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I’ve never been too excited about OS X’s Mail for GMail as I use tags extensively for GTD (based on this) and Mail seemed so… Outlook. My main reason for this is that Mail uses folders to represent tags, forcing me to choose just one tag instead of a Reference, Project, Context and Action. Overall, Google spends lots of time fine-tuning their web interface for GMail, and I’ve been pretty happy.

Then I came across an interesting OS X client for GMail: Sparrow.app.  Sparrow aims to be lightweight but have the “right” features, integrates with things like Growl seamlessly, and allows me to monitor and quickly “do, delegate, delay or delete” things that hit my inbox. I’ve liked it so much that I ended up buying it from the App Store.

It’s not without it’s faults, and after reading Alan Hogan’s article about the improvements to Mail in Lion, I may play around with Mail again. I’m not sure that I can get over the tags-are-folders nature of Mail, but it’s good to see there are options.

Posted in: Productivity, Reviews by damon /
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I’m sorry it’s come to this. I sent this email to Vibram 2 weeks ago, but have not heard a response. I suppose they don’t have to care because of the popularity of their FiveFingers product.  Well, I’d be curious to hear from others about durability issues.

Here was my letter:

Hello,

Posted in: Reviews by damon / Tags: vibram fivefingers

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As I drove in to work in Santa Fe this rainy October morning, I was craving a breakfast burrito.  I pulled out my BlackBerry and a quick Google search rendered some site called BooRah with a page about breakfast burritos in Santa Fe. If you’ve ever tried using your BlackBerry web browser for any site not designed for 1st generation cell phone browsers, you’ll understand that I really couldn’t figure out what it was saying.

So I texted my friend who lives in “the city different” who recommended Tia Sophia, Santa Fe Baking Company and some other place. Having gotten food poisoning from a (very tasty) burrito from Santa Fe Baking Co, I opted for Tia Sophia.

Located off the plaza, I was lucky to find parking right in front.  I owe the rare rainstorm and 8 AM arrival.  The ambiance is cozy New Mexican; not over done, but clean and authentic.  I was surprised that their breakfast burrito does not come with eggs by default.  I joked that a breakfast burrito without an egg was just a burrito.  The woman–who I gather is the owner–replied that they invented the breakfast burrito in 1975 (a “fact” reported by the NY Times), and lots of people ask for it without an egg.  Still, it’s just a burrito without the egg.  I’m also a bit fan of carne adovada breakfast burritos, but have learned to not discount a place that sticks to more gringo meats.

Anyway, my order was a bacon breakfast burrito with an egg, smothered Christmas.  With a coffee, it ended up being ~$11.  The burrito was by no means large, but I wasn’t worried about starving.  The green was tasty and relatively mild.  The red was a little too flour-y but not bad.  The potatoes were the shredded hash-brown style, and well cooked. The bacon was thick, cooked just right (well cooked but a bit chewy).

Overall, I’d go back to this place and sit down. Though expensive by Albuquerque standards, it was reasonable for a place spitting distance from the Santa Fe Plaza.  The atmosphere and staff were great and the burrito was good.

Posted in: Reviews by damon / Tags: Breakfast Burrito

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This is part of my multi-day review of the Vibram Five Fingers “shoes”.  Check out day 1, day 2 and day 3.

My first weekend in Vibram FiveFingers has come and gone.  As usual, the weekend was too short, but I did get a fair amount done.

Fridays are one of the days I work from home.  One of the advantages of this is that I can sneek out for a quick workout without having to do it super early or late.  Since I was feeling quite springy, I decided it was the day to try running in my new shoes.  As I mentioned earlier, I am not a runner.  Not even close.  One of my many goals in starting to run was improving my gawd-awful duck-footted heel-stomp form.  Well, FiveFingers to the rescue.  Sort of.  I still don’t know what truly “proper” running form is, but I’m damn sure that barefooting encourages it.  You simply can’t run on your heels while bearfoot or wearing the FiveFingers.  Nor can you really under- or over-pronate.  As far as I could tell, my running form improved 90% in a simple 20 minute run (keep in mind that 10% still leaves a lot of improvement for me).

Within the first 5 minutes of running I could tell I’d have to keep it short.  Because I was running on the balls of my feet for the first time since possilby pre-school, my calves were burning.  I pushed through my normal (weak) 2 mile run and could immediately “feel the burn”.  One of my Twitter friends–”tweeps”, if you will–described it as being “shot in the calves”.  It’s 3 days later, and my calves are still amazingly stiff/sore.  I’m stretching 2-3 times a day just to keep my range of motion.  Apparently I have a LOT of calf building to do.

Friday evening I headed to the Jemez Mountains of NM for some camping and climbing at Los Conchas.  Walking around in nature in the FiveFingers is pretty damn cool.  As many people have put it, I felt incredibly “connected with nature” walking around.  The only problem was that the meadow where we camped sees some bovine traffic.  I managed to dip my toes in a somewhat fresh cow-pie.  It was as gross as you’d expect.  Fortunately there was a small creek where I could wash my foot and shoe.  Because they’re lightweight material, they washed out and dried pretty fast.

Saturday at Los Conchas I stayed bearfoot between climbs, even scrambling around a bit.  Before this week, I’d always slapped my Keens on while not in my climbing shoes.  In jumping around on rocks, I managed to cut up my feet a bit on some of the sharper shrubs.  Oops.

Still getting multiple comments per day on shoes.  I really believe there will be a “tipping point” very soon with these, similar to that we’ve seen with Keens, Chacos, and even those ugly Crocs.

Posted in: Reviews by damon / Tags: barefoot, vibram fivefingers

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Yesterday was day 3 with my Vibram Five Fingers “shoes”.  Check out day 1 and day 2.

My feet, as expected, are still a little sore as rearly used muscles get a workout.  It’s no more sore than my feet are after moderate hikes.  I’ve not heeded the advice of others by easing myself into them; I work at a computer most days so I figure wearing them all day won’t present as much risk.  Despite very slight foot fatigue, day 3 was marked with this overwhelming urge to run or jump around on stuff.  These things make you feel like a Ninja.

In meeting with some friends last night, I was subjected to some expected chiding over the “funky socks”.  One friend refused to refer to them as shoes.  Fair enough.  Every time there was a quitet moment, someone would interupt with “I can’t deal with those funky things”.

The other big test last night was walking around my friend’s yard.  It’s full of goat heads; this was the first big “foot safety” test.  They passed with flying colors.  Admittedly I wasn’t running, but they accumulated about 5 goat heads in a stroll around his yard, with none making it past the Vibram rubber soles.  In theory I could see a goat head making it between one’s toes, but that’s about it.  I guess a really long goat head might make it through, too.

I didn’t make it running this AM.  I might take a pre-lunch run.  Tonight I’m headed to the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico for some car camping and rock climbing.  Looking forward to give them an “outdoors” test.

Posted in: Reviews by damon / Tags: barefoot, vibram fivefingers

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If you’re just tuning in, here’s day 1

So, day 2 of my Vibram FiveFingers shoes.  I’m surprised that my feet aren’t more sore.  It’s not to say that they aren’t sore, but after a couple of reviews I read, I was expecting worse.  Today I really started noticing how much I’d grown accustom to a heel-toe, duck-foot stomp.  I guess having a big cushion on your heel makes one not reallize how jarring it is.  I’d read that your gait/stride would change over the first week.  I’ve noticed in the first day.

It was a pretty hellish day at work, and my only reprieve was a lunchtime walk from work around Santa Fe’s plaza.  It was just over a mile, but I figured that I’d rather not push it and be crawling back if something “happened”.  No such worries.   If I get the chance tomorrow (and my shin splints are gone), I might try to jog tomorrow.

Oh, and I’m still refining my “what are those and why are you wearing them?” speech.  Good thing; based on the number of people asking about them, I’ll need it.

Posted in: Reviews by damon / Tags: barefoot, vibram fivefingers

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I started running this weekend.  Well, it’s more “jogging” than “running”, but all the same. I started off with some End Stumptown 12oz.  I should mention that most people who know me are completely shocked that I’ve started running (jogging) as a sport/activity, as I used to proclaim that “running was a means to an end, not an end in and of itself”.  I should also note that every time I’ve done a sport that requires running (soccer, rugby, football) I’ve ended up with shin splints.  Upon Twittering about this, I reached what Malcolm Gladwell would call a “tipping point” in which another person recommended “bearfooting”, or trying the Vibram Five Finger shoes.  Between Twitter friends, my kettlebell instructor, and Tim Ferriss, I’d had enough recommendations to (completely impulse) buy some shoes.

So, I picked up some Vibram Five Fingers (VFF) from On Your Feet in Sante Fe, NM today.  Props to the excellent–and cute–sales woman for the help with sizing, model seclection, etc.    I have to admit, these things are funky when you first put them on, but once you get used to the toes separated, no arch support, no heel padding mojo, they’re nothing short of “damn comfortable”.

Since I am really bad at blogging, I’ve decided that I’ll blog about my adaptation to the bearfoot/VFF.

Again, my first reaction to them was “funky”, followed almost immediately by “comfy”.  These things are really, really comfy.  The next thought, when walking into a public place, is “&#$*, I forgot my shoes”.  Then come the questions: “what are those”, “are they comfortable”, ” what about goatheads?”.  I’ve started to master my speech, but it could use some polish.

As for my feet: my toes and left arch (which is prone to pain) are sore, but in a muscle-fatigue way.  Excited to get them on tomorrow!

Posted in: Reviews by damon / Tags: barefoot, vibram fivefingers

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