Peter’s Soapbox

200 Squats – Completed

Last night as I prepared to do my final exhaustion test before strting week 6 of the 200 squats challenge, I decided to just go all out. In my previous tests, I’d always stopped short of really exhausting myself, so I decided this time would be different.

It was. I finished them. Straight to 200. Actually, I may have done 215. I lost count around 160 and it could have been 170, so I did 15 more for good measure.

Now, I shall spend the rest of the day on the couch.

Cell Hell

On Saturday night I lost my iPhone. Fortunately it was found (yay!). Unfortunately, it doesn’t work anymore. After months of terrible battery life, now it won’t power up at all, despite my best efforts and those of Apple tech support. To add insult to injury, my Nokia e71, which was working fine, now won’t start up either, and tells me to “Contact retailer.” Wonderful.

Fortunately Apple is sending an advance exchange replacement iPhone, thanks to my buying AppleCare.

In short, don’t try calling me on my cell any time in the next few days.

All I Want for Christmas

Note: this post is for the benefit of friends and family members who say they “have no idea what to get me.”

World peace. I’ll settle for a lot of aikido practice.

A car mount and charger for my iPhone 3Gs. My iPod recently vanished. I suspect the worst – that it fell out of my pocket during a recent snowstorm. Therefore, I need to use my iPhone as an iPod as well. That’s okay, except the battery life is terrible. Also, when I do try to use it as a GPS, it would be nice if I could have it dash-mounted.

Learning Python (Animal Guide). Okay, seriously, I asked for this book for like three years in a row, and nobody got it for me when it was only 384 pages. Now it’s over 1200 pages, and we’ll all suffer because of it! Me because it’s tripled in size, and you because of shipping costs.

Daemon The security community loves this book because, while it’s a work of fiction, all of the attacks are real and the scenarios possible, which is what makes it really scary. The companion book, Freedom (TM) also comes out in a couple of weeks.

An espresso machine. A big one. The professional kind you see in coffee shops. A dual-header. I understand if this one has to be a combined Christmas and birthday gift because it would be silly for me to expect someone to spend $8000 or more on just one gift-giving event. That’s okay. I understand.

A Zircon Ultrasonic Measure with Laser Targeting. Tape measures are so 20th century.

Gift certificates to thinkgeek.com or Amazon.com

Book Review: Christopher Moore’s Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings.

I recently read Christopher Moore’s Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings. As always, he delivers a clever, funny, entertaining work of fiction which should not be missed. Continue reading Book Review: Christopher Moore’s Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings….