my $.02

Charm City Cross

2009-09-24T08:21:00.002-04:00

Thanks to Kevin D for the nice picture. Only problem is, I shouldn't be all alone like that in a cross race. We'll work on that this weekend... Chris and the C3 guys did another great job this year. 600+ racers and plenty of spectators. Add in some tasty pit bbq and Clipper City brews on tap and you have the makings of a great day.

As for the race, the course and the weather were both great. 4 required dismounts per lap (barriers, stairs, sand, and some landscaping timbers...) kept things interesting. I started in the second row, and just slowly faded backwards throughout the race. We'll work on that part next week too. On the last lap, I slipped on one of the timbers and have a nice purple ankle bruise as a memento to my clumsiness. Guess that's three things to work on!

Alec raced U19 and had a great time. I hope CX can maintain this level of chill that permits us non-elites to mix it up with faster folks. It's so cool to see every one giving it their best and getting a little dirty at the same time.

If you want to get an insiders view of the race, check out this video. You might even see me in there somewhere. :)

Best way to start the day

2009-06-23T18:15:00.000-04:00

Cub scout geocaching

2009-04-25T12:01:00.000-04:00

Smoke What? (non 420 related)

2009-04-22T17:33:00.002-04:00

Pat even practices his smack talk. For the record, he smoked every one for the next 13 hours. I guess he is a man of his word.

A test

2009-04-20T13:23:00.000-04:00

att msging unlimited + twitpic + kevin (not a twit) + samsung impression

Hugin

2009-04-03T22:25:00.000-04:00

Stitching photos together on a Mac isn't as easy as you'd think. iPhoto and Aperture do not support the ability to create panoramas from multiple photos. Hugin (freeware) does a decent job, however. I found a set of pics I took while dining in Seattle's Space Needle a few years ago and gave it a go.

Green

2009-03-29T23:07:00.004-04:00

Not satisfied with Santa and the Easter Bunny, our house is also plagued by Leprechauns that turn everything green. Even if you close your eyes, green milk still tastes weird.

Grime. We call it toothpaste.

2009-03-29T22:58:00.000-04:00

It doesn't taste good either.

Ben's 'tude. This vid shows it.

2009-03-08T23:32:00.002-04:00

Someday, some one will have to get a pic of me and my one-handed cycling/video technique, I guess.

Mike

Critical Mass in Columbia? :)

2009-03-08T23:31:00.004-04:00

Nah...we're just out riding with Luke!

Powder Sledding

2009-03-02T17:46:00.001-05:00

A little bit of snow on the back deck stairway makes a nice sledding ramp...

and the runoff area works out pretty well too - as long as you miss the fish pond.

Powder Day

2009-03-02T10:35:00.005-05:00

Kicked the cold (finally) and was rewarded with 2.5 hours of early morning powder. After the sun came up, Chris pulled out some liquid breakfast for us. :)

Yum. By the time we headed back, new snow had already filled in our tracks. +1

Mike

Aluminum Cog = Bad

2009-02-27T07:47:00.002-05:00

Those lips on the teeth - no, they're not suppose to be there. That's about 8 months of on-the-trail, do-it-yourself extrusion. We'll use stainless for now on.

Cleaning Up for Good

2009-02-15T17:03:00.004-05:00

I finally got the boys to finish cleaning out their rooms (for now, anyway). They had some left over Pokemon cards (300+), and I had my eye on the trash can. My 7 year-old suggested that we eBay them instead. He didn't want to help count them, so I told him he would not share in the profit. To my surprise, he immediately quipped that his intent was not to keep the money, but donate it. I can't argue with that... 30 minutes later - with the help of both boys - the cards were counted and organized as you see here.

In 7 days time (the length of the auction), AFC will have a bit more cash, and my boys will know a bit more about what things are worth. Pretty cool.

[Update - $40 was raised for AFC + the house is a bit cleaner!]

Relativism

2009-02-14T10:49:00.003-05:00

So some of my friends think I ride my bike a lot. As this chart demonstrates, however, I ride little compared to some of my friends - as far as road-miles are concerned. (I'm the grey line.) None of us, however, ride as much as elite or pro riders. Yet the gap between each successive rider category is large. I can't keep up with folks 'one step' above my level in most cases. Yet folks 'one step' below me feel like I'm too fast.

So as a cyclist, I really can't relate to some one like Lance Armstrong any more than a non-cyclist.

Almost 70. (Farenheit)

2009-02-08T23:11:00.005-05:00

The thermometer read about 70F today, so the kids went on a mandatory bike ride with me. :) Ben's inner descender is finally emerging. He made it up BB today as well (2+ mile climb). For that feat, he earned his very own AFC jersey. [update - Each kid has received a prize for their first successful climb; I asked Ben what he wanted, and he asked for the AFC jersey... Good thing I had already bought him one!]

2 thermoses of hot chocolate and a few snacks can easily entice my kids into a 2 hour ride. Of course, I probably should have fed them a real lunch.

Mike

ps - I raised his seat for the trip back home!

Two Wheels

2009-02-08T10:01:00.006-05:00

We finally got some good weather, so Luke could try out his new wheels. I think it's cool that he lets his dad ride with him. My kids are starting to think dad isn't so cool these days.

Ouch

2009-01-31T18:01:00.002-05:00

This just proves that riding your bike inside is wrong.

Christmas is here.

2008-12-04T13:13:00.001-05:00

I'm thankful for the creativity and dedication of Chris Brown that went into building this special bike for a very cool young man that I know. I'm thankful for my friends at AdventuresForTheCure for their support (and patience!) on this project. I'm thankful for local bike shops that really do want to share the simple joy of a bike ride. I'm especially thankful for Luke. I can't wait to ride along with you and you Dad!

Mike

Blueberries + Pancakes

2008-11-30T16:10:00.001-05:00

Yum.

Mike

What is Belgian Toothpaste?

2008-11-15T08:20:00.003-05:00

www.belgiantoothpaste.com

Quilts for GSO

2008-11-14T07:47:00.005-05:00

A local paper ran an article this week about an orphanage our church has been working with for a couple years. The relationship has meant a lot to our family. The kids happily accepted a mini-sized Christmas last year when they knew they would be helping other children. The GSO leadership and the children are constantly in our thoughts and prayers.

This week, the orphanage's founder, Dr. Mbinda, visited us at our home. Our friends from AFC joined us for the evening as well. You would think that a conversation centered around tackling herculean socioeconomic issues would be dry if not downright depressing. Quite to the contrary, we had a great time discussing the various ways we can make a difference in the world.

Mike

2008 Geocaches

2008-11-09T06:20:00.005-05:00

2008 Geocaches at EveryTrail

All (37) of the geocaches we've found this year. I still can't find an easy way to log all of these finds with geocaching.com, however, since the Garmin treats them like waypoints.

Mountain Bike Geocaching

2008-11-09T06:07:00.004-05:00

Mountain Bike Geocaching at EveryTrail

Rockburn Branch Park has several well hidden geocaches. Seemed like a great way to keep a few kids busy for a few hours. There's still a multi-stage cache we didn't get to. (The first cache contains clues for finding the actual cache.)

Including the ride to/from our house, it was almost 7 miles for Ben (and 1600' of climbing to boot)! When I told him, he asked if I would give him a prize. :p

Mike

"Can we make a leaf pile?"

2008-11-07T21:47:00.001-05:00

It's just us boys at the house this weekend. :)

Mike

I've just got to be mii

2008-11-07T21:29:00.000-05:00

We got a Wii this year. You get to design your own 'mii' (character). We all drew characters that looked (we think) like us.

For holloween this year, Ben asked if he could be his 'mii'. One of the easiest requests you'll ever get from your kid - to dress up like a characture of themself. Ha!

Mike

Harvard is Big

2008-10-30T21:54:00.001-04:00

The dorms are quite fancy. But they don't seem to have any pubs. [UPDATE - apparently they do; they just happen to be on the block/street we didn't walk down...]

Boston

2008-10-29T09:43:00.000-04:00

Madi and the kids spent a day with me before my conference started. This town (doesn't feel like a city...) is a neat place. I've had difficulty finding good beer however. Harvard have secret pubs; we looked darn near everywhere and found nothing special. MIT has a local brewery where I found an interesting gruit. But so far, I'm not impressed.

I've got $8 left on my Charlie Card, so I hope to find something tasty tonight.

Mike

Mean, mean Verizon

2008-10-16T13:06:00.005-04:00

My wife lost her credit card a few weeks ago. After a few calls to the bank, we thought we had everything under control...

A few days ago, our FIOS Internet service stopped working. On a hunch (her's, not mine) we wondered if the credit card had something to do with it. Well, it turns out that we had been paying our FIOS bill by CC, but we got a new number when they replaced her card.

So here's what Verizon did.
- Within a week or so of our payment failing, they drop our service.
- Service charges were applied to the account.
- No phone call to warn us of the issue.
- No e-mail to warn us of the issue.
- No letter in the mail to warn us of the issue. We get tons of ads from them, so it's not as if they don't know where we live!

After a couple hours on the phone, we ended up dealing with a really pleasant customer rep. However, she said we had to go through a complete re-install to activate the service. That is, we get to sit around all day waiting for a tech to show up. The customer rep promised some kind of rebate.

Funny how they can shut your service off in an instant, but it takes days to get it back.

[Update - Verizon has called several times to make sure we know about the service call. Seems like they're trying to make up...]

[Update #2 - Waited around all day Sunday for the service tech. I received a call late in the day that the tech would not be coming. Sigh. I asked, again, why a tech was even necessary to reactivate my service. The woman said, 'Oh, I can do that from here.' Huh??? Why didn't you guys tell me that a week ago? In any event, she did something and the connection came right up. I'm very dissapointed with you, Verizon.]

BenFest '08

2008-10-12T17:23:00.006-04:00

70+ people makes the house feel a bit small. I think every one had a good time though - especially Ben! The backyard cyclocross course was back again this year, along with a bunch of sausage, kraut, desserts and fun stuff for the kids. I have to thank my mom for yet another incredible cake; it tasted even better than it looked. (I'm about to go eat the last piece...)

Thanks as well to all of our friends - our TMR peeps, friends of friends, a couple mid's in street clothes (ha! - I'm not tellin'), family. I don't know how I ended up with some many great friends and such a awesome family!

Mike

BCA Cross - Hagerstown

2008-10-05T15:30:00.010-04:00

It wasn't my intent to go the speed limit. A flat tire towards the start of the second lap and a magically unclipping left cleat made the day interesting, though. The senior ranks of our AFC team were hobbled by a number of mechanicals, but Jimmy Klose took 1st in the 18U and 16U races. It was beautiful in Hagerstown and several hundred racers made the most of it.

My friend Sven (Chris, actually) grabbed a wheel off his pit bike to keep me in the race, and I had fun picking off a few of the (other) slow riders. I really wanted to make a go of it with Trevor and Jim, but the gap was just too big.

Watching Alec in the 16U race was my favorite part of the day. AFC represented well in the junior race, and it's nice to see racers and fans support the young riders. Cyclocross courses are the perfect place for new/young riders to have some fun.

Alec posted some of his thoughts about the race on the AFC blog.

Mike

Free Lemonade

2008-08-24T20:54:00.007-04:00

It was warm and sunny today; the boys wanted to do a lemonade stand. We had fun in the kitchen (added a bit of fresh lime to the mix) and wound up with a tasty gallon. In the past, I've made the kids consider material costs and a proper pricing model. Cyclists always drink free at our stands, though, and we typically have lots of them passing our house on the weekend.

Today I told them every one drinks free. Then I sweetened the deal by offering to donate 50 cents to their favorite charity (an African orphanage) for every cup they gave away. Seems like a simple business plan, eh?

They really worked it hard; in addition to the painted sign, they ran up and down the side walk yelling, "Free Lemonade" to every one who passed. Over the course of 2 hours - with a bike, car, or runner passing every few minutes - they were able to give away only 4 cups of lemonade. Some of the responses included, "Yeah Right! But I bet you want a donation!", "Sorry kids, I don't have any money right now.", and "Yeah right! What's the catch?"

We just thought it would be a nice thing to do. I think we'll try again sometime soon!

Mike

The Final Tally

2008-08-15T15:51:00.009-04:00

(The kids enjoyed Aunt Elizabeth's Lite Bright...)

We're still crunching the numbers, but here are a few stats for the trip:

Duration: 4 weeks
Distance Traveled (including excursions): 7,500 miles
Fuel Economy: 18.4MPG
Average Driving Speed: 48.4 MPH
Max Speed: 87.4 MPH
States Visited: 19
National Parks/Monuments Visited: 12
Geocaches Found: 36
Animals Killed (wih car): 4
Repairs: 4 (less than $300 total)
Hours stopped on Route 70 in MD (flipped tanker) on our way home: 3.5

Mike

ps - 3 hours working our way through and around Chicago on a Friday afternoon + 3 hours stopped on Route 70 - less than an hour from home - really did us in. About 22 straight hours in the car and we missed the Ilchester bike race. :(

Coming Home

2008-08-15T11:22:00.010-04:00

We love visiting family in Minnesota. Every one we know from this neck of the woods seems especially friendly, and our kids a ton of fun with there midwestern cousins. We left Yellowstone a day early (at the kids' urging) to make sure we had time to see every one, but we would have preferred even more time.
Olympic fever seems to be everywhere, and it's been fun watching bits and pieces of the competition. The majority of our trip has been TV/Internet-free. We're thinking about hitting a sports pub on the way home so we dont' miss the Friday night action. :)
We've got 1100 miles between us and home. At this point in a vacation, I'm usually lamenting the trip home. In this case, however, I think we're ready to return. My coworkers assume me things are in good shape at the office (although at least one of them is an avid poker player...) The kids have a week before school starts, and Madi's favorite horses probably have a nicker or two waiting for her.
We're thinking about hitting Maine and the North East next year if any wants to join in. :)

Mike

New Ulm - Some R&R

2008-08-13T13:11:00.021-04:00

To mix things up a little bit, I found a wonderful little B&B in new Ulm, MN. The Bohemian owner educated us on a bit of the region's ethnic and art history. We also enjoyed 3 big rooms and two whirlpool tub-appointed bathrooms. A great night's sleep and wonderful breakfast topped it all off.

Casey was happy to play with the owner's 1 year-old (I think she misses her baby cousin!) The kids were also eager to watch Olympic swimming and gymnastics, so they shared a pizza at the B&B while Madi and I hit the local steak/brew pub. (The kids had a cell phone with them, and we were only a couple blocks away...) My $14 'George's Steak' handily beat out Madi's $19 New York Strip. Chivalrously, I shared some of mine with her. If you're ever in New Ulm, stop by George's and enjoy some Shell's Firebrick Ale.

In other news, an ominous 'knock' sound is emanating from the van when we come to a stop. A quick stop at a local mechanic confirmed that the suspension, steering, and brakes are in one piece, but we'll have to look into when we get home. After 6000+ miles - including a good deal of engine braking through the mountains - I suspect something might have come loose. I don't know what the long-term effects of engine braking with a front-wheel drive vehicle are.

Tech Note - Here's how we've handled geocaching, photos, navigation, reservations, and blogging during the trip. A PowerBook G4 talking PPP over Bluetooth via Blackberry provides Internet access in all but the most remote areas (and canyons). We download pictures from a Pansonic Lumix FX35 camera to the Mac via an SDHC reader. Since I'm not willing to risk losing a month's worth of photos, we run backups with rsync to Madi's iPod ever couple days. A simple, one-line script ensures than any new or modified files from my home directory are copied to a data partition on the iPod. iPhoto and QuicktimePro are used to crop and compress photos and videos before we upload them to Blogger, since I have no desire to empirically determine the upload time for the full-size 10Mpixel image files. For geocache updates, 'pocket queries' are downloaded from geocaching.com and uploaded to the Garmins via USB; this enables the GPS units to know where the geocaches are in each new town. The Sienna's 3 12v ports are in constant use charging the various gadgets. Madi wields all this tech geekery handilly, and it's really come in handy for our seat-of-the-pants trip planning.

Onward to Wyzatta, MN!
Mike

South Dakota is Longggg

2008-08-12T17:10:00.009-04:00

Some times I have to pull over and navigate...

when my navigator is busy. :)

On the highway, I find I can draft the double-tankers at 85MPH. At one point, I was behind a tanker that was drafting a double gravel truck. I put the van into neutral and coasted at 85MPH. When we're in the open, 75 is a comfy speed for the engine and tranny. (That's transmission, Keith - not what you're thinking...) The trip average so far is 18.5MPG.

Devils Tower was sweet. We watched two climbers work their way up a chimney on the West (the climber had both feet braced against opposite sides of a 5' wide gap). Would have needed a 300+mm lens to capture that shot, so we just enjoyed the show via binoculars. See if you can find the climber (and his partner) in the picture. :)

Mt Rushmore underwhelmed most of us; it seems bigger in pictures than it does in real life. Since I'm philosophically opposed to posting a picture of something I'm sure all of my friends have already seen, here's a picture of us instead. I should mention to my dad that they've really redone the place since we were there. Badlands National Park, on the other hand, really surprised us. We would definitely go back there again with our bikes and try some back country camping as well. Our evening was almost spoiled by a fancy motorhome that rolled in late with its generator running, but the owner wisely decided to respect the wishes of the 40 or so other campers enjoying the quiet South Dakota sunset. On the way out, we visited a Minuteman Missile Silo that we happened upon. That's something I always wanted to see, but our kids have trouble understanding the idea that we used to live in fear of big bombs.

Just rolled into Minnesota! We'll be spending time with family for the next couple days.

Mike

Heading East

2008-08-11T09:29:00.009-04:00

Hi! This is Alec. I'm writing today.

This is what today looks like in the car. BUT I'm not playing my DS. Because of that, I witnessed my dad killing his fourth animal victim. A bird. He has killed 3 birds and 1 squirrel. Daddy says wildlife 0-daddy 4. In Yellowstone today we got stuck in a buffalo jam. It's just like a traffic jam but it's caused by buffaloes and tourists.

Madi here-now the first picture is correct as Alec has given up typing and is playing his DS. At least typed something on the blog. :-)

I think Wyoming has longer flatter roads than Kansas, but much more scenic. In fact, it's our favorite state so far and y'all might have to come here to see us one day. It's simply gorgeous, down to earth people, geocaches, and many many horses. Oh, and coffee, lots of coffee. I'm happy.

So, yesterday we drove towards Beartooth Pass. It was out the NE entrance to Yellowstone and up 212 towards Red Lodge. We slept in our clothes for the next day and woke up at 5:15 am to have coffee and got on the road by 5:45. We got some neat pictures, many more in our minds as we simply don't have the equipment/aren't good enough with the camera to capture what we see. We got to see some stunning elk with gigantic racks and many many buffalo. We got a video of a buffalo rolling. If you haven't heard buffalo, they make some weird noises. Grunting/growling/gurgling. I walked out toward some and scared the carp out of my kin as one of the bulls decided to stand his ground. I knew to keep my distance. He was just checking me out. He's not used to blondes I guess. ;-) Ben also saw the elusive and much desired bear. We think it was a young grizzly but aren't 100% on that. He was very excited and far from exasperated. The animals left on my bucket list are mountain goats and moose, and not the chocolate kind.

We drove 110 miles total from our campsite and wound up stopping at the Clay Butte fire tower. What a beautiful setting. It was between the Beartooth, Gallatin and Absorok (sp?) mountain ranges. The fire tower is no longer in service, it's a public service spot that keeps track of wildlife and has volunteers man it to give info to tourists and hikers like us. We hiked to a pile of snow there and threw snow at each other. Then drove back to the campsite. It was an unintended 12-hour day. My bad. But enjoyable.

And we ended the car trip with the buffalo jam. The piece de resistance was the ginormous buffalo walking down the road playing chicken with the dually in front of us. Then he moved to the opposing lane and walked right along with the cars as you'll see in the video. We were cracking up. He was the biggest buffalo we had seen. Just struttin' his stuff.

We are currently driving through a canyon in the Bighorn National Forest. There's whitewater to our left and this is simply gorgeous. Wow!! Mike wondered how we were going to get through the mountains. WOW!! Wish you were here!!! Man do I love Wyoming!! Whoa, switchback... what a view!

And we finally had chicken soup for dinner. With biscuits cooked in a pan on the stove. The hail storm helped with our appetites for soup.

On to the Dakotas...
Madi

Exasperated in Yellowstone

2008-08-08T18:37:00.009-04:00

Time for some seriously touristy stuff. Yellowstone. :) We've pushed our 6 year-old's legs to the limit, but 3 or 4 miles is about all the can take, so any sweet back country stuff isn't in the cards. In fact, long hikes and a few other things have left him feeling exasperated. The kids are doing a bit of homework during the trip, and that's one of the new words he's learned - here, just listen to him...

Now Alec keeps telling his brother not to exasperate. :)

We enjoyed a variety of geothermal treats today - or bubbly ground water farts, as the kids call them. I got a face full of sulfur flavored steam, and their description isn't far off. The colors were nice, though. If you look carefully at this pic, you'll see our shadows as we look for the bottom of one of the may springs we hiked around today. We waited patiently for Grand Geiser to do it's thing, but it wasn't to be.

The local grocery store sells this stuff, so we'll have to give it a go this evening. For now, however, it's 60 miles of driving (each way) for an urgent grocery run... :( I'm just not prepared to deal with 'wet' cushions in the camper... The good news is that we'll get to see West Yellowstone, which wasn't originally in our plan. We can also say we've been to Montana now!

Mike

Grand Teton, small world

2008-08-07T19:39:00.005-04:00

Wow, have we been remiss in our blogging. Never fear, Madi here, I'll catch you up. Sitting in traffic yet again. How we can be in wild Wyoming, the least populated state in the country and sit in traffic every single day, and more than once a day, is beyond me. But I'm on vacation so where do I have to be?

So, where were we? Oh wait, that's what I'm supposed to tell you. Let me see...

After we left Red Canyon and Bryce, we hit the highway hard and Drove to Dinosaur National Park in Utah. That was one long drive, about 250 miles or so. On the way we stopped at the Prehistoric museum in some Utah town and searched without success for a geocache under the velociraptor. Guess he ate it. Oh, and that's where we saw the Got Poop on the porta potties. Casey and Alec had to think about that one. Too funny!

Then we pedaled to the metal to the dino park to look for real bones. It was hotter than Hades up there. We touched all the bones we could before taking the bus up to the top of the trail to search for real fossils and bones. We hopped out of the air conditioned bus into the arid 115 degree desert to begin our search. Our skin immediately turned bright red and we all drank all of our water by the end of our 3/4 mile hike. We did see some prehistoric clam fossils, some small dino bones and some ancient petroglyphs mingled with some 2005 petroglyphs probably left by hominids, subspecies idiot. Sigh. We missed the huge dino bones labeled with white arrows probably because we were suffering from heat stroke. I think you need a geology degree to find those. We all agreed that this was the least exciting part of our trip so far, and the furthest drive for the least reward.

Oh well, upward and onward. We went into Vernal, Utah (gotta love that name) to find dinner. Casey was thrilled as we found the 4th book in the Stephanie Meyer's series and bought it. Neat cause Ms. Meyer's is Mormon and we actually bought it in a Mormon book shop. The Cobblerock Brewery unfortunately didn't have their liquor license yet so there was no beer with dinner, but it was still yummy. And there was a geocache right next to it. We tried to find a hotel that night but everyone in Rock Springs, Wyoming was booked so we stayed at the KOA, got up early and left for the Grand Teton National Park.

The Tetons are beautiful. Jackson Hole, or Jackson as it apparently wants to be known as now is very touristy. I hear everyone runs into at least one person they know out there, but I'm getting ahead of myself. We camped in Colter Bay which is about 30 miles north of Jackson and right on Jackson Lake. We walked down to the lake from the campground and the kids and Mike swam in the lake in the shadow of the Tetons. What a gorgeous setting. Simply stunning. The next day we went in to town and did a little of the touristy thing. Spent too much money, signed up for a whitewater rafting trip and had lunch. On the way back to our campsite we went to Shadow Mountain as per our friends in CO and took the minivan 4-wheeling. Oddly enough, there was a geocache up there so we left a "Dick Cheney Skis in Jeans" sticker there for you Sean. Got a cool magnet of the Tetons naming each mountain in exchange.

Note - this is a draft from www.snakeriverphotos.net; unfortunately, they don't sell digital images for download - only physical packages of 5. Since they took only one passable photo of us, I'll have to work out some kind of fair compensation with them once we get home...

Today we went white water rafting, not floating but white water. Granted, it is summer and the water is a little low, but much higher than last year. The youngest they'll take is 6 so we just got in under the wire. 4 of us loved it, I mean loved it. The 6 year old, well, he survived it and finished the ride in the front of the boat on the rapids so I think he did just fine. He says he won't do it again but I don't believe him. We have to find the pic the photo company took at the "Big Cahuna". It should be awesome! Also met a nice family from the Netherlands. Actually they are from California now. They also had 3 kids, a girl and 2 boys. Neat people.

We had just gotten back into Jackson and were walking back to the car when someone started honking and waving to someone. I was looking around to see who they were waving at. It was us!!!! Guess who we saw???!!! Adam Driscoll and Tracy are in Jackson for the weekend and drove right by us on one of the main streets. UNBELIEVABLE! Alec says that's the most random thing that's ever happened to him. So we got a pic to show you all. Mike bequeathed Adam his vacation hat now that we are out of the really hot weather (hopefully). It looks smashing on Adam imo. Adam and Tracy (forgive me if I'm not spelling your name right Tracy, please?) were looking for a trail to go for a run on so we sent them off to Shadow Mountain but told them to avoid the buffalo. Hope you guys have a great weekend and a safe trip home.

So, now we are in Yellowstone and almost to Grant Village where we actually have reservations for once. Ha, can you imagine? The kids are still singing Hawk Nelson. " Come on if you're feeling, if you're feeling allright..." I'm just hoping we don't have to eat chicken noodle soup for dinner.

Bryce is Beauuuuutiful

2008-08-04T12:06:00.013-04:00

The extended W family will recognize some of our recent activities - a chuck wagon dinner, family horseback riding, and hat purchasing. :) We spent two days at Bryce Canyon after leaving Zion. I've included a couple pics, but it's hard to capture either Zion or Bryce with a camera. (The 25mm Leica lens on my new point-n-shoot is fun, but it distorts the corners - bad news for my subjects who happen to have their faces in the corner of my pics...)

Ben was scared he would have to dance with one of the cowgirls at the chuckwagon dinner, so he hid in a parta-john. Madi picked up roping with some help from a real-life cowboy after the show. I kept trying to rope Ben as he ran around the corral, but I was afraid I'd noose either his neck or ankles. Casey and Alec rode around on couple friendly horses.

The horseback ride through Bryce was great fun, but a couple of us were walking funny after 2 hours in the saddle. We did a few hikes in the canyon as well. 560+ feet of switchbacks to the base of the slot canyons. it was cool and surreal.

This picture is for my mom; I think it would be a good puzzle. See if you can spot the Indian Head penny...

Mike

ps - One more puzzle pic - some plants at Bryce...

Comments from Madi
The kids and I thought the chuckwagon dinner was one of the most fun things we've done. It was a blast. And my husband neglected to tell you that I actually am 100% in my roping from the ground. It's roping from the horse that I need to work on... he he! And they let me ride back on a horse instead of in the chuck wagon, the same one I scared with roping non-ability.

Bryce was amazing. We camped in Red Canyon just a few miles from Bryce(and not touristy at all) on a tip from our French Friends we met near the Grand Canyon. It was gorgeous as well. And I was so proud of my family for riding like champs on the trail ride. Up and down steep hills and twisty turns and through water. They are awesome. Ben wants to do it again.

And the "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" pic is for my mom. I'll print it for her when I get home. We started that in the Vatican museum when I was 16 with my brother and sister. It now continues... and is appropriate in my mind anyway.

We miss you all. Julie, I can't believe Kate is finally walking. Yay!!

Meg-you go girl! You are awesome and kicking butt at Navy. We love the pic of you and your company (?) laughing while supposedly drilling in cammy's. Too funny. We are so proud of you.

Stacey-we miss you guys too. Thanks for getting the stuff from the swim team for us and we'll be back soon.

(Mel/Chris - This is 'Thor's Hammer'!)

To the rest of you-thanks for reading, we miss you all, but are loving seeing this big beautiful country. We are counting our blessings every day!

Love,

Madi

Zion

2008-08-02T13:50:00.002-04:00

Another one night stop. After a super hot day, we drove to town for some Mexican food and beer. We headed up to the canyon for sunset. Family gets to sleep in, temps are cooler, but you get the sweet colors between 6:30 and 7:30 pm. The boys wear 'bear bells' so we - and the beers, mountain lions, etc. - know where they are. On the advice of my friend Curt, I bring up the rear and we keep the little ones mid-line.

Hiking in Zion is rocky, but not like back East. The whole park seems to me made of huge, flowing rock. The path we took had steps carved into it and was rated moderate. Some of the trails have pretty big drop-offs - a bit more than we're prepared to tackle with the kids.

Mike

ps - Madi says I'm being too terse, so we may need to spruce up future posts with her thoughts as well. :)

Last night in Arizona

2008-08-01T19:34:00.006-04:00

A lot of people rent RV's out here, and I'm not sure they're comfortable driving them. We arrived a bit late to sunrise at the GC last night, thanks to an especially slow RV'er. It was still spectacular, and every one out on the trail spontaneously shushed as a thick blanket of deep oranges and reds blanketed the canyon. The quiet was almost as spectacular as the colors.

We left early for Zion and it got HOT again. Luckilly, we chose a camp site (first come first serve) that sits near a cool stream/river. It saved the day! We spent a bunch of time sitting and playing in the very cool water before cooking up a quick lunch and heading into town to do some laundry.

We'll look for a good spot to watch sunset here in Zion and head up to Bryce tomorrow. (It's not too fun hanging around a campsite all day with temps over 100F...)

Mike

ps - I forgot to mention that we met a group of 32 college-age youth who are 7 weeks into a 9 week cross-country bike ride. They're doing non-profit work along the way, and reminded me a lot of AFC. It was great to talk to them even though we really miss our bikes! We also spent a night with a cool family from Paris. We taught them rumicube.

On the Edge

2008-08-01T19:22:00.002-04:00

We've seen lots of folks with expensive camera/video gear on this trip, but the key to capturing truly magic panoramas - the warm light that occurs in early morning and late dusk - conflicts a bit with the schedule of a relaxing vacation. After a couple brutal hot/bright hikes on the north rim of the Grand Canyon, we're planning to watch sunset this evening - and grab some sweet pics. This one was taken at the heat of the day on the North Rim of the GC. You'll note, of course, the intense shadows, blown out sky, and wash out canyon colors. Okay, maybe you won't, but I do. :)

The truck pic is for a couple of my bro's back home; we find the minivan+popup combo to work really well, but this looks wayyy cooler.

Can't wait for sunrise at the GC!

Mike

The Earth at Risk?

2008-07-30T09:40:00.007-04:00

At the Great Meteor Crater, we asked this very question. Ben looked for details deep in space, while Alec and Casey took the more straight-forward approach. It turns out that if you take a moon-sized meteor traveling directly towards earth (no chance for atmospheric 'bounce') at 8 Gazillion miles per hour, then yes, the Earth is doomed.

We actually spent most of the day at the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. Arizona is hot in July. You can see and buy petrified wood in the park, or you can simply stop along highway 180 after you leave and pick it up off the side of the highway. It turns out that petrified wood is not rare; it occurs in all 50 states. While stopping to check out a geocache on 180, we noticed that the roadside was littered with agate, petrified wood, and other rocks you might pay for in a store. I guess geology is much easier when you go to a place that isn't slathered in asphalt and $400k townhouses.

My favorite spot in the park was called 'Newspaper Rock'. It's covered with petroglyphs - stone art from native Americans dating back almost 2000 years. It was fun talking to my 6 year-old - who spent most of last year learning to read and write - about languages that lack a formal alphabet and grammar. (You can, of course, find better pictures and information on the net...)

We're heading towards Flagstaff next for some hotel time, before heading up to the Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, and Cedar City. 2 days in the desert was enough for us, although I did ask the kids what it would be like to wonder around one for 40 years.

Mike

We Found the Can

2008-07-29T08:53:00.004-04:00

Some of our good friends from AFC hid something for me in Arizona a month or so ago. It was my first attempt at a geocache. I put rice inside to absorb moisture. I thought the can was waterproof. We found the can; the stink that came with it was indescribable! It was still fun, though. Thanks Ed, Stacey, and crew!

Our little mishap with the trailer harness cost us our day at the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings, but you can see the kids are still quite happy. (Hawk Nelson is one of their favorites...)

Mike

Off Road

2008-07-27T23:05:00.006-04:00

Who the heck rented my husband a jeep??!!

Madi here, obviously. So. another beautiful day in Ouray, okay the first beautiful day. No rain and lots of sun. So we decide to go 4-wheeling. Beginner 4-wheeling, or at least that's what I was told. But I'm a little ahead of myself.

They call Ouray Switzerland of America. I can see why. It's beautiful. Incredibly beautiful Everywhere we look.

We woke up at 6 am (Mike is still waking up at 3:30 as that's 5:30 EST) and tried to wake up the kids. Anyone ever try to wake up rocks? Yea, now you understand. Even better was the fact that they giggled themselves to sleep last night and Ben started giggling as soon as he was conscious this morning. We actually got completely packed up and moving by 7:30 am by using the promise of a hot breakfast in town.

Casey, Alec and I found a restaurant and ordered breakfast for all of us while Mike and Ben rented the vehicle of terror, I mean the heap. Actually, it was a very nice Jeep, or so I thought. And they came back and breakfast arrived just after they returned. Mike had a really spicy breakfast burrito that puts Frisco's burritos to shame. I had a delicious omelet with jalopenos (don't ask don't tell) and the kids had pancakes and french toast and hot chocolate. YUM!!

We then packed the heap with our cooler and extra clothes and went off on our leetle adventure. The only thing I forgot was my depends, mental note to self.

It started out innocently enough. A few bumps, a few hills, some 4-wheelers, some mountains. Then the switchbacks and mining debris, slopes totally washed out-heap singletrack and Madi in adrenaline overload. OMGOSH!! I have not been that scared in a long time. Mike's been 4-wheeling. I haven't. All I could think was 'Who the heck rented Mike this thing? Does he know what he's doing? Will anyone find us when we go over the edge? Am I leaking onto the seat? (jk)' Fortunately I was smart enough not to open my mouth while we were on the ledges and switchbacks but Mike probably knew by how quiet I was. I do think I got all the adrenaline out because I was fine on the second set of washed out trails.

The views were amazing. You cannot get the same feel on the paved roads. The kids loved the 4-wheeling. They made up their own jeep jingle. And we got to hike to the top of the highest part around. hopefully those pics turned out and we'll include those. (The momma bear in me came out up there too, kids too close to the edge, eeeeeeek! Darn hormones.)

We also did a lot of geocaching. Ben is proving yet again to be our treasure hunter. He can find the geocaches anywhere. Alec and Casey are good too, but Ben is the expert. Quote of the day, "Is this the geocache?" Madi, "What is it?" Ben, "I don't know. It has signing stuff, a pen and paper and toys in it." Ben had found a box nailed to the trunk of a spruce tree that looked almost like a birdhouse with a ziploc bag in it and a margarine container. We found at least 3 geocaches already today and found our first multi-cache, a 2-part cache. The first part told us the coordinates of the real cache. Cool stuff.

Side note, Ben really wants to make pine needle tea. He learned about it on Man vs. Wild and we looked in up in our SAS Survival Book. You can use the green needles to do it or you can just eat the new needles. The ends are especially tasty in the spring and they are loaded with vitamin C.

Mike wants me to tell you guys we just finished going down a hill that was as steep as Ilchester and at least 10 times (I think 20 or more) as long. And we saw a cyclist almost at the top. He was AWESIOME!! We are south of Telluride on Rt. 145. Dave, if you get a chance, would you please look it up on Bikely? Crazyyyyyyy!!

Trivia question-how many miles have the West's traveled as of right now? The one closest to it will win a genuine arrowhead from the town of Ouray. Let the games begin!

Last note - we pulled into Mesa Verde tonight only to find that the trailer cable had frayed; no lights, no trailer brakes, no refrigerator, no power (for tonight). I guess the adventure has finally begun! - Mike

Ciao!

Madio

Telluride

2008-07-26T20:52:00.007-04:00

I love Ouray and Telluride. The terrain is spectacular; peaks towering 1500' overhead, awesome cloud formations - we're already trying to plan a ski trip back this way. Mountain Village is connected to Telluride via gondola. The kids loved the ride. We took the van across Last Dollar Pass, but we'll hit some real off-road tomorrow.

We found two more geocaches today; left one of Sean's 'Dick Cheney Skis in Jeans.' stickers at one of them. Some subtle humor from our friends in CO!

Parting shot - Casey found a bike she liked in downtown Telluride...

Off to Mesa Verde tomorrow - and then to AZ!

Mike

Popping Pringles

2008-07-26T11:30:00.005-04:00

In addition to exploding ink pens, we've got popping Pringles cans!

I'm thinking about my bro-in-law; Ouray is 90% 4x4's. I've got a Jeep rented for all day tomorrow (Sunday) so we can hit some trails. Pretty much every one at our campground has a sweet Jeep of some kind. So far, this is my favorite piece of the Rockies.

(I'll get some pictures of the cool rock crawlers and Jeeps today...)

Mike

Vail and good friends

2008-07-25T18:29:00.001-04:00

Madi here-reviewing comments on the blog and posting as we drive
through spectacular Glenwood Canyon. Though I hear we are going to
think it's just a teeny tiny hole in the ground once we get to the
Grand Canyon. Good thing we are driving through this first. I can't
believe I am connected to the internet down here. He he.

We just spent two days in Edwards, near Vail, with Sean, one of biking
buddies who used to live in Maryland. Oddly enough, his wife and son
are in Maryland right now. Hi Kelly, wish you were here!!

We got to drive up this awesome dirt road, yes, dirt road called Red
Sandstone Road (guess what color our gray van is now?-no prize will be
given for this answer) for 10 miles. We were rewarded at the top with
a ranch with horses, a hot lunch and a lake with canoes and kayaks.
Not to mention the obvious, spectacular views of the mountains around
Vail. Real back country though, no commercial nuthin'! Casey and
Alec did the 2-person kayak thing and loved it, they stayed out longer
than we did. Mike, Ben and I canoed all went around the whole lake.
Then while Alec and Casey were still on the lake, Ben played with an 8
week old Chihuahua (sp?) named Butters. He was in heaven.

Then we drove back down and went into Vail, got ice cream and coffee,
did a little window shopping, an attempt at geocaching down in town
which was unproductive and then, dramatic gasp, rode the gondola up
the mountain. I think it was the Eagle Bahn. From the top we could
see another gorgeous view including Holy Cross and a few other very
tall mountains. And we found our first nano-magnetic geocache. Mike
actually found it - underneath a rain gutter. It was very small. And
my pen exploded on it, mental note to self, many things explode at
altitudes of 12,000 feet-pens, lotions, shampoo, and Pringles! I bet
pancake batter would explode too if I made it and sealed. He he.

Back to the geocache. It had a very small strip of paper rolled up in
it which you take out and sign and date and then put back. Then we
rode the gondola back down and went back to Sean's for dinner. Oh,
after sitting in traffic for 45 minutes on 70. There was a car
accident. Traffic in Colorado, who'da thunk? But then we had
delicious grilled marinated flank steak, grilled corn on the cob,
fresh bread and beer. The kids also had broccoli and big chocolate
cookies (we're all kids aren't we?) and since we had dinner so late we
had dessert first. ;-)

Video is self explanatory. The pic of the kids in the gondola is
taken above the village of Lionshead in Vail. Pic of the mtns is just
general pic of the scenery out here. Contented sigh.

So, onto Ouray and Telluride.

Madi and the fam.

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Pancakes with Altitude

2008-07-22T23:33:00.003-04:00

Madi here-Okay, so Adam wins the sour skittles, weeeeeeee! Alec will be very happy to deliver those.

We drove Trail Ridge in Rocky Mtn State Park. The highest elevation was about 12,200, maybe a little higher. Not nice for Casey's ear but she took it like a trooper. (That's how I knew she had an infection, she was complaining of pain, ow!)

Ben climbed to the highest point we climbed today-pic included- with Mike. Ben's trivia question for you guys is, " How high is the Rockies? Here's a hint, it starts with a 1..." He will deliver those skittles.

Oh, and while we were at the ER there was a British woman who was thrown off her horse there as well who was surrounded by 3 real cowboys... guess that really happens.

Now to Mike-
Madi can cook anywhere! Steak, pasta, and salad while it's raining outside. We saw tons of elk in RMNP, and we played in the snow too. High 80's at our camp side (8k feet); 48F at the pass. We saw cyclists on Trail Ridge (some one please look this up for me on bikely). We were sooooo jealous! You cannot mountain bike on the trails; it's all about hiking and running. I'm feeling the altitude; running around at 12k makes me dizzy.

:)
Mike

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So these are mountains...

2008-07-22T15:42:00.004-04:00

My respect for the tour riders - and all of the regular Joes - who ride real mountains has gone way up. We dragged the trailer over a 12k+ pass yesterday and rolled into Winter Park on fumes. The switchbacks were CRAZY! Adam would love this stuff. A quick thunder storm passed us as we took a quick break near to the top of the pass, and the thunder was super loud - like we were in the cloud with it.

We got a sweet campsite on Lake Gramby near Rocky Mountain National Park. We're headed up for our first 13k+ hike, but we had to make a visit to the doctors for a sick kid first.

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We're almost not in Kansas anymore...

2008-07-21T11:05:00.003-04:00

Madi here again-now, with 12 miles left in Kansas, we are in the Kansas we saw in RAAM. Kansas along 70 is a very different Kansas than I saw in June. It's very green and hilly and populated. Beautiful compared to what AFC cycled through earlier this summer. Though I think this would have much more difficult to bike through, not to mention the shoulder hasn't been paved for about 250 miles, he he.

Alec has a question for y'all. What state do the Kansas City Royals play in? He will give the first person who posts on the blog a pack of sour skittles, and unlike Merrill he will actually give the prizes out... ;-)

Side note-yesterday we saw PT cruiser with a matching painted PT trailer (think mini-PT cruiser) cruising down the highway. Who'da thunk?

We found another geocache this morning, the Grain Bin. We'll send a pic and details next time. It was my first. Very exciting. We walked straight to it. I'm very impressed with my sense of direction, ;-). Of course, I must say Timmy helped a little. (We named our handheld GPS Timmy in honor of one of our cousins who we wish was our on trip with us.)

Ooopss, we bring you this important announcement, "Dorothy, you aren't in Kansas any more!!" Woo hoo, we are in CO!!

Signing off for now.

Edited to add-the picture added is from the second geocache we found overlooking Ft. Riley. Alec looks smashing in his hat.

And Mike is grinning from ear to ear at the moment as we are drafting an 18 wheeler and getting about 23 mpg at 77mph. Oh the little things in life are just wonderful.

And at the moment, CO looks almost just like Kansas.

Madio

Geocaching

2008-07-20T16:17:00.002-04:00

Casey and I woke early this morning because
a) we're soooo excited about the trip
b) there were no curtains in one of the bedroom windows. :)

We got cleaned up and decided to investigate a nearby cache placed by a fellow from Chicago. Following the compass on the Garmin, we worked our way across a field adjoining our hotel. With 100' to go, it was pretty clear that a lone tree was our target. We got to the tree, and sure enough, the Garmin was happily beeping - cache found! But we didn't know what to look for. Casey got down on her hands and knees and noticed a small film canister; we opened it, and found a rolled up stack of papers covered with names and dates.

We're hooked.

Mike

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Plainsville, IN

2008-07-20T10:55:00.002-04:00

Madi here. We did about 610 miles yesterday and rolled into Indy and found a nice hotel, love the Staybridge Suites. Alec and Ben will be in sleeping bags on the floor tonight though... boy do they move around a lot at night.

Casey and Mike got up early and found their first geocache. They'll have to give you the details on that.

After a great breakfast we got going about 9 and had to stop around 10:30 for a potty and gas break. We found the slowest gas pump in all of the US. It's somwhere in Ill on Rt 70 near Clarksville. After 10 minutes or so, we had only pumped 6 gallons of gas. At $4.50/gal. Effingham!!!! is next. (Hey, we went through there on RAAM in the RV).

Oh, and Ben is bored by the flat road. Obviously he hasn't seen Kansas yet. I'm excited to get back to Missouri and look for armadillos. Quiz question-does anyone know what a pangolin is? First one to post a comment with the answer wins a pack of Hubba Bubba with a yummy fruity center!

I need coffee, but I need a nap more.

Later!!

Madio

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On the road!

2008-07-19T18:54:00.002-04:00

Camera->Latptop->BlueTooth->Internet. I'm geeking out on the road. 600 miles to St Louis!

Mike

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Getting ready for the big trip! 3 days to go...

2008-07-16T08:30:00.002-04:00

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My (only) Dodge

2008-02-22T19:37:00.014-05:00

One of our first 'big' purchases as a new family (back in 1997) was a 1996 Dodge Stratus. One day after work (about 5 minutes after I had made it into the townhouse), I looked out our kitchen window and saw flames coming out of the front wheel wells. It was surreal. After the initial shock, I was glad I had paid $1800 for and 'extended' warranty. It still makes me ill to think about the whole thing, but here's how it turned out:
- Dodge dealership told me to learn about 'subrogation' and that they would not being talking to me
- Dodge corp told me that in cases involving an engine fire, my warranty covered neither repair, replacement, or even a loaner car
- The local TV stations told me about advertising revenue and that they had no interest in saying anything negative about a car company
- Dodge suggested that I had set fire to my own car.
- Dodge would not refund my warranty, because it wasn't really and extension, but a replacement. Therefor, since I had owned the car for almost a year, I was entitled only a small portion of the warranty price.

My wife and I spent a month sending letters to every government agency we could think of. We even discovered that Dodge had recalled about 50,000 Stratuses for a fuel rail leak - which could cause an engine fire. However, my car was built a month or two after the recall period. One lawyer chuckled when I asked about litigation; he said something along the lines of, "How much money do you have saved? Do you have the time or money to pursue a big car company?" I sent a letter to the CEO of Dodge - one last attempt at appealing to their sense of honor - but it was ignored.

I'm just getting around to converting my old videos, and thanks to the internet, I can finally share my story. For the American/Dodge car fans, I'm sorry if I sound negative. But honestly, could they have possibly screwed me over any more?

Eyes bigger than your stomach

2008-01-31T20:05:00.000-05:00

I certainly hope not in this case. This video makes my kids laugh; I suspect it's from Discovery's Planet Earth serious, but I'm not sure.

Yield to Life

2008-01-28T18:48:00.000-05:00

Kudos to Dave Zabriskie for founding Yield To Life. Last year, 5 of my friends were hit by cars while riding bikes. I've personally met one too many non-cyclists with an attitude along the line of, "Get off the road or you'll get hurt." A family member once told me, more or less, that if I loved my kids, I'd drive a bigger car.

The competing views on this topic are a bit too polarized in most cases. I hope Y2L gains some traction. I'm deciding what kind of support I'm going to give them.

Sophmoric Humor

2008-01-23T16:15:00.000-05:00

Catching up to some one on a steep pitch - especially off-road - is a great feeling. Pulling it off while humming or singing this is even better. The hard part is to avoid laughing - which, as we all know, evaporates strength - while delivering the tune. Ideally your prey has some familiarity with the Greaseman (Doug Tracht), the disgraced radio personality.

Air Pressure Ignorance

2008-01-21T18:07:00.001-05:00

I have a problem. After 20 years of cycling, I haven't figured out the air pressure thing. I've read, I've listened, I've tried. (I even kept a chart of various tire/shock pressures for a while.) On the road, I probably run too much air. Off road, either too much or not enough. My Fox RP rear shock has been 'stuck down' twice, which is essentially the worst air pressure situation you can have - unless you like your fancy FS bike to act like a hardtail with now ground clearance.

Today, I went to lower my pressure for some icy/snowy conditions. I figured 23-25psi would be good. But when I slapped the pump on, it said 14psi! I've ridden several weeks like that. Now I'm wondering if I can trust my digital Trek pump/gauge. Maybe the sidewalls are super stiff on the 2.3" Conties I've been running offroad, but it sure didn't seem like 13 psi. Or did it. Cornering has been an effort in futility lately.

As far as shocks go, I've slowly been inching my fork and rear shock upwards in pressure - trying to achieve a non-sucky FS experience. My talas is now at 110psi and the rear's set to 150psi. At 190lbs, that's high according to the Fox guide (i.e., based on sag). Riding in 20F conditions throws a wrench in the equation as well. Rebound gets sluggish, and I suspect Boyle's law might be having it's way with the preload.

Missing my hardtail still,
W

A picture, a bad memory, and a posting test

2008-01-15T19:20:00.001-05:00

I found this picture, and I wanted to try posting via e-mail, so here goes. I suspect this photo elicits a range of reactions. For me, it just looks like something bad is going to happen. A good while ago, a depressed Egyptian pilot kamakazied his 767 in the Atlantic, killing a couple hundred people. As a not-so-huge fan of flying myself, the thought of being a passenger i this situation really unnerved me. Anyway, that's what I thought about when I saw this picture.

In reality, it's a short-duration 0-g flight related to production of aerojels.

PC's in the 3rd world - more thoughts on the OLPC

2008-01-14T20:10:00.001-05:00

I've been passing my OLPC XO around to see what people think. Kids find it cool, of course, but I seriously doubt they would enjoy owning one. Too underpowered, can't play the games they want, and teachers that want 'PowerPoints' (yes, my daughter's teacher calls them that) would not be happy - in general, the XO's strong point don't seem very relevant in the States.

The two foreign charities our church has contacted say they don't have electricity, and that power (other than wood fires) and clean water are much higher on their list of priorities. To be honest, this is the issue that's concerned me from the get-go. Are computers a necessity, a convenience, or a toy? Perhaps they can improve an economy, but can they create one?

For my presentation* next month, I'm trying to include both technical and social aspects of the OLPC. It's interesting to work out up outline that discusses 802.11s mesh networking, a customer low-power display controller, and the needs of developing countries. Making things a bit more interesting is OLPC's recent announcement that they'll be selling their XO units to underprivileged students in the US. My guess is that they want to increase volume of sales to keep their production costs down; however, in an environment where the 'desktop metaphor' rules, I have trouble envisioning teachers buying into the XO's 'Sugar' interface. Maybe I'll have to add board-room greed to my outline.

*- my company supports and encourages monthly 'brown bag' lunches on a variety of topics. I find it a useful opportunity to meet coworkers and keep fresh on my presentation skills.

Red Tide

2008-01-10T23:48:00.001-05:00

When we arrived in Florida for a Christmas-time family vacation, the first thing I heard was "Don't go out to the ocean". The effects of a Red Tide along the Gold Coast caused respiratory problems, rashes and itching, and killed a lot of fish. At night, a haze seemed to hang over the whole Cocoa Beach area. Fortunately, it cleared up for the latter half of our trip.

From the ground level, it wasn't clear what was so 'red' about it, but this picture is pretty dramatic. It's from the West coast, not the East, but it is a Red Tide.

Of all the people who visited Disney World (Epcot to be precise) on Christmas day, we were the most gansta...

Adventures For The Cure

2008-01-08T18:10:00.000-05:00

A neat article from my friend Adam Driscoll about Adventures For The Cure, where it came from, and where it's going.

I met Bob Roll

2008-01-07T22:46:00.000-05:00

Actually, this happened months ago. But I just came across a picture of my buddy' helmet - signed by Bob Roll. When I saw a blonde drive up to the bike shop in a blingy Range Rover, I just new Bobke was in there. I was right. :)

American (and Austrailian) Attitude

2008-01-07T10:39:00.000-05:00

My friend Dave forwarded me this piece about Cadel Evans. Unfortunately, I agree with him completely...

Evans notes training fears in Australia
By Susan Westemeyer
Cadel Evans of Team Silence-Lotto is a road racer, but admits that sometimes training on the road can be scary and dangerous. "Honestly, the scariest part of my job is riding on the Great Ocean Road, which I live on, between Christmas and New Year," he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"I've cycled in every continent in the world, other than Antarctica, and it's incredible. Drivers in America and Australia just have attitudes. I don't necessarily say attitudes towards cyclists, but towards other road users," the 2007 ProTour champion said. "People just don't realise the danger they're causing other people."

What he most fears are trailers that are wider than the cars pulling them. "I've nearly had my leg torn off so many times because of that, and people are just completely unaware of it."

One Laptop per Child (OLPC)

2008-01-06T17:01:00.000-05:00

An interesting movement is afoot. If you're at all concerned for the well-being of the rest of the planet, there are many options - besides the Sally Struthers beg-ads - at your disposal. After a good deal of deliberation, we decided to support the OLPC Foundation this year. It seemed odd at first - the thought of sending laptops to places where children are malnourished, orphaned, or worse. My friends at AdventuresForTheCure are doing some great work, for instance, ensuring that kids in Kenya have a safe learning environment. OLPC is trying to use technology to "...provide children around the world with new opportunities to explore, experiment and express themselves". It made me wonder if sending rice and grain is really enough.

After some consideration, we decided to support OLPC as part of family Christmas gift to Western Africa this year. The kids (along with mom and I) did without a tree full of presents and put the money towards a couple organizations that are doing good work in Tanzania and elsewhere. I figure education is critical for the long term well being of these places, and having tinkered with an OLPC XO unit for a week now, I think its a great learning tool. Books are expensive, heavy, and quickly outdated. If nothing else, the XO makes a darn handy e-book, and the collaboration tools it supports would make for a fun and education classroom environment.

I'm hosting a luncheon at work to garner interest in support for the OLPC effort, and our church is considering helping out as well. At some point, I plan to send my unit to some distant land in hopes that it will find a budding author or engineer who can put it to good use. It's a neat thought.

Sunny, warm, and lots of friends on fixies

2008-01-06T16:19:00.000-05:00

15 or so of us enjoyed 90 minutes of Hanover, Elkridge, and Ellicott City today. With the help of some baby sitters we even saw a few couples join the fray. I got to see Donald (Avalon Cycles) on a bike for the first time.

Here's a sweet video of some guy singing a rather famous song backwards. (It will also demonstrate my prowess at embedding vids in a blog...)

5am - 8U Swim Meet at Towson

2008-01-05T08:37:00.001-05:00

I'm posting from the Towson swim center using an OLPC XO. I took a picture of the mob scene that is the bball court at this point, but the XO doesn't want to let me upload it at this point...time to tinker some more...

Hmmm...never did get the post to work from the XO, but here's the picture I took with it (added later).

4 more years

2008-01-04T21:33:00.001-05:00

It's been nearly 4 years since my last post; time for an update. :) I finally tried my hand at cyclocross this year, but there are wayyy too many blogs on that topic, so I'm going to shoot for something a bit different. (I will note that seeing one of my son's race with his friend was a highlight...)

Gasoline addiction

2004-09-28T16:45:00.000-04:00

I'm confused by public opinion (here in the U.S.) on the 'war' in Iraq. Specifically, the folks who oppose the war seem just as keen to consume petroleum as every one else. I don't see any antiwar folks driving 55 (to save gas), or burning bio-fuel (to avoid using gas), or commuting by bike. And at the end of the day, the reason we're in places like Iraq is to feed our oil-based lifestyle. My conservative friends, by contrast, seem unable to move beyond a pejorative (if not blind) disdain for any one who questions our presence there.

The nomadic folks (tribes) of the middle east were arguably unprepared for the influx of capital that has accompanied the growth in petroluem exports. Without our gasoline addiction, they'd still comprise a largely pre-industrial nomadic population - the barbaic elements of which would be far from our daily news. Having put some serious effort into something as simple as communiting to work by bike, I've seen first-hand how much we 'love' our automobiles. People (including friends) consider it odd at best.

I'm no historian. I'm no sociologist. But it seems pretty clear to me that much of the horror we observe in the middle east starts at the gas pump.