February 18, 2006
Icy Conditions
A few weeks ago, I ran into my old friend Keisuke, cross-country skiing around Tug Hill. Somehow Kei and I always manage to discover the same sports at around the same time. As usual, Kei is more hardcore than I, wearing ski tights, a skiing jersey, fancy boots and skiis and poles while I lag along in borrowed backcountry gear complete with a snow bib, gators, and heavy heavy heavy backcountry skiis and boots.
We took off pretty late in the day, getting on the road around 2:30pm. The whole way, I kept back-seat driving Kei, commenting that he was going entirely too fast on snow-covered unsalted roads on a day that promised highs in the mid-teens. We got there safe, at least, and went for a couple of miles of crazy skiing.
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| At least the beard is good for something... |
On our way back, Kei continued driving entirely fast, and acted thoroughly Japanese when we began spinning around on a particularly long and wide turn. "Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry," he said as we rotated 540 degrees, and landed backwards in a ditch.
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| A ditch with a view |
I'd guess that the temperature when we crashed was between 5F and 10F without the windchill, with winds gusting around 20-30mph. Yeah, cold. Kei went running down the road to find a house, I stuck things out with my trusty Bubble Jacket and tried to dig the car out somewhat. Unfortunately, we required the assistance of a tow truck in a process that took about 2 hours. Fortunately, nobody was hurt, Kei's car is driving (though a rear control arm is bent up a bit), and we were able to make it home to hot tubs and wood stoves...
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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