Accident Prone (.com) - Home

Thanksgiving Fallout

2011-12-12T21:00:00Z

Take a look at the domain name. Combine that with one of my personal mottos: "Work hard, play hard". You now have a pretty good picture of my Thanksgiving!

Here's the short list:

Dislocated shoulder (right side)
Hyperextended knee (right side)
Dislocated hip (right side)
Massive swelling/bruising of knee (right side)
Bloody cleat marks on the face

Let me explain.

Turkey Bowl

I'm not sure if this is a tradition in your parts but we keep it alive and well in the family. Things get even more interesting when family is involved in the actual game. We had just such a Turkey Bowl game this year: a perfect storm involving 3 brothers-in-law and a bunch of former high school team mates.

I won't give you a blow-by-blow but the highlights are necessary. First, we were playing full-on tackle football. It's like two-hand touch without holding back, somewhat akin to Rugby (in case you were wondering). Alex (one of the brothers-in-law) setup a game at a local high school stadium, called a few former team mates from the football team, and we got cracking. It was a good set- solid quarterbacks, receivers, and even a couple of linemen. All-in-all, a good setup for a great game.

A great game it was- I was on the team opposing both Jesse (brother-in-law) and Alex (the other brother-in-law). This was both fortunate and unfortunate: Jesse and I have an ongoing rivalry. I've challenged him to a wrestling match this year- one in which I intend to beat him soundly. He's an excellent wrestler, outstanding athlete and all-around great guy. Still, he's a superb target: 6'7", 220 lbs., lean, extremely strong, and a highly skilled wrestler. You can't make it any more of a stretch for a 170 lb., 6'1" scrawny whelp like myself.

I choose to guard Jesse. He's a fast mover but, due to the physics, has a harder time accelerating than I do. I didn't think this was a concern until:

Ouch.

Jesse was on a roll. Checkout the bulldog takedown:

Then it was my turn. I can't emphasize enough how glad I am that my wife took these shots:

If you can't tell, the little person tangled up in Jesse's legs is me. And yes, he's about to go down - hard.

In the end, Jesse, Alex, and Ben (all on the opposite team) won- by a single point. But, thanks largely to my efforts, they paid dearly for every point. I made several tackles, scored one touch down, and kept Jesse from getting more than that.

Unfortunately for me, I also paid for my heroic efforts. Toward the end of the game, I made a very poorly aimed tackle- throwing my arm in the path of the receiver's legs. It's not a strategy I would recommend and not one I would take, had I been in pads. To be honest, I wasn't sure if I would be able to take him down. This indecisiveness and poor execution left my arm out of the socket and me writhing in pain on the ground. With cleat marks on my face, just to salt the wound.

There wasn't anything for it but to get back up and play out the game. Still, to this day, my right arm is only semi-functional. It is, after all, quite painful to dislocate a shoulder.

Wall Walking - or Plain Idiocy

I don't think anyone would be embarrassed by an injury obtained in a tackle turkey bowl game. I wish that had been the source of the rest of the damage. Alas, it simply isn't so. If you refer to the list above, you'll note that the following remain:

Hyperextended knee (right side)
Dislocated hip (right side)
Massive swelling/bruising of knee (right side)

I could spin some heroic tale to justify these injuries - I frequently rescue babies in strollers from drunk drivers, after all - but there wasn't anything glamorous in the true origin of these particular ailments. In a sentence:

I tried to take a large step up an unstable rock wall and slipped.

That's it. That's all it was. That single step hyperextended my knee, pulled my leg almost clean out of the hip socket, and gave me a worrisome, swollen, disfiguring bruise just below the knee. To top it all off, that knee is still giving me trouble when standing and walking, let alone while running.

It's frustrating to realize the price of stupidity. Remember that.

Wrapping Up

(That was a pun, by the way!)

This blog is not for the faint of heart. There's a mix of geekery, athletics, and, above all, living life to the fullest. The by-product of the latter is described in the domain: Accident Prone. For those who dabble in the sedentary lifestyle, I would tell you this: the scars are better than photographs for reminding you of the thrill of living. The pain fades with time and, with enough experience under your belt, pain itself can be little more than a distraction to the life you're living. Get out there and give it a try.

(That has to be the weakest and least effective invitation evar. Still, I recommend it.)

ESXi 5, Old Hardware, and You

2011-11-07T23:26:00Z

ESXi 5.0 was released a shot while ago. I run a small datacenter in my basement, some of which is virtualized using ESXi. The hardware is unfortunately a bit dated and has never been officially supported by VMware so, needless to say, some customizations are in order. For those struggling with old hardware and incomplete documentation, here's a bit of help.

VIB? Do I need that?

ESXi 5.0 introduces a new concept for packaging and installing third-party drivers (among other things): VIBs. You can read a bit more about them here. I won't go into the details except to say that, for the most part, you probably won't be creating your own. I spent quite a bit of time exploring that option only to finally resolve that it simply wasn't the right approach for me.

The reason behind this is simple: I don't actually need to install a new driver, I just need ESXi to recognize the older hardware as supported by existing drivers. To this end, after much searching, I found this article, which forms the foundation of everything you'll see here. The author had a similar problem- hardware going unrecognized by drivers that otherwise would have offered full support. His suggestion was to modify the existing driver packages and add the relevant entries to the driver's map file. Ingenious!

So how is it done?

If you've tried to follow along with the above article's suggested steps, you'll hit a serious snag: you can't unpack the driver packages with tar. You'll get an "Invalid tar magic" error, among other things. The extracted files also will not be usable. If you try and transfer it to a different host and unpack it, you'll notice that tar complains loudly about corruption and, to end it all, the extracted files are unusable. In short, DON'T TRY IT.

With that said, the approach is solid. After a bit more research, I discovered that the driver packages are actually vmtar archives, not vanilla tar archives. You can convert these to standard tar files with a simple command:

vmtar -x [file] -o [output.tar]

With that done, you can use tar to extract the archive, make any necessary changes (or additions), then tar it back up and use the following vmtar command to get it into the necessary VGZ format:

vmtar -c [file.tar] -o [output.vgz]

The specifics

In my case, I have an old SB600 SATA controller built-in to the motherboard that I would very much like to use. First step in the process is identifying it using lspci:

lspci -v

You'll get some output like this:

You can see my particular controller on the first line. Below, you can also see the PCI class association ("Class: 0106: 1002:4380"). The latter set ("1002:4380") is used to map the device to a driver in a standard linux distro's standard.map file. In the case of ESXi, these maps are driver-specific, supplied in the VGZ packages we've discussed. Once you've identified the hardware using lspci, the next step is to map the class declaration to a driver. Here's how I did it:

Since my example deals with a SATA AHCI controller, I looked in the /bootbank folder for a corresponding driver package. I found "sata-ahc.v00". To make the necessary change, I did as the article referenced above suggests:

cd /tmp
mkdir tweak
cd tweak
vmtar -x /bootbank/sata-ahc.v00 -o sata-ahc.tar
tar xvf sata-ahc.tar

Now I had both the etc and usr directories, provided by the driver package, in the /tmp/tweak folder- available for me to change! Note that I used vmtar first- this is the step overlooked in the original article. Next, I opened the etc/vmware/driver.map.d/ahci.map using vi and added the following line:

regtype=linux,bus=pci,id=1002:4380 0000:0000,driver=ahci,class=storage

Finally, I closed up shop and re-packaged everything using the following steps:

rm sata-ahc.tar
tar cvf sata-ahc.tar etc usr
vmtar -c sata-ahc.tar -o sata-ahc.vgz
mv sata-ahc.vgz /bootbank/sata-ahc.v00

Last step: reboot

That's it. The ESXi host came alive, the storage device was recognized, and I was on my way.

This is a pretty easy way to get new drivers on your ESXi host without having to create a VIB (which can be lengthy). You can add your specific driver file (compiled for ESXi) to the usr folder, add the map declaration as indicated above, vmtar it up, and go on your way.

Good luck- ping me with questions!

Timp Independence Experiment

2011-07-05T16:49:00Z

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As you no doubt are aware, my family consists of 2 adults (well, at least one responsible adult and another that looks like one) and 5 children. Scroll down a bit to get a refresher course on the family (with pictures!). Feel free to jump down there now.

Back? You'll remember that our 5 children are ages 7 and down. This presents some unique challenges when the family chooses to do something like hiking, especially when that hike is somewhat challenging. This, as you'll have guessed, is precisely what we decided to do with our 4th of July: a bit of family hiking.

I won't disparage those sadly deluded persons who think that the pinacle of the outdoors is a well-maintained asphalt path that spans a completely level stretch between the parking lot and a small waterfall visible from the road (here's to you, Bridal Veil Falls!). Suffice it to say that we like the challenge and the beauty of the mountains, preferably away from the rest of human civilization. Given that we have 5 children, it isn't strictly possible for us to galavant around the raw wilderness, so we settled for a decent middle ground: the Aspen Grove Timpanogos Summit trail.

That trail is a tough route, if you follow it all the way to the summit. This time of year, it's not only physically demanding, it's extremely technical. We obviously didn't summit with 5 kids ages 7 and under; we simply went to the lower waterfall that sits below the first steppe on the approach to Emerald Lake.

Having taken young kids hiking before, we knew that this would be a pretty slow approach and, as we contemplated this, Elise and I came up with an idea to help us kill time on the way: give every child a digital camera.

The Setup

To be fair, we weren't exactly sure what would happen if we gave cameras to kids ranging from 2 to 7 years old (sorry, 11 months is a little young for this). We actually didn't have 6 cameras to go around. Instead, we scrounged my old iPhone (2G), our nice camera (Kodak Z712), and two iPhone 4s (mine and Elise's). Initially, we gave the iPhone 2G to Gini, my iPhone 4 to Thomas, and Elise's iPhone 4 to William. I kept the Kodak.

The Rules

Since we didn't have enough cameras for everyone, we setup a sharing regime- when we felt like someone had had enough time, we asked them to pass it along. This went surprisingly well and there are pictures from each of the cameras taken from every child (minus Jonathan).

We told the kids to take pictures of anything they found interesting- things that were different or unique, including plants, animals, and the like. We also asked them to take pictures of the family. Beyond that, we let them run loose.

The Experience

Of course, there are several pictures of plants right outside the van where we parked and there are a number of pictures from the first quarter mile of trail. Every so often, we would have to tell the children to "Lock the phone and keep walking!", though it was less prominent than you might think. The pace we set was pretty comfortable.

After the first quarter mile or so, the kids got down to business. Every 30 seconds or so, they would take a camera out of their pocket and snap a shot at something they found interesting. We tried to keep sharing up, but Thomas and Gini accounted for the bulk of the photos taken by kids. William took his fair share, Peter took just a few.

When they had settled into a rhythm of walking, snapping a picture, and returning to a walk, we made pretty good headway on the trail. There were a few fun spots: we crossed a raging stream on a wet and rickety bridge and we spanned a couple of fairly long and treacherous sections of snow. Of course, these were picture-worthy and we gave opportunity for both the kids and ourselves to take pictures.

Overall, the hike was fun and successful. The kids were in surprisingly good shape by the end. As you'll see in the album below, even our 2-year-old Peter was running and giggling at the end. As a hike and a family activity, it was fantastic.

The Results

What about the pictures? You just had to ask. We uploaded most of the pictures to Google last night and this morning, just to let you see how things went. For the most part, I think they're what we all expect: a few out of focus pictures, many pictures of nothing in particular, and a few beautiful gems. Those gems and the wonderful experience we had gathering them made this one of the best family hikes - and even general activities - we've ever had.

You can view the entire album with all of the pictures (unedited!) here:

Timp Independence Experiment Photos

Here's a simple slideshow for those who want to simply kick back and see what happened:

The Family: A Refresher Course

Just in case the names and ages are foreign to you, here's a quick refresher on the family (as it stands today):


Gini (Virginia), 7 years old	Thomas, 6 years old

William (Will), 4 years old	Peter, 2 years old

Jonathan, 11 months old

The two adults (one adult aged, one adult in truth):


Elise: The beautiful adult	Me: Adult-aged

No Gym? What?

2011-05-31T15:35:00Z

Welcome back from the break. Memorial day is an excellent holiday in so many ways- remembering the fallen, teaching children the value and cost of freedom, and taking a Monday back from the work week.

This morning, I did something odd: I chose not to go to the gym. My normal schedule, which I've followed almost perfectly for the past four and a half months, is:

4:30AM: Wake up
5:00AM: Shower, dress, and head out the door
5:45AM: Gym (plus a swim on alternate days)
7:00AM: Commute (yay!)
7:30AM: Work
4:30PM: Commute (homeward!!)
7:30PM: Run, bike

...and it goes on. There have been a couple of occasions when I've even been out of town and stopped at the gym at 11:00PM before flying home at 6:00AM the next day... and headed to the gym at lunch, just to ensure I've gone every single day.

So why didn't I go this morning? Post-Memorial Day laziness? Nah, I still got up at 4:30AM (it's hard not to these days). The real point is a restructuring of exercise. I've got a few big events coming up over the next two months and, as much as I hate to say it, it's time for a change.

First things first, I've nearly doubled my lifting capacity over the past 4 months in practically every way. Take this with a grain of salt: I wasn't that strong to begin with. Still, 4 months is a short window for this kind of personal improvement. The point was to build the base of strength I've been missing over the past few years. And, of course, to attempt to gain the strength needed for me (170 pounds, 6 foot nothin') to successfully wrestle (collegiate style) my brother-in-law, Jesse (235 pounds, 6'7").

There's been an informal rivalry ever since I married into the family- I've wrestled (freestyle, folk, greco-roman, and collegiate) since I was 6 years old. My wife's family is equally entrenched in the wrestling world. I helped coach her younger brother, Theo, when he attended the high school I graduated from. When in high school, I had always looked up to her older brother, Jesse. Both of her brothers are amazing wrestlers. Jesse, in particular, is an amazing wrestler with an equally amazing physique. Let's just say that one look is enough to convince most rational people to not start something.

Earlier this year, I issued a challenge to Jesse: a 6-minute (3 2-minute periods), collegiate-judged, officially refereed, wrestling match, to be held in June or July at a local high school. I was going to try and beat him.

This challenge kicked off the heavy lifting campaign- I had to get strong enough to at least compete with Jesse on the mat. That doesn't mean I have to be as strong; I just have to be strong enough, enough to let technique, strategy and endurance make the difference. I set some goals- squat 400+, deep lunge 180+, bench 250+, etc.- all of which I've now accomplished. At the same time, I've tried desperately to maintain swimming, biking, and (more recently, due to injury) running, though these were de-prioritized in favor of building strength.

But now, 4 months later, the goals are satisfied and while I'm not strong enough, it's time to shift focus once again. The Wasatch Ragnar race is in three weeks, which forces me to re-prioritize running. I have several half-distance triathlons in July, August, September and October, along with several century rides I'd like to complete. We have a Mt. Rainier expedition in July. Above all, June is right around the corner and this epic face-off with Jesse is looming.

Thus the gym now becomes a 4 times per week event and I'll be reconsidering the muscle groupings I work per day. I'll be lifting to maintain and not gain. Running mileage will go up a fair bit, as will swimming and biking. I'll be adjusting these events as well- intervals will make a comeback for all three and I'll be alternating general speed work with stretching distance.

No sleeping in, for certain. I need to start running in the mornings, exchanging the time spent in the gym for time spent pounding pavement. What a marvelous zero-sum game we play with our time!

I'll be setting a date and time for the wrestling match. I'll even stream it, for anyone interested. It will be epic, however it turns out. Too bad this David can't throw stones...

Look for an announcement with a date. I'll post results for all events (wrestling, ragnar, triathlons, etc.) as soon as they're available. Enjoy the shortened work week!

Training, Goals, and Broken Bones

2011-03-21T00:07:00Z

Hi again everyone. If you missed it, there's a recent (!!) welcome post below, written only minutes before this article. One reason I dusted off this old blog was to welcome all the new visitors the site is getting; another reason was to keep you up-to-date on my training, goals, and all that other, far more interesting stuff.

In case you missed it, I'm a triathlon fanboy. It's not because of any natural talent; I'm not fast, nor have I ever won even my division in a race. The reason is pretty simple: no other sport is as practical as the triathlon. Especially if you train the way I love to. Let me explain.

Think about those rare life-threatening situations. No, not with guns. If you've got one of those pointed at you, it's roulette and nothing more. I'm talking about the 4th grade type life-threatening situations, where there's a crowd of bullies and you're the nerd. You have two options: curl up in a ball and protect your vitals as best as possible or run fast and long. My recommendation? From 4th grade experience, I can tell you that it's better to run than to curl up. Believe it or not, kicks in non-vital areas can be both painful and life threatening.

Wait, so how does this 4th grade scenario play into triathlons OR adult life? I won't make the claim that 4th grade bullies are nearly as frightening and effective against me these days, but I can tell you that the ability to run long and hard has saved my hide many, many times. Running is a key part of the triathlon, of course (Swim, Bike, Run for the uninitiated), so you walk away far better prepared.

I know you're thinking, "So run a marathon. Why bother with the swimming and biking?" Fair point. Again, speaking from experience (not 4th grade in this case, though), swimming is a skill that can save both your life and another's. Strangely, if you hang out around the water, both opportunities will present themselves.

"Ah, but this biking thing", you say, "you certainly can't claim that this is a life-saving skill!" To you doubters, I ask: HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A JACKIE CHAN MOVIE?!!? Both the ability to ride and swing a bike you've "borrowed" from some hapless bystander can save your life.

I rest my case.

Triathlons are irrefutably the most practical individual sport on the planet. If all non-bully kids were triathletes, our nerd population would be far less emotionally scared and fit. Probably more socially adept too.

I apologize; I wax philosophic. My more legitimate personal reason for being a triathlete is because it's hard. In fact, at the distances I compete (well, ok, I'm not competitive *per se*), it's quite impossible without serious and consistent training. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I'm pretty ADHD; if you know anything about the associated symptoms, you'll realize that "consistent" isn't a word used to describe my crowd. This is an effort to prove to myself that I can be consistent and in so doing find the tools that I can use to bring consistency to the rest of my life.

Surprisingly, to me at least, this has largely succeeded. I'm not as consistent as I should be in all things, but I've found means, previously unknown to me, to help me become more consistent. Surprising and nice, all in one package.

Before closing, I'll explain the "Broken Bones" bit in the title. I'm signed up for the St. George Ironman this year, but that's starting to look a bit doubtful. I have a fracture in my right foot that is going to make training (at least the running) very difficult. I'll give it a run (hehe), but I may have to drop out or at least drop the distance.

Enjoy the water, the ride, or the run (or all three)!

The Thing About Blogs...

2011-03-20T23:24:00Z

It's so much fun to pretend that you have a website and all that. It's even more fun to pretend that people actually *read* what you write on your so-called website. When I set this little blog up, I knew that it wouldn't last long. I thought that I would at least gain some control over the profile Google builds for me in the short time I my attention span would last.

Checking out analytics on this site (I do this very infrequently- about as infrequently as I post new material), I'm seeing that there are actually visitors. Probably something to do with unDock in the App Store and the traffic from it and all that. To you, who have some human interest in who I am, welcome. Sorry I haven't been keeping this up-to-date. For your benefit, I'll actually try to do better.

By way of introduction, I'm Tom Metge. @tommetge on twitter, tommetge on Facebook, tommetge on GitHub, and just Tom on Google and the rest. No fancy handles, I think my given name is good enough. Well, that's only half true- officially, I'm a "Thomas", but "Tom" is what most people call me. Both, I think, are wonderful names.

I have 5 children and a stunningly, astonishingly gorgeous and extraordinarily talented and intelligent wife, Elise. My children:

Virginia, 7 years old. We call her Gini. Our oldest child and only girl.
Thomas Alen, 6 years old. He goes by Thomas and is probably the only remaining reason I still use Tom.
William, 4 years old. He prefers William, but we still call him Will.
Peter, 2 years old. Did I mention that he's 2 years old? HE'S TWO YEARS OLD!! AGGGHHHH!!!
Jonathan, ~9 months old. He answers to Jonathan, Johnny, Jon, and Smiles (my name for him).

It would be fairly exhaustive to go into any level of detail in each of our profiles, so I'll keep it light:

I'm a software engineer, my wife is a dancer (ballet), music teacher, mother, and more. All of our kids love sports. Thomas just finished his first season of wrestling (he did amazing). I'm big into triathlons, freestyle and collegiate wrestling, rock climbing, mountaineering, extreme hiking, racquetball and other such fun stuff. My wife loves rock climbing, volleyball, basketball, and more.

There's your introduction. I should note that I'm both ADD and eclectic in my interests, which would account for the random collection of topics in past posts. It will also account for the next couple of days of activity posting new material and the long dearth that will follow.

Enjoy!

Thoughts on Teh Tablet

2010-01-03T05:21:00Z

Everyone's talking about it. The Apple Tablet, iSlate, or whatever you want to call it. I've been waiting *years* to see it, to touch it, to hold, and to love it. And to feed Apple with yet a few more of my hard-earned dollars. Since it might just be coming soon, I wanted to record some of my expectations, hopes, and thoughts about this much talked-about fable of a computing device.

Expectations

Let's face it. Apple is all about touchable computing these days. If I had to choose a single feature that defined the iPhone and iPod Touch, it would be just that- touch. It is a device that begs to interact with the user. It's also simply a joy to use.

I expect that the Apple Tablet has been postponed largely because the technology to make the tablet as game-changing as the iPhone simply didn't exist. The iPhone has set the stage and now is the ideal time to start shaping the rest of the computing world to the paradigm of touch.

Short story? The iSlate, Apple Tablet, or whatever name it launches with will be *more* touchable than the iPhone, more intuitive to use than any device we've seen to-date. How?

Revamping or fork of the core OS X (or the iPhone's fork)
Multitouch for *everything*. Keyboard will truly be secondary. The concept of a mouse won't even enter the user's mind... unless they launch an application requiring it

Extending this concept, the desktop will be revamped. I'm not sure if it will become more iPhone-esque or be a different, more radical departure from the traditional desktop, but it will *not* be your run-of-the-mill desktop environment

I take it that you've all seen Avatar? I'm not sure if any of you were paying attention to the props, but if you were, you would notice:

There was an astonishing degree of consistency across the hypothetical devices used throughout the movie.
All of these devices were, you guessed it, *touchable*. Sure, they were transparent and all that, but discard that (there's a ton of privacy issues and technology barriers to cross to accomplish this).
Think of Minority Report. Think of any Science Fiction movie you've seen over the past 15 years. There are two common motifs for futuristic interfaces: touchability and voice interaction.

Clearly, it will be touch-based. And the OS itself will promote- nay, require- the user to interact with their fingers. What about the rest? What kind of technology will we see to promote this ultra-touchable interface?

OK, first things first: cell network support. I doubt Apple would try and pawn off a device without Wifi, but it's possible they go the Kindle route and preclude anything but cell data support. US partner? AT&T. Sadly.

Size: I expect 10-12" diagonal, approximating paper size. All screen- perhaps a half-inch bezel surrounding the screen. Brushed aluminum. The back will be solid brushed aluminum. I expect (well, hope) that it will be less than (or equal to) a half-inch thick, no more. It'll be extremely light, borrow from the lessons learned designing the Air. No physical keyboard whatsoever.

As for raw computing power... I certainly expect more than your run-of-the-mill netbook. So a legitimate x86/x64 processor (not Atom) and at least 1GB of some decent ram. It's going to be *hard* to fit all of this, plus an OpenGL-capable and performant graphics accelerator into the profile listed above. But it must be done.

I hope and expect that it will NOT have an integrated camera. That would be ludicrous. But it *will*, of course, have an iSight webcam. And this stems a whole new series of expectations.

I think there's some potential to support gestures that are *seen* and not felt- meaning that the iSight will be on most of the time, looking at your face. I have this vision of people walking around in Airports and seated on Buses, holding a thin, 8x10" device in front of their faces talking to it. It will redefine iChat (this is yet another reason why cell data network is so critical)

I'm not sure if Apple will actually take the same route as Project Natal- it's very, very difficult to accurately interpret gestures when the only device to interpret them is a webcam. Touch is a different story... and it is just about as (if not more) natural than either expressions or even voice. Still, I wouldn't be surprised to see a hand wave or head nod as supported gestures (under more strictly controlled circumstances...).

One last expectation- one that is slightly less tangible: Apple will clearly redefine the way we interpret a "Tablet PC"- largely based on how we interact with it, but I don't think it will stop there. Apple has seen tremendous success with the iPhone-based App store and it's hard to imagine Apple overlooking the business opportunities of the same in a new class of device. So here's the kicker: to really promote an actual App store, the Apple Tablet device needs to:

Need new applications. This doesn't preclude running existing Mac-based software, but it does mean that a whole new set of APIs would be released- APIs that are specific to the device, to its touch support, to its gesture and other interfaces (whatever they might be).
Set a limit on the price of the device itself. Yes, I'm serious. It has to be low enough to encourage adoption. It also has to be *small* enough to encourage mass adoption.
It has to be powerful enough to replace at least your netbook. Let's face it, netbooks are a bit of a joke. They're toy laptops whose niche really is centered around two core criteria: price and portability. Problem: no netbook I've ever seen has a long enough battery life for me to consider it more portable than my laptop. Problem: no netbook I've ever seen is small enough for me to consider truly carriable. And the screens suck. So do the keyboards. Short story: Apple's tablet could *wipe the planet* of netbooks. If the processor, power, and profile are right.

The above is what I expect: a genre-breaking, paradigm-shifting device that will redefine the way we work with computers. I don't think it will be considered an intermediate step between an iPhone and a MacBook Pro, but a different *class* of computing device that parallels the MacBook and, in some sense, competes with it. I expect it to redefine the MacBook line entirely, shaping the MacBook's future by the tablet's own innovations.

Hopes

I hope for more than I expect, clearly. I want some things from the Apple tablet that I don't really know that I can expect. At the forefront is backward compatibility in an elegant way. I've adapted to the lack of a physical keyboard on my iPhone quite admirably. Since there will be no physical keyboard to the device, I'm steeling myself to learn how to type on something more LCARS-like. I *want* there to be some sort of compatibility with my existing software and suite of tools... because I *want* a device that can do it all that I can also take with me wherever I go.

I also *want* a battery life that gives me more than I've been bred to expect. I would even accept a built-in battery (which I fully expect anyway) as long as it delivers 8 hours+ of life. I would hope it would be enough for an oversees flight (10+ hours), but that's probably too much to ask, thinking realistically. I hope 8 hours is manageable.

I REALLY hope that the device won't break the bank. This is Apple, unfortunately, so I wouldn't be surprised to see Air-style pricing. But I hope for better. There is some justification for an expectation (see arguments above), but given Apple's track record, it's more of a hope than a legitimate expectation.

I hope it doesn't launch with AT&T. Under the best of circumstances, it would launch completely unlocked. Second best would be Verizon. Dead last on the preference list: AT&T. Actually, take those lying, incompetent, and callous bullheads off the list entirely. Of course I would entertain a purchase, regardless of the provider, but I want desperately to sever ties with AT&T.

It'd also be nice to not pay much month-to-month for the new device... but I'm pretty positive I'm going to get screwed. :(

I have more hopes, but I'll leave the currently documented ones as they stand.

Thoughts

Game changer. Future of computing. Well, of course. Clearly, that's the angle. It will be *big*. I will redefine how we work with computers entirely. It will (yet again) put Microsoft in the position of saying, "Oh crap. What're we going to do now?" So long now, Microsoft (and Apple, to some extent) has held us captive under by holding the OS world static, restricting the hardware options, clinging to legacy APIs and concepts, and clutching to decades-old methods of human/computer interaction. It's long past time to turn that on its head.

Even if none of my hopes and even some of my expectations aren't met, I'm sure the tablet device will be compelling enough to warrant a purchase. Here's to having our expectations met and hopes fulfilled without savaging our wallets in the process. Apple: treat us well. Please.

Monopoly City Streets- Take 2

2009-09-18T12:25:00Z

The game is up again! The game was reset yesterday- well, more than reset. A few of the rules have slightly changed, as have a few UI elements. In particular, property prices are no longer capped- and the returns yielded by constructed property are no longer capped.

That's right. It's a rather significant change and will very much change the way the game is played. How so? Well, here are my two cents:

Some properties are out of reach for new players. Longer streets now cost substantially more than the $3 million.
Since your property constructions can now yield *more* than you originally invested in a single day's rent, the game will move a little quicker, putting more money into the game more quickly
Because of the above two, the game is more heavily skewed toward early adopters. People that play today will be able to buy more expensive and less available properties before late starters.

Short story? The leaderboard, once established, is very unlikely to change for anything outside of Chance. And in the case of Chance, attacked leaders will rapidly be superseded by early-adopting players waiting in the wings. So get over there, get started, buy, buy, buy!

I would invite anyone with some time and perhaps a little extra money to figure out the ratio at which returns are yielded for more expensive streets- at this point, I've only been able to afford a single street :)

Monopoly City Streets

2009-09-11T21:08:00Z

Updated: 9/17/09

Today I've actually started to enjoy playing the game Monopoly City Streets, an online version of monopoly taking advantage of Google Maps to make the entire world the game's board. As early as this morning, there was still a tremendous amount of latency as I logged in and tried to expand my empire. But it seems that most of this is (hopefully) behind us now- the servers are up, the game is extremely responsive, and it's significantly changed the experience of game play.

For the uninitiated, the game launched just a couple of days ago and has been absolutely swamped ever since. The game's blog has documented some of the difficulties and the load- about 1.7 million unique visitors every day. I honestly expected a bit more, but I completely understand the difficulties in scaling- 1.7 million *unique visitors* is a tremendous load on any server infrastructure, especially when each user is responsible for hundreds if not thousands of requests against the servers. Well, it's nice to see it running as intended. Finally.

I have to admit, the technical aspects of this game intrigue me. What a interesting way to tie Google Maps into a game! I haven't had the time to dig into the OpenStreetMaps API yet, but this game inspires me to do so.

The use of OpenStreetMaps isn't the only thing i find interesting- the logic behind the game is equally thought-provoking, at times. Since this logic isn't documented anywhere, I spent the first couple of days hypothesizing and testing to find out some of those fundamentals- they form the foundation for any sort of strategy. And I still have some unanswered questions about that logic, though I think I've got the basics down. For posterity's sake, let me review (comments are welcome and encouraged):

Game Objective(s)

There's really only a single objective, as far as I can tell: you win by making money. Your score is a representation of your net worth, which consists of the value of your property and the money you have in the bank. That's it.

Property Values and Rent

So one of the first things I noticed is that each street that can be purchased is valued at $1m or less. I'm having to make some unproven guesses here (watch out!), but it looks like the following properties apply to streets:

Without any construction, rent is always 10% of the purchase value of the street, rounded *down*. So a street valued at $114,000 will carry a rent of $11,000 per day. A street valued at $990,000 will rent at $99,000 per day. So if you don't plan on developing (which would be stupid... see below), buy round numbers to make a better margin.
Development of houses (or any other type of construction) impacts the rent returned by the street. For example, the most basic house carries a cost of $50,000. Adding this basic house to a street valued at $100,000 (yielding a rent of $10,000 per day) will add $5,000 to the daily rent of the street.
If you've played the game at all, you'll notice that the amount of rent added to the street per house appears to be somewhat subjective. It's not subjective- it's relative. To the value of the street. In fact, as the value of the street increases, the yield of the developed real estate increases as well. Here's what I mean: if you build a house on a street valued at $1m (as opposed to the $100,000 example above), the house, still costing $50,000, will add another full $50,000 to the daily rent of the street. It's all about location!
Density (how many developed properties a street will support) is relative to its size; the spacing is always fixed. See the Housing section for more information about density.
Undeveloped streets are particularly prone to Hazards (see below for an explanation of Hazards). If there is enough undeveloped space, prisons, factories, or other Bad Things (tm) can be built on them- and this will make their rent yield drop to ZERO (d'oh!).

I originally had thought that I, the player, would be paying out rent to other players somehow. Just know that rent is fixed, daily, and paid by the bank changes how the game is played. The entire focus of the game is property- obtaining, developing, and protecting. Player interacting is very limited- either to screwing somebody else or making offers. It's only day 3... I suppose there might be some potential for allies to develop, but there isn't an in-game, inter-player communications mechanism yet (the docs mention a "Friends' League", but I haven't figured that out yet), so that would be challenging. If someone wanted to spend a little time on a side project, an allies and alliances site would be a great companion. Of course, there would be some problems with username claims...

Housing and Development

There are a number of residential and business buildings that can be built on a street. The key variants (outside of their look and name) are:

Purchase price: starting at $50,000 and going all the way up to $100m.
Rent yielded per day: starting at $5,000 (the cheapest house on the cheapest street).
Space used on the street. Varies wildly, but generally, they don't take up very much.

Not all houses yield the same rent-to-price ratio. The smallest houses (the $50k and $75k models) yield the best return on nearly all streets- usually between 40% of the purchase price in daily rent all the way up to a full 100%. This is balanced by density- by which I mean if you fill a street full of $50k models, you'll have a great daily return on the money you invested (100%, potentially), but the street will not yield its full potential. If you put some bigger ticket items on the street, you can increase the streets monetary yield substantially- but you will take a hit on your percent of return. You'll have to figure out when it's best to make high-yield streets- that'll be a key part of your strategy

I should also note that I've seen a chance card that allows me to demolish a building on another player's street- and I've had someone try and use that against me. It doesn't always seem to work (sometimes you apparently win the case in court), but you should be aware that nothing in life is certain- except death.

Location

Above, I wrote the words, "It's all about location!". Well, that's only partly true. I was concerned that there would be some prime real estate sucked up in the first minutes of the game that would seriously impact the fairness of the game moving forward. I had made the assumption that some real estate would be inherently more valuable than others- like city scapes and historical landmarks. So my first thought was to go attack the major cities and grab some prime real estate before it was all gone. That assumption proved to be flawed.

The logic behind the game is evenly applied throughout- so what is written above about Streets and Housing applies equally, regardless of the actual location. So streets will be the same price, based on their length, no matter where you go.

This isn't to say that property in cities might be more valuable- there are market considerations as well. Think supply and demand! Seattle, WA, for example, has a fair amount of property already taken by players. And not by a single player- by many different players. They are going to find expansion challenging, so they'll have to turn to buying already-owned properties. Since there are so many players and little room to grow, demand will outstrip supply and prices will rise. I would guess that they won't rise by much early on, since there won't be a great deal of disparity between the rent earnings of each player, but that will eventually change and that real estate will sell at a premium.

So the answer to the question: "Does location really matter?" is: Yes. And no. Choosing a spot where no one is going to bother you or encroach on your development will help early on, but (as with actual real estate) the prices of your development will not increase as much over time, as there will be far less demand. Consider that in your strategy!

Hazards and Bonuses

Disclaimer: I haven't apparently gotten into the game far enough to receive an actual Bonus, but I think I've figured out how they work.

Hazards and Bonuses are types of development that directly impact the rent yield (and potential resale value) of a street. Hazards generally stop the street from yielding rent *AT ALL*- meaning the player gets absolutely nothing from the street on a daily basis, though the value of the street is still included in their net worth. Bonuses protect streets from hazards, making it impossible for other players to sabotage it. There are also Bulldozers- which I mentioned earlier- which allows a player to demolish a development (including bonuses) on an opponent's street.

Hazards (in case you don't feel like clicking the "Gaming Rules" button in the game):

Power Plant
Prisons
Sewage Works

Bonuses

Stadium
Park
School (there's a typo in the documentation that excludes this)

You can tie it all together to formulate your strategy moving forward- just remember that your streets aren't safe from another player's evil intentions. I can't say exactly when these chance cards are offered- it appears to be either random, or random and weighted by either development or cash earnings.

Scoring

... is a bit of an enigma to me when I look at the leader board. As the rules go, your score is just your net worth. However, the leading players (currently there is one sitting at a score in excess of $240m) don't seem to have the same scoring applied to them. This may be indicative of a bug in the naming system (something they've admitted to recently), but clicking through on that top player shows the scorecard of an entry-level player who owns just 3 streets and whose net worth is $3m. Huh?

Other Notes and Thoughts

As I was writing the above, I clicked through on the "Leader Board" and attempted to access the "Friends" section, which I've been employing as a watch list (spying). Everything else in the game still works, but this section is down. Perhaps the "Friends' League" is coming??

A more important note: the docs say that "...rent is calculated automatically - so you can focus on being a property genius rather than a math professor." It's a bit of a lie and you should be aware of that. Keep the calculator handy. Manage your investments carefully- and think of them as just that, investments. You'll get a return and, in a strange turn of fate, you will control exactly how much your investments actually return. There's a reason why the "Chance" cards are called such- it really is the only element of randomness (or luck) in the game. Everything else is pre-calculated with cold precision.

On unfortunate byproduct of the above is that the game heavily favors people who find themselves in either (or both) of two categories:

Early birds. People who managed to get online and in the game in the seconds that it was actually available when the game started. The advantage is that they received an extra $1m and rent for their properties for each day they were online earlier than everyone else. I think this is the single driving reason behind the consideration mentioned on the game blog for resetting the entire game after the scaling concerns are eliminated.
Active players. Plan to login for a 10 minutes *every day*. It's absolutely critical- and they tell you so in the docs. Money will continue to accrue in your account, but not as quickly as it would if you were to be actively investing it. Remember that- if you have money left in the bank after you've finished playing for a day, you're leaving a ton of future returns on the table.

Hints and Tricks

After you've read the above, you'll be much better prepared to enter the game than I was. But then again, I knew there would be a learning curve- and exploring accounted for the first couple of days of game play. Because I'm a nice guy, I'll give you some points on strategy that you might not otherwise pick up right away (I didn't):

Avoid other players as you get started. Stay under the radar for a few days, if possible. Don't piss anyone off. The last thing you want is to attract the attention of someone with some real cash (think what $20m could do to your development!)
Given the above, find a spot that is likely to be untouched for a while. Once you build your portfolio of real estate (and your available capital) a bit, you'll want to diversify and go after some better real estate. If you start in a more contested space, you might get lucky and just make it big, but that's a risk you'll have to weigh independently.
Keep a calculator handy, like I said before. Early in the game (for the first few days), you won't have a lot of money to throw at things. Maximize your returns early on- take advantage of the cheaper houses that offer a better value over time (the $50k and $75k models).
Again, let your available capital dictate what kinds of streets you purchase. Buying 3 $1m streets on your first day will only give you $300k in rent tomorrow. Buying a single $1m street and filling it as full as possible with high-yield developments will give you vastly more to work with next time you log in.
Fill up streets as much as possible. It maximizes the street's yield and it also limits room for hazard construction.
Use your bonuses, if you get them, on your best streets.
Update your strategy as your resources (capital and real estate) change. I've mentioned a few keys here that will help you get started, but they won't serve you well when you're rolling in the dough. Be flexible and adjust to the environment you find yourself in.
Remember that the smartest players are going to be watching you. You've probably got a much later start than most, so you're already at a disadvantage. Be aware that being small doesn't mean there isn't a bulls-eye on your back.

Before you sharpen your claws and jump in expecting to own the world in 10 days flat, remember this: I offer no guarantees as to the accuracy of the above information, nor do I offer any warranty that it will do you any good. I see it as common sense, nothing more. Chance and luck will play their part. Your brains will play a bigger part. Good luck!

Other resources

The community-driven sites have been growing and this is not the only helpful site around. Donovan (see comments below) has given us an awesome property and real estate value analysis here.

"Not Giving Away" has also given some key pointers in the comments. I quote: "A couple of tips to add to Tom's useful ones though: the smallest properties can be squeezed into more space than others, so the returns would appear higher on these. And if you don't get a bonus build, spread your cottages between the cones: the space is too small for anyone to sabotage with Bad Things, so if you can fill a street by only half filling, still protected. When you have spare money, find your premium streets, and you'll have space to double your investments too, if you're lucky."

As I mentioned, there a number of community sites, most of which are still in their infancy. Check the official blog site, specifically blog comments, for links users have posted. Here are a couple I've found useful:

http://monopo.ly/- great forum site for Monopoly City Streets!
MyMonopolyCityStreets wiki
Monopoly City Streets Secrets (a little light on the info, but what's there is good)

Let me know if you find any more useful sights. There's a link in the comments for a clans site, but it doesn't appear to be up yet. Hopefully, that will change in the next few hours. The associated blog site is up and has a very useful greasemonkey script. Well done!

Hacks and Other Evils

I'm not a proponent of gaming the system, but I am extremely curious about the technologies used and some ways we could take advantage of them. The game is built on flash, making a number of calls back to the server as the game is played. Obviously, there are the ties with OpenStreetMaps, but there's also the overlay of owned roads and developments that are part of the game's core infrastructure. The leader boards, bank, alerts, and profiles are all part of that infrastructure. If a person cared to reverse-engineer these things, a number of possibilities would open up:

The allies/alliances application I suggested above
Email alerts- when your bank balance changes or alerts are received, among other things. Eventually, I do expect seconds to matter in this game- notifications would go a long way.
Publicly-accessible leader boards. No login required.

And you thought I had something more nefarious in mind? Sorry, I don't play that way. If I do well, I want to do so on my own merit, not by some subversive hacking. The above would be great additions to the core of the game. I actually expect that a public leader board will be published some time soon. Here's to hoping.

*EDIT*: there is a very basic alliances site up here, though it is *extremely* basic. Perhaps it'll see some added TLC over the next couple of days. Regardless, nice work on implementing a very, very powerful option for the game. I don't know if this post was the source, but if not, birds of a feather, eh?

Comments are more than welcome. I haven't seen any other guides, faqs, or introductions to game play out there. Let's get one started!

Records and Personal Bests

2009-07-17T16:35:00Z

I bike. I love it. I run too (to be honest, I love running a hair more than biking, but my knees disagree). I love hiking, rock and ice climbing, mountaineering in general, a few select water sports, and a few select snow sports, among many, many other things. But I *love* biking. I love biking fast. Super fast, if I can manage it. The point? Well, I broke a couple of personal records over the past week and I thought I would brag share:

New Personal Bests (beat 'em if you can...)

Top Speed

Tuesday of last week, I decided to take a spin through Salt Lake, turn south, take Traverse Mountain to drop into Highland, and head home from there. I've done the loop before- 35 miles (perfect distance for a day ride)- it's a slow and brutal ascent up the north side of Traverse Mountain, but an exceptionally fast descent down the south side.

I started the ride at around 2:30PM in the afternoon and headed north down Redwood Road toward Salt Lake. There was a wonderful wind heading out of the south, giving me an appreciated boost in speed... at least until I turned around. I got into Salt Lake right around 3:00PM- at the peak of the day's heat. Due in large part to the tail wind, I was still feeling strong as I pulled up to a stoplight next to a van. I had my earphones on, listening to some music (Linkin Park is what I like to ride to, in case you were wondering). It took the driver of the van a few tries to get my attention :). When he finally did and I finally pulled my earphones out, he shouted:

"Do you know how hot it is?! It's 101 degrees out here! You're a nutcase!!"

We had a pleasant conversation while the light stayed red. As soon as it changed, I continued up the hill toward Traverse Mountain. The ascent was, as always, brutal. I managed to make it up the top, difficult though it was. The other side is the fun side. Prior to last Tuesday, my all-time top speed was 55 MPH, which i hit the year before descending Traverse Mountain. This time, with a new bike and a little more guts:

56.5 MPH

Oh yeah, that was awesome. One of those times you look down at the road and realize that your helmet won't help you much at those speeds.

The Work Run

I bike to work as frequently as I can. This week has been a bit frustrating on the biking side due to work constraints- today was the first day I managed to get out and ride. It's a 12.1 mile route (one way) and usually takes me 34 minutes (average speed is right around 21.5 MPH). Today, I happened to be very late for a morning meeting and, with that added incentive, I blew right by that to land a new personal best:

30 minutes and 53 seconds- 23.3 MPH average

I guess I should be late for meetings more often!

Network Outages

2009-01-04T01:18:00Z

For those of you wondering what happened today (3 Jan 2009) when you tried to access this site (or send me an email, ping me on IM, or anything else network related...), here's your explanation:

Due to some much needed rehauling of both network infrastructure and firewall policies, our network went down for some 6 hours. And yes, I had to work on the thing during the entire 6 hours. But, while there is no such thing as absolute security, ours is substantially better now than it was.

So. My apologies for the problems, please come back and visit soon. I promise, we won't be doing this again any time soon.

A Call to Arms

2008-12-27T22:16:00Z

... though not in the traditional sense.

I have thoroughly enjoyed creating and maintaining this little blog. I get my programming fix and take care of that little writing bug, all at the same time. I've also enjoyed watching the rest of the family (specifically my parents) step up to the plate and take a crack at blogging. I've enjoyed these things so much so that I've decided to call for a contest.

I've struggled to come up with the right rules and the criteria for judgment, but here's the summary of what I've got so far:

Rules

No minimum length.
1000 word maximum.
Any format- prose, poetry, or anything else you can think of.
Subject matter is entirely open- family stories, personal life and experiences, research projects, journalism or reporting, math, anything goes.
Multiple submissions is great

Judging

Peer judged. Those that participate judge all pieces according to the established criteria (and their own opinions)
When the submissions are in, you'll get a judges form- just read each submission and fill out the form

Criteria

Creativity. Of course. This includes the format- poetry could be a more creative form. Content is, of course, the major contributor.
Style. By style, I mean voice, awareness of audience, and choice of language.
Appeal. Try and make it interesting. You'll get marked down for putting people to sleep.
Personal opinion. After all, the judges are human!

This is a draft- I'm looking for feedback here. As soon as the groundwork is set, we can make the call for submissions and start having real fun. Please post comments or email me with your ideas and criticisms!

The Void

2008-12-22T21:17:00Z

Every now and again, especially as I lay my head down and attempt to put myself to sleep, I will listen to my favorite NPR podcasts. Topping my list of favorites is, "Wait, wait, don't tell me!". A close second is, "Car Talk". A not-so-distant third is, "This American Life". I'm not an avid listener of the latter, but there are some precious gems among the archives.

Last night was one of those nights- I was trying hard to get over a cold, had spent the entire day in bed, and was having a hard time sleeping. I had exhausted my thin supply of other NPR bedtime favorites, and "This American Life" had published an episode the week prior that caught my eye- "20 Acts in 60 Minutes". They departed from their normal format of publishing a few stories on 2 or 3 themes, choosing instead to publish as many shorts as humanly possible. I enjoyed it- it was (to me) a very successful experiment.

One story in particular caught my attention. It was regarding a man who recognized a woman, could remember emotions and the importance of the prior relationship to her, but could not place the face, the name, or any of the circumstances. He spoke of the void into which memories had fallen and continue to fall.

This strikes a chord with me. I dare say that I am much younger than the man in the story- I stand still shy of 30 years- but the faculties of memory left to me are slim at best, growing leaner by the day.

Last week, my father put out a plea to us, his children, to come up with stories about Christmas' past. I was excited to participate, to give new life to those old memories, but I couldn't remember.

Anything.

At all.

Do you understand how disturbing that is? Those memories were and are important to me, but seem just beyond my reach. I struggle so hard and get no farther than fleeting and disjointed images that must somehow be associated with those events, but whose strings are cut.

I have never put these thoughts to paper before and I have shared them with precious few people. It is difficult to explain both the challenge this presents as well as the empty pit it leaves in my stomach to consider. For years, I considered my memory on par with the populous, yet for at least the past decade, my memories have been fleeing far faster than any other's I know of, including those of advanced age (and no, Mom and Dad, you don't count as "advanced" yet).

I used to have memories rich with color, smells, and emotions, yet when I look back now, I find a stale and sparse landscape with little but broken images. When my wife speaks to me of the first steps of our daughter (our first child, only 5 years old), or compares the antics of our current younger set, I struggle to find and latch onto the memories they touch. Sometimes, my wife will push and try to help me remember, only for us both to find that some memories are full and truly gone. Disappeared. Vanished into... some kind of Void.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the loss of long-term memory, as I have struggled nearly my entire life with a poor short-term memory. Just a few days ago, a conversation with a friend at work was interrupted. He grabbed me a few minutes later and mentioned that he had thought "it" was a good idea. I honestly had no idea what "it" was all about. He proceeded to explain that I had made a suggestion that he had though wise. Even after the ensuing (and interesting) chat, I had absolutely no recollection of the idea. None whatsoever.

I would assume that most of you have experienced walking into a room, knowing you had a purpose, only to find yourself meandering around, lost as to why you are there? This happens to me 5 to 10 times per day. At least 5- I've counted that high before, but always forget what I'm counting things for before noon.

You may think I exaggerate, but I assure you that I do not. If anything, the truth is under-represented due to the simple fact that I do not remember it all. This obviously skews the results, but if 6 hours counts as a representative sample (and it is all that I have), the numbers I've cited must be low.

Fortunately, I do have compensatory methods. I have a toolbox full of ways to prevent forgetting important things. Over the past decade or so, I have tried desperately to hypothesize exactly what is wrong and how to fix it. As a programmer, I gain some comfort and success in treating my brain like a computer with some flawed parts. Here are some of my findings, and some of my tools:

Finding: 3-5 minutes is the upper bound for the majority of all of my thoughts. If I do not take action to preserve them, they will be completely gone and irrecoverable by the end of that period of time. Generally speaking, it takes ~30 seconds for a stray memory to disappear forever.
Tool: I can encourage retention of a memory through sufficient associations- meaning if I can tie a thought or idea to enough of the surrounding circumstances, images, etc., there is a much higher chance I will remember it in 3 minutes
Tool: I can encourage retention further by repetition. It raises the upper bound to something on the order of an hour or two, but the memory is doomed unless I take further action.
Finding: The "Void" is real. I have tried so hard as to the point of tears to recover some vital thoughts, ideas, or memories. I have tried for literally hours to salvage some things. The end result of such extended effort has always been failure.
Finding: Some memories, especially those that make it to what people like to call long-term storage, seem to persist. It appears that the *references* to those memories are damaged or removed, making it nearly impossible to bring those memories back.
Finding: It's getting worse. While I don't remember much, I do remember being able to do some things that are currently impossible to me. I remember being able to retrace my steps, mentally, to recover some lost thought. This process no longer works.

It is depressing to write of this- and depression, for me, is extraordinarily rare. Solemnity is equally rare (just ask my family). My natural disposition seems contrary to both. In fact, if my memory serves me well, my transition to an almost entirely depression-free disposition matches quite well with the degradation of my memory. In fact, I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to call them related.

If you can imagine, it is very difficult to remain depressed when you can't remember what got you there. This may also be one of the many items of saving grace for those I call friends- offenses pass either unnoticed or soon forgotten (though I can't remember being offended by any of my friends... I suppose that may represent "case and point").

As it boils down, I have learned to live life as it comes. Fortunately for my family and myself, we have been extraordinarily blessed as to make that possible.

Youthful Exuberance (or Stupidity, You Decide)

2008-12-19T22:42:00Z

We'll start with a bit of catch-up, rapid-fire-style:

Running sucked. Knees hurt.
Broke back. Back hurt
Started physical therapy. Knees and back still hurt.
Ran. Hurt more.
Doc said stop running. Stopped.
Knees stopped hurting, back got excruciatingly painful.
Started running again. Back got better, knees got worse.

In case you are wondering, I've been sticking to the letter of the Doctor's orders, running when he tells me to, resting, icing, heating, electrocuting, stretching, the works. I've been a good boy for a change! Let's continue.

Therapist says, "Get a cortisone shot".
Finally get around to going to the Doc, got cortisone shot.
Run some more. Knees are better.
Back still hurts, but not as bad.
Yay.

That brings us up to speed in preparation for today's [mis]adventure.

Fun in the Sun

I wish. We've had snow coming down almost daily since the beginning of the week (it is Friday today, in case you were wondering). I can't really afford to take any time off the training schedule, as it's the only thing holding the pain in my back to a sane level (on a scale from 0-10, 0=no pain, 10=passing out, I sit at a 3 consistently when working out. Shoots up to 8 or higher when I'm not. Yes, I've nearly blacked out from it before, but don't tell my wife :) ). I ran on Monday, just after the first snow of the week. We had about 2 inches at the house, about 4 on the mountain a few hundred feet up from us.

Set the Scene

I am not a typical road rat when I'm running. We live on the foothills of some beautify (albeit desertish) mountains, slashed by ATV, game, and foot trails. When I run, I run trails. The experience is so much the better for the scenery and the mountains offers an unparalleled challenge.

I have several "favorite" routes- ranging from 2 to 13 miles. I've been running a 4 mile route for the past month as I've struggled to let the knees and back heal. This route takes me about a mile into the mountains then cuts North for another mile until it butts up against the fence line of Camp Williams (an Army facility). The terrain is pretty rough- field and wild hills with a swath of a path cut by farmers and base personnel. Apparently, it gets a fair bit of snow too.

Monday's run was great- the weather was clear, the snow on the ground was crispy and offered fair traction, and it wasn't too cold. Things started to change on Wednesday, though I was still able to get a good run in without too much of a weather impact.

Then there was today.

At Least I Had My iPhone

I left the house and headed for the mountains with broken clouds and a weather report calling for a "chance" of snow". We had some snow flakes floating on the breeze as I stepped out the door, but not nearly enough to detract me after my 20 minutes of stretching. It was cold (25, wind chill bringing it down to sub-twenties), but I had three layers. I was prepared!

When I hit the mountain (350 yards from the house), I noticed that the snow was getting deep. Looked to be about 6" on the ground, drifts upwards of a full foot. I tried to keep to where I knew the path would be, which actually proved to be less of a challenge than it may sound. I had tire tracks to follow for the first quarter-mile. After that, I was cutting my own path.

If you've ever trained by running in sand, you have an idea what it's like to run in the now. Take that and multiply that by 3 and you've scored the difficulty of running snow without the appropriate snowshoes. Add a 4% grade and difficult terrain... you should have the picture.

The weather held until I reached the base fence line. It's the two mile mark and my turnaround location and I had kept a decent time, regardless of the conditions. As I turned the corner and started heading for home, a large gray mass began gathering over the fence behind me, moving my direction. I started making good time as the wind picked up and pushed me down the hill toward home. Then the clouds began closing and the features of the distant landscape slowly began disappearing. Ever more quickly, closer artifacts began fading into a white mist until all that was left ere the footprints in front of me. Finally, those were gone.

It took about 5 minutes for things to go completely white. When the footprints disappeared, I knew there was some potential for serious trouble. The path was unmarked, I was at least a mile from home in an area only snowmobiles could access. I had less than a hundred feet of vision, closing at times to 10 or 15 feet. Although I had put on three layers, they consisted of two technical shirts and a fleece- not nearly enough to hunker down and weather it out.

Two options remained: I had my iPhone and my (hole-ridden) memory of the landscape. I'm not directionally challenged, but I am certainly not gifted, so I settled on a compromise:

I would use my (potentially) flawed memory of the landscape, plus a little feeling around with my feet for footprints (they might be covered, but they were still there) and see if I couldn't make it to the tire tracks leading to home.
If, after 10 minutes of running, I couldn't find the tracks OR lost the footprints at any time, I would whip out the trusty iPhone, pray the battery hasn't frozen to death, and use Google Maps and it's "Locate Me" feature to navigate my way home.

And no, I didn't stop running to figure this out. I kept going, feeling for footprints where I thought they should be.

After nearly exactly 8 minutes, I stumbled into soft powder of a tire-sized trench. I kept to the trench (which sent powder into my shoes straight away) until I broke out onto the roadway, which took me all the way home. As I rolled in the door, I checked my watch. I posted a better time than Wednesday, despite the rather poor conditions. Wow. And phew.

So, here's the post-mortem, the things I've learned from this experience:

Age makes you feel guilty about doing adventurous things that, not so long ago, would have been an adrenaline rush.
I'm still not old enough to make that stop me from doing it again.
Running actually is a pretty good way to keep warm in a snow storm.
It's also a very good way to get you more lost.
Two technical shirts and a fleece isn't enough to weather a small blizzard. Not by a long shot.
The 10 Essentials really are essentials. All right, so I've know that for a while. I've always broken my 10 down to the 3 that could make all 10 (can you figure out which three?), but sometimes, conditions make all 10 absolutely critical.
This cortisone shot seems to have done the trick.
Snow is cold. Snow + wind + clouds is colder.
...and so much more.

Enjoy the winter months. Be smart and don't do what I write about doing here. If you're a Metge, or related to one, expect things to go wrong in the worst possible way. That way, you will never be surprised when they do.

Accident? Well... not really

2008-10-19T04:32:00Z

Recently, I've had the pleasure of hitting the pavement in another way. It's been nearly 10 years since I've been able to run any significant distance; due to a combination of tendonitis (ITB), bursitis of knees and hips, and a combination of other less-than-pleasant indications that I'm not the indestructible 17-year-old I still occasionally think I am, I've been held to about 20 minute sessions of pavement pounding per day. Sadly, 20 minutes is neither enough to garner the high that makes long distances so attractive nor is it sufficient to satiate my masochistic nature.

Now before you get too depressed on my behalf, there is an extraordinary upshot to this story. Of late (and by this, I mean over the past three months), I've finally been able to push the envelope in a significant way. I've extended my range, as of Wednesday this week, to just shy of 13 miles. Now that's progress- from 3 miles (tops) to 13 miles!

Yes, I am pleased in the extreme with the progress. I've spent upwards of two hours running, enjoying the pseudo-bliss of runner's high for the first time in a decade. Alas, it wasn't meant to last.

I am getting old. I simply can't deny it any more. My metabolism has dramatically slowed- I can't get by on a 5000 calorie diet anymore. These days, I'm bound to a 3800 calorie diet. I currently weigh 15 pounds more than I did 15 years ago- and 10 of those pounds were packed on in the last year. I'm closer to thirty than to anything else... and getting still closer by the day. And, to top it all off, I simply don't heal as well or as quickly as I used to.

My recent stint with distance running is the perfect example. I had been running between 6 and 10 miles daily for about a month before biting the bullet and going for the half-marathon on Wednesday. I had been slowly ramping up the time and distance with each run, monitoring my knees and hips very carefully so as not to do irreparable damage. It was all leading up to the day that I could pass the 13 mile mark. At that point, I knew I was a significant step closer to the half iron-man I've been working toward.

The run started badly. I had been out on Monday, taken Tuesday off (intentionally, thinking of my Wednesday plans). I had stretched thoroughly (a necessity these days) and felt pretty good. 100 yards out the door, though, I felt a "pop" in my left hip joint and the (expected) accompanying pain. I've felt it before, many times. It's the kind of pain I can ignore and run through, but have to pay for later. My thought process at the time was simply:

"No worries. It'll hurt, but it'll heal. It's worth running through."

So I continued. I posted some great speeds going up the hills on the run (there is a several hundred foot climb in the first 4 miles of my run, all of it off-road). I came in within 20 seconds of my personal best at the 4 mile mark, made the turn for the wide loop, and started down the hill.

If you've had experience running before, you know the tricky part really isn't the uphills- it's the downhills. You have two choices: take it slow and suffer the time loss, or let gravity do the work for you. The latter seems preferable on paper, but when you're tumbling down a steep hillside, the first thing you notice is the beating your joints take. Consider again how my run began. My hip was not a happy joint.

Still, I was determined to pull of the distance I had set. Down the hills I went, for another 4 miles until I finally reached the road (yes, that's right, 8 miles of trail running). I knew I had 4.5 miles remaining on the intended route as I kicked the last dust from my shoes. And I also knew that the slight burning sensation the outer part of my right knee was a bad sign.

I could have cut it short. As the crow flies, it was about a mile from my location to home; on the roads, it was about a mile and a half. Chances are good that I would have made it home without instigating a serious flare-up of tendonitis in the knee. I've heard it said that insanity is doing the same thing twice and expecting different results. By this definition, I am quite insane.

By the time I rounded the last corner to make the half-mile ascent home (we live on a hill), I had practically no range of motion left in the leg. It was quite literally a dead limb dragging behind me. It must have looked strange- some guy running one legged with the other foot turned nearly 45 degrees out and straight as a board.

Now don't forget the hip. It was my right knee that locked up. I had no way to carry any weight on the leg, let alone soften the pounding on the left hip.

I could end my narration of events here, but I'll give you a picture of the aftermath of my (almost) half marathon. Here's the definitive list:

One completely frozen joint (right knee)
One excruciatingly painful hip (left)
A seriously inflamed and unhappy achilles heel (right ankle)
One idiotic grin of self-satisfaction for not only making it through the distance, but doing it with all the damage...

If you ever wonder what it's like to be a Metge, consult the list above. It's fairly well summarized.

Last note... I ended up taking an afternoon off of work and heading off to the doctor's. Something about practically crying from pain with every step didn't sit right with me. Interestingly enough, the visit was extraordinarily informative. The doctor (Doctor Christiensen, practicing in Saratoga Springs) is a phenomenal doctor. After describing the symptoms to him, his first response was to ask the history, identify a pattern of tendonitis, and look for an underlying cause. He's a sharp guy with a great memory- he pulled up an article describing what he suspected might be going on.

His suspicion was a hereditary condition- Ankylosing Spondylitis- that would lead to easy inflammation of the joints as well as a few of the other problems I've experienced over the past 10 years. Interestingly, he asked my about back pain. I told him that this was a very regular fact of life for me- sometimes, it is as much a notice of my existence as is my pulse. Even as I sit here typing, I can detect pain in my lower back. That, combined with limited flexibility in the lower back, led him to ask for a back x-ray and a blood test. We'll see exactly how that goes. It certainly would be nice to get answers to a decade-long question.