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2022 Credit Union Cherry Blossom Race
Last fall I finally got to race the official Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 mile course. This year, I FINALLY was able to run the race on the course in the spring. It was nice for the race to return to its place as the “Rite of Spring”. Although the cherry blossoms reached peak bloom…
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Podcasts I’m Listening to in 2022
This time around I’ve written a Python script to take the OPML file from Podcast Republic and generate the list along with URLs and official descriptions for all the podcasts. If I have additional thoughts I’ll add them after the official description. The World Around Us 99% Invisible – Official Description: Design is everywhere in…
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NYRR Washington Heights Salsa, Blues, and Shamrocks 5K
A couple weeks ago, anticipating the coming spring showers and the possibility of having to race in the rain, I bought an outfit from Tracksmith’s new Thaw collection. As usual, I brought all my running clothes to NYC, not knowing what the weather has in store. After all, it wasn’t supposed to snow last race.…
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Review: Terms of Enlistment
Terms of Enlistment by Marko Kloos My rating: 4 of 5 stars As I mentioned in one of my updates, this book follows in an esteemed lineage. We have Starship Troopers, written from the perspective of a Korean War vet. It’s the epitome of society to join the military. The Forever War, written by a…
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Review: The Empress of Salt and Fortune
The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo My rating: 5 of 5 stars I received a free copy of the novella as a voting member of WorldCon 2021 That. Was. Awesome! It’s no wonder that it won the Hugo for best novella. I wasn’t able to get to it in time to vote,…
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NYRR Gridiron 4 mile 2022
My second race for 2022 came right on the heels of the previous one. This time it was for the NYRR Gridiron 4 mile race. After this one I have a break for a little bit before the next race I’m running. This turned out to be my first race run in the snow. I…
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My Programming Projects and Progress in 2021
As I did last year, I’d like to take a look at how well my predictions matched up to what ended up happening: Working on my Extra Life Donation Tracker: Yes! I made a bunch of releases last year to fix various bugs for my users. I also finally broke out the Donor Drive Code…
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MxPx – Panic and Secret Weapon (Special Edition)
I continued to catch up with the MxPx back catalog and purchased both Panic and Secret Weapon. My initial feelings upon listening were that I liked a lot more songs on Secret Weapon. But maybe, as with Before Everything & After this would turn out to be just a first impression where when looking at…
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Adding Art to the Mundane
I saw this when I was doing a boardwalk run this summer. I’d been visiting Coney Island for nearly 20 years at this point, but the recent revitalization has been impressive to see. That includes ideas like this art that bring happiness and joy even when Nathan’s is closed.
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Review: Exit Strategy
Exit Strategy by Martha Wells My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is the perfect ending to the original Murderbot novella quartet. All the threads from the previous three books finally line up in a way that sets Murderbot up for its debut novel. Murderbot takes everything its learned and developed in order to solve…
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Review: Artificial Condition
Artificial Condition by Martha Wells My rating: 4 of 5 stars After reading the second entry in The Murderbot Diaries, I’m sold on why this is such a hit with everyone. Martha Wells takes what was great about the first one – an android who just barely understands human irrationality (although suffering from some himself…
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Review: Black Powder War
Black Powder War by Naomi Novik My rating: 4 of 5 stars Black Powder War is another great entry by Ms. Novik in the Temeraire series. It picks up almost immediately after the previous book ended. Now Temeraire and crew must head to the Ottoman Empire. Oh, and for variety, Ms Novik has their ship…
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Review: Lightspeed Magazine, April 2014
Lightspeed Magazine, April 2014 by John Joseph Adams My rating: 4 of 5 stars This was a GREAT issue. I don’t think there was one story that wasn’t top-notch. My favorite SF stories were Codename: Delphi and Exhalation. My favorite fantasy was The Only Death in the City. The Afterparty excerpt was great and I…
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Review: After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall
After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress My rating: 3 of 5 stars A reminder that I go by Goodread’s tooltips for the star ratings. At the time I’m writing this, 3 stars is “liked it” This is a very compelling short novel (or maybe novellette? or novella?) That jumps…
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Review: Palpitations: The Highway To Never After
Palpitations: The Highway To Never After by S.K. Munt My rating: 3 of 5 stars This book gets a few extra points from me for taking place in Australia. All too often we get zombie/vamp tales taking place in the USA, England, or Europe (in that order). In fact, the only other apocalyptic Australian book…