Entries by Richard D. Huff

We woke up to a couple inches of snow this morning on Queen Anne hill.  It only happens once every couple years now.  Even then, it tends to happen in January -- not December.  So, it's a rare treat to have the city blanketed with snow so close to Christmas.  The 52 years in NOAA's snowfall record for Seattle averages to only 2.4 inches in December.  I'm pretty sure that we exceeded the average with just today's weather, and it's still coming down.

Should I attempt the trek to my office?  I think I should.  It would be an adventure, and would surely help me get some work done (since the office is likely empty).  I wonder how long it would take to get there by foot and public transit.  (There's no way I'm stupid enough to try and drive when so many locals don't know how to drive in the snow.)

The local TV channels are having a field day with the weather news.  You'd think we had eight feet of snow the way they're talking it up.  KIRO has live feeds from several locations in the region. I guess they're just happy to have something to talk about.

(The photo was taken from our balcony.)

The Royal Victoria Marathon, held every year in the Fall, is without question my favorite race.  Beginning in 2002, I've made the trip from Seattle to Victoria every year -- aboard the Victoria Clipper -- for the race weekend (which also happens to be Canada's Thanksgiving holiday).  The weather in 2003 and 2006 was horrible, so I didn't actually run the race those years even though I was there for the race.  Yes, I'm "fair weather runner".  When you wake up at 6:00 AM to ready yourself for the race, and looking out the window feels like you're looking out the portal of a submarine, you shouldn't have to line up at the start line for a 13.1 (half marathon) or 26.2 (full marathon) mile run.  That would just be crazy.

Last year (2007) I ran the full marathon for the first time.  It wasn't my first full marathon, but it was my first full in Victoria.  The weather gods hated me, though.  It started out perfectly pleasant, and stayed that way through the first 13 miles.  That's when the clouds opened up and ruined my life.  For the remaining 13 miles I had to fight cold, torrential rain.  My expected finish of 4:30:00 to 4:45:00 ended up a sad 5:14:53.  I hated it so much that most of my failure to train during our last winter, and even most of the spring and summer, can be attributed to how poorly Victoria went last year.  I'm trying to claw my way back now, and since it has become such a tradition, I revisited Victoria this year (2008), but only for the half.  Melissa, and a whole host of other running friends, hung out in Victoria and ran the race.  Melissa ran the full this year while the rest of us (Bill, Lily, Jim, Theresa, Heidi, and me) ran the half.

I'm happy to report that the weather was pretty much perfect this year.  I'm not anywhere close to my "peak running fitness", but I still shaved 15 minutes off my most recent half marathon time.  That makes me satisfied with this year's 2:19:28 finish in light of how little I've trained.  It also gives me confidence that I could do a sub-2 hour half if I'd just get my act together.

If you are a data geek like I am, you'll appreciate the histogram of 2008 half marathon finish times that I threw together (click here).  It shows that my time was right of the median (~2:04:00) and mean (~2:10:00), but not by very much.  Of course, this analysis hides the fact that I am not near as good if you filter for my age and gender.

Congratulations to everyone who ran!

Virtually every flight I take finds me perusing the SkyMall catalog as a form of entertainment.  Some of the items for sale are amusing; others are downright useless.  It is rare, however, that I encounter a product for sale through the catalog that is, Prima facia, fraudulent.  That's what happened, though, on my recent return from New York.  Page 242 of the SkyMall catalog advertises a "Wine and Liquor Accelerator" that claims to "Accelerate the slow aging flavor of wines and liquors". How?  It "surrounds the beverage with a powerful triangular-shaped magnetic field".

Really?  Exposure to a magnet is all you need to age a bottle or glass of wine?  I'm sorry, but that simply isn't factual.  For those wines that do benefit from aging, the aging process cannot be "accelerated" through exposure to the sort of weak magnetic field possible in the device being sold by SkyMall.  It's really that simple.  The chemical process which occurs as certain wines age is not influenced by a couple small, permanent magnets.  SkyMall should be ashamed.

What can you expect to grow on the deck of your Seattle condo?  Should you grow food, or should you plant flowers instead?  This year I was convinced that what our deck needed was an herb and tomato garden.  The start was rough.  My organic herb seeds were planted in a set of copper pots purchased at Smith & Hawkin.  Ignoring the "not for food" stickers on the bottom of each copper container, I anxiously waited for the first signs of basil, oregano, savory, and rosemary sprouts.  In the meantime I happened to hear a radio show about heavy metals in food, which prompted me to do some further research on the copper pots.  First, let me defend my decision to plant herbs in pots that warned they were "not for food".  That notice typically refers to using a container for serving food -- not growing food plants.  My follow-up research, however, indicted that the solder used to weld one corner and the bottom of each pot was primarily lead.  Furthermore, the lead could leech into the soil and be picked up by the plants.  There's irony in there somewhere: my organic seeds and soil were being tainted by lead (and possibly the copper, another heavy metal).  So,..I ditched the copper pots for earthenware ones. 

At the same time, I planted two organic tomato plants.  The herbs were doing well, and the tomato plants had several dozen flowers waiting to be pollinated.  And waiting.  And waiting.  It turns out that our bees (and other pollinating insects) were taking the summer off.  Joan (a coworker) mentioned needing to hand pollinate her tomato plants, so I followed her lead.  Shortly thereafter I had eight tiny green tomatoes.  The first one (pictured) has just started to turn red in the last couple days.

Is a condo deck garden worth the time and expense?  Unlikely.  I just hope that the taste of fresh, vine-ripened tomatoes makes the effort worthwhile. 

Gavin, Elaine, and Melissa got together last year and arranged for Segway Polo on my birthday.  As my luck would have it, the day of the event was met with a torrential downpour.  Since Segway's don't operate well in two inches of standing water and the resulting mud, we postponed the game.  Not once in the subsequent year did we find an opportunity to reschedule the game, so they came up with the brilliant idea of taking the Segway tour of Disney's California Adventure while on a recent trip.  What a blast. 

Two Disney cast members teach you how to use a Segway and then take you on a tour of DCA before it opens.  Why do it before the park opens?  In their own words, "People do one of two things when they see somebody on a Segway: they either run away from it; or, they run towards it.  Both are dangerous."

The Segway experience is like nothing else.  Although completely impractical, you'll want to buy one after your first try.  My recommendation is that you resist the urge.  It's fine to be a nerd in the privacy of the Happiest Place on Earth^sm (especially when no one else is around), but you might not want to be that nerd in public.