Typealyzer

I have no feelings or ideals.

ISTP - The Mechanics

The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters.

The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generelly prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.

Grete's Great Gallop

Three weeks after the Montreal half marathon I ran Grete's Great Gallop in Central Park yesterday.  My hubristic goal shortly after Montreal was to shave off 2 minutes only later to discover that my recovery was not as quick as I expected.  In the week leading up to Grete's I didn't run much, and didn't feel like I ate well... so frankly didn't expect very much.  If hit 90 minutes, I'd be happy.  On the plus side, I expected the weather to be better, and would run with headphones, and more importantly, knew that the field would be deeper, all of which would help me keep pace.  

Much to my surprise, I managed to shave off a minute and finish in 1:26:07, placing 181st in a field of 3871 and 33rd in my age and gender category.  I averaged 6:34 minutes a miles (4:05-ish a Km).  Perhaps most surprising was running the two laps in exactly the same time. (The course was two laps, plus a mile to Tavern on the Green).  Another amusing note: I'm old enough to have an age graded discount of 21 seconds off my time.  Somewhat daunting is how that discount really sets me back 110 places by gender.

Also running were Josko, Miguel and Susan, who did this race together two years ago. It was my first NYRR race.  I almost missed this, but Ian Chillag, formerly of the Bryant Park Project, finished ahead of me at 1:21:07 in our age/gender category.  We had talked in the summer about running together. Thanks to all that sent congrats.

Ownership Society

TPM has a video on a right-wing pivot on the financial meltdown: blaming past Democratic Presidents and minority home ownership.






I remember another fellow talking up an "Ownership Society" a few years ago:

To give every American a stake in the promise and future of our country, we will bring the highest standards to our schools, and build an ownership society. We will widen the ownership of homes and businesses, retirement savings and health insurance - preparing our people for the challenges of life in a free society. By making every citizen an agent of his or her own destiny, we will give our fellow Americans greater freedom from want and fear, and make our society more prosperous and just and equal.

Yes. That's George W. Bush's 2005 inauguration speech.

DFW

News of his death brought a dark cloud to an otherwise happy weekend. David Foster Wallace's piece on Roger Federer made me get a grounds pass for my first US Open in 2006.

After a couple aborted attempts, and a rendering of the book into three physical parts, I read The Infinite Jest in 2004 while studying public finance at Wagner. Both dealt with our desires and how to measure and realize them. I used to be a bit embarrassed to claim the Infinite Jest as one of my favorite books, as being a bit macho, but after reading the Memories at McSweeney's, there's no need to apologize for loving the work of a modest man who left a giant footprint.

Update (9/18): Jason Kottke provides a great collection of DFW links.

Montreal Demi Marathon

For my first major roadrace since high school I ran the Montréal half marathon in 1:27:06.8, nearly three minutes under my goal of 90 minutes.  I placed 47th out of 3053, 7th in my category of Men 30-34, and behind three women.  I averaged about 6:40 a mile, and 4:10 per kilometer.

My 5K splits were fairly consistant, 20:18, 21:06, 20:25, 20:45.  The second 5K was mostly up hill.  It took me a while to figure out the markers, so my first 4 splits are real screwy.  I would love to  push my pace down to 6:30 miles, or better yet, 4:00 kilometers, and getting down towards 85:30 to 84:30 when I run in Grete's Gallop in Central Park on October 4th.  On the otherhand, I don't really know how feasible losing 2 minutes is, it might be more like pounding out 2 minutes.  My greater goal is to qualify for Boston, I think this was a good first step.

Josh ran his first marathon, and Mollie ran the half to help prepare for the New York Marathon.

Thanks to all that sent congrats.

Yasso 800s

Josh and I did track work tonight. We a did a variation of Yasso's 800's, 8 x 800. The theory is the average time of the intervals become your target marathon time, i.e. 3:00 minute 800s translate to a 3:00 hour marathon.  Though on the website, the number of intervals is 10.

So here's how I did:

1 2:49.0
2 2:42.2
3 2:40.6
4 2:37.0
5 2:41.3
6 2:41.0
7 2:42.2
8 2:36.6

Average: 2:41.6

Before I get too excited, there are skeptics. Nonetheless, it was great, and grueling workout.  Yesterday I spilled over ten seconds to squeezing in a 5k in 18 minutes.  My goal for the half marathon is 90 minutes. We shall see.

Black Star

This is completely meaningless, but shows how good staging can create a nice juxtaposition... I like how Michelle's necklace brooch at times became rays emanating from the black microphone head... making a beautiful black star radiating from her heart.

It reminded me of Nikki Giovanni's magnificent poem "Sound in Space." Here's a bit:

Science teaches us that there is no sound in space and I think that's hogwash because if there is no sound in space how will all those wishes get up to the moon and anyone with an ounce of sense knows science fiction is much better than science fact because science fact tries to prove things like Thomas Jefferson wasn't diddling Sally Hemmings and everybody knows people diddle people all the time especially when they can't say no so yes there is sound in space and a large part of it says: I love you in a lot of different ways and when the language is unknown to the hearer other people say things like that is gibberish but love can never be gibberish . . . foolish for sure . . . silly you bet but the basis of all relationships is love which is then followed by trust and not the other way around because if trust was the basis there would be world peace and safe international travel but what I want to point out since it is always so important to do something useful is that you should, quite naturally, floss and nickels and dimes have a relationship with dollars and sense but not halves and quarters and machines that tell you deposit more money and Good Luck when it isn't luck that you need but better science which can explain how and why when all is said and done we are left with this density that forces us to recognize the Eagle Nebula is falling into itself and will one day be a planet though mostly we will not be around to see it and then there are those troublesome Black holes which are so totally fascinating though no one can exactly put their finger on what makes them so important and I am here to tell you I know: the density of a Black hole does not prevent light from escaping but rather that once light encounters the Black whole it finds such beauty and peace and comfort it no longer needs to search which is another word for love . . . and I do.

That last line gets me every time.

Resisting Arrest

... so this is resisting arrest?

Museum of Jurassic Technology

I had a couple recommendations to go to the Museum of Jurrassic Technology while in LA.  Not to brag too much, but as a whole I think they're my favorite set of pictures from the trip.  Keep in mind, I took these with a point and shoot, albeit a nice one.  

There was a lot of fun stuff, but I was really excited for what I had already read about, several years ago.  That is: Ricky Jay's antique dice collection.  They're decaying, and I'm sure you'll agree, beautiful.  I've been fan of his story telling, and read about them in New Yorker.  There is a book of photographs of the collection and dice history in general.

Pineapple Street

I was amused to see my little historic neighborhood in an iPhone spot. They're driving on Pineapple Street. Lady Middagh would be amused.

Replace Sheldon Silver

Sheldon Silver cowardly sinking of congestion pricing made me mad. Now I can get even, by supporting Paul Newell for his Assembly seat.

National Security

via Andrew Sullivan

"I refuse to be lectured on national security by people who are responsible for the most disastrous set of foreign policy decisions in the recent history of the United States. The other side likes to use 9/11 as a political bludgeon. Well, let’s talk about 9/11.

The people who were responsible for murdering 3,000 Americans on 9/11 have not been brought to justice."

They are Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda and their sponsors – the Taliban. They were in Afghanistan. And yet George Bush and John McCain decided in 2002 that we should take our eye off of Afghanistan so that we could invade and occupy a country that had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11. The case for war in Iraq was so thin that George Bush and John McCain had to hype the threat of Saddam Hussein, and make false promises that we’d be greeted as liberators. They misled the American people, and took us into a misguided war.

Here are the results of their policy. Osama bin Laden and his top leadership – the people who murdered 3000 Americans – have a safe-haven in northwest Pakistan, where they operate with such freedom of action that they can still put out hate-filled audiotapes to the outside world. That’s the result of the Bush-McCain approach to the war on terrorism," - Barack Obama, yesterday.

Loney, Dear

A Mix of Blues

Tipjoy

Joško's brother & sister-in-law have a start up called Tipjoy, a site that enables users to give small contributions to great content. It builds on long-tail theory, and I think is an excellent revenue model where web browser ad blocking is common (I'm certainly guilty). The minimum is $5 to start tipping, and tips range from 5 to 50 cents. I'm set up at 10 cents, and find that I'm eager to pass them out.

Dap-per

Before the audacity of blowing away the eXcel Energy Center... there was the dap. Forget stand by your man, Michelle elevated spousal support to a whole new level.

Two Fronts

a) my election malaise is burning off... a twitter meme started "When Obama wins..."

My favorite: When Obama wins... we will all shower in beer and soap will be replaced with bacon.

Runner up: When Obama wins... Robert Downey Jr. will celebrate with hookers and blow.

b) I achieved my 4 mile goal on Wednesday, squeezing 4.1 miles in 26 minutes.

c) a new pair of Nike free 3.0s arrived today... when will I test them out?

**Update**  I achieved my 6-mile goal tonight in the 3.0s, squeezing 6.05 miles in 40 minutes, missing my 5-mile goal by 20 seconds, I should have tried to push on the the 10k goal, but oh well.

Splits

Along the lines of goals... here's a list I'll try to check off in the next two months.

Miles; Time; Pace (Min); MPH/Level

1/4- 1:10; 4:40; 12.85
1/2- 2:30; 5:00; 12.00
1- 5:30; 5:30; 10.90
2- 11:30; 5:45; 10.43

3- 18:00; 6:00; 10.00
4- 26:00; 6:30; 9.23
5- 33:00; 6:36; 9.10
6- 40:00; 6:40; 9.00

10K- 41:30; 6:40; 9.00

As a high school runner, I got my 1/2 down to just over 2 minutes (I could never get my first split much below 55 seconds); 4:55 mile, 10:10 2-mile and a 5k at 17 minutes and change. The one 10K I ran as part of the Drake Relays I vaguely recall being around 44 minutes, as I wasn't used to racing more than 2 miles during the spring. I didn't run competitively after my junior year.

Stronger Feet to Tougher Feats

I've been loosely following the school of a less supportive shoe leading to stronger feet and a healthier body for a couple years. While in London, I came across the factory outlet for Terra Plana shoes and almost bought a pair. Then New York Magazine had Adam Sternbergh's extensive article when I returned. Which led me to search for athletic shoes along these lines.

I settled on some Nike Free's, which seem like the only large commercial line to follow this path. Even so, they're a bit elusive, so I picked up one pair of 5.0's at Niketown and a pair of 3.0s online. I toyed around with customizing a pair, but they don't allow the word "sweat" or "shop" let alone together.





See the video at NikeFree.com

Goals

I joined a gym recently and have been thinking about goals.  My first running goal was to get my 5K under 20 minutes (a little quicker than a 6:40 pace), and I did it.  So I've set a new goal of 18 minutes, which I'm not too far from.  This morning I entered the lottery for the NYC Marathon (November 2). If I get in (the drawing is in June)  I'll have pretty intense new goal, but I'll go much slower.