Proof that I ran! 

Lately I've had this underlying feeling that I need to do something. I'm not exactly sure what it is I need to be doing, but I know I need to do it. The feeling is like some subconscious urge willing me to get out and do. A Men's Journal I recently read had an article about lists that many men make that contain things they want to achieve or goals they want to accomplish. After completing my marathon and reading the article it got me to thinking that I should create a list so I have a tangible representation of that subconscious urge that's been niggling at me. I just need to get this feeling out of my system if I can. I have a sneaking suspicion however that my appetite will continue grow, so I would want to do more things. Who knows?

One thing is for certain, I'm not making any headway sitting in front of a computer.

This image is from MTSAT-1R which is the satellite I worked on while I was in Japan. I've linked an article which talks about the image and the significance of it.

Google Earth

Coming next week: selfaware.google.com

What on earth could this be?  

So it took me a while but I'm finally picking up the book baton.

Name three books on your book shelf. One from each end and one from the middle.
From first shelf: The Best Recipe
From second shelf: The Hugo Winners: Vol. I and II
From bottom shelf: CRC Concise Encyclopedia of Mathematics

What reading material is in your bathroom?
None. I don't read in the bathroom.

Favorite authors and why.
Issac Asimov. I love his short stories and the way he so elegantly combines science with fiction. One of the best and most prolific authors to live. Douglas Adams because his sense of humor is great. The Hitchhiker's Trilogy is extremely funny.

Least favorite authors and why.
I don't have any. I don't read what I don't like.

What author is over rated?
Harlan Ellison. He's a jackass.

Would you (have you) picked up a woman (or man) in a bookstore?
Yes.

Do you eat while you read? If so what’s your food of choice?
I sometimes read the newspaper while I read but hardly ever books.

Name one book you’d recommend for someone searching for meaning or insight or inspiration.
Not a book but a short story called The Last Question by Asimov. There's another short story by him about learning but I forget what it's called.

Name one book you’d recommend for a day on the beach or a rainy day in the house.
BFG by Roald Dahl.


Do you judge a book by its cover?
No. I have lots of books without covers and some that about the drabest things you could imagine.

In the bookstore, what section do you head to first?
Science Fiction.

I pass the baton to whoever wants to pick it up.

Played basketball today at lunch for the first time in a couple of weeks. I was a bit rusty but had tons of energy because I haven't been doing much lately except a few short runs here and there. A few funny things happened during the game though. At one point my teammate was going for the ball and tried to throw it back in but inadvertantly hit another guy in the nuts. Not more than a few minutes later the same guy was throwing a pass to his teammate but instead nailed the other guy directly on the head. After both hits we were all standing around laughing our asses off.

I have three rubber bracelets on my right arm. One is a purple bracelet for TNT, another is white for One that Jon gave me, and the last one I have no clue how I got. It's a black band with the words DRINKSTRONG on it. My right arm looks like an advertisment for Good & Plenty

I haven't been to the gym in almost two months. I'm going tonight after the mentor/captain information meeting for TNT. I think I'm going to sign up to be a Web Captain.

A what a nice weekend. Friday night Sean and I hung out at Scott's place watching TV. Scott made these awesome cookies from a dough that his brother brought over. Scott's brother manages one of the restaurants in Santana Row. These were amazing oatmeal raisin cookies. I practically ate all of them.

Saturday I went for a short run and then picked up a new pair of running shoes. They're called Nike Free. What's special about these shoes is they're supposed to mimic what it would be like to run barefoot. Apparently running barefoot is the new trend running these days. I just picked them up because I wanted a secondary pair of training shoes. The shoes are amazingly comfortable and fit like a pair of good sandals. I'm going to do some intervals tomorrow with these shoes to see how they fair with actual running. Well after that bit of running shopping I went up to Palo Alto for the 6th Annual Choo Choo & Brew. From what I learned over the weekend, this apparently started out as someone's birthday celebration but has since grown. We started drinking at the Rose and Crown and Palo Alto and finished up 6 stops later in Burlingame. I didn't get trashed but I got really buzzed unlike a few other people there who just totally destroyed themselves. A good time was had by all and we saw a few familiar faces that we haven't seen for a while.

Sunday we had a barbecue and Sean's place. This was supposed to be a post-whitewater rafting trip barbecue but it ended up with the normal group hanging out with each other as always. We're trying to add new members to our group but we can't ever seem to find anyone who fits our stringent criteria. Actually we just can't find anyone who drinks as much as we do. We're not alcoholics, I swear. So at the barbecue I arrived to find a bottle protruding from a watermelon. Sean, Scott, and Sherry had the idea of trying to infuse the watermelon with vodka. It actually turned out really great. The watermelon tasted like vodka and the vodka that leaked out tasted like watermelon. Nice and tasty.

I just found out that a man by the name of Richard Whitely died. This name will probably mean nothing to anyone reading this except those who come from England. Whitely was the host of a gameshow called Countdown. I used to watch this show religiously as a kid, so it's sad to hear that he passed away.

There a lot more thoughts in my brain but I have to organize them first.

I'm finally starting not to feel so sore. The day after the marathon I was extremely sore and could barely walk. I was having a hard time even standing up. Monday was a tad better but stairs, more specifically going down them, became the bane of my existence...maybe not that dramatic. Each time I went down a little incline or a flight of steps I'd wince and moan in pain. Tuesday the pain became a little more tolerale and I was hobbling much less than the previous days. Now today I'm feeling much better and hardly hobbling at all. I think I'm going to go for a short a really short run tomorrow probably not more than a couple of miles so I can test out the legs. I've actually been trying to walk at least 20-30 minutes the last few days so my legs don't freeze up on me.

As part of my recovery I need to restore my glycogen stores, so I have to eat bread, rice, potatoes, pasta to replenish my reserves. Yesterday I ate pasta twice in one day, which I usually don't ever do. For lunch I went out with some coworkers and had some great rigatoni topped with a bolognese sauce accompanied by an Italian sausage. For appetizers I had a cup of minestrone and about 4 or 5 "slices" of garlic bread. Later that night, I went to Whole Foods and picked up some angel hair pasta cooked with roma tomatoes and seasoned with salt, pepper, basil, and some olive oil. I then went home and cooked some more angel hair pasta and made the same thing but with different herbs. I also grilled chicken breasts seasoned with "cajun" spices, lime, sesame seed oil, and a mexican hot sauce called tapatio. I brought that with me to work today along with some wild brown rice, spinach, edamame, and broccoli. Even though that all sounds like a lot of food, I actually haven't been eating all that much lately because I've been inactive from trying to recover from the marathon. I'm actually really hungry right now. I just ate a plum from my backyard. We have a few fruit trees in the backyard of the house I live in and currently the plum tree is fruiting(?). These are about the sweetest plums I've ever had. I brought some in for my buddy Jon since he likes plums.

I think I'm going to hit up the Red Rocks shows in September. I should be able to get some time off from work to go to Colorado for a week or so. I want to do a bit of sightseeing.

There's a cool thing happening this weekend called the Choo Choo & Brew. It's a pub crawl that follows the Caltrain North from Palo Alto up to Burlingame covering seven stops. At each stop we go to a pub that's close to the station, drink, then get back on the train for the next stop. I can't wait. Well I can but I'm getting excited about it.

Speaking about getting excited. The week before the race I was really really really antsy. There wasn't a moment where I wasn't fidgeting or bouncing my leg. We had a run a couple of days before the trip up to Alaska and I was literally bouncing around before and after the run. I just wanted to get the run over and done with so I could not be so damn antsy.

It was great running the race because there were so many hot athletic girls. It made the run that much more fun.

That's all for now.

smrties v1.0

So I ran a marathon this weekend. Most of my run felt like a blur because I was having such a good time running. The views, the weather, the course, and not to mention the people all made the day absolutely great.

Thursday

The team arrived in Alaska Thursday afternoon. We were put in the Sheraton which was also fortunately the expo for the marathon. Not soon after checking in, my roommate and I went down to the expo picked up our bib numbers and walked around the expo a bit. They had all sorts of marathon related stuff like running equipment and the lot. There were also a few booths that had information about what to do in around Alaska. We picked up a few brochures, and I picked up some sweatbands and a running t-shirt with the logo from the marathon. After walking meandering through the expo we heard that some people were heading to a local bar/restaurant to eat. We ran caught up to them and went to a place called Humpy's. A nifty little bar with some awesome food. We got two servings of the best fish and chips that I've had since I ate some fish and chips in Fresno when Cori and I went to this festival thing at CSUF. For my actual meal I had a grilled salmon sandwich with chilli "soup." I call it chilli soup because that's what my roommate mistakenly called it and that soon became a shortlived running joke. The sandwich was okay but the chilli was a bit bland. After lunch/supper I headed back to the hotel room and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Friday

The next day we got up relatively early because we wanted to head a place called Portage Glacier which we saw in one of the brochures we picked up the day before. So my roommate Doug and I head down to the lobby at around 8:20 to get some breakfast because supposedly the girls we were with were going to get the rental car at around 9:00. We had a buffet breakfast that featured, among other things, reindeer sausage. The sausage tasted exactly like a mild Italian sausage. I liked the flavor a lot. Well after breakfast the girls went off to get the car, but there was some confusion which resulted in the rest of us waiting around in the hotel lobby for an hour and a half while we waited for the car to be picked up. Well we finally hopped in the car and set off for Portage Glacier or so we thought. We ended up going the wrong way for 15 miles or so until someone realized that we were headed North instead of South. We backtracked and then finally got back on the way to Portage Glacier. It was a very nice drive there and we got some awesome views of the surrounding mountains. I have no clue what mountains these were but they looked great.




So we finally got to Portage Glacier Lake with minutes to spare before the boat that went to the glacier departed. The cruise was short but also great, you can see a couple of the photos below. As soon as I can I will upload more photos to flickr. We drove back to town after the cruise along the way picking up some lunch. I had some delicious caramel ice cream. Three of us then went around town to do some tourist shopping. I picked up a couple of magnets for my mum and I also picked up a hat for myself. We then went to the local convention center because the pre-race pasta party was starting up.

I actually got chills walking through the doors of the convention center because of all the people cheering us as we entered. I felt really jazzed after the whole thing. The pasta was okay but not terrific much like the salad and cookies they also served but it got the job done. We listened to a few people speak about the Leukemia & Lymphoma society and about the race. The main speaker was hilarious and really kept the crowd alive and going. We didn't do much after the party except lounge around the hotel room and vegetate. I prepared my race clothes and ironed letters that spelled my name on to my race singlet. Doug and I then watched the last half of "I Spy" and learned a new word, "ass soup."

Race Day

I had been following the weather reports for the last week or so and all of them said that it would rain on Saturday. In most of my past runs I have not run well when there had been rain, so I was sort of fearing the worst. Well I woke up Saturday morning and of course it was raining. I ignored what my mind was telling me and got dressed as normal. I ate a muffin while Doug got dressed and ready. We then headed down to the lobby where everyone was waiting to get on the busses that would take us to the start. By time we arrived at the start venue the rain had subsided somewhat, which was a relief to all of us. We piled out of the bus, checked our bags, and then immediately got in line for the port-a-potties. The line took forever to move because the line we were in was only using one port-a-potty while the one next to us was using three. We ended up standing in line for 45 minutes to use the toilet after which we headed to the start line. For the past week or so before the race I had been really really really antsy. I couldn't stop moving and it was even worse just standing there waiting for the starting gun. I was bouncing and hopping around just wanting to get started. The race director talked a bit about the race, then the mayor talked some more, a group of boy scout sung the national anthem acapella which was nice, then the race started.

I started off slow like everyone told me, but I probably began a little too slow because it felt like I was walking instead of running for the first mile or so. The crowd started to thin out though and it became easier to run. I was deliberately running slower than I normally would so I could finish out the last part of the race strong. I was running about a 9:30 mile, which felt really slow but I didn't want to push it too hard. The funny thing I noticed was time seemed to sort of disappear while I was running. I'd look down at my watch and it would say I'd run 3 miles. I'd look down at my watch again after what felt like a few minutes and it would say 10 miles. Running with all the people and the absolutely amazing views just made time fly by, so the first half of the marathon flew by before I knew it. The first half of the marathon was also great because it was mostly over trails, which was great on the knees plus it was fun to run. I didn't even notice the elevation changes throughout the race. A little after mile 12 or so there was a nice long descent which I took in full stride. I think that was the most fun I had during the race.

I felt like I was flying through the course until I got to mile 22 when my legs started to cramp because I hadn't taken enough salt before the race. I tried running through the pain but couldn't take it anymore and had to stop to walk. I was really disappointed in myself because I wanted to run the marathon in 3:45 and was on target to make that time before I cramped up. I was now walking more than I was running. A mentor who was running with me gave me words of encouragement and gatorade but neither of which was helping my muscle cramps. Almost out of nowhere a coach from another TNT team appeared and saw that I was having problems. He came over to both of us and noticed that I was cramping. He asked the mentor if I had taken any salt. The mentor replied that I had drank gatorade, but the coach said that was not enough. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a packet of salt, which he told me to eat. I ripped it open and downed it. The coach then helped me squat to stretch my quads and then he took off as quickly as he appeared. The salt didn't take affect immediately but I could start to feel some of its effects about a quarter of mile later. I started to run/walk. I didn't start to feel better until the last mile of the marathon where the dreaded "insult hill" began. I didn't even notice the hill and ran right up it and kept on running until the end and almost sprinted towards the finish line. I don't think I could have made it all the way if it weren't for the mentor who was running with me.

After running through the finish line, I heard my name announced over the PA system and then walked over to the little finishing area. I got my medal for finishing and the volunteers helping at the finish line took my timing chip. I walked over to the TNT tent to check out and get my marathon pin. I was really out of it at this point. I felt like I was walking outside myself. After getting some mylar blankets and a piece of bread I changed and started walking around looking for other people from our chapter who had finished. As I was walking though, I started to feel like I wanted to cry. I have no idea why I wanted to cry and was holding back the tears as I was walking around. I couldn't find anyone familiar, so I headed back to the TNT tent. I found a chair to sit on. At that point I couldn't hold it in any longer so I just started to cry. I can't describe what I was feeling because I had no idea. I knew I needed to cry. I was sitting there with my head in my hands crying and looked up. A woman noticed I was crying and came over to comfort me. I told her I didn't know why I was crying, and she told me some reassuring words. I eventually stopped crying after a couple of minutes so I sat there in a daze. I didn't really notice but I was really cold. Cold enough that I was shivering uncontrollably for someone to notice. Another TNT person came over and told me that she was concerned about my shivering and said that I might have a mild case of hypothermia. She said she wanted to take me to the medical tent so I could warm up. I didn't argue and gladly went with her to the tent. Along the way another TNT coach came to my side to help me to the tent. The woman told one of the medical people there that I was really cold and they sat me down and wrapped me up in a couple of mylar sheets and gave me heating pads to warm up. They also gave me grapes to eat and water to drink. I think I was in there about an hour before I was finally warm enough to get up and go outside again.

I was still somewhat in a daze when I walked out, so I walked back over to the TNT tent to see if anyone I knew had finished. I saw a few people but they were with friends or family, so I decided to go back to the hotel so I could warm up properly. I didn't feel I had enough energy to hang around anymore, and I didn't want to start shivering again.

The wait for the bus back to the hotel was longer than expected because all the buses that were coming through weren't going back to my hotel. There were at one point 3 empty buses all going to the same places but with no one on them because they were going to the wrong hotels. I eventually got on a bus after asking a bus driver if he was going near the Sheraton. I got off the bus and slowly made my way back to my hotel room still wrapped up in the mylar sheets the medical personnel had given me earlier. I changed, showered, and collapsed in bed. I was exhausted but I wanted to go back to the venue to cheer people in at the finish line. I went back downstairs and outside to where the bus had dropped me off. I stood there for about minute and realized I was too tired and sore to go back, so I went back inside to wait in the lobby instead. People slowly started to filter in when my roommate Doug showed up. We talked a bit about how we did and then he took a shower. We then went to get some food before the victory party since we had both barely eaten anything the entire day There was a place right next to the hotel called Country Kitchen. We both thought it was a buffet place because there's a "restaurant" in the bay area called Hometown Buffet which looks exactly like Country Kitchen. Luckily Country Kitchen was not a buffet but a normal restaurant. I got a huge two patty burger and Doug got a big breakfast meal. The rest of the night was one big celebration. There was the victory party where we danced, drank, and ate. I, along with some mentors and coaches, went to a bar called Chilkoot Charlie's and drank for the entire night. Although I couldn't get a buzz going at all because I was metabolizing the alcohol way too fast. A great night nonetheless.

This has been one of the best experiences of my life and I can't wait to do it again. I overheard someone talking about a marathon up in San Francisco in July and thought to myself. I wonder if I can run that? I'm really proud and happy that I ran a marathon. My words aren't nearly enough to express all the emotions I experienced that weekend but hopefully I've been able to convey at least some of what I felt.

I'm typing up a huge ass post about my marathon. This thing is a monster.

edit

If you want to see my results go to here:

results

My bib number is 881.

playing guitar after rafting 

Portage Glacier 

Two little bergs 

I'm off to run a marathon. Thanks to everyone who has supported me!

This past Sunday was the 13th anniversary of my dad's death. He died on a Friday morning of a massive heart attack. My mum and dad were arguing just before, while I was in another room getting ready for school. My dad was getting ready for his first day at his new job. I don't remember much of what happened next but I soon found myself in the kitchen looking at my dad on the floor. I don't know if my mum was screaming, shouting, or even making a noise, but she was panicking. She managed to tell me to run upstairs and get my aunt and uncle. We were living in their basement at the time. I think by the time I got them downstairs my mum realized that my dad was having a heart attack. My aunt called 911 and then her sister who was a nurse. It seemed like forever until she made her way over. I kept thinking what is taking her so long?

By the time my aunt's sister made it over, my mum was crying and I was in shock. I couldn't really comprehend what was happening. My aunt's sister started to administer CPR on my dad with the help of my mum, but my mum was crying to much to help so I stepped in to help. My aunt's sister pumped my dad's chest while I blew into his mouth. I had no clue what I was doing, so I just blew as hard as I could hoping for something. We did this for what seemed like an eternity. I really had no concept of time at that point. The paramedics arrived while we were performing CPR and they took over. They told us to go upstairs and wait. I really didn't want to leave but we had to go. Another blur and the paramedics came upstairs with the bad news. My mum and I, my aunt, uncle, everyone cried. The rest of that weekend was another huge blur. The paramedics taking my dad away, making arrangements at the funeral home and cemetery, the burial. I have no clue how long it all took. I'm not too sure it happened all that weekend. All of it is just faint but the feelings, the imprints of that day/week remain. Before the paramedics left, they heard that I had helped to perform CPR on my dad so they gave me a pin. I sort of figured they wished they could have given me my dad back.

...

I was fiddling around on the internet today at work and stumbled upon a geneology website. The site had a link to the SSN death database. I looked up my dad and sure enough there he was listed, but they had his day of death wrong. The listing said he died June 15th and not 12th. It was really odd looking at that little line about my dad. I have lived more than half my life with my dad, but it's still weird to think that I don't have a dad.

As some of you have noticed I've changed the look of my blog lately. The latest addition being the photos up top. I nicked a bit of code from Shep's site to add the photos. I'll probably change more things along the way but won't mention them, so stay tuned.

So I was reading up on The Phillipines' past and stumbled upon a story about a Japanese soldier who hid out in the Phillipine jungles for 30 years after the end of WWII refusing to believe the war had actually ended. The story is really bizarre and certainly illustrates the loyalty and devotion to duty a lot of Japanese people display. Read more here:

http://history1900s.about.com/library/weekly/aa120700a.htm

I think I might pick up a couple of essential Filipino books:

Noli Me Tangere

El Filibusterismo

I'm hungry. I'm going whitewater rafting this weekend. Yay!

This is a description of what I work on:

Attitude

Just in case anyone was wondering. I was actually looking up information on Hemispherical Resonator Gyroscopes but found this page instead. I'm still looking for info on HRGs.

I wonder why MP3 players with bluetooth haven't taken off. A player bundled with wireless headphones and remote would be a great idea. The remote could have track information and the lot on an LCD or OLED screen. There are so many similar players on the market right now that even a slight "innovation" like bluetooth isn't being pushed more.

mmm...Stand Up. At first listen I didn't like it much but after listening through it a few times, I'm starting to like it a lot. Well I like everything except Out of My Hands. The song seems a bit slow for this CD. They could have substituted one of the songs on the bonus disc for Out of My Hands so it fits in with the overall beat of the CD. I guess I should do a song by song overview of each song.

Dreamgirl - I like the opening with the layered voices. I always thought Say Goodbye would be interesting if the band had an African vocal group do back up. Anyway, I also like the odd rhythm of the guitar riff that Dave lays down. It doesn't seem to fit quite right with the overall feeling of the song though since te sound seems a bit a harsh.

Old Dirt Hill - Such a boyband song, but it's a pretty darn good boyband song. For some reason I like the "Bring that beat back to me again" line that Carter sings.

Stand Up - I like the beat in this song. The repetitiveness of the "Stand Ups" doesn't seem as bad with all the other layers of music in the song. The only live version of I've heard seemed a bit bare. I really hope that Dave starts to play more electric because many of these songs will sound hollow without the crunchiness of an electric in the background. The bridge sounds like Spotlight.

American Baby Intro - I like the jam. It would be nice to hear this extended as an intro or even as an outro for American Baby.

American Baby - I love the simple guitar riff that Dave plays in the background.

Everybody Wake Up - Another great up beat song. I especially love the end where the guitar riff changes. It sort of sounds like a Warehouse outro but more fun. Dave should play Warehouse in electric just see what it would be like.

Out of My Hands - Meh. This is like that Nine Inch Nails song that Johnny Cash covered. Like I said before, the song doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the CD.

Hello Again - One of the few new songs that were introduced last year that I liked. The songs lacks some energy on the CD though. If they had taken the effect they used on the guitar for Dreamgirl and applied it here, the song would take on a different dimension. More of that sort of raw feel. For some reason I don't think the chorus and verse go together. There's something off. Also, the abrupt ending was a bit odd.

Louisiana Bayou - A nifty guitar riff. It sort of reminds of Sweet Home Alabama but simpler. I like the "ooohs." This song feels like it could be on the Forest Gump sound track because it has an old vibe to it. I wonder how many guitar tracks Dave laid down for this song.

More later, back to work.