The Blog-Files

iBlog

A free download for .Mac members, iBlog promised to be a "blogger for the rest of us". It has some nice features, integrates nicely with the iLife suite of software, but it is painfully short in one aspect that I like to use. I like adding images pulled from various sites to add a little flavour to my blog. iBlog lets you add images (as well as sound, movies and other things too) but I can't seem to edit any of the attributes like alignment or hspace and vspace. Unfortunately, this makes for ugly blogs, with weird line spacing and images all higgledy-piggledy all over the place. If they could make it a little more savvy in that department I would use it in a snap.

Also, it only publishes to .Mac iDisks or locally so I can't update this blog with it anyway. Maybe I can use it for text only stuff or maybe not at all. Oh well, the price is right.

Note To Self

I recently renewed my subscription to the .Mac suite of internet services. It was CAD $189, which is a little steep if you ask me. However, I do enjoy the added functionality it offers. Backup is one of the features I like. I've never needed to use it, mind you, but that's a good thing. Needing it would require my computer and external hard drive blowing up or my house burning down.

I also recently tried the .Mac Bookmark feature, where it uses the bookmarks from my Safari browser on other browsers in a pop-up window. It worked quite nicely.

I like the Address Book feature. It syncs up with my address book on my iMac so I have access to all my contacts from any computer with an internet connection. It meshes really well with the .Mac Webmail, a feature I hardly use at all.

I use the iCard feature all the time. Stella was the last recipient as her birthday has just passed. Speaking of birthdays, today is Monty's birthday, so I best go send him one.

I don't really use my iDisk too much, except for the things that require it, like Backup. But it could be an interesting way to share files with people if you needed to.

I really like Homepage. It integrates very well with iPhoto, making publishing photo albums to the web a snap. I really have to remember to take more photos, I've become somewhat lazy in that respect. Maybe I'll take lots of pictures tonight at Monty's birthday dinner.

Anyway, it is a fairly expensive service so I really have to remember to use it.

I Lost 5 Pounds!!!

Well, floor hockey was a bit of a fiasco tonight. Mike, the guy who organizes it, and is one of the goalies, had surgery today and is unable to play for a minimum of four weeks. One of the guys arranged for a goalie to come out as a replacement and one of the other guys knew somebody that was going to be our other goalie. We are supposed to start playing at around 7:00PM but usually don't start until around 7:20PM. It was around 7:30PM when we discovered that one of the goalies wasn't likely to show up, so I got in the car and drove to Mike's house to pick up his goalie gear so someone could play in net. I arrived back at 7:50PM and was surprised to find out that nobody wanted to play in goal. Well, after having driven for 20 minutes to get the goddamned equipment, I decided that I would play goalie. So I put on the gear, which was a little too big for me, and got between the pipes. After a grand total of two warm-up shots we started the game.

I'm not to sound with my positional play but I do have very good reflexes. This, coupled with a team that was very aware of my inexperience, allowed us to win the shortened game by a score of 14-5. I now have a new found respect for the position, keeping track of the puck/ball is very difficult, although I think it would be easier if I had equipment that fit me properly. I also discovered that when you play that position you sweat, a lot. After the game was over and I peeled off all the equipment, I discovered that I was drenched in sweat. I can't remember being so sweaty, not even after running a 10K or playing in badminton tournaments or squash matches or anything. I think the reason is this. When playing a racquet sport or running or you can kind of "let up" if you need a bit of a break and the game isn't really stressful. When playing goal in hockey, however, you need to be focused on the action pretty much all the time and need to be ready to react whenever needed. You don't get to set the pace. I think a lot of the sweat was "nerve sweat", the kind of sweat you do when your nervous, the really stinky kind. When I got home I weighed myself and was shocked to discover that I had lost about five pounds!! Probably all sweat. Anyway, I'm hoping someone else will volunteer to do the job next week, otherwise there won't be much left of me by October.

I'm In So Much Trouble

I realized today that I am in for a world full of hurt tomorrow. Let me start by saying that I fully intended to try and maintain some level of fitness over the summer. I figured that I would be chasing Alexei around the park or doing lots of walking or maybe even doing a little physical labour around the house. That might not keep me in shape but it might slow the decay of my previous fitness level. I distinctly remember one day sitting on the floor in Alexei's room actually stretching while he was busy playing with his toys, thinking that I really should be doing this more often. I am getting older, you know, and will be turning thirty five a month from now. Yikes! At any rate, all good intentions aside, I have been anywhere from mildly inactive to pretty much immobile all summer long. Tomorrow that all changes.

The first night of floor hockey is usually pretty tame. All the guys haven't seen too much of each other over the summer so the first part of the alloted time is eaten up with the usual chit chat. Most of the guys, myself included, have probably put on a few pounds so we won't be moving too fast to start. These are all good things. I might actually stand a chance of not hurting myself too much. I'll let you know how it goes....