<p>I feel I’ve been slacking on the updates. For that, I apologize. October was likely my most social month EVER. What’s up? The following:</p>
<h3>Halloween</h3>
<p>Ended up at <a href=”http://www.yelp.com/biz/gin-and-tonic-washington” target=”_blank”>Gin &amp; Tonic</a> in Georgetown with some newish friends and Geordie and Chris, which turned out to be a decent time, but regressed into running around M Street like a bunch of idiots. Geordie was an uncomfortably creepy vampire, while Chris and I were Mario and Luigi. Note: This was unplanned. Chris was a last minute addition and just happened to be planning on being Mario. Would not have been the same without a partner in crime. We’re likely on the Facebook pages of 50+ random strangers who thought we were the coolest thing since a <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeLorean_DMC-12″ target=”_blank”>Delorean</a>. Mostly, Asian (ASIAN ASIAN as in “Herro, Hans Brix”) girls… Good time. Hop on <a href=”http://www.facebook.com/iammikeDOTorg” target=”_blank”>Facebook</a> to see all the pics. My favorite is below:</p>
<p style=”text-align: center; “><img alt=”” src=”http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs891.snc4/72451_453501199395_772254395_5129772_8189329_n.jpg”/></p>
<h3>Coaching certification</h3>
<p>I took off last Friday and also gave up my Saturday to sit in <a href=”http://www.rrca.org/programs/coaching-certification/” target=”_blank”>RRCA Coaching Certification</a>. The class was really well taught, but aside from some science, it was all review of the knowledge gained from years of running and reading a handful of books. Once I pass an online open book/friend/teacher/internet class and get my CPR/First-Aid certification, I’ll be one of 1500 certified running coaches in the US.</p>
<h3>My face is falling apart</h3>
<p>I’m not sure why, but I’ve been eating a lot of junk food lately, which has resulted in my face looking like a warzone. Seriously, there is science to it. Maybe once I hit the big 3-0 (“three oh”) things will get under control?</p>
<h3>Running</h3>
<p>I only ran about four times last month due to my ridiculous social calendar, but they were all really quality runs. I even <a href=”http://connect.garmin.com/activity/54691330″ target=”_blank”>ran five in 39:00</a>, which was a pretty easy effort. It took a few days to heal from, but my cardio is definitely there. I’ll need it; spring marathon coaching begins this weekend. I was unable to run-along with my trainees last year, but I hope to do so this time around. First run is six miles, which based on my weekly mileage is too much, but all my runs have pretty much been 5-6… Just means I’ll need more rest afterward.</p>
<p>I’ve pretty much concluded it’d be stupid to attempt to work toward my Boston qualification next year so I’ve conceded to make it a year of base-building and shorter races. If I can handle that and put down some fast times, I’ll look at possibly putting together a strong effort before my 30th in February 2012. Isn’t it crazy how far you have to plan ahead for this stuff?</p>
<h3>Fantasy Football</h3>
<p>Things have been coming together pretty well. I sit at 2nd in both of my leagues with a 5-3 record in each. In my work league, I’ve been getting really lucky while putting up decent numbers. In my friend league, I’ve been wrecking house, but getting a little bit unlucky. Still, 2nd is nothing to scoff at.</p>
<h3>Work</h3>
<p>Primary job has been pretty busy, but I’ve been able to do a lot of it from home, which allows me to get errands and chores done. These developers never rest…</p>
<p>Secondary job has been fairly slow, but that kind of means I’m doing a good job; I’m only called when things break, and they’re not breaking. I do have a fair bit of web work coming up, though. While not public, I’ve grown tired of sitting on my latest work, <a href=”http://www.best-lg.com/” target=”_blank”>Best, LG</a>. This will be Lori’s design blog… I took a WordPress template, modified just about everything about it (makes me wonder why I used it in the first place? Whatever, it was $40 and turned out to be a good guide), added some custom bits, did all the art. Fun little task, but I hope it gets used!</p>
<h3>High School Reunion</h3>
<p>It has been ten years. I was very apprehensive heading in, but it turned out to be a really good experience. Oddly enough, nobody had really changed. Yes, deep down I was hoping for a bit of a shit-show. Caught up with tons of people from sports, band, previous relationships (Read: Jessica), Floris, and the old neighborhood (Note: Stefan is supposed to invite me to a night of beer pong). Really happy I went. I was able to entice a long-time friend to accompany me so that made the whole night much more palatable. The only picture I’ve found of myself is below. Note: We were discussing offshoring jobs to India.</p>
<p style=”text-align: center; “><img alt=”” src=”http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs796.snc4/67626_452039889395_772254395_5106508_5603157_n.jpg”/></p>
<h3>Web Browsers</h3>
<p>I have left <a href=”http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/” target=”_blank”>Firefox</a>. It has become bloatware. Over the years, it has become the most memory intensive (and leaking) POS out there. I did a short stint with <a href=”http://www.apple.com/safari/” target=”_blank”>Safari</a>, and I might stick with it, but today I decided to give <a href=”http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/more/index.html?hl=en&amp;hl=en&amp;hl=en” target=”_blank”>Chrome</a> a shot. Safari and Chrome are both modern enough that they don’t work with my blogging software so I had to do some hacking of a custom <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WYSIWYG” target=”_blank”>WYSIWYG</a> editor to get them to be suitable. I’m using it now and this is a heck of a first test post… My fingers are crossed that I won’t lose it.</p>
<h3>Movies/Books/Games/TV</h3>
<p>Been watching a lot of average movies lately. I may need to rethink my queue/front-load it with known greats.</p>
<p>I’ve made some good progress on <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddhartha_(novel)” target=”_blank”>Siddhartha</a> and hope to finish it up soon. I think I need to get the next Harry Potter out of the way following that. I’m getting major grief for not reading <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnivore’s_Dilemma” target=”_blank”>Omnivore’s Dilemma</a> so perhaps I’ll read that in parallel? I broke some laws and downloaded a ton of “free” books to my iPad. This was mainly driven by the fact <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._K._Rowling” target=”_blank”>J.K. Rowling</a> doesn’t approve of eBooks. I’ve stuck it to her, but in doing so have stuck it to a ton of other authors, which I feel bad about…</p>
<p>Gaming has been sad. I have a handful of titles I need to wade through in my non-existent spare time; <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_3″ target=”_blank”>Halo 3</a>, <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fable_III” target=”_blank”>Fable III</a>, and a few others that have been collecting dust for far too long. T<a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_of_duty_black_ops” target=”_blank”>he latest Call of Duty</a> is released next week, which needs to garner some of my attention; I’ve always been a bit of a pro at the CoD series so it wouldn’t be right to not pick this up and dominate some folks <img alt=”” src=”http://www.iammike.org/cutenews/fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/msn/tounge_smile.gif”/></p>
<p>TV is about to get cut altogether. I have always hated Comcast and now that my introductory offer is up, I think it’s time to go. Everything I watch is available via streaming, I have all the devices necessary to stream it, and an HD antenna for live events is dirt cheap and oft provides an even better signal than cable (it’s uncompressed). My current show is “<a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome_(TV_series)” target=”_blank”>Rome</a>,” which I’ve nearly completed the first season of. Following that, I have a list of a dozen or so shows I’m going to shake a stick at.</p>