Mike Schubert, Senior Application Architect, Atlanta, Georgia, triathlete, ironman

February 15, 2008

Airbus says in talks on superjumbo casino - Yahoo! News

Sometime around Y2K I postulated that one day air travel would be provided free and funded by casino gambling. My assertion was that someone like myself would book a flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles and once we reached cruising altitude the blackjack and craps tables would open. That may very well be coming true.

Posted by Mike at 12:15 PM | Comments (0)

January 7, 2008

2008 Race Schedule or What Was I Thinking?

Here is what I'm looking at for 2008. What was i thinking?

January 1 - Resolution Run 10k completed in 49:59
January 12 - Walt Disney World 1/2 Marathon
January 13 - Walt Disney World Marathon

That's right. A half and a full back to back. It's called Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge. I signed up back at the end of January 2007 and can't believe a year has already passed. Yes - I am ready for it and looking forward to it!!!

March 30 - ING Georgia Marathon (anyone up for a century ride in the North Ga mountains the 29th?)
April 26 - Tri The Parks Carrolton Sprint Triathlon (?)
May 17 - Beast of the East 1/2 Ironman (*)
July 4 - Peachtree Road Race (*)

July 20 - Ford Ironman Lake Placid

October 5 - Emerald Point Sprint Triathlon (?) A return to the site of my first triathlon
October 25 - Ridge to Bridge Marathon (?)
December 13 - Rocket City Marathon (?)

? - indicates a tentatively planned event
* - indicates a definite that I just haven't registered for
bold - indicates my 'A' race. THE 'A' RACE THAT I'M TOTALLY STOKED FOR! Sorry for yelling. BUT I JUST CAN'T WAIT!!

Ironman is the 800 pound gorilla in the room. Of course I see it and deal with it every day. In fact, I'm 194 days and 22 hours away from the starting cannon right now. It's not so much the gorilla for what it is as much as I don't know what the rest of my season will look like after it. I know what I want to do, but I'm going to listen to my body as I recover and do what my body tells me. Right now I know that I can run a marathon one day and 3 weeks later run another. Starting July 21st I'll learn what proper recovery from an Ironman means.

I'm sure I'll do a 5k somewhere along the way, and maybe the Possum Trot in June. But that is basically it. This is the year of Ironman for me. Hopefully it won't be my last.

Posted by Mike at 8:00 AM | Comments (1)

December 31, 2007

Carrying Portable Devices on Planes? Read this!

New TSA rules go into effect tomorrow (1/1/2008) prohibiting you from checking loose litium-ion batteries in your luggage. These are typically your spares - the ones that are actually installed in devices like your camera or phone are no problem. But if you're like me, you've always got a spare camera battery charged in case you take too many pics between charging. In that case, you will be allowed to bring 2 loose batteries aboard in your carry-on items. Like the rule with liquids and gels, they must be in clear plastic baggies.

I don't think this is terrorism related although you never can tell any more. It makes sense that in the right conditions these loose batteries could become an ignition source. The article I linked to cites an AP report about a fire on a flight that may have been sparked by a loose battery. I guess it's better to be safe than sorry.

Posted by Mike at 11:30 AM | Comments (0)

October 30, 2007

4 States Down, 46 (and Maybe D.C.) to Go

This past Sunday I completed my 5th marathon. The 3rd annual Spinx Run Fest - Palmetto Bank Marathon was the venue, and it represented the 4th state I've run a marathon in. Keep in mind this will probably take 20 to 30 years for me to complete all 50 states. There just isn't enough time or money to make it go any faster. Fortunately, completing an Ironman event counts towards the total, so I've slated New York, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Idaho to be knocked out in that fashion.

Here's a map to show my progress to date. I'll post a race report and pictures from the event later in the week. Yes, the map looks kinda kooky. I through it together on my lunch hour. I'll try to make it look better when I knock out Florida next January.

Posted by Mike at 6:40 AM | Comments (1)

September 19, 2005

China Pictures

One month ago today, I returned from my two week trip to China. It was a very eye opening experience and one of the best things I've ever done in my life. Photoshop finally decided to cooperate, and I have a first pass of pictures up on my site. The trip began on August 6th and ended August 19th. We had adventures in the following places:

Tokyo - I know, this isn't in China. To top it off, it was only supposed to be a 2 hour stay to change planes.
Beijing
Chongqing
Yangtze River Cruise
Three Gorges Dam project and Yichang
Shanghai
Hong Kong

Click on the thumbnail to view a larger version and any random thoughts I have in a caption below it. If you went on the trip with me and would like a larger version of the photo, let me know and I will arrange for you to get them in a free manner (each file was 1MB and I haven't uploaded them in full size as yet).

I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I enjoyed the experiences that involved taking them. And in case you missed it, here is my ealier post about exotic food.

Posted by Mike at 12:00 PM

August 26, 2005

Where Am I?

One of the hardest things about coming back from as active of a trip as the one I had to China is readjusting to where I am. This past Saturday, I awoke from a nap during a thunderstorm and proclaimed "This damn Hong Kong weather sucks!". The last 3 days on the trip were in Hong Kong and it would be sunny one minute and pouring down rain the next.

The next night, Tammy woke me as she came to bed and told me about some problem with a light or something. I told her I'd fix it when I got home - she wondered exactly where I thought I was since I was laying in my own bed in my own home.

Fortunately, I wasn't the only one with that psychosis. A few people I ran into last night from my group experienced the same thing. Insanity is definitely safer in numbers!

So now, I'm back in Atlanta. We visited the following cities:
Tokyo (flight was diverted there and we spent 1 night unplanned)
Beijing
Chongqing
Yangtze River Cruise: Shibaozhai, Wushan, Yichang
Shanghai
Hong Kong

I'm still working on getting pictures up! Hopefully this weekend.

Posted by Mike at 1:42 PM

June 17, 2005

Trouble in Mexican Border Town of Nuevo Laredo

For many, the short trip across the Texas border is the most of Mexico they'll see. So far, this is true of me as well.

Back in 1987, my mom, dad, uncle Harvey and aunt Geraldine took a day trip from San Antonio to the town of Nuevo Laredo. When we crossed the bridge over the Rio Grande it became obvious that we weren't in Kansas, or rather Texas, any more. The roads were suddenly ruddy and the houses unimpressive. The area was very depressed. This was the first time I'd ever seen people at the street corner waiting to wash car windows when the vehicle stopped. Ours must have been washed a half dozen times that day, and I can't say that it was any cleaner when we left the town than when we arrived.

The city square was not really remarkable. There was a Church's chicken there, which I thought odd at the time. I guess I more expected a Taco Bell than a Church's, but that was just my young naiveity. There were numerous mothers panhandling with their children. And a local police deputy all too willing to be 'tipped' to keep an eye on our car for us.

Drugs have evidently ravaged the town. There have been 45 people murdered already this year in what authorities characterize as a turf war between drug cartels. The federal (Mexican) government has deployed troops to the area and suspended the local police force - they are believed to be paid under the table by the drug lords. Based on our experiences, I guess I'd believe it.

!Que Lastima! I was looking forward to a road trip out to Texas with my wife, complete with a trip across to Nuevo Laredo. Looks like we'll have to go on to El Paso and take our chances in Ciudad Juarez.

Posted by Mike at 4:30 PM

June 5, 2005

Life is Really Funny if You Just Open Your Eyes...

Today, I was sitting under an umbrella by the pool. An indoor pool. Why are there umbrellas at the indoor pool? To keep the fluorescent light out of your eyes? And who on the staff do you have to tick off in order to get stuck with the rooms around the indoor pool?

In the same sitting, I witnessed the "lifeguard" standing by the sign that says "No glass, food, or drinks..." throwing his drinking glass back and forth from hand to hand. Great - this genius is going to save my life? This is the same one that was groping his girlfriend the entire time yesterday.

People have no problem eating fried calamari if it is shaped like a ring, but if it looks like a baby octopus - forget it. Ok, I'm in that camp; but I think it was my wife who really pushed me there. Our forefathers would be disappointed with the amount of know-how that has been lost over the years. Just a couple of hundred years ago, if you wanted a steak, the meat came from steer in your backyard. I wonder what would happen if Longhorn served steaks shaped like cows.

Tee times are skewed in favor of the golf course. We arrived early today in order to have time to hit on the practice range. I was able to hit 3 balls when our party was called - 25 minutes ahead of schedule. How many times have you ended up teeing off 25 minutes after your tee time? My game didn't suffer too much as a result - moreso from heat exaustion than anything.

With kids, eating is more of a production than it is an act of necessity. Sure, they'll complain and get grouchy when they're hungry. But once the food arrives, It's SHOWTIME! Teaching the rule of "you touch it and it's yours" when eating at a family-style restaurant was more of a challenge than I thought it would be.

A fourth person joined my brothers-in-law today on the golf course. He was getting a handicap for some tournament he was playing in, so he needed someone to sign his scorecard. Golf is a game of honor, so I was certainly not going to review his scores or math. My signature was more to attest to the fact that he played that round on this particular day. My question is - will that card be a keepsake one day since my signature is on it? I doubt he'll ever know of the greatness I expect to achieve. It'll probably only last as long as it needs to go on his record. BTW - Geoff didn't like him too much 'cause he was better than us. If he threw away my autograph, I'll side with Geoff.

Did all of the major league teams go with a 3rd uniform style this year for Sunday games? I think it's a case of obvious pandering to earn more of my money. Fortunately, the Braves jersey is butt-ugly, so I feel no temptation at all to purchase it.

Posted by Mike at 10:14 PM

June 4, 2005

A Great Day in Kentucky

Today was packed with a lot of fun and family. Those two things don't always go together, but they certainly have on this trip. On our way to Shoney's this morning I found a photo opportunity. I hope people don't think I have no respect for the dead, but this picture brings new meaning to the phrase "You'd be late to your own funeral." I know a few people this would apply to. The good news is, I guess the hearse was just overheated. In 5 or 10 minutes, this gentleman was on this way. Yes, there were flowers and everything in there.

Then, we went to Churchill Downs. It was a gorgeous day and the track showed no sign of the downpours the area had experienced the previous day. In the first race, I picked the trifecta. It included one longshot and netted me almost $350. What a day! Here's me applying my system to a later race.

Finally, Geoff, Howie and myself went downtown to the Louisville Slugger museum and tour. That was pretty cool.

Tomorrow it's a day of golf, a picnic, and no telling what else.

Posted by Mike at 11:51 PM

May 31, 2005

Vegas - So what's the big deal?

Maybe my reality is just too good. I don't know. What I do know is that unless someone else is paying my way (like for a tradeshow or something), I probably won't go back.

The trip into the Grand Canyon was quite memorable, though. Yes, I actually took this picture - it is not from a postcard.

Posted by Mike at 10:47 AM

May 29, 2005

The Grand Canyon

I've never seen so much tourism on account of erosion. A few million years ago, someone forgot to put up a silt fence when they were doing some development. If I had realized that excited so many people, I would have put up red velvet ropes and charged admission when the silt fence on the lot neighboring our house collapsed during a torrential rain storm.

I am glad we went (except for my wife's air-sickness bout). I'll get some pictures up soon.

Posted by Mike at 3:20 PM