Going back

I have spent a lot of my time over the last few years racing bikes, mostly with the University of Minnesota Cycling Club. It all started back in the summer of 2001, during which I went on a bike tour through Norway and decided that it would be fun to try racing. When I got back to school in the fall, I joined the Stanford University Cycling Club and have had a great time since.

Here is a report of our trip through Norway, which I wrote up almost a year ago and just put up on the web. If you are looking for a special place to tour with your bike that is not France or Tuscany, Norway should be on the short list. Beautiful.

Since then, I've moved more and more towards track racing, which in my opinion is the most fun you can have on your bike. We have a great velodrome right here in the Twin Cities where you can either race or watch racing every Thursday night during the summer. You can also learn more about what is happing up there at the newly created mnvelodrome.org. Here is a video of a Madison race from last year. Note that this is actually a lot more exciting when you are actually there in person...



One more thing. . .
Apple is finally shipping the highly anticipated Apple TV. A much less talked-about and somewhat more troublesome product that was recently introduced by Steve Jobs is the iRack. See for yourself.

 

Out with the old. . .

. . .and in with the new. My new car is here, as previously announced.

The new
Those of you, who are local and astute enough, will notice right away what the snow in the picture gives away: this photo was already taken a week ago. True; I just have not had a chance to put it up here yet, as I have had a bit of a rough week with a lot of work and personal stuff. So I have not enjoyed this new car as much as I should have, but in some way it feels good to be reminded of the relative importance of material possessions.

In the meantime, the plates came in, and that took the hassle out of naming this beauty: Uve. Uve? Well, that is what it says on the license plates, and it is a good, traditional German name (Uwe) as an American might spell it. So it seems oddly fitting for this car, and I have already embraced it wholeheartedly. Uve it is.

I was also happy about the number on the license plate: 906. How many other three-digit numbers with rotational symmetry without reflection symmetry can you think of?

The old
50,000 miles and many memorable trips together. It's been a good car. Too bad the next generation could not live up to the old. I hope this one finds a good new home through the Newgate Education Center. The transfer really only took about 10 minutes, and it was done. So long, old friend.

The process
After all is said and done, I have to say that the buying experience was actually rather nice. There were almost no real hassles to deal with, and the dealership was friendly and not too over the top (for a car dealership). I am sure it helps to be an internet customer who knows exactly what he wants and knows what the prices are or should be. Still many of the people and dynamics I observed at the dealership very much reminded me of this excellent article I read a while back. Definitely worth a read, even if it is a little long.

One more thing. . .
Sure, the Autobahn is hard to beat. Germany is clearly number one there. But soccer? Things have been better. What do you think—can Germany beat Greece?

 

Goodbye Rickie

Sad news today: my old dog died. She was a good dog.

So here is a tribute:

 

Net Neutrality

Why bother?
The concept of net neutrality has recently received a lot of attention. Why should you care? Probably because more and more of your stuff is online these days and free access is probably important to you.

Here is a very good and succinct introduction:


For a little more depth, this is an interesting piece:


And if you've still not had enough, you will find all your questions answered here.

Web 2.0
One of the reasons net neutrality is important is the nature of what's come to be known as Web 2.0. Think it's all hype and you are not part of it? Well, you are reading it right now. This here is a brilliant, wordless overview of what Web 2.0 is all about:


One more thing. . .
This has been on the web for a couple of weeks, but it still is an interesting article on one of my favorite subjects. And interesting lesson in looking at the long run.
 

Don't be evil

Since last Monday came a day early, this Monday had to be pushed back a day. I'm sure you understand.

Google
I really like Google and can highly recommend many of its services, especially its personalized homepage in conjunction with bookmarks, reader, calendar, Gmail, Page Creator, Picasa, and, of course, Blogger. All of this is free, and all of this lets you easily traverse and publish to the web from one convenient location. The company's interface design is so good that I've seen many people migrate away from dedicated email or calendar programs to Google, and I suspect the same may soon happen to Docs and Spreadsheets. Watch out Microsoft.

With all of your information in one place, you have to ask yourself, though: can you trust them? I do, but not with very sensitive information. How do you Google?


One more thing. . .
Last week the Swiss invaded Liechtenstein. Does that mean non-EU Europe will be at war soon? Probably not, Liechtenstein does not have an army, so we should be okay.