Thursday, June 30, 2005
Scary.Back when I lived in Texas I had my checking account with NationsBank. I'd link to it, but it's no longer in existence; it was purchased by Bank of America.
Fast-forward a half-decade. I still have my checking account (plus a savings account and a credit card) through BofA, plus a loan through MBNA.
Well, looks like BofA is buying MBNA. Soon, all financial transactions will be through BofA. Or at least all of mine.
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
I stopped by the Anti-Wal-Mart protest today. Just chatted with Lauren and picked up a brochure.They've only been working on this for the past two weeks. Trying to get a grass-roots movement going. There will be a meeting tomorrow night at the S.M.I.L.E. station (SE. 13th and Tacoma) at 7:00 PM, and I will be attending.
Damn, I should have taken pictures of their signs. They were getting a lot of honks from drivers passing by, too. I hope those were good honks.
I knew that I've been feeling a dark mood descend upon me and my home recently. Turns out there was a reason.
Wal-Mart is angling to put a store (excuse me, a "Superstore") in my neighborhood.
I found out by spying one of these many flyers (pops in new window; downloads an Acrobat file) while walking home last night. Yes, turns out there is organized opposition to it already. Include me in.
I'll be stopping by their picket line and pamphlet-handing-out at 4:00 PM this afternoon at the east end of the Sellwood Bridge to see how I can add my support.
Sunday, June 26, 2005
My new favorite place for accessing the wireless internets: The Sellwood Public House, one flight up from SE 13th and Tenino. I walked up the stairs, following the smell of bread and garlic, and the music, which took me a moment to recognize.Coolio. They're playing the Pixies. I'm going to fit right in.
A cozy den, where they serve pizza made with dough they actually made themselves that very day right on the premises. I had the Don Giovanni calzone, which is made from the very same dough. Mmmm... Comes with a side of marinara for dipping.
Great beer menu, too, but that's kind of a given in Portland. Lots of great beers to choose from, so it's difficult to find a bar that doesn't have a great selection. I tried the Roots Red and it was hoppy and delicious.
I read about it first in the Willy Week and made a point to try it. It's in my neighborhood, after all. Walked by several times but hadn't made it in until tonight.
I might have to make it a point to spend some time exploring the space...
It never fails to amaze me when I get an unreasonable response to a resonable request. Of course, being who I am, when I point out such disparities to the responder, it never seems to have an effect; they often only become more unresonable.
Often, the response is one of two things (or a combination of the two): first, to turn around and attack me, denigrate me for even bringing it up or calling attention to it, or second, to parse the language - the classic "that depends on what the definition of 'is' is."
Among a group of friends, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think it's out of line to ask for an accommodation once in a while. And even then, it's OK if the others decline. I'm fine with that. But what I don't get is when I am blasted for even asking, like my asking was somehow so outrageous that I'm a selfish bastard for even bringing it up. In the most recent example of this the person chose the tactic of turning a discussion about this single event into a blanket statement for all time, ever, world without end amen. How is that reasonable?
It's not that difficult to compromise, people. Here's an example. My sister and her husband obviously enjoy different types of movies. Having two kids, they don't get out to see movies all that often. If they had to agree on a movie that would satisfy them both every single time, they would end up arguing for so long that they would never get to the theater. So they have a compromise in place: they alternate choosing the movies. If they're unsatisfied with the others' choice, they know that next time they'll get to choose. It works over the long run, and it's based on trust. It works. Everybody gets a turn, everybody's happy.
A key point in a compromise is mutuality: both sides have to concede something. When dealing with a single, one-time only event, then everyone would need to give up some ground. (BTW, if everyone agrees in the first place, it's not a compromise; it's a consensus, which is a different kettle of fish.) But when dealing with an ongoing series of events, then the concessions need to be looked at over the course of the series; for example, my example of my sister and her husband.
But back to the outrageous response to a reasonable request. How best to deal with people like that? I for one am flummoxed. If I'm right in principle and right in the facts, then I'm not going to back down. Being backed by the correct position and the prevailing facts should (I would hope) be enough to sway folks' opinions. It's not, though, and I have a difficult time comprehending why. And the more I look into this, the more I find that those who can't be swayed by ethics or principle (which is, after all, the basis of negotiating a compromise) are, in fact, unreasonable and prone to all-or-nothing thinking. The kind of people who start to pick apart individual words and misread them in an attempt to make their point. Or the kind of people who look for others to side with them, hoping that by weight of opinions they can enforce a "majority view". Or the kind of people who simply attack the other to provide cover for their outrageous actions.
My friends, those who trust me, know that I am capable of admitting I've made a mistake. I go out of my way to support my opinions and to make certain that I'm seeing and dealing with the world as it really exists, not as I wish it to be. I am self-correcting. And because of that, I'm OK with my friends pointing out when I'm wrong. It's actually important for me, because I know that I'm automatically biased in favor of my own point of view, and often others can see things differently enough to point out what I'm missing.
But even when I'm wrong, I think I deserve a level of respect. I am often wearing my Easy-Going Guy Togs and go along with the prevailing view. However, when I request a change in plans, I would hope that my previous history of allowance would gain me some favor, some karma, some goodwill. Is that wrong? Do I set myself up for people to take advantage of my easy-going nature when I don't speak up except once in a while? Perhaps I should consider that.
Because that's what I feel like when this happens. I'll go along, and go along, and go along, then make a request and suddenly I'm a heartless bastard. Gee, nobody complained when I was silent about doing things I wasn't so enthused about; why complain now?
Damn, this is all about boundaries, isn't it? The damn topic comes up too often. Is there a middle ground, where I can make it clear that a compromise is in force, so that later it seems less of a surprise when I ask for a change? Interpersonal communication is hard.
But, again, back to the outrageous responders: I recognize that I'm unable to change them, so for me, my typical response is to point out that they're wrong and avoid them. I've got no particular compulsion to spend a lot of energy on them. Their mendacity is hugely draining. If there's a better way to deal with them I will be happy to look for it but for the most part, I don't need them and therefore don't have any reason to give them more than I'm required by the social circumstances.
Saturday, June 25, 2005
I would have sworn that I'd ranted about this before but I did a search and couldn't find it. It must have been in private email. But I've been looking for stuff to post that isn't about my running and when this topic came up in conversation today I realized I'd found something.This is it in a nutshell:
There are too many kinds of soda!
Walk into any convenience market and go to the freezer section. Look in there. Start counting - Coke, Cherry Coke, Coke with Lime, Coke with Vanilla, Coke Zero, Pepsi, Cherry Pepsie, Pepsi with Lemon, Pepsi with Lime, Pepsi with Vanilla, Pepsi One... then all the diet versions of those... and now there's the Splenda versions... then the lesser brands, like Mountain Dew, Sprite, 7-UP, Squirt... and multiple flavors of those... Dr. Pepper and all it's incarnations... holy crap I can't even list them all. Do not post in the comments that I missed your favorite flavor because I would be writing forever if I had to actually list them all.
And the sports drinks, like Gatorade and all the knock-offs. C'mon! The only real Gatorade is lemon-lime. That's why they called it Gatorade -- it was named after the Florida Gators! Hello? Has anybody seen a cherry alligator? A blue alligator? I didn't think so. Alligators are green, motherfuckers. Live with it.
And how many "flavors" of bottled water do we really need? I swear, the next time someone claims to be able to tell the difference between Dasani and Aquafina I'm going to introduce them to Mr. Shotgun.
And that's just for soft drinks!
There isn't enough room in a typical mini-mart freezer for all of these. Is that the plan? Soda companies just keep proliferating soda flavors until they push out their competition.
Just 10 years ago, it was Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, 7-Up, and diet versions. Sure, they tried gimmicks like "clear" Pepsi or "New" Coke but they didn't last. Those offshoots were flashes-in-the-pan and were laughed out of existence. But now, you can't stop the new flavors coming out. Soon we'll have Pepsi BBQ or Diet Coke with Cilantro or some shit.
It boils down to this: there are only two good flavors to add to a caffeinated beverage: Vanilla, and Lime. Everything else is crap and, frankly, just a waste. Stop, soda companies, just... stop. It's over. You're done. Don't you know there's a war on? Stop hurting America. Get some rest.
Friday, June 24, 2005
Friday Cat Blogging!
Just snapped a few quick pictures this morning. I caught him sleeping. I'm sure he'll torment me later for these.
...and here's some more!
Thursday, June 23, 2005
My new favorite geek joke, from the thread over at Slashdot:A Mathematician, a Biologist and a Physicist are sitting in a street cafe watching people going in and coming out of the house on the other side of the street. First they see two people going into the house. Time passes. After a while they notice three persons coming out of the house.
The Physicist: "The measurement wasn't accurate."
The Biologist: "They have reproduced."
The Mathematician: "If now exactly one person enters the house then it will be empty again."
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Learned a new word yesterday. I love when that happens.The word is: bespoke.
It means (in the context I heard it yesterday, at any rate) unique or individually-tailored clothing. Although different dictionaries don't limit it to clothing (like the Merriam-Webster link I used above; note that you'll have to click on the word "bespoke" because M-W won't let me link directly to that version of the word).
So, for example, it's probably safe to say that an A-list actress like Demi Moore will probably show up at ceremonies like the Academy Awards wearing bespoke dresses.
Monday, June 20, 2005
With the warm weather (well, we did officially pass into summer today, at 11:46 AM Pacific time, if I recall my friend's comment correctly) coming, my allergies have kicked into high gear. And the Zyrtec I've been taking just isn't cutting it. I'm up to two a day, twice the recommended dose, and I still have the sniffles and itchy eyes and throat.Makes it difficult to run when I can't breathe or see. Dammit.
I could have gone running in the gym today but once I got there, after work, even inside I could feel the effects of my allergies. So I went home to take another Zyrtec. After it kicked in, I went for a run. But seeing that, between the heat and my pulmonary distress, I knew it wouldn't be a stellar run. So I decided I'd go really easy on myself.
I didn't even bring my watch.
I'll wait while the two or three readers out there register their shock and awe.
OK, done?
At any rate, it was nice to just be outside and enjoying the sun and the scenery without having to push myself to a countdown. Er, countup? Whatever. You know what I mean. I did, though, take my iPod shuffle, so, technically, by counting the songs, I could, if I wanted to, figure out approximately how long I took... but, um... I won't.
I did a little more than 3 miles. I think I'll do that "off the clock" thing on a regular basis.
Why do I wait for the bus, to take me to the gym, so I can then change and go running?
Is my backpack that heavy?
Is the weather that hot?
Am I saving that much energy by doing that?
In other news, I registered for the Nike Run Hit Wonder this weekend. I mean that I registered this weekend, not that the race was this weekend. I signed up for the 10K, again. The route is different this year; it starts and ends from PGE Park, and the post-race concert is in the park, too. Good thing, since last year's attendance overwhelmed downtown and Pioneer Courthouse Square.
Also, they're only allowing the first 4000 people who sign up in for the post-race concert. And that concert will be Joan Jett and some others. Not quite the lineup they had last year, but I'm sure it will still be a good time...
I'm still looking for another 5K between now and then (July 24), mainly to redeem myself for the mistake last Saturday. Lots of half- and full marathons on the Fourth of July weekend, but there's no way I'm ready for that yet.
In other news, I installed Linux on my iPod this weekend.
I originally thought that this would be an interesting technical exercise. However, the interesting technical part of it is remarkably easy: download an installer, launch, and click "install".
The other main reason I did it was because Linux enables some hidden functionality of the iPod hardware, functionality that Apple disables (or, more accurately, allows third-party vendors to enable, for a cost). iPods can record, using a microphone plugged in to their headphone jack.
It records in mono, but still, that's pretty cool. I've been poking around to see if the limitation is hardware or software related.
And in terms of geekiness, this one goes to 11. Nifty to see the tiny iPod screen fill with the cascading text of a Linux boot-up sequence.
Only first, second, and third generation iPods are currently supported. Yet another reason for me to hang on to my old one if I ever decide to buy a new one.
Quickie review:
"Batman Begins" -- slow to start, which is good, since it's the backstory that makes this movie interesting. Action sequences are murky and hard-to-follow, which is what I imagine real combat to be like. Christian Bale makes a great Bruce Wayne; must admit I had some misgivings at first but I totally bought him. The plot is a bit more complex than usual for superhero movies, which also works, since Batman is a bit more complex than, say, Superman.
Downside? Puffy-faced born-again Scientologist Katie Holmes. What a blah actress and a blah character.
I give it one and 7/8 thumbs up (out of two). Kick-ass summer movie.
Saturday, June 18, 2005
A completely-made-up person writes in:How did the race go? That Mt. Tabor thing? Wasn't that today?Thanks for asking, Fig! (Is that your real name, by the way?)
Fig O. Imagination
So... yeah... the race...
I'd been really looking forward to tackling this race again. I think I've been training hard for it, too. Kinda made it a test to see how far I'd come in the last year.
Imagine my surprise and disappointment, then, to discover that I had mistakenly ran a longer course than most others in the race.
Weather was perfect; sunny and warm. Maybe a bit too warm, maybe a bit too humid. But it sure beat the rain that had been coming down in buckets yesterday.
They had also changed the course a bit, at least the starting line. Instead of starting at the top of the hill and working down from there, the course started by the basketball courts and went uphill. My careful planning was already taking a bit of a hit. However, since I had planned to hold back the first mile, anyway, the more I thought about it, the more I realized it played into my favor.
Standing at the starting line, the race organizer (never got his name) explained the course. I distinctly heard him say to watch out for the chalk "5" and arrows, since the 8K race was being run over the same area and there were differences. For instance, the 8K-ers had to run up to the top of the hill twice; the 5K-ers didn't. "Got it," I thought, "watch for the chalked numbers." The course was a bit confusing because we went past the finish line twice; we had to circle out around the reservoir, then come back to finish.
For the first third of the course, I did really well. Just under a 10:00 pace for the first mile -- good. Managed just under a 9:00 pace for the second mile -- awesome, and the hills (downhill for this section) helped me tremendously. I only needed to split the difference or slightly under in order to beat last year's time! When I was approaching the finish line for the first time, I spotted the sign showing the 3-mile point for the 5K, but it was off to the side on another road coming down from the top. I made a mental note of it.
I and a group of other 5K-ers reached a point on the hill where we had been before, and there were the chalked arrows -- but no numbers. Just a confusing tangle of arrows. I realized that we didn't have to go back up, so there were two choices for downhill. One leading out and around before returning and a shorter course. I thought it was the shorter leg, but a group of three girls who had been keeping pace with me decided among themselves that it was the longer route. We didn't discuss it out loud. I simply went along with them, figuring that if it was wrong, at least we'd all be wrong together. Another lady followed us, also. Maybe others but that's all I spotted.
As we proceeded along, I realized that this was not correct, since my watch showed 12:00 and counting for this leg. There's no way that I had been going that slowly! I had stopped a bit to walk but only briefly. It felt wrong.
When I passed the 3-mile mark for real this time, again, I was on the wrong road. Argh. My total time for that segment was over 16:00, which indicated to me that, yes, I had gone much longer than necessary. After I ran through the finish line, I hunted down a copy of the course map and confirmed my mistake. I don't know exactly how much extra I ran, though. But it makes my time easier to bear. Tough race.
So, um, argh. I'll do better next race.
Friday, June 17, 2005
Friday Night Cat Blogging!
...tonight is re-run night, since I've been at the beach all day. And since I've got to do re-runs, I figured, why not go all the way back to when I first got Smacky? So here he is as he was, cute and terrorizing:
...and here's some more!
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Minor annoyances mar the day:On the bus in to work. Once the bus has crossed the river into downtown, the bus driver stops and waits at every single stop. Apparently she's running ahead of schedule and has to make up some time. Fine. Annoying. But fine. If it wasn't for the fact that I'm on my way in to work, where I don't particularly want to be, and therefore am not in any particular hurry, I'd probably be even more angry.
So. Every single stop. Long wait. Other buses, their drivers having better managed their time, speed past us while we wait. Often we wait through two cycles of the traffic light -- green, yellow, red, green, yellow, red, green, go.
Eventually we get to my stop. I'm the only one exiting the bus here. I go out the front door, and as usual, thank the bus driver (I'm a polite boy sometimes). The driver barks out, "Right!" and as soon as I step off the bus, the door slams shut, and the bus lurches into motion and roars through the traffic light as the light shifts from yellow into red.
Yes, she waited until my stop, then ran a red light in her hurry to get moving.
I'm sure it wasn't directed at me, but, damn...
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
So, I get to work today, and I'm working like I actually care. I do computer support, so I'm installing stuff, and closing tickets left and right. I wanted to end the day with no work assigned to me and waiting for me. I wanted to clear out my queue. I was within striking distance of doing just that.Then my friend Ken calls me.
"So... uh... what are you doin' today?"
"Why?" I ask.
"Well... I have a huge favor to ask you."
"What?"
"I was kinda sorta hoping that you'd be available to, um, help me haul around some shit." Turns out that ever since Ken was promoted, he's been given the task of gathering up all of the county's surplus computer equipment and getting it to the recyclers. It has not been a happy or fulfilling task, since there are hundreds of different county offices and buildings, and the task of installing new computers and removing the old ones is pretty much an ongoing project. But, hey, that's what he gets paid the slightly-larger bucks for, right?
And now he's in a bind because he's got to clear out some space in the only storage area he has access to, by loading up a bunch of old monitors and taking them to a recycler, then going out to another site and getting all of that equipment into the now-cleared storage space.
Today. He's got to do all that, today.
I tried a couple of lame excuses, like "I'm not dressed for hauling around garbage" or "but I was trying to close out all these low-priority tickets". Finally I said, "Hey, management's lack of planning does not mean... Um... I forget how that one goes. How does that go?" I asked.
"I don't know," Ken admitted, "but I liked where you were going. Keep going."
I tried several times to regain my train of thought on that one but failed. It was too early in the day (this was around 9:00 AM or so). Finally I gave in and said that I'd help him before lunch. Ken promised to buy me lunch in gratitude, which I thought was sorta fair.
So I spent the morning loading up a cargo van full of 15", 17", 19" and 21" computer monitors. You know, the old-school picture-tube ones. Heavy, bulky. We only dropped one, and, contrary to a long-remembered quote from my father from long ago, picture tubes do not, in fact, "go off like a minor A-Bomb" when dropped. However, Ken suffered tiny cut on his finger, a bruised knee, and a scrape on his ankle.
Then, lunchtime rolled around. Ken asked me where I wanted to go; I said I wanted to go to Montage. Mmmmm... Cajun food.
Ken agreed, but, he said, "I'll have to find an ATM." Then he remembered it was the day before payday. "Um... how do you feel about Big Town Hero?" I'm not sure what the difference was (Montage is a bit spendier but not that much) and asked him. "How about we go to Big Town Hero today, and I'll owe you lunch at Montage later?" OK, fine, I agreed. I was wearing my Easy-Going Guy Togs today.
We had found a parking spot at the closest Big Town Hero when Ken remembered. "I need to find an ATM!" Argh. This free lunch thing was getting more and more complicated. I was hungry, though, and Ken figured that there would be an ATM in the lobby of the nearest building (the Metro offices on Grand Ave.) Sure enough, there was.
However, Ken had forgotten his ATM card. How that happened I have no idea, but it seemed awfully convenient. Luckily I had some cash. So I ended up buying his lunch and he still owes me lunch.
I feel a bit like Br'er Fox being tricked into the briar patch... But it's OK. I know where Ken works.
I ran at the gym last night. 2.5 miles, 23:59 total time, for about a 9:36 average pace.
And after I finished, I felt as though I could have gone faster. I still had something left.
I'm thinking that if I push myself, I could do a 5K at, oh, say, a 9:20 pace. Maybe. It's a goal, at least. And, looky here, I have a 5K race coming up.
Unfortunately, it's a tough race. I ran it last year, and the course is downhill for the first two miles, then uphill for the last mile. My normal strategy is to hold back for the first mile or so, then pick up the pace. However, that is difficult for this course due to the downhills... So I might have to go all out in order to make up enough time to allow for dying on the last mile.
Monday, June 13, 2005
A friend invited me out Friday to see Movin' Out (link requires Flash), which is a vastly entertaining mix of dance and pop music. I enjoyed it for both aspects, although I have to admit that my friend, with more expertise in dance than I, was, by her own words, "blown away" by the dancing.The idea for the show is that it's a musical, and the story is told entirely through dance, which was choreagraphed by Ms. Twyla Tharp, and the lyrics and music. The lyrics and music being that of Billy Joel, one of the great pop musicians of the last couple of decades. Well, certainly one of the most popular pop musicians, at least.
At any rate, as we were leaving the theater, some lady behind us remarked that one of the songs they used in the show ("Shameless") was, *gasp*, a Garth Brooks song. "Not that that made a difference, I mean, it fit in with the show and the story and all that, but why use a Garth Brooks song?"
To that lady, I say: Because when Mr. Brooks did it, it was a cover of a Billy Joel song. Garth recorded it in 1991 on the album "Ropin' the Wind"; Billy recorded it in 1989 on the album "Storm Front".
Sheesh. Some people's kids.
Sunday, June 12, 2005
Running schedule for the week:- Monday: 2.5 miles
- Tuesday: 4 miles
- Wednesday: 3.5 miles
- Thursday: 3 miles
- Friday: Rest day (going to the beach!)
- Saturday: 3.1 miles (Mt. Tabor Challenge)
- Sunday: Rest day
A light week, because of the race on Saturday. I'm planning on two days of speed drills but haven't decided which days. Or which drills, for that matter. I'll make it up as I go along.
Didn't run Saturday as planned. I did do a little bit of walking, but not really 3 miles worth. So I had to run today.
I decided I'd do a 4 mile run. As you'll see below, I was very fast for the first 3 miles. I averaged a 9:25 mile pace! Unfortunately, the last mile, even though I tried to keep moving, took almost exactly 11 minutes, giving me an average pace for the whole course of 9:48, which is still good.
Here's the half-mile splits:
- 4:42.90
- 4:45.03 (09:27.93)
- 4:49.80 (14:17.73)
- 4:50.41 (19:08.14)
- 4:39.00 (23:47.14)
- 4:28.60 (28:15.74)
- 5:10.01 (33:25.75)
- 5:49.39 (39:15.14)
I'll post a schedule for myself later today.
Friday, June 10, 2005
Friday Night Cat Blogging!
...and here's some more!
Ran to work this morning. I did pretty good this morning, in part, because I didn't run on Wednesday (rest day) and couldn't drag myself out of bed Thursday morning as planned, so would have had to run Thursday evening... didn't want to have only 8 hours or less between two long-ish runs, so I just walked 3 miles last night. The weather was nice, if a bit muggy, and the cottonwood trees were spewing their allergy-inducing cottonwood-y tufts all over my neighborhood, but it was still a good walk. Even if it was interrupted with my accidentally walking past the Iron Horse restaurant, falling in, and having a delicious chicken Belize tostada.
Today: 5.5 miles, total time 55:55.00, for a per-mile pace of 10:10 even! Yay!
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Shhhhh... I'm in the middle of trimming Smacky's claws.Normally when I do this, I try to get it over with quickly, which always backfires in a way that leaves me wearing gloves and a long-sleeved shirt to work the next day in order to avoid the "Oh, my god! What happened to your HANDS and your ARMS?" comments from coworkers.
But no, I've figured out a slightly easier way.
If I sit in front of the computer long enough, he will come over and peacefully fall asleep in my lap. Usually with one leg or another sticking out oddly. I first noticed this (the arm-sticking-out part) a couple of nights ago, and didn't until just tonight realize what it meant.
What it meant was that, if I had the nail clippers handy, I could probably, slowly, cautiously, and carefully, trim the claws on that paw without him noticing much. And if he did notice, he's in such a mellow mellow mood that he wouldn't do too much damage to, well, me.
When he does notice, he gets agitated, then wanders off, attacks one of his toys or watches the birds outside, calms down over the course of 10 minutes or so, and then wanders back, eventually curling up in my lap like nothing's happened.
I've got his front left and rear left paws done, and one of the claws on his right front paw so far. I'm doing pretty good. He just finished cleaning himself and laid his head down, so as soon as I finish this post, I'll get to work on the remaining claws.
Patience, it is said, is a virtue. Along with preventing blood loss from thousands of tiny cuts.
Google may be a good company. They certainly do what they do very well, and are constantly coming up with new ideas and innovations all the time. (Side note: I use a subsidiary of Google to post, although my actual site is hosted elsewhere.)
TimeWarner, Inc. may be a bad company. The massive amount of disparate media controlled by one gianormous corporation has led, I believe, to a poorly-informed American public. That's an argument for another time.
However, even if you accept my initial assertions, it's difficult for me to then conclude that Google is worth more than Time-Warner. Google is worth 80-billion-with-a-"b" dollars? Really?
Monday, June 06, 2005
Quick running update:Ran in my neighborhood, down to the river and up through Sellwood Park, then back again. 3 miles. Here's the splits:
- 4:39.71
- 4:42.98 (09:22.69)
- 4:53.63 (14:16.32)
- 4:16.67 (18:32.99)
- 5:16.40 (23:49.39)
- 4:41.67 (28:31.06)
Yes, my total time was 28:31, for an average mile pace of 9:30.35! I rock!
And now I'm hitting the showers.
Someone wake me up from this nightmare.
Apple is switching their hardware to Intel processors?
I'm stunned. This is going to be a huge mistake, for so many reasons.
So... many... reasons...
Sunday, June 05, 2005
Running schedule for the week:- Monday: 3 miles
- Tuesday: 4 miles
- Wednesday: Rest day
- Thursday: 3.5 miles
- Friday: 5.5 miles
- Saturday: 3 miles
- Sunday: Rest day
I think that's a better distribution throughout the week. I'm not going to label Friday my "run to work" day since it depends on other non-running factors (notably, my social plans and my laundry situation). I'm increasing my total miles by a tiny .5 miles. Still working towards 25/week by end of summer, but, y'know, slowly.
Friday, June 03, 2005
Dammit... I went back and double-checked the total miles for my run. I use this mapping software on another computer to plot out routes, and like I said in my previous post, today's 5+ mile route was a new one for me, so I wasn't entirely sure I was following it properly.At any rate, I missed a small section and the distance I actually ran was only 5.26 miles, give or take. Which slows down my pace (assuming my total time was correct) to around 10:28. Which isn't bad, and feels closer to what I thought I was doing, but, damn, for a bit there, I thought I rocked a bit harder than I actually rocked.
Running update:
Tonight, a new 5.5 mile figure-eight loop in my neighborhood; start on SE 19th and Marion, run north through Westmoreland Park to Bybee, then west on Bybee up to the crematorium, then north again to Knight and turn east (that's the cross-street by Papa Heydn's), down to SE 22nd, back south, turn west on Bybee again, then back along Sellwood Ave. to Sellwood Park, through the park and work my way back to 17th and Linn. Whee!
I don't have the half-mile splits figured yet, just the total distance. I did time myself tonight, but when I finished, I accidentally reset the time instead of saving it. I think my total time was around 54:35, but I'm not sure and that sounds a bit fast -- a 9:55 mile pace, if that's true. I'll record the time but with an asterisk.
Still, it was a nice evening for a run; sunny and not too warm.
Friday Night Cat Blogging!
(...'cause it's night somewhere!)
...and here's some more!
Lots of pictures of Smacky helping me make my bed this week. Sorry they're out-of-focus-y. He's really (not very) helpful -- but fast.
If you somehow are so insatiable as to not be satisfied with pictures of Smacky...
...Here is a treasure trove of animal blogging.
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Quick 'n' dirty review:Had dinner last night at Eleni's Estiatorio, a Greek restaurant in my neighborhood I have not previously enjoyed.
And man-oh-man did I and my friend enjoy it last night. Amazing food.
The menu is almost entirely appetizers; only 4 main courses that I could see. And a note at the beginning of the menu says that the best way to dine is with plate after plate of appetizers and lots of wine and conversation. Who were we to dispute that?
The calamari was, without question, the best calamari I have ever had. It's so easy to overcook squid, and it can be rubbery... but last night it was tender and flavorful and amazing. Did I already say "amazing"? Sorry but it's the perfect word. We tried the bread, the calamari, the tzatziki (a.k.a. "Suzuki"), chicken kabobs (came with a spinach side), saganaki ("flaming cheese") and finished up with a wonderful salad...
I highly recommend this place. So good.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Apple's opening another retail store in my area.Well... if you can call freakin' Tualatin my "area".
Why can't they put one in downtown? There's lots of retail space available downtown! I mean, the Trib did a story last week on all the empty retail space in Portland... mostly 'cause of the drugs and drug-users and crime, but, hey, that's the price of progress. Right?
