Car Broke Down

Well, it’s the rainy season, so I have been driving in to work lately. Not good for my body, of course, if one excepts the dangers of riding. Did I tell you about the one lady that thought is was a smart idea to wedge her car into a jammed intersection with an illegal right turn, and almost got me?

Besides the point. The main news is that my car’s power steering left me. So now I don’t have any choice but to ride in to work. Luckily the rain has subsided (will come back on Monday, they say), and it has been fun. I don’t know, this Christmas period with the short days and the cold never quite made me happy; having a reason to jump on the bike and don the spandex is really good, or otherwise I would just commiserate the love handles and myself, and gorge another pound of chocolate to make me forget. So what’s been going on? The weather turned mild (so much so that I felt comfortable going in to work in shorts instead of long bibs) – another sign of an El Nino year that is somehow working out just right. Today is such a beautiful day that I’m likely to hop and join the Saturday group of Alto Velo – for now just from afar, and I’ll just leave around 9:15 to make sure I get there in time to follow them. After all, it’s the social ride.

Los Gatos Cyclist

Ok, I am not a member, and yet I subscribe to the Los Gatos Bicycle Racing Club email list. I am undecided whether to join the monstrous Alto Velo or the smaller and nicer LGBRC, so I thought I’d listen in and see how they treat people from the outside.

Short comment: so far, LGBRC beats Alto Velo hands down. The Velistas are obnoxious on the Expressway, behaving as if they own the place. They won’t let you pass, but their average speed (on the Expressway) is more warmup than real biking. And if you dare crossing their path, they’ll holler at you some arcane gibberish that is supposed to make you feel guilty for not being (a) slower than them and (b) member of their club.

Spring in January

Zipping around on this wonderfully balmy Sunday, I discover the incredible: the mimosa trees are already in full bloom. Their smell hit me twice, on Foothill (coming back) and on Alpine, and interestingly enough our little enclave of Los Altos Highlands has several trees that erupted in a shower of yellow.

It was warm enough to wear just the skinsuit, the first time in a month or so. Unseasonably warm, as the weather forecast says. The bike lanes were accordingly crowded, with several large groups greeting each other. It is indeed a paradise for the biker.
The weather was quite unstable, hence no major ride. I just went up Foothill and then left on Alpine, admittedly following a zippy-fast biker that had been eluding me ever since I crossed over the Loyola Corners bridge. Turns out he (a) must have cheated at all intersections and red lights and (b) didn’t like drafters. In any case, he couldn’t get rid of me (despite an attempt to flight on Alpine) and finally let me pass. Amusing how these guys in Specialized top-to-toe think they own the path.

Riding On Bikes With Boys

Looks like the drenching rain of December is giving way to unseasonably warm weather, and I am enjoying as much of it as I can, riding my bike furiously up and down the hills.

On Wednesday, New Year’s day, I rode for the first time up Old La Honda, trailing what must have been a larger group from a major outfit around here. It was very tough, especially since I hadn’t the slightest idea of when it would end, which makes it never end. I wanted to ride on all the way to King’s Mountain Road, but made it only to La Honda. I couldn’t even manage the puny hill leading up from there.

Biking to Work

Taken advantage of the first day of sunshine to actually ride out to work. Uneventful ride, since there weren’t many cars around. The only bikers I saw were those that were finishing up their morning ride, so I had two Alto Velo zippies flashing by.

Biking is really a different way of getting there. I start the day full of energy and commitment.

Brand New Year

It’s still dark and cold, and the day has that New Year Smell about itself, that smug quality that all brand new things irradiate.

I want this to be a better year than the four that preceded it. I want this slavery to end; I want to be a part of the society I am living in; I do not want to be a misfit any more. Huddled together in the same room with people that busily chatter in their native tongue, unwilling to give up the only culture they appreciate for the one that gives them only money, not values. Put into the same pot as terrorists.

NetBeans or Eclipse?

There is your expert nerd again! This time the question is: should I use the IBM IDE or Sun’s?

The question is tricky, since the philosophy of the two engines is different. Sun’s NetBeans is a pure Java IDE with support for everything under the sun (pardon the pun). Eclipse is a common IDE for any language, and support for Java and C/C++ is currently under way.

I use my IDE only for Java. C and C++ happen in separate IDEs that are more suited for the environment. This means, currently, that all development on Windows happens in Visual C++ and all development on UNIX on KDevel 2.0.

The Day After Christmas

Somehow yesterday was the toughest day of the year.

Nothing worked as usual, everybody was busy with their family, and I felt like the only person on this planet that quite didn’t get the point of it all.

Christmas has always been a challenge for me. It’s the worst time of the year for light intensity, and the weather tends to be bad, no matter what. And on top of that you disrupt my pleasurable routine and replace it with a state of suspension.

Biking on Foothill

It was rumoured to be a rainy day, with a thirty percent chance of a drizzle. In the morning, indeed, it was cloudy and wet; and once in a while you would see a sprinkle hit the pool, the tiny drops barely able to grow circles on the perfectly smooth surface of the water.

But then the clouds broke, like in summer. The front had passed and left us alone, and I was able to bike. Coincidentally, FedEx left a package from Performance Bike on the doorstep like a Moses delivered through the Nile. In the morning, I rode for an hour. Foothill up, foothill down. And then back home, trying to get Christmas organized. The afternoon brought some beautiful weather, and I thought a second ride would be appropriate.

Messenger, Instantly

How could I run a blog without even mentioning Instant Messenger? I don’t know.

Am I becoming an expert on the matter? I have been working on this off and on since 2000, when Marshall T. Rose first started talking about his beloved BEEP (back then still BXXP) and a new generation of IM products and protocols. He was getting excited, sat down a while with a bunch of smart nerds, and there you are, out comes IMXP (soon to be renamed APEX). Marshall is an incredible man. Once he decides he is going to revolutionize the world, there is no stopping him – even if his revolution is not really what the world wants.