The Associated Press: Transcripts Show Chaos of Tiger Attack

When Tigers Attack

Sphere: Related Content

Back of the Bus

All the cool kids in the back of the bus.

Sphere: Related Content

Smackdown by Eric Joyner

Smackdown by Eric Joyner
Originally uploaded by longplay

Saw this at a local coffee shop.

Sphere: Related Content

Tricky

Like Jam Master Jay (RIP), cuttin' and scratchin' are the aspects of my game. So last night, I was up to my usual tricks when I decided to pull out an old classic, Tricky, by Run DMC. My DMC collection runs deep so selected a remix 12". On this particular cut, the music in the background is a bit different. Listening to the album, I couldn't help but notice a sample. It is from My Sharona, by the Knack.

Digging around a bit, I found that the Knack took some 20 years to discover the sample. I guess they were not big Hip-Hop fans, eh?

The best part of the video is the helicopter. Run's girlie loses her gold chain to Penn and Teller in a game of Three Card Monte. She then picks up the chopper phone and dials Run. "They took my chain!," she screams. Run directs Jay, the chopper pilot of course, to the scene. People start pointing overhead as the DMC chopper lands. Run, Darrel, and Jay flip the script on Penn and Teller, taking back the gold chain plus all their jewelry. Run DMC then dress Penn and Teller up in their signature threads and Addidas kicks and show them how to strut and dance on stage.

Here's a nice vid someone has put together. Some folks call it a mash-up, I call it Tricky, mmm hmm.

Tricky Sharona

Sphere: Related Content

SEO

going natural

Sphere: Related Content

How to Configure IPMI on a Dell PowerEdge running Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Quality. Thanks Bob at lonesysadmin.

Link

Sphere: Related Content

Mexican Breakfast

UNK should have gone with this video instead. Gwen Verdon walks it out better than UNK, these Dancers from Hood, any any of you suckas! I dare you to walk it out better than Gwen.

Value - is what I'm talkin 'bout, take two of these and walk it out
You'll be the reason they chalk it out, you can't be the king in the parkin lot
Forever - not sayin I'm the best but 'til they find somethin better
I am here, no fear, write me a letter, 'til then
I walk it out, I walk it out, I walk it out, I walk it out
I walk it out, I walk it out, I walk it out
I Westside walk it ow-out, I Westside walk it ow-out
I Westside walk it ow-out, then Eastside walk it ow-out

Now go eat some Mexican Breakfast

Sphere: Related Content

Duck, Duck, Goose

I'm sure by now you have heard of the Turducken. The turkey, stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken. All your neighbors must be gabbing about how great their Turducken was last year, and how this year they are going to do the deep-fried Turducken.

I present to you the recipe for Duck, Duck, Goose.

INGREDIENTS

Two ducks and a goose

DIRECTIONS

1. Find a duck

2. Find another duck

3. Find a goose

4. Stuff the duck with a duck

5. Stuff the duck with a duck with a goose

6. Roast covered for 4 hours or until the Duck, Duck, Goose is golden brown

7. Sit in a circle

8. One person is "it" and walks around the circle

9. As they find someone eying the Duck, Duck, Goose, they tag them and say Duck, Duck, Goose!

10. The object is to eat only the sweet goose.

Sphere: Related Content

TESTOSTERONE NATION

Hierarchy of Fat Loss

Sphere: Related Content

Canary Wharf

Canary Wharf
Originally uploaded by bordello_kinda_guy_70

A friend from London sent me this snap of Canary Wharf. I was down there quite frequently on two of my trips to London. They have a nice business district there with a lively pub scene on Thursday/Friday nights.

Sphere: Related Content

Progress

I've been tracking my weight via two tools. The first is a website called fitday, available here http://www.fitday.com. The second is by a google plugin called the the google 15. This is an oblique reference to the weight in pounds you put one once joining the company from eating all the free food.

The real advantage to the google 15 tool is that it shows you not only the scale weight over time but also the moving average. In many ways, the moving average is more important as it "filters" out the day to day fluctuations in your weight and shows you the overall trend. Financial wizards have a similar technique called MACD.

The graph to the right represents some of the best progress I've seen in the few months I've been using the tool.

Sphere: Related Content

Well I'm a Six Point Seven on the Ricter Scale

Well, I'm A Six Point Seven On The Richter Scale
I've Got Rhymes Gallot And Then I Never Fail
Like Gravy On Potatos, Luke To Darth Vader
I'm A Souped Up Sucker And I'll See You All Later

- Mike D, Do It


I experienced my first earthquake today. I was getting down with some Wu Sau Si Lim Tau Kung Fu when all of the sudden, my Chi started flowing in very strange ways. The walls began to shake and I thought, "so that is what they mean by feel the power." For about 20 seconds, I felt extreme energy flowing through my system.

In reality, it wasn't my Chi that caused the vibrations, rather it was a 5.6 earthquake centered around San Jose.

Caltrain was messed up on the way home. The train was about an hour late and was going along at just 20 mph checking for damage. I will try to be more careful with all that power going forward.

Sphere: Related Content

Arastradero Preserve

IMG_0549
Originally uploaded by dmourati

This was taken on Saturday October 6th on a hike at the Arastradero preserve.

Sphere: Related Content

Fremont Peak

IMG_0566
Originally uploaded by dmourati

On Saturday we went for a hike at Fremont Peak. This is a view from the top.

Sphere: Related Content

Taqueria Marlen

Today we had a special lunch at work. My boss was back after two weeks leave celebrating the birth of his first born son. We had two colleagues in from India. When lunch time rolled around, we decided to follow my boss's suggestion and check out Taqueria Marlen. This place is no joke! I have a real penchant for Mexican food. I eat super healthy and I'm on a fairly strict nutrition program. But, today, the factors were just right I decided to splurge and go for it.

Here's the dialog of me talking to the lady at the counter to place my order:

D: "I'll have a torta, carne asada..."
L: "Okay"
D: (Looking at menu some more) "...And two taco's carne asada..."
L: "Oka.....y"
D: "No, make that three tacos' carne asada!"
D: "And a chicken taco!" (not really, inside joke)

Here's a review on Chowhound from a previous trip there that also contains my comment.

I've also found a Yelp review.

Sphere: Related Content

2000 Miles and Running

I ride a bike nearly every day. The bike is a Bianchi Axis 2004 Cyclocross bike and I love it. Yesterday marked a significant milestone, 2000 miles clocked on the bike. I thought it was appropriate that I hit the 2000th mile on the way to the gym.

I've also got a entry for my mile marker 990.

I bought the bike just over three years ago. That works out to about 55 miles per month, not bad, eh? I think I can do better, though.

-D

Sphere: Related Content

Introducing Two New Babies to the World

Life is truly amazing. Over the weekend, my boss and his wife had his first born child, a son, Craig David Holland. Then today, I found out that two more good friends had their first child, a daugher, Zosia Zarnecki.

Here are the relevant details I've been able to glean.

Craig David was born at 9:53pm on Saturday night, about 3
weeks early. He is 5lb 14oz and 19in long. Even with his early
arrival, he is very healthy and strong - scored 9/10 on his Apgar
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apgar_score) which is a very good thing
for a baby born ahead of schedule.

Zosia Zarnecki, Born Oct 2, 18:39, 6.7lbs, 19inches
Mom and little Z doing great. Papa Z happy.

Sphere: Related Content

33

So, today I turn 33 years old. Looking back on the past year, here's a brief recap of what has gone on in my life.

October 2006, spent wonderful weekend in San Francisco enjoying the high life.
November 2006, trip with Andy out to Philly to check out G Love for two sold out shows. (Can't go Back to Jersey). Started investment and savings accounts.
December 2006, took trip up to Lake Tahoe with Mom and Andy to go for ski trip and holiday retreat at Squaw Valley. Dinner at the "Plump(er) Jack."
January 2007, Started out 2007 on a high note taking down over $1000 from local poker tables. Hit up Kirkwood for another ski weekend. Began seriously looking into improving my health. Enrolled in company 401k. Started taking Wing Chun Kung Fu again. Trip to London. Trip to Chicago to do the Superbowl Shuffle.
February 2007, Began tracking my food intake on fitday.com.
March 2007, Epic ski day at Northstar. Fell in love with my Volkl Mantra 184s. Saw the Wailers open up for G Love and won free skis which I traded in for custom ski boots.
April 2007, Ski trip to Utah with the crew. Ripped it!
May 2007, Picked up newest Beastie Boys Album, The Mixup.
June 2007, Did the 2007 Giro di Peninsula.
July 2007, Met Jodi at the Farmer's Market in Mountain View. Second trip to London for 2007. Made my target weight. Tackled Old La Honda.
August 2007, Crazy month. Went back to Chicago for Family Reunion. Here's the recap.
September 2007, Started to get serious. Said goodbye to a friend.

As you can plainly see, it's been a great year. I feel the best I have in over a decade. I'm happy, my life is in balance. I've got everything I could want and very little I don't. I've reached all the goals I set out for myself and started new ones.

Hopefully this time next year it will be more of the same.

-D

Sphere: Related Content

Linux User at Best Buy

A friend forwarded me this comic today. I think that's a motorcycle he's riding but could just as easily be a bike in which case it'd be perfect. Thanks EJ.

Sphere: Related Content

Raspberry (Beret) Shake

1 2, 1 2 3, huh Yeah

1 Flat Raspberries
1 Flat Strawberries
2 Scoop protein Powder
2 Tbspn flax seeds
16 Ounces water

Wash the raspberries and strawberries in a colander. Cut tops of the strawberries and slice them in half. Add all the ingredients to a blender, adding the water last. Blend on high for two minutes. Garnish with raspberries. Makes about 4, 8 ounce servings.

Enjoy.

UPDATE:

Bunch more recipes here:

http://www.protein-shakes.ca/7-Healthy-and-Creative-Protein-Shake-Recipes-That-Rock.html

Sphere: Related Content

Score! Here's my Haul from the Farmer's Market

I'm lucky to have a farmer's market within a mile of my home. When you consider that this is California, where much of the produce is organically and locally grown, and the fact that the market is every week, year-round, I just feel downright guilty whenever I miss it. Today was a great haul. Here are the goods I was able to score:

1 bag organic baby spinach: $2.50 (S)
1 pint blue curl honey: $8.00
2 pepper smoked salmon fillets (1.5 pounds): $25 (S)
3 Olympic Miyagi oysters: $4.50
1 Shrimp and crab tostada:: $5.00
2 flats raspberries $5.00 (S)
3 flats strawberries $5.00 (S)
4 pluots: $0.75
1 bag almonds $5.00 (S)
1 bag walnuts $5.00 (S)

I had the oysters and tostada for lunch while walking around and shopping. Then I came home, and made a huge salad with the baby spinach and one of the salmon fillets. I tossed in a cucumber I had and also an avocado.

The salmon fillet was over a pound which was a bit much but I enjoyed it anyway . I'm going to cut up some strawberries for a protein shake tonight and tomorrow morning for breakfast.

-D

Sphere: Related Content

Apple Surprise Shake

I've been experimenting with my daily protein shakes and coming up with new recipes. Today, I hit the local farmer's market in Mountain View and scored some organic apple juice. Ordinarily, I'm on a nutrition program that calls for only zero calorie beverages. However, I love apple juice and couldn't pass up the opportunity. On the way home, I figured out a sneaky way to cheat and get the apple juice in according to my meal plan. The trick is that I can have protein shakes that, while technically a beverage, don't have the zero calorie rule associated with them. So, here's what I came up with:

2xMedium apples, cored and sliced into pieces
2 Tbsp flax seeds, ground
2 scoops protein powner
2 cups organic apple juice

Put all ingredients in blender and blend on high for 1 minute. Makes about three cups.

Enjoy.

Mmm, delicious.


Today's Foods
Food Name Servings Serving Size Cals Fat Carb Prot
Apple, raw 163 1 42 1
Apple juice 233 1 58 0
Whey Cool 240 4 6 48
Seeds, Flax seed 118 8 8 5

Sphere: Related Content

Back to College Freshman Weight

This is pretty unbelievable to me but I'm back to the same weight I was at as a college freshman back in 1992! I recall sitting in the dorm room my freshman year discussing my weight with some friends who were surprised when I told them I weighed "about 230." Imagine my surprise this morning when I stepped on the scale and weighed in at 229.8! Back in February, I set a goal for myself of 240 by October 1, my 33rd birthday. I've now safely achieved that goal and so I've reset a new goal of 220 by November 15th. At my current rate of about -1.5 pounds per weed, I should make it with two weeks to spare.

Here's a weight by time chart:

Target weights from today at 229.8 to 220 at -1.5 per week:

2007-09-16 229.80
2007-09-17 229.60
2007-09-18 229.40
2007-09-19 229.20
2007-09-20 229.00
2007-09-21 228.80
2007-09-22 228.60
2007-09-23 228.20
2007-09-24 228.00
2007-09-25 227.80
2007-09-26 227.60
2007-09-27 227.40
2007-09-28 227.20
2007-09-29 227.00
2007-09-30 226.80
2007-10-01 226.60
2007-10-02 226.40
2007-10-03 226.20
2007-10-04 226.00
2007-10-05 225.80
2007-10-06 225.60
2007-10-07 225.20
2007-10-08 225.00
2007-10-09 224.80
2007-10-10 224.60
2007-10-11 224.40
2007-10-12 224.20
2007-10-13 224.00
2007-10-14 223.80
2007-10-15 223.60
2007-10-16 223.40
2007-10-17 223.20
2007-10-18 223.00
2007-10-19 222.80
2007-10-20 222.60
2007-10-21 222.20
2007-10-22 222.00
2007-10-23 221.80
2007-10-24 221.60
2007-10-25 221.40
2007-10-26 221.20
2007-10-27 221.00
2007-10-28 220.80
2007-10-29 220.60
2007-10-30 220.40
2007-10-31 220.20

Generated by http://www.chaosreigns.com/gym/weightslope.html

Sphere: Related Content

VMware Tools Available as Open Source

VMware Tools Available as Open Source

Sphere: Related Content

The iPhone vs. the PS3: A Price Cut Comparison

The iPhone vs. the PS3: A Price Cut Comparison

Sphere: Related Content

Sun CEO says NetApp aims to blunt open-source efforts

Sun CEO says NetApp aims to blunt open-source efforts

Sphere: Related Content

Apple Offers $100 Store Credit; Jobs Apologizes to iPhone Users - WSJ.com

Apple Offers $100 Store Credit; Jobs Apologizes to iPhone Users - WSJ.com

Sphere: Related Content

August Recap

It's winding down to the last few minutes of August 2007, so time for a recap. This has been a very busy month for me. I started of the month in London, arriving back in Mountain View only in the wee hours of the morning on the first. From there, it was a short time to rest and then back to work to launch Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM). It went remarkably smoothly.

Then, I attended my first baby shower, hosted by my boss Craig and his wife Yael. I walked too much that day. One of the sore spots of not owning a car I guess.

The next day, I went sailing on the

Gute Fahrt

. Hauling around on the San Francisco bay with good buds and a good suds, what a day!

The next day was the scheduled launch for our third carier, T-Mobile UK. This one did not go nearly as smoothly. We ended up delaying the launch by two days and then having TMO pull the plug after less than one day. This required us to do a second launch the following day.

Somehow, in the middle of this crazy week, I managed to catch a great film in the park with a special someone. The Omen was pretty cool.

Then, I was off to Chicago to hang with my entire family. We had a reunion at my mom's house in Elmhurst and everyone was there. A case of Amstel Light in the back yard at Margee's?!? Put that one down in the books.

Next weekend, Rock the Bells in SF is my prime objective. EPMD, Public Enemy, Roots, Mos Def, Talib Kwali, Cypress Hill, and Rage Against the Machine on one stage? Better bring in reinforcements. Kojak and Hong Kong are perfect accomplices.

Continuing on with more Hip Hop, the Beastie Boys roll to town for a gala event. They rocked it. It was one of my favorite B Boys shows of all times.

The final week is just as brutal. We deploy an upgrade to the Absinthe release of our software on our main customer's site, Three. Five minutes before launching this upgrade, I get a text message from my ex-girlfriend basically telling me she's leaving the state to take a job in Washington. The timing couldn't have been worse. That night, had a lot of thinking to do. We wound up meeting for coffee and Thai food the next day. Still processing.

Friday night, head into the city with my cousin for some tuna sandwiches and beer.

That's a wrap August 2007.

Sphere: Related Content

Beastie Boys

Sphere: Related Content

BookCrossing - The World's Biggest Free Book Club - Catch and Release Used Books

BookCrossing - The World's Biggest Free Book Club - Catch and Release Used Books

Sphere: Related Content

Slashdot | SCO Loses

Slashdot | SCO Loses

Sphere: Related Content

Big Surprise, Mobile Advertising Is Annoying - Mobile Blog - InformationWeek

Big Surprise, Mobile Advertising Is Annoying - Mobile Blog - InformationWeek

Sphere: Related Content

Gute Fahrt

A friend invited me to go sailing with him Sunday out on the San Francisco bay. We arrived at the harbor at Sausalito and set sail aboard the 31 ft Gute Fahrt which translates from Gernman into "Good Journey."

It was quite fun being out there under sail cruising around the SF bay. We went all the way out to the bay bridge and then headed back. We stopped in Tiburon for dinner. It was pretty cool to pull up in a sail boat, disembark, sit down for a fancy dinner, then get back on the sailboat to head home.

Sphere: Related Content

Wild Style, Double Trouble, and Amphiteater

For all you old school breakers out there. I was just cutting this up on the 1200s and decided to share. This is a sample from the hip-hop classic film Wild Style. The beginning is Double trouble. The end is the finale of the movie. Enjoy.

Sphere: Related Content

First Day

Back in February I set a weight loss goal for myself. I had gotten pretty darn fat and decided enough was enough. My goal then was 240 by my 33rd birthday which is October 1, 2007. I'm happy to say that I have come under that weight for the first time this morning, weighing in at 239.8! I feel great. I'm ready to set some new goals, this time not just in terms of scale weight but also body fat percentage. First, I think I'll see if I can maintain this weight for two weeks or whether this was just a fluke from not having eaten enough yesterday or being dehydrated. Once I get below 235 I'll know this is for real and it is safe to mark off my first goal and move on to my weight training program.

Yea!

Sphere: Related Content

Chelsea v Team America

I'm going to check out a soccer match tonight at Stanford. It's EPL favorite Chelsea versus Mexican stars Team America. There are going to be some superstars on hand and it should be quite entertaining.

Stanford Daily

Sphere: Related Content

Old La Honda

I decided today was the day to tackle Old La Honda. I had a nice rest/lunch at Robert's market in Woodside. Then, I took an easy time getting over to the start of the climb and digesting my lunch. I grabbed some water, a few walnuts and braced myself for the climb. When I made it about 1/4 way up I knew I had the legs/lungs to complete it.

I took a quick break at about the half way mark to catch my breath. I took another (involuntary) break at around 3/4 the way up with my front wheel got caught up in the curb debris and I tumbled off the bike. Oh well, no harm done. I think I averaged about 5 MPH on the way up and completed the climb in just under 45 minutes.

Reaching the top of Old La Honda was surreal. There was a heavy fog in the air and it was brutally cold. I wanted to enjoy the views from up there but there were none to be had. I ran into a couple fellow cyclists, bummed some water, and began the decent.

Here's the route from today:

40 Miles to Freedom Plus Old La Honda

My overall MPH was about 12.1 which is darn good considering all the climbing I did today. Overall, I'm really happy with my progress and the fact that I finally got to see Skyline.

-D

Sphere: Related Content

Rhythm NewMedia - Rhythm Announces Next Generation Mobile Banner Advertising System

Rhythm NewMedia - Rhythm Announces Next Generation Mobile Banner Advertising System

Sphere: Related Content

Skiing, by PJ O'Rourke

Skiing consists of wearing $3,000 worth of clothes and equipment and driving 200 miles in the snow in order to stand around at a bar and drink.

- PJ O'Rourke

Sphere: Related Content

2007 Giro Di Peninsula

The Festa Foundation organized a wonderful bike ride today called the Giro di Peninsula. The ride benefits the cause of developmentally challenged children and adults in the area. Several ride options were available: 100 miles, 100 k, 70 k, 30 k, and 30 k EZ.

The event kicked off this morning at 7:00 AM at Bay Meadows Race Track in San Mateo. Registration involved signing a waiver and getting a route map. Breakfast was available at the race track and two rest areas were setup on the course. At all locations a variety of food and beverages were available to help you re-fuel.

The 70 k ride was pretty challenging! It featured a climb to Skyline, a long stretch along Canada road, and the local Loop. Here's a complete map of the 70k ride.


Giro di Peninsula 70k Ride on Bikely

All told, Bikely estimates the total climb at 2703 feet. This is considerably more than the 1531 ft climb for 40 Miles to Freedom.

The Festa Foundation did an excellent job by chalking out arrows letting riders know where to turn. This made it easy to focus on riding and not on the route itself. The stretch along Canada road offered great views of the Crystal Springs reservoir and a real sense of being out on the open road.

A volunteer commented that over 1000 people had registered for the event which made for a nice fund-raiser for a worthy cause.

Sphere: Related Content

iPhone Queue

Sphere: Related Content

RIP Stelios Mouratis

RIP Stelios Mouratis
?-6/28/2007

Mosxato (Athens) Greece

The eldest son in the Mouratis family has passed away after an incredible life and courageous struggle.

He is survived by his wife Renna, and son Demetri and family in Greece and the US.

Please welcome him in heaven.

Theos, please say hi to ya-ya, papoose, and my dad. I miss you all.

-D

Sphere: Related Content

Weng Weng

This guy's Kung Fu is very strong. I wish I could train with him.

Sphere: Related Content

Roberts Market Woodside

Today, I ran into a friend on the Caltrain on my way home from Kung Fu. He and I are always on the same train Tuesday and Thursday evenings. I was talking to him about the Giro de Peninsula ride I have planned for this Saturday and how we would be heading up to Portola/Woodside. He mentioned that he had just come from there and that he worked near the intersection of Woodside and Canada Road. I have just recently blogged about my trip up there last Saturday and mentioned Bucks. He indicated that in fact, he works at Robert's Market across the street.

The market sounds like a very classy grocery store. I plan to head in there for a sandwich at least and maybe even do some shopping.

Apparently Jerry Rice and Larry Ellison are both customers there. I knew Ellison lived up there and grew up hating Jerry Rice as a Cowboys fan.

http://www.robertsmarket.com/homepage.shtml

Sphere: Related Content

Two Notches: Bucks Old La Honda

Another Saturday, another 40 Miles to Freedom. This time, however, I decided to amp it up a couple notches.

First, I took Manzanita to Mountain Home Road and went right. At the intersection of Mountain Home Road and Woodside, I found Buck's Cafe. I had previously been there (by car) and never realized how close I was on my weekly bike rides. Buck's is a Silicon Valley legend. Maybe next week I'll stop in for lunch. I wonder if they get a lot of cyclists in there? This change of route added a few more miles to the ride as well as a bit of a climb along Woodside. This made up for my initial wrong turn on my first 40 Miles to Freedom ride so I'm happy to keep the name accurate now.

The second notch up was a first attempt at Old La Honda Road. Old La Honda is a classic among local cyclists. It has a 9% grade and goes up to Skyline Boulevard. I was luck to bump into another cyclist preparing for his ascent. I told him I was a first timer and ask if he had any tips. The guy look like he had done it several times and had a few good suggestions. First, take it slow and steady. He advised trying to keep a speed of around 6 mph. He also said is was 3.2 or 3.3 miles to the top with the last half mile or so relatively flat. I chowed down on some cashews I had stashed for on-bike fuel and guzzled what little water I had left.

My plan was to take 1/4 of the climb for my first outing. This would give me an idea of how difficult the climb was and also set the stage to come back next time for another shot.

It was really steep. I was in the super-granny gear and barely making 5mph. Still, I felt great being out there and giving it a solid effort. I decided to pull into a driveway about 3/4 of a mile into the climb. That was less than 1/4 of the climb but it was a good stopping point on my first try.

Next time, I'll shoot for 1/2 way up or a total climb of 1.6 miles.

Palo Alto Bikes Link

Stanford Link

Great Page With History

Sphere: Related Content

Learning to Cook

I've been away from the kitchen for a good number of years here. The last time I can really remember cooking for myself on any kind of a regular basis, I was still in school.

On Monday of this week, I headed over to Williams-Sonoma in Palo Alto to get started on settings things straight. I had done some research and found out the basics of what I needed. Here's what I came home with:

8" Wusthof Chef's Knife
3 1/2" Wusthof Paring Knife
16x20" Boos Board
Mineral Oil
10" All-Clad Copper Core Fry Pan
4 Qt All-Clad Copper Core Soup Pot

So far, I've made just one dish, some grilled potatoes. They came out pretty good, I think. I'm in the process of buying some cookbooks and getting fresh fruits/veggies delivered so I'll have to see how that goes.

I love the knives, though. Wusthof is apparently a very good brand and I've read that good knives are the first thing you need in a kitchen.

Sphere: Related Content

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Dad. I miss you.

Sphere: Related Content

Forty Miles to Freedom and a Lucky Lady

Once again, I got out on the open road for another 40 Miles to Freedom ride. It turned out just shy of 40 miles and I completed the journey in 2 hours, forty-five minutes. Not bad. I felt considerably better on the climbs today. Somehow, I had more energy. It could have been the bag of almonds I had stashed in my jersey or simply the fact that I'm getting better on the bike.

Tonight, I'm meeting a lucky lady for dinner. She had aversion to much of the ethnic fare I would have normally suggested so we're going to Tied House in about an hour. I think she'll like the outdoor seating as well as the opportunity to check out some sports after dinner on the big screens.

Full throttle to full bottle and full full clout and I'm out.

Sphere: Related Content

MCA, Snoop, and Mix Master Mike

Sphere: Related Content

HIIT It

Today I started my HIIT traiing. HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. The concept is that you do intervals alternating between max intensity and rest. By pushing your intensity level up as high as you can go, you achieve two important benefits. First, and foremost, you raise your metabolic rate for the entire recovery period, some say up to 24 hours post-workout. Second, you achieve more calorie expenditure in a shorter amount of time. This is just my understanding at this point, and I'm brand new to the whole thing but I can tell you I felt incredible energy after my first session and that I plan on continuing the workout for the near future.

In greater detail, what I did was to hop on the elliptical machine at work and select the "Interval" preset. This brings up a workout display that looks like a square wave, two bars at level 1, followed by two bars at level 4, and so on repeating for the whole workout. In my case, this was 30 minutes. So, for the first two minutes, I just went easy and monitored my heart rate. My heartrate at the low intensity stage was around 140 BPM and I was clocking about 100 RPMs on the elliptical. Then, at the first spike in the workout graph, I went balls out as fast as I could go. I watch my heartrate leap to over 180 BPM and the RPMs go above 200. This is incredibly tiring and will really have you gasping for breath. The good news is, the high intensity only last for 90 seconds, then you get to rest.

Repeat.

All told, I was on the machine for 30 minutes. During the workout I sure got some weird looks. I'm a big guy and it must have been hilarious to see me flailing my arms and legs that fast on the machine. I didn't care. It felt great and I believe in the science behind this method.

More details to follow as I learn more and experiment on the frequency and duration of the intensity intervals. For now, I'm pretty well sold on the idea.

Sphere: Related Content

40 Miles to Freedom

Today I completed a 40 mile journey on my bike. I started out in Mountain View and took the Steven's Creek Trail. I went all the way to the Palo Alto Airport, and past it to a sailing launch spot just past the duck ponds. Then, I got this strange sense that I had a lot left in the tanks. Last night, I had been reviewing some pretty serious rides on the web. These involve climbing up into the foothills West of Mountain View and Palo Alto. Since I was feeling great at the boat launch after about 9 miles, I decided to push it.

I headed down Embarcadero through Palo Alto and over to Stanford's Campus. Then, I took a left on Sand Hill road and started climbing. If you check out this map, I did basically the reverse.



Here's another link that shows part of the route I took:

http://www.paloaltobicycles.com/loopmap/loop.html

After a lot of climbing I got a bit lost off of Manzanita. I wound up on 84 and realized if I didn't turn around I might be headed for a 100+ mile ride. Luckily, there were pleanty of cyclists riding with me so I just followed them.

After the loop I took Foot Expressway back to Los Altos. Then, I took Miramonte back to downtown Mountain View and Castro Street home. As I pulled into my apartment complex, I gazed down at my bikes odometer which read 40.00 miles. Thinking back to a great Sublime Album, 40 oz to Freedom, I had the name of this post.

I just entered in the entire route on bikely. Here it is:

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/42792

Sphere: Related Content

Splunk 3.0 Beta

I dowloaded and installed Splunk 3.0 Beta this morning. My first impression is that it looks really slick. Many of the features are new and improved while still preserving the main focus of splunk, log analysis. I really like the histogram function and I'm glad to see it has been improved as well.

I look forward to more fun playing around with the new interface and hopefully getting 3.0 deployed into production sometime in the near future.

Sphere: Related Content

Specification

A specification that will not fit on one page of 8.5x11 inch paper cannot be understood.
- Mark Ardis

Sphere: Related Content

4762_large_google_stock.JPG (JPEG Image, 605x485 pixels) - Scaled (98%)

Good thing I'm at work during the day or this would have freaked me out. Actually, it did freak me out quite a bit but I'm glad the rumors of a delayed iPhone turned out to be false. The drop, however, gave me a good idea of what kind of market response I could expect on this stock in the face of future bad news. A price of 103 is still a great gain for me from my adjusted buy price of 89, roughly a 15.7% return. I'll take that. Still, I was happier up around 110 on Tuesday.

Sphere: Related Content

Become the Master

To follow the path:
look to the master,
follow the master,
walk with the master,
see through the master,
become the master.

Sphere: Related Content

Overdid it at the Gym, Farmer's Market, and Mothers Day

I think I may have overdone it at the gym today. I woke up a bit past 8 AM, hopped on my bike and caught the train to San Carlos for my Sunday morning Wing Chun Kung Fu class.

TCB at 7-11, I went in side, to make my withdrawal, I saw what they had but I had to take it all

Then on to the gym. I got there early and hit the elliptical for about 20 minutes. The rest of the class showed up and we had a great session. Three way Si Lim Tau was cool.

Then I did some back exercises and stretches with a foam roller and baseball to try to work out my lower back. Then back on the elliptical for another 20 minutes or so.

I busted out of there at about 11:35 and had to haul ass to catch the train back to Mountain View. I stopped at the farmers market with ideas in my head from "What to Eat," by Marion Nestle which I started yesterday. I got some raisins, a loaf of bread, some organic spinach, and some cherries.

I got back home and hit the shower. Then I called my mom to wish her a happy Mother's Day.

At around 2 this afternoon I started to get a really bad headache. I suspect it may have been from overdoing at the gym. That second session on the elliptical was pretty hard core with my heart rate topping 170 and me gasping for breath.

I am starting to feel a bit better now after a nap but I was pretty worried I'd pushed to far.

Sphere: Related Content

The Mix-Up

1. B For My Name
2. 14th St. Break
3. Suco De Tangerina
4. The Gala Event
5. Electric Worm
6. Freaky Hijiki
7. Off The Grid
8. The Rat Cage
9. The Melee
10. Dramastically Different
11. The Cousin Of Death
12. The Kangaroo Rat

Sphere: Related Content

Direct2Dell - Dell's Blog

Dell announced today it would begin shipping Ubuntu Linux on its notebook and desktop computers.

Direct2Dell - Dell's Blog

Sphere: Related Content

St Michael's Alley and Mochi

Dinner was good and wine and desert was nice. The rest of the evening, however, has me at a loss. What happened? I just don't get it.

Sphere: Related Content

Apple 2Q profit jumps 88 percent

KA-CHING!



Apple 2Q profit jumps 88 percent

Sphere: Related Content

R.I.M. Offers a Reason for BlackBerry Failure - New York Times

Looks like the Blackberry cracked out:

R.I.M. Offers a Reason for BlackBerry Failure - New York Times

Sphere: Related Content

Michael Dell's Linux Choice? Ubuntu

Word Em Up!
Michael Dell's Linux Choice? Ubuntu

Sphere: Related Content

Vodafone planning summer mobile ad push - Mobile & Wireless - Breaking Business and Technology News at silicon.com

Vodafone planning summer mobile ad push - Mobile & Wireless - Breaking Business and Technology News at silicon.com

Sphere: Related Content

Utah 2007 Ski Trip

Wow, what a trip! My main man Eric hooked us up with a sweet condo/timeshare slopeside at Park City. We got into Salt Lake City around 9:00 PM on Wednesday, April 11th. I was the first one there and Andy was shortly behind me. We waited for Eric and his cousin Jean for some time at the car rental counter and then we were off in our crappy Chrysler Town and Country minivan headed for Park City.

Park City

We arrived at Park City around 11:00 PM Wednesday night and were greeted by Eric's friend Liz. Liz showed us around the place and got us situated for the next morning. We woke up early, maybe 7:30 AM on Thursday for our first day of skiing. Park City was about 25% open as this was their last week of the season. The best run we found was called Prospector, which was steep, groomed, and wide open. We flew down that run for most of the afternoon. At one point, we were feeling a bit adventurous and wandered under the lift lines to an area we knew was closed. Immediately after jumping into the gully and I collided and skis went flying in every direction. I was able to shout to warn him a split second before smashing into his right side. We collected our gear and enjoyed the semi-untracked powder the rest of the way down the mountain. What a great warm up day!

Update 2/14/2008: Glory Hole



On Thursday night, our friend Michal arrived from Chicago. He took a shuttle to meet us at Park City and our skiing/snowboarding crew was fully in tact.

Snowbird

Friday morning we woke up not so early and headed to Snowbird. After a breakfast stop in Cottonwood Heights we rolled into the Lift House to get discount lift tickets. Snowbird was in great shape with lots of snow and most of the mountain open. After a few warm up runs on the front side we headed for the Mineral Basin. Wow! There was awesome powder everywhere and tons of untracked. I think I had an advantage over my skiing buddies as I was on my Mantra 184s and they all had carving/gs skis. I was ripping it up. The basin was great all over. We stayed there for most of the morning tearing up catwalks, jumping into untracked powder and cruising on some great bowls. What an outstanding morning!

The afternoon at Snowbird was great too. We skied a bit more of the front side and were able to score more untracked. Friday at Snowbird was definitely the highlight of the ski trip. Great conditions, everyone was in great spirits, and we had a fantastic day on the mountain.

Imaginary Units

That night we had a fat dinner of hamburgers and whiskey and then played poker for imaginary "units." Michal cracked us all up by first going all in to match my 200 units then, upon realizing he had lost saying "good thing I only had 5 units left!"

Saturday we rolled back to Snowbird for more skiing. Most everyone was feeling pretty tired by that point. I had some boot issues to contend with and wasn't feeling nearly as jazzed as I had felt the previous two days. Still, we had tons of fun and found an awesome bowl/tree run all the way on the left side of the mountain. Michal, Eric and I jumped into the gate with reckless abandon and tore up the untracked powder that was left. We pushed on and started to see signs warning us of an upcomming cliff. We were getting a bit nervous that we had overshot the lift and would have to ski all the way to the bottom to regroup. Luckily, I spotted an exit path and we reconvened at the Gad 2 chair for more runs.

"You're Fucked"

Saturday afternoon I ran into a funny situation on the lift. Andy, Eric and I were waiting for Michal at the Mineral Basin Express lift. It's a detached quad lift that services the bowls in the basin. We were first in line for the next chair when Eric spotted Michal coming down. As Eric waved and pointed at Michal I got distracted and thought it was time for us to go. Instead, the two skiers in front of us were lined up and ready to board when I jumped in front of their chair. Andy, looking for the easy way out of this tried to get the lifty's attention. The lifty, however, was busy shoveling snow into the track and missed the whole thing. Ever the compassionate and understanding one, Andy simply muttered "You're Fucked." With a little quick thinking on my part I simply let the lift push me safely out of the way and turned around to take our chair. Andy's comment however rung out the rest of the way up the lift and for the remainder of the trip. Eric and I got a good laugh out of it on the next chair up on which Andy was conspicuously absent.

Alta

Sunday we headed to Alta. Alta is known by the slogan "Alta is for Skiers." No snowboarding is allowed there. In fact, Alta recently changed its rules to allow staff to forcibly remove anyone from the mountain who is even carrying a snowboard. The ski group was down to Michal, Andy and me and we got an early start catching the first chair a bit after 9:15 AM. We found out that Alta and Snowbird are adjacent resorts and that there is a skiing path that connects the two mountains together near the Baldy peak.

I ran into a bit of trouble in one of the bowls at Alta. We had gone through a gate and I was wandering around on a peak following tracks laid out by previous skiers through the trees. When I came around a corner I realized the path I was on lead righ into a grouping of large exposed rocks. I removed my skies and carefully slid down the trail past the rocks on my but. The run was very steep with un-groomed snow and so I prepared to slide down the rest of the way to level ground to re-click in. Somehow I lost my grip on the mountain and started sliding. In the process, one of my ski poles, which I was holding in my lap jammed into the snow at the handle and and into my arm at the pointed end. It hurt and I lost my pole in the process, sliding another 20 yards or so before coming to a stop. I climbed back up to retrieve the lost pole and regrouped with Andy and Michal taking a much needed water break.

The three of us skied Alta for the remainder of the morning with Michal playing scout on more than one occasion, leaving Andy and me to the groomers. We made a bunch of nice top to bottom runs off of the Collins lift and rounded out the day by about noon. In the parking lot, I got to inspect the wound from the rock incident and realized the ski poke had punctured a hole in my jacked, my base layer, and my arm! A huge pool of blood lay just below the skin's surface and today it looks like a huge bruise.

A quick trip back to SLC and we were on our respective ways back home. Tons of skiing, good friends, and a great trip to the Wasatch Mountains. We'll have to do this again sometime soon.

Sphere: Related Content

British teens have mobile ad preferences - Mobile Marketing - BizReport

British teens have mobile ad preferences - Mobile Marketing - BizReport

Sphere: Related Content

Down and Dirty

"Down and dirty from the CPT
NWA and Eazy E
One more before we end this session
What's your real name?
No more questions!"

I love the title of G Love's upcoming 9th studio album.

"I'm going to call this record "Down and Dirty". This record will also be a return to the G. Love and Special Sauce name on the release."

Aww yea!

Sphere: Related Content

Volkl Mantra 184

I just got my hands on some new skis. They are Volkl Mantra 184s and they are sweet. I need to mount some bindings quick and take these things out for a spin.

Did I forget to mention how I won my Surefoot boots at a G Love concert at Squaw last weekend. Aww shit.

-D

Sphere: Related Content

Why Isn't System Administration Evolving? - O'Reilly Sysadmin

Luke A. Kanies, author of puppet, has an interesting blog post Why Isn't System Administration Evolving? - O'Reilly Sysadmin, in which he laments the lack of automation in the field of system administration.

In my opinion, Luke overstates the case. Without automation, most sysadmins I know would be dead in the water. The past two shops I've worked in have focused me very heavily on automation in a role somewhere between traditional systems administration and development. I also happen to be familiar with some of the books Luke references as well as Tom Limoncelli as an author. There was a very strange statement in Luke's post about how Tom had "gone out of his way to avoid automation." This didn't sound right to me but I'm willing to accept it was just taken out of content.

In any event, I agree with some points Luke has made, especially that sysadmins who are installing new systems primarily from CD ought to be sacked right away. Taking that point to one side, however, there are a nunmber of issues that I think Luke is raising simply to create an artificial need for his puppet software.

Many factors dictate whether a particular open source package is right for a given environment. In my opinion, cfengine or Luke's puppet don't work too well in my environment because we already have an existing solution that works for us (no, it isn't me running for loops and SSH). We leverage yum, plus custom repositories to host all our in house and third party software and configuration. While software deployment and configuration are typically sepearted out as two steps, there is enough overlap here to have yum and RPM manage both aspects.

So, I say to sysadmins, use the tools that are out there first. In the event you find yourself in a situation where no tool exits, look again. If you're still stuck, write a blog about it. Someone will come along and set you straight.

Finally, big props for bringing Splunk up in the discussion. I'm working with them very closely lately and I have nothing but great things to say about their product and the entire company.

-D

Sphere: Related Content

Rhythm NewMedia Opens India Center @ SYS-CON Media

That's some spicy masala!

Rhythm NewMedia Opens India Center @ SYS-CON Media

Sphere: Related Content

weather.com - Large Maps

POW

Sphere: Related Content

Alpine Meadows

Sphere: Related Content

My Broadband :: 3G & Cellular : Cellphone to fuel internet growth, says Google guru

My Broadband :: 3G & Cellular : Cellphone to fuel internet growth, says Google guru

Sphere: Related Content

Rick Rubin: Hit Man -- Thursday, Feb. 08, 2007 -- Page 1 -- TIME

DJ Double R reprazent!

Rick Rubin: Hit Man -- Thursday, Feb. 08, 2007 -- Page 1 -- TIME

Sphere: Related Content

WIld and Wet Day at Kirkwood

With a close eye on the weather report all week, I scheduled a trip up to Kirkwood yesterday on the Bay Area Ski Bus. The day started off with a comedy of errors. I called a cab to pick me up at my apartment and bring me to Sport's Basement in Sunnyvale, where the ski bus was supposed to leave at 4:15 AM. We pulled up at around 4:12 AM and low and behold, a motor coach was parked on Kern avenue with its left blinker on. Just as we pulled up behind it, the bus departed. Th e cab driver wasn't too helpful but I told him to flash his brights to get the bus's attention. No luck. We started to chase bus down, first one left turn, then a second. I was really starting to get nervous. At the third intersection, there were two left turn lanes. The bus got in the inner left turn lane, and the cab slid into the outer one. I rolled down my window and waved the bus driver to pull over. Success!

I jumped out of the cab, threw a $20 at the driver and went directly to the door of the motor coach. A rather dismayed looking 30sih woman came of the bus and looked at me with some contempt. "You're not Kelly are you??" "No," I said, "why is this bus leaving so early, I thought it departed at 4:15." "This is the teen bus," she explained, "you chased down the wrong bus." I had only seen one bus on the street. It turned out, my bus was tucked away in the parking lot and invisible from the street while speeding by after the first bus. After a short walk back to Sport's Basement, I quickly jumped on the bus and found a seat for the 4 plus hour trek up to Kirkwood.

When we got near the mountain, the snow started to fall. Great news! I was excited and anxious to get out and make some turns. We were delayed by 30 minutes when we had to attach snow chains to the bus. It normally could be done in about 15 minutes but the driver was having some trouble. By the time we got to Kirkwood, it was nearly 10:00 AM. Arriving one hour after the lifts had started on a powder day was a bit of a letdown.

I rushed off the bus, snatching my lift ticket, and headed for the mountain lodge. I decided to check into to Expedition Kirkwood to see if my favorite ski instructor was available that day. Debs was there and available. After some creative rescheduling, I was able to snag a two hour private lesson from noon to 2. Happy, I went off to the demo center to get some skis for the day.

The demo center was jammed with four or five clearly stoned attendants munching away at breakfast. None of them seemed to want to help. I quickly filled out the rental forms and stood there with the clipboard in my hand for over a minute before one guy finally asked me if I needed help. We selected some skis and then went to the boot area where I usually have a hard time. You see, ski boots are a bit like torture chambers for you feet. Without a good fit, you are guaranteed to have an awful day out on the slopes no matter the conditions. After trying three pairs, I finally found one that fit. We needed to make some adjustments to the boots to allow for a bit larger sizing. This is done with some tools and I was shocked to see the attendant didn't want to do this. Instead, he tossed the tools at me and walked away. Needless to say, this pissed me off. I mean, I'm paying top dollar for demo skis and boots and I'm expected to set them up myself? What's next, they give me the skis and have me set the bindings? Why don't I just get stoned, eat breakfast, and hang out there in a daze with the rest of them?

Anyway, after that drama was resolved I was finally able to hit the slops. I know Kirkwood quite well having skied four or five times there prior. I wanted to go to the backside but the tell-tale sound of dynamite blasting let me know it was closed for avalanche conditions. Oh well, with plenty of terrain open and the snow falling, I was sure to have a good time on the front side.

It was on about the third or fourth run when I realized I was getting wet. The snow was heavy and would turn to water once it reached my body and the head I was putting out. My gloves turned into sponges and could be literally wrung out to reveal just how wet it was. A few degrees cooler and there would have been more snow and it would have been all powder. Oh well, I guess after nearly a month of no snow, you can't expect every storm to drop the fluffy stuff.

The lesson that afternoon was great. I was a bit tired from the long drive up there and the fact that I had just finished an exhausting martial arts workout two days prior. I asked Debs to take it easy on me and we stuck to mostly blues and blacks. Still, I had a great lesson and we worked on some techniques and tuning my stance. Debs is a really great instructor in that she knows you are there to learn but also to have fun. She pointed out some things I was doing wrong but never made me feel bad about it in the process. I improved dramatically, she said, from the last time we had skied together which was in early January. I think part of it was just confidence and my desire to improve.

At the end of the day, the trip back from the mountain to the bus absolutely sucked. The parking lot and street were like a like, all the wet snow having melted and pooled up at low ground. Soaked, I got on the bus and changed into the driest clothes I could find. I popped a few Vicadin from my doc and settled in for the ride home.

Sphere: Related Content

Superbowl Shuffle

I'm off to Chicago to support the Bears in their quest for Superbowl glory. With any luck, the Bears will take the Colts down to Chinatown. I'm lucky that I found a great fare on kayak. For less than $300 bucks, I can fly direct from SFO to Ohare and not really miss any work either. That was the clincher for making the trip.

Go Bears!

Sphere: Related Content

Netflix CEO Says He's After All Internet Connected Devices

Netflix just announced a new program called Watch Now. When asked whether Netflix is targeting multiple screens, Founder and CEO Reed Hastings said "every internet connected screen ... from cell phones, to laptops, to wifi plasma screens."

Later, he said he would differentiate his approach from some competitors. Hastings said Google and Yahoo will take the ad-supported model while Netflix will be a rent DVDs.

Vidoeo from thestreet.com

Sphere: Related Content

WhatIsTheGrid.pdf (application/pdf Object)

WhatIsTheGrid.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Sphere: Related Content

Touring RHEL 5 Beta 1: New features make upgrades tempting

Touring RHEL 5 Beta 1: New features make upgrades tempting

Nice article from Curtis Smith. I agree with most of his points even though I find his analysis a bit conservative.

My take, Xen is a bigger deal than Curtis lets on. Stateless sounds interesting, thanks for pointing that one out. The wiki could use a bit more explanation. NFS is so old school, can't we move on?

Sphere: Related Content

Press-Telegram - Galaxy in big leagues now

Press-Telegram - Galaxy in big leagues now

David Beckham is the kind of soccer (football) player I would foul every chance I get. He probably wears white shoes too. Still, I'm happy to hear he has decided to join the MLS and I wish him and the LA Galaxy all the best. In all, this is a great move for US Soccer. Not since the New York Cosmos of old has a move like this impacted soccer in the US so profoundly.

Sphere: Related Content