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Today I picked up my race bib (#9885), my timing chip, and my shirt. I also calibrated my Nike + iPod by running over to Roosevelt High School and running around their track a couple of times. I also finalized my iPod music, which has been carefully and scientifically calibrated to be awesome:

In terms of running, here’s a synopsis of what I’ve been doing:

My goal is to run the entire thing with under 8 minutes/mile (about 5 minutes/kilometer) and I think I can actually do it! All that’s left to do is go run! Sunday morning, 8:40am, Belltown, be there.

Update: I created an iMix for iTunes: Run Mix 1

I knew that because of all my recent travel, there was a chance I couldn’t donate, but I thought that enough time had passes and that at least I hadn’t been to Africa.

I told the nurse what areas I had been to, Europe, Eastern Europe, and Haiti. She was pretty sure I wouldn’t be eligible to donate, but we went through each country I visited just to make sure. The nurse meticulously wrote down every single country and major city I visited, from Moscow, Russia all the way through Frankfurt, Germany, and Haiti. As it turns out, all of Haiti is at risk for malaria. And despite the fact that I had taken chloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, I have to wait an entire year until I can give blood again.

I understand the need to be safe, and I promise I’m not complaining, but it seems like the odds of someone actually getting malaria are low enough that it should be worthwhile to collect the blood, test it, and use it if it’s clean. What diseases are tested for anyway?

The book finally arrived last week and the people who have had the opportunity to spend some time with it have been very impressed (some people actually didn’t believe I made the book).

I made this book for me…so I could have something to be able to look at and be able to share with other people when they came over (without having to jump on the computer). However, you can also purchase a copy of the book. It comes in two flavors, softcover ($41.95) and hardcover ($60.95)^[1]. The book is 122 pages in length and includes 242 photos.

• You can buy a copy of the book here: Haiti: January 8-21, 2010, A photo essay by Andrew Ferguson
• You can also preview the first 10 pages here: Preview first 10 pages

As a side note, I’m starting to cook up ideas about making a book for my Europe trip. I’m currently convinced it will have text, however the text will be separate from the photos. With 1665
photos (three times the finished amount I have from Haiti), it’s going to be a nightmare putting that together. Maybe I need an editor…any takers?

1. Both of these are at cost and I make zero dollars

* Q: Wha? A: Every week I go through about 1000 posts on my RSS feed. These are ones that I thought worth sharing. You can find previous Shared Items here.

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I have received several requests over the years to use my pictures (even though you don’t legally have to ask as long as you following the licensing) and I have always said something to the effect of, “Yes! Please use them! Thanks for letting me know! Let me know if you need help finding other photos as well!” I have never turned down someone from using a photo yet, even when the use is borderline commercial (they had my permission to continue, so it was all kosher).

In an effort to help education people, I have also taken to providing a very nicely worded text file on all the CD/DVD’s I produce or emails I send people with photos attached or linked to, stating the licensing terms and providing helpful information. I feel like I’ve done a lot to make my photos easily accessible while also making it easy to understand and comply with the licensing rules.

Here’s my question: Do you think I’m asking to much that in return for using my photos, users provide a simple attribution line? I’ve invested a lot of time, money, and energy into these photos. I hate having to play the role of enforcer (which is more time and energy). What would you do? I try to be nice about the whole thing, but I honestly feel like a dick sometimes for having to enforce these rules^[1]

Letter sent. And CC’d to legal and PR.

1. yes, I know it’s my legal right, etc, etc

I’m going to Ignite Seattle 9 tonight! And you should come! It’s going to be at the King Cat Theatre^[1] tonight, from 7-10pm. Admission is $5 at the door (you can’t buy tickets a head of time) and you must be at least 21, because like all good things in life, there will be C₂H₆O^[2] present.

What is this Ignite Seattle and why should I come? you ask? Easy: Ignite is a presentation format where each presenter gets a deck of 20 slides that automatically advance every 15 seconds. Five minutes later, you find that you are slightly more educated on topics ranging from The History of the Mustache, How to properly prepare for the Zombie Apocalypse, and the slightly more practical How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Counterfactuals. Sometimes serious, sometimes nerdy, always funny. There’s no reason not to come.

I went to my first Ignite in Boulder (Ignite Boulder 3), so this will be my second Ignite presentation and I’m thoroughly looking forward to going to this one. I’m also hoping to hang out with The Big Blog at the Burke Museum^[3] for their special 1st Thursday meetup with free admission to the Burke, plus special guest Julia Swan: 5 – 6:30 p.m.

Photo of Andrew Hyde © 2009 Stepan Mazurov, used with permission under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA

1. 2130 6th Avenue,
   Seattle, Washington 98121
2. ethanol, aka beer
3. NE 45th Street & 17th Ave NE

* Q: Wha? A: Every week I go through about 1000 posts on my RSS feed. These are ones that I thought worth sharing. You can find previous Shared Items here.

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