On Vacaction

It seems that I wasn't the only one on Sunday that could've set a legit PR, even the winners might have done so. Article here.

I'm on vacation for the rest of the week to take full advantage of South by Southwest. I bought a wristband for the night shows like this year, but this will be the first time I'm down there during the day to take advantage of the free shows and free beer.

I didn't think to download the mp3 torrents of a song by each band until last night. I listened to some today and have picked out a few bands I'm interested in. Of course all the band names begin with an "A" or "B," so I haven't got very far. So much for that idea. At least I will be happy with having the mp3 library on me tomorrow, so if a particular write-up or band name/location catches my eye, I can listen to their song to help me decide if I want to check them out.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has the right idea about SXSW. It seems that a lot of people are all about trying to see the big name bands, which is difficult to do at SXSW. If that's what you want, you're better off going to ACL or just buying a ticket to a regular show. The people on the radio podcasts I've listened to (Sound Opinions, Texas Music Matters, All Songs Considered) all have the right idea, which is trying to discover the next big thing while they're still unknown. For me, it's not even about that--I don't care if a band gets famous so I can brag about seeing them when they were unknown. I just want to listen to some new music I enjoy, and no matter what my tastes are, I should be able to find plenty of it this week.

Get Your Rear in Gear 5K

Hmmm, my overall reaction to this morning's 5K? Frustration, disappointment, I guess--but not in myself! I ran great! I didn't think the great weather conditions of the Daisy 5K would repeat, but it was very close--it was just as chilly (50F?), and no wind. It rained right before start time, so the course was wet, but that wasn't too big a deal. The course was easier than the Daisy, only one minor hill. Still, I had a hard time thinking I would do as well as I did at the Daisy 5K.

I knew I ran the first mile too fast and would get progressively slower, but I'm having a hard time convincing myself to hold back at all. I just can't see myself holding back and trying to run faster later in the race and actually finishing faster. So, I had 6:42 the first mile--still way faster than I expected. I started slowing down, 7:10 the second mile, no big deal. The third mile featured the short uphill, which brought my breathing to one every three steps for the rest of the race. I was starting to struggle.

Now was when I suspected something is wrong. My Garmin has me below 20 minutes and the finish line is in sight! I cross the finish at 20:34, blowing away any previous 5K time in my life. I should be ecstatic at this point, but then I look at the Garmin again and see that the course was only 2.94 miles long! That's about 95% of a 5K. How can I count this? I don't expect race logistics to be perfect, but if there's one thing I insist they get right is that a 5K race should be 5K long! In the age of GPS, there's really no excuse for this. It's really frustrating in that if I extrapolate my 7:18 pace over the last .94 miles, I would've finished in 21:56, which would have been a all-time PR (better than my 22:08 in HS). But because the course was short, I can't count it.

The next two races in the series are 10Ks, and the last race is a 5K in May. I'm sure it'll be a bit warmer then, so it'll be that much harder to improve my 5K time. For now, I have to switch gears and figure out how fast I can run a 10K.

Culvers 5K

I decided to end my 5K tonight at Culver's. They noticed my US Navy sweatshirt and gave me a military discount on my burger basket! I think they're beginning to recognize me. I can't imagine too many people run there.

I'm not sure what to plan for on Sunday. My training 5Ks have been 24-25 minutes long. Tuesday I did two miles in 15 minutes but was wiped out the last mile. Tonight I had 24:30. Seeing as how I did it in 25 minutes just prior to the Daisy 5K, I guess my goal should be to beat the Daisy 5K time. So many factors though, and the Daisy 5K had just about the ideal circumstances.

CNET

Thirteen or so years ago I started frequenting a website to research recommendations for consumer electronics. I bought my first PC based on their pick. I believe it was called ZDnet at the time, but has since evolved to CNET. A few years ago, I started listening to a podcast they put out that discussed tech news and products. It was shortly before the release of the iPhone, so most of their discussions centered around that product. It wasn't so much that I was interested in consumer electronics that I was listening, but I thought it a good way to familiarize myself with the San Francisco tech community as I was going to be out there for work for a bit.

I stopped listening to that podcast some time ago, but upon realizing I was going to head back out to SF in a few weeks, I started listening to that podcast and a few other cnet podcasts a few weeks ago. My favorite at the moment is "the 404" which seems to be less about tech, but more about the hosts making fun of each other, and poop jokes. And it's recorded in New York, so that doesn't make sense either.

Last week I made a comment about my failing eyesight on their MP3 podcast blog, and they mentioned my comment on their podcast this week. So if you want to hear what PlaysByEar has to say about headphones, check that out.

Yard

I didn't expect this to happen so soon, but I'm beginning to care about how my yard looks. A few weeks ago I bought my first yard tools--a hedge trimmer and a rake. I have a hedge that follows the sidewalk to my front door. Last week I tried to make it look square, but it needs a little bit of work. Next to my laptop right now is a wad of grass I pulled out of the front yard, and I've been trying to figure out what kind of grass it is online without much luck. It might be bermuda grass, or fescue. It's definitely not St Augustine which I think is what all my neighbors have. Now its long enough now that I need to mow it. I'm seriously considering buying a corded electric mower, even though I have no experience with that type. I just like the idea of not having to deal with gas or oil, and I guess it's better for the environment and quieter, too. And, it will feel like I'm vacuuming the lawn. Not that I like vacuuming, but it I think it will feel odd enough doing it that I might like the weirdness of it. I need to take care of it this weekend or next, because I'll be out of town or have little time to spare for the month after that.

My backyard has very little grass growing at all. That means the options for what to do with it are pretty much limitless. It's all fenced in, so I could do nothing at all and no one would know the difference. A garden could be cool, though. A few weeks back I raked up a bunch (but not all) of the dead leaves and put them into five big lawn refuse bags, but I haven't put them out for the garbage man yet. I guess I'm considering a compost pile, too! I've read up a little bit on it, and I need to find more green stuff to mix in with the dead leaves and get an enclosure that can breathe. But, no rush here either.

I've got a lot of trees in both yards, and some of them are flowering now or showing leaves. I'm wondering if the others are dead or alive, but maybe they don't act alive until later in the season? Hell if I know, this is all new to me.