Mornin' everyone.
Yesterday’s excellent workouts:C-R (Quick TM 2 - travel day)Stumpy (cat-prompted, black-iced, clenchy 3.1 miles)Twocat (8 with Training Partner on a less-busy day)Tammy (slow 3 miler with a newbie)Holly (4 TM miles after getting booted by DD who got phoned by Mom)Rochrunner (6 at 20F with 20 mph winds - grateful for some shelter from the storm - watch that hammy!)Catwhoorg (usual lunchtime 6, pre-weather cool down)Dave (still driving to Tallahassee)Spacityrunner (3.4 miles in “cold, windy overcast PERFECT running weather” with speed, hillage, and a pizza chaser)Mike (6 on the TM to avoid more frozen hands)Mariposai (7 fun, cold, partially-headlamped post-work miles)Tet (slo-mo, pick-up miles)Evanflein (8.2 miles with .5 repeats, and glad to be done)Stumpy, as Marj said, Baystate is supposed to be a good BQ marathon.Sorry about the continued back issues, TW.How did we ever get along without cell phones when we were growing up? Just fine, I think. Not that there was an option. I didn’t get one till I was old enough to handle it, when I was about 50. We don’t have kids, so we only have to worry about what we do with our phones.Leslie, this is the TENS unit that I got. I use it most nights for about 20 minutes before going to bed, and it makes a good difference. Happy 30th in August!I’m very glad your Dad’s surgery went well, Steve. Thanks for letting us know.6.9 slow RW miles in 20F temps with a SW breeze to make it feel even more refreshing. It was relatively uneventful until I went from road to sidewalk at about mile 4 and didn't see that the sidewalk was a sheet of ice, but did feel myself falling, and felt myself landing square on my upper back with a bit of a head bump and saw my headlamp beam shooting straight up. Yikes! Luckily the way I landed dispersed the impact, and my thick hat protected my head, so I got up, got back on the road, and continued on my way. Keeping moving was probably a good thing, and prevented my back from tightening up. So far, no permanent damage, and I may have gotten a little sense knocked into my noggin.
We have Political Dinner #6 tonight, and it'll be interesting to see how the tone, discussion changes now that we are post-inaug. Whatever, we'll still have a good time, and will still be friends at the end of the evening.
Have a greta Friday!
Jay
Without ice cream there would be darkness and chaos.
Hey, I made it. Just 15 hours to make a 12 hour trip. Stopped by the kids house and picked up my older granddaughter who wanted to stay with us at the hotel. Our younger granddaughter is a little leery of us, but she should be fine after we get a longer visit.
I went out for a 22 minute and 33 second jog around the hotel area. It was rush hour and we're a block away from the Capitol building but I was able to find a quiet road and even an old cemetery.
I was thinking while running (and I didn't even fall), and I was thinking about the drive home on Monday. We'll be going through Atlanta the day after the Superbowl. Will the traffic be lighter than normal? Would a win or a loss by Atlanta effect the traffic more? A win and everyone is out partying all night. or a loss and everyone stays home depressed....
MM#209 / JapanJoyful#803
phones
okay, thanks for the gadget explanations.
Sounds like iphone is a Apple trademark
for the generic word smart-phone
and a tablet is mostly just a bigger version
that doesn't go by a trademarked name.
.
However, I'll leave Android for another day
as I need to try to get my clam-shell cell phone
hooked up to the microwave so I can call up Steve.
Glad dad came through okay.
Did you get everything you know and do from him?
Running
Incoming clouds warmed everything up
for this morning's 'mute that will be a little damp.
However, unlike getting all sweaty and hypothermic
when running in it, I don't think weather matters for walking.
We'll see.
"Enjoy yourself. Your younger days never come again." 100yo T. Igarashi to me in geta at top of Mt. Fuji (8/2/87)
Stumpy--another BayState endorsement. Flat and tends to have a fast field. I did it back in 2009 during a nor'easter, which I don't recommend.
Tet--these days, we're really talking computers of different sizes. Large to small: desktop, laptop, tablet, smart phone. We still call the last one a "phone" but that's a bit of a misnomer since most people use it for much more; it's a pocket computer, really.
Soapbox rant warning: I've spent a good chunk of the last three years teaching university professors how to use internet resources in teaching (often helping them teach students about the internet). College students are not "digital natives," that's a myth. The vast majority don't have even a basic understanding of how computers or the internet work (how does a Google search generate results? where do wikipedia articles come from? how does online tracking work?), nor can they do anything other than use apps created by others (Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, etc). (It's sort of like saying, "I know all about cars because I can turn the key and start one." Nope.)
I actually think it's important for kids to be introduced to computers early. They are, after all, central to almost everything. The problem is that most schools are ill-equipped to teach about them because the teachers know so little. As a result, they often hand kids iPads (or some equivalent) and rely on pre-packaged commercial "educational" software and apps that may make learning math etc. more engaging and fun (not a bad thing) but don't actually teach kids about how computers and the internet work. So, basically, they learn how to click a button on a software package but don't understand any of the mechanics or the implications of computers and computer networks. Critical computer literacy skills are badly lacking in most schools. And as fake news, cyberbullying, privacy concerns, hacking, "filter bubbles," the threat of losing net neutrality, the tyranny of algorithms, the "internet of things," the "dark web," and a hundred other issues make clear, these are issues (adjusted for age-appropriateness, of course) that students should be learning about. Rant over.
BTW, if you're a parent Common Sense Media has some decent resources on kids and media use more generally, including a glossary of common digital terms.
Rest day yesterday contributed to a sproinky 10-mile trail run this morning.
Be safe. Be kind.
Marathon Maniac #957
Jay - I am thinking of getting DH a TENS unit to help with his back pain.
Tet - Androids and Iphones are both smartphones. It is like a Microsoft computer vs. a Apple/Mac computer.
Dave - good luck on your drive back.
Tramps - good point.
Steve - glad your dad's surgery went well.
No run for me today, just 50 times across the pool (1250 yards) followed by about 30 minutes of weights and core.
Happy Friday!
Life is a headlong rush into the unknown. We can hunker down and hope nothing hits us or we can stand tall, lean into the wind and say, "Bring it on, darlin', and don't be stingy with the jalapenos."
...tet//.........carry a couple of 2-lb handweights, should do the trick
if you don't have any,
Campbells Cream of Mushroom Soup work too
(in the cans)
============
20s with windchill
30-min HH on GreenWay, Back seems to have recovered
PoolRun in an hour
..................good running guys
..nothing takes the place of persistence.....
Interesting discussion on phones and computers. I didn't get a smartphone until 2 years ago - one of the last holdouts. My DD14 ran out of minutes, and her father has not added more. She doesn't seem to mind, but now sometimes she doesn't come home straight from school, and I freak out. So I or he will have to get her a working phone by next school year. She uses her computer mostly to chat to friends. Both kids have school laptops that all students got this year. Which I appreciate as I could not afford to buy my son a new laptop. My son did not get a phone until he was in grade 10. He didn't seem to care at all.
My DD told me she was in a class this week, with her head down looking at a pencil. The teacher ordered her to put her cell phone away. She said she didn't have one. The teacher refused to believe her until she came up alongside, and saw the pencil. I was surprised the kids are allowed to have them in class - my son said that some of his textbooks are on his phone!
I've been in a running slump. Plus it was cold and windy out yesterday. I know - terrible I even say such a thing in this fine company when it was above freezing. I come here for inspiration, and it usually works!
I made my first sourdough bread last night. It needed to rise a bit better, but was still tasty. I made my own starter just with all purpose flour and water....interesting biology experiment! Interesting there is enough wild yeast in the flour to get a fermentation going in just a few days.
"During a marathon, I run about two-thirds of the time. That's plenty." - Margaret Davis, 85 Ed Whitlock regarding his 2:54:48 marathon at age 73, "That was a good day. It was never a struggle."
Labrat
Tramps, good points about this digital age.
On the cards for me this afternoon is to strip down and diagnose an issue with one of the lab PCs.
If we get the IS group involved, they will simply swap it out with a new Win 7 machine.
Sadly the software we need to use to drive the older instrument it is attached to is not compatible with Win 7.
None of the younglings want to even crack the case and take a peek.
I stretched my lunch run out an extra half mile ( so 6.5) and feel good about it, we are back down to season average temps.
5K 20:23 (Vdot 48.7) 9/9/17
10K 44:06 (Vdot 46.3) 3/11/17
HM 1:33:48 (Vdot 48.6) 11/11/17
FM 4:13:43 (Vdot 35.4) 3/4/18
On the issue of computers - there are a lot of adults who also don't understand. on cars, i'm of the insert key, turn on - if it doesn't work, call aaa or drive to mechanic.
we went to the beach to run - late because henrun got hijacked on FB and we spent time identifying and fixing that. supposedly the copy has been shut down it was too hot, so we limited ourselves to 30 minutes of running, followed by sitting and some wading. a low key afternoon in store of some swims, writing, and reading.
jay et al - be careful on ice, specially at 2 am when you can't see it. nice runs as seen in jay's recap once again.
marj
..marj//....at First Glance
I thought you were telling us henry was HiJacked by the FBI..........
==========
.........20-min PoolRun, cramping in Non-Operative Leg
been there,
done that..............just Paying Attention to it for now
On the subject of modern tech, when I research buying a new car, I try to learn all I can about the candidates including reading over the user guide (usually a downloadable PDF). So I downloaded the guide for the car that's at the top of my list only to find that it is 660 pages long! Looking over it, I might have a Masters in Computer Science, but I still might not be able to figure out how to use all of the amazing technical features. What do non-technical people do these days? I have a couple of friends my age who haven't figured out how to program their built-in garage openers, let alone "pair their smartphones" (if they even have them).
Anyway, I took it relatively easy today with a strength workout at Planet Fitness. Tomorrow I'll be back out at the lake to either run with the club or with some other friends who'll be there. Third straight day of sunshine today -- I hope that tomorrow make four!
Doug, runnin' cycling in Rochester, MI
"Think blue, count two, and look for a red shoe"
Oh, of course. There's no reason adults would understand the more recent developments. My point was that just because kids are using smart phones and the internet, doesn't mean they understand what's going on. Just like your driving doesn't mean you understand cars. We can get away without understanding cars but the implications are enormous (for young people especially) if we do not understand the basics of the internet, computers, and the information we're constantly relying on. The "digital divide" people talk about is less and less about access to technology--though that's still real--and more about the gap between those who understand the basics of what can be done with tech and those who don't.
The teacher ordered her to put her cell phone away. She said she didn't have one. The teacher refused to believe her until she came up alongside, and saw the pencil. I was surprised the kids are allowed to have them in class - my son said that some of his textbooks are on his phone!
I don't know the details in K-12 but about half of textbook sales at the college level now are digital online materials. They're "responsive" materials, meaning they format nicely on any size device, including cell phones. They also often include visualizations, videos, interactive elements, etc., that you can't get in a print book. (But personally, I hate reading long-form on the small screen.) Cell phones (or laptops) can also be useful in the classroom for a variety of activities. Polling is popular, for example. Back-channel Twitter discussions/Q&A (using a course hashtag) can be helpful in larger classes.
ETA: Doug--have you tried finding a user's forum for your car? Mine's a Subaru . Sort of like RunningAhead for cars, I suppose! Really helpful in practical, useful info for owners, rather than the tons of manufacturer's info. I've been bailed out more than once asking, "here's my problem, what do I do?" Save lots of $$ avoiding dealers too.
BTW, I am NOT a tech guy (I don't even own a cell phone right now) and am not arguing students should become tech experts.
Tramps - My DS, currently a sophomore in college, tells me about these digital options, and the high schools are moving more and more in that direction. I'm afraid I'm a bit old-school. Sometimes there's something very satisfying about reading the subject from a hard-bound book, highlighter in hand.
Roch - sometimes I ask the younger generation. but then my then 8 yo showed me a short cut on the microwave also (pushing 1 minute 2x of 2 minutes)
TW - as a protester dating back to the 1970's, hiding from the fxi is a piece of cake. i remember when my roommate was being checked for a job, and my knowledge of her was limited to 'where she lived' and nothing more
computers in classrooms are useful, but when i audited a class a couple of years ago, there were a fair number of students multi-tasking on FB and amazon while 'taking notes'
Holly, I'm with you. I prefer long-form reading on paper, not a screen. The online stuff is good, though, for supplemental material. Ideally, it's not either/or but both. Journalists are doing some interesting stuff, too....and we're just starting.