still too cool for wordpress.
choose one: a few recent posts; links to embarassing things; rss was for robots.

January 5, 2009
take me home and tuck me in

starting to obsess about the weather:

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.

* * *

January 4, 2009
nothing has changed

watching a movie at a friend's friday, it was commented on that two of us were just sitting there internetting from our phones, and how now everyone can internet from everywhere, and something something.

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.

* * *

January 3, 2009
at least the horrible dreams are over

a new year, a new hard drive.

i hope this is the last spinny drive i buy

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

* * *

January 1, 2009
still too cool for wordpress

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/.

* * *

December 24, 2008
if only if

had an amazing dream last night about nat publicly announcing the project i was working on, with my team and i up on some stage in an outdoor amphitheatre. it was to be some revolutionary thing, that could benefit like 90% of computer users immediately.

to bad i don't recall what the project actually was.

in addition to doing a crappy job painting, the painters have painted my windows shut.

* * *

December 21, 2008
a weekend for the ages

congratulations to all of my friends whom had babies this weekend!

(previously)

(i have been saving that url for weeks)

i finished my 28ish mile run this morning with the most energy of any of my recent long runs; i guess i took it slow enough. it was rainy again for most of the run, but not quite as cold as last week. my lower shins are a bit sore, but i have three easy weeks to recover before the race.

i'm looking forward to increasing amounts of sunlight again!

* * *

December 20, 2008
it's official

after reaching my six month anniversary at VMware earlier this week, i finally have an office phone number. it's even listed in they employee directory! looks like they're playing for keeps.

also, does anyone know how to get my postal worker to stop putting mail addressed to "CALIFORNIA DRIVER" in my mailbox?

* * *

December 16, 2008
i won't advise; it's full of lies

last day at the track this "season," in the cold and wet, but no rain. sunday is 28, then the next three weeks are taking it easy... starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, again. 12x800m:

  1. 3:04
  2. 3:05
  3. 2:58
  4. 3:01
  5. 2:54
  6. 2:54
  7. 2:58
  8. 2:58
  9. 2:56
  10. 2:50 (new PR)
  11. 2:54
  12. 2:50

not a bad morning at all. this not moving my arms thing may be a winner after all.

* * *

December 15, 2008
mondays

the only thing worse than running in the rain is running in the rain in the dark.

well, that and cancer and people dying and all that stuff. but still.

* * *

December 13, 2008
among others more interesting

had a dream where i was saying how much i hated country music, but all my friends disagreed? what is up with that.

* * *

December 13, 2008
someone's going to get an email

all i can think about when i hear people fearmongering about the auto industry "collapse" is the end of slavery. i'm sure there were people running around talking about all the jobs that would be lost - the auctioneers, the sailing industry, not to mention big shackle.

perhaps the most fun thing i did when i was taking guitar lessons in boston was write out the chords to a song by the dears. my teacher didn't find it particularly useful, and wanted me to learn some stupid twelve-bar something or other. but i found it sort of cool to see how the chords moved and where the keychanges sit and stuff.

unfortunately, he only wrote down the chord names, and not the tabs, and by the time my guitar had gotten here in october i couldn't remember how to play it, and didn't have much luck figuring out the chords.

anyway this morning, after my run, i sat down at my keyboard and after a while figured out most of the chords, and can now play the song again:

      |  -  -  -  -  -  - | There is
C     |  -  - 10  9  8  8 | no such
C/B   |  -  -  9  9  8  7 | thing
C7/Bf |  -  -  8  9  8  6 |
Asus4 |  -  -  7  7  8  5 |
A     |  -  -  7  6  8  5 | as

Dm    |  -  - 12 10 10 10 | love.
F/C   |  -  - 10 10 10  8 | And i know it's awfully
Bflat |  -  -  8  7  6  6 | cynical to say
F/A   |  -  -  7  5  6  5 |
Gm    |  -  -  5  3  3  3 | but i need
F     |  -  -  3  2  1  1 | proof that it is

Eflat |  -  - 14 12 11 11 | possible today.
Bf/D  |  -  - 12 10 11 10 |
Cm    |  -  - 10  8  8  8 |
Bflat |  -  -  8  7  6  6 | I'm not easy,
Aflat |  -  -  6  5  4  4 | I'm just easily swayed.
Ef/G  |  -  -  5  3  4  3 | 'Cause I thought life
Fm    |  -  -  3  1  1  1 | was a cabaret,
Ef/g  |  -  -  5  3  4  3 | old chum.

Bf/D  |  -  -  8  7  6  6 | Now I've wanted to turn it
Bfm   |  -  -  8  6  6  6 | off, but my heart is
Fm    |  -  -  3  1  1  1 | just too 
Afm   |  -  -  6  4  4  4 | soft.

Eflat |  -  6  8  8  8  - | There is 
F     |  -  8 10 10 10  - | no such
G     |  - 10 12 12 12  - | thing as love.

and later...

Gm7   |  3  -  3  3  3  3 |
F7+9  |  1  3  1  2  4  1 |
G7+9  |  3  5  3  4  6  3 |

or something like that.

anyway, there is some video from their show last month where the power went out and stuff.

also i think that power outage, or at least it coming back on, took out an airport express and my printer's power supply.

* * *

December 12, 2008
this city's ok

beautiful sunbeams through the trees and mist in GGP this morning.

* * *

December 11, 2008
a surprise ending

this is the only week where i spend two days at the track (i was supposed to two weeks ago, but ran the turkey trot instead); i guess i decided to make the most of it.

6x1600m:

  1. 6:06
  2. 6:12
  3. 6:01
  4. 6:25
  5. 6:17
  6. 5:53 (new PR)

i am not quite sure what to make of that last one. during the rest between intervals, some guy started talking to me, and suggested i not move my arms quite so much. so was that time due to the extra 80 seconds of recovery, or was it due to not moving my arms? either way, it was pretty awesome coming around the last turn being ten seconds ahead of where i was for my 6:01 mile.

either way, i guess i'll find out tuesday, my last day at the track (until the training cycle).

* * *

December 9, 2008
the trickster

my manager really pulled a fast one on me.

when i interviewed at vmware, of course i mentioned the smart card stuff i'd done at novell, either on my resume or just in conversation. when i was offered the job, there was no mention of cards of any sort, let alone smart ones.

now that i've been working on smart cards for at least a month, with almost no end in sight, i've realized that my manager was probably plotting to dump this stuff on me the whole time. i'm such a sucker.

10x800m at the track, again. i could really feel the 26 i ran sunday.

  1. 2:56
  2. 2:57
  3. 2:59
  4. 3:00
  5. 3:00
  6. 3:03
  7. 3:01
  8. 3:03
  9. 3:05
  10. 2:56

i've been really hungry the past couple of days. weird.

* * *

December 8, 2008
all my title ideas are coming from disney films this morning

my time-saving innovation of the day: boiling eggs while i do my push ups.

* * *

December 7, 2008
cleveland wrap-up

being on pacific time, not having a car, and not having as many friends still living in cleveland meant a couple of late-night movies at the local theatre. brief reviews follow.

synecdoche

the best philip seymour hoffman/emily watson movie since punch-drunk love, if not of all time. walking home through my childhood neighborhood aftwards was strange.

rachel getting married

"stupid" and "boring" ... "one of those filmes ... i wish i hadn't seen"

i ran the turkey trot, and got eigth in my age group. it was snowing the day i went to the track, so the times are not worth posting here. i skipped the track this week, since i flew back and then went straight to work, but my twenty-six mile run today went pretty well. only one more long run left!

* * *

November 24, 2008
goodbye my city on a hill

time to break my 5 month no-flying streak to head to the city on the lake known as erie.

* * *

November 23, 2008
a disappointing year

i have purchased only six albums that came out in 2008, and it is likely that the best album of 2008 isn't even an album, but radiohead's "scotch mist" - a quite excellent rehash of in rainbows. looks like this year's mix cd is going to be an EP.

* * *

November 22, 2008
employing people is easy

creating jobs is a pretty simple process:

  1. ban technology
  2. ???
  3. irrelevance

or do what i usually do: just zone more dirty industry.

* * *

November 22, 2008
late night cold pasta waiting for laundry sing along

  1. i can't
  2. inside my head
  3. how i made my millions
  4. cuttooth

cuttooth, cuttooth, cuttooth.

* * *

November 21, 2008
why

remembered why i bought a capo: how to disappear completely. may also be why i buy an acoustic.

* * *

November 20, 2008
at night when noone's looking

i put on kid a and dance around my apartment.

* * *

November 19, 2008
i need a 3G watch

the last two weeks at the track have been stellar.

last week, 5x1600m:

  1. 6:08*
  2. 6:12
  3. 6:10
  4. 6:16
  5. 6:14

this week, 10x800m:

  1. 2:50*
  2. 2:56
  3. 2:59
  4. 3:01
  5. 3:00
  6. 3:02
  7. 3:00
  8. 3:02
  9. 2:59
  10. 2:55

each week i think to myself, "i'm finally starting to get into shape."

* denotes modern-era PR

* * *

November 4, 2008
briefly

i haven't seen a city more excited about anything than this one about obama. probably because i stayed home when the sox won in '04.

more tomorrow.

* * *

November 3, 2008
tonight's the night!

the dears!

i last saw them in feb. of '07. it seems like so very, very, very long ago.

* * *

November 3, 2008
i have a closet

a few minutes after i got home from the show, alex called, and now my closet is empty of moving boxes! hooray.

the show was definitely one for the ages. during the opening band's set, the power went out. it came on, they played another song, then while the dears were setting up it went out again. they finished setting up by flashlight, but power still wasn't back.

so, after a while murray came out with an acoustic guitar, and someone to hold a flashlight on him. he did a brief set, playing there goes my outfit, missiles, and the second part, which he said he hasn't played in three years, and is one of my favourites.

the power came back right at that song's climax, and the rest of the band came on and they did their set, which was mostly new stuff (that '07 show they mostly played stuff from their then-recent album, too). it's a little disappointing, because there are so many of their songs that i love, but i guess they can't do the two hour radiohead sets.

i'm sure the acoustic set'll be on the youtubes soon. now i need to eat some dinners and fill out my ballot! my precinct has fewer than 250 voters, so i have no polling place. since i registered so late, i decided to hand in my mail-in ballot at a voting place tomorrow.

sigh, the post-show blahs are here, and for the first time in... a year? i don't know when the next show i'm going to will be.

* * *

November 3, 2008
power out

so, now my power is out too. does this mean i should vote yes on H?

this is the first blackout i can remember where i actually had a flashlight with working batteries.

* * *

November 2, 2008
let's see

i got a replacement for a credit card that will soon expire in the mail yesterday. figuring an automated thing, i dialed the activation number, put it on speaker, and promptly began brushing my teeth.

it was an awkward few seconds when a real person picked up, and i had to run somewhere to spit, while reciting my zip code.

* * *

November 1, 2008
all mixed up

rain in the fall is not so uncommon. but what's making me feel ill at ease is that the rain here feels like spring, because it's in the 60s instead of the 40s. i almost want to go out and run again.

* * *

October 30, 2008
the dream withers

it's raining a little, for only the second time since i've moved here.

* * *

October 28, 2008
off to the races

between the long run on sunday, and starting hundred pushups yesterday with alex, nat, and joe (the general consensus seems to be that tier 3 is too hard, if you could do < 15, so i'll probably roll back to tier 2 tomorrow), i did not have high hopes for my day at the track this morning.

it went well, though. 4x1600m:

  1. 6:22
  2. 6:16
  3. 6:12
  4. 6:20

i think that 6:12 may be a modern-era PR, but i'm not sure. anyway, last week was 10x800m, and it's still on my other watch:

  1. 3:01
  2. 3:01
  3. 3:07
  4. 3:04
  5. 3:04
  6. 3:00
  7. 3:04
  8. 3:02
  9. 3:05
  10. 2:57

it's cold and cloudy today, and my keyboard has a low battery.

* * *

October 26, 2008
i've read this before...

A spokesman for Nader says the idea behind the "Massachusetts Marathon" was to raise awareness that Nader is running for president as an independent. Two-thirds of the nation doesn't realize it..

...the other third simple, "doesn't care."

"he's running again? i thought there an amedment or something that says you can only run twice," said one local voter.

* * *

October 26, 2008
motivation

it came up this afternoon at lunch, with a new acquaintance, as it often does (you see, i rather like to bring it up), that i had run twenty miles this morning. i was asked what, exactly, was i running from?

"the dark spectre of middle age," was the only thing that came to mind.

* * *

October 25, 2008
saturdays around here are for lovers

easy morning run
load of laundry, washed and dried
two stores for groc'ries

roomba sweeps my floors
some hockey on the hi-fi
scrub the toilet clean

water on the boil
just the first pasta dinner
long run tomorrow

neighbor practicing
piano floats in the breeze
saturdays for love

* * *

October 24, 2008
the secret police

i've lived here for four months now, and didn't actually make it to zeitgeist until last night.

* * *