Bike to Work day, May 14

Yeah, that was today. I rode in after a phone conference. It took about 80 minutes eastbound, and about ... yeah, about 80 minutes westbound. I guess I'm getting slow in my old age. Also I had headwinds. Some random thoughts:

• Why are there headwinds both ways?
  
  
• The sound of cheering and applause... from volunteers at a table on Middlefield near Ellis! They had some giveaways I think. At the Nasa/Bayshore light rail stop, I spied my friend Kerry, part of the sponsoring organization. She was packing up their stuff (it was after 9:30); I grabbed a banana segment and got back on the road.
  
  
• Food! There was free food at the office: registered cyclists received a bag containing
  1. a sports drink (something like Gatorade® but generic?);
  2. a Clif® bar -- mine was "carrot cake";
  3. an apple; and
  4. a bottle of water (crystal geyser® i think)
  I consumed the first three before lunch, then went across the street to Subway® for their foot-long tuna sandwich, which I inhaled in short order.
  
  
• In the morning I took Middlefield Road all the way to Ellis, going over Highway 85 (a mild incline is involved). A friend told me that he avoids that overpass, so I skipped it on the return trip, passing under 85 on Moffett. It was a little easier, but either way Google Maps® reports 14.4 miles.
  
  
• On the way home, I caught up to two other cyclists. Both of them wore unisex cycling tights (I was wearing loose athletic shorts of a kind the lovely Carol detests). One of them looked back, then pulled ahead -- a competitive fellow, or maybe he just decided he'd had enough of a break. I continued behind the other one, who I realized after a while was a woman. Though I enjoyed the slightly slower pace, I didn't want this lady to think I was looking at her backside (which I was). So I went around her when the traffic permitted. I passed the competitive(?) fellow when he detoured into a supermarket.
  
  
• I guess I was in a hurry (I certainly was on the way home) because I realized I hadn't stopped for water the whole way.
  
  
• My bike don't get no respect. One of my colleagues (he of the multi-thousand$ road bike) came over the next day to taunt me about locking up my 35-year-old machine (I bought it when I was a college freshman in 1974). Why would anyone bother locking that thing up, he wondered. "That bicycle carried me to the beach and back many times, and to Big Basin!" I retorted.
  
  "Well, you don't weigh very much," he said. Hurmpf.

Jury duty!

This week was the third time I was called as a juror in San Mateo County. The first two times, they told me to just forget it, but this time I spent the morning waiting around in the jury room.

Around 11:40, we were told to take an early lunch and be back by 1pm.

A few minutes after 1:00, we were told to go to a certain courtroom and await instructions. The presiding judge arrived.

He started us off with some good news: this morning's waiting around was going to count as our jury service for this year. Whew! He explained a change in the court system made about a decade ago, and he also explained what happened in the case we were called in for.

Sometimes, he said, having a bunch of prospective jurors waiting around downstairs is what it takes to get these guys to settle a case. They know what they'd like to say and do at trial, but when the 75-80 people are milling around downstairs... it's only then that they say, "Gee, do I really want a jury to hear all this about my client?"

I had this scenario in my mind's eye: The lawyers are posturing back and forth. The judge is trying to get them to settle. The defendant is clearly guilty, and this reality is finally hitting the defense attorney. It's getting close to lunch time, and the judge says, "Counselor, there are about 75 rather impatient jurors downstairs, ready to roast your client's anatomy. I suggest you settle."

Of course that isn't what actually happens, but it was amusing to imagine it.

my opinion on the 5/19 propositions

• 1A, 1B: Yes; these require more prudence in the state budgeting process. Although I wasn't sure about 1B (is it wise to give the legislature and governor more discretion on how education funding gets distributed?), the fact that nobody submitted an argument against 1B, plus 1B's other good points, convinces me that YES is the way to go on 1B.
• 1C: Borrow from future lottery profits? This is one of the stupider propositions I've seen. No!
• 1D, 1E: Raid various other programs to deal with general fund issues? Hey, there was a reason we passed those things in the first place.
• 1F: freeze legislators' pay in budget deficit years? I can't say I'm all that excited about this one, but generally speaking it seems like a good idea.

That's what I think, anyway -- and these opinions + $1.40 will get you a short regular coffee somewhere....

and one on Redwood City measure "E"

This assesses each parcel $91/year for a decade or so. That's about $8/month per -lot-. So if you live in an apartment building with, say, 8 units? The owner pays $8/month more for the building; it'll cost you $1/month if the owner even bothers to calculate that in.

Yes, someone in a 700K$ home pays the same as someone in a 7M$ home per year, but that doesn't bother me much. The RCSD, which has the lowest per-pupil funding in all of San Mateo county, deserves a break -- rather, the kids deserve it. What, you don't have any kids? These kids are gonna be adults here in a few years, whether they're yours or not.

A perfect day

The makers of "Trivial Pursuit" have a question under "Science": What is the second Sunday in May? Now why the definition of Mothers’ Day falls under "Science" I'm sure I don't know, but this weekend at my house, we are celebrating and honoring the mother of my children.

We started Saturday with a hike in Henry Coe State Park, led by the fabulous Libby Vincent. No, she is not the Presbyterian pastor from Menlo Park. If you see her name on the "Programs" page, that's a reason to choose that particular day for your visit. Don't believe what google maps say about the park; it is really 13 miles from US 101 to the park headquarters, about half an hour's drive -- half an hour from the E. Dunne exit off 101 I mean. We arrived about 9:45am for the 10am start, carrying about 2 quarts of water between us. Libby strongly encouraged us to get another liter to bring -- better to have a little extra than not enough. We could not have asked for better guides than Libby and John. John Wilkinson worked around the valley in high tech, and shares some of my opinions about public transit. Both are knowledgeable about the park and have been involved with it a long time. Thanks to some late-season rain and a cool spell (after last month's heat wave), the wildflowers were glorious -- better than usual early May conditions. The weather was just about perfect, too -- about 75°F I think at the warmest. We got a few flower photos, but our camera's autofocus was confused and many are blurry. If you don't have manual control over the focus, the Owl's Clover isn't even worth trying.

We took about 5½ hours for the 7-mile hike. (I know, the programs page says six miles -- but we took the loop going by Eric's Bench. This is a worthwhile side trip, giving you a great view of a valley oak, like this splendid specimen at left. But I'm getting ahead of myself.) The short version is: we crossed Pine Ridge to Frog Lake, then went down Middle Ridge to the Fish trail, then back to headquarters via the Corral Trail. Clockwise, in other words, on the trail marked by magenta dots on the map above. Now for the details. From the headquarters, we went north on the Monument trail, quite steep. We turned left onto the Ponderosa trail, where we saw Eric's bench and that gorgeous oak tree. If you don't click on the map, this was about 3000' elevation. After doing that loop, we continued north to Hobbs Road, proceeding roughly north -- this thing was apparently built "by a bloke on a bulldozer" as Libby said; he just drove straight down the hill. This was a steep descent to Frog Lake, a 600' drop. There we saw a woodpecker, a beautiful bird, drilling an apparently-dead tree. He looked great through the binoculars but I couldn't capture his image with the camera. We took the Frog Lake trail up to the Middle Ridge trail. Switchbacks make it a much easier climb than the Monument Trail was. Though it was near noon, we pressed on to the Fish Trail turnoff. We had our lunch there and took the Fish trail toward Hobbs Road. Somewhere along there I heard a tremendous racket; I turned and saw a deer on our right, bounding through the brush parallel to the trail; it was heading back where we had come from. It paused briefly, then made a left turn and charged up a hill and out of sight. You guessed it, no photos. The last 0.6 mile felt quite long.

We were back at headquarters around 3:20pm. I took my boots off and had a little drink. We visited the restroom (running water and flush toilets at headquarters! Yay!), then Carol drove us down the hill and back to Redwood City.

We parked the car, and I bought our tickets: 6pm showing, which gave us time for a quick dinner at the Chipotle Grill on Theatre Way. I inhaled a burrito, and probably too many chips. The burrito was great; the chips... well, let's just say we pitched the leftovers. Great burrito though, and very quick. The lovely Carol had a salad, which was also great (I had a bite).

The film, Star Trek (2009), was fabulous. It deviates in many places from the history of starfleet as we know it, but that's OK. It's got great FX, a reasonable (well, not utterly stooopid) plot, and some terrific lines. "Careful with the ship, Spock; she's brand new."

We got home about 8:30 and chatted with our teen-ager. I helped her with some computer stuff. We took showers and got to bed early. A perfect end to a perfect Saturday.

Today, Mother's Day (Mothers' Day?), we started off with homemade blueberry waffles; the teenager set the table and created a fruit plate. Dinner was Swiss steak (a childhood favorite of the lovely Carol); I also sauteed carrots and zucchini in olive oil with some Italian seasoning. The teenager whipped up the potatoes, and made up some Jell-O for dessert.

And now it's time to work on the dishes.

Papa Haydn's Surprise

Carol's nephew and his wife are parents of a baby boy named Hayden -- spelt like, but not pronounced like, Haydn (as in Joseph). We chatted with them at last weekend's wedding, and indeed he's the one I'm holding in this photo -- which you can also see here. His name brought to mind a record album we heard many times: Papa Haydn's Surprise, which you can download from amazon.com for about $10.

This was some years ago, and our copy was on cassette tape. It was a delightful story. The reader, Ann Rachlin, is masterful.

If your kids are at all interested in music, you should consider putting this on your MP3 player (iPod® or similar), or burning it onto a CD... and playing it over and over again for them. Click here and listen to a few 30-second clips and see what I mean!

Fear or Faith

I was sure I'd written about this before, but now I can't find it; I suppose that means I just thought I did. Well, here goes.

Some decisions are easy to make -- at least it's easy to tell what's right vs wrong. Suppose your spouse is out of town, and some attractive stranger proposes to have sex with you. Or you find a cash-filled shopping bag lying on the ground. Or you're doing your taxes, and you won a few thousand bucks playing the slots last year.

It's obvious that you decline sex with the stranger, you turn in the cash, you report your winnings on your tax returns.

Other decisions are not quite so clear-cut.

1. They want me to take a really exciting and meaningful job in another state, but my husband worries about the effect on the kids.
2. My girlfriend just dumped me; should I try to start something with that woman who started coming to our church?
3. My boyfriend didn't  dump me, but I don't think we're meant for each other.

In these cases, one could imagine responding from fear, or from faith. Here's what I mean.

1. really exciting... job in another state
   We could decide to go
   • based on faith that God will help us take care of the kids, and that he will use the work I do at my job to bless the world; --or--
   • based on fear that if I pass this up, I'll never have another chance!
   Alternately, we could decide to stay
   • based on faith that God will provide future opportunities, --or--
   • based on fear about the kids.
2. just [got] dumped... start something with that woman who started coming to our church
   I could decide to ask her out
   • based on faith that God has a plan for me, the plan likely includes marriage, and if I just put one foot in front of another, we'll find each other; --or--
   • based on fear that if I've got to get a move on right now or I'll end up miserable, old, and single.
   Or, I could decide to wait
   • based on faith that when the right person comes around, it'll be more evident to me; --or--
   • based on fear that this one will end in disaster too.
3. boyfriend ... aren't meant for each other
   (You've got the idea.)

The point is: I could take any of these permissible actions based on faith, or based on fear. Whether we head in this direction or that one, it's better to head that way based on faith, rather than on fear. 2 Thessalonians 1:11 asks God to bless "every act prompted by your faith." (Another translation is more dramatic.) More than that, Romans 14:23 tells us that whatever isn't from faith is sin. And the author of Hebrews talks about how important it is to combine information with faith. As I've said elsewhere, our actions reflect whether our faith has legs.

In the past, I've read those passages as addressing the question "You believe; so what?" As I re-read them now, though, it seems they also ask: "What influences/directs your decisions?"

And I wonder if this is related to what Gordon Smith says about making a decision from a place of desolation (despair, fear) vs. consolation (confidence, faith)? -- as I wrote about earlier. Maybe it does; this interview in Christianity Today connects consolation with faith and courage.

May wisdom and faith guide all our decisions. May the Lord "fill your good ideas and acts of faith with his own energy so that it all amounts to something." (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 MSG). Amen!

Mental health day

You can call it a sabbath if you like, but really, I'm just taking the day off. Saturday morning we drove to South Lake Tahoe for a wedding ceremony -- Carol's nephew tied the knot, just over the state line. The reception was at the Riva Grill at the bottom of Ski Run Blvd (in California; photos here and here) -- gorgeous view, great food. The pictures at right were taken there. We were out of the house from about 8:00am to about 9:20pm. So that made me feel like taking the day off today.

People have asked me: "Who is that little boy?" Short answer is: his grandfather is Carol's brother.

So what am I up to? In chronological order, mostly:

• made pancakes
• did a bunch of Python scripting for a friend, who I'll call "Oskar." He'll be working overseas as a missionary and wanted to set the machinery up before leaving. Machinery? Well, Oskar wants to send email newsletters with mail-merge. That is, when sending it to a few dozen people, each person will get a single email with their first name embedded in the text. Piece of cake, right? "That's what procmail(1) is for, right?" Well, yeah. Except...
  • Oskar's email client tends to encode text parts in base64;
  • He's sending me a mailing-list for each message (different messages can have distribution lists), where the mailing-list is one of the parts of a multipart message;
  • HTML with images, or attachments, may be involved.
  So I learned about Python's email package. It is really cool. Here's what I'm gonna do for Oskar's email. The address-list will be in a single text/plain part at the top level. When I find it, I'll remove it (Just like that!) from the message's data structure. If there are multiple toplevel parts left, I'll attach 'em to a new message -- otherwise I'll grab the remaining toplevel part and use that one for the message. These are "object" things and they like inherit properties of the message class; in effect, they are messages in their own right -- all I have to do is add the 'To:' and 'Subject:' headers, and I can send 'em.
• Considering that I spent my free morning programming, I decided to send you a link to Weird Al's White 'n' Nerdy video (if you've already seen it, you might enjoy "Take#1", quite athletic, or "Behind the Scenes"). Naturally I wasted spent some time tracking those down.
• We have a cable that's been hanging down in front of the kitchen window for literally months now; I finally dragged a ladder out and put something up into the rafter-tails (etc.) so the cable would be out of the way.
• grabbed the photos off the lovely Carol's laptop, and tried to make them appear on the right. http://www.htmlhelp.com/ says my HTML is right, but maybe blogger is overriding that somehow.

I was planning to flesh out an essay on decision-making: based on fear vs on faith, but taking a nap might have a higher priority....