Oct. 14-22: Running in Two States & Other Rambling

I'm still traveling a lot. Last week, I was in New York for an information sharing meeting between my employer and a large hardware/software platform vendor. I learned a lot and the conversations were extremely interesting. A lot of SaaS (Software as a Service), cloud computing, and collaboration stuff. These are the buzzwords of the day. But, I have to say it is amazing to watch these types of changes come along. Simple ideas really can drive big impacts to the way we think about solving problems.

I am voting for the Obama ticket, but I have to say I think Palin is getting an unfair and undue shake by the press and apparently her own party. The whole "how much she spent on clothes" brouhaha just smells like sexism and pettiness to me. I actually like listening to her talk and find that she carries me along as she does. I believe you is a tough cookie with strong leadership capabilities. I just find it interesting to see how folks polarize themselves.

Side note: I am no longer logging podcasts listening activity in Google Spreadsheets. It was just not a value adding activity. Logging it here is plenty.

I got JayBird's bluetooth stereo headset for my birthday. So far, I like them in general. I hate wired headsets. I am finding that getting a good feeling fit is difficult and that the controls are difficult to trigger while running. But, these are minor nuisances when compare to a wired headset and I suspect I will learn how to mitigate these issues with complete satisfaction. Now, let's hope for stability. I replaced the Motorola s9 which were crap. I must have asked Motorola to honor the warranty with a replacement for 4-5 times. The warranty ran out and the last headset died like the rest. The buttons gradually stopped working and the volume buttons would start just spontaneously driving the volumn up or down complete with the beep indicating the volume button was pressed.

Crap

What I listened to on podcasts:

• Daily Sourcecode
  • DSC 798
  • DSC 799
    
• Fitness Rocks
  • 116: Lifestyle Habits and Mortality
  117: Stress and Your Health
• Accident Hash
• Phedippidations
• Fdip156: Cheers from a Little Blue Bubble
• Fdip157: The Third Annual World Wide Festival of Races
  
• This American Life
• #364: Going Big
• #365: Another Frightening Show About the Economy
  CDO's were the key instrument in the sub-prime crisis. Now, CDS's offer their own set of complicated influences in our struggling economy. The "frightening" label is appropriate. I sure hope the wise guys trying to manage this get it together. It is extremely hard not to panic a bit.

Data

October 22, 2008: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	8.17 Miles
Time:	1:14:01
Heart Rate:	145
Pace:	9:03
Weather:	Clear Temperature-56° Humidity-72%

October 21, 2008: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	5 Miles
Time:	48:19
Heart Rate:	137
Pace:	9:39
Weather:	Clear Temperature-47° Humidity-83%

October 19, 2008: Birmingham, AL Brownell-Jemison Park Running
Distance:	11.07 Miles
Time:	1:37:31
Heart Rate:	150
Pace:	8:48
Weather:	Clear Temperature-44° Humidity-82%
Route

October 18, 2008: Birmingham, AL Oak Mountain State Park Cycling I got some great cool weather cycling gear for my birthday and I wore it today. I needed it!
Distance:	23.86 Miles
Time:	1:25:06
Heart Rate:	132
Speed:	16.82
Weather:	Clear Temperature-45° Humidity-90%
Route

October 17, 2008: Palisades, NY Tallman Mountain State Park/Piermont Running
Distance:	7 Miles
Time:	1:05:36
Heart Rate:	140
Pace:	9:15
Weather:	Clear Temperature-43° Humidity-80%
Route

October 15, 2008: Palisades, NY Tallman Mountain State Park/Piermont Running One of my favorite running routes. Running through this forest when the leaves are changing is just beautiful.
Distance:	8 Miles
Time:	1:15:42
Heart Rate:	140
Pace:	9:27
Weather:	Scattered clouds Temperature-56° Humidity-80%
Route

October 14, 2008: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	5 Miles
Time:	45:45
Heart Rate:	145
Pace:	9:09
Weather:	Clear Temperature-66° Humidity-78%

Oct. 7-12: Running in Two States & the World Wide Festival of Races

I completed the third annual World Wide Festival of Races (aka, The Phedippidations World Wide Half-Marathon Challenge). I have run it every time. I spend most of the week in Dallas work on some exciting projects for work. The work included interacting with CTO and software architects from all over my company. It is always interesting to hang out with smart people. Sometimes, I don't feel worthy.

Watching the financial meltdown, rescue, and political wrangling is certainly reminding me how much I wished I knew about how the world turns and how the financial market works. I did like a line I heard from Jim Rogers today, "I thought it outrageous that anybody has to step in a bail out a bunch of 29 year olds driving Maseratis". And, the more fact checking I hear on the news (on multiple channels) shows that both Obama and McCain really stretch the truth as they throw barbs at each other.

Podcasts for the week:

• Daily Sourcecode
  • DSC 795
  • DSC 796
  • DSC 797
• Fitness Rocks
  • 115: Cancer Prevention
    Strong recommendations for vegan (no meat or dairy). I bought into small quantities of meat, but I am not off dairy yet.
• Accident Hash
  • Brand New Tunes From Accident Hash Alumni

Data

October 12, 2008: Birmingham, AL Brownell-Shades Creek 2008 World Wide Festival Races: 1/2 Marathon
	Distance:	13.26 Miles
	Time:	2:04:48
	Heart Rate:	140
	Pace:	9:24
	Weather:	Overcast Temperature-67° Humidity-73%
	Route

October 11 2008: Birmingham, AL Oak Mountain State Park Cycling
Distance:	23.86 Miles
Time:	1:19:05
Heart Rate:	137
Speed:	18.1 mph
Weather:	Overcast Temperature-68° Humidity-81%
Route

October 9, 2008: Birmingham, AL Dallas, TX Running
Distance:	6.15 Miles
Time:	55:15
Heart Rate:	151
Pace:	8:59
Weather:	Partly cloudy Temperature-74° Humidity-53%
Route

October 8, 2008: Birmingham, AL Dallas, TX Running
Distance:	6.06 Miles
Time:	54:57
Heart Rate:	137
Pace:	9:04
Weather:	Clear Temperature-53° Humidity-77%
Route

October 7, 2008: Birmingham, AL Dallas, TX Running
Distance:	3.31 Miles
Time:	29:43
Heart Rate:	139
Pace:	8:58
Weather:	Partly cloudy Temperature-67° Humidity-87%
Route

Sept 26-Oct 5: Running & Cycling in 2 States

Well, we launched the thing I have been working on. It was stressful at times, it was bumpy, but for the most part the application stayed up and performed as we expected. Yeppee! I felt like I had trained for and ran a marathon with a team. I nearly got way emotional saying thank you to one of my work mates. She did excellent work on this effort (as did everyone involved). After you work on a great project on aggressive timeline with a great team, there is some what of a let down at the end. I am glad we did it.

Dan is back with us on Sundays. I met Dan during last year's marathon training for Mercedes and he is back for the same this year. I was glad to see him and we talked each other's ears off during the run. It was cool.

I rested a lot this weekend (as in slept a lot). I also attended a soccer match, a baseball game, and a birthday party with my son. That was awesome! I missed him the last few weeks as I was heads down on the project.

Podcast Listening Log:

• Daily Sourcecode
• DSC 792
• DSC 793
• Fitness
• 113: Alternate Day Fasting
• 114: Fitness Rocks Podcast
• Phedippidations
• Fdip154: Running Legend: Sir Roger Bannister
• Fdip155: Pondering as I Pronate
  

Data

October 5, 2008: Birmingham, AL Brownell-Shades Creek Running
Distance:	13 Miles
Time:	2:05:31
Heart Rate:	132
Pace:	9:39
Weather:	Clear Temperature-58° Humidity-90%
Route

October 4, 2008: Birmingham, AL Oak Mountain State Park Cycling
Distance:	23.84 Miles
Time:	1:21:44
Heart Rate:	133
Speed:	17.5
Weather:	Clear Temperature-55° Humidity-83%
Route

October 3, 2008: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	3 Miles (should have been 6, I got confused)
Time:	27:29
Heart Rate:	147
Pace:	9:06
Weather:	Partly cloudy Temperature-61° Humidity-72%

October 1, 2008: Birmingham, AL Orlando, FL Running
Distance:	6.56 Miles
Time:	57:52
Heart Rate:	155
Pace:	8:49
Weather:	Clear Temperature-78° Humidity-50%
Route
I was approaching EPCOT in Walt Disney World as they started the fireworks show. It was awesome.

September 30, 2008: Birmingham, AL Orlando, FL Running
Distance:	3.29 Miles
Time:	27:05
Heart Rate:	156
Pace:	8:13
Weather:	Overcast Temperature-71° Humidity-93%
Route

September 28, 2008: Birmingham, AL Brownell-Shades Creek Running
Distance:	11.05 Miles
Time:	1:43:55
Heart Rate:	150
Pace:	9:24
Weather:	Clear Temperature-67° Humidity-84%

September 26, 2008: Birmingham, AL Neighborhood Running
Distance:	6.2 Miles
Time:	55:56
Heart Rate:	153
Pace:	9:01
Weather:	Partly cloudy Temperature-75° Humidity-38%