If you recall last year I posted a few Tweets about the, then upcoming, Palm Pre and how much I was looking forward to this phone.  Later on I posted a story about about my impressions with the Palm Pre.  After a few months of sticking with it and really giving it a try I had to let it go and go back to Windows Mobile.  Yes, I am a Microsoft slave when it comes to phones.  I missed the integration with Exchange, I missed the seamless connectivity with Outlook, I missed being able to tweak it to try and make it far more efficient and faster.

It now has been around two months since I’ve made the switch and I can’t really complain, I got everything I expected from Windows Mobile.  First, let’s start with the phone.

The HTC Touch Pro 2 retails for $599.99 at Sprint.com.  Yes, that’s $600 dollars for a phone!  Yes, I thought it was insane when I saw the price tag.  Not only is/was the phone incredibly pricey, it was close to impossible to find it at Sprint stores.  The excuse I always got was that since it was so pricey not a lot of stores carried it and it was considered a specialty item.  Good thing I didn’t ask for diamond encrusted keys.  Regardless, I turned to my trusted friend Craig Newman and his awesome website http://craigslist.org/ and found someone letting go of their phone for $250.  Finding the guy, haggling with him, and finally getting the phone is a whole other story, but ultimately I paid the asking price and began my journey back to the dark side.

Happy with my purchase I decided that this phone had so much potential, which was being thrown away by the stock operating system provided by Sprint.  First and foremost, there was Windows 6.5 and the phone runs Windows 6 stock.  Second, there was HTC’s Sense UI, among other tweaks available which would put this phone over the top when it came to usability.

When it comes to hacking your phone and making it do things it might not be supposed to do, you head over to the always awesome and informative, http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/.  After a few days of research I decided to give Mike and his http://www.mightyrom.com/ a spin.  Flashing your phone is not for the faint of heart, I was pretty nervous something would happen in the middle of the flash which would render my phone useless, but thankfully everything has been great so far and I’ve enjoyed what my phone has become.

The key features I love about this phone:

- Great voice quality, including the speaker.

- A keyboard, I love having a physical keyboard.

- Very responsive, more than my Palm Pre.

Cons:

- This thing is a brick, it’s huge.

- It’s Windows, which needs a kick to restart it ever few days… well maybe about once every two weeks.

- Windows Marketplace sucks.

~david

In case you remember my post from last year about my recent switch to Sprint Everything Plan, I wanted to provide a small updated on how my cell phone usage has increased.

If you compare my usage from the year before I’m averaging around 1000 more minutes per month.  Now, at the end I’m getting a cheaper price/minute, however I sometimes worry about how much radiation I’m exposing myself to… oh well, just wanted to post something interesting and let me people know I’m still alive and kicking.

~david

On December 13, 2009 I ran the White Rock Half Marathon and almost didn’t live to tell about it.  I will begin, like my previous post, on how horrible I am at training.  I had been training pretty consistently for a few weeks and was ready for the half marathon about 5 weeks before the actual race.  In the five weeks leading up to the race, I moved, went on vacation, and stopped working out in general.  I maybe had one or two runs in those five weeks… so, I’m sure you know where this is going.  Come race day, I was not prepared, but not being one to back out of a high amounts of pain, I still went ahead and gave it a shot.

Unlike last race, I didn’t have a huge urge to hit the john before the race, I actually felt pretty relaxed.  The race was huge and the weather was amazing, around 45 degrees, excellent running weather.

The race began and I felt pretty good.  I was running 8 minute miles and felt amazing.  Then came mile 8 and my slow decent into the pits of hell.  At this point I can tell I’m no longer “feeling like a champ”, I’m slowing down considerably, around 30 seconds/mile, and I just don’t want to do this anymore.  Mile 10 rolls around and I’m ready to get this over with, the torture needs to stop and I just want to walk the rest of the way.  Mile 12 rolls around and I feel what will soon manifest itself as a giant cramp in my left leg.  Sure enough about 100 yards from the finish line it hits me like a ton of bricks.  A huge knot in my leg, a cramp so intense I could barely stand straight as my eyes watered.  A Kodak moment for sure.  Regardless, the crowd was pretty thick at this point and they seemed to get a little louder when they saw me struggling, so I limped the last 100 yards and across the finish line.

Ultimately, I achieved my goal which was come in under 2 hours.  With a little more training I think I can knock out 1:45 and if I push really hard maybe even 1:30.  We shall see, I still want to qualify for Boston one day.

Distance
HALF MAR

Clock Time
2:02:11

Chip Time
1:52:39

Overall Place
1416 / 8365

10K Split Rank
723

10K Split Time
49:40

10 Mile Rank
939

10 Mile Time
1:22:36

~david

I’ve been bad at updating my site recently, but things have (like I always say) been busy.  However, I hope to come back with a bang.  I finally posted my marathon story and have updated WP to the latest version; 2.8.5.

Additionally, it has been 6 years since I first started my website.  October 13, 2003 to be exact.  Damn does time fly!  Every year I find it funny what my very first post says:

So things are starting pretty slow, expect very little until my life slows down some, or I miraculously discover that I can slow down time, or travel back in time…

~david

This past weekend On September 26th, 2009 I ran my first marathon.  The 2009 Akron Marathon to be exact.  Let me tell you a little bit bout it.

Background

I didn’t get serious about training until about two months before the actual race.  And by serious I mean only half serious.  I didn’t do a lot of runs during the week, I was lucky to maybe get 10 miles in.  However, in the last two months I did hit the pavement consistently, mainly using Hal Higdon’s Training Guide.  Regardless, by the time I hit my 20 mile run, I did not feel ready and was very nervous about this race.

Race Day

I didn’t sleep very much the night before and got to the site about 1 hour before the race.  First thing I did was hit the port-a-john.  I went and stretched for a bit and go for a very light run to get my blood flowing.  Afterwards, I stretched out some more.  Proceeded to hit the port-a-john again.  At 15 minutes before the race I positioned myself between the 4:00 and 4:30 race pacers and figured this would be a good spot for me.  My goal was to break the 4 hour mark, but ultimately was to finished.  Then the urge to hit the port-a-john hit me again.  However, it was so close to the beginning I didn’t know if I would have time.  I decided to suck it up and figured I would forget about it once I started running… bad idea!

The first 5K were great.  The weather was great (~60 F) and the rain was no where in site.

David Macias, 00:31:19 (NET) @ 5.2K Pace 8:56 , Predicted 03:54:13.00. powered by Road Runner Akron Marathon

At the 15K mark, I’m still feeling pretty good, but I have a nagging sensation that I need to hit the john, but I figure I can still tough it out.

David Macias, 01:23:11 (NET) @ 15K Pace 8:55 , Predicted 03:53:47.00. powered by Road Runner Akron Marathon

At the 25K mark I still feel pretty good even though I can tell I’ve slowed down some, but not enough to be a concern.

David Macias, 02:19:19 (NET) @ 25K Pace 8:58 , Predicted 03:55:05.00. powered by Road Runner Akron Marathon

At the 30K mark is where all hell breaks loose!  First, there were multiple warnings about this race that talked about doing hill repeats in order to be adequately prepared for this race.  I ignored them.

At Mile 16, I hit a wall and started what I called my shuffle of death.  I was in dire need of a port-a-john and I could tell my feet were dragging.  I finally hit the john around mile 18 and had a renewed sense of freedom, but it didn’t last long.  I can honestly say that the last 6 miles were the most painful miles in my life.  There were multiple times I thought to myself, “Just fall, fall and curl up in a ball, and someone will pick you up and carry you to the finish line.”  Alas, I didn’t fall and I didn’t stop.  I muscled through the nature stop on mile 18, the rain which began around mile 15, and the cramp on mile 22.  Ultimately, it was an amazing experience and can’t wait to do it again!

David Macias, 04:32:49 (NET) @ Finish Pace 10:24 . powered by Road Runner Akron Marathon

~david

PS: A few pictures from the race.

My bib:

Crossing the finish line:

Left shoe destroyed:

There is just something so happy about this song, can’t get enough of it and I love it when it comes on the iPod while running.  Happy happy happy song!

we cut the legs off of our pants
threw our shoes into the ocean
sit back and wave through the daylight
sit back and wave through the daylight

slip and slide on subway grates
these shoes are poor mans ice skates
fall through like change in the daylight
fall through like change in the daylight

i miss yellow lines in my roads
some color on monochrome
maybe i’ll paint them in myself
maybe i’ll paint them in myself
maybe i’ll paint them in myself
maybe i’ll paint them in myself
maybe i’ll paint them in myself
maybe i’ll paint them in myself

these sidewalks liquid then stone
building walls and an old pay phone
it rings like all through the daylight
it rings like all through the daylight

and in the daylight we can hitchhike to Maine
i hope that someday i’ll see without these frames
and in the daylight i don’t pick up my phone
cause in the daylight anywhere feels like home

I have five clocks in my life
and only one has the time right
i’ll just unplug it for today
ill just unplug it for today

open hydrant rolled down windows
this car might make a good old boat
and float down grand street in daylight
and float down grand street in daylight
and float down grand street in daylight
and float down grand street in daylight
and float down grand street in daylight
and float down grand street in daylight

and with just half of a sunburn
new yellow lines that i earned
step back and here comes the night time
step back and here comes the night time

and in the daylight we can hitchhike to Maine
i hope that someday i’ll see without these frames
and in the daylight i don’t pick up my phone
cause in the daylight anywhere feels like home

Here’s an annoying runtime error I just ran into using Wireshark Portable.

Looking at this Wireshark bug ID shows a possible solution:

1) copy WiresharkPortable\Other\PortableSource\WiresharkPortable.ini  to
WiresharkPortable\WiresharkPortable.ini
2) edit WiresharkPortable\WiresharkPortable.ini and change the line:

WinPcapInstaller=WinPcap_4_0_2.exe

to

WinPcapInstaller=WinPcap_4_1_beta5.exe

However, the INI file mentioned above already has the correct beta5.exe WinPcap line. However, just moving the INI file to the WiresharkPortable folder did the trick.

~david

Enjoy!

You get on of these:

Hey, Tim here -

We’re very sorry about limiting your listening last month – I’m writing to let you know that, starting today you can listen to the free version of Pandora again. We hope you’ll come back!

Sorry if this limit is driving you nuts – it’s the last thing we want to do, but it’s the economic reality of streaming. We pay royalties for every song we play, which we feel good about, but it means that for our most consistent listeners, like you, advertising revenues don’t cover the costs. If you want to listen more than 40 hours a month, we’ve come up with two options:

• For unlimited, ad-free listening, along with a bunch of other cool features, you can upgrade to Pandora One.

OR…

• If you run out of hours in any given month, you can pay $.99 to listen for the rest of the month (you’ll still have advertising). This is a one-time fee: we won’t charge your credit card again.

We really hope one of these options works for you. To check on how many hours you have remaining, just click the ‘account’ link above the Pandora tuner. There’s also more information on our blog.

Thanks again for listening and, I hope, welcome back!

Tim Westergren
Founder
Pandora

As many as you know or notice on my site, I love Jeroen Smeets’s Last.fm Plugin.  Recently I had some issues with it not displaying correctly on my site.  A simple deletion of the plugin via the WP administration page and re-adding it again and we were back in business.  The new version of this plugin looks great!

~david