500Gb

I just put in another 500Gb SATA drive in for only $104... this weighs me in at 1.5 terrabytes. It's amazing that you can buy so much storage for so little money. I love it.

And what's funny to think about is that someday I'll look back and laugh that I spent that much for 500Gb and laugh even more that I thought 1.5Tb was a lot of storage.

Microsoft Sucks (but so does Apple)

Most people know me as somewhat of an Apple-basher, but you should also know that I despise Windows, too. Picking an operating system is like voting for a president, you basically just choose the lesser of the two evils. (Although we did have Nader on the ballot in 96 and 00... and I guess Linux is an option, too. Hmm, at least there's the illusion of hope.)

I-Need-To-Hurl

I was running down the street yesterday and saw a sign for a house for sale. The real estate agent's name was Anita Hearl. I laughed for a good block or so after that. Must be a married name.

Vancouver Weekend

We went up to Vancouver for the weekend and had a great time staying with Chris Tyrell. We took the bus up there and it was killer. I was apprehensive about riding the bus, thinking that we would have stinky poor people sitting next to us, but the bus was very clean, hardly anyone was on it and we did in fact encounter some poor folk and were pleasantly surprised to find they smelled quite nice. I really don't have a tolerance for driving anymore, so letting the bus driver do all the work while we watched a movie was brilliant - and it only took 3 hours to get there!

When we arrived, we went to Lolitas and had food and drink w/ our friend Lara, who just happened to be visiting at the same time. Staying w/ Chris was awesome. He's got a newly remodeled condo in a high-rise building in the heart of down town so we could just walk everywhere. And he's got a beautiful Burmese cat that we had a fun playing with.

The first day there was sunny, so I went and ran the final 9 miles of the marathon route, which was a real fun way for me to explore the city. Kathleen went shopping while I ran. She got a cute hat and a sweater. The next day was rainy so we went to the art museum and saw some really cool exhibits.

We took train back and watched another movie as it was dark and couldn't see a lick of scenery. I don't think I'll ever drive to Vancouver again. Bus and trains, man, all the way.

Cascade Loop, the Video

I kept thinking all Summer that I wanted to make a little video of the bike tour that Ben and I did, but kinda forgot to do it until Ben sent me his video, so I slapped this thing together... the beginning is fun, but you don't really need to watch the whole thing if you don't want. Enjoy.

Old School Technology

Look at this watch. It cracks me up - it's so old and clunky. It's Loren's heart rate monitor - he loaned it to me. It works pretty good, but is a little tempermental. It's got a strap that you wear on your chest.


I also have this other HRM watch I got from Big5 (my favorite store) for only $10 and you put your finger on it, but you can't get a reading while you're moving, so that's kinda the down side of it.



Anyways, I'm going to start keeping track of my heart rate to train for the Vancouver Marathon. It's interesting stuff, you see, you are supposed to train at 70-85% of your max heart rate for atleast 20 min to get the optimal cardio benefits from your workout. I think I have been over training, up around 170 bpm, so I'm going to slow down a little and shoot for 140 - 150 and see how that goes.

Critical Mass?

It's interesting how after I decided to do my first triathlon earlier this year, I kept meeting people who were also going to do their first triathlon, or people I already knew (friends and family / Ben and Adam) started signing up. Now, I'm planning on running my first marathon and am surrounded by people who either also want to run their first marathon, or have just done their first.

And whether or not you're interested in running, you should check out this PBS special about a group of average sedintary people who signed up for the Boston marathon. They took these people from couch to marathon (26 miles) in just 9 months. Very interesting from a scientific perspective and inspirational from a human perspective. You can watch it online from their site.

I think the Vancouver marathon is looking like a good option. Who's in?