I made the first 5K in 2010, barely. I ran the Frigid 5K, sponsored by the Columbus Running Company on the 30th. Nothing like waiting until the last minute. I have to say it was cold, 19 degrees at the start of the race. I did manage to finish before the guy with one lung and asthma!
January 5K
February 3rd, 2010Mobile applications for 2012
November 18th, 2009Gartner’s take on the top 10 mobile applications for 2012. How many of these do you already use?
MySQL Backup
February 8th, 2009I needed a PHP script that would backup a MySQL database and email the copy to a specified email address. I found parts of the script below on the we and added them together along with some
of my PHP code. This script will backup all tables in a single database, using mysqldump, zip the resulting file and email the zip file as an attachment to a specified email address.
To use this script, download the file, change the .txt extension to .php and change the parameters at the top of the file. You can run the script interactively or setup a cron job or a Windows Scheduled Task.
[The requested file http://threegerbers.com/examples/mysqlbackup.txt could not be found]
Flex Forms and PHP
January 19th, 2009Does anyone really like HTML forms? Seriously, just say no to HTML forms! Most of the IDEs and server-side technologies give you some visual tools to handle html form creation and validation but these tools lock you into specific technology and still leave the problem of cross-browser formatting up to the developer. After looking at Flex it seems like a potential answer to the cross-browser formatting problem and supports using whatever server-side technology you desire.
Here’s a quick sample to show you want can be done. The MXML source for a form is below. The form includes simple validation and will post to a web server that is running PHP. The post variables are echoed back to the Flex form.
How to deploy this example
1. Download SampleForm.mxml, edit the url in the httpservice to point to your web server and build the Flex project.
2. Download Form.txt, rename Form.txt to Form.php and move it to your web server
3. Preview the Flex form!
Flex MXML File
[The requested file http://threegerbers.com/examples/SampleForm.mxml could not be found]
PHP file to handle the response
[The requested file http://threegerbers.com/examples/form.txt could not be found]
What to do in 2009
January 2nd, 2009News Years Eve we were talking over dinner with some friends about resolutions for 2009. My wife, while proud of my success with my 2008 resolution of running a 5K each month for charity, pointed out that this really wasn’t a resolution but more of a goal. I did challenge her “resolution”. Her resolution is to waste less. While I think this is a noble resolution I argued that measuring the success of this “resolution” is very subjective. It’s just my personality, things have to be measurable to determine if there is success or failure. There are numerous quotes from Caddyshack, Office Space or Talladega Nights to support my argument. Needless to say I lost the argument. That said, my goal (notice this is not a resolution) for 2009 is more conservative than 2008. I plan on running the Cap City Half Marathon in May. I’m planning on posting a running calendar and if things go well I might extend the “goal” to include the Columbus Marathon.
Only someone with a PhD
December 30th, 2008Researchers in the U.S., Switzerland and the Netherlands use a cluster of Playstation 3s to hack web site certificates. Seriously, that’s what a group of PhD’s do when they get their hands on 200 Playstation 3s? Check out the story at http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/12/berlin.html.
Jingle Bell 5K
December 7th, 2008 |
December’s 5K was for the Arthritis Foundation. The 5K was held in dowtown Columbus. It was really cold, about 23 degrees at race time. It was a lot of fun, probably about 4000 runners. There were a few runners in full Santa costumes, as well as lots of reindeer anglers and Santa hats. What a great way to kickoff the holidays and finish my year of 5Ks. Now I need to come up with something for 2009. |
Turkey Trot
December 7th, 2008 |
November’s 5K, actually a 5-miler, was on Thanksgiving morning and benefited the Madison County Humane Society. I went with some good friends. There were about 4000 people running. The goal was to get in the top 1000 so we’d get a free pumpkin pie. Needless to say I went home pieless, but the race was a lot of fun. One more to go. |
AtchyGate 5K
October 27th, 2008 |
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| October’s 5K was for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society . The 5K was held at the OSU/Penn State tailgate, officially hosted by the AtchyGate Tailgate crew (Mark and Laura Atchison). The race started in the morning, it was a night game, and wound it’s way through the tailgaters, up to High Street, down the OSU Oval, past the Horseshoe and back down Woody Hayes Blvd. How did I finish, you ask? Let’s just say I finished 2nd in the men’s division, and yes there were only 2 men in the race! In my defense, I was running against a 2-time AchyGate champion. Dawn and Zach joined in the festivities as well, although they informed me that I was on my own for any further 5Ks (at least until the temperature goes back above the 50 degree mark. | ||
Ovarian Cancer Coalition 5K
September 21st, 2008 |
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| September’s 5K was for Ovarian Cancer. We know several women that have survived ovarian cancer and much research needs to be done to eliminate this disease. The race involved the whole family, as well as some friends and neighbors. It was a perfect morning for a run. I do have to say, I did beat Zach (by about 2 seconds) with the following caveats; 1) He’s never run a 5K before and 2) he got very little sleep the night before and, 3) I think he let the old man win so I wouldn’t be depressed. | ||
We had an inspiration during the race. We’ve been running a lot of charity races, all seemingly focused on cancers that involve “lady parts”. To be fair, it seems like there should be a guy cancer focused event. We came up with the idea for a 5K to fight testicular cancer. So fair all we’ve done is come up with a race theme/slogan. Here’s what we have so far (feel free to add or ridicule).
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