Building A Better Bumblebee

Mark B wrote:

ounce wrote:Nifty and sucks to be cool.

Well... yeah. It did spur us on to action, though. After Alita and I looked at the estimate (~$4,300 to $8,500 depending on "quality" 0f the unit) and checked comparables on the Internet, we simultaneously went "Yeah... no" and agreed on Plan B.

Plan B is a window air conditioning unit big enough to cool most of our downstairs living area but small enough to not requiring a special outlet. Ordered it for pickup at the local Lowe's via the Internet, and hauled it home last night. (I was amazed they had them, considering, but it turns out we'd lucked out -- they got a shipment in that morning, and they were all gone before the day was out.)

My challenge today will be installing it before I got to work (and before it gets hot).

Oh, how hot has it been? Well, if this was late August, it'd be unusually hot. In early July? It's unheard of.

We average 11 days a year over 90. This year, we will have matched or exceeded that number by July 5 -- which is the day when summer weather usually kicks in. I'm afraid to imagine what it'll be like in two months.

Nifty...again.  For the sake of a small patch of grass, I hope the window to be used is over a patch of grass so the condensate from the drain tube (or however it drains the condensate) drips on some grass.  Oooh, oooh, oooh, maybe buy a cistern and route the condensate hose to the cistern!!!!!!!!!  Y'all are supposed to be all fired up about conservation up there, right? 

When its real hot, you will get a steady stream of condensate and it can actually puddle and be a pain.  My parents installed window units in the early 1980s (yes, I grew up in Mass in stifling heat about 20 days a summer) and we always had to fight the puddling issue.  Funny, my sister and I graduated from college and a central air system went in.  I always had heat pump systems in Atlanta and I have one in Ohio which works quite well.  Here in NY, I have units installed in the wall (not window) and they are fine as we don't actually use them much even in the hot years since a lot of time is spent outdoors on porches around here.  Many of the older homes (1890s) are still not air conditioned.

As for the bonk, they happen - had one myself a couple of weeks back.  For me, they are usually due to what I did or didn't do the day before not what I did that day i.e. dehydration or poor eating and then trying to remedy it before I ran/run by trying to fuel or get in enough water.It was warm and humid here in early and mid-June, but we have hit a strange period of rain and cooler temps.  If it is 67F and 90% humidity, it feels very tolerable as compared to 80F and 90% humidity - or even 72F.  I have dehydration issues in the humidity, and it certainly doesn't help that in the first couple of weeks here, we go to lots of parties/get togethers as we have not seen each other for 9 mos and well, we are simply overserved.

The good news first: I was able to get the unit installed before I had to go to work (and before the temp got up to 97 outside), and my family reports that it's now 75 degrees downstairs and quite pleasant. The only downside is my kid has to give up his sweltering upstairs hangout to take advantage of the cooler air. Poor thing.

I was out and about this afternoon and dang, I'm glad I did my run earlier. That sun was hot. It felt like it was going to crack 100, but not quite. Dewpoint is in the mid-50s, so not too horrid.

And I'm very glad I got the a/c installed when I did.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Funny after a few weeks of 80s and high humidity and then a ton of rain, we are experiencing cooler than normal temps and lower humidity. Spring has arrived!  It was actually in the mid-50s at 7:30 am when I did my LT run this morning although 67F by the finish, and it felt so good.  I'm actually sitting on my porch in jeans and a sweatshirt as it is pleasantly cool.  I'll take it as I'm sure the nasty stuff will soon return.  Most likely in time for the half I always run in mid-July!

I think you're on the other side of that massive ridge of high pressure that's put us in the oven, Michele. Enjoy it while you can! Of course, there's no sign that ridge is going anywhere ... ever ... so who knows?

ounce wrote:Nifty...again.  For the sake of a small patch of grass, I hope the window to be used is over a patch of grass so the condensate from the drain tube (or however it drains the condensate) drips on some grass.  Oooh, oooh, oooh, maybe buy a cistern and route the condensate hose to the cistern!!!!!!!!!  Y'all are supposed to be all fired up about conservation up there, right? 

Actually, the a/c unit is on the side of the house directly above a lovely hosta that will likely enjoy whatever extra moisture it can get. It's on a side of the house we don't visit much, so I'll have to check and see how much condensate we're getting.

Conservation (like only flushing poop) is what they do in California, Ounce. We still have water, because we don't live in a desert.

Well, hopefully that's still the case.  

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:When its real hot, you will get a steady stream of condensate and it can actually puddle and be a pain.  My parents installed window units in the early 1980s (yes, I grew up in Mass in stifling heat about 20 days a summer) and we always had to fight the puddling issue.  Funny, my sister and I graduated from college and a central air system went in.  I always had heat pump systems in Atlanta and I have one in Ohio which works quite well.  Here in NY, I have units installed in the wall (not window) and they are fine as we don't actually use them much even in the hot years since a lot of time is spent outdoors on porches around here.  Many of the older homes (1890s) are still not air conditioned.

As for the bonk, they happen - had one myself a couple of weeks back.  For me, they are usually due to what I did or didn't do the day before not what I did that day i.e. dehydration or poor eating and then trying to remedy it before I ran/run by trying to fuel or get in enough water. It was warm and humid here in early and mid-June, but we have hit a strange period of rain and cooler temps.  If it is 67F and 90% humidity, it feels very tolerable as compared to 80F and 90% humidity - or even 72F.  I have dehydration issues in the humidity, and it certainly doesn't help that in the first couple of weeks here, we go to lots of parties/get togethers as we have not seen each other for 9 mos and well, we are simply overserved.

No doubt a full system would be better, but the window unit was a tenth of the cost and was installed within 24 hours of ordering it. The big a/c installer was backed up until early August. Ugh. They push the heat pumps a lot here, probably because it's super humid during most of the winter, which gives the system something to draw heat from rather than burning natural gas.

My bonk wasn't a big mystery (waited way too long to refuel), but it was warmer ... which probably didn't help. My challenge right now is coming back from it. I've been ridiculously hungry this week, and my energy level still isn't back up to normal. Of course, the heat may have something to do with that, as well.

And the crazy thing, as I mentioned before, is that what we consider "summer" doesn't usually start until after the Fourth of July. And by all standards, we've already had a very hot and dry summer! August could be nuts, unless the planet just shifted all the seasons up a month... hm.

And oh, yes. Fluff helped.



Oh, Fluff.

Finished product: (Fluff wasn't in it at this point.)

What a weird week.

Thanks to my crash on Monday and my air conditioner installation on Thursday, I'm sore all over. And possibly because of the heat, and maybe other things, I've been unusually fatigued and fuzzy headed. (Yes, Doug, more than usual.) And, to make things more interesting, I'm twitchy and anxious. Not even the fun type like in taper. What the heck's going on?

I'd like to sleep it off, but of course that's not possible. Besides, if I want to run, I need to get up at the @ss crack of dawn to do it before it gets too hot. Annd... I'm still debating whether to keep trying distance in my sandals or switch back to shoes for runs longer than 10 miles, and wondering about the 50K in October, and a whole bunch of other stuff.

I'm not sure if something is triggering my nervous system and making these relatively routine things seem worse, or if it's the combination of thinking of them too much that's got my nervous system all jacked up. (Maybe it's all the random fireworks explosions. Alita says she's twitchy waiting for the next disaster to strike, so I guess I'm not alone.)

Like I said. Weird.

Nice job with the AC. I put in six of those about a month ago. Sorry for your heat!

I don't know what to say about the free radical anxiety. I could say don't worry about it, but that's sort of the point, right?

This too shall pass.

Maybe it was all anticipatory of the COMPLETELY FREAKING INSANE DAY we're having here at work, with high temperatures, wind, extremely dry vegetation and bark dust -- and no significant restrictions on fireworks use.

Fire. Everywhere. I could use four reporters, a rewrite person, two photographers and a video person, plus a person dedicated to social media. What I have is me, a reporter (who is good but not yet able to replicate spontaneously)... and that's it. Keeping up the best we can.

Hopefully there will still be a county left to deliver a newspaper to tomorrow morning.

Well, the twisted maniacs didn't blow it *all* to hell...

Got to bed extremely late last night, after an extended high-intensity shift trying to get the news of an insane number of fires out via Twitter, Facebook, our website and, of course, the actual newspaper. Totally blew up my Twitter stats in the process, which is kind of nice, but I think it sucked my adrenal glands dry. Slept in this morning and taking it easy today. Hopefully I'll feel up to getting up early Monday for a longer run.

The forecasters said today that they think this heatwave is going to finally let go by the end of this week, with temperatures in the 80s rather than the mid-to-upper 90s. No rain, of course, so it'll stay dry. But at least the fireworks are done for another year.

At least it wasn't boring.

What is "bark dust?"

And since you are THE COLOMBIAN, is it still grammatically correct to put quotation marks outside the punctuation mark?
e.g. What is "bark dust?" versus What is "bark dust"? 

ounce wrote:At least it wasn't boring.

What is "bark dust?"

And since you are THE COLOMBIAN, is it still grammatically correct to put quotation marks outside the punctuation mark?
e.g. What is "bark dust?" versus What is "bark dust"? 

No, not boring at all.

Bark dust (no quotes necessary, which neatly avoids the whole placement of punctuation question) is a forest byproduct commonly used as a soil enricher or top dressing for planting beds. In these parts, it often goes by trade names such as Beauty Bark or Bark-O-Mulch, though it's not usually composted, so it's not very mulchy.

Nobody I know actually calls it bark dust, though the folks who programmed the computerized 911 dispatch system apparently decided to avoid any trade name confusion and just call it what it is... essentially, ground up bark.

(As far as punctuation and quotes goes, the only punctuation that lives outside quote marks in every instance is a semicolon, if I remember correctly. I don't have my AP Stylebook handy, however, so this might not be 100% accurate in every instance -- and at any rate, these are the sorts of details that can get a group of copy editors arguing for hours. Which is fun, unless they're arguing with you. But I digress. That said, if you have the title of something, say, "The Sun Also Rises," the punctuation lives inside the quote marks UNLESS it would cause confusion. As in, have you read "The Sun Also Rises"? Throwing quote marks around an unfamiliar term does not make it a title in any case, so I'd say the punctuation goes within.)

A twofer! (for ~19.62 miles)

Long Run: 16.22 miles (longest in more than a year, and longest *ever* in Lunas.)

Weather: Clear, warming rapidly. 59-70° Gear: Lunas, shorts, T, handheld. Fuel: Corn flakes and coffee before; split LaraBar in two 100 cal chunks, at 1:15 and 2:15. Took Gu at about 2:45. Endurolytes on the hour.

Longest run for me in well over a year, and the longest runs in sandals ever. I was worried about how it'd turn out, and I aimed to run it as steady and relaxed as I could. I also wanted to fix my fueling from last week, which was a bit of a disaster.

By all measures, I'd say this was a success. My paces were fairly consistent, and a bit faster. My HR was a bit higher as the run continued but not horribly so. It wasn't a pure low HR run, but I was okay with that.

Walked first and last 5 minutes. Average HR for entire run: 135

•••

Trail Hike: 3.4 miles

Weather: Sunny, warmer. 73-78 Gear: Altra Lone Peaks, shorts, T. Fuel: Some toast, cheese and coffee (acidy.)

Once I got back home from my long run, I asked if Alita wanted to head out to our local woods for a hike. We had a bit of food before (my guts didn't like the bread) and enjoyed the shade of the trees before it got too hot. (It hit 97 yesterday.)

We mostly walked, though we did do a little bit of downhill running, which was fun and good practice for me on somewhat fatigued legs.

(Note: My Garmin said 2.4, and the RunningAhead GPS converter switched it to 2.83, but Alita's iPhone said 3.4... so I'm going with that. It's a newer chipset, so it's probably more accurate. )

Down here, bark mulch is the composted stuff.  No trade name, like Xerox.

Gratz on the day in the teens.  You might just become a runner, yet!  Let me know what it's like, when you get there.

ounce wrote:Down here, bark mulch is the composted stuff.  No trade name, like Xerox.

Gratz on the day in the teens.  You might just become a runner, yet!  Let me know what it's like, when you get there.

Up here is where all the bark came from, when they used to peel giant trees for plywood. That was before the rise of OSB, which can be manufactured with much cheaper and easier to harvest trees in woodlots in low-wage areas.

Thanks on the Gratz. Still hope for these sandals at distance yet. I'll just need to remember to keep working on my calf strength.

I never thought about it until now, but I always had a good sense of satisfaction when I could do 16-19 miles and still be functional.  I didn't expect a lot of functionality after 20-22 mile runs.

As far as mulch, I know it's Spring when you get that unmistakable odor of pine bark mulch.  It's so sad to see big bark mulch mounds going up 6 inches on the trunks of trees around here because they think it helps the moisture retention, when it actually weakens the tree.

ounce wrote:I never thought about it until now, but I always had a good sense of satisfaction when I could do 16-19 miles and still be functional.  I didn't expect a lot of functionality after 20-22 mile runs.

As far as mulch, I know it's Spring when you get that unmistakable odor of pine bark mulch.  It's so sad to see big bark mulch mounds going up 6 inches on the trunks of trees around here because they think it helps the moisture retention, when it actually weakens the tree.

Good point. It was nice (and encouraging) to be able to pop out the door shortly after returning from a longish run and head to the woods for a few more miles, even walking. I switched out of my Lunas into my trail shoes, though, to ease the strain on the tootsies.

I'm feeling pretty good about the Lunas for distance now, maybe because I'm having to work the distance up gradually anyway. It seems to be helping with form and strength. When we were trotting downhill on the trails, I mentally adjusted to a barefoot/sandal form, and it felt like I was floating. Nifty.

I was sore when I first got up this morning (no surprise there) but things are loosening up nicely. So far, so good.

Mark B wrote:

ounce wrote:Is it still grammatically correct to put quotation marks outside the punctuation mark?
e.g. What is "bark dust?" versus What is "bark dust"? 

As far as punctuation and quotes goes, the only punctuation that lives outside quote marks in every instance is a semicolon, if I remember correctly. I don't have my AP Stylebook handy, however, so this might not be 100% accurate in every instance -- and at any rate, these are the sorts of details that can get a group of copy editors arguing for hours. Which is fun, unless they're arguing with you. But I digress. That said, if you have the title of something, say, "The Sun Also Rises," the punctuation lives inside the quote marks UNLESS it would cause confusion. As in, have you read "The Sun Also Rises"? Throwing quote marks around an unfamiliar term does not make it a title in any case, so I'd say the punctuation goes within.)

Word nerd update:

I'm back at work, with access to my trusty AP Stylebook, and I see that I was pretty much what I told you.

Here are the actual rules:

Unfamiliar terms: A word or words being introduced to readers may be placed in quotation marks on first reference. Do not put subsequent references to the word in quotation marks.

Placement with punctuation: Follow these long-established printers rules:
-The period and comma always go within the quotation marks.
-The dash, the semicolon, the question mark and the exclamation mark go within the quotation marks when they apply to the quoted matter only. They go outside when they apply to the whole sentence. (Interestingly, however, the AP Stylebook says elsewhere that semicolons always go outside quotation marks.)

Mark B wrote:

Mark B wrote:

ounce wrote:Is it still grammatically correct to put quotation marks outside the punctuation mark?
e.g. What is "bark dust?" versus What is "bark dust"? 

As far as punctuation and quotes goes, the only punctuation that lives outside quote marks in every instance is a semicolon, if I remember correctly. I don't have my AP Stylebook handy, however, so this might not be 100% accurate in every instance -- and at any rate, these are the sorts of details that can get a group of copy editors arguing for hours. Which is fun, unless they're arguing with you. But I digress. That said, if you have the title of something, say, "The Sun Also Rises," the punctuation lives inside the quote marks UNLESS it would cause confusion. As in, have you read "The Sun Also Rises"? Throwing quote marks around an unfamiliar term does not make it a title in any case, so I'd say the punctuation goes within.)

Word nerd update:

I'm back at work, with access to my trusty AP Stylebook, and I see that I was pretty much what I told you.

Here are the actual rules:

Unfamiliar terms: A word or words being introduced to readers may be placed in quotation marks on first reference. Do not put subsequent references to the word in quotation marks.

Placement with punctuation: Follow these long-established printers rules:
-The period and comma always go within the quotation marks.
-The dash, the semicolon, the question mark and the exclamation mark go within the quotation marks when they apply to the quoted matter only. They go outside when they apply to the whole sentence. (Interestingly, however, the AP Stylebook says elsewhere that semicolons always go outside quotation marks.)

That should settle it.  Thanks.  Maybe the next time Matt shows up, he can sticky this thread for just this post.

Bare-Footiversary Run: 3.1 miles

Weather: Partly cloudy, muggy, mild. 63° Gear: Bare feet, shorts, T. Fuel: Some coffee before.

I started experimenting with barefoot running back in February 2012 as a way to strengthen my feet and ankles and improve my coordination; I'd twisted my ankles too regularly to make good progress trail running. I didn't know it'd be so much fun, and so fast. But it was!

So it was no small occasion this morning when I passed the 500 mile mark barefoot. I wish I'd thought to photograph my feet back then so I could compare them, but I know they look notably different. More muscles. Better arch. Toes that actually DO something. The pads on my feet have developed nicely, and callus buildup comes mostly from my time in shoes. So far, so good.

The run itself was also good. I started out creaky, the first run after by long day Monday. I loosened up after about a half mile and was surprised to see my first mile split come in at 11:15. I paused to take a photo to celebrate...


(Two big toes up!)

... then got back to my run. At 11:11, my second mile was slightly faster than the first. That's when I decided to make this a sort-of progression run and picked up the pace/effort for the last 1.1 miles. I got my HR up to an average of 150 and hit Mile 3 in 9:28. Then I floored it and did the last tenth of a mile at a sub-7 pace. Whee! Celebrate!

Average HR for entire run: 137

So "bark dust" is what we call "bark mulch" here in NE Oh and basically the northern parts of the east coast.  In GA, we used pine straw for our planting beds, but here it is mulch.

As for the barefoot running, I'm betting your neighbors till wonder why you can't afford shoes! 

Me thinks you need not forget those trail shoes for that upcoming race - hehehe.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:So "bark dust" is what we call "bark mulch" here in NE Oh and basically the northern parts of the east coast.  In GA, we used pine straw for our planting beds, but here it is mulch.

As for the barefoot running, I'm betting your neighbors still wonder why you can't afford shoes! 

Me thinks you need not forget those trail shoes for that upcoming race - hehehe.

My neighbors gave up wondering about me long ago.

Of course, one neighbor (funny guy that he is) swerved his car as if he was going to run me over this morning. I bent over and pretended to moon him. He appreciated that.

I'd never heard of pine straw before. Interesting. Definitely better suited to a place where it rains every month of the year, not the West, where we have an extended summer drought. Looks like it'd burst into flame just looking at it.

And yes, I'm mixing it up with footwear. I'll be doing part of the race (the beach part) either barefoot or in sandals, but I'll switch into shoes when I hit the trails. It ought to be fun.

Mark B wrote:

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:So "bark dust" is what we call "bark mulch" here in NE Oh and basically the northern parts of the east coast.  In GA, we used pine straw for our planting beds, but here it is mulch.

As for the barefoot running, I'm betting your neighbors still wonder why you can't afford shoes! 

Me thinks you need not forget those trail shoes for that upcoming race - hehehe.

My neighbors gave up wondering about me long ago.

Of course, one neighbor (funny guy that he is) swerved his car as if he was going to run me over this morning. I belt over and pretended to moon him. He appreciated that.

I'd never heard of pine straw before. Interesting. Definitely better suited to a place where it rains every month of the year, not the West, where we have an extended summer drought. Looks like it'd burst into flame just looking at it.

And yes, I'm mixing it up with footwear. I'll be doing part of the race (the beach part) either barefoot or in sandals, but I'll switch into shoes when I hit the trails. It ought to be fun.

The neighborhood that I run through in Houston, pine needles (synonymous with pine straw) wouldn't dare be used because that would require the owner to actually maintain his own lawn.

It's a good thing that I don't live in your neighborhood...and know that 'one neighbor.' 

Miche1e, he can't afford shoes because he's been saving up for that window unit A/C.

Congrats on the 500 barefoot miles!

Good choice on the window AC unit...much more affordable and available quickly as well.  My nephew moved from Dallas Texas to Sandy, Oregon on June 1st.  He survived the tornado in his neighborhood to arrive just in time for our heat wave.  He made a homemade AC unit out of a cooler full of ice and a fan but soon realized that he was making way to many trips to the store for more ice and bought a window unit.  Looks like our heat wave is dissipating at least somewhat.  We're dodging thunderstorms but they probably aren't as big of an issue for you.

nkrichards wrote:Congrats on the 500 barefoot miles!

Good choice on the window AC unit...much more affordable and available quickly as well.  My nephew moved from Dallas Texas to Sandy, Oregon on June 1st.  He survived the tornado in his neighborhood to arrive just in time for our heat wave.  He made a homemade AC unit out of a cooler full of ice and a fan but soon realized that he was making way to many trips to the store for more ice and bought a window unit.  Looks like our heat wave is dissipating at least somewhat.  We're dodging thunderstorms but they probably aren't as big of an issue for you.

Hey, Nancy! Yes, the window unit was absolutely the right choice. It gets the downstairs quite comfortable, even when it's pushing 100 outside, and the lack of hot air rising from downstairs helps make it a little less hot upstairs. And at a tenth of the price of the cheapest option, and nearly immediate? Well, this one was a no-brainer. Kind of wish we'd done it years ago.

If we ever want to explore cooling parts of the upstairs (where our bedrooms are), we'd probably try portable units since all our upstairs windows are sliders. But what we have now is good for now.

Kind of envious of your thunderstorms. We hardly ever get them on this side of the Cascades, especially so close to the mouth of the Columbia River Gorge. Wind currents tend to break them up as they approach.

Low HR Run: 6.3 miles

Weather: Overcast, mild & muggy. 61° Gear: Lunas, shorts, T. Fuel: Just coffee before, water in handheld.

A slightly more difficult run today, with some extra fatigue setting in as the week progresses. Monday's long run, and yesterday's faster outing probably get the credit. I thought about keeping it at 4 miles, but I really do need to get these midweek sorta-longs a little, well, longer. Besides, I need to reacquaint my legs with running while fatigued, right? At least drill the body on maintaining good form while fatigued. If I want to do the cool races, I need to do the work. That's how I get my ticket punched.

Maintaining HR was tricky, and the miles seemed long, but I was surprised that I actually ran them at a decent pace.

Anyway, the run was complicated by a two-mile porta-potty detour that threw off my plans, but after that I was able to head out into the country and get to see a new group of llamas on my route. They were sporting new haircuts, which makes sense given the heat we've been having. The heat is supposed to finally break over the next few days, though it'll be back to more normal summer temps.

Walked first and last 5 minutes (or so) average HR for entire run: 127

Low HR Run: 6 miles

Weather: Partly cloudy, mild. 64 degrees. Gear: Lunas, shorts, T. Fuel: Coffee and 1/2 granola bar back before, a little water during

Met up with my training partner, as well as with his wife and Alita, for an outing on the Salmon Creek Trail. The plan was for them to walk and us to run. They must have walked pretty fast, because they did 4.8 miles compared to our 6.

My body is feeling the effect of what's become a 40-mile week -- which is an abrupt increase from what I have been doing -- and my plans to do another long run (16-18) tomorrow has me a little worried. Don't want to hurt myself by being reckless. Guess I'll cross my fingers and hope for the best.

HR discipline was sort of maintained, though it was still higher than my low HR goal. Couldn't get my partner to slow down. (Not that we were going fast, mind you, but still.)

Saw three deer out there this morning (two does, one fawn), which was nice.

Walked first 5, and then whatever distance it was when we met up with the walking spouses.

Average HR for the entire run: 122

Your 'abrupt increase' won't be an issue.  Write it down.

On a quick change to weather, I've seen a forecast of the country on which areas will see at least an inch of rain from now to July 28.  Looks like Texas and the whole West Coast north of LA and south of Seattle have a 10% chance (including Nancy).  Miche1e, on the other hand, has a 90% chance at either residence.

No charge.