When I got my Android based cell phone I was excited about being able to send emails from my Google account, send and receive Tweets, and check in on my friends on Facebook. I quickly started adding Apps to the phone. Before I knew it, I had installed an app called FourSquare.

The front page of FourSquare describes it as:

Foursquare on your phone gives you & your friends new ways of exploring your city. Earn points & unlock badges for discovering new things.

It is considered a social networking site (much like twitter and facebook). Wikipedia describes it as follows:

Foursquare is a web and mobile application that allows registered users to connect with friends and update their location. Points are awarded for “checking in” at venues. Users can choose to have their check-ins posted on their accounts on Twitter, Facebook or both.

The best way I can describe it: A social networking site that combines using GPS technology to check into locations, usually businesses, to gain points, badges and mayor-ships. You can choose to let your friends see where you have been. You can leave tips about locations and meet people who are “mayors” of the location.

From what I can tell a mayor is someone who has checked into a location more than anyone else.

Some comments about my first couple months of participating in FourSquare

• First and most  importantly it seems a little stalker-ish. When you check into a location your friends are alerted to where you are. Hopefully none of your friends are secretly infatuated with you. It’s a lot easier than finding out your crush’s schedule in high school so you can accidentally “bump” into them.
• It seems geared towards frequenting businesses. So if you don’t eat out or shop often, you don’t check in often.
• I would love if it was more of a scavenger hunt kind of game. Instead of focusing on repeat visits to the same location,I would like if it focused on visiting unusual locations around us. Examples, statues, historical locations, and other points of interest.

Have you tried FourSquare? If yes, what is your opinion? If no, would you try it?

My husband has actually been blogging a little lately. And no, it’s not because I nag him incessantly to post his adventures on the internet. He actually made two posts in two days (after not posting for maybe 6 months or something). And is now wondering why no one has commented on his blog posts.

So please, if it interests you, visit his blog to read about his latest 100 mile running race (the Massanutten Mountain Trail 100).

Or look at pictures from his downtime while on business in China. I particularly like the following picture.

I recently came upon Kraft foods’ home farming community sponsored by Triscuit. I actually liked the site, it’s a very good primer to growing vegetables at home. And here’s my more detailed review.

They have vegetable profiles. Basic, cartoony, but simple enough to make growing broccoli seem easy.

My only complaint, very little variety. The Crop guide only includes Tomatoes, Peppers, Eggplants, Beets, Carrots, Onions, Scallions, Radishes, Bush Beans, Pole Beans, Peas, Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Arugula, Collard Greens, Lettuce, Spinach, Swiss Chard and a variety of Basic Herbs. That seems like a lot right?

There’s no mention of Squashes, of Pumpkins, of Fruit, of Kohlrabi, of Potatoes, of Asparagus. And the cute little profiles don’t talk about different varieties of the vegetables, the heirloom varieties. Carrots, tomatoes, peppers, all come in a rainbow of colours. Some varieties of heirloom plants do better in different climates. The guide does not mention varieties at all. It’s very much a simple caricature of very basic simplified vegetables.

Growing your vegetables at home seems to have a great deal more information. Resident expert Paul James has various videos as well as texts on various topics including Preparing your Home Farm, Planting your Home Farm, Harvesting and Planting Schedules, Using and Storing your Harvest and Nurturing your Home Farm.

These sections are full of information that the new gardener will find incredibly useful and that the experienced gardener may have opinions on. For example, in Pests/Diseases, he recommends using fresh-bagged soil to avoid diseases instead of soil from your yard or last vegetable garden. I don’t necessarily like the reliance on fresh bagged soil. I do like that he recommends home organic recipes for getting rid of pests though.

There is even a recommendation section for those looking to start a home farm. Input your location (sadly it only takes US Zip codes), how much space you have available with at least 6 hours a day of direct sunlight, and how much time you are willing to devote to your garden.

The following suggested vegetables were offered for someone looking to grow in my zip code on a small balcony willing to devote as little time as possible (See the saved link here).

The following suggested vegetables were offered for someone looking to grow in my zip code with room for two large raised beds willing to devote as much time as necessary (See the saved link here). And the recommendations seem to be almost identical in terms of plants recommended. I’m quite sure that plants are chosen based on location rather than space. At least in my zip code.

My overall impression of the site: Great for Beginners.

Get people growing. Then, once they have some momentum, lets educate them about heirloom varieties and organic methods.

What are your favorite Gardening Websites?

1. As long as it doesn’t get delayed again, Cooper starts Rally-O Obedience on Wednesday. I’m looking forward to learning one of the sports we can actually compete in. And he’s looking forward to burning some energy post neutering recovery. My only concern is the amount of time I will have to dedicate to working with him. But then again, that’s time I should probably be spending with my dog anyways. I’m not even sure what one does in Rally-O. The AKC website doesn’t make much distinction between Rally-O and obedience or Rally-O and agility, other than that the sport is practiced with the dog on leash.

2. Fellow amateur blogging friends should visit my friend Jes Cady’s website for helpful SEO tips. What is SEO (which stands for Search Engine Optimization)? She’s been explaining it little by little in her weekly series. I may not comment on the posts, but I am finding them useful in my blog reorganizations.

3. As mentioned in the previous tab I’ve been doing some website reorganization. I’ve moved all my running/hiking stuff over to Fillyrunner.com. So there’s currently a lot of overlap between this site and that site, but the two latest posts are completely new.

And I’m most excited about the potential of my latest blog – Plasticsandtheplanet.com which will be a blog about bioplastics, recycling, plastics in medical applications and more. It’s not an environmental blog per say, it’s more of a pro-”responsible use of plastics” blog. The tagline is: Plastics are not the Enemy – But How We Use Them Might Be. I’m very excited about a couple of my planned features such as a series called “I <3 Plastics” which will feature a weekly reason why plastics improve our lives and “down to basics” in which I will explain some of the science behind recycling, plastics and composting. Other sections will address important issues about overpackaging and information about bioplastics. I’m very excited about this project, but I’ll probably try to keep myself from posting on it too often until this semester of school is over.

The blog itself is still a bit of a mess. I wasn’t going to start it until I had more free time, but I’m just so excited about getting it running and getting some early feedback. I think my first “I <3 Plastics” will be able disposable single use syringes or non-cotton outdoor clothing.

As I mentioned on Monday, I’ve been running again. I’ve been sticking to it quite well. There’s a few factors that seem to have helped me this time around.

First is the support of friends. I’ve made a few friends who want to join me in races and training and for that I am very grateful. Your encouragement has been so valuable to me.

Second is my high energy fool of a dog. Cooper needs the exercise and can be quite “vocal” about his need for speed.

Third is the tracking I’ve been doing. There are several internet resources I have found that have helped me keep track of my training and keep me motivated to keep going further and faster. Here’s a few of the sites I’ve been using lately.

1. SparkPeople - This is pretty much a diet and exercise community. It has food, weight and exercise tracking programs as well as wonderful support communities, diet and exercise plans and plenty of hints and tips.
2. RunningAhead – I find this to be a very powerful program. You can modify it to include pretty much any sport in any category you would like. So you could ad a horseback riding category and have sub-categories for Cross-Country, Jumping and Dressage. It’s a little hard to start off with, but I love it now that I know how to use it. The reports section is great.
3. Active.com – I think an important part of staying motivated is having fitness goals. This is why I keep signing up for small races. I mostly use Active to find races to look forward to, but they have lots of training tips and articles too.
4. CoolRunning.com – Another site with excellent race info. They are the originators of the Couch-To-5K running plan. An excellent training plan if you’ve never run before.

I’ve had to break my daily posting routine. Not because I don’t have time to post or topics I want to write about, but because my computer wont work.

I bought this DELL Inspiron 1525 shortly after moving to Candia in Mid-Sept of 2008. The computer still works great, but the AC adaptor will not charge the computer anymore. Going on Dell’s website I guess this is a common problem with their adaptors, but I also don’t want to use any non-approved adaptors. So while I wait for a response from Dell (or go buy a universal adaptor) I guess my updates will be fewer and farther between.

It can’t be too long. I started grad school with an online class this week, so I will need access to the internet.

This is obviously also why I haven’t been commenting on all my favorite blogs. I’m sure you are all posting lovely things. I’m just very irritated with DELL now.

I was planning on linking to this webcomic in a large Link-love style post but this morning they posted something that is so true to my life that I had to share. Surviving the World is a webcomic about all sorts of random life situations.

Today’s post (Lesson 414) is about hiking. And the situation which  our group of friends often jokes about is that hiking partners have a purpose. We need to have someone to eat if we get lost.

Check them out.

Surviving the World - Lesson 414