Runner's diarrhea

And I thought it's just my sensitive digestive tract.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/runners-diarrhea/AN00376

How life should be...

Last night's reading was particularly touching.  So obviously my life is far from the ideal...

Gal 5:18-25

Brothers and sisters:
If you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Now the works of the flesh are obvious:
immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry,
sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy,
outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness,
dissensions, factions, occasions of envy,
drinking bouts, orgies, and the like.
I warn you, as I warned you before,
that those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Against such there is no law.
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh
with its passions and desires.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit.

My race calendar - updated again!

My racing year turned out to be busier than I intended!  Here's how it looks now :

25 Feb - Singapore Duathlon (10km run / 36km cycle / 5km run)

1 Apr - 2XU Compression run (15km - free race in KY's stead)

1 May - SIS Age Group run (10km - free race after they canceled Fear Challenge)

26 May - Adidas Sundown Marathon (21km)

1 July - Gold Coast Airport Marathon (42km)

15 July - SIS Age Group run (15km - free race in Manly's stead)

9 Sep - Army Half Marathon (21km)

13 Oct - North Face trail (50km)

21 Oct - Nike SG run (10km)

28 Oct - Newton run (30km)
11 Nov - Great Eastern run (21km - free race in Linny's stead)
18 Nov - Run for Hope (10km - free race given by Peter's friend)
24 Nov - Brooks Happy Run (9km)

1 Dec - Standard Chartered Marathon (42km)

30 Dec - MR25 Ultra (50km)

That's 15 races in total this year.  All the races + training runs = a lot of mileage!  Next year I will return to the basics.  Run short distances and enjoy the process.  For now til Dec 30, I will need to keep my game face on.  Because as the coach put it, pain is temporary, glory is forever!

I.am.an.ultra.marathoner

The results from the North Face run is out so early - 27 out of 76.  Yes, only 76 women in Singapore were mad enough.

It was a great race actually.  I was immensely blessed.  God gave me windy (pre-storm conditions) and yet held the rain til way after I left Macritchie.  I had the coach run beside me, and he even carried my water bottles for me so I ran unburdened - of cos I had to fall into a pool of mud to elicit any sympathy from him.  He kept me going...  not in the positive way, he'd barked, "comeon, run".  When I whinged about the blood, he only said "comeon run to the next checkpoint".   The pain was quite tolerable despite the fall, stomach bug, lack of training due to my laziness the last month...  I am indeed blessed.

And I could not have been able to finish so easily without Alex.  Having a pacer in him - I am very blessed.

Walked a great deal - most of the uphills I walked.  The camaraderie among the racers is just fantastic.  Everyone cheers each other on.   At the 38km mark, I looked at my watch and realise a sub-7hr timing was possible.  Together with 2 angmo ladies (one of whom is Angela Flynn who also rides with R&R - amazing coincidence), we hang together to the finish.  She finished right behind me.

The North Face Run

Last year, I wondered about this race.

This year, I signed up.

It's tomorrow.

I'm still weak from the stomach bug.


It's 50km of trail.

In the sun.

I wonder if I will need the hospital after.

Excuse, my stomach's on fire

After the BBQ on Sat night, I woke up to puke all night and since then, my stomach's been on fire.  I feel like this now

After failing with various self remedies : honey, lemonnade, 凉茶, even stronger 凉茶, I decided to see a doctor before Saturday's suicide mission (aka the North Face 50km race).

The doctor closest to home took half an hour to see 1 patient - seeing how there were 2 more patients in front of me and I had a 11am meeting, I left.  Went to my usual GP at Holland Drive during lunch (see! I told you Holland is the center of the universe).  Now to transfer the fire from my stomach to my legs and GO GO GO!

Without a Strategy, There Is No ROI

This guy sounds completely HP!  That's how we used to talk, "so what's your strategy?" is a common refrain.

http://www.briansolis.com/2012/08/without-a-strategy-there-is-no-roi/

I surrender

Spontaneous Human Combustion

I wonder about it sometimes...

And it all started from a bout of food poisoning when I had to wake up to puke numerous times.  My stomach was churning with acid for a long time.  Still churning as a matter of fact.  Running with heartburn is seriously uncomfortable, my buddy drove over for some super duper 凉茶 that costs $7!!  It's a little better, but stomach still emitting heat.

So I wonder about this.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_human_combustion

On marriage and divorce

Yesterday's reading was all about marriage.  First reading was from Genesis 2:18 on how God made Eve from a rib off Adam and the gospel reading was from Mark on marriage and divorce.

Mark 10:2-12

The Pharisees approached Jesus and asked,
"Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?"
They were testing him.
He said to them in reply, "What did Moses command you?"
They replied,
"Moses permitted a husband to write a bill of divorce
and dismiss her."
But Jesus told them,
"Because of the hardness of your hearts
he wrote you this commandment.
But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.
So they are no longer two but one flesh.
Therefore what God has joined together,
no human being must separate."
In the house the disciples again questioned Jesus about this.
He said to them,
"Whoever divorces his wife and marries another
commits adultery against her;
and if she divorces her husband and marries another,
she commits adultery."

What do you do with your lunch hour?

http://business.asiaone.com/A1Business/Careers/Out%2Bof%2Boffice/Story/A1Story20121003-375359.html

For the longest time, I ate lunch during the lunch break with my co-workers.  I have always been blessed with awesome co-workers - most of whom are still my friends til today.

In recent years, I started to use my lunch break to run errands or meet other friends.  While in Motorola, I could run to mid-day mass which was just fantastic.  I miss that.

In my current job, I totally give up.  I ate perhaps 1 week's worth of lunch with them, then I just did my own thing.  Sometimes I eat at the nearby foodcourt alone, peacefully.  Sometimes I run errands.  While I was renovating my home, I met my contractors to talk to them or shopped for furniture or house related matters.

Yesterday, I went to Far East Flora in Commonwealth over lunch.  I'm looking for cutesy plants for the kitchen.  So far, the plants I've seen are very er.. "plant like".  I want cutesy plants... I'll let you know if I find them. :)

Living like it's your last day on earth

M came back from Germany last week, for sad reasons.  We met at her dad's wake.  He had a heart attack and it happened so quick.  She was lucky to be able to jump on a flight real quick and be back with her sister and mom.  We chatted about whether he knew he was having a heart attack (he's a GP with his own clinic) - we will never know.

M and I shared a tent for 3 weeks on our Mt Everest base camp hiking trip.  We got along infamously well.  Over the years though, we lost contact.  The last time I met her was 2009 she was based in Shanghai then and me on a biz trip (I was based in Taipei then).   We caught up over breakfast in Pudong : she had gotten pregnant, then lost the baby and then got divorced.  Shortly after that, she moved to Germany and seemed happy there, judging from her Facebook photos and updates.

I didn't stay long at the wake.  She was busy entertaining visitors (there's only her mom & her sister) and a steady stream of visitors.  Her dad was well liked.  I liked him too - all the more after I reversed onto his Mercedes a lifetime ago with my little Dahatsu, and he didn't even bat an eyelid, waved me off.  

I got home positively depressed until I flipped to the day's reading and it was very comfortingly apt.

Eccl 3:1-11 
There is an appointed time for everything,
and a time for every thing under the heavens.
A time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to tear down, and a time to build.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them;

a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.
A time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away.
A time to rend, and a time to sew;
a time to be silent, and a time to speak.
A time to love, and a time to hate;
a time of war, and a time of peace

Paying for car park sucks

Ascendas changed their car park policy recently and did away with quarterly cheque payments.  Payments are now either via GIRO or AXS.  I remembered the first month after the change (Sep) and the second month after that (Oct), it slipped my mind.

So yesterday, I had to push my cash card to pay $12 for all day parking just to let myself out!  And no one was answering the phone for the carpark hotline!  Wanted to die.

This morning I had to find an AXS machine to pay for the month, en route to work.  And I contemplated leaving the car in the free car park at the top of Vigilante Drive.  In the meantime, praying and crossing my fingers that my sob story email finds compassion.  After lunch, I called the car park person again and they allowed my late payment for this month.  Thank you Jesus!  And yes, I need to mark my calendar to pay every 25 of the month.  *mutter mutter, what's wrong with cheque payments, mutter mutter*

From Yahoo News - Kodak to stop selling inkjet printers from 2013

I have friends (ex-HP) who are going to lose their jobs.  Sigh.  I hate times like these.   And as of this afternoon, I've added 2 ex-HP friends from the doomed printer division of Kodak, to my LinkedIn account.

(Reuters) - Eastman Kodak Co said it plans to stop selling inkjet printers from 2013 as it winds down most of its consumer businesses and focuses on commercial printing.

Printer makers are struggling with falling sales as companies cut costs and people increasingly use mobile devices to take snaps and share them digitally.

Lexmark International Inc said last month that it will stop making inkjet printers and focus on its more profitable imaging and software businesses.

Kodak, which has already shuttered its digital camera business, said on Friday it expects to incur a charge of $90 million related to the wind-down of the inkjet business.

The company will, however, continue to sell ink to existing customers of inkjet printers.

Kodak, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this year after struggling to adapt to the digital age, also said it received "significant interest" from suitors for its printing kiosks and scanner businesses.

The company said it expects to cut 200 more jobs, adding to the 1,000 announced earlier this month. It has cut 2,700 jobs so far this year.

Kodak, which once employed more than 60,000 people, expects to emerge from bankruptcy in 2013 as a much leaner company. The latest jobcuts will reduce its workforce to 13,100.

The company said it was still in talks to sell its patents, estimated to be worth between $2.2 billion and $2.6 billion, and that it will submit a motion to a bankruptcy court to extend its right to file a reorganization plan until February 28, 2013.

Kodak said earlier this month that it may abandon efforts to auction its 1,000 digital imaging patents, and instead set up a new licensing company to help repay creditors.

According to media reports, Kodak received only sub-$500 million bids from investor groups, including Apple Inc and Google Inc.

(Reporting by Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

The lazy runner

Did not run well at the Army Half marathon cos I started out too hard trying to chase a personal best time of sub 2h.  Then it has been downhill since then.

Suddenly it is October and I am staring 3 races in the face and feeling faint.
Oct 13 - The North Face 50km
Oct 21 - Nike run 10km
Oct 28 - Newton run 30km

What was I thinking?!

The plan (my insane plan) is to then sustain through Nov and finish on a high note with the Standard Chartered marathon Dec 1.

May the good Lord send me his flying angels...

From the NYT - Cycling and Helmets

To Encourage Biking, Cities Forget About Helmets

Eric Hanson

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

Published: September 30, 2012

ONE spectacular Sunday in Paris last month, I decided to skip museums and shopping to partake of something even more captivating for an environment reporter: Vélib, arguably the most successful bike-sharing program in the world. In their short lives, Europe's bike-sharing systems have delivered myriad benefits, notably reducing traffic and its carbon emissions. A number of American cities - including New York, where a bike-sharing program is to open next year - want to replicate that success.

So I bought a day pass online for about $2, entered my login information at one of the hundreds of docking stations that are scattered every few blocks around the city and selected one of Vélib's nearly 20,000 stodgy gray bikes, with their basic gears, upright handlebars and practical baskets.

Then I did something extraordinary, something I've not done in a quarter-century of regular bike riding in the United States: I rode off without a helmet.

I rode all day at a modest clip, on both sides of the Seine, in the Latin Quarter, past the Louvre and along the Champs-Élysées, feeling exhilarated, not fearful. And I had tons of bareheaded bicycling company amid the Parisian traffic. One common denominator of successful bike programs around the world - from Paris to Barcelona to Guangzhou - is that almost no one wears a helmet, and there is no pressure to do so.

In the United States the notion that bike helmets promote health and safety by preventing head injuries is taken as pretty near God's truth. Un-helmeted cyclists are regarded as irresponsible, like people who smoke. Cities are aggressive in helmet promotion.

But many European health experts have taken a very different view: Yes, there are studies that show that if you fall off a bicycle at a certain speed and hit your head, a helmet can reduce your risk of serious head injury. But such falls off bikes are rare - exceedingly so in mature urban cycling systems.

On the other hand, many researchers say, if you force or pressure people to wear helmets, you discourage them from riding bicycles. That means more obesity, heart disease and diabetes. And - Catch-22 - a result is fewer ordinary cyclists on the road, which makes it harder to develop a safe bicycling network. The safest biking cities are places like Amsterdam and Copenhagen, where middle-aged commuters are mainstay riders and the fraction of adults in helmets is minuscule.

"Pushing helmets really kills cycling and bike-sharing in particular because it promotes a sense of danger that just isn't justified - in fact, cycling has many health benefits," says Piet de Jong, a professor in the department of applied finance and actuarial studies at Macquarie University in Sydney. He studied the issue with mathematical modeling, and concludes that the benefits may outweigh the risks by 20 to 1.

He adds: "Statistically, if we wear helmets for cycling, maybe we should wear helmets when we climb ladders or get into a bath, because there are lots more injuries during those activities." The European Cyclists' Federation says that bicyclists in its domain have the same risk of serious injury as pedestrians per mile traveled.

Yet the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommends that "all cyclists wear helmets, no matter where they ride," said Dr. Jeffrey Michael, an agency official.

Recent experience suggests that if a city wants bike-sharing to really take off, it may have to allow and accept helmet-free riding. A two-year-old bike-sharing program in Melbourne, Australia - where helmet use in mandatory - has only about 150 rides a day, despite the fact that Melbourne is flat, with broad roads and a temperate climate. On the other hand, helmet-lax Dublin - cold, cobbled and hilly - has more than 5,000 daily rides in its young bike-sharing scheme. Mexico City recently repealed a mandatory helmet law to get a bike-sharing scheme off the ground. But here in the United States, the politics are tricky.

SHAUN MURPHY, the bicycling coordinator of Minneapolis-St. Paul - which inaugurated its "Nice Ride" bike-sharing program this year - has been pilloried for riding about without a helmet. "I just want it to be seen as something that a normal person can do," Mr. Murphy explained to the local press this past summer. "You don't need special gear. You just get on a bike and you just go."

In New York, where there were 21 cyclist fatalities last year, the transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan, is always photographed on a bike and wearing a helmet. The administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has nonetheless rejected calls by Comptroller John C. Liu for a mandatory helmet law when New York's 10,000-cycle bike-share program rolls out next year, for fear it would keep people from riding. Still, the mayor says helmets are a "good idea," and the city promotes helmet use through education and with giveaway programs.

In the United States, cities are struggling to overcome the significant practical problems of melding helmet use with bike-sharing programs - such as providing sanitized helmet dispensers at bike docking stations, says Susan Shaheen, director of the Transportation Sustainability Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley.

But bicycling advocates say that the problem with pushing helmets isn't practicality but that helmets make a basically safe activity seem really dangerous.

"The real benefits of bike-sharing in terms of health, transport and emissions derive from getting ordinary people to use it," said Ceri Woolsgrove, safety officer at the European Cyclists' Federation. "And if you say this is wonderful, but you have to wear armor, they won't. These are normal human beings, not urban warriors."

In fact, many European researchers say the test of a mature bike-sharing program is when women outnumber men. In the Netherlands, 52 percent of riders are women. Instead of promoting helmet use, European cycling advocates say, cities should be setting up safer bike lanes to slow traffic or divert it entirely from downtown areas. "Riding in New York or Australia is like running with the bulls - it's all young males," says Julian Ferguson, a spokesman for the European Cyclists' Federation. And that's in part what makes it dangerous. (Many European countries do require helmet use for children.)

In London, where use of a new bike-share program is exceeding all expectations, the number of riders in suits and dresses is growing, Mr. Woolsgrove says. And more Londoners seem to be leaving helmets at home.

We may follow a similar pattern. In her study of nascent bike-sharing programs in North America - including Montreal, Washington and Minneapolis - Dr. Shaheen found that the accident rate was "really low." A large majority of participants strongly agreed that they got more exercise since the program started. And helmet use in bike programs tended to be far lower than among the general public.

Another study this summer found that only 30 percent of local riders using Washington's Capital Bikeshare program wore helmets, compared with 70 percent of people on their own bikes, said John Kraemer of Georgetown University, the study's author, who supports helmet use.

Before you hit the comment button and tell me that you know someone whose life was probably saved by a bike helmet, I know someone, too. I also know someone who believes his life was saved by getting a blood test for prostate specific antigen, detecting prostate cancer. But is that sense of salvation actually justified, for the individual or society? Back in New York I strapped on my helmet for a weekend bike ride in Central Park. But I'm not sure I'll do the same two years from now if I'm commuting to work on a mature Citi Bike system.

Mr. De Jong, who grew up in the Netherlands, observes of Amsterdam: "Nobody wears helmets, and bicycling is regarded as a completely normal, safe activity. You never hear that 'helmet saved my life' thing."

A reporter and blogger on environmental issues for The New York Times.

lack of muscle tone

I remember some time ago, while working in PSA building, I used to attend dozens of meetings a day.  In a boring meeting, when you look down on the meeting table, all you see are your co-worker's forearms.  I used to be very troubled by undefined forarm muscles in my male co-workers.

And then I moved to Taiwan and it's either mostly surrounded by women or fewer meetings or both...  But today, I got a flash of flesh - undeveloped flesh to be specific.  It is awful.  I couldn't stop staring.  I couldn't focus on the words coming out of his mouth.  Even Matty has more muscle tone.  Very troubling.

Working in a small company

We have Bengawan Solo mooncakes in the pantry - gifts from our vendors.

In the past while in Motorola / Seagate / HP, the mooncakes our vendors gave us are from Shangrila and classy hotels like that.

Hah!  Not that I eat any of these 500 calories per mooncake, goes-instantly-to-your-butts snacks :)

Furnishing a new home - my recommendations

It has been a tiring experience but quite pleasant and interesting time.

I benefited a lot from the folks in various forums especially Renotalk and want to be able to give back to Singapore.  So here's my list of recommended vendors if you are looking to renovate/furnish a new home.

Main contractor : Ah Peng.  +65 9831 0570
Why - work direct with the main contractor himself.  He's down to earth and very experienced, not to mention no nonsense pricing.  Only if you know what you want and don't need a designer.  I have absolutely no regrets working with him.  Oh and he speaks Chinese only.

Carpenter : I do not recommend Ah Chuan whom Ah Peng usually partners with.  Pick another carpenter.

Biometric digital door lock : Fred - Digital Home +65 98566260
Why - the best price in town for a biometric digital door lock Yale brand.  But don't expect any after sales service.

Marble slab : Yong Ping - Hot Spring +65 6362 0085 http://www.hotspringstone.com/

Why - they are marble slab suppliers, lots of selection.  I bought a whitish slab over my bay window and love it!

Carpet/Rugs : Fotohi #03-03 Tanjong Katong Complex +65 6735 1578

Why - good quality reasonable price.  I love the carpet my bro/sis-in-law bought me.  Love, love, love it!

Curtains : Kelvin +6591541768

Why - hotel grade curtains (he usually bids for hotel tenders) and very reasonable pricing.  Very nice guy.

Solar film for windows : Huber Optik.  Lindy +65 8418 8922

Why - visibly cooler and not as expensive as 3M.  Sales person a little brusque but the people who install the films are very professional.

Dining set and Italian furniture in general : Calligaris from XZQT.
Why - Italian quality finish says it all.

Appliances : Audio House
Why - they offer price protection and will refund you the balance if you find a cheaper version elsewhere.

Leather sofa : Lorenzo at  601 Sims Drive.  Ask for Ziwei.
Why - I love the ultra soft leather and well designed sofa.

Lighting : www.lighting.com.
Why - there are a lot of lighting shops in Singapore.  But the offerings are often tacky and kitschy.  If you want simple yet classy lights without paying an arm and a leg.  Also lots of LED selections too.

Bathroom fixtures/fittings : Universal Union at 710 Geylang Road +65 6749 0007
Why - you can pretty much buy everything from WC to taps to bathroom accessories all in this place.  Bargain, bargain, bargain to get yourself a good deal.

Ikea, Howards Storage World, Mustafa and Robinsons also feature highly on my buy list.  The biggest surprise being Ikea.  I always had the impression that Ikea products are simply not cost effective, cheap but you need a replacement every 2 years.  I learned that, if you are selective with your choices, there are some pretty good buys from Ikea.  Very nice finish at affordable prices.

Running is becoming a chore

I rested all weekend - no climb no run.  Just rested.  Nose is still dribbly and throat still painful.

Increasingly I feel the stress from the North Face run due in 2 weeks.  死得很难看!

I am thankful I did not sign up for the Taiwan Taroko Gorge run. As much as I love Hualien and the food there, but really it's getting to be a chore clocking mileage and feeling the stress when I don't train hard enough.

What is wrong with Sundays being slow and relaxed?

I'll finish the last 3 races : north face, newton run and the standard chartered run and that's it.   In 2013, I'll just run for the joy of it.  No competitions.