New Blog - www.walkinginto.com

If your wondering what is going on I have moved.  It took a while to settle on a domain name and get a web host etc.  but it is up and running and all my new posts will be going there.  Come and check it out...
http://www.walkinginto.com

Been Negligent

I have been away for far too long, been negligent in many ways to my social network (Google+, Facebook, twitter, blogging) and I am on the path to making amends.  I had a rough couple of months in September and October professionally and personally and it took me a while to find my bearings and get back on track.

Now that I am getting traction again here is a quick update, more specifics to follow.

Reading:

I have been slacking and am way behind my reading challenge but the last two weeks I have been working on catching up.  I have read, and soon will review, the following books:

Life – Keith Richards

Dance of Dragons – G Martin

Reamde – Neal Stephenson

Public Parts – Jeff Jarvis

I am still way behind but I am working on catching up.  Will update my stats and reviews for the above soon.

Diet:

Well I had a couple of months of binging and it took a long time to get back on plan.  I am still down over 100 pounds overall but am up from my lowest point.  I am back on plan and starting a work out routine.  I am looking for the best tools to track and measure workouts, progress, weight loss etc.  Trying to find a synergistic suite of tools that will make it far more easier for me to track what I eat and do and share that info and my progress online.  If you have ideas please leave a comment, email me etc.. More of this to come

Music:

Going to see The Airborne Toxic Event in November looking forward to it.  Looking for other shows to see as there are a few upcoming.  Going to pick up a copy of the Arkells Michigan Left this weekend, heard it was good.

That is it for now, it is good to be back.

Peppers

Picked up some nice peppers at the farmers market today.  I will enjoy stuffing and wrapping some and using the others to spice up some buns and sausages.  Many people don't understand the heat ratings of peppers and what the different colors and textures mean.  Hopefully this picture will help you next time you are looking for some peppers.

Google+

well the past two weeks have been a little weird for me.  I quit my job, started a company, got called back to work (the job I quit) and I started watching Sons of Anarchy ( a fantastic show I would recommend to anyone).  Anyway my life has been completely disrupted for better or worse, which explains my lack of posts.
Either way you will find more of my comments on the world of tech over on Google+
check it out https://plus.google.com/110351653816177811662/posts?hl=en

I will continue to post most of my non techie stuff here, so no worries on your music, diet and book updates here.

The Foo Fighters Destroyed My Shoes!!!!

The Foo Fighters played through a torrential down pour as they closed out Lollapalooza.  I saw them back in 2009 at the Virgin Music Festival in Toronto and they sound ok then.  This time they were unbelievable, the band really tightened up their live performance and the vibe at lolla was amazing.  It seemed the harder it rained the hard Dave and the band played.  They were not stopping or even slowing down with the rain.  They weren't leaving until everything was left on the stage.  The rain did not deter the crowd either.  The show they put on that night was nothing short of epic.
It was the the perfect ending to the 3 day festival, well almost perfect.  It was such a great show and we were having an amazing time at the end of it my shoes were destroyed.

The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton - Review

With the last book a disappointment I switched gears and grabbed a copy of The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton.  This is a return to his Commonwealth universe, although it was my first visit.  Hamilton presents a well developed universe, lots of sub plots, a great amount of characters all being controlled and manipulated by aliens and human factions and specifically different faction in the Human artificial Intelligence society called ANA.  All of them competing for different hidden agendas.  This is a futuristic space faring adventure in a universe where the void has been discovered.  A mysterious black  hole like rift that leads to another universe where the Skylords live and the humans that have crossed over lead a perfect life and can change the fabric of the universe with their minds.  However, the void has been around for billions of years and has been know to expand, destroying anything in it's path.  This is called a devourment phase.  Many of the other species live in fear of the void and believe it to be evil.  Humans however have created a religion around it based on what has been called the living dream.  This living dream was something that was shared with the rest of the human race by the living dreamer, who dreamed what was in the void and communicated with the skylords.  The living dream followers have declared pilgrimage and plan to take millions of people into the void, much to the dismay of other humans and aliens combined, tensions and fears rise.  There is a lot of action and intrigue.  If you like a good science fiction book pick up this or anyone of Hamilton's earlier books that take place in the Commonwealth universe.
I give it a thumbs up

Book Challenge (read 26 books in 26 weeks)
Weeks left 17
Books Read 10 remaining 16

3 seconds: The Power of Thinking Twice review

Caveat: Now to be fair it 6:18 am when I am writing this and I have been up working for 24 hours with another 6 - 10 before I can go home (I won't be able to go get any sleep until at least another 14 hours, so my review might be a little lower due to my foul mood and lack of sleep!

This week I read 3 Seconds:  The Power of Thinking Twice by Les Parrott.  To be honest I have read a lot of similar books recently and my review might not be fair as a result.  Concept of the book, don't go with your first knee jerk reaction, take a breath and wait for alternatives to appear and choose. It also talks about the advantages of being happy and optimistic but is very light on scientific detail (as compared to say The Happiness Advantage which goes into great detail on this specific item).  It ends up with a lot of get off your butt and get stuff done talk.  The book is very basic and is a vary quick read.  It glosses over alot of areas that other books provide better in sight into.  Basically by increasing the space between action and reaction you open a new world of possibilities (sounds like another book again).  If you are looking for a light read on a plane etc, you could do worse but if your looking for something to sink your teeth into look elsewhere.

Book Challenge (read 26 books in 26 weeks)
Weeks left 17
Books Read 9 remaining 17