Chicago 3/4 way

I went to a fast food place this weekend. They had a new take on the
combo. Italian sausage and gyro meat instead of Italian.
This gives me a new idea for Chicago food. The 3 way 1/2 Italian
sausage 1/2 polish cut long ways. Topped with gyro meat. The 4 way
same as the 3 way but with italian beef. And to top it off the Chicago
5 way top all that off with hot peppers.
What would your Chicago 3/4/5 way be?

How to lose 40 pounds

"Under 300 pounds for the first time in 12 years!"

How I did it: Not sure how I'm doing it it. But in the last 6 months I've lost about 40 lbs.
Most likely I've reduced the quantity of food I've eaten. using smaller portions and cutting out appetizers and deserts.
I'm more active socially rather than staying at home watching TV.

Lessons & tips: I'm drinking more ice water over soda.
Smaller Portions
No appetizers.

It took me 6 months.

It made me surprised

See more progress on: lose 40 pounds

How to attend a live broadcase of NPR's "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!" in Chicago

"It was a great time in Grant Park. The show was very funny"

How I did it: Wait Wait Don't Tell Me had its annual free out door show.
The weather was awful. But it cleared up by showtime.
The show was at Millennium Park instead of the Chase auditorium.

It took me 2 years.

It made me Laugh

See more progress on: attend a live broadcase of NPR's "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!" in Chicago

Speed up your podcasts, part 2

I listen to a lot of podcasts during the week. But that doesn't mean I like to listen to long casts. With podcasts longer than ~40 minutes. I like to get some of my life back. I do this by speeding up them up.
I used the Juice pod-catcher and converted the file using WMP9 Encoder, detailed in this post

Now that I use an iPhone I've stopped using Juice infavor of iTunes
iTunes/iPhone/iPods can play the audiobook/podcast "faster". Approx 1.8x speed.
It does adjust the pitch so people don't sound like chipmonks.

How to do this:
1. Convert the mp3 to AAC.
2. Right click on the file and select "Show in Windows Explorer"
3. When the conversion completes rename the extension m4a to m4b (Audiobook) and delete the mp3 file
4. Add the m4b file to the Audobook folder in iTunes.

Good news is that it will maintain the mp3 tags and embeded images.

More tips:
Create a smart playlist that filters by time and Kind contains mpeg

Scott Sigler reading Contagious