Amazon MP3 $2 Credit

Want some free (legal) MP3s from Amazon?

Use the code CLOUDMP3 at this link. Instant $2 credit.

Nothing like some free stuff, eh? But you have to use it by June 30, so you'd better get cracking.

Google Music

I'm really grooving on Google Music lately. I like that I can listen to any song I have anywhere I can get to a web browser.

Plus the draconian IT overlords haven't blocked it here at work yet. It fits the strict definition of a "music streaming service" which is totally legit.

Things I like:
Instant mixes
Access to all my music
Room for 20,000 songs
Runs in a web browser
Android app

Things I dislike:
Work proxy makes it slow
Android app is laggy sometimes
Doesn't print money (for me, anyway)

Mobile Templates

Blogger now has mobile templates? In the immortal words of William S. Preston and Ted Theodore Logan:

NO WAY!

If any of you have issues with the layouts shoot me a note (I know, I'm only talking to like 5 people here).

Wind of Change

I'm sitting at work, coding and eating lunch and listening to some music.* The song "Wind of Change" comes on, by Scorpions. (Is it "The Scorpions" or just "Scorpions"? I'm a terrible fan)

This song brings out some pretty powerful emotions for me. For one, I remember when the song came out and I first heard it on the radio. I was 13-14 (a very impressionable age), and the lyrics and events described in the song moved me. For those of you that aren't familiar with the song, it's about the fall of Communism and the changes in Eastern Europe ca. 1990. I very clearly remember riding with my uncle Steve and cousin Kevin in Poway listening to the news about the Berlin Wall falling not much before then. As a child of the end of the Cold War the Russians (Soviets, then) were always the enemies of my Army-brat childhood. To think of the people of Berlin reunited with friends and families they had been separated from by the Berlin Wall nearly moved me to tears.

Did you ever think

That we could be so close

Like brothers.

...

Where the children of tomorrow

Dream and wave

In the Wind of Change

I was able to see the effects of some of those changes firsthand on my mission in Bulgaria. I served there from the fall of 1998 to the late summer of 2000. When I got there I loved to hear some of the more experienced missionaries talk about how it had been in the 18 months previous to my arrival. Standing in line for food wasn't uncommon. Missionaries didn't work publicly as much die to pressure from the local authorities. The Brutalist architecture favored by the communists was everywhere, creating an oppressive atmosphere for life.

But the call of freedom was there. Whether it was in support of the "free" football team, FC Levski,** or in talking to the youth that had some hope for the future, you could always see freedom's undertones in Bulgarian society, or at least the potential for freedom.

I was told that Bulgaria was ruled by a corrupt political class. These politicians engaged in wholesale rape of the country's resources. It was a beautiful country; I marveled at what could be done with the proper investment and people. What could have been and what could be was frequently at the front of my mind.

And now as I sit and listen to the song I wonder what is in store for us as a people and a nation. You can't deny that the times, they're a changin', and I don't know what it will bring next. I am somewhat of a realist (a realist-idealist?), and I fear that it probably won't be full of happy times. The phrase "These are the good old days" comes to mind.

I intended to make some kind of statement here but ended up rambling a little.

* My listening tastes generally favor Electronic music while coding, or pipe organ music. I have been known to listen to Toccata and Fugue in D minor on repeat for hours on end while coding. I needed a mental break during lunch so I switched from Daft Punk to something I hadn't heard in a while and this is what I got.

** I'm a closet CSKA fan. In The Cardinal of the Kremlin I was slightly jealous of Filitov and his enthusiasm for hocky and the Red Army team. I got to live that dream in Bulgaria, too, but with football/soccer.

The Stove Obsession

I like gadgets. As a Scoutmaster I have the opportunity to go camping a lot. I don't have a stove.
So I built one.
I started looking into "pop can stoves" on them internets a while ago and decided to make one. My first attempt was mildly successful.
The basic theory is that you make some enclosure that will hold alcohol. This enclosure self-heats and the alcohol vaporizes and comes out of some holes or jets.
I used the bottoms of two pop cans. You fit one inside the other and poke some holes around the top one. Add a fueling hole and you're ready to go.
Well I want quite satisfied with my first one; it used too much fuel and wasn't very efficient. So I built a second one.

It looks nice, but the jets point out sideways too much, which expends most of the heat on the sides of the wind screen. Not ideal. But with fewer jets it burns much longer. Much more efficient than my first attempt even.
I'll make another one soon using a narrower diameter can (the new small Coke cans look perfect). Fiberglass inside seems to help moderate the flame a little, too.

The Program

I'm about to embark on a public journey to fitness.

"Why would you do this?" you ask. Well, fitness is fitness. There are tons of reasons to get/be in shape. Over the weekend I went on a hike with my Boy Scouts (still a Scoutmaster) and while it was a short hike - about 1 mile each way - the elevation change was fairly significant - 600 feet up. Needless to say there were quite a few times that I was left huffing and puffing.

"I've got to get in shape!" I say to spyderfry on the way up the hill.

"Cardio is Rule #1" he quotes Zombieland, one of his favorites.

Anyway, fitness. Better health. A sexier physique. Being the "strong man" in the family. And the vacation to the beach later in the year.

And why would I make this public? Well, like Scott Adams says, everyone is looking for their own preferred pain. Mine just happens to be public motivation.

Join me on my trek. What is my program? It's a balanced approach, drawing equally from Couch to 5 K for the cardio and from The Testosterone Advantage Plan for the weights. I know, I know, Testosterone Advantage Plan, begin hurling middle age loser epithets my way etc. But if you look at the workout plan it presents I think it's a pretty compelling case. Sure, as I read the book the Wikipedia voice in my head says "citation needed" at least five times per page, but it sounds good at least. And C25K has a couple of pretty good Android apps, which works well with the nerd factor in me.

Both C25K and TAP are 9 week programs, so that's nice. And I have a comprehensive gym at my place of employment, so that's nice too. And as long as I can live with the thermodynamic constant of energy in = energy out I should be doing pretty good in a few months.

My wife is busy with a program of her own, P90X. I was going to join her, but I couldn't commit to that kind of structure. And I've never been one to work out in front of the TV. But I do need some pressure. A little public visibility, maybe, and a cadence. I need someone who knows better than I to tell me when to go, when to stop, when to slow down (there's an app for that). So here's to working out and losing weight, and Stay Tuned for More Fantastic Updates!

Mobile Posting

So I'm posting this from my phone. This is really just an experiment for me.

Guns Guns Guns

This last weekend a dream of mine was finally realized.

I got a handgun.

It's a Taurus PT1911, blued. The finish actually looks like some kind of parkerizing, not traditional blueing. It wasn't super expensive, and from my extensive research the PT1911 is a good middle-of-the-run gun. It has a bunch of features that are usually found in custom 1911s, nut the ones that were of interest to me were the Commander hammer, the beavertail safety, and the Novak sights.

I've had the opportunity to put 50 rounds through it (just plinking) and it seems to shoot fine. I've heard it takes a few rounds to "break in" the gun, so I'm not shooting for accuracy yet, and I'm just shooting the cheap Blazer ammo I got at Sportsman's.

Why did I get it? A few reasons:

1. I like to shoot. I have a Remington 870 and a Marlin model 60 that I like to shoot. I hope to get a deer gun and do some big game hunting next year. And a 1911 is fun to shoot, even if the ammo is a little pricey.

2. Defense. I plan on getting my CCW and carrying fairly often.

3. Excercising a right. It's in the Constitution, look it up. A right not excercised is one that is easily taken away.

Next stop: a Hunter's Ed class!

Excel as a moral compass...

This afternoon a friend of mine (who is a Computer Engineer) and I were talking about walking away from an underwater mortgage. The discussion included the implications of bankruptcy, credit ratings, how companies look at assets and make similar decisions, and finally the morality of making such a decision. He was specifically going to try to convince a relative that it would be in their best interest to walk away from their mortgage.


Some paraphrasing:
Him: "Banks just look at it like a spreadsheet."
Me: "But I made a commitment to fulfill an obligation, regardless of how they look at it."
Him: "I'm going to make a spreadsheet to show them that it's better to walk away."
... Some moments of silence ...
Him: "I just saved my Excel document... it said I had a minor loss of fidelity."


I thought that was pretty dang funny. Of course, Excel was referring to compatability differences between the Office 2003 and Office 2007 versions of files, but I like to think it was trying to tell us all something more profound.

Time to lift...

...with a new soundtrack:

Metallica, Whiskey in the Jar
Metallica, Fuel (one of the greatest workout songs ever)
Alice in Chains, Rooster
AC/DC, Big Gun
Avenged Sevenfold, AfterlifeA
venged Sevenfold, Nightmare
Bad Religion, The Empire Strikes First
Muse, Supermassive Black Hole
NOFX, The Separation of Church and Skate

All on shuffle and repeat.