Hurri-what, Hurri-who! :: Me vs. the Hurricane

We all know that Florida has recently been bombarded and devistated by hurricanes over the past few weeks. The latest storm, Hurricane Jeanne, was particularly ruthless as The Weather Channel was broadcasting live from the storm's center 24 hours a day. After disposing of Florida, Jeanne moved northward dropping more than a half a foot of rain in parts of New Jersey (I saw the video of HUNDREDS of Land Rovers stranded helplessly on washed away streets... hopefully the Red Cross will step up and provide aid to those in need). Today, actually earlier this morning, Hurricane Jeanne set her sights on my area. I decided the best way to meet the beast was head on! I set out for a bike ride early in the morning that would put me on a collision course with danger.

I set out at 5:25ish under the darkness of night. After 30 minutes of riding, the sky lightened and revealed the fury of the storm...

[Be advised, the following contains graphic images of the destructive forces of powerful storms and their devistating effects on small coastal communities.]

Hurricane Jeanne, 05:52am, looking towards the Northeast:
http://www.maineislandillusions.com/blog/9-29-sunrise.jpg" alt="Hurricane Jeanne... DumDumDuuuum!"
As you can see, with little regard to my own wellbeing I was able to quickly snap this shot amoungst the wirlwind of chaos. Although I did not have any scientific weather instruments with me at the time, I have experienced high powered storms in the past and I would guestimate the power of the winds to be somewhere between 3.4 and 5.7 miles per hour (that's like 3 to 5 knots for those of you who, ...like knots).

Here's another shot from the same spot, this time focusing on the nearby lake. I know it looks calm at the moment but I think that water level was abnormally high due to the low pressure tidal swells. I also concluded that this must be in the EYE of the storm!!
http://www.maineislandillusions.com/blog/9-29-lake.jpg" alt="Lake effect"

I narrowly escaped and finished my ride. Oddly enough, not once did I spot a reporter or Weather Channel news crew documenting this historic meteorological event. Proof that only the strong can subject themselves to adverse conditions such as these.

All sarcasm aside, relief efforts in Florida and other areas are a serious matter for those who exerienced the storm in full-force. Donations and links to how you can help aid the relief efforts can be found at http://www.floridadisasters.org/donations.php

Safe & sound,
- John

Tyler, Tyler, Tyler...

Well it looks as though Girona Spain resident, Marblehead Massachussets native and U.Colorado grad Tyler Hamilton has been added to the list of athletes who have failed doping tests. Apparently, Tyler's blood showed evidence of a homologous blood transfusion.

sorry, server no longer accepts requests: http://www.maineislandillusions.com/blog/ty.jpg" style="border:0px;" alt="Tyler Hamilton"

I'm still sticking with my assumption made in July that 50% of pro riders in the major tours (de France, de Suisse, Vuelta a Espana, etc) take part in some sort of medical adjustment to their blood or muscles. The verdict is still out whether he will be suspended and lose his gold medal won last month in the olympics. Tyler lives in apartment in Spain one floor above Lance Armstrong. I wonder if these neighbors knock on each others door for more then just sugar.

Tyler has always impressed me as a well spoken analytical guy. While Armstrong is a master of saying the right things to the media and being rather braggadocious, Hamilton seems to tell it like it is in a matter-a-fact way. This article from Outside magazine printed in July says Tyler is "..by some accounts both the toughest and nicest cyclist on the planet, has a certain look he gives whenever he tells one of his stories. It is subtle, but since Hamilton, 33, has built a career on subtle moves, it is worth attending."

Subtle moves, hmmm... very slick.

National One Hit Wonder Day

Today is officially "National One Hit Wonder Day". In recognition of those who are only defined by a single song, I have switched up the playlst on my mp3 player (see sidebar). The songs are a bit large but they load automatically so if you don't hear anything, just wait longer! All three of the artists on the playlist made VH1's List of the 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders.
Anyway, I did get a few questions about the player... I made the player for another website, a bike related site, and one of the sponsors was CatEye Computers. So armed with this image:
sorry, temporary disabled: http://www.maineislandillusions.com/blog/cateye_os11.jpg" alt="CatEye OS 1.1 Bike Computer"
I tried to recreate the computer as an MP3 player. To see my my shoddy artwork, right-click on the player and select "Zoom In" and move it around with the "hand" (then click "Show All" when finished to zoom back). Then I just did a bit of code to make it work. Anyway, maybe I'll make a more traditional player later on.

And don't worry, these one hit wonders won't stay on the site for long. :)
Oh, and I do take requests. Just post it somewhere on the site and I'll see what I can do.

Oh yeah, and MaineGirl has a survey that more people should fill out in order for her scientific findings to be statistically significant. Otherwise my sad results will be the average.

Rock on!

Happy Kiss Day

Today is officially "Kiss Day". I'm not sure the history behind it but I think it all goes back to a party on Plymouth Rock a long time ago. Coincidentally, (I swear, I didn't know this before I wrote that last sentence) it's Native American Day!! Unfortunately, I have yet to kiss a Native American today and there's only 4 hours left. Looks like I have some work to do.

I'm such an idiot...

Apparently at work yesterday a lot of people weren't scheduled to come in... then one by one it seemed people kept going home for some reason. At 1:45pm the boss comes in and was like "I'm taking off, looks like you'll be the only one here, lock up when you leave." Maybe they were all going to go see George W. who flew his Airforce 1 into town around 3:30.

So what do I do on a blue sky day when no one will know if I leave early?? You guessed it... I stayed 1 and half ours late! Left at 6:30 instead of 5:00. I'm such an idiot.

Its 42 degrees right now! Time to ride!

Against the Law

Not long ago I was riding my bike with a group of friends we got pulled over by a police car. Apparently someone phoned 911 frantically stating that there were CYCLISTS in the ROAD and some of them were riding side by side!! Mon Dieu! The officer was like "I'm going to have to write this one up. You can't ride 2 abreast on the side of the road."
Luckily, one of my buddies had been in this situation before. His simple response to the officer was:

"Section 1, Subsection 23, State ruling 1139(b)."

The officer stopped, thought for a second, got in the car, talked to the dispatcher, then finally stepped out of the car and said, "Sorry about that guys, have a good ride".

Apparently the law stated that 2 cyclists can ride side by side on public roads. We were FREE! Sadly, the days of enjoying a scenic ride while conversing with a friend could be doomed. An ammendment has been filed this year in an effort to crack down on such iniquitous criminals.

Anyway, this all took place outside of Maine so I decided to look up some interesting Maine laws as well as a few others from around the US::

• Maine - A motorized bicycle or motorized scooter may not be operated in excess of 20 miles per hour. [2001, c. 667, Pt. C, §17 (rpr).]
  (Thank goodness my bike isn't motorized!)


• Maine - Shotguns are required to be taken to church in the event of a Native American attack.


• Maine - After January 14th you will be charged a fine for having your Christmas decorations still up.
  [ok I know for a FACT that this isn't inforced!]


• In South Berwick, Maine it is illegal to park infront of a Dunkin Donuts.


• Augusta, Maine - to stroll down the street playing the violin is against the law.


• Wells, Maine - advertisements may not be placed in cemetaries.


• All of United States - No person shall appear as a contestant in more than one game show per year.


• New York - A fine of $25 can be levied for flirting. This old law specifically prohibits men from turning around on any city street and looking "at a woman in that way." A second conviction for a crime of this magnitude calls for the violating male to be forced to wear a "pair of horse-blinders" wherever and whenever he goes outside for a stroll.


• NY - It is against the law to throw a ball at someone's head for fun.
  [I suppose its ok if you're not having fun.]


• NY - The penalty for jumping off a building is death.
  [Geez, thats a bit harsh don't you think?]


• NY - A person may not walk around on Sundays with an ice cream cone in his/her pocket.
  [... thank God I only do that on Tuesdays and Thursdays]


• NY - Slippers are not to be worn after 10:00 P.M.


• Carmel, NY - A man can't go outside while wearing a jacket and pants that do not match.
  [I've been to Carmel... I can't believe I'm still a free man.]

Follow the rules kids!

Tired just thinking about...

I'm planning to try and get in a good bike ride before work tomorrow. Only problem is that I have to get up by 4:50am. So its like 11:20 now. Hmm... anyway, wish me luck on that one.

Found out today that the order I placed for new Nordica W8 ski boots got cancelled.

Bummer. That totally throws off my plans for this weekend.

The first of many aimless posts! So excited!

Well this whole blogging thing eluded me for the past few years... although come to think of it, I did have a website with AOL (members.aol.com) back in 1995... it really sucked. I hope they ripped it off the internet with a vengeance. Anyway, I started reading other blogs and needed a place on the internet to tell those people that blogs are dumb. Plus, I kept coming up with really awesome ideas; ideas that would change the world - you know, but within 6 months some hotshot company would steal my plan and make trillions of dollars. Trillions, honest. So here I am. Just don't steal any of my sweet ideas!

Which reminds me, I bet that ole site is still up and kicking with thousands of visitors per hour, lets go check it out!!
http://www.maineislandillusions.com/blog/aol.gif" alt="Where's my site!!"
Obviously a horrendus error has occured. I'm sure the AOL Tech Team is just performing some routine maintenence on the site.

So what's this lame blog all about, besides trillions of dollars? Well, I will probably write about biking. Until it snows. Then I will write about skiing. At some point in January I will probably break my leg skiing in the glades so don't miss out on that. Probably some good pictures will be included. Also, I might chime in on some lame computer programming topic from time-to-time to keep the Dungeons & Dragons folk entertained. (Gotta be fair to everyone, this is a p.c. site. Wait, I mean pc and mac, wait... what? where am I?).

This is me -- Important Stats To Remember:
Name:	John - aka JV8
Blog:	jv8.blogspot.com - bookmark that sucker!
Age:	25
Occupation:	Software Engineer / Database Developer
#Chicks amassed due to occupation:	0
Edurcation:	B.S. Computer Science, minor in accounting (at schools in New York and Vermont)
Sports & Interests:	Mountain and road biking Downhill skiing Cross-country skiing (skate style, or freestyle if you will, not that pansy traditional nordic style crap) Ice hockey some other sports I don't do anymore Watching college football, college hockey, the Red Sox, and I always go to every world series the sox win, rain or shine. But mostly I do lots and lots of Needlepoint.
Where to find me skiing in 2004-05:	Sugarloaf, Sunday River, plus super-secret backcountry destinations.
Where to find me biking this fall:	I've been riding before work lately so you will probably see me between 5:30 am and 8:30 am. Just don't run me over in your car if your latte spills on your lap or if you decided to take a quick snooze on a straight-a-way.
Places to go:	Hmm... Switzerland The Netherlands Chamonix, France Austria Bike across the US (2005??) Chile Idaho again Antartica, just for 5 minutes to check it out. Scandinavia Uninhabited atolls in the South Pacific the store down the street (soon) And anywhere that people suggest I go. As long as it's cool. No, Worchester doesn't count.

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Alright, well I better try to post this thing to see if it works...
Oh, and if your reading this, be sure to comment so I know this works!