Workout Update: Chalean Extreme Day 21

Day 21 of CE was the recharge workout and abs. The combination of the two come in at just over half an hour, which is why I like to double up these workouts as opposed to doing abs after the Burn Intervals workout (which is about 45 minutes long) or do recharge after the Burn it Off workout (which is about half an hour long).  Plus, doing abs gives me more of a feeling of having worked out than the recharge workout which really only has two challenging parts to it (when you are holding yourself in downward dog for about a minute and holding your leg in the air for about 45 seconds. 

DVD/TV Series Review: Bitten - The Final Season

 

The third season of Bitten picks up about four months after the events of the season two finale. Elana is still trying to figure out the meaning of the vision she had of being covered in blood with Stonehaven on fire. Jeremy is still reeling from Logan's death and is trying to consolidate power and get revenge on Eduardo. The main crux of the story this season is the pack versus the Russians, headed by Roman Navikev (played by Canadian actor Daniel Kash who was also on the great 1990s show Due South). The season involves a blood feud between Roman and a character with ties to Elana that spills over into the pack's territory and threatens everyone. It pretty much dispenses with the witch storyline, although Tommie-Amber Pirie does make a few appearances.

For those who get the DVD set, while it is technically not a MOD set, it is pretty close to it. The ten episodes are spread across three discs. There are only a couple of extras, about seven minutes of deleted and extended scenes, and then a short four-minute featurette on the making of the final season. The episodes have English captions but the extras do not.

Overall, the season is good, but it felt like the series was canceled very late in production the showrunners did not really know if the show was going to be picked up for another season or not. Although, they did write the final episode so that it could work as a season finale or a series finale, which, of course, it ended up being, even though things were not tied up in a tidy bow. It felt like the scenes at the very end were added to give fans an idea of what the future of the characters held. Like the prior seasons, there is some swearing and sexual content, although there is not nearly as much sex as there was in seasons one and two. I think if you enjoyed the prior seasons you will probably like this one.

Product Review: FYL 30-Pin for iPod/iPhone ip ad Dock to 3.5mm Mini Jack Auxiliary Connector Cable

 

My car is old enough to have an aux connection, and I still have a classic iPod. This allows me to have access to my entire CD collection in my car without having to bring physical CDs in the car (yes my car is also old enough to have a CD player in it). So, if your car has an aux connection and you have an older iPod with the 30 pin connector, this definitely gets the job done.

DVD Review: The Geometry Tutor

 

Geometry is a subject that carries over into almost all of the higher-level math classes, including pre-calculus, trig, and calculus, as well as physics and engineering. The set covers lines, rays, and planes, angles, intersecting lines, triangles, the Pythagorean Theorem, Polygons, Quadrilaterals, area and perimeter of different shapes, volume, circles, cylinders, cones, and spheres, and then ends with a lesson on Geometric Proofs. Like Jason's other programs, he gives just enough theory to introduce the topic, but then spends the bulk of the lessons going through examples, step-by-step. It is just Jason in front of a whiteboard working on problems, and so that has to mesh with your learning style if you are going to find it helpful.

This is a set that will give you a foundation for material that you will need long after a geometry class. Even if you are in college and your school does not have a geometry class as a part of the curriculum, this set will be helpful even in algebra and especially in trig. And, if you are taking geometry, it will work well as a study aid. The lesson on proofs, in my opinion, is worth the cost of the set. Jason gives a great explanation for how to approach them and makes them a lot less difficult than they can be if you don't get a good explanation on how to do them. I definitely recommend this.

DVD Review: The Algebra Word Problem Tutor

 

I came across Jason's material when I started going back to school for what would eventually become an electrical engineering degree. I loved his teaching style so much I ended up getting most of his DVD tutors. Word problems tend to be the bane of algebra students' existence. As anyone who has taken algebra knows, most people hope to never see one on an exam and hate doing them as homework problems. But, if you go on to take chemistry, physics, or engineering classes, you know that word problems will eventually be the only kind of problems you see, and many times, the word problems you see in algebra are just really easy chemistry and physics problems. So, the earlier you learn how to deal with them (if you have plans on going beyond algebra) the better off you will be. When I tutored people I would always tell people taking algebra, if you plan on going into higher-level science or engineering classes, do some of the word problems, even if they are not assigned, because practicing the easy ones will help you in the long run.

Jason does a great job of breaking down how to set up and solve word problems. He includes a good mix of problem types starting out with simpler concepts like problems that just involve numbers, then getting into those that involve averages, coin and money, and age. Then he gets into the kinds of problems that are chemistry and physics problems like those involving mixtures, distance, rate and time, levers, work, and more. The set is only 6 hrs long so you do not get exposed to all of the possible word problem types, but the strategies that Jason gives you for solving them can really be applied to any type of problem. These problems are not as challenging as the hardest problems that you will likely come across, but it gives you a good foundation for how to approach any word problem and will be invaluable if you are going into higher-level classes.