Geof Harries

My unfortunate metabolism

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 18:58:56 PST

I've written about my problems with maintaining a healthy weight before. Now I find myself in the same position again. Not as bad as back then, but still, putting on unwanted weight sucks.

When we went on our vacation to Mexico in mid-November, I weighed 197 lbs. Now, just over a month later, I'm at 207 lbs. I'm a tall guy at 6'4" but I'm not happy about an extra 10 lbs. Ugh.

As for exercise, I go for walks every day with our dog, no matter the weather. We're out there anywhere from 40-60 minutes at a brisk pace, but obviously that's not enough.

Also, I typically go xc-skiing twice a week, but our weather has been horribly cold almost since we got back from Mexico, so I've only gone skiing three times; twice with the dog, which isn't as good of a workout. I also only have skate skis which get stickier and slower as the temperature drops. Anything below -20c is less than ideal.

So, I hope we get a break from this cold winter weather soon. I miss feeling healthy and fit.

Also, and as much as I love Christmas and all of its egg nog, truffles, nuts and turkey, I'll be glad when all of those treats have gone away and I can get back to our regular diet of healthy foods.

In the meantime...look M&Ms!

What are you leaving behind for your kids?

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 13:33:47 PST

Every night, I take our dog for a walk after the kids go to bed. Sometimes it's short (like last night, when it was close to -40 below) and sometimes it's a while, but I always try to get that walk in. I listen to music and podcasts on my iPod (well, iPhone, but still) because it helps to keep me out there as long as possible.

Yesterday evening, I was listening to a podcast that featured an interview with two software development company owners who told stories about their history, products and long-term goals. It was interesting, as these podcasts always are.

That said, I was disappointed several times in the interview with their responses. Disappointed not because their answers were poorly spoken or vague, but due to their usage of some very crude humour. They joked about homosexuality, various sexual positions and awful things like rape. You could tell they were making the host really uncomfortable.

I'm far from being politically correct or overly sensitive. But, still, I think I know where to draw the line between appropriate and inappropriate. These guys have families and wives. Peole who love them and who were probably listening or will one day listen to this interview they were in.

What will their kids think of them as fathers when they hear their words? I know if I had discovered and listened to an interview with my dad in which he publicly said such things, it would change my view of who he was as a person and a role model. Not out of judgement; I'd simply be embarrased and shocked that my dad, this guy whom I looked up to, was someone who behaved in this way.

I'd heard of their company before and have even used some of their products. But after hearing this interview, I'm much less interested in supporting them. I know that everybody has a right to speak their mind and be who they are, but I think sometimes we can all get caught up in the moment and forget that what we say today, especially in the age of the Internet, will likely be around forever.

Are you saying, writing and sharing things that you want your kids to hear? What sort of legacy are you leaving behind for them to discover after you're gone?

This is something I'm starting to think about on a regular basis.

The opposite

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 14:31:23 PST

With age and experience supposedly comes knowledge, but I've found the opposite to be true. The older I get, the more I realize how little I know.

And how much I've already forgotten.

I presume what I have gained, though, is wisdom and a greater sense of humility. As the years pass by, I desire to talk less and listen more. To stay quiet and take action. To be known for my works and deeds.

Which is, really, what I should have be doing all along.

Counting my blessings

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 13:26:59 PST

My blessings are too numerous to mention. God is good.

I've been blessed with a beautiful wife who loves me, three amazing children, a warm house, food on the table, a job I enjoy and my health. This is just a short list, but some of the most important.

This time of year, Christmas, is hard for a lot of people. Really hard. Christmas doesn't have the highest suicide rate of all the seasons (apparently mid-summer is the highest) but depression leads by a long shot. I've not had to personally deal much with depression, but others in my family have and I know how hard it can be.

May I suggest that you take a moment to reflect on all you've been given. Maybe the list is short. Maybe it's long. But whatever its size, count and rejoice in your blessings. Then go forth and help others who need a few more of their own.

How to improve the battery life of your iPhone 5

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 20:59:12 PST

Last week I got a new phone: Apple iPhone 5.

I was planning to get a Windows Phone 8 device (Nokia Lumia 920) instead of going back to the iPhone, but after my very old iPod Classic (circa 2005) died, I was suddenly in need of a MP3 player. To buy a new iPod and a new Windows Phone would be over the top. It made much more financial sense to get a subsidized iPhone on contract.

Anyway, the iPhone 5 is really great. That is, after you make some changes to its settings to improve its poor battery life out of the box.

The first day I had my iPhone, it didn't even last the whole time and I barely even used it. After I made these changes, its battery life dramatically improved.

I first turned LTE off. Do this by going to Settings > General > Cellular >Enable LTE.
Next, I turned off Bluetooth. Do this by going to Settings > Bluetooth.
Then, I brought my screen brightness down a couple of notches, about 2/3. You get to this by going to Settings > Brightness & Wallpaper.
After that, I went through the Notifications and turned off as many as possible. This is found in Settings > Notifications.
Next, I changed my mail to fetch data hourly and not push to my phone. This is under Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data.
Finally, I turned Location Services off. This is under Settings > Privacy > Location Services.

With all of these modifications, I can now make it through an entire day of regular usage, including an hour of XC skiing outside at -10 C, and still be only at 70% battery.

The Quiet Ones

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 08:44:15 PST

“There are no conflicts of interest,” he pronounced, “between rational men.”

A great story about ridiing and co-existing in Amtrak’s Quiet Car.

To die unloved

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 08:42:35 PST

"When a man comes to die, no matter what his talents and influence and genius, if he dies unloved his life must be a failure to him and his dying a cold horror."

John Steinbeck, East of Eden

iTunes CD Lookup Results

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 12:47:26 PDT

I've got a big box full of CDs beside my desk at the office. Every day I grab about 15 and one at a time, open my drive, drop the CD onto the tray and import the music into iTunes.

Today, while importing a Foo Fighters CD, I got this message. Or maybe I was importing a Michael Bolton disc. I guess you'll never know about my guilty pleasures, will you?

Overcoming Project Guilt

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 09:30:24 PDT

Overcoming Project Guilt

...My purpose here is to simply encourage those with families. Please do not spend your time endlessly comparing your accomplishments or progress with those who have no family. Your setting yourself up for guilt at best, and resenting your family at worst.

Do not confuse this advice with a good work ethic. There is a place for working hard, for being focused, and for sacrificing things like social media and RSS so you can meet a target. So you can create more than consume.

But people who do not have a family to care for don’t even realize how much free time they have. They can even afford to waste some, because they have it in such abundance.

Not so with the family man (or woman). I have a wife, six kids, a full time job, a decent sized house, 1.5 acres of land, and lead a small group bible study. I cannot possibly pump out side projects at the pace of a single 20-something living in an apartment in San Francisco. The sooner I realized that, the sooner I could let things go and be at peace.

Six kids! Okay, I will offiically stop complaining about the challenges of raising three. Also, great post about being a husband and father in the world of Internet-y business.

Funny Kijiji ad for Nissan Pathfinder in Victoria, BC

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 09:15:08 PDT

Now, I wouldn't say that a Nissan Pathfinder is the manliest of vehicles (ahem, Dodge Ram) but this ad description is still good for a laugh.

OK, let me start off by saying this baby is only available for purchase by the manliest of men (or women). My friend, if it was possible for a vehicle to sprout chest hair and a five o'clock shadow, this Nissan would look like Tom Selleck. It is just that manly.

It was never intended to drive to the mall so you can pick up that adorable shirt at Abercrombie & Fitch that you had your eye on. It wasn't meant to transport you to yoga class or Linens & Things. No, that's what your Prius is for. If that's the kind of car you're looking for, then just do us all a favor and stop reading right now. I mean it. Just stop.

This was engineered by 3rd degree ninja super-warriors in the highest mountains of Japan to serve the needs of the man that cheats death on a daily basis. They didn't even consider superfluous nancy boy amenities like navigation systems (real men don't get lost), heated leather seats (a real man doesn't let anything warm his butt), or On Star (real men don't even know what the hell On Star is).

No, this brute comes with the things us testosterone-fueled super action junkies need. It has a 200 HP engine to outrun the cops. It's got special blood/gore resistant upholstery. It even has a first-aid kit in the back. You know what the first aid kit has in it? A pint of whiskey, a stitch-your-own-wound kit and a hunk of leather to bite down on when you're operating on yourself. The pathfinder also has an automatic transmission so if you're being chased by Libyan terrorists, you'll still be able to shoot your machine gun out the window and drive at the same time. It's saved my bacon more than once.

It has room for you and the four hotties you picked up on the way to the gym to blast your pecs and hammer your glutes. There's a tow hitch to pull your 50 caliber anti-Taliban, self cooling machine gun. I also just put in a new windshield to replace the one that got shot out by The Man.

My price on this bad boy is an incredibly low $5000, but I'll entertain reasonable offers. And by reasonable, I mean don't walk up and tell me you'll give me $1000for it. That's liable to earn you a Burmese-roundhouse-sphincter-kick with a follow up three fingered eye-jab. Would it hurt? Hell yeah. Let's just say you won't be the prettiest guy at the Coldplay concert anymore.

There's only 270 000km on this four-wheeled hellcat from Planet Kickass. Trust me, it will outlive you and the offspring that will carry your name. It will live on as a monument to your machismo.

Now, go look in the mirror and tell me what you see. If it's a rugged, no holds barred, super brute he-man macho Chuck Norris stunt double, then contact me. I might be out hang-gliding or BASE jumping or just chilling with my ladies, but I'll get back to you. And when I do, we'll talk about a price over a nice glass of Schmidt while we listen to Johnny Cash.

To sweeten the deal a little, I'm throwing in this pair of MC Hammer pants for the man with rippling quads that can't fit into regular pants. Yeah, you heard me. FREE MC Hammer pants!!.

Display and delete missing and duplicate files in iTunes

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 12:44:35 PDT

I've been trying to move to a cloud-centric Windows set-up at the office and on all of my computers. The point is to centralize my data with one provider and then have my data be available anywhere I log into an authorized computer.

One of the biggest pains has been dealing with my music. Not so much the complexity, just the sheer size of my collection. With files for music, video and TV shows, the whole thing is close to 40 GB. All of that had to be uploaded to SkyDrive over the past few weeks.

The problem I ran into with organizing my music was the number of duplicates and missing files which has been generated over years of using iTunes. Although there's mind-numbing ways to manually or pseudo-programmatically track them all down and deal with the mess, it takes hours and hours to do so. I know because I've tried.

Today I finally found the easy solution I've been looking for in Tune Sweeper. For just $20, I was able to run the software and have it quickly locate all of my duplicates and missing files. With a couple of clicks, my music collection was cleaned up and optimized.

Parenting ruts

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 09:09:26 PDT

When your children are very young, it's easy to think that you're going to do everything better than your parents did. When your baby is only a few months old, those ideas are all new and fresh in your mind. You're going to be the Best Parent Ever.

But as your kids get older, parenting gets tougher. Way tougher. Throw in the pressures and routine of school, friendships, activities, illness and fatigue, and suddenly you find yourself in ruts, just like your parents trudged through when you were little. Ruts that limit your thinking and negatively impact the relationship with your children and your spouse.

For example, earlier this autumn, our daughter asked (okay, it had been many months of requests) to move out of the room with her brother where she'd been sharing a bunk-bed with him for several years. Everybody else is in the family was okay with the proposed move except for me.

It wasn't until I grudgingly agreed to set up her bed and let her decorate her own room downstairs that I realized I'd been in a rut. I wasn't ready for her to grow up in this way so I dug down and didn't listen to or respect her wishes. Now, more than a month later with each kid in their own room, she's happy and her brothers are happy, and all is good.

August, September and October have been rough on me. In between all of the things we've been doing, busy days at work, sickness at home and then having a friend die, it's been a hard road to travel. That said, I believe God uses difficult circumstances to bring us closer to Him. He also uses those moments as wake-up calls. This is something that I've believed for a while, but it's in times like these that I really see this as truth.

Frankly, I find it embarrassing to discover and then have to admit that I'm in a rut. But pride sucks. I'd rather be given the chance to recognize and fix a personal issue than ignorantly wander through life throwing away months and years with our children; months and years that I'll never get back.

If you too find yourself in a rut, be glad that you recognize it and then do whatever you need to do to dig yourself out. Life's too short not to take action and make what you have, better.

Up the mountain with mom

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 16:10:37 PDT

Mountain bike season in the Yukon - at least on dirt - is now probably finished given that it snowed a couple of days ago and the weather forecast is predicting successive temperature drops over the coming week.

Personally, I'm amped to put away the bikes (done!) and get onto my xc skis and snowboard as soon as possible. And yet, here am I on mountain bike websites watching videos. The seasons may fade in and out, but my child-like love for mountain biking never seems to go away no matter the time of year.

NSMB today posted a video of Steve Smith that makes me smile. I especially like the part with his mom shuttling him up the mountain. Also, for a guy of Steve Smith's talents and achievements, he sure seems like a humble guy.

For Sale: 2009 Atomic Alibi Wide 164cm snowboard - $250

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 11:46:18 PDT

Perfect for big guys who want to get radical. Comes with Atomic Mojito bindings. Board is in good shape with only minor topsheet scratches and no damage to the base. $250.

Email me if you want to check it out.

Macs are better if you don't connect them to the Internet

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 07:41:34 PDT

Macs are better if you don't connect them to the Internet

I use Windows and I use Macs. Both are great. No matter what physical form each operating system comes in - phone, tablet, laptop or desktop - they're all just computers.

When I read articles like this which is a response to this, it makes me sad and a little bit embarrassed to even own a Mac. That's why Macs are better without Internet acccess: you can completely avoid the hype of its fans and simply enjoy using your Apple computer.

People get so absorbed in their blind loyalty to a platform that they forget about the bigger picture and how companies like Microsoft or Apple are different from one another in more ways than one. And that's a very good thing.

Competition and diversity make the tech world go 'round.