Student Heroes 2007

I was always very interested in math during school. Did pretty well across the board. During my senior year in H.S., the mail delivered an invitation to a school achievement awards ceremony, addressed to my parents. It did not say for what subject/topic, yet I was to receive an award. It's an expensive private school so -- dress nicely and show up. The school gym was the setting and it was full of families and students and faculty. All this time, I thought I would receive an award for getting A's in all my math classes.

Nope.

What a let down. The award was for... greatest achievement in physical fitness. It was difficult to walk up to the stage and collect my handshake, etc. Everyone in the place now knew that I was a high school gym rat. The award might as well have been for being "a meathead", and signed by Archie Bunker.

These math students are my heroes.





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Van OnAgain, OffAgain

Van Halen 2007 tour?

R U Crazy?

When a 40-city USA tour was announced on February 2nd, I found concert tickets with a 200% guarantee, so a little voice inside my head said, "Jump!" yet another voice said "No Fucking Way". There was no jumping. There will be no tour for '07. The band was to inlcude DLR on vocals and Eddie's son, Wolfgang, on bass.
As of the 20th, it looks like the deal is off, or on hold, or whatever Van Never.

On February 23, 2007, concert promoter Live Nation announced that the tour has been "called off". David Lee Roth stated that "We have fragile politics in Van Halen -- please accept that as a partial answer," Roth told the Los Angeles Times. "But I don't know if the Van Halens are going to go. I hope they do, but right now, I just don't know".
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Electrical Storm

Same as everyone else reading this, I had a list of things to complete today. One of them didn't have to be "today". There I went, driving around with a "go-back" for UPS -- the driver didn't pick up the package for return yesterday. I could schedule another pickup tomorrow if I don't see a truck today.

7 tasks, 37 miles, driving everywhere to get this stuff done. On the road, I see Fred X and DuHLiveries, but no UPS trucks. Checking off my action list, I make a detour to stop at the UPS store that I've been to 10x and now it is (gone. closed.)
For nearly an hou more of solid productivity - including phone calls - I am seeing zero UPS stores that are even a Co-Op with some thing else...

I return home and just as I am slowing to park, a UPS truck approaches from around the corner in the opposite direction and we park a single car length away from each other. We both exit, I hand him the package, and it's done.

Effing Amazing.
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Meanwhile - the ever present weather

Today's update March 6th


And the precip forecast for Wednesday Night

The diff btwn the highs and lows locally has been about 7F for 48hrs. Killer for cycling today or tonight. Plan on 55F +/-


Tried out the new Pure V from WTB's new series of saddles this week on their LBS Test Ride exchange program. Won't soon be riding the titanium and carbon fiber models for this deal.
It was on my mind, as I nearly bought a blue Fizik Gobi for $85 as an alternative to the Aliante Carbon for $188.

DEAL : $25 deposit and some ID gets you a loaner saddle in black/yellow, including these 8 models:
Shadow V
Silverado
Devo
Deva
Rocker V
Laser V
Pure V
Leisure She

The saddles for sale are not offered from WTB in the striking yellow/black demonstration combination, rather they are sold in blue, white, black, silver, grey, red, cream, chrome, & camo.
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First test
25 FEB 07
11.2 miles
Saddle : Pure V
Shorts : Fox Base w/chamois
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Very cushy in comparison to my current Selle Italia Flite Trans Am
(shown below) with its split in the center and slim padding that has been flawless for two years. The Pure V is softer by far, but not overweight for their 5 model variations in the 240-355 gram range.
I continue to find some amount of numbing, which requires standing sprints to relieve.











The Koobi Xenon (shown on the wood table) is mounted on my other ride -- it has a distinct split which runs the length of the nose. Will "test ride" that saddle Tuesday with the WTB Silverado .
And on Monday... here's the Silverado I checked out. These are New saddles that nobody else has taken out yet. Only one has been ridden by a shop employee!

Rain? All day today.

Submitted a rain break request to Mother Nature and scheduled a ride for Tuesday on the Silverado. Check out the underside view which includes the cross-cuts where your "sit bones" would rest on the seat. Also, a cutout on the front with some top-shelf, proprietary material WTB is calling "comfort cone". I dunno what it could be.

BE SURE TO click on the photos for better viewing.

More later...

The Generations

From the desk of
Nostradamus, 1557
Book of Immigrant Generations:

The first generation wants to be as they were.
The second gen wants to be American.
The third wants to be as they are.

And, so we are reminded of relevance on earth. Nostradamus is known for his years on the earth. Born 1503 -dash- Died 1566. How do you want to live your dash?

Election ballots printed in English and Farsi for the the town of Beverly Hills have people upside down beside themselves. Why not print only in English? If you cannot read the language, should your actions be permitted to affect the people? Fewer than 50 people requested Farsi language ballots specifically.

I Predict a Traffic Jam in 2008

BEA software from North First Street in San Jose is buying the vacant-since-2002 sapphire gem seen as you drive along 280. Problem: 380,000 square feet of Sobrato's class-A office space will be a buzy bee hive in 2008 when the shell is completed for BEA. Almaden exits from 280 will be impacted.

We need the mass transit push to begin now. Bicycling lanes require immediate striping in advance of the onslaught. It takes that long for drivers to acknowledge the changes.

UFOs on Crack!

I've never believed in crop circles being made by UFOs until now.
I have seen the evidence and it tells me they're on crack!
Remember the spiders on drugs that spin oddly shapped webs?
Whoop! There it is.

Snowballs on Hwy 17

So the radio guy tells the traffic news and says there's snowball fights on Hwy 17 --- for the taking. Back from Reno, the eastern ridge of Mt. Hamilton and beyond were dusted heavily on Thursday morning. At 4:30 a.m. I was awakened by what sounded like water from a fire hose spraying onto the bedroom windows. I got up and looked : it was just like Costa Rica rain!

So, after working through the office calendar, I told myself Wednesday night that whichever of the next 2 days it did not rain --- I was going cycling. The other day would be for all the errands on the list, right? What a reversal. At 4:30, I knew what my day would be like. Good to get things finished and crossed off the list.

Here's a map of Russian Ridge, which is a great place on Hwy 35 / Skyline Blvd. to mountain bike after the rains because there are no trail closures.

Here's the CA roads conditions in streaming live video from Cal Trans. Scroll down.

Your Best Odds in Reno

After surviving Chinese New Year in Reno with the extended external family, I've returned to report on the best odds there : This game beat out Baccarat with its 48/52 odds.

The odds are 50% for whether or not the waiter will take your half-eaten plate from the buffet after you've gone back for more food. Kid you not. 21? Craps? Pshaw! Your best odds in Reno are at the $18 buffet. Atop that, the odds are 100% that you'll end up breathing everyone's second hand smoke for the weekend.

We saw Bill Cosby's act on Saturday night. He's slowing down a bit. Good stories, good laughs, but you'd really have to be a fan to fully appreciate his show. Some drunkass monkey 2 rows ahead of our seats got up and approached the stage with a sheet of paper to request the "Fat Albert" story. Security from two directions almost whisked him away, but Cosby nearly layed on the stage floor to lean over and talk to this jackass eye-to-eye and Cosby eventually told him to be cool and to sit down in his seat. He wasn't doing the Fat Albert part tonight, but he had something special at the end.

After raising his hand in the dark and shouting out that he had a question, I saw him get up and cross the crowd to reach the aisle. I leaned over to my companion and told her to "go tackle that guy". I knew he was headed for the stage. And he looked like trouble.

Chi New Year

Chuc Mung Nam Moi!

February 18, 2007 : Year of the Pig

Reno? They want to go to Reno? Again?
History does repeat. We'll be snowboarding at Boreal again.
Here comes the second storm in 2 weeks, right on time for us.

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This Could be True

Was talking with a friend the other day and -- and in a context that cannot be explained here without diluting the impact of my statement, I said, "...people are self-limiting, to a degree." claaaaaasssic.

By the way, here's a photo of Antonella Barba from American Idol 2007. She will be discovered. Maybe not for her vocal abilities. Should have tried out for American Model.
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The Fortune of Fools

I stumbled into the office on a Saturday and found the IT Guy working.
Lucky, lucky, lucky for me. Vegas Lucky. I've been needing his expertise for a couple of months and have been mentioning it for several weeks.

He suffers fools well. Since the hard drive and motherboard were replaced on this computer, I couldn't log into the wireless network because of an easy fix. What a maroon I am. A lucky maroon. All fixed up now.
Many thanks to Frayne.
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Time is a relative thing, they say

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All the time you need
to know in the universe.

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Snow Finally

Checking the web cams on the mountains at Tahoe...
I'm scheduled for a visit next wknd and more during March.

Have a looky:

Sending Your Kids to College?

It's a big world.

Sending your kids to college shouldn't be scary.

This prank is priceless.

Founded in 1769 and a member of the Ivy League, Dartmouth includes an undergraduate arts and sciences program and four graduate schools: Arts and Sciences Graduate Programs, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and Tuck School of Business.

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You're Fooking Joking, Are You?

Ozzfest 2007 is a Free Admission event.

I can't fooking believe it.

The place will be going fooking crazy.

That's right, OZZY and SHARON OSBOURNE and tour producer LIVE NATION broke the news today at the Concert Industry Consortium in Los Angeles that their 12th annual hard rock spectacular--a 25-date extravaganza launching July 7 in Los Angeles--is pulling the plug on ticket prices and giving the power back to the fans calling this summer’s OZZFEST "FreeFest." The other OZZFEST cities as of now are San Diego, Shoreline Amphitheatre, Seattle, Denver, Albuquerque, Phoenix, Dallas, San Antonio, Kansas City, St Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis, Columbus, Pittsburgh, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Hartford, Charlotte, Atlanta, West Palm Beach, Nashville.

Note: a final confirmed list of cities and dates is forthcoming.
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Auction Camera is Nearly Here!

It is exciting to be excited about something new.

There will be a link here when the time is right.
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Zoinks!?!? Bay to Breakers?!?

A good friend talked me into running the Bay to Breakers on May 20th in SF.
OK, he didn't really talk me into it. I'm very suggestible.
AND, we're not exactly running it. I only run in SF after being shot.
But, we're working on costumes. As I said, I'm suggestible, so go ahead and contribute yer two cents. A condition of acceptance : if the costume concept is really good, you'll be joining us, too.
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