I'm not sure which of these runs faster....

[captainsblog]

The results are in from last weekend, and it's official- I clocked in 269th out of 284 entrants in my first 5K, but I officially beat 45 minutes, and Kimmy somehow leapfrogged to 263rd even though we both thought I finished first. Still, it's a personal best to beat, and I'm thinking maybe something in August, when my niece and I might actually be in the same state for a day or so.

I'm still doing the app, although I've backed down to the 3-a-week pace I was supposed to be on all along. In fact, I largely repeated week four because I was hitting major wall running between 2 and 4 minutes. One thing I learned from the actual 5K is, at least among the non-competitive pack,  how "running" is NOT a 30-minute sprint, but rather a jogging pace not that much faster than a walk. Once that translates onto the actual street, it's much easier.

I doubt, though, I will ever be doing a 30-minute race without at least some slowdowns. So far, I still need the slowdowns at least to something of a fast walk- but there are also the distractions. In a month or so of doing this, I've encountered various dogs, bunnies, deer, ducks and, again today, a sauntering bunch of geese and goslings, massively pissing off an in-a-hurry driver on Park Club.  But there are also the totally unexpected sights, such as this one, planted out in front of a house around the corner from us:



Along with it at the curb was a dull Dell CPU from probably the early oughts, but who needs THAT crap? This is a collectible, man:) The processor has a single bitchin' 5-inch floppy drive, those F keys on the right look like they could launch some serious ICBMs, and God love 'em they've got a dedicated £ key on there!

You KNOW I've got to find a monitor to hook to it and turn it on, right?  Either it'll prompt for a missing system disk, or maybe, just maybe, a blue light will come on up top and I'll wind up back in 1981.

Comments

Which is faster? Does it matter?

[jghesik.livejournal.com]

Bunnies, ducks, and deer should be viewed as bonuses, not distractions. Glad to see you're considering another race in August. re: the C64, Just be sure you don't hit 88 mph with that thing.

[9thkvius.livejournal.com]

I see your Commodore 64 and raise you one TRS-80 Model III in perfect working order.

[thediva-laments.livejournal.com]

He means these.

http://thediva-laments.livejournal.com/pics/catalog/1781/48357
http://thediva-laments.livejournal.com/pics/catalog/1781/48493
http://thediva-laments.livejournal.com/pics/catalog/1781/48711

[captainsblog.livejournal.com]

I think you win. Assuming you have the cassette tape drives to make it work.

Eleanor, earlier: You sure it was a cassette tape drive, not an 8-track?

Me: I think so. They shipped the early versions with an 8-track, but it kept skipping back to the first track and everybody playing Solitaire kept getting the same damn King of Clubs over and over;)

[9thkvius.livejournal.com]

Never had the tape drive. Never needed it. This was my first computer. My parents kept it and I took it with me back to Boston when I last visited them.

[targaff.livejournal.com]

I travelled all the way out to Puyallup - about 35 miles on the train - just to pick up a defunct 1541 drive. Sadly I still haven't put it to its intended use 3 years down the line...

[captainsblog.livejournal.com]

Now I'm dying to know what its intended use was.

If any or all of this would help you in it, I'd be pleased to send it out to you:)

[targaff.livejournal.com]

Oh, the intention is to gut it and turn it into a mini-format PC. I've done the gutting, just don't have the parts for the second part. The original idea was to just use it for storage and have the keyboard itself contain the bits and bobs, but the profile of the C64 I had (C64C - I never really liked the bigger one you picked up) is too low.

Thanks for the offer, though.

[bill_sheehan.livejournal.com]

I had to draw the line at machines that could be used in an office, or my collection would be utterly unmanageable. I've got a bloody museum in my attic.

So, does the C-64 work?

[captainsblog.livejournal.com]

If we have time tomorrow on our work-apartment-hunting trip, I will bring it to the guru to see what he can figure out. Otherwise, I have some old monitors in the cellar which might actually connect to it.