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Steve Bargelt

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January 2008 Entries
 

How to Boost Your Willpower (New York Times Blog)



Good article in the NYT back in early December regarding willpower.


 

Reading to be a better developer



From Hanselman:

In my new ongoing quest to read source code to be a better developer, I now present ... in an infinite number of a weekly series called "The Weekly Source Code."


 

Mobile Phones: Map it with GOOG-411



I love Google 411 - it is one of the best enhancements (application?) for my smartphone. SmartPhones are great but as anyone who has ScreenShot025used one while driving can attest they can be dangerous. With great p


 

Setting up my AT&T 8525 and Windows Mobile Revisited



Back in May I posted about setting up my AT&T 8525 and Windows Mobile and a few hacks and tweaks... this post is basically a complete replacement for those posts and is the result of using the phone daily for over six months. I've tried


 

winsnap + flickr = screenshot bliss



Via Tim Heuer @ winsnap + flickr = screenshot bliss:

i recently started using the latest version of winsnap and figured i could integrate my other photo tool of choice (flickr) into the mix.  for me, the screenshot thing has always been a multi-step process: take the screenshot, save image, upload to flickr.  well it dawned on me that i could use the same command-line interface that i use with flickruploadr and integrate that into winsnap...and boom, two clicks to heaven.

here's what i did...first use winsnap -- it is awesome.  it's light and fast.  it has subtle, yet effective post-shot image manipulation that you can use.  i keep it in my system tray and run on startup.  i also make the default screenshot be a "region" so i can precisely capture what i want.  the latest version also does vista aero glass well.

Personally I use Gadwin Printscreen and this little trick works with it as well. Cool tip, Tim. Thanks!

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DaBoyz Fit Club Triathlon



One of my goals is to compete with my friends in the First Annual DaBoyz Fit Club Triathlon:

details from Kiltsurfer's Fitness Blog by Scott

We have been talking about it for a while and decide on April 20th.

This triathlon will follow the Biggest Loser on NBC style. We do a 24K triathlon.

- Bike 20K (12.4 Miles)
- Treadmill 3K (1.9 Miles)
- Swim 1K ( .62 Miles)

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NYT article on losing weight



Great article entitled "No Gimmicks: Eat Less and Exercise More" on the New York Times site. I love it. People always ask me what I've done to lose weight and I tell them, "I eat less and I exercise more. I wish I could tell you it is easy but it is not." You'd be surprised how many of the people I give this advice to look


 

2008 Goals



  1. Get my weight down to 220. My first goal is to hit 228 before the 2008 STP on July 12th
  2. Improve my eating habits
    1. Continue to:
      1. track my daily food intake at The Daily Plate
      2. avoid fast food
      3. track my weekly progress in my special Excel spreadsheet
      4. take my daily supplements (Nature's Plus Source of Life Liquid Multi-Vitamin and Udo's 3-6-9 Blend)
      5. eat 6 small meals per day
      6. read Men's Health and other health and fitness related information (blogs, books etc.)
      7. drink lots of water while cutting out soda and most juices (even diet soda)
      8. blog about my progress
    2. Stop buying my daily latte
      1. Buy an inexpensive coffee pot for the office
      2. Save 150 - 200 calories every day
      3. Save $5 per day
    3. Eat more whole foods especially fruits and vegetables
  3. Participate in the first DaBoyZ Fit Club Triathlon (DFCT)
    • April 20th, 2008 - save the date
    • Train with the DaBoyz at least once per month before the DFCT
  4. Participate in the Ocean Shores Sprint Triathlon: Swim: .25 mile out and back in Duck Lake. Bike: 12.3 mile loop around Ocean Shores. Run: 5k run out to the beach and back.
  5. Mountain Biking - simply do more of it. Try to hit the dirt 20 times in 2008... contrast that with 2007 where I only managed to get out 6 times (at least that I tracked at MotionBased - I may have been out a few more times without my Forerunner 305 or 60cs)
    • Increase my trail riding skills
    • Increase my fitness
    • Have fun and bond with Derek!
    • Buy a new mountain bike! Okay this is more of a reward than a goal.
  6. Complete the Flying Wheels Summer Century
    • June 14th 2008
  7. Complete the 2008 Seattle to Portland. This year... two days... on a tandem... with Derek.
    • Detailed training plan to come soon
    • July 12-13 2008
  8. Take the Marymoor Velodrome track racing class
    • April 27th or May 24th - alternatively wait until after completing 2008 STP
    • Participate in at least one track race after completing the class
  9. Increase my hill ability before the end of the year. The motivation is that in early 2009 (February) I plan on doing the Second Summer Tours Maui Original Sport Edition...  which includes a one-day ride with 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) of elevation gain to the top of Haleakala!
    1. Ride the Chilly Hilly route at least three times in 2008 and note progress (2675 ft, 815 m elevation gain):
      1. February
      2. August
      3. October
    2. Ride the Cascade Bicycle Club's High Pass Challenge: September 8th, 2008. 7500 foot (2286 m) gain. Good prep for Haleakala!
  10. Commute by bike to work at least 10 times (25-30 miles one-way depending on route):
    1. Participate in Bike to Work Day - Friday, May 18
    2. At least 7 one-way trips
    3. At least 3 round trips
    4. Buy a new commuter bike! Again this is probably more of a reward than a goal!
  11. Gym? I want to set a realistic goal. I think three times per week is doable. Still thinking about this one. I'd rather spend time on a real bike... so I don't want to seem like I'm not achieving this goal if I'm riding three times a week! I do not want to set myself up for failure but I am going to leave this goal on the list... as I do want to get to the gym as often as possible.
  12. Dress professionally more often. I mean that I want to wear Dockers to work more often than I wear jeans to work. Kind of that whole look good/feel good thing going on here. This also plays into one of my rules for living - that when you go down a size you buy new clothes and get rid of the old stuff. So when I replace my old clothes I'll buy more slacks and nice shirts!

 THE FUTURE:

  1. The aforementioned Second Summer Tours Maui Original Sport Edition in February of 2009. Including a one-day ride with 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) of elevation gain to the top of Haleakala!
  2. Climb Mt. Rainier. No hurry. Maybe 2009 or 2010. I will do this in my lifetime.

 

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2007 Accomplishments



  1. I got rid of 20.8 pounds (9.43 kg). I am down from 266.8 pounds (121.02 kg) to 246 pounds (111.6 kg).
  2. Went from a size 40 to size 36 jeans (damned Dockers... still wear a 38... but they are a bit big!).
  3. I spent over 85 hours on my bikes:
    1. Completed the 2007 Chilly Hilly. It sucked. I'll never do it again. Let me clarify: I will ride the course but never again on the official organized day!
    2. Trained for the 2007 Seattle to Portland bike ride (one day version) and made it 150 miles in one day despite having to take several weeks (6 total?) of training off for medical reasons.
    3. Completed the 2007 Dam2Dam (50 mile version) with Derek on our new Trek T1000 Tandem. In addition to a great ride and having a great time we raised money for a very worthy charity... the Mike Utley Foundation.
    4. Overall I rode 1,200+ miles (1,930+ km)
    5. Overall I climbed 42,206 feet (12,864 meters)
  4. I ran 3.4 miles (5.4 kilometers). On sand. While on vacation. In the almost ever-present Washington Coast mist and rain. To some most this may sound like a ho-hum accomplishment but for me this is a big deal. See I can't run. I really can't. Not sure why, really. I can ride a bike seemingly forever but I can't really run for more than about 5 minutes. So in September I found myself at the beach with no bike (WTF was I thinking?) and in desperate need of exercise - so I recruited Derek to ride his bike next to me while I attempted to run a 5k. It hurt. It hurt really bad. I did walk some... or quite a bit actually but I ran the majority of the 5.4k. It took 51 minutes... but I did it. One reason this is important to me is that I want to finish at least one triathlon in my life... and I don't want to look silly doing it.
  5. I joined a local gym. Yes the garage set up served me well for three+ years but I've outgrown most of the equipment.
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