Speak Into the Mike

Movember 09 - Day 01

noreply@blogger.com (themikestand) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:19:00 +0000

Movember 09 - Day 01
Originally uploaded by themikestand

It's Movember, people!

This is how I look (well, not quite so surprised, perhaps) the other 11 months of the year. At least on weekdays.

I have lofty goals this year of having a moustache that people will actually take notice of, but in my heart, I know this is unlikely.

The campaign this year also has me doing more coordinating for the Halifax Area (see the blog I put up)which will get its very first Gala Parté this year. With help from some volunteers and the fine folks at Prostate Cancer Canada, I know it'll be a hit.

Stay tuned...

Woolen

noreply@blogger.com (themikestand) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Today markes our 7th wedding anniversary (woolens, or copper, and I have no idea why both are applicable gifts), and though we went out on Saturday night for dinner and a movie*, we officially recognized the day with heart-felt, emailed Anniversary wishes. I guess that's what 7 years gives you. It also gives you a litany of historic family related events that you've shared: Births, deaths, disease, apartments, starter-houses with leaky roofs, better houses without leaky roofs, any number of bought and sold automobiles... I could go on (we did, for the record). There was also an abruptly ended conversation about grey hair.
This year, in keeping my traditions of:
1) being the one who gives the gifts but does not receive them, and
2) being the one who only purchases last minute, numbered-anniversary-appropriate gifts,

I gave The Lovely Wife a knit newfoundland fisherman's hat** with a penny sewed into the brim. The penny is for good luck, and it's said that as long as you have the hat, you'll never be broke. I hastily borrowed that little tidbit as my promise to keep her from destitution. She bought it with minimal eye rolling.

Anyway.. if you're reading this: Happy Anniversary, baby.

*I defy you to try and say the former without inadvertantly saying the latter.
** The Lovely Wife is generally allergic to wool, so I opted for something that wouldn't cause major breakouts ***
*** Had I not been adhering to the traditions above (see #2), I might have actually knitted something myself. I'm sure she could use a potholder or coaster of unequal proportions.

Almost Ready for the Highlight Reel

noreply@blogger.com (themikestand) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:59:00 +0000

Eldest son got a taste of the bright lights recently, playing with his team in front of hundreds of adoring fans in the 1st intermission of the Halifax Mooseheads game. This was their first taste of ice in the biggest arena in the province, and I wish I could show you just how excited they were.

I made this video of the "game", and shared it with the other parents of kids that got to play. Warning: Video depicts a lot of adorable tripping, falling down, and other loveable shenanigans.

(Role of cheering, hollering, annoying Hockey Dad played by yours truly.)

And here is the big boy hockey player with the mascot, Hal.

I have to tell you, I've never pushed this kid into playing hockey, and I don't know if he'll stick with it, but he sure loves it. Also, getting him out of bed at 0545 or 0600 on a weekend to go play hockey is way easier than getting him out of bed on a weekday at 0700 to go to school. I guess the facts speak for themselves.

Valley Harvest Results

noreply@blogger.com (themikestand) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:11:00 +0000

I've said this before, but one thing that keeps me running, biking, and otherwise exerting myself is the fact that I can look at the statistics afterwards and gauge my progress/success. And so the Valley Harvest (Half) Marathon came and went this past weekend. The weather was nice, if a bit chilly in the morning (4C), which complicated my tights vs shorts decision making, but seeing as how I love my CW-X tights and they certainly do not get too warm, I opted for them. I would be in the minority of people wearing tights that day, but so be it.

The course was one I knew quite well, having biked it for several years during the MS Bike Tour. I knew it was rolling hills, with a few ill-placed hills that would earn my ire before the day was out. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Ian-the-Marathoner picked me up, along with Trish and Angela, both running the 5km race that day, at 7:30 and we headed to the fieldhouse at Acadia University in Wolfville. While we got ourselves aquainted with the spandex-clad surroundings and waited for the race time to approach, we found some friends that spanned the boundaries between our two groups (mine and the "runners", that is). I learned that I would know at least another person running the Half, and had forgotten (but would learn afterwards) that The Lovely Wife's boss's wife and son were also running the Half. I also realised that, although I was well prepared for the morning of a race (I enjoyed my oatmeal in a hot bath to start the day, trying to soak away the back pain from the hotel bed), I had forgotten my Nike+, so it would not be making the 13.1 mile journey with me. Just as well; I didn't want to break any frowned-upon rules of MP3 players on the course, and I still had my trusty Timex Ironman watch. Ironperson? Whatever.

We lined up en masse about 15 minutes before the race was to start, and receieved the obligatory pep-talk from the race official and the President of the University. Sponsors were thanked, and one runner was singled out as just about to start his 100th marathon. I applauded appreciatively. The gun went off, and about half a minute later I shuffled over the mat and my shoe chip sang out with that of a thousand other runners.

The course took us around the downtown area before heading out into the hills, which meant more turning while weaving through the crowds. A few runners were really hauling, and I once again struggled to find my pace. Out on the open roads a kilometre later, things started to fall into place and I found a pace (and, if I'm being honest, a well-honed butt in front of me) that I could stick with. And so we run.

Just over 5km into the race, I hear two guys beside me talking about a Garmin watch, so I ask them how our pace is. I'm reassured that we've got a decent pace, in around 7:48 or so per mile. That fits well with my primary goal of bettering my time at the Bluenose Half Marathon (1:50:51), and my stretch goal of 100 minutes (1 hr 40 minutes). I would keep up the conversation and make a new running friend for the day. Peter and I would run to past the turnaround point (just beyond half way), keeping a good pace the whole time, before he went ahead to catch someone else in his sights. Looking back at my stats, I didn't slow down much after he sped up.

The course itself wasn't too bad, and the volunteers and other sideline friends were extremely supportive. Brendan, one of Ian's friends and also a competitive runner, would surface a couple of times and get some not-too-flattering shots of me cresting hills and rounding corners. Still, he said I looked fairly energetic for the pace I was keeping.

I neglected to take my desired split times with me on a sheet of paper (or on the back of my hand, which I saw someone else with), but I knew I was going to be pretty close to my stretch goal, and as long as I kept things below 5 minutes per kilometer, I would get a personal best on this run.

My splits looked like this:

And I would dive into the chute knowing that I was close to my stretch goal. I had no idea just how close, however, until I saw the time on the finish line as 1:40:XX. Briefly dismayed, I plugged on, not realising that my chip time was going to be about 30 seconds better than the gun time displayed on the line.

Final Time: 1:39:48

Final Placing: 96/662, 30/92 for age group (M3039), 4:46 average pace/km.

I beat my stretch goal by 12 seconds. And boy, was I proud of that. Check out me and my adoring fans:

Ian would finish the marathon in 3:12:16 with a 4:35/km pace overall (I KNOW. WTF.), just missing the Boston Qualifying Time by two minutes. Sad, but I guess that means he'll be running another marathon for sure if he wants to eventually run Boston. I think I'll do some training with him, as my training plan gets a little dull after a while. Just not those 35km runs. No, thank you very much.

And that brings my 2009 Half Marathons to an end. Will I do more in 2010? Probably. I'm thinking next to the Hypothermic Half, here in Halifax, and possibly the Bluenose again. I have a feeling that unless I drop a few (15?) pounds, this personal best will stand for a little while yet. And will I ever train for and take on a Marathon? I'm still not sure, but having two friends just complete marathons makes it quite tempting. But then again, there are a lot of Halfs out there to compete in, plus all those 10k runs... and the duathlons! Really, I could keep myself quite busy without losing my entire Sunday to training and races.

Duathlon? More like Done-athlon.

noreply@blogger.com (themikestand) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 22:26:00 +0000

Today was the day. The weather forecast was for rain, wind, and no shortage of either. The drive down to Riverport had me thinking we might squeeze the event in before the heavy stuff came down, but alas, while standing at the start line, the rain started sprinkling down. Not my favourite way to start out any event (I'd rather actually be moving when I get soaked, that way I don't get the urge to pack it in completely.), but within minutes we were off, and I was jostling for position as I tried to find my stride and my pace. We waved to our friend David, who was competing in the Do-a-Du (1km / 14km / 1km), and who would finish 2nd overall out of 8 competitors.

Stage 1: 4 km Run

I passed a few people and headed for about mid-pack, and a couple of runners passed me. I couldn't tell if I should be running the same pace as them or not, so I figured I would just find a good stride where I could breathe, but knew that I wasn't dogging it in my own pace. When I rounded the first turn-around point, I was running about 8 minutes and change, so I knew I was on target for sub-five minute kilometres. I lost my friend Ian early on, but knew I'd see him on the final run, probably heading back after the turn-around as he's a fast runner, and a better cyclist than I am.

Oh, and as well prepared as I thought I was, I somehow lost my gel, and the piece of clif bar that I had stashed in my back pocket came out about two kilometres into the run. I guess I was going to rough this one.

Stage 1 time: 17:26, 4:22/km

Transition 1

I entered the transition zone quickly and stripped off my shoes, getting a little slowed down by the pesky velcro (seriously, how hard could that have been? It's VELCRO.) on my biking shoes. Total transition time, after getting shoes and helmet on, and stuffing some Clif bar into my mouth, was longer than I'd hoped it would be.

Transition 1 time: 00:01:26

Stage 2: 28 km Ride

I'll preface this by saying I'm not the world's best rider. I'm more of a leisurely rider, a touring guy, and not much of a racer at all. I told myself that for a 28km route, I should aim for an hour long ride. I don't usually ride 30km/hr averages, but the last Duathlon I competed in I managed to squeak out a 27km/hr pace. This time, however, I hadn't factored the rain into things, which at times was a little demoralizing.

I got passed on the flat and in some rolling hills by a couple of cyclists on wayyyy better bikes than mine. I took consolation in the fact that I probably kicked their butts on the opening run. Hey, it helped me a little. About 10-15 km into the ride, we hit a pretty significant hill, and I was passed by 3 or four more cyclists (most on better bikes -- again with the self congratulating on the run). I rounded the last corner with about 10km to go and lost a water bottle. The volunteer who noticed told me not to come back for it, that it would be waiting for me at the end (it wasn't), so I soldiered on.

Twenty-six kilometres in to the ride, I was about done, and my glutes / hamstrings were calling out to me in a way that they never do when I've been running for an hour and ten minutes. I convinced myself to keep spinning, stand up a little to get the blood flow up, and to work on breathing to prepare for the final run. I rolled into the transition zone and flopped off the bike and jogged it back to the rack.

Stage 2 time: 55:04 (including previous transition), 30.4km/hr

Transition 2

I admit it. I kinda messed this one up. I was worried about getting some food and some gatorade, I'd already lost my water bottle, and my legs, at that point, were most unhappy to be jogging alongside my bike, even for the short 10m distance or so. Anyway, I got my biking shoes off, my runners back on and tied up, and took a big squirt of my remaining gatorade. I started to take off, and realised that I still had my helmet on. Uh, oops? I'm sure I didn't look very suave as I removed it and hung it on my handlebars and ran for the mat.

Transition 2 time: 0:58:60

Stage 3: 4 km Run

I was a good kilometre into this run before I felt like I could finish this race feeling okay. A short downhill got me moving, and a longer uphill got me into the groove. I made some comment as I passed another runner about waiting for my body to hit its stride, which in hindsight probably didn't reflect well on me, but mostly I was just complaining about my tired old body at that point.

At about the 1km point, I saw someone I knew coming back on the return leg, and Ian appeared coming toward me two minutes after that. I figure that he was a good 7 or 8 minutes ahead of me at that point, but I took some solace in knowing that he probably wasn't gaining any time on the run, and that he'd made up a little (or a lot) of time on the ride portion.

Stage 3 time: 21:07, 5:17/km. With transition, 22:05, 5:32/km

Overall Time: 1:34:48, 11/16 in age group (Men 30-39), 39th overall (out of 80)

7 Days - It's back!

noreply@blogger.com (themikestand) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:49:00 +0000

Come on by and see the fun!

Rum Runners Update

noreply@blogger.com (themikestand) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:43:00 +0000

The results are in -- I placed 14th in my leg (out of 58), with an average of 7:30/mile or 4:39/km, completing 10.7km in 49:50. The team, runningmania.com, came in 44th with an average pace of 8:48/mile, or 5:28/km.

I got off to a slow uphill start, and took a while to get going and get my lungs to wake up, but leap-frogged my way through the pack to get to where I believed was about the middle.

Another hockey dad, Nathan, and I started out together, but he quickly had to stop to take care of a shoelace, so I lost him for a while. If you clicked on that results link, you'll see that he finished 8 seconds behind me, claiming afterwards that he couldn't catch me on the final hill. I'm telling myself this is the truth. Really I'm amazed that a guy can stop and tie his shoe and still catch up to someone who was probably two minutes ahead. I also knew at least one other person in the race from Halifax Ultimate; someone I passed about halfway through the race. Obviously it takes me a few minutes (or kilometres) to get going.

My Half marathon training plan had me doing 18km on the weekend of this run, but I decided that to commit to that would mean that I wouldn't run as hard in my leg of the race (in terms of my team, I think I had the highest placing in my leg, though I don't think I had the fastest pace time).

I hope that I can stay on this team, or at least be first alternate for next year's. While I did not get to hang around for the whole day to cheer people on, I did enjoy the cameraderie for the time I was there.

And thanks to Steve for getting the picture of me. Not my most glamourous, but hey, it gets the message across.

Rum Runners Relay

noreply@blogger.com (themikestand) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:33:00 +0000

I have managed to get myself onto a team running the Rum Runners Relay this coming weekend. It is a 109km, 10-leg journey from Halifax to Lunenburg, and the event is named in honour of the rum running trade which got its start with the Prohibition Act of 1910. Nova Scotia's complicated and inlet-rich south shore is apparently well suited to sneaking around and smuggling in alcoholic goodness. Somehow, for a group of runners in 1985, running along the shoreline roads got incorporated into the mix and they're still running it every fall.

I have had friends and family run in this relay for years, and as that fits well with my "sign up for anything and everything" year that I seem to be ploughing through, I put my name out there for anyone who said they were on a team and may need a substitute runner.

My Leg
Leg 6 - Hubbards to East River (10.7km) - map at left, or here.

This leg runs from the Hubbards Yacht Club, no stranger to yours truly as we have been sailing out of that very channel for near a decade now (The in-laws, owners of that expensive and energy-intensive boat have been sailing much longer.)

This leg is about average length, from what I can tell, but it shorter than my leg in the Cabot Trail Relay Race (15km). However, this Sunday, I am supposed to be running 18km, according to my Half Marathon Training Schedule, so I may have to throw in some extra miles once I finish and not run on Sunday at all. Sadly, no ipods or mp3 players allowed on the course (it's on a secondary highway with little to no traffic control, so I can't blame them for instituting that rule).

Then, next weekend, I'm signed up to do the Riverport Duathlon (4km run, 28km bike, 4km run), and the weekend after is the Valley Harvest (Half) Marathon. After all those are done, I'm semi-committed to doing the Nike 10k Human Race. October is a busy month.

I think I shall rest a little after that.

My Interview with Under Construction's SRH

noreply@blogger.com (themikestand) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:01:00 +0000

After a lengthy hiatus, we continue with the next instalment in the interview series: This time we meet the craftsman and artist behind Under Construction. I have been following his blog for years, and actually met Scott in person earlier this year, and met him again along with his family a month later when work brought them all to my end of the world. Neither of us could recall how we originally connected, though we conceded it must have been something to do with us both being dads and bloggers (since neither of us were stay-at-homes, the daddyblogger moniker doesn't really fit).

At any rate, Scott is a dedicated dad, blogger, artist, soccer fan, bacon fan, and all around great guy. If you haven't checked out Under Construction, I'm here to tell you that his themes (The Random Alphabet of SRH, 20 Questions Tuesday, his completely rational fear of Yetis and Hippopotamuses, and his "Thing" lists are most amusing).

Here, then, is my interview with Scott.

Tell us a little about your little corner of the internet.

Under Construction is a blog that I hastily threw together almost 5 years ago when I was feeling stifled creatively due to various factors. I started to write to see if I could “bring the funny” even when I was not necessarily inspired to be funny. It is a bit of a daddy blog and a bit of a humor blog and sometimes I display some more artistic endeavors there as well. It is a Jack-of-all-Trades-Master-of-None blog.

Describe for us your blogging "community". Are they all generally parent / personal-bloggers, or do you also hang out in other circles?

I have not really ever looked at my “blogging community” as a community before. Looking at my blogroll most of the blogs there are parent blogs with some geekery thrown in for good measure.

You have a regular column on your own blog called 20 Questions Tuesday, in which you've solicited questions from readers some 140 times and answered intelligently, frankly, and almost always humourously. How do you manage to stay committed and enthusiastic with that project?

Starting out the steps taken were pretty tentative. It has taken some time to get my blogging voice, and occasionally that slips and I have to find it again. 20 Questions Tuesday spawned from a love of mine where I answer questions in real life as correct as possible while still being inanely obtuse. 20 Questions Tuesday has been going on since 18 July 2006 more or less consistently, but there are about 10 previous 20 Questions before it became a regular “feature.” It started out because was having writer’s block, so I scoured the Internets for 20 questions, then I started emailing people who I knew read my blog, and then I reached out to the people I didn’t know who read my blog. Honestly 20 Questions Tuesday is one of the few reasons I am still posting regularly. I get energized by the Q&A process.

What keeps you blogging? Tell us what you get the greatest satisfaction from, and what motivates you most.

I should have read ahead on this questionnaire, I seem to have inadvertently answered this question already. Umm… to be more precise. I love the process of coming up with a topic and waiting to see what my reading community (a community can consist of 4 people, right?) asks. Then the process of answering the questions in a hopefully clever manner and unexpected manner is the icing on that blogging cake.

Life for you has changed a lot in the last six years (kids, jobs, raison d'être...). Has blogging been a mainstay for you through all the turbulence and turmoil?

Not really. Sometimes it has seemed more of a chore than a mainstay, but it does get the creative juices moving, and I need some moving.

Dirty little secret time. Name one blog that you don't tell anyone you regularly read.

Hmmm… This is an interesting question. Hmmm… Most everything is on my Blogroll, There was a blog I read a few years ago where I was unable to look away as someone’s relationship crashed and burned. There are naked bloggers out there and this guy was nekked, which is way worse than naked. For the life of me, I have no idea what the URL for that blog is now. My addiction is Facebook right now.

Possibly related to the previous question: Name 3 bloggers you'd like to meet.

I have met one, that would be you, TheMikeStand (in case you forgot your handle), Riley from All Rileyed Up, Wil Wheaton from WilWheaton.net in Exile, and Dustin from Cotters in my Tummy (even though he is not blogging too much now)

And along those same lines: Which bloggers, if any, do you regularly see in person?

It seems like I see you a helluva lot even though I am in Ohio and you are in Nova Scotia. Other than that I occasionally run into a few Columbus bloggers.

Fill in the blanks: Sometimes I________. But it's okay, because _______.

Sometimes I blank, I just completely lose all ability to write, but it’s okay because 20 Questions Tuesday is never far away.

What do you see as the major hope for the future of blogging?

I think there are some bloggers out there who are making the medium a real useful medium for anecdotal evidence and a nice way to look behind the curtains and see a snapshot of life. If the digital records of these blogs remains for the past to peruse, people in the future will have an unprecedented glimpse into our lives and times. As far as the hope, other than a nice digital archeological/anthropological record… I would say that the consistency of the big name bloggers out there is making this medium viable. The Dooces, the Huffington Posts, Boing Boing, Lifehacker, etc…even though they are the “past” of blogging, they are also subsequently the future.

Conversely, what could signal the beginning of its demise?

I think the days of everyone and their brother having a blog have already come and gone, so in many ways the Horn Resounding has already sounded. That being said I think the easiness for people to lose all sense of civility on the Net will end up being a possible death knell for blogging in general. Politcial blogs don’t seem to survive without being unabashed wing-nuttery, and that unfortunate truth seems to lead blogs that try to be informational or topical to more of the fringe. For example, religious blogs tend to be super-religious… there seems to be very little area for the middle of the ground on the Internet (and be popular Internet-wise) since the landscape is so polarized.

A lot of bloggers are getting into side projects: books, user-submission blogs (postsecret, cakewrecks, passive-aggressive notes, etc.) Do you have any side projects you'd like to talk about/ announce?

Nope, nothing the works. I am sure I could have a nice 300+ pager if I just compiled all the 20 Questions posts into one work, but there really is not a market for that other than my own interest in re-reading.

Give us a picture of yourself?

(Ed: See? Doesn't he look happy? You should go read him.)

Thanks Scott!

Lies, Damn Lies, and Economics

noreply@blogger.com (themikestand) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:00:00 +0000

It was brought to my attention today that this article appeared in our local respectable free weekly, The Coast. Now, I don't have any problem with this publication (some of my best friends are editors/writers!), and I don't have any issue with the topics it covers. Quite the opposite: This is the row I have to hoe every day in my job, part of which entails the actual generation of economic impact figures for government and non-government types. The problem, as you'll see here, is in understanding the terminology around economic impact and "drawing the fence" around the impacts to understand which impacts are incremental on the local economy, and whether the results are, in fact, reasonable. And depending on who uses the numbers and for what reason, this matters a great deal.

Read on, and you'll understand what I mean.

Source: The Coast

And, in case you wanted to know what that embedded picture was....

Anyway, as an economist, I'm always having to defend my trade (though it's not worth trading for much these days, it seems) to others, both at work and outside. At least these days people are asking for the economist's opinion, whether or not they believe what they get.

These are interesting times to be an economist.

Someday we may actually command more respect than weather forecasters.

Vacation 2009 - from someone else's eyes

noreply@blogger.com (themikestand) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:33:00 +0000

Two budding young photographers took off around the cottage with cameras in hand on vacation this year. Enjoy the cottage from a different point of view.

Created with flickr slideshow.

(I'll post my pictures from summer vacation later, though I didn't come up with near as many as I did last year. But hey, this might be the only way outside of 7 Days that you get to see pictures of ME!)

Things I have learned from the Primary Student

noreply@blogger.com (themikestand) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:03:00 +0000

Around here, it's not kindergarten. It's primary. Grade Primary, to be precise. I still make the mistake only to be met with sideways looks from the locals, the same look they give to other "come from aways". And, though it's been some 31 years since I myself was in that grade, I suspect that some things have not changed. To wit:

1) Primary is tiring. It used to be that when the Older Son was being quiet in another room, he was cooking up something dastardly. Now? He's probably splayed out languidly on a couch. Also, his bedtime has moved up one whole hour, and I suspect he's still not getting enough sleep at night.

2) There is not near enough time to eat his entire lunch during his lunch break, and thus priority is given. Two days ago, the banana came home. Yesterday? Half a ham sandwich. Those granola bars with the chocolate chips? They never EVER make it home.

3) The paperwork involved in sending a 5-year old to school is amazing. Daily notes from the teacher ensure that the parents are on top of at least something every night, signing something and sending it back in the child's message-bag the next morning. No longer will feigning ignorance get you out of parental duty.

4) The threat of the "principal's office" is already ingrained in the child's fearful mind. I am not sure how it came up in under a week of school, but I can only surmise it surfaced in the schoolyard. I can't wait to see what else comes out of schoolyard interactions.

5) Six days into school and I think we're on our second communical disease. Viva la petrie dish! And pass the tissue.

6) Try as I might, I cannot get any details on what he does at school. He's so beat at the end of the day that we're lucky if we can get him to eat dinner, let alone talk about his daily activities at the supper table. The only time I get lucky is when he happens to bring something home. The other day he brought home a picture he drew of he and his friend on the swings. I didn't even know he could draw. (Hi! Worst dad ever!)

7) We went through 8 litres of milk last week and barely made it to milk-delivery day this week. Now I know why people run their own dairy farms.

And this is only the first week of school. Apparently sending your kids to school educates everyone.

Like a Phoenix from the Ashes

noreply@blogger.com (themikestand) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:29:00 +0000

The mic will rise again. Stay tuned...

First Day

noreply@blogger.com (themikestand) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 22:25:00 +0000

First Day
Originally uploaded by themikestand

Guess who's officially a big boy now?

(And! There were no tears this morning. I'm really proud of myself!)

Now with more gadgetry!

noreply@blogger.com (themikestand) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:40:00 +0000

I take a nontrivial amount of ribbing from The Lovely Wife about my 'baggage' (note: this neither refers to my ass or my previous relationships) --the amount of CRAP I carry around with me on any given day. Cell phone, ipod, wallet, book, keys, work ID... all of it miraculously finds itself strewn about the house in any number of nooks and crannies, and without fail, it will nearly make me late for the bus every. single. day.

So naturally, I continue to seek out more gadgets. This time, it's the Nike+, that little sensor you stick in your shoe that talks to your ipod while you run*. Apparently it talks to you as well through your earphones if you have them on, but I wouldn't know about that since my first night with it did not involve earphones (it did involve a running partner, which is why I wasn't Mr. Rudeyrude and running with earphones).

The idea, if you don't know about this yet (it's been out since 2006, I've since learned, so I have no idea why I just got one now!), is that you plug this thingamabob into your ipod and you slide this chip into your shoe and while you're running, the chip talks to your ipod and your ipod talks to you, letting you know how far you've run, how many calories you've burned, that you're one sexy Mofo, etc.. Simple concept, right? And then when you get home, your iTunes picks up the data from your ipod and uploads it to your personal profile on Nikerunning.com where you can collect all your data, interact with other running geeks, and sign up for things like the Human Race 10k.

Last night, I calibrated the chip on a 2km run and then ran another 5km with Bicycle Boy, who's training for a Full Marathon, and uploaded the data to the Nike site. Strangely however, the metric stats and the imperial stats seem to have different graphs. Observe:

Evidently this is not a new aberration, but it has yet to be fixed by Nike. That said, there's a fantastic third-party site that will allow you to graph the ipod-collected data, not just the data that is displayed on the Nike site. Voilà!

At any rate, I foresee a lot of messing around and general geeky fun resulting from this rather modest purchase, and if nothing else, it'll forestall the purchase of the full-on Garmin GPS watch for a little while.

And finally, getting back to the topic of all my baggage: Now I will have to pack both ipods (my classic won't work with the Nike+, but TLW's nano will), the proper set of shoes, and the chip along with all my other stuff. Can anyone recommend a great murse?

Yours geekily,
Mike

* It's all Brianna's fault.

The Deck - Finished Product

noreply@blogger.com (themikestand) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:11:00 +0000

Finally got the finishing touches done on the backyard deck project! With a little help, of course...

(I think the grapevine in the background is about to mount an attack.)

Smile! Pretend you're working!

Installing the pool was really no trouble at all...

Pardon the crack-house lawn -- it was badly neglected during construction. And summer.

The only thing missing? The massive ice bucket full of beer.

a quickr pickr post

This should be interesting

noreply@blogger.com (themikestand) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:14:00 +0000

As posted on I AM YOUR CANADIAN BOYFRIEND (@sween)
Twitter, like this blog, started as a mere curiosity. For sween, it's always been about the funny. And, in my opinion* he does it very well. It should be interesting to see if I get new followers, and if I become paralyzed by the desire to post only the quirky and / or funny bits that flow through my brain on a daily basis. I guess we'll see.

*And in, oh, the opinions of 750,000 twitter followers, many of whom are also very funny. (See favrd.)

Sometimes I despair the world will never see another man like him

noreply@blogger.com (themikestand) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:10:00 +0000

It's been a strange month, lengthy and lovely vacation notwithstanding. The foggyness of Nova Scotia's south shore permeated the brain as much as the beach while we were away. We enjoyed, along with the cottage, the canteen chock full of fish and chips and $1 ice cream cones, a welcome visit from my mother. The kids spent their days on their own schedules, sometimes playing in the rain, but always playing what they wanted to play. About the only things they were informed they had to do were to go to bed when it was time, and to take an outdoor shower to rid their heads of a few extra pounds of sand.

But back to the fog for a second. The Lovely Wife and I both spent time at the cottage with the boys and their grandmother, though each of us was pulled in another direction for a few days. Our own busy schedules (hers work, mine play) resulted in us being apart on her birthday, and in my daze from being away and having biked 90km in a day, I neglected to wish her a happy birthday on her special day; something I still haven't forgiven myself for, even if she has. We had planned all along to postpone the birthday celebrations to the following week, and on her actual birthday, we spent precious little time together in the morning before heading our separate ways for the weekend. My mistake, my regret.

The day that followed my mother's departure back home marked the sixth anniversary of my father's passing. I felt it in my bones, but the actual day again slipped past me and I also haven't forgiven myself for commemorating it properly. I did speak to my mother the next day about it, but again it seems as if I have been lost in my own little, foggy world this summer. As I ironed a shirt on Tuesday, my first morning back to work, I found myself humming Mr. Tanner, a Harry Chapin song, not coincidentally one of my father's favourites, and one that has stuck deeply with me from childhood saturday mornings, watching the reel-to-reel turn, emptying one reel while filling next, and lounging on the shag carpet in a sunbeam in front of the stereo. I paused with the iron in my hand and closed my eyes for a few moments, remembering him as perhaps I should have two days earlier, and inviting those childhood memories to wash over me.

From time to time I seek the comfort music. Today I opted for the first Crash Test Dummies album (the one with Superman's Song on it, in case you haven't clued in from the title of this post yet). It reminds me of a time of newfound freedom in my life, enjoying the freedoms of having a car and cruising around town after dark on warm Edmonton nights. It also represents a time in my life when I first realised my parents were treating me as an adult. Trust had been earned, leeway was given, accepted, and rarely abused. I felt important and that I was respected, probably because I always tried to respect them.

I know that there are several factors at play lately which are causing me to lose track of important dates in my life, not the least of which are submerged family issues (though they probably don't even qualify as "issues") that creep into our lives from time to time, and the fleeting summer which will end my eldest son's preschool era; he'll head off to primary (kindergarten) in less than a month. (I can only hope I don't fill his backpack with my neuroses and desire to protect his every move.) The busy weeks of summer will merge seamlessly into busy weeks of fall, and I will likely not feel the effects of summer activities coming to a close. I will undoubtedly feel like a busy parent of school-aged kids, tripping off to Beavers, hockey, swimming, gymnastics, and trying to find time for parent-centric activities on the side. In short, I will probably feel as my parents did; I'll once again relate to what they went through, and my mom will continue to see me as a parent as well as her child. And I'll continue to miss my dad. Every week, not just on the second day of August.

"...music was his life, it was not his livelihood, and it made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good. And he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul.
He did not know how well he sang; It just made him whole."

7Days: Summer 2009 roundup

noreply@blogger.com (themikestand) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:26:00 +0000

The "7 Days of Self Portraits" project came and went while you weren't looking (Okay, while I wasn't talking about it, since my blogging seems to be doing some hibernation). It seems the 7Days group is getting exceptionally large, which is testament to the comment love and the fun loving nature of the group (thanks, doow!). But it means that it's been all the more difficult to engage in the comment love, especially since I left for vacation the day after 7 Days ended.

This time around life was very busy, and I was pressed on a number of days to come up with something worthy of posting to the group. Personally, I'm not a fan of taking pictures of my hands and feet, which leaves me with remote/tripod or reflection options. You can always spot me in a crowd during 7 Days; I'll be the one looking for shiny things. Anyway, I will admit to not getting (read: taking) the time to carefully plan, execute, and process the shots, but here they are anyway.

7 Days: Day 1 - Just Beachy

It's summer. Who would have thought it would fall on a Saturday this year?

This was taken at Rainbow Haven beach on Nova Scotia's eastern shore. The sun was out, the surf was up, the kids were amused by all of the above. Can't wait for vacation in the coming weeks.

7Days: Day 2 - Perfecting the Relax-Collapse

Here I am, late Sunday afternoon, after a long morning cycling ride of 85km that took me out to scenic Peggy's Cove in intermittent downpour.

My afternoon consisted of attempting to do some more deck building, making pretzels with the boys (they're crazy about adding the coarse salt, but less so about eating that much salt), and in a moment of quiet, I got to sit down and attempt to catch up with Stage 8 of Le Tour. and maybe get through a few pages of my book.

As you can see, the rains finally subsided. Oh, and the pretzels turned out great. You're all welcome to come and get one. I'll even throw in an extra glass of water or two.

7Days- Day 3 - I'm Such A Knob

Stuck for inspiration this evening, I turned to the all-but-forgotten electric bass I started to learn to play before the boys were born (if you're mathematically inclined, the eldest is now 5!). I've been motivated to pick it back up and learn something new, but summer schedules are not too kindly thwarting my efforts. Maybe this is just the start I needed.

7Days: Day 4 - Goofs with a View

Took a shot with the eldest overlooking the basin. Much warmer night than the last time I chose this location for 7 Days. Also, this was taken after ultimate -- seems ultimate always works its way into 7 Days!

The outtakes to this one were also pretty amusing.

7Days: Day 5 - Three Rings

Her lovely hand and my somehow gangly-looking hand, carefully cropped to get almost all of my mitt out of the shot.

The rings, however, are supposed to be the real draw. Eight years ago she received the engagement ring; one I secretly designed with a local creative custom jeweller. The bands were also custom, designed by the two of us.

7Days: Day 6 - A Three Hour Tour

The Tall Ships are once again in town (check out the set here), and we were invited out by one of The Lovely Wife's coworkers for some shipspotting and fireworks watching. By 10:00, I had one three-year-old sleeping in my arms and a five-year-old who was hyper and overtired. All in all, a successful evening.

7Days: Day 7- Collapse

All I can say is that I'm happy to now be on vacation. Also, apparently, I'm a fan of light-play on Day 7 of 7Days. Hope you all have had as much fun as I have this time around.

a quickr pickr post

As always, you can check out the whole group's photos here.

Defender

noreply@blogger.com (themikestand) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:00:00 +0000

I love my wife. I really do.

Case in point: This past weekend was her parent's 40th wedding anniversary (the "ruby" anniversary, for anyone out there looking for ideas), and she and her sister (and their most wonderful husbands, naturally) pulled off a spectactular party. But that's not really why I bring that up. I bring it up because events like this bring family and family friends to town, and that inevitably leads to large dinners.

And that somehow always leads to conversations about email, blogs, and other internet oddities. Oddities which I seem to know all about and often involve myself in.

I don't know how some of you do it: sit there and answer questions, defending your interests while people rant about the utter uselessnsess and waste-of-time that the internet has become. Twitter? Why would anyone do that? Who cares what you just picked up at the grocery store?

And yet, I find it amusing. I think the key is this: in order to actually enjoy something that could otherwise become banal, trivial, or just redundant (Twitbook statustweets anyone?), you have to actually be creative in it. Basically, the key to it all is trying. Be funny. Be original. Be entertaining.

Only for some reason, when I hear the words coming out of my mouth, all I hear is, "Yes, I totally waste all my free time on the internet when I could be doing something meaningful in the world."

Maybe there's a hint of truth to that, but honestly, if something "meaningful in the world" was as interesting as all my usual distractions, wouldn't I be doing that instead?

I've had this blog for four and a half years now, and yes, in addition to that I have a facebook page, a twitter ID, and I've waded into countless other interactive internet (ad)ventures. For the most part? I've had a good time with it. Periodically things get stale and frustrating, but that's just the name of the game.

I try not to judge something before I've had a chance to look into it, and frankly, that's where I really appreciate my father-in-law. He's the type of guy who's curious about the internet and its many forms of communication. Short of twit-blog-booking on his own, he always makes an attempt to listen to me explain whatever it is that is occupying that little corner of my brain that needs entertaining. The Lovely Wife is much the same. While she may have, in the early days of our relationship, been skeptical about the online life, she at least appreciated that I found it stimulating [shut up], entertaining, and engaging. She's met some of the people that have travelled here to meet me, or have been passing through, and I'm pretty sure she agrees that they're all good people and worth knowing, whether they're local or live far away. In short, she goes beyond indulging me as I socialize with other internet dwellers.

But I can't say the same for most of the other people around the table at these family functions. And so usually I try to cut these conversations as short as I can, offer little that I will either regret saying or have to justify its merit endlessly.

Because in the end? If they were really curious about something? It wouldn't take a debate to prove its worth.

In your pockets again

noreply@blogger.com (themikestand) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:58:00 +0000

I tell everybody this: I only raise money for two events: the MS Bike Tour, which is a 160 kilometre (100 miles) two-day ride through the scenic (and often sweltering) Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, and that Movember thing, in which I uglify myself for a month near the end of the year (more news on that very soon).

It's summer. Cycling season. And so, if you're the generous type, I hope you'll consider sponsoring me for the upcoming MS Bike Tour on July 25/26. Your donations are of course tax deductible, and you can donate online safely and securely.

Pictures from last year's event are here.

Shiny

noreply@blogger.com (themikestand) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:54:00 +0000

Meet the new baby.

a quickr pickr post

Glen Breton Rare, Chapter ARE WE STILL DOING THIS?

noreply@blogger.com (themikestand) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:14:00 +0000

I'm only posting this so that the few people coming to this site for information on Canada's only Single Malt Whisky and the neverending tiff with the Scotch Whisky Association. (Click at the bottom of this post for the previous entries.)

To distill the story for you (see what I did there?)*: The SWA didn't like the original decision to allow Glen Breton to continue using the word "Glen" in it's marketing, so it decided to go to the Federal Court of Appeal. Which said, in a word, "Nuh." So to the Surpeme Court, which also shot it down. Unfortunate for the SWA, but good for local distillers in these parts.

Also, if we on the east coast are going to be treated to a dearth of Scotch Whisky, what else can we turn to??

The Supreme Court of Canada said Thursday it will not hear the association's appeal of a lower court ruling that approved the label used by Cape Breton's Glenora Distillers. The court dismissed the appeal with costs, meaning the association must also pay part of Glenora's legal fees according to a scale set by the court.Source: CBC News

However, in case you thought it was all wine and roses, there was this little ray of light. From the SWA:

"However, the Court of Appeal's findings that the mark has caused confusion because of its use of a 'Glen' prefix, and that Glenora has marketed its product as Scotch in all but name, have not been reversed."

Sigh. To quote Great Big Sea: Drink'er up, boys. It's well after ten.

Oh, and I still haven't tried the stuff. But feel free to pick up a bottle and bring it on over.

* Note that the Daily Business Buzz did not infact make a clever joke in their headline.

Local News: Tories blue over orange government

noreply@blogger.com (themikestand) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 12:23:00 +0000

I suppose that with all the other elections and by-elections that we've had around these parts lately, it seems we've just been through this process. But for those of you from away who care, and for those of you here who managed to miss the election ( we did have near record low voter turnout, after all), the Provincial government fell, and it fell hard:

The Progressive Conservative party reign is over. From a majority to two functioning minority governments, to a punishing defeat at the polls resulting in them taking over third-party status. (Wonks can click here.)

For the first time in Nova Scotia history, the New Democrats are in power. And it's a majority, folks. Normally this would be a curse for a new party to take power during a recession (remind you of anyone, people?), but at least the majority situation will allow some breathing room to get things right while the economy starts to recover (I promise: no 'green shoot' talk. In fact, if I hear that one more time, I may have to green-shoot someone.).

And maybe we'll see a full term of office pass by before another expensive election. Hear that, federal government? The last thing anyone needs right now is another expensive election. Let's get on with things, shall we?

Leaving it all on the Trail

noreply@blogger.com (themikestand) — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:42:00 +0000

Last weekend I competed in the Cabot Trail Relay race, and if I was at all underestimating how exhausting a 24 hour relay was (and how it can quickly turn into a 48-hour affair), I now have a much better idea of the level of exhaustion it can produce. I was part of a 17-person team (for 17-race legs) where each person faced varying distances and hill profiles, and a 6-minute kilometer (9:30 per mile) deadline in which to finish their distance or else fail to hit the mat.

The event itself was nothing short of spectacular; a well-oiled and well-organized machine in its own right. Legs started in the exact spot the previous leg stopped, just minutes after the maximum alloted time. Slower runners trickled in and were awarded the slowest finishing time plus five minutes. But by 30 minutes after the close of each leg of the race, one would never know that anything out of the ordinary was happening, much less suspect that the better portion of the 1,200 participants were roaming the ten to fifteen mile distance only minutes earlier.

Saturday morning had us following and supporting runners as they worked their way to the top of the Cabot Trail, starting with rolling hills which grew in to hellish beasts of straight-up switchbacks. Needless to say, this was not my preferred leg, though I might like to attempt it some day. By 5pm, a teammate and I were on our way to Cheticamp, on the other side of the trail, to ready ourselves for his 0330 run and my 0530 run on Sunday morning. Some spectacular fish at a local eatery and a very early sleep (the sun had still not fully set), and we were raring to go at 0200. Well, we were sleepy and grumpy, but nonetheless committed to the challenge.

I dropped him off at 0315 and trailed him part way, then headed to the end of his leg (the start of mine) and waited for his finish. He took on a 20-km leg with no trouble; in fact, you'd never know that he ran 20 the day before (for another team, under an assumed name -- not uncommon for this relay), giving me some hope that me and my bum leg/groin/hip could take my 15.5km race down (with the help of 400mg of Ibuprofen, naturally). After the gun, I started with a decent pace, lost somewhere in the latter half of the pack. About 3km into the race, someone let us know just how far we'd come, and for some reason I found that a source of inspiration. Perhaps I was just looking to get the race over with and was disappointed that we hadn't hit 5km yet. Whatever the reason, I started to put a push on while the terrain was reasonably flat.

The middle and final 5-kilometre stretches were considerably hillier than the first, which suited me fine. I tend to speed up on the hills (again, get them over with!) and I passed a few other competitors, ending with a time of 1hr and 17 minutes (for reference, my 10-mile training runs weren't nearly that fast at 5:22/km and 5:54/km) -- a finishing pace of 5:01 per kilometre! Surprisingly, this put me at 20th place in my race (of 70), the best finish for any of our team members throughout the relay. Talk about beginner's luck. (note: all the results are here, incluing my Leg 15 results)

While I never once called the Cabot Trail Relay by its full name (including the word "Race" at the end)I will definitely sign up for this race again. It's just that fun.