elevators are my new friends

I normally eschew elevators and take the stairs: it's one of those things that's just better for you, right? Even though the only people I see in the math tower are on the seventh floor and I'm usually a little out of breath and sweating when I knock on a door, I hope people assume I'm just overzealous about math.

But after the marathon in Cleveland on Sunday my legs are beat to hell and stairs are out of the question for at least a day or two. On the plus side I ran much better than I had expected and turned in my best time, 3:57:52. I'm not sure what got into me, really. I stayed with the pace-setter until the last mile or so (I passed him at the last water station) and tried not to think too hard about it or let my mind talk me into walking. I ran through side-stitches and a major bout of coughing when I decided to inhale my water rather than swallow it midway through the race. The last 2 miles I wrestled with leg cramps like have never known before.

I wasn't totally exhausted at the end either, contributing to the mounting evidence that I really can run a 3:30 marathon. I need these little incremental improvements of 10 minutes off my time to reassure me that I won't die if I try harder or collapse and give up if it hurts. I think of it like quitting smoking except that I'm quitting sucking at running. And yet strangely at the same time, there is still part of me that somehow feels like I'm faking it; like I'm pretending to be a runner and I snuck in without being caught. I show up at races and think, 'It can't be very hard if I, a nonrunner, can do this.'

Caity, Steve and my parents were there to cheer for me. When I wasn't running, my family played a lot of card games. My favorite quote from the weekend was from Caitlin's phone conversation during one such game whose mystifing rules tormented my mother: 'We're all playing Hearts, except my Mom who is playing Spades.' Ker-pwned!

09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0

I'll Do Anything But Breakdance For Ya, Darling

Wow. This year Laura and I resolved to get rid of our excess books. Those we've either read too many times and no one we know wants them, didn't sell on eBay, or just plain don't like. We tried unsuccessfully to sell them to used bookstores over the last few months but it was patently absurd: they would offer something laughable like $5 for the several boxes we'd bring. I'd rather donate them to the library. We decided to make one more stop before donation time. On the recommendation of my colleague Steve, we went to Acorn Books (614-486-1860, 1464 W 5th Ave, T-F11-7 Sat 11-6) and they were great! They gave us $100 and had shelves(!) of real math (and farming) books. I highly commend them and I hope everyone who has the opportunity to go there, does. They are local, independent, and totally hoopy froods.


I was going to only run the Cleveland Half-Marathon this month. But I haven't registered yet and I noticed it's only a few more dollars to run the full marathon (it's usually twice as much). So while I probably won't be breaking any personal records for this race (May 20th) it still might be fun to visit my family and have my long run for the week be 26.2 miles.

Last year I ran two and this year I'd like to run three marathons. I've already registered for the one in Columbus (Oct. 21), so I need one more for this year. It should probably be in the fall when I'm a little more in shape but not within a month of Columbus. I'm thinking, in no particular order: Indianapolis (Sep. 8), Erie (Sep. 9), Dayton (Sep. 15), Akron (Sep. 29), or Seattle (Nov. 25).

Look what I found from the 2005 Cleveland Half-Marathon. When I go back this month, I'll be a little more prepared!

THE ALGORITHM

THE ALGORITHM CONSTANTLY FINDS JESUS
THE ALGORITHM KILLED JEEVES
THE ALGORITHM IS BANNED IN CHINA
THE ALGORITHM IS FROM JERSEY

The point of the above links.

in order to love it, you have to be willing to laugh at it

This American Life Completes Documentation Of Liberal, Upper-Middle-Class Existence

I read it. I read the whole goddamned thing. And now I'm PISSED.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' testimony on Thursday, April 19, 2007

April is the cruelest month

If you do not feel like wetting your pants laughing, please do not read THIS exchange between a member of Kasper Hauser and a Nigerian email scammer.

New half marathon PR on Saturday - 1:55:15. Consequently, I ate a pint of ice cream on Saturday without remorse.

Has anyone read Haruki Murakami? I have an informal list of books I plan to read and a rough rank associated with each to determine which comes next. These ranks constantly fluctuate based on factors including recommendations from people whose judgment I trust, timeliness regarding world events, new information or perspective, et cetera. Well, Murakami has now been referenced enough times in my experience to reevaluate placement on my list. Has anyone read anything worthwhile of his and if so, which?

1/2M and coding

Oh my God. I have been laughing so hard for the last few minutes my sides hurt. From the Slashdot poll regarding commenting code:

But the *real* comments are hidden in the apparent comments (and variable names) using steganography, and in code based on the secret names of God as handed down to me by my Goettic predecessors. This tends to raise the volume of the comments significantly.

My code is not for the unitiated! Moloch will take the eyes of him that tries to update it without hiring me as a consultant!

Example:
# Beware him that stands on the gate. Present him firstly with thistle, secondly with pine, and finally with a drop of thine own blood, which is sweet to him like wine. Also, does not do error checking. HAIL SATAN!
my $samael;
while (){
$samael = &dweller_on_the_threshold({$_});
if ($samael) {push @lyrics_of_the_fourth_sphere, $samael;}

Permanent link

I'm running the Columbus Half-Marathon next weekend, incidentally.

so long Paul Cohen

The inventor of forcing has died.

We saw Bobby Bare Jr. last night! We had seen him open for Andrew Bird in February and were so blown away by his voice that we thought it worth it to check him out again. Just incredible. Bobby gave a shout-out to Bryan Arendt's band 'The Sun', and asked where they were. Evidently they have stayed at his house and have the same booking agent.

Reading:
Jonathan Lethem, The Fortress of Solitude
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Vol. 2
Lawrence Weschler, Everything That Rises: A Book of Convergences

where have all the bees gone?

Amen Brother!

I uploaded a video last year to YouTube that I thought was interesting. It's a 20-minute documentary piece about the history of one particular drum sample. Someone did it for a school project and posted it on the interwebs. I found it compelling and thought it deserved a wider audience (No worries about copyright, people: it's under a Creative Commons licence).

I noticed this evening that this video I put up has been viewed almost 400,000 times, and now resides as the #76 Top Favorite (All Time) on YouTube. Evidently, it's beating Chad Vader(?) but rightfully behind Madonna's 'Like a Prayer' video. Talk about a wider audience.