Common Name

I have a very common name. One of those last names that has full chapters reserved in the phone book. This is usually a good thing. I rarely have to tell people how to spell my name when putting in a reservation (and if I do, it's a good sign that I should reconsider my reservation). In fact, I could never say that having a common name has ever been a problem really.

Until the internet. You see, I made a huge mistake. When I signed up for an e-mail address, I actually used my real name for the address. Now if you have a unique name, this isn't such a problem. But with a very common name, everyone with your same name has the same brilliant idea as you. So they try to sign up for the e-mail address you have. Since they can't get it, they use something close, but quickly forget and start giving out my e-mail address, thinking it is their own. This results in my receiving some very interesting e-mails. Some of these e-mails have some very, very personal information in them.

To add to the confusion here, I signed up with an e-mail service that ignores dots (.) in the e-mail address. Just takes them out and uses whats left. So if my e-mail address were Jane.Doe@generic.com, I would also receive e-mail for JaneDoe@generic.com, J.Anedoe@generic.com, and Jan.E.Doe@generic.com. That's a pretty big fish net for a spammer to aim for.

In most cases, the spam filter catches the spammers, which just leaves me with the folks suffering from a case of mistaken web identity. So just to be clear:

• I have never applied to be in the Australian version of the FBI. So don't send me the full application form with my filled in results as well as the responses of my closest friends and relatives you interviewed.


• I am not a college student at LSU who enjoys deer hunting.



• I am not a car customizer in California, and I don't need for his accountant to send me a copy of his tax filings.



• I am not attempting to purchase property in Georgia, and I don't need that gentleman's mortgage application.



• I have never shopped at Blockbuster in the United Kingdom. I am not interested in the UK version of XBox titles, nor the XBox Live service in that territory. Please stop sending me the subscriber notices that he signed up for.



• I did not graduate from a Missouri arts college, and I am not interested in organizing or attending their reunion. How much weight Suzanne gained since graduation is none of my concern.

Typically I just chuckle at these e-mails intended for my dopplegangers. In cases where I have received sensitive information, I try to let the sender know so they can correct their records (and to be sure someone is not attempting to steal my identity). Now I think I will just use the form response below to see if I can get any more interesting response.

This is my e-mail address. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My e-mail address is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my e-mail address is useless. Without my e-mail address I am useless. I must address my e-mail true. I must filter my e-mail from my enemy, who is trying to spam me.

This is not the jedi you are looking for.....

Ffwhooo

Wow, this blog is dusty and disused. Perhaps I should post something.

My Alter Ego

Corbindallas

iPod Nano and Nike+

I bewildered my family this holiday season. Not only did I actually go to brick and mortar stores to do my shopping (and even got stuff not on their lists!) but my own wish list this year included exercise gadgets. Two gadgets in particular I had my first chance to use today. The first is a heart rate monitor from Polar. It uses a chest sensor to detect my heart rate and relay it to a watch. That way I can track my heart rate during my run. I've been told that the best way to train is actually not to kill yourself. Go figure. Anyway, according to the documentation my target maximum heart rate (considering my age) should be somewhere around 195 bpm. Today during my run I was constantly over that mark. I was regularly hovering around 205, and on my last 400 meters stretched up into the 215 realm. It was neat to see how my body was adapting.

The second item was a new doodad for my iPod. Nike and Apple got together and created a special line of shoes as well as a pedometer and adapter for the iPod Nano. The shoes are made so that the pedometer can be slipped under the sole of the shoe. The attachment to the iPod picks up the signal from the pedometer and tracks my workout. In addition, as I was running a voice would come in over my music and let me know how I was progressing on my run. For my first run, I set a goal of going two miles. I've always assumed that the loop around our park is 5/8ths (0.625) miles, as that is what the parks office told me when I asked. So I typically run three laps and call it close enough. Turns out, I needed to go a bit farther to get my two miles in, according to the pedometer. The gadget worked, though. As I approached the end of the third lap, the voice came in and said "400 meters left to reach your goal". 400 meters? That's just one lap around a track. Surely I can finish my two miles. So I stretched it out and went the full two miles.

In addition to telling me my distance, the Nike+ attachment lets me know my current progress and pace at any time by pushing the center button. Tonight, after getting home from work, I plugged my iPod into the PC and it uploaded my run. It was really interesting to see the chart of my pace as I covered the distance. Turns out, I'm pretty good at holding a steady pace. The problem is my pace is too slow. I averaged just under an 11 minute mile pace for the entire run. I'd really like to push that under the 10 minute mile mark, so it looks like I have some work to do.

It's going to be really interesting tracking my runs with these devices.

Total Distance: 2.54 miles
Total Time: 32:32
Calories Burned: 443

Wii - Two Months Later

We've had the Nintendo Wii for a couple of months now, and I thought I should get back and give an updated review. The Wii is awesome! This is such a cool toy! I had some fears when I first got it that it would be fun for a little but, but then lose it's luster as the controls turned out to be a gimmick. I'm glad that I can safely set those fears to rest. I received a couple of new games for Christmas - Excite Truck and Rayman and the Ravings Rabbids. Both are incredibly fun and take good advantage of the new control scheme. Excite Truck uses the controller as a steering wheel, which took me a bit to adjust to but Jenn picked up very intuitively. Raving Rabbids is a bunch of mini-games that have you perform different tasks with the remote, from drawing on the screen to navigating a plane and shooting in a first person shooter. Each game takes only a few minutes to play, and they are so goofy that you can't help but laugh playing them.

One thing I would definitely recommend is that anyone with a Wii and an HD television is to go get the component cables. I picked up a set at Best Buy this weekend for $25 and the difference was amazing. Now keep in mind, the Wii can only output 480p, otherwise known as progressive scan or Enhanced Definition (ED) mode. So it isn't going to take advantage of a true hi-def set like a playstation 3 or XBox 360 will. Still, if your television supports 480p, the difference is amazing. All of the colors in Zelda : Twighlight princess are brighter and warmer. I really wasn't expecting such an incredible improvement in picture by going to progressive scan, but it has to be seen to be believed. In my opinion, the new cables are just good a buy as an extra nun-chuk, they will add a lot to your gaming experience.

Happy Birthday Jeff

We are Temporarily Experiencing Technical Difficulty

If you have been trying to view our family blog, it's having some issues. Google just upgraded their Blogger system to version 2.0, and in the process it looks like team blogs (like our family site) are caught in limbo. We can't post to it, so no updates for now. As soon as it is back up, we'll have some more pictures and comments from the holidays.