Who had one of these? No one?
I was reminded today of the Max Skate Bike. My dad came home from work with one of these one day. Apparently someone was riding one of these down in Belmont Shore where his barber shop was located. They probably sold them at Jones Bicycle, which is why that day he came home with it.

It was at a time that I was looking to get an upgrade on my regular BMX style bike, rather than something new and weird. Looking back, it was weird, but it was really fun as well. I’d like one right now to scoot around the neighborhood, down to the corner mailbox or follow the little one around the block on their bikes rather than getting my own bike out for just that small bit of riding.
Enjoy the 80’s, day glow nightmare that is the Max Skate Bike commercial.
I recently subscribed to a tumblog called CHATROULOLZ. It’s posting from a web site called Chat Roulette. Basically you setup your web cam and then random strangers are shown your cam at the same time you are shown theirs. If the the chatters find each other interesting then you chat, otherwise you click “Next”. And according to the movie below, if you’re a guy, most of the chatters will click “Next” and you see someone new. That’s called being “Next-ed”. Not that imaginative a name, but that’s what it’s being called.
chat roulette from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.
I’m going to give it a try and file it under “Things That I Try That My Wife Thinks Are Pointless”. Which is pretty much full of anything that is Internet related. But this one she’s almost definitely right on.
If you see me, let’s chat and don’t “Next” me.
WARNING: Chat Roulette is NSFW and random strangers penises or breasts (not same person) may be visible in chat window. Not mine.
One of my all-time favorite movies. This little video has some of the best lines from the movie, including, “I’m a God! Not THE God…I don’t think.”
YouTube – Bill Murray – Best scenes from the “Groundhog Day” – 5.
The artist’s name is Michael Paul Smith.
Check out a full size slideshow.
NPR’s All Things Considered has published a short segment on barefoot running. Here’s an eye opening quote from the story talking about heel strike running, “…it’s like someone hitting you on the heel with a hammer…” Yeah, that’s what if feels like to me as well.
Study: Humans Were Born To Run Barefoot : NPR.
Conclusion: Barefoot running puts less stress on the body.
Check out the link for the video that shows the shockwave that travels up the leg when heel striking.
I’ve called the style of running that allowed me to actually become a runner again, forefoot running. But many call it other names, particularly barefoot running. The folks at Newton Running have suggested a new term to encompass all the different types of running that are not heel strike running, natural running. I like it. I’d prefer something more like “kick ass running”, but it’ll do for now.
Check out the article.

So, I’m sitting here at work with nil to do today so I thought I’d share one of my favorite new apps on my iPhone. It’s called iVideoCamera.
I bought my iPhone a little over a year ago in October 2008. I replaced an aging Palm Treo 700p that did all the things that the iPhone does with the exception of a couple items. One was MMS which was added to the iPhone’s capabilities and supported by AT&T with a recent update. The other big one was video. The Treo took video and decent video at that. The new iPhone 3GS was announced with video recording but us 3G owners were left out. Nevermind that for many months jailbroken iPhones were recording video, “your 3G is not capable of recording video”. BS! Recently a few applications came out that enable my current 3G iPhone to now match the specs of my vintage Treo. My favorite one is the fore mentioned iVideoCamera. With one tiny purchase my iPhone was made feature complete and on par with my 2006 Palm Treo.
Here’s a video I took of our current rain storm:
You’ll see that the video has some of those weird movement artifacts that you also get with the new iPod Nano camera. It’s not distracting or terribly noticeable if you are not moving the phone around too much. The video above was shot at the low quality mode. It also shoots in high quality mode at 320×426 resolution. Low quality mode gives you much more recording time with the lower resolution video. To take video of your cat, it’s more than adequate.
iVideoCamera is only $0.99 at the iTunes App Store and it worth many times more.

So the Turkey Trot happened on Thanksgiving day. I had said on the podcast and on Facebook that I was aiming for an 11 minute mile pace. That would have put me at around 34:06 for the 5k distance. Well, thanks to a fast start, fast is relative here, I completed the race with a time of 31:09. That’s just a 10:03 pace per mile. Probably the best part of the race was that I got to run with guys that I went to Jr. high and high school with, Brad Chowen and Joe Padilla. Very cool. They both kicked my butt, Joe decisively and Brad just a little less so, but it was a blast none the less.
Now, I have run a couple times since Thanksgiving, but not regularly as I did training for the race. Without a race to train for, I find there is no reason for me to go out running. So my next 5K race is the Seal Beach 5K/10K on April 10, 2010. That gives me 120 days to train and get ready.

I’ve found the web site of Hal Higdon. He has outlined there on his site both an intermediate 5K program to get faster at the distance and a 10K training program, both goals of mine. I’ll be doing the 5K program for the first 8 weeks and then transitioning to the 10K program. That should leave me in good shape to get a new PR (That’s a personal record.) Who knows? At least I won’t run slower.
If you’re up to it, lace up the shoes, follow the Higdon program or the Couch to 5K program, and come running with me. Believe me, I’m not setting the ground under my feet afire or anything. You can do it.
I thought that I would do a little better on this quiz.
AND PASSED WITH AN ABOVE AVERAGE SCORE. B-
I don’t know if I spelled the that right, but it doesn’t matter. This was one of those great songs from the past. It came up tonight, for some reason, when recording the latest episode of Fat 2 Fit Radio.
What the hell is a dutchie?