What to Buy a Geeky Runner Dad?

It would be so easy to rack up a large balance on my credit card, to buy the toys and essentials that a geeky dad might like to have.  On the other hand, I'm relatively frugal, perhaps a miser when it comes to spending money.  With Father's day this weekend and my birthday coming up in July, I figured I would list a few of the things I've been eyeing and restraining myself from buying!

Guitar Lessons, JamPlay Style
About 10 years ago, I bought a Mitchel acoustic guitar from Guitar Center with the intent of being proficient enough to play a song or two.  You would think that in 10 years, I would have picked up some substantial skills.  Alas, the opposite is true, I know barely enough to strum a few chords and pick a few measly licks.  JamPlay is an online guitar lesson site that I've been very impressed with.  At $19.95/month or $139.95/year, it is quite affordable and offers a lot more flexibility than in-person lessons. (Visit the Store for a gift card!)


ASUS Andriod Eee Transformer Tablet!
This tablet is by far the coolest thing I've seen in quite some time. It's a 10" multi-touch tablet with Wifi, GPS, accelerometer, 32GB of memory, and touts the Andriod 3.0 operating system, the same one that runs on my hacked MyTouch 4G phone.  Why not an iPad2, you ask?  Apple just isn't my thing, I guess.  I've been a Linux geek for too long to look back now.

What sets this tablet apart from other devices out there?  There's a detachable  keyboard and battery (purchased separately) that converts the tablet into a laptop! There are times when I like to have a keyboard, and times when I don't.  This manages to do both!  Trust me.  So cool!  It's a bit expensive, though... I may end up just having to save for a while to buy this one.

Learning Chinese from a Pod
Really, you ask?  Chinese?  Yes!  I don't know how to really explain it other than that general desire to continue learning, exploring, and connecting with other people.  What better way to do this than to learn the language and eventually travel there!

I have fortunately found a very good website for this very task: ChinesePod!  My free trial account (which I encourage you to do as well) has long since expired, but I learned what I needed to know: it is a quality program that offers downloadable content, interactive on-line lessons, a supportive community, and access to teachers!

The Basic package costs about $14/month, but the Premium package at $29/month includes a cool Andriod application!  I haven't found a way to purchase these as Gift Cards, but it's still a cool site that I would love to subscribe to.

Running Gear
What kind of runner wish list would this be without some running gear?!  First up, the "Ultimate Direction FastDraw Plus Handheld Bottle", now on sale for $13.95 at Zombierunner.com.  I'm enjoying my Nathan waist pack, but as with all waist packs, they get a bit annoying, bouncing all around.  It isn't until after about 30 minutes of running does it seem to settle in, or perhaps I don't find it as annoying by that time.  Regardless, I'm starting to dig the idea of running with less around the waist and having the bottles in my hands.  A pair of these would allow me to try that out!  You would be enabling scientific experimentation!  O.K. Perhaps it would be more subjective observation.

The next item on my running gear wishlist is this cool adaption from Hydrapak called the GelBot.  Yeah, I know, how many water bottles can a man have?  Just check it out:

I have to admit, I grabbed this idea from trail runner Scott Dunlap's blog about this very product.  I'm not a big fan of the litter you create by using gel packs, so if there's a way I can be more "green", I'll do it!  Combine the FastDraw bottle holders with the GelBot bottles, and you have a fast exchange at aid stations and no trash!

Now, I haven't put on enough miles to think about using this next product for unsupported runs just yet, but I do run as a mode of commuting to work, and I'll be ramping up this effort this summer.  However, it often means I have to carry my clothes or rain gear with me.  I can leave certain items at work or the YMCA locker room, but I can't always plan ahead for these things.  I would love a flyweight or midweight fast-pack. I did find this useful review article from Running Times that's more to the point.  The Osprey Talon 33 looks more to my liking!

Another item by Nathan Sports would help me out quite a bit, actually, a smart-phone armband called Frequency.  I use my Andriod phone for its GPS, music playlist, and periodically a picture here and there.  The GPS isn't all that accurate when taken from my waist pack, though.

The Wallet That Beats All
I did buy myself an early gift, a new wallet from ALL-ETT.  It's a simpler than most, with only four pockets for credit cards, and two sleeves.  One is larger for receipts, and one for cash.  Made out of nylon spinnaker cloth, the same material they make sails out of, it is extremely lightweight, durable, and water resistant.  This is my third one in about seven or eight years.  Don't tell my dad yet, but I bought him one too!

Happy Father's Day!
I'd say that's a pretty good list for now.  I'm hungry and tired, and it's time for bed!  Enjoy your Father's Day weekend, running dads. I hope you spotted something useful in this list and can give a big hint to your loved ones!

Race Report: 2011 Spring Superior Trail Race 25K

(Image from STR Website, without permission.)

What a blast!  For my first trail race, I couldn't have picked a more technical and beautiful trail to run!  Jason, a friend and runner, and I agreed ahead of time that we would try to run the race together, just enjoying the experience and give each other support along the way.  The plan worked beautifully, and I believe I am fully hooked on trail racing now.

The weekend started with me leaving work early on Friday to head home and pack.  I was to meet my parents at 3:00 PM in Hinkley, MN to drop off my car and carpool with them up to Grand Marais.  I had made good time in the car and was only a couple of minutes late.  We stopped by Dairy Queen for a late lunch and headed North.  We did catch an outstanding meal in Beaver Bay at a little place called Northern Lights Cafe.  I had the Norwegian Salmon with a mango fruit salsa, greens, bread, and garlic herbed butter.  Yum!

We continued North and stopped by the Onion River Road, where the Oberg mountain turn-around was locate, and at Caribou Heights to scope out the Start and Finish lines for the race.  They were very close to each other by car, so Mom and Dad would have no problems driving to Oberg to meet me at the half way point during the race.

It was a lot of fun spending time with my parents on the road.  We hadn't "road tripped" since I was probably in college or even high school, so we were able to catch up on all matters of old and new family news.  We crashed that night at the Best Western, right on the lake for a somewhat restful night.  I tossed and turned a bit, but I managed to sleep through most of it.

Jason and I met up at the starting line the morning of the race.  We both debated with ourselves about what clothes to wear and equipment to carry for the trip.  Jason tried a jog test on a new waist belt he had just purchased, but it bounced around like crazy.  He opted to simply carry his water bottle as I had planned.  I put on my fuel belt to carry my phone, which I planned on taking pictures with and perhaps stuff some gels into.  I had two additional water bottles, small ones, just in case my large one ran out.

Jason and I have similar plans for pace, and we set at a comfortable speed, if not a bit optimistic.  My legs felt fresh and strong for much of the first half of the race, and we fell into pace with a small group of runners: Kelly, Kim, Ed, Jim and Steve.  Things went well for our group, as we called out branches, trees, rocks, and other hazards for those running behind.  Positions shifted more out of courtesy and safety than competitive spirit, but at some point, I found myself out front.

The next thing I knew, I had picked up my pace and was flying along the trail.  What a feeling!  We had come off of a long ascent and were on the back side of the hill, running down some long switch backs and into to some boggy areas with plank bridges.  Whooosh!  The scenery flew by, and I believe I yelled some profanity comparing the hell that is road racing verses the beauty of the trail.  I whooped and hollered, and had another runner doing the same in short order!  I made some drastically good time, and even though I walked up Oberg Mountain, my legs still felt pretty strong.

I ran in to the Oberg Mountain aid station feeling fresh, but I took my time there, eating potatoes in salt and grabbing some more water.  Jason wasn't far behind, and he saw that I wanted to get going again.  He loaded up on a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich and a banana.  In hindsight, I should have fueled up more, but I wasn't expecting two and a half hours of running to sap me out badly.

My parents were waiting at the aid station, and they were having a great time talking to other parents and spectators.  They told me of a woman they met who was crewing for her boyfriend, a pacer for the famed Scott Jurek.  They didn't catch his name, but I'll take a look at the roster to see if I can't figure it out (could it be Dusty Olson?).  She asked about me, and Mom and Dad filled her in about my Grandma's race.  When she learned that this was my first trail race, she declared that I would be hooked.

When I saw them, I quickly handed them my coat and fuel belt. I wanted to take on the second half without them.  When Jason entered the aid station, he left his coat with them, too. They didn't realize it, but I had just enlisted them as my crew. :)  They told me about the declaration, and I grinned affirmation.  Yes, I think I'm hooked.

Right away on our return trip, I recognized my mistake in pushing it so early in the race.  My legs were drained.  Jason, Steve, and I plodded on and back into the woods, up the hills that I had just blasted down.  My left hip was starting to fatigue, followed a few miles later by my right hip.  Jason was tired and trying to look around at the scenery to enjoy himself a bit, but each time he let his mind wander, he would trip. He had dropped back at one point, and I thought I had lost him for a while.  Steve and I talked some more, and he was kind enough to share a Hammer gel with me -- since I had forgotten to grab some for the run back.  It definitely helped.

Jason soon rejoined us, and Steve went off ahead shortly after Jason tripped badly one more time.  Jason and I slowed down to a walk for much of the switch backs in the last three miles of the race.  Better safe and slower than fast and broken.  We stopped at a summit overlooking the hills and valleys for a picture, and Ed joined us for the picture.  We again stopped at the bridge right off Poplar River that runs past Caribou Heights.  I tightened up the laces on my shoes, since they were feeling really sloppy.  I was beginning to feel the heat of blisters forming and lamented the fact that I should have done this adjustment back at Oberg.

The last half mile of the run was all road, and for some reason, my body was giving up.  I just couldn't keep going.  I wanted to stop and walk, but with Jason's encouragement, I kept going.  One stride at a time, we kept on jogging right up to the finish line.  We held our hands up and crossed the finish line together in 2:55:20!

At the finish line! (Photo courtesy of Jason Tintes.)

We hung out at the finish line, and my parents went to the lodge to get some food.  There was chili, fruit, and water for the racers, and I downed an entire orange in about two minutes.  I was so famished!  I had laid down in a grassy patch in front of the conference room with my water to let my body recover, but when I tried to get back up, my hip flexor cramped up, twice!  About fifteen minutes later, my thigh cramped up!  I definitely left all my energy out there on the trail!

Would I do it again?  Hell yes!  The wheels in my head are now turning over the new data as I start to plan trail training runs and camping!

Linux Printing Has Come a Long Way

Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) has a whole new meaning...

Back in 1999, I had given up on Windows. It had crashed on me one too many times, the hideous "blue screen of death."  I had been playing with a dual-boot system with Debian GNU Linux and Windows 98, but the "burn it to the ground and re-install" cycle with Windows had left me distraught and down-trodden.  That fateful Winter night, I had wiped Windows from the hard drive completely.

Linux had many challenges in 1999, not the least of which was printing.  In general, if you wanted to print from Linux, you had to make certain you had a supported printer or a network-enabled Postcript printer.  I happened to be using an unsupported HP Deskjet 722C, an inkjet printer that used a proprietary protocol over a parallel port cable.  After a bit of searching, I found a filter application for Ghostscript called pnm2ppa.  It was a hack, a crack of the protocol that enabled me to print in color to the relatively expensive printer I was in no hurry to replace.

Over the years, that printer has moved with me from apartments to houses, and it has performed with reliable quality.  Regardless, I had always wanted to pick up a copier/scanner/printer model, or at least pick up a copier/scanner.  Whenever I asked Meghan about it, she would "poo poo" the idea.  What we had worked just fine, plus I knew that buying any hardware that I intended to use with Linux would require some research to ensure it would perform.

At some point, I must have mentioned it to my mom in conversation.  She squirreled that fact away and later produced an awesome and unexpected Christmas present: an Epson Stylus NX420, an all-in-one inkjet printer!  I brought it home excited and unsure, but optimistic.  At worst, I could use Meghan's Mac Mini as a printer server, and at best, I might get lucky.

In the last few years, there have been a couple of very important changes in printer technology in the *NIX world.  The fist is the advent of the Common Unix Printing System (CUPS), a new print server software.  It made setting up printers and sharing them on the network quite easy.  The second most important thing that happened was the adoption of the CUPS software by Apple for its new OS 10 platform.  With a popular hardware and operating system vendor championing the product, the printer vendors started supporting *NIX through proxy of Apple!

I shouldn't have been surprised when five minutes into researching driver options for the printer, I was able to find this gem: All-in-Ones (Multifunction Inkjet Printers) | AVASYS CORPORATION.  This company provides not only the printer drivers for Windows and Macintosh, but also provides Debian and Red Hat packages!  The scanner as well was supported by another set of packages!

What blows me away about this is that my mom, who is not a very technical person by any means, had simply picked a printer off the shelf that she thought was a good value.  Not only did it turn out to be good, but excellent!  Thank you Mom and Dad!

Waxing up the Skiis!

It's that time of year again, and by golly, I'm going to be out on the trails on my almost new, five-year-old classic cross-country skiis! I bought a pass last year and used it once! Once! Not again! I'll be hitting the trails with vigor, especially with all the beautiful snow we've received in Minnesota already! The temperatures are perfect, and the classic trails are ready. Jessica Dunn pointed me off to Skinnyski.com to get trail conditions; what a great site!

Ski on!