Jewellery from computerparts

On multiple websites I have seen 'geeky jewellery' on offer, made from computerparts. Since I am in the process of cleaning up my laboratory a lot of stuff which might be interesting to make into jewelry has turned up. I will have to make an inventory of interesting items and see what I can make with it.

from Steward Dollhouse Creations:



From Thinkgeek:



And the motherload from fractalspin.com:

Spore!

Gaming, some people are totally addicted to playing, others don't play games at all. I mostly belong in the last category especially the last time since I haven't touched a game in years. Spore though is a game I am looking forward to! It seems to be a game which even casual gamers can enjoy. Also all the different modes it contains give it a high attractionfactor. This is a game even I will be buying.

//Z

Image: from the review by bit-tech (a class A techsite btw)

Database cabling in datacenters

As seen on pingdom, a inspiring view: When data center cabling becomes art and The worst cable mess ever as something to avoid when we move to a datacenter at work. Offcourse the picture posted is an example of the second category.

//Z

Iphone 1.1.3 unlocked!!

Finally it has happened, now I really want to try it but my Iphone is still overseas!

I will post the howto links I have found here now allready and will follow the instructions when I have it in my hand:

How to Downgrade Your 1.1.3 iPhone (Windows)

Files needed:

- Get iTunes 7.5 
- Download iBrickr 0.91
- Download iPhone Firmware 1.1.1

How to Activate and Jailbreak Your OTB 1.1.2 iPhone Using Windows

Files needed:
- Download the Jailbreak 1.1.2 package
- Download the 1.1.2 Firmware

How to Officially Update and Jailbreak to 1.1.3 iPhone Firmware (Installer)

How to Unlock Your 1.1.2, 1.1.3 OTB iPhone

How to Add an Unsupported Country to AppSupport

Files needed:
- Download the latest PhoneNumber Dynamic Library zip file

How to Find the IP Address of Your iPhone

Running, exercising and feeling good about it!

As you can read in a earlier post I started running and exercising on monday and I have to say it is nice to be doing this again but offcourse I am in pain! Running gave me pain in my legs, pushups made me ache from elbow to elbow across my chest and the abdomen exercises, well you guessed it allready. 

Monday I ran about 2 km, interval style in about 15 minutes, tuesday I took a restday since I was in pain.. Yesterday I ran a little more in thesame time and I am planning to run tonight again. The exercises went very well on monday according to me, about 50 repetitions of abdomen (straight, left side, right side) and about 20 of another exercise which are considerable harder. Yesterday I did less, caused by pain and cramps (note to self: exercise before dinner, not after!).

So all in all I am happy with my efforts uptill now and I will keep up the good work!

//Z

My site of the moment

I just have to share this one, at the moment this is my favourite site: unclutterer

Loosing those 'love' handles

In my youth (I am still in it!, keep saying that!) I was always doing sports, playing soccer for a couple of years and playing badminton on a competitive level for 9 years had given me a healthy body I was always proud of. Then when I started studying I took up rowing also at a quite competitive level. At least it prevented me from getting flabby from the copius amounts of beer consumed in that time. After starting with working I quit working out completely but was still biking to work and other appointments. Now since a couple of years I have a car...you can imagine the problem that gives me. I go by car to work every day and this does not give me enough exercise to keep my body in check. Additionally I eat too fat, too much sugar and I don't drink enough water so the lovehandles started forming. My metabolism is quite fast which has saved me from getting fat fast, lately I also noticed how my stamina is at a abhorable rate, I cannot even run for more then a couple of minutes without getting completely out of breath.

So my plan for february is to start exercising and eating healthier. Being a nerd I have an obsession with researching the net for information. There is an enourmous number of sites giving advice and resources about this subject. I will not try to list them here, I will try to list the information I gather from these sources in a way which makes it clear for me. A lot of these sites charge you money for their 'guaranteed six-pack in 4 weeks' etc programs, I will avoid these sites like the plaque! Information should be free is a motto I like to hear. 

I digest the following from the sources I have been consulting: 

• Set up a goal, aim for something you want to reach so you have something to look forward to. Don't set yourself a unreachable goal, make it something you are able to reach in the near future, you can always set yourself a new goal. Not reaching a goal will hurt your motivation enough to give up before accomplishing it.
• Do something you like, where you like it. If you are like me and don't want to go to the gym do it at home in your own time and pace
• Get a partner, you can motivate yourself by staying focussed on your goal but it will be easier to have someone you work with and you can motivate each other.
• Plan logically, don't start with a plan of an hour of exercise per day 7 days a week. Keep it accessible.
• Do something daily, it does not matter very much what you do, as long as you form the habit of doing something every day.
• Allow time to recover, when your legs are sore from biking the previous day do some abdominal excercises, or the other way around offcourse.
• Keep a log, it seems very important to me to be able to see my progress so I plan to keep a daily log of repetions and what I did.
• Monitor, from what I understand there are multiple plateaus in exercising all tied into your heartrate, which I will post about later. 

There are so many exercises to choose from I will keep it at a limited level for the first week. After that week I will evaluate and add an exercise per day.

For first I will start my training with some stretching exercises followed with a interval cardio workout, which the first day will consist of running since I first have to fix my bike to be able to do a bikeride. So I will start running for as long as I can (probably about 2-3 minutes) then a couple of minutes of walking fast and repeat this a number of times. I will keep a log of how many minutes I can run in the intense bits and note how many meters I will travel this way. I will end with walking for a little cooldown and at home I will do 5 different abdominal exercises for as many repetions as I can stand. This in all will take about 45 minutes I guess, 5 minutes of stretching, 20 minutes walking, then 20 minutes of exercises. The next day I will adapt this to riding my bike (which I am much more comfortable with then with running) for the cardiobit and maybe do 5 different exercises but that is to be determined.

Last thought: it would be a cool idea to take a picture of my body, take some basic measurements and record there per day so I can see my progress over the weeks.

//Z