Happy Independence Day, USA !

I hope everyone has a very happy and safe 4th of July!

I'm honoured to be a guest in the land of the free. When one thinks about the genesis of the country and the principles of the time, it's pretty cool stuff. It is easy for every country to be cyncical about 'the system' but this system of the "American experiment", when viewed through the prism of history, is profound and wildly successful.

Blog tag for Mom

In honour of her birthday, why not more blog tags?

1. Mom made my sister and I go to bed pretty early. I remember being 7 years old and going to bed before it was dark in the summer. Years later, both my sister and I reaped major academic awards. I think there is a direct connection.

2. She does a cryptoquote and crossword every day.

3. Not only an award-winning baker (see previous blog tag) but also an excellent cook. I now (and for years) appreciate the good food. Every time I go home at Christmas, there are some key dishes made. Even though I eat just fine here in the USA, I think a part of me starves between visits. True for all of us, re: home, I think.

4. Mom is a very good listener. A lot of people in our family seek her council on a wide-range of stuff, from taxes to medical sanity checks. And if she doesn't know, she'll tell you straight.

5. She once drove a Pontiac Lemans back when the gas was leaded and the engines were monsters. Once, I had gotten a deep cut at school and required stitches. Rumour has it that the old "Bronze Lemans" hauled serious ass up our road as she came to get me. Smoke show and a bit of a wheelstand!

Happy Birthday, Mom

A Fun Post

I don't link very often to my tech blog but the readers of CC might enjoy this...

Check out my parody of a very popular tech gadget

Happy Canada Day

I am waving a small Canadian flag near my desk... Tough to be away from home today, especially with memories like this pic: this is the Parliament in Ottawa, with fireworks behind, over the Ottawa River, which flows betwixt anglophone Ontario and francophone Quebec. The symbolism is profound. If the defining historical struggle in the US is uniting black and white, ours is surely uniting the English and French.

Random... One time, when I lived in Kentucky, I was at a party. An older man heard that I was from Canada and thanked me/Canada for our help in the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979-1980. In brief, an ambassador, Ken Taylor, hid some Americans for many weeks in his official residence.

Here is a recent story about the great escape, in Wired magazine. The story is more about the CIA's plan to get the hostages out of the embassy, but it has this quote....

The Yankees said it, not me, so it's not bragging (?). Quoteth:

CIA cover stories are generally designed to be mundane and unlikely to attract attention. That's how Mendez's plan started out. He would use Canadian documentation for the Americans, because of the common language and similar culture — and, well, everybody loves Canadians.

Hello Laura, Soccer Star

dear Laura, (my cousin back on Prince Edward Island)

Congratulations on your big night in the first soccer game of the season.

A goal and an assist! Woo-hoo! That is fantastic!

The action photos are great... (click here)

Keep up the good work and have fun
Mike

Perspective, Again

There was a triathlon near Columbia, MO, yesterday. A young man in his 20s drowned during the swim. (Story is here).

He was close to the shore. I wonder if he had a heart condition. Though truly tragic, I don't think that this reflects a danger of triathlons.

He was not in the StL Tri club. I didn't know him nor does anyone in the club, based on the website posting. But it sure puts things in perspective.

So, too, does this: when the racers/organizers realized a guy went under, all of the swimmers stopped and formed a human chain to find him. The race was completely set aside until he was in the care of the medical team, as it should be.

Revisiting Rowdy

More tidbits of the car.....

• I continue to wave at Miatas. The drivers find this odd, since they don't know why I'm waving.

• It is nice to have working AC, backup lights, and some confidence that I won't "cook the engine" at stoplights.

• DQR = Dependability, Quality, and Reliability. Though possibly redundant, this is Honda's mantra and I'm sold. The build quality is awesome and the engineering is genius. For example, the shifter comes out of the dash (Euro-style) which gives a ton of room for stuff down where it used to be. It is a bit weird though since my car looks like it is very happy to see you.
• Between the seats there is a sliding panel which reveals 2 cup holders. But _that_ thing slides as well for another cubbyhole: double-secret hiding spot for a wallet etc.
  
• It is so easy to get in and out! The car is a low-rider hatchback and yet feels like a minivan compared to the Miata.
• The seats are fantastic. Great support with little wings at the edges. They are mostly cloth with suede leather edges, and red stitching which is a motif throughout the interior.
• As I get used to the shifter, I drive much more aggressively now. It'll hum along when it wants to. Though that Subaru is still the rocket ship.

World Gas Prices

From Wired magazine: recent gas prices around the world. For those who know my dad, this is like a belated father's day gift.

Price per US gallon, US dollars:

$6.65 London
$6.53 Paris
$5.62 Rome
$3.57 Sydney
$3.28 Toronto
$2.69 Chicago
$2.44 Bejing
$2.32 Buenos Aires
$1.19 Bagdad
$0.86 Cairo

A Team Effort

Our hero grimaces. "Damn bugs," he mutters and spits.

He is in the tri-position, cutting through the air at 18 mph, forming a triangle on his trusty steed, out in the open fields of St Peters, MO. So far, so good: he has maintained his lead over the dreaded Jim G during the swim, and had a relatively good T1. Despite awakening at 5:45 am, his legs feel energized. It is 8 am. The sun beats down on a long stream of cyclists, who have emerged from the long winter to celebrate the first tri of the summer. Our hero looks ahead to the turn-around point, halfway of the 20 mile bike. No sight of his nefarious arch-rival since the swim.

Parched, he pulls the water bottle up to his lips. Zounds! In an instant, the bottle slips and falls to the ground. He stops to retrieve it and notices the mileage indicator on his bike: 666 miles.

Not good: evil is in the air. Our hero's nostrils flare at the sense of danger.

Soon, at the halfway point, he glances backwards: Double zounds! The insidious Jim G has closed the gap, and is merely a few lengths back, seemingly appearing out of nowhere!

As the two cyclists bear down, Jim approaches, inexorably. He pulls his water bottle and good-naturedly tries to spray our hero. They smile. They chat.

But the subtext is clear: game on.

With his spinning-class training over the winter, Jim G pulls into the lead. Our hero grunts and tries to stay close, but not so close as to incur a drafting penalty. They cycle this way for over 7 miles, each rider giving no quarter to the other.

Finally, with 2 miles to go in the bike, our hero pulls alongside of the villain. They chat again. Father's Day. Sunny. Pleasantries abound, but the time is getting near....

They approach a hill: a long grade that stretches for 1/4 mile. Our hero's legs are already burning. A strong runner, he will probably win that leg of the event, but the time to make hay is now. A triathlete can never concede a leg, and certainly not the bike, where the high velocity equates to bigtime distance, compared to the run.

Our hero grimaces once more, and then, miraculously, the calvary arrives... A new player awakens and joins the fray.

Blackbird! More commonly known as one half of a semi-organic velocitizer, our hero's trusty steed seems to shed weight as they ascend the slope. The team transforms from a velocity vehicle to an anti-gravitron device! In virtually no time, the dreaded Jim G and his evil, unnamed steed fall back. At the halfway part of the grade, he is dozens of lengths back. Our hero peddles furiously -- almost impotently -- in a super-easy gear but he and Blackbird pull up the grade as though on a rope-pull at a ski slope. At the top, a long descent, and then a curve. At the end of the curve, the villain is no longer in sight!

Blackbird and our hero quickly dispatch the rest of the bike leg. With a friendly pat to his glorious steed, he transitions at T2 and dashes off for the run. With the heat beating down, and having suffered a major psychological blow, Jim G has no chance. 40 minutes and 5 grueling miles later, CC crosses the finish line in triumph.

CC/Blackbird 1 Jim G 0

Blog tag for Dad

In the spirit of blog tag, and the post for Mom, here are 5 things about my Dad.

1. He's as honest as they get. Not just in terms of money etc, but intellectual honesty, which I define as prioritizing truth over ego. If my Dad doesn't know the answer, he'll tell you. He also sees both sides of an issue as a true philosopher does.

2. There's not many answers that he doesn't know. He has spent a lifetime reading and learning about how stuff works: mechanical (his trade), electronics, you name it. As we grew up, Dad was always in a nearby room working on something. Fictional TV bores him.

3. Dad doesn't sit around much. In 30+ years or so, he has given blood 200+ times, volunteered for 25+ years for the fire department (a huge commitment -- imagine getting up at 3 am to dig out your driveway of snow, so you can go rescue someone's house), has been an elder in our church, and lately as been a civic leader, making it to deputy mayor of our town.

4. Here's one that may surprise even Island readers. When I was 6, two friends told my dad that I had stolen a little toy car. I don't remember getting a chance to testify but I do remember having my hide tanned right there and then, in front of the other boys. There is no greater humiliation. Years later, I understood and am grateful. I would (will?) do the same. "Time outs" didn't exist back then, and even now they don't build character.

5. He once bought an antique swather (kinda like this one) for $150. No one knows why.

Happy Father's Day to Charlie and all the Dads!

Blackbird, meet Rowdy

Well, the new car has been "interesting" from a tri perspective.

A hatch/trunk rack won't work due to the spoiler.

A trailer hitch can't be installed due to the body work (it has a factory sport kit that is very popular with the younger set).

So your cyberscriber had to get handy: pop off the front tire and throw Blackbird in the back. This wasn't as easy as it sounds. I'm still trying to figure out if I put the front tire back on correctly.... A minor detail, considering I have a triathlon tomorrow.

Keen readers will note that there is a pillow in the back. This is to prop up the bike.

If you want something done.....

... give it to a busy person. Indeed.

When I finished The 2nd Article, I put everything into neutral. I've worked out twice in June! Gah.... Now after a lot of celebratory food, fun times with friends, etc, I find myself feeling "un-fit" before the RecPlex Smackdown on Sunday.

(Well... my tech blog is going well, but aside from that, I have been unproductive and slacking).

Thankfully, a modest swim and moderate run tonight... I feel better *whew*. After a few days of slackitude, I feel like I've forgotten how to swim/bike/run.

ps. We received our start times for the tri. This tri has everyone starting in single file, swimming "in serpentine" through the pool. In our group, I'm first with Jim G starting 15 seconds behind. His neighbour, Ember, starts back a bit further. She will mow us down in the pool: she typically swims the 500 m two minutes faster than Jim G and I. I caught her on the run last fall though.

pps. It will be tempting to try and stay ahead of Jim for the entire tri, but I wonder if there is some gamemanship potential by letting him get ahead of me in the pool..... Interesting. The thought is to take it easy so that I am always just within reach, and let him burn out during the swim.

Two out of Three Ain't Enough

This past weekend, I think I was home for about 12 hours... A lot of catch-up to do.

First, I have been quiet but ultra-keen readers will know:

• In July 06 I bought bets for the Cards to win the World Series and for the Colts to win the Superbowl.
• I bought three tickets.

The 3rd ticket was for Ottawa to win the Stanley Cup. Suffice it to say that it was the most charmed of the 3 bets and came this close to making me the Sports Picker of All Time.

No, the final series wasn't really close but Ottawa finished in the middle of their conference. I picked them in July 2006....

Ah well.

Fast Facts

• My article (for work) is done! *whew* It cost me 2 full, gorgeous weekends and several week nights, but it was a true learning experience.
• I have to thank Bill G and Microsoft: I have left my computer running for 3+ weeks, to try and avoid the dreaded boot problem. It has been running like a champ. Because of the article, it was _vital_ that it stay running. Merci.
• No fluke: I ran 5 miles as warm-up and then another miracle mile: 6:00 minutes. C'est vraiment bon.
  
• Game off: the track series (with the dreaded Jim G) was moved to another high school, so we are missing all of the track events. This is tragic. However, the triathlon is still on.

A Special 'Tour de Cure'

I ran into (almost literally) Miss Jess on the bike trail tonight.

She is gearing up for the Tour De Cure (see here), a charity bike ride for Diabetes.

I have made a donation at a level that gets names put on her team's shirts. It is a memorial for my Uncle Nick and my cousin Gail.

Nick had diabetes late in life, and lost both legs to it. He was a true character and put a lot of sunlight into my first few months in Ontario where I went to grad school. Though he had plenty of reasons to be dour, he could cheer a room like nobody's business.

Gail, his daughter, passed away from breast cancer. She was one of the sweetest people I have ever met.

They are survived by my beloved Aunt Millie and her daughter Karen. Karen is truly warm and generous. Aunt Millie worked hard as a waitress until she was 60+. She would get up at 5 am to catch the bus, and upon returning home, could tell a routine story about a customer and have you crying from laughing so hard. She is the best.

Good luck, Jess!

Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC)

Mercifully, I get to see game 3 of the hockey playoffs tonight. On a Saturday night, no less! (HNIC has been a tradition on Saturday night since the 1920s on radio and 1950s on TV. HNIC broadcasters are legendary. Here, it was NBC and not CBC, but no complaints.)

Having lived in Ottawa for 2 years, and it being the capital of the Motherland, I was looking forward to the game and of course the national anthems.

The opening anthems may have been the best I have ever seen. A portly, gray-haired military guy with an operatic voice belted out the US anthem. Visitors first, per tradition.

And then the Canadian version. My my... I didn't tear up but it was close.

The first part was in English; the 2nd in French. And then he held the microphone up and, in a premediated move by the arena, allowed the fans to sing the last part of the anthem.

It was electric, even way down here in the midwest USA.

It has been a long, long time since I have felt so alone and yet so connected.

ps. My only hope is that it goes onto YouTube, as I didn't think to record it.

Joyeux Juin!

Here's wishing everyone a Happy June.... and a special shout out:

Word up, Avondale, PEI! Good luck...

whoo!

The Car Revisited

Here are some tidbits on the car, so far:

• A Civic is not high on the luxury list, but an unexpected twist is that it _feels_ luxurious compared to the old ride. An Infiniti would have totally been wasted on me.
• It's easy to get in and out of. It smells nice. Very pleasant experience.
• I have learned that this generation of Civic Si's are not highly regarded in the "import tuner"/racer community. But I don't care.
• That is worth repeating: this thing has a rubbery shifter, and a ponderous feel in the corners. But I don't care! It's great.
  
• I recently saw in a movie trailer that "you don't pick a car: it picks you". That describes last Saturday pretty well. It just won me over.
  
• I don't like Honda's aesthetic at all but Rowdy just looked cool to me. But I _do_ respect Honda's engineering and build quality. Top notch.
• Times have changed: the entry level ride at Honda is now the "Fit", not the Civic.

Winning the Pool

Many friends have an unofficial pool going that states that CC will not get a new ride until Herbie, aka GoCartus Maximus, is a smoking husk on the side of the road. Due to recent problems, such as a driver's side door that won't open properly, Herbie has actually been renamed in some circles as Death Cart.

Well, after another tow job last week and an increasingly loud cacophony of ills during the commute (for which I had started wearing earplugs, seriously), I knew the time had come. With a 60-mile/day commute, Herbie was being flogged to death like an old kindly trail horse being thrown into the Kentucky Derby. It was time to put him out to pasture.

And so the day began, Saturday AM. I had 4 target vehicles, and set out, with title in hand....

And the upshot is that I now own one of them! The Era of Herbie is over... Long live go-carts!

Here is a rough chronology of the day:

Vehicle 1: the G35

This was the same G35 that I saw before. It's an auto but I was willing to make that sacrifice. The car made me feel like Batman. On the 2nd test-drive, I confirmed that it was fast indeed but somehow the sexy factor wasn't there. This was due to: (a) the first time it was in a dark garage, and caught the light just so and (b) I saw Vehicle 2.

Vehicle 2: Subaru WRX STi

This car is the famous "STi". Some friends dream about this car when they go to sleep at night. It is the ultimate boy racer: a near-race-ready rally car that has 300+ HP. There was a black '04 on the lot next to the G35. It was all I could think about when driving the G35.

I took it for a test-drive. My my.... The acceleration was like the shot from the new roller-coasters. In addition to a tach gauge, there was a "turbo boost" gauge: when you walked on this thing, all of these dials were spinning along with your head.

Sadly, the road noise was ferocious, even at 40 mph. But I didn't care. No one cares. The ladies can laugh and make jokes about the hideous hood scoop (as I once did) and absurd wing (which I love). This car deserves all of the hype it gets. Another minus, though, was extreme squeaking from the brakes.

Vehicle 3: The Pocket Rocket

I saw this little number online during the week. Conveniently, at the same dealer as the other 2. It's a Honda Civic Si, and is in a class of cars known as the "hot hatches" or "pocket rockets". Although the Civic Si has been surpassed by others (most notably the MazdaSpeed 3), this one caught my eye for some reason.

I drove it right after the STi which is a bit like following The Beatles or the Stones onstage. But it did ok for itself -- it was fun to drive and peppy if not hellacious.

Vehicle 4: The Yellow Mini

I've mentioned the yellow Mini Cooper S in the past. I drive past the dealership in St Peter's everyday, and this one was definitely the favorite going into the day. Driving out on Saturday, I had a price in my head for negotiation. Also, Herbie was making some serious noise from the transmission: I didn't know how much would be left in him, seriously.

I took the Mini for another ride, but the honeymoon was over. I was disturbed in that the sunroof (moonroof?) had no cover to shield the light. I was also disturbed by a major sub-theme: where's my bike going to go? There are bike racks that bolt into the license plate area but upon inspection, the Mini only had 2 holes for the plate, where most have 4.

The dealer came to within $300 of the offer in my head. I nearly went for it, but it came up in conversation that the only dealer for Mini's in StL is the AutoHaus in Clayton. Gah! With all of Herbie's woes, I didn't want a car for which I might have to schedule a Saturday appt 6-8 weeks in advance. (I don't know if that is true, but there are a lot of Mini's around -- one shop??).

Plus, it's yellow. If it had been blue with the black racing stripes, then I'm in. But...

I left to go back to the original dealer, begging Herbie to just hold on for one more trip.

The Winner

On the drive back, I knew I would get one of the first three... but which one?

I realized 2 things: (a) I needed to relax because this whole thing is insane and (b) one of them was more fun than driving the Mini. Plus one of them would probably be way more reliable than the others.

In a surprise move, out of nowhere, the Pocket Rocket won the day. I bought it yesterday. It was fun to drive, cheap, and looks really sharp (more so if you are in high school and a fan of the Fast and the Furious).

This may well not be The Next Car. It was more of "let's establish a foothold so I can think". Actually, its name comes from the famous Rodin piece.

If this link still works, meet Rowdy (click here). This is the actual car. Rowdy comes from "Rodin" and the significant road-noise..... it's no STi but he's a bit rowdy on the road.

Epilogue

So, let it be known that I did trade in before catastrophic failure with Herbie. Though it was close: he had 206,6xx miles at the end. The trade-in value was $400. LOL.

No emotion, per se... Despite the narrative and the anthropomorphization (?), it's just a ride... but it was a good one. Good luck, Herbie.

Game On

My arch rival, the dreaded Jim G, and I are still in frequent contact. In fact, we work about 15 minutes away from each other and plan to run together Thursday evening.

2 big events coming up:

• St Peter's Recplex Tri. The next tri, in mid-June! Jim G, his band of neighbours/friends, and I will be in the same group. This will be our 4th excursion out in St Pete. Note that the alltime score, for all triathlons, is 3-2 in favour of Jim G. However, I'm on a 2-tri streak.
• StL Track Series. This is a series of track events at Parkway North. They range from 3 K, 1 m, 1500 m, etc each week down to the 400 m showdown. And new this year: a 100 m drag race. I'm stoked. I always enjoy this event even though I am often dead-last in my heat. The people there are crazy fast.
  

Aside from demoralizing Jim G at every opportunity, I have 2 goals for the track series.

Goal 1: the Miracle Mile

I'd like to break 6 min for the mile. I actually thought this might be my "breakthrough" but I've already done it! Though it is by no means obvious that I can do it out in the heat. My record at Parkway North is 6:25. Hopefully I'll destroy that at least.

Goal 2: the Drag Race

Goal #2 involves the 400 m. This is one lap around the track. As they say, "run as hard as you can, for as long as you can". Zero strategy, unlike the more complex 800m. In 2003 I ran the 400 in 70 seconds, which I have never reached again. Jim G, to his credit, did 66 seconds which was unbelievable. He was so red and out of breath that I was actually worried that he would blow a gasket at the end.