Maldroth's Inner Sanctum

I'm waiting in the herd for the doors to open. For the past two years they have been having opening ceremonies. They feature a few significant people in gaming, some hoopla and then the herd tries to squeeze through those doors. There is a charity chest for dice at the doors. You drop some dice in the chest in memory of Gary Gigax and at the end of the show they will auction it off to charity.

Getting a better look at it the chest it a hollowed out d20.

I love coming to GenCon to see people get creative with a standard game and improve it. This is the popular game called Zombies, but they have made 3D buildings for the board to give it a more visual appeal.

For some reason that seemed like a longer drive than usual and I even took a nap due to a bad stomach ache. Good to be back in Indy. We are all checked into the hotel. Now I'm hanging out in the Hyatt lobby looking at the program guide and waiting for other people. No idea what is on the menu tonight but it is not curry!

If my traveling companion and I have a weakness it is for Indian food. We stopped at a resturant in Fargo, ND called Saphron. Was excellent food but they were understaffed, we ended up wasting more time in Fargo than originally planned.

The real problem hit me at about 2am, the Curry I had was seeking revenge. Massive stomach ache that didn't fully get digested until we rolled into Indy. What a misserable experience, ah well, still tasted great!

Well I got video to work on my phone and can upload the content to YouTube but sadly it appears there is something wrong with the service that is not pushing the content to blogs currently. So posting that content while I'm at GenCon will not be possible for now.

But I will remember to take videos and post them on YouTube while on the road. I can go back later and embed the video in the blog when I'm at a real computer with internet access. If my laptop had a wireless card I'd do it there. I think there will be plenty of things to do while I'm there and even doing what I have will be an improvement from previous years.

Now I need to get the rest of my things together for the trip.

Ok testing the mobile function of Flickr posting to my blog. The idea is to do some live blogging while I'm at Gencon to show people what I'm doing and to better record the event. I think LiveJournal has a way to do this on the mobile as well. I'll have to play with it later. Well hope this works.

Just as other have said I'm not eating enough. Very simple on the surface. So okay how much should I eat? I mean we want to create a calorie deficit after all right? Well it seems my Basic Metabolic Rate consumes 1839 Calories on it's own. Now couple that with my new workout routine and I need to consume 3172 Calories just to break even.

<pause for the numbers to sink in>

Yep on a 2000 calorie diet I was really short changing my body the fuel it needed to build muscle.

So a bit more reading in Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle will help me refocus this new found knowledge and get my workout back on track.

If there is anything I have learned in starting this work out program is everyone seems to have very anecdotal evidence to give you advice on how your doing your workout wrong. So much dis-information. Blame it on fad diets or workout programs, reality tv shows, even fitness blog sites.

Only advice I personally find credible are trained professionals whose job it is to evaluate and determine the best fitness program, and those that have charted a course of action and stuck to it and managed their goal AND maintained it. Armchair fitness instructors I've had enough of their input.

I need to dig around for my Burn the Fat feed the muscle book at familiarize myself with the information there. If that book did anything was recognize that each person's body is different and one plan doesn't work for everyone. I also need to listen to my body more, last week it was trying to tell me it was getting used to my workout. Cardio was too easy, even with the resistance bump I needed to change out. Now my legs are getting a hard workout. They are not quite up to the challenge of maintaining my heart rate just yet but I figure that will change in the next day or so. As for the weights I'm just going to maintain until growth happens again. Cardio and food intake is changing so perhaps that will make the adjustments needed. Last week I didn't have as much soreness in the muscles and I think that was the beginning of the stall and I'm seeing those results now. Thankfully this week I'm feeling the burn again.

So diet change 2000-2200 calorie intake with high emphasis on protein, but I don't have to be carb shy since I'm using the energy now.
Cardio change warm-ups on treadmill for warm-up on weight days. This works my legs harder and may help get them back into shape to keep up with my upper body.
Cardio change stationary bike for cardio days. The first night was tough as my legs weren't used to the motion and got sore fast. But that should change and I'll be able to get to my target heart rate.

Just may take a week to break out of the stall and hopefully I'll be back on the right path.

Well on Tuesday night I played around with my phone and managed to get my XM Radio Online streams to work. I had heard others have done it so I set out on a mission to get this done. First you need a program called Orb. You sign up for an account and download the software. It acts as a media stream for your music, videos, and documents. Then on another PC you go to http://mycast.orb.com and login. You can then access all those files remotely. Mycast is mobile optimized so you can even use it on internet enabled phones. One word of caution though, make sure your plan covers the usage of data otherwise you will be surprised with a VERY expensive bill.

Now to stream XM or Sirius you find a program called uSirius or uXM. Install this and it acts as a gateway for the internet streams to your local computer address. With a bit of adjustment to change Orb to stream something your phone can understand you can then stream these. Orb also has a great way to add other internet radio stations so now I have access to any of the radio stations I'd actually want all on my phone!

No need to buy an iPod or Zune my hard drive holds more than either ever will and streams right to my phone. No need to buy a portable satellite radio transmitter, I can stream that content over the internet onto my phone and get better reception indoors and on rainy days. Did I also mention that the XM Online subscription is also cheaper than regular XM Radio?

Orb will also do feeds and let you browse your documents at home but then that doesn't quite work right on my phone. Google has mobile apps that will work a bit better I just wish they'd work with my phone browser.

I tried this out at the gym last night and it worked out great. It's a little fiddly at first but I chalk that up to being a first time user. I also notice I can't have any uploads going on in the background of my PC otherwise it messes with my computer's ability to stream, just not enough bandwidth.

So overall a resounding success, and no one around me could care less. <sigh>

I think I may have found a title for 2032 that captures the feel and direction I would like the setting to go. CyberShock. I'm still playing around with ideas but this is becoming the front runner. In the setting the term Cybershock is given to those people that completely shut down all physical communication with others for an all internet interaction. The first stage is the loss of interest to the real world around them. They must have that additional feedback of information that the net and even augmented reality offers them. The second stage of the addiction comes when they find themselves unplugged from the surge of information and suffer withdrawal. They were used to having vast amounts of information available to them directly and now they find themselves in a very quiet reality.

You can interpret this condition with many addictions that people suffer currently in our own time. That really can help to characterize the condition.

I've also been working on the plot of the first season. I guess I should explain. This game will be run like an episodic TV show. Each session is one episode. A set of 13 sessions is a season. A season will have a set story arc that links the episodes for that season with the finale wrapping up those stories and leaving a small cliffhanger for the next season. I have about 6 episodes planned out but will refine the list to incorporate the main arc I want to bring out.

My players are starting to get jazzed about the idea. I've tasked them to come up with their concepts and to remind them they will be working in a team environment. Not going to work to have a group of individuals.

Timeline is my goal for today. I want to get some of the events in my head out onto paper. Then get the class sheets ready for the group. Then I need to figure out what else I'll need from the book to make the transition easier. 

 Well I was right no real measurable change. I did amp up the resistance and that really helped push myself harder for my cardio work out. I think I'm going to have to use that to work my leg muscles while my knees do their spring time cramping. I tried lifting with them on Sunday and it was too painful. I will say this though I can feel my knees are stronger in general compared to years past of spring time pain.

So I'm going to track my calories again no matter what, I just might not be as descriptive with the names to make the entry portion easier. I'm also going to readjust my weights. Seems I might have been a bit too aggressive with the change. I let my progress dictate expectations rather than just listening to my body. So I'm going to dial some of those back by 5lbs to try and get control back and do that for however long until they feel easy again.

Diet has been better but I think my parents really fail to see a balanced meal. The weekend meal, the one that was served and expected for leftovers of all other meals was Potatoes and Dumplings. Starch and Starch. No meat like I've requested and no other vegetable. They get pissy when I mention the failings, they get pissy when I make extra so I said the hell with it and went out to eat. Yes they got pissy then too but I refuse to fail at this workout program. I'm not going to let it bother me it's their problem they are going to get mad over it, not mine.

Hopefully the gym won't be so full this week either, I have to do my weights faster to keep my heart rate up. I also need to keep up with the nutrition tracking to keep my metabolism up. That includes the weekends, the time I seem to slack the most due to a lack of regular schedule.

This week I'm starting to fear that the progress I've been making is leveling off. Areas where I found fat to recede is now getting chubby again. Also I'm not seeing the same muscle growth that I have been in earlier weeks.

I think I may just need to change up my routine and get more aggressive again. Diet is the biggest thing I've been slacking on my calorie counting and I think I've been eating too few and its short circuiting my metabolism. Tonight is cardio night again and I'm going to increase the resistance and really push myself. Tomorrow is weights and I already have a planned increase, wonder if I'll be able to manage it since my last session was rather difficult. Either way I'm going to give it my all and try to not let this derail me.

Tomorrow is also my personal weigh in. I know the scale number doesn't mean that much but is at least some way for me to gauge my results in addition to measurements and fat percentage. Hmm might have to ask someone at the gym to measure that again and see what the difference is after say a month. 

Okay been nearly two weeks and no updates. What's the deal you ask? Well last week was hectic. Along with the intensive Maldroth 2.0 project I've undertaken my personal computer was also getting a make over from the inside out. Well during that week I was spending most of my time backing up material I wanted to save and also just cleaning house. Amazing how much digital junk you accumulate over the course of 5 years.

Installation was a breeze though did have a lingering virus that I never noticed before it managed to install itself in the new windows but was caught this time.

Well the new home PC has plenty room to expand for new drives and other hardware. Also managed to leave some unpartitioned space to play around with Ubuntu Linux and create a Hackintosh.

This week was spent largely hammering out getting Linux to work with my hardware. I love the OS but getting up to date drivers is much more painful than it should be. Thankfully Envy solved my nVidia driver problem and Ubuntu runs like a champ.

Also took it upon myself to customize both the Windows and Linux desktops with a nice black, silver and glowing blue theme that my PC case shares. I love being a geek sometimes.

The Hackintosh however did not go so well. The Kalaway disc works however the Panther installer won't see that I have a 250gb and 500gb SATA drives in the machine. Says they are two 128gb drives... Yeah don't trust it enough to try and format the remaining unpartioned space. I'll have to poke around the hackintosh sites more when I have free time to try and see if I should bother messing with it or just throw in a smaller drive.

The old PC parts went into and older case and it failed to post properly. After a weekend of hardware and software battles I decided I'll mess with it later.

So with my main PC back up and running more regular posts will start to come, though still have some remaining file cleaning to do.

Saturday was an interesting day. First on a curious whim I decided to weigh myself and it seems with one week I lost 5lbs. I've heard you lose the most at first and then it evens out lower but there is still loss. So that tight feeling HAS been me losing some weight. Also I found an unexpected surprise at the gym. I started my weight routine and realized to my surprise the first run was very easy. Second go around I started bumping up the weight to 10-15 lbs per station. Lower body was still a struggle so I left those as they were. I knew I'd get stronger just never expected to see the need for a weight increase so soon. I figured it would be my Tuesday session that I would need to do that.

Come Tuesday I also need to talk with my trainer about Cardio, Heart rate and my forms on weights to make sure I'm maximizing my workout time. I also really need to tighten my discipline on the urge to snack in the evenings and making some better choices for lunch. I noticed on the weekend my calorie count was higher than where I'd like it to be. I just need to ditch the tempting food.

On Saturday I also picked up a copy of Lifehacker. Interesting book and some of the recommendations I'm going to put to use, others either just don't fit, or I've already have another time saving trick in place. I'm also poking around the Lifehacker.com website for other little tips and tricks. After reading that and putting some of those items into action I really need to break out my HTML book and get back into the swing of web design to update my webpage the way I want.

Aside from all that my brother is going to see about upgrading out account to premium so we can both get full web access, mobile email and VZ Navigator. That will be a tremendous boon for my productivity and won't have to rely on SMS so much for little details.

Tonight is Cardio and I know I'll feel good after that.

Okay second night of weight lifting and on the following day I'm no where near as sore as I was after the first session. I think my body is getting used to the activity now. Calves still hurt but it's from the earlier session. Tonight is cardio before gaming, really going to be crunched for time. 

I've also been using Twitter to track my calorie intake with a neat little bot called TWYE. You can find him on http://tweetwhatyoueat.com/. Just follow the instructions to set up a food diary and then you just text in your items in the d twye apple:58 format. It comes up in the food journal as Apple 58 Calories. It's really basic I wish it could track other items like Sodium, Carbs, or Protein for those that track more than just Calories. I also wish it parsed that data that comes in to try and identify what you may not know the caloric content but another user may have. For those unknowns I'll just have to rely on the internet and go back and edit later.

Well seems I'm averaging about 2000 calories which is about where I want to be at the moment, coupled with the cardio I'm actually under so we will see how the fat burn happens.

So the first week is nearly done and it's easy enough I don't see a problem for myself maintaining this program. Hell I might even need to increase weight this coming Tuesday when I have my trainer again. Perhaps I'll try that by 5lbs on some of the upper body.

Okay Tuesday was my first night with the personal trainer. I learned a lot in that one session on exactly what I needed to do to challenge myself with weights to get the results I want. I would have never gotten as close on my own. I definitely know the feeling I need to achieve with each session. Also helped to get rid of some of the awkwardness of how do I adjust this, or use this, or what weight should I start? All that is taken care of and out of the way. I will be doing full body workout with a day of rest in between. That gives me 48 hours in between sessions. Going with a max resistance lift of 6-8 reps for two sets on upper body, and 8-10 reps for two sets on lower body.

After Tuesday I felt pretty good. Wednesday however after a night of rest my calves are screaming in pain and my shoulders are stiff as well. While painful I know those areas got a great workout. Tonight will be interesting since they haven't fully recovered in the 48 hour period. I'm going to keep at it and my body is just going to have to get used to it. Can't improve if you never challenge yourself.

It's funny as we were finding the right weight subconsciously I kept selling myself short. I think my trainer was impressed with my determination and "Bring it on" attitude.

Wednesday was 20 min of high intensity Cardio. I though my legs would burn from being sore and working hard but surprisingly not really. So I'm getting used to it slowly.

I find it amusing how many people ask "How much have you lost?" Well considering it's only been two days it's way premature to try and expect results. Despite feeling sore I feel better. Skin seems tighter but nothing has really changed physically. Realistically I hope to see some results after a month then I'll get excited until then I have a lot of work to do yet before I can celebrate. 

So last night while messting around with some other Twitter stuff I decided to look for some different Internet Radio Stations. I'm getting kinda sick of XM Radio as of late. Low and behold I found that SomaFM is back on the air, aparently for some time now. All my old favorites are there plus some new stations. I'll have to check them out. Still to this day Groove Salad is my favorite.

It's perfect background music that doesn't distract you from the task on had but yet keeps you modivate and breaks uncomfortable silence. I think I'm going to have to toss $50 at them and snag one of their t-shirts as well to help support them. Anything to keep some variety of music available. At work my co-workers listen to the same syndicated radio garbage that owns nearly all of the stations in town. Couple that with the mindless commercials and I just can't take it anymore. I could get an iPod but then I'd figure then I'd just get sick my own collection. At least with Internet Radio you can experience new music and sounds that you may not otherwise ever get to experience. So even in Soma FM isn't your bag I urge you to go out and find Internet Radio before the RIAA tries to shut it down. Support those small broadcasters because they do it because they love it.

 

Well finally managed to get Hiveminder working properly with me phone. Seems I needed to explot Twitter more and properly setup those settings. I looked at some other GTD todo list pages and seems for any of them to allow you to add to task using SMS you pretty much use Twitter. So why bother with those if Hiveminder does that already AND has the Braindump feature, which I think is really damn handy. So I closed my Remember the Milk account and will solely use Hiveminder.

I also got some other thinks linked to my mobile phone so now I feel all connected. I just need one of those lame Bluetooth headsets and I can feel all jacked into the wireless experience, have conversations with myself and puzzle those around me. Yep just another thing that brings current technology closer to what we see in cyberpunk sci-fi.

I also looked at the GTD movement's main site. Can't remember the author's name but there was quite a bit of merchandise available. Seems like your typeical modivational seminar fare. One thing did catch my eye that I realize I need to do, find a new wallet. My current is over 10 years old and has seen better days. A search of eBay turned up a few things. I don't use checks anymore and since most places don't take them anymore I'm not missing out on anything. I did get inspired from the GTD site to include a note pad in that section. I can't think of the number of times I've wanted to have a piece of paper to exchange a number or jot a note down. Well so I guess that's two good things that came out of poking around on that site.

So phase one of mental restructuring is done to get better organized, now to move that momentum onto finances and project management. 

Alright so in addition to the blog I've been looking at productivity websites. I blame my phone really. Suppose I should explain a bit. In late November I purchased a LG Voyager. I didn't want an iPhone for a couple of reasons. First I'd have to switch carriers and if there is a physical problem with the phone I'd have to send it in to be fixed and I'd be sans phone until the repair was done. Yeah that's not happening. The LG Voyager is really good but not quite as flexible as the iPhone...yet. Sounds like Verizon is opening up their network this year so we may start to see more software be developed for the phone. Currently is all rumor but if they want it to compete with the iPhone they are going to need to step up. 

Ok rambling aside I've found that I use the calander function more and more lately. So with that I'm looking at integrating it with Outlook since I have that at home and work. With all of that they are great to track events, but not really tasks. Step in GTD (Get It Done) software. I'm playing around with two right now. Hiveminder and Remember the Milk. Both are task managers. You place in tasks that need to be completed and categorize them with tags, due dates and reminders. Some more advanced sites allow for e-mail or even SMS reminders. Very handy with unlimited texts. Hiveminder I like because they have what's called the Braindump. You create a list of items and put tags in a [tag] format. Very easy to compile a huge list of things to do and then go back and prioritize those and sort them. Problem I'm having with Hiveminder is getting task info on my mobile phone and remembering the damn commands. Might be an issue with Mobile IM which hasn't seemed to be responding right lately.  Remember the Milk seems much more straight forward but it's impossible to create new tasks via mobile until you email them into the system. I am pleased with the alertting though since it can send an SMS message to remind my lazy ass.

So now for Calandars. Well there is Outlook and Google Calandar. Nice thing with the Google one is it seems to accept more formats and it's available anywhere with internet access including my phone. I think I just need to play with it more. Currently I have to download my calendar from my phone using BitPim and then import or upload it. What I need to test is if I can import those back to the phone.

Also looking at playing around with Microsoft Money again to keep up on bills and such. I've basically sat around idle with all this software around me and it's about time I start to use it to get organized.

So I was thinking at work about setting material for 2032, (really need to think about a better title) and I got to thinking about how racism or hatred would change, or really not change in a dark future. Think about it humanity has grouped up and hated each other for, well damn near forever. Now put in a situation with people with cybernetic replacements are present. If they are poor then they were the vets from the South Am wars. Government subsidized replacements that cover just the base functionality to make someone that lost a leg to a landmind walk again. Now you also have disabled Americans that did pay for their replacements through an HMO. We all know how well they like to cover things so again you have minimal effort. Now you have the rich or privelaged that have connections doing replacements that make them more than human. All through out human history we have feared what we don't fully understand. It's not a far stretch to see people think all cybernetics allow for super human strength or speed. Now throw in a couple of cases of Cyberpsycosis to make the general populace fearful of Cyborgs. Cheap cybernetics is bare metal looking, dingy looking, looks tattered. Compare that to expensive well designed replacements that actually regrow skin over it or use a suitable synthetic replacement.

"Hey Cyborg what are you doing around here?, you know we don't like you people loitering about." Yeah Cyborg can easily become the new N-word with the same fear, misunderstanding and ingorance that created the hate filled with that one.

You can even take it to the extreme and see that look and style embrased with the chrome and neon LED flash you see in stories and movies. Yeah you still wouldn't catch those people being called Cyborgs they are something else entirely, they are Cyberpunk.