More info on the reef found here.

On another note, I found out last weekend that if I wanted to ride at night, I need to have a headlight and a taillight on my bike. Why? Because it’s the law. Apparently Culver City Police is pretty liberal with handing out tickets for headlight/taillight-less infractions so I bought a LED headlight and taillight at the local bike shop. I don’t ride over to CC that often, but it’s a good idea to be illuminated as much as you can @ night anyways. Maybe I should just wrap my bike with my Xmas tree lights.

As the thefts have increased, some people have taken matters into their own hands. Last month, bike messengers downtown caught two suspected thieves, teenage boys who attended a local Catholic high school, and stripped them down to their boxer shorts before taking their cellphones, backpacks and clothes.

Hurray for vigilante justice!

The article also brought back memories of when my bike was stolen right from under me. For those of you that haven’t heard this story before, a bunch of cholos* stole my bike one day while I was playing tennis. I didn’t think about locking up my bike because it was inside the tennis court right next to me. I couldn’t believe it was happening when the cholo walked into the tennis court and rode off with my bike. After I realized what was happening, I gave chase for about a block but gave up because 1) he was too far ahead and 2) what was I going to do after I caught up? Take him and his homies on?

Bottom line: Do not support those that lean like a cholo and buy the thickest u-lock and chain to lock up your ride!

*I didn’t realize that people on the east coast or people outside of SoCal in general don’t know what a cholo is until a friend who has been working out in NJ told me so. Here’s the def from urban dictionary for those of you who might not have had the pleasure of encountering one <clicky>.

In order to increase safety along the Half Dome cables, all people using the Half Dome Trail above the subdome must have a permit in possession on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and federal holidays when the cables are up

I guess it’s not too surprising that the NPS has finally decided to require permits to summit the Dome. I remember there being a couple of tragic falls in the past couple of years. The one I remember happened shortly before or after my coworkers and I went up in the summer of 07.

With the increased number of tourists visiting national parks these days, I think it’s a good idea to put the brakes on the massive throngs of people trying to climb Half Dome. The traffic jam created by all of us weekend warriors on the cables is worse than the 4o5 on a Friday night. The long lines make the final ascent not only longer, but also more dangerous too. Cranky, sunburned, and fatigued people do not make the wisest decision.

I just had a flashback of the crazy Mormom chick in the Little House on the Prairie dress flying up the Dome by climbing on the outside of the cables. Crazy.

On average, the trail sees about 800 people on a Fri/Sat/Sun. The park will be issuing a maximum of 400 permits for weekends and federal holidays. I don’t have any plans to climb Half Dome any time soon but if did, I’ll certainly appreciate the lighter crowds.

Principles That Make A Web Design Look Good – Interesting read for someone who designs websites. I use to back in the day so I appreciated this article.
Buy a Giant Tuna for $177,000 – Sad to think that one day these giant tasty beasts of the sea will be gone FOREVER if we don’t scale back on harvesting them.
Minimalist’s Bike – There is no practicality to this bike other than to function as an “art piece” you put in the corner.
NOC Moving to DC – Another sign that I should go to Smith (close to DC). Or maybe it means I should get as far away from DC as possible.
Life After MBA for Class of 2010 – Good to see that folks land are landing PM gigs after getting an MBA, especially since that’s my stated goal.
I Hate My Job – Survey that confirms that I’m not alone in being dissatisfied by work.
Earned My Seal of Approval – Douche heads exist in the animal kingdom as well.
Epic Bike Ride Through Taiwan - Inspiring report by a guy bike riding along some really nice scenery along Taiwan’s east coast. I’d like to do something like that, albeit on a moped rather than a bike.
8888888 – A guy from China donated a huge sum of money to Yale School of Management. Guess how much?
Clever Mini Commercial
Software Product Manager’s First 30 Days – A checklist of todo’s for new PMs

For 2010, it all depends on what happens in the next three months. My admission decisions to Smith, Owen, and Broad will basically determine which fork in the road I take, business school or what-next. I know which path I want to take, but it’s not up to me once my apps are submitted.

The common thread between both path is that they’re both uncertain, even the business school path. Although I know in general what to expect, there’s still a lot of unknowns. What is of greater concern is what happens if I don’t get into bschool this year. I still haven’t figured out a solid plan B yet. I tell myself, “One thing at a time. Get through your essays and interviews first, then wait for your decisions, then figure out what to do next”. Sound self-advice, but I want to be ahead of the game here because I dislike sitting idle when it comes to my career.

All I can say for certain is that the next two to three months will be very antsy times. I’m going to try and take my mind off of what might happen by throwing myself at mt biking, reading, traveling and maybe rock climbing/mountaineering.

TL and I have giant sack of plastic grocery bags that we use mainly for picking up Mochi’s poop. Every time I look at that sack, I think about what a waste those bags really are.  We’ve also been amassing a collection of another type of bag, the more eco-friendly reusable shopping bags that people hand out at car shows and career fairs. In doing our part to be a little greener, we will be using our reusable shopping bags whenever we remember to take them with us when we go to the grocery stores.

I spent two hours on the trail today, about an hour and fifteen minutes getting up and forty five getting down. The trail is an in-and-out ride, climb in, downhill out. Having not done anything strenuous in the past three months, I almost collapsed two minutes into the ride. I even had to push my bike up certain parts of the trail because it was too steep. Needless to say, I’m not in good shape. Anyways, here are a couple of other things I learned today:

• Be patient when starting out – I went balls out in the beginning, hence the near collapse in the beginning.
• Bring a pee cup, Clif Bars, and wipes.
• Wear gloves.
• I can’t jump a bike like I did when I was ten. I almost went over the front end, landed in the brush, had my gooch scrubbed by my rear tire, and hammered down my seat with my ass. I’m lucky to have made it back with just a scratch on my knee.
• The view from the SM Mtns is awesome. You can see all the way down to the South Bay, Catalina, Malibu, Downtown, and the Valley.
• Don’t confuse a Weimaraner for a mountain lion. It only looked like one because I was having trouble sucking down enough oxygen to feed the brain.
• I need knobbier tires, a proper multi-bike tool, a bike rack, and better brakes. Good thing I brought TL’s SA knife because I needed to re-link my chain when it popped off when I crashed.
• Need haircut, hair in ear is too distracting when I’m trying my hardest not to wreck.
• WTH, there are muscles on the side of our hips?

TL and TBone both expressed their concern after I told them about today’s ride, but I’ll probably head back up to WFR one day after my body has recovered. I’d prefer a flatter ride without all the incline/decline sections, but there doesn’t seem to be any places near me that are like that. I’ll probably skip out on the single track part of the trail until I get better at controlling the bike when I go downhill.