, I have an excellent virtual social life. I even have virtual "friends":-) !!
Sometimes I procrastinate blogging - avoid it, find something else to do. Sometimes, like now, I'm blogging to further procrastinate the other projects (far too many) that I have either "on the go" and waiting to get started.
Some things I should be doing today on this holiday Monday:
- Maintaining and updating the Japan Rider website, which I haven't even touched in months
- Updating our online photo albums
- Putting together some projects in Photoshop, watching some of the many tutorials I have downloaded but not used.
- Make some new CDs for my car
- Japanese homework/study/tv watching - anything at all in Japanese!
Oh - and what things do I do to help me procrastinate?
From the majority of items in this list, it appears that, though my real-world social life is non-existent, I have an excellent virtual social life. I even have virtual "friends":-) !!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Mountain Biking Tips
I came across an article in Men's Health (via Digg - I don't habitually read Men's Health) that captures the feeling, the wa, of mountain biking, and has six great tips for those just getting into it.
Check out the article here.
Check out the article here.
I Just did a Single Speed Ride
OKAY. So, I'm writing this right after a good, hard ride on my Clockwork bike. I'm tired. I'm delirious, even. My arms are so tired that I'm thankful to not have to move them too much during the typing. Why are my arms tired when I was riding a bike (which takes legs, not arms)? Single Speeding does take arms. When you are humping it uphill, steeply, in only one gear, you've simply got to stand up as you pedal and pull with your arms as you ride.
But this overall exhaustion is a good feeling. I've worked out a bit harder than usual. I deserve today's wine.
Single Speeding is the most rewarding biking I've ever done. I converted more than two years ago and haven't looked back, even though I'm living in a valley!
But this overall exhaustion is a good feeling. I've worked out a bit harder than usual. I deserve today's wine.
Single Speeding is the most rewarding biking I've ever done. I converted more than two years ago and haven't looked back, even though I'm living in a valley!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Ditch iTunes, get Media Monkey
A few months ago I bought my first iPod. I'd been avoiding the iPod due to its proprietary nature and the need to use iTunes to "sync" (a.k.a. delete music without telling me) my iPod. I knew of several iPod alternatives (here are 10 alternatives), but figured just to go ahead and learn about iTunes.
I tried it, and I absolutely hate it, both in principle and due to its poor functioning. First to annoy me was the constant prompting to "synch my iPod", and, even when I didn't, how sometimes tunes would just go missing. My iPod even had some functioning problems which I blame iTunes for. Next thing to get me was how much of a memory hog iTunes is. It's a huge program that wants to start up whenever I plug in my iPod. The proverbial straw, however, was the realization that my 2nd generation iShuffle will not charge even when attached to the pc unless iTunes is running.
I refuse to be held prisoner. I bought a separate power charger, downloaded Media Monkey, and have not looked back.
I felt especially vindicated today when I read about the serious and sneaky problems with iTunes 8, the latest version of the software (read more here). Seems that, at least on Vista, running iTunes 8 caused the user to receive the "Blue Screen of Death". iTunes says it's fixed this.
This will not be a problem for me in any case, since I removed iTunes from my pc and began using the free and powerful Media Monkey. Download it here.
PS - I should add here that on my Linux system I use Rhythmbox, which I really, really like, too.
I tried it, and I absolutely hate it, both in principle and due to its poor functioning. First to annoy me was the constant prompting to "synch my iPod", and, even when I didn't, how sometimes tunes would just go missing. My iPod even had some functioning problems which I blame iTunes for. Next thing to get me was how much of a memory hog iTunes is. It's a huge program that wants to start up whenever I plug in my iPod. The proverbial straw, however, was the realization that my 2nd generation iShuffle will not charge even when attached to the pc unless iTunes is running.
I refuse to be held prisoner. I bought a separate power charger, downloaded Media Monkey, and have not looked back.
I felt especially vindicated today when I read about the serious and sneaky problems with iTunes 8, the latest version of the software (read more here). Seems that, at least on Vista, running iTunes 8 caused the user to receive the "Blue Screen of Death". iTunes says it's fixed this.
This will not be a problem for me in any case, since I removed iTunes from my pc and began using the free and powerful Media Monkey. Download it here.
PS - I should add here that on my Linux system I use Rhythmbox, which I really, really like, too.
Sunday, September 07, 2008
First "Big" Ride on my Clockwork Orange
A "Big" ride is subjective. What is big really? How far/long/hard do you have to ride before it can be considered a "big ride"?
Years ago, as a roadie riding a super-light bike on super-smooth and super-flat surfaces, if someone had said that they'd just ridden 30km and were now exhausted, I'd have laughed. 30km was less than a warm-up ride for me and my very nerdy cycling club. Most regular days I'd easily ride more than 40 or 50 km. Weekend rides with the club were usually 110 km or so.
But I've had a paradigm shift; mountain bikes are heavier and built for rough terrain, not speed and distance. Moreover, I ride a single-speed 29er (no gears, and bigger tires means a bit more power required to get going), and I live and ride in the mountains. High mountains!
So today's big ride (the hardest so far with my new custom bike) was a mere 30km, and it was wonderful and it was exhausting. And when we finally, thankfully, descended off road, we were in the backyard of our favourite beer hall!
Here are some pics we took along the way there and back:
His and hers - both frames designed and built by Joel Greenblatt at Clockwork Bikes:
My orange Clockwork 29er in a field of golden rice:
Brian snapped this dragon fly on a blade of grass:
Years ago, as a roadie riding a super-light bike on super-smooth and super-flat surfaces, if someone had said that they'd just ridden 30km and were now exhausted, I'd have laughed. 30km was less than a warm-up ride for me and my very nerdy cycling club. Most regular days I'd easily ride more than 40 or 50 km. Weekend rides with the club were usually 110 km or so.
But I've had a paradigm shift; mountain bikes are heavier and built for rough terrain, not speed and distance. Moreover, I ride a single-speed 29er (no gears, and bigger tires means a bit more power required to get going), and I live and ride in the mountains. High mountains!
So today's big ride (the hardest so far with my new custom bike) was a mere 30km, and it was wonderful and it was exhausting. And when we finally, thankfully, descended off road, we were in the backyard of our favourite beer hall!
Here are some pics we took along the way there and back:
His and hers - both frames designed and built by Joel Greenblatt at Clockwork Bikes:
My orange Clockwork 29er in a field of golden rice:
Brian snapped this dragon fly on a blade of grass:
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Solo Ride
I hadn't gone for a long, hard bike ride without company in a long, long time. But that's what I did on Monday as I had a day off. I saddled up my new Clockwork Orange, filled up my Camelbak, and headed out into the mountains.
There are a lot of things that I like about solo rides, but one thing I most appreciate is being more un-alone than when alone. I didn't see much of anyone on the streets, and once off-road there was just me and the bike and a few stray thoughts.
Another thing I like about solo rides though is that I can walk whenever I feel like it, and I can scream down the hills at full speed without ever catching up to anyone!
There are a lot of things that I like about solo rides, but one thing I most appreciate is being more un-alone than when alone. I didn't see much of anyone on the streets, and once off-road there was just me and the bike and a few stray thoughts.
Another thing I like about solo rides though is that I can walk whenever I feel like it, and I can scream down the hills at full speed without ever catching up to anyone!
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Follow Blogs in your Blogger Account
I've been using Google Reader to keep track of various blogs and their updates, but I just recently noticed on the Blogger Dashboard (when first signing in to Blogger), that there is now an option to follow your favourite blogs right there. Although I'm satisfied with Google Reader, I'm going to give the Blogger "blog follower" a trial run.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Book Mooch
About a month or so ago I came across a pretty cool book exchanging website called Book Mooch (http://www.bookmooch.com). Being too busy to really let myself get into anything else that would only help me procrastinate on the things I was busy procrastinating on, I simply book marked it and planned to come back to it later. And so this morning I did get back to it.
I signed up, and browsed around a little, trying to remember exactly what this site was about. I saw that I could list some of my books that I wanted to get rid of, and for every book that somebody mooched off me I would get a point and be able to mooch from someone else. I would also get mooch points for every ten books I posted.
There are several sites like this, I know, but this one has a pretty big community even in Japan, and there is no cost for using the site other than the cost of shipping to send your books to someone else. So I went ahead listed a hand full of books that I am tired of having sitting around here, and that was it. Within a few hours a German woman living in Nagoya contacted me via Book Mooch and requested a book that I had on offer. I'll simply drop by the post office tomorrow to ship it. Very cool.
Now I wonder whether anyone else out there wants my books??
I signed up, and browsed around a little, trying to remember exactly what this site was about. I saw that I could list some of my books that I wanted to get rid of, and for every book that somebody mooched off me I would get a point and be able to mooch from someone else. I would also get mooch points for every ten books I posted.
There are several sites like this, I know, but this one has a pretty big community even in Japan, and there is no cost for using the site other than the cost of shipping to send your books to someone else. So I went ahead listed a hand full of books that I am tired of having sitting around here, and that was it. Within a few hours a German woman living in Nagoya contacted me via Book Mooch and requested a book that I had on offer. I'll simply drop by the post office tomorrow to ship it. Very cool.
Now I wonder whether anyone else out there wants my books??
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