GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) Public Key

Here: http://kevinschultz.com/schultkl-public-key-gpg-1-4-9.asc

Running Journal, Saturday, 2008-12-27

Running Journal, Saturday, 2008-12-27
Resting heart rate: 65 bpm
Body Mass Index (BMI):
Weather: partly sunny
Temp: 4 C
Time: 10:30 - 11:15 a.m.
Terrain: flat

Comments: Exercised at the gym this morning. Five minute warmup and cooldown. In between, a 45 minute workout on the arc trainer. Worked hard after warming up and did an interval workout. By the half-way point, I was slowing down on the hard parts and speeding up on the easy parts, which felt good. I tried to stay comfortable. During the second half I watched a program produced by LatinoAmerica.TV and felt a craving for green chile and cheese tamales. I burned about 875 calories today, then went home and ate about 900 calories of tamales (two). I guess that is 900 calories that will not add to my daily total.

Weight (after exercise): 81.8 kg (180.3 lb)
Any irregular feelings, aches, pains, heart rate, and so forth?: Muscles behind my right knee felt sore a bit after workout.

Wishing Everyone A Patrick Swayze Christmas

For those celebrating today, Merry Christmas, courtesy of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

KYDS Radio Songs

Heard this evening around 5:15 p.m. on KYDS 91.5 Sacramento:

Nutbush, Tennessee native Tina Turner's "Whatever You Need" from her 1999 album "Twenty Four Seven", on the Parlephone Records and Virgin Records labels. Video.

San Diego-based Angels & Airwaves' "Lifeline" from their 2007 album "I-Empire" on the Geffen label. Video.

Running Journal, Thursday, 2008-12-25

Running Journal, Thursday, 2008-12-25
Resting heart rate: 58 bpm
Body Mass Index (BMI): 24.0 (upper normal weight)
Weather: mostly sunny, moderately windy, chilly
Temp: 11 C
Time: 4:00-4:45 p.m.
Terrain: flat

Comments: Decided to get some exercise as my Christmas present this year. Apparently, this represents the first time I have run since early November. I walked quickly for five minutes to warm up. The first 15 minutes went by slowly. I ran quickly to warm up against the brisk wind. At the half-way point, 22 minutes, I could not imagine running around the American River College track any longer. The ARC campus became the stage for the next 12 minutes, with two and one-half laps at the track to complete the run. The track has poor drainage. The north end's lane nine always seems to have a squishy section following rain, and the west side collects water in pools between the track and the bleachers. I cannot imagine that is good for the long-term health of the stadium track. A few people were out walking, some with dogs. One person practiced their tennis serve. A soccer player was practicing their foot skills on the fields to the east of the school. Someone had left on the scoreboard next to the college pool, so all the digits were lit up like a Christmas display. As I ran around the campus, I felt like I hit my stride around minutes 25-30. I was running strong and comfortably. It felt very wonderful. It felt even better to finish.

Goal Time: none
Distance (running): ???
Total Running Distance For Year: 64.79 km (32.25 mi)
Weight (after exercise): 82.6 kg (182.1 lb)
Any irregular feelings, aches, pains, heart rate, and so forth?: Sore calves near the end.

Winter Tires

Flat tire on the way home this evening, so investigating tires:

175/65R14 XL Bridgestone Blizzak WS-60 Blackwall

Only $550 shipped from TireRack.com (with black steel rims and wheel covers).

Purchasing just the four tires from a local Firestone costs $405 (with tax). x_x

Letters from Iwo Jima

60th Reunion of Japanese and American Iwo Jima Veterans in 2005 (Wikipedia)

Iwo Jima means "sulpher island" in Japanese. Over the course of nearly 40 days, the island became the stage for a pitched battle between 21,000+ Japanese and 100,000+ American soldiers. Only 216 Japanese soldiers surrendered. Close to 3,000 Japanese soldiers remained in hiding in the complex tunnel network of the island after the battle. The rest of the Japanese forces were killed in action or through suicide.

Notes and Thoughts

• General Kuribayashi, through attrition, hoped to deter American forces from invading Japan. I wonder, though, if the losses incurred at Iwo Jima played into the use of the hydrogen bomb at Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
  
  
• The remains of 10,000 Japanese soldiers reported missing-in-action still exist on the island.
  
  
• The movie clearly conveys the Japanese soldiers' desire to protect their families from harm, which resonated with me.
  
  
• General Kuribayashi is the tragic hero of the film (along with tank commander Takiechi Nishi), sent to his death to delay American forces.
  
  
• Desparation, panic, fear, resignation, acceptance, anger, rage, cynicism, horror.
  
  
• Practically speaking, a civilian's best bet of visiting Iwo Jima is through military tourism.
  

Pictures of the island today: http://www.iwojima.com/today.htm

Brown Butter and Pasta Recipe (Old Spaghetti Factory)

Image credit: http://flickr.com/photos/kurtasbestos/2793267607/

Recipe Review

• Trés Bon. One of my favorites. This represents the second time we have made it.
  
  
• The smell of the caramelizing butter represents a heavenly experience.
  
  
• It tastes just as good or better than that served at The Old Spaghetti Factory.
  
  
• We added a bottle of Pinot Grigio, a tossed salad, two tapered candles, and streamed classical music via Shoutcast.com for ambiance.
  
  
• This open source recipe below comes from CD Kitchen: http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/23/Spaghetti_with_Burnt_Butter38272.shtml. I did not write anything below unless otherwise noted.
  

Recipe Overview

There is a terrific dish served by The Old Spaghetti Factory chain, called Spaghetti with Browned Butter. It is served topped with shredded Mizithra cheese (a Greek hard cheese). If mizithra is not available (I am able to easily locate it St. Louis at cheese shops and some supermarkets), a blend of ricotta salata and romano is suggested.

Ingredients

1. 1 cup unsalted butter
2. 1 cup mizithra cheese (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizithra)
3. Pasta of choice (spaghetti works great)
   

Directions

1) Brown the butter

• Cut 2 sticks of butter into 8 pieces and place in a 2-quart sauce pan.
  
  
• Place the pan of butter on a burner on medium heat.
  
  
• Bring butter to a slow boil (about 5 minutes).
  
  
• Once the butter begins to boil, stir constantly to prevent residue from sticking to the bottom of the pan. As the butter cooks, it will start to foam and rise.
  
  
• Continue stirring, otherwise the butter foam could overflow (about 5 minutes) and catch fire.
  
  
• Once the butter stops foaming and rising, cook until amber in color (about 1 to 2 minutes). It will have a pleasant caramel aroma.
  
  
• Turn off the heat and remove pan from burner. Let the sediment settle to the bottom of the pan for a few minutes.
  
  
• Pour the brown butter through a strainer into a small bowl. Do not disturb the residue at the bottom of the pan. (Kevin: I used a paper towel over a measuring cup for this step.)
  
  
• The brown butter can be stored in the refrigerator and reheated in a microwave as needed.
  

2) Boil the Pasta

• Boil the pasta of choice until Al Dente (depends on pasta).
  
  
• Drain pasta and divide into four servings.

3) Combine and Eat

• Spread 1/4 cup of Mizithra over each pasta serving.
  
  
• Top with 1/4 cup of hot brown butter.

Serves/makes 4.

Level 60 (FreeRice.com)

Achieved playing normally (not setting the level). 41,860 grains of rice donated, which amounts to 2,093 turns. That is a lot.

I installed two FireFox extensions which aided in word comprehension and retention:

1. Wikipedia Lookup Extension: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/744
2. Dictionary extension: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7869
   

Link: http://FreeRice.com

In searching blog posts for others who have played, I came across a suggestion to play http://aidtochildren.com. After all the difficulty with freerice.com, I mastered this one in 20 minutes:

Koji Tamaki

Kouji Tamaki emotes every line.

Links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdI0OTRYwIo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwnmFFtDEc4

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koji_Tamaki

Let the Right One In

Macabre, tender, violent. "Let the Right One In" shatters the myth of childhood innocence. At the same time, it shows the birth of an unlikely friendship between two desperately lonely 12-year-olds. Vulnerability, honesty, and acceptance prove the foundation for friendship, love, and hope for a world without despair.

If you liked the wintry examination of human frailties portrayed by Fargo, this may appeal to you. Often unconventional, dark, bleak, stark, and gory, I highly recommend it.

Link: http://www.lettherightoneinmovie.com/