Race pictures!

Yes, I know you've all wanted pictures of me crossing the finish line. Well, here you go!

Nice Pictures of the Day webpage

The DC-ist is a Washington DC centric website. They have a daily picture page that is focused on the beauty of DC.

I spent ten days in the city a long time ago and, while i was pretty young at the time, I could still get the sense of how incredibly cultural the city was. How could it not be as the center of government for the USA?

San Francisco is my favorite city (to visit, anyway)!!!

I had to throw an entry down about this, but most of my comments are on my Flickr set page.

Every time I return to San Francisco, I remember how much I love the city. Here's a recap:

Friday afternoon started it off with a late lunch of the best Tri Tip sandwich I've ever had at Mocca's on Maiden Lane (across from the Frank Lloyd Wright building I shot). I listened to a young woman named Emily play her violin on the corner. I checked out galleries (look at the pics!), tried on some Diesel shoes (they're okay...), introduced myself to a girl who was following me named Kate, and saw a play at the Geary Theater called Travesties (link currently broken). Here's a review of the play by Tom Stoppard from talkingbroadway.com. After that, I picked up some sushi from a place across the street that closed at 1:30am (find that in San Diego!)

I luxuriated in bed late Saturday morning, caught some opera by Lynn on a side street, listened to Dewayne and his partner in front of Mocca's (no food this time), bought books from Cody's, and found some cool stuff for Sarah in Chinatown. The rest of the afternoon was spent with the team at the Moscone rally (very cool!), Courtney puffy painting my singlet, and then dinner in the evening with Courtney and friends at Blondie's (two slices of Carnivore pizza and the best Garlic Fries to date!). A brief stop at Walgreen's for final prep stuff, then off to bed.

After the race on Sunday morning, much bed rest, victory party at Moscone, then hanging at 404, the bar on top of the Marriott.

Monday was another sleep in (oh yeah!), packing, coffee at the Coffee Bean, then Mocca's for lunch (escargot and shellfish salad!). Picked up a CD from Dewayne (no trumpet this time). Lounged around Niketown a little, then moseyed back to the hotel for travel back home.

Some day, I will live in that city. Until then, I must...visit...again!

p.s. Shout out to Adam from Texas. Hope to play some disc golf with you some time!

Holding myself back? No more!

Yesterday, when I seriously started the paperwork to buy the Mazda, I realized how little money I had spent on my passion for driving. I just bought a new (used) car. It's a sports car. Yes, it's fast and beautiful, but that's not the point of this post.

What I realized was how there have been parts of my life that I've held back on supporting or nurturing. I've gotten waaay better at it over the last few years and I've often indulged in things over the entire span of my life.

And yet, yesterday in fact, I recognized how little effort I had put towards a long time passion of mine -- driving.

I've owned a bunch of different vehicles:

Puch moped
Vespa P200E
Hyundai wagon
Datsun 1200
Nissan Sentra
Yamaha Maxim 400
Yamaha Seca 750
Kawasaki GPz 550
Toyota Pickup
Honda Accord
BMW K110RS
Dodge Caravan
Toyota Corolla
BMW R1150RT
Toyota Celica GT-S

...and, as of today, a Mazda RX8.

The Celica was the first time I bought a sport car. How could I pass that up when the Corolla was dying and my friend offered the Celica for $3000 in cherry condition? That was two years ago and I've outgrown it.

I'm very happy to have given myself such a killer gift. Coolest thing? I'm just getting started.

I'm a marathoner!

Back on May 21st, I blogged about my first three miles of training. As of two days ago, I am now a marathoner!

Click here for pictures of the race!

Yes, I'm sore. Yes, it was hard! Yes, I felt like giving up (many times!).

But what I've come away with most of all was an amazing experience that has blown my mind, really. The biggest thing was how fun an event like that can be when I don't take it seriously AT ALL. There's also the fact that something like this can be so satisfying when I'm thinking more of other people than my own achievement. Also, I now know that I can totally do a marathon and I can fully conceive of doing another one.

I've come to see that my body can do amazing things if I'm patient and progressive with it. May 21st was five months and a day before the marathon and I didn't even fulfill all the training that was offered to me by the coaches.

My current game plan is to pursue the Triple Crown, three half marathons here in San Diego -- the Carlsbad Half on 1/21/07, the La Jolla Half on 4/22/07, and the America's Finest City Half on (or around) August 20. I'm thinking I can really start working on performance during those races. We'll see.

Btw, here are final numbers for my marathon (or all results if you're curious):

Bib Number: 7786
Final Time: 5:27:31
Overall: 2252 of
Class Rank: 28 (out of 38 in "M40-44")
Sex Rank: 168 (out of 250 males)
Pace: 12:30
Total Athletes: 4208 (Females: 2958 / Males: 250)

(In the Half Marathon, there were 7769 total athletes with a 7402/367 female/male split.)

The fastest male was 30 years old and he ran the full in 2:43:13. The slowest was 23 with a time of 8:00:56, though that seems odd as I heard they were turning people to a shorter route after 6.5 hours.

Anyway, comparisons are beside the point. I finished a marathon. I had a LOT of fun. I could do it again.

The Pandora Project -- A cool way to explore music

There seem to be so many different ways to explore music nowadays. This one popped out at me the other day, though, for a couple reasons. First, it's based on a collaborative project (the Music Genome Project) with no direct commerce. Second, it works off of qualitative aspects borne of the collaborators' analyses. I like it when people apply their judgments in "non-judgmental" ways. :-) Lastly, I'm always intrigued by things named after Pandora.

Check it -- The Pandora Project.

In fact, listen to my developing "station" here.

A starting point for addressing Candida Albicans

I wrote this for a colleague (I owed her this for some time). Coincidentally, I started taking a supplement to address this myself this morning. I'm posting as this can benefit others for sure.

So, I lag. You know this about me. I have an email-supported memory, though, so I rarely forget things to do.

Here's some research on Candida Albicans, that strain of yeast that has many myriad side effects on health. There's a lot of info on the net, but hopefully this will give a decent distillation to start from.

Here's a good scientific overview: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candida_albicans

Interesting site with good info (they do sell product, but their info still seems good. I may even try their ThreeLac product which doesn't require as strict a diet): http://www.candidasupport.org/?gclid=CPvWprrm34cCFSNpYAodclRgoA

Another decent overview page (check the symptoms halfway down in the light blue box): http://www.colonhealth.net/free_reports/candirpt.htm

Some websites talk about the simplistic symptoms of yeast infection along with a solution of antibiotics. The syndrome that I'm describing is much broader in scope.

I hope this helps you in some way.

I've done a cleansing diet once before and it had the most profound physical affect on me. It improved my energy levels dramatically across the board. I had better endurance, agility, clarity of mind, and I didn't get sick for at least as long as I managed my diet afterwards.

Here's a table of symptoms from the third reference that summarizes this ailment pretty well:

• constipation and/or diarrhea


• burning urination


• irregular or no menstrual cycle


• frequent headaches


• chronic fatigue


• dramatic mood swings


• irritability


• nasal itching


• chronic congestion


• muscle pain (lower back & neck)


• sore throat


• abdominal bloating


• mouth blisters


• depression and anxiety


• blurred vision


• eye floaters

Lemme know if you have any questions. I'll see what I can do to help.

The Quick and Painless ENNEAGRAM Test

the Romantic Thanks for taking the test !

you chose BY - your Enneagram type is FOUR. "I am unique" Romantics have sensitive feelings and are warm and perceptive. How to Get Along with Me Give me plenty of compliments. They mean a lot to me. Be a supportive friend or partner. Help me to learn to love and value myself. Respect me for my special gifts of intuition and vision. Though I don't always want to be cheered up when I'm feeling melancholy, I sometimes like to have someone lighten me up a little. Don't tell me I'm too sensitive or that I'm overreacting! What I Like About Being a Four my ability to find meaning in life and to experience feeling at a deep level my ability to establish warm connections with people admiring what is noble, truthful, and beautiful in life my creativity, intuition, and sense of humor being unique and being seen as unique by others having aesthetic sensibilities being able to easily pick up the feelings of people around me What's Hard About Being a Four experiencing dark moods of emptiness and despair feelings of self-hatred and shame; believing I don't deserve to be loved feeling guilty when I disappoint people feeling hurt or attacked when someone misundertands me expecting too much from myself and life fearing being abandoned obsessing over resentments longing for what I don't have Fours as Children Often have active imaginations: play creatively alone or organize playmates in original game s are very sensitive feel that they don't fit in believe they are missing something that other people have attach themselves to idealized teachers, heroes, artists, etc. become antiauthoritarian or rebellious when criticized or not understood feel lonely or abandoned (perhaps as a result of a death or their parents' divorce) Fours as Parents help their children become who they really are support their children's creativity and originality are good at helping their children get in touch with their feelings are sometimes overly critical or overly protective are usually very good with children if not too self-absorbed Renee Baron & Elizabeth Wagele The Enneagram Made Easy Discover the 9 Types of People Harper SanFrancisco, 1994, 161 pages You liked the test? so please don't forget to RATE it... but remember! it had only two questions!!! ;-) you wanna know MORE? so check out, what Wikipedia says about your type... ...even more you'll find in Google You are not completely happy with the result?! You chose BY Would you rather have chosen: AY (EIGHT) CY (SIX) BX (NINE) BZ (FIVE)

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 31% on ABC You scored higher than 55% on XYZ

The Slut Test

I'm kinda slutty, for what it's worth.

The Motorcycle Personality Test

Yamaha FJR1300 You scored 4 moxie, 9 zeal, and 0 pomp!

You have the characteristics of a master street rider. On the way to work, your love for riding sometimes leads you to take the long way. The 50-miles-of-back-roads long way. You live for the perfect road, and plan vacations around riding. You need a bike that can handle your addiction to the twisties as well as comfortably carry two on a weekend trip through the mountains. Your bike is the FJR1300. Can I borrow it someday?

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 58% on moxie You scored higher than 90% on zeal You scored higher than 30% on pomp

The Sesame Street Persona Test

Snuffleupagus You scored 60% Organization, 40% abstract, and 59% extroverted!

This test measured 3 variables. First, this test measured how organized you are. Some muppets like Cookie Monster make big messes, while others like Bert are quite anal about things being clean. Second, this test measured if you prefer a concrete or an abstract viewpoint. For the purposes of this test, concrete people are considered to gravitate more to mathematical and logical approaches, whereas abstract people are more the dreamers and artistic type. Third, this test measured if you are more of an introvert or an extrovert. By definition, an introvert concentrates more on herself and an extrovert focuses more on others. In this test an introvert was somebody that either tends to spend more time alone or thinks more about herself. You are somewhat organized, both concrete and abstract, and both introverted and extroverted. I bet you didn't think you were Snuffleupagus. Let's find out why. You are both somewhat organized. You have a good idea where you put things and you probably keep your place reasonably clean. You aren't totally obsessed with neatness though. Alloyius Snuffleupagus (and all Snuffleupagus') is not sloppy by nature, but he moves so incredibly slowly that it is impossible for him to be totally organized. You both are about equally concrete and abstract thinkers. You have a good balance in your life. You know when to be logical at times, but you also aren't afraid to explore your dreams and desires... within limits of course. Snuffy generally has very basic interests, but he explores his abstract sensitive side when he plays his snuffleflute. You both are somewhat introverted. Originally Snuffleupagus was very shy and was only Big Bird's invisible friend. However as he has aged he has started to build new friendships with new characters. Like Snuffy, you probably like to have some time to yourself. However, you do appreciate spending time with your friends, and you aren't scared of social situations. The other possible characters are Oscar the Grouch Big Bird Cookie Monster Ernie Elmo Kermit the Frog Grover The Count Guy Smiley Bert If you enjoyed this test, I would love the feedback! Also if you want to tell me your favorite Sesame Street character, I can total them up and post them here. Perhaps your choice will win!

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 55% on Organization You scored higher than 19% on concrete-abstra You scored higher than 44% on intro-extrovert

Link: The Your SESAME STREET Persona Test written by greencowsgomoo on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

The Politics Test

You are a Social Liberal (80% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (33% permissive) You are best described as a: Strong Democrat Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test