Sam on Maui

IUGO Mobile Entertainment recently released their iPhone title, Implode! , on Windows Phone 7. I downloaded the demo, buying the game the same day. Obviously, my impression of the game is positive! But, obviously, I'd imagine you'd want more details than that.

Compiled Experience has come up with a handy new app for Windows Phone 7 called Left to Spend . I’ve been using it for the past week and find that its something well worth trying out. Starting the app takes you right to totals page. While the app looks very well Metro, there’s no other pages to swipe to, and that really speaks of how to the point it is. At the top will be your current, remaining total of spending money and how often its replenished. Below that it’ll show the period of time it spans, date-wise, and the purchases entered are listed below. Clicking on the gear icon on the bottom will bring up the settings screen. Here you can set how much you’re giving yourself and how often. For instance, you do like I do and set it for every paycheck to receive $x in spending money (my entertainment budget). Because you can set the amount and choose between daily, weekly, fortnightly (every two weeks) or monthly, you can really use it in the most practical means for you. The last op...

Okay, first night with weights. Very simple, and very low weight, but I'm basically starting from scratch again. Better safe than sorry!   So, I've got two adjustable dumbbells at 20lbs each, and two plain dumbbells at 15lbs each. Given that I can't even get my 16k kettlebell (about 35lbs) up to do even start Turkish half-get up? Yeah, starting lower. Much lower. I'll need to see if we have enough plates to make it 25lbs or even 30lbs in the future - I do know we've got some big ones (25lb plates), but that'll be a while from now before I can use those.   I would like to find an Olympic bar for bench presses, but so far the stores I've seen only have standards. While the exercise machine/station thing has a bench press function, I'd much rather use free weights than that. More natural. I'll also do deadlifts with it, but first things first. I will likely use my kettlebell for weighted face-the-wall squats in the meantime.   Need to fire up the 360 at...

A few days ago I was having to decide between buying my Myoplex locally from GNC versus buying online for $10 less. Well, I made my choice, and went locally. I had a quick stop to Queen Ka’ahumanu Shopping Center, walked to GNC, presented my Gold card, and got the $50 box for just under $42, including tax. That’s a work-month worth of meals at about $2.10 per serving, which isn’t too bad. Having thought about it a bit more, I did think of some other benefits to having bought it locally. By spending it here, I paid local sales tax. The business itself pays local taxes. The employees will get more money (I’ve heard GNC has commissions), so that’s income tax plus them spending money, which will be sales tax. With tourism still recovering plus the expectation that Japanese visitors will be declining in number while they rebuild, that’s important right now. The state and county definitely need the money. While I’m not a fan of everything the government does (federal, state or local),...

One of the things I've been trying to do over the past few years is, when I can, to buy stuff locally. Even if I buy something from a national retail chain, I know that some of that money stays here and contributes towards the local economy. There are exceptions to this, of course, but overall I've tried to keep to that. Right now I've got a case where I need to choose, though. The local GNC sells EAS' Myoplex Lite for $50. After my Gold Card discount that'll be $40 plus tax, so $41.67 total. At 20 packets/meals a box (enough for four working weeks), I'm paying $2.09 per shake. But if I went through Amazon and subscribe to it (ie, they will automatically ship me more every month), I can get it for $30. They claim no shipping, so if that's true? That'll be $1.50 per shake and over a $11 per box. Over the course of a year I'd save close to $150. So, the question is, what is that difference in price buying me? Like everyone else, I'm wanting t...

There’s an old saying, “he who fails to plan, plans to fail.” No idea who said it, but its certainly true enough. I’m sure its tossed around for great and grand ambitions, a golden brick of advice for the next Donald Trump or Colin Powell. For me, on the other hand, its very down to earth, and is something I’ve been trying to implement with my weight loss. I’ve been on Weight Watchers for about eight months now, and have lost 14.4lbs thus far. While not as impressive as the latest fad diet, that’s a steady 1.8lbs a month average, and a healthy rate of loss. That, combined with increased physical activity (thank you to everyone who worked on EA Sports Active 2 for the 360/Kinect) has been very good for me, even getting my blood sugar own! One thing I’ve had to deal with is the simple fact that if I don’t prepare my lunches ahead of time, like the night before, I am very likely to cheat. I’ve eaten at Jack in the Box more than a few times wondering, “why can’t I quit you?” It slows d...

Its been about a month since I stopped using my Palm Centro and started using my Samsung Focus. Probably due to everything I read about the Windows Phone 7, the transition was quite smooth. I never really knew (or trusted) where to get apps for the Centro. As such I never got to experiment with what was available, or see how that aspect of PalmOS went. Fortunately, the included apps were good, and pretty much what I needed. Moving over to WP7 I was quite happy to find replacements pretty quickly, and some of them included by default. Data Viz’s excellent Docs To Go was replaced by Microsoft Office, Palm’s calendar replaced by Calendar (and is syncable!), the to-do list replaced by To Do Today, etc. I will say that while the calendar is nice, I think what I’ve seen of the Palm Pre’s accordian-style calendar is a lot more slick and functional – less wasted scanning through things due to the efficient presentation. Amusingly enough, the lack of multitasking in PalmOS has helped me no...

There seems to be no lack of zombies in games these days. Be they gruesome and frightening like the ones in Left 4 Dead, or cute and whimsical in Plants Vs Zombies, they’ve become a rather popular enemy for people play against. So, the proliferation of zombies in tower-defense games shouldn’t be a surprise at all. What do I think of IUGO’s game? Not too bad, actually.

One of most useful tools for a busy day (and life) is a to-do list. And, arguably, the to-do list is one of the ubiquitous apps for PDAs and now smart phones. While I never much used my old Palm Centro’s Tasks app, I’ve used to-do lists almost daily at work. There’s something very satisfying about ending the day and seeing that list (long or short) with everything crossed off! Of course, if nothing or very little is finished, well, that can be a bit disheartening, but alas, not every day ends well. One of the first apps I got for my WP7 phone was a to-do list, in this case Compiled Experience’s To Do Today , and I’ve used the paid version for about a week now. How’s it working out? Pretty well, actually.

Konami recently released Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night for Windows Phone 7 and iPhone/iTouch. I picked it up recently for my Samsung Focus, and thought I’d share my thoughts thus far.

Only available via his online store , Dave Ramsey and his crew have produced a board game for 2 to 4 people, ages 10 and up. I ordered it recently, and finally got a chance to play two games this week. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Dave Ramsey, he’s a Christian financial type with a strong focus on getting a plan for your money, getting out of debt, and living on less than you make. Right now his most popular book is The Total Money Makeover, and some AM stations will carry his radio talk show. So, what do I think of it?

Yay! 10/15/10 measurements: Right Upper Arm - 14" Waist - 42" Hips - 45" Right Thigh - 26" 1/18/11 measurements Right Upper Arm - 13.25" (-.75) Waist - 41" (-1") Hips - 44.25" (-.75") Right Thigh - 25" (-1") Thank you Weight Watchers! Still working towards my 5% goal, but so far so good! :D

Tonight my friend Jonathan ran the finale game for Man of War III, a Napoleonic-era British Navy role-playing game. It was the culmination of a ten-year arc of three campaigns (Man of War I, II and III), tying up loose story ends and officially retiring the game. It was a very enjoyable game, especially because Jonathan always did a lot of research into historical events, ships, military, etc., to set the tone for the game (truth be told most of the players are history buffs anyhow). There were ship battles, espionage, trading, diplomacy, blowing up those darn Frenchies and more…

Well, after enough mulling it over, I'll be going with the Samsung Focus. Just to recap my bigger reasons why: The only thing I’m really worried about the Quantum is the slider keyboard. I’ve never had a phone with one before, so I’m worried about wear and tear. The Focus is one piece – no mechanical mechanisms to go awry. The Focus’ screen is nicer than the Quantum’s, and is a bit larger to boot. That would be easier on the eyes. The Focus has been called the best WP7 phone available for AT&T right now, and I’ve seen one article call it the second best phone for AT&T after the iPhone. My worries over the physical keyboard ended up being a deal breaker. Given my Centro's performance I fully expect the Focus to last more than my two-year obligation (which is more than I can say for the normal cheapy, "free with contract" phones I used to get). But the Centro is very simple, mechanically, unlike the LG Quantum. That slider is just one more thing that can go wron...

Well, its been a few months of thinking and pondering, but I’ve finally made up my mind about what kind of phone to get next. I have to admit, the market is full of options that would be great upgrades from my Palm Centro; the iPhone, Android, the Palm Pre, etc. So, come March, I’ll be getting a Windows Phone 7… er… phone.

At work we’ll sometimes go out to eat for birthdays, splitting the check at the end. At the end of the meal we have to go through two steps; figuring out the tip, then everyone’s share (joys of going dutch). Sometimes everyone fends for themselves, but the birthday boy/girl gets their meal for free, with the rest of us splitting the bill. a b c d 1 Bill Tip % Amount Total 2 format as $ format as % =a2*b2 =a2+c2 3 4 # of people $ per 5 1 =d2/a5 Its easy enough. Things are laid out the way they are so its easy enough to adjust. You put in your bill into a2, the percentage you want to tip into b2, and the rest gets figured out for you. If you’re splitting something, change the 1 in a5 to however many people you’re splitting by. For instance, if me and two friends of mine went to eat, with the meal costing $24 and is wanting to tip 30%? a b c d 1 Bill Tip % Amount Total 2 $24.00 30 $7.20 $31.20 3 4 # of peop...

I had started looking for a checkbook program (not seriously) for my phone to use for my debit card. My Palm Centro is an older, now discontinued, entry-level smart phone, so a lot of folks have moved on, developer-wise. In a "why didn't I think of this before?" moment, I fired up my Centro's spreadsheet (provided by DataViz’s Docs to Go ) and whipped up a quick and dirty way to keep track of my expenditures!   a b c 1 =sum(b:d)     2       3       Its basically a one-cell formula, usable for any spreadsheet. Cell a1 gets the equation to show the current balance, with columns b, c and d getting the number entries (deposits are positive, purchases are negatives). A1’s result is bolded to help it stand apart from everything else.   a b c 1 37.77 50.53   2   -4.67   3   -8.09   So, while there is room to improve it? My current balance is there, all quick and convenient l...

"The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable." - Sun Tzu While not incredibly well-read or knowledgeable, I think I'm starting to find finances more interesting now than I have ever before. Maybe I'm at "that" phase in life. Certainly, it started when I finally got tired of making my money and having nothing to really show for it. Thanks to that I went through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, which has probably been the best $92 I've spent on myself in a long time. I've tried reading Richard Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad, although have never made it through the thing even after trying for close to a decade. The idea of debt as a tool seems dangerous to me - a bit worrisome. But, I can see his points, and there is the whole risk/reward aspect to c...