GOING AROUND WALTER WHITE

Google Auto Awesome is awesome but it has limits.  I already made a GIF animation by taking still shots of an object (CubeeCraft Hello Kitty) spinning around.  But what if I want to go around the object instead, like in that flying eagle kick in The Matrix?  On the first try, I had a CubeeCraft Walter White of Breaking Bad fame on a stool in my living room then I moved around it taking photos.  I discovered that doing so the object can appear at different distance from the camera.  Besides, my living room is shown in the background.  So for the second attempt I went to the backyard and have two stools side by side to eliminate the varying distance between Walter and the camera.  I only made eight or nine shots so the "animation" is in no way smooth.  The three-legged stools only butt against each other smoothly at certain angles and there is only so much room on my back porch.  Alas, Auto Awesome can only do animations when the foreground object moves and the background stays, or at least some reference points stay so.  I expected that to be the case but I wanted to confirm it and confirm I did.

To make the animation below, I first downloaded the photos from Google Photos, then upload them to GIFNINJA.COM.  The link to the anim on gifnina is http://gifninja.com/animated-gifs/690633/around-walter-white .  It is far from perfect but it's a start.

In other news, I have a surplus of My Coke Rewards (MCR) points and there is a 120-point cap for the week, so I'll give some away both to clear them out and to attract readers.  Free, come and get it!  Today's code is from a Powerade bottle I found during this morning's run to Coney Island's Riegelmann Boardwalk, where I saw that the Shark Bridge was already gone.  Drum rolls please!

H5F56WV5B0MN9K

It's possible that someone already used the code but it's unlikely.  I am sure some Coke drinkers don't even know that Powerade carry MCR points.  Of course, it's a good chance shortly after this blog post is published someone grabbed the code.  First come first served!  For tracking purpose, I'd appreciate a thank-you note in the Comments if you are the first to use the code.

Thanks go to GIFNinja.com for providing the tool to make the animation.

TORTOISE AND HARE 10K, BATTLE OF BROOKLYN 10M, BUSY WEEKEND!

This past weekend was a busy one for me.  Saturday was NYCRuns' debut Tortoise & Hare 10K in Van Cortlandt Park, first time the race management company did a cross-country (read: trail run) event.  For some people in the NYC metro area it must be difficult to travel all the way to the northernmost region of New York City, almost to the border between Yonker and the Bronx.  It didn't help that the 1 train didn't run all the way to its terminal as usual and was replaced by a shuttle bus.  Still, some 130+ people made it to the race, ran on the track, then the trail, then back to the track for one more loop, only slightly different from the first loop though.  Last time I ran Van Cortlandt, with the Holiday Marathons folks, I got lost somewhere and ended up running a shorter course.  This time I stayed at the Start/Finish line and got some photos every now and then.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151810389251335.1073741838.679001334&type=1&l=068a0e520c

The next day I was in Prospect Park for the Battle of Brooklyn 10M/Relay, presented by Jack Rabbit Sports.  In addition to a T-shirt and, in some case, tricorn hats, the volunteers were offered store credits with Jack Rabbits Sports.  Good way for the runners to support their destructive addiction, I think.  Just kidding!  I was at Water Station 1 and found some time to squeeze in a couple of photos.  The highlight of the event was when I was picking up discarded paper cups during a lull, a woman passed by and asked if I am Qaptain Qwerty and that she liked my pictures.  Since I haven't drawn that many cartoons lately, I suppose she meant the photos.  Or maybe the GPS arts.  Whatever the case, it was nice that my cyberspace name got matched to the meat-space person.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151811358731335.1073741839.679001334&type=1&l=0212231396

It was a busy weekend!  After supporting the two races back-to-back, I had the pleasure of playing tourist in Red Hook.  I was afraid that Fairway's parking lot would be too crowded but luckily I happened to see the overflow lot and found a spot.  I only visited Fairway for the deli and outdoor grill. We enjoyed our food under an overcast sky that did turn into a drizzle, even a light rain, but luckily nothing more.  In my last visit to the area, I thought the waterfront ended with Fairway, but this time I chanced upon an entrance to the waterfront beyond Fairway's overflow parking lot.  It didn't go too much further, but the view was still nice.  I wanted to visit that famous key lime pie place but didn't know where it was.  Luckily, as I purposely avoided getting back to Van Brunt Street, the main artery of Red Hook, just to wander a bit, I saw signs that led me right the place.  I have a sweet tooth but also love cold desserts.  I found Steve's Key Lime Pie delicious!  After the treat, we walked a bit in nearby Valentino Park and Pier.  Another gorgeous view of Statue of Liberty, even if she comes out small in photos!

Kayakers in Red Hook, Valentino Park's cove, with Statue of Liberty in the background.

I love public art! 

Corn on the Internet!

Key lime pie the authentic stuff from Steve's, yummy!

Lovely buildings, quaint beach...

The great day didn't end with the trip to Red Hook, as my son and I had our first bike trip together in Prospect Park.  We made only one loop of the park because it was getting dark, but it was great to spend some quality time together.

SPIN, KITTY, SPIN!

What's up, pussycat?  Auto Awesome is up, that's what!  And CubeeCraft, too.  I love paper-folding and animation, so it's perfect to combine the power of Google Auto Awesome and CubeeCraft free paper toys.  If you have lots of free time, Google for "cubeecraft" and some fictional character's name, chances are there is a paper model for you to see.  Download the page to the computer then print it out on a color printer.  It's been a while since I got involved with making cubees, so the first one I printed I did so straight from the web browser and some parts of the page got cut off.  Use thick paper so that the pieces can withstand the frequent handling while you assemble the model.  Feed through the Manual slot, as the paper may be too heavy to be processed via the paper tray.  Cut the pieces with a scissor then make the slits with a hobby knife, which in my days of taking Career Drafting class was known as an X-Acto knife.  Lastly, fold the pieces and connect them, notches to slots etc.  Usually there's a head, a body, a pair of legs in one piece, and two arms.  Some characters may have something in their hands, like a lightsaber for Darth Vader.  Most have perfectly cubic head, but some are not and requires extra cutting and snipping.  I messed up a bit with the Hello Kitty model and had to use tape to re-attach some parts but by design you don't need to use glue or tape at all.  The models are made for viewing and not playing, so it's best to keep out of children's reach.  Good luck with that...

http://www.cubeecraft.com/cubee/hello-kitty

Stop-motion GIF of Hello Kitty spinning around and around.  With this post I discovered that to share the GIF in Blogger, you just insert the file made by Auto Awesome.  No need to download it and re-upload.  Cool!

MCR STOP-MOTION

A few weeks ago I discovered Google Auto Awesome and loved it.  It is a bunch of tools for enhancing photos with Google.  My favorite tool is Motion.  It's really more of stop-motion or claymation.  The motion isn't smooth, in fact jerky, but it's unique and interesting.  Much as I love it, I couldn't easily share the "animation".  It appeared the only way to share the animation is through Google Plus.  Then one day I decided to download a single image out of the animation, or so I thought.  What was downloaded instead was an animated GIF (animGIF) file.  Some people hate animGIF but not me.  I love them!  Sure they are annoying with their repetition, but it's a cool way to get some movements out of a web experience.

To accompany my newly-declared love for My Coke Rewards, I decided to make my first stop-motion with Coke bottle caps.  Had I saved previous caps, I may have enough to spell "MY COKE REWARDS" but this time "MCR" will have to do.  It takes time to lay out the caps one by one and take a photo of them.  Note that I used some sonobes to establish frame of reference.  I sorta squatted to take the photos, which was a mistake.  Next time I'll find a low-chair to sit comfortably and maintain the same view.

I'm satisfied with my first animation made with Google Auto Awesome.  To celebrate the occasion, I'll give out some MCR points, maybe three 10-point codes, to anyone who leave a comment and ask for the free code.  Just leave a comment and ask for a code and I'll reply to the comment, no need to list your email address.  The risk is that anyone can grab the code, too, but that's life.  Leave an email address if you so wish, but you may get spam that way.  Happy Coke Drinking!  Or at least Point-Collecting!

SOME RECENT GPS ARTS

Did you miss my GPS arts ("gwriting" as I call it)?  Here are some I did in recent weeks but didn't get to post them.

Do yo no Bo?  ("Do you know Bo?")  As the name has only two letters, not too challenging, I tried to make it more challenging by giving it a bevel appearance.  I ran on both sides of the road, with diagonal lines at the corners.  Unfortunately, at the scale I ran at, the effect was not very visible.  Next time I'll use whole block instead of a street's width.

The exact opposite of "Bo", "Genevieve" has many letters and also that tricky positioning of "i" and "e".  I memorized the spelling by thinking "Gene" (as in Gene Kelly) + "vi" (the Unix text editor) + "eve" (the night before a major event)

"A rose by any other name..."

I thought I thaw Todd!

MYCOKEREWARDS: USE ZERO AND OH INTERCHANGEABLY

At my last job, I once maintained a Lotus Notes database of tips and tricks.  Knowledgebase (KB) was the fancy name I used.  Whenever I came across some computing trick that would save me a minute or an hour I would create an entry in the KB.  Even though computer programs nowadays are powerful, much computer work is still repetitious.  Launch some program, click some button, check off some box, etc.  You end up doing the same sequence over and over.  Some of the tips I found have all these clicks and selections done once the program starts.  Some of my favorite tips are (1) opening certain databases as the Notes Client starts; (2) connect to the various Netware trees and NT domains while logging in via Netware client.  The KB was mostly text and as I created most of the entries, I mostly knew what keyword to search for.  When the transition to SharePoint happened, it was just not the same.  I never got around to getting warmed up to SharePoint.

Recently I discovered a useful tip in entering codes for My Coke Rewards (MCR).  MCR is that loyalty program whereby participants buy Coca Cola products and enter a lengthy code found on the products to accumulate points that can be traded in for merchandise etc.  After many years of collecting I finally "cashed in" for a $50 Nike gift card that shortly went toward a new pair of Nike running shoe.  It's appropriate use of the points, since I get them mostly by picking up bottle caps etc while out running.

I used to enter the codes on a laptop computer via a web browser.  Recently I started to use the iPhone app, just because it takes less time to get the iDevice and the app going.  The codes are automatically converted to uppercase too.  Unfortunately, the series of code involve letters and numbers, which means frequent switching of keyboard screen while using the iPhone app.  One day, after making some typo, I read the possible solutions and discovered that zero ("0") and oh ("O") can be used interchangeably.  For example, if the code is A1B2C4D56EF0HK, where the third number from the end is a zero.  If I was to religiously switch between letter keyboard and number keyboard, after F I would have switch to number, enter the zero, then switch to letter to enter the rest.  Instead, I can save a few nano-seconds by just entering FOHK.  "Oh" would be readily accepted as zero.  Just like all those seconds I saved with having programs opened the way I need them to, using zero and oh interchangeably with MCR does add up.  Or at least cut down on the frustration.

Now let's have some fun!  I am giving away three 10-point codes from fridge packs that I rescued off the street.  I currently have a surplus of codes and there's a 120-point limit per week that I will easily max out, so I'm giving the three 10-point codes.  Probably just a one-time deal.  Who knows?  In future weeks I may not have any codes for my own use.

To get a 10-point code, look up a post from my blog, in the year 2012, for some topic or some fact that is common to you and me.  Enter two comments for that blog entry, one explaining what's the common link between you and me, the second just your email address.  I will approve the first comment but not the second, so I will have your email address to send the code, but will not publish it for the public to see.  Disclaimer:  It is highly unlikely that these codes were used, but it's a possibility.  You've been warned.  Play the game at your own risk.

SCENE FROM A RIDE: VERRAZANO!

My son is finally into cycling.  In recent days, he actually asked me when we would be going cycling.  Today, after tutoring class and lunch, instead of a walk in Forest Park, we rushed home to get ready for cycling.  Something else came up and I was not sure if I would be needed elsewhere but it all turned out in my favor and we did go cycling.

On a recent ride, I realized that in my neighborhood we actually have very few bike lanes.  When we made a big loop of the Coney Island Rail Yard, it was only on Neptune Avenue that we finally found a bike lane.  The rest of the way we just had to share the road with cars.  Luckily there was plenty of room for the cars to pass our short bike-train of three (me, son, and nephew).  To really enjoy cycling without the fear of being hit by cars, we would need to be on the waterfront by the Belt Parkway, or on the Riegelmann Boardwalk (aka Coney Island Boardwalk) between 5 AM and 10 AM, or start from Plum Beach toward Queens and the Fuhgeddaboutit sign.  Today, we checked the Belt Parkway waterfront off our to-do list.  We didn't go all the way to Owl's Head but instead turned around shortly after passing under the Verrazano Bridge.  It was a beautiful day, even if we sweated a bit.  I brought along a bag of Chips Ahoy cookies and two bottles of water.  We stopped for photo-op near the bridge, but the sun was not in our favor so we took better photos on the way back.  Along the way, I pointed out to son and nephew telltale signs of parked cars that might suddenly swerve into traffic (tail-light on), anglers who arch back to swing their baits out into the water, yapping cyclists traveling side-by-side, reckless children (isn't that an oxymoron?), accompanied by parents or not.  While not as bothersome as driving, cycling is still full of hassles.  Nevertheless, we enjoyed the ride.  On the way back, near home, I pointed out the triangular playground that mere weeks ago son and nephew were newbie cyclists limited within the fence of that very playground.  I am so happy.

Earlier in the day, I took a stroll in the Corona-Elmhurst area.  Years ago, the reason we moved from the Bronx to Elmhurst, Queens was partly because of my father's job at some box factory.  During a subway strike, he had to stay at a friend's apartment to be able to get to work.  Ironically, shortly after we moved to Elmhurst, he got laid off from the job.  Over the years, I am curious where this factory was.  I have a vague idea of where it was and today made the trip to find it.  Unfortunately, over the years things changed and I think the building now is some public school, namely Elmhurst Educational Campus.  The word "Campus" makes me think about schools, like Newtown High School nearby, that received failing grades year after year.  After unsuccessfully shutting down the school, the City tried to rename the schools and replace a big chunk of the personnel, coupled with renaming of the school.  Supposedly, the change qualifies as making the schools all-new again and qualified for federal money.  One of the shot below even has Newtown's tower.  The stairs are for traveling over some LIRR rails.  For a few years, each morning I would go straight from Denman Street to get to the footbridge and cross over to catch the B58 to get to school at JHS 73 in Maspeth.  The area was desolate back then.  Today it is well-developed, possibly with much manufacturing replaced by residential buildings.

SCENE FROM A RUN: BROKEN STREETCHARGE, BLOCKED CAUSEWAY

Tracing out phrases and words while out on a run is fun and all but I'm usually restricted to areas close to home.  Some such run may cover 10 km or more but in reality I would be just a few blocks from home.  One thing I like about running is getting to see different parts of my neighborhood.  I miss all that, so today I made a loop to include a part of the Riegelmann Boardwalk in Coney Island, one which I haven't ran lately.  My original plan was to re-visit the AT&T StreetCharge to see if they would work with my Android phone now, which uses a micro-USB connection.  Last time I tried, there were some micro-USB cables but none of them work.  Today it was even worse!  Between the two charge stations there should be a few micro-USB cables but in reality there was only one.  Where there should be cables there was none.  I suspect it was a result of vandalism, sad.  The one micro-USB cable remained again didn't work, at least not with my phone.

Another unpleasant surprise I got was that the footbridge connecting the F train West 8th Station and the Boardwalk was closed permanently.  At first I thought it was just under construction, but the sign said "permanently".  I know certain section of it was under repair, as evidenced by the chain-link fence, but it seems the entire bridge will be taken down.  There goes my favorite way to cross Surf Avenue.  I wonder if it's just a bad wording of the construction.

I love footbridges in general, but this particular one is part of my mostly car-free route from home to the Boardwalk.  Starting at Stillwell Avenue and Avenue V, I mostly travel along the Coney Island Rail Yard and have to actually cross the street only once, at Neptune Avenue.  While running, the less I have to deal with cars the better.  In the future, I'll just have to cross Surf Avenue, not that it's that busy in the early morning when I run.  Of course, it takes only one bad driver to ruin the experience.  I know, I know, First World Problem, but it's still a problem.

There is juice in the station, as the green light is on, reflected on the platform, but cable didn't work.

"CAUSEWAY PERMANENTLY CLOSED", oh no!

The soon-to-be-demolished causeway?  In the back is the famed Cyclone roller coaster.

Access to the F train West 8th Station is blocked off by boards.

ROAD RIDERS

Today I finally had a bike ride with my son on the street.  It took him a long time to finally master the bicycle and then only on a playground.  The heat wave arrived shortly afterward and that was good enough of an excuse not to go biking, even in the evening.  After much pleading and threatening, he recently finally resumed biking, moved up a notch to biking on the sidewalk on a large block that has few pedestrians.  I would prefer he rides on the road, but he was so unsteady and the typical driver in NYC are rude and uncaring, I didn't want to take the chance.  The first time he went around the block, I ran along with him.  He was slow and I could handle it, but it was still exhausting, so the second time I took out another bike and rode, on the road, with him.  He had some issues with making turns in the beginning but by the end of the second session, he was good enough.  Today, we took to the road.

It was not much of a ride, basically around a small park and a housing project, all right turns.  With a nephew of mine on the wife side, the three of us formed a bike train for safety in number.  I led, my son was in the middle, nephew covered the rear, since he's better than my son.  We first went around Scarangella Park, with one side bordered by the elevated track of the D train, the on-street columns creating somewhat of a protected bike lane.  Twice of that and we moved on to the housing project between Avenue V and Avenue W, as well as the block between Avenue W and Avenue X.  Most of the roads are wide and two-way.  A few times there was some vehicle double-parking and we had enough space to go around it.  Two loops of the big blocks and I considered that enough for the kids.  We accompanied nephew home then son and I actually pedaled home. 

I think the kids enjoyed the little outing.  There was little traffic but once some car slowly followed our bike train without honking, rare driver if I say so myself.  I made sure the children knew about "dooring", or being hit by a car door as a careless driver exits a parked car.  I used hand signal to let the back of the train know where to turn or stop.  We already agreed that before the end of summer we should ride all the way to Caesar's Bay to have a car-free trip along the waterfront to Owl's Head Pier.

FREE OUTDOOR MOVIES

For the longest time I wanted to attend one of those free outdoor movie showings.  Chances are the movies are old but it's the experience that matters more.  The viewers are not limited to a particular indoor space, the sky is overhead, sitting may not be most comfortable but that's beside the point.  The free admission helps too.  I believe the very first instance I knew of such showing is that at Bryan Park in Manhattan, behind the New York Public Library's Research Library.  It's been so long I cannot remember why I never attended the movies at Bryan Park.  Maybe it started too late in the evening, such that even though I worked in Manhattan I would have to hang around the city a few hours after work just to wait for the movie to start.  Maybe it always showed on a certain day of the week that I normally scheduled to pick up my girlfriend from college.  Whatever the case, I never went.  Years passed and I learned of more similar showing, in particular the Flicks on the Beach series in Coney Island.  I've lived near Coney about fifteen years now but I finally went to a beach movie this week.  Coney itself I didn't explore until many years after moving into the area.  I recall when I first moved here I heard that it's possible to walk to Coney Island.  Only in recent years when I started to get serious with the sports of outdoor running that I actually visited Coney regularly.  The People's Playground, you have beach, the boardwalk, famous rides, but all these years I didn't visited it.  Better late than never.

The movie was Men in Black 3.  I went with my son and a nephew.  Before the movie we bought dinner from Nathan's.  Also parked the car in a lot for $10.  Nephew and son each spent about $20 at the arcade in Luna Park.  I definitely did my part in supporting the local economy.

It was a beautiful evening, not hot and not cold.  My son's feet felt cold near the end of the evening but I felt fine.  In the car we happened to have two beach towels, courtesy of TD Bank from some event, and they served the three of us just fine.  Some people had beach chairs, others just sat on the sand, then there are others who came complete with blankets and pillows.  By the time I arrived many people already settled down, but there were room to walk about, at least from the middle to the back.  The screen was not as big as I thought it would be but it did the job.  Being inflatable, it introduced curves to the images on the film but after a while you get used to it.  The audio system was good, except, lucky me, I sat near some motormouth woman who yapped constantly during the movie, something about some other woman or man she didn't get along with.  Sheesh, if you want to whine, why not do it in the comfort of your home and not bother the people at a beach movie.  Other annoyances with the setting include wafting cigarette smokes, vendors hawking their wares (snacks, beach seats), and people in the front getting up to leave.  Oh yeah, some idiot briefly shone a laser dot onto the screen.  Just minor annoyances that cannot be helped when a big group of people is involved.  Overall it was orderly, as far as I can tell.  When it was time to leave, it didn't take us too long to get past the boardwalk onto the street and back to the car.

I enjoyed the experience very much.  The movie itself was so-so, time travel and the usual jokes in the Men in Black franchise.  Good screen, good audio, good scenery, although next time I plan to bring a beach chair, plenty of food and drink nearby available for purchase, unless you are too lazy to get up and decide to patronize those vendors who snake their way among the crowd shouting and interrupting the show.  The nearest restroom was that in Luna Park but the relatively new public ones, on columns above the beach, are not far away.  I am thinking of catching Fame in two weeks, but for that I would have to go by myself as I don't know anyone else in the family who would want to watch it.  I just love the music, not care much about the story.  Better yet, I plan to go see Huey Lewis and the News, for a different free series, but also in Coney Island, on August 15.

Flicks on the Beach, with help from Rooftop Films etc.

Beautiful runner's toes, no missing nails, yet!

Happy Daddy!

Wonder Wheel!

FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS

I love word games and mostly play Scrabble-like games, such as Wordscraper and Lexulous, and Scrabble itself.  Recently I made the foray into something similar to Wheel of Fortune, namely What's The Phrase? by Zynga.  You have categories to choose from and guess the phrase.  Instead of vague categories like those on Wheel on Fortune, the categories themselves are pretty interesting, like Oxymorons and Word Mashup, but my favorite is First World Problems.  It's not the first time I encounter the phrase First World Problems, but it's fun to find out what they are, via a game.  As someone who grew up in Viet Nam, far from a First World, then spent about a year in a refugee camp, but since then lived through the Information Age along with all the amenities of modern life in a big city, I love the idea of First World Problems.  In case you don't know, First World Problems, or FWP for short, are problems that are "suffered" by people in the First World, e.g. the U.S. or other places where standard of living is generally high.  People in Third World countries where there may be no indoor plumbing, electricity, paved roads, etc. live day by day without all the creature comforts.  In the mean time, people in First World countries have too much stuff and get all dramatic in response to any slight negative change to their daily routines.  In Vietnamese, the phrase "Nhà giàu đứt tay, ăn mài đổ ruột" means "The rich has a cut on the hand, the poor suffers a stab in the intestine."  Many memes have been created to illustrate FWP, but here are some I can think of, either off the top of my head or from What's The Phrase?, followed by my observations:

1. My computer has a virus - In many places in the world people still don't have personal computers.  In the First World, many people do and they use the computer excessively.  With the computers broken, they are at a loss.
2. Dead pixels on TV screen - When I was growing up, few houses have TVs and kids in the neighborhood would crowd around those that have TVs to watch shows, for just a few hours at night that there's something on TV.  Nowadays, First World citizens have many TVs in the house, flat and wall-mounted, with obscene sizes, then they lament about one tiny pixel that is dead.
3. Forget what I was going to Google - Probably an age issue.  Google can find everything for you, as long as you can type in something for it to work with.  Google is not capable to read your mind, yet.
4. New shoes not worn yet - While someone in a Third World country may not even have a single pair of shoes to wear, there are people in the U.S. with so many pairs who keep buying more then complain that they never get around to wearing some pairs.  Probably women, but maybe some men, too.  Or just anyone who is crazy about shopping.
5. No electricity because of storm - There are some people who need machines to stay alive, but for most of us, electricity is just a major convenience to have.  A night or two without power because of a powerful hurricane is good for character-building.  Good time to be off the grid, to live in the real world instead of in some virtual world or social network.  To go to bed early and wake up at sunrise.
6. Have to change password again - Some people hate the integration of Google or Facebook into other web services, but I myself love it.  Too many web sites require registration, then they most likely use different password policy.  Some are lax, others require strong passwords that are so-and-so characters long, the use of uppercase and lowercase letters, perhaps even special characters like dashes or tilde.  It is recommended that you keep different passwords for different places, too.  Many people don't follow that advice and once there's a need to change password at one site, they would need to change at all the others, too.  Sigh.
7. Have too many T-shirts as a result of having run in foot races - A sad situations with many amateur athletes, myself included.  You go from being a couch potato to a 5K runner, then you move up to 10K, maybe a 15K, then half-marathon, and finally a full marathon.  Or is that all there is?  No, you leap to the next level, ultra-marathon!  Along the way, you have training run, practice run, recovery run, maybe cross-training, too.  And every race give you a T-shirt.  Before long, you have too many T-shirts!  Some people even have problems with having too many medals.  Currently I don't have this problem since I stopped signing up for races once I stopped having an income.  I still get T-shirts from volunteering gigs, though, heh heh.
8. Numbers for TV stations are too long - Back in the simpler times, there were only TV stations from 2 to 13, the adventurous souls may venture to Channel 21, 25, or 41 and 47 (Lucha Libre!).  Then cable TV came along and now there are stations for almost every interests in the world and channel numbers are sometimes four-digit long.  I suppose if you are a couch potato and watch a lot of TV you have no issue with memorizing a handful of channel numbers.  I rarely watch TV.  For those evenings when anemia keep me down, I have a hard time recalling which number match which station.  I recently programmed the remote to have Favorites, but sometimes I want to watch something else.  I don't know the situation with Viet Nam now, but when I left it over thirty years ago, there were few channels and most of what's there are state-approved, namely propaganda and not worth watching.  Then electricity was available for only a few hours during the day, so even if there's anything to watch you don't have the juice to power the TV sets.  Maybe it's different now, Viet Nam or elsewhere?

That's all I think off, without resorting to Googling.  What First Word Problems can you think come up with?

HIRE ME

Hire me.

1. I am creative.
2. I have a good sense of direction.
3. I am a good speller.  OK, it's not that hard to spell two words, but I "wrote" longer phrases/names before.
4. I follow through.  See the little thing sticking out the right side of the M?  That was a mistake, but in the bigger picture it's not too bad.  I just retraced my way and completed the task.
5. I pay attention to details.  Literally dotted that "i", did I not?  There was no "t"s to cross but I made sure the "r" has that loop.

Now only if I can find a job that can use these qualities...

The entire run came out to be 8 km but the phrase itself only took 6 km.  http://connect.garmin.com/player/347832661

SHARKNADO FAIL

The Prospect Park Track Club is having a gmap contest.  I suppose "gmap" is a shorter version of "GPS art".  It seems it's a no-brainer that I should enter the contest, what with my ability to trace out letters and words.  Actually, it's quite a challenge to work within the confine of a forest, which is basically what Prospect Park is.  I am probably one of the few PPTC members who live far away from the park and don't run there regularly.  On those occasions I did run in Prospect Park, it was always on the roadway and not on those trails within the park.  Finally, a requirement for the contest is that the path must be actually travelled, so I cannot use my nifty iTrespass technique to overcome barriers.  Bummer!

I've been staring at Prospect Park on a map and don't see anything that pops out of it.  Strangely, even though I didn't see the movie, "Sharknado" kept coming to mind.  It's one of those ridiculous disaster movies, in this case tornadoes AND sharks!  Stop the both of them by dropping a bomb into them!  Save the girl by going down a shark's throat with a chainsaw and cut your way out of its stomach!  So Sharknado I tried to make and, like the movie, it was a disaster.

I started near Grand Army Plaza and made my way down the West Drive.  I thought I could easily cross the park a few times to make the funnel of the tornado then every now and then find some open space to make the sharks.  Though the distance appears great in person, for the satellite to properly make anything out of the path the lines would have to be done on a much greater area.  I used Comic Life to add text to the map of where things went wrong.  No obvious drawing of any sharks, even the tornado didn't look like a bunch of ovals stacking on each other.  It didn't help that I didn't know the inside of Prospect Park well.  A few times I hit dead ends and had to trace my way back, lest I introduce extra lines.  In another case, it was a huge puddle, from a recent thunderstorm that broke the heat wave.  iTrespass would have taken care of that, but it's not allowed.  Oh well, at least I got to run to places within the park that I never visited before.

RED HOOK RE-VISIT

I first heard of the place called "Red Hook" way back in the late 1980s, at my first job out of college.  The engineering firm I worked at managed a few waste treatment plants.  One such facility was in Red Hook and the one thing I heard from colleagues about the place was that it was not a safe place to visit, that you would hear gunshots in the middle of the day.  I think once or twice I had to go into that field office, one located near the NYC DOT tow pound by the Navy Yard.  Somehow I thought that was Red Hook.  Fast forward to many years later I had some visits to the Ikea store in Red Hook and once got lost in Red Hook when I was on a 20-mile round-trip run to Brooklyn Bridge Park.  The area didn't look too bad, desolate yes, but not necessarily unsafe.  I wanted to explore it better but it is too far to run to and I don't like to drive just for the purpose of exploring an area.  Today on the way back from a Bike New York event, I took a side trip on bike to better see Red Hook, at least the waterfront part that I up to today didn't know about.

Van Brunt Street was the road I mistakenly ran along last year when I was trying to cross the Gowanus Canal, coming back from visiting Brooklyn Bridge Park on foot.  This time on bike I purposely traveled along it until it hit the waterfront.  There was a Fairway Supermarket with a big parking lot.  I went behind the supermarket and was smitten by the sight of an old streetcar.  I recall seeing some tracks on the street and suspect the area was once serviced by streetcars.  It's nice to have one sitting around for viewing.  I followed the waterfront around Fairway and headed back after I hit the street, but I learned later on, per Google Map, that I should have gone further and see Pier 44 Waterfront Garden and Waterfront Museum.  I am pretty sure I didn't see any wide-open welcoming gate when I hit Conover Street, but who knows?

Without Pier 44, assuming it is accessible and I just missed it, it's a short waterfront.  Still nice view though.  I went out to the end of a finger pier and took a few shots, as well as some from near the food court area of Fairway.  A turn here and there and I found myself on Beard Street, with the Ikea building very visible in the distance.  I never actually explored the entire waterfront area behind Ikea, so today was the day.  It was a little longer than Fairway's, but still short, at least when explored on bike.  Or is it?  Google Maps shows a Columbia Street Esplanade, but when I hit Columbia Street the place looks so desolate.  Maybe I'll find this esplanade next time when I travel in a group.  What I also wish I got to see today is the site of the Red Hook Criterium.  It's an unsanctioned bike race at night.  Sounds cool and dangerous, but for an old guy like me who prefers safety it's not cool enough to explore on the day of the event.  Or the night of the event rather.  "Unsanctioned" to me sounds like midway through the event the police would come in with riot gears and kick everyone out.  Just now I learn that the site is really out of the way, that even though I was not far from it I would have to make proper turns here and there to get to it.  Another place to visit in a group.

Old rusting streetcar with the back of Fairway Supermarket on the right.

Old streetcar behind Fairway.  On the far left is Fairway's food court.

The Statue of Liberty in the distance.

View from the end of a finger pier - from left to right, Statue of Liberty, Goldman Sachs tower in Jersey City, Freedom Tower in Lower Manhattan, Fairway and the streetcars.

TOTA! TOTA! TOTA!

Today's gwriting is for my #1 blog fan, TOTA!  There are only four letters to write so I tried to give the letters a little thickness, by traveling on the other side of the street, or the other side of the block.  The extra tail under the leftmost T is regrettable, but I don't like to have the path ends there, where in some view Garmin would add a drop-pin, which would sorta messes up the picture.

I thought of also draw an arch over the word, but it was too hot by the time I finished so I called it a day.  I did cool down, twice, by sticking my head into the spray fountain at Bath Playground.  It was so refreshing!

In other news, I am glad to report I was wrong about Google Auto Awesome not able to distinguish the background of my photos from Wednesday's Al Goldstein race.  It seems a little time is needed, that is all.  This morning I discovered that a little animation was made out of the Al Goldstein photos, https://plus.google.com/109153989599275468311/posts/3w7VBbh8SUg

NO ANIMATION, NOT AWESOME

A few days ago I discovered Google Auto Awesome and was pleasantly surprised.  Take a bunch of photos from the same place, of the same scene, and Google would merge the photos into a little animation.  In my case, the animation was of runners in the NYCRuns Shore Road 10K reaching the midway point to head back for the finish.  The photos share a common background, blue sky with some buildings in the distance, the road, clearly delineated by grass on one side and the sea railing on the other side.  Check it out at https://plus.google.com/109153989599275468311/posts/cF6t72rD4Mj

At yesterday's PPTC Al Goldstein 5K Summer Series, Race #5, I thought I would be able to re-produce the animation by taking photos of the runners at the starting line.  My duty at the race was to stay with the last few runners to make sure everyone finish safely, so I had no need to be with the front users.  I took ten photos of the users dashing off but alas no animation was made.  I don't think it's because of the camera I used, a traditional digital camera from which I uploaded the photos via iPhoto into a Picasa album.  I think it's more because in Prospect Park the trees and bushes on the side of the road appear as a big blob to Google's computer eyes.  It cannot discern the forest scenery.  It probably didn't help that every now and then someone would go against traffic and passed too close to my camera.  So no animation.  Live and learn.

The photos, sans Awesome animation, are at

https://plus.google.com/photos/109153989599275468311/albums/5902126806398015457

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARY WITTENBERG!

Going with my tribute to big names in the road-running community, today we have Mary Wittenberg, head honcho at New York Road Runners (NYRR), which is synonymous with the New York City Marathon.  Like her or not, if you are a long-distance runner, you recognize the name.

New York City is caught in a heat wave and today is the third consecutive day with temperature over 95F, with other factors making it feel like 105.  I knew my run will have to be a morning run, as I plan to go help PPTC at the Al Goldstein 5K Summer Series race #5 this evening.  I didn't start out as early as I wanted and it was already hot by 8 AM.  I had a stop-over at Bath Playground to cool down with the half-broken water spray, the rest of the time I just tried to stay in the shade.  Luckily, while "Wittenberg" has many letters, most of them could be done within a block.  In other words, only "g", "b", "t", and "W" require going the extra block.  With the two "t"s next to each other, I even connected their horizontal strokes and avoid running back down the first "t" on the right.  (I live closer to the "g" so I spelled the name backward as I traced it out.)  Speaking of "g", its lower section is not as long as I would like, but over all the name is good.  No mistake on my part, none on the satellite as well.  It seems using Avenue U's area usually introduces bad lines by the GPS.  Weird.

Wittenberg, Mary Wittenberg.

http://connect.garmin.com/player/343953750 , over 10 km in about one hour twenty-two minutes, but the name itself took about 9 km and about one hour.

STREETCHARGE FOR CONEY

When I first heard about the AT&T StreetCharge stations, I came across a map that included Coney Island, with a scheduled installation date of July 2.  Free charging of cell phones and such thanks to AT&T and the sun.  Solar energy, baby!

July 2 came and I ran to Coney Island to find the StreetCharge station.  By then I already saw the station on Governors Island, but it would still be nice to see one right in my neighborhood.  When I last used Google Direction to find the Coney station, I was directed to the entrance of MCU Stadium's parking lot.  No luck though.  Just to be thorough, I even ran the boardwalk, from Stillwell Avenue to the western end.  It makes no sense to have the station in some place away from the crowd on the boardwalk, but I wanted to see if the western section of the boardwalk was re-opened, so it was no time lost.  There's always a run to get out of these, uh, runs, so it's never time lost.

A chance discovery on Flickr and I learned that Coney got its StreetCharge station around July 12.  I had some plumbing last night and it took most of today's morning and half of the afternoon to get it fixed.  The sight of water swirling down the drain was so beautiful, I should have recorded it.  Anyway, the first chance I got I made a run to Coney Island, even though the weather was not optimal. I had a bottle of water with me and I plan to use the relatively new restroom in Coney Island to cool down mid-run.  Mere steps from the restroom near West 8th Street, what did I see?  A StreetCharge station!  Two blocks west, at West 10th Street, was another.  Alas, the micro-USB connection at both stations did not work for my Galaxy I phone.  A few people stopping by the station also had troubles, so it's not just my phone.  The iPhone 4 connection worked for my iPhone, so that's good.  One USB connection already disappeared though.  Probably ripped off by someone thinking it was fun.  Or someone who enjoy destroying public properties.  I know, I am pessimistic and readily dismissed the idea that the USB connection was not installed in the first place.  I just hope that I'm wrong.  While I'm hoping, I also hope to have one of those SmartTap water stations in Coney some day too.

AT&T StreetCharge, the pole with the three blades at the top to catch sun rays, at West 8th Street and Boardwalk in Coney Island.  In the background, on the beach, is the new restroom, a welcome sight get relieved and refreshed.

AT&T StreetCharge at Boardwalk and West 10th Street, with The Cyclone roller-coaster in the background for reference.

GOOGLE AUTO AWESOME IS... AWESOME

Pleasant surprises are, well, surprisingly pleasant.  On my run this morning, I decided to head over to what I call the Belt Parkway waterfront, a pedestrian/cyclist path that runs along the Belt Parkway from Caesar's Bay (Bay Parkway) to Owl's Head Pier (Bay Ridge Avenue).  I usually run from my home to Caesar's Bay then along the water, pass the brief split of the bike and walker paths, to the first bench, then back.  I usually take the footbridge that goes into Bath Beach Park and also the steps that go to Dyker Beach Park, for a little elevation.  Tracing my way back and I would have my daily 8 km.  Today, just a little past the slope was the turnaround point of the NYCRuns Shore Road 10K.  I stopped to watch the race with the race volunteer stationed there.  Runners can be so focused on the race and would keep following the road even if there are a bunch of cones on the ground.  It's safest to have someone out there to tell them turn around.

I hoped to catch, if any, runners with PPTC gear but there was none.  After a while I decided to just photograph people randomly.  I pretty much stood in one place, against the railing.  When I sync'd the photos to Google+ later, Google automatically detected the same background in the set of photos and made a short animation out of it.  Very interesting.  I learned that the technology is called Auto Awesome.  Animating is just one of its few capabilities.  Pano (panorama) and Mix are two other techniques I will explore.

https://plus.google.com/109153989599275468311/posts/cF6t72rD4Mj

While it's easy to share the above animation to my Google+ audience, it took me a while before I found the way to share it elsewhere.  When I clicked on the animation itself, there was no indication that a link could be obtained.  The More option only allows downloading the picture or adding it to album.  In the end, I discovered that I had to use the actual post in G+ itself, on the upper right corner, to find the pasteable link.

BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JEFF GALLOWAY

Yesterday I was going to trace out a run route that says "Hire Me".  I felt that it would help me land a job very soon, but then I checked my calendar and saw that it was Jeff Galloway's birthday.  Mr. Galloway is well-known in the running community for championing the Run-Walk-Run method.  While doing the June Run-Everyday Challenge, I started to plan ahead what to generate for each run, or places to visit.  I like to be current, so I looked up birthdays of famous people in the running community.  I got Hal Higdon covered, now Galloway, and next week is Mary Wittenberg.  Other than famous runners, I took requests from friends and also stayed with special events, like Mother's Day or Father's Day.  Hmm, that reminds me I should do "TOTA" soon.

On the Garmin Connect web site, I usually make a screenshot of the path from the animated screen.  It's bigger and is usually better, but not with the Galloway path.  For some reason, the screenshot from the animated screen, second picture below, shows the "L"s as being connected above the base line.  To give the "L"s extra width, I did use iTrespass near their bottom, so it's possible I paused and unpaused the watch at the wrong time.  However, the first picture, captured from the Details screen on Garmin Connect, shows the "L"s as I intended.  Weird how the GPS sometimes act up.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/341289254#