Tom's blog

I guess size does matter!

nobody@vox.com(Tom) — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 08:54:12 -0700

After 76 years to be suddenly called a "dwarf" and kicked out of the solar system doesn't seem fair. On Thursday the solar system was downsized from nine planets to eight and Pluto was redefined as a "dwarf planet."

The International Astronomical Union redefined the basic tests that celestial objects will have to meet before they can be considered a planet -- and Pluto failed the test. Pluto was disqualified because its oblong orbit overlaps Neptune's orbit. Since the discovery of Pluto in 1930 two other objects have been spotted similar to Pluto and more are expected.

At last word Walt Disney was looking into the matter and declined to comment on the fate of it's Disney character. We asked a spokesman for Pluto and he said that Pluto was currently orbiting around Mickey and unavailable to comment at this time There are also rumors that the Seven Dwarfs are considering legal action for copyright infringement. Stay tuned ...

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Vox Stalking, Vox Groupie, or Just Plain Rude?

nobody@vox.com(Tom) — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 23:06:03 -0700

I'm guilty of it -- are you?

I'm talking about adding someone to your neighborhood -- someone you don't know but, may know of, or enjoy reading their blogs.

Vox is an interesting forum and I'm trying to get my arms around it and not seem rude. If you've been around Vox you know you can search tags; look into someone's book and music selection; read their comments; and even view their neighbors and friends. You can also do a reverse view and see who has someone in their neighborhood. When the neighborhood view and the reverse neighborhood view don't match -- we have our stalkers; groupies; or just rude people?

Having someone in your neighborhood lets you know when something changed on their blog -- you're connected. If that person has contact information you can send them a short note asking if they mind if you add them to your neighborhood. But what do you do when there is no contact information? You could leave a comment on one of their blogs but that seems out of place. I remember being on Yahoo IM years ago and they required you to authorize requests to be added to a buddy list. Maybe Vox needs that too.

It's good that Vox only allows members to leave comments so it would be nice to extend that and allow for a way to send a short (private) message to someone. That would allow you to ask if they mind if you add them to your neighborhood.

So, do you think it's rude to add someone to your neighborhood that you don't know and haven't asked in advance? I would like to think it's a compliment because you're interested in what they have to say. Let me know what you think.

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A (Half) Marathon Podcast

nobody@vox.com(Tom) — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 22:23:11 -0700

Over the weekend I recorded another podcast where I talk about running the first half of the San Francisco Marathon and technology news. I'm up to episode 11 of my podcast which is about technology, running, and playing podsafe music. Check it out if you're interested. The Fogview Podcast

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Are you stuck inside the bottle?

nobody@vox.com(Tom) — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:27:09 -0700

I'm reading "Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?" and came across an interesting idea titled "The pressures of inside-the-bottle syndrome."

Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?

"... On a day-to-day basis, we are all wrapped up in the most pressing needs of our jobs or businesses. And the needs most pressing, unless we have direct contact with customers, are the ones right in front of us at that moment. Everyday pressures -- producing reports, helping the company realize an upwards-trending graph of net profits, make the perfect pot of coffee, cutting costs, and responding to changes made in other areas of the company -- affect the experience we are trying to communicate.
After hours, days, weeks, months, even years of so-called "real-life-perspective," it becomes easier and easier to slip into the abyss of the company bottle. You become trapped and have only a blurry vision of what's going on outside.
It's from deep inside this bottle that some of the most bloodletting business decisions are made -- giving airline passengers fewer peanuts to snack on or outsourcing telephone customer service to Asia. You can't trace the effects of actions like these back to profit-and-loss statements; they don't have immediate consequences to the bottom line, certainly nothing that can be measured on monthly or yearly basis. Inside the bottle, all systems are go."

I've worked in Engineering groups all my career and found I created the best product or added the best feature when I had contact with customers. Seeing and hearing how a customer used a product or what they wished the product would do was a great incentive to make it happen (or make it better).

It's been said that engineers design things around how they would use it instead of how the customer uses it. Sometimes that's true because the customer is outside the bottle, and inside the bottle is the "perfect pot of coffee."

I'm sure we all can come up with our own examples of where we see this being true but have you looked inside your company's bottle lately?

(For those following along at home, the quoted section from the book starts on page 30.)

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A Bad Boating Experience

nobody@vox.com(Tom) — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 13:19:02 -0700

This is what I encountered on my way to work this morning. I'm a boater so I feel this person's pain.

CIMG0297

When I first went past the accident the truck that was pulling the boat was where the CHP officer is in the picture. The truck was facing oncoming traffic so it must have jackknifed causing the boat to slip completely off the trailer.. I figure the boat was about 28 feet long and I didn't see any other damage to the boat or the truck (except for what you see here). I would have loved to stick around and see how they picked it up and hauled it away.

The accident was on highway 680 (southbound) in Fremont, CA.

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SF Marathon -- Race Day

nobody@vox.com(Tom) — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 01:42:41 -0700

Sunday I awoke at 3:30 AM for a 5:55 AM run in the city. I arrived and parked just in time to wait in line for the bathroom; stretch; and join 15,000 other runners. The weather was nice (62 degrees F) with slightly cloudy skies. I could see the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance and that was a good sign since it meant it wasn't totally fogged in.

SF Marathon Finish Line

The first (and fastest) runners started their journey at 5:30. Because of my estimated finish time I was in Wave #5 and started later. They use RFID tags (called chips) that you attach to your shoes and record your start and finish times. This means you have two times: "gun time" and "chip time" which allows for delayed starts. The start seemed better than last year because it was an orderly start with none of the pushing and shoving I've experience in other races. This was my third time doing the half Marathon (13.1 miles) and this seemed to be the best organized.

I love running in San Francisco because of the beautiful views and weather. This was an almost perfect day to run and I felt strong (besides only getting 4 hours sleep the night before). The highlight of the race was running across the Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge starts around mile 6 and there are a couple hills you have to overcome to get there. Running to Vista Point (end of the bridge) and back is a little over 2 miles and provides a nice view of the bay and San Francisco. After reaching Vista Point and heading back over the bridge I saw a sea of runners coming towards me and I wished I had my camera -- it was definally a "Kodak Moment." (I thought about running with my camera but I didn't want the added weight for such a long run.) I saw a number of runners stop and pull out their cameras to capture the moment. I even saw one runner stop and ask another runner to take a picture of her with the bridge in the background. No one seemed to mind and everyone seemed to be enjoying the experience.

Fireboat Phoenix Salutes Runners

After coming off the bridge everything was downhill; and uphill; and downhill; and ... There seemed to be a lot more hills this year than last and it really took a toll on my legs the last two miles. When I entered Golden Gate Park I was looking forward to coming around the turn and heading to the right for the final downhill race to the finish line. This year they changed the course and forced us to the left and up another hill. It was the final struggle before hitting the finish line. My time was 2:17 which was a little behind last years but I felt it was good time beause of what I felt to be a tougher course this year.

Two Spectators Await Runners

The buses took us back to the starting line and I grabbed my camera and took the pictures you see here. The finish line in these pictures is for the Marathoners (26.2 miles); the 2nd Half Marathoners, and the 5K runners/walkers. I have more race/San Francisco pictures on my Flickr site too.

Whenever I run a half marathon I think of those that continue on and finish a full marathon. Two years ago I completed the San Jose Marathon so I know how it feels to conquer that dream. I also know the toll it takes on your body ("hitting the wall") and the amount of time you need to devote to those "long runs" building up to race day. Someday I may do another marathon but I'm content on pushing myself 13.1 miles and cheering on the soles that see my run as only a halfway point.

This was the best SF Marathon yet and I'm looking forward to doing it again next year.

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Destination: Golden Gate Park -- 13.1 miles

nobody@vox.com(Tom) — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 22:56:19 -0700

Sunday is the San Francisco Marathon and I'm getting ready to do a Half Marathon (13.1 miles). This will be the the third time I've done the race and always enjoy the view and the people.

Here is a picture taken today when I picked up my bib at the Expo.

SFMarathonExpo

The Course - The Start Line is conveniently located in downtown San Francisco along the waterfront, on the Embarcadero at Mission Street. The staging area will be held steps away from the Start and Finish, in Justin Herman Plaza, across from the Ferry Building at Market and Steuart Streets.

The 1st Half follows the first half of the Marathon course. The 1st Half Marathon starts along the famed Embarcadero - at the newly renovated Ferry Building and Food Mart, going west along Little Italy, through Fisherman's Wharf and passing the fishing boat marina. Running just feet from the Bay in Aquatic Park and up Fort Mason hill, spectacular views of the Bay and of the Golden Gate Bridge greet you at the top.

You continue west along the Marina, where the course takes you past private yachts. Then Crissy Field in the Presidio shows off the some of the most beautiful San Francisco coastline with sweeping views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Pacific Ocean.

You will then run up to the Bridge entrance, enter the road bed and cross the amazing Golden Gate Bridge. The high, reddish beams will tower over your head as thousands overtake the Bridge for the marathon. At the Bridges end, you will exit the roadbed and loop around Vista Point only to return back across the Bridge. Heading southwest, you will continue on through the Presidio, past Baker Beach and through the magnificent Seacliff neighborhood. Turning south you will exit the Presidio running through the Richmond Neighborhood District entering Golden Gate Park. Turning east you will finish along John F. Kennedy Drive at the Rose Garden.

San Francisco Ferry Bldg

The starting line for the race is a block to the right of the Ferry building (towards the SF Bay Bridge). If running across the Golden Gate Bridge is anything like last year, it should be foggy and wet.

The race starts at 5:30 AM so I need to get some sleep!

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Web Site or Website?

nobody@vox.com(Tom) — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 13:59:23 -0700

Which form do you use?

I found this at Dictionary.com

Usage Note: The transition from World Wide Web site to Web site to website seems to have progressed as rapidly as the technology itself. The development of website as a single uncapitalized word mirrors the development of other technological expressions which have tended to evolve into unhyphenated forms as they become more familiar. Thus email has recently been gaining ground over the forms E-mail and e-mail, especially in texts that are more technologically oriented. Similarly, there has been an increasing preference for closed forms like homepage, online, and printout.

Its funny how you can write things multiple ways and still be correct. When I looked up "weblog," I found this:

Main Entry:	weblog
Part of Speech:	noun
Definition:	a personal Web site that provides updated headlines and news articles of other sites that are of interest to the user, also may include journal entries, commentaries and recommendations compiled by the user; also written *web log, Weblog; also called blog*
Usage:	computing

Did you notice that they used "web site" instead of "website?" I guess the best thing to do is be consistent in your writing and know that someone will always disagree with your spelling.

I've wrestled with this topic for a while and decided to look more into it when I saw the piece Dave Winner wrote about the New York times using "web log" when he felt it should be weblog or blog.

Update: When I used the Vox spell checker on this post it flagged "online" as being misspelled (should be on-line or "on line"). It had no problem with any other words except e-mail and E-mail.

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Don't Count on XM Radio for Traffic and Weather

nobody@vox.com(Tom) — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 22:59:11 -0700

I was driving home tonight and wondered what I could blog about when I came to a complete stop on the freeway (hwy 680).

I have XM radio in the car and love the channels and ability to listen to the music and channels I want to hear. I purchased it for the commercial-free music (more on that later in this broadcast) and the ability to get up-to-the-minute traffic and weather, 24 hours a day. Tonight I was ready to throw the radio out the window!!!

XM has traffic channels for most major cities in the United States. I've used it from time to time but couldn't figure out why I didn't listen to it more since I typically drive 3 hours a day to/from work. Tonight I can finally list the reasons why I will not use their traffic channel and will not recommend it to my friends.

I left work at 7:30 PM and decided to check the XM traffic channel for the [San Francisco] Bay Area. The report starts out listing the traffic condition (green, yellow, red) and any major traffic problems. It then describes all the major roads in the area and if there are any problems. This report lasts 3 and 4 minutes with a 30 to 60 second commerical for other XM channels. The report repeats (and updates?) 24 hours a day.

Tonight the reporter (pre-taped) stated the traffic condition was "yellow" and "One problem to look out for was a delay on highway 101." I continued on my way home and came to a dead stop at the onramp to highway 84 in Livermore. There was a Caltrans truck blocking the entrance and a sign stating the road was closed. It was now 8 PM and as I was inching along in traffic and I tuned back to the XM traffic channel and heard the same traffic report and but no mention of the closeur. I tuned to KCBS (740) and a few minutes later their traffic report mentioned that "that highway 84 was STILL closed because of the fatal accident and was not expected to reopen until 10 PM!"

I kept listening to XM and heard a couple more interesting things. In the middle of the report it mentioned that highway 116 had ALL LANES BLOCKED and the California Highway Patrol had issued a Sig Alert (meaning a blockage lasting 30 minutes or more). Why wasn't this listed at the beginning of the report instead of the delay on highway 101 (traffic going 47 miles/hour)?

I continued to listen until I arrived home at 9 PM and never heard them mention the accident. About 8:15 PM my XM display did show the following message: "#Jam_Alert" Hwy84@PigeonPass" but the reporter kept saying "traffic clear on highway 92 and 84."

One more thing. At the end of the traffic report they give the Bay Area Weather Report. We are having a heat wave in the Bay Area with temperatures over 100 degrees in most of the area and breaking records every day. The XM weather report stated the current temperature was 67 and tomorrow's high around 78. This was the San Francisco temperature but they failed to mentioned the heat in the Bay Area (it was 92 degrees at 9 PM in front of my house). Tomorrow's highs in the general Bay Area will be 95 to 105.

I counted on the XM traffic channel in the past and always found problems where they said everything was clear. and it wasn't. I also don't like the fact that the reports repeat over and over without a time stamp letting you know when it was last updated. (I also get upset with Google News when it states it was updated 16 minutes ago -- 16 minutes from when? I've had my browser freeze and nothing gets updated.) I feel they created a traffic channel as an excuse to promote their own XM programming instead of providing up-to-the-minute information to their listeners.

I said I would talk about their "commercial-free music channels." The music channels are free from commercials as long as you don't count "XM promotions" commercials. Most channels have DJs and promotions for others XM channels and specials. I enjoy the DJs because it does bring back how radio was when I was growing up (in the 60's) but I didn't expect the XM commericals on the "commerical-free channels."

XM needs to do a better job reporting traffic and weather and less time promoting their own shows. I hope XM gets their act together soon or Howard will be enjoying more listeners.

Anybody else use the XM Traffic channels? I would love to hear if you find it accurate and useful.

BTW, I sent an email to XM Radio and a link to this post so it will be interesting to hear their response.

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QotD: Weekend Wrap-up

nobody@vox.com(Tom) — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 21:58:10 -0700

QotD: What was the highlight of the past weekend?

CIMG0224a

I ran the Santa Cruz Wharf-to-Wharf race (6 miles) on Sunday (along with 15,000 of my closest friends). Tempertures were over 100 degrees in the San Francisco Bay Area but were in the mid-70's on the coast. It was a beautiful run along the Northern California coast and there were bands playing and neighbors with garden hoses to cool off the runners.

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