Thursday, May 26, 2011

run baby run

It's hot as hell already, so I waited until 9:30 to go out and run. It cooled down to the mid 80s which is a lot more tolerable than the 99 degrees it was when I came home.

I walked around my neighborhood for a few minutes to warm up (with some various leg raises and stuff thrown in to get my heart rate up), then went on my journey. Started off a bit rocky but not terrible, and after about a half-mile my endorphins kicked in and it was more pleasant. After my run, I cooled down with a walk for a quarter mile or so. I missed a street turn somewhere, so my already random route got more random, but I ended up running about 1.5-1.6 miles, and walking the remainder at the beginning and end to total approximately 2.28 miles.

With the miracle of technology, I was able to use an iPhone app to generate the following:
http://www.mapmyrun.com/workout/47642144/
http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/35439900

It uses GPS and Google Maps to calculate distance, pace, etc. Since I didn't know how the app works, I included my walks in there but it skewed my running pace. Next time I'll only have it track my run and not my walks, so I can see what kind of a running pace I have. I'm aiming for around 8-9 minute mile, if possible.

Since I obviously won't be posting anytime I run, if you're curious about my progress aside from my occasional updates, you can see my profile here:
http://www.mapmyrun.com/profile/6519738/

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

running? pffft

I haven't done much in terms of working out since P90X, except flag football. While I'm in no rush to get back to the weight room, I find myself more interested in running. Why? Man, that is such a good question. Running sucks.

Back when we had my 5K at work, I was in the middle (or toward the end) of P90X and I figured I was golden. "Hell, I've been doing plyometrics for a couple months I should be golden." How wrong I was. After about a mile, I felt like complete shit and couldn't push myself any further. Turns out that running is nothing like team sports or even P90X.

That was a huge hit on my massive ego (joking). Here I thought I was mostly in shape, but after a mile I couldn't go any further. I don't like the thought of not being in at least above-average shape, so I figured I wanted to start running. The hard part is actually going running. Maybe those people who have run all their lives enjoy it, but I get so bored and all I can think about is how shitty of a time I'm having.

Nevertheless, I went running last Saturday at around 3PM on a slightly hot and very muggy day. Foolishly, I tracked out a 2.4 mile route on gmap-pedometer.com because I somehow forgot that just a couple months ago I failed miserably at a 5K. So off I went, and I immediately regretted not having my headphones on me. I got bored and wanted to stop roughly 5 seconds after I started running. Without music to distract me, all I could think about was that I was running and I didn't want to be running. I tried to sight-see but that didn't get me far, either. I managed to get about one mile before I had to call it quits. After walking a couple blocks to get my heart rate back down, I decided to start running again. I looked down at my heart rate monitor and within 10 seconds of starting back up again, my heart rate was peaking at 190. That seemed insanely high to me, so I walked the rest of the mile back. On my walk back, my heart rate rarely dropped below 150. Interesting...

Afterwards, I found a new app on the iPhone that tracks your runs using the GPS, so that should be interesting to use in the future.

I want to get in better shape. Bicycling and team sports don't seem to get my heart rate up nearly enough, and swimming sounds foolish, so I guess I'm left with running. I'll give it a shot again in a couple days and go even slower than I was before, even though I thought I was going at a slow place. That should allow me to run farther next time. Mark also provided me with some useful info to help me out.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

5/22

So I pretty much always write new blog entries at work, and I've been much busier at work. The obvious side-effect is that now I don't have much time to write new entries. For some reason, the concept of writing them at home doesn't make much sense to me. However, tonight I'm breaking the mold and writing one while not at work. Amazing concept!

A week ago, we held a party at the house for Taylor's birthday. We had a good number show up... enough to have a good amount of fun, but not too many where it starts to get cluttered and messy. I played a fair amount of beer pong and also rocked a bit on Rockband drums. I think the night ended for most at around 3 AM.

Since it's already Sunday, I obviously can't remember what I did during last week. But like I mentioned earlier, work has been ramping up considerably for me. I'm now the software lead for the program I'm on due to the recent layoffs, and that involves not only knowing what I'm doing, but all the other software engineers. It's definitely more work (with even more in the future), but it's worth it and I'm enjoying the extra responsibilities and challenges.

This weekend, my friend Susheela came into town for her sister's graduation. We met up for lunch on Friday, and went bowling Saturday night. It was good to see her, since it's usually a rare occurrence because she lives in Philly now. She's getting married in April, which only means I'm getting older since friends my age are starting to get married now. Yikes.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

look at all these updates!

You guys are really getting your money's worth this week! Four blog updates in a one week span? That's just crazy talk.

Last night we had a great dinner at Salt Lick BBQ for Taylor's birthday. We ended up having to wait for almost an hour, but we all got stuffed full of delicious barbecue. I decided on getting the "family style" plate, which means all you can eat brisket, pork ribs, sausage, coleslaw, potato salad, and beans. I ate a couple plate's worth, then stocked up on some more to take home. Believe it or not, I walked away with 3 to-go boxes: two for meat and one for sides. Also, we managed to gather a sizable group of about 20 people for dinner. Holy crap that's a lot of people.

We got Taylor an iPhone 3GS for her birthday, and I think she immediately loves it. It's about time she got a smartphone... Get the hint? On Friday, we have a house party for her birthday. Should be fun.

Want to hear a funny story? I had chicken parmesan for lunch, which was average as usual for our cafeteria. Every week, I stockpile some frozen dinners to have as my midday snack between lunch and dinner. Turns out my last one left for this week is also chicken parmesan. I get (?) to have chicken parmesan twice today, how exciting. Sorry, that wasn't so funny after all.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

under pressure

Every once in a while our nurse at work will take our blood pressure. Here are my three measurements:

11/9/10: 120/68
3/22/11: 116/60
5/10/11: 110/52

Not bad!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

eek! a mouse!

Mice, mice everywhere.

About a month ago, we discovered we had mice in our garage. Well, at the time we assumed it was just one. Then two weeks back, Andy and I journeyed into the garage on an expedition to enslave the mouse and rid ourselves of it. After clearing out a lot of items in the garage and clogging up some of the holes it could use to escape, we scared it out of its corner only to find out there were two mice. It turns out we did a bad job at clogging, because the first mouse got away, but not easily. The second one ran into a corner and we devised a plan: get pieces of wood and make a "path" that it will take straight into a cardboard box that we will close shut as soon as it runs in. Think of it as a really easy wooden maze that leads you straight into captivity.

It actually took a few attempts for our clever little plan to work. We kept accidentally leaving little gaps in our path where the mouse would escape through to other parts of the garage. Each time, we scared it back into the same corner and reconstructed our path. Eventually, after probably three attempts, we finally got it into the box. After taping it shut and cleaning up the garage, we drove about a half mile from the house and let it out by railroad tracks. Will it return? It's hard to say, but we assumed it was too far. Neither of us had the necessary manhood to kill it.

Fast-forward to last Wednesday after work, where I was letting Maverick out to take care of business. After a few minutes, he started acting really strangely and I realized almost immediately that he must have found a mouse. Is it the one who originally escaped, or the one we let go far away that had returned? Even worse, could it possibly be neither and be a third mouse instead? I stopped worrying about it and instead enjoyed the dog-and-mouse game that they were playing around the patio. A few times Maverick would lose the mouse, thinking it was still behind some potting soil when in fact it had run to a different spot altogether. My height compared to Maverick's served as a definite advantage, as I was able to survey the playing field a lot easier than him. When he would lose the mouse, I tried to hint to him that it was over somewhere else instead. Of course, he was too stupid to pay attention to me or listen, so I just picked him up and placed him by where the mouse now was. This went on for about 20 minutes until me, Maverick, and Andy who had eventually joined us all lost the mouse. I went back inside for a brief moment and came back outside to find that Maverick found the mouse again in the middle of the yard, and he finally grabbed it with his mouth. At this point it was all but over for the mouse. Maverick made an interesting, yet slightly twisted game out of the next 20 minutes. He would let the mouse go, paw at it some, and then lie down next to it. It would start to run away (albeit slowly because of the grass), and he would go after it and catch it, and then lie down and wait again. Eventually after some time, he started to grab it and take little "crunch" bites that would crush it, and then let it go. It started to get a bit disgusting after the second crunch, so I separated Maverick and the mouse. I gave Maverick a nice juicy bone to distract him while Andy put the mouse out of its misery.

Fast-forward yet again to last Sunday. Justin was about to mow, and he found two more mice under the mower in the corner of our garage. Using my experience from my last adventure, I knew what the mice would try to do and we developed a simple little setup that worked flawlessly. We got both mice, and Justin did the manly thing and disposed of them. It was a lot more hassle-free than the previous time, and now we know that at least those two mice won't be returning. Are we finally done with the mice? I don't know but it sure is making for some entertaining times.

Tomorrow is Taylor's birthday. Happy early birthday! For her birthday dinner we are hitting up Salt Lick BBQ, making it an official tradition since we went last year too. On Friday, we are going to have some people over to the house and have a party on her behalf. Should be fun, I think I will play a lot of beer pong.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

what is this, I don't know

But it sure is awesome

Monday, May 2, 2011

lol @ dog

it's your weekend update!

I'll have to start with the big news, in case for some reason you've been living under a rock and hadn't heard: Osama bin Laden has been killed. Big news, right?





Aside from that, this weekend has been relatively quiet. Taylor had one tickets to Moody Blues on Thursday, and we saw the first part of their show. After about a half hour they had a 20 minute intermission, and by that point we were good to go. We aren't huge Moody Blues fans and I personally don't know any of their songs. They were good but I didn't want to stay for several hours and a few intermissions.

On Sunday, we celebrated my grandma's 88th birthday.

Next weekend is Mother's Day, don't forget!