One of my favorite applications that I’ve been using on my iPod Touch has been the Pandora Internet Radio application. Despite having a collection of over 12,000+ songs on my computer to put on my iPod at any time, I sometimes get bored with the music I already have. Perhaps it’s just the knowledge that there’s no chance of hearing anything new which creates the boredom, but in any case, sometimes random play is just not enough.

Well, the folks at Pandora have just the cure for the boredom, it’s their Pandora Internet Radio which is available both online for PCs and Macs to access through Pandora’s Website and the application they have made available for iPhones and iPod Touch. All you need to do is specify an artist or even pick a specific song, and Pandora’s Internet Radio will build a playlist of similar songs from similar sounding artists and you instantly have access to the world’s most perfect radio station, the one custom created just for you and your mood at that moment.

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Per Gessle, who is best known as being the primary songwriting force behind Roxette, released a brand new solo album in Europe at the end of 2008 called, “Party Crasher.” This is his first English language solo album since his 2005 experimental solo album released under the artist name “Son Of A Plumber.” Prior to the “Son Of A Plumber” album, Per Gessle’s last English solo album was 1997′s “The World According to Gessle.”

I recently added the new “Party Crasher” album to my collection and while I was uploading it to my iPod, I was struck with a sense of nostalgia as I was thinking about how long music written by Per Gessle has been a part of my life. With 2009 being a significant year in that it has been 20 years since I got my very first Roxette album, the “Look Sharp!” album. I had to smile because my first Roxette album was bought for me, and I didn’t honestly want it. My mother bought it on the recommendation of my brother as something he thought I would like, and I rudely said that I didn’t want it, but my mother insisted I try it, and it ended up being such a good album that I played it to death. I loved the album so much that when Roxette’s next album, “Joyride” was released I was both excited about it’s release but really scared that I might not like it as much as the first.

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With another month down, it’s time for another status report. March was a pretty good month. Due to the fewer days in February I saw a drop in the total miles run from January to February where I went from 41.67 miles down to 37.45 miles. My total miles run for March was 43.88 which was an increase over the miles run in both January and February. It’s more significant to look at the increase between January and March as both months have the same number of days, the increase over January was 2.21 miles and due to addition of three additional days to the month over February, the increase was 6.43 miles.

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I’m pleased to announce the opening of “Ryan’s Incredible Store” as a compliment to Ryan’s Incredible World. Ryan’s Incredible Store is powered by Amazon.com (so you get Amazon’s great prices and incredible service) with products personally selected by me.

You can select things as varied as great books like Raymond Aaron’s “Double Your Income Doing What You Love” and Jack Canfield’s “The Success Principles” to the latest iPod and Nike+ technology to start your own running program like I am doing. Additionally, I have a small “ABBA” store for some of the recommended ABBA products as well as some favorite DVD’s and Blu-Ray discs.

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I recently took an opportunity to try Kentucky Fried Chicken’s new Grilled Chicken, and was absolutely amazed at how incredibly good it was. Part of the reason for giving it a try is because of the running program I have been doing since the start of December and I was tired of fixing my own meals. I needed a little break from the routine.

I occasionally like to have a meal at KFC about once every two to three months and so this time instead of having the Original Recipe Chicken as a guilty pleasure. I decided to get the Grilled Chicken meal and replace the standard sides with corn on the cob and baked beans for as reasonably healthy a meal as possible.

The meal was really, really good. I was expecting the chicken to be dry, but it was quite the opposite, it was very juicy and flavorful. It tastes nothing like the Original Recipe Chicken, as the chicken isn’t breaded. According to a press release regarding the Grilled Chicken, the chicken (in marketing speak) “is marinated and seasoned with a savory blend
of secret herbs and spices and then grilled to juicy perfection.” I’m sure probably the same herbs and spices they have in their secret recipe are used on the chicken, but they’re put right on the chicken itself. It was amazing. The corn on the cob was also delicious, I haven’t had corn on the cob in years, it tasted incredibly fresh and was so hot in the foil wrap. I’m not usually a fan of beans, but the baked beans were a great addition to the meal that tasted good too. It tasted too good to be a healthy meal.

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Now that 2009 is now upon us, it seems that it would be good to take a few minutes to highlight what made high points for me in 2008. Taking a quick glance at the list of items that made the list this year, it seems that the very early 1980′s seem to be related to almost all of the items that make the list for this year. The influence of the 1980′s will be readily apparent as you check out the list. And I’ll point those out along the way for those who might not quite see the influence.

Without further ado, I now present My 9 Most Incredible Things of 2008, in no particular order… (more…)

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At end of November I decided to take a more proactive stance on my fitness level, or rather lack there of. So I have been forcing myself to use the treadmill that my roommates have available in the house. Granted prior to this decision, I’ve probably used the treadmill a total of three times since I moved in.

I definitely needed a better motivator for getting on the treadmill with some semblance of regularity, as telling myself I should was not translating into finding myself anywhere near it. So I decided I was going to have to forcefully create some motivation by creating a negative consequence for failing to do so. And so as of November 30th, 2008, I employed the strategy that I was not allowed to touch my computer until I had done at least one mile on the treadmill. At least until the being on a treadmill enough times had become habitual enough that I wasn’t going to avoid the treadmill by getting caught up being online.

The first week was a struggle, as everything tends to be when you start something new and want to make a habit out of it. I spent the first week just adjusting the speed of the treadmill up and down sporadically as I needed but aiming for one mile as my target goal. Each day I progressed a bit further in my ability to either stay at longer durations at higher speeds or pushed it further to higher speeds. And to make the sessions more tolerable, I employed the use of my iPod playing sections of various custom made music mixes I’ve made over the last decade.

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Take advantage of a significant discount offer on Invisible Shield device protectors made by Zagg that’s available for one day only, this October 31, 2008. Just remember the discount is not automatic, you have to apply the code “scary40″ when you check out to get the discount.

Get your shields for all the various portable electronic devices you carry whether it’s an iPod, iPhone, mobile phone, mp3 player, gaming device, GPS, PDA, laptop computer or even the face of your watch. These incredible shields are made from military grade film which was originally designed to protect helicopter blades, so the film has to be strong and extremely thin. It’s designed so that no other protection for your device is needed. It allows you to be able to use your device and plug it into charger bases or use plug in ports without the need to remove the film. This is especially the case for iPods in that you will have no trouble putting your iPod into a dock with the invisible shield applied. The film is extremely resistant to scratches so its a one time purchase for your electronic device unlike the generic screen protectors you can buy in electronic shops which tend to need frequent replacement once they’re all scratched up.

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CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE VIDEO WITH THE MUSIC IN STEREO

If you’ve ever seen the colossal selling video “The Secret” or read the book version, or even seen the “The Secret” discussed on Oprah Winfrey’s show, then you’re already familiar with the concept of creating a vision board, as taught by John Assaraf. Essentially, the concept to making a vision board, is put up photos of what things or concepts you want in life on a board and then visualize having those things or feelings as if they were already part of your life.

So this can be quite a laborious process, but if you really want those things in your life, then it’s worth the time and effort. Well when I was first introduced to “The Secret” at Raymond Aaron’s “Monthly Mentor University” a couple of years ago, I thought about putting together a vision board, but really couldn’t get past the feeling that clipping pictures out of magazines and using glue sticks to attach those pictures to colored construction paper and writing little sayings, felt a little too junior highish for me. So needless to say, I never did one, even though John Assaraf’s story of living in the same exact dream home he put on his vision board was quite compelling in itself.

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I’ve recently been trying out new software by Vertus called “Bling! It” which is a simple program that removes backgrounds from photos and allows you to replace the backgrounds to jazz up the photos for things like improving eBay auctions to profile pictures.

Granted, I am a user of Corel’s Paint Shop Pro and could literally do all this with the software I already have, but Bling! It is so quick and easy to use, and it automatically makes the output files the perfect size for putting up online that it’s a big saver of time that I could be done with a picture and on to the next one before I’ve finished removing the background in Paint Shop Pro. Don’t get me wrong, I love Paint Shop Pro, but generally when I’m looking to sell some of my stuff on eBay, I’m doing a batch of items at once and I don’t need such a robust program to do the images for my eBay auctions. The time savings I get by using Bling! It, translate into the ability to put up more items on eBay in less time and as they say time is money.

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