This Old PC: Freshening up hardware for 2010

One of the remarkable things about my experience in personal computing is the current period of relative stability in which I've found myself. In the 1990s I'd build another box every other year or so to keep up with advances in speed needed to keep up with the demanding programs I was running, i.e. games. But my computing habits have changed. I game less, and most of those titles are now on consoles. The most demanding PC game I run now is SimCity 4, and that was released back in 2003.

What this means is that I've been able to get by with the same desktop chassis at home since 2002. It's what I consider a classic, the brilliant SS51G from Shuttle's XPC series. When many enthusiasts were still obsessed with big tower configurations, I chose this toaster-sized box as the foundation of the system I still use today. The oddly translucent blue faceplate is a reminder of the influence that Apple was exerting in product design at the time with its original Bondi Blue iMac.

Within the SS51G's compact dimensions, Shuttle left enough breathing room for what has turned out to be a long life of expansion options. For the past eight years I've been back inside the case to swap or upgrade components several times. (For example, there used to be a floppy drive where the flash memory card reader is now.) This past weekend, I gave this old PC what will probably be its last internal hardware upgrades -- a second gigabyte of RAM and a new videocard.

As long as I had the system unplugged and the case open, it was a convenient time to exorcise all of the dust bunnies that have been collecting for many months. A few minutes with the ever-popular can of compressed air stripped away the fluff clinging to the inner crevices. A couple of tips I thought I'd pass on to readers looking to perform this chore themselves:

• Turn the computer on its side, or even upside-down if necessary, but always keep the can of compressed air upright. Or else be prepared to see liquid propellant squirted into your machine.
• Use a stick-like object to stop fans from spinning from the blasts of compressed air. Not only is it more difficult to blow dust off of moving blades, but remember that DC electric motors double as generators. Who knows what might happen if you start pushing random current upstream from the fan?

Once things were dust-free inside and out to my satisfaction, the new components were swapped in and I was booting back into Windows XP soon enough. The videocard, based on the GeForce 6200 from nVidia, was a bargain-basement purchase, but it should be enough to enable the Aero interface of Windows 7 -- which we'll leave for a future installment of "This Old PC."

Energy Capital Run

This will be my last race for the time being. I completed a run/walk of this 5K in just under 42 minutes.

I had pre-registered earlier in the month and I'm glad I showed up. The weather was beautiful one for outdoor activities, with a dawn temp in the high forties. Instead of a cotton T, the packets came with a New Balance tech fabric shirt with the race logo. Gulf States Toyota's facility is right on the course, and after the race I picked up a freebie Houston Rockets polo shirt from the carmaker's table. I will make good use of both.

In all, this was a pretty well-run event. The only anomaly I encountered was that the police had not completely closed the Enclave Parkway intersection with Briar Forest, and participants had to stop there twice on the out-and-back course until the officer waved them on.

I hope I can figure out what is keeping me from running as I think I should. What worries me, of course, is that there's a real possibility that I may have to sit out the marathon if I don't.

Forward.

Rookie mistake

Two small shortbread cookies, a packet of GU gel, a handful of cotton candy, half a cup of chicken noodle soup, and a piece of bread -- this is basically what powered me through virtually all day yesterday including a long run. Not surprisingly, this didn't work out well.

I think I simply let myself get distracted by excitement of a busy day. On Friday, I got invited to come out to a festival on Saturday, and I decided that I would just fit this event in between this weekend's long run and another festival I had already planned to attend.

When I got up Saturday, I was in such a rush that the only pre-run food I had was the cookies. I was carrying a GU gel and ate that halfway through thirteen miles. Still in a rush, I got home, showered and immediately left for what was supposed to be festival number one.

I ended up wiping myself out. My energy stores were zapped, and yet at the same time the run had suppressed my appetite to the point where eating seemed abhorrent. I felt trapped in this pattern for hours, forcing myself to nibble as much as I could tolerate to keep going. I felt so bad that I ended up skipping festival number two.

Lessons re-learned:
1) Before morning runs shorter than an hour, breakfast isn't necessary for me. For long runs, it's highly recommended.
2) After finishing a long run, I need to start the re-fueling process as soon as possible -- within the first hour -- even if the body doesn't seem to be demanding it right away.

Sadly, you'd think that this sort of goof wouldn't be committed by someone pursuing the Houston Marathon for the third time (if I count the eventual switch to the half course in 2007), but it happened and I fully own the mistake.

My appetite didn't re-appear until late last night. At 11:59 p.m., I devoured a leftover Quizno's sandwich, a banana and a glass of soy milk; this made the most substantive meal I had all of Saturday.

As of today, we have 90 days to go until the Houston Marathon. I'd like them to be full of brighter thinking.

Run to Cure HD

Actually, today's primary goal was to get in some long-run mileage. So after checking in at Oyster Creek Park an hour before race time, I did an extended warmup of four miles before reporting to the start line. I'm still unable to run a full 5K at 5K effort and my mile splits look a lot like last week's:

Mile 1: 9:34
Mile 2: 11:53
Mile 3: 13:42
elapsed 5K time: 37:00 (per Garmin Forerunner 205)

Just like last week, race nausea hit me in mile 2 and dogged me into frequent walking breaks for the rest of the course. Oh well. I don't know if I was seeing the final official results, but the sheets that were posted during the awards ceremony showed me as the second to last male in my age group. At last year's event I was at the bottom, so I'll have to be happy to move up, right?

After crossing the finish mat, I was off to log another three miles before I left the park, for a total of ten. I took a rest at the awards ceremony long enough to consume a slice of pepperoni pizza and claim an XL T-shirt from the University of Phoenix ("I am a Phoenix") as a door prize. (Boy was I really coveting that free registration for the Sugar Land Turkey Trot instead!)

The weather was absolutely wonderful for a race. After yesterday's front came through, we were left with a 56F morning with overcast skies, versus the 97F heat index we had to deal with on Thursday afternoon.

Next weekend should be free of racing, and then I'll be reporting from the Energy Capital Run on the 24th.

Celiac Run

Five miles at Bear Creek Park went into the log on this pleasant morning, including the Celiac Run event:

Mile 1 -- 9:13
Mile 2 -- 13:22
Mile 3 -- 11:55

3.18-mile elapsed time per Garmin Forerunner 205 -- 36:05

The double-loop race course had to be altered to avoid a flooded area of the park, and everyone wearing GPS agreed the revised course was a bit long. But I wasn't worried about setting any new records today. It was all about just getting back into the swing of showing up and completing a running event after a three-month dry spell. And it was tough to pass up a 5K being held just a short drive away from home.

I feared that this race was going to turn out just like this past Heights Fun Run. I started fairly strong, then was hit with a bout of nausea in mile 2. Luckily, I was able to recompose myself in time to mostly jog the rest of the course in and claim that 36:05 time -- exactly ten minutes over my all-time 5K PR.

Speaking of thirty-somethings, I would have been an award recipient had I listed myself as "competitive" on my registration. This was a really, really small event (scheduled against the juggernaut downtown known as the Komen Race for the Cure) and only one male in my age group showed up. In a normally fiercely contested age/gender group with awards three-deep, only one guy was competing. To be honest, claiming hardware by default like this would have cast a hollow feeling on me during the short ride home.

The whole purpose of this event was to raise awareness of issues affecting and resources helping people with gluten allergies. Therefore the spread on the refreshment tables was a bit different from usual. The gluten-free brownies got my full endorsement, but I couldn't palate the bagels with a texture between angel-food cake and cornbread, but tasted like neither. The Redbridge beer I remember from a previous edition of the Celiac Run was nowehere to be found, but I give the organizers sweet props for putting out cartons of strawberries. Yum!

The last running-related footnote I'll add is that I've switched shoes -- finally. In recent weeks I've had periodic flareups of my dreaded achilles tendinitis, and I realized that the last time I bought new running shoes was six months ago. So this week I've been breaking in a pair of New Balance 1224s, and have been pretty happy with the results. This morning was wholly pain-free, and I'll take it!

Fall opens with a bloom of bullet points

• There's no doubt now; autumn is firmly in gear. The air is cooling. The calendar has flipped to October. Pumpkins and (artificial) Christmas trees are prominently on display at the local plant nursery.
  
• I've updated my running calendar blog with a lot of events coming up in October and November, many of which seem to be new -- at least to me. H-Town runners, have fun scheduling your weekends.
• I've already signed up for the Celiac Run and the Energy Capital Run; it's always nice to be able to support races that are in easy reach of home. I'm still far, far off my peak speed from the spring. Anything below a 40-minute 5K will be acceptable right now.
• Spearmint has earned my respect. A plant which I thought had been neglected to death during the brutal summer heat on my patio has sprouted fresh leaves as fall has started. I'm rewarding it with a larger container that won't be so prone to drying out.
• My crop of Swiss chard was totally overrun by some sort of leaf miner bugs that ripped holes in the foliage, then stripped them clean. It only took a week. The devastation was so complete that the barren stems that remained reminded me of those pictures of the timberlands surrounding Mount Saint Helens after the mountain blew up. After raising the white flag, I've planted nasturtium and cilantro seeds in those containers instead. Maybe they'll be less appetizing to pests.
• Speaking of seeding, fall is supposed to be the proper time to sow wildflowers for next spring's bloom. Within the view from my patio, there is a patch of earth just outside the apartment complex that is just growing some very ordinary weeds at the moment. I am having thoughts of doing something to help it become more interesting in the future....
• I'm glad to see a new season of The Amazing Race. I'm still hoping that the producers will shed the manufactured drama that infects just about all "reality TV" and revert back to a focus on team logistics and problem solving that brought me in as a viewer in the first place. It's a faint hope, to be sure.
• The CR-V clocked its 175,000th mile this week. I'm looking forward to posting a long-long-term test drive report in a few months once she hits her 10th birthday. It's been a pretty good ride so far.

"thirtysomething"

For the record, I decided not to go to Kemah for that crazy bridge-bridge-bridge-bridge 10K yesterday. I think it turned out to be a great decision for multiple reasons.

(1) I got to sleep in later.
(2) I saved that registration money for another day.
(3) Instead I hammered out a long (and really slow) run of 13 miles on the local trail, which I really needed to advance my running fitness.
(4) When I arrived at the trailhead, I enjoyed some bonus scenery as a woman nonchalantly changed into her sports bra while standing next to her car in the parking lot.

Anyway, this morning's recovery run capped off a 31-mile week, the most I've been able to log in months. There are now 120 days to go until marathon Sunday, and the real fun is just beginning.

For everything there is a season....

In the absence of a powerfully unifying narrative, this Friday brings the return of the rambling bullet-point blog post.

• Last night I found myself contemplating an appearance at the Toughest 10K in Houston. I recognize what's happening: My last running event was the Run Wild 5K way back on July 4, which was more like "shuffle meekly" than "run wild." So two months later "the itch" is back. I consider that as a good sign. However, I do have some reservations about going crosstown early on a Saturday morning, especially for that type of course. I'll probably vacillate on this one all day. If I go, watch this blog for the nutty race report....
• I am glad to report that I'm back to running outside with regularity . . . and certainly enjoying it more with the subsidence of summer heat. I finally acknowledged this change the other night when I noticed that sweat had not permeated through my shirt until mile 3 of that run. During the summer, that shirt would have been damp by the end of my warmup.
• On many of my runs, I find myself pausing at the spot where Jerry the motorcyclist was killed five months ago. The hit-and-run driver is still at large. On the edge of a detention pond, the family has erected a small memorial, complete with night illumination from a pair of those solar-powered landscaping lights. (Anyone that can help resolve the case should call CrimeStoppers at 713-222-TIPS.)
  
• I find myself wanting to believe the hype on the soon-to-be-released Windows 7. The battery on my three-year-old laptop died earlier in the week. While sorely tempted to just replace the whole thing with one of the affordable netbooks that's out, instead I decided to extend its life by buying another battery. I didn't like the idea of disposing of a still-mostly-working unit to just replace it with another Windows XP machine. So that represents both a little less e-waste for the landfill for now and hope that Windows 7 will be a mature platform when I'm finally ready to move on.
• I've become pretty cynical about the entire tech certification industry, but my day job has decided that it would be super if we picked up our CCNAs. For any of my readers that have done the Cisco thing, if you have suggestions or pitfalls to avoid, feel free to comment.
  
• Public Service Announcement: A couple of weeks ago, I put a plate of heat-and-eat wings in the microwave oven. The package directions lited a cooking time for 6-8 minutes, but somehow in my carelessness, I read a "5" there instead. So while they came out hot, but not really hot enough. The resulting digestive distress made for a mighty unpleasant night. So when cooking meat -- make it well-done and right, take it to one-sixty Fahrenheit!
  
• So far the first year with the Quinalt strawberries has been really unimpressive. After delivering a handful of good fruit in May, these "everbearing" plants haven't done much but drop runners over the sides of their pots. I collected a couple of these runners to attempt to start new plants. I have hope that the established plants will deliver a better crop in their sophomore season. At least it's cool enough again to grow beans again on the patio.
  

With the impending arrival of the equinox next week, I really can feel the change in seasons. Summer's definitely gone and autumn is here, bringing with it football weekends, outdoor festivals and even the first mumblings of Merry Christmas merchandising. With the return of the the fall racing season, surely I'll be able to put running-related updates on this blog more than once a month, right?

Now if you'll pardon me, I'll be returning back to my new favorite time-waster, Professor Layton and The Diabolical Box. A true gentleman leaves no puzzle unsolved....

Review: Roku Digital Video Player

YouTube proved that the masses were ready for Internet video. Every hour millions of people visit that site for a song, an informative message, or a quick laugh. But for a full-hour TV show or feature-length movie, I don't want to huddle around my laptop; lounging on the couch and watching on the 31-inch screen in my living room is a much better experience. This is especially true if I have company over.

For some time I had even been interested in the idea of building my own home-theatre PC (HTPC) to route streaming video to the television, but this summer I decided to try a cheaper and simpler alternative -- the Roku Digital Video Player. I've been living with it for three months and have had a positive experience so far.

The most important concern, of course, is exactly what programming is being delivered. The two main content partners at this time are Netflix and Amazon. As I've discovered, the two companies' offerings are plentiful and complement each other very well.

Netflix is most well-known for its DVD-rental-by-mail business, but it also makes a portion of its catalog available for viewing online by subscribers with one of the "unlimited" plans. Anything added to a member's Instant queue will show up as available to watch on the Roku player. (The queue can only be altered on the Netflix website, so I recommend having a laptop computer in the living room to fully enable the couch potato lifestyle.) The Instant selection seems dominated by older or more obscure movies and documentaries, but it does give members something to watch while they wait for the postal service to deliver the next DVD. Be aware that as Netflix makes and breaks deals for distribution rights, the list of titles available for Instant viewing is in a constant state of change. For example, I had added Happy Feet, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and Eddie Murphy: Raw to my Instant Queue, but they were later made unavailable (marked as "Saved") before I got around to watching them.

For newer or more popular releases that are not available on Netflix -- or when I don't want to wait for a mailed DVD -- I can turn to Amazon and spend a few dollars with its Video On Demand service. Some titles can be rented for one day, others are purchased to "own" for permanent availability in "Your Video Library," and some offer both options. The available titles include both hit movies and television programs.

This brings me to my example of how the Netflix and Amazon selections complement: Thanks to DVDs from Netflix, I had gotten myself hooked on the drama Mad Men. I splurged and signed up for an Amazon "TV Pass" for the current season so I wouldn't have to wait for the DVD release to find out what happens next. Every Monday morning, the previous night's episode of Mad Men appears as available on my Roku player. Yes, it feels a bit strange to pay $1.89 per episode. But it is still cheaper than subscribing to cable just to get the AMC channel.

Earlier in the month, Roku added Major League Baseball as its third offering, letting MLB.com Premium members watch games online on their TV. At the price of a Premium membership, though, I can only see only die-hard fans of out-of-town teams finding this worthwhile. Roku has announced that it is working on partnerships to deliver more "channels" by the end of the year.

Physically, the Roku player is a very compact device, approximately the size of a small stack of CD jewel cases. Setup is as simple as it gets: Connect a cable to the TV, power up the Roku, and use the remote control to tell it how to connect to the Internet. There is an Ethernet cable port on the back, but I decided to take advantage of the built-in Wi-Fi adapter to join it to my my WLAN. (The longest part of the install was entering in my absurdly-long WPA key.) The remote itself feels like a "throwback" in its sparse design, being "chunky" in feel and sporting only nine buttons, but I like it. I'm still trying to figure out if I can use my universal remote instead. Once online, the setup routines for the Netflix and Amazon "channels" will display codes that are used to link the box to the customer's existing website accounts.

There is no internal hard drive to store programming. so the Roku player must always have a live broadband Internet connection to function. Every time a program is started, rewound, or fast-forwarded, a few seconds are needed to reset the buffer. (On the plus side, there is no hard drive to mechanically fail, either.) It will modify the video quality of the stream according to the bandwidth available. To my eyes the quality was very acceptable with a 3-Mbps downstream connection. Upgrading my DSL service to 6-Mbps enabled the device to achieve its potential of delivering high-definition video at 720p. Roku only packs a cable with RCA-style composite connectors in the box as standard, however. Consumers will need to bring their own HDMI or component cables to put the hi-def party into full swing.

There are other products on the market -- such as certain Blu-Ray players and TiVo DVRs -- that can also stream Netflix and Amazon content. But shoppers not interested in the other features that those devices offer may see the $99 Roku player as a do-one-thing-and-do-it-well alternative. I believe it's a compelling value for my readers that are Netflix devotees with broadband connections. Depending on the future partnerships Roku can forge, this little box could represent the beginning of a big alternative to the cable and satellite companies in the pay-for-TV market.

Stay tuned.

Estivation (es ta vā' shan) n. A period of torpor in the summer months

I'm very glad to be logging some real mileage again -- 19 miles last week, 20 miles this week. As usual for a Houston summer, it's blazing hot out there, and it's taking some discipline to not just curl up on the couch with a half-gallon tub of Rocky Road. With continued consistency I hope to be able to gently merge into an actual marathon training plan next month. My achilles tendon is still a little tender, but lately it hasn't truly flared up as it had been in the spring. I've decided to put the glucosamine supplement on the shelf indefinitely. I suspect it's been creating an adverse reaction I had not anticipated. I'll still be taking care to patiently warm up and stretch before every run, though.

My decision to come live in the web of trails that snake through the Energy Corridor is paying dividends. I love walking out my door and striding on crushed gravel mere minutes later. Speaking of "snake," I spotted a real attention-getter on yesterday's trek -- a Texas coral snake, one of the rare venomous species that inhabit the area. This specimen was less than a foot long and no thicker than my pinky. It was crossing the concrete path next to the creek in broad daylight. To my relief, though, it was definitely not interested in a confrontation with homo sapiens. I did find myself wishing that I had brought my camera to capture the striking beauty of its color banding before it disappeared into the underbrush.

Otherwise, August is a very quiet month, running-wise, and it's reflected in the thin selection of race events in the area. Once again I've embraced a lot of night running as a way to avoid the sun. I feel as if I'm in a state of anticipatory estivation, hiding away from the beating heat, patiently awaiting the refreshment of autumn.