For those of you who might be curious how I put this video together, I am using a fantastic video editor under Linux called OpenShot. It’s been a long time coming, but finally there is free Linux based software that rivals the ease of use that Movie Maker provides on Windows. I’ve also found Kdenlive for Linux, which also appears to be excellent. Next month I may give the June “best of” the treatment with that software to give it a test drive.

Because I can’t do anything too boring, I decided to try out something new.  One might even call it a fad.   Ok, it’s definitely a fad.  One might even call it daft.  I’m trying out the Slow-Carb diet (yeah, just google it).  Unless you’ve been living in a cave, under a rock, on another planet, etc., then you’ve probably heard of a low-Carb diet.  Well, this is similar, but instead of eating deliciously carby things like bread, sugar, fruits, beer, etc., you replace those things with lots and lots of beans.  Legumes.  Pinto, Black, Lentil, Refried, and so on.

Let me tell you, it’s easy to get tired of beans.  I mean, I love beans as much as the next guy, but try eating them all the time for a couple of months.  It gets pretty boring.  But it seems to be slowly but steadily working.  Though I haven’t seen the incredible results that some claim to get, I have seen much progress.  I’m down over 16 pounds since I’ve started this thing and I feel pretty darn great.

Now here is the shocker.  I have not exercised one tiny… little… bit.  I have maintained my sedentary existence, parked in front of a computer all day, barely lifting a mouse.  I even have a fancy gadget to lift the handset from my desk phone so that I can use my headset. Yes.  Shameful indeed.

With that said, I can accelerate my weight loss, and actually gain energy (so they say) if I just started exercising… even a tiny little bit every other day.  But I don’t.  Why?  I’m really not sure.  I think I need… just a bit of motivation.

I know I should get out of bed just a little early, throw on those running shoes and bag a mile tomorrow morning.  One measly mile.  But I consistently hit the snooze.  Sleep is too awesome to be squandered on some sweaty, heart-pounding, lung-stinging, morning run.

As you can see – I need some help here folks.  Motivate me.

As a celebration of fathers day and of my own impending parenthood, I’m posting some videos from our most recent ultrasound. This was the appointment where we found out that little Gizmo was going to be a girl. I have to say that it was a pretty awe inspiring experience to see my little progeny-to-be fluttering around inside my wife.

Since YouTube only allows ten minute videos, I had to cut this up into two parts. And no comments about the music, this was all part of the “experience” that we received at the place we had the ultra-sound done.  This was done right around week 17 of the pregnancy, so Gizmo still looks like an alien monkey.  Frankly, a bit creepy.  But also cute and awesome at the same time.  (Gizmo – I’m sorry, in advance, for posting a video with your naughty bits all over the internet – it’s really hard to see them anyway.  Some day you will will understand)

They’ve actually progressed a bit more than what is shown in these pictures.   Go hops go!  And yes, those are pencils.  They make perfect little stakes.

And so I will throw on my work jeans (old jeans re-purposed for work around the house), a tattered t-shirt and enjoy the California sunshine while trimming some hedges, cutting some grass, weeding some gardens and digging some ditches.  How domestic of me.

In other news, I think my Nugget hop Rhizome has finally sprouted!  Hopefully I can confirm later today.  I noticed a thick shoot protruding up from the ground where I planted the rhizome almost two weeks ago.  I didnt’ have much time to investigate this morning before heading out to work, so I’ll get back to this tonight when I get home.  Maybe it’s another plant taking root or maybe it’s the new hops!  Exciting!

Over and out.

But what’s this?  Rain is coming this weekend?  It can’t be?!  Alas, it is so… and my spring will have to wait for another day.

And even if you are not into technology per se, you should definitely go check out TED anyway.  You can spend hours watching videos of ground breaking stuff.

I had dreams of this kind of technology as a kid, actually. I always thought that I’d have some kind of cool implant that augmented my reality. Like overlaying objects or people over the real world seamlessly, so I could see a toaster in my kitchen that wasn’t really there. Maybe that’s not the best example, but this has potential to vastly expand or lives as we know them today. Just think of the video games you could immerse yourself in, the phone calls to relatives who seem like they are sitting accross the table from you. And of course what would any new technology be without porn. The adult entertainment industry will be all over this one.