all things cbl

T1: 00:06:13.370
BIKE: 01:00:43.410 12.3mph
T2: 00:02:37.040
RUN: 00:42:45.760 13:47 minute miles
Total: 01:52:19.58

So my bike dropped by 8 minutes (I blame the horrendous wind), and my run improved by 3 minutes.

Next up (I think) is USG in June. Hopefully I’ll drop my run down to ~35minutes and my bike down too.

So I just got back from the 2008 SGTri. Actually, it was more of a duathlon for me. Here’s the scoop on my take.

Olympic folks started a little after 7am.. my wave was supposed to start at 7.30am. There was wind. And not just any wind. A LOT OF WIND. I’m probably exaggerating, but it felt very windy. Enough about the wind. So the three olympic waves went.. and it before the 3rd olympic wave got going I was in the water trying to get used to the cold. Yes, it was cold. And not just any cold.. COLD with WIND. I had to keep my feet moving so I didnt lose any feeling in my feet. It was pretty bad. So 7.25am rolls around, we get out of the warmup area and proceed over the Milliseconds timing line so they’d record us. Then we wait in the water for what seemed like an eternity. While we wait a helicopter flies overhead a bunch of times recording what is supposed to be the start of our swim wave, they hover pretty low hoping to catch us in action, but no such luck today. Also, the Search and Rescue boat brought about 8 swimmers back to shore each trip. I saw them make two trips… So it turns out they ended up canceling the swim portion. Yes it wasn’t fun at all being in the cold water for 30 minutes..with wind blowing.. waiting for something.. and then finding out swim portion has been cancelled, but better to cancel it than my legs cramp up or hands lose feeling or whatever.

So with the swim portion cancelled we all made our way back over to the ramp where people come in from the swim.. our wave hung out at the bottom and then had to race to the top like we finished the swim.. people were confused..in the way of our wave..very unorganized, but what did we expect with the swim being cancelled.

The bike, well was windy too. There is a portion where you cross through the sand dunes.. with the wind blowing, it was blowing sand across the road.. into the riders faces.. (note to self: must not breathe in when biking through blowing sand). The scary hill was well, scary.. pain in the but to climb up with the wind blowing in my face, but I did it.. mostly. The ride down was quite scary for me.. since I had crashed crossing the cattle guard my last race on this course. So yeah, I was nervous that I’d do it again.. I’ve had many a nightmare that I crashed again, etc… coming down the hill I noticed two ambulances and a cop car and another vehicle.. all with lights blazing.. so I figured someone met the same fate I did today, only not as lucky to land in the sand on the side as I. I slowed waaay down when crossing the mats.. just out of fear.

The run for me was ok after half way through. My quads kept feeling inflamed and it made it hard to run on the sand.. but after climbing the sand hill of death, the rest was flat, smooth and easy. Easy to keep a nice steady jog on that part. The first half though, was impossible with my ankles to keep a steady run.

So there you have it. The St. George Tri/Du..err..whatever. Would I do it again? Of course. Do I know my times yet? Nope. Later this afternoon though.

Looking back on my last years races I have come to the conclusion… I sucked. Two years before I ran quite a bit, and remember at the Utah Summer Games my run time was quite better than it ever has been.

Last year my SGTri time was: 2:04:29. Sad. I usually am under 2 hours..but not last year. Thanks to the deathly painful hill of sand and the 45 minute run/walk.

Ideally, I’d like to break last years sad time and get under 2 hours.. I’d like to get under 1hr 50min if I can… Might not be doable for this race, but for USG it is possible if I get my act together and keep running/biking/swimming.

For the record, last years SGTRI time was:
SWIM: 19:33
T1: 4:20
BIKE: 53:02
T2: 1:50
RUN: 45:46
TOTAL: 2:04:29

We’ll see tomorrow how I do.

Finally. I’m done with grading.

Here is how people did:

A    2
A-    1
B+   3
B     1
B-    0
C+   2
C     0
C-    4
D+  0
D    0
D-   1
F     1

$STUDENT that’s been taking my class for the fourth time finally pulled a C-. Yeah! $STUDENT can graduate now. Although $STUDENT_B will be back for a third time.

I find that I am more lenient with grading after the semester is over. If I wait to grade the assignments, I dont nearly find as many things wrong.. or mark off as many points. So I think it’s in the best interest of my students that next year, I grade the week after they turn in the assignment, right?

So yeah. If I want to go to Europe I need to get a current passport. Mine expires this May. So last Monday I went into the local post office and mailed in my passport renewal form (good thing they allow me to type in all the info into the PDF and print, I hate filling those things out by hand), my old passport (yes, I get it back..they say), and my $75.00 renewal fee.

Turns out they cashed the $75.00 check yesterday (Friday) four days after I mailed it, so I checked the passport status online and sure enough the status says:

We have finished processing your passport, and it has been mailed to you.

So I should get it next week. Now that is a quick turn around time. I am impressed.

The HDMI port on my TV has been acting up over the last few months. Most recently while watching Heroes on DVD. At random times I lose signal from the DVD player for 1-2 seconds. This bugs. I have also seen this when plugging the 360 into the HDMI port as well. Sucks even more when you’re in Live rocking it up at Halo and in the process of beating someone down when the screen goes dark for a second or two. When it comes back.. you’re dead. That really sucked btw. Soo.. I checked my little warranty I got when I purchased said TV. I have four years. Good thru May 24th, 2009. So tomorrow I will give old “Repair Master” a call and see what they can do for me. I’m not expecting much, but who knows.

However, looking at new TVs I found one that will suit my needs quite nicely. The Samsung HL-T5676S. Same dimensions (more or less) as the old one. I have a fitted place for the TV in my home, cant be more than 52 inches wide or it wont fit. This one is 1080p, mine is only 1080i/720p. This one is only $1199 online + shipping. Mine.. well, was quite a bit more when I bought it. This one has THREE, HDMI ports.. mine only one. So do I try and sell my existing one to pay for the majority of the upgrade? I was thinking $700-$800?? Seems like such a shame for the price I paid for it.

I’ve gotten many a good hour out of Mr. Existing TV. But, just was thinking .. if some family member or friend would give me $800 for it, I could use my state tax refund (if it ever shows up) to pay for the remainder.. Hmm…

At work we have a Cisco 6513 switch. It’s pretty huge. Has 13 bays for cards to go in and do their thing.

Unfortunately, I only have 120V power feeding the beast. I have two 2500W power supplies, but
thanks to the gay 120V power, I can only use 1200W of that. Sucks, I know.

So, here comes Cassidy with a new card he wants to pop into slot 12. It’s a 16 port GBIC blade,
basically to replace the 8-port one on slot 13 (see below) with added fancy stuff. Unfortunately,
it doesn’t look like I’ll have enough power for it.

To top it all off, I ordered a 16-port copper Gigabit blade as well today for this chassis. There’s
no way it’ll get power either. So something has to be done.

Option #1: Convert to 208V power.
Option #2: Get DC power supplies and supply the 6513 with power via DC.
Option #3: Cry and try to keep the tears away from the power.
Option #4: Pop in all the blades I want so it uses both power supplies (not redundant),
but if one of the power supplies dies, there wont be enough power for everybody.

Here’s the output of the “show power” command for all to see:

coreswitch>sho power
system power redundancy mode = redundant
system power total =     1153.32 Watts (27.46 Amps @ 42V)
system power used =      1099.98 Watts (26.19 Amps @ 42V)
system power available =   53.34 Watts ( 1.27 Amps @ 42V)
                        Power-Capacity PS-Fan Output Oper
PS   Type               Watts   A @42V Status Status State
---- ------------------ ------- ------ ------ ------ -----
1    WS-CAC-2500W       1153.32 27.46  OK     OK     on
2    WS-CAC-2500W       1153.32 27.46  OK     OK     on
                        Pwr-Requested  Pwr-Allocated  Admin Oper
Slot Card-Type          Watts   A @42V Watts   A @42V State State
---- ------------------ ------- ------ ------- ------ ----- -----
1    WS-X6K-SUP2-2GE     145.32  3.46   145.32  3.46  on    on
2    WS-X6K-SUP2-2GE     145.32  3.46   145.32  3.46  on    on
3    WS-X6148-RJ-21      100.38  2.39   100.38  2.39  on    on
4    WS-X6548-RJ-21      121.80  2.90   121.80  2.90  on    on
5    WS-X6548-RJ-21      121.80  2.90   121.80  2.90  on    on
6    WS-X6548-RJ-21      121.80  2.90   121.80  2.90  on    on
7    WS-X6500-SFM2       129.78  3.09   129.78  3.09  on    on
8    WS-X6500-SFM2       129.78  3.09   129.78  3.09  on    on
13   WS-X6408A-GBIC       84.00  2.00    84.00  2.00  on    on

So I’m planning a trip to Europe this September. I have accumulated enough miles for a round trip ticket to Europe and back from Las Vegas.. and not just riding coach, but riding up in the “Business Elite” section (BOTH WAYS!). Yeah, I know. It is the only way to fly transatlantic. No really.. it is.

My little sister Sammi is also coming along. We’ll be departing Vegas on the 10th of September and heading to Amsterdam. Arriving there the morning of the 11th. We’ll have plenty of time to play, because we don’t head back until the 25th of September..from London.

So if anybody has any recommendations on where we should go during our two week trip to Europe please speak up. Obviously we’ll hit Amsterdam and London, but anything else? Paris? Switzerland?