Jan 28 - Boats, Computers, Bikes, Birthdays

Yes, all in one day ...

We went boating, as planned. Abby had a blast on the sandbar, as expected. We saw several dolphins, as usual. We ate at Down The Hatch, again. Does this sound boring ? It wasn't ! We always enjoy going out in the boat and this was our first time of "the season", if you will. Everything worked like clockwork ... hmmm ... I really should get that boat battery on the battery minder to ensure that it's fully charged and de-sulfated. I meant to do that when we got back yesterday but forgot -- I'll make a note of that now and get the charger going once it's light outside.

The weather was good. An offshore breeze kept us warm where an onshore breeze would have been cool. The water temperature was 66.something, varying with the ebb and flow of the tide. We're due for a longer boat trip, so perhaps next week we'll do a run up to Palm Coast as we did last year, launching the boat further north.

I did some experimentation with Windows 7 yesterday -- the public beta is available for download for the next while. I never jumped on Vista but from what I see of W7 it might be a good thing. I'll have to load up some apps on it and do some benchmarking -- both under VMware and native, just to see how it performs. The beta will expire on August 1st, so they say, after which I'll have to pay for it. Time will tell whether it's worth buying. With my current configuration of having it on the external SATA drive it might work well. If, on the other hand, Windows detects that it's being moved between two different PCs as I migrate North and South, then it will be expensive. In reality I can do most of what I need to do on Linux, which is free -- that's a compelling argument !

The first time I tried installing W7 was with the 64 bit version. I'll have to try that one again only on a native basis ... I was unsuccessful under VMware, but didn't give it a lot of time. I'm not allocating enough memory under VMware to make a difference between the 32 and 64 bit versions, so it doesn't really matter.

I also installed Internet Explorer 8 on my XP setup. It's faster than IE7 and has some of the features that I've noticed with Firefox on Linux, so it's a hit as far as I'm concerned, albeit with less than 24 hours on the clock at this point.

I was starting to worry about my UPS delivery of the new bike wheels, since according to the site the package was "out for delivery" but it was already 7:30. They arrived just as we were finishing dinner -- wheels, lights, the works. Well, the works seems to be missing one part -- a light mount. I've got two lights in the setup and only one mount was delivered. The receipt says two mounts. I'll double-check all the paper stuffing etc. to see if I missed it ... but have done that already and it's not there. Everything looks good -- after I finish writing this blog I'll be out in the garage working on installation.

I exchanged emails with Geoff Swarts and it looks like he might not make it to the 300km ride. That's too bad. He says that he's likely two weeks away from either getting new responsibilities or being laid off by BofA -- something that he would have been happy for last year, based on a conversation that he and I had, but perhaps not now with the current depressed economic climate. Hopefully whatever happens will not upset his plans to ride the 1200km ride with me next summer. Jerry, meanwhile, is still planning on coming for the 300km ride on the 21st. I've got him thinking, though, about whether that's the best weekend for him to come. He's already got a lot of prep in the works though, with someone looking after their dogs and a friend who will come to Orlando with him. We'll see on that score.

It was David's birthday yesterday, and we caught up after dinner. We chatted for a bit and then after hanging up we caught up with Jeffrey. Everyone's busy. Stef's new counters get delivered today and she has been getting organized for that, taking off old counters (kitchen and bathroom), doing plumbing, doing painting, buying stools ... I say "she" but of course Aaron gets the mechanical-type work, developing his carpentry and plumbing skills. Jeffrey and Sara are getting organized for their house purchase in April ... as I said, everyone's busy.

Today ... hopefully I'll go for a bike ride. I may or may not have the new wheels on. I want to get some miles on the setup before the 7th. The original forecast was for showers so any ride today will be partly weather dependent. I want to go for a ride regardless, but will not do 70 miles in a downpour.

Our plan for tomorrow is to go to Orlando.

Hmmm ... the sky is getting less dark (too early to say that it's getting light) and I see the tops of the trees waving wildly. Riding could be a challenge ! Perhaps we should go to Orlando today ... hmmm.