Okay, so you have a web site or blog and you want to spread the word. You also want to let people easily add the URL of your site to their browser's bookmarks and your RSS feed to the reader of their choice. In the age of the Easy Button you can't expect folks to actually click two or three times to do this, oh no. Now you need to supply them with single click functionality.

Enter AddThis.

Problem solved. No more lists of buttons and hogging precious web page real estate, now you just have one button that let's people add your site or feed to whatever they happen to be using.

About one year ago Shelley took me to the Ace Hotel for a night of urban camping. It was a blast! So a couple of weeks ago I started looking around for another fun place to shack up on this special occasion. And I found it: Hotel Max.

I read some reviews and they said it had lots of great art, was kind of funky and had really great beds. Say no more.

It was so much fun! We got room service for dinner, some beer and chocolate from a deli down the street, spilled soup all over my jacket and a chair, lit candles and watched a movie.

The next day we slept in (which feels totally luxurious on a week day) and then drove home and went to work. For a half day. :)

Here are all the pictures, I'm bummed I didn't take more. This is one nice place.

After a stressful week I thought I would treat myself to a massage today. Actually I called on Tuesday and pleaded for them to get me in as soon as possible. As soon as possible was 5 days later. I get things done, people. That's all I'm saying. If you want dinner reservations for say, next month sometime - you know who to call.

I show up at Spa Scotta early and go to their Quiet Room. I grab a water from the fridge and am almost tempted to rip open a bag of complimentary Ruffles on the table (Ruffles? Really? At the spa?) but I figured the crunching and bag-crackling would be kinda anti-quiet room of me. I'm lead back to the room, meet my masseuse, she's nice enough, it smells good, the chimey-Japanese-lute music is playing, I hear a small babbling brook in the distance. Masseuse girl leaves the room. I get naked and get under the blanket on my back. Mustering my relaxed face. Girl comes back in turns the lights down. Walks to the closet. I see her chewing something. It's not gum. Flashes through my mind Oh no she did not just finish her lunch in the breakroom. She's going to pop a mint certainly. She knows not to ruin my flow with lunch breath. No mints are popped. She's at the head of the massage table beginning with my neck and sure thing, I get a whiff of some meaty Kung Pao chicken. I immediately want my money back. Who does that!? I'm supposed to be all sniffing on some essential oils, listening to the creek, the fake birds, melting my cares away. Not this. I did not request the garlic dip. That shit belongs in the quiet room with the Ruffles, honey.

To me, this is a basic rule. Maybe I'm wrong. I remember my sister telling me a story of when she was in aestheticians school. The girls would get a break during the day. Some used this break to study, others get a drink, what have you. One lady used her break to pop to the shop next door for some ciggies and a chili-cheese dog with jalapeno's. My brain just sort of goes blank at that point. What on earth. Can you imagine the same fingers that had just held a Parliament and choked down a hot dog rubbing all up and down your face applying a clay mask? I realize beauty school offers some severely discounted treatments on a count of the learning curve but those poor folks needed to get paid for that trauma.

OK, so it wasn't ball parks and cigarettes but it wasn't lavender and it was about 6 inches from my face. She eventually moved down to the arms, legs and feet. And then thankfully I got to turn over and put my face in the donut. Wherein I made sure to sniff heartily as it was doused with eucalyptus. The damage was done. And god damn, I really wanted that massage to transport me to nirvana. I got about as far as PF Chang's.

Who knew a feather boa was not only good looking but good for you too... Clearly I need to rethink this whole cycling routine I have going and give burlesque equal consideration. Think of all the fabulous outfits I would be able to wear! Plus I might get tips, no none tips you when you ride your bike, that's for sure...

The Goddess Workout - Cardio Burlesque "Whip"

Just say no to boring old Lycra.

What would we do without the Internet? Well for one we'd all be wasting gobs of money on expensive tripods and taking blurry pictures. Thank heavens we have it. Say hello to the $1 image stabilizer for your camera:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1041948/1_image_stabilizer_for_any_camera_lose_the_tripod/

I have not had a cell phone (or Handy as some people like to call them) for that long; all my friends had one first. Now that I've had a few I can say without reservation that some are great and some absolutely suck. Not just sorta sucky like a non-intuitive interface or menu, but really sucky like poor reception, crap battery life, cheap construction and outrageously priced accessories. The Motorola PEBL:

that I have right now keeps falling more and more into the later category. These days the only cool thing about it is the small size and rounded corners when closed. I used to have a couple of Nokia phones and loved them. The antenna was awesome and they had the features I wanted. I even had one that was water and shock resistant, had a compass, thermometer and flashlight! It was like a Swiss Army knife and phone combined and was my favorite so far.

Since I did not want to hassle with getting [insert your favorite phone here] and then dealing with T-Mobile to activate it on their network and since a co-worker of mine already has one and I was able to hold it and play with it and since I have been wanting a smart phone for some time now I finally decided to pull the trigger on a Dash:

Oo... ah... But really, what does it get me? For an extra $20/month (unlimited Internet) I will get email, the web, minimalist versions of the most popular Microsoft Office applications and a full keyboard. Oh yeah, and the larger size that goes along with it.

But I'm still excited; like a kid who is about to get a birthday present! We'll see how long the honeymoon lasts with this piece of technology - maybe it's just me that sucks after all.

Shelley: "Have you ever heard of Twitter...?"

Martin: "Yes."

Shelley: "Can you add it to our blog?"

Martin: "Dunno, let me give it a try."

And guess what, it's not that hard. You can now see my tweets on the right hand side of the home page. This is pretty fun, I especially like being able to post (really, really small) updates to the blog from my phone. I was able to do this within minutes of signing up with Twitter. Cuz you know, everyone needs to know what Martin is up to at all times.

incredible.

You know how sometimes hearing just the right song at just the right time can mix the chemicals in your blood just so and fire the neurons in your brain just right and turn you into a weeping baby? That just happened to me. Holy crap, the human body is way too complicated...

But to the point of this post - what made me feel this way is also freaking cool! Check it out:

http://www.theunseenvideo.com/video/youmakemefeel.html

This is Mike Milosh performing "You Make Me Feel" and the song is amazing. The video is also amazing as it changes depending on your geographic location and the weather you are currently experiencing.

Now that - in my humble opinion - is what the Internet is for.

Once you try dual displays you'll never go back. That and other universal truths will soon be available in my new book...

Seriously, one thing that has always bugged me is the inability of Windows to natively show you different images on your various displays; or to be able to stretch one image across multiple displays. Well along comes DisplayFusion. Problem solved. Sometimes it's the little things.

Thanks to tech R I V E T for that one.

Every year cycling teams get presented to the press when the new season gets underway. Sponsors - especially new ones - love the exposure and it's a chance for interviews, autograph signing and lots of picture taking. Here in the US teams usually show up to these events in their matching sweat suits and running shoes. Maybe the entire team even has on matching wicking briefs.

Well let's look at how the Italians do this. Here is team LPR Brakes at their formal presentation. Nice.

Say hello to Euro style and a Euro pro team budget.

There's more than one cycling nerd besides me at the Information School where I work so it should not be too surprising that one of them walked in to my office today and informed me that Sheldon Brown had passed away. Sure enough, you can read about it here.

My only real contact or interaction with this guy was one long email exchange on some techy bike list some years ago and I vividly recall how adamant he was that you only EVER needed one brake on a bicycle. That being the front brake. No amount of real-world examples that I had experienced would convince him otherwise.

The guy sure was an icon in the bicycle industry and a very unique individual, I wish his wife and kids all the best. Working in a bike shop is not exactly going to leave his family a big nest egg if you get what I'm saying.

Some things that stood out to me when I was browsing his vast collection of bicycles were a fixed-gear tandem and a fixed gear with a Biopace chainring. That takes balls.

Here it is, my dream laptop. Until next month anyway...

http://gizmodo.com/346797/ultralight-lenovo-x300-series-thinkpad-leaked

I was just talking to our Lenovo rep today and this unit will be available with a SATA hard drive a few weeks after release which is my preference. SSD is fast and bomber but too still small in my opinion.

The X300 will come with the following:

• A touchpad (also my preference) in addition to the pointer. Don't know why but  I have never liked pointers...
• A 7 mm (down from 9 mm) DVD-RW. It's still the kind with a 'drawer' that ejects and not the ultra thin model you see in the new little Dell XPS or iMac. The smaller size means it is not modular though and so can't be replaced. I'm fine with that, that's what the warranty is for. And who upgrades the optical drive in their laptop anyway.
• 3 USB ports. Thank god, I hate it when manufacturers skimp on the most important port there is.
• integrated webcam and microphone. Nice! Apple and Dell have this as well and it seems like one of the best new things to come along on ages. If you're going to make a portable device, why not make it work with all the stuff people like to use like IM, Skype, etc. without needing to plugs tons of crap in?
• Fingerprint reader. Until you have used this you have no idea just how cool/convenient it is so shut up already.
• A real keyboard. There is a limit to how small I am willing to go and this is it.
• Ditto with the display. This one is 1440x900 and that's plenty not to have to scroll left and right (the worst) or even up and down on most web sites.

Other than using the latest Intel CPU (lower voltage and thus cooler) and Santa Rosa chipset (compatible with 802.11n, etc.) , this looks just like a regular ThinkPad that has been put on a diet.

How much is it? Well, that's the million dollar question now isn't it and the answer is still a couple of weeks away.

Oh sure, there is lots out there that is smaller but Martin don't play that. Stuff like the ASUS Eee PC [That's pronounced "Eek, that's a damn small computer!"] and the Apple MacBook Air [Yikes...! A 4200 rpm HDD?! Better wait until the next version.] is sure cute and Apple rules when it comes to coining terminology like "Thinnovation" and using great songs in their adds but too small and too slow is just that.

Oh my. I think this blog needs some Female Influence. No offense, Martin. Your 'Windows Server 2003 with IIS 6' and 'Response Write FormatDateTime( Now(), 2)' is very impressive but you need to sit down. Good grief, what does that even mean? Ouch.

Anyway, for all you NORMAL EARTHLINGS: you're welcome.

While I wait for my meds to kick in on the inflamed knee, I've decided to jump back into the Bikram Yoga. I don't know why. I hate myself? Maybe that's it. I think because it's the easiest access and most familiar of the yoga studios in my area. I've been debating going to Santosha Yoga in Madison Park but I missed their beginner session, at least until next go 'round in March. So, let's sweat our brains out, ya'll!

I haven't been doing much (read:any) exercising in the last month and a half so suffice to say, I'm Rusty. But Sweet Pickles, I didn't think I needed a tetanus shot.

I had to get psyched to go to class. I was pumped around noon on Monday, hydrating, looking forward to the strenuous concentration that class would surely bring but quickly lost my focus around 6 when I finally got home. And was hungry. You aren't supposed to eat before class. Empty stomach is best. 105 degree heat & twisting yourself into a Fisherman's Knot tends to curdle anything in the guts. Go figure.

I entered. I picked my place in the front cause it actually helps me to see myself in the mirror. I smelled the smell. The carpet-sweat, warm yeast smell. The one I'd been complaining to Martin about ever since I admitted I was thinking about going to class again. "It's the SMELL! I can't abide!" It's not BO, it's slow-simmered lycra bodysuit with crystal rock deodorant stick. It's not rank. Like, "Whoa, who's got the funky sweatsocks?" It's a damply-aged internal brew. It permeates your yoga mat and towel. It's insidious. A sweaty, sweaty, smell. Dog Carpet. It's dog carpet. That's the best I can do.

Slowly, it all became very familiar. Taking my cleansing breaths at the beginning of class, I immediately wanted to leave. Just like every other time - huzzah! I hung in for about 4 asanas and then felt the room spinning and had to lay down on my towel. I took great pride in being the first to hit the deck because not 5 seconds later, 6 others laid down, too. Holding out, not wanting to be the first loser. I have no problem being a loser. I learned that Loser Lesson the hard way in 2000 in Tai Chi class at Naropa University. Remind me to tell that story later. Fun times. No, I'd rather swallow my pride than faint, thankyouverymuch. I realized the place I had laid my towel was near an air vent that, when I laid down with my head near it, was blowing sweet cool air straight from baby Jesus. A tiny rogue force in the face of the satanic heat poaching my body . Would it be wrong to press my face against this vent? To french kiss this vent? Oh, whatever. I got up, did a few more poses and then had to lay back down again. A little closer to the vent this time. I repeated this ridiculousness for the rest of class. At least until we got to the non-standing portion. Where at least, I figured, I was already on the floor. Not much harm in that.

I just could not hang today. True, I hadn't been to class for over 6 months. I bought the 5-class punch card so I have at least 4 more to go. I have to find my motivation even if it's financial.

That's what my friend's doctor just told him. Tony C (that's my friend) is going to need to have his hip replaced.

Now other than reading about Floyd Landis and his hip, I know next to nothing about this procedure and it sounds at best pretty damn scary and confusing. Tony was told he's going to have the  procedure in May and then it's six months of recovery.

ASIDE - imagine walking into your doctor's office and having him drop this bomb. That's exactly how it went down. "Your hip has to go, we can schedule the procedure in May." No segue, no sugar coating, just the short,sharp heart punch.

Now I must be one of the luckiest people around because other than my back - which I'm only now starting to realize is a lifelong deal - I have never had to take six months to recover from anything. Most of my friends have all broken bones, had a concussion, you name it. But me? I complain when I can't exercise for more than one week. Just ask Shelley what it's like when we go on a vacation. And when I say 'vacation' I of course mean travel to exotic locations and do stuff like hike for a week on one of the hardest trails in the world or ride a week long mountain bike stage race. Even when we went to Kauai last spring I was still whining about sitting around as much as we did. Man, I must suck to vacation with.

But enough about me, this is about Tony; and his hip. Here is what the doctor told him he was going to get:

http://www.biomet.com/hcp/prodpage.cfm?s=090F&p=0D03

With features like, "maximizes ROM", and, "One piece cobalt chrome design", how can you go wrong? Wait, what about this one here, "Simple Instrumentation". Huh...?! In this day and age you need to not only know how to shop for a car and a house but for your frigging hip! Nothing like sweating that decision. Jesus.

To top it off his doctor told him his other hip is about 10-15 years away from needing replacement as well. Nice. Ever had your wisdom teeth out? Any other really fun procedure? Now imagine having to look forward to that procedure again. Kinda puts everything else into perspective.

I've done this a few times now but I wanted to write it all down so that I would have a reference guide. There are instructions available on the dasBlog web site but I think mine are a little more complete.

To level the playing field I need to make some assumptions. I'm assuming that you are performing a clean/fresh install of dasBlog 2.0 on a Windows Server 2003 computer running IIS 6 and that IIS is setup in the default mode and not in Isolation Mode. It's also assumed that you have the .NET framework 2.0 installed on the server and that you have enabled ASP.NET 2.0 for the site you want to use dasBlog in. Also, I prefer NOT to run the 'automatic' VBS script and to do the install manually. Lastly, it's assumed that you already have a web site configured with a unique host header and that you want this blog to be located at mysite.com/blog. Here goes.

• Download the latest version of dasBlog from here:

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=127624

• Unzip the files to any directory and then copy the dasblogce folder to the root of your site.
• Give the NETWORK SERVICE account the Modify permission on the content, siteconfig, and logs subdirectories of dasblogce.
• Go to the SiteConfig directory in dasblogce and open the site.config file. In that file you will need to change some settings. The most important change is to set the <Root> value to the proper URL for your weblog so per my example here you would change it to http://www.mysite.com/blog/. If you are experienced enough to add another host header to your site and you control DNS for your domain then you can make this anything you like. You can also change the <NotificationEMailAddress> to your email address, the <Title> to whatever you want the title of your blog to be, the <Contact> to your email address and the <Copyright> to your name.
• Open Internet Information Services Manager and create a virtual directory called "blog" for your site. Point it to the dasblogce directory. Make sure the permission are Read and Run scripts. Now go to the properties of this virtual directory and add the default document "default.aspx" and move it to the top of the list.
• Open siteSecurity.config in the same directory and set up your own account with a proper password. You will want to edit the first <User> that has the role of admin. Change <Name> to whatever you want your login name to be, change <Password> to whatever you want your password to be, change <DisplayName> to your name and change <EmailAddress> to your email address.
• Now fire up a browser and go to your blog. The first visit will take a couple of seconds but it will load after it performs the initial configuration.

The rest is all customization. The first thing you will want to do is pick a theme. If you find one you love, great! Or you can find one that is close and customize it. More on that later.

I see said the blind man to his deaf friend... whatever. I always thought that joke was kind of like getting hit over the head with a blunt object anyway. The point (which is totally unrelated to this intro) is that we are frequently blind to the truth when it's staring us right in the face.

Andy (one of my co-workers) recently underwent some disaster training here at the UW. This means he is now qualified to wear a dayglo hat on his head, a whistle around his neck and carry a clipboard so he can check off the names of people that died in the earthquake and were not able to run out of the building. During this training he was given an emergency preparedness kit which contained among other things some matches, a flashlight, a first aid kit and this energy bar. Yesterday he noticed it was past the expiration date and was going to toss it but I intercepted it. That's right, no food bar is too stale for Martin "let me shove that in my mouth and to hell with the consequences" Criminale.

Now I know it's silly but I usually associate energy bars with a healthy lifestyle meaning that they are relatively good for you. Most have a good ratio of carbohydrate to protein and fat and some are vitamin fortified as well. This bar blows that theory out of the water.

First of all,check out the name, "New Millennium Energy Bar". It sounds either like something that is really new or something that is supposed to last through the millennium. I'm thinking it's the later. And they vacuum pack this thing like it's going to need to survive some sort of crash test or break the underwater submersion record for a food bar:

Can you see how tight the wrapper is around the bar? And that's no ultra thin Mylar like PowerBar uses, no sir. I could use those edges to scrape the frost off of my windshield. Enough foreplay, let's open this thing up.

Wow, that doesn't look anything like any energy bar I have ever seen... Why, it looks like a cookie; shortbread actually. So I took a bite and while I was chewing I turned it over and read the ingredients.

Damn, it is shortbread.

Nutrition Facts: Calories 409, Protein 8g, Carbohydrates 53g, Fat 19g.

Ingredients: Wheat flour, Vegetable shortening, Cane and Corn Sugars, Dried Coconut, Corn Starch, Corn Syrup, Natural Flavors.

The firs thing that I noticed was that it contained 409 calories...?! What other energy bar has that many? Then I saw that it contained fully 2/3 of your daily recommended intake of fat. Ah... now things are a little more clear. This is an 'energy' bar in the sense that is supposed to keep you alive, not in the sense that it is supposed to be good quality fuel when you are sweatin' to the oldies on your indoor trainer or trying to set a new PR at the local century. Nope, this is all about how to pack the most fuel into the smallest package and keep it dirt cheap at the same time. The solution? Flour and shortening. Nice.

Lastly I had to check out the company that makes these things, S.O.S. Food Lab, Inc. Yikes! Prepare yourself for full-on FrontPage web site hell. Does that rainbow colored, arching text remind you of Microsoft Publisher...? Oh yes, it does.

So what did this thing taste like? Just like cherry flavored shortbread. And did I eat it all? Of course. I hate myself.