I finally got a new laptop bag, err, cafe bag, make that man purse. It cost a bunch, took a while to get here, but it's nice.
Thanks to Scott Collins on the tip.
The Post Club-Med-Cancun Diet
**draft**
The Post Club-Med-Cancun Diet (or the diet from hell)
So two weeks in Cancun with all you can eat, all you can drink, and all you can play (running on the beach, water ski, trapeze, tennis, weight room etc), I'm now at 189-190lbs. I was at 180-183lbs so I've gained between 6-10lbs in a couple weeks.
So here's the Post Club Med Cancun Diet in the negative:
– no (little) sugar
– no red meat
– no milk
– no juice (except orange juice)
– no (little) processed foods
– no white bread/white rice
In the positive:
– *lots* of water
– lots of oatmeal, (kashi or smart start cereal)
– lots of fruits and vegetables
95 mile bike ride and training status
I got my bike tuned up this Wednesday and it is nice. The gears were all degreased, the brakes aligned, the tires trued, and my computer fixed. So this Saturday it was a joy to ride.
Went off and did crazy 95 mile bike ride, here's the route (kinda) via Google Maps.
We started at the Sports Basement in the Presidio, over the Golden Gate Bridge, down into Sausalito, up Camino Alto into Fairfax. We went up White Hill? and then up some other hill into Nicasio Square. At that point it was 28 miles.
I went with Kamal to do a 30 mile loop which started with this one hill, up and over till we got to Marshall Wall. Now Marshall Wall is a bitch of a hill and there's even chalk marks of "Go Tyler" for Tyler Hamilton on the road. It's just long and steep but with very beautiful views at the top.
So down the other side of Marshall Wall, passed by Hog Island Oyster company, over to Point Reyes Station and then back to Nicasio and back to San Francisco. 95 miles is a long way to go and wasn't really up for it but I felt pretty good. I guess there was about 8,000 feet of climbing involved too, possibly more. Kamal says 10,000 but that doesn't really matter to me.
I have 2 1/2 hour run tomorrow and then recovery week in Cancun, Mexico! Haven't been able to train much during the week because of work but it sure is nice to be able to know I have a good enough base to take on a 95 mile bike ride on a whim.
open source as a consumer product attribute
Should "open source" be a consumer product attribute? It would apply to Firefox, Thunderbird, Linux desktop, other software on the Linux desktop like Evolution.
What would "open source" imply? How about:
– quality/stability (tested by hundred of thousands of people)
– secure (still dependent on management of security issues)
– innovative (collective brain-power tackling new concepts)
– collaboration
– standards
– community based AND commercial support options
I feel like "open source" already means all of the above so let's get it to stick!
What should "open source" not imply? How about:
– free (as in the software is free, lots of confusion here)
– anti-business or capitalism
– IP nightmare
– "volunteers" (people who are unpaid), this essentially becomes unreliable, unsustainable
Well, given that quick little exercise it sounds like "open source" is something we do want to use as an attribute. Other companies like Yahoo and Google and such who do use open source products/solutions on the server-side should do it too. Just about everyone uses bugzilla and lots of companies are on the LAMP server-stack. That screams we're spending money on the right things.
Also, speaking more about the testing community and that process, will hopefully establish "open source" as the more reliable solution.
healthy again
Well my foot feels like it's back. If you bike for four hours one day and run for 2 hours the next day, then one can assume your foot's healthy. I had stubbed my toe in the pool plus ran in some new shoes a little too long. That screwed me up for a bit and I haven't been running.
Anyhow, last Saturday's bike ride was pretty brutal. Up Claremont ave, a 40-45 minute climb, over to 3 Bears (1.5 hours), up Wildcat Canyon (25 minute climb), and up the nasty South Park Drive (20 minute climb). My 2 hour run on Sunday wasn't all that except that I almost wimped out in doing it at all. Ironman Canada is five months away (in August) so still plenty of time.
Shopping Spree
I've been on a little shopping tear lately. Here's what I(we) have bought:
– ordered (not yet bought) a new car
– cast iron dutch oven for camping (on sale! @Amazon)
– GoldTouch keyboard (ergonomically sound)
– Humanscale keyboard tray
– Tom Bihn cafe bag (it's NOT a purse!)
– iCurve laptop stand
Our home office is coming together and becoming ergonomically correct. Already have Steelcase Leap chair that's pretty awesome and our furniture is nice too. I have some more kitchen stuff to buy and then get some more shirts to wear to work. It's getting to be pretty bad when I have Firefox and Mozilla polo shirts as shirts I wear on the weekend (not that I mind, but just shows I need more clothes).
10 weeks to new car
Just ordered today. Now we have to wait 10 weeks, haggle a bit (can't pay more than a bit over invoice), and then pay it off.
It's pretty cush with a great turning radius.
under 180lbs. finally
I guess it took a half Ironman on Saturday and eating smart this week to get me down under 180lbs. I was hovering around 185-188lbs the last several months and trying to break under 180lbs. I should get to 175lbs in a couple weeks, and *maybe* 165lbs by Ironman time in August.
Curiously, I was 185lbs at Ironman Canada last year, felt great but that was way too much weight and it showed.
My metabolism is going nuts. I love it.
Snowboarding @Kirkwood, or how many times am I going to fall on my ass
I'm back from the snowboarding trip @Kirkwood. My wife and I left with the "firm" on Friday afternoon to go up to Kirkwood. We went snowboarding pretty much all day Saturday (I'm really sore today), kicked back on Sunday morning and left in the afternoon and now back to doing some work.
The snowboarding trip was fun, just did the bunny slopes and got the hang of it after a couple runs down the slope. Nothing too exciting though it was definitely fun and exhausting.
Some more thoughts:
– Snowboarding in the Spring is fun, not too busy, sunny and hot, and the snow isn't too slushy or hard just yet.
– This is a great time of the year to buy snow gear.
– I finally did get a chance to hear Mitchell on NPR Science Friday. She did a *great* job.
– I also downloaded the lastest Thunderbird and was pleasantly surprised to see inline spell checking when composing email. Very happy! Apparently it got checked-in last January but turned on by default recently.
– Noticed there was more talk about the Seamonkey plans. Ack.
– And this is going to be just a very busy week at work capped off by a Half Ironman this Saturday @Lake San Antonio aka the Wildflower course.
Hmm…this week is going to be fun.
Luz on Queer Eye for the Straight Girl
Our (Katina and me) friend Luz Herrera will be on TV. Luz is very, very cool, and I think still single. Anyhow, I'm very happy for her and maybe she can go on and do some sort of tv career – she's cute enough for it.
Everyone is getting on tv this year it's amazing, Blake on ABC News, I got on German TV somehow, my friend Christine was dancing with her team on the Letterman show, and now Luz.