Michael: The Fix

A fine red powder

Coats the precarious rocks

On the devil’s slide.

Friday, July 14, 2017

With less than half of the Panamanian run around call backs required to get a final word on my computer, Kevin’s Computer Service, in the good old U.S. of A., seems to have repaired my two year old Nextbook.

The fix? The same one that was first suggested to me in Panama; buy an external wireless adapter. Here, though, for $50, they promised to do a complete diagnosis to determine whether the loss of wi-fi was virus or hardware related.

Again, was it worth it?  

If all goes well, for my $90 I now have a functioning tablet that they also kindly updated to Windows 10 from the former Windows 8. For about twice that much I could’ve got a brand new Dell Windows 10 14” laptop.

Trade-offs; Costs; Value…all to be determined.

At the moment I’ll clean out my old Dell Vista desktop and take it to the electronics purgatory in Panama, where perhaps some  ingenuitive

 recycler can get it up and running again or at least remove some useful bits.

That’ll leave me with the upgraded tablet and a 10 year old Dell laptop; which I’ll still use for writing you-tubing and general googling.

If I get a year out of this updated tablet, I’ll be happy and stamp smiley faces in all of the boxes related to the many calls and long miles I’ve gone through to get what was originally suppose to be an inexpensive gift that was meant to add a bit more convenience to my life.  

Michael: Home, Sweets Home

The dirty brown brush

Powdered with fine desert sand

Scratches the hillsides.

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Ahhh…the blueberries, the chocolates, the yogurts with the pile it on yourself toppings, what a grand change of pace from the limited choices we have in the Panama Highlands.

Little of that means much to Kimme. For her this just feels like home.

And I can understand that. As crazy as this country is right now and as expensive as it would be to relocate back to Southern California, if we could pull it off, we would.

But it’s not practical at the moment so we’re going to make the most of our short visit and then go back and live our very enjoyable country life with our relatively new family member, Luna,  that we had to leave behind this trip. If, and when we do relocate she’ll be coming with us.

I know dog’s are territorial, but I doubt they have any sense for our goofy cultural differences. I wish they did and they could somehow bark an objective viewpoint out to me to let me know how crazy I am to prefer the place of my roots to wherever else I’ve been so far.

MIchael: The Dirt Runway

The spiked purple balls

Scatter color here and there

Throughout the dry hills.

Sunday, July 9, 2017

Three summer races within a week and half shouldn’t require three different outfits, but conditions and fashion have me facing those important pre-race wardrobe decisions.

One of the races and outfit choices is almost strictly fashion dictated.

The short 5 mile trail race is billed as Christmas in July and is encouraging participants to dress accordingly. So green and red I’ll go. No fancy hat or beard though. It’s in the O.C. and even at 6 p.m. it’s likely to be warm, and I figure Santa would go clean shaven during his summer hiatus.

Two days later will be the Peak Marathon in inland San Diego. That’s going to be warm so I’ll go as near to naked as I can, but whatever will be covered will be covered in blue as I often build outfits from the shoes up, and the Nike Terra Kiger 3s I got on sale are a deep blue.

The following week will be a 50k on an island in Michigan. And whether that’s warm or not, I won’t go near to naked as they’re warning participants that the mosquitoes may be hanging out just waiting for racers to nibble on. I’ll still do my best to coordinate but priority numero uno will be to cover up and keep my blood to myself.

Racing or training though I still feel it’s worthwhile to dress according to the motto – I may not be fast but that doesn’t  mean I can’t look fast.

Michael: Nearly Naked

The tarantula,
The Frankenstein of spiders,
Crawls through our garden.

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Outside of labels and price, is there any difference between compression shorts and underwear?

God, I hope not.

Here, unless I’m running door to door I don’t feel comfortable running in tights. But in the states, particularly in California, land of the ultra free, I’m going to be running in what could be a very hot trail marathon and plan on wearing 2XU underwear.

2XU is also a very popular compression wear brand so I’m only a bit concerned about someone calling me out during the race at some point and questioning me about whether I’m running in underwear.

I’ve thought about caving in and actually buying a pair of officially labeled compression wear, but that just feels silly and a waste of money. Of course running in only underwear for the first time is also going to feel a bit silly, but their very cool and comfortable and I can’t really see much of a difference outside of price.

But that’s it. At least for now. Though I haven’t read in any trail race rules against running naked, the line’s got to be drawn somewhere.

Michael: Country Musak

The tiny lizard
Has lived near our shoes for months
Eating god knows what.

Sunday, July 2, 2017

This isn’t particularly a knock on Panama as it is a knock on any country that has loud fans of country music.

Right now I’m in Panama so on some of the buses, during some of the weekends, and during all of the holiday festivals, some people either at home or in their cars or trucks will blare out country music.

Why? What sins did I commit in a former life to be put through this purgatory?

And the even greater irony is that I’m struggling to learn Spanish and if I ever accomplish that task, I know understanding the lyrics to most of these twangers is only going to increase my agony.

Michael: The Rationale

La puesta del sol,
Or sunset, is rarely seen
At this time of year.

Friday, June 30, 2017

Here’s the set up: You’re going to run a trail marathon in inland Southern California in the summer beginning at 6 a.m.. The course is an out and back course that begins with a 6 mile ascent starting at 4,000 ft and climbing 2,000 ft. to the first aid station at the peak. You then descend 3,000 ft over 7 miles to the next aid station at the turn around point. What should you carry and how should you carry it?

First off, the race director requires that you carry 40 oz. of hydration. Gels, water and some type of electrolyte/sugar mix will be provided at the aid stations.  That’s it; the jacket, headlamp, whistle, or most other gear one might typically carry, can and should be jettisoned. Except, of course, a small first aid kit consisting of moleskin, T.P., and maybe some band aids.

To meet this requirement and to provide for my other needs, I’ll carry a 500 ml. Hydrapak collapsible flask, a 16-20 oz. hard flask or bottle, a 5 oz. gel flask with my own gel mix that’ll take me through the first 2 ½ hours (after that I’ll take whatever the aid station has), a small ziplock for the first aid supplies, and a small packet of salt tabs.

With this in mind, can I now justify purchasing a new stripped down race ready pack/lumbar belt? Not really. Recently I’ve been racing 50ks with the Ultra Aspire Revolt pack without a hitch. It can hold all of the above and a little more very comfortably through both hot and humid conditions. But for the past several weeks I’ve been enjoying researching what’s out there in the way of lumbar packs.

I went away from belly bags years ago because I couldn’t find one that sat comfortably on my hips and stayed there when fully loaded. In the interim has any company found a way to rectify that problem?

I’m still leery, but given the race parameters above, if I were going to invest in a bag very soon after typing this, I’d punch the “submit order” key on the Fuel Belt Helium Solo. It does have one pouch to many for the race conditions outlined above - a front phone pouch, but that’s removable.

Otherwise, if it sits on my hips and holds tight, it would be perfect. It has a small zippered compartment in back to hold the first aid kit and the gel flask when empty. That way I can stash the race’s supplied gels during the latter stages of the race in the mesh pocket that sits in in front of the zip pocket that will initially hold the gel flask. The small disc holder of salt tabs will be stashed in a short or shirt pocket or under the thigh band of my running shorts.

The Hydropak collapsible, with its semi-rigid top and bottom, will be held firmly in place somewhere along the belt once it‘s empty, which I’m hoping will be before the race. But it’s required that I have the capacity so it’ll be there for show or if I’m not proceeding on plan and I don’t beat the heat and end up needing the extra capacity.

Before even trying this belt, I can see two problems (besides not really needing it) and both are stylistic flaws. There are a several sleek one or two pouch belts out there that seem more minimal; belts from Ultimate Direction, Salomon, Nathan, and Camelbak to name a few. But for me, some of them are just too simplistic and too expensive for what they do, or lock you into using a collapsible flask which are not always the easiest to access or to hand to a nervous volunteer to load.

The other fashion semi-faux pas for me is going with basic black. Come on Fuel Belt! You use to be known as the gay pride parade of bottle carriers. I’m more drawn to the blues of Camelbak and Ultimate Direction, but I guess I can live with a play it safe black.

There also haven’t been any reviews of how this belt holds, so I’m surmising it will work well based off other Fuel Belt reviews.

Damned that was a long talking to myself to justify experimenting with an about $35 belt.

Michael: Call Back When?

The wary gray clouds
Promise the rains are over
Until tomorrow.

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Yesterday we ran into an acquaintance of ours who’s Panamanian but whose son was raised in the states. He’s now living here full time and adjusting to the Panamanian ways of getting things done.

For example, his truck was in the shop for 4 months before it was finally repaired, then she said it still wasn’t done correctly. That made me feel even more like an impatient American as that very same day we were taking the bus into David to pick up my Nextbook tablet that had been in the shop for three weeks before I decided to pull the plug on any further delays.

The differences between how some businesses operate here and how it’s done in the states can be pretty striking, though I don’t believe it’s as bad as it sounds. I doubt the repair person I was dealing with would continually delay repairing my computer if he didn’t believe that sooner or later he’d find someone who could supply him with the necessary part.

In the states no one would be expected to put up with three weeks of  numerous “could you call me back in a few days?” just to find out if a part was available or not. More than likely a business would make a few inquiries from their suppliers then call it a day and relatively quickly inform you that they can’t order your part.

That decisiveness definitely has its upside as at least you know whether to find another shop or give up and get a new whatever.

But some Panamanian repair people want to hang in there believing that somewhere in Panama there’s a spare part and if they wait long enough it’ll show up and they’ll be able to make the repair. And there’s something admirable about that attitude as well.