MTA
Why is the MTA's budget each year referred to as a "doomsday" budget?
They vote on it every year, and every year it's approved, and every year
they get subsidised by the tax payers and toll payers. So why is it a
"doomsday" budget? They're not going out of business, although it sure
seems their worker's union would like to see that happen given their
demands.
[/politics]
[permanent link]
Don't they have better things to do?
It has come to my attention that Congress, in their infinite wisdom, has
decided to write legislation against television commercial
advertisements having a louder perceived volume than the actual
programming.
While I do sometimes find this annoying, do we really need an act of
congress to outlaw this? Shouldn't our representatives be doing
something better with their time, like repealing hundreds of laws that
hinder the free market economy and trample the Constitutionally
guaranteed rights of the citizens?
Of course not, that would threaten their power.
[/politics]
[permanent link]
Who... What are you?
I was running earlier tonight and around mile 7 I was going up a steep,
winding, dark hill. Near the top a couple was walking their dog. They
saw the flashing
lights on my shoes and wrists and, when I got close to them, the
woman said, "We were trying to figure out what you were."
"I'm a runner."
[/running]
[permanent link]
1260056285
Hibachi in Ballston. People in VA are still afraid of snow.
--
==================================================================
This mobile text message is brought to you by AT&T
[/mobile]
[permanent link]
:)
It's amazing how a simple email containing only a smiley emoticon can
brighten one's day.
[/musings]
[permanent link]
Product Review: ASICS Cumulus-11
This is the third installment of my running product reviews. Last time
I said I'd discuss my "current running shoe" but my again I'm a liar.
I'm still going to discuss the ASICS Cumulus-11, but it
is no longer my current running shoe.
I purchased the Cumulus-11 based on my love of the Cumulus-10, without
really trying them. This turned out to be a mistake. The Cumulus-11 is a
fine update to the Cumulus-10; however, the changes are better for some
runners than others.
The heel of the Cumulus-11 is noticeably firmer than that of the 10.
Because of this change, I no longer get adequate compression and
cushioning from these shoes. These shoes are not as firm as the Tailwinds
previously reviewed either and are closer to the Cumulus-10 than to the
Tailwinds. I never had the feeling of running in clogs with the
Cumulus-11, but they were firm enough that old injuries were aggravated.
The Cumulus-11 is still on store shelves (at least it was at Fleet Feet
this past weekend) and should also be available on-line through
retailers such as EastBay. I recommend this shoe to a runner who liked
the feel of the Cumulus-10 but had issues with it being too soft.
Next time, we'll discuss my current running shoe, the Nike Vomero+ 4. No
really, I have three pairs of these to burn through, I'll be using them
for a while.
[/running/reviews]
[permanent link]
Philadelphia
The night before I woke up every hour, looked at the clock, said "I have N
hours before I need to get up" and went back to sleep.
I lost a lot of fluids because I couldn't turn the temperature in the room down
and spent the night sweating. When I got up I drank a lot of water and GuBrew,
but as it turns out, not enough.
The weather was good, about 46 at the start. It was sunny, which was quite a
problem when I got a migraine at mile 8. It took me about a mile to get my
imitrex out of my pocket and actually take it. At the half I was still close to
the 3:20 pacer and I considered taking the turn for the finish line, but
decided to keep going.
As the nausea from the migraine subsided, I started getting a stomach cramp. At
mile 17 I stopped at medical. After some back and forth the decided the cramp
was likely due to dehydration and they made me sit and drink in front of them
for 15 to 20 minutes before they cleared me to continue.
After that I went on my way at a much slower pace. At about mile 24 one of my
teammates, Tom, caught up to me (this was his 19th race at marathon or greater
distance). He paced me and got me through to the end.
I ended up finishing at 3:55:46, far off from my goal. But now I know I can
finish the distance so it's just a matter of doing it faster. I'd like to get
two more in before New York next November.
Right now, I feel much better than I thought I would. It was weird, when I woke
up this morning, I was walking around the hotel room for a half hour feeling
just fine. Then I put my shoes on and everything from my feet to my shoulders
started hurting. That's more-or-less subsided now, thankfully.
[/running]
[permanent link]
Beavertown Fall Classic 5K
Saturday morning was the third(?) annual Beavertown 5K. I had been
training with a group of people for the two months leading up to the
race. We registered as a team for the event, the Beavertown Runners.
I set out with the goal of finally breaking 20 minutes. With Philly so
close I decided the PR wasn't worth risking an injury and I'd slow down
if something felt off.
I didn't slow down. I finished in 6th place overall with a new PR of
19:51. The team rankings were determined by each team's top 3 finishers
and, in our category, the Beavertown Runners took first.
[/running]
[permanent link]
19 days 23 hours...
Just under 20 days remain until the start of the Philadelphia Marathon.
Last week I ran 60 miles and felt pretty good; my hamstring and
iliotibial band are healing nicely.
I've gotten some advice from some people who have run Philly before and
I'm thankful for that. Among other things, they stressed the importance
of tapering. It's going to be difficult to run less when I feel so good.
[/running]
[permanent link]
C#, XNA, and 8 Queens
I spent some time this weekend learning some C# and getting working a
bit with the XNA framework. I implemented a solution for the 8 Queens
problem in C++, then ported that class to C#. After getting that working
in Windows, I started moving it to the Xbox.
It works there with little issue, but, as expected, writing to
system.console doesn't produce useful output. My next step is to get
some sort of graphical representation of the chessboard displayed with
the solution set.
[/code]
[permanent link]
Staten Island Half Marathon
Sunday was the Staten Island Half Marathon. I've been dealing with
overuse injuries as of late, my IT-band has been acting up and I
strained my right hamstring.
I wasn't sure if I'd be running or not, and the temperature was
predicted to be in the low- to mid-50's, so I wore my coldgear; I didn't
want to end up with hypothermia again if I was standing around for 2
hours in shorts.
It turned out that one of my teammates, Liz, wasn't sure if she'd be
able to finish. We decided to run together. And we did. We finished with
the exact same time of 2:34:00. I kept her from stopping and she kept me
from going to fast and re-injuring myself.
It took me an hour longer to finish the race than it normally would, but
I think it went quite well. My hamstring actually felt better after the
run. My IT-band was a little sore the next day, but it was better by
Tuesday.
Running at the slower pace, I was able to actually look around and enjoy
the scenery. The shores Staten Island were not as bad as I was
expecting. Over all, it was a good recovery run. A 13.1 mile recovery
run.
[/running]
[permanent link]
Bing!
It has come to my attention that searching bing for pictures of closed doors yields
pictures of my DeLorean.
[/dmc]
[permanent link]
Self Documenting Code
Despite what you think about your code, it is not self documenting. When
writing code add comments, describe what a function does, explain why
you're using that convoluted pointer arithmetic and bit shifting. I'm
sure it makes sense now, but someday you'll have to go back and look at
it and figure out what the hell you were doing. Or worse, I'll
have to go back and look at it and figure out what the hell you were
doing.
Sometimes it is important to have some sort of separate documentation
for the code; maybe some UML or ER diagrams, maybe some English text.
Use what ever it takes to explain what you were doing. Do not paste
snippets of your code into the text and call it documentation.That
is not documentation, that is code.
[/code]
[permanent link]
AFI: Starland Ballroom, October 10, 2009
Show was great last night. Here's the setlist from the show:
- Torch Song
- Leaving Song Pt. II
- Veronica Sawyer Smokes
- Ever and a Day
- Kill Caustic (With Lou Koller of Sick of It All)
- End Transmission
- Love is a Many Splendored Thing
- Beautiful Thieves
- Dancing Through Sunday
- Leaving Song
- On the Arrow
- Death of Seasons
- Medicate
- Love Like Winter
- Just Like Heaven
- Miss Murder
- Silver and Cold
I'll write more later, now it's time to get ready for the Staten Island
Half Marathon.
[/musings]
[permanent link]
It exists
As part of the DeLorean's restoration, I've been considering a backlit
dash. I had considered sticking with the stock dash with the white light
bulb in front of the gauges, but I thought a red backlit display would
be better for night vision.
Then came the issue of whether or not something like that exists. Turns
out it does. Speed
Hut carries a line of customizable gauges for the DMC-12 as part of
the EL-Glo line.
[/dmc]
[permanent link]
Gmail and mutt
I like mutt. Of all the mail clients I've used over the years, it
sucks the least. It works well with my mail server.
Despite having my own domain and mail server, I still use gmail for
certain things; things I don't mind being retained for 3 years after I
delete them, or more specifically, things I want retained for 3 years
after I delete them.
I don't like the gmail web interface. I find checking my gmail to be
annoying because of this. I remembered gmail offering POP and IMAP.
I figured I could use that to get my gmail. Shouldn't be too hard right?
A quick search of Mr. Yahoo and Mr. Google gave me two good starting
points: Lifehacker.com
and MattCutts.com.
I read the sites and the getmail man page and figured out what I needed
to do. First I enabled IMAP for my gmail account. Next, I created the
.getmail directory in my home directory then created a getmailrc file
there. I want all gmail mail to be delivered to a specific mbox file
without going through my normal mail delivery channels. The contents of
the getmailrc file are quite simple:
[retriever]
type = SimpleIMAPSSLRetriever
server = imap.gmail.com
username = username@gmail.com
password = usernamespasswordgoeshere
mailboxes = ("inbox",)
[destination]
type = Mboxrd
path = /usr/home/mforde/Mail/GMAIL
The retriever section defines how getmail will retrieve the mail. In
this case it uses IMAP over SSL to connect to imap.gmail.com. The
mailboxes setting can be used to specify only certain gmail labels to
retrieve, but I want anything in the inbox.
The destination section tells getmail what to do with the mail once it
has grabbed it from gmail. This configuration dumps it into an mbox file
I've named GMAIL.
I chose IMAP over POP because of the slightly-less-than-documented
"feature" of gmail only allowing 99 messages at a time over POP.
So to get the initial batch of 7000+ emails, I ran
> getmail -vvv -l
to get verbose output and to leave messages on the gmail server. When
that was done I pointed mutt at the GMAIL mbox and like magic, there was
my gmail, organized nicely in my terminal.
Now, I want to check to get the latest mail fairly often, and I don't
want to download messages already copied over. To accomplish this, I
added a crontab to run every 10 minutes and invoke
getmail -l -n -q
This tells getmail to leave copies on the server, only get new messages
it hasn't already retrieved, and be quiet about it.
This has worked out well for me. If you're interested in setting up
something like this, I highly recommend reading the article at matcutts.com.
That article also links to several sample getmailrc files.
[/unix]
[permanent link]
Marathon Tune-UP
This past Sunday was the Marathon Tune-Up, an 18 mile run through
Central Park. My goal was to run it maintaining roughly a 7:30/mile
pace. I had set a range of 135 to 140 minutes for myself. I would have
been satisfied with any finish time in that five minute span.
At the 10 mile mark, I was averaging 7:27/mile. During that 11th mile, I
decided to use a Gu energy gel. I was still feeling pretty good at that
pace and I was hoping to time the gel right so as to not "hit the wall"
at mile 14 or 15.
Instead, the gel started giving me stomach cramps. At mile 12 I was
still well under an 8 minute pace and at the half-marathon mark, I was a
minute off my best official half. I was clearly slowing down as the
stomach pain increased.
I struggled through miles 14 and 15, alternating running and walking
every quarter mile. By mile 16, I could not run. The pain was almost
unbearable. I ended up walking the last two miles, in the rain, with all
my blood concentrated in my core, dealing with the Gu in my stomach. By
time I crossed the finish line, I was a half over my 135 minute goal and
had almost no feeling in my hands or feet.
I went to the medical tent and told the volunteer that I had severe
stomach cramps and I was so cold that I couldn't feel my hands. He
responded, "We don't got no blankets or nuthin' so we can't do nuthin'
for ya." So I walked away.
I went to the tables where volunteers were handing out gatorade and
pretzels. I stood there, shaking, until another runner came up to me
and asked if I was okay. Before I knew it, another runner was keeping me
from falling over while the first runner was coming back with two NYRR
volunteers. One of them wrapped me in a plastic bag to keep the rain off
while the other went for help. I explained what happened at the medical
tent.
Two more people from medial came back and put me on a gurney and took me
back to the tent. I told them what had happened at the tent and
explained what I was feeling. At the tent I removed my soaked shirts and
was wrapped in a mylar sheet and two blankets. I pointed out the guy who
told me they couldn't do anything for me.
I managed to get in touch with my fellow Giraffe who ran back to our car
to get my dry clothes. After about a half hour or so, I was feeling much
better and feeling had returned to my extremities. I got in my dry
clothes and my teammate and I walked back to the car.
So taking a Gu ended up with me being treated for hypothermia. I had had
mild stomach irritation when using Gu in training, but never this bad.
I'm glad I found out now instead of next month in Philadelphia.
during my 22 mile training run at the Tourne, I used prepared bottles of
GuBrew and Gu2O. These liquids never caused the irritation that the gel
did, so I should be okay using them during the race.
I've purchased a bottle that gets strapped to your hand for the purpose
of carrying the GuBrew with me. I filled it with water and ran with it
on the treadmill last night. It seems a little awkward, but it
shouldn't be too bad. I'll use it to carry the GuBrew with me during the
Staten Island Half Marathon on the 11th and see how that works out.
[/running]
[permanent link]
A Weekend at the Races
Tomorrow is the Fifth Avenue Mile and Sunday is the Marathon Tune-Up.
I'm looking forward to both. If all goes well, I should be done with
tomorrow's race in under six minutes. Sunday's race I'm aiming for a
time between 135 and 140 minutes. We'll see what happens...
[/running]
[permanent link]
Hope Chest
A conversation I had while helping some friends move:
me: So what do they keep in this hope chest?
Jaxon: Hope.
me: So that's why it's so light.
[/musings]
[permanent link]
Product Review: ASICS Cumulus-10
This is the second installment of my running product reviews. Last time
I said I'd discuss my "current running shoe" but my training has turned
me into a liar. I'm still going to discuss the ASICS Cumulus-10, but it
is no longer my current running shoe.
At this point, the Cumulus-10 can still be found, although supplies are
limited. I recently tried to purchase a second pair of these and was
unable to find them in my size. I could have had a 9.5 or a 12, but not
the 10.5 I needed.
When the Nike Tailwinds no longer provided adequate cushioning, I had to
find a new shoe, one that would work for a lighter runner. After reading
reviews online and in magazines, particularly Runner's World, I went
over to Fleet Feet in Montclair and talked to the sales staff there.
After trying on a few pairs, I decided on the Cumulus-10 but wanted to
wait until after the Brooklyn Half Marathon, a week away, before
breaking in new shoes. This is not what happened. Because of the lack of
cushioning in the Tailwinds, I ended up with horrible shin splints
during my lunch time run the day before Brooklyn. I called up fleet
feet, asked them to hold a pair of the Cumulus-10s for me and I picked
them up that evening. I ran in them for the first time the next morning
in the Brooklyn Half.
Those shoes were amazing. They were soft enough to provide the
compression needed for good cushioning at my weight. And while they were
soft, they weren't mushy either. The ASICS GEL cushioning system is in
place in both the heel and the forefoot, providing ample shock
absorption for heel strikes and mid- to fore-foot strikes.
The toe box was slightly narrow, but starting the laces one hole up from
the bottom provided enough extra space while keeping my foot firmly in
place.
The sole in the forefoot is wide; wider than the sole in the Tailwinds.
This provides support for the foot during the toe-off portion of the
stride.
The Cumulus-10 served me well until I had put just under 600 miles
on them. At that point the cushioning was worn down and not as
effective as it once was. I retired them about a week after the NYC Half
Marathon in August giving me about 12 weeks worth of running. In
actuality, I should have retired them after about 10 weeks.
I recommend the ASICS Cumulus-10 for lighter runners with normal to low
arches. Left over stock of the Cumulus-10 can be found at EastBay's
website for $69.99 (both men's and women's), although many sizes are
unavailable at this time.
Next time, we'll discuss my current running shoe, the ASICS Cumulus-11.
I've been slacking a bit so I only have about 250 miles on this pair so
far. Hopefully I'll post the review before I hit 500 miles and retire
these.
[/running/reviews]
[permanent link]
The Biggest Loser
Last night was supposed to be my night off. My IT-band and my hamstring
in my left leg have been tight the last few days so I spent some time
stretching, but that was to be the extent of my workout.
I started watching the season premier of The Biggest Loser.
After about a half hour of that, I felt "motivated" and I spent an hour
core training. Watching those contestants at such an early stage of
the game made me remember what I have accomplished, how hard I worked
for it, and that it will be a never ending battle.
Sure I'm running 50 to 60 miles a week now. Sure I'm spending hours
weight lifting and core training every week. I've taken my BMI from 36.5
to 20.0, and now begins the next phase, keeping the weight off. I can't
become complacent. If I do, I will have lost.
[/musings]
[permanent link]
TBMChicago
TBMChicago has some live footage
of The Birthday Massacre as well as galleries of photographs taken
during performances and after shows hanging out with fans.
I'm a little shocked that it's taken me this long to find this site. But
then again, I'm usually out of the loop on things so maybe it shouldn't
be too surprising.
I'm waiting for the DVD release of Show and Tell. I haven't found
a release date yet, but I could just be out of the loop yet again.
[/musings]
[permanent link]
Product Review: Nike Tailwind 2008
Welcome to a new feature on this blog. I'm going spend some time writing
what I think of various running related items such as shoes, clothes,
and energy gels.
My first review is the Nike Tailwind 2008 running shoe. At this point,
they're a little hard to find as they have been replaced by the Tailwind
2009. From what I've read about the 2009 edition, not much has changed
so much of this should still be relevant.
What first drew me to this running shoe was the Air Max cushioning. Like
many Nikes, the heel contained the Air pockets. Unlike many other Nikes,
these also had the Air Max cushioning in the forefoot.
I tried them on and they were snug, but not too tight. Perfect. They
were already on sale by time I was buying them. Even better.
I ran about 400 miles in my first pair in about six months time, and
replaced them with another pair which lasted about another four months.
During this time the shoes served me well on treadmills as well as road
and trail courses.
These shoes, however, are best for heavier runners. The cushioning is
very firm and needs extra weight to compress properly for maximum impact
absorption. When I first started wearing the Tailwinds, I was about two
months into my training and was about 210lbs. As I ran more, I lost more
weight. At 180lbs the shoes were still quite good. At 160lbs they still
provided adequate cushioning, although I started to feel my runs more.
The Tailwinds served me well until I was under 140lbs. Below that and
they feel like running in clogs.
I recommend the Nike Tailwinds for heavier runners with normal to low
arches. The men's Tailwind 2009 can be found on the EastBay website for
$79.99 (99.99 for women's) as of this writing, making them a relatively
affordable running shoe.
Next time, we'll discuss my current running shoe, the ASICS Cumulus-10.
[/running/reviews]
[permanent link]
NYC Half Marathon
Yesterday was my worst half marathon yet. While standing in the corral
for almost an hour before the race start, I developed a migraine which
became progressively worse as the day went on.
Around 6:30am, I saw some flashing white lights out of the corner of my
eye. Figuring it was someone with a camera, I looked over only to see
that there was no one with a camera standing there or walking away.
Then I realized the flashes were the aura. At that point I knew it would
be a bad day.
My split times illustrate the progression of the migraine including the
nausea, blurred vision, and dizziness:
5K: 0:23:42 (not too bad)
10K: 0:47:32 (still okay)
15K: 1:14:45 (feeling nauseated)
20K: 1:46:09 (trying hard not to vomit in front of officials that will
pull me from the race)
final: 1:51:49 (I'm not dead yet!)
Out of about 15 to 16 thousand people that signed up, about 10 thousand
finished.
Yesterday was apparently day 1 of a heat wave, and the humidity was
quite high. At the start of the race, the air temperature (in
Fahrenheit) plus the humidity percentage number was 151. At 152 and
higher the risk of heat stroke increases significantly, or so I read in
Running Times.
Only one member of the Giraffes met her goal. We're really proud of her. Not
only did she meet her goal, but this was her first half marathon.
All four members of our team that ran finished, but we all agreed on a
new rule: no summer races longer than 10K.
Despite the horrible weather conditions, and other problems, I'm glad I
ran this race. My time was far from my best, but now I can say I ran
through Central Park, down 7th Ave to 42nd, through Times Square and out
to the West Side Highway and down to Battery Park. Seriously, how cool
is that?
ABC had a special broadcast last night at 11:35PM recapping the race. I
recorded it and am looking forward to watching it sometime today.
[/running]
[permanent link]
Windows 7
I installed the Release Candidate (build 7100) of Windows 7 on my
workstation today. I'm using it as I write this post. I'm not sure how
much longer I'll be using it. I suppose I'll be using it at least until
FreeBSD 8.0 is released.
The Aero interface seems to have been polished a bit since Vista. This
is both good and bad. It's good in that I've been able to customize it
to be almost as usable as the XP and "classic" UIs. Almost.
It's bad in that it's too user friendly. It's as though the designers
have such a low opinion of the users' intelligence that they went out of
their way to hide how the system works. It's like Microsoft wants to be
Apple.
Don't be Apple. You're better than that.
Parts of the UI seem to get in the way. The window decoration draws much
attention away from the actual task at hand. Moving the mouse pointer
out of your way can lead to more things in your way. Hovering over the
wrong spot leads to pop-up thumbnails of open applications. Or all the
windows become transparent hiding you task and showing you the desktop.
I'll try it out some more, but I'm pretty sure I'll be going back to the
"classic" Win95-Win2000 UI. Even in that mode, the explorer shell is
just different enough to be annoying.
[/musings]
[permanent link]
Race Against Crime and Drugs
The Hoboken Race Against Crime and Drugs was last night.
The Giraffes were split into three three-person teams. Unfortunately,
two members were unable to run last night. However, two of the more
recent additions to the Giraffes stepped up and joined the race.
My right calf was still sore at the start of the race, but felt better
after about a mile. By that point it was too late and I knew I wouldn't
PR, but I did fairly well keeping my time under 21 minutes and finishing
number 79 of 609.
The team consisting of Brian, Liz, and me did fairly well and placed 7th
in overall team competitions with a combined time of 1:13:46. Had our
second team not been a runner short, they likely would have done well
enough for 8th or 9th place.
[/running]
[permanent link]
Race Against Crime and Drugs
The Hoboken Race Against Crime and Drugs is tonight. Online entry is
closed but race day registration should be open this evening for anyone
who wants to run and hasn't signed up. The race starts at 7PM on Pier A.
The Giraffes are splitting into three subspecies for tonight's race. We
have three three-person teams running with a little friendly competition
going on. I hope I don't let my sub-team down tonight.
I'm not feeling very fast. In fact, my right calf is still sore from the
speed work I did at the track yesterday. I ended up doing about seven
and a half miles of intervals and sprints over the course of about an
hour.
Hopefully it won't be too bad once I get warmed up. The 5K course in
Hoboken is fairly fun; flat and alongside the Hudson River for most of
the way.
[/running]
[permanent link]
Epic Failure
I started out in the Tourne on Saturday morning and ran the first five
loops pretty well. The hilly 13.5 miles went fairly smoothly and I felt
like I had a lot left in me.
Around mile 16, the hills started to take their toll and I noticed I was
slowing down. At about mile 18 my calves were on fire and "Killer Hill"
reclaimed its title.
I completed 21.6 miles and had only two loops left to reach the goal;
however, a quarter mile down the first hill was more than I could take.
At the bottom of the hill, mere feet from the first uphill, I stopped,
turned around, and walked back up to my car.
My right calf was still sore yesterday and is a little tight today.
With only 117 days until Philadelphia, I'm starting to get nervous.
[/running]
[permanent link]
Countdown
Only 23 days remain until the New York City Half Marathon. Much like
every other race, I don't feel prepared for it. But the race I feel the
most unprepared for are usualy the ones I get a PR.
I feel like I should be training harder. I'm averaging between 50 and 60
miles per week and I don't think it's enough. The Philadelphia Marathon
is only 120 days away. And as of today I still haven't run anything over
20 miles.
So the plan for tomorrow morning is to run more than that. I decided
months ago that I'd run at least a marathon distance by the end of July.
Tomorrow I plan run 27 miles. I have a 2.7 mile loop planned out and I'm
going to run it 10 times. I imagine it will quite boring for a while in
the middle, but it will certainly be a challenge by the end.
[/running]
[permanent link]
DMC Houston
It looks like the DeLorean needs some non-trivial work done on it. The
mechanic I had taken it to found an issue he's not equipped to deal
with. My first call was to DMC Houston where I talked to Stephen.
He was friendly and incredibly knowledgeable. He said he'd work with me
and Dave at their facility in Chicago to figure out what the extent of
the work would be and the best way to approach it. Odds are the car is
going to have to be shipped to Chicago for a few weeks.
[/dmc]
[permanent link]
Highway driving
On the way to the mechanic yesterday, I had the DeLorean out on 287
South. Near one of the Boonton exits, a guy in old Stingray pulled up
next to me on my right. I looked over, he looked at me, and we gave each
other a nod. I sped up a bit to keep with the flow of traffic and he
moved as if exiting soon thereafter.
This was my longest trip with the DeLorean thus far, and also the
fastest I've ever driven it. And no, I still haven't gotten it to
88mph.
[/dmc]
[permanent link]
Verizon Wireless Classic Update
All of the results are in and the team rankings have been calculated. We
ranked 12th of 144 men's teams putting us in the top 8% for the day.
The rankings were determined by the top three runners for each team.
I was the second runner from my team that night.
My disappointing time of 20:48 put me in at number 108 of 3451 which means
I finished in the top 3%.
Maybe it wasn't as disappointing as I initially thought.
[/running]
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July Update
Tuesday night was the Party with Purpose 5K in Hoboken. I did much
better than last year, but I'm a little disappointed. They only had it
set up to record gun time rather than net time. The actual start line
wasn't marked very clearly either. Officially my time was 20:20 but if
it took me more than 4 seconds to cross the start line, then I got a PR.
But the world will never know.
Last night was the Verizon Wireless Classic 5K corporate challenge race
in Morristown. They calculated net time, but rather than reading the
RFID tag as you cross the finish line, there was a guy about 10 to 15
feet past the line waving an RFID reader wand over your tag. So you
cross the line... and stop running... and walk a bit... and then your
finish time is recorded. Other than that, it was a decent run. I was
again disappointed in the results, finishing in 20:48.
I may try the Teterboro 5K at the airport tomorrow, or I may just do a
20 mile training run. I haven't decided yet.
[/running]
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It's like I'm 16 again
You'd think I would have learned to drive by now. I've had the DeLorean
for a month now and I'm still a little shaky coming off stop lights and
signs but over all I'm better. I've only driven it a handful of times
and I should really be driving it more often if I want to get better.
I'm thinking of adding a separate section to the site dedicated to the
DeLorean and every step in the process of acquiring it. I found a lot of
useful information on the websites of other owners that helped a lot.
[/dmc]
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"Why the hell don't the plugins have proper documentation"
I had to pick up something in Fair Lawn for a friend this evening. It
was later in the evening, well after rush hour but there was still a
good amount of time before the sun went down so I decided to take the
DeLorean out.
I got her out on Rt 80 and she handled beautifully. The turns on the
entrance and exit ramps felt better than in my Pontiac. I was a little
nervous about over-steering because of the rear mounted engine, but it
wasn't an issue.
When I arrived at my destination, I got some looks from a woman walking
her dog and some guys across the street working on something in their
garage/driveway. I had a bit of an issue getting back on to 80 due to a
construction vehicle and an a-hole in a BMW, but everything else was
fine. I'm getting much better at driving it.
On the way home at the 80/23/46 interchange a minivan pulled up beside
me and beeped their horn. I looked over and they gave me a thumbs up.
It was most triumphant.
[/dmc]
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Dommin
Dommin's new EP is out now. You can
find it at your nearest Hot Topic. It's 4 songs and only $1.99. They
have a full length album due out in a couple of months. In the meantime
you can support them by buying EP and seeing them on tour.
I was fortunate enough to see them back in April with The Birthday
Massacre, and talk with some members of the band after their set. Not
only are they a great band, but they're actually pretty cool people too.
And while you're at Hot Topic purchasing the EP make a donation to the hot
topic foundation. The proceeds go to fund music and art programs in
schools. If you ask me, and by reading this blog you have implicitly
asked me, it's a worthy cause.
[/musings]
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"Because you will be approached by people with questions and stupid jokes."
I took the DeLorean when I went to the bank this morning. I pulled into
the parking lot and found a space. As I got out of the car a guy around
my age came running over before I could shut the door.
He said, "I can't believe it, this amazing. I've always wanted to see
one of these. Man, I was just watching the movie last night. Can I take
a picture?"
I said, "sure" and let him know that it still needed some work so it
doesn't look as good as it could. He said, "It doesn't matter; it's a
DeLorean."
Later in the afternoon I went to get some more gas. I pulled into the
station, shut off the car, got out and opened the hood to get to the gas
cap. Neither of the attendants on duty had seen one before and both came
over to see the car. They had some questions about the body construction
and the engine.
[/dmc]
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Sunset Classic 5M
I got to meet Bill Rodgers tonight after the Sunset Classic 5M in
Bloomfield. He was signing autographs after the race and actually
spedning time talking to people. He spent a good 5 to 10 minutes with
everyone, answering questions, giving advice, and just talking about
running in general.
He signed my race bib and we talked about the course and his diet. He
really did put mayo on pizza. Hellman's. Had to be Hellman's. As he put
it, "When you're burning 5000 calories a day, you're hungry."
It was a pretty good race, I kept pace with the second place female
finisher for almost the whole race, with number 3 not far behind. In the
last 200 meters or so they both took off and I finshed a few seconds
behind them.
After the race I thanked the girl I had been running with for making me
push myself a little harder than I planned, and congratulated her on her
placing.
I also made some new friends from work. I met most of the company's
running team after the race and we talked about running and stuff. Most
of them are in other divisions of the company so I had never seen them
before tonight.
[/running]
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QOTD:
"I figured I'm getting too old to run, I might as well get married."
--
Acquaintance on missing a race to meet with caterers for his upcoming
wedding.
[/running]
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NIN|JA
On June 6th, I attended the Nine Inch Nails/Jane's Addiction concert in
Holmdel, NJ held at the Arts Center. I think I enjoyed it.
I ordered a pair of tickets through nin.com during the presale.
I managed to get through shortly after they went on sale and ended up
with two tickets for Section 104, Row S. This time I went with my friend
from college who now lives in Virginia. He drove up for the day and had
to head back down to VA the next morning.
As per the terms of the nin.com presale, we had to pick up the tickets
at the venue, just as we did for the show at the Meadowlands last
Summer. We arrived shortly before the gates opened, but were allowed in
immediately after picking up the tickets.
I stopped and purchased an overpriced souvenir t-shirt at one of the
merchandise stands. This time I was smarter and got a small. It fits
much better than the XL I picked up in August.
At 7:30 the opening act, Street Sweeper Social Club, took the stage. They
were pretty good. Let me clarify that. The guys with instruments were
good. Tom Morello was close to awesome and the other musicians were
good. I wished the vocalist would have just shut up.
At 8:15 Nine Inch Nails took the stage as Pinion played. As soon as it
ended, they immediately went into Wish, quickly followed by Last.
After Discipline, the band tore into March of the Pigs. The crowd
exploded.
The 19 song set, was about an hour and a half. It was an amazing show.
The stage show was incredibly stripped down compared to the previous
show, utilizing only lights and fog machines. It was also far more
aggressive.
At 10:00 Jane's Addiction took the stage. Unfortunately, because my
friend had to leave for VA the next morning we only stayed for the first
half of their hour long set. Dave Navarro was rather amazing. Eric Avery
was great. Stephen Perkins was really good. Perry Farrel was certainly a
good showman, but I found his voice a bit grating at times. If I have
the chance, I would like to see them again.
NIN Setlist:
- Pinion
- Wish
- Last
- Discipline
- March Of The Pigs
- Reptile
- Meet Your Master
- Gave Up
- La Mer
- Non-Entity
- The Way Out Is Through
- Mr. Self Destruct
- 1,000,000
- Echoplex
- Survivalism
- The Good Soldier
- The Hand That Feeds
- Head Like A Hole
- Hurt
Jane's Addiction Setlist:
- Three Days
- Whores
- Ain't No Right
- Pigs In Zen
- Then She Did...
- Up The Beach
- Mountain Song
- Been Caught Stealing
- Obvious
- Ocean Size
- Ted, Just Admit it...
- Summertime Rolls
- Stop!
- Jane Says
[/musings]
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National Running Day part 4
I did another 10K this evening after work. That brings my National
Running Day total to 13.6 miles over 3 runs.
I hope everyone was able to run today. You still have some time if you
haven't yet.
Happy National Running Day!
[/running]
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National Running Day part 1
Here I am ready for my first run of the day and there's a thunderstorm
about to roll through. The RADAR shows it moving pretty fast. If it
hasn't passed by in the next 15 to 20 minutes, I'm getting on the
treadmill.
[/running]
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National Running Day
Wednesday June 3, 2009 is the inaugural National Running Day. I
encourage everyone to get out and run. Whether your a seasoned athlete
or a couch potato, lace up your sneakers and get out there this
Wednesday.
For the runners out there, make sure you run on Wednesday and try to
drag some people along with you. For those of of you who aren't runners,
Wednesday is a perfect day to start.
The National Running Day
website has more information about the day, and tips for people who
are new to running.
[/running]
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A Day at the Races... In Brooklyn
Yesterday was the Brooklyn Half Marathon. It started in Prospect Park
and made 2 loops around the park before exiting and getting on to Ocean
Parkway at the 7 mile. From there it was straight to Coney Island where
the race finished on the boardwalk near Keyspan Park. Approximately
12,000 people entered the race, and 9,415 people finished within the
three hour time limit.
I was aiming for a pace between 7:30 and 7:45 per mile and ended up with
a 7:33 pace for the day finishing in 1:39:07, ten minutes faster than my
time for the Manhattan Half. While not my best pace ever, it is a half
marathon PR for me.
Team Giraffes had a good showing. Four of the seven runners we entered
finished in under 2 hours, and all finished in under 2:30. Four members
of the team have completed their qualifiers for the 2010 NYC Marathon
now, and another is one race away from completion.
[/running]
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Random Running Related Updates
I ran in another 10K in Central Park this past weekend. I took it a
little easy but still managed to take a minute per mile off my time from
the Homecoming Scotland 10K last month. It's funny how much better you
can perform without food poisoning.
I have a 3 mile race in the Financial District tonight. It was supposed
to be a 5K, but the course was changed due to construction. I'd like to
finish in under 20 minutes, but we'll see how it goes. I'm feeling a
little sluggish today.
The Brooklyn Half is coming up on the 30th. It starts in Prospect Park
and ends at Coney Island. I'm just shooting for a better time than the
Manhattan Half. The weather should be about 50 to 60 degrees warmer for
Brooklyn so I shouldn't really have to worry about freezing sweat this
time. My pace at shorter distances has improved quite a bit since
January so I have that working in my favor as well.
The running team is expanding. We have a new member for the Giraffes.
Hopefully we'll be able to get five men and five women for each NYRR
race so we can be ranked in the club standings. I don't expect we'd do
very well against teams like NYAC or TRD, they seem to be fairly large
teams with a lot of good runners, but it would be nice to see the
Giraffes in the rankings.
Two of The Giraffes (Liz and I) have finished our 9+1 qualification
races and are guaranteed entry in the 2010 NYC Marathon. Two more will
complete their 9+1 at the Brooklyn Half.
[/running]
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Show and Tell
The Birthday Massacre's new live album Show and Tell is out
today. Go get it! I was lucky enough to pick up a copy at their concert
last weekend. It's pretty awesome.
If you're a fan of TBM it's definitely worth adding
to your collection. If you've never heard of them, the best way I've
heard their sound described is as "a combination of synth-pop, black
metal, and 80's new wave."
[/musings]
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Happy Birthday
Last night I went to see The Birthday Massacre in Hackensack. The show was at
the School of Rock which is a rather small, intimate venue.
The first act was September Mourning. I thought they were pretty good. I got to
speak to Emily and Chris from the band later in the evening and they seemed
like pretty cool people.
Dommin was the next band up. The singer's got a pretty good voice and the
bassist was really good. They played a cover of Depeche Mode's "People are
People" and it was pretty good.
I was a little less than impressed with I Am Ghost. They weren't bad, but I
couldn't get into them.
Early in the evening, before Dommin's set I went to the merchandise table and
picked up two new shirts. Now I have TBM shirts that fit! I also picked up a
copy of the new live album Show and Tell. Zimmy couldn't make it this
tour, but Michelle, the girl who took his place, was just as awesome as he was.
The Birthday Massacre was great. They played a good mix from their albums
including songs from their three albums and the Looking Glass EP.
If you care (or even if you don't), their set list follows:
- Red Stars
- Goodnight
- Falling Down
- Play Dead
- Weekend
- Shiver
- To Die For
- Lovers End
- Remember Me
- Video Kid
- Violet
- Looking Glass
- I Think We're Alone Now
- Walking With Strangers
- Blue
- Happy Birthday
They didn't play my favorite song, "Broken," but I was not disappointed in the
set at all.
After the show they came out to meet the fans. I was able to get their new live
album signed by Falcore, Oen, Rainbow, and Chibi. The latter three also
autographed the photos I had taken with them last year and they were pretty
nice about it.
Not that anyone really cares, but these are the photos my friend took. If you view
the full version, be warned that I'm in the photos too.
 |
 |
| M. Falcore |
Chibi |
[/tbm]
[permanent link]
Happy Birthday
Last night I went to see The Birthday Massacre in Hackensack. The show was at
the School of Rock which is a rather small, intimate venue.
The first act was September Mourning. I thought they were pretty good. I got to
speak to Emily and Chris from the band later in the evening and they seemed
like pretty cool people.
Dommin was the next band up. The singer's got a pretty good voice and the
bassist was really good. They played a cover of Depeche Mode's "People are
People" and it was pretty good.
I was a little less than impressed with I Am Ghost. They weren't bad, but I
couldn't get into them.
Early in the evening, before Dommin's set I went to the merchandise table and
picked up two new shirts. Now I have TBM shirts that fit! I also picked up a
copy of the new live album Show and Tell. Zimmy couldn't make it this
tour, but Michelle, the girl who took his place, was just as awesome as he was.
The Birthday Massacre was great. They played a good mix from their albums
including songs from their three albums and the Looking Glass EP.
If you care (or even if you don't), their set list follows:
- Red Stars
- Goodnight
- Falling Down
- Play Dead
- Weekend
- Shiver
- To Die For
- Lovers End
- Remember Me
- Video Kid
- Violet
- Looking Glass
- I Think We're Alone Now
- Walking With Strangers
- Blue
- Happy Birthday
They didn't play my favorite song, "Broken," but I was not disappointed in the
set at all.
After the show they came out to meet the fans. I was able to get their new live
album signed by Falcore, Oen, Rainbow, and Chibi. The latter three also
autographed the photos I had taken with them last year and they were pretty
nice about it.
Not that anyone really cares, but these are the photos my friend took. If you view
the full version, be warned that I'm in the photos too.
|
|
| M. Falcore |
Chibi |
[/musings]
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Lincoln Tunnel Challenge
Today was the 2009 Lincoln Tunnel Challenge 5K run to benefit the Special
Olympics. Last year's was my first race. It took me 35:51 to complete it last
year ( an 11:32/mile pace). Today I went in with something to prove to myself.
I came out of the tunnel with a new PR of 20:16 (6:31 pace).
[/running]
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Run as One 4M
This was an awesome day!
Last week's Scotland 10K went horribly wrong due to a bit of poisoning
at the hands of Macaroni Grill (40% of our team got sick!).
Today, however, was awesome!
Today's course was the same as the Run for the Parks which was my
personal record... Until today! I finished in 26:55, shaving 26 seconds
off my previous best.
My new best pace is 6:43/mile with an AG performance of 62.6%.
After the race we ran into Mr. G! We talked to him and he said he'd talk
about the race (and mention our team) on the radio tomorrow morning!
(How cool is that?!)
This evening I registered for my volunteer duties with the NYRR, which
will complete my qualification for the NYC 2010 marathon. After that I
registered for Philadelphia 2009 which will be my first marathon.
Today was pretty good.
[/running]
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Run for the Parks 4M
This was an awesome day!
I ran in the New York Run for the Parks 4M this morning in Central Park.
My last four mile race was the Grid Iron Classic back in February where
I finished with a time of 29:12 and an AG Performance % of 57.7. (I'm at
that age where my actual time is the same as my AG time).
I really wanted to try and beat that but my IT-band had been acting up
earlier in the week so I was pretty nervous and sure it wouldn't happen.
I woke up this morning and felt pretty good. I did some core training
and light weight lifting and then left for the race with my teammates,
feeling a little more optimistic.
I ended up having a really good first mile, running about a 7:09 pace. I
picked it up a bit and ended up finishing in 27:21 and achieved an AG
performance of 61.6%, beating my last 4M by 1:51.
My new best pace is 6:50/mile, down from 7:05, and I've reached the
"local class" achievement level.
It feels so good and I have my friends to thank for this. They convinced
me to run with them last year and my life has been completely
transformed since then. I've thanked them multiple times for what they
did, but I don't know if they'll ever know how much it really means to
me.
[/running]
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Lincoln Tunnel Challenge
Last year some friends convinced me to run in the Lincoln Tunnel
Challenge and it changed my life. It was an amazing day and we exceeded
our fund raising goal.
This year we're doing it again. You can help support the Special Olympics (and team giraffes!) at this site.
Any contribution is greatly appreciated.
[/running]
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Yesterday I ran my best mile ever... Until...
Saturday morning I did a half-marathon-length training run and I didn't
do so well. I hit a wall at about the 15K mark and by ten and a half
miles, I had some pretty bad cramps.
Normally, I take a day off after a long run like that, but I needed to
do something to feel a little better. Yesterday I set out for a 5 mile
run to get ready for the 8K coming up. I thought I'd keep pace with some
music and started with NIN's "Burn." My first mile was a 6:11 pace. It
was my best mile ever... Until today.
Tonight I set out for a 5K and in my first mile I broke six, finishing
the first mile in 5:57. While the next 2.1 miles weren't quite as good a
pace, I did break 20 minutes for the 5K.
I want you to trip like me I want you to have fun.
I want you to trip like I do
[/running]
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Can't you trip like I do?
I got home a little early (read: on time) from work today so I was able
to start running a little earlier than I have been lately. I just kept
running until the runner's high kicked in, then I kept running until it
started to wear off, then I ran another two miles back home.
I ended up doing about twelve miles tonight and it felt so good. I had
almost forgotten what that high felt like. Between the weather and work,
my runs were averaging 3 to 5 miles and that doesn't do much for me
anymore. But tonight I was able to get that feeling again.
Oh my God, it's the best.
[/running]
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