Steve Miller's Blog

One More Move

Steve Miller — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 10:59:50 +0000

I finally decided to make the jump and move to my own domain. I have moved all of this content to the new domain. I will leave this blog in place so as not to break the search engines, but everything new will go here.

Guess Who Owns This House

Steve Miller — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 12:08:03 +0000

Let’s see if you can guess who owns this house.

The 4,000-square-foot house is a model of environmental rectitude.

Geothermal heat pumps located in a central closet circulate water through pipes buried 300 feet deep in the ground where the temperature is a constant 67 degrees; the water heats the house in the winter and cools it in the summer. Systems such as the one in this “eco-friendly” dwelling use about 25% of the electricity that traditional heating and cooling systems utilize.

A 25,000-gallon underground cistern collects rainwater gathered from roof runs; wastewater from sinks, toilets and showers goes into underground purifying tanks and is also funneled into the cistern. The water from the cistern is used to irrigate the landscaping surrounding the four-bedroom home. Plants and flowers native to the high prairie area blend the structure into the surrounding ecosystem.

And guess who owns this house:

The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, This house devoured nearly 221,000 kWh—more than 20 times the national average.

Last August alone, this house burned through 22,619 kWh—guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year.

This house’s energy consumption has increased from an average of 16,200 kWh per month in 2005, to 18,400 kWh per month in 2006.

This house’s extravagant energy use does not stop at his electric bill. Natural gas bills for the mansion and guest house averaged $1,080 per month last year.

And based on this, which owner cares more about the environment.

Sources: Sans Auto, CommonDreams.org, and Tennessee Center for Policy Research

The Results Are In

Steve Miller — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 14:47:59 +0000

The results of the Lifetime Fitness Indoor Triathlon just posted. I am absolutely thrilled with the results. I did pretty much what I expected. Overall I was 62nd out of 122 entrants. Out of just the Men, I was 48th out of 69. And in the Masters Division I was 14th out of 22 entrants. I couldn’t be happier with the results. I was about 98th place in the swim which is what I would have expected. On the bike I was 17th overall which was very pleasing to me and in the run I was about 68th. Among the Masters Men I had the 3rd best distance on the bike which is what I needed to do to do well. Not a bad result for someone who is still carrying 245 pounds.

The Best Ride

Steve Miller — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 01:32:56 +0000

It wouldn’t be fair to call it a workout or even a recovery ride, but I did the best outdoor ride so far this season. I took my eight year old daughter for a ride around the neighborhood. I am a geek so I did have to take the GPS, although I didn’t bother with the Heart Rate monitor You can see our ride here. It is so much fun to see her gain confidence on her bike. She doesn’t wobble all over the place and actually understands how to use her coaster brake. I was quite proud of her.

I am still impatiently waiting for the results of the Lifetime Fitness Indoor Triathlon.

I Finished The Triathlon (and didn’t drown in the pool)

Steve Miller — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 01:30:40 +0000

Well I did it. My numbers: 14.5 lengths in the pool, 11.7 miles on the bike, and 1.95 miles running. I was pleased. The run was the only place I didn’t perform up to what I had hoped but I did just fine. I did a few things wrong, like the eating and drinking before. I drank way too much coffee before the race and I ate some sweets that didn’t sit well and I was really feeling it in the stomach by the end of the race.

Below is my heart rate chart for the bike and the run. I forgot to start the timer on the Heart Rate monitor until about 2 minutes after the start of the cycling.

Last Minute Preparations

Steve Miller — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 08:27:32 +0000

I am getting ready to leave for the Lifetime Fitness Indoor Triathlon. I feel rested. I woke up 10 minutes before my alarm went off. I am just starting on my first cup of coffee. In about 15 minutes I will be getting dressed and leaving because I have about an hour drive. My start time is at 7:00am so I intend to arrive at 6:00 and have time to arrange all of my stuff, just to make sure I go from the pool to the bike quickly.

Last night I celebrated my 17th anniversary with my wife. We went to P. F. Chang’s for dinner and Cold Stone Creamery for dessert. All perfect food for athletic competition…..NOT! Kinda explains why I still weigh over 240 pounds in spite of the hard work I have put in this year. Well, I’d better start getting ready. A post and maybe some pictures coming later.

My Last Workout Before The Triathlon

Steve Miller — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 19:19:43 +0000

I did an interval workout using the CTC Mountain Bike Racing Training Video as my last workout before the Triathlon. I haven’t worked out since more because of my Job than the desire to work out. Below is my heartrate and speed profile for the video. The speed is taken from the trainer so I really have no idea how accurate it is. It just shows how speed and Heart Rate go together.

Indoor Triathlon in 5 days.

Steve Miller — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 12:24:45 +0000

When I signed up for the Lifetime Fitness Indoor Triathlon, I had no idea the time would fly by so quickly. I am oncall this week for work which just messes with my training horribly. I am going to try and take it easy until Sunday, hopefully one more good hard workout on the bike then rest.

I recently received the rules and my start time. I will be starting at 7:00 am Sunday morning. The good news is that I will be able to compete and still get to church. The bad news it that the run on the treadmill will be done on a 2 degree incline. This is something I was totally unprepared for. I tried this a couple of days ago and it is significantly harder than I expected. This is the sign that I will be done running once this triathlon is over. My knees hurt after running on the incline and it took a few days to recover. I can say that although I am a very slow swimmer, the fitness improvements from swimming are great and I will be including more swimming as a part of my training.

Spinning Class

Steve Miller — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 12:00:33 +0000

I went to my first spin class in over 2 years. I used my Garmin Edge 305 to capture my heart rate during the class. I did arrive 15 minutes early to start warming up for the class. Below is my heart rate profile for the class.

The numbers:

Overall: 1:17:33 Average Heart Rate: 150
Class Time: 0:58:36 Average Heart Rate: 158

The Job Search Begins

Steve Miller — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 13:35:29 +0000

Well, I just got word that I need to find a job within my company as soon as possible. I guess it is time to polish up the resume and cruising the Job boards. Given the way the news was given to me, it is probably time to start looking outside the company. I am hoping to make this a good career move instead of taking just anything to stay employed. It is kind of scary to have to look for a job. It has been almost 20 years since I had to look for a job.