SteveCook.net

“This is the Ferrari 355. The best car in the world. Ever.”
- Jeremy Clarkson

The beautiful Argento Nurburgring (silver) 1999 Ferrari 355 F1 Berlinetta arrived the weekend before last – on a truck from Scottsdale, where FMS Motorsports did a top-to-bottom (or was it bottom to top?) Pre-Purchase Inspection. Other than a few minor things (motor mounts – which I had them replace), the car is in great condition.

I’m still working on getting the F1 shifting down to a smooth and fast operation, but I’m getting better. The manual throttle blips on the downshift are great for working left-foot braking.

We originally planned on keeping the 308, but since kicking Janet’s Porsche “to the curb”, she’s getting weary of getting into a hot Cayenne… So, if a good offer comes along, I may part with it. I’m not in a rush, since it’s a “famous” car – it was on the cover of the 308 book!

So, last week HJ asked about any software to help track a weight loss competition (you know, like the Biggest Loser on NBC). He looked and couldn’t find a free one, then I looked around and couldn’t find a free one. There’s a couple out there that “look” free, but once you try to do anything (like actually have competitors in a challenge), they want to charge you.

So, I had an old diet domain that I bought a couple years ago called TrackDiet.com and though hmmm… this might be fun, so late last week and this weekend I finished the beta version of TrackDiet.com Weight Loss Challenges.  It’s just the basics for now (with some ajaxy jquery goodness thrown in), but I’ll add more features as more people sign up.  Feel free to check it out and let me know what you think.

About a month ago I was looking for a new book to read and found “The Lost Fleet: Dauntless” (Jack Campbell) from a few reviews on Amazon and Audible. I started with the audio book, and enjoyed the story quite a bit. It’s basically a story of a soldier that has been in hibernation/suspended-animation sleep for 100 years.  He was the commander of a ship that was destroyed in a sneak attack from the “syndicate” worlds – that starts a war that’s still going on after he wakes up.

It examines what can happen to a society (and the military) after 100 years and multiple generations of war have decimated both sides. It does take things to the extremes a little bit beyond what I’d think would be likely – I don’t think military tactics would be completely gone…  But aside from that, it’s entertaining and an enjoyable read. I’ve read the first three books (of the series of 6), and the final three have yet to be written.  They’re all enjoyable and so far the story arc includes some interesting thoughts as to the reason for the war and what’s causing it to last so long.

The only thing I didn’t really enjoy was the amount of repetitious descriptions of time-delays. The first book constant reminds you of how long it takes to communicate at great distances. I think most readers “get it” after the second, if not the first, explanation – but the first book brings it up repeatedly. It’s less in the second book, and even less in the third, which is good, because it seriously would have put me off if it continued.

If you enjoy sci-fi, and space battles in particular, I’d recommend the series, either on Audible or paperback.

I also finally read Ender’s Shadow, and it was very, very good.  If you’ve read Ender’s Game and then were not impressed with Xenocide, I’d still recommend Ender’s Shadow. It’s great.

So, over the past few months I’ve been trying to increase my work efficiency while programming and working on the computer. I’ve started trying using more shortcuts and a few utilities to help me work better. You know, put the “work smarter not longer” saying to the test. Here are some of the things I’ve found the most useful.

• Launch Utilities
  I’ve tried several “Launcher” type applications. All the ones I tried worked well, and have their plusses and minuses.  To me, the thing that slows me down the most is moving my hand off the keyboard and to my trackball (it’s a trackball because I always know exactly where it is – my hand doesn’t subconsciously have to search for it). My favorite launcher is now The Enso Launcher. It’s available for free at http://humanized.com/enso/launcher/ 
• Keyboard Shortcuts for IE
  A full list is available at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306832
  I’ve found that CTRL-E is one of the most useful – takes cursor to search box.
  CTRL-TAB is nice for switching between tabs. I actually keep a couple IE windows open with fewer tabs, depending on what I’m working on – making ctrl-tab even more useful.
  CTRL-L is basically the address bar.
• Keyboard Shortcuts for Firefox
  A nice list is available at: http://www.mouserunner.com/FF_Shortcuts1Printable.html
  I like CTRL-K for going to search box and ctrl-UP and ctrl-DOWN to switch sites to search.
• Upgrade Your Life
  The lifehacker.com book is FULL of helpful items to make you more efficient.
  Available at Amazon.