3200km, 200%

[recorded earlier today on my palm pilot]

I'm sitting at starbucks waiting for Kim to pick me up. My ride home ended with a load pop, something cut through my rear tire. I did 23km today, 11km short my usual round trip. On the up side I only needed 19km to pass the 3200km mark for 2004. That's 200% of my original goal for this year. Its more than the past 3 years put together. I think I can reward myself with a latte.

Yeah I know I made it sound like I had given up for the year at 2600km, but Nov has been nicer than November in Calgary should be, so I kept ridding. Course being Calgary the nice weather can go on and off like a light switch. Still I Only wiped out twice, I've learned that ice fog can freeze up break and shift cables in a couple of hours and I've doubled my goal for the year! Did I mention that?

- Peace

bday/xmas list

My family finds me hard to shop for, so they've asked (demanded) a bday xmas list. so here it is.

Music:
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb by U2 or the deluxe version

Books:
A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian D. McLaren

The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life by Armand M. Nicholi Jr. and/or the DVD

The Divine Conspiracy : Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God by Dallas Willard

A Grief Observed by CS Lewis

Any book by Eugene Peterson that I haven't read. I've read: Under the Unpredictable Plant, A Long Obedience, Reversed Thunder, Leap Over a Wall and of course The Message.

Rhe one book that I haven't read by William Gibson: Patern Recognition. Infact this is a hold over from last years list.

DVDs:
I've held off getting DVDs for two of my favorite trilogies cause I knew there would be an ultimate box set coming. The wait is nearly over:

The Ultimate Matrix Collection (The Matrix / Reloaded / Revolutions / Revisited / The Animatrix)

The Lord of the Rings - The Motion Picture Trilogy (Special Extended DVD Edition)

also good choices:
Star Wars Trilogy (Widescreen Edition)

Spider-Man 2 (Widescreen Special Edition)

Clothing:
Mozilla Star TShirt XXXL

BTW for those of you who are wondering my Bday is Dec 24.

- Peace

xtreame stationary bike!

Saw the xbike at the Family Leisure Centre, it's a staitionary bike designed for mountain bikers. I have no idea if this is a gimic or not, but I've heard it's quite the work out. Since the handle bars move side to side you need to work you uper body to stay balanced while riding, more like trail riding.

Word is that there will be a drop in class starting in Dec. I'm going to have to give that a try.

- Peace

U2 on SatNightLive

Rudy has posted an mpeg of U2 on SNL.

- Peace

The Price of Power

No not a rant about how power corrupts, just thought I'd share that the software we've been working on since Feb. went live today.

One of the things I worked on was the code that sets the price of electricity in Alberta. The price range can have an impact of a proximetly $200,000 / hour. I had to be quite parinoid about that code.

- Peace

Naked Objects Framework

I'm attending the Western Canada Java Software Symposium this weekened, and was most impressed with David Thomas's presentation on Naked Objets as a way to Object Oriented Rapid Application Development. He talke about doing two minute iterations as opposed to two week interations. He also pointed it it can be a great way to gather requirements, even if you don't us the Naked Object UI in the final version.

- Peace

GNU Chess

Playing and being beaten by GNU Chess.

- Peace

More than food

From Tim's post about Melba

My son Mark and I have stopped by River of Life Lutheran Church in north Minneapolis a number of times these past two weeks. They open their basement kitchen each weekday to Loaves and Fishes, a program that serves free supper meals between 5:30 and 6:30. We heard about the program through a couple from our church that has made this a nightly event for themselves. They hang out, some times eating, but always listening, and usually praying with those who are interested.

I've noticed something about the Salvation Army's Center of Hope here in Calgary. We're good at serving food to people, but we're not good at sharing a meal with people. I need to move from talk to action as the good people at River of Life Lutheran Church have done.

- Peace

The Homeless in Uptown: Fear vs. Love

Jon Trott talks about the down side of his neighbourhood going from being one of the very poorest neighbourhoods in Chicago to one of the city's hottest real estate markets.

He includes this choice quote from a new neighbour

If city and park district services can eliminate rats and Asian beetles, why can't they eliminate homeless people who are determined to spoil our parks, threaten our health and safety?

Worth a read.

- Peace