The Pi Blogs

I came across the band Imagine Dragons on Monday with their song “It’s Time”. After exploring their album Continued Silence I determined that anyone and everyone needs this album. Below is the link to their single, but I highly recommend you get the entire album.

later,

-thepi

Roughly 2 weeks ago Google released this video:

Depicted are essentially glasses that a person can wear to obtain information and stay connected to other smartphone/glasses users. While the concept is intriguing, the practicality is somewhat blurred. I hate waffling on this but I do see potential. My problems with this concept starts with the way the interface appears to the user. This in my opinion is dangerous. Stop and think about the motions that you use when you cross the street for example. You would look up at the traffic sign, look at your surroundings, and then at the oncoming traffic. If the user is expected to look up to access a menu, that person’s vision will be impaired by a menu icon ad well as their attention being diverted from their surroundings to the menus. I am also a bit concerned with the way that information and location are shared. It seems almost stalkerish to know where your friends are in relation to you at all times. This also takes away fro human nature in that some of the excitement of seeing someone by chance is lost.

For practical applications, I think this would be an awesome tool to be used in rescue situations. Think of the way that the video showed an alternate route when the subway was down and the way that the bookstore map appears for the quickest route to the specified section. My mind thinks of this scenario. What if in a major city there was a catastrophic accident or even just a single building on fire. With the glasses fire fighters could use them to navigate in the building to specified apartments that are known to be inhabited and the occupants have not checked in. The glasses could show the firefighters to quickest route to that apartment saving time and lives. Or even a car accident. First responders like police offices can share a live video feed with our units such as EMT’s, Hazmat, or even local hospitals that can prep better for incoming trauma.

For this to be successful Google needs to focus on two aspects. 1. The way that the users gestures/comands open and utilize menus within the system. It may sound trivial but with the potential of someone being injured or “butt dialing” the wrong person at the wrong time, backlash can and will occur. The second aspect that they 100% need to follow is to keep this device Ad free. Google is somewhat notorious with placing adverts within our daily lives. Don’t think so…open your Gmail account and tell me how many targeted ads you have staring you in the face. I am curouis how this will all pan out so to speak. What do you think about Google Glasses? Are they more practical in the private sector or in the public sector? Would you buy them? Let me know your thoughts.

later,

-thepi

Ok, so I know technically when I actually post this it will be Monday, but since I have still not gone to bed it is Still Sunday in my mind. That being said, here are your two songs for Sunday.

LadyHawke – My Delirium


and Fenech-Soler – Demons (Sigma Remix) delivered via one of my favorite mountain videos of 2011. Enjoy!

later,
-thepi

What a weekend.  Friday after work was going to be a gym day with my buddy John, but he got snagged by the late Friday workday, so that was a bust.  However, with some persistence from the gf I wound up going to the gym with her.  I bet she wished that never happened… Previously this year she had asked me to show her some lifting exercises to help her gain some upper body strength for her job.  After showing her the exercises and pushing her to her limit she was physically exhausted…win! That pretty much enabled me to do what I wanted on Friday night.  Therefore, Mad Men was chosen for the rest of the evening; scotch in hand as always.

Saturday was the day I was looking forward to for over a week.  First ride of the season and I could not have asked for a more perfect day.  No rain, great temperature, dry trails, if it got any more perfect it might as well have been a dream.  We started the ride at 11 am and finished at 3 pm.  My performance was better then I had expected.  I only started riding single track last year and I was terrible when I started, like really, really terrible. I would always stop to get over obstacles, fall, etc. Saturday was a much, much stronger performance.  By no means was it a World Cup ride, but I had many little wins along the way.  My shifting has gotten better in the aspect of approaching obstacles in the path (stumps, rocks, puddles, etc), but my shifting post obstacle was lackluster, so I need to work on that.  Shifting post obstacle would be my Achilles Heal this ride as I was significantly trailing the other three riders. They did not seem to mind though as it gave them a chance to catch their breath.  Another minor win came in the form of wood bridges.  Most bridges are made of 2x4s spaced out about 4 inches apart and come in a variety of lengths, widths and heights.  I managed to cross most of the bridges without falling off or getting injured at speed which is important for improving on the post shifting. Improving on last years riding made me extremely happy this weekend. Little wins are important because it show progress and if you are not progressing you are not working hard enough. The only drawback of riding on this perfect day was the saddle pain that I am still feeling. Most people that ride bike for around an hour max. Now imaging you are riding for 4 hours, on rocks, logs, and anything that is not a smooth surface with a bike seat on your butt. So as I am sitting her writing this I can still feel the saddle burn. It always happens the first ride and gets better with time. Looking forward to the next ride…

later,
-thepi

Wow 2 weeks and I am finally getting back to blogging…if you can call it that. I have had a lot on my mind recently in that I want to start taking this blogging aspect of my life, create a regiment, and stick to it. As far as my goals go now I feel as if I am behind, so its time to get back into gear. For the content/schedule I am looking for ideas. So if you are actually reading the site please let me know what you would like to see. The only scheduled posts that I have are the Double Music Sundays which I love and enjoy doing. I think starting small and working my way to a full week of content is the best way to go. So in addition to the Sunday posts, I am going to add Technology Tuesday where I look at upcoming technology, share the sources of the data and bring you my two cents. That seems to me to be the best method, after that I will add a Thursday post of some other topic. Random thoughts posts will continue as well. As far as the site goes keep an eye out for some updates on the other pages. I was going through the site the other day and realized that I never full added to the other pages, and that disappointed me.

Speaking of the gym I went back today for the first time in about a month and a half. The best part about it is that I now have someone to go with. We did upper body today and I am hurting…bad. I forgot how good it feels to actually lift since I have not done it since senior year of high school. The thing that I am not looking forward to is the way that my arms will feel tomorrow morning. It was already a struggle to get them to drive me home from the gym so the outlook for the morning is not good. Hopefully I can keep this gym schedule, put some muscle mass on, loose the belly I acquired this winter and get health.

Saturday is the day that I am most looking forward to this week. It will be opening day for me for riding. I am going to try and put together some footage from the ride but don’t count on it. My computer has been shitting the bed recently and telling me that it is time for a new one. Unfortunately I have no monies to acquire that new computer till about mid year. It had never crossed my mind to go this winter, but IF I am still up here next winter I plan on it as it looks to be a great deal of fun.

Silvia – Winter trails with Matt Hunter from Silvia Films on Vimeo.

Something else that has been on my mind is getting a tattoo. I have always wanted one but have not had the courage to get one. Part of it is that my family is not the biggest fan of having them. Since this would be my first I wanted it to be a custom tattoo that means something to me. I remembered that way back when my best friend Craig had done a tag of my name for me. Not to sound sappy but it has really been something that I have kept and treasured for a long time. What do you think?

later,

-thepi

April Fools! Of course I would not quite the blog, I just started it. So as not to dis appoint here is some music that’s older but I bet you have never heard. Wiz Kalifa – Youngin on His Grind. Every time I hear this I think of Matt G grinding his way to the top of the poker world for some reason.

Sorry for the bad April fools joke.

later,

-thepi

I can no longer do this blogging thing. It is too much to handle and take care of within my current life. To all that have read this, thank you, I appreciate it.

forever later,

-thepi

I am just so incredibly stressed out in my life right I need some outlets of stress relief. In talking to one of my best friends he suggested that I try some meditation so I am going to start mini meditation sessions after work starting with 5 minute intervals for the beginning. In college I took a class called “Deep Listening” where as a group you did experimental listening in exercises that most (including myself at first) found funny or pointless. As the class progressed I started to like it better. It was sort of a cross between deep meditation and environmental listening. Plan on reading some interesting posts as I intend on posting my thoughts after each session.

Another form or stress relief that I practice is Mountain Biking. I had intend on doing my first ride of the season this weekend but that sort of fell through due to an unseen circumstances. That now a side, I plan on doing my first ride this weekend. My ride is a full suspension free-ride/cross country set up that I acquired last year and love. Riding brings me back to when I was a kid and didn’t have a care in the world. All I had was my bike and my friends. Those two things are all we need in life. To me riding a bike in the wilderness is one of the purest forms of man, nature and machine that you can have. Circles turning circles. A simple machine that is complex in design but basic in intentions. Watching videos like this gets me excited to go for a weekend ride.

van Steenbergens ride Deity from Harrison Mendel on Vimeo.

I would love someday to be able to free-ride like that. Living in a state that has trails like that would be awesome. We have some great trails in upstate New York, but none this awesome. Place like Whistler, California, Colorado, etc are on my bucket list to ride at least once in this life.

later,

-thepi