20 Years Ago Today -- May 4, 1996 -- Day 26

Sat. 96-05-04 - Day 26 - 6° 34' S  136° 28' W  Log: 2,451nm

Awoken for my pre-dawn watch by about a gallon of sea water landing in my bunk, via the leeward portholes after a near breach. Thoroughly unimpressed -- my bedding, which was already dirty and damp, is now wet with salt water. The weather is overcast, humid and the seas are splashy enough that nothing will dry.

Add to that the fact that we ran out of fresh water today. We decided that instead of heaving to on the required starboard tack in order to run the watermaker, we'll try to make it to Atuona without.

I had trouble sleeping in the morning and when I napped in the afternoon -- not at all comfortable with the damp sleeping bag. Totally gave up on the bed sheet.

The bread I baked yesterday turned out OK, although a bit crumbly. Maybe the extra sugar was a bad idea, but it was sooo unsweet the previous time.

With only a couple hundred miles to go, both John and I are very ready to arrive. This overcast, damp weather's really bugging us. Where are the gorgeous days and nights of the NE trades?

Sailing above beam reach now to try to make sure we don't end up downwind of Hiva Oa. Dodger side panel and centre section are up and the foreward part of the cockpit is quite comfortably protected from the spray.

We collected about 35 flying fish off the deck this morning, all but one small -- the other was about 4" long -- the first of that size that we've seen.

Somewhat slow this afternoon after John put a reef in, but we're hauling ass now (0500Z). Moon rose at 0430, full or full + 1 day, and it was very pretty. Quickly retreated behind clouds.

For supper, John heated some chili, served with bread or crackers, peach halves and cookies. I washed up using only salt water and drip dry.

Still reading The Fist of God, and quite enjoying it. 

I've made a few life decisions in the past couple of days. First, I plan to get a PHRF rating and start club racing Covivant [my C&C 32], at least some of the time. Second, I've decided to find a part-time Masters degree program, starting this fall. I'm leaning towards Engineering or Computer Science, although an MBA is also a possibility.

No CDs.

[Ed.: Regarding those decisions:

• I did get a handicap and started racing Covivant in the year after returning home. And we're still doing it 20 years later... same boat, same skipper, though the crew changes over time.
• I did look into graduate degree programs, but failed to find one that interested me enough. I did manage to teach a software engineering course at BC Institute of Technology in the year 2000, though. My real passion was software requirements management, but I couldn't find a course focused on that [where was Grady Booch when I needed him?] Years later, I realized that Agile software development methodologies bring a better model for requirements management than any I'd dealt with in the structured/OO analysis/design world.  I'm now a firm believer in User Stories and a prioritized backlog instead of more formal requirements documents, etc.  As for an MBA, I had a couple of friends who did MBA programs in 2001-2003 period, and my conclusions were that (a) they didn't seem to learn much that I hadn't already learned in 15 years of software industry experience; and (b) neither of them was able to (immediately, anyway) move into a non-engineering role by adding a MBA to their resume.

...end Ed.]

Quick Thoughts After A Week In Montreal

Montreal's a great city.  No doubt.  I haven't spent any significant time here since about 1987, so it's fun and interesting to try to get to know the city a bit again.  Frankly, this time I'm an urbanite, whereas last time I lived on the west island in the same suburban lifestyle that I've had most of my life.

So this time is a bit different.  I'm living in Westmount, and commuting in the subwway (Metro) to work.  No car, which is a different way for me to see the city.  Better to experience the real city, probably, though I found it harder to get my bearings than I do in a car.  Particularly because we travel underground a lot.  But at least it's warm down there.  The city has been pretty cold for my first week here.  The natives are restless, with a much colder than typical winter now having overstayed its welcome.

I've found lots of good food here.  That wasn't a surprise, but a welcome confirmation of my impression of Montreal.  Coming from Vancouver, where food is cheap, diverse and excellent, I could easily have been disappointed, but I'm not.  I do think restaurant food is more expensive here than in Vancouver, but it's based on a pretty small sampling to this point.  The food has been interesting enough that i'm thinking I might start a side-blog with quickie restaurant reviews.  But maybe I'll be too lazy for that.

I really like riding the Metro.  It gets you across town efficiently and and without freezing.  But it's noisy.  Far louder than my normal living environment in Vancouver, and I'm finding that a bit disturbing.  Noise blocking headphones/earbuds help some, but I don't wear them when traveling with my colleages.

I'm really looking forward to discovering the music scene here.  So far I've seen/heard nothing.  I don't even know anyone interesting in Montreal to follow on Twitter, so suggestions would be welcome.  Oh, I guess I have Nikki Yanofsky, but that's about it.  Tomorrow, I hope to get a visit to Steve's Music.  I haven't been to the Montreal store since a trip my high school rock band made in a Volkswagen bus back in the late '70s.  Should be fun to visit.  I'm missing my regular visits to Long & McQuade around the Vancouver area.

Until today I've been pretty positive about the experience, but I found myself kind of down in the dumps at work this morning.  Rather than join the lineup in the cafeteria at lunch, I decided to dash out and ride the Metro north to the end of the line at Cote Vertu.  I didn't know what was there, but figured it was as good a place to explore as any other nearby.  Somehow, fate must have been guiding me, as I walked a block south down Decarie from the station and immediately found Decarie Hot Dog.

This is a place I remember eating lunch with office-mates when I worked in Montreal in 1986/87.  I had only a vague recollection of where it was, and previous searches on Google Maps hadn't turned up the location.  Stumbling on it on a very short lunch break was completely unexpected, and very welcome.  I sat down to the "traditional": 2 hot dogs, all dressed (with lettuce!), fries and a Coke.  There were only a few people in the place when I was in, which surprised me a bit... I recall the place being elbow to elbow, and having to reach over people at the counter to get my food.  It was the same friendly environment, though.  No... they don't want your money up front... please enjoy your food and pay on the way out.  This little diner has been in business since I was an infant, and I can see why... it's highly recommended for a little taste of tradition.

As I walked briskly back to the Metro, I found my mood had lightened considerably, and I proceeded to quite enjoy my afternoon.  Rock on!

Traveling or Voyaging?

Today I'm on a business trip to California.  I actually haven't traveled nearly as much this year as I have for the past few, which is nice.  Anyway, business trips for me are rarely too much fun on their own.  I've written about these issues in a past post.  I always try to find a little time for myself, though, and do something I enjoy.  Interestingly, I find that simpler when I'm not traveling with others, as they generally tend to do the standard dinner and drinks and off to bed routine.

It was a beautiful day in Silicon Valley [as is nearly every day of the year], and this was the view out my hotel window at 7pm, looking south across the whole valley:

Anyway, today I found myself in informal travel mode, and coincidentally wearing a traveler shirt:

Perhaps this was a subliminal message to me, as when I found myself alone at dinnertime I felt the urge to travel further, rather than go visit a guitar store or similar, which is my tendency when I'm here.  This urge to travel, particularly to the ocean, is a common theme when I travel.

So tonight, from San Jose, I drove west to visit one of my favourite spots: Santa Cruz.  It's actually only about 40 miles away, but with the crossing of a mountain range and moving from semi-desert to coastal weather, it seems like another world.  Unfortunately, I didn't factor in that there are fewer hours of sunlight here in Northern California than 1000km to the north in Vancouver.  I left San Jose at 7:30pm, and the sun had already set when I arrived on the coast.

I had visited Santa Cruz a few times in the past.  My first visit in 1995 involved arriving on a sailboat after sailing 7 days nonstop from the mouth of Juan de Fuca Strait at the north tip of Washington state.  Needlesstosay the warm, dry port of Santa Cruz left an indelible positive impression on me.  On that visit, I had a chance to walk around various parts of town, as the harbour is pretty central.

And I have stolen a few quick evening visits over there when in San Jose on business, including at least one very enjoyable evening with a variety of business associates.  I had never visited the Lighthouse Field State Park area, southwest of the town pier.  So that was my initial objective for this evening, and it didn't disappoint.  Although the sun was down, the twilight colours were pretty, and the silhouettes of windblown pine trees gave the entire scene a poetry I wasn't expecting.

I thoroughly enjoyed walking around the area, observing the slow swell and occasional surf breaking on the sandy shore, the undulating kelp beds, and my favourite brown pelicans gliding effortlessly above the waves.

I even put off dinner in order enjoy as much of this lovely environment as I could take in.  I found myself cursing the fact that I had not brought a good camera with me.  I took quite a few pictures on my iPhone 4, but they tend to be pretty poor, paricularly in lower light.  I think they've captured the moment, though.

As I left the area, I drove a bit further up the coast, and then decided I've always wanted to see Halfmoon Bay, so why not carry on the adventure a bit further.  Of course the evening was getting pretty dark by this point, and Halfmoon Bay was well over 40 miles north of Santa Cruz.  But once beside the great ocean, I found myself reluctant to pull away so quickly.  So off I set, into the relative unknown.  I had actually driven this section of road once before on a Saturday off during a business trip.  Cruising up the dim strip of pavement was just familiar enough to be enjoyable.  This section of Highway 1 isn't overly twisty, so it was quite good driving despite the hour.  And of course I had lucked into a clear day on the coast... it's often foggy along this strip.

As I drove up the highway, I found myself musing about the difference between traveling and voyaging.  To me, a voyage involves discovery and new experiences.  As a business traveler, I have long abandoned that sort of feeling when it comes to basic business travel.  I equate travel with sitting in airports, sitting on planes, sitting in meeting rooms... lots of sitting.  But I do often find tastes of voyaging wherever I go, if I can just manage a few hours to explore.  Sometimes, like tonight, it's a solo jaunt up some unfamiliar coast in a rental car.  I've done it from Boston up past Salem, and from Tampa, Florida out to see Cape Canaveral.  Or a crazy drive across Europe last September when I had a few days free between meetings and tore from Genoa, Italy up to Stockholm, Sweden... and then back at the end of the week.

But equally fascinating have been the more urban voyages.  The narrow alleyways of old Genoa.  The cobblestone streets of Copenhagen.  Discovering pubs with good mates in Soho... both London and Manhattan.

Interestingly, my voyage tonight included arriving at Half Moon Bay to find that I was unable to locate the harbour I saw earlier from the air, when looking in the dark on the ground.  Perhaps a failure to achieve one of today's objectives, but also an opportunity to bring myself there again, perhaps in another context.  And in daylight.

If you find yourself traveling... have a little look to see if you can locate the voyage in your travels.  It makes for a more fulfilling trip.

Cheers

Dave

From Beyond the Blogosphere

OK, well finally I return from wherever I really was for the past 6 months or more.  Pretty sad, really, that I couldn't get my act together for a blog post.  I have remained relatively active (for me) on Twitter, but this seemed more than I could manage for some reason.

Nevertheless, here I am again.  I'll keep this post to a quick update on everything, and hopefully follow up with more detailed discussion of a few specific subjects soon.

My Music

In brief, I've recorded virtually nothing in the past year.  The major renovation of our house was completed at the end of the summer 2011, and I should have been able to take over the new music room with gusto.  I kind of did that, but without getting around to recording in it.  That said, there's lots of music going on, whether it be noodling around on whatever guitar is handy, or getting together with friends for informal musical exchanges on a near-weekly basis.

I think I now have the setup I need to record all the instruments in the arsenal, and it's time to sit down and do just that.  There's always something new flowing from my fingers, though taming it to the point of a decent recording is more challenging.  I've actually been writing some lyrics in the past 6 months, which is almost a first for me.

I am significantly influenced (encouraged) by the musical interactions with my friends who come by weekly to share musical ideas.  Whether it's an attempt on a cover tune of some sort, or exploring originals from the guys, it's always interesting and pushes and pulls me to move forward.  I was sad to see a key member of our posse say goodbye at the end of 2011 and return home to England... his influence is still felt in the room, but sadly his great fingerstyle guitar playing is missed.  We've added a new face as a result, though, which pushes some new influences into play.  Always for me it's a good time when sharing music with others.

My Instruments

As is my nature, and my luck, I tend to find myself with new instruments every now and then.  Although I think of myself primarily as a guitarist, I'm by no means particular about it.  I welcome any instrument into my home.  And we have a couple of weird ones, which I suppose I should discuss at some point in the future.

Since last summer, there are a few new items of note.  For the most part, I tend towards quite affordable instruments (quantity over quality, perhaps):

• 1/2-scale Applause AA12 (by Ovation) steel string guitar
• Korg O1/Wfd Synthesizer (early 90's synth... quite used)
• Behringer Ultratone K1800FX Keyboard Amplifier
• Johnson JB110 5-string Banjo
• 10-string Electric Guitar (shown at right)

My Consumption of Music

The best concert I've seen in a long while was Joe Bonamassa, who I managed to see twice last December.  I drove to Seattle for the first show with two buddies, and had a really great guys evening out road trip.  Seats were way up high and off to one side of the auditorium, but the sound was great after the first few songs.  Two nights later, I saw Joe again with my wife, sitting in row 6 at the Orpheum theater in Vancouver.  The show was definitely better from close up, but the sound was pretty similar in both settings, and the sets were virtually identical.  I was sad not to see my favourite of his songs, though: Stop!  Ah, well, we can't have everything.

I have purchased a few albums over the past months (as usual), and this latest batch includes:

• Dream Theater -- A Dramatic Turn of Events **** [out of 5*... I think only Kinda Blue gets that score]
• Van Halen -- A Different Kind of Truth ***1/2
• Steve Lukather -- All's Well that Ends Well ***1/2
• Garrett -- Seventh Star ***1/2
• Five Alarm Funk -- Anything is Possible **1/2
• Corea, Clarke & White -- Return to Forever IV ****
• Chickenfoot -- Chickenfoot III ***
• Barry Greenfield -- The Early Years (1973 & 1975) [too dated to fairly rate: has some good material]
• Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa -- Don't Explain ****
• Marcus Miller -- Marcus ***1/2

You can see that most of these have been pretty solid.  The one I have liked the most, and played a LOT is the Dream Theater album.  I wasn't previously a fan, but have found this to be enduringly enjoyable.

My Reading

In the area of music, I have enjoyed the following over the past months:

• When Giants Walked the Earth (Led Zeppelin) -- Mick Wall ****
• Guitar Boy -- M. J. Auch ***
• Guitar -- Tim Brookes *****

I also have enjoyed a number of other books, though I often find business inspiration from the music industry stories as well.  On the business side:

• What EveryBODY is Saying -- Joe Navarro, Marvin Karlins [Recently started as Audio book. Narrator is quite poor]
• Taking People With You -- David Novak ****
• The Steve Jobs Way (iLeadership) -- Jay Elliot, William L. Simon
• In the Plex (the Google Story) -- Steven Levy ****
• iWoz -- Steve Wozniak, Gina Smith ****

Novels:

• Freedom (TM) -- Daniel Suarez *****
• Locked On -- Tom Clancy, Mark Greaney ***1/2
• Against All Enemies -- Tom Clancy, Peter Telep ****

Well, as usual it's past bedtime, so off I go.  Thanks for reading.  Let me know what you're reading or listening to that i should have a look at.

Cheers

Dave

Twitter Philosophy

Another mid-flight iPhone blog post. Can't work because the reclined seat in front of me prevents opening my laptop.

Today, I'll present my thoughts on how I use Twitter. I think there are a lot of people who briefly pass through the Twitterverse and then keep on going. They don't see value for themselves in that world. And I can't say I blame them. The value of Twitter wasn't immediately obvious to me either.

I was originally turned on to Twitter by @shiva, a co-worker who had been twittering for awhile, and I figured the lack of immediately obvious uses for it shouldn't deter me too quickly. In the end, I have found it to be a great source of information, entertainment and sometimes even inspiration.

Now first off, I'm not a prolific tweeter. In fact, for a long time I was almost entirely a listener, and frankly I suspect that's where most of the value comes for me. The following list summarizes my philosophy of Twitter use:

• I follow only those I think will be interesting for some reason. I won't automatically follow you back if you follow me, but I will check you out and follow back if you seem even vaguely of interest to me. I might then unfollow you in a week or two if I conclude that I'm not enjoying your feed. 
• I don't expect or want a follow-back when I follow you. If you think I'd be interesting to follow, that's great and I welcome you. 
  
  
• I mostly follow news sources and those with some strong relationship to music.
  
  
• I have a high level bio summary on my Twitter profile, and I think that helps others find me with directed follows that might actually interest me, so I think it's probably a good thing. 

I should point out that as Twitter users, we have to expect not to read everything, but just a subset of the info flowing past. This was a bit weird for me at first -- that is, it's not like reading email, but more like picking up the paper and glancing through it, and maybe not reading the paper every day.

I personally find it hard to check my Twitter feed during the day. I'm very busy, but truly enjoy checking it during down time. As such, I enjoy following people from around the globe to get a current perspective regardless of the time of day.

Most people start on Twitter following celebrities. A few are actually interesting, though many aren't. I'd suggest using the search to see if you can find people with similar interests to yours, located in your town, etc.

Cheers
Dave