Elvis is still kicking it
Current mood: satisfied
Category: Sports

So I ran my first marathon about a month and a half ago, the Rock n Roll Marathon in San Diego. It was a hell of a lot of fun, possibly the most fun I've ever had at a race. Sarah helped me train properly (in other words, she flogged me for two months straight.... with my gratitude) and so I was really well prepared. Although my time was a little disappointing (4:22), It easily could have been 15-20 minutes faster if there would have been less people in the race. If you've never seen a road race, they start with everybody packed in tight near the starting line and then people thin out on the course. A small race might thin out in a few minutes, a larger one might take a mile or two. However, this race was so packed that it still hadn't thinned out 6 miles in!  Honestly, it never really did thin out, other than a few short stretches where we were on a 6 lane highway. And the lines at the porta-potties  were so long you'd think they were serving margaritas in there. (they weren't)

In hindsight that may have been a blessing, because we kept a relaxed pace and got to enjoy seeing the course, chatting, and counting Elvii. The race organizers were trying to set a record for most Elvises in a marathon, and there were 147! It was pretty awesome. There were a few times where we kept pace with an Elvis, and of course every time we'd run past a group a people there would tons of cheering and hollering.

The weather was also perfect, it was cool and overcast for most of the race, and then got sunny (but not too hot) for the last 90 minutes or so. While the last 6 miles weren't easy, I never hit a wall or felt like I couldn't go on. We passed a lot of people at the end that looked absolutely miserable, and I'm really glad I put in the time with Sarah to whip myself into good enough shape to run the whole race and finish strong. I'm not sure when or if I'll want to go through training again to run another marathon, but I'm really glad I did this one.

Currently reading : The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt By Albert Camus Release date: 1992-01-01

1:16 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Composition vs. Inheritance: FIGHT!

This article at GameArchitect has a good write-up of the inhertince vs. composition issues as it related to game objects:

http://gamearchitect.net/2008/06/01/an-anatomy-of-despair-aggregation-over-inheritance/

Unfortunately, while he mostly talks about how great it is, he doesn't discuss two issues that stumped me when we were tossing around this idea on the Aliens RPG. The first is how you represent an object of unknown composition to the rest of the code base. You need some type of generic interface, but I could never think of something that didn't feel like an unwieldy kludge or hack. The second is a the problem of a distributed "this", and how the different components know about each other. I assume they just have to route information queries through that generic public interface. This is definately something to research and consider for our next project.....

10:07 PM - 1 Comments - 1 Kudos - Add Comment

Government forgets how to do job, passes ridiculous FISA bill
Current mood: aggravated

If you blinked, you probably missed the news coverage over the expanded wire-tapping bill the senate approved of today:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/09/senate.fisa/

In addition to expanding the government's already ridiculous wiretapping powers, the bill also jumps in a magical time machine and goes back in time to make legal the actions of telecommunications companies who were urged to illegally spy on American citizens by George Bush. In other words, the Bush administration convinced private companies to break the law. This seems odd, considering Bush holds the office of President, and is the head of the executive branch of our government. It's pretty simple:

Legislative Branch - creates laws, expands pork barrel
Judicial Branch - interpret laws, validate laws against the Constitution, dresses like a bunch of Sith lords
Executive Branch - enforce laws, reads to children

So Bush encouraged some people to break laws, rather than follow them. It's cool, I get confused at my job sometimes too, we can't expect him to get it right all the time. Luckily, our government has a system of checks and balances to make sure that shit gets corrected and no branch gets too far out of line. This is where our legislative branch should show up set things back in order, but instead they make it a defacto law.

So Bush decides what he thinks laws should be, and your elected representatives roll over and make it happen for him. Is everybody out of their fucking mind? Are they so afraid of being "soft on terror" that they forget how a democracy works? A week ago we were celebrating our independence from monarchy and today we continue vigorously marching back towards it.

The only thing that makes me angrier in this whole mess is that my selected presidential nominee voted in favor of the bill. Seriously Obama, what the hell were you thinking?

10:26 PM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Movie quote trivia game
Current mood: bored
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

I'm stealing this from A-Train. The rules:
1. Pick your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.
5. NO GOOGLING/using IMDb search functions.


I didn't nessisarily pick my favorite movies, but rather some of my favorite quotes (though there is a lot of overlap). The first 10 are pretty easy, the last few are kind of obscure. Extra credit if you can name the actor who is on the list twice.



1. Drop that zero and get with the hero! Annie

2. He's a nut-bag! Just because the fucker's got a library card doesn't make him Yoda! Jabby!

3. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria! Anthony

4. Fair?!? WHO'S THE FUCKING NIHILIST HERE! WHAT ARE YOU, A BUNCH OF FUCKING CRYBABIES? Anthony

5. It's a trick. Get an axe. Anthony

6. The defense department regrets to inform you that your sons are dead because they were stupid. Anthony CONNECT FOUR!

7. I remember how the meaning of words began to change. How unfamiliar words like "collateral" and "rendition" became frightening, while things like Norsefire and the Articles of Allegiance became powerful. I remember how "different" became dangerous. I still don't understand it, why they hate us so much. JE Sawyer

8. Conversation:
1: In 1935, you ran guns to Ethiopia. In 1936, you fought in Spain, on the Loyalist side.
2: I got well paid for it on both occasions.
1: The winning side would have paid you much better.

9. You know, I've always hated making cranes. I make one each time I kill somebody. How about it, shall I make you one? Woo

10. He'll kick your ass so bad, you can write it off on your taxes!

11. If only I had been raped as a child! *Then* I would know authenticity!

12. This urine is great!

13. Conversation:
1: Now, I know you think you're smart, see, cause you got all them flashy clothes, you got that big car there, you got all them black bitches working for you.
2: You forgot about the white ones.

14. We didn't exactly believe your story, Miss O'Shaughnessy, we believed your 200 dollars. I mean you paid us more than if you had been telling us the truth, and enough more to make it alright.

15. When I was a little kid my mother told me not to stare into the sun. So once when I was six, I did. The doctors didn't know if my eyes would ever heal. I was terrified, alone in that darkness. Slowly daylight crept in through the bandages, and I could see, but something else had changed inside of me. That day I had my first headache. JE Sawyer

3:37 PM - 10 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment

I’m not one to brag, but....
Current mood: accomplished

     I'm going to brag a little bit. I ran the half-marathon in Huntington Beach for the third time this year. Sarah was scheduled to run the full marathon this year, but came down with some nasty illz and ended up bedridden that weekend. Assuming you were also in bed when the race started at 7:45 am I'll fill you in on what conditions were like down at the beach. It was about 50 degrees, raining, and windy as heck. By the time i walked from my crappy parking spot to the starting line, my shoes had picked up about a gallon of water each, and my "water resistant" wind pants were waterlogged. Luckily I had a good rain jacket. A lot of people were stumbling around in shorts and t-shirts with garbage bags on, looking quite miserable. For some reason, instead of getting me down, the conditions just mae me more excited. I wasn't just running 13 miles! I was doing it in a monsoon! In winter! And I hadn't even had any coffee!

     Anyway, even tho I had planned on starting in the sub 2:00 hour pace group, the closest I could get was around 2:30. People didn't seem to understand the concept of pace groups were just queuing up wherever they felt like. I was actually standing behind somebody who had a huge backpack and a walking stick. After the announcer said some encouraging things that nobody could hear, they fired the gun to let the elite runners get out onto the course, and then let the rest of us slobs out a few minutes later. I spent the next 13 miles jumping over (or sloshing through) puddles, dodging walkers, and trying to figure out if I could see more with my glasses off than I could on (I finally settled on glasses off).

     Ealier in the week I was hoping to make it through the race in 1:45, before the weather turned south. While I didn't make that, I did manage a respectable 1:46, which was a personal best for me. Besides that, I think it was the most fun I've ever had at a race. I was really disappointed for Sarah, since she had run a very strong 25 miles in 3:35 on her last training run and probably would have done great at the race, but it wasn't meant to be. After that, we spent a fun afternoon watching the Superbowl with Erik Novales and Sandy, and enjoying the healing power of margaritas.

     Despite the rain, brightroom did come through with a couple pics:

     Here's me totally smoking a 10 year old kid with my eyes closed. I've got my hat turned around 'cause I'm taking it over the top:

10:08 PM - 4 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment

BATTER BLASTER!
Current mood: satisfied
Category: Food and Restaurants

I have discovered the best food related invention since man stuck a haunch of brontosaraus meat over a fire:

10:23 PM - 3 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

Aliens (Rodgers and Hammerstien treatment)
Current mood: hopeful
Category: Games

Reading Josh's post about the motion tracker sounds from Aliens and the accompanying video clip reminded me of the "Do Re Mi" sequence from "The Sound of Music". Had the incomparible Julie Andrews been cast as Ripley rather than Sigourney Weaver, I can't help but think the film would have been even more powerful. I hope that Josh shares my vision, and uses his power as lead designer to create the industry's first Action/RPG/Musical:

Doe, a blip on my screen
Ray, shoots from my pulse rifle
Me, I'm the protagonist
Far, I'm from the tour eiffel
Sew, up all my acid burns
La, a note to follow sew
Tea, the least of my concerns
That will bring us back to do...blip blip blip

I'm telling you! Solid gold, baby!

Currently listening : The Sound of Music (1965 Film Soundtrack - 40th Anniversary Special Edition) By Julie Andrews Release date: 08 November, 2005

9:15 AM - 3 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Reasons to be thankful that I’m spending Thanksgiving at home alone..
Current mood: lazy
Category: Life

1. No traffic jams, security lines, or flight delays.
2. Another helping of Team Fortress 2? Well, I shouldn't..... but ok!
3. No lame "It sure sucks to be a vegetarian today, doesn't it? HYUCK HYUCK HYUCK!" jokes. Yeah, sure. No more gravy until you can look down and see your feet again.
4. Nobody bothers me if when I fall asleep playing Mass Effect.
5. If my experimental shepards pie is a total catastrophe, the body count will at least be low.
6. Pants? optional.

Currently playing : Mass Effect Release date: 20 November, 2007

1:51 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Memo to other Apture Laboratories Experiment Participents:
Current mood: hungry
Category: Games

The cake is a lie.

Currently playing : The Orange Box Release date: 09 October, 2007

10:37 AM - 3 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

My girlfriend is a mean machine
Current mood: impressed
Category: Sports

Last weekend, Sarah and I went down to Camp Pendleton ,Marine Corps Base for the Mud Run. This is a small, popular race that sells out quickly each year. In fact, she was only able to get in because a team from the LA chapter of the Hash House Harriers had lost a member and needed a replacement. If you're not familiar with the Hash House Harriers, their motto is "A drinking group with a running problem". It's basically an aggressively informal social group that engages in light running and heavy drinking. They'd registered as a team in the "Boots and Utes" division, which meant that they would have to run in combat boots and militaru utility fatigues. Did I mention that the race was a 10k? With obstacles? Through the hills of Southern California? It promised to be an interesting.

We drove down to Oceanside on Friday night and checked in to a Days Inn. Sarah tried on the boot she had bought earlier that week, which turned out to be about a size and a half too large. Ugh. We had dinner and a few drinks with the rest of the team, and they turned out to be a really cool, fun bunch of guys. After agreeing to meet in the hotel lobby at 6am, it was off to bed.

We got up, sucked down some terrible coffee, checked out, and hit the road to the base. We literally pulled out of the parking lot of the hotel and into a line of cars trying to get into the base, whch was about a mile away. Even though registrations are capped at 3500, it seemed like all of SoCal was trying to get into the base. After parking and taking a shuttle over the campground where the race was being held, we were able to walk into the race expo area for registration and general gawking. It was pretty crazy. I've been to a number of large and small organized races since I started running with Sarah a few years ago, and this was like a cross between a medium sized race and summer camp. There were giant tents every where, fresh faced jarheads marching around 2 by 2, a giant PA with a DJ getting us pumped with tunes like "Pour Some Sugar On Me" and "YMCA", an people walking around in shorts with t-shirts that said things like "Dirty Girls Team".

One of Sarah's teammates recommended she duct tape her feet to help protect them from the oversized boots:




After that, we dropped off our bags and walked over to the starting area. All the non-team runners started first, and then the teams 15 minutes afterwards. Finally, after a really funny pep talk by one fo the race organizers, the gun sounded, and  the teams were off. These guys were the last team through the gate:



I'd seen them walking around the expo area before the race started, each towing a rolling cooler. I guess they emptied them by the time the race started.

Myself and the rest of the support crew / cheerleaders / significant others walked over to the finish line to wait for them to come through.  The top runners came through in about 43 minutes, beating my best 10k time by 10 minutes, and these guys had to jump over 4 foot walls and slog through lakes. Sigh. There were a LOT of really buff dudes in this race, more than I remember seeing at any other race I've been to. Here's Chest Rockwell approaching the finish area:



Almost all the entrants were in the "Open" division, there were very few in the "Boots and Utes" division. However, these two guy did the entire race in full gear, with flak vests and helmets:




They got a huge cheer from the crowd when the came through. The also hit the mud pit without missing a stride. Did I mention the mud pit? The 50 foot long, 2 foot deep mud pit that is the last obstacle before the finish line. This is what it looked like by the time runners started hitting it in earnest:




I was a little worried about how Sarah would do here. She's pretty germ and toxin adverse, and those neuroses aren't helped at all by her work at an environmental consulting company.  Anyway, she came through a few minutes  later, climbed up the wall of the pit, and stared it down:




When parting the waters with her steely gaze didn't work, she decided charging through was the best option:




After that, the team enjoyed a well deserved breather on the other side of the finish line:




And then we moved on for some refreshments at the beer tent. Overall, it was a hell of a lot of fun, and I'm going to run this one with Sarah next year. One of the many reasons I love her is because I get to see and do crazy shit like this, somehting that I never would on my own. We'll probably run the Open division though, combat boots are a drag.

11:06 PM - 5 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment