What to do about bad breath before a fasting blood test

So it's morning and you've just woken up after fasting for 8-14 hours preparing for your blood test. However, you have the worst case of bad breath and you want to save the poor medical lab staff and other patients in the waiting room from the foul odor of your chronic halitosis. So what you can do about it without interfering with your blood work?

I talked to my local medical lab, B.C. Biomedical Labs, and asked what your options are. They indicated that you can do three things:

1. Brush your teeth, tongue and roof of your mouth then rinse thoroughly to minimize swallowing any toothpaste.
2. A little bit of mouthwash is acceptable but spit and possibly rinse with water to minimize swallowing any of the mouthwash.
3. Do nothing. Go in with bad breath and all but have a mint or some gum handy for after your test is over.

Of course the best thing to do is to call and speak with your doctor and/or medical lab before hand to confirm what is acceptable.

How to get the Shared Dream in the iPhone Inception app

Dream completed

The Inception app is an augmented reality game of discovery. By performing some sort of action you unlock dream levels that, when listened through headphones, dynamically mixes the soundtrack of the movie with sounds around you.

This tutorial instructs on how to unlock "The Shared Dream" in the iPhone/iPod Touch app. If you want to figure out the game on your own stop reading.

***** SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT ******

You must have GameCenter installed on your iPhone to get the Shared Dream.  It is worth 50 achievement points in GameCentre if you initiate this dream with 1-6 players, however, unlock this dream with 7 or more players you will get 100 achievement points.

This dream was a bit tricky to unlock as it didn't instantly unlock as described in the application.  Despite having our GPS on and pressing the dream inducer arrows/buttons in the Inception app it didn't automatically unlock the Shared Dream.  This is despite having the iPhones sit next to each other for 30 minutes engaged in the Still Dream (not in infinity mode). We tried experimenting a bit thinking that the GPS wasn't activating within the app.  So we tried moving, getting into a car and driving, and more but it wouldn't unlock.

What did work for us was as follows:

1. Reboot the phone (this is a precautionary measure and we're not certain it is required)
2. Ensure that you have headphones plugged in (this is also a precautionary measure)
3. Ensure that GameCentre is installed on your iPhones and you are logged into both.
4. Ensure that you have added one another as a friend in GameCentre
5. In the Friends section of GameCentre, click on your friend's name
6. Under their name you'll see a list of games you have in common with your Friend, click on Inception - The App
7. Click on the brown Play button in upper right hand corner of GameCentre to start the Inception app.  We believe that this may help the phones find one another.
8. Once Inception - The App starts, click the induce dream arrows/buttons and lay the phones down next to each other (or in the same room at least)
9. Wait.  It took about 5-10 minutes for it to work.  When it does, you will get a screen that says that the dream is unlocked.  If you have a jailbroken phone, it may crash but once you relaunch the crashed app and click on the Shared Dream dreamspace it will say it's unlocked.  Simply click on the infinite play button to fill the dreamspace in.

Figure 1

Once you have acquired the Shared Dream and initiate it with the dream inducer arrows, the screen will have a animated circle with the number of people you are sharing the dream with as seen in Figure 1 to the right.

It should be noted that we were located indoors when we did this.  When you are indoors, we believe it's using cell tower triangulation to get a fix on you which is less accurate than true GPS tracking.  This whole process may be made easier if done outside using a true GPS signal.

This completes the dreamscape.  I note that my friend's version of the app has all these Google Map icons in his dream pieces.  Also, note that the images in the dream pieces seem to be different from phone to phone.

If this worked for you (or didn't) or if you have discovered some other tips to get this dream functioning more easily, please post a comment below to help others. 

My top 10 ways to motivate yourself to continue exercising (+1 bonus)

So, you're a month into your new year's resolution to workout and eat right and you're finding you are loosing the momentum that you had when you started.  Now is the time you really need to pull up your socks and not be one of "those people" who drop out when the going gets tough.  

This is particularly true if you're about a month into a program like P90X as the highest drop out rate occurs at this point.

Without further ado, here are my top 10 things (in no particular order) that motivate you to continue to working out: 

1. Buy new stuff - Trying buying some new equipment like runners, weight gloves, heart rate monitor, etc. After buying a new set of runners, who doesn’t want to go out and try them out?  Same goes with a heart rate monitor, first time you get one you’ll find that you’re checking your heart rate every 2 minutes. 
2. Try supplements – A subset of buying new stuff, is to pick up some new supplements and see how they improve your workout.  One of the best for weight or resistance training is Creatine. Seeing it’s impacts on your body.  If you can handle them, even try an energy drink.  You may be surprised by the increased performance you get even if the results are psychosomatic.
3. Take your supplements before your workout – Related to trying supplements, if you’re the type of person who makes and excuse minutes before your workout, try taking your supplement such as creatine 30 minutes before your workout.  You’re less likely to renege on your workout as you don’t want to waste what you’ve just paid to consumed.
4. Competition – You know that guy on the treadmill next to you?  Try running faster than him or running longer.  Is he at the gym more often than you?  Well, keep up with him.  I may sound childish or immature but a little healthy competition can lead to motivation to some.  Just keep your abilities in check cuz if he's benching 250lbs and you're just starting out you're going to get hurt.
5. Workout partner(s) classes – This can be part of competition but doesn’t have to be.  Sometimes it is easier to let yourself down than others.  Try being each other's motivation and also try out doing one another by competing to see who can keep with the program or even sneaking in extra workouts to get on better than your buddy.
6. Documentation – Try keeping your work outs documented with workout sheets, a diary or share your experiences in a blog.  Not only will it keep track of your progress but it may serve to benefit others who are going through the same process as you.
7. Yourself – Don't let yourself down.  If you miss a day ensure you make up for it cuz if you miss 1 it’s easy to miss 2.  If I only worked out when I felt like it cuz I was feeling good and had energy, I’d likely only be working out 10% of the time.  Therefore, if you want maximum benefit, it’s the other 90% (when you don't feel like working out) that really counts to get yourself motivated.
8. Change of scenery – If you're running or walking and it's starting to get monotonous, try simply taking a different route.  A change of scenery will be a welcome change and there’s nothing that’ll kill a workout more than monotony. 
9. A schedule – You can’t workout if you can’t make the time. Schedule a regular time in your day to workout.  Make sure you get your spouse's or partner’s support so they can take care of the kids or do the chores while you're working out.  Of course, you'll have to do the same for them if they are trying to keep with a routine.  If you have a hard time doing this at home, try joining a fitness class as they are already scheduled for you.  Plus the fact that you paid money for the class may add some additional motivation to ensure that you get your money's worth.
10. Change your workout – Don’t do the same thing day in and day out.  Trying a new workout DVD or a different routine. Programs like P90X, Insanity and Power 90 have alot of variety to them to keep things changing.  It will also keep your body from adapting and eventually plateauing.
11. Get a trainer – When I say get a trainer, it doesn’t have to be a professional at $80/hr.  Use a DVD to follow along with or if you have friends who are gung ho about working out, use their experience as a coach.

Do you have some additional things that motivate you to keep working out.  Please share them by posting your ideas below.

How to get the "KICK" achievement in the iPhone Inception app

The Inception app is an augmented reality game of discovery. By performing some sort of action, you unlock dream levels that, when listened through headphones, dynamically mixes the soundtrack of the movie with sounds around you.

This tutorial instructs on how to unlock "The Kick" achievement. If you want to figure out the game on your own stop reading now as I am providing spoilers on to how to unlock "the Kick" secret feature in the iPhone/iPod Touch app.

***** SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT ******

1. You must have GameCenter installed on your iPhone to get the Kick.  It is worth 100 points
2. For maximum benefit it's recommended that you associate Inception with your Twitter and/or Facebook account to document the fact that you discovered the Kick.
3. Induce a regular dream such as the Still Dream or the Sleep Dream.  I did this with the Sleep Dream.  It cannot be in infinity mode. This can apparently be done in infinity mode too as tested in the Reward Dream. The Kick may actually work with any dream state as I've heard it worked with the Action Dream too.
4. You must sustain the regular dream for about 5 minutes  after which time the screen which normally slowly pulses red, starts to flash rapidly.  Musical horns will start to fade in and sound like a train is coming and suddenly it'll be quiet.  As soon as it becomes quiet, the Infinity sign will completely disappear for about 3 seconds.




Figure 1

5. Like in the movie, "the Kick" is triggered by the sensation of falling.  So when the infinity sign disappears, you must recreate the sensation of falling. This can be done by dropping your phone about a half a foot or higher onto a soft surface such as your blankets or a pillow.  Some say the action of jumping or "leaping" and then landing on your feet will induce the same sensation for the iPhone but I haven't had luck with that.  Remember after the horns stop and the infinity sign disappears, you only have about 3 seconds to execute the Kick before the infinity sign returns.  If you miss the window of opportunity you must wait for another 5 minutes.
6. If done correctly you'll be given a white screen as displayed to the right that says you've taken the Kick and to take a snapshot of reality (as displayed in figure 1).  There is no time limit to take the picture. If you have associated the application with Twitter or Facebook you can take your photo and publish it to either social network.  If you Tweet it and you follow the official Twitter account @inceptiontheapp, they may retweet your accomplishment.  Lastly, as an additional feature, your dream inducing buttons (which are normally red) will turn to gold.

If you got it work work, let's hear about it.  Post a comment or a link to your Kick snapshot.  Also, if you discovered a problem with these instructions or a better method, leave a comment and we'll amend the instructions..

Virgin Radio 95.3: The Ring in 60 Seconds

Thank you to everyone for making the Ring in 60 Seconds a huge success!  It made the top 10 films at the Virgin Radio Fake Film Contest placing 6th out of 197 films including some that were made by professional film companies and film students.

About the film 

This is a 60 second version of the Ring created for the Virgin Radio Fake Film Contest. Written, edited and directed by me.  It is based upon the 2002 Gore Verbinski DreamWorks film and it stars Kerry Sandrin as Rachel, Kassidy Nienhuis as Samara/creature, Keldon Nienhuis as Aidan, Karly Nienhuis as girl teen and Ryan Sandrin as male teen. Music used by permission from Kevin MacLeod.

ALL elements are original footage shot or created for the fake film.  The inspiration for this film are my friends and family who encouraged me to do this and helped make it.  You can also see how the film was made at the official fake website: http://www.theringfakefilm.com/.  Lastly you can also visit the official YouTube channel.

Garage door opener trolley hits stop bolt

Photo: Frank Sandrin

I had to replace the gear and sprocket assembly after the sprocket got sheared off, likely due to too much play in the chain.  The replacement of this part is relatively straight forward and the instructions that come with the part (part number 41C4220A) are clear.  This can be replaced in about an hour.

A problem came along after the assembly was complete and I tested the garage door opener.  The trolly was parked where the door would normally remain closed.  When I pushed the button, the door began to open but it didn't stop and hit the stop bolt causing a lot of stress on the chain.  Eventually I got it to reverse back down but it didn't stop when it hit the ground causing the rail to flex and almost buckle.

The culprit was the limit switch assembly

Despite endlessly turning the travel and force adjustment screws, I wasn't able to correct the problem. After examining the unit it occurred to me that when I reassembled the unit, something called the limit switch assembly (part number 41D3452) was misaligned.  The unit has three white rods representing the drive gear screw and two adjusting screws.  I've diagrammed it below looking from the top down as Figure B. Alternatively, see Sears Parts Direct for a complete blow apart diagram of a typical Craftsman garage door opener.

Here are my steps to realign this module (this applies to most Craftsman garage door opener models):

1. Unplug the garage opener.

   

   Figure A

2. Ensure that chain isn't torqued against the bolt as this could be very dangerous to work on.
3. Release the garage door from the trolley using the emergency release cord.
4. Note where the trolley arm is parked.  Is it in the down position, up position or somewhere in the middle?
5. In Figure A, at the bottom of the gear & sprocket assembly shaft, there is a small white plastic piece called the Limit switch drive.  It is attached with a plastic retainer clip, either pull this out with a set of needle nose pliers. Slide the drive off.
6. You can optionally unclip the limit switch assembly (Figure B) and adjust it or adjust it in place.  I did the latter. If your trolley is the completely down position, turn the drive gear (1) so that the centre limit contact (2) is closer to the drive gear or (the green line in Fig. B). Turn it to the middle position (yellow line in Fig. B)  if the trolley is in the middle of the rail and if it is at the top, put it near the travel adjusting screw heads (red line in Fig B).
7. The key is that when the garage door opens or closes, the centre limit contact moves up and down the centre white plastic drive gear screw.
   

   

   Figure B

   When it comes into contact with the metal down  contact (3) it stops and the same goes with the up metal contact (4). 
• Assuming that trolley is in the middle of the rail, place the up and down contacts (3 & 4 in Fig B) so that they are about an inch away from the centre contact (sitting on the green and red lines in Fig B).  
• If the trolley is all the way at the bottom, the down contact (3) should be touching the centre contact (2) over the green line and the upper contact (4) should be at the red line.  
• Lastly if the trolley is in the all the way up position, have the upper contact (4) touching the centre contact (2) over the red line and the down contact a few inches away near the green line.
8. Reassemble Limit switch drive and retainer clip and ensure that the front and rear panels aren't in the way.  I had them partially screwed back in.
9. Plug the garage door opener back in and test.
10. The garage door likely won't go all the way up or down but this is where you use the travel adjusting screws to fine tune.

So that's it in a nut shell.  Keep making small adjustments to both the travel and force adjusters in accordance with the manual or the instructions that came with any parts you ordered.  Good luck and be careful!

Disclaimer

Before working on garage doors note :

   * the spring/s is/are under extreme tension and can seriously injury or kill you if you try to remove/adjust it

   * the door can weigh over 400lbs

   * the opener runs on 110v power

"According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, 20,000 people each year have been treated in hospital emergency rooms for injuries related to garage doors. The most common injury is fingers getting caught or crushed. Injuries relating to the failure of extension or torsion springs send approximately 1,000 people to hospital emergency rooms every year in the U.S.

Therefore, if you’re not completely sure of what you are doing, leave it to a professional

How to watch U.S. only content in Canada

You've missed your favourite T.V. show and you've scoured the web to find out that the television networks have full episodes on their website the day after it has been aired.  You click on the link and you're all ready to watch your show when you get a message that the content your trying to watch is only available to residents of the continental United States of America.

I've been searching for years for a simple method on how to get this programming in Canada. There have been VPN or proxy server methods that are slow, expensive, unable to stream rich media or simply out of service.  There are also other complicated methods that involve setting up a hot spot or having a friend in the U.S route the service for you.

I finally found a relatively simple and reliable method that has allowed me to watch the web content for all major U.S. networks including CBS, NBC, FOX ABC, MTV, SyFy and more!

I've broken this down into two small parts:

1. installing and editing the Modify Headers plug-in
2. blocking ports

First and foremost, I should mention that this can only be done through the FireFox web browser.

Part 1 - Installing and editing the Modify Headers plugin

1. Download the Modify Headers plugin for Firefox. 
2. Once installed, go to Tools => Modify Headers in Firefox and add a new filter by clicking on the drop-down menu in the upper left corner and selecting Add.
3. In the first box, type X-Forwarded-For and in the second box, type in the IP address of any US web site. I used 63.241.108.131 which is Blockbuster USA's address. Leave the third box blank
4. Click Add and enable the filter if it is not (look for a green light)
5. Click on Configuration in the right column and ensure that the check box for always on is checked and save.

Part 2 - Blocking ports

For this to all work you must block TCP & UDP port 1935.  I think by default Windows Firewall may block this port if you're using Windows. So you may be all ready to go.

If not, this can be done through a couple of different methods:

• Your router (there are so many routers you'll have to consult your documentation)
• On a Mac through a terminal window
• On Windows using Windows' firewall  as already mentioned

That's it! This method works on most US-only streaming sites except for the Holy Grails of online programming Hulu and Netflix.

Oh yeah, one last note, I heard that this can disable Flash on some sites so you may want to enable this only while watching a video.