Libatio

Too Serious for Facebook

2011-10-28T06:48:00.001-04:00

An article about a movie articulates my position on the general state of public discourse:The wider public, which has no reason to be familiar with questions of either Renaissance chronology or climate science, assumes that if there are arguments, there must be reasons for those arguments. Along with a right-wing antielitism, an unthinking left-wing open-mindedness and relativism have also given

"Terrorism"

2011-08-26T08:25:00.002-04:00

We've spent an absurd amount of money "fighting" "terrorism" in the last ten years. This link below details the complete list of alleged and attempted Islamic extremist terrorist attacks on the US since 9/11 (thirty three in all). Some of them are pretty sorry. Terrorists are our grown-up version of the childhood boogeyman. It's time we stop letting ourselves be frightened by our own shadow (and

On the NFL

2011-03-27T10:09:00.001-04:00

OwnersA lot of voices have observed that this is an argument between billionaires and millionaires. While that's true, it's oversimplifying. Capitalism presumes that investment carries risk and therefore deserves a return. But no NFL franchise has lost money in at least a generation, and no franchise has failed since 1952. You'd be hard pressed to name another industry that has never had a

Marathon

2011-02-19T11:58:00.007-05:00

It's been almost a week. I remain unconvinced that I will run another, though neither can I rule it out. Friends and family have been having good sport accusing me of "protesting too much". Running a marathon is a huge ego boost. There's a real sense of accomplishment from getting through the training, and a bigger one on the course as you realize you really will finish. What's more you get a lot

WWFC 0-3 LFC

2011-01-22T09:51:00.002-05:00

A refreshing change. Torres will never score two easier goals, but Meireles's was fantastic; it was so far from the keeper I thought it must have gone wide. Better industry, creativity, and defending than Liverpool have shown lately. Wolverhampton are struggling but they were good value in their win at Anfield (and away wins at Molineux are far from automatic).Meireles was outstanding, but I was

Maybe he was being ironic?

2010-11-05T08:40:00.002-04:00

A friend of mine posted this on Facebook on Tuesday after the election: "Remember the Nazi's were the extreme liberal (lefts)." (See Godwin's law)Really? Health care reform merits comparison to genocide?Here are some characteristics of the Nazis:XenophobicHomophobicMilitaristicIntolerantPracticed unilateral foreign policyBlamed economic problems on immigrantsAbandoned liberty for securityInvaded

NFL Priorities

2010-10-25T14:37:00.002-04:00

Jerramy Stevens was released by Tampa after he was arrested on drug charges.Given his history and the fact that he was a marginal player on a bad team, it's not surprising everyone was willing to wash their hands of him. It's not the first time he's been in serious trouble. I don't know all of the facts, but as I've said before, all indications are that he's garbage. I'd argue that this offense (

Running Nerd

2010-10-23T11:12:00.002-04:00

Moved my long run to this morning from Sunday. 10.2 in 1:34 (9:12 pace). Weather was about perfect (50 degrees), felt great afterward. I love getting in a good run like that. It's like hitting a good drive in golf - keeps you coming back.I've registered for the ATC Thanksgiving day race (half). If I can shave about three seconds off that pace (I can) and can sustain it up and down the hills (

Hicks and Gillette

2010-10-16T18:59:00.002-04:00

In May of 2007, I sat in a pub in Birmingham with three American colleagues enjoying Liverpool v Chelsea in a Champions League semi-final. The BBC was there with cameras; they had already interviewed a Liverpool fan and were looking for a Chelsea supporter when someone pointed out that I was an American Liverpool fan and they felt it was worth a couple of minutes of videotape. I'm pretty sure

The Trial of Miles; Miles of Trials

2010-10-12T21:19:00.003-04:00

I finished 1281/2864 overall, 761/1252 among men, and 94/147 in my age group. My time was 2:06:39 and my 10k split was 57:55. Had I maintained that pace, I'd have finished in 2:02:06, but the hills between 9 and 11 were brutal.Once again, I did better against men in general than I did against my fellow geezers. To get to the 50th percentile among men would have taken 2:00:41 but in my age group

Painful

2010-10-02T23:06:00.002-04:00

As I write this in October, Liverpool is in the relegation zone. Inconceivable.They're not going down (even if Hicks's last gift to the club is a nine point deduction), but sheesh.

I Think I'm Ready

2010-10-02T18:23:00.005-04:00

Left to right (more or less): gear bag, car key, driver's license, gels, recovery drink mix, bottle, dry shirt, gear belt, phone, water proof phone case, shoes, shirt, shorts, towel for car seat, face towel, bib, socks, cap.A lot of this stuff will stay at the gear check; the only extra items coming with me will be the belt and phone and maybe the cap. The only reason for the belt is to carry the

Ulysses

2010-09-26T22:12:00.000-04:00

For little more reason than that it was free, I downloaded an eBook of Ulysses to my iPad. Not for the first time, I am finding accessible a book which had been impenetrable when it had previously been a school assignment. I understand why it was considered controversial, in its time it must have been quite subversive. To be honest, many, if they could be bothered to interrupt their vacuous

Sir Alex

2010-09-20T10:12:00.002-04:00

I can't help but respect his accomplishments, but for Ferguson to accuse Torres of cheating beggars the imagination. O'Shea easily could have been sent off, and Nani spent the entire match flailing theatrically to the ground.Manchester United deserved the win; Liverpool didn't even show up until half time, and showed precious little creativity even then. Berbatov's first and third goal were aided

Heisman

2010-09-16T19:11:00.002-04:00

The NCAA, especially when it comes to men's football, is a bunch of sanctimonious hypocrites. Old, rich, white men out of touch with reality.Reggie Bush was the best college player in 2005. If the NCAA rule he broke had given him some unfair advantage, I could see removing the award, but no one is claiming that. These young men deserve to be paid as the entertainers they are (spare me the "

Why We're Screwed

2010-08-31T19:10:00.000-04:00

The Republicans plan to campaign this fall against the economy. Even if they agreed with Democratic proposals to help the economy, it is in their best interest to delay, dilute, or prevent any palliative action. Disclaimer: if the party positions were reversed the results would be identical.Even among economists, there is not unanimity about the right course, but it wouldn't matter if there were

My office

2010-08-30T17:06:00.000-04:00

Sent from my iPhone

Europa League in Turkey

2010-08-26T10:58:00.002-04:00

Hodgson is clearly not prioritizing this match ahead of the League. Liverpool (from): Reina, Johnson, Kelly, Skrtel, Carragher, Kyrgiakos, Aurelio, Cole, Spearing, Poulsen, Lucas, Pacheco, Shelvey, Babel, Kuyt, Ngog, Eccleston, Gulacsi, Hansen.My prediction: ReinaJohnson Carragher Skrtel AurelioLucas PoulsenKuyt Cole BabelNgog1-1, Liverpool advance.

Death Panels

2010-08-24T11:19:00.002-04:00

This is what was excoriated as "death panels". How did my father's party become so hateful and cynical?

MCFC 3-0 LFC

2010-08-24T10:44:00.005-04:00

Given the recent history between the two clubs, I should look at this really at no more than one point lost. Still, all of the concerns that my hope had tried to plaster over were there to be seen. Hodgson chose a 4-4-2 formation and while it is considered by many a classic, it is also out of favor. With Cole missing to suspension and Mascherano to petulance, Hodgson had no choice but to field a

Skype thoughts

2010-08-23T22:11:00.004-04:00

We just had a Skype video call with our son after his first day at college. Skype is really cool, but there's a little window that shows the image that's being sent to the other person. In that image I look older, skinnier, and balder than I prefer to think that I am. Also, my nose is huge and my glasses are tilted funny.

Manufacturing Jobs

2010-08-23T22:11:00.000-04:00

Lately there has been a lot of rhetoric flying around about how we need to "get tough" with China to prevent more manufacturing jobs moving there. The graph in this article suggests that the decline of American manufacturing jobs has been going on consistently since the end of WWII. Worth a read if you have any interest in Econ (it's short).

THFC 0-0 MCFC

2010-08-14T10:38:00.002-04:00

The visitors were second best and fortunate to come away with a point. Tevez, Hart, and Johnson played well, but for all the money spent, the team didn't look like title contenders.I am going to try to watch more neutral matches this year.

User Interfaces

2010-08-13T18:16:00.000-04:00

I managed to lose my American Express card last week in Orlando. The card has been replaced with a new card number. Unfortunately, I used the old card for automated billing. I've had to log in to about 15 different web sites to change the card number.About halfway through, I noticed that this would have been an interesting opportunity to survey the different policies on collecting my credit card

On Death

2010-07-27T19:06:00.000-04:00

Dad spent his last month hoping for the success of treatments that were, in retrospect, nearly certain to fail. He died early one Tuesday morning in a hospital room with my mother at his side. I don't believe that any of the treatments from the time his cancer was diagnosed lengthened his life at all, and I am certain they lowered the quality of life in those those weeks. I regret the decisions

Facebook

2010-07-27T13:53:00.000-04:00

If you are reading this, it is nearly certain that you already know I'm on Facebook now. I'm still figuring out what goes where, but for the most part, I think I'll put thoughtful/lengthy stuff here and mundane/frivolous stuff there.

Hope Springs Eternal

2010-07-19T09:34:00.003-04:00

I am looking forward to this season. Liverpool won't compete for the title, but they still have the quality to enter every match with a legitimate chance at three points, and I would honestly be quite happy with 38 entertaining league matches (and a Champions League spot)Summers are usually intolerable, but not this year thanks to the World Cup. Still, the doldrums have set in and I have little

Last One, I Promise

2010-07-16T15:01:00.003-04:00

I've been accused of overdoing it, but indulge me one last time as this image is better than the cell phone photo originally posted.

Welcome

2010-07-13T11:08:00.001-04:00

This because we had a petty theft in the office. The video equipment cost several times the theft loss.

Finals

2010-07-12T09:03:00.003-04:00

Dutch accusations of favoritism by Webb ring hollow given that de Jong should have been shown a straight red for his karate kick to Alonso's chest. The Dutch tactics in the middle of the first half were effective, but ugly and cynical; whatever sympathy I might have had for the Oranje evaporated from that point.By every measure, Spain deserved the win.There is ongoing discussion of introducing

30 = XLIV

2010-07-11T11:39:00.001-04:00

One of the guys in my high school class is director of communications for the New Orleans Saints. He brought the Lombardi trophy to our reunion, which is how I came to have this photo taken.

Next Up

2010-07-08T17:35:00.000-04:00

I'm registered for a half marathon that will run on October 3rd; training starts next week.I'm giving serious thought to running the New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathon (part of the Rock and Roll marathon series) on February 13; the 18 week training schedule I've picked out would start the week after the half and calls for running 434 miles. At a 10 minute pace, that's 72 hours of running. Strangely,

Race Pictures

2010-07-08T17:26:00.004-04:00

Both came out reasonably well. I might actually buy one for a change.

Philosophy

2010-07-08T08:39:00.003-04:00

I earned a fair number of philosophy credits in college, but I wasn't necessarily happy about it.I enjoyed this article more than any of those assigned readings (none of which, I am confident, used the expression "hard-ass").

Why is that?

2010-07-06T18:08:00.000-04:00

(I started this entry a week ago; Sunday's euphoria hasn't worn off so there has been respite for the last couple of days)Left unchecked, my inner monologue consists of pretty harsh self assessment. Sometimes, I give these thoughts voice; afterward, I usually see that I was (subconsciously) fishing for affirmation from others.But there's nobody else inside my head to object to the litany of

Self portrait on a tube

2010-07-05T12:39:00.001-04:00

A Great Race

2010-07-04T10:56:00.004-04:00

First of all, the logistics of organizing a race with 55,000 entrants is pretty daunting. The Peachtree Road Race has been running for over forty years, so obviously they've had lots of opportunities to learn from past mistakes. As a friend said before the race, this is the best run race he's seen, and I'd say the same. Each starting wave has around 2,500 runners, so it's not so much one race

One hour before

2010-07-04T07:04:00.001-04:00

Sent from my iPhone

On Championships

2010-06-28T09:43:00.003-04:00

Thirty two teams qualified to compete in South Africa. Half of those, including Italy and France, were sent home after three matches. Of the sixteen survivors, all but one will go home with something to regret.A championship is the product of talent and hard work and not a little luck.

Tournaments Part 2

2010-06-27T12:47:00.002-04:00

I entered the FIFA "Power Index" for the 16 teams advancing out of the group stages and used those to run the simulation. The differences in the power index clearly don't accurately represent the relative differences between teams; it is absurd to think that the US would win the World cup 5.9% of the time. It's chances are (er, were) non-zero, but closer to 0.59% than to 5.9%.Obviously, we know

Tournaments (Very Wonkish)

2010-06-27T07:43:00.003-04:00

I wrote a simulation of a tournament consisting of sixteen participants.In the first simulation, each team was assigned a probability of winning 50% of its matches against any of the other teams. I ran 100,000 tournaments; you'd expect each team to win the tournament about 6,250 times, and that's what happened:[6180, 6179, 6101, 6361, 6163, 6289, 6270, 6259, 6248, 6170, 6278, 6274, 6372, 6282,

Three Lions

2010-06-25T22:20:00.002-04:00

England strangely expects at once the best and worst from their team. Equally strangely, they often get both. I am happy that both teams advanced; I will cheer on both teams as long as they remain alive.

Bra 2-0 Civ

2010-06-20T15:44:00.002-04:00

Early in the second half from the crown room. Univision (commentary in Spanish). I can't tell what they're saying but that was a flagrant handball.

Group C Table (revised)

2010-06-20T11:54:00.003-04:00

But for three blunders, the table might instead look like this:--- G W D L S A GD PEng 2 1 1 0 1 0 +1 4USA 2 1 0 1 3 3 +0 3Alg 2 0 2 0 0 0 +0 2Svn 2 0 1 1 2 3 -1 1By the way, has any team ever imploded the way France appears to be?

Ready for camp

2010-06-20T10:03:00.000-04:00

Sent from my iPhone

Goofy Grin

2010-06-19T09:40:00.001-04:00

Self portrait after today's race. The bad news is that my stamina is woeful. I walked a lot after mile four. The good news is that I posted a PR by about a minute in spite of that (1:02:26 by my watch). I am flying to England tomorrow, so training may not happen for a few days. I'll bring shoes and hope for the best.

SLV 2-2 USA

2010-06-18T16:54:00.002-04:00

I won't talk about the disallowed goal. Great spirit to fight back from down two goals, and if we can win on Wednesday we advance. Given that our country outnumbers Slovenia by a ratio of something like 155 to 1, our per capita football quality is shameful. Anyway, a loss would've been a little harsh on Slovenia after their first half. Which brings me to...I have generally defended Bob Bradley.

Global Warming

2010-06-17T09:43:00.001-04:00

It is astonishing how many people still deny that the planet is getting warmer. Then there are some who claim that while, sure, if you go by "facts" it is warmer, but there's no proof that humans are responsible.Fiddling while Rome burns.

Foolishness

2010-06-16T08:03:00.000-04:00

I hadn't been paying attention to the calendar and recently noticed that there is a 10k in Roswell this weekend. I haven't been training very hard, but it's supposed to be a flat race (and the hills in my neighborhood kicked my butt this weekend). It'll probably be a pretty small event, and it's a much shorter drive than the other races I've entered. I don't think I'll improve on my time from

The Onion Explains Soccer

2010-06-15T09:51:00.001-04:00

Funny.

Blame (again)

2010-06-14T18:24:00.000-04:00

Mark Mykleby, whose letter is reproduced in this Thomas Friedman article (and also below) hit the nail on the head.I’d like to join in on the blame game that has come to define our national approach to the ongoing environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. This isn’t BP’s or Transocean’s fault. It’s not the government’s fault. It’s my fault. I’m the one to blame and I’m sorry. It’s my fault

Cheap Gas

2010-06-13T10:38:00.002-04:00

Good article on why gas is too cheap. I like paying as little as possible as much as the next guy, but while it's politically impossible, significantly raising gas prices is the right thing to do. This is where democracy fails.

Glen Beck Hates Soccer

2010-06-12T09:48:00.004-04:00

(link)Not surprising, really. His job is to provoke, so he takes extreme stances regularly. He seems threatened by the success of anything that didn't originate on these shores. His position is absurd, and factually incorrect, but he should be used to that by now.He is not alone. He never is; he is a populist after all. Regularly I find comments in soccer articles where the commenter feels

World Cup

2010-06-11T08:29:00.003-04:00

I started following footie four years ago. With the World Cup in Germany, the US matches could coincide with a late (and long) lunch. With all of two goals scored in three matches, it was a poor result from a difficult group: Italy, Ghana, Czech Republic, and USA. Still, the excitement was infectious, and watching the matches with knowledgeable friends helped. Since then, I chose a club to follow

Facebook

2010-06-07T08:04:00.002-04:00

For a couple of reasons, i've never set up a Facebook account. Lately, though I've been getting invitations from complete strangers. At first, I assumed that these were phishing scams, but I opened one this morning, and I'm pretty sure that they're really from Facebook. Strange.

Running, June edition

2010-06-04T10:58:00.006-04:00

The Peachtree is just four weeks away and I'm not ready. I've made the conscious decision not to try to post a PR in this race. Between the crowd, the course and the weather, I would probably struggle to post a good time even if I trained hard. So I'm not going to try. I'm in wave F, which starts 25 minutes after the seeded racers: the invited runners will be finishing around the time I cross the

Crimes Against Cocktails

2010-06-03T18:39:00.000-04:00

Last week in Prague we found our way to the James Joyce Pub, formerly Molly Malone's. While it pretty much looked like a regular sort of pub, there were a few troubling notes.One, the music was pop music from YouTube videos streamed through a laptop. The sound quality was poor, and the selections seemed to be being made by a patron well in his cups.Two, there was a somewhat disturbing painting on

Another Departure

2010-06-03T11:48:00.003-04:00

Adios Rafa. I have mixed feelings. His man management was awful, and many of his buys were poor. On the other hand, he had Liverpool punching above their weight in Europe in four of his six seasons. He was loved for Istanbul, but the truth is that Liverpool were ten minutes from not even advancing out of the group stage that year. They got past Chelsea on a disputed goal. His other silverware

Retiring

2010-06-03T09:37:00.009-04:00

In a fantasy baseball league a long time ago, I traded Yankee first baseman and recent MVP Don Mattingly for a rookie and a draft pick. In '85 and '86, Mattingly was one of the best hitters in the game, and though '87 wasn't as good a year, it was still solid: he hit .327 (5th in the AL) and was 7th in the league in both On Base Average and Slugging Percentage. Working in my favor was the fact

World Cup

2010-06-02T10:38:00.004-04:00

Giuseppe Rossi was left off the Italian World Cup squad. Born in New Jersey to Italian immigrant parents, Rossi qualified to play for either the US or Italy. He chose the Azzurri, and he featured in last year's Confederation Cup squad (scoring twice against the US). Had he chosen differently, Rossi would be an automatic starter for the US; instead he missed making the 23 man squad for Italy.

Blame

2010-06-01T22:35:00.003-04:00

There is a widely held belief that BP is to blame for the Gulf oil spill. To be sure, it happened on their watch, but this spill will cost BP far, far more than they could have ever hoped to earn in profit from the platform. All of the oil companies hire the same kinds of managers and engineers and marketers. They have the same kinds of standards and practices. They use the same techniques and

Some Reviews

2010-05-30T21:28:00.004-04:00

"The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" (Cinema) - Stieg Larsson named his first novel "Men Who Hate Women". Apparently, the publishers felt that was a little too unfriendly. We saw the Swedish adaptation today, and even at two and a half hours, plenty was removed. Still, it was a pretty faithful adaptation. The book, of course, is better. If you haven't read the Millenium trilogy yet, by all means do.

Moores Speaks Out

2010-05-26T05:56:00.004-04:00

I have been following Liverpool football for only four years, so my knowledge of David Moores's stewardship of the club is second hand.After reading his open letter, though, it is obvious he still cares deeply about the club. Gillett and Hicks will cash out (at a profit, no doubt), and it is unimaginable to think three years later they'll be writing open letters about the club. If they cared at

Pomp and Circumstance (2010)

2010-05-22T19:04:00.000-04:00

Hacked

2010-05-16T08:22:00.002-04:00

One of my online accounts was hacked this weekend. It is almost certainly my fault. The account in question was for a game that I've put a great deal of time into, so while it's a big inconvenience, it could have been a lot worse. I have literally dozens of online accounts, each of which requires a user id and a password. Keeping them straight is a chore, and I fell into the bad habit of using

Misery's End

2010-05-09T13:20:00.001-04:00

Liverpool's miserable football season has finally ended: bad luck and bad decisions, bad play and bad players, distractions and precious little of the beautiful game.Bad luck - Injuries seemed especially problematic this season. Torres's battle with fitness is well documented, and Gerrard and Johnson missed games as well. But injuries to Aurelio and Insua, Skrtel and Agger took their toll as well

Quite a relief

2010-05-06T07:35:00.000-04:00

Dear Blaise,Congratulations! We have a place for you in our incoming freshman class this fall...

5 May

2010-05-05T13:54:00.003-04:00

Today is Cinco de Mayo, which is when people outside Mexico celebrate Mexican heritage. Or beer and tequila. The holiday commemorates the Battle of Puebla, in which Mexico defeated Napoleon III's invading army. It is not Mexican Independence Day, which is 16 September.Today is also Raegan's final exam for her last course in the spring semester. She has requested Margaritas to celebrate, and I am

Speaking of stupid, redneck, homophobes

2010-05-05T10:07:00.003-04:00

I think this guy might be the single most awful person in America.

PR

2010-05-03T18:22:00.002-04:00

Trevor and I ran a 5k Saturday. The good news is that I managed a personal record of 27:25. The bad news is that I did walk part of the last hill. The course was mostly downhill for the first two miles. I passed the mile markers at 8:10 and 16:30. Then the last mile is all uphill. I knew that I'd set a PR, and that made it hard to push as hard as i could on that hill. Trevor finished and was

Arrested Development

2010-04-30T22:14:00.002-04:00

We didn't have a DVR when Arrested Development was aired, so I only saw it occasionally. But I've been streaming episodes from Netflix on my iPad and it every episode has a laugh out loud moment. Brilliant television.

Long Lost Cocktail

2010-04-27T09:53:00.003-04:00

Or maybe a long lost cocktail post. I've been off cocktails somewhat lately, but yesterday ran across an article at The Cocktail Chronicles that promises something of a holy grail of cocktail recipes: a drinkable Singapore Sling. I just need to pick up a little bottle of Cherry Heering.Paul makes a good point: a lot of original/authentic cocktail recipes make for fairly nasty tasting drinks.Oh, I

Margarita at Bahama Breeze

2010-04-25T13:06:00.001-04:00

Sent from my iPhone

iPad

2010-04-24T20:53:00.002-04:00

After two false starts, I finally succeeded in buying an iPad yesterday. It'll be better when all the better iPhone apps are rewritten to take advantage of the bigger screen. It's good as a portable web browser. Also, I think it's going to be an excellent platform for watching videos; the streaming Netflix app is pretty cool and Hulu is allegedly working on one as well.

Shoelace Knots

2010-04-20T10:35:00.002-04:00

I learned how to tie my shoes during the Johnson administration, but it might be time to expand that horizon. Occasionally when I run, one of my shoelaces comes undone (typically the left).Proof that you can find anything on the internet: http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/knots.htm

Auburn

2010-04-16T13:39:00.000-04:00

Nice campus.Sent from my iPhone

Numbers

2010-04-15T10:49:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I suggested to a colleague that one of her staff might not be, you know, doing his job, even though I have never met him or seen him work. I came to this conclusion based on an analysis of how many of his cases end up resolved in comparison with his peers. It is possible, of course, that the differences in their rates has another explanation. Even though I am armed with only two

On Football Debt

2010-04-09T09:40:00.002-04:00

Several clubs in the top English league have significant debt (Liverpool among them). Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness has said "If you build all of your success on debt, I think it is not OK.", and I think he's got that right. But Manchester United and Liverpool haven't built their success on debt. Quite to the contrary, they are taxing their success with debt (Real Madrid on the other hand..

Pollen

2010-04-08T12:17:00.000-04:00

We've just had a little welcome rain. Atlanta has a lot of trees and this is the time of year when everything is covered in pollen. Hopefully it will rain some more this afternoon and wash this stuff away.

Why I'm No Longer A Republican

2010-03-27T23:14:00.002-04:00

First, they denied we needed health care reform at all. Now, they tell us we need to repeal the not-even-yet-enacted legislation and replace it with a Republican version. If health care is really not broken, why not simply repeal? And if it is broken, why did they refuse to participate in a bipartisan dialogue? I honestly don't believe the Democrats are any better, but to be honest, the

Tired

2010-03-26T19:26:00.004-04:00

More Tempering (but not temperance)

2010-03-25T18:52:00.002-04:00

Runner's World has a training calculator that projects your time in a race based on a previous result. My December 5k finish projected a 10k time of 1:09:07; after two months of training I beat that by five and a half minutes. My actual 10k time of 1:03:23 projected to a half marathon time of 2:19:50, which was surprisingly accurate, but I only had three weeks of additional training. My actual

More Running

2010-03-24T10:28:00.002-04:00

But not just yet. Today will be the first time this year that I've gone three days in a row without running. I'm still a little sore, but have mostly recovered. I plan to run this 5k in May and to use an adapted version of this training schedule. I'm confident I can significantly improve on my PR (33:04), since I've subsequently run longer races at a faster pace than that. I will be disappointed

ING Georgia Half Marathon

2010-03-21T18:32:00.002-04:00

I ended up finishing the ING in 2:19, which is better than I honestly thought I could do (it's actually a slightly faster pace than my best 5k, though I've been training a lot harder since then). The last mile was murder; I don't know whether it was because I didn't train well enough or started too fast or some other reason, but it hurt. A lot.I'm thinking of running a 5k in early May, which will

6th

2010-03-20T17:09:00.001-04:00

Sent from my iPhone

Route

2010-03-17T16:02:00.002-04:00

2008 ING HMFind more Runs in Atlanta, GeorgiaBib # 17128

A big week

2010-03-16T10:31:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, we learned that Blaise was wait-listed by Ga Tech. It's not what we were hoping for, obviously, but it's not a disaster. As I understand it, the majority applicants are rejected outright, so at least he made the cut. We know people who were wait-listed and later made it in, and Blaise compares favorably to them (in terms of AP classes, GPA, and SAT scores). It means we'll have to

Census

2010-03-13T09:48:00.002-05:00

We received a letter from the Census Bureau informing us that the Census form would be arriving in the next week. What struck me is that the Bureau's web address was not printed anywhere on the page. I know the government doesn't attract top marketing talent, but on a "get the word out" communication somebody should have thought to include the web.The other thing that struck me is that in

Cheeky

2010-03-10T16:36:00.003-05:00

I'm convinced that Norton's Anti-Virus has done more to slow computer performance than adware, spyware, etc. combined.

Greetings from Omaha

2010-03-04T09:21:00.000-05:00

Sent from my iPhone

Festival of Colors

2010-03-03T11:31:00.003-05:00

For the most part, they sure look like they're having fun.Links: Pictures Wikipedia

Be Not Afraid

2010-03-03T07:56:00.001-05:00

Great article on fear and terrorism by Tom Engelhardt.

The view from my office window

2010-03-02T09:38:00.000-05:00

Sent from my iPhone

Come On You Villa

2010-02-28T08:03:00.003-05:00

Three hours of football today: Blackburn at Anfield, and Villa at Wembley against MUFC. Yea for DVRs.

Correction

2010-02-28T07:14:00.003-05:00

The official results are in, my chip time was 1:03:23.37 (it took me 45 seconds after the gun to get to the starting line), which is a 10:13 pace. Interestingly, a greater proportion of 45-49 men finished ahead of me than men overall. I guess by the time you're my age, more of the casual runners have dropped out. I finished 101st out of 116 in my age group and 608th out of 705 men.In any case, my

Charles Harris 2010

2010-02-27T10:18:00.004-05:00

This was my first 10k, so I wasn't certain what to expect. My unspoken goal was 1:06 (which is actually faster than the pace of my best 5k). Unfortunately, I forgot to start my stopwatch as I crossed the starting line, so I don't know my exact time, but it was under 1:04, so I'm really pleased. I was pretty discouraged by Sunday's training run, but I guess I just had a bad day.Today's course is

Mary Poppins Trailer (Recut)

2010-02-25T10:46:00.001-05:00

Freaking brilliant!Hat tip: New York Times

Something New

2010-02-24T15:37:00.002-05:00

Between the interwebz and globalization, I've found that retail products are depressingly homogeneous. Whether you go shopping online, or at the mall, or in Prague, it feels like pretty much the same stuff.I'm not the biggest geek I know, but I'm probably several standard deviations from the mean (see what I did there?). My geek cred is shot, though, because I didn't know about this place. They

We Pretend We Are Zoroastrians

2010-02-24T10:03:00.004-05:00

The Freakonomics blog recently posted an article which discussed a letter from a reader in which the reader stated that to avoid cultural pressures, they pretended to be Christians. This prompted a commenter posted the following:I am so tired of the anti-Christian bigotry in the mainstream media, especially the liberal media like the NYT. How do I know it’s bigotry? Because I know for a fact

Mini-Wine Tasting

2010-02-23T10:57:00.002-05:00

We had a small group together last night. For the second time in a row, I brought a wine I'd had for a while (3-4 years) and it was corked. Now I'm worried that there's a problem with the way I'm storing the wine (in a dark part of the basement in wine racks, for the most part).