evanroberts.com

Back when my site used to be run by the Postnuke CMS (content management system), I used to be able to assign an avatar for each category. For example, on drunken rants (which were occasional back then), I had an image of me slamming a beer. Basically, it was a setup similar to Slashdot, and I kinda liked it.

When I finally had enough of Postnuke, as it seemed that the CMS was going no where and support for plugins was minimal at best (I don’t know if this is still the case), I switched to Wordpress, and never looked back. However, I didn’t know how to easily assign an image to each category, and truthfully, I was hoping to have something different for each post this time.

Ironically, one of the web comics I read every week, Ctrl+Alt+Del, has a setup sort of like how I wanted. Tim Buckley, the creator, draws his avatars, and sometimes has different ones depending on the post. For my posts, I sort of want to have a mix of either a snapshot of myself if I’m in a weird mood or desire to display my mood for the post, or even just a run-of-the-mill graphic. Basically, a mix of Ctrl+Alt+Del and Slashdot.

After a bit of searching, the plugin that I found that would let me do this is “Post Avatar” (original name, eh?!). You have the option of including the avatar within the post, or if you wish to use CSS, you can specify the CSS class name you’d want to use, and then configure that class within your style sheet. I opted for the latter, and knowing very little about CSS, I had the avatar popping up all over the place within the post, until I came across someone else who was doing sort of the same thing, but for putting avatars next to comments. Using Firebug, I was able to see the CSS class he used, and nab it. Applying it to my site too a bit to figure out, and also determine what size of avatar would be best, but again, Firebug helped me out with this, and so far, it looks pretty good (in my opinion, of course).

I don’t think I’m going to go back and update EVERY past post with an avatar, because even though I only have 105 posts (including this one), I’m quite lazy at heart… even if this endeavour did take a bit to put together. Slightly hypocritical, eh?

Anyway, hope you like these as much as I do.

Just now, while talking with my co-workers about the names that people have, I asked aloud:

“How do you get ‘Dick’ from ‘Richard’…?”

…and suddenly realised what I had just asked.

Fuck.

About two weeks ago, Adam, the captain of our Ultimate Frisbee team, and all around good guy and friend, got me thinking about “spinning” (for those of you who don’t know what that is and don’t want to click on the link, spinning is basically indoor cycling, but an actual class rather than an individual endeavour). Molly and I agreed to give it a shot this Wednesday, as we were looking for something that would help increase our stamina for when we played Ultimate Frisbee, and basically get into better shape.

I will admit, while I have lost a bit of weight recently, I am still somewhat out of shape, and I huff and puff when I’m running around, trying to get open for a pass, or even cover my opponent. Biking to and from work has helped a bit, but in the long run, I want to add a bit more to my exercise regimen, and spinning seemed to be both an intense workout and a lot of fun.

Well, initially no.

For the first 20-25 minutes, my thighs were burning something fierce, I was out of breath, I found the room to be too hot and stuffy, and I started getting some serious cramps in my calves to the point where I would cry out from the pain and spend a minute or two massaging them. Honestly, I hated it, and wondered what the fuck I was doing there in the first place. But, this was pretty much my first time ever spinning, so I was being a tad bit judgmental. Molly and Adam kept going, and only two people in the class left halfway through, but I wasn’t about to give up. Hell no. I had something to prove… mostly to myself.

The last 20-25 minutes of the class, my thighs weren’t burning at all, and while my calves were slightly cramping, I ignored the pain, and just shifted my legs so I wouldn’t feel it as much. I was sweating like crazy, downing water, and mostly just closed my eyes so I could focus on what I was doing (and also because the sweat was burning my retinas; note to self: get a sweatband). Our instructor, Quintin, near the end asked how many more songs we should go through, and some people mumbled one or two, and I was in the zone and was about to yell out “Five!” (mostly to be a smartass and force myself to put my money where my mouth was), but Adam beat me to it by shouting “Two!”, so two it was.

Next time, Adam, next time we’re doing FIVE.

In the end, it was a great workout, and never once did I feel that I was competing against anyone or felt like I was being judged by anyone, which is usually the case when you go to work out. Everyone there was friendly, and even Quintin said to go at your own pace, don’t go crazy, and just enjoy yourself… and I did. I’m definitely going to go back, and perhaps after a few months, I’ll be able to spin as fast as some of the other hardcore spinners there, as a few of them were going nuts. We’ll see about that, though.

Adam, many thanks for letting me know about Quad. I’ve passed the place hundreds of times on the streetcar and never knew what an awesome environment it was, or how fun it could be. Can’t wait for the next class!

For my own info:

• Handlebars: Two
  
• Seat height: Two
• Seat horizontal: Half of one

Throughout the day, I am lucky enough to listen to music while I answer the emails our customers send in with queries about our service, how to make something work, or just to ask what the hell it is that we do. It also serves as a comfortable barrier in a noisy room, so I can focus on what I’m doing and not be distracted with the happenings of the office, or by any other loud conversations that occur from time to time.

As with most people, I have my own collection of music that I have gathered over the years, but once in a while it’s nice to listen to the radio to hear some music that I haven’t heard, or have a copy of that I would play over and over and over again. Rather than have a radio at my already-cluttered desk, I’m one of those guys that prefers to listen to Internet Radio, and I do so via iTunes.

There are an absolute TON of stations to choose from, but I only have a few I listen to, with one that I recently tried out today, and have since added to my playlist. As well, I tend to only listen to radio stations that stream at a minimum of 128 kbps, as that ensures you get some decent sound.

For those of you interested in my playlist, here they are:

• Bassdrive - Drum & Bass
  
• Groove Salad - Ambient beats
  
• Pure.FM Radio - House
• Big R Radio - 90s Alternative Rock
  

There are a few radio stations in the Toronto area that I wish had an Internet Radio presence, but it’s understandable that with the bandwidth costs that they wouldn’t. As well, I’m sure there are licensing agreements about how the music has to be played within a certain area or region, and with Internet Radio, that’s almost impossible to ensure.

One thing I do love about Internet Radio is that most of the stations will list the tracks that they are playing, so if you want to see about getting a copy of what you’re listening to, you can easily jot down the name of the track, and go about searching for it. Very neat.

A man and a woman who had never met before, but who were both married to other people, found themselves assigned to the same sleeping room on a trans-continental train.

Though initially embarrassed and uneasy over sharing a room, they were both very tired and fell asleep quickly, he in the upper berth and she in the lower.

At 1:00 AM, the man leaned down and gently woke the woman saying, “Ma’am, I’m sorry to bother you, but would you be willing to reach into the closet to get me a second blanket?  I’m awfully cold.”

“I have a better idea,” she replied. “Just for tonight, let’s pretend that we’re married.”

“Wow! That’s a great idea!” he exclaimed.

“Good,” she replied. “Get your own fucking blanket.”

After a moment of silence, he farted.

For the last year and a bit, at the recommendation of Owen, I’ve been reading a series known as The Sword of Truth. Written by Terry Goodkind, this is one of the best series of books I have ever read, which may or may not be saying much, as I don’t read books all that often. Even when I do, I take forever to read them, as I usually have something going on, or just don’t have the time to plop down and read my book… and quite honestly, I like savouring the story when I find a good one.

Anyway, there were rumours that Sam Raimi was interested in making a film to do with the Sword of Truth series, and it appears that this is finally coming together. ABC and Disney have become involved, and hope to turn the first book, Wizard’s First Rule, into a 22 hour-long episodes, which is both good and bad in my opinion… good since they’re going to be bringing the story to the screen, and it won’t be crammed into a two hour movie which wouldn’t be able to portray the story properly, but bad since it means that this might be a flop and not go further than a few episodes (like how Firefly was amazing yet Fox canceled it), and also that since this is Disney, and also it’ll be on TV, it won’t be as violent as the books are. I mean, come on… this is taking place in a setting like medieval times, so there would be sword slicing people in half, etc. None of that if this is going to be in prime time TV. Ah well.

Still, Terry Goodkind is excited, and he is going to be completely involved with the project, so that will hopefully mean that he’ll have the power to ensure that the corporate executives don’t fuck up the story TOO much; let’s be honest here, they’re going to insist on some changes.

Personally, I can’t wait to see what happens. Scheduled for this Fall, it should be a hit. Sam Raimi and Terry Goodkind working together? This’ll be awesome.

I wonder whom they’ll cast…

Once in a while when I’ve been playing GTA IV for a bit, I’ll opt to use the cheat codes to give myself health and armor, as well as all weapons, and go fucking crazy. Sort of a stress relief, ya know?

I had the game on auto-save, and had been playing out the story for two hours this afternoon when I decided to lay waste to Rockstar’s version of Manhattan. Seeing as how my game had been saved automatically, I figured that I would manually save later, so I gave myself everything, and set to work. I was blowing up cars, bringing down helicopters, and generally raining down pure Armageddon for about an hour, and was going to quit, when I remembered that as I was in a cop car, I could partake in vigilante mode. I selected a crook, and then chased after him as he sped off for his life, and finally brought him down.

As soon as he died, the game auto-saved again.

Two hours of actual story progression, gone.

Fuck.

It’s not really surprising that the game would automatically save after a mini-mission like that, but still, after having cheats enabled, you’d think that Rockstar would have programmed GTA IV to put up a warning stating that the game was about to save and give you the option of not overwriting your previous auto-save which DIDN’T have cheats enabled. Seeing it from the other side, I guess I could have turned off auto-save prior to going on a killing spree, but it just didn’t occur to me.

Ah well. I’ll remember that for next time. It just means that I’ll be playing parts of the story over, and perhaps I’ll do better this time round. Still, that’s pretty fucking irritating.

…and so now I’ve decided to create a category of “WTF” thanks to this story:

http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/420797

Seriously… what the hell did this guy think was going to happen? That they would just hand over the cash? Was he high? I think so.

Reminds me something I saw on eBay back when the Wii had been out for only a few months and were almost impossible to come by. Some dude was selling a Wii for $1 million USD, and said something along the lines of “Make eBay history! Be the first person to ever pay $1 million for a Wii!”. Now, maybe it’s just me, but I would think that if someone worked hard to earn $1 million, they wouldn’t be stupid enough to pay that much for a console… especially considering that if they WERE a millionaire, they’d probably have connections to ensure that they got one regardless of how scarce they were.

WTF.

I always find it amusing, and also somewhat irritating, how there are those that have nothing else to do with their time than complain about things… more often than not just to hear their own voice within the media. The Grand Theft Auto series has been a constant target by those individuals ever since GTA3, and perhaps even before that, although I don’t think GTA or GTA2 were on their radar back then.

Essentially, the GTA series give you the ability to do anything you want. There are set missions that you have to go through to progress and eventually complete the game, but outside of those missions, you are free to interact with the world you are in as you wish. You have the ability and the CHOICE to go on a rampage and murder as many people as you want, just like you have the CHOICE to be a lunatic in the real world and go on a murderous rampage. You have the CHOICE to go to a hooker for her services, just like in real life. You have the CHOICE to go to a store and buy clothes, just like in real life. You have the CHOICE of going to a diner, ordering some food, and then shooting everyone in the establishment, just like in real life.

…I’m going to stop this aspect of the rant as the word “choice” has been written so many times that the word is starting to lose meaning to me…

Anyway, with a “sandbox” game like GTA IV, you have the ability to interact with the environment any way you wish. The media, and other organisation, tend to focus on how you can do these things, and how THAT is wrong. Well, yes, they are right… it IS wrong to do them, but you don’t HAVE to do them, just like in real life. For example, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), is causing a stir because in one aspect of the game you can take friends out to go drinking, and if you choose to do so instead of hailing a cab (which Niko suggests), you can attempt to drive. You don’t HAVE to, but you can, just like in real life. MADD even goes so far as to try to shame Rockstar into pulling the game from store shelves:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ju16X_-nwrLKNTDz01XO2wzB_e3AD90CH47G0

That’s just bullshit. There is NOT a mission in the game that specifically encourages drunk driving, but because you can do it in the game they are offended? Get off your high horse, MADD. You are doing good things in the real world, but stick to the real world, and leave the virtual worlds alone… UNLESS you are going to go after ALL the movies and TV shows that have ever had drunk driving in them, and issue the same shaming tactics upon them.

As well, the whole big “issue” with hiring a hooker in the game, having sex with her, and then killing her afterwards for her money. I’m going to use the word again: that is a CHOICE that you have in the game, just like you would in real life. There isn’t a mission in the game that says you have to go to a hooker, or even kill her afterwards to get your money back, but you can if you are demented enough. The same thing happens in real life ALL THE TIME. Why do you think some prostitutes keep tabs on each other? It takes a certain level of person to use their services anyway.

The end result? If you don’t like the game, don’t play it, and shut the fuck up. If you don’t want your kids to play the game, then don’t let them, and shut the fuck up. If you only want to hear your opinion voiced within the media (Jack Thompson), or are using the controversy surrounding the game to gain votes (Hillary Clinton), get a fucking life, and shut the fuck up.

GTA IV is rated “M” for “Mature”. How about all of you act the same?

So, here we are, one month after I started my diet, which isn’t really a diet… more of a lifestyle change… and I’m about 16lbs lighter. I’m still amazed at how easy this was, and also the rapid results thus far. Obviously, I know that from here on in it’ll be slow going, but still, the rapid loss of weight is in itself motivation to continue.

Other sources of motivation have been Molly and my friends. Without their support, and their stories of what they’ve done in the past and are still doing to maintain a healthy lifestyle, this would have been all the more difficult. Molly and I cook at home a LOT more than we used to, and have discovered new dishes that taste amazing, and we find more every day that we’d like to try.

The increased activity in my life is also a major contributor. Soon I’ll be playing Ultimate Frisbee again. In the meantime, I’ve taken to riding my bike to and from work, which not only saves me the cost of a monthly pass for the TTC, but also allows me to explore the city a bit more. In the past, I’ve always seen cars and bikes and modes of transportation; I only used them when I had a reason to go from point A to point B. I didn’t see the allure of simply just going out and walking or riding around the city… what was the point? I didn’t need to go anywhere, so why bother? Since riding my bike around, I have discovered something a lot of you already knew: its FUN to explore the city. Kind of liberating in a way.

Also, I was just recently advised of this dude:

http://www.johnstonefitness.com/

This guy started out just like I did; sick of what he saw in the mirror, and decided to do something about it. He weighed 220lbs, complete with gut. Over the course of his routine to get back into shape, he tracked what he ate, when he worked out, and even took pictures of himself. I’m pretty much doing all that on my site, except the pictures (who needs to see another picture of a fat man on the ‘net?), and I’m also not going to the extra trouble of listing all the calories and other nutritional value of the food I eat, but it’s still kinda neat to know that I’m not the only one who has had this idea.

In the end, thank you all for your support. You all rock!