September 6, 2007
the full spec list on my new Seven
| Component | Brand |
| Frame | Seven IMX Titanium/Carbon |
| Fork | 2008 Fox 32F120 RLC Disc |
| Stem | Seven Ti |
| Bar | Seven Ti |
| Post | Moots Ti |
| Spacers | Seven Ti |
| Crank | Shimano XTR |
| Bottom Bracket | Shimano XTR |
| Rear Derailleur | Shimano XTR |
| Front Derailleur | Shimano XTR |
| Cassette | Shimano XTR |
| Chain | Shimano XTR |
| Rear Brake | Shimano XTR |
| Front Brake | Shimano XTR |
| Shifters | Shimano XTR |
| Pedals | Shimano XTR |
| Road Wheelset | Mavic Crossmax SLR Disc, Centerlock |
| Mountain Wheelset | Mavic Crossmax SLR Disc, Centerlock |
| Headset | Chris King Threadless 1 1/8 |
| Grips | Oury Lock-on |
| Saddle | Fizik Arione |
| Mountain Tires | WTB Exiwolf 26x2.1 |
| Mountain Tires | WTB Exiwolf 26x2.1 |
| Mountain Tube | Presta 26x2.1 48mm valve height |
| Mountain Tube | Presta 26x2.1 48mm valve height |
| Road Tires | Panaracer T-Serve 26x1.5" |
| Road Tires | Panaracer T-Serve 26x1.5" |
| Road Tube | Presta 26x1.5-1.75 48mm valve height |
| Road Tube | Presta 26x1.5-1.75 48mm valve height |
Posted by Martin at 9:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 4, 2007
Review of first Seven IMX dirt ride
Took the new Seven out for a dirty ride today. It was raining slightly, but still warmish (70). Look ma, dirt on the new bike!
Basically completely happy. Very different riding a hard tail from the old full suspension. Very compliant. And you really feel the bunnyhops! The back end is just there, sticky. I also noticed that over little burms the front fork would compress and then the hard tail would pop up off if I was going fast enough. I had forgotten hard tails do that. But controllable. On the flats I locked out the Fox fork and the bike rode like a road bike, completely solid and fast. With the front suspension on, I didn't feel most of the bumps in the road, completely soaked them up without having that springy feeling. On the climbs I never felt like I was compressing the suspension, that is the whole idea and it works! The XTR groupo was flawless and I really appreciated the granny gear coming up Queen Anne. I actually overrode the big gear on the flats with my slicks, so I may get a couple teeth larger big gear. Overall, totally jazzed!
Posted by Martin at 10:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 28, 2007
new mountainbike
The summer is nearly over, but I just got my new mountainbike
A custom Seven IMX hardtail. Ti with carbon fibre. XTR, Mavic. Watch out hills!
Posted by Martin at 8:49 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
November 13, 2006
Balance is hard, practice is good
Balance is a key part of surfing which I love to do when not making biodiesel. After trying a bunch of different balance boards and techniques, I have decided to get this one: Balance360.com - Home. My favorite simple trick is still knee bends on top of the swiss ball, but this balance board is wigglier. After first getting the basics down (not falling off), try some exercises on it like curls, knee bends, twists, lunges, etc. Just like you were surfing!
Posted by Martin at 9:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 12, 2006
My house on HGTV
He look ma, my house on TV: Shows A - Z : What's With That House : House of Squares and More : Home & Garden Television (it is "Industrial Loft House").
Posted by Martin at 10:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 14, 2006
Looking for a beach house?
Ah a beach house. One of my favorites is in Laguna Beach owned by my friend Patrice. I have stayed there many times. Patrice is now selling this paradise and moving back to France. Check it out...
Posted by Martin at 7:31 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 25, 2005
camping close to Seattle
Just got back from a one night jaunt with Finn (5 yrs old) and another dad and his daughter. There are an amazing number of overnight places very close to seattle well catalogued here: Camping Near Cle Elum Along I-90. We started off to go to Fish Lake, but when faced with 15 miles on bumpy dirt switchbacks we opted for Cooper Lake instead. Amazing. Beautiful mountain lake with a small number of hike in campsites. Fishing (no didn't catch anything) and nice day hike. Next time I will bring a canoe. The only downside was the morning when the thermostat said 36 degrees. After two casts Finn said "I can't feel my hands" so being the alert dad, I packed up camp and we went into Rosalyn to have french toast and eggs. Guess it is the end of summer for real now.
Posted by Martin at 8:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 25, 2005
Need a pool table?
Just posted my trusty pool table on Craigs List: Modern Pool Table with red felt, Air hockey and Ping pong top... Have had alot of fun on that. Paid over $2,200 for it, but it doesn't fit in the new house. Have fun!
Posted by Martin at 8:23 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 27, 2005
Made it through Lent
So today is the end of Lent. Easter Sunday. I had a terrible time trying to convince my daughter that the day was about anything but candy and easter egg hunts (in the rain), but I gave it my all. You may recall that I gave up coffee, refined sugar and committed myself to more time with my daughter this Lent. How did I do? Well two out of three ain't bad. I stayed off the mud. Not one cup of coffee caffinated or decaf. But I still drank diet soda and black tea. Couldn't give up the jolt. This morning I went to Diablo for a Cafe con Leche. I swear it was the best coffee ever. On the refined sugar, when Alex fell off her committment to that after a week, it was hard for me to comply. Besides, the stuff is EVERYWHERE. With the more time with Finn, I did the surf day at her school and the kids still call me "surf daddy". I also did a couple other things for the school including parenting on the zoo fieldtrip. Didn't loose any kids to the gorillas, so I guess it was a success. How did you do?
Posted by Martin at 10:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 3, 2005
The collaborative Symptometer
OK, to follow up on my interests for this year, I have started a dive into IT meets Bio/Pharma/Healthcare.
This one is a little off the path I was thinking about, but I am in the bumping into trees part (the fun part). Healthcare Collaboration Networks: Collaborative Symptometer. Gencache has developed a collaborative symptom meter. It is in alpha. Here is how it works:
1. register for site. (gawd I wish more people would implement Passport or some sort of single credentials system).
2. start using the site. It is pretty confusing, but basically you go into your profile and start creating "health profiles" with symptoms and things that worked for you. I entered one for "lower back pain" and put cure as "core exercises with abs and back weights". That always works for me. Lower back pain is a sign I am not doing enough crunches.
3. There are 131 Genecacher's signed up and it looks like not alot of activity. They try to get you to enter more profiles, link yours to other people, search for other people with similar symptoms, and invite your friends.
4. They have the typical chicken and the egg problem. I guess the idea is that if enough symptom/solution pairs were up there you could simply enter your symptoms and get a list of highly qualifed solutions. But who is going to take the time to load all that? And there is no easy way to enter a symptom and get a solution that I can yet find. (maybe v 2.0). If they could find an easy way to seed the network... Unfortunately there is no easy "upload" like there is for my contacts to Plaxo or something.
Well it is after all an Alpha.
What I like: Use community experiences in healthcare to provide better health care.
What I don't like: No scale yet. Hard to police a large community for snake oil salesmen.
Posted by Martin at 11:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 9, 2005
The beginning of Lent
I have posted before about what I am doing for Lent. Since Today is the start of Lent and I loaded up on 3 expressos yesterday in preparation, here is what I am doing this year:
- Giving up coffee (caffinated and de-caff).
- Giving up refined sugar in all items (except beer)
- Spending more time each week at Finn's school. Today I am going in to give a half hour presentation to the pre-school on surfing. Let them try on a wetsuit, wax a surfboard. Should be fun!
Posted by Martin at 8:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 31, 2004
Contribute to disaster in Sri Lanka
Phil Bogle, from one of our portfolio companies pointed me to this local charity in Sri Lanka: THE NATIONAL DISASTER RELIEF AND REHABILITATION FUND. I like to give as directly as possible with as little overhead as possible. This looks like a good one in this case. Here is what Phil said about it:
If anyone is interested in donating to a reputable grassroots charitable organization that allows online donations, I now have one. This is the by the Colombo Chamber of Commerce, which Manjari's (my wife's uncle) is involved with.
Their web site is http://www.sossrilanka.org/
A local organization like this is complementary to the efforts of big multinationals like the Red Cross and Unicef, donations to which I also encourage wholeheartedly.
They have lots of volunteers already in place who know the country well and they're in it for the long haul. A key problem is simply understanding what the needs are and how to efficiently meet those needs based on the resources available. A long term perspective and commitment is important. Both the lions club and the colombo chamber of commerce are thinking about the longer terms issues of housing and improved warning systems, as well as immediate aid and comfort. The outpouring of local volunteerism and contributions here has really been quite amazing.
Posted by Martin at 3:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 28, 2004
Sunday afternoon fun
My daughter Finn just finished a book of 25 connect the dot activities that I bought for $9.95. She wanted to do more, so of course I went to Google. Here is a great site with lots of connect the dot activities for free printing... Connect the Dots
Posted by Martin at 4:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 17, 2004
Want to do a background check on yourself for $10?
Here is the future.... WATCH - Washington Access to Criminal History who needs PIs?
Posted by Martin at 10:14 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
December 16, 2004
Harvard Healthy Eating Pyramid
As I sit here at 2:30 eating my (second) chocolate cookie and (third) coffee of the day, I am reading a post about the Food Pyramids: Nutrition Source, Harvard School of Public Health. Harvard has improved on the USDA pyramid. Maybe tomorrow....
Posted by Martin at 2:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 7, 2004
HPF, the verdict
I have been posting about HPF the Hangover Prevention Formula found on-line. Last night I had the chance to try it out. While it is only B vitamins (with some other misc stuff), it does in fact work. Three martini's later, I was up and at the surf break at 6:30 this morning without a hint of headache, drymouth, or that feeling of "drain". Haven't done a controlled double blind study against the much cheaper multi-vitamin (and I doubt I will), but it is interesting to know that HPF does in fact work. It is hard to find the additional benefit to justify the cost though. Conclusion: Stay with the multivitamin.
Posted by Martin at 7:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 4, 2004
What is in HPF?
As I posted earlier, I had to buy the touted Hangover Prevention Formula (HPF) just for the name. My experience has been that the B vitamins are the most important. And the makers of this concoction agree. Here is what is in there:
Thiamin 3mg (200%)
Riboflavin 3.4mg (200%)
Niacin 40mg (200%)
Vitamin B6 4mg (200%)
Pantothenic acid 20mg (200%)
and a "patented, standardized, cactus fruit extract" of 800 IU which probably doesn't do anything.
Haven't tried it yet (will letcha know), but it looks like a good multivitamin would be cheaper and just as effective.
Posted by Martin at 8:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 17, 2004
Time to buy a new ULock
Kryptonite Evolution 2000 U- Lock hacked by a Bic pen - Misc. Gadgets - gadgets.engadget.com This was also just on NPR. Hackers strike again!
Posted by Martin at 4:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Hangover prevention?
Thanks to DailyCandy, I just ordered some Perfect Equation Hangover Prevention Formula (HPF). Now I have been a big believer of a multi-vitamin before bed after a night out (the B12 takes care of most of it) but I have never heard of a "prevention" pill that lasts up to three days. I bet it is just a multivitamin and you take it before you go out drinking and the stuff stays in you. Will let you know how it works as next week is probably a big drinking week.
Posted by Martin at 2:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 25, 2004
July was a bad month for search terms
Well it is Sunday night and I am uploading 400MB to my FTP server, so I guess that means it is time to check the logs and see who is coming to my site and what search terms they are using to get here. Now I like to consider my blog content rich with tech musings and gadget stuff. But what is the #1 search phrase in July? "Buy Cocaine" with 69 instances. This post is the problem. Number 5 on the list is "Where to buy cocaine", same post. There is some solace in the fact that "biodiesel cars", "whipple supercharger", "packet8", "herf gun" and "DVD sharing" made it into the top 10. I wonder what people will be searching for next month?
Posted by Martin at 8:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 13, 2004
A site I am not going to buy from
I usually only post about things I like on the net. But this one was so bad I have to mention it. Workout Manuals, Fitness Programs, Fat Loss, Exercise, Health Lifestyle, Craig Ballantyne. I have a pretty well equiped home gym. Over the years though I have gotten into a routine with my workouts. I need some variety. So I read in Men's Health about this site where a trainer has a bunch of different work-out programs that you can buy. Sounds good. But on the site there is only the barest of descriptions about what the actual product is. Basically a title of a progam and a buy now button. No samples. Lots of claims about "the best fitness of your life" and quotes from supposed customers. It is worse than the late night exercise fitness informertials. Completely content free. All marketing.
That is now how to sell something to me.
Posted by Martin at 10:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
New community site
There are way too many "social networking" sites. I am a member of them all. None has really given me value. The two most valuable have been Spoke and Linkedin. Listening to the radio the other day on the way back from work, the founder of TimeBucks was on. It is like an e-bay for your volunteer time. I just created an account to try it out. This is not a full review of the experience yet. The idea is you set up an account and tell the system something about you and what you like or maybe what you can do. Other people in your area sign up. The idea is connect non-professional people with others who need something done. This is neighbors helping neighbors. No money changes hands. You search for someone to help fix your toilet but you won't get a professional plummer. The non-professional aspect keeps the transactions free of the dreaded IRS. If you find someone you like, you have them come fix your toilet. That person gets time bucks (15 per day regardless of hours). You need to pay that person in timebucks you earn by doing something for someone else in the community.
The big producers of timebucks now are Massage therapist. There is a shortage of real talents on the system. Just over 1000 members. Only 273 in Seattle. Seems like an interesting twist on the social network no-money thing. The guy who founded it is one of these "alternative currency" guys. Friend of barter, etc. You could call this a big non-professional barter exchange. I may try out some of the people.
Keep an ear here for more. Don't have any idea how this guy is going to make any money though.
Posted by Martin at 10:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 29, 2004
Wondering what to do in a WMD attack?
On Sept. 11, the first thing that went through my head when I saw the twin towers on fire was "how do I protect my family?" The first thing was not to "contact local officials" as the Homeland Security office would now have you believe. They all have their hands full. The Rand group has published a PDF file for personal use that is very helpful. It turns out that basically hunkering down in your house in as sealed a room as you can get is the best thing to do. I probably should put a Panic Room in the new house...
Posted by Martin at 3:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 4, 2004
My brother Chris has interesting comments on life
My brother Chris just got a blog. An entry from today caught my eye on Lifestyle diseases. A friend of his is a doctor who often travels to Africa. He points out that most of American healthcare dollars are actually spent to treat diseases of our own creation because we eat, smoke, and lay around too much. wow...
Posted by Martin at 8:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 22, 2003
Check here before you travel
Ever wonder what the best seat on your next flight is? Look no further...SeatGuru.com - Your Enlightened Guide to Airplane Seating
Posted by Martin at 7:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack