"It's not that bicycling is so important, it is that everything else is equally unimportant."

Back Update  
It's definitely no fun not being able to ride on a day like today. It is finally above freezing and it's clear and sunny out. Hopefully it won't be too long before I'm back on the bike. I made the decision to stop taking the Motrin and Flexiral. The way I see it is those pills aren't doing anything to fix the pain, simply cover it for a few hours. I might be able to bend a little more with less pain, but is that really a good thing? The pain is there to tell me I'm doing something wrong or overextending the muscles, how does masking that pain help me heal?

I actually feel like my back is getting better now. I can once again do everything myself. It's a good feeling. I still feel the pain when I bend, especially in the mornings. By the middle of the day my back usually feels pretty good, only to fade into pain again in the evening.

So I've set an appointment with my chiro, Dr. Kathy at Positively Chiropractic for this Friday. Hopefully she can set the old pillar straight and give me some good stretches. I think this is about as good as anytime I'm gonna find to start doing yoga too, can't hurt to be more flexible and get some physical and mental stretching in while I'm at it. So the search for a yoga teacher in the Falls Church area is on...

DT
posted by DT at 3:55:50 PM
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Harsh Winters  
So one thing I forgot to mention on the Monday Mash ride with Joe P. at Wakefield. We were cruising along the creek trail and came to the spot where you can get a nice drop to the creek bed. I decided last minute to turn around and go ahead and jump it. Everything went great, but I heard a clunk. Didn't figure out what it was until we had stopped and were talking about going back to the cars. Turns out my water bottle holder, which is steel, actually broke. I'm not sure if it was from the cold or the fact that the water in the bottle had frozen or something completely unrelated. No matter it's broken. At least it's the least expensive thing on a bike to replace. Definitely cheaper than replacing a cracked spiderless chainring for XTR cranks...

DT
posted by DT at 4:16:10 PM
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Out!  
So Thursday, December 23rd, while picking up my laptop in my left hand and bending over to pet the dog, I managed to throw my back out. Suddenly I couldn't straighten up and there were these flashes of pain in my lower back. I've torn muscle fibers before and this was much worse! The pain came in flashes and was blinding. I like to think I have a pretty high pain threshold, but damn this hurt.

I had recently been experiencing some lower back pain and figured it was time to head back to the chiropractor, but decided to wait until after the holidays...bad idea. After I managed to straighten up and get into my local office, I called Positively Chiro, turns out just about everyone was taking holiday vacation, not a big surprise. Back was starting to hurt just sitting there so I decided to actually call the doctor at 10:30am and they could see me at 10:40am. Got there a couple minutes late, but it didn't matter, ended up waiting for an hour before I could go in and see the doctor. It was official, she said I strained/pulled the muscles in my lower back. She could tell by watching me bend (right...) and immediately prescribed 800mg of Motrin and 10mg of some pain reliever.

Now not that I mind getting all hopped up on pain pills, but it seems to me like you might at least touch my back or take a closer look. Anti-inflammatories don't solve the problem, it's more of a temporary solution. Just kind of pisses me off since the doctor seemed all offended when I mentioned I wanted to go see a chiropractor. I know a chiropractor isn't the full solution either. Things in my back need to be reset, but then I need to take it upon myself to do the correct stretches and make sure I'm keeping things in check. Otherwise the muscles will just pull the back back out of alignment. Vicious cycle I tell you.

Anyways, it looks as though I'll probably be off the bike for a bit, seeing as how it's been 5 days and I can just now bend far enough to put my shoes and socks on...

DT
posted by DT at 3:45:49 PM
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Server Wasn't Down  
The server wasn't down, evidently the UPenn Econ network went down and all the IT staff were on vacation. Hopefully it's fixed for good, thought it wouldn't be fixed until Monday, but it looks like someone came in.

DT
posted by DT at 3:43:03 PM
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Monday Mash  
It appears as though the Monday night MORE rides have been taking a hit lately. Talking to Joe P. tonight he said he usually doesn't have more than 3 people and tonight was just him and myself. First things first, we made our swap - his shoes and Camelbak for my cooler of beer...I still think I got the better deal.

Since we were both already decked out in our winter gear, we grabbed the bikes and took to the trail. Joe had me lead, probably because he's wicked fast and there's no way I'd keep up with him once he took off.

With it being 20 degrees or so, everything was frozen solid. The trails felt super packed and really fast. First we headed down the power station access road and cut into the newest twisty stuff. Down and up before crossing the gravel road again and back down along the power station to make our first creek crossing. I came in pretty hot and nearly missed the turn, managed to ride through the rock gardens lining the trail though. We then headed over to the racetrack area. The trail looked pretty good. A few frozen bike size ruts, but still good for the most part. I stuck around the low laying trails while I was warming up. Did some fast spinning to get the blood flowing. Hit whats probably my favorite log hop in Wakefield. Eventually we made it over to the trail at the back of the powerlines and back up the steep backside. Joe made the remark how that hill was so much easier tonight than it was on Saturday after already riding 20 miles and I couldn't agree more. We literally just bounded right up it. After riding the rest of the way to the top of the powerlines, we cut right and went back into the woods for some singletrack downhill.

It's about this time that Joe realizes his rims are pretty much iced over, not a lot of braking going on, so he gives me plenty of room. By the time he reached the bottom his brakes had warmed up enough to melt the ice and braking was back. Just in time to head back across the little creak and get the rims all wet again. We pushed back out to the creek trail and rode all of that since as soon as the thawing action kicks in, the creek trail will be out of commission for a good while. It's probably the fastest most flow worthy trail in Wakefield. Just pedal hard and carve those curves. Crossing the creek by the rec center proved to be easy as it was entirely frozen solid. Joe wanted to check out the 495 trails to see if a log had been removed at the big dip, so we cruised over and sure enough it had been sliced and diced. The dip itself is still pretty bad. If you're not expecting it, it's a definite wheel taco delight.

After exiting the woods we decided to call it a night. Got about an hour of riding in, good to stretch the legs after the big ride on Saturday and no time like the present to get the lungs used to taking in subfreezing air - all it takes is a little conditioning. After we started riding, it didn't even seem that cold, almost thought it had warmed up, but we knew it was just us that had warmed up.

Kind of surprised not a single person showed up. Joe and I reminisced about the days last year with inches of snow on the ground with temps in the mid 20's and we would still have 10 people out riding. Not sure if it's the cold, the holidays, or people just not riding as much, but a good ride was missed. We didn't see a single other biker, hiker, jogger all night and we had the trails all to ourselves!

DT
posted by DT at 9:18:07 PM
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Adventure on the CCT!  
What a ride this turned out to be! While this is supposedly a commuter trail, I'll be damned if it's not some of the sweetest point-to-point singletrack in the northern VA area. We expected to have some singletrack and doubletrack in the beginning, but by the end moving over to crushed gravel and sidewalk/road. What we got instead was a whole hell of a lot of trail riding, and I'm not talking 8 feet wide. This was tight, twisty, rooty singletrack that made you work for it. So here's how it all went down...

Joe P. (Wakefield liaison) and Randy Kerr (CCT liaison) parked at the far end of the CCT on Wadebrook Terrace in the Pohick Stream Valley. I picked them up just a little after 7:30am and we headed over to Wakefield Park to pick up Gary Ryan, who was leaving his truck there for a bailout. Just before pulling into Wakefield, Gary calls, the night before he had changed his chain and then put his Singletor in the push up position (previously in push down mode) and it seems now it's skipping too much to ride. He has to run back to his place and grab his FS and he'll just meet us at the Difficult Run parking lot in Great Falls. Cool, so we keep on driving to the parking lot and meet up with Graham Tracey, soon to follow is Dan Hoke, and then Gary is back. Lee Diehr is the last to show, but still on time. At this point it's about 24 degrees, but everyone is in good spirits. In the parking lot as we get everything together for the ride, I finally notice why I have been dropping my chain up front. I thought it was because of the Al spiderless ring flexing...well turns out it was flexing, only because it was cracked all the way through! What to do, what to do? Well I didn't get up this early to skip a ride I've put a lot of time planning, it's just gonna have to suck it up and make it to the end.

The first challenge we encounter is crossing the stream from the parking lot to the trailhead. It's 8" of fast moving and super cold water. Most of us decide to strip off our shoes/socks and walk across, while daredevils Gary and Lee ride through it all. On the other side, we continue start our journey. It's a good mix of singletrack and doubletrack. We take a slow pace to get warmed up and we stop often to take pics of where we turn and the creek crossings we cross. Because of the slower pace and all the stopping, it takes us a couple of hours to go from Great Falls to Reston, but soon we are turning off of the well known singletrack and pushing off into the more unknown areas off the W&OD. About 3 hours into the ride we get our first mechanical - Lee managed to flat his rear crossing a bridge. 10-15 minutes later and we are back on the trail.

Some things I've glossed over by this point - Joe P.'s digital camera is full because he had been taking uber high resolution pics, so no more camera. Randy Kerr's GPS evidently turned off. Luckily we have 2 other GPS units and Dan has a digital camera and Graham has a camera phone.

So now we are cruising along the creek and occaisionally you get options on which trail you want to take on the CCT, we chose the high side. We took some technical steep singletrack and worked our way up the side of the hill. We wind around and ride along a ridge trail for a bit before dropping back down and crossing over a dam and onto more singletrack. Eventually we pop out at Lawyers Rd. We cross the street and dive back into the singletrack. It's about this time that Gary decides he's about done. Between not riding a lot lately and his FS not shifting properly, he was getting pretty tired. He managed to push on though through some previously frozen, now getting softer trails, to pass by a horse arena before he bailed out and rode out to Vale Rd. The rest of us continued on. This is from what I understand, some of the newest trail on the CCT. It was quite amazing to be riding on a single strip of 3 foot wide land that has water bordering it on both sides. Not just water, but the orange crude kind. Needless to say this section was soft and muddy, but held together better than expected.

More singletrack and more crushed gravel ensued. I would love to be able to say exactly how to ride the CCT, but at this point, you really need to ride it with someone who knows the trail. A cue sheet could probably be worked up, but we would need to ride small sections of the CCT and plot them out, rather than try to do the whole thing in one swoop. When we finally popped out onto a neighborhood road, Dan Hoke decided he was about done. He would continue to ride with us over to Oak Marr and out to Chainbridge Rd. where he and Graham would end up bailing out.

We were now down to 4 of the 7. This ride proved to be a pretty punishing winter ride. Lots of technical singletrack and just enough muddy spots to keep people working hard the entire time, even going slow. We got a little break from the trails here. From Chainbridge Rd. down to just past Fairfax Circle is all on sidewalk. We made a quick stop at 7-11 since everyone needed a power up. It was probably about 2:00pm now. We have been out on the trail since 9:00am, not riding the entire time, but still, a pretty long time. It took a lot longer than I thought, we expected to be near the end of the CCT by 3:00pm, but it was clear we wouldn't even be to Wakefield by then. Out of 7-11 we head down another block before making a u-turn onto a paved path that heads through a tunnel and then turns to crushed gravel. This eventually turns back into more singletrack. This singletrack was super rooty and still totally solid and frozen since the sun wasn't shining directly on it. I took a pretty good spill, enough to cause some body ache.

This singletrack was definitely fun though. Before we knew it we were closing in on Wakefield. We passed the dirt jumps and took a few minutes to check them out. Conditions looked good, but we hurried on. We contemplated crossing the creek and taking some side roads to wind up at Wakefield, but then this wouldn't be an adventure. Instead we did a hike-a-bike under 495 and found some totally overgrown path, mostly unrideable. Eventually we could see the light at the end of the tunnel, we had arrived and were at the bottom of the powerline hill. Up to the to top of the hill we pushed. It was at this time I felt a familiar tight twinge. Not a cramp, but that was a sign it wouldn't be far off. At the top of the hill we (actually Joe P.) decides we should head into the racetrack and take the singletrack back to the rec center parking lot. Once back, Gary and his truck appear as a saviour. Lee has been on travel and is itching to cut out and get back to his woman so he had called Gary to meet him at Wakefield. After talking with Randy it seems it will probably be another 90 minutes or so of riding. Joe P. calls his woman and she gives him the go ahead to grind it out, Randy is still going strong and is ready to head out. At the last moment I decide to bail with Lee and Gary. I knew the thigh cramp was coming and I wasn't looking forward to it. I could also rationalize this by going with the fact I was going to AOL's holiday party that evening and finishing up the ride after 5pm could definitely make me late, which I had assured Kristin I would not be. In reality I just wussed out. My last wreck had rocked my upper body pretty good, right into some frozen ground with some big bad roots in my mouth and my legs were starting to feel it.

Joe P. and Randy push on and called me when they were done, finished about an hour and 40 minutes after they left Wakefield at 3:30pm. I got the call around 5:15pm and it was dark out. Glad they made it safe. Joe P. said it was a mix of road and gravel road, with a few really good hills. I reminded him that there was a 12 pack of various beers in his wagon - a mixture of Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, Troegs Mad Elf, Clipper City Pale Ale, and Old Dominion Oak Barrel Stout.

Big props to him and Randy for going the distance. Hopefully we will get all the GPS data mapped and analyzed and be able to match up some of the pics we got. A full detailed mapping project will definitely take more than a day, but I think we all learned a lot. A cue sheet definitely needs to be made up and some sort of mileage attached. For the most part, keep going right, ha, except when you need to go left...

Tons of ideas floating around in this head, but beware, the Frozen Fixed Fifty (FFF) can't be too far off...
posted by DT at 1:02:25 PM
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National Champs!  
Just wanted to say congratulations to the James Madison University football team who captured the I-AA National Championships on Friday night. It was touch and go a few times, but they managed to knock out Montana for the win, a first ever in JMU history. You can check out JMU Sports for all the game statistics. Would have been cool to make the trip to TN, but I was prepping for the CCT ride the next day.

DT
posted by DT at 11:55:48 AM
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Legal Night Riding  
Well it's been awhile, but I made it out to a Thursday night ride at Wakefield with the MORE crew. Initial plans had me running up to Wakefield to give Jason his dually with gears back - thanks Jason for letting me borrow that thing! Jason let me borrow his Cannondale Scalpel. Fun bike, but I didn't really put it through it's paces. Not that I didn't like the ride, I just really really like my bike. Gotta figure for fixie, a rear brake isn't really needed right? So yea, figure with the small amount of riding I've been getting in lately, might as well really make it worth it and make sure I'm pedaling ALL the time.

After dropping off the bike I had thought I was going to head over to a friends house to catch up, but since I hadn't heard from him...might as well pull the bike off the car...since it's there and all... This is usually the point where I start to feel guilty, because Buster has been in his crate all day. But I made sure we ran around for an hour prior to putting him back in the crate, so I didn't feel quite as bad as he was tired anyway.

Through on a long sleeve jersey and decided shorts would be enough, probably around 40 degrees anyway. Was ready to roll just as the MORE groups were splitting up and getting ready to head out, but instead I decided to roll by myself. I'm a big fan of group riding, but last night was all about getting back on the bike and finding the zone. I knew that wasn't going to happen with a big group, so I passed and struck out into the night.

I started out next to the rec center on the double-track that runs parallel to the creek trail. Not even 5 minutes into my riding I found myself stopping...good stopping though. About 12 feet ahead of me were two deer munching away on the grass. My silent fixie prowess never alerted them to my presence. I watched for a minute when a baby strolled out from the woods to my left about 8 feet in front of me and just started eating away. Damnit, forgot the camera! I watched for about 5 minutes before slowly turning around and riding back the way I came.

So I headed up to the rec center and started again, this time going along next to the tennis courts. I cruised into the racetrack area and then really started my ride. These are the hills that always seem to kill me when I'm racing. So the plan for tonight was maximum pain, up hill, down hill, up hill, down hill, up hill, and so on. I must have ridden up and down 15 times before riding up the powerline road. This would not have been possible riding in the group. We would of stopped at the top each time to let everyone catch up or catch their breath.

Since I was alone I was able to keep pedaling and continue riding. I went as fast or as slow as I wanted, practicing my jedi mind tricks as I went. Riding fixie is all about finding that perfect line, not just the line in the trail, but the line in balance and speed. The moment you find that line, you know it. Your able to eat steep hills in a single gulp and you feel your at the edge of control, but in control just enough to never need that front brake. When your riding that line, it's as if your bike was your brain - movements happen automatically and without actually thinking about them.

There was a crescent moon out, but the sky was clear and the moon was bright. I raced down the powerlines and cut into the 495 singletrack. When I popped out at the top onto the power station access road, a group was riding by and heading back into the woods. I went and cut into the newer singletrack that was used in the Wednesdays at Wakefield races. It's very curvy with just enough steepness to make it difficult, especially so in the direction I was riding. Arrive back at the trailhead and ride over the gravel pits and back on to the access road, then drop down to the power station via the access road split. Pass by the tennis courts again and head for the car. Looked at my watch and I just got in a solid hour of riding, no stopping, great stuff!

Get back to the car and start packing up the bike and taking my gear off. Look at my light and realize it died at some point out on the trail and I never even noticed. Guess that's what riding that line is all about. Finding that flow and going into the zone. When your there you know it and sometimes nothing can pull you out...

Now go out and ride...33 mile Fairfax CCT exploration tomorrow...mmm!

DT
posted by DT at 2:45:00 PM
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Rain, Rain, Go Away  
It's official, I'm sick of the rain. I usually don't mind it, but it's gone too far now. It was supposed to be nice this weekend, but with all the rain we had received during the week I knew riding the trails would be out. So much for a nice weekend though, I didn't see the sun until Sunday morning. It has rained so much in the past week that my yard stopped accepting the water. It turned into a giant sponge, if you stepped on it, it would sink down and water would squeeze out! It was back to normal this morning, but that could be because of the cold weather last night.

I'm guessing Wakefield is going to be wrecked. I can only imagine how many people rode the trails on Sunday, even after a week of rain. And now with Wakefield being the only side you can night ride on, it's gonna be rutted and wearing down super fast. The trails in Reston are known for drying slow, so they probably won't be dry again until we get 2 solid weeks of dry windy weather. Can't wait for everything to freeze.

Anyway, had to vent a little. As long as I make it outside for a bit, I'm usually ok. This past week had me inside most of the time, but I was able to take a nice long walk around the city up in NY Saturday night and it was good.

Saturday I drove up through the rain to NYC to hit my second Pixies show, this time at Hammerstein Ballroom. Got to hang out with some good friends and it even turns out my friend is looking into getting a bike and joining a bike club up there - guess he might be feeling the effects of long work hours. The Pixies show straight up rocked. This time we had general admission seats and didn't bother to push our way up front. Hung out about 3/4 of the way back from the stage, actually had room to breath and could really get into the music. It's amazing, after 15 years and their voices sound as good as when they put the tracks on wax. The atmospheric voice of Kim Deal must really be experienced, as it directly conflicts with Frank's aggresiveness, which turns it all into a very soothing mix.

I'll be interested to hear if they come up with some new material. From what I understand Frank and Kim are best buddies when hanging out, but put them in the studio and their styles are so conflicting, it's enough to destroy the band - miserable. Then back outside the studio, everything is peachy keen.

Anyway, do your sun dances and let's hope for some better weather in the coming weeks. If only the government would stop testing their weather machine...

DT
posted by DT at 8:46:15 AM
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Concert Review  
Yesterday, I'm sitting in my office in McLean when I get an instant message from Krosby, something along the lines of "pixies - tonight - $35". Now as far as shows go, that's damn expensive for me, but to see the Pixies I'll pay it. Hey, if you don't like the Pixies, that's your thing, but more than likely that band your listening to now grew up on the Pixies. They were truely a force to be wreckoned with and changed the face of music for the better. Pull out your old cassettes from 1987 and see what you were listening to then...

After work I head into DC and meet Krosby and crew at Foggy Bottom Pub for $2.20 Winterhook, good stuff. We then cab it over to Constitution Hall and right in. Perfect timing as the Pixies have just taken the stage. This is when I realize just how awesome are seats really are. I guess knowing somebody who can get tickets is always better than trying to buy them yourself, cause damnit if we weren't in the first row, dead center, about a foot away from Black Francis himself. Being this close has its good points and its bad points. The major bad point is you can't hear the lyrics real well, which was ok here because everyone was singing along anyway. The positives far outweigh. Watching the band work was an education in rock. Francis and Joey put down some mean guitar, enough that Krosby's ears are still ringing this morning. The music was rough and raw, with Kim Deal laying down some sweet bass melody, driving the music onward.

When it was all said and done, it was an unforgettable show. I ended up with Kim Deal's (more recently of the Breeders) pick, which was pretty cool. After the show, who do I run into but Miele, Stoners girlfriend. Had to call and heckle him for a bit. Good stuff.

DT
posted by DT at 1:46:31 PM
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Grad Research  
So after all my research into grad school, the list of possibilities has diminished significantly. Some places were too expensive, even with MITRE footing the bill of up to $900 per semester credit hour. Other schools didn't really jive with my idea of what a masters program should include (or in my case shouldn't include). After all this I came up with two locals and one long distance online learning school.

So if you are currently working in a GIS field or know someone who is, shoot me an email. It would be great to see what people are involved with. Any information you can give would be great. Also if you are currently attending one of the schools below and are in their graduate program seeking a masters, it would be nice to hear what you think of the courses/facilities.

Below is what I've narrowed down:

UM - University of Maryland - Masters - Geography Degree
http://www.geog.umd.edu/
http://www.testudo.umd.edu/soc/feesfall.html
http://www.geog.umd.edu/welcome/brochures/programs.html
http://gis.esri.com/university/view.cfm?ID=423

Graduate Students, Non-Residents $701.00 per credit hour
Graduate students (1-8 credits) $268.00 - extra fees

GIS Contact: Jose Santos Dory
E-mail: jsdory@wam.umd.eu
Department: Geography
Department Homepage: http://www.geog.umd.edu
Phone Number: 301-314-8545
Fax Number: 301-314-2222


GMU - George Mason University - Masters - Geographic & Cartographic Sciences Degree
http://geog.gmu.edu/
http://www.gmu.edu/catalog/cas/geography.html#Anchor13
http://geog.gmu.edu/ADINFO/acinfo_main.htm#anchor2
http://www.admissions.gmu.edu/ugrad/money.html
http://gis.esri.com/university/view.cfm?ID=19

$261.00 per credit hour - $361.00 per credit hour

GIS Contact: David Wong
E-mail: dwong2@gmu.edu
Department: Geography & Earth Science
Department Homepage: http://geog.gmu.edu
Phone Number: 703-993-1210
Fax Number: 703-993-1216


PSU - Pennsylvania State University - Leader in Online GIS
http://www.gis.psu.edu/
http://www.geog.psu.edu/grad/
http://www.geog.psu.edu/grad/mgis_description.html
http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/pub/gism/
http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/pub/gism/afs_costs.shtml
http://gis.esri.com/university/view.cfm?ID=12

$510 per credit

GIS Contact: Todd Bacastow
E-mail: bacastow@gis.psu.edu
Department: University Geographic Science Coordinator
Department Homepage: http://www.gis.psu.edu
Phone Number: 814-863-0049
Fax Number: 814-865-3378

DT
posted by DT at 1:54:30 PM
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Lake Fairfax  
So after a busy weekend of visiting lots of friends/parents and getting a Christmas tree, along with a lot of other Christmas stuff, I was finally able to get out for a ride on Sunday afternoon. It fit nicely in between cleaning the house and heading over to a friends Christmas party.

I did the usual Lake Fairfax ride, but it's actually been awhile since I rode this during the day. I was suprised to see how muddy the trail still was after 3 days of sun and wind. Rather than ride through the mud pits, I chose to walk a lot of sections, not because I can't handle mud, but the trails can only handle so many people riding on them when they are this muddy. I'm guessing the trails won't be good again until the deep freeze sets in for the winter.

I stopped by the UCI cyclocross race PVC/City Bikes was holding. Pretty cool to see all the big wigs coming out and racing. Conveniently came up on Eric Roman as I showed up, he took 1st in the B race riding his singlespeed cross bike. Gotta hand it to him, he was always fast, but he has really stepped it up this year and really taken it to the world of racing. I got a chance to talk to Scud for a bit, who of course was cooking up a storm, Joe Foley was taking pics after placing 9th in the C race (placed 5th the day before!). talked with a few others and watched the beginning of the Elite Women race, then headed back out to finish my ride.

With all the walking and talking I did, I probably added an hour to my ride. That and I had two small mishaps. First one I was riding along and I was looking down in front of me and then looked back at the rear of the bike, just long enough to take a glancing blow to the top of my helmet on a really low tree. Took me totally by surprise, so I stopped and checked my helmet, then gave my neck a good long stretch. Everything seemed to be in working order, so on I went. The next mishap was at the end of the trails, I was pushing up a super short, but steep section to put me on the W&OD when my chain jumped off the front. I honestly think it has to do with the Jericho (Al) chainring. I wouldn't be surprised if it's flexing when I'm mashing. When the chain jumped off it dug a nice little pit into the back of the XTR crank arm. No big deal, pull the chain out and put it back on, this time I made sure the chain was on the back cog, but while rotating it onto the front it jumped off the back again and I had to take the rear wheel off to put the chain on again. All done, went ahead and checked my cranks again and tightened them up, because they continually come loose. I'm about done with the Jericho/XTR combo. I'll eventually just sell these off and get a different crankset. Probably won't be until after the holidays though.

Finished out my ride, with just enough time to get cleaned up before heading back out to a Christmas party. Good times. 60 degrees with a clear sky...and it's December...not too many of these days left.

DT
posted by DT at 9:34:27 AM
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Grad School?  
So I've pretty much come to the conclusion it's time to go back to school. From talking with Kristin about what we are doing once we are married and trying to figure out where to go from here, I'm looking into it now. After checking with MITRE, it turns out they will pay for any school tuition fees as long as it is a degree program. It took a lot of research, but I think I've found what I want to do...

I've always been fairly technologically inclined, good with computers, and in general feel completely normal in a geek environment. At the same time, I have a strong passion for the environment, not just because I'm a cyclist, but because it's always been there for me. It's been a stress relief, a new experience, and a soothing friend. Finding a job that melds technology with the outdoors is a definite goal. This is how I came up with...GIS - Geographical Information Systems. Funny thing is I've never even used a GPS unit, other than with my Dad out in the boat - and that was more of a sensor unit to detect fish and then get us home.

GIS is new to the college/university scene. Most schools don't offer classes, much less a graduate degree program. There are a few schools that offer GIS classes on the DL - "Distance Learning", which is definitely an option, but for a Masters I think I'll want to have an actual classroom I sit in. With this thought in mind, I've started making a list of all the local schools that offer a GIS program or something similar and then a list of all the online learning places that offer the same. Here's what I've gotten so far -

Local:

UM - University of Maryland - Geography Degree
GMU - George Mason University - Geography Degree or Geographic & Cartographic Sciences, MS
VT - Virginia Tech - Geography Degree
JHU - Johns Hopkins University - Environmental Science Degree

Far Far Away:

DU - Denver University (Online) - Geographic Information Science, MS
UC - University of Colorado at Denver (Online) - Master of Engineering degree - Geographic Information Systems (MEng-GIS)
PSU - Pennsylvania State University - Lots of Choices in Masters with concentrations in GIS
Duke - Duke University - Professional Masters Degrees

So that's what I got so far. There are other schools out there I'm sure, but they only offer certificate programs or are not local enough or don't offer an online program. If you find one I missed, let me know. Now to research and come up with a final decision...

DT
posted by DT at 3:49:01 PM
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DT
posted by DT at 1:47:33 PM
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