Archive for January, 2009
Icebike XI pre-ride
by garry.c.stewart on Jan.31, 2009, under Activities and Cycling
Well, Icebike 11 is tomorrow at The Forks, so I took the mountain bike out for a pre-ride of the course. This year it seems as if the day might be unusually warm! Right now it’s 0° and trying to rain!
On the ride from the house down to The Forks, the roads were very wet and it was sleeting and/or freezing rain for a while. By the time I arrived at the course, it was if I’d ridden into work in the rain, I was soaked. This years course is similar to last years and there doesn’t appear to be any really crazy parts, just the steep hill after riding up the skating path. Of course that’s followed by dropping down a very steep staircase to go under the Norwood bridge. I’ve never ridden those stairs even in the summer when it’s clear and dry.
On the St. Boniface hospital side there will be one challenging section which I rode just after the course crew had touched it up with some shoveling. No pressure, just 8 guys watching to see if you’ll crash and kill yourself. No such luck, as I was being slow and careful. Tomorrow will be a different story as I’ll need to go a lot faster through this section. The rest, while being off camber, is quite clear of snow and should be fast. But, if the temperatures stay warm, it could turn into a mud bath, as there is lots of dirt exposed.
As always, it should be exciting and the weather will be a big factor. If there is freezing rain and more snow overnight and a temperature drop, it will be quite challenging.
Did You Know? Living in Exponential Times
by garry.c.stewart on Jan.14, 2009, under Life and Technology
I saw this via Twitter to a fellow employee’s blog. It’s quite an interesting accumulation of facts. Then, the question gets asked, “What does it mean?”, but there are no answers.
Apple Introduces New Laptop With No Keyboard
by garry.c.stewart on Jan.12, 2009, under Technology
The latest from Apple, you just have to have one of these. Be sure to watch it to the end. 
Imperial still rules
by garry.c.stewart on Jan.03, 2009, under Grab Bag
I’m reading the car section of the local paper where the writer is doing a year in review of the cars he’s tested in ’08. He’s driven quite a range of vehicles from a Mini E all the way to a Rolls Royce Phantom at $440,000. As with all good car reviews there are a lot of numbers used to measure the characteristics of the cars. Things like 6.2 litre, V8, 3,000 rpm, 375 hp, and then there is 96 km/h as in 3.9 seconds to reach 96 km/h (Cadillac CTS-V).
What is with 96km/h? I’ve never seen a speed limit sign for 96; 90, 100, 120 but never 96! Those of you of a certain age, or with excellent mental math acuity will have realized that this is 60 mph. Actually, it’s 59.6516, but close enough. Even today, many years after we’ve supposedly made the shift to metric measurements in Canada the US Imperial measurement system still exerts it’s influence in some not so subtle ways. I guess extrapolating 0-60mph performance into 0-100km/h would be risky for a reviewer and I’d assume that the US manufacturer didn’t porvide this stat for the rest of the non-imperial world.
Give me mpg any day after all what is L/100 km anyway?
New Years Eve
by garry.c.stewart on Jan.01, 2009, under Entertainment, Family and Life
Fireworks-9
Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo
Happy New Years to one and all.
Last night we spent the evening with good friends over dinner and conversation with a little outing to the Forks to take in the fireworks. Even though it was not all that cold at -15° the walk back to the car was a little brutal in the light wind. We’d planned to play some games but after reviewing each other’s vacation pictures and watching the New Year festivities for a few minutes at midnight, it was suddenly 1:30am and we called it a night. Perhaps another evening for games.
This morning we’re easing into the day with a few coffees and brushing up on our Canasta skills for a card game tonight. Brushing up might be an over statement. The last time I played was at the lake as a kid and it will be a first for Shirley. Thanks to canasta.net and a little online playing we won’t be total rookies (I hope).
Time to dust off a few inches of snow from the truck and head out for a little breakfast adventure.
Reverse Crop Circles
by garry.c.stewart on Jan.01, 2009, under Uncategorized
I was doing some work around the house the other day, fitting one of the new doors, and I needed some sandpaper. So, fishing around in the shop for a piece I come across this. I certainly don’t remember doing it. A perfectly good full sheet of sandpaper with a very precise, yet irregular shape cut out. Hmmm, I think I’ll need to investigate for Shop Elves. There seems to be some mischief afoot.
