100PUC W4/D2/C1 and Winter Activities

100PUC W4/D2/C1 and Winter Activities: I put off doing push ups for a day to allow my neck to heal a bit more, and today I felt it was good enough to try day 2 of week 4. It took everything I had in me, but I was able to once more complete the minimums, for 72 in total. I have a feeling I'll be repeating week 4.

This morning I went for a ride on my father-in-law's snowmobile. I usually get out on it once or twice a winter. Today I wanted to scout out some of the trails to see which were suitable for skate skiing. I took the rail bed up to Lewisporte Junction and back. From the industrial park I cut across to the bogs and made my way up to Scissors Pond and then into Airways Pond, before returning home for lunch.

After the meal had some time to settle, I grabbed my skate skis and the dog, jumped aboard the truck, and drove up to the end of town. The route I chose is the 3km one I use in the summer for sprinting. It was the smoothest, and the flattest, for my learning how to skate on snow.

For the past 4 years I have been using a cheap pair of non-wax/fish scale, traditional style skis. I bought them to compete in the first winter Raid Avalon adventure race. It took me a while to get used to having these long sticks on my feet, and I fell down often. I do not fall anymore, and take them all over the place, treating them much like snowshoes. They are, however,very slow, and showing their age.

Last spring, just before the final flake of snow melted, I bought a nice skate ski package from The Outfitters in St. John's. Being end of season, I saved hundreds of dollars. Being the end of the season, I was only able to use them once, briefly, on some slush before putting them away.

This winter I have been impatiently waiting for snow enough to accumulate to get out and really use them. I've risked my old skis three times on exposed rocks and sticks, and rough trails, since conditions have not been suitable for skate skiing until now, and this is still far from ideal.

Today I managed to get in a bit of training and muscle adapting to this new style, but I had to revert back to the old diagonal motions often. It was probably 30% skate and 70% traditional. Lifting the ski after pushing, and keeping it from digging into the loose snow was a challenge. I could only get in a couple dozen strides before pulling the skis back together and shuffling for a bit to catch my breath, and let the muscles relax from the new efforts.

I was surprised how well I was able to diagonal ski on these all glide skis. There are no fish scales or kick wax to push against, yet I could move as fast, if not faster than with my old skis. My nice new poles with the comfy hand straps had a lot to do with this. This gave my arms more of a workout too. Going down the slight grade on the way back, I was able to just glide and double pole for a while at a fun speed.

While not yet able to skate ski any real distance, and not at all graceful, it will come in time. There are still a few weeks of winter remaining, and each outing will bring improvement. This winter should allow me to build a good base for next winter, and I have yet to fall down with the new skis.

(Original Blog Post: -*http://haliburton.homelinux.net/strofficeview/?p=82)

Lightweight Linux

Lightweight Linux: The computer I am using for my web server is an old Compaq DeskPro 4000 I bought second-hand many years ago. It has an Intel Pentium II 233MMX CPU, 256MB RAM, and a 13GB HDD. It is running the standard LAMP: Debian Etch GNU/Linux, Apache2, MySQL, and PHP.

It came off server duties for a little while while I tried to make it a desktop system for general family and guest use, but even with XFCE or Fluxbox I was not happy with the speed. As a web server it is also slow, but I can live with it.

For a while it was command line only, but I got tired of using wget to download CMS updates and so on. I'd have to use another computer to edit the HTML files, or suffer through Nano. Yesterday I decided to put Xwindow on it, and go with the Fluxbox window manager. This combination should not slow down the system too much, and I only have to start X when I need it.

On the command line I used:

File Manager: Midnight Commander (MC)

Email: Mutt

IRC: irssi (usually through Screen)

Text Editor: Nano

Web Browser: Lynx

Package Installer: Apt-Get (sometimes Aptitude)

I will continue to use these applications, but now with the GUI installed, I wanted some lightweight graphical programs too. They have to take up very little HDD space, and not have too much overhead with running so as to slow down the serving of web pages too much.

Here is what I have decided to start with:

File Manager: ROX-filer

Text Editor: NEdit

HTML Editor: Geany

Web Browser: Dillo

Audio: XMMS

Image Viewers: feh and GQview

Those were installed today, and will be tried out over the next little while. If anyone has a suggestion for another I should look at, leave a comment.

(Original Blog Post: http://haliburton.homelinux.net/strofficeview/?p=74)

Last Bicycle Ride of the Year - Maybe!

I pulled my bicycle out of the shed this afternoon to go for what might be the last ride of 2004. The temperature was slightly above freezing, and winds were very light from the NE. It had been maybe two weeks since I was last out, and that was on the railbed up to Lewiporte Junction and back. Those gentler climbs are better for me with my asthma than what you face on the roads, especially when it is cooler. I like heading into any wind on the way out so that it is at my back on the return trip. That is why I chose to head towards Little Burnt Bay.

I had dressed in similar clothing to what I would wear cross-country skiing. It is always a challenge deciding what to put on when faced with a high output activity requiring nothing too bulky, while keeping warm. By the time I got to Byron's house I was already cold and tired, so I stopped in for a quick visit. The hot coffee was just what I needed. Before leaving I switched from fingerless sailing gloves to cotton glove. A hat was in my pocket, just in case.

The bike, a Schwinn Santa Monica comfort style, needs to be tuned up again. The back brakes barely slow me down, and the shifters are not changing gears properly. It could use some oil and tightening here and there as well. Lots of things I could do myself, if I only had a place to work. I suppose I'll get a shed/garage someday. For an inexpensive bicycle (under $300), it has served me well though. It has been used for 5 adventure races so far, and all the training and recreational trips in between over the past 15 or so months I've had it.

I try to keep my speed above 15kph, but was barely able to stay above 10 going up the hill past the mussel bed turn. That's the steepest part of this road, and I'm happy to always make it to the top without having to get off and walk. While going through Embree the chimney smoke from all the wood furnace fires was almost enough to choke me. There wasn't enough wind to make a difference as it hung close to the ground. At times I had to hold my breath until I made it through a particularly bad spot.

It didn't look like I would make it all the way to Little Burnt Bay. I didn't want to overdo it, and had planned to be home by 4:00 anyway. The evenings get dark rather early, and will continue to get shorter for another 5 weeks. Since Colin lived at the end of Embree, I thought I would go that far and visit with him, but seeing his car at the church, I decided to carry on to Foxes Dock, the place from which we launched many a kayaking trip over the past season. I paused their briefly to look out over the water and take a few sips of Gatorade.

Riding home was slightly warmer with the hills not so steep. I finished the little over 26km in 1 hour and 18 minutes (20kph average), and put the bike back in the shed until the next opportunity. Monday we are expecting up to 10cm of snow.

Raid Avalon 2004-D

Once more I participated in the Raid Avalon adventure race. I was one of a team of four this time around, so I didn't have to race solo like in two previous competitions.

HMS Calypso/Briton

One of the places I like to kayak to is Job's Cove in Embree where the remains of an old ship rest. Originally known as Calypso, it was renamed to Briton.


HMS Briton 


HMS Calypso under full sail. 

All that is left of this vessel now is a rusted hulk.