Infinite State

3 months off was long enough that without realizing it I forgot about that feeling, that appetite for riding that makes me think about jumping on a bike and just going.

One ride was all it took to get it back.

Up front I’ll just state that I’ve been a fan of tablet computers for years, having used a Fujitsu Stylistic since 2003. The form factor, handwriting recognition, pen interface — all good. So I’ve been more than eager for a tablet Mac since coming back over to this side a year ago. And of course…the iPad is not a tablet, which is disappointing but I’m getting over. Still, I didn’t expect to like it and my initial impressions have been somewhat sour.

There are a few things I really don’t like about it (the iPad) including:

• Closed, closed, closed. You mostly have to talk to it through iTunes, you can’t just mount it and copy to it, you can’t put an app you wrote onto it, etc. It’s a peripheral, folks. It’s a fat-a** iPod. Pricey, too.
• There’s no USB port, which is a big clue.
• It’s all about one app at a time. Halting between them bugs me. My Android phone does better.

Now for the good, since I’m finally starting to find things I genuinely like about it:

• It’s a really nice reader for PDFs and e-books. I just read some Winnie-the-Pooh to my daughter at bedside and it was a pleasure. Bright, self-lit, crisp images in full color, wonderful.
• The battery life is nice and long, depending on usage of course.
• Now that I am using Dropbox+GoodReader, I have a reasonable way to get PDFs from my laptop onto it for reading, and that’s really nice. Stuffing tons of reading material in there makes sense and I love that unlike my bag it doesn’t get thicker or heavier.
• Showing pictures to friends is pretty fantastic, too. Even once they get over the ooh-ahh reaction.
• Having quick/easy access to email and web seems to fill a little niche, too, around the house.
• And I do love the touch interface, just for the simplicity of pointing at what you want. Beats keyboard+mouse for several classes of activities.

So now I guess I’m just waiting to get to the point where I’ll feel comfortable whipping it out on the subway. At which point, I will be really happy to have my mail to browse, the morning Times to look through, and some tech PDFs to read. It’s enough to make me start buying my O’Reilly’s in e-form, and finally stop piling up once-read 3-month half-life tech tracts.

Alright, I am finding some things to like about it. But it’s not a general-purpose computer and I wish that it was more of one. It does feel pretty futuristic, though.

Yesterday, while waiting with my daughter for our Genius Bar appointment, I was looking at one of the laptops on the table. The Ethernet cable seemed unusual, had a reddish glow emanating from it. Without thinking about it, I pulled it out to take a closer look and triggered a massive alarm. Beefy, serious security guys materialized on an intercept course. I threw my arms into the air in a combination of surrender and sheepish accomplishment.

The guards were pretty friendly once it was clear that I had no bad intentions. “Don’t pull them out,” was all they said with a half-smile and disappeared again.

So much for curiosity. Fwiw, the Genius did manage to get the reluctant DVD to eject with the help of a mysterious “white stick” he used to rearrange a few things inside the slot.

“Can I get one of those in case this happens again?” I asked.

You can guess the answer.

Turns out the plate in my shoulder is made of Titanium. Not clear whether it will set off the airport scanners, but I’m now carrying a little card from my surgeon to help explain if it does…

Guess I’ll find out the hard way the next time I get on a plane.

That’s my clavicle and its new best friend. For what it’s worth, I hate it. Definitely better than having those bones shifting around, but I really don’t like this.

…is they break if you hit them hard enough.

I think it is required, given my previous posts on all the benefits of cycling, to disclose that a few days ago I went out on a snowy morning when I probably shouldn’t have  and broke my collarbone in two places. While this has provided lots of entertaining stories, it certainly raises some tough questions about something that I love to do.  I’m scheduled for surgery on Wednesday to have the bone repaired and a metal plate inserted. I’m encouraged that apparently Lance Armstrong is wearing one too, but I suspect that his is some advanced carbon fiber molybdenum composite…

Earlier this week I stopped for a red light on Park Avenue. Like most mornings, it was a school of yellow taxis and me, and a few other hardy bikers. Temperatures were in the 20′s and I was sporting a functional but perhaps hilarious look. I snapped this after fumbling my camera out and raising even more questions in the minds of those cabbies. Ninja alien tourist? Psychotic bike commuter? Both, probably.

Not sure if my Latin is correct, but my meaning was to seize the coldest day.

I just got into the office after a fantastic but normal morning commute. My bike is leaning against the wall by the window, and I’ll feeling way too warm under all the layers I’m wearing. Hard to believe I’m overdressed for temps in the 20′s and cold winds.

Riding through Central Park on the way here I was thinking that there’s a special pleasure in seizing something wonderful that other people don’t seem to see. All those people on the subway, packed in and unhappy (you can see it on their faces and read it in their bodies) — I know they can’t all hop on a bike and ride to work, but some of them could. And if they did, wouldn’t they find the same glorious parkway, almost empty except for a few hardy runners and the very occasional cyclist? The trees are leafless, bare and structural. The sky is available, cold but embracing. The buildings are at the periphery, a reminder but distant enough. I can’t say the air is much sweeter, but there’s certainly less diesel in it.

And each day, I get the warm, fluid feeling of using my body to move me around. Sitting at my desk is a rest between the rides. I’m about to run for the Y around the corner and try to slip in a fast swim before I shower and dress in more office-appropriate clothes. But I have to say to anyone reading this: it’s available to you, in some form. Right now. It turns out that “freezing” cold weather really isn’t so cold with a little bit of clothing and your body making its own heat.

I’m grateful every day I ride for many things, including the wise friends who urged me on or supported me in crossing over the line from seeing it as crazy to realizing that everyone else is just missing it. Think I’m crazy for riding my bike to work in mid-January? Then you need to try it out and discover what’s out there that is vibrantly alive and rewarding.

Each time I encounter another cyclist (in this weather especially) I say hello or good morning and see if they’re up for a little conversation and commuter-shop-talk. This morning I met two and had great little human exchanges of a kind that you don’t get on a subway. Camaraderie in the cold helps, but they both had the same light in their faces that I knew was shining out of mine: we were out in it, seizing it and loving it, and all the people bundled up against the cold and stepping down off the curbs could barely see us go by.

I’m going to get a mounted camera so I can start posting some images from these rides and capture the changing seasons of the city.

To the water!

Through achingly slow steps over the past …who knows… I have finally gotten myself to the point of writing some new code in an area I’ve wanted to explore for awhile. I want to create richer UIs for interacting with information, like the old days in a way that’s been lost to me since I took up living in HTML and architecting on the server side, mostly.

I want to draw shapes again. Interact with them and the data they model.

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This week finally brought the feel of winter to NYC streets. The wind reached inside and straight to the bones. The light was thin but blinding in the mornings, fast and short in the late afternoons. It’s tough when the sun’s setting by 4:30 and the avenues are filled with edgy taxis. The steam from my breath at red lights makes me feel a part of Con Edison’s underground network, sprouting my exertions up and out through the pavement too.

Morning commute temps ranged from 20′s to 30′s, and I tried a variety of gear to be comfortable and warm. Fingers are the hardest, because of the wind chill I guess, and they’re so isolated. I’m seriously tempted by the “lobster” style of gloves like these:

At least some of your fingers get company for warmth. Pearl Izumi makes one with two and two that I’ve heard good things about. For now, I’m using old snowboarding gauntlets that aren’t bad but a bit too thick in the fingers. A thin balaclava under a BMX helmet seems pretty good for the head (I’m only riding for 30 minutes each way), and my trusty Keene sneaker/shoes with wool socks do alright for the feet (another vulnerable spot on a bike in winter). I get pretty warm through the rest of my body, and have been just wearing loose jeans, or sometimes thermal bottoms underneath. My trusty Marmot insulated softshell over a winter biking jersey does a decent job of wicking moisture off me as I go, though by the time I hit midtown traffic I am working on my own terrarium. If I get out early enough I can usually squeeze in a quick swim at the Y before a hot shower, dry off in the sauna, and get to my desk around 9.

At that point, I’m ready to eat every scrap of food stashed near my desk, yogurt and granola and frozen berries, dried fruit and nuts. Sometimes a banana and an apple. On Wednesdays, there’s a great farmer’s market on 47th where I can pick up veggies and fruit after swimming. Lately the carrots have been a dream of crunchy, sweet and almost juicy. The apples and pears are delicious too.

Ironically, when I walk out for lunch, I feel much colder than when I’m pumping on the bike. But really, I’m just excited for Solstice so that I’ll know the light and warmth are coming back. I’m determined to make it all the way through the winter on the bike this year, though I haven’t sprung for those Schwalbe snow tires yet…