The wife and I ran this road race series: 15k-20k-25k-30k-halfmarathon. I dropped out of the 25k because it was so hot and I felt like I was going to die. My wife, trooper that she is, finished all of them very well. The series tabulated the results for everybody who finished at least 4 of the 5 (yay!) here. They break it down by age group which is good now that I’m old. I like race series like these and have always wanted to do one. It’s good for me because if you wake up early and just show up, you’re already doing pretty well. Also, you can foster local rivalries. I got 2nd in the prestigious 30-34 age group to this guy who apparently works out for a living. My wife was narrowly beaten for 2nd in her group. Next year, revenge will be ours!
Month: November 2010
My wife won’t let me have a pet toucan
doesn’t work
Kaz and I tried in vain all day today to measure our isotopes. Late in the afternoon, when it was clear things weren’t really working out, we left the science machine and tried to fix the door to the lab, which was not shutting all the way. We couldn’t fix that either.
Exciting news from the Japanese: Earth’s 3rd solid sample from a known heavenly body! How about that?! Well I’m not counting the Martian meteorites because those didn’t take much effort to retrieve. The PI of the mission was very negative for a long time, now it looks like the have 1500 grains. That’s a lot. They should give us some for sure, we gave them some comet.
Strange political intrigue involving Haile’s unretirement. Still, I’m happy he’s still shooting for London 2012. Watching his retirement speech in NY made me sad. Speaking of marathons, ours is coming up! Too soon! I still haven’t become used to the heat and humidity out here, this marathon won’t be blazing but it will be fun. I will Run With Aloha.
a l o h a
My parents just got on a plane for the mainland after a nice visit here on The Islands of Aloha. I reminded them that they flew here, but I grew here. We saw much of the island including sea turtles, lots of culture at the Polynesian Cultural Center (including an entertaining and factually accurate iMac movie), and the jungles of Tan-talus. Pictures from my new camera here.
Ostriches are the best
I took my new camera to the zoo, this time with my sweet nine-dollar Minolta lens from the 1970s. It’s 135mm, f3.5. With the manual focus and manual aperture, there’s a lot to do, but I got the hang of it by the end of our zoo visit. Manual focusing is easier if the damn animals stop moving around so much. Plus, I need steadier hands. The lens is pretty great: sharp and contrasty and small. The alternative on my old camera was this lens, which while nice, costs $1100 and weighs about five pounds. That’s two orders of magnitude in cost. I’m not sure if it’s any sharper or has better color rendition than the old-skool Minolta.
from my brother
Zenyatta stretch run at the Breeder’s Cup.
Comet nuclei: Wild 2 is the best-looking
EPOXI
The unfortunately named EPOXI resurrection of the Deep Impact spacecraft sent back some cool pictures of comet Harley 2. Good jets!
“Free Lecture” but donations and tips are gladly accepted
Happy Halloween 2010!
Hansel is on his sabbatical in Seattle this year, but I know he is doing well this holiday.
Noctambulator 