Best Run Ever*

(April 19)

Taking a prompt from my morning telephone conversation with Tom Donovan, this evening I went out and ran a full 5 miles non-stop.  My pacing is probably on order of 12 minute miles, 1 hour in total, but I am not certain because once again I goofed up with my measuring (iPod nano using Nike+) and do not have an accurate recording.  It figures.  Here I have my longest continuous run, and I'm griping afterwards about how I won't be able to transmit the data to my Nike account and have the distance accrue towards my set goals in that program.  :-)

You'll just have to take my word for it, but if it makes you feel any better, I'll mark my accomplishment with an asterisk.

A couple of notable things from today's run:  first, I did it without music, and I found the ability to just think about other things whiled away the time.  I thought of a nice solution to a coding problem from work in the first half of the run!  Second, in understanding the topology of the rail trail on which I run, the 2.5 miles out is generally on a decline, which means the 2.5 miles back is generally incline -- a tougher workout.  There is one half mile stretch of steep decline (between 1.0 and 1.5 miles) which becomes steep incline on the return (between 3.5 and 4.0 miles).  This incline is what I've come to call my "Heartbreak Hill."  And yes, this was the first 5-miler that I did not stop running -- not even for Heartbreak Hill.

I really felt the burn in my calves after this run.  This is exactly why I can only run every third day; I need the recuperation in between!

Before signing off on this post, I'd like to take a moment to thank my parents for tying the knot on this date some years ago... an event that is quite directly responsible for the existence of this crappy blog!  Enjoy!  :-)


Drops from My 2012 Bucket: Apr. 19, 246 days remaining

Made a credit card payment!

Debt Mission Update: 4 / 11 payments = 36%

Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

(March 3)

It's probably sad to admit this, but from time to time I catch myself wishing for a sum of money to wipe the slate clean.  I sometimes purchase a Mega Millions or PowerBall lottery ticket, but truthfully, I'm not looking for that level of winnings.  Just one million dollars will cover things nicely :-)

And, as I watched my recording of Slumdog Millionaire this morning, it was very easy to root for the protagonist to make it all the way to the top.  That's a fantastic piece of cinema, by the way.  Final answer.

Your kind donation of:

• $8 -- allows me to continue my Star Trek marathon through Netflix for another month.
• $100 -- will earn you sponsorship of one blog entry.
• $1,000,000 -- will allow me to pay off all my worldly debts and quit my job to focus on this blog until EOTW.  Heaven knows this blog is in dire need of some focus  :-)

So, what are you waiting for?  Donate today via PayPal to tom.c.mckinney.business AT gmail.com!

Hot Lunch Date

(February 24)

Bet this title got your attention.  Maybe this will show up on search engines and increase readership from the 8 or so unique visitors that I know of.  I expect to double that number to 16 by EOTW.

Not so fast, my friends!  This is really just a post to let everyone know that we got a chance to try Stevie's Eatery in Marlborough.  They provide the hot lunches at Marcie's school and sent some promotions back home to the parents.  (Now, if Marcie had her way she'd eat Kraft Mac and Cheese for lunch every day, and she nearly gets her way.)  I definitely wanted to sample the place that provides school lunch, and I went with the mystery meat patty.  Just kidding, I went with the steak and cheese, which was very tasty.  Also, the chili tasted like chili, but it had an unusually uniform texture -- no lumpiness from beans or tomatoes or pieces of meat.  Mystery chili, perhaps.


Drops from My 2012 Bucket: Feb. 24, 301 days remaining


Canceled my iPhone 3GS plan now that I'm on a company phone!

Monthly Expense Mission Update: $281 / $400 per month = 70%

Giving It Up

(February 21 and 22)

This year I decided to give something up for Lent.  I've never attempted this seriously before, but being that there are more Catholics than non-Catholics in my extended family why not partake in Lent FTVLT?

I gave some thought of how extreme I wanted to go with this, for example, what about giving up meat?  That would mean no boiled dinner for St. Patrick's Day, and so that was right out.  The all-beer fast sounds interesting, but I'm going to have to pass.  Lisa Barone probably wants me to give up my blog.  Not gonna happen!  So, I settled on a compromise, and decided to forego pork for Lent.  And, before you criticize my selection, consider all the foods I'll be missing out on:

• Sal's pepperoni pizza
• Pork fried rice
• Ham and Swiss on rye
• Sam-gyeop-sal
• Sausage McGriddles
• Baby back ribs
• Penne with spicy Italian sausage
• Pork Chops with applesauce
• Pulled pork

and... most of all... come on folks, if you were paying attention to the link above...

Yup, just like J. Wilson and Jim Gaffigan, I'll definitely be craving me some bacon in a big way.  So, the day before Ash Wednesday I pigged out on bacon ;-)  I happened to have a pack and a half in the refrigerator and probably went through about one pack.  I didn't just eat it plain either; I wanted to test the notion of whether bacon makes everything taste better.  Do bacon-wrapped Chicken McNuggets taste better?  You betcha.  Bacon with peanut butter and banana in a wrap?  Naturally!

So, this Lent will really be a challenge:  Thursday's menu at the company cafeteria includes BBQ Pork Ribs and Pulled Pork sandwiches, as well as Cajun Gumbo with Andouille... I have to watch those ingredients carefully!


Drops from My 2012 Bucket: Feb. 22, 303 days remaining


The Immunity Syndrome  (Space amoeba!)
A Private Little War  (Mugato:  white ape thing.)
Return to Tomorrow  (A possessed, evil Spock was memorable.)
Patterns of Force  (The Nazi regime rises again.  On another planet.)

Video Mission Update: 51 / 728 hours = 7.0%

Valentine's Despair

(February 14)

In this year of the tragic ending I want to make sure my legions of devoted readers are aware of this most delightfully twisted take on life, labor and love: Despair, Inc.  This site has provided my colleagues and me with a lot of laughs over the years.

This year I finally ordered some Despair swag:  a desktop calendar and a tin of "BitterSweets," featuring 37 reasons that you might be dumped.  Why settle for ordinary Valentine's candy?

Oh yeah, the very best thing about Despair is what they have to say about blogging!  Yup, and according to the BitterSweets, blogging is a dumpable offense.  Sort of shows you where my life is at  ;-)

Keep on countin' 'em down!

Contagion

(February 4)

There are many forms of destruction that may account for the EOTW, and over the course of the year, I'll take potshots at them all.  At least the ones I can think of!  (Use the comments to offer your own suggestions on how we meet our collective demise!)

Let's start with infectious disease.  Now, I'm probably more familiar with this fictional list than the mechanics of real epidemics.  I've read some solid books featuring epidemics:  The Stand, White Plague, The Andromeda Strain; and I've watched some scary movies: Outbreak, and today, Contagion.   Contagion did a pretty decent job depicting the challenges that would face our government, our medical establishment, and society itself in the face of a fast-moving epidemic.  We get a glimpse of how a random virus might transmit animal-to-human, and in this global community how easy it is to lose containment of an epidemic.  We learn about the term, 'R-nought', which describes the number of additional persons one infected individual will likely infect in turn.  The higher this number, the more virulent the strain and the more difficult to contain the epidemic.

Human history is marked with significant outbreaks of lethal diseases, such as the Black Death of the Middle Ages, or the H1N1 influenza epidemic of 1918-1920 that killed conservatively 3% of the world's population.  Yet, in the final analysis, and based upon my extremely limited knowledge of this subject, it seems to me that epidemics are all about percentages.  Yes, we could have a major outbreak, perhaps even this year, and such an outbreak would devastate many families and probably drastically change many entire communities forever; however, the percentages game favors our survival from one of these events in the long run.

In short, I'm not buying a pandemic as the final cause of EOTW.  Don't sleep any better, though, there are plenty of other catastrophes to discover!

I sign off with this fabulous quote from Contagion:  "Blogging is not writing; it's graffiti with punctuation."

Drops from My 2012 Bucket: Feb. 4, 321 days remaining

Mirror, Mirror  (Parallel universe with pirate version of Enterprise!)
The Apple  (Yup, they're going to find out what kids are soon enough.)
The Doomsday Machine  (Planet destroyer ... hey, this could be EOTW!)

Video Mission Update: 36 / 728 hours = 4.9%