December 2007

All entries and daily links from December 2007.

Star Wars, Lego and Me

Sunday, December 23, 2007 at 9:12pm 1 comments

After dinner friday night, Michael passed out his christmas gifts for everyone. Each of us got a Wii game and my gift was Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga.

It was so much fun I played the game for about 6-7 hours yesterday. When my friend Marc came over, I went with him to finish up his holiday shopping and get out and away from it, but we ended up getting another Wii nun-chuck in order to come home and play the two-player mode.

I would have never thought to get the game. It's a kids game after all and I didn't like the prequels, so much so they ruined my childhood love of the originals, but I'm completely in love with the game.

Playing the game is like playing with Lego bricks, which was always my favorite toy. Throughout the game you build and destroy things built out of the same Lego bricks you'd be using in the real world, but it's a richer interaction with the effects and animation as well as giving personalities to each of the characters.

Fun times.

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Cold Feet

Wednesday, December 12, 2007 at 6:12pm 0 comments

OK, while it might not be anywhere near as cold in San Francisco as it is elsewhere in the country, it's still really damn cold to be going on a bike ride first thing in the morning.

That's why I got foot cozies for my cycling shoes last week. The neoprene warmers cover your toes so the cold air can't flow through the ventilating mesh on cycling shoes. At least that's how they work if you remember to bring them with you, when Casey and I got to the meetup spot I couldn't find them. This was Casey's first official training ride for the AIDS/LifeCycle, a 545 mile ride from SF to LA to raise money fight AIDS. And at 23 miles, with a 1.5 mile climb near the start, it's a huge step for him too.

Two years ago, I was a volunteer ride leader for the training ride program. This last ride was a bit like coming home, for one stretch Julie Brown even directed a few first time riders to follow my lead.

I never would have thought I'd be riding a bike 545 miles from SF to LA for the third time, I actually don't feel I can really say that, having spent half of the last ride sick (seriously, as in on an IV drip sick) and I know I can ride every single mile because I did it the first time, but I want to prove I can do it again.

While I've made this a personal challenge, this is not about me, this is a ride to end AIDS and you can help with a donation of support.

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Less is More

Thursday, December 6, 2007 at 2:12pm 4 comments

A month or so ago when I switched from using a 40GB iPod brick to a clip-on style iPod Shuffle. I thought I would miss having access to my entire music library, but I really don't.

I never liked carrying such a big iPod. With keys, wallet and a phone my pockets were full enough already I'd have to carry it, or keep it in my bag and use the clip on remote control. I usually listened to it on shuffle anyway, skipping over all the songs I didn't like, so when my headphones started to break I could have spent another $30 pair of Apple earbuds (which fit perfectly, and I can comfortably wear all day) but I knew Apple sold refurbished iPod Shuffles for $50.

For just $20 more, I went for a Shuffle. That also let me get an orange one, which was discontinued when they changed up the colors a few months ago.

The day I started using the Shuffle was the last day I used my old 40GB iPod. With the clip and weighing nothing I take it with me all the time now and even though it can only hold a fraction of what my old iPod could, I haven't filled it's 1GB with the favorites and latest playlists I've set up for it.

Sometimes less is more.

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