Jumping on the Nike+ bandwagon

Every year I have made a resolution at the start of the year that I’m going to  work out more. Of course, like most people, this goal falls short each year. How am I going to rectify this travesty that is my exercise regiment? Nike+iPod of course.

I have been interested in trying out this whole Nike+ scheme that Nike and Apple came up with. The problem was, I’m not interested in dropping $80 or more on the shoes just to get started. I found an alternative option – an inexpensive pouch that holds the small Nike+ sensor.

Since my iTouch already has the software baked in, I got started with my first 20 minute walk. I went around the block, walking a little over a mile for my first go; I just wanted to give the whole system a quick test.

The Nike+ system keeps track of the distance you run, how fast you’re going and gives you encouragement along the way while playing your music in the background. In an effort to get myself that much more motivated, I am publishing my workout results on the Nike+ website along with Facebook and possibly Twitter (sorry to all those followers who could careless).

Today, Sunday, July 4, I decided to give it a little more intensive tests with a mile run. I have now set up a 5K run goal from now until September.

I’ll keep you posted as I go along.

My Oscar picks, yeah not so good

I am nearly a month into my new job as managing editor for the Tyler Tribute and it’s sister papers but I have to admit my touch on the pulse of pop culture around the world has been a little weak nearly since day one. I’m working to correct that, but it’s going to take time.

This all happened during the Oscar time. Normally I have a pretty good pulse on things, but this year I had a few misses including best actor, actress and director. I really shouldn’t be surprised by the out come. The word on “Slumdog Millionaire” was nearly deafening. I did have it up for best picture, but I wasn’t expecting our old friend Danny “Trainspotting” Boyle would come up with best director.

The man who gave us “38 Days Later” was not someone I expected the film industry would recognize. He is an amazing talent and I’m glad to see he got some props for his work. I can’t wait to see “Slumdog,” it’s going to be on DVD so my wait is a few months longer I’m sure.

On a completely different, non-Oscar related kick, it now looks like “Fanboys” is finally coming to Minnesota. For those who don’t know about the flick, it’s the story of a group of friends with the goal of seeing “Star Wars: Episode I” before it was released back in 1999. One of the characters has cancer and wants to see the flick before he dies.

I first heard about this movie years before it was green-lit for production. To see it made, knowing the saga it went through – one that rivals that of THE SAGA – is impressive. I’m planning a trip to the cities this weekend to see Jonathan Coulton and I might try to slip into a theater to see the movie before hand, not likely but I’m going to at least tell myself I’ll try.

A new start in Tyler

A few weeks ago I posted a cryptic post about how I had some sort of big news coming, but I failed to follow through with what exactly that was. A little over one week ago I started a position as managing editor for the Tyler Tribute, Hendricks Pioneer and Lake Benton News newspapers.

At some point I will expound on all of this, but I haven’t really sat down to think about what it all means myself. My team helped push out three quality papers last week and we’re preparing to set out another group of papers in the next couple days.

I worked for the Marshall Independent newspaper for more then five years. I enjoyed nearly every moment of my time there and I can not thank those i worked with enough. I will continue to read the quality work done by the writers and editors of the Independent. They do a lot with limited resources and continue to produce strong content.

Oasis with Ryan Adams and the Cardinals

Saw Oasis with guests Ryan Adams and The Cardinals on Wednesday. This marked my sixth Oasis show and second Ryan Adams set. I’m a huge fan of Oasis and a long time fan of Ryan Adams so this was kind of a dream show.

Oasis seemed pretty loose on stage, I’ve seen them a lost stiffer in the past but the set went well and Noel seemed to be having a good time (if not in Minneapolis in general, but at the show at least). The band also played a few songs I haven’t heard them play, at least not for a long time. The Masterplan, Slide Away and I Am the Walrus were all pulled out and let breath.

Cigarettes and Alcohol from the Target Center:

Via: Popler on YouTube.com.

The nights version of Wonderwall and Don’t Look Back in Anger were both different from what I’ve heard them do in the past, so it was nice to see those tracks get a refresher.

Ryan Adams put on a good “hits” style set, without playing “NY” which surprised me, but as someone who doesn’t get to see him that often it was nice to hear some of the songs he did play.

Matt Costa opened the show. I like his stuff, but his acoustic style doesn’t fit the Target Center well. I’d like to see him again at a smaller venue like the Varsity.

More video from the Oasis set:

• Champagne Supernova
• Supersonic
• Waiting for the Rapture
• The Importance of Being Idle
• Lyla

Dropping Cable Television … Maybe.

I’m currently in the process of thinking about possibly dropping cable television. Sure, that means giving up my beloved TiVo and loosing out on a lot of content from the History Channel, Discovery, National Geographic (man I watch a lot of documentary stuff), but I’m finding Netflix and my vast DVD collection are keeping me entertained.

The things that were keeping me stuck to spending between $60-80 a month for cable television are slowly becoming slimmer and slimmer. In reality the thing I would be giving up is sports — and I realized I can listen to the radio for that.

Hulu.com and Netflix streaming could pretty much serve the need for current television (The Simpsons, the Office, Heroes, Chuck and Numb3rs) and season sets of DVD are filling the rest of the need.

I’m contracted with Tivo until the end of December so I have time to make the decision.

Any thoughts?

Keeping an eye on my birth place

I was digging around this whole Internet thing, looking up random stuff. I thought it would be interesting to see what kind of information I could find on the city of my birth, Frankfurt am Main in Germany. I found a site filled with live web cams. Kind of fun. Check it out.

Summer coming to an end

It’s so cliche to say at this point but this year seems to be flying by. It’s already halfway through September. This has been a busy year at work. At the Independent we end each year with a round up of the ten biggest stories that have impacted our region. It’s going to be difficult to narrow it down to ten this year.

The obvious big story is the Cottonwood bus crash. It’s not an over statement to say the crash has had a massive impact on the region. We have also had a missing person, the resignation of a prominent CEO in Marshall and a number of other stories that in any other year would take top billing.

There are some bright spots to this year in the weeks ahead. A new Oasis album is “about to drop” as the kids say. A new Travis album is also waiting in the wings.

There is still a good chunk of the year to go, but the amount of things that has happened in just nine months is astonishing. It is an election year after all.

Speaking of election year, I had the oppertunity to briefly interview Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Friday. You can read my story on the Independent web site.

Musings for July 2008

The month of July seems to really be flying by and I still haven’t seen “The Dark Knight.” For most of my co-workers, they would have thought I would be first in line for the flick, I have been talking about it for years now.

I just don’t have faith that I won’t end up in a theater with some jerk talking through the whole thing. It seems to happen to me every time. I will see it though. That and the X-Files movie.

Just watched “The Mist,” the latest Stephen King story to make it to the big screen. It’s been sitting on a long wait from Netflix for a while but it finally showed up in my mailbox earlier this week. I kinda saw the ending coming but it was still quiet shocking. Not really the movie I originally thought it would but, but well worth the rent. I have “21″ and “Awake” sitting on my coffee table now for my next viewing.

The Xbox 360 continues to get a work out. I’m starting to play Halo 3 with the difficulty level turned up a notch or two. I’m beginning to think this will end up being a mistake as it is taking me three times as long to progress through the first stage, but my gamer score/pride needs some achievements.

I’m looking at a week in August to take off from work. Things have been crazy at work, many of you probably know the editor for the Independent left recently. We’re still working hard but no announcement for his replacement has been made.

The majority of my vacation will be spent relaxing and letting nothing be my road trip. My Dad is trying to get me to come with him to a battlefield or some other excursion but we’ll have to see. I need some time to just stand still for a change.

I have a new gadget, a SlingBox A/V sitting atop my TiVo. It’s pretty sweet. It allows me to watch and control my TiVo on my MacBook from anywhere I have a broadband connection. I haven’t tested it out too much, but I’m planning on giving it a good work out this weekend.

Current music: Saves the Day “In Reverie”

A few thoughts for July

I’m sitting on my sofa enjoying a little surround sound goodness from the new John Mayer DVD and I thought I would share a few quick thoughts before I head off to bed — getting rest before a 10 hour plus work day.

• My 10 year high school reunion is coming up in about a week. I’m still not sure if I’ll be making it out there for it, I have a lot going on right now and I’m not sure if travling to Benson for that weekend is in the cards. That could change though.

• My Xbox 360 has been working over time lately. From Need For Speed: Carbon, my latest acquisition for $10 new at GameStop to Tiger Woods 08 and Lego Star Wars II, the console has been a good little work horse.
• I don’t like to complain about the heat, knowing what Minnesota is like when the snow falls, but this heat has been a lot to take. My car’s AC isn’t working the greatest and rolling down the windows means a lot of allergy issues might pop up.
• I wrote a blog over at the Independent about troubles Apple and AT&T ran into with the release of iPhone 3G and Mobile Me. I really would like to pick up a iPod Touch, especially with some of the AT&T junk going on.
• I’m planning on seeing a few movies in theater this summer yet. The X-Files movie, Clone Wars and possibly HellBoy II. We’ll see what happens. If you go see those movies, please don’t talk through them.

This weekend will be filled with work hours until Sunday afternoon. I will be heading out to Slayton, Walnut Grove, Cottonwood and around Marshall. If you see me out and about, feel free to say hey. I’m always looking for a good victim volunteer for “Independent Views.”

Star Wars at MN Sci Museum

I went to the Star Wars exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota this past weekend. It was great to get up close to many of the iconic images, props and costums from my favorite film series. It was also interesting to look at some of the different ways the science of Star Wars was both prophetic and grounded in reality.

Derek had his camera with him and snapped many photos and was kind enough to grab some shots of me with some of my favorites from the exhibit. You can check out those photos here.

You can also peep some of his excellent shots of the exhibit on his flickr page.

This marked my second trip to the Science Museum, it’s one of my favorite places in Minnesota. From getting to see the dinosaurs to watching movies on the giant OmniTheater, if you’re from Minnesota and haven’t checked out this amazing place, you owe it to yourself, go before Star Wars exits in August.