evanroberts.com

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. 

If there is one thing I can appreciate from my old days of phone tech support while working at Interlog, it’s the odd joke or video clip of a tech support agent completely baffled at the logic of some of those who call in for assistance. Everyone has their own way of thinking, and when it comes to computers, tech support agents generally have to adopt the mentality of the person phoning in to understand what the hell they’re talking about, and speak back to them in a language that THEY will understand. This may mean that the “desktop” is actually “the background”, or that “email” is “Outlook”… things like that.

Here we have a little video put together that details what sysAdmins and tech support agents are usually doing with their time, and the frustrations they go through. I thought it was awesome:

http://www.thewebsiteisdown.com/

The voices take a bit to get used to, as they’re sped up to “protect the identity of those involved” (which I find odd since they don’t fudge the websites they’re looking at, which are fake anyway), but if you can understand Alvin and the Chipmunks, you should have no troubles.  

Thanks to Mike F. for sending this my way!

I think today was my single most exercise-filled and exhausting day since I started the whole “eating better” and “being active” routine. I am wiped. Check it out:

http://www.evanroberts.com/2008/07/02/185

Part of my fatigue is due to the Quad session, and how I started to be a smartass. For one of the songs, for each “tap up” of a quarter turn of resistance that Quentin told I to do, I instead did a half turn. Near the end of the song, I was dying, and it required me to put my weight into peddling, and I just couldn’t get them to rotate. I was counting on Quentin to tell us to take all the resistance off at the end of the song, but that didn’t happen. As soon as he said “Don’t touch that dial!”, I groaned inwardly.

There was NO WAY I could continue at that resistance level and continue to add more during the next song, so I will fully admit, here and now, that I took a full turn of resistance off. I’m not ashamed to admit it. It was too much, and I didn’t want to hurt myself. In the end, it didn’t matter, as we were already back at that resistance level half way through the song, but it could have been MUCH worse.

Anyway, can’t wait to see what my weight is tomorrow. I think I’ve up’ed the bar a little.

Well, June has come and gone, and here I am, still hovering around the same weight… only, a bit less, and more often.  

Riding the bike to work has become a routine thing, and spinning classes are quite frequent. Ultimate Frisbee was a write off after twisting my ankle, and we’re going to hold off on the sport until the Fall; I’m not a fan of the heat and humidity of the summers here in Toronto, and the one year we played during the summer was damn near torture. I’ll make up for the lack of Ultimate with more biking and extra working out, which is also starting to become a routine thing. Sticking with the healthy foods is second nature now, as I allow the odd “cheat night”, which you need to have otherwise you risk insanity.

All in all, I’m quite happy with the fact that I finally got below 180, and while I’ve gone up and down over the course of the month, I’ve hit 179lbs or lower a bunch of times. Now the trick is to ensure that I STAY below 179lbs, and hit my goal of 170lbs in the next month. It’ll be tricky, especially since I’m adding muscle as I lose weight, but I’m sure I’ll be able to find the balance.

As per usual, thanks for all your kind words and support. I can’t believe that its been three months already Goodness.

Happy birthday Canada!

141 years old. Man, that’s a LOT of candles!