Dan's 7th Birthday

Dan turned seven today! We sang "Happy Birthday/Cumpleaños Feliz" to him at the top of our lungs and he blew out the candles while he was still in bed.

It was weird to think that just seven years ago we became parents as well. He was so tiny and we were so unprepared. Funny how it all works out, though.

5000 Days

15 January 1995 was 5000 days ago. So much has changed since then. To put it lightly, most things weren't turning out too well.

A lot of things have changed-- just about everything is better. One thing that has been constant all along has been my running. If anything, I run more now. I'm slower and older, but it means a lot more to me.

I went trail running with some good friends this weekend in Rockville. We got scratched and dirty and I ran into a branch that left a good bruise on my forehead. Heaven.

"The House That Ike Broke"

My Brother just sent us pictures of the house I grew up in in Lumberton. Ike dropped a tree on it (Rita dropped a tree on the same house in 2005). This inspired me to write a little poem:

"The House that Ike Broke"

This is the House that Ike broke

This is the Roof
Of the House that Ike broke

This is the Tree
That lay on the Roof
Of the House that Ike broke

This is the the Contractor
That removed the Tree
That lay on the Roof
Of the House that Ike broke

This is the Check
That paid off the Contractor
That removed the Tree
That lay on the Roof
Of the House that Ike broke

This is the Agency
That wrote the Check
That paid off the Contractor
That removed the Tree
That lay on the Roof
Of the House that Ike broke

This is the Son
Who works for the Agency
That wrote the Check
That paid off the Contractor
That removed the Tree
That lay on the Roof
Of the House that Ike broke

These are the Taxes
That pay the Son
Who works for the Agency
That wrote the Check
That paid off the Contractor
That removed the Tree
That lay on the Roof
Of the House that Ike broke

These are the Bills
That ate up the Paycheck
Of the Son
Who works for the Agency
That wrote the Check
That paid off the Contractor
That removed the Tree
That lay on the Roof
Of the House that Ike broke

(Next year I'll write another one called "This is the House that Ida broke" or something like that)

Run: Capital Mall, 6.75 miles, 60 minutes even

I haven't blogged a run for a while, but I'm really happy about this run. I just was going to go out for an easy 40 minutes at lunchtime, but it was a pretty overcast day and I felt good. When I ran up to the Capitol and looked back over to the Washington Monument, I just thought, yeah, I'm running there. So I took off towards the obelisk.

There really are a lot of runners here in DC. Pretty serious about it, too. That's motivating. I mostly run by myself, but I like seeing other runners out there. When I ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 1990, I gravitated to a group of Marines including a Gunnery Sergeant who could not have been more than 5'5" but who was convinced that he was going to win this thing. We all stood in a circle shouting OORAH at each other until the starting gun went off. We took off like the race was 100 yards long. At the first split the Gunny and I had run a 6:15 mile! I had planned on running 10 minute miles for the entire marathon. I shouted over at him, "Gunny, we gotta slow down!" We did; the next split was a 6:45. I paid for that later-- my last miles were like 18 minutes I think. But I guess you could say I lived before I died.

Anyway, back to today. When I got to the Washington Monument, I realized I could possibly get to the Lincoln Memorial before 30 minutes were up, turn around and make an even hour. So I kept going.

Mind that just a few weeks ago I was running five minutes, walking one minute to avoid re-injuring my tender hamstring. Today it didn't seem to be a problem. When I hit the gas my legs just responded. So I went with it. As it turns out, I did a reverse split and ended up back at the Capitol at just 45 minutes. I ran back towards FEMA HQ and did loops around the block to make up the hour.

I mapped out the course on gmap-pedometer (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2267290) and was surprised to see it came out to just at 6 3/4 miles. Cool. I figured I had maybe done five. That works out to 8'53" miles, which is a good deal quicker than my usual ten minute mile. Oorah.

Geek stuff: running Infocom games to work on Windows XP

Okay, Ike didn't cause the world to collapse. It was a very expensive, huge storm that caused a lot of damage, but it didn't kill many people. My brother in Beaumont was fine. I feel vaguely foolish for having gotten so wound up about him being there. Meh.

Anyway, I found an old CD with Infocom games on it ("Lost Treasures of Infocom"). These were the old text-based games that are now called "Interactive Fiction": Zork, The Lurking Horror, Infidel... This was all very magical to me when I was a kid. I wanted to become a computer programmer because of this kind of game. So I got my CompSci degree at the Academy and after the Marines I taught Seychellois people to use computers and... somehow I ended up working for FEMA. Go figure.

The trouble is that when I went to start up Zork, I got odd characters on the screen. This killed my eighties buzz. I vaguely remembered that these weird characters were the program's attempt to talk to ANSI.SYS. This was the way programs used to do super advanced graphics like dark letters on a light background (WOW!). I understand that Al Gore invented ANSI.SYS.

Okay, here's how you fix this:

1. Start up a command prompt (Start->Run->CMD)
2. Edit your CONFIG.NT file (notepad %systemroot%\system32\config.nt)
3. Add a reference to ANSI.SYS at the end of CONFIG.NT (add this line: device=%SystemRoot%\system32\ansi.sys)

Now ZORK and company should start up correctly and not give you any weird characters. XYZZY.

Actually going home

Okay, I didn't go home. I called my brother in Texas. It's not even raining in Beaumont, just some pretty high winds. It was reassuring to hear his voice. Okay, now I really am going home.

Still don't like Ike.

Ike paralysis

I'm still at work. I am experiencing some kind of weird Ike paralysis. Like somehow as long as I stay at work, the storm won't actually hit. And my brother will be okay.

Guess I'd better head home. Long day tomorrow.

I don't like Ike

I don't like Ike.

You know, I came to FEMA to help the disaster victim. But I'd be just fine if I never really got to do my job. Ike looks really bad. It's probably going to hit my old hometown in Lumberton, Texas, where folks are still talking about Rita. And my eldest brother is sticking it out near there in Beaumont. He'll probably be okay. Probably.

I'm set to work the weekend. Hey, maybe it'll fizzle out. Yeah, that could happen.

The National Weather Service says, "PERSONS NOT HEEDING EVACUATION ORDERS IN SINGLE FAMILY ONE OR TWO STORY HOMES MAY FACE CERTAIN DEATH".

I don't like Ike.

(By the way, these kickass storm graphics come from http://www.stormpulse.com/.)

September 10: Hurricane day

As I mentioned way back in August, September 10th is the most active hurricane day of the year. Today is no exception. Ike is threatening the Texas coastline with a potential category 3 (or 4!) landfall.

We've been getting ready for a big landfall all season, and it didn't materialize with Gustav. Now folks are reluctant to evacuate. But the Texas coast is poorly suited to hurricanes. This is a bad combination.

I went out for six miles on the Capital mall today. Good run, no hamstring damage. My thighs are sore from yesterday's workout, but not as bad as I thought they would be. Feels funny to worry about my running while there is potential for such a disaster.

Squats: How the (not-so) Mighty are Fallen

Golds Gym over here by FEMA headquarters gives us this terrific $15/no initiation fee deal. Terrific. I've been holding off getting a gym membership because I mostly see myself as a runner. Anyway, I finally ponied up and got a membership-- at very least I can go running at lunchtime instead of getting up at 5am every day to go.

Well, I thought I'd do something simple: squats. I really don't think there's much point in striating the itty bitty muscles on the third head of my triceps when my core muscles are weak. And oh goodness they're weak. It's important to know that I have hurt myself before. I reckoned, hey, I'm a 44 year old married guy: no one to impress. So I went in and did squats with an empty bar. I mean, I run 25 miles a week, I should be able squat an empty bar, right?

Well, not so much. I did one set of 20 reps with nothing on the bar. It was okay, felt a little tired there at the end. I thought, well, I'm good, I'll do another set of 20 and call it a day. I did about 12 more and then my butt started complaining about it. I pushed on through, racked the bar (which I might remind you was completely bare, empty and in no way carrying weight) and my thighs just said, "hey, you're really going to regret this."

Gustav: Landfall within 12 hours

I'll admit this to you now: until now I've kept hoping this storm would somehow magically blow apart, get deflected, die down... anything but hit New Orleans. But it just keeps going on towards NOLA. This is like watching a car crash in slow motion.

Paradoxically, I was looking at some old photos of where we used to live and thought how much I miss New Orleans. Don't tell Sònia; she'll have me locked up.