Fortes fortuna aduivat

Rudoph with your Sonic so white...

hekidanjo — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 01:24:59 GMT

Let me tell you about a Christmas Eve that won't soon be forgotten and how I got to be Rudolph.

My mother, father, Doreen and myself were going from Moorefield, WV to Winchester, VA for my grandmother's interrment. A fairly straight forward drive that should take about an hour and fifteen minutes. As we were discussing how long it would take, it started to snow. We decided that caution was the way to go so we gave ourselves two hours and were out the door. We were delayed about 15 minutes, while the roads weren't great, most of the delay was due to overly cautious non-locals. It was a nice and short service as we gave a wonderful woman our final farewell.

By now the snow was sticking and the weather had turned cold. We decided that we should grab some coffee on the way out of town and use a different route to get home that didn't involve the section of mountain road. Both of these were bad choices. The first bad choice was the coffee on a cold day with weather. I was driving so we were all in my Sonic. It's a great little car for two people and luggage or four people with little cargo...but the key word is little. On a cold day with four steaming cups of coffee, the windows fog immediately. So I'm running the defogger full blast to be able to see, creating a rain forest inside my car. No one was happy with this but as I noted, "seeing is more important than comfort." Driving across Winchester found me with several sphincter puckering moments due to the slush starting to freeze.

We arrive at the turn to take us on to 50 and find a police officer blocking the "road." I say "road" because that's what it nominally was on a normal day but it looked more like a bobsled run. It is a fairly steep hill and hasn't been treated at all...there is zero chance of making it up that road. The officer wasn't stopping us, he was saving the life of anyone dumb enough to try that road.

So, we quickly decided to try to go back the way we came. Not that we would be able to climb the mountain road from Strasburg to Wardensville if the conditions were the same but the conditions might not be the same. We drove back down I-81 and didn't get far off the road before finding that some vehicles lost control going down the first hill and crashed in spectacular, blocking the road...both ways fashion.

At this point, there were a lot of people wondering what to do. Here is the thing, this part of the world isn't exactly civilization as many of you know it. Not every mobile provider has a good signal and with the mountains, trees AND snow, GPS isn't very helpful either. A truck driver on scene said that he heard that WV-33 was a clear route back to Moorefield. At this point many of us turned around and started our way south on I-81 for the long slog to Harrisonburg. As we drove, my mom grabbed the road atlas I keep in my car (HOORAY old school navigation!) and realized that, while slightly off the path, there was a shorter route, taking Route 42 to Route 259. Shorter being better, we all quickly agreed to trust her navigation.

As we made the turn, I noticed a car that had been behind us through the last U-Turn following us. The woman driving spoke with a heavy accent and we had a bit of a worry that she might have misunderstood where we were headed. We all hoped she was going to Moorefield and wasn't hoping we were going her way. At this point, we had been on the road for almost two hours and the coffee had hit bottom. I pulled off the road into a gas station/diner/store and sure enough, she followed...as did a green Toyota 4 Runner.

She told us that she was following us and while she wasn't going exactly where we were, it was on her route. Get her there and she'd be fine. The guy in the 4 Runner was also going the same way, introduced himself and asked if he could tag along. So, we made a rest stop and took on new beverages and got ready to make our way home. A local was kind enough to tell us that our plan will work, Route 259 is "up the road a piece" in the town of Timberville. We were all full of good cheer on hearing this and mounted up. I was now driving Rudolph, guiding the sleigh full of travelers to meet friends and family for Christmas.

We had barely managed to make it on to Route 42 before we encountered ANOTHER fully blocked road. The kind state trooper told us that this was his 21st accident today and it would be at least another half an hour to get the road clear. Another quick meeting and since we were barely off of I-81 we decided that in half an hour, we'd already be in Harrisonburg since the interstate was now plowed. So back onto I-81 our caravan of the doomed rolled towards WV-33. My mother noting exactly how long that would take us and going back to studying the atlas.

As we rolled down the highway, she and my father started discussing routes they had taken before and on the mention of Timberville, realized that there was an exit to Timberville where we could STILL pick up route 259. Now bear in mind that she is working with a US road atlas...not exactly known for their detail of local routes through the rural areas of the US. As such the exit we needed to Timberville wasn't marked. So, armed with an ever increasing set of route numbers to look for, we went down the road.

...oh crap. We have no way to communicate with the people behind us. Will they trust us? We decided that they did so thus far, so we will take the exit and hope they follow. At route 211, we found our answer; they were right on our tail. Please let this work, please let this work. As we turned my parents got into a disagreement on which way we needed to go to find 259. My dad demurred and we followed mom's navigation...turns out, mom got a bit turned around in the back seat and we had to turn around.

I'm sure there was a great sigh of relief when we found 259. Here there was more rain than snow and the roads had been aggressively treated. We were home free! As we pulled off to the final exit to lead us home, we got a quick chorus of honks. We were four people very happy to be home eating leftovers from lunch.

That's how an hour and change drive turned into over four and a half.

Gun laws excabberating the problem

hekidanjo — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:48:34 GMT

Since a lot of people are in the mood to discuss gun laws, I will lift the curtain on some of the bizzaro laws we've passed in the name of making our nation safer. The problem typically stems from people trying to regulate an industry and hobby that they don't understand and sometimes...make the problem worse. Behind a cut for those who just don't care.

Several years ago, I bought a CETME Modelo C. It's a semi-automatic conversion of the Spanish main battle rifle from the late 1950s. Contrary to what talking heads on the news will tell you, these things cannot easily be converted back to a fully automatic rifle. As a matter of fact, the machine work and welding involved is so involved that you can legally purchase the fully-automatic military guts for the rifle. If you have the tools and the skills to retrofit these parts, you have the abililty to make the entire firearm from scratch.

Anyway, this is the rifle as I bought it. It looks quite sinister and business-like. As a matter of fact to the casual observer, it looks very much like the German Heckler & Koch G-3 rifle that was based on the design. It was fairly cheap and after filling out some paper work and waiting for the background check, I walked out with the rifle.

I didn't really care much for the looks of this rifle. If you checked the wiki article, you'll notice that when it was originally built in Spain the stock was wood and it made for an attractive rifle as former service rifles go. The plastic furniture is also cheaply made and the butt stock broke on the second disassembly, so replacement wood was the obvious way to go.

But this is a problem for the Feds. Title 18 of the US Code, Section 922, paragraph "r" was drafted to help ensure that these deadly foriegn made "assault rifles" were kept off of our streets. They inserted this notion that a firearm must be suitable for "sporting purposes" and I guess target shooting isn't considered a sport, someone needs to work on a memo, lots of people compete with such arms...but I digress. The law contained here lays out 20 critical components of a firearm and says that a minimum of 10 of these parts must be domestically produced. Apparently it never occured to them that gun smiths are already pretty handy with tools and that demand would be high enough to make manufacturing some of those components fully economically feasable. The thing is that the stock counts as two of those pieces. So, I can't replace the plasic with the wood without finding two more Spanish made parts that can be exchanged for US made parts.

Long story short, it wasn't easy to convert it from something that would be highly desirable to someone wanting to murder people to something looking quite at home on a range. Sure, it's still not everyone's cup but not only do I find it more attractive, it's a lot less attractive to someone with their mind on mayhem...they WANT the military look-alike.

but this isn't the end.

With Senator Feinstien wasting no time, the price of these things is sure to skyrocket after the first of the year. Juxtaposed with the reality that I don't really like this gun as much as I thought and selling it looks like a good idea. Sorta. I have two choices in selling it. I can take it to a gun store, where like any retail business that deals in used goods, they will give me ~60% of book value. If I throw in the seven 20 round magazines, the price will remain the same. So, if it goes to Gander Mountain, I would expect to see $300-400. Oh but wait! Remember those 10 parts? Two of those are in the magazine. So to make it saleable to a retailer, I'll have to invest about ~$100 into the gun to buy replacement plastic parts. So I go home with $200-300 cash.
OR
I can take it to a gun show. I get paid the market price, not the price the wholesale agent was charging several months back. People buying at a gun show are shooters and I would also get full retail for the seven magazines. So if I time it right, I could easily get $1000, cash in hand. Ah but remember those plastic parts? Shooters buying in a panic like those too and they know they will go away the moment there is no market. So instead of simply replaing the old ones, let's slap on a folding stock and some rails on the forearm. It would cost a bit more, maybe $120 or so but at this point, $1200 isn't unreasonable, so a little bit of work is extra money.

So being more responsible would cost me ~$800. At that point, I'll likely just toss it back in the safe but I don't expect everyone to make this same choice...especially as bills for Christmas come due.

So, a mis-guided attempt at a solution to violence will instead (and I saw will because you can bet someone WILL make that sale) cause the kind of gun they are trying to regulate to change hands with zero oversight or record.

How NOT to argue for gun control

hekidanjo — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 14:19:23 GMT

I see the gun control crowd was out early, hoping that the fresh wounds would give them momentum. I won't argue that decision but I am continually annoyed that they choose the specious arguments instead of laying out their goals in a straightforward way. I'm going to disavow people of those talking points.

1. For those who never learned how to diagram a sentence, have no idea of 18th century terms of speech and didn't read anything by any of the "Founding Fathers," please let the whole "...well regulated militia" thing go. The entire reason that clause is in there is to explain the odd choice of gun ownership as something worthy of addressing in a document devoted to freedoms. They felt the need to explain that the felt that having an armed and skilled population is essential to keeping that freedom. "Well regulated" doesn't mean that there should be restrictions placed against it, it simply means practiced or drilled in how to use their firearms...this COULD be used as an argument requiring training but that's another discussion. Note, the militia is not the army, the national guard or any organized force. George Mason laid out exactly what the militia is "I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people, except for a few public officials." The lawyers arguing the Keller case knew this and didn't even bother. So, yes this odd clause at the end does nothing to change that this amendment gives we the people the right to own and carry guns with the expecation that there might come a time where we are obliged to use them to protect ourselves.

2. "But the idea of armed citizens standing against a modern army is absurd!" I've heard this so often it sounds like a talking point...and it's really the most silly argument of all. Read some news. There are people in Iraq, Afganistan and Syria that would find this idea absurdly funny.

3. "We aren't talking about banning guns with a legitimate sporting use!" First and honestly the discussion should stop with the first point but I'll indulge you. There is no clause in the second amendment about sporting use and indeed it runs counter to the spirit of the right. Secondly, those scary "assault weapons" are used in sports. Action shooting is insanely popular and three gun matches in particular make use of two weapons that would fall into this category.

Bonus: Anyone who blames the "gun culture" will get a personalized ass chewing. The halfwits you see doing stupid things with guns, the mass murderers...hell MURDERERS are typically not part of the "gun culture" they are part of the criminal culture. The "gun culture" is composed of people who are very much about being law abiding, honest and see their guns are a tool for hunting or part of their recreation. Safety is always the single biggest concern at any meeting of these people and people who cannot abide by the safety rules are often shunned. On the rare event that someone who is part of this culture commits a violent act, they are not protected. They are shunned and reviled...after thoughts for any victims. It's worth noting that the gun boards I visited yesterday was filled with concern for the victims and their families; politics could wait a day.

In conclusion, if you want to have a discussion that "These guns are simply too effective at killing people to be in the hands of the general public and we need to make whatever changes we need to to make that happen" I'm in for that. I still think that's barking up the wrong tree...but that's why we have free, open, honest and RESPECTFUL discussion.

Product review: Sony Walkman Series W

hekidanjo — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 17:33:38 GMT

To tell you how I ended up with this, I have to tell you a little story and then make with a cut for people who don't care.

Back when I was at my largest I did two things. I got a membership at Planet Fitness and I bought an iPod Shuffle (2nd Gen) to fuel the musical montage scene. This has been the one piece of equipment that has been with me the whole way. When I bought a smartphone, I briefly thought of just using that instead but I really liked the little clip that allowed this tiny music machine to fit almost anywhere. Of late, the spring in the clip has been starting to fail and then, broke entirely. So I started weighing my options: I was eager to get rid of the wire but that would mean either carrying my phone or investing in a player that had bluetooth built in and in searching for an inexpensive one of those I found the Walkman W and for the life of me I don't know why Sony doesn't have a full page ad in every Runner's World printed.

There were really four requirements I had: Small, inexpensive, wireless and weather resistant. This little gizmo brings all of that. What I find amazing about it is that there is no separate "player." The electronics and batteries are housed inside the slightly oversized earbuds...think in terms of two small cell phone ear pieces joined with a wire behind your head. I took a picture of it next to a Garmin 405 and 2nd gen iPod Shuffle for scale.

It charges up absurdly quickly, three minutes of charge gets you 60 minutes of play time. A full charge (about an hour) will run for 8 hours.

For people who are uncomfortable with rubber earbuds that fit into the ear canal, you might want to give these a pass. It fits rather snugly and takes a few moments to get them placed correctly so that they don't fall out. Once you have them on there is good news and bad news. The good news is that the sound quality is insanely good. This has the best bass response I've heard from anything in this size and price range and the volume is adjustable from a whisper to hearing damaging levels. This comes at a cost. It does deaden outside sounds. You aren't completely isolated but I would hesitate to wear them if my path took me on to busy roads.

The controls are very simple to access, you quickly get a tactile sense of the buttons. The playlist/shuffle button audibly speaks its state when you use it so there is no guesswork. There is also a function called "Zappin" which is analogous to the "scan" button on a radio. It plays a short clip of a track, then goes to the next track to allow you to quickly find the song you are looking for.

Charging and music management takes place through a micro USB port that is hidden behind a small plastic strip. Windows 7 quickly takes charge of the device and Windows Media Player is quick to take charge of syncing of the thing. You can also use the provided software to set up drag and drop sync or just...copy the music files directly.

I wore this on my run last night and frankly I'm considering getting a second one just to squirrel away for when this finally dies...it's just that good AND that inexpensive. I paid Amazon $48 for these. There is a Meb edition (and again, they aren't marketing this hard to runners WHY!?!) that is a spiffy red color, costs $10 more and comes with running tips from Meb himself. The basic model comes in black and white with a 2 or 4 gigabyte capacity. I went with the 2 since even with high quality sound files, that's enough for 6-8 hours of music.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate

hekidanjo — Wed, 16 May 2012 01:45:19 GMT

"...Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."- Marianne Williamson

I had a realization while I was out for my run today.
It's been said that a jogger becomes a runner the moment they register for their first race. I can't find fault with that argument: You can jog by yourself, intensity doesn't matter, gear doesn't matter, distance doesn't matter, you get more fit and can have a good time. The instant you pin that bib to your shit, you've joined a community. To my mind a pretty cool one but the bottom line is in the course of spending some time with your new family, you'll start thinking about hydration, shoe trends, tech fabrics and run mixes.

You gain confidence, you gain ability and you step up to the next distance. Now you meet new people. Almost all the runners look FIT, you feel out of place and you know you'll have to train harder. Now you start learning new things. You start learning how to eat, which gels you like, how to apply KT Tape and which gadgets you NEED.

This process continues on and on. Half marathons become full ones, paces you once thought of as "quick" are now your LSD speeds. You'll start taking new runners under your wing and then the more challenging races look like a good idea: Ultra marathons, Spartan Races, Triathlons... these require a new level of commitment, new language, and new reserves of strength and confidence.

I told you all of that to tell you this. I mentioned in my run a disagreement on FB regarding strength and endurance training. The other fellow was of the firm opinion that "most people" couldn't do both. I stood firm that it was a question of priorities. I let it drop and was going to look into a phenomena he mentioned later this evening but on my run I realized that not only do I flat out not care, why am I even bothering to disagree?
I am NOT like most people.

...you aren't either.

Weight loss, nutrition and marketing and anchovies

hekidanjo — Mon, 14 May 2012 02:01:05 GMT

So, I'm back to eating what Chris Carmichael tells me to eat. Much like the Galloway Heresy that you can run faster by occasionally walking, I'm amazed at the people who freak out that I'm losing weight (3lbs this week) while getting 60% of my calories from carbs.

Losing weight really IS just as simple as this: eat fewer calories than you need. There is so much marketing noise that people don't seem able to process this simple fact anymore. Eating plans that have you doing math to come up with points, pretend you're a caveman, don't eat carbs, or eat meals delivered by mail all work based on this principle and this principle alone...as much as they want people to think there is some magic to what they do, THIS is why you lose weight on those plans.

The reason for the rest of it is window dressing. Paleo has ideas about exercising in a way that is actually quite well suited to the energy limitations of a modified low-carb diet; Weight Watchers math is focused on keeping you full throughout the day but instead of marketing this way, they go a less honest route...and that bugs the hell out of me. Weight Watchers sells a lifestyle but if you've ever sat in a meeting, that's not the lifestyle that most members live. There is this great gap between what is written and what is normally done so that a skilled leader can always bend the rules...or tell you that you shouldn't bend rules to make the plan work. Paleo wants to free you from modern "diseases of affluence" by *sorta* emulating the diet of peoples with astronomically high infant mortality rates where "old age" was somewhere in the mid-30.

In the end...it all works or can be made to work and I guess that's where I'm going with this: Whatever the gimmick, the best diet in the world is the one you can follow but man does the marketing make my brain hurt.

Oh yea, the anchovy! I decided I was going to try Scott Jurek's Lentil-Mushroom burger this week so that meant a trip to the local Vitamin Shoppe. Oh but how I hate these places. This is marketing and mis-information done to epic levels. Anything that any half-assed longitudinal study has ever shown to possibly have any benefit at all is sold at a fever pitch. Here is a hint: Longitudinal studies, are bullshit. Those are those things with headlines like: "Studies show that people who floss regularly live longer." The problems with these things are: Negative results are discarded. If (continuing the example) you keel over at 30, no one asks if you floss. This also means that there is no control group...this is high school science here. Also, you can't isolate variables. So a guy lives to 112 and flossed three times a day. I'd be willing to wager a paycheck he also exercised, didn't smoke, ate well and visited his doctor regularly. All of this is often summed up simply as "Correlation does not equal causation." Unless you can prove that flossing, powerlifting, eating lots of bitter cherries made the longevity happen, it's utterly irrelevant. Back to the anchovy! I just want to grab my brewer's yeast and go. I don't want to engage...and there at the counter, holding court is an obese former body builder reading a list of "super-foods" from some muscle magazine. Then finally he gets to anchovies. "Most healthy food you can eat!" the cashier says to me. Since I'm in a smartassed mood and just don't want to go there
"I'm pretty sure they are quite dead."
"What?"
"Well it can be good for you, wholesome or even healthsome, they are packed in a tin or a jar, the fish aren't very healthy at all."
"No, but seriously..." at this point, there was an audible *snap* and I went full on Bill Nye.
"Well not really. The BEST food is very dependent on what your needs are."
"Yea! It's nothing but protein and Omega 3!"
"Which is great if you are a power lifter but would not have done me one lick of good a couple of hours ago while running. The BEST food then is...High Fructose Corn Syrup."
"That stuff is POISON!"
"Think about it. Why is HFCS so bad? It's Fructose, the most easily converted, highest glycemic load sugar on the planet without the benefits of fruit's fiber. It enters your bloodstream almost instantly...exactly what you need when you are burning through ~800 calories an hour."
"..."
"You have a great day now!"

Trying to find something useful

hekidanjo — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:42:18 GMT

I've been so many kinds of reluctant to write this post. I angered an old friend since I didn't want to jump the gun on calling George Zimmerman a murderer. I'm still not willing to make that leap just yet.
Racist? Possibly.
Idiot? Assuredly.
Paranoid? In triplicate.
Killer? Sadly we are sure of that part. All that out there, I won't apologize for waiting for proof before I condemn a man and sadly a lot of what was initially brought out as proof was anything but. Who was armed with what, their respective weights, how often the police got called and what all these people who are hardest hit by the killing but didn't witness the crime think really don't matter much in terms of finding the facts here. Now that we have more facts, it's becoming clear that at the Very least we have a paranoid man who committed voluntary manslaughter in the name of avenging the prior theft of some material goods. As the autopsy results become available, it will fill in the blanks. The angle of the shot and the distance will tell us if they struggled and Zimmerman DID fear for his life and is "only" guilty of manslaughter due to his actions that precipitated the fight or if he murdered an unarmed boy.

Now for some lessons to at least reclaim something from this tragedy. I'm not going into the whole race relations angle. If we knew how to get people to understand each other, there would be no need for the more practical things I'm gonna lay out.

1. No material goods are worth someone's life. You might be angry and even enraged that your property has been repeatedly violated but in the end, so. what. Behind bars is the appropriate punishment for theft.

2. DO NOT carry a lethal weapon if you are in a position where you mean to confront a wrongdoer unless you are a law enforcement officer. It's important to note that even police don't carry JUST a lethal weapon. They often have no less than three non-lethal deterrents at hand to keep physical confrontations from automatically becoming lethal ones.

3. If you are carrying a lethal weapon you are a punk, a coward, a bitch...WHATEVER a verbal assailant wants to call you but your utmost obligation is to not engage and back down first. All the time, every time. If lives are not at stake, tuck your tail between your legs and walk away. If your pride won't let you handle that, you have no business with a weapon. Engaging in any confrontation, even a friendly discussion while armed potentially creates a lethal situation that you are now morally responsible for.

4. (specific one here) If you find yourself working 911 dispatch, don't give weak assed suggestions to people on the other end. They are jacked up on adrenaline, they aren't thinking straight and most of them are fearful of their lives. Don't say some weak "we don't need you to do that." Say "SIR, I need you to stay in the vehicle. Sir, are you in your vehicle? Sir, I need you back in your vehicle NOW!"

Before I go further, I want to make it clear that I'm NOT blaming the victim. What happened was ultimately caused by George Zimmerman and he should bear the burden of that. I'm only going to speak to how to not die if you find yourself followed by someone like him.

5. If you are being followed, don't call a loved one. CALL THE POLICE! NOW! The 911 dispatch center could have easily had a moment of clarity and told both men to stop and don't be stupid.

6. Don't run. Once you run the adrenaline spikes and the odds of the person chasing you making good choices are right out the window. This is fundamental in dealing with animals or humans.

7. If you are attacked, disengage. It's always possible that you might think you can take your attacker and suddenly you realize you brought a fist to a gun fight. It's laudable to stand up to bullies, demand respect, etc. etc...but that does you no good if you are dead.

8. and this goes for everyone. Give people the benefit of the doubt. This goes for racist neighborhood watches all the way down to people wishing for his death before having any real facts. Hate breeds hate, revenge breeds revenge. Be outraged, demand answers but keep your mind open until you have those answers.

It ain't over; the plan

hekidanjo — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:31:04 GMT

So, 2011 was the year of the train wreck. I was still running but a lot of what I wanted to have done didn't pan out due to stupid overtraining injuries. Going into the winter I was determined to be smart and I found a marathon that sounded like fun and still...managed to end up injured. I made peace with the idea that I wasn't going to run that race either and instead decided to refocus on my weight. I still have some to lose and I managed to gain some in the past year.

So, back to Weight Watchers. I found a leader I like and I'm ready to put in the work there. I'll miss my previous leader. She's awesome but the drive time for her meetings is a problem these days. So I also decided that I wanted to work on overall fitness so, back to the gym on a regular schedule and I'm excited about that too.

Yesterday I was on the elliptical (30 minute sessions right now so as not to impair healing) and something dawned on me: I had recently reread "Mastering The Marathon" on the topics of training with injuries to try to offer what help I could to sirenkgodess in training through her injury and the author had mentioned the possibility of training without any road mileage at all. If I could continue to progress my training for a month or two while getting stronger and losing weight, I might not be out of this yet. I don't think that will give me the training to bring in the ~4:30 I was looking for but I could use the Galloway method to get me across the finish line without getting wrecked.

Okay, so a couple of things I need to do:
1. Stay focused on the weight. Given my injury history, I won't begin running again until I'm once more under 220 AND 4 weeks have passed AND my legs feel better. This is utterly non-negotiable.

2. Stay focused on the weight. No running on the street until I'm under 210. This I might be willing to negotiate with myself on depending on how close the race is and how close to that weight goal I am.

3. Read up on the Galloway method. RRCA doesn't teach it and while I read the book a year or so ago for background, I'm going to have to give it a look before I feel in any way qualified to draw up a training plan.

4. Radio silence. As it is, with the injuries I feel like I'm more about running related traumadrama than I am about running, at least as far as my online presence goes. I'll say something if I'm stuck or something amazing happens but this will be the last I talk Pocono Marathon before I reach the go/no-go decision.

Now about that mouse...

hekidanjo — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:09:41 GMT

Yes, I'm also officially back on LJ. Blogger is a lot nicer to look at but harder to hold a conversation...and really, that's what I'm here for.

So, on with the show!

I really wish WDW would announce the time slots for free dining plan packages earlier in the year. We didn't see any offered at the 180 day mark so we just bought our park tickets and started making our dining reservations. Since the free dining plan can only come with the package and we already had our tickets, doing advanced planning cost us. Still, crunching all the numbers, it came up to be slightly cheaper to stay on sight once all the costs were totaled, so we decided to do something different and stay at a Disney resort. That was until we looked at cab fare. I was looking forward to finally meeting Kitzzy and Jason, seeing Jen again and getting a group run on. They had a GORGEOUS spot to run. Cab fare 20 miles away and back came to about $130 less the tip. That's actually more than a week's rental on a compact car. Once we had a car, one of the big advantages of staying on site, Disney Transportation becomes redundant. So, with well placed calls, we still manged to get a nice room at our usual hotel, The Orlando Vista. Sadly, I can no longer recommend them without some warnings. Previously, it was a decent, clean comfortable room with few amenities but offered at a bargain price. It changed ownership shortly before our last visit and hasn't really been well maintained since. It's now kinda shabby and threadbare. The rooms are still clean and the bed is comfy but sadly worn is the look.

Our first day was fairly easy. I obsess over planning a vacation so I don't have to worry about logistics when I get there. The only real incident was getting a bit lost on the way out of the airport. Usually we are rocking a paper map and Google Maps printed directions. This time we decided to rely on my phone's gps navigation. The problem is that the thing can't see the satellites while in a parking garage, so it had a hard time figuring out where we were and then it crashed, leaving us lost in a residential area. We rebooted the phone and quickly got back on course. We got our hotel room taken care of, got a snack since we missed lunch and spent the rest of the day unpacking and getting comfy. That night we had dinner reservations at 'Ohana (aka: You should not eat so much). The food was great, the service was pretty tight and the entertainment enchanting. BUT... The early part of the meal had a lot of very young children. Overtired, cranky young children who had spent all day in the park, the preceding few hours trick-or-treating and now were being asked to behave in a crowded restaurant. Happily they all left not long after we got seated.

Before we left I picked up Nikon's entirely too good for this price point AF-S DX 35mm f/1.8 lens. I'm glad I did because some of the shots I got are simply stunning. I put the best of them on Picasa. Doreen took some with her Nikon S570 and some are from my Nikon S8100 but most of them came from the D5000 with the 35mm lens.

Day one was Epcot. If you come during the Food & Wine Festival (and I really recommend that you do) don't make plans for lunch on Epcot days. We spent most of that late morning and early afternoon (an a part of another day as well) nibbling our way around World Showcase and still only managed to cover about half of the offerings. We rode, we ate, we generally had a great time. That evening we had dinner at The Garden Grill. This place is usually beastly difficult to get a reservation for. It has a lot going for it: Good food featuring absurdly fresh veggies, a unique venue, character interaction and the icing on the cake is that there aren't that many tables due to the rotating nature of the thing. So we got our reservation. Our waiter was great fun, the food was all wonderful (Doreen disagreed on the steak) and the characters were very happy to spend time with us, even though we brought no kids. The real magic happened when our waiter notice Doreen's "River Tam & The Fireflies" t-shirt. Apparently Pluto is a HUGE Firefly fan. Much clowning around ensued and culminated in Doreen and I singing "The Ballad of Jayne" to a bemused restaurant as Pluto played the backup air guitar. We ended the day watching "Illumiations - Reflections of Earth" a fireworks show that brings a level of drama to a fireworks show that just can't be matched.

Day two started at the Magic Kingdom and ended at Animal Kingdom. We rode, we saw and we had a great time. Lunch was a bit of a downer. I had no idea that The Rainforest Cafe wasn't a Disney restaurant and IMO it shows. The theming is a bit overdone. Much is done to create the illusion of being in a rainforest eating your meal...having the animals reacting to the thunderstorm is headache inducing. The food was overpriced and only okay. Honestly on creating a theme Animal Kingdom is superb. I regret that we didn't spend more time getting pictures of the Asia sections (we spent most of our time there last time) but they spent a lot of energy transporting you to another place and it shows. We then went to enjoy a run with Kitzzy and Jen. Lake Eola is a gorgeous spot to have a run, Jason joined us for dinner and the company was great. My only regrets were not getting a picture or three and it was mid week so long evening lingering would be a problem for people who have to go to work the next day.

Day three was a bit ill-considered. We decided to spend the entire day in Disney Hollywood so that we could enjoy "Fantasmic!" at the end of the evening. The problem is, if you arrive when the park opens (rope drop) and have even the most modest plan of attack, you will be finished seeing all the park has to offer before the day ends. We had lunch at the 50's Prime Time Diner. Food is delicious and the atmosphere is fun...don't get an appetizer. The portions of everything range from "too big" to "are you fricking serious!?!" and there is no way you can enjoy the entire thing. Dinner was at Mama Melrose and we have mixed feelings. The food was great, the atmosphere was good but the service was horrible. They seemed to be disorganized and understaffed. Considering the options of sit down food in Hollywood, I might give it another try...but not before I cross the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater off the list.

Our last day found us back at Magic Kingdom. It seems we forgot to ride Peter Pan AND Philharmagic. We did a few more things around the Kingdom and then went back over to Epcot. We got there just in time for our lunch reservation at the Biergarten. Normally to me, buffetts are where food goes to die. Here the size of the restaurant plus the small quantity they brought out at any one time ensured a rapid turn over and very fresh, hot, delicious food. Seating is at long benches and unless you have a bunch of people, it includes strangers. Since there is also lots of beer, they are new friends. Speaking of beer... Walking around the World Showcase had left it in my head that the Food & Wine sizes were normal and that "small" meant 6oz. and "large" was 12oz. So, I ordered the large beer. Large apparently translates into German as "I would like my own keg please." After drinking my keg and eating way too much wonderful food, we had no choice but to stagger around Epcot for the remainder of the day. Unsurprisingly, dinner wasn't something we were very interested in until quite late. At that time we were already back at the hotel and starting to pack. So we wandered next door to the IHOP and had a small breakfast.

At the crack of dawn the next day we returned the car, climbed back on the big metal bird and returned home. It was a great trip. As usual, not what I'd strictly call relaxing but when you are given leave to be a child again, it refreshes the spirit even when it does tire the heck out of your body.

Writer's Block: It’s a small world

hekidanjo — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 01:44:00 GMT

SERIOUSLY?

Old fat picture of us but it's kinda like this...

Having pretty much given up here...

hekidanjo — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 13:44:37 GMT

Posting my drivel over at Blogger.
I'll still be stopping by to read but it's just gotten too frustrating to post of late.

Dog ate my homework

hekidanjo — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:46:04 GMT

...and with the recent wonky behavior, I lost a fairly interesting post this morning. I am seriously thinking about hosting my own site for long-form ranting. I'll soon be an official running coach so why not have a place to sell me?

Thinking about it.

Harry Potter and the Half of a Story

hekidanjo — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 13:29:15 GMT

Not the best weekend BUT we did manage to see part 2 of Deathly Hallows. I promised a friend of mine a full review so, here we go.

If you've not seen the movie and not read the book...well I really don't think you're still reading so I won't worry about spoilers.

I have to confess that I had a concern with this movie. The book is the ultimate in fan service. Every plot point, every lose end, every comeuppance and every question is dealt with and I didn't know how that could happen. Starting somewhere around The Goblet of Fire, the vast majority of sub-plots were stripped out of the films. It was for the better. While those diversions make for an interesting read, they would be death to storytelling and packing on film. So how would all those resolutions be dealt with? Simply put, they weren't. Like in the previous films, it stuck to the main story and there just wasn't time to take detours...and I think this movie is also the better for it.

Things I didn't like were few, damned few in number. I didn't like the very unsubtle way the notion that Lilly Potter and Severus Snape were more than friends was thrown out there. Had we just been left with the flashback of Snape's patronus, it would have been subtle and very good. I know that Harry blurts it out in the book that it was curious that Snape and his mother had the same patronus but in the movie it just felt much more heavy handed. I also was looking for more of a one sided fight between Molly Weasley and Bellatrix Lestrange. Having seen people in fights suddenly go all Hulk, it's often quick, brutal and deciedly one sided. A minor thing but it was what was in my head.

The rest of it was spot on. Snape got revealed for the hero he was, Neville got his big damned hero moments and the visuals for the fight between Minerva McGonnagall and Snape were better than I had in my head, especially the flourish once Snape leaves. Never before had I heard "MY HOUSE...BITCH!" communicated so well without words. Once again this shows that Dame Maggie is honestly the single best casting choice in a film dominated by stunning casting.

The movie followed the main story of the book pretty spot on and made a fine show of it with a lot of amazing performances being turned in by all the actors. A fitting ending to the series.

Controlling the VFF funk

hekidanjo — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 15:29:52 GMT

Someone put a lot of time and effort into figuring out the best way to get the funk out of a pair of VFFs.
fearsclave offered up cedar chips, which help in a HUGE way but with frequent wear, they still get a little ripe. I think it's time to start getting more aggressive about cleaning. This looks like a good place to start.

Nothing left to prove

hekidanjo — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 13:16:10 GMT

I had one of those moments of clarity on Sunday while I was running my long run. I started running to prove something to myself and running distance comparable to what I was doing over the winter AND having crushed my 10k PR and still coasting on the huge win that was the Warrior Dash, I feel like I have proved it. Sure, I'd like to be able to get 26.2 again and it's still a goal I'm looking at next year but I'm done obsessing. I might not be quite the man I once was but I'm in pretty good shape for the shape I'm in. ;-)

This doesn't mean I'm quitting or even slowing down. I'm just going to be smarter. I was recently thinking about going back to 4 run days a week but my biggest goal is to stay uninjured and keep getting stronger. Without any mileage goals, why risk it? So that means I'm going to have to figure out how my technical runs fit into the picture, maybe they don't, maybe I just focus on base mileage, long slow runs and strength training for the second half of the year.

I do need to focus more on the weight. I still haven't done anything about the weight I picked up and the Spartan Sprint will be here before I know it. I started logging the food and that's a start...I haven't even ruled out going back to WW. Now that I'm down to 20-30 miles a week for the foreseeable future, the program would work just fine for me but really you go to WW for the connection and I'm not sure I would have that. Hmmmm.

I've unsubscribed from World of Warcraft (again), which I suppose is as much indicative of my feelings about the game as it is of where I'm at regarding what I want to be doing with my free time.

DUI 10k

hekidanjo — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 20:05:23 GMT

One part good mental focus, one part good training runs lately and given the time of year, two parts good weather brought me across the line at 55:59. Not only is this a full ten minutes faster than the same race last year but it's two minutes and change faster than I have ever run a 10k, including treadmill runs.

It was overcast and cool with just the slightest breeze going on. Since the forecast has been for a hotter day there were two water stations and since it's an "out and back" race, that means three water stops. Overkill but nice to have. I built a new music mix this morning. Some things very carefully chosen for tempo, some stirring spoken word and a couple of songs full of meaning. It also worked out well that I managed to get the gels in with almost perfect timing. I feel properly fueled through the whole of the race.

It was a gun timed race so I expect my official time to be 56 minutes and change. The first couple hundred yard involved me running with the pack and getting my iPod started. Once I got this managed, I stepped off the path, away from the pack and onto the grass and I was off. I decided to push the pace for the first mile or so and see how it felt: It felt great.

The first mile is a short out and back that brings us back by the start and finish and just like last year, the crowd was very high energy. The music was perfect, if you can't run for a cheering crowd with Eye of the Tiger filling your ears, you are going to have problems. From that point on the race was pretty predictable and solitary. As far as I could tell, there was only one person keeping my pace and she was about 10 yards in front of me. Sadly, she got a stitch in her side somewhere around mile five and had to walk it out.

With the finish line in sight, I decide to put out everything I had left. Within 30 feet of the line, my left hamstring seized up and pain shot up the back of my leg. I decided that with only that much left to go, if I've torn it, I've torn it and kept running hard. I think I strained it pretty well going at speeds I wasn't adequately trained for but it already feels a lot better.

Thanks to everyone for all the love and support. I had a song on my playlist specifically to remind me that I never run alone.

The ultimate runners

hekidanjo — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 11:35:20 GMT

Kenyans vs. Antelope
Running, it's what the human body was built for.

Now I'm off to do some of my own.
No antelopes will be harmed.
I hope.

First road race since the injury

hekidanjo — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 13:25:37 GMT

I'm so looking forward to tomorrow. The DUI Association is running their annual 10k and I'm registered and excited. Their members are passionate about the cause so they show up to events en masse and cheer the runners on with enthusiasm. This race totally defines race day magic.

I have no idea if a PR is in the cards. The weather forecast is, dew point and relative humidity will both be high. Hopefully the forecasted cloud cover and low temperatures will help.

On last night's run, I decided to give it a good kick for the last ~400m and I was happy. At the end of 4 miles averaging 10:30 min/mile I managed to hit 6:35 min/mile. I don't think I could sustain that for much more than a quarter mile but it's good to see some serious speed. To manage an official (as in wearing a bib while doing it) PR, I will need to average under 10:30. If I want to bring the race in under an hour, I'll have to average 9:36. We'll see what happens :-)

Seriously Endurance Racing

hekidanjo — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 12:38:50 GMT

The Warrior Dash really has been an epiphany for me.
In my quest for higher mileage, I had been trying to prove something to myself, that I could be as good as I was. That while the past years of obesity might be lost to me, the present and the future could be as good. As the knee injury pointed out, I really "ain't as good as I once was." As a 44 year old me, my body takes longer to recover from workouts and piling on the miles is hard to do without risk.

Something that requires a lesser specific level of fitness but higher general fitness and substantial mental resolve OTOH... this is exactly what I need. The more I look at the Spartan Sprint the more excited I get. Yesterday I realized that there are no aid stations. Participants are pretty well on their own. If you aren't fit and confident in that fitness before the race, you will be when you get your medal.

So, while I haven't given up on traditional races, it won't be my focus for a bit. I have a 10k on Saturday and I might run a half in the fall (far cry from my original aggressive schedule) but my primary focus is in doing the Sprint and assessing the possibility of a Super Spartan.

Which means, more biking (among other things) and Doreen now has a road worthy bike, so it's something we can do together.

Any questions?

hekidanjo — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:15:03 GMT

Next stop, Spartan Sprint.
These races are one way to ensure I become stronger, fitter and a better rounded athlete.

Chicks dig scars

hekidanjo — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 03:27:05 GMT

So the Warrior Dash is over and I must say, that was some fun.
Four hours in the car alone fun? Maaaaybe not. If I do it again, I'll need a posse.

I arrived on scene a bit early, got my bib number, shirt and spiffy hat. Yes, hat. There is an official hat. You can have one too! Anyway, bag check was a monster. Too few people, too many bags and too small signage. Ohyea! Playing in the mud means me with no glasses. So I got my hat and shirt checked because getting back to the parking area would be a half hour round trip and once I got settled the 2:30 wave was starting to line up and I was on at 3:00. Soooo, I get my timing chip out and realize that it's both disposable AND a pain in the ass "unlace your shoe halfway." If you are going to give me a disposable chip, what's wrong with a D-Tag? Oh and this unlacing process happens in the mud so I'm fighting with to re-lace the shoe with muddy laces. I get to the middle of the pack and with much loud noise and fire, yes real fire, we are off. The first bit is just a trail run. It's wet and sloppy with roots and rocks but nothing challenging. We run through the castle and crawl through the tunnel and the mud starts to get thick...and deep AND REALLY DEEP.

Where the hell is my left shoe?

So I sit down to try to force my muddy appendage into a muddy coverage with muddy success. In retrospect, I think I was just going a wee bit too fast and Pascal's Law said "Oh yea!?! MY SHOE!" With the shoe back on we came to the Teetering Traverse. You run up a sloped plank until you are about 6 feet in the air, walk across another plank and down a third one. Remember that mud in my shoe? I have NO traction at all and pretty much make it to the top before my feet go out from under me. I catch myself, still fail to get traction and humiliatingly traverse the obstacle on all fours. The bruise from catching myself is epic. My palm hurts like hell, my forearms has interesting stripes and as for my upper arm...

Almost immediately we come to low wallS. Yes, with an S, lots of S. The "Barricade Breakdown" is half a dozen sequences of "climb a sheer 5" wall, crawl under barbed wire." None of this is challenging until you do it half a dozen times quickly...with mud in your shoe and the palm of your hand screaming in pain still. Then there was a nice run through a small creek that mostly fixed the mud in the shoe issue...mostly.

They ran us into a spider web of bungees and the most dangerous thing was the other runners. As you weave your way over and under these things if someone lets go of one at a bad moment, you will have an interesting bruise to show. Happily being bigger than most, I just stomp them all down and win. The next three obstacles are all water. The "Deadweight Drifter" where you have to hurdle logs while crossing a lake was removed for some reason so it turned into: Run across a like, run up a river and run through more mud. Ooookie dokey! Mud skippers r' us!

Then The Great Warrior Wall appeared out of the woods. Holy barking guppies Batman. In the course description, this is depicted as being the same type of wall as the ones we had hurdled before. In a word, no. This wall is 20+ feet tall and utterly vertical. There are knotted ropes coming down the side and some fairly narrow strips of wood to get purchase with your feet. At this point I don't know what I have left so I try not to let this one get in my head while I wait for the person in front of me to scale it. Up was actually surprisingly easy. Once I got halfway up, fear took over and I was up in a hurry...yes dear readers, I am afraid of heights. I've overcome it to do feats of derring do before but let's just say my attempt at helping the mother in law with some shingles was kinda sad. So, 20 feet up a wall and I throw my leg over into...air. Oh well damn! There are bigger, easier to get to foot holds but no rope! Since I was going up like a frightened rabbit, I went over the wall head first looking for a hand hold. No hand hold and I'm dangling off the back of the wall. It probably really only took a couple of seconds to reorient and move on down but it seemed like a long time.

Then there are tires to run through, cars to run over and more tires to run through. It was a little hairy since I had to clip the trunk of the final car in the next lane to get down safely. It seems that I chose the lane with the minivan. So that left me with a drop off the roof of a minivan into uncertain footing...not on your life! The guy shot me a dirty look but it's not like I got in his way. He was just pissy I was on "his" car. Next they sent us to climb some cargo nets. Once you've done this and know that the trick is to keep your feet close to the knots, it's cake.

The final two challenges are the ones that get all the press. Coming off the cars you have to put on a burst of speed because you are jumping over fire. Wheeeee! and then face first into the mud pit! The introduction the mud pit isn't so bad. I was running at speed from the fire so when the drag of the mud hit my shins, I levered into the water face first. The mud at this end is deep and thick. So a float/swim action serves well. Halfway through the mud gets a bit more shallow and you realize that the bottom of the mud pit is jagged gravel. So I'm shredding my knees and elbow and there is this urge to try to get my feet underneath me but the barbed wire over my head discourages this idea.

In the end I have NO idea how long that took (results should be tomorrow) but given some of the difficulties and other runners, I'm not sure I could improve the time more than a few minutes even if I was running at my best. So I have a nifty medal and a bib that looks like it went through hell. The course was fun but the people I met on the course were what made it really worth doing. Lots of silliness, no one was really worried about a time so much as having a GOOD time and maybe pushing out of their comfort zone a bit...Fight Club in running shoes.

UPDATE: 1:00:18 finish time. That puts me #365 out of 561 for my age group. Considering my missteps, I'm very happy with it.

Oh and I teased on FB that there was more. There is. Since I came out the other side of this without any running injuries, I'm moving forward with my running coach certification. The RRCA program is coming to Harrisburg and I am signed up.

Someone forgot to lock the gate

hekidanjo — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 18:13:46 GMT

It's been a while since I did a more factual running post so, here we go!
This Saturday is the Warrior Dash and I am STOKED! I've seen some video and it looks like a lot of people go at the course slowly, methodically and try not to get overly muddy, tired or wet. Screw that!

This weekend was another confidence builder. Sunday I was bone tired. Friday night/Saturday morning had Doreen and I in the ER. She is doing well but the kidney stone had her in some fairly tremendous pain. for my end of it, very little sleep was to be had. I rose and shined...well I kind fell out of bed and put on my shoes. Sadly I forgot that Sunday was Harrisburg's "Tour de Belt." A bike rally that occupied some of the same space where I usually run. I decided to stick to my loop because hey! I share the road with bikers all the time. Forgetting that if 1 in 100 is an asshole, that's 10 people who are going to think it's funny to buzz me or never really had much control over their bike to begin with. Once I got past them it was a nice run. A little humid but a nice day on the whole. I had planned for 9 miles but I realized that I had miscalculated and that would mean almost a full mile walk back to my car, so I ran another half mile. I was SO tempted to just keep running but pushing myself overmuch and skimping on the cooldown contributed to the injury but I know full well that 10 would have been fairly trivial to do.

This means I can safely train for a half-marathon this year! After the Warrior Dash (since there is a fair chance I could find a way to injure myself while running it) I will start looking at more structured training and start picking out events.

For those interested in the high tech nerdy details, I have those.

As for the subject of the post, that comes from a birthday card from my friend/coworker. She has heard me say why I enjoy running so I got a card telling me to "Celebrate like someone forgot to lock the gate" with this picture. Heck yea!

Fear and Zorba

hekidanjo — Mon, 30 May 2011 22:37:31 GMT

What a weekend. I got my first *real* long run logged. It's less than half what I was doing but it's good enough to put in a solid 10k tomorrow if I wanted and it shows that I'm only a month or so from half-marathon shape. It means a lot more than that to me. It's about confidence. I've preached about self-efficacy before but there is the other end of that spectrum, fear. It's true that only the astoundingly ignorant don't know fear but fear also holds us back, in this particular case, fear of REALLY wrecking the knee held me back. I've been aware past the point where it is good when I run. Every little twinge or pop messed with my stride and messed with my head, it's hard to believe I can when myr body and mind are conspiring to make me remember what happened last time I logged some longer mileage. Yesterday's eight miles were crucial for reclaiming my confidence. I ran without music...just to be very tuned to what an hour and a half of running feels like. On a flat bit of pavement after the turn around I realized that the fear that had been living in my shoes the past two months was gone. To steal from Frank Herbert, where the fear has gone there is nothing. Only I remain.

There really is more to running than just running for me and that makes me so happy. The Art of Manliness recently started a series called: "The Cure for the Modern Male Malaise: The 5 Switches of Manliness" The premise thus far does cover a lot of what I personally feel is required to be a happy and fulfilled man. Having only fairly recently come back to having physicality in my life, I crave it now. There is something primal, empowering and cleansing to my soul to ask more than my body is comfortable giving. This was what I was having a bit of trouble fully articulating when I was distraught over a possible run-less future. I know ellipticals are great exercise and bikes offer great recreation and sport but running is very much an Iron John thing for me...I need to connect with my wild man to feel whole.

In other news, I now own a bike carrier and may well find more biking in my future. I still hope to get to the point where I'm comfortable commuting that way. I'm currently reading To Be A Runner and finding it good for the soul. I might have to get it in a "dead tree" edition. To not spur myself to more overtraining stupidity, I've set my marathon ambitions aside and Martin Dugard explains at length why Marathons are cool but just running is much, much cooler. I've installed some SuperFeet Green insoles and now that I've gotten used to them, I hate to say it but I like them. I'm noticing a difference at the end of the runs when I wear them. I'm less fatigued and the joints aren't sore. I also picked up The Stick. This kicks a foam roller right in the butt. It will find a trigger point almost instantly with a resulting outcry of seriously profane language...and I'll be using it after every run now.

Writer's Block: Revenge of the midnight movie

hekidanjo — Thu, 26 May 2011 13:37:17 GMT

Currently, Repo! The Genetic Opera.
This movie far exceeded my expectations and is orders of magnitude more awesome than any movie with Paris Hilton has any business being.

hekidanjo — Wed, 25 May 2011 18:41:41 GMT

So now I'm reaching the end of this little guide. It's about how I roll at Walt Disney World.

Let me confess that WDW is the perfect storm for me. The food is (if chosen well) wonderful, the people are friendly and it has hooks deep into happy memories of my childhood where every Sunday evening was greeted this way (note the not so subtle advertising).

Just about the time I was set to outgrow Disney, my mom interceded. She took me to see Mary Poppins in a theater. I really didn't want to go, I told her so, loudly but she cheerfully insisted that I would enjoy myself. She promised. My mother doesn't promise lightly so I went...and sat there slack jawed for 139 minutes not particularly caring that it was a “kiddie” movie. Frankly, now hope I never get too old for magic.

Each time Doreen and I decide to go to Disney, the same set of monetary questions and answers that I outlined are gone through. I do an extra set of math as well. We look at what we might like to eat and get average prices, see which restaurants are counted as “table-service” and which are “signature” to see if it will finally be cheaper to stay on property. It's still not worked out that way...I think if we rented a child perhaps. Once we have decided that it's doable, it moves quickly. The air reservations are made. It's always AirTran because they offer very cheap non-stop flights from Harrisburg to Orlando. We then use travel sights to quickly compare rental car rates and then make the reservations directly through the rental company. We've not found any substantially cheaper package deals and the hassle that not being able to talk directly to the airline or rental company can (and have) cause makes the couple of dollars worth it. We also have a favorite hotel that's cheap and comfortable and has always had a room. If you want the name, I'll give that out more privately. An open journal and it may not stay cheap and available. :-)

It bears mentioning that if you haven't started a walking program, now is the time. Expect to cover an average of 10 miles a day on foot doing Disney.

Then we also make our park visit plan. We like fall for a couple of reasons. The crowds are fairly low AND Food & Wine Festival. I'm going to go back and edit the planning section to talk about special events but this is our favorite. Not being peak season, this means special attention must be paid to Fantasmic. We have yet to manage to catch this show and it is supposed to be spectacular beyond human language. This year, I think we have it! Then, like I outlined we look at where we will be eating. I'll give a run down of some of my favorites.

Jiko – Amazing seasonal food with an African flare. This restaurant is off the monorail and a “signature” restaurant so it counts as two meals on the dining plan. As a result it's a nice, quiet place to enjoy an amazing dinner.

California Grill – This is fine dining like it can be done no where else. It overlooks the Seven Seas Lagoon so if you time your dinner correctly, the fireworks happen right outside. They pipe in the music and dim the lights. Worth every penny...but it's a LOT of pennies.

~~'Ohana – Delicious and plentiful. Grilled meat, lots of variety and piles and piles of stuff to eat, it's almost comical.~~ They have made some changes to the menu that I've downgraded this to "average."

'50s Prime Time Cafe – This is pure childish fun. The waitress takes the role of your mom in a 50s TV show, the décor is straight out of any kitchen from one of those shows. The meatloaf is good and you WILL get barked at if you put your elbows on the table. Doreen's big ole smile says it all.

Coke Club Cool – This isn't a restaurant but it has free samples of Coke products from around the world. Try the Beverly soda. :-)

Joy of Tea – This is a small beverage stand outside of China serving strawberry oolong tea and mango green tea slushies. Delicious and damned cold.

Kringla Bakeri og Cafe – Where you can get a good sammich and School Bread. Think of a less sweet doughnut filled with a cinnamon flavored chantilly cream with coconut on top.

Coral Reef – The seafood is fresh, the drinks glow and you are eating next to one of the largest salt water aquariums in the world. All this and it only counts as one table service. The bad news is that it makes it insanely popular.

Restaurant Marrakesh – Moroccan food with amazing décor and a live band with a belly dancer.

San Angel Inn – Unremarkable Mexican food with amazing atmosphere. Think dining outdoors during a night time fiesta.

Honorable Mention: Sunshine Seasons – It's very ordinary cafeteria food BUT it's cool, centrally located, has cold beverages and plenty of seating. Never underestimate the value of a cool place to sit and drink in WDW. (Edit: The food has improved considerably. I now recommend this place whole heatedly for some good solid food at a fairly reasonable price.

Avoid! Anything with a fricking hot dog. If you are going to pay $20 for a hot dog, bag of chips and a drink why not get something GOOD? Double secret avoid! ABC Commissary. The one and only failmeal I had at Disney. Behold! A gray burger.

Rides I love (Note, darn near everything is worth riding...these are just my faves)

Space Mountain – Still love it. It's slow, it's dated and looks a bit...cheap after the refurb but it's something that connects with happy times.

Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor – Amazing display of technology and very entertaining.

The Haunted Mansion – The best old-time darkride EVER and happily mostly unmessed with since. Don't go to Disney without visiting Gracey Manor.

Mickey's PhilharMagic – Disney animation and music in 4d. If you don't love the Disney music, skip this.

Dinosaur - For only moving at 5mph, this is amazingly fun and terrifying.

Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – Just inhale and scream. The random nature of the ride and a car falling faster than terminal velocity make this a primal experience.

Toy Story Mania - One of the finest rides Disney has ever made. It's a 4D nod to old time carnival arcades. The line is huge with good reason. Get here at rope drop or you will miss out.

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith – A neat premise and an astonishingly fast ride. When Steven Tyler screams in your ear “ARE YOU READY TO ROCK!?!” assume the ride will deliver.

Mission: SPACE – This one can be ridden to the point of boredom but it's a fully immersive simulation of being shot into space and it features Gary Sinise as your mission controller. Courage Wolf says: Orange Team or go home!

Soarin' – Every day should begin with this ride. It's 4...hell maybe 5 D due to the depths of effects to make you believe you are now hang gliding over California. It's serene, peaceful and gorgeous and it even smells terrific.

Other stuffs

Behind The Seeds – The interesting/yawful ride Living With The Land winds through some unique experiments in agri/aquaculture and this is a tour of what all is going on with one of the people working there. If sustainable agriculture interests you at all...this is a great tour.

Main Street Electrical Parade – As soon as I hear an electronic voice saying “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, Disney proudly presents our spectacular festival pageant of nighttime magic and imagination in thousands of sparkling lights and electo-sythomagnetic musical sounds: The Main Street Electrical Parade.” I am a child again. Come early and stake a claim on the curb. People become outrageous assholes in trying to get in your way.

There are so many other little tips I could give but there reaches a point where you are just following my tour instead of creating your own magic. I will leave you with one lesser known easter egg in Epcot that always delights. As you make your way around the World Showcase, there is a place called The Outpost. It's an island vibe with no particular country attached to it. There are some old and weathered looking Coke coolers with chipped paint, rust and writing in languages decidedly not English as part of the set dressing. Go tug on the handle and get your face down in it. You'll be glad you did. If you want spoilers, I'll put it in the comments but I'll leave it here for some discovery.