Long story short, I just had to implement it (albeit a simple version) in JavaScript. The result is available on my website and I suggest you give it a try; a good pattern to start out with is the F-pentomino.

The reason I find emergence so interesting is that it provides a possible framework or explanation for the complexity and order seen in our universe, based on a fairly simple or rudimentary set of rules.

One to rule them all

The interactions seen in Conway’s Game of Life can be fairly complex and are not straightforward to predict. However, they all result from a simple set of rules:

• Each square is labeled as a cell, and has eight neighbours.
• A cell can either be “dead” or “alive”.
• A dead cell turns alive on the next turn if it has exactly three alive neighbours.
• A live cell continues to live on the next turn if it has 2 or 3 alive neighbours.

Thus, during each iteration, the state of a cell (alive or dead) is determined from the state of its neighbours on the previous turn.

Complexity from simplicity

Despite this limited ruleset, complex behaviour can be seen in the interaction between cells. In fact, quite a lot of study has been put into understanding the interactions and categorizing the various “structures” that have emerged in game.

Simulating the game on a large scale can take a lot of CPU power, so some interesting dynamic programming techniques have been utilized to increase the iteration speed. One of them is Hashlife, which exploits the repeatability and determinism in the game.

For example, if a pattern shows up an in an early stage of the simulation, it’s “evolution” can be tracked and stored so that if the same pattern ever shows up again, it’s long(er) term fate will already be known, since it was already computed earlier. This prevents unnecessary iterations in the simulation. This sort of technique is called memoization.

In Real Life

Obviously, our universe is probably more complex than the Game of Life. (It would likely have to be, since the simulation exists within our universe) But it’s also likely that all the complex interactions and structures observed in our universe boil down to some set of rudimentary rules. The point of science, in many respects, is connecting the dots that allow us to understand how these higher-level properties emerged from lower-level interactions. I’m not saying that it will provide all the answers or explain things like self-awareness, but to me, that sort of emergence is the real beauty of our universe.

They’ve fallen off of my face more than once, have tumbled many times to the hardwood floor from my nightstand while I fumbled for them in the dark, been lost in my bed covers and rolled onto during numerous occasions, and of course I’ve fallen asleep with them on more times than I can remember. Despite all of this, they not only held together, but retained much of the original lustre and remain in excellent condition.

Only one of the earpieces is starting to look worn, the nose pads are looking a little old and one of the lens screws had to be replaced when it fell out and got lost, but other than that, they’re as good as new. This was the first “thin” pair of glasses I had ever worn and I initially had some reservations about durability, so I’m more than pleased with how well they’ve held up. (I think the frames are made up of some titanium, but I can’t remember)

But this past weekend, I decided it was time to finally replace them.

We’ve had a good run, old friend, but I’m afraid it’s time to part ways.

I went down to the local Pearle Vision since it was close and seemed to have a decent selection of frames. In fact, I found there was just too many options. Many of them were easily ruled out, but I still ended up spending over an hour trying on frames with fingerprints and smudges all over the lenses in an effort to find the right pair. Or, rather, the right pairs, since they had this screwed up pricing that basically forced you to buy two pairs at once since you hardly saved anything by buying a single pair.

The problem with selecting glasses (besides my indecisiveness, aggravated by the multitude of options) is that it’s hard to know how well they’ll do or look over the long run. Durability is important to me, and certainly some frames “felt” more durable than others, but that’s not really a sound way of assessing things. I guess I’m just expecting these new frames to last as long as the previous ones did, because I find it hard to change “styles”.

The other problem is that it’s hard to tell what you look like in them if you don’t wear contacts – thankfully this isn’t a problem for me; I’d be nearly blind without corrective vision.

Eventually, if you try on enough frames and stay in the store for long enough, almost all glasses start to look acceptable. This is because style and attractiveness are both subjective and tend to be swayed one way or another by overexposure. It’s almost as if your subconscious is overriding your critical thinking in an effort to get you out of the store and on your way.

You need to know when this effect is taking a hold of you, so I suggest the following: Within five minutes of entering the store, identify and try on a pair of frames that look utterly ridiculous on you. Then, put these back; don’t worry, you definitely won’t be getting these. After you’ve been in the store for an hour or so, and you’re noticing that most frames you’re trying on are looking good, go back and try on the hideous pair.

If the hideous pair now look attractive or even slightly better than before, your judgment has already been compromised. Either leave and come back another day or take your chances with a pair that you found attractive early on during your search. This is what I did.

I should be getting the new frames within a few days. Hopefully I wasn’t judgment-impaired when I made my choice.

I took a new approach to training and really dedicated myself to it. There were many mid-week 4 AM mornings, followed by 1.5-2 hour runs in the dark, snow/rain and wind. I arrived at the starting line being as prepared for any race as I’d ever been.

However, I failed to meet my goal time of a sub-3:03 marathon, finishing in only 3:07:20. I made several mistakes early on and fell behind the pace within the first 10 km. However, I was most disappointed in myself for not pushing harder. I felt that I had mentally “checked out” after the first half, and consciously or not, believed that meeting my goal was now impossible due to the early mistakes. Because of that, I felt that I didn’t try as hard as I could and that I did not give 100% for fear of failure. It was almost as if I had sabotaged myself into thinking, “If I don’t give 100% and miss my goal, well at least then I will have an excuse.”

I fell into a pretty big slump after Boston and didn’t/couldn’t run for almost a week after. Even when I did start again, things just weren’t the same – my confidence had been shattered. I knew I had to break out of this slump, so I signed up for the Mississauga Half Marathon, which was about a month after Boston, to give me something to shoot for.

Why the half? Simply put, I didn’t think I’d be ready for another full so soon – not just physically, but mentally as well. If I were to run the full, I would have wanted to aim for a sub-3:05, in order to get in on the first week of registration for 2012. However, I didn’t feel that I would have the mental toughness required to meet that time and couldn’t deal with the heartbreak of another missed goal. So, I decided on the half, a distance I felt comfortable with.

Things turned out great – though the conditions were looking windy/rainy, things actually were not that bad, and I was able to pull of a huge PR, finishing in a time of 1:24:02 in the Mississauga Half Marathon, well ahead of any goal I’d had. This was good enough for 4th in my age group. Suffice to say, this was a huge confidence booster, something I sorely needed.

Edmonton Marathon

Coming off my performance at the Mississauga Half, I felt elated and immediately signed up for the Edmonton Marathon, which takes place on August 21st of this year. This would give me two weeks of downtime before I would have to start a 12-week training schedule for it. 12 weeks might seem a little short, but I actually think it’s pretty close to optimal considering my present situation. I felt that the 18-week program I used for Boston was perhaps a little long, and something between 14-16 weeks would have been better.

Given that I’m coming off a good base established by my Boston training (though not reflected in my performance there, but instead at the Mississauga Half), I feel that 12 weeks is more than enough to be ready for Edmonton, provided I stick to the plan, rest/recovery well and not over do things.

Edmonton will be my last chance to qualify for Boston 2012, since registration starts in early September. Technically, I’m already “qualified” for Boston 2012, but I don’t believe my time will be fast enough to actually allow my entry accepted. Complicated story aside, most runners I’ve talked to have thought that you’ll need to have at least BQ-5 (that is, your Boston Qualification time minus 5 minutes) in order to have a chance to get in, so I’ll be aiming for a sub-3:05 finish.

Running a marathon is no easy task. You train for months and basically have once chance to prove yourself. I don’t deal well with pressure, and I choked at Boston this year. I’m trying to avoid that this time in Edmonton.

Edmonton has the advantage of being a flat course, and the climate is not known for its hot summers. When I ran it back in 2009, the starting line temperature was only around 8C with a finishing temperature of 16C. This is pretty close to ideal. However, there are only so many things one can control.

Training doesn’t guarantee any performance; it can only increase the chances of reaching your desired goal. I have accepted the fact that I may give 100% this time and again fail to meet my goal – that is just part of the game. You can’t be afraid to fail if you want to achieve something.

Site updates

Yet again, I’ve fallen behind with keeping this site up to date with articles and guides. It’s not that I don’t have any ideas, it’s just that I’ve been lazy to make the time to put them together. A combination of work, training and life has yet again provided me with the excuse to not further this site with articles that may be of importance to readers.

Writing tutorials and other informational articles is as much a help to me as it is to those who read them, so I will be putting more effort towards this. I hope that you have enjoyed the few that I have written this year.

However, when I received the package from Dell, I was surprised at the size. It came in a huge 18″x13″ bubble envelope:

I thought it was just excess shipping packaging, but opening the enveloped made it clear that the packaging was only just big enough to hold the actual item:

For batteries with packaging that seems to imply they’re good for the environment, you think they would have made the packaging a little less excessive. The packaging is still 100% recyclable, but it still costs energy to make it.

At least Dell didn’t put the already-large item in a huge shipping box.

With that in mind, I thought it’d be useful to provide an update on what I’ve been up to for the past few months, to keep things in perspective.

Changing roles

During the summer, I started a new job. As with any new job, there is an adjustment period and during that time I wanted to stay focused on getting up to speed and being able to deliver in the role I was hired for. I’m always apprehensive about new environments, so I wanted to take the time to properly learn the ropes and not be too assertive, while at the same time not being too withdrawn.

I’m glad to report that things are going quite well. The new position suits me well, and most importantly, the people there are great to work with. My new team lead, and indeed many of my other team members have also been recently hired, so I was a little less intimidated as I was by no means the only “new guy”. Since then, we have all had to opportunity to learn, grow and adjust to the environment, so it’s been a great team-building exercise of sorts. (As you can tell, the company is very much in a growth phase at this point)

About the only thing I don’t like is having to drive to work, as the new workplace is out is Mississauga. It’s not a horrible commute (~30 minutes one-way), but it’s just that I don’t like driving.

Boston 2011 Training

The other big event in my life has been qualifying for the Boston Marathon, which I did last year in STWM 2010.

Luckily, I managed to get in the day registration opened, as all the spots for the 2011 Boston Marathon filled within 8 hours! The fast fill-up time can probably be attributed to a self-fulfilling prophesy, as the people who were locked out last year (when registration filled in “only” 2 months) vowed not to miss it again. This created rumours that things would fill up even faster, and likely created a “bank run” type scenario.

I quickly booked my hotel and flight down to Beantown for April this year, as I didn’t want to miss out because of something logistical. But my planning for Boston hasn’t been limited to administrative items though, as there is of course the training required.

For this next marathon, which will be my sixth, I decided that I need a new approach, one that involved following a proper training plan. Before this, my training had always been self-developed – that is, lacking structure and reason. I would basically run four times a week: One long run on the weekend, followed by three ~10 km runs during the week. All of these would be run at the fastest pace that I could sustain over the distance.

This seemed to work, at least for a while, as I managed at 3:02:50 performance in the 2009 Edmonton marathon. However, this was followed by a disastrous 3:27 finish in the 2009 Toronto GoodLife marathon, and a qualifying near-miss in the 2010 Mississauga marathon where I finished in 3:13. Having just barely qualified during the 2010 STWM with a time of 3:10:46 (and that was only due to sheer willpower during the last 2.2 km), I knew a different approach was required, one that was more regimented.

A new approach to training

So I bought a few books and began reading up online about exercise physiology. I quickly learned that I had simply been running all my training runs too fast, which seems contradictory to the goals of training. After all, to run a race fast, shouldn’t you train fast? It turns out, the truth is not so simple.

Basically, by running everything as fast as I could during training, I wasn’t giving my body time to properly recover. Strictly speaking, it isn’t the workout that improves your fitness – as after a workout, you are tired and your performance is actually decreased. It’s actually the supercompensation that happens during the recovery phase that improves your fitness. Without recovery, hard training will simply break down your body and leave you less capable.

That’s what was happening to me – I was “leaving my best race on the track”, as famed distance running coach Daniels would say. With all that hard running, each workout began to seem tougher and tougher – though the actual intensity was not getting harder. Soon, it got to the point where I could not complete my four runs per week, and had to switch to cross-training in a vain attempt to preserve my fitness. It turns out, this is a common pitfall of amateur runners as they attempt to devise their own “training plan.”

Rest and recovery

After all of this, I needed a recovery period. I took some downtime after my fall marathon, and when to physiotherapy for some issues I was having with my right knee. It turns out I had PFPS (Patello femoral pain syndrome), which is basically a kneecap-tracking problem caused by muscle imbalances and likely aggravated by all the hard running I was doing. I was given some exercises to do and also began some strength training for my quads, and during the past three months the pain progressively decreased and is now almost completely gone. During this time, I was never prevented from running.

But I also began to change how I ran. I no longer ran everything at the fastest pace possible. In fact, for two months, I reverted to a “base training” phase, where all my runs were done at < 70% HRR (Heart Rate Reserve). At first, it was painful to run this slow. But I stuck to the ideas that others had proven effective, and I was able to increase my weekly distance up to levels I’d never touched before, all while remaining injury free.

During this time, I also worked on shortening my stride and increasing my cadence, thus moving away from a heel-striking gait to more of a midfoot strike. I believe this has prevented my plantar fasciitis from returning, something I struggled with for over a year. At the end of this phase, I did a time trial on the treadmill, and I was no slower at 10 km than before. In fact, physically, I felt much more stronger and refreshed.

Marathon training

With recovery out of the way, the question of which training plan to follow came up. After consulting with the folks over at the RWOL Boston forums, it became clear that many of them were following the plan from Advanced Marathoning, by Pete Pfitzinger. Pftizinger and Daniels have very similar ideas – specific runs at specific paces to train different parts of your physiology necessary for the marathon – but Pfitzinger is a more specific with his training schedule, something I desired.

At first, things were a bit daunting – after all, the lowest-mileage plan (which I planned on following) has a maximum week of 88 km, something I’ve never done before. But the beauty of the plans is that while there’s a lot of mileage, there’s a selective use of hard running. Pfitz always places sufficient time between hard runs, filling them with slower-paced runs that keep your cardiovascular system in shape while allowing your legs to recover from the harder efforts. It’s a much more sane approach.

I’m following the 18-week plan that peaks at 88 km, (commonly referred to as “18/55″ since 55 miles is about 88 km) and have just finished the 5th week. I feel great – a lot stronger and most importantly, remain injury free. Hopefully things will remain that way.

Summing it up

Besides updates on my marathon training progress, I will aim to add a few more development/programming related guides. I have the beginnings of a few, but just need the motivation to put them together. Hopefully that will not be interrupted by laziness. But Lennon once said, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”.

I’m a bit of an information pack rat. When I have an idea or something I need to keep track of, I have an immediate need to write it down or record it. In the past this has resulted in an assortment of post-it notes, notebooks or even loose papers lying around my desk, all used to document my thoughts. Eventually, I tried to move my note-taking over to the PC in an attempt to make it easier to manage, but over time the notes became spread over a variety of formats and storage mediums, from text files on my local PC to online services such as Google Calendar and Dropbox.

This sort of digital storage Balkanization was becoming a nightmare to manage and effectively neutralizing any benefit from taking notes, since finding and keeping track of what I’d written down was becoming a chore by itself. Clearly, a unified solution was needed. Ever since I got my iPhone last year, I’d been looking for an app or service that would allow me to easily keep track of todo and shopping lists (what most of my notes amounted to), while storing the the data online so that it could be synced or updated from my PC as well.

I think I’ve finally found that with Awesome Note.

What I was looking for

As mentioned, I love keeping lists. So what I needed was an app that could allow me to easily keep track of lists as well as allow me to backup or sync the underlying data in such a way that I could also work with the lists on my PC or online. The built-in Notes app didn’t meet my needs because you could only sync it with certain supported software, such as Outlook, which I didn’t use or care to use at home.

Browsing through the App Store was almost an exercise in futility. Trying to find a decent note-taking app (or any app, for that matter) is a time-consuming activity; I didn’t want to shell out any money without being able to first try the app out, so many apps were immediately ruled out.

The first one I tried was one aptly named Lists. While it was functional and had support for lists and lists-within-lists, it was buggy and the UI left a lot to be desired. The next one I tried was Evernote’s app; while Evernote is a nice service, the iPhone app left a lot to be desired. While the web application or the PC software allowed you to take all sorts of notes, only basic editing functionality was available on the app, and it was suited for a more general note-taking approach rather than one for lists and the like.

I stumbled upon the free version of Awesome Note soon after, which thankfully was fully-featured but limited you to only a few notes. Nonetheless, I was immediately impressed.

Just felt right

Right off the bat, I was impressed by how easy it was to create a list and add items. When creating an item, you can use the “quick-add” functionality that allows you to nicely add a new item while staying on the same screen; if necessary you can later add a longer description on a separate screen. Furthermore, it’s easy to sort items by date, name or priority; more importantly, there’s a robust search function as well. Swipe-to-delete functionality is also nicely handled.

You can create multiple folders, each to store separate items, for example, a shopping list and a todo list. Each folder has its own view options, either thumbnail, lists or todo view, store separately so you can sort through different lists in different ways, each remembered by the app. Furthermore, it’s easy to convert an item to a todo item; you simply tap a box next to an item to change its state from done/not done and there’s no need to navigate complicated setup screens to change this.

There’s also a “Quick Memo” feature, which gives you a notepad to quickly jot down ideas that you can later convert into a fully-fledged note or item. It basically replicates the functionality of the built-in Notes app, all while providing some other nice features such as adjustable fonts, just like the rest of the app.

Furthermore, the UI was very polished; each folder can be identified by colour and an icon of your choosing. A nice assortment of these icons/backgrounds is provided, all of them looking great. In short, everything looks very well refined and well thought out, making list and note management very easy.

But most importantly, the sync worked great out of the box. I tied it to my Evernote account, and as a result I now have the unified access to my notes that I so badly wanted. I’d previously used Dropbox or even my own SVN server to get some semblance of cloud-based storage and access to my notes, but but neither was sufficient to properly work with my iPhone. Awesome Note now provides that functionality, with a great UI/front-end making list/note management a breeze.

I strongly recommend giving it a try if you find yourself using your iPhone/iPod Touch to take notes.

Well, I finally gave in and joined the cult of iPhone. At the beginning of this month, I decided to splurge and get an iPhone through Fido, Rogers discount brand. Why? I suppose it had something to do with the extension of the 6GB/$30 “promotion” or the fact that I was able to find a 3GS for sale locally, but mostly it had to do with the fact that I needed a new toy. (Note that the iPhone is hardly a novelty item, with >21 million of them out there)

Keep in mind that I didn’t have a mobile phone until late 2007, and even then I decided to only go with a prepaid provider (Virgin Mobile) because I didn’t have much of a need for a phone, but really just wanted Internet access. However, this past summer my phone got more use than usual, especially with regard to Internet access. With Internet browsing being anemic on most non-smartphones, I decided it was time to upgrade.

I narrowed my choices down to two: Either the Palm Pre or the iPhone 3GS. However, I wasn’t very pleased with what plans Bell had to offer and wasn’t sure if the Pre developer ecosystem (and thus the applications available) would turn out to be as varied as the iPhone. So, I decided to join the cult.

Another reason that led me down this path was the fact that I already had an iPod Touch from earlier in the year, and so I was already used to the iPhone interface. (I’ve since sold the Touch) And yes, I do realize in that very article I berated the monthly cost of the iPhone only to now end up doing a complete 180 on the situation. It’s not that I’m happy with what I’m paying, but rather that I’m willing to suck it up. Such is the power of the cult, and perhaps one of the reasons for the iPod Touch’s existence – to suck users into getting an iPhone. After all, Steve Jobs did describe it as “training wheels for the iPhone”, but perhaps “gateway drug to the iPhone” would be more accurate.

Fido actually had some okay plans; okay for Canada that is. In the end, I’m paying just about $80 CAD a month. (including taxes) It’s about $50 more than I was paying for my old phone, which is quite a bit, but the iPhone has been invaluable in the intervening period after moving where I didn’t have Internet access at home. We’ll see if it doesn’t lose its appeal in the coming months.

In the meantime, however, it’s been a blast. There are literally too many apps out there to try, so I’ve only had a chance to play with the more popular ones. Some of my favourites include the AllRecipies dinner spinner, Wikipanion, Restaurantica (which I’m surprised isn’t promoted more on their website), and of course, Shazam, the accuracy of which continues to amaze me!

But the most useful features for me have been the always-available easy-to-use Internet access and the access to Google Maps overlaid with GPS. It’s been invaluable, especially after moving to a new city. Without it, I’d literally have been lost more than once.

Despite all the positive features, there are still some sore points. Firstly, battery life on the 3GS is atrocious, as reports have indicated. On a full charge, I can barely last two days with moderate data usage, some music playback and hardly any YouTube/video usage. Be prepared for the daily recharge should you get this phone.

Additionally, being an Apple product the iPhone looks very attractive but is a dirt/dust/fingerprint magnet. Even with the new oleophobic coating (fancy word for anti-fingerprint) you’ll still probably want to get a screen protector and case for this device. I’ve opted for the Speck PixelSkin, which I believe is one of the better cases out there, as it’s tough, rigid and adds a nice grip to the iPhone.

Lastly, there are no good default ringtones supplied with the iPhone! I don’t need some fancy pop-music ringtone, I just want something that sounds normal. Thankfully, a coworker directed me to the perfect iPhone ringtone, and I’ve since been happy with it.

I’ll leave you with some comparison pictures of the iPhone 3GS and the iPod Touch 2nd generation.

I have had the greatest difficulty in finding a pair of shoes that fit and feel right. I think I can remember back to a time in grade school, bugging my Mom to buy me a pair of shoes that I so badly wanted, only to rarely wear them because they just didn’t feel right. All in all, I probably have accumulated a closet’s worth of shoes during my lifetime that just didn’t get much usage because they didn’t work for me.

Thus, for me, trying on a pair of shoes at the store and walking around for few minutes just doesn’t cut it. I won’t feel comfortable until the shoes have been “battle-tested” for hours… unfortunately this sort of intense “try before you buy” approach doesn’t work for most types of footwear, because it’s not fair to the store especially if you’ve worn the shoes outside.

Shoe shopping panic

So you can understand my apprehension when searching for a new pair of shoes. However, wear and tear on my New Balance 846 shoes was literally reaching the breaking point; the shoes are long since past their prime, having served me well in the PEC Marathon last year and through to the training I’ve been doing this year. I estimate I’ve put about 1000 km on them, far more than one should; this put my urgently at need for finding a new pair of shoes.

I first went to Tri & Run Sports, a local store, to find the help I needed. They first recommended a pair of ASICS shoes that felt good on the treadmill there, but I was skeptical, but their return policy was quite liberal; so as long as you didn’t run outside with them, you were free to try them out on the treadmill and return them if they didn’t work for you. Knowing this, I felt a little more secure. It usually takes me a run of at least 10 km or so to tell whether I’ll like a shoe; unfortunately this is obviously not possible nor practical during the buying process, so I was grateful that the store would allow me a grace period to try them out for myself.

However, they turned out to be a disappointment, as they almost immediately caused soreness and pain in my feet after a few minutes of running on the treadmill; I had flashbacks of previous bad shoes I’d bought. Dismayed, I returned them within the week. However, the staff at Tri & Run was more than helpful in assisting me to find another pair that would work. We eventually settled on the Mizuno Wave Alchemy 7, a stability shoe that would be ideal for an overpronator like myself. (I use orthotics to deal with this, and without them I wouldn’t have been able to complete the marathon)

The Mizuno’s turned out to be much better, and I’m now running in them every week and feeling fine! I can wholeheartedly recommend Tri & Run sports if you live in the Belleville or Trenton area and need to find a good pair of running shoes, or anything else related to running!

The need for another pair

I typically like to have two pairs of running shoes: One for indoor running on the treadmill and one for outdoor running. Up until now, my old New Balance 846′s had been serving the role of outdoor running shoe, but as they were beginning to show their age I knew I’d need to get another pair. This weekend, SportChek was having a sale, so on a bit of a splurge I decided to pick up a pair of Adidas Supernova Glides, mainly because they looked and felt nice. I was also sure to ask of the return policy, which was thankfully also very liberal, before I committed to buying. (Also, the New Balance 769′s that I wanted, weren’t available in my size!)

I had a chance to try them out on the treadmill this morning, going for a decent 10 km run. To my surprise, they felt great and I had no initial adjustment problems! This was one of the rare times a shoe has felt this good on the first try; even the Mizuno’s took a run or two to feel “great”. What surprised me even more is that the Supernova Glide is a “neutral” cushioned shoe, not a stability or motion-control one that would be better-suited to my overpronating feet. However, I believe my orthotics help compensate for this and may be enough, but in the long term this may not be a good idea as the shoes may not offer enough stability or rigidness for my foot type. Only time will tell.

Also unique to this shoe was the FORMOTION-dubbed heel shape of the Supernova Glides. Basically, the shape of the heel is not flat, it is slightly slanted on the outside part of the heel. This was interesting because when I look at the wear pattern on the heels of my old shoes, they show the same shape, that is, the outside part of the heel is worn more than the rest. With the Supernova Glides, the heel already has this shape, so I’m guessing this will help reduce wear or extend the life of the shoes.

Anyways, I highly recommend you buy your running shoes from a place that will allow you to test them out on the treadmill for a reasonable period of time, anywhere from 2-3 weeks at least. Battle-testing or trial-by-fire is the only way to go. However, the true test of these shoes will come when I am forced to take them outside for a 20+ km run…

See more at my Zooomr Photostream

I finally bit the bullet and got an iPod Touch 16 GB, after months of telling myself I shouldn’t. And yes, I’m thoroughly enjoying my new toy. So why did I get an iPod Touch when I could have just got an iPhone for the same upfront cost? A few reasons:

• I don’t use my cellphone a lot. In fact, I’m on a pay-as-you-go plan with Virgin Mobile since my cellphone is basically for emergency situations. I still don’t like cellphones all that much.
• I don’t want to pay the exorbitant monthly fees that carriers in Canada charge to use the iPhone. Basically, the minimum monthly cost is $60, but this does not include the “System Access Fee” or essentials such as Caller ID, and adding those brings the total to over $80/month without taxes

I don’t want to turn this into a huge iPhone vs. iPod Touch debate, so let’s just say I don’t have the cash for an iPhone subscription at present. Anyway, here’s a few pictures from the unboxing. Enjoy!