Where am I?

Ever wonder where in the world I am? I know I sure do. Like that time I woke up in a dirty dingy basement with a single flickering light, handcuffed to a tub or toilet and a dead guy lying next to me and a note....er wait, maybe that was the movie Saw. While that might be an exaggeration, I certainly do a great deal of city-hopping between DC and RVA, especially during my move. So I introduce to you the newest feature of my blog, Google Latitude. ---------------> If you're not familiar, Latitude can track where one are based up what is input to the widget, or it can use one's mobile phone either by cell tower triangulation or GPS. Luckily my mobile device has GPS and therefore can determine where I am within 4 meters usually. Scary isn't it?

This remind me of a fight discussion I had with my neighbors after they discovered of my blog. They are private people, and I respect that, but I'm much less of a paranoid private person. They were concerned that I published my where about, that I (at the time) published when I visit DC, that I autocross, that I have a girlfriend, etc. I assured them that I don't publish anything I don't want anyone in the world to know, or anything that I wouldn't voluntarily tell a friend or even a stranger for that matter. I take precautions. Hell, I even code-named my girlfriend, mainly at her wish. Somehow though we couldn't just agree to disagree. Ha, I wonder what they'll say about my latest addition, that is if they still read this. And if they do, then they now understand why I blog--to keep friends/family abreast of my activities, and now my whereabouts. If I could make followers out of them, then perhaps I successfully won the fight made my point.

I don't like the whole world seeing exactly where I am within 4 meters, so eventually I will restrict it to only publishing my current city. However, in just a week I will begin epic motorcycle journey from the hot Phoenix, AZ, to the adventurous Las Vegas, to the even hotter Death Valley, through the beautiful mountains of California, through the city of San Francisco and its enormous bridge, and finally to the legendary Laguna Seca racetrack in Monterey, CA. I want everyone that wants to know where I am to know exactly, within 4 meters, of where I am. Just imagine how useful this will become should something bad happen to us.

I've been using Latitude privately with some friends for a few weeks and have discovered a few things. First, its not perfect. The cell tower triangulation will usually locate within several hundred meters, which is good, but not useful when trying to find someone. Second, the GPS obviously only works when there is LOS (line of sight) to the GPS satellites, much like a car's GPS unit. For example, when I'm in work, it shows that I'm somewhere downtown, but not exactly where. Third, its quite useful when people are expecting one another, especially if travel gets delayed due to traffic. I'm guessing that Google will eventually tie it into Google Maps in such a way that it will give Latitude friends an ETA and even a planned route.

I intend to occasionally toggle between city-level and best available publishing depending upon what's going on. For instance, I'll likely publish best available location during my marathon so people may track my progress exactly. Stay tuned!

Freak out

I'm starting to panic. I move the majority of my belongings to DC this weekend, in less than 24 hours. There is so much to pack and I've procrastinated horribly. Here's an excerpt of an email sent to Adrian yesterday to make plans, thereby furthering my procrastination:

I keep telling myself I need to go home and pack. I even left work early yesterday to do that, among other things. I went to Merchants to trash 5 old race tires, stopped by two different banks, dumped over 60 beers from the keg and then returned it, rotated my tires, and wire-wheeled off the ugly-ass red caliper paint from my front calipers that was chipped anyway. After that, I went for a run, ate dinner, watched jeopardy, and went to the Byrd to see Duplicity. I didn't pack a single thing, a procrastination I'll surely regret tomorrow night and/or Saturday Morning. I could have at least disassembled my computer desk and moved it to the shed. I could have also boxed up some of my bedroom. Saturday Morning I am supposed to log a 10-mile run, which I hope to wake up super early for or try to do Friday night. Yeah right.

I'm starting to freak out now that its T-24 hours (I never understood the "t minus" until I took college physics). On top of that, I had a near HVAC emergency last night that kept me up until nearly 4 AM, which in turn got me to work super late. My attic AC unit does not have a proper drain for the drip-pan, so when it overflows it shuts off the AC and blanks out the thermostat. Luckily the home inspector warned me of this upon the purchase inspection. After I painstakingly scooped roughly 15-gallons out of the drip pan with a small paper coffee cup, the AC started back up. Thankfully it happened now and not when I'm on vacation in two weeks, else the tenants would have had to call a service man, for which I would have had to pay. Dodged a bullet!

Now I must resume my panic.

Moving on up, to DC

Its been a while, a month and a half to be exact. Since then, lots of things have happened as you may have guessed. In my usual catch-up format, I'll list the items below. Where to begin...

1. I finished 7th in my age group at the Twisted Tire mountain bike race on 5/19, 5th in age group at the Urban Assault race on 5/16, and 9th at the Devil's Backbone Challenge on 5/23.

2. Attended the Greek Festival (twice), a Guster Concert, a few outings to Commercial Taphouse, some "driver training" at casa ahamos, and a few good movies lately.

3. I've had three autocross events since my last post. My RAW and PAX (Indexed) placements are as follows:

4/26: of 61 racers
5th RAW
2nd PAX

5/10: of 56 racers
10th RAW
6th PAX

5/31: of 66 racers
10th RAW
9th PAX

4. Miss Two and I did the Great Urban Race in DC. A time penalty put us past the 4 hour mark, giving us a "did not finish", but we finished in spirit and had a bunch of fun.

5. Marathon training started. Here is my fund raising website, which links to my personal training calendar, which contains information about each of my training activities including a links to a GPS mapping of each of my runs (or bike rides) (example 1, 2). Yes, I'm that tech savvy!

6. The shoulder doctor has determined there are no chips in my shoulder socket, which is excellent news. This means he can go in and just tighten up the ligaments via an arthroscopic procedure. Recurrence rate after this procedure, just 10%. I'm looking to have this done in Nov or Dec. I'll be in a sling for 4 weeks and not allowed any activities for 4 months.

7. I signed a lease on a row house in Capitol Hill in DC! In related news, I signed a lease to the future tenants of my house. I'm now a renter and a landlord.

8. Most of my moving plans are all laid out. My weekends are as follows:
May 24: clean garage. Check!
May 30: purge clothes. Check!
June 6-7: paint/prep new apt, paint/fix current house
June 13: going away party!
June 14: pack
June 20-21, 24: pack, move
June 27: leave for vacation
July 10: Start living in DC

9. One of my little brothers graduates high school this year. Shit! I feel like I just graduated high school, but sadly that was 8 years ago, nearly a decade. This getting old stuff isn't so hot. I hear it only gets worse.