Early morning, despite late night...

doh...I didn't sleep well last night but I still woke around my 0700 time. You better believe I was a mess. If you know me, you know my first waking minutes are filled with confusion, hillucinations and imbalance. Incoherent really describes my first few minutes. This lasted today for a good ten! Anyways, after regaining my person I thought it befitting to go riding today even though yesterday I got swamped.

So I went. Here is my adventure. You can click on the links near the photo to see a larger one.

Photo 1 On the way out of town.

Photo 2 Corn :DPhoto 3 So, this...yah. Definately had to look twice.
Photo 4 My bike on the dam.
Photo 5 Tuttle Creek Dam.

Photo 6 Doesn't even look like Kansas.

Photo 7 The road up to this observation point hurt, bad.

Photo 8 The linked photo is a larger one. I think it was just about 11miles or to this point from my house. A much more enjoyable ride than my previous days. Had more hills but at least it wasn't all grass like usual.

I have some panarama shots of the dam but it might take me a few days to find the software for it. Hopefully it turned out!

Derek

Finally it's the weekend

Ok, so it's early Saturday morning and I am excited. This was a long week but somewhat productive. Finance course is still awesome but again my MIS class just drags me down. I ended up taking a day off from that class on Thursday as it was just too much. The last class I missed I think was in January so that's my excuse to legitimize my truancy.

No real big plans for these next few days but I might clean up my room a bit. The landlord had a few workers over here this week to replace the fuse box and ended up throwing sheet rock all over my bedding. Where they worked is still completely trashed. At least the AC is still working.

When I went riding this afternoon it was fairly muggy and very hot. There was much cloud cover which worked to my advantage but the prevailing wind from the east, with huge gusts, made the first half of my ride a huge struggle. I averaged probably around 13mph with an azimuth of east but going back west with the wind at my back it was easily over 20mph. That is until 4mi from my house, rain started to pour. The sweat and sunscreen in my eyes sure made me know I was alive. Overall it was a great ride even with the rain.

Anyway, here is a photo I took a few days ago after a mid-afternoon ride.

Some Reviews

Past few months have seen the release of new flicks, dubbed the "Summer of Three" for all the movies which have their third in a series debut. Yes, I've seen them all and no they're not all good. I'll just do a brief recap of the good, the bad, the ok and the yet to come. Bad news first!

Bad movie #1: Spiderman 3. Sad really to see so much hype be displayed for this flick and equally disappointing to see it gross so much money. This was one of the biggest upsets in recent memory of a movie. What happened Peter? Parker has gone through so many shifts of 'who am I?' it's a wonder his grandma knows who he is. Basically, good graphics, bad story, horrible acting, silly sequences and more the same cry baby Parker. Don't see it if you have seen and like the first two. Hopefully there are no others in the works.

Ok movie #1: Pirates @ World's End. Enjoyable but a bit long to watch in one sitting. I wished they would have had more of the Singapore story built up and more with the Asian pirates. It seemed rushed and incomplete. And more of the pirate ship city too! How cool was that? The artists did a real nice job though in this flick of displaying everything so life like, super impressive. Some dialogue could have been cut and shortened some scenes of Jack in the underworld. But hey, it's better than the second of the series for sure.

Ok movie #2: Harry & Order of the Phoenix. Saw this just last night actually. My friends and I watched all the previous movies last month(lol) just so we could watch this with some knowledge. It was worth it but this one lacks severely in the 'movement' department. So much dialogue with little substance and little progress of the plot. These sequences might be translated from the book directly(never read them) but it did seem a bit slow. If you're a Harry nut(haha) you should still see it!

Good movie #1: Die Hard 4. McClane is back, and at his age he still knows how to rock the screen. This one gives us a taste of everything, and comes close to matching the first Die Hard. Fast paced, witty humor(<----correct spelling you 'nadiens!), awesome action with sweet graphics makes this film a must see.

Good movie #2: Transformers. Wow, completely awesome. Everyone I've told about this movie starts off as, "It's not just a movie. It's more of a complete entertainment experience." This film will quench any thirst you have for awesome movie making. Michael Bay with his team completed a film which will be the favorite among favorites for so many people. Not only just males. Hearing and watching the reaction of the ladies out there was just the same: complete awesomeness. Don't miss this please. Go to the theater by yourself if you must(Carl!) and enjoy an entertainment experience which really is more than meets the eye.

Incoming films to lookout for. I'll just draw a few up from what I can remember. Rush Hour 3, The Bourne Ultimatum, I Am Legend, 10,000 BC, 1-18-08 and Sunshine.

Let me know what you all think. Can Transformers cap my favorite movie, The Last of the Mohicans? Hard to say....

Derek

Fast = Good

Ok, so I know to many 31mph on a bike is just an every ride occurance but hey, I haven't ever gone that fast out of a vehicle and it was awesome. But around here, going downhill means going uphill just shortly after lol. My quads are killing me as the roads just out of town just go in an up and down fashion as far as I could see. Going for any distance in that type of environment hurts but I have yet to find a road less traveled which is paved. Here are some more photos, full size click on the links: Photo 1 Photo 2

First impressions

Few things today. My first Finance test is tomorrow. Should be fun solving for different solvency ratios and differentiating financial statements. This here is my real interest in business. The accounting course was much different; I think that's where people get the disgust from when you mention finance, they think of accounting which is to me, disgusting haha. I know I'll be doing both but hey, t-accounts don't scare me.

I did my first ride yesterday on the new bike and I loved it. I see why though most who ride distances, and just for comfort, wear biking shorts which are made with chamois. Not only does it absorb some moisture but it complements the bottom with some padding. And on my stock saddle, I need all the help I can get. I know, I know, spandex looks silly(aka nut huggers, grape smugglers etc lol). I'll continue to wear my running shorts for the time being ha!

Found an awesome link today while searching BikeForums. Michal Brichacek is a college student who is cycling from Alaska to Panama over a 120 day period. Read all about it here: http://www.cyclingforacause.com/ He is into day 69 and is somewhere in Mexico at the moment. He is sponsored by a few organizations with the intent of donating the proceeds to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Read all about it on the website; it is filled with a daily journal and many photographs. I'm sure his intentions are not all altruistic but with the kind of commitment being put forth, it is certainly humbling.

Derek

Got the Bike!

Greetings. Surprised to receive my bike today as UPS site said it was still in Lenexa. Any rate, fortunate for sure. Took me about 1.5hrs to complete the setup; including a computer which shows me my cadence, time, distance etc. But alas, my roommate's tire pump doesn't have the attachment I need. Always something else I need to get. Tomorrow will be a good time though! I'll post some photos of that ride for sure in the coming days. Here is a photo of the completed work! Full pic: http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/1650/ventnoirgl1.jpg

Started to Cycle Again

It has been a long time since I've ridden a bicycle. To be frank, I believe it was in the summer of 2000 when I crashed which ended up in a broken collar bone, which sealed my passion for biking until now. Yes, I was defeated by fate and did not have the courage to ride until now! My history of bike accidents though goes back to when I was just a child. A broken elbow, a concussion, two lost bikes, one bike ran over, a concussion from a motorbike and finally my collar fracture. See how I missed it so much? :)

Anyrate, I bought a Motobecane: Vent Noir. It's a road sport bike. On the cheaper side but hey, it will do what I need for a long time until this bum can get a job after college! Here is a larger picture of the bike but not mine. Full site picture http://stupidhurts.org/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/ventnoir.jpg

You can bet your bottom I'll post a photo of it when I get it next week sometime. Downside is now I have to do some shopping for other items. Bah. At least I can get a few days out of the gym now!

Derek

Bike Across Kansas: BAK

The wierdest thing happened last month when I called my former freshman roommate Dave out of the blue, and asked him if he wanted to bike across the state of Kansas. He has done some crazy marathons in his life so I figured he would be perfect for this madness. Which goes to questioning my motive for this trip. Frankly, I have no other answer than I would like to go!

Anyway, after asking Dave, he said another one of our friends and him had been interested this year going on an official ride from West to East sponsored by http://www.bak.org/ Every year hundreds of people take the trip from border to border; it is approximately 500mi over an eight day period. This should be fun to train for!!

Derek

Update

Good news on a few fronts. McClane is back and I am seeing him kick some @#$ tonight. Then on Wednesday, Transformers are alive. Finally I get to see robots on screen tear things up.

I added a few links on the side. Mostly videos which are hosted on YouTube. What a great site. Everything from Cookie Monster to Tony Bennett. It's very simple for those of you who are inept at computers. More later.

The Unpretentious Sculptor: An Introduction

The denotation of the word sculptor is obvious, but let's use it to describe someone who has changed our culture, land, viewpoint and way of life. I am specifically looking for men and women who have accidentally, humbly or someone who changed our nation for the better and who really hasn't received the recognition they deserve.

When asked who are heroes are today, Reagan, King, Gretsky come to mind. These are rightfully so our answers but listen, there are scores of others out there who should be recognized as champions too. They don't need to be politicians or sportsman; some of the other fields I'm looking at are in music, economics, religion, agriculture and more.

Hopefully this will be informational and rewarding to you and to include myself. I plan on doing a small amount of research about one person per week and posting my findings here. Just a simple thanks for those of us who can learn from what they did right.

I should also mention another hobby of mine is in the ways of collecting unique words which are not commonly used. Slowly trying to integrate some of them into my everday speech, but it is considerably difficult as I am learning new words at a faster pace than I intended. So I will publish five or so words weekly as well.

Ubuntu update.
Everything is working well actually. It looks to be once you have installed the necessary drivers for your hardware, things are not so bad. I am usually on Linux when I just want to do some research, chat or anything besides game online. Some plugins don't work, but hey, it's a new experience which has been fun. The graphical desktop program, Beryl, is a blast to play with. I'm trying to now install and run different docks to gradually move away from the taskbar but no real rush. Later.
Derek

Fred Thompson

It looks to be about time to start posting some actual content instead of just random mess. I will continue to make some detailed posts about Ubuntu in the near future but there are obvious issues which are more important to confabulate about at the present moment. And seeing as I have such a wide demographic of readership, and my internet prowess is vast, this needs to be heard.

The ability to actually handle another Clinton is the Whitehouse I don't believe is a reality. I remember Rush Limbaugh speaking of a possible Hillary run a few years back, and how he almost wished she would win the primary for the Dems. This would solidify the Rep base as even the most tempered voter is turned off by her.

Possibly so, but with a Clinton/Obama ticket looking likely, I'm not so sure this scenario is quite prophecy anymore. She would rally those of us who did feel disenfranchised from this last election but I think with the addition of Obama's energy, their team would be a bit more...cunning. Maybe attractive to the independent voters out there.

"What needs to be done Derek?" You need to give me all your money so I can pay for my tuition...wait...oh. Fred Thompson needs to lead us. Recognizable, truthful, honorable, are just a few words which come to mind of this potential candidate. Listen, we need a candidate who not only garners the vote of Reagan, but one who believe in his principles.

I have class in a bit, so here it is. We don't need me to recant the positions of the Rep base. I think Fred is the one who can make it happen again. Here are some links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Thompson
http://www.imwithfred.com/
http://draftfredthompson.com/

Summertime!

Few things to mention. Currently I am in one summer class: Marketing. The professor is actually one of the best I've had here. I was a bit apprehensive about the topics and subject matter but thankfully he presents it a way where even though it can go two hours long, it isn't bad.

Update on Ubuntu: it's running! To be honest, it took me over a week to get my wireless card recognized. Hours I was browsing the forums and different howto sites trying to make progress. Third-party drivers is what was the final key. Hopefully this issue and some others get repaired for the next build in October.

Other than that, everything else has gone well. There are many threads which discuss installation of drivers, programs and helpful hints on how to operate the system. It's still distressing how much the Terminal program must be used but hey, it's free heh. Once I figure out how to post screenshots in here, I will of my desktop.

Starting Linux, Ubuntu build

Currently, there are two weeks before I begin summer courses so I thought I would throw myself into Linux once again for giggles. I am very satisfied with WindowsXP but with crappy internet online games are a pain. So in addition to random crap I'll post my thoughts and links if necessary on here detailing my experiences in research, community, installing and working with Linux as a whole.

My past dealings with Linux have reminded me to do some research before jumping in. But in the past five years or so since I last tried it, things have much improved, at face. So let me start by explaining a bit of what I know right now:
Linux is an operating system, which is an open source build(meaning free and the user able to change it without patent issues). As I understand it it is based upon Unix system but that's not too important.
Ubuntu is a user friendly package which installs the Linux system on your computer. It is free to download of course. Think of Ubuntu as a 'shell' which covers the Linux 'core.' The Ubuntu installation covers partitioning and dual boot options for those of us wishing to keep our WindowsXP system.
Partitioning is the seperation of ones hard drive to make new drives or to install new operating systems seperately without affecting what you have now. A bit complicated but I'll know more once I install it this afternoon.

Ok, so once I get Ubuntu and Windows running good I'll post what I did and where to find help about a few specific things.

So I lied

Last week was it for finals. We'll see how it turns out! This past semester didn't turn out as well as I hoped, but that's just motivation for summer classes! Speaking of which, I need to pay for them...doh.

Anyrate, some more good news, NBC has struck a last minute deal with Wolf to continue Law & Order and it's spinoff series for at least another year!! YAY! Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,271974,00.html
Don't underestimate the sheer awesomeness of this tv production. For now, we can sleep easy. More later.
Derek

Spring Semester Ending

Despite a full week of exams next week, my advanced statistics teacher seems to believe a quiz is a fundamental ingredient for us. Weak. Some exceptional news however: no more intro to accounting class. Accounting's second course awaits me in the fall though. I singed up and paid for these courses on my own recognizance. Maybe I should get my head checked. More later.
Derek