Andy Gapin

Faster website!

We’re moving our hosting over to CloudWeb.com from FatCow. FatCow was insanely slow and I wasn’t very happy with them at all. Reliability was spotty and…well, I won’t get into it all. Let’s just say that I will never use FatCow again.

I don’t know what to expect from CloudWeb, they seem to offer a pretty good hosting package for a low price and claim to be “cloud hosting.”  I’m hoping they live up to their claim and can provide consistently decent performance and reliability. So far, my testing has been providing page loads under a second or two. Not bad for $10/month. Certainly better than the 5+ seconds from FatCow.

The move will be happening sometime between now and the next week depending on when I can find the time to set aside to deal with the unexpected problems that will probably arise.

Finally, after over two months of not being able to run, I’m getting ready to start again. My last run was the Disney World Half Marathon in early January, which while being a huge success, I was in a bit of pain during due to tendinitis in my ankle. Since that run, I’ve been to the orthopedist twice, rested a lot, and been visiting a physical therapist. Sadly, I’m not pain-free yet. Instead, I actually have pain in places that I didn’t have pain in before I stopped running. I don’t know what happened or what to make of being in arguably worse shape than I was before I stopped running, but I do know that I ran for four months with the pain in my ankle and it didn’t get better or worse during that period. Based on that and the fact that I’m no better than I was before I stopped running, I’m just going to start training for the Rutgers Unite half marathon next month. Screw it, right?

Some may say that this isn’t a smart idea, and it may not be, but I’m hating this no running thing. While I’ve enjoyed the extra free time, I do miss running a lot. I feel like something’s missing and when I see other people running outside, I get jealous. And let’s not forget the fact that I am signed up for next month’s race already, so I’d really like to run it rather than have that go to waste (yes, I realize that injury could be much, much more costly than a single race).

So the plan is to start running again this weekend with a very short run and build up quickly. I’ll train for a month, run the race, and then take off time again for my ankle if it’s still hurting. At that time, I won’t have any races I’m signed up for, except for maybe the Philly Marathon in the Fall. Before my ankle decided to start being stubborn about healing, I was hoping to run my first marathon in mid-May, but clearly barring some miracle, that’s just not going to happen, so November it is!

While training for the Disney half, I had been targeting to break under an hour and a half for this race (1:35 was my target for Disney and I beat that by two minutes), but I’ve come to terms with that not being realistic now. With only a month’s training after two months off and with what may be slightly more pain, I’ve accepted that this race will be slower instead of faster. My only goal is to not be slower than my previous time for this race, 1:47:11. That should be doable, but we’ll have to see how I feel throughout all of this. I am going to be very conscious of how things feel and I’ve promised myself that if things don’t feel right, I’d stop and not make things worse.

As usual, you can follow my very uninteresting running log, but that doesn’t show up on the main page of my site.

So, uh yeah, wish me luck?

Alright, so it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. This is the longest I’ve gone that I can remember, actually. There hasn’t really been much to post.

I was going to post a review of one of the four new hot sauces I ordered a couple weeks ago, but then I went and spilled water on my computer last night. I don’t know what’s been up with me, but I’ve been really clumsy lately with my ubiquitous water cup that’s always next to me at home. I’ve spilled it about three times in the last couple of weeks. Last night, I got a bit on my MacBook Pro. I don’t think it’ll be too bad, it was really only a few drops that got near the keyboard, but I shut it down and unplugged it to be safe. I’ll let it dry out a little more before turning it back on. I wanted to take the battery out too, but of course, Apple makes that a pain in the ass. I unscrewed the bottom panel only to find out that the battery was held in with Torx screws and I don’t have a screwdriver for them. Oh well. I think the computer will be okay though…I hope. I really can’t afford to replace it right now. It seemed fine while I was shutting it down except for the trackpad which was acting a little funny, but that will probably be fine once it completely dries. Ugh.

But yeah, I ordered four hot sauces and a couple of them are insanely intense. I wanted to write a review of the hottest one, but that will have to wait since I need to my MacBook Pro to access the photos. Not that I don’t have any other computers to use, I have plenty, but…I’ve got nothing. Man, I even have some videos to post with the review too. Look for that soon…if you care.

Let’s see, what else has been going on? I lost about two weeks of my life to trying to find the perfect backpack. I get obsessed with the weirdest things sometimes. I’m asking a lot from a single bag, but I need something that can carry my camera with a couple extra lenses, my laptop, and a day or two worth of clothes. It also needs to work as an everyday bag too, so it needs to be pretty compressable. And it has to be designed to work as a camera bag so I don’t have to shove another camera bag into it like I do with my current bag (Pakuma Akara K1 with a Tamrac Compact Zoom inside). The bag needs to have waist and chest straps, be built well, and allow quick access to my camera. I seached all over the place to find something that wasn’t too big, but was big enough for what I want to carry. I wanted something that looked half decent too and didn’t scream “hey! I’ve got a camera!” or “hey! I look like a complete jabroni wearing this, check it out!” In addition to all of that, I plan on taking my camera snowboarding with me a couple times this upcoming season so it should be somewhat waterproof. I don’t plan on doing anything crazy with it. I’ll probably just take it with me for one or two runs and mostly park myself in a good spot to take photos of other snowboarders. Then I’ll put it back in the car and get back to having fun. After all of that, I think I may have found the perfect bag, but it seems that the shipping will be a little delayed. When I get it, I’ll probably review that too.

Other than that, not too much going on. Thanksgiving is tomorrow and we’re hosting for the second year in a row. I can’t wait to eat everything in site.

Alright, that’s all I’ve got for now. I’ll get those reviews up soon (maybe) and maybe some other stuff. We’ll see what I’ve got, but I don’t like this lack of posts thing one bit.

I’ve been wanting to pick up a pair of these for a long time now. I’ve been intrigued by barefoot running for about as long as I’ve been running, I’ve read a lot about it and I know how much better it can be for you. Better performance, better injury resistance, better form and posture, stronger feet, and better overall health for your running parts. I always had tough feet as a kid because I loved being barefoot, but I was still afraid to try running around town without shoes on. When I found out about Vibram Five Fingers, I knew I needed to try them. I’ve read a ton of great reviews about them, but unfortunately, they’re not easy to find. Only a few stores seem to carry them and none of them are convenient to get to for me. Normally, I’d just order online, but I felt like this was the kind of thing that needed to be tried on.

Well, I got around to making out to one of these stores yesterday and I tried a pair on. Definitely an interesting feel. They weren’t too hard to get on, but it did take a couple minutes to coax each of my toes to go into the right pocket. After walking around the store for a few minutes, I figured it was time to hand over some money. My fiancée and I both walked out with a pair of the KSO model. For $85 each, it wasn’t too bad compared to most running shoes, though it’s a bit more than the shoes I’m retiring because I never believed in expensive running shoes–just like stretching, there are many studies that support this feeling.

This morning was the first run with them. We mentally prepared ourselves for something that was probably going to be a bit different than we were used to. Most things we’ve read said to just do a mile the first time, we did two.

The first mile was definitely a bit awkward. The shoes feel different on than you’re used to and even though they provide a lot protection from getting your feet sliced up, you do feel most of what you’re stepping on. I landed on an acorn about a minute in and, trust me, I felt it. After that acorn, the I started watching where my foot was landing with each step to make sure it was a clear landing. My feet felt like they were landing hard at first and it felt like I was landing with my entire foot flat instead of on the ball of my foot like I do normally and like you’re supposed to. We were trying to pace ourselves very slowly to ease our bodies into it, it felt like we were only going at about a ten minute mile pace, but at the one mile mark, RunKeeper chimed in my ear to let me know that we were at about 9:10/mile. I was a little shocked. I felt like we were running much more slowly than that.

The second mile was completely different story than the first. My body felt like it eased into the Vibrams and my legs felt like giant springs, they wanted to go. I forgot all about the fact that I was trying out something different I just wanted to fly down the street. I held myself back to prevent myself from doing anything stupid and regretting it tomorrow, but my legs felt peppy and great. By this point, it didn’t even feel like I was wearing anything. The Vibrams just felt like a second skin and I even stopped paying attention to what I was stepping on. They responded amazingly to every move my body made, much better than a sneaker. I felt great.

I’m really impressed with the way these shoes felt today. I can’t wait to get out and run in them again. I don’t want to hold back with my next run, I want to do a nice 5 mile run at 8 minutes per mile.

Most of what I’ve read from people about their experiences with Vibrams included that the first couple of runs left them feeling sore in muscles they didn’t even know they had. I don’t feel sore at all right now. I actually feel great. Before the run, I had some ankle pain left over from Thursday’s 8 mile run, nothing major though. That feels slightly better now, surprisingly. We’ll see how my legs feel tomorrow, but I feel like between all the mountain biking I used to do and the snowboarding, there aren’t really any muscles in my legs that haven’t been put through the paces already. We’ll see though, I haven’t been on a bike in quite a long time and my snowboard has been collecting dust since February.

All in all, after one run, I love these things, I would definitely recommend them. But it was just one run so far, we’ll see how I feel about them after a few weeks. I’m excited though. I plan to run in the full time, including all races. If everything I’ve heard is true, my knees should thank me.

What I’ve read about them suggests that should last between 1,000 and 2,000 miles, easily. I’m stoked about that, much better than sneakers. And the KSO is recommended for everything; running, trail-running, climbing, trekking, kayaking, general water-shoe replacements. I feel like these are going to get a ton of use. Oh! And they’re machine washable!

My suggestion for anyone looking to get them though is to run two miles the first time. Quit there and don’t over do it, but don’t let the first mile be an indicator of anything.

I signed up for Tumblr last week. I never used it before because I didn’t really see the point of having something that feel between this site and Twitter, but we’ll see. I don’t know that I’ll use it too much…or maybe I’ll use it a lot. Maybe I’ll use it instead of Twitter more. I don’t know!

At any rate, I set it up so that my Tumblr posts should cross post here. I haven’t entirely tested it though so I’m hoping it works.

The decision has been made, I’m going to run the half marathon in Disney World this upcoming January. It conveniently falls right in the middle of a trip I was already planning on taking there so I feel like I have to do it. I actually can’t believe how much I want to do another one. The first one was one of the most physically intense things I’ve ever done, during the last three miles of the race, I hated myself for doing that to myself. Despite that, it didn’t take long to forget about those feelings and want to do it again.

There are a few half marathons that all fall on the same day this October, but unfortunately, my fiancée and I will be away that weekend so we won’t be able to make any of them. Since we both love Disney World and got engaged there, we felt like it was almost fate that it fell on a day in which we were already planning on being there. I mean, I don’t really believe in fate, but you know.

This time around, I plan to train more intensely with more longer runs and a faster pace. I was insanely happy with my time in the last race, but I want to do better this time. I think with the right training, I can take a few minutes off without a problem. My biggest concern about the race is that it’s right in the middle of a vacation. It took me a couple days to recover after the last one to the point where I could actually walk without much soreness. I don’t want that to happen again, I don’t want to lose a couple days of Disney because of the race. If we have to take the rest of race day easy, that’s okay, we’re going to be there for a full week, but the next day, I want to get back to having fun. Going to Disney World is a very walking intensive trip and since we’re going with a group, I don’t want to slow anyone down. The other thing is that for a couple days before the race, I want to be careful how I eat so that I don’t have anything in me that’s not going to feel great around mile nine or ten.

I’m hoping that some solid training starting now will help a lot with those issues. I want to get my body to the point where 13 miles isn’t such a shock. I think if 10+ mile runs are more the norm for me by then, I should be able to get through the race with a great time and without being sore for a few days afterwards.

We shall see!

Welcome to the new www.andygapin.com (or www.ihatefun.com if you come via that URL). I know I just moved from Blogger to WordPress about a year and a half ago and now I’m moving again, but I’m glad to have finally been able to get things moved over to my own hosting. This may just be a personal site for my blog and photography, but it’s something I have fun with and the free stuff over at WordPress.com wasn’t cutting it for what I wanted. So I felt like it was best to roll my own WordPress install and do what I want with that.

If you’re reading this, you made it over just fine obviously, but if you use www.andygapin.com, you’ll need to update your bookmarks/RSS reader. Instead of andygapin.com simply redirecting to WordPress.com, it will now be the actual URL that the entire site is at so any future moves on my part won’t affect the URLs or you. Ihatefun.net will continue to forward to andygapin.com though. I have plans of one day doing something fun (err…not fun?) with that URL, but today still isn’t that day.

Moving things over was kind of a bitch, but I’m pretty happy with the result. Getting the galleries in the photography section and on each photography post working the way I wanted took a lot of tinkering, but I learned a lot about how WordPress works. Now you can click most of the photos I post to open up a slideshow of all the photos in that post.

The site has sections for The Playlist, running, and my photography (both galleries on this site and my Flickr photostream) so look around and let me know what you think. The blog on the main page and in the RSS feed contains everything except my running log which I haven’t actually started yet.

I still have a few things that I’m looking to do here, but I’m more than happy with what I’ve got so far and I wanted to share it.

Apparently, Amazon can have USPS travel backwards in time to deliver packages quicker. Impressive.

Being a software developer, I actually have a pretty good idea why it shows that date in particular, but still, you’d think that a company as large and entirely web-based as Amazon is, they’d handle that better and just leave it as “TBD” or something.

It’s been happening more and more lately, but I had to skip out on the radio show last night. The Funhouse kids, CJ and Dan, that generally follow The Playlist these days covered the extra hour. Maybe the fact that this is happening more often now should be a good indicator that it’s time to move on. I enjoy doing the show–once I’m actually doing it, anyway–but it seems that a lot goes on on Wednesdays that I have to skip out on because of it.

Anyway, I ran a 5k in Downtown Westfield last night instead of doing the show. It was humid, but luckily, the heat died down a little before the race started. I found that, just like the 4 mile race I ran on the Fourth of July, the humidity killed me. I had trouble breathing and felt like I was going to throw up for the last mile. It was not my best race, but I beat my time from the same race last year by about 15 seconds and it was my third fastest 5k ever. I should probably be pretty happy about that. Though races like this make me ask myself why I do them and why I like to run, but that’s for another post that maybe I’ll make soon.

I’m not really sure where I’m going with this post, but my iPhone 4 battery life was seriously impressive last night. I got home with 33% left after having the phone away from a charger for 15 hours. My usage over those 15 hours breaks down something like this:

• About 3.75 hours of reading articles on Google Reader, using Twitter/Facebook, reading other websites. About 80% of this was over 3G
• About 30 minutes of GPS use during the race to track my progress and time. Then I uploaded the route to mapmyfitness.com using their app. (I did not take 30 minutes to run the race, I fired it up about ten minutes early).
• Listened to music during the race
• Snapped a few pictures and emailed them off
• Updated 5 or 6 apps that had updates available
• Made a 2 minute phone call
• Kept push and WiFi turned on all day

I’d say that’s pretty impressive. My old 3GS and 3G would not have been able to pull that off.

Futurama is friggin’ back! Hell yeah!

I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. As much as I love (love love love love) The Simpsons, I’ve always felt Futurama was overall a better and more sound show…even if it only works because of the ground that The Simpsons paved for it. Oh, how I’ve missed Futurama. The four movies were great and wrapped everything up really nicely, but I wanted more!

I’m sure many people have last night’s episodes DVRed and haven’t watched yet so I’m not going to spoil anything, but the writers actually found a great way to bring everything back from that seemingly final ending of the fourth movie. It works…very well. And it is consistent with the standard Futurama nonsense. Well done.

It was easy to be fearful that Futurama would have come back with the quality of a Simpsons episode from the last decade. I would be a liar if I said I wasn’t a little worried even after the movies gave hope. But somehow, Futrama kept things awesome and it all just felt right. Nothing was played safe either. The style and quality, all the same. Robosexuals, characters dying and coming back to life, Bender being an ass, Zap Brannigan. ALL THERE!

I’m so happy!