Touching another man’s Wii

I promise the title of this post will be my first and only Wii penis joke. Really.

Tonight, three years after its debut, I finally got a chance to play around with a Wii, thanks to an invite from Nic to try his out. He got it for the best price possible — as a prize in a raffle. Nice!

We played some Lego Batman after I got the lowdown on how to use the wand and nunchuk controllers and I think I did fairly well for a newbie. I had to play as Robin but hey, it’s Nic’s Wii so if he wants to play Batman, he plays Batman, dammit (and after watching how many times he plunged to his death while using the bat glide suit, I wasn’t too concerned about playing the sidekick). In one particular room we managed to kill ourselves repeatedly. I would push the joystick on the nunchuk and press the A button on the wand and Robin, the boy wonder, would happily walk off into a vat of lava or some toxic goo. Repeatedly. Being made of Lego grants you a kind of immortality, however, so the sting of death is not severe. We made a pretty good team, I’d say.

After putting away Mr. Freeze and Clayface, we moved on to the pack-in game, Wii Sports, testing out Tennis and Bowling. In Tennis we played two games. Nic beat me fairly handily in the first round as my fatheaded guys ran around the court looking more like rejects from Lord of the Dance than tennis players. The second game, however, found Nic without his mojo as he bobbled nearly every volley, handing me an easy win.

After drawing in Tennis we played a round of Bowling and I’m a bit concerned about Nic dislocating his shoulder when he plays the real thing because he puts some serious English into his swing. And it works. He got 5 strikes in all and ended with three in a row after finding the “magic spin”. I did not find any magic whatsoever and managed no strikes, though I got a few spares to stave off a humiliating defeat. Neither of us got a gutter ball.

Overall, the Wii left me unimpressed with its graphics (though being on a standard def TV probably doesn’t help much) but the controls were easy enough to grasp. The precision left something to be desired, though (see the countless deaths in Lego Batman as an example). While the party games are fun, I can’t say I’ve got a huge urge to trade-in my Xbox 360 for a Wii just yet.

Still, I must win at Bowling, so my Wii play is not over.

Review: Sherlock Holmes

I saw Sherlock Holmes today and liked it. I knew there would be more action in it than what one might expect in a typical Holmes story but it wasn’t an action movie. Robert Downey Jr. stamps the character with his own style while still engaging in some of the classic Holmes behavior we expect — the logical deductions, the violin playing. Jude Law was terrific as Dr. Watson and I was pleased to see the character presented not as a well-meaning buffoon or comedy relief but as a worthy match for Holmes in many ways.

The story sets up a cult engaged in magic that will “change the world” and is neatly deconstructed (and thwarted, of course) by Holmes in the end. The perfect sort of tale for the confirmed skeptic. The remainder of the cast is fine, though no one especially stands out. Everyone does what they’re supposed to and Downey and Law remain the focus throughout.

There is the suggestion of a sequel by the end and that wouldn’t be an altogether bad thing, I’d say. Thumbs up.

Come undone Run

7ºC today under cloudy skies for the run. I was pressed for time so I quit as soon as I reached 10k. My pace was almost identical to the previous run. Wore two layers and was pretty warm by the end.

At the 4k mark my left shoelace came untied. I tied it back up too tight and for the next 2k my foot hurt like heck until the action of running finally loosened the lace a bit.

The run was otherwise unremarkable.

Results:

Total distance: 10.02 km (previous: 10.14 km)
Average time/km: 5:46/km (previous: 5.45/km)
Best time/km: 5.28/km (previous: 5.15/km) (not sure why the first km was slower. Maybe I was distracted.)

Book review: Dark Delicacies II

I just finished Dark Delicacies II: Fear, the second collection of 20 horror short stories and it holds up nearly as well as the first volume. Most of the stories are fairly good, a few are standouts and, unfortunately, a few also fell flat. The variety is decent, ranging in subject matter from vampires (on the Titanic) to the undead, ghost and the more subtle horrors of the mind. Tone and mood ranged widely, from very light to grim, with most stories falling somewhere between the extremes.

The Best

  • “Dog” by Joe R. Lansdale, a simple but effective chase story
  • “The Accompanist” (John Harrison), a mesmerizing character study of a man consumed by his passion for music
  • “Where There’s a Will…” (Robert Masello), a romp in which an underachieving son in a somewhat dysfunctional family gets success in a way he could never have imagined. This was my favorite of the collection, a real delight all the way through.

The Worst

Unlike the first volume, there are a few stories here that fell flat:

  • “Amusement”, a story about unlikeable characters engaging in unlikeable (and uninteresting) acts
  • “Great Wall: A Story from the Zombie War” by Max Brooks which was strangely boring but mercifully short. Maybe it suffers from being out of context from World War Z.

“The Y Incision”, a goofy homage to the old Night Stalker TV series, invoked my internal editor when the protagonist, a private detective who specializes in the undead, complained about “losing two bills” on a case that goes bust when there was a very clear, obvious point where the detective could have (and really, should have) gotten the money back. There were a couple of other stories where I found myself rewriting bits in my head. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

Overall, though, I’d definitely recommend Dark Delicacies II to any horror fan. It’s a solid anthology.

A boy and his runaway dog

Today it was once again mild — about 8ºC and overcast with little wind. I wore two layers but I’m certain one long-sleeved shirt would suffice in these conditions.

The trail was puddle-free but a bit mushy in spots. I only had to jink around one specific area, though. Since it wasn’t raining there were several other joggers present but they seemed to be the low-impact type, more walking than jogging. At about 6km in one jogger suddenly dashed by me — a rather attractive young guy wearing a black t-shirt and shorts. His stride was pretty impressive and there was no way I was going to keep up but I’ve seen these guys often enough to know that they eventually (and sooner rather than later) blow a gasket. The best part, though, is that he was jogging with a dog on a leash and immediately demonstrated how problematic that can be.

He passed me right near the play area and there’s a fence there to prevent the noggins of wee ones getting bashed by errant baseballs. The dog comes to a full stop to pee on it. undaunted, the guy yanks on the leash and they continue on. They then pass by a woman getting walked by a large black dog. I am unsure what the breed was — some kind of baby-eater, I think — but the woman was clearly not the one in control. Once again joggerboy’s dog charges off. Less than a lap later he had disappeared. Maybe he spontaneously combusted. He was running awfully fast.

The run went well, the pace felt good and I finished at the starting point for my longest run yet.

There were no odd objects laying about the park, the first time in awhile that’s happened.

Results:

Total distance: 10.14 km (previous: 10.08 km)
Average time/km: 5:45/km (previous: 5.44/km)
Best time/km: 5.15/km (previous: 5.22/km)

Duck run

With a rainfall warning advisory in effect from Environment Canada, I was not surprised to find myself greeted with torrential rain for today’s run. It was the kind of weather a duck might like. A mad duck.

But it was mild, at least — about 8ºC. I wore two layers and almost felt a single layer may have sufficed. Still need the gloves, though, even if they eventually got thoroughly soaked in the process.

I was startled to find another jogger running clockwise around the path when I began but she disappeared after about 10 minutes. Two others showed up but they both also left after only a brief stay. I can’t say I blame them as the first 6 km of the run was a very hard rain with gusting wind. Strangely, at the 6k mark the sky brightened and the sun came out for a few moments while the rain still pounded down. On each lap the trail morphed as puddles grew and spread. It became a virtual obstacle course by the 3/4 mark with me nimbly hopping around, over and sometimes just straight through the water. The rains eventually eased up and for a few km actually stopped. By the end they resumed but with most of their vigor gone.

Unlike the previous run, I felt good on this one and the last stretch did not seem interminable. I finished by running a wee bit father and a little bit faster, so I’m happy with the results.

My shoes and socks are thoroughly soaked and muddy. The people who make laundry detergent will be pleased.

And what’s a run in the park without some new weird object to behold? Today it was this in the middle of the field:

That would be a floor buffer. Looked to be on good shape, if a little damp. Again, people are weird.

Results:

Total distance: 10.08 km (previous: 10.03 km)
Average time/km: 5:44/km (previous: 5.50/km)
Best time/km: 5.22/km (previous: 5.10/km) — I blame the unpredictable condition of the trail for the slower time here. Took a few laps to fully suss out the best way to navigate the watery ways.

10k run!

Today I decided to finally go ahead and try a 10k run, even though I have a head cold (apparently a bonus gift from traveling back from the island).

It was a relatively balmy 5ºC and mostly clear, with some high cloud and no breeze. Because of the warmer temperature the trail was firm but pliable, like a pair of breasts (or so I have been told).

I started out strong and although my overall time was slower than the previous run, my pace was fairly steady. However, the last 2 km it felt like the countdown announcements simply weren’t going to play on the iPod, as if time was stretching out and defying the laws of the universe. Kilometer 9 felt like about 3 km before I finally got the 1 km notification and then it felt longer still before the final series of countdowns began at 400m. I did not run any extra but I was nowhere near the starting line, so I didn’t cheese on the finish.

Afterward, I must confess to being slightly sore but not too bad there. I am tired as all get-out, though. The run took about 58 minutes.

There were a number of dog walkers and two other joggers at the park but the joggers were working at a fairly light pace. I saw three guys with a football and golf clubs (?), perhaps intent on creating the new hybrid sport, footgolf. They seemed to putt or chip or whatever in the field for a bit. A little later three more guys came by with baseball gloves and ball, because that pre-season can’t start too soon! I hadn’t expected to watch for baseballs in December. They kept them off the path.

Moving forward I will slowly begin working on my 10k time. I’m glad I did this before the end of the year. It’s a nice way to cap things off.

Results:

Total distance: 10.03 km (previous: 8.56 km)
Average time/km: 5:50/km (previous: 5.37/km)
Best time/km: 5.10/km (previous: 5.08/km)

Me vs. programming

Before letting Mavis Beacon beat me about the head some more for my lack of touch-typing skills, I thought it might be fun to try my hand at programming again.

Over the years I have dabbled a bit in some Basic, coded HTML, made a few stylesheets and wrangled with an SQL file or two, so I’m not completely wet behind the ears. What I am, however, is no longer 12 years old. That means a couple of things. For starters, I am old enough to be adept at a few tasks and so trying something new is bound to leave me a little impatient at getting to the results. I got through the same thing with jogging by using a nine week plan that carefully ramped up the effort needed, so I was always seeing progress meted out. The other thing is by being older my mind is perhaps a wee bit less pliable than it once was. That whole “old dogs/new tricks” thing. I’m not quite ready to assume my brain isn’t up to retaining brand new information, though.

Tonight I started by downloading the MS Visual Basic 2008, Visual C# 2008 and Visual Web Developer 2008 Express editions. I chose Windows Development Tier 1 as my starting point and watched the introductory video, which was basically, “This is a computer and it does stuff. Soon you will make it do stuff!”

By next week I expect to be writing incredibly awesome Windows applications, of course.

Run run

Yeah, it isn’t easy to keep coming up with new titles for my jogging updates. 😛

Today’s run was under sunny skies with the temperature around 3ºC. After thawing and freezing for the past week the trail was hard and frosty in spots where it doesn’t get much sun with the rest being a little more pliable. The park crews had been by since my run last Monday as all of the leaves had been removed from the path. It had that new park feel.

I was curious to see how the six days off due to travel to the island would affect my performance but it turned out to be the best run of my last six, coming in at an average pace of 5.37/km. I also covered more ground than before, 8.56 km, edging closer to my New Year’s goal of 10k. Most importantly, I feel good after the run. I still haven’t heard Tiger come on, but Joan Benoit Samuelson congratulated me on my farthest run yet.

There were a few other joggers out and the usual assortment of dogs and their owners about. As expected the buggies had been cleared away but next to one tree was a not-insignificant pile of clothes. Perhaps someone was concerned the coyotes would get cold in this weather.

Results:

Total distance: 8.56 km (previous: 8.20 km)
Average time/km: 5:37/km (previous: 5.38/km)
Best time/km: 5.08/km (previous: 5.21/km)

Shop ‘n run

Because winds were supposed to be gusting, I went with three layers today for the run but apparently the gusting stopped before I started. Still, at 4ºC I did not feel too overdressed. The weather was overcast, which was a nice change from the previous run’s torrential rain. As a result, the path was mushy but fully navigable. No ark needed.

I decided to run to a set distance today instead of time, choosing 8 km since my usual 45 minute runs seem to be in that range, anyway. I improved drastically on my previous run, as you’ll see below, and ran a little extra to get to the starting point. My pace was very consistent, which I’m happy to see. The calves both felt a bit sore as I ran but are fine now. I think they are adjusting to the longer distances but at this rate I suspect there will be no discomfort in the next run or two.

Today I was joined on the path by a couple of people with their dogs, a nice lady walking clockwise and, of course, a pair of shopping carts (said nice lady moved them, as both were originally on the path itself):

You may ask me, “Why would someone wheel a shopping cart into a park with a semi-smashed pumpkin in it?” and I would answer, “Because people are mental.” Since there were two carts (the other was sans pumpkin) I am left to wonder if this was a group effort (“Hey guys, I have this great idea…”) or someone with motivations even I cannot divine. I expect the carts to be gone next time but I thrill in anticipation of what may take their place!

Results:

Total distance: 8.20 km (previous: 8.01 km)
Average time/km: 5:38/km (previous: 5.53/km)
Best time/km: 5.21/km (previous: 5.31/km)

Errata: R.E.M.’s album Lifes Rich Pageant is a great album to jog to. Most of the songs are uptempo and unlike some of their albums, none of them is filler. It’s a bit short so I had to pad out the playlist with a few songs from Document.

I still have not heard Tiger Woods chime in on the iPod since his li’l scandal broke. A coincidence, probably, but it seems kind of funny.

Slow run

“I expect I will do a bit better after a few days of rest.” Then again, maybe not!

Today’s (well, technically yesterday’s since it’s past midnight now) run was in a relatively balmy 9ºC and under very light drizzly conditions. I wore my gloves.

The flood at the park had almost entirely retreated so I was able to run along the path except for the one sunken SE corner. My calves were sore from the previous run so I took two days off and partway through this run they felt even more sore. I am fairly certain that I have not re-injured the right calf, as it is not getting worse and when I stopped running it doesn’t hurt (unlike before where the pain lingered even while walking). I think my legs are just complaining about upping the time from 35 to 45 minutes. I’ve added roughly 1.5 km to the run as a result.

Because of the soreness my pace was fairly steady but not very swift. Since i had come so close to 8km before I opted to push for it today. Unfortunately I was only at 7.64km at the 45 minute mark and it took two more minutes to get to 8km. Still, I did it and I’m still walking now, so yay and all that.

Results:

Total distance: 8.01 km
Average time/km: 5:53/km (previous: 5.45/km)
Best time/km: 5.31/km (previous: 5.21/km)

Notable incident: a pair of women were throwing a ball for a dog to catch. One of them had one of those ball scoop dealies that lets you pick up and throw the ball without getting dog slobber all over your hand. They mostly stayed off the trail but one lap they were on it and as I moved to pass them the one woman raised the ball scoop up and very nearly whacked me in the head with it. Her partner gently chided her. Good enough for me!

Flood run

Today’s run was ugly.

Last night’s predicted big snow followed by rain didn’t happen in that the snow petered out quickly. By this morning it was completely gone, so I didn’t need to be concerned about running in piles of slush. Instead I faced this:

chinacreek-flood

That’s the southeast corner where I enter the park and start my run. A long stretch along the northern part of the trail was similarly flooded, forcing me to run alongside it on the grass (which really isn’t so bad). The navigable parts of the trail were rather muddy, as my socks and sneakers will attest.

It was a relatively balmy 4ºC when I started out so I opted to wear only two layers (jacket + long sleeve shirt) and that was fine. I also chose to skip wearing my gloves, which was not so fine. My hands were numb by the end and even for the first few minutes in the shower the tops of them had this weird temperature inversion thing going on where the hot water hitting them felt very much cold. If I turned my palms up the water felt hot, as it should.

I probably walked as much yesterday as I had run on Sunday, if not more, which in retrospect was probably dumb. I should have rested my legs. This meant my calves were sore to start today and my initial pace was pretty sluggish. I didn’t force it, though. By the final few km I had my second wind and my legs were sufficiently limber that my pace improved remarkably.

For a long stretch I had all of China Creek Park to myself, save for the crows worming in the field and a parks board tractor blowing leaves off the path (and helpfully stopping each time I jogged by). At the 15 minute mark the rain started and by 20 minutes in had become a downpour. It eased off for about ten minutes then for the last 3 laps or so turned to a downpour again. There were occasional strong gusts blowing from the south/southeast, too. With about ten minutes to go another jogger showed up but I only ever saw him do a few stretching exercises. He seemed to have disappeared by the time I was leaving.

Results:

Total distance: 7.89 km
Average time/km: 5:45/km (slightly better than my 40 minute pace)
Best time/km: 5.21/km (full km), 4:43/km  (final .89 km)

You can see how my pace really picked up toward the end — 4:43 for nearly a full km is a remarkable time for me for the end of a run and I really didn’t feel I was pushing at all, just moving at a comfortable pace.

I expect I will do a bit better after a few days of rest.