You can read more about SOPA and PIPA from Wikipedia or Google.

If you agree- and want to show your support (after contacting congress and signing online petitions) — censor your FB profile picture!

Here’s how in Windows–
Download your current profile picture, and save to your desktop. Then go to Start > Programs > Accessories > Paint
Open your profile picture
Click the Rectangle button
Click on Color 1, then click Black
Click on Color 2, then click Black
Draw a box over your eyes, and eyes of others in your picture.
Do a save-as, and rename it.
Upload to facebook, and tag yourself.
Add a comment or two below the picture to explain what is going on, and why you are censoring your picture

If you want to get fancy, you can use GIMP or Photoshop to rotate your censor box, and add a nice drop shadow. But the Paint trick gets the job done fast too!

Four Roses Bourbon & Blazing Saddles

I’ve got a few evenings coming up where I can watch a movie that my wife might not normally be interested in watching.  Tonight was a nice glass of good bourbon, and a classic I remember watching with my dad for the first time a long time ago. I’m pretty sure the first time around a lot of the jokes were over my head. I’ve seen it many times between now and then- but I seem to easily forget entire sections of movies soemtimes, so it was good to catch up again with this great classic.

What other movies should I invest some time in? Other ones I haven’t seen in a while, or something new? I was looking at The Art Of Manliness- Best Movies to Watch – and there are a few I’ve seen and remember, one or two I think I’ve seen, and have no clear recolation of, and tons I have never seen. Check out the list- any that you think I should try first?

Ability to stream on Netflix increases the chances I’ll watch it

I use WordPress for almost all my websites now.  Here is a short list of my favorite wordpress plugins. These go on almost every single site I work with.

Growmap Anti Spambot Plugin – “Very simple plugin that adds a client side generated checkbox to the comment form requesting that the user clicks it to prove they are not a spammer. Bots wont see it so their spam comment will be discarded.”

SexyBookmarks – “SexyBookmarks adds a (X)HTML compliant list of social bookmarking icons to each of your posts.”

Simple Page Ordering – “Order your pages and hierarchical post types using drag and drop on the built in page list. Also adds a filter for items to show per page. For further instructions, open the “Help” tab on the Pages screen.”

Smart Youtube – “Insert YouTube videos in posts, comments and RSS feeds with ease and full customization.“

Social Homes - “Adds a sidebar widget containing a subtle list of all your social homes as linked favicons. Current services include anything and everything! Just add the full URL to the list of services and Social Homes will figure out what the icon is automatically”

WordPress Database Backup - “On-demand backup of your WordPress database.”

WPtouch - “A plugin which formats your site with a mobile theme for visitors on Apple iPhone / iPod touch, Google Android, Blackberry Storm and Torch, Palm Pre and other touch-based smartphones.”

Not only will recent rain help your grass grow, and establish a solid root foundation to prevent future weeds and dandelions, but it makes the ground very soft and easy to work with. This is the time to go out and pull those weeds out, because there is a good chance you will get the whole root out too!

I use the Weed Hound to pull up my weeds. Never have to bend over, and it yanks those ugly suckers out very easily! The only problem is every now and then it pulls up a rock, which is hard to dislodge. But that’s the fault of the construction company that thought a good place to hide gravel was 2 inches below the sod.

If you pull everything up well, it will leave holes all over your yard- but these will clear up in just a few weeks. In fact, if you haven’t already done some over-seeding this year, right after pulling all the weeds is good- because seeds will fall into those holes. Kind of like selective aerating. But in the end, a few holes with no weeds is completely worth it!

Hound Dog- Weed Hound

Weed Hound

I am in the middle of week 3 of bootcamp! I’ve made it to three a week, and I’m up to full reps!* I feel pretty good- especially right after class. The instructor does not like scales, but likes to measure once a month. For this reason, I’ve suspending weighing myself while doing this first month of bootcamp. But I hope I’m weigh down. (I’ll be here all night, folks.)

I regret not weighing myself the day before my first class, or even taking a picture. One person in the class already commented that I looked like I was slimming down- which is good to hear. But I see myself everyday, so I’ve missed it.

Monday, being a holiday, I did the 9am class. This was the most I’ve been able to push myself. There is certainly a correlation between how early it is in the morning, and my ability to push through hard exercises. I am very sore in the abs- because abs is the last thing worked out every day. By the time I normally get there- I’m worn out, and probably don’t do full reps with full form. But I did Monday! I made sure I did today also.

My biggest problem with mornings has been how I feel. In addition to being tired (because I’m a 7:58 kind of guy) – finding what to eat just before class is tough. I’ve never been a big breakfast eater (tsk tsk) and when you work out, your blood sugar drops. And when it’s first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach- it doesn’t take much to feel horrible. I’ve tried apple slices, a couple servings of OJ. These help- but I’ve never felt 100% by the end of class. I just want to make sure I am not confusing genuine muscle exhaustion with not having enough of the right food in me before the workout started. I have a feeling I’ll have it figured out about the time the class ends.

For my 29th birthday- one of my gifts was “bootcamp”

This style of fitness class is becoming very popular recently- and it’s easy to see why. The course I’m in allows to you attend as many classes as you would like in a 30 day period. The instructor has a MWF 5:30am class, MTWTF 9am and 5:30pm, and a Saturday 8:30am. I have committed to the MWF at 5:30, picking up a PM or Saturday if I have to miss one morning because of work or other unforeseen issue.

The first class is free, and the instructor recommended that I only do half of the reps listed on her marker board for each exercise. I followed these instructions- both because I’m sure it was a good idea, and by the end of the one hour, it was all I could handle. I went on the Wednesday before New Year’s Eve. Even though there was a class on Friday (NYE) and Saturday (New Year’s Day) – I had always planned to return on the first Monday of 2011. Glad that I set it up that way, because I could barely walk on Thursday or Friday. In fact, I refused to carry my 7 month old down stairs, because of how unstable I was when moving down. By the time I returned on Monday- I was feeling pretty good again, and have not had that much extreme soreness since. The initial shock is over.

I have not weighed myself in a long time. I might try to get back to Weigh-In-Wednesdays, but the instructor said she likes to measure once a month, and never weigh-in. There are other ways to measure success beyond the pain, and the monthly measurements. After completing one full week (plus my free class) I am at almost full reps on the leg exercises, and full reps on the upper body exercises. I have increased my push-ups by 600%. I figure that at this rate, I will be able to do just over 2,500 push-ups by the end of the month.

So after a week- I am very impressed with my progress, and impressed that I have made it out of bed at 5 am 5/5 times. This week I’m going to focus a bit more on my diet- and try to get the complete health and fitness package nailed down by the end of next week. (No soda for two weeks as of today!)

My garage has been making some odd sounds when it closes. Similar to what it sounds like when it closes on something, and then bounces back up. I started watching it, and it looked like it was flexing downward in the very middle, and the new shape of the door was causing the quick noise and the whole door would shake. Today- after what I can only assume is a worsening condition every time I close the door- it stopped closing. Now, when it reaches that point that it’s bending towards the floor while still open, it bounces back up like it does just before crushing a small child. Upon closer inspection, I found that the hinge looks slightly bent. Now- I’m told this is a $25 part, and it will certainly be very easy to replace once I get one. But I want to figure out how or why this happened. I feel like the noise has been going on for about 2 or 3 weeks- and I’m sure it’s been getting worse that whole time. There was some flexing/bending/damage to the door about 5 or 6 years ago- and I don’t know if that damage has come back now with a vengeance on my patience. We shall see soon.

Pictured below are the bad hinge, and a good one. You can see above the second bolt, a bit of a bend in the hinge. Looks like with the right part, and 8 minutes, I can have this fixed!

When the Calgary Hitmen score their first goal in the game designated as the Teddy Bear toss- the donations begin. On the ice. 40 minutes later, it’s cleaned up- and the game can continue. What a fun tradition and a great way to collect bears for kids in need! (23,000+ teddybears!)

I’m doing a little bit of research before my next post- and want your help!
How do you check-in to venues and events?
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Of course I would also like to know what type of phone or other device you use.
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