as for myself, i didn't manage to get a ride in today, but hope to do the east peak tomorrow. toshok took me out to fairfax on tuesday, and i think i'm still recovering. still no word on when i'll get my replacement bike...

a year ago today i rode all the metro lines and at at le train bleu. today i rode caltrain and ate at papalote.

HILLARY CLINTON, Secretary of State: We think the imprisonment, trial and sentencing of Laura and Euna should be viewed as a humanitarian matter.

it seems so out of place to use their first names in this context, considering they've been in custody in dprk for nearly three months.

i would not say, a year later, that leaving either boston or novell were overall bad decisions. certainly not the worst i've made before, or since. probably writing this entry was a worse decision than either of them.

the dears show last weekend was pretty amazing. they've definitely improved as a band since their last tour in november, and managed to get through their whole set without the power going out once. i don't think they played anything from the EPs or hollywood, but they started the encore with we can have it, and, well, they could have only played that song and i would have been happy.

but now i'm sad because they're gone, and although in the next month i'm going to see HF, ARS, and wilco, i do not love those bands like i love the dears.

tomorrow i will have pancakes.

related: nothing like gamespot forums for dating advice.

anyway, they're just next door, so i stopped by after my commute, and paid it in person.

this morning, i start cleaning of my desk, and what do i find? a stamped, unset envelope to the doctor, with my payment information inside.

1. 7:33
2. 7:10
3. 7:08
4. 7:15
5. 7:23
6. 7:23
7. 7:24
8. 7:23
9. 7:18
10. 7:26
11. 7:27
12. 7:16
13. 7:12 (Wellesley)
14. 7:22
15. 7:27
16. 7:29
17. 7:41 (Newton hills begin)
18. 7:44
19. 7:41
20. 7:49
21. 7:49 (Heartbreak Hill)
22. 7:37
23. 8:08 (Ran too fast through BC)
24. 8:06
25. 8:07
26. 8:00

total: 3:18:08.

i passed tons of people on heartbreak, and running through audubon circle was fun. looking forward to cycling season!

1. 2:55
2. 2:55
3. 2:55
4. 3:01
5. 3:00
6. 3:00

if sunday's long run goes well, i'll feel pretty comfortable that i could do a 3:30, which is good enough, given the past month.

going to ride tam with toshok in two hours; wonder if any pizza places deliver this early...

REP. DON MANZULLO: Half the people have lost half their retirement or most have lost half of their retirement, and not one of you three can give me a "yes" on that answer or "no."

BEN BERNANKE: Because it's a poorly posed question.

so stunned i can't even think of a witty post-quip.

...the most fundamental question of all: What is it? What is going to be there?

In today's development, this question is asked, and answered, almost exclusively in economic terms. ...

Of course the products which are built, in answer to this question, and after the necessary consumer surveys, are machinelike, abstract, lifeless. They are uninteresting, not vivid. They are incapable of exciting us, or moving us, because they are not human in their quality.

i would love to hear his thoughts on house flipping.

today's route had two real hills; the first, which took about 22 minutes, was the toughest hill i'd ever done. that record didn't last long, as the second (which the ToC rode on monday), around 1750' itself, took about 43 minutes. i am not embarassed to say that i was not feeling great at the top.

according to my technologies, the total route was about 38.5 miles, with almost 4400' feet of total climbing. these numbers should probably be taken with a few grains of salt, but they certainly dwarf the difficulty of any ride i've done before. i suppose that means i'm a stronger rider than i've ever been, which is a little surprising considering how little i've ridden in the last... ten years.

this morning i was pretty set against getting a new bike, but man, i probably should.

another night of sleeping well awaits!

if you scroll alllllllll the way to the bottom, you can see that, at 17, i was in the 21 and below age group. that seems pretty crazy but there you have it. anyway, in that race they'd send each age group off in its own group, and miraculously i managed to avoid getting dropped (until the last 200m or so). so it's not like i was near the front of this huge race, i was in the back of a small group.

in... 1993? i won my age group (14 and under, likely) in the twin sizzler. that was pretty awesome, too, but sadly it was before the internets reached the ohio farmcountry.

in totally unrelated news, i am probably going to have to move soon, since i bought some art and don't have enough wall space for it. i am especially excited about having art that is worth more than its frame (which i may have mentioned before).

i really need to go to bed.

it was only sixteen miles, but it was cold, windy, and rainy, especially on the bridge (where it may actually have been hail). fortunately google maps doesn't show how slow we rode.

i think i will try to figure out how to get to san bruno mountain; it's bigger than hawk hill, doesn't involve a terrifying bridge, and is still only 10 miles away.

looking forward to repeat miles at the track tomorrow, and then lunch. my first meeting isn't until 4!

anyway, i have been wondering what jane jacobs thinks of this guy, and i came across this article on her works. in goes on in much more detail than i have the attention span to write, but skimming it might hopefully convince you to read her economics books, not just death and life.

the one thing that confuses me is that the timeless way refers to itself as the first in the series, yet a pattern language was published two years earlier? whatever.

JON STEWART, host, "The Daily Show": It seems to me like the economy's so bad that this guy had to move back in with his grandmother. "Paul Solman, are you putting the zeroes on the coffee table again?" "No, Grandma!" "Use a coaster!" "I'll use a coaster! I'm explaining a national calamity!" "Bring me some juice, dear."

PAUL SOLMAN: Prune juice, presumably, Grandma's drink of choice, though she's been dead some 46 years now.

the rest of the report is slightly less awesome.

i don't have any meetings tomorrow so i'll do them after i get back from the post office.

kevin says they aren't going to play cause or break anymore. i have heard this all before, but if it's actually true this time, it's probably ok if they start playing stuff like c.s. and keep playing fuzz (insider-speak for late night bedroom rock + shampoo suicide).

the sentinel had a sorta-dry non-spicy mac + cheese today, but both the smoked trout salad and molasses cookie that came with it were super awesome. i hope they don't have the bockwurst sandwich again tomorrow, because i have a prior lunch engagement to attend.

what else what else what else what else.

• page and plant: three.
• stars: three.
• bloc party: three.
• radiohead: eight.
• broken social scene: eight.
• the jimmy swift band: twenty-six.

i am scheduled to see jsb three more times next month alone.

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA AND MONTEREY BAY AREA. .DAY ONE...TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT UNDER SUNNY SKIES TEMPERATURES WILL WARM INTO THE UPPER 60S TO UPPER 70S.

today we released the source to the project i've been working on, at vmware, which was started by alex. it still does little, and is probably not for everyone; step one for testing it out is to deploy an AD server, and it just gets more expensive from there.

but i do love our logo so very, very much:

well done, robert!

no meetings today, and i'm taking the rest of the week off to see broken social scene in portland and seattle, but then it's probably back to those ten hour days...

1. 5:47 (new PR)
2. 5:53
3. 5:58
4. 5:56

i love that you don't need to spend hundreds of dollars to run. i love that two-thousand dollar bikes are beautiful.

i guess i should go to work.

First of all, you need social pressure. Capitalism is a great system, but you can't have amoral capitalism. Capitalist institutions have to be surrounded by social understandings, by a set of norms that we all adhere to or that are enforced by shame.

it is almost as if he had just reread jane jacobs' systems of survival. i've really been meaning to go back and read everything but her first book, as many of them deal with exactly the economic situation the world has found itself in lately. sadly, only two of her books are out on kindle.

i don't think i've taken any days off except the first two days after the marathon, but i have tomorrow off; it is going to be weird just going to work right after waking up. but tuesday it's back to the track for mile repeats, so i will enjoy the rest while i can get it.

i am looking forward to being disappointed by tomorrow's lack of productivity.

as i was parking in front of the office for my 8am meeting this morning, some sort of delivery man walked past me and asked, "is the economy hurting you guys?"

i sorta mumbled some sort of response, about no, not really, we are doing ok, at least i am, but i was wondering, "how does he know i work for VMware?" there are a lot of companies in our building.

"oh!" i said. "i'm not a bike messenger!" what a great start to the day.

i got tired of not having all my music at the office so i got an iPod classic today. i think it's my 7th? how time flies.

i saw the album leaf here on wednesday night; i hadn't listened to them much since i first got the albums whenever ago but a month or so ago i put them on while doing dishes and it was perfect for that moment. i have been listening to them a lot since the show. the opening act covered everything in its right place.

i am going to sleep so much tonight.

8x800m:

1. 2:54
2. 2:53
3. 2:53
4. 2:53
5. 2:51
6. 2:50
7. 2:50
8. 2:48 (new PR)

i like the slope of that trend line.

the other day i read that the pound has been faltering so i finally ordered those stanley donwood prints i've had my eye on for a couple of years. i hope i still have a job monday.

i got my first pg&e bill since i turned off my apartment's heater's pilot light. i used 4 therms this month, which ended up being $5. the total bill (with electricity) was $25. ausome.

ran three miles today, up from two yesterday. starting the real training tuesday.

these are mostly for myself and nat, but they certainly do tell a tale. i needed to average 7:10 per mile, and set out to do 7:00. it went ok:

1. 7:00
2. 6:52
3. 7:01
4. 6:54
5. 6:52 (split: 34:42)
6. 6:54
7. 6:57
8. 6:57
9. 6:52
10. 6:48 (split: 1:09:11)
11. 6:46
12. 6:56
13. 6:43 (split: 1:30:22)
14. 6:50
15. 6:53
16. 6:52
17. 6:58
18. 7:04
19. 7:03
20. 7:16 (split: 2:18:39)
21. 7:22
22. 8:01
23. 8:00
24. 8:06
25. 9:03
26. 7:36 (+1:30 for .2; time: 3:08:20)

i suppose mile 20 would be referred to as "the wall" in this case. i reached a point around there where i knew i would qualify; i could pretty much run 8 minute miles and i'd be ok as long as i made it to mile 25. i figured the last mile would be pretty easy, and it was (although perhaps i cut it a little closer than i should have).

my training program wants me to run 18 this weekend, but for now i am just going to have a burrito.

this morning during my commute, someone asked how to get to hyde street. i thought they were mispronouncing haight (as height), and sent them the wrong way. after i realized my mistake (like, six hours later), i felt bad until i realized it's 2009 and they should just get a gps already.

united economy plus better be worth it; i am not excited about getting on that airplane tomorrow.

Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 52. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming north northwest.

Sunday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly cloudy, with a high near 68. Northwest wind between 5 and 10 mph.

acceptable.

it reminded me of when we first got wifi wavelan, and everyone could use their laptops while watching movies, and i said something to this effect. my friend countered that nobody takes their laptop around everywhere.

well the point is, that is exactly what we used to do.

it makes me miss my lil' vaio.

i think i have a long day of reinstalling windows ahead of me.

2008 marked a record breaking year for vinyl sales with a total of 1.88 million copies sold, a growth of 89% compared to 2007.

i wonder why news sites don't sell ads in their urls, like http://cnn.com/All_New_Ford_F150/2009/TECH/01/01/zune.player.failures/.