Well, it isn’t hot, but it is nice. I can wear shorts and not feel uncomfortable. I decided to celebrate this happy occasion and go use the hotel pool. The outdoor pool.
I discovered some friends there who were lounging in the hot tub. For good reason. The regular pool was about as cold as a Canadian lake. That would be pretty good if it was hot out, but it is only warm. One lap later and I joined my friend in the hot tub.
Then I spent the rest of the afternoon finding my friends and catching up.
2014-3-13 18:58

Okay, I’ve arrived in Houston for my wild weekend of “debauchery”. There were no problems getting here. Although I was tempted in Edmonton to go running across the tarmac at six in the morning. But that is what happens when you have to walk to the airplane from the terminal.
I’m already cataloging the things I’ve forgotten. I had the space for them. My luggage is fairly light, but if I had known how much luggage costs, I would have been more efficient. I’m used to domestic or Caribbean flights. When you go to the U.S. You have to pay for every piece of luggage. The weird thing is that the ticket lady for Air Canada seemed to imply that it was a competitive advantage that they make you pay for luggage like the Americans.
I’ve already said hello to a few people I know. My room isn’t ready yet, so I have a bit of time to waste in the lobby. But I should be good to go soon.
2014-3-13 14:19

Lent snuck up on me.
Lent is not a religious requirement for me in any way. However, I like the cultural idea of a set time for improving oneself.
The past few of Lents, I have given up a specific luxury. However, I decided to give that luxury up permanently when I turned forty. Does this mean I have a pass for Lent? Or do I have to find something new to give up?
I’m an atheist; I have no background in this.
But really, I should do something. It’s traditional. And I’m nothing if not a slave to meaningless rituals.
The simplest goal would be to be a better person. (Would that mean for Lent I am giving up being a bad person?) But if it isn’t quantifiable, then that is a meaningless objective. But, last March I was in a competition with my sister that has given me a good baseline to aim for.
Each day I have to do one of three tasks.

1. Make an effort towards finding a girlfriend. This will most likely entail using eHarmony.
2. Do a minimum of half an hour of programming on my own personal projects. This is self improvement.
3. Go for a run. Not really a challenge, but on days that I do run, I have no energy to do any other task.

This is basically a repeat of my sister’s challenge. But we have to start somewhere.
My biggest worry is that I am taking a weekend trip to Houston in nine days. I don’t know how I will fit those tasks in while I’m on vacation.

Last week I went speed dating. As usual, no one I liked was interested in me. I was talking to my sister who is trained as a counsellor about it this weekend. Talking helps you think through things.
I try to be a nice person. But nice isn’t a quality that people should be looking for in dating. Being nice should be a given. If nice is your only quality, then you have no qualities. Being interesting and exciting are what people look for. I come off as boring in speed dating.
I am embarrassed about being me, so I am not being myself. The only hobby I feel comfortable talking about to strangers is my ultra distance running. I am probably coming off as a brain-dead jock with no other interests. I am so used to having my hobbies of D&D, comics and science-fiction being looked down upon, that I don’t celebrate that part of myself. And I’m not even getting to the Level 3 part of my life.
And yet, earlier that SAME day I had a job interview. There, I absolutely was myself. I already have a job, so I wasn’t pressured to pretend to be someone I wasn’t. Failure WAS an option. I could give them full frontal Erik. Heck, when it came time for me to ask questions, one of mine was “Kirk or Picard?” If you guys are going to claim to be nerds, be prepared to defend it.
I wanted them to prove themselves to me, more than I wanted to impress them. I wanted to show my personality off accurately.
It worked. I signed the contract today giving me a 25% raise in pay. The only downside is I now have a thirty minute commute to St. Albert, instead of the ten minute commute I have now.
Now I just need to transfer this same attitude when I try talking to women. Unfortunately, while this lesson is fresh in my mind now, I will forget it by the time I next talk to a single woman.

I think more people need to take responsibility for the teaching of Creationism.
I read an article today about the places that still teach it. It is criminal that this is still being taught as science. Go teach it as religion, and I don’t have a problem. Teach it as fact, and you devalue all of science.
But, I think the blame for this can be spread further to include universities. Now, I don’t think any credible universities are teaching this pseudo-science. But their silence implies consent. Why do they accept students from Tennessee and Louisiana?
For example, how would it look to those states if Harvard suddenly said that they will no longer accept Biology or Medical students from there. Their education is substandard and therefore they cannot be trusted to know the fundamentals.
This is a real world consequence for playing fast and loose with science. There are probably many parents that don’t care that their little angel is being taught Creationism. But how do you think they would react if they found out that their little butterfly is now cut off from being a doctor? Do you think they would continue to elect politicians who are pandering to the religious and the expense of their child’s future.
Wait, don’t answer that.

True, that is just one university. A utopian example. But if any university did it, people would notice. It would make the news, and other universities might join in the boycott.

Thanks to the library, I have learned that I don’t always have to own books to read them. I am amazed at the easiness of reading sometimes. It is easier than watching a film. Watching a film alone.
Let’s discuss the ease of partaking the three chief forms of fictional entertainment.
While watching a movie, there is always the chance I will get uncomfortable and turn it off for awhile. Or get distracted because of some character’s inane personality flaw. It is harder for me to like characters I have just met. It can take me several days to watch a movie.
While watching a television show, that is less likely. There is a non-insignificant chance that I will care about the characters. Time does not need to be wasted getting to like them. If I have seen a few episodes, that is already taken care of. I can share in their triumphs and failures.
Then we get to reading. This can be broken into two parts. Short stories and novels. Despite the episodic nature of the short story collection, it is much more like a film to me. Each story requires me to learn to care about the character. Once I do, there is a good chance that the story will end soon after, and I am forced to start a new story, with new characters. I recently read “We Never Talk About My Brother” by Peter S Beagle. (You may have heard of him.) It was gruelling to get through. Most of the stories were entertaining, and I had heard the title one as a podcast. But still, there was no motivation for me to pick it up after finishing a story. It almost felt like work.
Then we get to the novel. It is criminally easy to like a character that you can hear the thought process of. And you have to think while you read, so you can’t be distracted. The book won’t read itself. Unlike a movie. An author has total control of the script and isn’t pandering to investors. There is no big investor hoping to make their money back. The financial outlay for the producer of a novel is minimal by Hollywood standards. With that freedom, you get good books. Books that draw you back to them. Books that can be read in bed before going to sleep or getting up in the morning. (Can’t do that with television without feeling like a loser.)
So, does that mean a novel is mindless entertainment to me? Probably not, but you can see where I am getting at. A film requires too much effort to watch.

Some of my arguments fall apart when I reveal that the novel I just finished, “Steelheart” by Brandon Sanderson, is officially classified as “Children’s Fiction”. That may explain why I was able to inhale it so easily.

I am throwing a potluck dinner on Friday. I was trying to figure out what to cook for my entry. I was waffling (no pun intended) between Gorchaboff (my staple potluck recipe) or spaghetti. I have a new pasta maker so I was leaning towards the latter, to show off delicious fresh-made pasta.
Last night was my usual spaghetti night. So I thought it would be an excellent way to do a dry run of pasta making. I’m glad I did. It didn’t turn out well.
Maybe I didn’t make the dough properly; I trusted the bread machine for that. I think I let it dry for too long while I was struggling with other parts. In any case, the majority of spaghetti came out in 2cm chunks.
It was still edible, but I don’t think I can trust myself to make good pasta with it when under a time pressure of people coming over.
Maybe next time.

I have given myself a personal challenge. It started simply when I needed a mental break at work. I tried to memorize the countries along the coastline of the Americas. Once I had that down pat, I started the same thing with the other hemisphere. I can now, reasonably, name every country along the coastline of the world.
There wasn’t any point to it. Just to make myself a more knowledgeable person. Or maybe it was so that if there is ever another internet quiz asking for placement of countries, I will rock it.
An incidental benefit came to me today. I was reading a news article, and it started mentioning countries in Africa. For the first time, I had a good idea as to where those countries were. Previously I was just aware that they were somewhere in that big continent, but the actual placement wasn’t important to me. Now I feel more comfortable with that, and it is a good feeling.
So, I guess my personal challenge is to learn geography better. The coastline quiz was a good start, but there are other countries that have no coastline. And other countries that are nothing but coastline. I have to figure out some pattern that will let me solidly place them in my head.
I’m thinking of working on the caribbean next. The Lesser Antilles is a nice conga line of islands that I should be able to memorize.

Homework: Quiz me at any time to name the countries along the coastline starting from any point. If it is unexpected, the better it is to test me.

Today I did an ultra. A small 50km one. (Small is relative.) I call it the Obese Donkey, but if you change it to synonyms you can figure out the actual name.
It was bloody cold!
I dressed fairly well for the weather. And the first loop of 25km wasn’t unpleasant. Then the wind picked up. And my gloves weren’t good enough. I should have been wearing mittens. It didn’t help that I was running with slow people. But it wasn’t a race. Well it was, but I was mostly treating it as a training run. Towards the end, I just wanted it over, and I left behind my friends.
Afterwards, I grabbed a lunch from Booster Juice and then went home and wrapped myself up in my electric blanket. That was the best time I’ve ever had with that thing.
Although I need to ice my ankle now. It isn’t feeling great. I’m wondering if I can do that while wrapped in the electric blanket…
But, I’ve also ordered a pizza, so I am going to go pick that up now and hork it down while watching a movie.

It was ten years ago today that I started blogging. Back then it was on LiveJournal, but now I’ve moved entirely to WordPress on my own hosted domain. The move to the new system wasn’t entirely smooth; I lost every comment written. LiveJournal doesn’t really want to help me get them back; punishment for leaving. I do have a plan for how to get them, but it only works because I am a packrat that never threw away an email.
It is interesting to look at my first entry and compare it with today.
I had fears that my mother might start reading it. She never did except when I went on epic vacations.
I used to go out to bars and bemoan how miserable I was at them. (A decade ago New Year’s Eve was no exception.) That was because I was socially inept. Now I barely ever go out to bars. I think I will dabble with that in the future, but with better perspective. I’m enjoying time spent with friends much more.
I ran on New Year’s day back then. That was for the Resolution Run, a 5km run that the Running Room puts on. A month ago, I heard that this year’s run had already run out of large and extra-large t-shirts. That gives you an idea of the body type of people who go to it. In fact, I did a run today that was over 5km, and involved a lot of stairs. I think I’m better than the Resolution Run now.
The biggest reminder I get when I look over my old posts is how much I hate my younger self. He was an idiot, and had poor social skills. I’ll probably think the same about myself now in ten years. Hopefully this will motivate myself to be better.
Because, although I have improved, I still have trouble socializing.

My bedside clock hates me.
I think it started its program of suffering when I decided that I did not need it to ring any more. I found waking up far more refreshing if the alarm didn’t go off.
Its first tactic was to disable the “alarm off” button. It would ring even if it was off. (I think it would ring even if I unplugged it.) Due to a distant power outage that reset it, that meant it would go off at midnight.
Fortunately, I compensated for this by being able to turn it off without waking up. I actually only noticed it on weekends when I would stay up late. That was annoying enough that I performed surgery on it and just snipped the power to the speaker. I did learn at how terrible the manufacturing was where the “alarm on” button only turns on a light on the front, and depends on the (malfunctioning) off button to prevent ringing.
A few weeks ago my clock figured out a new tactic. I’m not sure how, but it is reseting itself now. Not enough that the time goes back to midnight; instead it just starts flashing the correct time.
I could try setting the time again; that does stop the flashing. But because of a lousy user interface, that means I have to set the minutes time again, and that requires holding down the “minutes” button until it wraps around to the correct time. Did I mention that the buttons are barely working anymore.
Can it be considered that it has won if I decide to just replace it?
It took awhile. Most clocks are overpriced for what I want: the time. I don’t want to have a iPhone charger. I don’t want artificial sunlight. Just the time.
On a boxing day sale, I have gotten a new one that I will have to suffer it being a radio as well. Sony.
Never trust Westclox again.

I recently got accused of only cooking one-ingredient dinners. I can’t deny it. There are the special occasions, like turkey night, where I actually cook, but for the most part, I am doing things as simply as possible. Even if we can forgive my spaghetti night before the Sunday long runs, there is not a lot of variety in my diet.
It wasn’t always like this. I used to have a goal to cook something special on Sundays. But I started getting busy on the weekends and actually having a life. The Friday Feast also sucked me in so that there was one less night that I had to worry about meals. Running long distances made me too tired to do anything on a lot of evenings.
I saw a nutritionist last month, so I’ve been trying to eat better.
This week has been fairly good though. Yesterday I made the old family recipe of lemon-garlic chicken. Tonight I used my old standby Life’s on Fire: Cooking for the Rushed and made the beef enchilada casserole. And for the first time I actually made the recommended side dish, so I had a tomato-avocado salad with it.
I really need to hunker down and go through my cookbooks again. I have a list of recipes that I feel comfortable with, but it hasn’t expanded in awhile. For years. I need to be better than that. I want to have confidence in the kitchen.

I got myself a late birthday present on Friday. It was the one day of the entire year when Apple has a sale. I went a little wild.
I got three items.
The iPad Air was a gift from my parents. We had all agreed that it would be better to wait for the sale instead of getting it on the appropriate day.
The Apple TV was so that I could better use my TV. Now that the video store is gone, I need to research alternate ways to get movies.
the iMac was a weird purchase. I have been very happy with my MacBook Pro, and I saw no need to replace it. However, 95% of the time, it sits on my desk and never moves. That defeats the point of being a laptop. But there was the 5% (and I’m being generous with that percentage) that I did move it.
In this day and age though, it should be easy to have the same files available on two different computers. My logic was that I could have the iMac be my desktop computer, but all my files would be available on my laptop when I needed it.
I don’t know if my logic is sound.
When I first started using my iMac, part of the problem was the screen was so big. With my laptop, small screen that I could focus on. It didn’t feel like a big commitment to use it. Now I have to deal with peripheral vision size screen. Was I getting a headache?
Then I realized that my email would not be easy to share between computers. I hadn’t set up to be IMAP, so that magic is unavailable to me. Maybe it will be easy, and I just haven’t figured out how. Something to look forward to.
On the plus side, it has forced me to upgrade to the latest operating system. I hadn’t done that on my laptop because one stupid financial program would stop working. A program that has 2002 in the title. It was time to move on, and this has forced that on me.

Geez, it is like working in front of a movie screen.

On November 16th, I turn 40. Let’s count down the 10 life events that affected me the most.
1/10 – 2009 – 2010: Fell in love for the first time. It was a wondrous feeling to have someone who liked me. Maybe it wasn’t real, and it probably wasn’t because the relationship didn’t last. But for a short time, I was very happy.
2/10 – August 2008: I ran the Canadian Death Race. This was my first ultramarathon, and I’ve been abusing them ever since. They force me to travel off the beaten path to do them. I’ve run hither and yon, over distances and terrain undreamt of by mortal man. Running has introduced me to new friends and kept me in good shape. (See also February 2003 for my first half-marathon and June 2004 for my first marathon.)
3/10 – December 2006: I attended my first “Friday Feast”. This weekly event has greatly increased the number of people I know. I have met good and true friends here that I greatly value. My circles have increased.
4/10 – November 2004: I went to Jamaica and met a new circle of friends from all over the world; friends that let me explore a new side of myself, never judged me, supported me, and helped me improve as a person.
5/10 – May 2003: I became a property owner. I came into some money and put a down payment on a condo. I’ve been living here ever since.
6/10 – November 1995: I left home and moved to Edmonton. I was now responsible for keeping myself alive. This city has been good to me; I’ve made lots of friends, and it is a beautiful place for running. But I always wonder if it has been a good place for my career.
7/10 – Sometime between 1991 and 1994 – Discovered the book Fractals and Chaos in the University bookstore. This contained my first introduction to using fractals to generate random landscape. For the next two decades I would continue to play around with that algorithm in my personal programming project; thus preventing me from creating other, more useful apps. I still like maps though.
8/10 – 1985 and 1987 – Le Morte d’Arthur and the death of my Grandfather. Arthur was the first dog I was ever close to and my first experience with death. My maternal grandfather was a great man that I wish I had known better; a man without fear and always doing something. I’ve tried to live my life like his.
9/10 – 1984 – The family got its first computer, and Apple //e. I had an earlier introduction to computers than a lot of people, and I’ve been coasting on that ever since.
10/10 – November 1973 – I was born. I believe this had a significant effect on my life.

With this vacation, I felt more welcome than I have at previous ones. My friends were more accepting and understanding of me this time. I felt more comfortable. And they were able to teach me lessons.
The lesson that I most need to learn is the ability to say “No”.
I was a big fan of the movie Yes, Man. I liked its philosophy of always saying “Yes”. I ignored the part of the film where the hero only truly became complete when he gave himself permission to say “No” at times.
But it is an important part. I should not be a doormat to other people. I am allowed to think. If I am doing something that I would rather not be doing, people can sense that. It is not an attractive quality.
It’s time to be an adult.

A friend here decided to renew his wedding vows. Technically it was a hand fasting ceremony, which I’m not entirely familiar with, but it is the pagan equivalent of a wedding.
I was deeply touched when he asked me to be his best man. I wasn’t his first choice, but it was still a great honour. (His first choice bowed out due to religious reasons.)
I didn’t get a lot of warning about this, but I tried to do my best. I organized a five second bachelor party for him. I’ve now got the incriminating pictures that I plan to show at the reception.
It was very nice to see these two people so much in love. I was present for their initial wedding, and they still deeply love each other.
2013-11-02 4:03

There is a gentleman here, who is nominally part of the group I’m with. At first I thought he looked like a soccer player. But as I’ve gotten to know him, I’m changing my opinion. He refuses to eat any carbs. He does a lot of exercise, but he clamped up when I ask him what he was training for. My theory is that he is part of some special-ops force.
There are two small rubber sharks at the resort. Both have gone missing and they are needed for some performance that is happening later. They have been given names, and one is even on a leash. They have generally just been misplaced. This happens when you give drunk people a level of responsibility they shouldn’t have.
One was finally been found in a woman’s villa. However, this was done by peeking through her window. At the same time that she had lost her key, but she said she had a spare on her table.
So, special-ops guy and I went to try and retrieve it. The balcony didn’t look possible to sneak in. But he found that the back window was open. With me giving him a boost, we squeezed him through it. He extracted the shark and spare key and we returned them to the proper authorities. He is now being kept in a locked safe.
Is this considered rendition?
2013-10-31 4:25

I had a nominal celebration today for my 40th birthday, which isn’t for two and a half weeks, but the friends I have here won’t be around on the actual day. I didn’t really know we were celebrating, I thought I was just part of the act.
At dinner, some of the girls put on a show. They were all dressed in Hooters outfits. While waiter music was playing, they acted like terrible waitresses. I was one of the “customers”. This involved me being assaulted by a lot of food.
I think I’ve got all the cake out of my nose, but it is hard to be sure.

I have good friends. Here and in Edmonton. I want to thank you all for being my friends.

Now back to the party.
2013-10-30 23:07

Today was excursion day. The plan was to leave the resort, go snorkelling, followed by a shallow ocean cove. Lovely stuff. It was looking a bit dicey when it started pouring rain half an hour before we were supposed to leave.
A new friend had asked me to go get something from her room, on the other side of the resort. So off I went. I was in aquasocks, so I wasn’t able to run. I started getting very wet.
And when I got back to the main building, I didn’t go all the way to the stairs, and instead hopped up the one foot tall ledge to the main floor. The floor that had wet tile. In my aquasocks with no grip. In the slip that happened, my left shin slammed into the corner of the ledge.
This was not a simple cut. There was an open wound with some depth in it, even if it was only a couple of millimetres. Fortunately, my friend George was having breakfast there at the time. He is a trained paramedic. And, an always prepared paramedic. He had the first aid kit on him and he started operating quickly.
It wasn’t too painful, and the endorphins kept me happy. I enjoyed being the centre of attention. He was thinking that sutures might be needed, but we ended up using a butterfly bandage. It acts like a stitch for small wounds. Although he had trouble getting enough light to work because everyone wanted to see.
I do have travel medical insurance, but nobody really wanted to go to the hospital for a small wound.
Of course, being who I am, I still wanted to go on the excursion. George didn’t have too much of a problem with this. We wrapped the leg up in bandages and cellophane and off we went! It had even stopped raining, although it was still cloudy.
It’s a good thing that George was here, because along the way, the bus/truck stopped for beer. An American, used to thick American bottles, tried to open his bottle be banging the cap off on an edge. He claims that he fainted, not from the glass cuts, but because he was still buzzed from drinking the previous night combined with lack of sleep. All I know is that he was lying on the ground with ice on his head.
The snorkelling was in a small swimming hole. Very beautiful. Initial thoughts by people was that it was cold. I thought it was great. It had nothing on glacial lakes. It was clear and although it wasn’t perceptibly deep, you could see creepy tunnels that led deeper.
The ocean cove was the same as last year, except the weather was better. No rain, but still cloudy. It was a pleasant place with a weird thermoline. Variations of hot and cold water were happening all the time.
Then back to the resort. George looked over the wounds that had been received and replaced the bandages. Right now it hurts a bit, but nothing worse than I’ve had after an ultramarathon.
2013-10-29 19:44

I feel somewhat bad that I am not being diligent in updating my blog while I’m on vacation. But really, I’m on vacation, having a wonderful time. Why would I spend any time on the computer that I didn’t have to? Why am I doing it now?
I complain about my flights, leaving at 1:00 in the morning, but I shouldn’t. It means I get to sleep most of the flight and not waste a vacation day traveling.
I didn’t get the room I expected when I arrived. I had requested the same one I had last year. Instead I got upgraded to a villa. Which is nicer, a bit more centrally located, gorgeous view, but no kitchen. Did I really think I would do baking while I was here?
Today (technically yesterday) has been a very good day. Most of it was spent in a haze. I stayed up too late yesterday and was groggy all day. But I’m on vacation, so I have to man up and go and do stuff. Most of the time I am falling into my usual habit of being a facilitator; making sure everyone is having a good time.
What I like about the people I am friends with is the complete lack of judgement. Wait, that came out wrong. While they might have a lack of judgement, they also don’t judge. They are willing to do anything and accept everything.
Last year, we had pony races. I didn’t do well due to circumstances I don’t want to talk about. So this year, I made it personal. Off came the vacation clothes, and on came the running gear. (It was amazing how much nicer it is to walk around in running shoes than the sandals I had been wearing.) To make things more interesting, the steeplechase is done with all the “horses” (inflatable stick ponies) competing at the same time. Jump over the three deck chairs; through the two hoops; around the hedges; back through the same hoops; centre stage to hula-hoop; finally two more hoops before the finish line.
Rightly so, I was favoured to win this year. The difficult part was when I was coming back to the same hoops I had gone through before, the husband-wife team had left a trap. While she was racing, he was blocking the hoops. Well, if they are going to cheat like that, they started it. After the wrestling match pile-up was completed, I was able to sprint off ahead of her and finish.
The bull-roping demonstration was well done.
I’ve been making friends here. Mostly British women with nerdy boyfriends who are absent. I’ve been getting many compliments from the organizers. I feel comfortable and accepted. There are single women here too. It’s nice.
Overheard: “Mi beaver es su beaver.” After I gave a cute stuffed beaver to one of the organizers. I hope they don’t name it Justin.
I was fantastically dressed tonight, and got a lot of compliments. I have stayed up very very late, with very little caffeine. I am still oddly alert, but I blame the large amount of mental stimulus I’ve been having. I escorted multiple women to their rooms. Although the first one was because she was scared of spiders that might be lurking there. In her defence, there are very big spiders here. It is hard to find a big enough glass to try and catch them with.
I should go to bed now. Breakfast ends in six hours.
2013-10-28 4:52

I prefer flying Air Canada to WestJet for one simple reason. Air Canada has better televisions. WestJet wants me to pay to watch a movie, or I can watch live TV on the back of the seat in front of me. With Air Canada I get a selection of movies to choose from. It’s amazing how nice that is. All things considered, I will pay a bit more to fly Air Canada.
Because I am flying with WestJet today (it was significantly cheaper), and I am cheap, I’ve brought along my iPad which is loaded with movies and shows that I want to see. You would think this would be better? Even the screen is bigger with an iPad.
But you would be wrong.
With an iPad, I can put it away and not feel like I am missing anything. In fact you are saving good entertainment for later, so you should. But confined to your seat, upright and in the locked position, you have nothing else to do. And you can see movies you wouldn’t normally see. But if you don’t watch them, you are not getting your money’s worth. And don’t wait, because the flight doesn’t last forever.
I need pressure to see movies. Movies that don’t have a deadline have a tendency to linger in my lair. I liked renting videos with the built-in need to return them within a week. Even if I have nothing better to do than stare out the window, I will still not watch.
These are the things I have to deal with when I fly.

The fools let me on without weighing my luggage. Bwa ha ha.
I’ve got another hour before my plane takes off. So I will pass the time by blogging. Although I am sure that when we do board, I will be sitting next to the guy who is sniffling like it is going out of style. Blow your nose! I’ve been avoiding sick people all week, and now they will probably forcibly confine me with a Typhoid Harry.
The Mac’s convenience store here is full of temptation. They have McCain Deep ‘n Delicious cakes just asking to be purchased. Even a Froster would be great. But none of these are foods you should eat on an airplane. And I don’t need anything caffeinated when I am planning to sleep most of the way. I’ll take a Gravol to encourage that.

Tomorrow I run the Iron Horse. It’s a 160 km ultra east of Edmonton along the Iron Horse trail.
I’ve got several factors against me. My ankle still hurts from previous injuries. I think I’ve got a touch of a cold. I forgot my flask of gel that I was sure was going to make this a great race.
The factors going for me is that this is a simple ultra. It’s mostly flat. I know the route now and what to expect. The weather looks solid. They’ve marked the route this time. The northern lights will look spectacular. I’ve made sure to get lots of sleep all week.
Well I mostly got a lot of sleep. Last night I was up late packing, and I had trouble sleeping from stress.
But if I do this, I’ve got the Alberta Triple.

Now if only we could find a good restaurant in Saint Paul to eat dinner at. The Boston Pizza is advertising for managers and it shows.

When the family visits, it becomes an operation. That operation is to make sure they always have a good time. And I mean, always a good time. The entire time you are here, you will be having a good time. Resting is not a good time, so we should be doing something exciting. My mother says “You always give us your whole self when we visit you.”
Unfortunately, when my sister visited this weekend, she came pre-exhausted. She arrived Thursday, and we went out to the Urban Diner for dinner. But the next day, while I was at work she had some interviews and traveling to do for her thesis. She got back in the evening after getting herself tired. We went to Chianti’s and then watched half a movie.
Saturday was when we got down to business. She wanted to do her first 15km run, in the morning. So after we went to the Farmer’s Market, we went out running. To add encouragement, I said we would only go to Famoso for lunch if she did the run in two hours. There was yelling. There was crying. There was “Eye of the Tiger” being played. But in the end, she did it. Barely.
The afternoon was spent getting supplies and general readiness for the barbecue in the evening. I nominally called it her debutante party. About nine people and a dog came and had chicken and burgers. I think it went well.
Sunday we went for a brunch at the Urban Diner. Mostly because I wanted poffertjes, and my sister was a good excuse to go out. (Note: Go earlier next time. The place fills up quickly.)
In the afternoon, it was off to the Edmonton Expo. Also called Comic Con. We met up with some friends and wandered the floor. My sister ditched me to go see a seminar but after five minutes she discovered that it was boring. Instead she went to see the celebrities. She didn’t feel like paying for autographs, so she just went up to them to say hello.
Now she is a big fan of Joe Flanigan. She wasn’t before, but she came back gushing about him. We then saw the Christopher Lloyd seminar. I discovered that the audience really shouldn’t be allowed to ask questions. Apparently people can’t separate fiction from actors. The only good question was a request to hear him say “Great Scott!”
When the con ended, we went to Da-de-o, and then saw the movie Looper.
Her drive home on Monday was not easy, so I’m told. She was thoroughly tired. But she got home safely, and then promptly went to sleep.

Mission Accomplished!

There is a challenge out there of running the same number of marathons as you are old. So, a 39 year old man is challenged to run 39 marathons. My friend, at one point, had done that. But once he got married he stopped running entirely. Long ago, I gave up on that idea. I’ve only run three marathons (126.6km) in my life. (Four if you count the DisneyWorld Goofy.) I did contemplate trying to do the same with ultramarathons, but that would probably be too hard on my body to do that safely.
I have since noticed something though.
I am, at present, 39 years old. 39 marathons is 1645.8km. 40 marathons is 1688km.
The page that keeps track of all ultras I have ever run says that I have run 1596.268km total distance.
If I added the marathons I’ve done, that comes to 1722.868km. But, that seems silly. It’s just a marathon. And let’s be reasonable; the two 50km can barely qualify as ultras.
So, I’m at 1496.268km.
Iron Horse would put me over. Easily.

Then I would just have to worry about getting to 40 marathons of distance in ultras for next year.

The Alberta Triple still calls to me. I shouldn’t care, but part of me does. So I’m going to do the Iron Horse in a week and a half. If I complete that 160km run, then I’ll be able to say I’ve done the Alberta Triple twice.
But the site also keeps track of the ultras run in Alberta. The first time I did the triple, back in 2009, there was another prize for a friend because he was in the top three for his age category in points. He ran the same distance, and had less points than me, but because he was under 35, he was the best in his age category.
Ultras are an older person sport, so it is a lot more competitive as you age. But this year, I’ve been doing well. I was in the top three for my category. And I was hoping to stay there. My failure on the Lost Soul has dashed that hope. I don’t think finishing the Iron Horse will help me anymore.

Every time I go out for a bicycle ride with the purpose of pleasure instead of commuting, I end up in Rundle park. It is a very nice park, but I know there are parks to the southwest of Edmonton. Do they not have a right to be enjoyed?
Today, I was unable to find anyone who would want to go for a ride. And this is probably one of the last nice days this year. I had only done a short run in the morning, due to an ankle that has become a bit of a cry-baby, so I wanted to get more exercise in. With no one to join me, I decided to use my knowledge of the running trails to find a southwestern route.
Well, it can be done. I had to cheat and use a map occasionally, but there is a way. Terwillegar park has no paved trails, so it was more of an obstacle than a destination. The Anthony Henday bridge was where I finally crossed and started to head back. There were a few times where gravel and grass were involved, but it was doable. But, the way to Rundle is more pleasant. So the only reason to go is if you just want something different, or to see some very rich people’s houses.
My bike is running smoothly, which is a pleasant change from last week.
A week ago, on Friday, I decided to bicycle to a friend’s place where he was throwing a party. I had been concerned about my bike since I fell on it, but I had a friend who was going to look at it on Saturday, so I wasn’t too concerned.
Unfortunately, the route I chose to go had a big hill. And this would be the first real hill I dealt with since my fall. It didn’t go well. With one shift, there was a crunch and I stopped moving forward. I was able to unclip before I fell over. A quick examination was distressing. A piece of my bicycle had gotten lodged in my spokes and taken the chain with it. As near as I could tell, this piece was part of my frame. This was not something I could fix on my own. Fortunately I was only a five minute walk from my friend’s, and I was able to get a ride home for me and my bike.
The next day, I learned all about my derailleur hanger and how it can be bent a bit so that if you go into the lowest gear the derailleur can get caught up in your spokes. A good learning experience, and it seemed easy enough for a professional to fix. I was able to make it out to a ride that afternoon to Rundle park where I could get nearly run off the road by a four year old child on a bike who was more interested in what was behind him than what was in front of him.

I did the corn maze today. I think it would be better with other people. That’s because I overthink it.
If I have nothing to distract me (i.e. friends) then my brain will just completely work on solving the maze. And if you are thinking it though, you can notice several patterns. I never really got to enjoy being lost.
The maze is set up so that there are ten sections, divided into two phases. Each phase starts and ends at the barnyard, which you can occasionally see from a distance. Each section has a sign showing how far into the maze you are. The aerial view of the maze, which they show off at the start, is one big advertisement. With these facts, the overall path through the maze is easy to figure out.
First, since you start and end at the same place, there will be two overall loops; the first on the north part and the second on the south part. That means the path, for each, will generally be west, then a short south part, and then east back to the barn. So, if you can keep track of the highway to the north (which is easy; it is somewhat noisy and is bordered by some tall trees that you have a good chance to see) you know direction to head. The numbers track your place in the maze, so after three numbers, head a bit to the left and then start heading back.
Second, because the designers are beholden to the big advertisement that is their field, the maze is a secondary consideration. There are many obvious splits. There is a good chance that any path you take is going to meet up again. If you keep your eye out, you can see them and ignore many superflous paths. Basically, the path through is easier than it could be.
After I went through, I looked at the aerial photograph and noticed a discrepancy. I actually went back to confirm it. The picture was taken early in the season, and since then, they have cut a legal shortcut. It was nice to go through again with the map, and plot where you were. I didn’t do it a lot, but I found it interesting.
I would happily go back again, and let some friends lead the way, getting lost, while I tracked on the map the entire way.
The best corn maze I’ve ever done was back in Winnipeg, maybe fifteen years ago. It was a small plot, probably half the size of the Edmonton one. But they made it a maze. There were no convenient waypoints to encourage you. You could get lost, and half the family did. I felt good about that. This one just felt like a pleasant stroll in the corn.

On a drive home today, I heard on the radio about Mike Merrill who has made himself a Publicly Traded Person. Basically, he has sold shares in himself and the shareholders get to vote yes/no on any life decisions. The radio described how they even vetted his potential girlfriends.
This sounds like a great idea. Since shareholders have invested money, it isn’t in their benefit to “tank” the company, so they will maximize their return by voting in their best interests. One is beholden to your shareholders, instead of just taking the advice of friends and ignoring it. it is “a more efficient, and entertaining, version of what humans attempt to do all the time—seek objective advice—with the twist that the advice-givers have a financial incentive.”
I wonder what my “shareholders” would say about my life decisions. I suppose it would be dependent on who were the shareholders. I know at least one who would vote down on ultramarathon running. Would it make my love life improve if I has shareholders that were making demands for me to do actions?

I got pulled from the race after about 78km. I didn’t want to stop, but the nurses don’t like it when you throw up in front of them.
I forgot how hard a race it was, and the weather was hot and humid all day. The coulees focused the heat and there are so many of them to go up and down. I think I may have pushed myself too much for the first loop. It didn’t seem to get cooler at night. By the time I started my second loop, my legs were tired. Going up hills was painful and I needed a lot of rests. I’m usually great on hills. I suspect it was all because I didn’t do enough hill training, but I was sick and had not been getting enough sleep lately.
Friends commented that I was getting paler for the last few legs. And at the Pavan station, I was feeling queasy. I had assumed eating would help me have enough energy for the rest of the race. Maybe I ate too fast? In any case, I sat down and tried to recover again. I was starting to get less pale, and I felt a lot better after I was sick.
But I was there for an hour before I let myself be pulled. By that time I was probably in no shape to keep running. And the next leg was a hilly 15km, and not the best place to be incapacitated in the middle of the night.
It felt great to be pulled. I got to go to stop running and go to bed.
The worst part is that this morning, when I would have still been running, it was great weather. It was nice and cool. I would have been great today.