I once was blind and now I see

At the end of spring break, we were driving back from Sun Peaks. We stopped for lunch and I mentioned to my wife, "look, cherry blossoms". She said "it's been blooming for well over a week".

That same night a friend sent me a email saying how happy she was about the cherry blossoms. I replied back saying I only saw it today.

So the following workday I made the effort to count how many cherry trees I can find along the way. Turns out:
- there are less than 5 along South-west Marine between 41st and 16th.
- probably a couple more between 16th and North-west Marine.
- there are roughly 10 along North-west marine, close to where the houses are.
- probably around 5 along 4th from NW Marine to Alma.
- around 5 along Burrard between the Bridge and Hastings.

So far so good. Can't say I missed much.

But there are A LOT of cherry trees along Cornwall. So many that I don't know how I missed it. Lame excuses includes:

- there are a lot of cracks and potholes
- i am concentrating on my speed and heart rate.
- I like to look at cars than flowers.
- my neck hurts, can't look up.

Anyways I justed realized what I was missing. :-(

zone 2

I've been following this program for a few weeks. I was going to blog that it is too easy - until last Saturday.
It was the last day of week 4. Soccer has ended so I have extra time to ride longer. So instead of a 90 minute zone 2 I extended it to 2 hours.
Unfortunately I picked the wrong day of the weekend to ride long. It is raining rather heavily constantly with a good wind. I went around Iona Beach thinking it has no lights so it makes a good continuous ride. On the way there I saw planes landing in the direction opposite to me - meaning the wind is on my back. So trouble lies ahead. On my way back the wind picked up and it was hard to keep spinning and maintain a steady heartrate.

When I got home I was exhausted, soaked from top to bottom and my legs were sore. I have rain covers for my shoes and they were still completely soaked. 48 hours afterwards they still were.

So zone 2 is not easy. Not at all.

it is not easy

My drive train was wearing out and I was looking at different ways of fixing it. I can always throw the bike at a local bike shop and pay them. But being the skeptical self I don't always trust whatever the bike shop recommends. Last summer I met a guy what works for the local outdoor equipment co-op. He builds his own bikes, has a workshop in his garage and sounds very knowledgeable. So I asked him last week if he can change the drive train for me. He said it is simple and would not take more than an hour. So I picked up the parts at his shop, cleaned my bike (now that's a BIG job by itself) and took my bike over at his place.

Once I'm at his place I realized my riding philosophy is very different from his: I ride rain or shine and he would not ride in the rain because it damages his bike too much. Partially because of the amount of gunk and partially because of my worn out stuff it took a while just to change the chain. We got the chain ring wrong and we determined that we can try keeping the rear cassette.

In hindsight it is one of those jobs that a normal cyclist would not do and it is hard for anybody who does not do this for a living to do it consistently once every few years. Add to it nuances with new technology (e.g. you should not fit a 10 speed chain on a 9 speed drive train) makes this thing a non-trivial matter - never mind what anybody tell you how easy it should be.

The next morning I was cautiously riding to bike to work. I was crossing Burrard bridge when I heard a few clicks and a big snap. Turns out my rear dérailleur snapped out from the frame. I took the bike to the shop and the guy said I have to replace the dérailleur too. So a few hundred bucks later I have a new drivetrain.

almost frozen

I went out on a training ride last Saturday morning. The weather report was rather normal: 3 degrees Celsius, light rain. So the plan was to follow the program and ride for about 90 minutes. About 10 minutes in I realized it was not only raining: it was wet snow. My gloves and shoes starting and get soaked and soon I was feeling the coldness through my extremities. Soon after I finished my main drill I turned back home. Luckily I was about 20 minutes from home. By the time I got home, I cannot manipulate my fingers to take off my cycling gear! Took me a good few minutes to take off all the wet stuff using my stiff fingers without flexing.

one thing lead to another to a third

About 10 years I was assigned to go on my first business trip in Canada. It was to install, customize and train our new client in Aurora Ontario (yes - the what's-her-name MP was the CEO then).

So the first morning me and my partner were having breakfast and we were reading the paper. This was the first time I read the Globe and Mail and I spent the most time on the obituaries section. I never read these columns but somehow the Globe got my attention. From then on whenever I get to flip open the Globe I read that section first.

With all the talks about making JP2 a saint here is a guy that is probably more deserved to be one. Not only is he action oriented, talks against injustice, he is also very honest about himself and his mistakes - something not even the beloved JP2 was able to do...

Too bad the article is pay only - here is another one about this priest that is free.

Hong Kong - part 5.1 - Macau part 1

I have visited Macau a number of times when I was younger and have not visited that place for a while. So when we got there last December I was stunned when the immigration officer asked me whether I have been to Macau. I would guess their immigration system was implemented after my last visit and therefore have no record of me. Two interesting thoughts come to mind:

1. I must be a loser since Macau is such a bustling place right now there is no other reason for me not to visit.
2. Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of China. Macau is also a Special Administrative Region of China. Why do we still have "border" controls? The same is for ShenZheng. I don't get it...

Hong Kong - part 4 - cycling

One of the fun things I have done this trip is cycling with a few friends from school. These guys started out swimming competitively in school days and picked up triathlon as a sport a few years back. I was never good at swimming so triathlon was not my thing.


Here is a picture we took on a ride near the border of Hong Kong.

My friends' bikes are all very high quality. I didn't bring a bike and borrowed my friend's nice spare Bianchi with Ultegra components. (My "good" bike is 105) The other guy's pair of wheels are more expensive than my 2 bikes added together.

The routes in Hong Kong are a bit limited in choices and we have to start early. I have to wake up before 5am, hop on my friend's car at 5;15am to arrive at the starting location by 6am. The routes are a few laps of 10-20km so you have to do a few rounds to have a 2 hour ride.

One thing I learned from my friends is their dedication and the possibility of riding in the early morning. It is challenging for me to wake up but once you do the ride is very enjoyable. This is especially true during the Vancouver Winter when sunset is before I leave the office.

Hong Kong - part 3

Here is a small snippet of sights and sounds during the few days when the internet come to a halt due to the earthquake in Taiwan:

My family were having a bite at a small eatery and I overheard a conversation about the outage and ways to get around it like: oh I can go to yahoo.com.hk but can't do a search so I use this website and they were able to get me some results...

On the TV and in the paper people are talking about using proxy servers to route out of Asia. Of course the proxy servers pretty much shut down because this increased traffic.

My cousin was visiting Hong Kong from Japan and we were supposed to hook up to go to Ocean Park together. I was suppose to send him a email to confirm date and time. He was supposed to read his email from his blackberry and give me a confirmation. Well the email was sent out (thanks to the basic version of gmail) but he never got notified because of the routing problems.

During those few days I have to constantly no think internet, no google, limited email capability and survive without these tools. Kind of like brushing your teeth with your other hand.

Hong Kong part 2 - conveyor belts

I was standing and the luggage claim area in the Hong Kong International Airport, and being the optimized person that I am, I want to grab my bags as soon as they show up. So I was standing right where the bags are being dropped into the circular conveyor belt area.

After staring at the mechanism for a few minutes I noticed one thing, that the linear conveyor belt that drops the bags into the circular belt sometimes stops. There seems to be some sort of traffic monitoring going on. It seems to be looking for existence of baggage in the main belt and waits for a slot to drop it in if there are bags in the vicinity.

When I arrive in Vancouver, I noticed there is a similar system. Unfortunately there is also a guy working on the belt to smooth out the luggages. So obviously the system does not work as well.

Hong Kong - part 1

I was in Hong Kong for a few weeks attending a family wedding and visiting friends and family. Upon arrival I saw something like a ticketing booth in the immigration area:



So I stuck my smart-card Hong Kong ID card in and viola, in-and-out of immigration area in less than 10 seconds... cool!

Here is more info on the system.

My boss told me after the trip that this is similar to the NEXUS program. One difference is that every resident of Hong Kong has or will have this ID card and the system is to designed to process a high number of travellers at a very short time.

bullet

I have been pondering on a new bike for a while. The ability to use a commuter bike for normal riding and a nicer bike for longer and faster rides has attracted my attention for roughly two years.

So finally I pulled the trigger and got myself a second hand Cannondale. There is a couple of things I need to install before a real ride so more to come.

The interesting thing about this ordeal is the emotional aspect of it. I have been debating back and forth with myself with a little help with some friends. The moment I close the deal I felt dreadful, as if I have made the biggest mistake in the world. My wife was mildly supportive (that fact she did not veto is a good sign). My kids were a bit excited and wanted to go out with me on the new bike. Now I feel OK but there is no urgency to ride it - possibly saving it for next year.

Anyways I will put the stuff on and give it a spin when I have a weekend opening.

Chinese Fields Medal winner!

I was planning to write up on Yau Shing Tung and this news popped right out. Congrats to this fine young genius!

new shifters = new bike?

I have a touring bike with road shifters. My front Tiagra shifter is starting to skip at particular areas and the mechanic advices me to look for a new one. After a bunch of googles ended up getting a good idea on a pair of 105 shifters. I just got them installed yesterday.

With new shifters and new handlebar wrap, it justs feels like a new bike. It seems very smooth. So happens they put the same colour as the original wraps so it actually brought me back to the point in time when the bike is new and I was so happy!

So do yourself a favour, spend a little money on handlebar wrap and you can make a 5 -year old bike brand new again.

let me be the first to say this on the internet

Last night we invited 2 out-of-town Jesuits home for a get-together. One of them, an alumnus of La Salle College and also attended my alma mater, said that the reason my school has a serious rivalry with Wah Yan College Hong Kong goes as far as the found of Wah Yan. It is documented that he was a teacher at St Joseph's before he started, but apparently he "invited" a few colleagues to come with him. So according to my friend the Jesuit this is the start of a rivalry.

what do I want to do - part 2

This is one that is way out in left field: being a quant (aka rocket scientist), aka financial analyst in a heavy weight math setting. Most found in investment houses calculation financial option prices.

Why? Because it seemed fun. I was working in Tokyo for a US bank when I realize there is such an occupation for math grads.

It would be fun putting my interest and skills in math and programming together. The closest I've got since was to write a bunch of bond price-to-yield calculations which involve solving a bunch of degree N polynomials. It is really high school math then it is "advanced" math.

The saving grace these days is me having the ability to talk intelligently about financial instruments in general how it is modelled in the application.

The other side effect is to be able to argue with accountants and implementation folks about what kind of accounting entries need to be created for the financial instruments we model. Yea, amortization and interest accrual, debt expenses and stuff are *really* sophiscated math. :-)

What do I want to do when I grow up? Part 1

I guess when one turns 40, one starts their mid life crisis. So I am starting to ponder the things that I wanted to do but never did and see if there is any chance of happening in the future.

So let's start with something old: the thought of becoming a teacher. A high school Math teacher to be precise. I did that for two years not long after graduating. It was challenging for a young guy who is not patient and does not possess the wisdom (read conviction) to stick to his ways and do the right thing for the students. Somewhere in the back of my head this is a broken dream and one day I want to try it again...

Also back in my education training and undergrad days there was a thought: the use of history in aiding the instruction of math. The argument I have is that topics should be introduced in the order of their discovery in history. For example, the concept of limit was introduced after integration and differentiation. So therefore when teaching students you really need to talk about differentiation and integration before you can introduce limits in any reasonable manner. But yet if you read Calculus textbooks 99% of them would define limit ahead.

this is funny

Riding in the rain and cold

Just read and commented on a post from the fat cyclist. One thing lead to another so here are some more thoughts.

The question comes up now and again: why do you ride in the rain? Why do you ride when it is so cold? The simple answer: because I can and I want to.

When I started commuting by bicycle 8 years ago, I only do it 2-3 times a week when it is not raining. I don't have the appropriate rain gear nor was I prepared to deal with cars and splashes and other problems. This went on for about 2 years. Then a new colleague who also commutes showed me what gear to get and soon I ride more and more. Now it is just natural to wake up, check the weather report and outside conditions, put on the right gear and go.

Riding in the cold is actually not hard. The body just naturally generates heat to keep you warm. The next issue to deal with is keeping your fingers, toes and ears warm.

Ice remains my biggest enemy. I generally stop riding for about 10-15 days during dead winter to avoid hitting ice. A few years back I spilled a few times. That's why I haven't conquered it. I still see commuters on the road and sometimes wonder how they can do it. Then again I watch racers go and also wonder how they can do it.

riding in Seattle

Finally got a chance to brag about this. I went to the Devscovery in Redmond. The conference was great and insightful. The best part of the trip was riding around Redmond with Eric G! We even skipped a trip to the Microsoft employee store in order to ride!

new use of computer fan

Well it's July 11th and it is still raining in Vancouver. When I leave home this morning there was no rain. Well a few peddles on the bike and voila, pouring rain. I took a chance and didn't put on my shoe covers and by the time my ride is over, my socks are shoes are totally soaked. I put my shoes to a strategic spot behind the computer and after an hour or 2, my shoes are totally dry. All thanks to Intel making a cpu that needs multiple fans to cool down. I finally found a way to reuse the heat generated! :-)