Longest Day 2010

As I've said before, I am the CJBC's Longest Day Event chairperson. So far I've started pulling together my check list of things to do and the one concrete thing I've completed (other that the web page) is the event date. It is: Saturday, June 12^th, 2010. I have to make sure none of the costs have risen but I'm still expecting the cost of the event as it was last year $35. The cost of a 2010 CJBC membership is $13 for the electronic membership (email newsletter). I think $48 for a double century is not bad! :-) Finally I've added a twitter feed: LongestDayRide. Let's face it it's a great way to get quick updates and I'll have plenty of those to come.

Longest Day 2010

Yes, I know it's still January. I only managed my first ride in a month last Saturday (Jan. 16^th). I will admit it felt great to be back on the bike and the 50F temperatures didn't hurt either. :-)

So starting in 2010, I am the newest Longest Day chairperson. Fran Sanchez, who did a wonderful job and set high standards (eep!) has turned it over to me. She has done me a great favor by sharing with me a lot of what needs to be done in preparation for the Longest Day (it's a lot of work). I hope I'm up for it. Anyway, starting some time in September 2009 I started working on the new format for my Longest Day page. I also kept a copy of the old page. That page won't be updated any longer. So far I've gone nuts. I've added a history section, an updates section, slide show, SAG Guidelines, Hand positions, Calendar, and a Poem by one of the original Longest Day riders. Today's Longest Day is a far cry from the first Longest Day back in 1980. We've certainly learned a lot since then. :-)

Asus EEE 1005HA review Pt 3

So far I've had the 1005HA for about a month and I am pleased with it after the initial power supply problem. The replacement power supply is holding up very well though sometimes I find that it and the netbook get pretty warm. I've left XP on the system though I am being careful with what sites I visit. I've tossed a bunch of my tools such as Groovy, IntelliJ (I'm real happy with the 8.1 IntelliJ editor on Linux and Windows - woo-hoo, 9.0 was just announced). The primary use of the netbook has been browsing the internet, reading my books, a little multimedia and light application use. Video is choppy but that happens on all my machines so it's probably an access problem (too much latency?). Over all I am very pleased with the unit. The battery really does last a long time (6+ hours) when put into the correct mode. Hopefully I won't need to have any service done in it as that seems to be Asus's weak point.

And life goes on ...

No, no one in my life has died but I've been very busy. In August I finished my BS degree and my employer has informed me that I need more which means a MS. Basically they want more of an engineering degree with 16 university level math credits, at least 8 science credits and a curriculum that has that as a pre-requisite. I'm looking at Pace University and NJIT. I like what I see with NJIT and I'll be attending a Graduate Open House there in a week. In addition to putting me in the whole for an addition $40K I need to get 8 additional math credits (Calc III and Statistics and 8 science credits to replace my college level course). I'll need to study for the Graduate Placement Exam which I should pass but I am nervous about. I may also need to review the GRE. Overall I am excited about learning.

I have been busy riding my bike. I've actually written several blog entries but I never posted them. The new Giant TCR Advanced frame is fantastic! I've slowed a bit because my ribs still hurt at various times. I think I cracked a few rib and maybe my shoulder. They really get sore with weather changes but are fine the rest of the time. I've been using my lighting system to get out and ride. It's fun riding at night but it's a bit hard to find low traffic areas to ride in.

Lastly, I've had my first experience with bad internet business service from Nostalgia Films (www.nostalgiafilms.com). I will never do any business with them ever again! Since October 31st I've attempted to contact them about an order I've placed. I have not received it and I have not received any reply to any of my emails (I've tried 3 different email addresses). They claimed to have filled the order pretty fast but that was the last I've heard from them. They use Yahoo Store to accept orders but I've been unable to issue a complaint to Yahoo Store also. So I won't be doing business with any more Yahoo Store businesses either (what good are they, they provide for reassurance). So if you are interested in doing business with Nostalgia Films I recommend you don't.

Crash! Owie!

Well now I've gone and done it, I crashed Wednesday night. Yes it was my fault. Basically what happened was I accelerated hard, looked back at traffic when I looked up my friend in front of me went left, I went right and rode into the path of a large I beam. I was probably doing 20 mph and somehow I walked away with only minor damage. The bike, on the other hand, cracked. That night I didn't notice the damage as it was hard to see and rode home 10 - 15 miles. But in the bright of day it was found. So it's now in the shop getting an estimate for the repairs. Oddly enough the front wheel sustained no damage (no cracks in the rim, spokes or hub), stayed true and the tired didn't burst. As for me, well I flipped off the bike (I went completely over the handle bars and did a flip). My helmet cracked and I'm surprised it didn't shatter as I hit the ground hard. I skid on my helmet and Camelbak of a brief distance and landed on my ... butt. :-) I compressed my chest pretty hard and was in a lot of pain. When I finally stopped I was in a great deal of pain. I took inventory of the damage (start at the toes and work your way up), waited a while for the adrenaline to subside and determined that I actually survived relatively unscathed. I'm one lucky rider! My sternum still hurts (sore when I sneeze), a few neck and back muscles are slightly sore, my knuckles are scabbed now (dang I'm a knuckle dragger :-/ ) and I did not sustain a concussion (I've had plenty and know what they feel like). Oh, I also shattered the screen on my cell phone, which was in my Camelbak. The ride back home was interesting my friend and I laughed a lot (which hurt like hell when he made me laugh too hard) but I was grateful to be alive!