My top 5 values -or- My other top 5 values

Recently I went through an exercise where you take a bunch of cards with values listed on them and sort them into three piles: Never Important, Sometimes Important and Very Important. You then toss aside the two lesser piles and order everything that is Very Important. After this you finish by selecting the top 6 Very Important values but I read the 6 as a 5, so I my final result is slightly value-deficient:

  1. Teaching
  2. Creativity
  3. Listening
  4. Leadership
  5. Cooperation

The values are, of course, constrained by the options in the deck of cards you use. If a value isn’t listed, you can’t choose it, but it seemed fairly complete. I am always aware of my tendency to game these evaluations so I picked quickly to reduce the possibility of my brain being too clever for its own good. Let’s see how these values break down:

1. Teaching. I was about halfway to a teaching certificate many years ago before shifting gears and I’ve always tested strongly for it, so this does not come as a surprise. I really enjoy teaching others how to do stuff. The positive feedback is incredibly rewarding to me.

2. Creativity. I write, I draw comics, I dream up elaborate worlds and systems, I make maps of imaginary places. I sometimes arrange my food on my plate more for the aesthetics than the practical. Yeah, this is pretty spot-on.

3. Listening. I have always thought of myself as a good listener. If the person is at least somewhat engaging, whether they are talking about things positive or negative, I find it easy to stay engaged and absorb like a human-sized sponge. I generally prefer to listen rather than talk, though the inner stand-up comic in me does sometimes want to take over.

4. Leadership. Have you ever been in a situation where you’re part of a team assigned to some task and everyone just sits around and shrugs at each other and nothing happens and you find yourself thinking, “Stupid people! Do something!” and then you suddenly realize that you have to be the one to take charge and so you do and then things happen and it turns out okay? I’m that person.

5. Cooperation. This one seems a bit weak as a top 5 value. Sure, it’s got a good beat but can you dance to it? I guess I prefer cooperation to the alternative but what rational person wouldn’t? Well, one who didn’t have to cooperate to get things done, I suppose.

I always double-up on these tests to see what, if anything, changes when I do it again. Here are the results from take 2:

  1. Creativity
  2. Teaching
  3. Utilizing
  4. Listening
  5. Honesty

Here we see Creativity and Teaching swapping spots at the top, so no big change there. But then we have:

3. Utilizing. I’m not sure how this got in. I’m not even sure what it means. Maybe I wrote down the wrong card. Utilizing. Okay, the dictionary says “To put to use, especially to find a profitable or practical use for.” Seems very practical. I’m not sure how it’s a value. I think I picked the wrong card.

4. Listening. Swapped from #3 to #4, not much change here.

5. Honesty. Is such a lonely word. Everyone is so untrue. Like Billy Joel, I also like honesty, though I’m not as bitter and jaded about its apparent absence. Nor do I record songs about it and make millions of dollars and blow it on coke and crash cars and marry woman half my age, either. Anyway, this seems like a reasonable choice for me, as honestly is pretty fundamental. If you’re not being honest, you’re lying and there’s a good chance you’re a big ol’ poopypants because of it. I see a lot of people refusing to communicate effectively because they are afraid to be honest.

Read more

Reviews: Alice in Wonderland, Ringu, Avatar, Clash of the Titans

Four quickie movie reviews, one a rental, three in theaters and two of those in 3D.

Ringu
This is the original Japanese version of The Ring from 1998, the story of a weird videotape that, once viewed, will lead to the viewer’s horrific death exactly one week later. A reporter who comes across the story and falls victim to the tape launches an investigation against time to solve the mystery. And that’s essentially what this is — a mystery, albeit one that centers on a tortured spirit instead of something mundane. I have not seen the American version of The Ring but was told it is scarier than this one, which really isn’t scary at all. There’s a few minorly creepy bits but that’s it. The film is still well-crafted and interesting but this is a case where perhaps something really is lost in the translation (I watched a subtitled rental). Thumbs up but not hugely so.

Alice in Wonderland
In which the Mad Hatter gets an expanded role because you’re paying zillions for Johnny Depp so you’re going to use him, dammit. This is pretty much what you’d expect from Tim Burton but I found it a bit pedestrian and the usual Burton aesthetic didn’t quite work for Wonderland. The look was a little too dreary and dark, not funky and weird. The actors were fine and I especially liked the style Helena Bonham Carter brought to the Red Queen — an unexpected surprise. But the story, which imposes a not very interesting narrative onto a setting that works best without one, felt a bit limp. By the end where the Mad Hatter is fighting with a sword and Alice is decked out in a suit of armor you’re kind of wondering what the hell is going on. But the visuals were good. A feast for the eyes, not so much for the brain.

Avatar
What can be said about this that hasn’t been said already? It’s made over $2 billion worldwide, is still playing in theaters as its Blu-ray and DVD release nears, was nominated for a truckload of Oscars and perhaps formalized the mainstream acceptance of 3D in movies with most of its take carrying the $3 or so premium price that 3D films extract. I thought it was pretty good, though some of the early dialogue in particular was clunky and the story, of course, is nothing original. I don’t ding it for that because few stories are original and if it’s told well, that’s good enough for me. Cameron keeps things moving along and though predictable, I enjoyed the ride. The visuals are amazing. Sam Worthington, as the titular avatar, didn’t seem to be all that different here from his role in Terminator Salvation last summer. This leads me into…

Clash of the Titans
I heard the bolted-on 3D here was especially bad but we managed to catch an old-fashioned 2D version of the film. Reviews had been mixed at best so I didn’t have high expectations. Some good CGI, some decent action, that’s all I hoped for and the movie mostly delivers on that. It plays fast and loose with the mythology, just as the original did, but when you’re remixing stories that are made-up to begin with, how much can you really complain? This time Perseus is out for revenge after Hades wipes out his adopted family. Hades is played by Ralph Fiennes, who seemed to be channeling several different bad guys, among them Wormwood from The Lord of the Rings. Liam Neesson played Zeus about as well as one might hope for and his armor literally sparkled, like a Twilight vampire. The Medusa sequence was fairly brief and somewhat disappointing, though the Medusa design was striking — a huge serpentine body with a hauntingly beautiful face that transformed into a suitably haggish look when she got some face time with a hapless victim. My biggest complaints would probably be some of the dialogue (see Avatar), Sam Worthington’s bland Perseus (see Avatar) and the way Perseus was written, apart from Worthington’s specific portrayal. The character just wasn’t interesting. The giant scorpions, surprise “cameo” and general effects were all pleasing enough. Better off as a rental.

Well: A deep subject

All right, then. What happened?

On my last run I complained that my calves were sore. This happens sometimes. Maybe it’s the weather, the phase of the moon or just the capricious ways of a body in its mid-40s but occasionally my legs will get sore while running (as opposed to merely getting tired). The day after this run my right calf felt fine, as expected. My left calf did not. It twinged with a bit of pain whenever I put pressure on my left leg. I knew this feeling from last October.

I had injured my leg. Again.

But for variety’s sake, it was the left one this time. Some sort of balance thing, perhaps. Fortunately I proved I could learn and adapt and did not run like hell on the injured leg afterward. I also think the injury was milder than the previous one. After being out of commission for 18 days I am planning on resuming my runs this week. Once again I vow to be cautious and careful and not pull, rip, shred or strain anything. I don’t have a third leg to injure so I’m hoping I’ve got this whole “hurting myself” business out of my system now.

In better running news, my total Nike-tracked distance to date is 407+ km. That’s a lot of laps!

In other random news, I am going to start spamming posts to the blog again. Excelsior!

Things that irritate me when I run (plus: my run!)

Very mild and sunny today, the trail was in fine shape, though it looks like the forecast will result in a few puddles come Friday if it stays accurate.

I have been having some digestion issues lately — gas from both ends (bleah) and a rumbly stomach/intestinal tract. I almost didn’t run today because of this but went out anyway, drawn by the siren song of a nice day.

My start was pretty good, just over 5 minutes and the first 2 km were very close time-wise. The middle stretch I began to feel rather blah and my calves also started to ache a bit, bringing my overall time down. At around the 8k mark a new jogger showed up and came onto the trail just ahead of me. His pace set him maybe 100 meters ahead of me and although I couldn’t catch him, I managed to keep up with the pace he fell into it. He started pulling a little ahead after a few minutes and I resigned myself to not catching up. Then something happened. He may have started to slow but I definitely turned it up a notch, tapping into the fresh reserves brought about by the runner’s high. My last 2 km have only a 2-second spread, which is pretty good for a finish. Even better, I managed to actually close the gap and was about to pass the other runner when he suddenly departed the trail and headed up the hill and out of the park.

Results:

Total distance: 10.02 km (previous: 10.02 km)
Average time/km: 5:26/km (previous: 5:23/km)
Best time/km: 5:02/km (previous: 5:02/km)

The list of things that irritate me will be posted below soon™.

The golfer, the soccer player, the dog and me

Or: Things That Irritate Me When I am Running.

First, the good news. I was not anticipating today’s run, as I felt I was still in the “getting back up to speed” phase but I set off under sunny skies and mild temperatures. There was a breeze again but not anything like last week’s gust-o-ramas. Midway through the run I felt pretty good. I hadn’t experienced any real discomfort and would only go on to feel a little cramp in my stomach around the 8km mark. My time turned out to be 5:23/km, a whopping 8 second improvement over Friday and only three seconds off my best pace ever. I’m quite pleased by this and hope I can maintain this pace on Wednesday.

As it was quite a nice day there were lots of people at the park. A regular who does a workout on one of the balance bars found the set he normally uses occupied and instead sat in his car and smoked pot.  I’m not sure if he was intending to exercise afterward or not. It would probably be an interesting sensation, at the very least.

Now, the golfer mentioned in the subject line. I have seen him once before and today he started by doing the same thing, positioning himself in a spot where there was an excellent chance one of the balls he was whacking would go flying across the path ringing the park. Likewise, a guy kicking around a soccer ball was observed kicking it not once but twice across the path. I am happy to report that glares, karma or something inspired both of them to finally alter their positions to minimize ball-on-innocent-bystander contact. There were several other examples of people being generally oblivious to other people around them. I had a woman with a dog (off leash, of course) nearly step in front of me just as I was coming up. She stopped at the last moment and meeped a quiet, “Sorry!” Another woman farther up the trail looked, saw me coming, then started to step onto the trail directly in my path. Fortunately it seems her brain was able to work out the physics of the two objects (me and her) and saw that a collision would be the result and stopped to let me by.

Finally, I was approaching the part of the path that has the playground on the right and a baseball diamond fence on the right. It is the only part of the path where you get funneled along the path with nowhere else to go. As I get close I observe a couple walking their dog ahead of me. There is a very narrow strip of grass on the left that I can use to get by them should they not squeeze over a smidgen. Instead, just as I close, the dog suddenly cuts left and the three of them form a virtual wall. It is the first time in 10 months of running that I have had to come to a complete halt as my path was totally blocked. The dog owner then realized that there are other people in the park and pulled the dog over. Thanks, mister!

Anyway, that’s really just minor grousing. It seems people regularly don’t consider the others around them and even after they do, the knowledge is never retained, so the next time they have to learn it all over again. Oh well. The important thing is soccer guy, golfer man, dog man, dog lady and dogs did not prevent me from having a very spiffy run.

Results:

Total distance: 10.02 km (previous: 10.02 km)
Average time/km: 5:23/km (previous: 5:31/km)
Best time/km: 5:02/km (previous: 4:58/km)

Friday’s Wednesday run

Under a sky of veiled sunshine and with the trail dry (re: free of puddles) I completed my run amidst a fairly large group of walkers, joggers and people out with their dogs. At one point I had to thread my way between two elderly ladies on the right and a guy walking his dog on the left. Fortunately I remained nimble enough at that point to do so.

I had a few minor moments of cramping and discomfort but nothing major. However, after the first few km my legs began to feel like they had sleek invisible lead weights attached to them. I pressed on as best I could and fought to not give up early. By the time I finished I was feeling a bit better and my endurance was fine, as usual. I think this was the real test day for getting back into a regular routine and I seem to have come through it okay. The best part may have been at the end when I discovered the fountain was once again working. Cold and fresh post-run water, hooray!

This incredibly cute guy with a shaved head was walking a little white ball of fluff again. He has one of those insanely radiant smiles. Just thought I’d mention this for no particular reason.

My results ended up being identical to Wednesday in terms of average pace, coming in at 5:31/km. Much of the run was faster, however, so it seems I slowed more down the stretch, due to the whole legs-turning-to-lead thing. It will be interesting to see how Monday’s run compares after two days of rest.

Results:

Total distance: 10.02 km (previous: 10.03 km)
Average time/km: 5:31/km (previous: 5:31/km)
Best time/km: 4:58/km (previous: 5:07/km)

Why puppies are dangerous when running

Mostly because when you see them they’re so darned cute you want to stop and say “Aw” and it disrupts your aggressive, manly running routine.

I saw such a puppy today but soldiered on.

After the long layoff I found all of my leg muscles rather sore yesterday and today, their protest at being forced into action again. Despite this I completed my run under sunny skies, a 9ºC temperature and a rather brisk wind gusting up to 28km/hr coming from the northwest that kept threatening to turn my cap into a flying object.

My goal was simple: to improve on Monday’s run and get closer to my previous best. I achieved this goal by shaving four seconds off my average pace. My legs will scream their appreciation tomorrow morning, I am sure.

Total distance: 10.03 km (previous: 10.03 km)
Average time/km: 5:31/km (previous: 5:35/km)
Best time/km: 5:07/km (previous: 5:01/km)

What happens when you don’t run for 10 days

You lose 15 seconds off your best pace. Not exactly a big surprise.

My last run was on March 5th but my last 10k run was back on February 26th, when the Winter Olympics were still underway. It feels like ages ago.

My goal today was to simply shake off the rust and get back into the game and I succeeded, as the run proceeded without any difficulty, it was just sluggish (but still better than some other previous times). The trail was muddy in places but not terrible, the sky was overcast and the temperature was an early year high of around 12ºC. A light breeze was welcome.

The corner with the sewer stench still smelled like a sewer but the odor covered a larger area. I’m wondering if it’s due to nearby construction. A fine member of the Parks Board also drove a tractor down one half of the trail, leaving deep ruts in the soft dirt/mulch that makes up the trail. Thanks, mister!

For the rest of the week my goal is to start getting my times back to where they should be. I’m also planning on entering the Sun Run for the first time when it takes place on May 9th. As I don’t run on roads, I’m hoping it will not be too painful on my piggies.

Results:

Total distance: 10.03 km (previous: 10.05 km)
Average time/km: 5:35/km (previous: 5:20/km)
Best time/km: 5:01/km (previous: 4:54/km)

A half-run of no fun

After the disaster of my 2.61k run I was determined to do better and I did, but not by much.

The conditions were good, if a bit breezy and I got off to a good start. I flagged badly after, though, adding six seconds to the third and fourth km. My calves began to ache and around 4k I began experiencing cramps, as well. By the 5k mark the cramps had eased up a bit but I still bailed, only completing half a run. Still better than the previous but my next goal will be to get back to a full 10k.

The failed run

What a difference five days make.

On Friday I had my best 10k run to date. On Saturday I took the day off, as I do on my new exercise schedule. Sunday I did my workout with free weights.

Then everything went off the rails.

On Monday I skipped my run. I could have gone in the morning but i had ‘too much to do’ for my job search workshop and there’s not enough daylight left in the afternoon afterward. Then I skipped my workout on Tuesday and have no excuse at all for that, not even a lousy “a dragon ate my homework” one.

Then today’s run. Conditions were nice: sunny with an intermittent breeze, around 10ºC. I’d warm up soon enough after starting. I began and the first km seemed to take too long. It turned out to be 4:55/km, which is not bad. The second km felt much longer and came in at 5:05/km. Ten seconds slower on the second km is not good and suddenly I just lost all desire to keep going. I bailed at 2.61 km and an average pace of 5:08/km. By comparison on Friday’s run I was at 5:09/km at the 4 km mark. I was well-rested so the only thing I can think of that might affect my performance was psychological.

I was distracted. I am distracted. I have been out of work for a year and despite dozens of applications and resumes sent out, have seen only a scant few interviews. Most of the time I get nothing but silence and now that the money is running out, I am starting to sink into a bit of a funk. The job search workshop is useful, to a degree, but it eats up a good five hours every day plus time to do the ‘homework’ and I’m beginning to wonder if my time might be better spent just concentrating on getting work, period.

I am not going to give up my running but since half the battle really is in the head I need to get that sorted a bit before I can continue.

That puddle don’t smell right

A few brief appearances by a couple of other joggers but the light rain and muddy conditions kept most people from the park today. As the rain eased off a few dogs came out to let their owners go for a walk.

With the temperature again close to the 10ºC mark, I think it’s pretty much officially shorts weather until the fall. I did wear a jacket but may opt to just get a bit soaked in a single layer next time.

I got off to a good start and was determined to stick to my plan to keep up the pace. This was evidenced by being four seconds ahead of the previous run at the halfway mark. By coincidence I also had a burning desire to quit at 5k but pressed on and managed to hit that velvety smooth runner’s high shortly afterward. While not precisely easy the rest of the run went smoothly and my overall pace leveled off, which seems to be a nice trend (as opposed to the pace getting longer and longer each km).

I ended up with a pace of 5:20/km, beating my previous best by three seconds. I am now closing in on the pace I had on my original 5k runs. This was also my first run to come in under 54 minutes.

Because we’ve had some rain the last few days the usual muddy parts of the trail were, well, muddy again, with a few puddles here and there. Rather than jog around it, I decided to meet the puddle at the SE corner head-on and try jumping it. I picked where I wanted my foot to land but the spot was gooshier than I anticipated, causing mud and water to spray up my leg, as depicted below.

Click for full-size if you dare

After one impressive plunge I noticed a rather septic-like odor and at first dismissed it as coming from one of the many trucks in the area. But there it was again when I splashed through the puddle on the next lap. It very clearly smelled like poo. For the remainder of my run I stretched just that much further to clear the puddle and its foul material entirely.

A few laps short of finishing my right shoelace came untied due to getting loosened by the constant jog/wet cycle, forcing me to stop and retie the filthy, soggy thing, thus getting questionable puddle water on my hands (along with rather gritty mud). I managed not to run my eyes for the rest of the run. I finished the run by jogging slightly farther than normal because the iPod was not popping up the menu when I hit the menu button and it took me 0.02 km to trick it into working. I gently curse technology again.

Results:

Total distance: 10.05 km (previous: 10.02 km)
Average time/km: 5:20/km (previous: 5:25/km) <– best to date
Best time/km: 4:54/km (previous: 5:03/km)

Dogtopia (also, a sunny run)

The conditions for today’s run were pretty much ideal for February. It was sunny and mild, again hitting around 10ºC. I went out in t-shirt and shorts and while the breeze was a bit cool on the walk down, it was about perfect one I started running.

Today’s theme was dogs. They were everywhere and in all shapes and sizes, ranging from the little yappy kind to the huge barky kind. At one point one of the large dogs decided he needed to evacuate his bowels just as I ran by. The way he squatted looked creepily like a guy (okay, a guy with a tail). I’m not sure what breed this massive black dog was. I want to say Great Dane but I don’t think it was so I’ll just refer to it as Great Dog. Its hips came up almost as high as mine. You need a man-sized shovel to curb that sucker.

On the run itself, I was a bit slower off the start possibly due to a subconscious effort to properly pace myself but I kept rolling along after and ended with my second best 10k time to date — a 5:25/km average.

One of the things I’ve noticed in my runs is that stamina is not an issue. I rarely find myself gasping for breath unless I’m pushing really hard, so the limiting factor is how my legs feel. Typically after the first few km as my legs tire my pace shortens, with the expected result of longer times. Today and on other ‘good run’ days I make an effort to keep my stride open when my legs start to tire. I find this doesn’t really cause the legs to be more tired or sore but does have the benefit of keeping my times up. This is most evident in today’s run where there is only a one second difference in my 8, 9 and 10k points.

I’m very much encouraged by today’s effort. Apart from a minor bit of cramping at 3k that went away quickly, I felt good throughout. Here’s hoping I can maintain the pace.

Trivia: the Nike+ site says I have run just slightly under 340 km since it began tracking back in September 2009. Not bad.

Results:

Total distance: 10.02 km (previous: 10.02 km)
Average time/km: 5:25/km (previous: 5:31/km)
Best time/km: 5:03/km (previous: 5:01/km)