February 2006
All entries and daily links from February 2006.
Rain Cancels
Tuesday, February 28, 2006 at 12:02pm 5 comments
Sunday morning I was leading an AIDS/LifeCycle training ride, just a short 20 miles to Mill Valley and back. There was rain in the forecast and I was expecting we'd have to turn back or continue on unofficially, but just as finished the safety speech and going over the route was when I looked out from the overhang in front of the old Presidio PX (now occupied by the Sports Basement) and as Nick said we'd see haw far we'll get before it rains I pointed out it was already too late.
We cancelled the official training ride and pulled off our ride leader caps and Nick invited everyone along on an unofficial ride. I was a bit surprised that everyone there still lead out with us, even if we only managed to get one block before we lost 4 people.
Halfway across the Golden Gate Bridge it started to get a lot more intense and I decided I was going to turn back as soon as I got to the other side after I got the rider in front of me over and we could stop so I could give her some advice on her training. In a way the rain was good, because she had signed up for a ride beyond her ability right now and getting through it would have been a struggle for her.
On my own riding back, I picked up the pace to get home before the storm got much worse. While still in the Presidio another cyclist came up behind me and started asking questions about the LifeCycle (I was wearing the nifty ALC jacket, I'd gotten for fundraising a $1,000 in my first 45 days) and we road together for about a mile until I had to stop for a flat.
He was cute and I hoped when I told him I had to fix a flat he would stop and I maybe I could have asked him out, but he just said goodbye as he passed me and road on. Sigh...
Under a tree in the rain along Arguello, I think I changed the flat in a new personal record, but already completely soaking wet I stopped by American Cyclery to pick up a couple extra tubes.
I was dripping wet by the time I got home leaving a puddle in the entryway, yet I still think it was a good way to spend a sunday morning.
Sunday I also hit the $2,000 mark in my fundraising thanks to a donation from Margaret from the BayRail Alliance. This year I've set a very high fundraising goal and would appreciate your donation to get me there and help fight AIDS.
Such Great Sights
Saturday, February 25, 2006 at 2:02pm 0 comments
Since moving last month, I've been watching a lot more commercials on TV.
I'm not watching any more TV (less probably) and I did get a DVR as part of my Comcast cable service, but it just is not the same as with a Tivo box. In designing their software, Tivo made a huge improvement to the fast forward function by having it backtrack a few seconds when you hit play again. It saves the hassle of fast forwarding then having to rewind back a few seconds because you are not fast enough with the play button when you see the show is back on.
I've also been watching a bit of the Olympic Games which I haven't been recording, but just watching the broadcast and last week I saw the oddest set of commercials.
First came a commercial, which I can't even remember what it was for, set to The Postal Service version of "Such Great Heights". It got odd when that was followed by an M&M's commercial set to the Iron & Wine version of the song.
It got even stranger when both these ads were followed with the Apple iMac commercial which doesn't use "Such Great Heights" for it's soundtrack (it's Moby's "God Moving Over the Face of the World"), but it's imagery of clean rooms and silicon chips is pretty much a duplicate of the Postal Service music video and I heard was even made by the same director.
I think it's a bit sad all these ads have such little creativity or originality, coming back from the break with a promotion for more Olympic Games coverage on their other networks, NBC used a favorite song of mine by Badly Drawn Boy, "A Minor Incident" from the About a Boy soundtrack. It's distinctive with the harmonica giving it a sort of warm folksy feel.
I Want My HGTV
Thursday, February 23, 2006 at 11:02am 1 comments
Since getting cable installed at the new place, I've been watching way too much of interior design shows like Redesign, Trading Spaces, Changing Rooms, While You Were Out, etc...
I thought I might get some decorating ideas from them, but quickly realized I wasn't going to find ideas from shows with the main goal of a complete remodel in two days for under $500, or whatever it is.
I'm still watching them though, not for ideas, but for some reason watching low budget white trash remodeling is addictive.
A Half Million Dollars to Discover the Obvious
Sunday, February 19, 2006 at 9:02pm 9 comments
While the San Francisco Bay Area has a lot of transit, over a dozen different agencies run independent services and systems leads to uncoordinated schedules and disconnected routes that sometimes miss each other by only a block or two.
Last week, our regional transportation planning commission published a draft connectivity study about how to go about fixing the problem. The report says it in a lot of different ways, but it really comes down to one main thing: better signs.
I'm a bit bother it took a $500,000 study to discover what any designer could have told you, and in fact, have been pointing out for years.
While the study talks a lot about improving signs, I don't put much stock into the various agencies that can't even keep the maps they have current.
The map above is several years out of date, but still located beside the BART ticket machines at Powell Station, one of the Bay Area's busiest train stations and just yesterday I saw a woman with luggage looking at it and was about to walk over to offer her help when she walked away.
I wish there was a better appreciation for design and it didn't a half million dollars just to discover a bad signs are a barrier to transit use. For the money, I would hope for some kind of pilot program or even just better photoshop mockups.
A Brief Visit to the Emergency Room
Thursday, February 16, 2006 at 4:02pm 5 comments
Last weekend, I woke on Saturday around 3:30am with the most intense pain you can imagine in my left knee. I spent a sleepless night trying to avoid bending my knee, the pain was so bad it made me dizzy. The hour and a half of sleep didn't help matters.
When he woke up, my roommate Walter took me to the emergency room.
The doctor asked what I'd done to injury my knee and I honestly don't know. I woke up in pain, I'd spent the night before watching the Olympic Opening Ceremonies with friends. Walter joked, this is what happened when you hit 30, you start having weird illnesses and injuries. I should still have a few months then!
The x-rays showed there wasn't any damage and they gave me an anti-inflamatory and a prescription for vicodin. Several days later my knee is back to normal and I still have no idea what I did to it.
Cut Off From the Outside World
Monday, February 6, 2006 at 3:02pm 2 comments
The cable television was installed saturday, but we still don't have internet access at home yet and with a career in designing for internet applications I hadn't even noticed how much I've grown to depend on an always on broadband wireless internet connection.
It's not that I need to be online at all times, but being able to just open my iBook at any time to get a phone number, address, directions, business hours, arrival time of the next Muni train, etc... that it feels like everything takes so much longer right now.
And work having been as busy at it has this last week, I've barely had the time to even look at news headlines this last week and am falling further and further behind with my e-mail.
The DSL should be working today or tomorrow, which I know will just keep me from finishing my unpacking. There is just always something I'm falling behind with.
