Posts (page 2)
Cute Mac and PC Christmas ad:
I don't do this often, but when I have tried to use something as a reading aid it's usually an 3x5 notecard or piece of paper to mask out some of the content so I can focus on just the sentence or two at hand. That's when I thought of FreeRuler for Mac OS X. In the past I've used this handy little tool to measure pixels when on-screen positioning was key. Turns out it works great as a reading guide! And not only can I drag it around with my mouse, it supports the up/down arrow keys for small movements and shift-up/shift-down for larger jumps. Excellent!
P.S. I'm sure there's something similar out there for you Windows folks too.
My buddy Terry sent email yesterday morning inviting a few of us to "play hookey" for the afternoon and go for a mountain bike ride. I took a look at the 10-day forecast and saw 70-45-32-27-30-30-30-30-30..., you get the idea. Not a hard call, let's ride!
Terry, Steve, Hal and I went to Bobcat Ridge, a terrific new riding / hiking area just southwest of Masonville. The Bobcat Gulch fire burned through this area in 2000, laying bare the landscape and leaving behind striking 360 degree views. The trail is roughly 10 miles, the first mile rolling along the valley floor, the next few climbing the stout Power Line road, another couple on single track to finish the climb and traverse the west side of the ridge, and finally a 4+ mile descent with perhaps 40 switchbacks and a full menu of rocky obstacles. The trail is well-designed and tremendously fun to ride.
It was hard to believe we were in shorts and jerseys at 5pm on a November 19th evening in Colorado. The wind was pretty brisk at the top, but almost completely absent mid-way down the descent. Very still and beautiful. We even heard coyotes howling as we finished and headed for the parking lot. Sensing an easy meal, perhaps? Maybe they confused Bobcat Ridge with another ridge we like to ride nearby? :-)
...just something I wrote in an IM conversation today...
Oh, I write software for a living.
I've ridden the 24 Hours of Moab mountain bike race with friends each of the last 4 years. It's been a great experience with lots of camaraderie, as a training goal, an opportunity to push ourselves, and more than anything else a chance to get out into the beautiful Moab desert and ride with a bunch of terrific, like-minded bike folks.
Each year there's a "quiet period" after the race where we rest and don't really talk about "next year." The quiet period this time lasted...maybe minutes, or maybe we were already talking during the final hours of the race. For a variety of reasons, we are a little hungrier than usual to get back out under the stars, lights ablaze and start turning the cranks over. So, the 24 Hours of Vail Lake comes onto the radar.
Here is some information to help us decide if and how to ride this new, early-season race.
24 Hours of Vail Lake race home:
http://www.grannygear.com/Races/Vaillake/index.shtml
Schedule of events:
http://www.grannygear.com/Races/Vaillake/2008/schedule.shtml
Pricing:
http://www.grannygear.com/Register/price_table.php?class_select=price_scale&year=2008
Vail Lake in Google Maps:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=104490150066531762262.00043d07fd69c22f79aee&ie=UTF8&ll=33.483286,-116.968174&spn=0.05233,0.064716&t=h&z=14&om=1
Google Earth w/Course Map Overlay:
http://www.grannygear.com/Assets/Images/Maps/2007_Granny_Gear_Race_Series.kmz
Vail Lake KML:
Driving directions (Fort Collins to Temecula):
So a mere 16 hours of driving and we're there, ready to race. :-)
Enough "facts," how about what others have written about their experience?
Also noteworthy is the fact that Bluebird Lake, though six miles from the nearest road, used to have a large concrete dam and served as a water source for the city of Longmont. In 1988 Rocky Mountain National Park removed 5 million pounds of concrete and rebar from Bluebird Lake (see "Removal of High Dams" near the bottom of the linked page) to restore it to near-pristine condition.
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| Bluebird Lake November 2007 |
For an interesting visual comparison take a look at these pictures from the same hike in August 2004. Here is a good example showing Bluebird Lake in winter and summer.
I'm pondering the idea of spending at least the first few months of 2008 buying as little as possible for myself. I think there could be many benefts -- simplicity, time savings, re-discovering all the stuff I have around and haven't enjoyed (books, movies, reading online, writing, etc.), breaking the insatiable desire for more, more, more, doing free / low-cost, fun things with the family, talking with friends, helping others with the money I don't spend on myself. We'll see, but it sounds appealing at the moment.
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| Spring Canyon Bike Skills Park |
