skeptical to say the least

I like Google's products and services. I think they're useful and intuitive. I also realize that they're all ultimately tied to the "mother ship" in one way or another. Whether it be for reporting usage statistics for "product improvement" or if it's a web app which is directly hosted by them or something in between like Picasa which is on YOUR computer and manages YOUR pictures, but still logs on to Google via your Google account for enhanced services.

It all seems fairly innocuous, but if you stop to think (and read the EULA) about what you are giving Google access to, you'll realize that your email, (gmail) pictures, (picasa & email) videos, (youtube) chats, (google chat & AIM) voice conversations (google talk) and may other things are all archived and accessible. Even if you opt to keep your profile information private, (or rather non-public) Google and possibly partner companies still have access to it. The recent release of Google Dashboard is an attempt at transparency, but we all know that he who controls the information can also be selective in its disclosure. READ THIS

I guess what a lot of this boils down to is what we're comfortable with being "out there" and how much we're willing to make known about ourselves.

= BEWARE!

Here's where I'm going with this ramble...

The new Google Chrome OS is a new window manager running on a Linux Kernel which basically runs the Chrome browser. This is Google's idea of what an operating system should be. Their video describing the reasons behind it's development even state that. In the video, they say "if you're like me, you spend 95% of your time in your browser" (on the internet) so why not just eliminate everything else? On the surface, it seems like a good idea especially since netbooks are becoming so popular. Why not just make everything a 'net client? Google Chrome OS aims to do just that and make everything we do part of "the cloud" on the internet. People are only fooling themselves if they feel secure in doing this.

By doing everything via 'net app (internet application) you no longer have to worry about losing your data with a hard drive or computer crash. It's always available online from any computer with internet access.

No more massive hard drives with tons of storage for all of your music, pictures, videos, personal documents, etc. clogging up your system and slowing it down. Also, no security patches to be regularly installed because it's just a browser. Nothing else to be hacked right? Wrong.

What about the systems that store all of the data that everyone uses online. That's still online ALL THE TIME and how can you be sure that it's protected from intruders? Who's to say that you're not trusting all of your online life TO the intruders? Don't be so naive as to think that the password to your Google Accounts makes all of the information contained therein YOURS!

It is entirely possible based on profile information, (address, phone #s, etc) blogs, pictures, (picasa facial recognition) geotags, GPS, and many other "useful" tools for the keeper of all of this information to develop a full profile of you to be used however they see fit.

When I did intelligence in the Army, we used psychological profiles based on MUCH less information than we give to our online personas. As much as I hate to sound like one of those loony conspiracy theorists, this information could be used for different types of profiling which leads down a very slippery slope.

Think that idea is a stretch? It's already being done. It's called targeted advertising and is the basis for Google's Adsense and Adwords.

Awesome!

Lately...

Leaky Bucket Fiscal Policy




















Well, training got derailed the past 2 weeks. It was going well until we left for NC. I was hoping that while in NC, I could at least get in some "maintenance" workouts even though that was during my building/strengthening phase, but that was not to be. I had one fun trail run with Sean and a couple of swims, but other than that, I got nothing but down time surrounded by Southern cooking. At least I didn't over do that part. Thankfully, I was able to eat sensibly during the trip(s).
While in NC for Allison's cousin's wedding, we found out that my Grandmother died. After the wedding, we changed our flights, rented a car, and drove down to Pensacola for her funeral. It wasn't really unexpected as she was 96 years old. She's lived a long and full life and died peacefully in her sleep with my Mom by her side.



















Rest in peace Gigi. I love you and we'll miss you.













We stayed in FL a few more days and visited with family a bit. Went to the beach, got a sunburn, went kayaking, and got in one decent run although it was on the road and sidewalks.

Wisdom though the ages...

thoughts...

Sometimes I struggle with some things that I do in society. I work in the telecommunications industry and help to facilitate and propagate new technologies that make the world more and better connected. That has it's good and bad sides.
For one, I love technology. I play with it at home for fun and feel VERY fortunate to have a job that allows me to earn a living in something that I enjoy.
Another love of mine as most people know, is outdoor activities and in particular, adventure racing. These two interests of mine are very much at odds with each other and reconciling the nature of each in my life and mind is sometimes confusing.
Allow me to backtrack a little.
After leaving high-school, I joined the Army and did Satellite communications and Intelligence Analysis. This was not really that taxing mentally, but often, it was physically demanding being part of a rapid deployment airborne unit at Ft. Bragg. Basically, I was physically challenged, but not mentally.












Upon my honorable discharge and leaving the pride of serving my country behind me, I made the transition to a civilian job working with IBM Global Services in Tampa Florida. This job was the complete opposite of my previous life with the Army in the sense that it was mentally demanding, but offered no physical challenge. As is the case with many people in the corporate world, I needed both types of stimulus. Interestingly enough, Ted Kaczynski touched on this very thing in his "manifesto" and the effects of the industrial revolution on society. If you've never read it, please take the time to do so with an open mind and think about some of the implications of technology on our daily lives. (another similar and fascinating article here)
Back to the present.
One thing that technology does is the enablement of more multi-tasking (based on one's capacity for such) due to ever increasing computing power. This multi-tasking in the networking arena allows for more and faster communications via different mediums. The very definition of communication is the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs. (Dictionary.com) Now that we're able to exchange thoughts and ideas instantaneously with anyone and everyone that wants to know, how much substantially relevant info is being communicated. Obviously the answer to that subjective question depends on the individual perspective, but I feel that the more access we have to entertainment and each other, the less originality there seems to be.
This leads me to wonder just how much ease of information access or communication is necessary.
This is also one of the conflicts that I see in my own life.
Yes, I twitter. I'm on Facebook and MySpace, and obviously, I blog. I love technology and I support my family through the use and furtherment of technology, but electronic communication is (IMO) impersonal and requires less human interaction. Of course face to face communication isn't always geographically possible, but those people who are regionally capable, still lean on electronic means of communicating due to convenience.
The conveniences that technology has created for us has led to more sedentary lifestyles for many. A sedentary lifestyle doesn't fit with my idea of "living." To me, there's a big difference between existing and actually living.
When I'm trail running or mountain biking, I can be alone with my thoughts while being physically challenged. During this time, I am being myself without feeling the need to check or update my electronic "status" with the world.
Don't get me wrong. Communication is essential and I feel that EFFECTIVE communication is falling by the wayside for many reasons. Ignorance and apathy to name a couple.
Perhaps if we as a society had less convenience, we might be better communicators. If we were forced to actually FACE those with whom we wished or needed to communicate with, there might be more empathy and understanding amongst our fellow humans.
Since I'm thinking out loud, I guess it all boils down to a matter of personal choice. This is a problem though because when given the chance, most people with choose the path of least resistance or perceived greatest pleasure instead of the road less traveled.







Are you making the most of life or are you letting life make the most of you before it uses you up and discards you?

Not worth the chair you're sitting on!

Lance has some criticism for one of his critics!

Catching up and political rant.

Lately, I've had plenty to blog about, but just haven't had any motivation to do to. Here's an attempt to try to catch up.

About a month ago, I did a race with Adventures Xstream out near Vail. Although I was not anywhere NEAR being in race shape, I wanted to see how I'd do and wanted to see the scenery and test the AR skills.
Navigation was pretty basic with a couple of surprises and the distances weren't too crazy, but the terrain and the paddle gave me more of a challenge than I expected.
Race Breakdown:
The night before, we were given the course map and passport. We had to plot out our checkpoints and route based on the instructions.
The race started at 7:30 am in 30 degrees with an 8 mile bike ride to checkpoint #1.
At CP1 we received coordinates for CPs 2-4 to be reached on foot and we decided the best way to reach those in whichever order we chose. I was in the first transition about 2/3 of the way back in the pack, but was second out of the TA going into the navigation.
CPs 2-4 and the final run down to CP5 was ~ 5-7 miles and my knee and energy levels were still good.
I was still in second place beginning the first kayak leg and was still losing ground on first place, but still gaining ground on the rest of the soloists behind me.
I'm not a strong paddler and did not have a good boat so the class 2 river paddle wore me out for the first 6 mile segment. This leg of the race took us back to the transition area which we biked to at CP1 earlier. CP1 was now CP6 and after refilling the Camelback, I mounted the bike again in search for CP7 & 8. This part of the race took us up a LONG climb on a dirt road up the back side of some mountains. We climbed over 3000 feet in 10 miles and then had a decision to make about the route to take getting to CP8. The whole bike section was scenic, but grinding except for the downhill. The climb up took me 2 and a half hours (with a flat tire fix in the middle of it) and only 30 minutes to do the descent with a stop along the way for CP8. Getting back to what was originally CP1 & 6, I got back in the kayak for the final paddle down river to the start/finish. This last leg was more class 2 with a short section of class 3 and it was exhausting.
Surprisingly, I finished still in 2nd place and was 1 of the 4 or 5 soloists to finish the entire course. Many of the others couldn't complete it due to time cut-offs.

A week later, Ben Holmes (a.k.a. Bad Ben) and his wife Vicky came from KC to visit us. I had the privilege of seeing them in Leadville a few weeks earlier in August during the Leadville 100 mile trail run where they were supporting some fellow trail nerds who were running it. It was fun to also get to help out and watch that action unfold.
While Ben and Vicky visited, Ben and I got in a short but fun run in on the trails near my place.
Over the past few 3 months, I've been running about 6 or 7 times, biking about 3 times that, and the knee has been getting worse. I knew I had to do something about it soon.

Ski season is coming up soon and I now have my own set of skiis and have the Colorado Pass so I really hope to be able to take full advantage of it this winter. The way my knee has been feeling, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do that.
SO, I decided to put out a request for recommendations from the Boulder trail Runners mailing list. After receiving several recommendations, I decided to go with Dr. Jeremy Rodgers with Colorado Sports Chiropractic Center and go with his recommendation if I needed to see an orthopedic for anything. Many of the recommendations I received from the BTR list are below.

1. Dr. Voss of Boulder Orthopedics and Bob Cranny [Altitude Physical Therapy] (both x3)
2. Dr Stephen Paul (x3)
3. Lori Faulkerson (x2)
4. Dan Ocel (x1)
5. Jeremy Rodgers Sports Chiro (x3)

My visit with Dr. Rogers last Thursday was very positive and I'm enthusiastic about doing treatment with him. Hopefully, we can get my knee healthy and back in shape in time for ski season, but more importantly to me, in time for next year's running and adventure racing.
Of course the previous statement will be heavily dependent on the knee as well as my ability to race with whatever resources are available and those are dwindling with the economy taking such a downturn.

ON THAT NOTE...
I'm sick of the political ads, the negative commercials, the lies, and the blatant ignorance of the general public. For those of you who want to go along with the mass media's interpretation of what's at the root of the economic problems, you might want to get your facts first.

And for those who don't really believe that there's a democratic/liberal bias to CNN, I was trying to post comments with some facts in response to some political and economic articles and NONE of them were posted by the moderator. However, most of the comments that WERE posted were slamming Bush or Republicans in general and the slams had nothing to do with the articles. Why weren't my comments posted? There were nothing inflamatory there, nothing obscene, and no advertisements in my comments.

Here's some info for those of you who wish to know a little brief history leading to our current economic situation.

This is in case you were wondering how the housing crisis happened, which in turn has affected the stock market…as well as all financing in general.

During the Clinton administration all credit requirements for loans were lowered. This (combined with the dot com boom) helped caused an economic boom we all hear about during the Clinton Administration. Initially the lower standards were for low-income individuals. The middle class and the rich all took advantage of the same relaxed standards in order to buy investment homes. Everyone bought houses they couldn’t afford with no money down. Eventually, all of these mortgages were bundled and sold as investments on the stock market. Finally the bubble burst and now we are in a bad economic situation.

Clinton’s involvement with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

This is from the New York Times in 1999

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&&scp=1&sq=Fannie%20Mae%20Eases%20Credit&st=cse

Good quotes:

· “Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.”

· “the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.”

· “In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's.”

In the early Bush years (2003-2005) republicans attempted to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It was fought by the democrats and no regulations passed. We don’t know why they didn’t pass, what we do know is that the largest campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been to Democrats. Obama receiving the second most of any Democrat. I am not sure if there is a tie, but it is interesting. In any case, Pelosi should get her facts straight before she speaks and blames the crash of the stock market and the housing market on President Bush and the republican party.

Actual congressional hearings when the republicans were trying to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but the democrats were against it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7Rs

McCain trying to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2006

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/record.xpd?id=109-s20060525-16&bill=s109-190#sMonofilemx003Ammx002Fmmx002Fmmx002Fmhomemx002Fmgovtrackmx002Fmdatamx002Fmusmx002Fm109mx002Fmcrmx002Fms20060525-16.xmlElementm0m0m0m

Maybe we need to hear it in basic language (with an angry guy explaining the crisis.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYKk-uHTcks&feature=user (btw-I love this guy)

Although we know the war (that both parties voted on) is a large part of our national debt. The collapse in the financial market driven by the mortgage lending market and bundled products on the stock market are the cause of our economic downturn.

Check out this fascinating ppt:

http://www.slideshare.net/eldon/sequoia-capital-on-startups-and-the-economic-downturn-presentation?type=powerpoint

Sequoia called in all their startups to tell them how to survive the downturn.

Just in case you continue to hear Democrats blaming the Republican Party for the economic situation, you now have the facts!

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying vote Republican or Democrat or Independent. I'm saying the same thing I've always said which is my motto in life. Know what you believe, but more importantly, know WHY you believe it. Bottom line is THINK FOR YOURSELF and don't believe everything you hear. Especially on TV.

I'm no fan of President Bush, because Republicans have traditionally advocated LESS government and more personal responsibility, but under his tenure, the Federal Government has grown tremendously and I don't believe we're approaching "the war on terror" the right way. Anyone who thinks or says that "Bush's tax cuts" were for "the rich" obviously doesn't understand how our tax system works and is guilty of perpetuating ignorance.

Anyone who believes that Obama's tax plan which will result in 45% of the US population NOT PAYING ANY TAXES AT ALL yet still receiving a rebate is good for the country is being lulled into socialism. But that's delving into a topic that I don't have the time to explain right now.

Ok, enough of the rant.

Currently, we're all in Orlando for my work. I'm here for 2 weeks of training and we're catching up with old friends and will get to see family as well. Pictures will be forthcoming soon.