Very Cool iPhone App: Star Walk

Star Walk is an amazing iPhone app that gives you an interactive guide to the sky. The app takes advantage of just about every aspect of the iPhone (touch, accelerometer, and even the magnetometer and digital compass in the 3GS) to make constellation searching and identification as easy as looking up.

When you first launch Star Walk, it will ask if it can use your current location to determine what you can theoretically see in the night sky. Additionally, Star Walk will show you things not visible at night due to light pollution, especially when living in DC. But what you can see, Star Walk can identify for you.

Even when you can't see the stars (like during the day), it shows you what is up there and even what is below the horizon. It is mesmerizing. I can hardly wait when we go back to Maine, because the star view at night is amazing. Light pollution is not a problem then.

Bachmann Walks the Talk about Gay Marriage

As reported in the Washington Post, Jane Schmidt, a student at Waverly High School, in Waverly, Iowa, recently asked Michele Bachmann, “Why can’t same-sex couples get married?”
“They can get married,” Bachmann responded, “but they abide by the same law as everyone else. They can marry a man if they’re a woman. Or they can marry a woman if they’re a man.”

She later expanded on this in a response to someone else: “Every American citizen has the right to avail themselves to marriage but they have to follow what the laws are. And the laws are you marry a person of the opposite sex.”

Obviously, Bachmann believes this mantra so whole heartedly that she lives it by being married for years to an obviously gay man. We may not agree with her politics, but you have to admire her conviction. 

Mall Shoppers Sing about Sitting on Santa

Another crazy musical by Improv Everywhere featuring the Jolly Old Elf in a New Jersey Shopping Mall.

The Biggest Loser Finale--Not the Biggest Loser

This is finally the last week of the Biggest Loser competition at work, and today was the final weigh-in. Ten of us are competing to lose the most weight for a 1st prize of $140, 2nd prize of $40, and 3rd prize of $20. My photoshopped results are above.

I did pretty bad during the last week. I gained 1.5 pounds for a final weight of 176 pounds. It was Thanksgiving and I just started running again after my marathon (I took a week off). Of course I was going to gain. My total weight loss since my first weigh-in on September 21 (with a starting weight of 189 lbs.) is 13 pounds. Though I did not reach my goal of losing 20 pounds, I still managed to come in second in the competition and won $40! That's something. I had been winning the whole time until slipping into second in the last week. Wahhhh Wahhh... I also haven't given up on losing those 7 pounds.

New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #313

Hey Woody... Moustache rides in the conference room in 5 minutes!

This is my idea for the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #313.  Let me know if you have any ideas for a caption too.

Time for a Haircut

I went to get a haircut today. I always have trouble describing how I want it cut, so I showed the stylist the photo below. 

Below is the result. I realize I don't look exactly like the guy above, but I was fairly happy with the cut. I think she took too much off the top though. It doesn't stick up in the front like his either. I have had worse though. Much worse. 

Top 10 Movies that Could Be Awesome Musicals

I recently read that the movie Ghost is coming to Broadway as a musical. It seems most musicals these days are based on movies. They've done Billy Elliot, Sister Act, Legally Blonde, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Mary Poppins (all Disney movies)... the list goes on and on. It got me thinking what other movies would be fun to make into musicals. Here are my top 10.

10. Sling Blade

9. Ernest Goes to Jail

8. The Birds

7. Jack and Jill

6. Forrest Gump (with the big hit song, "Life is Like a Box of Chocolates")

5. The Shawshank Redemption

4. Jaws

3. Cannonball Run

2. The Exorcist

and the number one movie to make into a musical is...

The Human Centipede--The Musical!

Decorated the Christmas Cactus

Maude lays on the couch with the cactus decorated for Christmas in the background.

GOD I'M GORGEOUS

This picture was taken after thanksgiving dinner at my sister's house. My sister and three nieces are the most caring, thoughtful, and inspiring women that I know. The following bible verse reminds me of them:

Proverbs 31:15-17

She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls.  She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.  She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks.

Would Obama Drop Biden for VP Clinton?

I saw this on Joe. My. God., which links it from the Wall Street Journal, that speculates the following:

Paul Starr, co-editor of The American Prospect, a liberal-left magazine, has observed that 45 percent of the people who disapprove of Mr. Obama's performance view Mrs. Clinton favorably. It is fair to say that Mrs. Clinton's addition to the ticket would be a substantial gain for President Obama that he badly needs next November, since she is, as Mr. Starr notes, a member of the part of his administration that has the highest approval rating, and more important she has not at all been a part of the disastrous economic policies that have caused the Obama drop in popularity. 

Even better for Election Day, she would gain support among older white voters, who did not support Mr. Obama very much in 2008. Mr. Starr also cites a Suffolk University Florida poll that shows that Mrs. Clinton on the Obama ticket would win Florida for the two of them, even if Sen. Marco Rubio is the Republican's vice presidential candidate. One more advantage: With Mrs. Clinton comes her husband, who would very much want to get his wife elected, and also might be interested in a position in the Obama-Clinton administration.

It might be smart. I don't think anyone would miss Biden too much.

Happy "Be Thankful You're Not a Turkey" Day

The Biggest Loser Week #10--The Home Stretch

This is week #10 of the Biggest Loser competition at work. Ten of us are competing to lose the most weight for a 1st prize of $140, 2nd prize of $40, and 3rd prize of $20. My photoshopped results are above. My total weight loss since my first weigh-in on September 21 (with a starting weight of 189 lbs.) is 14.5 pounds.

There are only one more week left in the competition.This is the one week of the year nobody wants to think about losing weight. I'm happy that with all the carb loading I did before the marathon I still managed to lose a little weight. I'm just going to try to not go too crazy over the holiday and perhaps get back to some running. Happy Thanksgiving!

Launching a Child Via Air Mattress-Fail Blog

Sorry if you have to sit through an ad. I realize the child in this video probably was hurt, but it still made me laugh.

Wrap-Up from the Philadelphia Marathon

As I may have mentioned on this blog previously, this weekend I ran the Philadelphia Marathon. Three of my co-workers also ran the race. We all went out to dinner in Philly the night before the race at an Italian restaurant called Bella Cena. Most of us runners ate the linguini with grilled chicken. It was delish! We all had a blast. Above from left to right is Rassii (who I work with), Theresa, Aaron, Sara (who I work with and also cat sits for Maude), me, Stephanie (my boss) and her friend Gil. 

Originally, I had a hotel in Philly for two night, but I changed my mind and decided to stay with my Mom who lives a little more than an hour outside of the city. I drove to Philly on Saturday to pick up my race packet and have dinner with my co-workers. I drove to my Mom's Saturday night and back in to Philly early Sunday morning.

The race was supposed to start at 7 a.m., but was delayed a bit for some unknow security reason. In the 90 minutes I was in the city prior to the race beginning, I used one of the these portable johns three times, including a quick run out of the running corral after the starting gun.  It took my group about 18 minutes to get the starting line after the first runners started running. I managed not to have to stop during the race to go to the bathroom.



Stephanie, me, Sara, Rassii, and Theresa

I met up with my co-workers before the start. You might notice I'm holding my blue sponge in this shot. Sadly, when I took off my hat, gloves, and sweatshirt before the race, I lost my blue sponge. It was time for a new sponge anyway. The worst thing I forgot to do was use my nipple guards. I spent much of the run holding my shirt out away from my chaffed nips. 



 Behind me is the famous statue of Rocky in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art wearing the official marathon shirt. 

This is me at the finish with the art museum in the background. My finish time, according to my chip, was 4 hours, 5 minutes and 43 seconds. Out of 10,082 runners that completed the race, I was 4,444th. Out of the 486 men in my age division (50-54), I was 215th. My average pace was 9 minutes and 22.4 seconds per mile. I completed the half marathon in 1 hour, 57 minutes and 48 seconds, but could not keep up that pace in the second half, though I did not walk except to get water/gatorade at the drink stations along the way. I tried not to walk much when I did that--usually less than 30 seconds or so. I also did stop once briefly at an aid station to get a band-aid for my nip. It didn't stay on long though.

This marathon was a personal record for my fastest marathon. I have run each one a little faster so far. The last one I ran was the Marine Corp in October of 2008, which I ran in 4 hours, 22 minutes and 32 seconds. I improved on that one by 17 minutes and 11 seconds. Although I did not make my goal of running a marathon in under 4 hours, I am going to give it another try. I am set to run the Miami Marathon at the end of January 2012. Maybe I can be a sub-4-hour marathoner then.

Just Finished the Philly Marathon!

It took a little over 4 hours and I forgot my nipple guards. More later.

Moving Toward the Start

With Some Co-Workers Before the Race

Just Before the Philly Marathon

At the Rocky statue.

Getting My Packet at the Philly Marathon Expo

Philadelphia Marathon Weekend Begins

The Philadelphia Marathon starting Line from a past year.

The Philadelphia Marathon is this Sunday at 7 a.m., and I'm running it. I think I'm ready, but I'm feeling a bit nervous. My goal is to run the race in under 4 hours and to run the entire 26.2 mile distance. I previously ran the Marine Corps Marathon in Virginia and DC in 2008 in 4 hours, 22 minutes, 32 seconds. At the very least, I want to improve on that time.

The weather forecast for Sunday is pretty good. Though it is supposed to be cloudy, the high for the day is expected to be in the low 60s (F). However, the temperature in the early morning is likely to be in the low 40s. It could have been a lot worse considering a few weeks ago we had a snow storm.

The race automatically updates the progress (of runners that sign up) for the service by sending text messages, e-mails, and Facebook or Twitter updates. Of course I signed up and added my Twitter feed to this blog. I also plan on taking my iPhone along and blogging during the race. That's the plan, so stayed tuned to see how I do. Wish me luck!