Don't Run So Hard!

I'm all about running, and even running hard, but these pour bastards are not enjoying themselves.

In my humble and completely non-validated opinion, if you're just running for the heck of it, as I imagine most users of the Map My Run service are, you have no business looking this miserable.  Unless you're being paid by a shoe / apparel / whatever company to spend all your time thinking about running, or you're being chased by something that can do you some serious harm, and you're still this unhappy looking, you should probably find a new hobby.

I mean, I don't always love every minute of my runs, but there are four people in this picture who are clearly not enjoying themselves.  They are sprinting for their lives, trying to advertise for a "challenge" that involves running an average of about 12 miles per week.  Nothing to shake a stick at, but not exactly Olympian territory.  Wouldn't a picture of a group of runners who look like they are enjoying their chosen pastime and might, just possibly, have a life outside of running really hard in your particular brand of running gear be a tad more inclusive and encouraging?

Folks who are going to run more than 600 miles this year have figured out some other source of motivation, and watching others struggle probably isn't it.

Now, take a deep breath, smile, and have a nice jog.  Or walk.  Or swim.  Or read.  Whatever makes you happy, even if it's a struggle.  :o)

Final Fantasy XV Glitch Run

There is an "out of bounds glitch" in Final Fantasy XV that has been making the nerd-news rounds recently, and some players have made videos of the seemingly unused spaces in the game. The video in the Engadget post is just an hour of the main character running around this world, showing it off to other gamers and those of us who don't even know Final Fantasy from Zelda. It's pretty mesmerizing.

And it really makes me want to go outside and run.


It also seems like too much work for the designers and artists for this part of the game world to not have a greater purpose. But that might be getting in to a much deeper philosophical conversation...

Transit perspectives

Sometimes I get so bent out of shape when the DC metro is broken and Uber is surging or there are no taxis to be found and I'm already late and frustrated. But really, I should be grateful that, even with all its downfalls, I live in a city with a lot of options to get where I need to go. Even if they're not always as convenient as I'd like.

If I were back on Colorado, my opinion would be to drive myself, walk a really long way, or to not go.

I'm really quite spoiled, and if I would just leave a little earlier for things, it wouldn't be nearly as frustrating.

Although, in places like Colorado, there is ample free parking. So there's that...

Can't wait for a new Ford Ranger

Road and Track (along with pretty much everyone else in the automotive press covered Ford's announcement today at the Detroit Auto Show (er, North American International Auto something-or-another) that the much missed (by me) Ranger will make a return in 2019! Read their coverage here.

While it's very reasonable that the "new" US Ranger will just be the world model with a different grill and headlights, and I would still theoretically love to have one, I think Ford could still do well in the US with an even smaller pickup.

Many people associate height with car size, bit width is the main determinimg factor in how big a vehicle really is. A narrower vehicle can go places that a wider one can't, but it will also feel smaller inside. My 1992 Ranger is only 67" wide. The current "T-6" Ranger sold in the rest of the world is 73" wide. That 6" growth has probably lead to a safer, more comfortable truck, but I imagine I would still miss the feeling of being able squeeze through just about any gap that such a small truck gives you.

Even a 2016 Focus is 72" wide, only an inch narrower than the current Ranger! If Ford were to build a truly small pickup on an existing US market platform, it would have to start with the Fiesta, which is only 68" wide.

I could definitely imagine a Ford Courier throwback built in a Fiesta platform -- unibody, front wheel drive, and all. The whole thing would only weigh around 2,800 lbs if they could keep it a two-seater, and if it had a payload capacity of 1,500 or so, that would be more then enough for a whole lot of folks to cart around their "active lifestyle" accessories, still get 30mpg, and park anywhere. It wouldn't be fast and you wouldn't be doing any off-roading, but few new vehicles ever see a dirt road anyway.

I know Ford would never build this kind of a car for the American market, but I can dream, right? In the meantime, I suppose I should start saving for a 2019 Ranger, even if it's a bit bigger than I would prefer.

Making blogging easier...

...Maybe.

I'm not very good at remembering to blog. Which isn't really that big of a deal, because it's not like the Internet is short on mediocre content that most people will never see. But sometimes I think that I want to share something that I have thoughts on, but I don't want to just Tweet it or share it to Facebook. There's just too much friction involved in the process of sharing something a little more in depth than a tweet. Unless it's a picture, because Instagram is awesome.

So, in this post I'm trying out an Android app that posts to my old Blogger blog. I'm also going to try to share a link to an article directly from Chrome and maybe post a picture!


Here's a picture of the nail that I pulled out of the work van's tire. No wonder it was going flat all the time! I managed to "fix" it with a plug kit, but I haven't had a chance to check to see if it's still holding air.

That's all for now. We'll see how it turns out!