Tuesday, August 30, 2005

lots of catching up to do

Has it really been a week since I posted something? Oy vey, I've been busy. For the past two days at work I've been in a conference room with two Microsoft engineers reviewing our Active Directory environment. It was equal parts analysis, education, and quiz, and by the end of yesterday I felt like my head had been squeezed in a vise. Today wasn't as bad, as I rounded up a few other people from our office to answer questions. Now we have to fix the things they identified as broken or misconfigured, and wait for their final report in a few weeks.

On Sunday I rode the marshals' pre-ride for the NYC Century. I skipped the Bronx part of the route but still put 86 miles on the bike. The ride route is different from last year, as it goes out to the Rockaways for the first time that I know of. Despite some rain at the beginning and end of the ride I really enjoyed the course and I'm excited about riding it again on Sept. 11. I'm a little apprehensive about being a marshal but I think I can handle it. The only part that really worries me is whether I'll be able to finish the entire 100-mile course in 12 hours. Marshals are supposed to take it easy and ride slowly, and if I have to stop too many times or ride too slowly, I'll run the risk of not getting back to the Central Park start/finish line by 6 PM. But my worst century time was 13 hours, and that was three years ago when I wasn't as fit as I am now. In 2003 I managed the century in just under 11 hours, so I should be able to do the ride this year in 12 hours.

Finally, the cell phone saga is over. Last Wednesday I decided to take the plunge again and I bought another Nokia 6620 from eBay, from a vendor in Queens. The phone arrived on Friday evening and doesn't seem to have any problems with it. I bought a Bluetooth adapter yesterday and last night I was happily synching information between my phone and my home PC. My only real complaint is that the built-in ringtones suck ass. I'm using the "desk phone" ringtone right now because there isn't a decent musical one in there. Since the phone doesn't appear to accept MP3 ringtones, I'll either have to buy one (which I hate, as they cost more than songs on iTunes) or figure out how to make one on my computer. But otherwise, it's great. Now I can post my cameraphone photos to my blog again, something I haven't been able to do since I got rid of the Treo 600 in January.

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