A custom built baby dresser for a soon to-be Mom. Materials used: birch plywood, benjamin moore semi-gloss paint, edge tape to finish rough edges of plywood, satin poly for top, 3/4″ dowel for curtain rod.
Headboard
April 28, 2010 — alpaulThis headboard was upholstered by a client. I was responsible to cut and prepare the 1/2″ MDF.
2010 MORE Women’s Half Marathon
April 26, 2010 — alpaulAnh Phan running to her PR of 1:46:11 in the 2010 MORE Women’s Half Marathon. Despite the heavy rain she incredibly managed to run an awesome race along with 6300+ women.
Anh at 1st loop of Central Park – 2010 MORE Half Marathon
Anh at 2nd loop of Central Park – 2010 MORE Half Marathon
Anh finishing at the 2010 MORE Women’s Half Marathon
Taking care of your Wetsuit
April 24, 2010 — alpaul| 1 | Rinsing/Washing your wetsuit: After a day in the water, rinse your wetsuit with fresh water. Hot water is not good for a wetsuit, nor is leaving it out to dry in direct sunlight. Heat will cause your wetsuit to lose flexibility. We highly recommend a anti-microbial wash and silicon based conditionerfor your wetsuit. Body Glove has a 2 in one product that kills the bacteria that makes your wetsuit smell as well as the silicon based conditioner to help your wetsuit last longer. (Hint, bring a gallon or two of fresh water if you will be going to a remote area so you can rinse your wetsuit. If you happen to be in a sandy location, bring a plastic tub to stand in to get in and out of your wetsuit, this will prevent you from having dirt from your feet get inside your wetsuit. A sandy wetsuit is not fun to put on or take off. | |
| 2 | Drying your wetsuit: We recommend drying your wetsuit inside out so that you can maximize your dry time between fun sessions. It sure feels so much better getting in a dry wetsuit than a cold damp one. If you can, dry your wetsuit in the shade or in your bath tub. Fold your wetsuit at the waist and let it hang on a towel rack or over a large curved surface area. Be careful not to damage your wetsuit by prolonged use of a hanger or on sharp objects. A flat wetsuit is a happy wetsuit. Note: Do not put your wetsuit in a washer or dryer. Do not ball up your wetsuit. Do not leave your wetsuit in water for prolonged periods of time. Don’t leave your wetsuit in a hot car or wet damp bin. | |
| 3 | Storing/Folding your wetsuit: Ensure that your wetsuit is thoroughly dry before storing. We recommend storing your wetsuit flat if at all possible. If you chose to use a wetsuit hanger, we recommend folding the wetsuit at the waist. Hangers can put creases in your wetsuit and they can damage the neoprene in the shoulders due to the weight of the wetsuit. If you are traveling and need to fold the wetsuit, we recommend that you first fold the arms back behind the wetsuit, then fold the wetsuit at the waist, finally fold the legs back at the knees. Keep the chest plate free of wrinkles. If you have a hooded wetsuit, fold the hood forward toward the chest plate.  |
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| 4 | Wetsuit Damage: If you damage your wetsuit, get it fixed right away. If you have a tear in the neoprene you can purchase wetsuit cement and fix minor tears. If your seams are coming apart and your wetsuit is not still covered under the manufacturer’s warranty you can take the suit to a repair shop who can mend the seams. This is typically very cost effective. We recommend taking care of any damage as soon as you find it. | |
| 5 | Smelly Wetsuits, Boots, Gloves or Hoods: We recommend washing your wetsuit with a wetsuit wash that has both an anti-micro to kill bacteria as well as a conditioner. Body Glove and O’neillmake great wetsuit washes that will kill the bacteria causing the order in your equipment. |
Xterra Vortex 3 Fullsuit
April 19, 2010 — alpaulA deal I couldn’t refuse. With a 50% discount I could not pass on purchasing my first wetsuit. I went with the Xterra Vortex 3 fullsuit. Can’t wait to try this baby on in open water. I was eager to give it a test swim at the local pool. However this voids the warranty as chlorine does not fare well with neoprene, the material used to construct the wetsuit. Product Review.
2010 Cherry Blossom 10 mile
April 12, 2010 — alpaulGot up early. Had our pre race fuel. No peanut butter, so went with bagel and cream cheese.
The race was about a mile from our hotel. The Eldon Suites. So we did a warm up walk to the start. The day had already started out with beautiful weather. It was currently 51 degrees.
Got to the start to greet thousands of other runners. Attempted a last stop to the potty. After waiting out for about 25 minutes gave up. The lines were extremely long. We now headed to our corrals. We were in the red corral. But with a “color deficiency”, lol, ended up in orange couple corrals back.
D.C. is definitely a state that takes puntuality seriously. Race gun went off as scheduled. It was sure to be a day of bottlenecking. A huge turnout of runners. Approximately 15,000. Water aid stations were placed about every 2 miles.
My pace at mile 1 was 8:19. That I would take with such a heavy crowd. At mile 2 began getting in my groove. It took me about mile 5 to really get in tuned with runners holding an equivalent pace. D.C. made for a fast and very scenic course. Hope someday I can do a triathlon or marathon in this city to take advantage of the flat elevation. People who were expecting more Cherry Blossoms on the route may have left dissappointed. Ran with my camera and took pictures along the way.
Through my training I use a powergel around mile 6 on long runs. So I did today. Without taking this gel I may have bonked for sure. Continued the remaining 4 miles very strong. Attempted a 5K pace for the 3 final miles, but held back. The race goal for today and every race is to finish with some energy left to spare.
Just some cons: we had to walk what felt like 1/2 mile to get water at the finish. Also more volunteers and water aid stations may be needed.
Pros: very scenic and fast route. Kudos to the race organizers in recycling our “D” tags. Great weekend of activities: Cherry Blossom Festival on Saturday followed by the Sakura Matsuri Festival. We missed the festival which runs from 7th to 17th via Constitution. However was able to catch an hour of the Sakura Matsuri. Great arts festival honoring the Japanese society. I would recommend anyone who gets selected for this race to book a stay in D.C. the Friday night leading to the race and leave the Sunday afternoon.
All in all an awesome day in racing. Glad we got selected for this lottery. Highly recommended race.
Unofficial time. 1:19:50.
N.B. Course may have been off a bit. Garmin 310 and other runners reported a longer course.
Garmin Connect
Garmin GSC 10 Biker Cadence/Speed Sensor and Garmin Quick Release Mount
April 9, 2010 — alpaulNew accessories for my Garmin 310XT Forerunner. I replaced the original bracelet with a quick release. This comes in handy for a quick transition from the bike to the run when in training and triathlon racing. I also replaced my existing bike computer with the Garmin GSC 10 cadence and speed sensor. The sensor is a great investment on many fronts: to collect data on my cadence on the bike, it also gets rid of all the wire clutter that was present on my bike. The installation was pretty straightforward. After pairing the senor with the 310XT all was successfully tested. Can’t wait to take it out for a test ride. I love the quick release bike mount. However I am not crazy about the bracelet that comes with the quick release. Garmin could have made a more durable bracelet.
2010 National Cherry Blossom Events
April 7, 2010 — alpaulThe 2010 National Cherry Blossom Festival will be held between
March 27 and April 11. This year’s 2010 Festival marks the 98th celebration of the original gift of the 3,000 cherry trees by the city of Tokyo to the people of Washington, DC in 1912.
Come and enjoy the spirit of the season! Once again, signature events celebrating Spring will take center stage on the following dates (click event titles for more information):
- Festival Press Conference – Thursday, March 4
- Pink Tie Party fund-raiser – Thursday, March 11
- Family Day & Opening Ceremony presented with the
National Building Museum – Saturday, March 27
- Cherry Blast: A Night of Contemporary Art + Music – Friday, April 2
- Fireworks Show with Musical Prelude – Saturday, April 3
- Lantern Lighting Ceremony – Sunday, April 4
- Gala Dinner Cruise aboard the Odyssey – Thursday, April 8
- National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade® – Saturday, April 10
- Sakura Matsuri – Japanese Street Festival – Saturday, April 10
- Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run – Sunday, April 11
- Daily Cultural Performances on the Target Stage at Sylvan Theatre – Saturday, March 27 – Sunday, April 11
Click here to view the complete calendar listing of 2010 Festival events.
Bike: Astoria to Piermont (53.64 miles)
April 6, 2010 — alpaulLeft for Piermont with Andy H. at 7 this morning. Fueled for this ride with a peanut butter and banana sandwich.
South entrance to GWB was closed so we used the north entrance. (Someone needs to tell the Port Authority to group notices together) We had to look around and almost missed the sign that says use the North entrance.)This entrance calls for a bit of cyclecross 
so be ready.
We were not fortunate to get some of that nicer weather that’s in store for later today. It was a bit nippy. Note to self. When leaving your house at 7am make sure you suit up with a jacket. Being out in the open road was awesome. Even managed to mix in some one leg drills.
We stopped at Bunbury’s Coffe Shop for a bite (had a sugar-free cranberry muffin and coffee) and headed back home.
Overall a great day of riding. Andy is very familiar with the route so that helped alot. Bumped into Cesar A. on the Queensboro Bridge. DM is taking over the world. Happy training all. Enjoy the 79 degree day to come.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/29177183
2010 New York International Auto Show
April 5, 2010 — alpaulAfter a decade of residing in New York I finally went to the New York Auto Show on Monday. Due to the a recovery from the global crisis not too many concept cars were on display. I was fun walking around viewing new models. There is a definite trend in clean energy. One of the previews in clean energy concept cars we saw was the Chevy Volt. An fully electric car that can even be recharged using an app from a smartphone (e.g. iPhone, Nexus, Curve). The car I most vision myself driving was the 2010 Nissan Murano. We even managed to get test driven in the iMiev.
WhatPaint App
DailyMile
