My new home (digital that is)

Well, I finally decided what to do for my new blog, and I've decided to move it to

http://www.ramanpfaff.com

Might as well have a URL that sounds arrogant and unpronounceable :) Drop by when you get a chance.

Fall has arrived

Work has just been mentally crushing the past few months. I haven't taken a day off this year. I pretty much have the full month of December off. That will feel good. I still have no plans for what to do. I wonder if I will still have any money. The market has pretty much taken every dime from my 401k, stocks, and bonds. At least I still have money under my mattress :)

I'm still swimming 2-3 times each week. Feels great. And running is continuing. I still haven't signed up for any marathons this year. I really need to pay the money to the knee doc one of these days and have an MRI done to my left knee. It never recovered from when I yanked it a few years back. The tendon on the left side of the left knee is not a happy camper.

I just haven't had the energy to do much posting here lately. Ragweed hasn't been helping. Very bad year for it.

Time for some dinner....

Swimming is Fun

No posts in awhile. Technology continues to be misery and glory. Some days one, some days the other.

My swimming technique continues to improve. I'm really enjoying it more every time as well. When running the main issue is always survival of the heat, but with swimming the fixed temperature really lets me enjoy it  (plus no knee pains or anything else). I can focus on improving my form every time I get out to the pool. I'm still getting there 2 or 3 times every week. I have a feeling I'm going to try a mini-triathalon one of these days.

It is also very relaxing. Dark (with goggles on), the sound of water, no voices. Very nice.

I'm currently in a really good three day rhythm. Swim, weights, run. Tomorrow is weights.

Summer Drags On

This summer is trickling along and seems to be lasting forever, but I never seem to have any free time :(

One of these days I want a vacation. I can't remember the last one I went on. Was it 2005? It is so easy to see why the "sabbatical" concept is so good. I just need a year of extending myself in to something different and unique. Why can't the business world adopt the policy?

Swimming has become my relaxing hobby. I can swim for an hour doing back and forth laps. I go from freestyle to breast stroke, to back stroke.

Football season is just around the corner. Looking forward to lazy Sundays, but if it doesn't cool off at all this year it won't be enjoyable. I think I had my air conditioner running in to November last year. May the fall be cool.

entertaining documentary

I enjoyed watching The King of Kong. Gave me a good throwback to the early days of video arcade games. I still haven't figured out the name of the racing game that I could roll over. I remember the feeling of having 30 people behind the machine watching me roll it over and play for an hour on one quarter.

I found it entertaining that class video game competition is still going. So geeky :)

I continue on my swimming kick. I can now swim laps in a pool for forty minutes without taking a break. On my first swim a few weeks ago I lasted about 1 minute. Swimming really hits a lot of muscles I haven't used in years. I also did a 6.5 mile run yesterday. I just have an issue with oxygen lately. I just always feel a bit short of breath during heavy workouts. With swimming I just don't quite have the good timing of breathing yet, and with running the heat seems to suck all the wind out of me. Maybe I need more iron in my diet.

swimming, heat, and humidity

It has been very warm and humid for a good chunk of this spring/summer. Mosquitoes are due to show up any day, and I have a feeling this will be a brutal year. I'm glad my house sits high in its area, so they tend to not attack me as much.

I've been swimming three times in the past two weeks. Swimming really is a great workout. It certainly isn't as rough on the knees as running. I'll try to keep this going for awhile.

I ran tonight though. It was hot and humid. I really felt miserable during the entire run. Not good. Between running, swimming, and basic gym workouts I've only had one day off in the last six. I think tomorrow night will be lazy.

hard to stay motivated

I've been blogging since 1994. I really wonder why I continue. I never read any other blogs, so why do I write my own?

The summer is rolling along. Massive workload has me exhausted. I came home the other night, was going to go out for a run, but just fell asleep. I woke up around 8:30 and popped in a movie. I feel so crushed from the workload that I tend to not want to touch technology at home lately, which is not good. You get good at things by playing in the evening.

I saw Vantage Point the other night. Although it didn't get very good reviews I enjoyed it. A basic action flick with a bit of timeline entertainment thrown in. The ending was a bit unrealistic. Too American.

Here are some other movies I highly recommend: 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, Caramel, and Blow Up. I was somewhat shocked by how hot Vanessa Redgrave was back in the 60's.

It's hot. Time to turn the AC on. I was hoping to make it through the evening without it. Our utility rates went up 18% yesterday. People will be hurting. The country has really settled in to a depression, and other than weapons our country no longer seems important in the world. Not good. When is the election?

Hot summer + Friday 13th

We set a record for the hottest four day string of days since they began keeping track of the temperature here in 1895 last weekend (plus Friday/Monday). The heat is really crushing my spirit, especially after our cool spring.

Since today is the dreaded Friday the 13th I'll assume this will be a bad day. Will Jason or Freddy show up? I hope not :)

And talk about bad luck on this day, the shuttle saw a chunk fly away from it. Not good while in space.

non-productive weekend

A three day weekend which was rather relaxing, but not very productive. I did get out for a run on Saturday and Monday morning, but neither one felt great.

I enjoyed watching the Redwings win Saturday evening, and they are currently ahead tonight. On the movie side I watched Charlie Wilson's War, Trade, and Ladron Que Roba a Ladron. All had a few positives, but none were worth more than three (out of five) stars. The latter two were close to four stars. Trade was a powerful message movie based on a story in the NYT.

HBO did a movie called Recount that premiered this weekend. It was a docudrama that covered the election in 2000. It was rather depressing. If Bush hadn't taken Florida there is a very good chance that we wouldn't have wasted years in a war that has crushed the US in many respects. I really wonder how Bush can sleep.

2 good runs, not much sleep

I had two good runs this week. Both 8.5 milers at a pace of around 8:40. One on Monday and the second earlier today. I'll be a bit tired tomorrow :)

The heat is about to arrive. This has been a really cool spring, but for Sunday we'll be up in the high 80's and it won't cool down again (at least in the long range forecast). I've had all my windows open the past few weeks and my indoor temperature has been hanging out around 65. Very nice. Something tells me I won't get that temperature again until November.

A bit of insomnia last night. I'm still dragging. Time to head to bed and get some sleep.

Lack of goals

How often do people set goals? I wonder this a lot, since I rarely set any goals for myself. For running I usually have something in mind for each run. Most days I usually have some little task on my mental list of things to get done. These typically include things such as picking up a prescription, getting an oil change, or catching a movie. Should any of those be considered a goal?

Other people always seem to set specific goals, such as what to do with life by the time they hit a specific age, or just what career they want. I don't ever seem to set any of that sort. Of course, on the other hand I seem to get a lot of things done by meandering through life.

I got a Ph.D. in nuclear physics. Could I have really done that without having a goal? I know I don't like to fail at things.

I left the academic world to get in on the ground floor of a company which is still going a decade later (and is now part of a larger company). But I really don't know if I had any specific goal associated with the move. It just seemed interesting. And I didn't want to fail.

What will/should I be doing in one year, five years, ten years, or twenty years. I have no idea what I'll be doing. I have no goals. Should I? If I don't set a goal would that be considered a failure?

Why do I spend time thinking about this? There are too many things to try that seem interesting. And there are lots of movies I haven't seen.

Speaking of which, the movie of the weekend was 3:10 to Yuma. It was a remake of an old western. High production value. It was an easy four star flick. I do know that the main character definitely had some goals set for his life, although I'm not sure if I'd say he was 100% successful.

Weekend movies

My two movies this weekend were In the Valley of Elah and The Golden Compass. The latter was aimed toward younger kids but the special effects were nice. Three stars (aka average). It was easy to see why the movie was a bit of a bomb...it didn't have a "simple" ending that wrapped things up cleanly. Americans can't handle that.

The Elah movie was a good four star flick. There were some points that were corny, but the overall message was clear. If you aren't on the left side of the political world you probably won't like this one.

On the tube side of things I watched the Pistons win yesterday (in superfast TIVO mode), and saw the Redwings win last night. Tonight is the season finale of Survivor. I can't believe how stupid some of the players are this year. Of course, I'm watching the show. That speaks for itself :)

Playing with Mulch

The week was mentally crushing. I was sound asleep by 10pm on Friday night. I slept in on Saturday and then did something I hadn't done in ages. I played with my yard.

On the front side of my house I had some hedges put in near the road. Since then I hadn't really touched them. I did a lot of watering two years ago when they were first put in since I was reminded how important it was to get the roots to take that first year.

I bought four cubic yards of mulch earlier in the week and it was dropped in my backyard so it wouldn't look like a big pile of crap in my front yard all week. One load after another I'd shovel my wheelbarrow full of mulch in the backyard, walk it to the front, and after six or seven loads do some spreading. I spent about five hours working on it.

Today I'm sore. The muscles involved in mulching hadn't been used in a few years (or maybe decades). While I was out doing the work three strangers stopped by to tell me what a gorgeous house I have and how beautiful the yard is. I guess I would agree if I didn't have to pay my mortgage every month and think about the fact that I'll need new siding one of these years.

I wonder if I will ever buy again. Renting makes so many things easy, but you really get big discounts on taxes with a house. But in the world today, is a house a worthy investment? Probably not.

Anyway, my shrubbery looks pretty good. Heavy rain is the forecast for the next day. The mulch should settle in pretty well.

Weekend roundup

As always, I caught a few movies. Diving Bell and the Butterfly was 5 stars, Sweeney Todd was 2 stars, .The Seventh Seal (an old classic) was a 5 star movie, and Far Side of the Moon was good for 4 stars. The latter was certainly a bit quirky. And Canadian. I can't think of a lot of Canadian movies I've seen.

Time to eat dinner. Lettuce, beans, rice. Summer has arrived.

cool evening

Work has been so frustrating lately. Such is life. Everyone gripes about work...right?

My Saturday run almost took me down. It was so warm and humid, and my body wasn't used to that. I gave up after just 6 miles and walked the last 2. I actually broke out in a heat rash. Not fun at all. Two other people I know in town were out working that day and also experienced a bit of heat rash.

It is really cooling down tonight. Chance of frost. I still have my windows open. I'm enjoying the last of this cool weather. I'm sure I'll sleep like a rock tonight.

The last few days I've been thinking about the expression of having "the last ounce of energy" sucked out of me. Where does that expression come from? Why is energy in ounces? Hmm...guess I'm always worried about units. The fun of physics.

In any event, I though about that expression because I have no energy. Some days I despise technology. Other days I love it. I battled a rather nasty WordPress hack that attacked a lot of servers in the past two weeks. Loved the challenge. Hated the challenge. It is so easy to sit down, start digging in, and then six hours is gone. Should I be doing something else? Should I care about blogs and such?

Every day I wonder. I'm just amazed at the slim line between sanity and frivolity.

Now, time to get back to the Redwings game, and cool air drifting through my window.

hot hot april

Noon on a Saturday. 81 degrees. I'm going to head out for a run. I hope I don't get dehydrated/overheated. Maybe there is a track meet at UVA. If so I'll be able to get a few glasses of Gatorade, but I don't think there is one. At least I'll refill my water (the track is about 3 miles in to my 8 mile run).

My week felt very unproductive until Friday afternoon when I had some good ideas that worked out really well.

Today I'll watch a bit of the NFL draft, the Redwings game, and a movie or two while sitting around in air conditioning. Sounds exciting...right? :)

server security, choice of goals

I've spent far more time learning about web server security this week than ever before since my hobby sites were hacked last week. I definitely learned quite a bit. I continue to see that people are attacking the site, but it seems secure for the moment.

Between that and work I'm a bit exhausted. The Pistons looked pretty exhausted in the first game of the NBA playoffs but perked up this evening. The Redwings start the semis tomorrow night. I hate the fact that Detroit is in the western conference since I end up staying up till 1am to watch west coast games every now and then. Teams have goals...but do I have a goal?

Currently I'm contemplating setting a goal of 3 hours 30 minutes for a marathon. Not easy. If I choose to set the goal you can bet I'll work to it, but I really tend to spend a long time debating if I want to set it. Last year I set the goal of running my first marathon in under 4 hours and that one went pretty well :)

The reason I'm thinking about the lower time is so that I would qualify for the Boston Marathon. One of the big ones. I should also see if the NYC marathon has qualification times...that is the one I really want to get in to. I've entered in the raffle for that one this year. I think June is when I find out if I'm in.

One can hope. Or one can set goals. Or both. Hmmm....

making the burgers

I like that Michigan Tech made it to the finals of the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest where building hamburgers in the most steps was the goal. Very entertaining stuff for college students. I just wish I could spend time doing this sort of thing! Maybe next year they'll win. Go Huskies.

Good run. Not great.

It sure was early as I headed off to the race. I got there with about five minutes to spare and got my chip on. Off I went. My unrealistic goal was for sub 8 minute miles, but I couldn't quite do it. 8:19/mile. Much slower than last year, but I just haven't been training as much.

I'm definitely wasn't as dead at the end of the race as I was last year. Maybe that explains the slower time :)

I've been trying to deal with a hacked site of mine most of the day. I can't believe people are bored enough to hack tiny little sites on the web. Yeesh. Get a life.

Confessions of a Superhero. 4 stars. Very entertaining documentary.

Juno. 3 stars. Brutally overrated. I think the movie appeals more towards women.

8 mile run

I survived the run tonight. The first four miles were rough. Mentally I just didn't want to run. I really wanted to sleep or watch something mindless on the tube. The latter four miles were better, although I never felt strong during the entire run. I just am not in great shape right now.

I'll take a shot at the half marathon on Saturday morning. I just can't see (or maybe feel is a better word) getting below 8 minutes per mile. If I manage to wake up for the race I'll let you know how it goes.

Last week I started going with a mustache/goatee look. Why? No reason. I've never done this look before (at least as far as I remember). It is very popular in my office right now. Since I'm really lazy about shaving this cuts down on how much face I have to deal with :) I don't think it will last more than another few days though. I'll try to snap at least one shot of my grizzled look before the electric razor goes wild.