Brock Skywalker

iPhone - for real this time! · 18 June 08

As some of you may recall I tried to get an iPhone the less-than-legit way just before Xmas. Well, that didn’t go very well and now 6 months later I still have no iPhone (even though I actually was holding one in my hand in the Apple Store in New York and San Francisco last year). But now, for real this time, the iPhone is coming to me and the rest of Canada on July 11th! Praise be to the Almighty Jobs!

Now the only question is, will I be able to sleep between now and then? I doubt it. That is just how nerdily excited I actually am. WOO! iPhone! WOO!

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Chilling news · 4 June 07

I don’t know about everyone else but I am freakin’ hot and, since I work downtown, there are a million coffee places within a 3 block radius of our office. So, before you become addicted to cold coffee drinks, like I am, you better take a look at this:

• Icepresso Chiller (Second Cup, 16 oz.) – 208 calories, 3 grams of fat
• Coffee Frappuccino (Starbucks, 16 oz.) – 240 calories, 2.5 grams of fat
• Iced Creme Brulee Ristretto (Second Cup, 16 oz.) -439 calories, 21 grams fat.
• Caramel Frappuccino (Starbucks, 16 oz.) – 400 calories, 11 grams fat.
• Iced Cappuccino (Tim Horton’s, 14 oz.) – 365 calories, 17 grams fat.

Luckily it is also running season. See you on the trails!

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Unplug, then unplug · 4 June 07

Phantom and standby power loads create a massive amount of electricity consumption around the world each year. For example, if you leave your phone, MP3 player, or whatever charger plugged in at the socket (with no phone, or what-have-you, on the other end), the amount of electricity it uses while not actually charging your machine is more than when it is. According to Nokia, around 66% of electricity used by a cell phone is consumed in this way.

I had always figured these chargers were polarized but after hearing this news on a podcast the other day I took a peak and saw that none of the chargers I own are actually polarized… Damn!

So, from now on I am going to make an effort to remember to unplug when I unplug and drop my power usage by 66%. WOOHOO!

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Don't be idle · 19 May 07

Did you know if every driver of a light duty vehicle avoided idling by five minutes a day, collectively over the year, we would save 680 million litres of fuel, over 1.6 million tonnes of GHG emissions, and ~ $646 million annually in fuel costs.

Idling Myths and Facts:

• ‘I need to warm up the engine before driving’

The best way to warm up your car’s engine is to drive it. Even in the winter, most engines need no more than 30 seconds before driving.

• ‘Idling is good for the engine’

Excessive idling is actually damaging to the engine. If the engine is idling it isn’t working at its peak temperature and over time decreasing the sparkplugs efficiency and increasing fuel consumption as well as damaging the exhaust system.

• ‘Stopping and starting the engine too often is hard on it’

Studies show that frequent restarting of the vehicle has little impact on the engine parts. The wear on components that restarting the engine causes adds about $10 a year to the cost of driving.

Believe it or not, more than 10 seconds of idling uses more fuel than restarting the engine. As a rule of thumb, if you’re going to stop for 10 seconds or more (except in traffic) turn the engine off. You’ll save money AND your vehicle won’t be producing harmful emissions while you are just sitting there.

(Thanks to Shanti for the facts.)

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Happy Pi Day! · 14 March 07

It is March 14^th.

You know what that means!

I gotta get me some pie!

Hurrah!

Related post:

• Π Day

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How do you set the clock on this thing? · 11 March 07

Spring ahead! Spring ahead! For god’s sake, spring ahead!

Once again I really should really have posted this on Friday before it was too late (or is it too early?) to make it to your hockey practises, pancake breakfasts, dungeons and dragons tournaments, hot dog eating competitions or whatever else you had going on this fine Sunday morning but is it really my responsibility to remind you all? It’s not like it does any good to give Canadians advance warning on things. I mean look at what happened with the passports! We knew for nearly 2 full years that we were going to need to have passports to go pretty much anywhere starting early this year and did it help? Not a bit. Line-ups are still out of control.

So anyway, daylight savings time is early this year so if you haven’t already done so, spring ahead and feel the weekend slip away from you even quicker than usual.

Related posts:

• What time is it anyway?
• If they jumped off a bridge…

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A bad day for the Oilers · 28 February 07

Ryan Smyth was traded to the New York Islanders in exchange for right wing Robert Nilsson, centre Ryan O’Marra and the Islanders’ first round choice in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.

A tearful Mark Messier saw his No. 11 jersey retired to the rafters of Rexall Place.

The Oilers dropped a 3-0 decision to, of all teams, the Phoenix Coyotes.

Where is my black arm band?

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I'm a pencil! · 27 February 07

Well, a few weeks ago I quit my cushy government job and headed out into the big bad world of the private sector. I cast off the golden handcuffs of yearly increments, old age pension, longterm disability and job security and sat my typeddy-typing fingers down at a sweet new location!

I’m working with/for my good buddies over at YellowPencil now and I have to say that it is really feeling like home. Here is a shot of my workstation:

I love it here. The people are awesome, the building is really nice, the neighbours are super, they have a swanky cappuccino machine, and it is even closer to home than my old job! Who could ask for anything more?

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Shutdown Day · 24 February 07

It is obvious that people would find life extremely difficult without computers, maybe even impossible. If they disappeared for just one day, would we be able to cope?

Be a part of one of the biggest global experiments ever to take place on the internet. The idea behind the experiment is to find out how many people can go without a computer for one whole day, and what will happen if we all participate!

Shutdown your computer on this day and find out! Can you survive for 24 hours without your computer?

Luckily March 24th is a Saturday as most of us would likely get fired if we refused to turn our computers on at work! That being said, it is a Saturday right now and I am at work… hrm… this may be harder than I thought.

Get all the info at www.shutdownday.org.

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Berger-gone · 18 February 07

My prayers have been answered – the Edmonton Oilers have obtained defenceman Denis Grebeshkov (23-year-old defenceman from the New York Islanders) in exchange for defenceman Marc-Andre Bergeron!

The lords of hockey be praised!

I know I know, people alway try to tell me that Bergeron was a young guy with good potential and a high-ish scoring record for a d-man, but I will never be able to forgive him for wrecking Roli’s knee in the playoffs last year and ALL THOSE TURN-OVERS in our end… you have to score A LOT to make up for that stuff.

Anyway, I am pleased. Now if we could just get rid of Torres… that would be something.

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