Brett Morrison

Donate to fight MS: BP MS150 2013: Houston to Austin

by Brett on December 19, 2012

I signed up for the MS150 again for April 2013 to cycle from Houston to Austin with R2R which runs the best training series in Houston for MS150 training. The MS150 is the event in 2011 that started me down the path towards significant weight loss. I’d appreciate your donation towards my ride to raise money to fight Multiple Sclerosis. Click on the donate button below to go to my donation page. Once on my MS150 donation page, just below the photo click “Donate to Brett!” The money doesn’t actually go to me despite the poor wording on the MS150 site. It all goes to the sponsoring organization the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. I appreciate your support!

Below are some photos from my 2011 and 2012 from the MS150 and various training rides. I rode from Houston to Austin, got in shape, made some new friends, and raised some money to fight a debilitating disease.

: A High Five While Cycling the MS150 from Houston to Austin 2011

: Cycling – MS150 – Day Two – La Grange to Austin 2011

: Cycling in the MS150 between Houston and La Grange 2011

: Brett Morrison Crossing the Finish Line on the MS150 in Austin, Texas 2011

: Aerial photo of cyclists on the MS150 from Houston to Austin Texas 2011

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Get Fit or Die Mayan CrossFit Competition Photos

by Brett on December 18, 2012

Get Fit or Die Mayan CrossFit Competition

I took well over 6,000 photos of the competitors at the CrossFit competition Get Fit or Die Mayan (fb) in Houston, Texas. The event was organized by CrossFit Elevate in Katy (fb) and CrossFit Super Human (fb). It was great to see so many competitors, spectators, and great sponsors like Luke’s Locker (fb) and GetRxd (fb) at the event. Before we get to the photos, a little information…

6,000+ photos is a lot of photos, so it is going to take a while for me to process them. Please be patient. I will get the photos posted. Since it will take a while to post the photos, please check back again later to see more. By the way for comparison purposes, I only took 800 photos for last year’s CrossFit competition at No Label Brewery (photos from event one, two, and three.)
I am creating two sets of photos. One set is on Facebook (I created the page to not bother my friends with all the photos from GFODM), you can tag yourself in those photos or use them for posting on social media as long as you leave the border information intact. The other set is posted in my photography website where you can order prints if you wish. Let me know if you are interested in full size digital copies.
The short URL to this page is http://brettmorrison.net/GFODM if you want to share it. I’d appreciate it if you do.
The text below for “Facebook” and “Prints” will be linked below on each event as I post the photos. (The “prints” link will be live before all the photos are visible in the gallery due to the size of the files.)
I am way behind on my MS150 fundraising this year so I am going to shamelessly post a plug to my MS150 fundraising page.

On to the photos… Scaled Competition:

Men First Event – Facebook // Prints
Men Second Event — Facebook // Prints
Men Third Event — Facebook // Prints (Note: Heat three was added late)
Women First Event — Facebook // Prints
Women Second Event — Facebook // Prints
Women Third Event — Facebook // Prints

RX Competition

Men First Event – Facebook // Prints (I only took photos for heat one)
Men Second Event — Facebook // Prints
Men Third Event — Facebook // Prints
Women First Event — Facebook // Prints
Women Second Event — Facebook // Prints
Women Third Event — Facebook // Prints

Team Competition

First Event – Facebook // Prints — Tug of War!
Second Event — Facebook // Prints — The Weight of the World on Your Shoulders
Third Event — Facebook // Prints

More Photos — Facebook // Prints (Photos of Judges and Winners)

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How to hide an annoying Friend on Facebook

by Brett on October 23, 2012

You have at least one Facebook friend who thinks it is their responsibility to give a debate play by play along with annoying political commentary.

Did you know that you can make that friend show up in your Facebook news feed much less frequently without the potential awkwardness of unfriending someone you know in real life?

Go to the annoying friend’s Facebook page.
Mouse over the “Friends” button.
Click “Settings” on the menu that appeared.
Click “Only Important”

Note there are various other options, such as the ability to deselect “Games” so that games will no longer appear from that person.

Please don’t be so annoying to your friends on Facebook that they must use these instructions.

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10 Things Harder Than Losing Weight

by Brett on September 30, 2012

Someone asked me recently how I lost weight, so I referred them to my post on losing weight. I saw the person a few weeks later and he said that it sounded “too hard.” His words surprised me because I did not feel like it was difficult at all to lose the weight with the slow carb diet — there are no calories or points to count. I started thinking about what is hard, so I made this list of ten things that are harder than losing weight starting with personal anecdotes and moving on to more serious items.

1. Coming home from a cruise to find none of your pants fit

I once returned from a cruise to find that none of my pants fit. I had to run to the store on a Sunday night to buy pants to go to work the next day. Not that it is difficult to buy pants, but it is hard to realize that you can’t wear your pants any more and that you went up one more size.

2. Wheezing as you walk up a flight of steps

Our office is full of stairwells and few elevators so we have to walk up and down steps all the time. Being out of breath from walking up a few floors is hard. It is also embarrassing when you are walking with a co-worker.

3. Not being able to tie your shoes

I could not reach down and tie my shoes without pain because my gut was in the way. That was hard.

4. Sleeping poorly

I used to wake up at night with the feeling that someone was choking me. I probably had sleep apnea from being overweight. After losing weight, I sleep better. Not getting a good night of sleep is hard.

5. Realizing you are on your way to 300 pounds

I did the math and realized that I was on my way to 300 pounds if something did not change. I had gained on average 7 pounds per year. Since I was up to 260, I was probably going to hit 300 pounds before age 45. The math was easy, but the realization was hard to take.

Donating Clothes – My old 42 inch waist shorts after losing weight

Now for some more serious things that are harder than losing weight.

5. Having Diabetes

Although, I did not have diabetes, being overweight causes type 2 diabetes. Estimates indicate that half of Americans will be diabetic or pre-diabetic by 2020. I think having diabetes would be hard.

7. Having Osteoarthritis

“Obesity causes osteoarthritis by increasing the mechanical stress on the joint and therefore on the cartilage. In fact, next to aging, obesity is the most significant risk factor for osteoarthritis of the knees.” (source) Experiencing pain in your knees just from walking is hard.

8. Having a stroke

Being overweight can cause heart disease and strokes. Having a stroke sounds hard.

9. Having cancer

Being overweight increases you chances of having cancer. In fact, being overweight may be the leading cause of cancer. Having cancer is hard.

10. Having Alzheimer’s

Being overweight can cause Alzheimer’s in two ways: fattening diets and poor sleep. I know Alzheimer’s can be hard because my grandmother had it.

Seriously, following the slow carb diet is not all that hard.

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Review of my Watch Dog Experience with Katy ISD

by Brett on May 14, 2012

I volunteered all day one Friday at Lily’s school as a Watch Dog. (Watch Dog program is by fathers.com)

It was tiring yet a great experience. I starting by meeting the car riders in the rain. When school started, Lily and I appeared on the announcement system. (When did school announcements start being via TV?)

After announcements, I read to Lily’s class and did some lessons with them. I gave them some tests and we had a great time with an exercise from Stories with Holes.

Next, I made deliveries to class rooms. During lunch, I worked the cafeteria delivering ketchup, napkins, straws etc to students who needed them. Approximately, 1,000 students go through the cafeteria each day. That part was exhausting and the woman who choreographs that everyday is my new hero.

After lunch, I worked with the art teacher. I was very excited to meet the art teacher because I had the chance to show her a photo of all of Lily’s art projects framed on the wall.

After art, I delivered transport change orders to classes. Finally, I helped load car riders into cars to go home.

The whole process was extremely well organized. I was exhausted at the end of the day, but I am very happy to have participated. The kids treat you like a hero and your own kid thinks you are awesome for participating.

If your kid’s school has a similar program, I highly recommend participating. I will do it again next year — in fact I’ll probably sign up for more days. Unfortunately with my work schedule this year and how late my first day was, I could not find a second day to participate.

Here is the note we recently received from the coordinator Down Howard:

Dear Watch Dogs,

I want to Thank You for being a Watch Dog this year. We started out this year not knowing what to expect of this program. Watch Dog has added so much to our school. Our kids think our Watch Dog’s are Rock Stars and love seeing you around the school. Our staff appreciates the help you have given them this year. You have brought the biggest smiles to your children’s faces and they have so much pride when it is your day to be a Watch Dog. Thank you for making this program such a success. I have some good news for our Dads that will be moving to Wilson, we will also have the Watch Dog program next year. With that being said I would appreciate if you could reply back to me with your first & last name and the school your child will be attending next year.

I have one more favor to ask of you. I had a Dad tell me this week that his work will donate $500 to Griffin for every 20 hours he volunteers up to $1,000. If you could check with your HR department and see if your company does something similar that would be wonderful for the school.

Thank you for all your support,

Dawn Howard

MGE VIPS & Watch Dog

Thank you Dawn for organizing the program.

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How to File a Copyright Claim Against an App in the Apple App Store

by Brett on May 13, 2012

Using a reverse image search tool against some of my photos on flickr, I found that someone was using my copyrighted photo to promote an app in the Apple app store. See the image below from the app store. And here is a link to my space shuttle cockpit photo being used.

After finding my image being used, I searched the internet to find instructions on how to file a copyright complaint against an app in the Apple app store, but I could not find the information that I was needing. From having occasionally read Plagiarism Today, I know that filing a DCMA take down notice against an Apple Store App should be very simple and easy. Suing for damages due to the copyright infringement would probably require an intellectual property lawyer. I was not concerned about damages — I just wanted the developer to stop using my images, and I know this can be accomplished without using an attorney.

I went to Facebook to ask friends how to file a copyright complaint against the app, and friend Jeff Rawdon came through with the link that I needed to file the complaint.

Here are my instructions on filing the complaint against the app and my sample results of what happens after filing the complaint.

Gather information about the infringing work — screenshots, links, etc. Also, gather links and information supporting your claim that you own the copyrighted material.
Go to Apple’s link to file a copyright complaint.
Fill in the form providing the information that you gathered.
Wait for a response — see below for what happened in my case

The information to Apple in my complaint was short but I also included information about the Creative Commons license which I was afraid might complicate the claim. If you are unfamiliar with Creative Commons, see the licensing terms I frequently use. Trey Ratcliff uses these licensing terms on his beautiful travel photography, so this is not unusual. Despite the Creative Commons license, Trey is willing to sue if his images are used for commercial purposes. Back to my story and experience… Here is exactly what I filed with Apple in the copyright complaint:

From: Brett Morrison
Subject: App Store Violation of Copyright
Date: February 28, 2012 8:03:47 PM PST
To: AppStoreNotices@apple.com

Infringing App URL: http://itunes.apple.com/sn/app/space-shuttle-views/id401110297?mt=8

Description:
The Space Shuttle Cockpit photo used in the second screenshot on the “Space Shuttle Views” app is my photo. It was taken from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/8htErM. My copyrighted photo is posted on Flickr with a Creative Commons License that is non-commercial. Creative Commons does not nullify my copyright. Since the App sells for $1.99 and my photo is being used to advertise the App, it is a clear violation of my copyright by using my image for commercial purposes.

Thank you for investigating.

Thank you,
Brett

I shortly received a message back from Apple:

Dear Brett,

Thanks for your message. We have contacted the developer of the application listed below. In the meantime, if you have any questions please contact appstorenotices@apple.com and please include APP18409 in the subject line.

Developer: Quantis,Inc.
Provider: Quantis, Inc.
App Title: Space Shuttle Views
Apple ID: 401110297
-
Sincerely,
Jenny

And as of March 2nd at around 3PM, I noticed that the App was no longer available in the App store. That felt certainly like a victory to me, but of course the developer has a chance to respond. The developer chose to contact me directly shortly after this and apologize. The app has returned to the App Store — minus my photo.

Here is the apology letter:

Dear Brett Morrison,

I’m a developer of the “Space Shuttle Views” app. The app is designed to use Flickr API program to search and display photos uploaded onto Flickr with Creative Commons License that is available for commercial use. However, because of the bug, the app mistake your photo for commercial-CCL, and I used it for the screenshot.

I’ve already removed the app and screenshots from the App Store. The latest bug-fixed version will be delivered soon to existing users through iTunes software update.

I’m sorry for the inconvenience.

Regards,

Toshimori Itabashi
Kanagawa Japan

Toshimori Itabashi, I accept your apology and wish you the best of luck with your app.

Since I had such difficulty figuring out how to file a copyright complaint against an app (it required turning to Facebook since Google was unable to help), I hope this information helps you if you also need to file a take down notice against a developer in the App Store.

Let me know in the comments if your experience is different or similar to mine in filing a complaint with Apple. Thanks!

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Housing and Photoshop are Good for Your Skin

by Brett on March 28, 2012

There is a photo being shared on Facebook with a presumably aged woman who is homeless and a beautiful woman who is not homeless. They are holding a cardboard sign that reads “We are the same age. Housing: It’s good for the skin.” Below is the photo posted by “The Denver Foundation.”

Uploaded with Skitch!

It is a tragedy that Dawn passed away and it is sad that in one of the richest nations in the world that she had to live this way. I must also point out though that Photoshop is also good for the skin. The woman on the right (the one who supposedly has housing) seems clearly photoshopped, so I opened out Photo Police to be certain. And yes, it seems she has had her neck/chin improved, her nose fixed, and lots of skin rework both under the eyes and on the left side of her face.

Uploaded with Skitch!

Of course homeless is a serious problem. So is skin cancer — the risk of which can be reduced with sun block. Wrinkles can also be reduced by not smoking. And lying on the Internet also seems to be a serious problem these days.

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Cycling Head for the Hills – Chappell Hill

by Brett on March 27, 2012

I rode the MS150 training ride Head for the Hills in Chappell Hill, Texas on Saturday. It was a lovely day and a great route — with the exception of a small dirt section.