Keyboard security
I was recently testing a software system of a sensitive nature to the extent that the developers had disabled the ctrl-key, alt-key as well as the two shift keys. All was going well until I had to enter a password with uppercase letters. With everything locked down how would you enter the uppercase characters. I recalled a similar system I had test in the past, where the interface was mouse only. In this case, I used the Windows charmap to draft an email character by character. Today, I used charmap once again to enter the uppercase letters and login to the system and do what I had to do. I could understand the need for security but disabling the ctrl, alt and shift keys I thought was going a little to far.
The brief life of a distressed traveller
On a recent business, I had more travel excitement that I would have liked. My travel day started on the west coast of the United States. The first leg of my trip involved flying into a airline hub in the south-eastern states. The flight across the country was uneventful until the pilot announced that we were running out of fuel and were diverting to Spartanburg, NC. Apparently, he didn’t have enough fuel to stay airborne and to wait out the storm. As we landed at Spartanburg, we found that we were among 15 planes that have diverted there. We sat on the ground for an hour before refuelling. It was a bright and sunny day in Spartanburg. Charlotte, NC our final destination was experiencing severe weather with baseball-size hail and a tornado warning in effect. The conditions were so severe that they closed the airport for three hours. We eventually took off and spent a couple of hours flying in wider and wider circles and eventually switched over to flying in figure-eight formations. As were approached Charlotte, the ride got more and more bumpy. It was kind of cool to loose altitude and to sort of float in your seat for a while. As we were taxiing we could see mini-lakes on the runway. Once in the terminal we met a scene of chaos and mayham as hundreds of flight had been cancelled. The re-booking line snaked throughout the terminal. The customer agent at our gate handed out chits with the 1-800 number on it. I rebooked my flight and would fly back to Ottawa on Sunday morning. It was convoluted arrangement, Charlotte to DC to Philadelphia to Ottawa. So, much of the day would be spent in the air. I lucked in and was able to get an affordable hotel room for the night. I attempted to get my luggage but they couldn’t locate it and gave me a distressed traveller kit which contained deodorant, shaving stuff, shampoo, toothpaste and brush and finally a box of Tide laundry detergent. I looked at the box of Tide for a while and decided to setup my own Chinese laundry. I washed my underwear, socks and shirts in the hotel’s bathroom sink and hung everything up on coat hangers.
I got early Sunday morning and felt pleased that the laundry was nearly dry and just needed a touch-up with the hair dryer. The hotel offered a buffet breakfast that helped temper my hungry-man appetite. I caught the airport shuttle back to airport with plenty of time to clear security and have more chilling time at the gate. On a whim, I decided to re-check the flight status only to find it had been cancelled while clearing security. I went to special services to see about being rebooked. I explored the option of flying to Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal. All three destinations had a late evening departure times. I was okay with this as I still had my laptop. I’m not sure what this says about my priorities. My gut told me to ask whether I could get a meal voucher for the day. The customer service agent looked at me for a while and then made a phone call out of the earshot of the other customers. He said that we need to take a walk. This could me good news or bad news. It was good news as he had arranged for a complementary day pass to the airline’s VIP lounge. Before heading off he thanked me and appreciated my professionalism in a difficult situation. This was sweet! For the remainder of the day, I had unlimited coffee, cookies and fruit as well as access to the Masters on a large screen TV. It was fun watching people come and go throughout the day. The flight back north was uneventful and my own pillow was a welcome sight as the clock struck midnight.
Event planning…
The purpose of this entry is to write about an accomplishment that I’m proud of. For the past couple of years, I’ve been involved with my honour society in various roles. This year I was in charge of planning, organizing and running our new member recognition ceremony. It was a big task. I had to invite by email 300 new members. The people at Constant Contact make this chore easier. The next major task was determining many people were planning on attending. Using a combination of GMail and Google’s online spreadsheet software I kept tracking of ever growing number of RSVPs. In the food department, I ordered enough carrot cake for 300 people and in the end only about 10 slices of cake were leftover. A local coffee shop near the university was able to provide us with three large carafes of coffee and more than enough to serve the attendees. The ceremony was held in an ornate auditorium/chapel on the campus of the University of Ottawa. The chapel is high demand so we booked it in the spring. Over the course of a couple of weeks, I drafted the speeches that would be given at the ceremony. The speeches were a little tricky as they would be said in English and then repeated in French. At the last minute, I was asked to add a tribute to a new member that recently passed away. In the end I was able to meet an ambassador which was kind of cool. To save on paper we decided not to print a program this year and used a Powerpoint presentation to project the logos and the agenda for the evening. Much of my Saturday was spent bring all the diverse pieces of the event together in the right order. Some of my fellow executives became involved near the end when it came time to run the event. The event was a success. It’s quite an experience to address an audience of 300 people. I can’t remember the number of times that I practiced the speech. The final chore was to mail out the member certificates for people that couldn’t make the ceremony. This involved buying 250 stamps and putting them on the envelopes and dropping them off at the mail box. So, as I reflect on the past week it feels good to plan, organize and speak to an event of 300 people.
Road race timing innovations…
I recently finished my fifth Baltimore half-marathon and was pleased with the way I ran the hilly and tough course. This year was special as the race was celebrating its tenth anniversary. I was impressed this year by the new timing chips as it required no effort on my part. The timing chip help keep track of your finishing time as well as your mid-race split times. Over the history of the Baltimore marathon, they have used three types of timing chips. The traditional chip is a hard plastic disc that you fasten to your shoe using a plastic tie. At the end of the race a volunteer with wire cutters has to remove it from your shoes. This is a labor intensive operation when you have thousands of people crossing the finish line. Last year, the race used a different approach which was a loop of plastic which you fasten to your shoes laces. At the end of the race you pull it apart and put it in the trash. For both of these chips you have to remember to attach it to your shoes before the race. This year they used a really neat approach. The timing chip was attached to your race bib number. The only effort required was to fasten your bib number before the race and you are ready to go. What will they think of next…
Baltimore half-marathon #6
In less than two weeks, I’ll be heading to Baltimore to run in my 6th Baltimore half-marathon. It is hard to believe. This year is special as the race is celebrating its 10th anniversary. The finishing medal is also heavier. I’m looking forward to the race as training as been going well. Two weeks ago, I did my longest run which was 13.1 mile, the half-marathon distance, and my legs felt good. There was a local half-marathon race in Ottawa that weekend and so I registered at the last minute as friends were doing it. The race carried a bit of a risk and I did wanted to race so hard as to burn my legs out for the Baltimore race. The approach I took was to run very hard when needed and to back off at other points, it was a bit of a balancing act. In two weeks, we’ll see if I got the balance right.
Two for the price of one
A little while ago I bought the Apple iPad and consider it a third platform. Last year, I bought a wireless keyboard to use with my Macbook. It was a breeze to have the laptop and keyboard sync up. When you have a lot of typing to do on the iPad it can get tiresome to be constantly typing on the glass. The magic question was, would I be able to reuse/recycle the wireless keyboard for use with the iPad. My initial attempt failed. I did a quick check of Apple support and found out that the keyboard driver was out-of-date. I used the laptop to upgrade the keyboard and then tried another Bluetooth sync with the iPad. Vola, the iPad detected the keyboard and the problem was solved. Kudos to Apple…
The Earthquake of 2010
It was on a sunny and warm Wednesday afternoon that I sat down to finish writing a briefing on my balcony. I had been driven to the balcony as they had been running the monthly fire alarm tests in the building. I decided to escape to the balcony as a way of getting away from the alarm. Around 2 pm my laptop started to shift on my lap. At the same time, my chair started to shift back and forth. The alarm in the nearby car dealership started to wail. It took me a moment to realize that I was sitting through my first earthquake. There was a brief pause followed by three or four minor aftershocks. I did a quick search of twitter and there was nothing. It was a bit freaky. Later in the afternoon, I headed over to the US Geological survey web site to find that we had received a 5.5 on the Richter scale earthquake having an epicentre 50 mile north of Ottawa. I chided myself a bit when it was all over as I had picked the wrong day to work from home as my office colleagues had been sent home for safety reason. But did I really want to have to take fourteen flights of stairs down the fire escape with a bunch of panicking office workers. I think the balcony was probably the best place to spend an earthquake.
Image courtesy of the US Geological Survey
iPad buying experience
Earlier today(Friday May 28) the Apple iPad make its first appearance in Ottawa at our local Apple store. I thought I would blog my experience of buying it. I knew that I would eventually buy an iPad and was tempted to buy it from Apple online store. The fact that they didn’t allow in store pickup tempted me to wait until this morning to buy it. As I was heading to bed last night, I debated as what time I should get up. When I was in the Apple store last week they mentioned that the mall opens at 6:00AM. I awoke a little after 5:00AM and grabbed a travel mug and a couple of Clif bars and headed out the door. I got to the mall a little after 6:00AM and there was short line which continued to grow. As I waiting I noticed that they turn off the white Apple logo at night. Apple’s complementary Wifi made passing the 90 minute go by quickly. The Apple staff handed out free water and the folks at Starbucks handed out muffins. The planned store opening was 8:30 AM, which is an hour earlier than normal. Our store decided to buck the trend and open at 7:30 AM. At 6:45 AM the blue-shirted Apple staff started to work the crowd to see which of the six models that people wanted to buy. You were given a business card listing which model you were buying in addition to any accessories. The next part I found fascinating. From the internet and Youtube I had seen and heard about the Apple cheers and hype at product launches but seeing it first hand was exciting. They ran down the line and gave everybody High-fives and made multiple passes. It’s not long before you have a sore hand. It was fun. A little after 7:00 AM the white Apple logo was turned and we must be getting close. At this point you could feel the electricity in the crowd. The Apple employees had there “raw-raw” inside the store and then it was time to wait a little while longer. There were TV cameras and reporters capturing the happends. The first person in line had been there since midnight. At 7:30 the first wave was allowed in the store. Each customer was given his own personal shopper who assembled the order. Along the way there were multiple handshakes and backslapping. I grabbed my iPad and headed back for a late breakfast before starting my daily bike commute into the office. I couldn’t resist cracking the package and having a look. Very quickly, I had synced up my mail and calendar and new that the fun of the new toy would have to wait until the end of the day.
Cycling in a dryer
Most days I cycle to work and occasionally I’ll run to the office. Today was a running day. A little after 7:30AM I headed out onto the bike path in my sneakers and reached the office a little after 8:00AM. I headed down to the showers, cleaned up and started my work day. I hang my running/cycling gear in my office. As I was reached over at the end of the day, I noticed my jersey was still damp. The coolness of the office was not enough to dry it out completely. As I put it on it felt wet and clammy. Upon exiting the office, I felt a blast of hot air billowing in from the west. As I pedalled in a westerly direction along the Ottawa River I felt as if I was cycling in a dryer as a wave of hot air would hit me followed by a break then another burst of hot air. I could feel my jersey getting more dry with each burst of air. This would not last long as once I crested a hill I started to sweat again and I back to cycling in a wet jersey.
Groin muscle injury…
Every couple of years, I become very familiar with a given muscle, ligament or tendon in my legs due to an injury. Earlier this month, I pulled two muscles in my groin, the adductor longus(F) and the adductor magnus(H) on my right leg. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been going for aggressive physiotherapy and massages and these sessions are helping me get back to running. These session are so intense that they have been leaving bruises on my leg. I’ve cycling to work daily for just over a month as they cycling is good cross-training for these muscles. As well, I’ve been doing long sessions of indoor rowing machine which are helping to rehab the leg but spending 30 minutes on the rowing machine doesn’t equate to say a 30 minute run outside. It sucks when you get injured but since I haven’t been injured for a while I guess it was time. I’ve been doing some very specialized groin stretches which are strengthening the area. The injury has put a damper on a couple of road races in April that I was hoping to do. The running is coming back slowly with each workout getting progressively long and harder. I long for the day when the muscles are fully healed and I can run carefree.
