• On Life and Love

    Now Mama’s Got Even Newer Shoes

    The Minimuses from Thursday/Friday didn’t work out. They kept rubbing when I walked, although they were better when I ran. I took ’em back on Saturday, tried back on the Brooks PureDrifts, and hopped on the treadmill in the store a longer run than the jaunt I’d given them before… And then nearly got dizzy from my own swimmy pronation.

  • On Life and Love

    Mama’s Got New Shoes

    Running shoes, that is. I’ve been plagued with shin splints during my runs for the last couple of months. There weren’t many runs, sure, but I also haven’t had shin splints at all since I bought my current shoes. It was an immensely good feeling to be able to run consistently pain-free for over 200 miles. But now I’m splinty. I’d been wanting to try minimalist running shoes (0mm – 4mm heel-to-toe drop) for the last few years–even when I bought my current conventional 12mm running shoes. I came up with all sorts of reasons why I shouldn’t (I’m overweight, I might break myself, etc.), and then let the running…

  • On Life and Love

    Too Many Links on the Dance Floor

    That’s a Flight of the Conchords reference (NSFW!). First, a couple of lengthy jokes: Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: AudioQuest K2 Terminated Speaker Cable – UST 2.44 m Plugs 8′ Pair – This is a $14,000 set of audio cables. The reviews had me laughing all day. Amazon.com: Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer: Kitchen & Dining – Another marvelous instance of reviews matching the seriousness of the product on Amazon. I'm really impressed at Hutzler not blasting away all these joke reviews. Then some psychology:

  • On Life and Love

    DRAGON KAAAAAHN!

    Things were complicated at DragonCon last year. It was my first attendance, which was awesome and amazing, but things were starting to go south in my triad and I didn’t know how to escape, even at an event as large as DragonCon. For all that the con was fascinating and exhausting in its own right, the relationship stuff cast a shadow on it. So with the triad dissolved, I dragged my feet on signing up for DragonCon 2013. If Greg and I roomed with Deana (major question #1), we’d be persons 7 and 8 in the room. Eight people. In one room. (Last year we were 5th and 6th, and…

  • On Life and Love

    Months of 5’s, 3’s, and 1’s

    I’ve been lifting via the 5/3/1 program since December 2011. In the last year, I’ve completed 8 months of lifting. Consistent, not so much, but I was stalling enough in the last couple of months that I decided to recalculate my maxes last week. When I started last December, I was still doing shoulder rehab (at home) thrice weekly. My shoulder hurt every day. Even trying to do an assisted pull-up would cause days’ worth of escalation of shoulder pain. It’s hard to make a true assessment of my upper-body strength at the time, because so much is driven by the ability to strongly and painlessly rotate ones shoulders: pushups,…