2007
Upgrading firmware on all network devices and breaking things.
While much better with the 1.0.1 software, Safari still crashes way too much on the iPhone.
Wishing that del.icio.us was integrated with Safari on my iPhone.
Amazed by how much money you can spend on a gas grill! Wanting a Big Green Egg too!
Frenzic and Quinn
I’m not a big gamer — and I’m really not a FPS (first person shooter) gamer. I’ll pass on Quake and all of its descendants. But, I do like puzzle games a lot. Here are two must have high-brain-function games for the Mac. Go grab these games and make sure you’ve got a bit of time to spare.
Quinn
I’ve loved Tetris® ever since I first played it in junior high! The game is simplicity at it’s finest, and presents the impossible challenge of infinitely fast tiles dropping down on you. Quinn is a stellar game that is not Tetris, but is a game where tiles drop down. It’s awesome. I find that I enter a near trance-like state while playing Quinn. Quinn is even free, and comes with a standalone server that you can start on your local network and play multi-player games with your friends and family! Or, hop onto some of the public Quinn servers and play people around the world.
Frenzic
Frenzic is a new game where you place slices of pies together and try to complete them to score points. It’s very similar in game play to Quinn. The game speeds up as you play, and placement can be very difficult. I’m new to this game but am already getting pretty addicted to it. It’s very hard, and has a bit more strategy to it then Tetris. Frenzic isn’t free, but the cost is pretty low and comes with an online ranking system.
Looking at the 35W bridge during intermission. Wow.
Getting seated for Private Lives.
Watching Big Love.
Installing iPhone Software v1.0.1
Sitting down to watch Breach
Watching the final time-trial of the 2007 Tour. Go Disco!
At the Mill City Farmers Market.
Going on a bike ride to get Mazie!
Getting seated for Spamalot!
Doping in the Tour
The 2007 Tour de France is winding down, and is frankly a complete mess. The culprit, doping. Or, the appearance of doping. Yesterday was Stage 16 and the scene of a great battle on the Col d’Aubisque. After the stage Rabobank withdrew and fired the maillot jeune of the tour. Only days prior to that Alexander Vinokourov failed a test and was expelled from the tour, along with his entire Astana team, after blowing up the individual time-trial and beating the entire field.
Last year we had Operación Puerto which ejected many riders from the peloton. This years Tour seems comparable to the 1998 “Tour de Dopage” when doping scandals riddled the Tour and just over half of the riders that started finished the race. The 1998 doping scandals caused a permanent footnote to Armstrong’s first Tour win in 1999 since many riders were suspended from the race.
Let me be clear, I think doping in cycling is a scourge and it needs to be remedied. I also completely believe that doping is prevalent in many sports, and I give cycling credit for being serious about doping. I would expect that more cyclist are caught doping than any other sport, I would expect that is largely the result from actually testing and doing something about it. Athletes in other sports dope. This isn’t a cycling only problem. Viva la Tour!
But.
There are many things that concern me about the current state of affairs. Take a look at Rasmussen. He never tested positive for anything. But, he did miss doping controls and allegedly lied about his location saying he was in Mexico when really in Italy riding in the Dolomites. Boom, he’s out. Why? Because Italy is where all the dirty doctors are. And riding in the mountains in Italy means you must have been doping. And, he did an amazing time trial so he must be doping. Couldn’t he also have just had a really strong day?
Additionally, lab tests are done with an A and B sample. If the A sample tests positive, you are out. The B sample is somewhat irrelevant because even if you test negative on the B sample your already gone. And where are these labs? France. It’s no secret that the French have an axe to grind, particularly with non-French riders.
On top of all this cycling tests are typically not tests of the substance, but the effect. For example, if your blood count is too high you are out. There is no detection of a drug, just the effect.
This all leaves cycling in an utter mess. It leaves fans in a state of confusion and dismissal. And nobody has a good answer. There is a growing theory that the leaders of the Tour must be doping, because if anyone in the peloton is doping you must be doping to beat them.
Cycling could decide to follow American Football and Baseball and make some token gesture on doping but really just let everyone do whatever. The problem with this is frankly cyclists will start to die! This isn’t a new problem, in 1967 Tom Simpson died on the climb of Mont Ventoux after taking amphetamines. The trouble with adding red blood cells is that your blood literally gets thicker, and combined with maximal effort you can simply die. If doping were just allowed I have no doubt deaths would follow.
There was discussion a couple of years ago of working with the pharmaceutical companies to add tracers to drugs so that they can easily be detected. This of course will just create a black market for drugs without tracers.
It seems the only solution is more testing. But cyclists are already pushed to the brink with random drug tests. They occur all year long, are completely random and are mandatory. Representatives show up at riders hotels on vacation in February for immediate tests. Brutal.
Today there is no maillot jaune in the Tour. Tour tradition compells riders to not wear yellow unless they earned it. It’s a rare stage indeed where there is no maillot jaune on the road. Tomorrow Alberto Contador from Team Discovery will pull on the yellow jersey, but forever with question marks. I still really enjoy this sport, but I hope that we can see a clean and uninterrupted tour soon.
Finished amazing lunch at Peters Grill.
Getting a sales pitch on Gartner.