144 years young.  Happy Birthday Canada!!

It’s been 2 weeks and a bit since I decided to stop smoking.  Not “quit” just stopped.  Once an hour my body says smoke and I say no.  Quitnet.com tells me that I’ve been saying this for 15 days, 17 hours, 57 minutes and 32 seconds and I’ve said it to 394 cigarettes.

How am I doing?  Surprisingly well considering the amount of years I actually smoked. 

Why won’t you say you’ve quit?  This, to me, is the secret of my success so far. Quitting implies that you’ll never, ever smoke again.  A lot of pressure.  Deciding not to have a cigarette just because my body (or more correctly my mind) says I “need” one is just a minor hurdle to clear.  No big deal. 

So now I’ve said NO 394 times.  My brain thinks I should be lighting up right now.  Time for another decision.

This was the year that I really went over to the Dark Side.  Steve Jobs is my Emperor and I make no excuses (except for the play on words in the title)

Starting the year, I was playing with a new iPhone.  Loved it from first sight and it’s still my phone of choice.  Sorry RIM.  I still carry a BlackBerry for work but it feels like a dinosaur.

After getting the taste, I had to have more.  Hello iPad.  Oh you seductress.  Your sleek form.  Your responsiveness. The apps, all those lovely apps.  She’s now my link to social media, the heart of my productivity solution and more fun than any one man should have with a chunk of glass, aluminum and silicon.

Now, in the last days of the year I’m going steady with the Apple TV.  Tiny little black box that sits quietly beside the LED screen bringing me hours and hours of entertainment.  That you would arrive at the same time that Netflix made its debut in Canada was a fiendish plot to keep me in one spot for hours a day.

Things are so bad that I’m seriously looking at the MacBook Air to replace this aging Dell laptop.  I’m hooked bad.

Been quite a while since I posted anything.  Most communication has been on Facebook and Twitter which either says something about the state of the Blogosphere or the fact that I exhaust anything interesting to say in about 140 characters.

The most significant thing to happen around here is the replacement of our rickety sunroom with a professional model.  Dealing with municipal red-tape was a bear but it’s finally done!

Otherwise it’s been work, work and work.

First day of CNE airshow didn’t go quite according to plan. High winds and stormy conditions meant the show was cancelled after the first performer.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Just a couple of days to go before I actually get some vacation. Of course instead of taking the time off to relax and recharge, I’m going to stand on my feet for 4 days as a volunteer at the Canadian International Air Show which is better known as the CNE Air Show.

This annual event signifies the end of the Canadian National Exhibition and the unofficial end of summer. I’ve been to a few over the years and last year I signed up to be considered as a volunteer for the 2010 show. I was contacted a month or so ago and was accepted for a position in “Boss Control”. The Air Boss is in charge of the show and occupies a secure position on the Ontario Place island. Though details are sketchy, I think I’ll be acting as a glorified security guard keeping people out of the area. No matter. Get a snazzy shirt and I’ve been promised enough time off to get pictures.

Finally get a chance to use the long lens I bought for my aborted trip to Oshkosh. Hopefully I’ll be able to do a bit of networking in support of next year’s Wings & Wheels event.

Just noticed that I hadn’t posted anything here since the 1st of June.  Time is certainly flying by.  After Wings & Wheels I had such trouble with my feet that I’m finally able to say that I’m walking without pain for most of the day.

We have another wet weekend in Toronto (I’m sensing a trend) so there’s not much to do except housework and watch the Worldcup and G20  rioting. 

(above taken at Waterloo Air Show – Viper North MIG 15 and Vintage Wings of Canada F86 Sabre in high-speed pass)

About 5am in Memphis and it’s snowing.  What the hell?  I leave Toronto where it’s cold but snowless, travel South and end up with this crap.  Forecast says up to 5 inches today with more coming throughout the week.

This sucks!

Over at xkcd Randall Munroe comes up with the perfect goodbye to the little Mars rover Spirit as it prepares to hibernate in order to survive the harsh Martian winter.  Spirit, along with Opportunity were expected to last 90 days when they landed on the red planet in 2004.  Both have been going for over 6 years but Spirit is now mired in sand with an inoperable wheel.

NASA scientists have serious doubts that Spirit will survive even though they’re positioning the rover so that its solar panels can capture as much sunlight as possible.

No posts since January 2nd?  What the heck have I been up to?

Been busy at work, some things never change.  Business still sucks but there’s a few bright lights on the horizon and I have a big project that’s taking all my time.  Looks like I’ve got a couple of trips down to Southaven Mississippi next month.  Southaven is just outside Memphis TN for those who are wondering.  Looking at flight schedules and they all suck – why can’t the US see that the hub and spoke method of air travel just makes for terrible connection times.  I can go through Detroit, Atlanta, Newark and those are the good ones.  I was looking at one Continental schedule that included 3 stops!!  I could probably drive there quicker.

The second trip looks to be interesting.  I’ll be going down to the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station on the 19th to attend the Northeast Council of Air Shows meetings to try and drum up some interest in Wings and Wheels.  On the Sunday afternoon I’ll fly out of Buffalo to Memphis.

Speaking of Wings & Wheels, next week we start contract negotiations with Downsview Park to see how much they’ll charge for rental of the big hanger and tarmac.  Hopefully it’s less than last year.  The Festival itself is coming along very well.  Hope to start selling advance tickets over at the website real soon (hint, hint).  Private pilots are already starting to sign up to attend and quite a few people have requested volunteer information. 

The other thing that has kept me busy is my New Year’s resolution – my body.  Over the holidays I tipped the scales at 231 pounds which, unfortunately, was an all time high.  Something had to be done.  What’s a nerd to do?  Technology to the rescue!

First thing to do was to start tracking what I was eating and how much exercise I was getting.  The exercise part was easy – nothing!  I set up an account at a website called Daily Burn.  Great site that allows you to track everything and provides motivation and tips.  You set your goals – weight, nutrition and workouts – and update them religiously.  Next, picked up a digital scale because the old one was inaccurate and I had trouble reading it first thing in the morning.

The weather is still sucky so it was off to Best Buy to pick up a Nintendo Wii and the Wii Fit balance board.  I’m not into video games but as an exercise aid this thing is fantastic!  Who thought running in place could be so much fun!  Running for cardio and yoga for flexibility and strength.  It also does a good job of measuring weight and BMI and I’m happy to say that, so far, I’ve been able to bring the BMI down from obese to *merely* overweight.

Of course exercise without changes to diet is useless.  I’m rediscovering how good food can taste when you think about what you’re cooking and eating.  Lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and smaller meat portions.  Breakfast and lunch everyday.  No fast food.  I feel great!

The last piece of ammunition in my new arsenal is an Apple iPhone.  Why you ask?  The company cracked down on what we could access with our BlackBerries so I needed something to act as a personal communication and data device.  Of  course, the big thing with the iPhone is the number of apps that are available.  I’ve found apps that link to Daily Burn so I can track my nutrition and workouts even when I’m away from the computer.  Also a very accurate pedometer plus some fun stuff and a lot of travel apps.  Right now I’m listening to live air traffic control from Pearson Airport.  You got to love the WiFi feature that allows me to link to the home wireless network and avoid those terrible Rogers data charges.

Now the answer to the burning question, “Have you lost any weight?  Yes, as of this morning I’m down 8.6 pounds for the month.  The goal is to lose 10 pounds per month.  I’ve set a personal goal of 180 but I’ll probably level off before then.  Then the task of maintenance begins.