The Life Ledger

Fitness is a way of life.

A friend recently had an interesting problem - he wants to promote the use of podcasts to instructors as a component of courses taught online, and identified the excellent, open-source Audacity as their Windows tool of choice. However, as he began writing documentation for installing and using Audacity, he realized many instructors would be immediately turned off by the complicated installation process required to set Audacity up for exporting projects as mp3 files - many instructors who could otherwise be taught how to record and save projects would not understand how to unzip LAME, copy the DLL file into Audacity’s folder, then point Audacity to the lame encoder. Instead of writing thorough documentation that would likely daunt non-savvy instructors, I suggested an alternative - creating our own installer. It worked so well, I thought others might benefit from the idea.

First, a word about licensing.
I originally wanted to provide the one-step Audacity/LAME installer as a downloadable file, but started reconsidering after looking into license issues. Audacity and LAME are themselves covered by GPL/LGPL and therefore are re-distributable; however, I can’t tell what the SetupStream license terms are, and the patent mess covering the mp3 format may prevent distributing a package that installs Audacity with built-in mp3 output. Since I can’t really tell, I listed the steps required to make your own installer, and you can choose how you use or distribute it.

Step 1
First, I downloaded the tools I’d need. Since I was creating a custom installer, I needed the zipped version of Audacity, not their installer. Additionally, I needed LAME and an installation creator with the ability to insert registry keys. After trying a couple install creators, I chose SetupStream - it’s easy to use, freeware and offers a wide array of features, including all those I need.

• Audacity 1.2.6 - look under “Optional Downloads” for the zipped version
• LAME 3.97 - I used the 3.97 bundle available at RareWares (direct download link)
• SetupStream 2.082

Step 2
Next, some preliminary steps: unzip Audacity into its own folder, then unzip the file lame_enc.dll from the LAME zip file into the the same folder that contains Audacity.exe. Install and start SetupStream, select Create New Setup and click Next.

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I am so proud of my wife - she is charging back into fitness like geeks charged the iPhone display at Macworld. The only problem is the discrimination she suffers - when she puts her tape player on the treadmill, not only do people with slim pure white mp3 players strapped to their arms sneer in disdain, but the treadmills no longer have a slot wider than an mp3 player! To celebrate her return to fitness, I bought her an iPod for her birthday yesterday.

I must say, I’m impressed with the advances Apple has made since I looked at them last. Dynamic playlists, assign playlists on the device itself instead of relying on iTunes, firmware updates through iTunes itself - I think this is the right player for her. (Well, it would be anyway - she adores the iPod and Mac commercials.) I still wouldn’t trade my Sansa though, for one feature above all others - flash drive. I still disdain having a moving-part hard drive in my mp3 player, and I suspect it’ll be a couple of years yet before 30GB+ flash drives are cheap enough to replace mp3 players based on hard drives. The Sansa is perfect for me - I listen to podcasts, not music, so my library is constantly changing and doesn’t require mass storage. The iPod is perfect for her - she listens to music, and likes to shuffle her fitness music.

Our main stereo CD player recently died as well; to replace it, I thought I’d take a look at some kind of iPod dock thing. I bought a Griffin TuneCenter and so far, I’m pretty impressed with it. I’d like to have digital audio out, but I realize that’s a pipe dream for a device like this. Not only does it serve up iPod tunes, but it also streams ShoutCast servers - there’s no way that I see to input a URL, but the main directory gives a semi-wide variety of stuff to listen to. If you like techno and rave, you’ll definitely find something to listen to.

Of course, a new iPod means she’s gotta have some new music. We LOVE Norah Jones - well, she’s not fitness music really, but we both want her new album. Remembering my soapbox about the RIAA, I decided to check Norah out on the RIAA Radar - crap! Blue Note Records shows a warning; a little more digging reveals Blue Note is owned by EMI Group. So now what? Is Norah worth subsidizing RIAA’s legal battle to whittle away both my rights as an “owner” and artists’ compensation all in the name of those same artists? That’s a tough one.

I wrote down another artist that I was interested in - Deviations Project, someone I heard in Barnes & Noble the other day. They sound a lot like Vanessa Mae, who I’ve seen in concert and is an incredible artist. Vanessa’s Angel Records and Deviations’ Neurodisc both come up with warnings; some investigation reveals EMI owns those two as well. Even Dar William’s indie label Razor & Tie comes up with a warning on RIAA Radar - does EMI own them as well? Thank goodness our new-found love for The Weepies (an absolutely FANTASTIC group, both in concert and on CD) is not mis-placed - Nettwerk Records looks safe.

Now that I’ve used RIAA Radar a little, I like it - it’s like the FitDay for my music consumption. I like that RIAA Radar has a link for finding similar “safe” music for RIAA-infested artists; I wish RIAA Radar had more information about infested labels.

A while back I mentioned listening to podcasts as one way I make exercising more fun and more consistent. I personally find podcasts much more interesting than music for exercising for three main reasons:

• Listening to people talk is much more engaging than listening to music
• Podcasts are topical, so I can listen to people talk about something I’m interested in (or you can listen to music centered around a particular theme, if that’s your bag)
• Podcasts are serial, so I look forward to the next installment as a part of my exercise routine

Since mentioning podcasts as part of my exercise routine, I’ve been asked what podcasts I listen to while exercising, what mp3 player I use and what podcatching software I use. I chose the SanDisk Sansa e280 media player because it’s flash-based (I’m not interested in a harddrive-based player), has a nice interface and an expandable memory slot. After using a couple of other podcatchers (including Juice, HappyFish and a few others), I settled on Ziepod due to the interface and slew of advanced features, like dynamically renaming files and tags as it downloads episodes. Here’s a Ziepod screenshot:

Here’s an incomplete list of some of my favorites podcasts to listen to while exercising:

• This American Life
  My absolute favorite podcast - Ira Glass has a way of picking the absolute most fascinating topics and stories that seem boring at first, but end up engaging, entertaining and thought-provoking. Make sure you set your podcatching software to download this one - only the current week’s episode is available for free.


Tech-related

• This Week in Tech (TWiT)
  Leo Laporte’s a strong personality behind the podcasting movement, and TWiT is the foremost show in his podcast netcast network. I have to admit I haven’t liked Leo much in the past - I liked Patrick Norton better on The Screen Savers (Patrick, by the way, is currently serving up shows at dl.tv), and liked Chris Pirillo’s version of Call for Help more than Leo’s. All that aside, I really enjoy listening to Leo’s netcasts - I think he really shines in this medium. TWiT in particular gathers together several personalities that enjoy talking about tech and BS about tech news, making for some great moments (my favorite so far is Steve Gibson and John Dvorak going rounds about spam). If you like tech, this is an entertaining fluff podcast.

• Security Now (Another member of Leo’s netcast network)
  Steve Gibson is pretty entertaining to listen to and does a good job breaking down complex security issues into understandable concepts. I like the interplay between Leo and Steve, and the topics they cover are interesting and advanced enough to keep my attention.
• This Week in Media
  This is a great podcast for someone who appreciates four people who love to talk about their passion - all things media. Fortunately, when these guys geek out, it’s still entertaining (particularly since they stopped talking about the Red camera).
• Other tech-related podcasts I enjoy include Chris Pirillo Show, Engadget, TalkCrunch, FLOSS, Windows Weekly.


Disney-related

• WDWToday
  My wife and I went to Disney World for our honeymoon, and I have been hooked since - I love going to WDW, I love reading news about Disney (check out Jim Hill’s articles for some fascinating reads), and I love listening to podcasts about Disney. WDWToday runs about 20 minutes per show, has great hosts and fun topics. This is one worth downloading and listening to previous shows - if nothing else, the antics of Len Testa (co-author of the my Disney bible, Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World and owner of the world’s biggest coffee drip) never fail to make me laugh.
• WDW Radio Show
  Lou Mongello has written a couple of Disney trivia books and hosts a fun, informative podcast. While Lou doesn’t make me laugh as much as Len Testa, I do enjoy WDW Radio Show for all the fascinating tips, trivia, Disney backstory and ride-throughs. Lou’s previous podcast, MouseTunes, is also worth listening to - although some of the information is dated, there are some fun, timeless segments to be found.
• Some other Disney-related podcasts I enjoy listening to include Magical Definition and Imagineering My Way.


Other topics

• The Wordpress Podcast
  Who’d have thought listening to people talk about blogging engines could be interesting? I just started listening to this show - as this blog runs on Wordpress, I enjoy listening to the latest news, plugins etc. For Drupal users, Lullabot hosts an interesting podcast.

For audio books, I’ve used two interesting resources: PodioBooks and LibriVox.

There’s a slew of other podcasts I’ve subscribed to or tagged, but just haven’t had the time to listen to. Have I missed your favorites? Share them in the comments!

If following an exercise routine were easy, we wouldn’t have a 21%+ obesity rate in America.  Here’s 5 tips I use for making exercise a little more palatable.

1. Find a podcast that matches your interest.
   Music may help you keep a beat, but I find podcasts are much more fun - there’s something about listening to people talk about a topic I’m interested in that engages me in a way music doesn’t.  Personally, I listen to several (most are related either to Disney or tech), including some of the TWiT.tv netcasts (I particularly like TWiT and Security Now), WDWToday and MouseTunes.
2. Drink water during your workout.
   Because I exercise at 5:30am when I get up, I’m already at a water deficit as we use up calories and water even in our sleep.  Instead of coffee, I drink a quart of water while I exercise - I feel more refreshed and comfortable during exercise, and more awake after.  If I’m still dragging, my coffee maker automatically started brewing at 5:15am just in case.
3. Exercise with a buddy.
   While I exercise alone at 5:30am, I do situps and pushups in the evenings with my wife.  When our schedules allow for it, we visit the gym together.  I have started playing raquetball again, and hope to soon settle on a consistent schedule.  Volleyball starts in the spring, at which time I will likely join a team with a co-worker.  Exercising with other people is not only fun, but it also makes you accountable - my wife doesn’t push me to do situps, but in my head that exercise time is an appointment or commitment, and I’m more likely to carry out a commitment than telling myself “I should probably exercise now.”
4. Make your decision to exercise once.
   Before finishing Optifast, I couldn’t commit to an exercise routine.  I was one of the teeming masses that applied myself in January, February, maybe March before other things took a higher priority.  When I started making fitness-based lifestyle changes, I realized a small change in the way I approached exercising made a huge difference.  Before, when I was unsuccessful at maintaining an exercise routine, I made a decision each day to exercise.  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday - each day was a new decision, and a new opportunity to decide not to exercise.  This time, I made one decision - to lead a more fit lifestyle, part of which requires daily exercise.  Each day is simply a recurring appointment in my schedule.  

   This may seem like a semantic difference, but making the decision once and approaching it like a scheduled appointment relieves the emotional angst I used to suffer.  Where before I said daily “I need to exercise today” and accompanied that statement with the negative emotional subtext of “I need to change my life” and “I’m fat”, I now daily recognize my scheduled appointment to exercise, which carries no negative emotional attachment.  Making one decision to dedicate my life to fitness then following a daily routine erases the emotional subtext and makes it much easier to follow through - I only get one opportunity to say no.

5. Track your performance.
   Some people say weigh daily, others weekly - I say weigh consistently.  I also pay attention to my waist and other high-profile fatty areas (like my chin, armpits and thighs), my lipid panel, my food cravings - there are all sorts of performance indicators I have established for myself.  Establishing these indicators isn’t enough though - I need to track them daily.  At the least, I find it important to track my daily caloric intake, exercise, weight, water consumption, amount of sleep and emotional state.  Not only does recording this data daily keep my dedication to fitness in the forefront of my mind, it also gives me an opportunity to set an “alert weight” that indicates I’m starting to slide  Also, by watching trends, particularly in my food consumption and sleep, I can track possible causes for days when I am in a funk.

I have been evaluating some online fitness journals to see if there are any worth using; stay tuned for a full report soon.  If you have any favorites online journals, or other exercise tips you use, I would love to hear them - let me know in the comments.