I just had a very humourous call w/ Bell technical support. I was trying to find out some more information about the combined modem and wireless router product they have been promoting. The sales department quickly routed my call to technical support. Apparently Bell are selling this product for home networking customers, but clearly, apart from stratosphere level marketing information, they haven't got a clue about the product.
Keep in mind that Bell Canada is Canada's most "experienced" communication company and one of the first companies to offer internet connectivity for the public.
The "technical" person I was speaking with did not understand my simple technical question - what wireless specification does your product support, e.g. is it a wireless N or G router ? They hadn't get a clue about different wireless specifications, 802.11n/g. Maybe it was my accent ! Oddly he did quote 128bit security which I suspect he was reading from a cheat sheet in front of him. I did ask him to forward information, but he didn't seem to acknowledge my request so after a few more uncomfortable words trying to politely say he was useless, I hung up.
This total lack of understanding of home wireless networking technology is oddly disturbing coming from Bell Canada technical support. I have been using their ISP service for a long time and am quite happy with it, but obviously I crossed some line in technical expectations. I wouldn't be surprised to get a call from another Bell rep this afternoon.
So, I'm still a little stuck on my networking dilemma. My current Netgear G router is acting up a little, dropping connections now and again and problematic for the PS3 wireless connection. I recently picked up an Apple Airport Express but it's configured as a wireless client and connected to the stereo to stream iTunes. Plus it's not conveniently close to my modem and my desktop PC cannot use it because it doesn't have a wireless card. So I'm looking at new N routers and hoping to get faster and more reliable performance, plus gain USB network attached storage if possible. I'd like to get something that's a little future proof, but reviews are all over the place and prices range from about $100 to $200. I put out a twit and Facebook status asking for advice, but only got one who said they liked Netgear. Any solid advice on a reliable and good performing wireless N router would be appreciated.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
The one and only Rolling Stones
I watched Shine a light last night. I didn't have high expectations, but I was in the mood to listen to some classic Stones and see if there was any Scorsese magic (I'd actually forgotten he's directed another concert film - The Last Waltz - which I still haven't seen - my bad).
I must say the cinematography was beautiful, especially so in HD. The sound quality was superb, although I noticed various instrument sounds were highlighted when the camera moved to them, especially from the supporting musicians. Even Richards' guitar work seemed to come in and out, but then again maybe he's struggling to stay on and that's how he plays these days. Or maybe, because of the sound quality, I've just noticed this for the first time. If the highlighting was deliberate, the effect seemed a little unnecessary.
Some would call the music of The Stones classic rock, however from this performance you can see that the sound of American blues music is solidly in their English blood. I've noticed their take on the blues on past occasions, but I think it was more evident than ever in the film, maybe it's always been there and it just took a more intimate setting to show it off rather than the mega shows we've been used to in the last 25 years.
[pause while I put on some tracks from 1969's Let it Bleed]
The duets with White, Guy and Aguilera were a great addition. With Jack White you got to really see his playful natural side, Buddy Guy's booming voice was just fantastic and the I loved the sassy and sexy chemistry between Mick and Christina Aguilera. I was also pleasantly surprised by Keith's lead on You Got the Silver, that drugged-out dude can really sing and he really poured a lot of heart and energy into all his playing and singing in the show.
The movie was really a concert film with some intro elements from Scorsese to set the stage. There was some odd nonsense with Bill Clinton and company that seemed a little out of place. It may be a little hard to appreciate Scorsese's hand in the film with no clear directing of the performers, but I'm sure he had a big say in all elements of the film, from the choice of camera angles, editing, lighting, etc. Whatever he did, he made this intimate, bluesy and rocking performance a must see for any fan of The Stones, or any music fan wanting to find out what makes The Rolling Stones one of the best bands of all time.
The movie had a few interjections from old interviews, simple but effective. The selected excerpts showed their early confidence, their intelligent humour and a sense they already knew they would make a mark in the music world. Now in their 60's, the lines on their faces show they've enjoyed an exhausting career, but you can't fault their energy levels. It shows that youth never has to die, these kids are still just doing what they love. Jagger's non stop moves actually reminded me of Brandon Flowers' Killer performance at Friday's night show here in Toronto.
I watched the movie by myself in my basement, but I didn't feel alone. I sung out loud a few times and felt like clapping in appreciation of their artistry on many occasions. I've seen them live twice (1981 Tattoo You tour in Detroit and the massive SARS concert here in Toronto in 2003), but I felt I could almost call this the third, it was such a personal experience.
The film did it's job for me. It reminded me how truly great The Rolling Stones are. The New York performance shows what wonderful consummate performers they are. 40 years on and their energized and intelligent combination of classic blues and rock with the most singable and mature lyrics around is still shining bright. I'm proud to call them my countrymen.
The one and only Rolling Stones
I watched Shine a light last night. I didn't have high expectations, but I was in the mood to listen to some classic Stones and see if there was any Scorsese magic (I'd actually forgotten he's directed another concert film - The Last Waltz - which I still haven't seen - my bad).
I must say the cinematography was beautiful, especially so in HD. The sound quality was superb, although I noticed various instrument sounds were highlighted when the camera moved to them, especially from the supporting musicians. Even Richards' guitar work seemed to come in and out, but then again maybe he's struggling to stay on and that's how he plays these days. Or maybe, because of the sound quality, I've just noticed this for the first time. If the highlighting was deliberate, the effect seemed a little unnecessary.
Some would call the music of The Stones classic rock, however from this performance you can see that the sound of American blues music is solidly in their English blood. I've noticed their take on the blues on past occasions, but I think it was more evident than ever in the film, maybe it's always been there and it just took a more intimate setting to show it off rather than the mega shows we've been used to in the last 25 years.
[pause while I put on some tracks from 1969's Let it Bleed]
The duets with White, Guy and Aguilera were a great addition. With Jack White you got to really see his playful natural side, Buddy Guy's booming voice was just fantastic and the I loved the sassy and sexy chemistry between Mick and Christina Aguilera. I was also pleasantly surprised by Keith's lead on You Got the Silver, that drugged-out dude can really sing and he really poured a lot of heart and energy into all his playing and singing in the show.
The movie was really a concert film with some intro elements from Scorsese to set the stage. There was some odd nonsense with Bill Clinton and company that seemed a little out of place. It may be a little hard to appreciate Scorsese's hand in the film with no clear directing of the performers, but I'm sure he had a big say in all elements of the film, from the choice of camera angles, editing, lighting, etc. Whatever he did, he made this intimate, bluesy and rocking performance a must see for any fan of The Stones, or any music fan wanting to find out what makes The Rolling Stones one of the best bands of all time.
The movie had a few interjections from old interviews, simple but effective. The selected excerpts showed their early confidence, their intelligent humour and a sense they already knew they would make a mark in the music world. Now in their 60's, the lines on their faces show they've enjoyed an exhausting career, but you can't fault their energy levels. It shows that youth never has to die, these kids are still just doing what they love. Jagger's non stop moves actually reminded me of Brandon Flowers' Killer performance at Friday's night show here in Toronto.
I watched the movie by myself in my basement, but I didn't feel alone. I sung out loud a few times and felt like clapping in appreciation of their artistry on many occasions. I've seen them live twice (1981 Tattoo You tour in Detroit and the massive SARS concert here in Toronto in 2003), but I felt I could almost call this the third, it was such a personal experience.
The film did it's job for me. It reminded me how truly great The Rolling Stones are. The New York performance shows what wonderful consummate performers they are. 40 years on and their energized and intelligent combination of classic blues and rock with the most singable and mature lyrics around is still shining bright. I'm proud to call them my countrymen.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Killer Show
Last night, I saw The Killers at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
A few months back, I posted about The Bands I'd Love To See which was prompted by having seen The Killers on Saturday Night Live. At the time, I didn't think that I would get to see The Killers from up close (with them mostly having grown to arena shows).
Last night was a great combination of a small club feel with the theatrics of an arena show. It was my first time on the floor for a general admission show at the ACC. My husband (luckily for me) humoured me and arrived at the venue 45 minutes before the doors opened which allowed us to get a spot 5 persons deep a bit right of center.
M83 began their 45 minute set at 7:30 and were very good (especially for a warm-up band). I loved the set-up with the two main singers facing each other on keyboards. The drummer was exceptional (not that I know much about drumming - but he really impressed me).
The Killers took the stage at 8:45pm after a brief countdown with the lights in the background. The crowd was instantly into it singing along to the oh oh ohohoh oh oh ohohoh of Spaceman.
The best view I had was of Brandon (the lead singer) and Ronnie (the drummer).
They were both very entertaining. Brandon surprised me at how comfortable he was on stage. In past reviews, he has been described as shy and awkward, but for me, he was very personable and he looked like he was really enjoying being up on stage (smiling and lots of facial interaction with the crowd and his bandmates). Perhaps that is not visible from further back - and perhaps live closeup videos of the band would have helped this (like I have seen other bands have).
I was really loving the show but then while they were playing Smile Like You Mean It (the 4th song), some disorderly guys shoved their way up through the crowd obviously not caring who they pushed or stepped on (it had been already completely packed in-with no space for anyone else and they were not small men who ended up standing beside me -or should I say stumbling and pushing?). I guess I was lucky that they didn't end up in front of me. This commotion got us distracted for that song, but when This is Your Life started (which I love), I tried to ignore the guys.
Joyride was next when Brandon asked the crowd to show him some sexy dancing. Half way through the song, bubbles started falling which was fun (and wet...lol).
Bones was a song which I really didn't expect. It's one of my favourite Killers song and I hadn't seen it on 2009 set lists (from previous shows). So, I got my camera out and videotaped 90 seconds of it.
I'm quite happy with the video as it does show how much Brandon moves around on stage and a minute into the video he pauses in front of where I was, then steps up closer to the audience (and touches the fans in the front rows). At this point (as you can see from the bumpy video), there is a lot of pushing forward and shoving. I stopped videotaping when it really started to get crazy. At the end of Bones, I found my husband (who had ended up almost 10 feet away from me after those guys showed up and this last shoving match) and we moved back about 5 rows where it was a bit tamer.
As wonderful as it was to have been close, being a bit further back made it great as well because we could more fully enjoy the spectacle of the light show and with songs like Human and All The Things That I've Done coming...it was worth moving back. It would have been interesting to move further back, but really the crowd was so packed in - it was difficult to move (even having moved back 5 rows had been a struggle).
So we stayed where we were and enjoyed the light show during Human. They had such an amazing performance at the MTV European Music Awards with an amazing light show and the band members in boxes. I was happy to see part of the light show incorporated into the ACC performance.
The concert wasn't all high energy dance numbers. An acoustic version of Sam's Town saw Brandon play at a piano at the back of the stage (my view was blocked by the front keyboard) was a good example of some of the quieter songs.
But the quieter moments were few and far between with the first set ending with Read My Mind, Mr. Brightside and the anthemic All These Things That I've Done which had many of the lyrics displayed on the back drop of the stage and confetti falling into the crowd.
The encore started with For Reasons Unknown followed by the Joy Division cover Shadowplay and Jenny Was a Friend of Mine.
They finished the 90 minute concert with the Guitar Hero song...When You Were Young which was a huge hit with audience especially with pyrotechnics falling down onto the stage.
For me, this concert was a 4 out of 5. It exceeded my expectations.
A few months back, I posted about The Bands I'd Love To See which was prompted by having seen The Killers on Saturday Night Live. At the time, I didn't think that I would get to see The Killers from up close (with them mostly having grown to arena shows).
Last night was a great combination of a small club feel with the theatrics of an arena show. It was my first time on the floor for a general admission show at the ACC. My husband (luckily for me) humoured me and arrived at the venue 45 minutes before the doors opened which allowed us to get a spot 5 persons deep a bit right of center.
M83 began their 45 minute set at 7:30 and were very good (especially for a warm-up band). I loved the set-up with the two main singers facing each other on keyboards. The drummer was exceptional (not that I know much about drumming - but he really impressed me).
The Killers took the stage at 8:45pm after a brief countdown with the lights in the background. The crowd was instantly into it singing along to the oh oh ohohoh oh oh ohohoh of Spaceman.
The best view I had was of Brandon (the lead singer) and Ronnie (the drummer).
They were both very entertaining. Brandon surprised me at how comfortable he was on stage. In past reviews, he has been described as shy and awkward, but for me, he was very personable and he looked like he was really enjoying being up on stage (smiling and lots of facial interaction with the crowd and his bandmates). Perhaps that is not visible from further back - and perhaps live closeup videos of the band would have helped this (like I have seen other bands have).
I was really loving the show but then while they were playing Smile Like You Mean It (the 4th song), some disorderly guys shoved their way up through the crowd obviously not caring who they pushed or stepped on (it had been already completely packed in-with no space for anyone else and they were not small men who ended up standing beside me -or should I say stumbling and pushing?). I guess I was lucky that they didn't end up in front of me. This commotion got us distracted for that song, but when This is Your Life started (which I love), I tried to ignore the guys.
Joyride was next when Brandon asked the crowd to show him some sexy dancing. Half way through the song, bubbles started falling which was fun (and wet...lol).
Bones was a song which I really didn't expect. It's one of my favourite Killers song and I hadn't seen it on 2009 set lists (from previous shows). So, I got my camera out and videotaped 90 seconds of it.
I'm quite happy with the video as it does show how much Brandon moves around on stage and a minute into the video he pauses in front of where I was, then steps up closer to the audience (and touches the fans in the front rows). At this point (as you can see from the bumpy video), there is a lot of pushing forward and shoving. I stopped videotaping when it really started to get crazy. At the end of Bones, I found my husband (who had ended up almost 10 feet away from me after those guys showed up and this last shoving match) and we moved back about 5 rows where it was a bit tamer.
As wonderful as it was to have been close, being a bit further back made it great as well because we could more fully enjoy the spectacle of the light show and with songs like Human and All The Things That I've Done coming...it was worth moving back. It would have been interesting to move further back, but really the crowd was so packed in - it was difficult to move (even having moved back 5 rows had been a struggle).
So we stayed where we were and enjoyed the light show during Human. They had such an amazing performance at the MTV European Music Awards with an amazing light show and the band members in boxes. I was happy to see part of the light show incorporated into the ACC performance.
The concert wasn't all high energy dance numbers. An acoustic version of Sam's Town saw Brandon play at a piano at the back of the stage (my view was blocked by the front keyboard) was a good example of some of the quieter songs.
But the quieter moments were few and far between with the first set ending with Read My Mind, Mr. Brightside and the anthemic All These Things That I've Done which had many of the lyrics displayed on the back drop of the stage and confetti falling into the crowd.
The encore started with For Reasons Unknown followed by the Joy Division cover Shadowplay and Jenny Was a Friend of Mine.
They finished the 90 minute concert with the Guitar Hero song...When You Were Young which was a huge hit with audience especially with pyrotechnics falling down onto the stage.
For me, this concert was a 4 out of 5. It exceeded my expectations.
SET LIST:
Spaceman
Losing Touch
Somebody Told Me
Smile Like You Mean It
This Is Your Life
Joy Ride
I Can't Stay
Bling (Confessions Of A King
Bones
A Dustland Fairytale
Neon Tiger
Human
Sam's Town
Read My Mind
Mr. Brightside
All These Things That I've Done
ENCORE:
For Reasons Unknown
Shadowplay
Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine
When You Were Young
Friday, January 23, 2009
The Killers part 3
Great show, Flowers and drummer true performers. They played all their hits and my fave Joy Division cover. Better in the bigger venue than plastic performances on SNL and the like. Worth the crush.
sent from my BlackBerry
The Killers part 3
Great show, Flowers and drummer true performers. They played all their hits and my fave Joy Division cover. Better in the bigger venue than plastic performances on SNL and the like. Worth the crush.
sent from my BlackBerry
The killers part 2
Piano interlude. Second fight avoided. Great energy. Screaming girls. Still very intimate - crushed, but nicer folks a few feet back. My kind of Vegas floor show.
sent from my BlackBerry
The killers part 2
Piano interlude. Second fight avoided. Great energy. Screaming girls. Still very intimate - crushed, but nicer folks a few feet back. My kind of Vegas floor show.
sent from my BlackBerry
M83
Solid opening act for The Killers tonight. Great exposure for this small band - small enough that they're putting their own gear away and the guitarist walked on this his parka under his arm and his guitar case in hand. Great start to the night.
sent from my BlackBerry
M83
Solid opening act for The Killers tonight. Great exposure for this small band - small enough that they're putting their own gear away and the guitarist walked on this his parka under his arm and his guitar case in hand. Great start to the night.
sent from my BlackBerry
Killers part 1
We have general admission floor tickets at the Air Canada Centre.
So my gung-ho-early-liner-upper wife has us jammed in up front and still a few hours to go before they go on - I must be crazy. And a little annoyed because they don't allow booze for floor tickets.
Looking around - I'm definitely the oldest guy in the mob. Spanish banter behind me. Mob is about about 20 deep - it must look odd for those sitting down in this 15,000 person arena !
Supporting act M83 hopefully up in the next 30 mins.
Not sure if I'll have elbow space to write later.
sent from my BlackBerry
Killers part 1
We have general admission floor tickets at the Air Canada Centre.
So my gung-ho-early-liner-upper wife has us jammed in up front and still a few hours to go before they go on - I must be crazy. And a little annoyed because they don't allow booze for floor tickets.
Looking around - I'm definitely the oldest guy in the mob. Spanish banter behind me. Mob is about about 20 deep - it must look odd for those sitting down in this 15,000 person arena !
Supporting act M83 hopefully up in the next 30 mins.
Not sure if I'll have elbow space to write later.
sent from my BlackBerry
The new vegan and the health of my heart
I've been a vegan for a week. It's not easy, but actually not as difficult, nor as depressing as I thought it would be. I'm the guinea pig in my wife's nutrition experiment.
[If you don't want all the medical background you can skip the next 3 paragraphs].
What set this off a week ago was an appointment with my cardiologist to discuss my latest blood cholesterol levels. Basically they are not as good as he'd like them to be. By normal standards, my levels are very good. However because I've inherited my Dad's tendency to "naturally" have higher blood cholesterol levels than normal people, and he had a heart attack when he was about my current age, that puts me in a high risk category. Therefore my doc is pushing me to really low levels to reduce the risk of heart disease. He's talked about research that indicates there is certain reversing effects at LDL levels below 2.0 mmol/L. [note to convert the mmol/L measurement to mg/dL used in the US, then multiple by 40].
I started going to a family doctor on a regular basis in 1992. When I first got tested, my total cholesterol was 6.74. By following a recommended low fat diet I reduced my total cholesterol to a natural low of 5.26 in 1994. In 1997, I started to record the LDL and HDL numbers individually and the corresponding risk factor. My LDL was 3.99 and my risk factor ratio (total/HDL) was 4.87. My levels were hovering around those numbers (+/- 0.5) for quite a few years. In 2006 I complained to my family doctor that I felt some chest/muscular discomfort, maybe from over-excursion playing sports ? That's all it took for her to refer me to a cardiologist ! I did a full stress test (which I aced) and echo cardiogram (my "normal" functional heart murmur may have made an appearance) and he decided that diet was not making a big enough impact on my blood cholesterol levels and we agreed that I should start taking a drug to lower it. I started on 10mg of Lipitor and moved to 20mg/day within a year. I remember him saying that diet really only makes up a small portion of your cholesterol levels and actually said I could relax my diet a little ! Over the last few years the new low was a total of 4.55, LDL of 2.61 and a risk factor of 3.55.
My latest result from a few weeks ago was a total of 4.65, LDL of 2.9 and a risk factor 3.7. This doesn't seem to be good enough for my cardiologist and I must admit I've probably been relaxing my diet a little. The research and guidance suggests that people categorized as high risk should aim for LDL level below 2.0. He said to try harder on the diet and get retested in a few months. To me, that seems quite a jump, but perhaps not impossible. I've asked him on a few occasions how susceptible the results are to daily differences in diet and exercise, but he said the levels are quite steady - but he thinks I can carve off a big chunk in a few months ! However I am still wondering if my unhealthy Christmas habits and a potential missed dose a day or two before the test had inflated the numbers. So after chatting with my wife and relating the news with her findings from The China Study, I signed on to the vegan program (at least until my blood work). The theory (and evidence) in the study is that most of our (bad) blood cholesterol comes from animal protein. Now I'm pretty sure that's a big generalization, but don't worry, she'll be adding her comments and clarifications quickly after this gets posted. BTW the study focuses on cancer as well, so even though you may not have problems with high blood cholesterol, you may have concerns with cancer, but I digress.
So, back to being a vegan. In case you don't' know, this means cutting out any food that comes from an animal. One gray area I was happy to resolve was pasta. I think most dried pasta is not made with eggs, although some fresh pasta maybe. I may have cheated just a tad over the past week with a few slices of apple pie and some nibbles of high % cocoa chocolate. But other than that I haven't had dairy, meat or fish in a week.
My diet has been a lot of vegetables and fruit, beans, a few meals with tofu (which I must say I've been enjoying for quite a while now), pastas (already my favourite food) with tomato, pesto or oil olive, grains, nuts and cereal (now with soy milk). I tell you one thing - I makes a trip to the grocery store a lot simpler - you can cut out entire aisles and sections.
And I'm just glad that almost all of my regular liquid intake is already vegan, but first tastes of soy milk in my cuppa is a far stretch for an English lad. Beer and wine - bring it on.
I don't feel that I really need to eat meat or fish, but it's more a matter of finding enough tasty varieties of vegan food so it doesn't become too boring. I can probably do without dairy (although a yogurt based smoothy would be nice), but I'm finding that the majority of dishes I love like pasta, sushi, Asian and Mexican food, and hearty soups have meat or fish added to them. I can't say I'm craving a big steak or a piece of chicken, but I'm sure that day will come. What's a little sad is that I'm actually not looking forward to going out to eat. It will save me some dolalrs for sure, but I'm not really looking forward to my business lunch and dinner on Monday.
Now I've got to wrap up and find something for lunch.
A decent summary of understanding Cholesterol is the brochure Living with Cholesterol from the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation.
[If you don't want all the medical background you can skip the next 3 paragraphs].
What set this off a week ago was an appointment with my cardiologist to discuss my latest blood cholesterol levels. Basically they are not as good as he'd like them to be. By normal standards, my levels are very good. However because I've inherited my Dad's tendency to "naturally" have higher blood cholesterol levels than normal people, and he had a heart attack when he was about my current age, that puts me in a high risk category. Therefore my doc is pushing me to really low levels to reduce the risk of heart disease. He's talked about research that indicates there is certain reversing effects at LDL levels below 2.0 mmol/L. [note to convert the mmol/L measurement to mg/dL used in the US, then multiple by 40].
I started going to a family doctor on a regular basis in 1992. When I first got tested, my total cholesterol was 6.74. By following a recommended low fat diet I reduced my total cholesterol to a natural low of 5.26 in 1994. In 1997, I started to record the LDL and HDL numbers individually and the corresponding risk factor. My LDL was 3.99 and my risk factor ratio (total/HDL) was 4.87. My levels were hovering around those numbers (+/- 0.5) for quite a few years. In 2006 I complained to my family doctor that I felt some chest/muscular discomfort, maybe from over-excursion playing sports ? That's all it took for her to refer me to a cardiologist ! I did a full stress test (which I aced) and echo cardiogram (my "normal" functional heart murmur may have made an appearance) and he decided that diet was not making a big enough impact on my blood cholesterol levels and we agreed that I should start taking a drug to lower it. I started on 10mg of Lipitor and moved to 20mg/day within a year. I remember him saying that diet really only makes up a small portion of your cholesterol levels and actually said I could relax my diet a little ! Over the last few years the new low was a total of 4.55, LDL of 2.61 and a risk factor of 3.55.
My latest result from a few weeks ago was a total of 4.65, LDL of 2.9 and a risk factor 3.7. This doesn't seem to be good enough for my cardiologist and I must admit I've probably been relaxing my diet a little. The research and guidance suggests that people categorized as high risk should aim for LDL level below 2.0. He said to try harder on the diet and get retested in a few months. To me, that seems quite a jump, but perhaps not impossible. I've asked him on a few occasions how susceptible the results are to daily differences in diet and exercise, but he said the levels are quite steady - but he thinks I can carve off a big chunk in a few months ! However I am still wondering if my unhealthy Christmas habits and a potential missed dose a day or two before the test had inflated the numbers. So after chatting with my wife and relating the news with her findings from The China Study, I signed on to the vegan program (at least until my blood work). The theory (and evidence) in the study is that most of our (bad) blood cholesterol comes from animal protein. Now I'm pretty sure that's a big generalization, but don't worry, she'll be adding her comments and clarifications quickly after this gets posted. BTW the study focuses on cancer as well, so even though you may not have problems with high blood cholesterol, you may have concerns with cancer, but I digress.
So, back to being a vegan. In case you don't' know, this means cutting out any food that comes from an animal. One gray area I was happy to resolve was pasta. I think most dried pasta is not made with eggs, although some fresh pasta maybe. I may have cheated just a tad over the past week with a few slices of apple pie and some nibbles of high % cocoa chocolate. But other than that I haven't had dairy, meat or fish in a week.
My diet has been a lot of vegetables and fruit, beans, a few meals with tofu (which I must say I've been enjoying for quite a while now), pastas (already my favourite food) with tomato, pesto or oil olive, grains, nuts and cereal (now with soy milk). I tell you one thing - I makes a trip to the grocery store a lot simpler - you can cut out entire aisles and sections.
And I'm just glad that almost all of my regular liquid intake is already vegan, but first tastes of soy milk in my cuppa is a far stretch for an English lad. Beer and wine - bring it on.
I don't feel that I really need to eat meat or fish, but it's more a matter of finding enough tasty varieties of vegan food so it doesn't become too boring. I can probably do without dairy (although a yogurt based smoothy would be nice), but I'm finding that the majority of dishes I love like pasta, sushi, Asian and Mexican food, and hearty soups have meat or fish added to them. I can't say I'm craving a big steak or a piece of chicken, but I'm sure that day will come. What's a little sad is that I'm actually not looking forward to going out to eat. It will save me some dolalrs for sure, but I'm not really looking forward to my business lunch and dinner on Monday.
Now I've got to wrap up and find something for lunch.
A decent summary of understanding Cholesterol is the brochure Living with Cholesterol from the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Lunchtime connections and commentary
- I'm tracking the Kaka mega football transfer story, FIFA player of the year in 2007 may be on his way to Man City from AC Milan for a staggering transfer fee ($200M) and salary (1M/week). He's good, but really, come on, is he (or anyone) really worth that kind of money ? [from Kaka story I spotted the reference to the Time 100 list - nice to see some global sports inclusion in the American mag list].
- Also on the list is Alex Rigopulos & Eran Egozy. These are not names that most people recognize, but they run Harmonix, the originator of Guitar Hero and now developers of Rock Band. I think the article in the Time 100 piece is a great take on the secondary power of these new music games - I believe they can and will actually lengthen the lifespan of classic rock, and music from many other decades and genres. I think that Kids (and parents) are getting a new (or renewed) passion for great old music and making sure rock 'n roll will never die. Since getting Guitar Hero and now Rock Band, my son has a great appreciation for classics such as Cream, The Stones and Cheap Trick, as well as rarer finds (Eric Johnson), punk (Sex Pistols), new wave (Talking Heads) and alternative (Beck).
- Steven Van Zandt. He wrote the piece above and his name is instantly familiar. BUT, I didn't know the guitarist with Springsteen was one and the same slick haired Silvio from The Sopranos. I always saw the name in the credits and thought I should know him, but dough-head me never connected the two. Well, he does look radically different in his two roles.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Blip.fm - another way to share and find new music
Hot on the tail of what-influences-your-music-choices, last week I dabbled a little with a new music sharing site called blip.fm. I wasn't immediately impressed, but today a few other friends joined on and if you know me, obviously I didn't want to be left out of the new community. It's like one of those things out of The Tipping Point, when there is a critical mass of users or content focused on something that is of particular interest to you - you can't ignore it for long ! You can find my Blips at http://blip.fm/pjmixer.
Blip has a few quirks, but it's method of sharing and streaming individual tracks in decent quality seems quite appealing. It services two audiences, of which I'm probably both. One, the ever-aspiring DJ who wants to be the first to tell his friends about some great music finds; and second, the person always looking for new music. From what I've been able to find out so far, it seems quite legal which is very surprising because you can preview the full version of any track in its library and search and skip through Blips to hear exactly what you're interested in. In that regard, it is much better than other streaming sites I've used like Finetune. However, it doesn't seem easy to get a good constant and stable themed stream going, and you're constantly being drawn from the latest hip track to old favourites and questionable diddies. If you blog a little about music or use Twitter for micro-blogging, then you can look at Blip as a micro-blogging site dedicated to music. The library is quite vast and I've found I few gems already.
This snappy player will likely be heading over to the right-hand column shortly. I'll be interested to see if Blip will become a music extension to this blog and if you'll jump into the Blip community. See you on the flip side.
Blip has a few quirks, but it's method of sharing and streaming individual tracks in decent quality seems quite appealing. It services two audiences, of which I'm probably both. One, the ever-aspiring DJ who wants to be the first to tell his friends about some great music finds; and second, the person always looking for new music. From what I've been able to find out so far, it seems quite legal which is very surprising because you can preview the full version of any track in its library and search and skip through Blips to hear exactly what you're interested in. In that regard, it is much better than other streaming sites I've used like Finetune. However, it doesn't seem easy to get a good constant and stable themed stream going, and you're constantly being drawn from the latest hip track to old favourites and questionable diddies. If you blog a little about music or use Twitter for micro-blogging, then you can look at Blip as a micro-blogging site dedicated to music. The library is quite vast and I've found I few gems already.
This snappy player will likely be heading over to the right-hand column shortly. I'll be interested to see if Blip will become a music extension to this blog and if you'll jump into the Blip community. See you on the flip side.
Blip.fm - another way to share and find new music
Hot on the tail of what-influences-your-music-choices, last week I dabbled a little with a new music sharing site called blip.fm. I wasn't immediately impressed, but today a few other friends joined on and if you know me, obviously I didn't want to be left out of the new community. It's like one of those things out of The Tipping Point, when there is a critical mass of users or content focused on something that is of particular interest to you - you can't ignore it for long ! You can find my Blips at http://blip.fm/pjmixer.
Blip has a few quirks, but it's method of sharing and streaming individual tracks in decent quality seems quite appealing. It services two audiences, of which I'm probably both. One, the ever-aspiring DJ who wants to be the first to tell his friends about some great music finds; and second, the person always looking for new music. From what I've been able to find out so far, it seems quite legal which is very surprising because you can preview the full version of any track in its library and search and skip through Blips to hear exactly what you're interested in. In that regard, it is much better than other streaming sites I've used like Finetune. However, it doesn't seem easy to get a good constant and stable themed stream going, and you're constantly being drawn from the latest hip track to old favourites and questionable diddies. If you blog a little about music or use Twitter for micro-blogging, then you can look at Blip as a micro-blogging site dedicated to music. The library is quite vast and I've found I few gems already.
This snappy player will likely be heading over to the right-hand column shortly. I'll be interested to see if Blip will become a music extension to this blog and if you'll jump into the Blip community. See you on the flip side.
Blip has a few quirks, but it's method of sharing and streaming individual tracks in decent quality seems quite appealing. It services two audiences, of which I'm probably both. One, the ever-aspiring DJ who wants to be the first to tell his friends about some great music finds; and second, the person always looking for new music. From what I've been able to find out so far, it seems quite legal which is very surprising because you can preview the full version of any track in its library and search and skip through Blips to hear exactly what you're interested in. In that regard, it is much better than other streaming sites I've used like Finetune. However, it doesn't seem easy to get a good constant and stable themed stream going, and you're constantly being drawn from the latest hip track to old favourites and questionable diddies. If you blog a little about music or use Twitter for micro-blogging, then you can look at Blip as a micro-blogging site dedicated to music. The library is quite vast and I've found I few gems already.
This snappy player will likely be heading over to the right-hand column shortly. I'll be interested to see if Blip will become a music extension to this blog and if you'll jump into the Blip community. See you on the flip side.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
What influences your music choices ?
Just reading and commenting in Mark Evans' blog about how Radio 2 is igniting a renewed interest in music for him. Mark posed the question "The question is why Terfry’s show has inspired the consumer in me when there are services around like Pandora and Jango?". My comment... "Interesting note on why radio seems to drive some of our music choices over other non-personal channels. I actually just finished reading The Tipping Point and in the updated afterword, Gladwell provides thoughts on impacts of technologies on The Law of the Few: Connectors, Mavens, and Salesman. It seems that we may be building an immunity to the huge volume of data we receive through new tech channels. I'd like to hear Malcolm's thoughts on the smaller community focus of web 2.0 being a better chance at building more valuable connections online."
Although I did comment back in November that I was getting some new (old) music from Radio 2, the vast majority of my music finds continue to come from reading reviews in magazines and then taking the time to sample a large amount of music. For instance, scattered around our living room are months of Q magazines with year-end US focused publications from Rolling Stone and Spin. I've been busy correlating many of the best ofs and making sure I didn't miss any gems in 2008. A found a few new ones just over the last couple of days from Rolling Stone. Mostly American artists like Blitzen Trapper, Conor Oberst and Girl Talk that haven't quite made the impact in the UK which is my primary source. There are plenty of online reviews (metacritic being a good consolidator) but music magazines remain one of the few hardcopy purchases I make on a regular basis - I love marking them up with check marks, c/o for "check out" and other personal ratings and comments.
Personal recommendations are almost always better than what you hear from mass market channels. You build a sense of trust with the person who recommends a good band or book, especially if you find one that hits the mark, is close to your tastes or perhaps they even begin to understand your personal tastes and they tailor their recommendations to you ! There must be a little gap in the web 2.0 weave for a little more personal recommendation. Blogs, Twitter and Facebook work to some degree, but there's room for improvement and readers should make a good effort to fuel the feedback loop. I pretend to be a source for recommendations and ratings for music (here and there) and movies via my Facebook page, and but then again it all comes down to personal preference and how specific your tastes are.
Can a good, reliable source influence your tastes ? I'd say it probably has for me over the years, especially with popular music in the UK. It's taken a while for me to trust the ratings in Q, but now we seem to be in sync. One other source I go to on a regular basis is IMDB for movies. I'd say the reader voting and reviews really do provide a good guideline for me and I can invest good time in any movie scoring over 7.
So where do you get your new music from ?
Although I did comment back in November that I was getting some new (old) music from Radio 2, the vast majority of my music finds continue to come from reading reviews in magazines and then taking the time to sample a large amount of music. For instance, scattered around our living room are months of Q magazines with year-end US focused publications from Rolling Stone and Spin. I've been busy correlating many of the best ofs and making sure I didn't miss any gems in 2008. A found a few new ones just over the last couple of days from Rolling Stone. Mostly American artists like Blitzen Trapper, Conor Oberst and Girl Talk that haven't quite made the impact in the UK which is my primary source. There are plenty of online reviews (metacritic being a good consolidator) but music magazines remain one of the few hardcopy purchases I make on a regular basis - I love marking them up with check marks, c/o for "check out" and other personal ratings and comments.
Personal recommendations are almost always better than what you hear from mass market channels. You build a sense of trust with the person who recommends a good band or book, especially if you find one that hits the mark, is close to your tastes or perhaps they even begin to understand your personal tastes and they tailor their recommendations to you ! There must be a little gap in the web 2.0 weave for a little more personal recommendation. Blogs, Twitter and Facebook work to some degree, but there's room for improvement and readers should make a good effort to fuel the feedback loop. I pretend to be a source for recommendations and ratings for music (here and there) and movies via my Facebook page, and but then again it all comes down to personal preference and how specific your tastes are.
Can a good, reliable source influence your tastes ? I'd say it probably has for me over the years, especially with popular music in the UK. It's taken a while for me to trust the ratings in Q, but now we seem to be in sync. One other source I go to on a regular basis is IMDB for movies. I'd say the reader voting and reviews really do provide a good guideline for me and I can invest good time in any movie scoring over 7.
So where do you get your new music from ?
What influences your music choices ?
Just reading and commenting in Mark Evans' blog about how Radio 2 is igniting a renewed interest in music for him. Mark posed the question "The question is why Terfry’s show has inspired the consumer in me when there are services around like Pandora and Jango?". My comment... "Interesting note on why radio seems to drive some of our music choices over other non-personal channels. I actually just finished reading The Tipping Point and in the updated afterword, Gladwell provides thoughts on impacts of technologies on The Law of the Few: Connectors, Mavens, and Salesman. It seems that we may be building an immunity to the huge volume of data we receive through new tech channels. I'd like to hear Malcolm's thoughts on the smaller community focus of web 2.0 being a better chance at building more valuable connections online."
Although I did comment back in November that I was getting some new (old) music from Radio 2, the vast majority of my music finds continue to come from reading reviews in magazines and then taking the time to sample a large amount of music. For instance, scattered around our living room are months of Q magazines with year-end US focused publications from Rolling Stone and Spin. I've been busy correlating many of the best ofs and making sure I didn't miss any gems in 2008. A found a few new ones just over the last couple of days from Rolling Stone. Mostly American artists like Blitzen Trapper, Conor Oberst and Girl Talk that haven't quite made the impact in the UK which is my primary source. There are plenty of online reviews (metacritic being a good consolidator) but music magazines remain one of the few hardcopy purchases I make on a regular basis - I love marking them up with check marks, c/o for "check out" and other personal ratings and comments.
Personal recommendations are almost always better than what you hear from mass market channels. You build a sense of trust with the person who recommends a good band or book, especially if you find one that hits the mark, is close to your tastes or perhaps they even begin to understand your personal tastes and they tailor their recommendations to you ! There must be a little gap in the web 2.0 weave for a little more personal recommendation. Blogs, Twitter and Facebook work to some degree, but there's room for improvement and readers should make a good effort to fuel the feedback loop. I pretend to be a source for recommendations and ratings for music (here and there) and movies via my Facebook page, and but then again it all comes down to personal preference and how specific your tastes are.
Can a good, reliable source influence your tastes ? I'd say it probably has for me over the years, especially with popular music in the UK. It's taken a while for me to trust the ratings in Q, but now we seem to be in sync. One other source I go to on a regular basis is IMDB for movies. I'd say the reader voting and reviews really do provide a good guideline for me and I can invest good time in any movie scoring over 7.
So where do you get your new music from ?
Although I did comment back in November that I was getting some new (old) music from Radio 2, the vast majority of my music finds continue to come from reading reviews in magazines and then taking the time to sample a large amount of music. For instance, scattered around our living room are months of Q magazines with year-end US focused publications from Rolling Stone and Spin. I've been busy correlating many of the best ofs and making sure I didn't miss any gems in 2008. A found a few new ones just over the last couple of days from Rolling Stone. Mostly American artists like Blitzen Trapper, Conor Oberst and Girl Talk that haven't quite made the impact in the UK which is my primary source. There are plenty of online reviews (metacritic being a good consolidator) but music magazines remain one of the few hardcopy purchases I make on a regular basis - I love marking them up with check marks, c/o for "check out" and other personal ratings and comments.
Personal recommendations are almost always better than what you hear from mass market channels. You build a sense of trust with the person who recommends a good band or book, especially if you find one that hits the mark, is close to your tastes or perhaps they even begin to understand your personal tastes and they tailor their recommendations to you ! There must be a little gap in the web 2.0 weave for a little more personal recommendation. Blogs, Twitter and Facebook work to some degree, but there's room for improvement and readers should make a good effort to fuel the feedback loop. I pretend to be a source for recommendations and ratings for music (here and there) and movies via my Facebook page, and but then again it all comes down to personal preference and how specific your tastes are.
Can a good, reliable source influence your tastes ? I'd say it probably has for me over the years, especially with popular music in the UK. It's taken a while for me to trust the ratings in Q, but now we seem to be in sync. One other source I go to on a regular basis is IMDB for movies. I'd say the reader voting and reviews really do provide a good guideline for me and I can invest good time in any movie scoring over 7.
So where do you get your new music from ?
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Dream life
I just woke up a few minutes ago after a particularly vivid dream. The unusual thing about this dream was that I think I "remembered" and incorporated experiences from other dreams into this latest one. I know this is all sounding pretty weird and I'm trying to type before the dream memory evaporates...
In the dream...
The dream as I've told holds many clues to my feelings and experiences in my life today, some clearer than others. And there are some good mysteries in there too.
I have reoccurring dream themes quite often, but I don't recall I dream that "clearly" seemed related to past dream memories. Then again, maybe all this was a new dream - I should have recorded those old ones. On other occasions, I have managed to write down dreams when I first wake up. Sometimes the complex connections and bizarre content make complete sense in your cloudy head - just waking up state, but then when I review what I've written at some later point, the dream doesn't make any sense at all. Maybe that will be the case here and you've got this far, saying - what the hell is he talking about. I'm more awake now and going to make my breakfast.
Good morning.
In the dream...
I'm a Dad, same children, same wife, different home. I'm seeing my son off for his school day and he has a project due. He's done a particularly good job and I'm very proud of him and we're arranging lunch plans.I can still see the house we're living in, the confusing time on the alarm clock in the bedroom - 12:38, the room I had the conversation in with my wife, the side story of a police officer checking bike racks and allowed "parking" times. But I also vividly "remember" the auditorium where I'm taking the math course, and I'm pretty certain I didn't dream that part last night !
However, I'm in hurry because I have a university project due as well. I've completed the project, but don't feel I've done a great job and perhaps even missed some vital elements of the work. I'm going to the university to hand it in.
But I'm thinking about the other subjects I've been neglecting, especially my math course. I know that I haven't been going to many courses, incl. math and maybe history. I "know" that this has been going on for some time.
My wife returns home and I say that I've got something to talk to her about. My daughter comes in from the other room, curious to what we're talking about. I say this university thing isn't working out and I should give it up. I've got my bachelors degree and a job anyway, why do I need any more education ?
The dream as I've told holds many clues to my feelings and experiences in my life today, some clearer than others. And there are some good mysteries in there too.
I have reoccurring dream themes quite often, but I don't recall I dream that "clearly" seemed related to past dream memories. Then again, maybe all this was a new dream - I should have recorded those old ones. On other occasions, I have managed to write down dreams when I first wake up. Sometimes the complex connections and bizarre content make complete sense in your cloudy head - just waking up state, but then when I review what I've written at some later point, the dream doesn't make any sense at all. Maybe that will be the case here and you've got this far, saying - what the hell is he talking about. I'm more awake now and going to make my breakfast.
Good morning.
Listening to RFK in 2009
I have to admit I don't know a lot about Robert F. Kennedy, but the little bits I've heard from my parents over the years, and what I've seen through historical movies (Thirteen Days) and now tonight in Bobby, greatly impresses me.
I found the playing of one of his speeches overlaying the closing scene particularly riveting. I did a little googling and found out that the speech was delivered the day after Martin Luther King's assassination, just two months before his own assassination. The speech talks to the problem of violence in America and provides some hope for what the world should, and could be. Maybe not as well known as King's I have a Dream speech and obviously not as current as Obama's speech on race in Philadelphia last year, but I feel RFK's speech about violence is still true to this day and one that we should all perhaps use as a warning on a global level. You can read the text of this short speech here.
On the Wikipedia page, I also found these other following great quotes, perhaps some guidance for our leaders and ourselves for 2009:
I found the playing of one of his speeches overlaying the closing scene particularly riveting. I did a little googling and found out that the speech was delivered the day after Martin Luther King's assassination, just two months before his own assassination. The speech talks to the problem of violence in America and provides some hope for what the world should, and could be. Maybe not as well known as King's I have a Dream speech and obviously not as current as Obama's speech on race in Philadelphia last year, but I feel RFK's speech about violence is still true to this day and one that we should all perhaps use as a warning on a global level. You can read the text of this short speech here.
On the Wikipedia page, I also found these other following great quotes, perhaps some guidance for our leaders and ourselves for 2009:
- "Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."[7]
- "Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital, quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change."
- "The sharpest criticism often goes hand in hand with the deepest idealism and love of country."[35]
- "Men without hope, resigned to despair and oppression, do not make revolutions. It is when expectation replaces submission, when despair is touched with the awareness of possibility, that the forces of human desire and the passion for justice are unloosed."[36]
- "There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were and ask why not."[37]
- "Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation ... It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is thus shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."[38]
- "At the University of Natal in Durban, I was told the church to which most of the white population belongs teaches apartheid as a moral necessity. A questioner declared that few churches allow black Africans to pray with the white because the Bible says that is the way it should be, because God created Negroes to serve. "But suppose God is black", I replied. "What if we go to Heaven and we, all our lives, have treated the Negro as an inferior, and God is there, and we look up and He is not white? What then is our response?" There was no answer. Only silence." South Africa, June 1966[39]
- "What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black." Indianapolis, Indiana, April 4, 1968 Announcing to the crowd that Martin Luther King had been assassinated.
- "Fear not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it." From his last speech, June 5, 1968[40]
- "Laws can embody standards; governments can enforce laws — but the final task is not a task for government. It is a task for each and every one of us. Every time we turn our heads the other way when we see the law flouted — when we tolerate what we know to be wrong — when we close our eyes and ears to the corrupt because we are too busy, or too frightened — when we fail to speak up and speak out — we strike a blow against freedom and decency and justice." June 21, 1961[41]
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