Chris Ullrich dot net - Page 27 of 93 - A Blog About Stuff and Things

Standing Room Only

Posted on July 7, 2012

If you don’t follow me on the Twitter or Facebook or Google+ (if you don’t, why not?) you might not know I’ve been having some back problems of late. In short, it sucks. My back seems determined to thwart me at every turn.

Sitting and working for long periods is especially painful. Good thing I don’t sit and work for long periods. . . Oh, crap, I do. Well, so much for that.

To help alleviate the problem I have started standing to work and am, in fact, standing as I write this. It’s not so bad. The only downside so far is that my kitchen counter is pretty much the only place I can do this and it’s about a half foot too low.

At least I’m closer to the coffee.

My plan for the near future is to try and stand more often and just move more in general. If you believe all the latest research, sitting too much is killing us. I don’t know if it’s really killing us (probably), but it does seem to be killing my back.

In case you don’t know how bad sitting is, here’s a handy infographic from the folks at Medical Billing and Coding dot Org to give you a clue.

Things Are Different . . . But Also the Same

Posted on June 30, 2012

Some of you may have noticed, at least those of you who are paying attention, that the name of this site has changed. Well, if you came here looking for chrisword.com, then you’ve come to the right place.

I’ve taken the liberty of consolidating some of my websites to make things easier on, well, mostly me. However, it may make things easier on you too, I can’t be sure.

So, from now on if you type in chrisword.com you will end up here at chrisullrich.net. I think that has a better fell to it and I’m going to make chrisullrich.net my complete home on the interwebs.

I hope the change wasn’t too hard on all of you and I hope those of you reading this via RSS won’t get too confused. To summarize, chrisword.com is no more (except to redicrect you here).

All of my personal stuff will be here at chrisullrich.net. I hope that clears it up and I hope to see you around here often.

Fun With Trailers

Posted on June 19, 2012

It’s no secret I like movies. In fact, you could even say I love them. Although, that’s a bit weird. They’re just things after all, not people (or dogs) or anything so how can I really love them?

I don’t know, that’s a question for the scientests or philosophers among you. I just know I love them and that’s all I have to know. Anyway, I’m looking forward to a bunch of movies coming out this Summer and fortunately for me (and by extension you) they have trailers.

So, in the interest of full disclosure, here’s some trailers for movies I’m looking forward to seeing this Summer. Or, in some cases, have already seen and/or enjoyed/hated/was indifferent to.

Yep, there’s a lot of ’em.

Django Unchained

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC8VJ9aeB_g?rel=0&w=500&h=343]

The Dark Knight Rises

The Great Gatsby

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rARN6agiW7o?rel=0&w=500&h=343]

The Bourne Legacy

[blip.tv http://blip.tv/play/hJh3gvmBJAA?p=1 width=”500″ height=”343″]

Looper

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCNKahG1ksg?rel=0&w=500&h=343]

Prometheus

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1byZkbNB3Jw?rel=0&w=500&h=343]

Cosmopolis

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1bv6baU1aY?rel=0&w=500&h=343]

Skyfall

[blip.tv http://blip.tv/play/hJh3gvfnegA?p=1 width=”500″ height=”343″]

Savages

I’m sure there’s more, but for the moment, that’s enough. See anything you like?

35 Years Ago Today . . . In a Galaxy Far, Far Away

Posted on May 25, 2012

star-wars-obi-wan-darth-vader1

On this day in 1977, before it was known as ‘Episode IV’, a little movie called Star Wars made its debut and changed the way things worked in Hollywood for all time. It also had a very significant impact on a young boy named Chris who learned an important lesson that day: there’s no limit to what you can imagine.

Happy 35 Star Wars.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gvqpFbRKtQ?rel=0&w=480&h=360]

From the ‘Want’ Department: The Sonos SUB

Posted on May 22, 2012

I may have mentioned I’m a big fan of Sonos and their products. I use a Play 5 every day and it’s an awesome way to listen to music from your personal music collection, Pandora or Spotify. Plus, like my Macs, it “just works.”

Now Sonos has a new piece of shiny I want: the SUB. Check out this video of the SUB in action and tell me you don’t want one too. And no, that’s not CG.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2KP2KUAE1I?rel=0&w=525&h=295]

First Teaser for ‘Anchorman 2’ Is Here and I’m In

Posted on May 21, 2012

Now this is happening.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39KxQrGwOGU?rel=0&w=525&h=300]

‘Lazy Sunday 2’

Posted on May 20, 2012

The sequel to the great SNL Digital Short Lazy Sunday arrived last night and it did not disappoint. Watch. Enjoy.

Stuff I Find

Posted on April 19, 2012

I have not been as good about putting things up at this blog as I intended to be. I know, enough with the excuses. It’s just, well, you know. . .  a pain in the ass to find things I deem worthwhile to post here.

I tend to over analyze what I’m going to say here or post here, which is sorta dumb considering its my blog and I do what I want. It should just be enough that I manage to put up something.

I suppose I could just put up any old thing I find lying around the Internets. That might work. Let’s give it a shot, shall we?

To start us off, here’s a video of Aziz Ansari saying funny things.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzp1XlHiJWA?rel=0&w=500&h=281]

As always, no need to thank me.

Weekend Rage Update

Posted on April 6, 2012

Even on my best days, I’m not able to give all I used to be able to give. These days I’m lucky if I can get three or four good hours of work before my brain starts to wonder off and take a stroll.

I guess that’s just one of the things that comes from getting older. You can’t do all the things you used to do plus, even if you could, you wouldn’t be able to enjoy them as long. Sucks.

They say with age comes wisdom. That’s probably true, But I would trade a bit of wisdom for a full day or two of solid work and the ability to sit for long periods of time without my back starting to feel like a tiny man is sticking a knife in it and twisting. I don’t want much, really.

I also don’t want this to sound like I’m complaining too much. I’m really not. There are a lot of positive things happening in my life. Still, thinking about it more, I’m pretty sure I’m not going to age gracefully.

I think I’m going to have to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into that good night. Rage? You betcha. Against lots of things, machines included.

But I think that’s good sometimes. It helps keep you alive to be still fighting the good fight.

Okay, that’s done for now. If you celebrate Easter, have a happy one.

If not, enjoy one of the greatest inventions ever devised: the weekend.

See you on the other side.

 

In Other News, Moving Sucks

Posted on March 26, 2012

As someone who’s lived in Los Angeles for over 15 years, I never thought I would live anywhere else. Sure, on occasion, I’ve imagined moving to New York or Austin or Portland (or somewhere even more exotic), but I never really thought I would leave LA.

But over the last few years, something changed. The city I loved started to annoy me. Then, grate on me. Then, I really started to dislike it intensely. It was an odd feeling to be sure and one I was sure I would never have. But, as they say, things change. LA and I had grown apart.

So, with that in mind and looking for new adventures, I packed up my stuff, grabbed Heather and her stuff after selling her place and moved South.

No, I haven’t moved to the “real” South, I’ve only moved South of LA and behind what people like to call “The Orange Curtain.” For the moment, H and I are renting a relatively new apartment that was originally built as a condo while we look for a house or similar.

But I gotta tell you, even though I really was looking forward to the move and really like the place and area we picked (Irvine, if you’re curious), the move itself was a pain in the ass that almost killed me.

I had not moved in quite a few years and the last time I did it I was apparently much better at it (and in better shape) as I don’t remember it being this difficult.

But this time, I really wasn’t very good at it. It really took a toll which I’m just now shaking off almost a week later. Before you ask, we had movers. They did all of the heavy lifting (and most of the light as well). It just seems to be such an overwhelming task this time.

I’m pretty sure almost everyone dislikes moving. Or, lets face it, hates it with a fiery passion hotter than a thousand suns. Even at its best, its very unpleasant. It really throws a wrench into your life even if you’re going to a place you really want to go and you have lots of help. It’s still a pain in the ass.

The unfortunate part is as much as I disliked having to move this time, I’m going to have to do it again this year once we find a more permanent place to live. Plus, I’m also going to have to move my Mom closer to us as well this year and vacate the house she’s lived in for over forty years.

Damn. And I thought I had it bad this time.