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There might not be a next time..

PH

Happy Memorial Day!

Greetings! I apologize for my extended absence, but as you know there are only so many hours in the day...

I hope that you have enjoyed a nice and relaxing Memorial Day weekend. We haven't done anything too out of the ordinary, but Christy and I watched a couple of movies that in hind sight seemed pretty appropriate for the occasion. Saturday, we watched Across the Pacific while last night we went with Passage to Marseille. Both of these are Humphrey Bogart movies set during World War II. Christy gave me a Bogart collection for our anniversary earlier this month, and it was nice to get a chance to watch a couple of them.

I am taking a break from running events until the fall. I just noticed that I never posted my results for the Fort Worth Zoo Run. It was a very humid day and about 62 degrees at racetime. I thought that cold and wind were bad, but these proved to be much worse. I finished in around 59 minutes which was about five minutes off of my pace on my previous 10k's. I would like to do a half marathon either this fall or at Cowtown next February. I still have my goal of a sub 50 minute 10k, and I'd like to do the half in two hours. We'll see. Lots of training between now and then...

I've added a new widget over on the right side toward the bottom. For some reason, it does not contain my Vine reviews, but links to my most recent regular Amazon reviews are there for your convenience. I'll still post links to Vine items here. With that said, I have been busy over the last month. In addition to the ones with links on the right, here are the others that you may have missed:

CDs

Trouble Andrew - Trouble Andres - strictly background music.

Books

The Case of the Missing Servant - A fun detective story set in India.
Bad Things - A paranormal suspense/thriller.
Leadership Beyond Reason - Another book on leadership...

Well, that's all for now. I think it's time for a hamburger or some such...

Until next time...
PH

Amazon Round Up

Wow, it's really been a while. I've got a number of CDs and books for your consideration, and these are all over the place. Perhaps there's something you'll find interesting.

CDs

Pearl Jam - Ten Legacy Edition. If you're around my age, this was a high school classic.
Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson - Rattlin' Bones. This is a nice folk/bluegrassy CD.
K'Naan - Troubadour. Here's a little hip-hop courtesy of Vine.

Books

The Monsters of Templeton - This is an odd family drama.
Running from the Devil - I really enjoyed this action/adventure novel.
Flint and Silver - I highly recommend this prequel to Treasure Island.
Dead Man's Dust - This is a special agent meets serial killer thriller.

Until next time...
PH

Butterfly Boogie 10k Pictures

I've just now gotten around to checking out the site for pictures from the Butterfly Boogie 10k race back on March 28. Go here and enter bib# 1399 to see mine. If you also check out the "Lost and Found" section, you can see that people were bundled up quite a bit for the last Saturday in March in Dallas, TX. Enjoy! My next race is the Fort Worth Zoo Run on Saturday. Gun time is 7 a.m. Yikes!

Until next time...
PH

The Demise of April Fool's Day

Most of you heard about the April Fool's worm virus, aka Conflicker. While it doesn't seem to have had a major impact on our digital life, I found it had an interesting side effect. Did any of you fall for April Fool's jokes yesterday? Do any of you normally try pranks, but you skipped it yesterday?

I had a friend of mine who moved to Lubbock try to con me that he was moving back to Dallas, but I sniffed out his scam rather quickly. After the fact, I realized that my guard was up much more than usual due to all the hype about Conflicker. That actually gave me a tinge of sadness. While it is certainly small potatoes in the grand scheme of things, I couldn't help but think that something had been taken from me. Anyone else have a similar experience yesterday?

I did get a good laugh from our friends at Google yesterday. They had a posting for a new mobile app called Google Brain Search. It was obvious, but still worthy of a chuckle.

Until next time...
PH

Amazon Roundup

I've got an interesting variety of reviews for your consideration this evening - two CDs and two gadgets. The first CD is the latest from songstress Dido titled Safe Trip Home. It is her third release, but the first since the death of her father in 2006. It takes a different artistic direction, but it is still really good. Check here for the details.

The other CD is one that I took a bit of a flier on when Circuit City was essentially giving away their remaining inventory. I had heard samples of Keane's latest CD Perfect Symmetry, but I wasn't too familiar with their work. As my review shows, I'm glad I didn't pay anywhere near full price for it.

In Gadgetland, I am not always one to go for the latest and greatest. About six months ago our VCR finally kicked the bucket. My first thought was just a simple replacement, but you can't find standalone VCRs anymore that come with a tuner. This is important if you want to do programmed recording or watch one program while recording another. I checked on a DVR, but I didn't like the idea of paying $15 per month in perpetuity. So I opted for a DVD Recorder. At the time, I couldn't find much that met the requirement of having a tuner, and I wound up with a unit from Panasonic. However, as my review shows, it leaves a little to be desired.

For the serious digital artists and/or photographers, the final gadget for consideration is Wacom's Intuos4 Medium Pen Tablet. I got this through the Vine program without knowing a lot about the target user base. I don't have any needs that take full advantage of what this tablet can do, but others may find it is exactly what they need. Check here for details.

And there you have it. All the reviews that are fit to print (and maybe some that aren't). ;-)

Until next time...
PH

Official Butterfly Boogie 10k Results

Here are my results from yesterday. It's the same format as what I posted for Cowtown. You can refer back to that post if you want more details.

Philip Heath #1399
Hurst, TX
Age: 35 Gender: M

Distance 10K
Clock Time 54:27
Chip Time 54:02
Overall Place 210 / 506
Gender Place 142 / 232
Division Place 26 / 44
Total Pace 8:43/M

As I said yesterday, not bad considering the conditions of the race. The 10k at the Fort Worth Zoo Run is up next!

Until next time...
PH

My Butterfly Boogie 10k Experience

My retelling of the Butterfly Boogie (I promise I didn't name it) 10k is going to be a little different than what I did for Cowtown. The primary reason is my brain was frozen so I don't remember it as well. While the weather was similar, it was overcast so there was no sunshine to give a hint of warmth.

The course had almost all of its uphill sections during the first half. This all but ensured a "negative split", i.e. faster time on the back half.

At the first water stop after mile one, there were a couple of little girls giving high fives as we went by - cute!

There was a man running with his son who was probably around 10. Dad was yelling at the kid about technique. Who drags their kid out on Saturday morning and does that?

The back half followed the Katy Trail. It is a nice bike/running trail. However there were three things that stuck with me. The trail passes near a BBQ restaurant, and the smell of the smokehouse was surprisingly sickening. The trial is lined with trees, but I came across a gap in the trees at the same time a gust of wind came. It was like being hit by a linebacker! Finally, I passed near a hamburger joint, and it had the same effect as the BBQ place.

While I don't have the official results yet, I think I was within 30 seconds of my Cowtown pace. Given the conditions, I'll take it.

As a side note, the initial formatting of the post may be a bit off. I am posting it from my BlackBerry while waiting on my car to be serviced.

Until next time...
PH

Amazon Vine Review: Ordinary Riches

It's been a while since Amazon has offered good music through Vine (although there have been plenty of good books!), but the drought is over. New band Company of Thieves made their debut CD Ordinary Riches available last week, and I've been enjoying it for a few days now. I've got my review posted for your reading pleasure. Be sure to check out the samples and/or entire songs available on the various links. I hope you enjoy their music as much as I have.

Until next time...
PH

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

I recently had the opportunity to participate as a reviewer for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition. Between February 23 and March 8, I was assigned excerpts from 40 contestant entries to read and give a brief critique. The purpose was to narrow the field from 2,000 entries to 500 for the quarterfinals which are now under way through April 15.

It was an interesting process as the 40 excerpts I read were spread across many genres as well as levels of quality. I read mysteries and thrillers, historical fiction, westerns, young adult, and literary fiction among others. Each excerpt had two reviewers assigned, and these are listed as the "Editorial Reviews" on the book excerpt download page. As of now, I cannot divulge which of the quarterfinal entries have my reviews. However for the ones that are available now, you can be a part of the process. The excerpts are available for free download, and you can post your own review on Amazon. These reader reviews will be the basis for narrowing the field down to 100 entries.

It was tiring to chug through the excerpts in such a short span of time, but there was a nice reward for completing the task. Amazon provided a Kindle 2 to all judges who successfully completed all 40 reviews. I got mine on Monday, and I've posted a review with my first impressions. It's a pretty nice device, but I don't know if I would shell out the $350+ to buy one on my own. People who have iPhones can get an application that essentially gives you an iKindle so there is an alternative. You can see more about the iPhone option on the Kindle 2 page.

Until next time...
PH

A couple of mystery novels...

I've recently finished reading a couple of mystery novels as a part of the Vine program. The first is one that I highly recommend - Spade and Archer. It is a prequel to The Maltese Falcon, and it is very well done. The second is more of a police procedural novel called Don't Look Twice. Enjoy!

Until next time...
PH

Amazon Round Up

I've got a couple of new reviews up on Amazon that you may find interesting. The first is for the Blackberry Curve from Verizon that I've been using for a few weeks now. The second is for R.E.M.'s 2008 release, Accelerate. Happy Reading!

Until next time...
PH

Amazon Vine Review: Harmony 1100 Advance Remote

I've completed my evaluation of the new Harmony 1100 remote from Logitech. It's a decent device, but I didn't think that it stacked up in comparison to the Harmony One. I wrote my review as a comparison of the two so check it out for more details.

I've got a couple of books that I picked up last month that look promising. Write now I'm reading Spade and Archer which is a prequel to The Maltese Falcon commissioned by Hammet's wife. Look for more on this in a week or so.

Until next time...
PH

Official Cowtown Results

Here are my official results with my explanation as posted on the Cowtown web site. If you know anyone else who ran, you can search for their results and leave them a comment as long as you know the distance that they ran. Here's where to look.

Without further ado, here's how I did:

Philip Heath #10392
Hurst, TX, USA
Age: 35 Gender: M

Distance 10K
Clock Time 53:59
Chip Time 53:47
Overall Place 482 / 3259
Gender Place 352 / 1278
Division Place 21 / 217
Total Pace 8:40/M

What do the numbers mean?

* Clock Time is the elapsed time from the official start of the race until I crossed the finish line
* Chip Time is based on when I crossed start line until I crossed the finish line. I was not at the front of the pack at the start so this means that I crossed the start line 13 seconds after the race started.
* Overall place is based on total entrants so there were 3,259 finishers, and I was 482 out of them - roughly top 15%
* Gender place is who I fared against all the men - just outside of top 25%
* Division place is how I fared in the men's "big person" division. At 204, I barely qualify for the men over 200 lbs. At any rate, I did my best here - top 10%
* Total Pace - over the 6.2 miles, my average per mile pace. To have reached my goal of 50 minutes total time, I would have had to average around an 8:00 mile.

Next up: The Butterfly Boogie 10k in Dallas on March 28. (No, I didn't choose the name! But no, it doesn't sound very manly!) I want to see how I do in *hopefully* better weather.

Until next time...
PH

Amazon Roundup

As usual, I've continued to stay busy reviewing things on Amazon both Vine and Non-vine. I've picked up a number of CDs in the last 6 months, and I've been slowly putting reviews out for them. Some of them come quickly while others have to simmer a little longer.

I've also continued to do a fair amount of reading. As we've unpacked, I've come across some books that I bought but didn't get a chance to read. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team was one of those books. My book offering below also falls into this category. Without further ado...

The Starbucks Experience - a leadership book based on Starbucks
Back to the River - latest CD from bluestrist Susan Tedeschi (highly recommended)
Little Honey - Lucinda Williams' latest CD
Blues Caravan: Guitars & Feathers - live blues CD that I got from Vine recently

I'm also in the process of evaluating Logitech's Harmony 1100 remote for Vine. I should have something up for it in the next few days.

Until next time...
PH

2009 Cowtown Radioshack 10k

Today was a first for me, and I'd like to take you along for the experience before the details start to fade from memory.  I ran in my first race today, the Cowtown Radioshack 10k.  Here's what it was like.

Things actually got started yesterday after work.  I went to Sundance Square in Ft. Worth to pick up my packet which contained my bib and timing chip (along with a ton of advertisements and a T-shirt).  There were actually a couple of good information guides in there as well.  It was pretty cool even at 5:30 p.m. yesterday, and I knew that didn't bode well for the next day.  The process was pretty quick, though, and I had what I needed.  Before going to bed last night, I pinned my bib on my shirt and affixed the timing chip to my right shoe.

5:15 a.m. Saturday -

I laid everything out for breakfast the night before, and I sprang out of bed.  I didn't do anything different that I do any other morning that I go work out at the gym.  Since my 10k's are around an hour, it's about like taking a group exercise class.

6:15 a.m.  -

I've got everything, and I'm ready to go.  It is dark, and the short walk to the car chilled me pretty thoroughly.  This showed up in my attempt at updating my Facebook status as it was littered with typos.

6:45 a.m.  -

The drive to Downtown Ft. Worth is quick, but then the traffic jam hits.  I now have my parking spot in one of the free garages, and I post an update on Facebook.  I cranked up Metallica on the way down to try to get psyched up for the race.  It worked pretty well.

6:55 a.m. -

I see many people taking shelter in the Barnes & Nobel at 4th and Calhoun so I decide to join them.  It was a popular place since they serve Starbucks.  They also have real restrooms too.  I decided this was a pretty good idea so I headed upstairs.  Lots of other people had the same idea, but fortunately for me most of them were women.  You would have thought they were giving out something really special as long as their line was.

7:05 a.m. -

It seems a little early to head over the the starting line - just a few blocks over at 4th and Throckmorton.  So I find a corner to claim back down on the first floor, and I do some light stretching.  The number of people in Barnes & Nobel had to exceed what the fire codes permit, but no one seemed interested in enforcing it at the time.

7:15 a.m. -

I decide that I need to get used to the elements so I make my way over to the starting line.  It is very cold at 37 degrees with a moderate north wind.  I only know shorts and a T-shirt as my running gear so that's what I went with.  Much to my surprise as I make my way over, I find Jason Cook and his wife (I forget her name), and she is running the 10k, but Jason will be running the 5k that starts at 8:15.  After a brief conversation, I find a spot behind the starting line in the middle of the pack.  I stretch some more as best I can in close quarters, and I make idle chit chat with some of the other people standing near by.  Everyone is amazed that I am in shorts.  I wasn't amazed as much as I was just cold.  However I knew I'd be fine 5 minutes into the race.  My adrenaline was up at this point.  Like many others, I jump up and down as we get within 30 seconds of the gun.

7:30 a.m. -

The start of a race is most closely akin to a mosh pit from the 90's metal era.  I didn't get bumped too badly, but there was not much space to operate in for the first couple of blocks.  We head south on Throckmorton Street and follow the course (which can be see in full on the Cowtown web site).  It was hard to hold back and not just tear out running full speed when the crowd started to thin.  I managed to get about four minutes in before I gave in.  There were some downhill stretches early on, and I used those to make hay.

7:39 a.m. -

We reach the first checkpoint at mile 1.  I grab a cup of water and slurp down a couple of sips before tossing it.  I'm feeling good at this point.  However a couple of uphill stretches take care of this.  The wind was relentless on the open east/west portions of the run which were also the longest stretches on the course.  It was manageable though by this point.

7:57 a.m. -

I've now reached the halfway checkpoint.  It was encouraging to be on a 54 minute pace given how strong the wind had been.  I grabbed more water and pressed on.  The next quarter of the race went by fairly uneventful.

8:14 a.m. -

I reach the five mile checkpoint, and I'm starting to feel it at now.  I'm officially ready for the race to be done.  I skip the water at this point not wanting to slow down for it.  This might have been a mistake.

8:22 a.m. -

I've just passed mile marker six.  We are headed to Main Street, and there are more spectators along the route.  This should have been energizing, but I was pretty much out of gas at this point.  I trudged along until I could see the Finish Line and the clock.  Seeing 53:45 ticking up toward 54:00, I hit a burst with the last bit of energy that I had.  I crossed right as the clock ticked 54:00.  Then the search for water, water, and more water.  For food, they were giving bananas and yogurt so I passed on that knowing I had a protein bar in the car.

8:30 a.m. -

I need to stretch, but now that I've stopped moving it is cold - really cold.  No problem.  Barnes & Nobel to the rescue again.  It is a zoo, but I make my way up to the second floor.  As things turned out, there was plenty of room on the empty World History/World War II isle.  After a good stretch and cool down, I made my way a few blocks back to the garage.  It was slow getting out, but I eventually did.

And that was my Cowtown experience.  If I could change anything, I would trade out today's weather for next weeks forecast - mid 50's in the early morning with winds out of the south.  That would feel like summer by way of comparison.

Until next time...

PH

Catching up, random thoughts, and some reviews

Please accept my apologies for the long gap between posts.  There has been a lot going on over the last month, and I'm just now catching my breath.  Without further ado, here's the news that's fit to print (at least in my opinion).

Like many of you, our house took a hard hit from "the crud".  Based on what people who have actually had the flu have told me, we didn't have it.  However, what we did have was bad enough to knock each of us off our feet for at least a day apiece.  I took a sick day off of work, and until last year I had gone for almost five years without taking one.  Yes folks, it was a sledgehammer.  But this too shall pass...  We are all back to normal - well, something like that.  I'm not really sure what normal means, but we have returned to our previous states of health at any rate.

I was elected Treasurer of our Church at the quarterly voters meeting in January.  I'll be serving a two year term in this capacity where I will provide oversight to the Church budget at the Council and Voters assemblies.  I also volunteered to be our congregations layman representative at the Texas District Convention this summer.  I've never done any of these things before so I'm looking forward to learning some new things.  I have had budget responsibilities at work for the last three years so Treasurer duties are a natural extension of that.

This is somewhat old at this point, but I've been meaning to post about it for over two months now.  I served on a jury back in December, and it was an interesting experience.  I have been called down to the Tarrant County Courthouse two times prior, but I was only selected for reserve jury duty.  That's where they keep you for a whole or half day as standby for additional juries if needed.  This time they called my name for the fourth jury so I felt like I had a sense of purpose this time.  Along with about 50 other people, I was assigned to Judge Dana Womack.  I had never been a part of the jury process before, and it was eye opening.

The Voir Dire process was shocking.  They called us all in with assigned seating.  The lawyers asked questions to specific people and asked for additional comments from other people.  The lawyer for the plaintiff said that being quiet was the way to be selected.  This invited much diarrhea of the mouth from people who just wanted to get out of there.  One person went as far as to say that the plaintiffs "looked like people who would take advantage of the system".  After hearing other similar statements, I knew that I needed to be on this jury to try to bring some sanity to the process.

Sure enough, I kept quiet, and they selected me among the twelve.  The case involved an unresolved insurance claim from a chain reaction rear ending accident.  The facts were fairly straightforward in favor of the plaintiff, but the defendant had the superior lawyer/presenter.  I wanted to vomit as the defense lawyer pelted us with a PowerPoint presentation for her closing arguments.  I couldn't believe the glassy eyed looks among my fellow jurors as form trumped substance.

We went back for deliberations, and an initial straw poll showed a vote of 8-4 in favor of the defense.  I was one of the 4 so I spoke as to my reasons why (with my deepest apologies to the plaintiff) but the next vote was 11-1 (yes I was the one).  Since civil verdicts only require a 10+ majority, the case was over.  We deliberated less than 30 minutes.  What I learned was that I hope to never have my fate in the hands of a jury.

In other news, I've had a lot of time to read and listen to music since my last post.  Here's a list with links to the goods:

The Warlord's Son - a war novel set in Pakistan/Afghanistan.
Amberville - a creative noir novel.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team - a leadership book.
The Empty Mirror - a historical mystery novel.
Loser's Town - a very salty mystery set in L.A.
Snark - a windbag commentary on social graces.
Chinese Democracy - the long awaited new CD from Guns 'N Roses.
Happy in Galoshes - Scott Weiland's second solo CD.

There you have it.  There's a little something for everyone with more to come.

Until next time...
PH

Amazon Round Up

As the pace of life continues to pick up, I've neglected to let you know about a couple of good books and a CD that I've enjoyed over the last month or so. First up is a great light weight book to read on your next airplane trip. Never Tell A Lie is suspense novel that is pretty fast paced, and it doesn't go too deep making it the perfect travel distraction. See my review for more details. For something of a little more substance check out Shadow and Light. It is a noir novel set in Germany between the World Wars. Click here for more. Finally, I've been enjoying Jackie Greene's first CD, Gone Wanderin' (thanks, Dad!). It is pretty different from his more recent material, but it's still pretty good. My review gives you more details about his folk-based beginnings.

Until next time...
PH

Favorite Beer Places

I've been thinking about this one for a few weeks now, and I'm finally getting around to starting it. Most of you know that I am a fan of good beer. Early in my career I had the opportunity to travel on a regular basis, and I was able to go to a number of really good places to grab a brew along the way. So, I thought it would be fun to highlight some of them here in case any of you ever find yourself in these places.

My first business trip was to the San Francisco Bay Area for a class in San Mateo. Each day after class, we would drive up to San Francisco to see the sights and explore the many great restaurants. However the end game was always to find some place to wind down the evening with a beer. In many ways, the place I remember from both of my trips is maybe the best place overall that I've gone for beer. It was necessarily that the beer was the best ever, but the overall experience was hard to beat. The San Francisco Brewing Company had good beer but it didn't stop there. It must have been more frequent back in 1998, but I remember a three piece jazz band playing - piano, stand-up bass, and drums. I remember drinking the beer just a little be slower in order to prolong the experience. San Francisco is somewhat of a magical city (although I wouldn't want to live there), and this place was a big part of it.

Until next time...
PH

Amazon Vine Review: The Housekeeper and the Professor

I recently read a fairly short but good novel called The Housekeeper and the Professor. While the title sounds like it might be a cheap romance novel, it is far from it. It is about an unlikely coming together of society's misfits who form a special bond that centers on mathematics of all things. Check out my review for details.

Since I finished that one, I've been reading Never Tell a Lie. While it started slowly, it has turned into quite a page turner. I hope to finish it over the weekend. I am getting pretty close to catching up on my Vine books. I have two more currently on my list, but more on those in the weeks ahead.

Until next time...
PH

Amazon Vine Review: The Busy Family's Guide to Money

How are you with finances?  Perhaps good enough?  Are you like me, and you hate to even give the topic the time of day?  Fortunately, they've written a book for us called The Busy Family's Guide to Money, and I have just reviewed it for the Vine program on Amazon.  If you are already a finance whiz, there's not going to be much there for you.  However I learned a thing or two, and it's a book that points you to additional resources (mostly web sites) for additional information.  Enjoy.

Until next time...

PH

Amazon Review: Garmin Nuvi 205w

My HP GPS bit the dust, and I did a fair amount of research when choosing a replacement.  I decided that all I really needed was a basic, but quality, unit.  Office Depot sets up their GPS units to do simulations so that you can try them out in the store even though the unit is most likely not receiving a signal.  I narrowed it down to the Garmin Nuvi 205w, and after using it for a while I've written a review with details of its performance for anyone interested.  If you or whoever you are buying for is looking for a basic, easy to use unit, this is the one to go with.  A good deal would be somewhere between $100 and $150.  Enjoy!

Until next time...

PH