Pointless Limitations - whatismyip.com

Throughout the years I've had many reasons to want to check my external IP. For the vast majority of that time whatismyip.com has been my go-to site to get that information; Not that there weren't other places to get the information (moanmyip.com is a fun one that comes to mind) but it was the most straightforward. I'm currently in a hotel room and using a VPN to connect to my home network to protect my traffic, but the VPN software said it was connected while still showing the graphic that made it seem like it was still trying to connect. So I was refreshing whatismyip.com to see if it was actually getting connected or not. Until I ran into this:

I really couldn't believe it. They're basically "charging" information for the service of telling you your external IP. The price isn't THAT high, because pretty much any site you go to will ask you for an email address. The problem that I have with it is that they don't offer you any additional value for your email address. This is immediately proven when I turned around and Googled "check ip address" and saw that Google built that functionality into their search.

When Google implements your website's feature directly in their search results, your business model is pretty much gone if you can't find some way to innovate.

Myrtle Beach Marathon - Relay Team 2015

Let me start this out by saying that I am not a runner.

A while back I started running around my neighborhood on days that I didn't go to the gym in an effort to get some sort of cardio in my life without going too far out of my way or out of my comfort zone. Honestly, just running outside where people could see me was pretty far outside of what I was willing to do for a long time. But I finally worked up the courage and started doing it. I definitely wasn't running with any sort of regularity, but I would get out and run (alternating with walking) one or two times a week for a couple miles. Then one day some friends of mine asked if I would be willing to be on a relay team for the Myrtle Beach Marathon (6 or 7 months away at the time) - I didn't know it then, but apparently my running had been the inspiration for this idea. I figured it was as good a motivator as any to continue the running, so I said I would do it.

During the next few months I went through ups and downs in training. I didn't really plan to increase the number of days that I ran per week beyond 3, but I did want to increase the distance. As a compromise I decided that I would start out by walking longer distances and work up to doing it in intervals. That worked extremely well, but since the marathon is in February, a lot of the training time was during the holidays, which really helped to derail me from getting in regular runs. After the new year, I knew I really needed to get my ass in gear and do some longer distances. The first time I did the full 6.2 mile run - the length that my section of the marathon would be - I walked the whole distance and clocked at about 1h 40m. I was very impressed with myself and that gave me more motivation to continue with the training. I gave it a couple of weeks of shorter distances before doing my next (and final) 6.2 mile run. For this run I decided that I had to push myself and at least do a 50/50 run-to-walk ratio. That run came in at 1h 20m, which I thought was a great improvement; It was also only about 2 weeks before race day!

I had been elected to be the "anchor" of the team, so I got to run the last (and longest) leg of the race. I think the only reason that I got this position was because no one else had actually been training for the thing! But whatever the reason I was excited to meet the challenge and hoped that I was ready for it. The morning of, I could have probably slept until about 9am, but I wanted to be a team player so I got up at the ass-crack of dawn (5am) so that I could be there to see my team start the race and go to each hand-off point along the way. It was definitely early (I'm not a morning person at all). It was definitely freezing (actually below when the race started). But it was definitely worth it to support the team and see them push themselves.

By the time we got to the last hand-off point and were waiting for our teammate who was currently running to get there, the sun had come up and it had warmed up a little bit, but the wind had picked up massively; If not for the wind it would've been a gorgeous day and I would have been too warm in my long-sleeved athletic shirt and shorts - while running of course. In all honesty, standing there waiting to run was the worst part. The anticipation coupled with the wind...I just wanted to start running. My goal for the race was to beat my 1h 20m practice time; Even if it was only by seconds. Finally, the baton arrived and I set off!

The first stretch of my race was easily the worst of the whole 6.2 miles. Not only was it slightly uphill with one hell of a headwind, but my body wasn't in the groove of running yet, so my legs were protesting. I forced it to stay on course and probably got a solid half mile of running in before needing to stop and walk. By this point the track had cut down a side-street and some of the wind was being blocked. During my last full-distance practice run I had done a half mile of running followed by a half mile of walking - I was determined to increase the running and decrease the walking during the actual marathon. Unfortunately, what I didn't realize at the time is that it's far easier to do that when you know the course you're running on; You can look ahead and basically know where you need to reach to get to that next goal. On the actual course the only markers are the full miles. That coupled with Runkeeper's GPS having issues from the get-go and telling me incorrect numbers meant that I would have to basically guess.

 As it turned out, due to things like track grade and wind, I ended up just running until I couldn't anymore and then walking until I felt ready to run again - mind you, it wasn't slow walking. This system worked out very well for me. However, the frustrating part was that when I ended up stopping it wasn't because I was completely winded and out of breath. Most of the time, I stopped because my legs were hurting or I was getting a cramp in my side or shoulder. As I said before, I'm really not a runner, so I don't know what that really means. But, what it means to me is that I could probably do the same distance faster - or even more distance - I just need to continue working on losing weight so that less stress is being put on my body by running.

At the finish line they had barriers set up so that runners could be in their own separate "chutes" basically, so when I saw those getting close I walked for a bit to gain some stamina. Then, as I got to the chutes I started running at a good pace so that I could give a solid showing crossing the finish line. It apparently worked because my team said I looked like I wasn't even winded coming across. After completing the race I looked at my timer and realized that I had run it in 1h 14m - shaving 6 minutes off my time! That really made me happy to see. As the last runner, I got to collect the team's medals and go hand them out. After that we headed to the free beer tent, because obviously that's half the point of running! All in all it was an excellent experience and I think I would definitely do it again. I really think that if I continue to eat well and exercise with some regularity, a half marathon could be in my future.

Now time to relax a bit before heading out for Valentines Day dinner at Ruth's Chris!

A Celebration of Harry Potter at Universal Studios 2015 - Part 2: Diagon Alley and London

Be sure to check out Part 1: The Rides!

On our previous visit to Universal back in May 2014, while the actual attractions relating to Diagon Alley and London weren't open, we could still see a lot of the London portion over the barriers and it looked great. This visit it was all open for business, so we were able to get right in and look at everything. The London set consists of a couple different sections: The townhouses from Grimmauld Place, the entry to Diagon Alley (they don't actually funnel all of the guests through the Leaky Cauldron), the Knight Bus and King's Cross station.

There isn't a whole lot to be said about Grimmauld Place (since you can't go inside) or about King's Cross since it's just a staging area for the Hogwarts Express ride. But both are faithfully recreated and look very good. Grimmauld Place is just a row of townhouses made to look like the movie set and King's Cross looks like a train terminal, plus barriers to form proper lines for the ride. The Knight Bus was parked out in front of the stretch of London buildings. They had someone dressed as the conductor who hung out and would take pictures with people by the bus. They even put the talking head in the front window by the conductor. And it actually talked which was a nice touch. You could also walk around to the back of the bus where Harry actually got on it for the first time and look inside. They did a very good job with the interior too. There were a lot of people waiting for a turn to look inside so I didn't linger too long to check out all of the details, but it had beds!

Now that we've talked about the front, it's time to move on into the alley itself. After all, that's really the attraction; We could actually travel to London if that's what we wanted to see. The entryway to Diagon Alley was exactly as you might expect: a brick wall in a little courtyard with an arched entry through it. They modeled the arch to look like it did when the bricks were in motion in the movie and it turned out great. As soon as I walked through that arch I really felt like I had stepped into the movie.

The alley looked fantastic! Not trying to have all of the guests enter through the Leaky Cauldron was a wise decision, so that is just inside the entrance on your left. Unfortunately due to crowds, other places we wanted to eat, etc we did not end up eating there, but it looked like standard fare with a slight British twist; I didn't notice if they had pea soup on the menu or not. Not every storefront in the alley corresponds to an actual shop that you can go into and buy things, but the storefronts themselves were extremely well done, even if the store interiors were pretty typical gift shops with a Harry Potter twist. The definite focal point of the alley is Gringots - complete with a fire-breathing dragon and everything! That's right. The dragon perched at the top of Gringots actually belches real flames at an interval. I had no idea that happened, so the first time I was very surprised. After seeing it for the first time - and seeing some birds flying dangerously close to the fiery end - I tried to figure out how they actually ensured that they didn't toast passing birds. My only thought is that they must shoot a blast of air out first or something to scare away any birds that may be too close. Regardless, it was great. There was also a great themed take-out beer place to the left of the dragon that served my favorite beer of the trip. But I'll touch on that in Part 4.

Something that my girlfriend was really looking forward to was Knockturn Alley - specifically Borgin and Burkes. She was worried that in an effort to make it more family friendly they would leave out some of the more macabre details and brighten the place up a bit. This worry was entirely baseless! Knockturn Alley was very dark and mysterious; Covered by a roof that was made to look like a cloudy night. Borgin and Burkes was also spot on. It was definitely still a fairly typical gift shop, but in addition to that it was a bit darker and there were lots of glass cases filled with evil looking objects, as well as the mounted hand that grabs Harry - moving and all. There was also a trunk on the floor that had some sort of pneumatic device inside making it sound like someone (or something) was trying to get out.

One of the new things that they added to Hogsmeade along with the opening of Diagon Alley was the interactive "spell casting." Basically, at certain spots throughout the Harry Potter themed areas, they had a sensor, and if you had one of the interactive wands you could point it in the general direction of the sensor, make the correct wand movement, and something would happen if you got it right. A few examples: an umbrella above a shop would pour water like it was raining, Christmas lights in a window would light up in a pattern, etc. We did not actually participate (I heard the wands ran about $50) but the idea and the execution were stellar. Even if rides aren't your thing or you have small children who are unable to participate in the rides, the interactive wand experience can make the trip very worth it and adds a lot to the immersive experience.

Overall I would say the experience was fantastically immersive and very enjoyable. Keep an eye out for Part 3: The Celebration Events!

A Celebration of Harry Potter at Universal Studios 2015 - Part 1: The Rides

I have been a Harry Potter fan for a long time.

I grew up reading the books and went to the midnight releases for most of them. I didn't do as much reading as I should have when I was younger, but I used to get in trouble for staying up too late on school nights reading Harry Potter. Dressing up as characters has never really been something that I am interested in doing, but I was extremely excited when they started making movies out of the books and went to many of the midnight showings for those. I own all of the movies on Bluray and I can't even tell you how many times I have watched them. My girlfriend's fandom is on about the same level, so the idea of attending the Celebration of Harry Potter at Universal Studios this year was an extremely attractive idea to us both. We actually went to Universal last May in hopes that the new Diagon Alley section of the Universal park would be opened by then. Unfortunately it was not, but we were still able to see Hogsmeade in Islands of Adventure, as well as enjoy everything that both of those parks had to offer without much of a line. Ever since I got up the courage to ride my first roller coaster I have been hooked - they transformed from foreboding and scary into magical and exhilarating - so believe me when I tell you that Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is more than your average roller coaster.

Potential Spoilers Ahead! The first thing that you notice when you get near the boarding platform is that the carts are moving along the wall, not touching the ground and never coming to a complete stop. The floor is also moving, meaning that they need to keep the flow of riders boarding constant, which really helps the line move quickly. Once the ride begins your cart takes you and three other riders through a mix of immersive screens and actual, physical sets. The blending is almost flawless, making for an excellent experience overall. The second time through, I started looking around. Instead of looking at the screen, I was looking around the edge of my cart to see what the cart was attached to and how it was moving. It turns out that the ride cart is attached to a vertical arm that runs down to a four-legged contraption that has four wheels on a roller-coaster-esque track. The cart can pivot on the arm which allows quite a range of motion. That coupled with the fact that the screens cover your entire field of vision makes for a very convincing experience of flying through the air. They even get a little "4D" on you, having spiders spitting water and a dragon breathing hot smoke. I really don't think that I could have been more impressed with this ride and that excitement does not diminish much over subsequent rides. You do definitely come off of it feeling a bit disoriented and while I believe that is half the point, it can make your stomach turn.

Based on the experience with Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, I had exceedingly high hopes for the Escape from Gringots ride that was being built in Diagon Alley at Universal. I imagined a roller coaster experience culminating with the cart bursting out of the roof of Gringots with a dragon hot on our trail. Our first day in the park for The Celebration of Harry Potter weekend we headed straight for Diagon Alley to ride this new ride.

More Potential Spoilers! It could have been partially my own fault for building it up so much in my head, but I really think they could have done much better. The ride started off exceedingly promisingly: running into Bellatrix and having the ride move unexpectedly - no one expects a roller coaster on tracks to suddenly rotate from being flat to being at a 45 degree downward slant. The ride also featured a pair of 3D glasses for each rider which was used mostly to allow wand effects to appear to come towards you and that was a nice touch. Unfortunately that's where the impressiveness ended. The individual roller coaster cars had a neat mechanic where they could rotate on the track, but this had been done before (and better) on the Revenge of the Mummy ride (one of my favorite in Universal, by the way). The whole experience seemed a bit contrived. They had some of the film talent acting on screens to make it another story-driven experience like Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, but it seemed like they were trying to cram too much story and too many characters into too little time. Unfortunately, due to the length of the lines and the fact that there were other events going on during the weekend we only ended up riding The Escape from Gringots once, which means I didn't really have a chance to try to look around during the ride and inspect the tech. I think my favorite part was actually the fake elevator ride down to the boarding platform. They had the floor rigged to move and the ceiling was screens, so it really made it feel like you were descending to a great depth.

I can't say that I was particularly looking forward to the Hogwarts Express "ride", but I do think that it's a fantastic way to connect the Diagon Alley section of Universal to the Hogsmeade section of Islands of Adventure. When we decided to take the ride it ended up impressing me.

Even More Potential Spoilers! Before I get into the interior of the ride, let me just say that the exterior looks like the real deal. The train has steam coming out of it's stack, it's pulling a coal car and the cars themselves look like real train cars with automatic sliding doors. Very cool. Going into the ride I really thought that they would have some backdrops and scenes along the tracks to sort of simulate going across the countryside to get to Hogsmeade and vice versa. At the very most I figured they would put a screen on the window and do something animated, but since it's just a short train ride I wasn't expecting that much. Inside of the cars they sit you 8 to a compartment. The window is a screen (as expected) and starts out just showing a video of the wall that was actually on the other side of the train with some steam rising from below. Once the ride is about to start moving, the door to the compartment slides shut; All of the "windows" on the interior of the compartment are opaque and seem to be meant to keep your focus inside and on the window. Part the way through the ride that preconception is shattered as voices, along with silhouettes of Harry, Ron and Hermione move across the interior windows, creating a whole extra aspect to the show. That plus the moving countryside containing characters and locations from the movies moving past the window makes the trip an enjoyable experience. And you get a completely different show when you ride it the other direction! It obviously wasn't the most exciting ride in the park, but they took a train ride and made it fun.

All in all, the designers at Universal and Islands of Adventure did a fantastic job bringing the magic of Harry Potter into ride form. I had a blast on all of the rides and the magic didn't stop there. Check out Part 2: Diagon Alley and London!

Celebrities That Give Back

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Oliver Phelps this past weekend. You might know him better for his role as George Weasley in the Harry Potter films and he was at the Universal Studio's Celebration of Harry Potter. To be honest, I didn't even know his real name prior to the visit, even though the Weasley twin's antics in the books and movies had always been something I really enjoyed.

During the fan Q&A session both of the Phelps brothers (Jason Phelps played Fred) really seemed to enjoy being available for the fans and put some thought into their responses. It may seem odd, but this actually set them apart from one of the other actors on the panel. I didn't think much of it at the time, but an experience shortly after the Q&A made me realize how much they really enjoy giving back to the fans.

Shortly before the Q&A ended, my girlfriend and I started walking towards the line to enter the Harry Potter Expo, hoping to get there before the crowds from the Q&A made the line outrageously long, however when we got there the estimated wait was already an hour. So, we got in line with everyone else and just waited; The line wasn't going to get any shorter as the day went on as the entire park was packed with fans. After about 45 minutes we were in the home stretch towards the expo entrance when all of a sudden people start freaking out. It turns out that the Phelps brothers had just come out of a staff door (with an entourage of staff in tow) and were headed towards the expo line. The brothers split up and started heading in different directions down the line of fans, readily shaking hands, taking pictures and signing autographs. Oliver just happened to head straight to where we were standing in line and immediately gave me a firm handshake and an amazing smile. My girlfriend really wanted a picture with him, but he had moved on to signing some books for another group of people and taking other pictures. He almost started heading further down the line of people, but scanned back across the line and noticed her trying to get his attention. He came back and took the picture, which absolutely made her day and made every minute of standing in that line worth it. The two brothers walked up and down the line for about 10 or 15 minutes. Several times as they were about to walk away, they returned to the line to sign another autograph or take another picture.

It is entirely possible that part of their agreement for coming to the Celebration of Harry Potter weekend was that they do these impromptu sessions, but from my perspective (and several candid photos that I took) they were exceedingly pleased to give back to the fans. I grew up reading the Harry Potter books, even going to many of the midnight book releases, and still watch the movies fairly frequently. That very brief meeting of Oliver Phelps really had an impact on me and made me appreciate the celebrities who actively engage and give back.