Nice day for running

My run began about 6:05am this morning. The weather was very nice. Humid, but nice. Today was a 6-miler for me. I felt great. The only problem was that about 1.5 miles into the run I started getting a blister on my right arch. Never had a blister on my arch. The reason, new shoes. I finally bit the bullet on Friday and went to Fleet Feet in Huntsville. I suppose I'm now an official member of the running club. Got some really good Asics shoes. Also got some inserts. The inserts is what caused my blister. I ran yesterday with the new shoes but no blister until this morning.

Sierra Designs Sirius 3 vs. Mountain Hardwear Lightpath 3

Sierra Designs Sirius 3

Home Page

Mountain Hardwear Lightpath 3

Home Page

Comparison Table

Sirius	Lightpath

Web Site Research

I've used midphase.com in the past and will probably go with the unlimited service (which gives you SSH access and is $10.95 every 3 months).

This will kill two birds with one stone. I think the elders expressed interest in having a web site but that is not definitive. Martin did say he wanted a way to get an email to every member that has an email. I can set an email Forwarder with this web hosting service. (cPanel Email Forwarding)

This is also an interesting service: http://www.churchtextingmanager.com/. This allows you to send a SMS to a group of folks but this is a monthly cost of $25.

Another interesting service is http://www.tgethr.com/. This allows you to create email groups. Lowest service is $6 per month; 3 groups, unlimited messages, 250mb of messages stored on site (messages are sent via email but also stored on the web site).

And yet another interesting service is http://www.onecallnow.com/Religious/unlimited-monthly.aspx?vw=1 which is $6.99 monthly for up to 25 numbers. This is one of those call and leave a message services that will then call everybody on the list. This would replace the phone tree we have but I think is too much of an expense.

Nice list of web site templates.


Another CMS choice might be MODx.


Free CSS Templates


A Free Search tool for web sites: Zoom Search Engine

Some other possibilities for web hosting:

• godaddy.com
• bluehost.com
• http://www.justhost.com/secret-link (this one might be the best - further research on this one)

Embeddable audio player: http://www.webappers.com/2009/09/19/add-audio-to-your-site-with-yahoo-media-player/

jMP3 - jQuery MP3 Player

Update 12/16/2009:
I think the best thing to do would be to go with WordPress. I have played around a little bit and think that corporatesandbox is a very nice theme. Found a plugin called BibleGateway Verse Of The Day. Both of these have been modified and are in the following folder:
C:\Lance\Programs\Internet\wamp\apps\wordpress1\wp-content

Also, another nice plugin: Apture

Another really good WP Theme is Wordpress II Silver.

Training Schedule - Week 7 - 4x880s

Eric Patterson warned me this is a good workout. Boy howdy it was. The workout was four 880s. The best I can tell one 880 is twice around an Olympic track. It is acutally 874.8888 yards. Close enough for me. This was to be run at a 5k pace. I warmed up with about a mile run. I felt really good on the first two. The third was a struggle and the fourth wasn't as bad. Between the 3rd and 4th I took a longer walking break. The other breaks were about 3 minutes. I think the last break was probably 5 minutes. Here are my splits:

• 3:43
• 3:44
• 3:46
• 3:44

I'm pretty pleased with the consistency and times. I'll pay for it tomorrow. My legs are going to be heavy and achy.

Cumberland Island - Day 3

After the long nights sleep we got up about 7am. The humidity was already terrible. I just went ahead and put back on my wet clothes. The wet clothes had been hanging on our line all night and were still just as wet as the night before. We ate some breakfast. We had the Date Nut Bulgar from Enertia. I don't think I would purchase that one again. I didn't like it but Stuart did. After eating we decided to rearrange our tarp we had strung up between the trees. That was aggravating to say the least. We did get it setup a bit differently to try to cover the tent better for when the rains came again. Yes, the mosquito's were out in force as soon as we got out of the tent for the morning. About 10:30 we headed out on our hike. We hiked from our campground, Stafford, to Plum Orchard mansion. That was via the beach and the Duck House trail. The walk on the beach was awesome. I don't think the Duck House trail is used very much. It was well worn but was hard to find right off the beach. It was hidden by the bushes. That trail went through a couple of swampy areas that made us both nervous (we were thinking about gators and snakes but never saw any). We were also concerned about it being hot but there was a nice breeze most of the way down this trail. I started feeling light-headed during this portion of the hike. Could have been I wasn't drinking enough water or just the heat. Right before arriving at Plum Orchard we crossed the Main Road. A car with a Maryland tag met us. It was a strange site to meet a car on the Island. Just after that a couple of men came toward us coming from the Plum Orchard area. I asked them if it was much further and they said 10 minutes. They also said that the house was open when they were up there. When we rounded the corner to the house a park service truck was leaving. I bet the guy just closed the house. It would have nice if he would have asked us if we wanted to go in the house but he didn't even say boo to us. The house is an amazing site to see, especially being on this island. We walked around the house for a minute or two. Went behind to figure out where the supposed drinkable water might be. We looked at the water sources for a couple of minutes and decided to come back in a few minutes. There were quite a number of picnic tables under the gorgeous trees. We sat on one and ate snacks for a little bit. It started to rain so we sat on the porch of the house on what appeared to be a swinging bed. We sat around for quite a while resting, snacking, and drinking water. We filtered some water from the water hose out of a ziploc bag. The water had no bad taste or ill affects. We were at the house for probably 1.5 hours. Back towards the campground we went. Took us about the same time to get back. During this entire hike we saw two boar and two armadillos. The closer we got back to the campground the more it started to rain. By the time we got back it was full on downpour. It was about 5 or 6pm. Stuart wanted to get in the ocean and wait out the rain. It was lightning quite a bit so I convinced him to wait for that to stop. After 15 minutes or so it did and we both went to the ocean. The wind was blowing and made it a bit cool. The rain was still coming down. The waves were up. We just hung out in the shallows, waist deep, for 1.5 hours. I just had enough so we went back towards the campground. We decided to fix supper on the porch of the bathroom house. During that time it finally stopped raining and also go full on dark. After eating we both showered and put on our dry clothes and we were down for the night. I didn't go directly to sleep like the previous night but it didn't take long to go out.

Cumberland Island - Day 2

We got to the dock/pier area about 4am. There is a very nice park there right next to the visitors center. We walked around looking at the park. Walked out on the pier. We sat down on some swings and benches that were right next to the water. Stuart was laying down on the bench when a policemen walked up. I thought it might be some trouble but as it turned out everything was OK. He was a very nice guy. He just wouldn't stop talking. At one point I asked him if it would be OK if we got our pads out and laid down to sleep a bit. He said he didn't care. After he finally stopped talking that is what we did. That was about 5am. I laid down for maybe 30 minutes. I might have slept for about 1 minute. Around 6am we loaded up and headed down to the Hardees. It was nice to have a place to sit for a while and eat breakfast. We filled our water bottles in the Hardees. We were back at the dock around 8am. We started getting our stuff ready. It didn't take a few seconds before a swarm of some kind of gnats got all on us. At first they were just walking on our skin then they started biting. It was painful but like a burning sensation. The visitor center opened at 8am. We went in to check in and browse their little store. Didn't know they would have a store. It was nice and cool inside. It was already very humid and hot outside. We were all checked in and waiting for 8:45 for a little orientation. There were more people going over than I expected for a Thursday. The orientation was a little bit about the island and wildlife. After this we loaded the boat. Right on time we left at 9:15am (Eastern). The ride over was uneventful and peaceful. It was a 45 minute ride. Off the ferry we had to go to another orientation for campers at the rangers station. We got more information on dangers (animals, heat) and information concerning the campgrounds. Up the Parallel trail we went. Then to the Pratts trail and then arriving at Stafford Beach. It was about 1.5 hour trip. VERY hot and humid! We setup camp and got some lunch started. About 1pm it started raining and did not stop until about 7pm. During the afternoon Stuart laid down in the tent and caught a bit of a nap. I went to do that myself but it was so humid in the tent I couldn't stay. We went to the ocean and played in the water for quite a while. Back to camp for some supper. About 7pm we started getting ready for sleep. After being up for about 36 straight hours it was about time. Stafford campground has a bath house; toilet, sink and shower. It's not the Courtyard. It's not even a Motel 6 but it is very good for back-country camping. A cold shower feels great when you've been the heat all day. I showered first and was in the tent by 8pm. Stuart did the same. By the time he was back from the shower I was already out. That was the best nights sleep. I had to get up one time for a bathroom visit. Didn't wake up too much. Overall slept for 11 hours. Created on 08/17/2009

Cumberland Island - Day 1 (Really Day .5)

Stuart and I left Athens about 1pm. I stopped by Jiffy to grab me a chicken snack for lunch and we were on our way. Next stop Atlanta and the REI store. We go to the REI store at exit #91, just off I-85, about 6pm. We didn't have much time to look. Well, not the usual 2 hours but it was enough time. I found another pair of those Nike running shorts I like so much (#320821) on their clearance rack. REI clearance rack is not the same as other stores. The prices are marked down very much. We left there to head toward the Embry Hills church on Chamblee-Tucker which wasn't very far at all. Got to the church building about 7:15 for 7:30 service. There were already lots of folks going into the building. I parked out towards the end so I could put on my pants. We walked into the building and the man standing up front preparing for the class came back to introduce himself. He knew Stuart and I remember the family name. It was Wes Gossett from ABS and Athens. Service was over and the lady behind us spoke to me. It was Kristiana(sp) Burke(sp) whom Genoa knows. We left there and headed Northeast on Chamblee-Tucker. Didn't realize it but I-285 was right there near the building. We found a Arby's to eat supper (late for me). We probably left there about 9:30pm. Off down I-285 we headed. Wow, even at 9:30 at night I-285 had a lot of traffic. Note to any person that will ever drive on I-16: there is almost nothing on that stretch of interstate. Late at night there was nothing open. It was a good thing we had filled up there in Atlanta. The road is straight and lifeless. We made it to I-95 about 1am. Made a gas stop and bathroom break. I let Stuart drive us at this point. I had driven all the way up till this point. Then to Exit #3 on I-95 we made it. That was 2:30 or 3am, I don't remember. We stopped in a McDonalds to see if we could pick up some free WiFi. No luck there. We pulled across to the other side of the road to check again. No luck, all of them were secured, even the ones that had no WEP/WPA. While we were playing with that there was a police car that kept circling the main road. We just knew he was going to come over and question us but never did. We headed down the road and found the Walmart. We walked around there for a little bit and used the bathroom. I'm pretty sure we were the only customers in the store and I'm guessing security cameras were being watched. After that we headed to the dock/pier area. Continued on Day 2 posting..... Created on 08/17/2009

4 Miles (on the schedule)

For the 2nd Tuesday in a row I had to stop before I reached my mileage goal for the day. The heat and humidity was just too great. I started out running well but almost about the same place as last week I started feeling the harshness of the weather. It just so happens that same place is a stretch directly in the sun. I really don't want to but I may have to start running about 7pm until the summer heat breaks. More bugs out at that time. Today was supposed to be 4 miles on my beginner 5k schedule. I probably made it 3.8. Not exactly sure. I haven't looked it up just yet.

Directions for our trip to Cumberland Island

REI

1800 Northeast Expy NE
Atlanta, GA 30329
(404) 633-6508

I-20 to I-85/75 North to Exit #91

The Satellite view shows that you can turn left off Exit #91 and then left onto the expressway. REI isn't too far down on the right, maybe 1/2 mile.

To leave the REI store to get back on I-85 North looks like I would go south and take a U under I-85 that would get me on the expressway on the other side of I-85.

Embry Hills Church of Christ

Directions From I-85S
Take the I-85 S exit toward I-285S towards AUGUSTA/MACON.
Take the CHAMBLEE-TUCKER RD exit just prior to getting on I-285S (EXIT #94)
Take the ramp toward CHAMBLEE-TUCKER RD.
Keep RIGHT at the fork in the ramp.
Merge onto CHAMBLEE TUCKER RD.
Turn Right on Chamblee-Tucker Rd 1/2 mi to building on RIGHT

Directions to Cumberland Island

I-65 South

to I-20 East

to I-75 South out of Atlanta

Go 82 miles to I-16 East out of Macon

Go 156 miles to I-95 South (Exit 157A)

Go 95 miles to Exit #3 for GA-40

GA-40 turns into Osborne the closer you get to the pier, Stay on Osborne

Osborne will dead end into East St Marys

Turn right and the pier should be close

Back to Athens

GA-40

to I-95 North

to I-16 West

to I-75 North

to I-20 West

to I-65 North

Liz Hurley Ribbon run

Oct 17th @ 8am (mens 5k).

Home Page

Race Map

Registration ($15)

Boat trip to the river to just ride around a bit

I had two failed attempts, prior to today, in getting the boat motor started. Last week I didn't have it in Start position while I was pulling the start cord. Once I finally figured that out, the pull cord had a part come off and I couldn't fix it while sitting in the boat on the water. I fixed that at home. The next failed attempt I just couldn't get the motor to run. Probably flooded but it could have also been I didn't have the gas line fittings up tight.

Today I got the motor started. YEAH!

I brought Amos and Isabella with me. Isabella had been wanting to come so bad.

We went to Sportsman park (only 15 minutes from the house). Set the boat out. Everybody got in without a problem.

We road North for 15-20 minutes. Amos then announced "why don't we turn around?" I asked why but got no response. So because of that I decided to turn around. Just as I was having the thought about turning us around and as I started turning us around that the boat motor got a bit slower, then slower, and then silent. It just went out. I tried to pull start it and that pin came out, again, on the pull cord assembly (as mentioned above).

Well, since I had fixed it at home I thought I might could fix it on the water. No go on that. The holes just wouldn't line up.

The water really does push that little boat around a lot. So as I was tinkering with the motor we drifted close to the bank and really close into some dead wood. Amos got the trolling motor into the water and that little motor got us away from those things.

I quickly decided to give up on the motor fixing. I had all kinds of thoughts running through my head, especially having the kids with me. I thought about who I might could call. I thought about what I might do if a boat came by. I thought about just how long it might take us to get back and if we had enough daylight.

Remember we had went 15-20 minutes North with a motor. With the trolling motor and two paddles we headed back. At first we were all tense. Well, I suppose it was really just me. I think the kids really had no idea about the possibility of being stranded. After a little while we began to talk and play in the water some and I think have a good time.

It took us about 1 hour to paddle back. As we got closer the kids got more excited about seeing land .

Whew - I was tired. I think Isabella was also. She decided, about half way back, to help paddle. Although I didn't think it would do much good, it was pretty good help having just a little push from the one side of the boat.

I was so glad we made it back. I was so parched. I forgot to grab us some drinking water before we headed out.

So now a third failed attempt (and possibly final for that motor). I'll have to get that pull cord fixed again and see about getting a large container of water under the motor at home to see if it will run again. I hope the impeller did not go bad and overheat the engine.

Retha's Riding Mower

The Model # is: 971256670.

Sears Parts Direct Direct Link to All the Parts

Just the Blades

Oil Filter Change on the Corolla

I thought it would be a simple thing to change the oil filter. I haven't done it yet but thought I'd search google for oil filter this morning. I found this long thread describing what it takes to change out the non-standard oil filter. Seems that there are quite a few people that won't be buying another Toyota because of the filter design.

There were a few suggestions for getting the filter off:

1. rubber strap type wrench for about $10
2. 65mm 14 flute end cap oil filter wrench (Advanced Auto Parts for $4.95)
3. just get an old serpentine belt and wrap it around if you cant get it with a little elbow grease
4. The official Toyota tool for $65 + s/h

I think I will get #2.

The filter is Fram CH10358. Advance Auto web site says the stock is low and to call.

• Highway 72 store: 233-4843
• Highway 31 store: 232-4544
• Highway 72 Madison store: 430-2746 (on the south side of 72 just East of Hughes road)

Here are the steps with pictures I grabbed from the forum.

1) The oil filter is location here:

2) You can buy Toyota's tool from any Toyota service department, it will cost you $65 plus shipping, because they won't have it in stock. However, you can easily get by with a rubber *wrap around* belt type tool for about $10. See this picture:

3) With the $10 belt tool you should easily be able to loosen the filter casing without damaging it. Once you have it taken it off, you can take out the old paper filter and put in the new filter. You will also need to replace the round rubber seal ring that goes with every new filter.

4) Now I know that there is proper torking tool for screwing the filter back on. I personally felt comfortable that I placed it back with the same tightness as what it took to take off. You might want to take pictures yourself so you can compare the before and after positioning, because there are slotted notches that did come back to the same alignment as when I started. Keep in mind, that this wrap around belt tool is the only one that I've found has the ability to grip the oil cartridge tightly enough to do the job without doing damage.

I also found information at this forum entry. Seems that it is doable.

6 Miler this morning

This ends the half way point on my 12 week 5k running schedule. This morning was 6 miles. It was tough. My legs were still feeling the effects of Sunset run on Friday evening. When I started out there was stiffness but it quickly went away. Today I was S-L-O-W. It was all about just finishing the scheduled distance. Six miles is long for me. Although I ran 6.6 miles two weeks ago, this is still long and tough. I don't know the humidity this morning but when I finished my shirt was drenched. I walked the last .6 miles to try to help cool down and help work out the kinks in my legs. I've had a pair of New Balance shoes in the box just waiting for a starting time. Today was the day. New Balance MT874. They probably will be terrible road shoes but I almost never run on the road. Mostly around the track areas of Athens High school. I got those shoes on a clearance web site back in May 09'. Without wearing them one time they felt like they had been broken in for a month. I think with the next running shoe purchase I will probably have to move into a really good road shoes. Although I'm not sure how they would handle the gravel of the Greenway.

Sunset Run - My First 5k

Overall I think I did really well. My goal was to beat 25:56. That is what I had ran 2 days prior to the race. My time was 25:06. I haven't seen the official results. That is what a friend of Genoa's told her. I didn't get the time at the end. I was more concerned with getting across the line. I didn't even think to look up at the clock. Also, my watch battery died during the race.

Here are the overall race results and by age groups.

My first mile was 7:44. When I saw that I knew I had went out too fast. The second mile time was 15:55. So that would be 8:11 for the 2nd mile. Not a big a jump, 27 seconds. I didn't realize I slowed so much that last mile and 1/10. That time was 9:51. For my first race I'll just accept that final section and try to do better next time.

This being my first race I found it very interesting. All the cool runners up front all with their shirts off (egos). Female runners all tanned up with their skin tight shorties. I understand feeling good about yourself but hey, does everybody have to see everything?

Most of the crowd started off running way too fast. I just sort of hung towards the back to determine how things were going. After about 2 or 3/10 I started moving up through the crowd. That is why my first mile was so fast. I think I passed half the crowd during this time.

During the majority of the race a couple of men staid right with me. One older and the other about my age. The one guy about my age kept trying to push ahead of me. He finally fell back.

That last section of the race was a long gentle incline. I had to slow down and was huffing quite a bit on that.

Toward the end, when I could see the clock, I started a kick. I surprised myself with the kick I had at the end. Made me wonder if I could have had a better pace during portions of the race.

Regardless of where I came in the standings, I'm very pleased.

This Friday evening 8pm start sort of threw me off schedule. Friday's have been my off days. No early Saturday morning run this week.

Battery Charger

I found this battery charger this morning. Kenneth seems to think it would be a good one. $62.99

Found the same charger @ amazon.com for $58.87 (not via amazon but another seller).

Also, Kenneth mentioned I may be able to find my fuel fittings at this place: http://www.drycreekmarine.com/

Trailer Lights - Again

Kenneth said these lights are the ones he put on his previous boat.

They have a really good rating 4.5.

There's also a long list at the following URL:

http://www.iboats.com/Boat_Trailer_Light_Kits/dm/cart_id.533699088--session_id.157869938--view_id.217592

Chrysler Impellers

Last night at church I was talking with Billy and Mark. Billy said that it is usually good to replace the impeller every couple of years. Billy thought it might be kind of hard to find one for my old motor. I found this web site with some Chrysler impellers but don't know if any of these would work.

http://www.go2marine.com/category.do?no=17165

This is the picture of the kit.

Trailer Lights

Some time in the future I will need to replace the trailer lights. Walmart has some that says they are submersible.



$28.96 - http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=11071192

Fish Finder

In the future I might would like to get one of these.





$130 from basspro.com

Switch Audio Converter Software

Found an article that recommended Switch for converting WMAs so that you can get them into iTunes.

Outboard Motors are EXPENSIVE

Kenneth sent me this one today.



WOW - I had no idea these cost so much!