My new favorite number: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 (That is a number in hex). In decimal, it is: 13,256,278,887,989,457,651,018,865,901,401,704,640

Isn't it great when geeks riot?

posted by Jeff 11:33 AM

Well, Lance is going to win again! Awesome! 7 STRAIGHT titles.

It was really interesting watching this year's Tour de France. As I mentioned in an earlier post, David Zabriskie won a stage, simultaneously breaking Greg Lemond's time record. For a few days he dominated and held the yellow Jersey. Then, he crashed near the end of stage 4. He could have still hung in there and finished close behind the leaders and still been in contention. His CSC team was really hard for Armstrong's DSC to catch in stage 4, and Lance had nothing but praise for him.

But, the mental aspect seems to have kicked in after that stage, and the immaturity of his team showed through as well. Each stage he got further and further behind, and not too long later he was completely out of the race. As a friend pointed out, it really shows how much of the race is purely mental. He had the physical ability to keep going, he was even at the top. But, the mental toughness necessary was not completely there, and he fell.

Of course, to put it in perspective, the mental AND physical demands these professionals face both are orders of magnitude more than any of us mere mortals can handle. Biking is really such a gruelling sport, though it is hard to see that from watching it.

posted by Jeff 11:55 AM

Ok, I've been promising a friend from Poland some kid pictures.

Here are Korinne (7 years old), Robbie (5 years old) and Helen (2 years old):



These were school pictures done in April of this year, and the best school pictures we've had to date. Aren't they just so cute? :)

posted by Jeff 7:50 PM

The Tour de France is on! A very cool thing happened in the first stage. Dave Zabriskie, a rider from Salt Lake City Utah, took the stage and broke Greg Lemond’s record (from his inspirational and quite famous finish of the 1989 tour, which is what first got me interested in the Tour de France) Lance was only 2 seconds behind that as well.

I'm still rooting for Lance of course, but today clearly belongs to Dave Zabriskie. Check out the online coverage of the stage. Time to change this site's graphics from Christmas back to Tour de France pictures(which were lost when I moved to a new hosting site).

posted by Jeff 1:15 PM

This week I had a once-in-a-long-time chance to go to Europe. My work sent me to Nuremberg, and I'm doing personal travel afterwards. I got to do a whirlwind tour of Prague, in the Czech Republic, then an overnight train to Warsaw, where I was able to attend church at the Warsaw LDS chapel, and then see a free Chopin concert at Lazienki (pronounced wazhaenkee) park. Today I travelled by train to Krakow, a very cool city.

I'll write more about my experiences when I'm not paying so much for internet access. (I'll probably write it offline on my laptop, then post it when I'm done, along with pictures).

posted by Jeff 1:14 PM