I thouht this was a cool idea, improving on an already well established tool:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/gadgets/avalanche-air-bags-go-wireless
The system allows for remote trigger of a group of avalanche airbags by an individual in the group.
Today ended my slimfast two-week punishment for not being awesome enough to meet my weight loss goals last year. I haven’t weighed myself yet, but I feel pretty darn thin. Most days I had the two shakes which make up about 320 calories total, two snacks which make up another 180 calories, plus a large dinner and 1-2 beers at around 1500 calories, which puts the grand total around 2000 calories per day. According to this website that puts me at around -1000 calories per day, -14000 calories per week, or around 4 pounds lost over the last two weeks. A lot for sure, but I’d still fail at Biggest Loser.
To celebrate my survival during the last two weeks, tonight I ate one large sandwich, a large plate of fries, about 9 ounces of frozen yogurt, one 750 mL bottle of barley wine, and a few more 12 oz bottles of IPA. Man it feels good to be done!
I took the squish bike out today and had a fun time riding through Rose Canyon on the way to an from work. On the way to work I had daylight so I could go extra fast, rail a few corners, and fly over a few bumps and rocks. Rose Canyon is super short if you come from Gensesse, so you have to make the most of it by pedaling super fast and letting it all hang out in the turns.
On the way back it was night so I fired up my two LED lights and hit the trail. There is currently a section with really thick mud that I carefully navigated in the morning, but threw myself into in the evening. Nothing like the sound and feel of thick mud splashing up around you as the smaller mud and dust particles dance in the light of your LED lights.
I made it home a bit tired, but otherwise happy with the added off-road time. Let’s do it again tomorrow!
The last two days were full of rain and strong wind, even a tornado warning in north county. The rain was so heavy at times that huge puddles of water built up along center dividers making for some awesome splash-action for the more adventurous drivers.
Today I biked to work and managed to get there before the rain started and leave after the rain subsided, so I avoided biking in the rain all together! We’ll see how things work out tomorrow.
It’s been about ten days since I got my stuff together and downloaded the mobzombies iphone app. I’m now hooked, and the first thing I think of when traveling to a new place is where the hordes are and how many zombies I can chainsaw in bits. No brains for you! The Foursquare integration is great, and the user-based zombies that bleed unicorns are just plain awesome.
I built this bike up exactly two weeks ago and have ridden it every day since then except for the two days that it snowed. In the past three years I have owned three high-end bikes of similar style and this one beats them all hands down. One of the hallmarks of this particular frame is that it pedals perfectly in and out of the saddle due to the suspension locking out pedaling forces. What this translates to is ridiculously fun acceleration through bumps and rocks. It seems to kick in right when you are at that point in the ride when everything flows together and there is a giant ear-to-ear grin on your face. Right then, the sauce ramps it up to eleven. Pure awesomeness.
Today I took it out in the afternoon (melted snow and mud) and tested its handling in loose, slippery conditions. I have to say it did just fine! I can’t say enough great things about this bike.
Building a new xc/trail bike with the Canfield Sauce (http://www.canfieldbrothers.com/products/sauce). Got the frame this week and also the fork:
On Friday, I had a very productive morning. The kind of morning where work was working, and I was happy working. Not a rare occasion, but the kind of morning where you don’t want to be interrupted. But of course, as luck would have it, around 1pm, our washing machine started making an awful sound during the spin cycle. Then, it stopped spinning all together. This was a real bummer because the spin cycle gets all of the water in the machine out. So I was left with a dead washing machine full of dirty, soapy water.
I spent about two hours trying to fix the thing, and finally decided that the problem was in the motor, and my time was too valuable to spend learning how to fix the motor in a washing machine. Selfish yes, efficient perhaps, and definitely lazy.
So, on Monday we shelled out $100 for a new washer which is working great 
. Once that was done, I figured that it was back to work as usual. But no, Jessica then came home with the news that her laptop had been stolen right out of her office at work. Data, dissertation, photos, all gone. So frustrating!! Rather than moving forward today, we took several steps back, lost precious things, and spent the rest of the night depressed and wondering what was happening to our personal information. Happy Monday!!
Today I went in and met with the doc after almost four weeks of wearing a boot and putting zero weight on my foot. He was actually quite impressed with my condition and gave me the okay to start putting weight on my foot!
In my mind before I went in today I imagined that I would put weight on my foot and feel 100% again. Ah, how wrong I was. At best, I can walk with one crutch slowly and with a significant limp. The doc said that I would have another four weeks before I would be moving freely.
Anyway. I’m psyched to be able to test my foot, despite the issues, and I also got some images of my foot when I went to the ER and after the surgery and healing. You can’t see the chip off the tibia in the picture, but the spiral fracture in the fibula is pretty clear. I know it looks minor. I wish it were so
A few photos of my new trainer setup. Huge thanks to Kiu for letting me borrow his trainer!
I really don’t have a good bike to use the with trainer, but I manged to get my DJ bike setup reasonably well. It has a really long seatpost which was key.
I still can’t load my right foot, so for the last three days I have been pedaling the trainer with one leg which is much harder than I expected!! Not to mention that I have not pedaled a bike (nor done any cardio) for nearly one month. But getting used to pedaling with one leg while holding the other leg free was painful. Today I made a sling out of a belt and a long-sleeve shirt. I wrapped the sling around my waist and then used it to hold up my right leg at the knee. This helped a lot. Now I just need to get stronger!
