Hole-In-One

Friday, August 22nd, 2008 @ 4:53pm

I don’t normally brag a lot, but I have to at least brag about this. Some of you may have been aware I went to the beach this past weekend, but in either case, that’s where I was. Aside from hanging out on the beach a lot, Clint and I got to play a good bit of golf.

There is this 9 hole golf course across from one of the resorts that we could play unlimited golf for the week. Sadly, I had been playing quite poorly on the first round until about the sixth hole. I tee up, and hit a nice shot exclaiming, “It’s about time, this is the best shot I’ve made all day…” only to watch it bounce on the green and into the hole for a hole-in-one.

Of course, I was (and still am) very excited about the shot, no matter how lucky it may be. I can’t imagine very many people can say they’ve made a hole-in-one in golf so I’m very proud of the achievement even though it will probably be the first and last hole-in-one I’ll ever get.

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Mario Kart

Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 @ 12:30am

I had not played Mario Kart in a while due to sparsely playing other games (Okami, TF2, Lunar 2 to mention a few)… And was reminded there’s a lot of crap that goes on in the latest iteration of the game. So I present to you, Jason’s Laws of Mario Kart!

1st place is only a punishment.

Players who are in 1st place really don’t belong there anyway. So to help prevent someone from hogging first place too long an army of blue shells will be sent to remove said player from position. A player in 1st place is really being anti-social, but a couple of blue shells will help to put them back in their place with the rest of the group. Remember, Mario Kart is really a party game, so we don’t want someone to be a loner!

Dodging a blue shells requires a doctorate’s degree in astrophysics.

Blue shell dynamics are a mystery to most, and is under intense study by top scholars. Unfortunately for the rest of us who can’t afford to attend MIT, the avoidance of an incoming blue shell remains elusive.

Chance for lightning strike when there is no ground below increases ten fold.

Yet another mystery of nature unsolved. You’re happily flying along over a ramp, and when you least expect it, a bolt comes out of the blue sending you off into the deep abyss below. Many scholars suggest that ramps increase your negative charge to attract the lightning, but many dispute this theory. For now, it remains a mystery why this phenomenon happens.

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Download Firefox 3

Monday, June 16th, 2008 @ 5:59pm

Tomorrow is the release date of the official version of Firefox 3, and to boot it off they are having a download campaign. If you have an older version of Firefox, download it. If you don’t have Firefox *shudder*, download it.

I have been using the beta/release candidates for over a month, and the features and speed has been greatly improved over previous iterations of Firefox, so you really are doing yourself a disservice if you do not download Firefox 3 tomorrow.

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Fuel Efficiency

Thursday, June 12th, 2008 @ 11:55am

So I have been considering getting a motorcycle/scooter for quite a while now, even back into last summer. I just had not had the means to actually really consider it until recently. Some might think I’m crazy, considering my success rate currently with vehicles on two wheels, but I hope that the odds are in my favor now that I’ve already been hit once.

I’m leaning more towards a motorcycle than a scooter at this point, considering I would have to deal with some hilly terrain here in Birmingham, so anything below a 100cc engine would not cut it. Not to mention that anything over 100cc is going to be close to the cost of a cheap motorcycle.

I was trying to run some of the data to compare exactly how much cost savings there would be compared to my current vehicle, a 2001 Honda CR-V. My CR-V tends to be about 23 city MPG and 28 highway mpg, so I figured I would average it approx. 25mpg. I would hope to find a bike that would at least reach 70mpg, so that’s my minimum determining factor. All my data is also assuming an average cost of of fuel at $3.75/gal.

Fuel Efficiency Chart

As you can see from the above chart, assuming I spend $1500 initially, I wouldn’t begin saving money over the CR-V until approx. 15,000 miles. Of course, $1500 is probably an unlikely amount and would likely be closer to $2000~ which would put the intersection at around 20,000 miles.

I’ve been mainly looking at the Honda Rebel, since it’s a lightweight bike and gets close to my target fuel efficiency. A 2000 model tends to be in the $2000 range, so I’m hoping I can get lucky and find a used bike for a little bit less than that.

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Random Stuff

Sunday, April 20th, 2008 @ 1:04pm

Not a whole lot going on, therefore that explains the lack of updates. I work, eat, and sleep, so that’s not very exciting, is it? So here are some random ramblings:

Picked up a roof rack for my car (finally) this past weekend. Now I just need a new bike to go along with it.

I think what I really need is a vacation, considering this past year has been a long year for me and I haven’t really had a good chance to sit back and enjoy myself. Sure I was unable to work for a little while last fall, but that wasn’t really relaxing. I think I just need a break (that doesn’t involve bones!)

Started running again, and am trying to keep a schedule now for every other day. I want to get up to a 30 minute run, but taking it slow right now by adding 30 seconds each time. I figure if I add up 1-2 minutes each week I should be up to 30 minutes within a month or two. Working various muscle groups back up to the norm as well, but that’s kind of difficult to do when you don’t have gym equipment, and it’s hard to motivate myself to do that at a gym frequently enough.

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February Lull

Thursday, February 21st, 2008 @ 10:51am

So February thus far has been rather uninteresting and uneventful, so I have had very little on which to post about. In the meantime, I thought it would be interesting to pull up some random February facts.

February is the shortest month of the year, but I’m sure you knew that? Legend has it that Augustus took a day from February to add it to his own month (August).

The confederate states were formed on February 4th, in Montgomery, Alabama.

February 29th is the only day of the year which women can traditionally propose to men.

2 full moons in the same month of February occur very rarely, as a lunar cycle is approx. 29.5 days. The second full moon is considered a “blue moon” (although, this is the case in any month two full moons occur).

Groundhog’s Day isn’t the only event to take place on February 2nd. Candlemas also occurs on February 2nd, which is typically observed by Roman Catholics.

Anyway, hopefully something should pick up soon and I might have more interesting things to blog about. In the meantime…

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Workout

Friday, January 25th, 2008 @ 11:11am

So I’ve been trying to work out recently in attempt to get full shoulder mobility back. It’s interesting to note at how hard it is to do so when you’ve had your muscles ripped apart in addition to having limited use for the two months.

I generally stay pretty active and moving around, so I don’t usually work out. That, and gyms are usually an expense I really don’t feel like paying. But Samford’s new arena actually has a pretty nice new weight room with all new equipment and stuff. So that with the complications of the accident have pushed me to attempt to begin working out. I think I’ve pulled something… twice, but it’s okay as it usually feels better by the next day. My current goal is the ability to do pull-ups, as my last attempt was a big pain of a failure.

The only thing I lack is motivation. Maybe I need to go buy the soundtrack from Rocky or something…

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Snow is a Four Letter Word

Sunday, January 20th, 2008 @ 3:34pm

Snow and Birmingham is a rare combination, but within the past week Alabama has had two snow events, neither of which were significant in Birmingham. Here at the apartment we only received a light dusting which accumulated on cars and roofs, but nothing beyond that.

It is of interest to note, that Birmingham typically receives an inch or so every year, but we’ve had a “snowless” streak the past couple of years. Birmingham is currently in its longest streak without having any measurable snow accumulation. (Note: A measurable amount according to the weather service 0.1 inches) The last measurable snow amount at the B’ham airport was Jan 28, 2000 (2,913 days). I wonder how long it will continue? Here the other 4 streaks following this one:

  • 2/1/1951 to 3/6/1957: 2,225 days
  • 2/13/1905 to 12/18/1909: 1,769 days
  • 2/13/1971 to 12/1/1974: 1,387 days
  • 1/5/1919 to 2/15/1922: 1,137 days

It’s bound to end at some point, but it seems like snow has skipped over Birmingham the past 8 years. Hopefully we’ll see some significant snow either within this year or the next.

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Lack of Updates

Tuesday, November 27th, 2007 @ 10:41pm

I figure it is about time to post the reason for my lack of updates. If you wish to know further detail you may need to ask me personally since I do not wish to publicize too many details over the internet.

About three weeks ago I was involved in a Bike vs. Car accident. Hopefully, this will explain why you’ve seen very few posts over the past couple of weeks. The accident could have ended up a lot worse according to witness reports but the important thing is I’m alive and I’m grateful for that.

Just keep me in your prayers, as that’s the best you can do for now. Thanks!

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Bike Updates

Wednesday, October 31st, 2007 @ 3:53pm

Well, I’ve completed my first month of biking to work. I have been shooting for my 3 days a week goal, although I’m going to fall a little short for October. I did not get any biking done the second week of October due to sickness, but have met my goal at least every other week in the month. So with 12 trips out of 23 I’m doing okay.

Now, it’s been steadily getting colder this month, which hasn’t been so bad, except for some mornings and days when it’s rained. But, you’ve got to take the good with the bad… More updates in the future once November is complete!

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