First and foremost, this is the best phone I’ve ever had.  The software is great, the responsiveness is amazing, and it has all sorts of randomly cool features.

The Pros:

• Great screen.
• Integration with Google products is flawless.
• Turn by turn navigation with Google maps.
• FM radio.
• Sprint TV, great during the world cup.
• Apps like Swype, NYT, Google Voice, Google Voice Search.

The Cons:

• Dealing with Exchange invitations, not as clean as with Windows.
• No unified inbox like WebOS.
• Battery hog, but all smart phones are, will need to charge it after a few hours of heavy use.
• Not enough widgets for shortcuts and displaying vital information on the screen.

~david

I recently ran into this error and for the life of me could not figure out what was wrong.  So, the first thing I did was make sure it was happening on more than one PC, check.  Next, checked if it was happening with more than one phone, check.  Next, check if it happens with both PGs… this is where I noticed that I could login to one PG, but not to the other.  Which then lead me to check the configuration of both PGs and found that the PG configuration for the PG where the login was failing had an agent extension of 7 digits instead of 10 digits.  Thus why CTIOS was rejecting my login to a phone with an extension with 10 digits.

Presto!

~david

The morning of the race, we arrived with a little under 30 minutes to spare, which was not good.  I really didn’t get a good warm up run in and stretched out just a bit.  It was a cloudy day with chance of thunderstorms.  Which was an issues, since the race could get called off if there was lighting… the chances of getting hit by lighting are incredibly small, but I digress.

The race began promptly at 7:30 AM, but since I was so far back in the pack I didn’t cross the starting line until about 10 minutes after the gun went off.  The first couple of miles are always torture.  It’s really a free for all, you never hit your stride as you’re on the lookout for all other runners, ensuring you don’t step on someone or someone doesn’t elbow you as they are trying to squeeze by you.  At bout mile 5 is when the seas start to part and you really get to focus on what you came here to do.  The unfortunate part is that you hit the half way point before you know it.  For me this is the hardest part as I always feel that I’ve spent too much energy trying to make it through the pack that I start to run out of gas around mile 9.  Oh well, that’s what training is there for, right?  At the end of the day it was a great day for a race even though the rain was coming down pretty hard.  Final time below.

My only complaints about this event are the lack of Goo.  All they had for the runners was water and Gatorade, glad I packed some beans, but I was banking on some Goo to break up the monotony.  Second, I didn’t see any post race beer, not saying this is imperative, but I love me a beer or three after pounding out a 13 miler.  And finally, I should have used more lube.  Yes, my armpits were red and tender and it had everything to do with the huge amounts of water that came down on me while running.

~david

First, let’s start with Blue October.  I had the absolute pleasure of seeing them for the millionth time a few weeks ago and well, like the nine hundred and ninety ninth time they rocked!  So, please excuse the list if it’s a little B.O. heavy.

1. Blue October – Jump Rope.  How can this song not bring a smile to your face.

2. City and Colour – Body in a Box.  A man’s best party happens when he dies.

3. The Avett Brothers – If It’s the Beaches.  What is it with me and songs with answering machines, see #4.

4. Blue October – Hate Me.  See #3, also see recursive. :)

5. Band of Horses – Islands on the Coast.  They are touring with Pearl Jam, need I say more?

6. We Were Promised Jetpacks – Quiet Little Voices.  Hello, it’s jetpacks, The Rocketeer rocked.

7. Two Door Cinema Club – What You Know. Embrace the nerd within.

8. Lighthouse Family – Ain’t no Sunshine.  Yes, a cover.  Yes, it rocks.

9. Mana – Ana.  :(

10. Blue October

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

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

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

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

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