Help cure diseases. Sign the petition http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/preservenihfunding/
Sunlight Foundation - Stop Transparency Cutbacks
To quote the Sunlight Foundation: "Some of the most important technology programs that keep Washington accountable are in danger of being eliminated. Data.gov, USASpending.gov, the IT Dashboard and other federal data transparency and government accountability programs are facing a massive budget cut, despite only being a tiny fraction of the national budget. Help save the data and make sure that Congress doesn’t leave the American people in the dark."
Sunlight Foundation - Stop Transparency Cutbacks
Cycling update
Finally feel like I am back in the swing of it. Did a 60 mi ride last Sunday, and a 41 mi the weekend before that. Several 15 mi rides in there as well. I did some minor investigation into charitable efforts as well. Really gonna need to step that up if I am going to make this ride work. Kind of afraid I'm falling behind on that already as time is tickin'. Not quite sure what I need to do next. I had contacted a couple of people who never got back to me. Think I'll go to the SF PKD chapter meeting next.
More updates later...
Training Day 2
Same 13 mile course to Poppy Ride Golf course and back. Beat yesterday's time by 2 minutes. It got cold and windy on the way back and eyes were streaming coming down the hill. May need some sport glasses for the big trip planned for PKD. I'm going to try contacting the SF Chapter for PKD pretty soon.
Day 1 of training.
Last night was a bit tough, as I got a bit down after some of the reading I did, but today I feel like I got a good start. First, I had some notes of encouragement from the last post. One from a friend and another from a complete stranger who found my post. How cool is that? Second, I did my first ride of the year on my usual daily ride. I used my new Christmas present, a Garmin Edge 500 cycling computer, and mapped my route. When I got home I uploaded the ride and created a course of it for future rides. Which means I can do cool things like race against my logged time to see if I can beat it. The Garmin will put a virtual competitor on the route and tell me if I'm ahead or behind him using the times and positions that I logged from today's ride. Pretty cool.
I also tried planning a route last night. That route, subject to change, takes me from Santa Cruz to the Oregon border all along the coast. Wouldn't that be cool?
On today's ride I thought about the trip and did some mental planning. Will need some more bike tools, some long cycling pants, etc. It will be June during the ride yes, but the coast in the mornings even in summer can at times be colder than our winter days in Livermore so I'll need to be prepared.
Jesus, thank you for the words of encouragement you sent me from the aether :-) I hope to please you with my efforts come June, and ask that you come for a ride with me that week.
Finding the courage
The new year is here and I am currently struggling with an idea and trying to drum up some courage. I have told a few people of a plan I have been brewing in the back of my head to do a big ride in the summer. Something like 500 miles over 7 days. I intend to raise money for the PKD foundation, a charitable foundation representing the disease I have: Polycystic Kidney Disease. Right now, it is a real struggle. Tonight I started doing some research into planning the trip, and what it would take to represent PKD on the ride. I segued into some personal PKD stories, and now am a little on the sad side: I realize I haven't even admitted to myself I have the disease. You see, I read a few things tonight about some of the bad possibilities. I feel so close to backing down cause I feel like I can't even deal with it. I've shielded myself from that by only acknowledging the best possible outcomes. I pray now: God please give me courage. Help me start this thing off and not back down.
Black Belt Factory: a great way to learn and show off what you know!
Not long ago I stumbled accross a community driven certification site called Black Belt Factory. I've always enjoyed participating with the community over various software engineering topics but Black Belt Factory is not like any other community site I've been involved with. The most interesting thing to me is how Black Belt Factory creates a place where exams and courses for said exams can be created by a community of developers and is constanty improved upon by past and present exam takers. For instance, you may be taking an exam for say Java Fundamentals and when the exam is completed you have an opportunity to report problems with any question you were presented during the course of the exam. Exam questions are taken from a pool of questions designed, refined and voted on for inclusion, by the community. As a reward for contributing to the exams and other social funcitons of the site you are allowed to take additional exams.
Black Belt Factory contains a wide variety of topics such as: Java, tooling, XML, Groovy, etc.
When you join Black Belt Factory you are given a profile, and your exam progress and community participation are tracked by your profile. As I have been job hunting recently I've noticed some employers ask for URLs showing your internet presence or demonstrating work you've done. Your Black Belt Factory profile could be an excellent submission there. Building a strong profile showing all the topics you've studied and all that you've given back to the community can be a notable feather in your cap.
Anyway, if you need to study for any upcoming exams or are just looking to establish what you know, I highly suggest getting involved with the Black Belt Factory community.
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