Posts (page 2)

Who didn't love The Matrix?  Who doesn't love The Muppets?  This is a really well done CG version of the movie trailer.  The only thing that could have been cooler would have been if it were real life Muppets.

Back in the 80s, I totally loved watching McGyver.  He made being an ingenious scientific nerd cool.  Well, cooler.  I mean, he used to stop nuclear reactors from overheating with chocolate bars, and fix helicopter turbines with Pez and belly button lint.  I used to (and sometimes still) want to be as resourceful as he, so I get excited whenever I have a MacGyver Moment.

This weekend I went on a long bike ride.  Normally for these long rides, I bring extra things like an extra water bottle and an extra tube in case I get two flats on a ride (which has never happened).  I was riding on the Stevens Creek Trail and passed a volunteer group cleaning garbage off of the trail.  I got a flat tire and has to stop to change it.  Normally I can change my tire in about 4-5 minutes, but it had been awhile since I had done it and some curious little boy named Cliff was watching me and asking me questions.  I was a little distracted patiently explaining my bike and what I was doing to him.  When I put the wheel back on and pumped it up, it promptly flatted again!  I hadn't checked the outer wheel well enough, and whatever caused the first flat was still embedded in there, causing the second flat.

I had no more tubes and it was a 6-mile walk home.  I thought for a minute and then looked around.  I asked one of the nearby volunteers if I could sift through their garbage.  Embarrassing, yes, but it was worth it.  I rummaged for awhile and came up with an answer: an old, used, dried-up ketchup packet.  Much to the horror of the volunteers around me, I squeezed what was left of the crusty ketchup onto the tube around the area that had been punctured.  I then took the foil packet and wrapped it around the tube over the puncture like you'd wrap a band-aid around your finger.  The dry ketchup acted as an adhesive as I pumped the tire.  The pressure of the ketchup packet "patch" between the air-pressured tube and the outer tire kept it in place.  Amazingly, it sealed the flat!

Cliff witness this and said it was "gross" and "cool" at the same time.  Hey, that's me.  Anyone who knows me knows that I know just about every jingle and theme song from the 80s.  And whenever I have a MacGyver Moment, I can't help but sing the theme song to MacGyver.  Well, at least the chorus.  Imagine me riding away humming that.  Well, I did!  Albeit tentatively at first, I was able to make it home at full speed on the tire fixed with a used ketchup packet.

Sure I didn't save the world or anything.  That's why I don't have my own TV show.

Because I've done it on 3 different bikes, it's not 100% accurate.  But I've been keeping an Excel-based log of my cycling for the past three years so I can track my progress with a high degree of certainty.  Yesterday I reached 10,000 miles.

What's your motto?

Over the years, I've had several mottos I tried to live by.  The more recent being:

"We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give."
"It's better to be at the bottom of a ladder you want to climb than halfway up one you don't."

But the one that has remained tried and true for the past 15 years:

"Be excellent to each other."

I've made it a short term goal to start participating in a lot of bike rides.  Not races.  Rides.  If I'm ever going to do a triathlon, I need things to shoot for.  Runs can come later as I'm ramping up on running, but I've got to keep my cycling level up in the mean time.  Besides that, I want to have a collection of ride/run bibs plastering the wall of my home office.

Some of the rides I'm eyeing:
29 Sep, Eddy Merckx Ride, 35 miles with the most famous cyclist in history
01 Oct, Mt. Diablo Challenge - 10.8 miles up and INSANE hill
14 Oct, Coyote Creek Classic - 50 miles
21 Oct, Gilroy Bonfante Harvest Ride - 64 or 100 miles
11 Nov, Le Tour de Foothills - 64 miles if I can find time to go to LA
10 Feb, Tour de Palm Springs - 100 miles
03 Mar, Death Valley Double Century - 200 miles (total wishlist ride)
31 Mar, Cinderella Classic - 64 miles

That's right, I think I'm going to train for a double century.  200 miles in one day.  The farthest I've ridden in a single day was 110 miles.  I've got 6 months to train for this.  I basically have to average about 16mph for 12 hours.  Shat I'm scrrrd.

Just read an entertaining little article in the Economist.

In-flight announcements are not entirely truthful. What might an honest one sound like?

"Your life-jacket can be found under your seat, but please do not remove it now. In fact, do not bother to look for it at all. In the event of a landing on water, an unprecedented miracle will have occurred, because in the history of aviation the number of wide-bodied aircraft that have made successful landings on water is zero."

What movie would you really recommend renting or seeing this weekend?

I have a few to suit different tastes.  And nothing currently popular or new.

Foreign drama from a famous US director: Das Boot
Underrated sci-fi Star Trek parody comedy: Galaxyquest
Foreign comedy remade into a terrible US movie: Shall We Dansu?
Oddball comedy that most people might not get: Rushmore
100% completely disturbing foreign film: Irreversible
Civil War film with a gothic/choral soundtrack: Glory
Cycling documentary: Overcoming
Hot foreign film with Monica Bellucci: Malena
Thriller that makes you think: Memento
Obscure musical about soul in Ireland: The Commitments
Sequel that was better than the 1st: Spiderman 2

Whoa did anyone know you could do this???

Instructions here: http://taylorhayward.org/iTunes_toolbar.html

So I guess it's official.  Pluto is no longer a planet.  It has been ousted from the fellowship and now there are only 8 planets in our Solar System. 

The initial definition proposed for a planet was:

A planet is a celestial body that (a) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (b) is in orbit around a star, and is neither a star nor a satellite of a planet.

But that was quickly amended to a more complex definition with notes, subjective interpretations, and the introduction of the concept of a 'dwarf planet', in which Pluto, Charon (once regarded as Pluto's moon) and 2 other celestial bodies fell into.

So much for that mnemonic device My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pickles.  Now what am I going to do with that random sentence?

What's the nerdiest thing about you?

That I don't even know where to begin answering this question.