Bill Strahm's Weblog

Monday March 07, 2005

IPoIB WG Agenda Slides
Well, this is the fastest way of getting the slides out from this afternoon.

Thank you
IETF Agenda Slides
(2005-03-07 15:26:32.0) Permalink Comments [9]

You see the funniest things
So my first century of the season is in Solvang on Saturday. That means that I got my final training ride in before I go last Saturday. It was a awesome (if not cold to start) day, so I headed off to Woodside to start my ride.

There are a few classic climbs in the Bay area, but the one that people measure themselves on is called Old La Honda - a wonderful climb from Woodside up to Skyline - took me 42 minutes (first time I did the climb, I was more concerned with surviving rather than seeing what my time was). A quick decent follows, down to Highway 84, and a left turn on Pescadero. I had never been on this road, but it is another wonderful climb with a nice view of a creek meandering beside the road. The best part was the house with 200 pink flamingos in the yard (And here I thought I had left hicktown back in Texas - oh well) I'll attach a picture as soon as I get it off my camera.

Right turn in Pescadero onto stage road leads to two short climbs and decents into the best little deli on Stage Road and 84. After an egg salad sandwich and a cup of coffee, we headed to the last little climb up stage road to Highway 1. You have to love these quick climbs and decents, but that leads to the worst of the climbs, Tunitas Creek Road - the road that goes on Forever. About 75 minutes and 1700 feet up later I was at the top for a wonderful winding decent on Kings road and back to where I started.

All in all about 65 miles, a little short for a training ride for a century (I have all ready done an 80 mile ride a month back though) but a lot more climbing - so all in all a good day.

(2005-03-07 06:36:04.0) Permalink Comments [3]

Friday February 11, 2005

Friday Favorites again
The Basics What is your favorite... 1. ...color?
Red - No Blue - No Green
:::: AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH:::::::
2. ...day of the week?
Usually Saturday - I love my Saturday bike ride
3. ...ice cream?
I don't get ice cream anymore :( - but lets say strawberry
4. ...actor and/or actress?
Hard to say - I guess I don't have one. Favorite parts yes, I am a firm believer that every good actor/actress has a great team of writers behind them
5. ...sound?
The beginning grind to How Soon is Now by The Smiths - maybe the closing bell on CNBC after a particularly good day on the market.
(2005-02-11 09:50:54.0) Permalink Comments [2]

Monday January 31, 2005

Lets go bike the coast
So, I finally had a ride worthy of a century prep.

Two weekends ago - I rode just under 50 miles on Sat. Honestly - I can't say I felt that good, was very worn out at the end. So we hit the gym VERY hard last week ( couple hours each day), realized my front tire wasn't fully inflated (80 lbs instead of 110) and headed to the coast Saturday morning.

Was heading down Highway 17 to Santa Cruz when the Sun came up Saturday morning, got out of the car and was pedalling at 7:33 AM. I have written before - I love riding the coast - Swanton Loop (the OLD highway 1 route), Stage Road, that little deli on Stage/84 for lunch... All in all 86 miles in a little under 5 hours 40 minutes (right at a 15 MPH average speed). Oh yeah, and my favorite downhill, only hit 51 MPH, cause the cars in front of me were going to dang slow.

Well, with that ride I now know I can make the distance - it will just be hill training in Febuary (60ish mile rides with more hill work rather than distance work) with another long ride the weekend before the IETF (and Solvang).
(2005-01-31 13:26:45.0) Permalink Comments [1]

Friday January 21, 2005

Friday Favorites So a good friend of mine started a Friday Favorites Blog. The idea is given a topic answer what your favorite ... is in your blog.

So to help promote Friday Favorites here I go with my first entry.

1. ...Outfit? Blue Jeans and a T-Shirt
2. ...Article of clothing? What ever I have on now
3. ...Formal accessory? (i.e. tie) Ok - don't wear it anymore - but somewhere I have a great red tie with a Scarlet Macaw
4. ...Thing to wear on the weekend? Bike shorts and My Arrogant Bastard Ale jersey
5. ...Shoes? Berks - are there any others ?
(2005-01-21 16:26:48.0) Permalink Comments [2]

Tuesday December 14, 2004

First Comes Room & Board
Well, finding a hotel in Solvang is going to be interesting... To start with, it is a small town with about 3000 bikers (plus friends, family, etc) showing up for the weekend. Looking at the hotels, most of them are in the 50ish room size - you do the math.

Well - The other interesting thing is one of the Hotels in Solvang itself has a "fill in this form and we will tell you if there are rooms available" web form. Clicking throuigh it - easy enough to select Mar 11, leaving Mar 13 - but then their options for years are 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004... Ok - they need to update their website... And I thought we were over the Y2K like issues.

Looks like a nice route Route Info The only concern I have is starting downhill with the BIG climb at the end. Well that just means I need to get my pacing skills down... Be fresh at the 80 mile mark.
(2004-12-14 12:59:35.0) Permalink

Monday December 13, 2004

Time to start training for the Spring cycling season
Well - if I want to get back into shape it is time to pick some centuries to train for.

Lets see - an early one would be Solvang. I have heard good things about the course - the question of course is Century or metric. I was thinking century, but after my ride last weekend I don't know. Started on Foothill Expressway. For those not in the bay area - this road was DESIGNED for biking. A wonderful, well maintained 8 foot shoulder - easy riding for two abreast even. Turned left on Page Mill - darted into the OLD page mill road.

Now I made a mistake - instead of turning RIGHT onto Arrastedero I went straight - 5 ish miles and 1500 ft up later I am on skyline. Well since I am here I might as well go over to Old la Honda and back down to where I was trying to go in the first place (the Portola Loop). Nice ride - a lot more strenuous that I was looking for, so maybe a metric century is better for starting the season (of course I could just ride the century SLOW).

One of my problems is when I ride alone I have no sense of pacing. Saturday - starting out on Foothill Express I was whizzing along at 24 MPH, yeah the road is flat and it feels good - but then I have nothing for the climbs.

Anyway - this is my public statement... I WILL ride Solvang - I will pace myself to finish strong - I will get back into shape.

I'll keep you all informed
(2004-12-13 10:44:56.0) Permalink

Monday October 25, 2004

How to screwup a weekend with a single executable
Ok, I admit it - I use Windows on my home machine because it is supposed to be easier (and frankly I like playing some of the "Windows only" games available for it.

Well last weekend I start looking and low and behold there is a few spyware/malware apps on my box (how do I know - because my personal firewall started asking if strange applications could access the internet - You MUST use a personal firewall, it is the only way of seeing some of these things). So time to go remove them.

To make a long story short - by the time I am done no networking works outside of PING, DHCP no, DNS nope... Don't even try anything fancier than that... Crap.

Well I have an almost functioning box after a long re-install - maybe it is finally time to make my default desktop a Unix variant and leave the Windows for only playing games...

Microsoft - Please fix your operating system such that I can baseline components - did I really want to reinstall the whole darned thing, no - just networking (grumble grumble grumble)

Oh yeah - I did try all of the repair options - nothing worked until the OS wipe. I guess that is pretty good it has been almost 2 years since the "LAST" time that happened, and it was a hardware problem then (Thank you Dell technical support that wouldn't talk to me until I had wiped my OS clean)
(2004-10-25 10:55:42.0) Permalink Comments [2]

Friday October 08, 2004

Help me buy a new video camera
Well I have a 10 year old (or is it 11 year now) video camera. So I have money set aside for getting a new one, and I want to do this by November. So first things first

I want to spend under 1000 dollars on the camera, plus accessories First things first

What format
1) Mini-DVD
2) MiniDV
3) Flash

Now - what brand, specifics

What other accessories ?
1) DVD-Burner (of course)
2) Batteries/bags/media - what ?
3) Tripod

What else am I missing ?
(2004-10-08 09:57:31.0) Permalink Comments [2]

Jib Jab is at it again
Good to be in D.C ???

You have to like these guys... Fairly balanced politically (as far as the humor) and a good message - Get out and vote
(2004-10-08 09:10:42.0) Permalink Comments [1]

Friday October 01, 2004

Lions and Tigers and Bears oh my
Well first it was Hurricanes at my parents place in Florida - then the little trembler in California... Well today I went home to Oregon and sure enough Mt. Saint-Helens erupted today. It was only a steam eruption that lasted for about 20 minutes. But the pictures sure looked nice
(2004-10-01 18:38:37.0) Permalink

Tuesday September 28, 2004

My First California Earthquake
Well, there have been a couple while I've been in California - but I have always managed to be somewhere else when they happened. Not today. Sitting in my office and first one monitor - then the other starts shaking... My response, same as the earthquake when I was in Oregon - Time to call Cathy, her advise - the same, Why are you talking to me.

This one seemed to go on for a long time - according to the US Geological Survey - Shake Map There was a 6.0, followed by several other smaller quakes... The aftershocks. Well things have quieted down here, and I must say I feel a lot better about this little earthquake than I do about all of the Hurricanes hitting my parents in Florida.

So my vote is no warning, and get it over before you have time to be scared.

(2004-09-28 15:22:29.0) Permalink Comments [1]

Tuesday September 21, 2004

What OS am I ? This is actually scary

Which OS are You?
(2004-09-21 09:44:30.0) Permalink Comments [2]

Tuesday September 07, 2004

Vote or Not
I promise not to make this a political blog. However it is time for everyone to stand up and count your noses to determine which person should run the USA for the next 4 years...

So here is a silly link to show that you have signed up to vote VOTEorNOT.org

Sign up now, and someone just might win some money
(2004-09-07 13:30:42.0) Permalink Comments [1]

Thursday September 02, 2004

The Huricanes are coming
Well my parents moved to Jacksonville, Fl after I went to college. They are getting ready for evacuating if Floyd starts heading north (Looking at the track - it looks like it might just go right over them). I really don't know which is worse
Huricanes - You know it is coming, you have a week to prepare, and a week to worry
Earthquakes - You have no warning, and no ability to prepare. So no way to worry about the impending earthquake

You tell me
(2004-09-02 08:17:53.0) Permalink Comments [1]