Apr 25 Oh boy that was sweet. Okay let me qualify that by saying that I enjoy when things are easy and efficient. If you feel differently, then you may very well disagree with me.
So on a nice lazy morning I decided to look into converting my permalink structure to one that I preferred. Permalinks are how Wordpress describes permanent links to a post. When I first started this blog a couple of years ago (seriously, that long??) I decided on going with a fairly standard /yyyy/mm/dd/post-name type of structure for my posts. However, I am now a little opposed to this since it reveals more information than I would like. I tend to think that my writing transcends time since I am not usually writing about current events so I want to remove a visitor’s perception that my post is not worth reading just because it is old.
After searching online, I came upon Scott Yang’s Permalink Redirect plugin. The instructions seemed easy enough so I:
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Downloaded it
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Unzipped, installed, and activated it
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Accessed the new Settings->Permalink Redirect page. Under “Old Permalink Structure” clicked the link after “Current permalink structure”
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Accessed Settings->Permalinks. Changed to a /post-id/post-name structure. (I used tags that I found here.)
All of my old links are now redirecting correctly! And that, my friends and enemies, is sweet! Especially since it took less time than it has taken me to write this post. I’m loving Wordpress all over again for its abilities, both built-in and extensible.
Apr 16 Yep, I am still training for my marathon. Some lessons that I have been learning:
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You are very likely under the impression that cotton is a glorious and soft fabric. But let me tell you that 15 miles can dictate otherwise. Chaffing is real, people. And it’s dangerous. It is just crazy how such a small discomfort can completely occupy your mind. It is a nice reminder to get yourself set up completely before setting out. So beware for certain parts of your body. Personally it happens with my crotch and nipples. Is that too much information? Haha TOO BAD! :D
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Seriously? Cracks in the sidewalk? In fact yes. I thought it ludicrous to even consider them. How hard is it to just watch where you’re running? If there’s a crack, don’t trip on it. It’s obvious, it’s simple. And I failed. Yes, that is correct. I was running a while ago, and I was paying attention to the jacket that I was holding in my hand. Next thing I knew, I was stumbling and nearly on my face. Thanks to the amazing reflexes that God placed in me, I was able to remain upright. Really, I couldn’t believe that I didn’t eat some cement right there. A passing truck saw and slowed down, but continued on their way once they saw that I had not even fallen down. I counted my lucky stars and was thankful (once again) for reflexes that are faster than I can say, “Oh no!”
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Running along major streets leads to some interesting scenarios. People driving by can be placed into a few categories:
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Haters - They will try their very hardest to scare me with honks and shouts. Usually they’re in high school, and they have so little in their life to be excited about that the best thing to happen to them would be to see others suffer. Pretty much they’re retarded.
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Encouragers - When passing they either honk in a more friendly way or yell out encouragement. I appreciate that, and I think that’s right kind of them.
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Leerers - This probably happens much more to girls, but there are definitely those that will make comments that are somewhat lascivious. As a guy, I actually think that it’s awesome to get that. Haha don’t judge me. A girl yelled, “Sexy!” when I was running without a shirt a little while back. Why didn’t I have a shirt on? Because I can! Well that’s only partly true. It was also pretty hot and… see the point about chaffing.
If you so desire, you can see my LA Marathon 2009 training log for yourself.
Apr 10 When something is too good everyone thinks that something is wrong. A little while back I made a T-shirt, and it surprisingly turned out decently. Considering that I am not very artistic, it was rather miraculous that the lines were straight and the overall presentation was just fine. However, the most interesting thing that I found was that people that saw it did not realize that I did it freehand. Since the lines were straight and everything looked good, there were some that just thought that I used a stencil while other people did not even realize that I had made the shirt!
It is easy and natural for people to only believe something if they can see the flaw in it. Else they will think that something is amiss (e.g., a machine made the product and you are trying to pass it off as your own work). Most of the time this is spot-on. People are imperfect. Everyone knows this. Why else would we need Jesus? Still it’s rather amusing to note that while people can assume that perfection in other people is acceptable, perfection is a piece of handiwork is odd.
Sing on it Nat King Cole (Mona Lisa).
Mar 31 So lately when people have asked me what has been going on, it’s pretty much been work (which is obviously going to be every weekday) and training for the 2009 Los Angeles Marathon. I decided to sign up for it a little while back, and now is as good of a time as any for a little update.
While training for the half marathon was a good introduction, it wasn’t nearly as intense. The thing about marathons is that they are known to be much more difficult to do without training. A half marathon (at 13.1 miles) is daunting, but it is still doable without too much training. But with 26.2 miles, there is the very real chance of “hitting the wall” (where the energy is depleted from the runner’s system leaving little left to continue on). And there are even some very well-publicized cases of people dying during a marathon. I want to train so that those things will not happen to me!
I have definitely found out that something that you do not get right away is how much of a commitment this is. Training takes a large amount of time! I am on week 10 (out of 16 weeks) of my training, and I am running about 25-30 miles weekly. Holy moly! All of that training consists of an average of 45 minutes for the non-long runs and upwards of 3 hours (so far) for my long runs. I have a single long run each week that comprises less than half of my weekly mileage. And both my long runs and my weekly mileage will (and should) continue to increase. All told, I am spending a significant portion of my time on this.
What have I learned from training thus far?
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A commitment to exercise and health is life-changing. And not easy.
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Perseverance and the power of the mind is key.
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Having a goal and training for it is an excellent way to lose weight. I was not even looking to do it, but it just happens!
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I don’t know if running adds years to your life, but it definitely adds life to your years. [Runner’s World Article (Page 6)]
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Running, amazingly enough, can be enjoyable. (It can also be torturous!)
- It is definitely nice finding out that I am not dependent on my car. I can in fact go to the supermarket or the bank without it, if I so desire. This week I will also see what it feels like to commute from work to home using my running shoes.
I am not nearly done yet. I will not be until I cross that glorious finish line. However I can say that I am registered. And that is either a cause for me to commend myself or ask what in the world have I gotten myself into.
Mar 25 We use names in order to identify people. Names are different according to our culture. Sometimes the family name is given more weight. Other cultures will have names that have a much stronger tie to what the person is like (e.g., Dashing Wind). And I am sure that there are many other uses for names that I don’t know about.
Here in America people often have middle names. We especially like to use the middle initial in order to make our name more unique. But our middle name is usually kept to ourselves. Or perhaps it’s just left to those times when our parents are exceptionally angry with us. There’s nothing like having your full name yelled to let you know that it’s time to do something right.
In any case I have found myself over the years enjoying learning what people’s middle names are. After thinking about why this might be so, I have realized that it’s probably because it usually is secret. I like knowing secrets. Doesn’t everyone? Middle names in particular make me feel that I am getting the chance to know people better because I have discovered something that so many other people don’t even take the time to find out. It creates an instant connection with them.
To top it all off, middle names can often be unique. And that can lead to amusing situations, indeed.
Middle names win. Sharing is caring. Ugh that’s so cliche, huh?