Today I thought I would post the websites that I enjoy reading. They are a diverse group of links but constitute the greatest amount of web traffic from me on a daily basis. Therefore, without further introduction I present the Friday, April 11 Links Edition.

MacRumors - a website dedicated to news and rumors surrounding Apple, Inc. The website features the latest information about your favorite company, reviews of new products, and a handy buying guide which will let you know whether you should wait just a few more weeks for that new computer/iPod/iPhone as a new version may be ready for release.

Digg - Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by our users. Everything on Digg — from news to videos to images to Podcasts — is submitted by their community (you and me, etc.). Once something is submitted, other people see it and Digg what they like best. If your submission rocks and receives enough Diggs, it is promoted to the front page for the millions of our visitors to see.

Weather.com - It's always good to know the forecast.

The Art of Manliness - A blog dedicated to uncovering the lost of being a man. Generation X and Y is a generation of Lost Boys. We live in a Never-Never-Land where boys stay boys and never become men. More and more males today are putting off college, family, and adult responsibilities in order to play video games and do keg stands. Don’t believe me that today’s man is lost? How about some numbers? 1) 2/3 of men in the U.S. are overweight or obese. 2) Men only make up 42 percent of U.S. college students. 3) The average male carries around $2,369 in credit-card debt. 4) Three out of ten drink too much. 5) A majority of males between the ages of 30 and 18 receive greater financial support from their parents and has more debt than previous generations. 6) The average adult man plays video games 7.6 hours per week. The Art of Manliness is dedicated to helping men uncover what manliness means in the 21st century. What skills and knowledge should a 21st Century man acquire? What traits should they develop? In the search to uncover the lost art of manliness, they look to the past to find examples of manliness in action. They analyze the lives of great men who knew what it meant to “man up” and hopefully learn from them.

Macworld - Another website dedicated to Apple, Inc. However the focus of this site is more on reviews, tips, and articles about how to best incorporate technology into your life. Here you will find tips, hints, and ideas to best make the products you own today best work for you.

Wired - A site dedicated to anything technology related. From the obscure to the mainstream, from lawsuits to anime. It's all here.

CrossFit - CrossFit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide. This program delivers a fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive. Their specialty is not specializing. Combat, survival, many sports, and life reward this kind of fitness and, on average, punish the specialist. The CrossFit program is designed for universal scalability making it the perfect application for any committed individual regardless of experience. They have used the same routines for elderly individuals with heart disease and cage fighters one month out from televised bouts. They scale load and intensity; they don’t change programs.

Hulu - Hulu's ambitious and never-ending mission is to help you find and enjoy the world's premium content when, where and how you want it. This site hopes to provide you with the web's most comprehensive selection from more than 50 content providers including FOX, NBC, MGM, Sony Pictures Television, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, and more to deliver premium programming across all genres and formats, television shows, feature films, and clips. Watch full-length episodes of current primetime TV shows such as The Simpsons and The Office the morning after they air, classics like Miami Vice and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and clips from Saturday Night Live, Nip/Tuck, and others. Hulu also offers full-length feature films like The Usual Suspects, Ice Age, Three Amigos!, and The Big Lebowski as well as clips from films such as Napoleon Dynamite, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Devil Wears Prada and many more. Hulu is free and ad-supported — available anytime in the U.S.

For those of you that don't know, I ride a motorcycle. It is my primary means of transportation and the perfect accessory for my life here in Southern California. Here is my bike:

A BMW F650CS. It's a great bike that works perfectly in the city. Great gas mileage, easy to maintain, and small enough to slide in between traffic when the roads get clogged. However, I had been having some trouble starting the bike recently and eventually had to bring the bike into my local dealer to get the starter replaced. Not too expensive, but necessary nonetheless. While my bike was having work done on it, the dealer loaned me one of their new bikes, a 2007 F800ST.



What a bike. I never realized how little power my commuter bike had until I tried this puppy out. And to think that this isn't even considered a big bike. It was a pretty fun experience. Where normally I have to shift out of first gear if I want to even have a chance at speeding up, with the 800 I was able to ride in first for what seemed forever before the bike whined for me to upshift. And the clutch and throttle are touchy. The clutch engages super early whereas on the 650 I have quite a bit of play. And the throttle of the 800 is super responsive. If you twitch your hand just a bit you will find yourself flying down the road. But that's a good thing right? At least on the 800 it is, because with the active stabilization and other enhancements of this bike highway speeds are smooth sailing. Plus, add in a 6th gear and the ride is silky smooth.

Sadly, I had to return the bike when my own ride was finally repaired. It was amazing, I couldn't believe the difference between the two. I felt like I was riding a sagging old horse compared to the 800. But that's okay too. I only need to get from point A to point B. How I get there really doesn't matter. Besides, in the end, a little less power is probably better for me anyway.

Today has been gorgeous. I woke up early with the boys and hung out. Noting too serious, just letting them walk around and then getting in some reading. The new Wired magazine came in the mail, so I've been diving into that. Wired, by far, is my favorite of the magazines I receive. The funny thing is that I received it as more of a last ditch effort to use some expiring air miles. Turned out to be a good decision. Anyway back to the day. So I read for a few hours and did some studying before Jack started bouncing off the walls. As anyone with dogs will know, if you don't exercise them you are in for some trouble.

The boys and I went running about 11:30am over at the regular trail. It's nothing special but it works. There is a dog park on the edge of Balboa Park which connects to a trail system. We are able to go running on the trail and when we come back the boys go play at the park. It's a win-win situation because I get in some exercise, the dogs get to use some energy, and then they get to socialize.

So we played at the park after the walk and then I went inline skating for an hour. And now I've just been back here at the house studying. Today was in the 80s and sunny by the way. Gotta love sunny SoCal.

We've decided to put ceiling fans in the house to help save on energy costs during the summer. The idea is that with some open windows and fans to move the air around the house we'll be able to drop our electricity bill to below $100 during the hot months. The would certainly be nice as we were paying nearly twice that last summer. So we'll see. I've been able to find a good deal on a basic fan for about $58. Nothing special, just a fan that works. So I'll try to install that once it arrives. As for prepping for the install. You can see the boys are quite interested as I look at the ceiling mounting brackets.

Today I went with my Environmental Law class to see the San Diego Water Treatment facility at Point Lloma. The trip consisted of a tour of the facility and how the waste from the San Diego County is treated before it is released into the ocean. One item worthy of note, the facility was designed in such a way that with the use of gravity and useful energy generating ideas such as reusing methane gas to heat the plant and hydroelectricity from water flowing through the plant's pipes the treatment facility is not only self-sufficient energy wise but it in fact is a energy supplier to the city of San Diego. Obviously some engineer was using their head when they designed this plant.

P.S. Goodbye to another day!