It’s time! I’ve been carrying around extra weight for far too long. So now is the time to get rid of it. By spending the summer exercising and modifying nutritional habits, it should be possible to remove the majority of it by the end of September. Last year, I managed to lose 11 pounds in a month during Junk Food Free July. However, it wasn’t maintained, and after two months it had returned. – mostly through laziness. It didn’t help any that I reverted to some bad habits. Cooking at home most of the time should help too. I don’t want get too caught up in numbers but, I anticipate losing between 40 – 60 pounds.
If all goes well, I’ll be looking like a new man by Christmas. Nice! I’ll update this blog every couple of weeks with my progress to let you all know how I’m doing. If you do something similar, let me know.
Wish me luck!
I’m looking forward to Barcamp Seattle 2009, which is just a few short weeks away. My friends/fellow organizers have been hard at work organizing the event for you. This year we’re trying to attract other groups outside the “tech bubble” to increase the variety of the sessions. We want everyone to participate as it makes things more interesting, we learn more, and it expands our world in more unexpected directions through the people we’ll meet.
If you don’t know what Barcamp is, allow me to help. Think of the last conference you attended. Now imagine the list of speakers and schedule didn’t exist. Then add your name and a topic you think others might find interesting to the schedule. When the scheduled time comes, you give your presentation. Lastly imagine not paying a registration fee. Anybody that attends has the opportunity to present. That’s Barcamp!
Historically, Barcamp has been a very geeky event filled with Software Developers, Web Designers, and Mobile enthusiasts . But the beauty of Barcamp is that it can be anything you want it to be. In that spirit, I’d like to suggest some topics that I’d like to see at Barcamp Seattle 2009. If one of these interests you, take it and run with it.
- How To Be a Good Wingman
- Accessories for Men – How to Augment Your Personal Style
- Dressing Better : Improving the Nerd Wardrobe (provide theory and tips)
- Entrepreneurship: Starting a Services-based Business
- How to date a Model AKA Girl Baiting – A Nerd’s Guide to Getting the Girl
- Become Extroverted – How to Defy and Overcome Your Shyness
I’d like to hear what you’re interested in hearing about. Write it in the comments below.
Event Details
Sat Jun 13, 10am-5pm.
Sun Jun 14 10am-1pm.
Adobe Conference Center
801 North 34th Street
Seattle, WA 98103 Map to Adobe
Register for Barcamp Seattle.
Life in Seattle and its surrounding cities and counties is about to get a little easier for those who take public transportation. Several transportation agencies have a new project. It will simplify and accelerate the process of paying for transportation. Enter ORCA Card.
The ORCA card is a universal access pass that works on multiple agencies’ systems surrounding the Puget Sound. You might say “One pass to rule them all”. In fact, ORCA is an acronym for One Regional Card for All. It uses RFID to hold your currency and pass information, and accesses it when you tap the sensor. You can add value in person, over the phone, and online. It’s the last option that likely speed adoption. Being able to add value to your card outside of business hours empowers the customer, increases the usability of the system, and increases the likelihood that the customer will keep using it.
Costs
By now your probably wondering how much it costs. To get the card, it’s currently free. However, this is true for a limited time. Keep in mind that they’ll charge you to replace an existing card. Given that the cards are expected to last “approximately five years with regular use“, the replacement cost is trivial.
The cost for your travel is separate. Trying to estimate what you should spend each month can be difficult. I live in Seattle, so I use the King County Metro site. Here’s the basic rule for King County – All of Seattle is 1 zone, Everything else is another. Here’s a chart for the fare information.
Challenges
The first of a few challenges for ORCA is the same as any new project – gaining adoption. My friends and I are early adopters, and we’re already sold on it. However, getting the masses to use it will take a fair amount of effort. The second challenge is their website orcacard.com which is poorly designed, has suspect accessibility, and lots of ugly query string URLs. They need to contact Mastodon Labs to solve these problems with a website redesign.
Tips
- Get your card now, while they’re free.
- Get two cards – one for you, one for guests. So when you have a friend or family member come to visit you, they can use the second card and not worry about how much to pay and carrying exact change. Also it can be a backup for you, should you misplace your primary card.
- You don’t need to ask the driver for a transfer, the ORCA knows if its a transfer the next time you scan your card.
This morning I’ve launched the mobile edition of AndrewWoods.net However, it doesn’t include this blog. That’s for a future time. 
In keeping with the One Web idea, I’m using the same url but a different layout. I chose this method, because it complies with the DRY principle, it made it easier/faster to develop, and its more cost effective since i’m not using a separate hosting account for a mobile site.
The difficulty to mobile web development is that you need to test a wide variety of devices. Acquiring such devices can get expensive depending on how many you’re developing for. Some developers, and even companies, make sites to cater to iPhone or Blackberry and call it a day. I’m using a Palm Treo 700p, and limiting my development to Palm Devices would be bad, given the small audience. More importantly though, I want everyone to be able to use my websites.
So, I have a request. If you have mobile browser on your phone, could you send me some screenshots of what different pages on AndrewWoods.net look like, in the next day or so? Here’s an example of a screenshot from my hiragana project. I’d greatly appreciate it.
If you’re a web developer that makes mobile sites, I’d love to hear any tips you might have.