The Physics of Everyday Life

Bouldering, MBA and (Cardiotrainer for Android)

2010-12-22T22:08:00.000-08:00

What do the three items mentioned in the title of this post have in common? Not a lot - in fact, nothing at all, besides the fact that I've used or been involved with all of them this year!

Its the start of a long weekend (Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Everyone!) and I'd normally be on a road trip of sorts by now, except, it's been raining cats and dogs all over California (golden/ sunshine state you say?) this whole week and I have tons of errands piled up from a crazy few months of work and school.

It occurred to me, during a conversation today, that it's been a while since I wrote anything here. I thought I'd work on a set of New Year resolutions like I did a couple years ago , but unfortunately, I haven't figured them out yet! So, I figure I'll get back to blogging, by blogging about a few of the things that have caused me to not blog as much - how's that for ironic?!

I'll start by writing about Bouldering in this post and try and address the other two in subsequent posts -

I've known about rock climbing as a sport for a few years now - but, my reaction to it was always "why would anyone in the right mind want to climb a wall?". I finally tried it about a year ago and as it turns out, it is actually a LOT of fun!
There are a bunch of types or forms of rock climbing out there - there's Traditional (or "trad") climbing, Sport Climbing, Top Roping and Ice Climbing. But the way I see it, there's Bouldering and then there's all the other climbing! :-)

So what makes Bouldering so special (to me)?
For starters, it is more minimalistic than the other forms of climbing. In theory, you need no gear except your own limbs. More realistically, you'll need some decent climbing shoes, some chalk and a crash pad to arrest your fall, and that's it (no major ropes, carabiners, harness or pulleys that other forms of climbing demand).
Next, it's a lot more intense and athletic (in my opinion, at least) - if you don't believe me, walk into any climbing gym and compare the fitness level of the boulderers vs the "others"! What makes bouldering so intense is the simple fact that you are "own your own", so to speak. What I mean by that is, unlike other forms of climbing, where you have the liberty of stopping or taking rest at any point, bouldering does not give you the liberty of "letting go", midway.
Third, bouldering is all about problem solving. Yes, that's right - I said "problem solving". There are routes or problems that must be solved and what's interesting is that there are many ways to solve a given problem - some do it a lot more efficiently and gracefully than others. To me personally, bouldering is very contrasting to long distance running (one of my other passions). While long distance running allows you to "zone out" and reflect on various things (issues at work, life whatever), to be successful at bouldering, you must completely focus on the problem at hand (leave out any other problems in your life)!
Finally, while most people tend to associate bouldering (and rock climbing, in general) with raw strength, the truth is that, the sport is just as much about skill, technique, presence of mind and being able to plan moves in advance (a little bit like chess)!

So, that's my 2c on bouldering - I figured I'll spare you of the usual description of rock climbing and bouldering, since there are tons of websites and books on the subject, and instead give you my perspective on it! - hopefully, this has motivated you to "hit the wall" sometime!

oh, and here's what I got for coming in at #4 in the UCSD Boulderdash earlier this year! :) -

Race Day - Bryce Canyon Half Marathon 2010

2010-07-27T23:14:00.001-07:00

Ran the BCHM -2010 two weekends ago. This was my first experience running a half marathon outside of San Diego and I absolutely loved it. The results are in, and I'm happy to say I achieved the half marathon PR goal (sub 1:45 finish) I set for myself, along with my other new year's resolutions for the year:

Overall:	152 out of 1141 Finishers
Men:	107 out of 419 finishers
Age Group:	16 out of 87

Finish:	1:43:18 Pace: 7:53/mi
Chip Time:	1:43:18
Gun Time:	1:43:26

I thought my training for the race was pretty decent. I varied my training a little this time - instead of doing really short runs (3-5mi) twice a week and fairly long (8-12mi) runs every weekend, I did 6.6mi (10K) runs, 3 times a week and hardly any weekend long runs (most of the weekends got spent hiking, biking, camping, climbing, road tripping etc, as you can see on my outdoors blog ). The one thing I did do though, was run the same 10K (6.6mi) loop over and over again and try my best to beat my time every time - which meant, running each one like a race!

Now, for the screwing up part: I decided to go play 2 hours of ultimate Frisbee, followed by an hr of soccer (which, I hadn't played in over 10 years) the very last weekend before the race. I was amazed by how different short fast sprinting is from steady long distance running. My Achilles heels were sore following that and I also ended up with a nice blister under my right foot. To top it off, I didn't get much chance to rest my legs before the race, because, we decided to do a bunch of hikes in Zion NP, on the way to Bryce Canyon.

As a result, I practically limped to the start line, with feet feeling like crap, at 5am on the race day (after hiking 11 miles the day before and getting an awesome 4 hrs of shut eye time). I would have probably bailed on the race, if they hadn't told me, there were medals for all finishers ;-). I stretched for a good 45 minutes before the race, but was nowhere close to being in my regular running shape. I finally told myself - since I had come this far, I might as well start it -and so I did. My legs (just the ankles and bottom of my feet, everything else was perfect) hurt with every step, right from the start! I decided I was going to run a couple miles and then pull to the side. I get up to the 1 mile mark and realize I ran it in 7:56, so I change my mind and decide I'll somehow try to keep it up until the 1/2 pt (~6.6miles). After I get to that, I decide, I'll try to make it to the 8.5 mile mark, at which point I would pass the motel we were staying at (and a couple friends cheering me on), so I could bail and go crash on the soft bed. When I get to the motel, I realize I just clocked my fastest 8.5miler (1:04), so there was no way I was going to let my PR goal slip away now. I eventually hobbled into the finish line and could barely stand or walk - but, it was all worth it - not just because I achieved my goal, but, also because, I passed one of the greatest mental challenges I've faced to date!

Overall, I thought the race was very well organized, the scenery was beautiful, there were way more water stops (~10) than we needed (with both water and Gatorade at each) and the T-shirt is the best race shirt I've gotten to date (and all that for a $35 registration). Definitely recommend running it!

Training Tracking SD RnR 2010

2010-03-25T22:21:00.000-07:00

So, I finally decided to start doing some planned training for the San Diego Rock n Roll Marathon in June, this year. I haven't signed up for the race yet, but, I figure I'll try to push the miles and see where I am in a month or so and then decide, accordingly.
I haven't figured out my complete training plan either, but, I know it is going to be a lot of running, so I figure why not start tracking so I can keep it real.

I have been keeping a log of my runs in a simple text file on my phone (yeah, talk about low-tech!) for the last couple months, as I trained for and ran the San Dieguito Half Marathon. I'm going to add them here, so that I can get a total count for the year too, in the process :)

2009 Dec Runs:
Sat (12/5) 7.0mi MM Lake
T (12/7) 4.0mi Telesis Ct
Th (12/9) 5.6mi Sorrento/ Lusk ~45min
T (12/22) 5.5mi Lopez Cyn 55min
Th (12/24) 5.7mi UTC 52min
Su (12/27) 7.0mi Rose Cyn ~60min
T (12/29) 5.0mi UTC ~48min
---------------------------------------
Total: 40mi
Total for 2009: ~550miles
Will I top that in 2010? Let's see... :)

2010:

Sat (1/8) UCSD 6.6mi
T (1/11) UCSD 5.5mi
Th (1/13) trail 4.7mi 46min
Sat (1/16) UTC 10.0mi
Sat (1/23) UTC 10.5mi
Thu (1/28) UCSD 6.0mi
Sat (1/30) UTC 12.6mi
W (2/4) Lopez Cyn 5.0mi
Sat (2/6) UTC 6.6mi
Th (2/11) UTC 6.0mi
Sun (2/14) San Dieguito Half 15.0mi
Sat (2/20) TP-Del Mar + Hill 8.0mi
Th (2/25) UTC 6.0mi 48min
Sat (2/27) TP-Del Mar 7.1mi 58min
T (3/16) UCSD 6.6mi
Sat (3/20) UCSD +Rose Cyn 8.6mi 74min
T (3/23) Lopez Cyn 4.6mi
Th (3/25) UCSD + LJColony 9.6mi 78min
-------------------------------------------
Total So far: 140miles

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T (3/30): UCSD + LJ Colony 9.6mi 78min
Sun (4/4): Miramar lake 5+5+3=13mi in 1:45 + 2min breaks between loops (my own little MIRAMAR LAKE HALF MARATHON, if you will ;-)
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Tue (4/6) 6.6mi UCSD loop

*****Found out that the SD RnR 2010 is already Full (first time in the 12 year history of the event) and decided to slack off for a few weeks :)******

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Tue (4/20) Gilman 6.6mi
Thu (4/22) UCSD 6.0mi
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**** Bought new Asics Piranha's (trainers/ racing flats), from now on "P" indicates runs with these so, I know if they're doing any good or not! *****

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Fri (4/28) Gilman 6.6mi (P) 55min
Sat (4/29) Rose Cyn 5mi (P) 43min
Sun (4/30) 50mi Bike Ride from UTC to Carlsbad and Back!!
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Tue (5/4) Gilman 6.6mi 57min
Thu (5/6)Gilman 6.6mi 58min
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Mon (5/10) Gilman 6.6mi 56min
Wed (5/12) Rose Cyn 6.0mi (P)
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Sat (5/22) UTC<->TP 10.2miler
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Mon (5/24) Gilman 6.6mi 54min

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Race Day - San Dieguito Half Marathon 2010

2010-02-14T12:33:00.000-08:00

Just ran the San Dieguito Half Marathon this morning. It was a very interesting experience (both the race and the day overall), and I hope to capture the details here, so I can look back at them later (something I put off doing right after AFC half, and never got back to it and now I've forgotten all the details... so, no slacking this time). But, first off, here's my performance:

Finish Time: 1:49:29

Avge. Pace: 8:18

Other Info : N/A

(NOTE: race did not feature, timing chips :(.. so, above time is, as recorder on my wrist watch's lap timer)

Although, I didn't meet the goal I had set for myself after I finished the AFC Half last year -- which was a "sub 1:45" finish, on the next half -- nonetheless, I am pretty happy overall, for two reasons:
1. This is my best time of the 4 half marathons I've run to date (PR yay!!)
2. I have reason to believe that the above numbers don't necessarily reflect my true performance on today's race, due to some major mistakes I made (keep reading to see if you agree!) (.. and let me know through comments ;-)

OK, so here are the details. Starting off from the night before... I got myself a nice meal and stayed up a little after that, to set up my iPod Playlist and figure out my mile splits (thanks to Bharath for introducing me to this simple, but awesome, tool!). I finally crashed on the bed around 11:45 pm, shortly realizing I forgot to set my morning alarm, I quickly "resurfaced" and set my alarm clock in the dark for 6am (race start was 8am) and went back to sleep, reassured I was all set (or so I thought!). Felt like I barely closed my eyes and the alarm went off, showing 6am. I opened my eyes, peered out of the window right above my bed and noticed it was unusually dark for 6am... so, instead of getting straight to "businesss", I decided to check the main clock in the living room and sure enough, it was an awesome 3:55am!! (a quick mental recap made me realize, that I had advanced the actual time on my clock by a couple hours, while trying to set the alarm in he dark... dang!)... retreat back into the sack, reset the clock and shut eyes again... before I know it, the damn thing is going off again (and this time the correct 6am!).. I shut the alarm and decide to rest a little before waking up... and without realizing slip into a nap... and finally come to senses at 6:24am... from then on it's a race against time... I change... make a quick cup of tetley masala tea and head out, banana in one hand, red bull in another... get in the car, start moving, and the "reserve" light comes on (dang!)... quick pull into the gas station and it's 6:55am, when I actually start heading towards the race venue. I figured I was still in decent shape (but, no!)

Driving up the I-5 N, I notice a stream of red lights from Villa De La Valle (the exit 4.5mi before the exit, I was supposed to take!), on up... I keep telling myself, it's not what I think it is, but, deep down I know, I'm screwed. I sip on my red bull and hope that the endless line of cars in front of and behind me are all hopeful of actually making the race. I spend a good 40mins, going bumper to bumper at 5miles an hr (one of the rare moments where I feel like kicking myself for buying a sports coupe with a "manual" transmission :P)... finally make the exit and, guess what, now there's another line of cars (the champions that exited from the I-5 S) merging into our already endless line... awesome, just what we need. One signal down, I realize, staying in the car and trying to drive closer to the start isn't going to help... I decide to take the first right an park in the strip mall. I jump out of the car, ditch the jacket, the phone and the wallet and start running to the start line. Now, per the race brochure, I remember reading that the entrance, to San Dieguito County park (the start of the race) was the first 3-way stop after turning right from the exit. What it didn't say, is that, that 3-way stop, is a mile from exit and uphill!)... so, I quickly realize, I'm running a race, just to get to the start of my race. I finally come up to the San Dieguito county park entrance and guess what, there's no start line in sight... I see people walking down a trail. I assume that's the way... and soon enough, I'm going downhill for about a mile and half on a dirt trail (still unsure whether I'm actually heading to the start, or some place else, or I'm already running the half!). My watch at this time was a little past 8am, so, I knew I was late... I just didn't know how late. I finally see the yellow "start" banner and hear the guy say "folks starting now are 5 minutes and 20 seconds behind the official start"... aah, perfect!

So, I quickly make a decision to ditch the usual "stretching" ritual runners go through before any long run (oh, blasphemy!!)... just hit the lap timer on my trusted Timex (7 years old and going strong) and hope for the best. Now, a little comforted by the fact that I was finally in the race... I tried to block out the negative feelings of all the energy I wasted sprinting a quick 5K before my race and the fact that I was potentially going to run ~16miles without proper stretching. I come up to the 1st mile marker, check my stop watch, look at my mile split sheet (I staple it to my bib number, upside down, so I can read it at every mile) and am happy to see that I am on track. Alright, things are looking good, time to pull out the iPod headphones and get that custom playlist I set up the night before, going. Some cool new beats (like this one , I discovered a couple days ago) and I'm "cruising" along. The one thing that was bothersome was, that because I started at almost the end of the pack, I was faced with several "walls" of runners, running at a pace 2-3minutes, slower than mine. Which meant, I was constantly breaking, turning, running off trail... just to keep my overall pace in check. It almost felt like I passed half of all the runners on the race today!
I finally reached the point where you enter the "turn around loop" and noticed the first group of runners, returning. I took a quick peek at my watch and realized that a mojority of the first wave, was about 7-8 minutes in front of me at the half way point (which made me feel good, because, it meant, if I had started on time, I could easily be among the top 100 on this race!). I finally reach the turn around point (around 7.5miles) make my first water stop for the day, empty the single powerbar gel, I had carried, stretch a little, untie and tie my laces and continue on. Soon enough, I am at mile 8 and a quick check of my mile split sheet revealed,I was trailing my target by about 2mins (which meant, I was potentially looking at a 1:47 finish, as opposed to my planned 1:45). I kept at it, going up and down the rolling hills (the course is constant rolling hills, with only about 2 miles of flat running, on the whole course.. but, thankfully the gradient isn't too bad). Thanks to a couple of hills between mile 8 and 12, by mile 12, that gap had widened to about 5 minutes (oooh... veering dangerously close to 1:50 territory :( ). I realized at this point, that I had to finish the rest of the race in 8minutes, if I wanted to avoid ending into the 1:50s. Just as that thought goes through my head, I see the final hill of the race.. phew.. but, I kept telling myself that it was downhill after that all the way to the finish and finally crossed the finsh line with the "official time clock" showing 1:54: something)... I looked at my stop watch and it was 1:49:something.. which seemed to agree with the 5:20, delay at the start of the race.

It was a pleasant surprise to see two of my running buddies (Bharath and Chaitanya) at the end of the race and made all the tiredness disappear as I met them and told them about all the excitement earlier in the day. It also made me realize how much difference it makes to see a familiar face at the end of a long race. So much that, I hereby make a resolution to try to attend any race that even one of my friends runs (no matter how long or short) as long as it is within commuting distance and I have the time to do so.

Overall a very unique experience!
Time to take that rare mid day nap now :)

Race Day - AFC Half Marathon 2009

2009-08-16T12:40:00.000-07:00

Got my HALF MARATHON TRIPLE CROWN MEDAL and it looks pretty cool!

Now, as for my AFC half performance. Well, pretty abysmal, as I expected (see previous post):

Overall:	2031 out of 7021 Finishers
Men:	1400 (almost double that of LJHM) out of 3257 finishers
M 25-29:	224 out of560

Finish:	1:58:00 Pace: 9:01
Tag Time:	1:58:00
Gun Time:	1:58:40

Before I go about describing the events that led to the above disaster, add "staying up all night on the night before the race" to the list of wrong-doings I had mentioned in my last blog post :)

Overall, I am not too disappointed, though. Over the last 4 months I went from, feeling confident about a sub 1:45 finish on this race (this confidence was right after LJHM) to all the way down to not being able to run all of it :). I don't really regret all the wrong-doings either, because I've learnt from a few of them... and the others? well.. they were to much fun, to not do :)

I'm too groggy to type out the full race report right now... so, it'll have to wait till I "robot walk" myself to a shower and some food ;-)

am
PS: Just realized that all my bib numbers have the numbers 3 and 4 in them.... will have to make some sense of that, as well.

Mental Run!

2009-08-14T19:36:00.000-07:00

The AFC half is this Sunday and it's been a while since I updated anything here. Browsing over past posts almost makes me feel like the training I was doing for the first two halfs this year, was something out of a different life (and although, it didn't seem too disciplined or rigorous at the time, it sure as hell does seem so, now, considering my AFC training!):)

Well, this ones going to be nothing short of interesting. I've done everything wrong this time...

1. Ignored a tender tendon right before the La Jolla Half (Heck, I thought I had hit my foot on a lab bench) and ran the half like I couldn't care less (well, at least I didn't do too bad!).
2. Took a long break and went on vacation, right after the La Jolla Half, with no running and lot of junk food binging.
3. Returned and attempted long runs without a slow build up (worsening an already sore tendon)
4. Had to stay off running to avoid limping while not running... until I figured that changing my running style helped "disguise" the tendon issue... yeap... this lead to experiments with forefoot striking.
5. Experimented with forefoot striking with a bad tendon, except the experiments were anything but that (they were more like through and through 10 milers, while what I was supposed to do was intermittent forefoot runs within the main long run :)
6. Overcompensated for the Tendon and agitated the IT Band in the process (yeah, that arch enemy of mine made a comeback after 2 years).
7. (And, final nail in the coffin) - Went camping the very last weekend before the half (instead of running and checking out the course) and did one 7mi hike on Sat and a 10+ mi (3)peak bagging hike on Sunday... and got rewarded with a nice blister on the right leg (hey, I had to balance out the ITB and Tendon issues on the left leg, right?:P)

So, here we go... there's no way I'm bailing out of the AFC (There's that Triple Crown Resolution I made earlier this year, remember?)... so, yeah... this one's going to be a veeeery interesting race and a test of mental strength just as much as of physical (or maybe more?)

am
PS: Wish I had a half marathon version of the T-shirt that reads "Why couldn't Pheidippides have died at mile 20" :)

Training Tracking - AFC 1/2 '09

2009-06-27T15:00:00.000-07:00

As I did for the last two half marathons I ran this year... I will be tracking all my training runs for the America's Finest City Half marathon, to be held on Aug 16th, 09...
The start is slow this time, because, my achilles tendon started to bother me, right before the La Jolla Half Marathon, and still hasn't recovered.

Just for some motivation, these are my total miles in for half marathon training, this year:

Total Miles for Carlsbad Half (including half) : 153
Total Miles for LJHM (including half): 174
Total miles run this year (well technically since, Nov '08): 402

Let's see if I can do better continue to improve that number on the AFC 1/2 training!

AFC Half Marathon
Find more Runs in San Diego, California

DAY | DISTANCE | TIME | PACE
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Sat (6/6) ~5.0mi (Time not tracked)
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Thu (6/18) ~2.0mi (time not tracked) (T)
Sat (6/20) ~5.0mi ~50min ~10:00 (T)
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Tue (6/23) ~2.0mi ~17min ~8:30(T)
Sat (6/27) ~7mi ~ 1:05 ~9:15(T)
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Tue (6/30) ~4.0mi ~37min ~9:15(T)
Thu (7/2) ~3.0mi ~27min ~9:00(T)
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Tue (7/7) ~3.5mi ~30min ~8:36(T)
Thu (7/9) ~3.0mi ~25:30 ~8:30 (T)
Sat (7/11) ~10.4 ~85min ~8:10 (T)
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Mon (7/13) ~2mi ~19:00 ~9:00 (T) - Recovery run
Tue (7/14) ~5.5mi ~52min ~9:30 (T)
Thu (7/16) ~3mi ~25min ~8:30 (T) (Jumped over Rattle Snake!)
Sat (7/18) ~10mi ~1:30 ~9:00 (was supposed to be a 11mi run, but I walked the last mile because my IT band started to act up, out of the blue!)
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Some very intermittent running due to ITB issues :(
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AFC HALF!!!!

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Race Day - The La Jolla Half Marathon 2009

2009-06-14T12:29:00.000-07:00

OK, First off, this post is way past due (over a month since I ran this race!), and the reasons for that are contrasting - first a work overload and then a vacation overload (went to India for a month). So, anyways, without further ado and, like I did for the Carlsbad Half , here are the results of my LJHM '09 performance:

Overall:	1056 out of 5414 Finishers
Men:	791
M 25-29:	168
Age/Grade:	52.5%
Finish:	1:52:47 Pace: 8:33
Tag Time:	1:52:47
Gun Time:	1:53:13

So, apparently I clocked in exactly the same time as my Carlsbad Half time , a couple months before this (heck, I'll even go so far as to say, I was about 45 seconds slower, this time). And, as much as people keep telling me that La Jolla was a much tougher course than Carlsbad, and even I was expecting to be slower by up to 10mins, compared to Carlsbad, I still would have loved to "make the numbers" :).

As for the race itself, the weather was quite nice on race day, unlike what I was warned by many runners who ran this race in the past (they warned me about dreading the heat that has caused runners to collapse on this course, in the past). The day started out cloudy and in the 65F range, temperature-wise. The sun did come out about half way through the race, but, it didn't affect runners too much.

The course is definitely more challenging than the Carlsbad half (which is flat for the most part). The La Jolla half starts out in the Del Mar Race tracks area. There is a huge parking lot near the start, that is empty at the time of start. I used that to do some quick warm up runs and I think that was a good idea coz it allowed me to start at an 8:30 pace as opposed to the 9-9:30, that I usually do for the couple miles, which in turn, helped me make up time, that I lost later on the hills. You start out by running on Villa De La Valle to the 101 (flat, and then little downhill). You turn left and run along the 101. The course does not go all along the 101, but instead jumps into ocean blvd. close to the ocean (this was something my running buddies always did on training runs, so I was totally at home). The little surprise came when the course, turned left at 4th St and climbed back up to the 101, instead of continuing downhill on coast blvd and joining the 101 later, when it is easy. Anyways, after joining the 101, we pretty much continued down to the entrance of the Torrey Pines State Park, for the biggest ascent of the race. I grabbed my first drink here (around mile 5) and headed up the hill. As I was climbing I could see some folks that had passed me earlier slow-down/ stop. I also met a woman who was cheering on anyone that she felt was tiring or giving up. I joined her in the encouragement for a while, and found out that she was running the La Jolla Half for the first time as well. There was a strategically placed water station at the top (mile 7), where I got my second drink and some gel to get re-energized after the climb. The remaining part of the route, before you exit the Torrey Pines state park, is a very slight, but long and steady, incline. Once you get out of the park and turn R on to N Torrey Pines Rd, the route is mostly flat, with some small rolling hills (max change 50ft). When you turn onto Torrey Pines again and continue, you are feeling a little upbeat because you passed the 8mi marker and you know that the downhill isn't too far off. A fairly flat mile gets you to the downhill, that leads you to La Jolla Shores (and no matter how much of a hurry you are in, you can't help admire the beauty of the views from here). And this slope was where I realized how bad my downhill running was (basically, I was being passed by more people than any other time of the race) (Note to self: Gotta work on downhill running). Once you get off the hill, it is basically a straight flat 2 miles till you get to the La Jolla Shores parking lot. This is where I hit upon the second surprise - for some reason, the route turns into the parking lot and runs along the beach (yep, the concrete walk-way, by the sand) - although that wasn't anything to be worried about. It was great to see some of my running buddies (that were not running this race) standing there to cheer those of us, running it - AMAZING MORALE BOOST!. The last (and most dreaded) surpise came at mile 12. Where you hit this small hill that brings you back up to Torrey Pines. Now, ordinarily this hill is no big deal at all, but after running 12 miles of the La Jolla Half course, it just gets magnified - and no matter how much past runners tell you to dread this, nothing describes, actually experiencing it. The final mile winds into Prospect St (the downhill can be a pain after all the climbing and running), for a beautiful finish by the cove!

One thing to note about the La Jolla Half is that it is a relatively "low-key" event (unlike, what many people are used to associating "La Jolla" with, which is "grandiose"). For some reason, the event organizers don't seem to want to spend a lot on either the expo or the race itself. Not sure if this is because of the lack of enthusiasm on their part or the fact that they are trying to save as much as they can for donation to causes (I sure hope the latter). Overall, I didn't have anything to complain about, though!

Looking forward to the final Half in the SD Triple crown (the AFC HALF) this august!

Training Tracking - LJHM '09

2009-02-24T13:59:00.000-08:00

Alright. So, I finally, "formally" registered to run the 2009 La Jolla Half Marathon (LJHM).
As I did for my first half marathon (the carlsbad half), I plan to track all my training run data for this one as well. The only difference, instead of creating new posts, every time I update the data (which is typically at the end of every week). I will just keep one blog post and keep updating it and bumping up the date, to keep bringing it back up.

As for the Training Plan, I am going to try to change things up a little. I will still be running 3 times a week(+weekend) (I might run a "warm-up" mile on other days, but significant miles will be only 3 times a week), but each run will be "special".
What do I mean by that? Well...

1. The weekend run will be long and I will not drop below 8milers (preferably stay 10mi and above) and definitely not restart from 4-5mi runs like I did the first time around.

2. Since all the weekend runs will be extra long, the Tue run will have to be a sort-of recovery run (I say "sort-of", because, I am hoping my body should be conditioned to not be as hammered after a 10mi run as I used to be in the past). For that reason, the Tue run will be a trail run (easier on the legs) and will range from 2-6miles, depending on how badly hammered the legs are.

3. Thurdays run will alternate(one Thu this, one Thu that) between hill training (to conquer that big torrey pines hill) and Interval Training or Fartleks.

For #1: The routes will vary, since I run with a running group on the weekends.
For #2: http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/ca/san-diego/900805585783
For #3: For hill training: http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/ca/san-diego/197949449764; for fartleks: Either UCSD tracks or treadmill.

Alright, so, here we go, again!

DAY | DISTANCE | TIME | PACE
==============================================================
Tue (2/3) ~6.0mi ~51mins ~8:30 (Accurate)
Sat (2/7) ~10mi ~1:32 ~ 9:12 (Accurate, Did first 5mi in 44min and next 5 in 48)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wed (2/11) ~1mi
Thu (2/12) ~3.0mi ~24mins ~8:00 (Fartleks on the Treadmill)
Sat (2/14) ~10mi ~1:30 ~ 9:00 (Accurate, Did first 5mi in 44min and next 5 in 46)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skimped out on the running this week, but I did do a couple miles here and there and did a nice hike on the weekend
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (2/24) ~6mi ~47min ~7:48 (Accurate)
Sat (2/28) ~9mi ~1:25 ~9:30 (First 7.5mi, before TP hill, at 8:30 pace)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (3/3) ~5.8mi ~47min ~8:10 (Accurate)
Thu (3/5) ~4mi ~33 ~8:15 (Treadmill)
No weekend run... slacked off coz I was out of town
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (3/10) ~5.8mi ~47min ~8:10 (Accurate)
Thu (3/12 ~5.5mi ~40min ~7:30 (Speed Training at Lake Miramar, not accurate)
Sat (3/14) ~8mi ~1:08 ~8:30 (first 5mi in 45mi, next 3 in 22min)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (3/17) ~6mi ~51min ~8:30 (T)
Thu (3/19) slacked off (legs weren't feeling the best :( )
Sat (3/21) ~11.3mi ~95min ~8:30 (one of the hardest, but most scenic route runs, to date http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/ca/-san-diego/516123783491630305)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (3/24) ~4mi ~33min ~8:15 (T)
Thu (3/26) slacked off
Sat (3/28) ~10mi ~84min ~8:30 (two rounds of Lake Miramar!) (T)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (3/31) ~5.5mi ~52min ~9:30 (T)
Thu (4/2) ~3mi ~24min ~8:00 (T)
Sat (4/4) ~11mi ~1:42 ~9:15 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (4/7) ~5mi ~41min ~8:10 (T)
Thu (4/9) ~5mi ~43min ~8:36 (T)
Sat (4/11) ~12mi ~1:48 ~9:00 (T)

==============================================================

Tue (4/15) ~5mi (Did not track time) (T)
Sat (4/18) ~9mi (Did not track time) (T)

==============================================================

Minimal running this week (Achilles Tendon Issues)
Sun (4/26) - La Jolla Half Marathon!! - Good luck to me!

==============================================================
==============================================================

Total Miles for LJHM (including Half Marathon): 174 (75mi on T)
Total Miles for Carlsbad Half (including half) : 153
Total for year : 402

Does Success Retard Itself?

2009-02-20T00:45:00.000-08:00

First off, let's get the IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT, aside. I just made good (or at least started to make good) on my last new year's resolution for this year. Yep, the new blog is up and Running - here , so, watch for some exciting stuff there in the coming weeks and months (and don't forget to help me keep myself honest, by posting comments :)

OK, now let's get back to the topic at hand. Why the touch of philosophy on what is seeming like a perfectly logical and analytical blog by an Engineer on things like running and how to improve performance as an athlete? Well, it has to do with one (or both) of the following:

1. An unfortunate side effect of being stuck to the OUTLIERS for about 2 weeks (and before you say "whoa, what a slow reader!", keep in mind, my time gets multiplexed between a lot of things like running, blogging, hiking, ubuntuing, sleeping... and oh, let's not forget, "bit-flipping", that pays for the others!).

2. This video that showed up on CNN a few weeks ago, from a Obama Townhall in Florida, to sell his stimulus package (which, by now, is a law)

The first time I saw that video, I was without doubt amused and amazed. Amused because, I think that had to be one of the gutsiest moves I have seen in a while and amazed because it is not everyday that you get to see a lowly McDonalds worker getting a chance to speak to the most powerful man on the planet (or one of them, at least), 1-on-1. Now, I may not be much of an economist, but, something about that video tells me this country might be heading back in the right direction.

Anyways, getting back to the topic, as much as the video amused and amazed me, it wasn't what got me thinking about "success in life". What did was probably some combination of the aftereffects of that video on Julio's life and all the "reading" I've been doing.

To understand what I am saying, you might want to take a look at some of the latest news coverage on Julio and another similar case of a distressed common American by the name of "Henrietta Hughes". As this article descibes, "... Hughes broke down in front of thousands when she told the president that she and her son have been homeless for more than a year and living in a pickup truck. Obama hugged her after she asked her question and said his staff would help...".

Well, I'll save you the effort and summarize it for you - As it turns out, Mr. Julio now got approached my multiple radio stations, right after his little stunt, for broadcast gigs and a local minor league baseball team has offered Osegueda a job as an announcer for the Class A Fort Myers Miracle, the Twins' affiliate in the Florida State League. Not bad for going from working at Macky D's to landing a broadcaster job, within a matter of days, huh? As for Ms. Hughes, apparently, she was was later offered a home by Chene Thompson, wife of Florida State Representative Nick Thompson, who heard the homeless woman’s pleas. Isn't that amazing? Both super inspiring stories and not to mention, it almost seems like Obama is delivering on his message of change without even trying too hard! Great!

But wait, that's not what this post is about!

Time to regroup... alright... so, the reason for all that build up was to try and put you in the frame of mind I had when I decided to write this post. What all this reading and watching and thinking has got me wondering is... does getting more successful in life make you progressively less likely to attain success?!

Before you say "WHAAA.... ??!!!", let me elaborate...

Let's say you are in a position, similar to one of the folks above (and I for one came kinda close to that, when I landed in a country with a currency rate 40 times that of my home country, to go to Gradschool :-), would you do anything you possibly can to get yourself out of it? For most people, I think the answer is going to be a "HELL YEAH". And, it sounds about right, doesn't it? The amount of fear you experience in life is usually inversely proportional to the amount you have to "loose" (meaning, if you have nothing to loose, you aren't afraid of anything, not even death itself!). Let's say you walked into work tomorrow, and found out that you no longer have your job, would that affect the tone you use when you speak to your boss? Would it relax it at least a tad?

I guess the point I am trying to make (or question I am trying to ask) is... do we start being more and more "fearful" as we start to achieve the initial goals we set for ourselves, thereby limiting the number of new goals we set for ourselves (read, take fewer and fewer risks) and achieve even fewer of those and so on,goes the vicious cycle... catch my drift, here?

And now, to finish up, I will attempt to tie in the "BIG ANNOUNCEMENT" I made at the start of this blog post, into all this discussion!
Am I trying to beat or fight the tendency I just described above, by starting that blog and setting myself up for failure? :)

There, got it out of the system... just in time to hit the sack!

Resolutions Complete with "JUST DO IT!"

2009-02-06T21:40:00.000-08:00

Alright. A few days of thinking and pondering and I think I'm ready to complete that resolution list I started earlier . The thing left to complete was a mentally challenging goal (III.C of my previous post) - and after much pondering, I think I may have found the perfect challenge.

My last goal involves things that keep popping into my head from time - Ideas!. Yes, for some reason I seem to have ideas for things to do, pop into my head, at random times during the week. Whether it is during a presentation at work , or while working out at the gym or while driving past a gas station , or just surfing the web or, well... Blogging itself

So what I am proposing? I am proposing, that I resolve to take action on some of those ideas! Well, isn't that what the intention was in the past? Maybe, but then there was no accountability. So, to fix that, I am going to start a new blog (yep, yet another!) that I will use to keep track of anything new I learn or any Idea I think I can work on. Now, I agree not all the ideas I come up with are ideas I can actually put to work. And that is not just because some of them are impractical, but simply because some constraints of time, money etc prevent me from going "all out" and pushing forth on an idea. But there are always going to be things, that come up in my mind, that I really want to do, but, I just sleep on them long enough until they eventually fade away. Well, enough of that. From now on I resolve to actually figure out how to do the thing, no matter how hard it is or how long it takes. And it doesn't necessarily have to be a business idea, it can be something as simple as finding the fastest way to change my bicycle tube or repair or something more complicated like installing a new Linux Distro or even more challenging as creating a facebook application.

So there we go, my mentally challenging goal is to blog about any "do-it-yourself" activity I engage in, as and when I do!

To begin with, one of the things I've been wanting to do for a while, is to "organize" my blog posts according to "tags" and create a list of those tags on the side bar. For example, everything I wrote, that has to do with Running must show up under the heading "Running" and so on...
If I manage to get through that goal this weekend, I will attempt to install the latest version of Ubuntu on my Vista laptop, in dual boot fashion and load and up important applications. And if there's anything interesting worth sharing, that'll be on m new blog!

As for the name... I figured out that part too.... JUST DO IT!

PS: Oh, I also think Señor Reddy's idea (learn a new language, see comments to last post) is pretty cool and I think I'll keep that on my list and try and get through as much spanish learning I can do, this year!

Too Late for Resolutions?

2009-02-02T20:51:00.001-08:00

It's been a super busy year so far. And I just realized a couple days ago, that it's the end of the first month and I haven't come up with any new years resolutions yet. I think it is important to make resolutions in life, even though the new year thing might be a little overrated. If you do your best to stick to them or achieve them, they give you a reason to push a little extra and get more done than you would have, otherwise.

So, is 2nd Feb, too late to be making resolutions for the year ahead?
I think it depends. If you're like me, you might be fine! You see, I don't just "make" resolutions on a yearly basis. I try to add to my existing resolution list, because I believe that good resolutions shouldn't end in just one year. Or at least all of your resolutions shouldn't be so short term. Since I am adding to my list, I am not really without resolutions to begin with and hence the exception!

OK, so now that I have established that it is fine for me to set my "additions" for this year, what are they going to be? Well, I'm obviously not going to share the whole list (the usual... work hard, make more money, help more people, have more fun, manage time better...) out here. What I will share are those specific ones that, I think, anyone can add to their own lists. And I will try to keep them to a realistic number, and define them clearly, so that they are actually maintainable as habits:

I. Be "Greener": Now there are obviously going to be those global warming "non-believers". To them I say, sure, you may have your reservations about some of the things I am about to say, but then again, no one can deny the fact that wasteful use of resources (whether they impact our environment or not) is generally considered bad practice. OK, with that said, what can I do on a regular basis to make myself "greener"?
A. Reduce the amount of plastic I use and throw: I will do my best to carry a reusable bag to the grocery store. I will do my best to re-use water bottles on runs etc.
B. Reduce fuel consumption: I have already made the switch to riding my motorcycle a few days a week, so that reduces my commute fuel consumption by about 1/2 right there. I am hoping that once the daylight time gets longer, I can alternate that with riding my road-bike, to completely eliminate driving my car, during the week.In addition, I will do my best to carpool as much as possible, on the weekends.
C. Conserve water (courtesy: Nitya's comment): This is particularly important for San Diegans, given we live in one of the driest places around. Some research suggests, maximizing use of the dishwasher, does help and so does, washing you car less and small things like that. I'll try my best to do some of those.
C. Increase awareness of things like A, B and C: I guess, in some sense, I am already working on this resolution :). But, more specifically, I will try be blog more actively about such stuff on the blog I had dedicated to this effort.

II. Read/ Write more:
To this end, I will do my best to blog more regularly (while trying to distribute content evenly among my three blogs). On the reading side, try my best to read one new book a month... or wait, let's make that a more realistic 5 new books for the whole year (and if I beat that, all the better). Oh, actually, here's an even better plan - let's link them both! "I will try to read at least 5 books and post reviews of them on my blog", as and when I finish reading them. There. Now we have a solid resolution!

III. Overcome More challenges
By challenges, I don't mean, those hard to solve problems in "life" or the hours spent debugging code in the lab. I mean serious "fun" challenges, that you knowingly set yourself up for.
A. Half Marathon Triple Crown : If you read the last few posts I wrote, you probably already know about my resolution to run 3 half marathons this year - I am going to one up that now by saying "I will try my best to better the time on my first half, that I ran about a week ago". That is going to be pretty challenging given that, the Carlsbad half was a "relatively" easy course and the weather was as good as it gets - but, we'll see... :)
B. Climb Tallest Peak in lower 48: I am hoping to climb Mt. Whitney this year and if possible do some other serious hikes in preparation for that, or otherwise.
C. Some comparable goal that involves a non-physical activity (more mentally challenging): TBD. Will try to finalize something interesting soon. If you have any ideas, let me know!

So, there we go, that's what I like to call "additions" for this year - specific, achievable, not too wussy, fun, and something most can add to their own lists!
Any suggestions, comments, criticisms?

Some people are born Marathoners...

2009-01-28T23:51:00.000-08:00

... while some others (like me) have marathon running thrust upon them?!!

Why do I say that? Well, for one, I am wearing a Carlsbad Marathon Finishers T-shirt (note, no "half" in there, anywhere). Why am I wearing this? The original half-marathon T-shirt that I got, when I went to pick up my bib, at the expo, the day before the half, was one size too small. So I figured I'd try and exchange it for a bigger size after the half was over. Exchange I sure did, but what I ended up getting in return was a full marathon finishers T-shirt. If I had noticed it right there, I would have taken care of it, but, neither did the person at the expo nor did I, until I got home. And so, as fate had to have it, here I am with my "undeserving" marathon finishers T-shirt :(

So, anyway, now I am left wondering... could this be a sign? Is this destiny's way of telling me that I am destined to run a full marathon??

Well, if you had asked me this question during the few hours immediately following my first half marathon, I would have gladly said "hell ya!!". Heck, with my "runners high" I had almost resolved to run the 2009 Rock 'n' Roll Marathon , in June, this year (in addition, of course, to the the triple crown resolve I made right after I had that little "chat" with Mr. Rauschenberg, during the expo).

A nice lunch, some resting and a cooler mind later, I began to think. And I started to wonder if not signing up a half marathon as my first running event (I have been doing shorter, 8K/ 10K type races for about 3 years now), had any effect on my performance on my first half. Did doing several shorter races over a fairly long period of time, before deciding to "officially" start training for a longer (13.1) race, help me become a better long distance runner? Would I have run the same pace and finished the same way I have, if I just woke up one fine day and decided to sign up for a half? Would I have been better or worse?

Well, my gut says I was way better off "working up" to the half, rather than just shooting for it straight. And, I think I am going to stick to that same gut feeling with the half marathon -> Full marathon gradient. I will put my full marathon aspirations off till at least 2010 (heck, even that number seems like the year to, for doing something major :) and continue running half marathons with the hope that they will do to my (somday) marathon performance, what the 8Ks and 10Ks did for my half.

I am hoping some of my running buddies (Bharat?) will decide to take the other route and shoot straight for the stars. I think that is a pretty darn awesome and gutsy move. Here's wishing them luck and hoping I can use their experience as a reference....

... and, here's me signing off for today, in my "guilty" finishers T-shirt!

Race Day - The Carlsbad Half Marathon 2009

2009-01-25T20:22:00.000-08:00

Yep, it's done. My first ever half marathon. The results are in:

Overall:	1664 out of 7147
Men:	1119 out of 2863
M 25-29:	197 out of 455
Age/Grade:	52.86% Place: 3283
Finish:	1:52:02 Pace: 8:33
Tag Time:	1:52:02
Gun Time:	1:56:26

I guess I'm going to start by saying that I did achieve my preset goal (see "target" in this post) and a little more (which is always a nice feeling). And when I say "... and a little more", I don't just mean, those golden 7 minutes and 58 seconds, that put me into the category of a "sub-2hr halfer" (which for some reason seems to have a halo around it, although, for the record, I think a 2:01 is just as spectacular as a 1:59). I am referring to the fact that I totally enjoyed running this race. And by "enjoyed", I mean everything from actually running the race, to watching people around me run, the sights and sounds (the rock bands, of course), the many thanks I said to the people with the thankless job of picking up after us folks in a hurry (the volunteers!!), all the posing I did for the photographs and the many short conversations I had (with known acquaintances and strangers alike).

What was interesting was, that I have actually never had a conversation with anyone during a race, in the past. That may have to do with the fact that all my past "official" races have been 6mi (10K) and under, which really doesn't leave much room for conversations now, does it? But, what I really think it had to do with, was 2 reasons:

1. My T-shirt
2. Dane Rauschenberg

My T-Shirt: Before I explain how my T-shirt ended up being a "conversation starter" (if there is such a thing, in a "race"), I think it is important for you to see the front and back design of this thing (and many many thanks to Pradeep, for coming up with that ultra cool logo of the running-man-India-flag). Now, I know what I you are thinking... that is one terrific looking T-shirt. Sure is. Both, the front and the back and very well thought out and extremely creative. Except for one small flaw. The logo for the back was designed by a bunch of Nerdy Engineers (yours truly, included), who, as ironic as it sounds, failed to foresee how the physics of the intended application could come into play to mess things up. You see, the logo on the reverse was supposed to portray our "world-peace" or "anti-terrorism" theme, which it does perfectly (with some minor restrictions, as you will see). As it would turn out, when the logo on the reverse is in motion at an average speed of about 7 miles an hour, coupled with an upward/ downward rhythmic, bobbing movement of a few inches and a slight sideways wind (from the Pacific Ocean), it is pretty easy to garner responses from fellow marathoners, along the lines of "... is that a list of all the races you have run so far?" or "... wow, you actually ran in New Delhi?!" (although, I must give that guy credit for being able to read "New Delhi" under those conditions). And that is the story behind how I got into several of those short conversations (still beats me, why anyone would think I would decide to put a huge "STOP" sign next to the list of my races :).

Dane Rauschenberg: If his name doesn't ring a bell right away, you're not alone. I had no idea who he was until the day before my first half, either. I happened to bump into his "motivational speech" at the half marathon expo. Now, I am usually not the kind that gets drawn toward "motivational speakers", maybe partly because I think I am pretty darn motivated to begin with (or, so I'd like to think ;-) and partly because, most of the motivational speakers I've come across in the past, have had little to prove their case. In Dane's case, that was ruled out off the bat, when I read the brief description on the event schedule posted outside the room - "this man ran 52 full marathons in 52 consecutive weekends of the same year (2006)" (and may I add, while maintaining a day job). Now, before I went into this session, I was, for the most part, convinced that the Carlsbad half will very likely be the only event of it's kind for me for a while (at least for 2009). But, for some reason, after having listened to what he had to say about his "52 in 52" experience and talking to him in person, I realized, if he could sign up for 52 in 52, I should at least allow myself a crack at 1.5 in 52 (that's 3, 0.5 mathons = 1.5, just so we're talking common denominator ;-). So, long story short, I left the expo convinced, more than ever, that I was going to at least "attempt" 3 half marathons in 2009. Alright, now how does this connect to the main topic (conversations on the half)? Well, as it turns out, I have historically always been the type that gives every race the every last bit (I guess it must be easy to do on 10K's or something) of energy... and the Carlsbad half was going to be no exception. The plan was to race the hell out of myself, and not worry about whether I could limp out of bed on Monday morning, to go to work. Unfortunately, the events at the expo that resulted in me deciding to pursue my "attempt", which meant I didn't want to "risk-it-all" on the Carlsbad Half. As a result, I decided to only push it a little bit more than I was used to, on my training runs, thus creating all that time for "enjoyment".

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading this post as much as I enjoyed writing it. Do let me know either ways (comments).... and hopefully, see you on the LJHM

THIS IS IT!! - Any Guesses on my finish time?

2009-01-23T10:25:00.001-08:00

Nearly 2 months of running and this is what it all comes down to. I must admit though that, it almost seems like I just started training yesterday . And no matter how anxious I am, to get to that start line of the Carlsbad Half Marathon as soon as possible, there is a small part of me that always feels that maybe if I had trained a little more, I'd cut a minute or two more... oh that little minute that seems so tiny otherwise... seems golden on the race.

Come to think of it, that wasn't bad at all... 2 short runs a week and one long run on the weekend?... almost seems like I could do this all the time and more importantly, almost seems like there should be ABSOLUTELY NO REASON FOR ANYONE TO NOT DO IT!

Alright... being an Engineer... I feel a need to explain analytically, quantitatively and logically, every statement I make or theory I propose. So, here's a summary of what I had to do, to feel confident enough, to go do this (hopefully you'll be in agreement with me, after you read it)

SUMMARY
=========

Total training time from the time I officially decide to start training: 2 months (Nov 22nd, 2008 to Jan 22nd, 2009)
Total Distance Run during training (not including the half): ~140miles.
Total Time commitment per week: 1hr on Tue + 1hr on Thu + 2 hrs on Sat = 4Hrs/ week.
Total time spent training: 4*8 = 32Hrs
Target: Since this is my first half marathon (or first long distance running event for that matter), I started out with the aim of finishing, then slowly progressed towards a more and more aggressive pace... finally ending with a hope of a close to 2 hour finish

NOTE: I wasn't absolutely sedentary before I "officially" started training... but, I only ran once a week and restricted myself to under 6 miles for the most part. Also, I have to mention, having the best running group of friends (~15 of who will be running alongside me this Sunday) was a huge part of making this seem like nothing.

DETAILED RUN DATA
===================

DAY | DISTANCE | TIME | PACE
==============================================================
Sat (11/22) ~7.5mi ~1:02hrs ~8:30 (Not Accurate)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (12/2) ~5.5mi ~46min ~8:36 (Not Accurate)
Thu (12/4) ~3.5mi ~27min ~7:70 (Fartleks)
Sat (12/6) ~9.35mi ~1:27 ~9:20 (Fairly Accurate)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (12/9) ~5.5mi ~55min ~10:00 (Did this slow, intentionally)
Thu (12/11) ~4.0mi ~32min ~8:00 (Fartleks)
Sat (12/13) ~10mi ~1:35 ~9:30 (Fairly Accurate)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (12/16) ~5.5mi ~48min ~8:45 (Fairly Accurate)
Thu (12/18) ~4.5mi ~40min ~8:50 (Fairly accurate, Hill Training in cold)
Sat (12/20) ~9.2mi ~1:27 ~9:30 (Crappiest long run on record, shins hurt from get-go :( )
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wed (12/24) ~5mi ~45min ~9:00 (Accurate, shins were still hurting)
Sun (12/28) ~9mi ~1:25 ~9:20 (Accurate with some hills, shins feeling better)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wed (12/31) ~6mi ~48.5min ~8:05 (Accurate and FAST, shins recovered!)
Sun (1/4) ~11mi ~1:38 ~8:54 (Accurate, with some hills)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wed (1/7) ~4mi ~40min ~10:00 (intentionally slow, was a recovery run from Sunday's 11miler)
Fri (1/9) ~3mi ~24min ~8:00 (Fartleks on the treadmill)
Sun (1/11) ~11.6mi ~1:50 ~9:30 (took it easy 'coz I wasn't feeling a 100%, due to the flu symptoms)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (1/13) ~2mi ~20min ~10:00 (Slow paced recovery run, after sunday's 12 miler)
Thu (1/15) ~5.0mi ~41min ~8:10 (Fartleks)
Sat (1/17) ~7.4mi ~1:04 ~8:30 (Fairly Accurate)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (1/20) ~6.2mi ~50min ~8:05 (Ran this faster than I wanted to, or intended to)
Thu (1/22) ~3.5mi ~32min ~9:10 (Slow paced final training run)
Sat (1/25) - TBD (CARLSBAD HALF MARATHON 2009!!!)
=============================================================

Well... let's see how accurate a reflection, my final race day time is, of my training runs.

Any guesses on my finish time? (leave a comment)

Hopefully I have done my part in getting some of you to put that pair on and head out!

Reached the Peak

2009-01-12T10:01:00.001-08:00

We did our longest training run this weekend. The plan was to do the actual Carlsbad Half Marathon route in reverse . Unfortunately, the trauma of losing our water (we place water at strategic points along our long runs, and this time someone flicked it) at mile 4, made us miss the turn right after that, and we ended up off course for the last mile or so. I remapped the actual run we did and it ended up being 11.6 miles (which isn't too bad). The one thing to note though, is that, this route happens to have multiple water fountains - there are about 3, along the bridge over Buena Vista Lagoon and another pretty close to the 4 mile mark, by Mountain View Dr.
Here is the updated run data. It's taper off time from here on...

DAY | DISTANCE | TIME | PACE
==============================================================
Sat (11/22) ~7.5mi ~1:02hrs ~8:30 (Not Accurate)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (12/2) ~5.5mi ~46min ~8:36 (Not Accurate)
Thu (12/4) ~3.5mi ~27min ~7:70 (Fartleks)
Sat (12/6) ~9.35mi ~1:27 ~9:20 (Fairly Accurate)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (12/9) ~5.5mi ~55min ~10:00 (Did this slow, intentionally)
Thu (12/11) ~4.0mi ~32min ~8:00 (Fartleks)
Sat (12/13) ~10mi ~1:35 ~9:30 (Fairly Accurate)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (12/16) ~5.5mi ~48min ~8:45 (Fairly Accurate)
Thu (12/18) ~4.5mi ~40min ~8:50 (Fairly accurate, Hill Training in cold)
Sat (12/20) ~9.2mi ~1:27 ~9:30 (Crappiest long run on record, shins hurt from get-go :( )
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wed (12/24) ~5mi ~45min ~9:00 (Accurate, shins were still hurting)
Sun (12/28) ~9mi ~1:25 ~9:20 (Accurate with some hills, shins feeling better)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wed (12/31) ~6mi ~48.5min ~8:05 (Accurate and FAST, shins recovered!)
Sun (1/4) ~11mi ~1:38 ~8:54 (Accurate, with some hills)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wed (1/7) ~4mi ~40min ~10:00 (intentionally slow, was a recovery run from Sunday's 11miler)
Fri (1/9) ~3mi ~24min ~8:00 (Fartleks on the treadmill)
Sun (1/11) ~11.6mi ~1:50 ~9:30 (took it easy 'coz I wasn't feeling a 100%, due to the flu symptoms)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I also confirmed the "Cold Treatment" theory about walking into the ocean, minutes after the run. I feel totally recovered today and ready for another 12! So, it definitely works (and the Pacific is brutally cold :P )

Almost at the Peak + keys to fast recovery

2009-01-04T14:23:00.000-08:00

Did 11 miles this morning. Next weekend will be my longest training run.... and it is taper-off from then on. Here is the table updated with this weeks data:

DAY | DISTANCE | TIME | PACE
==============================================================
Sat (11/22) ~7.5mi ~1:02hrs ~8:30 (Not Accurate)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (12/2) ~5.5mi ~46min ~8:36 (Not Accurate)
Thu (12/4) ~3.5mi ~27min ~7:70 (Fartleks)
Sat (12/6) ~9.35mi ~1:27 ~9:20 (Fairly Accurate)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (12/9) ~5.5mi ~55min ~10:00 (Did this slow, intentionally)
Thu (12/11) ~4.0mi ~32min ~8:00 (Fartleks)
Sat (12/13) ~10mi ~1:35 ~9:30 (Fairly Accurate)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (12/16) ~5.5mi ~48min ~8:45 (Fairly Accurate)
Thu (12/18) ~4.5mi ~40min ~8:50 (Fairly accurate, Hill Training in cold)
Sat (12/20) ~9.2mi ~1:27 ~9:30 (Crappiest long run on record, shins hurt from get-go :( )
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wed (12/24) ~5mi ~45min ~9:00 (Accurate, shins were still hurting)
Sun (12/28) ~9mi ~1:25 ~9:20 (Accurate with some hills, shins feeling better)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wed (12/31) ~6mi ~48.5min ~8:05 (Accurate and FAST, shins recovered!)
Sun (1/4) ~11mi ~1:38 ~8:54 (Accurate, with some hills)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I also may have discovered to the 2 main keys to a fast recovery from a long hard run like the 11miler I did today. IE + CT.
Instant elevation (IE): use a park bench to keep your legs elevated for 10 mins (while sleeping on your back).
Cold treatment (CT): before shower just place legs under cold tap water. Even better is to walk into the ocean after the run, which I hope to try next time.

And ofcourse the general rules of recovery which include feeding and hydrating yourself ASAP and R.I.C.E

Need to get faster, FAST!!!

2008-12-29T14:49:00.000-08:00

Seems like both my running and my blogging are slacking during the holidays. I did just 2 runs this week and forgot to blog about my runs the week before.

DAY | DISTANCE | TIME | PACE
==============================================================
Sat (11/22) ~7.5mi ~1:02hrs ~8:30 (Not Accurate)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (12/2) ~5.5mi ~46min ~8:36 (Not Accurate)
Thu (12/4) ~3.5mi ~27min ~7:70 (Fartleks)
Sat (12/6) ~9.35mi ~1:27 ~9:20 (Fairly Accurate)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (12/9) ~5.5mi ~55min ~10:00 (Did this slow, intentionally)
Thu (12/11) ~4.0mi ~32min ~8:00 (Fartleks)
Sat (12/13) ~10mi ~1:35 ~9:30 (Fairly Accurate)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (12/16) ~5.5mi ~48min ~8:45 (Fairly Accurate)
Thu (12/18) ~4.5mi ~40min ~8:50 (Fairly accurate, Hill Training in cold)
Sat (12/20) ~9.2mi ~1:27 ~9:30 (Crappiest long run on record, shins hurt from get-go :( )
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wed (12/24) ~5mi ~45min ~9:00 (Accurate, shins were still hurting)
Sun (12/28) ~9mi ~1:25 ~9:20 (Accuratem with some hills, shins feeling better)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From the data collected so far, it is seeming like I am going to settle on a 9:30 average on race day (=> 2:05 finish), which would suck. With some luck (and race-day adrenalin) I might just barely squeeze in under 2 hours.... but, then again I could just as well have a bad day and fall past to 2:10 or worse.
Oh, well... only time will tell.

Now at 10

2008-12-12T11:25:00.000-08:00

Did a 10miler today. We started from Moonlight Beach in Encinitas and ran to Villa De La Valle and back. It was 55F, this morning and there was a steady cross wind by the coast that made it feel about 5 degrees colder. Perfect training weather!

Here are the stats, updated with this weeks run data:

DAY | DISTANCE | TIME | PACE
==============================================================
Sat (11/22) ~7.5mi ~1:02hrs ~8:30 (Not Accurate)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (12/2) ~5.5mi ~46min ~8:36 (Not Accurate)
Thu (12/4) ~3.5mi ~27min ~7:70 (Fartleks)
Sat (12/6) ~9.35mi ~1:27 ~9:35 (Fairly Accurate)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (12/9) ~5.5mi ~55min ~10:00 (Did this slow, intentionally)
Thu (12/11) ~4.0mi ~32min ~8:00 (Fartleks)
Sat (12/6) ~10mi ~1:35 ~9:30 (Fairly Accurate)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Running towards the half

2008-12-07T14:17:00.000-08:00

I just thought this up. Might be a nice idea to do runs that keep going north along the 101 from Del Mar to Carlsbad and increase in mileage, so as to ultimately end in the Carlsbad half route about 3 weekends before the actual Carlsbad half on 1/25:

With that in mind, I mapped out runs that increase in distance from 9mi to 13 and go further north towards the actual carlsbad half course.

(12/6). Del Mar Run (9miler, that we did on 12/6)

(12/13). Swami's Beach 10 miler

(12/20) Moonlight Beach <-> Palomar Airport 11 miler

(12/27) Some random route, since it's the holiday weekend :)

(1/3/09) Half-Before-the-half

Up and Down the Torrey Pines Hill...

2008-12-06T13:23:00.000-08:00

Did 9.35 miles this morning. The route was supposed to be from Villa De La Valle to the entrance of the Torrey Pines state park and back, but, when we got to the water fountain at the entrance, some of us were feeling a little too psyched and decided to keep going another 0.75mi, up the treacherous Torrey Pines hill, before we turned around. Felt really good, when we finally turned around to head back (as Sree remarked, "it almost feels like we just started running", while we had been running for 4.5mi at that point).
So anyways, with this, here is my updated running schedule and performance, so far (thanks to Krishna and Prasad for the accurate distances from their Garmin watches):

DAY | DISTANCE | TIME | PACE
==============================================================
Sat (11/22) ~7.5mi ~1:02hrs ~8:30 (Not Accurate)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (12/2) ~5.5mi ~46min ~8:36 (Not Accurate)
Thu (12/4) ~3.5mi ~27min ~7:70 (Fartleks)
Sat (12/6) ~9.35mi ~1:27 ~9:35 (Fairly Accurate)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6 Weeks to Carslbad Half '09 (1/25) - My Journey in a journal

2008-12-04T22:15:00.000-08:00

Alright, with the signing up all taken care of, it's time to make a plan ('coz a man without a plan ain't a man.... something like that, anyway ;-). So, here goes:

I plan on running 3 times week - Tuesday's, Thursday's and Saturday's.
2 of those (T/S) will be group runs and longer in distance, with the Sat run being the longest, to allow for recovery, if needed. Th will be reserved for Fartleks, that, I hope, will help improve my pace.

RUNNING SCHEDULE:

DAY DISTANCE TIME PACE
==============================================================
Sat (11/22) ~7.5mi ~1:02hrs ~8:30 (Not Accurate)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (12/2) ~5.5mi ~46min ~8:36 (Not Accurate)
Thu (12/4) ~3.5mi ~27min ~7:70 (Fartleks)
Sat (12/6)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue
Thu
Sat
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I will continue to fill this in with data as I clock in the miles, each week. (and I hope to make accurate measurements from here on)

So, why the heck am I doing this?
1. I'm selfish: I happen to be one of those weirdos who performs better under pressure than without. So, I think it will help me a great deal if I make things such, that, the pressure is ON! To this end, I plan to create group activities in addition to this journal, so as to pile on the pressure!
2. I'm selfless: I am hoping this will be an interesting experiment, that not only I can benefit from, in future competitions (assuming, I am still running a couple months from now, that is ;-) and also help other runners of various levels use this data. I strongly believe that this might reveal some patterns on the effects that training regimens like fartleks have on runners performance and in the end, also yield some insight on being able to judge/ predict one's race day results from past performance.

So, if you are a runner reading this do tell me what I am doing right and (more importantly) what I am doing abysmally wrong. And, if you are a non-runner, I hope this journal motivates you to put on that pair and sneak out the door in the early hours!

Happy Running!

My First Half

2008-12-03T21:48:00.000-08:00

I've never needed too much motivation to go for a run, and so, I never felt compelled to sign up for a formal event to keep me running.... but, lately I feel like I am reaching a point where I would like to take my running to a new level, in terms of distance and competitiveness. I've mostly been a 5mile and under, casual runner so far and after thinking about it for a while I finally decided to sign up for a half marathon and see if that helps me achieve this goal of reaching a new level in my running.

So, yeah, I figured if I was going take the plunge I might as well do it in one of the most popular half marathons around - The CARLSBAD HALF MARATHON. What makes it so special? Well, for starters, it is held in the coastal town of Carlsbad (San Diego), which happens to be 30mi from home for me. The course is beautiful and happens to be along the coast, all along. Since, it is held in January (25th), the weather also promises to be ideal for running (50-65F). It is also supposedly very well managed and coordinated in terms of facilities and resources. With all that, it is little surprise that it has been selling out ahead of time for the last couple years. It is expected to sell out in the next week or so (Dec 10th), so were planning on running it or if reading this post got you motivated to do so, go here , RIGHT NOW and SIGN UP!!

Another Quake in SoCal

2008-07-29T11:48:00.000-07:00

Can't believe I haven't posted anything between the last one and this one.

Just saw my PC monitor shake like crazy:

The USGS is " reporting a 5.8, with an epicenter in the LA area.

Did you feel the quake?

2008-02-11T10:42:00.000-08:00

We just felt an earthquake tremor here in San Diego and I think I know the source (maps taken from the USGS website)

Did you feel it?

Google works for me!

2008-02-10T22:31:00.002-08:00

Just go to google.com, enter the text "mt. woodsen" and look at the third search result!!
Amazing how fast it got indexed... google rocks!

SameName.com

2008-01-21T22:38:00.000-08:00

No..no.. don't try to look that up.. it doesn't exist. So, why did I post it? Well, the post about the "Name Lookup" thing (see: previous post) got me thinking...

...oh, yeah... how would it be to start a website (a social networking one, possibly?) that has communities dedicated to people with the same names. You can have different communities within the site for variations of the name game. One dedicated to collecting people with the same first AND last name, one dedicated to just first name, one to just last names (think one big, global "Murty" Family), one dedicated to people who's name works both ways (Palindrome's like Hannah, Ana, Elle, Eve, Bob, Kanak, Nayan, Nitin, Talat..)... and so on...

Hmmm... will have to do some research on this... what do you think?

Who's "Lookin' you up" today?

2008-01-20T21:36:00.000-08:00

I was reading this new article about a survey by the PEW research center, which found that nearly half of the folks online have looked up themselves! Some other interesting figures:

Searched themselves online: 47% (up from 22% in 2002)

Looked up the web for people they have lost touch with: 36%

Dug up info on someone they were dating: 9%

Searched for someone they were about to hire or work with: 11%

I confess to doing all of those and more :) and am glad to say I have actually managed to re-establish broken bonds. Like, for instance, through Orkut, I was able to get back in touch with some of my childhood friends, whom, I had completely lost touch with (what, you think I am bad? well, those were the days of the "snail mail" remember?)

Well... will this make you a little more conscious about your "online presence"? Will this cause you to "trim the trail"? Or could you care less? Oh, forgot to mention, the polls also suggest that 61% of the folks didn't care about it!

Is it a new year thing?

2007-12-29T10:20:00.000-08:00

Not sure if it is a New Year thing, but I feel very drawn to jump(re-)start my blogging. So, I guess I could state it officially (without committing too much ;) ) "I hereby resolve to blog more regularly in the coming year, than I did in the one that went by".

And to help me keep my resolution, I have decided to start yet another blog, so that it adds to the guilt, every time I slack off!!

Happy New Year!

Traveling can be a lot of learning!

2007-05-01T21:34:00.000-07:00

So, I just got back from 3 weeks of vacation, back home in India. The vacation was great but the learning experience started after that. I got a chance to actually work out of my company's office in Bangalore. This was a very unique experience for me, because, although, I did spend the first 22 years of my life in India, I never actually "worked" there. Add to it, the fact that all my work life has been spent in the US (Southern California to be specific), meant that the work culture differences were also pretty apparent.

I was really impressed by all the advancement that keeps happening each time I visit India, after a year or two. I also had to jump through some hoops to get my travel schedule right and I was pretty impressed by all the new private airline company's, although, I was really pissed with one specific Airline company and (a couple of weeks ago at least) had made up my mind to make it one of my life's "goals" to bring down this company... well, I will blog about that plenty... later...

That's it for now..

Adobe Reader, Read Aloud Feature is cool

2007-02-22T11:19:00.000-08:00

Just stumbled upon this one..

Open document in Adobe Acrobat.
Selct View | Read out Loud | Read this page only (or) Read to end of document.

Viola! Time to sit back and enjoy those free e-books!

Note: Tested on Acrobat Reader 7.0 version 7.0.5

Spammers Strike

2007-02-10T19:58:00.000-08:00

I've been getting hit pretty hard by spam comments, lately and have been considering moving to moderated comments... will give it a few more days... :(

am

A country within a country

2006-08-28T22:31:00.000-07:00

Just back from a week long work/ vacation trip. This was my first trip to the other side of the country. In the 4 years that I have lived in the US, this is my first trip to the East Coast. And the experience was filled with more unexpected things than I thought it would be. For a start, this was the first time, I got lost while trying to get to my destination. Well, actually, I didn't really get lost, it was just that I thought I was and so ended up wasting time driving back and forth and thus ended up the taking the longest time I have ever taken to cover 30 miles.

Some of the distinct differences I saw between the East and West coast I noted were

1. Much more diversity of people in the west coast, than the east.
2. I think the west coast is much more naturally scenic
3. I think the east coast has a lot more history embedded in it.
4.

Update... Feb 11th, 2007... I actually saved the draft of this message on 8/28/06 and logged backed in today. As hard as I try... I just can not seem to be able to continue the train of thought... I guess I got lost again (this time virtual though)... well.. let's just move on...

Back in action

2006-07-14T20:50:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about what a graphical depiction of my blog activity would look like.... hmm... let's see.... picture a graph with number/ frequency of blog posts on the Y-Axis and days on the X-Axis..... hmm... what would that look like? well... one thing is for sure... it's definitely going to be closer to a digital pulse than a sinusoidal one.... seems like I go through plases of hightened activity and those of inactivity... but never anything in between....

Well... so I guess that would make this post the end of a rising edge now wouldn't it? Too geeky... yeah... that's what happens when you spend too many hours in the lab on a Friday... note to self!

Officially back in action

10Ks or a piece of cake?

2006-04-10T21:42:00.000-07:00

Yep... that's right... the 10Ks were a piece 'o cake this time 'round. I finished in about 55 mins and it seemed like I could keep going... :)

The only downside, all the running cost me 4 lbs... so now, no running for atleast a week, just hogging and weights!

A very special post !

2006-04-05T13:23:00.000-07:00

This is a very special post...

... isn't it?

... Don't you see it?

... oh,well... what makes this post so special....?
It's TIME STAMP... get it? :-)

** clue: write the time in hours.minutes followed by the date in mm.dd.yy format.... !

Is All fools day really a fools day in ALL??

2006-04-03T22:30:00.000-07:00

I somehow let this one pass by (remember my blogs mission statement? :))... but luckily one of my friends brought it up..

What started the april fools day tradition?

Some research reveals that the origins of this bizzare day may have more to do with a change in the calendar, than anything else:

The closest point in time that can be identified as the beginning of this tradition was in 1582, in France. Prior to that year, the new year was celebrated for eight days, beginning on March 25. The celebration culminated on April 1. With the reform of the calendar under Charles IX, the Gregorian Calendar was introduced, and New Year's Day was moved to January 1.

However, communications being what they were in the days when news traveled by foot, many people did not receive the news for several years. Others, the more obstinate crowd, refused to accept the new calendar and continued to celebrate the new year on April 1. These backward folk were labeled as "fools" by the general populace. They were subject to some ridicule, and were often sent on "fools errands" or were made the butt of other practical jokes.

This harassment evolved, over time, into a tradition of prank-playing on the first day of April. The tradition eventually spread to England and Scotland in the eighteenth century. It was later introduced to the American colonies of both the English and French. April Fool's Day thus developed into an international fun fest, so to speak, with different nationalities specializing in their own brand of humor at the expense of their friends and families.

In Scotland, for example, April Fool's Day is actually celebrated for two days. The second day is devoted to pranks involving the posterior region of the body. It is called Taily Day. The origin of the "kick me" sign can be traced to this observance.

Mexico's counterpart of April Fool's Day is actually observed on December 28. Originally, the day was a sad remembrance of the slaughter of the innocent children by King Herod. It eventually evolved into a lighter commemoration involving pranks and trickery.

Pranks performed on April Fool's Day range from the simple, (such as saying, "Your shoe's untied!), to the elaborate. Setting a roommate's alarm clock back an hour is a common gag. Whatever the prank, the trickster usually ends it by yelling to his victim, "April Fool!"

Practical jokes are a common practice on April Fool's Day. Sometimes, elaborate practical jokes are played on friends or relatives that last the entire day. The news media even gets involved. For instance, a British short film once shown on April Fool's Day was a fairly detailed documentary about "spaghetti farmers" and how they harvest their crop from the spaghetti trees.

April Fool's Day is a "for-fun-only" observance. Nobody is expected to buy gifts or to take their "significant other" out to eat in a fancy restaurant. Nobody gets off work or school. It's simply a fun little holiday, but a holiday on which one must remain forever vigilant, for he may be the next April Fool!

10 days to 10Ks!

2006-03-31T21:11:00.000-08:00

10 more days to my 10K/ 6mi run in Santa Barbara! I am seriously hoping to better my time over last year (1hr and 16 mins). Now that I think about it, that wasn't bad for a run without any training at all.

This time around, I've been a little more disciplined, been running regularly for about a month now. I ran a 5 miles on Wed and 3 today... the plan is to peak this sunday by doing 6 miles and then "taper off" over next week, with no running at all on Thursday/ Friday, to accumulate strength for the main event next Saturday... I just hope I can keep my average pace close to 6.5 so I can complete under an hr this time!

I realize this ain't a major marathon, but I am trying to attack it with the same planning that goes into training for a real marathon!

Okay, that said, I have just enough time to upload a new pic on my other blog... hmm... wassit gonna be today... wassit gonna be :)

Idea for a new feature on Blogger

2006-03-26T21:49:00.000-08:00

I was surfing through some blogs that I got to through some comments posted by other bloggers on mine. This seemed like a way to find new and interesting blogs (interesting because, more often than not, poeple who comment on your blog tend to have similar interests as you).

If you have used orkut (another online community oriented portal owned by Google) you probably know that as you browse profiles of people, Orkut keeps track of the shortest path from you to the person, whose profile you are looking at. In Orkut, each member maintains a list of friends and when you look at a profile the "trails" are formed by looking at various paths (through friend lists) connecting the two profiles in question.

Now, although blogger does not have the concept of a friends list, we do have comments from other bloggers, and so I wonder if it might be possible to introduce a similar way of providing a "trail of comments" wherever possible? That way, when you reach a blog (and you are logged in) you know what all different paths you have taken to get there in the past...

My new (second) Blog.... More show, less talk :)

2006-03-23T21:36:00.000-08:00

The idea to float a new blog came up as I was cleaning up my personal laptop and drifted into browsing through my photo collection. Most of the pics I have now were taken in the last (almost 4) few years, since I moved to the US. And, since I lived in Los Angeles for the first 2, in Santa Barbara for the next one and half and now I am in San Diego, most of the pictures are of places in the California. So, anyways, I thought why not pick out some interesting ones and share them with the world and (hopefully) get some people travelling... hiking... running... going out...

I called it "I've beeen places" and named the url AnilsOutdoorzy.blogspot.com (link on the right side bar)

Welp... that's that... hope you like 'em!

Bogus Post on Google News

2006-03-15T15:07:00.000-08:00

Found this article on InformationWeek..

"...A 16-year-old Google fan was able to get a bogus press release announcing his hiring by the search engine on Google News, and the distributor of the release has been removed as a source for the automated news service, Google said Wednesday..."

"...The release, which has been removed from I-Newswire and Google News, said the boy had been hired to work on security flaws in Google's Web mail service Gmail, according to a blog posting from StepForth Placement Inc., a consulting service for getting higher listings on search engine results. The announcement, which was attributed to Google co-founder and president Larry Page, also said the teen-ager would work from his New Jersey home and his earnings would be placed in a bank account for his education...."

Read more here

This seems to point somewhat similar flaws I found with the search engines news service and mentioned in an earlier blog post titled "Is Google Letting me (us) down? ".

Moto MING SmartPhone

2006-03-14T11:27:00.000-08:00

Just released today and features Intel's Xscale Architecture.

Motorola's "MING" Smartphone

But what I liked the most of all is the naming, which reflects the device's charecteristics in Chinese! In general, I think Moto's Idea of naming its mobile devices with more user friendly 4 lettered words is a great idea.. I mean what would you be more likely to remember RAZR, SLVR (pronounced Sliver and NOT Silver) or A900, C183?

Oh, BTW the RAZR's are back in action , after a short disruption:

am
PS: I know this blog is meant to be about ideas, but I can't help throwing in some Moto PDA (public display of affection) from time to time

The "Omlette Master"

2006-03-12T13:30:00.000-08:00

I think I have reached a point in my life where I can confidently say that I have mastered the art of Omlette Making (you could throw in a "healthy" and a "vegetarian" in there, if you will). It took a while (a few years to be precise) but I'm glad I am finally there :P
So, without further do, here it is:

Ingredients:

1/2 small onion (1/4th if big)
1/2 small tomato (the firmer the better)
coupla green chillies (smallest Jalapeneos you can find in Alby's)
1/4th green bell pepper (optional)
1/4th orange bell pepper (optional)
ginger paste (optional)
3-4 teaspoons of olive oil (butter if, I'm bad)
2-3 eggs.
Salt and Pepper to taste
grated chese (if, I'm bad)

*Optional: may be dropped with no loss of functionality and little loss of taste.
**I'm bad indicates you are a fitness freak like me and would prefer not to use it.

Recipe:

1. Chop onion into REALLY small pieces (cubes). Do same with bell peppers and tomato.
2. Chop green chillies into thin rings.
3. Pour few drops olive oil in an average size saucepan. Heat a little.
4. Add onions, green chillies and ginger paste saute for 1-2 mins.
4. Then add tomatoes, bell peppers and saute. Squeeze lime.
5. After a few mins, collect all that in a plate and place aside.
6. Beat two eggs really well (the more forthy, the better).
7. Take a little olive oil (butter if, I'm bad) in a sauce pan (I use the same one as before) and spread it around. Heat for a few mins, then turn heat very low.
8. Add beaten eggs, and cook on low. Close the sauce pan with a cover (this is THE KEY, allows the top side of the omlette to be STEAM COOKED, as well).
9. open the cover and add the sauted veggies in the center of the omlette. Add grated cheese on top (if, I'm bad).
10. Fold the omlette in a three fold (fold from two ends, so that they meet in the middle.
11. cook on low flame with cover for a couple more minutes.
12. Enjoy with ketchup, or a mixture of ketchup and mustard!!

Shorter Cut:

1. Drop all optional items
2. Dont fry veggies separately. Just add them raw to beaten eggs.
3. But remember to cook on low flame with cover.
4. Turn omlette around, after cooking one side for about 3-4 mins.

ENGINEERS MAKE THE WORLD

2006-03-06T13:21:00.001-08:00

We Celebrated NATIONAL ENGINEERS WEEK TODAY (Albeit a lil late :P)

http://www.eweek.org/

We had a nice "Ice-Cream Social" at Lunch, today!... Yummmm :)
I had the Haagen-Dazs Dark Chocolate Bar ... and it wasn't a random choice:

Dark Chocolate is Healthy Chocolate - Source WebMD

-am

Is Google letting me (us) down?

2006-03-04T10:36:00.000-08:00

I use google all the time, I mean like atleast 20-30 times a day at the minimum, and I do remember that there was a time (somewhere in the past, 4-5 years ago) when things were a little different. I wasn't as reliant on search engines for information (not sure if it was less dependence on the web or the fact that India was still playing catch up with the broadband revolution, leaving me poking along with my 28.8 kbps dial-up modem) but, when I did try to find information "out there" it usually was through a portal called Yahoo!. Now, I am not sure when this switch to a different search engine happened, but I was convinced it was for the best. But, lately, I have been getting some strong indications, that maybe I should consider reverting back?!!

Well, it all started a few weeks ago. I like to keep up with any news/ releases/ blogs about Motorola and so I have this automatic news alert setup with Google News (I think I have had this for about a year now), that sends me an alert whenever it finds a few news articles relating to Motorola (or, to be more specific, articles with occurances of the word "Motorola in them). So, anyway in one of these alerts a few weeks ago, I learnt that Motorola had been awarded the National Medal of Technology by president Bush. I was happy to be notified real fast and automatically, but I wasn't very happy with that particular article (was very terse and lacked photographs) and so I decided to go look for more articles on the same topic "out-there". Snap, CTRL-T on firefox, enter goo (and ofcourse it was on the history list). I enter the phrase "motorola bush award" and I expect to see the Motorola News releases page" in the first few links (if not the very first), but to my surprise I didn't find anything relevant in the whole first page of search results. I figured it was too early to be looking for public articles on the topic (it probably had to do with my strong reliance on google, and that it can never be wrong) and went back to my business. I tried back a few hours later only to be disappointed again. This time, I thought why not give my old pal Yahoo a shot and I was amazed to see Motorola News center page show up as the very first link!

Second instance. This mornings (Saturday, Mar 4th) Motorola news alert had this article in it. The article is titled "Apple and Motorola launch iPod Phone hybrid". I was excited for a moment, thinking that Motorola and Apple finally settled things and decided to bring out a "True iTunes phone with more than 100 songs" (actually, this prompted my previous post as well ;)). All that excitement quickly turned into disappontment when I realized this was an article about the ROKR and that too the very first version of the phone released in Sep '05). I was really surprised why such an old article showed up in the search. Now, I do understand, that this could be because the article was published late and so the website (ilikemusic.com) is the one to blame.

Nevertheless, these occurances have prompted me to re-evaluate my search engine choice!! So much so, that I am seriously considering running comparison searches between Google and Yahoo! from time to time...

PS: And ofcourse, I understand, that at the bottom of it all, these guys (Yahoo, Google and the other gizillian search engines out there) provide us web search for FREE!

On Moto's SLVR and ROKR Phones...

2006-03-04T09:58:00.000-08:00

I just couldn't help pass this up. I'm sure a lot of people must know about Motorola's two main iTunes supporting cell phones - the (earlier) ROKR and the (latest) SLVR L7. These are, no doubt, very cool phones and a we get to see a lot of reviews, articles and blogs about 'em. But, there are a couple things that upset me. A major portion of the articles written seem to criticize Motorola for setting the song limit on iTunes at a 100 songs. The original ROKR didn't take off as well as expected (atleast no where close to the super successful RAZR), and I think the reason for this was because, the iPod Nano and other iPod releases coincided with it and most people were expecting an iPod and in the process forgot that the ROKR was supposed to be a real good phone with many of the features that most current generation phones support and oh by the way, it also has iTunes. Instead, all the hype (surrounding the iPod releases and roumors of partnership between Motorola and Apple) ended up making people expect exactly the opposite of what was intended - people were expecting the ROKR to be a iPod that is also a phone... well, bad marketing you say? possible.

Even more upsetting than that are the comments being made about the SLVR. I think Moto did an EXCELLENT job with this phone, by bringing the super cool, ground breaking, iconic looks of the RAZR to ardent candy-bar phone fans (myself included!). Most articles I have read are all praises about the looks, the form factor and other advanced features of the phone. But, for some reason, a major proportion of articles can't help sneaking in the fact (usually at the end of the articles) that the phone (SLVR) still has the same 100 song limit. What upsets me, is that do these people ever stop to think that maybe this is because of a business agreement between Motorola and Apple? (Note: this is purely a common sense guess and i have no information to support it). I mean, think about it, why would Motorola be so stupid to put the same limit back in the SLVR, when in reality they have made so many other advances in technology (like USB charging, removable/ expandable memory cards)? Clearly if they could add more memory, allowing more songs couldn't have been much harder. So, maybe this is a restriction Apple imposed, after all (would you buy a iPod if your phone carried, say 500 iTunes and also did an excellent job as a phone?, I don't think so!). That said, it seems like the SLVR's ultra cool looks and affordable price are really doing the trick that the ROKR could not and the phone seems to be selling up to expectation.

Planning to buy a new iPod?

2006-02-27T12:33:00.000-08:00

You might want to read this first

Idea for a "Projector-Laptop"

2006-02-25T11:42:00.001-08:00

This one came up a couple of days ago during a presentation (involving a conventional Projector) at work, and applies a breakthrough technology (not yet deployed as products) to another area.

I came accross this article a while ago, reporting that Seimens Researchers have developed a cell phone with a built-in projector . This surely is a super cool invention that promises to make life a heck of a lot easier for those busy business guys constantly having to setup bulky projectors, and my hats off two the guys at Seimens. But, I was just wondering if this might be one of those scenarios where the value of an invention is increased by simple re-using the technology in a different application.

In short, if it is possible to integrate a projector with a cell phone without significantly increasing its size or sacrificing portability, couldn't the same be done for Laptops?. I think yes! (Listening laptop makers? Maybe whose names start with a "D" and have 2 "L's" ;)).

As always, please feel free to beat the crap out of me, on this one ;-)

This time its for real

2006-02-22T18:45:00.000-08:00

Yep... I hope to stick to my promise this time and resolve to try and post something new more frequently. For those interested in knowing, I've been preoccupied with way too many things over the last few months, but when all the dust settled (!) I had ended up in a new job ( one that I have always hoped to work as ) in the company I've always dreamt of working at and in the place I've always wanted to live in . This will be my second job outa school and allows me to apply as many of my skills as possible.

Well, enough of that, with all the basics in place, its time to get back to the more serious stuff :P(Notice, I've already changed my location information here from Santa Barbara to San Diego)

Wish me luck! :)

Aaaaaaand.... I'm back

2005-12-30T14:02:00.000-08:00

Its 2:05 pm, PST on a very very rainy day. I am sitting at San Fransisco Airport, waiting for the boarding call for my flight back to Santa Barbara. I woke up at 5am this morning to catch my flight at 630 out of Portland (OR) Int't airport and made it into SFO on time by 8:10. I was scheduled to be on the 8:55am flight out to SB, which was cancelled and then the subsequent flight to SB has been delayed over and over and over again... I just heard the announcer say some like ".. Attention Santa Barbara passengers... you're flight is here and is CIRCLING THE AIRPORT..."

ROCK ON UNITED AIRLINES!!!!

Thanks to tmobile's wireless broadband service at SFO, I have enough time to ponder about the various things I have been neglecting (this blog) for some time now.

Thanks to everyone who read my blog and encouraged me to get back to being regular again... :)

-AM

A time to rest....

2005-06-12T10:37:00.000-07:00

Phew.... I finally have a weekend of rest at home after almost 4 weeks/ weekends on non stop activity! So, what have I been upto? A WHOLE bunch of things. And thats my excuse for not being able to post anything new here for a month. So, to make up for that I plan to make the next two/ three posts about my "weekend adventures". Also, I plan to re-track the dates on the next three posts, so they will show up as earlier posts (May, 05)

Hearst Castle

2005-05-22T22:12:00.000-07:00

I spent this weekend (or atleast the whole of Sunday) visiting "Hearst Castle" . This was a very different and interesting experience, in comparison with the various places I have visited in the (nearly) 3 years that I have lived in the US/ California.

If you have some idea of the Geography of the United States, you probably know that Santa Barbara (the place I live at) is kinda in the central cost of California, about 100 miles N or Los Angeles. With that as a reference, Hearst Castle is located at a place called "San Simeon" about 150 miles N of SB, beyond San Luis Obispo.

Hearst castle was built by William Randolph Hearst , an extremely wealthy business tycoon in the publishing business. Hearst had a passion for collecting antiques and art from around the world (primarily Europe), which he developed while on a tour of Europe, as a kid, with his mother.

The tour of Hearst Castle is very well organized. The castle is located on a mountain and visitors drive to the base and park at the tourist center. Buses, drive tourists up a very scenic drive with beautiful views of the pacific ocean. The castle itself is so huge that there are about 4-5 different tours that visitors can choose from, each of which show about 20-25% of the whole castle.

The drive to Hearst Castle from Santa Barbara (or LA) is very beautiful too. The first 100 miles till San Luis Obispo are covered on the US-101 and the last 50 miles take you on a drive on the famout CA-1 (or better known as the Pacific Coast Highway or PCH). Its a drive just along the pacific ocean, with Vista points (points where you can pull over and enjoy the views before moving on) all along. Some of the cool places to look out for along the way include the famous "Morro Bay Big Rock" , which is this huge rock sticking out in the middle of the ocean, and the extremely beautiful pismo beach with its characteristicly long pier, extending into the ocean.

Crowdifornia...

2005-05-09T22:24:00.000-07:00

Driving home from work this evening, I couldnt help take notice of a sticker on the back of a car stopped in front of me at a red signal. The sticker read:

I don't know if it was the fact that I've always held a strong belief that California, is the most beautiful state of "sunshine throughout the year", and the "L" in the Land of opportunities, if you will (and if you consider the US that, even now that is ;-) ).... or it was the simple reason that I cant get my mind off a catchy phrase or some creative writing when I see one, but I just had to type the words into google, while I caught up with my nightly surfing for the day.

So, it is interesting to note that California does have a serious population explosion problem. So much so, that this website reports the following statistics:

Quick Fact
California's population increased by 539,000 last year to total over 36.8 million. California's growth rate is higher than that of India.
(Sources: California Department of Finance, United Nations Population Division)

Some stuff to ponder about I guess.... so ponder away to glory :P

From skates to blades!

2005-05-08T22:11:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since I scribbled away to glory.... 22 days to be precise, the longest I have gone without posting anything since I started this blog. Well, its been a pretty hectic few weeks with "product releases" and "deadlines" all over the place so I haven't had much time for anything besides the basic routine stuff and, more importantly, I havent been "observing" stuff (remember my blogs "mission statement" ? :P)

Hmm... well... its the end of the weekend and in keeping with my resolution to try my hand at something new from time to time, I decided to take a shot at ROLLER BLADING yesterday. I used to be a pretty avid roller skater when I was in high school (6th grade tp 10th grade to be precise). I am not sure if I gave it up because roller blading in India (thats where I spent the first 22 years of my life) has always been considered a kids hobby/ sport or because I simply got bored of it. Anyways, its been on my mind for a while to try out this distant cousin of the roller skate ;-). For those of you who are wondering what the difference is, essentially, they both have 4 wheels on each leg but in skates, the wheels are arranged in 2 parallel rows while blades have em all in one single row (kinda like ice skating)

So, before I knew it I and a buddy had spent almost 2 hours roller blading and covered nearly 10 miles on the beautiful Santa Barbara beach. And I enjoyed it so much that I decided to get myself my own pair of blades (I had rented blades for todays "trial run"). The best part was that I didn't suck at it as much as I thought I would. The only part that I thought was a little tricky (and that people had warned me about) was "braking". And this is one important difference between blades and skates - while traditional skates have brakes in the front, and on both legs, in roller blades there is only one brake provided on the rear end of the right leg. I haven't really gotten the hang of braking yet, but I realized that if you look ahead and adjust speed accordingly, you seldom need to use the break. But, I do plan to research into finding the right way!

The Coolest Comment to my Blog Posts so far!!!

2005-04-16T08:14:00.000-07:00

I thought this was the coolest comment to any of my posts so far. The comment comes from an "Anonymous Reader" and in response to my post titled "My Idea for a source of Energy" . S/he has an alias name of "ask me about it" and I thought I wouldn't be doing it enough justice if I didn't post the comment as a separate blog. So, here it is:

Ask me about it. said...

Energy can be classified into two types.. energy that can be "stored/transmitted/used else where" and energy that can be "used where it is produced". For the stored/transmitted/ used else where type of energy a good source is justified based on three aspects... reliability, cost and environmental impact. It might be interesting to note that environmental impact and reliability rank as the best parameters besides cost (although reliability and environmental impact can also contribute to costs as maintainance and remediation issues) in comparing the various energy sources. So unless you have a gym where bikes are running non-stop(with bonded labour from some asian / african nation i presume....) this is not a viable option for reliability purposes (assuming energy is transmitted for use as it is generated). For purposes of storing energy and then using it elsewhere the accepted method is converting mechanical energy to electrical energy and storing this in chemical storage devices or electrical storage devices (devices like flywheel type energy storage where inertial energy is stored are also available). For storing in these type of devices the obvious problem is storing enough energy before you can remove the storage device and use it else where... if you generate very small amounts (like those that you would generate during ur two hour work out) the losses are significant as compared to the generated energy. Again you would need a dedicated workforce to generate enough storage energy. (a good question to ask would be where do we see people exerting energy solely for the sake of spending it.. like they do in a gym) To talk of the obvious, dynamo installed on the cycles (remember HERO cycles??) is an application of "use where you produce" type of energy. Hope I didnt bore you.. nice blog though.

3:42 PM

The DOT COM Start - Up Worthy Idea...

2005-04-14T22:02:00.000-07:00

Alright, first of all my apologies for not being able to do this yesterday! I was a little surprised I got just ONE caustic comment to my last post :P

Anyways, without further do, here it is. The idea that came up during a conversation with my brother is, to develop a search engine that would take in a zip code (and possibly a given mile radius) as input and return a list of gas stations in that area.

What use would that be? Well... here's the real deal. The search engine would have to organize the gas stations is ascending order of gas prices on that particular day!!! Some add-ons could include providing the user with the option of ordering the results either by gas price or by distance from the source zip.

So.... now for the ground work.... WHAT's IT GONNA TAKE? Hmmm... off of my head, I can think of a few scenarios:

1. Have people drive around gas stations on a daily basis and send back information to a central database. Simple, but not the most economical and certainly not scalable.

2. Have a "tie-up" with gas stations (thinking on the lines of mobile phone manufacturers tieing up with service providers) and have them send information to your database. Slightly better and more scalable.

3. (This assumes the existance of networkable databases in gas station systems) Have automated programs (WEB SERVICES, SOAP, XML, WSDL, if you will) extract information from the gas station databases and feed them to yours. Very scalable but, a wee-bit far fetched in its assumptions!

Cool.... I'm out for now, but this thing is gonna sit in my head for SOMEtime :-) Other inputs/ criticism appreciated!

Idea for a Search Engine Start-up!!!

2005-04-13T22:26:00.000-07:00

If you are reading this, the title of this blog has done its job well in getting you excited! Well... come to think of it, it wasnt too hard, because in today's world the words web, search engine, google, yahoo... are an instant eye catcher.

So, whats all my fuss about? Rest assured it isn't just to get you to click on my blog post. If you have been reading (or atleasting looking at) my blog now and then, you must have observed that my last post sprung out of my frustration over the ever-rising gas prices. As a Civic owner I am way better off than the sports coupe folks or SUV fans, but still, a national average of $2.15/ Gallon, does pinch!!

Speaking of gas prices, brings to mind a conversation I had with my brother a few days ago. We were comparing gas prices between Santa Barbara and Portland (OR) and we quickly realized that the rest of the nation had made bigger (in comparison to CA) strides over the last couple of months. To put things in perspective, last November ('04), when I visited Portland I noticed my brother could get gas for as low as $1.90/ Gallon. It was unbelievable, for a moment I though the prices actually went down that day. I was eager to find out, and I did as soon as I got out of SB airport, only to see the same old... $2.45/ Gallon. And now, SB stands at around $2.60/ Gallon, while Portland is at $2.45.... see what I am saying??

Well... it might sound like I am contradicting what I said earlier, but I have had my writing dose for the day and I am kinda sleepy, so I think I am gonna write about my "Start-Up" Idea tomorrow ;-) ... please be gentle on the comments :P

My Idea for a source of energy

2005-04-10T21:58:00.000-07:00

Gas prices in the US seem to be on a steady climb nowadays. Buying a hybrid vehicle seems to be the best way to go in the present times. Thinking of this makes me realize the significance of all the research that goes into finding new and alternative sources of energy. The list of alternative sources of energy that are actually being harvested at the moment includes, Hydroelectric, Solar, Tidal, Geothermal, Wind, Biomass and Biogas.

I came up with a workable idea for a new source of electric power. It is not novel in the way power is generated, but it is in novel in the part of the available energy (remember the universal law of energy transformation?) it converts to electrical energy. It all started with me fogeting to carry my Audio Player to the gym. Since, I didn't have any music to listen to while I biked, I got thinking....!!

If you have ever been to a gym, you have probably observed that all the cardio exercise machines, except the treadmills, do not require external power for their operation (if you discount the LED diplays). So, I wonder if it might be posible to use all the human energy that gets expended on the bikes, the elliptical machines and the stepping machines to power the treadmills, and possibly some more?

MS Walk/ Run

2005-04-08T18:45:00.000-07:00

I plan to spend most part of tomorrow, participating in an event to raise funds for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) research. :

Feet 2 Beat MS

Apart from the monetary contribution, I will also be a part of my company's team, and I am hoping to complete a 10 Kilometer run :-)

Wish me luck!

MS is thought to be an autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system (CNS). The CNS consists of the brain, spinal cord, and the optic nerves. Surrounding and protecting the nerve fibers of the CNS is a fatty tissue called myelin, which helps nerve fibers conduct electrical impulses.

In MS, myelin is lost in multiple areas, leaving scar tissue called sclerosis. These damaged areas are also known as plaques or lesions. Sometimes the nerve fiber itself is damaged or broken.

Myelin not only protects nerve fibers, but makes their job possible. When myelin or the nerve fiber is destroyed or damaged, the ability of the nerves to conduct electrical impulses to and from the brain is disrupted, and this produces the various symptoms of MS.

Conquered Montecito Peak

2005-04-03T20:50:00.000-07:00

Today me and my Hiking Buddies hiked up to the top of Montecito Peak which, I think, is one of the highest peaks in the Santa Barbara area and also one of the toughest hikes. It was a 9 mile round trip hike and took us about 2.5 hrs to get up and about 1.5 to get down. When we reached the top, we found this book with entries by hikers who have managed to make it to the peak. We flipped through it and found entries as old as 1994 (there may have been older, but this was the oldest we caught at a glance). Here is one that I thought was cute enough to take a picture of, seems like a little kid who hiked up the trail with her dad:

A Cute Entry that caught our eye !

And of course we were sure enough to leave our mark...

Our Entry in the Hiker's Log !

Why the K??

2005-03-28T21:50:00.000-08:00

This rather wierd and curious question just hit me a few mins ago... while watching the daily news on KCAL 9. Why do all the news channels in CA have their names starting with "K"?? I tried googling on this but couldnt get anything.... the only sensible explanation that comes to mind is, they wanted to use "C" for California, but that must have been used by some other state..... any comments??

My New Car :-)

2005-03-27T16:17:00.000-08:00

My New Car !!!

We actually thought of this...

2005-03-22T22:58:00.000-08:00

I came accross this article about Samsung's new innovative ideas for their next generation mobile phones... when it hit me that I had actually thought of something similar a few months ago. Sometime ago I was chatting with a friend on the phone when she said that she really wished there was some way people could pinch or slap each other on the phone and what ensued was a discussion about the possible ways in which this can be done.... and I cant believe we actually came up with a marketable idea:

Soon, Mobile Phones will feel emotions

Trade-offs Everywhere in Life..

2005-03-13T17:46:00.000-08:00

If you observe closely enough, you will find that there are tradeoffs in virtually everything in life. Almost every design, task, action or decision can be executed in more than one way and changing one parameter always affects the others and ultimately a tradeoff has to be made to suit our requirements/ expectations from the task, at that moment. And even more interesting is the fact that the trade-offs we make for a given task can change even if the task doesnt change... but the time is different.

I just got back from a 4 hour hike a few hours ago and I discovered yet another tradeoff... The weather today was cloudy.... there was no sun visible directly and there was also a very slight drizzle. It seemed like perfect hiking weather to me.... no sun, no sweat.... meaning far less exhaustion and more hiking for the same effort. But as always there was a tradeoff... I realized this when I reached the peak... all I could see below was a white sheet :-(

See what I am saying?

My new Work Desktop Image

2005-03-07T17:57:00.000-08:00

Stamp this one "Software For Work" !!!

Understanding the problem is half the solution

2005-03-04T18:35:00.000-08:00

Today was a pretty hectic day.... I have been trying to fix this issue for quite some time now and for some reason although, I was making good progress, there was this inkling feeling that I am not going the right way. At one point I decided I was going to put aside what I have done so far and attempt the problem afresh. So, I saved what I had done and began to go around cubicles, asking folks what they thought of it. At the end of the day I realized that I had been trying to solve a much bigger problem than I actually had to. I spent the last hour at work trying to chalk out a clear plan of action to solving this new/ smaller problem... and now I can't wait to get back to work on Monday... :-).... isn't it true... that many times in life... "Understanding what the problem is, is half the solution".

On a Day Like Today...

2005-03-03T12:15:00.000-08:00

I was just listening to this song and for some reason I feel I can kinda relate to it!
If you are also one of those who's life keeps changing faster than they can think... you might like this one:

Singer: Bryan Adams
Album: On a Day Like Today (1998)
Song : On a Day Like Today

Lyrics:

Free is all you gotta be
Dream dreams no one else can see
Sometimes ya wanna run away
But ya never know what might be comin’ round your way ya
Ya ya

On a day like today
The whole world could change
The sun’s gonna shine
Shine thru the rain
On a day like today
Ya never wanna see the sun go down
Ya never wanna see the sun go down

Somewhere - there’s a place for you
I know that you believe it too
Sometimes if you wanna get away
All ya gotta know is what we got is here to stay
All the way

On a day like today - the whole world could change
The sun’s gonna shine - shine thru the rain
On a day like today - no one complains
Free to be pure - free to be sane
On a day like today
Ya never wanna see the sun go down
Ya never wanna see the sun go down

Free is all we gotta be
Dream dreams no one else can see
But ya never know what might be comin’ for you and me ya
It’s gonna be

On a day like today...

Life is a Marathon...

2005-03-02T10:34:00.000-08:00

.. for the "lucky few" ;-)
... the only way for us (the "lucky few") to get through it... constantly remind yourself that "YOU never lose until YOU give up" (Courtesy, Abhishek's MSN Nick).... keep pluggin' away folks!!

"Marathon"

2005-03-01T21:18:00.000-08:00

Since, we are on the topic of "running", an interesting conversation I had with my brother a while ago comes to mind. My brother is a very serious runner and probably the only "full marathon" runner I know of, personally. If you are an athletics/ sports enthusiast you probably know that, to qualify as a Marathon, a run (or race, if you will) must be 26.2 miles long. Turns out there is quite a history behind the reason why the distance is what it is and equally interesting is the origin of the word "Marathon".

The word comes from the name of the greek city, Marathon and, the reason it is 26.2 miles long is because that is roughly the distance between Marathon and Athens (both, ofcourse, greek cities). But why would the distance between these two cities be of relevance?
In 490 BC, the Greek army repelled a persian naval invasion on the plains surrounding the coastal city of Marathon. And legend has it that a runner (the only way to convey news of war or invasion at that time, was by foot messengers) was sent to Athens to relay news of the victory. Upon reaching Athens, the messenger shouted "Rejoice, we conquer" and fell to the ground, dead.

If I have you enthused enough by now and you wish to read more about this stuff, here are some interesting links:

Prologue: The Legend
(Excerpted from "Olympic Marathon", by Charlie Lovett)

FAQ's about the ancient Olympics"

Now. if you have been reading todays blog carefully enough, you may have noticed that I "italicised" the word "roughly" when I refered to the distance 26.2 miles, above. The reason is because, the distance from the Marathon battlefield to Athens is estimated at 21.4 miles. The lenght of the Marathon was not standardized initially and the first official marathon was held at the first modern Olympics in 1896. The distanced kept varying, until a distance of 42.195 Km was adopted in 1821:

Year Distance (km)
1896 40
1900 40.26
1904 40
1906 41.86
1908 42.195
1912 40.2
1920 42.75
Since
1924 42.195

Jim Fixx...

2005-02-28T19:17:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the comments to my previous post by an Anonymous reader, I ended up discovering some interesting facts about "James M. Fixx".

Jim Fixx was a famous author credited with starting America's Fitness revolution. His 1977 bestseller, The Complete Book of Running , still in print, sold over a million copies and helped launch the "running boom" in America. Apparently, when Fixx took up running in the late 1960's he wieghed 220 lbs and by the time he completed his book he had given up smoking and was down to a 159 lbs!

But the sad and rather ironic way in which he died is probably the one that will be remembered the most. Jim died at age 52 while (of all the things) running! His autopsy revealed that one of his arteries was 99% clogged, another 80% obstructed and a third 70% blocked, resulting in a massive heart attack. His legacy still lives on... according to a survey by the USATF in 1984, the year of Fixx's death 170,000 runners finished American marathons, that figure jumped upto 400,000 in 2003.

So what does this mean to all the runners and fitness freaks out there? Does it mean that we are the same (if not better off!) being a regular couch potato? NO... research suggest that the number of people who die from heart attacks while exercising is aprox 1 in 50,000. Physicians admit that although runners are at risk during the hour or so a day that they train, particularly Marathon runners, but the reminder of the days they are at much less risk than the general population and can actually extend and improve their lifestyle. A classic study in harvard concluded that we can extend our lifespan by 2 years even with minimal exercise. Other researchers believe we may actually be able to extend our life 6-9 years through exercise and attention to diet....

Well... I am off to the gym :-) hope this motivates you enough to move your b*** too.. and thanks again to the Anonymous reader (see... thats why my blog's mission statement says "puhhhleeez do post comments"... thats my blog's dal roti ;-) )

"Not Excercising is like smoking a pack of cigarettes a week"

2005-02-26T19:06:00.000-08:00

Just read that off of a banner in my Gym today... hmm... something to ponder about... so.... ponder away :-)

Competition brings out the best in Business and services..

2005-02-25T21:36:00.000-08:00

If you have been following my blog you probably know that I was "hoping" to get up to Mammoth Lakes this weekend. Turns out I won't be making that trip afterall because commitments at work prevent me from taking Monday off. But I did go upto the point of doing some initial ground work and planning.
One of the essential things about driving up to a ski resort ofcourse, is having a reliable vehicle and snow chains. Since we were a bunch of folks making the trip, we decided to rent a car for the weekend. A few calls to car rental agencies revealed that none of them actually provide renters with snow chains. I found this really surprising for a country where businesses thrive on cut-throat competition and that's what ultimately goes on to create the best of services for consumers. We see this "one-upmanship" attitude in almost all sorts of businesses. Like, I just saw this "Applebee's" ad on TV, that boasts of a "CARSIDE-TO-GO" (way to take the drive through concept to the next level I say) and then there are the Bank of America "Drive-through ATM's" and even the rental car agencies have the "pick-you-up-from-your-home" concept
So, the question is, why would the car rental guys let this one slip away? Is it because, its hard to find snow chains that fit multiple tyre sizes? Is it because they end up changing their fleet too often? or simply because people dont really ask them for snow chains as much? I wonder why?

Is Windows that good??!!

2005-02-24T14:01:00.000-08:00

A friend sent me this interesting email today and asked me what I thought of it and if it was true:

Interesting piece of info.
Windows crashes automatically if you don't switch off the machine for
49.7 days.This is accepted by Microsoft.
Do you know why?
In windows the Virtual Machine Manager(VMM) is responsible for
creation, exe cution, monitoring and termination of virtual machines.
This
VMM is a
32 bit protected mode operating system, provides a number of system
service at chip level of programming.
One of these services is "Get_System_Time". This particular service
loads the EAX register with the time in milliseconds since Windows
started.This service is accurate to 1ms.
EAX is a 32 bit register. So the maximum number of milliseconds it can
hold is:
(2^32) - 1 = 4294967295 milliseconds
= 4294967.295 seconds
= 71582.79 minutes
= 1193 hours
= 49.7 days
So after 49.7 days the EAX resets to zero.Most of the Drivers use this
Time Service to keep track of the time out of various services they
provide. So after 49.7 days the drives cannot use the Get_System_Time
funtion of VMM and they crash.
"SO DO NOT KEEP YOUR MACHINE ON FOR MORE THAN 49.7 DAYS. IT WILL NOT
ONLY CRASH BUT M AKE A BIG HOLE IN THE POCKET(THE ELECTRIICTY BILL)

Well... the only thing I had to say.... "I'll be really amazed if you can have windows running that long" :P

Mammoth Lakes...

2005-02-23T11:50:00.000-08:00

... Hoping to drive up there this weekend and get some quality skiing and snowboarding done. The last time (and the first time) I went skiing was nearly 2 years ago in the Portland/ Seattle area.... should be fun!

"Bless you" for sneezing?? Not sure if you need that anymore!

2005-02-22T19:02:00.000-08:00

Southern California has some of best weather in the United States. Its never too hot or too cold, just right. It doesnt rain a lot here either, but when it does, it rains cats and dogs. At the begining of this year we had rains non-stop for almost 3 weeks. I was lucky to have escaped that because I happened to be on vacation in warm (rather hot) India! Well... the rains seem to have come back again, its been pouring, almost non-stop, for the last 3 days. With rains, come colds and sneezing, which brings me to my topic. Why is it (or has it become) customary for people to say "bless you" when someone nearby sneezes?
Some research into this revealed various theories, ranging from the rather ridiculous "Your soul leaves your body when you sneeze" (and has nowhere else to go, so returns? ;-) ) to the seemingly scientific "your heart stops when you sneeze". But the one that I felt was the most convincing states that it all may have started as early as 150 AD. And predictably, back then it wasnt just out of etiquette of thoughts, but rather due to a serious illness that many Romans died from. One of the symptoms of this illness, as you may have guessed, was sneezing. Over the years, saying "bless you" became a way of wishing a person well or good health. And now it seems to have totally become common courtesy (like saying "thank you" or "you're welcome").

Well... isnt' it a lil' ironic that the more a person has been blessed... the more he has sneezed in life!!

Back in Business..

2005-02-22T11:50:00.000-08:00

Getting back to work after a Looooooong weekend... always an uphill battle!! :-)

Presidents Day...

2005-02-21T17:43:00.000-08:00

I always thought that this day was marked as a celebration of George Washington's Birthday. Turns out, the 3rd Monday of February has been marked as a celebration of both George Washington and Abraham Lincon's Birthday's.

Washington, of course, was the first president of the United States and is also known as the "father of the country". A very apt title for someone who fought valantly in the American Revolution and played a major role in the Declaration of Independence signed on July 4th, 1776. What's interesting is that, the signers of the original declaration of independence were from only thirteen states - Delaware, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York, Georgia, Virginia, N and S Carolina, new Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland

Lincoln was the sixteenth president and is also known as "The great emancipator", probably because the civil war broke out just 6 weeks into his first president term and he was assasinated just six days after the war ended.

Presidents day, like other festivals and important days seem to have become more of a commercial thing nowadays, as the following news articles seem to suggest.

Lincoln’s legacy turned into way to make a buck
"... The front door opens, and Abraham Lincoln appears -- tall, lanky, just a bit melancholy. He smiles gently, assesses his visitor for a good five seconds. Then he draws in a breath and slowly, deliberately, he speaks.

"Did you park at the Holiday Inn?" the 16th president asks....."

Lincoln belongs to the ages, and to the marketers
"... Today, Abraham Lincoln is an empty vessel for dreamers and schemers, for humorists and educators and trinket salesmen and appliance dealers looking to add a bit of cachet to Presidents Day sales. "Time to take Lincoln and Washington shopping," an ad for Macy's encouraged last week...."

Maybe I didn't make things quite clear....

2005-02-21T17:16:00.000-08:00

Having got some reviews from my friends, I realized that I wasnt quite clear in describing my reasons for starting a blog and what it was going to be about. So here goes:
Through this blog I hope to present (at as regular intervals as I can) my understanding of things we all see, use and do on a regular basis, but rarely care to think about the reasons and purpose behind them.

Hope you enjoy reading my posts and I look forward to your comments and criticism (can be left by clicking the link at the bottom right corner of the posts)!

Yep... I finally did it...

2005-02-20T23:01:00.000-08:00

Its sunday night and the middle of a (Presidents Day) long weekend. I am usually out on a roadtrip or some kinda outdoor activity on such a weekend, but it began pouring almost before folks at work could say "TGIF" on friday (duh!) and I decided to take it easy.

So, what prompted me to start this? Well.... lotsa thoughts, but to keep things terse (which I am notorious for failing to do) I mention the two main ones. At some point in life I figured that rattling out my daily schedule of events and experiences to a good and patient listener is vital to me. I was lucky enough to have someone or the other as my "patient listener" until one day I stumbled upon the concept of a "blog". I was both, pleasently surprised that I wasnt the only one who absolutely needed to do the daily "core dump" of thoughts and also a little disappointed that I wasnt the only one with this (so called) gift for being outright about things in life.
So, the thought of having my own blog (and relieving someone of the daily dose) occured to me about 3 years ago. I dont know if it was just the fact that I was preoccupied with too many things in life (Engineering School, Grad School, career planning, job hunting... you name it) or the fact that it usually takes me a while to really appreciate an idea fully, but yeah, I am pretty sure this has been in my head for atleast a good 3 years now.
Okay, so I had all the ingredients, but then there has to be that spark that motivates you to actually make a move, doesnt it? Well... so... what was my spark? Interestingly enough it was the long weekend itself. I was sitting on my couch watching TV when it suddenly hit me that its almost Monday morning. Shortly, I was relieved when I remembered it was a long weekend after all, but then I began to wonder why I have a holoday in the first place? So, I fired up my laptop and began to look for stuff about the Presidents Day and its significance. And thanks to the modern marvel called "Google" it wasnt long before my curousity was satisfied. I retreated back into my comfy position to continue staring at the idiot box when a random thought hit me. How many times in life have I actually cared to find out the actual reason behind the things I see and do? Hmm.... its hard to put an exact number on that, but I am pretty sure its countable.
And there it was, I had found a theme for my blog!!