Professional, Personal

After months of neglect, I am finally writing a new post!  As I dove head-first into the world of web consulting, I got too busy to keep this site up-to-date.  But now I'm back--still busy, just better organized.

Kudos to consumer guru Clark Howard for discussing open source alternatives on his radio show.  He specifically mentions OpenOffice in his show notes.  He is correct that businesses and consumers can save lots of money by using free, open source alternatives to expensive commercial applications such as Microsoft Office.

This is just further evidence that open source software has entered the mainstream.

(Image courtesy of bnnrc.net,  under a creative commons license.)

Drupal gets considerable praise for being versatile, flexible, and open. At the same time, it is often criticized for being difficult to configure, with a large learning curve even for seasoned developers. So given the criticism, why do I use it? And why do I recommend it to clients? This article provides an overview of Drupal, and in doing so, explains why I stake my business on it.

Summary: Thrills, Chills, and Hills

The ING Georgia Marathon was held on Sunday, March 30, 2008, just three weeks after a tornado hit the start/finish line area around Centennial Olympic Park. The fact that this race was still able to occur, despite the tornado damage in downtown Atlanta, is a testament to the organizers: they made the necessary adjustments to ensure the race could happen.

The Thrills: the people who came out to cheer us on, especially: the Agnes Scott College women, the Dekalb Police Department, and the Peachtree Tri Club (including my wife, Sarah) at the last, desolate mile.

The Chills: This year, the weather was cold, cloudy, and breezy. There was rain early, around 5:30 am, but it stopped (thank goodness). The temperature was in the 40s. This was the opposite extreme from last year, where it was sunny, and the temperature soared into the 80s.

The Hills: with the changes in the course, I think this year's race was hillier than last year. The course consisted of continuous, rolling hills, with a break in the middle. However, I won't harp on that: I covered most of the course on my training runs, and I knew what I was getting into.

I recently found out about additional route changes to the 2008 ING Georgia Marathon and Half Marathon, as well as a route change for the 2008 Peachtree Road Race.

Changes to the 2008 ING Georgia Marathon Route

The link to the latest ING Georgia Marathon/Half Marathon route map is here. However, their home page does not specify any reasons for the changes. Also, the map says "proposed," so perhaps further changes could be in the works.

A summary of changes since my earlier article:

• First few miles go by Civic Center, Renaissance Park: the starting line remains by Centennial Olympic Park on Marietta Street, and the course turns north on Piedmont as before. However, when heading north on Piedmont, instead of turning east on Baker-Highland, the route instead continues north, turning east on North Avenue. It then turns south on Central Park Place, going past the Central Park/Renaissance Park area and Georgia Power, finally reaching Baker-Highland and turning east there. The route continues as before from there, to Jackson, Auburn Ave., etc.
• Half Marathon breakaway moved, Freedom Parkway out-and-back gone: from Euclid Ave., both the Marathon and Half Marathon now turn north on Moreland, then west on E. Freedom Parkway, north on Freedom Parkway, and east on North Avenue. The Half Marathon turns north on N. Highland, while the Marathon splits away, continuing on North Ave.
• Marathon now goes by Candler Park: from North Ave., the Marathon route turns south on Candler Park Dr., east on McLendon through the Candler Park restaurant district, north on Clifton, and then east on S. Ponce de Leon. From there the route continues as before, down East Lake Dr. to College Ave., toward Agnes Scott College.
• Minor change near Emory: it looks like the route has a short out-and-back on Haygood Dr. Other than that, the route appears unchanged through Emory and (sadly) Druid Hills. I still wish we didn't have those switchbacks through Druid Hills.
• No more Freedom Parkway out-and-back: I already mentioned that for the Half Marathon, but it came later in the race for the full Marathon. Instead, from Briarcliff Road southbound, the route turns west onto St. Charles, then north on Highland, continuing through Virginia-Highland to Piedmont Park as before.
• Last few miles - finish line moved: the route continues on 10th Street, Juniper, and 5th, through Georgia Tech, back to Marietta Street as described in my previous ING article. However, the finish line is now on Andrew Young International in the middle of Centennial Park. I like this much better than finishing on Baker Street.

Peachtree Road Race - Finish Line Moved

The Atlanta Track Club issued a press release (PDF file) yesterday announcing that finish line for the 2008 Peachtree Road Race has been moved to the intersection of Juniper and Ponce de Leon. Some excerpts from the press release:

Atlanta, GA – February, 19, 2008 – Athletes participating in the 39th running of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race on July 4th will add one additional turn to their route from previous years to a new finish line at the intersection of Juniper and Ponce de Leon in midtown Atlanta. After crossing the finish line runners will walk one block south on Juniper, turn east on North Avenue for one block and then turn south on Piedmont Avenue to receive their water and t-shirts, then arrive at the Civic Center parking area where the awards stage, family meeting area, and sponsor village will be located.

The AJC Peachtree Road race has traditionally ended in Piedmont Park... However, in January the City of Atlanta announced the suspension of any Class A event (those that attract 50,000 people or more) from city parks, due to effects from the drought. This policy resulted in the need for a new finish line.

The press release emphasizes organizers' hopes that the finish line will return to Piedmont Park in the future, once we recover from the drought. Registration forms for the Peachtree Road Race will be in the Atlanta Journal Constitution on March 16, and online starting March 17.