Shoes, analog washpots and netbooks.
Well now, it has been quite awhile since I’ve posted. Much has changed, much has stayed the same. I had a small shoe ordeal that turned out to be a very valuable learning experience. I’ve been frustrated trying to find an audio book and the netbook caught my eye before losing it again.
I’ve been a runner for a few years now not becoming overly serious about it until recently. I quit smoking and wanted to do something healthy to replace that habit. Being pudgy already from my sedentary lifestyle I didn’t want to fall into the trap of replacing the cigarette with food. I started running in a pair of Nike which was rubbish really. A combination of my heaviness, my height (6’ 3”) and the shoes horrid cushioning meant my ankles were taking a beating. I replaced those shoes with a pair of Asics Gel Enhance which I fell in love with. The Gel Enhance is a low end shoe. The difference between high and low end shoes is in the materials and technology. Compared to the higher end Asics shoes, the Enhance had a very miniscule Gel pack under the heel, It was using cheaper foam, the outsole wasn’t as durable and the bridge that links the heel and forefoot preventing flex was a minimal, lighter weight plastic. As a basic shoe for beginners it fits the bill perfectly, not so as I started running longer and faster.
After a about two years of running in low end shoes I decided it was time to step up to a higher end shoe and purchased a pair of Asics Gel 1120’s. My first run ended in sore legs but by the third run I was having problems finishing my normal 6 mile run. I was running 10 miles twice a week and 6 miles three times a week without problem before the shoes, now I was exhausted by mile 4 and my times were falling. Just to make sure I wasn’t going insane I threw on an old pair of shoes and went for a run the next day. Sure enough I had no problem finishing a 6 mile run which indicated that the 1120’s was the culprit. Honestly, I was shocked and a bit confused. The 1120 had won awards and as far as sales figures are concerned, they only took number two behind its bigger brother the 2120’s. How could a pair of shoes, which had a huge following no less, cause me so many problems? This was my introduction to bio mechanics. I’m not going into great detail, you can find everything you need at Runners World, but after a fair amount of reading I discovered that I am a bio mechanically efficient neutral runner. The 1120 is a stability shoe most enjoyed by people who overpronate. While some in the neutral pronation camp can wear stability shoes, I am an efficient neutral thus can only wear neutral shoes, confused yet? People have different arch heights and different mechanics of completing a gait cycle. Even height and weight affect the type of shoe you should be running in. I had always considered the advice of being fitted for shoes complete nonsense until now and shortly after I confirmed my findings by visiting a local running shop to be fitted for shoes. I ended up getting Mizuno Wave Rider 11 which is on the high end of the scale. My times fell a great deal and longer runs were significantly more comfortable. Surprisingly they’ve lasted a bit over five months now but are in need of replacement. I’m currently running in a pair of Reebok Premier Cushioning V which I’m just now breaking in. They are an ounce heavier than the Wave Rider which I did notice on my first ten mile run. So far I’m very pleased with the shoe but I still have plans on trying other shoes. I’ve become friends with a few runners who have recommended the Mizuno Wave Creation 9 and Adidas Supernova Cushion 7 due to my height and the shoe’s cushioning ability. There a few shoes from Saucony I plan to try as well including the Grid Sinister. Anywho, I’ve was in love with running before the premium shoes, and even so more after. Having the proper tool for the job does make a difference.
Leading into the next topic, I split my runs in half. For the first half I listen to podcasts and the second half I switch to music. Normally I’ll listen to TWiT, Macbreak Weekly, Windows Weekly and Buzz Out Loud but not too long ago I switched and tried audio books. One book in particular I’ve been trying to get in digital format is Stephen Fry’s autobiography, Moab Is My Washpot. The audio version is more appealing to me due to the fact that it is read by Mr. Fry himself. Anyone who has ever heard him read an audio book before will know what I’m on about but it goes beyond that since in this instance it’s more a telling of his own story versus a simple narration. As I already have an Audible account I checked there first, then iTunes and Amazon and even Google but I simply cannot find a digital version of the book. The only audio version available for sale in the US (that I can find) is the audio cassette which is a bit antiquated by modern standards. I’m simply befuddled that there isn’t a CD version of the book available but a cassette version can be purchased not only on Amazon but on Target’s site as well. I’ll most likely just be purchasing the paper version of the book if I can’t find anything digital soon. Word has it Mr. Fry is working on the second part of the autobiography covering from the end of this book to the present. I do hope that makes its way to iTunes or Audible.
Lastly, the netbook has become a sore subject for me. When Asus released the Eee PC I was ecstatic and filled with a geeky joy. “Finally”, I thought to myself, “A company that actually gets it”! The original 701 4G had a low power CPU and a small form factor that made it perfect for surfing and doing basic tasks. Sure it had flaws but they were few and it flew off shelves faster than Asus even thought they would. The market was buzzing and even Apple’s Macbook Air had a hard time one-upping the little Asus. Solid state drive technology has matured by leaps and bounds, Intel’s little Atom CPU amazed us and keyboard designs were improving. So why then, if all of the ingredients of the netbook have improved, am I not as excited anymore? It all comes down to price and complexity I’m afraid. The original 4G was very simple. You had memory, CPU and flash memory. Today you have a swarm of companies all offering their own version of what they think a netbook should be or what they think you want and none have pulled it off perfectly. The Asus “cover every base” 900/901/1000 series boasts cool extras like wireless N and sports wonderful battery times but falls on its face when it comes to pricing although not as much as the HP 2133 which redefines the term too expensive. The HP, to me at least, has the best design. It has an aluminum shell that reminds you of a 12” Powerbook. The problem is I can get a 12” Powerbook much cheaper (the HP is $749 with the 6 cell battery) that will actually be a bit more powerful. That is where the netbook falls in my opinion. It has been a year since the Eee PC 701 hit the scene and much has changed in the 13-15” laptop market. The A64 is much cheaper, Intel offers the neutered cache Core 2 Duo, the horribly named Pentium Dual CoreTwo, for next to nothing. Mobile HDD prices have fallen, LCD technology has become cheaper while offering much better quality. A year ago a dual core $499 14.1” or 15.4” was most likely a bait and switch sale item but you can find many of them now from Acer, Dell HP and Compaq that are of excellent quality. Stepping up to $599 you can find Toshiba, Lenovo and the Sony Vaio NR. The Eee PC was praised for it’s low price, but we can get excellent quality and more power (albeit a bit bigger and heavier) for the same money now. Instead of becoming more complicated and more expensive, the netbook should have stayed simple and dropped in price.
Two models stand out in the crowd when looking at the netbook, the Acer Aspire One and the MSI Wind. The Acer didn’t do much to the original Eee PC philosophy besides improving the keyboard and giving it a higher quality look. No, they kept the design simple, Atom processor, 512MB memory and 8GB Flash memory. Keeping it simple allowed them to deliver a great little netbook for $329, the cheapest of the bunch. They’ve even thought about expansion by giving you two memory card readers, one of which is a dedicated SD reader exclusive to system storage. Slip an 8GB SD card into that slot and the Aspire One automatically adds it to the system leaving you the other memory card slot for multimedia use. The down side to the One would be memory and battery. The memory can be upgraded, I’m sure the battery will be upgradable but both are going to add to the cost.
The MSI Wind gets my nod because of upgradability. It has a wonderful design, very useable keyboard and large 10” screen. It comes with XP Home which, not to knock the Linux versions most netbooks ship with, is more familiar to most people and has the best choice of third party applications. Inside you can upgrade the Wind to 2GB of memory and while it ships with an 80 or 120GB 5400rpm HDD it’s an SATA drive which means you can replace it with a much more power friendly SSD drive when they drop in price a bit more. At $499 the price is a bit high but you’re getting a lot of netbook for the money. I still say look at the 14/15” options first since they offer much more for the money, but if you need small the One and the Wind are my favorites. Unfortunately the 15.4” Dell Vostro 1510 has stolen my gaze away from the netbooks. While a small netbook would make a nice toy, a sub $800 dedicated graphics, core 2 Duo notebook is much more appealing.
