Tech Update 2016

Looking at some of my past posts, it's been interesting to reflect on how some of my tech choices have turned out in recent years. I thought it would be fun to post about where I'm at now.

Phone -- In the years since posting (here and here) about my first smartphone in 2011, I moved on to a couple other now-deceased Android phones after I lost that Motorola Backflip to water damage: a Motorola Atrix 2 (cracked screen) and a HTC One Mini (failing to boot). I'm picky about wanting a "small" phone (screen less than 5") and kept compromising on other features to maintain that. That's why I had been getting by with a 1st-gen Motorola Moto G for the past couple of years. However, being hamstrung by the 8GB of onboard storage (less than 6GB usable) got too annoying; I kept running out of room for apps without trying very hard. And so I moved on to an Xperia Z5 Compact. It's basically last year's flagship from Sony, and have nothing negative to say after a week with it. I've invested in a nice bumper case so hopefully this one will enjoy a long reign in my palm.

Laptop -- I parted ways with that Acer netbook from 2010 when it died after a couple of years. I lived life with no portable PC until I decided to pick up a Lenovo ThinkPad E545 in 2014. The E545 is from the ThinkPad lineage of boring but venerable business-class laptops. It's most crucial job now is streaming Internet content to the TV through the HDMI port. So, really, it also replaced my no-longer-supported first-generation Roku box.

Desktop -- Amazingly, the Vince-built PC from 2010 based around an i3-530 CPU is still my primary desktop machine. The RAM has since been doubled to 8GB, This month I splurged on an upgraded GPU, the nVidia GTX 750 Ti, because I wanted to dabble in more PC gaming, starting with  Cities: Skylines. (Getting pulled out is the nVidia GT430 which had been good enough for many years of Minecraft.)

Server -- The HP Mediasmart is still dutifully performing daily PC backups. One of the Western Digital hard drives I had added after purchase failed last year, but surprisingly I was able to exchange it under warranty. 

2016 Aramco Houston Half Marathon

I made it back to the Aramco Houston Half Marathon again. We had "chamber of commerce weather" with an overnight low right around 40F, sunny skies and little wind. As for my own two feet, I can say I've been in better shape in the past as I rumbled myself around the course in about 2:40. Each year, I grow to appreciate the experience itself  more, especially since I knew I wasn't chasing a fast time. Impressions from 2016:

Most visually entertaining spectator group -- The group that dressed up like Robert Palmer and his band of pale-faced, black-dressed ladies from the "Addicted to Love" video. It was such a ridiculous sight in the Museum District and I had 80s flashbacks!

Loudest spectator group -- It's too easy to give this to the large finish line crowd. But earlier in the course the Katy High School band made quite the big sound. Yeah!

Biggest delight and annoyance -- These both goes to Metro. With the advent of the New Bus Network last August, this was the first Marathon Sunday where I could put expanded weekend service to the test. Prior to race day, they advertised that runners wearing race bibs would get free rides on bus and rail. Unfortunately when I boarded my early bus for downtown, the driver claimed that she was not notified of this, so I ended up using my Q Card because I wasn't going to let $1.25 hold me up from getting to the start line. The post-race went better, as the fare inspector on the Red Line train looked me over and called my fare good. In the days following the race, Metro customer service responded to the complaint I made online and made up for the early AM confusion with ride credit.

Overall, however, using public transit was great. Thanks to the marathon-related street closures, my driver was on a detour that conveniently took me to the side of downtown near the convention center, saving me several blocks of anticipated walking. When I stepped off the bus next to a lot that was charging $30 for parking I knew I had made an excellent choice. I could see myself leaving my car behind next time too.

Second-biggest delight: Post-finish-line crowd management. There was a noticeable meandering stroll from the finish line to the interior of the convention center, but it looked to me as a way of dispersing runners so no bottlenecks would form. After getting a banana and water the third and fourth items I was offered were ice cream sandwiches. Even before sitting down to the HEB-sponsored hot breakfast, I had taken dessert from one of several volunteers roaming around bestowing ice cream sandwiches upon us finishers. Yum!

Bottom line: I got my ninth Aramco Half finisher medal. Next year I'm coming back to claim Legacy status.