Random Thoughts of Jorriss

A few friends asked me about how to get involved in running. The easiest thing to do is get out there and run. Just start. You can then learn proper technique later. You can hook up with a training group later. The most important thing is to run. Here are a few links to get the juices flowing.

Footworks – Footworks is a running shop in South Miami. They also offer marathon and half-marathon training programs. This was the program that I participated in to prepare for the Miami Half.

The Runner’s High – Another running shop located in Pinecrest.

Footworks Event Calendar – South Florida’s most complete running calendar.

Miami Runners – A running club based in Miami.

Runner’s World – My favorite running mag. I can’t wait for it to come in every month. (I can’t wait for Wizard either).

Miami Marathon – Home of Miami’s premier running event.

RunMiami.com – A site focused on the events leading up to the Miami Marathon.

Another Tuesday night, another ball game. I played tonight’s game much like the past two good D, poor O. I was 0-3 from the floor with one block, four assists and three rebounds. This week we played one of the best teams in the league. They’ve got four really good guards and run up and down the court better than most college teams. They’ve got one guy who has the complete game; inside, outside, post, whatever. He scored at will. In the second quarter, we were able to tie the game at eight. Then, we didn’t score the rest of the half. We were down eleven at the midpoint. We tried to mount a comeback, Jimmy was knocking down threes like it was nobody’s business, but it wasn’t enough and we lost 35-43. That’s the closest game that squad has played. Last week they put up 68 on some scrubs. Of course I played still sore from the Miami Half-Marathon but I wasn’t as sore as I thought I would be. I guess that ice bath that I took after the race did some good. I really need to drive to the basket more. I think that would help me get more touches. Frankly, I’d rather just rack up the assists.

Yesterday at VSLive, Microsoft announced that Visual Studio Team System will be released in March. This is great news for those shops that have waited for the Team System release to evaluate Visual Studio 2005. A video of the announcement is also available.

I’m happy to report that my participation in the Miami Half-Marathon was a complete success. No dehydration. No light headiness. No passing out. No hospitals. My official time was 2:29:18 and my net time was 2:25:16. I’m pleased with my time especially since my target time was 2:30. After the race I felt great, a bit drained and hungry, but great. I’ve got to hand it to the event organizers the course was phenomenal. We ran by the Port of Miami, which was loaded with large cruise ships. I got really excited running down Ocean Drive. Collegiate memories started pouring into my head when we turned down the storied drive. Lucy and I had our first date there you know. Running along the rest of the Beach was nice but uneventful.

About mile seven I kicked it up a bit and by mile eight I ran into one of the two training groups I trained with. It was the faster one by the way. I said hey to a couple of people and let them run on since I hit a walk interval. A few miles later, I passed one of the women in the group; she was stretching at the side of the road. I asked if she was OK and she acknowledged that she was. As the race wore on, we kept passing each other since our intervals were off. Around mile twelve I stopped again and asked if she was really OK. She was alone, which I thought was really weird. Every training run, the Turkey Trot and the Palmetto Bay 15K she was running with another guy in the group. Oddly enough this was the first time I’ve seen her run by herself. She said she was tight and couldn’t keep up with the group. She told the guy to continue on since he kept pushing her to move faster. A guy pushes a girl to do something she can’t/won’t do? Ya, that never happens. Anyways, I walked mile twelve with her made sure she was OK before I suggested that we jog out the last mile. She agreed and before I knew it we were approaching the finish line. I sprinted home. We both made it within 2:30.

Which leads me to a bit of a rant, logistically this was a lousy race. Even though I only have Disney to compare it to, they could have done some things better. The packet pick up had too many points to hit. You had to find your name and number out of the 14,000 runners. You had to fill out a card. You had one table to pick up your bib and another to pick up your chip. It was too confusing. The corrals were disorderly. The finish line didn’t have any thermal wraps. The food at the finish line was scattered all around. Worst of all the chip removal area was a disaster. They had everyone bottleneck into one line. Ridiculous.

Even with these issues I had a great time. The weather was perfect and the course was great. I'm definitely going to run again next year. Maybe I'll try the full.

We were back on the court last night playing our second game. There was some confusion about the game start time and I arrived at six for a nine o’clock tip. Meanwhile, the rest of my squad showed up at 7:30 and three of my team members was picked up on another squad since they had a forfeit. So when our game started we had three tired guys and three fresh ones. The opposing squad had at least ten guys and was substituting players at every dead ball. At the beginning of the game we jumped out to a 7-0 lead and never lost the lead. But by the end of the fourth we were up by only one, 21-20, with a little more than a minute left. I hadn’t had a great game to this point. I was zero for one from the floor but had a good game defensively and was moving the ball adequately. I received the ball with my back to the basket at the free throw line and immediately their center, a six foot-something 250 pound behemoth, attempts to steal the ball. In doing so he moved to my left. Big mistake. I took the ball with my left hand, spun to my right, took a step and finger rolled the ball for an easy two. 23–20. 57 seconds left. We effectively killed the last minute and won 24–20. Not a good showing but we win, 2–0 for the season.

I have no idea where she finds this stuff but Lisa is at it again. This time she brings us fifteen reasons why Chuck Norris is possibly the best human being ever.

1. Chuck Norris' tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried.

2. A man once asked Chuck Norris if his real name is "Charles." Chuck Norris did not respond; he simply stared at him until he exploded.

3. Rather than being birthed like a normal child, Chuck Norris instead decided to punch his way out of his mother's womb. Shortly thereafter he grew a beard.

4. Chuck Norris built a time machine and went back in time to stop the JFK assassination. As Oswald shot, Chuck met all three bullets with his beard, deflecting them. JFK's head exploded out of sheer amazement.

5. The original theme song to the Transformers was actually "Chuck Norris--more than meets the eye, Chuck Norris--robot in disguise," and starred Chuck Norris as a Texas Ranger who defended the earth from drug-dealing Decepticons and could turn into a pick-up. This was far too much awesome for a single show, however, so it was divided.

6. Chuck Norris was the fourth Wiseman. He brought baby Jesus the gift of "beard". Jesus wore it proudly to his dying day. The other Wisemen, jealous of Jesus' obvious gift favoritism, used their combined influence to have Chuck omitted from the Bible. Shortly after all three died of roundhouse kick related deaths.

7. Chuck Norris once shot a German plane down with his finger, by yelling, "Bang!"

8. When Chuck Norris plays Oregon Trail his family does not die from cholera or dysentery, but rather roundhouse kicks to the face. He also requires no wagon, since he carries the oxen, axels, and buffalo meat on his back. He always makes it to Oregon before you.

9. Chuck Norris can make a woman climax by simply pointing at her and saying "booya.”

10. Before each filming of Walker: Texas Ranger, Chuck Norris is injected with five times the lethal dose of elephant tranquilizer. This is, of course, to limit his strength and mobility, in an attempt to lower the fatality rate of the actors he fights.

11. Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.

12. When Chuck Norris's wife burned the turkey one Thanksgiving, Chuck said, "Don't worry about it honey," and went into his backyard. He came back five minutes later with a live turkey, ate it whole, and when he threw it up a few seconds later it was fully cooked and came with cranberry sauce. When his wife asked him how he had done it, he gave her a roundhouse kick to the face and said, "Never question Chuck Norris."

13. Chuck Norris took my virginity, and he will sure as hell take yours. If you're thinking to yourself, "That's impossible, I already lost my virginity," then you are dead wrong.

14. Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs.

15. Chuck Norris once tried to sue Burger King after they refused to put razor wire in his Whopper Jr., insisting that that actually is "his" way.

One of my good friends from the U has opened a new blog and it is damn funny. It’s also an interesting peek into the psyche of someone smarter that you. Yes, she’s that smart. Try it you’ll like it. You might want to check out this post first where she describes a conference for aestheticians that mixed wax and male anatomy with disastrous results. Enjoy

Our church basketball league has started up once again. I’m not a captain this year due to the wonderful bundle of joy but I did get on a squad. The league has moved from an indoor gym to the outdoor courts at Christ Fellowship. The baskets we’re using are double rims so to say they are unforgiving is an understatement. But the court is wider and longer then the ones we played on last year and that’s a good thing. I haven’t touched a basketball since the season ended last year so I was pretty rusty during our first game. I missed my first two shots and had three turnovers. I don’t know what it was but I couldn’t find the handle. (Lack of practice?) During the fourth, I watched my squad close a six point deficit to two from the sidelines. I got back in the game with sixteen seconds left and we were down two. Russ made a shot from sixteen feet and missed. The ball took a long rebound and fell into my hands at the free throw line. I took the shot and rattled it home. Game tied 32-32, 3.6 seconds remaining. We dominated the OT period and won 36-32.

So to say I’m pumped about being the game hero is an understatement. I’ve been on cloud nine for the last fifteen hours. I guess life is a lot like being a shooter. You got to keep heaving it up even when you’re throwing bricks. Eventually, you’ll land a big one with 3.6 seconds left.

I open my Gmail account this morning and what did I find? A delete button! Now it doesn’t take me two clicks to delete messages, one button is all I need. Thanks Google, it’s about freakin’ time. BTW, they’ve also made Gmail accessible via your phone. Just point your phone’s web browser to http://m.gmail.com to check your spam mail wirelessly.

The 06 South Florida .Net Code Camp will be held on February 4, 2006 at DeVry University in Miramar. There are currently fifty sessions planned for the event with topics covering SQL Server, ASP.Net 2.0 and other .Net topics. Best of all IT’S FREE!! So I’ll see you all there!

This is too cool (pun intended). One of Lego’s master builders has created a six foot replica of Han Solo trapped in carbonite. This would go great in the family room. Via Digg.

When I saw this I was shocked. Microsoft has a sense of humor. If you have ever used a Microsoft product you must see this. When you reach the page, click “watch the entire show” to view the video. This could be the funniest MS video ever next to the Bill Gates/Napoleon Dynamite vid. Damn funny stuff. Via Joystiq.

Since there isn’t a lack of 2005 top ten lists I give to you maybe the most unique set of individuals of any list, the top ten most interesting people in gaming in 2005. The list spans from the PSP Licker to Leeeeeeeeeeeroy Jenkins. Good list. Enjoy. Via Joystiq.

I ran across this post on digg describing how a movie theater makes money. It’s an interesting racket.

“Edward Jay Epstein has written a brief article looking at just how the theaters make their money. As you might expect, it's not from begging, or charity. No, theaters have three major sources of revenue: the movies themselves, their concessions, and more recently, their onscreen advertisements. The concessions are a cash cow, and everyone knows it. The only other places on earth where prices are this ridiculous are airports, theme parks and four star hotels.”