Keith’s Amusing Musings

With today’s 4-miler, I broke the 200 mile mark since I began my Nike+ experiment in December. Reaching the 100 mile mark took four months so I ran the second 100 miles in about half the time, 72 days. Sweet! I received the following achievement when I accessed the Nike+ site after our run. Nike says I’m a champ. That’s funny. I think their system does an excellent job motivating new runners.

I also set a new personal best in the mile today: 9’05”. The voice of Lance Armstrong greeted me at the end of the run to notify me of the accomplishment. I hadn’t heard from him or Paula in a while so that was a pleasant surprise.

TB is a great running partner. She knows all the routes based on the distance I want to run and she’s a great motivator while, at the same time, she keeps me from overdoing it. She also has all the cool long-distance running gear which I’ve started stealing borrowing indefinitely. I’ve been her biggest fan—cheering from the sidelines—for all the races she’s trained for and completed over the years. I must admit I enjoy running with her even more.

Based on my current training program, I should hit the 300 mile mark in about 40 days. Off we go.

Today, June 22, 2008, marks my tenth year as a full-time regular employee at the world’s largest software company.

Ten years at a single company is a long time in this industry, but it has passed rather quickly. Milestones are exciting and I always look forward to reaching them the closer they get. As for the gifts, I got a clock at 5 years but it no longer keeps the time. To commemorate my tenth year I will receive a massive Lucite desk ornament that resembles a crystal structure that would make the Son of Jor-El proud. (You all remember Marlon Brando as Superman’s father in Superman, right?)

What have I been able to accomplish in 10 years at the ‘Soft? First, here are the products I have shipped over the years:

1. Visual J++ (Windows Foundation Classes DHTML Controls)
2. Internet Explorer 5 (DHTML Editing Control)
3. Visual Studio 2002 (Web Forms Designer)
4. ASP.NET 1.0 (Performance & Stress)
5. Visual Studio 2003 (Windows Forms Designer)
6. Visual Studio 2005 (Visual Web Developer)
7. ASP.NET AJAX 1.0
8. Windows Vista (IIS7)
9. Silverlight 1.0
10. Windows Server 2008 (IIS7)
11. Visual Studio 2008 (Visual Web Developer)
12. Expression Studio 2 (Web, Blend, Design, Media, Encoder, Subscription)

I also helped orchestrate the launch of the following Microsoft sites over the last 2 years:

• http://ajax.asp.net
• http://www.iis.net
• http://www.silverlight.net
• http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight
• http://www.microsoft.com/expression
• http://expression.microsoft.com

Yes, I have met Bill and Steve. I’ve also had the opportunity to talk with James who has been on Microsoft’s Board of Directors since 2001.

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I finally got around to updating my blog to comply with the Beta 2 release of Silverlight 2. This affects anyone who wants to view any new or existing posts containing Deep Zoom content. You must upgrade to Silverlight 2 Beta 2 (or later) to see this content.

Click here to check what version of Silverlight you have installed—you will need 2.0.30523.6 or higher.

You will know everything is working if you can see the galleries in any of these posts. Otherwise, click the “Install Microsoft Silverlight” badge in any of those posts to upgrade today…it only takes a few seconds.

Today I completed the Nike+ goal I set back in March to run 108 miles in 12 weeks. I am pleased to say I finished one day early and only fell behind (by 3 miles) once over the 12 week period and quickly recovered.

What’s next? I start a Nike+ 12 week, half-marathon training program tomorrow. If things go as planned and I avoid injury with the increased mileage and frequency, I will register for a race in the fall. Notice in the picture below, I will more than double my miles over the next 12 weeks from 108 to 233! Wow, this is going to be nuts.

Of course, I need gear and gadgets to keep me motivated so, following the recommendation of our strength trainer, Michael, I dropped by Everyday Athlete this morning before my run to get fitted for a proper set of running shoes and pick up some specialized running socks. The specialist watched me run and had me try 5 different shoes. About 40 minutes later, I walked out with a pair of Saucony ProGrid Omni 6 Moderate Medium (size 12 1/2) to replace the Nike Air Pegasus (size 12) that have been with me since I started running consistently back in December. The Nikes carried me close to 200 miles but the stability, fit and comfort of the Sauconys are noticeably better. I’ll need all the help I can get to complete my half-marathon goal. Wish me luck.

As for the socks, I’ve started getting blisters as the weather has gotten warmer. The specialist told me the most important thing was to get away from cotton and go with synthetics. I chose a few pairs of nylon/polyester/spandex blends to see which make and style I prefer. High-end running socks are ridiculously expensive at $12-$14 per pair…however, they do feel great. I probably don’t need those for anything under 10 miles so I also grabbed a 3@$10 pack for shorter distances. I can’t afford to be sidelined by blisters so hopefully the less expensive socks will be equally effective as the high-end, super silky, extra wicking ASICS Kayano Low Cut socks I ran in today.

Here is the fourth video in the series of recordings I am assembling from my trip to China. This one covers visiting the Terra Cotta Army exhibit in Xi’an.

This one is about 5 minutes long and may stop to buffer several times depending on your connection speed.