Like the previous model, what I like most about the Aftershokz Sportz M2 is the open ear design.  It makes it easy to listen to audio with the headphones and hear environmental sounds without too much trouble. When running, I could easily hear books or music without a problem, except when there was an exceptionally loud truck next to me or a siren from a firetruck was blaring as it passed by. Since those are extreme circumstances, they were perfect for running and keeping aware of local circumstances.

Using the Aftershokz for the first time does take some adjustment, since it is a different listening experience than most people are used to. After the adjustment period, the sound has a slightly muddled quality than other headphones, since it’s being transmitted via bone conduction rather than the ears, but when running, sound quality is not the top priority and it sounds quite good when on out running. The sound quality is noticeably better than the previous model, and could quite possibly be on par with regular headphones within a few iterations.

The Aftershokz Sportz M2 have a band that loops behind the head and holds the speaker pads in place in front of the ears. The Sportz M2 never slipped or moved the entire time I ran with them.  The only times I have had to move or adjust them were when people tried to talk to me while I was wearing them and I removed them to remove the distraction when talking.

The Aftershokz Sportz M2 battery box

A single wire hangs down from the headband to a small battery box to power the headphones. Compared to the previous model, the battery box is more solid and sturdier. It uses hard plastic buttons to control volume and phone control button, and a solid on/off switch.  My only problem with it is the same problem I had previously, where there is a short wire from the headband to the battery box and a long wire leading out. Since I run with my iPod nano in my pocket, I need to clip the box into the collar of my shirt, but if someone ran with their iPhone/iPod on an armband, it is the perfect length for that.

The previous model of the Aftershokz used a dongle that went from USB to the headphone plug to charge, but the Sportz M2 have added a micro USB port to the battery box. This is a major improvement over a dongle that can easily be lost and was wider than the USB port, so nothing could be plugged in next to it.

Aftershokz has taken their sports headphones and made them even better with the Sportz M2. The cable length on the Aftershokz is still a minor issue for me, but the Aftershokz Sportz M2 have taken my preferred exercise headphones and made them even better.

While my normal LEGO TARDIS is over 12″ tall, the micro TARDIS is about 2.5″ from top to bottom. By creating this smaller TARDIS, I could talk about the book and build creations while talking. This allowed me to talk about my book, my LEGO creations, and answer any questions that attendees may have. Between building Mario, Link and five TARDISes, time flew by at the Apress table in the expo hall.

Me at the Apress Books booth

When all was said and done, I had built five TARDISes to promote the book. Each was given to someone who had an interest in the book and what I was doing (and one was given to Apress), some of whom I only asked for a picture in return for the TARDIS. One of the people I gave the TARDIS to was someone from the UK Embassy, who took a picture of the TARDIS with a statue of Winston Churchill when they returned to Washington DC (and they also republished the photo during the season premiere of Doctor Who Saturday night).

I have decided to make some of the TARDISes available in my Etsy store if anyone wishes to have a LEGO micro TARDIS of their own to travel through space and time with, or if they just want to find out if it is larger on the inside. In the meantime, the book progresses apace, and I look forward to having it available so others can build some of my LEGO creations.

Micro TARDIS with the full sized LEGO TARDIS

Micro TARDIS with Winston Churchill

While the other cars had been seen before, or at least were known of, the Camaro Z/28 was unveiled as a complete surprise to the crowd.  The Z/28 takes it’s name from a classic line of muscle cars under the Camaro name, and it appears to live up to its lineage. The Camaro SS I borrowed in Florida this past January was a pretty powerful car to begin with, but they took it and made it leaner and mightier to bring it closer to its race track brethren.

By lightening the weight and giving it a more powerful engine, the Z/28 edges out the SS. It has a more aerodynamic package to reduce lift and everything possible was done to make the car lighter – by 300 pounds. The windshields were made of thinner glass, the carpets were removed from the trunk, sound deadeners were removed,  air conditioning is not standard (but is an option), and even the speakers were removed – except one, since they needed it for the seatbelt indicator.

While I am not the most savvy of car enthusiasts, from the details they outlined, the engine is more powerful and the brakes are tighter for better acceleration, tighter turning and faster braking. Unfortunately, I can’t go more in depth than that due to my lack of knowledge about what the engine details mean, and I would just be quoting a press release without knowing what it all means.

I loved driving the Camaro around Florida, but it seems like it is just a shadow compared to what the Z/28 is. While I may not know what all the technical details mean, I do know that this is one powerful car that is street legal, track ready and something I’d really like to try driving.

My pictures from Chevy can be seen below. To see other pictures from the auto show, check out my picture set on Flickr.

We entered Central Park on the east side and lined up in our corrals in anticipation of the run ahead, many of us dressed in green to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. At 7:30am, the first runners crossed the start line and we were off. The first six miles of the race were a loop around Central Park. Having run the park many times while training with Team Determination, I knew it well and still dreaded the hills that I knew were along that part of the course. Feeling good, I was able to make it through relatively well before turning off onto Seventh Avenue.

Leaving the park felt good as we headed south and the lights of Times Square loomed ahead of us. The most exhilarating part of the race was passing the Tks Tks booth and running en masse through this historic part of New York City.  At the corner of 42nd street and 7th Avenue, Team Determination had a cheering station – that included Joey and Jessica – and it was great to see friends cheering me on more than halfway through the race.

Turning west on 42nd street led us onwards to the west side highway. A nice open run south on the highway was nice, but it was there that spending over a week at SXSW started catching up with me and I started losing steam. I kept pushing myself as hard as I could, but it was tough. At the 12 mile mark, one of my Determination teammates caught up with me and it was good to run with her for the last mile, since it took my mind off the running and pushed me on to a strong final mile.

When all was said and done, my time was 2:08:23. Looking back, this was my third best time for a half marathon overall. I owe it all to the training I got with Team Determination and look forward to training with them again for this year’s marathon, so I can use that training to push myself even further and do even better in my future races.

It was a cold, dreary, snowy day that early Sunday morning, but we all arrived in anticipation of our four mile run. The 25 degree weather felt warmer as the race started and we moved up the east side of the park, starting around 68th st. We headed up past the reservoir to 104th st before heading west and back down the west side of the park to finish on the opposite side of where we started.

The nice thing about this course is that although there was some hills, we avoided most of the larger hills in Central Park. When all was said and done, my final time was 32:47. I generally don’t know my best times for shorter races, but with an average of 8:12 per mile, it was my best recorded time for a single mile in a race longer than a mile. So no matter how cold it was, I was still able to PR on that cold February day.

As I was leaving my family and heading towards the highway, I stopped at a red light. A woman pulled up next to me and started waving her arms to get my attention. When I looked over, she mouthed to me between the two plates of glass that she loved my car. I smiled and gave her the thumbs up before taking off with the light. It was nice to see what a reaction it was getting as I was hitting the road.

Florida is a flat state and the highways don’t have much curve to them, so I was able to open up and feel the power of the 426 horsepower engine. Easy acceleration and tight handling were put to use as I made my way through traffic on Interstate 95 and Florida’s Highway. A comfortable, smooth ride from my family to Walt Disney World that passed faster than I would have thought, and felt faster than my previous drives up through the Sunshine State.

The Camaro was equipped with the latest in Chevy technology, including the MyLink and OnStar. MyLink was great for listening to my iPhone, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, talking using the car’s bluetooth, and using the built-in GPS navigation system for finding my destinations all week, but the MyLink was a bit complex to figure out initially. Since I only had the car for a week and was more interested in getting to my destinations than taking the time to read the manual, I had trouble at times getting it to do what what I wanted initially.

Of course, once I was at Walt Disney World, I needed to visit the Test Track in EPCOT, which was sponsored by Chevrolet. Configuring concept cars, then “testing them out” on a track that swerves indoors then pushes you 60-70mph outdoors was a fun ride, followed by different areas in the pavilion to create your own car, test the car you “test drove” in other areas, and a showroom to see the latest cars available from Chevy. There were even a few green screen picture stations, and the only one with a line was to take a picture with a yellow Camaro.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and I had to return to New York. I returned the car with some hesitation, but an airplane was waiting for me and the silver convertible had to go back to its rightful owners. The Chevrolet Camaro was fun to drive, especially on those flat, open highways on a Thursday afternoon, and I hope to drive one again some time.

Normally, a runner takes a week off to rest their body to prepare for a marathon because of how rough running a marathon is on the body. It’s generally frowned upon to run hard right before a marathon for that reason, but I wanted to do it to prove to myself I could. I planned to take the half marathon easier and go slower than I normally do then try to my best at the marathon, but I didn’t entirely account for the heat.

The Walt Disney World Half Marathon began at 5:30am Saturday morning, with my corral starting at 5:49am. The course for the half marathon was the same as it has been in previous years. We started running outside EPCOT and headed north towards the Magic Kingdom in the narrow roads that forced us all to run a bit too close together and the air to steam up. Running about five miles until we reached the backstage area and turned onto Main Street and ran towards Cinderella’s Castle before turning off towards Tomorrowland. We ran through Tomorrowland, into Fantasyland and turned to run through Cinderella’s Castle. After the traffic jam at the front of the castle, it was a run into Liberty Square and the backstage area on the other side to run back down to EPCOT, with a run around Spaceship Earth and back out to the finish line. Even at an intentionally slower pace and the heat that was heading to 80 degrees as I finished, I was able to run it in 2:23:44.

The next morning, it was back out to run again for the Walt Disney World Marathon for the new 20th anniversary route. Starting outside EPCOT at 5:49am again, it started with a repeat of the half marathon course. A five mile run again to the Magic Kingdom, around the same parts and out the backstage behind Liberty Square. Once we reached mile 8, the first new change to the route came about as we ran onto the race track of the Exotic Driving Experience. It was while I was on the race track, ringed by classic and sports cars, that the sun began to come up and it got hotter. It was another three miles to the Animal Kingdom and I was starting to feel the heat. Running through the Animal Kingdom before heading out towards the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.

I was feeling worn down as we weaved through the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, including a lap around the track down there. It was about three miles through the complex and as we headed out and rounded a corner, we could see the big celebration that was planned for the 20th anniversary. Giant puppets with people strapped in were dancing and moving with the music, but it was enough to give me the second wind I needed. I was able to pick up my pace for the final six miles that led to and through Disney’s Hollywood Studios and another two miles to EPCOT. A run through the different countries and around to the futurist part, past Spaceship Earth and out to the finish line. Even with the heat and wear from the half marathon, I was still able to complete it in 5:02:22 – about 20 seconds slower than my NYC marathon time but almost 5 minutes faster than my performance at the Walt Disney World Marathon the year before.

Even with the heat and the back to back races, I was happy with my time and proved I could do it. I’m sure I would have done better if it wasn’t over 80 degrees both days (we left the Magic Kingdom early Saturday afternoon because of the heat), but now that I have completed it, I need to decide on my next running goal…

The only things required are an Apple computer running OS X 10.7 or later, a USB cord and CarrierEditor. The first step is to download the latest version of CarrierEditor from its website at http://uhelios.com/downloads/ . Once it downloads, open the .dmg file and run the CarrierEditor application. If it warns you that it is from the big, scary Internet, click Open. Once you’re running CarrierEditor, it’s fairly simple to use.

1) Get Started

Let’s get started and click the Let’s Get Started button!

2) Get Your Carrier Number

On your iPhone, go to your Settings and tap General then tap About. Scroll down until you see Carrier and will have your carrier’s name followed by a number, like 13.3. Take that number, add a number to the decimal, and enter it into the field in CarrierEditor and click Next.

3) Select Your Phone and Carrier

In the first drop down, select whether you have an iPhone or iPad. In the second drop down, select your carrier (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc.). If your carrier or phone are not listed, then CarrierEditor currently does not currently support your phone. Sorry, but that’s the way the iPhone crumbles. Once you do find your phone and carrier, click Next.

4) Inserting the Images

Now comes the important part, selecting your graphics. You can make your own or choose to use the ones that came with CarrierEditor. There’s a folder with a selection of potential icons – including the Aperture Science, Decepticon and Apple logos – if you don’t want to make your own. Drag the plain white logo to the top box and the white logo with the black edges to the second box, so that both type of bars, gray and black, have carrier logos. Once you have your logo there, click the Compile Carrier Update button to build the .icpp file.

5) Installing the .icpp File

The .icpp file will be saved to the desktop with your real carrier’s name and carrier number (the file name will be on the confirmation screen). Go to iTunes and select the phone. Hold down the option/alt key and click Restore. This will not actually restore the phone, it will bring up a window to select the restore file, but instead of using a real restore file, select the .icpp file you created and open it.

6) Look At Your Phone!

That’s it! You’re all done. The new icon has replaced and your phone has been customized without having to jailbreak your phone at all.

On December 15, the Ted Corbitt 15K was run around Central Park. Named for the founding president  of the New York Road Runners, the 9.3 mile race is the second to last race of the 2012 calendar year, with only the New Year’s Eve run to come after. The route for the race is two loops around Central Park, the first a five mile loop starting at East 66th street and going up to 102nd street before heading west and running down to 61st street. Heading back east and up to 102nd street again before turning at 71st street and finishing in the middle of the park.

Although I often run races in headphones and tend to focus on running, it was good to see a couple of my Team Determination teammates on the course. Around mile 8, I saw Yuan-Chien Yang and Vishal Desai. The three of us didn’t completely run in sync together, between keeping different paces and the water stops, but we pushed each other to finish strong. At the finish, we saw fellow teammate Carolann Treacy (who I also saw prior to the race) and got to celebrate the end of the race season together with bagels and Gatorade.

With the completion of the Ted Corbitt 15K, my NYRR 9+1 for the 2013 was completed. Even with the guaranteed entry with the marathon cancelation, I have the 9+1 as a backup, which will allow me to defer the marathon cancelation to a future marathon, should I choose to use it instead of running the 9+1. Until then, my races are done until 2013.

Like last year, the Jingle Bell Jog looped around Prospect Park in Brooklyn – with bells on. Our feet tinkled with the bells strapped to our feet as we ran out on Centre Drive and did a loop around the full length of the park before returning onto Centre Drive to finish our four mile run and for hot chocolate.

Although the day was gray and dreary, the run itself was quite good and felt good to be back out racing. I was able to do it in 33:56, a decent 8:29 average per mile. The status of things between this year and next year’s marathon may be up in the air, that won’t stop me from continuing to run races and look forward to future races, including next year’s NYC Marathon!