Marathon Update 2

5k - 0:23:55
10k - 0:48:05
15k
20k
Half
25k
30k
35k
40k
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Start Time Offset: 04:39
Pace: 0:07:45
Projected Time: 3:23:03
Official Time:
Net Time:
Overall:
Gender:
Division:

Boston Marathon 2005: Go Tim Go!

My brother Tim is running the Boston Marathon again this year. You can keep track of his progress on BostonMarathon.com or just follow along here! I'm going to blog his progress as he goes along:

5k - 0:23:55
10k
15k
20k
Half
25k
30k
35k
40k
----
Start Time Offset: 04:39
Pace: 0:07:43
Projected Time: 3:22:10
Official Time:
Net Time:
Overall:
Gender:
Division:

Tour de Cure

Getting ready to ride.

I've officially launched my personal Tour de Cure page for 2005. Please stop by and make a donation.

The ride is on June 12 in Stillwater, N.Y. Once again I'm going to tackle the 50-mile route. I've only been out on my bike once so far this spring. Later today I'm bringing it to get tuned-up while we're on vacation next week. Then I'll dive into training!

This is my third Tour de Cure. The first year I did 25 miles. At the time, the was the longest distance I had ever ridden. But I felt great after and thought I could easily go farther. So I decided to do the 50-mile route in 2004. Well, that near killed me! So I'm determined to be better prepared this time.

Last year I raised more than $700 for the American Diabetes Association. This year I'm hoping to raise at least $800. With your help, I know I can do it. Please donate now.

I'll keep you posted on my training and fundraising progress as June 12 approaches.

Play ball!

Nolan and Thomas display their Yankee pride.

Can't live with 'em, can't shoot 'em

Dispatcher's Joke
A 9-1-1 dispatcher in Texas has been reprimanded for responding to a mother's call about an unruly child by saying: "O-K. Do you want us to come over to shoot her?"
Read more...

Beef...It's what's for dinner

Courtesy of high school buddy Chris Johnson.

Am I so old?

One of our younger producers e-mailed me to ask me to set up a link
connected to a story she's running in her show about Meatloaf coming
to SPAC. This was news to me. So I wrote back to her, "Meatloaf is
coming?!? Cool!"

Then she came back to my room and said, "Chris, since you seem to know
who Meatloaf is, can you tell me, is it a group?"

"No," I said. "It's a guy."

"A man?"

"Yes. One man," I told her. "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights?" I asked.

She just stared at me like I had two heads. Then she turned and left
the room as I shouted, "It's a classic!"

Thoughts on '24'

If I was a CTU agent, let me tell you there is no way I would ever go out in the field with Jack Bauer! These guys are as silly as the "red shirts" that used to beam down to the planet with Captain Kirk only to wind up vaporized. Anyone who goes anywhere with Jack will wind up catching a bullet within the hour -- maybe two hours.

Oh, sure, there are exceptions. Like Jack's partner, Chase, who got his arm hacked off in season 3 and his girlfriend's estranged husband, Paul Raines, who this year was shot and now will likely never walk again. They were the lucky ones.

Meanwhile, it is now apparent that some very highly placed in the government is helping Habib Marwan. How else could he have gotten the transponder code to track the nuclear football?

I have my suspicions about who that could be. Think about the only other mystery from this season that remains unsolved: how did the terrorists know to find Secretary of Defense Heller at his son's house in the first episode? They only people who knew in advance about that unscheduled stop were Jack, Heller and his daughter (Jack's girlfriend) Audrey. Either Audrey or her father could have the access to the transponder code.

I doubt it's Audrey. That would be too reminiscent of season 1 where Jack's confidant and former lover Nina turned out to be the mole working inside CTU. That just leaves the defense secretary.

But it's not like the show has never repeated itself. Last night's episode felt like season 2 all over again. For the second time, the series has engaged in a storyline about the 25th amendment. And once again, Mike Novik, David Palmer's former chief of staff, is at the center of it. It appears he is now highly placed in the Keeler administration. But why is the former chief of staff for a Democratic president working for a Republican president?

Also like season 2, next week it looks like Jack will be running around trying find a rogue nuke in Los Angeles.

The clock keeps ticking...

Get to know me!

PSTValumni.com - Profiles
I am the subject of this month's "Profile of the Month" on PSTVAlumni.com!

Who needs TV networks?

I'm getting quite adept at finding and downloading the new "Doctor Who" episodes. The latest episode aired Saturday afternoon ET on the BBC. By Saturday night I was able to start the download before going to bed and the show was there waiting for me in the morning.

I burned it to a CD Sunday night and this time it played great in the DVD player. The last time I tried this the CD kept skipping and the audio would often lose sync with the video. I was hoping this was just a problem with the disc and it turns out that must have been the case. My viewing last night was as good as if I was in the U.K.

The episode, "The Unquiet Dead," was pretty good. The show seems to be getting better each week.

Yankees vs. Red Sox...Again!

Got the game on here at work. We're one week into the season and the Yankees are about to play the Red Sox for the fourth time! Are there no other teams in the American League?

There is no question that the Yankees-Red Sox is the greatest rivalry in sports. But I think so much of the current rivalry is overhyped by the media and driven by MLB's lousy schedule.

I've gone on record before as saying that I really hate the unbalanced schedule baseball has used for the last few years. Out of 162 games, Yankees fans will only see six games against the likes of Seattle, Kansas City, Cleveland, etc. while it seems like every other game is against Boston, Tampa Bay, Baltimore or Toronto. Yeah, I love a good Yankees-Red Sox game as much as the next fan, but come on -- I want to see some other teams too!

Happy birthday, Thomas!

Yesterday, our little Thomas celebrated his 2nd birthday. We had a small party last night with my mom, Thomas’ friend Grace and her family. Grace is about six weeks younger than Thomas and, coincidentally, was adopted from China. Her family goes to our church and Kris and Grace’s mom run together. The toddler twosome usually gets together for a play date once a week.

Birthday pictures will be coming later. I haven’t had a chance to upload them yet.

The hit presents were anything related to Thomas the Tank Engine ("Choo-choos!"). My favorite was the miniature Yankee jersey from my sister Annie and her family, although the number on the back was 25 – Jason Giambi – I assure you my little guy has not taken any steroids. The only cream he’s used is for diaper rash.

Craig...Daniel Craig

Daniel Craig is the new James Bond
It looks like they may have cast James Bond #6. Daniel Craig is a British actor who is apparently already well known in the U.K. The only thing I've ever seen him in was "Tomb Raider," where he played Angilina Jolie's love interest.

Back in the saddle

The weather's getting warmer, and this morning I took my bike out for a spin for the first time this year. It felt great to be pushing the pedals again!

I like to get my bike tuned up at a local lbike shop in the spring. I haven't taken care of that yet. But the bike still seemed to ride great anyway. Suprisingly, I didn't have to put any air in the tires when I took it down off the garage wall last night. However, my bike computer seems to have bit the dust. I'll have to spring for a new one.

I didn't ride too far this morning -- only a few miles. I didn't want to overdo it my first day out, and it was still a little colder than I thought it would be this morning. As nice as it was to be out on the bike, it was also nice to get back home and put some coffee on while everyone else was still sleeping.

Pretty soon I'll be posting a link for you donate to my efforts to raise money for this year's Tour de Cure. I'm going to tackle the 50-mile route again, but hopefully I'll train better for it this time.

...a fool for a client

Man who represented himself appeals competence of attorney
This guy sounds pretty out there...

The Force's effect on the weak-minded

'Star Wars' fanatics line up at wrong theater for May debut
It's a common misconception that all sci-fi geeks are smart nerds...

'God Bless America, yada, yada, yada'

I've got the Yankees-Red Sox game on here at work. This is the thrid straight game where I've heard Ronan Tynan sing "God Bless America" during the 7th Inning Stretch.

Do you think he ever gets sick of singing this song? I'm sad to say I think I've gotten sick of hearing him sing it!

'Doctor Who,' episode 2

Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor in "The End of the World."

I know I said I wouldn't get sucked into the habit of downloading every "Doctor Who" episode, but after an e-mail conversation with college buddy Joe Video who had watched it, I couldn't resist.

The second episode, "The End of the World," was a huge improvement over last week's show. I was willing to overlook a lot in that episode, "Rose," because it was after all the first new "Doctor Who" in more than 15 years. That is, unless, you count the Paul McGann TV movie, which also left a lot to be desired, but I similarly enjoyed it at the time anyway.

Now I can tell you that "Rose" did stink. It's no wonder the Sci-Fi Channel passed on it. But "The End of the World" was better in almost every respect. A better story, better effects and some mysterious hints dropped about the Doctor's past.

Let's hope they can crank out more like this one. The download I found included the trailer for next week's show. It looks like the Doctor and Rose are going back to 1860 to meet Charles Dickens and fight zombies.

I should mention that I was able to get the episode I downloaded to play in our new DVD player. Unfortunately the disc I used was prone to skipping. But when it worked, the show looked and sounded great on the widescreen TV.

Home Improvement, Part 9

The basement is now furnished. Last week Kris picked up some more shelves. So now more of our miscellaneous stuff has a home.

Over the weekend we went shopping big-time. We picked up a futon, which Chester has already seemed to claim as his new favorite place to sleep.


The new futon offers a relaxing spot for TV viewing.

We also picked up a new TV and DVD player.

When we bought the new TV for our living room last year, we decided to stick with a standard TV and we told ourselves we would spring for an HDTV the next time around. But at the time, we had no idea we'd be in the market again so soon. An HD set is still out of our price range, but I was hoping to at least get a flat-panel LCD set. That we could have afforded, but we would have had to sacrifice on screen size. Finally we decided we'd get a tube TV, but still go widescreen. We got a good deal on a 30-inch widescreen JVC TV.


We can now watch TV and movies in 16:9 glory.

When I was first watching regular TV on it and seeing how the image was distorted to fit the 16:9 screen, I was a little unsure as to whether or not this purchase was the right thing to do. Then I popped in a DVD. Oh. My. God. It looks so cool seeing a widescreen movie fill up the screen. We definitely made the right purchase!

Major news events

Once again, I've been out of touch because the news, among other things, has been keeping me busy. I had every intention of commenting on the passing of Terri Schiavo and Pope John Paul II, but I just haven't had the chance.

On the Schaivo case, I'm really tired of hearing about this story. I've heard so many "apples and oranges" comparisons made by people taking issue with allowing this poor woman to die. No, this doesn't mean we're going to start starving people in wheelchairs. No, this doesn't mean we're going to give up on people when it's no longer convenient to care for them. I believe this case is somewhat unique.

Ultimately it was all about a family disagreement. I've heard Schiavo's death referred to as a murder or "judicial homicide" and her husband has been compared to a Nazi. But if the family had been on the same page, then this woman would have died quietly years ago without anyone hearing about, without anyone caring and without anyone crying "murder!"

As for the pope, it was sort of sad as "Pope Watch 2005" last all day Friday and into Saturday. I was hoping for a swift end to this man's suffering. There is little I can say at this point that hasn't been said by so many others in the last few days.

I first got the news he had finally passed in an alert on my cell phone. Kris and I were shopping in Target at the time. I read the bulletin to Kris and another woman stopped to listen. The three of us stared at each other for a moment and then moved on. Suddenly I felt very silly that as the pope was dying I was shopping for a TV stand and a DVD player.

I will relate this story: Kris was trying to explain to Nolan on Friday who the pope was and what was happening to him. Nolan doesn't know who the pope is, but he knows who our priest is. So she told him the pope was Father Jupin's boss and he was very sick and would die any minute. Saturday evening I was sitting at the computer doing some work when Nolan walked over and asked what I was doing. I told him I was sending an e-mail to my boss.

"He's gonna die?" Nolan asked very concerned.

"No, he's not going to die," I told him.

"He's gonna die any minute?" he asked again.

I assured him my boss was fine -- it was just Father Jupin's boss who died.