One can hope and work toward not having a broken financial model. We’ve seen many. WordPress (where this blog is hosted) never informed me that the custom domain for which I pay them a pittance as an “upgrade” needed renewal… until they turned it off.
Thanks WordPress! Way to annoy my readers (few though they may be), me (your customer), and fail to collect your rightful due for almost six months. Simply lovely all the way ’round.
Rides have been few and far between. Busy at work (thank goodness!), uncooperative weekend weather, etc. But the clock changes marks the official start of ride season, and this was the inaugural ride of the club.
Now the problem with riding this weekend is that everyone is short on sleep. But this was going to be interesting because the weather was soooo cooperative. I mean 60+ degrees (F)? When it might snow in a couple of days? So 16 folks turned out (that’s a lot for our little club).
I expected this ride to be interesting because you have folks who haven’t looked at their bikes all winter, and probably put them away in need of repair or service. And certainly, there were going to be people who are deeply out of shape from a lack of winter biking.
And the ride did not disappoint. One person who is new to clipless pedals fell over in the parking lot. Others crawled up the one incline (I refuse to say hill). Someone else broke a spoke (and I watched as the reflector attached to said spoke was slowly beaten to death on the left seat stay. Normally I’d be surprised that it would take someone so long to pull over and stop considering the racket and destruction going on back there, but this person’s drivetrain was making so much noise prior that I don’t think he noticed. And of course, over all the pace was glacial. That’s how these rides go though…
Of course, my own fitness needs a lot of work—I was soundly thrashed at each town line sprint I contested (“contested” just might be too strong a word). But I did climb that incline in the big ring with no trouble, which is the outcome of a lot of work too, so things are looking promising.
All in all, it was great to see everyone, nice to see so much enthusiasm on the roads (so many folks riding today), and a while I suspect it will be freezing for a while yet… today was brimming with hope and renewal, and the always fun spark that represents the beginning of yet another seasonal campaign in pursuit of health, fitness, and fun. Allez!
Some of the folks at the office are distraught at the departure of Conan O’Brien and posted a large sign in the window that faces his office saying “Conan, Don’t Go!” and above you can see the response… “I already bought the tickets.” I understand he waved as well, although apparently, I’m once again not part of the in crowd and missed the event itself.
While I don’t have a picture, one of my fellow devs posted a “F” in our window, which expressed his feelings about the entire thing without causing a corporate stir.
A few minutes out of the otherwise routine days we spend toiling away at our various tasks.
And while I’m mentioning my brushes with greatness, Little Stevie van Zandt of Springsteen and Sapranos fame picked up his Range Rover up from the lot where I park. While I’d never met him before, he was pleasant to anyone who walked over and said something to him. Nice.
So it took month but I finally completed the first ride (of any distance) for the year. First I was sick, and the weather has been uncooperative to say the least. I still don’t need great weather, but the roads have been covered in ice and slush and salt, and the trails are too far away… so other than some turns around the backyard, and some hiking… feh.
Today was sunny, bright, and relatively warm (45 degrees give or take), so I grabbed a bike, found Jenni and went for a spin through the park. There were some sketchy parts, but mostly it was quite lovely, and overall it was a lovely spin. Big, fat, knobby tires were the order of the day and as a bonus they make you work pretty much all the time. The 165 cranks still feel little weird to me, but less so. I may try switching them out for slightly longer ones, but not just yet.
I wore some new cycling duds, a birthday gift from my wife… Jenni berates me into mentioning, and I also met the first day of “28 Days of Exercise” easily on this ride. Another first. I’m tweeting using #twentyeightdays, thinking about using #dailygoals as well (Since it can be tracked easily.
What does one call a collection of firsts? Suggestions welcome.
Everyone once in a while I run into a product (that is, I wasn’t looking at the time) that turns out just great. The Merrell Thermo 6 Waterproof
is once such product.
It’s been very snowy already and all my boots and shoes are getting wet and ruined. They’re not meant for winter except for one pair, and I can’t wear them all the time (like to work) because they’re high, and lot of my pants don’t fit over them, and they’re not appropriate looking for work (that’s a whole ‘nother discussion).
I was returning a pair of gloves Noah picked out for my birthday (wrong size), and I saw the aforementioned boots. I saw that they were going to be waterproof, nice grippy looking soles, soft around the ankles, and insulated. Perfect! I tried a couple of sizes just to be certain, they’re really comfortable and warm (for the conditions in which I intend to wear them.)
I was out in them today with a few inches of snow, some sledding with Noah, and some shoveling and car clearing, and they were everything I expected at 14 degrees F.
So if you need a nice, not too costly pair of 3 season water resistant boots (but not just a membrane thing, but a “plastic” boot) recommended.
I’ve enjoyed the explosion of video resources on the net. People have yet another way to share moments from their lives, etc. etc. And along with that come life’s little mishaps. And as almost everyone will admit, viewing a prat fall, a slip, a fall, or a splash can be funny. It’s part sympathy, recognition that we all walk a tight rope with dignity on one side and humiliation on the other… and partially just the simple fun of watching others get in to trouble.
But I’m troubled by something as I watch some of these videos.
People face plant, bang their heads against rocks, launch themselves onto all manner of nasty surfaces and time and again the person taking the video (and you can tell when it’s hand held and when it’s not) does absolutely nothing besides watch. I was horrified when I saw one sampling from the Fail blog where a cyclist smacked their head against a rock with significant force and the person behind the camera did nothing besides ask the person (eventually) if he was alright.
Folks, two thoughts. If you witness an “unintentional result” in front of a camera… see if the person needs help rather than worry about “the shot”. The second thought is, if you’re going to do something in front of a camera know that Heisenberg understood that the camera was going to have an affect on the proceedings. For some reason, these effects seem to be almost universally negative for the person being observed for any “cusp” event.
How do you feel about being charged for search and rescue? [Interesting. It’s a lucky thing I’ve never needed that sort of help. Then again, I believe in Daniel’s first rule of the mountains, when in doubt, head down and/or back. Seems like 99% of all mountain tragedy’s occur because people keep going up to what must be “right over that rise”. Second rule is never tie yourself into a rope with someone who you wouldn’t give your life to/for/with. That rope’s a contract of overwhelming strength.]
Source: The Adventurist
Nicely done. Displays the never ending need for people to rethink how things are accomplished. http://djb.posterous.com/. And awesome socks.
[This is awesome news. There’s parts of both frameworks that I love, and now, with a bit of luck, all of them will wind up in the same place.]
Source: Brainspl.at
turnings :: daniel berlinger 