Joe Nuxoll (joeracer)

What Happened in 2010

2011-01-03T18:17:00.000-08:00

I have never sent a holiday card. This year, I figured since I take soo many damn photos - I could just list the names of the subdirectories in my 2010 photos volume on my network drive. I started with that... then figured that was a tad too impersonal. I then collapsed the flat listing into sentence fragments with one paragraph per month. This isn't the most wonderful read, but it does pretty much cover what happened in my life this year!

January - Celebrated New Year’s day at the Norbye house, shot a few whip cream cans with a pellet gun, skipped some rocks on Vasona Lake with the Quinns, took Jill’s dogs to the beach, did a photo shoot for the Tesla Roadster S, did some indoor skydiving, saw a nasty wreck on HW85, hiked around Colero Reservoir, attended CodeMash in Sandusky, OH, hiked Castle Rock State Park, hiked Sereno Park, had a track day at Laguna Seca in Monterey, CA, attended a vintage race at Infineon Raceway.

February - Sent the Lotus in for repair, attended Ryder’s birthday, drove around Calaveras Reservoir, hiked Castle Rock State Park again, wine and chocolates at Solis Winery after brunch at La Forét for Valentine’s Day, tested the new ContourHD in-car camera, visited the Apple Store in Scottsdale, AZ, met a baby puppy, hit 160,000 miles on my Pathfinder, photographed the Mexico vs Bolivia soccer game, tested the CountourHD some more, spent too much at Alexander’s Steak House, rode the motorcycle to Alice’s with my friend Noel and his shiny new motorcycle license.

March - Ran a few consecutive track days at Laguna Seca, watched my friends’ son’s band CIA play at a bowling alley, got a damage report on the Lotus, watched a Sharks game, got Jill’s a sweet Peeps costume for Halloween, completed a few more helmet camera tests, made the 2010 CenterLineSoccer supporters club cards, attended the Java Posse Roundup in Crested Butte, CO, did some downhill and cross-country skiing, and some snowmobiling in Colorado, photographed the season kick-off CenterLineSoccer event with the San Jose Earthquakes at Rosie McCann’s irish pub, turned 2 pounds of bacon into a huge bowl of fresh bacon bits, photographed the Quakes season opener soccer game, then had a track day at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA.

April - Got an iPad, photographed the top view of the Lotus for a friend, had some Arizona friends Ben & Lindsay stay for a visit, played bocci ball with them, hiked Castle Rock State Park with them, did some wine tasting with them, then had a track day at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, photographed Quakes home games twice and the FC Gold Pride once, took Flat Stanley to Santa Cruz for nephew Jay, photographed friends’ son’s lacrosse game, photographed a very crazy looking sky, had brunch at La Forét for Dick Wall’s birthday, went wine tasting for Michelle’s birthday, attended Mark’s surprise birthday party, had a track day at Laguna Seca, watched my brother expertly drift my Lotus, photographed the grand opening of the new Quakes training facility, got another iPad.

May - Test drove a Lotus Evora, photographed the Quakes home games three times, took my sister Mary and her husband Red to Half Moon Bay, had a photo shoot for my cat Potato, photographed an FC Gold Pride home game, hiked Rancho Cañada del Oro, re-organized my desk setup, photographed the ALMS race at Laguna Seca, hung out in Carmel with Steve, Jen, and Mason Rossi, watched some salt water taffy being made, photographed a LOT of empty wine bottles then recycled them, attended a Kansas / Styx / Foreigner concert for free, had a pair of track days at Infineon Raceway, followed by another at Laguna Seca, attended the Morgan Hill Mushroom Mardi Gras.

June - Photographed a Quakes home game, hung out at the Infineon Historics, then drove a new V6 TDI Touareg, flew a helicopter, and did indoor skydiving all on my birthday, recorded a video for Sharon’s birthday, did another Potato photo shoot, hiked Calero Reservoir, watched the USA suck in the World Cup and somehow get praised for it, instructed at Laguna Seca without my broken Lotus, went to a Steve Martin and Steep Canyon Rangers concert, got an iPhone 4, started construction on my back yard retaining wall.

July - Photographed several Quakes home games, including one exhibition against Tottenham Hotspur where my camera died, finished back yard retaining wall construction, photographed an FC Gold Pride home game, attended an English Beat / Squeeze concert, took a boat-house trip to the Sacramento River Delta, traveled to Seattle to attended a Nuxoll family party on Lake Sammamish.

August - Photographed a Real Madrid vs Club America game, attended Seafair and photographed a lot of boats and jets, showed up at my 25-year 8th grade reunion dressed as myself in 1985, watched Tom & Sam & kids depart their own house in a motorhome and then arrive at my house days later after I had flown, took care of the kids for a few days, photographed a pair of Quakes home games, went sailing with Noel, did a photo shoot for Michael and Irina for their engagement, attended the Indy GP at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, recorded a special message for Dr. Culbert that was never used.

September - Fixed a broken sprinkler, rode to Alice’s on the motorcycle, got terribly addicted to small remote-controlled helicopters, hiked Coyote Creek trails, had a track day at Laguna Seca, got a sweet outdoor fireplace for the back yard, photographed several more Quakes home games, attended the Soccer Silicon Valley Community Foundation annual dinner - where I supplied the all-dinner slideshow and donated 20 prints to the silent auction, won the bid for the whole-team autographed jersey (again), recorded the Java Posse 5-Year Anniversary live show at JavaOne, attended the most amazing Oracle party and was front and center for English Beat and Don Henley, did a pair of back-to-back track days at Infineon Raceway, photographed the WPS Championship match.

October - Guest hosted on the Quakes Cast podcast, attended Michael and Irina’s wedding, attended SF Fleet Week on a big sail boat to photograph the Blue Angels, hiked Castle Rock State Park, did some indoor skydiving, picked up another kitten and renamed him several times before settling on Punkin, photographed three more Quakes home games, attended third English Beat concert in as many months, had a track day at Infineon Raceway, drove down to Santa Barbara for Steve Rossi’s 40th, watched some Michael Jackson fans dance to Thriller, did a photo shoot with the new kitten Punkin.

November - Grew a beard for the Quakes playoff run (not the SF Giants), attended Massive Attack / Thievery Corporation concert at the Greek, got a sweet gas fire-pit for under the awnings in the back yard, upgraded the MacBook Pro RAM to 8GB, attended Devoxx in Antwerp, Belgium, then hung out in Amsterdam, bought a lot of chocolate, had a family Thanksgiving in Scottsdale, AZ, rode a Harley in the freezing boonies with my brother in-law Bob, hiked Pinnacle Peak Park with Ben & Lindsay.

December - Had way too much aquavit at the Son’s of Norway dinner, attended an Edward Tufte class, got an OnLive console, rented a motorhome and drove to Pismo Beach to rent ATVs on the dunes, visited Jill’s retired horse Pumba, celebrated Jill’s 40th with a surprise party in Los Gatos, watched a stunning full lunar eclipse in the middle of the night, traveled to Seattle for Christmas and stayed at Hotel Nuxoll Sammamish, hiked around property on Snoqualmie River, rode a bunch of ferry boats all over the Puget Sound, drove a 125 shifter kart in the snow, checked out the perfect view from Newcastle Golf Course, celebrated New Year’s eve with fun people in Bellevue, and was actually present at the stroke of midnight for my brother Tom’s birthday.

Oh, and probably some other stuff happened too - like work and stuff. If I missed your favorite event, then let me know!

Happy New Year! Enjoy your 2011!

Computer Megalomania

2010-09-03T17:10:00.000-07:00

I recently got in an email debate about the merits of Linux with a few friends (you know who you are). It made me think about exactly what it is that I have against Linux. As it turns out, I am a Linux fan. Linux kicks ass for software developers. No argument. It has come a long way, baby, and it's damn good. Impressive, even.

<soapbox>

My personal interest, however, is in human-computer interaction in the consumer space (for regular non-software-engineer people). I don't want Linux (as a desktop user interface) to make any headway in the consumer space. Here's why.

I am looking forward to a time when the "art of setting up your computer just how you like it" is a truly lost art - only found among software people. In my (and several others') opinion, computers are not something that should be celebrated, but something that you should be able to use as an invisible tool to get other things done worth celebrating. For example, making photos, movies, music, art - or writing great novels, designing a faster car, discovering new maths and science and medicine, etc. Today, the use-model of the computer is WAY too much of a megalomanic to get out of the way of most people's creative and/or intellectual pursuits. So much potential energy is stuck at the top of the reservoir because the tools of the day require too much investment to use.

The term "[computer] techie" bothers me on so many levels... You should be able to use a computer for great things (unrelated to building computers and/or software) and understand very little about them. A great user experience means the thing you were trying to get done was not effortless - but all of your effort was spent on the *thing*, not on trying to get the computer to do the thing. To me, today's computing metaphor is as ridiculous as a carpenter spending their whole day messing with the cool knobs and settings on their tools, rather than building awesome cabinetry. Computers need to do a better job at becoming invisible and allow the user to focus on their art.

Linux is wonderful on the server - where it invisibly crunches numbers and processes vast streams of data. The reason I don't like it on the desktop, is that it comes from and is shaped by a group of people that view personal computing very much from a "software techie" perspective. That simple passive label alone "popular among techies", is a damning mark in my eyes. I don't want Linux on the desktop to do well (outside of the software engineering world), because that means computers are becoming less and less transparent - rather than more transparent as they should (in my opinion).

All that said, I like Apple's approach at re-inventing the whole computing thing as a mega-simplified interface that is far more intuitive than what we regard as classical "computers". I do love Macs and OS X for a bunch of reasons, but the real future of computing looks a heck of a lot more like iOS. And frankly, Android. The user model is very similar between them, but Android still suffers from that "techie" thing that I honestly hope cleans up.

</soapbox>

I can't wait to see what people make and invent and discover when the full breadth of computing power is available to them without the overhead of "modern" computer UI megalomania.

Several of my "techie" software friends are annoyed that new computer users of the future (our children) are going to grow up in a world where computers aren't to be tinkered with, but used to do real stuff. I personally find that future to be a much better one - with more creative things happening in the world that don't directly pertain to computers themselves. The software industry will shrink somewhat (perhaps), because the creative intellectual talent will be busy using computers to build more interesting things.

Random thoughts on caffeine: USA soccer

2010-08-03T01:18:00.000-07:00

You might think this post is related to caffeine, but I assure you it is not. The title merely reflects the fact that I had a thai iced tea with dinner, and I normally don't drink any caffeine at all - thus I am awake and should be asleep. "thoughts on caffeine" are the thoughts coursing through my noggin using caffeine jet propulsion.

So... I wanted to make a few points about US soccer. I am posting this because the USSoccer.com website is soliciting folks to produce a video on YouTube describing your "favorite moments" from the USA's "fantastic" World Cup run in South Africa. People are talking about Landon's goal in the last second against Algeria - which popped the US from possibly OUT to 1st in Group C in an instant. That was pretty cool. I was pretty stoked at that moment, I must admit...

But... As an avid soccer fan, and a die-hard 100% USA soccer fan (MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR FAN), I am a bit miffed about the post-cup reaction to the USA's "great" performance. Don't get me wrong. Don't jump to conclusions without reading this. Please pay attention.

The media is really excited at our amazing and skilled soccer team that so dramatically defeated England, Slovenia, and Algeria during the group stage, and blah blah blah. I think we sucked. Really really badly. I think we perhaps had our worst performance yet on the world stage, and for some reason - somehow - somebody is using a Jedi mind-trick on the general populace to make them think we played well. I watched the games - every second of them - and some of them more than once. We sucked. We didn't even show up until the second half for most of the games - scratch that - any of the games. We played brilliant for spans of up to (but not including) one minute at a time. We had some great segments of panic from behind and try try try to attack - but failed. I saw about 10 great plays by our guys in the whole tournament. The rest of the time it was WTF? My view of the tournament is for some reason at great odds with the US media's assessment of our play.

Okay. So again to be clear - I am an absolute 100% die-hard USA soccer fan. I love our guys. I love our potential. I will wear red, white, and blue and scream until my throat bleeds every time they play. The problem is, I want to see them play like they did at last year's Confederation Cup, except when the real chips are on the table. We beat Spain. We were up 2-0 against Brazil at half-time. Perhaps the loss of that game was foreshadowing of the stellar play we'd see this year in South Africa.

For some reason they didn't perform well this year and it really bums me out. The USA should have been eliminated by Holland in the semi-finals. That's where their potential should have led them. Instead they absolutely LUCKED into winning Group C and got their ass kicked in their first elimination game by a team they should have crushed.

The USA did not perform well at the World Cup this year. We sucked. It's a shame, because we honestly have a lot more talent than was shown in this tournament, but for some reason the lads were sleeping at the switch until the dying moments of a few of the games. Disappointing.

I'm not going to single out any players - though I do have opinions - I just think we weren't into it for some reason. Vuvuzela noise? Who knows. I am just really confused by the media's ignorance of the game of soccer to not realize how poorly we did. I know the guys know, but I hope they do enjoy this media tidal wave and get as much good press for soccer in USA as possible. I'll sit over here with the real soccer folks and just smile and hope for better times ahead.

We totally *can* kick ass on the world stage. We just haven't yet.

- Joe

Where Have You Been?

2009-09-22T17:38:00.000-07:00

Someone once asked me what happened to my blog writing... okay, so it wasn't really "someone", it was my Dad. And it wasn't really nondescript time like "once", it was specifically yesterday. Back to the point.

My Dad asked me yesterday what happened to my blog, and why hadn't I updated it in a while. The answer is simple. I use Twitter (Tw) and Facebook (Fb) a lot now, so I haven't felt the urge to wax poetically via this jolly medium.

Since I'm pretty much just talking to my Dad now, I can take a moment and explain what Twitter and Facebook are. They are two forms of a relatively new internet thing called social media sites. They're like online fan clubs for anyone. Anyone. Including you. To that affect, I just created you your very own Twitter account, and your Twitter name is "alfanutjay" or "jaynuxoll". I made two because I wasn't sure which one you'd want. I'll send you the passwords and login information via email.

So basically, you log into www.twitter.com and start saying stuff - anything - in 140 character sound bites. Anyone that wants to can "follow" you and thus hear your sound bites. I am "joeracer" on Twitter, and you're already following me with your two accounts. :-) You're welcome. I send updates via my phone - wherever in the world I am, and everyone that's following me (lots of geeks) hears about it instantly.

As for Facebook... That's a slightly different animal. Think of it as a way to stalk your ex-girlfriends from PRESCHOOL. Yes, everyone on the planet is on it, and you can find them. And they can find you. People post pictures, updates, stories about their vacations, videos of kittens falling asleep... you name it. In fact, Rule 38 would apply, but Fb is limited to non-pornographic content. I linked my Tw and Fb accounts, so I just post to Tw and it shows up in Fb for all my ex-girlfriends from PRESCHOOL to see. Believe me, they're watching. And waiting. And hanging on to every single last word I type.

At least in my dreams.

Ta ta for now, Dad!

- Joe

Working Conditions

2009-07-14T18:39:00.001-07:00

I have my laptop in an ice tray because it's so freakin' hot today.
The kitties are also taking advantage of the tray.

- Joe

(sent from my i3GS)

Shooting Mt Rainier

2009-07-10T18:47:00.000-07:00

We're up on top of Crystal Mt Resort for dinner.

Soft Top

2009-06-10T23:45:00.000-07:00

This is somewhat old news now (1 1/2 weeks), but I installed a soft top on the Lotus and it is now 427 clicks more awesome. I love this car even more now. It takes about 2 minutes (tops) to install or remove the soft top, and it stows in the trunk very easily in a bag like a camping chair.

I spent today (my birthday) cruising and checkin stuff out. It was great! I looked at motocross bike trailers, test rode an Aprilia Scooter, then test drove a VW Touareg V6 TDI. I also spent a good deal of time chatting with the folks over at Silicon Valley Auto Group about doing a race instruction series for their supercar buyers.

Later I had dinner at the Quinn's and recorded another podcast episode. Life is good - even though I'm an old bastard now.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Daytona Prototypes at Laguna Seca

2009-05-18T12:03:00.000-07:00

I put a set of photos up on flickr from the Monterey Festival of Speed at Laguna Seca Raceway this weekend. The Rolex Daytona Prototype race was 2h 45m long in the BLAZING sun. I am totally sunburned, but it was fun watching the VERY FAST line through these corners that I drive so often. My best time at Laguna was a 1:41 in a Radical SR3 (after only 2 sessions); the Lotus gets a 1:45; and these guys qualified with a 1:19. Geesh.

- Joe

At the races!

2009-05-17T11:32:00.000-07:00

Jill, Steve, and I are at Laguna Seca for the Rolex Daytona prototype races. Right now wer'e in the shade having a beer.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Mother's Day

2009-05-10T21:30:00.001-07:00

Mothers Day photo set, uploaded by joeracer.

My mom kicks ass. Period. We went to the beach today to just hang out and watch the waves. She really loves the ocean, and guess what? So do I. :-) I love taking her to beautiful natural places where we can just watch the show.

Infineon Raceway - May 4th, 2009

2009-05-07T23:28:00.001-07:00

Here are a few laps at Infineon Raceway (Sears Point) on Monday, May 4th, 2009. I am driving my 2007 Lotus Exige S (stock). This was during an afternoon advanced session with Track Masters Racing. The track was starting to cool down - and this set of tires are toast. Nonetheless, it was a good session and I was able to turn some good aggressive laps. The fastest lap was 1:56, but you have to guess which one it was (hint: no mistakes).

Laguna Seca - April 30, 2009

2009-05-01T16:12:00.001-07:00

Here are 3 laps at Laguna Seca on Thursday, April 30th, 2009. I was driving my 2007 Lotus Exige S (stock) during the first advanced group session of the day with Track Masters Racing. The lap times were 1:45, 1:46, and 1:45. This is the only session of the day that I drove without a passenger, so the rest of the day was a few seconds slower. *sigh* Light race cars!

5 Laps @ Laguna Seca (April 8, 2009)

2009-04-22T11:16:00.001-07:00

I finally took the time to upload a video from Laguna Seca 2 weeks ago. Enjoy the in-car!

- Joe

Carl's new Tesla

2009-04-20T14:38:00.000-07:00

Carl has waited 2 years for this! Here is a photo set on Flickr and the in-car video of the trip to pick it up.

- Joe

2009-02-27T11:53:00.000-08:00

I posted a few weeks ago about a major site redesign at Navigenics... well, we stayed very busy after that as well. We just launched some major improvements to the Navigenics Physician Portal. If you're a physician (or know a physician), and they're looking to get involved in the newest field of preventive medicine - they should talk to Navigenics.

Here are some highlights:

Keep it simple. There are test results and there are resources to help educate physicians on genetics and how to use them in their practice. Naturally, we want to get as much feedback as possible in this early market.

The test results themselves are very simple - at least on the surface appearance (that's our job). These are the genetic predispositions that science currently understands, and how they relate to this particular patient (note that this particular guy is fake). We show a bunch of medical conditions and what the average lifetime risk is for each one. We also show the patient's estimated lifetime risk, and what "percentile" they fall into in the population. This is a good birds-eye-view for a physician to get a picture before digging in.

If you dig a little deeper, we show a lot of technical detail about each condition, and provide a lot of jumping-off points to learn more. This is a lot of condensed meat - with a lot less consumer fluff for the physician to have to dig through.

All together, this makes for a very easy step-in for physicians to include genetic testing in their practice as an adjunct to all the other great things they do already. This is just more useful information, and it will only get more and more useful over time as the science and technology develops. Exciting times!

As always, you can stay abreast of the latest news in genetics and health by following the Navigenics blog.

- Joe

Happy Birthday Michael

2009-02-26T14:07:00.001-08:00

Michael turned 35, and we went to Benihana. I washed my finger.

- Joe

SAP Open in San Jose

2009-02-11T19:20:00.000-08:00

I'm at the SAP Open in San Jose in a penthouse suite. My good buddy Ryder scored tickets, so we're drinking and watching pro tennis. These guys looked skilled but I have to admit I have no clue!

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

San Mateo Bridge

2009-02-08T19:21:00.000-08:00

Today Jill and I were exploring with tall mud boots on. We ended up wading *under* the San Mateo Bridge in the low tide. If you asked me where I was going to go today, my answer was "dunno". At one point I got stuck and needed help getting pulled out. Random good times!

- Joe

2008-11-29T21:21:00.001-08:00

These are Jill's new puppies, Osa (female, left) and Elroy (male, right). They have never been to the beach! In fact, they really haven't been anywhere until we took them to Vasona Park yesterday. They love the beach. It was a bit scary at first, but they quickly figured out that it was all fun...

Elroy got slammed by a wave, and was a bit freaked out by it. Eventually he was running at full speed and didn't care if the water hit him. Dogs are simple creatures, and they smell like shit when they're wet.

- Joe

Strombolie!

2008-11-28T20:17:00.000-08:00

Delicious!

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T14:01:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful. I am thankful that this person learned how to park. A long time ago. Then they forgot.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Southern Kitchen, Los Gatos

2008-11-23T13:40:00.000-08:00

Frankly the best breakfast place anywhere. Have their "country
special" with grits.

- Joe

2008-10-20T22:17:00.001-07:00

As it turns out, this car is approximately 2000 times more awesome as a convertible. I finally broke down and removed the top this weekend - despite the loss of intercooler air feed from the roof.

I must say that I have fallen in love again with what seems like a totally new car that I've had for well over a year. I drove *all day* on Sunday on windy roads deep in the California mountains and valleys - laughing the whole time. Wow.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Pins to go...

2008-10-15T09:18:00.001-07:00

At the docs... Pins are supposed to be removed today - but we'll see.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Alcatraz Angels

2008-10-14T23:11:00.001-07:00

Alcatraz Angels 019, originally uploaded by joeracer.

This last weekend was Fleet Week in San Francisco. I took a trip to Alcatraz with a group of photographers to capture some great pix of the Blue Angels.

It was a great venue to watch them, and a stunning backdrop for photos... Unfortunately, all the shots were terribly back-lit (by a setting sun) so the colors are not up to snuff.

View the whole set on flickr.

#1 Clipper

2008-10-11T13:34:00.001-07:00

Still rockin' the shaved head... I just tried the #1 clipper instead of the #2. Wuudaya think?

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

SPEED!

2008-10-10T00:14:00.001-07:00

Over 17Mb/s down and over 1Mb/s up. I weep for you people.

Quakes and Tottenham Hotspur

2008-10-09T22:43:00.000-07:00

I was at a press conference this afternoon where the San Jose Earthquakes announced a major new partnership with Tottenham Hotspur. If you don't know them, Tottenham Hotspur is a great team in the English Premier League. If you don't know who the San Jose Earthquakes are, please stop reading my blog. Now.

Presumably the partnership will have more significance when the Quakes build up their developmental program - which will likely come with the new stadium. In the meantime, both teams should pick up a few more fans from across the pond.

- Joe

Hey! I shaved my head!

2008-10-03T00:24:00.001-07:00

Why you ask?

Because I felt like it. Well, that and because having one hand is really bugging the shit out me in the mornings. Last time I shaved my head was... ummm... never. The closest was in France during the 1998 World Cup. I cut my hair very short and bleached it stark white. I looked like a punk albino. It was rad.

I just cut a good 8 minutes of total frustration out of my mornings!

- Joe

Palin Bingo

2008-10-02T21:33:00.000-07:00

I'm surprised she didn't sound like a complete idiot. Any time a massive underdog doesn't suck in a debate, they're considered the "winner".

*sigh* This is going to suck.

- Joe

2008-09-21T23:53:00.000-07:00

... I am pretty damn sure it's broken.

This is my very broken right hand. Actually, my right ring and pinkie fingers are very broken. I was playing soccer, and had a bad high-speed wreck involving me hitting the ground, the ball, and another player's cleat all with these two fingers. It hurt a lot. Tomorrow I have surgery to repair the twisted broken fingers. Good times.

Wish me luck!

- Joe

Long time, no blog

2008-09-05T13:04:00.001-07:00

Hey all y'all. I got some pings from folks that read this wondering what the heck happened to me... Well in a nutshell I've been really busy, but I have been posting a lot to Twitter. If you don't know Twitter, it is essentially a service that facilitates micro-blogging. One liners. Very easy to do from a phone, etc. I am "joeracer" on there.

I've been racing a lot. I've been playing a lot of soccer. I've been taking a lot of soccer pictures for centerlinesoccer.com. I've been working like a mule. My house is still for sale, but I haven't received any bids, so I may have to yank it off the market shortly. That sucks.

One recent major highlight... I went to the Monterey Historic Automobile Races to watch and help my brother out, and he WON his race! That was a major highlight for sure.

- Joe

Bridge Closed

2008-08-01T16:05:00.000-07:00

This is the I-90 bridge facing East from Seattle. It is closed and I am standing in the middle of it. Why you ask?

The Blue Angels just did a show as part of Seafair. I took a bunch of pictures, but my camera battery died. Believe it or not, I came to Seattle this weekend and didn't even know it was Seafair! Tomorrow I'll charge the camera batteries!

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

John Mayer

2008-07-26T20:13:00.000-07:00

It was quite a surprise to me to get a last-minute ticket to the John Mayer show at Shoreline tonight. We are on the lawn with... uhhh... a few other folks.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Team Lunch @ Mistral

2008-07-22T12:15:00.000-07:00

The team is having lunch at Mistral today to welcome our newest member, Katie. I officially work with a group of amazing women. There are some guys too, but who cares.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Masaratis, oh my!

2008-07-19T18:32:00.000-07:00

I just finished a day of instructing at Infineon Raceway (Sears Point) for Trackmasters Racing and the Niello group - an exclusive exotic car dealer and auto club. There were a lot of very expensive and very fast cars. My student had a black Lamborghini Gallardo - and much to my joy was actually a very skilled driver.

I of course brought the Lotus and had a MASSIVE amount of track time. I just added it up and I drove TEN sessions today, each 20 min long - for a total of 3 HOURS AND 20 MINUTES ON TRACK! Holy cow am I tired
right now.

It's time to hit the road and make the very long journey home.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Coldplay

2008-07-18T22:09:00.001-07:00

2 concerts in one week. Coldplay is possibly my absolute favorite band - actually passing up U2 which has me shocked. There I said it.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Roxanne

2008-07-14T21:56:00.000-07:00

Watching the Police play Roxanne. Great show!

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

$20

2008-07-13T11:00:00.000-07:00

(sent from my iTelephone)

Bainbridge Ferry

2008-07-07T07:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was random and awesome. I had my camera stuff and was
wandering around the Seattle area. At one point I got stuck in a right
turn only lane to get into the ferry line. I said F it and just got on
the ferry. I ended up taking great pictures on Bainbridge Island.

I love days like that!

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Watching at Work

2008-06-25T13:17:00.001-07:00

We've got a projector up watching the Germany/Turkey game live via BBC slingbox. This is in the design/webdev room at work (also called the Flight Control Tower).

Alice's Restaurant

2008-06-01T13:38:00.000-07:00

I rode up to Alice's Restaurant for lunch today. There are always a ton of bikes up here on Sundays.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

2008-05-28T19:35:00.001-07:00

View the virtual tour here.

My home of the last 3 1/2 years is about to slip out of my hands. I am both really bummed and excited because I love this place yet really looking forward to a new start.

I need to be closer to work, and I need to move closer to civilization. My current house is just too far from everything... but it is soooo peaceful. I am truly conflicted - but the wheels are in motion and now I'm just a passenger on this wild ride.

Wish me luck!

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Memorial Day - JC Gauthier

2008-05-26T00:16:00.000-07:00

2008-04-22T22:49:00.001-07:00

This is the end of Round 1 Game 7, when the Flamers congratulated the Sharks on their awesome come-from-behind 5-3 win. This was a truly amazing game to witness. My ears are ringing and my throat is sore from yelling.

Next up is Round 2 with the Dallas Stars. Go Sharks!

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Round 1 Game 7

2008-04-22T19:07:00.000-07:00

The Sharks just rolled out onto the ice for game 7. Big stuff.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Happy Birthday David!

2008-04-18T22:00:00.000-07:00

It was my very good friend David's birthday Friday night. We went to the Merlion in Cupertino (yes, the Merlion right by Apple). It was really really cool. That place is great for small parties. They even setup a private room for us - and we stayed for over 4 hours!

Also a shout-out to Patrick, who shares David's birthday. He was off racing mountain bikes. Brad's birthday is next - imminent!

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Body Glove

2008-04-15T19:45:00.001-07:00

I picked up a fancy sheath for my track weapon a bit ago. I just finally tried it on. Mmmm. Snug.

- Joe

(sent from my bio-diesel powered internet tuba)

Launch of Navigenics

2008-04-13T13:01:00.000-07:00

This has been a very interesting week. We launched our new company, Navigenics, in a very trendy part of SoHo New York. We held a series of launch event cocktail parties / panel discussions over the week to introduce the media to our new company.

Center Line Soccer

2008-03-29T23:36:00.000-07:00

After a lot of hard work by a lot of people... Center Line Soccer has finally gone live. This is a hot soccer news site with lots of amazing photography, video, and great writing! The main focus is the San Jose Earthquakes, though all soccer is covered.

I am a technical advisor for the site, as well as a game photographer and blogger! I'll be writing a column called "Eyes On The Ball" or something like that after each game. Fun!

Center Line Soccer
http://www.centerlinesoccer.com

The Center Line Soccer Team
http://www.centerlinesoccer.com/about

Love this Shirt

2008-03-26T21:50:00.000-07:00

I want this shirt because it is just plain freaking hilarious.

The Good Life

2008-03-22T10:16:00.000-07:00

I am happily spending this weekend at one of my favorite retreat destinations: Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, CA. I had a very stressful week getting everything ready for this weekend while working long days. The extra prep was worth the lack of pressure now.

Here I am sitting totally relaxed having breakfast between sessions. Often a track day is full of stress and frantic work to fix something on the car between sessions. It looks like today will be great - but it's still early. ;-)

UPDATE: Both days were perfect until my new brake pads (installed Friday) finished their life Sunday afternoon. No incident - just had to quit for the day. Next time I'll bring 2 extra sets of pads!

- Joe

(sent from my bio-diesel powered internet tuba, of course)

Sweet Home California

2008-03-08T18:05:00.000-08:00

After a few weeks of travel, I am finally back home in beautiful California. This is the very best time of year here. Green hills, warm clean air, and blue skies! Come visit!

- Joe

(sent from my bio-diesel powered internet tuba, of course)

Busted...

2008-03-08T08:00:00.001-08:00

The folks here got bent that I cutoff Mike and Tor. They are here too!

- Joe

(sent from my bio-diesel powered internet tuba, of course)

Last Supper (err.. Breakfast)

2008-03-08T07:47:00.000-08:00

We've come to the end of the Java Posse Roundup 2008. I believe we can claim that it was a smashing success. This morning the last remaining stragglers have gathered for a last meal before we embark on our respective journeys home.

Thanks everyone for coming - and for those of you that couldn't make it, you have some pretty darn good discussions to listen to on the podcast over the next year. The great advantage to attending this conference is the chance to participate and have your voice heard - by a *lot* of people. There's no substitute for being here - but we hope the recordings do the live experience as much justice as they can.

- Joe

(sent from my bio-diesel powered internet tuba, of course)

Open Space Conferences

2008-03-07T08:31:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting in a session at the Java Posse Roundup 2008, and it really strikes me how great an open space conference can be. If you're not familiar, it can be summarized as a conference composed entirely of interesting conversations that would normally happen between sessions or over coffee at a regular lecture-style conference. Those are the valuable moments from any conference, and open space conferences are *only* that.

In this session, folks are discussing the future evolution of the Java language. I am sitting here typing this. Technically, I should get up and exercise the "law of two feet" and go find another session - but I'm taking a special pass in the name of journalism. People are encouraged to walk out of the room if a particular discussion is not peaking your interest.

If you have never been to an open space conference, put it on your todo list.

- Joe

(sent from my bio-diesel powered internet tuba, of course)

Android discussion

2008-03-03T15:55:00.000-08:00

We're here at Bruce Eckel's house in Crested Butte, CO - and having an interesting disussion about Android. Quite an impressive mobile app platform, I must say. It will be interesting to see what the folks from my old stomping grounds come up with (Apple).

- Joe

(sent from my bio-diesel powered internet tuba, of course)

6am flight

2008-03-03T06:15:00.000-08:00

There's something wrong about seeing the moon over the nose of the plane you are about to board... before sunrise.

- Joe

(sent from my bio-diesel powered internet tuba, of course)

Laguna Seca sound restrictions

2008-02-28T01:27:00.001-08:00

The sound limit at Laguna Seca raceway is 92dB. This is incredibly quiet for a race car. The sound check booth is on the right side of the track on the exit of turn 5. Many folks do something simple to their exhaust like this: A piece of metal macaroni that redirects the sound away from the booth. This is my Lotus tailpipe the night before my track day.

UPDATE: The macaroni worked well while it was attached. When it came loose, which happened 3 times, the car was over the sound limit. The net result is that my day ended early with 3 strikes for sound violations. Boo hoo. I need to get something that bolts on.

Beware of this game

2008-02-24T13:54:00.001-08:00

This flash game sucked my life away for 3 1/2 hours last night. Don't let it do the same to you... It is called Dwarf Complete and I found it via someone else's blog posting. I don't even remember how to be honest - but I ended up starting it late last night and just *had* to finish. You see... it's a flash game, so if you close it you have to start over next time... SO I THOUGHT! I found out today that you can leave the site no problem, and it will give you the option of continuing where you left off. *sigh* If I knew that - I would have been sleeping before 5:30am.

3 hours and 36 minutes of missed sleep. What a really cool little game!

--------------------------

News flash! The second time through is much easier! 1 hr, 25 min. I *hopefully* will not play it again...

Navigenics

2008-02-24T12:00:00.000-08:00

Okay... so I left Apple and went to a new company. If you're a Java Posse listener, you got a bit of a scoop on where I landed. I am now the Director of User Experience at Navigenics. It might sound like a lofty title, but hey - it's a startup. Take all titles with a grain of salt when talking about a startup. In short, my job is to focus on the user experience of this relatively uncharted territory of personalized genetics.

Our company is still pretty stealth, so I can't say much about it... but it is really really cool, and frankly is a key part of the "new world" of genetic science. I learned a bit about genetics in high school - and bit more in college on my way to a degree in engineering physics. I am now surrounded by the smartest folks I've ever met, which are apparently the top folks in the genetics industry. This is going to be a wild ride and I am going to learn a lot in the process.

The simple description of our company is this: We receive a DNA sample from you, and use it to run your genome (DNA map). With this raw data, our scientists can determine what chances you have of developing several genetic conditions (diseases), and more importantly what you can do about it. The goal is to provide a prioritized action plan for you to proactively overcome whatever issues you may have in your cards. It's about responsibility for your health - leveraging the amazing new tools available to us only now.

Privacy is key. This is not a DNA Facebook. Your DNA information is perhaps the most private thing anyone can know about you - so it is for you alone. We take this very seriously, and we treat your DNA and the information within it with the highest medical respect that it deserves. This industry is too new to be regulated, but we're acting like it is very tightly regulated already - and working with the groups that will eventually define the regulation standards. We're looking to set the bar.

User interface is key. This is where I come in... :-) DNA information is extremely complex, and there really isn't any precedent for how it can be visualized in a meaningful way to regular people like you and me. Navigenics will make it very easy to understand what you need to know about your DNA, and more importantly understand what you should focus on.

A lot of other things are key - but I think I've said enough. I am really excited about this new challenge! By the way, we're hiring!