Tag: results

Categories
life technology

HAM – KF7DQE

For the last couple of decades I have wanted to get a HAM radio license. I never got really serious about it, but it was always there in the back of my head waiting for “someday.”

Someday finally arrived. The stars aligned a couple of weeks ago and I decided to just go out and do it soon. I discovered that there was a test scheduled monthly in Salt Lake and I decided to study and take the exam during one of the tests this summer. I started studying from a library book – Now Your Talking – on Monday. I already knew that much of the knowledge was common sense rules about being considerate and so yesterday when I looked to see what dates the test was to be administered I discovered that the first one was that evening. Having taken some practice exams and seeing that I almost always got passing scores with the little study I had done, I decided to take the leap and take my test yesterday rather than agonizing over the material for another month. I took the test at 7:00 last night and passed on the first try (you can have three tries in one sitting). They encouraged me to take the test for the General class and I got closer to passing that than I would have expected.

Today my callsign got assigned and published in the FCC database so I am now KF7DQE – a HAM without a radio. (Of course I’ll be on the lookout for an appropriate rig.)

Categories
National politics

Vote Totals in Iowa

I had written before that the Iowa Democrats should publish their vote totals rather than just “delegate equivalents.” Today I discovered that USA Today is reporting the votes in the Iowa caucus results. Thanks to this more detailed information I finally see how Hillary Clinton managed to get one more delegate than John Edwards even though she got a lower vote total. (In one district she got enough higher to get one more delegate than Edwards and everywhere else she was close enough that her lower totals did not lead to fewer delegates.)

It appears that they will report the same amount of information on all the states as the primaries progress (they had Wyoming Republicans from today).

Categories
life politics

Iowa Caucuses

No, I’m not liveblogging nor am I going to analyze the results. I do wonder why I find it so fascinating to watch the results come in. That’s the same question I asked myself in November 2006 as I watched the results between Orrin Hatch and Pete Ashdown. The difference is in 2006 I was happy early on when Ashdown was slightly ahead (the more democratic areas seemed to report first) and I sat and watched as all the lemming votes floated in for Hatch to win.

Thankfully this time there was no such turn of fortune. Obama won among the Democrats by a very respectable margin and I am left to wonder how Hillary will spin her third place finish, especially as the later votes show her falling further behind Edwards rather than keeping right up with him. Huckabee won quickly among the Republicans so that I could turn my attention to wondering which candidates would drop out. My only disappointment is that Ron Paul could not stay closer to McCain and Thompson.

Categories
life

Marathon

Today was my marathon. I had hoped to finish in under 4 hours. The race began inauspiciously, with the buses arriving more than 30 minutes late to take us to the top. It continued promisingly as I ran well ahead of my pace for the first half of the race (on pace to finish in about 3:40). It ended with me learning a lesson. I had not done enough hill training and the first 17 miles of the race were all downhill (except for more than a mile of uphill). That accounted for my time being so good for the first half, but it also caused my calves and feet to fatigue early because I was using the muscles differently from when I trained. The result was that I started walking after 17 miles because I could hardly lift my feet, a problem I never had when I ran 22 miles on flat ground. I finished the race at a run after adding more than an hour to my time. I crossed the finish line at 4:57:23.

I know that some of my supporters were worried that I might be disappointed by that time but I recognize the deficiency of my training. While I feel I could have pushed myself to do a little better than I did, I could never break 4 hours on this course without some significant hill training before the race. I am not disappointed in the results – I achieved a long-held goal to run a marathon and, as proven by some of the most seasoned runners I met on the course, that is nothing to feel bad about no matter what time the clock says when you finish.

Categories
life

My 5K Today

I ran in a charity 5K today – An April Run for Olivia – and found that it was very good practice for my marathon. There were 1200 people running so I got to deal with a crowded start – unlike my runs in High School. Obviously the distance was not a practice (I ran 15 miles before the race because my training called for 18 miles today), but the bib and the getting there on time were good practice. The one thing I forgot to do was look at the clock at the finish line. I honestly don’t know my time. I was hoping to finish in under 29 minutes, and I think I did based on the results of other runners I knew, but unless the results get posted online I will never know for sure.

It was fun to let the kids see me race without having to wait around for four hours while I run the marathon. The 30 minute time-frame allowed them to have fun with it and to see Daddy race. So while Savannah thought I was running for the competition (“You’ll probably win Dad”) I got to run for the distance, the time (or not), and the basic joy of getting out to run.

UPDATE 5/6/07: The race results got posted this afternoon. I finished in 26:19 – well under my goal of 29:00.