I just might have to try the mobile.me service:

Find My iPhone location tracking enables all-city chase

So a while ago (here) I had asked about Magazines. Last week I ran across Zinio.com, which has a whole grundle of magazines in pure digital form for relatively cheap. I expect to be spending some money here. Plus, for those so enabled, they have an iPhone optimized site as well.

If you take the dead tree addition of any of the rags they have, I highly recommend buying their bits. They've even got some freebe issues to try the service out with.

From my youth, whenever this song comes on, it puts a smile on my face. Thanks Pandora!

Aly and I stumbled across an amusing show last weekend. I dunno if it's because it was a week after our Vegas run, or what, but Rehab: Party at the Hard Rock Hotel on truetv is quite fun. Maybe it's seeing all the silly people. Or seeing a bit more about how that "lifestyle" (VIP areas, bottle service, etc..) works after experiencing some of it. Or I dunno...definitely a guilty pleasure. AND another marathon of it is on as I type.

It's been over a year since I posted my first Top 5, and figured I was due. Additionally, this is an interesting one. So Interesting that I could only come up with 4.

I'm drawing a blank on the source of the quote, or even the exact wording, but it goes something link "Design isn't just how something looks, it's how something works". This 4 (well technically 5) things work well, for me. I realize this is a completely subjective list, so the "for me" is an important distinction.

The first one should be obvious to anyone that knows me. I'm a fan, nearly a fanboy. And while I let fly with a flippant "Get a mac" as a solution to, say, a flat tire, my point is that Apple with both OS X and the iPhone have made some very conscious design decisions for how their products work. Some of those decisions require a brain shift on their part of the customers, and this rubs some people the wrong way. But it's this sort of commitment to what they feel is "the right way" that has produce some really good stuff. That being said, they've had a few misses, as will happen when you take that tack.

The Dyson. This item is very, very similar to why the Apple gear is on the list. But in a way, maybe they should be at number one since they've taken a fairly simple concept and have made it better in ways I never considered for the simple act of vacuuming. Prior to acquiring our Dyson, I didn't get what the big deal was (much like folks are about Apple). But like my switch to Apple, I talked to some people who had first hand experience and decided to take the jump, despite the price. Glad we did. Dyson has taken the vacuum to a different level. The thing just sucks. It pulls crap out of the carpet that you never knew was there. The first time we used it was almost disgusting as what it pulled up that the old one never did. Aside from it's basic function, how it moves, how the accessories work, and the accessories it comes with all fall into the idea stated above: it's how it works. The 5 year no questions warrantee and the killer coupon we got at the time (thanks tofer1977) made the decision a lot easier. If you have the means, I highly suggest picking one up.

Things and Things Touch are software applications. Basically they are task lists. They are based around the core concepts of GTD and they both have a special elegance to them. I want to make software this well designed. They've kept a simple idea simple, but have embellished it without encumbering it.

Most folks know TIVO. They were first out of the gate with the idea of a DVR, but more importantly, they spent a lot of time on how one interacts with it. I've used quite a few other DVR systems other than TIVO and they all are complete crap in comparison. We have an older TIVO in our office that doesn't get a lot of use. But even though it works differently from our primary DVR, it still feels second nature where our primary one still feels clumsy after 2 years of use. If things go as announced I hope to be able to have TIVO once again as my primary DVR later this year.

I've had occasion this week where a couple of my geek items have decided to give up the ghost in on form or another.

The first is my work Mac. The Mac it self is fine, but for some reason the battery in it decided to throw itself into oblivion and not work anymore. It could be seen by the computer, but didn't have a charge in it and refused to take any more juice. I make an appt. at the Genius Bar at the Gateway Apple store (where they've remodeled) and head down yesterday afternoon.

Once my name is called, the run some tests and run to the back for a "service part" battery. Out of stock, so they pull a new one off the shelf, install it for me and give me the "receipt" for it, since it's warranty is good for a year. < 5 minutes and I'm out the door with a brand new battery. No muss, no fuss.

The second occurrence was with our Logitech Harmony remote. While not the uber-gucci model, it's still be a nifty thing to have to control our A/V stuff. The only problem with it is that it has been chewing through batteries like now tomorrow. The remote has a nice little message that display "Replace Batteries" when the 4 AAAs in it start to wear down. The problem has been that this message has come up more and more often. The last time it showed up 9 days after fresh batteries were replace.

I hop on line and Logitech customer service has a nifty web form to submit support issues. A few rounds of gathering information and I'm informed that a new remote is in the mail to me. Again, no muss, no fuss.

The interesting thing with the Logitech instance is that they've got no interest in getting the old remote back. These remotes connect to the Logitech site to do their configuration, so they can disable access for the old remote that way. But I am a touch disturbed that they want me to just dispose of it. Recycling issues aside, I would think they'd want it back to find out why it failed, or do recycling on their own. But...not my issues I guess. Anyone know where I can take random electronics for recycling?

From comcast of all people. Not terribly informative...but entertaining:

http://www.comcast.com/fastestfast/

Enjoy.

This past weekend, Aly and I flew to Vegas to celebrate a friends 30th. It was nothing short of wonderful, and we're both very, very sorry to be back to reality. However, that's not the point of this post.

( Here's the point, if you really want to read it. )

Due to scheduling needs, It made sense to go into the gym with Aly this morning. Whcih meant I was on the treadmill at 5:30....ack! I decided to push myself by starting at 5.5, dropping to 5.0 for most of the run, and then do the last 200m at 6.2, which would be my ideal pace to do a 30 min 5k. Then end result is that I shaved almost 5 minutes off my last time. I also ended the run with an HR of 190+. Perhaps I'm over-reaching just a touch.

Perhaps because of my quicker pace, but the nike+ system was WAY off, so distance is thanks to the treadmill, pace is due to my division.

So it started with the need to put a good chunk of change into our 9 year old Jeep. So it makes perfect sense that we decided to go with another solution, right?

We love it!

Since I could finally manage stairs without so much pain that I was walking funny, I figured I should go for another run. I did the same route as I did on Monday, but in the other direction. This made for an interesting comparison of short, steep ascents with long descents vs. the other way around.

I think I like this way a little better. I didn't have to stop, and shaved more than a minute off my time, so you gotta love that. But the short, intense drive with the long cool off seems to suit me a little better.

4 1/2 months later I decided to go for a run. Been contemplating it for a bit, and after talking some with rivuletca this morning about her running the SL Marathon 5k I decided to give it a go.

I'm pretty darn happy with it all. My pace wasn't too far off last time but since it was so long ago, and in thicker air (at sea level) and on level ground, I'll take the difference. Not to mention the fact that I walked for a few minutes after the last climb. I attribute the decent time to the fact that I weigh about 15 lbs. less than I did at my last run.

Speaking of climbing, for some reason I decided to do the hilly route, dunno why. 170 ft. elevation change:

I feel wasted, and stairs are "fun", but it was good...might even do it again sometime...

I've updated this post with a new link to the video with sound, which really is much more fun considering all the growling you can hear Daisy do in the background. Anyway, 5 minutes of hot puppy tuggin' action!

I don't know how many of you are fans, but Frank Warren, the creator of PostSecret, is coming to Utah on April 1. That's the good news. The bad news is that it's up in Logan.

Aly and I are probably going to go, but if there are others interested, let me know by wed noon, and I'll group order the tix. They're $5 each, but probably some sort of service charge on top of that.

Details here

First Facebook and now this...

follow me on Twitter

Am I going to hell, or am I already there? In a related note, I've added a "Twitter" section to the sidebar on www.everydave.com.

Well, it's finally happened. You can be a bit more of an adult in Utah:

Utah lawmakers approve sweeping liquor law changes

As requested by some *cough*Ra*cough*, I've posted a few puppy pics here. I'm hoping to have some video of Daisy and Guinness playing together up shortly as well...as soon as I can get it encoded to a reasonable size that doesn't mutilate the audio...

I generally hate memes/forwards/etc...But I'm feeling silly, so I figure I'll start one.

Tell me your favorite bad/silly/punny/groan inducing joke, then ask the same on your blog/journal/diary/whatever...

Here's mine:

What do both tupperware and a walrus look for?



A tight seal.


<rimshot>

That, dear readers, is Guinness. She's new to our family. An 8 week old Newfoundland. As many of you know Aly and I have pondered getting one for over a year, fates aligned this week and we brought home this "little" 9 week old bundle of fur and spunk last night.

It was a sleepless night, as you might imagine, with a brand new puppy and starting off with crate training right away. Since we bought the crate for how big she'll be when she grows, if things don't work out I'm pretty sure that I could subdivide the crate and get a decent monthly rent!

As for things not working out, that's still a possibility. Our other pup, as you may also know, is a 6.5 year old Yorkie named Daisy, is wonderful...'cept when change comes her way. She's not overly thrilled with the new addition, which we expected. But she's got an interesting way of showing it: she stops eating. So, we're keeping an eye on her, and hope she comes around and gets back to her self in short order. If not...well...she had dibs on us first..but I don't want to think about that right now.

So you can go here to see more pictures. They're all pretty crappy as they're done with my phone, and we can't seem to find either of our other real cameras, so these will have to do for now.

If anyone's got any suggestions for helping daisy adapt, aside from helping her establish alpha and giving her all the attention we can muster, we'd love to hear it.

Note the lack of quotes. Back here I posted a link to a failblog.org photo that was submitted and accepted. I received an email this morning asking for permission to use the photo in a failbook that's being put together.

Dunno if it'll actually happen, or if they're just gathering permission for those that might be included, but still it's kinda fun. I'll keep y'all posted...