Spoken

Posted by Daniel Mon, 25 Jun 2007 00:41:00 GMT

Posted by Daniel Tue, 19 Jun 2007 01:09:00 GMT

Father's day becomes more special every year that Noah is with us. He's just an incredible being.

But that's not my point (smile)

I was planning this...

Due to mechanical difficulty I only made to the top of that peak. Then I turned around and went home. I admit that some of that hill I walked, again, but I got futher than ever before, in harder gearing, and I'll try and ride it enough this summer to get all the way. through it.

Really good news: no knee pain. I finally was running out of cardio and muscle rather running into pain. I feel fitness in my future. So while the ride was shorter than I had planned, and missed out the lovely scenery by the lake and the wonderfully winding backside decent I did manage to get some more climbing in and that's what I'm really hoping to work on now that my knees seem to be allowing it. Onward!

Posted by Daniel Thu, 14 Jun 2007 19:51:00 GMT

At the TED conference, a holy cow technology demo video for Photosynth. Ridiculously awesome technology. Enjoyed the Seadragon underpinning ideas as well. In short, architectural rendering can be generated from a database of source pictures. Something like Notre Dame which is constantly photographed can be stitched together. Just go watch the video. Crazy good stuff.

Today, Dave talks about social cameras which seems to dovetail nicely. I'd love to stitch together event pictures so that you can see the whole instead of just my perspective, including the case he discusses.

Clearly, large searchable photo collections are in incredibly powerful tool, and social ones like flickr will become awesomely powerful tools.

The first thing that leaps to mind are sports events where ten of thousands of photos are taken or historical event recreation. (Imagine the power of this tool applied to a cataclysm such as 9/11?)

When people ask what's the use of all the cycles we have on our desktops I see stuff like this.

Posted by Daniel Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:56:00 GMT

So I’ve been working o my knee and getting stronger every week and all has been good with my riding. All this was leading up to a ride with Seth which I had planned for soonish.

I did the Alpine Approach last week, though I didn’t know I was going to because the folks I rode with called it something else. So while there was some pain, I rode more of 9W and the park than I had ever done before regardless of knee condition, which told me that I was doing good and should keep moving. Plus, I rode again Thursday and was pain free, so I figured things really were progressing.

Jenni planned some climbing for today and I figured what the heck. Oddly enough, the truly killer hill isn’t on the elevation chart she posted (see above) since it isn’t on Long Meadow but on the road we needed to ride to get to there. (The very first lie in cycling is “This is the last hill”.) It wasn’t that bad on the way in, but after all the climbing on Long Meadow it was something on the way back. Of course, I did enjoy the 47MPH downside on the way in… it’s not as fast coming back out.

Anyway, I’m really happy about my progress, and while I broke no speed records going up those climbs… they were mostly pain free and a definite improvement for me fitness-wise and knee-wise. Yay me.

No here’s the ugly part Seth. I’m going to be working full time starting next week until about September is looks like. We’ve waited for a long time to get together, I guess it is going to have to wait just a bit longer. Sorry.

My next task is figuring out how to continue to increase my fitness while working full time. It’ll be a new trick for me for sure. Wish me luck.

As an aside my meds have been cut to 50% in one case and 25% in another. Just another sign of increasing health. Little steps, little steps.

PS: For all those reading along, Seth wouldn’t harm a fly as far as I know, never mind actually do me harm. Just soes ya know, and don’t get the wrong idea about the title.

Posted by Daniel Tue, 12 Jun 2007 14:23:32 GMT

Posted by Daniel Tue, 12 Jun 2007 14:17:00 GMT

Posted by Daniel Tue, 05 Jun 2007 12:38:00 GMT

So I finally managed to get out the woods for a ride. The bike handled well, but it needs some dialing. I managed to get stuck behind a someone totally new to the sport… I tried to help, but there’s nothing but experience that teaches you that controlled speed is your friend, I guess. Going slow causes one to get stuck by rocks that you’d otherwise roll over or around and er, um, fall. (Not that could happen to me, ahem :~)

My knees held up ( though they felt a bit grainy the next day). I’m going to call that a success however. And the “cross-training” nature of mountain biking (compared to road riding it’s far less mechanically repetitive, more upper body, and a more upright position) uses different muscles, so I felt it in my butt climbing, and arms and shoulders descending. I expect that this will all help my reach for fitness now that my knees seem to be finally settling down.