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during lunch i ran in the more spring-like weather of 50 degrees temperature and nothing but the blue skies and white clouds up above. it wasn't that warm but in the sun it felt like a 100 degrees. i ran an 8 minute mile on the usual course and on the way back walking across the longfellow bridge, i thought to myself, no way am i ever going to run a 7 minute mile. how much faster do i have to go in order to shave off a minute per mile? maybe i don't have the right running form. i feel that sometimes when i get tired i can let my legs swing down like pendulums and i ran coast along the course pretty effortlessly. maybe people who run 7 minute miles have to train to get to that level. maybe you can't get there by just running a lot. you might have to go to the gym and do leg muscle strengthening exercises. only then can you achieve the power to break that barrier and get to 7 minutes. but back when i was running a 10 minute mile and slower, that's probably what i said as well, i could never run a 9 minute mile. and when i reached the 9 minute mark, i probably told myself, no way can you run as fast as 8 minutes. so who knows. it's almost been a year since i started running. during that year, i wasn't always running, and there were periods long and short where i went without any exercise. i was definitely getting better at it, but i didn't notice any significant improvement, that is until this winter when i started to see a difference (for the better) in my performance. maybe because i was running solo all the time (beats me why nobody wanted to come running with me in freezing temperature!), i didn't have to keep pace with anyone, i could totally run as fast (or as slow) as i wanted. where am i going with all this running? i have no desire to compete in any sort of races. it's all completely for the sake of self-fullfillment. i think once i reach the 7 minute mark, i'll know i've reached an internal milestone. i've never been much of an athlete, i've never been known for my physicality, so it'd be nice for a change to sort of achieve something significant in a field where i don't usually excel. like i said, self-fullfillment. it use to be about the health, but i've sort of transcended that. i don't have to proof my fitness anymore, it's almost a secondary issue now. last time i went to the doctors my blood pressure was back to normal, i still don't eat healthy but i try to work in some more fruits and greens into my diet, i'm losing the fat, and the most important thing is i feel healthy.

today i took a break from programming. having looked at this code nonstop for the past year, it felt pretty good to purposely not have to look at it, if only for a few days. my mind was allowed to take a vacation, that's how i felt. after my run i had a small boca grande colorado chicken burrito that carrie once again graciously bought for me while i was out sweating along the charles river. i had a little late afternoon surprise in the form of a package from amazon.com. my "a glorious way to die" book finally arrived.

after work dan came by the office and together we commuted down to harvard square (barbara came with us part ways) for an unofficial pub club night at the rock bottom (50 church street, cambridge). definitely more restaurant than bar, this is the kind of place i like. it was just right, dan, roy, joel, and me, we had our own booth. roy revealed his surprise news of how he was leaving the screen house and made us jealous with his travel plans to destinations like florida, montana, korea, australia, and europe. it's weird. traveling seems to be one of those things people do to make their lives seem substantial*. i think its the experience. you can argue that a person's worth can be based on his/her experience in life, the more experience, the better that life becomes. experience can be gained locally by learning and interacting with others, but the best source of different and unique experiences comes from travel. you're in a strange land surrounded by strange people with strange customs, eating strange foods, speaking strange languages, breathing strange airs. that's why i can never imagine spending my precious 10 vacation days out of 365 days of works (not including weekends and the 10 days of holidays) just sitting at home doing nothing. no matter what's the cost, when i have the free time, i have to go out and experience the world. seeing the world improves my life in ways that can't be measured. the more exotic the locale, the better. though much of our world has been discovered, in this modern time each of us can explore more of this world than any past explorers. the answer to life's great mysteries can all be discovered in distant lands. we just have to go out and find them.

oh, by the way, i had the ribs for dinner and a home-brewed root beer. and we totally got joel a birthday card, something with three kittens on the cover, cause we know he just eats that stuff right up!

* off the top of my head, a few other things include falling in love or doing charity work. or raising a child. or watching the latest episode of alias.