More Wedding Plans!

The blog is behind for a number of reasons.  The first is that I was super busy over the weekend and didn’t get a chance to write any posts until yesterday.  Although Hurricane Irene had not prevented my from having electricity, she had knocked out my internet, so making blog posts available took a bit longer than I would have liked.

Back to the business of the weekend!  The primary reason for the pilgrimage back to Vermont that my fiancé and I made over the weekend was to meet with the priest in her parish.  He usually likes to meet with couples in order to reserve the church for their wedding.  It was actually a very helpful meeting because he let us know some of the things that we need to do in order to get the ball rolling.  There are a couple things we need to take care of.  Because I am a baptized, non-Catholic Christian, we will be entering into what is known as a “mixed marriage”.  Because of this, we need to get special permission from the bishop in Burlington.  I also need a certificate, proving I have been baptized.  Additionally, because Brianna’s uncle will be officiating (conveniently, he is a priest) and is from outside of Vermont, he will need to get in contact with both the diocese of Vermont to be allowed to perform the ceremony in a religious capacity and the county to be allowed to perform the ceremony in a civil capacity.  Luckily we’re thinking ahead so this shouldn’t be a big deal.

On to the fun stuff:  Brianna bought her dress after trying it on again and getting her dad’s approval.  We also ordered our wedding bands.  I went with a simple titanium band (secretly I know that it’s made of titanimite, a rare allow of titanium and dynamite) and Brianna will be getting two bands made to go on either side of her engagement ring.  We were fortunate to be able to meet with the custom designer and she came up with a number of beautiful designs.  We’ve also started talking about flowers and photographers!  Luckily we’ll be headed back to Vermont a couple more times to get even more of the planning out of the way.

The next steps that we need to get out of the way are to get the pre-marital counseling done and to start tackling the guest list.  The guest list is a little daunting because we will have to balance the people that we want to attend, the people that we are somewhat obligated to invite, the people that our parents want to attend as well as logistical and quasi-political concerns.  I would prefer to keep the number as reasonable as possible but with two large families and fair number of close family friends I doubt that we will be able to have less than 200 people in attendance.  The unfortunate reality of a wedding is also that we’ll never be able to invite everyone we want to come and everyone who wants to come.  There will be some tough decisions, to be sure, but in the end I know that it will all work out.

I am more excited than ever about getting married to Bri.  I can’t wait for the wedding and it’s less than 9 months away!  There’s a lot to do but we have plenty of time and are well ahead of schedule.  It’s hard to believe, but I think it will be more awesome than the following picture:

-Lane

A Challenge/Open Letter to Alex

Dear Alex:

This is a challenge.  What are the terms?  I challenge you to write a work of fiction of at least 50,000 words.  It doesn't have to be good, just relatively long.

Seems pretty simple, right?

Wrong.

In addition, it must start with the sentence "He could not grow a beard".  You must not start before 12:01am September 1, 2011 (EST).  You must finish before 11:59pm September 30 (EST).  You may plan out/outline your story before then as well as choose a title.

If you agree, I will complete the challenge with you and we can trade novels afterwards.  I also agree to work within the rules written above.  There are a thousand excuses, but only one reason to accept: it will be awesome.  You should have plenty of time while you're commuting, like you mentioned here.

I am eagerly awaiting your reply,
Yours Sincerely,

Lane

Training, Week of 8/21

This week was an interesting one in terms of training.  I started the week off well with a couple medium-length runs until Friday, when I left Connecticut for New Hampshire and went on a hike with my cousins, uncle, and dad.  It was really fun (and you can read about it here) but I didn't get a run in.  I slept over night in the woods and then hiked back and did manage a 4-mile run in the afternoon.  Sunday rolled around and I was going to go for an easy 10 to get 45-ish miles for the week but got lost in the heat and ended up with a 16.2 miler for a total of 50.8 miles in 6:12:49 (7:21/mile average).

I'm glad I got the distance in for the week.  Hopefully I will be able to build on that momentum going forwards.  I've already started the next week out really well with a 10+ miler at the Reservoir Trails in West Hartford (more on that in about a week!).  Spoiler alert: it might be my second favorite running spot yet!

-Lane

A Long Walk, Interrupted

This weekend I went for a hike with my dad, uncle, and two cousins (one of whom is only 6).  It was a relatively short hike on the Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway.  The plan was to leave on Friday afternoon, walk about 3.5 miles, make camp and stay the night, and then hike the remaining 3.2 miles the next day.  My dad and uncle finished the entire Long Trail earlier in the summer and had a blast, so I was very excited to be able to share in this trip.

We got going about 3:00pm.  We parked at the very first Seventh Day Adventist church.  Here we are, getting ready to leave:

We decided to bring smaller backpacks since this was a short trip.  We had plenty of water, a tent, and some rather unusual ingredients for dinner in camp.  Off we went!

It was a tough walk the first day with a lot of up-hill climbing, though I am informed it couldn't hold a candle to the Long Trail.  When we got to the campsite, the only tent platform had been taken by a single-person tent and all the other good locations had been taken by various groups, so we pitched our tent at the fork in the trail.  One trail led to the water and the other led to the latrine.  There was lots of thunder the first night and we were expecting rain but counted ourselves lucky that we only got a couple sprinkles.  As for the unusual ingredients?  They were required for the delicious braised-beef stew in a tomato paste, beef broth, balsamic vinegar, and red wine base with vegetables and potatoes.  We also "baked" an apple pie with some charcoal briquettes.  Simply amazing.

Did I sleep well?  Considering the circumstances, yes, but I did miss my bed.  I didn't want to carry my sleeping bag, so I brought long nylon pants and a fleece sweatshirt and a sleeping pad.  The plan was perfect except that I neglected to put socks on before bed and somehow I spent all night with my feet sticking out the tent door.  I woke up several times during the night with ridiculously cold feet but in barely-waking state I couldn't figure out why.

We were up and moving by 6:00am and on the trail by 7:00am.  The weather was greatly improved and we made very good time as the trail was mostly down-hill.  Then we hopped in a car that was waiting for us and went home.

As far as additional photography, there were a couple cool views along the way and I have always been fascinated by piecing together multiple photographs to form a panorama, though I have not yet been very successful.  I did take two series of photos that I was hoping to put together.  This is the first series, taken on the first day:

 In real life it's about 14000x2000 pixels and looks pretty cool though obviously it's not seamless.  I have some theories on why this is a problem and how to fix it.  Perhaps this is the next thing I'll be experimenting with!  All in all, a very good weekend and the great thing about taking Friday off is that I have another day to relax and recharge before going back to work!

-Lane

P.S. Click the panorama for a somewhat larger version!

Mini-Golf Power Couple

My fiancé has taken up golfing.  I tried to play a year or two ago and found that I really just did not enjoy it.  The learning curve was a bit too steep and I had neither the time, the energy, or the patience to pursue it.  I also don't like being bad doing things for a long time.  So I gave up on golf.

Bri, on the other hand, is very enthusiastic about it and I'm glad that she has found something that she enjoys doing!  One tangentially related activity that I also enjoy is mini-golf and we have vowed to become a mini-golf power couple.  We have played twice in the past two weeks (she won once, I won once) and we're looking to hone our skills and become an unstoppable force... if only I could get the ball past the windmill!

-Lane

New Balance Minimus

I was in the market for new running shoes today.  My flats are getting older (~450 miles) and my other pair is nearing what I estimate to be half of their life (~150 miles).  So I headed to the store.

I ended up bring home the New Balance Minimus Trail.  Now to give some background information, I have been a little bit wary of the latest barefoot-running fad.  I haven't seen very many people who are faster than I am really committing to it and I haven't seen anyone who was slower than I am commit to it and pass me so I haven't  been buying into it.  To be fair, I am pretty much already enjoying the alleged benefits of barefoot running (quick cadence, low injury rate, mid-foot strike) so I can't really speak to the benefits to people who are heel-strikers and/or prone to injury.  In any case, I opened the box when I got home and found a warning to run only 10% of total mileage in the shoes.  To heck with that!  My first run in them was an 8.51 run over a hilly course on the roads.

All I can say is "wow".  They felt very light and despite the lack of cushioning, I didn't feel the pounding on my legs. They're like running in ballet shoes with a thick rubber sole!  My usually quick cadence (176 strides/min) upped a bit to 192 strides/min though that may have been due to the excitement of new shoes.  We'll have to see how I feel tomorrow.  In conclusion, I am not a convert to the cult of barefoot running as a cure-all.  I am already poised to take advantage of really light shoes and have been training in flats for a long time.  On the other hand, I do love these shoes and although I probably won't wear them every day, I will enjoy running them as much as possible.

Cowboys & Aliens: A Review

Note: Originally I meant this to be a review of the movie but it turned into a movie rant.  If that doesn't bother you, keep reading.

*WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW (NOT LIMITED TO JUST THE MOVIE AT HAND)*

Over the weekend, I went to see Cowboys & Aliens.  My fiancé said that she wanted to see it after seeing the preview that played before the last Harry Potter movie.  While I expected that it would be a fun movie to watch from an action point of view, I was pretty sure that the plot would be terrible.  After all, with a name like Cowboys & Aliens, what chance did it really have?

Well, I was wrong (and you won't hear me say that very often).  The plot was very good and even allowed me to suspend my disbelief in the fact that band of cowboys and Native Americans could possibly defeat the advance scouts of a space-faring race of aliens.  I won't give a plot re-cap here because that can so easily be found elsewhere.  What I do want to say is that I appreciated the ending of this movie more than the usual Hollywood ending.

Usually a movie ends with one character selflessly giving up his/her life to eliminate the threat to everyone else and everyone else pretty much survives and goes on to live happily ever after.  The main character goes largely untouched and everything is just hunky-dory.  Take the most recent Harry Potter movie: despite being at the center of the near-destruction of the wizarding world, witnessing the deaths of countless friends, and going toe to toe with the nastiest wizard ever, Harry Potter still has this wonderful perfect life afterwards (don't even get me started on the death and back-to-life thing.  Worst ending to an epic series ever).  On the other end of the spectrum would be Oedipus Rex.  At the end of the story, everything goes completely wrong for the hero: he learns that he killed his dad and married his mom and puts his own eyes out.  I can't always hope for an end like that, but I can hope for something a little more like Lord of the Rings, where Frodo returns, broken, to the Shire to find that he can't adjust back to life and eventually fades into the distance with the elves.

This is a little like what I found in Cowboys & Aliens.  While there was the typical sacrifice of a character near and dear to the protagonist to seal the antagonists' doom, the main character just wasn't quite able to put his life back together.  All he can do is just ride out of town without a plan or a friend.

It may be strange to not want a happy ending at the movies, but here's why: I can't believe in the perfect hero who saves the day and emerges unscathed.  I can't believe in a person like Superman or Harry Potter.  I can believe in a hero who tries his/her hardest (and may, like Frodo, ultimately fail) and emerges scarred.  The fact that a hero can exist, even if he is not invincible, is what gives me hope.

-Lane

A Very Busy Day!

Today was a very busy day but I'm very excited about the results.  First off, I went for an easy run in the morning to get loosened up and put some mileage in for the week.  I'm planning on an 18+ mile run tomorrow so I wanted to go easy to get ready for that.  Then I headed to the bank to deposit some graduation money, a paycheck and my signing bonus, which pushed my bank account in a direction I like to see it going.  Then I started the really fun stuff.

First I went to Michael's, a store that I rarely have a need to go into.  For those not initiated into the wide world of craft stores, Michael's is a craft store and more importantly, they have custom framing, which is pertinent to this particular story.  When I was younger, my dad gave me four comic books about dinosaurs.  These are cutesy, cartoon dinosaurs but instead a series documenting a bloody feud between a pack of velociraptors and a clan of T-rex's.  In any case, I thought they were awesome then and I think they're awesome now.  So I brought them to Michael's and talked for probably half an hour with the framer there about matting and she made some suggestions and I ended up leaving them there to get matted and framed.  It will take about two weeks, but I can't wait!

Then I went to BestBuy.  I have been considering an extra monitor for some time now and I decided to at least go and look at them.  I ended up buying a 23" Acer monitor which I'm very excited about.  I can now multitask like nobody's business and enjoy movies and TV shows posted to the internet even more.  It looks a little silly next to my laptop because it dwarfs the screen, but I figure I'll get used to it!

Then I headed out the door to go to the grocery store but locked myself out.  Luckily I hadn't put on the dead-bolt and was able to credit-card my way in (with my old Price Chopper card... I knew that would come in handy!).  This just reinforces the need to use the dead-bolt all the time because by and large the regular door lock is not very secure.  I eventually made it to the grocery store and the rest is history and not very interesting.  The crazy thing is, despite everything I did today, I still didn't get everything done!  I have an oil change and a long run scheduled for tomorrow plus a long day of cleaning around the kitchen and apartment in general and doing laundry.  I will need to go to work to rest from this weekend.    A grown-up's work is never done!

-Lane

Thursday Night Track Workout

Yesterday I had the opportunity to join about 50 other people at St. Joseph's college in West Hartford, CT for the Thursday Night Track Workout put on by Fleet Feet in Hartford.  I usually don't like big group events like this but I'm hoping not to have to run by myself for the rest of my life, so I decided to check it out.

Initially I was worried that I would immediately be the fastest person and have to run by myself anyways.  Perhaps that's a little cocky, but at my speed there are lots of people younger than I am who are still in school and not too many people who are working and on their own and likely to be at a big group track workout.  Luckily, this wasn't the case.  I got to run with the local fast-guy, Duncan, who is actually a very speedy guy and we traded off leading the hard intervals during a 30 minute fartlek on the track.  I have raced Duncan once before at the 8 Furlongs Road Race where I beat him but it turns out he was just coming back after a marathon, so that victory rings a little hollow.  In any case, I felt very welcomed and it was awesome to see so many people of so many different abilities out there running their hearts out.  I will definitely be returning as often as possible.  I even met another guy who runs and works where I do, so that was pretty cool.

This is just another reason to keep running (though I took today off because of a super-long day at work and a very long commute on top of lightning, thunder, and pouring rain!).  In any case, if you're in the area you should definitely check out the workout (it's at 6:30) and maybe even stop by Fleet Feet.  I bought shoes there, which was a very positive experience.  They don't even pay me to say this stuff, I am just that impressed!

-Lane

This Blog Affects Real Change

There aren't very many readers of this blog quite yet, but at least one of them must be very important and/or influential.  Let me explain:

A while back, I wrote a post on the state of I-89 in Vermont.  I went to Connecticut and have been working up until Thursday night when I returned to Vermont, once again taking I-89.  This time, however, it was great!  I can see that a lot of effort has been put into re-surfacing the road and I definitely appreciated it.  I look forward to returning home on I-89 again.

So thank you, mystery influential blog reader.  Keep up the good work!

Also: Happy Fourth of July!  Let Freedom Ring!

-Lane

All Righty Now...

Yesterday's post was a possibly on the side of over-reaction.  I still meant what I said and I'm going to be writing a ton of letters to the senate, the house, and there will likely be a note sent to President Obama in the near future.  But it's late and I have to get up early and run tomorrow because right after work I'm leaving to go back to my parents' house for the long weekend!  I'll probably be a bit like this tomorrow morning around 5:

I also want to leave a question that I wonder a lot about: why aren't there more vigilantes?  Whenever I think about it, I am surprised that we don't hear of more vigilantes attempting to take the law into their own hands.  I legitimately wonder about this, but I am also being a little lazy and I'm in the .gif mood so I'll stop writing and get right to the real point of this paragraph:

Justice-Tuna Cassarole

-Lane

The Five Greatest Covers of All Time!

Since completing the undertaking of choosing the Five Greatest Songs of All Time, I decided to pick out the Five Greatest Covers of All Time.  The original songs were good, but the covers are great.  Here they are:

5.  "Heartless" by The Fray, originally by Kanye West.  I think that The Fray convey the emotion of the song better than Kanye because the vocals don't sound like they've been passed through auto-tune a couple times. Also, the music video is quite a bit cooler.

4.  "Smooth Criminal" by Alien Ant Farm, originally by Michael Jackson.  Alien Ant Farm takes Michael Jackson's song and makes it awesome with heavy guitars playing the main riff while still paying homage to his dance moves from a number of music videos:

3.  "I'll Follow You Into the Dark" by Cadillac Sky, originally by Death Cab for Cutie.  I really like the lyrics and the imagery associated with this song and I think that it translates equally well into the bluegrass style played by Cadillac Sky.  I won't say that the cover is better than the original, but it is as good:

2.  "Land of Confusion" by Disturbed, originally by Genesis.  Although I like the song by Genesis, it was intended to be a criticism of Ronald Reagan and I think that Genesis accidentally created a song much more meaningful than the silly criticism of a single politician.  Disturbed takes this song and runs with it:

1.  "Hurt" by Johnny Cash, originally by Nine Inch Nails.  Johnny Cash essentially says good-bye with this song sung just before his death.  It gets extremely intense at the end and the whole song is a powerful expression of emotion:

So there they are.  The Five Greatest Covers Of All Time.  I really enjoy songs that I like being re-framed, allowing me to see them in a new way.  This also fuels my love of mash-ups which will probably fuel another post likely showcasing The Five Greatest Mash-Ups Of All Time.

-Lane

P.S. Another great cover is Gary Allen's version of Vertical Horizon's Best I Ever Had

Some of the best things in life...

Behold!  The Toilet Fountain

... are on the internet.  Not really, but it seemed like a clever way to go about starting this blog off.  Some of the good things are...

...  funny pictures from the internet.  I used to be in the habit of saving internet pictures that I thought were pretty cool.  I don't do it as much because of the vast number of pictures I've seen and really liked and there's a finite amount of space on my computer.  The toilet fountain is one of my favorites:

... are blogs that I enjoy reading like Learning to Do, Riding the Wind, Of Knitting and Things, and Dances with Fat.  Learning to Do is written by a friend of mine and hits a bunch of my interests including running, engineering, and his life and thoughts in general.  Riding the Wind is a also about running, only a much longer and somewhat slower scale than I'm used to.  Of Knitting and Things is written by my fiancée and that explains my readership despite not knowing a darned thing about knitting, which is the main topic.  Dances with Fat is a strange one for me, though.  I don't know how I originally stumbled on it, but I started reading it and have continued.  I'm not even sure that I agree with the author most of the time.  It is about "Body Positivity" or the fact that no matter what size a person is, they should love their body and should be treated with respect because either way, we all make choices about our bodies which we are entitled to make (which I agree with).  I don't always agree with some of the other points and the science that she uses, but I continue reading.

... endless access to information.  The internet is one of the greatest information sharing inventions in the history of the world, perhaps after only the spoken and written word.  It allows people all over the world to share ideas and information at ridiculous speeds.  If I have a question about something I can always go to wikipedia or an endless number of specialized databases on any number of topics.  It's pretty neat.

The internet also has a darker side.  It allows the spread of negative information and ideas as well as gives an illusion of anonymity which, while it makes the internet safer, gives some the opportunity to act hurtful and ignorant towards others.  It's also not very good at conveying tone or intent, two really important things in information exchanges between two or more people.  So as not to leave this post on a sour note, see picture below.  No need to thank me.  You're welcome.

-Lane

First Day At Work!

Today was my first day at my new job!  I got up at 5:30 to go for an easy run before work and was out the door and in the car by 7:25 at work by 7:50.  Did orientation-type things for a couple hours, learned some brief history about the company, and then headed out for my new office.  Got my new cubicle, met my co-workers, and found out what I'll be working on... etc.  Everything is so cool but it's weird and not yet quite comfortable to be a "real person".  I felt strange walking out of work at the end of the day without "checking out" with anyone like I've had to at every other job I've had.

Still, I think that I'm really going to love working at this job and can't wait to get up and do the same thing all over again tomorrow!

-Lane

The Five Greatest Songs Of All Time!

I have taken it upon myself to choose the five greatest songs of all time (since the 80's).  After years of intense musical immersion, I have chosen these five:

5. "Mr. Roboto", by Styx (1983).  Originally on their Kilroy was Here album, this song tells the story of Kilroy, the last rock star in a society which has banned rock music.  I don't know how good the story is, but the urge to do the robot is good enough for me.

4. "The Downeaster 'Alexa'", by Billy Joel (1989).  This song tells the story of a fisherman struggling to make ends meet.

3. "The Night", by Disturbed (2009).  Although the tone of the song is very dark (no pun intended), this song pretty much contains everything that I like about this genre, including an extremely masterful guitar solo.

2. "Melody of You", by Sixpence None The Richer (2002).  Just a fantastic song about a calling to become a musician.

1. "The Safety Dance", by Men without Hats (1982).  After hearing it once, it becomes clear why this song is the greatest song of all time since the 1980's.  The video completes the total package.

I noticed after compiling this list that there isn't a whole lot from the 90's.  While unfortunate, my memories of the 90's involve a lot of boy bands and Brittany Spears and neither really inspired me.  There were a few bright spots, such as "If I Had 1000000 Dollars" by the Barenaked Ladies, but as they're from Canada and this song came out in 1993, it would be more appropriately titled, "If I Had 782167 Dollars" (exchange rate from June 7th, 1993) which isn't nearly as catchy.

-Lane