Themeless Ramblings

Online Dating

2009-11-03T20:03:00.000-08:00

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

2009-09-24T06:34:00.001-07:00

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

2009-09-17T22:15:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-02T07:09:00.001-07:00

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

2009-08-11T22:22:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-11T22:00:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-03T22:57:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-25T22:22:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-24T22:57:00.003-07:00

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

2009-07-06T09:03:00.000-07:00

-- 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

Access Denied (which in Chineese sounds like, silence)

2009-07-06T08:53:00.000-07:00

Just back from a week in China for a class at Fudan University - I have to post some updates soon but I'm behind since blogging is prohibited in China! Pictures to follow later this week...

This is not like the blocking in Dubai where you are presented with a blocked page and a link to the acceptable use policy. This is a much more sinister blocking. There's no error message or
little note acknowleging the Internet's success in connecting you but China's denial of your access. Pages simply do not resolve with no error message. Of course instantly upon figuring
this out I began testing other sites which are blocked, and how to get around this blocking.
Here are a couple other sites apparently China does not want Chinese people visiting:

- YouTube
- State Web for Nation of Taiwan (stat.gov.tw)
- Web for US Courts (uscourts.gov)
- This blog (race.fm) and all blogs actually
- US Marines (usmc.mil)
- UN News (unitednationsnews.com)

Proxying out encrypted does work, but since I'm not interested in testing exactly how much they care and what they do to you if detected, I'll skip sneaking around for this short trip.

AFM Round 4 - Thunderhill

2009-06-15T22:21:00.000-07:00

Great weekend at Thunderhill Raceway Park for AFM round number four. I had to miss round three due to a wedding in Seattle - and the new job has kept me too busy to get to the track lately - and it showed in my performance. Did have my best laptimes at Thunderhill with one 2:06 in the clubman race, but I got seriously rocked in all three races. I was overly intimidated by my first time out in the Sunday big-boy races. I also had some mechanical FAIL getting the bike prepped the week prior, which always jostles confidence a little. I'm not sure I realized I was signing up to be a part-time bike mechanic when I started racing! Weather was epic, made some new track friends, had a friend come visit at the track and learned a ton... great weekend. Round five is back at Thunderhill and I hope to find a couple more seconds - should be pretty easy if I find the time to train properly and kick up the running. Here's a laptime analysis of me and the two guys who were holding up the back of the pack with me. Appearenly I'm good at race starts.

Life Hacking

2009-06-01T19:35:00.001-07:00

Whether actually true or not I don't know - but in my own head I am clever, belligerent, defiant, and strategic (read: twerpy). And I like to get my way. Oh and also bull-headed... Heck, I get my way loads of the time by simply tiring out those opposing me. So I don't always listen to words like, "no" or "not now" or "we have a policy against [thing I am trying to do] for no announced reason." I think I should start sharing my trials and tribulations of being contemptible.

Look I didn't choose it... but, I have a criminal mind. I walk into a bank and immeidately oogle their cameras and ponder their locks and protection systems. It's impossible for me to read a list of rules or policies or requirements and NOT scheme to figure out where loopholes are. Controls and countermeasures, gates and fence jumping. Maybe I should have become an attorney. Instead I work in business development for computer security companies (believe me, I'm one of the biggest hacks in and industry which hacks).

Plenty of books and conference talks have been authored on life hacking - I hope to see/read some of them someday, maybe I'll have time after business school. In the meantime I fear the schizophrenic nature of this blog may get another "Face of Eve."

AFM Race Two - Infineon

2009-04-26T10:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a big day for bike racing. I did successfully complete my first clubman heavyweight race, without crashing, and did not end up in last place. I did all my own safety wiring and race prep which is also empowering. Now clubman is the race bracket for the newest racers... so it's not like this is even the junior varsity here... nothing is televised, no sponsorship money, racers all have other jobs. Spectators do pay an admission fee to enter the race park, makers of tires or parts will give you a discount if you put their sticker on your bike, and top finishers might get a couple hundred dollars which doesn't even come close to offsetting the costs of racing. I did get my first groupie/fan crush gush yesterday though... which is AWESOME. Some guy came up to me after my race and said, "Aw man, I had money on you to win... That's a sick bike I said to my buddy watch that R1 he's going to kill it." My expectations going into the race were actually to finish without crashing and otherwise get pummeled in performance. I had only been at that track on two other occasions so there's plenty of room for simple experience to improve my performance. Actually I did okay though - it's so much fun to be on the track with other guys who are roughly as fast as me. I'm skipping race #3 for a wedding - so by race #4 in June at Thunderhill maybe I can join one of the bigger more varsity level race classes and try to hang at the back of the pack. Official results get posted to afmracing.org - but here are my laptimes:

That Was Interesting

2009-04-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

On the heels of my first out of country experience in the Obama administration I am returning home with overwhelming patriotic feelings. This always happens when I travel - and maybe it has something to do with 15 hour flights and sleep deprivation, but wow - how our international image has changed. People I encountered in both Cairo and Dubai wanted to know what I think of Obama, showed genuine optimism in discussing the future of America and our foreign policy, seemed concerned about our domestic economic challenges (albeit this has potentially selfish motivations), and smiled with their eyes and whole face when I reported I'm an American rather than the furrowed and conflicted brows I've historically seen.

This change is drastic and has significant implications. Do you think the overall image of America is reflected in the commercial success abroad of American brands abroad like Ford, Coke, The Gap, McDonalds, etc? Absolutely.

It's also interesting to think about what it means to be an American when you're abroad. I met a couple guys in Dubai who were: raised in Kuwait, educated in the United States, Palestenian by self identification, and living in the UAE, and carrying US passports.

Considering the face value experience in Dubai - this seems like a very progressive society economically and culturally. But you don't have to look very far to find massive economic disparity, cultural tension on a broad scale, sweeping sex inequality, injustice, human rights transgressions, and people everywhere who are conflicted about their experience in the country and considering leaving.

We have such a special thing here in the US. We're certianly not without fault, but today I cherish our freedom and equality and justice and diversity and tolerance.

Dubai

2009-04-20T11:56:00.000-07:00

This place is surreal in so many ways: geographically, culturally, economically... I need to post more commentary but much of what I'm thinking about while in Dubai is detailed here: clickity click Some pictures from 50 stories above the city streets of Dubai from earlier tonight. Man I'm missing my Leica.

Catching A Taxi In Cairo

2009-04-17T01:27:00.000-07:00

My travel partner is Indian (like from India) and the Egyptians all assume he's Egyptian so they talk to him in Arabic. And he refuses to tell them he's American. SO I try to get in a cab and tell them where I want to go - and they just look at me blankly and start talking Arabic to my travel partner. Who both refuses to tell them were we want to go (for fear of disclosing his lack of Arabic language skills) and simply repeats everything they say back to him. It's totally hilarious. It probably sounds like this:

Taxi: Where do you want to go? (in Arabic - to me)
Me: Heliopolis
Taxi: blink blink

Taxi: What is he saying? (in Arabic)
Travel Partner: What is he saying (in something resembling Arabic)
Taxi: What? (in Arabic)
Travel Partner: What? (in Arabic)
Taxi: Where do you want to go? (in Arabic)
Travel Partner: Where do you want to go (in Arabic)

Me: Look, can we go to Heliopolis?
Taxi: Get in (in Arabic)

Travel Partner: (to me) where does he think we want to go - let's figure that out before we get in
Me: then tell him you don't speak Arabic!
Travel Parter: no way man
Taxi: Where do you want to go? (in Arabic)

.... repeat at least three times

Cairo Day Four

2009-04-16T07:33:00.000-07:00

Visited markets today. Probably my last post from Egypt more next week from Dubai. of the pictures I took walking around Cairo these capture best the sense of the scene. Everything is grey and drab. Likely started that way but the sun beating down on it must mute all color with time anyway. I guess that's why bright colored things when the appear are so visually interesting. The mosques which speckle any view from any place looking in any direction are interesting the towers jutting out where the prayer time used to be announced by singing.

Cairo Day Three - Pyramids

2009-04-15T10:30:00.000-07:00

Some pictures from this afternoon.

Cairo Day Three - Smart City

2009-04-15T09:56:00.000-07:00

I love juxtapositions. Today saw one of the most stark and flagrant ones I've encountered. This is akin to Bellevue, Washington or more closely Tech City in Hyderabad, India - Cairo's version is "Smart City." So all of the downtown and area in Cairo near the Nile (95% of Egypt's 80 million people live within a few miles of the Nile) it's mostly 15 to 20 story buildings which look like they've been beaten down by the sun for ages. The colors are drab and they look like maybe they were state developed. Not sure how new construction is handled here but would not surprise me to learn it's government involved. It's all quite homogonous looking, and the skyline is speckled here and there with grandiose mosques. The population is 95% Sunni muslim - the balance mostly Coptic and small pockets of others. The mosques are quite beautiful really. But outside Cairo a 45 minute drive is an enclave of state of the art glass and concerete and very modern looking buildings called Smart City. Getting there it's like you're driving through the desert on the road to Alexandria, then you come on this outcrop like an oasis planted in the middle of a sheet of sand housing all the big tech: Mobinil, Microsoft, Vodaphone, the Ministry of Telecommunications, a couple Universities, Etisalat, etc. Then the other half of Smart City (funny name) is the big finanical center housing the Egypt headquarters for all the big finance. It's quite a development and with literacy rates around 45% (that's less than half who are able to read in any language) and GDP around $2000 USD and this magnificent outcrop of buildings in the middle of nowhere just hanging out doing business in as Western of a fashion as one could imagine.

Cairo Day Two

2009-04-14T14:47:00.000-07:00

Busy with meetings for MBA project, not enough time for pictures or much tourism today. It is interesting to see a holistic side of Cairo though - both the inside of conference rooms and the business community, the students of American University we've connected with, the retail outlets we're formally studying, the business ecosystem including laws/ regulations/ consumer appetite/ economic and socio-political factors through a mobile market lens, and the tourist things we stumble into. We will have time for a Nile tour and probably visiting pyramids tomorrow. We might take a day trip to a neighboring country or possibly Alexandria Thursday.

Cairo Day One

2009-04-13T23:29:00.000-07:00

Just got here and combating jet lag, but did get out to a open air market last night which is an entire street of cell phone "stores." I think this is where most cell phones go to die - you can buy second hand phones, buy pre-paid SIM cards, get someone to soldier things inside your phone, get your phone unlocked (for roughly $5 USD in EGP), buy noodles, or check out this guy's pimped out motorbike.

Thunderhill Eats My Tires

2009-04-10T22:02:00.001-07:00

I got out to Thunderhill a few times in the past week, there is a certain upside to having no job. I am somehow eating tires like they are going out of style, this is from two days at the track. And most of the damage was done by three or four sessions on the first day. My times keep coming down, I got a couple laps at 2:06 which was pretty good since I was not pushing all the way - it's pretty scary when your at 120 MPH around a corner and you feel the back end sliding six inches and losing grip! It's fun having this bike at the track, 30 more horsepower than the Ducati just makes all the difference. I really want to get my other bike ready to race and take that to AFM race number four - but I don't have the time to prep it before the race (since I'm off to Egypt and Dubai next week). Starting to look like a real racebike though with plastics and number plates and real wheels and rotors on there! I was so proud of myself to finally wear through a knee puck for the first time the other day to the point it needs replaced. Ha, ha.

Going Fast in 2009

2009-04-10T21:20:00.000-07:00

I'm updating Twitter these days more often - and finding gaping holes in my blog. Here's some catch up. The rate of change this year is proving to be nearly limitless. Life is moving so quick these days. I started the year moving from San Francisco to Redwood City. This move was motivated by (a) obtaining a garage, (b) averaging 50% of my time in hotels in the last three years, and (c) making money by renting out my loft. In February my father passed away. He was diagnosed with lung cancer late last year, and fought a surprisingly well for surprisingly long but in the end he went quick. I had never been very close to him, but was able to spend time toward the end, flying from Alaska to Ohio. It's bittersweet to see relatives in Ohio for funerals, but it is still good to see them. If you travel to Alaska, remember to leave your Ulu at home. If you don't - the nice people at the airport will remind you. After five years working at Qualys, my last day was March 31. I am close to finalizing where I'll next go, and am very excited about what I think the next thing is likely to be... In the meantime I'm trying to take most of April away from work. So far I've been to three track days, have travel planned to Egypt and Dubai, and have AFM race number 2 at Infineon scheduled for April 25. The final quarter of my MBA program at UCLA started this weekend - Strategy and my master thesis project - a trip to China in June - then I will graduate. SO, I'll make a separate post with some track pictures from last week now. Stay tuned starting next week I hope to send some posts from Egypt.

AFM Race One - Buttonwillow

2009-04-10T21:08:00.000-07:00

One of my friends called me on failing to show up in the race results of the AFM Buttonwillow round, so I guess someone does actually read this blog and I owe and update! Ha, ha. I got there successfully and got my bike race prepped including the swap to aluminum wheels and getting the bike safety wired correctly. I did successfully complete a rearset swap in the Motel 6 parking lot at midnight the evening before by the light of headlamp (yes, track are in the middle of nowhere and nice hotels are nonexistant). I passed tech and got my gear checked out. I got the required AMB timer. I got through two practice sessions with success then did some practice race starts. That's where the plan went awry. See 1000cc bikes are probably a little too much for the OEM clutch to handle - but I didn't really know this. I was zipping up and down the hot pit lane practicing starts from 10,000 RPM and dropping the clutch to wheelie - then lifting the rear tire off the asphalt at the other end jamming on the front brake in a stoppie. I think I did this about five times before my clutch decided it was done. So, sadly with no clutch I was not able to line up on the grid and even start the race. I was assigned my grid position (in the back) and came so close! Oh well, guess I'll have to make Infineon race number two my first official outing. Meanwhile here's a picture of my dead clutch and me trying to replace it in my garage (I'm way over my head here).