The Home of Tom & Morven

It is undeniable that Steven Seagal is the originator of the Seagal Stance of Death, although I’m not sure what movie it was from.

Guido Hatzis also has his variation of the Seagal stance of death.

When I was in year twelve, and “Us Blokes” were really into
Guido Hatzis, I became pretty good at my version of the Seagal Stance of death, as seen below.

So I was wondering if people would care to play a little “spot the difference” with a screenshot from The Simpsons, below.

EDIT 31st March 2006 :: Max has just pointed out to me that this stance of death is really stolen from the Karate Kid.

So buggeerd if I know what’s going on now… cheers though Max!

Although this heart rate monitor is used, it’s been very well looked after by the original owner. For the eBay version of this go to: (expired link)

I bought the Polar S710 in 2002 in Adelaide from Pursuit Performance, which is now the Heart Shop: http://www.heartshop.com.au

Along with the S710 I bought the Polar Infrared Interface, Cadence Sensor, and Heart Rate Strap (sized medium) all of which came to $767 (except I was fortunate to get discount as a friend worked there!)

Click on images for full blown version

With all these components, you have a heart rate monitor with many features. Newer ones today do all this and more, but if you have a scroll down this list it’s hard to imagine what else you could possibly want!:

• Time keeping functions
• HR monitoring functions
• ECG accurate wireless heart rate
• OwnCode - coded transmission
• OwnCal s - calorie expenditure
• OwnIndex s and Polar Fitness Test
• Total exercise time
• Time in target zone (in, below, above)
• Average and Maximum heart rate of total training
• Recovery heart rate/time after exercise
• Up to 99 split lap memory
• Lap number indicator
• Lap/intermediate times with heart rate
• Maximum and average heart rate of laps
• Number of intervals with average heart rate of intervals
• Maximum heart rate of interval conclusion
• Calorie & Cumulative calorie consumption
• Exercise set (5 settings)
• Date and starting time of exercise session
• Unlimited complete exercise files
• 5, 15 and 60 second HR sampling rates
• Memory capacity 250 hours
• exercise reminder
• Settings lock
• User ID displayed
• IR Data
• Uplink
• Precision Performance 3.0 software
• Polar precision toolkit
• Trip meter and Odometer with Total riding time
• Average and Maximum Speed
• Distance based interval and recovery
• Altitude readout
• Temperature
• Bike mount
• Cadence sensor

You can also purchase a power output meter, but I could never afford it.

It all still works like new, I’ve never had any problems with it at all. The batteries were all replaced in the second half of 2005 and the unit pressure tested as they do when you take it in to the Heart Shop.

I still have all the original packaging, manuals, software CD, and of course the receipt!

Why am I selling?
The reason I’m selling it is because although it serves me well, I’m into marathon running these days instead of mountain biking, and there’s only one marathon in Adelaide a year. Since I’m still a student doing a phd it’s hard enough to survive let alone pay for plane tickets interstate to do more marathons. After my debut marathon in Melbourne last year I’m convinced I just need to do a few more before I might be good enough to get sponsored. Until then, or I actually finish my phd and get a job, I’ll just have to sacrifice what has been quite possibly the most motivating tool in my life since 2002.

Please bid generously and help support my dream!

WARNING: This post contains a graphic description of extreme dehydration which may make you feel uneasy. If you’d rather not read disgusting details that’s enough to make even myself fell yucked out, then DON’T READ!!

On Saturday I competed in my first ever rogaine. I did a fair amount of orienteering in high school thanks to the encouragement of Kay Haarsma, but never truly appreciated how satisfying endurance running is until I realised it was time to run my first marathon last year.

This particular event was a 6 hour metrogaine, conveniently located in suburbs I know, including one stop that was almost literally outside one of my best friends (Ben P.) house, only 50m away (just after stop 53 you’ll notice we detoured slightly south by about 50m). It was the first ever rogaine event I’ve ever done, and I did it with my running friend Laura, who had never even done orienteering before either in her life. She had never even seen an orienteering map!

Amazingly, out of 72 teams that competed (you have to compete with at least two entrants per team) we won the Novice category, came third in the Open Mixed category, and came sixth overall on the day! You can have a look at the official results yourself, this link will open a pdf in a new browser window, but I recommend saving it to your desktop to view. I’m not sure if we won a certificate or anything, because we both left before the presentation due to hardcore dehydration.

Here’s a little “run-down” of the day (excuse the pun!):

• 8am: Wake up, eat good breakfast, regret not sleeping much the last couple nights.
• 9am: Leave to event.
• 9:20am: Arrive at event, walk around feeling really confused and out of place. Collect map for event, and wait for Laura to arrive and get organised.
• 9:40am: Start strategic planning for the run ahead. Much discussion took place and it was acknowledge that Laura was particularly good at the classic “Travelling Salesman” style of problem, where the aim is to go to as many places as possible with minimum total travelling distance. Eventually this was optimised to consider the gradient of the terrain, with the top of Sunnyside Road the major hill of the day. Below is a quick view of the course we took, click on it to enlarge for the full map.

  

  We started at the bottom at the Hash House, and went anticlockwise around the map from the bottom. (The finish is also the start, which is called the hash house. I’m still not sure what type of hash they’re talking about, because there certainly wasn’t any chopped up meat with potatoes and sometimes vegetables there. That’s okay, because I wouldn’t have eaten that crap anyway, I think I’ll stick to my banannas and pasta

  The control point numbers on the map aren’t quite as random as you may suspect, they are all worth different points, where the points are determined by the first of the two digits, multiplied by ten (i.e. control point 27 is worth 20 points, and control point 63 is worth 60 points).

• 10:45am: SARA give a briefing about the rules for the day.
• 11am: We start running. There’s not really much to say about the run itself, other than god damn, it was god damn hot. The forecast was for 32(C), and it was 35(C) on the day. Once the temperature hits around 30(C) whilst running I find that dehydration kicks in exponentially faster for every degree (C) above 30.

  I think I first depleted electrolytes between checkpoints 46 and 67, about half way through the event. I could notice this due to my left calf muscle cramping up, exactly the same thing that happened to me at the 30km mark in the Melbourne Marathon last year. Only, this year it kicked in around the 22km mark due to this exponentially increasing effects of dehydration for every degree (C) I’m talking about.

  It was difficult running with a partner over such a long distance at times, because we both required walking breaks at different times, and for me it was becoming painful to run. For Laura, it was becoming painful to walk. At times this resulted in a game of cat and mouse, but that’s okay because you’re allowed to run apart from each other as long as you stay within hearing distance of each other, and within 20m whilst punching control cards.

  You may notice (if you click on the map above to enlarge it) that we missed lots of control points on the left hand side home stretch of the map. This was the pain factor. I wish I recorded heart rate data for the event but for some reason I couldn’t be bothered. Absolutely spewing about that now.

• 4:52pm: We stop running, collapse, and die.

After the event we were both so tired and just wanted to get home to die peacefully, and so we parted our ways. Getting home, I decided I should probably go urinate as I haven’t done so since before the run. This is where I remind you not to continue reading if you feel uneasy about reading disgusting details. The little urine I was able to pass was of a disgusting brown crude oil colour, such as below.I immediately started to drink as much water as possible, and look up on the internet what the hell was going on with my body, whilst simultaneously trying to convince myself I don’t need to go to hospital. Webmd.com stopped me from going to hospital, by informing me what level of dehydration I was suffering (moderate) and what the suggested home treatment was.

Upon reflection I probably should have gone to hospital, since severe dehydration is diagnosed when any one of the symptoms are acknowledged, and in my case I had little or no urination. I settled for drinking the rehydration drink suggested by Webmd.com which is totally disgusting and I’d rather an IV drip any day

You may just call me an idiot for running 6 hours in 35 degree celcius heat on pavement, and that I should have drunk more. Well, I should have, you’re right. But seriously, it’s not as easy as it sounds. I had a 3L hydration pack bladder (full) two fruit bars and two banannas. Obviously the 3L of water went pretty quickly, but it’s not like a normal running race where you have drink stops every 2 kilometres, we had to find out own drinks during the run. I ended up drinking about 8 litres of water and 1.5 litres of Powerade during the race, and I fully regret not using PB sports drinks. I’m going to go buy PB in bulk now after this weekend! I considered buying bulk last year, but it’s so expensive. No longer will I put my pocket before my health.

After my body started to return to normal bodily function, I quickly went down to visit my awesome sister who gives the best massage in the world, and she massaged all the lactic acid from my legs out of this planet. Thanks again, sis! Today (Monday) I am still really sore in the ankles and shoulders, but ready for the next 6 hour metrogaine and ready for the next marathon in Adelaide in August.

P.S. Thanks Laura for convincing me to do it!

… yup … probably not a lot of comment required …

Yup. Definitely the longes period in time between posts here. I can assure you this is not due to a lack of things going on, rather MASSIVE PROGRESS ON ALL FRONTS (well, most!).

Anyway I don’t have time to write now but just posting results of some silly personality test I did. Glad to see physical fitness and intellectual power as my fortes. I disagree that being over-organised is a bad thing though, I tend to believe it helps me calculate how to optimse time and use it like the “trajectory of my future” so to speak. Anyway here’s the results:

One thing I neglected to mention, is when I went in to the Adam Internet office in December, I specifically asked Carl Noutz if he could at least offer an apology, if he can’t offer financial/bandwidth reimbursement of any description.

I think it must have been for legal reasons, that he could not say sorry, rather just something like “it is an unforunate situation you are in, but there is nothing the comapany can do for you”.

It’s using words like “can” instead of a more appropriate word “will” that makes me angry.

My thread continues after Mr Edwards re-opens it:

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=482173&p=2

As thanks for Mr Edwards re-opening my thread, I shall keep my end of the bargain as proposed:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=479891&p=30

Tonight, I shall “de-slanderise” Adam Internet on my blog.

In my previous Adam Internet hate post, I described how I created a thread on the Whirlpool Broadband Discussion Forums.

Within 12 hours, John Edwards from Adam Internet closed the thread, i.e. silenced my freedom of voice, presumably to protect their company from me telling other customers about why I dislike the service of the company.

John Edwards from Adam Internet:

Tom,

I’ve had a look at the notes on your account, and in your two page essay you’ve omitted that you missed the initial migration due to leaving your churn until it was too late.

You also omitted that Adam Internet footed the bill for a disconnect/reconnect on your behalf, saving you a significant amount that you would have had to spend otherwise. It would seem that you did not appreciate this.

I’m going to close this thread now as it serves no useful purpose given that the actual grievance about the price rise is being covered in a different thread, so please join in there rather than starting a thread just for yourself.

My response to a moderator, requesting the thread be reopened:

Hi Phil,

Last night I opened a thread about all the problems I’ve ever had with Adam Internet, and the thread has been unexpectantly closed before I’ve been able to receive a response from Adam Internet.

forum-replies.cfm?t=482173&p=2

John Edwards from Adam Internet closed it, and his justification is inaccurate and wrong. Please Phil, granted the opportunity to defend John’s inaccurate and wrong claims, I would post something similar to below:

JOhn:
I’ve had a look at the notes on your account, and in your two page essay you’ve omitted that you missed the initial migration due to leaving your churn until it was too late.

Me:
Their account notes are therefore inaccurate, since the reason we missed the original churn was the blunder of Adam Internet staff members.

John:
You also omitted that Adam Internet footed the bill for a disconnect/reconnect on your behalf, saving you a significant amount that you would have had to spend otherwise. It would seem that you did not appreciate this.

Me:
That is not true, I paid $35 instead of $90, as stated in my original post. Unless of course they are talking about when they stuffed up our account and had to wipe us out, and start us again, consequently dropping us off of the queue to join AdamDirect. In which case, yes, I certainly didn’t appreciate that disconnection/reconnection.

John:
I’m going to close this thread now as it serves no useful purpose given that the actual grievance about the price rise is being covered in a different thread, so please join in there rather than starting a thread just for yourself.

Me:
John, you clearly haven’t read my original posts in the thead since it’s not just about the recent price hike, it’s about 9 months of grief, and the price hike is a subset of this grief I’ve experienced. I had started originally in the thread you refer to, and was told to start my own thread, so I did.

Thanks in advance,
Tom Bammann