It is almost midnight saturday night and new york city is a ghost city. just got in from walking Hiro and all there is out there is rain, gentle rain, no winds, no hurricane...then I go to all sorts of websites and see the image of a swirling weather condition approaching us. i must admit, i am a bit scared. it is scary. it is scary to come to my building and all the front entrance windows and doors are taped and i buzz the service entrance door and they let me in.
i was late to the game of hoarding. having worked late yesterday and being away all week last week, all i could do was to fill the water bottles yesterday night. everyone has their priorities. mine is running as always. although i was feeling crap tired from the intense work schedule and little sleep of last two weeks, i still prioritized getting my run in before the storm hits rather than going and buying groceries this morning.
after running 11 miles in the first stuffy humid then rainy central park, having run into my friend matt right at the end of his long run put an end to the misery of my long run. i just simply couldn't continue. i was out of breathe and needed an excuse to quit. hence i cut my long run short, went to matt and glenn's apartment on uws, after quenching my dehydration with 2 glasses of water and a diet coke and crunching some crackers, i borrowed money and dry clothes from them and bought a week's worth of groceries at the last open supermarket around the corner from their apartment. i was going to go to fairway, but some passing-by girls warned me: "fairway is closed!"
after filling 7 bags of groceries with the borrowed money and a short cab ride later, i was home by 2pm. now my fridge looks scary as well. it's full. that never happens for a traveling consultant with a nocturnal eating habit. as i said, this is a scary night.
so, here i log the feelings of the night before Irene hits nyc. let's see what's in that suspense for us. Hiro is asleep and I know I must sleep at some point. just scared to be woken up by some wild wind banging on the windows...
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Saturday, August 06, 2011
9th year anniversary in New York City
August 6 2002 was when I moved to the city. Or August 5th. I can't remember which of the two days it was. In any ways it has been 9 years. One more year, it will be a decade and I will have spent my 30s in this city. What a transformation...
From naivete to optimistic jadedness
From phd student to management consultant
From upper east side to hells kitchen
From no Hiro to a life with Hiro
From hopeless romantic to warm-hearted skeptic
From budgeting for weekly meals to relentless savings for a house with a garden
From recreational runner to obsessive marathon runner
From a heavy accent to slightly heavy accent
I can go on forever. Life is good. Happy anniversary!
From naivete to optimistic jadedness
From phd student to management consultant
From upper east side to hells kitchen
From no Hiro to a life with Hiro
From hopeless romantic to warm-hearted skeptic
From budgeting for weekly meals to relentless savings for a house with a garden
From recreational runner to obsessive marathon runner
From a heavy accent to slightly heavy accent
I can go on forever. Life is good. Happy anniversary!
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
A Good Start to Marathon Trilogy - San Francisco
I can safely say that I didn't expect to do super well in the San Francisco Marathon on July 31st. This was the first marathon of the three in my series for the next six months. The other two are NYC in November and Houston in January, where I will attempt to seriously qualify for the Boston Marathon. The goal for NYC is 3 hours 20 minutes and the goal for Houston is 3 hours 15 minutes.
As for San Francisco, I didn't really put in the intensity of mileage and longer long runs until t minus seven weeks of the marathon. Madrid Marathon in April was a fiasco with a DNF, and then the heat of NYC summer made it really difficult to push it hard. When I started pushing it hard I started having mild pain in both of my heels and also my lower back issues started appearing. So, I was attempting to run a 3hrs 30-35 mins marathon in this hilly course.
Somehow Sf Marathon day turned out to be a great day. It was hilly, but the weather was great. Overcast and not warm. It could have been cooler, but still it wasn't warm. It was in the lower sixties I am guessing and I was a sweat ball as usual when I finished.
I started conservatively and stayed in the race as the miles kept going. I was ~860th according to mile 7.4 time check and finished the marathon 361th gradually putting it in a higher gear and passing about 10% of the field on the way. There were about 6,000 finishers in the end. I must say the pleasure of passing people in the 2nd half of the race is so priceless.
Here are my splits for fun from my watch (so they won't exactly match the official splits). Irregularities are due to the hills (down n' up):
8:13, 8:19, 8:19, 7:50, 8:00, 8:20, 7:32 [Golden Gate Bridge downhill], 7:34, 7: 34, 7:42, 7:20, 8:04, 7:52, 7: 23, 7:50, 8:01, 7:53, 7:37, 7:37, 7:37, 7:56, 7:13, 7:48, 7:58, 8:18, 7:42, 1:35 (7:14 pace for last .2)
My Garmin showed 26.5 miles so there will be some irregularities. Mile 25 was a bit off my pace, but other wise I had a good ryhtm and 1min 32 seconds faster 2nd half compared to first half.
Overall finished in 3:25:22 a PR by 37 seconds. Here is the official site with pictures and real splits. Shout out to Miss Audra Farrell for the morale boost and hugs and cheers at mile 22. When I look back what helped me do well, I can think of four factors, two of which related to training and the other two related to running the marathon:
Training: First of all, I cross-trained by biking once a week and running four times a week, not pushing weekly running mileage too high but getting in a quality long run and a quality hill work out almost every week. Secondly, I stepped back when I felt the signs of over-training. Thirdly, in the race, I listened to my heart rate, I slowed down immediately when I felt labor in my breathing. Last of all, I stayed in it mentally. when I was really tired miles 23 to the finish, I slowed down a bit but I stayed in the game. It was mental at that point. I need to now rinse and repeat 2x more.
And here is my finisher photo, second before I cross finish line:
As for San Francisco, I didn't really put in the intensity of mileage and longer long runs until t minus seven weeks of the marathon. Madrid Marathon in April was a fiasco with a DNF, and then the heat of NYC summer made it really difficult to push it hard. When I started pushing it hard I started having mild pain in both of my heels and also my lower back issues started appearing. So, I was attempting to run a 3hrs 30-35 mins marathon in this hilly course.
Somehow Sf Marathon day turned out to be a great day. It was hilly, but the weather was great. Overcast and not warm. It could have been cooler, but still it wasn't warm. It was in the lower sixties I am guessing and I was a sweat ball as usual when I finished.
I started conservatively and stayed in the race as the miles kept going. I was ~860th according to mile 7.4 time check and finished the marathon 361th gradually putting it in a higher gear and passing about 10% of the field on the way. There were about 6,000 finishers in the end. I must say the pleasure of passing people in the 2nd half of the race is so priceless.
Here are my splits for fun from my watch (so they won't exactly match the official splits). Irregularities are due to the hills (down n' up):
8:13, 8:19, 8:19, 7:50, 8:00, 8:20, 7:32 [Golden Gate Bridge downhill], 7:34, 7: 34, 7:42, 7:20, 8:04, 7:52, 7: 23, 7:50, 8:01, 7:53, 7:37, 7:37, 7:37, 7:56, 7:13, 7:48, 7:58, 8:18, 7:42, 1:35 (7:14 pace for last .2)
My Garmin showed 26.5 miles so there will be some irregularities. Mile 25 was a bit off my pace, but other wise I had a good ryhtm and 1min 32 seconds faster 2nd half compared to first half.
Overall finished in 3:25:22 a PR by 37 seconds. Here is the official site with pictures and real splits. Shout out to Miss Audra Farrell for the morale boost and hugs and cheers at mile 22. When I look back what helped me do well, I can think of four factors, two of which related to training and the other two related to running the marathon:
Training: First of all, I cross-trained by biking once a week and running four times a week, not pushing weekly running mileage too high but getting in a quality long run and a quality hill work out almost every week. Secondly, I stepped back when I felt the signs of over-training. Thirdly, in the race, I listened to my heart rate, I slowed down immediately when I felt labor in my breathing. Last of all, I stayed in it mentally. when I was really tired miles 23 to the finish, I slowed down a bit but I stayed in the game. It was mental at that point. I need to now rinse and repeat 2x more.
And here is my finisher photo, second before I cross finish line:
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
How to make money doing what you like to do
My job as a Digital Marketing consultant requires me to follow the new news in the Digital world. Hence, I read some aggregator newsletters to keep up to date with the new technologies and new marketing events. Yesterday and today was a feast of discoveries of new digital propositions that can inspire you to do your dream job - doing what you like and make money from that...
One offer is from a very big and old company that is very intriguing. I am not sure I can do this myself but somehow made me like what I do more when I heard about AMEX's social deals platform launch. The platform has two new components: "Go Social" for merchants and "Link, Like, Love" for Consumers. These two components add to teh previously launched FourSquare and AMEX partnership and AMEX's offer to small businesses to use membership points to buy Facebook ads. Now these are big steps for AMEX to claim that they are indeed a social currency.
Here, you can read about the details of what AMEX did. The deals platform is a game changer, because it connects the consumer and the merchants through a platform that operates on a technology where everything is automated. On "Go Social," as small merchants "claim" their stores on Facebook Places, AMEX gives them an app to create and push out offers to its cardmembers who check-in at those locations. On the consumer side, consumers can also have access to offers from larger companies, by just liking the new "Link, Like, Love" page of AMEX facebook page and then once they add offers to their baskets all they need to do is go and use their AMEX cards at those companies and they will get the offer fulfilled automatically. More detailed explanation is here.
The AMEX news were really exciting, but it is not something that I can go and do it myself. So how can a professional who knows a bit about Digital Marketing can make a living doing what he likes. Today I discovered an examplar story of a professional who does that. This person who works a recruiter at Google also owns and operates an e-commerce site with her dog: The site is called toys4tails. It offers subscription toy service for your most favorite pet - your dog! I subscribed to this service already to receive one toy a month for Hiro for the next 6 months. I selected a few toys that Hiro might like and can't wait to be surprised by the toys as they arrive on a monthly surprise delivery schedule.
I don't know how much revenue toys4tails brings but what a cute business proposition. Furthermore, she does it as a side job.
Now, all I need to think about is what I want to sell online. These days having a storefront set up on the web is easier than ever. I can use Google self-operated tools and this blog for marketing and use a site like Shopify to create a store front and Google Checkout for payments. I just need to find my "cute" idea. What am I going to sell?
One offer is from a very big and old company that is very intriguing. I am not sure I can do this myself but somehow made me like what I do more when I heard about AMEX's social deals platform launch. The platform has two new components: "Go Social" for merchants and "Link, Like, Love" for Consumers. These two components add to teh previously launched FourSquare and AMEX partnership and AMEX's offer to small businesses to use membership points to buy Facebook ads. Now these are big steps for AMEX to claim that they are indeed a social currency.
Here, you can read about the details of what AMEX did. The deals platform is a game changer, because it connects the consumer and the merchants through a platform that operates on a technology where everything is automated. On "Go Social," as small merchants "claim" their stores on Facebook Places, AMEX gives them an app to create and push out offers to its cardmembers who check-in at those locations. On the consumer side, consumers can also have access to offers from larger companies, by just liking the new "Link, Like, Love" page of AMEX facebook page and then once they add offers to their baskets all they need to do is go and use their AMEX cards at those companies and they will get the offer fulfilled automatically. More detailed explanation is here.
The AMEX news were really exciting, but it is not something that I can go and do it myself. So how can a professional who knows a bit about Digital Marketing can make a living doing what he likes. Today I discovered an examplar story of a professional who does that. This person who works a recruiter at Google also owns and operates an e-commerce site with her dog: The site is called toys4tails. It offers subscription toy service for your most favorite pet - your dog! I subscribed to this service already to receive one toy a month for Hiro for the next 6 months. I selected a few toys that Hiro might like and can't wait to be surprised by the toys as they arrive on a monthly surprise delivery schedule.
I don't know how much revenue toys4tails brings but what a cute business proposition. Furthermore, she does it as a side job.
Now, all I need to think about is what I want to sell online. These days having a storefront set up on the web is easier than ever. I can use Google self-operated tools and this blog for marketing and use a site like Shopify to create a store front and Google Checkout for payments. I just need to find my "cute" idea. What am I going to sell?
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Can Hiro be an independent dog?
He just turned 2.5 years old and he becomes more needy every day. He needs to touch and be petted nonstop. The situation is even worse with my friends who he stays with, because since he doesn't treat most of my friends as alpha males as he does treat me, so he demands affection and attention in the rudest ways. He stays with Vicky every now and then and he prisons poor girl. He wakes her up at 6am in the morning with a paw poke or tap on the face. He demands attention as soon as sun rises. Vicky sits on the couch working on her laptop, he again taps her with his paw until she turns attention to him. He sometimes doesn't even tap and ask permission. He goes and sits on Vicky's lap on top of her laptop.
The situation is similar with me. The moment I finish eating my dinner he is on my lap and doesn't get satiated with padding at all. I don't mind padding him but his nonstop licking me back becomes annoying after a few minutes.
We used to play fetch and that game even became torturous because he fetches but doesn't bring the toy back. I need to go and get it to continue playing fetch.
I understand he spends so much alone time at home when I am at work and out and about, but I don't know what to do. I am thinking he needs to start going to a dog spa during the day rather than just the lunch time walk. He runs with me once a week and he gets four walks a day, but that's not enough. I think this breed, miniature schnauzers are not good fit for single people who spend more time outside home than at home like me. They need much more constant attention than I can give to him.
Doggie spa will be my solution. I am even thinking of sending him a doggie farm when I am traveling extensively for work. Life is tough, but not for Hiro. Or is it?
The situation is similar with me. The moment I finish eating my dinner he is on my lap and doesn't get satiated with padding at all. I don't mind padding him but his nonstop licking me back becomes annoying after a few minutes.
We used to play fetch and that game even became torturous because he fetches but doesn't bring the toy back. I need to go and get it to continue playing fetch.
I understand he spends so much alone time at home when I am at work and out and about, but I don't know what to do. I am thinking he needs to start going to a dog spa during the day rather than just the lunch time walk. He runs with me once a week and he gets four walks a day, but that's not enough. I think this breed, miniature schnauzers are not good fit for single people who spend more time outside home than at home like me. They need much more constant attention than I can give to him.
Doggie spa will be my solution. I am even thinking of sending him a doggie farm when I am traveling extensively for work. Life is tough, but not for Hiro. Or is it?
Monday, June 20, 2011
Last minute trip to ptwon didn't work, but...
...I found two very useful resources for future trips.
visitptown.com is a site that lists a bunch of good quality inns and shows their availability very easily
also ptown.org shows the last minute availability (2 week window) of all motels and inns in town
Please note that almost all Inns in provincetown require 4-5 night minimum stays. So you need to still call them even if you see a date available, they may not be.
Now Vasco and I need to formulate another short trip plan for July 4th this year!
visitptown.com is a site that lists a bunch of good quality inns and shows their availability very easily
also ptown.org shows the last minute availability (2 week window) of all motels and inns in town
Please note that almost all Inns in provincetown require 4-5 night minimum stays. So you need to still call them even if you see a date available, they may not be.
Now Vasco and I need to formulate another short trip plan for July 4th this year!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Chantix
I started taking Chantix today for cigarette cessation. I think it is working. I smoked a cigarette at 2pm and then I took the first Chantix. An hour later I had this big nausea and I felt like I was going to faint but it quickly passed and nausea retreated to a manageable level. Now 7 hours later I am fine. The single thought in my mind is whether I should smoke and the answer is a big "I don't feel like smoking now, maybe later..." I am sitting in front of a pack of cigarettes as I type this and all I feel is a huge disgust of cigarettes. I must admit if this is what this medicine does, it is a miracle!
On a good note, my cessation coincides with a peak in my training for SF marathon which is in short 6 weeks. I finally did my first real long run of 18.5 miles. I peaked my weekly mileage of running to 41 miles and also managed to get a 21 mile bike ride in this week. All is good.
I shall report from Chantix-land later again!
On a good note, my cessation coincides with a peak in my training for SF marathon which is in short 6 weeks. I finally did my first real long run of 18.5 miles. I peaked my weekly mileage of running to 41 miles and also managed to get a 21 mile bike ride in this week. All is good.
I shall report from Chantix-land later again!
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