Tuesday 30 September 2008

Woot - You may not need it, but it's often cheap...

I recently came across Woot.com during a search for a memory stick for my new camera. I never ended up in buying from them, but I did flag it as a site to visit regularly.

I now visit it daily. Here's a clip from their FAQ on the site.
I see only one item, do you sell anything else?
No. We sell one item per day until it is sold out or until 11:59pm central time when it is replaced (see next entry for details). However, each item we sell is in stock and typically ships within 2-3 business days.
What is the schedule for new items?
The short answer: we offer a new item every single day. The details: a new product is released every morning at 12am central time, seven days a week. (If you're not a morning person, this can be described as every night at midnight. Better?) If a product sells out during its run, a new item will not appear until the next release time. You will know if a product is sold out, because the main page says "SOLD OUT" instead of "I want one". (Clever, eh?)
I missed yesterday's item, can I still get one?
No. Each woot.com product is discontinued at 11:59pm central time. That's that. Period. We may get more at a later date if we're lucky, but we offer no guarantees, we allow no backorders, and we have no waiting/notification lists. Too bad.
So, essentially, they sell one item a day, for 24 hours, or until it's sold out.

Pretty simple, eh? Oh, and to see if it's actually a great deal, check here: Woot Compare

Sunday 28 September 2008

The Omnivore’s 100 - How many have you eaten?

Very Good Taste blog came up with a list of foods that they feel every omnivore should eat in their life time, and they labeled it the “Omnivore’s 100“.

Bold means you’ve eaten it, crossed out means you wouldn’t touch it in a million years.

So here is the list, along with my results.

Remember: bold means I’ve eaten it, strike out means I won’t eat it.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J; sandwich
14. Aloo gobi - I'm allergic to Cauliflower
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes - Again, I'm allergic.
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper - Um... no.
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake


Not too shabby... I've got 42 out of 100...

Sunday 21 September 2008

My First Race

I ran my first ever 5km run today...   The conditions were perfect for me, about 10C (or 50F), and I did better than I was aiming for.   

My longest run to date had been 3km in about 24 minutes, but that was no more than about 8 minutes at a time intersperced with 1 minute walking breaks.

Today, I did 5km in 31:49:80.   (That would be 3.10 miles)

I'm pretty happy with myself.

Thursday 11 September 2008

Your SSL certificate is expiring

So, I got an interesting call this morning.   I was on the phone, so it got left with our Office Admin.

 

She came up to me to tell me that XXXX from Comodo called because our SSL certificate from our web server was expiring.

 

To me, that’s very interesting, because Comodo isn’t providing our certificates.   As well, this server is only available to clients, and doesn’t appear in any search engine, etc. because everything is password protected.

 

I doubt I’m going to return that call, I’m quite happy with my current CA, but it does make me wonder how much luck they have with that cold calling schema.

 

Tuesday 9 September 2008

Decrypting PGP via a Notes Agent

So, a business requirement has reared its head this morning, and I have no idea if it’s even possible.

 

We use Domino in a Web App environment (No client UI) and are wondering if decrypting PGP via a Lotusscript/Java agent has been done through Notes.

 

Anyone?

 

Sunday 7 September 2008

Still in the Running

So, for those who read these, a few weeks ago, I started taking a running clinic at the Running Room. The Learn to Run program is for those people just getting into the sport.

We started off with 1 minute of running and 2 minutes of walking, the next week 1 minute of running and 1 minute of walking, the next 2 and 1 and have stepped up weekly from there.

Today marked the end of the week of 5 running and 1 walking. Me, I got separated from my group and ended up doing 11 minutes of running without a walking break. I could even carry on a conversation while doing it.

I feel great!