Jack Quinn's Runners Club

Yesterday I ran 5K with Jack Quinn's Runners Club. It's more of a drinking club with a running problem as it's sponsored by a great Irish bar in downtown Colorado Springs, with free appetizers and 2.50 Odell beers. The beer is actually really good, my favorite so far is their 90 Shilling (a Scottish ale), but in September they should have the seasonal Extra Special Red.

This club is a really big deal, at least in terms of participant numbers. 628 ran yesterday -- yes, they keep attendance, and after 10 runs you get a really nice shirt. Most people stick around afterwards, either upstairs where the food is, or outside spilling onto the sidewalk.

Out of the 627 other people, I met two: Colb (sp?) who was volunteering to bus the tables, and Sue, an English woman who's been here for 21 (23?) years and participates in half Iron Mans. Both were really nice and fun. Time for me to volunteer and meet some more people...

My two goals were accomplished: meeting some new people and not stopping to suck wind during the run. Yay for me!

First purchased iPhone app: SmartSokoban

I generally do not buy applications unless absolutely necessary and usually only the best in class. I've purchased VMware Fusion, OmniFocus (if it had support for time keeping, billing, and simple reporting I'd probably use it), and OmniGraffle.

However, for $4.99, SmartSokoban (AppStore link) is worth all 499 pennies. Sokoban is a puzzle game where you have to move boxes around a maze and set them in the appropriate place. The trick is you may only push boxes. This implementation has very slick looking and minimalistic graphics, in fact it looks better than any other implementation I've seen. It also features the option to download additional Sokoban level libraries.

Of course, SmartSokoban could use a few features like counting how many moves, concurrent level libraries, and many other obvious ones, but it is brilliant in its current simplicity.

P.S. If anyone figures out the level 11, let me know. I'm pretty sure it is unsolvable.

Goodbye Treo 700p, Hello iPhone 3G

Apple must have known I wanted to ditch my decrepit Treo because I picked it up today after ordering three days ago, even though they told me 10-21 days. The delivery quickness might be due to ordering the white version, or maybe it is Kharma making up for BMW still not having my motorcycle fixed even though they've had it for a month. From tracking various availabilities on the Apple web site, it seemed that white was in stock more often to black, and I didn't really care about the color as I'll be putting a skin on it. Any recommendations?

Here are my first impressions:

• The sound quality is awesome. My parents said I sound so much clearer, unlike the fishbowl of the Treo.
• The UI is a little confusing at first. E.g., sometimes you use gestures to navigate and sometimes you have to click little buttons to go forward and back. Not really confusing, but I was trying to use my gesture-fu only to find it was lacking. Otherwise, no complaints.
• The keyboard is a little difficult until you realize you want to aim the center of your finger, and not the edge, on the center of the letter. Still would be nice if rotating the phone would always give you a bigger keyboard.

My current list of installed apps:

• eReader - Gotta have a book to read.
  
• Google mobile app - Just testing, seems redundant right now.
  
• iWant - So far seems useful for finding things near my location, but it doesn't appear to find the closest movie theater (or I just think there should be one closer than the one it found.)
  
• iYardage - Just in case I caddy because I ain't playing golf no mo'.
  
• Moonlight Mahjong light - I've always liked Mahjong.
  
• Pandora - Wow, this is definitely an awesome app. Needs a buy from Amazon MP3 option... I wonder if Apple would allow it, and will Amazon will sue if not?
  
• Phonesaber - No, I'm not happy to see you, I've got a phonesaber in my pocket.
  
• Twitteriffic - At least until there's a better Twitter app. This one's good, but the ads could get annoying.
  
• VoiceNotes - I thought you could already take voice notes on the iPhone, but maybe the iPhone doesn't sync those. These get sync'd.

More updates as I think of them...