Remember the Milk
One of the coolest things I've found lately is Remember the Milk. I was looking for a "to do list" management solution when I stumbled across it.
Now, to do list management doesn't seem like a big deal and you'd think there really isn't much to be said about it in the first place. Well, just looking at some of the features in RTM you might change your mind.
Tasks can be organized in categories, shared with contacts, tagged geographically, scheduled, postponed etc. You can set reminders for tasks and you can get these reminders straight on your Yahoo! Messenger or Google Talk. That's right your IM software will start talking to you about your tasks (or those sent to you by your boss).
There's the obvious iPhone application to keep yourself synced on the go (Windows Mobile, Blackberry and the rest of the lot also have their tools). It integrates with Twitter if you wish and publishes task feeds for iCal, Atom etc.
To top it all the Web 2.0 AJAX interface on the website is soooo sweet!
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| Christian Nasulea - 16.01.2009 | |
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New Year's Resolution
00:04 am. Granted it's not the 1st of January, but with everything that's been going on it's a miracle I'm still siting down able to write anything at all.
Taking from the example of a few people who've published their plans for 2009 I am also making public my grand design / new year resolution for the year of our Lord 2009. Here goes:
I plan to spend:
- at least 30 days on the slopes this year (7 down 23 more to go)
- at least 30 days in, on or close to the sea and
- at least 10 days soaring in the air, preferably by way of paragliding
I'm going to learn German, Turkish and Hungarian.
Last but not least, this year I am going to listen to the words not just the music.
That's it. It's decided then. Take what you want from my new year's resolution, read it word for word or try to read the spaces between the words. It's not for you anyway, it's for me.
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| Christian Nasulea - 13.01.2009 | |
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Worst Holiday Ever
After driving for 22 hours between Kaprun and Comarnic I am finally home again, with barely enough time to spare to catch up on 16 hours of sleep. Time has come to draw some conclusions in writing about skiing in Kaprun.
First of all, the accomodation was exceptional and for this I want to thank Kathrin and Wolfgang for making us feel at home. As you've probably already got it from my previous posts skiing and snowboarding there were exceptional. The scenery was incredible, the "apres ski" activities were nice, the food was good, the ski wasser was great.
Everybody who'd been skiing in Austria before, that I talked to, told me how convenient ski passes are. I have to disagree, as 7 days of skiing cost about 100 EUR more than we expected and by comparison to my Romanian skiing habits ended up being only about 10% less expensive than in Romania. That is actually the only less than superlative note I have about Austria.
Because I like my work I usually take some of it with me on all my holidays. Unfortunately this time it all really went overboard and many things that could go wrong did. I ended up skiing for only a couple of hours on the last 2 days and then working for 16 hours to try to keep things under control. As you can easily imagine the remaining 3 hours of sleep didn't lead to me being particularly happy or nice to be around. I don't like to hate people but it's really hard to focus on distinguishing between the people and the problems when you're dead tired. My apologies to all concerned!
The obvious thing that remains to be done now is... go back. So perhaps I'll see you there on the last week of February 2010. Now that's got a very nice ring to it!
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| Christian Nasulea - 11.01.2009 | |
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Parndorf Outlet Stores
Stopping right after Viena on our way back I think I just might have stumbled on to the recipe for happiness. It goes something like this:
Take one big wallet. Put 10000 euro in it.
Leave early enough to be sure you arrive at the Parndorf Outlet Stores early with plenty of time to walk and look around.
Depending on your spending efficiency set aside anywhere between 2 hours and 3 days for the experience.
Blow everything in your wallet on clothing, shoes etc.
Use this recipe and you're guaranteed to walk away a happier, more fulfilled person... also broke.
Personal note: I was already so tired when I got there I managed to walk away after 2 hours without buying anything, that is, except lunch.
LATER EDIT: A really nice virtual tour is available on the Parndorf Designer Outlet Official Website.
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| Christian Nasulea - 11.01.2009 | |
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Kitzsteinhorn
Today I skied again. That makes 3 out of 7 days spent skiing in Austria instead of snowboarding. I must admit I'm beginning to enjoy it ... a lot. It's probably also due to Costi's excellent speed Blizzard skis, for the use of which I thank him and am eternally grateful.
But let's get back to the point of this post which is the Kitzsteinhorn glacier. Today I skied starting at around 3020m altitude down to about 1980m. For one thing the view from the top of the Kitzsteinhorn towards Zell am See (and the lake) is unbelievable. Being in a place where you know the ice and snow never go away has a very special feel about it, plus being on a 40 metre thick block of ice made wearing my body armour very comfortable. It was a perfect day for skiing with clear skies, smiling sun and great snow.
The sport highlight of the day was probably me "$#%ing my pants" zooming down a new slope, trying to get momentum for an uphill part, quickly and uncontrolably passing two signs saying "Achtung!", "Stones!". Luckily everything is so well thought out here that it was just a very advanced warning.
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| Christian Nasulea - 09.01.2009 | |
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Tecnica Rival X7 Ski Boots
I was writing yesterday about my choice of skiing over snowboarding due to some technical problems with my snowboard. Today I persevered, and I worked on perfecting my skiing. It's really handy to have a ski instructor friend with you on holiday. Thank you, Ionut, for all the corrections and advice.
I also wrote about buying new ski boots. To answer questions my new ski boots are the Tecnica Rival X7 Hot Form. Besides being really well made and fitting me like a glove (or better like a sock) they're made of a sort of semi-transparent plastic or something which makes them look incredibly cool.
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| Christian Nasulea - 08.01.2009 | |
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Achtung! Snowboarder skiing!
Due to a very little mishap with my snowboard (the top side got mysteriously chipped on a rock or something) I decided to give it a little break while the quick-fix glue solidified. So, yesterday I went and bought myself a new pair of ski boots and borrowed Costi's skis and went skiing in Zell am See instead of snowboarding.
Besides the fact that I probably should have worn a fluorescent jacket saying "Achtung! Snowboarder skiing!" I did pretty well. I actually descended black 13 and black 14 on skis as well, without suffering or causing any major incidents.
I think I might just do it again today.
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| Christian Nasulea - 08.01.2009 | |
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Red Bull Cola
Being a big fan of performance enhancing, sleep depriving substances I
was very happy to discover something new as I was roaming the streets
of Viena.
As the name says, Red Bull Cola is a cross-over between Red Bull and
Coke. It's effects seem to be weaker and it's taste reminds me of Dr.
Pepper. It's good to try for the sake of diversity but I wouldn't start
stockpiling it.
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| Christian Nasulea - 07.01.2009 | |
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Ski Lift Graduation Day
I started snowboarding in the early days of 2008. Although that's not a very long time ago I've already gathered a pretty large number of snowboarding hours (and days). I'd say I'm doing pretty well.
However well I might have gotten, one thing I've dreaded doing from the very beginning, and couldn't do until 3 days ago, was using a ski lift. Being here, in Austria, gave me the opportunity to practice. So, I practiced.
Today, after snowboarding down a very steep incline, I found myself faced with one option to get back up, a ski lift, a very long, very steep, winding ski lift. To top it all, about 2/3 of the way up it stopped and restarted after more than a minute.
After this "exam" I can now claim to know how to use a ski lift on my snowboard.
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| Christian Nasulea - 06.01.2009 | |
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Europa Sportregion
To set something straight about what I'm posting these days, all the snowboarding and skiing me and my friends are doing takes place in the Kaprun - Zell am See area in Austria. This is also known as the Europa Sportregion.
Attached you will find an updated map of all the ski slopes in the area, including yesterday's Maiskogel, today's Kitzsteinhorn and tomorrow's Schmittenhohe.
More maps and much more information is available on the www.kitzsteinhorn.at website or on the local Kitzsteinhorn TV channel which I'm watching as I type.
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| Christian Nasulea - 05.01.2009 | |
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