Arlen Ward dot com » Friends

I love my phone, I’ll admit it

Arlen — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 16:26:42 +0000

I know this blog has become a never ending stream of videos and comics lately, but this is too good to share. Maybe it rings true to me these days because I just recently added myself to the ranks of the iPhone users.

I love my phone. I hear that admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery, but if anyone wants to tell me their favorite iPhone app in the comments, I wouldn’t mind!

Fundraising Bleg Part II

Arlen — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 06:50:37 +0000

OK, you bunch of slackers.

I sent out the e-mail. I posted it on my blog. Told you all about the great causes that it will benefit. You know, things like the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Wounded Warrior Project. That’s right, the group that helps those that volunteered to defend you and got severely injured in the process. I also mentioned the good karma it would produce, just in case.

I even gave you a link to my page on the charity site, where you can see progress to date. Have we noticed the lack of progress?

I know what you are waiting for. You need someone to sweeten the pot! So here you go. El Hefe at Emergent Fitness, a.k.a. Chris, has offered a prize to the person that raises the most money for the event. It is an iPod shuffle that is engraved with the Fight Gone Bad III logo. So here’s what I was thinking:

I will provide said iPod to whoever donates the most help me with this cause!

This of course requires two things:

Out of all the participants from EmerFit, I have the top dollar amount for donations.
Out of the multitudes that are going to donate to help me, you have the top dollar amount for donations.

Remember, if someone beats you out, you can always add to your donation!

Even if you already have an MP3 player, don’t you think a shuffle would be great for your own fitness excursions? Plus, I will ship it to you for free, even if you live in Brazil!

Now how can you beat that?

Ahem, now click here please.

P.S.- The “Bleg” in the title is not a typo, just a combination of Blog and Beg. I don’t know where I saw it first, but thought it was fitting for this post. Kinda makes you want to donate, doesn’t it?

Fight Gone Bad for Two Good Causes

Arlen — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:51:31 +0000

Alright people, it looks as if I am now signed up to do a CrossFit workout for charity. The causes are Athletes for a Cure (to support protate cancer research) and the Wounded Warrior Project (to support and aid our service men and women who are severly injured in service to our country).

The workout is “Fight Gone Bad” and there are plenty of examples of it on YouTube.

Here’s the explanation from the Emerfit blog:

In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. We’ve used this in 3 and 5 round versions. The stations are:

Wall-ball: 20 pound ball, 10 ft target. (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull: 75 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump: 20″ box (Reps)
Push-press: 75 pounds (Reps)
Row: calories (Calories)

The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. On call of “rotate,” the athlete/s must move to next station immediately for good score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point.

So how about it? Ready to donate? Here’s my page on the charity site, you can donate there. I have a goal of $1200, so feel free to forward this to everyone you know. These are both good causes, they will do good things for your money. Knowing what I know about most of you, the additional good karma isn’t a bad thing either.

Have you donated yet? Get on it!

Don’t miss the lunar eclipse on Wednesday night

Arlen — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 05:47:29 +0000

For those with clear skies tomorrow night, there will be a total lunar eclipse at 8:01 MST. It should last about 50 minutes or so, and will be visible in North and South America, Europe and Africa. The moon won’t disappear, but will turn red in color due to the light coming off the Earth’s atmosphere. Check it out if you can, next one is December 2010!

An Interview with Cookie Monster, and the Proust Questionnaire

Arlen — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 06:05:03 +0000

I saw an interview with Cookie Monster from NPR on one of their blog sites. Other than insight into Cookie’s sordid tales of compulsive eating and the trials of stardom (no, not really), I was interested in the reference to the modified questionaire the interviewer used. It turns out to be the “Proust Questionnaire”, now often used as a personality questionnaire. So I thought I would run though it here just for fun.

Your most marked characteristic?
My complete inability to read people.

The quality you most like in a man?
Someone that will use reason and logic when arguing a point.

The quality you most like in a woman?
See previous question.

What do you most value in your friends?
Someone that will listen when I vent, and vice versa.

What is your principle defect?
Multi-tasking

What is your favorite occupation?
The one I’m in. Engineering.

What is your dream of happiness?
A family following their dreams, and a job that is challenging.

What to your mind would be the greatest of misfortunes?
To spend your entire life going every day to a job that you despise.

What would you like to be?
Honorable.

In what country would you like to live?
I’m rather partial to the one that I’m in.

What is your favorite color?
Green.

What is your favorite flower?
I can’t really say that I have one.

What is your favorite bird?
I’ve always liked the meadowlark. It reminds me of being a kid walking to school in the morning.

Who are your favorite prose writers?
Lately I have enjoyed the writings of Edmund Morris.

Who are your favorite poets?
Whoever is responsible for that limrick about Nantucket.
Seriously, it would have to be Homer, though it has been a while.

Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
I rather like Ender. He always seemed a little tortured by his gifts.

Who are your favorite heroines of fiction?
Dagny Taggart.

Who are your favorite composers?
Frederic Chopin

Who are your favorite painters?
Edouard Manet

Who are your heroes in real life?
My Father

What is it you most dislike?
Knee-jerk reactions to a temporary situation without considering the long-term effects.

What natural gift would you most like to possess?
It seems to me that most “natural gifts” are the result of years of hard work and sacrifice.

How would you like to die?
In the words of my grandfather: “Shot in the back by a jealous husband”.
Actually, as an old man surrounded by generations of family.

What is your present state of mind?
Exhausted. A little word-weary.

To what faults do you feel most indulgent?
Those without immediate consequences.

What is your motto?
Vir sapit qui pauca loquitur.

Anybody that wants to keep this going feel free to post your answers in the comments, or in your own blog and link to it here.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Arlen — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 23:23:14 +0000

It seems appropriate to wish my vast readership a happy Valentine’s day by linking to a couple of guys that have put together some science-based cards, and both amuse me to no end. Over at Ironic Sans David has a set that hits the big names like Darwin, Sagan, and Newton (and others!). I was going to go with the Newton card, but then I was reading the versions that came from the Jacks of Science blog. Chris’ set is more topic based, but my favorite is his Einstien card:

So Happy Valentine’s Day everybody!