The 7 winter coats you need to survive Chicago Winters – Men’s Edition

When it comes to winters in the Midwest, they are something else.  Not as brutal as Antarctica, Alaska or Greenland, but definitely a class of their own.  Chicago is particularly interesting because it is possible to experience all four seasons in one day, even in the winter!

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Now the Woman’s Edition will take bit longer to put together.  Each of the types of coat I showed has at least 3 counterparts in different colors, sizes and levels of cuteness.  In the meantime, check out Kathy Mathews piece she wrote for a while back.

 

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When to quit a race and when to power through

So I got a newsletter from Athlinks and one of the items was a piece about whether or not to quit a race midway if you are having a bad day.

Have you ever wanted to throw in the towel mid-race? If you have, you’re not alone. But what’s the difference between wimping out and making the right choice for your body?

I have to give Athlinks credit for trying.  They originally started out as a site that collected runner race data so you had one place to look for all your race results.  Obviously it’s trying to monetize its effort and the Powers-That-Be there knew we cheapskate runners aren’t gonna pay to see our results when we can just get them for free elsewhere.

I’m not saying I necessarily disagree with the advice given.  It’s just that when it comes to quitting mid-race, there is no one size fits all answer.  It will depend on the distance you are trying to cover, what you are trying to achieve, the current condition of your body, etc.  Dropping out of a 5K is no big deal because you can do another one next week.  Dropping out of a marathon is a different matter, because  it isn’t easy to run back-to-back marathons.

You should take a page from my Sister-in-Law’s book. J2 does whatever is best for her kids, no fucks given. She strives to find the happy medium, but if push comes to shove and she has to choose what is best for her kids, versus better for others, kids win. EVERY TIME.

How does that relate to quitting mid race? Easy. If you are not feeling it, and you have more distance to go than you’ve already covered, drop out.  You’re probably not there to win the race, and some days you just aren’t gonna place in your age group or set a new PR.

Sometimes you don’t have a choice but have to finish the race.  When I ran the Prague Marathon in 2008, I realized at the 18 mile point that I was the furthest out from the start/finish line and quitting wouldn’t be any different than just finishing.  So I dropped it down a tad, so that I would be able to make it back running instead of limping to the finish.

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Review: Geekbes Smart Socket WiFi Mini Plug

On a whim I purchased a 3 pack of Geekbes Smart Socket WiFi Mini Plug (Model YM-WS-1) a few weeks ago.  Ordinarily smart sockets are not a thing I  cannot live without, but it was a flash sale at Newegg so I figured a $25 investment wasn’t going to break me.

I have been looking for a solution for two problems I have:

1)  Easy way to turn on and off the lights in my garage
2)  Easy way to reboot my modem without running down to the basement

 

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The app that comes with the smart socket allows you to turn them on or off from your phone, and set a schedule.  I didn’t expect the ability to schedule your sockets.  I also wasn’t sure that the WiFi signal from my router (80 ft away) would reach these devices or provide a stable signal, but as I said for $25 it was worth taking the chance. It turns out that not only does the wifi signal reach our alley, but this app does work over cellular data as well.  [It wasn’t clear from the marketing description.]

Sometimes I need to hard reboot my modem.  running down to the basement where it is located isn’t always practical.  But with this app, I can quickly turn it on and off from my favorite chair.  It does seem paradoxical that turning off the device that controls the WiFi would still allow me to turn it back on, but it seems to do just that.  I’m guessing either the WiFi session is still alive for a few seconds or the capacitor in the switch holds enough power to stay on.  Or magic.

I did try rebooting the modem remotely when we were visiting relatives in Mississippi .  It turned the modem off, but unfortunately not back on.  I may experiment with setting the modem to reboot once a week via the schedule to see if that works or probably just leave well enough alone.

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What if Anakin Skywalker didn’t kill the Younglings after all?

A long time ago in a galaxy very far away some terrible things happened.   A dispute between the Republic and the Trade Federation sowed the seeds for the Rise of an evil Empire; a forbidden love affair between a jedi and a Queen exposed a clone army; Manipulated by a genius Sith Lord, the Galactic Senate voted the Chancellor emergency powers,  and worse yet, Jar Jar Binks was made a representative of Naboo!

Yet in spite of all of that, something has always bothered me about the story we have been told.  While I’m sure Anakin Skywalker and Emperor Palpatine did some terrible things under the guise of hard decisions to ensure the stability of the Empire, I’ve always had a hard time believing that Anakin actually killed all those younglings in the Jedi Temple.

Remember, the Rebel Account is a history (It was a long time ago, man! in a far off Galaxy) written by the victors.   You can bet they took certain creative license to put them in the best light and the Empire in the darkest.  Perhaps the Death Star wasn’t really the size of a moon and maybe they didn’t blow up Alderaan, but merely carpet boomed the heck out of it.

“And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And the events of the attack on the Jedi Temple passed out of all knowledge.”

Let me present my case with this video slideshow:

 

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Maybe one of the most mortifying moments in Episode 3 might not have been as devastating as people have been told, when looked at from a certain point of view.  And remember, Han Solo shot first.

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