Jump Out of Your Skin

Like more and more people I use Firefox as my primary browser.  I abonded Internet Explorer once I discovered its tabbed interface and didn’t return when IE 7.0 came out and now Internet Explorer 8.0 is on its way.  Here are 10 things I like about Firefox

1. It comes with a tons of really useful add ons.  Some that I use all the time are the colored tabs feature that colors and italicises tabs.
2. It has an inbuilt spelling checker.  I am a terrible speller and Firefox tracks your spelling mistakes when you are in forms typing online in your blog or anywerhe else on the page for the matter.
3. It is faster than Internet Explorer.  Don’t post links disproving this.  I find it faster by a long short.
4. It remembers the previous Tools -> Options setting I went to.  I change my proxy settings twice a day and Firefox remembers this when I go to Tools -> Settings.  Internet Explorer does not.  Sounds like a small issue but it make a difference to me.
5. Scribefire is one of the add ons that I use constantly as I post to a few blogs and this has a nice light interface that shows all my blogs on the left and has a WYSIWYG interface that allows me to write my content.
6. Full screen mode is easily accessed with F11 which is handy when giving presentations or training people.
7. One click bookmarking.  By clicking o nthe star icon in the address bar I can add a locations straight to my bookmarks.
8. Remember passwordd feature is cool for allowing me retain my passwords without any popups annoying me.  I hate popups.
9. Another add on that I could not live without now is Firebug which I use for debugging my CSS and HTML on web pages.  If Firebug went I would have to work muc harder and that would be bad!
10. This is closely followed by the Screengrab add on which has a slick interface for grabbing screen content from the browser window.  I can then post it into blogs easily.

Like many others here in Ireland I have been waiting for the Iphone 3g and its planned release date in Ireland.  I plan to buy and use one and log my experiences here with both the buying process, activation and usage on the Irish 3G network.  You can register for a new phone from July 1st.  Here is the O2 Ireland press release on the topic.  It looks like the pricing is much more competitive than the previous offering.

I am just wondering what hte total cost of ownership per month will be.  I plan to move from Vodafone to O2 to avail of the offer and that should be interesting as well.

Ran 3 miles.  Nice evening, legs OK today.  Have to go to a concert this evening @ 7 so wont be able to run today or study.  Did about an hour of study but the European Championships on TV were a bit of a distraction.  Focus on diet (what I eat diet not dietting) today instead.  Work on water levels as I have been finding that although I am drinking a lot of water some days when  I leave it slip my energy is not as good for the evening run.

I also need to find the best energy snack fro about 4-5pm that will help me get around 4-5-6 miles easier in the evening.

This is my training and study blog for the Dublin City Marathon and my Spanish exams  I ran the Cork City Marathon in 2007 in 5 hours and have not really run seriously since.  I have 16 weeks to train which is sufficient.  However I have additional goals above and beyond completing this time.  I am also studying a BA in Spanish and German and want to be fluent in 3 years. So I am also logging these goals.

RUNNING

1.  Run light – I ran Cork at a weight of about 95 kilos and I want at a minimum to run it around 90 kilos.  I will blandly log here what I am doing differently to achieve and beat this.  I have not been less than 90 kilos in over 15 years so this is a major task.
2. Run less than 4.5 hours.  I have run on and off over the past years but never fast.  Through the summer I plan to reduce my times in road races and to become faster.  I know how it is just execution now.
3. Blog every day on my progress.  I think this Blog which nobody except perhaps my famil will read will be my method of reaching my goal through recording progress.

Spanish Goals

1. Speak with a fluency that a Spaniard will not question what I am saying
2. Understand 70-80% of what is written in a paper like El Pais or El Mundo

Todays Goals

• Run 3 miles
•  Study for 1.5 hours