Hashemian Blog Web Tools, Financial Markets, Technology Sunday, November 01, 2009 NYC Marathon  What a nice day to be a part of the biggest marathon event in the world. Only thing is that I wasn't there. I did register for the New York City Marathon a few months ago but I was in the pool of some 60 thousand people who were turned down. No hard feelings though. I know there's a limit on how many people are allowed in and managing 40 thousand runners is a no small feat. So in sympathy, I decided to run a mini-marathon of my own in my own hometown today and I logged 16+ enjoyable miles. Ok, I admit that running solo on back roads isn't exactly like being a part of a big event, but for me the fun is just the same, maybe even more. With the solo runs there are no rules and no crowds. It's just me and the road. I get to choose the time, the distance, and the routes, and I can change them as I go along. There's definitely something liberating about setting your own rules and it costs nothing. The challenge, the therapeutic effect, and the satisfaction of finishing the course are still there. No, there are no official times, no like-minded people to hang with, no medals and no parties at the end. But for me running means a lot more than that. How many activities can give one that kind of return with a pair of sneakers and a road? And as for the NYC marathon, maybe next year. Meanwhile, congrats to all of today's participants. marathon,nyc marathon,running Labels: running <NYC Marathon> // posted by rh 0 comments Thursday, October 29, 2009 Chrome Wishes  For a creature of habit like me it was a difficult move, but I have finally migrated from Internet Explorer v6 (IE6), and not just to v7 or v8. As long as I was making a leap, I went out on a limb and started using Google's browser, Chrome. While occasionally I find myself back on IE6 for a few sites, Chrome has become my default surfing window into the world wide web. Chrome comes in 3 flavors, known as channels, Stable, Beta, and Dev. I took the middle ground and settled on the Beta channel, what I would call the Goldilocks version, not too safe but not too risky. For the most part I like this browser and as new versions go online and are automatically downloaded, it just keeps growing on me. Chrome is fast and clean. It launches much quicker than IE or Firefox and it has an impressive response time, specially for the Web 2.0'ish pages that seem to be everywhere these days. And the so-called omnibox (combined search and URL bar) is an ingenious feature. But for all of its goodness, there are still a few areas that it falls short. Here are my top 3 pet peeves with Chrome: • View source - Like other browsers, Chrome does allow one to view the HTML source of a page but not correctly after a form is submitted. This still stymies me at times, until I realize that when viewing page source, Chrome appears to make a fresh request to the URL rather than just display the current content. This results in displaying source code that is inconsistent with the page that's resulted from a POST operation, such as a form submission. This bug needs to be fixed. • Image properties – Just about all browsers allow users to get the properties of an image (URL, size, dimensions, etc.), generally via a right-click and selecting "Properties". There's no such capability in Chrome. The "Inspect Element" menu item just loads the page source and positions the cursor at the declaration of the image tag. Hardly helpful for obtaining image properties. • Referrer settings – This one can be generalized into allowing users to tweak low-level browser features. Chrome has a number of nice commands like about:memory and about:dns, but where is about:config, as in Firefox? One of the browser features I like to disable is the Referrer. I know this could lead to some usability issues on some sites, but I despise giving sites any information about myself including where I'm arriving from. Chrome doesn't allow any such tweaks, but it should. Ok, I know Chrome's source code is out there and I could edit and recompile, but really I'm not that desperate :) chrome,browsers,google,ie,firefox Labels: browsers, google, internet <Chrome Wishes> // posted by rh 0 comments Tuesday, October 20, 2009 Arizona Not-Quite Hiking  Last week I was at the Astricon show in Glendale, Arizona (near Phoenix), running the registration system. Not being one to pass up a chance for hiking, I had arranged to stay an extra day to hike the White Tank mountains. There was one problem though, I didn't have transportation to the park. After some thought I hatched what I thought was a good plan, getting there on a mountain bike. The plan was to pedal about 15 miles from the hotel to the trailhead, hike one of the trails (about 8 miles) and then return on the bike and finally donate the bike to a charity before flying back home. Getting the bike was the easy part. I bought a relatively cheap one from a nearby Wal-Mart and after making sure that it was road-worthy I had the hotel store it for me until later. By the way, being on a bike brought back some good memories of my childhood and that feeling of freedom one gets on a bike. On the day of the hike I stocked my backpack with water and food and I was on the road by 7 AM. It was predicted to be a hot day but at that time the desert air was still relatively cool and pleasant. As I biked my way closer to the park, I started to hear the thunderous sounds of fighter jets, apparently from training flights at the nearby Luke Air Force Base. By then I had biked nearly 8 miles and decided to pull over the side of the road for a quick drink of water and some food. That's about the time when my plan unraveled. As I got ready to jump back on the bike and pedal away, I noticed that the front tire had gone flat. On closer inspection, I saw that the inner tube had slipped out and wrapped tightly around the front brakes. It was a hopeless situation. Even if could untangle the mess, and even if the tube was undamaged, I had no air pump to bring the tire back to life, and I was in the middle of nowhere. Standing by the side of the road and considering my options, it quickly became apparent that I really had no options. I had to scrub the plan and started the journey back to the hotel on foot, leaving the bike behind. Sometimes you have to see the good side of an adverse event. While disappointed that I couldn't make the planned trek, I was treated to a decent air show with the fighter jets buzzing overhead, and sometimes flying low in tight formation. And instead of hiking the park, I ended up hiking by the roadside in the desert heat all the way back to the hotel. At least I had enough water. Plans sometimes fail. I might have mitigated the problem had I brought an air pump along, but no point dwelling on that. The way I see it, I got a good aerial show and still had a decent hike. And if I make it back to this place, I'll be sure to be more prepared, at least for a flat tire. The hapless bike with the inner tube tangled looking back at the forlorn bike and the unhiked mountains just beyond arizona,hiking,biking,fighter jets Labels: hiking <Arizona Not-Quite Hiking> // posted by rh 0 comments Sunday, October 11, 2009 2009 Hartford Half Marathon  Seems like it was only a few days ago since I ran my last half marathon. Well, it actually was only a few days ago, and I found myself running another one this past Saturday, the ING Hartford Half Marathon. Actually this is really a marathon race but it incorporates a half marathon as well as a 5-K races. For me this was the first time that I was in a relatively major city running event. It felt quite different than my hometown's half marathon. There were a lot more runners, more spectators, more sponsors and it had a festival feel to it. Also the entry fees were higher. The organizers had done an impressive job managing the event. From street closures, to security, to feeding runners after the event, everything ran smoothly as far as I could tell. It was also the first time that my time was measured by a sensor on my shoe rather than the finish-line clock. I'm sure the city of Hartford gets some good business and recognition from the race. I've lived in Connecticut for over 25 years and this was the first time I actually got the chance to walk around the capital and see it up close. It has a lot of history and culture to offer. Aside from all the fun and festivities, Hartford had the good omen for me to set a personal record of 1:53:53 (8:42/min pace) for the half marathon. A good friend who was also running the half marathon set his own personal record in this race. Results here. For me nothing can replace the fun of running in my own hometown, but Hartford proved itself to be a great enough venue for me to be looking forward to next year's race. Who knows, by then I may finally be mentally ready for a full marathon. marathon,half-marathon,running,racing,hartford,connecticut,ridgefield Labels: running <2009 Hartford Half Marathon> // posted by rh 0 comments Monday, October 05, 2009 Half Marathon  Yesterday I ran the annual half marathon in my hometown of Ridgefield, Connecticut. It was the second time for me running a race after my herniated disc injury nearly 2 years ago and rather unexpectedly I did better than last year. My results came in at 1:55:15 which made it a 8:48/mile pace. That's my second best time in the past 5 years running the race and it's nearly 20 minutes shorter than my last attempt. I can't say if I owe the better results to a more recovered back, or perhaps just a psychological inducement as I move further away from the date of my injury. Of course a herniated disc will never heal and I still suffer some of the symptoms like pain and tingling. That’s something I'm always aware of. I hadn't trained at all for this upcoming event, but I had been going on longer runs on nicer days and I'm sure the extra distance also gave me the extra boost. The weather also helped. While humid and warm, it wasn't uncomfortable. I did have to slow the pace a bit on some of the uphill sections but never down to a walk. Still I was surprised as I got to the finish line and saw the clock under 2 hours. I'll see how I'll do on my next half marathon race, a mere 4 days away. Ok, enough about me. The winner of the race was a 39-year-old Kenyan native. Not much surprise there. When I Googled his name, I landed on a few articles describing how African runners arrive in the US, fan out, and make a living running (and winning) in various local races. It seems that some people are miffed at this practice, citing unfairness. Mind you, the African runners are career athletes, some of the best, even in their own native countries, with the physique, genes, and time for training only a few could match. Of course for me, who would never even get close to their levels of proficiency, it doesn't really matter, but it could dissuade some of the locals from participating and that could hurt the events. I can understand both sides, but as long as no performance enhancing drugs are involved, I can't argue against it. running,jogging,marathon, Labels: running <Half Marathon> // posted by rh 2 comments

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