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.