Take the Evo for example. It seems like a pretty solid phone, and on paper its specs are pretty sweet. I don’t think that highly of AT&T or Sprint, so networks aside I could make a good case for switching over (even though I likely won’t).

Still, it gets me that there are people out there like the video below. This phone salesman sure does have a case of the Mondays with his bitch of a customer.

Thanks to my buddy Garett who showed me this video over the weekend.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL7yD-0pqZg

I had a lot of fun touring shops and taking different bikes out so I could cruise with her on test rides. As a former bike shop employee myself I reveled in the glory days of a life much simpler, when all I worried about was math homework and whether or not the next customer in the shop would be a total pain in the ass (ok, so I don’t miss the world of retail).

The next day we met up to go for her inaugural ride around Oakley and Hyde Park. After our cruise I showed her some basic maintenance tips, and I tried to provide a brief overview of how bikes work.

“It’s as simple as gears, breaks, wheels, and a frame”, I said, casually pointing to parts on the bike. Going into a little more detail I could see the look on her face turn to an expression of, “yeah, this might be simple to you, but I have no clue what you’re talking about”.

We parted ways soon after, and I laughed on my way home thinking about the first time I tried to build a bike. It seemed so daunting, like the puzzle pieces were endless. Within a matter of weeks however, everything seemed so easy, there were only a handful of items on the bike, the most complicated of which were controlled by springs and cables, nothing more. The most technologically advanced thing that existed for a bike was the cyclocomputer, and from the mechanics end there was still very little to do other than set the magnet and receiver and run the cable up to the handlebar.

By and large bikes are still very simple methods of transportation, making them easy to work on for anyone who is even mildly mechanically inclined. With the inception of the electric bike things began to get a bit more complicated (not to mention heavy) but even an electric motor is still a relatively simple device.

Well folks, I’m afraid to say, those days may soon be behind us, at least if the folks at Crack n’ fail Cannondale have anything to say about the situation. They have introduced the Simon, a new electronically controlled and 500-times-a-second adjusting front suspension fork. Although I’m not sure I can even call this a fork, as this is a derivation of the Lefty shock, which defies the “fork” description because it only extends down one side of the front wheel.

Suspending the front end of your bike with this piece of equipment means gone are the days of being able to tear down and rebuild your own fork. The trade off is, of course, being treated to a ride that (you would be led to believe) is unparalleled by any other fork on the market. While I can’t speak to that today, we’ll see soon enough when it comes on the market in a few years.

Frankly, I’m excited for the progression of the industry into supercaresque territory. Just as crazy-advanced (and expensive) technology appears on F1 cars and Ferraris before it makes it to your Mazda 3, so it goes with bicycles (v-brakes, disc brakes, etc). I hope it leads to products helping customers through the act of the product helping itself. A confusing statement, but let me explain.

Let’s take the bike my friend bought herself on Saturday. It has a front fork with a lockout switch and an adjustable preload dial. Will she ever use either of those features? Likely not. Would they come in handy and benefit her ride if she did? Likely so…they exist for a reason. But when she is chugging up a hill, I doubt she’ll be thinking about locking the fork out to stop losing energy to “the bob”. Even if she does, I know she won’t be evaluating her route before hand to determine how much preload (and consequent stiffness) she needs for the upcoming trek.

But a fork that does all of that for you, that’s the sort of thing that helps you help yourself by helping itself.

And anything that makes my life easier and my ride better is a winner in my book.

Hat tip to Monugs, who showed me this Popular Science article about the Simon.

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My only prior experience was inserting the dailymile widget on the right column of the site. After tackling Art By McDermott and stuck in PHP mode, I decided to make some tweaks to my own site, which are subtle, but get me closer to where I want the site to be.

That also got me to combine the About Me and About The Blog page into one About The Boilover page. This site has taken a life of it’s own far from what I originally intended it to be, and the process has been a lot of fun. Not that it’s over, by any stretch of the imagination. But now I have something to fall back on when people ask me what the site is about (historically I just made up some BS and let them figure it out).

I also figured out a way to get the images to look a little better in the Pix on the Right. I threw some new ones in there of things that put a smile on my face–something I could always use =)

So rather than work on any number of drafts last night, it felt good to get all techy. Check out the about page, it will give you a little more insight into the crazy work of The Boilover.

Back in late January a friend of mine from Columbus drove down to visit. He had just purchased the Wii Fit, and brought it with him for what would become quite the wiikend. I been working out for about a month, weighing myself at the gym when I was there playing racquetball. I didn’t have a weight loss goal in mind, but I knew I was really out of shape from four months of injury recovery. My goal was to be healthy and active, and I knew the weight would take care of itself if I focused on that goal. I still paid attention to it however, and at the time my friend came down I had already lost about 6 lbs. When his new ‘toy’ told me I was 190 lbs I was surprised at how accurate it was. The scale matched up with the class-leading Tanita scale I used at the gym (not a paid endorsement, just what I’ve come to trust over time) within .2 lbs.

That weekend I learned all about the balance games, strength training, yoga, and aerobic workouts that came as part of the Wii Fit package. I was hooked, and my friend wasn’t even back to Columbus yet by the time I ordered my own Fit.

When the package showed up in my lobby I was ecstatic. I vowed to use it every day, getting stronger and more flexible with my own body weight, on my own accord. For a long time that held true–damn near every day after work I came home, weighed myself, and began a regime of yoga and strength training. After that I would run or bike, and later in the evening I would have fun ski jumping or heading soccer balls (my favorite of the balance games).

As much fun as I had with all of the games and exercises, the best part of the whole package was watching my weight tumble. Not wanting to see the graph go up (and then have the Wii yell at me, which it does) was more motivation than I thought. The ability to set a goal for the next four weeks and watch myself get closer and closer to it was great. And if I missed the goal it was ok, this wasn’t high school wrestling (which, to be clear, I never took part in) but it was all the more incentive to try harder over the next four weeks.

Over time I began to do many of the stretching and strength training exercises without using the Fit itself, and I would hop on every once in a while to check my weight. Like I said above, hitting a certain weight was never really a goal of mine in the first place.

At this point I don’t really worry about it at all–my biggest goals were being healthy, active, and to generally feel like I was in good shape, something I have definitely accomplished (not that I’m stopping/slowing now).

And the weight took care of itself…

A nice steady trend down

Changing some of my eating habits helped as well, but that was more about being well rounded–I still eat just about anything I want, I just do it in moderation.

I’m not saying that if you buy a Wii Fit you will lose 25 lbs. You still have to put in the work to get the results, but this may be one of the best tools for the job–and we can all use as much help as possible in accomplishing our fitness goals.

So thanks to my old college roommate (who has also seen weight loss success) for coming down and introducing me to the Wii Fit, who knows where I’d be without it.

When situation C arises, there is only one option, and that is using the awesome Chipotle Mobile Ordering App on my iPhone.

So Many Choices

I love the ease with which I can order and pay from my office (note: you can do all of this online if you don’t have an iPhone). As soon as I get the confirmation email I start walking down to Fountain Square. Upon arrival I bypass the line and walk up to the online order window. I give them my name and *viola* they pull out my order from the warmer (note: this is why I go right when I order, because it is always ready before they say it is in the confirmation email, and no one likes their food to sit in a warmer for an extended period of time).

Your credit card information is stored with your account, but you can pay at the store if you don’t feel comfortable keeping your plastic on file. However, you have to type in your password when you order, so if I lose my phone whoever finds it won’t be ordering tacos on my dime.

My only suggestion is that if you plan on ordering a side of salsa or guacamole, add that and pay for it when you get to the register. Otherwise it will end up with your order in the warmer, not the ideal conditions for a cold side.

Now, as for the manner in which I acquired the tickets from Derf, well, it’s a new one for me. You see, a few weeks ago I signed up for a twitter account, as more and more Cincinnatians I met were using the micro-blogging, social-water-cooler service. Rest assured, I talked as much shit about twitter as anyone else, and hoped that it would fade away and die. But folks, I have seen the light. The way information passes around is incredible. The late night trending topics are hilarious. You can never tweet a thing and still end up with hours of fascinating reads. And there is the whole retweet contest thing (side note: I’m addicted to entering contests and trying to win stuff) where people/groups (like Derf) will post a message, and simply ask you to retweet that message in order to gain entry to a given contest or promotion. It’s a brilliant way to get your name out, and can garner you a large set of new followers (see @kegorators).

So thanks again to Derf for the tickets, Dane for the entertainment, and Twitter for setting the whole thing in motion.

I figured I would try it out for a few weeks before I gave it any sort of review. Let me tell you, I really like it.

The site is set up for logging different workouts (running, biking, swimming, etc) which is a must for me. Using google maps you can easily create and store routes, all the while calculating your mileage. It can provide you pacing time if you keep track of your overall workout time, and you can add detailed comments about how it went.

In facebook like style you can ‘friend’ people through the system to compare progress and give each other motivation. If you leave your profile open for public viewing, you will also be able to look at a workout news feed of sorts with other local area residents sharing their routines. It’s a great way to pick up on new places to play and train.

You may have noticed I added the ‘next race’ widget to the side of the blog. I have found that racing gives me little goals to shoot for, always with another one in the distance. You can click on the link at the top of the entry, or on the widget, to get to dailymile and check it out for yourself.

On top of that, I think the “fun theory” is a pretty good one. I look at every “workout” I do as fun, perhaps making it more of a funout?

Ok maybe not, but the idea still holds true for everything from keeping active, to working at your job, to making a good meal. It doesn’t seem (as) difficult if you have a good time doing it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw

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In their quest to take over the world, or at least everything map related, they have added lot lines to their maps. For the time being, if you need a map with lot lines in Butler, Clermont, or Warren county, you can now see that overlayed on a google map. While you will still need the auditor for actual lot information, this is a pretty handy tool for lot maps. And it’s another step towards Google’s world (map) domination.

A portion of Walden Pond in Butler County