I had just planned a quick drop in to report on my intervals this morning 5x1000m at 5k pace or what I hope it is!  Based on my last race about a 7:20 would be right, but I think things have improved so I went for 7:15.  I made it for all but the last set where I came in at 7:18.  Not bad though.  But, Spareribs' note is too interesting to pass up a quick note on!  First, he gives me too much credit.  I know very little about surveys.  They are just not that important in my area of work.  But, I wonder if the declining response rate to them that mrrun mentions really matters.  During the 2008 presidential election the pro Romney people said just that and used some of the results to indicate the result was an oversampling of Democrats.  The pro Obama people said the results are accurate and will reflect the ultimate election results.  The pro Obama people were right.  So, maybe the response rate is not all that important.  I have no real idea.  Just this one example (albeit an important one) where it did not seem to matter.

Bam!  yup, that's what no coffee will do to ya.  Need that Bam!  (liked that as no way I would ever forget to have coffee in the am.  Just like I never "forget to eat" a meal.  Nope, never happened yet.)

Erika, congrats on your Work Anniversary.  THought I'd mention here where it'd mean something to folks. 

 But, Spareribs' note is too interesting to pass up a quick note on!  First, he gives me too much credit.  I know very little about surveys.  They are just not that important in my area of work.  But, I wonder if the declining response rate to them that mrrun mentions really matters.  During the 2008 presidential election the pro Romney people said just that and used some of the results to indicate the result was an oversampling of Democrats.  The pro Obama people said the results are accurate and will reflect the ultimate election results.  The pro Obama people were right.  So, maybe the response rate is not all that important.  I have no real idea.  Just this one example (albeit an important one) where it did not seem to matter.

You're right; it doesn't really matter.  When people refer to response rates, they usually are thinking of the percentage of people who responded to a fixed survey.  (I sent out 1000 surveys, 328 people responded, response rate 32.8%--a very good rate.)  Those sorts of surveys happen all the time and response rates matter greatly.  But major national surveys of the sort that take place in elections don't typically work that way.  Instead, they have target quotas to fill in order to reach a statistically representative sample of the universe being surveyed (typically, likely US voters) or they weigh the responses post hoc to achieve the same effect.  In that case, the response rate doesn't really matter.

A former colleague of mine at the university where I work, Scott Keeter, left to head up the Pew Research Center's polling operations years ago and is still there.  They do wonderful, accessible descriptions of their polling techniques, explaining the methodology in detail.  When I taught this stuff I used to assign their descriptions as a sort of "best practice" model.  Good stuff; see their FAQs about polling.

Well I've always heard that you shouldn't have a middle option (sort of like 3 on a scale of 1 to 5), because a lot of people will just think "Meh..." and pick the middle option all the way. Best to make them commit to one side or the other. On the other hand, I do a lot of customer service satisfaction surveys, and performance guarantee surveys for our vendors, and I rarely assign the top value. I think it's like getting an A+ or "Absolutely Excellent" or "Perfect" rating, and quite frankly, I just don't believe anyone is "Perfect" all the time in everything. I've got some vendors who follow up and wonder what they can do better to get a higher rating. They usually don't like my "Achieve perfection." response.

And speaking of LindedIn (well, Aamos brought it up!) it seems so stupid that there's no way to really give it enough information for it to make meaningful announcements. I've been at the University of Alaska in one capacity or another for almost 24 years. I came to this department 18 years ago this August. But I'll have been in my current position 3 years this December. So the "work anniversary" it's prompting people to congratulate me for is for a job that ended almost 3 years ago. Thanks, Amy! I appreciate it. I think I'll be here a few more years to come.

Marj, I think your picture came out just fine. Nice skyline with the breaking clouds. That's the Charles, yes? I've been to Walden Pond with La Tortuga, but haven't gone for a swim there.

BTY, I've had that tired legs but ok cardio thing before, usually after doing a lot of hills or a tough long run. Sometimes even an "easy" run feels hard. I do not remember the last time I started a day without coffee, even with a blood draw.... coffee is the first stop afterwards!

Got out for a run yesterday after all. The rain stopped late afternoon, so after I got home I headed out for an easy trot down the hill and back. Altho that trip back up the hill never feels easy, regardless of pace. Today was actually sunny and nice, so I ran 7.3 hilly miles for a late lunch outing.

Aamos actually accused me of having a taper plan, but I really don't. I will just cut back on the longer runs and not feel so bad about a rest day here and there. Today I did a little over 7 when I'd normally target 10 on Wednesdays. Sunday's long run might be just 12 or so. We'll see how I feel. Seeing as how this is a downhill marathon, I'm not overly concerned about it. Got my downhill training done last month so it's all good.

Oh, Tetsujin! This is looking like our rainiest summer on record. We're only .5 inch away, or something like that with 11.05 inches since June 1 (they don't count the rain we got in May). Rainiest is 1930 and we've already passed 1967. We missed a July record by .18 of an inch. Not that I wanted more rain, but when you come that close, it's kind of a bummer to miss it!

Oh, Tetsujin! This is looking like our rainiest summer on record. We're only .5 inch away, or something like that with 11.05 inches since June 1 (they don't count the rain we got in May). Rainiest is 1930 and we've already passed 1967. We missed a July record by .18 of an inch. Not that I wanted more rain, but when you come that close, it's kind of a bummer to miss it!

Erika - I hope August treats you better before it all starts falling as ^<<<(snow)>>> next month.

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With all the customer satisfaction survey insight going on, I couldn't resist agreeing to a telephone surevey on my pocket branch of an otherwise huge nationally infamous, if not notorious, bank.  I gave good ratings of 7-10 on a 1-to-10 scale, even trying an 11 and a 12 to some of the dozen questions.

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My banker contact there said the national headquarters automatically discounts anything less than 7 in its resultant branch ratings..

Tramps, as a self proclaimed expert in odd behavior, I would say that is odd behavior. I'm relieved the dog wasn't a biter.

Nice picture, Marj.

Mariposai, the world is lucky to have people like you and the Easy Pacer.

Tet, snork..

Congratulations on the job you left three years ago, Erika.