Choicy White Boy

I went for a bit of a meander-y bike ride today. For a good bit of it, I was on San Pablo Ave (see map below.)

San Pablo Ave is 4 lanes of automotive traffic, and has occasional bike lanes. At one point I was honked at, presumably for not being “in my place” in the bike lane. I’m not sure I was flipped off, but I sure was startled so just in case, I flipped the bird in return.

The idea of the bike lane is a good (if naive) one. Separate cars (thousands of pounds traveling at moderate to high velocities) from bicycles (tens of pounds traveling at more modest velocities).

The problem actually comes because they partly, but not completely remove bicycles from the roads. They diminish the presence of bicycles in normal lanes giving automobile drivers a false sense of proprietary rights which is magnified by risk delta of a collision. I’ve been honked at, yelled at, flipped off, even chased down in suburbia to be told off for my perfectly legal and perfectly safe behavior.

There was an OpEd piece in the C’ville Weekly some years ago (shortly before we moved away) where an angry driver was writing in to complain about bicycles on one of my favorite stretches of road (Earlysville Road) after a piece covering an event on that road with a bicycle/automobile collision. The premise of the OpEd was that bicycles shouldn’t be allowed on the road because it’s dangerous. But cycling is quite safe. What’s dangerous is motorists who travel at velocities that exceed their ability to react to the unexpected. The unexpected could be a fallen tree, a stalled vehicle, a bicycle, it doesn’t matter. As a motorist, you need to be able to deal with those things, and pass around them when it is safe to do so.

And the thing is all of that would be true even if bike lanes were great places for bicycles to ride, which is so rarely the case. As they are typically at the side of automotive spaces, they accumulate the debris, and cast off from automotive traffic. And I don’t just mean discarded soda cans, but gravel, glass and other debris that is pushed from the main thoroughfare by the automotive traffic. Further, they often contain drainage grates, which, depending on orientation, can either be annoying or downright hazardous to bicycles. The sorts of crap that is in bike lanes, were it scaled to do as much damage and disturbance to automobiles and put in automotive lanes as it does to bicycles in bike lanes would have drivers up in arms. Bike lanes also begin and end at apparent whims. Sometimes you’re “safe from traffic” then moments later, you’re pushed right back out in it. What’s the point?

So, honk away. Spit and curse. I’m riding where it’s safe, convenient, legal and expedient for me to do so.

On the good side of the ride, I pulled over at one point, because I saw a sign last minute for a bike route to el cerrito, so deiced to cross with the pedestrians. I fell into a conversation with a pedestrian who “used to ride”. He recommended the “Oakland Yellowjackets” for a group ride. So if I’m feeling early and social, perhaps I’ll go ride with them tomorrow. (Odds are low I’ll feel early and social tomorrow. But it could happen! )

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• Some work on a “Showstopper” bug that I picked up on Friday.
• Laundry
• Computer Gaming (SupCom: Forged Alliance)
• Random Web Surfing [REI (stuff on sale), trekbikes(ogling bicycles I can't afford)]
• “accidental” upgrade of WordPress
• Various “Watch Now” on NetFlix:
• • A couple Episodes of Neverwhere
  • An episode of MythBusters
  • THX-1138

Yup. Lazy Sunday. Not at all ready for the weekend to end. At least it’s a short week next week. I so need a break.

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Had a nice, if somewhat hot, day out motorcycling with Frank, formerly of Linden Lab, now of Aquarium of the Bay. Wandered the far east bay. Wound up again at Port Costa. Had drinks and a sandwich there. Watched trains and tankers and tugs. Talked. Thought. Threw rocks into the Carquinez Straight. Came back through Crockett (whence came “The Rocket From Crockett“) and got home around 6 PM.

The last leg was really interesting from a meteorological perspective. All afternoon, we’d been riding around in the heat. It was dry, and HOT. Waiting for two cycles of a traffic light while we decided where to go next, my bike started to overheat. Coming back South (er “West”) on 80 though it felt so much cooler and wetter. Especially as we got to where the mountains were East of us.

Got home and I couldn’t get the garage door opener to work to save my life. I was thankful I’d remembered (at the last minute) to bring my house keys too. Went downstairs to open the garage door, and finally the beeping of the UPS told me why I was having so much trouble with the garage door opener. No power! Manually opened the garage door, brought the bike inside, and was suddenly unsure of what to do with myself! Wished I’d had an iPhone.

I ended up making a little more progress in The Soul of a New Machine, listening to the occasional chime of the UPS. At least my network and server were up, even if I couldn’t bring up anything to get to ‘em with.

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I woke from a weird dream this morning. A new colleague (who doesn’t really exist) was objecting to some work that I wanted to do that would leverage the cloud and improve the user experience because it would “cause more workload.” Some time later, we’re at a webdev meeting and I realize I’m the supervisor of all these people and the team is so large it’s unwieldy. Someone higher up in the organization is talking to us about something that’s not particularly engaging. A mentee is sitting next to me and sniping at the new colleague (who doesn’t really exist) in an under-his-breath kind of way. I tell him that’s rude and he should either say it loud enough to be heard, or keep it to himself. It turns out this webdev meeting is outside on a field and I realize we have a big enough group to play soccer with each other which is what I want to be doing.

Now, to work on that “showstopper” bug before an afternoon of motorcycling with a former colleague.

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I tweeted that I was going to drag myself outside today, and probably be glad I did. I did, and I was. I decided to go for a wander on my street bicycle. I’d not gotten more than a couple hundred yards when I had a little trouble shifting, so I immediately turned around to diagnose with tools at home. I eventually decided that the support for Sam’s sidecar was pinching the shifter cable. I removed it, tested and it was good enough to go.

I had figured to stay somewhere flat-ish as I kind of wanted some think time/distance from work which has been stressing me out a bit the past week or so. More than usual. I had thought maybe I’d go alone the Ohlone Greenway South into Berkeley and wander there a bit. But I felt I knew that area pretty well, and that I only knew major roads through San Pablo, so I decided to wander North. I ended up on a major road through El Sobrante, but in part because some of my side excursions ended up being dead ends. Also, as I was close to a bike shop I like, I stopped in as it was time for me to get a new helmet, which I did. I was also able to replace a lost screw that holds the cleats to my cycling shoes, so it was a good, accidental twofer.

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In all, it was about a 25 mile bike ride through San Pablo, El Sobrante, just about into Orinda, then along wildcat canyon through Tilden, and back into Berkeley, Kensington and El Cerrto. And while the stretch of San Pablo Dam road was pretty flat, trekking through Tilden and Wildcat was most distinctly not. Fortunately, the down was again mostly at the end. Which, of course is the exhilarating part, as there were sections of Central Park Drive and Arlington avenue where I was definitely exceeding the speed limit; even passing some cars back along Arlington.

Now, I’m beat. But not so beat I won’t clean off, suit up and take my motorcycle across the bay and across the city to a Beach BBQ hosted by a colleague from work (and former mentee), celebrating the presence of another colleague (normally in the Boston office, and current mentee). Because, you know, BBQ. On the beach. How could I not?

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I don’t really think of myself as an adrenaline junkie, but the way I’m beaming at the moment may be betraying me. I just got back from a mountain bike ride. It was amazing (or if you’re reading this from the UK, it was brilliant. Or if you’re reading this on teh inter webz, it was teh awesome)!

The girls are away, there are trails nearby that I’ve only begun to explore, I had no plans for the day, and because it’s California, the weather was simply perfect. So, I cycled out to alvarado park/wildcat canyon (just 2 miles away!) and then set out along the trails. There was a path that I’d started to explore earlier, but had turned around before I got too far due to time constraints, and I wanted to see where it went. Beyond that, I’d not looked at the map, I had not planned a route, I was just going exploring because I had all day.

AC out mountain biking

I headed up Wildcat Creek Trail and then over to Haney Canyon Trail. Most of this was gradual climb. Some steep, some descent, but mostly up. To be fair, I’m not in the best shape currently so nearly anything looks like “up”. I followed the trail through the woods. The further I got, the fewer people I started to see, such that on the Haney Canyon trail, I only saw two hikers (OK, 3, but one was in a baby bjorn and may have been asleep). Already, I’m a pretty happy camper as I’m out in the woods, getting exercise and cycling. I come to a section of the trail that drops into a small ravine where some tributary to Wildcat Creek runs which was simply too steep and technical for me to navigate on my bicycle. Just on the other side, I come to the first of several gates. I had been avoiding gates before. I just wasn’t sure whether it was OK to go through gated paths. But this path clearly went nowhere else, so I followed it through and kept going.

Eventually, it broke out into grassy hillside and climbed along to another paved-but-not-vehicular-accessible road which turned out to be Nimitz way. I wasn’t ready to head back yet, so I kept going up, though at this point it was flatter as I was mostly riding along the ridge top. Up here on Nimitz way, I started to see people again — mostly joggers. It was a pleasant ride in itself — the San Pablo reservoir down to my left, the tree-lined hillside I’d just climbed down to the right. But I was just starting to worry about where I might end up when the trail split. I took the unpaved, uphill one (Conlon trail, if you’re following along on the map), which after climbing around a large tree emptied out onto a simply gorgeous view of the Bay. I could see Oakland, the Bay bridge, Treasure Island, San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, Angel Island, just a whole panorama. It was amazing.

I took a moment to rest at the bench there and just absorb the view. I parked my bike at the bench, walked to the fence and stared in wonder at the beauty. As I turned around, I saw another cyclist ride up to the bench. He came off his saddle, but didn’t fully dismount, took a sip from his Camelbak, grunted a greeting and turned and rode on. “What’s his hurry?” I thought, failing to understand how he could gawk so briefly at the view.

Then I found out. After the next gate, the trail got briefly rolling after starting with a pretty steep descent. There were cows grazing in this part and the trail cut between a herd that didn’t seem to mind me wizzing past. And then it got better. Steeper, curvier and I started flying along. The bumps hitting me at jackhammer speeds as I flew down the mountain sides. Skittering through turns which I’d have gone flying off cliff-sides had I not checked my speed just enough. On the breaks as little as possible trying to balance between braking traction and turning traction. Living in that zone where you’re not completely out of control, but certainly no longer fully in it either, hurtling down the mountain side at easily 30 MPH finally as the gate at the bottom approaches as firm on the front brakes as I dare while taking the back break just in and out of a skid. OH MAN THAT WAS FUN! And it had the decency to drop me right back where I’d peeled off for the Haney trail in the first place — just had to go through that gate!

I couldn’t keep the bugs out of my teeth on the next four miles home, I was grinning so broadly. So, somewhere in the 12-15 mile range total, and what a blast! Of course, the whole time I was trying to not go all out. I’ve gotta save at least a little bit for tomorrow when I’m going windsurfing!

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We’ve been making an “outgoing” chart to help Sam, in social situations, to be more, well, social. She’s been doing a good job, and recently completed said chart so as a reward, we’re going to Fairyland in Oakland. This morning, we were talking about the day and she said she was going to go as a fairy. Because it’s fairy land. Mom asked what Mom and Dad should go as.

Sam: “Mommy should go as a carrot.”
Mom: “A carrot?!? And Daddy? What should Daddy go as?”
Sam: “A tomato!”

Another notable conversation from today:

Sam: “Have you been to the middle of nowhere?
Mom: “I don’t know where it is.
Sam: “It’s even farther than Australia. You have to fly over Thailand and Australia to get there. It’s even farther than Gibraltar!”

–Dad (now dressed in red)

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Maker Faire!

The three of us went to the Maker Faire¹ today. I was ambivalent about going originally as it seemed like it would be a bit of a hassle to get there. Originally, it was going to be only Sam and myself going, but as Carolyn helped us figure out how best to get there, she decided it looked interesting to her too, so we decided to all go. We took our bicycles on BART from the far north east corner(El Cerrito del Norte), to the far southwest corner (Milbrae). From Milbrae, we rode our bikes along the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition’s commuter route map which follows along near the CalTrain route down to the San Mateo County Expo Center where Maker Faire was being held. By virtue of arriving by bicycle, we got discounted admission (win!).

Ca and Sam Swing
in the PlaySoundGround

.The faire was full of all kinds of wonderful oddness. Carolyn and Sam went swinging in the PlaySoundGround which was interesting, but I was surprised at how few sensors there were contributing to the soundscape, and how hard it was to tell if what impact those sensors were having. From there we wandered around and saw someone bouncing around on strange stilts, cars with all kinds of “art” on them, rocketry, music, pedal-powered carousels and ferris wheels.

Bicycle Carousel

The “life-size” mousetrap, SCA sword fights, a huge Lego model train set, and battleship. Sam really enjoyed working with clay at one of the demo stations for Oakland’s The Crucible as well as playing with the lego jeep.

Jack Sparx

There were all kinds of places represented that I want to play at in the future too, including The Crucible, The Sawdust Shop and TechShop. An excellent day was had by all, and it was topped off surprisingly well. On the way back, we stumbled across the “CrepVine” restaurant where we had some delicious savory crepes and Sam very much enjoyed the chocolate cake she split with Mom. (I had my own, thank you very much.)

We liked it enough that if we hadn’t already planned to be lazy tomorrow (and have dinner out east with “Unkie John”) we might have gone back for a second day. We’ll certainly do it again next year, but next year, we’ll leave quite a bit earlier! More photos are in the gallery

Happy Sam

1. Carolyn especially enjoyed the spelling of “Faire” as it’s the French infinitive of “to do” or “to make”! Return to body↩

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I wrote the following on my birthday, the day before we left for the UK for a month. Alas, our home router died that day too, so I didn’t actually publish it. I’m going to date-adjust the post back in time to when I actually wrote it instead of when I finally got back to the states and therefore around to publishing it.

Today, I turn 39. It’s feeling kinda old. But people have been great about celebrating it with/for me. People were very nice at work today both about my birthday and wishing me well for my next month in the UK where I’m kicking off a new project with my Brighton-based development team.

I also just unearthed a sheet that I thought was lost, so figured I should capture the thoughts digitally so it would be OK if the sheet was lost (again.)

With some other directors/middle management at the Lab, I was recently put through some “management training.” Before it started, I was dreading it. I’ve been through a few such things which seem to be filled with a few nuggets of usefulness that need to be extracted from hour upon hour of tedious lecture. Fortunately, this one was really different. It was mainly communication training run by a dynamic and engaging instructor that was clearly tailored to help us as a particular group. It definitely got me fired up to think about my management and leadership, and I’ve been reading some useful management-related book recently too. I recommend both of the ones linked in here.

At the end of the training (5 days spread over a couple months of which I was only able to make 3 due to travel), we put our names on the top of a sheet of paper and put ‘em in a pile in the middle. We then took others sheets and basically wrote epitaphs for the person whose name was at the top. At the end, we collected “our” sheets of paper to see how others though of us when they were thinking well of us. Here’s my collection:

• “Rock-like.” Also, funny as hell.
• Patience in all things
• Sharp wit and intense focus
• Your crystal clarity
• I love your frank attitude, regardless of the topic, yet you always come off intelligently.
• Your real thougtfulness, sincere smile, and sharp consideration
• Your insights and availability are inspiring. You are invariably reasonable and perceptive
• Your clear language and genuine curiosity are a true gift. Don’t ever stop using them, please.
• You are the best definition of “solid” possible. I was so glad I got to work/talk/hang with you.
• Always positive, pragmatic, and willing to help!
• Your intelligence and easy-going attitude make me extremely happy to have you around to bounce questions/ideas off of
• You’re extremely intelligent and sharp-minded, but you lack any hint of arrogance. It’s great working with someone so competent and humble

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Sam got her first “bicycle” today. We got her a “balance bike” or “walking bike”. We’d looked around and found some pretty good deals on amazon, but we wanted to try it out in the shop before making a purchase like that. So we went to a few different bike shops including Performance that didn’t have any. We wound up at “Mike’s Bikes” where they had a few from Specialized. Sam was really cute as she skuut’ed around the store on it, making “ch” “ch” sounds. I’d been wanting one with a hand break so she’d learn that skill too, but apparently hand breaks aren’t actually standard until much larger bikes, so no big deal.

After a few more errands (including home to get an allen wrench to raise the seat), we headed out to Castro park where Sam made a loop around the park and then lots of back-and-forth-and around in the paved play area. To accompany her, I broke out my long-ignored inline skates. Much fun was had. But what a momentous day!

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