Posts from — September 2007

I’ve see an abnormally high spike in hits from search engines on various incantations of “Thomas Recall.”  Curious for the new inbound traffic (welcome new readers!) I looked at Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) web site and sure enough, RC2 recalled more items yesterday from the Wooden Thomas and Friends series due to lead paint concerns.

They also recalled some other Knights of the Sword toys for lead paint.  This can’t be good financially for RC2 (they’ve previously stated how bad the first Thomas recall hit them in the pocketbook), though the scope of the Thomas toys is fairly limited.

Thankfully, we don’t have any of the affected toys in our house, but it has raised a sad state of affairs.  My youngest just turned one a few weeks back and most of the people made comments along the lines of, “I checked to see if it was made in China or not.”  We had one scare where a metal spinning top he received looked familiar to a toy I posted about earlier. A quick check on the site showed it was only tops with wooden handles, his has a plastic one.

Take a moment and scan through the recall list on the CPSC website and note how many lead paint recalls there are.  While there has been this huge outcry over manufacturing standards in China, something tells me this isn’t so much a manufacturing problem as it is a supplier problem.  Given how wide spread it is, something tells me some supplier unloaded a bunch of bad paint to various toy factories. Granted, the manufacturers still have a responsibility to test their products, but I think some of the blame may also lie on the regulations on suppliers. 

Before this mess did US toy manufacturers making toys here test all the paint they used?  I highly doubt it since no one in their right mind would attempt to sell lead paint in this country. The same atmosphere needs to happen in China.  Hopefully the Chinese equivalent of the the CPSC is looking into this.

If you’re a parent and your concerned, make a habit of checking the CPSC site.  They even have an RSS feed for toy recalls you can throw into your news reader. I’ve said it before - we haven’t seen the last of these recalls.

It’s official.  I am out of the world of Microsoft.  This was confirmed by the fact that I had no clue Halo 3 launched yesterday until a coworker mentioned he was heading to Best Buy to pick up a copy.  His response, “What, have you been living under a rock? Mountain Dew made special cans for it - how do you not know?”

My XBox 360 basically collects dust in our media cabinet. I think the last game I played on it was Zuma (yeah, I’m that lame.)  Even so, this video from the future is pretty funny.

I love the part that states the J. Allard’s first action as the future President is to rename the Grand Canyon “Blood Gulch.”

I’ll probably end up getting a copy eventually, the past games were a lot of fun to play and the story line is decent.  Plus I’ve got two friends bugging me to get it some we could do cooperative play online. The biggest challenge is time. With kids that are five and one, my only time to play is after they’re asleep which is also my only time to read/watch tv/actually get stuff done around the house.

Alex of the Daily WTF takes a break from the humorous code samples and screen prints and summarizes exactly why I hated dealing with so-called “Enterprise Architects.”  He goes over the fallacy of putting all “business logic” in a single layer, and when doing so how it makes a system needlessly complex.  He really puts into words what I’ve felt in the past when dealing with enterprise software.  My favorite quote:

It was as if its architects were given a perfectly good hammer and gleefully replied, neat! With this hammer, we can build a tool that can pound in nails.

I’m so happy to have gotten out of the enterprise software business to get some fresh air.  I’m perfectly happy coding web sites that work.  Sure, we do have to tie into back end systems and deal with some business logic, but thankfully we are insulated from most of it.  In the end all the architects that strive so hard to wrangle all of their business logic into a single layer ultimately get exactly what they deserve - a needlessly complex piece of software that is still costly to maintain.

The Mythical Business Layer - Worse Than Failure

Things are crazy busy at work right now as we are sprinting toward a deadline.  But I want to post a quick update.  As I mentioned, my foot sort of hurt after my 25 miler the Saturday before last - right where my son had dropped something on it.  That “sorta” hurt turned into ragin’ full-on, can’t walk pain on Sunday. That’s when the fear hit.  “OMG! I’m not going to be able to run the marathon!” I literally could not put weight on my right foot without searing pain.  By Monday I could walk, but barely.  I headed into the sports medicine clinic attached to our health club for a free injury evaluation. The PT at the clinic said that it was probably some bruised tendons.  She recommended some self massage, ice and ibuprofen.

I also added rest.  I did not run a single inch all of last week and and finally got on a treadmill last Saturday, mainly because I didn’t want to get several miles from home and have my foot act up (hooray for running in place!)  My foot did fine, though somewhere along the way I’ve come to dislike running on a treadmill.  I used to be the opposite - I hated running outside.  Now I think to myself, how did I spend so much time not going anywhere?

I didn’t run that long (about 45min) and did fine.  I headed out this morning in what has to be the worst weather I’d run in to date in terms of mid-week runs.  The humidity was through the roof - wasn’t the first day of fall this past weekend?  Pace seemed fine and I finished my four miles in under 40min, so even with the crappy weather and taking a week off, I’m holding my ground.  I’ll do my other midweek run on Thursday and will run my favorite 8mi route on Saturday.

Someone casually asked me yesterday, “Hey, when is that race you are running?”  Reality check time.  I mentally checked my calendar and said, “It’s a week from this Sunday.”  After a beat, my internal dialog switched to, “Holy s**t!  It’s a week from Sunday!!!”  I know I’m ready, but it is coming up fast.  I’ve got to go buy some clothes to wear that I can throw away on the course (thanks Tom and Eliezer for both giving my the clothing tips.) I’m enjoying the anxiety a bit - I was down in Chicago last Wednesday for a photo conference and looked around thinking, I’ll be running by this stuff in no time.  Can’t wait!

I’m about 3 hours recovered from my long run this weekend.  25 miles.  In actuality is was probably a hair short of that, but I’m rounding up.  I headed out at 6:30am and the temperature was 40 degrees.  The first 90 min of my run was spent telling myself I really need to go buy some gloves I can run in.  By the half way point, which I worked to be passing by the house so I could refill the water bottles, I was shucking off clothing. 

I really wonder what the weather is going to be like on the 7th.  While Tom jokes about what outfit he is going to wear, I’m starting to wonder myself. I left in a jacket and tights and a severe lack of gloves.  I finished feeling pretty warm in a long sleeve shirt (and would have been happier if I’d have ditched the tights.

By far, this was the strongest run of any I’ve done over say 16 miles.  The only issue was my right instep started hurting pretty bad at the three hour mark.  First it was, “Whoa, what’s that? Why is my instep hurting?  That’s never happened before.”  It took me about 30 minutes of racking my brain to finally realize that was from where my son dropped his booster seat on my foot the day before.  It ebbed and flowed for the rest of the run, but I pressed on. I’m still a little worried over it, but I think it will clear up.

Two weeks ago on my “short” nine mile run I felt like I was going to die. Not today dear body, I fueled you this week and stayed hydrated - just like the books say.  And much to my surprise, you responded (wow, those authors knew something).  I still eeked out a 12min pace, but I was able to sprint the last half mile with my head held high.  I contemplated spiking my water bottle on the front lawn, but thought better of it.

If you would have asked me three weeks ago if I was ready, I would have told you “yeah.” and would have been lying.  Today, I give you a firm “Hell yeah! Bring. It. On!”

Inevitably, when folks find out I’m training for a marathon, they confide in me they could never run “that far” let along around the block.  While an eight mile run has become fun for me, it wasn’t always that way.  Want to know the secret? 

I walk a lot. 

I know I’ve probably just lost all my runner subscribers by admitting that (”Ah! So he’s not really a runner!  What a faker, I’m outta here.”) but I don’t care.  Taking regular walk breaks while running has gotten my body to propel itself for over 22 miles in a single session, and I know it will get it to propel it 26.2.

I do feel a bit vindicated by an article in Runners World by 1968 Boston Marathon winner, Amby Burfoot.  Amby mentions Jeff Galloway’s marathon training program, which is what I’m following.  Right now my interval is pretty much run five minutes, walk one - though on longer runs I have a tendency to zone out and soon ten minutes have passed between breaks.  On shorter runs (say six miles or less), I’m able to easily keep a ten minute pace - nothing that is going to win any races, but about as fast as I’ve ever been running straight through.  Longer runs, my pace slows a bit, which has been a bit of concern for myself, but nothing horrible. 

Want to try for yourself?  Trying running 60 seconds, then walk 90. Rinse. Lather. Repeat. I bet you’ll be able to keep it up for a half hour.  This is the anchor of the Couch to 5k Running Plan.  My wife, one not normally inclined to run, got hung up getting our son to school yesterday and missed her normal aerobic step class at the club.  Pressed for time, she decided to give running a try on the treadmill using this same interval, and surprised herself by run/walking for 28 minutes before she had to get our youngest off to his one year check-up. I’m excited as all get-out in hopes she gets hooked on it as well.

I woke up a bit late for my run this morning (still getting a handle on the Alarm function of the Blackjack) and got dressed in my normal shorts and short-sleeved shirt.  On the way out the door I happened to glance at the temperature outside and saw it was 49 degrees!  Dang.  My mind raced, what did I used to wear back in the spring when it was this cold?

I threw my running tights and a long sleeve shirt on and did fine.  My hands were a little cold by the end of the 4 mile run - I need to buy some decent gloves.  One upshot of the cooler weather?  I was fast.  I hadn’t run a consistent 10min mile in I don’t know how long.  Four mile run in a hair over 40min (which included some waiting for a freight train before I paused my watch.)

This weekend is a big one, 24 miles.  One thing I’m doing different is keeping up on the fluids and eating.  Looking back, I know I didn’t eat nearly enough for the 22 miler and it did not help.  According to a few calculators I found, my 22 mile run burnt close to 3500 calories and I know I ate no where close to that in the days  going up to it.  I’m not going to go pasta crazy this week, but I’m definitely upping my carb intake.

Other good news?  My official registration came in the mail yesterday!  Man the race is getting close.

On the way into work this morning I was listening to NPR as I usually do and at the top of the hour they announced the date, September 11th.  I wondered to myself if that will ever be merely a date to me again, if it will follow me to my death bed as an event.  Probably the later.

I was no where near the East Coast on September 11, 2001 - I was actually across the country in Seattle.  I’d flown in on September 10th for a technical “Airlift” which was (is?) a Microsoft term for an internal technical briefing for field staff.  I think it was for Mobile Information Sever. I remember the clock radio clicking on at 6am pacific to KUOW and Carl Kasell doing the news at the top of the hour. There was mention of a “possible plane crash” at the World Trade Center in New York, which got my attention.  I figured that’s big enough news, CNN should have something on.  Sure enough they did, and less than 10 minutes later I watched along with the rest of the country as the events that would permanently become identifiable by only the date they occurred on unfolded on live TV.

My story is that of a distant observer, and for the most part unremarkable.  Our briefing continued on - the only interesting thing was that it was held in the building that the Microsoft side of MSNBC was housed in, yet all the TV’s were tuned to CNN.  My return flight was canceled and there was no sign of when I could get back to Madison, WI.  Two Chicago based co-worker and I decided to drive back, and did so in shifts for 32 hours straight, each rotating through getting to sleep on a pillow we picked up at a K-Mart in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.  All three of us just wanted to see our families again.

Like, I said, fairly unremarkable.  Yet, two stories that came across RSS today are from Penelope Trunk and Runners World. In particular, click through to Penelope’s accounts posted the day after.  Say what you will about what actually happened that day.  There are plenty of conspiracy theories out there, many which are quite plausible.  Either way, it still happened, and I’m always moved to read these accounts and my heart go out to those who can’t tell there survivor stories.

For a hard dose reality, check out the archival footage from the live broadcasts of that day at television archive.

So, I’m a bit late to the game in watching the update from Apple that happened yesterday. I’m watching the keynote in spurts as I’m making some code updates and saw that they are offering ringtones on iTunes now as well as being able to create ringtones from purchased songs. I don’t get this. Pay a buck for a song, then pay another buck to take a 30 second segment of that song and make it play when your cell phone rings. The fact that people pay for this is incredible.

Going back even three years to my Audiovox 5600, any WAV or WMA file could be a ringtone. Cost? Free. Being the 24 nerd I am, I’ve had mine as the sound the desk phones at CTU make for quite a while now. In fact, during the past two season premiers I did a double take to make sure it wasn’t my phone ringing when it was one on screen. Given that show pretty much jumped the shark last season, I’ll probably have to find something new.

I’ll give Apple credit - they spin this as a super cool, neato feature and they will make money off of it, for sure. I just don’t get it though.

I submitted this photo to the editors of Popular Photography & Imaging a while back.  They are running a series on their blog where their photo editor critique user submitted images.  I figured they are getting a ton of submissions and mine went by the wayside.  That is until I saw this today.  I’m floored and flattered at the same time - thanks for the comments, Linzee! It’s nice to hear comments from someone other than family, since I never know if family is “just being nice.”

In other photo news, I’m finishing up my first professional gig.  I finished up a composite layout for the customer yesterday and sent her the proof.  I’ve already processed most of her print order, the composite took a bit more time since I actually had to do some layout work for it.  Once she approves it, I’ll order it printed and will be sending out my first invoice.  Soon I guess I can no longer refer to myself as an amateur.