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Posted by Tarandon on 19th July 2010
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Birthday Gifts!

It was my Birthday on the weekend. I took the opportunity to have some friends out to my Parents house for some swimming and BBQ. I had an awesome time with friends and family and really enjoyed our evening. I also managed to pick up some loot along the way!

I got a new pair of FootJoy golf shoes with soft spikes so I can better practice up at the golf club! And to go with them I got a snazy set of Golf Shorts to practice in :D

I also got some new riding gloves, and a couple Bontrager bottle holders.
A wireless bike computer to help me train for the upcoming ride to conquer cancer, and a pretty cool water bottle to boot!

I’m so lucky to have all these people supporting me in my life. I’m even more lucky to have friends that would make the trek out to my parents house for BBQ and swimming.

Thanks to everyone, who made it happen!

More updates soon on my biking progress!

Cheers,

Tarandon

Posted by Tarandon on 5th July 2010
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2011 Ride to Conquer Cancer

I just signed up for the Ride to Conquer Cancer!

I’m going to see if I can plug-in some donation widgets for the ride as well as a tracking section to keep aware of my progress over the coming months. Lets all hope for good weather next June 11-12!

Cheers,

Tarandon

Posted by Tarandon on 20th June 2010
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Approximately 26.4 km

Got out on the bike today with a friend.


View Larger Map

This was our approximate route. We took the trail along Lakeshore Blvd. then up through High park and across Bloor St. W back to Spadina. I dropped him off and prepared myself for the climb up north. I was impressed with my ability to handle the hill next to the Castleloma despite having already ridden 20km. Looking forward to the next ride. I think I’ll try and post these every time.

Posted by Tarandon on 15th November 2009
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AVG 9.0 Free Sucks for Gamers

I’ve been using AVG free for amost 5 years now.  It really couldn’t be beat for free antivirus software and link scanner.  The software is compact, takes up little footprint, and really does a fine job of protecting your PC.

If you’re a PC Gamer however, I strongly advise against the upgrade to version 9.0.  In version 9.0 they’ve intentionally inserted scripts that minimize the game your in every 30 minutes and bring you back to the desktop.  I say intentionally because not interrupting game play is listed as a feature in the basic price package.  When I saw this I figured it affected games when it runs a scan on my PC. NOT THE CASE!

AVG 9.0 Game Mode WTF

AVG 9.0 Game Mode WTF

Every 30 minutes or so, whatever game your playing, will just minimize without warning leaving you player idol which is infuriating.  I understand that they’re trying to nag you into buying the basic version, but the tactic used has actually crossed the line from helpful service to virus like behaviour.  I’m certainly not going to spend $34.99 for a program that behaves like a virus.  I download your program to prevent annoyances like that from appearing on my PC altogether. AVG crossed over to the darkside with version 9.0 and I’ll never use it again.

I’ll be deleting your software as soon as I can find a suitable replacement. You can also bet your ass that I’ll evangelizing your services to less competent computer users who ask me to help them manage their PC’s.  (Most of whom, don’t mind spending the $34.99 by the way.)

If anyone has suggestions for more customer oriented non-virus like ANTI VIRUS programs… please leave me a note in the comments.

Bye AVG, I hate you.

Sincerely,

Tarandon

Posted by Tarandon on 14th September 2009
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Englishman Shatters Round the World Record by 4 Weeks!

James Bowthorpe is 4 days away from his final destination of of London England. He left there 170 days ago on March 29, 2009 to raise 1.8 Million GBP for Parkinson’s research by travelling the 18,000 mile route around the world on his bicycle.  Since leaving London, England he’s travelled through France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, The United States, Canada, Portugal and is currently in Spain on his route home.

His goal was originally to break the world record for circumnavigating the globe by bicycle by a whopping 2 weeks. The reason: hope that his frenzied pace would convey the urgency with which this money is needed.  Sadly his donation page currently sits at 3% of his total fund raising goal. In an amazing attempt to further assert his urgency has has increased his daily average distance to an astonishing 150 miles per day over the past few weeks. Every day he comes a little bit closer to doubling his target margin of 2 weeks.  He’s now within range of shaving a month off the world record.  This young man is about to make world history and nobody seems to be aware of it.

The lack of awareness is not for his lack of trying however. To be quite frank he’s made more of an effort than a lot of efforts I’ve seen to get his message out to the world. His portfolio  includes a map of his journey as assembled online by a GPS unit, a dedicated blog, a twitter acount, and a donations page hosted by JustGiving.com. With all these avenues working for him I would have thought that he’d be much closer to his goal than 3%, an so I’ll make a donation.

While it may be small compared to his goal we all know how those dollars can add up.  I’m also writing this post in hopes that some of you out there might feel compelled to follow in my footsteps. Tthrow this guy 10 or 20 dollars toward his goal, after all he’s about to break the world record by almost a month and that kind of raw athleticism deserves a bit of reward if not for him, than for the millions world wide who suffer from Parkinson’s.

You can follow James’ journey online at whereintheworldisjames.com

For more information on James Bowthorpe and the motivation for his record breaking adventure, visit www.globecycle.org and while your at it, make a donation.

Cheers,

Tarandon