NSLog();

I find the mental masturbation over commenting lately boring.

Comments are on here because I often ask questions and people answer. Sometimes people make corrections or suggestions. Sometimes they tell me a funny story, or contribute to the topic, or an old friend will get in touch after I haven't talked to them in awhile.

Spam isn't a big concern and moderation takes almost no time at all.

In short, there are almost no "cons" and lots of "pros." So, as always, comments are on here at NSLog();. Though I get far, far fewer than I used to when I was writing more specifically about Apple/Mac topics, the ones I do get are just as good.

I don't think it's about humility at all. Commenting is easier for a lot of people. I'll comment on people's blogs when I want to ask a question that doesn't warrant a response. Or when they ask a question. Or when I simply want to say "Nice job" or "Great photo!"

When I recently complained on the Interwebs that running on a treadmill was just soooooo boring I never wanted to do it again, someone suggested that instead of listening to music I listen to a podcast or audio book because, unlike the music which fades into background noise, the talking will force me to stay engaged mentally, thus taking my mind off of left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot (etc.).

I decided that this was a fine idea, and I listened to The Talk Show (episode 73) yesterday while doing my modified Week 7 Day 3 of Couch to 5K (now Run5K).

I've been wearing a Garmin watch for a little while. It's got a foot pod to track my cadence, and a strap that goes around my chest to track my heart rate. I had my iPod Nano clipped to the waist band of my shorts and the headphone cable fed up under my shirt to my ears. The watch was on my left wrist.

I've got my watch set to automatically split every half mile ((I'm not yet running far enough to split on the more customary 1.0 mile mark.)), and the watch will vibrate for a couple of seconds and show my split time. It's a handy way of knowing that you're another half mile along, and the buzz is fairly strong as I imagine it has to be for someone who is running to notice it.

NSLog(@"Finish Reading %d Words", 541); »

I donated blood today. When I called to see if they were busy, the girl answered by telling me that "we are pretty dead."

I first had to show my ID. I answered a questionnaire, which asked me if I'd had sex with anyone who was paid in "cash, drugs, or _____" (I forget the third thing - I know it wasn't food stamps :-D), among other things. My finger was pricked for iron testing. When that passed, the nurse gave me a sticker sheet with two bar codes. Next to one was "use my blood" and next to the other "don't use my blood." She said "choose one, put it in this box here on the form, and throw the sticker sheet out. Don't ask me why." I obliged, except for not asking her why. She didn't tell me.

Then, I was led back to the room. I was given a Coke "because it was my first time" and assumed I should try to drink it before she drew blood. So I did, and she was surprised that I was done already. 😛 Incidentally, it was one of those white cans of Coke that people mistook for Diet Coke. I admit I thought for a second it was Diet too, as I'd never seen one of these cans in person.

After making me turn away (she said people will faint, throw up, or scream and run away) I asked how long it would take. She said 5-15 minutes. When I was done in about three minutes, she said that was the fastest she'd ever seen. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I waited for ten minutes to make sure I wouldn't faint or something, ate some snacks and drank some juice, and walked out.

NSLog(@"Finish Reading %d Words", 453); »

Yes, yes I am enjoying my TikTok + iPod Nano.

From Instagram

Dave likes it too, apparently, since upon seeing it and playing with it for about 12 seconds he's decided he needs one as well. 🙂

The nano works great on runs, though I'll know more tomorrow when I run 24:00.

Someone just joined The Sand Trap yesterday and it was apparent from his name and avatar that he was an avid pool player.

Our game room (pool room) has been a bit of a mess for a year, but we're cleaning it up this month, repairing a small section of drywall, and will begin using it again. I'm looking forward to it. I miss shooting some pool.

I saw that Bob Dzuricky, who designed my cues, updated his site. It looks great. He's also got a YouTube channel that has some pretty nice videos on cue-making.

I saw that AZBilliards is still using the same skin I designed (tweaked) for them. The WEI Table seems to have gone by the wayside, though. I can't find

I could have sworn I had pictures of my cues on this site somewhere, but I can't. They're still gorgeous. I'll post 18 images of them after the "read more" link.

NSLog(@"Finish Reading %d Words", 809); »

This article does a good job of explaining things. I remember from Econ 101 in college that my professor said "the national debt isn't anything to worry about because governments don't have life expectancies." ((Paraphrased))

But Washington isn't just confused about the short run; it's also confused about the long run. For while debt can be a problem, the way our politicians and pundits think about debt is all wrong, and exaggerates the problem's size.

Deficit-worriers portray a future in which we're impoverished by the need to pay back money we've been borrowing. They see America as being like a family that took out too large a mortgage, and will have a hard time making the monthly payments.

Read the article at NYTimes.com for more.

You'l have to read the article at Forbes.com, but the gist is "yeah, it is… eventually."

I personally view Best Buy as a sort of warehouse. Most of the time I'm better off buying something from Amazon, but if it's cheaper or the same price, I'll get it from Best Buy just so I don't have to wait two days.

But informed sales people? A friendly atmosphere? Great product information? No.

Yawn. Wake me up when it's 2020. 😉

For those of you who wish for extra time in the day, well, you don't get it, but this year you do get an extra day. Use it wisely. ((I'm of the opinion that leap days should be International holidays for people to do whatever it is they want. A true celebration of life, love, happiness, etc. Wouldn't that be great? Instead, it's just going to be another random workday for everyone. It's even a Wednesday this time around! Blah!))

2011 wasn't great. It wasn't lousy, either - don't get me wrong. But 2012 looks to be better personally, professionally, spiritually, athletically, etc.

I've joined a challenge on DailyMile to run 366 miles in 2012. That's not a lot - I've averaged seven a week for the past few weeks of Couch to 5K. But it'll allow for days off due to injury or travel or whatnot.

I'm also going to try to run (outside ideally, but on the treadmill or elliptical as necessary) a mile a day for as long as I can. I don't know if I'll make the full year, but I'll see how far I get. #dailymileminimum

Happy new year.

Does anyone have any comments on Hot Yoga or Bikram Yoga?

It's $10/session (for a ten-session pass) here at YogaErie. I hate heat but it might be an interesting experience.

There's a running trail beside the Bayfront Connector that may be a good, wide place to run.

I've been doing a fair amount of running at Presque Isle, but the trail there is surprisingly narrow given how much use it gets. Still, at least it's a nature-heavy trail. The Bayfront Connector goes past, uh, warehouses, busy city streets, a Burger King… you get the point.

We'll see. If nothing else the one-mile loop around the tennis courts at Behrend might be worth checking out. And I hear there's a similar length loop around Frontier Park.

I held off on getting a Tik-Tok and an iPod Nano a few months ago because I didn't see the point of having a watch that wasn't on most of the time.

And earlier today I ordered a green iPod Nano and a Tik-Tok (the less expensive one). Why? Because the 1 GB iPod Shuffle I've got (it's Carey's, but she never uses it) doesn't respond to the headphone remote, and if I'm going to listen to music when I run, I need the controls.

It doesn't hurt that 8 GB is standard and I can't fit the 223 songs currently in my "Running" playlist on the 1 GB iPod Shuffle without downsampling them to 128 kbps.

I don't. My dad is O (+ or - I don't know) and my mom believes she's A-. So I may be O or A.

I'll go to the Community Blood Bank soon and donate blood. Why do I care? Because I'd like to put my blood type on my 1BandID, that's why! 🙂

I've transferred my domains from GoDaddy to the registrar NameCheap.com. I used the guide from Jeff Epstein and thus probably gave him a buck or two in referral fees. I saved about $1.90 per domain by using the coupon code SOPAsucks, as mentioned on the NameCheap Coupons site.

The one step that's not listed in Jeff's guide? Turning off WHOIS protection if you have DomainsByProxy enabled. This caused the denial of half of my domain transfers. A quick live chat with a NameCheap support agent cleared that up, though, and impressed me in the process.

I don't really care about shooting elephants. I don't really care about how a company chooses to advertise. Even the brouhaha over SOPA wasn't really enough to cause me to transfer my domains. But it's death by a thousand cuts, and GoDaddy's dead to me now.