I came across this video on Qt3 and am compelled to share it. It’s a size comparison that starts with our moon and ends with the largest known star. Talk about putting things into perspective.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEheh1BH34Q
Happy Canada Day!
This post is in place of what would have been “This is not the July weather I ordered (showers).”
Instead, Happy Canada Day! I should look so good at 143.
Updated photo galleries
I’ve made a few updates to ye olde Photo Galleries, adding several to the School Photos section (not sure why some of the photos aren’t linking to each other, still sorting that out). I still marvel over what I thought was pretty stylin’ hair back in junior high and high school. In my defense, I can claim to have never worn bell bottom jeans. I think. I’ve also added some photos that were taken yesterday (June 29) by Denis in a gallery cleverly called June 29, 2010. The outdoor shots were taken in Nelson Park, safely away from the ‘all dogs poop here’ area.
The contrast between me in June 2010 and July 2008 (not quite a month after I totally changed my diet) is interesting, to say the least. Not only did I lose about 40 pounds, I also shed my full beard, got rid of my big-ass glasses and generally became a lot healthier.
July 2008:
[singlepic id=32 w=320 h=240 float=]June 2010:
[singlepic id=81 w=320 h=240 float=]The cult of Apple
Really, is there any other explanation? This post is in reference to the new Apple iPhone 4:
I’ll be heading to the Stonestown Apple Store around 3AM (did not pre-order, as I had plans to exchange my < month old 3GS at AT&T until they decided not to have any, the bastards). iPadding the wait like Woolen Horde.
Someone who already had a less-than-a-month-old iPhone 3GS (latest model) stood in line at three in the morning to get an iPhone 4 (new model) and killed the time waiting for the store to open by playing with the last Apple gadget (iPad) he also waited in line for. It’s like a Syfy movie about mind control devices except it’s actually happening.
People are weird.
Trepidation (and a run)
After eight days off, I was a bit tentative about running, given the litany of problems I have suffered lately, but the weather was pleasant — hazy sunshine, 18ºC and a light breeze, so I decided to give it a go with another modest 5K run. After a warm-up and some stretching I began and ended up shaving one second off my best time for the month. My right calf felt perfectly fine and any creakiness in my left leg worked itself out fairly quickly. Although my first km was not especially fast, I like that I was able to maintain my pace over the 2nd km and picked the pace up slightly in the final stretch.
I am introducing the cap-tug number (CTN) with this update. When I am running and start to perspire my cap begins to ride up slightly on my head. This is not an issue unless it is breezy, which it has been all freaking spring (and now summer). When it gets windy, the cap threatens to lift and take flight, forcing me to tug it back down. Due to the perspiration, this is only a temporary measure, requiring further tugs to insure the cap stays on. Today I had to tug the cap four times to keep it in place, thus the CTN for today is rated 4. A guy actually had a kite out at the park but it wasn’t quite windy enough and he gave up after a short time. Still, that gives you an idea of what it was like (current winds are being reported as 11 km/h).
For a change I opted to do my post-run stretching in the park instead of waiting to do it at home. I almost overdid it while waiting for a fellow jogger to run by. I didn’t have to wait but he was…uh…not wearing a shirt.
I like summer. That is all.
Chart (bolded numbers are overall average time/km):
| Distance | June 26th | June 15th | June 11th | June 7th | June 4th | June 1st |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 km | 5:10 | 5:07 | 5:08 | 5:08 | 5:07 | 5:03 |
| 2 km | 5:11 | 5:13 | 5:12 | 5:15 | 5:20 | 5:21 |
| 3 km | 5:17 | 5:17 | 5:16 | 5:21 | 5:27 | 5:33 |
| 4 km | 5:21 | 5:19 | 5:20 | 5:24 | 5:31 | 5:40 |
| 5 km | 5:23 | n/a | 5:24 | 5:28 | 5:34 | 5:45 |
Web-based dopplegangers
As you may have cleverly guessed my real name is not Creole Ned, though I have been known to answer to Ned in person. I like having this one layer of separation online, where my real identity is not exactly hidden (it’s listed in the About section here) but not front and center, either. This is not to say that I write through a persona — Creole Ned is simply the online ID I use.
From time to time I have thought about going with a domain that uses my real name but it turns out they’re all taken. My last name is very common — James — and the first name (Stan) is not uncommon enough to not be hooked up with James online. I took a little stroll on the web and discovered that stanjames.com is, of all things, a gambling site. That’s kind of depressing (and it’s the reason I’m not providing a direct link to it). I don’t think I’ve ever gambled, apart from an occasional lottery ticket, which I view as more of a charitable donation than anything (I am always reminded of the old Lotto 6/49 slogan from back in the 90s. It was “Hey, you never know!” The long-defunct Doppler Superstore had a sign out front and after they became an authorized lotto dealer, they had the slogan up for awhile, except they got it slightly wrong. It read “Hey, you’ll never know!” It’s probably the best case of accidental truth in advertising I’ve seen). stanjames.net, stanjames.org and stanjames.info all redirect to stanjames.com. Man, that guy was thorough. stanjames.ca is also taken but in this case it’s “under construction”. I can only dream in anticipation over what wonders will be revealed there.
It turns out that most variations on stanleyjames are still available but I never use my full name, though if I did it might cut down on the whole “Stan the Man” thing or the “No, my name is not Dan” thing (I once had a roommate named Dan and occasionally carried on longish phone calls with people who actually wanted to talk to him and not me). I could also try a variation like stanwjames which is available (trivia: all three of my names can be re-arranged and still work; the middle name is William) but again, I just don’t have a compelling need to switch over.
So creolened.com it shall be for now and the undermined future. Go me!
UPDATE: It turns out this “Stan James” fellow is simply a composite name for a well-known UK bookmaker (Wikipedia link) and when I did a Google search of my name, the bookmaker monopolizes nearly all of the first 20 pages of results. I show up once on page 14 due to my Facebook account. I guess this is good if someone decides to “google” me before hiring me for some sort of job. Unless they think I’m a UK bookmaker and have a thing against them, of course.
Poetic license revoked
The last time I wrote poetry was when I was made to as part of a creative writing course I took in college back in 1989. This is a good thing because I’ve never been very good at writing poetry. I think this is for a couple of reasons. First, I see myself as a more meat and potatoes kind of writer and such a style does not lend itself to the carefully chosen wordplay of poems. Second, I’m too impatient to go through the process of carefully choosing individual words and weighing them in the context of a poem, which may also explain why I’m a meat and potatoes kind of writer to begin with.
I have looked over a few poems that I wrote back then and am putting them up here for public appraisal/mockery. I may rewrite them to show what I’d change if I was still writing poetry today.
Snake in the pond
Gently, go then
and swim in the
pond
Do not float or not move
There be snakes
in the pond
They are green
and yellow and black
and very pretty
You remember laughter
and scream
It’s in your trunks now
Gales of laughter
Swim with the colors
Slither and dive
You were so young then
You’ll never swim here
again
The Ride (number one)
The crowd waits in the rain
Umbrellas blossomed like black flowers
Gathered as if for a funeral
They wait for the familiar lights
He sees the lights and watches
as they resolve into the shape of the bus
Ritually, the umbrellas fold up
and the people move, not unlike
the poor and huddled masses, he thinks.
Everyone wants to be first
He is swept through the crush of bodies
into the smothering warmth
The smell of damp clothes and musty hair
mingled with an old woman’s odor
(two or three liters, perhaps)
is unavoidable as he inches down the aisle,
a cow in a cattlecar.
Clinging to a metal bar, umbrella soaking into
his side,
he gulps as a titanic shape approaches,
fold upon fold rippling through the trenchcoat
like waves on a rising ocean
He grimaces and is pressed
like luncheon meat as the
woman docks, staring out the window
with a pre-determined expression
He cannot see the window
It is too warm and the
fluorescent lights are
too harsh
The bus moves,
taking him on the most
exciting journey of his life.
Again.
Eddie Vedder and me
Last night I had a dream. No, not a vision for a better future where all people are truly equal regardless of color or orientation or anything. Just the regular kin of dream you have at night when your subconscious is doing its daily housecleaning. I knew it was a dream because the day was sunny and warm. On this sunny and warm day Pearl Jam was playing a concert in a park somewhere. I have the first three Peal Jam albums, which I rate roughly as Love It (Ten), Like It (Vs) and Listen to Songs From It When They Come Up On My iPod’s 2200+ Song Playlist (Vitalogy). This is to say that I like Pearl Jam so my brain wasn’t actively trying to punish me by having them put on a show for me. I believe this may have been an acoustic show of some kind because I do not recall the wailing of electric guitars. Eddie was a bit soft and flabby. The crowd seemed very sparse, so maybe it was a secret rehearsal or something.
The weirder part is that I was onstage and it was clear that Eddie and I were a couple. I was also a musician of some sort or at least someone had handed me a mike. At one point I made a comment to the crowd as an aside, pointing out how I loved it when Bob Dylan did this certain song. Because Bob Dylan was also there (to the left of Eddie and me). The show was interrupted at one point when a softball came bouncing in near the stage. A couple of apologetic ball players came by and took it away. The concert continued, with Eddie being just a generally nice guy and kind of smitten with me. This was definitely not the lean, growling “Jeremy” era Vedder.
It was a pleasant little dream and I thank my subconscious for not hooking me up with someone dead like Kurt Cobain, which would have been all kinds of creepy.
Technically, it is the first day of summer
Today is the first day of summer. It’s around 17ºC and cloudy. Better than rain, so I rate Mother Nature 6/10 today.
The super-short run
Although conditions were near-perfect (warm, sunny, light breeze) I cut my run short just past the 1 km mark today because the right calf muscle I had pulled a few days back started feeling sore. I figure I need to give it a few more days to recover. On the good side, I managed a pace of 5:02 on the one km I completed, which is pretty good for my post-injury (the other one) since returning to the runs in June.
Tiger Woods once again congratulated me on completing yet another 250 miles. The grasp of distances he is displaying via my iPod may indicate why he has been having some problems since returning to golfing.
The surprise twist run
Although I set the iPod to a distance of 10K, I planned on running only half that, figuring that I was reaching a plateau with the 5K runs and this would be a good ‘send-off’ before tackling the 10Ks again. Little did I realize the surprise twist to come!
The weather was a mix of sun and cloud, around 17ºC, with a light breeze blowing. The trail was in much better shape than the previous run. I could feel my lower left leg but it didn’t hurt and did not affect my pace at all. As you can see in the chart below my time up to the 4K mark was nearly identical to the previous run. I believe had I done the full 5K I would have had a slightly improved pace due to the short 2-second gap between the 3 and 4K mark. However, just after hitting 4K my right calf (surprise twist!) suddenly started seizing up. I spent about 10 seconds running on it trying to decide what to do and opted to end the run early rather than aggravating it. I don’t believe it is actually hurt, as it seems like just a muscle spasm but it was certainly not the way I expected the run to end.
I am officially™ planning a full 10K run next time. Excelsior!
Chart (bolded numbers are overall average time/km):
| Distance | June 15th | June 11th | June 7th | June 4th | June 1st | April 30th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 km | 5:07 | 5:08 | 5:08 | 5:07 | 5:03 | 5:03 |
| 2 km | 5:13 | 5:12 | 5:15 | 5:20 | 5:21 | 5:06 |
| 3 km | 5:17 | 5:16 | 5:21 | 5:27 | 5:33 | 5:09 |
| 4 km | 5:19 | 5:20 | 5:24 | 5:31 | 5:40 | 5:12 |
| 5 km | n/a | 5:24 | 5:28 | 5:34 | 5:45 | 5:16 |
This is why you don’t refuse sunscreen
Yesterday I was at a WESA softball game. Unlike most spring days, it was actually sunny and warm. Prior to game start I was offered some sunscreen. For some reason I was convinced I was impervious to the sun and declined the offer.
This is the result:
Yes, I am dumb but perhaps a smidgen more humble today than I was yesterday. I will now look for “Sunburning for Dummies” on Amazon.