Tim Trowbridge's Blog

2009-06-13T15:52:00.000-07:00

Today is the three-year anniversary of the beginning of this blog. This seems like a good time for my last post. I’ve really enjoyed writing here, and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my posts. It was a fun three-year project. It’s possible that I’ll start another blog in the future, but it would be a different kind of blog. I expect it to be an anonymous blog about a new job I anticipate beginning soon. I’m still not sure if I’ll start such a blog, but if I do, I’ll be sure to tell you about it. However, I would ask that you keep the author of the potential new blog confidential. Obviously, it won’t be called, “Tim Trowbridge’s Blog.” Thanks again, and take care.

Tags: blog, blogs

2009-06-11T14:43:00.000-07:00

I usually don’t comment much on current events or politics in this blog, but this story is a very big deal. One of the most important sentences is probably, “Regulators could prohibit tobacco companies from using candy or other flavors in cigarettes that tend to attract young smokers.” I think that candy cigarettes are just plain evil. When I was in Japan to run the Tokyo Marathon, every time I went into a restaurant or coffee shop, I almost gagged from the smoke. I had forgotten how much I now take for granted that when I go into a public place, I’ll have clean air to breath. (Smoking in public places in banned in Ohio.) Hopefully, Japan will catch up with the West on this issue soon.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, running

2009-06-06T10:48:00.000-07:00

I just got this e-mail from Hawaii Pacific University:

From: alumni@hpu.edu
To: timtrowbridge@hotmail.com
Subject: Hawaii Pacific University - Joe Saguto Hawaii Loa retirement
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2009 21:09:03 -0500

HPU Alumni

Joe Saguto, director of roads and grounds for the Hawaii Loa campus, is retiring at the end of this month. Joe actually landscaped the campus in the late 60's and has been its caretaker for the past 40 years.

If anyone would like to send their well wishes to Joe, please send to alumni@hpu.edu by June 15. I will present these messages to him at his retirement party that week.

Kris Smith, BA '95, MA '97
HPU Alumni Relations Coordinator

Mr. Saguto was there when I attended Hawaii Loa College from 1989 to 1992. I’m not exaggerating when I say that Hawaii Loa is probably the most beautiful campus on Earth.

Tags: Hawaii Loa College

2009-05-31T17:21:00.000-07:00

I just got another assignment to write some math problems. Topics include using data analysis and probability, performing systemic listing and counting with matrices and vertex-edge graphs, factoring higher-order polynomials, exploring Euclid’s five postulates, recognizing when an algebraic expression is undefined, working with linear functions, and investigating triangles. These problems should keep me busy all the way through June.

Also, I was having some serious problems with my computer running slowly when surfing the internet, but since I switched from Internet Explorer to Mozilla Firefox, all of my problems have disappeared. I’m now a Firefox convert!

Tags: math, mathematics, Mozilla Firefox, Firefox

2009-05-25T09:04:00.000-07:00

Click here for a math exercise from FoxTrot. At the top of the left pane is a series of numbers. By figuring out the math problems in the key below, you can determine the number that corresponds to each letter of the alphabet. Then you can substitute the appropriate letter into the series of numbers above to decode the message. The hardest math problem shown is probably the one for letter ‘Q,’ since you need to know a little calculus to figure it out. However, the good news is that the letter ‘Q’ isn’t used in the message, so you don’t need to know how to do this problem to complete the exercise. Note: The answer for letter ‘Q’ is twenty-four.

Tags: math, mathematics, FoxTrot

2009-05-19T07:01:00.000-07:00

I recently read the books Rigged by Ben Mezrich and Relentless Pursuit by Donna Foote. Relentless Pursuit profiles four teachers in the Teach For America program. It also talks a lot about Wendy Kopp, the founder of Teach For America. One of the most famous alumni of Teach For America is Michelle Rhee, chancellor of the District of Columbia public school system and founder of The New Teacher Project, a program similar to Teach for America.

In addition, just this last weekend I saw the movie Sugar. It’s about a minor league baseball player from the Dominican Republic. It’s a very good movie, but it’s not really about baseball. Go see it if you're interested in how many of the players who you see on TV came to be there.

Tags: book, books, Rigged, Ben Mezrich, Relentless Pursuit, Donna Foote, Teach For America, Wendy Kopp, Michelle Rhee, The New Teacher Project

2009-05-13T08:21:00.000-07:00

I’ve been hearing a lot about Twitter lately. Here is what Wikipedia says about Twitter:

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length which are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them (known as followers). Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow anybody to access them. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or external applications. The service is free to use over the Internet, but using SMS may incur phone service provider fees.

It seemed a little strange to me, so I looked at the Twitter page of someone I find interesting – Lance Armstrong. No offense to Lance, but his Twitter page is boring. I don’t really understand why people find Twitter so interesting. There’s no context whatsoever. It’s just a bunch of simple statements saying, “I did this,” or “I did that.” If you think this blog is boring, try taking a look at someone’s Twitter page!

Tags: Twitter, Lance Armstrong

2009-05-08T08:08:00.000-07:00

I recently completed a contract to write twenty-six multiple-choice math problems. Some of the topics included using origin-centered dilations to describe and investigate similarities among geometric objects, analyzing how changes in dimensions affect the perimeters and areas of quadrilaterals and regular polygons, analyzing how a change in the radius affects the circumference and area of a circle, applying the properties of central angles, inscribed angles, and arcs of circles to solve problems, finding the sum of two vectors, and applying congruence and similarity relationships among geometric objects to solve problems. This was a good client to do work for, and I hope for more contracts from them in the future.

Tags: math, mathematics

2009-05-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finished the Capital City Half Marathon in 1:31:51. That’s a pace of 7:01 per mile. We had perfect weather, and I really enjoyed the course, since there were some big downhills near the end. That was only the third half marathon I’ve ever run. The last one was the Mardi Gras Half Marathon in New Orleans on February 1st of this year, and my time there was 1:32:59. That had been my best time in the half marathon, so I beat my previous best time by over one minute. The half marathon is a very different kind of race than the marathon. It’s more about speed, and less about endurance. Since I don’t have much natural speed, I think I prefer the marathon over the half marathon. Still, I had a lot of fun yesterday.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Mardi Gras Half Marathon, Capital City Half Marathon, running

2009-04-27T07:16:00.000-07:00

I plan on running the Capital City Half Marathon in Columbus on Saturday. It’s a pretty big deal here in Columbus, and many participants in the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group have been training for it. I’ve been maintaining just enough fitness to be able to finish the race, but after Saturday, I plan to shut things down for a little while. My left ankle and my right shoulder are still sore, so I want to give my body some time to rest. I’m not going to be running a full marathon in the fall – I expect my next marathon to be the 2010 Boston Marathon in April of next year. In fact, I’ve already filled out and sent in the hotel reservation form. Hotels sell out fast, so it’s best to be early.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Boston Marathon, Capital City Half Marathon, running

2009-04-21T07:14:00.000-07:00

The 2009 Boston Marathon was yesterday, and the United States did very well. Ryan Hall finished in third place for the men, and Kara Goucher finished in third place for the women. That’s the best the United States has done in a very long time. Both Ryan Hall and Kara Goucher are still very young, so they have a lot of years ahead of them to improve on this year. This was the first Boston Marathon for each of them. Speaking of the Boston Marathon, I’m not sure whether or not it was because of the e-mail I sent, but the Tokyo Marathon just posted chip times today. The absolute cut-off time for me to qualify for the 2010 Boston Marathon was 3:15:59, and my chip time was 3:15:41. Therefore, I qualified with eighteen seconds to spare!

Tags: marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, Boston Marathon, running

2009-04-19T09:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I saw the movie Timecrimes at the Drexel. It has to do with time travel, and it kind of made my head spin until I went home and drew a timeline. I think I figured it out. Speaking of movies, next week Tokyo! opens at the Drexel. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing that, especially since I was just there a few weeks ago. In addition, starting in May, there’s a Japanese film series at the Wexner Center for the Arts. It looks like there are a total of eleven films showing. I don’t think I’m going to be able to see all of them, but I’d certainly like to make it down there to see at least a few.

Tags: Timecrimes, Tokyo!, Wexner Center for the Arts, Wexner Center, Drexel Theaters, Drexel

2009-04-13T08:23:00.000-07:00

Here is an e-mail I just sent to the Boston Marathon:

From: timtrowbridge@hotmail.com
To: info@baa.org
Subject: Tokyo Marathon
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:17:24 +0000

Hello,
I'm a 38-year-old male, and my Boston Marathon qualifying time is 3:15. A few weeks ago, I ran the 2009 Tokyo Marathon (http://www.tokyo42195.org/). It was a great experience. On the Tokyo Marathon's website, they immediately posted the unofficial gun times. (It definitely appears the time to the start line has not been taken out, as the marathon began at precisely 9:10 AM.) Here is my unofficial gun time:

http://p.tokyo42195.org/numberfile/23984.html

At the finish, my watch said 3:15, so I believe I qualified for the 2010 Boston Marathon. I've been waiting patiently for them to post the official chip times, but so far they haven't done it. Just out of curiosity, I went back and looked at the websites for the previous two Tokyo Marathons. (This was only the third Tokyo Marathon, and they have separate websites for each one.) To my surprise, it appears that the official chip times were never posted for these marathons.

I'm a little confused as to what to do. There doesn't even appear to be any contact information on the 2009 Tokyo Marathon's website, and nobody seems to know if/when we can access our official chip times. Do you have any advice on what to do, or are you able to contact the Tokyo Marathon directly to find out about official chip times?

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Tim Trowbridge

Tags: marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, Boston Marathon, running

2009-04-07T07:07:00.000-07:00

I just heard an interesting story on NPR called, “Staying Fit After Marathon Days Are Over.” Click here to read the story and here to listen. It has some good points, but the thing that many runners wouldn’t like about it is that it perpetuates the misconception that long-distance running will inevitably mess up your knees. One of the main themes of the story seems to be that running a bunch of marathons was not good for this man’s body, but what they really didn’t talk about is how his body would have been had he not run all those marathons. Perhaps he wouldn’t have been any better off, and he very well may have been worse off. It also said that he took no days off – if he had, he may have been able to avoid the problems with his knees.

Tags: marathon, marathons, National Public Radio, NPR, running

2009-04-02T06:48:00.000-07:00

Previously I reported that my unofficial time in the Tokyo Marathon was 3:17:21. That’s true, but I think some clarification is in order. Marathons usually report two times: gun time and chip time. Gun time is the time from when the starting gun fires until the runner crosses the finish line. Chip time, on the other hand, is the time from when the runner crosses the starting line until the runner crosses the finish line. In big marathons (such as the Tokyo Marathon), there can be a significant difference between gun time and chip time, because it takes a while to get to the starting line, since it’s so crowded.

Usually, when a runner talks about his or her marathon time, he/she refers to chip time, and this is his/her official time. My unofficial time in the Tokyo Marathon of 3:17:21 was actually my gun time. As for my chip time, believe it or not, I’m still not sure what it was. For some reason, I’ve heard that the Tokyo Marathon takes a couple weeks to report official (chip) times. When I crossed the finish line, my watch said 3:15, so I believe that this was my chip time. We’ll have to wait and see. Hopefully, I’ll find out soon!

Tags: marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, running

2009-03-27T07:38:00.000-07:00

I just got back from Japan. The trip there was a long one. From the time I left my apartment in Columbus to the time I arrived at my hotel in Tokyo, it took about twenty-four hours. In addition to that, I was coming down with a cold, so the day before the race, I was worried about becoming dehydrated. However, I drank plenty of fluids (including a big bottle of Pocari Sweat), and I seemed to fight off the cold. (I think I drank more fluids the day before the Tokyo Marathon than on any other single day of my life.)

As for the race itself, it was extremely windy, and it started to rain during the last few kilometers, but it was a great race. There were people lined up cheering for almost the entire 42.2 kilometers. (By the way, I think I like kilometer markers better than mile markers. They come more frequently. It's easier to stay motivated to get to the next kilometer marker.) It was also incredibly well-organized. Within ten minutes of finishing the race, I had my chip taken, my medal given to me, my food given to me, and I retrieved my drop-off bag. This was with thirty-thousand runners. I was amazed.

I had a great time in Japan. In addition to running the Tokyo Marathon, I also did some sightseeing. I visited Kamakura, Nikko, Yokohama, and just hung out in Tokyo. The trip back home was also a long one, but I passed the time by reading the novel Out by Natsuo Kirino. I would thoroughly recommend the Tokyo Marathon, but unless you've been to Japan before or know at least some rudimentary Japanese, I would probably recommend it as part of a tour. I don't know if I could have handled it by myself if it had been my first time to Japan.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, running, book, books, Out, Natsuo Kirino

2009-03-23T04:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finished the Tokyo Marathon with an unofficial time of 3:17:21. Out of the eight marathons I've completed, that was my second-best time. I'll write more when I have better internet access.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, running

2009-03-17T06:56:00.000-07:00

Since the United States is just about the only country that uses miles, all the markers along the Tokyo Marathon course will be in kilometers. There are approximately 1.609344 kilometers in a mile, so a marathon, which is 26.2 miles long, is approximately 42.2 kilometers long. Therefore, if I wanted to run a 3:30 Tokyo Marathon, I would want to run at a pace of just under five minutes per kilometer. I’m not saying that’s the pace I’m going to run during the Tokyo Marathon (it depends on how I’m feeling), but I’m trying to get used to thinking in kilometers. My next post should be from Tokyo. Hopefully, I’ll survive the long flight!

Tags: marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, running

2009-03-12T06:55:00.000-07:00

I successfully completed my twenty-four mile run last weekend, so I should be ready to go for the Tokyo Marathon on March 22nd. Also, I recently found out that the former sumo wrestler Akebono will be participating in the Tokyo Marathon. (I’m not sure if he’ll be running it. My guess is that he’s walking it.) Akebono, born in Hawaii, was the first foreign-born Yokozuna (grand champion) and was very popular when I was in Japan. Speaking of Japan, over the weekend I also saw the German film Cherry Blossoms. The second half of the film has some unbelievably realistic shots of Tokyo, so I would definitely recommend it.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, running, Akebono, Cherry Blossoms

2009-03-06T06:34:00.000-08:00

Here is the latest update from the Tokyo Marathon website:

To Runners Planning to Wear Costumes

We understand that wearing of costumes and putting on a disguise is one of the enjoyments to participate in a major marathon event. On the other hand, it might cause the runner itself to fall, and also make the other runners or audience feel uncomfortable.

Please be advised that in order to permit wearing of costumes in the future, we request for each runner to understand the circumstances and extend exercise of their sensibility.

The organizer will prohibit all costumes stated from 1 to 6 below and other related behavior that may disrupt public order and other standards of decency. In the event that the organizer finds behavior related to this notice the runner will be immediately disqualified from the race. We will not accept any objection upon our decision in relation to this matter.

1. Clothing that may harm others, induce fall, and conduct that may interfere with others.

Example 1: carrying a knife or a sword, wearing armor or costumes with rivets etc.
Example 2: long skirt, kimono etc.
Example 3: holding of hands among the runners

2. Clothing not appropriate for a sporting event that may cause discomfort to others.

Example 1: running naked, wearing of costumes or underwear that may resemble nudity.

3. Wearing of clothing intended to promote political preferences or views, religious belief and advertising of products or establishments other than the event sponsors.

Example 1: sash containing political party or candidate names, religious beliefs.
Example 2: costumes resembling a political or religious figure or merchandise other than the event sponsors.

4. Usage of fireworks, whistle and lighting apparatus etc. that may be used to distract or misguide other runners.

5. Wearing of clothing requesting of a donation or signatures for a petition etc.

6. Other clothing or costumes deemed inappropriate by the event organizer.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, running

2009-03-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

I ran fourteen miles yesterday with the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group in preparation for the Tokyo Marathon. Next weekend I plan to run twenty-four miles, and then I should be ready for the marathon on March 21st. I’m still being bothered by some nagging aches and pains. There’s still some soreness in my left ankle, and my right shoulder is still sore from a fall on the ice a couple months ago. I don’t think either of these issues is going to go away without an extended period of rest, but they’ll have to wait three weeks, because I have a marathon to run. It’s not going to be my fastest race, but I still want to perform respectably, since I’ve invested a lot of time and effort (and money). Most of all, though, I want to have a lot of fun.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, running

2009-02-23T06:45:00.000-08:00

I successfully completed my twenty-two mile run with the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group on Saturday. Unfortunately, everyone else I was running with only ran 14.5 miles, so I ended up running the last 7.5 miles by myself. My left ankle is still a little bit sore, which concerns me, although I don’t really feel it much when I’m running. I’m at the point now in my training when I start getting a little bit worried about all the things that could go wrong. I expect that this will be amplified this time around, since I’m travelling half-way around the world to run my marathon. The Tokyo Marathon will be very different than any race I’ve run before, so there’s a lot of uncertainty, but that also makes it exciting.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, running

2009-02-18T06:50:00.000-08:00

I ended up running only fifteen miles last Saturday, since my left ankle was a little bit sore, but that’s OK, because I probably needed a fall-back week anyway. (My shoulder was also a little bit sore from a fall on the ice a few weeks back, but a trip to the chiropractor seems to have fixed that.) Even though I felt good after the Mardi Gras Half Marathon in New Orleans, I worked pretty hard during that race, and I was probably a lot more tired than I felt. I definitely plan to run twenty-two miles this Saturday, and after that, I’ll just have a twenty-four mile run that I’ll do either the following Saturday or the week after that. Then it’s on to the Tokyo Marathon!

Tags: marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, Mardi Gras Half Marathon, running

2009-02-12T06:47:00.000-08:00

I’ve been brushing up on my Japanese a little bit in preparation for the Tokyo Marathon. When I was in Japan, I learned some Japanese by watching Japanese television. The most popular show back then was called Long Vacation. Click here to watch a video clip of the last part of the last episode.

In it, Sena, our young hero, has just won a Japanese piano competition and has earned the right to represent Japan in an international piano competition in Boston. He is going to ask his female roommate, Minami, to accompany him to Boston. Long Vacation was unusual because it’s very uncommon in Japan for a male and a female to be roommates, and not only that, but Sena was only twenty-four years old, while Minami was thirty-one. Enjoy!

Tags: marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, running, Long Vacation

2009-02-07T16:45:00.000-08:00

I recently finished the novel One Big Damn Puzzler by John Harding, and I also just saw the movie Frost/Nixon. Frost/Nixon was pretty interesting, but perhaps it would have been even more so had I been old enough to remember the whole Watergate affair. In addition, I ran twenty miles today with the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group in preparation for the Tokyo Marathon. I have only two more really big runs planned (one at twenty-two miles and one at twenty-four miles), but I haven’t completely decided during which weeks I’ll do them yet. I might do the twenty-two miler next week, or I may do it the week after that. It depends on how I’m feeling next Saturday.

Tags: book, books, One Big Damn Puzzler, John Harding, Frost Nixon, marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, running

2009-02-02T06:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I finished the Mardi Gras Half Marathon in 1:32:59, which is a pace of about 7 minutes and 6 seconds per mile. That’s a pretty fast pace for me, so I’m happy with the results. This was only the second half marathon that I’ve ever run, and I like the distance. A full marathon really beats up your body, and you can’t run for days or even weeks afterwards, but after running the half marathon yesterday, I’m not even sore today. In fact, I plan to run later tonight. At the same time, unlike a 5K or a 10K, you can’t run a half-marathon without putting in some training. When my marathon days are done, I’ll probably retire to half marathons. In the meantime, I have the Tokyo Marathon to train for in March.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, Mardi Gras Half Marathon, running

2009-01-27T07:57:00.000-08:00

A week ago last Saturday I successfully got in my nineteen-mile training run with the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group, and this last Saturday I successfully got in my twenty-mile run. On Friday I leave for New Orleans, and on Sunday I will run the Mardi Gras Half Marathon. By that time it will already be February, and I’ll only have seven weeks until the Tokyo Marathon in March. In February I have runs of twenty, twenty-two, and twenty-four miles planned, so it will be a busy month. Because nobody else I know is training for the Tokyo Marathon, I’ve had to run a lot of miles by myself so far. I expect that will be the case in February as well.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, Mardi Gras Half Marathon, running

2009-01-21T06:32:00.000-08:00

Recently I saw the movie Slumdog Millionaire. It was very good. Also, click here to read my favorite news article about yesterday’s events. After reading the article, you may be wondering what the shaka sign is. This is from Wikipedia:

The "shaka" sign is a common greeting gesture. It is often associated with Hawaii and sports such as surfing, kitesurfing, skateboarding, skimboarding, snowboarding and skydiving. It consists of extending the thumb and smallest finger while keeping the three middle fingers curled, and raising the hand as in salutation with the back of the hand facing the person that is being greeted; sometimes the hand is rotated back and forth to emphasize the sign. Hawaiian locals use the shaka for various meanings, like "all right", "cool", "smooth", etc.

I got a big smile on my face when I read that news article.

Tags: Slumdog Millionaire, shaka, shaka sign

2009-01-15T06:56:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I ran seventeen miles with the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group, and this Saturday morning I’m scheduled to run nineteen miles. The low temperature on Friday night is expected to be one degree Fahrenheit, so it’s going to be a little bit chilly on Saturday morning. A week from this Saturday I’m scheduled to run twenty miles, and the week after that I’ll be in New Orleans to run the Mardi Gras Half Marathon as a training run for the Tokyo Marathon in March. With all the cold weather here in Ohio, I’m sure looking forward to going down to New Orleans to run 13.1 miles in a short-sleeve shirt and shorts.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, Mardi Gras Half Marathon, running

2009-01-09T06:42:00.000-08:00

I recently finished reading the novel Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami, and now I’m reading Bowerman and the Men of Oregon by Kenny Moore. Bowerman and the Men of Oregon is the biography of Bill Bowerman, the late track coach at the University of Oregon. It’s a little bit dense in that it contains a lot of facts and figures (such as this person ran this time in this year and that person ran that time in that year), but it gets really interesting when it talks about how Bowerman helped found the company Nike and how he helped launch the running boom among everyday people in the United States. In fact, it could be argued that without Bill Bowerman, I would never have taken up marathon running. Thanks, Bill!

Tags: book, books, Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami, Bowerman and the Men of Oregon, Kenny Moore

2009-01-03T09:35:00.000-08:00

I just finished running sixteen miles with the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group. I took a hard fall on some ice a couple weeks ago, and my shoulder and hip have been a little sore because of it, but luckily they don’t bother me when I’m running. Also, this week I purchased my Japan Rail Pass for the Tokyo Marathon. Because of the current exchange rate (about ninety-one yen to the dollar), it was pretty expensive, but it will give me unlimited access to all public transportation provided by Japan Railways (JR) during my time in Japan. The Tokyo Marathon is now just two-and-a-half months away, so I have some very long runs coming up in the near future. Gambarimasu! (Translation: I’ll do my best!)

Tags: marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, running, Japan Rail Pass

2008-12-28T08:41:00.000-08:00

The entire island of Oahu was without power for about eleven hours on Friday night and Saturday morning. The island where I used to live is sure getting a lot of media attention these days, and it’s definitely got me feeling a little bit nostalgic. Every time I hear the name of a place that I recognize or the mention of something like shave ice, it brings back good memories. It sure was a great place to go to college. Right now the attention is focused on a little town called Kailua, which is just a stone’s throw away from the town of Kaneohe, where the Hawaii Loa campus of Hawaii Pacific University (formerly Hawaii Loa College) is located. I’ve found myself going to the website of the Honolulu Star Bulletin so much lately that I’ve added it to my favorites. The media attention will surely continue off and on for at least the next four years.

Tags: Honolulu Star Bulletin, Hawaii Loa College

2008-12-22T08:19:00.000-08:00

I have to go to New Orleans on business at the end of January, so I signed up to run the Mardi Gras Half Marathon in New Orleans on Sunday, February 1st. It will be a good training run for the Tokyo Marathon on March 22nd. I’ve never been to New Orleans before, so I’m definitely looking forward to it. I’m also looking forward to it because wind chills today in Columbus are about minus fifteen degrees Fahrenheit. The Mardi Gras Half Marathon starts and finishes in front of the Louisiana Superdome, so I’ll be staying at the New Orleans Downtown Superdome Holiday Inn. It should be an interesting experience!

Tags: marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, Mardi Gras Half Marathon, running

2008-12-16T07:34:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I ran fourteen miles with the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group. At the end of the run, I really wasn’t tired at all. I felt like I could have run further, so I’m in pretty good shape right now. So far so good in my training for the Tokyo Marathon. Hopefully I don’t jinx myself. Speaking of the Tokyo Marathon, I just found out that in 2010 the race is going to be held on February 28th, which is about three weeks earlier than the race I’m training for in 2009. It looks like the 2009 race was an anomaly, and that the race is usually held in February. It’s really good luck for me that I chose to run this race in 2009, since I have an extra few weeks for training. Now if I can just get some good luck with the exchange rates. The dollar is all the way down to eighty-nine yen! Oh no!

Tags: marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, running

2008-12-10T07:26:00.000-08:00

I recently finished the book Teacher Man by Frank McCourt, and I just ordered the book Money for Nothing by Edward Ugel online. Also, another book I recently ordered online is a guidebook to Tokyo called Frommer’s Tokyo by Beth Reiber. As I mentioned in a previous post, after the Tokyo Marathon in March, I’ll have three days to hang out in Tokyo, and I’m starting to think about what I want to do during those three days. Hopefully this book will help me decide. I know I’m going to be very sore and tired, so it doesn’t have to be anything major, but it’ll be good to have a general idea before I go. Also, I’m not sure how much Japanese I remember, but hopefully it will be enough to get by. If my last trip to Japan is any indication, my listening skills will be much better than my speaking skills.

Tags: book, books, Teacher Man, Frank McCourt, Money for Nothing, Edward Ugel, Frommer’s Tokyo, Beth Reiber

2008-12-05T12:30:00.000-08:00

This last week I participated in a project in another city that helped determine if some mathematics problems were aligned with state standards. I flew out of Columbus on Sunday night, and I had a stopover in Chicago. Unfortunately, as soon as I got on my plane in Chicago, it started snowing. My airplane got in line on the runway, but then the pilot announced that we had to go back to the gate for de-icing. We went back to the gate, got de-iced, and got back in line on the runway. Then the pilot announced that we had to go back to the gate for de-icing again. We went back to the gate, got de-iced, and got back in line on the runway. Just as we were about to take off, the pilot announced that all runways were closed, and that the flight had been cancelled.

In all, we spent about five hours on the plane, and we never got off the ground. I ended up spending the night in Chicago, and I arrived a day late to the project. Fortunately, the organization that I was working for was very understanding (there were some other people who came a day late because of the weather as well), and I participated in the project on Tuesday and Wednesday. I’m glad to say that the flight home was much less eventful.

Tags: math, mathematics

2008-11-29T15:22:00.000-08:00

On Thanksgiving I went to Iowa and ran the local Turkey Trot. It was a 7.5-mile race, and I finished in less than fifty-two minutes. That comes out to a pace of less than seven minutes per mile. There were many steep hills included in the course, and according to the local newspaper, the Telegraph Herald, it’s one of the toughest Turkey Trots in the United States. Unfortunately, I don’t believe the full results have been posted anywhere, but I heard a person who finished close to me say that he had a top-twenty finish, so I must have had a top-twenty finish as well. That’s pretty good, considering that there were a total of 1,235 runners present (although some people ran only 2.5 miles). Anyway, I was happy with how I ran, and it seems that I’m currently in pretty good shape.

Tags: Telegraph Herald

2008-11-23T13:46:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of next week I’ll participate in a project that will help determine if some mathematics questions are aligned with state standards. The organization that I’ll be doing this for is paying for my airplane ticket to their location, and they’re also putting me up at the Hilton for three nights. I’ve never stayed at the Hilton before, so it should be a good experience. According to the Hilton’s website, they have a workout facility, so hopefully I won’t have any troubles staying on track with my training for the Tokyo Marathon. The last few weeks I’ve gotten in long runs of about twelve miles, so I’m right where I want to be at this point. In a couple weeks the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group will officially kick off its winter training session, so it will be easier to stay on track from that point on.

Tags: math, mathematics, marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, running

2008-11-17T10:26:00.000-08:00

I’m just finishing up a novel called The Financier by Theodore Dreiser that I picked up at Half Price Books. The novel was written in 1912, and it describes the financial ruin of a broker that occurred when he was overleveraged and stocks turned sharply lower after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Keep in mind that this novel was written before the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression ever occurred. It’s very interesting to see that events such as the current economic crisis have been occurring for hundreds of years. This novel certainly helps to put everything into perspective. Because the novel is so old, the English is a little strange at some points, and it also contains some financial jargon that’s kind of technical. However, the storyline is easy to follow, and I would definitely recommend it.

Tags: book, books, The Financier, Theodore Dreiser

2008-11-12T06:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I bought my airplane ticket to Japan for the Tokyo Marathon. I bought it from IACE Travel, a Japanese travel agency that has an office in Columbus. When I walked through the door, all of the employees shouted out in unison, “Irrashaimase,” which means “Welcome” in Japanese. The office was completely typical of a Japanese office (I should know, since I worked in one for three years), and when I walked through the door, it was like I was instantly transported from Columbus to Japan. It was really quite amazing.

I leave Columbus on March 19, make a stopover in Detroit, and arrive in Tokyo on March 20 (total flying time about fourteen hours). The Tokyo Marathon is March 22, and after the marathon, I’ll have a few days to hang out in Tokyo. I leave Tokyo on March 26, make a stopover in Detroit, and arrive back in Columbus on March 26 (total flying time about twelve-and-a-half hours). I’ll probably be a little bit tired by the time I get back.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, running

2008-11-07T07:55:00.000-08:00

Yeah! I just found out I got accepted into the Tokyo Marathon!

Tags: marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, running

2008-11-03T06:47:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I went to a political rally. It was sunny and warm, and according to the Columbus Dispatch, there were approximately 60,000 people present. I arrived at about 11:30 AM, and I had to get in a line that extended for several blocks. The rally was at the Statehouse, and I had to spend over an hour waiting in line before I finally made it there. As the line slowly progressed, there were people along the way selling t-shirts, buttons, hats, and other memorabilia. The candidate’s speech lasted only about thirty-six minutes, and it was the standard stump speech that he’s given many times. Still, even though the speech was nothing special, the experience was worth it, especially given the fact that it was only two days before the election.

Tags: Columbus Dispatch

2008-10-29T07:04:00.000-07:00

My ten-mile run went fine last Saturday, so that’s a good sign. I’m looking to run at least ten miles again this Saturday – maybe as many as twelve miles. I should be finding out within the next couple of weeks or so whether I was accepted into the Tokyo Marathon. I’m crossing my fingers. It looks like my trip to Japan is going to be a little more expensive than I first anticipated, since the exchange rate is currently at about ninety-seven yen to the dollar. That’s great if you’re living and working in Japan and sending money back to the USA (there are a lot of happy English teachers in Japan right now), but it’s not so great if you live in the USA and want to travel to Japan (like me). However, regardless of the exchange rate, I still intend to make the trip.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, running

2008-10-23T07:07:00.000-07:00

I had a good time cheering on the runners at the Columbus Marathon on Sunday. I watched most of the race from just beyond the twenty-five-mile mark, so the runners were almost finished at that point. As runner after runner went by, it was easy to forget how hard each and every one of them must have worked to prepare for the race. Congratulations to all of the finishers! As for me, I’m officially kicking off my training for my marathon in Japan on Saturday. I hope to run an easy ten miles, since I already have a pretty good base level of fitness. If all goes well on Saturday, I’ll gradually build up my miles from there. Time to get to work!

Tags: marathon, marathons, Columbus Marathon, running

2008-10-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, when I was getting a haircut, the guy sitting in the chair next to me was telling the person cutting his hair that he plans to run the Columbus Marathon on Sunday, and that it will be his first marathon. Then, after I got my haircut, I went to Panera, and a woman noticed my Boston Marathon jacket. She said that she’s going to be running the Columbus Marathon on Sunday, and that it will be her first marathon. Both of these people must be very excited. Since this is the first marathon for both of them, I doubt that either of them really knows what’s in store for them, but that’s probably a good thing. If they knew, they might not be running. However, after the pain wears off, I wouldn’t be surprised if they decide to start training for marathon number two.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Columbus Marathon, running

2008-10-12T12:47:00.000-07:00

Today was the Chicago Marathon, which is one of the World Marathon Majors, along with Boston, London, Berlin, and New York. Last year in Chicago the temperature rose to the high eighties, and the marathon was stopped three-and-a-half hours into the race. Many people were taken to the hospital, and one person died. Although the heat wasn’t as bad as last year, an hour-and-a-half into today’s race, apparently the temperature rose to seventy-eight degrees, which is really hot for a marathon. What bad luck to have heat problems two years in a row!

I know a couple people who went to Chicago to run the race, and I searched the Chicago Marathon website for their times, but it appears they may have dropped out at the half-way point. Hopefully next weekend in Columbus the weather will be cooler, because a week from today is the Columbus Marathon. I’ll be there to watch!

Tags: marathon, marathons, Chicago Marathon, Columbus Marathon, running

2008-10-06T06:43:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading the book 21 Dog Years by Mike Daisey, and I ordered Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser online. Also, the day after I wrote my last post, I received my absentee ballot in the mail. I’ve already filled it out and mailed it in, so my vote is already cast. Not only have I already cast my vote, but it appears that Homer Simpson has as well. In fact, it seems that he used a voting machine produced by Diebold, Inc., headquartered right here in Ohio. Click here to watch Homer cast his vote. I especially like it when he says, “This doesn’t happen in America! Maybe Ohio, but not America!”

Tags: book, books, 21 Dog Years, Mike Daisey, Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser

2008-09-30T06:45:00.000-07:00

Since the election is coming up, I requested an absentee ballot through the mail – in Ohio, voters are encouraged to do so. I also requested an absentee ballot for the Ohio primary election in March, but I never received it. Therefore, I went to vote in person, but since I requested an absentee ballot, they made me fill out a provisional ballot to make sure I wasn’t voting twice. They also gave me a phone number to call to check if my provisional ballot was counted, but when I called it, nobody seemed to know what was going on. Eventually, they told me that my provisional ballot was counted, but they may have just said that to get me off the line. Anyway, I hope that this time I receive my absentee ballot in the mail.

Tags: Ohio primary, Ohio primary election

2008-09-24T07:14:00.000-07:00

I’m reading two books right now. One is a collection of short stories by Haruki Murakami called Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. I enjoyed Murakami’s memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running so much that I wanted to read something else by him. Also, I picked up a copy of Dot.con by John Cassidy at Half Price Books. It talks about the stock-market boom of the mid-to-late nineties. I think a book like this gets more interesting as time goes on because events can be put in more perspective. Still, all of this happened only about ten years ago – it’s amazing how much things have changed in such a short period of time.

Tags: book, books, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, Haruki Murakami, Dot.con, John Cassidy

2008-09-18T08:17:00.000-07:00

When I go to Japan to run my marathon next March, I plan to use a Japan Rail Pass. The Japan Rail Pass pretty much pays for itself just by using it to travel from Narita International Airport into Tokyo and back. I plan to buy a seven-day pass and arrive in Tokyo two days before my marathon. For example, if I get into the Tokyo Marathon on March 22nd, I’ll arrive in Tokyo on March 20th, and since I’ll have a seven-day pass, I’ll stay in Japan for a full week and leave on March 26th. That will give me three full days after the marathon to just hang out, although I assume I’ll be pretty sore at that point. I’ll have unlimited access to almost all transportation provided by Japan Railways (JR), so I should be able to enjoy myself there. It would be nice to stay even longer than a week, but I don’t think I could afford a hotel in Tokyo for any longer than that!

Tags: marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, running, Japan Rail Pass

2008-09-12T11:21:00.000-07:00

I’m really looking forward to cheering on the runners at the Columbus Marathon next month – it’s only a little over a month a way now. My plan is to officially start training for my March marathon in Japan the Saturday after the Columbus Marathon, so that would be October 25. Unfortunately, I don’t know for sure which marathon I’ll be training for until mid-November. That’s when I’ll find out whether I got into the Tokyo Marathon or not. I’m really hoping that I’ll get in, because that’s the premier marathon in Japan these days. I even saw an ad for it in Runner’s World magazine, so they’re definitely promoting it this year. However, if I don’t get in, I’ll still be going to run a marathon in Japan – it will just be one of the smaller marathons.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Columbus Marathon, Tokyo Marathon, running

2008-09-07T19:21:00.000-07:00

I’m currently writing practice problems for the applied math portion of the test that needs to be taken to become an air traffic controller. They’re pretty easy questions, so I should be done with them within a few days. I also came across a blog that keeps track of and lists almost all of the math-writing opportunities out there. The person who maintains this blog is basically doing the same thing that I’ve been doing for myself for the last year. Now that I found this blog, I’ll let the person who maintains it do my job-hunting for me. I’ve already gotten a number of leads from this blog. The person who maintains it does a great job, and I’m grateful for the help.

Tags: math, mathematics

2008-09-01T14:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, just for fun, I went down to the Ohio State University campus and ran The Human Race 10K. Because it was on the Ohio State campus, almost all of the other runners were college students. I finished the 10K (6.2 miles) in 41:34. That’s a pace of 6:43 per mile for 6.2 miles on a hot morning, which isn’t too bad at all for me. I was wondering what kind of shape I’m in right now, and I think that this shows that I have a pretty good base level of fitness. I’m certainly not in marathon shape, but once I start training, I definitely won’t be starting from zero. It was fun passing all of those college students. I beat all but a few of those young whippersnappers. Hopefully, it got a few people interested in running. Also, I saw the movie Vicky Christina Barcelona, directed by Woody Allen.

Tags: running, The Human Race, The Human Race 10K, Vicky Christina Barcelona

2008-08-30T07:37:00.000-07:00

I recently finished writing a chapter about using algebra for data analysis. Topics included gathering and plotting data that can be modeled with linear and quadratic functions, curve fitting, linear and quadratic regression, issues when using data to explore the relationship between two variables, and the difference between correlation and causation. This was the last chapter included in the big contract that I signed a couple months ago. I’m already working on something new, and I have a number of possible leads for work in the near future. In addition, I’m tutoring students in ACT/SAT exam-prep, so I’m definitely keeping busy!

Tags: math, mathematics

2008-08-25T07:08:00.000-07:00

I’m glad to say that all three men representing the USA in the men’s Olympic marathon finished. Dathan Ritzenhein finished ninth, Ryan Hall finished tenth, and Brian Sell finished twenty-second. There were some high hopes, especially for Ryan Hall, but he actually ran a very smart race. The only reason he didn’t finish higher is because of some incredible performances by some of the other runners. Also, after seven marathons, I finally bought my first running watch with a heart monitor. The heart monitor has already given me some very interesting data that I’ll use to slightly alter my workouts. I’ll officially start training for my marathon in Japan in just a couple months!

Tags: marathon, marathons, Olympics, The Olympics, running

2008-08-19T13:01:00.001-07:00

Well, unfortunately, only one out of the three women representing the USA in the women’s Olympic marathon finished. Deena Kastor dropped out of the race early on due to a foot injury, and Magdalena Lewy Boulet dropped out soon after with a knee injury. However, Blake Russell did finish the marathon, so congratulations to her. It must be a dream come true to finish an Olympic marathon. I was getting kind of angry watching the race, because NBC kept interrupting it with commercials. Even with only a couple miles to go, they were cutting away to promote their fall TV programs. I thought it was very disrespectful to the athletes. Don’t forget about the men’s Olympic marathon on Saturday at 7:30 PM – it should be good!

Tags: marathon, marathons, Olympics, The Olympics, running

2008-08-15T18:08:00.001-07:00

I just finished writing a chapter on data analysis (i.e. statistics). Topics included collecting samples from two different populations, calculating means and standard deviations of sets of data, using means and standard deviations to compare data sets, comparing means and standard deviations of random samples with corresponding population parameters, and comparing sample means with each other and with population distribution. This was the first time I wrote about many of these topics, so this chapter was a bit more challenging than the previous chapters. I did take a statistics course at Hawaii Loa College, but that was a while ago, so I had to refresh my memory.

Tags: math, mathematics

2008-08-09T18:31:00.000-07:00

The Olympics have now started, and I’m definitely looking forward to the women’s marathon and the men’s marathon. The women’s marathon is at 7:30 PM Eastern time on Saturday, August 16th, and the men’s marathon is at 7:30 PM Eastern time on Saturday, August, 23rd. Representing the USA for the women are Deena Kastor (one of the stars of the movie Spirit of the Marathon), Magdalena Lewy Boulet (the woman I met while going through security at the airport when coming home from the Boston Marathon), and Blake Russell. Representing the USA for the men are Ryan Hall, Dathan Ritzenhien, and Brian Sell. It will be interesting to see how the marathon runners handle the heat and the pollution. I can’t wait to watch!

Tags: marathon, marathons, Olympics, The Olympics, running

2008-08-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

I’m done with the chapter I was writing on quadratic functions, and I’m now writing a chapter on inverse functions. Topics include characteristics of functions and their inverses, determining inverses of linear functions, quadratic functions, power functions, and functions in the form f(x) = a/x, exploring graphs of functions and their inverses, and using composition to verify that functions are inverses of each other.

Also, even though I said in my last post that I won’t have time to read any more books for a while, I just ordered What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami. I’m sure it will motivate me for my marathon in Japan next March.

Tags: math, mathematics, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, Haruki Murakami, book, books

2008-07-28T08:40:00.000-07:00

I finished the chapter I was writing on exponential and absolute value functions, and now I’m working on a chapter involving quadratic functions. Topics include converting between standard and vertex form, graphing transformations of quadratic functions, characteristics of quadratic functions, solving simple quadratic equations graphically, exploring arithmetic series, and exploring sequences of partial sums of arithmetic series. It might sound like the last two topics don’t fit in with the rest, but if graphed, the partial sums of an arithmetic series form a parabola, which is the graph of a quadratic function.

Also, I just finished the book The Runner by David Samuels. I might not have time to read many more books in the near future, though, because I just got a part-time job tutoring students on the ACT, which will keep me very busy.

Tags: math, mathematics, The Runner, David Samuels, book, books

2008-07-22T12:29:00.000-07:00

I recently saw the film Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. I tried hard to like this movie, but I couldn’t identify with Hunter Thompson at all. Apparently this guy had (and still has, even after his death) a very large following, but I really can’t understand why. The only thing I found remotely interesting in the film was the coverage of the 1972 presidential election, especially given what’s going on in the USA right now.

Also, today I applied to run the Tokyo Marathon. The marathon has a lottery system, and the automated e-mail that I got back after applying said that applicants will be notified of the lottery results in mid-November. I had thought we’d find out in October, but I guess I’ll have to wait an extra month. Hopefully, I’ll get lucky.

Tags: Gonzo, Hunter Thompson, marathon, marathons, Tokyo Marathon, running

2008-07-16T14:29:00.000-07:00

I finished the chapter I was writing on complex numbers, and now I’m working on a chapter involving exponential and absolute value functions. Topics include solving absolute value equations graphically, solving absolute value inequalities analytically and graphically, characteristics of exponential functions, graphing transformations of exponential functions, solving simple exponential equations and inequalities analytically, and solving simple exponential equations and inequalities graphically. As you can probably tell from the list of topics I’m working on, I’m doing a lot of graphing. The graphing program I use is completely free and can be downloaded here. There are a few very minor bugs I’ve noticed, but basically it can do everything I need it to do. If you’re interested in math, check it out!

Tags: math, mathematics

2008-07-10T08:50:00.000-07:00

I recently finished writing questions on combinations of functions for one of my clients. Topics included sums and differences of functions, products of functions, compositions of functions, and modelling with functions. Now I’m working on the big contract that I signed that’s going to take me through the end of August. It’s a test-prep book for the Georgia End-of-Course Test. Topics I’m working on now include writing square roots of negative numbers in imaginary form, adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing complex numbers, and simplifying expressions involving complex numbers. Contrary to what their name implies, complex numbers aren’t complex at all! Click here for more information. Note: Don’t read anything below “The field of complex numbers.” That’s way more complicated than what I’m writing about.

Tags: math, mathematics

2008-07-04T18:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally upgraded to Microsoft Word 2002. Previously I was using Microsoft Word 97, and it was doing everything I needed it to do, so there really wasn’t any need to upgrade. However, last weekend, I encountered a bug that caused Word 97 to crash when trying to save a document after adding a matrix. I actually lost some work (thankfully not very much), but it was painful enough that I immediately went to eBay and purchased Word 2002 as part of Microsoft Works Suite 2003. (Don’t ask me why they put Word 2002 in Works Suite 2003.) Anyway, it wasn’t very expensive, and now that I’ve upgraded, hopefully I’ll never lose any work like that again. Since I upgraded to Word 2002 in 2008, I estimate that my next upgrade will be to Word 2007 in 2013.

Tags: Microsoft Word 2002, Word 2002

2008-06-28T21:10:00.000-07:00

I wrote in an earlier post that I’m going to apply to get into the Tokyo Marathon next March. I still plan on doing that (they should start accepting applications within a few weeks), but I’ve decided that even if I don’t get in, I’ll still go to Japan next March to run a marathon. There are a couple of backup marathons in Japan in March that I can choose from. I was considering training for and running a half marathon this fall, but I just can’t get motivated for a half marathon anymore. After two Boston Marathons, the only thing I can get motivated for now is something big, and travelling to Japan to run a marathon qualifies as something big. I’m looking forward to the trip no matter which marathon I run, but I really hope it’s the Tokyo Marathon – I’ll find out in October if I was accepted.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Boston Marathon, Tokyo Marathon, running

2008-06-23T12:20:00.000-07:00

I finished writing the multiple-choice questions for sequences and series, and now I’m writing multiple-choice questions for algebra II. I’m covering topics such as solving absolute value and quadratic equations and inequalities both graphically and algebraically, investigating the relationship between the zeros of a function and the factors of a polynomial, and working with systems of equations and inequalities. Also, I just signed my largest contract ever, which guarantees to keep me busy virtually every day (including weekends) from now until the beginning of September. This is a pretty big deal. I can now safely say that mathematics writing has ceased being just a hobby for me and is now a full-fledged job.

Tags: math, mathematics

2008-06-17T19:43:00.000-07:00

I finished writing the multiple-choice questions for conic sections, and now I’m writing multiple-choice questions for sequences and series. The questions I'm writing cover topics such as representing the general term of an arithmetic or geometric sequence, calculating the partial sum of an arithmetic and geometric series, determining the sum of an infinite, converging geometric series, and using recursion to represent and describe an arithmetic or geometric sequence. If it sounds complicated, it really isn’t. The formulas are pretty simple, and once you have them memorized, it’s pretty easy to answer the questions. After I’m finished writing the questions on sequences and series, I have yet more questions to write. I’m a very busy person these days!

Tags: math, mathematics

2008-06-11T13:43:00.000-07:00

I just finished writing some multiple-choice questions for logarithmic functions, and now I’m working on writing multiple-choice questions for conic sections. The questions I worked on today involved representing conic sections with graphs, verbal statements, and equations, translating among these representations, and extracting information about the conic sections, such as vertices, foci, radii, and major and minor axis lengths. I also wrote questions that involved describing how the changes in the parameters of conic sections altered their shapes and positions. Just in case you’re wondering, there are four types of conic sections: circles, parabolas, ellipses, and hyperbolas. A circle is really just a special type of ellipse, so really there are only three types. If you’re interested, you can read more here.

Tags: math, mathematics

2008-06-05T13:06:00.000-07:00

I just finished writing yet another practice test for the mathematics portion of the SAT for one of my clients, and now I’m working on writing multiple-choice questions on logarithmic functions for another one of my clients. The questions I worked on today involved representing logarithmic expressions in exponential form and vice-versa, as well as using the properties of logarithms related to powers, products, quotients, and changing of the base. I’ll be working all weekend, but I do plan to take some time out to go see the movie Holly at the Drexel. It looks pretty interesting, especially since it’s set in Vietnam, a place I’d like to visit someday.

Tags: math, mathematics, Holly, Drexel

2008-05-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

I just finished writing a practice test for the mathematics portion of the SAT for one of my clients and doing some answer checking for another one of my clients. In addition, I just agreed to write another practice SAT test, so I’m certainly staying busy.

Also, I recently finished the book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins, and I’m just about to finish Sword and Blossom by Peter Pagnamenta and Momoko Williams. Usually the cover of a book doesn’t really matter to me – it’s what’s inside that counts. However, when I saw the cover of Sword and Blossom, I couldn’t help but be very curious. It was genius to put that photograph on the cover – it’s one of the most enticing covers I’ve ever seen. When I’m finished with Sword and Blossom, I plan on reading Tokyo Year Zero by David Peace.

Tags: math, mathematics, book, books, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, John Perkins, Sword and Blossom, Peter Pagnamenta, Momoko Williams, Tokyo Year Zero, David Peace

2008-05-24T17:13:00.000-07:00

Recently I bought one of Lance Armstrong’s LIVESTRONG technical shirts. At the Boston Marathon expo, the Lance Armstrong Foundation had a booth, and they had a bunch of yellow wristbands that they were giving away in exchange for a donation. Usually people were giving one dollar for a wristband, but all I had was a twenty-dollar bill, so I took a wristband for nothing. I kind of felt guilty about it, so when I saw the LIVESTRONG technical shirt on sale at Finish Line, I had to buy it, especially since the profits were going to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Speaking of Lance Armstrong, he was in Columbus last week, but unfortunately I was busy and couldn’t go meet him. Oh well, maybe next time.

Tags: Lance Armstrong

2008-05-18T19:32:00.000-07:00

Lately I’ve been doing some answer-checking of high-school mathematics problems for one of my clients and writing a practice test for the mathematics portion of the SSAT for another of my clients. Although its name is similar to that of the SAT, the SSAT is a completely different test and is not related to the SAT. The SSAT is used by private junior high schools and high schools to help determine admission. There are two levels of the test – a lower level for grades 5 – 7 and an upper level for grades 8 – 11. Currently I’m writing a mathematics practice test for the upper level, and I’m told that they’ll be many more practice tests for me to write (both upper level and lower level). I’m looking forward to it.

Tags: math, mathematics

2008-05-12T06:32:00.000-07:00

I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to do in the future as far as marathoning goes. First of all, I realize that nothing is ever going to top the Boston Marathon for me. Also, I hope that I haven’t run my last Boston Marathon, even thought I don’t have any plans to try to re-qualify this year. With that said, I was thinking about trying to get into a large international marathon in a place where I have a little history. The marathon I’m thinking of is the Tokyo Marathon.

They have a lottery system, and from what I’ve read, they had over 100,000 applicants last year, of which they only accepted about 20,000. Therefore, my chances of getting in may not be very good, but I’m going to apply anyway. I believe that the application process starts sometime in June, and I won’t know until October whether or not I got in. The race itself is in March. Hopefully I’ll get lucky – if so, it will likely be a much different experience than my previous marathons.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Boston Marathon, Tokyo Marathon, running

2008-05-06T12:54:00.000-07:00

Some books I’ve read recently are The Planiverse by A.K. Dewdney, Shimura Trouble by Sujata Massey, and The Runner’s Guide to the Meaning of Life by Amby Burfoot. Amby Burfoot is an editor at Runner’s World magazine and was the winner of the 1968 Boston Marathon. He has run the Boston Marathon every five years since his 1968 victory, which means that he ran this year’s race. He doesn’t run competitively anymore – just for pleasure. I always enjoy reading his articles in Runner’s World. Speaking of Runner’s World, I just renewed my subscription for another three years. A lot of people on the online message boards like to slam Runner’s World for some of their fluffy articles. I agree that there is a little fluff, but in general, it’s a great magazine!

Tags: marathon, marathons, Boston Marathon, running, Runner’s World, Runners World, book, books, The Planiverse, A. K. Dewdney, Shimura Trouble, Sujata Massey, The Runner’s Guide to the Meaning of Life, Amby Burfoot

2008-04-30T08:25:00.000-07:00

I recently finished writing a mathematics chapter for an ACT test-prep book for one of my clients and a mathematics solutions manual for another of my clients. The client for whom I wrote the ACT test-prep chapter really like what I did, so I’m going to be listed as a co-author of the book and my bio will appear in the book as follows:

Tim Trowbridge graduated with summa cum laude honors from Hawaii Loa College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics. He taught in Japan as a participant in the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program, and he has written and edited parts of various mathematics textbooks for several major educational publishers.

This is a first for me. It will be interesting to see if the book will come up on Amazon.com when doing a search for my name. That will be the ultimate test!

Tags: math, mathematics

2008-04-26T15:41:00.000-07:00

I’ve had a few people ask me if I beat Lance Armstrong in the Boston Marathon. Just for the record, I did not beat Lance Armstrong. Lance Armstrong finished in 2:50, while I finished in 3:18. However, the difference between my time and Lance Armstrong’s time (twenty-eight minutes) is less than the difference between Lance Armstrong’s time and the winner’s time (forty-three minutes). Therefore, it could be argued that I’m closer to Lance Armstrong than Lance Armstrong is to the winner. That’s what I’m telling everybody, anyway (every chance I get). Click here for an article about Lance Armstrong’s Boston experience. Also, the women’s finish was the closest in history. Click here to watch – it’s unbelievable!

Tags: marathon, marathons, Boston Marathon, Lance Armstrong, running

2008-04-22T08:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finished the Boston Marathon in 3:18. The weather was a little bit hot for me, but overall, I’m pleased with the results. I think that I was in very good shape going into the race, but because it was a little bit hot and because Boston is a difficult course, I didn’t quite get to the 3:15 that I needed to re-qualify. However, I’m definitely not disappointed – that really is one tough course! Here are my results:

Bib: 6095
Name: Trowbridge, Timothy K.
Age: 37
M/F: M
City: Gahanna
State: OH
Country: USA
5k: 0:23:16
10k: 0:47:01
15k: 1:10:33
20k: 1:33:50
Half: 1:38:53
25k: 1:56:56
30k: 2:20:45
35k: 2:44:48
40k: 3:08:04
Pace: 0:07:34
Official Time: 3:18:06
Overall: 3868
Gender: 3510
Division: 2144

Also, going through security at the airport yesterday in Boston, I met the woman who finished second in the 2008 Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials. Her name is Magdalena Lewy Boulet, and she’s an immigrant from Poland. I told her she was great and ran a very courageous race. She was very friendly and modest. I’ll be cheering her on in the Olympics.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Boston Marathon, Magdalena Lewy Boulet, running

2008-04-20T17:05:00.000-07:00

Today I watched the 2008 Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials in person. Deena Kastor won, which means that she and the second and third place finishers will represent the USA in Beijing. Read about it here. Some other runners from the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group and I were at the finish line and saw Deena Kastor and the second-place finisher draped in American flags as they cheered on the third-place finisher, who is now their new teammate, as she finished. Also, we saw Deena Kastor draped in an American flag, running a victory lap and signing autographs after she had just run 26.2 miles. It was a good time. Tomorrow is the Boston Marathon.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Boston Marathon, Deena Kastor, running

2008-04-15T06:23:00.000-07:00

I recently saw the movie 21, since I had previously read the book that it is based on, Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich. The book is definitely better. Also, I leave this Saturday morning for Boston. I’m flying United Airlines from Columbus to Boston, and I’m returning on American Airlines on Monday evening after the Boston Marathon. Hopefully, I don’t have any problems with cancelled flights. A few people from the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group had flights on Skybus, which recently went out of business, so they’re driving up to Boston. I’d much prefer to fly.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Boston Marathon, running, Bringing Down the House, Ben Mezrich, book, books

2008-04-09T15:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a very good pain-free long run. I usually do my long runs with the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group, but yesterday I ran all by myself. I’m not used to keeping track of the miles (someone else usually does that), but I know that I ran at least twelve miles, and maybe as many as sixteen. The important thing, though, is that my Achilles tendon felt just fine. I was very worried there for a few days, because it looked like many months of work might go down the drain due to injury. However, I’m now confident that I’m ready for the Boston Marathon. Now that I’m done obsessing about my aches and pains, I can start obsessing about the weather.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Boston Marathon, running

2008-04-04T09:55:00.000-07:00

Well, it looks like I may have jinxed myself with my last post. Just when I thought everything was going great with my training for the Boston Marathon, this week I’ve been having problems with my Achilles tendon. Therefore, I’m definitely not running twenty miles tomorrow – in fact, I’m not running at all tomorrow. I’m going to take a few days off from running in hope that my Achilles tendon will feel better. Maybe I’ll do a twelve-miler in the middle of next week if everything goes OK. On the bright side, my hip feels great, but unfortunately, that’s meaningless if my Achilles tendon is hurting.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Boston Marathon, running

2008-03-29T20:20:00.000-07:00

Today I ran twenty-four miles with the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group, and it seemed to go pretty well. This was my last scheduled big run before the Boston Marathon. Technically, now I’m supposed to taper – next week my schedule calls for twelve miles. However, I’m still considering sneaking in one more twenty-mile run next week. I’ve haven’t completely decided yet, and now isn’t a very good time to ask me, because I’m very tired. I should get some much-needed rest during the next couple days, though, and then I’ll decide for sure how far I want to run next week. Whatever I do, I think I’m in very good shape right now. I’m hoping for a good marathon.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Boston Marathon, running

2008-03-23T18:23:00.000-07:00

After quite a while, I finally got a repayment notice from Monica Wanja Mwangi, the Kenyan woman to whom I made a small loan through Kiva. I don’t care about the money, but because of all of the turmoil in Kenya recently, I was just glad to hear something. I wasn’t sure if anything had happened to her.

Also, I recently made a couple online purchases. One was the book Selling Ben Cheever by Benjamin Cheever, which I’m currently reading, and the other was Norah Jones’ CD Not Too Late. I’ve already listened to it a few times, and even though it didn’t get nearly as good reviews as her previous CDs, I like it just as much, if not more. I guess that makes me a die-hard Norah Jones fan. I’ll definitely take the CD to Boston with me in a few weeks to help me relax before the Boston Marathon.

Tags: Kiva, Selling Ben Cheever, Book, Books, Benjamin Cheever, Not Too Late, Norah Jones

2008-03-18T14:26:00.000-07:00

After getting very lucky for a long time juggling the work from my three clients, recently all three clients have converged. I just finished writing some high-school teacher’s-resource-appendix exercises for client A (located in Columbus), but I had to turn down some additional work from client A for now, because I’ve accepted some work writing the mathematics portions of practice SAT tests for client B (located in Pennsylvania), and tomorrow I expect to be offered a contract from client C (located in Georgia) to write the mathematics portions of practice ACT tests. Things are starting to get very busy for me. However, I don’t mind too much, because I really like writing the practice SAT and ACT tests. These are great opportunities that I expect to benefit from well into the future.

Tags: math, mathematics

2008-03-13T12:58:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in an earlier post that I ordered the books Flatland by Edwin Abbott and Sphereland by Dionys Burger online. (The books are both included in the same volume.) I’m just getting around to reading them, and they’re very interesting. I’m really surprised that I was never required to read these books at some point during a mathematics or physics class, because they definitely make some concepts clear to me that were never very clear before.

For example, I remember hearing at some point that the three-dimensional space that we live in is curved, but that never really meant anything to me before I read Sphereland. Now the concept is perfectly clear to me. It might sound like these books are really complicated, but they’re not. They’re very easy to read and quite entertaining, so if you’re at all interested in mathematics or physics, you’ll want to consider checking them out!

Tags: math, mathematics, Flatland, Edwin Abbott, Sphereland, Dionys Burger, book, books

2008-03-08T08:13:00.000-08:00

I just finished running twelve miles in a blizzard. I’m not exaggerating – click here for details. The weather was so bad that the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group run for this week was cancelled, but a guy from the group and I wanted to get in our run, so I woke up at 5 AM this morning and drove (with almost zero visibility) through the blizzard to his house, and we got in our training for the Boston Marathon. I was hoping that by the time we finished that the plows would have been out to plow the highways, but on the drive back home the roads and the visibility were even worse than before. Luckily, I made it home safely, but I saw some cars in the ditch along the side of the highway (when I could see anything at all). Next week is twenty-two miles. Hopefully, we’ll have better weather.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Boston Marathon, running

2008-03-04T14:52:00.000-08:00

I just got back from casting my vote at the Ohio primary election. Originally, I requested an absentee ballot (as voters in Ohio are encouraged to do), but I never received it in the mail. Therefore, when I arrived at the polling station (Aladdin Shrine Center in Columbus), they told me that I would have to cast a provisional ballot, and they directed me to the provisional ballot table. There the lady at the table asked me if I wanted a Democratic or Republican ballot (she obviously doesn’t know me very well).

Next, I showed my driver’s license and filled out a short form, and I then went to one of the voting booths and filled out my ballot, which took me about 10 seconds, since I only voted for my preferred presidential nominee. I then dropped my provisional ballot in the ballot box, and I was given a piece of paper with a phone number on it that I could call to verify that my provisional ballot was counted. All in all, I was in and out of there in about 10 minutes. The lady at the provisional ballot table said that they had been very busy. It will be quite interesting if the election comes down to the provisional ballots, but I suspect that it will be decided before then.

Tags: Ohio primary, Ohio primary election

2008-02-27T09:02:00.000-08:00

I’m scheduled to run twenty miles this Saturday, March 1st, with the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group. Temperatures look to be in the upper twenties to low thirties, which shouldn't be too bad. March is going to be a big month of training. I have runs scheduled of twenty, twenty-two, and twenty-four miles. In addition, I may sneak in one more twenty-miler during the first week of April – I’m still undecided about that. The Boston Marathon is less than two months away, so the time for working hard is now. Speaking of the Boston Marathon, I recently ordered the official jacket online. I’m looking forward to showing it off when the weather gets a little nicer.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Boston Marathon, running

2008-02-23T08:47:00.000-08:00

I’m currently writing exercises for a chapter called Combinations of Functions in a high-school mathematics textbook. The sections I’m writing exercises for are called Combining Two Functions: Sums and Differences, Combining Two Functions: Products, The Composition of Two Functions, Solving Equations and Inequalities, and Modelling with Functions. I’m starting to get a little deeper into calculus – in this chapter I’ve talked about the sum rule of differentiation and integration, the product rule, and the chain rule. It’s been quite a while since I’ve worked with any of this, so I’ve had to review, but it’s coming back to me pretty quickly. I’m looking forward to working more with calculus in the near future.

Tags: math, mathematics

2008-02-17T08:21:00.000-08:00

Last night I saw the animated film Persepolis at the Drexel. Click here to see a good review in Newsweek magazine. Admittedly, I probably don’t see nearly as many movies as most people, but this is the only movie I can ever remember seeing that gives a realistic depiction of reverse culture shock. For that reason alone it’s worth seeing, but it’s also a good contemporary history lesson, and at times, it’s very, very funny. The film is based on an autobiographical graphic novel (i.e. comic book) by an Iranian woman named Marjane Satrapi who lives in Paris. Apparently, the graphic novel was quite popular. If Persepolis is playing wherever you’re located, I’d definitely recommend seeing it.

Tags: Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi, Drexel

2008-02-12T12:46:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday I ran eighteen miles with the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group. I’m satisfied with how things went, especially considering that I was sick the week before and missed my long run. However, I will not have convinced myself that I’m completely back on track in my training for the Boston Marathon until I have another good long run next Saturday. Also, usually I taper for three weeks before a marathon, but I’m thinking of tapering only two weeks this time to make up for the week I missed. I’ll decide for certain when I get closer to marathon day. Speaking of running, I ordered the book Strides by Benjamin Cheever online after I saw an add for it in Runner’s World. I’m looking forward to checking it out!

Tags: marathon, marathons, Boston Marathon, running, Runner’s World, Runners World, book, books, Strides, Benjamin Cheever

2008-02-06T11:42:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, last Thursday I got sick, and I’m just starting to get over it now. I had a fever and could barely stand up straight, so I missed my long run with the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group over the weekend. That’s the first time I can ever remember missing my long run because of an illness. However, I was able to run on the treadmill for a few miles, since you don’t really have to be able to stand up straight to run on a treadmill – the only way to fall off is if you completely pass out, and I was able to avoid that. I’m now off track in my training for the Boston Marathon, so I really need a good long run this weekend. Hopefully, I can get things going in the right direction again.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Boston Marathon, running

2008-01-31T15:46:00.000-08:00

I just finished writing some exercises for the polynomial functions chapter of a high-school mathematics textbook. The sections I wrote exercises for were called Investigating Characteristics of Polynomial Functions, Investigating Characteristics of Polynomial Functions in Factored Form, Investigating Transformations of Cubic and Quartic Functions, Dividing Polynomials, and Investigating Polynomial Factoring. Tomorrow I'll work on a section called Factoring a Sum of or Difference of Cubes. Also, I’m just finishing up the book Catch-22 by Joseph Heller It’s a classic!

Tags: math, mathematics, book, books, Catch-22, Joseph Heller

2008-01-25T06:47:00.000-08:00

Last night I saw Spirit of the Marathon, and I really enjoyed it. The movie followed six runners who trained for and ran the 2005 Chicago Marathon. Two were elite runners (including the very likable Deena Kastor and a Kenyan guy who trains and lives in Japan), two were young women running their first marathon, one was an older gentleman who was running with his daughter, and one was a guy trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon. With the Kenyan guy we got some shots of Japan (which was probably more interesting to me than to most people) and of Kenya, which was nice, and with Deena Kastor we got to see her win the bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics.

The person who I definitely would have identified most with is the guy trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon, but unfortunately, he got injured and never did run the 2005 Chicago Marathon. I would have really liked to see him try and qualify for Boston, but if he was injured, he was injured – there was nothing the producers of the movie could do. It did say at the end of the movie that he did eventually end up qualifying in another race, and he ran Boston. I was happy to see that. If you didn’t see the movie, there will be a repeat performance on February 21st. Click here for details!

Tags: marathon, marathons, Boston Marathon, running, Spirit of the Marathon, Deena Kastor,

2008-01-23T10:45:00.000-08:00

I just finished writing some exercises for the trigonometric identities chapter of a high-school mathematics textbook. The sections I wrote exercises for were called Investigating Compound Angles, Double Angle Formulas, Proving Trigonometric Identities, Solving Linear Trigonometric Equations, and Solving Quadratic Trigonometric Equations. I hope to have more work to do very soon. Also, don’t forget that tomorrow night at 7:30 PM is the nationwide screening of the movie Spirit of the Marathon. If you haven’t purchased your tickets yet, I would call ahead before you go, because I heard that many theatres are sold out!

Tags: math, mathematics, Spirit of the Marathon

2008-01-19T14:44:00.000-08:00

Wow! Lance Armstrong is running the Boston Marathon! Read about it here! I hope to see him there!

Tags: marathon, marathons, Boston Marathon, running, Lance Armstrong

2008-01-15T08:18:00.000-08:00

I just finished writing some exercises for the trigonometric functions chapter of a high-school mathematics textbook. The sections I wrote exercises for were called Radian Measure & Special Triangles, Transformations of Trigonometric Functions, Solving Problems Involving Trig Functions, and Rates of Change in Trigonometric Functions. During the last section I even got to touch on some calculus.

From October, 2006 to November, 2007, I was working for just one company (person), but in the last couple months, I’ve expanded so that I’m now working for three different companies. So far the work from the three companies hasn’t overlapped, but inevitably, it will. I’m confident that when it does, I’ll be able to handle it. I’m determined to keep all three of my clients.

Tags: math, mathematics

2008-01-09T06:43:00.000-08:00

As I stated in an earlier post, I don’t want this blog to be about politics. However, the political races are starting to get very interesting. Even though I haven’t been writing about it, I do have a very strong preference. I’m not going to say here what that preference is, but I just want to make it clear that I certainly do have an opinion, even if you're not hearing about it. I will give one little hint – although Mike Huckabee is a marathon runner (read the Runner’s World article here), he’s definitely not the candidate that I support. However, I really admire how he’s been able to improve his health through exercise and nutrition. That’s all I’ll say about the political races for now.

Tags: Mike Huckabee, Runner’s World, Runners World

2008-01-05T17:37:00.000-08:00

I ran fourteen miles today with the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group. The adjustments that I’ve made to my training definitely seem to be working. In addition to a thirty-minute warm-up on the stationary bike at LifeTime Fitness before all of my runs during the week and using bee venom cream from Dancing Bee Acres to prevent inflammation, I’m also using a foam roller on my hip. As I progress farther into my training, things seem to be getting better, not worse. My schedule only said eleven miles today, so not only am I ahead of schedule this year, but I’m ahead of where I was last year at this time, too. Hopefully everything will continue to go well and I’ll have a great Boston Marathon!

Tags: marathon, marathons, Boston Marathon, running, LifeTime Fitness, Bee Venom, Bee Venom Cream, Dancing Bee Acres

2008-01-01T09:21:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all! I’m just about to go get my workout in at LifeTime Fitness. The gym is very crowded today, since everyone made a New Year’s resolution to get more exercise. However, it will be back to normal within a few days, after everyone forgets about his/her resolution. It’s the same every year.

Tags: LifeTime Fitness