Altimiter, It's Not

I recently bought a heart rate monitor for use when I ride. It's got spedometer, trip and odometer capabilities, too, so I don't lose anything over the traditional bike computer. This fancy-pants model actually has a barometric altimeter, as well. After a bit of wrangling with Google Earth, I managed to find my house (including some odd pool-looking thing in the back yard), and get an approximate altitude: 58m.

When I left for a ride today, I dutifully programmed in the starting altitude, to get an accurate profile for the workout data. When I got home, I found that the same spot at which I had set the altitude in the first place was now only 54m above sea level! I guess the alternate post for this article could be "My House Is Sinking".

Nine Minutes

That nine minutes from one round of the snooze bar really ended up doing a number on my travel plans.

After getting rescheduled on the next flight, we boarded around 8:10 for an 8:30 departure. Not so fast! Sorry, you all have to get off this plane, we have a mechanical issue and all of the local mechanics will be busy for the next two hours. Good news is, there'll be a plane pulling up to the next gate over in just an hour! (This, at 9am.)

Come 10am, still no plane.

Oh, turns out they've cancelled the 8:30 flight, and just rescheduled everybody on the normally scheduled 11:30 flight. That flight took off around 11:45, so I apparently got to the airport 5 1/2 hours early. I should have slept in by more than just nine minutes.

That, and bridge fare in the Bay Area is now four dollars!

The Decider

No, this post has nothing to do with politics, or the current Chief Executive.

This morning I missed my (6:15 AM) flight to the Bay Area. Not too big a deal, really, since there's another (well, several) flight not long thereafter. Yes, the snow and ice contributed to my delay--I passed one collision on the shoulder, several abandoned cars, and watched one driver ahead of me turn a nice pirouette (no jeté, though). However, the crucial bit of delay for me this morning was the snooze bar. That one tap, just nine minutes cost me over two hours (and $7.95 for wireless in the terminal).

Casino Royale

Saw the new Bond movie over the Holidays. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I hope anything I say below isn't a spoiler for anybody, but consider yourself warned. This new Bond lacks the polish of a Connery or Brosnan, but that's quite enjoyable. He gets beat up. He appears with cuts on his face and bruised knuckles. There's also a conspicuous lack of gadgets. And he doesn't play that wussy Baccarat! Overall, I enjoyed this one more than some of the other recent Bond flicks which have come out.

Also starring in the movie is Ade, an actor better known to most as Tyrone from "Snatch". And there are a couple of scenes in particular which stand out as Ford ads. A shot of a parking lot at a ritzy hotel has a Volvo S80, an Aston Martin, and a Jaguar or two in the scene. Yay, Volvo!