Get to know the team: Peter Duggan

[Peter Duggan]

Name: Peter Duggan Age: 43 Location: Kinlochleven, Scottish Highlands Quotes: From Why We Run (Bernd Heinrich, 2001) I also believe in antelopes. They would not have missed a trick when it comes to running speed and endurance. I had never seen or heard of an antelope who was flexible and did stretching, or who lifted weights for extra strength. I had never heard of one doing much more than eating and running. From the Canadian Boat Song (anon, 18th century) Yet still the blood is strong, the heart is Highland, And we in dreams behold the Hebrides. From A Man's a Man For A' That (Robert Burns, 1795) That man to man the world o'er Shall brithers be for a' that. Position: Doc Writer Summary: Professional musician and school teacher; amateur sailor, mountaineer and runner; semi-pro web designer, web standards enthusiast/advocate and hobby-level programmer. YaBB SE user since YSE 1.0; YaBB SE Support Specialist and (latterly) Global Moderator; SMF Founder Member, Support Specialist, Doc Writer, Friend and Doc Writer again!

1. Do you have pets?

No, but we had hamsters, gerbils and guinea pigs as kids.

2. What is your favorite color?

Dunno, so I'm going to say black... yes, definitely black (now tell me that Newton defined black as the absence of colour!).

3. What kind of music do you like?

I have *very* wide-ranging tastes, but basically I just like music!

4. What do you do on your free time besides spending time on SMF?

See summary above and sports question below.

5. What are your goals/dreams in life?

To keep sight of the things that *really* matter and act accordingly?

6. What got you involved in SMF?

Um, YaBB SE!

7. Who do you admire? Why?

Too many people to list here, so I'm simply going to name two fellow Scots for their courage in the face of true adversity:

• Dennis Canavan (principled politician).
• Jamie Andrew (climber).

8. Are you into sports?  If so which ones?

Sailing/yacht racing, mountaineering and running. So I've been sailing for longer than I can remember, climbing for more than half my life and running seriously since 2003, but they're all important to me. Some recent highlights have included [sailing] winning the 2003 Scottish Two-Handed Race, [mountaineering] climbing Mount Hood (Oregon, 11240ft) by the Cooper Spur and Mount Rainier (Washington, 14411ft) by the Kautz Glacier in 2006 with my younger brother and [running] two big days out on the hills with my completions of Tranter's Round (2005) and the Round of Glencoe (2006).

9. What is your dream job?

Retirement on full working pay!

10. What was your first screenname?

Probably Peter Duggan (I don't use many).

11. Do you have any piercings?

No.

12. Are you a lefty/righty or ambidextrous?

I'm right-handed, but play guitar and bass left-handed because I'm digitally challenged.

13. Do you have any tattoo's?  If not do you wish/plan to get one?

No to both questions.

14. Do you have any siblings?  If so how many of each.

Two brothers (one older, one younger).

15. What is your favorite website?

So what kind of a question is that and how on earth do I answer it? Well, speaking as someone who finds it difficult to visit a site without doing 'view source' to check the doctype (!), some of these are are going to make it for their content rather than their style, but I'd have to start (so how many am I allowed?) with something like Amazon, eBay, the BBC, my bankers, Scottish Hill Runners, the W3C, A List Apart, meyerweb.com, CSS Zen Garden, webtips.dan.info, simplemachines.org (well, why not?) and, despite its many deficiencies, petestack.com... But ask me again tomorrow and I'll give you a different answer because the web's much too broad to narrow down like this and I'll surely have discovered something new by then!

16. Do you play computer games?  If so which ones?

No.

17. Do you play video game consoles?  Which ones?

No.

18. Are you married or planing to get married?

Nope, but too used to freedom to trade that lightly now.

  a. If so do you have any kids?
  b. How many kids?

19. How many languages do you speak?  Which ones?

About 1.55 (taking English as 1.00, French maybe 0.25, Dutch 0.10, Scots Gaelic 0.10 and smatterings of Italian, German etc. from studying music and listening to opera 0.10?). Oh, and Latin (mustn't forget Latin!)... I actually studied both French and Latin at school till I was 16, but now I can't get much past 'in pictura est puella' (Ecce Romani, Book 1, Lesson 1?).

20. Do you drink?

Yes (water every day and alcohol on 'special occasions').

21. Do you smoke?

Never, ever, ever!

22. Did you play hookey from class?

Not seriously IIRC, but I'll admit to skipping the odd lecture at university.

22. Do you have a license?

At least three (car, motorcycle, marine VHF), and that's not counting computer software...

  a. Do you own a car?

Nope, I own a van.

  b. Have you ever been stopped for speeding?

Don't think so.

23. Do you obtain a good amount of sleep daily?

Sometimes, but not always at night.

24. How do you sleep?

I usually close my eyes first and open them again when I'm done.

25. Have you ever been on an airplane?

Yes (big ones to get places, and little ones with my younger brother for fun).

26. have you ever broken a bone?

Yes (left wrist, jumping off the balcony of the Music Faculty Library, Edinburgh University, 1985).

27. Do you wear jewelry?  If so what jewelry do you wear?

Used to wear a signet ring I got for my 21st, but it broke and can't really be fixed.

28. How do you dress?

Mostly in the appropriate manner for whatever I'm doing at the time (work, sailing, climbing, running etc.).

29. How many keys are on your keyring?

Which keyring? (I have several.)

30. What time do you go to bed?  What time do you wake up?

• Sometimes I don't.
• Sometimes I don't.

31. What's the freakiest thing you have done?  //Keep it clean.

For now, probably rejoining the SMF Team, but ask me after 23 June!

32. Do you live alone?

Yes.

33. How many hours a day do you spend in the computer?

Usually too many.

34. How many hours a day do you spend in SMF?

Ditto.

35. How about What is your favorite beverage? Coffee, Tea, Soda, Beer, other?

Probably coffee, water and sometimes uisge beatha (the 'water of life'!).

36. What do you hate?  //It can be anything.

Fish (or seafood of any kind), moths, midges/clegs/ticks (all Scottish summer pests), intolerance, lies, war and stuff (+ I'm scared of dogs, but don't dislike them).

37. What do you love?  //It can be anything also.

Complex carbohydrates and all the other little things that make life worth living!

38. What is your religion?

None really these days (if pushed I'd have to say atheist), so let's just say tolerance and understanding for all.

39. What is your hair color?

Mostly brown, grey and white (but all natural)!

40. How tall are you?

5'11" (1.80m)

41. How much do you weight?

+/- 160lb (72kg), depending on how much I'm running/eating.

42. What's the feature on SMF you can't live without?
  a. As an administrator?

The users.

  b. As an end user?

The posts.

[Amacythe]

Not to interrupt your train of thought, but I figured it was time for me to say I really LOVE how different people have replied to question #24.  I intentionally left it open so people could assume what they wanted.  The question could have meant, "What position do you sleep in?" or "Do you wear night clothes?" or "Do you sleep lightly (little sounds will wake you) or deeply (you could sleep through an earthquake)?" among other interpretations.  The replies have been varied and usually fairly funny.

[Peter Duggan]

among other interpretations.

Or something else again, as in Lennon's question to McCartney?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Do_You_Sleep%3F

The replies have been varied and usually fairly funny.

And I've had the advantage of gauging my tone from the previous responses instead of just giving a thoughtlessly boring answer!

[Amacythe]

Peter, could you please clarify for me...

Are you breathing?
Do you have a pulse?

* Amacythe nods

I thought so...

Now, could you explain your answer 30b?  Sometimes you don't wake up?

[Peter Duggan]

Are you breathing?

Currently, yes (and I'm not a dolphin!)...

Do you have a pulse?

Yes, but it's *slow* (often sub-40bpm at rest)...

Now, could you explain your answer 30b?  Sometimes you don't wake up?

But what I was really driving at there is that you can't go without sleep forever and sometimes I pay for my nocturnal tendencies!

[Joshua Dickerson]

Did you know thrill seekers usually have a really relaxed pulse?

[Peter Duggan]

No, but perhaps there are just some pretty fit thrill seekers around?

[Joshua Dickerson]

What is your favorite running shoe? Have you ever ran in a desert? Have you ever clocked your 2 mile (3.22 km) and 3 mile (4.82 km) times?

[Peter Duggan]

What is your favorite running shoe?

For road running, it has to be the Asics GT series (my last two pairs have been GT-2090s and GT-2110s, but they seem to be up to GT-2120s now). So I'm your typical over-pronator, but I'm comfortable with these, have never crushed the soles and even prefer them for some non-technical off-road terrain. (Have also tried Saucony Hurricanes within the past year, but just didn't get on with them and went almost straight back to the Asics.)

For trail and hill running I've used various Walshes and Inov-8s (both specialist UK makers), but nothing that's been as comfortable or hard-wearing as my Asics (NB I go through several pairs of shoes a year even when they're relatively robust).

Have you ever ran in a desert?

Nope, so not much point looking for my 'Marathon des sables' results!

Have you ever clocked your 2 mile (3.22 km) and 3 mile (4.82 km) times?

Not as such, but I'd guess we'd be looking at <=6:30 miling if I had. So I'm not a good road runner because I'm basically just not fast (still chasing that elusive 6:52 half-marathon pace), but do better on the hill where the ability to negotiate more technical ground quickly and safely often counts for more than flat speed and I frequently enjoy hitting sub 5:30 mile pace on the easier descents!

[Gary]

Do you watch the Simpsons?

If so, got a favourite episode, character, scene?

How about Futurama, Family Guy & American Dad?

[Peter Duggan]

Do you watch the Simpsons?

Very rarely (got rid of my TV over a year ago!), but I'd agree that it's both funny and sharply observed.

If so, got a favourite episode, character, scene?

Obviously not, then...

How about Futurama, Family Guy & American Dad?

Never!

[Pause]

What is your opinion on cheesecake? 

Is it Peat Stack or Pete's Tack? 

[Peter Duggan]

What is your opinion on cheesecake? 

I love it, but don't eat it all the time!

Is it Peat Stack or Pete's Tack? 

As I'm sure you're aware, it's both (and would never have been registered if it wasn't). But the Pete's Tack aspects of it are ultimately more meaningful, despite all these automated alternative domain name pickers missing the possibility of that word division completely. (So anyone for stackheap.com? turfstack.com? hugestack.net? peteheap.com? Hurry, hurry, they're all available!)

[Peter Duggan]

Have you ever clocked your 2 mile (3.22 km) and 3 mile (4.82 km) times?

Not as such, but I'd guess we'd be looking at <=6:30 miling if I had.

Thinking (on reflection) I could probably sustain 6:00 min/mile pace for 2–3 miles. Did 3.8 miles fartlek (alternate slow jogging and lung-busting efforts) on the road this afternoon with my best 1 minute burst topping out at 14 mph (4:17 pace *if* I could sustain it!) and think, yes, I *could* do 12 mins for 2 miles or 18 mins for 3. On which note, I *did* do 6:20 for the first mile of a half-marathon last year, but faded and dropped below my 6:52 target after a nasty hill at about 8 miles (serves me right, really)...

[Joshua Dickerson]

12 minute two miles is FAST! 18 minute 3 miles is BLAZING FAST! I was running a 13 minute 2 mile. I usually run around 13:30 - 14 minute two mile. During the winter I lose about 45 seconds on my run time just because I don't do as much physical activity. So, I know how fast 12 minute two miles is - woah.

[Peter Duggan]

No, nothing I can do on my own two feet is 'blazing fast'!

Firstly, I said I thought I *could* do that, not that I'd done it (fairly sure about the 2 miles but less sure about the 3). Secondly, I train with a number of folk who'd consider 60 mins a comfortable time for 10 miles when I'm struggling to run 9 in the hour (although I know I can run 20 in two-and-a-half). And, thirdly, I'm unlikely to prove myself right or wrong in the near future since I'm training for an ultra (see my answer to Q31) and seem to have completely lost what little speed I had ATM! So I'm just an extremely ordinary club level athlete, and that's that...

[Aaron]

Have you ever watched a Doctor Who or Star Trek series? If so which series, and did you like it/them?

[Peter Duggan]

A whole series? Not that I can remember, although I do recall hiding behind the sofa as a kid to escape from some of the scarier creatures (jelly monsters?) on Dr Who. (NB we're talking Jon Pertwee or even Patrick Troughton era here!) But, since I'm neither a sci-fi fan nor a TV owner and only ever see these things nowadays when they're on at other folks' houses, there's not much I can add to that.

[Ben_S]

But, since I'm neither a sci-fi fan nor a TV owner and only ever see these things nowadays when they're on at other folks' houses,

You must be one of a dieing bread, either that or you are worried about TV Licensing reading these boards, ok in all honesty I believe you and sometimes with I never had a "telly" too, would miss Top Gear too much though.

[Peter Duggan]

Television reception in my part of the village varies hugely from door to door and mine seemed to be about the worst. So I had a big aerial *and* an amplifier, but various permutations of trees between my aerial and the repeater up the hill, leaves on said trees, wind and wet weather combined to make things unwatchable more often than not. Could have got satellite but didn't want to, found I was watching less and less (with inevitable frustration on the rare occasions I actually *planned* to watch something leading to increasing resentment of the licence fee) and just ditched the TV and video about thirteen months ago. Now I don't even bother to check what I'm missing, and wonder why I ever had a TV in the first place!