November 24, 2003
New Jersey Revisited (part 709)
Went to New Jersey again this weekend. Some triathlon club members joined me at my mother's house, since "we" (not I, but they) were down for the Philadelphia Marathon.
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| The Philadelphia skyline from the Art Museum |
To be honest, Saturday is much a blur. We went into Philly to pick up race packets and such, then I nearly crashed. Sleeping with Lauie on Thursday night (and I do mean sleeping, not sexing it up) left me pretty run-down on Saturday. Somehow.
Sunday, though, was a very different beast. I rode my bike to the ocean.
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| The Pygmy Forest of South Jersey |
The above is a forest of teeny-tiny pine trees. Brought about by frequent forest fires and infertile soil, these trees never grow more than 3-4 feet tall. Evolutionarily, they are better suited to survive in this section of Jersey, which gets almost no rainfall. More information about the Pygmy Forest can be had for the clicker.
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| Finally... |
I did finally make it to the Atlantic. I wasn't sure if I would...I looked at an online map at the distance from Tabernacle (my mom's town) to Barnegat, and it was 28 miles. Little did I know, it is actually an extra ~8 miles to Long Beach Island. So the total bike ride was somewhere around 72-75 miles.
After the ride, it was goodbyes to my mom and Jack, who were nice enough to let Keisuke and Kyoung Mi stay at the house on Friday night. While on the road, I quite randomly ran into them in a traffic jam on I-476.
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| Stopped traffic |
Quite random to have such a thing happen on a narrow stretch of a 200-mile road...
Anyway, yes, my legs are a little stiff this morning, and yes I'll be going running this evening...
| TrackBackDo you have any maps or directions on how to find the Pygmy forest in the Pine barrens of NJ? Thanks
Posted by: Mike on December 6, 2004 08:29 AMPost a comment
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
Thanks for sending your website again. I feel as if I'm reacquainted again! Love you, Reid!
Posted by: Gam on February 21, 2004 01:23 AM