BRIAN'S BLOG

The Plan

Week two is in the bag: I'm following Hal Higdon's 15-K training plan for the 10 mile run I am doing in May. I've followed the schedule almost to the letter except that I have switched days for certain things just because of my schedule. But I have done everything on the list and nothing more and nothing less.

I bought a new pair of running shoes to coincide with this training, too; Asics Gel Foundation 8. The ITBand pain has all but disappeared. I did a few weeks of physical therapy and have some exercises I do to stretch that thing out. I was wearing a Cho-Pat knee strap too but my past few runs have been sans Cho-Pat and I haven't had a problem. Granted, the training regimen, at this point, calls for less miles than I was running before, but I want to do this right and not just complete the 10 miler, but do it in a respectable time and without injury.

Back to the shoes: it's too early to say if I have found the right running shoe for me but I really dig these Asics. I've tried Saucony and Brooks but I wasn't totally convinced either of their motion-control shoes were best for me. Once I put about 100 miles or so on the Asics, I'll know if I've found what's right for me. Since I need wide shoes, my choices are limited because only a few makes offer wides.

So far, so good. The weather seems to be getting better and running season is in full bloom.

President's Day

Happy 278th George!

201

Happy Birthday Abe!

Teleprompter Overdependency

Bush may have said "is our children learning" which, of course, sounds foolish (but at least he didn't say it again within 30 seconds), but this BHO misspeak insults a lot of people.

One can defend Bush's example above. Bush may have really said "is...are children learning?" - having changed from the singular to the plural to agree with children. But, our current TOTUS cannot be defended other that to admit his addiction to the teleprompter. Smartest president ever, riiiight.

Everyone makes errors when speaking but the difference is that when it's the president, everyone usually notices. But with His Excellency in office, the solecisms are ignored. If Bush had said "corpseman" twice while over 100,000 men and women are deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the press would have ripped him apart. But, Barry? Nope. He's got unlimited 'get out of jail free' cards.

Maybe I'm being too hard on him. Perhaps he never knew how the pronounce "corpsman" in the first place?

And you can be darn sure that John McCain can pronounce 'corpsman' properly.

Portent

Considering that Washington DC just set a December snowfall record and now was at ground zero of a monster storm that dumped 32.4" at Dulles and up to 40 inches in the Maryland suburbs, I wonder if someone is trying to tell Washington something? Another storm is forming out west and may hit the region by midweek. If this happens, surely something is amiss.

Maybe some entity is reminding us that we have little effect on weather and climate.

Maybe these storms are symbolic of how Washington is burying us in debt. Bush & Co. were amateurs at this compared to the current crop of buffoons.

Or, maybe it's just luck of the draw. Sometimes you get 65F days in February in Washington and sometimes you get a record-setting blizzard. The rebranding of "global warming" to "climate change" functions as good CYA for these kinds of things.

***

By the way, my Super Bowl XLIV prediction:

Saints 34
Colts 31

Miss Me Yet?

Maybe not a great, nor even good president, but the Bush years were pretty good. Sure, the media was pretty upset about the 2000 election and even moreso at the 2004 election, but Bush never wavered and, unlike our current prez, never declared war on those who disagreed with him or his policies.

Frankly, I still think it's more than a coincidence that the "economic meltdown" started shortly after McCain's announcement of Palin as a running mate and the bump that put him even with Obama in the polls. Someone **cough** **cough** Soros **cough** **cough** panicked and pulled a lot of strings. I think time will tell that what happened in September 2008 was an October surprise that got well out of hand.

Dubya, things were good during your tenure. With all the crap you took and all the things you did wrong, we did pretty well overall. Even with the inept congress that took office in 2006, the ship held together quite well - until it was sabotaged.

Am I conspiracy nut? Maybe, but no worse than those who blame on Bush.

New Toy: Yaesu VX-6R

I bought a Yaesu VX-6R handheld transceiver this week. I like it. Broadly, the features include: tribander with TX on 144, 220, and 440 ham bands, wideband RX, lithium-ion battery, submersible to 3 ft. (something I will not test intentionally), it's lighter and smaller than my VX-150, and many more features it will take time for me to familiarize myself with.

Feelin' Groovy

I did a three mile run on the treadmill at the gym last night. I wore a Cho-Pat knee strap that the doctor gave me and I still had some pain and running more than three might have been tough, but the strap worked. After the run and in addition to my usual IT-band stretches, I did some hip adductor exercises on one of the leg machines and that almost completely got rid of the pain. The pain came back a little after I left the gym but it wasn't as bad as it was from some other runs so I did another set of stretches about an hour before bedtime. This morning, the knee feels good.

The doctor referred me to a physical therapist and did not proscribe me from running. I will take it easy and cap my runs at three, unless the PT recommends otherwise, but I am feeling much better already and looking forward being able to do my first five and six mile runs of the year and eventually the 10 in May.

Iliotibial Band

I haven't been running due to injuring my IT band. The pain is in the knee but the band runs along the leg from the hip to the knee. In doing research on the causes of it, I have discovered that I am a prime candidate for this injury. I overpronate. I run up and down hills. Most streets are arced and since I run against traffic, that explains why it's only affecting my left knee. The bike paths arc in many spots, too.

So, I have done a few runs since the pain began but nothing more than two miles as that is when it flares up. I've been doing some stretches that concentrate on the band and just doing some walks to keep the body moving, albeit a little bit.

I don' think the shoes are failing but I may need insoles and I purchased an IT band compression wrap that is supposed to support the knee while running.

It's been too cold and snowy to bike too. Biking may be less demanding on the IT band but the weather has not been cooperative. I think I can layer up enough to bike once the temperature hits about 40F or so but those days have been quite rare of late.

I will continue to rest and do stretches and try a run in a few days. I still plan on running a 10 miler in May and a half-marathon in the fall.

CBS Ad from 1966

Awesome!

LED Traffic Lights

From the "oops" department:

Energy-Efficient Traffic Lights Can't Melt Snow

After seeing this story, I have adopted a new saying that I will utilize often in conversation:

"Eco-friendly doesn't mean people-friendly."

But, hey, maybe this is what BHO means by creating green jobs - hiring extra people to blow snow off the traffic lights. One day, his teleprompter may tell him to say:

"You see, the traffic light has the color green in it, and anyone who adds more green to the earth, is working in a green job."

When things that aren't broken get fixed, often one ends up with something that really is broken and, in this case, dangerous.

10+ km

I ran 10km this morning (10.3km, 6.4mi. actual) and what a confidence boost! I will shoot for a seven miler within the next week and try for an eight before year's end. My time wasn't very good but another runner told me that the first thing you do is run the distance (even if you have to walk for parts of it) to prove to yourself you can do it and worry about improving your time later. That, of course, makes sense since I cannot improve on a 10K time without ever running a 10K.

Six months out from the Broad Street Run and I feel confident that I'll be about to crank out those ten miles (16km). A half-marathon is a major step from where I am but my target of a fall half-marathon seems realistic at this point.

One budding problem: my right foot. For the past few runs I've been feeling some discomfort on the inner part of the foot. I could be breaking down my shoes already but I can't be sure. I padded my right foot this morning with a second sock and felt no discomfort on this run. I am not sure if this will be a permanent fix or not but I'll have to monitor it. A visit to a podiatrist is not out of the question yet but, it's just minor discomfort and not something I would call pain - maybe a "2" on one of those 1-10 pain charts with the grimacing cartoon faces.

I'll plan on a few more runs this week. Maybe I can get that weekly total up from a current 10-12 miles a week to 15-16.

My Limit?

I'm still running, of course, but I feel like I have hit my limit in regards to speed. I can finish a 5K in under 30 minutes and with a little effort could get that down to under 28; 28:16 being my best so far. But with flat feet, short legs, and almost 20 years of eating like someone who wanted diabetes and high blood pressure, I don't know if I can ever get a pace under a nine minute mile for distances of three-six miles and more. I can run two in under 18 minutes but I can't continue that pace, yet, for another 1.1 miles, let alone for five or six. I'm doing a 10-miler in May and my early early early goal is 1:39:59. 1:29:59 would be awesome but it would be a lot of work and a big step up. I also need to actually run 10 as well. The longest distance I have run so far is just over six. I anticipate little problem being able to cover 10 miles but doing it at a nine-minute pace is another matter.

I think I need a personal trainer with a background in nutrition. My diet is much improved and there is no doubt about the results; it's working, people see the results. I have eating to lose weight mastered but I need to figure how to eat to build strength and speed. However, a personal trainer doesn't fit into my budget at the moment. Just like I lost the weight on my own, maybe I need to be my own personal trainer too which means doing lots of reading and research.

I don't think I've hit my limit yet but I have come to a point where I need to bump it up to the next level. How many more levels I can go it not something I know the answer to.

By the way, I ran a five-miler in 47:15 this morning; my best time for five, so far.

Cincinnati (11-0) @ Pittsburgh (9-2)

Noon kickoff today. I won't be at the game because my wife finally took the tickets and made a girls weekend in Pittsburgh out of it. A sold-out crowd awaits the Mrs. and her friends.

The winner wins the Big East and may go to the Orange Bowl. The line has Cincy a two point favorite with the over/under at 58. A Pitt win today will give them double-digit wins for the first time since 1981. A win today would be one of the biggest wins in school history and even bigger than upsetting #2 WVU two years ago in Morgantown when WVU was a 29 point favorite and a win away from playing in the national championship game.

It's a nationally televised game so I will get to see it.

My pick: Pitt 27, Cincy 24.

Hail to Pitt!

Calm instead of the Storm

...pretty much sums up Atlantic Hurricane Season 2009. After Katrina, I thought the US was supposed to be pounded relentlessly annually with big and bad storms similar in magnitude of Katrina that numbered into the teens because of ~~Global Warming~~ ~~Climate Change~~ .

from USA Today:

"The 2009 Atlantic hurricane season ended Monday without a hurricane landing on U.S. shores and with the fewest named storms in 12 years, according to the National Hurricane Center."

Whew. Luckily, scientists can be wrong sometimes. (Or make up data too, but that's another topic **cough** **cough** climategate **cough** **cough**). Speaking of which, if the media spent just 10% of the effort researching the allegations of Climategate that they put into A**m L*****t or Tiger Woods or their constant bleating of adoration for BHO...but maybe they're afraid of that the data really has been fudged.

Tiger Beat media strikes again!

(and let's not forget snow in Houston today. Earliest snowfall on record there. lol)

Update (12/08) - is it me or does it seem like there are more doom and gloom news stories about climate change lately? It could just coincide with the large carbon footprint going on in Copenhagen or, more likely, this is the media's coordinated response to the Climategate emails.

Still Going Strong

A panic set in the other day when our 10 year-old HP Deskjet 895Cse printer stopped working. It would power up but the lights would flicker and then nothing - just the blinking orange light indicating a problem. I saw no paper jam and the printer was clear of toys and small objects that the kids sometimes stick in there. Convinced it was something simple, I unhooked it and proceeded to take it apart. I took the back panel off and there was my problem: a small piece of paper jammed under one of the rollers. I took it out and hooked the printer up and the printer worked.

We bought that printer ten years ago this week when we bought our Gateway 600Mhz PC (running FreeBSD today) and I think the printer was around $200.

They don't make them like that anymore. Something tells me that if I were to buy a comparable HP today, it would be junk within three years.

I refuse to replace it; best printer I've ever owned. Someone gave me a newer one last year and it was about two years old but I never hooked it up. I gave it away.

One Revolution

One year ago today I started running. What started as a light jog that took me about 12 minutes to cover a mile, has turned into running regularly and having no problem getting out doing four or five without thinking twice about it. I now expect myself to run three comfortably under 30:00 and hit mile one on a fast run comfortably under 9:00. I have plans on doing a 10 miler in May and *gasp* a half-marathon next September. While I'll never be a Ryan Hall, I can still be proud of myself.

One key was starting a few years ago with changes in diet and exercise BEFORE things got too out of hand. My BMI was in the high 20's - not a point of no return - but absolutely unacceptable. Another key, and, more importantly, I finally realized that there was a problem.

This is a three-year project still in the making. Consistency is important. Nothing is going to happen overnight. No one is going to wave a magic wand and put your body into the shape it's supposed to be in.

Less than eight months ago I ran my first 5K. It took me just over 35 minutes. I have since trimmed seven minutes off that. I may not get much faster than that, but that's alright.

I've come a long way. I've learned a lot. Just as the earth has completed another revolution, I am into my own.

Nine Things

I am the cook of the house. I cook dinner about 20-23 days out of the month. My wife might make a meal or two and the rest of days are either leftovers or other plans like being invited somewhere, going out, etc.

When the topic comes up, people who don't know us assume that my wife is the cook and seem surprised when I tell them that I am. My wife can cook but our roles in the house have made it easier for me to the cooking. We're at the point where I insist on making it. I am not afraid to boast either; I am a good cook.

I also do the grocery shopping so I always have what I need and I plan the menu a week ahead.

Nine things you'll always find in my kitchen:

1. onions
2. crushed garlic (big refrigerated jar)
3. Lawry's seasoning salt
4. Tabasco
5. black pepper
6. bread crumbs
7. worcestershire sauce
8. butter
9. canola oil

Onions and garlic - you can't cook without them. Lawry's is a must for ground beef, even though we eat it only about once every two weeks. Tabasco is a must and I used to buy it by the gallon. I've re-discovered ground black pepper as good seasoning for many things. Bread crumbs and worcestershire come in handy for many things too. Butter and canola oil are essential.

For a few years now, we've been using ground turkey or ground chicken instead of beef in items like sloppy joes, lasagna, tacos, et al, even though we only buy 90/10 beef. You can substitute ground poultry in just about anything that traditionally calls for ground beef and you can make it taste just as good.

I like being the cook.

YAKAD

Yet Another Kool-Aid Drinker

It appears that the Nobel Peace Prize committee now has some competition for biggest Kool-Aid Drinker of the year:

Obama 'Most Powerful Writer Since Julius Caesar,' Says NEA Chief

Despite Rocco's bizarre statement, I would still give the award to the brainwashed dolts who gave BHO the Nobel Peace Prize for having the ability to read off of a teleprompter. Good try, Rocco, but not quite.

And speaking of Fox News - isn't BHO's war on them Fascism? In fact, isn't BHO pointing us towards that path? With, of course, help from idiots like Barney Frank, Christopher Dodd, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi. Huh? um, ok, you're right; the real idiots are the ones who pull the lever.

Fascism (n) - "a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition" (m-w.com)

Economic and social regimentation - health care, pay czars (and lot of other czars - one leader with many czars reporting directly to him and him alone), control of the automakers, etc. If Dubya was a Fascist like many on the Left believed, he wasn't very good at it. BHO has him beaten hands down in only nine months. But, let's be fair, the supporting cast has been in place for a long time. They finally got their guy in office.

Sinclair Lewis once said: "when Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross." His prediction was a little off. Since many Americans dismissed patriotism and religion years ago, we can amend Mr. Lewis' statement some:

When Fascism came to America, it was wrapped in hope and carried a check.

Handouts always come with rules. If you're willing to sacrifice something for a quick fix, then you deserve what you get. However, by doing so, you ruin a good thing for everybody by ceding all your power to those who should serve us; they end up not serving, but controlling.

Drink up, people. Soon it will be mandatory.

/rant

Unix

Someone took the time to etch their OS of choice onto to the plate of this hand dryer at a McDonald's in Carlisle, PA. It's been there for at least a few years too.

Disembowelment

The Phillies didn't just beat the Dodgers, they completely tore them apart. A friend of mine who lives in Long Beach has been telling me that all the talk on the sports radio shows out there was about how the Dodgers were going to pummel the Phillies blah blah blah blah. lol. The DUDgers were totally outplayed and outclassed (Manny in the shower, 'nuff said).

The sentiment was also that a freeway series was guaranteed. Sorry

I don't see the Angels as having a chance to come back and beat the Yankees so it's likely going to be a Philly-New York series; a Jersey Turnpike Series. The Yankees aren't going to be a pushover like the Dudgers were though. It should be a good series and I think it will go to seven games.

Phillies fans have been spoiled of late as they've won 16 of their last 20 playoff games; they've only lost one game in each playoff round going back to last season, coming in at 18-5 in that span. The Yanks may very well give them three more - and hopefully no more than that.

Re-peat. Re-peat. Re-peat. Re-peat. Re-peat. Let's go Phillies!

Last Saturday's 5K

The 5K I ran last weekend timed me at 28:26 but I timed myself at 28:16; either way a PR. I always start my watch when I begin running and the race, while it utilized chip timing, did not have a sensor at the starting line. So, I'll take my reading as my official time and now that's the number to beat for my next 5K. However, I was disappointed to see that I finished 6/7 in my age group. The previous 5K I ran I was 16/21. I need to goad more of my friends into running these races with me so I can have a shot at finishing in the top half for my age group.

The race itself featured a major hill for most of the first mile. I hit mile one at a dismal 9:53 but, again, I blame the hill (and the rain too, the rain stopped about halfway through the run). Mile two I crossed at 18:40 so I picked up a nice pace after that. Not a bad race overall, lots of goodies beforehand and afterwards, including coffee! I go light on coffee before races and limit myself to about 12oz. Afterwards, I catch up and imbibe my usual gallon or so.

My next goal is to get these things done in under a 9:00 pace. I'm getting closer. Getting under 10 was easy, nine should come soon, but eight looks like it's going to be tough. But, I take pride in knowing that my practice and training are paying off.

No excuses. No bull. Just do it.

Get Your Nobel Peace Prizes Here

Just remember to wait your turn. Everyone gets one not based on deeds or accomplishments, but just by showing up.

The committee has forever tarnished this once prestigious award. Hey, good intentions are all that matters now, not actually doing anything. What a bunch of maroons.

Consolation Prize

BHO has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Maybe this is a consolation prize for not being able to land the Olympics for war-torn, poverty-stricken Chicago.

From the BBC:

"In awarding President Obama the Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian committee is honouring his intentions more than his achievements"

What a joke. What a joke. So much for any credibility that organization may have once had. On the bright side, it appears that US Congress isn't alone in being run by knuckleheads and buffoons.

What a joke, a bad joke at that.