When it comes to blogging, or doing any kind of writing for that matter, it is important to write about something you have passion for.  Not unlike many others who’s contemplated blogging, I needed to overcome my personal barriers of “nobody will be interested enough to read what I write about” or “I’m uncertain that  what I have to share will be of any great value to an audience.”

I am certainly not new to Blogging, but I wanted/needed a way to focus my technology topics and separate them from my truly personal blog.  I decided to approach the problem just as I would professionally, and decided upon the pen/technologist name of gooeestuff.  Initially I intended to setup a standard WordPress blog and begin to share my life experiences and a few plugins, themes, etc., but that sounded incredibly boring to be honest.  I needed an avante-garde way to allow my genuine enjoyment of geeky collaboration play a role without taking the “Blog” in a direction of yet another social network website.

gooeestuff.com is just that Blog.  The topics are not only contributed by me, but others are encouraged and influenced to contribute their own topics and responses within predetermined categories that are of a direct interest to me.  That simple!

There are three phases of sprinting, 3 power step acceleration, running at full speed and running quickly while fatigued. Athletes wishing to develop their sprinting abilities to their full potential should develop training strategies and practice plans that simulate all three of these phrases in the order in which they occur during a sprint to produce optimal results.

3 Power Step Acceleration Phase
Acceleration, or getting up to full speed, is the first stage of sprinting. The purpose of this stage is to progress from a stationary position to running at full speed efficiently and quickly. When accelerating your body should lean forward — but not too far forward. This position helps maximize power from your legs and hips. However, beginner athletes and children sometimes injure themselves by bending over too far at the waist while attempting this position. During acceleration, your feet touch the track below or just behind the hips in order to push you down the track. According to a study published in the 2008 issue of “Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research,” the acceleration stage lasts from the starting point to 10 m into a sprint.

Maximum Velocity Phase
Maximum velocity is the phase that athlete will reach the fastest speed he or she is capable of. Maximum velocity is the stage of sprinting that occurs after the runner is 10 m into the race. At this point, you are not leaning as far forward as during the acceleration stage. Instead, your body is upright and held in a tall position to optimize the efficiency of the run. A constant rhythm helps you maintain your speed over time and reduces your chances of injury. During this stage, try to touch the ground as little as possible and keep your body loose.

The Carry Phase
As you tire, you drop down from maximum velocity to the third, carry stage. During the carry stage, it is natural that you will want to lengthen your stride to accommodate and maintain your pace, but this should be avoided at all cost. Try to keep your legs underneath your hips and maintain a fast stride even if it is a shorter stride. The importance of upper-body strength becomes extremely obvious during this phase. I have been known to drill into my sprinting athletes that they are running with their arms during this phase as your legs tend to follow the rhythm of the arms. Increasing the turnover of the arms will cause a natural tendency for the legs to keep up.

Other Factors
During all three stages of running, moving your arms and upper body in big, strong motions will help build and maintain momentum. Pumping the arms, bringing your elbows back in powerful motions and putting your arms through a complete range of motion helps prevent your upper body from becoming too tight, which is detrimental to your speed. By keeping loose but maintaining an upright posture — except during acceleration, when you lean forward — you will maximize the speed and efficiency of your sprint. As for stretching, static stretching performed before a sprint impedes performance rather than helping it. You should use a dynamic stretching routine which involves stretching exercises of movement.

Go hogs!

I am working on a series of WordPress widgets as well to compliment the plugin’s functionality. You can see the plugin n action, it’s a widget located in a top right corner sidebar region of my blog.

Today is also Veteran’s day and I am spending it at safely at home with my family. We will be watching North Carolina vs. Michigan State play a basketball game on an Aircraft Carrier for the first time ever. I am remembering all my fellow Vets today, and share my gratitude for the younger men and women defending democracy today.

If you missed this opportunity, don’t sweat it, there is another opportunity this evening at 11:11:11pm. What can you share as a first today?

A Google+ brand page look just like the Google+ Profile page, except for an icon that indicates it’s a Page rather than a Profile. Users can check out business information and browse their photos, and when users add a brand to their circles, it increases that brand’s follower count.

Google’s Google+ Brand Pages launch partners include Angry Birds, CNN, Fox News, the Muppets, the Dallas Cowboys, Pepsi, Toyota, Macy’s, X Games, WWE, Train, Barcelona Football Club and Save the Children.

When Google launched Google+ brands, they immediately jumped on the opportunity to gain exposure. Google asked companies to stop creating Google+ profiles and start creating brand pages which quickly forced them to accelerate plans for business pages.

I believe we’ll start seeing the emergence of many more Google+ Brand Pages in the future.  I created my first Google+ Brand Page for the One deed non-profit I hope to establish in the near future!

The goal is to prototype a user experience that manages authentication and authorization that will be eventually ported to a WordPress plugin.

Using a custom class, request for approved user information (user id, profile URL, image etc), the latest activities posted on the user’s Google+ wall, and searching Google Plus public activities adds to the feature set.

I was successful in getting it to work!

Give it a run through for yourself: http://push.gaboink.net/_googleplus_connect

Custom Features:

• HTML5 compatible
• WordPress Custom Menus compatible
• Post Thumbnails support
• jQuery More pagination
• Automatic Google Short URL generation for each post
• Gaboogle HTML5 Video Anywhere support
• Plus more …

Please let me know what you think!

I’ve been working really hard on my ACL recovery and have been informed that I am actually way ahead of the pace.  I am even more motivated by this casting call scheduled for December 2, and although I am aware that I may have to apply and appear for several castings which may involve several tears, I will be attending my first one in hope to be selected as the next Survivor castaway.

More to come on this topic I’m sure!

Friday, December 2, 2011

5:30 – 8:00 pm

Snoqualmie Casino (Ballroom)

37500 SE North Bend Way

Snoqualmie, WA 98065

(425) 888-1234

for KIRO, Seattle

That purchase not only brought me back to Apple products, but also introduced and influenced my ideals and approches professionally.  To me, Apple just seemed to do everything right.  Things driven by an incredible man that you either hated or loved.  I valued Steve Jobs and his methods to the technology madness, and we’ve lost the greatest innovator the planet has known.  We can only hope there is another within our younger generations preparing to pick up the touch and carry it to the next station.

Steve once said, “Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

~ Steve Jobs

This couldn’t be more than true or relevant as I tend to depend on my gut, want to believe in destiny, and hope that karma is a player in the game of life.

Thanks Steve for teaching me to push the envelope vs. licking it, and oh ya, thanks for all the cool gadgets and toys.