Many of you may be familiar with the Yellow wristbands supported by Lance Armstrong's live strong foundation to support the fight against cancer.  Some of you who know me may have noticed that I've transferred my yellow band to a red band... not that I'm particularly consistent on wearing any wristband, and nothing against cancer research. I have several family members (both living and deceased) touched by it. 

The red wrist bands support Diabetes and are available from the American Diabetes Association.  As most people know my wife Tracie and I are very involved in the fight against Diabetes (since I have Type 2 Diabetes).  You can order the wrist bands online from the ADA at: http://store.diabetes.org/products/product_category.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302024093&bmUID=1123024922007   (Alternatively you can contact your local ADA office who can help you obtain a wrist band.)

They contain the ADA's message for Care-Cure-Committment since unlike many organizations the ADA isn't just out to find a cure, but also to ensure that the 18million or so Americans who have Diabetes (many similar to high blood pressure don't know it) learn to care for themselves.  The ADA plays an important role in Diabetes education especially in those communities such as the Hispanic and Native American populations where incidence of this genetic disease is much higher.

I found a few issues thus far with cross posting... I'm not sure however which system is truly at fault.

The first issue has to do with the date time stamp of my post.  It appears that in the interface Das Blog is sending GMT and that .Text isn't converting this to local time... it's not a big issue but an issue all the same.

The second issue is also minor but interetesting to see... So I the other day I tried to transfer one of my older entries from my personal blog over to blogs.interknowlogy.com by editing the entry from April and then selecting it for cross posting.   So far so good, my blog on blogs.interknowlogy.com shows this as a posting from April and sorts it near the bottom.  However, the common post area apparently just pulls the entries based on when they appear on the .Text engine.   As a result my post from April sorts near the top of the entries, which is interesting since it discusses the remaining snow here in Fawnskin/Big Bear CA... however the snow is mostly gone now and skiing ended several weeks ago. 

My next test is with an image, but I'm saving that for tomorrow when I'm home with a high speed connection.  Will it go smoothly and see how or if the interface will transfer the image... the interface may simply link to the image on my other site of some other event may occur... look for it tomorrow.

Just a quick note, on yesterday June 1st I was one of the presenters for a web cast from Windows IT Pro magazine related to Software Packaging Workflow Best Practices.  The presentation was sponsored and partially presented by Macrovision which is the company behind InstallShield. 

The presentation itself focuses on using workflow to manage the software packaging and delivery process.  To paraphrase the session synopsis, the session deal with best practices for managing the software package preparation process including the experience of the package requestor, the ability to approve or decline permission for the package to be installed, the ability to have a historical reference and the need to have integration between the various installation tools like SMS and AdminStudio that people are using.

My copresenter from Macrovision Steve Schmidt goes through a demonstration (not just slides) of the Macrovision AMS 2.5 product which is of course why Macrovision was interested in sponsoring this event.  That product is designed to provide a standard set of templates to allow you to manage the software packaging process.  You can see a rebroadcast of the event at:

https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=registration.jsp&eventid=12491

One of the great things with working with blogging software is the ability to cross post.  Tonight I sat down with my existing blog for about an hour and figured out how to configure that blog to cross post onto my new Blogs.Interknowlogy.com site.  Aside from the dearth of documentation it was actually a relatively simple procedure.  I use Das Blog on my other site while InterKnowlogy has decided to use .Text (for it's multiple blogger support).  Once I found the API hidden under the Services/metablogapi.aspx interface the pieces fell into place rather quickly.  In particular the Das Blog feature which allows you to autofill the majority of the information makes life easier as it dug up the services/metablogapi.aspx endpoint for me once I realized what it would autopopulate.

In this way instead of cutting and pasteing content or ignore one site in preference to another I can place content in both places at once.  The really nice feature is that Das Blog allows me to choose which posts I send across the wire to InterKnowlogy and doesn't just blindly send everything I choose to blog on here on NerdNotes.Net.  Now I just have to repost a couple of my early blogs.interknowlogy posts so I can have them all in a single location.

Quick followup, the cross post feature also supports remote editing and deletion of the posts so I can even correct my rather common mistakes in grammar and spelling.

So I’m up in Big Bear, CA for the weekend over in Fawnskin (aka. the North Shore) and it’s a beautiful weekend (high in the 60’s).  I’m presented with an option… here in Fawnskin there is no more snow (of course we had 4+ feet on the ground at one point), but there is still skiing available at the resorts in Big Bear.  So I have a choice, I've finished with my 'chores' and it's 2:00 and I can either head over to the resort, rent some ski’s for about $25.00 and ski till almost 6PM.  All told I’ll probably get between 2-3 hrs of skiing in for that $25, but the slopes will be damp and or icy….

Alternatively, I brought up my mountain bike and can for FREE go for a ride on the fire roads that surround Fawnskin and maybe head down into Holcomb Valley.  Given that it’ll be my first mountain ride of the year (by that I mean ride in the mountains I’ve been out locally in Carlsbad) and given that one of my favorite all time rides was at the end of April when there was still a hint of snow on the mountain (off the side of the fire roads) I opt for the bike.

So I head out and up Polique Canyon Rd heading toward Holcomb Valley.  The ride starts out great it’s a beautiful day and while I hit the occasional snow melt, the road is in reasonable shape as I ascend up past 2N71.  But then the road gets ugly, real ugly, with lots of snow on the road.  I proceed about 1/4 mile up the road in the ruts made by the various cars which have made the climb hoping it’ll get better. But unfortunately I’ve entered a valley without much sun and there is still 2+ feet (1/2 meter) of snow on the ground.  Given that I still haven’t made it over the ridge to head down into Holcomb Valley on a slope where I expect some snow, plus I’m facing a climb back out of the valley that may also be snow covered I decide retreat is the better part of valor.

So I return to 2N71, which is my default route around Fawnskin.  2N71 is a solid fire road that crests at just under 8,000 ft elevation.  So I continue my ascent after my failed attempt to get into Holcomb Valley.  I hit my first snow as I wrap into one of the valleys.  It’s only about 20 yards and here’s where I introduce the first rule of biking over snow.

Don't expect to climb more then 1-2 bike lengths through snow that is more then 2 inches in depth.

I walk through the majority of the snow section and resume my climb.  On the way up I pass through about 3 or 4 different sections and bypass what is essentially a small lake over part of the fire road, but I basically crest the road which is in acceptable shape and now it’s time to head down hill.  As I start downhill I run into a much larger section of snow, but I see I’m not the first biker to attempt this route so I forge ahead.  I get through this section and then run into small sections on downhill slopes.  This is the second rule:

When going downhill you can make it through snow up to the depth of your axel, any deeper and your front wheel is likely to bind.

Of course the view from up on top is awesome.  It was great to get up and get a look over an almost full lake and see the snow covered San Bernardino Mountains from altitude.  Unfortunately I didn’t have a camera so I can’t share that view, but in some ways it’s OK since there is more to this adventure and a camera might not have survived.  By now I’ve realized that based on the snow pattern, yes I am the second biker, but no cars/trucks/motorcycles have continued on this path.   This is explained when I find a huge 3+ foot (1+ meter) diameter tree has crashed across the fire road blocking it.  This brings up the third rule:

If the off road vehicles have avoided a fire road there is probably a good reason.

Now a sane person might have turned back, I still had almost 5 miles of my descent remaining and was on a road which was becoming increasingly snow covered and muddy (I'm talking 2+ feet of snow in many cases).  I however had already been out on more then a couple mud rides this year, demonstrating my lack of sanity/good judgment and riding/walking through the snow obstacles was an interesting challenge so I forged ahead, plus I was already the second guy to try this so it had to be possible…

Below one of the larger sections of snow I ran into a portion of 2N71 which was facing a lot of erosion due to the melting snow, the result in a dirt fire road are ruts.  However, the ruts didn’t start to form till well after I was doing a solid 10-15 mph (~20kph) when I suddenly caught my front wheel on the edge of a rut.  The result, a spectacular wipe out, fortunately not an endo, but a great wipe out that separated me from my bike and left me with a thoroughly scratched up leg.  This is of course the challenge associated with this sport, but in this case it falls under adding injury to the insult of being mud covered.

So I continue my descent, the road conditions remain ugly as I continue down the side of the mountain into Fawnskin.  I don't have any other major incidents with exception of a 6inch mud puddle that I walk through because I'm concerned about my open cuts, and encounters with a ton of water - a small pond in the middle of the road that couldn’t be bypassed and a full-on stream in one section.  The good news is on my return I had pictures taken of a mud covered me and a good shot of my scratched up knee which I will post below.  However, the ride also taught me the most important rule of mountain biking in Big Bear:

If they still have skiing available – go skiing and leave the bike at home.

Today I got out for a second ride of the weekend with NCCC.  The group has added a 'regular' ride for Sundays and I've been participating in it the past few weeks.  This Sunday was South (down) the coast.  We headed down to Torrey Pines and climbed the seaside cliff.  I highly recommend this climb, it's difficult (more so then taking the large and easily graded coast highway) but the view is nothing short of fantastic.  If you ever head down the Southern (below Camp Pendelton) coast, this is one climb not to miss.  I actually wound up with some long riders for a the southbound portion of the ride, before they dropped me on the Northbound portion... as expected.   All told this makes the 3rd straight weekend were I've managed to get in two rides each of 40+ miles.  The net result is I've been catching up with my goal distances.  To get to 2000 miles this year I need to average about 500 miles per quarter.  I'm currently at 4384 which is just over my 500 mile goal for the quarter, and I still have a couple days of riding to work before this month ends, so I might make it close to 4450 which would be most excellent.

Aside from that my bike computer freaked for a little while today, I'm concerned the battery is going bad.  I'm going to give it a couple more rides before I panic.  I lost about 3 miles in the total mileage since I just got and am carrying a Timex data recorder.  This is a cool set of hardward and software oriented around GPS and a Heart Rate Monitor (HRM).  The combination allow you to track your speed and distance along with your heart rate.  I'm still getting familiar with the combination and will talk more as I learn more about it....

So today I went for a ride with the NCCC again.  Actually I've been going every weekend this month so I've been racking up some miles.  More on that later.  This weeks ride was from our normal meet point of Restaurant Row in San Marcos, out to the coast down to Rancho Santa Fe and then inland along Del Dios highway.  The view on Del Dios is great especially with the Dam overflowing.  Last weeks ride was wet and nasty on Saturday but I survived although I experienced a rare and doubly annoying double flat 2 miles from the end.  This week wasn't too eventful and I did fairly well though I seemed to fade coming up on the climb to Citracado.

Overall the summary for this ride was:

I've tried a new method for uploading my elevation profile and summary information where I know split them so things will fit better and be more readable.  I'll do another update tomorrow after the Sunday ride.

Well it's been a while since I last posted, although I did manage to upgrade my blogging software.   Today I also managed to return to an activity I did before I became the at work road warrior for the past couple years.  I set up an appointment with the San Diego Blood Bank and went in for my regular donation.  Since I'm not going to be driving half-a-world away everyday I can start giving regularly which means I can start doing regular platlet donations.

Normally when someone gives blood you go in and get stuck with a needle.  Your blood then drains into a bag until they have a pint from you.  In the bag are 'red blood cells' (RBC), Plasma and PLatelets.  Then the blood bank separates those elements out of your blood to make the various units that a Dr. or hospital uses.  Your pint of blood yields less then a full unit of RBC and then they are forced to try and mix and match to get a unit.  Not to mention that alot of times people only need plasma or platelet transfusions and they can only get a small amount of each from your pint.  In all the process takes you about 20-30 minutes and you can't donate again for like 2 or 3 months.

A more modern model is for the blood bank to hook you to a machine which will draw your blood.  The more scientific name for this is 'apheresis' but what it comes down to is that the machine has a small centrifuge that separates the 3 main components of blood and the blood bank can then take the specific units they need, either Platelets, Plasma or Red Blood Cells.  There are a couple advantages to this:

• The blood bank takes a full unit (or units as I'll explain) of the product that you are donating. 
• Depending on what you donate you can donate far more frequently (platelets can be donated up to every 2 weeks)
• A platelet donation given in this manner gives as many platelets as are gotten from about 5 whole blood donations

So in my case today I donated one unit of platelets and one unit of red blood cells.  This is because it was my first time back in the system in over a year so they start with a single unit of platelets so they can determine your platlet count.  This means I can't donate again for a month, but at that point I can go back and make another platelet donation.  More importantly once they have processed this donation odds are good that since I'm relatively healthy they'll actually be able to take a double set of platelets from me.  In that case because your body can quickly replace platelets (unlike red blood cells) you can donate two units every two weeks. 

Now of course there is a cost to using the machine so the blood bank always wants to take 2 units of something when they hook you to the machine.  That's because all of the stuff that touches your blood from the tubes to the sleeve that fits in the centrifuge is disposed when you are done and that costs money, but remember they are getting 5 times the standard platelet donation.  Platelets for those of you who are unaware are critical for certain cancer patients.  For some people who aren't ready to commit to giving platelets the blood bank will take a double shot of red blood cells.  The key is that because everything is measured and you are only donating a portion of whole blood the blood bank gets two full units from your single donation (and gives credit for the same). Thus in a month when I go back if I can't give two units of platelets, I'll give a unit of platelets and a unit of plasma (since I won't be eligible to donate red blood cells again in a month).

So what's it like being hooked to the machine and how long does it take?

The old machines required 2 needles one in each arm, the new machine uses one needle.  The key is if the machine is only collecting say platelets but your blood has 3 components, how do the other two come back to you... the answer is that after your blood is separated in the centrifuge, the parts which the machine isn't keeping are mixed with an agent to keep your blood from clotting and then pumped back into your body.  The most amazing part of this experience (and I've always used single needle machines) is feeling a cool flow of 'blood' back into your arm when the machine is returning your blood.  This occurs several times, I would say that after about 40 seconds to a minutes the machine spent about 20 to 30 seconds returning a portion of blood to me before taking the next batch.

As for the time required, well today I spent 48 minutes doing my donation on the machine.  This was probably double what a regular donation would take, and excludes the time spent before the donation for the screening or after the donation having a donut.  That's pretty much common and an improvement from a couple years ago when it would take about 90 minutes to donate platelets.  All told a small price to pay for a procedure that directly helps cancer and chemotherapy patients.  As a cyclist who has a yellow Livestrong band, I consider this the ideal way to help in the fight against cancer.  Those that know me know that I've lost both my Father and Sister to cancer (Esophageal and Melanoma).

There are many people who give blood to get free blood tests, first let me say please don't and more importantly don't offer to participate in something like this unless you can get through the screening process and apply the 'use my blood' sticker to your form.