When tell people that I’m training for a marathon in December, people sometime give me a funny look. How can I manage to have a family, a demanding job, develop spiritually and give back to the community, and put in the serious mileage required for running 26.2 miles?

Oh, and what if I want to maybe goof off sometimes?

What people don’t get is that achieving balance in all areas of life doesn’t mean you go all out in every area all the time. It’s like a balloon – sometimes one side gets squeezed, and another has to pooch out. If all of them were to squeeze at once, it wouldn’t be pleasant.

What makes this marathon so special is that I’m working with a coach specifically to get my act together and qualify for the Boston Marathon in April, 2010.  This requires much more serious focus on my running than I have ever given it.

In normal times, if I miss a run here or there because life intrudes, I don’t worry about it. But right now, I’m in the final weeks before the December 6 race, and I feel compelled to hit every run.

Take this weekend for example. Here is the instruction I got for my coach for my Saturday run:

Sa        Long Run (aerobic, 17-18 miles) targeting sitting in at 8:30-20 pace (not faster).

In case this isn’t clear, he wants me to run 17 or 18 miles at aerobic pace, which will take about 2 1/2 hours.  But unfortunately, I’ll be in downtown Seattle this weekend,  trying to fit in time with my daughter and attend a workshop.

It’s like trying to fit 100 pounds of lard into a 50 pound bag.

Something’s gotta give.

Anyone who knows me personally will attest that I am not particularly wild.

Big admission there – and it’s hard to accept. After all, every guy probably wants to think of themselves as “wild at heart” and untamable.

But I have found it too difficult to be responsible and loving when I let my passions run wild. I like the quote by Robert Bloch: “I have the heart of a child. I keep it in a jar on my shelf.” But the wild thing inside me likes to break out periodically.

Parents of rambunctious little kids can come to the end of their ropes and call their child a name, like “wild thing” and it may fit. I think it’s a mistake to call a child “stupid” or “lazy” or “wild” because it stings, and they may start believing it too. It’s basically a mistake of lazy parenting.

The recent movie “Where the Wild Things Are” explores this country of incivility, covering the same ground as the 1963 Maurice Sendak book and extending it greatly. Whereas in the book, Max seems rather smug and self-satisfied with his mastery over the Wild Things; there seems to be real regret, remorse and even fear in young Max Records’ face as he realizes the consequences of his wildness played out in large.

This is not to suggest that this is a “message movie”, unless as Deb remarked it teaches you that if you run away from home you get chocolate cake for dinner.  But there are analogies and parallels in the movie that I can’t get out of my head.

I’m convinced that it’s a truly cool bit of movie making. The story is rife with parallels that play out between the real world and the fantasy world, the visuals are amazing, particularly of a model city built by one of the Wild Things and an incredible fort built during the course of the movie. It’s a piece of art, and will be long remembered as a great movie.

And who knows – maybe I can live to be a little more wild too.

Dinner. Tart w carmelized onions, figs,, originally uploaded by davest.

… stilton and roasted sweet potato salad

Our first-born daughter, Anne, is now in her third year of college in Eugene at the University of Oregon. She felt like it would be a good time to transition into an apartment instead of another year in the dorms.

(Her dorm had a beautiful view of Haywood Field, but guess she’s not a big track fan).

The new place is probably circa 1950s.

Which probably explains the look of the kitchen equipment.

She shares the apartment with two other people, so the living room and kitchen are shared.

Anne’s room itself is upstairs, and appears to be some converted attic space. Low ceiling, but it has some glowing stars stuck on there from the previous resident.

And there appears to be an extra bed out on the enclosed porch, though it’s not totally clear to me if it’s used or not.

The first impression is a little sketchy though – the entry stairway has some of the worst wallpaper I have seen in my life outside a tawdry movie – foil wallpaper in a red and gold theme. Ew. I guess freedom sometimes comes with ugly wallpaper.

Duck tongue, originally uploaded by davest.

and stomach, jellyfish, who knows what else

Presentation i’m giving now in china, originally uploaded by davest.

Some of the Taipei Moblin team, originally uploaded by davest.

At the Moblin Enabling Center, Taipei, originally uploaded by davest.

joint work with the Taiwan government

Virus scanning cameras in Taiwan, originally uploaded by davest.

every building in Taipei have these thermal scanners to check for flu

Young people, out and about in Taipei on the weekend. Many wear really stylish t-shirts, almost all of them are in English. Is this crazy or what? I wouldn’t mind a really cool t-shirt – in Chinese!

Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan, is a relatively small burg of two million souls. Yet they boast one of the tallest buildings in the world (Taipei 101), and have a zillion restaurants, all of which are full to the brim with hungry people.

Speaking of food, the Taipei Main Train Station has this amazing collection of restaurants on the second floor of the main station building. Restaurants include:

• Steak
• Korean
• Italian
• Indian
• Japanese – I saw shabu-shabu, tonkatsu, omelet rice, tempura
• bakeries – with all manner of Chinese baked goodies
• a wine shop
• coffee shops, including Starbucks of course
• Mr Donut
• Burger King – so you can have it your way

Speaking of malls, the shopping centers look a lot more like western-style malls than the ones in China. But in the unused spaces, kids hang out on Sunday afternoon dancing. Line dancing, break dancing, and sometimes just collapsed in exhaustion from dancing.

And I had to make a check of a local technology mall. But I think Singapore has the best technology malls of them all.

Finally Taipei has such a terrific Metro system – clean, safe, well organized. One of the lines is even automated, with no driver in sight.