http://www.iammike.org/index.php en-us CuteNews http://www.iammike.org/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1266761279&archive=&start_from=&ucat=2&
Why? The quick answer is I hardly drive anywhere. Justifying a car payment with only 1000 miles driven each year is hard to do.

The longer answer? It's just so damned cheap to rent a car. Back when I sold the S2000 (April 2008), I said I'd rent cars regularly since I was saving a bunch on car payments. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened, but that's more because we don't travel far, and our cars do just fine for what we do (arguable, but that's beside the point). I just rented my first car for a day trip this weekend. It is comfortable, runs perfectly, is clean, large, has a nice audio system, and it was only $35 for the day (edit: came out to $22 for some reason). What is a car payment? $300? $400 per MONTH!? I sold the S2000 nearly two years ago. I think my payment was ~$350/mo. Math time!

$350 (monthly payment) * 22 (months) = $7700.
$7700 (cost to own car for past two years) - $35 (cost to rent a car a single time [we really need to go on more day-trips) = $7665.

I saved $7665 by not owning a car. Sure, that car payment isn't all lost since depreciation isn't 100%, but you get the idea.

Erin thought it was silly for us to rent a car for such a "short" trip (she drives round-trip to Haymarket [65 miles] every day, we're going out to Markham, but made a neat little loop to incorporate some other stops to make it ~3 hours of nice driving). I think car payments are silly.

Rather than look at my day costing 'x' plus the cost of renting the car, look at how much cheaper every other day is for me. Big picture here...

Of course this all only works if you can get away with hardly driving, which I can.

Note: I have been shopping around for cars recently. I know it's dumb, but I'm a "car guy;" life's tough without something to put a smile on my face. I likely won't pull the trigger unless I find something perfect (2008 or 2009 Mazdaspeed3 GT in white) locally for a great price OR I may get the Civic back to street-able shape (long process) and like it again.

Note #2: I found it funny that I hardly consider having the Civic "owning a car" after rereading this post. I'm so over that thing.
]]> 1266761279 Sun, 21 Feb 2010 09:07:59 -0500 http://www.iammike.org/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1266245706&archive=&start_from=&ucat=2&
Soooo here's what up:

• I made business cards. There were two revisions after this one, but it gives you the basic idea.
• I submitted my LLC paperwork. I thought I was through with all that stuff, but I wasn't. Still waiting on receiving it back so I can open a business checking account and receive checks made out to the company.
• I've found my office chair to be the culprit in my hamstring injuries. I've been sitting on an exercise ball chair (has a little frame to make it a little less of a workout) for the past five weeks and my hamstrings almost feel normal! I still haven't run more than two miles in one go, but each run feels better and better.
• I got into "european board games" and now own a handful of them. I think I'm going to put together a weekly or biweekly (funny word, can mean twice a week OR every other week... I mean every other week) board game gathering at the office after hours. Coworkers and friends will be welcome. There will also be wine and beer
• We received the most snow ever in the DC area. I love all the people calling us pansies for more or less shutting down... THIS IS RECORD SNOWFALL, WE'RE NOT EQUIPPED TO HANDLE THIS AMOUNT. People are dolts. It took Caitlin 3.5 hours to get home from DC on Friday night. DC is absolutely a mess, and they really can't move and more snow with cars parked all over the place, which means it will be awful for another month or so. Caitlin, time to take Metro. We're supposedly getting a few more inches today... hilarious.
  
• We went to Al Tiramisu for dinner on Valentine's Day. It was just OK for the price. I'll be leaving a review of 3/5.
• We saw Avatar, which was simply awesome. I gave it a 5/5.
• I was going to the gym 2-3 times a week before all this snow hit. I'd like to think I was getting noticeably stronger, but likely lost it all in the past week and a half. Then again, shoveling massive walls of snow that are taller than me might have kept me in some semblance of shape.
• I almost pulled the trigger on a new car. I'm really itching, but I should return the Civic to comfortable before writing it off; it's basically a free car, and I know its history.
• I bought some "barefoot" shoes. Vibram Five Fingers Flow and Nike Free 5.0. The idea is shoe designers can't outsmart millions of years of foot evolution and there is no proof saying modern shoes help injury at all. I don't plan on doing serious mileage in either of them, as I am accustomed to cushioning, and making the switch could be catastrophic, but I do plan on doing some trail running in them; will be neat to feel the Earth under my feet and in between my toes. Great water shoes, too.
• I've continued my push of "getting rid of crap." This week I'll be letting go a 30lb stack of car magazines, and around 100 DVDs.
• Figured out my travel plans for the year... They're pretty good. A week in Boston in April, a long weekend in NYC in May, a week in Dominica in July (maybe June?), and a week or two in France... I believe I have enough vacation days for it all, but I certainly need to check. It's looking to be a good travel year, which is just what I need after last year, which was slightly weak. Edit: I was just reminded I'll have a bachelor party or two as well. Vegas for one and ? for the other... Damn it, I don't have that much time.
  

]]> 1266245706 Mon, 15 Feb 2010 09:55:06 -0500 http://www.iammike.org/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1264651089&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1& State of the Union Address. Sadly, the first I've ever watched. Following it, came the GOP response. Why the GOP gets a response when we're a single government with a single leader is beyond my understanding, but it is what it is; precisely what's wrong with a bipartisan system.

A few points my [girl-like throwing] governor, Bob McDonnell said didn't ring well with me:

• He's so quick to throw Obama under the bus for not solving the financial mess "his guy" got us in over the past decade. Before "his guy," we were doing great. You really have the audacity to give "our guy" crap for not pulling us out of a massive hole in a year? Unbelievable that after a year, he thinks his party knows what's best after they didn't have a clue for so long.
  
• He actually said we have the best health-care system in the world. Ahahahahaha! This had to be a slip up. I'm one of the lucky few who has always had great coverage, but I know plenty of folk not so lucky... He clearly does not. Must be nice living in that little bubble without Google.
• He pronounced "nuclear" correctly. Bravo.

Ungh.
]]> 1264651089 Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:58:09 -0500 http://www.iammike.org/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1264515666&archive=&start_from=&ucat=2& OmniFocus and Getting Things Done. My mind has been clear of all the little constant nags/to-do items, and free to think outside the box.

The site? Brett Favre Retirement Watch. As big as the news is, I couldn't find any one site devoted to the topic. So I made one. ]]> 1264515666 Tue, 26 Jan 2010 09:21:06 -0500 http://www.iammike.org/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1263228560&archive=&start_from=&ucat=2& Neuroblastoma a few weeks ago? Well, two updates since I think I last updated. On her December visit to Chapel Hill (where her doctor is), they found her mass to have shrunk a great deal. There was some confusion as to the math of it all, but the mass was now about 20% the size it had been. That is great news... There's a chance that this thing would just wilt away and be forgotten. She just recently had another check-up and the news, while not as good, wasn't bad, either... The mass had not shrunk, but also not grown. My fear is that we're on the bottom of a parabola... The doctor said the next checkup would be in two months as opposed to the usual month, which doesn't make much sense to me, but he or she is the doc.

On the Jade front, she has gone into remission! You can of course read all about her journey on her site. While she's not in the clear, this means that the treatment the doctors prescribed her is working. She's currently back in the hospital for another phase of treatment, but she was able to get home for the holidays and is now in a "maintenance" phase, where she's allowed to go home for weeks at a time. Unfortunately, during this visit she has developed a fever so the expected week-long stay is going to be longer until the fever is under control. I visit her yesterday for the first time in a few weeks and my, how things have changed; she looks REALLY tired, her face is all swollen from the medicine, her hair is well on its way to being gone, and she's definitely not her bubbly little self.

No bad news, but not the best of news... Gotta keep on truckin'. Thank you to all of you who have supported the causes.
]]> 1263228560 Mon, 11 Jan 2010 11:49:20 -0500 http://www.iammike.org/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1262618232&archive=&start_from=&ucat=2&
Free 2-day shipping, no $25 minimum order, 3 month trial.

http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1777176

Note: You don't need to buy the book. Proceed to checkout until it asks you if you'd like to start a trial, do that, then leave the page and remove the book from your cart.

Thanks to Brian for this tip.]]> 1262618232 Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:17:12 -0500 http://www.iammike.org/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1262403237&archive=&start_from=&ucat=2&
Click here for this post last year.

2009 Goals
1. Run a sub-18 5k - Failed. Didn't even come close. Was going to make the 5K push following the marathon stuff, but the whole running thing didn't work out.
2. Run a sub 1:30 Half Marathon (should be cake) - Failed. Was sick for the first, and injured for the second.
3. Run a sub 3:10 Full Marathon (Boston Qualification) - Failed. 3:16. No good reason. Just didn't have it. Abbreviated training due to injury?
4. Go to France - Didn't happen.
5. Continue Japanese (102 and 201) - Dropped 102.
6. Revisit NYC, go to the top of the Empire State Building - Went back to NYC, but didn't go up ESB.
7. Bike 100 miles in a day - Didn't happen.
8. Run 1000 miles - Should have been cake; was on pace for 1500 before injury.

Sooo.... I didn't accomplish a single goal I had set last year (Note: I've never not accomplished a goal in one of these posts). Luckily, I did accomplish a life goal, which I hadn't anticipated: Started a company... Phew! I did something this year.

2009 Highlights
January 22 - Dropped Japanese.
February 10 - After not receiving raises for the year, my company got rid of free drinks.
February 15 - Turned 27.
Winter - Won club racing series for my age group.
May 5 - Joined [and quickly left] Twitter.
April 5 - Ran an incredible (1:04) Cherry Blossom 10-Miler.
April 8 - Was told I could no longer bring my bicycle in the office.
May 12 - Biked around NYC.
May 17 - Ran a sick half marathon.
May 30 - Canoed the Rappahanock.
June - Bachelor party in Las Vegas.
June - Helped Lamkens move to Wilmington, NC.
June - Got another arcade machine.
July 26 - Ran the San Fran Marathon (promise, I'll blog about the trip at some point).
August 26 - Bachelor party in New Orleans.
Summer - Won club racing series for my age group.
September 13 - Ran an injured half marathon.
October 6 - Amber left us.
October 9 - Dad retired.
September 25 - Emily was born.
September and November - Emily and Jade diagnosed with cancer.
November and December - Started my own company.
December 11 - Was told I have high blood pressure.
December - Visit NC.
December 30 - Joined a gym.

2009 Notes
- Ran 953 miles (up from 857), biked 670 (from 472), swam 3 (from 2).
- Gained 5 pounds.
- Didn't get a raise, but my cube got even sweeter.
- Sold the rip and flip Integra.
- Spent a lot of time working on the Civic.
- Didn't have an XBOX fail.
- Refreshed my SCUBA cert.
- Trashed my hamstrings.

2010 Goals
- Get running again.
- Run a sub-3:10 marathon.
- Visit another country (France, Japan, Italy, and Thailand are on the table).
- Bike 100 miles in a day.
- Bike 1000 miles.
- Get the Civic back to fully streetable.
- SCUBA dive.
- Go on an epic bike ride or car trip.
- Work remotely for an extended period of time.
- Begin learning Spanish.
- Bench press 225.
- Cook more.

So 2009... A lot of failed goals, two kids with cancer, homes are still unaffordable, Mom had two major surgeries... 2010 is sure to be better!
]]> 1262403237 Fri, 01 Jan 2010 22:33:57 -0500 http://www.iammike.org/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1262272203&archive=&start_from=&ucat=2&
Anyway, throughout my entire life I've heard "Porsche" pronounced two different ways: "porsh" and "por-shuh." Last week, I decided to figure out who was correct. Turns out, I've [and 90% of America] been saying it wrong.

The answer can be found on About.com.

Next time you hear me say it (it does sound funny to my ears), please don't think I'm being pretentious, I'm just being correct.
]]> 1262272203 Thu, 31 Dec 2009 10:10:03 -0500 http://www.iammike.org/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1262238729&archive=&start_from=&ucat=2&
I also spent the night working on a site, http://www.itbymike.com. Now I'm exhausted and must sleep... I picked a really good night to not get sleep... Luckily, tomorrow night is an early one [sarcasm].

The idea behind the site is that it'll be useful to any old visitor, have a light air to it, and get plenty of information across.

In order to build my client base, I opened the site up to providing services (I know a lot about consumer electronics) to individuals. Thoughts? I have mixed feelings.

Constructive and/or nice comments are very much appreciated, as always.
]]> 1262238729 Thu, 31 Dec 2009 00:52:09 -0500 http://www.iammike.org/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1262140318&archive=&start_from=&ucat=2&
The treatment that I'm getting... As I mentioned before, I left the chiropractor who had been treating me for a few months... He was doing stim and a light amount of ultrasound to no effect. I'm now seeing Paul Glodzik, a chiropractic doctor who is seemingly 100% devoted to adult athletes. This is good; he understands the athlete, and is  practitioner of some of the latest and greatest techniques. I had been receiving tips from Max Lockwood, local elite runner, and Georgetown Running Company owner to visit him, and finally Dr. Paul came in to chat with our trainees about injuries and injury prevention so I decided it was time to introduce myself and set something up.

We started with Active Release Techniques, which basically was him pinning each tendon (with his thumb) in several places and then forcing my leg through full motion. He's also a professional rugby player... I was sweating in pain, and he was sweating in exertion... That's how tight my hamstrings are. After a few visits, we weren't seeing any improvement so we moved on...

The Graston Technique is yet another state-of-the-art sports injury treatment technique, and it was our next step. We're now cooking with fire. The quick of it is that I'm basically rubbed so hard with a metal pole over and over again that all the tissue turns into jello and rebuilds, but correctly this time. After the first treatment, it took a good five days before the bruises faded and my leg didn't hurt [from the treatment]. Unfortunately, after three days or so the pain [from injury] was back and I was as tight as ever... Also unfortunate, it was a holiday week so I couldn't seen him for another week. Yesterday was the second treatment. Based on how I was feeling, the thought is that we gave me too much time to heal back up before giving another shock to the system and getting deeper. Today aside from the soreness from the treatment, I've been feeling fairly loose. I even ran down to the store and back (quarter mile)! Super unfortunate, it's another holiday week and they're moving offices so I can't see him again for another week... Oh well, eventually we'll get to meet two times in a week and hopefully then we'll start seeing some major progress.

Athletically I have been doing nothing, and the scale shows. It's too cold to go on lengthy bike rides, our work gym is awful, and I can only swim so much... Tomorrow I'm going to bite the bullet and sign up at Gold's in Ballston. Not excited about it as I've got a bad taste in my mouth about that location, but it's closest to home, work, and better than my other options. I'd really like to get back to the rock gym, but a taut hamstring doesn't lend itself to climbing too well AND I don't have anybody to go with. Blech.

On the running front, I can tell I'm likely not running at all this winter. Major bummer... Running more or less defined me... I'll have not done it in nearly half a year. I'm extra worried that my scheduled marathon, Steamtown, will not be a Boston bid, but instead just a "get through it." It isn't until October, but marathon training is four months, I need a three month solid base before jumping into that, and I'd say I've lost at least another three months of fitness or so... Yep, that means I'd likely need to get going tomorrow to give it a serious shot. Not happy. I'm also unable to compete for the club racing series, which I've won biannually three straight times now.

If things never improve, I'll likely take up mountain bike racing. I've done it before and thoroughly enjoy it. Once I got the skills down, I think I might be pretty decent as well given my strong cardio background.
]]> 1262140318 Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:31:58 -0500