Freestyle Mazurka

Slightly Stir Crazy

2007-06-20T23:41:00.000-07:00

My job lets me work from home a lot. The team I work with is very loose, my boss is up in Seattle, and we all generally work on our individual projects, anyways. I go in to the office on days when I have meetings that are actually based in San Jose (rare), or there's some hardware in the office that I actually need to bang on (less rare). But I'll sometimes only go into the office once or twice in a week.

Generally, I love working from home. No commute, save on gas money, make my own lunch, hang out with Bud during the day from time to time. I can stay in my pajamas all day if I want (although Nanny J is here). In general, I'm often more productive and more comfortable.

But there are days, like today, where I don't get out of the house at all. Usually it's just poor planning. There aren't any errands that need to be run; no appointments to meet. The closest I got to getting outside today was a couple of brief trips into the garage to add a few cardboard boxes to the recycling pile out there. And overall it leaves me a little unsettled.

By the time Bud's in bed it's too late to head out for a bike ride. Maybe I'll just go out for a run or something. Or just wait until tomorrow. But by tomorrow morning, I'll be chomping at the bit to get outside. Guess I'll head into the office tomorrow.

Screen Real Estate

2007-06-20T01:19:00.000-07:00

Happiness is 3520x1200 of usable resolution.

that's 4,224,000 pixels... glee!

Father's Day Ride

2007-06-18T13:32:00.000-07:00

For Father's Day M-lady watched Bud while I went out for a longish bike ride. It was a great ride, and ended up totaling about 68 miles. Sadly, my legs decided they were done after about 60.

I was riding with three other guys: DH, a good friend and colleague of M-lady's, and a couple of guys I hadn't met before, CE and DW. DH has a couple of young kids, and gets to train about about much as I do... not much. CE and DW are primarily triathletes. CE is more of a runner than a cyclist, and turns in 2:40 marathons. DW finishes Ironmans. These guys could ride forever.

As it turned out, though, they couldn't really lay down a lot of power. We all warmed up together on Foothill at a very mellow pace, and I had shaken off most of the rust by the time we reached the base of Old La Honda after about 14 miles of riding with some rolling hills. The weather was gorgeous, sunny skies in the low 70s east of Skyline, mid to high 60s on the west.

I started up OLH at what I felt was a pretty reasonable pace, and dropped the other three guys pretty quickly. So I dialed back, took it easy on the climb, and rode up with DW. We finished a few seconds under 24 minutes, which was a respectable time. DH was about 30 seconds back, and CE was about a minute behind him. We all headed up to Alice's at the corner of 84 and Skyline to fill up our water bottles.

We proceeded down 84, with DW taking the lead. I rode down ahead of him for a while, until we hit the little town of La Honda.

One of the things I love about cycling is the scenery. It changes faster than when you're running, but doesn't zip by as it dows if you're in a car. In La Honda I passed a sight which really turned my head. It was a wooden tavern or inn, with a hitching post outside, with about a dozen horses hitched to the post. With saddles. It looked straight out of the 1890's. A little net research showed that the place was Apple Jack's... I'll have to go back sometime. On a horse, apparently.

After trying to clear my eyes, I eased up and waited for DH and CE to catch up with me. We sat in a pace line as we hit the rollers and the headwind running out towards the coast. The three of us pulled up to the San Gregario general store within about 10 seconds of DW, not quite managing to reel him in.

From there, we headed up stage road, a mellow climb towards Highway 1, where we descended to the turnoff to Tunitas Creek. Tunitas Creek is a bigger, longer climb than OLH, with a gentle beginning and ending third, and a fairly steep middle third.

DH was pretty tired before we even started, but my legs were still feeling OK. When the road kicked up into the steeper section, I went ahead and started putting some effort down, keeping my heartrate right around a maintainable 170. I eased up a little when the road flattened out a little bit, but felt like I made good time up the hill.

DW arrived at the top about 3 minutes after I did, and CE was another 2 after that. DW had proceeded on down King's Mountain Road, and after a few minutes of waiting CE and I headed back down Tunitas to find DW. His legs had exploded at the bottom of Tunitas, so CE and I escorted him the last couple miles up to the top.

DH, CE, and I descended King's Mountain Rd at a safe pace, taking it easy and careful of the traffic. We picked up DW at the bottom of the descent, and headed out to the Woodside general store, where we topped off our water bottles for the last part of the ride.

Over Whiskey Hill, up and down Sand Hill, and onto Junipero Serra. That's about where my legs quit. DH and I sat in behind DW and CE, who pulled us all the way home about 7 more miles down Foothill. My legs were just leaden weights... I haven't been that blown for a long time. I guess that's what I get going for a 4.5 hour ride when I've been training about 2 hours at a time.

Here's my GPS data from the ride. Nothing terribly astonishing, but it's always fun to look at the hills.

A Promise of Things to Come?

2007-06-13T00:28:00.000-07:00

Just updated the theme and tweaked the template a bit. Maybe I'll post some more grown up stuff here. Stay tuned...

Ten Years Ago

2007-06-11T23:25:00.000-07:00

A meme! I got tagged for a meme (and noticed), so thought I would provide my twists on it here. Thanks to Crystal for the tag!

What Were You Doing 10 Years Ago?
Ten years ago I was about 6 months out of school. I was living with three other guys in a house in Mountain View, and we spent an awful lot of time playing Mario Kart 64 on a big TV. M-lady and I were considering moving in together, after having dated for a couple of years. I weighed about 10 pounds less than I do now. Which brings us to the first item:

Five Snacks You Enjoy
Of course, I've got high cholesterol issues now, so I don't get to eat these very often anymore.

Popcorn with real butter
Ice cream
Red Vines (these are OK... non-fat!)
Dry-roasted peanuts
Pringles

Five Songs That You Know All The Lyrics To
I have a really, really good memory for lyrics. M-lady thinks it's a little spooky sometimes. So I thought it would be more interesting to list five songs I know, but for which I don't know the lyrics.

Mein Hertz Brennt by Rammstein (don't know German)
Just Push Play by Aerosmith (Jamaican patois)
Louie, Louie by The Kingsmen (yeah, I'm not special on this one)
Don't Shoot, Shotgun by Def Leppard (intense mumbling on this track. seriously.)
Alegria by Cirque Du Soleil (made up language)

Five Things You Would Do If You Were A Millionaire
I took this to mean 'what would you do with so much money you didn't have to worry about it'. A million dollars only gets a reasonable down payment on a house around here. Let's say I was a billionaire.

Buy a big, new house in a good school district
Collecting sports cars
Collecting bicycles
Set up a dance and music studio/theater
Get a nice AV/home theater setup

Bonus item: philanthropy (cancer research and survivor foundations)

Five Bad Habits

Going to sleep really late
Getting up really late
Procrastinating
Letting my desk get ridiculously messy
Not paying attention to the calendar

Five Things You Like To Do
In no particular order...

Dance
Bike
Drive
Sleep
Game

Five Things You Would Never Wear Again

A mustache
A mullet
A singlet
Really bright bermuda shorts
Braces

Five Favorite Toys
This changes on at least a monthly basis

Calfee
OQO Model 02
XBox 360
Garmin Nuvi 660
Bumblebee GT yo-yo

Five People to Tag
I don't know of five people to tag. So I'll just say... if you read this, and you want to do the meme, have at! Just drop me a line to let me know you did it.

Meme Track
Instructions: remove the blog from the top, move all the blogs up one, and add yourself to the bottom.

My Woman Swings

2007-06-08T01:32:00.000-07:00

M-lady and I headed out to go swing dancing, socially, after Bud went to bed tonight. We thought we'd check out the local scene here in San Diego. So we headed down to a dance in La Jolla called the Firehouse.

It was an interesting scene. Lots of good dancers, but of a pretty different style: sort of a soft Hollywood style swing. M-lady and I are more Savoy style dancers. So we certainly stood out. One of the local instructors came over to ask us who we were after a couple of dances, and we both got asked to dance a few times by various locals.

After dancing for a little while, the DJ announced signups for a Jack and Jill competition. For those not int he swing scene, this is a competition where you get assigned a random partner, so it's much more focused on actual partnering, leading, and following, rather than tricks and mini-choreographies one may have put together with a regular partner. M-lady and I decided to enter, just for kicks.

We knew we'd be at a bit of a disadvantage, with our out-of-town style, but we both drew pretty good partners. I got the only guy who was dancing as a follow; I'd watched him dance a bit earlier in the evening, though, and I knew he was pretty good. I also know how to lead a little more heavily for guys.

The competition was structured in standard format: 12 competing couples, judges tap couples out until there are 5 left, those get to solo and are judged by audience applause. My partner and I did pretty well: I gave him enough room to show off, and I did a couple of tricks which no one in SD seemed to dance. We were certainly drawing attention as the only same-sex couple. We were the last couple tapped out giving us 6th place. Oh well. There were a lot of boos from the audience when were were tapped out... I think we were a crowd favorite.

M-lady made it to the finals, though. They danced 4th, and did a well-structured little solo, with some charlestons, breaks, and a great free spin. M-lady danced beautifully, and the crowd loved them: they took first place, winning the competition. Go M-lady!

After the competition, M-lady and I got asked to dance by lots of other folks. It was pretty nice. Our best dances were with each other, though.

Life Experience Checklist

2006-07-22T20:50:00.000-07:00

This one's going around... Thought I'd throw in my 2 cents.

Bold the ones you've done..

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swum with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said 'I love you' and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and seen the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity [This one's debatable. I'd like to think I've given lots, but overall it hasn't effected my big-picture finances.]
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb [Nope. But I have Held a penguin.]
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even if just for a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer [Ummmm... I've got a machine with 4... actually, I've got about 5 machines in this room with multiple hard drives...]
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was shit-faced
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe [Nope. But I have Backpacked in Alaska.]
47. Taken a road trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Taken a midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your cds
57. Pretended to be a superhero [I'm Batman!]
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers [Hmmm... Not so much posing as streaking...]
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an "expert"
83. Gotten flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children [Working on this one... when am I done?]
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Created and named your own constellation of stars
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sung loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking [I occasionally drum in the car, too]
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived
105. Written articles for a large publication [I had an academic paper published, but it was fairly esoteric subject matter.]
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart [Ouch.]
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone [Yup, but hey, those are easy compared to the ACL repair I had.]
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery [Far more often than I should have]
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read [See 134 :)]
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language [Fairly minimal interpreted language, but yes...]
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts [The only way to go.]
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you [I'm counting DVDs of dance shows.]
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146: Dyed your hair
147: Been a DJ
148: Shaved your head
149: Caused a car accident
150: Saved someone's life [Possibly, but not certainly.]

65 to go! OK, maybe I shouldn't strive to cause a car accident. :P

High-efficiency 9V powered USB device charger

2006-04-20T22:33:00.000-07:00

Why:
I bought a new bike computer recently (to go with my new bike, but that's another post). It's a Garmin Edge 305, and does everything I need it to, plus some extras. In particular, it's got a GPS on it. While this is a good way to keep track of speed and distance traveled, it can also give you a map, automatically trigger the lap counter at specific locations, show your progress against a previous workout or desired pace, etc. The only downside in the reviews I read was that the internal rechargeable lithium-ion battery would only last about 4-5 hours, which is fine most of the time, but is a bit short for those really epic rides or races.
The Garmin charges through a mini-USB port. I'd seen altoids-case battery USB chargers here and there on the net, and thought it'd be simple enough to build. But after looking at available designs, I was unsatisfied. The standard 3 terminal regulator, while really the only necessary component, has to bleed off a lot of heat and will drain a battery quite a bit faster than necessary. A switching power supply has the advantage of being quite a bit more efficient, but requires more components. I hadn't seen anyone try to make a teeny switching supply for USB, so it was into the abyss!

Design:
I started with my trusty Horowitz and Hill. If you mess with electronics, and don't have a copy of The Art of Electronics, just go get it right now. From there I went looking for parts at Jameco, and perused some switching IC specs. I ended up with a design based on the reference design of the switching IC I ended up using.

Parts:
1 - Altoids Gum tin. Flavor is up to you.
1 - 9V battery
1 - LM2672N-5.0 Switcher IC (National Semiconductor) - 290765
1 - 100 uF HT Electrolytic Capacitor - 330747
1 - 47 uF HT Electrolytic Capacitor - 158246
1 - .01 uF Ceramic Capitor - 15230
1 - 47 uH High Current Toroid Inductor - 371821
1 - Schottkey Diode - 177949
1 - USB socket (female) - 161023
1 - 9V battery clip - 11279
1 - small proto board
and jumper wires, solder, epoxy, electrical tape, etc.

Jameco part numbers and links included above.

Construction:
I started by breadboarding the circuit. DC output of 5V, no discernible ripple on the oscilliscope, so it looked like it was going to work.

Next I soldered it together on a proto board. I kept things really compact... I wasn't sure I'd be able to fit it in the Altoids tin. In particular the inductor takes up a lot of space. The 9V is in the shot for perspective, and the USB socket, while unconnected, lies to the left of the circuit.

Next step was cutting the small section of proto board out, and getting the USB socket attached. I rounded the corners of the proto board as necessary to fit in the tin.

Hey look! It works!

Here's the hole cut in the side of the Altoids tin for the USB plug. This was done with a dremel for the rough cut, and cleaned up with an ignition file.

I put these two slots in the sides of the case (and matching ones on the other side) so that I could strap the case onto the handlebars of my bike. The slots are in the area that the battery sits inside the case.

Epoxy time! I epoxied the proto board into the tin. Unfortunately, due to the tight fit, the USB plug had to extend a bit beyond the case. However, it is solidly epoxied in place. I also insulated the underside of the proto board with a layer of electrical tape (suspended in the epoxy) which prevents the circuit from shorting on the case.

A closeup of the circuit end of the case.

I used velcro cable ties for straps, threaded through the case. They also pad the battery a bit, which might have a tendency to rattle around just a bit. You can see how everything fits in the case in this pic.

Hey, the lid even shuts. Actually, the lid shuts tightly enough that I'm not worried about it falling open accidentally. Those Altoids tins are well constructed. The metal case also acts as a faraday cage for that rapidly oscillating magnetic field in there...

Strapped onto the handlebars.

A final shot of it working.

Post-Mortem:
It works, and while I have not field tested it yet, I'll do that soon and post the results soon. I'm curious how long the 9V can power the circuit. I'm also curious about the efficiency of the circuit. In theory, it's up in the low 90s, but I'd like to test and find out.
Also, if I do this again, I'll probably go ahead and do a custom PCB rather than put it together on a protoboard. But we'll see.
Comments more than welcome!

Quick Bike Update

2006-04-19T23:08:00.000-07:00

I got out for an 18 mile ride this evening. My first thought about the bike, about a mile in, was 'This thing really floats over the road'. Lots of vibration damping. My next thought, a few miles later, was 'This thing is really fast'. Maybe I'm just thinking it's fast, or maybe because my last few rides have been pulling Bud in a trailer, but it really seems to scream along. It coasts unbelievably well.

Shifting was a little tricky (getting used to Campy), and the front derailleur needs a little tuning - it was a little slow to get into the big ring, and I dropped the chain off the inside once. Can't wait to get the new brake calipers... my seatpost is supposed to be in tomorrow, so I'll take the bike in to swap out the post and the brake calipers will be all that's left.

New Bike

2006-04-18T23:09:00.000-07:00

It's here! It's here! The waiting is finally over. My new bike frame arrived today, and the shop had it built up by evening. My brake calipers and seatpost are still on order, so I've got subs right now: the seatpost is a loaner from the shop, and the brakes I'm using are cannibalized from my old ride.

The frame is a Calfee Dragonfly (standard road geometry). And boy is it pretty. Mostly Campy Record components, with an FSA compact carbon crankset, Campy Eurus wheels, (eventually) Zero G brakes, Thomson seatpost and stem, Easton handlebars, and a SSM Aspide Arrowhead saddle. Some pics:

The bare frame in the shop

A closeup of the dropouts (machined titanium!)

And the bottom bracket

The first build up. The coming brake calipers will look much better.

The drivetrain

The sexy seattube cluster

The headtube cluster and stem

Can't wait to get some miles on it!

Posting on a different page...

2006-03-10T23:26:00.000-08:00

The action is over at SwingDaddy. Check it out.

Hi, how are you?

2006-02-28T21:46:00.000-08:00

Welcome to blog post #1. Thanks for joining me!
More to come soon. First real post will be March 5th...