Sunday, July 31, 2005
I should post something.Hmmm.
Ran this morning. 5.5 miles. Didn't time myself, just a training run. That gives me 18 miles this week.
Next week...
- Monday: 4 miles training
- Tuesday: Hills - 1 mile warmup/cooldown + 8x.25-mile uphill, jog downhill
- Wednesday: Rest day.
- Thursday: 3.5 mile easy day
- Friday: Run to work! 5.5 miles tempo
- Saturday: Treadmill intervals? 5 miles total.
- Sunday: Rest day.
Friday, July 29, 2005
Friday Afternoon Cat Blogging!
With tempratures in the high 90s this week, Smacky has managed to find the coolest spot in the apartment. Plus he likes the way his meows sound echoing off the blades...
And finally, a dignified pose:
...and here's some more!
Thursday, July 28, 2005
I had to tell this story again a couple of days ago, to a friend that I've known for years but had not heard My Favorite Celebrity Meeting Story yet.I'm posting it here for posterity. Everything here is true to the best of my recollection.
It was summer 1992. I was a book clerk at Powell's City of Books, the flagship store on 10th and W. Burnside, a job that was just cool enough, at least in my hometown of Portland, to overcome the fact that the store was run by control freaks. This was in the days before they unionized, but there was a definite pecking order for the staff and management... Ah, the details of Powell's politics aren't really pertinent to the story. Sorry. I was reminiscing. Perhaps some other time.
At any rate I was working one of the many cash registers. There was a long line of customers waiting. Funny how busy it was, but Powell's is a tourist attraction in addition to being one of the largest independent new-and-used bookstores in the country, so maybe not too surprising. I was just trying to get through my shift.
I saw her in the line. How could I not? Petite, busty, blonde, wearing tight bicycle shorts, a t-shirt, and a baseball cap with the Mötley Crüe logo. I thought she was hot, and hoped that the timing would put her at my register...
And it did. My lucky break. I said "hi" and was almost floored by her pale green eyes. Wow. As she piled a bunch of books and gift-y type items on the counter, I joked that it looked like she was Christmas shopping, which in summer seemed a bit over-prepared. To my surprise, she agreed that these were, in fact, gifts for people, including her boyfriend.
Damn.
I tried not to let that stop me, and kept chatting with her. She was visiting Portland and liked it here, everyone had been so friendly. I mentioned that Powell's offered shipping, so that she wouldn't have to schlep all that stuff back home with her; she liked that idea (plus it earned me a few more moments with her). I filled out the form, took her credit card and got her signature, wished her a safe trip and a happy stay in Portland, she smiled and turned those pale green eyes on me again, causing third-degree burns, and then she was gone.
Before the next customer could come up, Stacy, the artsy lesbian, cashiering next to me, leaned over and punched me on the arm. "Wow! You're so lucky, man. That was Heather Locklear!"
...whaaaaaaa? I flatly stated "No way." There was simply no possible way that someone that famous and beautiful could possibly... My mind began belatedly assembling clues. Blonde? Check. Green eyes? Check. Amazing body? Check. Uhhhh... duh! Mötley Crüe? Dolt, she's married to Tommy Lee (or was at the time).
Stacy explained, "She's in town filming some movie" (Note: the movie was the made-for-cable Fade to Black) and everybody's been talking about her being in the store. And you got to help her!"
I was a bit dazed and still didn't quite believe this stroke of good luck. I helped the next customer, and when I re-opened the till, I dug in and pulled out the one piece of physical evidence; her credit card receipt. This is how oblivious I was: I had gotten her signature, and mechanically checked it against the signature on the card, just like a good little retail robot -- without actually seeing the name!
Because there it was, plain as day. Heather Locklear's signature, and the card, issued to "H LOCKLEAR".
It was a bit of a let-down -- but in another way, it was the best thing that could have happened. If I had known in advance it was Heather Locklear, she of whom Garth and Wayne had said "There is a God! Heather be thy name!", then I would have been totally flustered and silent. Even as it was, I was a bit reserved, but at least I talked to her as though she were just another person and not the dream of men.
It was an awesome moment of Zen, when I, completely by accident, did exactly the right thing.
I was disappointed that the manager of the cash office wouldn't let me make a copy of her signature as a memento. But only a bit. I didn't want the credit card number; just the signature. I laughed it off as a joke.
A day or two later, I overheard two other book sellers talking about Heather being in the store again. They were rushing to catch a glimpse of her. I, full of false bravado after my accidental suavery, shrugged them off. "Oh, Heather's back? Yeah, she's cool" and went back to shelving books.
Man, that one incident went so far towards making my reputation at Powell's. Just a year later, and Heather and Tommy broke up. And another year after, I was fired.
...a story for another time. OK, OK, stories. Those two last facts aren't connected. Dammit.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
No wonder Smacky's been cranky lately!
I've been chalking it up to the heat. But, noooooo.
I completely forgot his birthday! It was last Sunday, July 24th.
I'll have to make it up to him. Y'know... before he kills me.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
The reason I wanted to include the previous post here, is because there have been more recent developments in the whole "pay off my credit cards" goal.See, I got another credit card. With a much higher limit than any of my previous ones. Yikes!
It may not look like it, but this is actually a good thing.
First, it allows me to transfer the balances of my other debts to this new card, consolidating them -- and, of course, then eliminate the other lesser cards, just close those suckers right down.
Second, because this new card offerred me 0% APR on transferred balances (which is the reason I applied in the first place), I have eliminated finance charges for the rest of the year. And the new card has a $0 annual fee, and a relatively low APR on purchases, although it's a variable APR that can fluctuate depending on the Prime Rate. So I gotta watch that.
The downside is that, because of timing, transfering the balances adds one more pay period (half a month) to the time until I'm free once more of debt. But as I said, it's still a good thing.
It appears that I have managed to repair my credit to the point where it was before I screwed up -- wait, let me find a more positive way to say that. Ummm... How about "...to the point before I began exploring the challenges, risks and rewards of fiscal adventure." Heh.
However, even though I'm keeping two of my credit cards, the total amount I can go into debt has gone up significantly. As a hedge against plunging too deep into debt again, my new revised savings target is at least enough cash to pay off my total unsecured debt, which will be $3500. I should be able to set aside this amount by mid-2006.
In fact, a side point; I'm going to be retiring $1800 in debt in the next two months. Wow. Until I sat down to figure that out, I didn't realize how much extra money I have. And I'm not going to have to make any major lifestyle changes to do it; I live pretty simply, but even so. Extrapolate that out over the course of a year, and that's $10,800, or around 25% of my gross income.
I need to be holding on to some (most!) of that money next year -- my new financial goal.
The following was originally posted over at my 43 Things list:
Starting about 15 years ago, I was introduced the world of credit cards. Coming from a typical lower-middle-class family that never talked about money except in the most abstract way possible, I had a very poor idea of what “money management” was all about. I had an income and I spent it on stuff I liked.I have been meaning to add to the above and edit it a bit to give more history, but that will do for now.
Then I met some friends who strived to be upper-middle class, and who said things like “It’s not like it’s real money; it’s credit” and assumed that it was normal to have credit cards maxed out and just pay the minimum balance. Whoa. Talk about falling in with the wrong crowd.
It wasn’t until years later that I realized that buying groceries on a credit card with a 21% APR was a Bad Thing. Of course, by then, I had been dragged through the modern-day gauntlet of dealing with Collection Agencies. I had to figure out on my own how to say no to abusive phone calls and demanding voices on the other end. I shifted from thinking I’d never have to pay all this back, to thinking… well, that I won’t ever be able to pay all this back, so why bother? I decided that the only thing “good credit” got you was more credit, and tried to run.
In other words, my thinking went from bad to worse. I didn’t differentiate between unsecured debt, like credit cards, and secured debt, like a mortgage or a car loan. And I discovered that yes, if I had to, I could live without a car, but that it would be nice to own a house someday. But not with my credit history.
About ten years ago, I met a man who took me under his wing and helped me see lots of my life in a different light. I realized, in part, that I did, in fact, incur those debts, and that if I wanted to maintain my good mental image, I needed to pay them all back. Part of that was having a career plan (hard to pay back debts when I bounced from low-paying job to low-paying job), and the other part was actually setting aside the money towards those looming unpaid balances.
There’s way more to this story than I should tell here. However, my main point is that I have felt like I’ve been in financial prison, figuratively speaking, for at least 10 years. I screwed up and I’ve been paying the price (heh) to undo my mistakes.
And I now stand within 3 months of being finally, forever, completely free of all my past and current debt. I’ve got just under three months and I will be a free man once again.
43 Things is a great idea that shows the power of distributed communication. It's basically an online "to-do" list, and that's how it got started. But because of a couple of additions, it's become a community-building tool and a social network, also. What happens is, people can search for other people who are trying to do the same things they're doing, and link to them. And ask for, or offer, advice, and cheer people on... it's a great idea. Did I say that already?
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Unofficial time in the Run Hit Wonder Portland 2005 10K: 66:18.49.Wow, I kinda died out there.
Not sure what happened. I showed up, I had a strategy, I got plenty of sleep last night, I had a good pre-race-day dinner (fettucine pesto e pollo from La Terrazza... mmmmmm), drank lots and lots of water, didn't run but still exercised the past two days.
Still, I woke up with a headache, stuffy nose (took another Zyrtec for that), legs were stiff and took a while to warm up and stretch out, just felt blah.
It was funny seeing all the looks from folk wondering who all these orange-shirted people were, wandering around the city. Since there were 10,000 people entered in the race, that made for a lot of orange shirts. I must have been asked five times this morning what it was all about.
And I took a chance, and grabbed a spot near the start line. Not in the elite runner's group, nor the 7:00-and-under pace people. I wasn't that gutsy. But I lined up with the 8:00 pace people, and it only took me about 9 seconds to cross the start line.
I got excited and ran a little fast for the first two miles. My strategy was to aim for a 10:00 pace the first third, 9:30 pace the second third, and then hope I had enough in my for a 9:00 pace to finish. But since I ran the first mile in 9:24... uhhhh... I think I overdid it. All my miles after that were 10:00 or greater.
Maybe it was the heat. Maybe my speedwork hasn't been enough. Maybe my allergies were kicking up. Whatever. It's all excuses. I went out, I ran, I finished, I did what I did. On the bright side, my stretches have helped my sore heel; hardly any soreness at all. My hamstrings are a bit sore but not too bad; they finally warmed up, and I stretched well after the race. Once again, the Nike shirt for some reason really irritates my nipples. Argh. I much prefer my UnderArmor or Brooks shirts; they don't chafe me.
I stuck around for a couple of songs from the lovely Ms. Jett, but it was hot on the field, no shade, and I didn't have any cash to get some beer or food and didn't feel like paying the ATM transaction fee at the park.
My reward was a delicious NW Raspberry Milkshake from Burgerville. Mmmmm.
And now that my two biggest races are past me for the year, I can go back to just running for fun, rather than training for an event. I still have another 10K I want to do, the Pints-to-Pasta in September, and I might do another 10K in August, but that's too far away to think about just yet. Doesn't look like I'll be doing a half-marathon this year. Oh, well, there's always next year.
Friday, July 22, 2005
Friday Cat Blogging!
Here's Smacky trying to cool off:
Remember when I said I'd try to get a picture of Smacky with his fangs sunk into my flesh? I did!
...and here's some more!
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Was going to do speedwork tonight. Too f-in' hot. So I just tried to maintain a steady pace on my normal 3.5-mile loop. I did, however, go slower than normal, and I did not carry a watch. Also, I stopped twice for water. Didn't stretch afterwards and now, sitting in front of my computer, I can feel my hamstrings tightening, tightening, oh, they're tightening. Ow.Rewarded myself with dinner at The Iron Horse. Walked up and back after dinner, which adds at least another 2.5 miles of exercise to my total for the day/week. Had the chile verde burrito. Mmmm...
On my walk back, I watched the western sky slowly build up to an intense fire-y orange-reddish neon-y glow. Amazing. Nearly the entire western sky was bright with sunset. Not only that, but there was a rainbow. One nice side benefit of the amazingly high humidity is the sunsets. It made for a nice moment of Zen.
If you're downtown on Sunday and in Goose Hollow or NW, and want to watch for me, I'll be #3793.
The Run Hit Wonder shirts are bright orange this year. I picked mine up today.
It's official: my running clothes are officially more colorful than my street clothes.
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Wow. Too much to blog about today. And by that I mean that there's too much stuff happening that demands a personal response from me, news or events that evoke a cherished memory.Still... I'm sad that he's passed away, but seeing that he was inspiration to millions of engineers, geeks, and scientists, James Montgomery Doohan, a.k.a. "Scotty" from Star Trek, could not have chosen a more fitting date on which to leave this mortal coil.
- The CBC obituary
- The BBC obituary
- The CNN obituary
- Wil Wheaton's (short) post
- The Slashdot thread
- The Fark thread
For the record, the comment that first made me teary-eyed was this one from the Fark thread:
2005-07-20 11:56:49 AM / anthonyhawke [TotalFark]Goodbye, Mr. Doohan.
I'm sure Bones needed your help with something, anyway. Gonna miss Scotty
Guess I'll polish off the scotch tonight.
Thirty-six years ago on this date, NASA landed men on the moon. I was, at the time, 4 1/2 years old, and I'm almost positive that my memories now of the event are wrong, but I remember seeing the images from space on the teevee in the living room of my family's apartment in Kalama, Washington. The timing is right, anyway, I think. (If any family members are reading this feel free to chime in and correct me).
Maybe it's just because of my last name but I've always been interested in space and the moon and being an astronaut. Probably won't happen now but who knows? There's still time.
At any rate, in honor of the first man on the moon, the amazing Google has launched Google Moon, which is like Google Earth but with much less to actually look at. I've found one Easter egg already and, knowing Google, there are probably more.
Had lunch at Thai Peacock (up on SW 9th and Oak). Hadn't eaten there in a while. They're really good, and they used to be very random. What do I mean by random?
- There's a dish called (I'm not kidding) "Evil Jungle Noodles". Once, a friend ordered it and got wide noodles; the next time, it came with thin, angel-hair-pasta-sized noodles, which, when complained about, caused everyone who worked there to come out, one at a time, to apologize.
- One time when ordering the spring rolls, we got fish sauce to dip them in. The next time, we got peanut sauce.
- The types of vegetables in some of the stir-fry dishes changed without warning, oftentimes not matching the listing in the menu.
It got to the point where I would wonder, before going there, what would be different this time.
At any rate, the randomness has stopped, which may be because the friend I used to go with doesn't go there with me any more. I'm not saying it was entirely my friend's special curse or anything. I'm just sayin'.
At any rate, the menu at the restaurant has changed. I mean, the actual items are all the same, but the new menu has pictures and is much fancier, which I would hope would make it harder for them to switch around ingredients randomly. Maybe that was the point. But the individual item descriptions are the same, including the tag line on the Evil Jungle Noodles: "It so good."
Crap. It's Wednesday already, and I don't have any new pictures of Smacky. Since he's been so bite-y lately, maybe I should take a picture of him with his wickedly sharp fangs drawing blood from the tender parts of my underarm?
Nah. That'd be too hard to frame and light properly.
Ah, well, I'm working on it.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
This just in:Over on the Long Winters' forum, someone called "unremarkable" has announced that Barsuk Records has announced that:
- The Long Winters' new album will be released in early 2006 (OK, we knew that already!)
- And that there will be a Long Winters EP out in September of this year.
PS: Sorry for the cruel (or maybe just "not funny to anyone but me")Long Winters joke I played a while ago. Couldn't resist. I stole that joke from the above-mentioned forums.
Awful, awful dreams last night. The worst ever. I'd describe them, but I'd have to hide them somehow, like they were spoilers for a movie, because they were gory and horrible.
I almost took a sick day from work, due to lack of sleep, but then realized that if I stayed home, I'd probably just sleep all day, and probably have more nightmares. Yes, I'm choosing work because it means I'm not in any danger of dreaming.
Monday, July 18, 2005
Merrit posted some pictures of the Apple Store Pioneer Place grand opening. I'm not in any of them, although if you can see the two guys in white t-shirts in the middle of this pic, I would be behind them and a couple of people back in line.And there's more pictures of the opening over at ifo Apple Store, which is apparently a blog devoted entirely to Apple's retail stores. Again, no pics of me.
When I get batteries for my camera, I'm going to post a picture of the box that my free Apple t-shirt came in, simply because the design of the box, a box fer cryin' out loud for what is normally a free give-away item, demonstrates Apple's commitment to detail. The box unfolds like a piece of origami. There's probably picture on that ifo Apple Store site linked to above.
Sunday, July 17, 2005
I saw three movies this weekend:- Tim Burton's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"
- "The Wedding Crashers" with Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn
- and "Happy Endings" with Lisa Kudrow, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Tom Arnold and many others.
Movies about lost people do it to me all the time. I know how they feel. I think "lost" better describes how I feel than "broken".
I beat the Burnside this morning. I started out around 8:06 by my watch, and I found out at the end that my watch was about a minute behind the official clock, which means I had to run 5.1 miles (8 K) in at least 53 minutes to make it before the bridge went up. Translates to a 10:39 pace or better.
Well, I did it in 48:17, or a 9:42 pace. I could do better, but... I think I hurt my right heel. It's been sore all day. I hope it's not plantar fasciitis. I'll start doing my stretches again this week, and I won't run until... um... Tuesday. Late Tuesday. OK, OK, I should probably stay off it for longer but, dammit, I've got Run Hit Wonder next weekend.
My good mood from beating the Burnside faded as I ran into problem after problem the rest of the morning. My phone stopped working, taunting me with four full bars of signal... and a "No Access" error message. WTF? Rebooting and reseating the SIM card didn't help. I had to walk a ways to the gym to shower and change and every single Starbucks I found had a long line - lack of food post-run (the bagel with peanut butter and the water they fed me afterward didn't really fill me up) and my sore heel didn't improve my mood.
Once I was showered and changed, I went to pick up the FlexCar I had checked out for the day... and realized that I had checked one out clear out in Northwest Portland. It was a "special". I had thought it was closer. I then had to walk for another half-hour or more to get the car. I was holding out because my reward for finishing the race was to be a Burgerville raspberry shake... Mmmm.
But when I got to the car... .my card wouldn't open it. And my cell phone was still kaput. I couldn't call and complain or find out what was wrong. I had to traipse all over NW Portland to find a free WiFi spot to email FlexCar about the problem.. and by that time it was nearly noon, I was nearly keeling over from hunger, and thinking of all that I had wanted to get done while I had the car... and having to cancel most of it. Argh.
I then had to find the nearest T-Mobile store, to get my phone situation taken care of. The closest place was the one at Lloyd Center. Another long walk, and a light rail train ride, and more walking. However, when I approached the store, in a distant corner of the mall, I found a long line of people. Turned out it wasn't just my phone; the network was down. The customer reps at the store apologized and let us know that if we contacted T-Mobile after our phones were working again, we would be credited for the lost time. They expected the network to be back up in several hours.
My day was shot. After I got some food (finally made it to Burgerville! Mmm... raspberries are The Kings Of All The Berries) I went to see a movie, to get off my aching foot and out of the heat.
Saturday, July 16, 2005
There was actually a line of people waiting to get into the Pioneer Place Apple Store this morning.Sheesh, maybe Apple computers really are a cult.
I got downtown a little before 9:00 AM. After picking up a soy chai (grande, no water, no foam) and a cinnamon scone (thanks, Starbucks! Wow my life is filled with cultish behavior), I wandered down to the lower level, and encountered the line.
I knew that the store had 1000 t-shirts to give away, and there was only about 50-60 people in line, so I figured I could go away and come back and still get a shirt, but I joined my fellow Apple-loving-folk and waited it out.
Sadly, there were no hot girls near me, just a family with three boys on one side, and an older guy on the other, and other assorted non-single or non-hot trendy geeks, so I plugged in my iPod to while away the half-hour. (The Blues Brothers' original soundtrack, for those wanting to know what I was listening to.) At one point one of the boys in front of me counted the people in line and announced that he was #55. Good to know.
The manager for the store kept coming out and whooping it up and shouting, and because we were in the tunnel between the two sections, which was enclosed a bit, it was very loud and annoying.
But, somehow, when at 9:30 AM all of the Apple Store employees came rushing out along the line, whooping and hollering and high-fiving the people in line, it didn't seem as loud nor as annoying. Go figure.
It took me a while to actually get into the store, because they seemed to be enforcing the fire code or something, which was apparently around 40 people (not including staff, which was at least another 20). When I was at the head of the line, I chatted with a guy wearing a black fleece vest with an Apple logo and "Security" on the chest. Yes, he was, in fact, Apple Security, and he normally worked down in Cupertino; he had flown up for the opening of the store. Funny. He warmed up when I mentioned that I'd worked for Customer Relations in Austin for a brief while. We traded Steve Jobs stories. I can't repeat any of his. Probably shouldn't commit any of mine to the internets, either.
I did get a shirt, and was going to buy something but didn't because it was all full-bore retail price, no "Opening Day" sales or anything.
Friday, July 15, 2005
On my lunch break, I and a friend went to scope out the new Apple Store at Pioneer Place.The windows were all papered over, but I could peek through the gaps.
Inside were a bunch of young, hip kids, in black t-shirts, lounging amidst all the oak, white, and chrome.
It looked like tech heaven.
Friday Cat Blogging!
Only two new ones this week. Even though the pictures look rotated, he was, in fact, laying on the couch arm with his feet on the wall/windowsill. He looks like he's defying gravity...
...and here's some more!
Thursday, July 14, 2005
OK, this is more like it.Apple is opening one of their retail stores in the Pioneer Place mall, in downtown Portland. Grand opening is this Saturday.
I guess they read my earlier post and decided not to be scared off by the meth users.
Yay!
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Small things.Starbucks has discontinued my favorite raspberry scones. Lacking a pictoral representation of them, I would describe them as delicious thick biscuit-y triangles, with a scoop of raspberry (truly the king of berries) jam on top and center. I would always eat the scone-y parts and save (and savor) the center for last, making, in essence, a little cup of scone filled with red sugar and seeds. Mmmmm.
But Starbucks, in in finite corporate bottom-line but customer-oriented thinking, has discontinued those. Last week I inquired of my local baristas whither raspberry scones, and was told that they were going to be replaced by... strawberry scones. My mind wandered but truly, my imaginings were limited to... um... imagining a raspberry scone, only with a distinctly strawberry flavor to the dollop in the middle. OK, I suppose I can live with that.
Today, however, they finally had these strawberry scones in stock. And they're so much better in some ways and messier in other ways. Instead of a well of jam, the scones have been sliced horizontally into a top and a bottom half, and the strawberry jam has been spread across the entire top of the bottom half. A layer, an entire layer, of strawberry jam. And then, as if that wasn't messy enough, the whole has been sprinkled with a light... um... sprinkling of powdered sugar, always a consternation to me, a man who often wears only black.
So if you see a guy dressed all in black, with a light sprinkling of powdered sugar on his shirt and lap, and smiling while he brushes away the powdered sugar, walking around downtown, that's me.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Sweet cracker sandwich! I haven't posted in over a day!Ran last night, up and down the Waterfront Park and Eastbank Esplanade. Didn't time myself, just going for slow-but-steady. Did some speed work on Saturday, blech. Speed work is always the suck. If it feels easy, then it's not speed work, you know? I ran down to the Milwaukie High School track and did 10 sets of 15 seconds flat-out, followed by 45 seconds of jogging recovery.
I plan on running some hill intervals tomorrow morning, then resting Thursday, having a light day on Friday, then running in the Beat the Burnside on Sunday. 8 kilometers, all downhill. Yay. I hope to do well but don't want to hurt myself too much, since the Nike Run Hit Wonder is the following weekend and I want to do well, even though it's gonna be crowded.
Saturday, July 09, 2005
Wow.Long Winters posters.
The one with the weasel is kinda fun. Even though it should be an otter, which makes the posters really, really off-topic.
...A river otter.
Dammitall.
Friday, July 08, 2005
Dilbert.It's funny...
...'cause it's true.
Amen.
Friday Night Cat Blogging!
This is the only good picture of Smacky this week. And by "good" I mean "not unviewably blurry".
...and here's the blurry ones...
Ran to work. Juuuuuuuuuuuuuust over a 10:00 pace, 5.5 miles in 55:42, or (for those Mr. and Ms. Mathgeniuses out there) a 10:07.7 pace. Damn. I've got to be more faster. Or more endurance-y-er. (enduro-er? endur-er-er? Shut up. I'm a writer. I can make up words if I wanna.)
I used the showers in my new building. The lights are on a timer in there. My advice to myself (and anyone else that will be using the showers) for next time is: "Don't take so long in there!"
Man, it gets dark in there.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Run, run, run.I've used Google Earth to produce images for all of my regular running routes. The images are here, for now. I'll add links and thumbnails for them on my running page sometime soon, and when I'm really bored, I'll make even prettier pictures, all tilted and marked up and stuff.
Last night I ran my 3.5 mile loop (opens in new window), and just concentrated on going the whole distance running. I didn't quite make it due to way too much traffic, but I did do pretty well up to the 2.5 mile mark, right there as I entered Westmoreland park. Then, afterward, I had to walk a couple more miles, to and from an Anti-Wal-Mart meeting, ironically near the half-way point of my 3.5 mile loop, with a stop at the grocery store for some supplies 'n' such, so my legs were tight and sore last night. Ow.
Tonight I ran the Waterfront/Esplanade loop, (also opens in new window), 2.8 miles. That particular map doesn't mark the starting and ending points, but for reference it's that pointy tip down in the lower left-hand corner of the map. Again, worked on just keeping going, and I was more successful at that tonight.
I'm a teeny-tiny bit worried, because the next three big races I want to enter are all 5+ miles long, and I'm not sure I've got the stamina so much. First is the Beat the Burnside 8K on July 17th; then the Nike Run Hit Wonder, a 10K, on July 24; finally the Pints to Pasta 10K... although that's not until September 11th. Hmmm. Looks like I'll need to find a race or two for August. Should I go for the gusto and pick another 10K? Or take it easy and find a 5K? I know I blew the Mt. Tabor 5K this year by getting lost (shouldn't have followed those cute girls, I guess) so I'd like to redeem my 5K pride. But I did promise myself I'd do more 10Ks this year. Well, plenty of time to decide...
[Update 07/07/2005 6:40 AM]: I have replaced the old Esplanade map with a new one, with the cool tilt that all the kids are using these days and a marker for the "Start/Finish" of my loop.
How to lose your mind:
- Lose checkbook.
- Search for, and fail to find, rest of checks.
- This step doesn't exist
- Search everywhere, including in jackets not worn since winter even though I had my checkbook just a couple of weeks ago since I paid my rent with a check.
- Toss contents of two backpacks and a bike messenger bag out on bed. Huh. No checkbook.
- Repeat previous step.
- Suspect cat of dragging checkbook into some odd corner of the house. But no dice.
- Suspect neighbors of stealing checks.
- Realize I'm being exceptionally paranoid.
- With beginning of month approaching, realize I need to order replacement checks or at least get a money order to pay rent, since that's the only thing I write checks for now, because if I used the free online bill pay my bank offers I'd be late every month (don't ask).
- Order replacement checks one week before rent is due, figuring that's enough time.
- One week later, no replacement checks arrive in mail.
- Find out that "one week" to a bank means "7 to 10 business days".
- Stop looking at me like that.
- I'll get to the point when I'm ready.
- Try to buy a money order since, y'know, rent is due, motherfucker. Banks, however, don't sell them anymore, which seems even odder than the strange calendary they use where "1 week" = as many as two regular, non-banking-employee weeks (see Step #13).
- Buy money order from Post Office. Even more odd.
- Mail money order to landlord, call landlord to let him know it might be a little bit late.
- Upon arriving home from mailing rent
checkmoney order, find replacement checks in mailbox. - Upon dumping out contents of backpack that was searched at least twice, find old checkbook.
Harvey Danger's third album has been mastered.
Per their main page, they've set a release date, named the album ("Little by Little", not as catchy as their previous two) and are playing a show in Seattle to celebrate it... in freakin October.
Still, it will make me happy to hear new Harvey Danger material.
Finding Sean Nelson's personal site, filled with his coolio writing and sample of some of the non-HD stuff he's done, is tiding me over until freakin' October. And I learned that all my heroes, like myself, self-Google. I wonder if they also ex-girlfriend-Google..?
I think I'm gong to refer to the tenth month of the year as "freakin' October" now and for the rest of my life. It's fun. G'head, try it yourself, see if it's not.
Monday, July 04, 2005
My neighborhood is asploding. At least it sounds like it. And on top of the fireworks, there's the late-night traffic coming home from the larger fireworks displays; there's one in Milwaukie, and one down at Oaks Park, and my 'hood is right in between.And just as I observed the last time we had a lightning storm, Smacky no likey the asploding noises. Poor guy. I should have called him "Spooky" instead of Smacky, but that's a bit too obvious for a black cat.
Wacky, wacky internets.
I love browsing the stats that are recorded for my site. It's amazing what I can find out. I've done this before and noted the weird search terms that people use and then end up on my blog, for instance.
But this time, I'm looking at the referrers. In other words, pages that had a link to my blog.
The wackiest one is... someone clicked on a link on Cam Girls Live and it took them to my site. It's #12 on the list... for a total of 3 hits.
Whaaaaaat...? How funny. Cam girls?
(It should go without saying that the "Cam Girls Live" link is not safe for work. But I'll say it, anyway.)
Damn, I'd love to know who it was. If you're reading this right now, use the Contact Me page and tell me just what you were doing... and who you were *ahem* "chatting" with... when you clicked over here. And what were you looking for here, of all things?
Updated my Picture of the Week (see, over there? In the right top corner of the page?) with one of a bunch of pictures I took yesterday walking off a gianormous Pepper Bacon Tillamook Cheeseburger I had for lunch from Burgerville. Mmmm... pepper bacon and Tillamook cheese... soooo gooooood.
At any rate, I took a bunch of pictures and couldn't really decide on just one for my POTW so I thought I'd direct some attention to the whole gallery. Because it's Independence Day and I'm feeling lazy I'm not going to include thumbnails here, just links.
- The Salmon Street Fountain, with Mt. Hood in the background.
- Tons of boaters got a free show at the Blues Festival.
- It's not rabbit season. It's duck season.
The situation at work just gets worse and worse. Management is going ahead with an aggressive schedule to roll out a thin-client network, with basic, no-nonsense network appliances on the desktop and having all the applications running on servers. They've been told that they can drastically reduce the number of techs they'll need to support all those appliances. Unfortunately, I am one of those techs, so that means I will probably get demoted or laid off in the next year.
Bummer. On the bright side, I pretty much hate that place anyway, so in many respects I'm not too unhappy. And I am fully vested in the pension plan, so I'll have a little somethin'-somethin' to look forward to in my golden years (provided management doesn't raid the pension plan between now and then, or lawmakers raid it for them; that seems to be all the rage now).
But on the other hand, it's a good thing to keep other skills polished, and to have an idea of what I would need as far as a bare minimum income to pay all my bills. Assuming no change in my current bills (except for credit cards, which should be completely paid off by September), and further assuming a full-time, 40-hour a week job, I could scrape by with a $12.00/hour job. That's not too bad... I hope.
Maybe I should go looking to see what jobs are paying $12.00/hr., eh?
Bright side is, I could supplement that with cleaning up people's PCs from vicious spyware and other basic computer maintenance or training. I do that on the side anyway, and I'd have more incentive to do that if I wasn't working for the County. And that's usually all tax-free money, and I charge a bit more than twelve bucks an hour for that.
I also went to the Oregon Labor webpage and calculated what my unemployment benefit would be, and it comes close to what I'd need. I'd still need some supplemental income, but not the whole thing. I also looked at what I could cut back if I needed to -- I could lose my broadband internet, cut back on FlexCar useage, cut back on my cell phone... that saves me $225/month right there.
So I'm feeling better, if not completely safe. At least I'd be able to keep a roof over my head if worse comes to worst.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
I wanted to put in a lot of miles (a lot for me being 5 or 6) today, but wasn't too thrilled with one long slog after running 4 miles last night and doing them slowly, slowly, oh so slowly.So I decided I'd do some hill repeats. Thinking back on it, I'm not sure why, exactly, that sounded better than just pounding out 5 miles in one go. The hill I was thinking of is pretty steep, at least a 3% grade, I guesstimate.
Decided before I left that I would run about a mile to warmup, not keeping track of the time but trying to just keep running, then stretch out and do 6 repeats of about a quarter-mile each, jogging or walking quickly down before going back up. Further decided to time my first run, then aim to just keep shaving 5-10 seconds off each interval until I was done.
This I did, until the final go.
First run up was 3:09, second was 3:00 even, third was 2:57, fourth was 2:50, fifth was 2:39. Wow. Hard. I was breathing very hard on that fifth try. I was bargaining with myself: "If I can do this one in 2:40 or less, I won't do my 6th one." It was starting to sprinkle a bit, and I ran through a cloud of gnats and breathed a couple of them down, and basically wasn't having a good time by then.
But, once at the top again, I realized that I had set a goal, and I was going to finish. I did the sixth and final interval in 3:04, and it was as hard as any of the others, but I did it. Then I turned around, headed down the hill at a light jog, and jogged the mile-plus home.
At home, I drank a couple of glasses of water, ate an energy bar, and collapsed on the couch. I had no energy left for anything. Smacky came over and started licking the sweat off of me, which was irritating and kinda gross but I couldn't move for 15 minutes. I texted a friend about my accomplishment but otherwise zoned out until I could get enough oomph to get up and shower off.
Feels good, now, after the fact. I'll try it again next week and see if I can improve.
Friday, July 01, 2005
This may just go without saying for some of you, but I'm gonna say it anyway.Google Earth totally rocks.
I know that downloading has been disabled right now, because a couple of friends have told me that they get told to try again later when attempting to download it.
And, yes, I know, it's only for Windows, and only on higher-end hardware. And you need a fast 'net connection to make use of it, 'cause it streams the images off the internets.
But given all that, it still rocks. You can get a brief taste of it by going to Google Maps, searching for a location, like your address, and then turning on satellite images and then clicking and dragging around. Cool to see your neighborhood from above, like you're flying around, right?
OK, now imagine being able to do that, and then angling down so that you're looking towards the horizon as you glide along above your street. And then being able to search for, say, bars along the path. Searching for anything you could find in a Google Local search, really.
Or having a real-time tour of the driving directions from your house to, well, anywhere in the US or Canada. I think; I know they only recently added all the satellite images for outside the US and Canada to the Maps stuff so that might not be in Google Earth just yet. Give them time.
I've been using other software to map out my running routes, but this is now my favorite tool for it. I can pinpoint my half-mile marks based on actual landmarks, depending on how updated the satellite pictures are.
Google says they're working on a Mac version. I'm not sure either of my home Macs are up to the challenge, though, being fairly underpowered machines. Might be time for an upgrade... For now I'm using my work PC.
And it's free! For now. But Google has been all about the free-as-in-beer for end users, so it's likely to stay that way for a while. In fact, the only feature they make you pay for that I can see is the ability to pull GPS data out of the program.
Go grab it if you can.
Friday Cat Blogging!
Normally my FCB pics are of Smacky when he's sleeping. But not today! Today I've caught him when he's just waking up!
...and here's some more!
