10 Commandments for dropping 10 pounds

I ran across this link today, and I'm following most of these already. Shame I don't like green tea or avocado.

But even sensible advice like this ignores the fact that once you hit your late 30s (and I'm STILL in my late 30s ... until November), your metabolism slows down and it gets increasingly more difficult to drop those extra pounds.

As for me, losing 10 lbs. would be great right now. A winter full of indoor soccer almost every night kept me out of the gym, and I'm about 10 lbs. heavier than I'd like to be.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 delayed

PC Mag reports that the third (and final) service pack for Windows XP, which was due out today, has been delayed due to ... wait for it ... compatibility issues!

Which means you can safely use your PC for at least a few more days before collapsing into a weeping mess trying to figure out how Microsoft managed to break your computer with an update.

OK, OK, I kid.

A bit.

Just remember, kids ... System Restore is your friend.

Web 2.0 has been good to me

It's been a few months now since I moved The Newsroom over to the Blogger interface, which allowed for syndicated feeds, permalinks, and better indexing of the blog via Google.

The result, as you can see from the accompanying stats graph, has been a noticeable uptick in my hits and page views. To be sure, a lot of that was traffic generated by Wrestlemania, Ric Flair's retirement, and more recently, the Starfield concert accident I've been blogging about this weekend. But on the whole, my average daily hit count has gone from pathetic single digits to slightly less pathetic double digits.


I'm not going to be winning any blogging traffic awards, but it's mildly satisfying to see that I've generated a small base of regular readers despite no longer having a platform in the pages of the Edmonton Sun from which to generate free name-awareness traffic on this site. (That said, I do get a kick out of seeing the sunpub.com domain show up on my SiteMeter stats generator every once in a while.)

Mike's Mini Movie Review II

Oceans 13: It was weird. Well done, and fun to watch, but weird. It also required watching the wretched Oceans 12 to fully understand it. I'm going to have to watch it a couple more times to tie all the plot twists together. And if I did actually follow the movie correctly, there's the opening for an Ocean's 14 movie with all of the screwed-over bad guys from the first three movies gathering together to get their revenge on Danny's gang. That could be fun.

Sunday evening edit: OK, I watched it again today and it made a whole lot more sense the second time around. A lot of the cues that tie the story together are half-whispered, barely-mentioned throwaway lines that you really have to listen for. But I was far more impressed with the movie the second time around having now pieced the entire thing together.

That still doesn't make Oceans's 12 any better, though.

More on the Starfield concert accident in Abbotsford

Here's a TV report about the concert. Footage of the floor collapsing appears about 45 seconds into the clip.

EDIT APRIL 29: Sorry, folks, the video has been taken off YouTube.

Starfield's Facebook page has a lot of first-hand accounts of the accident.

It's a miracle that no one died, although one person is reportedly seriously injured. But after looking at the TV footage, it's apparent that it could have been a lot worse. God was at work even in that bad situation.

EDIT MAY 11: Because Google is still directing anyone searching for Starfield concert accident information here, I should note that a new video of Starfield addressing the accident is linked here.

Mike Jenkinson has shared: Gadgets: Seiko SlimStick Fitness Aid Explains Why You're Fat

Mike Jenkinson wanted to share this with you:

Gadgets: Seiko SlimStick Fitness Aid Explains Why You're Fat http://gizmodo.com/384369/seiko-slimstick-fitness-aid-explains-why-...

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Church stage collapses in Abbotsford, B.C.

A disturbing story from the Starfield concert last night in Abbotsford, B.C.

Animoto video of Christmas

My mother (believe it or not) suggested I try Animoto. So I did. This was the result of me redoing our Christmas video. It's the 30 second version because I'm too cheap to pay money to make a better video.

Galaxies Gone Wild!

Some great new pictures of galaxies colliding, courtesy of the Hubble Telescope.

Starfield - Reign in Us

My current favourite song.

Mike's Mini-Movie Review No. 1

First in an infrequent series ...

We picked up the Enchanted DVD during our recent Washington visit ($15 US!) and while the rest of the family had watched it, I took my first look at it a few days ago. I never thought I'd see the day Disney made a kid-friendly fairy-tale feature film basically satirizing kid-friendly fairy-tale Disney feature films, but there you go. It was every bit as twisted as I had hoped. Well worth a rental for sure.

WHAT!? Hillary, Obama and McCain really on Raw?

WWE has been advertising Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama on Raw tonight. No one believed it, but then this video leaked.

This may be the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life. Who knew American politicians could do wrestling catchphrases?

Have I mentioned that it snowed?

Those poor birds

The poor Hungarian Partridges who have been living in our backyard don't seem terribly impressed by our blizzard.

Enough with the snow!

Here's two pictures.

One shows our backyard a week ago when it was 24 C outside.

The second shows our backyard this morning, after a day and night of snow. It's -18 with the windchill.

Depressing, isn't it?

Every UFC should be in Canada

Great show last night! And what a crowd! We Canadians provide such great crowd atmosphere.

Best fight: Tough to pick. I'm going to say Mac Danzig vs. Mark Bocek just for the war it became, and for Bocek leaking like a faucet.

Worst fight: Nate Quarry vs. Kalib Starnes ... although Quarry redeemed the fight somewhat with his Running Man and Fighting Robot antics at the end.

Kudos to Kenny Florian, who really impressed me as a commentator. He's got a second career when the fight game is done. He was good enough to not even make me miss Joe Rogan.

GSP turned in a dominant, if not earth-shattering, performance. Sorry, Matt Serra, but you got lucky the first time. That much was made apparent.

I really hope UFC does a show in Calgary or Edmonton soon.

Mike Jenkinson has shared: Poker News - WPT Settles Lawsuit With Five Elite Players

Mike Jenkinson wanted to share this with you:

I can't say I ever thought this was a legitimate lawsuit, but its settlement is a good thing. The WPT needs to get "name" players back into the fold.

Poker News - WPT Settles Lawsuit With Five Elite Players http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/article/11761/wpt-settles-laws...

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Welcome to Edmonton III

Last Sunday, it hit 24 C.

This morning, the windchill is -19 C.

Global warming? Anyone?

Where to watch UFC shows in Edmonton

Due to the number of Google searches leading to this site that ask a variation of the title question, I provide as a public service this link.

And a clip from Dana White from Off the Record.

Mike Jenkinson has shared: Digital Cameras: Lumix DMC-TZ50 Coming to US, with T-Mobile Hotspot Access

Mike Jenkinson wanted to share this with you:

More details on Panasonic's Wi-Fi camera. I would assume the Canadian release will have some kind of wireless Internet deal worked out. Anyone with details on that, feel free to share in the comments.

Digital Cameras: Lumix DMC-TZ50 Coming to US, with T-Mobile Hotspot Access http://gizmodo.com/380813/lumix-dmc+tz50-coming-to-us-with-t+mobile...

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It was one year ago today ...

... that I got cut from the Edmonton Sun.

Just noting that for posterity.

Before They Were Stars - Batista vs. Brock Lesnar

From their days in Ohio Valley Wrestling:

NHL cracks down on ... stick waving?

I saw this today and laughed and laughed.



The NHL, however, was not laughing.

Monday, the League made sure it would not happen again as Senior Executive Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell issued a statement about the League’s position.

It is considered an interpretation of Rule 75, concerning goaltender interference.

"An unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalty (Rule 75) will be interpreted and applied, effective immediately, to a situation when an offensive player positions himself facing the opposition goaltender and engages in actions such as waving his arms or stick in front of the goaltender's face, for the purpose of improperly interfering with and/or distracting the goaltender as opposed to positioning himself to try to make a play."

Welcome to Edmonton II

Yesterday, it hit 24. As in, degrees Celsius. I went out for a 70-minute, four-mile walk and got sunburned on my arms.

Today at 12:10 p.m., I looked out my office window and it was snowing. Big-fluffy-white-flakes snowing.

Mike Jenkinson has shared: Star Wars: Leaked Clone Wars Trailer is the New Force Hotness

Mike Jenkinson wanted to share this with you:

This looks pretty cool. I say with only a hint of sarcasm that it's about time George Lucas just did Star Wars as a cartoon, seeing as Episodes 1-3 were mostly animated anyway (except for the humans, who were almost without exception wooden mannequins, so it would have been been better if they'd been animated.)

Star Wars: Leaked Clone Wars Trailer is the New Force Hotness http://gizmodo.com/379190/leaked-clone-wars-trailer-is-the-new-forc...

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Hawaii panorama

P1010153-P1010156
Originally uploaded by mjenkinson

If you go to the "Shared Items" list down the side of my blog, you'll notice an entry for stitching photos together in a panorama.

I went back to that one tonight and tried it, and it works exactly as advertised! I put this panorama of the skyline from the roof of our condo in Waikiki together in no time flat. I LOVE this photo.

EDIT:

Here's another one. I love this one more!

Welcome to Edmonton!

Last Saturday, we woke up to a huge blanket of fresh snow.

One week later, it's plus 20.

How to win $1 million in less than 10 seconds

No, I'm not actually awake now

This is just a test of the new "scheduled posts" feature that's being implemented on Blogger. I thought I'd set it for the middle of the night just to throw a few people off.

The Ultimate Fighter Most Brutal Knockout

Let's see how long this stays on YouTube before it gets taken down.

Mike Jenkinson has shared: Mark Hall Star Wars Desk Matt Maher Fireflight Red Unbreakable | Christian Music | Christ Community Music | CCM | CCMmagazi

Mike Jenkinson wanted to share this with you:

There are a lot of reasons why Casting Crowns is an amazing band. The fact that the lead singer, Mark Hall, is a giant Star Wars nut is just icing on the cake. Click the link and scroll down to the picture of his desk.

Mark Hall Star Wars Desk | CCMmagazine.com http://www.ccmmagazine.com/news/headlines/11572625/

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Frozen poultry

Edmonton is being hit with one of those April blizzards this morning, and the Hungarian Partridges who have been frequenting our backyard are not too happy about it. (I can't say I'm thrilled either.)

A new video of them shot this morning below.

The UFC Wednesday Night Marathon of Doom!

Sorry, but four hours for the two UFC shows last night was just too long, particularly after the kind of weekend the WWE just gave us.

I mean, it's one thing to make Mania four hours long, but last night was NOT Wrestlemania. While the Fight Night matches turned out to be (mostly) really good, the show had zero buzz going in. And after the star-studded Mania weekend, Fight Night came across as a bunch of UFC PPV opening match geeks fighting for free on TV.

It would be like the WWE giving us a three-hour Wednesday night broadcast of Heat - the workrate may be great, but there's so little star-power, why bother to watch?

I'll be really interested to see the rating for last night's show.

That said, Ultimate Fighter was really good. I like the new format of making 32 guys fight their way onto the show to become the 16 who make it into the house. However, now guys who go on the show will be expecting to fight right off the bat, so they may have to change it up again really soon. This should be the best season ever in terms of the coaches being entertaining. I suspect Forrest will completely out-coach Rampage ... and then get stomped by him at the PPV.

Ultimate Fight Night - Ultimate Fighter

UFC has a three-hour Ultimate Fight Night tonight, followed by the premier of the new Ultimate Fighter series featuring Rampage Jackson and Forrest Griffin as the two coaches, which should rule the Earth.

But that's FOUR HOURS of UFC programming tonight!

FOUR HOURS!

Seriously ... who has time on a Wednesday evening, the middle of the work week, to watch FOUR HOURS of MMA.

Sure, Wrestlemania was four hours long. But it was Sunday afternoon. And it was WRESTLEMANIA!

This is no Wrestlemania.

Ric Flair Appreciation Night

Eh, well, it was fun while it lasted. Apparently, fan-cam footage shot from the nose-bleed sections of a WWE live event now violates the WWE's copyright.