the anonymous senator

So now that I am registered for the red h00k c0mpet1t10n, what am I
worrying about? The collaboration with R, my knowledge and creativity,
the deadline? No. I'm worried about how to organize all the research
and ideas when I'm not sitting on the same network as the other
person. Because I'm at the beginning when all the ideas and todos are
coming fast. This shouldn't be a problem, right? That's part of what
web 2.0 is all about - freelancers working in the cloud? The problem
is there are too many options - for file sharing, links sharing, task
sharing, note taking, bookmarking, etc. Makes my brain hurt. Can't
afford the time to figure out which is best - which requires the
minimum fiddling and the minimum work to keep it up, which fits the
workflow of both me and R - need to get started on the real work.

I guess the real problem is that I play with these services as a
hobby, so I think I should know how to use them in an actual job. But
the requirements of real work are different than just fooling around.
I'm half thinking of confining project management to a moleskine,
email, and google docs.

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Here is a fun couple of videos from Philly.com covering a recent 24-hour adventure race there.  The nightime camerawork is great, and it's not bad for giving your clueless relatives a taste for AR. I wonder what posterous will do with these links? The first is an embed and the second is a straight link.

<embed type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://philly1.a.mms.mavenapps.net/mms/rt/1/site/philly1-pub01-live/current/detail_playlist_default/phillyDetailPlayer/client/embedded/embedded.swf' id='smallFlashEmbedded' pluginspage='http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer' bgcolor='#000000' allowScriptAccess='always' quality='high' name='detail_playlist_default' play='false' scale='noscale' menu='false' salign='LT' scriptAccess='always' wmode='false' height='305' width='320' flashvars='playerId=detail_playlist_default&referralObject=97b61f46-9948-455c-b827-f019782d0d82' />

http://philly1.a.mms.mavenapps.net/mms/rt/1/site/philly1-pub01-live/current/launch.html?maven_playerId=detail_playlist_default&maven_referralObject=f312ac80-3620-42a2-89d5-87732f40944e

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The name is ByPedal Design. A bit too clever, but what are you going to
do? If you have some constructive criticism, I'd love to hear it - in
a week or two after the name sinks in. Praise is welcome at any time.

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Talk about cutting it close. R and I didn't finalize our team name for the Red H00k Bicyc1e Des1gn C0mpetiti0n until this afternoon - and today is the deadline. This morning I tested the online registration to make sure we had all the info we needed. But when I went back in the afternoon, the link was gone! I called and it turns out they had closed it at noon. I don't know about you, but when I say "due on Friday," I mean due by 5pm Friday.  Which I pointed out, and they took my registration over the phone, a bit grudgingly.

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My man Jeremy in the Richmond Times Dispatch talking about PQ.

I raced with Jeremy a couple times, including my first 24-hour race and my second ever adventure race, the 2002 Odyssey One-Day.  Janice and I were racing with Jeremy and one other guy, his name was Angelo, as a four-person team, but it was so last minute that we all entered solo. This made it easy for Angelo, who was a newbie, and Janice to drop out a few hours in. Jeremy and I stuck together the rest of the race until the final bike leg when he had to rest due to persistent stomach problems. He told me to go ahead to the finish because I still had a chance of making the 24-hour cutoff for an official finish. Alas, my legs were fried and I finished in 24:06, the first unofficial racer across the line. Jeremy finished in 25:03.

Next year we joined up as a two person team for the E-Fix, but that's another story. Now he's far surpassed me in toughness and ability.

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"I always say that there's no difference between a pessimist who says, "Oh, it's hopeless, so don't bother doing anything," and an optimist who says, "Don't bother doing anything, it's going to turn our fine anyway." Either way, nothing happens."

- Yvon Chouinard

"An idealist believes the short run doesn't count. A cynic believes the long run doesn't matter. A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run."

- Sydney J. Harris

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Friday night K and I went into Jersey City for dinner and drinks at
Iron Monkey with one current coworker and two former coworkers who now
live and work in NYC. It was so relaxing to hang out with people I
haven't seen in a while rather than facing the uncertainty that comes
with meeting new people. We ate on the roof deck. It was really really
nice to have K along; we rarely get to spend time socially with other
people, outside of kids stuff. It was also nice to see our old
neighborhood in JC, and feel the familiar pull of Manhatten across the
river. On the drive home we played with the idea of moving - not
seriously, of course, but if we didn't like where we are now... When
you think it through it's a good neighborhood for kids as long as you
can afford St. Peter's Prep. For a city there are reasonable parks and
groceries.

Today was a visit to the nieces and nephews. A good thing but also a
huge, tiring hassle and tons of driving. Tomorrow is the zoo (hooray!)
with two colleagues and their families. Will be great if the heat is
bearable.

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Went running this morning for the first time in almost two months. Unbelievably, I've done absolutely no exercise since May 19th. I immediately felt it in my knees.  Wore my heart rate and pace monitor just for kicks, but don't have anything humorous to report - neither was off by too much.

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