Tuesday, September 30, 2008

A blog about HPVs at SJSU

Bicyclist riding through crowd at SJSU

A new dedicated blog

I have been trying to minimize this topic on this blog and stay focused on family. However, I am concerned. In my opinion human powered vehicles pose a safety risk to their operators and pedestrians at SJSU:
  • As an employee I am concerned about the risk to students and employees.
  • As a parent of young adults I am concerned that many of the operators of these devices are prone to take risks.
  • As a parent of an SJSU student I am concerned that this is a dangerous situation that the university, in my opinion, is ignoring.
  • As a taxpayer I am concerned that the university is taking on a financial risk by assuming liability in the event of a lawsuit arising from this flawed practice.
  • As a bicyclist myself I am all too aware of the hazards of improper use of human powered vehicles.
Because university employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement I filed a grievance under our union contract. I documented my concerns and the grievance here, on this blog. But, I have received a lot of support from folks who are not covered by our union contract. So, I have decided to shift the attention here, to this blog, that will be focused on this issue exclusively.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Okay, what now?

If not a bail out, what now?

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Sue's cousin Adam

Sue, her mom and her cousin Adam

Sue's cousin Adam visits

This weekend Sue's cousin came to San Jose. Adam is a mountain biker. After we had a great visit and a dinner Wednesday night at Sue's mom Fran's house Adam and I went for a mountain bike ride on Sunday. It was an awesome ride and Adam was the leader of the pack. We really enjoyed Adam's visit.

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Thursday, September 25, 2008

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Indian Summer Bike Rides

Two Cathy's on 9-16 wnd ride

[Click here to see more photos from the September 16 ride]

Summer Is Dead, Long Live Summer

Last night we had the first extended season Whine and Dine ride. It was a great ride up Hicks to Reynolds then further up Hicks to the double diamond sign. The weather and scenery were perfect! The extended season is Indian Summer, early Fall after summer ends until the rain comes in, typically in mid to late October. The riding weather is typically great this time of year, but the rides have to start earlier due to the earlier sunsets.

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Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Jacob's Birthday

Jacob with ball

Today is Jacob's birthday

Though we celebrated last weekend today is Jacob's real birthday. Jacob is a really happy baby with a very happy personality. If a baby can be an optimist, he is.

Yesterday Jeff, Nicole, Madison they came to visit and we had a picnic at SJSU. That was very nice. They are a great family.

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Monday, September 22, 2008

Encounter on Hicks

Late yesterday evening, just before dark, I was on my bicycle descending Hicks Road near Camden Ave. in the east part of Los Gatos. On the way up the hill I had earlier seen a herd of deer in front the new houses there enjoying some landscaping plants. One of the deer was a six point buck. I had seen this buck on the hill before on other rides and was looking forward to seeing him again on the way down.

As I was descending I rounded a curve I saw the buck on the left side of the road and a black Toyota Tundra on the right side of the road. Directly behind the truck was a man lining up a shot on the deer with a crossbow. I was heading right into his line of fire. Behind the buck was the houses.

I started ringing my bell and making a lot of noise. Neither I, the buck or the houses behind the buck were shot. The shooter went into the truck and sped off. The plate on the truck was California 7M41254. I reported it to Los Gatos PD as this was in Los Gatos City Limits.

If the shooter missed he could have hit the houses. He apparently planned to kill this deer in their front yard! I hope Los Gatos PD does something.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Grandson's birthday party

Jacob with his first birthday cake

[Click here to see more photos]

Yesterday we celebrated Jacob's birthday

Jacob turns one this week and we celebrated on Saturday. He is such a cute and happy baby. It was a lot of fun. It was very nice of Nicole's mom Kathy to host the party at her house. It was a big party and she had a real house full.

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Friday, September 19, 2008

Car vs Bike; Bike Lost

Bike vs. Car accident near SJSU

Cycling safety at SJSU

I have been a long standing advocate for the safe use non-motorized vehicles on and around SJSU. I have taken this position not because I am an old man standing on my porch yelling at kids running across my lawn. I have taken this position because I have seen far too many people hurt and am aware of the risks involved to both cyclists and pedestrians in an accident. We need to remember that most of the folks we see riding bicycles on our campus also ride them on the streets around our campus.

I shot this photo using my camera phone one block north of campus.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The history of the whine and dine rides

Tyler and I

The Whine and Dine Story

Yesterday, as I posted before, was the last whine and dine regular season ride of 2008. What is a whine and dine ride, here is the whine and dine story:

[Click Here to Read the Story]

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Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Last regular season WnD ride

David Adler on Rynolds

Another whine and dine season is history

Tonight was the last regular season ride for 2008. it is sad for me as I have really enjoyed this season. Each season is different and there will be folks who were regulars this season who we will not see again, it happens every year. It has been a great year one of the best. The group brought a cake for me today and wished me happy birthday. It was wonderful!

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Monday, September 15, 2008

Birthday

Help Desk Birthday Cake

53 today

The Help Desk staff threw a nice party at lunch with a nice cake. Sue and I are going out tonight. I got lots of nice e-mails and calls. A nice day.

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Sunday, September 14, 2008

Another bike club newsletter

October 2008 ACTC newsletter

The October ACTC BBB Newsletter

Here is the October issue of the Black and Blue Bottom, the Almaden Cycle Touring Club newsletter, here in PDF format:

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Palin is not ready

This is not American Idol

Bob Herbert of the New York Times has this great editorial about the candidacy of Sarah Palin in the office that is a heart beat away from the presidency. The key problem is not her politics. As Herbert said:

Ms. Palin’s problem is not that she was mayor of a small town or has only been in the Alaska governor’s office a short while. Her problem (and now ours) is that she is not well versed on the critical matters confronting the country at one of the most crucial turning points in its history.

As Herbert said, "Ms. Palin may be a perfectly competent and reasonably intelligent woman (however troubling her views on evolution and global warming may be), but she is not ready to be vice president."

Update, New York Times Editorial, "If the choice (by McCain) was, as we suspect, a tactical move, then it was shockingly irresponsible."

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Celebrating a Whine and Dine wedding

Rosa and John Morgan

[Click here to see more photos]

Celebrating a Whine and Dine Wedding

Tuesday night we celebrated the recent wedding of John and Rosa. They are the first whine and dine regulars to marry who actually met on the whine and dine ride.

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Monday, September 08, 2008

Tehachapi Friday Afternoon

BNSF train exiting tunnel three

The joy of train chasing

One of my greatest pleasures is chasing and photographing trains in this mountain pass. This is just another Friday afternoon on that really cool place called Tehachapi!

[Click here to see more phots on Flickr]

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Friday, September 05, 2008

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Tuesday is whine and dine day

Cyclists at Cactus Garden on August 26, 2008

[More photos from Aug. 26, 2008 Here]

Tuesday is Whine and Dine Day

For a few more weeks at least the Tuesday Whine and Dine rides will continue. Even though Sue is not currently riding she has been hiking! We now have hikes as an option at the Tuesday rides. It is great having her be part of the fun.

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Monday, September 01, 2008

Fun at Vic and Annies

Vic at BBQ

Fun with train friends

[Click here to see more photos]

It has been a busy three day weekend. I spent a lot of time working on my class and am pretty happy where that is at right now. In addition on Saturday morning I led a bike ride, that was fun. And, yesterday we went to Vic and Annie's for a barbecue and train slides. They are very nice people and we had a good time. We even talked about Winterail 2009!

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