The cost of Hydro (Power that is)

I have lots of things that just plug into the wall (or require batteries that require charging).   That means that they consume energy at some point, with the end result that it ends up on my Hydro bill.

Over the summer, I saw that my canoe trip partner, Barb, had a cool device that sits on her kitchen counter and gives her an instant reading on how much energy she is using at any time.  And, it shows it in dollars and cents if you like.  The geek in me knew that I JUST had to have one.   In the past, you had to run outside and  just see how fast the Power Meter wheel was spinning.  New Smart Meters don't have that of course.

After a bunch of internet research, I found something called a TED 5000 from the Energy Detective.  You can also read more on their web site on just why and how.   I mentioned this to my friend and owner Angelo at Radio World here in Toronto.  He thought they were pretty cool and decided to stock them in the store.  Even National Geographic thought this device was so important that they mentioned in one of their news articles.

I liked this one as it actually clipped on the hydro lines (the BIG lines) inside my breaker panel (which required a little advanced hookup --- most of my friends would do this on their own).   Others should call an electrician.  There are other units that work by clipping onto your power meter, but I learned that they were hit and miss if they actually worked.  Even Walmart sells one from Black and Decker.  You'll need to see if it is compatible with your Hydro meter.

The instructions were excellent and the unit worked right away.  After using a computer to program it with the rates from Power Stream, I could see that it costs about $0.15/hr to run the house at peak dinner time.   I did have to grab my Power Stream Hyrdo bill to see what my On-Peak, Mid-Peak and Off-Peak rates will be.    Off-Peak is about half of what On-Peak is.  This is why we now use the dryer after 9pm or before 7am.

Then, I turned on the Oven for a test.  Wow.  We are now at $0.54 per hour.  Just for fun, I turned the dryer on as well.  Now, we are up to over a $1/hr.    Now, I will be able to watch just how expensive it will be to do the Christmas Turkey.  Or, I could do it on the BBQ or deep fry it (don't knock it if if you haven't tried it). Of course, the model I got that allows me to watch it online from my iPad or just about any computer if I wish.

We are fortunate that our Hydro in Canada is so inexpensive and we do take it for granted, but it does help for us to all thing just a little greener (except when it comes to snow :)  ).

Now, I need to get it integrated into Google Power Meter.  

My return to Canoe tripping

This trip report was totally written on my iPad, just to see if I could do it.

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July 2010 Canoe Trip - French River - Hwy 69 to Wolsely Bay

July 8th, 2010

This is the first trip for me in over 30 years. After having a 1948 Peterborough Champlain canoe refinished, it did deserver to be taken on a real trip. That brings us to today. Barb Schering (McKenny), Ken Smith and his son Keagan join me on this trip. Barb used to trip with me when we were members of the Chippewa Outers Club at Chippewa Seconday School in North Bay, Ontario back in the 70's. Ken has been a very close friend since high school and was the person responsible for my love for Ham radio (and technology). If it has electrons moving in it, then we have likely played with it.

The canoe was refinished by Headwater Canoe in Buckhorn Ontario. Dick did an amazing job, and although Buttercup was yellow in a previous life, she is now the classic canoe red and she is beautiful. Yes, she is still canvas, and yes, she will get scratched, but she is designed to be paddled. The canoe is owned by the Philps family and Carolyn (my better half) allowed me to have it refinished.

On the Thursday night before we left, we met at Ken's house in North Bay. As I had never tripped with him, it is important to make sure you take what you need and try not to carry any duplicate items, especially in the kitchen department. Barb, who loves to cook, had prepared the menu and all the major meals for us. This really helps if you have bad weather or a long day.

July 9th, 2010

We met in Sturgeon Falls for breakfast at about 6:30 in the morning. Ken's wife Holly provided vehicle support. From there we travelled to the French River trading post, dropped off the canoes, packs, etc. and picked up our French River park passes. While Ken and Barb got organized, Holly and I headed back to the end point to drop off my car (Wolsely Bay). About an hour round trip, and I was back to the start with the rest of team.

There has been very little rain or snow in this part of Ontario since about October of 2009. Lake Nipissing is down over a meter and it drains into the French River. The French, which is part of the Voyageur canoe route, is down about 2 meters (depending who you ask).

One thing you learn about the French is that when you can, you paddle from West to East, which is upstream. The French is a deep river and has slow currents. The wind however, blows from the west and that can make for a very easy canoeing day (something that was reinforced in our late August 2010 trip--more on that later in another blog entry).

As we approached our lunch stop, I had just given Keagan a lecture on being careful, don't get hurt and try not to cut your feet). I was trying to keep my sandals dry as I got out of the canoe at lunch and immediately slipped on a rock and cut my foot. Not good, as I do need this feet for portages.

There is a lot of cottages in this part of the French, so you will find lots of boat traffic to deal with. However, there is no power in this part of the river, so lots of cottages (or camps as you call them if you are from Northern Ontario) have alternate sources of power. The wind was building from the west through the day and we watched many other canoe groups struggle westbound while we enjoyed a relaxed paddle to the east.

New to me for canoeing is a GPS (what a surprise). I get rolling detailed maps on my Garmin GPS76, and I can see how fast we are really moving. What I learned during the summer is that you can plan on an average of about 4kph from the time you leave your campsite and reach your next campsite. This takes into account lunch, wind and portages.

As we set up for our first night out, Ken caught a nice looking Pike (which he released). I guess no one wanted to clean it.

We had a great dinner of Beaf Stroganoff at about 5:30pm (thanks Barb). Even then, it was about 24C and the 15kph winds from the west helped to keep bugs away (if there was really any). We all retired to our tents about sunset. I was just about to call it a night, when I looked out and was able to see the tail end of a great sunset with Venus very bright in the western sky and a great reflection on the water. So, I ran out, got eaten alive by mosquitos and in about 30 seconds, captured a great night photo.

July 10, 2010

We crawled out of bed about 5:45 am to a wonderful sunrise and a breakfast of Oatmeal and Baegels. It was a lazy morning and we left the campsite about 8:30. About 20 minutes later, my left foot started to swell (this is the other foot from the cut). I suspect that something bit me (spider?), and it was getting worse and feeling weird. We pulled over to open the pack and Barb pulled out some Benadril. That seemed to really help and about an hour later, I never really noticed that I had a problem in the first place.  Lesson 2 why you have to protect your feet.

The last time I was at any of the rapids was over 30 years ago and since the water was so low, they looked very foreign to me. Some rapids didn't exist, some we were able to paddle up, some we were able to walk up and a some still required a portage.

Our next campsite was at Blue Chute, which still looked like Blue Chute. However, the Ladder part was dry which you can normally paddle right up to.

The campsite is on top of the island and comes with a great view. But, if you want water, you have to walk down about vertical 50ft with your containers and water filters (we use one of the MSR pumps and it works great). But be careful, they don't float if you drop it.

It took awhile, but at this point, we finally had no cell signal at all. This does now take us fully off the grid with no Faceboo, etc.  Life did not end at that point and we didn't fall off the world.  

Blueberries were ready to be picked and in a very short time, we had lots for meals and a pie (that apparently has not been made yet as the blueberries are sitting in Barb's freezer).

July 11, 2010

Holly was to meet us at Wolsely Bay about 3pm, which was not 'that' far away. We didn't have to rush off the campsite at all. It was another very hot day and with the wind out of the west again. Before lunch we had navigated the rest of the swifts, lifts and portages to end up on the same body of water as Wolsely Bay. We stopped for lunch about a 40 minute paddle from the pickup point. Here, you could also see just how low the water was. This was our first time we had a headwind to deal with at times, even though we hugged the west shore to keep out of the wind. Lots of cottages here and we passed many people just out floating in their water toys trying to keep cool.

It was great to get back on the water in this way after being off it for so long. If you are a camping type of person, and haven't done a canoe trip, find some time to go. It makes for much more enjoyable trip if you go with someone who had done it before. Remember, that when you are packing, to divide things into 3 piles. Essentials, nice to have, and luxury. Take all the essentials (toilet paper is a great example), none of the nice to have and 1 of the luxuries...you will have to carry it at some time.

The entire gallery is here.  Some (if not most) of the pictures have GPS data on them, so, if you click here, you can see where each picture is on google earth.

Last, but not least, many thanks for Carolyn for letting me escape for 3 days in the woods!  What would I do without her!

Customer Server --- My A**

Having worked in Customer Service most of my life (if not all).  From the guy who takes the calls, who visits customers, talks to CIO, CFO's, and manages guys who talk on the phone, I figure that gives me the right to complain once in a while.  After all, I do have the T-Shirt!  :)

Let's talk Telus.  Up until 2 weeks ago, I really liked Telus.  But, I had only used their data services (one for my air card and 1 for my iPad).  So, based on that, I decided to trash Bell Cellular and move to Telus for my phone service.  I got a great deal.  Almost twice the services I had before for about the same price (still the most expensive cellular plans of anywhere in the world).

And, after 10  years of using a Blackberry, I decided to jump to a Motorola Android Milestone.  After all, technology is my hobby, so why not.   This phone took some getting used to.  However it has some amazing features.  In a large number of cases it is leaps and bounds better than a Blackberry.

Until 2 weeks ago.  It started doing weird things.  First off, it doesn't have smart dialing.  (You blackberry guys know what that is--if you need to add 1 in front of your phone number it does it automatically).  Great if you have over 2000 phone numbers in your address book.

About 50% of the time, you can't seem to dial the number you want.  Even if the number is in memory.  You get a Telus message "8UT2 - the number can't be completed as dialed".  So, you try 8-10 times and it eventually goes through.

The final straw is it starts to play music on its own.  Nice at 3am.  :)

So, I call Telus (again).  They've never heard of this problem, yet a simple search shows hundreds reporting the problem in North America and the UK.  Telus transfers me to Motorola.  Guess what?  They've never heard of the problem either.

After 2 hours of being on the phone, the short story is that Telus/Motorola want me to send my phone in for repair?  Repair?  Just send me new software.  (Did I mention that Telus replaced this phone once.  It was to be 10 minute visit to the store, but some reason it took over 2 hours do the exchange).    Even Rogers is better than that!

To add insult to injury, I can't return it now or exchange it for a Blackberry unless they agree it is a Lemon.  To get that status, it has to be sent in at least 3 times.  You've got to be kidding!

Not to sound so negative, there is good out there.  If you've noticed that most of my pictures are GEOTAGed with GPS coordinates.  I have a special device attached to my Nikon D300 (essentially a GPS) from the great guys at Di-GPS.  It gets abused some (hence the reason I use nothing by Nikon).  Lately, the special 10 pin connector that plugs this into the camera has started to become intermittent.

After emailing Di-GPS in Hong Kong, I get an email back a few hours later.  CM tells me that if I can solder (can I solder??? Of course I can), that he will through a cable in the mail to me.  No charge!  My hats off to Dawn Technology.  Many thanks guys!

As an aside, I did squeeze in a 3 day canoe trip on the French River a few weeks back.  I owe a detailed update, which I will do shortly, but here are some pictures.  And you can see the GPS mapped pictures here.

French River

Just about to start a 3 day canoe trip. :)

Happy Canada Day

Today is Canada Day.  Today we get to celebrate yet another new Tax in Ontario.  Good thing it isn't Ontario Day!  :)

Like I wrote in a previous blog about a year ago, I will spend some parts of today working the Radio Amateurs of Canada Ham Radio Contest.  Yes, some of us call that fun.  To me, it is about the technology and how I get all these things to play well together.  For most hams, all their equipment is on the table(s) beside them.  For me, it is all far away.  That means I have to be able to control things via remote control.  For the most part, it works wonderfully.

For you technically inclined, this is what my computer screen view looks like:

You may want to click on the picture to see it clearly (or not).  :)

Have a happy Canada Day!

What a sad day to be a Canadian

Today is the G20 in Toronto. I'm someone who really isn't in to politics. I don't really agree with all the laws, taxes, etc., that are in place, but, I love my country, the true north strong and free. The G20 is an event that has to happen (I guess). But then, what why can't they just all use GoToMeeting? Certainly a lot less than the $1 Billion that was spent on this event. But you can't always fit city hall.

But, today, I am embarrassed to be a Canadian. Certainly, everyone has to have their say, and if you wan to protest, fine. And, for the most part, it seems that 99% of those protesting just want to be heard. However, the rest of the cowards out there that have to wear masks to push the envelope, and damage both public and private property can just get back on their bus and head to some far island. These can't be Canadians that have this sort of attitude, can they? (Wait, don't answer that).

My contribution to the G20 Summit was to NOT be around it. I spent the day at the cottage in the Kawarthas. It rained most of the day, but who cares. The skies cleared about dinner time, so after dinner, I jumped in my 1948 Peterborough canoe and had a very wonderful paddle over to some wet lands.

Not by accident, I had my Nikon D300 with me and the 300mm f2.8 lens. I was rewarded with some great shots of some loons and some serious close ups of the Ospreys. That, made me proud to be a Canadian. The Osprey was radio tagged (go figure, that I find the only animal round with a radio on him. Maybe he was working ARRL Field Day!).

As for those idiots and cowards, maybe that need to listen to "The Cherry Beach Express" by Pukka Orchestra.  52 Division must have had it right.

So, enjoy the pictures.  This is how you spend a Saturday being a Canadian!  More photos on my gallery.

RFID World and flying on the cheap

I spent the last few days at RFID World in Orlando, FL. We booked my tickets on cheapoair.com (not kidding) and drove to Buffalo to jump on the plane that was a LOT ceaper than anything flying out of Toronto. After all, I do work for a startup company. We were a little late getting to the airport, but I dropped my colleague off at the terminal while I parked. Over half the large lot was Ontario plates.  It was a very large parking lot.

Meeting up with MB in terminal, I find out he has already checked my bags under my name direct to Orlando on air-i-have-never-heard-of-this-airline-before (not free to check a bag-$25/bag). Wow, try that at YYZ. Flight time was in 20 minutes. MB apologizes for the middle seat as that is all that was left. Moving into my seat, I find out that it is a middle seat, but an exit row seat. Not bad, eh? Again, try that at Air Canada.

Now, MB is the king of doing everything cheap, or it is all about the deal. He books hotels on Priceline (www.priceline.com). So, I never really know what to expect every time I travel with him. For $60 US he scored us a place in Orlando near (more like IN), the Florida mall. I was really glad the GPS brought us to within a mile of the hotel as it was listed as the mall address.  It still took us about 30 minutes to find the 12 story hotel, and yes, even though we are guys, we did call the hotel for directions.  Turns out this is a 4 or 5 star place. The room as large and the bed was a huge large king size.  $60/room.  Check out the web site.  Did I mention it was $60/night?

RFID World was petty cool with just about every gadget to track you or your things down to the last meter no matter where you are on this planet. Some RFID tags are so small, you will never know you have one on you (attached to those new clothes you just bought as an example).

We also visited a supplier that deals with moving chips of silicon wafers and installs them where ever you need them. Some discussions got to the point that we were using measurements down to 250 nanometers.


One other supplier we met with was JD Teck.  JD Teck builds some really neat cell phone boosters to improve you cellular coverage at the cottage or in your basement as an example.  We use their products for some of our commercial products.  A very well run organization.

The flight home on Saturday was on Jet Blue.  Again, booked on CheapOAir, this time with a stop in JFK on the way home.  Just after checking in (you CAN check in online, but it costs $25 to do that...no kidding) and dropping our bags, I notice that there is a direct flight to YYZ leaving in 3 hours.  We find out that we can move to that flight for no charge, if we go standby.  Turns out the flight is half empty as well.  We make the change.

Get this....after making the change, we are told our bags will go on to JFK.  What happened to the fact that the bags have to go with the passenger??

Once on the direct flight to YYZ (which Jet Blue just about messed up on us by somehow forgetting us even though we do have a standby boarding pass), we are sitting just in front of the exit row in the seats that don't recline.  These are the worst seats on any plane.  There are 2 free seats in the exit row behind us.  The door closes on the plane and MB and I jump into the exit row.

Wait... not so fast.  As the plane starts to taxi, the stewardess confronts us and says we can sit there, but for $25 more each.  WTF???  Who every heard of that.  She almost makes us move while the plane is taxiing.  After take off, we move to the empty back of the plane.

Sure enough, after getting to Buffalo, where it is almost snowing, we find out our bags did go the JFK route and do show up an hour later.  MB's warm clothes are in his luggage.  I had a jacket with me.

LP sent me a link to some of the coolest pictures I have seen (and I've seen a lot of pictures). Look at the massive ash emission from the Eyjafjallajökull eruption late in the evening.  Make sure you spend a few moments paging through them.  Many thanks to http://www.swisseduc.ch/stromboli/about/index-en.html for posting them.

Mountain Biking - OK, that is a stretch

Mountain Bike in Lvingstone Park

Not really a mountain bike ride, other that I did it on my mountain bike (Trek Flue EX6). However, just meters from my house, I can get into some real trails that run for about 3k. It crosses some very sloppy low lands, has some climbs, jumps and fast (short) downhill sections.

At least I can get out in 10 minutes for about an hour or so.

More spectators than Lake Louise

Last night was the qualifying runs. It is the evening that TV gets to work out its bugs (as does timing and data). Alphasports TV has to perform. We get to pull out all the equipment that we have begged, borrowed or stole (ok, borrowed... Many thanks to Precision Sports Timing as well).

Radar is one of the technologies that should be so simple, but often isn't. It is still a black art. The particular radar gun we use now 'should' send out only the data we want (the max peak speed). However, it doesn't work correctly. After talking to the vendor, they claimed that it 'sort of' works. No kidding. Many thanks to Ken Smith in North Bay, ON who created a magic box that captures the radar data and cleans it up. Without that happening, the radar graphic on TV would be a mess.

On the CBC show tonight, you might get to see some of the trial runs. It now looks like it doesn't come on until 12:40 AM (Sunday morning - Saturday night). You can watch it live on the internet (streaming) on CBC Sports or on CBC 4 (there is a CBC 4??). That may also be known as CBC Bold. Something I am sure you have to pay for if you don't have it already.

Tonight is an elimination night. Every goes in fours. You will see different bib colours on each racer and fastest to the bottom wins. Watch for the Austrian with the coloured Red mustache.

New pictures have been uploaded to my web site.

Almost Winter and the training starts

Friday dawned with a training run at 7am. The first trip out at 6am proved that it was much colder than I thought. Back to the room. Gortex rain pants, Sypder Shell and the North Face jacket. Glad I did that as standing on the start ramp right by the Chateau Frontenac was about the same as standing at the start at Lake Louise. (Ok, not THAT bad, but you get the idea). The wind was howling off the river from the east. Still above zero, but not warm like the other days.

Training was entertaining, if you were a spectator. Many did not make it 20 feet before sliding down on their butts. Others crashed hard into the right turn near the bottom. That is the very steep part that has a 'compression' at the bottom followed by an immediate right turn. Many hit the wall very very hard. Also, it looked like that wall took some damage, as I saw the crews rebuilding it and strengthening it.

The attached video is from the start of the media race earlier today. There are 2 small jumps on the ramp down. That seems to do in about 1/2 the people. If you don't make it over those jumps, you don't make it up the ramp at the bottom. A fair number of media types did spend a bit of time figuring how to climb up that hill.

I did keep looking or Rick Mercer to be in this. Haven't seen him yet.

Just like any sports event, more and more people start to show up who apparently know more about everything. This event is no different.

Yesterday, we got most of the core items in place. Today, my goal was to spend the morning working on the start. I had hoped to get the start eyes connected as well as seeing the start gates. As I jumped over the security gate, I immediately got stopped by security. Fortunately, Richard spoke English and explained we were not allowed on the ice at all. Well, there goes my morning. Hopefully tonight.

I have uploaded some pictures (just click here for those of you internet challenged). Keep that link handy as I will add photos as the days go on.

Tonight will be the crash test dummy test (about 8pm). Tomorrow is training runs and then on Saturday morning will be the time trials.

Crashed Ice - Quebec City

So, another escape from my full time job. The boys in RFID land have allowed me the pleasure to head to Quebec City for the Red Bull Crashed Ice bonanza. Or, maybe they didn't notice as they are on a cruise in the Caribbean. You can watch the short video for an idea on the insanity. 100,000 people show up to watch this. I didn't know you could fit that many people in old Quebec.

I'm going to find out what happened to this class action law suit. One guy doesn't like it as it takes 5 weeks to set up and a few weeks to take down. However, it does bring over $11M to the city. That is hard to ignore. If Quebec City didn't want it, then there are many other cities that would love it. Montreal included. Maybe we could do it in Toronto off the Bloor viaduct!

Many thanks to CBC for the image. It is to be aired at 11:40pm on Saturday night.

Jimmy and I are there, working for Alphasports TV (aka: Andy). As timing gigs go, it is pretty simple (compared to a World Cup downhill race).

Today was a civilized travel day. My sister picks me up and drives me over to the train station in Oshawa. Arrive 30 minutes early, pick up your ticket, get back in the car for a trip to Tim's and back 10 minutes before the train arrives. No security check. I don't need to worry that my bottle of contact lens cleaner is greater than 100ml. You get the picture.

And, you get internet. However, it is best you bring your own. You can plug in your laptop as soon as you sit down, stretch out your legs and plug in your HSBA Telus air card. Now, I have as much internet as I have at home. Very nice.

The Olympics - Vanoc style

My learned friend and colleagues call it Phistler for a reason. If it isn't foggy then it is beautifully sunny and warm. The problem is that you can't race reliably in either. However, that is ski racing. It is an outdoor sport. The weather affects everyone and everyone differently. Each run is different and each delay for 10 minutes changes the course. It either speeds up, slows down, is easier to see or harder to see. That is why race courses in the northern hemisphere are north facing (for the most part). It helps to keep the sun off the course and keeps it from turning into a big slurpy.

In a World Cup race, if you've ever wonder how they decide who starts when, you need to understand the FIS magic formula. So, let me steel the words that The Mighty Skunk wrote (rather than retype it).

In order to understand this dynamic, you've got to understand the basics of the "bib draw" process. For TV and for the crowd, FIS wants the "top seed" to run with bibs 16-22. So in other words, if you're the WCSL points leader and you want to ski early because you know the course is going to turn to mush, the lowest bib you can draw is 16. If the top WCSL skiers had a choice of any number, knowing how slushy the course has been, skiers like Cuche and Riesch and Vonn and Svindal would be choosing bibs 1-2-3. Julia Mancuso has been doing so poorly this season that she's out of the "top seed" and has been "stuck" with a low bib (1-7). But when you're racing in May weather (or Pissler in February), the early bibs are the ones to have. Same thing happened today with Weibrecht as happened with Mancusco in the DH. He was bib #3, as was Mancusco. He put down an extraordinary run, which in cold weather with a consistent course would have put him solidly in the top 10. But meanwhile, the course was softening quickly and was slowing down maybe 0.10 with every competitor. The sun and the warmth did the rest. Not to take anything away from Mancuso and Weibrecht, because everybody with bibs in the top 10 and certainly in the top 5 have had the same opportunity. They were both good and lucky.

Now you know. Not that it was a big secret.

Sadly our Canadians have struggled. The pressure from the local press is just amazing. If we could get rid of the press and let them report on what happened instead of the future, they might just have a chance. Being on your home ground is an advantage, sure, but you get every cub report you can thing of hounding you.

Canadians want to cheer all our athletes. But, imagine just how hard this is for them. Most of them have given up their lives to compete for Canada. The live below the poverty line. They are dedicated and driven. They have no life of their own. And, when they don't medal, they feel like they have let down Canada. The press is just brutal on them. We need standing proudly behind them and cheering them. The fact they made the Olympic team is amazing.

The the press.. world wide... If you want to rip apart an athlete for lack of performance, go ahead, do it. Just make sure it is someone who is a professional, like an NHL Hockey player. Knock yourself out.

However, for those that are amateurs. Leave them alone. They give their life to get to this level. Most live below the poverty level just. They have amazing passion. They need to be rewarded and recognized for being there to represent their country.

The above photo is one I took in Portillo Chile in September. Manny, Julia and Robby.

NOD races in North Bay

Even though I'm fortunate enough to be able to get to World Cup ski races and get to rub elbows with current Olympians, you still have to get back to the grass roots.

Which brings me to this weekend and my trip to my home town of North Bay, Ontario. My good friend Ken had an important set of ski races to run and ensure that the race is fair and done without error.

Well, Murphy was an Optimist and this weekend was no exception. Just like World Cup, we run 2 unique timing systems just in case we have a problem. We call them System A and System B. In the first race today, I hear "Start/Stop" on the radio due to timing. I walk in only to find Ken watching his Windows 7 computer reboot. Yep, the Serial/USB adapters caused a problem and the computer totally froze up like an igloo. Well, that is why we have a System B and he switches over to System B which is running the same program, but the DOS version (remember DOS?).

The DOS version just works. 100% of the time. Never causes us a problem. IT JUST WORKS, which is great when you have a hundred or so people standing outside freezing their toes off. And, if it ever fails due to a power failure, it tends to reboot long before the monitor comes back on. Thank god for System B.

Next problem. Something we call back up hand timing. It is the absolute fail safe if we loose everything. The standard is to use an Alge Timy. Another 2 pieces of equipment that JUST WORK all of the time.

Except today.

Both of them failed. One won't stay turned on. The other one won't turn on at all. It is good to have something for the technology toss. Nice. (It is now 10pm at night and we are in Sudbury and it looks like I have fixed one Timy with a software update, but the other one is still dead).

Lastly, our 2nd set of displays. The ones we show off with by putting them up at the start so that the coaches can see the times of their racers. Nope, can't get those working either and I give up on getting those to work after about an hour.

Now at the hotel, with a fixed Timy, I can now test the display boards. Guess what, they work fine. Next test is to have them hooked back up to the computer that they were hooked to during the race which means that they were being driven by a USB/Serial adapter. This is the same computer that froze up solid this morning.

So, after all that, Murphy left and we were able to get the rest of the races in without any surprises. We are now in Sudbury and get to do the same thing again tomorrow.

It was also great to meet up with some old school friends (high school). Their kids are racing and we got to share some stories of some very fun times.

Follow up - a little late

Once the actual racing starts, the days get long and the last thing you feel like doing is writing a book (or blog for that matter).

Have a look at the attached picture and the sea of humanity.

Race day on Saturday for the Downhill was amazing. The weather was perfect as was the course. It wasn't without controversy thou. The final jump into the finish was totally removed this year in the interest of racer safety. This pissed off most of the Austrian fans as that jump has been in the race for over 70 years.

Once the race was over (no accidents, at least non serious), I made a trip around the course to pick up the radar equipment. While I was pulling out the units at the Mousefalle and one of the American's on the viewing stand started to ask me questions on how what it was and how it works. Turns out it was Scott McCartney from the US Ski Team. Two years ago, Scott crashed and passed me on the finish line. (Click here for the video) It was great to talk to Scott and tell him how good it was to see him skiing again. Pretty cool.

Kitzbuhel is very very big party. After dinner on Saturday, I went for a stroll downtown and I have never seen so many drunk and stupid people in one place at the same time. No need for washrooms, etc. They 'just do it' were they are standing. Then again, it was about midnight.

Sunday was the Slalom race on a different hill (just to the west of the Downhill race course). A 2 run race with about 40000 fans standing there. Again, the weather was pretty good and very loud. Hence the reasons for the David Clark headsets. Remind me to send them a Christmas card as they saved my ears. After the end of the race, comes the 6 hours that we spend packing up all the equipment that took us 5 days to install.

Just when you think it is safe to go to bed, your dreams are dashed and you have to present yourself at a dinner that has the major players of the entire event join you. A 4 course dinner that takes hours (how civilized) even if it is Lamb. At least we didn't have to get up at 4am to catch a train, as the Ski club was kind enough to send a van to drive us to the airport. Perfect.

Once at the airport on Monday morning all we have to do is drop the bags and head to the lounge. No such luck. Seems that Air Canada has had to divert a plane from Frankfurt to Munich. Instead of a plane with 50 people on it, it is now full. So much for using my last upgrade coupon.

Fortunately, the Air Canada gods must have been watching out for me. Just as the doors closed, the 'In Charge' attendant finds me and asks me if I have a coupon for an upgrade. Do I?? You bet I do. 30 seconds later, I'm sitting up in 3K and testing out the recliner. I would just hate to see that last coupon go to waste.

I'm now back in Canada where it actually gets cold (in Austria, -10C is pretty cold). Going to be a frosty one skiing this weekend at Craigleith. It is great to be back.

Don't forget to review The Might Skunk's Blog in your spare time.

Starting to get crazy

With the first actual race tomorrow, the town is starting to fill up. The villa is 100% full and it seems the rest of the patrons are with the media.

In the middle of dinner, we had a power failure that took out the entire value. It didn't last long, but it was a concern if we lost any equipment. The quick dinner conversation that followed came to the conclusion that we had everything on UPS's.

Except for the large video wall. Hmmm... Just then the phone rings and it is the president of the Kitzbuhler Ski Club asking if might have lost anything in the power failure or do we need anything from him. Wow, what a wonderful partnership we have here.

James, Ted and I took a quick trip over to check the video wall (which needed a quick reset of some parameters). However, James set a blistering after dinner pace. Most have been the mouth wash he used before dinner (see previous post).

I also grabbed a shot of the race course from across the village with the lights and the clouds/fog. Yes that is a cemetery in the foreground. Click on the picture attached to expand it.

Earlier, I mentioned that we had had lunch several times in the start hut. I learned that only a select few are allowed lunch there: The King of Austria, Members of the Board of the Ski Club, and Winners of the Downhill Race. Wow, a pretty select list. I guess that there must be an amendment somewhere if you are on the timing team! :)

The value of Gargling

What a damp day today. It just plain grey and dull. The end result was that the start today for the training got lowered down to the next foul weather start. I was hoping for a nice sunrise when I got to the start at 7am, but it was just dull, dark and grey (almost foggy).

Training run started on time at 10am. Coop and the rest of the team had about 30 minutes to move the start (a very non-trivial exercise) down the hill out of the wind.

The good news was that by noon, I was done for the day. A quick trip through town with Skunk (he needed to find something for his throat). I also got hold of C and she was able to view us on the www.kitz.net web cam (about 7:30am for her).

Both Skunk and Ted are starting to feel just a little under the weather. Being in the timing building is worse than being on a plane for a trans-Atlantic flight. No room to move (timing, data, sound, and TV) in a small area. Yesterday the temperature in the room got to +40C (recorded). No wonder they are getting sick.

Oh, the gargling part. Skunks says his throat was much better after gargling -- with Yagermiester.

One in the books

Today's training run was just about perfect. Amazing weather and a few challenges that make it interesting.

The first one was that the forerunner (not a racer, but someone that goes down the course to make sure everything is just right -- like a crash test dummy) decided to JUMP right over the finish beam. That means no race time for him, however, since we have about 3 others ways of figuring out his time, we got to use it.

The 2nd one was that a member of the public walked right into my highly secure area at the finish line. Not sure how she got there, but there is LOTS of security. I'm sure someone got a laugh out of me yelling at her in English why she was yelling back at me in German. I actually had to push her out of my area (she was standing in front of the finish eyes totally blocking them). (If you time races, you'll really understand how serious a problem this is).

Number 3 was my own heart attack when some of the racers speeds from the radar was not appearing on the video wall (a very big display board). Turns out that the 'tail end charlies' were so slow, the software that controls the what gets displayed on the video wall just didn't send the data to the screen. That is what it is supposed to do and it did it well.

It was really cool that all 4 of my radar installations worked as well as can be asked the first time. That means no going back and fine tuning where it points (a fine black art).

I've start to post pictures here.

Tomorrow's training run is at 10am, so that means on the hill about 7am (1am Eastern Time).

Don't come here to loose weight

Meet Ted and James (aka - the Skunk). These gents are the ones that keep moving the bar higher.

For the last 3 days, we have been setting up timing equipment and making sure that it works. More importantly, that it works tomorrow and the next day and the next day. Hence the reason we get out here many days early.

Case in point. One of our display boards worked just fine fine on Friday when it was configured. Then it was installed on Saturday. Come Monday, it wasn't work at all. Just weird. It was on the snag list to check and I finally got to it today. Found the problem and there it was, working again....almost. Now the Tag Heuer board is not display the last few characters on both lines. To make matters worse, it is mounted about 10M up on 2 poles. Not easy to get down.

I hate to nag on the meals, but the meals are amazing (I guess that isn't nagging). Yesterday we had lunch in the start building (not fair to call it a hut). We had soup, salad, main course, and dessert. I felt like I had just finished Christmas dinner.

Then, comes dinner. Same story all over again. We also had guests which included the President of the Ski Club and the National Marketing manager of Rolex (I'm guessing at his title but I'm sure I am close). Really nice guy. Dinner started just after 7pm and went on until 10:30 or 11.

Today normally would have been a training day, but it was cancelled to give the racers a break (They didn't want to hurt anyone else before the Olympics apparently). Which was great as it allowed us an extra day to do more testing.

Tomorrow is the first Downhill training day. Always interesting.

The superbowl of Ski Races

After a somewhat quiet break from the end of Lake Louise, I find myself here in Kitzbuhel, Austria for the Super Bowl of Ski races (ok, it was only quiet if you don't count starting an entire kitchen renovation including replacing over 700 square feet of tile---no, I'm not doing it, but I am writing cheques). My trip was much better than the Skunk's, who arrived in Europe during the height of a snow storm. You can read his blog, but just a reminder, it is R rated, but every entertaining.

After leaving Toronto on Thursday night I found myself arriving at the Vella Mellon in Kitzbuhel about 14 hours later. 1 plane (bumped to Executive class) and 5 trains later I finally got to unpack. Cooper and I were met at the door by Herta who runs this wonderful villa.

Dinner was a fine affair as I met up with the rest of the timing crew (except for Jimmy who should arrive on Sunday). Ted, Skunk and Andy got here a few days earlier and got a LOT of things done on the hill, which takes a lot of pressure off for the next few days. Dinner (amazing as it was) dragged on and I finally got to bed about 9pm and the alarm woke me up at 7am. Thanks Penny (melatonin is the secret)!

This morning, as we walked outside, we were met with an absolutely tremendous view of the village of Kitzbuhel. Not a cloud in the ski, and, as there was no wind, the smoke was rising straight up. Just a beautiful view to say the last.

Tomorrow, it is supposed to rain and I am hearing rumors that we might not actually have a training run on Tuesday. That would leave only Wednesday and Thursday for training runs with the SG on Friday, Downhill on Saturday and the Slalom on Sunday.

Todays disappointing part was after I left the hill. I had a chocolate croissant on my brain. After the 10 minute walk to the bakery (got there are 5:30) only to find out it closes at 12:30 on Saturdays. What is up with that?

Some pretty cool software

Been a little quiet around here. With the morning temperature here today being -22C, we are starting to get ready for an entire kitchen renovation. Over 700 sq feet of tile being ripped out as well.

I went looking for some time lapse software, can came across Flix, which should work just fine. Nice, small, efficient package. You can find Flix at http://www.nimisis.com/projects/flix.php.