October 2013 – Page 3

4Oct

Stayed dry, 2 < 1

I pulled out of work early yesterday to head up to the site of last evening’s race. I had already assumed I was going to be getting really, really wet. I drove through torrential rain for most of the 10 mile drive north. When I got there the ground was wet but the rain had stopped. The skies still looked pretty menacing, I assumed the rain would be resuming shortly. Well the expected precipitation never returned, a very lucky break.

This race I had less things to worry about since we decided to not chip time it. This race includes a ton of participants that are not regular runners, many of which in the past would show up, get a timing chip and never do the race. We would lose more timing chips at this race than any other every year.

We used to advertise the race as a 5K when in reality the course is actually at least a 1/4 mile short of that distance wise. We would have runners cross the finish line thrilled that they established a new PR only to realize that the only reason for that was a short course. So anyway, not chip timing the event made sense for these and other reasons.

Although I did not have to lay down timing mats I still found myself quite busy leading up to the race. I had online registration for the race open all the way until two hours before the race, something I can’t do when chip timing is involved. I had to get the last minute online entries pulled in on the race site, utilizing my wireless hotspot. At first I thought I was having more bugs with the timing software when I was getting a multitude of errors downloading the entries. It turned out the errors were tied to a flaky internet connection. Once the link firmed up I was able to pull in the 30+ people that registered online yesterday.

After that was done I kept busy with race day walk up entries which we had a decent amount of. In total the race wound up with just over 500 entries. The registration table was greatly simplified by the lack of a race bib and timing chips. Each team captain walked up and was handed wristbands for their team members which entitled them to a t-shirt and the food and drink after the race. It kept the lines way down. The only long line I saw all night was the people lined up for burritos afterward.

Timing the race was considerably simpler than I am accustomed to. All I had to do was start the finish line clock with the start of the race, done. With no chip times there were obviously no individual awards. Instead they handed out race beer glasses to the top 50 male and female finishers. The overall team winners were determined by team size. The winning team had 47 people.

All in all the race went well and I felt quite fortunate to emerge from it totally dry.

Tonight should be an exciting one. Earlier in the week Jeremy turned me onto a special discount code that could be used on Amazon Warehouse deals, it knocked 10% off already low prices. In the warehouse they had one of the LG tv’s I was considering buying that has everything I wanted, LED, 120 MHZ refresh rate, internet connectivity, smart apps AND 3D. Between using the discount code and my Amazon spiff dollars I got the tv very inexpensively, all along with free Amazon Prime two day shipping. I plan to get a copy of Avatar 3D to try the set out. It should be AWESOME.

Yesterday I had 3 boxes by my front door. In them were the custom race bibs we ordered for our Thanksgiving race. These bibs also include a disposable timing device on the back of them. Using these bibs allows runners to totally bypass any lines on the day of the race if they pick up their race packet early. Attaching the bib to your shirt means you are ready to go and be timed officially.

I have utilized this style timing device once before at the half marathon. At that race I had a lot of problems, missing about 5% of the runner finishing times. However that problem appeared to be tied to the distance of the race. 13 miles seemed to be too much sweat and jostling for some of the bibs, since at the halfway split we had nearly 100% read rates.

Another local timer I am friends with has used the chip bibs at many shorter races and has had very few problems so I feel ok trying them out once again. Plus, Ipico has done several revisions to the bib chips since January that supposedly enhance their reliability.

This is the first year the club is holding their own Thanksgiving Race. They decided to step away from the long standing Thanksgiving race this year due to a myriad of issues, some public, some that were behind the scenes. . Originally the plan was for the old race to simply transition to the new race which offers a better venue with more accessible parking, more race route capacity and ample space to house the many participants . It’s the same place we hold the Naples Half Marathon.

Originally the race director for the old race agreed to go along with the new race and venue since it would still be 100% supporting the same charity as the race did the prior year. Well in the last few months that spirit of cooperation apparently disappeared. The race director developed resentment and anger about the race change despite the advantages the new venue offered to runners. He decided he was going to relaunch the old race, creating something you typically never see, TWO Thanksgiving runs in a town.

I am friends with the race director of the old race. I can understand to a degree his feelings but am disappointed that he has decided that personal vendettas are more important than the greater good. I am also disappointed to hear some of the inaccurate information and half truths that are being spread regarding the race and our running club in general. The existence of two Thanksgiving races is causing confusion and drama in the local running community. The sport of running is all about releasing stress and escaping drama, not manufacturing it.

This weekends plan include a moderation of work seasoned with just the right amount of exercise and entertainment.

http://gcrunner.org/events/event/2013-gcr-turkey-trot/

3Oct

Dinner Lite, Light Sleep, Lights still out

by Duf Anything and Everything, Politics, Rants

To atone for the lack of eating discipline Tuesday evening, my Wednesday night dinner was pretty sparse, an avocado and a sweet potato. I mixed in a bunch of stuff into the mashed avocado including hemp seed, sunflower seed, chia, almonds, and hemp oil. I had a huge cup of water to wash it all down. For desert I chowed down on a protein bar that had been sitting around for quite awhile.

The meal was far from fine dining but it served its purpose.

I was very tired last night and fell asleep between 10 and 10:30. A little before 2AM I woke up having to pee. I did so and laid back down, expecting to immediately fall back asleep. My expectations were not met. Instead I rolled around and was unable to reenter the land of slumber, despite feeling exhausted.

Somewhere around 2:30 AM I gave up and shuffled out to the kitchen. I spent the three hours that I would normally be sleeping in front of the computer doing a mix of work/play (WoW). When my normal 5:30 AM alarm went off I felt like I was ready to go back to bed. The drive into work today was quite challenging, my eyeballs just did not want to stay open.

To make matters worse, tonight there is a race after work. By the time I get off the race site I will be in pure zombie mode.

So we are entering day 3 of the partial government shutdown, the end result of the Senate/Obama refusing to engage in the budget hostage negotiations that House Tea Party clowns are trying to force. Although I think the shutdown is the latest example of just how dysfunctional our congress is, I can’t blame democrats or the president for flat out saying NO, and meaning it.

Allowing the tea party to derail laws/legislation in this manner would set a horrible precedent and only encourage similar behavior in the future. So as far as I am concerned every day this goes on just puts another layer of mud on congress in general with an extra thick facial on the tea party “generals”.

It make me smirk when I see republicans acting like they are the negotiators, they are the ones looking for a compromise. To me it is like the school bully trying to steal your lunch money but then kindly offers to let you keep half of it. Congress must really believe the overwhelming majority of Americans are truly brainless lemmings that are unable to discern anything beyond the snappy one liners that fill social media and news outlets.

2Oct

Make the call, eating trigger, 30 minutes of WoW

by Duf Anything and Everything, Rants, WoW

So yesterday I received an email from Network Solutions regarding renewing my duf.net domain name which has been in existence since 1997. I clicked on the RENEW NOW link and was shocked at the dollar figure that flashed up on the screen, something like $185 to renew for 5 years. When I broke it down was something ridiculous like $37 or $38 a year.

Now I knew that this is a common tactic of domain registrars, get you signed up with an attractive up front rate but then turn the screws on you when renewal time comes around, figuring many people will just pay the extra money instead of deal with the hassle of switching registrars. Well I am not one of those people. I picked up the phone and called their 800 number. I told the woman on the phone that I just received my renewal bill and thought it was outrageously high, much higher than when I renewed 5 years ago.

Well that was all it took to get a nearly 50% discount, the woman said I could renew the domain at the same rate I paid in 2008, $99. That was good enough for me although I could have still transferred to another registrar and saved even more money. I was content to pay what I paid before and not have to go through moving the domain around.

This was just the latest of countless examples I have personally experienced where discounts and deals are there for the taking, all you have to do is ask for them.

Last night I sat down and watched the Homeland season premiere for the second night in a row. When I watched it Monday night I was half passed out and missed huge chunks of it. I am glad I took the time to watch it again, lots of fuzzy details became much more clear.

I had eaten my dinner while watching Homeland, finishing up with a Zone bar a little before 7. I had planned for this to be the end of my eating for the night to assist in my goal of dropping a handful of pounds. Well I pulled out my Blade MQX and did some flying/crashing, with an emphasis on crashing. The copter was very difficult to control, more so than normal. It did not want to hover in place, it would just keep drifting in various directions. It was frustrating me.

Well this frustration triggered a “must eat” reflex, I suddenly felt very hungry. Now I know this feeling was entirely caused by frustration and if I waited 5-10 minutes it would probably pass. I went ahead and poured myself a bowl of mini-wheats anyway and gobbled them down. Doing so made me feel weak and disappointed in myself for not exercising more self discipline.

I messed around more with X-split and using it to capture and broadcast stuff on my computer. Last night I used it to capture roughly a half hour of WoW play although I need to use larger video windows of both the game and my webcam feed. You may find this interesting to watch or mind numbingly boring depending on your point of view on MMORPG’s.

Watch live video from greenmachine7691 on Justin.tv

1Oct

Epic ending, epic idiots

by Duf Anything and Everything, Rants, TV/Movies

Masterful. That is the word I would use to describe the series finale of Breaking Bad, one of my most favorite shows of all time. Unlike other finales for big shows that typically will leave fans with annoying unanswered questions, this finale delivered in every imaginable way. I won’t spoil it for those of you that have not yet had a chance to watch it On Demand but damn, I was riveted every single second.

On the Stern show this morning they played the song the series ended with. It gave me chills as I relived the final scene. If you never got on the Breaking Bad bandwagon, get a Netflix account and start watching, now. A fantastic show that may have the best ending of any tv series I have ever seen. A+++ rating

So today the federal shutdown begins after congress was unable to agree to raise the fiscal ceiling. More specifically, the Senate refused to pass a bill from the house championed by Tea Party douche bags that are trying to tie a lead weight to Obamacare in exchange for their cooperation in keeping the lights turned on. I really think this strategy is going to blow up in the face of idiots like Ted Cruz. This is like a bank telling you that the only way they will loan you money is if you agree to kill your cat. The two items have no business being paired together.

Robert Reich, whose opinion I respect and value, summed it up like this:

The issue we are about to face as a nation has nothing to do with the Affordable Care Act or any of the other of the demands Republicans are making. It has to do with political extortion: Republicans’ threats to close the government or default on the nation’s debts if they don’t get their way. The President and the Democrats must not negotiate. Once you start negotiating with extortionists, there is no end to it. Extortionists will hold the nation hostage again and again. Any law on the books they don’t like, any tax their wealthy patrons detest, any regulation their corporate bank-rollers would like to do away with, any subsidy or bailout their Wall Street underwriters desire, will be fair game.

Let Republicans carry out their threats. Let America see them do it and experience the consequences. And then let us send the Republican Party into the dust bin of history.

If this shutdown happened a few weeks ago it would have literally killed our Grand Canyon visit which is now officially closed today along with all the other things the National Park Service operates.

I was surprised to read the last this happened (an actual shutdown) was 95-96 since this pattern of drama approaching the debt ceiling deadline has happened so often in the last half decade. Up until today, common sense had prevailed, the realization that partisan agendas are not worthy of disrupting the services of the federal government. RIP common sense.

Archives October 2013