Toad in a Box

The Next Bike

2009-02-15T08:35:00.000-08:00

I had a meeting with John Caletti the owner and builder behind Caletti Cycles in my garage. I gave John a deposit to start the process of building my next bike: a custom 29“ rigid belt drive single speed. The result will be very similar to his impressive Buckethead single speed that he built for himself last summer. This bike will be steel, rigid (no suspension) and only one gear but this is no retro bike. We will be using state of the art components like the belt drive, disc brakes and Chris King components. Why would I willing to pay good money for essentially a high end kids bike? I’m a technical rider and mountain biking technology has made it too easy to ride challenging terrain on my local trails. The only dimensions left to challenge me are bigger drops and more speed, speed, speed.

I love tearing around the trails on my full springers but I have to ride a lot faster in order to find the technical challenges I desire. I get similar challenges by getting on my single speed and riding these same trails but I tend to ride with more nuance at lower speeds. Recently, a bunch of my riding buddies have been getting 29ers and I really like the riding characteristics of the bigger wheels. Putting the big wheels on a single speed seems like a great idea.

John and I spent a few hours talking about the bike fit. We looked at several of my bikes and determined what properties I like or do not like. He put many of the bikes on a wind trainer while I rode and he measured various dimensions and angles. Bike fit is probably the best reason to get a custom bike. Many of the bike fames we buy are decent compromises between fit, cost and performance and we make up for short comings by adjusting the components. In a custom process the frame is designed around the rider and the property sized components are added to the bike as part of the design. John used to work at the Spokesman - which is the place to get a professional bike fit in Santa Cruz county so he understands the relationship between rider and bike dimensions.

It was really awesome process. John is very detail oriented and understands the relationships between bike dimensions and ride characteristics. I want a bike that can handle quickly, a great climber and can descend with confidence. This bike will be used mostly on the local single track so I want a bike that can carve turns and roll over roots and rock gardens with ease. Later that afternoon, John created a design based on the data he gathered.

The process is going to take a few months and I’m already feeling anxious about riding it.

Evaluating MacJournal

2009-02-12T08:57:00.000-08:00

I haven’t been updating this blog because... well... I have been busy. Other than that I find the blogger editor/manager to be frustrating. It seems that all of Google’s software has seen a lot of improvements over the past few years yet Blogger is hopelessly out of date. Why don’t they make it like Google Docs? I’m hoping that MacJournal will help me blog more often.

My initial thoughts are that this is a nice piece of software. I have it set up like a 3 pane email application with the folders on the left side, entries at the top and the main editor pane taking up most of the screen in the bottom right.

The good

Very Mac like. It has been designed as a modern Mac application so it’s easy to pick up
A visual rich text editor make it simple to do formatting.
Easy integration with existing blogs like blogger and wordpress. Set up is easy and you can download all the blog entries.

The not so good

No way of previewing the journal entry at Blogger. You can select “View Blog in Browser” but it takes you to the index - not the selected entry.
Can’t figure out how to wrap images.

These are my initial impressions after using this software for about 20-30 minutes. I’m going to try it for the 15 day evaluation period and see if i use it enough to warrant the reasonable $35 price tag.

A New Hope

2008-10-21T22:26:00.001-07:00

The Chairman and CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, announced that he is going on the campaign trail for Barack Obama. This is a huge endorsement but I can't say that I didn't see it coming.

One of the first places that I recognized Barack Obama as a man of vision and leadership was when he was interviewed by Eric Schmidt at Google almost a year ago.

Back then I recognized that Obama could synthesize complex issues and present a nuanced response to questions. I and was impressed with his technology policy and I was impressed that he understood the transformative power of the internet as it could relate to open and transparent government and that he would appoint the countries first CTO. I was definitely leaning towards Hillary and McCain back then but Obama represented a candidate who had a vision of the future that I haven't seen since Al Gore. Like Gore, Obama had an appreciation and recognition for the innovation economy represented by Silicon Valley to solve many of the worlds pressing problems.

The other day I was listening Eric Schmidt speaking at the Commonwealth Club podcast on my way into work. In the midst of the financial crisis Eric was discussing that other crisis - climate - and used the Commonwealth club to launch the Google sponsored energy plan. This plan which sets a goal of significantly reducing fossil fuel use by 2030. You may ask what does energy policy have to do with Google? Lots and lots of data centers represent the infrastructure that Google needs to run their business. Data centers require a lot of electricity to run so the cost of electricity is an expense that they would love to have some control. I also believe that Google's has a higher sense of social responsibility than other Silicon Valley firms so they are trying to minimize their environmental impact.

The clean energy economy will be good for America in many ways. In fact, it represents the next "killer app" of economic opportunity. I can't remember where I read it (probably The Economist) but I remember reading that the market for energy is significantly larger than the IT market. This is probably why a lot of VCs in the Valley are interested in kick starting the clean energy economy as the new, new thing.

In recent weeks I recognized the synergy between Google and Obama's energy plans and then I learned that Eric has been advising Obama on energy and technology policy. I'm very hopeful that about the future and the promise of America when we have visionary leaders like Eric Schmidt and Barack Obama. Lets hope that the future is in their hands.

Trolling for Wingnuts

2008-10-20T22:30:00.001-07:00

I get my news from a wide variety of sources and listen to all points of view. Every now and then I like to check the point of view of Fox News (a.k.a. Faux News). You may ask what the hell am I doing reading Fox News? I'm a "left coast liberal elitist" who will probably never visit a red state any time soon so I read and watch Fox News Channel to understand how the the knuckle dragging mouth breathers from the flyover states are thinking about the election. Fox News Channel is the number one source of where Americans get their news so their influence and misinformation on their viewers is probably one of the key factors why Obama only has a narrow lead over McCain and the fact that America is trending away from a Democracy to an Idocracy.

It's no secret that Fox News is a shrill for the Republican party but I had no idea that the level of bias extends to the comments section for foxnews.com. Fox News is not exactly "Fair and Balanced(tm)" but in the past I have tried to post a comment to dispel some hatred and misinformation I was reading in the comments board. I have never seen one of my posts appear before. Perhaps it's because I articulate information in a calm and reasonable fashion. For example, I've tried to post the following comment:

Name: New Voter I used to be a foreigner but now I'm a US citizen voting for my first Presidential election. I'm proud to cast my first vote for Obama because he is a man of first class intellect, reason and temperament and will do a great job at bridging together this divisive nation and repair our relations with the rest of the global community. In recent years there has been a really low opinion about the United State in the rest of the world. Until we get out deficit and debt under control we as a nation are at the mercy of the global community to finance our wars and bailouts. If we can't unite to solve basic problems and choose to propagate the divisive do-nothing, ideological wasteland of American political thought then foreign investment and markets for US goods will evaporate and that giant sucking sound will be the implosion of the dollar. The only good thing in this scenario is it will solve the illegal immigrant problem since they will probably go back home - along with other talented foreigners who do drive the innovation economy of the United States. I'm a proud supporter of Obama and have contributed generously to his campaign. For the sake of the future of this country it's important that he becomes the next President.

When I posted the above comment, it seemed to take about 15-20 seconds to process and then the page reloaded and then comment was not added. I thought it may be server overload but I tried it again under and different name and email address and got the same results.

Just for laughs, I decided to re-frame the comment to dish out all the "Red Meat" that Fox News partisan Republicans want to hear:

Name: RedMeat I don't like Obama because he is too smart and he uses reason and logic to frame his arguments. He talks all fancy pants like a liberal elitist. Besides, he was associating with terrorists a long time ago after they became teachers. We need McCain to be a President because we need a leader who will be aggressive, impulsive and take unilateral action against Iran, North Korea and Russia. We need to drive out the foreigners and foreign investment from our country. We don't need their money or expertise. America is the greatest country in the world and we don't need foreign scientists, mathematicians, academics or any leading thinkers to keep maintaining our technological lead. Go McCain/Palin '08!!!!!!

I was really surprised that this comment took a fraction of a second to process and was immediately presented on the page! The php script probably has a collection of key phrases that it process against the comment and kick it out if doesn't reflect a certain point of view. Perhaps it detected that my original comment didn't mention anything negative about Obama and nothing positive about McCain.

The funny thing is that a liberal sympathizer on this group named "toby" picked up on my elitst comment and took it at face value. He didn't see the irony in my post and didn't see that I was indeed slamming McCain. I was curious as why he seemed to be the lone dissenting sheep thrown into a pack of hungry wolves. But this is Fox News and they like to have a liberal punching bag in the mix. A lone sheep among the wolves. A lone Coolmes in a sea of Hannitys.

Fox News Channel wraps the flag around themselves more than any other channel and are the loudest at exclaiming that they and their viewers are the most patriotic and represent "Real Americans". This country was founded upon free speech and dissenting voices. Silencing dissenting points of view is no only unethical but unpatriotic. Sheltering the viewers and readers from alternative points of view reinforces the echo chamber and stunts political discourse. They have been living in a media bubble for a long time. I think the viewers of Fox News are in for a very rude awakening on Nov 5th.

Lee Paul McKay 1936 - 2008

2008-09-17T16:47:00.000-07:00

There have been a lot of changes in our family over the past few months. We moved Eve's parents down from Washington state down to California and then we bought a house together in Scotts Valley. We were settling into a life together but life has a way of changing plans.

I'm sad to report that Eve's father, Lee Paul McKay, passed away at about 1:50 am Saturday Sept 13, 2008. He died in his sleep and went peacefully. He accomplished quite a lot over the past few months and he must have felt that it would be a good time to go. He managed to secure his wife's future and we found a good buyer for his classic 1971 Porsche.

He had been battling intestinal cancer for about 4 years. The latest incursion in March and the subsequent surgeries changed his life in a way that required him to take nutrition intravenously. He needed much more care so the decision was made to move him and his wife to California so that his daughters can take care of them. We have been busy since then: moving them to California, finding and buying a new house, moving in, trying to sell our other properties, preparing our old house for rental and just trying to settle in. Life was busy but we were starting to see the end of this transition process and we were looking forward to settling down and living our lives together.

His condition had worsened over the past week. It was difficult for him to sleep at night. This was probably due to complications from a kidney failure. His feet, face and lungs were swelling with fluid and his doctor had recommended sleeping with an oxygen supply. The machine which supplied the oxygen was really loud so he and I put it in the garage and we ran a line into his bedroom. He wasn't happy about needing an oxygen line and I could tell from his voice that he was getting tired of all the medical issues. While we were working in the garage he was showing me his tools (he willed them to me). It seemed like this was a subtle way of saying goodbye. He died later that evening. Perhaps he just felt that his job was done and he let go of life.

We are very sad that he is no longer with us but we are happy that he died peacefully at home and with dignity. He leaves behind Akiko his wife of 45 years, his daughters Dawn and Eve and grand daughter Jade Leigh.

Lee was a modest and quiet man. He was a veteran of the US Navy for about 20 years and left the service to become an electrical engineer in San Jose. He retired early and moved up to Washington state just outside of Port Townsend - his hometown. He spent about 15 years building a Japanese style craftsman house. He loved to cook. He grew organic vegetables and made excellent sourdough bread and bagels.

During his battle with cancer he was very strong and never complained about his situation. He never asked for pity and never felt sorry for himself. He was a man who loved to work on his cars, bread and house with a level of studiousness and detail that befits an artisan. He is a craftsman from an era in which quality engineering and quality work were an art into itself. He was also my friend and he will be missed. Rest in peace, friend.

My 96 Year Old Grandma...

2008-05-05T09:01:00.001-07:00

... and my brother.

A Sea Otter went to Santa Cruz to ride the wicked trails

2008-04-24T08:38:00.000-07:00

A Sea Otter went to Santa Cruz to ride the wicked trails. After an afternoon of swoopy redwood single track, big drops and killer berms he noticed that his fork was leaking oil. So he heads back into town and takes it into ABS for service.

Chris looks at the fork and says to the Otter: "The fork needs to be serviced and it should take an hour or so. You should check out downtown for a bit and it will be ready when you come back."

The Sea Otter goes downtown and notices Marinis candy and ice cream store. He buys a triple scoop of vanilla chocolate chip in a sugar cone and in true sea otter style he lies on his back and devours the ice cream getting it all over his face and belly. The ice cream was quite refreshing on such a hot summer day and he heads back to ABS to pick up his bike.

Back at the shop, Chris tells the Otter that his fork is ready. "What was the matter with the fork?", asks the Otter. Chris says: "It looks like you've blown a seal."

"No, it's just ice cream."

Thanks to Alex for the origin of the joke and Gary for the Photoshop work.

This is why I switched to the Mac

2008-04-16T20:48:00.001-07:00

Because I would never trust an Operating System from the lame people who made this corporate video.

"Vista SP1! Now sucks less!"

Kittie Rocks my Teenage World

2008-04-09T22:59:00.001-07:00

I've been listening to this Canadian, all girl metal band named Kittie these days and these chixxx rock! Kittie is part of that elite category of Canadian metal bands covering Pink Floyd songs. The other being Voi Vod whose cover of "Astronomy Dominee" is simply amazing.

I first heard their cover of "Run Like Hell" by Pink Floyd on Head Case Radio and was blown away. I liked how crunchy death metal guitar accompanies the angelic Kristy Thirsk type vocals would suddenly go all demonic and metal-like during the phrase: "WHEN THE HAMMERS BATTER DOWN YOUR DOOR YOU BETTER RUN!" I felt that it captured the essence of the original song without the overhead of the prog rock production. I found the song on the iTunes music store and downloaded it to my iPhone so I could rock out on the drive home.

I listened to the song many times over the weekend and wanted more. I found their first album on the Amazon mp3 store and downloaded it. Since then Kittie has been a staple of my musical diet for a couple weeks.

These were the type of chixxx that I would have loved to have meet and hang with when I was in high school. Now that I'm old enough to be their father so I have no idea why I like this music. Mid-life crisis perhaps?

Test post from Flock

2008-04-08T20:56:00.001-07:00

I haven't really been blogging much. It's not like I don't have anything to say it's just that I'm really busy with work and family. I barely have time to ride much less write.

Anyway, I'm more of a desktop software guy so I'm hoping that Flock will make it more convenient for me to post every now and then.

Good Karma

2008-01-13T14:41:00.000-08:00

Some of you had heard that we had all our luggage stolen from us when we were coming home from a holiday trip from Toronto. Good karma must have been in the ether because I'm happy to report that a lot of the stuff has been found and will be making its way down to us over the next couple of months.

We had gone to Toronto over the holiday break to visit family. On our last day, we went to eat at the Keg restaurant near the airport before our flight. We had left our luggage in the back of my brother's car - a VW Golf with a hatchback. There were signs in the parking lot and in the restaurant to "watch your laptop since thefts have been reported". My spider sense was tingling so I went to my brother's car to get my laptop. My laptop bag also had all our passports and $200 in cash.

An hour later, we went back to Gary's car and the rear window was busted and all the luggage was missing. Jade was upset since they stole "Tiger" - a stuffed toy that she has been sleeping with for years. We felt a little shell shocked about the incident but Eve and I showed a lot of strength about the ordeal. It's just stuff we said. The bright side was that we could get back home to California and I didn't lose my (company) laptop. It also made the plane trip easier without luggage to check. Jade was sad but she was quite brave about the incident. She showed a lot of strength and understanding. People do bad things but most of the time people are good.

We were resigned that we were never going to see our stuff again and had started the process to replace all our goods. We started talking to the insurance company to discuss the settlement.

On Friday, I got a garbled voice mail from the Renaissance Hotel near the Toronto airport that they had found our luggage. I called them back over the weekend and they had found all 5 bags in the ravine behind their property. They went to recover as much of our stuff as they could and try to dry it out. I had arranged for Gary to recover our stuff and bring it back to his place for inventory and he sent us pictures.

The good news is that a lot of stuff like a dental night guard, prescription glasses and especially Tiger has been recovered. However, my iPod, portable speakers, other electronic gear and Eve's North Face jacket is missing. Also, all of our clothes and luggage have been left in a Toronto ravine for 2 weeks and have exposed to rain, snow and a wind storm. Gary mentioned that the bags are pretty trashed and the clothes smell like piss or mold. The books may be ruined.

All things being equal, we are really fortunate that our luggage has been recovered. A big shout out to Joelle and the staff at the Toronto Renaissance hotel. Joelle was the one who noticed the bags and took the initiative to recover our goods. I gave her details about the theft and they will review the night vision surveillance tapes around the time the crime took place. They are going to look for a car, license plates or suspects and hand it over to the police. There is a special place in hell for people who steal from little girls and make them cry.

Tiger is making his way back to California. I'm sure he will have an interesting story to tell.

Stop Motion Animation

2008-01-05T11:10:00.000-08:00

Happy belated New Year! One of my resolutions is not to promise that I'll blog more. There are a lot of stuff I could write about but I choose to be lazy instead.

Anyway, we spent much of the holiday break in Toronto. We visited the Ontario Science Center where we played with stop motion animation in a hands on lab. Jade was really interested in animation and she wanted to do more. I promised her that we could it when we got back to California. When we got back home I looked for a few packages for the Mac and the best one I found was iStopMotion. It's really simple to use (even a 5 year old can use it) and it produces great results. The product has many tiers including a home, prosumer and professional versions. The home version is about $50 and has all the features you need to create stop motion animation. I imported the clips into iMovie for editing and adding the soundtrack.

I experimented with the set up using a crappy Logitech web cam since I didn't have a FireWire cable for my DV camera. Once I figured out how all the pieces fit together, I set up a table top animation studio in the living room. I showed Jade the basics of using the software and let her go. The film above was done mostly by Jade with a little help from me. Jade and I worked on the two characters at the beach but Jade did the other clips herself. Sound track by Buckethead.

Chain Guide Adaptation for the Trail-A-Bike

2007-12-14T13:15:00.001-08:00

We have a 7-speed trail-a-bike and since Jade learned how to shift we have been experiencing the occasional dropped chain. The problem is that the combination of a bumpy climb and Jade's down shifting will cause the chain will pop off the front ring and get caught between the ring and the chain guard. When that happens, I loose my "auxiliary motor" and have to tow 70 lbs of bike and child up the hill.

All summer I have been trying to figure out a solution short of purchasing a commercial chain guide system - which is about the same price as the trail a bike. Specialized has the Hotrock 20" which includes a low cost OEM chain guide. I tried to get one in the after market but Specialized or any other vendor offers it.

A couple of months ago, I bought a used Hotrock 20" but the bike is a little too big for Jade. With a little engineering, I moved the chain guide to the trail-a-bike and now we have a great solution for dropped chains! We're going to test this out this weekend.

A chain guide on a trail-a-bike is pretty bad ass!

Mountain Biking on the Brain

2007-12-09T09:55:00.000-08:00

This shot was taken at the Log Gatos Turkey Day ride. It's a nice shot but there are mountain bikers growing out of our heads. The first family of mountain biking has mountain bikers on the brain.

The t-day ride was awesome. It's a great Bay Area tradition and been going for about 14 years. This was the biggest year yet with about 200 riders including a half dozen kids on trail-a-bikes and tandems. I'm sure you can read all about this on the NorCal forums on mtbr.com.

Fun with Photo Booth

2007-11-01T23:25:00.000-07:00

I started a new job on Monday and I got a couple of very powerful Macs. I'm new to the Apple platform so I have been playing with the MacBook Pro every night. Last night I discovered Photo Booth. It uses the camera on the MacBook and a count down timer to a "flash" in which the screen flashes white to simulate a flash. There are a quite a few canned effects.

Much fun was had by all....

Xemacs 21.4.20 has problem with Windows network drives

2007-10-11T17:50:00.000-07:00

I'm working on a project which uses C and SQL Lite. Normally I've been a Java guy and I haven't done any serious work with C since 1996. I also use a PC and Cygwin to give myself a Unixy environment on the PC.

Since I'm just experimenting with the API I figured I would just add the gcc package. I haven't upgraded Cygwin in a while so when I added gcc I decided to upgrade all my Cygwin packages. Big mistake. Apparently Xemacs 21.4.20-2 has a bug in which it reads files and directories on network drives as read only:

http://calypso.tux.org/pipermail/xemacs-beta/2007-April/011117.html
http://calypso.tux.org/pipermail/xemacs-beta/2007-May/011164.html

The solution: use cygwin to downgrade the xemacs package until this issue is resolved. I downgraded to 21.4.19-3 and this worked. I had to troll the net far and wide to find this information and put it together. This post is a service to those who will encounter this problem so they won't have to go though the blind alleys that I did.

This little regression burned about an hour of my time. I definitely can't charge my client for that little digression. Ug!

Happy Beer-thday to me!

2007-10-01T09:31:00.000-07:00

It was my birthday recently and I decided to have a party, dammit! I haven't celebrated my party in a very long time (decades, perhaps) so it was a long time overdue.

The theme of my party was beer. Attendees were encouraged to bring a 22 oz bottle or two of beer to share. My friends were really creative and found some interesting varieties. The party didn't go very late (early crowd) so there was a lot left over. I spent the next day finishing up the open bottles. I have enough left over beer for another party - perhaps later this month.

Beer was a pervasive theme of the party. For the BBQ, we had chicken with a beer and mustard glaze. The desert was a chocolate Guiness cake - which went really, really well with the Anderson Valley Oatmeal Stout. Mmmmmmmmmm.... I think I'll be imbibing more of the stouts in the coming months and years.

Good times and it was a great celebration of good beers. Thanks to all that showed up and brought great beers!

Lick the Toad?! WTF?!

2007-07-02T13:20:00.000-07:00

For years I've had the handle "lick the toad" @ Yahoo or Google for my free email address. Just to set the record straight: I've never licked a toad nor do I have an interest in licking a toad. I know my favorite poisons and cane toad sweat isn't one of them.

When I arrived in California, full suspension bikes were ridden by yuppies and most mountain bikers I knew rode XC hard tails with 65 mm of front travel, flat narrow bars with bar ends and long stems. I met Eve on a ride and we were riding and hanging out together. We would look for new rides and we hooked up with Team Wrong Way and started racing with them. Pretty soon we were taking road trips and we headed up to Lake Tahoe for some riding. The high point of the trip was to ride "the Toad". Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is definitely one of the classic California mountain bike trails. Along with the Flume trail, no Lake Tahoe mountain bike trip is complete without checking out Mr. Toad.

I had ridden Mr. Toad the previous year so I knew that it was a technical challenge for my Rocky Mountain hard tail. Back then it was difficult to ride and I had to walk or dab some sections. For this trip it was my goal to clean the ride. To "clean" Mr. Toad meant riding all the technical challenges without dabbing.

We rode the trail and the carnage was impressive. I was riding with the lead group and rode every section but I would dismount and wait to regroup. Contrary to Mike Gin's account of the ride I did clean the trail. I would ride every section and exclaim "lick the toad" after I cleaned it. When describing the ride I would say I "licked the toad" - with the obvious double entendre.

Soon after that trip I found the need to create a Yahoo email address and used "lick the toad" as my handle. When I got a gmail account, I carried this tradition forward. As I get more engaged in civic life "lick the toad" has become a bit of an albatross. The handle elicits explanation or perhaps not being taken as seriously as I could have.

Over the past few months I have been steadily transitioning away from this handle to something more conventional. Perhaps it's a sign of maturity.

Changing the EXIF date stamps for digital pictures

2007-06-12T10:23:00.000-07:00

Once again, I forgot to change the clock in my camera when I went to Washington a few months back. All images from mid-March until now are off by 3 hours. I've done this so much over the years that I'm going to transcribe many of my notes for the benefit of the world. This is also for my benefit so I don't have to grep my notes all the time. Note: These instruction are for Unix/Linux/Cygwin type environments.

I've been taking digital pictures since Oct 1999. I have built up gigs of images and I've been using Picasa to organize them. The problem is that when the batteries died on my old Olympus D30, the date and time in the camera would be reset. I wasn't always diligent about changing the camera date/time so I have a whole bunch of pictures which have the wrong EXIF and time stamp. Picasa uses the EXIF data rather than directory location to catalog the pictures so I would see images all over the place.

Using jhead to inspect/manipulate the EXIF data

To change or look at EXIF data use jhead: http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/jhead/

Using the command on the image will just print the EXIF data:


# jhead /tmp/IMG_4387.JPG
File name    : /tmp/IMG_4387.JPG
File size    : 2707353 bytes
File date    : 2006:08:30 16:21:16
Camera make  : Canon
Camera model : Canon PowerShot SD300
Date/Time    : 2006:06:18 15:58:45
Resolution   : 2272 x 1704
Flash used   : No (auto)
Focal length :  5.8mm  (35mm equivalent: 37mm)
CCD width    : 5.69mm
Exposure time: 0.0031 s  (1/320)
Aperture     : f/2.8
Whitebalance : Auto
Metering Mode: matrix

Using the find command to identify files

I'm lucky that I organize all my images in directories which include the date that the pics were shot. This makes it easy to set the EXIF date. My directories are formatted like: YYYY/MM/YYYY_MM_DD.

First create a date marker with the touch command. In my case, the default time of the digital camera will change the date marker to Jan 1 1998 12:00 am. So I added a second to that file as a date marker:

# touch -d "01 jan 1998 00:00:01" /tmp/date_marker

Use the negation of the newer flag for find. This will find all the affected files:

# find . \! -newer /tmp/date_marker

Using jhead as to change the EXIF data

The trick is to automatically change all the EXIF and date stamps on the files which have the incorrect date stamps. The ts flag will set the EXIF time stamp to a specific date using the date format YYYY:MM:DD-00:00:00. For example, this find argument will set all the affected files to 2000/05/21:

# find ... -exec jhead -ts2000:05:21-00:00:00 {} \;

Now we have to synchronize the unix timestamps with the EXIF data. Fortunately, jhead has the ft flag for this. You can run this command on all files in the directory:

# find ... -exec jhead -ft {} \;

Adjusting the time based on the timezone

A more common issue is taking pictures when your camera clock is in the wrong timezone. For this case use the ta argument. For example, if pictures taken on the west coast have a camera which has east coast time (+3 hours relative to the west coast), we must shift the EXIF time stamps by -3 hours:

# jhead -ta-3:00 *.jpg
# jhead -ft *.jpg

You can combine this with the find command to change this in bulk. Remember to refresh your thumbnails in Picasa so that it will pick up the updated EXIF data. I hope this is helpful to you. It's helpful to me.

Our brightest minds are working on the problem

2007-05-18T07:52:00.000-07:00

Idiocracy is a film about an average guy played by Luke Wilson who is genetically frozen in a military experiment. The program is forgotten about and he wakes up 500 years in the future to find that he is the smartest man in the world.

The premise of the film is that society has been dumbed down by the onslaught of commercialism, trashy media and the fact that human evolution no longer favors the survival of the fittest but rather those who can reproduce a lot. Picture a world 500 years into the future in which everything is broken, there is trash everywhere and the dominant cultural aesthetic is a cross between NASCAR and World Wrestling Entertainment.

You either love the film (like me) or hate it (like my wife) but I think the message is that with each generation, our society is dumbing down as smart people fail to reproduce and dumb people breed like rabbits. After seeing the film I see the signs of Idiocracy everywhere.

For instance in the opening montage, the narrator explains that the
brightest scientists of the present day are not engaged in solving the current problems of the world but rather they focus their time and attention on solving male baldness and erectile dysfunction. The scene shows a group of white coated scientists gathered in room measuring the erection of a very long haired baboon. It seems like this prophecy is coming true. I just read that scientists are researching stem cell techniques to stimulate and regenerate hair follicles on the skin of mice. This could eventually lead to baldness cures for men.

Stems cell research has the promise of curing lot of diseases and injuries. It also has the promise of curing baldness and our brightest minds are working on the problem. Welcome to the future!

Picture of Sy Sperling President of Hair Club for men from Worth 1000

What we call the news

2007-04-25T09:18:00.000-07:00

What We Call the News | Send To Friends | Funny Animations at JibJab

I'm a bit of a media/news junkie and I'm very conscious of my media diet. In general, I read The Economist, listen to NPR and podcasts, watch CSPAN and read CNN/Yahoo News online to get most of my information.

Occasionally, when I stay at a place that has cable like a hotel or with family I will watch the cable news stations to see where the rest of America gets it's information. I'm really impressed with the Jib Jab folks to nail the news issue with satire.

Hi-larious!

10th Anniversary of Living in America

2007-04-20T23:25:00.000-07:00

This past April 17th was my 10th anniversary of living in the United States. I celebrated by buying an expensive bottle of Scotch - a 16 year old Lagavulin. I'm not sure what scotch has to do with America but I enjoy it (I'm enjoying it now!) and it's a nice treat for myself to celebrate my integration into my adoptive country. I've been an American citizen for just over 2 years now and I'm proud to be an American.

10 years ago on April 17th, 1997 my long term girlfriend and I had agreed to call it quits. It was long overdue and we had agreed 6 months previous that if our relationship would not progress then we would just go our separate ways. When I got a job with Sun in California we understood that she would not be coming along. It was the dot com boom and Silicon Valley was eager to hire as many engineers from all over the world to build the information economy. Sun took care of the work visa, relocation and organized the move. We had an apartment together and I left most of our shared possessions with her. The movers came that day and had packed my meager possessions: 2 bikes, some tools, a computer, a stereo, a home made plywood desk and a whole lot of books, records and CDs. I was an easy move for them. No car, no house, no wife and no life.

That evening I left Vancouver, British Columbia to fly to San Francisco, California. I used to fly a lot at my old job and I managed to get myself upgraded to business class. This was great since I could drink heavily and use the lounge to take care of some business - like faxing a copy of my work visa to the moving company so they can transport my possessions over the border.

I got on the plane and immediately ordered another drink. I remember staring out the window of the plane and seeing the lights of Vancouver below me with the mountains in the background. As we crossed Point Roberts into the United States I remember the feelings welling up inside me and I wanted to cry. I'm leaving my adoptive country. The country where I was educated, where I got my values, friends, family and great experiences. My one regret was that I never became a Canadian Citizen in 25 years of living in Canada.

Looking back 10 years I'm impressed with how integrated I have become in America. I met my wife, bought a house, became a permanent resident and a citizen. We are raising a beautiful little girl in our little paradise on the central coast of California. I have the means to raise my family and pursue my passions. I'm living the American dream. Life is good.

Despite some of the cynicism one of the most important lessons of America is that it really is the land of opportunity. If you are smart and work hard then you can make a good life for yourself here. America is the most open, democratic society in the world. The opportunities are boundless if you want to pursue them.

This is my home now. I love America!

The iPod shuffle is not waterproof!

2007-04-18T11:14:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about the new iPod shuffle is that it can go anywhere. I used to keep it in my cargo pocket so that I can have tunes where ever I am.

One of the bad things about the iPod shuffle is that the small size makes it easy to forget that it's in your pocket. I was really tired and dirty after the Sea Otter and put my pants in the laundry hamper without checking the side pockets. The iPod shuffle and headphones went thought the wash cycle. The headphones went thought the dry cycle as well.

Needless to say that the iPod nor headphones are no longer functional. It seems that the iPod is not resilient enough to put through the wash.

I'm bummed that I don't have a shuffle anymore. At least it lasted for the ski-season. I didn't really use it for much else. The good thing was that I didn't put the 60G in the wash!

Our Ski Season Comes to a Close

2007-04-04T07:48:00.000-07:00

It was our last weekend in Tahoe and it was pretty warm. The conditions were slushy and sticky and it felt more like wake boarding than snow boarding. I gave up after a couple of runs since the snow was pretty "grabby". We decided to come back a day early and we went for a family ride in Big Basin. I love California! Snowboarding and mountain biking in the same weekend!

I got at least 20 days on the slopes and felt like I improved a lot. Eve and Jade got more days in. The great outcome this year is that Jade learned how to ski.

Now that snow sports are out of the way it's time to focus on mountain biking!

Mr Toad goes to Washington

2007-03-27T14:11:00.000-07:00

I was in Washington, DC recently for a bike conference/summit/lobby session. It was my first time in DC and I learned a lot about the political process and American history. My new hero is Thomas Jefferson. His presence and influence is everywhere.

I stayed with a family in nearby Virginia and took the Metro (subway) and the Slug Line (car pool hitch-hiking) into the city. The family is involved with Trips for Kids - a non-profit group who gives disadvantaged children opportunities to go mountain biking.

I felt very comfortable in DC since everyone in the city loves to talk about politics and big issues. I met some great people, rubbed elbows with the players in the bike advocacy scene and even had the chance to see dozens of museums and monuments.

The highlight of the trip: meeting with Senator Barbara Boxer's staff to discuss mountain bikers concerns with the California Wilderness Heritage Act 2006 - which will designate 2.4 M acres of land in CA as Wilderness area (meaning no bikes). High stakes, big responsibility, nice suit.

It was an incredible trip and it's not the last time I'll be going to DC. In fact, I can't wait to go next year!

More commentary and pictures here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lick.the.toad/BikeSummitInDC2007

Announcing: Santa Cruz Carrot Fest 2007 Saturday May 5th

2007-03-04T20:10:00.000-08:00

The Santa Cruz County Horseman's Association (SCCHA) and Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz (MBOSC) will be hosting Carrot Fest 2007 on Saturday May 5th at Horse Camp in Wilder Ranch State Park near Dimeo Lane.

The goal of Carrot Fest is to create safer shared use trails by training horses to be comfortable with the presence of bikes and educating bikers to the needs of equestrians on the trails. In addition, it brings both user groups together in a fun environment to get to know each other and reinforce that we share the common goal of enjoying the open space.

Refreshments will be served. Kids are welcome. Other details will follow and will be posted on http://www.mbosc.org or watch this blog:

This is a write up and some pictures from last years event.

This is a great event to foster some positive good will between user groups. Please contact me (president @ mbosc.org) or Sebastien Praly (openair @ praly.com) if you wish to participate or help organize the event.

Snow in Tahoe! it's time for some winter Fun!

2007-02-23T07:45:00.000-08:00

My recent posts about climate change have been pretty heavy these days so this is an attempt to lighten things up. I'm in Tahoe right now and we got about a foot of snow in the past day. We're heading out to enjoy it soon.

Last week my Uncle shot some video of Jade enjoying some winter activities. She made a lot of progress last week and she's really looking forward to getting back onto the slopes this weekend to improve her skills (and show off for Daddy).

Jade is learning to ski. This video was shot on the "Lugi" run at Northstar:

Jade is learning how to skate. This video was shot at the ice rink in Northstar village:

Enjoy the snow while you can!

Another smuggy day in California

2007-02-22T12:43:00.000-08:00

Last night I read a really hopeful article in The Economist about the America's attempts to address global warming.

Reading the article made me proud to be a resident of California because my state has taken the lead in America towards decreasing greenhouse gases and energy consumption. As the graph shows, per capita electricity consumption has been level since the 70's and has been recently decreasing.

The article in The Economist requires a subscription to read but it's well worth it. It discusses the security, business and community benefits of changing to a lower carbon based economy. My favorite part of this article discusses how our state is leading the nation in initiatives to decrease greenhouse gases. I've transcribed this section here:

Congress may be thinking about tackling greenhouse-gas emissions, but California has already done it. Its Global Warming Solutions Act, which was passed last year, aims to cut them to 1990 levels by 2020 - an ambitious target for a state that has grown rapidly in the past 15 years and will probably continue to do so. The details have yet to be fleshed out, but the reductions will come from both a cap-and-trade scheme for industry and regulations of various sorts.

Mr Schwarzenegger issued the first such regulation earlier this month, obliging producers of petrol and other fuels to cut the emissions of carbon dioxide from their products by 10% by 2020 - presumably by mixing in more ethanol and other biofuels. It is not California's first attempt to reduce emissions from transport: its legislature voted for stringent cuts in 2002. That move has become snarled in a court battle over whether states have the right to set fuel-economy standards. Meanwhile, the politicians keep trucking. In September, the state showily sued six car manufacturers, alleging they had damaged its climate. It is also suing the EPA, for failing to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions.

California's politicians are keen on renewables too. State law requires utilities to generate 20% of the power they sell from sources such as windmills and biomass plants by 2010, and 33% by 2020. Solar power has won even greater favour: under the "million solar roofs" scheme, the state plans to spend more than $3 billion over the next decade subsidising the installation of solar-power panels.

California has also pioneered the practice of "decoupling", which deprives power firms of their incentive to sell as much electricity as possible. Instead, the local regulator has devised a formula to reward firms whose sales are lower than expected, and to allow the recovery of the costs of energy-efficiency schemes.

Such measures (along with high power prices to pay for them) have helped California rein in its electricity consumption - although lovely weather and a relative lack of heavy industry have also played a part. Power use per person has remained roughly stable in the state since the 1970s, even as it has doubled in the rest of the country (see chart above). As a result, California's greenhouse-gas emissions per person are on a par with those of Denmark. Relative to the size of its economy, they are lower.

I'm very proud of my state and our green Governator for taking the lead in addressing the problem of global climate change. California may be leading the nation into lowering greenhouse gas emissions but it is also the leading the nation in creating smug.

The debate is over. Now what do we do?

2007-02-21T09:44:00.000-08:00

I can't be silent anymore. I've been jumping out of my skin and have been obsessed with climate change since watching An Inconvenient Truth a couple of weeks ago. I was expecting political dogma and fear mongering which is the modus operandi of some of the environmental zealots. However, this film focused on the science and presented it in a way that made it accessible and "connected the dots" between all the global warming events that I have read about over the past 20 years. I'm a scientist by training so the case was extremely convincing. I watched it again last night and listened to the producers commentary and it was fascinating that they were compelled to make this film to inform people about global climate change. Ironically, they marketed it as the most terrifying film you will see and I agree. I've been having nightmares and like the producers I feel compelled do something proactive in order to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases pumped into the atmosphere.

This hit home for me personally this year because of the really crappy ski season. The weather is warm and there is very little snow in the Sierra Nevada. This may be a seasonal variation but last year we got lots of rain dumped on us. Seeing the before and after images of the glacier melts in the Gore film made me think of the end of skiing/snowboarding and there will be warmer years ahead rather than cooler ones. There is no doubt in my mind that weather is changing and is becoming more extreme. The time to act to reduce C02 emissions was 30 years ago.

We're at a tipping point and we have to act within the next 10 years or this planet will become hostile to human habitation. The global warming naysayers are on the wrong side of history and will be judged as quaint as those in Galileo's time who believed that the sun revolved around the earth. There seems to be a lot of news items these days discussing climate change and it is going to be the big issue in the next election. Even John McCain said last week:

"The debate is over, my friends. Now the question is what do we do? Do we act, do we care enough about the young people of the next generation to act seriously and meaningfully, or are we going to just continue this debate and this discussion?"

Global climate change is the most important issue of our generation. Much more important than the war in Iraq. Let the Neocons battle the Islamic fascists for control of the oil fields. Oil is old news and the people in countries who hate us the most like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iran and Venezuela have most of it. We support these countries directly and inadvertently because of our addiction to oil. Our oil dependence has made the United States the crack whore of the global community. They charge us a fortune for our habit and bitch slap us just like a crack whore indentured to her pimp. It was really embarrassing when Hugo Chavez gives us smack talk at the UN. We must move beyond our dependency on fossil fuels to reduce our carbon emissions and increase our energy security. If we can change our carbon addiction then in 50 years these oil exporting countries will revert to the 3rd world deserts that they once were and no one will care.

I want my daughter to live on a sustainable planet and enjoy the mountains, trees, oceans and snow. I owe it to her to fix the damage to the atmosphere that we have done.

Atmospheric carbon dioxide image courtesy of Global Warming Art.

The Interweb knows who I am...

2007-02-14T12:40:00.000-08:00

I was listening to Talk of the Nation on NPR and the discussion was on life blogging and user generated media. One of the guests made the remark "who with a computer hasn't Googled themselves or their ex...". Well, I haven't Googled myself in years and my hit hit count isn't really great since Mark Davidson is hardly a unique name. However, I was quite flattered to see that someone blogged about a document I wrote.

I was impressed that he read my Component Assembly Manifesto and he felt compelled to comment on it. I wrote this document during the post boom years when I was a software rock star. I was on a flight to Rochester on a business trip and the movie was Sweet November and it totally sucked so I wrote the manifesto in a fit of inspiration.

This manifesto had a pretty good impact and impressed a VP at a major New York investment bank that he flew me out to the Big Apple under the auspices for me to give a private talk to his staff but his real motive was to recruit me. This was a few months after 9/11 and Eve was pregnant with Jade so I didn't want to relocate. I was afraid of "dirty bombs" and didn't want Jade to be raised in New York City. This was a bit of a missed opportunity since the bank is doing doing awesome since then. The compensation structure at investment banks is based on results so half-million dollar annual bonuses were not out of the question for talented Engineers who lead strategic technology initiatives. If I had made the move then I could have had Google type wealth. I like to think that the type of tools that my document inspired may have contributed to those stellar earnings.

I'm no longer a software rock star - just a working stiff punching the clock humbly in obscurity. I think I made the right choice at the time. I love living in California and I just have to solace myself with the fact that I'm living in paradise with my wonderful wife, child and mountain bikes.

Tunes in My Head

2007-02-07T09:02:00.000-08:00

I have been snowboarding quite a lot this season. There hasn't been a lot of snow in the Tahoe area - mostly man made stuff - but we have a ski lease this year and seasons passes for NorthStar. It's still fun since we are teaching our daughter to ski and skate. I also bought a bunch of protective pads and I'm teaching myself to jump and ride boxes but I wish there was a lot more snow. We picked the wrong year to get a ski lease. Curse this global warming!

For years, I have been wearing a snowboard helmet but a month ago, I lost the helmet at the top of the Comstock lift when it fell out of my backpack (update: this helmet was recovered a few weeks later). The old purple chrome Pro-Tec was too small and heavy and it was time for an upgrade.

I bought a matte pewter Giro Nine.9 after much research and fit testing. I also bought a pair of "TuneUps" - headphone replacement earpads. I also bought the second generation iPod shuffle to round out the fun factor and loaded it with 700 megs of Buckethead. The complete package is a light weight party helmet. Who hoo!

I'm having fun with the helmet. The only thing better would be more snow.

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-25T16:14:00.000-08:00

We sent the greeting above to my family scattered around the world. It was supposed to be a more ambitious project involving location shoots and costumes but in the end, it only required a tripod, an hour of our time and some video editing software. Sometimes simple is best.

It has been much more of a low key event than in seasons past. We went for an enjoyable family ride up to the University and looked at the entire Monterey Bay from the vista point at the top of the bike path. Now we're drinking rum and eggnog and waiting for our family to arrive so we can enjoy a feast.

Merry Christmas!

Mountain Biking with your Preschooler

2006-12-24T09:35:00.000-08:00

Jade has outgrown the Wee-Ride and has graduated to an Adams Trail-a-Bike. Our last mountain bike ride with the Wee-Ride was the Flume Trail up at Lake Tahoe in August.

We got the Trail-A-Bike for her 4th birthday and she was a little too small for it. We started with the top of the line Alloy 7 model - it has 7 gears and lighter that the other models. We could justify the expense since it will be used for many years to come. I'm a bike geek so I customized it to improve the components and ergonomics. We put on narrower bars, a smaller seat, Grip Shift and pedal blocks. I taped the shifter to the goose neck bar so she can't use it - perhaps I'll teach her how to shift next spring. The new components helped out quite a bit and even dropped the weight of the bike by a pound.

We have been enjoying riding as a family in and around the Santa Cruz area since September. Jade-O looks like a mountain biker - only smaller. She has her own CamelBack, gloves, glasses, windproof jacket and lycra shorts. Our rides are a little slower with the Trail-a-Bike compared with the Wee-Ride and we have to stop for A-frames. Every ride gets better all the time as Jade's endurance, skills and strength improves. The video shows a ride that we did at the beginning of December.

Mountain biking parents should consider taking their kids out for a ride. It's a great way to enjoy the open space with your kids. For us every weekend is Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day.

A mountain bike for the snow!

2006-12-14T08:19:00.000-08:00

Here on the central California coast, we can ride year round without worrying about snow. For others, the winter snow covers their favorite riding spots and they may have to put the bike away for the winter and take up another sport. Now we have the Ktrak. Check out the video by clicking on the What the heck is Ktrack link.

Leave it to the crafty Canucks in BC to figure out a way to ride all year round. This just demonstrates that BC riders are pushing the sport in new directions.

This device raises all sorts of access and advocacy issues. How do you advocate to get these machines on the chair lifts? At least there is a possibility of actually riding up the mountain.

The Ktrak redefines the term "freeriding".

Dirt Cheap Mobile Audio Video

2006-12-01T09:03:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday we got stuck in that hellish traffic jam on I-80 West on the way back from Tahoe. It was the first real snow this season and chain control and speed limits were in effect. This was also the end of the holiday weekend and people were returning from Reno and Tahoe. According to Caltrans, 1 in 4 drivers on I-80 have never driven in the snow. So speeds were slow and we were stuck on 80 for a few hours.

Jade had not got her proper sleep since Turkey day and had been a little whiny over the weekend. Being stuck in traffic was looking to be a nightmare. Fortunately for us, I found a dirt cheap way of creating a mobile audio/video entertainment system.

I used a video iPod, a set of portable Altec Lansing iPod speakers, a DC to AC power inverter and couple of bungee cords to create a audio/video system on the headrest of our Subaru. It's a great thing that I keep a power inverter and plenty of bungee cords in the car. I bought the Altec Lansing inMotion IM3 portable speakers back in May for my NorCal camping trip and I continue to find new and exciting uses for them. I used the red bungee cord to attach the speakers to the headrest. The iPod is docked to the speakers through the interface at the bottom. This interface also holds the iPod in place and was not designed to withstand the vibration from stop and go traffic. I uses the blue bungee cord to secure the iPod against the red bungee cord and this stopped the vibration. I connected the power adapter to the power inverter which was plugged into the car DC outlet in the cargo area.

I had the insight to download some preschooler TV shows like "Wonder Pets" and "The Backyardigans" from the iTunes Music Store before we headed up the mountains. Jade knows how to control the volume but she still doesn't know how to operate the iPod. The result is that Jade was cheerfully amused for a couple of hours while we were cursing Californians who cant drive in the snow.

Podcasts about Mountain Biking

2006-09-22T09:27:00.000-07:00

I drive to work over the challenging Highway 17 and it's a 45 minute commute to work. My commute takes me over the Santa Cruz Mountains which separates the Central Coast from the Bay Area radio markets. I listen to NPR a lot and it has always been frustrating that I cannot listen to the same program for my entire commute. This changed when I got an iPod which has allowed me to listen to podcasts. It has been enriching and enlightening my commute ever since.

Most of the time I listen to the same old NPR and Tech podcasts. But a couple of months ago I sought out some mountain biking specific podcasts. There are a number of mtb specific podcasts listed on iTunes. Most of them are dead.

MTBCast

This one is from the South East. It's hosted by Joe Polk who is affiliated with the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association. Joe seems like he has a lot of experience with broadcasting and knows how to put together a good show. This is a really good podcast that contains racing and product news. There is definitely a focus on local (south east) news and events. It seems like the South East and SORBA have a really healthy mountain bike scene down there.

The enhanced version has pictures that change during the broadcast. For example, in Episode 37. He talks about Broadie's new bikes. As he talks about the entire line of bikes, the picture changes to show the model. When he talks about Chris Kings new pink anodized components we see a picture. When I listen to this show through iTunes, I pop up the album art/video viewer.

Crooked Cog

This is a very good podcast hosted by Tim Grahl. Very slick and professional - a quite commercial. Tim is quite good and well informed. I listened to the Marla Streb episode and he keeps it moving and interesting. His Interbike 2006 coverage was top notch. He seems to edit out the pauses and perhaps he compresses the time on the audio since it seems to move quite well. Lots of information in short time.

This podcast is also "enhanced" for video/photo podcasts. For example, when he plugs his sponsors we see the banner, during the Marla Streb interview, we see Marla's picture. I really like these enhanced podcasts!

YourMTB.com

This originates from the mind of Walker Thompson from Colorado. This one is more of a vanity project and Walker tends to talk about his experiences and perspective and tends to ramble a bit. I definitely get the sense that Walker is passionate about the sport. I really liked the episode in which he talks to Mark Eller from IMBA but it's clear that he doesn't have the level of broadcast experience as Joe Polk from mtbcast.com or as comprehensive and slick as Crooked Cog.

Walker is the "Enthusiast in Chief" and is building a community of mountain bikers at yourmtb.com. The web site is pretty slick (uses Drupal) and is backed by the Enthusiast Group which is a network of blogs/media which is focused on outdoor sports and recreation.

After a while, I stopped subscribing to this one.

There are a few others out there you may want to check out. I don't subscribe to them all but I'll check out an episode or two. Specialized has a podcast and I downloaded the interview with Ariande Scott. It was dead for a while and the server was pretty slow but I just checked it out again and they just updated it (with a faster server). Maybe I'll re-subscibe to this one.

MTBcast is a great example of a grassroots regional podcast. I wish we had a forum like that for Northern California. Crooked Cog is a great all around podcast for mountain biking info. Great interviews and great coverage of the mountain bike industry. If you are going to subscribe to a single mountain biking podcast then I would recommend the Crooked Cog.

NorCal Bike Ambassador - Annadel State Park

2006-06-19T15:35:00.000-07:00

Early wakeup but I had a casual start. The goal was to ride at Annadel State Park for a couple of hours and leave by 11 am. I started to break down camp while watching a couple of young chix and biker dude get started. Nice. The wheels of the single speed were rolling at 9:30 am.

I wound my way clockwise around Spring Lake following the route we did yesterday and cut over into Annadel via dirt trail. Climbed the Spring Creek trail to Lake Ilsanjoe and passed a bunch of hikers. Mostly strolling retirees and jogging milfs. It's Monday in Santa Rosa - Milf city.

I wanted to ride Live Oak to North Burma trail but I followed Lake trail too far and wound up climbing Richardson and passing an older couple. We stopped and chatted at the junction of South Burma and I decided to climb it. It's a challenging trail on a single speed but very pretty and heavily forested with some rocks and picnic tables. I followed this trail over the peak and through Buick meadow. Then I took the Marsh trail back to the Lake Ilsanjo.

There were a few swimmers at the lake. Some old guys were having a morning swim across the lake. A trio of young college women was splashing in the water. I went for a nice refreshing post ride swim and the water was really warm.

It was 11 am and I planned to be back at camp before noon. I took the Rough Go trail back to the park entrance. Rough Go is quite rocky, technical and exposed. It reminded me of Rockville. This trail used to be a fireroad but it became decommissioned. Rough Go was narrowed by placing rocks and obstacles to create choke points which was done as part of a 1998 trail building grant. The result is a narrow, twisty technical trail which increases the challenges and reduces speeds. I'm really impressed that this type of trail is legal in a California State Park. Along the trail, I rode by open meadows and orchards. I passed a few hikers who were impressed that I could ride that type of terrian. I think they would have been more impressed if the realized that I was on a single speed - if they even knew what a single speed is.

Back at camp the chix and biker dude are packing up. I take a shower behind the MBOSC banner and one of the chix was watching from her car. Could be the single one. I finished packing up and was out of the site by 12:30 pm.

I went to the Santa Rosa AAA to pick up some maps for the next phase. Was served by another fine example of a Santa Rosa milf. She was a well dressed, manicured married blonde about 42-45 years old with a push up bra and nice skin. She was very friendly and spent a lot of time helping me with directions and maps. She never asked to see my AAA card.

I spent about 1/2 an hour in the AAA parking lot taking the lower dash of the Subaru apart. It's the only way to get to the fuse box for the rear 12 volt accessory socket. This rear socket just doesn't work. This circuit is connected to the seat heaters which also doesn't work so I figured it was probably the fuse. I took apart the lower dash to get to the fuse and it was fine. Hmmmm.. Must be a loose connection. I'll save it for another day. At least the jumper battery that I brought has a 12 volt DC outlet and I have a 75 watt power inverter so I can keep my electronic devices juiced.

Pastrami reuban at Togos for lunch, went to Kragen for spare 20 amp fuses then off to Albertsons for breakfast groceries like bagels and cream cheese. In the parking lot a nice 20 something with large breasts was loading groceries in the car in front of me. I noticed her because I heard her talking to her small dog in the car and I thought she was addressing me. She was wearing a loose green top draped over a skin tight black tan top. Her neckline was low and her breasts were D cup or bigger. She had a Chinese calligraphy tattoo on her left shoulder ("Beef with broccoli?") . I was a little confused trying to get back to the Hwy 12 so I asked her for directions. She was really helpful and leaned over the map so I plumbed the depths of her cleavage with my eyes. Cheap thrills.

Left the Santa Rosa Albertson's at about 2:30 pm. Arrrgg! I forgot to buy yogurt and beer. Idiot. I took Calistoga Road to Petrified Forrest and caught the 29 way to Boggs Mountain listening to classic rock all the way. I have mp3 rips of the early Led Zeppelin albums from the first British vinyl pressings. Each mp3 is an entire album side and it's a real treat when they come up in the shuffle. The live version of "Dazed and Confused" pushes me over the edge and I cranked it and rocked out. I imagine that the milfs of Santa Rosa were rocking in the back seats to that one back in the day.

NorCal Bike Ambassador - Santa Rosa

2006-06-18T23:33:00.000-07:00

Arrived at Spring Lake campground in Santa Rosa at 3:45 pm. I got campsite 17, which was a nice spot at the far end of the campground. I had a view over looking a large family from Idaho located near the washrooms. They had arrived after me in their RVs full of kids. I set up camp and got the trail bike ready. Ken Wells arrived at about 4:35 pm and we rode the bike paths of Spring Lake to the adjacent Annadel State Park.

Ken is the President of the Sonoma County Trails Council and an experienced mountain bike advocate. He was involved in the early days of ROMP and IMBA. He works in waste management/planning for Sonoma County so he knows how to navigate the administrivia of big government. He gave me some maps and some information about Sonoma County trails including a great trail user map of parks in the county that they had just produced. The bike advocates seem to have a great relationship with county and state parks.

We hit the trails at about 5pm and started clockwise around Spring Lake, we rode Canyon trail to Marsh Trail past Buick Meadow and around the Ledon Marsh. They have Red Legged frogs at the marsh. We rode down Ridge trail and I was grining from ear to ear. We doubled back onto Marsh and rode along the south end of Lake Ilsenjo. The Spring Creek trail was very pretty - completely shaded with trees - but there were quite a few hikers. We wound our way back to the campsite arriving at 7 pm.

We parted ways and agreed to meet for dinner in an hour. It was a great ride and a great introduction to Annadel. There were some familiar elements in Annadel to trails that I have ridden including Wilder's Enchanted Loop (Ridge trail) and the dry rocky terrain of Santa Teresa.

The campground offered hot showers but charged $1.50 in quarters for 5 minutes. The website didn't mention that there were pay showers. Screw that nonsense! I was going to use my new solar shower at my campsite. Finding a spot for the shower was a small challenge. There weren't too many useful trees and the campsites were packed together. Fortunately, the campground wasn't busy since it was a Sunday night. I strung up the MBOSC banner between a couple of trees as a modesty screen in front of the Idaho family. The screen wasn't perfect but would spare the kids from the trauma of full frontal nudity from a sweaty, dirty mountain biker taking a shower. The screen protected the kids but the lady in the campsite beside me could probably see my ass if she wanted to.

I took the single speed to meet Ken on a busy street near the park with plenty of restaurants. It was a small challenge to find one open since many of them were closed on Sunday night. We found our way to the Texas BBQ where I had a 1/3 lb burger with slaw and mint chip ice cream in a sugar cone for $9.17. Ken and I talked about advocacy and his history of activism. He's a good resource.

I had to ride the road in the dark to get back to the Spring Creek Campground. I forgot to bring lights (not even a blinky light) and I got a little lost in the suburbs of Santa Rosa with the monster homes and well-groomed gardening. Back at the campsite, the Idaho family had a fire and way too much light. The kids were going to bed in the RVs. I finished off the Blueberry and tried the King Kush. John Coltrane was on the iPod and I sipped 10 year old Laphroaig out of a flask that I bought from my brother back in Toronto for CD$20. I was kicking back and loving life while looking at the stars. Looking at the Idaho family made me miss my own and I would love to bring them to this campground for riding and playing in this area.

I went into the cocoon in the back of the car at 11 pm and drifted off to the easy sounds Sarah McLaughlin. This was an awesome start to this trip.

NorCal Bike Ambassador - On the road

2006-06-18T14:50:00.000-07:00

I took a couple of weeks off work to visit family in Canada for the first week and then go to the World Mountain Conference in Whistler the next week. Unfortunately, I couldn't make the logistics work for the Whistler trip so instead I decided to embark on a solo camping/ mountain biking adventure in Northern California. My wife and child were going to stay in Ontario with my parents and I would pick them up at SFO at the end of my trip. I contacted bike advocates that I had previously met and arranged a couple of rides. I called this adventure "The mountain biking Ambassador" trip. It was a great opportunity to see new places, new rides and get to know other advocates.

I packed up Ubi the Subaru with camping gear, the Marin Attack trail bike and an On-One Inbred single speed. Having a trail bike and a single speed gave me a wide variety of riding options. Ubi was left at my Aunt and Uncles place in East Palo Alto while we were in Toronto visiting family.

The trip from Toronto back to California was an all day affair. My brother drove me from his place in the beaches of Toronto to the Scarborough suburbs where my Grandmother lived and my Aunts and Uncle were staying. We drove a rented car down to Buffalo, had lunch near the airport and flew to SFO via Washington, DC. We arrived at San Francisco airport at midnight and I was finally in bed at my Aunt and Uncles place in East Palo Alto at 2 am. Not a great start for a bike trip but that's part of the adventure of travel.

I didn't get a great night of sleep due to a number of factors and I slow getting started in the morning. The TV was tuned to the World Cup and I was reminded of the WC mania in Toronto with flags from all countries attached to cars. Here in the Bay Area, it doesn't seem to be on the radar. I did a couple of trips to buy groceries food and an iPod mount for the car. It should have been one trip but my headspace wasn't really in the game.

I finally left my Aunt and Uncle's place at 1:30 pm and I was on the road. My destination was Santa Rosa. Ubi felt a little slow and unstable probably the wind and the poor weight distribution. Traffic though San Francisco was slow but not too bad. I crossed a mental threshold driving over the Golden Gate Bridge to the Marin headlands that signaled to me that I was heading into Northern California for an adventure.

Another Sea Otter Classic is in the can

2006-04-09T21:51:00.000-07:00

The rain capped off the end of the 2006 Sea Otter Classic on an otherwise unexpected sunny event.

This is the first year that Team Wrong Way took over the volunteer coordination for course marshalling the dual slalom event. Michael and Jain Light had been doing the DS coordination for a very long time and they felt it was time to pass the torch. Michael contacted Henthorn and myself and we took the oportuntity to coordinate the volunteers. I have been arriving at the Sea Otter at 7 am on Thurs, Fri and Saturday to hang out on the swale all day. Free lunch, free race entry and hanging out on the hill with a view of the entire venue, a good view of the short track mtb and the best view of the dual slalom event. Not a bad gig.

For me, the California IMBA summit on Friday was the highlight of the event. After so many years of being a schwag 'ho at the Otter, my focus has shifted to advocacy and I'm more interested in trail politics and building relationships with like minded advocates, sympathetic industry types, land managers and resource ecologists. These people interest me much more than the titanium and carbon fibre goodness that permeates the expo.

I decided to blow off my race. I was registered in sport single speed but I haven't been training nor did I pre-ride the course. Three days of hiking up and down the swale was totally exhausting. My legs were tingling when I arrived home on Saturday night and I was in no condition to wake up early to race.

Instead, I spent a leisurely day at the Otter with my family. The big attraction for us was the Easter Egg hunt, the bouncy castle, cheering on the XC finishers and talking with advocates at the IMBA booth. We rode the Tracer and the Marin with his and her Fox Talas RLCs up front. People were impressed with Jade's seat setup on the Tracer. We were using it as a $3000 baby stroller since it's the best way to get around the event. The afternoon rain was just enough to make us leave rather than hang out and spectate at the mountain cross.

Good times, good weather and great people. Defintely one this was one of the better Sea Otters for me.

Whew! I'm glad it's over. I can't wait until next year.

Brokeback Mountain Biking

2006-04-09T20:56:00.000-07:00

Jill Kitner does trail work on the Sea Otter dual slalom course with the course designer Keith DeFiebre looking on in the background. So the picture isn't a Mike Gin masterpiece satire of the movie poster but it's a real shot and I like the irony.

Six weeks of unrelenting rain turned the Laguna Seca swale into a swampy mess. The dual slalom course couldn't hold up to the seep from the hill and the berms trapped the water and turned into "pigs wallows". Many shoes were lost in the pit during the amateur race. Bikes were eaten and we were entertained with mud wrestling - which is wrestling the bikes from the mud.

The pros handled the wallows much better. Before the qualifiers, Cedric Gracia grabbed a shovel and took trail work into his own hands. Jill Kitner grabbed the shovel before the finals. Watching the male and female racers in the world holding shovels was precious to a long time trail worker like myself. I should have taken more pictures. This is Eric Carter dragging his bike past the pigs wallow.

It was an amazing day of racing. The riders did their best dealing with the mud by hammering through the muck. At the end of the day Brian Lopes edged out Cedric to win the pro men category.

Hardcore Newt Porn

2006-01-29T22:57:00.000-08:00

It was the season after the rains and the sun shown brightly over the emerald hills of Henry Coe State Park. The seepage from the rains created puddles in the moist wet grasses. The pig wallows were the hot places for young newts to come together for days and days of uninhibited sexual gratification.

Nathan the Newt met Sally the Salamander in the shallow end of the wallow. She was a desirable taricha torosa and was attracting the attention of a half dozen males. He was a proud virile young salamander about 8 inches long with rough, reddish-brown skin on top and a bright yellow-orange belly. She was a petite 6 inches long with an iridescent twinkle in her eye and fire in her belly. His skin was very slick and even more slimy than usual. Her tail flattened like an eel's tail in anticipation of the amplexus to follow.

They made eye contact and could not hold back their burning desire for each other. Driven by pure animal instinct, he grabbed her from behind and rubbed his chin along the back of her head taking care to induce long strokes. She was writhing in ecstasy stirring the clay in the pond. She was incredibly stimulated by such a large male. The rubbing and writhing lasted for days. Just when he couldn't hold back the pleasure any more he released her and moved in front for the money shot. He ejaculated his thick gooey spermatophore onto the bottom of the pond, connected securely by a sticky stalk from his abdomen. He was spent and exhausted.

She was also quite satisfied but the post coital experience left her a little disappointed. There were other males in the pond and she didn't have to draw his seed into her belly. She could choose to abandon him completely. After a tense moment, she decided that he would be the one to fertilizer her brood and drew his seed into her steaming orifice. Finally satisfied, she deposited her eggs on the bottom of the pond. By this time, the orgy was in full swing and there were egg masses all over the bottom of the breeding pond.... the pond of uninhibited newt desire.

Mr Toad loves newt porn. Yum!

Thanks for the inspiration from the MTB Naturalist for this hot trashy amphibian sex talk.

Real Mountain Biking with your Toddler

2006-01-22T00:54:00.000-08:00

Mountain biking with your toddler is a great way to share the outdoors with your children in a fun and healthy way. My wife and I are active mountain bikers and we have been off road riding with our daughter since she was a year old (she's 3.5 now). We do real mountain biking with our little girl around Santa Cruz and the SF Bay Area but we have taken trips around Tahoe and other parts of California.

With a little preparation, the correct bike setup and a passion for the outdoors and adventure you can explore the trails with your child.

The Child

Many people have asked us how old a child should be to start riding. It's important that the childs neck is strong enough to support her the weight of her head with a helmet. We bought her a helmet when she was 6 months old. We recommend Giro helmets. Not only do these helmets fit well, are high quality and look cool but they have a helmet trade up program for kids called "Grow with Giro". Also, Giro is based in Santa Cruz so it's great to support a local company.

In the beginning, we would all wear our helmets around the house so she would get comfortable with it. I never used to wear a helmet around town but after our daughter, I wore one just to demonstrate to her that it's normal to wear a helmet while riding a bike. Now wearing a helmet on road or off is now a habit.

We started riding with a used Burley trailer when our daughter was 8 months old. We rode all over town, Westcliff Drive and out to Wilder Ranch but not off road. We didn't like the Burley since it wasn't manuverable and it situated her head too close to car exhaust. We also didn't like fact that we couldn't see or hear our child. Back there she seemed more like luggage than a passenger.

The Seat

We got a center mounted child seat at 9 or 10 months old and started riding around town. She loved it! She was so small that her feet didn't reach the bottom of the foot wells. So we placed a couple of water bottles under her feet.

The child seat we use is called a Centric Safe Haven and retails for about $100. I think it was renamed to Wee Ride. The setup consists of a large steel crossbar which attaches between the headset and the seatpost. The saddle attaches to the crossbar with a single large bolt - this makes the bike easy to transport.

This seat came with a 3 point harness which attached at the back but we bought extra straps and buckles to create a 5 point harness which helped in keeping her on the bike when off-road riding. We also installed a CamelBak chest strap to keep the shoulder straps in place.

This center mounted child seat design is superior in so many ways to a rear mounted seat in comfort, convenience and safety:

Having the child situated in front of you allows you to talk with your child during the ride. It also makes it easier to feed her. She can reach the hose of the CamelBak so she can drink when she needs to.
Despite the fact that there is no "roll cage" like a rear mounted seat it is much safer because of the stability. Having the child in the center of the bike doesn't have as much of an impact of moving the center of gravity. In a rear mounted seat, all the weight is on the back wheel which makes the bike feel light up front.
If you manage to get yourself in a situation, you can easily get off the back of the bike in a hurry - something you cannot do with a rear mount.
If you crash on the bike, your arms become a protective roll cage for the child. If you go down then by instinct you will not let go of the bars and take the bruises on your arms to protect your child. My wife and I have had 3 slow speed spills out of the countless times we have been mountain biking. These spills were controlled and could have easily been avoided if we had walked instead of ridden. In each situation, we never let go of the bars and our daughter has been safe.
There is a single threaded bolt which holds the child seat to the crossbar. This bolt has a large knurled head for finger tightening. This makes it easy to remove the seat when transporting the bike.

I highly recommend the seat to anyone (off road or not). It's a great design.

The Bike

We bought two bars and installed one on a townie bike for cruising, errands and commuting (my Wife and child bike commute to pre-school) and the other on a dedicated mountain bike. Having two bike mounts makes it convenient to switch the seat between the two bikes.

Our main toddler mountain bike is a 2001 Intense Tracer. The Tracer is a cross country full suspension bike with 4" of rear travel and a 120 mm Rock Shox Psylo Race up front. This is quite a plush and comfortable bike. The bike has a set of hydraulic disc brakes - which are pretty standard on good mountain bikes these days. Having good brakes is important if you do fast downhill riding since the child and seat will add a non-trivial amount of additional weight.

I installed a short stem (80 mm x 15 deg rise) and the widest highest bars we can find (Azonic double wall 28" wide with 2.5" rise). Having a short high stem and high wide bars allows the maximum amount of clearance for the child's helmet and your chin and chest. Depending on the size of your child, you may not need this setup. We put the Azonic bar on last summer because our daughter was growing and we kept bumping our chin on her helmet.

I swapped out the clipless SPD pedals and used platform pedals and lowered my saddle a bit for more control. You may have to ride a little bowl legged and the platforms allow you to move your feet more. Having platforms allows you to "tripod" and give you additional confidence when navigating a rock garden.

The Rides

The early rides were short. We started with 15-30 minutes of riding and then we would stop for a picnic. We would always bring snacks and perhaps a small toy. Talking and singing with your child makes it a lot of fun. The point of the short rides is to get the child used to riding and to show her how much fun biking can be.

We did our first mountain bike ride with our daughter at Waddell Creek in Big Basin just after her first birthday. Waddell Creek is a great place to take kids or beginners mountain biking. It's a gentle fire road climb through a forest where you can lock up your bikes. We parked our bikes, strapped on the Baby Bjorn and hiked up to Berry Creek Falls for a picnic.

My wife and I used to race cross country and downhill so we are definitely advanced riders. We ride with our daughter most days around town and off-road at least once a week (less in the winter months). We have ridden on terrain with 8" drops, rock gardens, fast downhill and some A-frames. I've stopped riding the A-frames now that our daughter is 32 lbs - too tippy. Believe it or not we have ridden with our daughter at the North Star mountain bike park. In fact, we may be the first family to ride part of "Sticks and Stones" - a double black diamond run - with a child seat.

Our daughter loves mountain biking. Like her mother and father, she has a preference for tight and twisty singletrack in lush redwood forests and sweet downhill trails. She doesn't care much for the long exposed fireroad climbs. Sometimes she gets cranky about them - like her father.

You don't have to be an advanced rider to go mountain biking with your toddler. Non-technical singletrack and fire roads would be adequate for novice, intermediate or cautious parents. Know the terrain and trails that you will be riding. Watch the weather, bring adequate food, water and tools. Ride within your limits. Most of all, enjoy the time you spend on the trails with your children.

Buckethead coming to Santa Cruz

2006-01-21T11:44:00.000-08:00

Buckethead is coming to the Catalyst on Feb 24th. I've seen him perform about 4 or 5 times and I'm definitely going to back to see him again.

I first heard Buckethead play on the 1993 Praxis CD "Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis)" and I was struck by the machine gun guitar reminiscent of Eddy Van Halen and Yngwie Malmsteen. I saw him play with Praxis in San Francisco in 1997 and I was blown away to see him live. He's so tall, moves like a robot and plays the guitar so effortlessly and soulfully.

One of the last times I saw Buckethead, he did an encore in which he did a medley of Led Zeppelin tunes. I've heard quite a few Led Zep cover bands in my life but Buckethead nailed Jimmy Page's licks effortlessly.

He doesn't fit the stereotype of a guitar hero. Guitar heroes love attention but Buckethead is very modest. The mask makes him anonymous, he doesn't speak or sing and in concert, he doesn't draw attention to himself. His virtuosity with the guitar is what commands the respect and attention that he deserves.

Should be a great show.

iPod Video and A/V Cable

2006-01-13T07:46:00.000-08:00

I really enjoy the iPod 5G. I've had it since it was released and I have found that I have been listening to a lot of podcasts with it. One of the podcasts that I look forward to is This Week in Tech - which is a roundtable of tech pundits talking about tech news, new gadgets, rumors and speculation.

Leo Laporte mentioned that he also has a 5G and bought the Apple A/V cable to connect to his TV. I didn't bother with the $19 custom cable and just used a normal A/V cable and reversed the Video and Audio right RCA jacks. It turns out that you have to shift the each cable to the right. This article at MacDevCenter.com is probably the definitive article explaining how to use a regular A/V cable with the 5G. I really like this comment by an engineer to explain why Apple may have reversed the jacks.

This is my first iPod and the first Apple product that I have purchased. I really enjoy the engineering and the whole iPod/iTunes experience. I can honestly say that it has opened up my music library and has made listening to music and podcasts a very convenient experience. Next up is an iPod adapter for my car.

First Post: Cocaine and Strippers

2006-01-12T10:56:00.000-08:00

I'm finally in the blogosphere. It's about time. I became aware of blogging back in early 2000. I figured it would be something that I would be interested in. I kept a journal as a young lad and was a prolific writer. In University, I had thoughts of becoming a science and technology journalist - long before magazines like Wired made tech journalism sexy. Now I'm 6 years late to the party and have started a blog. I've been busy.

I remember meeting the Blogger guys at a JavaOne dinner at a very nice restaurant called 42 degrees in San Francisco. Ah, those were the days. The dot com boom was in full Swing. I was working for the Very Large Computer Company and the stock was through the roof. Software Developers were treated like rock stars: limosines, 25 year old Macallan, fancy dinners at exotic SF restaurants, snorting cocaine off the back sides of strippers.... ok, I made that last one up. There were no cocaine and strippers - just geeks and cafeine.

The dot com boom was over. Now the "Web 2.0" is in effect. The Blogger guys are now part of the Very Large Web Services Company and are probably stinking rich. I hope they don't spend all thier money on cocaine and strippers.