guapacha.com

Make sure you are watching with the HD option on for best viewing. Click on the Back to San Diego Zoo link below the video to see a larger screen version.

Bunch of things I’d like to take lessons in although, thanks to my lazy-ass self, almost certainly won’t.

• Spanish
• The Mandolin (yes I still have it)
• Professional video editing
• Argentine Tango

Huh, thought this list was longer when I started it.

My apartment in San Diego is quite close to the San Diego Zoo and now the zoo is open until 9pm at night, plenty of time to take a visit after work (we have annual passes). I took a trip and made a couple of videos, more to come over the summer.

San Diego Zoo Part 1 from Paul Sanders on Vimeo.

San Diego Zoo Aerial Tramway from Paul Sanders on Vimeo.

You can get a larger version of each video by clicking on the link beneath each clip.

Summer is here and yes it’s pretty hot outside and only going to get worse but the biggest annoyance to me is the water. You can’t get cool water out of the tap any more. Want a glass of water? The stream will start cool but by the end of it you’ll be drinking luke warm water. Ick.

But it’s not just drinking water. This morning I was at the mall, using the gentleman’s facilities when I was aware of this hot blast of air on my tender behind. Yes, even the water in the toilets is hot, giving out a warm air onto your nether regions. Now I can’t say that it was unpleasant but not something I am used to.

Now back to the sofa and a fan….

So with the third incarnation of the iPhone I think we are about to see the start of premium applications that do much more than wrap an internet service in a cool u/i, or play a dozen different fart sounds. Most importantly they aren’t going to cost $1.99, no sirreee.

The most touted premium app is most definitely turn by turn navigation and, in particular, Tom Tom for the iPhone. But already there have been a couple of navigation apps that have beaten Tom Tom to the punch. The interesting thing about these apps is the price: Gokivo may only be $1 to buy but if you want turn-by-turn that’s going to cost you $9.99 a month. Yes, a month, or $120 a year! I’ve been a big fan of the Navigon GPS units and they too have an app for the iPhone, only in Europe right now. Navigon’s Mobile Navigator costs the equivalent of $104 to buy.

Are we ready to spend this much on an iPhone app, no matter how good or useful? The argument I read is that the GPS companies have to make up for the fact they aren’t getting and hardware revenue. But I’d make the argument that I’ve already paid for hardware, why should I be paying “again”? And is $10 a month worthwhile for an app that I generally might only find truly useful 2-3x a year – most of the time I know how to get home.

I suspect most iPhone owners will be horrified when they realise how much these things are going to cost but, like any Apple product, they’ll pay up in the end. Me? I’m not so sure.

If you’re reading this in RSS land then you won’t have noticed but the ol’ blog has been upgraded to WP 2.8 (which I doubt you can tell from anywhere) and you won’t have noticed we have an all new theme. It’s not quite finished yet, still need to make updates to the sidebar, add some social network icons, flick and vimeo sidebars, things like that. But I like the overall scheme of things. Come back later to see the changes.

So I’m certainly the heaviest I’ve ever been in my life, and most likely the least fit too. It’s time to do something about it. Small steps at first (ha ha, a pun!), going to do some walks here in San Diego in the evening and maybe try to get onto some of our exercise equipment at home (though the 110F temps make that difficult), get some weight off and get into better shape.

Tonight was Walk 1, and you can see the details at this handy map from MapMyWalk.com, great site for mapping out hikes and bike rides. I’m not quite sure how to use it properly yet but I got it close.

There is an iPhone app to go with it that will record everything for me, so I will use that next time.

Just under 2 miles, I’ll grow that to longer and longer as the time goes by. Or give up and embrace my fat self!

Even puppets aren’t immune – who knew?

Couldn’t find a video 🙁