Crump Adventures

Insanity Complete

2011-07-06T05:33:00.000-07:00

I just finished round 1 of Insanity.
Results: 26 lbs lost and blood pressure much improved!

Starting Weight: 200 lbs
Ending Weight: 174.4 lbs

Starting Blood Pressure: 128 / 78 (pre-hypertension level)
Ending Blood Pressure: 99 / 62 (athlete level)

People can tell I look different, not only at the waist but in the face as well. More importantly, I am much healthier now.

After a short break, I'll be looking forward to another BeachBody program (just haven't decided which yet!)

Fit Test Results below. These are going straight through the tests with no pauses.

Exercise	Day 1	Day 15	Day 36	Day 50	Day 63
Switch Kicks	?	51	59	61	118
Power Jacks	33	37	47	50	53
Power Knees	60	75	82	91	104
Power Jumps	12	26	39	50	50
Globe Jumps	3	6	8	9	10
Suicide Jumps	7	10	12	12	14
Push-up Jacks	6	17	20	24	26
Low Obliques	30	51	60	66	68

Lots of improvements, especially from Day 1 where the test wiped me out. From here, I'm leaning toward doing another round of Insanity but incorporating some weight resistance days.

Insanity Workout - Day 57 (Week 9 day 1)

2011-06-28T18:19:00.000-07:00

On the home stretch! Today I knocked out the first day of the last week. Woot. There's still two days of Max Cardio + Cardio Abs on the same day so it's not a cakewalk. :P

These workouts have become part of my regular routine. I found on the Off days I feel like I should be getting a workout in! But of course, in the back of my mind I'm content to get the comforting rest in. :)

Today was a good day. I got home a bit tired but took 1.25 scoops of Jack3d and was up and at 'em. My 11yr old daughter was interested again and surprisingly made it through the whole workout with me! She did all the moves except the push-ups which were a little too tough. We paused at each of the breaks to get longer than 30-second rests in.

I'm feeling a lot more fit and performing the moves stronger. I continually feel my pants aren't fitting the same and keep having to use belts to keep the pants up. I even switched to a smaller belt.

I'm currently 176.8, although fluctuated from 176.0 the other day. I have noticed the weight hasn't been changing much the last 2 weeks. Whereas in the beginning I was shredding pounds like crazy. I seem to have stablized out in this area although it's still creeping downward.

Btw: They say you shouldn't weigh yourself everyday, but I look forward to checking every morning out of pure curiosity. I do that though knowing weight can fluctuate so do not get discouraged if there's some bouncing around. I haven't seen anything more than a 1 lb movement in the upward direction. Usually I'm surprised some mornings where I feel heavier for some reason but the scale reports I've lost weight.

I plan on celebrating the finale with a nice dinner from my favorite fast food restaurant, Bojangles. Two breast fried chicken dinner with seasoned fries and sweet tea. Mmmmm. I might have to add in some cinnamon biscuits for desert. I've been craving that for about 60 days now. hehe. I figure even though it's a bit of bad calories, a one-time gorge shouldn't take long to offset. :) Of course, part of me wants to just keep on staying 100% clean on the diet.

I've come a long way, but I still feel like there's room for a lot of progress. For example, my chest and abs still aren't very defined. My biceps are slightly more pronounced now but not that noticeable of a difference to me. I'm thinking another round of a beachbody program and I'd start getting there. I still haven't completely decided on the next workout to target.

Some friends may start P90X so that would be good to do together. One thing that worries me there is I hear their workouts are longer (and so harder to fit into schedule). And other workouts have equipment recommendations whereas Insanity is just you. I'm leaning toward just continuing another round of Insanity. We'll see.

Insanity Workout - Day 41 (Week 7 day 7)

2011-06-20T18:38:00.000-07:00

Just finished week 7 - posting on the Off day. Note, this week is called week 6 on the poster because the recovery week isn't counted.

I'm at 178 lbs which is insane! I have a couple of things to report:

- Although you get hit hard in Month 2, you definitely work into it and look forward to the workouts again. No soreness to report this week and I even miss working out on the Off day.

- I've had mixed feelings with Jack3d. Although I love the extra pump and 'wake up' it gives me, I've had two side effects: Abdominal pains and a mild headache. The abdominal pain comes with some bloating and feels like a sore stomach. The headache is no doubt from caffeine withdrawal coming after an Off day. I didn't take Jack3d on the 'Core Cardio and Balance' day just before this week's Off day, and today I felt sluggish and ended up with a mild headache (not bad but enough to annoy). I figure I could add some caffeine into my off days to compensate for the withdrawal there. But the stomach pains I haven't figured out yet. It seemed more intense when I went from 1-scoop to 1.5 scoops, so maybe I just need to take less Jack3d. I might also try drinking more water. The fit test is tomorrow along with Max Interval Circuit so I'll probably continue taking it at least a while longer. :)

- Still eating healthy. For breakfast I mostly had 2 eggs scrambled, 1 wheat slice, some strawberries, and a whey protein shake. Getting tired of the same things everyday I did some research and bought some Kashi cereal (Cinnamon Harvest). The Insanity nutrition guide mentions Kashi which led me down that path. It has a little bit more sugar than I would like, but still healthy and tastes GREAT! It also made me realize how much sugar milk has in it! Wow. I started that a last week and seems to be working fine (no noticeable slow down in results) so I recommend that cereal. The only other bit of a cheat on the diet is I have A1 sauce when having steak for dinner.

- Before/After pics are already showing an impressive difference. I'll post them when finally complete.

I still haven't decided what I want to do after Insanity. Some friends may do P90X so I might throw in with them on it. I might want a week off though to celebrate Insanity. We'll see. :) I have on my TODO list at the end, to have a 2 breast fried chicken dinner from Bojangles, with seasoned fries and sweet tea!

Insanity Workout - Day 41 (Week 6 day 6)

2011-06-12T06:18:00.000-07:00

Still going strong on Insanity. It's been a while since I updated the blog so lots of things to report. I'm currently at 180.8 lbs which is nearing 20 lbs lost. I can't believe I'll be in the 170s soon which will be crazy to see on the scale.

Recovery Week went smoothly and looking back I miss it and Month 1. The start of Month 2 was pretty intense. I stuck to the schedule which had both the Fit Test and Max Interval Circuit on the same day. Pushing hard in the Fit Test, I got improvements in all exercises.

Switch Kitcks ?? -> 51 -> 59
Power Jacks 33 -> 37 -> 47
Power Knees 60 -> 75 -> 82
Power Jumps 12 -> 26 -> 39
Globe Jumps 3 -> 6 -> 8
Suicide Jumps 7 -> 10 -> 12
Push-up Jacks 6 -> 17 -> 20
Low Plank Obliq 30 -> 51 -> 60

Gains in all areas which is nice. One thing to note about the Fit Test. I don't pause for it, even if I'm still trying to recover from previous exercise. I did this to be consistent with my first fit test and continue just like the participants on screen. I read some people pause which I imagine could net you higher numbers, but whatever you do I'd make sure you're doing it consistently for each test.

I did this test in the morning so I could do Max Interval Circuit at night. After getting going in Max Interval Circuit, I could tell I was really struggling - lots of extra pauses needed throughout and it's a long workout!

The next day, just like others had blogged, I started feeling sore like in Week 1. I wondered if that was maybe the roughest workout and things would normalize out. Then the second day had 'Max Interval Plyo' which I felt is even harder than Max Interval Circuit! I really struggled through it with the INSANE number of push-ups. I didn't feel like I attacked it 100%. On the third day of Month 2 I had 'Max Cardio Conditioning' and again still struggling! I kept looking at the 'Max Recovery' that was coming up and thinking, OK, if I can just get through to it, I'd start to get in the game. When 'Max Recovery' was on, I felt relaxed and ready to recover... EXCEPT, this workout is no real "recovery." Sure there wasn't a lot of fast cardio, but it was extremely hard none-the-less.

When day 5 of month 2 came, it was Max Interval Circuit on the schedule again. I was really not that motivated to workout. I felt sluggish and hammered by things so far. I decided to try out something I read about, taking a pre-workout supplement to boost energy. After reading more reviews on it, I went out to GNC and purchased lemon-line "Jack3d".

About 45 minutes after a meal, I took 3/4th of a scoop with 8oz of water (taste was OK), waited 30-35 mins, then started the workout. At first, I couldn't tell much effect. But as the warm-up went by, and I just kept going into the workouts, I could tell I was definitely holding up better and putting more into it. I could possibly attribute this from adjusting into Month 2, but I think the Jack3d was really working. I plowed through things and the only extra time I took was in some of the scheduled water breaks. As far as side-effects, I didn't notice any tingling or itchiess like some. Although that night I could tell my abs were sore. I can't say yet whether that was from pushing the exercises harder or from anything related to Jack3d. At the end of Max Interval Circuit there's a 'plank punch' move that really makes your abdominals work. I focused and completed that last move without stopping even though my abs were hurting. My guess is that's the cause of my ab soreness.

I'm pretty excited about using Jack3d to help with energy into the workouts. It looks like the recommended usage of 5 out of 7 days lines up with Insanity well since you have a recovery and an off day you can skip using. Supposedly you build a tolerance to it and it becomes less effective, but if it can help me get well into Month 2 it will have done it's job! I'll report more on its effects on me in future blog entries (I'm curious how today's Max Interval Plyo will go with it).

Insanity Workout - Day 29 (Week 5 day 1)

2011-05-31T18:27:00.000-07:00

Core Cardio & Balance

Today I was at 185.4 lbs! That's a nice milestone I'm happy to hit. I had dropped from 200 to 190 really fast, but the last 5 lbs were much slower. Myself and others can tell a difference in those 15 lbs. That's like dropping a bowling ball! I googled '15 lb fish' to get a visual on what kind of size 15 lbs is, it's amazing. I have pants that don't fit anymore and belts that are becoming too large (can use 4th hole from end on them). Although I'm more lean, I haven't noticed any particular increase in arm muscles though, but no loss either. My quads though seem bigger and defined when I flexed them last night.

Today's is the first day of the 'recovery week' and the routine was new to me:
Core Cardio & Balance.

Although it's recovery, the cardio was still pretty good - you just get some more rest in between. No pauses on this tape were needed. And after reading others experiences on the 'shoulder burner' exercises, I am proud to say I made it through those successfully without dropping my arms. I could feel the burn though, just kept going. On another part though where you balance on one leg and extend, I lost my balance more than once and had to restart - might be my goal for this week to tackle that.

Overall, I really liked this DVD. I could see people using it as a daily maintenance kind of routine later on post-Insanity.

Insanity Workout - Day 22 (Week 4 day 1)

2011-05-24T18:32:00.000-07:00

Pure Cardio + Cardio Abs

I haven't logged about Insanity since the last Pure Cardio by coincidence. The discs by this point have repeated enough that there isn't much to report differently. I did run into someone today though that I hadn't seen in a few months and he said he could visibly tell I had lost weight just by my face. I thought that was interesting because although I can tell I have a flatter stomach, I didn't realize my face had tightened up.

I felt really strong through the warm-up this time. Often times in the first round of the warm-up the jumping jacks would hurt my legs slightly but then that would ease up. This time I felt really comfortable which was nice. Later in Cardio Abs though with the "jump and bring elbows to knees" move though, I started feeling some pain so slowed that down real quick.

I got further into Pure Cardio than I had before and only paused 3 times. One obviously needed, the other two I did to make sure I could execute the moves strongly. For example, I felt OK at the last exercise (push up jacks) but took a quick pause/break so I could do that intensely.

I was 187.0 lbs this morning. Looking forward to breaking into 186 territory any day and eventually the 185 milestone. I'm feeling like the rest of this month won't be a problem to execute on and glad I'll start seeing some different videos soon (even though I hear they're rough!).

Another very welcome change, my blood pressure has improved dramatically. When I started I read 128/78 (pre-hypertension range). I've steadily gone down and now am at 105 / 67 which is near athlete territory, sweet!

Insanity Workout - Day 17 (Week 3 day 3)

2011-05-19T20:21:00.001-07:00

Pure Cardio + Cardio Abs

These things just don't seem to get any easier! I'll be really impressed with myself if I ever get to a fitness level to complete this guy even with only 1-2 breaks. But got it knocked out for today.

I did this earlier in the day so decided to do Cardio Abs in the evening instead of right after Pure Cardio. I remember from last time it had it's own warm-up, cool-down, so figured it would go well that way. Well, I think they should be done back-to-back now. I was mostly sitting at work today and when I got home to Cardio Abs, all the jumping moves in the beginning really pained my knees. I had to phone that part in as best I could. But like before, the Ab-exercises were welcome since they're a change of pace.

Those C-sit moves can really bring pain to your mid-section!

Insanity Workout - Day 16 (Week 3 day 2)

2011-05-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

Plyometric Cardio Circuit

Knocked this out during lunch hour. My energy level was down quite a bit so not sure I started this one with full energy/passion. The warm up got me going though and worked up a good sweat into the stretching. Threw in about 3-4 pauses on the rest of the session, mostly at the existing breaks just to give me an extra 30-seconds or so to recover better. The last sprint is nice where the music changes and Shaun T is inspiring people. My legs were giving out on those in-out abs section and cheated a bit moving legs one at a time when I couldn't jump them in. But finally the punching-sequence kicked in where you know it's all downhill!

After working out and getting a meal, energy levels were way up, alert, and feeling good.

Insanity Workout - Day 15 (Week 3 day 1)

2011-05-17T17:44:00.002-07:00

Fit Test #2, and beginning of week 3!!

Excited to make it to week 3, but I was dreading this next fit test a little because of my experience on the first one. Also because I know it starts with switch kicks which tire me out. :)

My numbers went as follows:

Move Day 1 Day 15
------------ --- ---
Switch Kicks ? 51 (i.e. 102 kicks)
Power Jacks 33 37
Power Knees 60 75
Power Jumps 12 26
Globe Jumps 3 6
Suicide Jumps 7 10
Push-up Jacks 6 17
Low Oblique 30 51 (i.e. counting each knee)

Lots of sweat! Some definite improvements and most importantly no throwing up. :) Recovered pretty quickly.

Insanity Workout - Day 14 (Week 2 day 7)

2011-05-17T17:44:00.001-07:00

Off day. This day came perfectly timed as I needed a break.

One big update though, I am now at 188.8 lbs! In a way I'm starting to get worried about losing too much weight so am looking into ways to add extra healthy calories. I'll probably focus on that more intently once hitting ~180.

I took some more pictures and absolutely see a difference in only 14 days which is amazing.

Insanity Workout - Day 13 (Week 2 day 6)

2011-05-17T17:43:00.000-07:00

Pure Cardio + Cardio Abs

The first part, Pure Cardio, went about the same as before. At the end I was pretty tired but sucked it up and hit play on Cardio Abs. Although tired, it was refreshing to have a different disc and moves to go through. Those C-sit moves made my body tremble quite a bit trying to eek out extra reps. I could feel my mid-section being worked hard so it's definitely targeting the abs.

Outside of the workout, I noticed my appetite went up. I was hungry just a short time after eating breakfast.

Insanity Workout - Day 12 (Week 2 day 5)

2011-05-14T18:11:00.002-07:00

'Cardio Power and Resistance'

Finished today, although if I wasn't doing a "60-day challenge", I would have skipped today since I wasn't in a workout mood. But hit play and jumped in.

This workout seems a lot easier than the others. The only part that seemed to give me trouble was the power squats and jumps which started to hurt my knees a bit. I modified those half way in so not to risk injury. One other interesting difference tonight was my heart rate wasn't as high as at other times, I found it was at most 170 when checking which either meant I wasn't pushing as hard or getting more in shape.

I was 190.8 on the scale today. I'm expecting to go below 190 in the next few days which will be the first time in quite a while.

Insanity Workout - Day 11 (Week 2 day 4)

2011-05-14T18:11:00.001-07:00

A very welcome 'Cardio Recovery' today.

As usual, things go smooth until that 'hold it' squat.
I found though I've been having my knees too far forward which
made it harder than normal. After adjusting I could hold a bit
longer but not long enough

Insanity Workout - Day 10 (Week 2 day 3)

2011-05-13T09:46:00.001-07:00

Another checkbox earned.

Finished warm-up strong and felt good with it. Heart rate ended at 190 but I didn't feel gassed. I was feeling good and started thinking I might get through things. After the stretch, I felt strong into the circuit but soon had to take a break. At this point, I started struggling a lot with this routine and it started to seem harder than pure cardio yesterday. Hit a few more pauses one especially after tiring myself on the push-ups. In the end, it felt really good to get to the punching finale.

A tough day done. I'm not sure what played into this days results in how I started really strong then seemed to fade as it went on. I'd like to think it was from doing more intensity which is what I like about Insanity - even if you get more fit, you'll just push harder and still get wiped.

Insanity Workout - Day 9 (Week 2 day 2)

2011-05-13T09:43:00.000-07:00

This post recreated because Blogger.com had server issues the last 2 days and deleted my prior day log :(

-------

Pure Cardio! This is a challenge as before, but I got passed the warm-up and held strong through a lot of the routines.

I thought after finishing this one that I'd be coasting the rest of the week but then saw the end of this week is Pure Cardio again (!) but also Cardio Abs on the same day (!!). We'll see how that turns out.

Insanity Workout - Day 8

2011-05-10T15:43:00.000-07:00

Another day, another insane workout! Routine: Cardio Power & Resistance.

This is my second time on this workout and I definitely felt stronger this time, especially in my legs. Of course, it still wasn't much easier! I was proud of my push-up performance though, executing ~90% of them.

One thing that possibly helped leg/knee-wise was that I picked up some better shoes as recommended by others (cross-trainers). These seemed to give better support.

Another note, I weighed 192.4 this morning! I've lost a decent bit of fat already.

Insanity Workout - Day 7

2011-05-09T17:54:00.000-07:00

Off day! It's nice they have these in the schedule. :)

The soreness from day 1-2 have gradually slipped away and today there's no soreness to speak of. I'm feeling great, like doing another Insanity workout! But I'm sticking to the plan and letting my body rest today.

Insanity Workout - Day 6

2011-05-08T06:51:00.000-07:00

Another sweaty Insanity workout down! And that means Week 1 complete!!

This is a repeat of Day 2's workout "Plyometric Cardio Circuit."

I got through the warm-ups a little easier and ended with 185 heart rate. Paused until back to 170 then continued. After the stretches and into the circuit, I only got perhaps 5 minutes in before pausing again (180+ HR), and continued that way a few times to the end.

The hardest parts for me were:
- Ski jumps: for some reason these bothered my knees, may have to check my form.
- The "Level 1 drill" sequence that repeats with 4-push ups, I had to just perform it as fast I could.

In the end though, another great HIIT work-out with lots of sweat. Looking forward to the off day tomorrow.

PS: Today I was at 194.4 lbs, falling steadily.

Insanity Workout - Day 5

2011-05-07T07:15:00.000-07:00

Another day down! I normally workout in the afternoons but did this one in the morning.

This routine was called 'Pure Cardio' and was rough. I took some breaks but got the job done and unloaded a lot of sweat. I read a bit of others' experiences before trying it so wasn't caught off guard by Shaun's warning that he was nervous about the exercise and his famous comment at the end "This @#@$@ is bananas" LOL.

The gotcha is there is a 15-minute sequence of non-stop cardio with no breaks.

The warm ups went smoothly, seemed a little easier on this one. I paused at the end of the warm-ups to make sure I was ready to go. It's intense if you're pushing through. I had to pause for a minute every 5 minutes to keep heart rate down and water up. I wasn't too disappointed doing this because some of the cast members were taking breaks too.

One interesting note I observed -- somewhere in the middle of the cardio, Shaun suggests pushing through because the next exercise is a little bit of break. The exercise he was referring to is 'Scissor Runs' and for some reason this was no break to me, I got me tired fast on those!

Insanity Workout - Day 4

2011-05-06T16:43:00.000-07:00

Finished Day 4. Today's insanity routine was 'Cardio Recovery'. If you're on this day, this will be a welcome treat.

My kids were bored so decided to join in with me. Based on other routines, I think they expected a bunch of fast cardio. However, everything starts out really smooth and you're thinking "OK, I'll waltz through this and get in some nice stretching." Everything seemed easy until he had us hold a squat - my legs couldn't hold that very long so had to get up shake it off and get back into position. Other than those 'hold it' moves, everything else is not that demanding which is welcome! :)

I'm hearing tomorrow's routine though ("Pure Cardio") is totally insane! So hopefully these stretches and break will prepare us for it.

Insanity Workout - Day 3

2011-05-05T16:23:00.000-07:00

Day 3 complete! Lots of sweat but I feel some improvement in endurance.

One definite help by this point is realizing how to pace yourself better (as well as making sure you have plenty of water and a sweat towel handy). My pace usually ends with me at ~185-190 heart rate for each break. I'm definitely slower than the trainers but able to complete the sets.

The hardest move for me seemed to be the 'floor sprints' (aka mountain climbers). These are the ones where you're in a push up position but you run with your legs bringing your knee in. Something I need to practice, either in form or building up the muscles involved (my quads most likely).

Btw: I started the diet for the program a day early to rehearse how I was going to eat 5 times a day. I weighed 199.0 pounds. This morning (4th day on diet, 3rd day of insanity but before 3rd workout) I was at 195.8, so definitely some weight loss improvement, either from just the diet or both.

Insanity Workout - Day 2

2011-05-04T14:59:00.000-07:00

Just finished Day 2 of Insanity! Yay!

After my experience on Day 1 (puking at end), I read up on others similar experiences and concluded it was because my heart rate got too high. I picked up a heart rate monitor as others suggested and this time paused the DVD whenever my heart rate was in the 190s. I only paused for a minute though to make sure my heart rate got back to 170 and breath caught up. I think this was key because even doing that I had a burp or two similar to day 1 where on that day I eventually threw up. But this time, none of that. The workout was still a struggle though even with the extra pauses.

I believe this workout identified my biggest challenge - leg strength. I found through the first 20 minutes or so, my upper body felt great but my legs were turning mushy. I think I'll start doing much better all around once they get some improvement.

Lots of sweat and struggle so I got a great work-out. But there's a LOT of room for improvement and I'm looking forward to being able to keep up in the future and power through the entire session.

PS: Even though it feels like cheating with the pauses, it seems like the right thing to do if your heart rate is really high so I'd recommend that to others. If I kept going instead of pausing today I wouldn't have continued the moves as strongly. And even with pausing, it's still high intensity interval training, just with a longer interval (they only give 30 seconds which feels like just enough to water up and wipe sweat off).

Hang in there!

Insanity Workout - Day 1

2011-05-03T16:06:00.000-07:00

Ok like others who have done this and posted online about it, I now too have officially gotten my butt kicked by Shaun T and his Insanity Workout program!

I was a little intimidated how all the comments I read warned about "lying on the floor gasping for air" and even "puking on the floor." But I figured I'd just end up like what others described as a "pool of sweat."

Well, I ended up in the category of all three! At the end I was very sweaty and literally on the floor just trying to get in air. And after getting up a little too soon to wander over for a drink, ended up vomiting!

However, a few moments later after my heart finally stopped racing and I got enough air, I felt great, LOL. I filled up on some water and a post workout drink (Myoplex Lite).

I may have to pace myself better on Day 2 as this is an intense workout.

Jackson

2011-05-03T15:57:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time again in between blogs - again mostly due to Facebook being the primary information sharing among friends these days.

Our 3rd child Jackson is 7 weeks now and everything is great. He's been giving us smiles and coos a lot lately and taking a liking to his sister a lot, staring at her intently (we think it's her long hair). He hasn't been fussy much and if he gets that way, he's easy to satisfy (one of diaper, food, or just wants to be held). And like all kids goes asleep immediately if you put him in a car seat, LOL.

Sara is doing great herself, and has a good routine going with him. We couldn't be happier with how everything has been.

Enterprise Library and custom Exception Handler

2010-10-09T05:49:00.000-07:00

If you are using the Microsoft Enterprise Library, trying to implement IExceptionHandler, and your custom exception handler is not firing, then this post is for you.

Check the following things:
1 - Make sure your IExceptionHandler class is prefixed by the attribute [ConfigurationElementType(typeof(CustomHandlerData))]

2 - Make sure your IException Handler class has not only a public constructor, but a public constructor that accepts a NameValueCollection argument. I.e.

public MyHandlerClass(NameValueCollection collection) {}

3 - Are you calling ExceptionPolicy.HandleException(exc, "YourExceptionPolicyName") ? If not, add that to where you catch exceptions globally, such as Global.asax's Application_Error in a web application.

4 - Check your web.config setup. The add node has a type="X, Y" property where X is the name of your class and Y is the assembly.


  <exceptionHandling>
    <exceptionPolicies>
      <add name="My Exception Policy">
        <exceptionTypes>
          <add name="All Exceptions" type="System.Exception, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089"
            postHandlingAction="None">
            <exceptionHandlers>
              <add type="CustomExceptionHandler, MyAssemblyThatContainsHandler, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null"
                name="CustomExceptionHandler" />
            </exceptionHandlers>
          </add>
        </exceptionTypes>
      </add>
    </exceptionPolicies>
  </exceptionHandling>

Final Fantasy XIV

2010-09-26T11:04:00.001-07:00

I picked up the collector's edition of Final Fantasy XIV. I originally pre-ordered through Best Buy but they didn't have it on the day it was expected, so after a long day dealing with the customer service, cancelled and just bought it at the local GameStop.

The game was a bit buggy and really slow for me. Supposedly this is to be expected for the launch day of a new MMO. But I expected it to be a little more polished than it was. A lot of jerky motion plus quite a few crashes.

Since my video card wasn't top-notch, I went ahead and bought an upgrade (along with a new power supply) to run it. For reference to anyone with a similar machine, here's what I did:

I have a Gateway GM5632E machine and wanted to get a GTX 460 graphics card. The card recommends a power supply of 450W and this machine came with only a 400W (Delta DPS-400rb). I picked up a Corsair 650W and installed it along with the new graphics card. Everything worked perfect and I could tell a dramatic difference in FFXIV. However, after just 1 day the computer shut down. I noticed power wasn't getting to my case fan and after testing with the old power supply, verified the new power supply was toast! I returned that one and got a Corsair 750W and it has been working fine.

March 2009 Update

2009-03-08T03:23:00.000-07:00

After joining Facebook, I've really neglected this blog. :)

A ton of updates since last so may have to spread this across several posts.

- The biggest update is our Kilimanjaro trip in Jan 2009. Our party of 6 all made the Uhuru peak summit successfully! We used Thompson Safari with Andrew Kitema as our guide. We took the 'Western Approach' route. It was a really nice experience and I recommend it for everyone to do at least once in their life. Not only is the climb fun, but the people there make the experience more rewarding. We have over 3000 pictures and quite a few videos from the trip - took a while to go through them all to make a family DVD.

- Interestingly side-note. The camera I brought with me to take videos got stolen during the flight home (out of my checked luggage). I didn't care much about the camera, but the memory card inside it had all the video clips from the Barranco wall to the summit unfortunately (with some pretty funny stuff along the way). I filed a claim with US Air hoping for a miracle chance of recovering it, but not really expecting anything. Although the camera was not found, to my surprise though US Air sent a check for $345 as a settlement for the loss (I didn't even have to submit any receipts). Doesn't replace the memories, but improved my opinion of US Air a lot. FYI: This was from a Washington Dulles to Charlotte flight where it was lost. Humorously, the package had travelled without incident before-hand from Zanzibar, Kilimanjaro, Nairobi, Addis Ababa, and Rome - only running into trouble right when we got to the US. Don't get me wrong though, we were extremely happy to be back (and all made a dash to the closest fast food at the Dulles airport which was a Wendy's). :)

- I'm getting real interested in photography now, especially videos. To start with, I bought a Canon HV30 with a few accessories (tripod, external mic, wide angle lens, filters, etc). Also purchased Sony Vegas Movie studio. I've been happy so far with the HV30 video quality - an amazing difference from what I've been used to taking videos with. We'll see how my interests hold up. Sony Vegas software has worked out well so far and I like it. Most of all, it's really cheap compared to the alternative products (e.g. $100 vs $1000). I'd rather spend that difference on a Steadicam Merlin! Here's a link to my first test with it:
http://www.vimeo.com/3523016

- The iPhone app side project has worked out really well. I'm happy with the results so far and am looking forward to releasing my next application (mostly finished). That work was put on hold with family obligations and Kilimanjaro trip, but now I'm ready to work more on it. I really dislike the XCode/Mac environment but it's a necessary evil. I'm not sure if Visual Studio .NET and Windows have spoiled me, or if it's just because I'm not "used to it" as much. Right now, I'm much more productive materializing an idea with VS.NET than XCode.

August 2008 update

2008-08-28T18:49:00.001-07:00

As usual, I've been neglecting to update my Blog so have to catch up for last month. :)

I've since written 3 applications for the iPhone and submitted to Apple to publish to iTunes. They have passed review, but have been waiting in "Pending Contract" status for about 2 weeks or more now. To get Apple to sell your application, you have to set up a contract for the price tier you want to sell it at (in my case 0.99). This includes acknowledging a lot of mumbo jumbo and submitting your bank information for them to pay you, etc. And unfortunately you are left waiting for them to approve it with no status updates in between. Hopefully it won't take too much longer. Once that's done and I have the distribution channel down, I'm going to look into writing more full-featured applications. These first 3 were mainly to get my feet wet on the new platform.

I've started up two more classes at UNCC. This time it's "Operating Systems" and "Global Connections." From the first day of classes, it looks like it's going to be a lot of hassle (reading assignments, homework, and maintaining a reading journal). I much prefer just taking objective tests, but I'll suck it up and execute on what I need to for an 'A'.

Pool league starts up this week-end. I'm looking forward to it, although not playing this first night. We have a strong team and expect we'll make it to the finals. My team consists of some old buddies that work at Microsoft, their wives, and a friend I've known since childhood.

I haven't had much time to focus on number theory. But I did find an opportunity to use a little bit for a 1-off task at work. They needed a way to convert some arbitrary character strings into a unique string of 19-digits. Basically, one system used strings for their ID and another system only allowed 19-digits to represent the ID. So here's some C# code I came up with to do a mapping. It treats the character string as a huge number base 256 then calculates the result modulus a 14-digit and 5-digit prime respectively. The concatenation of those represent the 19-digit result (padded with zeros if needed). Fairly standard number theory, but looks like black magic to many...
----

// Hashes any string into a 19-digit string
string GetHashValue(string
input)
{
decimal hash14 = GetHashValue(input, 99999999999973M);
decimal
hash5 = GetHashValue(input, 99991M);
return hash5.ToString("0".PadRight(5,
'0')) + hash14.ToString("0".PadRight(14, '0'));
}
// Generic version with
arbitrary modulus (up to 10^14)
decimal GetHashValue(string input, decimal
m)
{
decimal result = 0.0M;
for (int i = 0; i < ch =" input[i];" chval =" (int)ch;" result =" a*b^e" result =" 0.0M;"> 1)
{
if (e %
2 == 0)
{
e /= 2;
b *= b;
b %= m;
}
else
{
a = (a * b) %
m;
e--;
}
}
if (e == 1)
{
result = (a * b) %
m;
}
else
{
result = a % m;
}
return result;
}

----
I picked up an XBox 360 game called 'BioShock'. Although it has some mature content / violence, I found it to be entertaining and recommend it. It's a first-person shooter, although also kind of a mystery that unfolds. I like all the tape recordings left around you can find and play to reveal something about the environment or history of the story.

Second wave of immunizations done, and now I have all I need for the Kilimanjaro trip. I'm looking forward to it (Jan 2009). I've been keeping up with my exercise program as well so feel prepared there. I still have some gear-purchasing to do though, but will probably focus on that sometime in December. We have a nice REI store near Pineville Carolina Place Mall I'll be hitting up.

July 2008 Update

2008-07-21T16:23:00.001-07:00

Wow, I really need to keep my blog updated. A lot has happened this month which included:

- I got the new iPhone 3G!! This phone is awesome and I'm having a great time with it. Everything works well and the UI couldn't be easier. And since I was in for a penny with Apple, I might as well be in for a pound, I bought an iMac too. :) I'm going to investigate writing applications for the iPhone, as well as just learn more about the Mac platform.

- My first wave of immunizations are complete for the upcoming Kilimanjaro trip. No side effects or painful needle experience. I have a follow up next month to finish off some more.

-My concealed handgun permit came back sooner than expected (around ~30 days). So I can now legally carry a concealed handgun in 31 states (30 other states have reciprocal laws: if you're legal in one, you're legal in the other).

- I've started a new exercise program. It's not much, but consists of regular 30-minute sessions on an Elliptical machine, and varied muscle-group training. To supplement that, I've added some protein powder to my mornings and evenings, as well as keeping up with vitamins. Exercise really does make you feel better overall.

- You can find me now on Facebook. I got into that after I saw some friends were on there, and since there is an easy applet for the iPhone to use. It's really addictive. Plus, you never know who you might find on there that you used to know.

- I started playing FFXI again casually. My wife and I have a few characters we multi-box together. It's a lot of fun, but I'm not sure I'll be able to do as much after the pool league and school start back up.

- I signed up for UNCC Fall classes. I'll be taking 'Global Connections' and 'Operating Systems'.

- I'm preparing to take the new Microsoft certification tests as part of my training exercise this year. I may be able to squeak past them without studying, but it's good to review the 'academic' stuff which can trip you up in a test, and usually has nothing to do with practical real-life work exposure. I got my manager to pitch in for the Transcender study guide and practice tests.

- Pool league is starting back up. We're going to play 8-ball Express again. Most of the original crew is back together and I've taken up the captain reigns for this session. It should be a lot of fun; I'm looking forward to it after we took the session off.

Mount Mitchell

2008-06-15T20:27:00.000-07:00

We hiked Mount Mitchell this week-end. We didn't get a full up/down hike, but put in 6 miles (3 up, 3 down). I packed a little too much for the trip (twice as much water as I needed), but better safe than sorry :) It was some good exercise and part of our preparation for Kilimanjaro. There was a bit of rain and thunder for our trip too, but cooled things down so wasn't all bad.

There is construction on the Blue Ridge Parkway that can really bite you if you want to go to Mount Mitchell. Right where the park office is, the road is closed only allowing you to reach it from one direction. Unfortunately for us, we tried to get to it from the other side, and finding out way too late that we couldn't get there. It added about 1.5 hours to our journey having to drive around the mountain to eventually find a path into it.

The GPS we were using wasn't very helpful after we told it to Detour. It kept trying to find other ways to put us on the Blue Ridge Parkway on the wrong side (no option to disable a section of road available to it). We knew we were in trouble when it had us start going down this gravel road (toward "Craggy Gardens"). After that, we hit up a gas station for some advice along with talking to the wife on sporadic cell reception while she looked on google maps. Eventually we got close enough to the other side, that the GPS started figuring things out (but by then we could follow the signs).

Here are some pics from the excursion
http://picasaweb.google.com/CrumpPhotos/MountMitchell

And here is a geocache we hit up while there
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=efd970f9-4783-481d-995b-7f4f8ea6c1e4

A funny thing about this one, with all my recent experience on Geocaching, I've always found a box or canister. This one was a 'virtual cache' which I didn't know about at the time. We didn't find anything, and the coordinates were right in the middle of a construction area (and where the grave of Elisha Mitchell was). We figured something destroyed it and gave up. When I got back I was going to log the situation, but read this one was wanting you to find a plaque and prove you found it by making note of a word on it. Luckily when I explained this to my sister, she remembered the words on it verbatim and recited it to me. Way to go Bek!

Geocaching is a blast!

2008-06-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to start Geocaching but never got around to it. That changed this week-end. I bought a Garmin eTrex from Best Buy and psyched up the kids about what Geocaching was. Their eyes gleamed with the thought of a real life treasure hunt. After fiddling a bit with the GPS unit to make sure I understood how everything worked, and visiting the geocaching site (http://www.geocaching.com/) we were off. We quickly found two caches in our area in under an hour.

It was a lot of fun, and a very contageous sport. We then met up with family later this week-end, shared our geocaching experience, and took them along on some hunts in their areas. We've only started this week-end, and already have found 6, one on Mount Mitchell, 2 in Charlotte/Harrisburg NC, and 3 in High Point NC.

The idea is you use your GPS to find the cache, sign your name in the log inside, take an item, and place back an item you brought. There are trackable items as well and we participated by taking one of those from one cache, storing it in another some ~55 miles away, then logging our transaction on geocaching.com. These things can really travel.

One surprise to us was how big this sport is, and how many people participate. There are caches EVERYWHERE and when you find one hidden away, and look in the log book, it's not uncommon to find anywhere from 20-50 entries of people who were there before you. One of the items we found this week-end (a relatively new cache, just created 2 days prior), already had about 8 entries, 3 of which were on the same day as us! One of the harder ones we tracked down I noticed we were the only ones to find it in the last 6 months.

Passport arrived!

2008-06-15T20:12:00.001-07:00

Wow, I recently went to get my passport renewed, and with all the horror stories of waiting months and months, I actually got mine back in under a week!!!

It may have something to do with the way I filed for renewal. I had lost mine about 2 years ago but haven't needed it so haven't gone through the trouble of renewing. In preparation for my Kilimanjaro trip, I went and filled out the 'I lost my passport' form along with filing out a new application with new photos. Perhaps the renewal in tandem with the lost passport was to credit for the speed.

Sole E55 Elliptical Trainer on the way!

2008-06-09T20:49:00.001-07:00

In deciding how I want to stay fit, I did some research and opt'd on buying an Elliptical Trainer. The one I settled on was the E55 from Sole Fitness. Here is a link to the product details
http://www.soletreadmills.com/details.php?name=E55&product_type=ellipticals

The cost was $1500 but I think it will be worth it. I'll post my feedback about it after I get a chance to try it out.

In the mean-time, I wanted to get a head start (I'm impatient). I found a cheap little 'elliptical' unit at Wal-Mart while the kids were picking out some toys. It was the 'Stamina Instride Elliptical, and it was $75. Here is a link to it:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=7680169

DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT. It is a piece of junk. After one day, one of the foot pedals came off. I tighted it back on only for it to find a way to wiggle itself back off. I tighted it back on again - this time with extreme force and it seemed to work for that session. The next day when trying again, one of the pedal legs started slipping off the roller. I put it back on, looked for loose connections and tried to tighten things up (both legs still felt a little 'loose' though). Shortly after that, the whole leg came off the wheel. I could not re-fasten the leg to the wheel and gave up. We disassembled it, put the pieces back in the box, and plan on returning it to Wal-Mart tomorrow. If you're considering this product and find this post, don't buy it!

Subway -- Did you know about the Sodium?

2008-06-09T20:34:00.000-07:00

When I was diagnosed with "pre-hypertension", I started watching out for sodium in foods.

My first instinct instead of my usual fast food was to grab something I thought was healthy, and should at least be better than say McDonalds.

I got a Subway sub and while eating it was checking out the nutrition info guides they have lying around. Oh my God, the Sodium is through the roof!

A 6-inch turkey breast has 1000 mg of Sodium. If you get the foot long of course, that's 2000.

A large order of McDonald's fries only has 350 mg.

If your goal is a diet and watching calories, you're probably much better off with Subway (although you should still limit your portions). But, be careful if you have high blood pressure - it might not be as healthy as you think.

If you search the web on "subway sodium" you'll find a lot of similar reports.

Hiking Gear update

2008-06-09T20:03:00.001-07:00

Here's the hiking gear I've bought so far this week. I'm preparing for a Mount Mitchel hike we're going to do as early practice for the eventual Kilimanjaro climb next year:
----------------------------------------------------------
$170 Hiking Boots (Asolo Fsn 95 GTX)
http://www.asolo.com/content.asp?L=3&idMen=432

$150 Backpack (Osprey Stratos 40)
http://www.ospreypacks.com/Packs/StratosSeries/Stratos40/

$20 Socks (SmartWool heavy)
http://www.theoutdoorsource.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=ST-3153

$85 Wind breaker (Marmot Driclime Wind Shirt)
http://marmot.com/spring_2008/mens/outerwear/wind/original_driclime_windshirt

$30 Swiss Army Knife (Champion Plus edition)
----------------------------------------------------------

I tried to pick up some versatile stuff for future hikes, etc. I really liked the Stratos 24 backpack instead of the Stratos 40, but the 24 just seemed a tad small. The 40 didn't seem that much heavier or cost much more, so I opt'd for it. The Marmot shirt was something to put in my pack in case of temperature changes. I plan on starting out with very thin clothes on with the hot weather we've been having, but have something to stack over it if it gets chilly at high altitude.

I tried on a few different boots at REI (the guy there was extremely helpful), and none of them seemed to fit my feet as well as these Asolo boots. I don't know if it was the quality of the boot, or just that they fit my feet so well, but I fell in love with them. When I tried on the socks with the boots, it was even better. I stumbled on the socks just browsing around, then found it comforting to hear one of the guys there notice I had them while picking out backpacks. He said after trying SmartWool socks, that's the only kind of sock he uses now (even when not hiking).

I can't wait to see how they feel after a full day hike. Isn't shopping fun? No wonder my wife spends so much money. ^_^ Just kidding honey! If you're reading this... I love you!

Concealed Carry Update

2008-06-09T19:54:00.002-07:00

I completed my required Concealed Carry Handgun Training course this Saturday. It was a LONG day. The class started at 9am and didn't let out until 8pm. It covered North Carolina laws on concealed carry and when you can use deadly force. The instructor was great (Tom Iradi) with Eagle Rock Training systems. This guy is hilarious, here's a link to Eagle Rock with a pic of Tom...
http://www.eaglerockts.com/aboutus.html

I actually had the same instructor when I took the class a little over 5 years ago. He did some of the same antics this time around as well, including some upside down firing of his 50-caliber pistol (LOL). His marksmanship is awesome too. He shared with us a lot of tips on marksmanship which I think really helped my performance on the firing range.

At the end of the day you get your certificate which you carry to your county Sheriff's department along with paying $90 cash (in addition to the $120 you paid for the training course). They make you fill out some paperwork (like asking you if you are crazy) then take your finger prints. You then leave and wait until they notify you when the permit is ready (which can take up to 90-days). I'm in Cabarrus County and have heard it can sometimes be sooner (like 30-days) for us here. We'll see. I turned in my certificate today.

LOL - Nutrigrain ad

2008-06-09T19:54:00.001-07:00

This was hilarious. It's an ad for Nutrigrain bars. Gotta love it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6rE0EakhG8

Nutri-grain bars

2008-06-09T19:41:00.000-07:00

I was looking for a snack this afternoon since I missed lunch, and saw these Apple-cinnamon Nutrigrain bars. I just started a new exercise program last week (daily cycling + minor weight lighting) to prepare for some upcoming mountain hiking, so I was in the mood to try something healthy.

I'm a 'fast food' junkie and never eat health foods. I was amazed at how good it tasted. So I naturally started thinking, 'Hey, these taste so good, I could eat these all the time.' And of course, I then proceeded to do some web searches to see what others thought of them.

Doh! I should have known - they tasted too good to be 'healthy.' They are criticized over and over again for their sugar content and likened to a regular 'candy bar' rather than a health bar. Shoot!

I guess it's at least somewhat better than other snack foods you might choose though, so I might try them as a substitute for a regular candy bar when the snack-urge hits.

By the way, Nutri-grain itself isn't alone - it's breakfast bars in general. There are a lot of references on the web if you care to search, but here's one example link for you with more information:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/1613141.stm

PS: One 'good' thing that came of this though, was that I found a lot of hikers recommend these. Since they tasted good to me, I think I'm going to shove a few of these in my hiking pack.

Cheddar's Restaurant Nutrition Information

2008-06-09T19:30:00.000-07:00

I went out to eat this week-end at Cheddar's restaurant. When I got back I was curious how many calories were in the meal I had. Like most anyone else would do, I searched the web. To my surprise, you can not find it anywhere! There were numerous other posts and blogs that confirmed this. I was under the impression restaurants were required by law to provide this information. But I was wrong.

At the federal level, there is the 'Nutrition Labeling and Education Act' which gives the FDA authority to require labeling, but there were exceptions for restaurants that allowed them to avoid it. However if the company makes any nutritional claims (like 'low fat', 'low fiber', 'low sodium', etc), they are required to provide the information. A few states apparently have recently enacted laws within their boundaries to require nutritional information for chain restaurants (ones with 'standardized menus'), but North Carolina is not one of them.

I find it pretty disrespectful they don't provide this information, so I won't be visiting their establishment again even though both my wife and I enjoyed it.

Shame on you Cheddars! Step up and provide this information.

Tweetsie Railroad!

2008-06-02T17:34:00.001-07:00

Tweetsie Railroad is a great place to take young kids, especially boys. And even more especially, if they like trains.

We went there this week-end. It was my wife and I, the two kids, my sister, her son and friend, my mom and grandmother.

They are having a 'Thomas the Train' special event where they turn their train into 'Thomas.'. I caught a nice picture of my son just to the left of the entrance. They have pretend horses the kids can get on. I put Nick on as the train was just passing by with smoke plumes going up. Here was the result:
http://www.immortaltheory.com/nick.jpg

He bought a little cowboy toy pack that included gun, mask, handcuffs, etc. He wore that mask most (if not all) of the day.

CCW permit in NC

2008-06-02T17:12:00.000-07:00

I made the mistake of letting my CCW (Carrying Concealed Weapon) permit expire before submitting for renewal. When you do that, even if it's just 1 day late, you have to take the class again. *sigh* It costs $120 and takes up a whole day, not to mention extremely boring.

I signed up for that to go ahead and get it knocked out. I'm taking it at a place called FIREPOWER. They have a nice little shop and an indoor shooting range. That's where I took it 5 years ago. You pay $60 up front to save your spot, then show up at 9am on the scheduled day.

Kilimanjaro

2008-05-29T16:58:00.000-07:00

I'm going to climb Kilimanjaro early next year along with some family and friends. I've started preparing with exercise, scheduling immunization appointments, renewing passport, among other things. We're in the process of making the travel arrangements.

May update

2008-05-29T16:49:00.001-07:00

I got A's on my two UNCC courses this Spring 2008 session and Wachovia has approved my education reimbursement (tuition + books). So I'm happy with the results all the way around.

I had English 1102 with Prof. Susan Thomas and LBST 2102 (Immigration history) with Prof. James Lowery. The English class went well, although was extremely tiresome (a lot of work). The LBST/History class went smoothly. Basically, if you attended and paid attention during the classes, it was pretty easy. The only concern I had with the LBST class was an essay portion on every test that counted for 40%. On the first test, I got points deducted when my essay was quote "not long enough to get the job done." But that was easy enough to correct in subsequent tests.

I felt out of place though, kind of like an adult attending a 3rd grade class, but oh well. :)

Lost Odyssey

2008-04-22T18:31:00.000-07:00

There's a cool game out for the Xbox 360 I've just finished playing. It's called Lost Odyssey. If you like RPG games, especially the Final Fantasy series, you'll enjoy this game. It has the usual themes; story line, grow your character, find treasure, stock up on items/equipment, acquire friend characters that join party, etc. And in an unexpected turn, the game started out being pretty challenging! You had a feeling akin in other games like you've reached a boss fight without adequately preparing (meaning you had to use everything at your disposal and have the right strategy to win). This ends up tapering off later in the game as your characters get stronger and you put together a good party, but I enjoyed the extra difficulty.

Out of the RPG games for the XBox 360 so far that I've played, I like it the best.

One little thing btw that was cute, is that some equipment you wear ends up showing in the game cut-scenes on your character. The ending was particularly funny with one of my characters wearing this silly little crown.

On other news, our pool teams didn't make the play offs (in one team by only 1 point). I played really good at the close of those, taking out some 7s, but we ended up just missing the cut as a team. We'll get them next session! :)

My UNCC classes have been going well. Getting A-grade results on my tests and papers turned in, hope to continue these last few weeks. It has been a real exercise in patience (most of the information is not relevant to my job, family, or hobbies). Sometimes I'm wondering to myself why I'm even taking the courses.

The kids are doing great. I recently bought them seasons passes to Carowinds. To my surprise, Carowinds considers my 8-year-old daughter an "Adult" as far as tickets go. My 4-year old qualified for the 'Jr' pass, which shockingly (or not) is pretty much the same price as the Adult pass. Prices notwithstanding, it was a good time and we'll surely be back soon and week-ends here and there.

TTFAF finished!!!

2008-03-25T16:33:00.000-07:00

I finally beat 'Through the Fire and Flames' (TTFAF) today on Expert, obtaining the 'Inhuman Achievement'. This is for Guitar Hero III (GH3) on the XBOX 360. I have a tip for anyone trying their first pass, but here's some background...

When I first got GH3 I played the solo tour, beating it on hard, then worked my way through Expert. I had tried TTFAF before but like most fail at the intro (developing a latent fear of it). I saw videos of people playing it, and although I felt confident I could learn how to play it, it looked like it would take a *LOT* of practice so I just avoided it as long as possible. :)

Well, after playing Rock Band and those fast solos in Green Grass and High Tides, I decided to give TTFAF another shot. I used the 2-hand 'tapping' method for the intro using my elbow to hit the first strum. Surprisingly this didn't take long at all and I was off and running. And like most people on their first pass of the intro, failed around 78%.

There are a group of solos pretty much back to back that are really tough. It was pretty easy to get full star power though and my plan was to make it as far into the solos as possible then activate to get through the rest. The goal is to get pass the 'Twin Solo' part, after that it is mostly smooth sailing to finish.

The problem though, is to save star power that long, you pretty much need to hold out until into section called 'What The...?'. And staying alive until then is really REALLY challenging. You basically have to have your hands blazingly around. I tried a few times and was getting closer and closer but kept falling short. I could activate star power and get into the 81+ percent range but would fail at the 'Twin Solo'. I felt I could keep practicing and get lucky but it was really frustrating.

In one of my runs, I messed up and had to use star power early. I figured I was doomed, but kept playing. I eventually failed but noticed something very important (at least for a first pass run). You can use star power at the start of the series of solos, and still have a chance to regain star power. This gets you deep into the solos with your rock meter in the Green, then if you can snag another star power before the Twin Solo, you can make it home.

That was my new plan. After failing the intro about 5 times (tough to consistently strum with your elbow and get the tapping started), I was off. I activated star power and the right time, got into the solos great, hit the next star power (awesome!) and now just needed to hit the other one. But (crap) I missed it. I was thinking I was doomed but then RIGHT before the twin solo triplets there is one last star power (a bunch of double notes). I nailed that to my amazement and quickly activated star power which got me into final sections of the song. Of course my heart was racing, who knows how much more practice it would take me to get back to this spot.

Fortunately they give you a couple of parts you can build your meter back to green though. I had walked through the ending in practice mode so at least knew what was coming, there was still a big finale that people have gotten stuck at (a lot of people fail at 98%, I feel for them). When that solo hit, I just strummed in rhythm and hit the notes as fast as I could. I could steadily see my meter going from green to yellow to red, but got passed it and combo'd the remaining notes for the win! I let out a 'YEAH!' even though I was the only one in the house at the time. It wasn't an impressive score (~270k) so I only got 3-stars with my first run, but I am completely content with that. If I do it again, I can be more liberal with star power and just practice the easy parts for good combos.

So my tip is, don't try to save your star power until the 'What The...?' section. Use it right at the end of the 'Climatic Build-up' (just before the 2 ascending strings of 4 notes that make a 'pacman' noise when you play them). A full star power meter will run out just in time to pick up another star power.

With the new playing confidence, I went back and 5-starred all the songs on Hard and got the 'Shredder' achievement. Raining Blood started to feel easy on Hard, I got a x4 in Mosh 1.

My XBox live ID is 'Skick'

Rock Band - Expert Solo Tour finished

2008-03-18T20:02:00.000-07:00

I've had the Guitar Solo Expert tour on Rock Band at 60/61 finished for a while but kept dying on the solo in 'Green Grass and High Tides'. I finally committed myself to finishing that tonight and made it! What a relief! For anyone playing that song on Expert, you know what parts I'm talking about. There is a long solo sequence, most of which is straight forward to anyone who can play Expert in general, but there's a couple of long parts with nothing but super-fast triplets. If you get off just a bit, you're toast.

I was trying to use my GH3 guitar which I usually play better with. But for the solos in this song, I opt'd to use the Rock Band guitar (the one with the little buttons designed for these kind of solos). When the solos came at me, I switched to the little buttons which don't require strumming and used my right-hand to fire the triplet sequences. Worked like a charm.

Final Destination

2008-03-13T20:20:00.001-07:00

Another Crump movie review. This movie has been around a while but I never saw it. After hearing a co-worker make a reference to it, my curiosity was peaked enough to pick it up for a watch.

I think it's worth a watch - it was entertaining. It's a horror flick but has at least some kind of interesting plot, arousing thought about things supernatural. There's something about premonition too... It's about cheating death, somethings not successfully. And of course you can't help but laugh at the actor who plays Stiffler in American Pie (he's a semi-main character in the film).

March Update

2008-03-10T19:18:00.000-07:00

I haven't been keeping up with my blog! A lot of things going on since my last post.

- UNCC classes are going well. Tedious as it can possibly be, but on track to get As in my English and History classes.

- Work has been pretty challenging recently. It seems like the goals keep changing daily for the project I'm working on, but I've just focused on tackling one thing at a time.

- The family has been having a blast. We recently got back from Walt Disney World in Florida. We went with my sister and her son, my brother and his friend. The wife and kids had a great time, and I think everyone else did also. I'm in the process of making a DVD with all the pictures and videos. The biggest hit was the "La Nouba" circus show. I highly, highly, recommend that one if you go.

- OMG: For the I-don't-know-how-many'eth-time, on the Delta flight there, I was struck in the knee by the drink-cart by a stewardess. It hurt like all get out. I had on my todo list to call Delta and complain, but never got around to it, Disney put me in a better mood. But I sware, any flight I take from here on out, that I sit in an aisle seat, I am wearing a KNEE PAD!!!

- Pool has been going good. I took a good break recently not being on the line-up plan, but played on our 8-ball-express line up last night. I matched up against a 7 for an even 4-4 race for a change (I'm usually giving up games!). I ended up with a 4-1 victory but things could have went either way - I think I caught a break on some uncharacteristic misses by my opponent but I was able to run out when needed. It was a nice revenge match since he beat me by probably the same score not too long ago when he was a 6. :) Our team ended up 2-3 for the night though, not sure we'll make the play-offs - will see...

- On my number theory problem: I've had a few machines running for a while now without finding a solution to 13^n = 36 (mod n). I haven't given up on it yet, but have less focus on that problem now. I'm still putting together a paper with Max Alekseyev on methods of solving such congruences, but we've been taking our time on that - both of us have been busy with other things. Also, I wrote down some probablistic arguments that support infinite solutions to b^n = c (mod n) for c not equal to 1. Max reviewed it and provided some improvements. It's enough to feel confident about the result, but relies on conjecture still (assumes Artin's primitive root conjecture for one, and on certain randomness of discrete logarithms). We might be able to polish that up enough to include in the paper too, but if not I'll post on an HTML page for posterity.

Pool Update

2008-02-12T18:31:00.000-08:00

I've been on a 50/50 streak recently, with a bad record against 4s (5-2 race). However our teams our doing solid so we can still expect to make the play offs.

A conclusion has been reinforced in my mind from my recent losses, and watching some of my teammates games. That is -- when faced with a choice between a tough shot and a safety, err on the side of shooting the safety. :)

While I'm on the subject of pool tips, another one that has helped me this past year is the focus on "delivering a good shot." I compare this to bowling. In bowling you can deliver an otherwise perfect ball and not be rewarded with a strike (leave a 10 pin). Pros sometimes mumble after these occurrences "That's the best I can throw it" or "I threw it good." Once you release the ball, you can't do anything. The best you can do is focus on that delivery. In pool, the same thing can happen - you can get a bad reaction from a rail, cloth conditions can affect speed, and sometimes you hit a nice break-out shot only to be left in a bad position.

If you hit a bad shot because its a bad shot, so be it. You should reflect on it, try to improve, etc. But if you made a good delivery and get a bad result, don't dwell on it - accept the results and feel good about making a good shot. More often than not, having a solid delivery will give you results. And I've found it gives me an extra sense of calmness / confidence when I'm about to shoot knowing I'm going to deliver a good shot regardless of the outcome.

Some old movies

2008-01-27T18:45:00.000-08:00

I picked up a few movies recently including 'Capricorn One' and 'The Conversation'. I really enjoyed Capricorn One. If you haven't seen it or know anything about it, I would definitely watch it. The more you don't know about the movie, the better it will be. It's fairly old, so you don't have the production quality of today's movies, but the story line was great.

The Conversation had Gene Hackman and Harrison Ford. I had read somewhere it was a good movie, and decided to give it a watch. I was really disappointed. It had a lot of elements that were interesting but was really slow paced and hard to follow. And on top of that, I didn't like the ending - left you wanting much more. I don't recommend it at all, go get Enemy of the State instead.

13^n mod n = 36

2008-01-21T18:51:00.000-08:00

No solution to this problem yet. It has turned out to be harder than 2^n mod n = 465. I'm still expecting to find a solution though so still have some processors dedicated to it. I told Max Alekseyev I was optimistic one would be found soon, he said "Will see ;)"

^_^

One fun thing about having a computational search like this, is checking on your computers after a few hours or in the mornings. After I get up and ready for work, I can't wait to see if the fishing nets caught anything. :)

Septoplasty results

2008-01-21T18:26:00.000-08:00

Great news!

The surgery went better than expected. I had read a lot of horror stories with bad experiences / results, but none of those things occurred. Re-counting some of this on the blog, so other people considering or going through the surgery can use as a reference (of course each person's situation will be different, but good to have more information around). For those of you not interested in gory details, skip this post :)

My surgery was with Dr. LoveJoy through a Charlotte ENT office and the surgery was done at Carolina's Medical Center, University area.

I took the general aesthesia really fast - seemed like ~5 seconds. I woke up feeling groggy but no pain. They had gauze under my nose (taped horizontally to my cheeks), since it would be bleeding for the next 24-48 hours. Even though it was bleeding and there was swelling, I could already tell a difference in air-flow through the previously blocked nostril.

I had my wife pick me up and they gave me Hydrocodone pills for pain if needed. The nose and my upper lip were pretty sore and sensitive. The nose was expected but not the upper lip, it was kind of like numb from coming back from the dentist and I couldn't smile normally without discomfort. I could tell I would need to take it easy eating. Although there wasn't much in the way of pain/discomfort as long as you didn't touch it, the first day was the worst just from feeling lousy -- constant nose bleed, a bandage taped to your face, and breathing through your mouth.

Breathing through your mouth doesn't sound that bad, but it turned out to be pretty uncomfortable - your mouth gets really dry and especially after sleeping.

The 2nd day was like the first but I felt a lot better and the bleeding gradually stopped. By the end of the 2nd day, I could take off the bandage until I needed to sleep, and manage it here and ther with tissue if needed. I started to over-estimate myself though, and learned if you 'eat normal' it can start to sting a bit (inside the nose). I quickly went back to taking it easy.

By the 3rd day, I could appear normal to anyone and things were pretty settled. At this stage, it had stopped bleeding, and I could tell I had a lot of caked blood in there. I was able to clean out most of it in the immediate area, but was afraid to "dig inside" because it was still sore and healing, and I figured I'd wait until my first follow-up visit (scheduled 1 week after surgery).

At the follow-up visit, he examined me and said it looked good. There was a lot of caked blood so he put two things in my nose, one of which was a kind of suction (similar to at the dentist). It felt pretty weird, but right after he finished, wow could I breathe through that nostril. I was already content with the improvement I observed before hand, and now was even happier with the results.

He mentioned there was a lot of swelling still and that could take ~3-4 weeks to fully calm down, and I should notice even more improvement. Follow-up visit scheduled 6-weeks from now.

I'm happy with the results. Before the surgery, I couldn't breathe at all through one of my nostrils, and now it feels like I can fully breathe through both.

APA Pool Update

2008-01-12T19:17:00.001-08:00

Had a 5-2 race with a 4 in my last APA match. I started out great, but after a break-out shot that hit the 8 in out of turn, everything went to hell in a hurry :) Ended up 4-1 (hill-hill). I had an opportunity to seal the deal, but didn't get out. My opponent made an incredible long bank off the side rail passed the side pockets into the corner to win. Oh well, that's pool. :)

Our team did well though, ending up 3-2 for the night, so we're in great shape.

GenericPAL program

2008-01-12T18:50:00.000-08:00

Here is one of my programs for finding solutions to b^n mod n = c.

http://www.immortaltheory.com/NumberTheory/GenericPAL.zip

Upcoming surgery

2008-01-09T20:10:00.001-08:00

I have a deviated septum, which makes it hard to breathe through one of my nostrils. I've lived with it all my life, but finally decided to get the surgery done to correct it (septoplasty). I have it scheduled for this coming Monday. Some people say its a very uncomfortable recovery process, but others have had not-so-bad experiences. I'll be asleep for the operation (general anesthesia) while they cut things up inside of my nose (ouch!). I'll probably be 'unpresentable' a few days after, then up to my usual the next week (at least that's my expectation). I'll post some updates here.

First night back at UNCC

2008-01-09T20:02:00.001-08:00

I decided to go back to UNCC to finish my computer science degree. I left college early to start work (most programmer jobs don't care about degrees, but about your skillset). The degree will probably be worthless to me from a career perspective since I have a solid background and resume (worked at Microsoft for 7 years, and stay up to date on MS products/technologies). But it's something I want to close out from a past chapter in life.

Tonight was English 1102 "Writing in the Academic Community." Only chosen since it was a requirement for the degree program. Looks like it will be a lot of reading, note taking, and in-class discussion. The instructor is going to center all the material around the U.S. presidential election. We'll see how it goes...

Number Theory Update

2008-01-06T21:59:00.000-08:00

I cleaned up my b^n mod n search applications and will be making them available soon (probably this week) in case others wants to use them. I just need to create some Readme.Txt files to go with them, as they may not be intuitive unless you're familiar with the algorithms already.

Home fun

2008-01-06T21:49:00.001-08:00

I got a new camera over the week-end, and have been having fun taking pictures of the kids.

Here's the camera I got. It was about $200 at Best Buy. We're really happy with it
http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/canon-powershot-sd1000-digital/4505-6501_7-32314638.html

My kids have been re-enacting this parody of Harry Potter we saw on the web. It's called "The Mysterious Ticking Noise" If you search on "potter pals" on Google Videos you'll find it and others in the same theme. I got a good video of them singing that one.

Other than that, we've been playing Rock Band off and on (XBox 360 game). My 4 year old's favorite song now is "Mississippi Queen". He'll be the microphone, and my daughter on drums. My wife and I usually take the guitar parts. If you haven't seen or played Rock Band or Guitar Hero series, I highly recommend them!

8-ball Express and tourney result

2008-01-06T21:31:00.000-08:00

Tonight was the first night of our 8-ball express league. We play out of Rack'em in Matthews NC. They run a small Sunday tournament starting a 5pm. I got there a little early to play in it.

They have me down as an "8" in the tournament, so when I played a 2 it was an 8-2 race (ouch!). She got a game on me after 4 racks, she needed only one more and I still needed 4 more. I stayed focused to eventually capture that match and continue on.

I ended up making it to the end on the winner's bracket. I got some breaks here and there - I wouldn't say I got lucky rolls, but didn't get unlucky is how I would describe it. It was late so I offered to split the pot on the final match with a $10 cut in my favor ($95 / $75). He agreed and we paid our tabs and headed home.

While waiting for the loser's bracket to finish, I played another 5 for my league match, a 5-3 race. I was "dialed in" from playing in the tournament and took another 5-0 victory.

Number Theory Update

2008-01-03T21:23:00.000-08:00

I haven't found a solution to 13^n (mod n) = 36 yet, but not without a good bit of searching. I've run the factorization method using ECM, and variants of the prime and line algorithm, including a two-prime version, all without success.

Sometimes that's the case with these equations though, like with 2^n (mod n) = 465. I think that took me about a week with focus on it to find n=164196324252985941533.

It's another open problem whether solutions exist to it. I'm pretty sure they do, but the reason I think some are much harder than others is because of the primes that cannot divide n for specific equations.

In 2^n (mod n) = 465, you can show that if p divides n, then p cannot be 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43. Only when you get to 47 is that a possible prime factor. Because of all these small primes being impossible, you have a huge range of n eliminated, and cause other primes to get eliminated -- when GCD(order2p, log2 of 465 mod p) contains a bad factor.

For 13^n (mod n) = 36, only the primes 23, 53, 79 below 107 are possible divisors of n. So it's not surprising a small solution does not exist (Max Alekseyev reported n must be > 10^17).

APA Pool League

2008-01-03T21:18:00.000-08:00

Tonight (Thursday) was the first match of our APA 8-ball league team. We play out of the Green Room in Charlotte NC. I'm also in another league (8-ball Express) playing on Sunday nights.

I'm a skill level 7 and went up against a 5 named Mike. This meant I had to win 5 games to his 3. I ended up winning 5-0. Since I won the lag that means I also get a 'rackless patch' for that night. Although I won strong, I had at least two games where it was close (he got down to the 8 but missed).

Problem from Feb 2007

2008-01-02T00:46:00.000-08:00

I was looking around for another computational challenge and remembered there was still one left from Feb 2007 in some email correspondence I had with Robert G. Wilson (Bob).

Find a solution to 13^k (mod k) = 36

Background:
Bob was collecting solutions b^k (mod k) and updating the OEIS (Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences). He sent an email to me, Alexander Adamchuk, David Wilson, Don Reble, Max Alekseyev, Ryan Propper, and Neil Sloane asking about finding some missing values.

Max and I quickly found values to all the equations except the above one. Max and Ryan followed up with searches to verify least solutions on some of them.

Reference:
http://www.research.att.com/~njas/sequences/A127821

I'm continuing a search for this with one of my machines. I'll make a version of the program I wrote for this (VC++/GMP) available for download soon as well.

Recent Number Theory Work

2008-01-02T00:32:00.000-08:00

Late December 2007, I came across the following open problem

http://garden.irmacs.sfu.ca/?q=op/does_every_odd_number_coprime_to_its_euler_totient_divides_some_carmichael_number

I had done some earlier work on a related problem and adapted those methods to quickly find solutions to the computational challenge (finding Carmichael numbers that are multiples of 885, 2391, 2517, 2571, 2589, 2595, 2685, 2949).

This was to complete a list that Dr. Gerard P. Michon worked on. After sending those solutions in and corresponding with Gerard and Max Alekseyev through email, we extended the list from 3000-10000 in a short time.

http://home.att.net/~numericana/data/crump.htm

Gerard did the first pass through the list eliminating all the entries where no solution was found with 17 digits or less. I then followed up to fill in the gaps.

I used Visual C++ and the GMP arithmetic library for the programming. You can get one of the programs I wrote for this here:
http://immortaltheory.com/NumberTheory/gmp_michon.zip

It was used primarily for all the 3000-10000 multiples, with the exception of 8805 (it was found with a later program using a different method)

First Post

2008-01-02T00:30:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

2008 New Year's resolution --- maintain a personal blog :)