When possible, I try to spend my money in the local economy. For that reason, I decided to try buying my nutritional supplements from a Spanish provider — masmusculo.com — instead of the UK provider I habitually use. (You’d think it’d be cheaper to order in Spain, but it’s not; even including shipping from England to Spain, it’s cheaper to buy in the United Kingdom.) Today, my order arrived… Continue reading →
General
20
Jan 10
Spanish quality
25
Sep 09
Banking Insecurity
Recently, I’ve been unable to use the Banc of America brokerage site. The site logs me out whenever I navigate from one section to the next. I emailed them, and got this response:
We are aware of a recent issue whereby the wallst.com cookie is now required on the Account Overview page. If the cookie is not accepted, you are logged off of the website. The issue appears to be the result of recent changes to the site, and the appropriate technology partners have been engaged. You can correct this issue by going to Safari – Preferences, then press the Security icon. Please press the radio button next to ‘Always’ and press the red button in the upper left corner to close the window.
Oh, the irony. While, on the one hand, Bank of America continually makes doing business with them increasingly cumbersome in the name of ’security’ (e.g. the recent requirement to setup ‘SafePass’), they are now telling me that in order to use their website, I’ve got to configure my own browser as insecurely as possible.
16
Sep 09
A simplified exercise in Socialism.
Obviously not a perfect analogy, but I found it cute nonetheless. A simplified exercise in Socialism, translated from http://tinyurl.com/kl7fuz
14
Aug 09
I hate being part of a crude and insulting sales process.
I recently contacted Bank of America regarding the refinancing of my home. (I’m hoping to take advantage of the relatively low rates currently available.) Refinancing involves speaking with a loan officer. Loan officers generally are compensated, at least in part, through commissions.
13
Aug 09
CapitalOne User Experience
CapitalOne could have emailed me with the following short note:
Due to forthcoming changes in our online banking, please visit the following URL if you access Bill Pay via Quicken: capitalonebank.com/betteronlinebanking . If you don’t do Bill Pay via Quicken, you can safely ignore this email.
I don’t do Bill Pay at CapitalOne via Quicken, and so I could have immediately got on with my day. Instead, CapitalOne chose a process which unnecessarily cost me about five to seven minutes of my time.
20
May 09
Pixmania User Experience (or is it eXpansys?)
I recently placed an order for a camera with Pixmania.es. After a few days I received this email (with my order number edited; so don’t click the link):
Su pedido 9HJ1-6706EDIT fue envíado.
Visita http://www.expansys.es/tracking.aspx?EDIT para más información. Según el transportista elegido, y para tener más información: – contactar directamente con DHL al 902122424 o 915867927 – contactar directamente con SEUR al 972 242 526
Order Processing
eXpansys
+34 933 938 182
mailto:orderstat@expansys.es
http://www.expansys.es
In such a short email, Pixmania have failed on five points:
The email is from Expansys.es, which as far as I can tell, is a completely different company. Presumably they’ve merged or something? This is akin to placing an order with Best Buy, and getting a fulfillment email from Amazon. My first thought was, “Oh no, did I somehow order this thing twice!?!” A short explanation to the customer could prevent a lot of confusion.
The only information available in the tracking link, is a note to say that the product shipped and that they’ve sent me this email.
And this is uniquely amazing: The text beginning with “Según el transportista elegido…” means this: “Depending on the courier company we choose, please call either DHL or SEUR to get more information about the status of your order.” Yes, you read that correctly. They either don’t know which courier they’ve chosen, or just don’t want to tell me.
Without a tracking number, I’m not going to get very far calling either DHL or SEUR. Both this email and the Expansys website only display the Expansys order number.
Finally, when calling the “Order Processing” telephone number +34 933 938 182, I’m told that “This telephone number is unavailable.”
You would think that somebody at Pixmania (or Expansys?) responsible for user experience would have, just once, placed an order at their own site, and observed what happens.
11
Mar 09
Timely quotes from Thomas Jefferson
Timely quotes from Thomas Jefferson:
“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”
“It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes: A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.”
“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”
“My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.”
“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”
2
Sep 08
Problems with Vodafone Spain
Version en Español (English version follows)
Problemas con Vodafone, España
Llevo siendo cliente de Vodafone, España desde hace siete años. Durante los ultimos cuatro años, he tenido contratadola tarifa plana de 39 Euro/mes data plan, que me daba conectividad al internet desde mi teléfono.
En Marzo del 2008, recibi un SMS de Vodafone donde comunicaban: “la modificación de su plan de datos ha sido realizada con éxito”, sin embargo, nunca habia pedido ningún cambio a mi contrato.
Llamé a Vodafone, y mirando mis facturas, confirmaron que habían cometido un error, e immediatamente cambiarían la configuración al plan original que ya tenía antes. (Hay que tener en cuenta también, que cuando se llama a Vodafone, España, hay una conexión, via a VoIP con la peor calidad que se pueda imaginar, a un centro de llamadas en Argentina. Es torturoso intentar explicar el problema cuando apenas se oye nada.)
Vodafone, intentando reestablecer el plan anterior, no lo encontraban y no sabían como se llamaba. Uno podría imaginar que tienen almacenado un historial de los servicios de cada cliente, pero no. No sabían el plan que yo tenía. El plan mas usado se llama Navega y Habla donde te dan un número y una tarjeta de datos para el ordenador. Insistían en que esa era el plan y no podían entender que yo quería datos en mi teléfono y no el ordenador.
Estuve llamando durante una semana, intentando activar mi plan de datos anterior y finalmente lo hicieron.
Cuando llego la factura cobrada en Mayo, me doy cuenta que Vodafone me ha cobrado 400 Euro (mi consumo medio por mes es 60 Euro.)
Immediatamente llamé a Vodafone para que corrigiesen el error. Entonces me dicen que no tienen acceso a mi factura y que tengo que esperar hasta que reciba la factura por correo antes de llamar y explicarles el problema. Me informan que solo tengo 30 dias para comunicar cualquier queja.
Esperé, y la facturas dejaron de llegar por correo. Llamé de Nuevo para comunicar que no recibia las facturas y me prometieron emitir copias y mandarlas de nuevo añadiendo una nota explicando que aunque los 30 dias habian pasado, tendría derecho a reclamar el cargo en el banco dadas las circunstancias.
Estamos en Septiembre, no he recibido ninguna factura desde entonces. Ahora tengo acceso a las facturas on-line pero solo las dos últimas, no tengo acceso a ninguna antes de Junio 2008.
Vodafone no me permite ninguna reclamación hasta que no tenga la factura. He intentado preguntar en una tienda de Vodafone de mi localidad pero lo único que hacen es hacer la llamada a atención al cliente desde la tienda.
Aquí esta el gráfico de mi consumo sacado de la página de Vodafone. Vodafone no quiere reconocer que hay algo anormal durante el mes de Marzo, aunque reconocieron su error, y no me resuelven mi problema. Siguen insistiendo que necesita la factura.
No se que hacer ahora para solucionar esto. No quiero seguir llamando (no anotan los problemas, asi que como cada vez que llamo hablo con alguien diferente, tengo que contra la historia completa una y otra vez.) Como nada está escrito no hay evidencia de ningún acuerdo, como por ejemplo la promesa de enviar las facturas o el ampliar el plazo de reclamación.
Esto es realmente lo que yo llamo mala atención al consumidor.
26
Aug 08
You are what you eat.
One of our neighbors who works in the Spanish agriculture business was telling us, in passing conversation one day, about the steroidal products that are used nowadays in the produce industry. It was interesting to hear that one of the main uses for such products was the production of crops which simply look good. She explained, for example, how unnatural it turns out to be, that each piece of a given fruit or vegetable happens to grow to precisely the same shape and size as all the others.
Skip ahead a few weeks, and we were reminded of this conversation when we received the first delivery from a new service we’ve subscribed to. A group of local organic farmers have organized themselves into a cooperative, and for about 20 Euros per week, will deliver a large box full of locally grown seasonal fruits and vegetables to your door each Tuesday.
The above photo illustrates how different organically grown, untreated carrots can turn out!
14
Aug 08
An Overview of Personal Investment
Although I’ll probably do a disservice to the topic, I’m going to try to compress a lot of study, experience and opinion into a brief blog article about personal investing. I’m very interested in the subject of investment, and enjoy chatting with others about it. So I decided that, rather than having to always repeat myself, I’d attempt to write down some things I’ve learned over time into a single article I can point people to.
(Disclaimer: The information provided in this site is not financial advice and I am not a financial professional. This is not a recommendation to buy, sell, or trade securities, or to invest in any specific product.)
Why invest?
Albert Einstein pointed to compounding rates of return as the strongest force in the universe. It’s the idea of earning interest on past earned interest, and is the basis of the Rule of 72, which states that 72 divided by the rate of return is the approximate number of years required to double your money.
Two important observations:
Long term investing can dramatically grow the value of money. For any given period required to double your money, subsequent periods of the same number of years will result in your money multiplied by four, 16, 32, etc.
Clearly, the rate of return is important. At five percent, you will have quadrupled your money in about 29 years. At 10 percent, you will have quadrupled it in only 14.
Consider this example of the power of compounding returns:
A person investing $250 per month, beginning at age 20, and earning 8% per year, will, having invested a total of $120,000, have accrued nearly $900,000 by age 60. If the same person started saving just five years later, at age 25, the accrued savings would be $573,000.
Think about that—the first 35 years contributed to $573,000 and the final 5 years almost $325,000! Clearly, for those interested in investing, it’s important to start early.
12
Jan 08
It had to be done.
To celebrate the new BJJ brown belt, as well as a couple other things, (and in part due to the breakdown of our 10-year-old Honda), I decided it was about time to splurge on a lifelong dream I’ve had to own a Jeep Wrangler, in particular the new Jeep Wrangler 4-Door Unlimited.
Given that I normally get around town on a Honda Scooter, we realized that our usage of the car was about 99% off-road, on our weekend outings to the mountains. The need Jeep’s going to allow us to get to some of the places we couldn’t before, and it’s gonna be a heck of a lot fun!
We took it for its first spin today, going up and down the muddy dirt roads around Jubrique. Man this thing can get around! I’m wondering how long it’ll be before I’m comfortable enough to try some of the stuff you see on YouTube!
10
Jan 08
Brown Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
December 14, 2007 was a really big day for me, as I was awarded the brown belt by my brazilian jiu-jitsu teacher, Edson Jorge (of Gracie-Barra). There’s only five belts in BJJ — white, blue, purple, brown and black — so I’m only one step away from the BIG ONE. By no means do I feel like a brown belt (especially since I seem to sometimes still forget some of the very basics), so it’s going to take some getting used to I guess! In theory the brown belt represents the bridge between purple and black, where the student needs to focus on leading and teaching, so those’ll be my objectives this coming year.
On the same day I got mine, my long-time training buddy Mike Rios also got his brown belt. So all in all, it was a very special day!
30
Jul 07
Rinky the Cat
Last night I was out on a bike ride, from Monda to Tolox. About 8:30 PM, I was on my way back, and had just turned the corner at junction to Guaro. My eye caught what looked like a mouse on the side of the road. As I approach, I saw it was a little abandoned kitten.
I hopped off the bike, but it ran off the road, and into a pile of large rocks. It was obviously pretty scared.
After waiting 10 minutes, I decided to continue on.
13
Jul 07
American Customer Service
The United States offers a lot of conveniences and advancements with respect to (certain parts of) Europe, but I find the level of automation and corporate cost reduction a bit disturbing. Most calls to American customer support lines recently are a bit too consistent with my call yesterday to Earthlink:
29
Jun 07
Oakley Half Jacket Sunglasses Nightmare
On March 26, 2007, I ordered a pair of Oakley Half Jacket sunglasses from the UK-based Chain Reaction Cycles, who claim to be “Europe’s Largest Online Bike Shop.” At almost $180, this purchase represented the most I’ve ever invested in sunglasses, but I’d always understood that Oakley made top-quality sports sunglasses, and, hey, if they’re good enough for Lance Armstrong in the Tour de France, they should be good enough for my jaunts around the hills of Marbella.
A bit less than three weeks later, having heard nothing, I emailed Chain Reaction about the status, and received an “Ooops, sorry about that. They’ll be leaving today.” reply. Not a good start.
27
Jun 07
Personal Productivity Revisited
Recently getting access to the alpha version of OmniFocus (which, by the way, is going to be the ultimate GTD application) provided a good opportunity to re-assess my personal productivity.
Over the past months, without being able to pinpoint a precise cause, I’d begun to sense myself becoming less and less productive. Although somehow there never seemed to be enough time in the day to get everything done, the actual amount of useful output I’d been producing seemed to diminish.
24
May 07
My working environment…
Since I really enjoy blog articles where people present the tools and equipment supporting their work and play, I thought I’d do the same. We’ll start from the top, and work our way down through the details.
On the beach…
Our office is located on the mediterranean sea, in beautiful Marbella, Spain. It’s a wonderful place to work! (PS: If you happen to be a cream of the crop hacker, looking to work in a cool company in a cool location, please do get in touch!)
Office desk…
I used to sit at the other end of the office, with the sea view, but I was spending half the day walking back and forth to the big room to chat with Alex. All that chatter, in turn, bugged Arto, who likes his quiet focus space. So I then traded desks with Arto, and now sit directly across from Alex, where we can bug each other all day long. (And Arto can now work around the clock in solitary confinement.) Here’s my setup:
- Apple MacBook, sitting on a Griffin iCurve
- Apple 23″ Cinema Display
- Belkin USB hub
- Apple Bluetooth keyboard
- Logitech MX 500 mouse
- iPod Shuffle dock
- Herman Miller Aeron Chair
Backpackin’ it…
My buddy Narayan and I share a common affliction, we’re bag freaks, and always have been. We just can’t seem to control that urge to own a bag for every possible occasion. During an instant message therapy session one time, Narayan pondered whether the secret to long-term bag satisfaction is modularity, and I tend to agree.
It wasn’t long ago that I was having a close look at this bag, from Timbuk2. Like many bags today, it’s got a pocket for every imaginable item you might want to carry. That’s fine and dandy, until you need to switch bags for some other purpose (like from your office laptop bag, to the weekend beach bag). Then you’ve got to rumble through every little nook and cranny of the first bag, extracting all the bits you need to transfer to similar nooks and crannies of the second bag. Inevitably I’d end up somewhere and realize, “Oh crap, I don’t have my wallet. It’s sitting in the custom wallet slot in the outside accessory pouch of my office bag.”
The solution to this is, of course, modularity. Buy big open bags, and then carry your bits and pieces in smaller interior bags. Then, when you need to switch purpose bags, just transfer your one or two interior bags, and you’re good to go.
So, apart from a Timbuk2 messenger bag, my main open bag is a Salewa Cumbra 38 Backpack. This is, without a doubt, the best backpack I have ever owned. Every little detail is well thought out, and just perfect. I use it in my daily transport to the office. I use it on the weekend for mountain climbing. And I use it for almost everything in between. (In the above photo, the top of the bag, which can be used independently as a fanny pack, has been detached.)
When traveling back and forth to the office, I carry the following four things inside:
- Waterfield MacBook Sleeve Case
- Semi-transparent document folder.
- Outdoor Research ditty bag
- Waterfield Cable Bag
I’ll explain the purpose and contents of each below.
Outdoor Research ditty bag:
The OR ditty bag carries the things that are almost always with me. This is the single bag that I transfer to any other open bag I use (like the Timbuk2 messenger bag). Here’s the contents:
- 5G iPod, enclosed in a Waterfield iPod case.
- 2G iPod Shuffle, piggybacking in the elastic strap of the Waterfield iPod case
- Jack Wolfskin zipper wallet.
- Leatherman Juice S2 knife and utility tool.
- Nokia 5100 ruggedized mobile phone
- Philip Nike Sport Skylon headphones
- USB/auto/wall-socket Nokia phone charger
- Garmin GPSmap 60Cx GPS
- Spare batteries for the GPS (four AA)
- Faber Castell e-Motion pen and pencil set
- Conceptronic Wifi network detector
- Canon IXUS 850 camera, spare battery, spare 1GB SD card, enclosed in a slim Case Logic case.
- Canon PowerShot camera battery recharger
- Advil (for when those jiu-jitsu sessions take their toll on my joints.)
Waterfield make some of the highest quality bags and pouches out there. Construction quality is superb, as is attention to detail (like the orange colored internal fabric, to provide contrasting visibility to bag contents.) Here’s what I carry in mine:
- Firelite 120 GB 2.5″ external hard drive, with firewire cable
- Sharper Image USB Skype phone
- MacOS X-bootable 2GB USB memory card with repair utilities installed.
- Elgato Turbo.264 USB hardware H.264 video encoder
- iPod cable
- IOGEAR USB SD card reader
Waterfield MacBook Sleeve Case
My MacBook travels safely, and in style inside a Waterfield sleeve case. The sleeve, as you can see from the image, contains a velcro protective strap to keep the laptop inside. It also contains a loop on the other side, the function of which I’ve never quite figured out.
Semi-transparent document folder
Finally, to carry around all my papers and Moleskin notebooks, I purchased a plastic, semi-transparent document folder. I also never did quite figured out what that small hole in the cover flap is for…
So, there you have it — my personal road warrior kit!
23
May 07
Shuffles + Headphones + Device Acquisition Strategies
It’s kind of cute or weird or funny or something when your music system is about a fraction of the size of your headphones. This is the case with my new Apple iPod Shuffle, and trusty old Audio Technica ATH-ES7 headphones.
For mother’s day this year, I decided to order my world’s greatest mom a little pink (pronounced, “pank” by southern rednecks like me) iPod Shuffle. While browsing the Apple Store, I got to thinking that I sure would like to have one too…
Problem was, as usual, finding a justification that I can successfully slip by the boss wife. You see, I already owned a 4G 60GB iPod and an 2G 8GB iPod nano, making it kind of difficult to justify a Shuffle. But after 79 years of marriage (well, it seems that long…), I’ve become a master at this. Watch how this goes…
Let’s start with the purchase of my new (and amazing) Apple TV last month. Given that I consequently no longer used the 4G for videos, and had started toting it around for serious listening, the undeniable truth is that I actually haven’t been using the nano that much. In fact, about the only thing I used the nano for at this point, was jogging, and, clearly, the Shuffle would be a preferable jogging device, right?
So, how to get rid of a nano…
Once again, my office colleague, and design critique buddy, Alex, saved the day. (Alex and I often support each other’s needs to find justifications for gadget purchase — and bag purchases, and software purchase, and t-shirt purchases…)
Turns out, through a bit of justification creation of his own, Alex came to the realization that he really needs a nano!
Not long ago, he bought a shiny new 5G iPod (which, compared to my 4G iPod has 20 more GB of space, a screen that’s not so scratched it makes you cringe to look at it, and, of course, an extra “G”.) But, thinking about how he was using it, it was really just a tad too big for him.
So, we agreed to do a swap — his 5G iPod for my 2G nano.
Bingo– we’re there. At this point, I’ve got a 5G iPod, a 4G iPod, and a whopping big void at the small end of the scale. I could now sell the 4G (anybody interested?), and purchase the (highly justified) Shuffle.
See? I’m good this. I should write an eBook called, “How to justify anything you want!”, and make millions. (Then I could afford anything I want!)
So along with my mom’s pank one, I ordered myself an orange little iPod Shuffle.
There’s several advantages to buying stuff from Apple in the US. For starters, and this must be a dirty little secret, iPods purchased in Europe have volume limits. Can you believe it? The governments here won’t even let me damage my own hearing. Second, Apple, so focused on simplicity, have a pricing structure where all prices are the same, regardless of the currency. So a $79 Shuffle costs 79 Euros here in Spain. (And 79 Euros is about equivalent to $106!)
It arrived yesterday, and I hooked it up to my Audio Technica’s, and it is just amazing. Looks great. Sounds great. Works great. Apple industrial design is just miles ahead of anybody else out there.
13
May 07
101 km of Ronda
Each year in May, for the past 11 years, the Spanish Legionnaires (“La Legión”, a Spanish military wing) organizes the famous, “101 km of Ronda” event, in which the 5,000+ participants endure a 101 kilometer (66 miles) tour through the mountains and sierras surrounding the beautiful namesake city of Ronda.
My wife and I participated for the first time last year, 2006. Of the three participation modalities — running/walking, mountain bike, and duathlon — I did the mountain bike option, and finished in a leisurely nine hours. She did the walk, and ended up having to quit at 70 km, due to an oversight. Not anticipating the extreme overnight temperature drops in the Ronda sierras, she hadn’t thought to bring cold weather clothes, and ended up having to quit before hypothermia set in around 1:00 am.
So this year, 2007, she wanted to give another go, and I decided to accompany her in the walk, as far as possible. In short, I ended up quitting at 1:00 am at the 65 km point, and my wife ended up completing the walk, in 23 hours and 30 minutes — a mere half hour from the official cut-off! Let me tell you — walking 65 km, much less 100 (!) is one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done!
Preparations.
Unfortunately, there were very little preparations. We spent a lot of time thinking about what to pack, but precious little actually training. I think the only thing we did, was a 14 km walk one morning.
How it unfolded.
After a hard friday night of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training, we got up Saturday morning early, and headed off to Ronda, arriving about 9:30 am, one and a half hours before the scheduled start of 11:00. We got our Ronda 101km “Passport” signed, and joined the other several hundred walkers in the middle of the football field, waiting for the start.
At 10:30, the big artillery guns fired, and the mountain bikers took off in a big bowl of dust. Us walkers then grouped up at the start, where 30 minutes later at 11:00, the guns fired again, and we were off.
To walk 100 km in 24 hours, taking into account breaks (and the Legionnaires have a water/food stop setup roughly every 5km), you actually have to walk at a pace that’s a bit faster than feels comfortable (to me), so our strategy was to jog the flats (at a roughly 6:30 min/km pace, and then walk the uphills (at a roughly 10:00 pace).
This worked out for the first 35 km or so, until we came to the massive climb after the city of Arriate. Good grief — four kilometers of near vertical climbing, and I was ready to quit. I’d already started forming some blisters on my feet, and my hip had started hurting. After a rest at the top, though, I decided to continue on.
The daylight hours were marked by very high temperatures, and a beating sun. I was glad to be wearing my venting hat, draped with a connected bandana, protecting ears and neck from the harsh sun. I was also glad to be wearing my hydration system, and tried to drink approximately one liter per hour. The organized rest stops, every 5 km, had isotonic drinks, fresh fruit, and in one stop, sandwiches.
As I expected, my wife (and it’s true, women are tougher than men) looked fresh as a rose all day.
As the sun went down, around 9:00 PM in the evening, we arrived in Setenil, a major rest point. (Many people starting the race actually plan to quit here.) A lot goes on at the Setenil stop — there are doctors to treat physical problems, physiotherapists to provide massage and ice treatments, and foot doctors (“podologos”) to treat foot problems. It’s also the first stop where you can have, in advance, a bag waiting for you, in which most people include their evening/cold-weather clothing. Due to the long lines one usually finds retrieving the bags, we took advantage of a gracious offer from a friend, Luis Pérez, to meet us there with our stuff.
After a sandwich and a stretch, I visited the medical tent, to have the podologos take a look at my blisters. I had two — one on each side of my outer heels. After draining, and bandaging/taping them up, I was release to head off.
By this time, it was about 10:15 PM, and darkness had set in. I was wearing my Petzl headlamp, and marching off through the darkness. (The Legionnaires mark the path with glowing small lights, but one still definitely has to carry a headlamp, if there’s no full moon. And even still, I was tripping and stumbling through the potholes.
Pino and I arrived at the first rest point after Setenil, where under a lightbulb the Legionnaires were serving water and orange slices, and listening to a soccer game on the radio. At this point, people started to look in really bad shape. One girl waiting to be picked up appeared to be suffering hypothermia, and another man could hardly stand up.
I had planned to quit here, as my feet and hip were killing me, and more blisters had formed on my feet. My wife convinced me to carry on, and see if I could make it to the next stop. In fact, since Arriate, at 30 km, that had been my modus operandi the whole day — “let’s see if I can make it to the next stop.”
So we carried on into the night. At this point, it’s very desolate. We didn’t see anyone behind us, and so only a few small headlamps way off in the distance ahead of us. I told Pino that, definitely, the next stop was the end of the line for me.
And so about 5 km later, around 1:00 AM, we arrived at what for me would be the end of the road. To my happy surprise, they were serving some hot coffee with milk. After a short break, Pino and I hugged, and I agreed to wait for her at the Military Cuartel, where I would be taken by truck soon, and where she would arrive on foot some three hours later.
I climbed into the big military vehicle, in the dark, and could see about six or seven bodies — others for whom this rest stop would represent the end of their journey. There wasn’t any talking; just people wrapped up in blankets, ready to be driven back.
About 30 minutes later, I arrived at the Cuartel, and enjoyed a hot meal prepared by the military kitchen staff. There was a huge line for foot doctors, so I decided to have a leg massage. After waiting in line for about half an hour, it was finally my turn. (During the wait, I had the opportunity to stare at some of the most horribly blistered feet I’d ever imagined. My feet, by comparison, were pristine!)
The physiotherapist noted that one of my legs was much more strained than the other. Upon hearing that my hip had been hurting badly, he indicated that was the explanation; my walk had tried to compensate.
While waiting for Pino to arrived, I watched people slowly arrive at the Cuartel. A couple of them would get their hot meal, sit down, and then just fall over into the floor, holding their heads with dizzyness and nausea. I was tired and sore, but considered myself very very fortunate to be feeling, overall, pretty darn good compared to those folks.
At 4:00 AM, Pino came bouncing in. I’d kinda hoped she’s be in worse shape, and would want to quit and go back to Ronda with me, but no, she was ready eat and head off on the final 25 km stretch (which happens to be the worst of the day!). At that point, a sergeant opened the door and shouted, “Next bus to Ronda leaves in three minutes!”
So we hugged again, and I left, to climb into yet another big clanky military vehicle which would take us on back to Ronda. Pino finished her dinner, stretched, and headed out walking again into the darkness, towards the day’s second big climb up to the “Ermita de Montejaque”.
I arrived in Ronda at 5:30 AM, and walked ANOTHER THREE KILOMETERS to my car, where I climbed in, folded the back seats forward, and tried to rest on the hard platform, using my jacket for a pillow.
Someone walking by the car at 8:30 AM woke me up, and I called Pino, who said she was about one and a half hours from the finish. I drove as close as possible to the “Meta”, parked, and looked around for a bar to have a quick breakfast.
At 10:30 AM, I saw Pino coming with a small group of people, and had such a great sensation of relief and excitement. She’s done it. She’d walked 101 kilometers. ONE HUNDRED AND ONE KILOMETERS. It’s truly an amazing accomplishment for her. Congratulations sweetheart!
Tonight, back at home, neither of us can move very well, and neither have any intention of trying that again. I may go back and do the mountain bike ride, but definitely no more ulta-distance walks (unless I change my mind! ;)
Equipment.
We both wore standard long-distance running shoes. I carried my dearly loved Salewa Cumbra 38 backpack, and my wife wore a Lowe Alpine fanny pack.
Photos.
All the photos we too have been uploaded to Flickr. Have a look, and enjoy!
Elevation Profile.
20
Apr 07
Four Elements of Design
My first real job was a co-op position with the Georgia Power Company back during my university days. The company bought us all Macintosh computers (Mac IIs), and I was introduced to desktop publishing with the Aldus PageMaker application (which, today, is known as Adobe InDesign).
I started using PageMaker and the office LaserWriter to prepare and print documents for school — reports, essays, anything really. Like most desktop publishing novices, my documents attempted to use every font, sizing, coloring and positioning option the program offered. The resulting documents were technically amazing (given the common technology of the day — monoface font editors and dot-matrix printers), but somehow were nauseating to look at.
I always wondered what was it that made professionally designed documents look so much better, and then I came to discover the realm of design. I bought two books by Robin Williams (the author, not the actor): “The Mac is not a Typewriter”, and “Design for Non-Designers”. These books changed my life! It’s amazing how simple concepts can have such powerful, dramatic effect.
After reading these two books, the aesthetic quality of my documents improved dramatically, and I soon discovered that a well designed document, even with weaker content, could achieve better marks than a difficult-to-read document, with stronger content!
Anyway, in the book “Design for Non-Desigers”, Robin introduces the reader to the four simple cornerstones of design — known as the “CRAP” principles — which, when applied, almost always produce a better looking document, layout or screen:
- Contrast. Strong/weak, big/small contrasts create emphasis and flow.
- Repetition. Repeating design elements supports consistency.
- Alignment. The eye likes to find lines of alignment.
- Proximity. Related things should be grouped together.
Today I was reading a book Alex ordered, “Designing Interfaces”, by an interface designer working at the Mathworks (makers of Matlab). It was very interesting to read about some of the psychology principles underlying UI design. In particular, the work of the Gestalt group theory psychologists, who concluded — interestingly enough — four principles:
- Closure.
- Similarity.
- Continuity.
- Proximity.
I find it interesting, and exciting, to see such common denominators between disciplines.
