Thursday Jun 30, 2005
I have decided that everyone reading this blog is invited to my house for dinner tomorrow night. I'm going to serve the best wines and food. We'll cook filet on the grill, yeah, that's it.
Picture that it is raining, just a lite drizzle as you walk over. You must walk, no protection from the elements. Dinner is at 6:30pm.
But sadly, I'm not done cleaning my house and getting the grill started, so I LOCK you outside, in the rain. I decide to see how popular my party is going to be by leaving the door locked and taking pictures of you standing in line waiting for my great wines and food.
The doors open and now I embrace you as you come in, after spending 30 or more minutes outside... How do you feel? Tickled to be there, well yes, but pissed as well.
Can the folks that plan for Java One, please do your sound checks at midnight or 5am, I don't care, but don't leave your friends outside in the rain or sunshine for that matter... The community will pay this back in spades.
Thursday Jun 30, 2005
First, WOW.
I'm blown away by the quality and quantity of the techie content. I attending sessions all day yesterday (with a little time in the booth with my buddies) and loved the sessions.
I was one of the folks in the 9 Ways to Hack a Web Service preso by the InfoSec guy from Cisco. It was the #2 session for attendees at the show. (#1 was JBI for the Sun Integration team - way to go guys) He was great. App Dev guys have a great responsibility on their hands, my hat is off to you all. It was nice, the presenter provided great REAL examples of Hacks done and how to easily avoid the top 9 security issues on the web.
To the Cisco presenter, thanks for not trying to sell your own stuff, get a job or get next round of funding.
I attended my buddy, SuperPat Pattersons, talk on Identity and Federation with .NET and thought that they did a great job getting the message across to the audience. Pat, sorry I'll miss your talk this afternoon.
To the presenters that were making hour long sales pitches, I was the guy walking out the door. Come on, support the community and pitch your product in your booth.
I got a wild hair during the Nokia pitch and I swear that I'm going to develop a wireless app to track how far the average person walks in a day to help folks get off their lazy as$es and get fit. I'm going to use Netbeans 4.1 and see how far I can get before I cry uncle and ask one of you for assistance.
Tuesday Jun 28, 2005
Rant
I want to go into a small padded room with the person that thinks that
having attendees stand in line for the morning keynote is a good idea...
This isn't a movie premier and while it probably looks great to the
media, it SUCKS for the community. Just open the doors an hour ahead and
let folks file in as they will. And start ONTIME. Good grief.
Observations of today:
Sun is buying SeeBeyond... YEAH. They rock and will be a great addition
to the team. I can't wait to talk to existing JES and Integration
customers about "our new software" (once the deal closes of course)...
Glad we made the bold move. The lack of an Integration story has been
tough to explain to our customer base and this was badly needed.
I loved Scott going on about removing digital divide regarding
Healthcare and Education. I'm in awe of the Brazilian healthcare IT
infrastructure, way to go... I sat beside the CTO of the City of San
Paulo at the day 1 opening remarks and didn't know it. I knew she was
from Brazil and didn't realize that she was a IT rockstar. Next time,
I'll be more chatty.
I got one of the tshirts that got hurled out by the Auzzie machine that
is part of Gosling'ss contest... (Yeah for free stuff)
Now off to class, more later.
Tuesday Jun 28, 2005
Yesterday was a big day at Java One (more in few minutes on that) and I
thought to end the day and clear my head I would head out for a run. My
GPS didn't really lock in while in the city near the hotel so I just ran
for time and not distance. I ran a slow pace and went for 45 minutes to
work out some of the kinks from my recent long run. Walking around a
tradeshow floor the size of Java One doesn't do a lot for your legs,
knees and ankles... I'm probably going to skip my next scheduled run
until I'm on vacation starting at the end of this week...
Running from the ferry building to PacBell park is awesome and the views
yesterday around 7pm or so couldn't have been better. It is good to be
able to clear my head and leave the tradeshow behind for a bit and just
go.
Monday Jun 27, 2005
The Lines... Wow, I left my hotel at 6:45am to be one of the fist to make it to J1 today. Forget about it. The lines for registering weren't too bad, actually Sun folks had their own line which is short and quick. The other lines were moving quite fast but it was still early.
I tried to go into my lab to make sure all was well, but my conference badge didn't get me in until the doors open to everyone else. I tried.
I then went out in the drizzle to wait for the doors to open for the keynote. I waited for about 40 minutes with a engineer from Amazon.com from Brazil. I didn't realize that the Brazilians are quite famous at Java One for being friendly. Anytime Jonathon or Johnny L. needed a easy roar from the crowd, all they had to do was mention Brazil...
The line must have been a mile long (not kidding) when they finally opened the doors. It was worth the wait. The music and videos were quite cool. Everyone was impressed. Jonathon was great and the open sourcing of GlassFish and ESB were great news as was the IB announcement of renewing as a Java licensee and porting their stuff to Solaris 10...
Note to Johnny L - hook the audience early and quickly. Every speaker gets 60 seconds to get the crowd to stay. Actually Johnny got to announce all the cool stuff and had a few demos, the 97% of the crowd that stayed were glad they did.
The IBM guys left when Graham H. got up to talk. His stuff was more techie, but I thought it interesting and not in the best form that 7 IBM folks all got up at the same time to leave. Next time gys, leave 1 or 2 at a time with a couple of minutes between and then no one will notice.
As a Sun employee, I didn't get a meal ticket package or J1 bag. The meals I can pass on, but like JClingan if anyone is going to toss the bag anyway, let me know.
Actually, my current backpack is from Microsoft Prof. Developer Conference that took place right after 9/11... I did cut the tag off of it as it is quite functional, but I didn't think a Sun guy should carry the logo bag even if Sun paid for me to go to the conference...
More thoughts later.
Sunday Jun 26, 2005
I must admit that looking 12 miles in the face was a lot to consider. I had 10 reasons not to run: busy with work, not getting great nights of sleep, etc... I did pass on the 6am run and kept sleeping before going to my saturday meetings, which isn't a normal thing for me. After the meetings finished at lunch, I decided to make the time and out I went.
I did the same route from my 6 mile run a few days earlier in the recent blog and then turned and went into the national wildlife area with a great view of the bay and then ran next to the Dumberton Bridge until I got to 9.25 and then turned back for the hotel. I did the walk run where I ran 1 mile and then walked for 1 minute. At mile 9, I ran for about 2-3 minutes and needed the extra break. I'm still working to slow down on my long runs.
I finished more than 30 ounces of water during the run where I took a 24 oz. bottle and refilled at 7 miles at the national park. I also used Gu at mile 4 and again at mile 8, which really helped. No chafing or rubbing this run, which was a nice change. As a wearer of glasses, I must admit that they are really only a pain on long runs. Sweat seems to get on my glasses and then I can't see out of them so they just sit on my nose and collect sweat. I can see pretty well without them, I can't tell one person from another person at 100 yards. My next long run will be minus glasses and I'll report back. I hate to run without glasses this week as the runs are so scenic that I hate not to enjoy the views.
More tomorrow as I hope to run after leaving Java One for the day.
Friday Jun 24, 2005
I must admit that I really like the implementation of running with
walking breaks during my training. Based on the book review yesterday, I
decided that my run on wednesday of 6 miles would be a run with a 1
minute walk at every mile.
According to the Galloway book, the most important walk break is at the
first mile and the second most important is at mile 2 and so on. As a
lone runner quite often, I have no issues with an occasional walk break,
which never seems to occur to me until at least 4 miles in or so and by
that time, I'm a touch tired. Not dying, just not a fresh as when I
started.
One thing that bothers me is that I'm afraid some of my hard core
running friends will frown upon my new style of running. While I'm not
typically one to care about what others think, but unsure of my runner
status so need the reinforcement of experienced runners from time to
time.
Back to my last run, I did the 6 miles in like 53 minutes (the clock
kept ticking during the walking parts as well) and I felt fine (still
strong) at the end of the run. I walked the walking parts at a 13:00 -
15:00 minute pace. It was nice to look forward to the next mile walk at
some points.
Galloway in his book points to the fact that the human body was not
intended to run for extremely long runs but walking and running lets
muscles rest and re-charge to allow you to run further.
I need to run 12 miles tomorrow to stay on plan and will do the run walk
and blog on that on monday if not before and report back on how i feel.
Thursday Jun 23, 2005
First, let me say that this was a easy read, I completed on a 5 hour
flight to the Bay Area.
Chapter 1 - Training. Good intro for post beginning runners (which is
really the crowd thinking that they might be ready to do a Marathon
anyway)...
Chapter 2 - Inspiration. I'm not a rah-rah kind of person and found that
I skipped the fluffy chapters that deal with the mental stuff and how to
avoid the negative part of your brain, etc. I didn't like this but some
editor must have wanted a few more pages out of Jeff G.
Chapter 3 - Breaking Through. Again, fluffy. Talked about playing mental
games with yourself like using a giant rubber band to catch and pass
other runners. I was bumming at this point in the book, but didn't want
to pay for the movie on the flight so I kept reading.
Chapter 4 - The Big Day. Very helpful and informative. Gives a 48 hour
countdown to the race. Talks about eating, sleeping, drinking. This
chapter was worth the $11 I paid on Amazon to get the book. He is big on
drinking water until you hear sloshing in your stomach. I'll remember
that point. I will re-read this chapter a few days before my race this
fall.
Chapter 4 continued - Recovery and Beyond. Talks about post race
letdown. Unless you just kill your projected time, you will probably
feel a letdown. After 6 or more months of training, the day will come
and go. Talks about what to do after the marathon, get legs in cold
bathtub and the following day, walk 30 to 60 minutes to keep blood
moving and speed healing. Just don't crash too hard after the race, no
leg motion will slow recovery.
Chapter 5 - Running Faster. Standard stuff. Must train faster to run
faster. Nothing new here, but good information.
Chapter 6 - Food and Fat burning. Really interesting stuff. Most first
time marathoners don't lose a lot of fat as the body doesn't really burn
fat until after you exercise in a moderate range for more than 45
minutes. So each time you run more than 45 minutes (or run walk) you
train your cells to burn fat as fuel. Interesting topics on fat burning.
Chapter 7 - Practical Advice. Interesting good information about getting
older, breathing and stretching, heart rate monitors, etc. Good future
reference guide.
Summary, other than the fluffy mental stuff, I'm glad I bought the book.
I'll discuss later my thoughts and experience with walk run...
Thursday Jun 23, 2005
I needed a good 6 mile run to stay on track with my marathon program and
thanks to a co-worker I had a great run. (Thanks, Ted)
If you don't travel to the Bay Area, then the short version is that I
had a great run and saw some great views of the SF Bay, the end.
I happen to travel to this same hotel, which is awesome btw, quite
often. So for all of the techies that might need a place to run while
staying at a great hotel in Silicon Vally, read on.
I happen to travel to this same hotel, which is awesome btw, quite
often. So for all of the techies that might need a place to run while
staying at a great hotel in Silicon Vally, read on.
Leaving
I headed towards the Dairy Glen and then towards the Bay on "No Name
trail". I was literally 3 feet above sea level (Bay level) and ran along
a levee about12 feet wide with water on both sides of me. The surface
while in the Coyote Hills Park is packed gravel/dirt, nice and soft.
Around mile 4, I started getting nervous that I was going to have to
turn around and go back, but I hopped a gate and headed towards the toll
plaza employee parking area. There wasn't a welcome sign or anything but
gate was open so I proceeded. Mile 5 was shortly after the parking lot
but before the rock quarry. At this point, you get back to Paseo Padre
Pkwy and can head back to the hotel. 6 miles is at the stop light right
in front of the hotel.
I passed tons of egrets, ground squirrels, shore birds and didn't see a
person. I had planes from SFO going past and cars on the busy road going
across the bay from Newark to Menlo Park, but felt so alone, it was
great. This is certainly a no music kind of run. Glad I didn't bring
mine on the run.
Doing a different route in the morning, more tomorrow.
Wednesday Jun 22, 2005
I needed a good 6 mile run to stay on track with my marathon program and thanks to a co-worker I had a great run. (Thanks, Ted)
If you don't travel to the Bay Area, then the short version is that I had a great run and saw some great views of the SF Bay, the end.
I happen to travel to this same hotel, which is awesome btw, quite often. So for all of the techies that might need a place to run while staying at a great hotel in Silicon Vally, read on.
Leaving the W hotel go North on Paseo Padre Pkwy up and over the 84 (Dumberton Bridge Hwy) and around 1.5 miles, turn left on Patterson Ranch. At 2.0, you enter the gate for the Coyote Hills Park and at 2.5, you will find a parking area with water fountain and bathrooms. At this point, do whatever you like...
I headed towards the Dairy Glen and then towards the Bay on "No Name trail". I was literally 3 feet above sea level (Bay level) and ran along a levee about12 feet wide with water on both sides of me. The surface while in the Coyote Hills Park is packed gravel/dirt, nice and soft. Around mile 4, I started getting nervous that I was going to have to turn around and go back, but I hopped a gate and headed towards the toll plaza employee parking area. There wasn't a welcome sign or anything but gate was open so I proceeded. Mile 5 was shortly after the parking lot but before the rock quarry. At this point, you get back to Paseo Padre Pkwy and can head back to the hotel. 6 miles is at the stop light right in front of the hotel.
I passed tons of egrets, ground squirrels, shore birds and didn't see a person. I had planes from SFO going past and cars on the busy road going across the bay from Newark to Menlo Park, but felt so alone, it was great. This is certainly a no music kind of run. Glad I didn't bring mine on the run.
Doing a different route in the morning, more tomorrow.
Tuesday Jun 21, 2005
Never really had this trouble before. Most of my previous trips as a
runner (in the past 15 months) have been short and I didn't really have
the thought of getting many/any miles in while on the road. This trip is
different. I have long runs of 12 and mid week runs of 6-8 miles. I'm
also one that hates to forget something for a trip and have to go out
and buy it there.
So, I have to consider if i need the charger for my GPS unit (pace and
distance) or my iPod. No for the GPS unit, it is OK for 12-14 hours and
I'm not running that much, but bringing the cable for my laptop to
charge the iPod as that things dies on my more than I care to admit.
Also got the different pairs of socks, and the cool weather running
stuff for running in SF. I now use and couldn't imagine a long run
without BodyGlide and I'm now publicly admitting to using Nipguards
(only for the long runs) so they are in the bag as well. If you aren't
sure about the last sentence, ie don't run, just ignore it.
Anyway, I now have a great trail to run in the East Bay (can run from my
hotel) (thanks Ted) and can't wait to do that really early tomorrow as
I'll still be on East Coast time for a day or two.
Monday Jun 20, 2005
This morning, my daugther saw me getting dressed to run and then laid a
guilt trip on me for never taking her running. Today was a short run and
in the neighborhood so I gave in.
Using our old jogging stroller, we went for 3.5 miles at a 9:45 pace and
at the end of it, I felt like I had gone twice the distance. I found
myself only running using seemingly my calves. I was running extremely
upright and certainly not using my arms at all. It is probably good to
use different muscles as I hadn't pushed her for quite a while and this
didn't even seem like the same thing I do every other morning or so.
I would love to hear back if you push a stroller and how that affects
your running. Using different muscles and working hard are certainly
good things. It was also quite cute, after 2 miles or so, my 4 year old
wanted to run aside me. She has a great stride and looked cute as a bug
running barefoot on the walking path and me pushing an empty stroller
behind her. She made it about 100 meters and was fine to hop back in for
the ride home.
For all of you regularly pushing a stroller or good grief a double
stroller, my hat is off to you.
Monday Jun 20, 2005
I decided to be part of the marathon training team group run on Saturday
and do my 11 miles at a nice slow conversational pace. I got up at
5:10am so I could leave by 5:40 and join the run which started at
6:15am. I had a crummy map but thought I could find it and damn, but I
couldn't... Part of me was upset that I wouldn't run with other runners,
wouldn't see the new route, and that I got up so early.
I ended up bailing and running my old standby on the Rivanna Trail. I
started running at 6:30am and it was in the high 50's which was great. I
saw 1 beaver, 1 deer, 6 rabbits, 5 squirrels and a flock of geese.
I'll get in a few miles today and have emailed some friends to get
running routes for the East Bay area (in Newark, CA) before heading to
SF.
Friday Jun 17, 2005
Sun isn't sending me to the Open, lets get that out of the way quickly.
As a US system engineer, I did go to London for some training a few
years back, boy, did I have to get approval from everyone... That is
another story.
My brother works for a financial company and he is going with some
company guests/VIPs to the US Open this weekend. I wonder if his boss
thinks Berk is doing him a favor or the other way around. Interesting
thought, maybe one day, I'll have that problem. :)
Friday Jun 17, 2005
I was quite surprised to get a comment from a local runner on my recent
blog about The Perfect Run at Monticello. Rebecca was right in saying
that if I wanted to challenge a mountain that it is right there waiting
for me.
Somehow I just didn't think that someone living near me (I'm 2 hours out
of DC with no traffic) is riding my blog. This certainly makes it more
real to blog on local stuff.
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