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I was lucky enough to purchase a Wii Fit from the Nintendo World store in NYC last week. They’re even harder to find than the Wii is (which I also got from the Nintendo World store). I tried it out and it’s a lot harder than I thought it would be. There are 4 categories; Yoga, Strength Training, Aerobics, and Balance Games. You get “Fit Credits” for every minute you spend using the Wii Fit. After you bank a certain number of “Fit Credits”, you’ll unlock additional exercises or have the ability to increase reps on certain exercises. Surprisingly, I actually like the yoga. One of the more fun games is the Super Hula Hoop. I have a hard time trying to go counter-clockwise though. I’m going to try and do 30 minutes every night like they suggest but I’ll be happy with 4+ days each week.

Technorati Tags: Nintendo, Wii, Wii Fit

I purchased a new Blackberry Curve 8330 from Verizon last Wednesday for work. They’re reimbursing me for the phone and any accessories (up to $200 total) and up to $110 per month for the phone bill. I went with Verizon because I have my iPhone 3G on AT&T. I figured if I didn’t have coverage with one, I’d have it with the other. I’m still getting used to the crackberry but I still like my iPhone better.

Technorati Tags: 8330, AT&T, Blackberry, Blackberry Curve, iPhone, Verizon

Since I got my iPhone last week, I have signed up for 3 new social networking services. Limbo, Loopt, and Whrrl are mobile social networking services that use your current location to show you where your friends are.
Limbo describes their services as:

Limbo amplifies your social life – giving you quick and easy access to more activities, people and places.

Loopt goes a little more in depth when explained their service.

Loopt shows users where friends are located and what they are doing via detailed, interactive maps on their mobile phones. Loopt helps friends connect on the fly and navigate their social lives by orienting them to people, places and events. Users can also share location updates, geo-tagged photos and comments with friends in their mobile address book or on online social networks, communities and blogs.

Whrrl’s description is similar to Loopt’s.

Whrrl is a location-based social utility that helps you answer questions like, “Where should we go for dinner tonight?” or, “What fun stuff can I do around here?”, whether you are in your home town or traveling. Whrrl organizes everything you and your friends know about people, places, and events and puts that information at your fingertips. You can use Whrrl on a Web browser, via SMS, or as an application on your mobile phone.

I’m still figuring out if I’ll use all three or if one of them does everything I would need.

Technorati Tags: iPhone, Limbo, Loopt, Whrrl

I went to the AT&T store in the Bridgewater Commons mall yesterday at 6am to get in line for the iPhone 3G. I wound up being the 15th person in line and about 2 hours later, walked out there with a 16GB black iPhone. I played with it so much yesterday, the battery was almost dead by 6pm. I also downloaded and installed a few interesting apps to it like Phone Saber, which turns the iPhone into a light saber, Funambol, which is like Plaxo for the iPhone, and Rotary Dialer, which allows you to dial phone numbers as though you were using an old rotary style telephone.

Technorati Tags: 3G, Apple, AT&T, iPhone

After picking up a Nintendo Wii for a friend of mine’s daughter and playing it a couple of times, I decided to purchase one for myself. The only place that seems to have any is the Nintendo World store in New York. I set it up the other night, hooked it up to the Internet and started playing. I can purchase and download some original NES, SNES, Nintendo64 and Sega Genesis games. There are a few games I plan on buying and downloading (Super Mario Brothers 1-3, Super C, Legend of Zelda) but there are still others (Contra, Paperboy, Rampage, Duck Hunt, Spy Hunter) that I wish were available.

Technorati Tags: Nintendo, Wii

I’ve decided I’m going to start going green in order to help the environment. This won’t be easy since I’m into technology but it’s still a step in the right direction. After the failure that is Windows Vista, I am done with Microsoft products. I am currently running Windows XP on 2 of my computers. If I ever decide to get rid of Windows completely, I’ll replace it with Linux. I currently run Linux on 3 of my computers. I can download it legally for free from the Internet and burn it to one DVD. I don’t have to purchase a package where I’m going to throw out most of the packaging just to get to the install DVD.
I’ve also started printing straight to PDF, using Cute PDF Writer, to go as paperless as possible. All of my credit card bills, bank statements, and other financial documents are all done electronically. I do all of my bill paying online. This not only saves the paper used to make the checks and envelopes but also saves me time and money (no postage).
I’ve also signed up at Green Dimes to help stop junk mail for the next 5 years. When I signed up, I had the choice of getting $1 sent by postal mail (kinda goes against the idea of going green), plant a tree, or get a trial issue of a magazine about green living. I chose to have a tree planted. I also registered with the Direct Marketing Association’s Mail Preference Service to opt-out of mail offers. I also signed up at OptOutPrescreen.org, which allows me to opt-out of credit card and insurance offers. All of these should reduce the amount of junk mail I receive considerably.
Once I get my own place where I get to make more decisions, I would do a few more things like composting, using solar energy for exterior lighting and opting to have the electricity come from renewable resources.

Technorati Tags: green

I donated blood a few weeks ago and one of the things they were able to perform on the blood sample was a cholesterol check. The check wasn’t done the typical (fasting) way. I had to eat before I gave blood otherwise I wouldn’t have been allowed to but I wanted to know roughly what my cholesterol level was. I got a letter from the NY Blood Bank over the weekend and I now know what my cholesterol level is/was - 214. Considering how close I am to 200, and that I had a toasted and buttered corn muffin for breakfast that morning, I interested to see if I can get below 200 if I do it the way it’s supposed to be tested.

Technorati Tags: cholesterol

I’ve recently decided to take control of all my finances. I began my downloading and installing GnuCash. GnuCash is a free alternative to Quicken and Microsoft Money that runs on Windows and Linux, so if I ever decide to dump Windows completely, I’ll have a program I’m familiar with that I can use in Linux. The next thing I did was sign up for my company 401(k). I elected to have 10% of my pay go towards my 401(k) even though my company only matches 25% of the first 6%. Then I opened up a savings account at my local branch. The last couple of days I’ve been reading some personal finance blogs and decided to open up an Orange Savings account with ING Direct. I’m going to use my bank’s savings account as an emergency fund and the ING account to make money. To keep track of everything, I created an account on Mint.com. Mint.com can log into all my web accounts (banking, credit cards, and investments) and summarize everything for me. Finally, to track my net worth, I created an account at NetworthIQ. I have to manually enter in my income, expenses, and liabilities for it to tell me what my net worth is.

Technorati Tags: ING Direct, Mint.com, NetworthIQ, personal finances

I had to fly to Texas this weekend for work. It’s the first time I’ve had to work on the weekend since I got out of retail 2 1/2 years ago. Overall, the trip was full of a few surprises. The first was begin upgraded to First Class for 3 out of 4 of my flights. After flying First Class, it’ll be very hard going back to coach on my next flight. The second surprise was when Continental had to reboot the VOD entertainment system. When they did, Linux splashed up on the screen. From what I saw, I couldn’t tell what distro of Linux it was booting. All I saw was ‘RedBoot’, which is used to boot systems running an embedded Linux. If I had to guess, it was probably a modified version of RedHat. I actually had to work in Mexico so I had to remember all the Spanish I learned in middle school and high school. I was surprised at how much I remembered. The First Class flight on the way home was very nice. There was so much room, I could stretch my legs out and not hit the seat in front of me. I wasn’t sure what to do with the warm towel they bring by, so I watched a few people before I did anything.

Technorati Tags: First Class, Linux

I’ve been thinking about getting a pair of Crocs for a while now. I printed out their sizing chart off the Internet but I was still unsure if it was correct, so I looked on their website for places near me that sold them. Today, I went to Efinger Sporting Goods in Bound Brook and they were having a winter clearance on Crocs. Luckily, I found a pair in the size that the chart said I was, and in a color I would actually wear. They were reasonably priced at $22.49 at the register. When I got home, I put them on and I was very surprised at how comfortable they are. I could see myself wearing them almost everywhere, especially with warming weather coming (thank God).

Technorati Tags: Crocs