by ·Comments Off on Running a Half Marathon: What Happens When You Do Things You Aren’t Supposed To

Background

This is an account of a half marathon I did on 01 Nov 2015.  I didn’t prepare for this run.  On top of this, my left foot ankle felt sore, and I put on a pair of shoes I’ve never used in a training run before (i.e. new pair of shoes).  It was Halloween the night before, and so I stayed up late–sleeping past midnight.

All these things didn’t align with running a 13.1 mile course.  In this article, I will share with you the result of this run.

The Result

I completed the run in 2 hours and 17 minutes (2:17:36 to be exact).

The weather was mild, but got hot after one hour of running.  My Nike Air Pegasus 30 actually held up well–meaning that it felt great and its newness was not a factor in my run.  As a matter of fact, it helped keep the soreness on my left foot and ankle under control.  It felt very comfortable, and it felt great over the varied terrain (concrete, asphalt, dirt, and gravel) the run presented.

My lack of training really kicked in at around mile 7.  There my pace started to leave the sub 10 minute pace and into the 10+ and 11+ range.

Mile 6 to 7 Splits

Mile 6 to 7 Splits

Below is my splits chart.  It has more pace data point and provides a visual on where things went south for me.  At point 1 below, my pace just started to go up almost linearly over distance and reached a plateau of 11:40 pace at around 11 miles.  Coincidentally, 5 miles was probably the longest distance I have run recently in my sparse running schedule.

Splits Chart

Conclusion

The are three things you can conclude from my half marathon experience.

  1. It is possible to get a new pair of shoes that would help reduce the effect of some form of injury on a run.  The injury wasn’t bothering me enough that I could not run.
  2. Even without training for a half marathon, you can complete one.  Especially if you are in good heath.
  3. Without training, your body isn’t tuned enough to handle the prolonged run.  In my case, my pace degraded after mile 5, and settled to a pace that I could maintain to the end.

If you think this was useful, let me know.  If you have had a similar experience, please share by commenting below.

by ·Comments Off on The ASUS ROG G751JL-DS71 17.3″ Gaming Laptop

I’ve been looking for a nice but cost effective gaming laptop for some time now.  After over a month of searching, I found  the ASUS ROG G751JL-DS71 17.3-Inch Gaming Laptop which my wife purchased for me at Amazon.com.  At the time of purchase, the unit cost $1199.  For this price I got an awesome ASUS gaming laptop with the following specs:

  • 17.3″ display screen
  • 1TB of 7400 RPM hard disk drive
  • 16GB of RAM
  • Intel i7 processor
  • NVIDIA 965M with 2GB of video RAM

At the time of this writing, I’ve had the laptop for a period of over one month.  To date, I’ve used it to play awesome games like Guild Wars 2, The Witcher: Wild Hunt, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Minecraft, and Grand Theft Auto V.  My experience with the unit and the games has been great to say the least.

The laptop performed extremely well.  Specifically, I didn’t perceive any lag in any of the games I’ve played.  Even with the graphics settings set to maximum, the laptop ran and displayed the games smoothly.  In addition, the fast 7400 RPM 1TB hard disk drive really showed off ASUS ROG G751JS’s speed in terms of boot time.  I could really perceive its fast boot speed having used a solid state drive on a work laptop.

I could easily run a benchmark test on the unit, but my own senses really could really tell that this unit is a computing and gaming workhorse.  At the price my wife purchased this for, $1199 is well worth the price.  Depending on supply and demand, the price for this awesome gaming laptop could go up or down.

I highly recommend this laptop, especially if you are looking for a cost effective entry level gaming laptop.  Note that the only “entry level” about this laptop is its price.

If you have the same laptop, please share your experience by commenting below.

by ·Comments Off on USB Device Not Recognized by Windows!

For the last several weeks, I thought that Windows 10 had a problem with detecting mobile devices when connected via a USB cable.  First I thought it had something to do with Windows 10 not having the latest driver for mobile devices.  But when I connected the same mobile devices on my Windows 7 machines, the same error message popped up.

I’ve never seen this problem before, but one thing for sure…the common denominator between the Windows 10 and Windows 7 computers is the USB cable.  Fortunately, I had another USB cable to try out.  Low and behold, all my mobile devices started to connect with all my computer!

As it turns out, the issue wasn’t driver related, but was the USB cable.

I was starting to lose hope until today, trying different things to somehow get the driver working.

The moral of the story…don’t miscount anything, even when it doesn’t look broken.

If you found this article useful and helpful, please share it and make sure to let us know by commenting below.

Thanks!

by ·Comments Off on Windows 10 and PC version of Minecraft

On July 29, 2015, Microsoft released the long awaited Windows 10.  Anyone who has Windows  7 or higher gets the upgrade for free.  This is a great move for Microsoft in order to quickly get the masses to move over to their supposedly last main Windows version.  From here on, Windows 10 users will get updates much like apps get updates.

Anyway, overall the update from Windows 7 to 10 on my computer went pretty smooth.  The main hiccup during the update was mainly to the process of switching to an online Microsoft account as the computer login.  I followed the steps as prompted, yet the process would just take me around in circles, always coming back to asking me for the my Microsoft account, my password and looking like it was going to work.

I got tired of trying to make it work, so I just cancelled out of it and restarted my computer. Then it happened.  It prompted me to login using my online Microsoft account.  I typed my password and was able to get into my desktop.

S0 far all the programs I use on it are working except for the PC version of Minecraft.  After the upgrade launching Minecraft causes the error “The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000018).”

At first I thought that I needed to update my version of JAVA.  I did that but the error continued.  Then I did a search on the web for that error message and I found my answer at http://goo.gl/0iUKo2.  I asked that you delete the Windows registry entry APPINIT_DLLS located at:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\­Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Windo­­ws

After I deleted that entry and restarted Windows, I was again able to run the PC version of Minecraft on my computer.  Note that I’m not 100% sure if this issue was caused by the update to Windows 10 because I installed the BETA version of Minecraft for Windows 10 before trying to run the PC version.  Regardless, if you happen to run into this issue, the solution requires the deletion of the APPINIT_DLLS parameter located at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\­Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Windo­­ws.

Thanks for reading.  Let me know by commenting below when you started experiencing this issue when launching the PC version of Minecraft.

by ·Comments Off on Video/Screen Capture from HDCP Protected Devices
ViewHD 2 Port 1x2 Powered HDMI Mini Splitter

ViewHD 2 Port 1×2 Powered HDMI Mini Splitter

Recently I encountered a problem with trying to do a video capture of a game I was playing on an Android device.  The device in question happens to  be a RCA tablet, and I was using an Elgato Game Capture HD device.

On the Elgato game capture program I noticed that although the signal was being detected, it wasn’t showing the screen.  It stated something about disabling HDCP in order for it to work.  Upon doing some Internet research, I discovered that HDCP–which stands for high-bandwidth digital content protection–was a content protection scheme implemented on connection like the one I was working on.

I thought that I just wasted about $7 buying this HDMI A type (standard size) to C type (mini size) cable (a BlueRigger high speed mini HDMI to HDMI cable, 6 ft — http://amzn.to/1dDQ4Y8) because the connection is blocked by this HDCP protection scheme.

Upon doing a bit of checking around on the web, I found that purchasing a certain HDMI splitter can get around the issue.  I found the ViewHD 2 Port 1×2 Powered HDMI Mini Splitter (http://amzn.to/1KDlloV) for about $24.  I received and tried it, and low and behold, I can do video screen capture!  Problem solved.

by ·Comments Off on Positive Mental Attitude and Health
Positive Mental Attitude

PMA is positive mental attitude

How you feel about things around you really depends on how and what you think.  And how you think about things can impact your health.

There has been a lot of studies that link better health to positive thinking or optimism.  At the Mayo clinic, they discuss how one can reduce stress by positive thinking.  As most of you know when you are depressed or stressed out, your health level goes down, and your immune system suffers–making you more susceptible to getting sick.  Just check out this article from the American Psychological Association titled “Stress Weakens the Immune System“.

The truth of the matter is, what you truly think depends on what story you tell yourself when interpreting a situation or event.  Thus, if you want to be healthy tell yourself good positive stories about the situation or event in front of you, and you will find yourself feeling better.

This week, our focus is on Taekwondo’s last tenet–“Victory“.  Victory stands for positive mental attitude.  Please think of situations that have caused you mental grief and figure out how you can change the story you tell yourself in order to shed a more positive light into the matter.  After all, there is a positive and negative to everything–you just need to focus on the positive.

 

 

by ·Comments Off on Goal Setting for 2015

One of the most powerful tools in life is goal setting.  Goal setting gives you direction and purpose.  Without goals, it is very likely your daily activities will have no relation to what you desire and possibly achieve in life.  By challenging yourself with a goal, you can take little steps daily to get you closer to that goal.  Goal setting is one of the key tools towards achieving success in life.

This new year, as with every new year, brings about the urge from everyone to resolve to do something.  This year, why not set one to three goals you can realistically complete before the end of the year.  Remember, when you set a goal, you need to keep these things in mind:

  1. I your goal realistic?
  2. Can your progress towards your goal be measured?
  3. Does your goal contribute to your or others’ betterment?

Is Your Goal Realistic?

The very first thing you need to look at is how realistic is your goal.  Is whatever you are aspiring to do even physically or temporally possible?

For example, let’s say you are a runner and wish to improve your time for running a 10Km race.  You set a goal to be able to run a 10K in 10 minutes.  Of course this is pretty absurd.  The fastest runner on record to do a 10K is Leonard Patrick Komon of Kenya.  He did it in 26 minutes and 44 seconds (26:44).  Here’s another example of an unrealistic goal for 2015.  Supposing that you are only a 7th grader struggling with your class in introduction to Algebra.  You set your goal to get a degree in Math so you can teach Math in school by the end of 2015.  Again, this is another example of an absurd goal which isn’t possible considering your age and that it takes about 4 years to complete a degree in college.

Here’s an example of a realistic goal.  Say you can run the 10Km (6.2 miles) race in 1 hour.  This year you want to set a goal to run a half marathon (13.1 miles).  This is definitely feasible.  If you are able to sustain the same speed as your 10Km run, you may even complete a half marathon in about 2 hours and 7 minutes.  And with consistent training, you can easily improve your chances of beating expectations.

Another example of a realistic goal is to read 12 books by the end of 2015.  This is definitely possible especially if you pick books that interests you greatly.  Some people are known to complete a book reading of a typical paper back book in one day!  So yes, reading 12 books in a year is extremely possible.

Can You Measure Your Goal Progress?

You can’t really tell if you’ve achieved a goal if there is no way to measure your progress towards it.  Here’s an example of a measurable goal.

You are a freshman in high school, and you set your eyes on getting straight As (or 4s) for all you classes for both the school year ending in June and the first semester ending in December 2015.  During the semester, you get feedback from the teacher regarding how you are progressing through your scores on pop quizzes, homework, mid term testing, and final testing.

This is definitely feasible if you study daily to ensure you understand the class topics, and ask for help on subject matter you don’t understand.  It may not be easy, but it is doable.  As you take your tests during the semester, the scores you get is measurement of your progress.  If you aren’t getting the scores you need to achieve the desired goal, you need to make adjustments to how you study or ask for help; perhaps you need to join a study group to help you understand the subject matter better.  Regardless of what you do, the point is that you can adjust your actions as a result of the means to measure your progress towards your goal.

Does Your Goal Benefit You and/or Others?

It doesn’t make any sense to set goals that do not help you or others in a positive way.  For example, setting a goal to reach 1 million points in a video game is most likely not a worthwhile goal for you or anyone.

On the other hand, setting a goal to run a half marathon can be beneficial to your health.  It may also help benefit others who you inspire to exercise, aside from helping fund the charity the event organizer is supporting.

Summary

Set one to three goals for the year 2015.  Remember to keep these in mind when setting goals:

  • Is the goal realistic?
  • Can you measure your progress towards the goal?
  • Does the end-result of the goal benefit your or others in a positive way?

If you’ve already set a goal this year, why not share it by posting a comment below.

by ·Comments Off on Installing a Hard Disk Drive on a XBOX 360 4GB

Several years ago, I purchased a XBOX 360. I opted for the XBOX 360 4GB because of price. I thought that 4GB was enough. But with the massive growth in size of software applications as a result of storage price going down, some new games that came out for the XBOX 360, especially in 2014, will only work on XBOX 360 models that have a built-in hard disk drive. Destiny is such a game.

After some serious searching on Amazon.com, I found the perfect drive–a generic 500GB hard disk drive designed for the XBOX 360 slim form factor model.

The drive came in within 2 days.

The most challenging aspect of installing the drive was figuring out how to open the bottom of the XBOX 360 case.  I did a search on youtube.com and found a video that showed me how to open it.  As it turns out, no tools are required–just your finger to pull a latch, then pry the cover open.

Once the drive bay is open, just push the new drive in until you feel that it has snapped in.

When you turn the XBOX 360 ON, go to the SYSTEM settings and look at the storage section.  If everything worked out, XBOX 360 will detect the hard disk drive and will make it available for storage.

by ·Comments Off on Why is “Courtesy” Important to Martial Artists?

Google “courtesy” and this is what you’ll get:

“noun:   the showing of politeness in one’s attitude and behavior toward others.”

Courtesy is “the” very first tenet of Taekwondo.  It is number one because of some of the things we learn to defend ourselves.

Imagine, for example, someone learning various techniques that can hurt others.  Then imagine that this person is not a nice person.  This sounds like a bully and a dangerous person.

Think about it?

As martial artists, we are held to a higher standard by others and ourselves, because we know that without courtesy, we can be a danger to others.

This week, look for examples of courtesy at your school, at home, at the mall, and everywhere.  Share what you saw so that others can have a better understanding of the number one tenet of Taekwondo.