Online Dating

I guess I have to back up at some point and explain online dating, how we got here, what that experience has been like. I started with online dating when this was a very taboo thing. Before television adds and billboards to help make this mainstream, probably it was 2001. At that point, this was a very fringe activity, and surely my friends who I told thought I was surely going to end up being the victim of human trafficking. Which amuses me - I mean meeting random people happens all day in my regular routine: cab drivers, people on the airplane, people I meet at the grocery store...

Meeting them via online methods doesn't really change much related to safety. Actually, if anything I might argue having an online window into someone is perhaps more insightful to safety issues than meeting them via brick-and-mortar methods in many cases.
I've tried most of the major online dating sites over the years. Mostly this has been interesting when I've moved to a new area and wanted to meet more people generally - for friends or activity partners or for dating if there happened to be chemistry. Hotornot, eHarmony, Match.com, Plenty of Fish, Dating DNA, Ok Cupid. I've met some great people, had fun dates, occasionally met someone who I ended up dating, others who I just became friends with. All in all it's been extremely positive experiences. Also some fun (and crazy) stories.

One of the most interesting things to come of online dating lately is from my overall favorite online dating site: Ok Cupid. They have all kinds of interesting data on their users, and they have started publishing some very interesting metrics at their blog: blog.okcupid.com This is one of my favorite blogs to read lately. Also I get these clever emails with random facts about my preferences or compatibility. The latest installment of this is shown in this post - they've mapped my compatibility scores with the averages across US States and also other countries, taking into account my stated "must haves" and "can't stands" and also other dimensions of preference I have specified (likes dogs or education levels or whatever). Look out South Korean women... here I come! Ha, ha, ha.

AFM Round 7 Race Results and Season Recap

The final round of the AFM season was this last weekend at Sears Point aka Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. Reflecting on the race season, I can't help be feel overwhelmed with gratitude for my fortune and blessings to have means, health and luck to complete a race season with such success. Though the year I saw a couple very experienced racers cease their season-campaign due to life circumstance changes or unlucky track events, and many first year racers like me make race weekend appearances but not be able to consistently get out and compete. I didn't win any races this year - not a single one, and it may be some time before I could realistically compete at the level needed to podium in the varsity level races, and in no way does this hamper my feeling of success with this season overall. I was able to participate in 6 of the 7 total race weekends, and actually race in 5 of the 7 weekend races (missed one due to bike failure when I shattered my clutch at the Buttonwillow round early in the season). I'm healthy, learning safely how to ride quicker, finding people my same speed to compete with, making friends at the track, motivating some of my Saturday riding pals to get off the street and join me on the track, and amassing a great collection of race photos up here to share with you all!

So here's the performance stats. Last weekend at Sears Point I maintained 1:53's pretty much all weekend. Not my best laptimes at Infineon, but given the sordid state of my suspension rebuild and adjustment this was a great performance. For the season overall, I ended up with:

Clubman Heavyweight: 2 of 35
Open Production: 24 of 31
Open GP: 51 of 63

Keeping in mind that for the Open classes I only had two race weekends where I actually gridded up and competed, and this was my first race season... these stats are great year long rankings to build on for next year.

Next post will be about my quest for sponsorship and compiling my race goals for next year...

Exhilaration and Humility

I guess the crash pictures I posted a couple weeks ago could be misleading if you don't ride bikes. I did have to do some minor repairs on my bike, but it was quite an insignificant wreck. If you ride for any length of time, eventually you're going to have a spill. My off lately was probably the 100% most ideal way to go down - low speeds and really not much damage to the bike.

I met a very fast kid at the track who's 20 years old and easily five seconds faster than me. He races at a national level. It's mind boggling to me how such a young guy could be so drastically faster than I am. I must have some 200,000 miles more than him under my belt in just general driving cars on freeways. If I ever think I'm starting to get fast on the track I'm going to think of this kid and realize how much I have to learn at this sport.

The final AFM race of this season in this weekend, wish me luck and if you live in Northern California come out to watch the races!

Doing a wheelie is not particularly fast, but it sure is funnnnnn! (pictures by Ditto at gotbluemilk)

Bikes, Bikes, Bikes

Trying to satiate my interest in riding motorbikes lately - with business school over I'm getting out to the track quite often. I tried the famous-for-Nascar track Auto Club/ California Speedway in Fontanta, California two weeks ago, which was fun. I have one race left in the season back at Infineon Raceway September 20th and a few friends will be coming out to also grid up for their first race. Whatever will I post to my blog about after September and the riding season starts to go on ice till early 2010??? Here's a picture from Buttonwillow last weekend - I have somehow figured out how to keep my eyes open in pictures now. So I have that going for me. Which is nice.

AFM Round 6 - Infineon Raceway

Great race weekend. Last time I was at this track I bested 1:55, I got down to a 1:51 in the Open Production race which is my best ever. For Clubman Heavyweight I place third, which is also my position for the year in the class. With one race left this year mid-September I have a chance at finishing in the top three for the year in Clubman Heavyweight class. While this class is like the junior varsity for new racers, I feel pretty good about the race season so far having gotten out to the track as much as I have given the school and work commitments I've kept up. If I can put together a top three finish in the next Clubman Heavyweight race I will have a top three spot for the year - then it's on to strictly the varsity races next year (and a residency at the back of the pack... LOL). Here are some pictures from the weekend and a shot of the scoreboard which gets posted to afmracing.org after a couple days.

Anatomy of a Crash

Great weekend at Sears Point aka Infineon Raceway this weekend for AFM Round 6. I'll put up another post with more race results, I did quite well in two of my three races... I also laid the bike down in the Formula GP race. Pretty simple crash, I was on the front brakes too long into the turn trying to trail brake and the front washed out. Low speed tip over - no injury to person whatsoever and the bike is basically okay save small cosmetic blemishes. Joe at 4theriders photography got a great sequence of my sliding off the track which I submit here for your viewing pleasure! (Mom, don't watch!)

AFM Round 5 - Thunderhill

Last race was at Thunderhill Raceway on July 12th. I'm now experiencing the aftermath of the dilemma I faced at the start of the season, knowing I would be too distracted with new job and finishing business school to really get competitive - and debated if I should start racing this year or just wait till next year. The two weeks leading up to this race I was stuck in Texas and Orange County for work, and China for business school - so didn't get the practice I wanted. Nevertheless I made good progress in laptimes and relative rank and finished mid-pack in the Clubman Heavyweight race! I learned I'm actually quite good at race starts, and got first off the line and led the race for three quarters of a lap till the leaders could get around me. The next race this weekend at Infineon should be exciting because if I can duplicate that start, I should be harder to get past on this tighter course. These screen shots show the race results and the lap time comparisons between me and the two leaders in the Clubman Heavyweight standings for the year.

Click here for race results from AFM round number 5

Click here for pictures from AFM round number 5

Language Barrier

The Great Wall in China is about two hours outside downtown Beijing. The best way to get there is to hire a private driver. The cars are nicer than the cabs, very inexpensive (roughly $40 USD gets you a driver all day) and you have a better experience than a tour bus. But private drivers are less likely to speak English than a bus driver. In fact this was true in most of China - very little English spoken. And I do not speak any Mandarin. Which really isn't a problem, you simply have someone like the front desk at your hotel write out - in Chinese - directions to where you want to go on a slip of paper you hand to your cab or driver. But this doesn't really cover you when about one hour into a two hour trip you have to pee. And have no way to communicate this information to your driver. Well, unless your artistic ability is equal to mine, and you are capable of drawing a stick figure going pee. Showing this to your driver is bound to produce both laughter and a stop soon where you can have a brief biological break. Really quite funny.

Pictures from China - The Great Wall

I'm back from China and have a couple posts in my drafts about the AFM race #5 and further posting about Beijing and Shanghai, for now here are a couple quick pictures from the Great Wall...

Enroute To Beijing

-- Posted After Returning From Trip --

In Beijing for the next couple days then going to Shanghai Monday. Currently in taxi headed away from airport - the smog/haze is intense. It's roughly 100 degrees Ferenheit temperature. I'm strictly a tourist through the weekend, Monday is spent traveling, then next week I'm in a class at Fudan University.

My first impression of Beijing is surprise at how modern it is. I guess the GDP per capita stuff you read about is proof that numbers can lie... or at least they don't tell the whole story of this city. Beijing is very wealthy, on par with any US or European city I've visited. Clean, expensive cars, great roads, sprawling urban planning, a GREAT many tall buildings (there are 26B people in Beijing afterall), parks and greenways beside the roads.

I keep getting these travel books before I leave the country, then crack 'em open for the first time on the airplane. Which makes the first couple hours of my flight always very fun as I get excited for my trip. Here's what excites me about China:

- China sends 220 billion text messages a year
- It's probably illegal but I bet panda bear tastes good
- The terrain variety is baffling, from mountain borders shared with Nepal to the Muslim (yeah, when I think of China my mind doesn't jump to Muslim either) regions to the West borders shared with the -stans, desert/ tundra with camels toward Russia, sub-tropical rain forest to the East... it's boggling
- Would probaly like to spend five weeks here in a row at some future point to actually make a dent in the list of things one should see/ do/ eat/ experience in China - it's that big
- Agricultural areas with water buffalo and straw hat wearing rice farmers
- Old men who play mahjong and smoke pipes

Things I'll blog about in the next few days:

- Tienamen square
- Great wall
- Forbidden City
- Getting custom shirts for $15
- Getting a massage for $15
- The ensuing debauchery of 65 MBA students in their final school obligation