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When I began my training regiment, I knew one of the first areas that I would need to address was my shoes. Every pair of athletic shoes that I have purchased previously have been judged based on the criteria of price and looks. Athletic performance was never even considered. I did not completely ignore my standard criteria, but this shoe purchase attempted to also consider athletic performance.

My first couple of runs with these shoes left me wondering if I made the wrong purchase. The outer edges of both of my feet were very sore. The soreness went away quickly and I did not feel any discomfort in my knees that would have thrown up any big time alarms. After a few runs, the shoes broke in and there were no further issues.

I have had been using these shoes for about 6 weeks now and I am very happy. The shoes have a snug fit. I have not had any arch discomfort or other foot pain after the initial braking in period. Overall, I could not be happier with these shoes. Plus the neon green trim makes them look awesome and I bought them on sale. All criteria has been met.

This holiday weekend was a very productive one for me.  I have been working on a side project which involves making a mobile app for a web site.  This weekend I wrote the first version of the app for Windows Phone and then was able to port the app over to HTML/CSS/Javascript.  That was yesterday.  Today I took this HTML/CSS/Javascript and created a version for Android using PhoneGap.  I decided to use PhoneGap for two reasons.  First, I don’t know Java or Objective-C.  Second, it’s a simple app and this was the fastest way to get it onto multiple devices.  I should be able to take most of my code that I wrote for the Android version and create the iOS version.  There is still a ton of tweaking to be done, as well as some design work, but it’s at least a start.

Who has two thumbs and started a diet the week before Thanksgiving? This guy right here. So far I’ve had some good success, but these past two days will probably serve as a small hiccup.

I started the diet when I saw the Livestrong calorie tracker app for free in the Windows Phone marketplace. I downloaded it and have been using it. It’s actually been quite educational. There are several scenarios where I thought that option A was a better choice than option B, only to find out that I was quite wrong. More on this later when I have some actual progress to report.

Yesterday we had Thanksgiving at my parents house. We started the morning with a family football game. Next we got to frying the turkeys. That is plural for a couple of reasons. First when frying, you have to keep the size of the bird down to prevent boil overs and giant fireballs. Since an 11 lbs turkey will not feed the large number of diners, we had to cook two for the holiday. Second, the oil is so damn expensive ($50) we like to get as much out of it as possible. We cooked an extra for Kim and Kevan for their return from Miami. We also cooked one for Laurel’s parents, which we ate tonight. Finally we cooked an extra one for us, because turkey leftovers are one of my favorite foods on the planet.

Laurel’s mom had to work yesterday, so we had her and Charlie over for Thanksgiving dinner tonight. I feel like it went better than it had before. The previous two times that I’ve done this, I’ve had small panic attacks right before the meal thinking everything isn’t goings to be done or fearing I forgot something. Today, I planned out my entire menu and made a spreadsheet to show when things need to be started and when things should be done. I taped the spreadsheet to the cabinet right above my work area, so it worked out quite well. The only real problem I have with cooking the Thanksgiving meal is when it’s time to sit and eat, I have very little appetite. Oh well. I’ll enjoy the hell out of it tomorrow. Just in smaller portions, because the diet is back on.

Today I took part in an online exchange that was very meaningful to me, even though it was probably a fleeting thought to the other person. Though it may seem silly, something as small as a return tweet can really make someone’s day.  Tonight was a good example of this.

I follow many people on Twitter and pay particular attention to those people who actually use the service, instead of those who use it exclusively as a PR tool. If you use Twitter, you know exactly what I mean.  When those users make statements online, I occasionally respond.  That is what “real” twitter users are going for, right?

In the past I have received comments, or been retweeted by, a number of pseudo-celebrities.  Almost everyone involved with the TWiT podcasts that I follow has at one time or another engaged with me on Twitter.  This has included Jeff Jarvis, Gini Trapani, Paul Thurrott, Mary Jo Foley, and Steve Gibson.  These names will not mean anything to most, but in my little world having an Xbox question answered by Paul or receiving a retweet from Jeff Jarvis is quite a big deal.

Beyond these tech-celebs, I have also received a response back from Stuart Scott after making a joke about his golf game.  He seemed to think it was funny.  I also called Bill Prady (creator of the Big Bang Theory) an idiot.  He responded without returning my rudeness, thus ensuring a level of respect from me that few strangers enjoy.

My two most recent mentions were two of my favorites.  Shawn Ryan (The Shield, The Unit, Chicago Code, Terriers) responded to a comment I made about Joe Paterno.  He had been ranting about him for a while.  This was meaningful because he was involved with two of my all-time favorite shows, The Shield and The Unit.  Speaking the Shield, tonight Michael Chiklis agreed with something I said.  That made my day big time.  He was the lead character in my favorite show and played my favorite character ever, Vic Mackey.

I understand that much all of this post sounds like the squealings of a 12 year old girl, but I actually do have a point.  I want to thank the people who use Twitter as a tool for conversation, not broadcasting.  I especially want to thank, and would like to further encourage, those users with a large number of followers to continue conversing.  It took Michael Chiklis two seconds to say something to me, but it’s a memory that I will carry for a long time.  I hope we all take two seconds here and there to brighten someone’s day.

Well I decided to switch back to Blogger. I switched away from WordPress because of security concerns. This led me to create a very simple blog program that would difficult to hack because there was no web interface for adding data. This meant that I could not easily access my blog from anywhere where I would be inclined to write. I appreciate Blogger’s seamless updates and I’m interested to see how it integrates with Google+ in the future.

I am hoping to accomplish two things with this post. First since it’s been a while since I have posted anything, I wanted to let everyone know that things are going just fine. Very busy, but good.Second, I am this post from a new blogging platform. I am not using wordpress or blogger, because these kinds of software are targets to too many would be hackers out there. By running a much less widely used platform, I hope to gain a level of security by obscurity.

For a few months now, I have been trying to expand into mobile development. I have had both Xcode (iOS) and Eclipse (Android) installed for quite a while, but have had difficulty getting into any sort of groove with them. I’ve come to the realization that this endeavor has a fatal flaw.If I wanted to write a novel and optimize my income potential, I would want to write that novel in Chinese. Since I do not know Chinese, this would be difficult to accomplish. This is what I have been trying to do with my mobile development so far. I have decided to try a different approach. I am now going to write my novel in English. I will work out the characters, plot, and story arc in English. Once I have the novel completed in a language I am familiar with, I will be able to translate the novel into any other language I want. Obviously, there may be some adjustments that need to be made based on different sytnax or cultural differences.In this case, the languages I speak are PHP and C#, the latter of which means Windows Phone. I decided to try my hand in Windows Phone Development, after which I can more easily port my app over to Android and/or iPhone. I’ve already written two basic apps. As always, I need a significant amount of help in the area of design, but I believe that soon be forthcoming. Stay tuned for more information.

This week has been an eventful exercise in versatility. I have directly worked on projects involving PHP, MySQL, HTML, C#, VB.Net, SQL Server, Windows Mobile 6, and Visual Basic 6.0 (Originally released in 1998). I have also consulted on matters involving ASP.net, JavaScript, CSS, iOS, and Android. To top it all off, I have been reading a book on Java in my “spare” time. Not a lot of that recently, though.As a matter of upkeep, I began updating my resume recently. Not because I need it, but because of the wide variety of projects that I have been working on. I need to write these kinds of things down. Plus an up-to-date resume is just a good thing to have. My previous resume was not really a developer’s resume. It highlighted my job experience and education, where I now understand that a developer’s resume needs to highlight one’s skill-set. I need to figure out a good way to say I’m versatile without saying I’m versatile. Hopefully listing areas where I am proficient and areas where I have had exposure will accomplish that.I have project to finish up this weekend and then I hope that things will calm down to a slower pace. I love being busy, but these past couple of months have been just a tad too busy. Better too busy than not busy enough, though.

This morning, I am feeling a lot of love from all of my friends on Facebook, but I am not expressing my appreciation on Facebook. Why would that be? I didn’t elaborate much when it happened, but I have not posted anything of significance on Facebook since early March. I feel like now would be a good time to explain that decision.Anyone that knows me knows that I enjoy stirring up discussions online. This can be off-putting because I often state strong opinions, many of which I disagree with, just to get people talking. I use Facebook to keep up with friends and see pictures of their families. I can’t do that if they de-friend me because I offended them by saying something that they disagree with. Because of this, I post my thoughts to either Twitter or my blog. If you want to follow me there, great. If not, it’s no problem for me. This way I get to see friends and their families without being mad when they disappear.Some may ask why not watch what I post? I use Twitter and this blog as a tool of expression. I don’t want to pre-censor myself when expression is the goal. I understand how annoying it can be to deal with someone like me online. I have removed friends from my news feed because I grew tired of their constant barrage of propaganda. That is why I am keeping these two worlds separated.There is another reason for this switch. I am concerned with people posting pictures on Facebook that they perceive to be private. In the world of Facebook, privacy is an ever changing concept and I don’t want to regret posting a picture on there that I thought was private between my “friends”. When I post a picture on twitter, I know that it is a public posting. If I don’t want it public, I don’t post it. That is an important self check that I think more of us should have.