New Year, New Me.
I’ve always loved New Year’s resolutions. Really, I have. They get a bad rap, mostly because we have a difficult time keeping them. I’m just not convinced that it’s the resolutions that are the problem.
A quick Google search will reveal thousands of words written about the correct way to make a resolution and even more words encouraging you to not make them at all. Of course, this site isn’t really about making recommendations for anyone else. It’s more about…me. So, since I’m making some resolutions this year, I’m going to share them. Entirely up to you whether you’ll do the same.
Slow down.
I’ve got a lot going on this year. It’s going to be pretty easy to let the year just zoom past. So, I’m going to make a concerted effort to just…live. I want to enjoy every moment this year.
Simplify.
Because I’ve got a lot going on, I need there to be less, um, going on. So, I’m cutting some stuff out of my life to make room for the new.
Stay the course.
This is the only “grit your teeth” resolution on my list. Again related to the magnitude and volume of goals I have for 2010, simply slowing down and simplifying will not accomplish these goals. It’s going to take some work.
That’s it. Those three. I have some specific ways I’m going to live these resolutions, but that really would be boring (and probably overkill). What are some of your resolutions for the new year?
Review: Brothers
Full Price
No kids.
Wow.
The first REAL Oscar contender this year, in my book. This remake of a Danish film of the same name is fantastic. Everything about it is good. And seriously, if Tobey Maguire doesn’t win an Oscar for this role…
Like (hopefully) most of my reviews, I’m going to make this short and sweet. This film is emotionally moving and contains arguably the three best actors of this generation in Jake, Tobey, and Natalie. I was blown away by the movie, frankly. Emotionally, it kind of ripped my heart out.
Go see it.
Now that I’m waving…
Do the wave.
The web is rife with reviews about, guides for, and attempts to figure out Google’s newest and kewlest free toy du jour, the open source Wave platform. A quick search on your favorite search engine will yield plenty of info about what it is and how it will change the way you communicate, make you dinner, and shine your shoes. It’s that good, supposedly. So search away and read up if you want, but if you want to know what I think, you can only get that here. And I know you want to know what I think. Cause my opinion is the most awesome…ever.
Thanks to a friend of mine in Oklahoma, I got my invite to try Google’s prerelease implementation of the Wave platform, Google wave. For any of you who aren’t geeky enough to give a crap about what Wave is, you should know that those of us who are geeky enough to give a crap, still have a difficult time wrapping our heads around it. Now that I’ve used it, I think maybe I can sum this up for you: Wave is something completely new. You’ll have a difficult time wrapping your head around it too, because you don’t really have anything else to compare it to. It’s kinda email, but it’s not. It’s kinda IM, but it’s not. It’s kinda wiki-like, but it’s not. It’s kinda a shared document editor (a la Google Docs), but it’s not. It’s something completely different, and completely familiar. It’s all of the above and none of them.
Does that clear it up for you? Google wave is a new communication platform, period. Like email. Or IM. Or wikis. Or Twitter. Wave is like that, but different.
Something that is actually easy to explain is the concept. Google wanted to create a new communication protocol, and I think they accomplished that. Just like email is simply a…thing…and you use other people’s implementations of that, um, thing, so is Wave. Nobody owns what a “document” is, nobody “owns” email…it just is. In 10 years, Wave will exist in the same way. At least in Google’s wildest dreams.
Currently, the open Wave technology hasn’t been released into the wild. It only lives, in infancy stage, in the land of Google. To make another comparison to email, imagine if Google had invented email, and the first version of email was Gmail, before becoming widely available to everyone else to use. So, Google wave is really just the first implementation of the open Wave protocol.
Whew. So far, for an opinion piece, I’ve shared very few opinions. Here’s my take, having messed around with it a bit:
- Umm, c’mon Google…let’s get some more of my peeps on there. Or give me some invites to hand out so that I can actually use it.
- It’s still too early to know if this will be a game changer.
- I’m not necessarily too keen on the “everybody can edit everything” thing. In other words, imagine if you could go through and change an email you sent a couple of weeks ago…but then again, any of your friends could do it too.
- Kinda hard to figure out at first, but then, it gets to be pretty cool and easy to use.
- As the rest of the features begin to roll out, and more and more people start using it, and more and more extensions become available, this thing will probably become pretty powerful.
- Public waves…heck, the public wave directory…a little difficult to follow.
- Unfortunately, Wave may be a little bit too devoid of structure. Then again, it may be too early to tell.
- If Wave turns out to be a game-changer, it’s not going to change any games for years and years.
So that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Anyone else on Wave? Ping me! I’d also love to hear any of your opinions in the comments. Or questions. Cause I have Wave, and I’m cool.
Save a tree! Run to work!
Run while you work, work while you run.
In this second installment in my series about my quest to becoming an ultra-distance runner, I’m gonna talk about something that I’ve been doing for a while to build up my base miles a bit. Commuting to work on foot.
Oh, and if you want to read a good article on the topic, check out what Runner’s World says about it. If you’re okay with a mediocre article on the topic, carry on here.
To be completely honest, my decision to start running to and from work wasn’t only motivated by my need to add miles to my running regimen. All the reasons above contributed to the decision as well. Here’s why I do it:
- Yes, the numero uno reason is to add miles to my training. It’s either 3.25 or 5.6 miles each way, depending on my route. That’s up to 45 miles a week, just in commuting.
- Here’s an unexpected benefit: I arrive at work feeling great. I arrive home feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.
- Yep, that’s 45 miles not driven in my car, saving me money, the planet some of it’s ever-decreasing fossil fuel supply, and the atmosphere some pretty bad emissions. Oh, and that’s up to 2,300 miles a year of wear and tear not being put on my car, too.
- It actually gives me an hour or two of “alone time” every day where I can just listen to podcasts, think…whatever. Then again, I suppose I could get that on a run anytime, but the reason I list it here is that I don’t treat my commute as a training run. I just run at a comfortable pace and enjoy myself. Very different than tempo, speed, or hill training.
In fact, the only downside is that my commute is just a teensy bit longer, but I avoid rush hour traffic, so it’s not that much longer. Plus, I need to run the miles anyway for training purposes, so in a way, I’m actually saving myself time by avoiding the hours per week I would have spent in my car.
So that’s the “why”, but if you’re wondering about the “how”, here it is:
- On Sunday, I pack up clothes, food, and various supplies for the week. Boom.
- Then, Monday, I drive two work, taking all that stuff to my office.
- Monday night, I run home. Then, the rest of the week, I run to and from work. Because I don’t run hard, I don’t really get all icky on the way to work, so I kind of sponge bath it up in the bathroom (no showers there), and then at night, well, I’m home, so who needs to shower? Okay, I shower when I get home.
- Friday, I drive all my crap home and the process starts anew.
Now, obviously, not all of you can do this. Some of you live too far away, and I know that for girls, this becomes a little less feasible by nature of the fact that getting ready for work can be a little more involved than for a guy like me. I have a friend who lives in south Colorado Springs but works in Pueblo, which is a good 30 miles or more away, so running 60 miles a day just isn’t realistic. But I would move that even if you work 10 miles away from home, this is still realistic for you (if you’re serious about distance, that is).
So this is partly an update on my running stuff, but if you’ve never considered commuting on foot…give it a try.
Running Goals Galore
The other day, I’m riding in the car with my wife, and she mentions that maybe I should track my progress as a budding long-distance runner in this here blog. So, since she’s smart, I figured I’d take her advice.
Baby Ironman
My semi-recent, healthy obsession with ultra running, or running in general, has been only further encouraged by the fact that cardio is the number one rule for surviving in a post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested world. Whoa, I used a LOT of hyphenated words in that sentence/paragraph. I’m a big fan of overusing punctuation. You should see what I do with ellipses.
I posted a couple of months back to my Super Secret Personal Blog® about some of my running goals, but now I think I’m gonna do that here. Why not share with my public? Ahh, the fame that comes with having tens of fans.
My general goals are easy:
- Run the Pikes Peak Ascent and eventually, the Pikes Peak Marathon.
- Run a 50 mile ultra-marathon. Then, someday, the Leadville Trail 100.
- Complete a full Ironman triathlon.
I’m sure that as I progress down this road (pardon all the running and distance metaphors), my goals will become more specific and numerous. Complete this in under this time. Finish that race in the top ten. Win this. Eat that. Okay, not the “eat” one. I’m hungry, so it kinda slipped in there.
So anyway, here on NotBadButGood, I’m going to kind of document my running journey as a sort of series or something like that. It fits with the theme of the site, I suppose.
To kick off the series, I figure I’ll give you all a little glimpse into my specific goals for the upcoming year. My baby steps toward meeting some of my goals above.
- 50 Miles Per Week: before I can run the big distances, I gotta run the big distances. It’s how running works. Yeah, confusing, I know.
- Greenland Trail 50K: It’s an, ahem, ultra marathon. Okay, it’s only 30 miles, but it’s a start.
- BolderBOULDER: Cause everyone in Colorado runs this race.
- Garden of the Gods Ten Mile Run®: Think of it as a fun run on my way to the Ascent.
- Summer Roundup Trail Run 12K: This is me tapering for the Ascent.
- Pikes Peak Ascent®: I get so excited about running this race, I almost pee myself.
- 50 Mile Grand Poobah: I’m actually looking at one in upstate New York. I’m a little skeered.
As far as I can tell, those are my races for the upcoming year. Add to that the fact that I’m making a movie, and hopefully, making a baby, and I’m thinking 2010 might be a pretty nice little year. A pretty nice little year indeed.
So, yeah, keep coming back. I’ll keep you apprised of my progress with running, and maybe even the baby thing. Oh, and if you want to track the movie, you can check out my film site: RedhouseProd.com.