Archives June 2015

Yesterday Cindy took delivery of a large pallet of timing equipment.  It was the new stuff from MyLaps which is replacing the Ipico equipment I have used to time races for years.  It was a LOT of stuff, including four timing boxes and 24 rubber timing mats.  When I got home Cindy and I worked on getting it broken down and relocated.

Last night after dinner  I hooked up one of the new boxes and mats to my network for some initial testing.  I was limited in what I could do since I don’t have any of the timing chips yet, which are supposed to arrive today.  Even without chips I got a good sense of just how slick the MyLaps hardware is.  I think it is going to really work out well for both me as a timer and our race participants.

There were a few things that stand out right away with the MyLaps hardware.  The timing boxes, whether they are for the 4 meter or 8 meter set up are identical in size which is cool.  With Ipico if you want to support a wider line you need their Elite box which is a huge box, probably triple the size of the MyLaps box.

The timing mats are a huge upgrade to me.  They are 1 meter wide rubber mats that lock together.  They are extremely durable and have a low profile.  Ipico uses mats that are stored in bags and rolled out on race day.  It’s impossible to not have wrinkles in the mats as a result and more than once these wrinkles have snagged a runners foot, causing them to trip.  The Ipico mats/bags also get wet and will stink if you don’t allow them to completely dry out in between events.  There is no issue with that for the MyLaps set up, simply stack the mats in a corner and you are done, wet or dry.

The MyLaps timing boxes have internal GPS hardware that allows them to precisely synch their time.  With Ipico I synch the boxes in a very imprecise manner which requires me to manually synch the timing computer and the timing boxes to my watch which means if I am lucky the times will still be off by as much as a second.  There should be none of that slop with MyLaps.

Finally, the MyLaps timing devices that get adhered to race bibs is a tiny fraction of the size of the Ipico bib timing devices.  This is because Ipico hardware was designed to be used with timing chips worn on the sneaker.  They have been forced to make their bib chips very large to accommodate the older hardware.

The MyLaps system was designed from the start as a bib based timing system.  As a result they are able to use tiny RFID chips that a runner hardly even notices they are wearing.  We have had a number of runners complain that they did not like running with the Ipico bib tags because of their size.

So anyway, I am excited to do a lot of testing and practice with the new system.  It is going to get a true trial by fire since it’s first real world test will be the 4th of July race which is close to 1000 participants.

So I was discussing my potential 4K tv purchase with Jeremy yesterday.  He sent me an article talking about 4K tv’s specifically how their higher resolution is basically not discernible after you get a certain distance away.  For the 70 inch set I was considering that distance is somewhere around 5-6 feet.  Well I measured the distance my couch is from the TV last night, it was a 12 foot span.   I am one who doesn’t mind reevaluating decisions if the situation merits it.  The other consideration is the signal that is fed to both of my HDTV’s on the Comcast X1 service is only 720 HD, which honestly looks pretty damn good already.

So I now am considering staying with a 1080P set which would allow me to increase my desired screen growth curve.  Samsung makes a 75 inch set that would just barely fit inside my entertainment nook with a fraction of an inch to spare.  The dollar figure for the 75 incher is roughly the same as the Vizio 70″ 4K set.   Ali seems to not be interested in a free 73 inch tv for some reason but I still might be chasing the 75 inch dream anyway.

Cindy got an incredible amount of stuff done around the house yesterday.  She is like the Energizer Bunny, just point her in a  direction and things get done.

I had a lot of things I wanted to get done on Saturday, so much that I pulled out one of my infamous lists to keep me on track.  One of the first things I wanted to get done was giving the 11 chicks the Marek’s vaccine we bought online.  Both Cindy and I were nervous about the process since we never did it before but I had a step by step guide I printed off a website to help us out.  The process of preparing a vaccine was not what I expected, where you are injecting stuff between two vials, the actual vaccine and a jar of dilutant to make the finished product.

We set up a table in the garage along with the chicken run to put the chicks into after we vaccinated each one.  Cindy did most of the dirty work, my primary responsibility was to try to hold the chicks still while Cindy injected .2 ML of the vaccine into the pinched skin on the back of their necks.  Of course the chicks were not big fans of the process but for the most part it went well.  We had all 11 chicks done in around 20 minutes.  We now can only hope the vaccine does it’s job and helps the birds live a Mareks-free life.

To be more efficient we had Cindy do a Rural King run while I walked around and weed whacked the property.  She also did a thorough cleaning of the chicken tractor while we had the chicks in the front yard in the chicken run.  As the chicks get older and older, clean up of their living quarters is a more and more steady requirement.  I do not think once we move them outside to live in the chicken tractor in a week or so that all 11 birds will be able to live in there for very long. It’s just going to be too little space for too many birds.

We pulled the 5 younger chicks out for a short period of time and let them run around free under our close supervision.  The older birds bully the younger ones so it was nice for them to be able to do their own thing without the black chicks pecking them on the rear end.

Lola still has been pretty static in her condition, not acting significantly better or worse over the weekend.  Lucy still is acting just fine.  She wowed Cindy and I on Saturday when she managed to get all the way to the top perch in the chicken run, right below the roof.

I feel bad for Lucy.  Because Lola’s energy level is not good we have been leaving both of them inside the coop/run for longer periods of the day instead of letting them free range all day long.  I feel bad restricting Lucy but I would feel equally bad for Lola if she was stuck in the coop while Lucy ran around unencumbered.

On Saturday evening Cindy and I went to see San Andreas.  As we approached the theater we drove into a torrential downpour.  I dropped Cindy off closer to the ticket window and then parked the Prius in the back.  Despite the rain still falling at a downpour rate, I walked the couple hundred yards to the theater without even a hint of a slight jog.  I just don’t care much about getting wet.  By the time I met up with Cindy my white long sleeve shirt was drenched.  I surely would have won a wet t-shirt contest.

Cindy bought the tickets while I was walking up.  She told me that the staff warned her ahead of time that the AC was malfunctioning in the theater the movie was playing in.  Well I figured it was a good thing that I was soaked, perhaps it would help me stay more comfortable during the two hours.  It was warm in there but not unbearable.  It’s the second time we have had the AC in a theater at Coconut Pointe go out, the first time was REALLY noticeable.

The movie was full of absolutely A+ level visuals.  The level and detail of destruction depicted in the movie was perhaps worth the price of admission just to see in large screen, 3D, immersive format.  Of course the rest of the movie could not be all A+, disaster movies usually put so much emphasis on how things look that how things feel often gets secondary attention.  The movie is filled with situation after situation with outcomes that are just not unlikely, they are absolutely beyond the realm of the remotest of possibilities.  Sure, it’s a movie so you expect that to a degree but this seemed sort of ridiculous at times.  Despite the plot’s deviation into crazy town overall the movie was entertaining enough overall to earn a B+ rating.  If you are up in the air over a desire to move to California anytime soon I would suggest you don’t go see this movie. 🙂

Sunday morning we picked up the dogs early for a one night stay over.  After we got back Cindy and I did a very different type of exercise, something that used to be a 3-4 times a week thing for me, practice volleyball.  The reason this idea came to us was an email I got late in the week about the the beach vb series I used to play in making a stop in Fort Myers next weekend.  I mentioned the idea to Cindy of her and I playing co-ed doubles, despite Cindy having no beach volleyball experience and me not touching a volleyball for well over two years.  If I was going to consider this I would need to try to give Cindy a crash course in the sport.

On our runs through the nearby gated development I had noticed they had a basic beach volleyball court.  We drove down to convenience store, parked and then walked the roughly half mile to the court.  Not only was Cindy’s lack of vb experience a concern, my general poor condition of my joints was another issue.  My right knee has been feeling generally poor for a couple months, running, jumping and diving in sand is definitely not going to help matters.  But regardless of these issues it didn’t hurt to get out there and see how it goes.

Cindy is athletic, has good hand eye coordination and is a hustler by nature, three attributes that would give her a headstart.  We went through a number of drills including passing, setting, serving and hitting.  Although her technique needs work, for it being the first time on a beach court I thought she did very well.  My volleyball skills needed a bunch of WD 40 as well.  Towards the end of our practice I was feeling a little better but I have no doubt in a game situation I would be making a lot of unforced errors.

Cindy was surprised how hard she was working.  She was soaked with sweat and breathing heavy early on, aided by the fact that she insisted on running after most balls that went rolling off the court.  We finished up the workout with pass, set hit, drills.  We actually had a handfull of them that went like the should, with the ball getting driven relatively hard to the other side of the court.

Cindy’s body was not used to the impact of a relatively heavy beach volleyball on her forearms and hands.  She had clear bruises all over the place.  In addition she was hurting in various other places.  Even if you are in great shape, volleyball makes you utilize your joints and muscles in ways that are normally foreign.  I was feeling it as well although not quite as severely as Cindy was.  At this point I don’t know that jumping headfirst into a tournament would be a wise move without a more gradual practice curve leading to game conditions.

Early Sunday afternoon I tasked myself with giving Nicki a haircut with the clippers. Ali said she was shedding like crazy and her coat was looking very shaggy so I figured it made sense.  In the past Cindy has been the one trimming Nicki, this was my first time doing it solo.  I was out there buzzing away for close to 45 minutes I bet and could have spent another 30 probably.  Nicki was unwilling to stand for the process so I had to do the best I could with her laying down on each side.  When I was done there was a massive halo of black fur surrounding us.

Ever since Friday when I stopped at Sam’s Club for a few things I have been fighting an impulse buy for a 4K tv.  They had a Vizio 70″ UHDTV set there that I was interested in.  Although not cheap by any means, it was a good value for the money.  I had only a couple reservations.  The idea of losing 3 inches of diagonal size (current Mitsu DLP is 73 inches), seemed like a compromise, even though a 70″ tv is still quite huge in most people’s eyes.

My other concern was buying it at a place like Sam’s versus through my preferred retailer, Amazon.  Buying it through Amazon would allow me to both using my accumulated points to knock down my out of pocket cost AND collect triple points on the purchase to be used in the future.  These two things add up to over $350 in savings.  On the downside, it doesn’t allow me to scratch that impulse itch where you have the item RIGHT NOW.  I would have to wait until June 8th for it to show up.

I got close enough to pulling the trigger that I texted Cindy, asking her if I should do it or not.  After all I certainly don’t need to do it.  My old DLP Mitsubishi tv still works fine, the Vizio would just work/look better.  I didn’t hear back from Cindy before I checked out with my grocery items so the impulse was derailed for now.

Well I still had the idea rolling around in my head most of the weekend.  I texted Ali and asked her if she would want the 73 inch tv for her place since she has more than enough room to accommodate it.  She hasn’t let me know yet if she wants it.  I am basically letting her decision dictate what I am going to do.  If she wants the Mitsubishi I will pull the trigger, if not I will look at as a reason to just stay with what I have.

Here is the TV I am considering in case you are curious.