Sunday, November 23, 2008

Nov. 12-23: Run, Riding, Working, and Listening Pleasures

OK, that's a sick title. I seem to be in a constant cycle of trying to catch up on work and, for that matter, life. But, I guess that is what comes with age. You become more cognizant of how much time is left, not enough, you pile on the tasks, and you just never finish. In the current times, I guess I should be thankful I am employed and I ain't bored. Life could be worse.

I traveled to Texas last week and talked about social computing which is a topic that is growing more and more dear to me. I got more animated and fired up than I expected. But, that was a good thing to have happen while in front of an audience where you are expected to lead a conversation. I think I did well and the session was well received. In the rest of my time, I am trying to deliver on the substance of the message by working with a team of folks to actually configure, populate, and manage a social site.

I have to rave about Pandora on the iPhone. Search for a few songs you like, it finds things like it. Vote up or down on some as they come and it learns what you like. Commercial free music tailored for your taste. Totally awesome.

I got fired up while running today, after 14 miles and started ranting (play ranting anyway) and the guy who organizes the runs scolded me. "Bob, some of us are focused on finishing..." Opps, I didn't mean to irritate people, but I can get full of adrenaline and get full of myself.

This week's (I know it's been a little more than a week) podcast listening log:
Data

November 23, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Mercedes Course + 2
Running
Distance: 15.14 Miles
Time: 2:26:00
Heart Rate: 137
Pace: 9:38
Weather: Overcast
Temperature-45°
Humidity-34%
Route

November 22, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Oak Mountain State Park
Cycling
Distance: 23.93 Miles
Time: 1:29:0
Heart Rate: 132
Speed: 16.13
Weather: Clear
Temperature-26°
Humidity-55%
Route I parked by the lake and came in the back gate. New route.

November 21, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Neighborhood
Running
Distance: 8.05 Miles
Time: 1:10:44
Heart Rate: 150
Pace: 8:47
Weather: Clear
Temperature-32°
Humidity-45%

November 20, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Neighborhood
Running
Distance: 2.16 Miles
Time: 19:01
Heart Rate: 136
Pace: 8:48
Weather: Clear
Temperature-56°
Humidity-47%

November 19, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Neighborhood
Running
Distance: 10 Miles
Time: 1:30:30
Heart Rate: 142
Pace: 9:03
Weather: Clear
Temperature-33°
Humidity-54%

November 18, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Neighborhood
Running
Distance: 7.04 Miles
Time: 1:03:44
Heart Rate: 145
Pace: 9:03
Weather: Clear
Temperature-31°
Humidity-69%

November 16, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Brownell-Crestline
Running
Distance: 13 Miles
Time: 2:02:10
Heart Rate: 140
Pace: 9:23
Weather: Overcast
Temperature-37°
Humidity-62%
Route

November 15, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Oak Mountain State Park
Cycling
Distance: 23.82 Miles
Time: 1:26:20 (estimate, forgot the watch)
Heart Rate: 132
Speed: 16.55
Weather: Overcast
Temperature-50°
Humidity-86%
Route

November 14, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Neighborhood
Running
Distance: 6.97 Miles
Time: 1:03:28
Heart Rate: 146
Pace: 9:06
Weather: Fog
Temperature-61°
Humidity-93%

November 13, 2008: Dallas, TX
Gaylord Texan Resort
Running
Distance: 2.22 Miles
Time: 18:46
Heart Rate: 145
Pace: 8:27
Weather: Clear
Temperature-49°
Humidity-93%
Route

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Nov. 4-11: More Running and Rambling...

I finally solved my Internet speed problem. It was the cable modem. Lesson learned: don't trust the cable guy when he says, " I ran the diagnostic and I can guarantee you that it is not the modem." But, I have to say the company is very easy to work with. I simply took the modem in and asked for a new one. The guy there was very supportive and friendly. www.speedtest.net rocks.

Obama won! My state didn't help much, but I am pleased. I do believe he was the best choice for the US at this time. He brings hope, optimism, and I think a real chance to change the impression of America. Let's hope so. Bush sure destroyed it.

This week's podcast listening log:
Data

November 11, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Neighborhood
Running
Distance: 6.16 Miles
Time: 57:34
Heart Rate: 143
Pace: 9:20
Weather: Partly cloudy
Temperature-51°
Humidity-35%

November 9, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Brownell-Jemison Park
Running
Distance: 11.15 Miles
Time: 1:41:27
Heart Rate: 141
Pace: 9:05
Weather: Clear
Temperature-37°
Humidity-79%
Route

November 8, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Oak Mountain State Park
Cycling
Distance: 23.82 Miles
Time: 1:26:20
Heart Rate: 132
Speed: 16.55
Weather: Clear
Temperature-57°
Humidity-42%
Route

November 7, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Neighborhood
Running
Distance: 5 Miles
Time: 47:32
Heart Rate: 143
Pace: 9:30
Weather: Overcast
Temperature-63°
Humidity-78%

November 6, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Neighborhood
Running
Distance: 2.23 Miles
Time: 20:06
Heart Rate: 143
Pace: 9:00
Weather: Clear
Temperature-47°
Humidity-86%

November 5, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Neighborhood
Running
Distance: 7.05 Miles
Time: 1:06:23
Heart Rate: 138
Pace: 9:24
Weather: Clear
Temperature-47°
Humidity-86%

November 4, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Neighborhood
Running
Distance: 3 Miles
Time: 28:50
Heart Rate: 136
Pace: 9:36
Weather: Scattered clouds
Temperature-55°
Humidity-82%

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Oct. 23-Nov. 2: Running in Two States & Other Rambling

The last week or so has included a little less travel, but plenty of activity. Work is not as hectic and demanding as August and September, but not a walk in the park either. I did travel to Philadelphia, PA this last week. I was there for the rained out world series game. The rooms were so full throughout the city that the visiting players had to travel to Delaware to find rooms. I got the presidential suite since the hotel was so full where I stayed too. Then, I had to spend the night in Atlanta on the way home because of flight delays. The Atlanta hotel sent out a survey that I completed. They asked if the place I stayed before this stay included rich amenties for the price. Well, yeah, since I had the presidential suite. It is not everyday that I get 5 TV's in my room.


I have been getting a splattering of Obama is a muslim, abortion is evil, life begins at conception, and such emails from my republican friends. They SO sound like hooray for our side and I found another article critical of the other side so I better send it to everyone type of email. Yuk! It seems to me that every time there are fact checks after debates that the are holes in both candidates stories and lines. I am just not very appreciative of one-sided, often lop-sided story lines. I am voting Obama. I like McCain. Obama is a better reflection of my opinions and I think more refreshing. I am sure NOT going to be swayed by stuff that sounds like hate mail.

Podcasts I listened to:

Data

November 2, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Brownell-Crestline
Running
Distance: 13 Miles
Time: 2:00:56
Heart Rate: 139
Pace: 9:18
Weather: Clear
Temperature-43°
Humidity-82%
Route

November 1, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Vulcan Run 10K
Personal Record
Distance: 6.2 Miles
Time: 46:39
Heart Rate: 167
Pace: 7:31
Weather: Clear
Temperature-41°
Humidity-82%
Route

October 31, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Neighborhood
Running
Distance: 7 Miles
Time: 1:02:52
Heart Rate: 145
Pace: 8:55
Weather: Clear
Temperature-43°
Humidity-71%

October 30, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Neighborhood
Running
Distance: 3 Miles
Time: 26:58
Heart Rate: 140
Pace: 8:59
Weather: Clear
Temperature-62°
Humidity-38%

October 29, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Neighborhood
Running
Distance: 8 Miles
Time: 1:09:27
Heart Rate: 144
Pace: 8:38
Weather: Clear
Temperature-30°
Humidity-85%

October 28, 2008: Philadelphia
Treadmill
Running
Distance: 3.3 Miles
Time: 30:13
Heart Rate: 154
Pace: 9:09

October 26, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Brownell-Jemison
Running
Distance: 9 Miles
Time: 1:19:39
Heart Rate: 148
Pace: 8:41
Weather: Clear
Temperature-41°
Humidity-86%
Route

October 25, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Oak Mountain State Park
Cycling
Distance: 23.85 Miles
Time: 1:24:03
Heart Rate: 130
Speed: 17.03
Weather: Mostly cloudy
Temperature-50°
Humidity-93%
Route

October 24, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Neighborhood
Running
Distance: 7.11 Miles
Time: 1:03:19
Heart Rate: 148
Pace: 8:54
Weather: Overcast
Temperature-59°
Humidity-81%

October 23, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Neighborhood
Running
Distance: 3 Miles
Time: 28:48
Heart Rate: 138
Pace: 9:35
Weather: Partly cloudy
Temperature-59°
Humidity-60%

Thursday, October 23, 2008

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:

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%

Sunday, October 12, 2008

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:

Data

October 12, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Brownell-Shades Creek
2008 World Wide Festival Races: 1/2 Marathon
2008 Phedippidations World Wide HalfDistance: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

Sunday, October 05, 2008

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:

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%

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Sept 7-24: Running & Cycling in 2 States, Yes I'm Still Alive

3 friends and I ran in he USMC Mud Run and it was a blast. We ran for fun, so don't look for us on the medal stand. We had 4 goals and we met them:

  1. Have fun
  2. Function as a team (stay together)
  3. Negotiate every obstacle
  4. Finish
Checkout the pictures directly on Flickr if you don't like embedded reader below):

I did not dry up and pass away. Just been doing 80+ hour work weeks and have simply not been able to get to tertiary tasks like blogging by few exploits. Man, the times they are a hopping at work and in the market. It is hard to believe the mess made by the financial industry. The whole derivative thing and the practices that surrounded and really hurt the market. And after listening to This American Life's show #363: The Enforcers, I agree with McCain in that "Cox should be fired." In the show, several snippets from meetings with Congress are played wherein Cox is asked questions like: "Do you need more people, larger budget?", "Do you additional legislative help?", etc. All with an eye towards enforcing and shoring up the financial industry. Cox seemed to think everything was fine and soon announced that the temporary fix was to explicitly restrict naked short selling for 19 organizations. Naked short selling was already illegal.

I loaded the 2.1 operating system for the iPhone and now one of playlists will not lists the shows that show up in iTunes and on the iPod. The shows are on the iPhone (the playlist is a playlist of playlists). The playlist is on the iPhone. But, the shows are not in it. Gees!

I had a server running from my house that got hacked. I couldn't figure out what exploit was used and how. I searched based on what I saw on the machine and found nothing. Given that I have so little time and that files seemed to be intact and passed virus scans, I simply sucked off the files I needed and reformatted the drive. I feel so violated. I hope the hacker got his jollies.

I learned about Firebug, a plug-in for Firefox and it just rocks. I lets you see all the definitions associated with displayed web page. It's awesome for debugging what css tag is governing the a particular element's display and such. Lot's more than this there.

I checked my cholesterol on September 14 and it was 169! Yeppee!

I listened to these podcasts:

From these podcasts, I heard several points I intend to follow up on once I have time:

  • Need to checkout Findbugs.
  • Mark Rolston's line "looks like the technology underneath" which isn't a compliment and is a concept for consideration during software design
  • Two major java programming frameworks (not presentation layer like Struts, MVC, etc.)
  • EJB's evolution pace and its impact on EJB adoption and the emergence of rebel frameworks (spring, hibernate, etc.)

Data

September 24, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Neighborhood
Running
Distance: 6.19 Miles
Time: 57:38
Heart Rate: 146
Pace: 9:18
Weather: Clear
Temperature-78°
Humidity-40%

September 23, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Neighborhood
Running
Distance: 3 Miles
Time: 27:37
Heart Rate: 152
Pace: 9:12
Weather: Partly cloudy
Temperature-78°
Humidity-52%

September 21, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Brownell-Crestline-Shades Creek Loop
Running
Distance: 11 Miles
Time: 1:39:10
Heart Rate: 150
Pace: 9:00
Weather: Clear
Temperature-77°
Humidity-52%
Route

September 19, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Blythewood, SC
Running
Distance: 6.22 Miles
Time: 54:45
Heart Rate: 147
Pace: 8:48
Weather: Clear
Temperature-62°
Humidity-80%
Route

September 17, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Blythewood, SC
Running
Distance: 6.06 Miles
Time: 55:56
Heart Rate: 150
Pace: 9:13
Weather: Overcast
Temperature-68°
Humidity-90%
Route

September 16, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Blythewood, SC
Running
Distance: 3.11Miles
Time: 28:18
Heart Rate: 142
Pace: 9:05
Weather: Overcast
Temperature-74°
Humidity-93%
Route

September 14, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Brownell-Shades Creek-Crestline
Running
Distance: 13 Miles
Time: 2:07:41
Heart Rate: 144
Pace: 9:49
Weather: Mostly cloudy
Temperature-76°
Humidity-79%
Route

September 13, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Oak Mountain State Park
Cycling
Distance: 23.83 Miles
Time: 1:22:08
Heart Rate: 133
Speed: 17.41 mph
Weather: Clear
Temperature-77°
Humidity-74%
Route

September 12, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Neighborhood
Running
Distance: 6.26 Miles
Time: 58:37
Heart Rate: 158
Pace: 9:21
Weather: Mostly cloudy
Temperature-79°
Humidity-74%

September 10, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Neighborhood
Running
Distance: 6.22 Miles
Time: 58:43
Heart Rate: 141
Pace: 9:26
Weather: Clear
Temperature-71°
Humidity-87%

September 9, 2008: Birmingham, AL
Neighborhood
Running
Distance: 3Miles
Time: 28:15
Heart Rate: 143
Pace: 9:24
Weather: Clear
Temperature-70°
Humidity-90%