how to win a marathon

I saw a link on Digg about how to win a marathon. I can’t even run a 5K, so I opened it up for a good read and nothing more. The article turned out to be really interesting. While I was expecting things like training and pace tips, what I saw was a totally unsportsmanlike strategy. The way to win a marathon? Enter obscure marathons where the competition level is low and you might just be the only person in your age group running. So technically you finish first in your age group for the marathon, but you were also the only competitor. It seemed like a funny strategy. Its nice to say, I won a marathon and have the medal to prove it. Just leave out the part mentioning you were only 1 of 7 other runners.

non-fiction

Woman: Do you have a non-fiction section?
Book guy: Well, everything that’s not fiction is non-fiction. [Over] there’s cooking, and there’s history.
Woman: No, that’s not what I asked. Do you have a section for non-fiction?
Book guy: Well, there are no non-fiction novels. Everything here that’s not a novel is non-fiction.
Woman: But you don’t have a non-fiction section?
Book guy: No. Everything that isn’t fiction is non-fiction.

Contra 4

Konami will be making Contra 4 for the DS. Who’s excited?

fishing trip

If you are interested in some deep sea fishing, Cary is signing people up for a fishing trip on July 14th.  The details:

Price: $40
Time: 3pm – 8pm (1 hour out, 3 hours fishing, 1 hour back)
Date: July 14, 2007

It will leave out of Port Aransas I belive.  He needs to know this week if you are going for sure.  The more people, the better price he can negotiate.  As for me, I’m weak sauce.  Friday night when I was trying to sleep I could still feel the rock of the boat from being out in the bay.  I’m too sensitive to go out past the comfort of the bay.  I’m also not a fan of taking drugs to prevent sea sickness.  If you go, try the ginger pill solution from Mythbusters.  I tried it and it didn’t seem to do anything for me.

Weekend Update:

A large portion of the weekend consisted of fishing. Friday, the plan was to do some fishing in a boat out in the bay. Cary, his buddies, and I were suppose to go out and fish after work until dark. Sadly Cary got caught up at work. We didn’t get to the boat ramp until the light was fading. On top of that the hydraulics for the motor would not work. Luckily a stranger who just got back from fishing in his boat helped us release the hydraulic pressure and we manually lowered the motor. Then we had problems starting it. Eventually somebody they knew drove by and used his truck to jump the boat battery and allowed us to start the boat. So after all that, Cary, George, Ben, Dino, and I went out into Lavaca Bay to fish. The trip wasn’t bad. Since it was dark we didn’t catch anything but hardheads. George did catch a pretty big fish that I forget the name of. It looks like a hardhead but isn’t. It wasn’t a great time but it was still fun to be out in a boat. By the time we were done it was close to 11pm. Cary and I then packed up and headed off to Houston. We got into Houston pretty late and stayed at my future home with Ken. It was basically a stop to nap because we were leaving pretty early to go fish in Freeport with HTown people.

So after a couple hours of sleeping, we get up around 4-430am to go out to Freeport to fish. Vanhdy, Jenny, Ken, Cary, Jing, Doug, Kelly, and I drove out in the dark of the night to fish. It was a popular day to go fishing. I was just glad I wasn’t driving. The first place we went to get bait actually ran out. We went to what looked like a small ship channel or canal. We started at a pier next to a boat ramp, but we eventually explored a little and decided on a dock next to some large boats. The deeper water made it pretty easy to catch things. I just dropped my line straight down instead of trying to cast out my complex rig. Everybody caught something. I caught the most unique fish of the day. It gave a good fight and we believe it is the jack/pompano fish family.

My mom has been complaining that I go fishing and never bring any fish home, so I brought that one home. I have no idea how the fish actually tastes. We finished a bit after noon and drove back into Houston for lunch. We ate at a pretty good but expensive cajun place that I won’t even try to spell. After a nap and a quick trip to the galleria with Annie, we went to Jing’s Bday dinner. After dinner and a short stop at D&B, we just went home and crashed.

Sunday was the normal trip to 24 for some half court basketball. Nothing too exciting happened on Sunday EXCEPT I SAW FUNG and Cathy and Adam. There was some killer rain on the way back. It came down hard, especially near SugarLand. It eventually cleared up and it was a smooth ride home.

weekend

The weekend was really fun but also tiring.  More details when I get the pictures uploaded.

tv and movies

Lost – got great again at the end of the season

Entourage – entertaining but too short

Heroes – awesome

Friday Night Lights – boring

A Scanner Darkly – boring

Blade Trinity – no story

Borat – couldn’t get past 10 minutes of the movie

Life

So what has been happening. I can’t remember what the last thing I posted was. I spent last weekend here in Port Lavaca. Friday I went over to Sunny’s and we played some Mario Party 8. Saturday we woke up and couldn’t get a tee time for the public course in Victoria. No fear, I called my dad and we played at Victoria Country Club instead. It was nice not having the golf guy harass Cary. Also, the free ice tea and popcorn are always a plus. We are however, still deathly slow at playing. Cary, Sunny, Helen and I take longer much longer than a group of 5. It was a decent day. The course is a little tougher, and I’ve seem to have completely lost my chipping game. I’ll work on the chipping and/or just play more conservative around the green.

Saturday was also my 10 year reunion. Yes I’m old enough to have been out of high school for 10 years. I have some pictures posted on Flickr. If you need me to identify people for you like Arthur and Richard did, let me know. It was good to see everybody. Nothing was too shocking. People are married, have kids, going bald, etc. An interesting note, Windy Waddell’s older sister Christine will be starting law school at UH this fall as well. Hopefully I’ll find more familiar faces when I start school.

Sunday we woke up before the sun came up and went to fish. We drove out to Port O’Connor and fished at the pier and in the channel next to Clark’s. We were going to fish at the jetties, but it started to pour and we just got wet. Ken, Cary, and Sunny eventually went back out to fish. I was suppose to go play golf with my dad for Father’s Day, but since it was raining on and off, I stayed at home and bummed around. The early morning schedule of the weekend made me pretty tired.

Monday was a half day of work and picking up my dad in Victoria. We also went to Sunny’s to eat a bit of the fish that was caught on Sunday.

Tuesday I went to Victoria to get my tire patched. I had TWO nails removed from my tire. It was nice to get it fixed for free at Discount Tire. While I was there, I went to the driving range. I seem to be topping the ball when I chip. It’s causing a top spin and making my ball roll over the green. I have to concentrate and staying low and making good contact with the ball.

My weekend plans are still up in the air. I will be in Houston on Saturday/Sunday for Jing’s birthday. I believe Friday I am going to go fishing on a boat with Cary Lai and his friends. We’ll see how I feel about still going to Houston after that. I may just drive up Saturday.

Sony Playstation 1

Rumor has it that the Sony Playstation 1 SCPH-1001 (a model of the original PSX) is a audiophile dream as a CD player. It supposedly has super high quality parts similar to a $600 CD Player. It’s significant because you can get a PSX for about $30. So many people have been buying them to use as CD players. I’m no audiophile, so I don’t care all that much, it was just interesting.

Durant

[Durant's agent Aaron] Goodwin said that Durant has seen what Stephon Marbury has done with his “Starbury” brand shoes — launched successfully in 2006 at $14.98 per pair — and wants whoever ends up signing him to market a mid-range priced shoe, likely in the $39-$69 range instead of the $100-$125 range.

Nice to see Durant will have some affordable shoes. I hope he signs with Nike. I haven’t found a comfortable pair of Adidas shoes yet and I had a podiatrist tell me to stop wearing my Reeboks cause they weren’t offering me enough support.

The draft is alway an exciting time. These players have potential to be the next great thing. However we often forget it takes time to develop a player. Remember when T-Mac sat the bench in Toronto? LeBron was good but he didn’t get a jump shot until his second year. Shaq and LeBron both got swept in their first trips to the NBA Finals. Even Kobe rode the pine and clearly can’t win a championship without help. Durant should still be able to score 20 points a night and Oden will probably give you double digit boards and a few blocks a night. He’s athletic enough to get dunks with some help from teammates. I’m looking forward to seeing these guys in action.

I’m also excited that another Longhorn will be in the NBA. I’m hoping TJ Ford, D Gibson, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Durant being in the NBA has helped Rick Barnes get some decent players to come to Texas. We’re only one basketball national championship away from being the only school to have won a trophy for all three major sports. The baseball championship is rare and we already own that one.