The people at BigMusicGeek.com are running a giveaway in which you can win a signed copy of the Guilt Machine album, “On This Perfect Day.” From what I can tell you don’t have to register for anything. They do require you to enter your email address, but you can choose to opt out of their mailing list.

Go here to read the rules and find out more.

Popularity: 1% [?]

I sincerely hate shameless self-promotion as much as anyone (really, I do!). But because the kind interviewers below took precious time out of their one lives to talk to yours truly, it would seem ungrateful of me not to pass on links to their work.

Carl Begai gets me talking about Guilt Machine, my lack of tabbing skill, and why my elementary school teachers were right when they marked “works well with others” as one of the skills that “needs improvement.”

ShredThisWay.com 20 questions about guitars, guitar playing, and my infamous distaste for jazz

Gearwire.com interview about my Luna Andromeda

Gearwire.com interview about my Vigier Excalibur

Popularity: 4% [?]

With so many poorly designed, crapola products out there, it’s a rare treat to discover cool stuff that works. Seriously, when I stumble upon something simple, affordable, and functional that actually solves a problem in my life it’s hard to resist the temptation to tell people about it. For social recluses like me, “telling people” equals blogging, so read on!

The Gymboss 2009 dual timer is my most recent source of consumer joy. It’s designed for use in the gym (duh), to help you keep track of intervals, rest periods, metabolic circuits, or whatever special timing your workout involves. But the dual timer function is also useful for reminding you to do other repetitive tasks. Even with the best of intentions, it can be tough to remember to do certain things regularly throughout the day. Here are some off-the-top-of-my-head examples:

Avoiding desk fatigue with scheduled mini breaks (this is a big one for me):
Timer 1: 45 minutes (work time)
Timer 2: 2-5 minutes (get up, stretch, rehab exercises)
Repeats: 2-3 (then take a proper break)

Tracking billable freelance hours:
Timer 1: 15 minutes (time spent doing billable work)
Timer 2: 15-30 seconds (short break to note down billable period on time sheet)
Repeats: 3-4 (then take a proper break before you get back to your billable work)

Guitar Practice:
Timer 1: 2 minutes (practicing a particular exercise)
Timer 2: 60 seconds (rest, stretch, setup next exercise).
Repeats: Say, 10 for a 30-minute practice session.

Kicking procrastination’s ass a la Merlin Mann’s 10+2*5 method
Timer 1: 10 minutes (doing productive work)
Timer 2: 2 minutes (dicking around as a reward for doing productive work)
Repeats: 5. Congratulations, you’ve just worked a productive 50 minutes!

The Gymboss is easy to learn to use, and offers the following useful options:

- 1 or 2 timers
- Manual or automatic repeats (either infinite or a set number of repeats)
- Alarms: High beep, Low beep, Vibrate, High beep + Vibrate, Low beep + vibrate

I bought my Gymboss solely for use in the gym a couple of months ago, and by now I don’t know how I ever managed without it. What I didn’t expect is that this clever little timer would make it so satisfying (in a geeky kind of way) to program my “intervals” for other everyday activities. When something is more fun and satisfying as opposed to just “good for you,” you’re more likely to actually do it.
And in case you’re wondering, yes, it comes in PINK.

Gymboss on Amazon (aff link)

Popularity: 4% [?]

Due to certain gender-specific anatomical limitations, I’ll have to take his word about the peanut butter thing:

http://www.globaldomination.se/reviews/guilt-machine-on-this-perfect-day

Popularity: 5% [?]