Tralfaz

Blog

  • Evernote Dumpage

    Back in 2010, I was looking for a note taking solution. I had a taste of the Microsoft solution, OneNote, but being a “Mac” person, and the fact that OneNote wasn’t cross platform, and I went looking for a solution. The obvious choice at the time was Evernote. Cross platform, and while it wasn’t as flexible and convenient as OneNote, it was serviceable.

    Over the years, the Evernote did a lot of incremental improvements, and it worked well for most of my needs. They added a pretty feature rich ios application that made adding notes from the road trivial. Adding the capability ingest PDF files, and do OCR on them, making them searchable.

    But, some things were always clunky. Exporting via copy and paste was an unmitigated disaster. It was compelled to export in some really funky HTML format that always required a shitload of finicky reformatting to make presentable. (more…)

  • Music Streaming Services Revisited

    Music Streaming Services Revisited

    In the last installment, I had raved wildly about Apple’s then new ‘Music’ service. Same price as Spotify, filled some holes that Spotify had in their library, and since they have my entire collection in their cloud, they have the inside track on offering suggestions that I will enjoy.

    Add to that the fact that Spotify’s curated playlists had been somewhat stale and I was sold. Even before the first month of the three month Apple Music trial, I was ready to cut the Spotify cord.

    However, I didn’t, and today I am increasingly glad I didn’t.

    Apple Music is still a great service, and more than a credible competitor. The selection is large, and their “For You” recommendations rock. A constantly updated set of playlists that are eerily on target to my listening habits (and no recommendations for things that are completely out of my taste – like hip-hop or country). (more…)

  • Bicycling Magazine – More hilarity

    As a Performance Bike “member“, I get a free subscription to Bicycling Magazine. I find that every month, I almost (barely) enjoy thumbing through this rag because it is chock full of hilarity. I have written on it before, and this may be my last installment.

    Like most print magazines, their once vaunted position of the monthly dissemination of information, learning, and relevance has been eroded (decimated? eradicated?) by the advent of the Internet. One no longer must wait until the mailman drops the mag in the box, or the local drugstore has it on its periodicals shelf, all the information is now at your fingertips 24/7.

    Yet, magazines cling by their fingertips trying to remain relevant. Bicycling is no different.

    However, that is not my rant today. As I mentioned in the lead-in, I didn’t consciously subscribe to Bicycling, I get it for free with my annual Performance Bike Membership. However Bicycling seems to think I will renew and pay for their rag. (more…)

  • BDIU – Driving – Audi takes top spot

    BDIU – Driving – Audi takes top spot

    In this year’s balloting for the biggest douche in the Universe – Drivers, we have a new winner. A position that has been literally owned by BMW drivers so long, it seemed hereditary, has finally been overtaken by Audi drivers.

    BMW drivers have held the top position for so long it is almost prehistoric. From the fact that they seem to come without turn signals, and that speed limit signs are merely a suggestion, as well as audacious merges into traffic on the freeway, their hold seemed unshakable.

    However, this last 12 months it is clear that a bigger group of asshole drivers has emerged. Those who drive Audi’s. (more…)

  • Insane bicyclist

    This morning, I saw quite possibly the most ballsy, insane bicyclist I have seen in a LONG time. And that is saying something.

    As I exited off of 280 at Lawrence Expressway, this dude on his bike pulled off of Lawrence behind me. The light changed, and he kept taking the whole lane, turning left on to Stevens Creek. See the picture below:

    Looks innocuous enough, but after passing under Lawrence Expressway, you get to deal with quite possibly the worst intersection in the valley. You have traffic wanting to merge into the onramp for 280 North, you have traffic turning right from the Lawrence Expressway wanting to merge left onto Stevens Creek, and you have us brave souls who actually work at Keysight or Agilent, and have to turn right. This Google Earth view of the crunch area, with the “Green” bike lane shows the chaos.

    That little strip of bike lane has a never ending, criss-crossing of cars whose drivers are impatient, and grumpy.

    This cyclist followed me onto Stevens Creek, and turned right into the Agilent/Keysight parking lot.

    A ballsy, and extremely dangerous maneuver.

  • The Aftermath

    The Aftermath

    After the low speed, but still catastrophic fall cycling yesterday, I knew that the next day would be brutal. I am not disappointed.

    The swelling is down, the golfball-sized lump on my elbow is gone, and the scrapes are scabbing up. Yay.

    However, the other damage is now coming to the front. The inventory isn’t great, but I guess it could be worse.

    The Elbow isn’t broken, full motion, but there is soreness beyond the scrapes and new scabs.

    My left hamstring seems to have a deep tissue bruise. I am wondering what the hell I did to get that. No surface bruising, but yikes, the muscle is painful.

    My nose, and left cheek have some edema’s that were caused by hard contact with my sports glasses. Enough force to pop out the lens is enough to leave some permanent marks.

    General muscle soreness in my lower back, my pectorals, and other places that will not be mentioned.

    Yep, Vitamin I for the win today.

  • Bad Day of Cycling

    Bad Day of Cycling

    Statistically, the more you ride, the more likely it is that something bad will happen. Bicycling is no different. Every time I set out on the road, I realize that things can go horribly wrong.

    Today, that was put to the test.

    I started off on my usual 33+ mile loop, with a twist. The prevalent winds are southerly, meaning that the first half of the ride is usually with a moderate but steady tail wind. Today, the wind direction was reversed, with a southerly wind, blowing in my face for the first 13 miles. For that entire stretch, I was picturing the return path, wind at my back, and racking up the record segments in Strava, but it was not meant to be.

    As I was restarting from a red light on Butterfield road in Morgan Hill, my right foot slipped out of the cleat, and in what felt like slow motion, I lost my balance, and fell.

    Hard.

    Fortunately, I didn’t do the dumb thing, remove my hands from my handlebars to break my fall, or I would probably have broken my wrist. 240# falling is plenty of force to do serious damage.

    But plenty of bad things did happen. I landed first on my right elbow, scraping it up. Apparently I bruised it well as is has swollen up to the size of a golfball. Not too painful, and I can move it fine, so apart from some soreness, it doesn’t feel broken.

    Also, as I fell, I couldn’t keep my head up, so it had hard (and I mean hard) contact with the asphalt. Rung my bell a bit, but the helmet took almost all the force.

    I got up, and walked my bike across the intersection, and took stock. A water bottle was left in the road (more on that in a moment), I was missing a lens from my prescription sports glasses, I was dripping blood from my elbow, I knew I cracked my head, and the chain was off the bike.

    A few drivers who saw the incident asked if I needed help, which I declined, as I was more embarrassed than anything else.

    Of course, the water bottle that popped out was my $25 “Cleantech” bottle that allows it to be easily cleaned and disinfected. Some asshole car driver ran over it. Hard for me to believe that was an accident as it was in a turn only lane. Fortunately, the fucker didn’t run over the corrective lens, so I was able to get my prescription sports glasses back together.

    My helmet took the brunt of the head bounce, and did its job. The energy dissipating styrofoam dissipated energy, breaking, and preventing my head from a really nasty bounce.

    My elbow is sore, and swollen, but it doesn’t feel broken. The anticoagulants I take mean that minor scrapes often bleed enough that I look like I battled an axe-wielding serial killer. However, a shower, and some ginger clean up and it looks fine.

    I am sure to be really sore. I will need to buy a new water bottle (I am really pissed about that), and a new helmet (c’est la vie, it did it’s job, and now it will be tossed). A quick look at the bike in a stand and nothing looks bent, thus I am pretty sure I will be able to get back on as soon as my aches and pains are gone.

    What I am really pissed about? More than anything else, is the fact that an opportunity to fly back, with a strong tailwind, and to set some personal records on Strava all the way home. Oh well, I got 14.7 miles out of my planned/expected 33. I shouldn’t complain too much.

  • Marketing Coolness – NanoWorld

    Marketing Coolness – NanoWorld

    Once in a while, I will stumble across something that is unique, and memorable. Being in marketing, I have a finely tuned eye for clever messaging. Recently, my spidey sense went all tingly.

    NanoSensors, part of the NanoWorld group, was exhibiting in our distributor’s booth at the JASIS conference in Japan. They had some cool swag, nifty pens, and the like. However, as my hair had become long and unruly due to the fact that I was far too lazy to go to the barber before the trip, I angled to grab one of their baseball caps.

    Made of high quality canvas with almost perfect stitching, it is a solid cap. No plastic, and the adjustable band is fabric, with a metal hasp. Again, top shelf.

    Inside the cap is where the surprise is. Where there is usually a label that states the country of origin, material content (cotton, or man made), and possible care instructions, there is something unique. The label states:

    We also sell AFM probes

    Simple, understated, and effective – the tagline grabs the attention and mindshare without being obnoxious.

    Brilliant marketing, hat’s off to NanoWorld!

  • Traffic Woes

    Traffic Woes

    I am wondering what the heck is up. The last 4 weeks have heralded an uptick in traffic here in the south bay, a real escalation.

    Traffic has been awful here in the bay area for a long time. Before I moved away, it was bad. But, in the 12 years I was in Arizona it has gone insane.

    Last summer, when we moved back, I fell into a pattern. There were days that were lighter in commute time from south San Jose, Monday and Friday. Probably due to people working from home one day a week, and picking Friday or Monday.

    When school started in 2014, there was an increase in the early traffic, but not too bad.

    This year, school started the last week of August, and traffic increased. But there was still a marked reduction in traffic on Monday and Friday.

    However, last week and this week so far, a 17 mile drive that through the last year has averaged 35-45 minutes is now consistently more than an hour. This morning, it took me 55 minutes to get to the Pruneyard Towers (about 1/2 way). Total transit time: 1:21

    Groan.

  • A tough ride

    After yesterday morning where I spend a few hours doing bicycle maintenance, I got a good mountain bike ride in. Alas, I forgot to turn on Strava, so I get no credit. Today, I headed out for a ride.

    I left around 9:00AM. A little late for me, and I considered a mountain bike ride. Alas, a flat rear tire guided me to the roadbike this morning.

    The ride started well, 65F, almost no wind, headed out to my usual loop, through Morgan Hill and back up Coyote Creek trail.

    The lack of wind was welcome, but shortly into the ride, the heat started rising. My two water bottles were going to be a problem. Killed the smaller one at the start of the Coyote Creek trail. Ugh.

    A little wind picked up, but not really an issue. The temperature was rising quickly. I paused at the Coyote Ranch to rest, and checked the temperature. Ugh, 90F already at 10:30. This was at mile 24.5.

    As I got out on Monterey Highway, I made a judgement call, and instead of the full 33.1 mile loop, I bailed and cut off at Bernal Road, and headed to Santa Teresa and home.

    30.1 miles, 2 hours, a lot of fatigue. A brutal ride. Done.