Another addition to the Fortress of Solitude...

See? This is what happens when you don't stick to the plan. I somehow ended up shopping last night and caved under the pressure of the words clearance and rollback, and ended up buying a Samsung TV. It wouldn't be me if I wasn't getting a deal, but I think what pushed me over the edge was the fact that Futureshop/Bestbuy were advertising a similar 32" Samsung of inferior specs and lower series for more money (on sale). Leave it to me to convince myself to waste that hard-earned $$$ on something I don't really need (especially for my room). At least my iMac was able to re-patriate it's secondary monitor now.

Anyhow, now that that's in the past... it's Friday, I got a hot date tonight and we're gonna get drunk. Translation: I'm going to hit the elliptical, eat wings and play Black Ops...and get drunk.



Still can't believe you gotta pay lame electronics fee on everything now a days though...

They say you can tell a lot about someone by the apps they have installed...

Ok, fine. It was just me who said that...to my sister. But it makes sense right?

You know...like the type of apps you have installed, what you have on the dock, how you have them organized - the little things like that.

I was thinking about this at Kelsey's the other night as some of us were geeking out on our iphones waiting for the food. They were discussing the finer points of their Jersey Shore Episode Guide app and Mountain Dew Reseller Locator app. True story.

Judge away...

Free App a Day FTW!

This week's mission: OUTLAST.

So we maintained our undefeated floor hockey record last night in a fierce battle against a much older opponent. Ok, that's a lie. Our record is now 0-4. The only consolation were these delicious chocolate Guinness cupcakes one of our teammates made (which helped get rid of the sour taste of defeat).

Having missed last week (due to my face overflowing with awesome) I was pretty hopeful to throw down a W with our now full lineup. I even managed to score a stick. Unfortunately, I'm gonna go ahead and blame this one on my lack of stick control no ball handling skills me semi-battling some weird groinal/ass area strains from the day before. Yeah. That's it...

In any case, approximately 4.5 days until the BC/Banff powder voyage begins. Don't get sick, don't get hurt and don't make any extra work - that's it.

Just gotta fit in some blood doping cardio and things should be fine. The last thing I need is to blow my shoulder again right before another ski trip...

So I did my first spin class last night...

You know, being the smooth operator that I am I decided that it would be a great idea to hit up a cycle-fit class last night. The short version is that a bunch of screaming moms kicked my ass and then my left ass muscle cramped up. The long version is as follows...

I stroll into the Y and see on the board that there was a class coming up and I could actually make it. Thoughts of Paul's Dirty Enduro got into my head and I'm like sure why not and decide to sign up. So, I go into the classroom, grab the sheet and put my name down on one of the three available spots left - spot #2. Since there was still like 20 mins before I go upstairs to kill some time before heading back.

I'm not going to lie, I thought it might be a good chance to check out some chicks meet some of the girls I see around the Y, but it ended up just being a hardcore unexpected strugglefest. 10 mins before, the class if full and everyone's setting up when I realize that spot #2 is bike #2 right in front of the instructor. Great. I also realize that the bikes are pretty hardcore and if you had clip ins they would work on those pedals. Sweet. I also realize that like everyone seems to know everyone else in the class and are like calling me the new guy and are telling me I'm brave to sit there. What?

Class starts and the instructor is yelling all sorts of stuff that I'm trying to decipher. I make out pedaling with one leg, standing up, sticking your but out, squeezing you abs...all nonsense as I don't know what's level low/medium/high is and how to pedal well with one leg. Push ups while pedaling, changing positions on like every beat, who knew? Then when she yells "hammer" everyone just starts gives it and people are like screaming. Whoa. I'm already dripping sweat at this point.

Knowing that the class is about an hour, I look at the computer on the bike and it says 18 mins...when I realize I was in there maybe 10 mins before warming up and getting my settings right and we've only actually done about 8 mins, I think a little poop might have slipped out but I'm not sure...

I'm not gonna lie it was more brutal than expected and she did single me out a couple of times and I did sit down during some of the more ridiculous up/down/side to side things but I guess its good that I didn't bail or stop or get too out of pace.

Anyhow, 1 hour and 5 mins later, during the cool-down stretching tragedy strikes. My left glute decides to go rogue on me while trying to do some one leg squat thing. Being me, of course I was on the wrong leg and totally facing the opposite direction as everyone else. So I'm like busting this hard sweat, facing the class, just trying to keep it together and not make eye contact with anyone while my ass spasms out...smooth.

Class ends, smiles, I barely survived that round, but I'll give it another go...need redemption. Morale of the story, take more steroids and look into blood doping.



Floor hockey tonight, we're going to put up a W. Believe it.

Danko Jones at The Mod Club and Phil's Original BBQ

I'm a pretty big fan of Danko Jones and his all black everything. The dude can really belt, rip the guitar, drop f* bombs and headbang like it's going to cause a tear in the space-time continuum. I've been following him for a while now, so I was pretty fired up to finally see him live.

I don't know if it's just me, but The Mod Club is a pretty inconspicuous place (though it's right there in the open). Somehow we managed to pass it by twice and got a little too close to hipster town for comfort.

Anyhow, we ended up at Phil's Original BBQ for the pre-game since it was right there anyway. The BBQ was OK, but nothing to phone home about. I was actually somewhat disappointed since there was a lot of hype (ok, I hyped it up) and I prepared all day for it...

This is the biggest plate you can get there. Child's play.



They also managed to mess up the bill (even after we got them to confirm it again) and marked down a solid $100 "discount" for no reason. Being Canadian, some people's consciences got the best of them though, so we ended up paying the "full" price...which left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Anyhow, the concert was short but sweet. Maybe it was because I was getting my nod on and singing along (hate all you want), or the fact that at some points I had no idea where anyone else was (because I kept on sneaking forward), but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The best part was that they went all classic Danko right after song two, and then kept a good mix of new and old tracks with some solid commentary in between.

And I don't know what it is about The Mod Club but after the concert it immediately tried to transform into a dance lounge or something. All the people who were there for the concert immediately bailed right after, they turned on the fancy monitors, the music gradually changed and they added some white table cloths and candles to set the mood. Hey, I have nothing against that and I was ready to pump some serious fists anyway - it was like a two for the price of one deal but the girls never came, the girls never came!



Too bad for the concert tee selection, maybe next time I'll have better luck. Just wait until tomorrow, I'm working on a gif...but it could go either way...

I'm alive and on fire...but still kind of sick.

I don't know why I started thinking about this last night (okay, it was probably because of all the NyQuil I drank) but I was wondering how blind people deal with public washrooms. You know the dirty kind...

Lets say they're pretty independent and all they got their blind stick and no pal guiding them around. If it's a guy, does it mean he's gotta feel around the urinal or reach out and touch it because that's gross. Maybe he reaches a hand inside where the water comes down or on the bottom basin part or something, like just to know that it's there. Guys public washrooms are disgusting because dudes just piss everywhere.

Unless he's Matt Murdock or something then his white/red stick senses can only get you so far (I guess?). Then what? Does he unzip and touch his wang, or grab the stick again and get it dirty too? For some reason I picture a guy wearing sunglasses with the stick tucked under his armpit peeing on the diagonal across from the stall on some dude's foot who doesn't want to say anything to a guy who just put his hand inside the toilet water (unflushed)...these are the thoughts that occupy my mind.

Germs are everywhere...those washrooms are just AIDS waiting to happen.

Anyway, in other news Danko is back in Toronto...This is it.



And finally, my good friend Kate out in Van City just started a blog the other day, and since I'm all for everyone blogging go ahead and show her some love.

Now since this cold has been holding me down all week...I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE WEEKEND TO BEGIN.

SeaNanners talks about love...

I watch this guy all the time because not only is he awesome at Black Ops but he talks about a lot of interesting stuff and gives great life advice...seriously. His last talk was pretty deep too (talks about never taking things for granted). Check him out...or else.

Kung Hei Fat Choi!

It's that time of the year again... Happy New Year!

What happened to the snow storm?

This is about all you'll get from me today as I lay on my death bed struggle on my desk chair...

GoPro LCD BacPac goodness now available

For $80 it can be yours. I wonder if I can get this in time for Revelstoke...

Cold: 1 - Me: 0

I guess soothing lemon is just a synonym for bile vomit. Should have just stayed home today...

Blue Mountain is too busy/still the only place to go in Ontario

It's kind of inevitable that Blue Mountain would eventually turn to crap someday. Being the biggest resort within reasonable reach of Toronto you don't really have a choice, and with the whole Intrawest thing though you knew that it'd become cookie cutter commercial in a matter of years. Walking through the village there or at Tremblant feels exactly the same. Overcrowded and overpriced is what we have to deal with now. It's a cash cow.

If you've been there lately you'd know the worst thing is parking. If you're willing to walk through the village you can use this secret parking lot pictured below which has ample space. Good thing huge snow banks hide it from most views so find it if you can - it's handy for guys like us who stroll in after 12.



Trying to cut across using the beginner lift didn't pay off this time...



Peanut Butter and Rail Jam. Not to be mistaken with the peanut better and ham sandwich - Martin you fail.



Dinner at the village was disappointing too, as every restaurant was filled to the brim. Even Wild Wings, the last one on the strip, had over an hour wait. Oh well, Collingwood had plenty of space. Guy's gotta eat.



On an equally crappy note, I'm sick and am downing a NeoCitran at this very moment.

Banana Boat was in a Goodlife Fitness commerical...cool

Looks like Banana Boat got our 2 seconds of fame around the 0:40 mark. I knew we'd make it big someday.

Here's how I edit my GoPro video...

Looks like I'm just going to have to force it and wrap up the Japan series into one last video before leaving for the Rockies. I have no idea when I'll edit any of the Vermont stuff, but I'm just going to go ahead and assume that fellow GoPro'ers Kevin and Jon will get their edits out to tide everyone over.

Why does it take a sandbagger like me so long? Well, mostly because I'm lazy and an hour here and an hour there is usually how it goes. By my broad estimation after all the cutting and editing it takes me about one hour and 15 mins to pump out a minute of video, and that's like best case scenario. All in all though, any n00b can do it if they have a capable enough machine - otherwise they'll find it hard to sit though (like your mom).

Anyway, for like the 3 people who have ever asked me I thought I'd shed some light of the way I do things. I haven't exactly gone pro yet, but this process seems to work pretty well for me.

STEP 1 - Screwed and Chopped

This step usually involves quite a few beers because it's the most tedious part of the whole process. It's basically you sitting down with all the footage you have and selecting scened that you think you might use. So for the most part you gotta skim through hours of foolishness to get a few clips of the good stuff.

Unfortunately, since the GoPro saves video into a format that isn't immediately able to import into FCP or Premiere Pro a trick we use is just to re-save it with Steamclip. Despite what the support site says, you can just instantly save the clip as opposed to re-exporting it over again. It does result in audio lag for longer saved clips, but not a big deal to correct (Update: audio lag problem solved, my bad). Video from regular point'n'shoots are usually good to go without this step.

So download MPEG Streamclip...


Cut, cut, cut. So that this...


Turns into something that (at least) you can make sense of...


I'm particularly fond of chronological order FTW! You can see how painful this could get when you have like hours and hours of stuff to sort through...

STEP 2 - Song and Dance

It's all about the music - choosing a song is harder than you might think because you don't want people to know think you like Lady Gaga or something like that.


The song sets the tone because no one wants to hear Lady Antebellum over a clip of you shredding through the glades. I literally won't continue until I have a few songs that "inspires me" and could be useful.

STEP 3 - EDIT

And the real work begins... For me it's about plopping those clips in, rearranging them and matching them to the beat of the songs - I guess this is where the creativity comes into play.


This is the point where having a few songs picked out comes in useful because odds are that some may not fit when you actually see/hear them together. Hopefully things are falling into place at this point and you're getting something good. At the end of this phase I'm usually adding in the titles and fades and doing a bit of rough tweaking.

STEP 4 - Encode, Review, Fix, Repeat

Back in the day, before my computer became more powerful that I could ever imagine, it used to take me like two hours to encode a 10 min video. Playing it back on the fly in Premiere was pretty much impossible too so the process sucked back then. HARD.


Now that I have something pretty capable, it's much easier to re-watch and tweak the final cut. Usually after going through it 2-3 times, I've tweaked the timing and made whatever modification seemed like a good idea, and am good to go.

STEP 5 - Upload

I do a final encode so that it's less than 2GB and then send'er to YouTube. That's it.

See no sweat. Happy editing!

Playstation 3 Media Server is live!

Because a big screen and my couch is seemingly better than my iMac and chair. It was actually dead easy to install once I got past my own stupidity...

I guess it really does do everything...