| Well, I guess I won't be buying from Amazon for a while... |
[Jan. 31st, 2010|11:18 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  irritated | ] |
Amazon has yanked all print and eBook versions of Macmillan books in a dispute over pricing of eBooks. Basically, Macmillan wants to be able to sell eBooks at a variety of prices, Amazon wants every eBook at the same price.*
My big beef with this isn't that Amazon's pulled the eBooks. Hey, if they aren't happy with the eBook deal Macmillan's been offering, well, that's their business. What bugs me is yanking all the dead-tree editions. What does eBook pricing have to do with dead trees? Not a damn thing. This is simply a large company trying to use their near-monopoly in one market to enforce their control over another market. I dunno about the rest of you, but personally, that sounds pretty anti-competitive to me...
So for now, I won't be buying anything from Amazon. Chapters' online ordering isn't quite as good, but it is a heck of a lot better than it was for the first few years after they got bought by Indigo.
The big thing that confuses me is why Amazon thinks this is a good idea. After all, the big draw of Amazon is they have every book you could want -- or at least, they're more likely to have it than anyone else. Yanking every book by a major publisher means that there's a HUGE list of books that they no longer carry, making Amazon a limited supplier... which means they're inconvenient. Kinda the opposite of what made them successful. If Amazon was a true monopoly, this would be a smarter tactic, but they've got enough realistic competition that it's reasonable to think that this could drive away a significant number of their customers.
* Sound like Apple's iTunes stance back in the day? |
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| Anyone want free stuff? |
[Jan. 28th, 2010|09:42 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  happy | ] |
I've got a 26-inch CRT at home... standard def... Used to be a decent TV, but we haven't used it in years so I don't know for sure if it's still working. It's got a stand (if you want the TV, the stand goes with it), it's black... uh... that's about it.
I've also got one of those home gym systems. Shockingly, it's barely used. :-) I've tried using it, but I'm just not quite the right size for it and I tend not to have a good workout... smaller people in particular would probably find it much more comfortable.
For friends, either or both of these are free, and I'll even help you get them to your place if you don't have a vehicle capable of hauling them around. I will need a little help getting them out of the basement though.
I need to get both of these things out of my basement so I have the space I need to continue renovations! |
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| Ow |
[Jan. 27th, 2010|12:20 pm] |
Seriously, my legs are Super Tired(TM).
In related news... Make that 20 pounds. (Actually, 20.7 since Dec 13th. And if you go by the gym scale, I've lost 30 pounds since May 5th of last year.)
12.6 pounds to go to hit my Canada Day goal. I thought I was being so ambitious when I set that goal. Heh. |
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| I need to take more pictures |
[Jan. 17th, 2010|09:14 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | cheerful | ] |
Really, it's been a long damn time since I did any photography. I need to get on that. |
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| I know this is old news for most of you |
[Jan. 12th, 2010|09:35 pm] |
Four days ago, my Wii Fit informed me that I'd lost 15 pounds since Dec 13th! Then the next day, it bounced me back up almost five pounds. I think it was temporarily underweighing me and then corrected. Oh well.
But today, both the gym scale and the Wii Fit are in agreement: I really HAVE lost 15 pounds! I'm very pleased with myself and felt the need to share. So... there you go. From 253.3 to 238.3 in 30 days. Go me!
Now I just need to lose the next 48 or so... :-) |
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| Progress! |
[Jan. 6th, 2010|11:59 am] |
Regarding this, I am full of virtue!
I'm down to nicely under 241, which means that I'm down 10 pounds on the gym scale since mid-December, and 20 pounds since the start of May.
Why yes, I am happy with myself. Why do you ask?
(Still waiting on being able to go down a pant size, but it's getting darn close.) |
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| I hate New Years resolutions |
[Jan. 2nd, 2010|07:23 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  sleepy | ] |
I really, really do hate New Years resolutions. Or at least the tradition of making and then breaking them. Every January, the gym gets flooded with people who know damn well that they're not going to stick around but want to pretend that they're going to do more than show up twice and wave some weights around in the air. Come mid-February, most of them will be gone, with a few stragglers who'll surprise everyone around them by sticking with it and actually getting into shape.
On the plus side (for me) all those people paying for a gym membership they never use means that the gym can charge me less and still make money...
(Afterthought: Any bets on whether companies like Nicorette stockpile extra product for January?) |
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| Apparently dedication works |
[Dec. 26th, 2009|09:06 pm] |
This is going well, despite having guests over on Christmas Eve and a big family dinner on Christmas Day. The Wii Fit typically weighs me in at about a pound heavier than the scale at the gym (probably mostly due to the fact that I hop on the Wii Fit after 8pm but go to the gym at about 10am) and it has me down to 249.1 pounds. The absolute lightest it's ever weighed me before was 249.3, which was back in February, and I'd lost a little bit of weight to get down to that, which means that I'm officially lighter than I have been at any time in the past year. Hooray!
Not quite ready for skinnier pants yet. :-) Still, 4 pounds in two weeks is, if I do say so myself, pretty darn good progress. Apparently it really does pay to watch what you eat!
Of course, all this success seems to be going to my head and making me completely insane, because I was talking to my brother (who recently lost 40 pounds) and we've decided to try to enter a 10K race in May. I haven't done any kind of running race since grade 12. Hell, there have been times in the last 8 years where I'd get absolutely exhausted going up a single flight of stairs... Oh well. I guess that's just incentive to try harder, right? |
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| Screw that |
[Dec. 23rd, 2009|08:10 am] |
I was watching The Biggest Loser's "Where are they now?" special last night. I've never actually watched the show itself, mind you; it really hadn't impinged upon my consciousness until a week or so ago when my cousin's wife set up an informal weight-loss contest here in Ottawa (for friends and relatives) and named it "The Biggest Loser Canada". Then yesterday at lunch I was talking with some relatives who were raving about the show, so I decided to check it out. And I think my reaction wasn't quite the reaction most people would have.
One thing that struck me was the number of times that people talked about pushing beyond their limits, doing something that seemed impossible, and how it changed their lives to have that experience. And I thought, "Hold on, I've done that. I wrote a fucking novel in three days. Twice. Why the hell am I letting a little flab get the best of me? Fuck that!"
So. Back to another Canada Day goal. This year, by Canada Day, I will weigh no more than 220 lbs. And any time I want to slack off, or eat shitty food, I'll just remind myself: "You wrote a goddamn novel in three days. This? This is nothing." |
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| Finally achieved my goal! |
[Dec. 22nd, 2009|07:22 am] |
I finally achieved this goal! Six months late, of course. But still, I'm down to 250. Next stop: 220! (Canada Day goal again.) |
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| I can't be the only person who thinks this would be awesome... |
[Dec. 19th, 2009|09:05 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  bouncy | ] |
I'm looking for food-grade silicone putty. "Why," you may ask, "would Chris be looking for food-grade silicone putty?" Good question!
Back when I started up my current D&D campaign, I also decided to invest in miniatures. So far, I've been deeply amused by my miniatures and have somewhere on the order of a couple dozen painted. Huzzah! But I more than just painting miniatures, I've thought it would be fun to make my own.
Yesterday, Andrea and her brother and her mom made chocolates. The chocolate got put into silicone molds to form specific shapes, and they do seem rather tasty. (The coffee chocolate ones are awesome. I've forbidden myself to eat any more at all, because it's the only way to keep myself from eating every last one.)
My brain popped up this morning with an idea: I know from my research into making fantasy figurines that it's possible to buy silicone rubber for use in making molds, and the chocolate molds are made of silicone... So I went out and found a few types of silicone rubber that are intended for use in making food molds. Huzzah!
So the plan is to make a few random sculptures that would be good shapes for chocolate. I'm thinking of some sort of orc, possibly some unrealistically chunky weapons, etc. Once the sculptures are ready, I'll make a mold of them, and voila -- silicone candy molds of freaking orcs, man!
My players are fairly enthusiastic about this idea, because as long as the chocolate isn't going to melt and make a mess in play, I could actually make chocolate enemies and whoever kills a foe gets to eat it. Obviously this would be a special occasion thing, but still, how awesome would that be?
Now I just need to figure out where to buy the raw materials from. As it turns out, Michaels in Canada doesn't carry the right materials, and I don't even know where else I'd look. Anyone have any ideas? |
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| Joel's home! |
[Dec. 13th, 2009|12:08 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | amused | ] |
Here is a YouTube video for your enjoyment.
For those who don't know, while Joel was away, his roommates asked a bunch of Joel's friends for help renovating the house. They ripped up the flooring on the main level of the house and replaced it all with hardwood, and painted all the walls (which has previously still been builder white). They also redecorated quite a lot. It looks FREAKING AMAZING in there.
The video is of Joel walking in the door and seeing all the changes. About 3 minutes. |
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| You should go here and buy things for other people |
[Nov. 27th, 2009|09:51 pm] |
I posted almost four years ago about Child's Play. Apparently I haven't posted about it since. Which is unfortunate, because it's a pretty awesome charity.
There's a bit of history to it, but basically the guys from Penny Arcade decided to piss off an asshole by asking gamers to donate toys, books, and games to their local children's hospital. The response was... a little overwhelming. So it's an annual thing now, and instead of donating to just one local hospital, they've got hospitals from all around the world participating. And this year, CHEO's finally on the list!
I hope Tommy never needs to go to CHEO. I really, really want to avoid that place, for reasons that I think are pretty obvious. But I'm happy to know that it is there, and if we ever do find ourselves needing to spend some time there, I hope that they'll be able to make it as pleasant as possible, and studies have shown that having video games, books, and other activities around can make a huge difference in the level of pain that kids feel and the speed of their recovery.
So in an attempt to purchase some pre-emptive karma that will hopefully never be needed, I've purchased a few items for CHEO already. If you have the money available, would you consider joining me? |
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| FINALLY DONE |
[Nov. 8th, 2009|10:28 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | amused | ] |
OK, this took way too long and I should have gone to bed like 45 minutes ago and I'm going to be so tired tomorrow but after three days I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED READING THIS.
"THIS" = Questionable Content.
It is good. I am so le tired. I am also old. BUT SO FREAKING AMUSED. |
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| I need more vacation |
[Nov. 5th, 2009|10:47 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  busy | ] |
It's Thursday already?! I've only just barely started planning the next D&D adventure, I haven't even begun sculpting kobolds (much less Helja), I've only painted a handful of miniatures, I haven't written any code, I haven't done my laundry yet, I haven't spent more than a tiny portion of my gift cards... Ug. I need more vacation. That's all there is to it. |
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| I think this is so awesome. |
[Nov. 2nd, 2009|12:48 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | cheerful | ] |
From an article about Spirit, the Martian rover: "Spirit has worked on Mars for more than 69 months in what was originally planned as a three-month mission." |
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| Lost |
[Nov. 2nd, 2009|08:41 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | amused | ] |
I'm on vacation! Since I'm only on vacation to satisfy a weird policy my company instituted* I find that already, 20 minutes in, I'm a little lost.
Sure, I've got stuff to do. I've got a bunch of miniatures to paint, and I've got some DVDs I want to watch, and some reading to do, and I'm finally past my cold** so I'm planning to hit the gym every day, and if I have any time left over I'm going to finally finish preparing a lot of things I should be preparing for my D&D campaign (including the next two or three adventures). But it all feels like fill-in-the-time stuff. It kinda feels like I'm just killing the time until I have to go back to work.
Part of that is because, as stressed out as work has been making me, and as fed up with some aspects of it as I've become, there are still a lot of things at work I really enjoy... and naturally, late Friday afternoon I finally came up with a solution to something that's really been bugging me, so I want to go back to work and argue for the need to treat something as a problem when no-one else at work has even noticed that we have a problem looming on the horizon.***
I'm sure I'll get into the swing of this vacation thing soon... Probably in about 10 minutes, when I finish my breakfast and start painting miniatures. But for right now, I just feel a little lost.
* Capping vacation accumulation is fine. My company's just done it in a way that I find a little strange.
** Or at least, I'm recovered enough to not really be able to use it as an excuse for much.
*** I've found over the past year and a half that I'm very, very good at figuring out which minor irritations are preparing to explode into major catastrophes. Luckily, management has noticed that I've got that instinct, which is why we're talking about changing my role at work.
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| XKCD makes my eyes bleed |
[Oct. 26th, 2009|01:05 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | nauseated | ] |
I sure hope XKCD's current layout doesn't last beyond today.
I also hope I never thought that was a nice-looking layout. |
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| And a good time was had by all |
[Oct. 25th, 2009|09:40 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | cheerful | ] |
I hope, anyway.
Thanks to everyone who came out for my birthday party, it was a lot of fun! People didn't eat nearly enough food... or at least, didn't eat nearly enough food to make up for Andrea's need to prepare enough food for every guest to gorge themselves sick at least twice. So now we've got all this leftover snack food, and who do you think is going to eat it?
Not Andrea, that's for sure. Or at least, not today, and quite possibly not tomorrow either. She spent a great deal of time in the washroom last night after everyone left. She's now sleeping, and will probably not be in a great mood when she wakes up. I feel a great deal of sympathy for her, but I'm not above also being amused at her condition.
I, on the other hand, apparently managed to drink enough water to make up for the booze I had -- which was considerable, by my standards. I only had about 6 or 7 drinks, but each drink was... potent. Very, very potent. But apparently having 6 glasses of water across the latter part of the evening did the trick, and I feel fine today! Which is lovely. And also probably dangerous, because next time I'm able to have a few drinks I might get overconfident and end up like Andrea is today. |
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| This is not good |
[Oct. 22nd, 2009|02:32 am] |
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It's 2:30 am, and I'm wide awake and in pain. I'm fighting a cold, and I'm still sore from Monday's workout. (Yes, I'm out of shape. Hence the working out. Stop laughing at me!) I have taken Tylenol and Advil in the hopes that between them, they will help me feel reasonably human enough to be able to sleep. We shall see. |
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