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)

Me vs. programming, part 2

I set about working on the first actual lesson in C# on the msdn site, which, typically, is the near-mandatory “hello world!” program. The lesson has the code in a little code box (to preserve formatting) and instructs you to paste it into the C# program window and run it.

Except the example code leaves off a closing brace and the code generates an error message instead of running at all.

I’ve already learned more than the lesson intended thanks to its inept execution. However, skimming through the remainder, the phrase “you get what you pay for comes to mind” so I am mulling over other sites/lessons/books before jumping back in. I should still have more to report shortly, though.

10 PRINT "BLOG ENTRY ENDS HERE"
20 END
BLOG ENTRY ENDS HERE

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.

New Year: 1, Beard: 0

Shortly after midnight and possibly giddy with excitement at the prospect that the 2010 Winter Olympics are now THIS YEAR I grabbed the beard trimmer and shaved off the beard again.

I like the look I had with about one week’s growth — more of a suggestion of a beard but with the face still fully outlined. Now I just need to figure out how to set the guard on the trimmer to provide this optimal length.

Exciting and heady stuff, to be certain!

Nothing improves a neighborhood like a used car lot

That is, like a used car lot that goes out of business.

At the corner of Kingway and Inverness, which is just a block away, there is a used car dealer called Super Choice Auto. As you might expect, this is not the most glamorous of places and I’ve always kind of hoped that maybe one day it would be replaced by a nice ethnic restaurant, even if the neighborhood needs another one like Vancouver needs another Starbucks.

Two days ago when walking by it on the way to buy groceries I noticed they had the large sign out front partially dismantled and i assumed they were just changing the bulbs in it. But lo, yesterday half the compound was behind a locked gate and every car and most of the signs were gone. The dealership had apparently gone kaput.

Normally I would not wish ill on those eking out a living in these recessionary times but a year ago when we were up to our armpits in regular snowfalls these guys never shoveled the sidewalk around their lot, not even to clear a path for themselves. They did actually clear part of the lot itself to presumably get cars in and out. One of the bright lads in its employ thought it would be a good idea to use a kettle of hot water to help melt the snow on said lot.

I’m sure that turned out well.

So here’s to 2010 and whatever might be going in at that corner in the coming year. Hopefully it won’t just be a vacant lot for ages, though that may be just as likely.

The (non)hunter

As is her way the cat told me it was feeding time by meowing until I couldn’t ignore her any longer (not that I do, mind you, I’m just saying there is a certain persistent tone in her vocalizations that clearly states ignoring is not a viable option) and so I dutifully went into the kitchen with her following behind. Out of the corner of my eye I think I see something small and dark move toward the back end of the kitchen nook where the litter box is located. Typically when I see such movement it’s a creepy big ol’ spider but this time seemed different.

I got a flashlight and shone it into the nook since it’s not well-lit and the little shape flitted from behind the litterbox to the bucket. I walked over and saw that it was a very small mouse. I then stood back, unsure what to do. As I continued to shine the light, the cat finally turned around and looked in the direction of the mouse. At this point the two were less than ten feet apart. The cat then turned away as if nothing was there. So much for the killer instinct.

I had nothing handy to try to catch the mouse with and it was so small it looked like it could squeeze through almost anywhere. I finally got a can of air to try to direct it out of hiding behind the appliances and it scurried off into the central basement room. At that point I closed the door and put a towel at the base to seal it off. Traps can be set in that room without any pets springing them so that will probably be the plan of action.

This was my rockin’ New Year’s Eve.

2009 in review: The ‘me’ edition

In which I offer tidy lists summarizing the year that was.

The Bad

  • getting laid off — on Friday the 13th, no less (of which there were three this year)
  • hurting my right calf while jogging and being forced to sit out for four weeks as a result

The Good

  • writing over 12 short stories
  • taking part in National Novel Writing Month and completing a novel in 21 days (currently undergoing a second draft)
  • exercising with free weights (started with 10 lb dumbbells, moved to 15 lb)
  • taking up jogging (every other day, up to 10k runs now)
  • started dating again (with, ahem, mixed results but I’ve met lots of people, had some fun and made at least one new good friend)
  • began tinkering with programming again
  • kept off the weight I lost in 2008 (currently around 146 pounds and holding steady)
  • made lots of posts on this blog (whether this should go under Good or Bad may be a question of taste)

The Neither Good Nor Bad

  • with the layoff, my bike didn’t see much use, as I mostly rode it to work
  • the weightlifting regime didn’t give the results I was hoping for, so I am reworking that
  • all of the dating did not get me a snugglebunny but this is not unexpected, since the whole thing is a crapshoot

I shall return and edit these lists as I recall other high and lowlights of the past year.

Next up: The Year in review: The Global Edition

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)