January 1, 2009
still too cool for wordpress

2008 marked a record breaking year for vinyl sales with a total of 1.88 million copies sold, a growth of 89% compared to 2007.

i wonder why news sites don't sell ads in their urls, like http://cnn.com/All_New_Ford_F150/2009/TECH/01/01/zune.player.failures/.

posted by jacob around January 1, 2009

January 3, 2009
at least the horrible dreams are over

a new year, a new hard drive.

i think i have a long day of reinstalling windows ahead of me.

posted by jacob around January 3, 2009

January 4, 2009
nothing has changed

watching a movie at a friend's friday, it was commented on that two of us were just sitting there internetting from our phones, and how now everyone can internet from everywhere, and something something.

it reminded me of when we first got wifi wavelan, and everyone could use their laptops while watching movies, and i said something to this effect. my friend countered that nobody takes their laptop around everywhere.

well the point is, that is exactly what we used to do.

it makes me miss my lil' vaio.

posted by jacob around January 4, 2009

January 5, 2009
take me home and tuck me in

starting to obsess about the weather:

Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 52. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming north northwest.

Sunday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly cloudy, with a high near 68. Northwest wind between 5 and 10 mph.

acceptable.

posted by jacob around January 5, 2009

January 7, 2009
ten

i only have ten miles of training left. in twelve hours i will have only three. pretty crazy!

this morning during my commute, someone asked how to get to hyde street. i thought they were mispronouncing haight (as height), and sent them the wrong way. after i realized my mistake (like, six hours later), i felt bad until i realized it's 2009 and they should just get a gps already.

united economy plus better be worth it; i am not excited about getting on that airplane tomorrow.

posted by jacob around January 7, 2009

January 13, 2009
mission accomplished.

as you may already know, this weekend i (finally) qualified for boston with a time of 3:08:20. i am still pretty shocked that i managed to pull it off. i am really looking forward to tomorrow's run, when i am actually training for boston. crazy!

these are mostly for myself and nat, but they certainly do tell a tale. i needed to average 7:10 per mile, and set out to do 7:00. it went ok:

1. 7:00
2. 6:52
3. 7:01
4. 6:54
5. 6:52 (split: 34:42)
6. 6:54
7. 6:57
8. 6:57
9. 6:52
10. 6:48 (split: 1:09:11)
11. 6:46
12. 6:56
13. 6:43 (split: 1:30:22)
14. 6:50
15. 6:53
16. 6:52
17. 6:58
18. 7:04
19. 7:03
20. 7:16 (split: 2:18:39)
21. 7:22
22. 8:01
23. 8:00
24. 8:06
25. 9:03
26. 7:36 (+1:30 for .2; time: 3:08:20)

i suppose mile 20 would be referred to as "the wall" in this case. i reached a point around there where i knew i would qualify; i could pretty much run 8 minute miles and i'd be ok as long as i made it to mile 25. i figured the last mile would be pretty easy, and it was (although perhaps i cut it a little closer than i should have).

my training program wants me to run 18 this weekend, but for now i am just going to have a burrito.

posted by jacob around January 13, 2009

January 15, 2009
surprise

ok, yes. i am losing my edge, and starting to like 67F mid January days. this is how it starts.

ran three miles today, up from two yesterday. starting the real training tuesday.

posted by jacob around January 15, 2009

January 20, 2009
hills, bills

today marked my first official day of boston marathon training, and i celebrated it by doing one of only two hill workouts left. since boston is so hilly, i spent my run sunday testing out a new route to the marina through the presidio, instead of taking market to the embarcadero. that should be hills enough.

i got my first pg&e bill since i turned off my apartment's heater's pilot light. i used 4 therms this month, which ended up being $5. the total bill (with electricity) was $25. ausome.

posted by jacob around January 20, 2009

January 24, 2009
i bought a jar of honey today

i lost my afternoon to antiques roadshow and the new yankee workshop. initially, i felt bad that i can't make actual things, but then i saw how many different tools he used to make that bench. it was like 7 different types of saw! quite ridiculous. but still, he has a pretty nice bench and what do i have a bunch of broken western digital drives.

the other day i read that the pound has been faltering so i finally ordered those stanley donwood prints i've had my eye on for a couple of years. i hope i still have a job monday.

posted by jacob around January 24, 2009

January 27, 2009
an auspicious start?

today was the start of the first real week of training, with speedwork today and 20 on sunday. i think it went well.

8x800m:

1. 2:54
2. 2:53
3. 2:53
4. 2:53
5. 2:51
6. 2:50
7. 2:50
8. 2:48 (new PR)

i like the slope of that trend line.

posted by jacob around January 27, 2009

January 29, 2009
fifty/fifty

this morning, i realized that this week, according to plan, i will run about fifty miles and spend about fifty hours at the office. i will not be getting required fifty hours of sleep. if only there was an all-star team for this sort of thing.

posted by jacob around January 29, 2009

January 30, 2009
the greatest compliment

i just got paid

as i was parking in front of the office for my 8am meeting this morning, some sort of delivery man walked past me and asked, "is the economy hurting you guys?"

i sorta mumbled some sort of response, about no, not really, we are doing ok, at least i am, but i was wondering, "how does he know i work for VMware?" there are a lot of companies in our building.

"oh!" i said. "i'm not a bike messenger!" what a great start to the day.

i got tired of not having all my music at the office so i got an iPod classic today. i think it's my 7th? how time flies.

i saw the album leaf here on wednesday night; i hadn't listened to them much since i first got the albums whenever ago but a month or so ago i put them on while doing dishes and it was perfect for that moment. i have been listening to them a lot since the show. the opening act covered everything in its right place.

i am going to sleep so much tonight.

posted by jacob around January 30, 2009