Apple Ipad

Today Samantha and I went to the Apple store to look at the Apple Ipad. It was my second time going to the store to check it out. They are very fun to play with but, I am going to wait and see how they develop. It isn't different enough from my laptop to warrant spending the money they are selling those things for. Some of my concerns are; it is smaller than my laptop. I would like it to have a usb port (So I could sync my Garmin 310 xt ) A DVD player would also be nice, not that I watch too many movies on my computer. It would help keep the kids occupied in the car while on trips. We already own a stack of movies. I still like having them on the disc as compared to taking up space on my computer.

Some of the cool things about it are; the size makes it pretty portable. The screen has a beautiful picture. The book reader looks like a very good feature. I would like to check out some magazines. I am sure there are tons of apps available with more coming. Hopefully that will drive the price of those down a bit. I hear the battery life is about 10 hours so that is good. It is also very easy to figure out. If you have used an iphone or itouch it is like using one of those with a giant screen.

I would love to have one but can't justify the price at this point since it is between what my phone does and my laptop. At this point I would rather upgrade my laptop. Apple is selling tons of the ipads, I'm just not ready for one yet.

Back on the Bike

Last week I took a pretty hard fall off my bike. I took a few days off from working out. Yesterday I was feeling better and it was such a nice day. After dinner I went for a bike ride. I rode a few miles up to the Starbucks and had a hot chocolate then rode over to the grocery store and picked up a few things we needed. Today I had to go to the bank, So I decided to ride up there. It only takes about 10 minutes to ride each way. The only bad part was I got to the bank and reached in my pocket for my deposit and realized I had left it at home. I was good and rode home got my deposit and rode back. So I was able to get in a a little extra time on the bike. The weather is very nice today. The wind was at my back on the way home both times. I have been trying to do as many of my errands on the bike. It saves a it of gas but it is always good to be out on the bike. Now it they just had a bike lane I would be set.

Rough Season

So far my running season has been off to a very rough start. My right leg has been hurting for a while now. First it was my hip and now my knee is hurting. I spent the last 8 months training for a marathon. The training went pretty well, I struggled a bit with my pace towards the end. The group I was with seemed to get faster and I had trouble hanging with them. I did make it through all the training runs and thought I would be able to complete the marathon. Our last long training run was 26.2 miles which I completed. I knew I could do the distance. On marathon day my hip started hurting around mile 12 and I felt like it was in the joint. At mile 19 I decided the smart thing to do would be to stop. I didn't want to ruin my whole season. It was a hard decision. I know it was the right one to make but it has been hard to deal with. I know I didn't waste all my training but that thought crosses my mind from time to time. I went and had it checked out and it appears I may have some arthritis in my hip. Not what I wanted to hear. This past week I was taking it kind of easy with my training and my knee started to bother me. Saturday was the Gate River Run(9.3 mile race). Friday was the expo and race packet pickup. I knew I was in trouble when just walking around the expo made my leg start hurting. Saturday morning it was still hurting so I decided not to go to the race. I have a few more races scheduled this year. I am hoping that taking a week or 2 off from training and getting some physical therapy will do the trick. I have a bunch of friends training and competing in races and I want to be out there with them. I know it is a matter of time for recovery, but can we hurry this along.

Looking for wood

So as a woodturner you are out driving around and see a pile of wood on the side of the road. First thing I do is look to see if it is large enough in diameter. I like it to be around 12 inches in diameter, then I look to see what kind of wood it might be. If it is pine or oak than I keep on driving. The other thing I am looking for is access. if it is on a busy street I will probably pass on it. I like it to be in a neighborhood where I can just stop and load some up in the back of my car. Many times I will be at home and will hear a chainsaw running in the neighborhood and will get on my bike and go ride around looking for whoever is cutting something down. I will then see what kind of tree they are removing. Most people will be happy to cut some of the wood however you want. They are happy to get rid of some of it. Plus they don't have to move it. I like knowing where the wood came from and the fact that I can make something either useful or pleasant to look at. Also like the fact that I am keeping something from the landfill. So next time you see me looking at a pile of wood on the side of the road cut me a bit of a break. I am thinking about my next project.

Knowing when to Quit

Sometimes knowing when to quit is a hard thing to figure out. Other times you know before hand when it is time. I am working on a hollow vessel that I started a while ago. I worked on it for several hours and then put it away for about a year or 2 ago. I finally got it out and started working on it again yesterday. I have no idea where I was going with it since I haven't thought about it in a while. I am trying to decide how far to go with it. I am committed to opening up the slots now that I have started cutting them I drew pencil lines on yesterday and figured I would think about the piece overnight and see if I still wanted to go that far with the carving. This morning I am still liking the idea. I am now trying to decide if I should keep the hard edges or go for a more rounded look. Many times when I go out to make a piece I have a pretty clear picture in my mind of what I want to make. This really helps me know when to stop. With a project like this I have no clear vision, I am just along for the ride. Hopefully I will know when I am done...

Saturday I did a 26.2 mile training run. It took a really long time. I was having a rough day. They say you have good days and bad days. I was determined not to quit no matter how long it took me. It took about 1 hour longer then I thought it would take. I even turned down 2 rides. My legs were very sore when I finished but I finished and was very happy that I stuck it out. The people I usually train with were long finished but I got the same satisfaction they did for finishing.

http://photos.jacksonville.com/mycapture/enlarge.asp?image=27660007&event=930362&CategoryID=36903

I even look pretty good in the picture.

Having a clear goal helps you decide when you are done. Now I am going out to my studio to finish the Walnut Vessel.

Don't make em like they used to

We have an outside laundry room. And the light gets left on a lot. We were burning through regular light bulbs left and right. So they had these new CFL light bulbs that were supposed to last a really long time. I broke down and spent the $13 for on light bulb. That was a lot of money for one bulb. But the increased life and lower running cost made it worth a try. Yesterday with much sadness I went to start a load of laundry and the light had burned out. My light bulb had finally died on us. I replaced it with a new CFL bulb but the new ones are only supposed to last 8000 hours which is still a long time. In the picture on the bottom of the bulb I wrote the date I installed the bulb 12/31/2001. 8 Years on one light bulb. When I bought this bulb everyone was saying to replace all your old bulbs with CFL's like most people I wasn't going to throw away perfectly good light bulbs so as the old ones died I upgraded my lights it took a while but eventually we got them all changed out. The manufacturers have figured out that if they kept making the bulbs last as long as my first one they would eventually go out of business. So like everything else they wear out quicker. The good news is the bulbs are now cheaper. I can buy an 8 pack of CFL bulbs for less money, The bad new is I burn through all 8 and my original was still going strong.

Slow week training busy week turning

So I was pretty busy with my wood turning this week. I finished this bowl. It started out as a regular bowl, I then cut out all the leaves and then did some wood burning and finally airbrushed the color onto the leaves. I used transparent paints because I like to be able to see the wood grain in my finished pieces. I also mad a giant bobbin for a customer to wrap copper tubing around. Thursday evening I taught a pen turning class at Woodcraft. Today I started another leaf bowl. This is a technique I am definitely going to explore some more. I have several more themes I want to bring to life.

My training is coming along. I didn't get much running in this week but I am ok with that. I went swimming twice and Spinning once and I am going again in the morning. This morning I got in a 7 mile run in very cold and windy conditions. After last weeks 23 mile run I wanted to take a few days off from running. The marathon in about 6 weeks away and coming up fast. I am looking forward to that. I am also looking forward to warmer weather. I like training when it is warmer. It looks like at least another week of cold weather. I will just keep training.