Runner #218 - Me

(Photo Coming Soon)

I friend of mine (Jerry) has recently created his own sort of "bucket list" -- other than turning 30-something there's nothing wrong with him. Apparently one of these things was to run in a 5K race... or a race of sometype or other.

He asked me to join him, and together with another friend (Sean), we crossed this off our lists.

I had 2 goals for this race:

1) Beat both of them - Done
2) Finish strong (meaning pass as many people as possible at the end, and not allow anyone to pass me) - Done

Out of a field of 361, I finished 210th. In my defense, I wasn't running at my own pace. I ran the first mile with Sean, and the 2nd mile with Jerry. It was shortly after the 2nd mile, that I picked up my pace a little.

Now to make all you lazy couch potatoes feel especially bad, according to the official race results, the follow aged people ran in the race:

9 year-old Brady: 26min 21sec
8 year-old Tommy: 27min 53sec
9 year-old Mason: 29min 12sec
86 year-old Ruth: 60min 22sec

In addition to these, there were several 10, 11, 12, etc... that ran. Come on people, close your browser, get off your lazy butt (if this applies to you), and do something.

Happy Anniversary

It's a day late (technically 2 since I am writing this at 00:13 on October 16th), but this past Sunday was the wife and I's first anniversary.

Don't worry... I didn't forget about it either with her, or with respect to the blog... I just choose to NOT do any computer related activities for the last several days.

Now a question for all you married folks out there... When does this marital bliss thing kick-in? I figure it's kinda like runner's high... after a certain amount of distance(time), the pain ebbs it's way into a euphoric high, right? So, when can I expect it to start?

Just kidding (wife reads this, and wanted to pull her chain a little)... life on the home front is pretty darn good... exception is the brother living in the basement, but into every life, a little family must fall, right? Even that isn't sooo bad. Could/Will be better once he moves out, but that's MONTHS down the road.

The wife and I took an extra long weekend -- 4 days -- and spent time doing whatever we wanted. Went to Philadelphia for a day, hung around the house, ran some errands, etc.. I finally had time to go to the eyeglass place and pick out a new pair; my last pair was again broken while playing with my dog, and for the last several months, I have been wearing my prescription sunglasses around both day and night... I just hadn't had time to go, and when I did have time, I honestly didn't feel like doing anything.

For our anniversary dinner, we went to Morton's steakhouse down at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. She and I first broached the idea of marriage at a Morton's steakhouse while celebrating her passing the bar several years ago, so I figured we'd just go back to where it all started.

Oh, the wife and I joined a gym on Sunday as well. Now that summer is over, and the decent running weather is almost at a close, I won't be running, and the wife won't be biking. We figured we take this time and start up at a gym. Went through the whole sales pitch thing, because we are currently "trying it out for a week free", so they made us work with a membership counselor, who gave us a tour (very nice facility), and then started in with a hard sell. Even went as far as to give us individual body fat analysis's.

Mine came back at 15%... I'm in the excellent range on the charts. Kinda took the wind out of his sails. I am NOT, however, in any kind or exceptional shape... decent - yes, exceptional - no... still loads of areas I want to work on. I hope to use this blog as a quick place to track progress... not for any purpose, other than to force myself to keep going. Figure if I post results for the world to see, I'll be more likely to stick with it. I will make it known now though, that I really only want to go regularly in late fall/winter/early spring time; once good outside weather returns, I would like to get back to running and biking.... we'll see.

But starting... well now, it's back to work. I am writing this blog entry as I wait for a process to complete in a maintenance I am doing for work right now. Remember my last entry -- the maintenance that didn't go too well? -- well, I'm at it again. This time, things are going much better.

We'll, I'd better finish up, as the process should almost be done. Off to bed, and up bright and early for another GREAT day at work.

P.S. I'm all a flutter... in a couple more hours I get to see Tiger Army in concert. Pity sarcasm can't show through too well in a typing medium. The wife is becoming a big fan, and I (the loving husband) am accompanying her to the concert tonight.

See ya later.

MLB Mercy Rule

I guarantee, I will not be the only one to blog about this, but the Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles 30-3. Isn't there a mercy rule in MLB? There is in Little League Baseball. And if there is not, shouldn't there be? Seriously.

Now, I will admit that my interest in baseball is passing at best, and I really don't understand ALL the statistics and data.. ERA for example.

As it was explained to me (and it could be wrong), they extrapolate how many runs a pitcher gave up for the amount of innings they pitched to determine what that pitcher would have given up, should he pitced an entire 9 inning game -- for example, a pitcher pitches 1 complete inning, and gives up 1 run. His ERA would be 9 -- assumes he would give up 1 run per inning (I'm sure I will be corrected if I'm wrong). So for an Orioles pitcher who gave up 10 runs, and pitched say... 1 inning (or worse... part of an inning). To give up 10 runs in 1 inning, would (according to my calculations) equal an ERA of 90... I think an average ERA is 3~5... but and ERA of 90? not good!

Game Review - Madden '08

Quick Review...

Graphics - Amazing. Don't understand why (it's using the same hardware platform as Madden '07), but it does look markedly better than Madden '07.

Controls - They've made some changes to the interface that I don't like. I'm sure it's just because I'm used to the old interface, but initially I don't like the changes.

Game Play - I personally believe that the developers tend to swing back and forth each year between a really good offense and a really good defense -- I really don't know since I've only played maybe 5 different years. However, this year is definitely a defensive year... There are an average of 7 interceptions per game on the All-Madden level... and that's AFTER I turn the interception AI down as far as it can go. It's rather annoying!

Overall, I like Madden '07 better, but the graphics in Madden '08 are very good.

Rated E for Everyone

Sitting on my passenger seat, waiting for post work play tonight.

P.S. I won't be drafting Vince Young for my fantasy team... Avoid the Madden Curse

Regret

My friend Sean and I have often talked about going out to Whistler - Blackcomb for a snowboard outing.

Perhaps it's better (for me at least) that we haven't done this yet.

Take Me Out to the Ball Park

This past weekend, I visited our local minor league baseball team with the wife, her sister, and the father-in-law. The tickets were compliments of Comcast, and I must say they were very nice seats. 8 rows back, just to the right of the section directly behind home plate -- close enough to hear the ball hit the catcher's mitt. Thanks Comcast!

While it was clear that this was a minor league and not a MLB game, there were some pretty impressive plays by a couple of the home team's players; namely 2 or 3 one-handed plays by 2nd baseman (he'd run down a in-field ground, one-hand it, and throw it over to first to get the out), and the center fielder ran a couple of fly balls down in the outfield.

All-in-all, it was a pretty enjoyable outing, and York even won. So that got me to thinking... I wonder how good a team we are? It's our Inaugural Year, and it sometimes takes a little while for an expansion team to gel. So I went to the website, and was surprised to see that York was leading it's 4 team division with a record of 15-7 at the time. Wow! Pretty impressive.

Then I got to thinking... They've only played 22 games?!? It's the beginning of August, and I thought they had been playing a while already. Looking at the schedule, they played 24 games in the month of May alone, and only won 10 -- meaning they lost 14. I was confused. So I emailed the GM, seeking clarification.

Dear Matt,

I attended my first game last eveing, and was impressed with the entire experience; congrats!

However, when doing a little research about how well the team is doing, I got a little confused.

According to your website, and that of the Atlantic League itself, the Revolution's record is 15 Wins and 7 Loses.

Looking at the schedule and results for just the month of May, however, I notice there were 24 games played and that the revolution won only 10 of them.

How does jive with the standings? Are they 15-7 with respect to series'... meaning they've won 15 out of 22 series they've had against other teams?

I'm just a little confused.

Thanks!

This was the reply:

Let me have the media department follow up with you on this. It makes no sense to me as well.

I'll keep you posted -- I'm sure everyone is sitting, waiting with bated breath -- as to the answer. However, I'm a little disappointed that the General Manager is as confused as I am. He's been "following" the team for months now. He didn't notice that:

1) Either the stats on the websites are incorrect.

or -- and I'm guessing this is the correct version, since York lost their last series, and now have a record of 15-8

2) The Atlantic League measures Wins and Losses in a format other than just the straight number of games a team has won and lost.

Movie Review: The Wickerman

The wife and I rented a movie this weekend called The Wicker Man. This is not the original (didn't know there was one until just a couple of minutes ago, but the 2006 version starring Nicolas Cage.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do yourself a favor and do NOT rent or even watch this movie. The best part of the movie was the credits. The wife kept watching because she thought it was going to get better. I kinda stopped watching the movie, and complaining about the movie about 30~40 minutes into it... Had the feeling I was ruining it for the wife with my semi-constant complaints, so I quit.

Now she wished she had quit to.

Her last words were: "That's it? It doesn't get any better?"

Biker Bitch

It's offical... the wife is is now a biker bitch -- and not the leather-clad, sitting on the back of a motorcycle kind (yet)...

Last evening we picked up her Trek 7300 from our local bike shop. The maiden voyage was this morning at 6am (apparently last evening's trip around the neighborhood was just a test run).

Having broken her knee running, the new plan is for her to bike her way into physical sveltness -- not that she needs to (she reads the blog from time-to-time, so I need to head off a possible "discussion" here). Since she broke her knee running, and we had already talked about getting her a bike, the timing was just perfect.

As she was getting used to the bike last evening, I was able to keep pace (I was running) with her around the neighborhood, on our 2 mile trek... This morning, I watched her speed off around the corner and disappear into dawn's early light -- not bad for someone who didn't really learn to ride a bike as a child.

Only days left...

Until the offical release of the book... The big question is should I read the book before it's offically released or not?

How do I become a contestant

OK... I missed this past Thursday's "Smarter than a 5th Grader", because my brother came up for dinner / visit (see previous entry), but I recorded it. I watched the recording last evening.

Short version, I knew all the answers, save one, however, the kid on the show had the right answer, so I would have been saved. I even knew the answer to the $1 million question -- and for the record, I told the wife before I saw the question, that I would have gone for the $1 million dollars. Basically, if the final category is either math or astronomy, I would go for $1 million.

After watching the show (and I have to admit I like watching the recorded version, because I can skip through the commercials and filler and just get to the questions), I visited FOX's website to see how to become a contestant... Are there try-outs? Do you mail your name in, and perhaps get drawn from a vast list of names? How do you get on the show?

In short, I can't find the answer to that.

If anybody knows how to become a contestant, I want in. I'm convinced that I would be much more nervous once on the show, than I am sitting at home; and I'm curious as to whether I would do as well on the show, but what the heck... I'll try.

Operation Dirt Drop

was not successful.

As a result of my weekend landscaping endeavors, I have ended up with a large pile of dirt in my side yard -- I am truly amazed at how quickly these types of piles grow. What to do with such a pile?

In the past, I have transported such piles to other home construction sites in my neighborhood. There was an unwritten rule with the builders... take or leave as much landscaping dirt/sod/rock as you want, just not while the builders are there. Even though they would post no dumping signs, and technically dumping dirt there would be illegal, nobody cared. The neighbors would partake in this ritual too.

There are no more construction sites in my neighborhood, and while I'm sure other neighborhoods have similar unwritten norms, perhaps if an outsider (me) were to pull up and start off-loading dirt, someone would take offense, and officer Todd W would show up.

My solution -- a clandestine dirt drop. It's not like I sleep at night. So I loaded up the back of Sean's beater truck with most of the dirt -- I didn't put it all in because hunger and mother nature caught up to me before I could finish.

Running some errands this evening with the wife, I spied the perfect place. So this evening at around 23:00, I headed out. I planned to use the universal "pick-up truck payload relocation" technique to rid myself of said dirt -- also known as Newton's first law of motion.

Say it with me... Everyone knows the 3 laws.

Law 1 -- If no external force acts on a particle, then it is possible to select a set of reference frames, called inertial reference frames, observed from which the particle moves without any change in velocity.

Layman's version -- An object in motion will stay in motion, unless acted upon by and external force. An object at rest will stay at rest, unless acted upon by an external force. Inertia for short.

It's simple. To move something in the truck bed to the cabin end, get some speed, and then stop suddenly. To move something in the bed to the tailgate end, either quickly take off, or while in reverse, get some speed and stop suddenly.

At this time, I would like to point out that the wife passed on accompanying me on Operation Dirt Drop, saying that someone needed to stay behind to bail me out, when the police arrested me. And when I explained the genius of my plan (inertia) to drop the dirt, her response was "And you think Sean's truck will be able to either stop or start quickly enough to accomplish this?" "I hope so."

23:00 - head out
23:13 - arrive at specified location, and extinguish all lights (there are inhabited houses all around.)
23:15 - drop tailgate, and make first attempt. While stationary, attempt quick acceleration (object at rest technique).
23:15.15 - nothing happened. No movement of payload.
23:15.17 - curse.
23:16 - attempt number 2. Again, stationary; quick (as truck allows) acceleration.
23:16.15 nothing happens.
23:16.17 - curse.
23:18 - attempt "object in motion will stay in motion" technique. Get some speed up, while in reverse and attempt to stop quickly. Didn't stop so quickly. Ran up on dirt pile. (Don't worry Sean, pile isn't big... more like small gradual hill.)
23:18.20 - curse again.


I try a couple of more times in each direction, but nothing happens. You'd think the story ends here, but this is when it gets good.

Admitting defeat this time around, I'm going to head home, but I need to put the tailgate up, because with my luck, while driving the payload will now decide to obey the laws of Newtonian physics.

I haven't mentioned yet that the times above are made up. In actuality, the area I was in was surprisingly busy with cars at this time, especially for a Monday night. There was a lot of waiting for cars to pass by before I made attempts.

When I lowered the tailgate originally, some of the dirt and rocks tumbled down onto the tailgate. While trying to force the tailgate closed, the bottom right corner of the tailgate comes off the truck. The other corner, and both fold down hinges are still connected, but the corner is definitely off. CRAP!

Fooling around with the tailgate some more, only manages to free the other lower corner. It's now 23:40ish at night, cars are driving past every couple of minutes, and I'm partially holding a truck tailgate in my hands. Have I mentioned, I need to be home by 00:22 to bid on a bicycle part on eBay for my father-in-law... a must have part?

I manage to prop the tailgate up with my leg on one side and man-handle the fold down hinge off. I then slide over to the other side and finagle that hinge off as well.

It would appear, I'm going to have to shovel the dirt off the truck just like I shoveled it on...

I throw the tailgate in the bed of the truck (up near the cabin, in case the dirt decides to fall out while driving), and head home with my tail(gate) between my legs.

P.S. Yes, a tailgate to a 1980's full size pick-up is somewhat heavy.

P.P.S. Yes, we won the must have part.

I'm going to bed!

I AM smarter than a fifth grader!!!

Granted, I forgot that the show was on, and only watched the final 5 questions (counting the $1 million dollar), AND based upon the final category, I would have dropped out with $500,000 like the real contestant. BUT, I did know all the answers, including Alexander Hamilton being the first Secretary of the Treasury.

I even knew the answer to the 3rd grade english question that my wife, who majored in English, didn't know.

I am as smart as a 5th grader... so far

OK, I find myself with extra time on my hands in the last couple of weeks... I used to do system admin type things to the legacy BlazeNet/Suscom servers well into the night and starting early in the morning pretty much every day, but I was never shown appreciation or gratitude for any of my work, so F that...

So now at night (until I can get used to this extra time) I feel lost... What to do... what to do... I know, I'll just veg from time to time and watch this TV thing sitting in my living room.

For the most part, every show I've checked into is CRAP!

I do, however, find myself drawn to the Am I Smarter than a 5th Grader show. I have watched 1.5 episodes of the show so far, and have missed 2 questions... each of which, my partner (the kid on the show) got right; so I would have been saved.

The 2 questions I missed:

1 -- How many federal holidays are in the month of November? 3 was my answer (correct answer was 2). My thought process here was "The wife gets off for 4 days in November and she is a government employee. Two of these days are for Thanksgiving, so I'll go with 3 holidays."

The only federal holidays in November are Veterans Day and Thanksgiving. The other day the wife gets off for is election day. Since federal elections only occur in even numbered years, election day is not a federal holiday... my bad. Here in PA, there is an election for something every year, so she gets off every year.

2 -- What is the capital of Massachusetts? The wife and I both thought the capital was Springfield. We were wrong. And I feel so ashamed of myself. UGH!!!

The math and astronomy questions are a breeze... some of the other categories, I've had to guess a couple of times, but I've been correct so far.

I sometimes marvel at some of the answers given by some of the contestants... I'm assuming being up there and on national TV, they are more nervous than I am sitting at home, but some people are just idiots...

Last night the question was "In which state was the battle of Gettysburg fought?" While thinking through her answers, the contestant at one point thought it might be Nebraska... I believe she settled on Virginia -- her partner saved her. Nebraska?!?!?! I can almost live with Virginia (I wouldn't have thought her THAT big and idiot), but to even mention Nebraska... come on!

Also last night they had a question "What season falls completely in Daylight Saving Time?" This was asked of the same woman from above. The correct answer they wanted was Summer (she said Winter), but thanks to the new Daylight Saving Time law, Spring is now another correct answer.

Teacher, does that get me extra credit?