sjh - mountain biking running linux vegan geek spice - mtb / vegan / running / linux / canberra / cycling / etc

Steven Hanley hackergotchi picture Steven
Hanley
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email: sjh@svana.org

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Mon, 31 Mar 2008

Great product names - 13:01
I think I noticed this a while back, however did not think much about it apart from a quick giggle. However I think it is worthy of further notice. Sea To Summit (an outdoor equipment company in WA) have a product they retail which I think has one of the most creative but recognisable names possible for such a product. This is an item adventure racers and other serious outdoors people really do need when they are in the middle of nowhere. Go have a look.

[/various] link

Lifestart Kayak for kids on Sydney Harbour - 10:25
My first paddles on Sydney Harbour went well on the weekend. Great weather, a cruisy paddle on Saturday and a fun race on Sunday. I put all the photos and a few words online from the event.

Lifestart Kayak For Kids 2008.

[/mtb/events] link

Thu, 27 Mar 2008

Awareness Test - 22:12
Someone pointed this out to me today when I was showing them the way cool Carlton Beer Ads. This could go in the mtb section, however I am putting it here (/amusing). It has also been pointed out to me that this was on a list I read the other day, someone posted the URL http://www.dothetest.co.uk without any other explanation, thus I did not waste the time to click on the link. Oh well.

Anyway go watch this Awareness Test on youtube (or elsewhere).

[/amusing] link

Tue, 25 Mar 2008

Polaris Challenge 2007 - 12:21
Well I mentioned late reports recently, I guess this time I have given up any pretence of ever writing a report for this event. However I did take photos and put comments with them shortly after the event. So I have finally decided to upload the photos from my 2007 Polaris Challenge. I wrote a report with photos for my previous three Polaris events I competed in with Marea (2004 Murramurang/Clyde, 2005 Comboyne, 2006 Delegate).

For some reason I just never felt like writing this one up, maybe it was our lacklustre performance (coming in late on both days), maybe it was my mood toward the event at the time. Then when I still had not written a report by the time I found out the event was never going to happen again, I was not in the mood to write it up. Anyway the photos are interesting (or scarring depending upon how you look at a Rocky Horror themed Polaris and lots of men in stockings).

[/mtb/events] link

Thu, 20 Mar 2008

My 2007 Triple Triathlon report - 16:49
Wow, last year I did not publish my triple tri report until Feb sometime, this year it did not happen until March. I had better be careful with this lagging report habit, November is not that far away.

Anyway Bruce, Larissa and I competed in mixed threes last year and continued the stream of not coming first, who cares though because it is an excellent event. We had a heap of fun and were surprised at finishing well considering I did some running and Bruce some riding to see if we could go slower.

The report is in the normal sort of place, 2007 Sri Chinmoy Triple Triathlon, To The Teeth.

[/mtb/events] link

Tue, 18 Mar 2008

2008 Sri Chinmoy Jindabyne Multisport Classic - 16:59
With a really nasty cold, a bruised hip and not much swim time in the last 6 years I went and tried to finish the Jindabyne Multi Sport race solo on Sunday. The previous two years I had competed in a team doing all the mtb legs. As I have been saying to just about everyone, if on a given day you are so sick you would stay home from work, don't go out and race swimming, kayaking, running and mountain biking for 11 hours non stop, it really is a silly way to try to rid yourself of a cold. Even if it is a really beautiful course and a spectacular event, don't try this at home kids.

Anyway if you want to read about it I put my 2008 Jindabyne Sri Chinmoy Multisport Classic report online in the normal sort of place.

[/mtb/events] link

Fri, 14 Mar 2008

ClapClap is a good read - 12:42
The air conditioning has failed at work again, thus the only nice places to be are the machine rooms (too noisy) or the common room (which strangely stays cool, maybe serviced by a working air conditioner in the CSIRO side of the building). Thus I am hiding out in the tea room for a while. While here I have been reading some more of the ClapClap.org blog that had the Hallelujah analysis I linked to last week.

This blog has some really great posts, such as commenting on formulaic structure of House and other US TV, cynicism in The Colbert Report and why it works, that Ugly Betty is mainstream and different and yet works really well, looking at what Ferris Bueller means and a bunch of other good stuff if you read through.

Good stuff. Oh and speaking of House, in a convergence of all this stuff, I wandered into the living room last night catching the last few minutes of an episode of House, it was the episode with the death row prisoner on which they played Hallelujah.

[/various] link

Thu, 13 Mar 2008

Cotton wool pre race - 12:43
Last year, the morning I fell into the fountain, Dave Baldwin had a nasty crash, resulting in a broken thumb and a fractured hip. This crash was two days before the triple triathlon, Dave was unable to compete (he had entered as a solo, would have been his 7th triple tri as a solo or something).

Fortunately I have not been injured to that extent, however on Tuesday night at the ARNuts trail run I felt my left hip get painful, my hip flexor muscles were in a bit of pain. I think this was due to the steep hills we had been climbing and descending, and I had modified my running style a bit compared to how I normally run in order to try and keep my HR lower. I stretched my hip carefully, and all the surrounding muscles at stretching class yesterday. By the time I was heading out for a mtb ride this morning it felt pretty much better (though still a little sore to run).

Then I made a silly mistake on the mtb this morning, deciding to change directions onto a different track too late and missing a corner, my wheels slid out and I fell sideways landing on my left hip. Ouch, the already sore area is now in more pain. I think if I am careful, rest it and do not stress it I should be alright by Sunday. The reason I need to be able to run by Sunday is I am doing the Jindabyne Multisport Race as a solo entrant. Maybe we should wrap ourselves in cotton wool before important events, or I guess as my stretching instructor suggested, maybe have a rest day once in a while.

[/mtb] link

Get people to pay attention to communication - 12:14
James suggested I should tell the world about this theory, I suspect because I am wearing the t-shirt, he thinks I need to live up to it. We were discussing some email James had sent to a few colleagues trying to arrange a time to do something to their computers. James was complaining they were busy and tended to ignore the email.

I suggested we obviously need to use some new more immediate communication mechanism, this "old skool" email thing just was not working. So how about smoke signals, older and slower you may argue, however if used indoors, the fire alarm will be set off and everyone will be aware some form of communication was in progress assuming everyone knows smoke signal communication is in use. Maybe the fear of having time wasted by a smoke signal generated fire drill will mean more attention is paid to the less drastic communication forms. Also most of the rfc's I reference here may not work well for in building communication.

[/various/ilmiwac] link

Fri, 07 Mar 2008

YACOH (Yet Another Cover Of Hallelujah) analysis - 12:11
I feel the need to link to this analysis of some of the history of the song Hallelujah (from kottke1), the many recordings of the song and the rise of the song in popularity and how it has changed.

I adore this song (which means I am in agreement with a lot of people if the article is correct), though I have never seen the OC, I remember watching the west wing episode in season 3 when this played and thinking it worked well. It is interesting to see how the song people know tends to be the Jeff Buckley version, even though now days other covers are getting more notice. The section in the article that points to the longevity of this song best I think is

This is the beauty of the pop song: it's an artistic hooker with a heart of gold, always willing to be used. It can become a tool, but a song isn't a Matisse - if it's used as a washcloth, just wring it out and it's good as new. We may call something the "definitive version," but it's not, not really. It's just the temporary consensus, a beautiful beach house built always within reach of the next great flood. There's a blaze of light in every word, it doesn't matter which you heard, and every song contains a thousand possibilities - or, at least, the great ones do. Hallelujah's place in the pantheon was assured only by the song's mutability; were it not open to change, it would have remained an ignored album cut.

The many different verses available for use when covering, the different Hallelujahs you can interpret, these have made the song last so well and enter our collective conscious so deeply. I also like to see the commentary in the article and some of the comments about the musical structure of the song and how Buckley's cover in particular really used that well with the notes and chord structure. As I have previously mentioned, I really like the Clare Bowditch cover, oh and the KD Lang one.

Oh and Jane, if you are reading this post, I think you will really enjoy the analysis.

1: I found this and a few other links interesting on kottke today, which just proves it is a great site, even at times such as now when it is not really kottke (the status of which changes, obviously).

[/leisure/music] link

Mon, 03 Mar 2008

It's a Political Scandal Suffix Gate - 14:09
I notice a heading in the CT today mentioning the council scandal happening in Wollongong currently, the headline refers to the scandal as Gong-Gate (maybe the journalist is simply a huge fan of alliteration, who knows) and it occurred to me the use of a -Gate suffix really is a bit too common now days.

Of course there is a wikipedia page on the subject of Scandals with a -Gate Suffix, which I can understand. And if you look at the commonly understood usage, that this is for political scandals, sure okay we can use -gate on the stuff going on in Wollongong, but do people really have to use it in so many silly places?

People using the suffix in relation to BAFTA, Nipple, Diana, Camilla, Martha, Sports issues (Kobe, Granny (Rugby), Skating), etc. I think shows a lack of imagination or a lack of real use of this colloquialism. Bit scandalous really</tic>.

[/various] link

Sun, 02 Mar 2008

Oh no I seem to be changing too - 20:43
So one of my favourite Julie stories pointing out how us lesser mortals do not compare is about the time she accidentally ran 50KM rather than 30KM in a training run. Yesterday morning I did a 23 KM paddle in Matilda (Mirage double) with Danielle, then coached a mtb skills clinic in the afternoon. However today (Sunday) I had been intending to do at least a full Jindabyne training session of swim/paddle/run/bike in a row. However I was feeling tired, really average and a bit sick this morning when out on the lake doing paddle support for the triathlon I just did not feel up to much more than sleeping when I got home.

So I have been laying on the bed a lot today, however I realised I had left my Mont Duo Jacket at the sailing club in Yarralumla this morning. So rather than driving over there, or even riding as I normally would, I head out for a leisurely (5:45 to 6:00 minute km pace) run around the lake, 20KM on foot simply to pick up my jacket and at least get some training in today. I pegged my HR around 145 and dawdled along. The scary bit it I enjoyed the experience. I fear I have changed a bit.

[/mtb] link

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