Diamond in the Rough

Posted on Wednesday, May 20, 2009 by Alex

My daughter and I at Spring Training

Just over a year ago, I wrote about why I’m a Kansas City Royals fan. A few days after that (one year ago yesterday), the Royals were no-hit by Jon Lester and the Red Sox, which marked the beginning of a twelve-game losing streak. Yesterday, the Royals scored four runs in a ninth-inning comeback. While this isn’t quite redemption for all those people out there who like to rip on the Royals, this season has been a start. Here are a few reasons why:

Back in March, we went to go see the Royals play at their Spring Training home of Surprise, Arizona. They had a bit of a comeback in their win against the Dodgers that day as well, although not quite as dramatic, and not as late in the game, but I was there to enjoy it.

Zack Greinke on the cover of SI

Zack Greinke is amazing. He’s got a Sports Illustrated Cover, his walks are down, his strikeouts are up, and he sports a nasty slider.

More people are watching. You may have even seen them on ESPN this season, especially for that long stretch when they were in first place. They have a newly renovated stadium. Even with injuries to key players like Alex Gordon, they have a real Major League-level lineup, instead of Tony Pena or Ross Gload every day.

There are lots more changes as well, but they all add up to one thing: excitement. That’s something that hasn’t been around much for Royals fans since 2003, but it’s been steadily rising in the last year and a half. If you ask me, that’s a formula for a fun summer.

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Why so grumpy?

Posted on Friday, February 6, 2009 by Alex

Facebook has been swept over by a wave of people posting 25 things about themselves. Are those guys too vain? Should I be upset at how much time they waste? I can’t believe they would post such stupid stuff. That’s the approach that Claire Suddath decided to take in her article about the 25 things craze on Time.com. She mocks the 25 things meme, and insults the lists that her friends have written. It could be all in jest, but it doesn’t come out that way. I’m convinced that Ms. Suddath is just a grumpy person. It’s certainly true that lots of people (including myself) that are on Facebook sometimes post things like this because they feel like showing off, but should we mock them for it? And if Claire doesn’t want to read all these things, why does she click on the links? If she doesn’t care about her college roommate’s sister, why is she friends with them? She says it’s because “Facebook is a loose social network” and that “a ‘friend’ on Facebook might translate to someone you’d barely recognize in real life.”, but she’s the one that chose to define her network that way when she accepted to add the invitation to be friends.

A much better approach is this story, shared with my by Margret on Facebook (gasp!). For those of you who are wondering, yes, I actually know Margret in real life. In this “Direct Reply to ’25 Random Things’“, Rex Huppke takes a different approach at making fun of Facebook users with his form-letter approach to crafting a response to a friend’s 25 things list. It works because of its lighter tone, rather than the grumpiness of Ms. Suddath’s article.

I guess it’s time to start my own 25 things list, but only after I finish my own grumpy letter:

Dear Mr. President,

There are too many states nowadays. Please eliminate three.

P.S. I am not a crackpot.

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A Month of Wii Fit

Posted on Saturday, January 24, 2009 by Alex

I’ve been using Wii Fit casually for a month now, and it has found its way into my exercise routine. I don’t use it quite every day, but it’s pretty close – for the last two weeks I only skipped one day of exercise – not all of it was on the Wii Fit, but it’s because of the Wii Fit that I got so close. That’s not too bad considering all the schedule changes we’ve had with a newborn in the house. Here’s what I like about it:

  • It’s easy to use. My favorite part about the Wii Fit is how easy to use it is. The balance board fits under our TV stand, so it’s out of the way, but you still notice it if it’s not there. You can do the Body Test portion of the game without the game disc, which is a plus because that means you can do a Body Test even if there’s another game loaded in the Wii. There are plenty of mini-games that are entertaining, but I’ve been doing a lot of the Free Step, which is great because you can do it while you (or someone else) watch TV. That means I don’t have to interrupt our schedule too much if I want to get in a 30 minute exercise in.
  • It keeps you coming back. There are plenty of games in Wii Fit to try to master, but the part that keeps me coming back is the graphs and charts of each day. I have a Fitness game on the XBox, but I didn’t use it as much because there wasn’t a real incentive to come back each day. Keeping track of my weight each day keeps me more conscious about my eating and exercise habits, which is great. The longer I use it for, the more interesting the data becomes, as well.
  • It’s fun! There’s a lot of different games on here, and the idea of beating my own records is a lot of fun. Julia started exercising this week with the Wii Fit, so that means more friendly competition! She’s already beat a few of my records. Even little 22-lb. Emmy gets into the game, and she’s great at the Soccer Ball and Skiing games (as long as she remembers not to get off the board!) This isn’t the best game if you’re looking for entertainment or excitement, but if you think of it more as an exercise tool, then you’ll keep coming back, too. It’s fun to show it to new people, and even my mom talks about playing the Wii Fit when she comes to visit.

The first month with Wii Fit has been great. I’ve already lost over seven pounds, even with quite a few days of overindulgence. For me it has been a great motivator, and I plan to keep using it for many more months. Next month for me will be a big test because my coursework will be a lot heavier, but it’s so easy to incorporate into my regular routine that I plan on sticking with it.

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Weekly Goals: Week 4

Posted on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 by Alex

I did pretty well at my goals this week. We finished reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe yesterday (OK, so maybe it’s a slacker goal – the book was only about 100 pages, but still), and I worked out for at least 20 minutes on 5 different days, only missing Saturday for a full six, although I was exhausted after playing basketball for over an hour on Thursday.

Last week’s Goals:

  • Finish The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It was a great book.
  • Work out at least 20 minutes for four days this week. Did it!

This week’s Goals:

  • Work out at least 20 minutes for four days this week.
  • Finish 3 more levels of the Python Challenge.
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Why not the iMac

Posted on Thursday, January 15, 2009 by Alex

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a long time, but it has required a lot of thought. After my older computer’s latest death, I needed a new computer for some website work I was doing. For over a year I debated in my head if I wanted to buy a Mac or build my own computer, and I tried to get input from my wife as well. Over and over in my head it was the Mac vs. PC debate, but in my case it was really more about what Linux and Windows together can do versus what a Mac can do. The Mac I was most strongly considering was the iMac, mostly because the mini isn’t quite powerful enough and the Mac Pro is a bit above my price range.

I ended up building a computer myself, and overall I’m quite happy with the decision. I don’t have anything against the Mac, but it just wasn’t for me this time around. Here are a few reasons why not the iMac:

  • Cost. For the money of a 24″ iMac (I wanted the larger screen because anything smaller than 22″ felt really tiny after my dual 24″ setup at work) I found that I could get a pretty good system.
  • Building a computer is fun! I’ve built four computers myself now (and helped in the building of several others), and it has always been fun. I found myself window shopping quite a bit for computer parts, and building my own computer was a great release for that.
  • Customization. I find myself being picky about my computers sometimes. I like to choose a monitor and peripherals that fit me, and I didn’t feel that an iMac met my needs here.
  • Future Upgrades. I can open up my new computer and upgrade anything I want. That just doesn’t happen with an iMac.
  • Learning. This fits in with several of the above reasons, but I think it’s a reason in itself. By building my own computer, I learned a lot. By using Linux daily, I’m learning a lot, too. I already have a place to learn the Mac better (I have a Mac Pro at work), but most of my studies have involved Linux or other UNIX systems, so it has helped me a lot to play around with a real Linux system. I could have just virtualized Linux like I do at work, but I was ready to take off the training wheels and really use Linux almost full-time at home.
  • Free software upgrades. Note that this really only applies to the Linux side of things, not the Windows side (which is OK, since I’m using Linux 95% of the time). I love that I can get the new features of a new release of Ubuntu without any extra dollar cost. I also love many open source programs like the GIMP more than their paid alternatives. (Note: I’m not trying to hate on Photoshop, but the GIMP fits in much better with what I need it to do. Using the Mac version of the GIMP is just not fun.) There are plenty of free Mac programs, but almost everything is free on Linux.

If I had decided (and I was really close) to buy an iMac, I needed to justify it to myself. Here’s why the iMac:

  • Mac OS and Apple Software. This is a pretty big plus in my book. I like iPhoto and iMovie a lot compared to their Linux counterparts. I’ve found out that I have to deal with Vista a bit if I want to make a movie on my computer. The one drawback here is Finder. Just let it be known that I really don’t like Finder and all the Save dialogs in Mac OS – there are just too many ways to interface with it, and it’s really tricky to figure them all out. I’ll probably have it all figured out by the time they redo the interface. If iPhoto and iMovie updates were cheaper or free, I might have gone with the iMac.
  • Wife Acceptance Factor: I didn’t make this term up, but the iMac’s form factor fit really well into a family setting. The fact that everything is integrated means fewer cords, which is a big plus in this respect. I made my way around this one by getting a monitor with integrated everything and doing a better job of cord management up front.

In the end, I will say that the things I miss out on the most by not having a Mac at home is the software – particularly the iLife suite. iMovie and iPhoto are really easy-to-use applications, and that’s probably what I need. I’ve found myself using F-Spot on Linux, which is just OK, and Windows MovieMaker on Vista, which again, is OK. I like Vista quite a bit as a part-time operating system, but it’s way too annoying to use every day. If you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Vista’s annoying UAC “are you sure you want to do that” dialogs, trust me, you’ll hate them if you ever meet them.

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