Ride of Silence

This past week, we joined a couple of other cyclists to participate in Boise's version of the Ride of Silence. This is a worldwide gathering--dozens of rides--dozens of locations--to honor those who have lost their lives in automobile-bicycle accidents. Last year we had a woman killed here in our hometown by a woman who shouldn't have been driving, as she was on medication which carried the label "do not drive while taking this medication." Worse still was that the woman was driving a Hummer. A Smart car would kill a biker. A Hummer leaves no doubt. There was a ghost bike at that corner for months.

At any rate, I brought my two oldest kids to ride with me on the Ride of Silence here. My daughter rode alongside me, and my son in the Burley. Because of the timing and the local community advocacy groups being tied up in other pursuits, there were only five of us on the ride--after hundreds last year. I think it was a wake-up call for us. This sort of thing is only impactful if it is done in volume. I've posted a couple of pics below of the ride and its participants.

Next time you're out in the car, take a look around you. The life you save by being aware of cyclists may be mine. It's definitely someone important--to someone.

Extras

I just found a cool website that lets me sync and manage everything on my Windows Mobile smartphone at www.dashwire.com. I like it! I also found some old pics I'd forgotten about on my phone due to the site. I'm putting them here. Some are from the trip Nate and I took to Provo to watch a BYU volleyball game and others are just random stuff. I know you want to see them. You really do.

Nate hangs out with the Colonel:


Nate drives a mini squad car in Rancho Cucamonga:


Nate and Riley in line at Soaring Over California:

Just for Joneel

Our good friend in California has posted her score from Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. I counter with this salvo. Of course, our annual passes expire at the end of this year--but since we're a bazillion miles away from Anaheim, they're just not as useful as Joneel's. She's definitely got us there.

Behold the reason why I feel safe at home at night:



I am completely safe from alien attack.

What exactly do you do?

A lot of times people ask me, "exactly what is it that you do?" I actually had a friend ask me that on the way to lunch today. Well, I offer this YouTube clip to help show you the end process of what I'm working on now for Nokia. The project I'm working on is designed to create a program to connect Nokia, their channel partners and independent software vendors (ISVs or developers) in an effective go-to-market program. The Nokia partner here is Invisible IT based out of the Bay Area. The ISV here is Agito (a company I've had a pair of meetings with and who I can say have great leadership), and the handset is a Nokia eSeries device. This ain't your cell providers freebie Nokia handset. Nokia makes from pretty kickin' handsets--and this is one of them, as you'll see.



So, now do you have a better idea what I do? Didn't think so!

This is Interesting. America More Popular?

I found this little story while tooling around this morning. It's interesting to get a voice that seems to run contrary to the mashed potatoes we are consistently being fed via the MSM. I would wager to say that this opinion piece hits closer to the truth than most, not because it echoes what I suspect--and therefore sounds good to me--but that it's supported with hard data.

The key point to me is that it highlights the respect that key Asian nations have for America so long as it keeps its commitments--and doesn't turn tail and run. Something like this should--and I emphasize should--influence the way we vote in November.

Sadly, it probably won't to most people.