Josiah Carlson (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} chouyu_31) wrote,@ 2008-02-19 22:34:00 |
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Status update / thought dump / I'm still alive
It's been a while since I updated publicly, so I suppose it's about time, eh?
I'm still surfing whenever I can (weekends, rarely the freezing dawn patrol during the week), but the waves have been really strange recently; 4-6 foot every 20-30 seconds. Quite difficult to get out, but I have a secret: rather than using a crawl-like stroke, I use a double-handed breast-stroke, which gives me twice the water movement for every stroke, and I stroke just as often with both arms as everyone else does with one, resulting in about 4x the push. Oh, and the paddle gloves help too. It's a bit tiring, but I can get out in just about anything, and I can always float and recover or catch the whitewater by shore.
Last weekend I rented a 10'4" monster of a board. I've been riding a friend's 8', which works great, but I wanted to see what a longboard was like. Getting up was a bit different. It had a single long fin rather than 3 shorter ones like the 8', but it just felt more 'squirrely'. Once I got up though, I rode that bad boy into the sand bar (literally, the fin caught on the sand, and I jumped off, but because of my forward momentum, I traveled farther than the leash had length, and ended up belly-flopping, heh). I couldn't really steer it, so I'll probably have to pick up my own 8' at some point. I'm going to have to rent an 8' just to see if I can notice any substantial difference between the different brands/types.
I have gotten a chance to ride my friend's 6', and though it's neat, it lacks the buoyancy that I like in an 8' board.
Since starting at NIM, I've not had a lot of time to do any personal software development, either for Python (there are some async socket patches that I've been trying to get in for like 9 months) or for PyPE (there are a few fixes and about a bazillion design changes that I'd like to get in), both because a general lack of time, as well as "I write software all day long, I don't want to do it when I get home." Maybe I'll have the time/drive to get into it after crunch is over.
Similarly, I've not had the time to submit my two updated papers to a journal or conference. Maybe some weekend soon.
When I first moved out to California, the DMV didn't take my motorcycle endorsement from Minnesota (which irked me), and I've been too lazy to really look into getting it again. Well, the guy in the cube across the aisle from me rides, we were talking, and he turned me on to a 2-day weekend class that gets you everything you need except for the written exam at the DMV. I've already done the equivalent class in Minnesota, but what the heck, it's been almost 12 years since I took it, and I don't currently have a motorcycle to do the riding test on (I hope to fix that in the coming year).
I suppose that's about it for now. I'm hoping to get to the cities some time soon, but the way work is looking, I won't have the chance until around late March at the earliest. Just in time for the spring break rush :/ .
It's been a while since I updated publicly, so I suppose it's about time, eh?
I'm still surfing whenever I can (weekends, rarely the freezing dawn patrol during the week), but the waves have been really strange recently; 4-6 foot every 20-30 seconds. Quite difficult to get out, but I have a secret: rather than using a crawl-like stroke, I use a double-handed breast-stroke, which gives me twice the water movement for every stroke, and I stroke just as often with both arms as everyone else does with one, resulting in about 4x the push. Oh, and the paddle gloves help too. It's a bit tiring, but I can get out in just about anything, and I can always float and recover or catch the whitewater by shore.
Last weekend I rented a 10'4" monster of a board. I've been riding a friend's 8', which works great, but I wanted to see what a longboard was like. Getting up was a bit different. It had a single long fin rather than 3 shorter ones like the 8', but it just felt more 'squirrely'. Once I got up though, I rode that bad boy into the sand bar (literally, the fin caught on the sand, and I jumped off, but because of my forward momentum, I traveled farther than the leash had length, and ended up belly-flopping, heh). I couldn't really steer it, so I'll probably have to pick up my own 8' at some point. I'm going to have to rent an 8' just to see if I can notice any substantial difference between the different brands/types.
I have gotten a chance to ride my friend's 6', and though it's neat, it lacks the buoyancy that I like in an 8' board.
Since starting at NIM, I've not had a lot of time to do any personal software development, either for Python (there are some async socket patches that I've been trying to get in for like 9 months) or for PyPE (there are a few fixes and about a bazillion design changes that I'd like to get in), both because a general lack of time, as well as "I write software all day long, I don't want to do it when I get home." Maybe I'll have the time/drive to get into it after crunch is over.
Similarly, I've not had the time to submit my two updated papers to a journal or conference. Maybe some weekend soon.
When I first moved out to California, the DMV didn't take my motorcycle endorsement from Minnesota (which irked me), and I've been too lazy to really look into getting it again. Well, the guy in the cube across the aisle from me rides, we were talking, and he turned me on to a 2-day weekend class that gets you everything you need except for the written exam at the DMV. I've already done the equivalent class in Minnesota, but what the heck, it's been almost 12 years since I took it, and I don't currently have a motorcycle to do the riding test on (I hope to fix that in the coming year).
I suppose that's about it for now. I'm hoping to get to the cities some time soon, but the way work is looking, I won't have the chance until around late March at the earliest. Just in time for the spring break rush :/ .
