Feeding Readers With a Feed Reader

Nick Momrik1 Comment

I’ve been using FeedLounge as my feed reading service since I was accepted into their alpha (or was it beta) phase months ago. It’s a great service and I was happy with it. When they came out of alpha and beta tests I was given 2 free months of service. That went by and I couldn’t access my account anymore, so I paid the $5 for another month. Last week my month of paid subscription expired as well.

I was prepared this time though. I had already made an export of all the feeds I read and I’ve started using Rojo to track my feeds. It’s a nice service, but not as nice as FeedLounge was. But Rojo is free and provides all the functionality I need. Free is better in my book even if it’s a little bit slower. I can’t justify paying $5 a month when FeedLounge isn’t providing me with anything that I can’t get from a free feed reading service.

I’d really prefer to use Bloglines but haven’t been able to access their site from work in a year or so and our “network gurus” can’t figure out the problem. I need a service I can access from anywhere. I’d also like to be able to use Google Reader but I don’t like the interface. They make it way too hard to browse by tag/label and that’s the primary way I read my feeds (or is it “feed my reads”?). Update: Looks like Google has added a dropdown list with the labels. I’ll be trying out the Google Reader as my primary for awhile now.

What are you using and why?

Another Crash

Nick Momrik2 Comments

Yesterday I managed to crash again while out biking. The last time was in June of 2004, so I guess I was due for some injuries.

Left ShoulderThis crash was all my fault unlike the last time when my bike slipped on a wet root out in the woods. I was cruising along down a paved bike path yesterday and when I came to the turn-around at one end I didn’t slow down much. Centrifugal forces took over and my bike slid right out from under me as I rounded the corner at nearly 20 mph. I went down hard on my left shoulder as you can see in the picture. My body went sliding/bouncing/grinding across the asphalt for least a good 5 feet and probably closer to 10 or more. I didn’t hit my head, but came damn close as my sunglasses smacked the pavement and went flying off.

It took me a few seconds to gather myself and realize what happened. As I got to my feet my body was shaking a bit and I was seeing stars. The handlebars of my bike were twisted and the seat was rotated all the way to the left. I felt the pain in my shoulder right away and after lifting my shirt it didn’t look so hot. I guess I’m lucky I didn’t break anything (or at least I don’t think I did) and didn’t need stitches this time even though I was bleeding from seven different places. I’ve iced the shoulder the past two nights, but it’s going to be pretty sore for a few days. I just hope it’s good enough for golf league on Tuesday night.

I guess I need to learn how to slow down.

More crash photos.


Enjoying the Weather Among Other Things

Nick Momrik5 Comments

I’ve been enjoying the weather for the past several weeks which means spending less and less time on the computer. That also means less time for blogging and less updates here as well as my other blogs. I’ve also cut back on my poker playing dramatically which takes away computer time as well. This is all a good thing.

Time has been spent golfing as much as possible and getting my bike out. Just the other day I rode 15 miles in an hour and felt great. I need to be ready to ride about 24 miles with hills in three weeks when I go up north for Mother’s Day. The plan is to ride around Hubbard Lake with Mo and kick his ass. He’s been talking a little bit too much shit and I don’t like to lose many challenges. Just ask him about our weight loss competition for last week!

I’m still using my elliptical 3-4 days a week in addition to bike rides and doing some ab workouts as well. I’m down about 15 pounds from two and a half months ago and feeling good.

Golf league started this week and I might be joining a summer bowling league with some friends that starts on May 2nd. I like to keep busy during the summers and get out as much as possible which is completely different from the cold Michigan winters.

My sleep problems are pretty much under control now. I’m on Lunesta which has been doing the trick. I tried Ambien CR and some other new drug that start with an R, but Lunesta worked the best by far. It’s amazing what a good night of sleep does for the body.

In a few days I should be able to reveal the secret I mentioned a few weeks ago. It’s been taking up a lot of my thinking and I can’t wait to get it over with and out in the open. Maybe then I’ll be able to resume a regular blogging schedule. What “regular” actually means for blogging I’m not quite sure anymore.

I'm Off to a Hot Start

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I’m off to a hot start with my golf this year. I’ve golfed in March for the first time in my life and I’ve already played more rounds this year than I had last year a this time in May. I shot a 37 (+2) the other night which is the 2nd best score of my life (to a 36 for +1) and I’ve had quite a few rounds in the low 40s already. I’m averaging about bogey golf so far overall.

All this…and I don’t even have my new clubs. Yes, you read that right, I’m playing the best golf of my life and I have new clubs on the way! I went through a personal club fitting and took a week and a half trying out all different types of clubs. I’ll have more on this later when the clubs actually arrive and I get a chance to see how they work for me. Should be about another week and a half.

No Poker = More Fun

Nick Momrik1 Comment

In the past two weeks or so I’ve played poker once. It was a 6 person SNG on Party and I bowed out 4th if I remember correctly. I’m not missing the game and my overall attitude has been a lot better because I haven’t been playing. Poker can drain the life out of you…or at least it can for me. I’m having a lot more fun golfing, working out (and losing weight), and doing other things instead of sitting in front of a computer for 2-3 hours a night. Of course I won’t make $15,000 like I did last year, but there are more important things to enjoy. For instance…I’ve lost 15 pounds in the last two and a half months and I’m feeling better physically than I have in a couple of years.

On a personal note, I have a pretty big announcement that I’m hoping I’ll be able to make in a few days. Stay tuned…

Weight Loss Status

Nick Momrik6 Comments

I didn’t reach my goal of 180 by the end of March but I did make progress for 2 straight months. I’ve been at 187 for almost 2 weeks, but finally hit 186.5 this morning. The fat has definitely been dropping off and I’ve been feeling better, both physically and mentally. I’m enjoying eating a healthy diet for the first time in my life and it really does make a difference.

With the weather changing I’ll be a lot more active and should see some more results over the next month. I know there’s more weight to lose because I can see it. The more time I put into building up some muscles the easier it’ll be to get rid of the extra fat.

I’m not quite sure what it is about this year, but I know more people working out and eating healthy than I can ever remember before.