Thursday, April 24, 2014
Unplugged for Spring Break
In case you missed it, we unplugged for most of spring break and went camping and hiking at Arroyo Seco. We should do this more often...
The Getting-In Process
Hmm...is it warm enough?
Maybe...
Look at me!
Time to get the arms and tummy wet
No, really -- I'm getting in now!
Finally.
Post-swim lizard basking.
Itty bitty baby deer
Seen this morning on the road up to Fremont Older Open Space Preserve: deer + two very small, very spotted, very wobbly fawns.
The first one didn't even run away, but merely stood in the road as I came up next to it and fumbled for the camera. "Hi! What are you?"
The second one had slightly more of a self-preservation instinct, going to the side of the road and huddling in some branches. "If I don't move, you can't see me."
The first one didn't even run away, but merely stood in the road as I came up next to it and fumbled for the camera. "Hi! What are you?"
The second one had slightly more of a self-preservation instinct, going to the side of the road and huddling in some branches. "If I don't move, you can't see me."
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Tooth pull
Last week, Mom and I went to the dentist. Seems normal, right? Turns out that an incoming tooth was going to mess up my front teeth, as a baby tooth was pushing it away. What seemed like a regular dentist appointment soon was complicated by a tooth pull. Man, does Novocaine painkiller do weird things to your upper lip! We went to the store afterwards to get ice cream, and ended up getting strawberries. I knew they were fresh and ripe and had a really strong scent, but the painkiller made it so that my left nostril was so numb I couldn't sniff them!
Later, I drew the following picture, starring some characters I made up:
Later, I drew the following picture, starring some characters I made up:
Thursday, April 10, 2014
5 lb 2.7 oz
Tacks on the road in three separate corners of Old Santa Cruz Highway this morning. How rude. I avoided them, but saw several other cyclists who did not, so I felt compelled to pick them all up on my way back down the hill.
All told, 5 lb 2.7 oz of tacks. That's almost as much as the kiddo when she was born. I may have missed a couple, so call it a baby's worth.
Or 2346 grams, with an average weight of 1.4 grams each. 1676 tacks. Almost as many tacks as feet of elevation gain on this relatively modest 20 mile ride.
1676 tacks. 20-30 minutes of tack picking-up. About a tack a second.
Very full pockets. More than 5 lb of tacks.
Clearly, I need to melt them all down and make dinosaurs (also seen on ride).
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Yesterday's weather
At the top of Mt. Hamilton
I rode up both the front and back sides (didn't suffer enough on the front for a proper close-to-birthday ride!) for a total of almost 7000 feet.
Gloves were very salty afterward.
This is 25 degrees higher than last week, when I had to content myself with stalking newts in the rain...
Saturday, February 15, 2014
3 degrees of separation
On a ride last Saturday, I glimpsed a bike glove lying at the side of the road. It could easily have come from one of the folks in our group, most of whom were up ahead of me, so I snagged it. It proved to be too small for any of us, though, and I wondered how to go about getting the glove reunited with whomever lost it.
Well, I thought, the local cycling community has a pretty high percentage of techies and industry folks, and an awful lot of both groups are on social media of one sort or another. Given that I found the glove up a road that "casual" cyclists aren't too likely to frequent, the odds of matching up glove to owner probably go up a notch. So I figured I'd try an experiment, and see how long it took the social networks to do the job.
My starting point was Twitter - partly because there seems to be a pretty good network of cyclists on Twitter, and I knew a couple people with large numbers of followers who would likely spread the word. With one tweet, I launched the campaign!
I was actually shocked at just how fast the experiment produced results. @cyclelicious asked his followers, and boom! the owner of the lost glove was identified.
The next step was to effect the return of the glove. Again, the network effect to the rescue: the owner lives (literally and figuratively) over the hill; but @cyclelicious lives over there and works pretty close to me. We coordinated a lunchtime hand-off of the glove, midway between our offices, out on a scenic local bike trail.
And so, to those who question the utility of social networks: here's a nice example of just how useful they can be, when put to good purposes.
Big chapeau to @cyclelicious for his continuing efforts as part of the glue that binds the local cycling community together!
Well, I thought, the local cycling community has a pretty high percentage of techies and industry folks, and an awful lot of both groups are on social media of one sort or another. Given that I found the glove up a road that "casual" cyclists aren't too likely to frequent, the odds of matching up glove to owner probably go up a notch. So I figured I'd try an experiment, and see how long it took the social networks to do the job.
My starting point was Twitter - partly because there seems to be a pretty good network of cyclists on Twitter, and I knew a couple people with large numbers of followers who would likely spread the word. With one tweet, I launched the campaign!
I was actually shocked at just how fast the experiment produced results. @cyclelicious asked his followers, and boom! the owner of the lost glove was identified.
The next step was to effect the return of the glove. Again, the network effect to the rescue: the owner lives (literally and figuratively) over the hill; but @cyclelicious lives over there and works pretty close to me. We coordinated a lunchtime hand-off of the glove, midway between our offices, out on a scenic local bike trail.
And so, to those who question the utility of social networks: here's a nice example of just how useful they can be, when put to good purposes.
Big chapeau to @cyclelicious for his continuing efforts as part of the glue that binds the local cycling community together!
Friday, February 14, 2014
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)