New Color
For comparison, here is a pic of the previous color:
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
House Painting Finish
The house painting job I mentioned previously is nearly complete. What remains to do are a few touch up items and some trim. A few external fixtures are still taped or wrapped in plastic so I know they'll be back to finish up tomorrow. Besides, they left some ladders in the side yard and I know they will need those back!
New Color
For comparison, here is a pic of the previous color:
New Color
For comparison, here is a pic of the previous color:
Monday, August 30, 2004
Spectate Ironman Canada (?)
I intended to drive out to Penticton and spectate Ironman Canada. I really just wanted to see the 12+ hour finishers, because if I were to participate, that's where I'd be. Heck, I'd likely be in the 14+ hour group! So I planned to leave in the afternoon for Penticton and not be there the entire time.
Spectating Ironman Canada is one of the few ways to guarentee an entry spot. This event is so popular it has a qualifier system - do well at some other races and you'll earn an entry spot! If that isn't an option, the line forms at 10 a.m. the following day, and you are allowed to register yourself and one friend. Any remaining spots enter an online raffle after a few days.
Showing up and waiting in line was my original plan... except over that past few weeks I really though about whether or not I could really find the time to train for an Ironman. Given I wind up juggling around my olympic distance training, and fell far behind on a half-ironman training plan, I talked myself out of an ironman next year. Therefore, it would have been a really long round trip drive to Penticton to not sign up. So I didn't go. Instead, I followed the coverage on Ironman Live for a while.
In the afternoon, Gail and I walked around Vancouver some more, and visited the "James Bond 007" special event at Science World. I'm a James Bond fan, even though most of the movies are just so-so. Still, I enjoy watching them. Some of my favorites are From Russia With Love, The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only, The Living Daylights, and GoldenEye. Thunderball is an interesting one also, because it was remade as Never Say Never Again!
Spectating Ironman Canada is one of the few ways to guarentee an entry spot. This event is so popular it has a qualifier system - do well at some other races and you'll earn an entry spot! If that isn't an option, the line forms at 10 a.m. the following day, and you are allowed to register yourself and one friend. Any remaining spots enter an online raffle after a few days.
Showing up and waiting in line was my original plan... except over that past few weeks I really though about whether or not I could really find the time to train for an Ironman. Given I wind up juggling around my olympic distance training, and fell far behind on a half-ironman training plan, I talked myself out of an ironman next year. Therefore, it would have been a really long round trip drive to Penticton to not sign up. So I didn't go. Instead, I followed the coverage on Ironman Live for a while.
In the afternoon, Gail and I walked around Vancouver some more, and visited the "James Bond 007" special event at Science World. I'm a James Bond fan, even though most of the movies are just so-so. Still, I enjoy watching them. Some of my favorites are From Russia With Love, The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only, The Living Daylights, and GoldenEye. Thunderball is an interesting one also, because it was remade as Never Say Never Again!
Sunday, August 29, 2004
Vancouver Wedding
It was a drizzly day in Vancouver so Gail and I ducked into Urban Fare, an upscale grocery store, to get out of the rain. We tried a few items on various sample trays, and found a huge ceiling mirror in one part of the store.
At Urban Fare
Later at her friend's wedding, Gail was busy taking pictures. Her gift to the couple was a photo album, so she was busy taking pics and printing them out using her photo printer. The guests were so excited to see the wedding album being constructed on the spot, and of course receive a copy of their photo.
I think Gail could open a small business doing this service: event photos, on-site printing a copy for each guest, and delivery of a photo album plus a CD of all the pics! Some extra work could be digital photography touch-up, and so forth.
Traffic Circle at the Sheraton
At Urban Fare
Later at her friend's wedding, Gail was busy taking pictures. Her gift to the couple was a photo album, so she was busy taking pics and printing them out using her photo printer. The guests were so excited to see the wedding album being constructed on the spot, and of course receive a copy of their photo.
I think Gail could open a small business doing this service: event photos, on-site printing a copy for each guest, and delivery of a photo album plus a CD of all the pics! Some extra work could be digital photography touch-up, and so forth.
Traffic Circle at the Sheraton
Friday, August 27, 2004
House Painting Start
As a home owner I have my share of improvements and maintenance chores. Earlier this year I replaced my furnace, because it was the original one that came with my house and therefore was a bit over 20 years old. It was working fine, but I decided to replace it before the winter just in case. Besides, a newer furnace should run more efficiently.
Another maintenance item my house needs is exterior painting. It doesn't look bad, but one side of my house looks a bit worn, and some of the paint is peeling off the chimney. I was going to wait until next summer, but I took a good look one day while mowing the lawn and decided I would try to schedule it to happen this year.
The side of my house that looks worn is the two story side, so when you add in the roof height that side is at least 25 feet tall, maybe even taller. I could paint the other three sides without too much difficulty (I could get a 10 foot ladder and reach almost everywhere) but I don't want to be that far off the ground painting the last side. So rather than wait until my parents visit next year and draft my father into helping me paint, I just hired a company.
They came by to pressure wash the house in preperation for painting. After a few more days they came by and painted two test patches of colors I picked out: Modest White and Simplify Beige.
Paint Colors
The test patch shows the original color, around the upper and left edges. The bottom shows one and two coats of white, and above that is two coats of beige. I want to lighten the color of my house a bit, so I'll go with two coats of white. My house is a darker color than that, and will show through the two coats of paint and give me the result I am looking for. The trim will be white, and since there isn't a darker color underneath it will come out looking white, just like in the picture.
I'm not sure when they will start painting, as we are currently in a week of mild rainy weather. The convenient thing about exterior painting is I don't need to be present at all, so they will start when they think the timing is right.
If I feel the urge to paint something myself, there is always my fence... ;)
Another maintenance item my house needs is exterior painting. It doesn't look bad, but one side of my house looks a bit worn, and some of the paint is peeling off the chimney. I was going to wait until next summer, but I took a good look one day while mowing the lawn and decided I would try to schedule it to happen this year.
The side of my house that looks worn is the two story side, so when you add in the roof height that side is at least 25 feet tall, maybe even taller. I could paint the other three sides without too much difficulty (I could get a 10 foot ladder and reach almost everywhere) but I don't want to be that far off the ground painting the last side. So rather than wait until my parents visit next year and draft my father into helping me paint, I just hired a company.
They came by to pressure wash the house in preperation for painting. After a few more days they came by and painted two test patches of colors I picked out: Modest White and Simplify Beige.
Paint Colors
The test patch shows the original color, around the upper and left edges. The bottom shows one and two coats of white, and above that is two coats of beige. I want to lighten the color of my house a bit, so I'll go with two coats of white. My house is a darker color than that, and will show through the two coats of paint and give me the result I am looking for. The trim will be white, and since there isn't a darker color underneath it will come out looking white, just like in the picture.
I'm not sure when they will start painting, as we are currently in a week of mild rainy weather. The convenient thing about exterior painting is I don't need to be present at all, so they will start when they think the timing is right.
If I feel the urge to paint something myself, there is always my fence... ;)
Saturday, August 21, 2004
Good Week At Work
This week at work was much better. I chased down two memory leaks, and fixed them. Friday afternoon I was assigned another five more to hunt down!
What is a memory or resource leak? How about an analogy. You are at a restaurant and notice the guy at the next table keeps asking the wait staff for silverware. The staff never questions him and keeps bringing silverware until it is piled all over his table. Eventually, there isn't anymore clean silverware anywhere in the restaurant. At this point, even though tables are available, new customers can't eat their food.
What is a memory or resource leak? How about an analogy. You are at a restaurant and notice the guy at the next table keeps asking the wait staff for silverware. The staff never questions him and keeps bringing silverware until it is piled all over his table. Eventually, there isn't anymore clean silverware anywhere in the restaurant. At this point, even though tables are available, new customers can't eat their food.
Friday, August 20, 2004
Some Tri Stats...
You know how some people really get into baseball statistics, studying averages of all kinds? I can relate, because I pore over my triathlon results. I usually look at percentiles because it is difficult to compare race times directly, even if they are the same distance class - tri courses vary in difficulty, due to hills, winds, and other factors like the weather or course (mis)measurement. Presumably, these affect everybody and thus percentile comparison is best.
First, I'm a solid middle-to-back of packer. At sprints, I can finish somewhere in the middle. But at olys, I'm near the back. There are many reasons for this, chief among them is the fact sprints draw people that are newer to the sport. You have to start somewhere, and while I have a friend whose first triathlon was a half-ironman (!!), most people opt for a gentler entry point.
My last tri of 2003 was the Kirkland tri, a sprint. At that race, I was 550th out of 1063 in the swim, 639th out of 1060 in the bike, and 480th out of 1057 in the run, for an overall 508th out of 984. A few people drop out as the race progresses, which is why 1063 finished the swim, but only 1060 completed the bike, and 1057 completed the run. Why the big drop to 984 overall? That's because people who are on a relay team are counted in the individual stats, but for the overall results they are placed separately.
At Kirkland last year, percentile-wise (lower is better), I was 51.7% in the swim, 60.3% in the bike, 45.4% in the run, and 51.6% overall. Percentile-wise, running was my strongest and biking was my weakest. I'm a slow swimmer and my explanation for finishing near the median is that many people in sprint tris breast stroke the swim, so the average is skewed by them.
Another view: out of the water I was 550th, by the end of the bike I was 583rd (this placing is listed as another column in the results), and by the end of the run I was 508th. So I gave up some spots on the bike but managed to reel in a few competitors on the run.
Things are a bit different at an olympic tri! At my most recent oly, Apple Capital, I was 114th out of 121 in the swim, 110th out of 120 in the bike, 99th out of 118 in the run, for an overall 97th out of 107.
Percentile-wise, that is 94.2% in the swim, 91.7% in the bike, 83.9% in the run, and 90.7% overall. Obviously, more serious athletes show up at olys! The results are more in line with what I expect: weakest on the swim, strongest on the run ("strongest" is relative of course).
At Apple Capital, I was 114th after the swim, 111th after the bike, and 97th after the run. This is excellent - I caught people and improved my standing the entire time. Of course, the people I caught were my fellow back-of-packers!
I extracted a little more information from the results as well - how far away from the median I was in each discipline. For the swim, the median time was 22:51, for the bike it was 1:12:27, and for the run it was 50:26. I need to improve my swim 23%, my bike 13%, and my run 13% to achieve the median overall times, based on the Apple Capital results. The median overall time was about 2:32, which is about 24 minutes better than I did.
The swim is unrealistic, 23% better will take all off-season of work, perhaps even more than just one year. But the bike and run are tantalizing, 13% better is something I could achieve for next season if I really worked on it. Or at least make a major dent into it.
My next tris are four weeks away, so I have a bit of time to attempt to "improve" this season. To that end, I plan a speed session for running and biking each week. Nothing too brutal, just a workout where I push a bit harder than usual. Normally I don't even bother, as I just work on endurance and train slow and easy. This methodology has prevented me from injuring myself and thus missing the event entirely.
First, I'm a solid middle-to-back of packer. At sprints, I can finish somewhere in the middle. But at olys, I'm near the back. There are many reasons for this, chief among them is the fact sprints draw people that are newer to the sport. You have to start somewhere, and while I have a friend whose first triathlon was a half-ironman (!!), most people opt for a gentler entry point.
My last tri of 2003 was the Kirkland tri, a sprint. At that race, I was 550th out of 1063 in the swim, 639th out of 1060 in the bike, and 480th out of 1057 in the run, for an overall 508th out of 984. A few people drop out as the race progresses, which is why 1063 finished the swim, but only 1060 completed the bike, and 1057 completed the run. Why the big drop to 984 overall? That's because people who are on a relay team are counted in the individual stats, but for the overall results they are placed separately.
At Kirkland last year, percentile-wise (lower is better), I was 51.7% in the swim, 60.3% in the bike, 45.4% in the run, and 51.6% overall. Percentile-wise, running was my strongest and biking was my weakest. I'm a slow swimmer and my explanation for finishing near the median is that many people in sprint tris breast stroke the swim, so the average is skewed by them.
Another view: out of the water I was 550th, by the end of the bike I was 583rd (this placing is listed as another column in the results), and by the end of the run I was 508th. So I gave up some spots on the bike but managed to reel in a few competitors on the run.
Things are a bit different at an olympic tri! At my most recent oly, Apple Capital, I was 114th out of 121 in the swim, 110th out of 120 in the bike, 99th out of 118 in the run, for an overall 97th out of 107.
Percentile-wise, that is 94.2% in the swim, 91.7% in the bike, 83.9% in the run, and 90.7% overall. Obviously, more serious athletes show up at olys! The results are more in line with what I expect: weakest on the swim, strongest on the run ("strongest" is relative of course).
At Apple Capital, I was 114th after the swim, 111th after the bike, and 97th after the run. This is excellent - I caught people and improved my standing the entire time. Of course, the people I caught were my fellow back-of-packers!
I extracted a little more information from the results as well - how far away from the median I was in each discipline. For the swim, the median time was 22:51, for the bike it was 1:12:27, and for the run it was 50:26. I need to improve my swim 23%, my bike 13%, and my run 13% to achieve the median overall times, based on the Apple Capital results. The median overall time was about 2:32, which is about 24 minutes better than I did.
The swim is unrealistic, 23% better will take all off-season of work, perhaps even more than just one year. But the bike and run are tantalizing, 13% better is something I could achieve for next season if I really worked on it. Or at least make a major dent into it.
My next tris are four weeks away, so I have a bit of time to attempt to "improve" this season. To that end, I plan a speed session for running and biking each week. Nothing too brutal, just a workout where I push a bit harder than usual. Normally I don't even bother, as I just work on endurance and train slow and easy. This methodology has prevented me from injuring myself and thus missing the event entirely.
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Olympics Junkie
I'll watch nearly any sport in the olympics.
Archery? Check. Air pistol? Check. Water polo? Mixed doubles badminton? Check. 50 meter 3 position rifle? Why not. Lightweight double sculls rowing? Slalom canoe? Yes. Gymnastics? Yes. Track and field steeplechase? Sure, it is entertaining. Men or women's 20K walk? I guess... they'll just broadcast a clip here and there anyway, if that. Group rhythmic gymnastics? Hmm.. okay. Men's synchronized 10 meter platform diving? Yes, but watching the women's competition is easier for me. ;)
Sports I actually participate are the ones I really want to watch: indoor volleyball, men or women's? Yes. Triathlon? Yes! Running events? Yes! This time around I'm excited about cycling and swimming as well. Although I don't really play beach volleyball, I will nevertheless search for any TV coverage, especially of the women's matches. ;)
The one exception is boxing, I just don't like it. That is probably because the idea of rendering your opponent unconcious through repeated blows to the head just doesn't appeal to me.
One sport I have never seen broadcast is team handball, a mix of basketball and soccer. I used to play that in high school during P.E. when it rained and we had to stay inside. The coach used to explain the rules and tell us, as we stared in disbelief there was such a sport, that team handball was in the olympics. Sure enough, it entered as an outdoor game in 1936 at Berlin, but has since moved indoors.
In addition to NBC coverage, I can also watch CBC coverage since I live near Canada. I flip between the NBC coverage and the CBC coverage constantly, and work my ReplayTV as well. Generally I'll tape certain afternoon broadcasts from NBC or CBC, then skim at 4X speed to find events I'm interested in or haven't seen.
Archery? Check. Air pistol? Check. Water polo? Mixed doubles badminton? Check. 50 meter 3 position rifle? Why not. Lightweight double sculls rowing? Slalom canoe? Yes. Gymnastics? Yes. Track and field steeplechase? Sure, it is entertaining. Men or women's 20K walk? I guess... they'll just broadcast a clip here and there anyway, if that. Group rhythmic gymnastics? Hmm.. okay. Men's synchronized 10 meter platform diving? Yes, but watching the women's competition is easier for me. ;)
Sports I actually participate are the ones I really want to watch: indoor volleyball, men or women's? Yes. Triathlon? Yes! Running events? Yes! This time around I'm excited about cycling and swimming as well. Although I don't really play beach volleyball, I will nevertheless search for any TV coverage, especially of the women's matches. ;)
The one exception is boxing, I just don't like it. That is probably because the idea of rendering your opponent unconcious through repeated blows to the head just doesn't appeal to me.
One sport I have never seen broadcast is team handball, a mix of basketball and soccer. I used to play that in high school during P.E. when it rained and we had to stay inside. The coach used to explain the rules and tell us, as we stared in disbelief there was such a sport, that team handball was in the olympics. Sure enough, it entered as an outdoor game in 1936 at Berlin, but has since moved indoors.
In addition to NBC coverage, I can also watch CBC coverage since I live near Canada. I flip between the NBC coverage and the CBC coverage constantly, and work my ReplayTV as well. Generally I'll tape certain afternoon broadcasts from NBC or CBC, then skim at 4X speed to find events I'm interested in or haven't seen.
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