Got a call Sunday morning from Mike “wanna go for a ride?”. So I got up made coffee and started putting together the things I needed for a ride. I have been looking for my cycling shoes for the Cannondale for about 3 weeks now and haven’t been able to find them so I decided to take the Centurion out for the day.
When I went up to Washington to be with Mom and Dad while he was dealing with cancer my Dad gave me his old Centurion Elite, the frame is a little big for me but it actually fits quite well once I’m up in the saddle. So one day to get Dad out of the house we went over to REI in Redmond and picked up parts for the Yakima rack for the Honda and got parts for me to get the bicycle back on the road. I rode it a few times while I was in Washington but then Dad’s health really started to go downhill and leaving the house became more difficult to do. I brought the Centurion home and have been using it to do riding and run errands like going to the post office, it’s a good solid bike, very comfortable and has a rather unique personality after having spent the last few years on Cannondales.
Anyways, I popped up to BART and rode out to Millbrae and the rode down to San Mateo to Mike’s place and we went down to the bike path along the shore and rode south to Sun’s campus then across to Palo Alto for lunch. Then we went through Woodside and back up Canada road to a bike path and then dropped back down into San Mateo along what I think was CrystalSprings Road. We talked for a bit and then I headed back to BART on the bicycle to catch a train and get home.
It was a good day and I had a lot of fun, got a sunburn but I got to lose myself for a while and just ride. The best part was that when I got home Amy had found my cycling shoes so that search is over and I can get to doing some serious riding. I had a great laugh with Mike on the ride when I told him that when I was riding regularly I spent more time at gas stations than anywhere else. Gas stations being the best place to buy water and fuel for the next 20 miles, it brings back good memories for me.
So the ride was most excellent and today I’m pretty tired but it was definitely a highlight of the last several months.
Work on Clik Clock is continuing at a rapid pace, there is still a lot of work to do but this weekend saw a major milestone reached. I am now able to enter/edit data using the UI that I have been designing for the Time Entry module. The other modules are all still being edited with the development UI but it’s getting closer. There’s something magical when the code you’ve been working on suddenly starts doing some small piece of what you’ve been envisioning. When it does enough that it can now support you in your efforts and you are able to “eat your own dogfood” it’s like it has taken it’s first breath and is now starting to take on a life of it’s own. It’s really a special time, at least for me.
Paul Graham ( the y combinator guy ) stated in the book Founders At Work that he wished they had setup an online store and sold SOMETHING so they would have had better insight into their customer experience. I can definitely see the value in this as I am more likely to overlook the bumps and bruises of something when I have my engineering hat on than when I have my user hat on. You get annoyed with things that you might not as a developer, watching fancy animations over and over again because they make the screen transitions cool comes to mind as something a developer might like but a user is going to eventually say “just get on with it.” I know powerpoint does a boatload of wipes and dissolves but I rarely see more than the default setting unless I’m watching the first handful of powerpoint presentations the person has made.
Anyways, I’m eating my own dogfood now and it tastes pretty damned good.
On Thursday afternoon Mike hit me on instant messenger and mentioned that he was thinking of doing 50 miles or so on Saturday. However, he wasn’t sure committed to the plan yet so I should give him a call on Saturday. So first thing Saturday morning after putting in my time on ClikClock I gave him a ring Saturday and made plans to meet him for a ride.
I went back and forth in my head on which bike to take and ended up taking the fixed gear but flipped it over to the freewheel side for some single speed love without all of the drama. After some logistical issues we finally ended up in the same parking lot and were able to eventually meet up using cell technology and successive approximation. Pleasantries were exchanged and we set off to the south.
Now it’s a funny thing, I haven’t ridden in MONTHS, except for a couple of mountain bike rides in Marin with the fellas out there and I’m just wanting to keep up with Mike. Mike has ridden the loop we’re going to be doing pretty regularly and has had 150 mile weekends at least once in the last 2 months. So I’m just trying to stay up next to him and keep myself from burning out. However every time I pull up next to him he goes a little bit faster, pretty soon we’re cooking right along.
We made pretty good time to the midway point for the day’s ride and then pulled in at a gas station and raided the convenience store attached to it and sat under a tree coming up with the next big idea that was going to make us fabulously frustrated in our inability to actually finish the project. (Always keep in mind that these are the same pair of minds that brought you cackl.com – I came up with the domain name, he did all the work 
) Anyways we started back and Mike began to point out places that he had taken breaks before, the closer we got to being done the more he pointed out premium resting spots. “Joel, If you need a break, we can pull over here so you can recover”
Now I appreciated this but I didn’t want to be the one to take a break so I just kept trying to keep up with him and he kept going faster every time I got alongside of him. We finally made it back to our starting point and got the bikes put away and headed to Fuddruckers for a bite to eat before we went our separate ways. It was during this meal that Mike said “I haven’t ever ridden that trail that fast, but I was trying to keep up with you”..”Huh? I was trying to keep up with you!?”..I suppose that’s the danger of having unchecked feedback loops.
Please note: the events of this story might be slightly altered as I tangled with some Jagermeister, Black Horse, and Macallans last night and I think the three of them pretty much beat the hell out of me. Mike’s version of the events might be different and most likely a lot more amusing than my mine.
So finally after several years of various problems with my shower, I finally have all new plumbing from the main main shutoff valve all the way to the shower. Saturday night I finished up soldering in the last pipe and turned on the water. It all worked and there were no leaks. ( I definitely think I have this soldering thing down now. )
It had gotten to the point in the shower that the only way to get wet was to take a cold shower, the hot water pressure was so bad that it just dribbled out. I’ve taken at least three showers with a full pressure shower that is hot, in fact, they got so hot that I had to turn it down a little bit…WOOT!
Sunday morning got up and headed over to the Red Cross for a class in First Aid. That was pretty interesting and I did well on the little test that they had on the end. So I’m all set on that deal now I guess. I was hoping that they covered some more advanced things, but the basics that they went over were all really great to know. I would highly recommend that anyone take this course, especially if you have children.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and a lot of soul searching ( not to get all new age ) the last few months and I’m starting to develop some clarity in my desires for the next couple of years. This is normally a very good thing for me because once things begin to come into focus for me they tend to start happening at a rapid pace. Dealing with loss isn’t always easy and it impacts you in very non-obvious ways, so I’m trying NOT to jump into things too quickly but I feel like I’m getting closer to some real answers. I guess we’ll see.