Sep 10

Running.

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So, on my list of things I’m doing more of running was one of them. I’m no fool. I know that running is a lifestyle not a thing you do. And there is always that 21 days for something to become a habit for it to stick. Yeah, i’m pushing that too. Minus Sunday (becasue I never workout on Sunday) I’m going on a 8 days. Yeah for me!

In sticking with the plan of not putting more on my plate I’m making running simple. I get up in the morning, take the dog for a warm-up walk, then I blast some good tunes and run 10 min in one direction and then 10 min back home.

I don’t time my intervals or check my heart rate. I don’t care how fast I’m going or how far.

I only care that I’m going.

I push myself by saying, “You can’t check your watch until we hit that stoplight” and then saying “Okay, to the next Timmy’s” and pretty soon I realized I ran straight without even thinking about it.

It got me wonderiing – If I pulled a Forrest Gump (just kept running) how far would I make it?

This Saturday I’m going to find out. I’m going to just keep running in one direction until I need to stop. Yes, there will be a bit of walking in between (I’m not trying to kill myself) but the point is just to keep going.

I will pack a towel, my Zune, water and 50 cents (to call my hubby to pick me up when I’m done).

I can’t wait to see how far I get!

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Sep 05

Zune Review

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Okay, I’ve had my Zune for a couple of months now so I’m able to dive into my likes and dislikes.

Overall: I like very much and I would totally recommend it to others. (For other reviews check out here, and here.)

Here are a list of the features that I liked and care about having (scroll down to see the explanations):

1. Good, nay, GREAT earphones.

2. Storage

3. User interface and software

4. Radio

5. How it looks (yes, i’m superficial)

Here is a list of stuff that I don’t really care about:

6. WiFi

7. Pictures

8. Zune Social

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1. Earphones - Are they comfortable? that’s really the main priority that everyone has. Sound, price whatever else…it all comes second to comfort. And these babies are comfy! I can wear them for hours. I also extra double love that the cords are wrapped in material, kinda like those friendship bracelets I used to make in grade school. It helps when you need to untangle them; it slides easily because it’s not rubber. And it looks nice.

And when I say everyone, I mean everyone. Just look at my photo of my premium Zune headphones on flickr: it’s one of my most viewed photos because people care about them. And this guy also wrote about the headphones. See….people care about comfort. Anyway, I digress.

What was that? Did you say something? Oh, you mean that these premium earphones aren’t standard and you have to pay extra for them? Phew, well, good thing I got mine for free.

2. Storage - I don’t need 80G. But I need more that 4. They gave me the 8G and its perfect! I have enough room for my podcasts, playlists, and tons of music. I don’t care about album art (stop throwing tomatoes) so that also saves a lot of space for me. I think 8G will hold me over until it’s time to buy another MP3 player…probably in the year 2020.

3. User Interface and Software – Wicked! Everything is organized the way you think it should be organized, which makes everything easy to find. It’s slick (colours and font) and makes a little bubble sound when you scroll through everything.

Too bad I can’t say the same for the software. It….sucks. Okay, maybe I didn’t spend enough time using and learning about it. But it’s probably because it takes so long to load. It’s really pretty looking but I want speed and simplicity rather than pretty. It’s also difficult to load podcasts. I will give it another shot but I wish they had something that was a lot simpler and less flashy. I hear about similar problems with other MP3 interfaces but still, that’s no excuse.

4. Radio – Can’t tell you on this one. I live and work in the same town, which is a valley, which means that I can’t get any radio stations not even the AM ones. It’s not a Zune problem, I have the same issue in my car. It sucks because the one thing I miss about driving to work was listening to the Dean Blundell Show. (someone told me they are making podcasts though…sweet!)

5. Looks – It’s sleek, it’s black, it’s sexy. I love it. The size is perfect, I love the scroll touch pad thing WAAAAAAY more than the iPod one. And so far it still looks brand new; maybe it’s scratch resistant? We’ll see after a few more months.

6. WiFi - You can share music with other Zune owners if you are standing next to each other. Sure, we played with this cool function (even have a video of it) but I never use it and HATE the 3 Play feature.

7. Pictures - I’ve never been one to carry pictures on me.  I don’t even have pictures on or around my desk. I keep my pics on Filckr and when I want to look at them I look at them.

8. Zune Social – This is something I thought I would be into but I’m not. I think it’s becasue I just don’t really like forums that much, or I didn’t feel like there was anything to talk about. i tried to use it to troubleshoot some stuff (related to the interface) but didn’t ind anything helpful. I gave up on it early….but like I said, I’m impatient.

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Jul 04

Microsoft Zune

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I am fortunate enough to be one of 300 Canadians to get the new Microsoft Zune. I found out about this opportunity through a link given to me by a friend. I filled out a survey and then a couple of months someone from a marketing company (matchstick.ca) contacted me and asked me all these questions about how I felt about Microsoft, what kinds of tech/music blogs I read, how much would I spend on an MP3 player, how much have I spent on electronics in the past year….you get the idea. They are looking for a very specific type of person to market research promote their product.

Lucky for me…I fit the bill (so did my hubby).

So, here is my first post about it. I have a lot to say so I’m going to write it in point form. I don’t want to think about paragraphs and making sense and such.

* I got the Zune today and was impressed with overall packaging and presentation. At first the small zune looked like it had too much wasteful packaging but I soon learned that they have accessories tucked away in small crevices. aside from a bit of recyclable Styrofoam popcorn everything was good.

* the FIRST word on the FIRST sentence on the FIRST piece of paperwork I read had a very big grammatical error. “Your are the first of 300 Canadians…” YOUR ARE?  I think they meant YOU ARE…or the very popular YOU’RE.

* Every time I have a conversation about the Zune I’m asked to record it online by filling out a quick questionnaire online. A third party company called Chat Threads takes care of this. By reading this blog post you can participate too, by clicking on the Chat Thread’s button below this paragraph. It’s mildly annoying b/c I’m sure there have been convos I haven’t recorded but I’m happy to fill out the ones I do remember.

* By reading this post you can participate as well! Just click on this button ->

* Worst part about the Chat Threads convo recording is that they ask for the emails addresses of the people I talk to. You would have to be an IDIOT to just hand out someone else’s email address. How rude!

* Good thing is that they give you the option to send that person a link (instead of handing in their email addy). It’s nice that they give you options and don’t force your friends to participate.

* Bad thing is that their survey is long and boring. My friend said it seemed like they didn’t know WHAT they were looking for which is why they asked too many questions.

* Good thing is that give you the option to donate $1 to charity or enter you name in a draw to win money or a gift certificate to Amazon.ca

* Bad thing is that in the fine print it says that only a max of $300 per campaign will be given to charity. So, if there are 300 participants that means only $1 per participant will be given to charity. Uh? Wha? They get all this (relatively) free market research and they set the bar at $300? And in the FINE PRINT? That’s not cool.

* The Zune LOOKS COOL. the interface is cool, there are 3 buttons and a scroll button. I heart the look and it’s super cute!

* I need to sign up online to use it. ugh, that is annoying. but apparently the iPod is like that too. Not that is makes it okay. I like things that I can just plug in and use. If you are like that, this is not for you. It took me 10 min (around) before I could actually start putting stuff on it.

* When signing up I could only use my hotmail account, my gmail account wouldn’t register. WTF?

* the social scene in the background looks VERY cool. I stopped snooping around to write this post but so far I like the interface, the forums and personalizing my interface. This is the one part of the Zune I am really psyched to get into. I hope the people there are cool and not ugly trolls (ugly personalities…i don’t judge based on looks. if you are hot then that is okay. I wont judge you.)

Okay, I think that’s all for now. I’m looking forward to my hubby getting his so that we can share. Oh! I almost forgot that we get to send a Zune to someone else. I’m sending my extra Zune to my Kumbaro, Chris. He’s the one that hooked me up with all this Zune stuff in the first place; I can’t think of anyone who deserves it more.

Off to play with my Zune!

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