Tuesday, June 30, 2009I hadn't mentioned this earlier, but Sobriquet and I have just returned from our trip to Utah. I have the pics and video of said sojourn uploading right now, and will update you once they're done. j.s. [And if you simply cannot wait, click on my Flickr stream in the top left corner.] |
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Monday, June 22, 2009Hi there. So let's update a bit, shall we? So not only have I quit smoking (yes, again), I've also been going to the gym regularly for the past 3 weeks. Both are news I suppose. Sobriquet and I joined the new Lifetime gym at Town & Country City Centre which, while rather expensive, is quite nice. Though I'm not much for spin classes and pilates sessions, they do have an entire floor devoted to such, should the urge arise someday. They also have 4 raquetball courts, 3 pools (one is outside w/ a hot tub), a decent-sized rock wall, steam room, dry sauna, and enough treadmills to make Sisyphus weep. There isn't a whole lot in the way of free weights, but that makes sense since they're geared more toward families than ripply mutants who're capable of bench pressing DeLoreans. And that suits me just fine, since I am one of those rare men who goes to the gym simply to exercise, and not to grunt and posture for female attention. So, why the sudden change in lifestyle you ask? Good question. A litle while back I went to the doctor for the first time in...oh...a very long time. Basically I just wanted him to pop the hood and make sure all my parts were still whirring and clicking in time. They were...mostly. There was a slight problem with my triglycerides. (I.e. they were too high.) Now this was probably attributable to the bottle of red wine I'd drank the night before; regardless, it was frightening. (My grandfather died of a heart attack in his early-40's, and both my parents are on some form of cholesterol-lowering medication.) Cue Jeremiah sliding furiously on a row machine, sweating like a Lone Star in August, putting the internal machinations of his body back together. And I think it's working. Or at least I've heard it's working anyway. A couple people (Sobriquet being one of them), have remarked on a noticable difference in my arms and shoulders. I honestly don't see it, but of course I'm always agreeable to a bit of mane-stroking. It does make sense though. My body has always responded quickly to working out, as every personal trainer I've ever spoken to has informed me, "dude, I can make you BIG! You have the body type for it..." Which brings me nicely to the "Fitness Assessment Test" that's a mandatory part of joining Lifetime gym. I met the personal trainer after work, for what I assumed would be a lot of prodding and poking at my jiggly bits. And I wasn't far off. 5 minutes on the treadmill to test heart rate, flexibility tests, curl strength, lots of body mass lobster-pinching, and the dreaded weigh-in. Ahem...and I'm happy to report that I scored quite well on the flexibility test. Although this probably has more to do with having freakishly long arms, suited for generating velocity on throws to home from center field, than it does on my overall flexibility. The data from the rest of the tests concluded that I'm 158 pounds of walking muscle. Problem is, I weigh 207. So it'll be a process. j.s. |
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Wednesday, June 17, 2009For all you iPhone toters out there: Don't bother trying to get the 3.0 firmware version yet. Their servers are getting pounded at the moment, and the upgrade won't install. I've been getting "cannot be updated at this time because the iPhone activation server is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later." errors for over an hour. Now I'm toting a glass brick around until I can connect to their damn server... Applefail. j.s. |
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Monday, June 15, 2009This is what you get when your sole qualifying characteristic for employment is how well-coiffed your journalists appear on camera. (With the obvious exception of that red-headed anchor; her hair looks like it was pushed out of the PlayDoh Mop Top Hair Shop.) Nice job Rupert. j.s. Oh...and speaking of journalism, here's a light, trifling, nigh-insignificant postscript: I've officially been accepted to study at the Harvard School of Journalism* for the Fall '09 semester. It's possible that this was due to my reading comprehension/writing scores on their little placement test. Equally possible, however, is that it's because I found a typo on the Harvard.edu website, brought it to their attention, and received "thank you" emails from both the Asst. Dean of Journalism and the Director of Writing Programs. Go me. ---- *Extension, of course. I can't exactly take off and move to Cambridge for 2 years...more's the pity. |
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Friday, June 12, 2009And before I get a "Boston fans suk! U Masshole!" email, here's another example of the Fenway Faithful at their best: Just in case you weren't sure, in the great Sox/Yanks rivalry? We're the good guys. =] j.s. |
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Thursday, June 11, 2009Welcome back to Fenway A-Roid... -- 2009 Wins -- Red Sox: 8 Yankees: 0 Drop by anytime fellas... j.s. |
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Wednesday, June 10, 2009Good Lord, and out comes a cadre of QQers emailing me about how AT&T is screwing their customers over because of the $700 cost of upgrading a 3G iPhone to a 3GS. Exactly what about this scenario is so difficult for you to understand? AT&T *loaned* you the extra cost involved in manufacturing a 3G iPhone, and prorated that amount over 2 years. They accomplished this via a recently endangered species called "credit." Since 3G users are very likely to have at least a year left on a mutually agreed upon contract, they have yet to finish paying for the cost to produce the product. TL;DR - You haven't paid for your phone yet. Now in my case, I made the decision to continue rocking my O.G. 8GB EDGE version because I was already $450 deep in the unsubsidized price for it. (Read as: there was no loan involved.) Because I paid for nearly the entirety of my phone at the outset, I am not making payments on the cost of the hardware. Ergo, I can get a new 3GS at a subsidized cost if I agree to another 2 years with AT&T. TL;DR - I'll be where you are when the iPhone 4.0 comes out next June, and you'll be the one enjoying a lower, subsidized cost. Consumers do indeed have the right to whine like Oprah's packmule about the price of a desired widget. Just as, in this case, I have the right to call them short-sighted and swaddled in delusions of entitlement for doing so. Now stop emailing me. XOXO, j.s. |
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Monday, June 08, 2009Sticking to my "always skip a generation" paradigm when it comes to the purchase of technological devices, it appears I'll be at the goddamn Apple Store on June 19th for a new iPhone. Although I've only used 2 of the 8GB on my current phone, so I think the 32GB model will be a bit excessive... 16GB, here I come. j.s. |
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