feeDuck

This is a duck outside the Anchor Inn in Lantana, FL. Picture taken after dark tonight without the high ISO setting on my camera...I think it was on "twilight portrait" mode...whatever that means...I think it means you need a tripod because the shutter's open for 2 seconds. There are 2 ducks in the picture. It's currently my desktop background. It'll fit 16:9 monitors.

Pick #162

Wolfmother - "Dimension" from their selftitled release

An? Historic

Alright, I've heard it a billion and a half times (that's (1.0 x 10^9) + 0.5) in the past year. Some people say "an" historic and others say "a" historic usually followed by the word "election." Here's the deal: "a" comes before consonants and "an" comes before vowels...well, it's not quite that simple or people'd never make the "an" historic mistake. You see, "a" comes before consonant sounds and "an" comes before vowel sounds. So, in order to pull of saying "an" historic, you should pronounce historic like you're British...namely, omitting the "h" sound at the beginning and saying "iss-toric." Please and thank you.

More Like 24 Flavors

Someone in the DH @ THC sat down with a Dr. Pepper (I think it was TBW). I took some ketchup, poured it into the glass, and said "more like 24 flavors!" Good times.

Vibram Five Fingers

Have you seen these crazy shoes? They're called "Five Fingers," made by a company called Vibram (VEE-brum) who's been making shoe soles for years. I read an article about them in Runners World a while ago and I came across their facebook page yesterday. I found a local store and went to check them out. My size 42 foot fit fairly comfortably into the shoes, except my pinky toe felt weird. I thought I'd get the Classic model, but after looking at their usage chart, I think I might have to try a different model.

I'd like to have a pair of water shoes. These might be the perfect ditch running shoes...they can get wet and dry quickly. They'll let your feet feel the ground and respond. The only problem is that I'm not cool with the price tag yet. Maybe I'll ask for some for Christmas.

Tri ≠ Try

You might not know it by the name of my race, but I don't like it when the abbreviation "tri" is used to mean "put forth an effort" or "attempt." It's really overdone and it's been old for a while.

My race didn't have a name first. I was calling it "Tri at the Rez" at first, which was short for "the Triathlon at the FSU Reservation." Rez Race might have been a cool name, but someone suggested that I call it Tri the Rez and I thought that the name kind of advertised what kind of event it would be. I'm not a big fan, but it works.

Nike Air Vapors

When I was in middle school, I fell in love with the Nike Air Vapors, which were $100 shoes at the time. I just couldn't convince my parents to buy them for me. We came to a compromise that they would give me $40 toward the shoes because I needed new shoes and that was the most they were willing to spend for a new pair. I agreed to the deal and withdrew money I had earned by mowing yards to finance the rest of the purchase.

I got the shoes and they were the sweetest ones I'd ever worn. I wish I could find a picture of them online, but I've exhausted my searching capabilities to no avail. I was happy to wear them to PE every day and they were pretty cool. I got a lot of use out of them. After they were done for as school shoes, they turned into lawn mowing shoes until I outgrew them.

As much as I liked them and as much as I used them, I quickly realized that it wasn't worth spending $100 on a pair of shoes. I had other things to spend money on (like CDs!) and $100 shoes aren't that much cooler than $40-$50 shoes. You just might have to look around a little and find last year's model or something. I would never have learned this lesson if my parents hadn't made that deal with me. Good move on their part.

I guess I've recently purchased running shoes that are about $100, but I make way more money now than I did during middle school. I also believe that a pair of running shoes that is quality made and fits you properly can end up saving you money by preventing injury. These shoes aren't bought to be cool but rather to be functional. Plus I'm not going to outgrow them like I used to back in middle school.