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π 2009-04-23 01:01 in Exercising

Over the last months I did take a little bit of weight, first due to not really being able to run much since about 8 months ago when I injured my knees, and then recently my bike/hand injury.
Today was the first time I got to run a 5k at boot camp. I did it in just under 25mn, which is far from my 22mn record, but eh, at least it was barely under 25mn :)
Hopefully I'll be able to build this back up soon.

π 2009-04-19 01:01 in Exercising

Despite the very unseasonable heat, even by leaving after 16:30, we went out for a bike ride to Palo Alto airport and its nearby duck pond where people were happy to ignore the multiple "do not feed the ducks" signs. Sigh...

Good news is that while my left hand still hasn't fully recovered (it still hurts to open a door knob with it), it good enough for most tasks, including biking on normal roads (not sure about mountain biking yet).

π 2009-04-12 01:01 in Cars, Ncars

When coming back from Brian's in Pleasanton, I had a much better idea than driving the boring hwy 680/880 home and we took Calaveras road from 84/880 back to Milpitas. Driven at good pace, it didn't take much longer than the freeway, but was a much more scenic and fun drive :)
(Calaveras however always kind of makes you wonder what would happen if a guy comes the other way from a blind turn on a 1.5 lane-wide road and isn't really on his side...

I actually kept a very reasonable pace because the road not being very even forced me to brake early so that my nose didn't scrape on the road when I was braking before a turn (braking hard just before a dip/bump was a guaranteed nose scrape).

See more images for Nice Drive Down Calaveras

π 2009-04-10 01:01 in Clubbing

Above & Beyond were Ruby Skye's second big lineup for its anniversary. It was another great party just 3 days from Armin's night, barely enough time to recover for those who have a day job :)

I think I'm going to start playing the new A&B game: guess which 2 out of 3 are going to show up :)
Last time it was Paavo and Tony, and this time it was Jono and Paavo.

They played some good tunes, looked like they were having a good time, especially Paavo who was going all out :)

Paavo, having a good time

I'm thinking that when they go home, they probably say "I can't believe we get paid for this" ;-)

See more images for Above & Beyond @ Ruby Skye

π 2009-04-07 01:01 in Clubbing

Ruby Skye is having its anniversary in style by first having Armin, and then Above and Beyond a few days later. It was hard to miss :)

Armin overperformed as usual: he started his set 30mn early and finished 30mn late for a 4H set, and it was a good set: I never had to wait for the next interesting tune, it was just good stuff all around.
Armin also definitely gets credit for not having let his fame get the best of him like some other DJs which I won't name: he still looks like he's really enjoying this after all these years, and does his best to please his fans and not disappoint them, which can be hard in his position at the top, especially when fans get a bit crazy and start removing their shirts or shoes to get them signed :)

In a nutshell, it was a great evening and Armin definitely didn't disappoint. That was a great warmup for the upcoming ASOT 400.

Ruby Skye had its usual nice decors and dancers

Reading messages :)

Love ya guys

he still does his best to sign autographs and shake hands

See more images for Armin Van Buuren @ Ruby Skye

π 2009-04-06 01:01 in Public, Solar

Actually the solar system has been up since Feb 26th, but I've been waiting on the install and hookup of the add on monitoring system. The monitoring isn't quite working reliably yet, but oh well the important part, power generation, is working fine and that's what matters :)

stack of 27 $1500 bills sitting outside :)

I chose the 225W panels as they were slightly cheaper but also looked nicer

this shows the rails that the panels are attached to

18 panels facing south east (not ideal) and 9 facing due south

the 6000W DC to 240V AC inverter

the PG&E guy coming in to install the time of use meter

See more images for Solar Panel Install Done

π 2009-04-03 01:01 in Cars, Ncars

I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it ot Thunderhill due to my recent hand injury (or the fact that it might have rained), but things turned out ok. One of my coworkers nicely agreed to drive the car to TH while I flew there (a good excuse to work on my flying currency). Flight to Willows was a bit slower than expected due to heavy headwinds, but I was there by 07:30, well in time for the driver's meeting.

The sessions went fine, except for the fact that someone or something reset my traction control to street from race, making me a fair amount slower than I should have been, and I'm kicking myself for not noticing it. My car otherwise did fine, the traction problems I had were likely due to the traction control trying to help too much, and my brakes were dependable and held up just fine.

night flight to Willows

making wider tires fit by widening the fender with a baseball bat :)

Tony means business :)

passing the lemons car :)

Putting aside the fact that I was blackflagged once for scaring a miata off the track and another time for not seeing a radical that I didn't see creeping up on me, and that I ended up blocking for a bit, putting aside the traction control issue, it was a good day :)

Since the wind was strong enough that I had to take off northbound, I used the opportunity to fly over thunderhill and take a few pictures:

Flight home was quick thanks to the winds :)

See more images for TEAM event at Thunderhill