Thursday, September 22, 2011

The Triathlon 2011 Edition

I won the triathlon with the same strategy that worked for me last year: Be the only person to compete in all three events. :-)

ICBC to the Grouse Grind on bike: 25 m 20 s
The Grind: 47 m 12 s
A beer: Before anyone else finished theirs

PB on the first two.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Ride to Deas Island Park

I rode four hours on Sunday. Here are the stats: 4 h 05 m 00 s, Average Speed: 27.46 km/h, Distance: 112.59 km. That's a flat ride, so the average indicates that I'm not getting any younger. I used to be able to average 33 km/h on flat rides. There was a pretty strong wind, but I had it behind me as much as it was a headwind.

Another big shout out to Mighty Riders. Ed has been helping me with my position. After two recent adjustments, I was able to ride that much time without dying of pain in the feet and the shoulder. I'm not completely comfortable yet, but I'm a lot better than I was last year. And the chafing problem I've had for years has completely gone.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Netflix Blows It

So I gave in to pressures and went to sign up for Netflix. Actually, it appeared to be the model I think I'm looking for -- movies when I want them from the Internet (no cable). I had trepidation about the quality of the image streamed to the TV from my computer, but I was prepared to work on that.

So I sign up, hit play, and they tell me they won't play the movie because I don't use one of their supported operating systems. First bad thing: I know I'm using an off-the-mainstream operating system (Ubuntu), but that's my choice and my decision to deal with. Stream to me in a standard way and make it my problem to make it work.

So I cancel the account. Second bad thing: They force me to view a questionnaire with many complicated questions about why I'm canceling. Third bad thing: My reason isn't on the list, and they don't allow a free format comment.

So I hit "Contact Us". Fourth bad thing: They don't have an e-mail way to contact them.

Do I feel confident that Netflix will actually have a responsive phone system that lets me talk to a human, after the way they've demonstrated that they're not open to my way of doing things? No way.

Netflix, you ain't getting my money.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Jeopardy

A computer is playing Jeopardy. That's nothing. I want to see computers in reality TV: "Survivor: Data Centre Edition". Linux tribe versus Windows tribe. The question: will J2EE servers choose Linux or Windows? Or "Mobile Edition". Will Nokia and Windows be able to beat out the two tin cans with a string between them?