A Little Coding Fun

People are sometimes surprised to find out how much I enjoy programming/coding. The truth of the matter is that I can't enjoy something unless I fully understand how it works.  My dad being an engineer and myself having an incredibly inquisitive mind, I have learned the basics of almost every system I encounter.  I absolutely love knowing the mechanics of everything!

I used to professionally design web pages in the 90s, stopping right before CSS became popular.  Now everything is CSS.  It has been driving me mad trying to adjust and dabble in fixing this and several other web sites without knowing the fundamentals of how CSS works.

I've been working to fix that, learning PHP, CSS, and some other goodies to improve my skills.  I bought www.endurancemapper.com and started designing it using CSS.

I'm not using any designing software to make it easier.  I'm doing the whole bastard by hand.  Takes forever, but I don't learn the mechanics of the system unless I build it myself.  A lot of designers do this, too.  Gives them the ultimate control over the layout.

I'm adding in a Google Map and some other elements to make some sort of a mapping site where triathlon is involved.  Really haven't thought that part through yet.  It's really just a butcher shop for now, trying different things out.

Long story short, I'm linking "blog" from there to here so I can comment on what I'm adding to it so I can document the progress.  If you see weird posts here about EnduranceMapper.com, that's what is going on.

CURRENT PROGRESS -

Ok, learned tons of how CSS works from w3schools.com.  Very cool.  Scoped out the template of Instamapper.com and tried emulating that.  Still working on it.  Lots of trouble with some weird space between two divs.  Have a google map hack waiting in the sidelines to throw in...

I was on Runners Roundtable!

I was lucky enough to be asked to be a guest on Runners Roundtable yesterday.  I found the experience to be fun and odd.  I think their podcast idea is fantastic, so I was very excited to talk about ultra running and high mileage training.  But the angle they most wanted to talk to me about was Zen.  Zen?  Me?  I know that's in the title of the show and I talk about it some, but I always thought I was just winging that part.  Then the host started mentioning all the Zen stuff I have said in just one podcast and it hit me about how much I've learned and tried to pass on to others.

So I just realized that I'm a Zen guy first, triathlete second, runner third.  Funny how reality can be so different from what you thought it was.  How so very... Zen?

I can't wait to be back on someday.  I'm hoping that it is soon after I race the Ragnar and we can talk about that experience.

Thanks, RR!

Karma Pizza

Join me on this episode while I take you for a Zen Bike Ride, then show you how to do an upside down hamstring stretch, and then we go waaaaaay off the deep end and teach the Yoga Corpse Pose.

Listen in for lots of great audio goodies thrown in and notice how uncomfortable and disorienting it can be to listen to silence for only a few moments.

SHOWNOTES!

• On a Zen Bike Ride.


• Pictures of Suunto bike pod.


• How to email pictures to Flickr.


• Trick to make footwear make you want to work out.


• SLS Compression socks really do work.


• Meditation walk.


• Have you tried a metta-run?


• Erich the haxor.


• Ozzy starting an ironman.


• Awesome upside-down hamstring stretch.


• Spencer Green update. Do like radiohead?


• Follow mcnitt on Twitter for pushups.

• Suunto T6 updated to T6c


• Oakley Half Jackets winner!


• The Zen of half-eaten pizza.


• Corpse Pose.


• Alan Watts and "It is what it does!"


• The truth behind Karma.

The Ultimate iPhone App for Triathletes (and Their Families)

The iPhone has numerous cool applicatons and more coming out every day. With an on-board GPS, it can be of incredible use to people who cover vast distances under tough conditions. If you are a triathlete, I am describing YOU.

"Here I am" is an app that opens up a screen and shows your current coordinates. It will then prepare an email with those coordinates stuffed into a Google Maps URL. When the recipient clicks on the link, it opens up Google Maps and throws down a pin on that location. This is an example of such a link. http://maps.google.com/maps?q=32.844981,-117.247467 Go ahead, click on it!

Here's just a few ways you can use it:

1. Have a flat tire on the bike? Call somebody to get you and tell them you are emailing them your exact location.


2. See something on a ride or run that you want to remember? Email the location to yourself.


3. Set up a TwitterMail account and post to your friends on Twitter where you are while training.


4. Traveling to a race? Send yourself the coordinates of that great tri shop, where you parked your car, and everything else so you can find it again.


5. Drive a bike or run course and email yourself the locations of the tough spots. Analyze later on Google Maps so you can plan out your race better.


6. If you have a Google account, you can add these points to your own map to keep. Collect over time remember!

You may be surprised that I did not pick some workout log, distance measuring, or other fitness app as a "Must Have." I am sure there are plenty of them and they are great. Here is why this one is tops:

1. This one can save your life.


2. It is incredibly simple.


3. The uses are only as limited as your imagination.


4. It is free.

There was a reporter who was recently captured in a war zone. He told everybody ahead of time that if he needs help, he will Twitter for it. One day his message simply said "Help" or "Caught" and the calvary came running. It saved his life. I'm no reporter in a war zone, but my family knows that I can tell them right where I am if I need help.

How would you use it?

UPDATE!

I've been testing it with Twittermail and they break the link when it is sent on to Twitter. Anybody have an idea on how to preserve the link correctly?

UPDATE #2

The fine folks at TwitterMail didn't put comma handling in their utility. When emailing your location to TwitterMail, replace the comma in the Google Maps URL with "%2C" (Minus the quotes.)

UPDATE #3 (Will this ever end?) The fix above makes it work everywhere but in the gmaps application on the iPhone.  It puts the coordinates in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.  To get it to work,  you have to replace the "-" and add "n" and "w" after the lat and lon.  Here is an example -

BAD - http://maps.google.com/maps?q=32.123456,+-97.234567

GOOD - http://maps.google.com/maps?q=32.123456n%2C+97.234567w

The Modern Zen Masters

Zen teachings used to be hard to get a hold of. You had to either climb to a mountain top to find some old master or dig through the bookstore to find writings that may or may not be of any help.

I present to you two "game changers" who have suddenly moved Zen teachings into the modern world. Gil Fronsdal and Tara Brach give regular talks that are recorded and then posted on the Internet for all to download and experience when convenient. It is because of these two (and several more) that many of us have come to finally understand what Zen actually is.

Gil and Tara may not be the Dahlia Lama, but it is the amazing delivery of their talks that is so attractive and possibly of even more use to us in the Western World. The tone of speech, the calmness, the intelligence, the pure insight into the human psyche is unlike anything else you can find. Gil seems to have an unending amount of patience with questions and could likely talk a turtle out of its shell. Tara often references some of the funniest quotes that drives home the point of each session. For example, "This life is not a test. If it were, then you would have been given instructions and told where to go." Both speakers are Ph.D.s and it shows.

Both have a great back-catalog of wonderful talks that I hope you will check out. I have listened to many of them and found myself a changed person because of it. Here they are and enjoy!

Talks by Gil Fronsdal

Talks by Tara Brach (in iTunes)

Post some links to your favorite speakers if you have some...