Biggs' Zone

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

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Biggs Declares 2017 Intentions (Not Resolutions)

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On January 6, 2017

In General Cogitation

2017 IntentionsI never make New Years Resolutions, I believe I’ve covered that before. As odd as it sounds, I have more motivation to complete a set of goals (instead of the proverbial “resolution”). So what are my 2017 intentions? I know this year will be a year of change but I’m not at liberty to say, yet, what will be changing. You will know when it happens because it will warrant a blog post (or two). I do not want to write another long-winded post so, for brevity sake, I’m going to get started.

Biggs Labs – Smart Home

I have all the components I need now to complete my Siri integration with SmartThings using a Raspberry Pi. I just need to make myself sit down to install and configure. My Christmas lights were the perfect test subject for programming automation using SmartThings Apps. While we were away for Christmas, SmartThings was programmed to turn on my outdoor Christmas lights and my indoor lights, thus making it appear that someone is home.

We have smart dimmer switches which we plan to install to control the LED ceiling lights. This will give us the capability to adjust the lighting, as necessary, using SmartThings/Z-Wave capable devices (i.e. our phones). Once the switches are installed and the Raspberry Pi is configured, I should be able to ask Siri to dim the lights (ex: for a movie, perhaps).

 2017 Goodreads Reading Challenge

In a previous post I took you through my year in books. I have already committed to the same reading challenge this year, however, I did not go crazy and set the goal to 25 books. I did set it to 15 books again because I know I came close last year. It’s going to come down to choosing the books carefully. Obviously the longer the book the longer it will take me to read it. I guess its good that George R. R. Martin doesn’t plan to release his next book this decade year. Here are a couple of books I am committing to this year:

  •   Summoner of Storms – I am currently about half way through book 3 of the Catalysts of Chaos series.
  •  War of the Ancients: The Sundering – Finish the final book in the War of the Ancients trilogy by Richard A. Knaak.
  •   Clash of Catalysts – Volume 4 of C. Greenwood’s Catalysts of Chaos series. The final chapter in Earth Realms battle against Rathnakar and his evil forces.
  •  Wrigleyville – A magical history tour of the Chicago Cubs. This is a book I’ve been wanting to read for years, however it is quite long.
  •  Heartless – The latest re-imagining of classic storybook characters by Marissa Meyer. I have high hopes for this book as Marissa Meyer tells a story about the Queen of Hearts, long before she was shouting “off with their heads”

 Fitness and Health

Flying Pig MarathonOf course I am doing the Walk to Mordor challenge again, in fact I will also complete the extra 1,625 miles for the “and Back Again” leg. This year I am determined more than ever as I need to drop 30 pounds (again). Around March I will start the Couch-2-5K training program again. I will complete it this time and I will then run my first 5K. If I miss all my other goals this year, running my first 5K will not be one of them. This is something I really want to accomplish. I haven’t chosen which 5K to run yet. It might be the Flying Pig or it might be the Red Legs.

If you are interested in trying the Walk to Mordor challenge yourself, I have a place where you can track your progress. Head over and sign up!

Professional Skills Development

One of my goals, every year, for my job is to learn a new technology that might be useful on a current project or on future projects. This will be important this year more than any other year. Therefore I am making it a personal 2017 goal to either learn something brand new and/or become proficient in something that has been recently updated. I don’t have anything specific in mind yet, but my preliminary thoughts are Angular 2 or Swift (iOS development language). I will be using my favorite online video learning sight, Pluralsight. It doesn’t matter what you do for a living, there is always an opportunity somewhere to improve on a skill or learn a new skill. It’s great for your career and its great for your mind.

All right, I’m starting to get too verbose. Stopping with this small list.

Good luck with your 2017 Intentions!

minions_icon

I could accomplish so much more if I only had minions!

 

The Lenten Experiment

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On February 8, 2016

In Fitness

The Lenten ExperimentThis Wednesday is Ash Wednesday and that means Lent is here (already!). The past two years I have been a little lenient on my Lenten sacrifice but I’m going back to giving up soda as part of my Lenten experiment. It’s been a while since I have gone 40 days without a pop so I’m expecting this Lent to be a little more challenging. I know of several people who have given up pop, for various reasons, and it has been a significant contribution to their weight loss. I think my weight loss has plateaued recently so I am going to take the opportunity this Lent to push myself a little harder. Perhaps the combination of the extra effort and no pop will help push me over that plateau.

I’m sure I’m going to have many moments where I will slip; in fact I am going to allow it. One of the most important things to remember when working out is to listen to your body. If it hurts enough that you have to take pain medication, then you are a) doing something wrong or b) you need to take a break and let your body repair. The point of the experiment isn’t to see how close I can get to incapacitating myself but to observe the effects of a more intense workout coupled with the reduced consumption of soda. I think what intimidates me the most is that I may try to start getting up early on the weekends to use the treadmill for a half hour. I may also try to increase my daily step average which means I will have to find a way to get additional steps each day as most days I am barely hitting my 11k.

Wish me luck because this will be a difficult challenge but I can’t think of a better time for self-improvement, self-reflection and renewal than Lent.

minion_keboard_smI could get so much more accomplished if I only had minions!

I Have Saved Middle Earth!

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On December 2, 2015

In General Cogitation

Destroyed the ring and saved Middle EarthWhat began in January of this year, has finally come to an end. It took me 11 months and 2 days to finally walk the distance Frodo walked from Bag End to destroy “The One Ring” in Mordor. 1,779 miles, which is approximately 3,543,997 steps! My Walk to Mordor challenge is finally over (and I did it better than Frodo because I still have all ten of my fingers)! I think next year I will try for the extra 1,625 miles, which is essentially from Minas Tirith back to Bag End, so I guess I will have to update my little calculator on my website to include those milestones. Since I got a bit of a late start this year and I didn’t start exercising consistently in the mornings until July, I think I have a pretty good shot at completing the extra distance.

So 1,779 miles is the hypothetical distance between Bag End and the point inside Mount Doom when Frodo destroyed the ring. I’m sure most of you, like me, probably can’t fully appreciate that distance in terms of two fictional locations, so I did some research to find some actual locations. I used the map coordinates of Cincinnati as my starting point and I picked the more interesting locations and points of interest that would be within that distance. So, after having walked 1,779 miles, I could have essentially walked from Cincinnati to …

[table]
Location,Distance,Direction
El Salvador – San Salvador,1772 miles,South
Canada – Nunavut – Coral Harbour,1731 miles,North
Canada – Alberta,1689 miles,Northwest
Dominican Republic – Santo Domingo,1669 miles,Southeast
Phoenix – Arizona,1581 miles,West
[/table]

There are several more locations that are within that distance, but I just picked a few to give the distance some perspective. I found the following website to find these distances. http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/distances.html?n=414. I don’t have any reason to question if the calculations on this site are legitimate so I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Anyway, since I am going to do this again next year, who will be brave enough to do it with me?? I can add you to my calculator to help you keep track of your progress if you like. Frodo didn’t do it alone, so why should I!

/cheers

Meeting Your Fitness Goals

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On November 17, 2015

In General Cogitation

Meet Your Fitness Goals (or you're a girlie man)Rarely have I ever set a fitness goal at the beginning of the year and actually met that goal, but it looks like that is about to change. I’ve talked a lot over the past 10 months about the Walk to Mordor fitness challenge and, as of the writing of this post, I am less than 100 miles away from completing it (currently at 1,696 miles); 1,779 miles walked within a calendar year and I have until December 31st to get there. I am going to do the challenge again next year and hopefully improve how far I go to eventually attempt the other half of the challenge (… And Back Again, which adds another 1,625 miles which is the approximate distance from Minas Tirith to Bag End). I think next year someone should join me! Frodo didn’t do it alone!!!

I also set another goal late this past summer. I started at a client in mid-to-late July, and I had just started a morning exercise routine. I decided that I was going to work out every week day morning (starting around 5am) until I take vacation the week of Thanksgiving. I am 3 days away from achieving that goal. Granted I may have missed one or two days since July because of illness or complete and utter exhaustion, but I’m proud to say that I did it! During the week of Thanksgiving I am going to take some much-needed time to rest and tell myself that I have earned a week of sleeping in the mornings instead of getting up to work out. Of course my body is trained to do that so unlearning it for only a week will be the biggest challenge (especially come Monday the 30th).

I still have quite a bit of work in front of me to slim down, perhaps that will be a goal for next year (beyond going “back to Mordor”).

/cheers

minion_keboard_smI could get so much more accomplished if I only had minions!

Walk to Mordor: Arrived at Rauros

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On September 10, 2015

In General Cogitation

falls_of_rauros_ii_by_reneaignerI have officially reached Rauros in my Walk to Mordor Nerd Fitness challenge. That means I have walked over 1300 miles so far this year.

Many folks don’t really know what, in Middle Earth, Rauros is. If you do a Google search you will immediately recognize the location, or you can look at the image at the top, which is the Falls of Rauros.

Argonath

The Pillars of Kings

If that still doesn’t ring a bell from the movies, perhaps this image will help. Just prior to the falls, one would pass through the Gates of Argonath (aka The Pillars of Kings). The Falls of Rauros are also the falls that served as Boromir’s burial site.

Rauros is the final milestone in the Walk to Mordor before Mount Doom. I reached that milestone yesterday, which means I have a little over 400 miles left to complete the challenge. As long as I keep my current pace, statistically, I should have no problem completing the challenge by the end of the year.

I have been tracking my progress using my own tool and my Fitbit dashboard.

/cheers

minion_keboard_smI could get so much more accomplished if I only had minions!

Let’s Light the Night!

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On August 27, 2015

In General Cogitation

PrintGreetings friends, family and site patrons.

As some of you know, every year I participate in the Light the Night walk for a cure. It’s a charity event orchestrated by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Participants raise money from donations by folks, like you, to sponsor those of us walking for the ones that survived, are currently battling or in memory of the ones we have lost. This walk means a great deal to me as I walk in memory of my brother-in-laws wife who lost her battle to Sub-cutaneous T-cell lymphoma back in 2013. She left behind a loving husband and two girls, the eldest of which is my goddaughter.

This is Natalie with her girls, a year before she lost her battle with lymphoma

This is Natalie with her girls, a year before she lost her battle with lymphoma

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society funds research that will one day put an end to blood diseases and cancers. Your donations, which sponsor me in the 2 mile walk on October 15th, will go toward the funding for that research. This is an event I have been participating in for a couple of years, even prior to Natalie’s passing. I would have walked a marathon if it would have made the difference in her prognosis.

Over the next several weeks you will probably see me posting about donations quote often. I will try not to be too obnoxious about it, but I am setting a lofty goal of raising $1,500 this year. I hope that you will be able to help me out this year. You can make a donation on the following web page: http://pages.lightthenight.org/soh/Cinci15/MVleaminck or by clicking on the widget in the top right corner.

Your donation and support means a lot to me!

Thank you.

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