Super Ginormous

Category: Personal

Posts of a more personal nature.

  • Nike+ – Getting Started

    Nike+ iPod BoxThis morning marked my first official walk with Nike+. I have added a new page to the site utilizing widgets from NikePlus.com showing my goals and last 5 runs/walks. Initially, I’ve set the following goals for myself:

    • Walk 100 miles in 16 weeks.
    • Walk at least 50 times in the next 16 weeks.
    • Burn at least 5000 calories in the next 4 weeks.

    Since I set these goals up after my first walk, it won’t count towards them. Kind of a bummer, but not a huge deal. Also realized that I need to recalibrate my sensor. When I first set it up the other night, I only walked a half mile, so my pace was much faster overall. When I walked this morning, I ended up walking close to 2.5 miles, but the sensor only registered 1.95. Again, not a huge deal, but I am hoping to get the sensor better calibrated to me so future walks will be more accurately measured.

  • Nike + iPod

    nike+ipod closeup in packagingScott and Patrick have Nike+ for their iPod nanos, and recently started competing against each other via NikePlus.com. Kim’s had an iPod nano for a little while now. I’ve thought about getting Nike+ for it for some time, but never acted on it. Then Mike made me an offer I couldn’t refuse: If I got Nike+ and walked 100 miles he’d PAY me $2/mile. Yesterday, I picked one up from CompUSA. Last night I calibrated it by walking a half mile. Tonight I start logging miles.

    In the meantime, I’m going to see if there is someway to display my progress here on the site. I know this is something I can and will do, and it’s about time I get off my ass and do something about my weight.

    Once I log at least two runs/walks I will start displaying my progress on the sidebar via a WordPress Plugin for Nike+. Look for this to be on the site within the next two to three days. (I’d display it now, but I haven’t logged anything yet, and the plugin returns PHP errors if no data is found.)

  • The Price of Fuel

    phone.jpgI drive a lot. I commute 50+ miles a day, and I fill-up my GMC Sierra 1500 with gas at least once a week.

    Ever since Sidebar Creative’s MyMileMarker.com was released, I’ve been using it to keep track of my fuel usage. It is the first solution that I’ve stuck with to keep track of my mileage, fuel costs and average mpg. Prior to using MyMileMarker.com, I used various tracking methods, including spreadsheets, keeping receipts and marking mileage down on them, and keeping a log in my truck. None of these methods were easy to use, and I never kept up with them for more than a month or two.

    That’s why I’m loving MyMileMarker. It’s easy to use. I can input entries via my mobile phone or Twitter.

    Here’s my current status, with projections for the next year:

    Vehicle Miles Projected Miles Projected Costs Average MPG
    33087 51939 $3316.13 15.2

    What’s interesting to note is that since July 13th, 2007, when I paid $2.879, gas prices have dropped all the way down to $2.199 per gallon here in Augusta. That’s a 68-cent drop in under a month!

  • Pardon the Dust (again)

    Sorry for the light posting, yet again. Between work and other things going on in my life, I’ve hardly had time to devote to the site.

    I’ve been fixing some longstanding issues with the site over the past couple of days. The site should now work fine in all modern browsers. I noticed some issues (caused primarily by some errant code I copied into a post) with the homepage that were causing the site to stop loading in Safari. That’s resolved. I’ve fixed some float issues with the main content area and the sidebar. I’ve also fixed some alignment issues here and there. It’s all pretty minor stuff that most people probably wouldn’t worry about, but it’s been bothering me and that’s cause enough to address and fix them.

    I recently upgraded to WordPress 2.2.2 and it has worked out pretty well. I would definitely recommend upgrading your site if you haven’t done so already.

    I’ve also been playing with Habari a bit lately, and I am really digging it. The 0.2 Developer Review release is pretty stable and cuts out a lot of feature bloat that exists in WordPress. I’m seriously considering a switch to it in the near future. I ran the WordPress import plugin that it comes with, and it pulled over everything without a hitch. My only issue is how it deals with permalinks. If I could get my URL structure to match what I currently have, I’d make the switch today.

    Anyhow… that’s all for now.

  • First Impressions on Habari

    I downloaded and installed the newly released Habari 0.2 Developer Review on a test domain, and I’m impressed. Setup took less time than a typical WordPress install. Importing posts, pages and comments from my existing WP site took only a few moments. While I don’t think I’ll be making the switch to Habari just yet, I will definitely be taking steps towards migrating this site over to it soon.

  • Nintendo Rocks

    Nintendo rocks. Seriously.Some time ago, my father-in-law started experiencing randomly shutdowns while playing games (even while fully charged) on his DS Lite. He mentioned it to me for the first time tonight, and I took a look at it. Sure enough… most of the time I hit the B button, it would shut itself off. I briefly searched online to see if anyone else had been experiencing this same sort of problem to no avail.So I called up Nintendo and explained the situation to them. They looked the system up to see when it had been purchased and the representative told me it just went out of warranty a couple of days – but not to worry… they were going to repair and/or replace the DS Lite anyways! You don’t know how happy that made me. A new or repaired DS Lite will be on its way in 2-3 weeks. Can you ask for anything better?I had read stories about how good Nintendo was to its customers, and this was the first time experiencing it first-hand. It makes me glad to own a Nintendo Wii, a DS and a DS Lite. I know the money went to a company that will definitely take care of its customers.Thank you, Nintendo.

  • The Random 8

    Ah, it’s been a while since a meme came my way… You can blame Andy for this one ;)Meme Rules:

    1. Players start with 8 random facts about themselves.
    2. Those who are “tagged” should post these rules and their own 8 random facts.
    3. Players should tag 8 other people and notify them they have been tagged.

    My Random 8

    1. I broke my arm when I was four. I was living in Ft. Rucker, Alabama at the time and was playing on some moving boxes that were in a neighbors front yard. I fell off of a box and landed on a rock directly with my elbow.
    2. I’ve been rapelling in France. The first time, I rapelled down a 100-foot tower on a French military base. The second attempt was down a rock face… and I got too scared to go down.
    3. I lived in Germany three different times while growing up. I lived there for over eight years total. I have also lived in Colorado, Alabama, Georgia, and Virginia.
    4. I used to wrestle in high school.
    5. I broke a kid’s leg while wrestling my sophomore year of high school.
    6. I’ve drank a gallon of milk in under an hour and didn’t keep it down. I’ve also attempted to eat a spoonful of cinnamon, and didn’t keep it down either.
    7. Before moving to Augusta, I had never lived in a place longer than three years with one exception: the five years I lived in Newport News, Virginia. I’ve lived in Augusta, Georgia for over a decade now. (I first moved here in May 1997.)
    8. I learned page layout and design on an Apple Macintosh IIe over the summer of 1995. I was selected as the 1996 editor-in-chief of the yearbook, and the advisor, Ms. Heather Gustin, allowed me to take a computer home to learn the ins and outs of Aldus Pagemaker 5.0, Pagemaker 6.0 and Adobe Photoshop 3.0. It was my first taste of computer-aided design, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

    I’m going to break rule #3 and spare others from the meme, but if you feel inclined to participate, I’d love to hear your Random 8. Thanks again, Andy!

  • Webmaster Jam Session 2007

    Webmaster Jam Session 2007

    I got the go ahead last week to register for Webmaster Jam Session 2007! I’m really looking forward to attending the two-day conference. (I don’t get to leave the office all that often.) The speakers list is impressive! There’s going to be so much going on… so much to learn.

    I’m especially looking forward to Bryan Veloso and Dan Rubin’s “Design is in the Details“, Jeff Croft’s “Typography: Beyond the Font” and so much more… I follow the blogs of so many of these designers and developers… it’s going to be sweet to learn from them face to face.

    I’m making the trek alone as of right now. If you’re planning to attend, let me know!

  • Year Three

    It’s not a huge deal, but I like to keep track of this sort of stuff… Yesterday marked my three-year anniversary at PowerServe. Since graduating high school in 1996, I’ve worked ten different jobs. I spent, on average, about 17.7 months at each job. Early on, many of the jobs I had only lasted around four to six months, and for a while I worked more than one job…

    I worked as a graphic designer for Old Dominion University’s Mace & Crown for 6 months. I worked as a 3rd shift stocker at Food Lion for 4 months. (Working from 11pm until 7am really sucked!) I took elementary and middle school pictures for Lifetouch for 6 months. I worked as a data entry clerk for Norrell Staffing for a year. I was the Managing Editor/Webmaster for Quail Unlimited for 2 years 6 months. During the time I was working, for QU I also worked part-time for Blockbuster Video for a year and a half to feed my video addiction… I also worked part-time as a webmaster for the Department of Political Science at Augusta State University for a year and a half. From there, I went on to Double-Dot.com for 2 years 11 months. Spent a year at The Alison Group, and then by sheer chance landed a job at PowerServe, where I’ve been for 3 years and counting…

    It doesn’t seem like much, but it’s been a heck of a journey for me so far. I’m grateful for the time I’ve had here so far and look forward to growing even more with the company. I couldn’t have wished for a better place to end up.

  • Help Me Help You

    So, here’s the thing… I don’t want the site to grow any more stagnant that it already has been over the past few weeks, so I need some of your feedback.

    1. What do you think I could/should do to improve this site?
    2. Are there any specific areas of the site or topics of interest that you’d like to see more written about (e.g. Photoshop and/or web design & development tutorials)?
    3. Is the design usable enough for you?
    4. How do you use the site? Do you subscribe to my RSS feed? Read re-posted content on Virb or Facebook?

    Thanks in advance for your feedback. If you don’t feel like leaving your comments/criticisms on this post, feel free to email them to me at chris at cdharrison dot com.