New home

All moved in. At least, all my stuff is here. None of it is where I want it to be, not to mention where I expect it to be.

But I've got InterWeb, and a bed for when I'm sleepy, and something to eat when I wake up, and clothes to wear. The rest will sort itself out in time.

Oh, but no music. I can't remember how I had my iPod hooked up to my stereo. No music, no life. I want my music! • 8:33 PM 0 comments

Qwest begins to piss me off

I hate moving.

I have been moving boxes of stuff out of my old apartment all day long, and yet it still looks like I live there.

Bah.

In other news, Qwest is still a pain in the ass. I decided, since I was moving, I wanted to pare down my phone bill a bit. I thought it would be nice to just have the cell phone, but keep my landline number (got to preserve that 503 area code, plus that way I wouldn't have to change as much stuff on my checks and business cards). I figured it would be complicated, but since both my cell and my landline are through Qwest I figured it was at least feasible.

Sometimes I'm so naive.

So tell me if this seems overly complicated: They had to split the landline and the cell phone into two separate accounts, generating two different bills. For some arcane reason, that put a 24-hour hold on my account, where they were unable to make changes (like, for instance, putting in a request for the landline number to be switched to the cell phone, or disconnecting the landline number). Of course, 24 hours isn't really twenty-four consecutive periods of 360 seconds; it's doled out as "business days", which, due to the looming Memorial Day weekend on which I had the misfortune of attempting this technological feat, means that they can't touch my account again until Tuesday.

The phone rep, Devin, said that when he got back in the office on Tuesday, he would personally make sure that the order went in to "port" my number from landline to wireless. He repeated this several times, almost as if he were trying to reassure me that it would actually happen. Instead it had almost the exact opposite effect.

Let me rewind that for you, in case you missed it: Qwest, one of the pre-eminent telecom companies in the entire Free World, a telecom whose market capitalization on the New York Stock Exchange is over six and a half billion-with-a-B freakin' United States Economic SuperPower dollars, has to have a flesh-and-blood human being make sure that an order for a phone number to be switched from one account to another. Gee, I can't wait until they start using actual computers to do this stuff. That makes me feel real good, that, in this day and age of computerized automation that my billing and orders for new service are dependent on the memory of a minimum-wage phone monkey after a three-day weekend. Can you spell "nifty"? 'Cause I sure can't.

At any rate, assuming that the CSR remembers to put in the order to "port" my number after imbibing brewed hops and barley and meat cooked in sauce while watching highly specialized cars drive in circles all weekend, then it only takes another three or four days before the number is actually switched.

And then, and only then, can they, the mortal men and women dutifully slaving away while holding off the future automation of telecom services, disconnect my landline completely, probably by having some strong-backed soot-covered ape in the bowels of the Qwest headquarters' machinery at 1801 California Street in Denver, Colo-freakin'-rado turn a giant metal wheel, thereby closing the massive steam-driven valve that will eventually result in shutting off the dial tone twelve thousand fifty-eight point six miles away, in my apartment in rainy south east Portland, Oregon. Maybe, if I'm feeling generous, I'll call up CEO Barry Allen (Holy shit! Isn't he the Flash? You'd think he'd know a thing or twelve about speed!) and casually mention to him that there are these things called computers, see, and even the slowest of them can calculate millions of times faster than a human brain... • 9:01 PM 0 comments

New CIO

Hee, hee, hee!

I just ran out to the bathroom to change into my "I read your email" shirt... and when I came back, I walked right past Becky, the new interim CIO for Multnomah County, and she looked right at my shirt and gave me a vacant clueless smile, like she had NO IDEA what it meant.

Maybe she'll ask me to remove it or cover it up for being offensive? • 1:34 PM 0 comments

Going out to a show

Saw a show last night.

The Decemberists were playing at the Aladdin Theater, with The Places and The Long Winters opening for them. I mentioned this before... surely you remember.

I wasn't that impressed with The Places. Amy Annelle's voice was alright, but the tone of the music was melancholy and plaintive. Also, the girl couldn't enunciate worth a damn and mumbled her way between songs. I picked up just that she's local to Portland and was glad to be playing at the Aladdin. She introduced a three part song, each part having a name, well, except for the middle part which was untitled, oh, and the middle part was dedicated to the guitarist from Rush who was in jail for some drunk driving charge... or something... I dunno. I lost track in there somewhere.

The Long Winters, however, rocked and rolled. John Roderick puts on a great show. Their songs are so upbeat and catchy, and they got the normally-dour Portland crowd (Why is it that Portland music fans don't dance?) up and out of their seats. A group of girls in the audience had apparently baked cupcakes and were imploring Roderick to eat one... He eventually did, although he was wary about the cupcakes being "laced... with hard drugs." When Roderick found out that the cupcakes had been made with soy margarine he mused that that was "a very Portland ingredient."

The band was minus their occasional member Sean Nelson, who provides harmonizing vocals and keyboards, but between Roderick's lead vocals and guitar and Eric Corson's bass and Michael Shilling's drums... they weren't missing much. And thankfully the LSD cupcakes didn't kick in during the set. I just hope the band made it through the night all right...

I had only heard a couple of songs from The Decemberists from their label's (Kill Rock Stars) website, and didn't pay much attention. However, seeing them perform live is an entirely different experience. A five-piece band, led by Colin Molloy, they play literate, catchy tunes with a strong violent theme flowing through them. Their songs are full of catchy pop hooks but laced with references to war, weapons, soldiers, combat, blood, bullets, and sexualized violence. An intriguing combination and deadly to witness. Molloy seemed pleased at the crowd and happy to be playing, even though the band was still working out their stage presence and changes, and trying out new material. Molloy even took over Jenny Conlee's keyboards for the new song.

The audience ate it up, and my companions and I were agreed that we would be seeking out their CD. Check them out if you get a chance... • 9:08 AM 0 comments

Shame

I'm so disappointed.

I ran this morning, five miles. And then I gave blood at lunchtime. It's the first time I've given blood since, y'know, losing all this weight. I was hoping that I would get all woozy and light-headed.

But I didn't. Dammit.

And it took me longer to fill up the bag than normal. Guess my blood pressure has dropped. Or something. • 1:42 PM 0 comments

Shuffle

Been listening to my iPod on "Shuffle by Album" mode. I call it "jukeboxing" -- just letting it serve up CDs in some random order. Letting it do the work. OK, I am a little more selective than that. I have a playlist of my Favorite Albums; everything that's a) a full CD (not just single MP3s that I've downl-- er, obtained elsewhere), and b) that I've rated 3 stars or higher.

So far today I've heard:

• "Fashion Nugget", Cake (played during almost my entire run to work)
  
• "Ghost In The Machine", The Police (Haven't heard this in ages)
  
• "Rover's Return", John Waite (No Amazon linky)

Good stuff, good stuff. • 9:25 AM 0 comments

Motivated

Ran to work today. I kept a 9:36 pace!

• 5:10 AM - left the house
  
• 5:17 AM - finished warmup and started running towards Springwater Corridor trail head
  
• 6:05 AM - finished 5+ mile run by crossing the Hawthorne Bridge

It's amazing what a little frustration in life can push me to accomplish...

Labels: exercise

• 7:30 AM 0 comments

Old Barfy

OK, ignore my previous post. I thought of something to write about.

My current apartment is in a good neighborhood and I've been there for years so even though the rent has increased some it's still pretty cheap. Certainly cheaper than I could find a 1 bedroom/1 bath apartment in Sellwood for if I was looking right now. I'm right on a bus line (important when you're economically opposed to automobile ownership) and close to a couple of other bus lines. I've got a washer/dryer hookup in my apartment (bonus!) and I can walk to the grocery store. Lots of plusses.

But... I hate my neighbors. I've got this guy living next to me who has been a nuisance for years. When he moved in, the building was operated by a very bad manager, and my neighbor would always try to get me to contact the manager to complain; the old "let's you and him fight" technique.

My neighbor is chronically unemployed and so finds he has lots of time to sit around drinking beer and trying to strike up conversations with passers-by. My apartment is on the second story, and to get to it there is only one stair that leads to the walkway all three apartments share. I consider the stairway to be a common area, but my neighbor considers it his living room. He'll sit there at the end of the day, smoking, drinking, cussing, laughing... and because of the layout this is directly underneath my living room window. Not to mention the fact that I have to step around him and his cronies on the stairs to get to my front door. I dread going home and finding him there, which happens a lot. When I'm home I tend to leave the curtains drawn and windows closed to keep out his obnoxious laugh and the cigarrette smoke.

But that's not the worst part. Because of all his drinking, my neighbor often ends up sick and hungover in the morning. He seems, though, to make it to the bathroom before becoming violently ill. I know this because his bathroom is right next to my bedroom. Several times a week I am awakened by the sound of my neighbor tossing his cookies into the porcelain throne. Thin walls do not mute this much at all. Joy. The mornings he's not sick, he's coughing and hacking due to his smoking habit...

I find all this oppressive. But I've not done much about it. I know, I know, I should be less passive. I've mainly used this as an excuse not to be home much, which does seem to help my social life.

But I have an opportunity. There are two, 2 bedroom apartments downstairs from me, and the one on the other side of the building from me is open. I would no longer have to step around him to get to my home. I would no longer have to be awakened by the sound of chunky liquid splashing into a bowl, or his hacking cough. And I would still live in the same neighborhood and still have the W/D hookup and all the other things I like about my current apartment. My rent would only go up $100/month, which, if I look at what I would gain (a less oppressive living space) seems very much worth it. I mentioned the possibility of moving to my landlord and now he's waiting for me to give him a yea or a nay.

However... once again my mind refuses to stay in context. Instead of evaluating the two tangible choices, a voice in my head whispers of other, fictional choices. I've started browsing the classifieds, and for around $600 I could move to any number of other places in several cool neighborhoods: downtown, close-in SE, Hawthorne, or the Lloyd Center area. I could move somewhere that had DSL (I'm currently on cable modem, which, for technical reasons involving me wanting to share my bandwidth is less than useful (there's probably a whole 'nother post in that topic alone.)) I could gain hardwood floors or bay windows or a great view or sexy next-door neighbors... the mind boggles.

I talked to my sister, and she suggested that for the same money I'm talking about in rent, I could be making a payment on a condo. Be an "owner" not a "renter". Get some equity. However, my sister thinks of money much differently than me, and I suspect that even though what she says is technically true ("your mortgage payment wouldn't be more than $600/month, including taxes"), there would still be lots of hidden costs and fees that would make that choice more expensive, both short-term and in the long run. Also, the places I would have to live are not really my favorite neighborhoods: Tigard, Clackamas... basically the 'burbs. Bleh. I'm a downtown kind of guy. I need to be in SE or downtown. Gotta stick with what I know and love.

So, in the end, those "other" choices are all mythical. I should really decide based on just the two current choices and not introduce extraneous possibilities...

I'm going to move downstairs for now, and keep my eyes open for something better. • 7:33 AM 0 comments

LOOK!

I want to post something every day.

Does this count? • 7:12 AM 0 comments

Keep this in mind

This week's resolution:

Less Thinking, More Doing

Tune in next week to see how successful I am... • 10:29 AM 0 comments

Elevator game

The nimble mind can find ways to compete everywhere.

F'rinstance, I work in a 14-story building. My office is on the 8th floor. Since I've started running, I only take the elevator when I'm in a hurry and am going to be late. Or at the end of the day, when I want to get out of the building as quickly as possibe.

So, when I'm riding the elevator up and others get on the elevator with me, sometimes they want off on floors below the 8th, and sometimes above. More often below the 8th floor, though. Same principle (only in reverse) applies to riding down.

I've come to view stopping before the floor I want, to be "losing", and any other outcome (in other words, the quickest possible ride when sharing the elevator) to be "winning".

Today when I got to work, two other people got on the elevator with me, and I waited to hit my button until after they had selected their floors. It was almost like roulette or something, the anticipation as they reached for the panel... and pushed "9" and "11".

Whoo-HOOO! I win again! • 7:24 AM 0 comments

Hills

I ran the Three Parks loop this morning. I tried to keep track of my time, and I think, not counting my warm-up and cool-down, my run was just over a 10 minute pace, around a 10:20 or so. I wasn't pushing myself again this morning, though. I'll do better. Remember that this route has some hills.

I plan on running to work (long run) on Wednesday, and then I'll do the Three Parks run again on Friday. At least one day in there I'll hit the gym for some upper-body and abs work. Then this weekend I'm going to the beach, to do some running on the sand... whee!

Labels: exercise

• 6:33 AM 0 comments

What I am

Had coffee with a friend today. During conversation, I said something (I forget what) that reminded her of something she had to do, at which point she called me her "Post-It Note".

I have no idea how to take that... but I have to admit I laughed, at the time. • 9:06 PM 0 comments

Three Parks Run

Exercise update:

Ran a three-mile run this morning. Decided to try a different route. Usually when I run in my neighborhood, I just run away from my apartment for a mile or so, then turn around and come back. The only variations I've tried take me back through Westmoreland Park. The advantages are that it's a known distance and it's very flat. But, knowing that I need to start incorporating hills into my running, I changed it up.

I ran downhill towards the river, then turned north and ran through Sellwood Park. Then along the bluff over the Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge, turned east, then ran back through Westmoreland Park, and even ran by a tiny little park a few blocks from my house, Johnson Creek Park. I'll call this the Three Parks Run.

I futzed around with Mapquest, which is a pain when you're trying to use it to map a multi-point route like that, and it looks like it's over 3 miles. I came up with 3.47 miles, but that's just along streets and not through the actual parks like I ran, but that's as accurate as I want to be. I'll just call it 3.5 miles.

The route includes some mild hills, both up and down, for short stretches of just a couple of city blocks. I like it, though, more because I get to run on grass and trails, and I get to run through the parks. That's much easier on myself than running on asphalt or concrete. Some runners say asphalt is easier on the body than concrete, but I can't (yet) tell the difference. But I can tell a big difference between asphalt/concrete and grass, or dirt trails.

I didn't time myself, so I have only a vague idea of how long it took me. Around a half-hour, maybe. But I wasn't pushing myself very hard, since part of my brain was engaged with navi-ma-ga-shun. Next time I run I'll pay closer attention to time.

Diet-wise... I'm not technically dieting anymore. I'm watching my calories but I'm much less strict. F'rinstance, I had lunch with a boss and another co-worker on Friday, and the boss was buying, so I had a large plate of pasta and even ordered dessert. Lunch was at Pazzo's Ristorante. Soooo goooood. Dessert was a "semi-frozen" chocolate cake layered with pistachio gelato. I knew that if I had even a small dinner I'd go way over 2800 calories for the day. So I skipped dinner entirely. That's what I mean by "being conscious of my calories".

And that consciousness is paying off. My weight has had its ups and downs in the past couple of weeks, but it hasn't varied by more than 2.5 lbs from a base of 171.5. That's essentially a flat line when you graph it (which I do), which means I've found my stable point of weight. My goal has been reached. It's all maintenance from here on out... for the rest of my life.

Let me just say: Whoo-Hooooo!!

Labels: exercise

• 4:33 PM 0 comments

Why I don't have Cable TeeVee

I got rid of cable because I had the realization that I never turn on my teevee unless I'm watching a DVD, and when I got my broadband they upsold me on a cable modem/digital teevee package that was costing me $120/month... and then Comcast wanted to raise the price. I declared "Last Straw" and called their CSRs, who were ready and waiting to assist me. They tried to tell me I was getting a $10/month discount on my broadband by having cable.

Hmmm... I can't imagine being someone for whom that would be a tough choice: pay $55/month for broadband that I use all the time, or pay $135/month for broadband I use all the time and teevee I never use. I tried to imagine myself as that person. Couldn't do it. They finally talked me into getting the absolute, bottom-dollar, basic Basic Cable: just the local stations and the public access channels, no converter box, no remote, for +$11.00/month, so I could still get the $10/month discount. I figure $1.00/month is worth it so I can watch The Simpsons (which is the only thing I watch, now that Buffy's gone and Angel's been cancelled).

Truth is, though, that after I disconnected the digital box, I haven't even hooked the bare coax up to my ancient teevee, so there would be work involved if I ever wanted to actually watch something... • 4:47 PM 0 comments

Short list

Haven't been posting in a while. And there's so much I could be posting:

• Full review of Coachella, including all the acts I saw, some funny stories about the trip...
  
• Intimate details of the women I'm dating/have dated (just kidding! Scared some of you out there, didn't I?)
  
• Review of any of a number of CDs I've bought in the last couple of months (Just saving myself from listing them all, 'cause it's a lot)
  
• Oh, damn, movie reviews, like "Kill Bill Vol. 2" or, um, that other one
  
• ...
  
• I hate making lists. Why am I doing this?

Hang on, let me catch my breath... this list-making is exhausting. Feels like I've been doing this forever. How many is that? One... two... WTF? I've only done six freakin' bullets? And one of them is blank, and another one is a complaint!

OK, this isn't working for me. I've got to make an actual post. Stay tuned. • 4:19 PM 0 comments

Commute

Ran to work today. Managed a 10-minute pace over the 5+ miles of the run. Not too bad. I've done better but for some reason I haven't been feelin' the run-love lately. Meh.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Been busy and stressed and stuffed.

Hello? *tap* *tap* Is this thing on?

Labels: exercise

• 8:28 AM 0 comments

What really happened

Wow, what a weird weekend. I managed to escape, though.

Remember back on 4/24 I posted an "awkward moment in dating?" About the girl who joked that she was stalking me? Go ahead, click the link, I'll wait.

[Waiting]

We went out a couple of times, didn't hit it off, and I thought that was that. Well, last week She showed up outside my work, which is weird, 'cause I move from building to building during the week at random. She asked me if I wanted to get some dinner, and as I started to answer, a van pulled up along the sidewalk right behind Her. The door opened, and She stepped back towards it, like she was expecting it, and I stepped forward out of curiosity, and, well, before I knew what hit me, I was falling forward into the van.

I must have blacked out for a bit. When I came to, I was in a windowless room (a basement, as it turns out, somewhere in the Coast Range). I was tied to a creaky old bed, and, well, naked... She was there, waiting for me to awaken... and... and...

...She did things to me that have never been done before.

Even though I was only there for about three days, the time seemed much longer than that. I'll never be able to fully describe what happened to me in that time -- words fail me when I try to remember. Images, sensations, all blur into each other. Colors have a scent and sounds taste like... like...

At some point, the combination of the oils and the flames must have loosened my bonds, but I had retained enough animal cunning not to reveal that fact to Her right away. My resistance must have been more than She expected, because it seemed to me that She had tired a bit too quickly after only three days, but this didn't disappoint Her, no, it seemed to excite Her all the more... which chills me to my core thinking about it now. What more could She do to me that hadn't already been done? I knew I had to make an escape.

It may have been moments later, it may have been hours, I'll never be sure, but some time later I heard an electronic noise that cut through my delirium: an S.O.S. Her cell phone was getting a text message! I had heard that before on one of our dates. She seemed torn between continuing Her assault on me and responding to the text message, but though it was a close battle, in the end Her desire for attention was victorious over Her lust for taking me to my physical limits. I humbly believe that my resistance was also a factor; She was both ennervated by the struggle with me as well as feeling the need to, well, brag about me. I was the strongest victim She had yet encountered.

For some reason (vanity? embarassment?) She left the room to respond to the text message. The sound of Her high heels on the concrete steps filled my soul with mounting joy, quickly replaced by a rage and a cunning cold intellect that aided my escape. Once free of my bonds, I was able to locate another doorway out of the room that I was previously unable to see from my prone position. My strength returning, I scrambled up the stairs I found. The small vestibule I emerged in was filled with candles illuminating shelves of alien-shaped ceramic containers and glassware, all filled with horribly-colored substances, liquid, oils, powders. But I had no attention for the foul contents of the room, for on the other side of a pentagram on the floor came a freshening breeze from the door open to the night.
But She was there, between me and my freedom.

Her naked body shimmered in the night, dancing and chanting in a sacrificial rite. I bolted past her, nearly slipping on the ashes at my feet, shoving her aside in my haste to escape. She must have fallen against the shelves, stumbled into one of the candelabra, because the room behind me brightened as the flames ignited something flamable...

As my wounds and burns were salved by the night air, the house behind me was consumed by a cleansing fire.

Luckily, before I could succumb to exposure, the firefighters that arrived to douse the wicked flames found me, wrapped me in an itchy wool blanket, and began the process that eventually returned me to the comfort of my home in south east Portland. I am thankful to those heroic men and women for their aid, as I was not a civilized man after my ordeal. I am both haunted by and strengthened by the events of the past several days, perhaps a few more grey hairs on my head, but I retain a steely resolve in my eye as well.

Either that, or I've been busy all weekend and haven't had a chance to update my blog. One or the other. • 7:04 AM 0 comments

Adding stuff

Short post today. Live with it.

Added a bunch of filigree to the site. Added a Picture of the Week and a "Powered by Blogger" button over there to the right, added a hit counter and stuff over to the left. That stuff hasn't migrated to the other pages, other than the Archive pages, yet. Still workin' on it.

Added some pictures from an old trip to the Portland Underground to the Picture Gallery. These are tunnels underneath Old Town in Portland, OR that were used 150 years ago to quietly shanghai able-bodied men to work on ships leaving port. A fascinating time of Portland's history. Now they take groups down there on tours.

Didn't run today. Bleh. Didn't feel like it. • 5:42 PM 0 comments

Upcoming

I mentioned The Long Winters last week, part of my post-Coachella CD-buying spree. Remember? Sure you do. I checked their website and they're playing Portland this month (Thursday 27 May) at The Aladdin Theater, opening for The Decemberists, about whom I have heard nothing.

Oh, and They Might Be Giants will be playing later this summer at The Bite of Oregon. That'll be fun. (I only mention TMBG because I first saw The Long Winters when they opened for TMBG. My mind connects things like that, for some reason.) • 6:19 AM 0 comments

Waterfront with friends

I ran the Waterfront last night with a couple of friends. I brought up the idea of doing two laps, which would be around 5 miles, and they were favorable. Then, during the run, they both sped off like they were being chased by lawyers. When I got to the second lap, I had to stop and walk a bit. I kept thinking of excuses why I didn't do so well, especially considering that I've done that distance before, and recently; it's 5 miles when I run to work, which I've done just last Friday. I thought that it was the weather (rainy and windy), my lack of food (had only taken in 1580 calories that day), lack of good food (ate a lot of junk that day and the day previous), time of day (I normally run in the morning), yadda yadda, blah, blah, blah... but in the end, I didn't do too bad. I only finished about a minute behind my friend, who finished a minute and a half behind his girlfriend.

Then afterward we went and I pigged out on a Quiznos' Black Angus Sandwich, and a mollasses cookie and soy chai from Starbucks'.

Tonight I'm going to the gym and doing anything except run.

Oh, and I feel heavier. I weighed in at 171.5 lbs today, but I feel all bloat-y or something. I can still feel the lump of food I ate yesterday in my stomach and parts south, working its way through my digestive system. I'll feel better once it's gone.

Labels: exercise

• 6:10 AM 0 comments

Site has a theme

I've added my Trophy Page but all I have are links to the results page for each race I've entered.

I'm going to add a picture and link to the gallery for that race, along with a table of my actual results.

Hmmm... I was thinking I want to add an "About Me" page, but on reflection, this entire site is "about me", isn't it? Again with the self-absorbed... this blogging thing is all about self-absorption, isn't it?

---

Update: The section referring to my "Trophy Page" is no longer accurate. - 7 May 2009 BAM • 8:49 AM 0 comments

Memories, old and new

I'm still uploading pictures to my Picture Gallery. I guess the next step is to modify the CSS to make it match the rest of my site. That will be fun. I'm in no hurry, though; the current layout doesn't suck too much. Update: My pictures can be found at Flickr under my username "lunarobverse". - 7 May 2009 BAM

It's fun going through all my old pictures. Lotta old memories there. Call me self-absorbed, but it's funny seeing how I looked a year or two ago, while my friends haven't changed much at all.

I'm going to start listing my races and times on another page. I may include my weight, too. I'll call it my "Trophy Page".

This coming week I'm going to step up my mileage and add hills again. Monday and Tuesday I'm going to run the Waterfront; probably after work. I'm going to run one lap on one day, then two laps on the other day. Can't say for sure which day will be the long one because I'm waiting to hear back from a friend on which day he wants to join me. Wednesday I plan on going to the gym for a workout but no running, then Thursday I'm going to tackle Terwilliger Blvd. again. Friday will be a rest day, then Saturday I'll have a nice morning run and I'll try to fit in a workout, too. Sunday, of course, another rest day.

Whoo-HOOO! Next week I get 2800 calories per day! I had to work at eating 2600 calories today, mostly because I was so distracted cleaning my apartment and working on my website. I think I'm still several hundred short for the day. But that's OK. I feel full...

And my apartment hasn't been this clean in a long time... it's good to kick out the clutter once in a while. • 7:58 PM 0 comments

Lake Run 5K Official Results

They've posted the official results for the Lake Run -- that was fast!

Unfortunately, I wasn't that fast, at least compared to my last race. I finished 176th overall, and 11th out of 18 in my group, with a final time of 29:37 and a pace of 9:32.

Gotta work on my hills, I guess. It might also have hurt me that I ran 5+ miles yesterday. And the train might have cost me more than I thought...

Those are all excuses, but, actually, I did well. I'm happy I went. The next race is going to be massively hilly -- the Mt. Tabor Challenge. Whoo-HOO! Bring it on! Looks like I'll be hitting Terwilliger a lot in the coming month...

Labels: exercise

• 7:06 PM 0 comments

Comment on previous post

Man, that's a goofy picture of me. My ears stick out! Plus it's out of focus. I blame the girl taking the picture. • 4:50 PM 0 comments

Pre-Lake Run 5K

Quick race-day update before I hit the showers...

I did the Lake Run 5K today. The weather started out nice but it started raining just as I was finishing. My friend warned me about the hills, and, yes, there were a lot of hills, short but steep. There was also a train! I had to climb over the train at one point in the race, somewhere between Mile 1 and Mile 2. I climbed over between cars at the same time as another guy; he was just ahead of me. I waited until he was on the ground and moving and started to jump -- I was in the act of jumping when I saw him stumble backwards. I landed on his ankle. I hope he's OK! I apologized, and looked for him after the race but couldn't find him.The race organizers were nice enough to allow us to adjust our time, on the honor system. I asked for 25 seconds; I thought that was fair.

I saw 29:40 on the clock when I crossed the line, which (after my allowance) works out to about a 9:28 pace; not bad considering all the hills!

Here I am before the start of the race

Labels: exercise

• 9:18 AM

Exercise update

My weight is holding steady at 169.5 lb. I think I'm still losing weight, but slowly. I am really happy with my weight where it is, however, so I'll continue to add calories back into my diet.

I only have circumstantial evidence for the weight loss, however; obviously the graph of my weight over the past two weeks is pretty flat. The evidence is this: when I was on Atkins, my body was in ketosis/lypolosis -- in other words, burning fat for energy, transforming my fat stores into glucose for my muscles to use as fuel. During that time, my body chemistry changed, as revealed by the odd taste in my mouth, and the change in the scent of my sweat and urine.

Well, even though I'm now eating as much as 2600 calories per day (2800 yesterday -- I was weak and had a cookie), I still have that same odd taste in my mouth. Since I'm running every other day, and getting lots of walking and other exercise in throughout the day, my rate of calorie burn must be higher than 2600 calories per day, because, circumstantially, I think I'm still burning fat to replace the calories I'm not taking in.

At any rate, I ran to work today. I picked up some more time -- Left the house at 5:14 AM, and crossed the Hawthorne Bridge at 6:10 AM. Subtract the 10 minutes (approx.) that it takes me to walk to the starting point, and that means I ran 5 miles in about 46 minutes, or a 9:12 pace. Whoo-Hoo!

I totally rock. I'm so ready for the Run on the Lake this weekend.

Labels: exercise

• 6:49 AM 0 comments

Get Fuzzy

Darby Conley is one of the funniest mainstream comic artists around. Get Fuzzy is, to my twisted mind at least, HI-freakin'-larious.

I hope I'm not stepping on any toes, but I have to share this. I reproduce here, under the cover of Fair Use, the author's introduction to the latest collection of Get Fuzzy comics, "Bucky Katt's Big Book of Fun". If I hear from the lawyers, or even Darby himself (I've sent him email so we can be on a first-name basis (not that he's ever returned the favor, but, hey, I can be big about that)), I will remove this post, or edit it down, or something to make it less likely that I can be sued about it.

get fuzzy
an apology

I must confess that when I invented the characters for what was to become the comic strip "get fuzzy," I had never owned a cat.

I never really spent too much time with them, either, as I grew up in Tennessee, smack-dab in the middle of America's hound belt. The cats in Knoxville in the '70s and '80s were few, far between, and deep in hiding.

I thought the idea of psychotic cats, scratched-up furniture, and gooey hairballs was funny.

But now I have a cat.
And I have furniture that's been destroyed.
And I have a cabinet full of enzyme-based cleaning products.
And I have some of those flesh wounds which seemed so comical on other people.

And I've come to the conclusion that, well... cats aren't funny. I understand that now. So as you read this book, please remember that it was written out of ignorance, and I am sorry.

Sorry and ignorant.

But mostly just sorry, 'cause, you know... I got the cat now.

Sorry.

Respectfully,
darby conley

If this serves as your introduction to the humor of Darby Conley, then I hope you find it as funny as I do. I'm just trying to get someone else as embarrassed as I was when I read this and laughed out loud in the store.

You can find more stuff I think is funny under the Humor section of my Links page. • 4:36 PM 0 comments

Back to the running

Let me quickly post my running schedule for this week. Truncated because of last weekend's road trip.

I ran 2.5 miles this morning, I'm going to go on a street ramble with the Mazamas Club on Thursday night, run to work on Friday morning, then run the Lake Run 5K on Saturday.

My weight's at 169.5 lb this week. I've added in another 200 calories per day, putting my daily intake at 2600 calories.

Oh, and damn, I feel great. Except that when I tanned in the desert this weekend, it accentuated my stretch marks. Hmmm. Not sure what to make of those. I guess I should be proud of them, since they're evidence of my skinniness... I could always claim that they're from my pregnancies, I suppose. Hee, hee, hee

Labels: exercise

• 6:49 AM 0 comments

Candy is dandy

I think I was sexually harrassed yesterday.

At work, there's a side office where several older (well, older than me) ladies work. They always have candy out, lots and lots of candy. Chocolate, licorice, jelly beans, you name it and they've probably got it or will have it out in the next week. I often stop by when I'm in that building and pick something up. They usually comment on my recent weight loss, making remarks about how impossible it seems that I can get so thin when I'm always eating candy. I laugh and just let them think that.

Yesterday I stopped by there, and one of them called me "Skinny" and I asked her, in mock indignation, to repeat herself. She said that I was definitely skinny now, and the other ladies agreed. I told them that I didn't really think someone who was still 15-20 lb. overweight could be considered "skinny".

Then one of them told me that I had crossed a line; "You've passed into 'cute'."

Waitaminute. What was I before? I was cute before, wasn't I? My girlfriends thought so, anyway.

I'm not offended by what they said, but I was uncomfortable when they said it. It was a fairly bold statement, and not one I'm used to. This is all simply a reminder for me about our perception of people, and how much it's influenced by things like weight or clothing. Some might call it "shallow" but I don't; it's simply a heritage of our evolutionary past. We tend to only pay attention to attractive people, or at least give them more benefit of the doubt.

Gwyneth Paltrow is someone who has never had the opportunity to be unnoticed, being as she is very thin and very attractive. But apparently, when she was making the movie "Shallow Hal" she had to wear a suit that made her fat. In an interview, she describes people's reaction to her:

Well, I put on the suit and I went outside and walked around. It was actually very interesting, because I was really nervous about being found out. But when I walked around, nobody would even make eye contact with me. Like nobody would even look in my direction. Because I think when you get a sense of someone being slightly outside what we all consider normal, you think, oh it's polite not to look. But actually, it's incredibly isolating. And it really upset me.

People don't notice others who are outside of the norm: fat, scarred, missing limbs: they're invisible, she seems to be saying. I don't think that that's the right conclusion to draw, though. People notice fat people, and even interact with them. But what they don't do is initiate contact. They wait and see if the other person, the "non-normal" person, will see them first. Not consciously, I think, but on a more subtle level. People, I think, are neutral towards average folk and those that they deem unattractive. But people seek out the attention of those who are attractive. They watch the pretty one's faces for signs of recognition. They secretly, to themselves, hope for eye contact, or something as bold as a smile. This, I think, is what Gwyneth missed when putting on the fat suit. That's what she was deprived of. And, noticing that, she felt isolated, alone. It's fascinating to me...

I have noticed that, when smiling or catching the attention of women (well, men, too, but I'm not so interested in that) now that I'm thinner, I get a response more often than I did before. It's a powerful feeling, and one that I hope to keep in check. I just have to remember that I wasn't always like the way I am now... must... remember... always...

So, how you doin'? *wink* • 6:35 AM 0 comments

Post-Coachella Buying Spree

I bought 5 new CDs last night, and on my lunch break I bought another 2. I'm in a New Music Frenzy. And I think we all know exactly how painful that can be.

I bought:

• ...And You Shall Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, "Madonna"
  
• ...And You Shall Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, "Source Tags & Codes"
  
• The Bloodhound Gang, "Hooray For Boobies"
  
• Bush, "Sixteen Stone"
  
• Cake, "Prolonging the Magic"
  
• The Long Winters, "the worst you can do is harm"
  
• Pixies, "Doolittle"
  
• Pixies, "Trompe le Monde"

The purchase of Trail Of Dead and the Pixies were inspired by, of course, Coachella. Trail of Dead is hardcore punk, at least to my ears and sounds great.

Bush is a band I've liked for a while, but all I have of theirs is their two earliest radio singles, "Glycerine" and "Machinehead" from my days of downloading, so I figured I'd buy the CD that contained those tracks. You know, go legit.

The Cake CD is one that I already had a copy of, but discovered that it wasn't the "Explicit lyrics" version. So I took the old one back, and bought a copy that had the "Explicit lyrics" label on it, used, from my old friend, Everyday Music on W. Burnside. But after listening, very carefully, to the newly-ripped CD on my iPod, I have to admit that I can't tell the difference, lyrics-wise, between what I had before and what I now have. But there is one difference I can make out: the version of "Hem of your Garment" on the new CD has a different arrangement. The music is more sparse. But other than that...

The Long Winters is a band I've liked for about a year now, having seen them open for They Might Be Giants last April. I already had ripped a friend's copy of that CD, but, once again, decided to go legit and purchase my own copy, seeing as how I've been listening to them again lately.

And The Bloodhound Gang is a band that my friend told me about on the drive down to Indio. I had one of their tracks already and figured it was atypical of the rest of their work, since the song I had, "A Lap Dance Is So Much Better When The Stripper Is Cryin'", was obviously a joke. But my friend informed me that, yes, most of their songs were in a similar vein. Which makes The Bloodhound Gang like a much more cynical and sex-and-violence-obsessed version of Cake. Tasty...

There's still several new bands I intend to get over the next couple of weeks, like Sage Francis and Hieroglyphic, two hip-hop bands that had a great sound and some very liberal political views, and The (International) Noise Conspiracy, a rock band out of Sweden. There are some others, but I can't remember them right now... still, that ought to keep me in new music for at least a couple of weeks.

In other, related, news, I made up a playlist for my iPod of the set list that Radiohead played Saturday night, and have started listening to it repeatedly. I hope that by fixing that order of songs in my head, and imagining the concert, I will be able to recall the entire concert whenever I wish. Yes, I know, I know... obsessed. Heh. • 9:36 PM 0 comments

Raw Data

First lesson of blogging: don't shoot off your mouth without doing at least some basic research first. In yesterday's post I said that Radiohead doesn't play tracks from their first CD, "Pablo Honey", which would include their most popular song, "Creep".

I've since found a website, 58 Hours, that is a database of every song Radiohead has ever played, searchable by song, by date, or by venue. Doing a search on "Creep" shows that, prior to the Coachella appearance, they played "Creep" a total of 180 times, 10 times in 2003, and one time each in 2002 and 2001. There's a 2-year gap in there, from 6/14/1998 to 7/7/2001, where they didn't play it live at all. So I'd imagine that that gap is the reason for my impression that they "never" play "Creep".
Apparently they've made their peace with the song. Even though it doesn't show up as often as other songs, it's still part of their set lists and has been for the past year or so.

It's amazing what you can find out on the InterWeb. • 6:14 AM 0 comments

Coachella was amazing

Coachella was amazing. I hardly know where to start.

The drive down, from Portland to Indio, California, was brutal. I and my friend left town around 3:15 PM on Friday, only stopped briefly for gas, to switch drivers, and incidental snacks 3-4 times, and pulled in to the campsite parking lot at 8:45 AM Saturday. After some wandering around, we grabbed a campsite and set up our tent. The heat was already brutal; according to weather.com it was only 99°, but damn it was hot. The combination of no sleep the night before and not nearly enough water made for a long day. Luckily, even though the event organizers stated that water bottles would not be allowed inside, the security girl that checked our backpacks allowed us to bring our Nalgene bottles in, which was a lifesaver. Security girl, I salute you...

The festival was taking place at Empire Polo Grounds, in a grassy area marked off with 15' tall shrubberies. Scattered around the grounds, amongst the stages and tents, were some sculptures and art projects. I took a couple of pictures of this giant, broken red-glass chandelier, laying just as if it had fallen from the sky. People were using this (and anything else that cast a shadow) to get out of the blistering sun.



Later that night, they turned on spotlights around the perimeter of the grounds. In the night sky, the beams showed up as pillars of light, that all converged to a point overhead; obviously the pinnacle from which the chandelier had been suspended.

I saw several new bands and am adding considerably to my iPod. My friend, also, brought along some CDs of bands that I had never heard before, and we turned the trip into a New Music Experience. But the highlights of the festival were hearing Beck, the Pixies, and Radiohead, all live and within hours of each other.

Beck's set was in the heat of the day, around 4:00 - 4:30 or so (I had lost track) and was in one of the smaller side tents. People were congregating in that tent and spilling out into the surrounding area for a half-hour before he came out. Oh, and he started late. The crowd was pressed up in the tightest crowd I had ever been in. I and my friend were outside the tent, so there was no shade, and the body heat only added to my discomfort. I'd like to say that hearing Beck made it all worthwhile, but I have to wonder if he didn't choose a small tent on purpose, in order to limit the number of people who could hear him. When he started his set (a song I didn't recognize; the only albums of his I'm familiar with are Odelay and Sea Change, along with the songs they play on the radio) he didn't acknowledge the heat or the large crowd. He played solo, just him and an acoustic guitar. I was able to move forward as people got tired of the heat and left, but never got a glimpse of him. My friend did manage to see his mop of hair over the heads of the audience, though.

The Pixies had their set on the main stage, starting around dusk. This was their reunion tour. Earlier this week, I used some free credits on the iTunes Music Store to download some of their songs, just to be familiar with their sound. I didn't think I knew many of their songs, but once they played I had several moments where I went, "Oh, so that song's one of theirs!" I liked what I heard, and will definitely pick up some of their CDs.


This was my view of the stage for the Pixies and Radiohead. Sorry for the blurriness; my contacts were so dry from standing in the desert all day.

But the main reason I went, the primary goal of this trip for me, was to hear Radiohead live. The set started with a darkened stage, then Johnny Greenwood and Phil Selway came out on stage and began the hypnotic opening to "There There". When Thom Yorke came out and simply said, "Hello there", the crowd roared their approval. They played a full hour-long set, mostly tracks from their newest CD, "Hail to the Thief", mixed with tracks from all their other CDs, with the exception of "Pablo Honey", their first CD. I've read that the band doesn't like that particular CD, and I've never heard an explanation. Their single from that CD, "Creep", is the single that launched their popularity, and is almost the only song of theirs that gets radio play. I understand they have a love-hate relationship with that song, and the CD it came from, and for those reasons they never play "Creep" in concert.

When their set ended, they came back for their encore. Most bands play one or two songs, then retreat again. They launched into a terrifically odd version of "You And Whose Army?" (yet another political statement), then "Planet Telex", and then, as the music slowed and quieted a bit for their second song, Mr. Yorke, not the most talkative people, mumbled into the mike, "I hope I remember the words..."

...and they played "Creep", to the delight of the entire crowd. Thom mugged for the cameras; the screens on either side of the stage showed an extreme close-up of his thin face leering into the crowd while clutching the microphone tight to his mouth. The crowd ate it up; during one chorus, after singing "But I'm a creep / I'm a weirdo" he acknowledged, "I am, I really am!" Of that there's not a shred of doubt. But he's such a charming weirdo.

When the song finished, Thom spoke up again, and confessed, "That was for the Pixies. When I was in college, the Pixies and REM changed my life." It was a tribute! A revealing moment for such a private person.

And I was there to hear it.

They ended up playing almost another entire set for their encore, a total of 20 songs and two hours. Here's the set list:

First set:

• There There
  
• 2+2=5
  
• Lucky
  
• Myxomatosis
  
• My Iron Lung
  
• Exit Music (for a film)
  
• The Gloaming
  
• Karma Police
  
• Sail To The Moon
  
• I Might Be Wrong
  
• Sit Down. Stand Up.
  
• No Surprises
  
• National Anthem
  
• Paranoid Android
  
• Idioteque
  
• Street Spirit (fade out)

Encore:

• You And Whose Army?
  
• Planet Telex
  
• Creep
  
• Everything In Its Right Place

I'll post more about the trip, some of the other bands I saw, and the drive back home (with a detour through Oakland and San Francisco) in a few days. I did not burn, having the foresight to slather myself in SPF 30 sunblock, but I did get blisters on my heels from wearing my sandals for the 36 hours I was driving. I hope that doesn't prevent me from running this week; there's a race in Lake Oswego next weekend... • 9:02 PM