Idle amusements
30 May 2006 - 12:20.
I'm sitting in front of a computer shop waiting for them to open, and up come s truck for a major courier company. The driver is a little ticked that the store is late opening - the sign says they open at 9:30, and it's 9-thirtysomething at this point. So the courier opens the back of his truck and starts to get the packages ready for when the store opens.
Ten minutes later, the store still isn't open, and the courier has been getting progressively more and more pissed with each passing minute. The guy is on his phone doing what sounded like swearing a blue streak in some Eastern Language, judging by his facial expressions and arm-flapping. The guy had dark skin, and I could see it turning red. When the shop clerk finally showed up, the courier went off like a bottle rocket, and damn near tore the clerk a new asshole. The clerk took it all with a Randall-like stoicism that I found truly impressive (you have seen Clerks, haven't you?).
I was told afterwards by the store guy that this is almost like a daily routine for them, and that he keeps pushing the courier's buttons this way just to get a rise out of him. It seems to be working. I'm now waiting for the news report about the courier who had a major coronary in the first reported case of Clark-rage.
Finally !!
28 May 2006 - 20:55.
After far too many months, I finally got back on to the water, actually rowing. Despite the fact that I aven't rowed in 6 months, things went surprisingly well. I noticed my own flaws and the faults in my stroke, and I was able to work on them fairly effectively. I could go on about this ad nauseum, but really, unless you row you won't get it. It becomes an emotional intuitive thing, not a logical cognitive thing that can be explained or properly communicated. You have to feel it to experience it, and if you haven't experienced it, you can't understand it.
Now as long as I feel okay tomorrow, I can keep rowing. Gawd, I hope I feel okay tomorrow. I want to row again on Wednesday evening. And Friday evening. Maybe Saturday morning too. And so on, and so on, and so on......
Discombobulation
26 May 2006 - 09:28.
Ever have one of those days where things don't feel right? Where there's nothing really wrong, but something is decidedly not right? And you can't quite place the wrongness of it? I've been like that since I got home from work yesterday, and am still feeling the mild malaise that it brings.
There really isn't anything wrong. Work is okay, mood, family is okay, cats are okay, finances are okay, so real stressors, and yet I can't seem to shake the feeling of something being less than wonderful. It's disconcerting. Maybe it's a by-product of having quit smoking again, but that doesn't feel right either. Maybe it's the pending trips out of town, yet I doubt it.
Curiouser and curiouser...
Big Brother Returns
23 May 2006 - 13:52.
Although an argument can be made that Big Brother never went away (and I'm not talking about the TV show here), I found an article that I think demonstrated pretty decisively the extent that technology is being used and abused by people at all levels.
To save you the hassle of reading
the whole article (courtesy of Associated Press, via the Excite website), allow me to summarize: A school district in Illinois has decreed that it shall hold students accountable for things that they post on the internet that are deemed 'illegal or inappropriate'. No mention is made of the measuring stick used to determine this appropriateness, only that the school distric would investigate 'worrisome' tips received from students, parents, or the community.
Just who the fuck do they think they are? One parent points out, quite rightly I think, that policing kids' internet activity is not the school's job. It's the parents' job. If there are concerns about illegalities, why is the school board involved? But wait... there's more...
But wait! There's more!
Revelation Number 3
21 May 2006 - 21:05.
My discovery for the day? My bike will do 140 kph in second gear. Without reaching redline.
In other news, according to the rules set out by my physiotherapist, I'm allowed to row now.
Run for the Border
18 May 2006 - 21:09.
(Those of you who know what the IBA is all about can skip this post...)
Just got back from Seattle. Long rides in heavy winds aren't always so much fun. What IS fun is finding out that your motorbike has a nearly 400 KM range on the highway. And why should anyone care? (Actually, it's my blog, so if I care then it gets posted. So nyah.)
There's a group called the Iron Butt Association, whose mandate is the promotion of safe long-distance riding. The bare minimum to qualify is a confirmed (through receipts and signatories) 1000 Miles (not kilometres) in 24 hours. The next shortest ride is 1500 miles in 36 hours. Some of you may know that I tried one of these last summer, leaving Montana and going south past Salt Lake City, then back north and west to Portland, and finally up I-5. I didn't make it due to mechanical issues (I ended up on the side of the road in the middle of the Montana desert). But with a bike that has a 400 kilometre range, the whole prospect becomes much more realistic than ever before, and I feel the pull. There's a stupidity of epic proportion that needs doing here, and I think I'm just the man to do it.
So I'm gonna try this again, sometime around Canada Day (although not that weekend because the Jazz Festival is in town). Blaine WA to Pocatello Idaho is some 756 miles one way, all interstate. It should be a piece of cake. Stay overnight at the hotel in White Rock, and get INS to signoff on the start and finish - when you show them a US work visa, they actually have a sense of humour, so they'll likely agree. Pocatello should be about 13 hours including fuel breaks and a stop for lunch. Sleep, then turn around and do it backwards.
Anyone wanna go for a ride?
Design School
16 May 2006 - 21:40.
I've been tinkering around lately with my test website (not public, don't look, you won't find it), and I think it's time to make some stylistic changes to this site. Nothing big or dramatic, just some small tweaks to make the whole thing more readable. The more astute among you may have already noticed that I made a change to the font size, making it a teensy bit larger.
So my question is... what do you suggest be done? Do you find the text hard to read against a dark-ish background? Positioning of the major areas? Different colours for the links? Does the dotted line section separator drive you nuts? I won't promise that I'll make any of the changes that are submitted, but I'll at least test them all out individually, to give them a fair shake. If you decide to put something forward for me, please keep in mind that I'm a) not a designer, and b) not a code basher. Suggestions involving major changes to the underlying code probably won't make the final cut. I'm curious to see what you all come up with, if anything...
Sorta Blech
15 May 2006 - 15:32.
I've kinda gotten away from the emotional stuff lately, haven't I? Maybe the fact that there's not as much drama to my mind is the reasoning. Things have been good for me lately. My back is feeling better (although not perfect), and I'm continually find myself exploring ways to improve my mindspace. And then following through with them, which is even better. I'm back to being a lot more contemplative, and lately I've found myself being far less 'in-your-face' than I have been sometimes. I still don't really care what others think of me, but I'm just more.... tactful.
Today is a bit of a hodge-podge for me though. Bad - I'm in Seattle for work again. Have I mentioned how find I am of this city? Good - I rode my new motorbike here, complete with saddle bags. And I'm expecting my new helmet to arrive this week as well. I forgot my camera at home, so when I get back, I'll post some pics so that you riders-who-aren't-riding-right-now can live vicariously through me. It's funny though how enough adrenaline can make bad situations be far, far better....
The Sound of Silence
14 May 2006 - 09:15.
I took off for a couple days, and disappeared up to the Powell River area. I stayed at a place called Desolation SOund Resort. It was good for me. Deathly quiet silence, trees, water, and a cabin with no radio or TV.
Having no distractions enabled me to focus on things that mattered, and regain yet even more perspective. Balance is good. Silence is good. Quiet time is good. I feel good.
Restauranting, and a funny pic
08 May 2006 - 23:33.
So I was out for dinner tonight with my good friend Andrew. For those who don't know, he and I have known each other for about 23 years now. We've grown up together, we've celebrated together, we've gotten drunk together... truly my oldest and dearest.
We went out to Habibi's restuarant tonight, for what seems to be becoming a semi-regular thing (which I'm very glad of). Habibi's is an all-vegetarian Lebanese place, which (when I first found it) was run by a guy who used to work for one of the big hotels in town. If you want authentic Lebanese food, you'll be hard pressed to find better than this.
I wish I could offer an intelligent review of what we had, but to be perfectly honest, I couldn't remember the names of all we ate if my life depended on it. I remember Baba Ganoush, the thing with that was wrapped in the grape leaves, the eggplant thing, and a bunch of other things that were all delicious. The service was good, efficient and friendly, and the price was great. The biggest tip I can offer? If there's 2 of you, order the dinner for 2, which offers 6 of the sampler sizes from the main menu. For 2 grown men, it was more than enough - we couldn't finish. Total for 2 people, including a glass of wine for one, 2 coffees, tax, and tip was just a hair over $50. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone. I love this place.
The big thing for me though was being able to introduce something new to a dear friend. Andrew had never had anything like this before, and his palate is fairly sophisticated. So it was wonderful to watch the discovery as it made itself evident, as he tried each new dish. Glad I could share that all with you buddy.
On a completely unrelated topic... I found this pic (after the jump) after following a few clicks from a new site I've found (link to come soon). It put a smile on my face, so I hope it does for you too...
But wait! There's more!
I'm In Deep Shit
06 May 2006 - 01:09.
Okay, so I went to the Giants game tonight with a few folks. I didn't feel like taking a bus, so I took my motorbike up, and parked across the street from the Colisseum. The after the game I went for a motorbike ride down the freeway. Bad move on my part.
I've often said that I did't want to buy anything bigger than a 600cc bike because I know me, and I'd use the power. So tonight I tried out the power on my new 600. Holy fuck. Without really realizing it, I got myself up to about 150 KPH, or about 94 miles per hour. The bike wanted to go faster, and it was more than ready to. If I run the bike halfway to redline in top gear, I'm doing about 130 KPH, and the next 1000 rpm equals about 20 kph. I'm guessing I can make the bike go 220 without even breaking a sweat.
Now I'm going to have to find a way to discover what the bike can truly do. I'm thinking racing leathers, and a trip to Mission speedway for an open track day might be in order. Cause if I keep doing this shit on the highways, I'm gonna end up as a skid mark.
On Connectivity
02 May 2006 - 12:39.
One of my co-workers brought
this article to my attention today. Utterly hilarious. However when you stop to think about it, the story raises some interesting questions and points, not the least of which is default passwords.
A couple days ago I was visiting J. who had just bought a new laptop. Being a geek, I was helping her with the built-in wireless setup, and I was having trouble. So what did I do? I logged into the wireless router - with the default administrative password, which had never been changed. I didn't ask, I just did it, and my fingers didn't even have to slow down to think about the username or password. These defaults are very well know to the IT community, and I'm sure to the hacking community as well.
The article goes on to talk about how power grids, traffic lights and building systems are all connected to the internet. Remember a few years ago when there was a rolling blackout through the US one summer day? If memory serves (although I'm being lazy and don't want to go look) the blackouts affected Chicago, New York, Buffalo, and I think parts of Ontario. The outages were blamed on a computer problem which seems very plausible to me.
Maybe we're all far too connected these days. Web and mail-enabled portable devices, satellite phones, cars that have built-in gaming consoles... Does anyone want to bet that somewhere there's a nuclear power plant that can be hacked? I'm not about to try it myself, but the mere thought of it scares the bejeezus out of me.