by Mike on August 15, 2007
Yesterday I hit the weights at the gym for the first time in well over a year… and damn if I’m not sore today. It’s a good pain though and well worth it so I guess I shouldn’t complain. While I didn’t start off with free weights as I’d wanted to, I did use the Kaiser machines to do some circuit training (hit all the major muscle groups for two sets of 10 reps with 30 secs of rest between sets). I decided to do this to gain some basic strength before I start hitting real weights. I’ve lost a lot of muscle while dieting recently so I thought this might be a good idea. I mean the last thing I want to do is hurt myself early in my training and have to wait even longer to start getting more fit. So I’ll be doing the circuit training for the next four weeks at a rate of three days per week (Sun, Tue, Thur) while I continue my cardio program for another three days (Mon, Wed, Fri). I’ll be taking off Saturdays since I usually walk 18 holes of golf and bowl 6-8 games of bowling that day… and let’s be honest, all workout and no play make Mike a dull boy right?
On a similar front, I’ve gone off the Yellow Devils (Ephedra) and started taking Lipo 6 instead. While I have to say that so far I’ve found the Lipo 6 less than stellar, I’ll give it full 30 days and see if I like the results. If not, I may try something else non-Ephedra based but I’m not sure what just yet. My wife is currently using Hot Rox but she’s hasn’t given it very good reviews so far. Either way, I’ll update you here on my Lipo 6 findings after using it for a full 30 days so you’ll have a good, honest review (which is hard to find on many diet products).
by Mike on August 9, 2007
I just read over at Major Nelson’s blog about the new Windows Live SkyDrive beta that started today. I decided to check it out even though it only offers a measly 500MB of space to store files and whatnot. The signup is fairly straight forward as long as you have a Windows Live (aka Passport) account setup but if you don’t it will walk you through the process of doing so. Once you’re inside the site, you’ll see that they have setup several folders for you such as Documents, Music, Pictures, etc. You can use these folders to store files or create your own folders. You can create personal folders that only you have access to, “friends” folders that you and your friends have access to, and public folders that you can share with anyone. No matter which type of folder you choose to use, the uploading process is the same: click upload, choose the file you want to store via a “Windows Explorer” type window, and click ok. The upload speed seems pretty fast and it even recognized that the file I uploaded was an Excel spreadsheet (it even put the little Excel icon on the file for me). All in all, it’s a pretty painless (and free) way to store your files on the internet assuming you have a reason to do so. Granted you can’t store much with only 500MB of space but it would be a quick and easy way to share small files with your friends or move files from one PC to another. Give it a try and drop me some comments in this thread with your thoughts!
by Mike on August 8, 2007
Today I officially launched my newest website, The Daily Douchebaggins! Every day I’ll be posting up a new “douchebaggins” for the day. What’s a douchebaggins you may ask? Basically I define it as any asshat that I think is a big enough douche that he needs to be publicly branded as such. My first choice is Peter Moore, the man who brought us the Xbox 360 without an HDMI port. For a more detailed description of why that’s important, check out the site HERE. I hope you enjoy the new site and make sure you check back daily (or just subscribe to the RSS feed) for a new Douchebaggins daily!
by Mike on August 2, 2007
I was reading an posting on a tech blog earlier today about the possible price drop coming for the Xbox 360 and, while that was an interesting article and all, the thing that really amazed me is how hardcore some of the video game console fan boys are. The post had a ton of comments on it but most of them had little to nothing to do with the actual story itself. Most of the comments were one giant “my xbox/wii/ps3 owns your xbox/wii/ps3″ battle. Now I have to state up front that I’m a huge supporter of the Xbox 360 but, that said, I’m not a fan boy. I can acknowledge that the 360 is not the perfect console and that it doesn’t always have the games that I want to play (such as Mario Kart… one of the best games ever made in my book)… and a fan boy could not do that. Now that I’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about crazed fan boys and which console is really the best.
Many products garner an undue amount of adoration from their fans. Take Apple for instance: the Mac inspired a whole cult of people who believe that PC’s are evil and Macs were the saving grace given to them by God (and by God I mean Steve Jobs… or at least that’s how they see it). Even the iPod has become such a product since people HAVE to have an iPod these days even though there are many other options out there for an MP3 player. Either way, you get the basic idea: young, tech savvy people have a way of latching onto something they feel is the best of the best of the best and no one is going to tell them any different without a fight ensuing. That’s where we are with video game consoles these days. Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft have spent years cultivating a following for their products and now they have some true zealots who believe their choice is the only choice. These are the kind of guys who will spend countless hours scouring the web for any new little tidbit of info either “for” their system or “against” a system they don’t like just so they can blog about it at length (adding in their own wild speculation and biases of course) and then post it to Digg so they can argue the point further. Sadly, the fan boys are SO sure that their product choice is the best that they not only don’t listen to reason and fact but will make up their own “facts” to support their cause. For instance, Sony has often said that Blu-Ray is a requirement because games are too limited on DVD media due to space restrictions. Therefore, Sony fan boys will believe this even though it’s been proven false time and again. So to bolster their position some Sony fan boy posted up a story on Digg that PGR 4 for the Xbox 360 couldn’t contain all the tracks they wanted due to space restrictions of DVD media. Other Sony fan boys immediately jumped on this story as proof positive that the Xbox 360 will fail and their beloved PS3 will rule the day due to its limitless Blu-Ray technology! It wasn’t long though before an official statement from the makes of PGR 4 issued a press release denying this story and reassuring everyone that they have more than enough room for all the tracks on a DVD. This is a prime example of fan boy fervor at its best!
That said, I can’t blame just the Sony fan boys for this sort of thing. There’s just as many Xbox and Nintendo fan boys out there doing the very same thing, i.e. looking for a way to prove their console purchase was the best choice they’ve made since choosing to breathe after coming out of the womb. Xbox guys will quote poor sales figures for the PS3 and proclaim it “dying on the vine” while Nintendo fans will go on and on about how the PS3 and Xbox 360 lack the inovation of the Wii’s controllers and fun family games that anyone can enjoy. In the end, they’re all just wasting their time if you ask me. No one system is the best at everything and that’s the beauty of it honestly. The Wii is meant to be a more family/casual gamer setup that’s targeted towards people who don’t usually game at all… and it’s done a great job of being just that. The PS3 is meant for the “early adopter” who wants the latest in cutting edge technology and is willing to pay for it regardless of cost and usefulness. The Xbox 360 is meant for the average to hardcore gamer, i.e. most people who usually buy video game consoles, but it still offers some upgrades for those want a more robust experience (like the HD-DVD addon). All three systems have some great games and all three are worth purchasing at some point. I want a Wii for instance since I think it looks like fun and my wife really wants to play some of the Wiimote games (although she hates gaming on the 360). Another one my friends is a staunch Sony fan and owns a PS3 but he wants a 360 to play Halo 3 when it comes out since that’s THE first person shooter out there for consoles.
In other words, no one is right or wrong here in their love of their system choice… but it is wrong to tell others that their choice is a bad one if they’re happy with it. The fan boys needs to keep their hate for other systems to themselves and just enjoy their own little world if you ask me. Stop trying to tell everyone else how to enjoy themselves and get a life boys!
You have literally minutes to get in your last minute entries for the 24″ LCD giveaway over at JohnChow.com! John (who helps you make money online) along with the folks over at BlurFur.com (who host not only John Chow’s blog but several sites in their goal of “hosting canada“) have put a new LG 24″ LCD monitor up for grabs and all you have to do to enter is write a quick blurb like this post. *hehe* Good luck!
By the way, if you miss out on John’s giveaway, there’s another LCD giveaway contest over at BlurFur.com!