Truer Words - A Journal

PMC Day 1: Sturbridge to Bourne, by the Numbers

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 04:03:02 GMT

Saturday, August 2, 2008

This was my sixth year riding the PMC, and my fourth year to include the Huckleberries ride (which makes it a three-day event). Those previous three years, I was totally exhausted on Saturday morning from the hard ride on Friday.

This year was different...

Happy Birthday Michelle & Isaiah Drake

seth@macrobyte.net — Wed, 28 May 2008 01:25:13 GMT

Corinne, Lauren and I went to Isaiah Drake's birthday party on Monday. He's one year old. Monday was actually his mom's (Michelle's) birthday, his is today, but we were mostly celebrating his because it was his first.

I took 134 pictures (good grief), and managed to whittle that down to “only” 104 before uploading them all to Facebook. The flickr set contains a more manageable 55 pictures: I recommend the slideshow.

The party (cookout) was held at Ben & Mandi Isbell's house on the Bradford River. Games, canoeing, lots of food, cute kids, friends, and loads of presents for Isaiah. Ben even started a big bonfire on the ground near the deck (but more than one story below) that made some of the kids a little nervous.

(If you're reading this in email, make sure you see it on the web for the pictures.)

I Hope She Understands

seth@macrobyte.net — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 18:33:15 GMT

Someday Lauren is going to be old enough to realize that not every little girl spends a big piece of her life in front of a camera. That not all of her little friends have their pictures posted on public web sites for family and friends — and strangers — to gawk at.

That not every little girl has a crazy, doting "Opa."

I hope this works out. I hope she grows up knowing that she's beautiful no matter how she looks. That even though not every picture is perfect, she's always beautiful.

I hope, in fact, that she can be the kind of girl who is confident enough in herself to be honest and comfortable with the camera, without posing. Like she does now. Not beautiful like a model, but beautiful like someone that everybody wants to love, someone who loves and gives freely.

She won't become that person just because my camera can't take its eye off her, obviously, but I hope it helps (thinking about the attitude of the people behind the camera). Confident, comfortable, happy, warm, and full of brightness. We're off to a good start, but there are big obstacles in her path...

Pictures for Lauren's Fan Club

seth@macrobyte.net — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 17:03:04 GMT

For anybody who cares (which I believe is no small group), I've put up a bunch of new pictures of my favorite little model, the cutest baby girl in the whole house, Miss Lauren Deane.

As you can see, she's pretty happy about it. She knows her fans have been missing her.

Can you believe she turns five months old in just a week? I can't.

Westerly Summer Solstice Festival

seth@macrobyte.net — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 12:54:35 GMT

Last night, Corinne and I brought Lauren to the Westerly Summer Solstice Festival. She's three and a half months old and has no clue what all the stuff is, but we figured it would be fun anyway. :-) We were right, but mainly because we met Ellyn, Katie, Tom and Gramma there.

The highlights of the festival included the best smile picture of Lauren (so far) as seen here; a really tasty sausage and peppers grinder; the rock wall that Tom couldn't climb often enough; the beautifully restored, antique fire truck owned by the Westerly Fire Department, and the local karate school's street show.

I took lots of pictures, so go peruse.

Ride #34: 73 Miles with Steve and Mike

seth@macrobyte.net — Tue, 29 May 2007 04:25:18 GMT

As I mentioned, Steve and Mike came down for an 80 mile ride on Thursday. We actually rode only 73 because we started a little late and Steve had to head home for a school concert with one of his nineteen sons. (Nineteen, four, whatever.)

The route was basically a combination of my various training routes, but I really did try to avoid any significant hills this time. (Two years ago, Steve dubbed Cossaduck Hill Road, "I Hate You Dillingham Hill." Couldn't do that to him again!) We started at the house, went up 184 to 117 into Ledyard, Col Ledyard Highway most of the way back but then cut over to Pumpkin HIll Road (to avoid having to climb Pumpkin Hill itself), to Gallup Hill Road for a few hundred feet. Then I said, "Let's do something fun," and they followed me DOWN DOWN DOWN Town Farm Road's crazy-steep hill (and my bottle bounced out of my cage at 47 mph, so I couldn't coast out at the end, had to go back for it). Right on Wolf's Neck, left on 201, right on Al Harvey, right on 184, left onto North Stonington Road, across 27 onto River Road into Mystic. Left onto Route One and over the drawbridge.

Then we stopped at the Henny Penny in downtown to recharge our bottles, then stopped again just a mile later at the New & Improved Mystic Cycle Center. I said that they have a full scale model of the old store in the changing room. That was a joke, but it almost could be true... the new store (well, they've been there for over a year now, but it's new to Steve and MIke) is really big.

Continuing East on Route 1 North, then a right onto Green Haven Road all the way to the Pawcatuck River, where it makes a hard left and turns into River Road, and then into Mechanic Street just before it ends back at Route 1 in downtown Pawcatuck. Right on Route 1, through Westerly, then onto 1A into Watch Hill. We stopped for lunch at St. Claire's Annex, same as two years ago. Finally pulled out the camera and took the only shots of the day: one of Mike sitting at the table (looks like he wants to hurt me, but I don't think he even knew I had the camera out), and two outside after we ate.

After lunch we finished the loop around Watch Hill, saw the big hole in the ground where the Ocean House used to be, and continued to Misquamicut Beach.

I could tell that we were going to have a tail wind along Atlantic Avenue (Misquamicut)... yeah! I love flying down that road. It's as flat as they come around here, and with a tailwind you can really fly. I was at the back of the group, and started to pick up speed. As I passed Steve, he said something like, "Restrain yourself!" but I couldn't do it. I maintained 31 mph for about 1/4 mile (all the way around the big beach parking lot), then noodled along at 18 mph waiting for them to catch up with me. (They apparently hadn't picked up their speed at all.) Normally I would try to average 25 or better for the full length of Atlantic Ave.

Left at the end of Atlantic, up into Dunn's Corners, stopped to recharge our bottles again at the Mobil station. Crossed over Route 1 onto Bradford-Dunn's Corners Road to the other property Gary and Ellyn own (rental property). Stopped in to say hi (and use the bathroom). Ellyn and Katie were there, cleaning up after the previous renter before the next weekend rental. This is when I talked Ellyn into having a Memorial Day picnic on Sunday, by tempting her with Lauren. :-D

The rest of the ride could be summarized in one word: hot. (Not that I would ever leave it at just one word, right?) We continued on 91 to Collins Road, past my parents' old place, to Maxson Hill Road, to Frontier Road, to Route 3, to Wellstown Road, to Route 216, to Route 184.

When we reached the rotary for Routes 2 and 184, Steve was so hot he was in imminent danger of self-immolation, so we stopped at Mystic Pizza II so he could splash nasty, algae-infested water on his neck from their outdoor fountain. Yuck!

From Mystic Pizza II it was eight uneventful miles home.

Steve (and Mike) even met Lauren! She was sleeping when we arrived, so I took a quick shower and then woke her up. She even stayed happy the whole time.

Great ride guys, thanks for coming down!

Stats: 73.11 miles (117.7 km) in 3h 58' 45" for an average speed of 18.37 mph (29.58 kph).

Gruber or His Not Evil Twin?

seth@macrobyte.net — Sat, 19 May 2007 05:33:13 GMT

At dinner tonight (hamburgers at the Red Robin), I explained the nightmare that I suffered implementing Markdown support for BBEdit. I told my funny-to-me-at-least story about wanting to snail-mail Guido's beautiful Python language spec to John Gruber with instructions to cook and eat (and how I thought it couldn't hurt the language-design process).

Imagine my surprise, then, when Mr. Gruber sat down in the row ahead of us, just thirty minutes later, for the evening's keynote presentations! (Mac-heads, most of you may better know John Gruber as daringfireball.net)

No, it wasn't the real John Gruber, but he looked so much like him that he had me fooled for a few seconds. (One might say that he had Grubered John's look and feel, if one knew exactly what it means "to Gruber" something.) :-D

Please compare this picture of Gruber's non-evil twin with this one of the original. Freaky, no?

Picture of Sean and a Fountain

seth@macrobyte.net — Fri, 18 May 2007 22:03:37 GMT

Here's a picture of Sean McMains, taken last night on our way to dinner. Yes, he's taking a picture of a fountain on the sidewalk. These copper fountains ("bubblers") are all over the place.

Cool feature: click this picture to zoom in on the fountain. Try it!

Update: Now you can Zoom Out from this picture, too. This is what we call "meta photography."

Lauren is 35 Days Old

seth@macrobyte.net — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 15:08:14 GMT

Speaking of the baby who ‘owns me’: Lauren is over a month old now. I was supposed to take pictures at her "monthiversary," but I just didn't have the energy!

This morning I felt pretty good when I woke up, so out came the camera.

You can see the results on Flickr. Just keep clicking the "More ->" link on the right under "Lauren (Set)" to see them all.

Yes, she's getting old, but I still think she's cute.

Meet Lauren Deane

seth@macrobyte.net — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 04:46:43 GMT

Lauren Santana Deane was born at around 8:00 this morning, weighing six pounds fifteen ounces (3.15 kilograms) and measuring 19 and 1/2 inches long. Here are pictures of her first day. (I've left out the really, really early ones, where she's totally nekkid and screaming her head off.)

Yeah, that's right, she's a small fry. But she's adorable, and already has four full grown adults wrapped around her cute little fingers.

And check out that head of hair. Whoo!

(Yes, B.A., I know you don't think babies are cute. If you don't think Lauren is cute or pretty, it's ok to not tell me. ;-)

I sat out in the waiting room from 5:45 this morning until they finally let me into the room at 11:15... and even that was only by special request of Mike and Shannon. Visiting hours didn't start until noon, and the nurse made sure I was very clear on that point. (I hadn't asked for early access, so I don't know why she made such a big deal of it).

Corinne came back after her dentist appointment, sometime before 1. I took Mike out for lunch, and then Corinne and I went home for the afternoon. She got some sleep, i ran errands and worked for a couple hours.

After assembling a care package (food for Mike, toiletries they had both forgotten here at the house, and "Ring Dings" for Shannon by special request), we went back to the hospital for a little while.

Unfortunately, this is when I realized Lauren's first day would also be my camera's last. Mike had been using it with the AC cord because the batteries were worn out, but at this moment it was sitting on top of the entertainment center, about 6 feet off the ground. (You know what's coming next, right?) The nurse opened the door, reached in and grabbed a rolling lamp from next to the tv. She started pulling it towards the door, and I heard the camera sliding across the top of the entertainment center. The cord was on the wrong side of the lamp... but it was too late. SLAM!! Pieces scattered all over the room, and my Nikon Coolpix 950 was no more.

The real irony of this was that we had just — I mean, just moments earlier — been talking about the age of my camera and what a total pain it is to get pictures off of it and onto the computer. With a new baby in the house, we have good reason to consider buying a new camera.

Well, now we have another reason to consider it. :-(

PMC 2004: Way, Way Over Budget ;^)

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 14 Nov 2004 15:23:43 GMT

Last night the PMC presented the check to the Jimmy Fund, at a big gala/dinner in Boston. The goal for this year was $17 Million, but the check was for $20 Million!

That's excellent! $3,000,000 over the goal!

Quoting from the email they sent out last night:

The record-setting sum is more than twice the amount ever contributed to charity by an athletic fundraising event anywhere in the United States and represents 97 cents of every dollar raised.

Here's a shot of Steve Davis and Jim Boyko, a.k.a. "the smiling bandits," trying to sneak out of the building with both the check *and* the Red Sox World Series trophy. (Remember, the Sox are the PMC Presenting Sponsors, so that's the real deal.) What were they thinking?!

Thanks again to all of my sponsors! My total for the year was $4,061. That's $1,536.50 better than last year!

Update: Steve tells me that Jim Boyko's tie is actually a bicycle innertube! (Dress code for the event was "creative black tie.")

Ride #78: Tri-State Seacoast Century with Steve, Jason, and Steve

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 27 Sep 2004 12:31:38 GMT

September 25, 2004

(There's a photo album for this ride. You can also click any of the pictures on this page for larger versions with descriptions.)

I set the alarm for 3:30 AM, and actually managed to drag myself into the shower when it went off. (Man it's hard to get up that early, even for a ride I've been excited about for weeks.) The car had my gear and my bike on it by 4:05, and (after a couple quick kisses with my mostly-sleeping wife) then I was on the road. The plan was to meet at the parking lot of Foxboro Furniture at 5:30.

Photo: Steve, Seth, Steve and Jason

Steve Davis, Steve Harper, and Jason Cicero arrived in Davis's car at exactly the same time I did (5:33 AM). A few minutes later my bike was moved to the rack on the back of his car, my gear was stowed in his trunk, and we were gone again. It's another ninety minutes from there to Hampton Beach for the start of the ride.

We waited in line for twenty minutes to register/sign-in, but once we reached the front of the line it only took ten seconds. The lines (queues) were alphabetical, different lines for different last initials. I joked that next year I would have to register as Don Quixote so I wouldn't have to wait in line at all. :-) (OK, that wouldn't really work because the lines were A-E, F-J, etc.)

When we were ready to leave, I couldn't find...

Continued...

(Almost) Too Good Looking

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 13 Sep 2004 16:00:16 GMT

This kid was just too handsome for his own good!

That's Shane's senior picture. Way better than anything else I've posted here, but we just recently got it scanned. (Thanks, Eric!)

In cat-breeder-lingo, you'd say that Shane's looks tended to give him the "pick of the litter." (Hope that doesn't offend any of the girls he dated, especially Karyn who was definitely "the pick.")

Great Shot of Start of PMC

seth@macrobyte.net — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 19:19:01 GMT

Wow, here's an excellent photo of the start of the PMC. That's almost good enough for a non-participant to understand what it's like, and for our sponsors to really get a sense of the magnitude of this event.

Keep in mind that the group is way bigger than what can actually be seen in that picture, and that the group starting at this location is only about 3/5 of the riders (there's another starting location for a shorter ride).

Sunday Morning, PMC Stage 2, Bourne to Provincetown Inn

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 08 Aug 2004 14:09:46 GMT

It's Like an Insomniac Convention

No matter how good you felt on Saturday -- and I felt great -- 112 miles on the bike will wear you out, and a good night's sleep ends up very high on the agenda. That's why having to get up at 3:45 Sunday morning feels so incredibly WRONG!

But get up we did, and Corinne once again drove me to where I needed to be, from our hotel in Plymouth to the MMA in Bourne, and then drove herself back to the hotel for some more sleep. She dropped me off at about 4:45.

I deposited my bag in the truck...

Continued...

Sunday Afternoon, PMC Family Finish, The Long Trip Home

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 08 Aug 2004 17:13:04 GMT

After having our bracelets scanned on arrival, Jim and I walked our bikes up to the walkway where the Scariest Sight Ever was found last year. This year there were no such horrors. In fact, we were so early that we both got decent spots for our bikes on the walkway itself. Jim counted forty bikes against the rail ahead of us, and there were still plenty of open spaces...

Continued...

Saturday Morning, PMC Stage 1, Sturbridge to Mass Maritime Academy

seth@macrobyte.net — Sat, 07 Aug 2004 10:02:11 GMT

Since sleep was eluding me anyway, I was up a couple minutes before the wake up call at 4:30. Corinne answered it, and then immediately went back to sleep (or she tried, anyway). After showering and dressing, I put as much stuff back in the car as I could so that she wouldn't have to lug so much when she checked out, packed a small over-night bag with my camera and some clothes for after the ride, threw the bag over my shoulder and then rode my bike to the Host, arriving at about 5:15 AM.

Like last year, the entire parking lot was split up by ropes, dividing the riders into groups by approximate speed. ..

Continued...

PMC Saturday Afternoon, Mass Maritime Academy

seth@macrobyte.net — Sat, 07 Aug 2004 15:27:01 GMT

After check-in, I parked my bike in the lockup, in section A3. There were 150-200 bikes there already, but that's nothing compared to how many would be there by the end of the day! Then, at Steve's prompting, I went straight to the massage tent to sign up. They scheduled me for 3:00 on table 8 (out of 60 something massage tables!), so I had a couple hours to kill.

From there, I found Steve and and Jim again...

Continued...

Navigators with the Ellisons

seth@macrobyte.net — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 18:54:58 GMT

Corinne got skybox tickets for the Navigators again (through the bank), so I brought Andrew, Eric, and Leah Ellison with me. The Navs lost, of course, even though they've had an impressive streak going this month.

Andrew "won" a free T-Shirt. That's what he keeps saying, anyway (and that it's the only thing he's ever won before), though he didn't actually win it. At some point during the game, they started sling-shooting balled up T-Shirts into the stands. One went into the skybox seating next to the bank's. Nobody was over there, so Andrew hopped the fence and grabbed it. Leah (almost) immediately nabbed it from him, of course. Typical sister.

Like last year with Art, I have a picture of Leah's head being gnawed on by Tater the Gator. (Haven't pulled it out of the camera yet, though, so you'll just have to wait!) On the way out of the game, Tater signed the back of the T-Shirt.

After the game, Eric and Leah followed Andrew and I to Buttonwood Farm for icecream. Just before we got there I said to Andrew, "Duh! It's almost 11:00! As if an ice cream shop in the middle of the woods is going to be open this late!" I was right, unfortuantely.

I arrived home about 11:30, and then Corinne and I talked until well after midnight. Man, I have not been getting enough sleep for the last four or five nights. Five-and-a-half to six hours just doesn't cut it. I want eight!

Me, in the PMC (Photo Album)

seth@macrobyte.net — Fri, 12 Dec 2003 14:22:32 GMT

Today the PMC released their photo album from the 2003 PMC. It's huge, mammoth, and gargantuan. And really big. It would take days to go through the whole thing. (Especially since they're serving every picture securely, which has me completely baffled. What's the point of serving all those photos via https, except possibly to make the site run extra slowly!?)

I've only seen a few hundred of the pictures, but I found two of them containing your's truly, one with Chris Rossen, and one with Jim Boyko. Didn't see any with Steve Davis, though I'm sure he's in there. I recognize lots of other faces, and I even found a shot of the other clydesdale.

Here's the first picture showing me, from the beginning of the first day, very early in the morning and in the rain. That's me at the front of that pack, found in this set. I found one other picture with me in it, towards the end of the ride, but it's so bad there is no way I'm linking to it.

They obviously had some really good photographers, as most of the photos are in perfect focus with a shallow depth of field and very well framed (bracketed).

This stirred up a lot of nice memories.

Memory Quilt for My Grandmother's 75th Birthday

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 03 Nov 2003 09:49:21 GMT

My Dad's Mother's seventy-fifth birthday was last week. My Mom made a "memory quilt" for her. A memory quilt is basically just a quilt with photos on it. The photos are printed to a "transfer paper" -- basically an iron-on system -- and then applied to the cloth. The bits are then all sewn together. The thumbnail image to the right is a link to a larger photo showing the finished quilt.

Excelent, isn't it? I was really impressed.

The photos were scanned in and given to me on a CD. Some of them were color, some were black and white, most of them were older than digital cameras. I 'sepia toned' them -- some by literally making a silhouetted sepia tone, some by just adjusting the colors. (Making a real, old fashioned sepia tone in Photoshop can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours, and I don't have that kind of time, so I only did it to those that needed it most.) After I was done, I sent the photos back to my Mom, who created the quilt.

Thursday, Mom and Dad flew down to Florida to spend a few days with my Grandparents, and celebrate her birthday. She called me after getting the quilt... she loved it!

I love that my digital tools could be used to make something really old fashioned and worthwhile in my analog world, and what better way than to help make a comforting gift for your own loving grandmother on her 75th birthday?

Happy Birthday, Gramma!

P.S. Bonus points to anybody who can find Corinne or me in the pictures. ;-) We're both in more than one of them.

Ride #39: Foot Fetish Freak!

seth@macrobyte.net — Sat, 05 Jul 2003 19:50:43 GMT

Today's weather was hot but great for riding, so I planned an "out and back" to the far end of Misquamicut Beach in Westerly, RI. Should have been approximately 46 miles.

After twenty five miles -- already on my way home -- my bike computer said my average speed was 20.2. Ehhhhhxcellent! Yes, I'd had the wind at my back for much of the ride, but I was happy with it.

Unfortunately, I got a flat on Rte. 1 coming back into Mystic. I tried to change the tube, but found that my saddle bag didn't have my tools (grrr!). After pumping up the tire as much as I could, I rode on... but it was flat again within a mile. Mystic Cycle was closed, so I just took off my shoes and started walking to the closest pay phone.

At the first phone, I called Corinne to ask for a ride. She didn't answer, so I had to leave a message. There was something wrong with the pay phone, though, as I couldn't hear my voice through the ear piece, and in fact Corinne didn't get a message.

My next step took me right into the Twilight Zone...

Continued...

Gators Baseball

seth@macrobyte.net — Thu, 19 Jun 2003 18:58:39 GMT

Corinne procured four free tickets to a Norwich Navigators baseball game for Monday at Dodd Stadium (vs. the New Britain Rock Cats). The "Gators" are the SF Giants AA farm team. Corinne works at Chelsea Groton Savings Bank, and they maintain a Sky Box at the stadium, and allow employees to use it for almost every game.

The original plan was to bring Art, Jed, and Dad. Jed backed out at the last minute, so Andrew (one of Jed's roommates, and another member of our ecclesia) came along instead. We're glad he went, as we needed a heavy to scare off the hoodlums. (Andrew's the one in the middle in that shot.)

The sky box was really nice. Perfect view of the game, air conditioning (not needed with the weather we've been 'enjoying'), and a waitress to bring us wings and beverages!

At some point "Tater the Gator," the team mascot, stopped dancing like a fool on top of the dugouts and made his sky box rounds. Apparently he was very, very hungry. He tried swallowing Art, and didn't give up until I'd taken this picture (at which point shame and reality must have set in...). His eyes must have been bigger than his stomach.

The "game" was actually a double header, to make up for a rain-out in May... but they lost both. In fact, their own web site says they were crushed, losing the second game 12-1. Ouch.

We had a good time, but can you believe this was my first professional-ish baseball game? Pitiful. I'd like to do it again, hopefully Jed will make it next time.

That's a Scenic Road?

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 15:55:43 GMT

Go to Google's image search and look for pictures of a scenic road

It's funny that the very first shot is of the backside of my friend Jim Boyko, when we rode in the Tri-State Seacoast Century last year.

Searches for "scenic road" have overtaken everything else as the number one reason that people find my site, so thousands of people have seen that picture of Jim's better side. ;-)

My Bizarro Family

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 10 Mar 2003 19:36:27 GMT

I'm cleaning up and resizing dozens of digital photos for my mother. She's going to use them in a photo quilt for Sandi Smith (from the Hudson, NH ecclesia).

Unfortunately for me, she needs the images "flipped" horizontally (left to right). For some reason, all of them men among my friends and family look wrong, just plain wrong, when you flip them around. Mark's face looks swollen, my dad looks about 15 years older, and I look even weirder than normal (believe it or not).

Sometimes I wish my brain wouldn't play tricks on me. ;-)

Happy Birthday Allison!

seth@macrobyte.net — Wed, 05 Feb 2003 18:36:35 GMT

My niece, Allison Peña, is one year old today! Happy Birthday, Alli!

Art and Sarah are having a birthday for her with the family... but I'm sick today so Corinne and I stayed home. :-(

Here's my most recent picture of Alli, taken in December at our ecclesia's Sunday School party. It's not obvious in the picture, but the costume she's wearing is a ladybug.

This one was taken by Bonny Pride a couple weeks ago.

13 Inch New Hampshire Snowstorm

seth@macrobyte.net — Fri, 27 Dec 2002 10:45:14 GMT

Eric and Bonny went to NH this week with their kids (and Frank, Bonnie, and Bethany Locke), and were buried under thirteen inches of snow after Wednesday's storm. We didn't get much of anything here along the coast (maybe two inches), so go check out their pictures.