Fighting Monsters

Just found this great product TiddlyWiki , basically a self contained, single file wiki totally implemented in javascript, with advanced edit and display effects.

Not sure what the deal is at the end of the day, but it seems to rewrite itself with your changes as you go.
This is incredibly usefull for any ‘very small’ projets that need collaboration, or in fact if you just want to start writing about things.. say document your trip to europe or something.

I found it in relation to using GTD with it over at lifehacker.com

So,

I’ve been using ajax for a while now, and a real problem is that the browser caches the xml like crazy, so if your not using parameters, then getting the most up to date xml can be a problem.

I looked around and found some good suggestions

1. use a server side script to output the xml + a no-cache header

2. add a custom header to the xml type on the web server (usually not an option)

3. add a ‘get if newer than’ header to your request (set newer than = jan 1 1970)

4. add an arbitrary random parameter to your request

Solution 4 is brilliant and simple, so just add a random guid to your request! eg :

url += “?sid=”+Math.Random;

nice.

So,

sometimes you dont want your call to be asyncchronous, when there is an order of operations to be followed, for example.

Here is a modification on the xml.com ‘loadXmlDoc’ method that takes asynch as a paramater, it also takes an xml bundle to post back to the server if you need to do that, leave it null if not.

// spacing gets mangled by wordpress

//XML utilities
function loadXMLDoc(url,method,asynch,xmlPost)
{
_method = method;
// branch for native XMLHttpRequest object
if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
XmlHttpreq = new XMLHttpRequest();

if (asynch == true){
XmlHttpreq.onreadystatechange = processReqChange;
}

XmlHttpreq.open(”POST”, url, asynch);
XmlHttpreq.setRequestHeader(”Content-Type”, “application/x-www-form-urlencoded; Charset=utf-8″);
XmlHttpreq.send(xmlPost);

if (asynch == false){
processReqChange() ;
}

// branch for IE/Windows ActiveX version
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
XmlHttpreq = new ActiveXObject(”Microsoft.XMLHTTP”);
if (XmlHttpreq) {
if (asynch == true){
XmlHttpreq.onreadystatechange = processReqChange;
}

XmlHttpreq.open(”POST”, url, asynch);
XmlHttpreq.setRequestHeader(”Content-Type”, “application/x-www-form-urlencoded; Charset=utf-8″);
XmlHttpreq.send(xmlPost);

if (asynch == false){
processReqChange() ;
}
}
}
}

393 King Street WestToronto, On.
M5V 3G8
http://www.venicefitness.com

So a martial arts club I used to (maybe i still do) belong to moved into a space where I used to go to boozecans , ironic.

Venice fitness is located in a space I used to go to raves in… also ironic.

I think the universe is telling me something, and that something is ‘less parties, more bench press’

Venice fitness is on the second floor, big windows, lots of light. They have attempted to make it .. Venicey? with tiled surfaces and the occasional near-roman water fountain or light fixture. I give it a 2/5 on the venice scale.

Outside of the poor decoration, Venice is a big space with lots and lots of machines (if not super modern) nautilus and hammer, a good amount of freeweights, and that nice springy rubber floor everywhere, so you can drop weights till the romans come home.

They were pushing classes for using this odd weight, which they called a k-weight, which sounds dirty. The weight is basically a shot put with a handle, brightly coloured so it looks like a snorks head.

445 King St W - Suite 101
Toronto, ON
M5V 1K4

http://totum.ca

Second in my run of fancy gyms..

Apparently,

“Totum* re-defines fitness.
At Totum, fitness is not about the time in the gym, it’s about the rest of your life. “

This was not my experience with it. There are almost no machines, the ones that are there are odd old ropey machines that maybe Arny once used..

There are a number of eliptical machines that once again are made for munchkins, it should be pointed out that each one has a tiny t.v. in front of it, but you have to bring headphones.. I dont’ need to watch the news that bad. The machines are all pointed at the wall, so no matter what your doing, your staring at the tiny little t.v.

There was a very strange machine there, that looked like an S&M device… apparently it’s pilates related…Something along these lines.

So the blackberry is going very well.

The keyboard/suretype works great, I’ve written a speach on it, and use it for task tracking regularly.

I’m using the google calendar / outlook synchronizer and that works well, except for being dead slow.

I’m trying to implement the context lists, as recomended by GTD, and here’s a shot of my task categories as it stands.

You can ‘filter’ your tasks by a single category, which is a limitation, being able to filter by ‘next actions’ and ‘waiting on’ and ‘office’ would be good… the gmail plugin does that better. I’m considering getting a gmail account JUST for GTD tracking.

99 Spadina av
Toronto, ON M5R 2T1
(416) 595-9900

www.dieselfitness.ca

This was my first ‘fancy’ gym , so I came with low expectations.

The space itself is really big, and again seems to be an old bank (at least there’s a vault in the basement, full of cleaning supplies I found out… dissapointingly not pirate treasure)

A heavy leaning towards yoga and ‘body therapies’ is undeniable, and a large portion of the floor is devoted to cardio machines.

The space is big and bright, which is a plus, but the ‘rockercise’ music was grating at best. The eliptical machines here were certainly high tech, but the stride was so short i feel like I’m taking baby steps, no good.

There is a small section of free weights, which was enough, but you definately feel marginalized..

No shortage of lulu lemon clad ladies, which is a plus, depending on your persuasion.

Change rooms are surprisingly ghetto, with poor quality construction in the showers and tiny lockers. towel and lock are included in the price however, so that’s ok.

Monthly price is about $100 with membership, ok if your going to be doing a lot of ’spinning’ classes i suppose.

Rank

5/10

Map Link

266 King Street West
Toronto, ON M5V 1H8
(416) 260-9911

http://www.fitnesstoronto.ca/king_west_club.htm

I was a little suspicious at first, it’s downstairs across from roy thompson hall, and seems like it could be dire.

In actuallity the space is really fun, basement of an old bank or something, with the leg press machine in a little vault room. There’s lots of light, and an ample free weight area. The cardio machines were very modern, and they have great eliptical running machines.

They also have fancy inclining treadmills that look like this guys younger brother

The change rooms were clean and nice, the showers were a highlight, all slate with nice thick frosted glass doors.

Score 7/10

The weight machines were a little crammed together and they aren’t open late (when you drag yourself there at 9:30 pm after work, its a real motivation killer when they are closed)

Map Link