In the future, I will be releasing new software that will make all of this easier (including commenting) but I’m still a little ways away from achieving this goal (which is also why I haven’t been posting much on this site).

So it is that time again where the winter snow is melting, the days are growing longer, and the warm weather yields more outdoor adventuring (amongst other opportunities). In order to kick off the new season, we’re throwing a Memorial Day party and you’re invited!

Details

• Date: May 28th (Saturday).
• Time: 3pm to whenever.
• Location: Our place.
• Food: Build-it-yourself style of tacos, burritos, and other fixings.
• Drink: We will have an assortment of some of the best micro-brews including some tasty ales from Trinity Brewing Company, Bristol Brewery, and Tommyknocker to name a few.
• Festivities: Feisty conversation, possible live music, board/card games, movies, dog chases (as he’s a little too friendly with our guests), and anything else that comes to mind.

R.S.V.P.

Kate and I need a head count of who can make it to the party so we have enough food and drink for everyone. Feel free to leave a comment to this post or email us if you can make it. Please make sure to respond no later than May 20th (Friday).

See you at the party!

© RUSH

For the RUSH fans out there, I’m getting Beyond the Lighted Stage on Blu-Ray via Netflix tomorrow. We’re hosting a movie night for those interested. Here are the details:

• Location: Our House
• Date: August 23rd, 2010 (Monday)
• Time: 7:30pm (curtains close and lights dim - don’t be late)
• Capacity - First five to notify me are in.

Drinks and popcorn provided. Hope you can make it. Oh, and it will be loud!

Overview

10,000 feet that is (well, ok, 9,954 to be exact but close enough) . This Saturday, Kate and I are riding out to Fairplay, CO to have breakfast and get a little early morning riding on the motorcycle through some beautiful country. If lucky, we might even get to see some hot air balloons in the sky just past Wilkerson’s Pass.

Map

Details

• Date: 2010-08-21 (Saturday)
• Time: 6:30am (departure time). For the grumbling sleepy heads - just think of the quiet roads and golden morning light you’ll be riding in. Best time to out riding.
• Location: We’ll depart from our house but if there is a central location that works for everyone involved then that works too.

If interested, drop a line. Hope to see you on the road!

Overview

Craig and Heather are throwing an End of Summer Celebration this September. In other words, just a good excuse to play in the woods with good food, drink, and friends. Festivities include:

• Drinking (bring whatever you like)
• Eating (bring food, BBQ equipment, whatever you can dream up)
• Jam Sessions (if you can play, bring your instrument).
• Water Sports (bring whatever you like including your swim suit, kayak, boats, water skis, etc.)
• Stargazing (bring telescopes or any other equipment that might help).

Kate and I are planning pack the bike up with camp gear and other goodies in order set up camp that Friday night. We might even host some riding events for those who want to get in some scenic riding in the surrounding area.

Details

If you are interested in joining in on the fun, here are the details:

• When: September 10-12, 2010 (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday).
• Where: Meadow Ridge camp ground near Rampart Reservoir.
• Lodging: Bring a tent or just show up for any of the days (but you’re lame if you don’t camp out ;-).

Registration

If you are interested in joining in on the fun please R.S.V.P. by this Friday (8-13). You have until midnight. I apologize for the short notice but the camp ground needs to be reserved a.s.a.p.

Overview

I recently tweeted about heading back to Torrey, Utah to ride for three days with fellow BMW riders this September. It has been five years since I last rode in Torrey with a great group of experienced and well-traveled riders. I’ll be looking to meet up with Brant - an old friend and fellow rider (arriving from the south). Actually, its due to Brant’s influence that I got into riding and if I didn’t have to code as much as I do, I would spend all my days traveling every scenic road this world has to offer (paved or not)!

Details

Anyway, if you are interested in joining in on the fun, here are the details:

• When: September 24-26, 2010 (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). Departure is at 8am at either my place or some central location that works for everyone involved.
• Where: Torrey, Utah
• Lodging: The options are many. I prefer to camp, so will be looking to book a camp site at the Wonderland Resort RV Park (435-425-3775, Junction of Highways 12 & 24). I’ve stayed there several times. Great place. They have shower facilities if you need them.

Route

The whole point of Torrey (as with any trip) is not the destination but the routes to get there and back. Here is a rough idea what I’m thinking about taking to get there. I’ve traveled many of these roads, so if you haven’t experienced these roads yet, you’re in for a real treat:

(click to view)

Registration

If you are interested in joining and are based in the Front Range area (Boulder, Denver, Colorado Springs, etc) let me know and I’d be happy have you along. The more the merrier! It does help if you are on a BMW bike but any type of rider is welcome as long as you are comfortable traveling 500+ mile days.

Resources

More news can be found on the discussion boards.

Date/Time

To be determined (but sooner rather than later).

Main Destination

5856 County Road HH.5
Fowler, CO 81039

Trip Map

It will be 200 mile round trip (roughly). No, its not mountainous, but it will be a good primer for a new season of riding. Feel free to leave a comment here or email me directly if you are interested. Hope to see you on the road!

Another year has passed and once again we are throwing another Memorial Day party!

Details

• Date: May 29th (Saturday).
• Time: 3pm to whenever.
• Location: Our place.
• Food: We will be cooking up a culinary feast of some sort. If you follow Kate and I at Local Dish then you know we take food seriously.
• Drink: We will have an assortment of some of the best micro-brews including some tasty ales from Trinity Brewing Company, Bristol Brewery, and Tommyknocker to name a few.
• Festivities: There is the good company, great food, and drink, of course. If the weather cooperates, we should be able to make use of the balcony. As the evening rolls on we can always do a movie (as many know how much we love a good movie). Finally, there are plenty of good games to be played (digital and non-digital).
• Lodging: For out-of-towners (if any) we have space at our place to put you up. Otherwise, there are plenty of great accommodations nearby.

Registration

Kate and I need a head count of who can make it to the party so we have enough food and drink for everyone. Feel free to leave a comment to this post or email me if you can make it.

Thanks and we hope to see you at the party!

© Trinity Brewing Company

Today is the last day working for my current client. Its been an interesting experience and I plan to write more about the banking industry soon but, for now, I’m looking forward to moving on and getting back to doing what I really enjoy, which is working with the Ruby language.

So where am I headed? Well, I’ve been hired, full time, to work at Pactimo - a high-end bicycling apparel shop. All of their software is written in Ruby using the Rails web framework. Development will be on the MacOS and Linux systems. As for me, I’ve been bestowed the title of “Director of Software Development”. In essence, I AM the software team. Yeah, yeah, I know. Oooh, fancy title. No, not really. It means that I’m looking at some long days and sleepless nights for a while but…for those who know me…I wouldn’t have it any other way. Its an awesome opportunity and I’m honored to take the helm.

I’ll have more to say about Pactimo in the future, for sure. As for today, I just want to mention that some of the crew and I will be hanging out for happy hour (5pm) at the following location to celebrate. Swing by, if you are around:

Trinity Brewing Company
1466 Garden of the Gods
Colorado Springs, CO 80907

To new beginnings!

Fall is probably my favorite season of the year. The change of colors, the piles of leaves, pulling the snowboard out of hibernation, etc. It’s also the celebration of several personal holidays as well as kicking off an entire end-of-year holiday season starting with Halloween.

This year Halloween falls on a Saturday and we are throwing a Zombie Party! Here are the details:

• Location: Our House (Kate and Brooke)
• Date: October 31st (Saturday)
• Time: 7pm to whenever
• Beverages: A special punch - drink at your own risk. Feel free to BYOB as well.
• Food: Various snacks that, while quite tasty, are sure to make your stomach churn while looking at them.
• Activities - We’ll have games, some prizes perhaps, and two movies playing in the background. We’re thinking “Shaun of the Dead” on the LoFi while “28 Days Later” plays in the HiFi theatre.

The only real requirement is that you arrive to the party as a zombie. The scarier the better. Kate has made sure to send out an evite to the event but this is reminder and a notice to some who might not have gotten the evite to come join us. Leave a comment here or email me directly.

It’s going to be one hell of a good time. Hope you can make it!

Today is the Eco Festival which, for Kate and I at Local Dish, is the final culmination of the work we have been putting into Local Food Week. It has been a lot of effort with software development, marketing, news announcements, sponsorship, gathering of recipe ingredients, contestant judging, etc. All worth it, of course, now that we can announce the winners of the recipe contest.

So if you are in the city today and have time to swing by Rock Ledge Ranch (at the base of Garden of the Gods), please do. Kate and I will be on stage between 12pm-1pm announcing the recipe contest winners as well as cooking and providing free samples of the two top recipes (because the results were very close). Just look for us, wearing these shirts:

See you at the Eco Festival today!

We named him, “Ein”, after the data dog of the same name from the Cowboy Bebob series (one of my favorite anime). Hey, it all relates to tech in one form or another. He’s learning fast and already can tackle the stairs with those short legs. The bathroom training…well…that’s going to take some time still.

© Brian Chu

We are hosting a BBQ this upcoming Memorial Day Weekend and you are invited.

Drop by for some much needed fun, sun and barbecued food any time between 2 p.m. until whenever on May 23rd. We’ll provide delicious skewered meats and a few sides. A growler or two from Trinity might be on hand as well, although feel free to BYOB. Music, company, card/video/board games upon request. Please RSVP by May 15 by emailing me directly or commenting to this post.

See you there!

For those of you who have been following along, I have talked about our Elopement and plans for a Wedding Party…well, I finally completed work on a little Ruby on Rails site hosted by Heroku. The site is live and running now. So check out the site, learn more about what is happening, and R.S.V.P. today!

It’s going to be a fun time so don’t let this pass you by.

(click to view)

The first clue that this e-mail is fake is that the sending address has “Inc” in the “support@PayPal.Inc.com” e-mail address. Secondly, if you choose to click on the “dispute transaction” link from the e-mail, you’ll see an address like this in your browser:

http://81.21.68.248/www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr=cmd=p/index.php

Which yields the following web site:

There are many things wrong with the site such as funky characters showing up, etc. Lets hope that most people will not fall prey to this Trojan horse attack. Here is the official Paypal link to report phishing attacks like this one.

For those of you joining us for our wedding party, we have started mailing out our “Save the Date” cards and I suspect that most of you will be getting these in the mail by the end of the week. Hopefully, everyone can make it as we would love to see everyone come out. The party is going to hosted at our house with catered food and an assortment of things to drink. I am currently working on a Ruby on Rails site that will allow you all to R.S.V.P. to the party (more details on that in a future post). Of course, you can comment to this post here if you like as well.

Additional party details about our elopement and wedding plans can be found on the Elopement page.

Mark your calendar and stay tuned for further updates!

Yep, Kate and I have decided to elope. We are still reserving September 6th of this year for the grand ring exchange but it will just be the two of us and…well…the motorcycle, of course!

Despite this change of events, we are still having a party. It will be held at our place, in the Springs, which should make it easier on all of you. I admit that I had grand schemes of holding the event in a remote location in the mountains but I know that not everyone shares my love of the road so we believe this is best for everyone involved. Here are the details:

• Date: September 27th, 2008
• Time: All day but food will most likely be served in the afternoon.
• Location: Our Place (if you don’t know where it is by now then e-mail me and I’ll set you straight)

Kate has written up additional details on the Elopement page. If you have questions, leave comments here or just contact me directly. Otherwise, see you on September 27th!

While attending EclipseCon 2008 this week a discussion came up about the various video and audio podcasts that people subscribe to. Here are the syndicated feeds of my favorite podcasts in case anyone wants to add more to their repertoire:

• Freelance Radio - News and information related to freelancing. I have written about Freelance Radio before.
• Grape Radio - For those who love wine.
• Play Digital - Short and entertaining video podcast for gamers.
• 1UP - A video podcast that usually reviews three games in 30 minutes.
• TWIP - A podcast and video feed dedicated to learning more about photography. I have written about TWIP before.
• Blogging Pro - News and information related to WordPress.
• The Java Posse - A panel that discusses Java news each week (sometimes more). If you are a Java developer, this is one feed you don’t want to miss out on.
• Software Engineering Radio - Excellent podcast discussing design patterns, programming languages, etc. There have also been some very interesting interviews with Dave Thomas (founder of OTI), Erich Gamma, and other former OTIers.
• Podcasting Underground - Tips, tricks, equipment suggestions, etc. for podcasting.
• Hansel Minutes - Another technology podcast. Howerver, as of late, it has been talking more about Microsoft technology.
• Railscast - Video podcasts demonstrating Ruby on Rails code.
• Rails Envy - Another Ruby on Rails podcast.
• Linux Reality - Discusses tips and tricks related to Linux as well as learning about and setting up new software on the Linux platform.
• The Mac Attack - MacOS news and info.
• TWiT - Reviews technology news for the week with a random panel of people hosted by Leo Laporte.
• MacBreak Weekly - Reviews Apple news with a radom panel of people hosted by Leo Laporte.
• GigaVox Media - Random technological news and information hosted by some very bright minds. This is one feed you don’t want to miss out on.
• DL.TV - Technology news and review. Usually involving gadgets and gear.
• Unwired - Another tech review, usually around gadgets and gear.
• NPR (Fresh Air) - Random intimate interviews with actors, artists, singers, writers, etc.
• NPR (It’s All Politics) - Two guys discussing and analyzing the current state of American politics.
• NPR (Intelligence Squared) - Philosophical debates, sometimes on long tail issues.
• Political Lunch - A short (usually 5 mins) video review of daily American political news.
• Discus - An entertaining review of obscure movies (usually).
• Astronomy Cast - Teaches about the science related to astronomy and all things that make up our universe.

• An Inconvenient Truth - Hopefully, by now, you have watched the DVD and seen what Al Gore has been up to (ultimately winning him a Nobel Peace Prize). Otherwise, add it to your rental queue, its worth seeing.
• The Story of Stuff - A 20 minute video that will cause you to think about (or remind you of) the side effects of producing consumer goods.
• Buy CFLs:
  WPvideo 1.10

(click to buy)

Dr. Moira Gunn recently interviewed John Kao about his book “Innovation Nation: How America Is Losing Its Innovation Edge, Why It Matters, and What We Can Do to Get It Back”. Good discussion topics brought up during the course of the interview:

• American Youth - They seem to have lost the meaning of “hard work” and feel they are entitled to everything.
• Melting Pot - America is no longer being perceived as a the melting pot of ideas, cultures, foreign influence etc.
• Talent Stickiness - Top talent is no longer staying but moving elsewhere.
• Legal Madness - The country is overrun by lawyers.

I recommend listing to the podcast (32:36 minutes) as found on the IT Conversations network. The book is probably worth checking out as well.

• What: A Pre-New Year’s Eve Poker Tournament
• When: Saturday, December 29 at 7 p.m.
• Where: Brooke and Kate’s Place

Bring your poker face to this Texas Hold ‘Em tourney and enjoy some homemade pizza. Some beverages will be provided but you might want to bring something tasty to sip as well. Buy in with $10, and 2nd and 3rd place are in the money with the winner taking most. Fun prizes will also be awarded to those all-in-and-all-out early, who can then take advantage of the TV for movies and/or video games — or a second-round tourney.

RVSP by commenting below or via e-mail by December 27 (Thursday).

Not familiar with Texas Hold ‘Em? Check out these handy links:

• Texas Hold ‘Em Set up and Play
• Video instructions
• How to Deal and Play Texas Hold ‘Em

(click to view)

Kate and I have put the finishing touches on a DVD that chronicles the adventures of the past year that we hope close friends and family will enjoy. Much of the content of the DVD can already be viewed within the Adventures category on this site but the DVD supports much higher resolution and comes complete with a stereo soundtrack.

We had a lot of fun putting together this DVD and hope you will enjoy watching it. If anyone has issues with the disk or we have forgotten someone, let us know. All disks should be arriving in the mail by end of week. Otherwise, feel free to comment below.

• Unwired - Mostly about gear and gadgets. Hosted by Wil Harris who is also driving force behind the Channel Flip network.
• Discus - A movie review site that is always entertaining to watch. Make sure to watch for the piggy-piggy-snack-snack segment at the end.
• Play:Digital - A great way to get quick highlights about current games on multiple platforms. One of my favorite sources of game news now.

Josh and Suzanne are having a house warming party this coming weekend for those who would like to attend. Here are the details:

• Date: August 18th, 2007 (Saturday).
• Time: 2pm, food will be ready around 4pm.
• Location: Details can be found here.
• Food & Beverage: There will be chicken, brauts, cole slaw, chips and dip, pasta salad, beans, watermellon, various beverages, etc. Feel free to bring what you want as well.

Be prepared to get wet as there will be some water games in the pool. Hope you can make it, if you are in the Phoenix area, that is.

© Brian Chu

Kate and I are hosting a BBQ this coming weekend and you are invited! Be prepared to eat, drink, and enjoy the cool summer weather (hopefully it holds up). This event also serves as kind of send off party as I will be traveling to WordCamp in eight days (getting excited).

Here are the details:

• Date: 2007-7-14 (Saturday).
• Time: 12pm, food will be ready at 12:30pm.
• Location: Address info and map details will be e-mailed to those who comment to this post.
• Food & Beverage: We will be serving up a gourmet chicken sandwich with pasta salad, chips, cake, etc. Various forms of liquid included as well.

Feel to bring extra food and/or beverages if you like but you are definitely not required. Please sign up by leaving a comment to this post and mention how many will be in your party so we can prepare accordingly.

We hope you can make it!