Created a new website for myself. Learning PHP and brushing up on my HTML. The template files I downloaded were in PHP format, and I tried to use Dreamweaver to edit them, but I couldn't figure out how to set up a testing server. So I had to upload to my live hosting site every time I made a change...so frustrating! Now I'm having problems with compatibility in Chrome and Firefox, and I have no idea what the issue is. I don't know why, but the scrollbars and images aren't appearing in some instances, and sizing is off sometimes. Probably could have had a professional do it, but it was fun nonetheless...

www.ramizheman.com

I was a big baseball fan back in the late 90s. The Astros were great, but my favorite players were juiced up. I still remember watching Luis Gonzalez's early years, where he hit in the .260s and had a max of 23 home runs. Then he goes to Arizona and hits 57. 

To me what Chris Davis is doing is unreal.

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/07/chris-davis-should-be-chasing-bondss-home-run-record-not-mariss/277857/

Chocolate Milk Recovery Drink

Just saw Hines Ward promoting chocolate milk in a commercial during the Tour de France. This represents an interesting new marketing campaign for milk producers. Soy and almond milk producers like Silk have been marketing heavily to the mass market on taste. But they apparently haven't realized the potential of the sports drink recovery market. And milk producers have jumped quickly. Soy chocolate milk is just as beneficial as chocolate milk, but does tend to be a bit more expensive. I love chocolate soy milk, and drink it for recovery after every workout, but only if I remember to buy it!

Hines Ward, as of July this year, is training for an Ironman. He completed Ironman 70.3 Kansas in June 2013.

Here's the Hines Ward commercial:

Here's a link to a scholarly article on chocolate milk as a recovery drink. Perfect blend of carbs and protein: http://scholar.google.com/scholar_url?hl=en&q=http://oakbrooksc.com/docs/stager_chocmilk_study.pdf&sa=X&scisig=AAGBfm2qfI1_JIkJfp1Qbjkg9tmg9LSH4Q&oi=scholarr

USDA Mobility Use-Case. I attended a talk by an IBM VP who said mobility will be key to delivering faster service and value to citizens. It will be interesting to see how mobility comes to fruition across other federal agencies in the coming years.

http://fcw.com/articles/2013/07/10/usda-ipad.aspx

Spectacular. Especially like the bobsleigh track in Sarajevo and the Bulgarian communist party HQ

http://myscienceacademy.org/2013/04/14/the-33-most-beautiful-abandoned-places-in-the-world/

In many ways B&N is fighting a losing battle. I remember the CEO stating on the news a few years ago that sales at brick and mortar stores still comprised 80% of revenue and that they planned to slowly transition to ebook sales. I guess that number is falling faster than he thought it would. The Nook will never have the same aura as the Kindle or iPad.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/07/08/news/companies/barnes-noble-ceo/index.html?source=googleplus 

Interested to see what might happen in that corner of Alexandria...

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/breaking_ground/2013/06/massive-sports-entertainment-complex.html

 

Moving to a smarter, tech-friendly government

 

http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2013/07/technology-heart-obamas-second-term-management-agenda/66185/ 

The cloud storage wars begin...

http://dashburst.com/cloud-storage-report-google-drive-dropbox/ 

I do feel sorry for people who live on the Orange line. My train experiences when I lived in Ballston in Arlington were pretty miserable, and caused me to give up metro in favor of driving through traffic. I got sick of regularly having my head lodged in someone's armpit. The Yellow line is much more comfortable. I always get a seat in the morning, and I only wait a couple of stops in the evening. But my wife still prefers the VRE and rides it every day despite the added cost. In the words of her boss, "the VRE is just civilized"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr-gridlock/wp/2013/07/10/disabled-metro-train-causes-massive-delays-on-orange-and-blue-lines/

More about the government's initiative to move to a cloud-first policy and promote IT consolidation and shared services. I've worked on a couple of technology strategy projects within IBM that have focused on these efforts. Right now I'm setting up a project portfolio management capability at FAA to help eliminate duplicate systems and better rationalize IT investments. But adoption is slow and transformation is complicated. It always helps when there are powerful people in the upper reaches leading the charge.

http://fcw.com/Articles/2013/07/10/path-to-cloud.aspx?Page=1

Heart Rate Training

I’ve had a lot of success with heart rate training, primarily for long-distance races. However, there is considerable debate over how much training is actually required to achieve good results. Some say you can’t really get the benefits with only 15-20 miles of running. Others say the distinction between fat and carb-burning zones is incorrect, and that energy systems are more of a spectrum rather than divided into zones. The question for most athletes is, how do I achieve maximum results in minimum training time without getting injured?

Mark Allen's boiler-plate heart training blog.
https://www.markallenonline.com/maoArticles.aspx?AID=2

Mark Allen's base training phase:
https://www.markallenonline.com/maoArticles.aspx?AID=4