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A weird cat/dog plastic toy at Sandy’s desk.

Molly painted this back in 2003.

I will admit, I’ve never heard this one before, and yes, I did laugh:

My ex-wife started taking flying lessons about the time our divorce started and she got her license shortly before our divorce was final, later that same year.

Yesterday afternoon I got a phone call, that she narrowly escaped injury in the aircraft she was piloting. Seems she was forced to make an emergency landing in Hamilton because of bad weather. Thank God the kids weren’t with her.

The FAA issued a preliminary report, citing pilot error:  She was flying a single engine aircraft in IFR (instrument flight rating) conditions while only having obtained a VFR (visual flight rating) rating.

The absence of a post-crash fire was likely due to insufficient fuel on board. No one on the ground was injured.

The photograph below was taken at the scene to show the extent of damage to her aircraft.

She was really lucky.

Thanks for sending this to me, Mom! 

Since I got the iPhone, I’ve been keeping an eye on the iTunes Store and checking out all the latest apps that have been released. Some of them are good, and some of them make you wonder why someone took the time to put them together, or how Apple even approved it’s release. Still, the App Store is pretty new, so I’m sure we’ll see a revamp of the interface and perhaps even a revamp of what they’re allow to be sold. I mean, come on… we need some standards here.

And speaking of “standards”, Shazam has up’d the bar as to what could be considered the most useful and coolest iPhone app currently available. Initially, I saw this and didn’t pay much attention to it; I thought it was another music player or streamer, but Jon advised me to take a closer look, and I’m glad I did!

Picture this: You’re at a pub and the music in the background is a song you’ve heard a few times and have been dying to know what the title is, or who sings it, so you can go buy it (or download it, if that’s your thing), but no one knows anything about the song. Even the bartender says “It’s just on random”. Worse yet, you can barely make out the lyrics, and even if you could, it would be futile to remember them as you just ordered a pitcher, which will wipe away any memory of the night.

Problem solved.

Take out the iPhone, open up Shazam, and press “Tag Now”. As long as the music is loud enough for you to hear clearly (doesn’t have to be blasting), Shazam should be able to pick it up. It’ll record 12 seconds (by default) of the music you’re listening to, upload it to their servers for analysis, and then spit back the info you’re looking for: track name, artist, album… it’ll even show you the cover art of the CD, and give you a few links to the song or album via the iTunes Store so you can purchase it right there. HOW NEAT IS THAT?!

After using it for the last few days, I’ve only managed to trip it up a few times, but in those instances, it was with some pretty obscure music (stuff from Japan; the country, not the band), or any sort of electronica or raggae. Other than that, it has been bang on. So frikkin’ cool.

I have no idea how Shazam is able to pull this off, but it has astounded me time and time again. It is quite possibly going to be one of the most useful apps on the iPhone for me, other than checking my email, surfing the ‘net, checking out Facebook, or keeping tabs with my calendar. Apparently, this app is only free on the iPhone, while other cellphone users have to pay for each lookup. Suckers!  

iTunes Store - http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=284993459

Shazam website - http://www.shazam.com/music/portal

I DUB THEE “PROTEUS”! (Yes, I am naming my iPhone… and I have to anyway)

Starting yesterday, I began checking out the Rogers store at the SkyDome to see if they had any iPhones in stock. The rumour was that they would be receiving a shipment, and so rather than call them, I intially rode my bike over to see if they had any. Hey, it was my lunch, and I planned on riding the bike anyway. 

As luck would have it, they didn’t have any in stock, but one of the dudes working there said for me to call in an hour, and gave me his card. I rode back, and called a few times throughout the afternoon, yet they didn’t have any. Bummer. Still, it was amusing how they answered the phone:

Thank you for calling the Rogers store, my name is so-and-so, we don’t have any iPhones in stock, but is there anything else I can help you with…?

I called this morning, and the guy who picked up didn’t say anything about not having any iPhones. Hmmmm. I asked, and they had ONE left. I asked if he could put it on the side for me as I would be biking over, but he said that he unfortunately couldn’t do that and that I should “peddle as fast as you can”. And so I did. I walked into the store with my bike, and he smiled and picked up the iPhone and put it on the counter. Awesome.

While it was being set up, this big dude came in and waited behind me. Turns out he wanted to get an iPhone as well, but the Rogers rep said that they didn’t have any more, and then he looked at me and said “This guy is bigger than you… I’d run, man!”, which we had a laugh over. However, there was this other girl who came in looking to get an iPhone as well, and she explained that he had one that was unlocked, it cost her $700, and she had it stolen last night at a club. That sucks.

Anyway, to Proteus, I make the following promises:

• I shall not drop thee into a pint of beer.
• I shall not drop thee at all.
• I shall treat thee with care.
• I shall not go over 6GB per month.
• I shall use Google Maps OFTEN.  

WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

So, here I am at my lowest weight so far: 173.9lbs. That’s frikkin’ awesome.

But then I decided to look up what my healthy weight should be based on my height. I am 5′7″, and while there really isn’t a “normal” that I should go for, most sites provided the same average weight range. This was one of the better charts:

So, according to the above, with a medium to large frame (hey, I have broad shoulders!), I should be weighing a maximum of 168lbs. Going further, and finding the actual number, I’d take the highest number of the two ranges, add them together, and divide by two:

154lbs + 168lbs = 322lbs ÷ 2 = 161lbs

Looking at that number, I recalled that I used to weigh around 160lbs when I worked at Interlog. Back then, I was younger, and got a LOT of cardio due to the fact that I used to… uh… “rave”. Can’t do that anymore, but getting back down to that weight is my new goal. 161lbs is close to 160lbs, so why not round that down?

…and so I have. I’m approaching 170lbs, and so I figured I’d stick with it. We’ll see how long this takes.

This morning, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was 175.3lbs! This is the first time I’ve weighed this less since before I really started checking my weight back in 2004. I know that this is just a low right now, and that my normal eating will increase my weight again, but the fact that I have hit this weight means that I will more than likely see it again soon, and then pass it on my way down to 170lbs.

I pretty much chalk this up to the 17.7km bike ride I made after work all the way up to Don Mills to install a new drive in my server. I’d never ridden that far before, and considering as how I’d like to do it again to save some cash I’d normally spend on the TTC… oh, and considering how I’d like to get more exercise… I wanted to see if I could do it. Going up Mt. Pleasant was a bitch, as it is just one long sustained hill. I guess that’s why it is a “Mt.”. The rest of the ride was pretty smooth going, and I especially enjoyed the HUGE hill doing down Eglinton towards Leslie. I took the bike path through Wilket Creek Park (which sadly has run to ruin in some places due to river overflow), and rode up to the exit near Overland and Leslie. As a kid, I recalled my Father riding up this steep incline while my brother and I had to walk our bikes up, so I was determined to do this. While steeper than the hill at the foot of High Park, it turned out to be not that bad at all. However, had I tried that a few months ago, I surely wouldn’t have made it.  

Getting the drive installed took longer than expected, as I wanted to make sure everything worked properly, and by the time I left, it was pretty dark out. I had stopped off at Canadian Tire to pick up head and tail lights for my bike, and had installed them at the house, but as I was leaving, the headlight went out. The packaging said that the headlight took four AAA batteries, but I could see inside the thing that clearly that was a typo, and they meant four AA batteries. The AAA batteries rattled around inside the headlight, and even the slightest bump would knock them out of place. I rode carefully towards Yonge on Lawrence, as I could see some pretty crazy potholes, and endured the long incline between Bayview and Mt. Pleasant along Lawrence. Once at Yonge, I went North a bit and bought four AA batteries at the Dominion there. Unfortunately, they didn’t help at all, as the headlight refused to even turn on; while banging it trying to get it to work, I must’ve broken it. Piece of shit. At least the tail light worked properly, but I didn’t feel safe riding my bike home without a headlight, so I took the subway and met up with Molly on our way home.

All in all, a very good bike ride, and I think I’ll do that again sometime in the near future. It was a lot of fun, more than I expected, so I guess it’s time to check out some of the bike paths throughout Toronto!

Seems that all the negativity about their plans for the upcoming iPhone (mostly “ruinediphone.com“), and also all the rumours circulating about how Apple is “disgusted” with Rogers, has somewhat forced their hand:

Effective July 11, and as a limited time promotional offer for customers
who activate by August 31 on a three year contract, a data-only offering of
6GB of data for $30 per month is being made available that can be added to any
in-market voice plan. For example, with 6GB of data, iPhone 3G users can visit
35,952 web pages, or send and receive 157,286 emails, or watch 6,292 minutes
of YouTube videos each and every month.

New Canadian iPhone 3G customers will also have the choice to select from
Rogers Wireless’ existing voice and smartphone data plans and/or additional
features to best suit their needs, or from Rogers Wireless’ value bundled
plans specifically for iPhone 3G. Existing Rogers Wireless customers can keep
their current voice service plan and select a separate data plan to meet their
needs or choose from other plans after checking their individual upgrade
eligibility.

I have to say, a 6GB data plan for $30/month isn’t THAT bad. Honestly, 6GB is a lot of data, and when you think about how this is for downloading to a phone, it’s not like you’d be downloading movies or TV shows via bit torrent to the thing. While an unlimited plan is always best, just so we don’t have to worry about going over, 6GB is sufficient for the average user. Personally, I don’t think I’d use that much in a month over my phone; I’d have no interest in YouTube or anything else that would be bandwidth intensive, and if I did, I’d simply use wi-fi… since who doesn’t have that these days?

I still believe that Rogers is gouging the average customer, but at least they are being somewhat reasonable with this latest development. I say “somewhat”, as you only have until August 31st to sign up for this, and you still need to agree to a three year contract. Either way, I’m considering the iPhone again, but I’m going to wait about a month to see how these prices work out for the early adopters, and see what sort of headaches I can expect on a bill. As well, with any new piece of technology, it’s always best to wait to see how it fairs in the field before shelling out some cash for it.

So here I was this morning, generating invoices, and I was slightly bummed that I’m already sending out ones for September. It won’t be long until the summer is over, which will suck, as I really like riding my bike, and lying in the grass in a field, etc.

But hey! I’m getting ahead of myself here! It’s still July, so enjoy it ya dunderhead!  

To cheer myself up, I recalled this hilarious Staples commercial I remembered seeing years ago where this Dad is ecstatic that his kids are going back to school. He’s loading up the shopping cart with school supplies while skipping down the aisle with the kids walking slowly behind, pouting. All the while, the song “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” is playing in the background.

It didn’t take long, but I found it on YouTube. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPIIMbG9R4w

If all commercials were amusing like this one, I wouldn’t mind watching them at all. Also, it would help with their advertising, as I’m pretty much plugging Staples right now.  

Last night, Molly and I decided to go to the AMC at Yonge and Dundas to watch “WALL•E“. I had heard good things about the movie, and considering it was put together by Pixar, I had a feeling that it was going to be awesome. Sure enough, WALL•E didn’t disappoint, and I now consider it my favourite animated movie, with “The Incredibles” as a close second.

Pixar has made some great movies in the past, and WALL•E just takes the cake. The movie doesn’t have much dialogue at all, yet is quite entertaining as you watch the characters come to life through their actions. One of the parts that made me laugh was a chime that you’d hear when you turn on a Macintosh, most likely a nod towards Steve Jobs, seeing as how he used to own Pixar. Overall, the graphics were amazing, and the story was quite good. Personally, I can’t wait until this comes out on DVD.

If you were thinking about seeing WALL•E, I totally suggest you do. I loved every minute of it. I even stayed for the length of the end credits.   

Oh, and a word in about the AMC at Yonge and Dundas; this theatre kicks the crap out of the Paramount (sorry… “Scotiabank Theatre”). My co-worker Les is quick to point out that it is a digital theatre, which makes for crisper sound and sharper video. The popcorn isn’t as good, but the fact that the chairs recline is a HUGE bonus for my back. Also, the arm rests fold up, so its easier to cuddle with your movie date.