August 18, 2002
Whiteface Mountain
Last Friday, while at work, I did the inevitable.
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| Put about 5 of these up |
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| The Beast (Saleem's engine), a 3.0L v6, 160hp |
So yes, Saleem, the car that was my main mode of transportation since High School, is now finally at the end of his service to me. It is sad but I feel justified in some sort of weird buddhist way. Which is interesting because I'm beginning to actually understand it I think. Suddenly the other day the thought popped up in my head that ownership is stupid. I shall have to talk to David on that one.
Friday night I went out for some drinking with Doug. I stayed out too late, hanging with him and his all his Public Administration womens. I didn't get back until about 1 o'clock AM and didn't get to sleep until 2. Which sucked, because I had to wake up at 6:30 on Saturday morning.
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| Inoue-san, ready to ride! |
Saturday, Keisuke, Yukiko and I went mountain biking at White Face Mountain. It was...intense. Took us 1 hour 35 minutes to ride up the mountain to midway station. We took a few minutes breather at the top, then started down. It took us 8 minutes to go down. This is because the way up is almost entirely 20 degree grade, uphill all the way. Needless to say downhill was *fast*. We survived unscathed but out of breath. Me especially, after having drank the night before, and not having slept a lot.
That night we went out to a um...establishment of water...
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| Fine, it's a bar |
Where we ate lots of food because we were starving, and had some fine beer (but not a lot). Then we went back to our hotel and crashed at 10pm. I was out when my head hit the pillow, which is rare for me.
Came back to Syracuse today, and got back in time to catch my old boss coming back from his own camping trip with his mistress.
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| The assistant dean of the college of engineering is dating a student at Syracuse University. Doesn't that seem wrong? |
Ohwell that's all the news for one week(end). Will post when more interesting things happen....
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Further back...
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Previous Trips...
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Hiking Mount Whitney, 2007 
Spring Break in West Virginia, 2005
New Year's in Paris, 2003-2004
Coming to America, 2003
Protesting in Berlin, 2003
Prague Bier-Tour, 2002
Dresden, 2002
Recent Reading
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Stealing the Network
I first bumped into the Stealing the Network series when reading the exploits of Joe Grand, one of the book's many hacker authors.
The 'Stealing the ...' series of books follows a rather disparate group of computer hackers as they help a former NSA spook (many of them unwittingly) gather the money he needs to retire.
The stories themselves are not fantastic fiction. The writing is uneven and choppy, the characters are stereotypical and not very well thought-out. What is fascinating about this book series is the technical accuracy of the exploits (at some points *too* accurate, with screen shots and step-by-step instructions).
It's a great series to read if you're a system administrator, or just getting into the wonderful field of computer security.
Rated 
by reid
on March 06, 2011
by reid
on March 06, 2011
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Close to the Machine
Ellen Ullman is one of those authors that somehow avoided my radar. Until now...
Close to the Machine is less a book than a collection of loosely related personal anecdotes from Ellen's time as a very rare thing -- a successful female bisexual independent computer programming consultant.
In the course of her work and relationship life, she learns hard lessons about programming, running a business, being lonely, and loving the wrong people. I found it particularly poignant being a crypto-nerd with difficult times in relationships and a more-or-less NDA'd, secret work life.
This book is a must-read for anyone into running their own business, programming, or anyone dating a person that is a business-a-holic or programmer.
Rated 
by reid
on November 23, 2009
by reid
on November 23, 2009
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The Long Trip Home
I had the joy of dining with the author in Florida. We went to a little Brazilian BBQ where he spoke with our waitstaff in (what I can only assume was) flawless Portugese.
Brian Wyllie spent 1969-1971 living in Brazil working for the Peace Corps. His recent book outlines his trip back to the United States via Bolivia, Peru, and the Carribean chain, by way of bus, train, and sailboat. The format comes spattered with observations from the modern day, and makes me think, "this must be what John McPhee's journal looks like."
The trip sounded like a fantastic one, but I was left wanting more detail...where did the gun (being snuck through customs in a variety of places, no doubt) come from? And how did Geneve's hair smell? Alas, we'll have to wait for another book to find the answers.
Rated by reid
on April 16, 2009
by reid
on April 16, 2009