Dogtown

Outbound:
Route 44: 6:48 Wallingford to Montlake Freeway Station
Route 242: 7:13 Montlake to Overlake

Reading: Faster Than The Speed Of Light, Joao Magueijo
Listening: Collateral Soundtrack

With the current appetite for all things extreme and even better, extreme and retro, there will undoubtedly be a lot of hype around the new movie "Lords of Dogtown" which is due for release here next month. This is a dramatisation based around the skaters of the pioneering Zephyr skate team, a bunch of hard-core surfers who essentially changed the skating landscape from the teeny-bopper, gold-lame short-wearing American "craze" it was back in the seventies to the extreme sport - alternative lifestyle it is today. The group were essentially a local surf crew who brought their surf moves to the concrete when the conditions were blown out and it was this fluid, surf-like style which mainly contributed to the huge shift, along with a fair amount of style and a lot of pool-riding which is still around today in the modern half-pipe.

Anyway, I watched the original documentary on these guys "Dogtown & Z-Boys" and it was superb. It was a glimpse of a time when surfing/skating wasn't a "cool" thing to do, when there was no X-Games, no billion dollar clothing industry and no Kelly Slater / Tony Hawk.

The film interviewed all these guys today, some are still skating, like Tony Alva while some have drifted back into normal lives. Stacy Peralta, was hugely successful behind the scenes, becoming a successful director of skate videos and infact this documentary. And of course there was the most naturally gifted, yet most self-destructive of the bunch, Jay Adams, a kind of Southern Californian bleach blond Alex Higgins, who is currently spending time in a Hawaiian Correctional Facility.

b.

I Thought He Was Dead ....

... No, not the alcoholic comedian, the Microsoft consultant.

I was sitting hacking away (on top secret stuff) when I heard the unmistakable dulcet tones wafting down the hallway.

I figured maybe it was just the truth-serum mixing with the kool-aid and all the subliminal messages being beamed through the building.

But when the sound didn't cease after 60 minutes I knew it could mean only one thing.

Dave Allen was in the hallway.

Pretty small world. There was a big contingent of HBOS Retail over with Dave, doing performance testing with the Visual Studio Team. They must have some sort of centre of excellence or something over in Halifax?

(Listening: It Should Have Been Me - Yvonne Fair )

b.

Top Secret

Outbound: Undisclosed

Reading: Confidential

Listening: Can't Say

I'm up at Microsoft this week on a Top Secret mission so I can't talk about it.

Maybe I'll get a chance to blog about life rather than tech which someone requested last week (Gerry).

b.

Cinco De Mayo

Outbound:
Route 44: 6:48 Wallingford to Montlake Freeway Station
Route 242: 7:17 Montlake to Overlake

Reading: Code
Listening: The Strokes - Is This It?


The holiday of Cinco De Mayo, The 5th Of May, commemorates the victory of the Mexicans over the French army at The Battle Of Puebla in 1862. It's a big thing here in the US, I'm not sure it's such a big deal in Mexico, but having seen how they celebrate St. Patrick's day much more here than we do in Ireland I suspect it's probably the same with Cinco De Mayo.

Anything for a party I suppose and what's the harm in that.

Happy Cinco De Mayo.

b.

Enterprise Library and Whidbey Beta 2

Outbound:
Route 44: 6:46 Wallingford to Montlake Freeway Station
Route 242: 7:10 Montlake to Overlake

Reading: MSDN Magazine June
Listening: Shuffle Setting

Enterprise Library is broken with Whidbey Beta 2 release. Scott Densmore has a How To post to get it up and running again, make sure to read all the comments as well as the original post but it does work.

They're hoping for an early community release of the next version which should have all the fixes in.

b.

Deja Vu

Outbound:
Route 44: 6:47 Wallingford to Montlake Freeway Station
Route 242: 7:13 Montlake to Overlake

Reading: June Edition of MSDN Magazine
Listening: Modest Mouse - The Moon and Antartica

The only thing about having a subscription to MSDN magazine (and this is probably true for any special interest publication) is that the same articles get republished, albeit by a different author or with a slightly different bent. This months MSDN has an article on XML in SQL, which did the rounds two or three time when SQL2000 was launched as well as one on ACT which I'm sure I've also seen before.

I suppose there are many articles which I'm enjoying as a first time reader and someone else has already read and that's exactly why they have to do this kind of thing.


b.

Portland, Oregon

Outbound:
Route 44: 6:48 Wallingford to Montlake Freeway Station
Route 242: 7:13 Montlake to Overlake

Reading: Writing
Listening: Athlete - Tourist


We spent a great weekend in Portland, probably the last city break we will have as a two-person family, so we didn't hold back on the eating, drinking and general adult-oriented activities. We stayed in Lucia, a nice hotel right in the heart of the city. It was a good omen when there was a picture of Jerry Seinfield on the wall outside our room. It was part of an exhibition by David Hume Kennerly and there were some brilliant images.

Portland is a pretty laidback city, a lot like Seattle except maybe with the softer edges of a smaller city. I'll not bore you with the details but the gourmet highlights were Bijou for breakfast, Elephants Deli for lunch and Saucebox for dinner.

There is a great Saturday Market in the Old Town District and I invested in a balance board from Eastside Longboards . I really need to work on my balance after my sailing accident in Oz left all the little balancing tendons around my ankke shredded to pieces, also it means I can have a little board time every day, even if the waves are 150 miles away. Check out these balance board tricks!

b.