Personal

Sometimes I post things that are kind of personal, so I make sure to put them in this category. If there is a password on any of these posts, then the password will be my date of birth, in YYYY-MM-DD format. If you know me reasonably well, then you should know that (or just ask me and I’ll tell you).

Proximity Detection on a Mac

I get really annoyed when I find myself having to do things over and over that a computer could easily do. I am also really bad at remembering to do small things that don’t seem that important.

The latest intersection of these 2 things is that I’ve been forgetting (or not bothering) to set my status as “Away” or “Back” on all the communications apps I have running when I leave the computer. This is something that a computer should be able to do itself, and something that I’m horribly bad at remembering to do.

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GorillaPod iPad Stand

Last night, I purchased “Awaken“, a pretty cool clock/alarm app for my iPad. I wanted to try it out as a bedside clock, but to do that I needed a stand of some sort so I could stand up my iPad on my bedside table. My previous theory was that a simple business card holder would make a decent iPad stand, but I didn’t have one handy. What I did have handy, was my Gorillapod (SLR). Turns out they make a perfect iPad stand. Rubber grips, flexible legs, works in portrait or landscape mode, super-stable. Perfect. I dub thee “GorillaPad Stand” (and yes, probably infringe on 2 trademarks at once).

Backpack Camping Mission Peak

A few weekends ago, we went camping at Mission Peak, in the East Bay here near San Francisco. We drove in to the Sunol Visitor’s Center and then hiked from there to the Eagle Springs camp ground, which is just off from Mission Peak. The hike was pretty tame, and a lot of the way it was on quite well-made fire roads and unpaved private roads. Personally I prefer to hike (and camp) in more densely wooded areas, but I guess this was an interesting change of scenery.

Getting prep'd

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ForageSF Wild Kitchen Dinner

Although far from being a “tree-hugging hippie“, I guess I’ve got a few opinions when it comes to the food system here in the US. I won’t bother going into any detail, but needless to say that the way food is produced here is not good for us or the world we live in, and needs to change some time soon. Through a bit of an interest in the general area of “alternative” food sources and processes, I came across the SF Underground Farmer’s Market (thanks Timoni!), which ended up leading me to forageSF. This was a whole new experience in food, let me tell you why…

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Santiago Metro Marathon

This past Sunday (the 17th), there was another election being held. Because of that, most things are shut, so we needed something to do for the day. For some reason, I had the hair-brained idea that we should travel the Metro and go to the end of each line, take a look around, then keep going, until we had visited the end station on every line in Santiago. Somehow, I convinced Robin to come along, and so we set off from Manuel Montt (our nearest station) to visit the Metro-limits!

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A Day in the Andes

As one of the bonus services offered through Robin’s language school, students are able to take part in weekly activities, offered through a guy by the name of Pastor. He has a degree in ecotourism, and seems to be really into outdoor activities, which makes him a great guide. Oh, and “pastor” in Spanish translates to “shepard”, so it’s in his name to herd people around the place 😉

On this Sunday, we had arranged to go along on a trek in the Andes. I don’t know exactly what we (Robin and I) were thinking, but we were pretty unprepared for the trip, turning up without a backpack (to carry our food/water), not much water and no extra sun-screen. We got it sorted out though, and had an amazing day; here are the details.

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