of routes, dogs & apps…

after much procrastination…  im going back to running… been wanting to get back to running… even bought a pair of merrel last december… but i didn’t have any real motivation to do so… there have a lot of running events i wish i could have joined… but it has always been too late join… ive signed up to run five kilometers at the “10.10.10. run for pasig river” event… i havent been running ever since i moved back to manila… which was roughly two years ago… i havent engaged in any physical activity since then either…  and ive learned from my experience in mountaineering that preparation is everything… back in subic there were two oval tracks where i use to run… there are advantages  when running on a oval track… but my problem with oval tracks is that i tend to lose track of the number of laps… and since there are no nearby oval track in fairview… i decided to plot a route from my house to lamesa ecopark...  which when i measured via google earth… the total distance is just over five kilometers… which is exactly the distance that ill be running… i decided to do a diagnostic run last saturday… just to gauge how out of shape i was… i selected some songs for the “on-the-go” playlist in the ipod… it was supposed to be my driving music but i think it would be appropriate for running… i started jogging with the theme from the “a-team”… i was just jogging for about 5 minutes when an old injury came back to haunt me… my right knee which would sporadically ache when i was hiking or running reared its ugly head again… i slowed down a bit until the pain eased… the ipod helped ease the pain when “drops of jupiter” piped thru the earphones… i picked up my pace as the song reached the chorus… it was then that i came near the trees that surrounded the ecopark… one of the reason why i choose the ecopark as my destination… the fresh smell of the morning dew invigorated me… but then i encountered something that I didn’t account for… dogs… ive been running/limping/walking for about ten minute and have passed by some dogs… but most of them were docile and non-territorial… but the dog that I faced was different… it was barking at me and seemed to be defending its turf… i noticed how thick its neck muscles were… complemented by the rows of sharp teeth…  it was five meters ahead and i was measuring its resolve… it started to kick back its hind legs (as if preparing to charge)…  that was when i decided to back away slowly without taking my eyes off of it… i turned around started to head back to where I started until i came upon an alleyway… my spirit was low having been intimidated by dog… i followed the alley for two blocks to make sure ive pass thru the dogs territory… i came back to my route when the freddie mercury began to sing “princes of the universe”… it didn’t take long for me to get back to jogging again… i finally reached the ascent to ecopark… this was something that i forgot to factor in when i was plotting my route… but the soundtrack from the movie “ninja kids” motivated me to jog up that hill… at this point i was delirious from exhaustion… i was expecting white-clad ninjas jumping out from the trees… by the time I reach the entrance to ecopark i was spent… i walked the route back to my house… it was relatively easier since most of it was downhill… i started at around six & came back at seven thirty… i ate and immediately shut down afterwards… when I woke up my body was aching… it was my fault I wasn’t able to pace myself gradually… when I was running on an oval you can alternate laps with running & walking… on the route I have no gauge if ive walked enough or not… i browsed thru itunes for trainer apps… i came across an application that has training plans for different lengths of runs… i started its eight week training plan for five kilometers last monday… the app will set your pace by prompting you when to run and when to walk… for the first day it alternated between running for a minute and walking for two minutes… the whole training took about forty minutes… including warm ups and cool downs… and I was very much pleased with day one… i avoided the area where the territorial dog was… my encounter with the dog broke my momentum… and i did not strain my knee this time… since i didn’t went up to the ecopark this time… i didn’t want to add unnecessary complications… my goal is just build stamina to maintain a steady pace for 5 kilometers… maybe near the end of my program ill set the ecopark as the goal… but for now im quite happy with finding my way back to running… J

Robert Downey Jr as Batman...

finally got to watch sherlock holmes by guy ritchie... and i liked it...

i can't help but compare to a batman elseworld story...

it has the dynamic duo... holmes and watson...
although their relationship is more of brother-in-arms...

their version of holmes can throw a mean punch...

i like the way he plans to take down his opponent...

but holmes is still the most brilliant mind in fiction...

irene adler as holmes nemesis & lover...
is clearly patterned after catwoman...
the end also hint of a sequel...
and i hope they make it soon... :)

blogging on facebook

trying to link blogger to facebook... :)

ala lang... hehehe

to be or not to be…
a question that has baffled humanity since the dawn of our sentience… where do we came from… what’s the purpose of our existence… why do we exist…as a matter fact… why do we bother asking those questions… the answer is simple… humanity has a overwhelming urge to put reason to anything… but so far… the answers we come up with tend to disagree more often than not… the disagreement comes from two school of thought… to the rationalist there are no other proof more undeniable than our very our existence… “cogito ergo sum” declares the empiricist who are not satisfied by this a posteriori argument… they demand a prior argument which is independent of experience… to the empiricist the truth should hold true with or without us observing it…

the tree that fell…
a tree falls in the middle of a forest… does it make a sound… the answer to this question depends whether you are a rationalist or an empiricist… to the rationalist it does not since no one was there to hear… the empiricist would say that every tree that falls makes a sound… so which was your answer… as for me… the tree made a sound whether or not the sound waves traveled far enough to reach an ear… sound waves are oscillations produced from any interaction of matter… the sound waves travels thru a medium and loses strength until finally it dissipates…

the anthropic principle…
it states that certain conditions/parameters must exist since the universe is what it is as we perceive it now… there must be dark matter or our milky way would have dispersed millions of years ago… there speed of inflation should be of this value… and the list goes on and on… this principle goes along the rationalist line of thought… to the empiricist this is quite narcissistic & provincial… the parable below best describes the empiricist point of view…

the parable of the fish philosophers…
deep in the ocean floor… at the depth more than 6000 meters… a group of fish were impressing each other with their insight & bioluminescence… one brilliant fish said that the water around them was homogeneous, symmetric, and just right pressure… just the right environment for them to survive & thrive… if the pressure were anything other than what they are right now… their bodies would explode or implode depending on which way the pressure deviated… then another fish supposed that the temperature is at it is or otherwise the they would be frozen or boiled… as the other added their own observations of their surroundings… finally one of them put all these observations together and called the “fishropic principle”… they floated around congratulating themselves intoxicated with their pride… not noticing a net closing in around themselves… it dragged them up to waters whose properties were totally alien… as the marine biologist hauled the net… he said to other scientist “we got a whole school of them”… “they must have been having a conference or something” added one of the scientist… there laughter was cut short as they notice bright lights appeared above… they were so enthralled that they didn’t notice that their boat was being lifted towards the lights…

and it goes on…
and as we dig deeper into the mystery of the our origin… shall we finally realize our reason for being… are we just deluded fish swimming around a very small part of the universe… or are we a creation of being beyond our comprehension… or maybe we are just batteries living in a simulated reality… or is this just one part of our journey to enlightenment… no matter what it is one thing is for… humanity will never stop asking questions… and maybe that’s just reason for our existence…

the republic of lestheria

come visit the republic of lestheria...
http://www.nationstates.net/lestheria

blogging on the go...

Im writing this as im on my way home from olongapo...

bisita iglesia 2008

march 21, 2008

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9:20-st jude shrine
a perrenial favorite for the desperate, hopeless and board examiners... hehehe...
we lit candles for own secret petition...


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9:45-san beda chapel
originally not include in our original iterinary...
but it was on our way to san sebastian...
it has one of the most beautiful interiors...
i could stare at the ceiling for hours...


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10:10-san sebastian church
the only metal church in asia...
and it was imported from europe...
it has the most beautiful stained glass windows...


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10:35-quiapo church
there were so many black nazarene devotees...
so decided not to go inside...


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10:50-santa cruz parish
after the going thru the crowd around church... we rested a bit here...
might look old on the outside has very modern interiors...


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11:15-binondo church
church of the first filipino saint... san lorenzo ruiz...
who is actually a filipino-chinese catholic...


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11:30-manila cathedral
a beautiful blend of the old and the new...
ideal for weddings...


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12:00-san agustine church
one of the oldest church in the philippines...
also a world heritage site...