I was just thinking about it, then I checked my blog, and sure enough, there have been no new blog entries in over month. I think I know why. It is because when something happens that I want to let other people know about, I've been using twitter for that. I just checked and I've done about 80 tweets over that period of time. I wonder if other people have changed their habits similarly after joining twitter?
A long time ago, September to be exact, Timber approached me with the idea of doing a half marathon. I had to think for a minute to remember what distance a half marathon is (13.1 miles), and I did remember all I could do is grunt. As it turned out Diane was signing up for it and wanted to know if we were interested in doing it too. I vaguely remembered that doing a half marathon was on my 2010 goals list for the year, so I said "sure". After that we started planning for it, finding training plans, and started training.
We found Hal Higdon's Half Marathon Training Program and set the timing for the training. We started the training on November 1st, and it ended on January 20th. We didn't do all the training that was called for, but I'd say we did a pretty decent job of following the guidelines.
When it came to setting goals my goal was simple, just finish. Timber was a little bit more ambitious. She wanted to finish in under 3 hours.
When the race finally started we both felt pretty good and had a pretty good pace for the first few miles. By mile 5 or so I started feeling like Timber was going to pull away from me. By mile 7 or so I started my first bit of walking, and by mile 10 I started walking more than I was running. Every time, however, I was motivated to pick up the pace again so that I could keep up with Timber. She was a machine, and she ran much faster than I expected. By the time we were nearly done my right knee was hurting and my legs were starting to stiffen up, but we ran for the last bit and crossed the finish line holding hands. I hope I can track down a picture of that finish because I think that it will be a metaphor for our future together.
And by the way, we did finish in just under 3 hours. Here are the stats:
Total Race Time = 2:58:15
Total Pace = 13:36
My ranking for my age group = M 30-34:
439 out of 453
My ranking for all men =
2540 out of 2711
My overall ranking = 6266 out of 7105
Timber's stats:
Total Race Time = 2:58:16 (not sure why she is 1 s behind me since we held hands as we crossed the line)
Total Pace = 13:36
Her ranking for her age group = 734 out of 831
Her ranking for all men = 3727 out of 4394
Her overall ranking = 6267 out of 7105
Here are my Nike+ stats:
Distance = 12.77 miles (not sure why it didn't give me the full 13.1 miles)
Time = 2:50:45 (this was how long I spent running/walking), the difference between this and the other time is the time I spend stopping for the restroom and stopping to stretch
Pace = 13'22'' mile
Calories = 2208
Yesterday we took the day off from work and flew down to Orange County in preparation for our half marathon. We met up with Eric and Diane and spent most of the day in Disneyland, and a little bit of time in California Adventure. It was raining off and on throughout the day, which meant that we didn't have to wait in line for most of the rides.
Rides that we rode:
Star Tours
Space Mountain
Nemo's Ride
Matterhorn Bobsleds
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Splash Mountain
Pirates of the Caribbean
Indiana Jones
CA Adventure - Soarin' Over California
CA Adventure - California Screamin'
CA Adventure - Twighlight Zone Tower of Terror
Space Mountain
On Saturday Timber and I decided to try Red Box since we had heard a lot about it, how their business model worked, and how they were doing really well. $1.00 a day for movie rentals, especially for new releases sound like a pretty good deal from a customer perspective. On top of that we read that they are highly profitable. So we gave it a try, and here is how it basically worked.
1. We went to our neighborhood grocery store.
2. Near one of the entrances we found the Red Box kiosk.
3. We cycled through the movies that were offered and selected one, Julie & Julia.
4. We selected that we were done and wanted to do the rental.
5. I swiped my credit card for payment.
6. It asked for my email address so that it would email me a receipt.
7. When I was done with that it popped out the DVD and we were done.
Overall that experience was fairly smooth and I don't have any real complaints about it.
We took the movie home and watched it, it worked fine. We had until 9 PM to get the movie back or be charged another $1.00. So at 8:30 PM today I went back to the grocery store to return the movie. When I got there I saw a line of people waiting to return movies. I bought something on my list from the grocery store first hoping that the line would get smaller. But when I was done and went to return the movie the line had actually grown a little bit. So I got in line and finally returned my movie with 7 minutes to spare. Here's how the process worked:
1. I clicked on the button saying that I wanted to return a movie.
2. It asked me to insert the movie, which I did. And then I was done.
Overall I can understand how their business model works and how they make money. It is fairly convenient and cheap for customers, so I can understand how some people would rather use red box than netflix or iTunes.
Since I have an Apple TV I thought I would compare and contrast renting a DVD from Red Box versus renting a movie from iTunes via the Apple TV.
1. Convenience - I think iTunes is much more convenient because I don't have to drive anywhere and I don't have to worry about bringing the movie rental back (iTunes deletes it after 24 hours). If I already have to go to the grocery store every day then I would be ok with Red Box, but I don't want to be inconvenienced by having to go back to the store just to return the DVD. That's so 90's.
2. Selection - iTunes has WAY more movies available than Red Box. Red Box only has new movies that have just come out on DVD. On top of that, they were out of several DVDs when we checked it out. You never have to worry about iTunes being out of movies. If they offer it for rental, you can rent it. And you don't have to stand in line. Another advantage that iTunes has is that you can watch previews of as many movies as you want before you rent one. Red Box does not show any previews, and the people behind you in line would not appreciate it even if they did.
3. Price - Red Box has iTunes beat here. Red Box is $1 a day up through 25 days at which point you now own the movie. iTunes is $3.99 for a standard def movie and $4.99 for a hi def movie. For this comparison I'm doing the $3.99 versus $1. So iTunes is four times more expensive to rent.
Conclusion:
In the end I think it comes down to what works best for your situation. I have an Apple TV and a high speed internet connection, which cost $229 for the Apple TV and $40 a month for the high speed internet connection. If you don't have these then there really is no comparison. But if you do have these then you're probably like me and you'll most likely go with convenience over price. I like the fact that I can download HD movies, watch them, and then not worry about rewinding a tape or running them back to the store. It costs 4 times more (just for the movie) but I don't have to make two trips to the store and wait in line both times. I'm glad I've moved on from the 90's. But I can see how Red Box has hit a sweet spot which allows them to be very profitable. There was a need which they seem to be filling well.
I knew this day would come, I just didn't know it would come so fast. 10 years ago today, I took my last final exam to get my Electrical Engineering degree. 10 years have gone by faster than I expected, but 95 % of it has been fun. Shortly after I finished my last final I got in a plane and left Fairbanks and went to Mom's house in Anchorage for a few weeks of rest and relaxation. Then I flew down to Reno for the millenium New Year celebration. Then I came to San Jose, and on January 6th, 2000 I started working for IBM in San Jose. Looking back 10 years ago today, I never expected life to take me where it has. It has been a fun journey working and living for 10 years. I have not had to build any circuits or use partial differential equations for work in the last 10 years, but the bigger things that I learned while getting my degree like total immersion, self confidence, dedication, balls out hard work, constant improvement, and working with and getting along with others have served me well over the past 10 years. I have no way of predicting where the next 10 years will take me. All I know for sure is that I will continue to work hard, learn new things, improve, and have fun. Thanks to UAF for helping to get me ready for the real world.
