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The pictures sum up this month. Music, work, food, biking, friends and family. It seemed to have gone fairly quick as well. I don't think I can comprehend what to make of it all but it's life.

It's funny to know where your taste in music shifts as you get older. I'm in a weird place and I think that's good. It keeps it interesting and different.

Also I'm starting to get back into wine again. It's just a hole in my pocket when I do. Definitely gonna sift through my collection first before grabbing new ones. Funny how you try to really judge a bottle by its cover. Pop the cork, open the hatch an hope it pairs well with your food and has a good follow through. Otherwise it makes drinking it feel like work.

My niece is 2 years old now. Can't believe it. The sis-in-law just delivered a baby girl too. And my cousin is expecting as well. It's another generation of babies in the family again. It's gonna be exciting. New life. Watching them grow up will be ridiculous and amazing all at the same time. Time for Uncle Mikey to be the spoiler.

Hopefully this summer has more travels and also a less confusing season. This spring was a bit weird. Here's to a better quarter.

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Fitnes-wise, I feel like I'm getting back into shape. Stronger heart, better stamina and now I just need to work on my core and improve my agility. Also watching what you eat, you start finding healthier alternatives to things you would typically eat in its place. Also that you don't have to eat a whole bag of junk to feel satisfied. Moderation works, you just have to be patient mentally to catch up with your body.

My bike. Man, my bike is weak... :-P Ok maybe my legs need to be stronger. They can pedal forever but add an incline at an unusual angle and your body goes "What the f-?!" I conquered an advanced route this week. Funny trying to beat the sun and maybe not the smartest idea to try a new route on a week night after work that has no lights once the sun sets. It was a challenging, fun ride though. If people told me about the route before I did it, I think I would have bailed. I'm glad I didn't.

My niece turned 2 this month also. It's insane how fast time flies. Babies grow up fast. I'm just happy she remembers me now when I see her. She likes being my shadow and follows me wherever I go. She's awesome.

This year is going pretty quick but I'm doing a lot with my time. I want to travel around again but my funds are needing to be prioritized at the moment. Things are just a lot more expensive then they used to be and some things feel like they will never get paid off (at least overnight). It a part of life though. And I'm on that bandwagon again.

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You have no idea what kind of people ride this ride until you hear the various conversations going on around you.  You have: college kids, hipsters, hippies, yuppies, parents, oldies, singles, a lot of couples on dates, first timers, a friend bringing first timers, TNSR veterans, managers, coworkers talking business, full on roadies in cycling outfits, green activists, traditional bike riders, fixie heads, dusty garage bikes and basically anyone who has a bike comes out to use it.  It's still cool to see people ask on the street "what is this?" or "what's going on here?" but you get the occasional "come back where you came from!" comment from drivers.  I still don't get that but ok.  It's just cool to get off the daily grind and ride a bit through parts of the city you would never usually go through.

If you have a ride in whatever town you're in, try to find it and jump on the wagon.  It's fun.

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Someone try to prove to me what's wrong with this product. Trying to be more health conscious and also looking out for how many calories I intake on my road to weight loss redemption, you come across a lot of alternatives to foods you usually eat and favor in order to cut fat/calories/carbs/etc. I hate how bad regular PB is for you and came across this item on a couple of fitness blogs. Kinda ridiculous, if you ask me, how come it's never been tried before or that I know about.  It's pretty awesome how they deconstructed the peanuts only to remove the oil and fat and rehydrated by water to bring back the consistency of peanut butter.

Skeptic at first but then I tried it just now. Damn, pretty tasty. Tastes like organic natural PB to me. Only 45 cals a serving compared to 200. I'm blown away by this unless someone can prove I'm gonna die from a product that shows its ingredients are simple as day. Can't get anymore "organic" than that.

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Path sync with Nike+:
Nifty Article: http://gizmodo.com/5891828/nike-teams-with-path-to-socialize-your-runs

I've used Nike+ for a long time to log my runs and keep track of my times and whatnot.  It helps gauge me on where I am and what I'm doing also.  Recently, I've gotten on a running kick mainly because I've been trying to lose weight.  Before SXSW, I was about 196-197.  Kinda ridiculous considering I'm only 5'8", I felt like that is kinda high of a weight class to be in for my height.  I decided I needed to do something about it.  Weighing myself today - 184.6 lbs.  *hi-five*  My goal is to get to 165.  That's the target weight.  Hopefully it'll be just about maintenance at that point.  I hadn't been that weight or a 32w since high school.  If I can keep and maintain that, it'll be easier now definitely then later once I hit 30 (next year) where metabolism just goes downhill from there.

A friend told me about myfitnesspal.com and I've been using that as a healthy indicator of my daily calorie intake.  I didn't really have time to exercise much so I was curious to see how much "dieting" helps vs. exercising.  I can confidently say that a majority of losing weight is what and how much you eat.  You start to realize that you can live off a lot less calories then you imagined.  And you won't starve if you pick the right foods that are filling and/or you can have a lot of because they are low in calories.  Anyway, it's also an iPhone app so you can log while you're on the go, not to mention if your food has a bar code, boom instant nutrition facts uploaded.  It takes the brain work out for you, you just have to use it.

Typically on my runs I have been a 11'30" to 12' pace runner.  So 5-5.5mph.  I've been able to get my speed and my endurance up which has helped significantly and I am about about 10' to 10'30" pace at the moment.  My ultimate goal is to quicken my 5K time to under 30 minutes.  For as long as I have been keep track of my runs, I have never been able to do that.  I think I'm just naturally a slow runner, ha.

So I went for a quick lunch run today. Note: It's hard because if you slack, you're going to be late back to work and only a snack for lunch.  It's funny because if someone sees that you're running on Path, they can "cheer you on."  Little did I know the random cheering I heard in my headphones was from that.  Pretty cool and kinda motivating.  Also, I guess I had a good run because Jeremy Lin congratulated me on finishing.  Boom.  Bauce.  Swerve.

Strava needs some love though.  I want to use it but I don't want to lose track of what I've started on Nike+.  I guess I'll stick to just using Strava for biking, which I want to get back on more consistently.  I'm getting too dark, too quickly being out in the sun.  More updates to come.  

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You can jam to a new school groove to a new school cat that has an old school soul and rekindled a classic Motown genre that Mayer Hawthorne has designated himself into.

Rizzle Kicks are pulled the rebel UK "swag" on this one.  Video is hilarious and for people who think it's trash have no sense of humor.  It's all in fun in the London town.

Makes my day job look boring as hell.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith anyone?

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Spring happened to arrive in impeccable fashion. Not only did the great weather happen to come exactly on its first day but it has stayed around to make everything around lush and green again after weeks of rain. It's been a while since we've had a good rain. I just hope that it rains consistently this summer. No more of this "Austin record breaking temperatures for consistent days" type business.

This month has been me trying to jump back on the health wagon and eat right and eat right consistently. I can't believe I've been tipping the scales close to 200 lbs. and I'm only 5'8". I want to get back to a "normal" 165 lbs. at some point?

Back to riding, running and playing more sports. Glad there's some office games going on right now. So I'm trying to get as much activity as I can because it sucks sitting at a desk all day.

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South By was fun but tiring as usual. If you dot have a plan, you end up roaming around a LOT and that means a LOT of standing, walking and waiting. I love the Technology portion because it deals with a lot of the logistics and the R&D as well as the people behind all the genius behind their products.  There's something about hearing new innovations that inspire me to keep thinking and dreaming of the next best thing.  If not being the next best thing, I have ideas that I hope can be useful for a niche following.

As for the music portion, I got to see some pretty good shows unexpectedly and also for free.  I am bewildered at how some companies can throw the parties that they do and maintain order and organization.  That's a great team right there for doing so.  It means you're able to celebrate with your co-workers but also shows that if you work hard, you play harder.

Music seen this year at SxSW:

fun.
Penguin Prison (2x)
Counting Crows
Chiddy Bang
Walk the Moon
Nas
Erykah Badu
Theophilus London
The Shins 

Not bad, considering I spent a total of 10 bucks total on all of these shows, per say.  Lots of free bevvies and food in the midst of all that as well.  Thanks to my friend, Bryan for hooking me up with some SWAG as well.

Disappointing to miss Young the Giant and Grouplove opening for them this weekend but I'll definitely have to catch them next time around.  Just those two acts together is one hell of a show and one hell of a night, if you ask me.  Living in Austin really opens up a lot of opportunities to see live music and at venues that aren't insane stadiums so you feel like you're at least close enough to feel the energy up on stage.  I need to find a way to document all the artists I've seen up on stage.  Way to many to go uncharted because I really think almost every show has this one moment where you're just so damn glad you showed up.

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Looks like this is my contribution for the month and it consists of pretty much what I've been doing. From music collecting to eating to working to even trying to start running again.

My left ankle hasn't been the same since one inebriated evening when an old friend was in town from Chicago. One misstep and you roll your ankle pretty bad. Since then, my ankle has seen better days and stronger. I'm trying to build the muscles and tendons around it back up but I might have to get it checked out.

For the Lenten season, instead of giving something up, I've told myself that I'm gonna exercise of some sort everyday for 40 days. I seriously hope this gets to think normally to not just sit on my ass and do far it's been working. Now let's see if I can get back into some kind of shape.

Work has been interesting mainly because I feel like I know what I do now? Ha. Now to put it to good use and move path forward with my career.

Biking has been missed but I've been getting on it when the random Texas weather spikes to 90 then back to 50 degrees another day. Just feels good to wear shorts and a t-shirt again.

I've also been trying to not spend money where I don't have to but at the same time, you get so bored. I'm just glad I have my 40 day mission because I utilize my gym membership and get out and run around town. Not to mention some work rec sports stuff going on right now. So this year is maybe an active one. Last year was pretty inconsistent and drab. So here you go. Photos of the month.

Not to mention Smurfs' Village can't be stopped.

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You can't say the iPhone isn't worth the money. It all depends on how/what/why you use it. It's pretty unbelievable within such a short amount of time just how connected you are to the world. Not just your world but for all the onlookers that are looking in to your life can also seem side.

Sure that can sound creepy to some but a lot of times, it's another way to learn, become inspired or just plain look at something different when you're bored.

This phone has made us become unbored. It sucks because that's why we've become so attached at the same time. Brain activity stops when you lock your phone. Oh crap! Now what?! We just have to remember that we need to shut down sometimes - reboot our CPU, if you will.

I guess it's just crazy to me that we literally hold everything in the palm of ours hands. That used to be a figure of speech. Technology wooed us into another generation. Google is our brain. Social media is our telephone. E-mail has quadrupled our workloads. Time seems like never enough. We've condensed our time by so much that we've grown accustomed to multitasking so much that we feel like we never have time.

I'm just glad I've found a couple things in my life that have slowed down my pace a bit again. Feels good man.

Meanwhile, this post is brought to you by my phone. Boom.

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I had fun putting this together.  Found the right music, the right clips and funny friends.  It makes me wanna go back already.  

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There's a love-hate relationship with social media for me.  It's a great tool because it's a great way to reach so many people especially for certain things you may want to accomplish with it.  But with great knowledge comes great responsibility, as the saying goes.

It becomes a leash that you can give as much slack or as tight as you want.  What's the best outlet to keep in contact with your audience?  Should I be on all formats?  Which one will be the bread winner for my specific audience?

I think it's sort of nice to have started projects because it keeps me busy but also at the same time can feel like a personal burden.  I guess it's what you make of it and no one is expecting anything but you also have an obligation to yourself.  It's called commitment.

Take it with a grain of salt or carry the molehill on your back, it's up to you.  It's there for you to use and sometime even abuse but never forget why you use it and what your goal is with it.  It's a fun tool that we have access to now and it's FOR FREE.  Just don't forget that there's a life outside of the little computer thingy too.  You can interact in that way as well.  Silly interwebz.

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It's that time of the year where you reflect on the current year and how you'll improve yourself for the up-coming year.  Definitely make them positives.  I do believe that if you make a habit out of things, it does become a part of your nature, or your "lifestyle" because it becomes a way of life.  I really need to make time for things again.  I would say that this year I got very lazy and complacent and I want to change that.  Time for a Re-Up.

So here are a few things I hope to accomplish in 2012:

• I dare myself to put at least 100 miles on my bike a month
• Taking more pictures again and may put out a photo set once a month
• Take time out to learn/study.  Keep my brain stimulated.
• Eat better.  But everything tastes better with a fried egg on top.  And donuts.
• Get out of the work schedule rut.  I let it overtake me.  I want my freedom back.
• See my loved ones more. This holiday break made me realize how much I miss them.
• Open my travel chapter up again.
• Keep PedalHouston alive and kicking.  I love what it's done and the community it's created.
• Stop spending.  More saving.  My budgeting went haywire last year somehow.
• Get a dog.

I wish everyone a happy and prosperous new year.  It's just like any other day but this is our societal excuse to give ourselves a fresh start at something.  To feel like we are given a clean slate to move forward.  I've learned a lot this year and I hope to work harder and not slack on what I want to achieve.  I'm happy to have a great family and good friends to keep me sane.  To think, it's 2012.  I thought we would be living like the Jetsons by this time.  Time goes by fast as hell.  Go do something.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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As much as you try to keep your life organized, you still see clutter.  Online, you try to keep everything is some order as well.  Also, being accesible is critical to how you use it as well.

Evernote
I've finally started using Evernote more consistently when I find items online.  Thanks to the ability of web clipping.  I save news/blog articles, video clips and *ahem* recipes for later.  Just like my work e-mail, I've created subfolders for access later.  I have them sorted into:

• Bike Blog
• Music
• Wish List
• Recipes
• Work
• To-Do's

Spotify/Airport Express
Ever since I bought an Airport Express (thanks eBay!), I listen to music that much more because now it plays on my main stereo from anywhere I am in my place.  I can't tell you how convenient having a network at home just makes you excited like a little kid.  Not to mention it'll be convenient to use when I don't have access to WiFi for my MBA.  Damn, I just realized I can use my computer at work now if I do that.  Mind-blowing discovery.  

How about accessing your computer from your iPhone through the Remote app to your stereo system while you're in the kitchen, picking up around the house or playing MW3.  Anyway, playlists, playlists, playlists on Spotify have made listening to music exciting again.  I don't get bored of my music anymore because well, it's limitless what I put on the playlists now.  Not to mention the addition to apps on the program on their "beta stage"  of their next release update to help randomize your selection now.  Also, discovery of some great albums.  It helps you have access to your FB friends on there as well. Share inbox, ftw.

Google Chrome/Tweetdeck
I think the combination of them both has been either a time waster or just easy access for information.  Having the Tweetdeck widget app on Chrome makes things easy to keep up with everyone in one tab. It's like a window into random people's souls.

Google Sync
It was the cloud before the cloud.  Syncing your calendars, contacts, e-mails and what have you not.  Thank goodness for Microsoft Exchange on iPhone mail app so I can sync the calendar from my work Outlook to my personal Google calendar so now it shows up on my phone.  Boom, mind blown.  I'd dive into the process but that sounds as boring as this entire post.

I'm starting to find my flow again with trying to organize video I've recorded and pictures I've taken again.  I tend to just shut everything off when things get overwhelming because I know it takes a lot of time but I think you feel better at the end for it.  

All this because it feels good to import and consolidate all my media files to where I wanted them.  Procrastination and finally doing something about it leads to liberation.  Ridiculous.

I can't believe I still blog.

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Boom, you gotta hashtag anything of importance nowadays.  Crazy, silly world we live in indeed.

Want.

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Today, or this week for that matter, has to have been one of the biggest news junket days in a long time.  There's trending topics galore. Let me try to list a few off the top of my head.

• XBOX Live got a new UI update to accomodate the surge of Kinect users, not to mention the addition of functional apps to make the unit more of a media center than a video game console.


• Catching a replay of Rachel Crow being voted off of X-Factor caused a live uproar of everyone bugging out and panicking from the decision.  It makes for good TV so keep rolling but also disturbing at the same time.  Guess that's what happens when you reduce the audition age to 12?  


• The popular iPad app, Flipboard finally got added to the iPhone and with that, Google has also created their "magazine"-style news app called Google Currents.  It's basically a way to make news more interesting to read and to catch trending topics amongst all the sites ou there.


• NBA has been causing more of an uproar on gossip than TMZ amongst where players will be traded before the late season start comes upon us on Christmas Day, December 25.  Not to mention, I think it's the first time that I've seen a legitimate veto by the commisioner on a trade to sent Chris Paul to LA in a 3-way trade (including the Houston Rockets).

  
  Atop of that in the MLB, you have Pujols leaving the World Series champion Cards to join the Angels.

• Google+ has not given the fight up to compete with the resources that Facebook has retained their audience with and are still trying to appeal to the masses, especially considering how many people use Google.  They are going to lauch their own "Events" style page on the platform to hopefully entice users their way, just as they did businesses with their business pages.

  
  This leads to the big Twitter UI update across the board -  on the web, mobile device apps and even on Tweetdeck taking on the udpate simultaneously.

• Twitter went through a huge facelift today and without any hiccups.  We are typically used to seeing them distribute their new layout in waves but somehow they were able to pull a surprise update, not just visually but conceptually with no lag.  Of course, you have people that have to say something about it or what use would Twitter be.  "Mentions" are called "Connects" now that actually includes your "Mentions" but also has a new tab of your interactions of activity with your account, such as new followers and RTs.  It also has a new "Discovery" tab which basically consists of the culturally adopted hashtag (#).   They've somehow found a way to make Twitter understandable to the masses instead of a cult following in order to follow news and create interactions for people.  

  
  It's impressive in my opinion.  It looks very techie now though.  From what Twitter used to be, which was essentially a VERY simple idea and website of simple text and a reply button and an @ symbol to relay messages to one another.  People created their own jargon and twitter lingo which eventually went mainstream and is used across almost every social media outlet that's out there.

• The iPhone app store went a little crazy with updates. A couple minor bug updates but also a bunch of refreshing and new apps and app updates.  If you've witnessed my banter, I get a little excited over updates.  I don't know why but I do.  It's like finding the extra french fries in the bottom of your fast food bag.  It just makes the iPhone feel like a new phone again especially with all these news apps, which I include twitter in now as they showcase their trending topics and news stories.  It's INSANE what the internet has become.

  
  I, for one, like that posterous is sticking to their guns and evolving their platform to those of the likes of tumblr, wordpress, blogspot and any other type of blog/microblogging platform.  They've improved leaps and bounds from what they started with and their application and their web platform is pretty solid right, especially their aesthetic but simple themes.  I'm glad it's stuck around and I confidently jumped on to use them.  A job well done.

Yesterday, I was taken aback by how vast the music world has become in such a short amount of time.  Everyone has access to music from all over the world instantly.  It used to be taboo what kind of music existed on the other side of the earth unless you knew someone there and brought it back with them home.  You just didn't know, but now, the internet is making normal people with extraordinary talent to live a dream and quicker than it could ever have been possible by being "discovered" or in an "audition" and finding an audience all at the same time.  You see the process happen in front of your eyes.

It's funny because, WE, as a whole, created this.  This is man-made.  Technology, that is.  Wow. 

Anyway, it was a damn interesting day in the trending topic world.  Not to mention the surprising shooting at Viriginia Tech again.  Geez.

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Everything now is instantaneous.  Instant gratification.  How you get your news.  If you're two minutes late on news, it makes people mad that you're not in the know about it already.  Any less is unacceptable.  You get "deleted."  I think the same goes for blogs, especially tech blogs.  There's no time for gurgitating what you've just read anymore.  You've read it and it's happened already.  Just like the AT&T commercial with the bros at the tailgating party claiming news that's happened already.  It's great to get news when you want it but I think that's why people seem to feel like they have no time anymore.

I admit, I'm a culprit.  I thank Google Reader for being a quick dump for news.  Either skim through all the 11ty posts in ONE DAY that a blog produces or just "Mark As Read."  Sometimes you don't have to know everything but sometimes you want to know everything.  I wish I cared more for world news but politics and the media to portray things in a manner to make it dramatic to sway your opinion on it.  I feel like I'm starting to be the cranky old man that looks at things about the new world and detesting how it's formed out to be.  I use technology and I don't hate where it's going but sometimes I feel like we don't take time to do anything anymore.  Reading a newspaper to catch up on news is old news.  Sunday paper is nothing but used for extreme couponers.  Music gets skimmed and thrown around like nothing now but I can say exploration of music is at its best right now.  When you do something great, people will pay to hear or see your music because you've earned their time and money.  No more surprises when you buy and album anymore unless you avoid any leaks and previews for your benefit.

I remember, I collected more singles than albums beacuse I only liked one or two songs.  Songs on its own but I like appreciating those whole put the effort into a complete album.  I think that's the reason I like the idea of vinyls again.  Listening to the work completely.  No one knows what kind of music you're into because you don't have a collection anymore (except a digital one).  Having a physical analog copy of the work seems well worth paying for it.  I forgot about having the whole package.  The slip cover art, the front cover aesthetics and just everything about records.  It still amazes that the little piece of plastic plays real actual, dynamic music with no digital loss.  And the crackle, it's pretty awesome.

Moral of the story: Don't eat spoiled grapes.  But if you do, they really are just raisins.

What?

I just need to stop thinking and get back on my bike(s).

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Damn, this album is good.  No, the Roots aren't just Jimmy Fallon's house band.  Been following these guys since Illadelph Halflife.  But for sure, this is a grown up's album.

Streaming on NPR thru hypebeast: 
http://hypebeast.com/2011/11/the-roots-undun-album-stream

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Something about being an independent artist gives you that freedom to exactly just that.  I've never come across my collection of music where the artist put out a visual accompaniment to their body of work except maybe Kanye West's Runaway video.  It was interesting looking up Bon Iver on VEVO and come up blank.  I'm assuming it's because it's the major record labels that release those videos.  Eh.  This album is still being figured out by me.  Too many layers.

To those asking where the heck Hinnom, TX is?  Thanks SongFacts.com

This synth-pop ballad finds Bon Iver leader Justin Vernon dreaming of a burial place for strangers near Jerusalem being relocated in the heart of Texas. He explained the story behind the song to UK newspaper The Sun: "When I was working on the lyrics I was coming up with these images of the desert. I had the idea of taking Hinnom, a place near Jerusalem where they have a cemetery for people who don't have names and plopping it into Texas. The song became an amalgamation of this idea and my experience of a Lucinda Williams song 'Fruits Of My Labor.' She sings this line, 'Cause I finally did it, baby, I got out of La Grange, go in my Mercury and drove out west.'

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