2000!

I finally got to 2000 today! As you can see from the snow on the side of the road, it wasn't exactly ideal riding conditions but it wasn't too cold and it seemed like the weather was going to get worse as we headed towards Christmas.

I thought it was a good goal for the year - challenging, but not impossible. I'm not sure what my goal next year will be but I think it is going to be a little less riding and  more running and swimming.

1990

A short ride yesterday and we are 10 miles from the finish line. It won't happen today because we have a rain/snow mix.

I did a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation yesterday to figure out how many days I could have ridden in 2010. I was out of town a lot this year. Between business and vacation, I spent about 100 days away from home. There are probably 50 or so days a year where the weather is not amenable to riding (very cold, icy and very rainy days). That leaves us with about 215 or so days in 2010 that I could have ridden. I probably could have ridden a bit more, but not a whole lot.

I'll need to start thinking about my goal for 2011.

1977

I braved the temps and went out and rode today at lunch. My desktop temperature widget said it was 34 degrees but there was no wind and the sun was out, so it wasn't too bad. I think it was probably closer to 40 out there. My feet were cold, but otherwise, it was nice, easy 15 mile ride. Just 23 miles to go.
 

Factors

 There are a couple of factors slowing my progress towards 2k. They are pictured at left. Snow and temps below freezing do not add up to a pleasant riding experience. Ruby and I will have to await fairer weather.

1961

Only 39 miles to go to 2k. It's definitely gotten cooler and I'm just about ready to hang up the bike for the season. About 2 or 3 more rides and we are done for the year. That should be manageable with a full month to go.

1900

I'm now at 1901 on the odometer. Double digits! I just squeezed in a very short ride yesterday afternoon after driving back from a lacrosse tournament in Baltimore for one kid and taking the other one to a lacrosse clinic. It was a beautiful day with highs in the 60s. I wonder if that is the last of that for the year? Some rain is moving in this week and that could be end of the good stuff.

Go Ravens!

Went to the Ravens vs. Dolphins game at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore yesterday. It was an excellent day and win for the home team 26-10. The Ravens looked really good and they should be a tough out in the playoffs this year.

10k

Just turned over 10k on the Jetta SportWagen on our way back from Richmond this weekend. I took it up to the dealer for its first oil change this morning. A quick 45 minutes for the maintenance and we were on our way.

I really, really like this car. It's fun to drive, gets great mileage (as you can see from the picture) and has enough room for most of our family trips. It gets a bit tight if we have the dog and a bunch of gear for the weekend, but it is manageable with some careful packing. The only improvements I would like are all-wheel drive and a bit more driver leg room (I have to crank the seat all the way back). Highly recommended.

1800

It is definitely getting cooler out there. Yesterday was the first day in tights and I was still a bit cool out there in just a thin shirt and windbreaker. Today I went with the winter riding gloves and jacket. I was much warmer (but I also did a few more inclines on the Yellow Mountain loop than I did yesterday on the city ride). But, it's still pretty decent with light winds and enough daylight to be visible. Last 10% coming up!

1750

I went over 100 miles for the week on a cool and blustery fall day today. It was the first day this fall that I've felt cold while riding (my feet were pretty numb by the end). It was probably 50 degrees or so with a steady 15+ mph wind. Anyway, it was a nice 26 mile loop up to Explore Park via the Parkway and then back on Route 618 to the Greenway to the new bridge and back home on Franklin. My legs felt good, but I'm thinking I should have worn a bit more clothing.

1700

After two weeks of travel (one of those in Las Vegas - ugh), I managed to ride a bit over 60 miles since Saturday as of yesterday. It was slow, but it was good to be back. I'm feeling pretty good about the 2k goal if weather, health and travel obligations cooperate.

1600

I'm slightly over 80% now with the toughest bit to go. 400 miles between now and the end of the year. That is going to be tough. The ride today was a nice little lunch jaunt on the Huckleberry Trail and then around Blacksburg a bit. Flatter than my usual rides and the weather was perfect. Hopefully, more of that kind of riding to come.

1500

 A nice loop through Explore Park and I'm up to 75% of my goal with about 25% of the year yet to go. I probably need to be at at least 1750 by the end of October to make it work because the last two weeks in December are not exactly prime cycling time.

1400

It's going to be tough to get to 2k, but I'm still going. Passed 1400 on a ride with Kate this afternoon and discovered a new 20 mile loop that combines the best of the Parkway and the Greenway. Since I just crossed 1300 Sunday on a ride on Railroad Grade Road with Jack, this has been a 100 mile week. I need a few more of these to make it.

1200

This week started off as a great week to ride, but the rain really put a crimp on my time in the saddle. I did manage to put in about 90 miles in the past week, getting the odometer to 1200. All of this travel (vacation and business) is limiting my mileage, but I'm still optimistic I can get to 2000 in 2010. I'll need to ride 200 a month from here on out. That is do-able.

1100

Another hundo down, most of it this week since I was out of town the week prior. Did a nice thirty mile ride near Todd, NC last weekend that was basically through a cloud.  At times, I couldn't see 30 feet ahead. It wasn't safe (I did use my lights), but it was a lot cooler than the hot and humid mid-day rides I've been doing this week. Three of those back to back and my whole body is tired.

1000

Went over 1k yesterday on Ruby. The milestone happened during my daily lunch ride right at the bridge on the Greenway behind the IGA. It'll be a stretch to get to 2k, but I'll keep trying.

900

Just got to 900 yesterday on Ruby. I'll need to pick up the pace a bit to make 2k. It'll take about 180 miles per month from here on out instead of my 150 per month year to date. I'll be out of town at least half of July, so I'm hoping to just hold serve and make up some mileage in August.    

807

807 is the current odo reading on Ruby after my 15 mile ride yesterday. It was super hot, but I felt like a little ride. I need to pick the pace up to get to 2k this year.

Ready to Rumble

The Bath County Triathlon is this weekend so I wanted to do one last race simulation. I'm definitely not in good shape and the 600+ miles of driving this weekend didn't help. Despite my apprehension, it went a whole lot better than last time.

The only problem was the timing of my trip to the RAC. I couldn't get out at lunch so I had to wait until about 2PM when the usual afternoon thunderstorms were moving in. My swim was curtailed due to thunder. I did manage to get 8 laps in so it wasn't a total waste (about half the race distance). It was a tough call to ride outside but I decided to go for it because riding the exercise bike is painfully boring. After a short swim, I was strong on the bike and the storm cooperated, staying to the north for almost the entire ride. I got rained on at the very end of the 13 miles, but it felt pretty good with less than one mile to go. Next was a 5k on the treadmill. My legs were sturdy and I was able to do a respectable training pace (23 minutes).

A quick stretch and shower afterward and I was home in a little over 2 hours elapsed time. Hopefully, I'll feel as good on June 19th.  

Hit By A Train

The Bath County Triathlon is fast approaching and my carpe sofa lifestyle isn't helping me right now. I went to the RAC today to get a little training in. Since I was a slug yesterday, I figured I would try to do a race simulation today to get a gauge on my fitness. I brought Ruby with me and was planning on a nice outside ride and then running on the treadmill. It wasn't pretty.

In a break from normal routine, the swim was actually the best part for me. I swam 20 laps (1000 yards) and felt pretty darn good getting out of the water. It wasn't fast (24 minutes) but I'll take it. I dried off and hustled outside to get my bike. The ride didn't start off too well as I had to stop a couple of times for lights, traffic and railroad crossings. I went down from the RAC on 615 for a bit which has a number of sharp climbs on it. I knew it wasn't going to be fast due to heat and terrain, but the 13 miles took me 50 minutes and I was pretty tired afterward. From there, I went back inside and ran 5k on the treadmill. My legs were dead and I could only keep an 8 minute pace.

After finishing, I went into stretch and my back was killing me. I did a few things to loosen it up, but nothing was working (trying beer now). Hopefully, that was just a bad day. My stomach has been not feeling great today and I didn't sleep well last night, so I'll chalk it up to that and hope things go better in a week.

Tourney

We had a great time at the NCAA Lacrosse Tournament in Baltimore on Memorial Day weekend. Although all five of the games I saw were entertaining, I thought one of the best was the women's division I final between Maryland and Northwestern. We got there a little bit late (no exit sign for TSU on the Baltimore Beltway?) and Northwestern was up 8-3. After a lot of back and forth with plenty of fast breaks and not too much of the stalling that plagues the women's game, Maryland ended up winning 13-11.

Train

I got up early yesterday and did a training run for our triathlon coming up in a few weeks. Since I've been sick and traveling, training has been a bit of a problem. Luckily, the Sheraton in Toronto has a really nice 25m outdoor pool (not really luck - I made sure they had a pool before booking). I was able to swim 750m, ride 20k on the exercise bike and run a 5k on the treadmill in about 80 minutes. Not very fast, but considering my doubts about whether or not I could even do it without considerable pain, it went well. Hopefully, I can get some good training in over the next two weeks!

YYZ-DTW-GSO-ROA

I had an interesting trip home from Toronto yesterday. Normally, this is a pretty quick trip but yesterday we had thunderstorms over Roanoke and they had to take us to Greensboro to land and pick up more fuel. We were about 2 hours late which isn't too bad considering.

Rental

The other week at SFO, Hertz upgraded me from my usual boring midsize to something a bit more interesting - a 2011 Ford Mustang Convertible. Despite not being the higher end model, this car was a blast to drive and I really had to keep my eye on the speedometer, lest I find myself going way too fast. I took it up in the hills after a particularly frustrating day on the project I was doing and drove the heck out of it for 2 hours. The car handled very well and had enough get-up-and-go to keep you very entertained. After a beautiful drive through the redwoods, the day didn't seem so bad after all.

Lesson

I was flying to Toronto this afternoon and got hung up because the flight out of ROA had a mechanical issue (something was wrong with the door). Since I had a tight connection, I knew I would miss the original so I called the Delta service number to check to see if there was a later flight. There was and the rep on the phone said that if I missed my original I'd be re-booked on the later flight automatically. Fine.

We get on the plane and go. We arrive over an hour late and, as expected my original flight had already left. I went over to the kiosk, scanned my boarding pass in the machine that prints out a new one if you have a missed connection and was so confident that I was on the correct flight, I just started towards the gate. Halfway up the escalator, I actually look at the time and I was on the flight tomorrow morning. Idiots. So, I have to go back down the the customer service center and wait on line. While I'm waiting, I call the Delta service number again to see what happened. Turns out, the computer automatically pushed me to the next day and she was able to put me on the later flight today. I reprinted my boarding pass and all was good. 

I learned two valuable lessons: first, always call customer service if you run into a problem while in the airport. Second, you might have to do the first thing twice to get it right.

Éirinn go Brách

I'll take the news that Guinness is actually good for you as the best of the day.

Ubuntu Redux

I liked Ubuntu 10.04 so much on my old desktop, that I decided to install it on an old Dell Inspiron 8500 laptop that was gathering dust. It's probably about to give up the ghost (it recently rejected one of its two memory sticks which is usually a sign that the motherboard is getting warped and the DVD drive makes horrible noises) but I can get a little more use out of it yet. I'm getting the hang of having the close button on the left hand side...

Hotels

I had some very divergent hotel experiences on my trip last week. I started out in a semi-basement room that should have had a round door in Moses Lake. From that I moved on to an insanely expensive Sheraton in Palo Alto that was huge and had a little patio area (pic from patio at left). To get a little closer to the airport, I moved to a cheaper room at The Palace in San Francisco (shows how ridiculous Palo Alto is).

Delivery

We got our NCAA Lacrosse Final Four tickets in the mail this week and I'm getting pretty excited for the tournament. Although it isn't quite official yet, it looks like Virginia will at least get to the second round. It doesn't exactly seem fair that they have to play at Stony Brook next weekend. Shouldn't the lower seed be at home?

Ubuntu 10.04

I've got an old Ideq 210V that wasn't being used for much, so I decided to install Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic for those who like the Ubuntu lingo) on it a month or so ago. Everything was going swimmingly. I had configured it to connect to my VPN for work and had even set up the SAP GUI on it. It was actually quite useful.

Then I read some reviews of Ubuntu 10.04 which sounded like the bee's knees. Upgrading seemed a cinch, so I gave it a whirl. Unfortuately, I was only able load up the failsafe GNOME mode, which seemed to limit some of my options (for example, I couldn't find the network manager icon anywhere). I thought it might have had something to do with a botched upgrade, so I did a complete reinstall. Same thing.

I was quite vexed and just set it aside for a couple of days. Then I started wondering if it was the amount of memory dedicated to the IGP in the BIOS. I fired it up, set the shared memory to 64M (the maximum) from 16M (the minimum) and it works!Now I just need to get back to where I was a week ago...

Upset

The Canadiens do it again. It wasn't even as close as the score. They just might be good enough to win the whole thing. Halak sure is.

700

That's the current odo reading on Ruby after my lunchtime ride today with Hans. It was a nice day for a ride and fun to have company. I'm now over one third of the way to the 2000 mile goal for the year and 200 miles in a little over 3 weeks (23 days).

Last Game

We had our last RVLLA game on a cloudy and cool Tuesday night at Salem. Overall, a really well played back-and-forth game by both teams. We really got after the ground balls and many, many players contributed. We had better spacing on offense and solid defense. An overall solid team effort. Once again, we had a nice save in the last two minutes to remain down one goal and got the ball up the field. We couldn't quite corral the ground ball after a strong run up the field was met with solid defense which got the ball loose and time expired with the ball in their defender's stick and we lost 10-9.

We fell short on draws (they have a girl who is very good at it who took almost every draw and we only beat her a few times) and shooting right at their goalie (she's big and very solid in the cage, but it doesn't help to shoot right at her).

I'm biased but it seemed most of the calls went their way (I believe the officials were Salem HS girls) and they weren't calling the three second checkable position rule. We'd play great defense and keep them out but they were allowed to retain the ball in a checkable position in our arc for long periods of time and finally get a shot off. By the end, we were just mobbing the ball on defense and giving them the open pass. This isn't the way we want to play, but the girls adapted to the game situation. By contrast, most of our scores were drives straight to the goal with a shot (which we worked on in practice) or at least we would attempt to pass when heavily covered (doesn't always work at this level, but it's good to see the effort). 

The season is way too short. I'm ready to play a couple more, but we've played everyone around a couple of times (except Lexington who we just couldn't get scheduled for a second round). By the end, we are playing much better as a team on offense and defense. I'm very proud of everyone who came out and played this year. We had some experienced players improve their game considerably and all of the first year players were contributors in some way by the end of the year. I'm really looking forward to next year!

Last Practice

We had our last lacrosse practice of the year tonight. It was a fairly nice evening but a unremarkable practice. Some ground balls, some catch and shoot, some scrimmage. Last game tomorrow!

p.s. my legs are pretty sore from that hike yesterday.

Knob

We took a Mother's Day/L10 Birthday family hike up McAfee Knob Sunday. It was a very cool day for this time of the year (low 60s) and quite windy. This is the first time both kids have done this fairly tough hike on their own two feet. They did fine. I won't say there was no "are we there yet" whining, but it was minimal. I think Kate and I were more tired at the end than they were. L10 was also very tired at the end but gets around very well for a 13 year old dog.

Saturday

Big day yesterday. We kicked if off with a 9:00 AM lacrosse game in Shawsville for the U7 boys. It really wasn't much of a game and I don't think the other team scored a goal. But, it was fun for them to get out there and get a game in. There were a couple of funny things in the game. My favorite was when the ball was down at our offensive end for a while and a breakout emerged going the other way. On the other end, all of the attack and defense were sitting in the crease having a chat. Jack scored a Hat Trick and actually tried to switch to his left hand with the ball. He tripped and fell down while trying that move, but he played well.

When we got back, I went for a ride up on Yellow Mountain Road and down along the Greenway. They've opened the bridge to Wasena park, so we have the full five or so miles along the river available again. It's good to have a spot to take a flat, easy ride once in a while.

Lastly, we had the Gallop for the Greenways in the late afternoon. It was a very windy day which kept it cool. I helped pace Sophie and she ran her personal best 5k and Kate got on the podium as well and we took home a bunch of glasses as our prize. Since we have about a dozen Gallop glasses in the cupboard, hopefully they will change the prize next year.

Close One

A great game tonight at Reserve Ave vs. Salem. It was a pretty close affair all the way with the teams being within a goal or two of each other for the entire 40 minutes. I was the roster guy tonight, but I was using my new spreadsheet system that takes all of the guess work out of the substitutions so I was able to watch a little bit more of the game than I have been able to in the past.

We played ground balls much better tonight than we did on Monday. I think they may have had a slight edge in total, but it was much closer and it showed on the offense. We got a lot of scoring off of good ground ball work. One goal in particular was impressive. Two of our better players hooked up on a 30 yard pass over the defense for an easy tally after a great ground ball grab near our restraining line. Many of the others were the usual solo drives to the cage, but I could see that the light bulb has gone on and they were actually looking for each other when moving the ball up the field - even setting the ball up behind the goal a couple of times. Even better than that, they were clearing out of the front of the goal and opening up some space for shooting and passing. It didn't always work and was uneven, but you could see the beginnings of a team offense.

We played tenacious defense as well. Many of the girls don't like to go in on defense but they did a very good job for the most part. There were a couple of breakdowns leading to Salem goals but it wasn't for lack of effort. One thing that really helped us was that the ref was properly calling the three second rule for the turnover if the defender was in good position. We got a number of these calls in some crucial spots.*

The goal tending was solid and we had a handful of saves. The one I remember most was towards the end of the game to preserve our one goal lead with maybe 30 seconds left. Right after that save, we got the ground ball and started to advance the ball up the field. However, one of their best players was in great defensive position and she got the three second turn over with maybe 10 seconds left right at our restraining line. The horn blew just as she was closing into shooting range and we won 8-7.

My favorite thing about this game was that we got some solid contributions from many of the first year players. The first year of lacrosse is tough and it's great to see players progress over the course of the year. Too bad there is only one more game to go...

* As an aside, there are two different "three second rules". The first is that no defensive player can be within the 8m arc for longer than 3 seconds unless she is within a stick's length from an offensive player. The other "three second rule", which is specifically for youth players (who aren't allowed stick checking) states that if an offensive player holds her stick in a 'checkable position' as defined by full checking rules for longer than 3 seconds, she will lose possession of the ball. This is designed to reward defensive players for their play

Practice

Tough practice tonight. It was hot and the girls just weren't focused tonight. Lots of weak passing and catching. On the plus side, they did a much better job running through ground balls. I'll take any positive I can get. We've got another game vs. Salem tomorrow so we are going to need all hands on deck to keep our record clean.

Detente

The scene in my office last night. No fighting, just reading. Very nice.

Purple vs. Maroon

We had a great game with Salem tonight down at Reserve Ave. It ended in a 9-9 tie and was a well played, back and forth game the whole time. I don't think either team led by more than 2 goals at any point. We got killed on the ground balls (their team knew how to pick 'em) and played very uneven defense, but had enough offense to keep it close. Not to say our offense was clicking, but we seemed to be able to muster a goal when it was needed.

The last 3 minutes were a lot of fun. We were down by one and lost the draw. But, some good defense got the ball back and we scored a fast break goal to knot the score.  Salem called a timeout with about 2 minutes left to talk it over and give their players a break (we had numbers and it was a hot night). Again, they won the draw (gotta get those ground balls) and took it down the field. We played really great defense and kept on the ball tight when it got in close. They had a few opportunities but couldn't convert. Finally, our goalie stuffed a shot from just outside the crease and we got a clear with maybe 20 seconds left. We started moving the ball down the field on foot and with the clock headed towards zero, heaved the ball down the field towards our attacking end. One of our players had a good run at it but the ground ball was contested by their defenders and we couldn't come up with it. The horn blew and that was that. No OT tonight.

A couple of observations of things we need to improve: throwing and catching (you can't pass the ball if people don't make accurate passes that are caught by the other person), ground balls (too many misses on wide open opportunities that then went the other way) and proper defense (there were too many people floating around the arc, we got called for one or two three second calls - it could have been half a dozen).

Summer

It is warm and humid now. I think there is a 10 degree difference between my office temperature (70ish) and the temperature upstairs (80ish). We went to the outdoor pool yesterday for the first time after a hot hike on the trail. It's not quite here all the way, but summer is coming.

Mulehell

I took the 90 minute drive down to Whytheville for the annual Mulehell ride. It was a blast! I got to share nice rolling terrain and beautiful rural scenery with 90 fellow cyclists (all of whom were very friendly) . Most of the roads were in pretty good shape (for rural Virginia roads) and there was very little traffic. The unpaved sections of the course added to the challenge and interest. Luckily, most of the unpaved stuff was flat to slightly uphill so you didn't have to worry too much about crashing but the thought of a flat loomed large. Ruby handled it all well.

I was pleased with my 16.1 MPH average over the course. Some of that was with various groups and some by myself (I tended to climb faster than the groups I was with so I'd leapfrog up to the next group on a long incline - thanks Granny gear!). I felt that the overall terrain was easier than a typical ride for me on the Parkway but it had some steeps. 

I'll plan on being back next year and I'd like to try some of the other events in the Southwest Virginia Cycling Series, but this might be the only one that fits in my calendar.

Fuel

On my way down to Blacksburg this morning, I had to fuel up the Jetta TDI.  The mileage wasn't as good as last time: we got 435 miles out of 13.5 gallons which is an average of 32.2 MPG. Probably because of more city and less highway driving. Anyway, the overall cost per mile was still very good at $0.089.

I had a little bit of hassle finding diesel today. I was on my way and noticed that I needed to fuel up, so took an exit that I know has a couple of gas stations towards Salem. The first one, Exxon, had diesel but there was a guy there filling up a big truck, so I figured I'd keep going. The next one didn't have diesel at all so I turned west down 460 to a Chevron maybe half a mile down the road. They had diesel in this crazy old pump off to the side that was surrounded by a big oil slick and assorted mechanical debris. At least you don't have to fill this car up very often.

Wednesday Night Lacrosse

We had another game against Hidden Valley this evening. It was a gorgeous evening - cool and a bit breezy with a lot of sun. We had an excellent turnout with about 25 girls out there. Unfortunately, Hidden Valley didn't have their best players so it was rather one-sided. I was the roster manager tonight, so I didn't get to see much of the game because I was focused on making sure we got everyone in the rotation. From what I saw, we played well and won. I don't know exactly what the final score was but I think it was something like 8-5. 


 

I did get my fill of watching a game as the guest coach for the middle school team (the regular coach was out of town on business). Most of them were on our elementary school team over the past few years, so we knew each other. We had one sub and everyone understood what positions they liked and were good at. People that don't like to run understand that they don't want to play midfield and those that are good defenders play defense. I shouted a bit and gave some basic instruction but for the most part, I was just a bystander. They played very well on both ends and won 8-3 with the three Hidden Valley tallies coming in the second half when the outcome was not in doubt (although one of their goals was a pretty sweet backhanded shot right at the end of the game). It was great fun to see some of my old players again. Hopefully, I'll see them again next year.

Tix

I bought our tickets to the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Finals today from Ticketbastard (why isn't there an anti-trust case against those guys?) We are going to be at the field level in the end zone. Not as good as I would have liked, but it'll be fun.

On The Road

A good game down in Franklin County tonight. The game was at Waid Park which is quite beautiful but about 45 minutes away from our house. I don't usually depend on the Garmin but it was definitely a plus this evening. Due to the distance and dicey weather (it was raining off and on all afternoon), I thought we would have a small turn out, but we had about 20 girls out there. It turned out to be a fairly nice evening after all.

We won the game 20-15. It seemed like we played a solid hour and half out there. I guess the home team was stopping the clock on every whistle. Anyway, Franklin County was much improved from the last time we played them. Across the board, I think their players improved and a few of them have turned the corner into very solid stick handlers. But they really weren't a match for our athleticism up and down the lineup.

A couple things were driving me crazy out there. First, our girls have no concept of how to clear out the front of the goal when we are on offense. If you just hang around in there, the defense can as well so it limits the room you have to maneuver. Second, too many girls really don't know how to play defense. Don't run at people, get good position and run with them. You can't just hang around in the arc waiting for something to happen and we gave up at least 3 goals on 3 second violations. Third, ground balls are still staying down too long and we aren't good enough at getting them out of a pile. We definitely lost the ground ball battle tonight.

On the plus side, the girls are keeping their heads up when the run down the field with the ball and there were a couple of nice assists. Open field ground balls were handled well with most everyone running through them. The goalie play was solid and clears were to the sidelines. Plus, everyone hustled and put in a good effort. Finally, and most importantly, I think they had fun.

First

We had our first boys lacrosse game today. It was a lot of fun. Our team looked relatively good and we won 9-1 (or so). Watching a bunch of five and six year old boys running around with sticks is interesting - it sort of devolves into a face-off followed by a big group around the ball and one kid breaking out and running down the field to score. The goalies are just about irrelevant (I saw one save all day) and all the shots are right from the crease. Not exactly the same game you see on ESPNU.

Perfect

One of the advantages of having a large lacrosse team is that we can run full field scrimmage at practice. This is a lot of fun for the team and also gives them a little bit more playing experience so they can learn the rules (offsides, checking, cover, etc.) Last night, we had 24 at practice, so it worked out perfectly. Nice.

We've got four days off until our next game on Monday. A nice break but the season is so short, I feel like we are missing out.

Merge Them

Not that this would help the woeful O's, but I like the idea of getting rid of the divisions entirely. Two leagues with 15 teams each. Top 4 make the playoffs. Simple. No weak teams from the central creeping in. No unbalanced schedule. Maybe I would hate the Yankees and Red Sox a little less if I didn't have to see them on TV so often.

Victory

We had another game against Hidden Valley last night at Green Hill Park. That is one lovely place. It is also at the other end of the valley and takes a while to get to from the Bubble. I arrived a couple of minutes later than I would have liked and had to jump right in to roster mania.

The game went well. From the little of the game I watched, I saw some nice plays and a lot more passing than we featured in previous games. Our goal-tending was also much improved as the goalies now have a little more action under their belts and look like they know what they are doing now. I think HV was a little flat and didn't seem as energetic as the last time we played them, but they are still a good team with a lot of offensive firepower. We won 14-10.

I was on roster duty and I thought I was going to loose it. Maybe it had something to do with getting over there after a fairly busy day in the office, but I was definitely on edge about all of the people wanting to play wing (why girls who don't like to run want to go into a position that is well suited for a Tarahumara is beyond me). I tried to be equitable and we got some goals from a bunch of different people, so I think it worked out well.

New Suit

Got a new wetsuit on Monday and did a 1500M swim and that thing is great. As a sinker, it's amazing what a little buoyancy does for you. I was able to swim about 10% faster than my previous record for that distance (still slow, but better) and that was with a stop to fix my leaky goggles.

500

The current odometer reading on Ruby. I went for a 41 mile ride today down to MP134 on the BRP and back. It was a beautiful day, sunny, cool and breezy, perfect for a long ride. I'm a quarter of the way to my 2000 mile goal this year and it'll be a cinch if we have many more days like this.

It's a beautiful day - let's play two!

We had a girls lacrosse double-header yesterday. First, there was a game with the new Franklin County team in the morning at Reserve Ave. They had some very tall players but our girls were more skillful and much quicker. We won 9-1.

Actually, I didn't see much of the game because I was the roster manager. We had 7 substitutes and try to get everyone equal playing time so there is a lot of substitution. You have to write down which players are where and tell the substitutes where they are going and who they are going in for (often with a brief explanation of the position). Initially, there was a great deal of mild complaining about positions ("Can I play center? I don't want to play defense. Can I play goalie?") but that settled down as the game progressed. That is either an indicator that they thought the positioning was fair or they saw the scowl on my face when they would ask for a position change after I'd spent 5 minutes trying to line them up in positions they hadn't played yet. It was probably the scowl.

I saw a couple of good plays: a nice give and go around the goal (not sure if it was intentional, but it worked), a few good entry passes from the midfield and an outside shot or two. Otherwise, I was buried in paperwork.

The second game was more competitive. We played at Hidden Valley and they had some very good players. We won 15-10 but it would have been much closer had they not had two of their better players leave for a soccer game at half (get your priorities straight!)

This time, CP took on the administrative burden of running the roster and I coached the sidelines. It was very close through the first half. I think the biggest lead by either side was 2 goals and the action was back and forth. They had one player in particular that we just could not stop. She was big and had good speed. The only weakness she had was that she really couldn't go left (very common at this age). I think she hung 7-8 goals on us until I put one of our quicker players on her (don't let her get the ball and, if she does, play her right hand). That settled things down and we got in a better groove on offense (why do girls think it's a good idea to shoot right at the goalie?)

We had a couple of plays I remember: an assist from defense to offense (a 30-yard pass right on the money), a score from defense on a 80 yard run (that might be the ticket to getting them to like the position more - if you get a free position, take it all the way and we'll hold a wing back) and a sweet top corner shot from a free position on the 8m arc (of course, I was saying shoot it low - what do I know?)

The ref was calling this game tight (but fair) and we got quite a few checking penalties (this is a no-check age group). I'm OK if we get a checking penalty from a good defensive position because it means you are trying to get the ball and got overzealous but there were a few that were just hacks and that shouldn't be happening.

We'll see Hidden Valley again on Monday and have a short practice on their field followed by a rematch. We need to work on a couple of things (good defensive position, spreading out on offense, and, of course, ground balls) and a practice will get us a chance to review some things before another game.

Energy

I spent some money on energy on Friday and got some back for saving it. I fueled up the go-go Jetta TDI today after another 505 miles. I put in 13.5 gallons at $2.89 a gallon (not a bargain - but I didn't plan ahead and find the cheapest diesel in the area). So, that is about 37 MPG or $0.07 cents per mile for fuel on a mix of mostly city and some highway driving. Not bad.

I also sent in my DMME rebate forms. I've got $750 coming back to me from the Commonwealth for an energy audit, high-efficiency water heater and programmable thermostat. Again, not bad.

Trouble Island

For such a small country, Iceland seems to be causing Europe (especially the UK) a lot of trouble these days. First, they spew toxic financial products and now volcanic ash shuts down air travel. Maybe we need to make some sacrifices to Odin or something.

5%

Now we are 5% through the MLB season. The Orioles have one victory and eight losses. I'm going to look at this in the best possible light - at least now I don't feel like I need to pay attention to this team. Plus, it's lacrosse season. So, I've got stuff to keep me occupied.

Cross (culture) check

This story about people wearing hockey jerseys in Liberia is interesting. I like that they say "a white man has died" when referring to this clothing - I'm sure that is pretty close to the truth for long suffering Leafs fans.

406

That's the latest odometer reading on Ruby. I rode 106 miles this week (two of which were bricks followed up with a 5k on foot). I'm taking the day off today, but hope to be back on tomorrow. It's just too nice not to!

65

Interesting fact: Of all the people in human history who ever reached the age of 65, half are alive now. Given that about 6% of the people who were ever alive are alive today (pdf), that is a pretty big change in the historic demographic mix.

O No

Gonzales strikes again! Now that I've digested my dinner, I can think about that putrid game. I can deal with guys giving up hits, but walks are killers in the last inning. It's still early blah...blah...blah but you've got to win most games you are up a run in the 9th.

O-K

At least the O's won't lose 'em all this year. Last nights game was fun to watch. Atkins showed up, Roberts got a hit and Matusz showed some guts. The Rays got jobbed by the umps a few times (hate that even when it goes your way) and Gonzales almost blew it again but it all worked out in the end. On the TV broadcast, Roch did a decent job of replacing Jim Palmer. Opening day in the Yard today!

Malcolm

Malcolm McLaren is dead. God Save The Queen!

O boy

I watched the first couple of Orioles games this week and I'm worried. I didn't have high expectations, but I was hoping for .500 in a very tough division. If they can't beat the Rays in a series, who are the going to beat in the AL East (besides the Blue Jays, of course)?

The opening game loss was the hardest because the new big bucks closer blew it. The second was all about Longoria having a great night (which he will have many of). But the O's are going to need some luck this year and they just didn't have it in two games that they could have won.

I know we are only 1/80 of the way through the season and there were many positive things about the games (Millwood and Guthrie both pitched reasonably well, Jones looks very comfortable at the plate and Tejada might actually be able to play a competent third base) but a team like this needs to win some close ones to get momentum.

Bags

An airline I'm not familiar with is planning on charging for carry-on bags. I'm OK with this idea. Charging for checked bags has had the predictable consequence of increasing the amount of carry on luggage. When I travel for business, I carry on for efficiencies sake and it is really annoying to not have enough room in the overheads because everyone is trying to save a buck or two. I don't blame the people, I blame the airlines for the pricing structure.

When I travel with my family, we will check bags and it is annoying to have to pay (if not on Delta where I'm a frequent flier). If you had to pay the same in either case, it would encourage people to do what makes the most sense for their travel plans and luggage requirements. If you really don't need any luggage, then you shouldn't have to pay for it.

Jefferson

A couple of pics from our little walk up Mt. Jefferson on Sunday. It was a beautiful day for both man and beast.

Final

That was a great NCAA final game last night. Duke seemed to have the upper hand for most of the night, but Butler battled back at every turn in the game. When it came down to the end and the ball was in Hayward's hands driving to the basket, I thought it was all over. That shot clanged out but was really close. Even the last second desperation heave at the end hit the rim. An exciting finish to a well played game.

I hope the NCAA lacrosse tourney features a great game like this one.

16

Rode 16 miles today with Jack. It's a flat course, but I'm pretty impressed that a six year old would do that with no complaints.

Diesel

Did the first refuel on the TDI today on my way from GSO to Todd, NC after 480 miles on the clock. I put about 12 gallons in for $35. I got the car with a full tank and 62 miles on the clock. By my calculations, that is 35 MPG overall. I think I'm going to like this car.

Spreading

Driving by Palo Alto High School the other day and what did I spy with my little eye but ground ball drills. Lacrosse is spreading like a weed.

SSTP

Installed a new Windows 2008 Server in our network the other day and configured SSTP. It wasn't as easy as I would have hoped (needed a secure certificate and all of that), but it works great and I'll roll it out to the masses as soon as I can get it documented.

300

Not the movie. That's my cycling mileage on Ruby this year to date (excludes the bit of mileage I put on my mountain bike and single speed). Not too bad considering the crappy weather we had for the first two months of the year. My goal is 2010 miles this year. It should be possible if I can average 250 a month for the next 6 good riding months and then fit in what I can towards the end of the year.

Whocoodanode

Apparently, the FBI did know and warned about mortgage fraud in 2004. Why didn't we see the people involved in these crimes prosecuted? You better believe if I held up a 7-11 for $500, I'd be in jail. But if I rip off a mortgage lender for $500,000, I get away with it? I call BS on that.

Goldie

I'm happy to have a new car but I'm also happy to have an old one. Goldie, a 1999 Subaru Legacy Wagon, has been with us since Seattle and has never let us down. Since she only has about 95k on the clock, I'm hoping she will be with us for a while.

XenMotion

Last week, I upgraded our servers to XenServer 5.5 and migrated most of our virtual machines to a single shared NFS disk to create a pool of servers. One of the features I was interested in being able to use XenMotion to move servers around on our physical systems. It is super easy and works as advertised. It's pretty cool to move a live server with absolutely no downtime.

I'm happy with XenServer. It's free, works well and has a lot of nice features. The only drawback I can see compared to VMWare ESXi or Hyper-V is that there are not as many pre-built appliances for it. Since I don't use appliances, it doesn't really matter to me, but might be something to consider.

Taxes

Finished the Federal and Virginia tax returns yesterday. The good news: we are getting a few bucks back. The bad news: our 2009 income was way down from 2008 (my bonus is paid in January the following year so 2007 was good, 2008 not so much). The other good news: the energy efficiency tax credits make a big difference (we put in a tankless hot water heater last year) and we get $1300 on the TDI in 2010.

2010 Jetta SportWagen TDI

I drove up to Alexandria, VA to purchase a 2010 Jetta SportWagen TDI. It's too early to give a comprehensive review of the car, but I'm impressed so far in the 200 miles I've driven in it.

The Jetta has excellent road manners and felt very stable and smooth on the highway. In traffic, it drives a bit different that the cars I'm used to. The TDI has a lot of torque which means you can use a very light touch when starting from a stop. It's not a sports car, but if you hit the accelerator, it moves briskly (with maybe a touch of turbo lag). The DSG transmission is very nice and anticipates the next shift very well (up and down). If you punch it, the tranny is ready to go. If you drive casually, it responds with smoothly spaced shifts.

The interior is quieter than I would have thought and if you have the windows up, you hardly hear the engine at highway speeds. At idle, it sounds different than a gasoline car but no louder than most.

The interior is fairly spartan and simply laid out. It has a mix of automatic and power features (e.g. seat recline is power, but other axes are manual). If you like a lot of gadgets and interior bling, this is not your car. There is a fairly large radio display in the center of the dash. Definitely big enough for a navigation screen (an option I did not purchase). I haven't had a chance to try out some of the more advanced features (Bluetooth integration, media cards, iPod dock).

Best of all, the mileage lives up to the hype. Driving reasonably in a mix of city (DC traffic) and highway (I-66 to I-81 to Roanoke), it got 40 MPG. I've read online that the mileage improves as the engine breaks in, but if we get 35-40 MPG in our mix of driving, that will be more than double what we get in the Silver Surfer.

More to follow after we start to put some miles on it.

Society

My wife had a funny comment the other day - "Comb your hair! We live in a society!" As a work-at-home guy, I don't typically do a lot to my hair in the morning and it is usually quite a mess but I didn't realize it was antisocial.

Past

I ran across some old journals in the attic today. My life used to be a lot different 18 years ago. I was just getting back from Spring break in Florida. My priorities: girls, beer, studying.

Bubbles

Still think the US has the best health care system in the world?

Chilly

Good practice last night. A windy early spring day with a bit of rain falling. Just enough to wake you up but no so much that you get wet. Almost perfect lacrosse weather (another few degrees would have been nice).

We split 'em up into two teams. There weren't any complaints and we only have to shuffle one kid that I know about. So, that's good.

Tomorrow, we need to find a goalie (or two) and start working on some game situations: clears and fast breaks. We'll worry about the settled offense later. For now, it is run and gun time!

TV Time Out

According to this piece on SlateV, you can do an el cheapo ad campaign and actually get a few eyeballs on your cable TV advertising for $1300. I'm not sure what you would do with the crowd watching Glen Beck reruns at 3:00AM, but it's fun that you could actually do it.

Done

It didn't take long for my NCAA hoops bracket to collapse into disaster. I was riding high on Saturday morning (still in first) only to end the weekend in the middle of the pack. It would have helped a bit if Maryland and Pittsburgh had won, but not to be.

Next bracket: NCAA lacrosse tourney. UVA all the way!

Growing

Despite all of the hype about the NCAA basketball tourney (and it has been very interesting this year), lacrosse is the sport that is making waves. It's nice to see the MSM writing articles about lacrosse. You wouldn't have seen this 10 years ago.

Boys Will Be

Yesterday morning, I took Jack and a friend over to their lacrosse practice. We got them all armored up and sent them out there. Sophie and I took a bucket of balls and did some shooting over on the next field and I'd occasionally take a look over to see what was going on over there.

Mayhem. I thought it was tough to have a big group (30+) of elementary aged girls out there, but a similar sized group of slightly younger boys (U9) seems to degenerate into some kind of all vs. all melee. It took all the efforts of 4 grown men to keep a semblance of organization.

The kids have a great time and I'm grateful to the coaches for keeping the herd in line. Plus, I could see signs of hope on the next field over where the U11 boys were practicing. That looked more like lacrosse and less like WWE.

Bracket

Somehow, despite my selection of a Georgetown vs. Oklahoma State sweet 16 game, I'm still at least tied for first in my NCAA bracket pools today. The Cornell over Temple and ODU over ND calls are really helping me.

Echolocation

While walking the dog last night around 8 PM, I saw the first true sign of spring. Not the first robin (they were out there digging around in the snow this year) or the first flower, but the first bat. I'm glad they survived the winter. I love bats.

Ruby

This past December, I bought a new Specialized Roubaix Triple. Now that I've put some miles on it , I feel that I can write a proper review.

I can put it simply: I love this bike! The frame is very forgiving but light and stiff enough for climbing. Many of the roads I ride on around here are a little beat up and have plenty of imperfections. This frame and fork absorb most of the shock and keep it out of your hands, arms and back. Perfect for those of us on the wrong side of 30 (or 40 as the case may be).

Initially, I thought the geometry and laid back demeanor would mean that it would handle like a '76 El Dorado but I've been pleasantly surprised. It's no racing bike, but handles responsively enough for us mere mortals. I feel very comfortable at speed on tight turns.

The most pleasant surprise is how well it climbs. The frame is very stiff laterally and I feel like I can climb all day. Part of that is the triple chain ring. I had to be convinced by the guy at the shop to get a triple instead of a double (a macho thing) and I'm really glad I did. I don't use it often, but there is almost a psychological advantage to knowing that you could get in a lower gear if you needed to. Plus, when you do need it (Camilla St. on the way up Mill Mt.), it saves your legs. I'll gladly take the few extra grams for a lot more gear range.

On the downside, I don't like the stock wheels (Mavic CXP22 rims with Specialized hubs). They are heavy and feel unresponsive. As soon as I can justify it, I'll spring for a new set. Also, I'm not quite as fond of the Shimano STI shifting action as I was really used to Campy Ergopower, but I've been getting used to it. So far the other stock components (seat, handlebars, stem, etc.) are fine and I'm OK with having purchased the low-end model (the next step up was about 30% more).

I'm glad I have Ruby to replace my 1994 Trek 2200 and I'm looking forward to many more miles in the saddle.

This is the kind of weather forecast I like to see!

After this winter, we deserve this kind of weather for the next three months!

Second Day

Good second day of practice yesterday. It was warm and sunny in the afternoon (see dog at left), but clouded up for practice. Still very nice though.

The girls are incredibly competitive. They love the 1-on-1 ground ball competition drills and do a nice job with it. The throwing and catching needs to get better overall (wall ball!) but there is some progress there as well. PlaySportsTV has some simple throwing and catching video instruction. Good stuff.

The 3-on-3 had some issues, but they got better with it each time through. A couple of covers and they need to master the stop on the whistle thing, but the effort was good and there was very little hacking (no checking in our league). The level of physical fitness varies pretty widely, but everyone is trying on the wind sprints at the end.

I can't wait until practice next week!

Lacrosse Season!

We had our first RVLLA practice of the year on Monday. It was cold and windy, but a perfect day to be out there (any day would have been perfect . It's a big group this year with many returning players and new faces.

I'm working with a new coach, CP, this year as Susan has moved on to the middle school team. She will be missed (although she isn't too far away). CP and I both brought practice plans with us on the first day. We are, quite literally, on the same page. It should be a whole lot of fun.

Our second practice is today and the lacrosse gods have smiled upon us and given us a beautiful sunny day to pay homage to them (or at least not offend).