After last night's disappointment, I was well-prepared for tonight. The plan called for 40 minutes of running. So I adjusted my expectations and decided to split that time into two 20-minute runs.

Oh, and in other, semi-related news, I bought a sexy new accessory for my sexy nano. The Nike Dri-Fit armband. Nike MP3 players? Not so sexy, they're bulky and ugly. Apple iPod nanos? Sexy, slim and sleek. Nike armband for iPod nano? Sexy. See?



That's my sexy hairy arm. Nice, huh?

I got the armband because not all of my running shorts have suitable pockets that hold the nano. I needed something, and I don't like clips and cases hanging off my clothes when I'm running.

OK, back to the actual running. Because I accidentally did the strength training on Monday when I'd planned it for tonight, I could skip that part. I got one of the good treadmills, warmed up with a walk as usual, and then set the time for 20 minutes, a pace of 10:20 and a 2% incline, or a Level 2 incline, whatever. Mild incline, is what I'm sayin'. And I started running.

Everything felt fine, just the normal running discomfort, until about 12 minutes into it, at which point I realized that I could probably have gone the whole distance in one set.

Oh, my negative inner voice kept trying to talk me out of doing the whole thing - it suggested that I shouldn't be running so far tonight if I'm doing speedwork tomorrow, it suggested that I just do 30 minutes instead, it kept trying to talk me into walking... but I finished the first 20 minutes without stopping to walk at all. It was beautiful. Even my breathing didn't get too labored or tight, but that might be because I took an extra Sudafed an hour before running to help clear things up.

I took a bathroom break, about 5-10 minutes, tops, and came back to my treadmill. Again, set a time of 20 minutes, a pace of 10:20, and a Level 2 incline, and started running again. Breathing was, if anything, easier. I swear that I breathe better after warming up than I do while I'm warming up, which I will note for later. And, again, I made it through the whole 20 minutes without having to stop to walk or any change in pace at all.

Tomorrow night will be difficult but a) I'm giving myself permission to take at least one break at the mid-point, and b) my "slow" speed might have to be actual walking, instead of a jog. But I now have no doubt that I will soon be back in the same shape I was in last fall. And then I'll exceed my previous condition... • 10:13 PM 0 comments

This is funny funny stuff.

It's The Daily Monkey - a new monkey-related picture and quote every day.

But then... monkeys are always funny. And everyone knows it.

via Boing Boing. • 12:49 PM 0 comments

I almost didn't want to blog about my workout tonight. Or, worse yet, lie about it or not give all the details.

But if I'm not honest, how am I going to improve? These posts are for me, not anyone else.

The plan called for 30 minutes of running. After a quarter-mile walking warmup, I hopped on one of the good treadmills and set the pace for 10:20 or so, with a 1% incline. I figured that I could maintain that speed for most of the time, if not the entire time.

8 minutes in, I was stiff and my legs felt heavy and hard to move. 10 minutes in and my breathing was becoming more labored. I had to stop to walk. I walked for a minute and let my breathing return to normal, then picked the pace back up. But as the minutes passed, my guts started to, um, make themselves known. Ugh. My digestive system wasn't cooperating, along with my lungs and my legs. I stopped at 15 minutes, walked for a minute, felt my shins (of all things! I've never had problems with my shins before!) feel tight and sore and just on the verge of hurting, and then... I got off the treadmill, got some water, and went to the bathroom. I was so disappointed in myself.

However, when I returned, after about a 10-12 minute "break", I got back on the treadmill and set the pace for 10:30, and just plodded along. I kept setting a goal of "just another 2 minutes" or "just another quarter-mile" and, as each goal approached, I would set another one further out. I finally saw 10:00 of jogging. I told myself to just keep going... and I made it to a full 15 minutes before I had to stop again.

My breathing, while deep and heavy, wasn't labored during my second 15 minutes. I think that, for these early runs, unless I'm working on speed work, I'm going to have to give myself permission to stop and walk if I need to during the first half of the time or distance, but push myself harder during the last half, just as I do during a race. Running hard during the last half is called "negative splits" and the running that I do later in the workout is more beneficial to me. But taking that break tonight felt like giving up.

After my run, I hit the weights. I got through one of my 'circuits' when I asked one of the trainers for some advice on how long to rest between sets. He told me that what I had been doing was more inclined to increase muscle mass rather than simply burn calories like I'd like. He suggested, instead, that I a) not rest between exercises, and b) do 15-20 reps at a slightly lighter weight (60% of my maximum, rather than 70-80%). I did one more circuit using his suggestion and then decided I was done for the night. • 8:04 PM 0 comments

I promised to outline my running for the week before actually, y'know, running. OK, maybe not here in public on my blob, but to myself. I like to know, before I head out, what my goal is for the run and how it fits into my overall plan.

That's what this post is about. Starting to set some goals for the week, and getting me started towards planning a longer-term strategy for the spring season.

But that's a ways off, and I want to just focus on this week, so here goes my plan:

• Monday: - Run 30 minutes
  
• Tuesday: - Run 40 minutes + strength training
  
• Wednesday: - Speedwork - 4 x 4:00 fast/2:00 slow
  
• Thursday: - Rest day + strength training
  
• Friday: - Run 35 minutes
  
• Saturday: - Run 60 minutes + strength training
  
• Sunday: - Rest day

Notice the focus on time, not distance. That's how I'm approaching the next couple of weeks, I think, until I'm back up to speed. • 3:09 PM 0 comments

Yay! I got to run outside again yesterday. Spring is on its way, although I don't think winter is quite done with Portland yet.

It was raining when I left the house, and had been all morning, so I was resigned to running at the gym. I planned on about 4 miles, maybe more if I could, which was going to be boring running on a treadmill. Ugh. But after I'd changed into running clothes, I looked outside and saw actual blue sky and sun. I decided to go outside and run my crazy figure-eight loop, where I cross over the Morrison Bridge twice, which, I think, is about 3.5 miles or so.

Luckily, because I originally planned on running on the treadmill, I didn't take my watch, so I don't have any idea how fast I ran. It felt good, though. Legs felt strong, my ankles and heel felt fine. Breathing... was normal. Ugh. I'd had a hard time getting some pseudephedrine earlier that day to clear out my sinuses, but I did get some. Hopefully it was just the humidity.

It was also tough going up and over the bridge twice. That's a fairly steep ramp. I did make it about halfway round the entire loop before having to stop and walk, though. I'll get back up to speed soon enough.

Once back to the gym, I stretched out and then went through my normal strength exercises. It, also, felt good. • 9:15 PM 0 comments

Hit the gym tonight. Only intended to do my strength training, but when I got there, there was a treadmill open, and I needed to do some aerobics to warm up, so... I did a quick mile. Inspired by my youngest nephew, I aimed for a 9:00 pace, but ended up finishing the mile in 9:24. Cooled down, stretched out, and hit the weights.

I think I'll take tomorrow off, then try a longish run on Saturday, and more strength training. • 7:25 PM 0 comments

Ran last night. Stupid rain was back, so it was back to the gym.

I got on the treadmill after having made the cardinal mistake: starting a land war in Asia going up against a Sicilian when death was on the line not deciding in advance what my goal was.

I had run just under 3 miles on Monday. I want to build my miles back up to over 20 a week by the spring. I also want to build my speed back up. All of these aspirations were floating through my mind but hadn't coalesced into a daily goal, the goal of that specific session on the treadmill. Those aspirations colided with my stuffy sinuses and overall blah-i-ness.

As I finished my quarter mile walking warmup, I thought, 3 miles? 3.5 miles? 4 miles? 30 minutes, no matter the milage? What, man? What's the goal?

Again, as I plowed through the first mile, my legs felt strong. I set the pace at a nice 10:10. I did increase the incline to a 1% grade, despite the pain that had caused me previously. Where before my break, I would have heel pain in my right foot and some ankle soreness in the left, there was little to no pain at all unless I lengthened my stride to far and leaned too far forward. Standing tall, and keeping my stride fairly short but quick, produced no pain. However, if I started to lean forward, or I started to run toes-outward even a bit - and there were little pricks of pain. I have to work on my form, then. The strength training will help here.

However, after the first mile and a quarter, my throat became ever-so-slightly constricted, even at this fairly slow pace. I slowed a bit, to a 10:30 pace, and just kept pushing for another quarter-mile at a time. 1.50 miles came and went. 1.75 miles... and I had to slow to a walk. I walked for about a minute and a half, and then picked up the pace again. 2.0 miles came... 2.1 miles... and I had to stop again. Dammit. Is that enough, I asked myself, as I kept walking and my breathing returned to normal. No, I said to myself, that is not enough. I increased to a 9:50 pace and aimed for 2.5 miles.

At 2.5 miles, I decided to aim for 2.75 miles. And at that point, I stopped to walk again. I finished my walking warmup and called it a day.

Today, this morning - I wanted to see if my ankle and heel pain would return. Again, in the past, it would be worse in the morning right out of bed - the tendons would tighten up from not carrying any weight during sleep, and then that first few steps out of bed would feel like needles, mainly in the sole of my foot. But, no, nothing. I think, at the very least, that the 3-week break from running has given me enough time to heal up and strengthen up my feet and ankles. So that's a positive.

I didn't do any strength training last night. I will go back to the gym tonight to do that, and then run again on Friday or Saturday. This weekend I'll plan ahead for the next couple of weeks to get my miles back up to where I'd like - but slowly. I'm aiming for a peak in April, then I'll start planning for the late summer races and maybe (maybe, may-be) try a half-marathon in the fall. • 12:09 PM 1 comments

Three quick ones about the next generation (in reverse chronological order):

• My beautiful 5-year-old niece (who does not have a blog) called me this morning, out of the blue, and wanted to know if I liked strawberries. I told her that, yes, I did. My sister explained that the topic of conversation had been strawberries all morning long, and my niece was polling everyone she knew about. There had been some controversy, because when I was much much younger I had not liked strawberries because someone had mentioned that they had "hearts". Ugh. Believe me, I have come to realize that was a mistake.
  
• My incredible 14-year-old newphew (who has his own blog, and why not?) ran for the President's Challenge yesterday. Readers of this space will know that Max has been interested in running for a while now and he and I run together regularly. He told me last night that he ran a 0:9:21 mile, and that it felt good because many in his class were much slower than him. I'm proud of him (although I still think he should have worn his "Run Against Bush" shirt - how could that have not been appropriate?).
  
• Lastly, my amazing 35-year-old nephew (who does not have a blog - and why not?) has been asking me questions about the new Intel-based MacBook Pro. He's thinking of going back to school for an art degree and is weighing Mac OS vs. Windows for graphic design. (Hint: I'm pro-Mac) I'm proud of him for continuing his education and not being content with the status quo!

That just leaves my 29-year-old nephew (can it be true? That age doesn't seem right - I blame my poor memory). I haven't heard from him or about him lately. But perhaps his brother will chime in with a quick story in the comments... • 12:15 PM 3 comments

I was going through a co-worker's desk looking for a pair of scissors yesterday. The person in question was laid-off and then re-hired at another department and hasn't been here for at least a month and a half. And he wasn't very well-liked anyway, being the most ineffective manager I've ever known, and annoying to boot.

I spotted a Starbucks gift card in among the paper clips, Sharpies, and (my goal) not one but two pairs of scissors.

I took the card. The barista today scanned it and said it still had $10.00 on it.

...yeah. I'm so keeping the card. • 4:05 PM 1 comments

The weather today was wonderful, at least in comparison to the past couple months. It was almost warm, and sunny, and dry. All day. Not very windy, either. And all day, I thought "If it's like this when I get out of work, I'm going to run outside, not in the gym!"

It's been a long time since I ran in the sun. Since Christmas Eve, actually, when I went out with my nephew. I did run outside in the streets on New Year's Day, but that was at night. And even though the days are getting longer, and it was still light outside when I left work at 4:00 PM, I wasn't sure that there would continue to be light enough for me to run.

In fact, the negative voice in the back of my head tried to talk me out of running outside today. It told me it was too cold, that I hadn't packed the right gear (shorts and a short-sleeved t-shirt), that it was too windy, that it was going to be dark by the time I finished... lots of excuses.

Good thing I ignored them all.

I hopped to the gym to change, and headed out for a run around the Esplanade. It was a training run, after 3 weeks off, so I didn't expect a fast pace. However, I did want to see if my strength training had an impact.

I started out strong - probably a bit too strong. I did make it to about the 13:00 mark before having to slow to a walk, which was OK. My legs felt great, actually - the reason I had to stop was my lungs. I guess elliptical trainers don't work the cardio-vascular system quite as well as running, no matter how fast I push those pedals.

But I only had to stop to walk several times (maybe four? I didn't keep track), and I tried to make up for those short (0:30 - 1:00 each) by throwing in some faster, harder running. So I turned the loop into a fartlek run.

And I noticed that stronger legs mean several positives. First, of course, they don't tire as fast, and I was able to push myself along the ground better. But the other main improvement was that they provided far better shock absorption and cushioning, and I was able to maintain a better balance and stronger forward-and-back motion - everything felt much better aligned and in the groove than I remember them being in the past. And that was from the waist down. Yes, even my "core" being stronger helped. I will definitely continue the strength training, as the benefit is clear to me.

My breathing, however, was constrained and wheezy, dammit. I'm hoping part of that was the break in training, and another part is the cold weather. We shall see.

My final time for the measured distance (2.87 miles per Google Earth) was 0:30:41, for an average pace of about 10:41. Just about perfect for my first training run of 2006.

After my run, I went back to the gym and did two circuits (upper/core/legs), with a bit stronger weights than I'd been using last time. Then I tried to sit in the steam room but the steam room was absent any steam. Ugh. So I showered and grabbed some dinner (Bourbon chicken at the mall). • 10:03 PM 2 comments

Gym yesterday. Same drill as the past three weeks - 30+ minutes of aerobic (my favorite, the elliptical) and then three circuits of strength training. I did toss in an extra leg exercise, just because.

On the elliptical I did manage an indicated 3.21 miles in 30 minutes, before my cooldown, which would be a running pace of 9:20! I set the resistance lower than previously because I wanted to work on leg speed. Starting tomorrow I'm going to be back to running. We'll see if this cross-training break has had a positive effect on my running. Looking forward to it... • 1:24 PM 0 comments

I've discovered something about my sleep patterns.

Let me start with the past: I tend to sleep a lot. When I'm not on a regular schedule (and even sometimes when I am) I sleep for 10+ hours before being able to get up and get moving. And getting up, even then, is hard. I'm groggy and it takes me a while to fully wake up. Ugh. I used to think that I was a borderline narcoleptic.

I would tend to go to bed around 9:00 PM, and then wake up at 5:30 AM or 6:00 AM. Just wasn't working, which didn't make sense. That's at least 8 hours of sleep. What's the problem?

But for the past couple of weeks, I've been trying something different. I've done a little research and found out that sleep occurs in cycles, with three different stages in each cycle. So I've tried to figure out how long my personal sleep cycle is, and then arranged my bedtime and wake-up time so that it falls near the end of a cycle.

Turns out my sleep cycle appears to be around 3 hours and 20 minutes (it might even be half of that - that might be two full cycles, but I don't think so.) On my previous schedule, I was trying to wake up in the middle of a cycle, which explains why it was so hard for me to wake up. Alarm goes off, but my body is not ready to wake up yet. Three (or six) full cycles is going to be over 10 hours - and after that much sleep, my body is probably ready to just stay asleep.

So I realized, if I go to bed at 10:30 or even as late as 11:30, I can still get up by 5:30-5:45, and it will be near a natural waking point. My only concern would be: is 6.5-7.0 hours of sleep enough?

For the past two weeks that's what I've been trying to determine. And it turns out, at least short-term, that is is, in fact, enough sleep. I'm not having any trouble focusing during the day, in fact, my mood has somewhat improved and my thinking is as sharp as ever. I feel great, actually!

Who knew that less sleep was the key to curing my over-sleeping problem? I love counter-intuitive answers like that. • 12:10 PM 1 comments

Hit the gym tonight. Nothing spectacular, the same routine I've been doing.

As I mentioned last time, my biceps were sore today, all day. Made for an interesting day at work. I popped NSAIDs all day but it didn't really help. Only thing that would help is more exercise (the body's funny that way).

Attendance at the gym is still low, which I love. 35 minutes on the elliptical trainer. Did manage an indicated 3.17 miles in 30 minutes, which if I had been running would translate to a 9:27 pace, same as last Tuesday.

Also did the strength exercises, blah, blah, blah. Same routine as last Tuesday, although I did do the leg adductor exercise for one of my leg cycles. I also increased the weights a bit over last Tuesday - figure it's time.

I'm hoping that all this time off will translate into a stronger start to my running, when I get back to it next week. Looking forward to see how I do. Should probably think about how I want to train... or maybe I should just go easy for a couple of weeks. I'll decide this weekend.

Oh, yeah, looking forward to trying tai chi on Saturday, too. • 7:29 PM 0 comments

Rumor on the street said that the Apple Stores were going to have some of the Dual Core iMacs in stock on January 17th. So, yesterday, it was raining and I decided to have lunch at the mall and, incidentally, stop by the Pioneer Place Apple Store to see what's up.

The sales guy near the door recognized me (I forget his name) and I asked him if they had any of the new tech to play with. He pointed me to the one display model they had, a 17"-er.

I walked up and checked "About This Mac" - sure enough, Intel-based. Nothing was open yet.

I recalled seeing someone post a hands-on with a Mac Book Pros where they tried to run every application on the machine to test its speed. Dan Lurie, the author, wrote that the machine bogged down for about 30 seconds, then all was right with the world and he could switch among all the running applications with no perceptible performance hit.

That sounded awesome.

So I tried it with the iMac. I figured, hey, it's the same processor. Should give me the same result, right?

The machine chugged away, dutifully opening everything... the Dock got longer and longer, more icons appeared... icons were bouncing up and down as the programs launched... I noticed several of the Pro apps in there, like Logic or Soundtrack... whoa, they've loaded this machine down, haven't they? The Adobe CS applications launched... Photoshop CS, Illustrator CS... the machine got slower and slower... the Dashboard slid in like molasses... icons stopped bouncing...

Yeah, this wasn't working. It completely locked up after about a minute. No response. I tried bringing up the Force Quit menu and no go. I tried to Cmd-Tab to the Finder. Um, no.

Hmmm. Maybe this would have worked with just the shipping applications installed. But with all the other stuff added, no way.

BTW, I forgot to check the memory on this bad boy.

On the other hand, when I restarted it, the machine came up to the desktop in about 20 seconds. So, yeah, it boots fast.

Another sales guy came over and asked me if I was finding what I needed. With a huge grin, I told him of what I'd just tried. He told me that that was a pretty tough test. "I'm not even sure that one" pointing to the Quad G5 "would be able to do that." I agreed but admitted it had been fun to watch it (not) happen.

He said he could do me one better. He walked over to a Dual Core G5, and explained that Adobe Illustrator CS, while a great program, was a huge memory hog. He showed me that it had 4 GB of memory installed. He proceeded to pull a photo from iPhoto, and open it in Illustrator. He explained that there's a feature in Illustrator that will convert a bitmapped image into a vector-based image.

He opened Activity Monitor and then proceeded to make this conversion. It happened fairly quickly, and soon the image on the screen was full of literally thousands of those little Bezier curves, with their little square "handles".

The Apple Store sales guy then explained that there are now operations one can perform on this vector-based image... but it requires a lot of memory and processor power, because the program has to load all of these curves into memory at the same time, then recalculate, and then apply those calculations to the image. I was with him and couldn't wait to see how it handled it. What is it about blowing things up (in this case, metaphorically) that's so fun?

He started the process, attempting to change one specific color in the image. Illustrator dutifully started making the change... slowly. Activity Monitor showed Illustrator taking 99.6% of the processor power, and over 1 GB of the actual memory (over 14 GB of virtual memory, whoa). At one point it spiked to over 100% of processor power... due to the machine having two processors (cores, same thing). The memory requirements kept creeping up...

He said it would probably stop at over 2 GB and then sit there for a while until it was done. So, to make it more interesting... he started launching more programs. Soundtrack, Logic, iDVD, Final Cut Pro... "Now, obviously, this isn't a real-world test. No one would have this many programs open at once, seriously..." he said.

"Oh, I don't know," I laughed, "deadlines are deadlines!" He laughed, too.

And, again, the machine chugged and chugged... Several applications showed that they were not responding... he said that, eventually, Illustrator would come back, but it would not be able to finish the operation. The memory usage kept climbing, 2.1 GB, 2.2 GB...

Finally, sure enough, Illustrator gave up. "Unable to complete the operation requested. There is not enough memory." But, amazingly, none of the applications actually crashed. The system was still stable, and every launched application was now usable, though a bit slowly. Illustrator even did part of the process requested, so that we could try again if we wanted to.

Amazing machines... I so want one. Someday... • 7:40 AM 0 comments

Exercise update:

I had a choice to make tonight. Today marks exactly two weeks since I last ran. I had to decide whether to continue my non-impact aerobics and strength training, or start running again. I opted for another week of not-running. I just want to be absolutely certain that my plantar fasciitis (right foot) and ankle (left foot) are completely healed before starting to train for the spring. Plus, to be honest, I'm enjoying the break. My breathing and sinus troubles have abated somewhat - running puts a huge strain on the cardiopulmonary system, and even though I've been pushing hard on the elliptical trainer, I know that it's not the same as actual running.

So, tonight, the gym wasn't quite so crowded. I hope that the New Year's rush of people has finally subsided, and now I can be assured of getting my favorite machines once again. I did 35 minutes on the elliptical, and managed an indicated 3.17 miles in the first 30 minutes - wish I could run that fast! That's about a 9:27 pace.

A girl on one of the machines next to me (another elliptical but with handles that swung, also) kept looking over at me while I worked, and I smiled back at her a couple of times. After I finished my 5 minutes of cool-down and started to jump off, she hopped off her machine and asked if I was done. "Oh!" I said, "were you waiting for this machine?"

"Yes," she replied, "this one doesn't get tough enough for me."

"You're too strong for that machine!" I told her. She laughed and agreed.

Then I did my normal strength training - upper body, core, legs; 3 sets of 10 for each body section; 3 times through; weight for each exercise set to about 70% of what I can lift maximum with perfect form. Instead of two stomach/abs workouts for my core exercises, though, I did two for my back and only once for my abs - incline situps, ugh. And I'm afraid I over did it for my biceps, setting the weight too high at first and backing down a bit for each set of 10. I'm going to be sore on Thursday. So be it. Big biceps look good, even if they don't really help a runner much. • 8:12 PM 0 comments

There's a spot in my kitchen, where, because the floor isn't exactly level, I can kick a golf ball and have it roll back to me, pretty much.

I spent a half-hour last night doing that, while Smacky watched me in rapt fascination. If the ball went near him, he would reach out and smack-y it back to me. It was almost meditative. • 6:19 AM 0 comments

This just in: 2006 is now officially the year of the hot vampires.

I know I've already posted about "Underworld: Evolution", due to be released January 20th. I got all drool-y over the thought of Kate Beckinsale once again wearing leather bodysuits and being vampirish.



Imagine my shock at finding out this morning about "Ultraviolet", a vampire movie featuring Milla Jovovich in leather bodysuits. G'head. Imagine it. Oh, here, I'll help you:



Do you think the producers of "Ultraviolet" chose a movie title that will deliberately confuse viewers looking for the "Underworld" sequel? Duh.

Now imagine a Kate Beckinsale / Milla Jovovich vampire-gun-kata cage match. I know, I know... you can't. Because your head exploded like 3 minutes ago, already. Poor thing. • 10:19 AM 0 comments

Exercise update:

Went to the gym, did 30:00 of elliptical, then did an abbreviated version of the strength training I've been doing. Only did two circuits instead of three. I got to the gym later than I wanted (it was almost 11:00 AM), and was meeting someone at 1:00 PM and still needed to get some food beforehand. I'm bummed that I didn't do the extra circuit but I still feel a bit sore tonight so maybe it was enough of a workout.

While I was there, there was a tall bald white guy and a short Asian girl in the workout room, doing Tai Chi moves with actual swords. Tai Chi is amazing to watch, and I've long been fascinated by it. I wasn't sure if the two of them were a class, or if they were just using the workout room to practice on their own. When I was done with my workout, they had finished and I asked them about it.

Turns out that the guy is a Tai Chi instructor and that he gives a regular "empty-handed" Tai Chi lesson on Saturdays, and then invites students to work with him afterward if they're interested in working with the weapons. Hell, yeah, I'm interested. He suggested that since I've never done it before I should try the empty-handed class first. So that's what I'm doing next Saturday. • 7:39 PM 0 comments

Exercise update!

Even though I got to the gym a half hour earlier than usual, hoping to beat the crowds, I didn't. Ugh. All the elliptical machines were taken. And today, I wanted to do the elliptical. So I waited it out, and after about 10 minutes, got one. Did 30 minutes, not too intense, then did my normal strength circuit. Had a tough time with the inclined stomach crunches. Ugh. But the rest went normally, by which I mean, I'm gonna be sore on Saturday (I'm usually sore two days after, rather than the day after). • 8:38 PM 0 comments

I did it. After work I marched down to the Pioneer Place Apple Store, and I bravely... put my name on a list to be called when they get the new MacBook Pros in stock.

I didn't go crazy - I didn't actually put any money down. But they are going to reserve one for me. That gives me until... whenever... to save up and decide if I'm going to upgrade. Apple says they'll ship in February, but who knows with Apple.

Of course, one of the reasons given for Apple's slipping ship dates on new computers has been the slow production of chips from Motorola and IBM. Now that they've got Intel supplying their chips and chipsets, hopefully those days are behind them. We shall see.

One thing to worry about is battery life. If you go to the tech specs page for the new MacBook Pros, you will see that the battery is listed as a 60 watt-hour lithium polymer battery. But nowhere does it give any idea, y'know, how long that battery will actually last under normal usage. There's a footnote at the bottom of the page that explains that "battery life depends on configuration and use". Duh. And water is still wet.

The PowerBook tech specs show battery life, even if it is in the marketing-speak of "up to 5.5 hours" (my emphasis added). C'mon, Apple, throw us a friggin' bone here. The marketing page shouts "More power, using less power" but these Intel chips are brand-new (rumor has it that they're the chips Intel code-named Yonah - I'm going to have to dig into that at a later date) so all we have is what Intel and Apple are telling us. There's no real-world experience yet. Should we be worried about the damn thing not being able to play a movie all the way through? Or are we going to be so awed by the MagSafe connector that we just won't mind having to plug the damned thing in every hour or two? Although I have to admit, that MagSafe connector is freakin' cool.

(By the way, does anyone else find the page design a little... um... hard to read? Gray letters on a black background may be sexy and all, but on my CRT at work (oops!) it's dim.)

And... the 15" and 17" PowerBooks have a dual-layer SuperDrive... it appears the 15" MacBook Pro doesn't.

And... I'm also worried about getting bit by the Version 1.0 bug, the stuff that no one foresees. These are brand-new. By being one of the first to buy them, I might be paying a good chunk of money to be Apple's beta tester. Oh, well. Such is life on the bleeding edge of technology.

Oh, well, at least it appears that there ain't gonna be no fugly Intel stickers marring its beautiful aluminum frame. Thank goodness for small favors. • 10:51 PM 0 comments

Gym again tonight. Damn New Year's resolution-ers - it's still crowded. Did 30 minutes on the recumbent stationary bike, then three circuits, 3 sets of 10 each for arms/chest, abs/back, and legs.

This might be my shortest exercise update ever. • 7:19 PM 0 comments

Holy crap! All the Apple rumors sites were predicting Intel-based Mac minis, or maybe Intel-based iBooks.

...but today Steve announced both Intel-based iMacs and Intel-based laptops!

Dual-Core Intel-based iMacs and laptops.

I don't necessarily like the name "MacBook Pro". Ugh. They've been Powerbooks for a long long time. Like, since the beginning. But, whatever. It doesn't make them less sexy.

Me... want...

Anyone want to buy a 3-year-old iBook? :) Oh, hell, I'll probably keep it around for a while. • 11:04 AM 0 comments

Hit the gym tonight. No running (dammit) but I did do 30 minutes on the recumbent stationary bicycle, and another 30 minutes on the elliptical. It was an all-aerobic night.

On a side note, I can't wait for February, when all the folks who made a New Year's resolution to hit the gym have given up again, and it gets less crowded. On the other hand, with all the people in the gym tonight, there was a lot more eye candy than normal. • 9:13 PM 0 comments

Hit the gym today. No running - I was a good boy. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical machine, managing 3.25 miles in that time (an equivalent running pace of about 9:13 per mile, which shows how much easier the e-machine is), then did three circuits of strength training: upper body (chest or arms), core (abs), legs, makes one circuit. Then I sat in the steam room for a bit until I could feel my sinuses draining. Felt good, but, damn, it took at lot out of me. I'm damned tired. Oh, and my abs were in actual pain. Hope I didn't do some permanent damage.

The tiredness could be the dark, cold, rainy, gloomy day in Portland, too. Or part of it, anyway. Here's hoping for some sunshine in the near future. Several of my friends have run off to sunnier climes (or live there). I'm jealous... take me with you next time! • 5:15 PM 0 comments

Several of the leading voices of the left-leaning blogosphere, along with the chair of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean, are pushing for a 50-state strategy in 2006. The basic idea is to have every single race, in every district and state, have at least one Democratic challenger.

To that end, Chris Bowers over at MyDD has put together a list of every House district that still needs to find someone to run on the Democratic ticket. Sadly, at least one district will not have a Democratic candidate; the 11th Congressional District of Texas. No one filed there before the deadline. But there's still a chance to have someone challenge the incumbent Republicans in 27 districts.

That being said, one of those districts is in my home state: the 2nd district of Oregon, currently represented by Greg Walden, a Republican. OR-02 covers a huge amount of geography, known to us Portlanders as "Eastern Oregon", basically, although Josephine, Jackson and Klamath counties are more Southern Oregon, and Hood River county is only barely east.

The filing deadline for the Oregon primary election is 7 March 2006; the primary will be held 16 May 2006.

I would like to do my part in trying to find someone to run on the Democratic ticket against Rep. Walden. Unfortunately, I don't live in that district or I would just sign up myself (not that I'd have a chance of winning, mind you; but just to have someone on the ballot).

The reason I'm posting this is: if there's anyone out there that lives in OR-02, or could move there by the filing deadline, and is even remotely interested in getting involved in national politics, now is your chance. Don't contact me; I'm just a messenger. Get yourself the forms and paperwork and get involved now. The Republicans are the party of corruption and bad governance; we need opposition if we want American democracy to survive and recover.

Thanks for listening. • 5:49 PM 0 comments

While the damage done by Hurricane Katrina has mainly fallen off the viewscreens of the traditional media, there are still folk trying to convey what has happened to the Big Easy. Mainly, they're bloggers. It breaks my heart, and, yes, I still donate to causes that support victims of Katrina and rebuilding in New Orleans. It's difficult to find credible charities that aren't just fronts for Haliburton, though, but one that I feel comfortable donating to is Habitat for Humanity.

Here they describe their efforts to aid folks on the Gulf Coast.

And NPR's "All Things Considered" did a story on a benefit CD of music recorded after Katrina hit (thanks to a new friend, Lisa, for the link) called Our New Orleans, all by local musicians - proceeds from the sale of that album also go to Habitat for Humanity. Click on the link in the upper-right hand corner of the above-linked page, or you can purchase the CD from Amazon. (I'm not an affiliate; I don't get any kickback if you use that link.)

Also, the Rude Pundit has been visiting New Orleans, a town he spent some time in in the past, and reporting back with an insiders view on what is going on there. The things he sees and reports to are not pretty but worth listening to. He offers no solutions, only information.

Make no mistake; the Rude One is, well, rude. Some would say vulgar and offensive. But it's the anger of a cynic who has seen his ideals stomped on, repeatedly.

The report, "Katrina Plus Four Months" is in five parts:

1. Part One
   
2. Part Two
   
3. Part Three
   
4. Part Four
   
5. Part Five

• 12:20 PM 0 comments

Domain name update: I just received notification from GANDI.net that my domains have been successfully transferred from Register.com, Inc.

Yay! I was worried that it would fail before they expired on 7 January 2006, and that I would lose control. But my worst fears did not crystalize, and now my domains are in the loving care of the French. • 10:01 PM 0 comments

I haven't posted about my running since the race on New Year's Day. That's 'cause I tried something different and injured myself again. Dammit.

I get these email newsletters from Active, and in the last one, they had an article about treadmill running and making it effective. And in the article they said:

Use a minimum of 1% grade. Running at 0% grade is similar to running on a slight downward slope. It's also very difficult to maintain solid run form on a flat treadmill, so kicking it up to a minimum of 1% means that you?ll have a better chance of getting into your normal running style (foot strike, body lean, etc.). Note: As you increase the grade for hill workouts, be sure to cut back a bit on the speed. We all slow down a bit as we head uphill, but the treadmill won't unless you tell it to.

Great, I've been running on a flat treadmill. No wonder it's so easy, I thought.

On Tuesday I put this into practice, even though I'm still fighting allergies and generally did not feel like running. I upped the incline to 1%, set the speed for about a 10:00 pace, and started going. I planned on doing a simple 3.5 mile run.

I could immediately tell that it was tougher. Duh. I expected that. What I didn't expect was my footstrike feeling odd and different. Different even than running on the street, unlike the article said. My feet, especially my left foot, was landing toes-out, at an angle. It didn't feel right, and I tried to compensate. But because I had less time to land my feet straighter, it just wasn't working. After about 3/4 of a mile, I was working harder, and my ankles were complaining. I kept pushing, though, trying to complete the distance. I slowed down the speed a bit, and even stopped to walk for about a minute after a full mile before trying to get back to a 10:00 pace in the second mile. I lowered the incline to 0.5% and kept going. But after 2 miles it was obvious I wasn't going to be able to complete my planned distance. My left ankle felt... bruised. I stopped after a measly 2.1 miles, cooled down, and stretched out.

Next morning, my ankle was still tender. By the end of the day, though, there was definite soreness. And this morning, still sore. Ugh.

I planned on running tonight after work, but decided on the better part of discretion. I used the elliptical trainer instead for 30 minutes, at a high incline, a medium resistance, and a fast tempo, then stretched out and did those strength exercises I've been meaning to add to my routine: 3 sets of 10 at 75%-80% of my max weight for my lats/back, sit-ups, triceps, pecs, and quads. Probably need more leg exercises and core exercises but that was a half-hour's worth. The elliptical is non-impact.

I think I'll just focus on 3 days a week of strength training for the next week or two and see how my ankle feels. If I feel like running I'll just hop on the elliptical, or the bike. Oh, y'know, I might do some running. But the focus will be strength for now. Winter's a good time for it, and the next race isn't until February so there's plenty of time. • 7:44 PM 0 comments

I'm starting to move my best pictures over to Flickr. I'll still have my photo gallery here (that will be all my pictures, even the bad out-of-focus ones), but the ones I like the most will be found here. I'll add a link to the sidebar when I feel like it.

I like Flickr for its organizational tools, like tags and descriptions and the slideshow and all that.

Right now it's mostly pictures of Smacky. I accidentally resized them to 800x600 (they were shot at 1600x1200) but what the hell, it'll save on bandwidth. • 9:46 PM 0 comments

Administrative note for the site (new posts below this one until noon on 3 January 2006):

My site (and email) may go down unexpectedly in the next couple of days. I'm in the process of transfering my domains from Register.com to a cheaper, and coincidentally non-US, registrar, GANDI.net.

Once it goes through I'll be saving some money; Register charges US$35.00/yr per domain, and GANDI charges €12/yr per domain. Since I'm moving three domains, I'll save over US$60.00, depending on the exchange rate.

Since my email is tied to the domain, if anyone has any urgent emails to send me, it would probably be best to use [the domain you're at right now] at Gmail (dot com) for the next week. Thanks, although I have to say, I don't expect much urgent email for the next week. Heh.

Happy New Year, y'all.

Update: After thinking about it, I realized that there probably shouldn't be any problems, since DNS for my domains is handled separately from my registrar. I'm leaving this note up, though, just in case. I received emails from Register that the transfer will happen on 1/3/2006, so that's the day anything that might go wrong... uh... might go wrong. • 12:00 PM 0 comments

Coldplay's new CD has rules.

Can't play it in the car, can't play it in a Mac, can't make MP3s out of it, it may or may not hose your Windows PC if you try to play it in there... And you can't read the rules until you've bought the CD and, well, they're not offering refunds, sorry. You bought into a contract blind, and now you're stuck.

At least that's the theory they're operating under.

Now, is this Coldplay's fault? Or is this the fault of the corporation that has bought their human "talent" and is selling them for the corporate good?

Either way, it's just another reason I'm not going to buy any Coldplay music. The first reason being, I think their music sucks. Heh. Like I needed extra reasons beyond that, huh? • 3:01 PM 0 comments

As mentioned last night, my nephew Max and I participated in The First Run 5K. I was... um... mostly ready, having been up late the night before (and several previous nights - hey, it's the holidays) drinking. I knew I wouldn't be posting a personal best time but since there were a lot of runners and walkers participating, and since Max is still getting used to running, I didn't mind.

The weather was cold and intermittently raining. Max and I showed up early, around 10:30 PM, to pick up our race packets and scout around. They were serving food (bagels, peanut butter, crackers, cookies, Gatorade and water, um, yay?) in the tent in Pioneer Courthouse Square. Max was wearing running pants and a long-sleeved running shirt, I had on basically the same except for a stocking cap and an extra layer underneath the running shirt. Max wore his race t-shirt over the top.

My dad showed up around 11:00. He wasn't running, but was planning on getting pictures of us at the start and finish. He also helped out by being our "bag check"!

The starting line was packed, and apparently the start line was a bit constricted - it didn't cover the entire width of Broadway. Lots of happy people, a countdown to midnight, and the line got moving. I estimated at the time that it took us almost 3:00 to cross the start line. The event was chip-timed.

Once past the start line, we broke into a jog. The race ran uphill, south on Broadway for 5 blocks, turned left on Columbia, downhill to Front Ave., where it was essentially flat. We ran along Front for 15 blocks before turning around, and coming back the same way. Basically the course looked like this:

Start /\________x________/\ Finish

...with the [x] being the turnaround point.

Max, perhaps inspired by his excellent training run last week, did great. Just as we were reaching the top of the hill, Max explained that he had a side stitch. I told him to try to drop his shoulders and relax, and he just kept going and did not let it stop him. By the time we reached the mile mark, the side pain was gone.

He maintained a running pace well past the 2.0-mile mark. We stayed togther, although he started running ahead of me a bit after the turnaround and I suggested we slow the pace just a little bit. I kept giving him encouragement: "You're doing great! We're strong, just keep running." ...although the encouragements lessened as the race continued.

And encouragement also came from the sidelines. As we passed various bars and clubs, party goers would stand on the sidewalks, dressed to the hilt, waving their drinks and making noise, cheering us on. When we passed blocked-off intersections, cars would honk their horns for us (at least I think that's what they were doing).

I was thinking ahead to the hill we still had to run up, and also dealing with my allergies and excess alcohol consumption and lack of sleep. But I didn't want to hold Max back if he felt like running. I stopped a couple of minutes into the final full mile, Max kept going for a bit, noticed I had stopped and then stopped with me.

Panting, smiling, he said, "I was waiting for you to stop!"

I laughed. "That's funny, I was waiting for you to stop!"

We walked for about 30-45 seconds and then went back to our jog. Again he kept pulling ahead of me. I kept thinking about the hill, and wanted to try to conserve some energy for it - perhaps not the best strategy in hindsight. The hill wasn't that long, although it was somewhat steep, and it was followed by an easy downhill stretch until the finish.

I had to stop to walk again once we started up the hill. I let the hill psych me out, I think. Max noticed again, and waited for me. Once I caught up to him, I started running again, using the head-down, short-steped gait that are the best way to tackle a hill. "Max," I said, "if you still feel like running, don't stop for me. Just keep going if you can. We'll meet up at the end."

"OK," he said, and that's what he did. I had to stop to walk one more time on that hill, coughing up some gunk from my lungs (frickin' allergies) and Max kept his pace. He rounded the corner when I was still a couple of blocks back.

Once on the downhill, though, I found my second wind. I just let gravity take me and broke into a flat-out run. My form wasn't that great; my feet were slapping against the pavement when I should have been up on my toes more, although that's hard on a hill for me, not being a sprinter. People could hear me coming. "Look out, this guy's coming!" one guy told his partner. But this is how I tend to train; those sprints at the end of a long run train me to finish strong.

I could see Max ahead of me, still at the same pace, maybe a bit faster because of the hill. I could see the lights and the crowd at the finish line. I realized that Max might not suspect that I'd catch up to him. He was off towards the right side of the street, so I angled towards the left side. I tried to run quieter but that just wasn't in the cards. I caught up to Max, and we were neck-and-neck, when Max suddenly broke into a sprint! He must have seen me! He raced ahead, but I just couldn't dig up any more speed and, besides, I was laughing and smiling, proud of him for the performance he'd shown that night.

Just before I crossed the finish line, I saw my dad, off to the side, with a shocked expression on his face. After I had gotten through the gate and given back my chip, he came up to me and Max.

"Did you let him beat you?!" he said, laughing.

"I didn't let him beat me. He just did it!"

Max was all smiles afterward as we stretched out and cooled down. I had messed up and didn't get my time, but Max showed a total of 34:34 on his watch. I estimated about 3:00 to reach the starting line, which meant about a 31:30 chip time. An awesome job and significantly better than our previous race.

After I'd dropped him off at home, I mentioned something I had said before, that running is partly physical, of course, but also partly mental: just training your body to push past discomfort (rarely is it actual pain, just a mild discomfort). I asked him what had changed between the last race and this one. "I don't know," he admitted honestly. "I think it was mostly mental," he agreed with me.

This morning, they have already posted the results (yay for chip timing!)

Max came in with a chip time of 0:32:15, and I finished just a couple of people back of him at 0:32:19. Our fastest race of the year, and Max's personal best time. • 1:43 PM 0 comments