Goodbye Blogger, it’s been nice knowing you.

posted by Russ | February 2 | Add a Comment

Well, I’m not technically abandoning Blogger right now, but they are making a move which will essentially make it impossible for me to use their service anymore in the future. I can’t say I’m disappointed since I’ve been wanting to move to WordPress for some time. The only hold up with doing that has been the fact that I would need to totally recreate my template, and quite honestly I just don’t feel like doing it.

But anyway, today I get an email from Blogger saying that as of March 26 they will no longer support FTP publishing, claiming that the resources to maintain that are too high. Their claim is that “only .5% of active blogs are published via FTP.” I find that statistic rather surprising. That would mean that only 1 out of 200 bloggers using the Blogger service actually post files to their own host?

They say that […]

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Posted in: technology

NPR Segment – Humans Were Born To Run Barefoot

posted by Russ | January 28 | 1 Comment

It now seems that barefoot running is picking up steam. I first started experimenting after I read the book “Born To Run” last year, and am still working at building up my calf and achilles muscles as well as my distance. As anyone who has read about or tried barefoot running, you know that once you get past the adjustment period, it’s more comfortable and less painful than running in shoes. Aside from the dangers of glass, rocks, and the like, the posture adopted while running barefoot is, especially for me, much more comfortable due to the lessened impact on the heel, which had always caused me pain.

So I was very happy last night when I caught a segment about barefoot running on NPR on my way home from work. As I’ve learned first hand, and as the anthropologist in the NPR segmente found during his studies, “runners in […]

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Posted in: lifestyle design

Stuck in Guangzhou Airport without our passports

posted by Russ | January 23 | 5 Comments

Entry #1 from Thailand trip (see entries #2,#3, #4, #5 and #6)

First view of China from the sky

First view of China from the sky

We were sitting there in Guangzhou Airport without our passports. It wasn’t exactly how we wanted our trip to Thailand to start. Up until a few hours ago, things were fine. There were no problems boarding the plane in Los Angeles, and the flight to Guangzhou went off without a problem. We knew we’d be in the Guangzhou airport for 7 hours before our next flight, and though typically there is no red tape to navigate nor Visa concerns as long as you plan to stay in the terminal, from my research it looked China had some extra tight restrictions for American citizens arriving there, so I put in a call to the embassy prior to leaving to be […]

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Posted in: thailand, travel

Back to semi-reality from Thailand

posted by Russ | January 12 | 5 Comments

I spent the past 14 days in Thailand (with a 5 hour stint in Narita, Japan). My New Year was spent on the beach at the Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan, and then I spent some time in the Krabi area, including Krabi Town, Koh Phi Phi and Ao Nang. So needless to say it will take me a few days to get back to reality. If I can get my ass in gear, over the next few weeks I will try to post some photos and some of my journal entries from the trip.

Hope all is well with all of you, and that you had a holiday as good as I did!

Looking down into town on Koh Phi Phi from viewpoint

Looking down to Koh Phi Phi from viewpoint

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Posted in: thailand, travel

The best, yet least discussed, solution to healthcare

posted by Russ | December 23 | 1 Comment

With all of this raging healthcare debate lately, it seems that the focus (besides the cost I mean) is on medical care and fixing people. While I of course think each person has a right to have affordable medical coverage, I also think the priorities of our health care system (now and in the future regardless of what Congress comes up with) are wholly messed up. We all know that the majority of the money in the system is spent on curing and healing those who are not well. But what you don’t hear very often is the word “prevention”.

Sure, in some ways you do, as in don’t smoke, exercise daily, eat from the major food groups. But if you go to the doctor with high blood pressure, or any of the many issues related to obesity, the doctor doesn’t ask how often you eat fast food and […]

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Posted in: politics

Clean water should be taken more seriously

posted by Russ | December 15 | Add a Comment
Fresh water stream

Photo credit: makelessnoise

The other day I saw an article about big city water ratings in the United States, and it really got me thinking how sad it is that clean, fresh water is so hard to find. The article was brought to my attention at a good time, as just the other day I watched a program on the History Channel (I think) that spoke of the deterioration of the public infrastructure here in this country. This show was more broad in its content than just public water, but in addition to describing how the public water infrastructure is badly in need of repair, it also described roads, bridges and highway systems that are also in need of repair and in some cases close to failing.

In the article, San Diego -my current city of residence- was ranked 91 out of 100 […]

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Posted in: environment, sustainability

Barefoot running update plus Vibram Five Fingers

posted by Russ | December 5 | 5 Comments

For maybe 4 or 5 months now I’ve been experimenting with barefoot running. I’ve written about this before, so I won’t bore you with any old details. However, I am happy to report that after nursing my calf injury back to health, I’ve been able to get out and run 4-5 days a week now, mostly on rocky trails in the canyons near my house. I’ve not been going totally barefoot, but instead until last week have been going with just a pair of Speedo water socks. They provide adequate protection from the ground (from both the rocks in the trails and from the debris on the roads) and also are minimal enough that I’ve been able to adapt my running style and moderately strengthen my feet, ankles, and calves.

Because I’m still fairly new to “barefooting”, I haven’t been going more than 3 miles at a time, but the runs […]

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Posted in: outside

Some Friday Fun and an update

posted by Russ | November 7 | Add a Comment

I’ve been keeping myself way too busy lately, catching up on a lot of personal things, planning an insane trip to Thailand for New Years, and also working hard on a new eCommerce site I’m building. Oh, and not to mention working my normal job.

But for now, I just want to share a few Friday Funnies. Enjoy!

Low Resolution Girl – Halloween costume
http://kindacarsick.com/post/230881676

Pimp My Jet – Costa Rican Style
http://matadornights.com/pimp-my-jet/

Religion Flowchart – Which one are you?
Religion Flowchart

Opening bottle of wine with shoe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s89FqNpXO4&feature;=player_embedded

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Posted in: uncategorized

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