Motels and hotels I remember

First in a series.

Hilton in San Francisco

My friend Rodney and I, in... summer '90? '92? must have been '91... decided to take a road trip one weekend to San Francisco. I had my Porsche 924 at the time, in Nutmeg Braun, which made a great road-trip car for two single guys. Rod was legally blind - he could see up close but beyond a couple of feet it was fuzzy. Had some degnerative retina disease. I'd known him since high school, and his sight was always getting worse and worse. But he was still a fun guy to hang out with.

We only had a couple of days before we both had to be back to work (he was working in construction, and I had a retail sales job) so we tried to maximize our time. I picked him up right after he got off work on Friday and was already packed and ready to go.

We drove down via I5 - just a nice straight shot. At least, that was my plan. Rod, however, kept talking about seeing all the "California beach bunnies". I don't think he realized that there's a huge difference between Northern California and Southern California. I tried to explain it to him, but he was pretty insistent. So, once we crossed the Oregon/Califorina border, I turned towards the coast. I figured showing him would be better than telling him.

We found some beach access... somewhere. I don't remember exactly where. I'd have to look it up on the map. But I remember what we saw when we came into view of the Pacific Ocean.

Rocky cliffs battered by waves, forest growing almost right up to the beach, lots of driftwood... a beautiful coast, but not exactly Muscle Beach in L.A. There were a few people out there in windbreakers but not a single bikini in sight.

Rod, needless to say, was disappointed but he chalked it up to the luck of the draw. "Maybe another beach...?"

I told him we'd try again in San Francisco.

I made my way back to I-5 and we continued south. That's a long way to drive by myself. It's 640 miles via I-5 and I'd added another 100 with our detour. When we got to SF it was late and dark. I suggested we find a motel somewhere cheap but Rod wanted to splurge and suggested the Hilton. He said he'd pay and I could pay him back, since money was my main objection. We crashed that night. Or, rather, I did, since I was beat. Rod went down to the hotel bar to do some drinking. He returned later, supposedly having flirted with an older woman but chickened out of going back to her room with her. I'm not sure if he was putting me on or not.

It was pretty nice in the Hilton, I have to admit. I remember it being quiet and comfortable. I remember it being pretty expensive at the time but don't recall a specific dollar figure. We stayed two nights.

The next day, I wanted to see Alcatraz but Rod didn't want to spend the whole time on one activity (every time I'm in SF I want to see Alcatraz and every time I'm there I never get to see it for one reason or another).

My second suggestion was seeing a game in (then-)Candlestick Park. Rod wasn't a baseball fan but I was, and I talked him into it. The Giants were playing the Chicago Cubs.

We drove out to the 'Stick to see about getting tickets, and right away we were approached by a scruffy-looking gentleman who offered us seats "behind home plate" for the amazingly cheap price of $25.00 a seat. It seemed too good a deal to be true... but it was true. As far as it goes. We were behind home plate... but way up near the top of the stadium. Still, it was a decent vantage point to view the entirety of the game.

I remember it being a decent game, close and low-scoring but at least one Giant got a home run. I found the box score for the game online - Sandberg was pitching for the Giants, and the Giants won, 3-6. The day was warm and sunny and both Rod and I got a bit burned, although it was breezy (duh!) up near the top of the stadium.

We stayed until the end of the game, and then faced a huge obstacle getting back downtown: traffic. It took us over an hour just to get out of the parking lot. To add pressure, I was nearly out of gas and, two hours later, and dealing with stop-and-go traffic downtown while driving a stick and having the fuel light on steady brought out the cranky in me. We finally found a gas station in Chinatown and I felt relieved but, again, beat. Rod, however, wanted to go out some more and I did, too, I suppose so we walked down to Fisherman's Wharf. We stayed out pretty late.

I don't actually remember getting back to the hotel that night but next thing I knew it was nearly check-out time and we had to get moving. After breakfast, we started the long drive back. I had the bright idea of driving up along the coast, since I had a vague idea of trying to find Skywalker Ranch, which was a fool's errand since all I knew was that it was in Marin County north of SF.

The Pacific Coast Highway along Marin County's shore is a twisty, windy, narrow two-lane. After nearly 6 hours of driving, with one or two stops for lunch and another snack, we were only 80 miles north of San Francisco as the crow flies. Driving a sporty car on twisty roads is fun... but not five hours worth of fun. And, of course, Rod couldn't take a shift. When I suggested we head back to I-5 the next chance we get, Rod was surprised.

"Why didn't you suggest that earlier?" he asked. • 6:52 AM 0 comments

Here at Lunar Obverse, we get letters! Here's one, from "Wecker":

As this is your self-entitled "CREATIVE WEEK," I speak for us all, when I state, "I need to understand a few parameters of this creative week, if you please..."

Would writing about running, using a creative way to describe your activity (such as an anology, etc), be considered creative?

Could it be considered creative if the techie-type posting you decide to write on your blog was written in long-hand (yours, whether in cursive or print), scanned, and then uploaded to the site itself?

Would FRIDAY-NIGHT CAT BLOGGING be considered creative if you made Smacky look like a dog, either using iphoto, or more thoughtfully, dressing the cat up as said dog?

Would writing a rather simple, normal, noncreative blog be creative if every word within your blog was a link to some website that fit in with the word itself (and not that it would need to fit in with your blog-post)?

Lastly, what happens if the blog-post falls short on being creative? Who decides? We're curious. As you can see......

Well, first, let me thank you for writing in, Wecker. Always a pleasure to hear from the readers!

Rather than answer your questions one at a time, let me just say that, for me, Creative Week means "Not the same-ol' same-ol'." I'm aiming for the unusual, the off-the-beaten path, as it were. I just think I've fallen into a rut of posting an account of my workouts and the occassional (very occassional) post about politics, but if I look back on my first year, I would have long essays about movies or philosophy or just stories about my life and times, and I even started out posting (unfinished) short stories or poems.

I'd like to recapture that "anything goes" feel and leave my viewers (both of them!) with a feeling of surprise at what they might find here.

Maybe "Creative Week" wasn't the best name for what I'm after. Maybe I should have called it "Anything Goes" week or "Sense of Surprise" week or "Not the same-ol', same-ol'" week. I suppose I still can. But, no, I'm not going to second-guess myself at this point. This explanation will have to do.

Again, super to hear from the viewers! Bloggers love attention, after all... • 12:32 PM 2 comments

Artistic vision over material pursuits. The mark of a true artist.

I applaud what these indie bands are doing when they turn down Hummer's 5- and 6-figure sums to license their songs.

I think it's especially telling that the band that broke up 20 years ago turned them down. • 12:14 PM 0 comments

Last night, after being out all day, I got home to discover that Smacky was out of food. He was visibly agitated about it. I decided to walk up to the grocery store to replenish his supply.

It was raining a little bit, but I didn't mind. Was bundled up warm.

When I got to SE Milwaukie and Bybee, there were trailers parked all down Milwaukie Ave., and tents and people with walkie-talkies and headsets. As I got closer, I saw little "No Parking" signs that indicated the reason for all this activity.

They were filming... something.

Since I had to go past it all to get to the store, I poked around. For a moment I thought they were filming in the Moreland Theater. But when I looked in the Limelight Restaurant next door, I saw a whole crowd of people, in chairs and standing up, all staring at a bunch of monitors, and at the bar next door was a yellow sign saying "Bar Closed - just for today". Looks like the bar was the set.

The parking lot of the Wells Fargo bank next door was packed with more trailers and tents, and one tent was marked "Extras". In the street was a little sign:

Sorry for the blurry pic. Camera phone.

I walked on up to my grocery store, bought a bag of cat food (almost NINE BUCKS for a 5 lb. bag! That seems expensive, but then, I guess that bag will last me a couple of months. I wish I could eat for that cheap. Except delicious food, not cat food). I asked the checker if she knew what was going on down the street. She shrugged. "I don't know... I heard, it was just a rumor, but I heard that Rebecca De Mornay was involved somehow."

"Really? That's cool!" I said.

She shrugged again. "It's just a rumor."

On my way out, I saw another grocery girl. "Do you know what movie is being filmed down there?"

Fumbling with a cigarrette, she shrugged. "I heard..." - she looked around as if someone might be listening in - "The Rock."

"The rock?"

"You know..." she said. "The Rock?" She was a tiny girl, shorter than me, but she indicated a giant of a man with her hands, smoke trailing from her now-lit cigarrette.

"Right. The wrestler. I gotcha." I headed back into the rain.

As I neared the bar set again, I spotted a guy hauling a box of stuff towards the base camp. "Hey," I stopped him, "What's going on?"

"It's a movie" he said, with a smile.

"Right. I kinda got that," I said. He was walking away. The box didn't look heavy but it did look bulky. "What's the movie?"

He turned around part way and spoke over his shoulder. "It's called 'The Music Within'. Go take a look. The set is just down there. It's kinda cool." He pointed down the street with his chin.

'Kinda cool'? He didn't sound like he worked with them... sounded like a fellow sightseer like me.

I looked around again, and made eye contact with the folks guarding the doors at the Limelight. I got nods of recognition in return, and smiles, but couldn't bring myself to talk to them again. They seemed so... busy.

After I passed all the activity, I called Tracy. After filling her in on the movie being filmed in my neighborhood, I asked her to look it up on IMDB to see who might be in it.

She found it listed, but didn't recognize the one star listed. A bit more googling but she couldn't find much more info on it.

But, you know... I had a cat to feed. • 6:38 AM 0 comments

Well, I did it. I went down to Apple Music Row (no relation to these guys or these guys) and, after talking to Joel-the-salesguy for a bit and thinking it over, plunked down the money for the M-Audio Keystation 61es keyboard controller.

I'm going to learn to play keyboards! It's been on my "New Year's Resolutions" list for years and I'm finally taking action.

Part of the reason for doing this is the teeny-tiny amount of guilt I feel for purchasing such a powerful new laptop. My MBP is, truly, the most powerful computer I've ever owned, and I feel I need to make more use of its capabilities than just surfing, email, blogging and writing. Seeing that one of the installed programs is GarageBand, which can make good use of a MIDI controller like my new 61es, and toss in the desire to learn to do somethin' musical, and it's the perfect convergence.

I've plinked around a bit so far, and I'll probably post pictures of my setup later tonight, but I really want to begin a more formal lesson plan. Thanks to a friend who is also a musician, I've got some good books on music theory to get me started, although I might end up actually taking formal lessons at some point.

So, with all that in mind, I declare the coming week to be:

Creative Week!

for Lunar Obverse. Every blob post will showcase the theme of "creativity". That means no boring posts about running or politics for 168 hours, starting at midnight Monday morning.

I may post some fiction, or talk about learning my musical instrument, or post pictures, or links to other sites that inspire or teach... lots of options for posts.

So, tune in starting Monday for:

Creative Week!

• 6:18 PM 1 comments

Ran this morning. In my neighborhood. Wanted to do a longer run. The original plan was for a full hour, but I got up late and had lunch plans so I cut it down to 40 minutes, plus warmup/cooldown.

It was chilly (low 40s) so it took some motivation but I eventually got out the door. Wore my Asics (duh), shorts and a long-sleeved shirt and hat. No music - feels too dangerous if I'm going to be on the streets much. If I'm on a trail or away from traffic, OK.

Simple plan: run away from home for 20 minutes, turn around and come back the same route. Not very original but I was feeling uninspired. Since it was a long-ish run, I felt OK to walk if I had to. I didn't walk at all the first 20 minutes, though, but stopped several times on my way back, such that it took me an extra 2:37 to reach my starting point again. So total workout time was 42:37.

My turnaround point was right in front of Club Cabos, which is apparently now a non-strip club. Interesting side note. Checking Google Earth, I ran a total of 3.9 miles. Damn, I would have liked to have done a full 4 miles. Guess that's what I get for measuring afterward. That makes my average pace 10:55 for the whole route, but 10:15 for the first half.

Yeah. I really need to do some speedwork soon.

In other health-related news I weighed in at 195 this morning. I'm on my way back down... yay. That will definitely help with the speed, too. • 3:51 PM 1 comments

More first impressions of my MacBook Pro:

• I still hate the name. Just sayin'. Sounds dorky. I tend to call it "MBP", or "That sexy thing" or (if someone else is eyeing it) "My precioussssss".
  
• It is definitely fast, the fastest computer I've ever owned. I can't wait to compile some software (gotta have my Unix tools) or (finally!) actually be able to play some games on a Mac. I was worried that my older applications that I don't feel like upgrading (I've got an old copy of MS Office X and I am not giving Microsoft any more money; and Intuit wants $40.00 more for the Mac version of Quicken 2006 than the Windows version? WTF?!) would be too slow, since they're not optimized for Intel and have to run under Rosetta. Um... I needn't have worried because, even with the emulation, they're running faster on the MBP than they did on my G3 iBook.
  
• Field reports are talking about two "problems" with the machines: first, a white "stripe" (not these guys) or lines along the bottom edge of the screen. If I'm looking for it, on certain desktop backgrounds, in the dark, I can see it. But even then it doesn't bother me, and the rest of the time I don't notice it.
  
• ...and second, a "hissing" or "chirping" noise when the display is dimmed. Try as I might, I can't hear this at all. At least, not over the ringing in my ears... ">Some reports suggest this is the second processor as the sound disappears when the second processor is turned off.
  
• My SuperDrive is really noisy on bootup - just whirs and clicks a lot. Startled me at first. Stops doing that before I even get to the login screen, though. I will watch this one and if it continues, I'll bring it in to the Genius Bar. It reads disks just fine, though, and doesn't seem to be noisy while reading the disks. Luckily, I don't reboot very often.

More details this weekend, and more pictures coming. • 6:05 AM 3 comments

While I'm still playing around, I posted the first few pictures of the ritual unboxing of my MacBook Pro on Flickr.

Enjoy. • 9:10 PM 0 comments

First report on my MacBook Pro, the one that everyone wants to hear:

Right out of the box, after sitting and charging for a couple of hours, but not having had the battery calibrated yet, the menubar shows "3:42 Remaining" right after I unplug the (super-cool!) MagSafe connector. Using the factory default "Better Battery Life" settings in Energy Saver.

Second report: damn, it's so sexxxxxxxy! • 7:17 PM 0 comments

Quick post, with more to follow:

I got the call today.

"Brian, this is Eric at the Apple Store in Pioneer Place. We have a 2.0 GHz MacBook Pro on hold for you. We can hold it unitl the end of the day for you, at which point, if we haven't heard back from you, we will sell it to the next person on the list. Please give us a call if you're still interested. Thank you!"

Hell, yeah I'm still interested!

I ran down and bought it. Pictures of the unboxing to be posted later. It's so damned sexy. • 12:56 PM 0 comments

Ran last night. I haven't been running as much as I used to and it bothers me. I only seem to get out and run 2-3 times a week. I want to increase that. Is it because of the cold and the dark and the cold? Probably. Might also have to do with my cutting calories - less energy overall while I burn some of this excess poundage.

Anyway, last night: 30 minutes, treadmill, mostly did a steady 10:30 pace, incline level 2, wore my Asics. Used my (probably only helpful due to placebo effect) inhaler beforehand. Did stop to walk once, around the 24:00 mark, for one minute. I know, I know, I should have just kept going, but I had just done a 4:00 section at a 9:30 pace and needed some kind of rest.

One more thing: I haven't been wearing my Adidas Supernovas at all for the past two weeks when I run. Just sticking with the Asics. Dunno. Just like them better. Although in a month or two I'll need a new pair of shoes. Maybe after the Shamrock Run.

I have to start working in some speedwork, and some longer runs, one of each each week.

And calorie-wise, I was only maintaining my weight at 2500 calories per day - kept hovering around the 200 lb mark, not good. So starting this week (as of last Monday) I'm at 2200 calories per day. And the past two days I've been under that, so that's good. I'm guessing that 2500 calories per day would be good to burn fat if I was running as much as I did last summer, but until I get the miles up I need even fewer calories.

Luckily, Starbucks' cinnamon rolls are only 260 calories! Have you seen those? They're practically the size of my head! Mmmmm... So, eight of those and that still leaves me 120 calories for other food in a day. • 6:32 AM 2 comments

Political update:

I know, I know, the Abramoff scandal just grows and grows. It's hard to keep track of it all. But guess who just stepped forward with new information?

The Malasian Prime Minister!

And, even now, the plot is brewing to silence him...



"Now do as you are trained, Derek - and kill the Malaysian Prime Minister! • 12:59 PM 0 comments

I love the internets!

Podbop is a site that lets you listen to music from bands that are coming to your town this week.

The internets are great for finding new music... and this Web 2.0 stuff is the coolio-est. Way cooler than lame 1990s-era "multimedia". • 6:37 AM 0 comments

John Kricfalusi has a blog.

This is only cool if you know who John K. is.

He's only got three posts right now but it's still worth it. If you know, that is. • 4:07 PM 1 comments

Man, SXSW is looking tempting this year.

But, strangely enough, not necessarily for the music. Sure, Neil Young is the musical guest of honor. That's all cool and stuff.

And, don't look at me like that - not for the locale! Oh, no, definitely not the locale. Sure, Austin is the only decent city in Texas, but, even so... it's in Texas

But, first, I read that Heather Armstrong is going to be a keynote speaker (via Jason Kottke). You know: Dooce. The woman who got fired for blogging about work, and now spends her days writing about her cute daughter, crazy dog, and unemployed self-employed husband. Oh, and poop. (Not so much about boobs lately, though. She's really jumped the shark.)

Then, I read that Markos Moulitsas Zúniga is going to be there, and using the event as the unofficial kick-off for his new book "Crashing The Gates" (second bullet point). Um, hello, DailyKos? Left Blogsylvania's biggest site?

Holy cow - my favorite non-political and political blogger in one city with a bunch of great music and awesome food?

So... tempting... • 6:51 AM 0 comments

Hey, Apple lovers!

Remember the bad old days, when Motorola couldn't produce the chips Apple wanted, and it took years before Macs got any kind of speed bump? Those were the days when Apple tried to fight back by marketing against "the megahertz myth".

Well, if you want to cry tears of joy, take a look at the Mac Book Pros - the Intel-based laptops Apple introduced last month.

They've gotten a speed bump - and they haven't even shipped yet!

That's gotta be a record for a speed bump of a product line. As well as a sweet Valentine's Day gift. OK, maybe not a Valentine's Day gift.

Update 6:44 AM 15 February 2006: Actually, the Mac Book Pros are shipping this week. I tried to add this yesterday but Blogger was blobbered. • 1:33 PM 1 comments

For the second week in a row, my running plans have been dashed to smithereens by reality.

Reality is a harsh mistress. My least favorite kind, actually.

At any rate, after my 1-mile warmup run, I haven't run again since. Was going to Thursday - didn't. Was going to on Friday - didn't. Was going to run today - but I'm not, because there's a race tomorrow and maybe I'll do better with rested legs.

I have, however, been continuing with my calorie-cutback, and this morning I weighed in at 198.5 lb., which is significantly lower than the 203.0 I showed a week ago. I'm sure that most of that is water loss and mainly from the severe cutback I did last weekend, but there's gotta be a half-pound or pound of actual fat loss in there.

As of last night I was actually 399 calories under par for the week, and that's even after accidentally eating a slice of leftover German chocolate cake on Thursday (yum). I love calorie-counting for my diet because a) I get to eat whatever I want as long as I track it, and b) it's like having a watch that tells me when to stop eating for the day, so I can focus on other things, like how much I'm not running and should be, argh.

At any rate, I'm going to give it my all tomorrow at the 5K and see if I can improve over my New Year's Day run time. I will be running with Max - can't wait to see how he does. It's gonna be coooooooooooooooooooooooold, though. • 12:26 PM 0 comments

Suddenly there appeared left-over cake in the break room this afternoon. German chocolate cake, and a lemon cake. Several of us were in there accidentally eating some.

One lady commented, "Well, we don't want this to go to waste, do we?"

I replied, "Right. Eat up! There's people starving in Gitmo, after all!" • 4:08 PM 0 comments

I blobbed before about Bank of America's "Keep the Change" program (full details at that link so I don't repeat myself).

One of the benefits of KTC is that they're going to match all my deposits made in the first 3 months. I'm past those 3 months so I sat down to see what kind of bonus I'm getting.

Turns out BofA owes me $98.03. Sweeeeeeeeet. Free money. Cha-ching!

The only downside is that it makes it much harder to balance my checkbook. But I can live with it. • 12:13 PM 0 comments

I didn't do my planned speedwork last night. I was somewhat rushed because I had been reminded by my nephew Max that his school's Science Fair was last night, and I wanted to see his project.

Plus, and, this might be a psychosomatic symptom, but my left ankle had been sore all day, and when I started running to warm up (I did make it to the gym and do some running) it felt like it would get much worse if I stepped on it wrong. So I ran an easy mile and then stretched out and showered off. After I stretched out, it felt much better and I didn't have any pain afterward. So I'm modifying my plan - I'll do my speedwork tomorrow, take Saturday off (or do strength training), and then there's a 5K run on Sunday that I will probably do, one that I had forgotten about when I made up my schedule.

Oh, and Max's project? He was testing the changes that a ghost might make to temperature, light, sound and smell. • 6:38 AM 0 comments

Note: This post contains no spoilers for "Lost".

My friend Ken * has been a fan of "Lost" since the beginning. Every Thursday morning after a new episode, he would come to work, sit down, and start out to tell me about the cool things on the show, and then realize that I don't watch teevee. He would then proceed to pity me and belittle me, because "Lost" was not just some dumb sitcom. It was special.

I resisted watching the show for several reasons. First, probably just because of my contrarian nature - if it was popular, how could the show be any good? I did relent once during the first season, figuring if someone cool like Ken liked it, maybe it had some redeeming qualities. However, the show I ended up watching, while interesting character-heavy drama, didn't have enough of the "Lost" mythology to project its appeal to me, and I stopped watching. I remember Ken's disappointment the next day. "Yeah," he admitted, "that wasn't the best first episode to watch."

Then, as Season Two approached, Ken began obsessing even more, joining online forums and discussing the show. I was a bit more intrigued, and when Ken bought the Season One DVD set and offerred to let me borrow it, I relented once again.

So for a couple of weeks I made my way through the DVDs, and I got a little more hooked. The mythology of the show was interesting, but more interesting to me was the characters. Seeing their backgrounds in flashbacks, compared with their current actions on the island, and watching as they developed the characters over the course of a season made me glad to have been there when all this long-form television got started. "Babylon 5", "The X-Files", "Buffy The Vampire Slayer"... I've done this before. I like the greater depth one gets for characters and situations when they're not resolved and wrapped up neatly in 60 minutes (42 if you subtract commercials). Ken hadn't ever gotten into those previous shows (he was off serving his country in the Air Force during most of the 90s) so I saw why "Lost" would feel so new and fresh to him.

And, honestly, the writing on the show was very good. I liked it.

So much so that, weekend after last, when I was done with the Season One DVDs, with the prospect of new episodes being aired, I did something that, until this point, I had never done before: I spent money at the iTunes Music Store. I bought the first two episodes of Season Two for "Lost". It was the weekend, and I knew that several others I worked with were sufficiently geeky to both watch "Lost" and save it in some digital form, so I could probably find the other episodes for free... but, what the hell, I have a 5th Generation iPod capable of playing video **, so why not?

I bought and watched those two episodes, asked around at work the next Monday, waited another day, didn't hear back, and that night splurged and bought the rest of the season. Total of 12 episodes so far.

It worked pretty well, although they take up quite a bit of space and I'll be sure to remove them when I'm done. The screen on my iPod is actually slightly larger than my actual teevee set when I hold it at a comfortable viewing distance. Y'know... visually. So I'm not losing much by watching "Lost" on my device. Plus, it's good to know that one more capability of my gadget is being actually used.

And using the iTMS is also good. But there was one episode that wouldn't download. The 7th episode of the season. I kept getting my favorite ironical computer-type-error, the "unknown error", after the little progress bar crept its way across the screen the entire way. Argh.

And I couldn't watch these episodes out of order. That's just not right.

I figured that in this instance, since I've been all legal 'n' stuff and paid for the privelege of viewing it, that I could justify finding a quasi-legal copy on the internets. And I did, eventually, find one, even one that had already been pre-formatted for my iPod. And it took fourteen hours to download via BitTorrent. Glacially slow. I started it at night, and by the time I had to leave for work in the morning, it hadn't finished.

While waiting for the quasi-legal copy to download, though, I fired off an angry email to Apple about their failure to satisfy my need for instant gratification. I outlined all the things I'd tried and carefully provided the text of their irritatingly-vague error message and asked them to fix it.

I was losing valuable time - a new episode was coming soon, and I had to catch up. I still had 6 episodes to watch and less and less time to do it. The following day after work, I got home and found that both the legal download worked, and the quasi-legal download had (finally!) finished. Argh. More frustration, but no time for that. I had "Lost" to watch.

Yeah. I'll admit it. I've become hooked on the show. Ken was right. It is the coolest. Ken also likes being the superior one who has already hashed out much speculation and observations about the island and the people on it... but that's OK.

In the meantime, I got an email from Apple, apologizing for my inconvenience, and explaining that they are crediting me the cost of that download and giving me 5 free downloads at the iTMS. Yay! Now I can enter their "Billionth Song Download" contest without spending any money!

When I win, all my friends get iPods. Just sayin'.


* Yes, I'm linking to his site even though he hasn't updated since September just because I can and because I'm trying to shame him into updating again.

** I know I haven't blobbed about upgrading my older one but it's an embarassing story involving me dropping my old one, the one with the Radiohead lyric on the back, into the toilet so you can understand my reticence. Just go with me, here. • 4:06 PM 0 comments

The beautiful weather had held through yesterday, and it was in the low 60s, sunny with some clouds, a bit of wind. A perfect day for a run.

I wore shorts, short-sleeved shirt, and my Asics, and ran my Waterfront loop. I felt good and maintained a steady, easy pace. I guesstimated it to be between a 10:00-10:30 pace, but I purposely didn't look at my watch very much. In fact, I didn't look at my watch until about 23 minutes into the run. I was timing it because I wanted to run for 40 minutes total. My right heel was sore but it loosened up after about the first mile or so. Other than that, it was a great run. My breathing was heavy but completely manageable.

While I was on the west side of the river, in Waterfront Park, I ran on the grass just to soften the impact on my feet, ankles and knees. The grass was a bit mushy still, full of water, but not too slick to run in with road trainers.

After I had completed the loop back to my starting point, my watch showed about 29 minutes, so I continued south along the river. The pathway continued on until it ended directly under where the Marquam Bridge crosses the Willamette, which by my watch was another 6 minutes. I turned and ran back to my original starting point again - which to my watch I reached in 39:54.59!

I hadn't had to stop and walk at all the entire way. Even kept my pace at the turn-around point. I think that it's easier for me to keep running when I'm not on a treadmill, which might seem counter-intuitive. However, I can make small adjustments in my pace when I'm on my own that help me maintain without have to break stride, whereas on the treadmill I'm locked into a specific pace and can't seem to make those small adjustments as easily. That's my current theory, at any rate.

Checking Google Earth for the additonal distance shows another full mile added to my regular loop, for a total miles of 3.87. Which makes my calculated pace to be 10:18 which is a great training pace right now.

I then walked back to the gym, where I did two circuits of strength training and then stretched out and showered off. Felt good. Tonight I'll be doing speedwork. If it's nice out I'll be tempted to go running outside and might make an "adjustment" to the workout I do (maybe some hills?) but whatever I do will be a hard workout. • 6:41 AM 1 comments

The weather today was bright and sunny, a little cold but not too bad. When I left work at 4:00 PM I knew I wanted to run outside. Decided to go home and run in my neighborhood rather than along the waterfront.

Since I'm running for time, not distance this week, and tonight called for 30 minutes, I further decided I would run away from home for 15 minutes and then turn around and run back to my starting point. Wore shorts, short sleeves, and my Adidas. Walking to my starting point I felt an odd indentation in my right shoe, near the outside of my foot near the toe. Pulled off my shoe and shifted the insole around a bit and put my shoe back on and didn't notice it again from there.

I have no idea what my pace was. I would describe it as "moderately easy" - breathing heavy but not too much so. Legs felt really strong. If I had to rate my effort on a 1-10 scale, with 1 being not moving at all and 10 being my hardest run, I would say I ran about a 6.5 - 7.0.

And the best part is: I didn't stop to walk except right at the turn-around point for about 3 steps.And even crossing the busy streets (Tacoma and Bybee), I didn't have to stop - traffic seemed to be on my side, too. It felt good to just keep moving. The air was fresh and crisp and cold. Once I was moving I didn't even notice the chill at all.

An awesome run. I'm looking forward to seeing if cutting the calories helps me improve even more. Although to be honest I'm not sure the calorie-cutting had anything to do with tonight's performance. Maybe, but it seems too soon to have an effect. • 6:06 PM 0 comments

So... dieting.

As stated before, I planned on a mini-fast over the weekend, to jump-start my calorie cutting beginning today and lasting at least through May. I was going to hold myself to only 500-600 calories a day.

Well... I ended up with at least double that each day. Saturday, I went to the grocery store and bought a bunch of fresh fruit and vegetables, some almonds, stuff like that, and figured I'd snack on those if I got hungry. And, I did. Um... a lot. I also had two whole wheat bagels, once with two teaspoons of blackberry jam. And I drank lots of water. I also didn't run - too tired. I've forgotten how much dieting makes me tired. Ugh. But I've got to run... it's the combination of exercise and calorie-cutting that reduces my weight. At any rate, at the end of the day, I'd eaten around 1550+ calories. I decided that was OK because it was still probably half of what I have been eating, and resolved to do better on Sunday.

Except I didn't. Oh, I did great during the morning and early afternoon; but 3:00 or 4:00 I'd only had around 500 calories. But I got really hungry, and went for a walk, and found myself near Mike's Drive-In... and convinced myself to have a bacon cheeseburger. No fries, and a diet to drink, but, still... I figured that if the cheeseburger was around 1000 calories, that means I only had about 1500 total for the day, which is what I had on Saturday...

Damn, cutting calories is hard. I'd feel a bit better if I'd managed to run at all this weekend. Or even walked further than 10-15 blocks. Oh, well, it's a moving target.

Be that as it may, this morning I weighed myself: 201.5 lb. Now, granted, some of that might just be water weight (once your body starts burning fat you lose more water at first) but considering I'd managed to cut my intake by at least 3000 calories over the course of two days, and a gain or loss of 3500 calories equals one pound of body weight, some of that must be fat.

I'll keep monitoring and only update the blog on this topic when it seems significant.

I think, for running this week, I'm going to try to do the schedule I posted for last week. Which is as follows:

• 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

• 7:20 AM 0 comments

Ran last night. Since I missed my planned run Wednesday night, and was actually sick on Thursday, I had to decide if I should try to make up the missed run (my speedwork for the week) or just continue from where I left off. I decided to pick up where I left off, because I still plan to do my long run this weekend and didn't want to have back-to-back "hard" runs.

The plan called for 35 minutes, no worries about distance. And, I did it. On the treadmill at the gym, incline set to Level 2. Wore my Asics. Did slow three times for no more than a minute each time to walk, but the rest of the time I ran at a 10:30 pace (per the machine).

And then... this morning I got up, feeling pudgy, and did something I haven't done in months. I weighed myself.

203 pounds.

Ugh.

That's horrible! I knew I'd gained some weight over the winter but not that much. No wonder my running has been suffering compared to the improvements I'd made in my first season. Obviously, if I'm carrying more weight, it's harder to run. Lose the weight, my speed should improve, even if only slightly.

Sure, some of this can be muscle. I have been doing strength training, after all. But I can see and feel the flab, too.

On the spot I made a plan to cut back on calories until I was back to around 180. I'll start this weekend with a mini-fast (around 500-600 calories per day, tops, lots and lots of water) and then, beginning Monday, limit myself to 2000 calories per day. That, combined with my running and other exercise, should be good for 1.5-2.0 lb. per week loss, which will get me back under 180 by the end of May.

Oh, and I also shaved my head. No reason other than feeling like starting over where it comes to my hair. • 12:39 PM 0 comments

This post is for that tiny sub-segment of my readers (which, honestly, is itself a tiny-sub-segment of its own) who don't like my posts about running.

Because this post is about not running.

Yeah. Guess what I was supposed to do tonight? And didn't?

I came home and pretty much fell straight into bed. So tired. I'm afraid I might be coming down with an actual cold, which is ironic because I've started keeping track of how many days it's been since I used my last sick day and it's only up to 17 days. Or maybe that's the opposite of irony. I don't know, maybe it's like rain on your wedding day or somethin'.

Anyway, I'm up for now but heading back to bed soon. I'm going to try to get up super early tomorrow and go do the workout I was supposed to do tonight. The one that involves... ugh... speedwork. • 10:15 PM 2 comments