things are cool: May 2008

Idaho, Idaho

This song by Josh Ritter is probably the only song that has ever made me think of Idaho in a romantic, wistful, longing sense. Worth 99 cents. Favorite lyrics:

Wolves oh wolves oh can't you see?
Ain't no wolf can sing like me
And if it could then I suppose
He belongs in Idaho

I feel Ira's advice applies to my blog...my exercising...speaking Chinese...everything I ever did at college...every talk in church I ever gave...and everything I have ever done at work. Like he says, it is a given that I have awesome taste (instincts, judgment, inspiring intellectual prowess), but there is always a gap between what I produce and what I appreciate.

Crisis in Vietnam

I wonder if financial journalists have a sense of humor. This article leads me to believe there is someone out there that does. Key quotes:

the dollar-dong exchange rate implied by those contracts spiked by 11%

investors expect the U.S. dollar to buy many more dong than it does today

the contracts are pricing in a...drastic weakening of the dong

a currency crisis could be looming in which Vietnam is forced to defend the dong

Underserved Demographics in the "Stuff X People Like" Universe

1. Colors. Most browsers can display 16 million colors. Let's get specific. During the winter, I want to read "Stuff F8F8FF [Ghost White] People Like" and in the summer, if I ever get out of the office, I want to read "Stuff FFA07A [Light Salmon] People Like."

2. Countries. Can we really lump all of Africa under Morocco (or "Dark" as some idiot late-comer decided would be appropriate below)? Sometimes I am just really curious about what Eritreans might like that Zambians wouldn't, you know? With 195 countries minus the 4 or 5 represented below, we can do a lot of work folks.

3. Religion. I only see one religious site below. A shame. According to the premier expert on world religions at Southeast Community College in Lincoln, NE there are at least 3 religions--Jews, Christians, and Pagans--and maybe as many as 4,200. What stuff do Mozabites like? I really had to dig to find that they like underground irrigation canals and cube houses.

4. Sexual Orientation. The Kinsey Scale puts out (ha! too easy. oh, again!) 8 categories of orientation.
5. Occupations. 800 from the BLS.
6. Schools. 660,000,000 or at least that many .edu google results.
7. Psychological Disorders. 297 according to Wikipedia.

Of course, these categories are multiplicative. According to my back-of-the envelope calculations, if we bring approximately these 1.3*10^28 blogs online, we will have the granularity to see what stuff mocha chocolate (A49670) Eritrean Mozabitic Kinsey-Scale-4 Oxford-educated multi-media artists with turrets, in fact, like.

The New Republic on why these are so, so (so) bad.

The universe so far, presented without further sneering, disparaging comment.

Stuff White People Like
Stuff White Trash People Like
Stuff Liberal White People Like
Stuff Yellow People Like
Stuff Brown People Like
Stuff Educated Latinos Like

Stuff Desis/Brown People Like
Stuff Dark People Like

Stuff Black People Like
Stuff Black People Like Also
Stuff Educated Black People Like
Stuff Black People Love
Other Stuff Black People Like
Stuff Professional Black People Like
Stuff Orange and Blue People Like
Stuff Iranians Like
Stuff Asian People Like
Stuff Indians Like
Stuff Bahrainis Like
Stuff Moroccan People Like
Stuff Japanese People Like
Stuff Canadian People Like

Stuff Vietnamese People Like
Stuff City People in Minnesota Like
Stuff Dominican People Like
Stuff Ghetto People Like
Stuff Lesbians Like
Things Lesbians Like
Stuff Straight People Like
Stuff Gay Guys Like
Stuff Queer People Like
Stuff Gay Men Like
Stuff Jewish People Like
Stuff Consultants Like
Stuff Stick Figure People Like
Stuff Fashion People Like
Stuff Oprah Likes
Stuff Rich People Like
Stuff Radio People Like
Stuff Theatre People Like
Stuff College People Like
Stuff We Like
Stuff Republicans Like
Stuff Homeless Vagrants Like
Stuff Venice Dope Dealers/Smokers Like
Stuff Plagiarizing Consultants Write About At Work But Also What These People Like Doing When They Are Not At Work

Here was the motherload. I stole blatantly.

M.I.A.

Last November I pointed out this awesome website--it just seemed so horribly ironic for a design company. Lately I have been enjoying M.I.A's Paper Planes. I know, I know, it has been out forever and not that notable. But her website combines annoying and weird to make something awesome. It was probably done by some high-priced Volvo-driving designer, because even though it looks low-budget hipster-trashy, you can still navigate it well and find what you are looking for.

Also, Paper Planes is a great running song. This is especially true late at night when I am running on the Venice boardwalk--a soft ocean breeze at my back and a yellow moon rising in front of me. The halos from my Lasik make everything look like Starry Night. When I ~~see~~, ~~hear~~ smell the groups of homeless vagrants congregating on the sidewalk and ~~see~~, ~~hear~~ smell the drug dealers selling (and smoking) dope as I am cruising down dark alleys wearing several hundred dollars worth of iPods, GPS watches, and heart-rate monitors, it is downright comforting to hear these M.I.A.'s lyrics:

All I wanna do is (BANG BANG BANG BANG!)
And (KKKAAAA CHING!)
And take your money

I am pretty sure white yuppies exercising at night with lots of electronic gadgets, poor night vision, and earphones to mask out the sound of anyone approaching is on the list of Stuff Homeless Vagrants Like, Stuff Venice Dope Dealers/Smokers Like, and Stuff Plagiarizing Consultants Write About At Work But Also What These People Like Doing When They Are Not At Work.

The Beginning of the End

Jeez, I don't check the internet for two days and I miss Armageddon beginning.

Nike Missile Silo Run

Let me tell what this post is not. It is not a description of the place (the top of a rafter above a the sink in the men's bathroom next to an impossibly noir abandoned Nike ICBM-intercept missile silo at 34 deg 07'39.75"N 118 deg 48.46"W) where I would receive "information" about my "vacation" plans from certain former work "associates." It is not that.

It's about running. And gadgets.

I've been messing around more with importing my runs into Google Earth. I live right by the red dot for Santa Monica. Bruce's purple dot for his canyon in Malibu is in the distance. The Getty is the purple dot just in the bottom right quadrant. Zoomed in you can see the run--3.5 miles out and back on a ridge overlooking Santa Monica Bay (luckily the 405 is hidden from view).

I took my camera up on the run (you can never carry too many gadgets) hoping to get the usually good sunset shots I see. Instead, it was one of the few overcast days in SoCal. So you get Google Earth.

The pics sort of fizzled, but I don't know what else to do with them. Besides, how else would you see that my glasses are incredibly skewampas or see my Gorillapod in action. (Btw, Mr. Wiki says that word comes from askew + cattywampus. I choose not to believe that. )

I initially told Liz (warning this is a Mormon non-mom sans baby blog) that I wasn't going to post about the run because not everyone cares for the details. In her wisdom, Liz basically said everyone doesn't matter. So suffer. Heart rate tracked elevation more closely this time. The last few miles cruising down I hit my 6:45 pace. I can definitely get into form within a month. Fontana--I will eat your children!

Resting / Sleeping Heart Rate

Just messing around more with my new toy--I wore my heart rate monitor to bed to see how my resting heart rate compares to the crap I did on Saturday. I put in on while getting ready for bed and fell asleep a half-hour later. 25 bpm seems almost unbelievable. Looks like average resting rate is 51, 52 bpm.

Using the scientific method taught in school (googling things), I think the spikes must be related to sleep stages. (Obvious award goes to me.) Maybe.

1:30

There are two things I like most about the World's Fastest Half Marathon: 1) it is in Fontana and 2) they use horrible clip art to promote it. Everything about this race screams mid-90s. Their site is so convoluted that I can't figure out how to register online (and I know 1337 spe4K!111one). So I am using the mail (!) and writing a check (!!).

I may achieve my half-marathon in under 1:30 goal before September--I just have to average a 6:45 pace. The course drops 2,100 feet over 13.1 miles. Awesome. The course record is 59 minutes--4:30 min miles. June 7th. Come run, if you are in the area.

Also, note to H^2 who in my last post told me I that I am an athletic failure in life--drop dead. Now I am going to listen to the Chariots of Fire theme and get that time just to spite you. I am going to carry a picture of you in my back pocket so that I can tear it to pieces when I cross the finish line. And it will be the sweaty back central pocket right above the crack that smells incredibly gross after 13 miles of sweat buildup. That's what I think of that--and you.

Malibu Creek

How many of you have thought this--"In order to do X better I need to buy some new gear." Well, I must admit, I ~~came to~~ fell victim to ~~perfectly reasonable~~ this same erroneous conclusion. In my defense, this new GPS, heart rate monitor watch is *awesome*. I think even Tom and Feed (Messers "Let's Bring the Outside In") could appreciate a trail run if the first step is to acquire satellites.

The watch wirelessly syncs to the interwebs and there is both online and desktop software that lets you cut the data in a million ways. Motion Based, Garmin Connect, Runstoppable, Every Trail are a few of the ones I found so far. Some of these even have an rss feed--I will see if I can hack that into my blog (I am also trying to hack Twitter into my template, with limited success). I imported the GPS data from my run this weekend into Google Earth and mapped it.

You are looking west over Malibu Canyon coming from the valley towards PCH. The Malibu Creek run starts at Malibu Creek, loops up through where they filmed M*A*S*H (still some rusted out Jeeps), up Crags road to the top of Corral Canyon, run along the ridge for a while, cruise down, suffer up and over into Tapia Park. Down. First long run of the season and at 3 1/2 hours, it was pretty slow and painful. Runnings companions Bruce & John rocked, however.