Entries Tagged 'Completely off topic' ↓

Yea, verily. I have a Motorola MPx220 Smartphone, recently acquired. Runs on Windows Mobile, and is an “all in one” device. Synchs to Outlook so I have my calendar, tasks, address list, etc. all in the cell phone.

The damn thing has given me the cell phone equivalent of the Blue Screen of Death twice in 3 weeks of using it. That’s unacceptable. Technical description of the problem: the phone spontaneously powers itself off. Push power button. Boot-up commences but hangs forever.

Battery life is pretty poor. I guess that’s understandable since, paraphrasing Bones, “This is a computer, Jim, not a cell phone!” Still, compared to normal cell phones that run for a few days without issue, I don’t like the low battery warning at the end of a hard day of use.

A fine concept, this phone, doomed in its execution.

So. (1) I’m going back to separate cell phone and PDA. I don’t want to be out of communication if my PDA bombs. (2) I now have to decide on a PDA. Palm based or PocketPC based? I have a certain opinion about reliability of Windows on the portable platform at this point.

Hmm.

I went out last Sunday and did the first loop of the Mt. Disappointment 50K: from the top of Mt. Wilson, down the road to Eaton Saddle, up the trail to the left (and through a neat tunnel) to Mt. Disappointment, thence down to Red Box. Take Red Box Road to West Fork Trail Camp.

At that point I wanted to detour to Devore Trail Camp by trail then return to West Fork via the Red Box Road. This would add 4 miles or so to the day. But the trail from West Fork to Devore quickly evaporated — with each river crossing it became more and more indistinct. So I turned around.

Damn near stepped on a rattlesnake at the last river crossing as I was busy looking at the river and trying to select the right boulders to jump. My foot was 15 inches in front of its face. My leg was all running shoe and itty bitty running sock, flavored by dirt and blood (yes, I took an obligatory header running downhill earlier in the day). Nice appetizer for a rattlesnake. Fortunately the day was still early and cool, so the rattlesnake didn’t react. It was probably stunned by my Loud Bellow of Genuine Alarm. Or it was deaf. Never mind. It scared the hell out of me. This was a real Mortality Moment.

I haven’t told my wife about this, of course. :-)

UPDATE: Told her.

LATER UPDATE: She bought me a snakebite kit.

Back to West Fork, then up the Kenyon Devore Trail to Mt. Wilson, where I had to wait for my wife because I had locked my keys in the trunk of my car.

It was hot. I did about 15.5 miles, drank maybe 1 1/2 gallons of water and was still parched at the top of Mt. Wilson. Against my better judgment I refueled my water bottles from a creek (can you spell giardiasis?). I’m glad I did (or should I say my happiness is tempered by the fact that I am currently in the incubation period for a giardia infection?). I would have had 2 + miles straight up without water otherwise.

Memo to self. I have to do less of this long distance solo venturing, especially out in the woop-woop. Major trails maybe are OK for solo runs. If I had been bitten I would have been in very bad shape indeed — 5 miles uphill to Red Box or 3.5 miles uphill to Mt. Wilson, and nary a soul to be seen.

Family commitments permitting, I’m going to do the Mt. Disappointment 50K training run this weekend (at least, I’ll do the loop from Red Box to Clear Creek then around via Josephine Saddle back to Red Box).

Over the last 3 weeks I’ve gone out and done in the range of 15 miles and absolutely bonked each time. No way I could do 50K on any one of those days. I suspect I am not trained up to the level of sane runner in the Mt. Disappointment 50K and may have to convert to volunteer. We’ll see.

In the run-up :-) to my first ultra, the Mt. Disappointment 50k, I went on a training run last Saturday, July 2. We started at Red Box, ran the access road to West Fork. From there we took a trail back to the Kenyon Devore trail which took us to the top of Mt. Wilson. Here is a picture [JPG] of the group at the top of Mt. Wilson. (Thanks, Rowlan Fausto). I’m in the back with the blue shirt and cap. From here we went down the Mt. Wilson road 2.5 miles to Markham Saddle, where we picked up the trail again, up to Mt. Disappointment thence down again to Red Box.

I’m still sore. I have a lot to learn about hydration and nutrition on the hoof.

Completely off topic. This is what falls under the category of “What I Do for Fun.”

Fun on a 49th birthday? Answer: if you’re like me and think that the AC100 is a Really Good Idea for when you are 50, you go run. A long way.
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This is completely off topic–no tax content whatsoever–but too cool for words. This baby name wizard will show how popular (or not) your name has been over the last 100 years. Hmm. I acquired my name after its popularity had crested.

Hat tip, Jeff Jarvis, a fellow CMC alumnus.

Completely off topic but just too good to resist. Go look.

(Excuse: well, it’s a good way to test out the capabilities of Wordpress!)