Winter to Summer to Spring

It's pretty random weather out there. Cold, damp, windy. Normal spring weather I guess. Not really ideal biking weather. I'm biking anyways... now I just have to figure out how to tune up my bike. I bought a stand so I don't have to turn it on its handle bars, but I've been somewhat distracted.

My plan is to figure out how to keep our bikes in top running order so biking more enjoyable and so the wheels don't fall off. You know, the little things. I've been trying to learn by watching some videos on the web, but like all content on the web, that can be hit and miss. We'll see how that goes.

Biking route is too short

I'm trying to figure out the best way to keep fit and stay happy. I'd love to run more, but I'm too sleepy lazy in the morning, after work I'm usually zonked and need to make dinner, and in the middle of the day can take a large chunk of the day. It also really sucks if there are meetings scheduled right around lunch too.

I'm not sure if I'd want to run as much if my bike route wasn't so short. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade it for another one. When it's raining and cold, it feels a bit too long. On the nice, warm days it feels far, far too short. I'd like to stretch out my route to go down to hogs back and back up to downtown (up to downtown?).

However, that still doesn't address the lack of running. Running often is something that I miss. I'm going to have to suck it up and pick one routine.

I'll let you know how that goes.

First they came...

I find history very interesting because I don't really think that people have changed much in the last couple thousand years, and probably won't change too much in the next couple. That's why I find poems like First They Came... pretty chilling. I don't think that rights and freedoms evaporate in one day. There are always steps. We just have to watch out for those steps.

Please forgive me

I want everyone to know that it was with the best intentions that I did what I did. It was one of these things that I was looking at the "greater good". I'm not sure if I made the right decision at all....

I bought bike shorts.

The shorts that I usually bike are running shorts that act more like mini sails and show more than anyone wants to see. I think that I'll still feel like a tool in my shorts on my old man bike... ah well. I just wanted anyone to know that if they see me in public, I'm doing this for them.

Sucker for cranks

I don't know why, but I find manual powered flashlights fascinating. I understand how they work, hell, I could probably build (a crappy) one. But if you give me a choice between one that needs batteries (AA, D, etc), or a crank one that you don't have to constantly crank, I'll choose the crank one every time. I'm a sucker for them, what can I say.

I bought another one today for my commuting bike. I don't often bike when I feel that I'd need a light, but for those few times that I should have had one but didn't, it's been really, really scary. At this point I think that the lights are more useful on the bike trails so pedestrians will see me coming. I find bikers and drivers mostly aware of bikers in Ottawa since they expect them to be out and about.

Cycling awareness

Something that I've been meaning to post for a little bit is an interesting cycling awareness video. When you follow the link, don't read the comments at first: just watch the video. Stop reading this post and go watch the video. This post will be here when you get back.

Things like this scare me when biking. I usually am wearing pretty bright clothings with a bunch of reflectors. Next I think I need a flashing light on the front to be seen not just by cars, but by other bikers. With the costs of gas constantly going up, I don't think that there will be a shortage of people biking to work this year.

Nicest day yet

This was the nicest day since we moved into our new place. There's still some snow on the lawn, but it's nice enough to sit outside. To sit on our porch, having a drink (is that illegal on your front lawn?), watching the sunset, waiting for the pizza guy to show up... well, that's "happiness" if I do say so myself.

I'm getting really excited about being able to do a lot more outside like biking more and badminton... things just have to dry out (stop flooding) a bit more and it'll all be good. I'm just not looking forward to the yardbook...

Smart blankets

One thing that I always thought funny while watching Star Trek: TNG was how silly their beds and blankets looked. Super thin and slidy, like they'd fall right off of you. They're in the future, so there must be something that I'm missing, right?

I find a heavy blanket really comforting. There's something nice about being under a pile of blankets. The only issue that I find with a ton of blankets is that you simply get too hot. Unless you're going to sleep in a fridge, it's not going to help.

What I picture a future blanket would be is heavy and fluffy so you get the physical and psychological comfort, but with some self regulating temperature system that would keep you at the correct temperature. I used "correct" rather than "constant" because I think (random observation) that your temp changes based on your stage of sleep. The smart blanket would take that all into account.

Now I just have to find one.

Speed of Slowness

The speed of the internet connection I have actually ends up having a significant impact on my productivity at work. It's somewhat scary how much I notice a slowdown. I guess that's what happens when I spend most of my day bouncing around forums, doing research, downloading upgrades, etc.

I'm starting to approach dial-up speeds today for some strange reason. Then things bounce back up to "big pipe" speeds. Either way, it's driving me nuts... Impatience is becoming my number one emotion while on a computer at work. :-(

Retro Chic

In the spirit of keeping with the "look" of our house which was built in the 60's, we decided to buy some furnature that went with some of other hand-me-down stuff. We ended up picking up a kitchen hutch, table and chairs made by Vilas Furniture Manufacturing Co. Probably meant to be a dinning set (Laura tells me).

I wish that I could find some info about that company, but all that I can find is that they used to operate out of Quebec and they have been closed for a while now. Ah well, I guess wikipedia doesn't actually have everything yet.

I think that we need to take a break from used ottawa for a while now.

Happy news

Something that Laura and I have been talking about for a couple of years has finally and we're both so very happy. We've been trying for the last little while and it's finally happened. We've got a foosball table and we couldn't be happier. :-P

iPod as a gateway device

Something that occurred to me today was how dangerous MS must see the use of iPods being. First people start using an iPod. Then maybe at a party someone is passing around a mac and they try it there. Pretty soon they're buying a mac for themselves for when they're at home "working". A small step from that is them bring it into work and then it all just goes to hell. That's all assuming that they don't switch to the hard stuff.

MS has to be concerned about iPod use. Apple targets children and children are our future. Why won't someone please think of the children?

Super Mario - JS version

A friend pointed out that there is a super mario that's done totally in javascript. No images, just js. Pretty cool....

Now on Leopard

I've just upgraded to leopard on my macbook. It was far, far smoother than I thought it would go. The part that took the longest time was backing up all my data (which makes me just realize how bad I am at making backups). It was pretty much insert disk, click next a couple of time (selecting "archive and install") and then it rebooted. All my files are where I left them, even my desktop picture is the same. That's crazy smooth.

It's not magic

One thing that I find I have to do when dealing with a new technology is come up with a "realistic" mental model of how it works under the covers. It doesn't have to be accurate in the sense of implementation details, but it has to make sense as if you were writing it in pseudo code. If it has a step 2 of ? or involves the word "magic" in your pseudo code, it's not good enough.

Code / config you write in language: assembly, C, java, or ruby, it all comes down to operations for the hardware and the last time I checked there was no read_programmers_mind() function. It's not magic.

There's always a learning stage when picking up a new framework / language. Don't give up, keep working on that mental model. Don't leave step 2 blank.