I posted my 2012 Resolutions (http://www.alexflint.ca/blog/2012/1/8/2012-resolutions.html) a few months ago (around New Years in fact!) and here's an update.

I haven't run a marathon, but I did run a half-marathon. I did the Goodlife Toronto Half-Marathon and finished in 1:52:36, well under my 2 hour target. I'm feeling confident that I'll be able to run the Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon in October.

My second resolution, to increase my income through freelance work has not been successful thus far. I have worked on some cool projects, but mostly for free. Work at RiverdaleMac has been more demanding, as we're growing our business.

And finally, my resolution to live in the moment, I feel has made some progress. My "No Computer" experiment has certainly helped. I've also been walking to work, which gives me two hours a day to people watch and enjoy my own thoughts. I've also been trying to leave my iPhone at home more and more, even if it's just to take Cooper for a walk.

This post is more for me than for you. I need to post it publicly to keep myself honest.

The battery is annoying. Technically it gets the same battery life as the iPad 2 (on paper anyway, I haven't tested it) but it feels like it is dying quickly. I hate the feeling that my battery may die. This is the same reason I haven't been able to switch to Android yet, the batteries just seem to be dying constantly. The iPad 2 and the iPhone 4S just don't feel like they're draining.

It is heavier. I went from an iPad 2 Wi-Fi model to a new iPad LTE model and an extra .3lbs makes a difference. When I'm holding it (in my sweaty hands because of the heat), it feels heavy and droppable. The iPad 2 doesn't feel this way.

The iPad 2 is just as fast, for what I do. Web, email, blogging and YouTube, the iPad 2 is just as fast. In fact, sometimes the new iPad even hesitates where I don't remember the iPad 2 doing the same.

The iPad is still the greatest device ever made and no tablet can even stand close to it, but all I'm saying is, if you don't need the specific features of the new iPad, get an iPad 2.

PS. This post is my opinion and my opinion only and not that of my employer, the fruit themed technology company that my employer represents.

To combat some data useage I will have to use Starbucks or my work's Wi-Fi for large app downloads and to download a movie or two from iTunes once in a while.
Netflix's option to stream a lower resolution video also helps, now that I'm using a 10" screen and not a 1080p 21” screen.

The only barrier I've bumped into so far is when I tried to download a large image that was compressed in a zip file, I was SOL. It was a photo from justhundred.com, a friend's ongoing photography project. I told him about it and they're making high-res images available, without zipping them. Yippee!

My long weekend started on Monday (thanks to working in retail!) so I've been off for the last 3 days, back to work today. This gave me lots of time I needed to fill, lounging around my apartment. I typically would have spent these days sitting at my desk and scrolling through Facebook, tumblr, twitter and Google Reader. I still did quite a bit of this, but my balcony or at a local coffee shop. I also finished a book for the first time since Steve Jobs' biography. I read Quiet by Susan Cain, and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in introversion. Whether you are an introvert, work with one or live with one. Very enlightening book and I wish I had read it a year ago. It would have made my last relationship much easier, for me and my extroverted ex.

So one week in, I'm loving it! More to come.

UPDATE: winzip for iOS solves my zip file problem. Thanks @ftwphoto!

I'm two measly days into my "no computer" experiment and the first thing I've noticed is that I am feeling more focused. I've still spent a significant amount of time online, connected and plugged in, but by limiting myself to iOS devices only, I'm also limiting myself to single tasking. I didn't really think about that aspect of this change, but I must say, it's a welcome one.

When I was sitting at my iMac, with my dual 21" displays, tabbed browser open, Tweetdeck's columns flowing and my multiple mailboxes being pushed to Mail I was constantly pulled from one half-assed task to another. I couldn't even read long form blogs most days, because I'd get a notification, alert or ping from another app and have to ALT + Tab away, for fear of missing something.

I've always had Notification Centre dialed down to nearly zero on my iPad, because it has been a low priority device for me, up until yesterday. Now it's my primary device and I haven't adjusted any of those settings. I don't think I will either. Facebook, Twitter, email and more are all silently updating and I won't know what I'm missing until I tap the icon and check. This is nice.

@mention me all you want! You won't get my attention until I give it to you, sucker. I just read an entire article without looking away once! Ha! I win, A.D.D.!

I do miss having music though, I may need to invest in a decent iPhone dock.

I’m the Community Manager at RiverdaleMac. We’re an Apple Specialist store, selling Macs, iPads, iPod and their accessories, service and training. When I’m not helping customers in the store, I’m writing blog posts, monitoring Twitter and Facebook and sharing Apple news with our community.

For some extra income I do a similar job, freelance. I build websites, edit videos, manage social media and teach small businesses how to use it all.

Basically, I’m about as connected as anyone could be.

I’ve given myself a challenge. It won’t be easy for me, so I have to take some pretty drastic measures to hold myself to it. I’m not going to have a computer at home. I will restrict myself to my iPad and iPhone for all of my out-of-work technology needs.

There are several challenges that this will present. What do I do with my Terabytes of stuff? How do I safely store my photos, documents and videos? And how will I stay connected with what is important to me?

Here’s what I’ve figured out so far:

Music will live in iTunes Match. For $28 a year, Apple has graciously put my 40GB+ of music online, accessible via my iPhone and iPad. Any future music will have to be purchased from iTunes or streamed via the various music Apps and services available. CBC Music will likely get a lot of love over the coming weeks or months (I still have no idea how long I plan to do this).

Photos and videos that I take on my iPhone (which is my only camera) will be uploaded to Facebook and YouTube or deleted, if I deem them disposable. I’ve already uploaded my important photos to Dropbox, for long term storage and deleted my entire iPhoto library, all 74GB of it.

Documents have been living in Dropbox for a while now. I’ve found that to be the most reliable and efficient place to keep them, as it makes them accessible from any device or web connected computer. They will continue to live there.

Movies and TV shows will be a challenge. I have a long list of TV shows that I download each week via torrents and a fantastic app called TV Shows for Mac, which lets you subscribe to torrent RSS feeds for automatic downloading of your favourite shows. I think the best solution for this is to just stop watching so much TV. I don’t own a television so going back to regular broadcast television isn’t an option. I will be limited to Netflix and TV network’s Apps. I’m not sure how well this will work, but it’s a minor hiccup in the grand plan. I can rent movies from iTunes if I need a relaxing night at home.

Podcasts are one of my favorite ways to absorb content. I subscribe to a ton of them, mostly comedy, some tech news, design related stuff and a few randoms. I think the Downcast App will do what I need. It lets you subscribe directly from your iOS devices and syncs them via iCloud. I’ve set it up and it is working thus far.

The biggest hurdle will be how I can continue to do my freelance work without my own computer. I haven’t found an answer for this. I will do as much as I can on my iPad and may have to borrow computers, visit the Apple Store or work at my clients offices for tasks that require a full computer.

Besides these fairly simple technology based questions, I’m also interested to see how it affects my life. I’m no Gandhi, I’m not even Paul Miller, but I am hoping that by untethering myself from a desk and a significant time suck, I will get to enjoy myself more. Hopefully I will get outside more often, take my dog for longer walks and possibly even have a social life for once.

I will continue to post as I find and hopefully solve challenges of being computerless (in the traditional sense, I know this is the post-PC era after all) in a highly digital life.

I’d love to hear your suggestions and comments, so please share.

In 2009 I began my personal journey back to that feeling. I've been a casual runner for a long time. My father was a triathlete and marathoner so I guess I was always drawn to it, running track in elementary school and high school. I even placed top 5 in Ontario's 4km trail run many years ago. Not bad for someone who didn't know what "pronation" was until last year. After high school I didn't run for a long while. I started smoking and eating poorly, though on the upside, I did get really good at Call of Duty. Then, after quitting smoking, I decided to try it again. Try to get back to that freedom that I remembered feeling as a kid, but it wasn't so easy now. Was it the extra 15 pounds I was carrying around my stomach or the cheap running shoes I picked up at SportsCheck? Maybe it was my smoker's lungs, McDonalds diet or lack of sleep? Turns out, it wasn't any of these things. I cleaned up my act. Having already quit smoking, the hardest part was done. I started eating better, bought some fancy Asics shoes and put myself on a schedule. I cycled 20km each day and went running, walking or hiking at least 3 times a week. Calgary's Nose Hill Park became my personal battle ground. Fighting off burning lungs and screaming muscles. My cardio health eventually improved. I could walk a flight of stairs and have a conversation at the same time. Riding my bike to work was the easiest part of my day, not to mention the least stressful. Things were going well. I ran a 10km race my first year, finishing in 52 minutes, give or take. The next year I did a 16km race, 1 hour 16 minutes. I was going further and faster than ever, but every kilometer I ran was just as much a test of my physical ability as it was of pain endurance. I had come to terms with it, I had a bad knee and weak hips. It was never going to change and running was proof that I could beat it, but never cure it.

Barefoot & Minimalist running isn't new. In fact it's very, very old. African tribes have been chasing down their meals for thousands of years with no shoes on. The Tarahumara natives of Mexico wear cut up car tires as sandals on their 100+ mile runs. Olympians have been earning gold medals without shoes for decades. In fact, many say that we evolved to the level we're at now, because of our ability to outrun our food. This gave us reliable access to meat and let our brains grow to the size they are. So I thought I'd give it a shot. I've purchased a pair of Vibram FiveFingers Bikila LS. Those are the silly looking toe shoes that look like a cross between a ninja and a weirdo. FiveFingers emulate barefoot, while protecting you from glass, hot pavement and snow. The theory behind barefoot and minimalist running is to take your body back to what's in our DNA. Return to what those African tribes and Mexican natives already know and do everyday. The human foot has 26 bones, 33 joints and over 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments. da Vinci once said “The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art” and he's right. Used properly it is better than any arch supported, heel padding pair of Adidas. Your arch has a natural spring to it, with the correct stride your foot and bent knee take all of the impact of running and instead of transferring it into sore hips and backs they turn it into a forward spring, taking you further and faster. Supportive shoes not only allow, but encourage you to land heel first, pounding upto 6 times your body weight into your knees, hips and back. They are so padded that you can't even feel the damage they are doing, every step you take. Take away that restricting bubble around your foot and you'll be forced into proper human form within a few strides. Practice that for a few weeks or a month and before you know it, you'll be bouncing down city streets, along cottage trails and over sunny beaches, just like you remember doing as a child. I've found that 10 year old's joy again and all I had to do was simplify things. Strip out all of the extras and run.

If you're interested in learning to run barefoot or minimalist, here's some resources for you, that have helped me get started.

HowToRunBarefoot on YouTube

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

Birthday Shoes

Barefoot Ted on YouTube

And a couple of Facebook Groups:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/bareminimum/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/214273081795/

My New Years resolutions are to do the following things.

1. Run a marathon. I hope to do a half marathon (21km) in the spring and a full marathon (42km) in the fall. Probably will be the Scotiabank Marathon. I have started from square one this year, because I'm relearning how to run, using minimalist shoes, the Vibram FiveFingers I posted about last week.

2. Increase my income by 30-50%, by blogging and freelance community managment. I've started this process by taking on a few freelance clients, listed here. I have also taken up a few unpaid (for now) gigs to help increase experience and to network with people. I have many other projects in mind, to help work towards this goal.

3. Learn to "live in the moment". Meaning to focus on the task at hand and enjoy it for what it is. Cycling to work isn't a means to an end. It is an experience in itself and should be recognized as such. Doing the dishes, walking the dog, taking a shower. All beautiful things, if you stop your mind for a moment and appreciate them.

Thank you.

Last week I started working with a non-profit group, the Jack Russell Terrier Rescue of Ontario (JRTRO), to help spruce up their Facebook Page and help manage their community. A very passionate community as it turns out. But more on that in a minute.

We adopted Cora, our Jack Russell Terrier/Chihuahua mix, two months ago. I was dead set against getting a dog, but my better half had other ideas. Being the good man that I am, I broke down and we got a dog. Cora has turned out to be such a joy in our home. She's adorable, loving, playful and protective. All the things that you would want in a dog.

When we started looking for a dog, in early September, we visited the Toronto Humane Society. We were not impressed. The dogs were sick, dirty and locked up in cages for 23 hours a day. Mind you, they did have some crappy Top 40 station playing on a nearby radio, so it wasn't all bad. We then started looking on petfinder.com, which is like an aggregate site for hundreds of rescues, shelters and individuals, trying to find homes for pets. This led us to JRTRO.

Cathy and her team spent some time getting to know us and suggested Cora, based on our living situation and lifestyle. We met her and the rest is history. The story so far isn't what's special though, it was the next 2 months that separates JRTRO from the others. This group of ladies has been available day and night for questions and follow up. Emails, phone calls and Facebook messages have flown back and forth. "Cora's having trouble pooping! What should we do?" "Cora chased, caught and killed a squirrel in the park! Is she going to die?" (both true stories) and lots more. We're new pet owners and needed help! Cora's BMs have since improved and apparently eating a street rodent isn't usual fatal and we have the best little family we could ever imagine, thanks to Cora and JRTRO.

This brings me back to Pro Bono. As a "Thank You" to JRTRO, I've been helping them get a handle on Facebook, to help promote their group, support their new pet owners and find some homes for these Jack Russells. Besides it being a rewarding endeavour for me on a personal level, it's also taught me a thing or two about what true passion can do for a community.

I manage several Facebook pages and I think I do a pretty good job of it. Yet this small group of dog lovers have something really special going on here. They aren't social media mavens or Facebook fanatics, but yet their engagement and enjoyment is beyond anything I see on my other pages. Everything we post seems to get comments and likes within minutes of posting. Conversations are starting under every picture and every single one is postive and encouraging. I guess the lesson is that love is more important than fancy splash pages and perfectly timed posts. Key words, SEO and professional design can't compete with passion.

Base every decision you make on this lesson and I think we'll all be more successful. Cute animals can't hurt either.

PS. Help me out and spread the word about JRTRO. Like their page and if you know someone considering a pet, don't let them buy from a store. Adopt and rescue. It'll make you smile.

Shouldn't the Mayor of our city be proud that it didn't turn into the LA Riots or a UC Davis pepper spray shower? I think the Occupiers did a fabulous job of representing us on the world stage. No, their message wasn't a finely tuned Apple-esque marketing campaign. Yes, they might not shower as often as one would hope and the park did smell like it was 4:20 all day long. But I'm damn proud of Occupy TO.

I joined in the initial march to St. James Park and I visited the park a few times over the past two weeks. I may not support or even understand half of what they're fighting for, but God bless them for trying. I think we could all use a little more crazy in our lives. The status quo needs to be challenged sometimes even if means a man dressed as Jesus yelling into a megaphone about First Nations rights on the corner. If no one ever strayed from the safety of normalcy or pushed back a bit against the grain, where would we be as a society? Even if you disagree with what they're yelling, thank them for yelling it.

Leave it to me to rant on policitics and and relate it to Apple (twice), but Steve Jobs said it best:

I am an Instagram addict and diehard user. Both the community of Instagram as well as the app itself is really brilliant and keeps bringing me back for more. It's even earned itself a spot on my first homescreen on my iPhone. That could be a whole blog post on it's own. Moving right along.

In the pursuit of funkier filters, flashier frames and crazier controls, I downloaded Instant110. It's $1.99 in the App Store. It's very much a mashup of Camera+ and Instagram in that it offers lots of pre-set filters and frames, but it also offers some more advanced features such as a "Lightroom" where you can try different settings and export the photo to all of your other photography, editing and storage apps. After a few days of use I've found myself drawn to Instant110 to take, edit and frame my picture, before exporting it to Instagram to be posted (and then published, via ifttt.com, to Facebook and Twitter. More on ifttt.com in a future post.)

I've heard these filter apps described as "the auto-tune of photography" by the hosts of Full Frame, but I stand by the saying "the best camera is the one you have with you". Apps like Instant110 definitely make the iPhone a lot more fun, if not also more powerful of a camera. There are about 9 lens (1 costs extra), 5 films and 4 developement options (1 costs extra), which gives you 180 possible combinations. For $1.99, that's some good value. Peek the screenshots below and let me know what you think of the app in the comments. I'd love to see some of your photos too! Email them to me@alexf.ca and I'll post them in a follow up post.