Mike Evans

The South Pacific Part Two

 After spending a week in Austrailia, I hopped over to New Zealand for some good time hiking and mountain climbing fun.  Everybody seemed sure that I was going to crash my car in some horrible wreck because the driving was on the left side.  I've got a secret for you all...  its not that hard: just drive on the left side...

The South Pacific Part One

 I had the fortune of spending 3 weeks in Australia and New Zealand during February. Which in addition to being a great place to be on its own, has the distinct advantage of being a lot warmer than Chicago.  Since a picture is worth a thousand words. And a video is about 30 frames per second, here's about 18 million words worth of vacation...

Winter Camping in Manistee

I take a trip to Manistee, MI every January for a fricking cold winter camping extravaganza.  Getting away from work and everything for a couple of days is great.  The snow was so deep this year that it was a serious grind to get the 10.5 miles to the campsite.  Day 2 was tough, another 10 miles back to the car.  Best part was: I didn't think about work all weekend.  Here is a video of the trip:

Running the Chicago and NYC Marathons

In March I decided to run for this charity in both the Chicago and NYC marathons. I've been training pretty consistently for the last 4 years. Sometime in July I realized I was seriously fatigued with this ongoing training. Only through the support and encouragement of my friends and family was I able to keep running "for the kids" Thanks to their support I ran 552 miles from June 1 to November 1.

The Chicago marathon dawned on a beautiful October day. What a great race.  Three weeks later I ran NYC. It turns out that 3 weeks is probably not enough recovery time. Somewhere around mile 12 I realized I was in trouble. Finishing that race was one of the hardest things I will ever do. 

What inspired me to keep running was my donors and our shared commitment to Team Hole in the Wall. The evening before the marathon, I met with several great people including several volunteers from the Team Hole in the Wall Camps, an adult survivor of several aggressive forms of cancer (who now works at the camp!) and Paul Newman's daughter.

I was deeply moved by the bravery, laughter and tragedy of the kids who attend the THITW camps. I'm honored by the contributions that made it possible for 2 more kids facing life threatening illnesses to go enjoy a week of joy and healing.

Red Line Blues

If you've ridden the Chicago El before regularly... or probably even once... you've had the experience of seeing or hearing a special kind of crazy.  You know, some person acting so outside the acceptable range of behavior for 100 people packed inside a small place that its the first thing you tell your friends or family about when you get to your destination.

So I was on the El last week, and this guy was just screaming into his phone.  So loud that I made eye contact with the person across from me and we both just started laughing.  I've been taking harmonica lessons, so I promise to record an arrangement. and as I listened to him rant on the phone, I realized he was giving me some perfect blues lyrics.  I took out my phone and started typing them out:

Everything has done gone bad!
Can ya hear me?
Everything has done gone bad!
Huh!
Huh!
Everything.
Everything!
I'm on the train!
Huh! can ya hear me?
Everything has done gone bad!
You said to mind my business.
Listen! I don't think she has no money.
Huh!
Hay!
Hey man how you been doin!
Huh!

Marathon Playlist

My marathon playlist.  Super slow songs in the middle. Very angry songs at the end. With a little this american life in there for distraction.

You can still donate to my charity here: http://www.teamholeinthewall.org/mevans

Dave Matthews Band    Satellite - Live
The Cure    Lovesong
Interpol    Narc
Interpol    Stella Was A Diver And She Was Always Down
Red Hot Chili Peppers    Californication
Counting Crows    Round Here
Snow Patrol    Shut Your Eyes
Everclear    Santa Monica
The Fray    Over My Head (Cable Car)
Red Hot Chili Peppers    Under The Bridge
Red Hot Chili Peppers    Dani California
Remy Zero    Bitter
Third Eye Blind    Jumper
This American Life    My Pen Pal
This American Life    Aircraft Carrier
The Sounds    Queen Of Apology
The Sounds    Hurt You
The Sounds    Ego
Dave Matthews Band    Proudest Monkey -Live
AFI    The Killing Lights
The Fray    Dead Wrong
Editors    Fingers In The Factories
Editors    Munich
Third Day    I've Always Loved You
Iron & Wine    Peng!
Death Cab For Cutie    Brothers On A Hotel Bed
Iron & Wine    Friends They Are Jewels
Death Cab For Cutie    I Will Follow You Into The Dark
Iron & Wine    The Trapeze Swinger
Snow Patrol & Martha Wainwright    Set the Fire to the Third Bar
The Fray    Vienna
Death Cab For Cutie    What Sarah Said
The Fray    How to Save a Life
Fall Out Boy    Dance, Dance
Modest Mouse    Float On
Editors    Lights
The Fugees    No Woman, No Cry
Snow Patrol    It's Beginning to Get to Me
Snow Patrol    Open Your Eyes
Dave Matthews Band    Ants Marching
Dave Matthews Band    Rhyme & Reason
Switchfoot    Company Car
Snow Patrol    Headlights On Dark Roads
Fall Out Boy    I Slept
Red Hot Chili Peppers    Snow (Hey Oh)
Red Hot Chili Peppers    Torture Me
Interpol    Obstacle 1
Red Hot Chili Peppers    Turn It Again
White Stripes    Seven Nation Army
Various Artists    Destiny's Child / Say My Name (Maurice's Bass 2000 Mix)
Various Artists    Maxwell / Fortunate (The Naked Uncut Remix)
Various Artists    Madison Avenue / Don't Call Me Baby (Original Mix 7")
Deliriou5?    King Or Cripple
The Waiting    Israel
Third Day    Never Bow Down
Third Day    Your Love Oh Lord (Psalm 36)
The Fugees    Ready Or Not
Chevelle    Open
Chevelle    Point #1
Everclear    Father of Mine (Radio Mix)
Third Eye Blind    London
Flobots    Handlebars
Dave Matthews Band    All Along The Watchtower
Flobots    Stand Up

Da Choppa is Down

 
We interrupt this regularly scheduled entrepreneurship series to bring you the results of the first  RC helicopter flights.  My wife bought me an RC Heli for our 10th wedding anniversary.  This makes her the most awesome wife ever to have lived.  I know you are jealous.  It turns out that flying an RC Heli is incredibly difficult (which is why she also bought me a simulator program, which of course, I did NOT use before my first flight. dumb. ) Here are the results:

Flight 1: 13 minutes flight time.  Forceful crash into the ground.  Like most rookies, once it got 3 feet off the ground I freaked out and quickly "hit the breaks" or rather, pushed to full descent. The crash broke the skids in half and snapped off one of the main rotors

A week later, 5 replacement parts and 8 hours on simulator.  Flights 2-6:  Very timid. Just enough lift to make the heli "light" and scoot it around using the aerilons. Didn't really get off the ground.

Flights 7 and 8.  Accomplished 3 or 4 hovers of 15 seconds or so about 6 inches off the ground

Flight 9.  30 second hover 1 foot off ground.  successfully moved from point A to B and back again.

Flight 10:  1 minute hover at 3 feet.  Flight above the deck for about 15 feet.  Truly spectacular crash into the side of a building.  Broke the main rotor in 3 spots and drive shaft in 5 places. pieces flew everywhere. 
 

I've got it repaired now. (surprisingly, only about $20 worth of parts, but its a pain waiting for them in the mail.) Writing a post about it while I wait for the rain to stop.

Need... more.... calories....

For the third year of marathon training in a row I've made the same mistake of trying to lose weight early in the season.  The logic is that if I put so much work into getting faster for this frickin' long run, I might as well just carry a few less pounds all that distance. 

Problem is, I've put on about 10 pounds since the start of my serious training program. Its a common problem for marathoners. We put on weight as we ramp up the miles.  Part of it is muscle. But part of it is the body holding on to every calorie just in case you try to toss in a long run. 

Every year this happens and I cut down my calorie intake to compensate.  Big mistake.  Calorie deficiency during an endurance training program sucks.  Tired is not the word.  Bone weary, that comes closer.  I was totally exhausted this week.  So, I guess its time to get serious.  Time to start planning loads of lean calories and up the ante on sleep.  Good by social life! Hello summer marathon training.

And no more beer. Only hard whisky for me until December!

I'm running NYC and Chicago Marathons for Team Hole in the Wall

I'm running the Chicago (Oct 12) and New York City(Nov 1) marathons to raise money for Team Hole in the Wall. This very deserving organization provides a great camp experience for seriously ill children.

I've had the good fortune to be able to discover and enjoy running as an adult. Its not something I really ever did before finishing grad school. Over the last few years, I've come to really appreciate the satisfaction and peace that comes from a great run.

My hope is that some of the kids that I'll be enabling to go to camp will be able to enjoy nature the same way I do when I run. Please join me as I run Chicago and New York Marathons to support this worthy cause!

My goal is to raise $10,000 for this charity!  Help me out!

Find out More and Make a Donation Here!

Serendipitous Searching

I've recently rediscovered the joy of serendipity.  StumbleUpon is a great tool for a couple of things.  When you are sitting at lunch and need a brain break, but don't want to go to the old sources, you hit the Stumble button. SU brings you to a site based on your preferences. You say if you like the site. If so, you'll get more sites that are similar to your interests.  SU helps you experience randomness and relevance at the same time!  As opposed to these issues with objectivity in a normal search:

1. The search engine has an agenda.  It might be to provide relevance, or sort by usefulness, or appear unbiased. Whatever. These things don't happen by accident. 

2. The providers of content legitimately want you to see their stuff.  So, they spend a lot of time, effort and money on making their stuff show up first

3. Lots of people want to make money on this without providing any real value. So, they spend lots of time, effort and money trying to trick the engine into showing you their junk.

That stumble feature was *pretty* cool. But the issues above make it *really* cool.  I've got it installed in my browser and now I can see when I do a google search if the site has been rated well by other Stumblers.  Check out this picture of a google search for the word "awesome."  Look at the little gold stars from SU that show me which links might be more interesting then others.  No longer am I chained to the first result!

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