Work has been hectic since I got back from the UK trip. Things are kinda repetitive and it gets pretty boring sometimes. However, future work might involve firmware development that I acquired from the UK trip. What worries me is my once trustworthy software skills are pretty rusty now.

In previous post I thought I miss the boat of loading up some WM at 2 dollar. Man I was actually lucky! Who would have thought about US banks fail one after another? If bank is not safe, what other investments are safe? Seriously the US economy is totally messed up. WM is my second investment that goes bankrupt. When it dropped from 24 dollar to 10 dollar, they said it has bottomed. Then 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. And boomed all went down the drain. Lesson learned, there is no such a thing called bottom in stock market. Everyone with investment in stocks easily see a 50% hair cut on portfolio, so just keep your money underneath your pillow okie? As of now, RIMM is at 60, AAPL at 100, GOOG at 400. Speaking about buying on fear, as preached by Warren Buffet, do you have the guts to do it?

The US is definitely heading towards recession, a real big one. I remember in the early stage of presidential campaign, all the candidates were discussing war on terrorism, when to bring the troops back etc. Then came the gas price crisis where they were asked about energy policy and environmental issue. All of the sudden these become trivial issues. Without money, how are you gonna fight the war? how do you buy the gas? The focus at the moment are on how to save the whole economy, on where the hell to raise 700 billion for bailout plan and what to do with the 10 thrillion national debt. Scary huh? 1997 stock market clash and 2001 dotcom bubble both triggered economy downtown but I was too young to apprehend. But this time I am totally feeling it!

Went to Japan town yesterday and saw some awesome heavily-modded ah-beng cars, or ricers. Two of my colleagues are hardcore car fans so I am slightly influenced these days and started to pay more attention on cars. I bet it's something intrinsic to guys. You just need a little push and all of the sudden you start enjoying looking at cars.

elongated R1

lancer evolution

nice blue s2000

aggressive subaru wrx

香车美人？ haha

October 5 2008 is my first half marathon running experience. The race took place at San Jose downtown which doesn't offer much view. I signed up this run 2 months back and thought I would have time to train for it. Well, I did train by running 4-5 miles for a while, thinking that would be enough to last me on the race day. I was so wrong. Half marathon 13.1 miles (22km) run is a different beast all together.

race tag and a RFID chip on shoes

I arrived at San Jose HP Pavillion early around 6.45am, fearing there will be traffic jam. It was really cold in the morning. There were refreshment (power drinks and banana) offered at the start off area. Apparently bananas are good energy source for running. The runner crowd didn't show up until 7.15-ish. To better control the start off traffic, they divided us into different corrals according to our own estimated finishing time filled during registration. The more competitive crowd would start sooner. For example, I estimated myself to finish the race in 2 hour 30 minutes, so I was put in corral #9. Since everyone has a RFID tag on shoes, which got scanned when you cross the starting/finishing line, it's doesn't really matter whether you start early or late. It's fair. The race officially started at 8am.



I had no intention to run competitively. But i wished I could finish it under 2 hour 30 minutes. My first 6 miles was non-stop and quite easy because that's my normal training run distance. Along the way there were rock bands playing live musics, bystanders cheering along and some anti-war, pro-gay activists showing their banners. Free power drinks were stationed every other miles. It's not boring at all! i was clocking about 1 hour 5 minutes for the first 6 miles which was not too bad. Nonetheless, I started to feel pressure building up on my heels. While I was at 6 mile checkpoint, the leading packs were already on their way to finishing line. Needless to say, the first few that zoomed pass were kenya-looking runners. So their speed was like 13 mph! crazy!


My 8-mile checking points was 1 hour 35 minutes. So another 1 hour for remaining 5 miles to make it under 2 hour 30 minute? Well, I knew my legs were already soring and it's not possible to keep that pace anymore. In fact, I didn't dare to take a long rest because my body might just break down. I slowered my pace and stopped for every drinking station. Every steps seemed to be heavier. It's sad when I realized I couldn't make it to my target. Here's my 11 mile time.


My feet hurt so bad that I couldn't continue running for the remaining 2 miles. Basically I just walked to completing the race at a disappointing 2 hour 45 minutes. I guess 15 minute extra is not too bad right? Although it's very tiring, the overall feeling is quite fulfilling. I used to not understand why people love running so much. No doubt it's one of those boring sports, but if you bring it to a competitive level it's totally different. Despite the fact that my knees and heels are aching right now, I am already considering the next half marathon opportunity! Ouch... i probably won't be riding motorcycle for the next few days.