Random Thoughts

Summer Projects – Thank God for Craigslist

2009-06-15T09:25:00.001-07:00

We are in the process of putting in a stamped concrete patio. In preparation to do so, we need to remove the existing wood deck, break-up the existing slab patio, dig up some plants, and move a few sprinklers (including a box). One of our friends recommended putting our deck on craigslist. I had never thought of doing that. To my surprise, I posted it at 1:50PM. Within 15 minutes, I had 4 replies, and within 2 hours I had over 30. I had to take the post down so that my inbox didn’t fill to capacity. Each of the responses had something similar to “I have tools in the truck I can be there in an hour” or “I can remove it immediately”. So, not only was I able to get rid of my deck, but I was more than assisted in the process. Who’d have thought…

Weeks 9 and 10 - Return of Fat Bastard

2007-08-29T09:22:00.001-07:00

Ok, so the past few weeks haven't been all that good in the exercise department. I am really lacking the motivation to get up and get moving. I think my biggest problem is just getting up in the morning. I am afraid my schedule is just too far off the tracks. I will have to do some serious re-programming in order to get up in the morning.

	Run #1 Mile 1: 8:50 Mile 2: 9:10 Mile 3: 9:29 Mile 4: 9:32
	Run #2 Mile 1: 9:07 Mile 2: 8:04

Week 8

2007-08-14T10:21:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I am finally back on track. I had some serious making up to do. When I started this week, I was way behind on my goals. Hopefully I did enough to make it up.

Run #1
Run A
Mile 1: 9:32
Mile 1.5: 10:20

Run B
Mile 1: 10:31
Mile 2: 9:13

About 1.5 miles in to the run, I paused my workout to get a drink and check on my passenger. For what ever resumed my workout, it immediately ended. I had to start a new one.

This one was a bugger. I did it while pushing the jogging stroller. It really makes a difference in how you run. It doesn't help that the alignment in the wheels must be off as I kept having to correct the steering while I ran.

Run #2
Mile 1: 9:10
Mile 2: 9:09
Mile 3: 9:34
Mile 4: 9:38

Week 7 - Lazy as hell

2007-08-06T13:16:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I decided to take week 7 off. Not so much as a conscious decision from the get go, but more of an everyday response to my alarm clock. I can't say week 8 is starting off much better, but I realize I better get back on track or I will never meet my goals for this month.

Week 6 [Re-Post]

2007-07-31T15:46:00.001-07:00

No clue what happened here. I think my blog editor copied my latest post over this file. Actually, I think I was trying to use this post as a template and managed to have 2 posts referencing the same file.

	Run #1 Mile 1: 8:27 Mile 2: 8:35 Mile 3: 8:35 Mile 4: 9:27
	Run #2 Mile 1: 8:48 Mile 2: 8:53 Mile 3: 9:20 Mile 4: 9:23
	Run #3 Mile 1: 8:20 Mile 2: 8:54 Mile 3: 8:50

The Deathly Hallows

2007-07-25T14:43:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I finally finished the book! WOW!

I have to admit, I'm a Harry Potter fan through and through. I picked up two copies of the book (1 in hardcover and 1 in audiobook) for me and my wife. Actually, we both could have shared the book, or I could have bought my own hardcover instead of the audio version, but considering I had the rest on either CD or cassette I figured I should stay true. I also have enjoyed listening to the previous 6 books on audio. There is something in the consistent tones, inflection, and voices produced by Jim Dale that it just wouldn't be the same reading it for myself. Also, it is much easier to listen to it while working then try to read it at work. :)

The one bad part of it all was that Kristin was constantly ahead of me. This was the first time she was on that end of the stick so I suppose turn about is fair play. :(

Not wanting to go in to too much detail and give anything away to the throngs of readers that flock to my blog (riiiiight), I'll just say this...

I was extremely pleased with how the whole story wrapped up. Although the ending wasn't too different that I had expected, the journey was exciting enough to keep me wanting for more.

Week 5 - Days 2 and 3

2007-07-24T08:40:00.001-07:00

So the plan to run for a set period of time seems to be working out ok. It has been especially nice that the weather has taken a bit of a cooler turn, at least early in the day. However, it does seem that another heat wave is upon us. Anyway, I have been enjoying the cooler runs.


Mile 1: 8:53, Mile 2: 9:17, Mile 3: 9:05	Mile 1: 8:12, Mile 2: 8:48, Mile 3: 8:45, Mile 4: 9:09

That's right, four miles on Saturday. Longest run to date. Getting better.

BizTalk Postings

2007-07-17T22:38:00.001-07:00

I have decided to remove my work related messages from this BLOG. I have posted all of them on my other blog. Here are some links directly to the original postings.

The Curse of the Dollar Sign ($)

BizTalk LOB Whitepapers

BizTalk - fatal error X1001: unknown system exception

Search and Replace Pipeline Component

PGP Pipeline Component

FTP, PGP, and Me

Week 5 - Day 1

2007-07-17T12:14:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I have decided to try and change my tactics again. Instead of running to achieve a certain distance, I am going to run for a certain amount of time. This way, instead of thinking how far have I gone and how much more do I need to go, I will just think about how much time is left... err, uhh, hrmmmm. Ok, so it sounded better this morning. We'll try this logic out this week and see how it goes. Regardless, I can judge my improvement by how far I run in the set time period versus trying to get done faster.

Mile 1: 9:23, Mile 2: 8:52, Mile 3: 9:10

Brady's First Fish

2007-07-17T12:09:00.001-07:00

We went to the river a couple of weekends ago. It was extremely hot, and both Kristin and I got sunburns. Of course we remembered to lather up the kids with sunscreen, but managed to overlook ourselves. Anyway, we took it pretty easy on Saturday, just enjoying the water and the refreshing "drinks". After dinner, Poppy and Brady went down to the dock to try their luck at fishing. Since we just put the dock out a few weeks prior, we were skeptical there would be any activity. Up to this point, both Brady and Tyler have been "fishing" with fake hooks. They have both more than caught their limit of "tree-fish". I'm surprised the game warden hasn't revoked their license. I have to admit they have gotten pretty good at casting and reeling in. Tyler is dead accurate. He can cast his line and hit ME regardless of where, or how far away, I stand. It has become a game for him. Lucky me. :) Anyway, Poppy decided it was time for Brady to try his hand at some real fishing. He fixed him up with a small hook and a fake grub and let him go to work. Not minutes later, Brady is reeling in his first fish. I suppose it was fitting that Brady caught his first fish with Poppy as I caught my first fish with my Grandpa. Up to the camper he runs asking for a Ziploc. Next thing we know, he has him a whopper of a fish.

Needless to say, he was pretty excited.

Since we had no plans of feasting on this succulent river creature, it was time to implement the catch and release policy. As the bag was opened and poured back in to the river, the fish relinquished his "play dead" act and swam off quickly. As I was not down there when it all happened, I grabbed my gear confident that we were gonna catch us some fish tonight. However, that was the ONLY fish in the river, I swear. I guess the less we catch today means there will be more for us to catch another weekend.

On Sunday, we sort of kicked it in to gear. Poppy got the ball rolling by leveling out a pile of dirt.

He had lots of help... :)

Kaden decided to make some minor adjustments. Rock placement is crucial when your feet are that tiny.

We finished off the day by scrubbing and oiling the dock. I can't wait to get back out there. This weekend is the Poker Paddle. If time permits I hope to make it up to watch. Maybe next year we will participate.

Week 4 - Am I making any progress???

2007-07-16T08:25:00.001-07:00

So, I feel like a total putz for not running as much as I should. This week I really have no good excuse for not running. Next week will be better. It has to be. I made a goal of running at least 15 times in 4 weeks. I was planning to run 4 times a week, but I gave myself some slippage room. Currently, I am behind my target. On the brighter side of things, my other goal was to run 30 miles in 4 weeks and I am over 4 miles ahead of my target. I purposely set the bar lower on this one as I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to keep up the pace.

Mile 1: 8:15, Mile 2: 8:44

Mile 1: 8:32, Mile 2: 8:43, Mile 3: 9:04

Week 3

2007-07-12T16:18:00.001-07:00

Last week (Week 3) was 4th of July so with vacation and all, schedules were disrupted. Do I really want to get up extra early to run if I don't have to be anywhere? Also, it seemed like someone in the family was sick, including myself. Although, I did not have it as bad as others. Anyway, I was only able to get in 3 runs that week.

Week 3 Runs

Mile 1: 8:21, Mile 2: 8:33, Mile 3: 8:50

Mile 1: 8:13, Mile 2: 8:11

Mile 1: 8:16, Mile 2: 8:31

Week 2 - Day 4: Rhythm of the Pace

2007-06-29T08:47:00.001-07:00

It was REALLY hard to get out of bed today. I came very close to just saying "screw it". Even after I got out of bed and was putting on my shoes, the bed was still almost too inviting. But, I'm not gonna get in shape with that attitude so... SMACK! Off I go.

I was still half asleep when I walked out the door this morning and I accidentally hit the 3K workout instead of 5K. I was hoping there was a way to edit the workout, even if only to change the distance, but that option was not there. Not wanting to cancel my current workout, I decided to trudge on.

Still wiping sleep out of my eyes, I figured I better try to take it easy or I wasn't going to make it. However, I am still dorking with the songs in my playlist and have found that event though I like the song, it doesn't really get my butt in gear. This is something I will need to resolve. I am spending too much time fast-forwarding to the next song. I can tell by my run graph that my song choices are affecting my pace. Too many ups and downs. Even though I was targeting a slower pace, I would prefer it to be more consistent.

Ok, so maybe it isn't the songs as much as my fat, tired, lazy ass, but for now, I plan on using that excuse.

Mile 1: 8:49,Mile 2: 9:02, Mile 3: 9:08

Week 2 - Day 3: iPod Scare

2007-06-28T08:22:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday night my wife took me to the mall to get some new running shoes. I ended up with the Asics Gell-1120. Today was my first run with them. I have to say, they are lighter than my older Nike shoes and didn't hurt my feet one bit. With my Nike shoes, my feet were definitely warm by the end of the run. This was not the case today.

With my new kicks laced up and my Nike+ securely tethered (Ziploc and all) I was out the door. However, just as I got the "Press the center button to start your workout" message all hell broke loose. For whatever reason, my iPod froze. I couldn't get anything to work. I took it back in and hooked it back up to the PC. It didn't help that Microsoft sent out an update last night that required a reboot so I had to wait for all the startup programs to complete. My USB port would recognize the iPod, but iTunes did not. Eventually, I did get a message saying it was corrupt and that I needed to restore my iPod. Faced with no other choice, I pressed ok but then got another error message saying that it couldn't be restored. Off to Google I went, pissed as hell that my iPod was screwed. I had already tried the reset options provided by Apple so there had to be another way to do a hard reset. I stumbled across this link and what do you know, it worked. Thanks Collin!

Ok, so now I am faced with the decision of running today or not. I have already wasted over 30 minutes farting around with my iPod issues and am running out of time. What the hell, I got my new shoes to try out... off I went. Maybe I was just feeling pressed for time, but I recorded a personal best for a mile.

Mile 1: 8:36, Mile 2: 7:37

Week 2 - Day 2: Just how far is 5K?

2007-06-26T09:02:00.001-07:00

So today I did my first 5K run. Ok, so it is only a little further than my planned 3 mile run, but for some reason it just seemed it would be further. From what I found, 1K = 0.62 miles. I have to say, that hearing the 1K, 2K, click by does sound better. I guess you just hear it more often.

Today, I also decided to venture out on the Centennial Trail. It is a nice run down by the river, but it does include a few interesting elements I don't find while running down the sidewalks in my neighborhood.

The landscape is better. I have to say seeing the various trees, plants, and the river itself are added bonuses over the cars, trucks, and landscaped yards.
There are more people on the trail than the sidewalks in my neighborhood. For the most part, everyone seemed very friendly. This includes other runners, walkers, and bicycles.
Bicycles scare the hell out of me... Not the ones that I see coming at me, but the ones that come whizzing by "On your left!".

Mile 1: 7:55, Mile 2: 8:46, Mile 3: 8:20

Week 2 - Day 1

2007-06-25T15:09:00.001-07:00

After the weekend, I embarked on my second week of running. Once again, I woke up before the alarm, but that was in part to my forgetting to close the blinds all the way last night. The sun beat down in the room like a spotlight in my eye. Deciding it was nearly impossible to get back to sleep (notice I said nearly :) ), I decided to go ahead and get on with the day. My goal for the week remains 2, 3, 2, 3, at least at a minimum. It was cold today. With the wind whipping through, I wished I had work a long sleeved shirt. I will have to keep that in mind for tomorrow.

Mile 1: 8:57, Mile 2: 8:30, Mile 2.5: 4:21

Week 1 is over

2007-06-22T14:12:00.001-07:00

With today being Friday, I am officially done running for the week. I think trying to do 3 days in a row was too much, at least to begin with. My goal for next week, and the weeks to come, is to run Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, alternating 2 and 3 mile runs. Maybe after a few weeks I'll be able to bump it up a bit.

Mile 1: 8:01, Mile 2: 8:21, Mile 3: 8:33

Day 3...

2007-06-20T08:33:00.001-07:00

Ok, so today I woke up before my alarm clock. However, I did snooze a bit. No point in getting up too early. :) I did finally drag myself out of bed just after the alarm went off.

I started my run at a pretty good pace, but began to really feel it pretty early on. I really felt like I was taking it slow at first, but towards the end, a good song got me back on track. Maybe that should be my "power song".

My legs are really sore today. It probably didn't help that I played indoor soccer last night too. That and the fact that my body has to be saying WTF.

Mile 1: 9:06, Mile 2: 7:26

Wakin' Up Is Hard To Do...

2007-06-19T09:55:00.001-07:00

Day 2 of my run started of rough. My alarm clock went off and all I could do was think of reasons to stay in bed. However, my wife turned to me and said "You better get going." and off I went. I bought all this crap. Now I have to use it.

I decided to start off with a slower pace instead of trying to burst out of the gates. It paid off. I reached my 2 mile goal and felt I still had more in me. I did a total of 3 miles today. Maybe I'll stagger my runs, 2 today, 3 tomorrow. We'll see how it goes...

Mile 1: 8:29, Mile 2: 8:43, Mile 3: 9:08

Nike+ iPod - Initial run...

2007-06-18T09:09:00.001-07:00

My wife and I bought ourselves (or each other) an iPod Nano (8GB) for a combined Father's Day and her birthday this weekend. I also picked up one of the Nike+ Sport kits at Target for $29.99. I am not an avid runner, although I still consider myself to be relatively athletic. My intentions are to use the iPod as a running/exercise incentive. Although I do have an older pair of Nike running shoes, they do not have the insert. Since I didn't want to cut a hole in to the bottom of my shoes, I fashioned a "pocket" to hold my Nike+ sensor to my shoes. Essentially, I put it in a small Ziploc bag and folded it up so that I could weave it through the first few laces on my shoe. Once in place, I just taped it up so that it wouldn't go anywhere. Assuming I stick with this, I will either make a more permanent "pocket" for my sensor, or purchase one online.

Today was my first run... I decided to take it easy and just start off with a 2 mile run. I got everything situated with my iPod, playlist, and the Nike+ sensor and off I went. Initially, I was thinking that 2 miles was just too short. Certainly I could do more than 2 miles. WOW... about 1.5 miles in to it, I was really ready to quit. I have realized just how out of shape I am. I did make it through the full 2 mile run without stopping, but I was very happy to reach the end of the run.

Here are my run results:

Overall, Mile 1: 8:20, Mile 2: 8:02, I walked the last .35 miles. I thought I had ended my workout, but it kept tracking my progress. I will have to look online for more information on how to operate this thing. If nothing else, it has gotten me out the door and running. At least for day 1...

Cross-Blogging on Windows Live™ Spaces

2007-06-15T16:30:00.001-07:00

I have setup a Windows Live™ Spaces account where I plan to place all of my "work" related information. I will continue to place both personal and work related messages on this site. However, you may run across an errant rant which has nothing whatsoever to do with "work" (or maybe it does :)).

Here is the link to my other blog: http://bajwork.spaces.live.com/blog/

Back in action...

2007-05-30T14:04:00.001-07:00

OK... so I created this BLOG over 2 years ago, and haven't done a darn thing with it. Well, hopefully that will change now. Also, while I await a separate place to post my work related rants, I will be using this site to share those tid-bits with you as well.

Welcome and be warned!

2004-11-29T20:29:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my first blog. The purpose of this blog is to share current activities with friends and family members. Other than the various goings-on around the Jones household, you may accidentally stumble upon an errant rant or two.