E.L.E. -- Evil League Of Evil

I'm considering applying to the "Evil League Of Evil". Don't know if I'm evil enough, though. I do sooooo badly want to hang out with Bad Horse*, just as Dr. Horrible is already doing.
* Bad Horse rules the Evil League Of Evil with an iron hoof :-P.

In workout news, this morning, I did a 45 min "random" hill workout at the gym, level 16/17. I don't like the gym's stationary bikes -- some crappy brand -- since the feet straps come loose and the pre-programmed hill interval workouts just aren't as good as those of the Lifecycle models at my previous gym. But alas, I suppose I should just do what I can, with what I have, where I am. (Thanks, Teddy.)

Now on to filling that E.L.E. application.

Papermates and workouts

Bought these Papermate mechanical pencils. Four for $9.99! Do I need these? Probably not. But I'm a stubborn impulse buyer, and I got excited, and they look so beautiful! Gold detailing for goodness' sake! Probably goes back to my loyalty and love of the smooth blue Papermates that I had in high school. Geek? Yes.

On the workout note, I did the stationary bike today for 30 min, level 17, doing standing hill intervals. Not too shabby. I felt strong. Gonna try to build this wkout time to 2 hours eventually at the same or higher level.

Write on! :-P

Twitter

Alright, so I bit. I'm now trying out Twitter. This YouTube video seems to sum it best. I like the concept that life's true conversations are composed of the fragmented text we converse to each other throughout the entire day.

And although it sounds like a good idea, it certainly would be more effective if everyone had free unlimited text plans on their cell phones. Unlike the $20 per month additional that I HAVEN'T shelled out to do unlimited text. So I guess for the time being, all my twittering will be done on my computer, unfortunately. Which kinda defeats the grand purpose of Twitter, doesn't it?

Oh well, I shall try anyway and see if it catches on with me.

Tyler wins 2008 USPRO

Whatever you're doing in life with whatever job you're doing, it's the chief reason; go out and enjoy it or what are you doing it for? -- Tyler Hamilton (interview)

Geez, what's the deal with these photo finishes. First, Michael Phelps vs. Milorad Cavic, then this between Tyler Hamilton and Blake Caldwell, a win by .002 secs!

Congrats to Tyler for winning the 2008 USPRO Road Championship. How 'bout that -- age 37 and still kicking ass in the pro-cycling circuit.

Kudos, Ty!

2008 Olympics

Sorry, I've just been so wrapped up in the Olympics. Generally, I've had little time to view any of the events, so I've been doing the NBC Olympics On The Go thing, where my PC caches all the events of my choosing; then at night after work and dinner, I just stream all the on-demand content from my PC upstairs to the TV (and with nice resolution, too) via Windows Media Center. Definitely highly recommended for all you on-the-go dudes.

Gym stuff? Yes, there IS stuff. I did the hand ergometer this morning, and weights and stationary bike yesterday. I feel the momentum building again. Amen to that. Perhaps I'm drawing on the power from the Olympics. From Michael Phelps perhaps -- god of last microsecond winning lunges.

All promises and none to keep

If you have an hour, will you not improve that hour, instead of idling it away? – Lord Chesterfield

Okay, so I mentioned potentially entering next month's bike tour in my last post. And then there's this sprint triathlon this August 3rd that I might be doing with a friend -- my first tri in eons. And as I can't quite seem to put my foot down on the decision to enter either one, thus is the revealing pattern of lofty promises that I can't keep lately -- i.e., all goals and no plans.

Self-reflection time.

Joseph Hill Whedon

Dr. Horrible is da bomb! And Neil Patrick Harris is da man! Hip-hip-hooray for Joss Whedon to come up with this entertaining thingy. Can't wait for Act II this July 17th.

ps: A very hilly bike tour awaits my participation next month. Shall I or shan't I register? I am soooo not feeling very endurancy this season. :-P

Yawn :-O

Gosh, I've been in a lull for too long now and am in need of some inspiration.

I woke up way early today to cruise online from some music to rekindle my workouts. Other than the grunge techno jams that I like to spin my peddles to, I've been in the mood for some folksy acoustic stuff. And as I'm a big Jason Mraz fan, I downloaded his latest album for a listen on the way to work.

I saw his latest video of "I'm Yours" on YouTube. However, more delightedly, I came across this official "Jason Mraz Bebo Competition" winner for his take on that tune. Now there's the witty inspiration that I was looking for. And it even wasn't a workout song.

Yay! Me smilin' now :-)

Firefox 3

My obsession for the week: Firefox 3 (RC2). Release candidate only. Nevertheless, they've sold me. [biting my nails and insanely smiling in anticipation for the official release. heh heh :-))]

Mike Beltzner, phenomenologist at Mozilla, offered this Flash presentation of Firefox 3's new features. Not bad for those web browser power users.

I've also pledged to get Firefox 3 during Download Day as an attempt by Mozilla to set the Guinness World Record for Most Software Downloaded in 24 Hours. Might as well join in the fun.

Geez, talk about being such a bandwagoner.

ps: Oh, what about my cardio stuff? Uggh, dare I pick up my Tony Robbins book for some motivation? :-P

Gettin' ready for Bloomin'

So I finally put in 30 minutes on the stationary bike at the gym yesterday (RPE=12). Certainly not much, but it's something from all the previous days (weeks?) of doing nothing. Yeah, it's unfortunately because I'm letting my projects at work get in the way. Suckie.

The Bloomin' Metric bike tour (100k) on May 18 is what I'm working toward. Lot's o' rolling hills there, so I'd best do hill intervals in my workouts to keep up with my mates on the tour.

Have a Happy St. Patrick's weekend, all.

Everyone loves Pi!

Happy Pi Day!

3/14/2008

Ummm, let's see now... 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971 ...
That's all I can recite off the top of my head these days, very much unlike Daniel Tammet.

Misc

No worries, mate. A good workout is coming soon. In the meantime:

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

6 inches or more expected

Yay, snow! And a 2-hour delay at work. Woo-hoo! Unfortunately, I left for the office AFTER they posted the message on the company hotline. C'est la vie. :-(

At least I get the worm, and a nice wintry work pic.

Je t'aime beaucoup, mon amour!

It's the day of Love. What more important theme is there?
Happy V-Day, everyone!

[The Simpsons: the Red Hot Chili Peppers are performing on Krusty's show]
Krusty the Clown: Now, boys, the network has a problem with some of your lyrics. Do you mind changing them for the show?
Anthony Kiedis: Forget you, clown.
Chad Smith: Yeah, our lyrics are like our children, man. No way.
Krusty the Clown: Well, okay, but here where it says, "What I got you gotta get and put it in ya," how about just, "What I'd like is I'd like to hug and kiss ya."
Flea: Wow. That's much better.
Arik Marshall: Everyone can enjoy that.

Ironman, anyone?

Alright, alright. It's a brisk 5 degrees F right now. But that's no reason for me to feel so sluggish about getting back into training. And I must admit, "nada" has been the word of the week, and for the last 3 weeks, mind you :-(.

To kick off the self-psyching, the 2007 Ironman Championship in Kona, Hawaii is being re-broadcasted this Saturday 2/16/08 on NBC @ 2pm EST. YouTube has a preview of it.

That and some litany hopefully should get me going. And so let's bow our heads and reflect on bended knee: Oh my dearest Greg Welch, patron saint of sub 5' 6" endurance athletes, pray for us.

Stressing less

"Keep the deadline. Change the deliverable."

Just as I'm feeling swamped with things that I HAVE to do and things that I WANT to do, a coworker says the above to me. And boom, his magic was done. I felt peaceful.

Thanks, JP.

—

The able-bladed

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."
— Theodore Roosevelt

He is why you should never give up on anything.

Unfortunately, the IAAF decided today that Oscar Pistorius is ineligible to compete in Beijing 2008 because his running "blades" give him an unfair advantage [eyes rolling] over able-bodied athletes. Hmmmph, who would've thought? :-p

[Fade out]
[Fade in, show text]

The Olympic Creed

The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.

The Olympic Motto

Citius, Altius, Fortius.

(Faster, Higher, Stronger)

[Fade to black]

Best wishes to Oscar in his continuing pursuit toward excellence.

—

PhotoPhlow

A cool article on Photophlow that I just had to plug. I managed to get an invite from the author and log in, since usage is currently limited. I will definitely check the site in more detail this weekend. Btw, from registering with Photophlow, I now have 3 invites that I could send out. Anyone interested in one, please let me know.

Bag of Bones

I'm embarrassed to say, but I shall say it: I finally finished Bag of Bones (Stephen King) this New Year's Day morning. Don't even ask me how long it took. I read it sporadically with tons of literary and nonliterary interruptions in between, read the first few chapters oodles of times over, under, and sideways to recapture the catharsis, and eventually dedicated some focus to reach the last page.

Yay me. Next book please.