Archive: June 30, 2011

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Rocky the Squirrel rides again!

Thursday,  06/30/11  09:16 PM

Hey guess what?  I'm riding the Furnace Creek 508 again!  Rocky the Squirrel rides again! Everyone in the 508 has to pick an animal mascot as their "totem"; mine is Rocky the Squirrel :) You may remember, two years ago I did this, a 508 mile cycling race through Death Valley, and while I gave it my best shot there was no joy in Badwater as I dropped out after 300 miles. Well not this year. I have applied to race again this year, and have been accepted (!), and this year I am going to finish.  I'll be physically ready but more importantly mentally ready...  having done it one before will help immeasureably; I know [sort of] what I'm up against.  The hardest part is Sunday morning, from Furnace Creek to Baker, that's when everyone drops out (historically about half of the people who start as solo racers actually finish).  After I make it to Baker, well, it isn't easy from that point, but I'll manage to finish. So ... stay tuned!  It is still a ways off - October 8-10 - but I'll be giving you regular updates.  To give you a flavor of the ride, here's me two years ago, after about 150 miles, with my ace crew Joani... Oh yeah, and that reminds me; I am looking for people who are interested in crewing.  If you or anyone you know wants to drive around the desert following a guy on a bike for two days straight, let me know.  It will be awesome :)

 

QE2, too

Thursday,  06/30/11  09:52 PM

Wrapping up the quarter, a quick filter pass... I can't believe this; diet soda makes you fat.  Sigh.  Apparently the fake sugar makes you hungry, and you eat other stuff, and increase your caloric intake.  Maybe I'll just drink gallons of coffee :)  Doc Searles on the joy of flying, specifically, looking out the window while flying.  I agree.  Apparently the new Boeing 787 is designed with larger windows which you can darken electronically, how cool is that?  Doc also praises United, and I would agree; despite their historical bad rap due to bad service, I find them to be much improved.  Scoble: why yo mamma won't use Google+.  So far I'm not planning to use it either.  This is such a network effect; since all of my friends are already on Facebook, why would I switch to Google+?  It would have to be massively better, and all my friends would have to think so.  Having two different networks would be worse yet.  (You can remind me I said this after Google+ rules the world, I've been wrong before :)  Winer: why Google's Circles are likely to fail.  "You might feel a rush to organize your friends into categories when you start to use it. But you'll give up after a dozen or so, as soon as you hit one that defies categorization. You'll say to yourself 'I'll come back to this later.' You won't."  As he would say, bing.  John Gruber links Clayton Miller: own a shape.  Can you identify with the shapes below?

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