In Barrow Again

No more posts about riding for a while. I'm told that there is now snow on the ground back home and this time, it's sticking. I'm up in Barrow again this week working on the metro wireless. The goal was to get trunking on the point-to-multipoint network using a mixture of Cisco switches, Foundry switches and Alverion radios. It's now working the way it is supposed to and only had to use about a 2 minute outage instead of the scheduled 4 hours. There was a lot of cleanup that had to be done as well and I've been using Google Wave for posting switch configs and proposed changes to share with others. Pretty good tool for this sort of collaboration. The only negative is that if you are working on the network, there is a good chance that you won't be able to reach the Internet when you need to look at the configs. Still, the collaboration part seemed to work.

I took a break when some of the local staff needed to deliver some material from the Coast Guard to Barrow Search and Rescue. I never realized that the rotor blades folded up like that. It makes since for them to fold in order to not take as much room. My only experience with helicopters was over 25 years ago and they were much smaller. Hughes 500s and Jet Rangers. There was also a King Air and a Lear Jet in the Hanger. Kind of fun to look around and it was a nice break.

After that, it was back to switches, wireless access points, VoIP phones, and vlans. With the current configuration, I can assign any port in any of the out buildings to just about any vlan in the main buildings. The wireless access points contain several SSIDs to allow just about any researcher to jump onto the appropriate vlan (after authentication) and most of the VoIP phones have been moved into the same vlan no matter what building they are in. I've been meaning to do this for years but haven't been in a position to do it until now.

Nike+ Human Race 10K

Just on whim, i.e. I saw the advertisement on the Nike+ home page, I entered the online race. There were 86,799 entrants. For the race preparation section, which ran from August 3 through the end of the last week, I came in 143. I'm pretty happy with that considering the number of entrants. In the actual virtual race, I didn't do as well but still much better than I thought I would. 16,736th place so I'm in the first 25%. I didn't run but just sort of jogged and was happy that my time was roughly the same as the Midnight Sun Run. I thought it would be worse since I am feeling somewhat out of shape.

Warm Enougn to Ride and 3000 miles on Nike+!

Who would've believed it. After all, it's almost November! This morning, I dug the bike out from the back of the garage and rode into the university again. The last two days, it was so warm that I walked home (plus I need the exercise). I can't remember a time when there hasn't been snow on the ground at the end of October. In fact, I can remember many Halloweens when temperatures were well below zero and the kids went around the neighborhood on a sled behind a snow machine (a.k.a. snow-mobile). The temperature was in the low 20's and it was really nice to ride in again. I did keep an eye out for ice on the road because occasionally water spills out from the back of trucks of those hauling their own water but absolutely no issues this morning. I tried out the grip warmers again but turned them off after only a couple of miles since they were too warm with my summer gloves and this was on the low setting. Maybe I should look into them this winter while I do all my other maintenance. I'm assuming that they are working properly. The weather guessers claim that it won't snow today but it looks a little ominous to me. If it starts to look worse, I think I will just head home...

Still spending an inordinate amount of time trying to learn about Google Wave. It is still "very beta" and some things only work some of the time and sometimes it gets really slow. When I got my account, it came with 8 invites. So far, 7 of the 8 people I invited have signed up and we have started to look at some of the collaboration features. I still haven't figured out how to work with documents (it that's possible) but some of the robots are interesting. One of the claims real time translation so I tried it with the text from one of my blog posts. It translated it into Japanese so I sent the resulting text to a good friend from Japan. She said that it looks like translators will not be put out of business soon since it was only about 5% accurate. In case you are interested, here it is below...

I was thinking that I would go for a ride this last weekend but didn't and this morning, it was down in the low teens again and the afternoon temperatures are no longer getting above freezing. So I drove the truck in this morning since I had an errand to run. Yesterday, I got in quite a bit of walking but felt really chilled by the time evening came. We are still getting quite a bit of warmth from the sun these days as you can really feel the temperature drop once it sets. No pictures as it is really gray and drab with all of the leave gone and no snow. Tonight, I will drain the gas from the bike and push it back to it's place in the back of the garage 'til spring. There are a number of maintenance tasks needed as well as some minor repairs. I am still debating whether I should pull the heads to check for valve recession since it would be really inconvenient to break down in the middle of a trip. I believe, from articles on the Internet, that my bike is one of those that has a problem with valve seat metallurgy. I haven't found any records that indicate that this issue was taken care of by the previous owners. Plus, the mileage is about right for the problem to show up (60K miles).


私は自分が乗って、この最後の週末のために行くことはないと今朝考えていたのは、これを低く、10代で再び午後の気温は、もはや凍結上記の取得されまし た。以来、私は実行するためにお使いいただから私はこの午前中のトラックを行なった。昨日、私は歩くのはかなりを取ったが、実際には時間の夕方までに冷え た感じだった。一度設定する我々はまだ、これらの日として、本当に気温の低下を感じることは、太陽からの温かさがかなり進んでいる。いいえイメージとして は、実際は灰色ですし、すべてのままにして雪過ぎ去ったとパッとしない。今夜、私は自転車からのガスを排出し、戻ってのところにガレー ジ'の後ろにティルの春押してください。ある保守タスクの数だけでなく、いくつかのマイナーな修理が必要です。私はまだので、実際には旅 の途中で分解するには不便になるかどうか私はバルブの不況をチェックするための頭プルする必要があります議論をしています。私は、インターネット上の記事 からは、私の自転車一人は、バルブシート冶金に問題があるのだと思いまます。私は、この問題の以前の所有者に引き取られたことを示すすべてのレコードが見 つかっていない。さらに、走行されている問題についての権利のために（60Kマイル）を表示します。

Friday Afternoon - After running around at lunch time, I noticed that I was only 1¼ miles from the 3000 mile mark. I needed to drop off a form at Signers' Hall on lower campus so that seemed like a good excuse to get a few more miles in. So I reached one of my goals and it isn't even December yet.

Still Playing With Wave

I have not been so interested by a new technology as I am by Google Wave. Right off the bat, I can think of several applications within the higher ed environment ranging from education to administrative. For example, in advanced networking labs such as the Internet2 IPv6 or multicast workshops I teach or the Cisco classes that I used to teach, there are sets of equipment that would be worked on by a small group of students. In all cases, it usually ends up being a clump staring at the screen of one of the team members typing on a router or a switch. In some cases, each of the groups also needed to interact with the other groups. I can think of many other examples where collaboration is key. So far, I have just been playing around with a few of the robots and gadgets that developers have made available. I suspect that there will be many, many more soon. One of them that I was interested in trying is apparently not ready outside of the sandbox environment. My blog, blog.machida.us is hosted at Blogger (owned by Google) and they demonstrated a robot called Bloggy that enabled a wave to appear within your blog. Unfortunately, to interact with it, I believe you would still need a wave account.

Another capability is to set up an independent wave server so that the user accounts and content (waves) could be locally administered. Even with a separate server, users would still be able to transparently interact with wave users in other domains. Only shared content would be passed between the domains. Pretty cool technology that I can't wait to learn more about. And that is a really nice change for me. I.e. to be so excited about a technology that I want to learn everything I can about it...

This blog post is being typed in a wave with a Posterous robot. Once I finish, it posts to my Posterous site http://pst.machida.us/, and the Posterous site posts it to my Blogger site, then sends out a Tweet with a link to the Posterous blog post. Cool automation.

via google-wave-robot

Posted via web from Richard's posterous

Playing With Google Wave

I got my invite this afternoon just before 5:00 and have been playing around all evening. Right now I'm trying out the Posterous robot which automatically makes blog posts though the posterous.com site. So far it seems pretty cool. Not all of the robots used in the demo video can be used (such as bloggy which posts to Blogger).

I just tried to paste a picture and I guess that is't supported in the robot. I need to find some others to try some of the collaborative features. Pretty cool!

via google-wave-robot

Posted via web from Richard's posterous

Time to Finally Put the Bike Away

I was thinking that I would go for a ride this last weekend but didn't and this morning, it was down in the low teens again and the afternoon temperatures are no longer getting above freezing. So I drove the truck in this morning since I had an errand to run. Yesterday, I got in quite a bit of walking but felt really chilled by the time evening came. We are still getting quite a bit of warmth from the sun these days as you can really feel the temperature drop once it sets. No pictures as it is really gray and drab with all of the leave gone and no snow. Tonight, I will drain the gas from the bike and push it back to it's place in the back of the garage 'til spring. There are a number of maintenance tasks needed as well as some minor repairs. I am still debating whether I should pull the heads to check for valve recession since it would be really inconvenient to break down in the middle of a trip. I believe, from articles on the Internet, that my bike is one of those that has a problem with valve seat metallurgy. I haven't found any records that indicate that this issue was taken care of by the previous owners. Plus, the mileage is about right for the problem to show up (60K miles).

Other maintenance items are:
transmission input shaft grease
swing arm grease
replace cables
replace brake fluid
remove exhaust doughnuts
adjust valves
replace fluids

There is also the issue where the bike ran real during a heavy rain. To me hinting at an ignition problem.

Other things:
Put on the Reynolds rear rack
Considering an upgraded charging system
Considering front facing running lights for more visibility
Considering blinking LED brake light for better visibility

About a month ago, I followed an RT of similar vintage and noticed that the brake light and turn signals were pretty dim during the day. And we have a lot of day around here. Looking at the list, it's a good thing I don't mind doing the maintenance myself. I sure wouldn't want to be paying shop rates for all of it...

Feels Like Winter

This morning, someone asked me if I have finally put the bike away. My response, not until there is snow on the roads.

This morning, the temperature was 17°F and with a report that there were several slick spots on the road, I ended up taking the bus into work this morning. It was wonderfully clear and sunny so I somewhat regretted my decision but its not like I can just run home and ride the bike. At lunchtime, I walked down to College Road for some Chinese food and came back on the ski trails. This evening, I headed down to the bus stop at Wood Center and since I was early, I decided to just walk around. Then, I just kept going and going and going until I walked in the front door. All in all, I managed to exceed my 10 mile daily goal. This month, that has been a rare event. Actual mileage for the day is 12½. According to the weather guessers, tomorrow is supposed to bring snow. At least the temperature will be well below freezing so there shouldn't be a lot of accidents.

Today was my initial screening meeting with WIN for Alaska for the current year. I set a goal of losing 10 lbs and dropping my BMI at least by 3%. Since I probably can't reasonably add more aerobic exercise, I need to increase the intensity and add in strength training. Something I have been resisting for years. Since we don't really need more junk around the house, I was going to start by using my coupon for the Alaska Club. The trainers there should be able to get me started on some sort of routine and maybe I'll keep going for a while.

Another Beautiful Morning

Another clear, beautiful morning which means that I was able to ride the bike in again. This was the view from West Ridge on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus looking towards the southeast a bit before sunrise. I like the way the moon looked as well as the clouds but I should have had more sky in the picture since that is what I was focusing on. Last night while riding, I noticed that you could see Denali so visibility is over 200 miles. I thought about taking a picture but with just the camera on my iPhone, you wouldn't have been able to see much. For times like this morning, it worked out great. And they say that the best camera is the one that you have with you. I.e. willing to carry.

After my unexpected encounter with ice on the road last night, I was a bit wary about riding in this morning since it was a cool 20°F. No ice and too much traffic for frost on the road and I was plenty warm. My only problem was the visor fogging up so I ended up riding with it cracked open. Kind of a hassle. I did consider walking in this morning since i feel like I need the exercise but I figured that there were so few riding days left, I should take advantage of all of them. I can start walking more once the snow flies.

Wednesday afternoon - It's up to 41°F but there is still ice in all the cracks in the road. I just walked down to lower campus and back along the ski trails and there is a fair amount of ice back in the woods. Those areas get very little, if any, sunshine so it isn't surprising. This is just about the ideal temperature for me. Not really cold but cool enough to get in a little aerobic exercise without overheating.

Icy Road!

The snow-free weather is continuing so I took the opportunity to ride the RT in to work again. Yesterday, I took the really long way home, going through the Goldstream Valley as well as running through town and Farmers Loop Rd before ending up a mere 6 miles from my starting point. It felt pretty cool this morning with temperatures in the low 20's. The old RT fairing offers pretty good wind protection so I didn't even feel a need to use the hand grip heaters. I tried them once and they worked pretty well though it seems to really tax the charging system on the bike. This morning was the first time I've ridden in the dark and the headlight really needs to be aimed up a bit. Maybe a small project for tonight. The temperature is now up to 37°F, still a bit cool but I'm looking forward to a longish ride again after work.

Tuesday evening - I took a very long route home to take advantage of the warmer weather. I ran into a reminder that is still getting to be winter. On a north facing slope of the Old Steese Hwy, I ran into a bit of ice on the road and noticed that there was snow along the road and in the driveways. I guess this section of the road didn't receive any sunlight at all. The bike felt pretty squirrely but I just kept neutral throttle and let the bike wobble and wander under me and didn't have any problems. The stretch lasted for about ½ a mile but it felt much, much longer. Other than that small section, it was a great ride. I saw a couple of other bikes including a couple of dual sport bikes headed north towards the haul road. One of these days...

Extended Riding Season

We are having warmer than normal weather here in the interior of Alaska. This morning, it was 28°F and clear and with no moisture on the road, so it was a great ride in. Since the weather guessers are projecting clear days for the rest of the week, I dug out the bike from the back of the garage. I rode in just before sunrise, a bit chilly on my neck but otherwise plenty warm. It has been a couple of weeks since I've last ridden and I was trying out a new pair of insulated gloves that a friend had given me so things felt a bit awkward. The fingertips of the gloves would touch the levers and that seemed to throw me. This is near Ann's Greenhouse near the base of Ester Dome. As you can see, no snow and the leaves are pretty much gone. I can only remember a couple of years when we haven't had snow on the ground by the middle of October so this is real unusual (or else I have a really bad memory). Yesterday, it had warmed up to the mid-50's and there were a lot of bikes running around but errands and other commitments kept me off the bike. In spite of winter, I don't think I could ever get used to living elseware. I just returned from San Antonio, TX, and I thought that their weather was miserable. Everytime I headed outside, my glasses would fog up due to the humidity. It was horribly warm and muggy the whole time I was there. Because of the weather, I got in very little exercise and arrived back home feeling very tired and run down. Activity, specifically walking, seems to really help me feel better.

Today, I heard that there has been a series of "last ride of the season" for the last three weeks by a group of local BMW riders. There is snow forecast for this weekend so maybe no ride this weekend...

Night photos using Autostitch and four iPhone pictures. I think it turned out okay.

The Alamo

The Fall Internet² Member Meeting is being held about a block away from the Alamo here in San Antonio, TX. It is smaller than I always envisioned from the movies on TV but maybe because it is surrounded by very tall buildings. I arrived last night and it is really hot and humid. I'm told that there was a storm here yesterday that dumped almost 5" of rain. Lots of flash floods in the surrounding hills. The hotel where the meetings are being held are really cold epecially in contrast to the temperature outside. I'm not staying at the conference hotel and my hotel is right across the street from the Alamo so I hope I have time to look around. Maybe they have some sort of tour.