I've complained to running friends that I am fairly inflexible: I can't touch my toes, or do many of those fancy stretches. My friends Mai and Charles suggested I go with them to yoga, so I agreed to check it out. There are classes offered at our Y, but they like to go to a local studio, Guruv Yoga. The class they like to attend is "Happy Hour Yoga", offered Fridays at 5:30 pm, because of the wine and occasional appetizers afterwards!
So I went, and it was tough. The class is a basic Vinyasa Flow yoga, and I do what I can until I feel resistance. However, due to my overall muscle tightness, I feel resistance pretty early in most of the positions. For some, I need the help of a foam yoga block. Overall I enjoyed it, and am determined to keep attending. We plan to take advantage of our Y memberships and attend a Tuesday morning class as well, after running. Mai and Charles and pretty good, but they've been doing it for years. I know I need to do it more than once a week if I actually want to improve.
Anyway, after we had our little glass of wine, we went next door to Delano's for dinner. We like the menu, even if it is small - right now it is salads, flatbread pizza, and sandwiches. But they are expanding the restaurant and also expanding the menu, so soon we'll have more food to choose from! It is a great way to wind down a Friday evening.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Manatee Encounter
My friend Mai's birthday is approaching, so she wanted to do something the weekend before it. It is good timing since she is a teacher and school starts on Monday (faculty is back, but the kids don't show up for another week). She arranged a group outing to take the Manatee Encounter tour from A Day Away Kayak Tours. We had a fair sized group: Mai and Charles, Travis and Diana, myself and Johanna and few others Mai invited as well.
At the start of the tour.
We didn't have to look far for manatees! On the way out we paddled into a boat launch area, known as a gathering spot for the manatees. Within minutes, two very friendly manatees began to swim around us, checking out the group.
Very curious and friendly manatee.
The manatees surfaced very close - I could feel them exhale. They would flip over and swim under the boat, and circled us until we left. They would bump the kayaks and turn us in slow circles. The guide said it was OK to gently pet them, so when one was close enough, I stuck out my hand to feel it swimming by.
After we left the boat launch manatees, we entered a sheltered shore area. I saw a small jellyfish swimming by, so I lifted it up on my paddle. It is a little hard to see, but in the middle of the paddle is a lump - that's the jellyfish, a little one.
The tour also included a stop in shallow water where we dug for clams, and looked at NASA 12 miles to the south. The tour company also offers a few other trips that sound interesting, such as the nighttime bioluminescence tour. They also have a shuttle launch trip, which I think would be much better than being closer in viewing, on the NASA grounds. If the launch is postponed, at least you had the kayaking part to enjoy!
At the start of the tour.
We didn't have to look far for manatees! On the way out we paddled into a boat launch area, known as a gathering spot for the manatees. Within minutes, two very friendly manatees began to swim around us, checking out the group.
Very curious and friendly manatee.
The manatees surfaced very close - I could feel them exhale. They would flip over and swim under the boat, and circled us until we left. They would bump the kayaks and turn us in slow circles. The guide said it was OK to gently pet them, so when one was close enough, I stuck out my hand to feel it swimming by.
After we left the boat launch manatees, we entered a sheltered shore area. I saw a small jellyfish swimming by, so I lifted it up on my paddle. It is a little hard to see, but in the middle of the paddle is a lump - that's the jellyfish, a little one.
The tour also included a stop in shallow water where we dug for clams, and looked at NASA 12 miles to the south. The tour company also offers a few other trips that sound interesting, such as the nighttime bioluminescence tour. They also have a shuttle launch trip, which I think would be much better than being closer in viewing, on the NASA grounds. If the launch is postponed, at least you had the kayaking part to enjoy!
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Dark Knight
My friend and coworker Stephanie is a huge Batman fan, and her birthday was Friday, so I got her tickets to the IMAX showing of The Dark Knight. After getting back from the morning Clermont run, I hurried up to meet her and Jason at the lone IMAX theater in the area, near the Universal Theme parks on International Drive.
It was worth it... the movie was great and looked fantastic in IMAX. Part of the IMAX experience is a really booming sound system, which paid off during various scenes. Heath Ledger's Joker was a great character, a criminally insane sadist, and not a goofball as had been depicted in previous movies.
It was worth it... the movie was great and looked fantastic in IMAX. Part of the IMAX experience is a really booming sound system, which paid off during various scenes. Heath Ledger's Joker was a great character, a criminally insane sadist, and not a goofball as had been depicted in previous movies.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Central Florida Tri
I signed up for this event, along with several members of the YMCA tri club. Even though this year will be run-heavy for me, I still want to do a few tris!
The swim was in Lake Claire on the UCF campus, and this caused a registration foul-up before the event. Apparently, UCF wanted all athletes to sign a waiver before letting us swim in the lake, in addition to the usual packet pickup and general chaos surrounding a local event where half the people register DOR. I signed up online, and expected to show my USAT registration and sign some usual waiver before going off to setup my transition zone. However, due to this extra UCF waiver, and the problems with distributing it and getting that signed and checked, the line backed up pretty far. It may sound trivial, but an extra 15 seconds per participant meant the extra delay across ~300 people was about an hour. And that's about how late the tri started.
My prediction: if this event is held at UCF next year, the waiver will be gone: absorbed into the other waiver we sign, handled via a checkbox for those that pre-register, or hugely better organized, because it was truly cumbersome to deal with.
I also registered by Champion Chip number, but was handed a race-day chip as well. Since I didn't know which one would be used for the actual timing, I wore both. :)
Anyway, the race started and went well. The swim was mismeasured, but you expect that in a sprint, especially at a new venue. During the bike, I took a turn a bit to fast and skidded just a second into a manhole cover. I kept control but something fell and hit the ground. I checked my bike bag, pump, reflectors, computer, rear derailleur, but couldn't find anything that dropped. After another mile or two I looked at my watch... and found out what dropped. My watch! Not the strap, but the electonics actually separated from the wrist strap. So I sadly marked the passing of my faithful Garmin 305.
It was a good race for me. In my new division, M40-44 (USAT rules round up your age), I finished 14/27. I was 103/267 overall and 74th among men. Swim was slow, at 156/267 (overall), bike was a bit faster at 101/267, and run was even better at 68/267.
Afterwards, I went to a local diner with a group from the Y, and we enjoyed breakfast while analyzing various aspects of the race. :)
The swim was in Lake Claire on the UCF campus, and this caused a registration foul-up before the event. Apparently, UCF wanted all athletes to sign a waiver before letting us swim in the lake, in addition to the usual packet pickup and general chaos surrounding a local event where half the people register DOR. I signed up online, and expected to show my USAT registration and sign some usual waiver before going off to setup my transition zone. However, due to this extra UCF waiver, and the problems with distributing it and getting that signed and checked, the line backed up pretty far. It may sound trivial, but an extra 15 seconds per participant meant the extra delay across ~300 people was about an hour. And that's about how late the tri started.
My prediction: if this event is held at UCF next year, the waiver will be gone: absorbed into the other waiver we sign, handled via a checkbox for those that pre-register, or hugely better organized, because it was truly cumbersome to deal with.
I also registered by Champion Chip number, but was handed a race-day chip as well. Since I didn't know which one would be used for the actual timing, I wore both. :)
Anyway, the race started and went well. The swim was mismeasured, but you expect that in a sprint, especially at a new venue. During the bike, I took a turn a bit to fast and skidded just a second into a manhole cover. I kept control but something fell and hit the ground. I checked my bike bag, pump, reflectors, computer, rear derailleur, but couldn't find anything that dropped. After another mile or two I looked at my watch... and found out what dropped. My watch! Not the strap, but the electonics actually separated from the wrist strap. So I sadly marked the passing of my faithful Garmin 305.
It was a good race for me. In my new division, M40-44 (USAT rules round up your age), I finished 14/27. I was 103/267 overall and 74th among men. Swim was slow, at 156/267 (overall), bike was a bit faster at 101/267, and run was even better at 68/267.
Afterwards, I went to a local diner with a group from the Y, and we enjoyed breakfast while analyzing various aspects of the race. :)
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Bowling League
Some friends from work talked me into joining their team in a bowling league. This was a ton of fun in Seattle, so I did it. But this league is far more serious.
The first clue was the discussion of handicaps - it seems the other three on my team average 180 or higher. But they swore this was fine, I would get a handicap and apparently the "weaker" bowlers on a team (like myself) in a handicap league make all the difference. The reasoning behind this is somebody who already bowls 180 or 200 or 220 probably isn't going to improve that much; meanwhile somebody who bowls in the low 100's may, over the course of the league, improve their average 20 points or so - and this improvement, added to their handicap, boosts the team score a much larger proportion.
The second clue this league took itself far more seriously was the league meeting before we started the season - run via parlimentary procedure, with motions and seconds to elect officers (!!) and accept the league rules. The whole time I sat there in disbelief - it seemed far too overblown and I could scarcely believe this was happening for a bowling league. Officer positions were the standard President, Vice President, and some combination of Secretary and Treasurer run in conjunction with an employee of the lanes. There was brief mention of electing a Sergeant-at-Arms, charged with the duty of breaking up fist-fights (I am totally serious here), but we passed on that.
So with all these (in my mind, ridiculous) formalities out of the way, we started bowling. And here was my third clue the league was so serious - everybody else brought all their own gear. Rolling luggages with space for shoes, a bunch of towels, assorted stickers, and two balls each. That's right, two balls: one for the first roll, and a so-called "spare" ball for the second roll, and a few rubber doughnuts so people could keep their spare balls under the rack. After all, there isn't enough room for eight people with two balls each to keep them all on the rack. So why two balls, what is the difference between a "first roll" ball and the "spare" ball? Funny I should ask...
It turns out bowling balls have a solid metal rod embedded in them, that runs from the core to the surface. Balls are marked with a small spot as to where this rod is, by a colored dot or small target etched on the ball. House balls are usually drilled so the rod is between the finger holes - thus a ball bowled straight will tend to roll straight. But all the serious bowlers don't release like that, they give it spin and release at an angle. Thus, their balls are drilled so the finger holes are away from the rod, and being off-center from the roll, the ball will tend to hook. This in turn is why they have two bowling balls - one is drilled in this fashion, used for the first roll in a frame, and the other one is drilled "straighter" (closer to center) so it tends to roll straighter, and is used for picking up spares.
It was surreal listening to my teammates and our opponents talk about lane oil, watching them unpack little sticky thumb grippers to place into the thumb hole, polishing excess oil off their bowling balls in between frames, using small metal brushes on their bowling shoes to improve the "slide"... My mind was reeling from all this, as I used rented shoes and a house ball and did nothing.
I wound up bowling a 397 for three games (individual games are so passé, as serious bowlers apparently keep score of a three game series), while two teammates bowled a 540 and 541 and our fourth bowled a 695. Unbelievable! I'm not even sure how games are scored, for competitive purposes - it isn't merely total score of all players, there is something to do with pincount as well, where pincount is number of pins knocked down, and thus differs from score since pincount doesn't get a bonus from spares or strikes. My three teammates entered a "strike pot" for $1 - the pot pays out to all winners if (and only if) somebody bowls a strike in three randomly chosen frames per game. I cannot produce a strike on demand so I opted to skip it, although for $1 I'll probably enter next week for the heck of it. The pot accumulates throughout the season, but is capped at $1500. Now that would be pretty sweet, to hit the correct nine strikes one day and collect $1500. For me, hitting three strikes per game for three games would be great in and of itself. :)
It was fun, and I look forward to observing this bowling subculture that I did not know existed. The league runs to August so I will have plenty of chances to check it out.
The first clue was the discussion of handicaps - it seems the other three on my team average 180 or higher. But they swore this was fine, I would get a handicap and apparently the "weaker" bowlers on a team (like myself) in a handicap league make all the difference. The reasoning behind this is somebody who already bowls 180 or 200 or 220 probably isn't going to improve that much; meanwhile somebody who bowls in the low 100's may, over the course of the league, improve their average 20 points or so - and this improvement, added to their handicap, boosts the team score a much larger proportion.
The second clue this league took itself far more seriously was the league meeting before we started the season - run via parlimentary procedure, with motions and seconds to elect officers (!!) and accept the league rules. The whole time I sat there in disbelief - it seemed far too overblown and I could scarcely believe this was happening for a bowling league. Officer positions were the standard President, Vice President, and some combination of Secretary and Treasurer run in conjunction with an employee of the lanes. There was brief mention of electing a Sergeant-at-Arms, charged with the duty of breaking up fist-fights (I am totally serious here), but we passed on that.
So with all these (in my mind, ridiculous) formalities out of the way, we started bowling. And here was my third clue the league was so serious - everybody else brought all their own gear. Rolling luggages with space for shoes, a bunch of towels, assorted stickers, and two balls each. That's right, two balls: one for the first roll, and a so-called "spare" ball for the second roll, and a few rubber doughnuts so people could keep their spare balls under the rack. After all, there isn't enough room for eight people with two balls each to keep them all on the rack. So why two balls, what is the difference between a "first roll" ball and the "spare" ball? Funny I should ask...
It turns out bowling balls have a solid metal rod embedded in them, that runs from the core to the surface. Balls are marked with a small spot as to where this rod is, by a colored dot or small target etched on the ball. House balls are usually drilled so the rod is between the finger holes - thus a ball bowled straight will tend to roll straight. But all the serious bowlers don't release like that, they give it spin and release at an angle. Thus, their balls are drilled so the finger holes are away from the rod, and being off-center from the roll, the ball will tend to hook. This in turn is why they have two bowling balls - one is drilled in this fashion, used for the first roll in a frame, and the other one is drilled "straighter" (closer to center) so it tends to roll straighter, and is used for picking up spares.
It was surreal listening to my teammates and our opponents talk about lane oil, watching them unpack little sticky thumb grippers to place into the thumb hole, polishing excess oil off their bowling balls in between frames, using small metal brushes on their bowling shoes to improve the "slide"... My mind was reeling from all this, as I used rented shoes and a house ball and did nothing.
I wound up bowling a 397 for three games (individual games are so passé, as serious bowlers apparently keep score of a three game series), while two teammates bowled a 540 and 541 and our fourth bowled a 695. Unbelievable! I'm not even sure how games are scored, for competitive purposes - it isn't merely total score of all players, there is something to do with pincount as well, where pincount is number of pins knocked down, and thus differs from score since pincount doesn't get a bonus from spares or strikes. My three teammates entered a "strike pot" for $1 - the pot pays out to all winners if (and only if) somebody bowls a strike in three randomly chosen frames per game. I cannot produce a strike on demand so I opted to skip it, although for $1 I'll probably enter next week for the heck of it. The pot accumulates throughout the season, but is capped at $1500. Now that would be pretty sweet, to hit the correct nine strikes one day and collect $1500. For me, hitting three strikes per game for three games would be great in and of itself. :)
It was fun, and I look forward to observing this bowling subculture that I did not know existed. The league runs to August so I will have plenty of chances to check it out.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
New Smyrna
The recreational division of my bike club decided to go kayaking this time, in nearby New Smyrna - one of the popular beach destinations for locals (the other being Cocoa Beach. Daytona is for "tourists".)
We drove out J.B.'s Fish Camp, a restaurant that also rents kayaks, and prepared for an hour or so of kayaking by lathering on sunscreen and getting the rentals taken care of. I rented a single kayak, the kind that you sat on top of, as opposed to ones where you sit inside.
The group paddled out and it was a lot of fun exploring up and down the river and beach area. We didn't go in the ocean and instead stayed on the shallower protected side - in some places the water was only a foot deep. I saw a stingray, but the picture didn't turn out.
We drove out J.B.'s Fish Camp, a restaurant that also rents kayaks, and prepared for an hour or so of kayaking by lathering on sunscreen and getting the rentals taken care of. I rented a single kayak, the kind that you sat on top of, as opposed to ones where you sit inside.
The group paddled out and it was a lot of fun exploring up and down the river and beach area. We didn't go in the ocean and instead stayed on the shallower protected side - in some places the water was only a foot deep. I saw a stingray, but the picture didn't turn out.
Friday, May 09, 2008
Dexter
I finished up watching this TV series via Netflix. It was fantastic, even if the subject matter is so odd.
Dexter is forensics expert working for the Miami police department, and his particular expertise is in blood spatter analysis. Dexter is also a serial killer, a hobby he pursues in his spare time. He only kills people that he feels deserve it, such as the child molester he kills in the pilot. Or the snuff film maker, or the repeat drunk driver, or the "coyote" couple he kills - a husband/wife team smuggling Cubans into the country and then extorting their relatives. If the relatives don't come up with extra payment, the couple kills them. Until Dexter takes them both out!
As such, the show tries to provide insight into the mind of a serial killer, attempting to explain his motivation and ethics code that he follows. Dexter also has a girlfriend with an abusive ex-husband, a sister on the police force, some interesting coworkers, and another serial killer on the loose in the city.
Yes, the main serial killer is one that is out murdering prostitutes and freezing their bodies - and thus is called the Ice Truck Killer. Things get really interesting when the Ice Truck Killer makes contact with Dexter... for example, Dexter returns to his apartment to discover a Barbie doll chopped up in his freezer. He examines the hand, which has painted fingernails. The very next victim's hand is frozen in a block of ice, with painted fingernails. Thus, the Ice Truck Killer knows about Dexter and makes contact. Will Dexter figure out who it is before the Ice Truck Killer exposes him? What does he want anyway? The game is on!
Season 1 is just 12 episodes, and I could barely wait until the next DVD showed up.
Dexter is forensics expert working for the Miami police department, and his particular expertise is in blood spatter analysis. Dexter is also a serial killer, a hobby he pursues in his spare time. He only kills people that he feels deserve it, such as the child molester he kills in the pilot. Or the snuff film maker, or the repeat drunk driver, or the "coyote" couple he kills - a husband/wife team smuggling Cubans into the country and then extorting their relatives. If the relatives don't come up with extra payment, the couple kills them. Until Dexter takes them both out!
As such, the show tries to provide insight into the mind of a serial killer, attempting to explain his motivation and ethics code that he follows. Dexter also has a girlfriend with an abusive ex-husband, a sister on the police force, some interesting coworkers, and another serial killer on the loose in the city.
Yes, the main serial killer is one that is out murdering prostitutes and freezing their bodies - and thus is called the Ice Truck Killer. Things get really interesting when the Ice Truck Killer makes contact with Dexter... for example, Dexter returns to his apartment to discover a Barbie doll chopped up in his freezer. He examines the hand, which has painted fingernails. The very next victim's hand is frozen in a block of ice, with painted fingernails. Thus, the Ice Truck Killer knows about Dexter and makes contact. Will Dexter figure out who it is before the Ice Truck Killer exposes him? What does he want anyway? The game is on!
Season 1 is just 12 episodes, and I could barely wait until the next DVD showed up.
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