Random and occasional thoughts on

Leadville Trail Marathon - DFL > DNF > DNS

2011-07-02T21:50:00.003-07:00

First of all a few definitions to make sure everyone understands the title:

Leadville: A city in Colorado that sits at about 10,000 feet above sea level.
Trail: A path, generally smaller and less maintained than a road. Sometimes just wide enough for one person to walk.

Marathon: 26.2 mile running event.
"Trail Marathon": A marathon run completely or largely on trails.
DNF: Did Not Finish. A title awarded to a competitor that fails to finish an event. Generally the biggest stigma associated with this is self-inflicted.
DFL: Dead Freakin Last. A title awarded to the last finisher of a race. Again, the biggest stigma associated with this is self-inflicted as there has to be one in every race.
DNS: Did Not Start. When a competitor registers for a race and then fails to make it to the starting line. Frequently this is due to an injury before the race and accordingly should not carry any stigma.

Starting Line:
Parking was easier than almost any other race I've done. There was no bag/gear drop, but I left my stuff in the gym where the last minute registration was being done (also where the dinner after the race was to be held). Chatted with a few people while waiting for the starting gun.

First Miles:
First 4 miles were basically uphill - ugh. Heart rate was a bit elevated, but I expected that. I even expected my lungs to complain a bit, which they did. The complaining was silenced largely by the incredibly beautiful scenery as the forest gave way to incredible views. At miles 6-10, I did some mental math and figured if I kept the same average pace, I would be able to finish within the 8.5 hour limit with a comfortable margin.

From about mile 4 to 7 was a loop around a mountain. There were some ups and downs and we climbed to about 12,000 ft. For a little extra fun, we had a couple hundred feet of snow to cross, but the race team had been up earlier in the week and had carved a functional pass and the bright sun had melted enough snow that there was a layer of slush on the top that helped footing a bit.

Middle Miles:
After that loop, we went down what seemed like forever and felt great (forgetting for the moment that the course was an out-and-back and what goes down must come back up). I shouted some encouragement to the first marathoners to pass us on their way back already. I made some good time (even dropped below 9 min/mile for a few stretches) and was feeling pretty good until I got to the aid station at the bottom. This is where we met back up with the Half Marathoners for the climb to Mosquito Pass.

The first part of the climb was pretty tame and fairly level, but definitely uphill. I heard a saying today that the secret to Trail Running is to "Run the flats and downhills and walk the uphills" which made sense and I tried to follow it. I did have to stop to catch my breath pretty frequently though. I later heard a clarification to that secret and that is the addition of the word "briskly" to the end. I didn't manage brisk very often and even sat down to catch my breath when I needed to. I figured better safe than sorry.

About Halfway:
As I approached the halfway mark, I did some more mental math and started to get worried that this race might mark my first DFL. In spite of that, I was not able to muster any extra speed as the terrain go rough enough that even in my Durango 4x4 I would have had my hands full and probably would not have made the last mile. By the time I got to the top at 13.1 miles, my time was 4:45. I knew much of the road back was downhill (including the last 4 miles), so a negative split was likely, but I didn't think I could make up that much time to finish in less than 8.5 hours. I had almost resigned myself to a DNF until I asked a guy with a Marathon Maniac shirt "Are we looking at a DNF?" and he said "No way! Plenty of time left."

The views continued to be amazing as this shot from 13000 ft shows just before the turn-around.

Finishing:
The first part of the downhill from the turn-around was almost as hard as going up, due to the loose rock and steep grade. In spite of that, I had to stop less often and was able to move a bit faster. Things seemed to be going better and my mental math starting looking hopeful for "just-before-the-cutoff" finish. I made the mile 16 aid station with 10 minutes to spare which motivated me to keep my pace up (as well as freak me out, I hadn't realized I was that close to getting pulled from the course). I felt better, at least till about mile 18, when my legs started to join my lungs in complaining and begging to stop. I decided if there was a cutoff at the next aid station and I was within 5 minutes of it, I would accept my DNF and get a ride to the finish.

I made it to the aid station with 7 minutes left so I started the next leg (3 miles) after a handful of m&m's and a few pretzels and a cup of coke. Trail races apparently have AWESOME aid stations, almost as good as the aid stations at Ironman races.

This is the leg with the snow crossing, only we were doing it backwards. That actually made the snow crossing easier as we just sat down and slid down. We were hot enough that cold in our shorts and legs felt great. Besides, it was faster and fun!

We got to the last aid station which meant 4 miles to go with about 40 min to go. 10 min miles is within my reach, most of the time. This was ALL downhill, so I should have been able to do it, but the trail for part of this stretch was pretty uneven and my hips were starting to complain about all the downhill running. All excuses -- the truth is, I hit the wall pretty hard and slowed down a lot.

I kept watching the time slip away. When I realized I was still 2 miles away and there were only 10 min before the 8.5 hour clock ran out. Even with fresh legs and level or downhill ground with a tailwind, 5 min miles are not in my playbook and I decided to take it easy the last 2 miles.

A couple Marathon Maniacs (including the guy that said "No problem" at the turn-around) caught up with me and I got to know Mario and Carol as well as more about the social side of MM. I said I had resigned myself to accepting a DNF and that I would be proud to have it on this course. He said that some race directors leave the clock running for anyone that made the last cut-off point, so we might be ok. He also added that even if we did not get an official finish, we still covered one of the toughest marathon courses in the US and no one could take that away from us.

I crossed the finish line with the clock still running in 8:50 and they gave me a medal, so I guess I finished. A Finish Line NEVER looked so good. I'll check the web site in a few days to see if I can wear the badge DFL or just reallllly close to DFL.

Update 07-05-2011:
Well, the final results are up for the race. Looks like I get my first DNF. Not sure anything other than more time at altitude and maybe a few more weeks of training would have allowed me to finish faster, so I feel ok with that. I still finished the course, even if I am not an "official finisher".
Update 07-14-2011:
They updated the results and added a group of us that made the cutoff times as official finishers, so I guess my DNF will happen some other time. YAY!!!

Ragnar 2011 - Race Report

2011-04-03T09:41:00.000-07:00

This is long over due and I'm sure I will not be able to do this race justice, but here are some rambling musings.

I had not done a race in over a year when I saw a message from my friend Kim saying she was putting together a team for a 200 mile relay race called Ragnar Relay Del Sol. It was several months away and I thought it would be a good tool to motivate me to keep up my recently restarted running. Kim was very clear that this was a run for fun team and that it didn't matter how fast (or slow) we were.

The plan to get my running motivation worked and I had several very good months of gradually increasing miles and faster paces. By the time race week was getting close, I decided to run another short race the weekend before Ragnar. The Lost Dutchman 8k was a fun race and shorter than any of my legs would be for Ragnar so I wasn't worried about this hurting my ability for Ragnar. I had a great race and was glad to be racing again.

The way this event works is that each team has 12 runners (or 6 for the ultra teams). Each runner takes turns running a leg of the course. When the 12th runner is done, the 1st runner goes next until all runners have run their 3 legs. Each leg is of varying difficulty and distance, runners can be assigned to the position with legs that best matches their ability and strength. The total distance for my 3 legs was 21 miles, which is the longest leg selection. This made sense since I have multiple marathons and an Ironman race under my belt, the longer distance legs suited me fine, even with my relatively long layoff since my last race.

Typically, the runners are split up in 2 vans, with the first six in van #1 and the other six in van #2. The only time both vans are in the same place is at the so called "major" exchanges, the transfer from runner 6 to runner 7 and from runner 12 to runner 1. Thursday before the race, we got together to decorate van #1 (van #2 members had a later start so they would decorate their van on Friday after we were already running.).

We had fun decorating the van and getting to know some of the other members of our team a bit better. What felt like just a few hours later, we met at the finish line to load up in van #1 before heading up to Wickenburg and the start line of the race. We got checked in and started to get excited about the start of the race.

From Ragnar 2011

Kim (our #1 runner) got us off to a great start and even ran the first stretch of her first leg wearing the costume. All the start-line excitement was there, but only one of us got to start running. I had to wait for about 2 hours before my first chance to run at about 11:30am.

All that pent up energy and excitement made it harder than usual to control my pace for the opening miles of my first leg. Combine that with the fact that my first leg was a net downhill and started on a slight downhill and my first 2 miles were way faster than I had planned. It took a lot of effort to try and hold close to my goal pace the remaining 5+ miles as the road leveled out. I stayed pretty close to my goal pace overall, but was dragging by the time I got to the next exchange point.

When our 6 runners had each finished our first legs, we drove to the area where the next major exchange was to take place and stopped at an Olive Garden for some dinner.

After dinner, we headed over to the exchange point where we took a nap while we waited for our other van and their last runner to make it so our first runner could start running again. I also was lucky and had a friend drop off my Girl Scout cookie order (Thanks Mrs Frankie!). Our other runner came in around 9:30pm and we started our second shift.

While we were supporting our first runner at night, we saw someone that several of us knew and cheered him on as well even as he passed our runner. (his team was one of the more competitive ones) One of our teammates said it looked like he was going the wrong way, but in the dark, we weren't sure and couldn't see where he went. When we got to the next transition, we alerted his teammates that he might have gotten lost. The HAM communication volunteer contacted one of the mobile units who started coordinating a search based around where we had last seen him. Meanwhile, our runner came in and our second runner took off. We waited for about 5 min and were starting to wonder if they were going to find our friend when he came in. He said he ended up going about 2 miles out of his way before he realized he was off course and backtracking.

My next leg started at about 11:30pm. This was going to be my most challenging (but shortest) leg. I am usually sound asleep by that time, so staying awake was going to be one challenge. Another would be running in the dark since I rarely do that. Even more fun was that part of this leg was a non-support leg that had some off-road and trail sections. As if that was not enough, there was some uphill for the last section of the leg. The non-support section means that my teammates could not pull over and give me water or encouragement so this leg was more like a solo training run which is less fun than a race. I made it to transition, had a snack and laid down in the van and dozed on-and-off for the rest of the night after apologizing in advance to my teammates for my lack of cheering for the next couple hours.

The next major exchange where our van started running again was right around sunrise. That major exchange had a free massage (donations accepted for charity). I took advantage of the massage and my legs felt a lot better and really was feeling ready for my last run.

My last leg started around 11:30am, almost 24 hours after my first leg. It was a little uphill (1/4 mil) and the rest of the about 7 miles was downhill. I found my pace early in to the downhill and was running with a guy from an ultra team. Ultra teams are usually pretty competitive folks, so I was happy to be keeping up with him. Turns out his team had lost a runner to injury early in the race and were picking up the remaining legs so they were all getting more than they had bargained for. We held a steady 9:xx mpm pace and a couple miles to the exchange he said he was slowing down since he still had a few more legs to run and wished me luck. I turned up the speed and felt like I was flying down the hill. When I handed off the wrist strap to our next runner, I knew that I had not left anything in the tank and I had given it my all for that leg.

After the next major exchange, we split up with one of our runners getting a ride home from his wife and we dropped another one off at his house while the other 4 of us went to our team captains house for some pizza and beer while waiting for van #2 to close out the race. We washed the van and took turns getting cleaned up and went over to the finish line to wait for our team so we could cross the finish line together.

We got our finishers medals and stickers and then had our picture taken next to the Ragnar Van before standing around laughing about how much fun that had been. Now some people are talking about doing this again next year as an ultra team and others are talking about doing another relay event somewhere different.

2010 Year in Review

2011-01-09T13:30:00.000-07:00

During my run this morning, I was thinking about how much my life has changed over the past year. In January 2010, I was married, though the marriage was dying and had just finished with probably the worst Christmas season I can ever recall, (with few bright spots). My fitness had dropped off from my Ironman race in 2008 to a total running mileage for January of barely over 30 miles and I couldn't run for more than a half a mile without taking a walk break. I only rode my bike once and hadn't been swimming (which I love doing) in several months.

So what will 2011 bring?

By October of last year, my divorce was finalized and I had started running more consistently. Now, after a good Christmas season I am in my fourth month of steadily improving running (already have almost as many miles by the 9th as I did all of Jan last year). I am registered for a relay race in Feb and planning several other races during the year. I would like to get a new marathon PR (Personal Record) and break the 4 hour barrier this year. Las Vegas marathon is in December and is a very fast and flat course. It would not add any new states to my "marathon in every state" quest, but it might be worth it if I manage another goal to get closer to the Boston Qualifying time.

I have spent some time during the last part of 2010 working on getting my financial and physical house in order. Working on (and living on) a budget is not fun, but is necessary and better than the alternative. Dr visits are a good thing to catch possible problems before they are serious. Watching my sodium intake today is better than medication (or worse) later.

I started dating again late last year and met some nice girls (or ladies or women what IS the right word?) one of whom has started to become pretty special and we have been seeing a lot more of each other. We are still not sure where this relationship will lead, but we are sure enjoying getting to know each other better.

So far, 2011 promises to be an exciting and fun-filled year. Stay tuned.

CAN - step - step - step - CAN

2010-05-28T08:01:00.000-07:00

Most runners I know use running to occasionally "clear their head". You know, when the pressures of life build up and you feel like you can't get ahead, a good run will help to prioritize the important things and start making progress on them. A few nights ago, I was at that point and ended up going for a run around midnight. Nearly full moon and lots of streetlights made this a pretty safe thing to do for me, and while I was not able to fall asleep as soon as I got home, I was able to sort out my thoughts and feelings a lot better. When I did fall asleep around 3, I slept so soundly that when I woke up at 6, I felt more rested than I usually do after 8 hours of sleep.

That run was more of a "release-valve" type of run. It just let me vent some emotions on the pavement instead of on my family. This morning was more of a "clear my head" kind of run. I decided to use a regimented 3/1 run/walk ratio rather than the "run till you are ready to puke then walk till you are ready to run again" method I used for my midnight run. This helped me focus on my run and push everything else to the back of my mind. The 3 min run is a good interval for me. It is achievable for 6-8 iterations, but I really need to push myself for some of them. I read this quote on a friends FaceBook page recently:

"Your biggest challenge isn't someone else. It's the ache in your lungs and the burning in your legs, and the voice inside you that yells 'CAN'T", but you don't listen. You just push harder. And then you hear the voice whisper 'can'. And you discover that the person you thought you were is no match for the one you really are."- unknown

I thought of that when the 3 minute intervals were getting hard. I just thought that one word "can", took a few more steps, "can", a few more steps, "can". No worries about life or pending decisions. No work headaches. No car trouble. No thoughts other than "can" until I hit the 3 min mark and then I thought "DID!!!" In 60 seconds, I was ready to run again.

Epic Ride (sort of)

2010-02-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

It was beneath an overcast post-dawn sky that this epic ride was started. OK, maybe most people wouldn't consider it an Epic Ride. Alright, I wouldn't even have considered this an epic ride a few years ago, but hey, I just doubled my 2009 bike mileage in a single morning. Pretty embarrassing to admit that my total logged bike miles for 2009 was 4.

It did feel good to get out for a bit over 30 min this morning and I hope to get more rides real soon.

Pets in Costumes

2009-11-01T09:11:00.004-07:00

(or: Why some pets attack their owners)

I saw lots of costumes yesterday, but only a few pets in costumes. I always wonder if other dogs that see dogs in costume laugh when they see their canine friends wearing things like this:

Well, these guys didn't seem too upset about their outfits.

Dogfight

2009-09-27T05:00:00.001-07:00

My 2 dogs like to play. The 8 year age difference and 60 pound advantage make no difference to the Young Pup (YP) and he will still try to to get the toy away from Old Dog (OD). Sometimes he even wins, or maybe OD just lets him win or gets tired. Maybe it is true what they say:

It is not the size of the dog in the fight
It is the size of the fight in the dog that matters most

Remember that the next time you think you have bitten off more than you can chew.

Young Leaders

2009-09-26T14:30:00.001-07:00

Ever see a business leader that seemed too young to know what they were doing? They take charge of meetings and projects and lead the charge on new initiatives. Sometimes they don't seem to know what they are doing and sometimes their bold initiatives do not make any sense.

I went for another run today with the dogs. Well, run, walk & sniff would be a better description of the activity. While I like the enthusiasm of Young Pup (YP), I really appreciate the more relaxed approach that Old Dog (OD) takes. OD usually stays right next to me with only an occasional foray into the bushes after some exciting new smell. YP likes to charge to the full length of his leash and tug the whole time. He usually doesn't stop to sniff things and instead prefers to charge ahead as fast as his leash will let him.

YP like to lead, but keeps looking over his shoulder to make sure we are still following him, like the strain of the leash isn't enough of a clue. Some leaders (in business and politics) do the same thing. They will announce a new venture and declare it to be the new and best way and then look to their staff or constituents/voters to make sure that is what they want to be doing.

YP was leading this morning and made a sudden course change and lost his balance right in front of OD. OD did his best to avoid him, but they landed in a brown and black pile of fur. Luckily for me, this was all off to my side, so I just had to stop suddenly. They picked themselves up, none the worse for the wear and after untangling their leashes, YP was off again with OD and myself at our more sedate pace, side-by-side behind him.

We should all keep in mind that failure is not often fatal and all we really need to do is pick ourselves up, brush off the dust and get back to doing what we were meant to do.

I enjoy reading Mark Kolke's columns. With the time difference and the fact that I tend to sleep in a bit more, I can usually read his daily column before I head out for work or for a run. Many times, he has motivated me to take a look at something in a new light that changed a negative to a learning or growth opportunity. Take a look at his stuff and I would encourage you to sign up for his daily emails.

p.s. By request, pictures of the dogs should be coming before the end of the weekend. Facebook friends Fans of Flowing Desert Photography will be the first to see them, so if you are on Facebook, be sure to Fan my Photography page.

Run/Walk/Sniff

2009-09-25T08:02:00.004-07:00

I decided to give running another shot, even though after my little 2+ miler on Saturday, I got sicker than I've been in years. I think it was just my turn for the flu, but I felt fine. Went for a little run, showered, had breakfast and got sick within an hour of my run. Maybe the raspberries had gone bad (tasted and looked fine) or maybe it was just a coincidence, but I've been nervous about running again.

In spite of that, I know running does not make me sick, so I decided to just go out and take it easy today. So here is the story:

CAST:
OM - Old man (i.e. me)
OD - Old dog, our 8 yr old border collie/black lab mix
YP - Young pup, our about 6 month old shephard mix

OD was content to start with a warm-up walk with me, but YP wanted to run, so we gave in and let YP set the pace for the first 1/10 of a mile. We slowed so OD could smell some scents left by his neighborhood friends. YP kept the leash tight trying to keep running. You would think that he didn't have a nice big yard to run in or something. He does have plenty of room to run, but doesn't like being more than 2-3 feet away from OD.

We ran through a little park near the house with some medium sized rocks and YP had fun climbing over them. OD is smarter and just goes around, but maybe YP gets a better view for his efforts.

YP kept the leash tight while OD was content to run next to me in a near perfect "heel" position with the leash almost dragging on the ground. Only took me 8 years to get that behaviour perfected.

About 7/10ths of a mile in to our run (and an our way towards home), YP finally started to slow down a bit, either because he realized that is what OD was doing (and YP is a relentless copycat) or because he was starting to get tired. Whatever the reason, the last half mile was the most fun as I didn't have to keep pulling on the leash to keep him from running away.

By the time we were getting close to our house, I started saying "Go home, YP. Go home OD." Something that I have always done with OD so that if he gets out of the yard, he knows the command "Go home" if someone yells it at him. They both went straight to the gate.

A nice run. Hope to have more.

30 Days

2009-09-19T13:50:00.000-07:00

30 days can be a lot of things. A free trial period. An extra month for a paid annual subscription. Probationary period at a new job to see if you are going to make the cut.

In this case, it is simply a time to sit back and muse on my first month as a licensed HAM radio operator.

Why HAM?

I have heard some people say HAM radio is not as useful as it once was due to the proliferation and range of cell phones today. Others see it as "like a CB radio" and really only a time-waster for over-the-road drivers to chat with each other and warn about speed traps.

To some degree these are true, but there is also another side to HAM. When a disaster strikes (natural or otherwise) telephone communication is often the first to go, either as a result of the disaster or from the sheer volume of phone calls to and from loved ones to see if they are ok. This makes communication for rescue workers difficult. HAM radio operators can get communications established with minimal equipment and power, in some cases on battery power alone.

There is the social aspect of HAM radio to consider as well. To those of you that think that Twitter and FaceBook are what gave rise to Social Media, you are wrong. HAM radio enthusiasts have been involved in social media since before the Twitter and FaceBook creators were born.

It is hard. You need to learn Morse Code.

First of all, you do not need to learn Morse Code to get a HAM license. You do need to pass a written test, but with a little studying, that will probably not be any more difficult than passing your written driving test. The night I took my test, there was an 11 year-old at my table that took and passed the same test I took. All it takes is spending a little time with either a study guide (I bought a $20 book) or with a free practice test on the internet (I used the ones at QRZ.com)

First Contact

W1ATV, Bil (with one 'ell') was one of the first people to answer my "signal check" call. He was very friendly, but pretty much everyone I have talked to have gone out of their way in welcoming me to the airwaves. When I have a question about operating procedures or radio usage, I ask and I get answers. I have also joined a couple internet sites and posted questions there and gotten great feedback and advice.

What Next?

Well, there are more frequencies I can use if I pass the next test or two and upgrade my Technician license and get my General or Extra class license. I was close to passing General when I took my test, so I know I can pass it. I think that I will learn more about maximizing my current license so I have a good understanding of what I hope to get out of a higher class license before I start down that road. My current radio will not do High Frequency anyway, so I would need to start spending more money to be able to use HF frequencies.

What About You?

Ever thought about getting your HAM license? Know anyone that is a HAM?

I went for a run last night...

2009-07-18T12:43:00.003-07:00

I didn't track my time (even took my watch off). I didn't track my distance (didn't even bring my Garmin with me). But it was still the best run I have had in a very long time.

I got home after work and knew I needed a run. It was 110+ outside and a dust and wind storm were on the horizon, but I didn't care.

I've had stuff going on in my life. Some good, some not-so-good, but a lot of things that have been dragging me down. I haven't been visiting with my friends in my online forums and haven't updated my Twitter pages or Facebook status very much. I finally decided that heat warning or not, I was going running.

I took off and just kept the pace easy. I wasn't worried about pace, just tried to run more than I walked. I turned around after about a mile and saw that the dust storm off in the distance had gotten pretty close. A 2 mile run is no record for me, but this run wasn't about distance, it was about unwinding. I had to get somewhere before I got home. I made it. It was a good run.

Tech Tuesday - Mid year review

2009-06-30T19:25:00.003-07:00

I have been neglecting my blogging as of late. I apologize, but will not give excuses, even though I have plenty. Suffice it to say that there are more important things in life than blogging.

Since we are half-way through the year, I thought a quick review would be a good idea to see what I have done this year that make me a better Dad, husband, employee, etc.

Personal
Photography has always been something I enjoy, but late last year, I decided to try and start making some money at it. While it has been fun, I have not had crazy financial success. I have however done a lot of learning and am continuing the quest. I will probably not become a full-time professional any time soon (so my boss can rest easy if he is reading this) but I will continue to work on improving my skills, both in photography as well as the supporting tasks like web development, accounting and marketing.

Fitness
Last year at this time, I had finished my first Ironman and was still "recovering". I have made several starts this year, including a streak of over 30 consecutive runs. That has dwindled, but I will be restarting again soon and hope to be able to run a marathon by the end of 2009. If I am able, I will be attempting to set a new PR (personal record) and break 4 hours (an 18 second improvement over my current PR from Dec 2007).

Career
Oracle is an ever-growing animal. It has complexities no single person should ever expect to fully grasp. For most of my roughly 10 years as an Oracle DBA, I have kept my focus on what is typically called the "core DBA" skills. Last year, however, I was called upon to learn enough about the Oracle Financials application to be able to support business while a colleague was scheduled to be out of the office. I did so and kept things running. The temporary need became a permanent need as my company chose to reduce the size of our team and I became the permanent Application DBA. That has been a learning experience for me and has really rounded out my skillset.

While I will continue to develop my skills as much as I can, it is helpful to get some ideas. I was reminded of a January article from Tom Kyte that had his resolutions for 2009. Take a look and see if any of these might be a good idea for you to work into the rest of 2009.

One of the items on Toms list that I have found most useful in my career has been the suggestion to mentor someone more junior. I would not have accomplished as much as I have had it not been for people like Anand, Jeff, Paul, Rich and many more that have been there with ideas and suggestions about Oracle as well as others like Kevin, Scott, Kevin (yes, 2 different Kevin's) and many more that have been there to help me with tasks in other areas like Perl, web development, and system administration. In return, I have tried to "pay it foreword" by mentoring others. I have also participated in user groups behind the scenes and in front of the crowd, giving presentations on things I had learned.

So, what about you? Any progress on your annual goals? Any new goals you want to add to finish 2009 strong? Leave me a comment here or shoot me a message over on Twitter.

Happy Memorial Day

2009-05-25T09:49:00.003-07:00

I think my post over on my photography blog says it the best way I know how.

Save On Phones

2009-05-13T18:18:00.003-07:00

I have been doing a lot of management with my family phone plan lately and just wanted to share some of the things I have learned to save some money on your bill. I also got some parts of this from a friend who had some shortcuts for these. If you have any other tips, please feel free to comment with your ideas. These are from my dealings with Verizon, but most should apply to other carriers as well.

Data. Corporate vs. Personal Data plans. Both offer unlimited data, but the personal one is about $15 per month cheaper. The corporate one is needed if you need to access corporate servers (i.e. Exchange for work email sync). Personal one works fine for things like Gmail and web browsing.

Data. If you choose to go with a lower level data plan (like pay-as-you-go), check online before the end of your billing cycle. If you are using enough, you can save by moving up a level before the end of the month to get the bulk discount. Drop back later if you no longer need as much data.

Text. If you have enough lines/minutes on your family plan, it may make sense to add the unlimited text. Call support (Dial *611 from your cell phone or (800) 922-0204) and ask for your options. They saved me $5 a month and that increased all 4 of our lines to unlimited texting.

Text. If you are not on an unlimited text plan, check online before the end of your billing cycle. If you are using enough, you can save by moving up a level before the end of the month to get the bulk discount. Drop back later if you no longer need to text as much. Not doing this one month cost me an extra $60. You can do that from your phone for free by using: #DATA + Send and you should get 3 text messages from Verizon (FREE)... with the data on mins, text, data, M2M and other stuff.

Voice Minutes. Check online throughout the month so you can catch overuse before it costs you too much, but for sure before the end of your billing cycle. If you are using too many minutes, you can save by moving up a level before the end of the month to get the bulk discount. Drop back later if you no longer need to talk as much. You can do that from your phone for free by using: #MIN + Send

Friends and Family plans. Some plans have this feature. You choose up to 5 (or 10 depending on the level you have) non-verizon phone numbers that you call frequently and calls to these numbers do not count against your plan minutes. Your home landline should probably be the first one you add.

Online. Login to the Verizon wireless website or whoever your cell phone carrier is. You can check all of your current usage and get a list of all calls/text/data used for past billing cycles. You can save this to a spreadsheet. Very handy if you lose or damage your phone and are trying to recreate your contact list (but of course you know that you really should back up your phone).

So there you have my tips for saving a few dollars on your cell phone. I hope they help you, and if so, please say thanks by leaving a comment here. You can also pass along a link to this posting on Twitter, FaceBook or any other social media site that you use.

Streaking

2009-05-10T20:03:00.003-07:00

No, get your mind out of the gutter. Let me explain. About a month ago, I saw a message on Twitter that said "On 2nd day of my "'running streak'". I realized that since I had run the day before, I could match that streak. I had been struggling with running regularly and thought that I might give it a shot.

According to the United States Running Streak Association, Inc, a running streak is defined as running at least one continuous mile within each calendar day under one's own body power. It says nothing about pace, so I decided to give it a try.

Every runner worth their salt knows that recovery is important. Typically, recovery takes the form of days off from running which would not happen with running every day. Why would someone do this to themselves? Is it safe?

I learned during my triathlon training that recovery can also happen during cross-training (biking or swimming for example) or even on easy running days. During my ramp-up for my Ironman race last year, I went through some streaks where I had almost no time off. I had weeks of 5-6 runs per week and the shortest of those was usually 3-4 miles.

As I planned this, I decided a few things:

Runs with walk breaks count as long as the total distance exceeds 1 mile. You can save your puritan "only running counts " comments for another post that is coming, the "Can you still call it running?"
I would keep at least 4 runs a week as very easy. For me, that means between 11 and 12 mpm. When I run/walk with my youngest son, our avg is usually between 14 and 15 mpm.
I would try to start stretching one run a week as my "long" run.

April 6th was the first day of my first running streak. Even with the onslaught of summer here in the desert, I managed 33 days as of this past Friday when I managed a 1.5 mile run in 103* F. The first mile was even a sub-10 which is pretty fast for me these days.

Saturday morning, I woke up and decided the streak was over. I was tired in a way I had not been for quite awhile and decided that 33 days was a good start for my first running streak. In review of my running, I realized that I ran almost as much during this running streak of just about a month as I had in the previous 3 months. I would call that a success and I plan to resume a running streak again after a few days of rest.

So the short version is that this running streak has reinvigorated my running in a way I had not experienced in over a year. So what tricks to you use to maintain your fitness motivation? Leave me a comment here or give me a shout over on Twitter.

The cost of debt

2009-05-10T06:00:00.002-07:00

Any financial adviser will tell you that debt has costs. The cost of interest is the biggest and most obvious one.

Technical projects have debt as well. "Quick and Dirty gets it done", "Deadline Rules" and "We'll fix that in the next release" are but three of the refrains common to almost any technical project. At times, they have their place. It would be foolish to postpone a major "go-live" to change the structure of an index and the lost revenue could collapse the viability of the program.

However, too many times, "putting off til tomorrow", becomes "let the new guy/gal/team worry about it" because of staffing turnover or because the development team and the maintenance teams are in different departments. This maintenance is the technical equivalent of interest in the financial realm.

This blog post is a great read and should be mandatory for all IT managers involved in development or maintenance projects. Jeff explains why shortcuts today can cripple a business in the future. He is not so idealistic to expect that shortcuts will not be sometimes necessary to meet a business requirement, but suggests that some resources need to be budgeted to periodically fix these. I have personally butted heads with several managers over this very issue and have been frustrated in some jobs because there was no willingness to do ANY development that was not directly related to new features or bug fixes.

Consider a company in year 3 of a 7 year plan to move all of their applications off of a specific platform. What percentage of their applications had been moved? Should be close to 50% if it was evenly spread over 7 years right? Sadly, it was 0% and the only activity towards the goal was that most (but not all) of the new projects were being developed on the new platform.

The cost of their technical debt in this case became evident when they had a staff reduction to reduce costs. If the old (expensive) platform decommissioning had been on schedule, the net savings would have likely been more than the salary costs saved by staff reductions. Sadly, now with less people (and some very experienced key team members gone) this project has even less of a chance of success. It is a vicious cycle, like someone with too much debt who is no longer able to make even the interest payments on their debt who will have a large battle to get out of debt or face bankruptcy.

Don't let your company face technical bankruptcy!

Happy Blogging B-Day to me!

2009-05-03T06:00:00.004-07:00

One year ago today....

There is an older post, but that was just a pre-dated entry to record my Ironman Race Report.

In the past year, I have ranted, raved, shared and bragged about everything from running to technology to family and friends. I have not seen millions of hits, but have seen over 2000 visits with over 3000 page views. I had some technical issues getting the statistics working which means that there were many other visits in the 2 months before I got all the bugs worked out and tracking reliably in early July. This many visits produces some interesting statistics. Well, interesting to me anyway:

visits came from over 30 different countries
visits came from 50 different states in the US. (Iowa & North Dakota missing)
top 27 states have 10 or more visits
only 5 states had a single visit

I have been neglecting this blog a bit for several reasons. I will tell you what they are and let you decide if I need either a kick in the pants or a pat on the back.

One reason I started this blog was to document my journey from couch potato to Ironman. After a successful race at IMAZ last April, for many reasons, I backed off of my fitness activities. A part of that was due to the mental burnout from 3 years of almost non-stop training. I have recently been more successful in getting some regular training in (running anyway) so I may be spending a bit more time updating this blog.

Another reason for my sparcity here is that I have started a photography business that I have called Flowing Desert Photography. That has taken some of the time I would have spent training or updating this blog. Along with the business side of things, I have also been hard at work with a photo blog for the business. Some of my posting here was the beginnings of that so most photography stuff is now over there, so feel free to drop by over there as well.

Well, hope you have enjoyed reading my ramblings here this year and I hope you stick around for many more.

It's coming....

2009-05-01T05:01:00.000-07:00

Can you guess what it is?

Did a little birdie tell you yet?

I'm not telling....

2 days to go....

Any guesses? If so, leave a comment or shout it out on Twitter...

Triathlon Training Plans

2009-04-17T18:45:00.001-07:00

While I am not currently training for a triathlon, I am still interested in tri-training, because I plan to resume tri-training in the future, maybe as soon as 2010 ramping up for another IM in 2011.

I just read an article on training volume that sounded interesting. The concept being discussed is why many age-groupers hit "the wall". Jesse explains his theory of the volume required to avoid what he terms System Failure (walking the last 10 miles of the marathon in an IM for example). He states that for a triathlon, the following required distances should be met at least twice in the 6 weeks before race day. These distances are based on your race distance according to the following formula:

Swim – 9/3 of the event distance, per week
Bike – 8/3 of the event distance, per week
Run – 7/3 of the event distance, per week

For someone training for an Ironman, that means that in their final build block before race day, they should have a week with at least 12,660 yards of swimming, 300 miles of biking and 60 miles of running. For me, that would mean about 29 hours (based on my speed leading up to last years IMAZ race). That is a lot of training and does not factor in things like getting to training locations, gear maintenance, laundry and logging all those training hours. Add those in and you have a second FULL-TIME job if you are a working person like me.

All that work for the honor and privilege of a solid race. A solid race IF your nutrition plan is tested and works well for you on race day, and IF the weather cooperates to some degree, and IF you have a good race pace plan and you stick with it. Some of those are in your control and others are not.

That is a very short summary of the article and he goes into much more detail, so if you want more info, I highly recommend checking it out.

Cheers!

2009-04-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

No, not just the English greeting or a toast. Cheers was one of my favorite sitcoms so while in Boston I stopped by the Bull & Finch which was the inspiration for the show.
That's me next to the famous stairs down the the bar "where everyone knows your name".

I enjoy barfood, after all, what's not to like about greasy fries and a grilled burger. Since I am a bit cynical, sometimes I think that "landmarks" don't have great food. Maybe it is because they get a sizeable chunk of their business from tourists that won't be back for the next weekly special they don't feel the need to try to make their food special. Maybe the demanding nature of some tourists make it hard to keep good kitchen help. Whatever the reason, I have seen it more than once and accordingly was not planning on anything special at Cheers.

I was surprised! The cheeseburger I had was probably second only to a great place in Minnesota. (I think it was called the Lion's Tap. Anyone been there recently? Is it still good?)
Anyway, the burger was cooked the way I ordered it and was just the right amount of greasy. The fries were ok, but with a burger like that, who cares? One of the people I was with had a turkey sandwich and said it was a bit dry and lamented trying to eat healthy. The other person also had a burger and agreed that it was great.

It was also about the only sun we had all week, so I was glad I had my camera with me to get a few pictures, even if it did help make us a few minutes late back to class.

Now I turn it over to you, blog readers. Do you have a favorite restaurant? Any "famous" ones that you've been to with great food? Leave a comment here or shout out over on Twitter. Don't know what Twitter is? Go visit www.Twitter.com and sign up and join the fun. An upcoming blog post will talk about one way Twitter is useful to just about anyone.

Update from Boston

2009-04-03T19:34:00.003-07:00

Sometimes a stranger can bring great meaning to your life. - fortune cookie

After walking around in the rain for awhile, I decided to grab a quick bite to eat from McDonald's. Not the healthiest choice, but once in a while it's not too bad. I was partway back and I felt the bag shift a bit. Before I knew it, my bag was torn and most of my fries were on the sidewalk along with my napkins. One friendly passerby chuckled and said something like "sucks to be you doesn't it" which was in line with a fair number of people I have encountered here this week. [Side note: Before all you Bostonians jump all over me, I have encountered a fair number of sociable and friendly people here as well.]

This brings me to the point of my fortune cookie. The whole incident could have ticked me off and ruined my afternoon, but it didn't for two reasons. One is that I try to not let minor things (people cutting me off in traffic, spilled milk, lack of casual dress-codes, etc.) ruin my day.

The other is that another passerby stopped (in the rain) and helped me pick up my stuff. She asked if I wanted the napkins I dropped. I said, I would just throw them away and looked around for a trash can. Not seeing one, she said not to worry, she would throw them away for me. She had no reason to stop and help and in the rain, every reason not to, but she still did.

Just a random act of kindness that someone did that helped brighten up a rainy day for this traveler. Reminds me I need to keep my eyes open for opportunities to "pay it foreword".

Boston pictures to come soon over on my photo blog.

Hiking & Computers

2009-04-01T18:30:00.006-07:00

Hiking and computers really have nothing in common, but I have to talk about both and I'm too lazy to make to make 2 separate posts.

Computers

Good news is my laptop is back and mostly 100%. It did take me about a week to get most of my programs reinstalled and get the operating system patched back to a reasonably current level.

Bad news is the family pc took another dump. Even worse is the timing, I am out of town and can't even work on it till Saturday. That is a bit of a problem for my oldest son will need to use a neighbors computer for his school work. It is a near catastrophe for my wife who will now be hopelessly backlogged on her FaceBook "work".

Hopefully I can get it back up and running quickly, but may need to pick up a new pc since this one has now had strange problems a couple times in the past couple months. If so, I'll put Linux on this and fire up some "uptime" tracking tools to see if I can figure out if it is hardware or operating system related.

Hiking

This past Saturday, one of my nephews came to town for a week with my parents. My youngest son and I talked them into going on a hike with us. We went to the San Tan mountains as they are pretty close and I had not been there since they closed off a bunch of the trails to 4x4 vehicles (used to have some fun with the Durango there, almost rolled it once). There were some up's and down's like this, but nothing to extreme or risky.

Just don't let my sister see that sign in the picture below. :)

We had fun and hiked about 2.5 miles. We might have gone longer, but some of the older group was getting tired and the other one needed to pack for a trip very early the next morning (some would say later that night).

That was quick

2009-03-23T06:12:00.000-07:00

A week is an eternity for someone like me to live without their main computing machine, so facing the prospect of 2 weeks of waiting and fighting with the rest of the family for computer time was daunting. But that was the only way to get my laptop back to fully working condition.

Return shipping to the repair center was "next afternoon" service, so I was pleasantly surprised when the next morning I got an email (email on the phone has become vital without a laptop) saying they had received it and were starting to work on it. Estimates were 7-9 working days before they would send it back.

The next afternoon (Friday) I got another email saying it was on it's way back. FedEx web site confirmed that it was on its way and should be home Monday afternoon.

Now the questions are:

1. Is everything working?
2. Did I get my own hard drive back or will I spend the next 2-3 weeks reinstalling and reconfiguring things to my liking?

Stay tuned for updates...

Repairs are underway

2009-03-19T17:30:00.001-07:00

My main machine is in a box on it's way to Texas for repairs, so updates may be a bit scarce here for the next week or so. I have all my important files and stuff backed up on 2 different hard drives and am planning on using the family machine to get a few blog posts up, but there will probably be less posts for the next couple weeks.

In the meantime, feel free to browse some of my older posts. Comments on the older posts will not be posted till I moderate them, but that is just to make sure a spam-bot doesn't go crazy on me. Plus that ensures that I don't overlook a comment on an older post.

Also, you can feel free to checkout my photoblog over at Flowing Desert Photography. I may be a bit less frequently visible on Twitter during the week, but feel free to give me a shout there if you want to say hi.

See you soon.

A New Ironman

2009-03-18T07:24:00.001-07:00

St George Utah is a very scenic place and Utah is close for me, so I could drive there and not worry about shipping my bike. May temperatures in Utah should be no worse than April in Arizona was last year.

It would be a beautiful area to race in, but I am wondering how tough the course is going to be. I remember pulling our camper through this area years ago and remember some brutal climbs, but I don't know how they have mapped the course will lay out. Has anyone done a mapmyrun or mapmytri on this yet? Anyone already register for this? Leave me a comment or shout out on Twitter.

Online Communications Methods

2009-03-15T13:30:00.000-07:00

Twitter is a great tool for making connections. I think of it as a cross between email and instant messaging, combined with a dose of bulletin board and forums. What do I mean by that? Here is how I see these different technologies being commonly used:

Email:

Usually used for non-real time communication for things where an answer can wait anywhere from few minutes to several days or longer. All parties in the communication do not need to be present at the same time for email to be effective. Email is "directed messaging", that is to say, you specify the username(s) of the intended recipient(s). Barring security glitches or forwarding by a recipient, anyone not on the distribution list is not going to see the message.

Instant Messaging:

IM is usually used for interactive conversation. Very helpful for troubleshooting or actively working on a problem. If all parties are not available at the same time, IM does not work. Like email, IM is "directed messaging".

Forums:

Forums are the modern equivalent of what started out being known as bulletin boards or BBS. BBS's were around before the internet became commonplace and provided "geeks of a feather" a place to hang together. Discussions and replies were mostly public to the members of the board. This provided a great way to have a lively discussion. This is typically less real time than IM, but frequently can get very close to real time. While they usually have a direct message function, forums are usually considered "public messaging" and messages are open either to all participants of the forum or to anyone on the internet.

Twitter:

Twitter only allows 140 characters in a message which can be considered a limitation or a time saver. Most of us have read email messages that were multiple pages long when the relevant information could have easily been contained in a half of a page. Twitter does allow for direct messages, but the primary consideration here are the public messages and what are called "at replies". "At replies" are messages that are intended for a specific recipient and are of the form @username. While targeting a specific user makes it easier for that user to see the message, the message is public. This means Twitter communication can be both targeted and public at the same time.

Direct Messages in Twitter:

While still limited to 140 characters, the dm option allows for a directed message without the public exposure. It is the subject of some controversy in the Twitter world, especially the use of "Auto DM's". Some people use automatic dm's to promote their websites. Others use them for an automatic greeting while others don't use them at all. Finally, some people object to them and will rant and rave about any automatic dm they get.

To try and get a handle on this topic, I have put a survey here and will be asking for votes and opinions to be posted here in the comments. How do you use Twitter, email and other communication? What do you think about direct messages on Twitter? Let me know here in the comments and over on Twitter.

Oracle log file maintenance

2009-03-13T19:01:00.003-07:00

Though I have been an Oracle DBA for about a decade, I have only recently started taking on responsibility for some of the other tiers that are part of Oracle Applications, Portal, Enterprise Manager and Oracle Management Server. I am a part of a small team that has not had much training other than on the job experience in these areas. We are managing pretty well, but are still trying to find easier and better ways to manage things.

The latest issue was discovered by one of our team as they were doing some preventative system checks. They noticed some largish log files and added them to the archive and clean script. These new files bring to 4 the number in this particular system and as we were discussing it, we wondered several things.

The current list

$ORACLE_HOME/mid/webcache/logs/access_log
$ORACLE_HOME/mid/j2ee/OC4J_Portal/log/OC4J_Portal_default_island_1/default-web-access.log
$ORACLE_HOME/infra/j2ee/OC4J_SECURITY/log/OC4J_SECURITY_default_island_1/default-web-access.log
$ORACLE_HOME/infra/oc4j/j2ee/OC4J_DBConsole_stingray.circlek.com_icprod/log/http-web-access.log

We are using a rudimentary script that makes a copy of the archive, a copy of the current log and then empties the current log. This process gives us 2-3 weeks of history and is self-maintaining (what every DBA should strive for).

There are about a million log files in this rats nest of directories, but they all seem to be pretty small and slow growing. Are there other log files that should be maintained regularly?

An Ounce of Prevention

Besides ongoing maintenance, what can a self-respecting DBA do to reduce unnecessary logging? I do not know of a list of what can be turned off or reduced.

I am counting on my Oracle friends, both here in the blogsphere as well as in Twitlandia to help me flesh out this list so we can all can have a master list of log files to include in maintenance scripts. Your comments here are greatly appreciated.

A New Addition...

2009-03-09T23:00:00.001-07:00

Giovanni arrived to the world late last week allowing my little brother to finally become a fellow member of the "Fathers of boys" club. I am sad to report that none of Giovanni's cousins that have met so far wanted to spend any time with him.

Just kidding. Not since the arrival of the Wii game system in our house have I seen my boys argue over sharing this much.

Giovanni's parents also seem to be pretty taken in with him which is a good thing since they will be spending a lot of time with him for the next 15 years or so.

A few more pictures over at my photoblog if you still have not gotten your fill of baby pictures. Clicking on any picture will take you to a bigger version.

Shooting Jams

2009-03-08T16:14:00.006-07:00

My youngest son told me a few weeks ago that he didn't remember ever shooting a gun. He had come with a few years ago once or twice when I took his older brother, but he hadn't wanted to go since then. As it had been about a month since I had been to a range, we made plans to go to a local public range this past weekend.

My Dad came with and brought his .22 revolvers with as they were a good size for a new shooter. I brought my guns with as well since I wanted to shoot the long guns as well as get some trigger practice with my 9mm pistol.

The weather was a perfect Arizona winter. Not cold enough for anything more than a t-shirt and not hot enough to get dehydrated. After showing my son how to load, cock, aim and fire one of the .22 revolvers and supervising him for awhile, my Dad took over supervising duty and I loaded up the .308 and got started on my targets.

My target was about 40 yards away and I was shooting from a bench and leaning on a cement shooting table without blocks. I took my time lining up my shots and did not rush. Three of my first 4 were in the black circle that I was aiming for. Oddly, that was better aim than when I used the .22 rifle a few minutes later. I thought the kick of the .308 would throw my aim off more. Maybe it was the better scope that helped.

After a couple magazines of .308 kicking me around, I was ready to give my Taurus 9mm pistol a workout. The last time I was at the range, I had some jamming trouble. I thought I had narrowed it down to a specific clip not feeding correctly and so I was not using that clip anymore. Sadly, almost every clip I shot had at least one problem. This happened with both types of ammunition I had with me as well as both clips that I was using.

Last time I was at the range about a month ago, another shooter suggested that my problems were lack of lubrication, so when I it that night, I made sure to be more generous with the oil when re-lubricating.

What do you do when you have a problem? You search for the answer online. Who knows, that may even be how you ended up here. Well, one of the first hits I found was from North Carolina Sportsman with an article titled "Why your semi-auto pistol jams." I found this article very informative and useful.

First of all, it appears that my problem is properly defined as "failure to extract" and happens when the empty shell does not get extracted properly after the shot is fired. Furthermore, it seems that the most likely cause of this is what is called "limp-wristing" or not having a tight enough grip on the gun.

It looks as though I have something to practice next time I go shooting. In the meantime, I was able to take advantage of the problems to practice clearing malfunctions.

All-in-all, it was a fun day shooting and we all had fun. I need to plan on doing this again real soon.

Movie Time

2009-03-06T06:00:00.001-07:00

I just watched The Flying Scotsman about cyclist Graeme Obree. I thought it was a pretty good movie and it got me thinking about other sports or athletics movies. I realized I could not think of very many off the top of my head so I asked my friends on Twitter for some ideas.

Instead of just giving you a list of movies, I am going to put them in some general categories. I know they could all be put in other categories, but I'll let you provide feedback as I have not seen most of these. Leave me a note in the comments and I'll continue refining this list with better categories as I get them.

Documentaries
What it Takes Ironman - Triathelete documentary
Running on the Sun - about the Badwater ultramarathon
The Runner - about ultra runner David Horton
Spirit Of The Marathon

Other (motivational, inspirational, love story, etc.)
The Flying Scotsman
Breaking Away
Remember the Titans
Little Giants
Rudy
Facing The Giants
Hoosiers
Tin Cup

Comedies
Wildcats
Sandlot
Mighty Ducks
Rookie of the Year
Caddyshack

Thanks to the following members of the great Twitter-nation for these movie names. If you are on Twitter give them a shout and think about following them.

@CalebMasland
@DaniSykes
@Jason_K_Smith
@Loves2workout
@SKDickey
@bikedork
@dbjohnson
@jducey14
@kimba90
@kimokali
@mary_thornhill

I would love to update this list and include more titles, so please fill out a quick comment with your favorite sports movies (I'm surprised no one said Blades of Glory yet) and give a quick review if you want to recommend one (or recommend avoiding any).

ATM's

2009-02-24T15:37:00.004-07:00

I was reading a friends blog about his time abroad and one post made me remember something that happened to me. I tried to post a longish comment, but due to technical problems with his blogging platform, I was not able to. So I decided to post it here.

Funny how things we take for granted are in other countries. I discovered our hotel wanted to charge me an extra 25% if I wanted to pay by credit card, so I went to take a couple hundred out at an ATM. After trying unsuccessfully twice, the machine-gun-armed guard told me I was trying to take out more than the limit. Daily withdrawal limits were $100 USD.

I went into the bank and got $300 when the teller came back with my cash I realized they had not asked me what denominations. Since things were so cheap, twenty dollar bills were difficult to get change for, so it was all in $10 bills. I felt like I was a drug dealer or paying some ransom with my bulging fanny pack and jacket pockets.

I was a bit concerned for my safety till I got back to the hotel and paid my bill for most of the week (getting rid of about half of the cash) and secreting most of the rest in my money belt.

Funny how things we may take for granted (taking $100 from an ATM and getting 5 $20 bills) are not the same everywhere.

What's it worth?

2009-02-22T06:00:00.002-07:00

Value is often subjective. A gallon of gas is under $2.00 most places in the US right now, but if you needed to get somewhere urgently, you would be likely to pay a lot more.

I can get a gallon of water at a machine near my house for 25 cents. If I was stuck in the middle of a hot desert, I would easily pay $100 (if I had it) for a glass of water to ensure my survival.

Stimator claims to be a Real Website Value Estimator. I was not sure about it, so I took a look at it and ran a couple websites through.

The first was a domain I have had for about 2 years. I use AndertFamily.net to post race reports and some family photos. I would classify this web page as "lightly used, personal information". Stimator reported this domain is worth $54 US dollars.

The second was a domain I have had for about 4 months. I use FlowingDesert.com as a main entry point for my new business venture, Flowing Desert Photography. I would classify this web page as "somewhat actively used, business information" and have been actively promoting this domain as well as 2 subdomains. Stimator reported this domain is worth $1,150 US dollars.

While these numbers make a bit of relative sense based on how and how much I use them, they really have no significant impact on me since I do not intend on selling either domain. It is nice however to see that there is value in the promotion activity I have done with my Flowing Desert domain.

What do you think? Run some of your domains against Stimator and let me know how accurate you think the numbers are in the comments here or give me a shout at @CactusTri over on Twitter.

No such thing as free lunch.

2009-02-17T14:05:00.005-07:00

But there are some contests that you can enter (for free) and possibly win something (for free).

One of the blogs I regularly read, The Pipers are participating in "A Requirement-free Giveaway: Make Your Favorite Picture a Poster". This post is the hardest thing I've done to enter and there are other ways to enter that are even easier. You can also send a tweet on Twitter, click that link to see mine and you can ReTweet it if you want.

If I win, I will probably decide between this one:
and this one:
What do you think? Leave me a comment and let me know which you think would look best on a big wall. Or visit my photography site and see if you think a different one would be a better choice. Spread this contest around and say hi to me over on Twitter if you get a chance.

Day hike

2009-02-14T21:08:00.004-07:00

The Plan.

This kind of weather makes it hard to stay inside so I decided to head out for an afternoon hike up in the mountains. My youngest son decided to join me so we grabbed my camera bag and headed out early afternoon.

Execution.

We headed out to the Superstition mountains and found the trailhead we had selected without any problem. About 3pm, we headed out from the car. We had no rush to set a fast pace and just set out along the trail. We had great weather, mostly clear skies with just a few white puffy clouds floating by. Perfect t-shirt weather.

The chart on the right shows the elevation. Pretty gentle till the last section before we turned around where it go a bit steep.

The overall pace is surprisingly low, even when you consider that this was the longest my son and I have gone together, but we stopped quite a few times for sight-seeing. There are some amazing views in the Superstition mountains as well as quite a bit of wildlife. Several times we saw several hummingbirds at the same time.

The Numbers.

Just over 4 miles
About 1450 ft of elevation gain
Average temp was 56* F
110 pictures taken (keep an eye over at blog.FlowingDesert.com, they will start turning up soon).

Conclusion.

A great way to spend an afternoon.

Love is in the air...

2009-02-14T02:00:00.001-07:00

OK, maybe not in the air, but it is definitely somewhere. I know it is. I can smell it. At least I think that is love. Maybe it is just a new fabric softener.

I am scheduling this to publish early on the 14th, so in case you forgot, you still have a chance to get a card before the only thing left are the leftover Christmas cards.

I'll admit it. I am a softie at times. I like to do nice things for my wife "just because". While I do not do them as often as I would like, I sort of resent being told I am required to spend $$ on roses on a specific day when a week before or after that day I could give her twice as many flowers for half as much. And a dinner out the week before Valentine's Day is much more relaxing than bumping elbows with everyone else because the restaurant squeezed another 10 tables to make a few extra bucks.

Will the current financial state curb plans for folks? Will more people have a surprise Valentine's Day a few days early? Will the jewelry gifts be a bit more subdued than during the boom years of dot-com mania?

What do you think? Is Valentines day over marketed? Do some of us need to take a hint and start being more romantic on a more regular (though not predictable) basis? Let me know in the comments or give me a shout over on Twitter.

Sequential or Random Access snack machines

2009-02-11T06:00:00.001-07:00

Of Databases:
As a Database Administrator (DBA) by profession and training, I understand a bit about database technology. I have learned about the early versions that required data to be read sequentially. If you had to use a phone book sequentially, that means in order to look up someone with the last name Smith, you would first have to scan past every other name in the book that came before Smith. Anderson, Barker, Cadwell, etc. For some purposes, this was acceptable, since machines were doing the work and it was much faster than a human could do the same thing.

The next major improvement became what is called a Relational Database. This allows the data to be retrieved from any place in the table without needing to read all the records before it. This makes a database more efficient and practical for data sets with very large numbers of records. This allowed what we consider random data access.

Of Snack Machines:
Snack machines allow for the buyer to choose which product (record) they want. Press A1 for m&m's, B4 for Milky Way, C3 for Trail Mix or D5 for Zingers, the choice is yours. When you make your choice, the machine (database) activates the spiral for your product, dropping it into the tray for your snacking pleasure. The selections can be made in any order without a difference in how long it will take to get your snack (data).

So databases and snack machines are both relational. HOWEVER, you may have seen vending machines that intentionally break this by putting different snacks in the same selection. So A1 may be plain m&m's now, but the next one might be peanut m&m's. This is very frustrating if you want peanut m&m's now. One option the vending machine people have is to use the choices as separate selections. This way, A1 will always be plain m&m's and A2 will always be peanut m&m's which is great for thos of us who will only eat plain (or peanut) m&m's. Unfortunately, space is at a premium and doing things like that means that other choices will no longer have a spot, so maybe the Milky Way or 3 Musketeer fans lose out.

In the same way, sometimes people will take a field in a database like SourceID and instead of using it for the ID of the referral source, will use whatever sounds right. Now SourceID has valid entries like TV101 (for a tv advertising campaign) or EC (for existing customer) along with invalid entries like Bob (the name of the friend that referred them) or TVINET (because they saw an ad on tv as well as an email). The problem with these invalid entries is that the people in charge of analyzing the success or failure of a marketing campaign no longer can accurately tell how much business impact a given campaign has produced.

Running

2009-02-09T01:26:00.003-07:00

WooHoo! What a great way to end a weekend. Saturday, I drove up to Prescott for a portrait session with my cousin, Frankie! She is a doll and had a great time. My aunt had a great spot picked out and we had a lot of fun. I hope to put a few of the pictures up on my photo site later this week.

Then, later in the day, I went for a 5 mile run. Same as last weekend only with newer shoes. No soreness today at all! Just over 15 miles again.

Sunday afternoon, DS#2 took me out for a run so he can stick to his c25k plan. Just as we started running after our warm-up walk, he asks me if that is a woodpecker. Go take a look and let me know what you think. Or you can cheat and go to my photoblog site when it posts and see it there.

What a fun way to end a week (of course, I'll pay for it tomorrow since I am up so late, but that is the price of playing with Lightroom for hours on end).

How was your week? Leave me a comment here or say "Hi" over on Twitter.

Speed!

2009-02-05T07:00:00.001-07:00

Running last night was great. First 2.1 miles were run/walk with my youngest son and was at about 15 mpm avg including the ~5 min warm up and another ~5 min cool down. He is working through Couch to 5k (C25k) and just started week 2. I am using the runs with him as either an easy day or a warm-up depending on my schedule.

So after the 2.1 miles with him, kept going and decided to do another mile or so "faster". To be honest, I was thinking a mile or 2 at 10 mpm or so would be ok. After about 2 min, I checked my pace and Mr Garmin said I was doing about 8:30. It felt ok and I thought I could hold that for a mile, so I picked up the effort a bit, and got my average for that mile as low as about 7:20 for a bit and just tried to hold it together for the rest of the mile. I faded a bit by the end of the mile, but still managed to make that 3rd mile in under 8 minutes.

This morning, I felt fine, with to tightness or soreness. I had a 20 min chair massage and she said that there was very little tightness in my back or shoulders.

I am trying to balance taking it easy with getting back my endurance and speed from last year in hopes of getting another marathon under my belt this year and possibly getting closer to qualifying for the Boston Marathon. That is a big goal and one I want to achieve before tackling Ironman again in a few years.

What about you? How are your fitness goals coming? Are you making any progress toward them? Let me know in the comments or head over to Twitter and let me know.

The List

2009-02-01T08:00:00.003-07:00

I have never made a list of things I wanted to do by the time I was 40, 50 or any other age. I never made an infamous "Bucket List", at least not in writing. I am not against any of these lists, but like the idea of having a "To-Do" list. Here is my first official release of my list. I am including a few items that I have already done, just because I feel they are momentous enough that they have influenced my life.

Learn a second language (Spanish 1976ish)
Complete a marathon (Twin Cities Marathon 2006)
Complete an Ironman Triathlon (IMAZ April 2008)
Take a photo workshop/class
Sell a photograph to someone I do not know
Learn to program better in Perl
Learn to fly an airplane
Visit China

I am sure that there will be things that I will discover later. Some of these things are easier to do and some are harder and will take longer. For now though, this will be my list.

What about you? Do you have a list of things that you want to accomplish in your life? Are you making any progress toward them? Let me know in the comments or head over to Twitter and let me know.

More running!

2009-01-31T12:43:00.003-07:00

It was a chilly 42*F when I headed out, so I wore a long-sleeve compression shirt under a t-shirt. I know all you Northerners are laughing at me calling 42 cold, but at my current slow pace, I don't generate enough heat, so I need a bit of help.

I managed to keep an even pace. The first mile was 12 mpm including about 3 min of fast walking to warm up. Overall average was close to 11:30 mpm. This was my longest run so far in 09 and I felt great the whole time other than a bit of an upset stomach.

The total for the week of 12.75 which is, I'm pretty sure, my best week in over 6 months. Woo Hoo! I feel a 15 mile week coming up soon.

More good news!

2009-01-27T12:53:00.001-07:00

Hear me Roar!: Good news!

In addition to being good news for Amanda, it is good news for all of us to know that there are so many men and women putting their lives on the line to protect our freedom.

So, Jarrod, thank you for your service and glad you are home safe and sound. That thanks also goes out to the rest of our armed forces.

Terrific Tuesday

2009-01-27T06:00:00.001-07:00

Have you ever lost your wallet or purse? I think most of us have at one time or another. If so, you know the sick-to-the-pit-of-your-stomach feeling that hits you when you realize it is missing.

The flip side of losing your wallet is finding it again. Or finding something else. It feels great to find something of value. Finding 25 cents while I was out on a run one day brightened my day. Finding a coupon for a favorite restaurant can make someone happy.

With that incredibly long, but hopefully not too boring lead-in, today's news story is about a movement to help more people feel the good feeling of finding something.

Burger King is dropping real wallets in Chicago and Orlando with real money and real gift certificates in them to brighten people’s lives and make things better for people...

More recently, some other folks have taken this idea and run with it. Nina Hershberger and Daiv Russell have launched a Pay It Forward campaign. Instead of real wallets, which would be a bit more expensive, their plan is using paper wallets. They will provide people with 50 free paper wallets, just for the asking for people that will pass them out as they see fit with the addition of something of value. The item of value can be anything of your choice, whether that is gift certificates, cash or something else is up to you. Check it out and think about whether this is something you could participate in to help spread some good news around.

What do you think about this? A good idea or should helping others be done in other ways? If you do plan on doing this, please leave a comment here. You can also chat about it over on Twitter where you can say "hi" to me as well.

Double Digits!!!

2009-01-24T16:46:00.003-07:00

I finally made it to double-digit mileage this week (with a 1-time adjustment from Mon-Sun to Sun-Sat for this week only). 12 miles!!! This morning was a 4 miler which is a new record for 2009, so that was a great way to start the weekend.

Lets see if we can keep this up next week.

Wish me luck! No, really, wish me luck here in the comments or drop me a note on Twitter, it really helps.

This is strange

2009-01-23T08:30:00.001-07:00

I logged in to a bill paying site I have used for several years and got this message:

Please note that you will only see this message once and must take immediate action on it.

We take great care to keep your personal information secure. As part of these ongoing efforts, we are notifying you that the computer you use for online bill payment may have been exposed to software that puts the security of your computer's contents at risk. This letter will help you determine if your computer is actually infected and advise you how to fix the problem and protect yourself against future risk.

The malicious software affects some but not all customers who accessed online bill payment on Tuesday, December 2, 2008. For a limited period of time, some customers were redirected from the authentic bill payment service to another site that may have installed malicious software. Your computer may be infected if all of the following are true:

* You attempted to access online bill payment between 12:30 a.m. and 10:10 a.m. Eastern time (GMT -5) on Tuesday, December 2, 2008, and
* You were using a computer with the Windows operating system, and
* You reached a blank screen rather than the usual bill payment screen when you attempted to navigate to online bill payment, and
* After reaching the blank screen, your computer's virus protection program did not tell you via pop-up or other messaging that malicious software was detected and quarantined.

If all four of the conditions above are true, your computer may be infected. We have partnered with McAfee, .... Please contact us ... for further instructions. We will also offer you both advice and free services that can help you mitigate any risk you may face as a result of this incident or other everyday exposures you may encounter. ...

We value your business and your trust, and we apologize for any inconvenience this recent incident has caused.

I am not sure exactly what day or time I logged in, but there is no way I remember what time I logged in or what messages I received. I guess I will give them a call tomorrow and see what is up. I guess I should assume I got hit and get the fix.

Running and stuff

2009-01-22T22:11:00.003-07:00

I really started this blog to monologue about my running and have a place to put my race reports for future review. Thus, now that I have started running a bit more regularly, I am going to start logging my runs here. I also log them on BeginnerTriathlete.com (I am CactusTriathlete there) and that feeds my Twitter-stream. But to my loyal blog readers, I will keep the most interesting (interesting being relative, sometimes a run is just a boring run) stuff here.

I ran a total of 3.1 miles in a shade under 34 minutes for an avg pace of 10:52 mpm. Miles 2 & 3 were a tad faster than the first and I ran the whole way with no walk breaks. I feel like I could have gone a few more miles (but not too much further tonight). Effort was moderate and I went without water (trying to avoid water for anything under 1 hour until the temps start to climb back up.

Thanks for dropping by and may your runs be fast and feel easy.

Terrific Tuesday

2009-01-21T11:00:00.002-07:00

While this is going out Wednesday, I am calling it Terrific Tuesday because of when I heard and found these items.

Item #1.
My mom called. Biopsy results are in. Not Cancer. GREAT NEWS!!!

Item #2.
A friend on Twitter sent a link to this video. That prompted me to dig a bit more to find out about this guy and found his site here. If anyone has a reason to be bitter, Nick would be it, but he is not. You will fall down, but you don't need to stay down. Keep trying and never give up!

Now, your turn. Share something good that has happened to you recently. Or something that you read that made you feel good. Or tell me this stuff makes you sick (though if that is the case, I highly doubt you have even read this far). Hey, that is why the comments are there and I just made it easier than ever to post a comment. As long as I don't start getting a ton of spam, I will leave these looser settings, so if you want to post a motivational message about your discount pharmacy, please don't, as I will just delete it. Anything other than spam is welcome.

Thanks for dropping by.

Tech Coolness

2009-01-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

A friend just passed this link on to me. Besides the expected low price, this laptop looks like it would meet the needs of upwards of 90% (my guess) of home computer users. Based on only this one post, as long as the drivers for printing are available, my suspicion is that this machine has the potential to be a best-seller. The prototype they are showing looks like something Fisher-Price would make (that is a compliment in my book) and would be pretty reliable which would make it a great addition to any household with kids or new computer users.

I look forward to the continued progress of this product and hope it doesn't languish in development due to the current financial struggles.

What do you think? Would this find it's way into your house? Would it replace some or most of what you do with a laptop? Let me know in the comments.

Almost...

2009-01-18T16:35:00.003-07:00

... made it to double digits this week. Just over 8 miles. Nothing record-breaking for me, but a new high for 2009. Maybe next week will be over 10.

Today was a nice 3.15 mile progression run. Each mile was faster than the one before.

That's all. Stay tuned for more running next week (I hope). If you need more before then, feel free to visit my photo blog or head over to Twitter and say "hi".

I ran again last night!

2009-01-15T07:30:00.000-07:00

OK, I ran at the gym on Tuesday as well, but last night I went about 2.4 miles. I made a few up and down sprints at the water retention basins for a bit of extra and threw in a short speed interval to give my son a run for his money (he was pacing me on his bike). I only took about a 30 second walk break after the speed interval to get my HR and breathing back under control.

I managed about 5.5 miles last week (1 of those was walking with my lovely wife) and so far this week I am at 3.9 with 4 days to go (my training schedule starts Mondays) so if I get 2 more workouts in and average 1.55 miles each, I will be at 8 for the week. Any walks and I should be able to hit double digits!

And that is on top of getting off to a spectacular start on maintaining my photo blog. My minimum goal there is to have at least 1 photo a week and try to get post every other day as a stretch goal.

I can't say anything else...

2009-01-13T13:17:00.003-07:00

Frankie's blog entry from yesterday is powerful. There is nothing I can add except my own humble thanks to the men and women of our armed forced putting their lives on the line every day to protect my freedom.

Lest the cynical among us (myself included) suspect this is just some political hot air trying to drum up pro-war sympathies, snopes has verified it and lists it as true.

Check it out.

Running?!?!?

2009-01-09T22:33:00.002-07:00

Remember that? That was one of the main reasons I started blogging here. That and swimming and biking make up triathlon. Since April about the only time running has come up here is me moping about not doing it very much.

Well, this week I ran 3 times. Only a total of 4.5 miles and at a pretty easy pace, but I have to start somewhere. Also, 2 of those runs were followed by a good 30+ minutes of weight training.

Next week, the goal is at least 3 runs and shoot for 6+ miles. Should be a reasonable goal, but keep your fingers crossed.

Blog 2008 year in review

2009-01-06T05:00:00.004-07:00

In most sports, numbers are used to analyze everything from a baseball batters performance to the percentage of free throws a basketball player makes. In businesses, managers will use numbers to analyze their profitability as well as well as to identify profitable products and markets. I have likewise been trying to balance what I am interested in with what the people that come to my blog like to see.

To that end, earlier this year, I implemented Google Analytics to track statistics on my visitors. Don't worry I do not track any personal information about anyone stopping by here (I don't even think I can) but rather just information about how many people, what part of the country or world where they are logged in. So how did I do for 2008?

1332 Visits
18 countries
41 states
80 posts

I started blogging in May, but started doing it a bit more consistently in July. Also by July, I had gotten most of the kinks worked out of Google Analytics so the numbers above are not complete for the earlier period of my blogging.

The main goal of this blog was initially to have a place to lecture, rant, rave or ramble to no one in particular. That included topics that interest me including photography. When I started my photography blog in December, I knew that would mean that most of the future entries here would not be directly photography related, but that was ok.

It has been fun watching the statistics here. The one I enjoy looking at most is the countries and states visited. I had visitors from 41 states in 2008 and 38 of them were multiple visits. It was also fun to see visitors from all over the world. I hope that some of them find something interesting or entertaining and keep coming back from time to time.

Now here is the audience participation part. If you are reading this, please take a minute and post at least a short comment to let me know where you are.

Thanks for stopping by.

Darwin Awards are back

2009-01-04T06:00:00.001-07:00

The 2008 Darwin Awards are out. You can vote on your favorites here. I'm sure you know that Charles Darwin is known for the theory of evolution which in a short, non-technical, average-joe/jane kind of way says that species will evolve or change over time by the stronger traits becoming more prominent and the weaker, less useful ones being less prominent or disappearing. If you have not heard about the Darwin Awards (named in his honor), their web site explains it this way:

The Darwin Awards salute the improvement of
the human genome by honoring those who
accidentally remove themselves from it...

In other words, they are awards given to people who managed to kill themselves in some spectacularly idiotic way.

My favorite is Run! No, Run Away! It meets the spirit of the Darwin Awards in a wonderful way.

New Year's Eve Report

2009-01-01T15:24:00.006-07:00

Last night, we had a family get together for New Year's Eve. My parents made reservations for a hayride and campfire dinner. We met at MacDonald's Ranch right around sunset. My sister was in town for a few days with her son and my brother and his girlfriend/fiancee also came with. My oldest son brought a friend with as well.

Everyone was entranced by the horses and their willingness to come over to the fence and visit. We got everyone together and made our way over to the wagon. We all piled on for horse-drawn wagon for the ride out to our campsite. When we got there and unloaded our stuff the cowboy took off with our wagon and said he would be back at 9 unless we called for an earlier pickup.

The fire was going when we got there, so all we needed to do was add wood when it needed it.

There was a generator running some lights at some of the picnic tables and a couple porta-potties. We sat down to eat and while we were eating, we heard some coyotes howling. We didn't see them, but they sure sounded close. After we ate, we played some games, made smores and visited around the fire.

We enjoyed our evening under the stars and went back to the cars on another horse-drawn wagon and made it back home by 10:30 so we were off the roads before the highest numbers of drunks were on the roads. It was a great time and we had a lot of fun.

Two Good Tuesdays

2008-12-30T04:00:00.000-07:00

After a couple of Tuesdays without a dedicated Good News Tuesday, it is about time for another edition.

I ran across the first one today, but the story is from last week. It is a story of how people from all over the world heard about a family in need of financial help to keep their house. They needed $10,000 (US Dollars) in 2 weeks to keep their house from foreclosure. That was their financial situation after mechanical problems, health problems, job loss and an unexpected pregnancy. A friend posted an entry on her blog about the families situation and word spread. Read the story for a great tale of Christmas spirit.

I read another story about some folks that anonymously paid off layaway items for some Sears customers before Christmas. I think this another great story because the donors are not doing this for publicity, but just to help some people have a little better Christmas. They chose to payoff necessities like children's clothes, shoes and even some toys. Read the story here.

Like I've said before, there is enough negative news going around. Let's take a few minutes to remind ourselves that there is still some good left in the world and try and think of ways we can add to the good to make the bad a little less bad.

Please leave your comments with any good news stories you have heard or seen. Also, mention any suggestions for what you think people could do to make the world a better place.

TILT (Things I like Thursday) - Christmas edition!

2008-12-25T14:00:00.000-07:00

OK, I saw this on someone else's blog so I thought I would use it once in a while. Except she said things she loves whereas I am setting the bar a bit lower. They only need to be things I like to be included in my TILT.

Rainy Days Living in a desert, we don't get a lot of them, so we tend to enjoy them more when we do get them. One of the things I like about them is when you get a rainbow the rain.

Since this is Christmas Day (Thursday), I would be remiss if I did not wish you a Merry Christmas. That does not mean that you need to be a Christian (much of a typical modern Christmas celebration has nothing to do with church, religion or Christ) and I wish you an equally Merry Christmas if you are Jewish, agnostic or a follower of any other religion. We can discuss the merits and flaws of different religions another time. For today, lets keep Peace on Earth and Goodwill on the Internet.

Typealyzer

2008-12-19T04:00:00.000-07:00

OK, you can blame Nettie for this, but of course, she will pass the blame on to someone else. As long as we don't need to take accountability for our own actions, then everything is ok. Right?

Typealyzer analyzes your personality based on your writing. Here's what it said about me after it looked at my blog. Seems pretty accurate to me, especially the part about starting something new and not following through. The brain picture really is almost identical to one I got after taking a much more complete personality test. Maybe even stranger is that after listening to a few songs by the "Artist you might enjoy", I actually think it does sound like something I could get into.

ESTP - The Doers

The active and play-ful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.

The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.

Perfection

2008-12-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

I just read this blog post about perfection and really liked it. No, I usually do not beat myself up over perfection in most areas of my life. The bed does not need to be perfect when I make it in the morning (and if I'm in a hurry and it does not get made, I don't spend the day worrying about it). The Sunday newspaper can be on the couch next to my seat past Wednesday without giving me an ulcer. I can write an email and not worry that the grammar police are issuing a warrant for my arrest. When I do my work, it is important for me to do what is needed to keep my employer in business. That does not always mean the best database design or the most efficient SQL, and I have to be ok with that.

When I work on my photography though, I tend to put a lot more effort into making things look the way that I feel is professional. Sometimes that means I delete a picture that is 95% great. Other times that means that I spend way too many hours getting it from 95% great to 99% great. There will always be something I think I need to do to "finish" one of my better photographs and I have to allow myself to accept that sometimes that is what makes my pictures special.

Gun Show

2008-12-06T22:01:00.005-07:00

I spent Saturday with my oldest son, my Dad and a long-time friend of my Dad's. We started off the day by going to the gun show. It had been a few years since we had been to a gun show, so we headed out to the State Fairgrounds to see what there was.

More photos at Flowing Desert Photography

There was a lot of people with the same idea.

More photos at Flowing Desert Photography

There has been some speculation that a Democrat in the White House would be likely to try and make changes to restrict gun freedoms. I think Obama winning the election has spurred a lot of people to hedge their bets and consider buying a gun (or another one) as well as some extra ammunition. This is probably a good idea within limits as firearms have typically been a good value holder, and if gun laws get tightened much, some types of weapons might see a tremendous price jump.

We weren't looking for any new guns, just wishful thinking. Window shopping was all my budget could handle. There was a lot to see and a lot of people that wanted to see it. There were some very neat guns, including antiques, some with price tags as high as $65,000. As far as the guns for ordinary people, I didn't see anything with a price that would have tempted me. In talking with other people, the general consensus was that since the election, prices have gone up on guns and this gun show was reflective of that.

After a few hours of walking around, we started to get hungry. Fortunately, my Dad was prepared so we headed out to his truck. He had hamburger patties and a gas grill which we fired up in the truck bed. Pretty much everyone that walked by was jealous, but we enjoyed it.

Afterwords, we decided we had had enough of the gun show for the day and decided to head over to the range and fire a few rounds. Unfortunately, the first range we went to was already closed. The second one we went to had a line of people. They said the wait was about 40 minutes, but it ended up being over an hour and a half. My Dad's friend couldn't wait any longer so my Dad dropped him off while my son and I started shooting.

We had fun shooting several of our guns, but when the guy in the next lane started shooting an HK MP5 in Full Auto mode, my sons eyes got huge. He noticed and offered to let my son shoot it. He had the Range Safety Officer show him how to use it. My son shot a couple rounds in single shot mode and then switched it to full auto and emptied the remaining shots with a few trigger pulls. He also let us shoot a high end handgun he had with him that was very nice.

All-in-all, it was a great day. Stay tuned for the photography blog on this day coming soon.

Holiday Meme

2008-12-05T16:38:00.005-07:00

Copied this from some friends blogs. If you play along, mention it in a comment here.

1 Wrapping paper or gift bags? I prefer wrapping paper unless I need to wrap it.
2 Real tree or Artificial? Fake
3 When do you put up the tree? Usually a day or two after Thanksgiving.
4 When do you take the tree down? New Years Day usually.
5 Do you like eggnog? Yup. Sometimes with a bit of Rum if I'm not driving.
6 Favorite gift received as a child? I got so many great gifts, it is hard to pick. Probably the Atari video game system the year we got that.
7 Hardest person to buy for? My oldest son.
8 Easiest person to buy for? My sister.
9 Do you have a nativity scene? A nice wooden one we got when the boys were little and they could play with it.
10 Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail. (I don't read ANY email cards unless I am expecting them and they are attachments I can download and scan. I can't stand getting eCard links and that will earn you a spot on my naughty list.
11 Worst Christmas gift you ever received? More than one, but the thought behind them all are what is important.
12 Favorite Christmas Movie? Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer
13 When do you start shopping for Christmas? the 24th? Sometimes I do it early (the 23rd) Fortunately, my wonderful wife usually handles most of this job.
14 Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? ReGifted? I think so.
15 Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? frosted sugar cutout cookies
16 Lights on the tree? yes, but not too many
17 Favorite Christmas song? religious- Silent Night, Holy Night (esp at a candle light service), secular- I want a hippopotamus for Christmas (or Chipmunks, or the Adam Sandler one)
18 Travel at Christmas or stay home? usually in town (any relatives outside of town live in cold places)
19 Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Nope, pretty much only Rudolph.
20 Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel
21 Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Usually 1 on Christmas Eve, the rest Christmas morning.
22 Most annoying thing about this time of the year? crowds at stores
23 Favorite ornament theme or color? nope.
24 Favorite for Christmas dinner? Honeybaked ham, sweet potatoes
25 What do you want for Christmas this year? health in my family

Internet Development Skills

2008-12-02T21:00:00.001-07:00

Many, many years ago, soon after Al Gore finished creating the first release of the internet, I made a few web pages. Nothing fancy, just some text and pictures to prove I could do it.

About a year later, I was in a new job and was responsible for our corporate network. As a result, I learned about configuring routers and understanding more about the technologies to access the internet from a corporate network.

At my next job a few years later, part of my job was taking care of the servers that maintained my employer's DNS information. That put me in close contact with some of the core operations of the internet.

Other than those periods of time, my experience with the internet has been mostly as an end-user. I surf, I email, I game. From time-to-time, I would also dabble in looking up information with a "whois lookup" to find out who was behind a web site, but usually I have been away from the infrastructure of the internet for about 8 years.

Having recently registered a domain for my budding photography business (Flowing Desert Photography, feel free to stop by and say "hi") I wanted to have a bit more flexibility and control over what I used on my domain. The answer I decided to go with is to move my picture galleries to a subdomain (photos.FlowingDesert.com) and use the main domain (FlowingDesert.com) as a main home page for my photography business. I also decided to start a dedicated Photo Blog using another subdomain (blog.FlowingDesert.com) that would be accessible from the main home page.

Once I had the action plan of what I wanted it to look like, I then needed to figure out what I needed to do to implement it. Setting up the subdomains was pretty easy once I had figured out that was the way I should go. Pointing the subdomains to the right places -- the blog subdomain to blogger and the photos subdomain to smugmug -- was a bit trickier. With some help from my hosting tech support and a few online searches along with a little patience (it is not an instant change) I finally got things all pointed in the right direction this past weekend.

I am satisfied with the first release, but have a list of things that I want to do to enhance the design and content. Feel free to take a look at FlowingDesert.com and either leave comments on the blog over there or on this blog (I still plan on keeping this blog alive with non-photo stuff) or shoot me an email with any comments. Graphic design is NOT my strong suit so this will be a slow process as I try to figure out how to add an image to the background of the page and make other elements transparent in addition to updating with interesting content on a regular basis to hopefully keep your interest.

Thanks for stopping by. If you like what you see, be sure and tell a friend or a comment. Better yet, do both!

Now that is good photography

2008-11-30T04:00:00.001-07:00

Ironman is a hard event. Ironman requires intense training in multiple disciplines including biking.

Look closer and you will see that this guy is multi-tasking. While biking, he is also spitting?

Of course. Every serious biker knows that you need a way to clear your nose and/or throat from time to time without losing speed.

More Arizona Ironman Pictures

2008-11-27T21:10:00.004-07:00

Grant Baird has a great website about triathlon. He has pieces of information on many of the racers and races. He either takes the pictures himself or finds other photographers willing to share some shots. He has featured a bunch of shots from several different photographers for Ironman Arizona last weekend including about 5 of mine. Take a look at his IMAZ November page and see some great shots.

It is always fun to watch the professionals, especially when you see the leaders really moving by. At this point, Joanna Zeiger was only about 13 minutes behind the lead men by my watch.

Feel free to drop by Flowing Desert Photography and see more of my pictures. If you like what you see, please feel free to rate your favorite pictures (at least a quick thumbs up is appreciated) and tell your friends about it.

Thanks.

Thoughts on Life and Running

2008-11-25T04:30:00.000-07:00

I am a runner. That is not the only thing or even the most important thing about me, but I fall into the runner category rather than the non-runner category. Or at least I do now. 4 years ago, I was most definitely NOT a runner. Since I am pretty new to running, sometimes I make discoveries that seem profound. Like one evening some time ago.

My schedule called for a 6 mile run. That was not a particularly long run given my fitness level at the time, but it is more challenging than a 30 minute "easy" run. I always try to stick to my schedule, since I have created the schedule with a goal in mind and each training event is a step closer to that goal. When I miss a goal, that can make the next step that much harder and easier to fall completely off the schedule.

This night, after about 20 minutes or so, my stomach started to give me trouble. Not just the usual "I might have eaten a bit too much at lunch" kind of rumble I get from time to time, but more of a "I think I might lose my lunch, breakfast and anything else I even thought about eating" kind of upset. The last time my stomach was that upset was when I tried out a new flavor sports drink for the first time during a marathon. Owww!

I kept my pace a bit easier than I had planned and kept going. As I got closer to home, I realized I was approaching a crossroads. I could turn right and be home in about 5 minutes, but that would leave me about a mile short of my goal. In terms of my overall schedule, that would not be a major setback and would probably not hurt my training in any measurable way. But mentally, I felt that I needed to push myself at least a little more so I turned left.

Every step I took was 1 step away from home, but I said "just to the first streetlight, that's not too far". When I reached that light I said, "just to that park a block away, then you can turn around and go home". Each time I pushed myself to go just a little further, I felt a victory and that lead me to push further.

When I had gone 1/2 mile past the crossroads, I turned around and headed for home. Then I realized that every step I had taken away from home was actually 2 steps closer to my goal! I finished my run that night having met 100% of my distance goal, but perhaps more importantly, I had accomplished more mental training than I had set out to accomplish.

The more I thought about that run, the more I realized that in many ways, running is like living a Christian life. Sometimes, doing what Christ calls us to do is a bit uncomfortable. But every time we do something that moves us toward out Heavenly Father, even though we feel like we are going away from home, we are making progress towards out eternal reward. So the next time you are faced with the choice to just shrug off an off-color joke, or pass along some juicy gossip, or anything else the world sees as normal, consider whether the discomfort from appearing different is in fact training you for a bigger goal.

2008 IMAZ November Edition

2008-11-23T20:19:00.004-07:00

Well, April of last year I volunteered at IMAZ. I rode my motorcycle on the course in front of the lead male rider. It was a tiring day and I didn't have to pedal.

When April 2008 rolled around, it was my turn. I had done my training, established realistic goals and was ready. I had a tiring, but fun and successful day. I was proud to have finished my first Ironman, especially given the very hot conditions that resulted is one of the highest DNF rates of any Ironman in North America.

The organizers of the race decided to move it to November to try for better weather conditions. This weekend was the first of the new "Fall Edition" of IMAZ and I decided to head out with my camera to see Ironman from a new perspective.

Some of the highlights included seeing the lead bikes racing out of transition and getting a picture of the guy who finished the swim in first place and the bike in second place:

Watching these athletes fly by on their bikes was both humbling and motivating.

While I will never compete with the pro's, I know that I could complete an Ironman faster than I did in my first one. It would require training. I would like to dedicate that much time and effort to making another run at IM and chopping some time off of my PR, but this is just not a great time for me.

Actually, there is never a great time for taking up a hobby that will require 20 hours a week and an endless store of support and patience from your loved ones, it is just something that you need to prioritize in order to do it. And right now, I am just not willing to prioritize IM above other things I enjoy (photography being a big one) and the other jobs that I have (dad, husband, etc) again. It was a great experience and I had the full support of my family, but I am not ready to make the commitment again (yet).

I will be continuing to work on pictures from this race and will be updating them on the Flowing Desert Photography site in the IMAZ 2008 November Gallery. Feel free to drop by and let me know which pictures you like with a "thumbs-up" or a comment. I am adding race numbers when they are legible, so if you know someone that did this race, try using the search field at the top of any page for their race number.

Saturday Pictures

2008-11-22T16:55:00.004-07:00

I set out very early this morning to get some shooting done. I had heard about a place where I had a good chance to see some wild horses around sunrise. I left the house around 5:30 in the morning and drove out by the river.

It was starting to get a bit light by the time I got there and started to walk down to the river. I saw lots of evidence of horses like this on the road:

More pictures at Flowing Desert Photography

That one belongs in the "not my job" category.

Down at the river, I watched the sun rise over Red Mountain.

I also got some neat cactii pictures, but I haven't finished cleaning them up yet so I'll show them off another day. I've got a busy day planned for tomorrow. I'm going to go shoot another triathlon. Ironman Arizona is in town for a second time this year. Last year, I volunteered. This spring, I raced. Now I will photograph it. I guess that makes me a well rounded Ironman. I will try to get those pictures up by Tuesday, at least the first batch of them.

TV makes you sad

2008-11-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

I just read that Unhappy People Watch More TV.

Cause and Effect.

Is this because happier people find other things to do than watch tv or because people that watch tv get depressed from all the negative garbage that can be found there? Or maybe a combination. I wonder if someone only watched positive and upbeat shows if they would still be less happy than someone that watched less tv?

The thoughts of other armchair shrinks is welcome in the comments.

Running Rules

2008-11-20T05:00:00.001-07:00

I first heard about the rules of running when my oldest son and I started training for our first HM with Team Diabetes. The ones that stand out most for me are:

1. The 10% rule. Don't increase distance of your longest run or total weekly mileage by more than 10% a week.

2. Change your shoes when needed (300-500 miles or new soreness).

3. Stretch and warm-up before running, especially before speedwork.

4. Stepback or recovery weeks are necessary for improvement.

There were more and I'm sure if Coach Dave sees this he'll remind me, but following these rules took me successfully to my first half marathon, then to my first marathon, then to my first Half-Ironman and finally to my first full Ironman. By successful, I mean that I completed those distances on my first try and without any significant injury. Learning what soreness to look out for almost stopped my first marathon attempt, but new shoes and a few days of rest and ice kept me in the game. I did all that in about 3 years while losing over 60 pounds. These rules work.

I just found out about some other commandments. These seem to me to be a great compliment to the above 4 rules. The 4 rules are mainly intended to keep runners from getting hurt and joining the "I used to run" club. The commandments appear to be as much about promoting social harmony (#'s 1, 4 and 7) as motivational (#2, 5 and 11) as well as practical (#8, 33 and 34).

Interested in the commandments? Head over to Frayed Laces and check them out.

For the record, I think #10 and 25 are my favorites. What are yours? Leave a comment with your favorites or any others you thing should be included.

Half Full or Half Empty?

2008-11-18T04:00:00.001-07:00

Half Full:

100% of the votes in last weeks poll about making regular "good news" post every week said YES!

Half Empty:
There were only 2 votes.

So am I an optimist (half full) or a pessimist (half empty) kind of guy? Well, I like to think of myself as an optimist, but in this case, I am going to choose a middle ground. I will not commit to posting a dedicated blog every week about a positive story, but I will post a dedicated blog about positive stories every time I find one. I know there are positive stories all around. With just a little searching, I found this one:

Woman buys foreclosed home for stranger.

And talking about this next one always chokes me up a bit. You see, my youngest son was born with a cleft lip and pallet and while we are blessed to have had good insurance and were led to a great surgeon, many people do not have that chance. Operation Smile goes around the world donating the medical care needed to provide many kids with the surgery they need to have a normal smile. We realized that there is a bigger plan when we found out our son's surgeon had been to Ecuador several times with them. (for those that don't read here regularly, I was raised in Ecuador)

So when you hear someone talking about the economic troubles, the housing market collapse or any other negative news, tell them there are positive stories out there. Suggest they drop by here and then find somewhere they can help to make something good happen. There are needs all around, from radios for firefighters to christmas cookies for soldiers, to simply buying someone in need a breakfast sandwich or some groceries.

Backyard Discovery

2008-11-16T17:52:00.007-07:00

Last night, my wife told me the dog was acting strange when she went out to say hi to him. I went out to check on him and brought a flashlight to see if there was anything amiss in the yard. Dog was fine but here is what I saw:

Do you see it? Almost dead center in the picture, in the rocks, you might see a little critter. Here is a better shot of him:

He was amazingly slow to react to my presence and the dog was strangely either unaware of him or uninterested in him. That was out of character since the dog is part Border Collie and Labrador Retriever and typically does not allow any winged creature to land in his yard and will usually chase birds (and planes sometimes) just flying by.

After a few pictures as I got closer and closer, the owl flew to the fence and then the dog finally decided to bark at him and he left for the night.

After a bit of research, I think he was a burrowing owl, but I would be happy to hear any other ideas as I am not an exterienced bird watcher.

More Sedona and Crown King Pics

2008-11-14T22:00:00.004-07:00

Here are a few more of the shots that I took this past weekend. Hope you like them.

They call this mountain King Kong. Do you see why?

The pillars just make you wonder why they are still standing when the rest of the valley eroded over time.

Visit my photography site for more pictures from this trip and others.

Two Good Tuesdays

2008-11-11T11:55:00.002-07:00

The news is all too often negative and it sometimes seems like there is not a whole lot of good left in the world. The only purpose for today's entry is only to point out a few of the good people out there trying to make a difference. The neat thing is that I consider both of these people friends as we are fellow members of a close-knit online running community called the 30-something's. Lucky for me they don't enforce the 30's part of the group.

Case Number 1
Larry is a volunteer firefighter. That makes him an example of good people right there by being willing to take personal risks to save others. That is not all. Larry is raising money to support his volunteer fire department department. That's right, he not only does NOT get paid to be a firefighter, but he is raising money to meet a need his department has. They do not currently have enough radios for each firefighter and that can pose a safety risk if all firefighters do not get a message in time or are not able to radio for help. Larry is running 4 marathons in 4 months to support this cause. Here is a clip about him from the news:

Case Number 2
Maureen is another friend that is running for a cause. Later this month she is running the Philadelphia Half Marathon. The cause she is running for is a great one. Back on My Feet is an organization that helps the homeless learn important life skills and self sufficiency through running, as well as working with partner organizations for job training, educational opportunities and housing expenses.

So if are sick of all the negative news stories you are hearing these days, here is your chance to help some folks that are a positive influence in their communities and help spread some good news. You can spread these good stories to you friends and if you can help these folks out, feel free to do so. Even a $5 or $10 donation will make a difference:

Larry's fund raising page.

Maureen's fund raising page.

I know there are more positive stories out there. Please share yours in the comments here so other people can be encouraged by good things happening in the world.

Day Trippers

2008-11-10T18:00:00.004-07:00

The family decided this past Saturday was a good day for a road trip. We packed a lunch and when everyone was ready, grabbed our cameras, jumped in the car and took aim on Sedona.

Partway up there, we decided to take a detour and head to Crown King. The last time I was there was several years ago and we had taken the back way up. That is a 4-wheel drive only way, so we took the "road" in. It was a bit slow going at times, with progress hindered by the road (bad in some places and only one car wide in others) as well as my willingness to stop anytime I saw something I wanted to get a picture of, even if it was just an old stone house.

More photos at Flowing Desert Photography

There were a few places where I really wished we still had the Durango so we could have gone to Sedona the rest of the way instead of back-tracking after our stop in Crown King to get some fudge.

As we got to Sedona, we stopped for the mandatory pictures at all of the scenic overlooks. Bell Rock was the first

More photos at Flowing Desert Photography

Several members of my family were willing to pose for a few shots. Including my wonderful wife:

More photos at Flowing Desert Photography

And my youngest also was willing to strike a pose:

After getting some shopping in, we drove around a bit more and found some nice views of the rocks light up with a great sunset, so I spent some more time with the camera out. (still doing some processing work on them) Then we stopped for a bite to eat. On the way home, we made a few more stops for some additional pictures. The starts were so bright up there that it was hard not to stay for a few more hours of shooting, but we had a bit of a drive to get home and a somewhat early morning to get to church, so I made this one of my last pictures:

Here is the recipe for a great trip:

Perfect weather, not a cloud in the sky.
Good traveling vehicle. We had the top down for a nice chunk of time.
Beautiful sunset.
Great family time with minimal squabbling.

Freedom is not free

2008-11-09T05:30:00.001-07:00

More photos Flowing Desert

Freedom takes work. The work of our men and women in the armed forces is certainly one part of the equation. Another vital component is everyday citizens that pay attention to what changes are proposed and speak out loudly (but in a civil manner) and engage others in debate and dialogue.

Xavier posted an entry. I think the following excerpt from that is a key thought that everyone needs to be aware of:

Gun rights are about self protection, not hunting. ... We are not just hunters. We must stand up and say who we are. We are mothers and fathers. We are Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and Independents. We are black and white, yellow and brown. We are gay, straight, bisexual and asexual. We are Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Agnostic, Atheist, and we live in every state in the Union. ... We have one common goal. ... the preservation of our right to self defense.

As a bumper sticker I saw said:

"God, Guns and Guts created this country. Let's keep all three."

School is Cool!

2008-11-07T17:45:00.000-07:00

I probably never would have said that in middle or high school. I know I never said that about most of my college classes. I have finally found a school that is cool.

Digital Photography School is a great forum for photographers of all experience levels. I discovered it this past summer as I was considering getting a newer, better camera. It is a great place with a lot of areas. One of my favorite areas is the forums critique section. People post their pictures along with some information about what settings they used to take it and ask one or more questions. Then, other people provide feedback.

Generally speaking, this feedback is of a positive, supportive nature. Sometimes, that feedback means saying "I don't like it" but even so, that is done with a positive spin. Usually, someone providing that feedback will suggest something the photographer could do to improve the shot.

Usually though, the feedback is overwhelmingly positive. Not artificially so, but in a genuine and supportive manner. Even if you do not submit your own pictures, you can learn a lot about making good portraits or taking good action shots by reviewing other peoples submissions and the feedback they receive.

I think that the things I have learned from here have improved my pictures, but I'll let you be the judge. Stop on over to Flowing Desert Photography and take a look. One of my most recent favorites is a new picture of a local landmark, Red Mountain. I just love the colors and the shape of this mountain. I also love how it looks different depending on the season and time of day. The light when I took this picture was really good and I think really makes Red Mountain just come alive.

What is Beyond Beta?

2008-11-06T18:00:00.003-07:00

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, I was lucky enough to know someone who had a pre-release copy of a new version of an operating system that was planning on taking over the personal computing world. This was something called Windows and the release they showed me was 3.1 which promised huge improvements in usability and stability over 3.0. It was a rarity in those days, to get a glimpse into software that was "not-quite-finished" but was close enough to get a feeling about it. It was also fun to be on the inside of cutting edge technology. They called it Beta, indicating that is was not yet ready for sale, but was more advanced than Alpha. Beta was usually limited to the employees of the company producing the software and a select group of others.

Fast foreword and the Beta versions of more programs started getting wider distribution and the exclusivity started to wear off in some cases. The wider distribution provided the developers more free testers to identify more bugs and hopefully fix them earlier in the process and reduce the support burden for the company and in increase customer satisfaction. I think the jury is still out on whether the quality of software has gone up as a result of larger scale Beta releases.

Then one day, about a decade ago, Google started a new web-based email application they called GMail. It was strictly an invitation-only program. By accepting an invitation, you acknowledged that this was a Beta program and you may experience crashes, downtime, missing mail and could do nothing about it other than report the error to the Google team and hope they fixed it quickly.

As Google started expanding their Beta program, existing users were given a finite amount of invitations that could be emailed to people so they could give GMail a try. These invitations were extremely sought after to the point that some people were even seen listing them for sale at online auction sites.

Eventually, GMail became accepted as a mainstream provider of free webmail, but the word Beta still remained on the site. Downtime is minimal and I have yet to notice a missed message sending or receiving (but how would I know if I missed an incoming message?).

They have applied their formidable search power to the GMail interface and allow you to keep an astronomical amount of email (over 7 GB for my account) which you can search nearly instantly. Some of the features that GMail uses are revolutionary and were a bit challenging to get used to. The concept of using labels instead of folders was a paradigm shift, but once you accept it, you can become very productive with it.

So where are we now? The label Beta is still attached to GMail, but there are a huge number of people using GMail on a regular basis. Now, Google has introduced "Labs". Labs are what used to be called Beta features. Some are really useful and eventually make their way into the mail configuration as a regular (albeit Beta) feature. Others will remain in Labs indefinitely and maybe some will be dropped altogether.

So first there was Beta. Now Beta is the standard for some apps and in the case of GMail, beyond Beta is "Labs". What is next? Will companies expect users to put together the design specifications for a new product, find programmers to start writing it and then "allow" people to use it as a Beta release?

Visitors from the internet

2008-11-05T18:00:00.000-07:00

I think that the statistics for the past 30 days for my little blog are pretty interesting. I have had visitors from 10 countries:

Australia
Canada
Czech Republic
France
Israel
Latvia
Mexico
New Zealand
United Kingdom
United States

A while back I had noticed that I had a visitor from Finland. I have no idea who it was, but I thought it was an interesting coincidence since my Mom is full-blooded Finn.

In the USA, I have had visitors from at least 33 states. I say "at least" because there are several that are listed as "not set". Maybe this can be my first "50-state club" and I can get people to visit from the missing states. The western-most states that I am missing are Idaho, Nevada and New Mexico. If you know anyone in those states, see if they will drop by once and represent their state.
I'll update the tally soon and see if this might work. Next time I'll list all the missing states and see if any of my loyal readers can help me fill in the blank areas of my readership map.

Daily News

2008-11-04T23:20:00.004-07:00

Well, I voted this morning, so that was a good start to the day.

I went to a Microsoft Road Show. Those of you that know me might be surprised, but my job also requires that I support SQL*Server in addition to Oracle so I went to try and learn a bit about upcoming versions. I learned that there are some new features that will make things easier to manage, but usually only if you use the more expensive "Enterprise Edition".

Took care of some stuff at the office and then hit the gym with DS#1. It was our first night on the weight machines. We gave the legs a good workout. The gym was busy, but not over-crowded.

Watched election returns and heading off to bed to dream about buying some new guns before they are banned.

Photography lessons

2008-11-03T05:00:00.001-07:00

I found this video showing a neat camera holding technique video. It is a bit hard to use at first, but it makes sense and is a good idea to keep the camera more stable and help get sharper pictures, without a tripod. A tripod is always a good idea, but there are times where it is just not practical to use a tripod (busy areas or fast-paced action) and this is a good way to get the best shooting stability possible.

ASU vs Ducks

2008-10-30T23:00:00.001-07:00

I got a text last week with an invitation from my awesome buddy Frankie to go to Saturday night's ASU Sun Devil game against the Oregon Ducks. After checking my schedule, I said "YES!!!" and we made plans to meet for a bite to eat before the game.

I had a super busy day (another post for another day) and was only home for a few minutes before I headed out to make a stop on my way to meet Frankie. We found each other right on schedule and went to grab a burger.

After that, it was getting close to game time so we headed over to the stadium.

The seats were amazing. What we couldn't see clearly on the field, we could watch on the jumbotron in living color. We were close enough that even with my camera, I could get close enough to see the smiles on the cheerleaders faces

and even some halfway decent shots of the players on the field when they were on our end of the field.

We saw some real and fake... tattoos (what were YOU thinking I was going to say?)

and some fans for both sides that really got into the spirit of things.

The game was fun too, but I am sure glad that I am not a die-hard Devils fan. They shoot off fireworks for any score, but there were very few of these:

Anyway, I had a great time and was very glad that Frankie gave me a shout to join him.

You can check out some more pics on my Picasa album from the game if you want.

SOMA Triathlon Pictures

2008-10-26T19:18:00.004-07:00

I went out to the SOMA triathlon this past Sunday to take some pictures. I managed to take some pictures (about 400 before I reviewed them and deleted the worst of the missed shots). I wanted to practice my Sports Photography and give some of my fellow triathletes some photographic alternatives.

Besides my own club, ESCKTC (East Side Cool Kids Tri Club), some of the people I caught decent shots of included members of Tri Club of San Diego (TCSD), Team In Training, AZ Tri Club, Banas, Tribe and Freak Factor in their pink uniforms. If you know people from these clubs, please have them check out my site. I will keep the SOMA pics up for a month. BTW, the SOMA pictures are basically "at cost", my profit is under a dollar per shot, which when you factor my time (over 6 hours not counting travel time) means I am really giving these away for my love of triathlon. It is all worth it when I get a shot that I love like this one:

If you were in the race, if you know someone that was in the race, or if you just enjoy looking at triathlon pictures, click on over to Flowing Desert Photography and take a look. Feel free to rate any pictures you like with a "thumbs up".

Photography Must Haves

2008-10-22T05:00:00.001-07:00

Jeff over at PhotoWalk Pro recently did an article on Must Have Accessories for your Photography

The short version is here along with how I feel I am doing in each category:

1. Filters -- A+, UV/skylight filter on every lens for protection and a polarizing filter moved to different lenses as needed.

2. Flash -- F, but that is not really my fault since it is on my list as soon as I can afford another accessory.

3. Tripod -- A, I have a great tripod and an older more compact tripod. If I start doing more serious portrait work, I'll probably need another to hold off camera lighting.

4. Camera Bags -- B, The bag that came with my camera just does not work for me. The backpack I bought is pretty good, but it is a pain to get things in and out without putting the pack on the ground and unzipping the whole thing.

5. Cleaning Supplies -- B-, I have a lens cloth, but still need to get a blower of some kind and probably one of the other items mentioned in the comments to the article.

How do you find a name?

2008-10-21T22:00:00.002-07:00

I'm not talking about finding out the name of that cute guy/girl at the other end of the bar, that's easy (just ask your server/bartender to find out for you). I'm talking about the name of a flower, insect, bird or other animal or plant. For example, I have a picture of a flower and have tried to google flowers to find one that looks like this to be able to name it:

This is kind of important to me, because I want to label my photos with what they are rather than yellow/orange flower or flying bird, but unless I join a flower club and bird watching club, I don't know how I can do this.

Any tips? And answering for the above flower would be appreciated :)

The Winner is ...

2008-10-20T21:00:00.000-07:00

Last week, I asked for opinions on which picture I should donate for a church auction. The voting on the survey was fast and furious and it was a ton of fun for me to read all the positive comments from people. I closed the survey and printed the winning photo. The race was close with several photos taking the lead and only a few votes separating the top contenders at the end. The winner was Waterfall:

Hopefully the picture brings in some money for the auction.

New Adventures Are Scary

2008-10-19T04:30:00.000-07:00

You may know by now that I enjoy photography. Always have, ever since I was given a little 126 camera when I was in 6th grade. I still have photo albums from those pictures.

Not too long after that, my dad started teaching me how to use a 35mm SLR camera and I started learning about ISO and F/stops and shutter speed. It was not a cheap hobby and we didn't have a lot of spare money laying around, so I took very few risks and stuck to trying to make good exposures. The right amount of light and a good focus point were my goals and my main subjects were friends and family.

By the time I graduated from high school, I decided to continue my photography and I used graduation gift money to buy a new Minolta SLR. Over time, I added lenses and accessories and spent a fair amount of money and time taking snapshots. I also started trying to take photographs. A snapshot is simply a nice picture, usually appreciated most by people who know the subjects. A photograph usually will have a wider appeal and in some cases be considered art. I even did some volunteer work taking pictures for my school.

Well, with a new family, time and money limited my photography to general snapshots of kids and holidays. Most of the time, I started using disposable cameras for convenience.

Having rediscovered my love for photography and the convenience that digital photography provides, I have been enjoying taking and working with pictures. I have gotten compliments from people on my pictures and I have thought about starting a side business with my photography. This brings me to the title of this post -- maybe article is a better word as this has gotten too long for a blog -- I have decided to start a business. This is a big step and a new adventure, but a fortune cookie I got last week said "Big journeys begin with a single step." The single step that I have taken is to create the online presence for my photography, so I am proud to introduce Flowing Desert Photography, with photo galleries available at FlowingDesert.com.

BEEF Anyone?

2008-10-18T14:00:00.001-07:00

If you are a vegetarian, I love you dearly for helping to control the population of wild broccoli and things like that so we are not overrun with them, but please skip the rest of this post.

So now we should be down to the few meat-eating folks. While browsing around the internets, I discovered this blog with a contest for free beef. Really. What does it hurt to try? I like beef as much as the rest of you and grass-fed is better for you than the over-chemicaled stuff you buy at most supermarkets.

Any vegetarians out there still? If so, I hope the promotion of eating meat didn't bother you too much and as a thank you for reading this far, I will list off some of my favorite non-meat food items: sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, corn, pears, peaches, bananas. Is that enough that we can still be friends? I sure hope so.

Old friends

2008-10-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I was reading a friends post the other day and they commented on seeing old friends from high school. My wife has been getting in touch with some friends from high school. I guess I must be an exception in that there is no one from the school I graduated from that I would cross the parking lot to say "hi" to. Well, maybe 1 or 2, but I wouldn't even Google them to look them up, much less join one of those find all your old friends sites and get spammed by anyone that graduated the same year and state as I did asking "do you know so-and-so?".

Maybe some background is in order here. You might have noticed that I said "the school I graduated from". That is because I spent most of my high school years in one school in Ecuador and then only one year at the school I graduated from back here in the states ("the states" is what we called USA when we lived elsewhere). As a result, my senior year was not the most memorable in terms of friends and such since I had left all my friends when we moved and high school being the clickish place it is, a newcomer is not usually welcomed into most of the clicks. As a result, I did not go to a senior prom (I was able to pick up more hours at my job that weekend) and about the only date I had that year was with a foreign exchange student from Ecuador that was staying with a classmate from school.

Is this a bad thing? Am I complaining about changing schools for my senior year? Am I complaining about the clickish kids in high school? No. Not at all. Just explaining --to myself mostly-- why my senior year and high school graduation does not evoke the same feelings in me as it seems to in so many others.

Survey - Photos for donation

2008-10-13T16:00:00.015-07:00

Our church is having a silent auction and I thought I would donate a picture. I am thinking 8x10 in a plain black wood frame. Please take a look at the candidates and let me know what you think with the survey to the right. Also, feel free to add comments as well if you think a different size or framing choice would be better.

BTW, please pass this link on to others so I can get as many votes as possible for this survey. Thanks!

2008-10-10T18:38:00.004-07:00

Strength training at the gym was canceled tonight since the instructors are all involved in the big fight tournament this weekend and have stuff going on with that. I was thinking about giving the Tae Kwan Do class a shot, but after an early wake-up call and spending the day with my wife at the Mayo clinic (more tests and Dr visits) I would rather sit on the couch and relax.

I did make it to the gym 4 times this week. Although Wed was not logged 'cause it was a Personal Defense class and really wasn't that hard from a calorie/exercise standpoint. In spite of personal defense being a bit less strenuous, it was very informative and educational. Also, several of those nights were Strength Training and Boxing for a double day.

Well, I'm going to sit down and work on getting some pictures processed and posted. Thanks for dropping by and good seeing ya.

Personal Self Defense

2008-10-08T21:27:00.003-07:00

So I finally made it to the Personal Self Defense class offered at our gym. I was the only student, so it was very solid learning experience. We kept it to 45 min instead of 1 hour since only having one student allowed a better learning experience.

It was a great class and I got a chance to learn some things that could be very useful if I needed to get out of a jam. I think a lot of people would benefit from this type of a class.

More Boxing

2008-10-06T22:01:00.002-07:00

Went to strength training tonight. We worked our arms to death. Ouch. We also did some jump rope and I seem to be getting better at it. My cardio still seems to be in pretty good shape, and with the core work I've been doing the past couple weeks, 2 minutes of jumping seems to be getting easier.

After strength, we started right in on boxing class. They worked in some kicks as well which is natural since most of the coaches are MMA guys and they also have MMA classes here (MMA combines boxing, grappling and kickboxing). It was a very fun class and kept us moving most of the time with some great feedback from the coaches so we were practicing the moves the right way.

What to title this?

2008-10-05T21:25:00.004-07:00

Well, last week I finished the week off with a couple days of strength training (arms are still sore) and another boxing class. Really had fun with it. Part of it is my oldest son is doing it with me, so we get to hit each other. Not hard, but hitting each others hands as targets as we practice jabs, cross and hooks. Working on form more than power for now.

Both boys helped out a lot in the yard yesterday as we needed to scalp the lawn in preparation for over seeding for the winter. We also made good progress on getting rid of the weeds.

Hopefully some of the tests scheduled for my wife this week will start to yield some clues that let us make progress into her health issues.

So what would I title this post? Misc? Stuff? Life? Weekend wrap up report?

Organization and coordination

2008-10-02T22:33:00.002-07:00

My wife had an appointment at the Mayo clinic yesterday. Her migraines have been coming back and she has fainted a few times. Her regular doctors have been chasing this for awhile and are not making any progress so based on the recommendation from friends, she called and got this appointment.

It was a long day but we think it was well worth it. They did a very complete exam and ordered additional tests and specialist consultations. Their scheduling group already had an itinerary for the rest of the day. I don't think we waited more than 5 or 10 minutes for any of the remaining steps.

At the end of the day, they had several more appointments added to our updated itinerary. They gave us clear instructions for next steps and contact information in case we have any questions before the next appointment.

I think that this could be the start of finding the root cause of her health problems. One reason is that everyone is on the same page and has access to the same information. It seems clear to me that the systems that support these doctors are top of the line and allow for information sharing that should help them in identifying the issues.

Wrap up

2008-09-28T21:22:00.003-07:00

No, I'm not closing up shop or anything, this is just a weekend recap/summary.

I went for a Bike ride Saturday. I rode about 27 miles to an activity at church and then another 27 to get home about an hour later. I had estimated it would be about 25 miles and planned on leaving 90 min before I needed to be there and was shooting for an easy 15-16 mph pace. I was a few minutes late getting started and it was a few miles longer so I ended up with about an 18 mph avg speed in order to try and avoid being too late. By the time I headed home, it was about 90* F out, so I did take it easy and averaged about 15.5 mph for the ride home.

Yard work, church, groceries and laundry were all done on Sunday with some help from the guys -- it just doesn't sound right to call them boys when they are getting so big and acting so darn responsible. Then we played a little Aerosmith Guitar Hero to finish the day.

Well, gonna try running in the morning and then planning on Functional Strength Training in the evening.

Boxing

2008-09-25T21:25:00.004-07:00

Well, tonight was my 5th Functional Strength Training class. After that, I stayed for Boxing class. That was my first ever introduction to any sort of fighting. It was fun. I learned (and others practiced) jab, cross and hook punches. It was certainly a learning experience for me.

I am looking foreword to the next boxing class and will also be trying out some of the other classes they have. The plan at this gym is for the first month you can take any class they offer but subsequent months, each additional class costs extra. It seems a bit steep pricewise, but the instructors are all really good. Most of them are MMA fighters and will be competing in a tournament next month. Sometime in the next 30 days I will need to decide what I want to work on the next month.

Can you make a difference?

2008-09-24T20:26:00.006-07:00

Google announced an initiative called Project 10 to the 100th. The project web page says May Those Who Help Most Win. Their goal is to put people with ideas to improve communities, the environment, health or education together with money to help implement those ideas.

It seems like a great idea. It will be interesting to see what ideas are submitted. Maybe the end result of this project will be to stir up some ideas that get the Google funding and some ideas that get enough interest to get other people interested in helping to make a difference in their own communities.

Stop by their web page and see if you can come up with any ideas or if any of the ideas spark a chord with you.

300

2008-09-23T17:30:00.004-07:00

I was looking over my Analytics report for my blog today and this proves how smalltime this little blog of mine is. I've had 300 visits in the past 3 months (Jun-Aug). To be fair to myself, I have not been very active in keeping things updated and active and I've posted less than 10 entries each month. I hope to break that this month, but won't go all Twitter-like and blog that I'm having lunch or sitting in a meeting waiting to escape or anything like that in order to get my post count up. You can be sure that if I post something, it is important or interesting or funny to me. Hopefully, some of these will also strike a chord with you.

On the flip side, during the same 3 month window I did have a visitor from Latvia and so far in September, I've had visits from Finland and Australia. I know who the Latvian and Australian folks are but have not figured out who dropped by from Finland. Pretty interesting though since my mother is full-blooded Finn.

Photography Practice

2008-09-20T13:23:00.003-07:00

When we were in MN last month, my oldest son allowed me to take some pictures of him. This was one of my favorites. I think it has a senior picture feel to it.
While I don't like his hair (it was a windy day) I decided to play with this a bit more. I found a tutorial on how to selectively colorize part and change the rest to black & white and thought this would be a good one to try it out with. Here is the result:
I will definitely be doing more of this kind of thing.

Functional Strength Training

2008-09-19T08:29:00.002-07:00

OK, so I was wondering if anyone has ever offered a class on NONFunctional Strength Training. "We build up muscles that you will NEVER need to use."

So I went to my first Functional Strength Training. Let me tell you that the word FUN does NOT need to be part of the word functional. After a few warm up laps of running, skipping, sideways sliding we did some crunches, pushups, jumping jacks and leg raises. At that point I was ready to phone it in the rest of the night. I didn't.

Next we did belly crawls (using only our arms to pull us, toes were ok if we needed a bit of extra help). This left me with some very nice mat burns on my elbows. Then a few more drills that reminded me of HS gym class (which I hated) and then we got into the station drills.

They set out 10 stations that we would do for 2 minutes each and then with a short rest move to the next one. Weighted lunges, wall squats with light weights in your hands and keep your arms moving, hindu squats (what they called them), bicep and tricep stations with rubber bands. Jump rope, grip twist, step up, one-arm chest press on a ball, crunches on a half ball and "figure 8's".

I was wiped we we finished and am really surprised I am not more sore this morning. It was a very good workout and my oldest son is doing it with me. We are going back tonight and probably next week will start doing some of the other classes (boxing, thai kickboxing, and others) to decide which one we want to focus on after our first month is done.

Rock on!

2008-09-15T21:40:00.002-07:00

Well, they have gone and done it now. I have a few games that I like to play on my GameCube and on DS#2's Wii, but for the most part I rarely play.

While we were on vacation last month, I was talked into trying GuitarHero and Rock Band.

We now own Guitar Hero Aerosmith. DS#2 and I split it and that is the most I've spent on a video game in a long time (the kids save their $$ when they want something).

Now I have another excuse to skip running.

Rock on people!

Random and occasional thoughts on

Leadville Trail Marathon - DFL > DNF > DNS

Ragnar 2011 - Race Report

2010 Year in Review

CAN - step - step - step - CAN

Epic Ride (sort of)

Pets in Costumes

Dogfight

Young Leaders

Run/Walk/Sniff

30 Days

I went for a run last night...

Tech Tuesday - Mid year review

Happy Memorial Day

Save On Phones

Streaking

The cost of debt

Happy Blogging B-Day to me!

It's coming....

Triathlon Training Plans

Cheers!

Update from Boston

Hiking & Computers

Computers

Hiking

That was quick

Repairs are underway

A New Ironman

Online Communications Methods

Email:

Instant Messaging:

Forums:

Twitter:

Direct Messages in Twitter:

Oracle log file maintenance

The current list

An Ounce of Prevention

A New Addition...

Shooting Jams

Movie Time

ATM's

What's it worth?

No such thing as free lunch.

Day hike

Love is in the air...

Sequential or Random Access snack machines

Running

Speed!

The List

More running!

More good news!

Terrific Tuesday

Double Digits!!!

This is strange

Running and stuff

Terrific Tuesday

Tech Coolness

Almost...

I ran again last night!

I can't say anything else...

Running?!?!?

Blog 2008 year in review

Darwin Awards are back

The Darwin Awards salute the improvement of the human genome by honoring those who accidentally remove themselves from it...

New Year's Eve Report

Two Good Tuesdays

TILT (Things I like Thursday) - Christmas edition!

Typealyzer

Perfection

Gun Show

Holiday Meme

Internet Development Skills

Now that is good photography

More Arizona Ironman Pictures

Thoughts on Life and Running

2008 IMAZ November Edition

Saturday Pictures

TV makes you sad

Running Rules

Half Full or Half Empty?

The Darwin Awards salute the improvement of
the human genome by honoring those who
accidentally remove themselves from it...