That's part of the premise of Malcolm Gladwell's book, "Outliers: The Story of Success". People with the right skills and motivation "lucky" enough to born at the right time. He examines everything from the rise of the garment district to Bill Gates. It's a good read if you haven't read it already.

My college roommate and I used the dot com bubble to fund a lot of our drinking. We sold stereos on eBay. In fact, it was a particular stereo with a built in minidisc player - if anyone remembers those. We found some website selling them super cheap. So we would sell them on eBay. When we got payment, we turned around and ordered it from the other site and had it shipped straight to the customer.

We also had a closet full of refurbished radar detectors we sold.

I'm on the opposite side of the tech bubble from most of you. It is again pretty damn easy to get a job in the tech industry if you're willing to work. I graduated with a degree in applied physics from a school with a very good CS program. I'd say of the graduating 110 people or so, probably 50 were going to jobs in the Seattle or SF tech industry. 30 were going to some sort of grad school (most physics, some cs) and 30 didn't know what they were doing yet. Pretty crazy when you think about it, a degree with very little related knowledge moved into working in some part of the software design lifecycle.

Just saw a post on fb about a bike race (crit) in long beach area this weekend. How tf are there already races? It's october, right?

I hurt my back about 8 years ago and have a nerve thing going one where I can't do a heal strike. I was a painful ~6:15 mile @ 50 before that (could do that for 10K in 20s). Dr. said I was too big (I know why) and shouldn't run again. I went to forefoot running. I sure wish I had known about forefoot running before. I took my daughter to it and she cut :20 off a mile time in a week. It is just so much better on the body. I run about 15 miles weekly forefoot. Great stuff.

How did you get into a civil engineering program with poor grades?

They do an upgrade crit series down there through December. I think 3 races total???

Its in Compton, an Upgrade series during the offseason. Been going on for years. SCNCA is actually down this year in off season races, we used to have others as well.

We have a 4 month offseason, but there are probably 5-6 races during that time and a full CX calendar.

When I was in high school the book Born to Run came out. This book highly advocates for barefoot, "natural" running. With that book came a huge minimalist movement in the running shoe industry. I had friends running all sorts of distances in the vibram shoes (5 finger) and the New Balance Minimus. At this same time, my coach (who has become a great friend and really guided me towards the lifestyle I currently live) noticed a marked increase in stress fractures for high school runners.

The industry more or less then over corrected and went to the types of shoes that are popular for Middle of the pack triathletes now a days. These big, bulky, comfort shoes(look up the Hoka line).

The consensus I've always heard is the faster you get, the more forward you should be. Sprinters only run on their toes. Most mid distance runners (up to 10k) are still on their toes. At the marathon it's mostly midfoot strikers. The way to tell without watching is to check out the way the shoes are shaped. Look at spikes for the track and the top of the line marathon shoes (nike 4%). Notice the heel-toe drop.


I've always been a mid foot runner. No choice, just the way I went once I found a pair of shoes that my feet could stand. I sprint on my toes (end/start of a race) and run well in mid distance / xc spikes, but mid foot kept me away from any injuries for my whole high school career which is pretty much unheard of where I come from, even for great athletes (not me).

Getting a little excite about my interview Tuesday at Trek. I had another phone interview on Friday for another position with a different hiring manager in another department..I got a revised schedule for Tuesday that added 2 people to the list.

You got this, man!

Spent the afternoon making some hot sauce. First time trying to do this. Any tips for getting a sauce to thicken up? I'm a big fan of the ending heat, but would like it to have a bit more thickness, because as it is, it's basically a marinade.

honestly, people buying low-cost stereo equipment on eBay is not something i associate with the dot-com era. :)


i used to walk daily past the home of Craig (of Craigslist) in San Francisco on my way to public transit. he lived one street over and one block down. pretty cool guy.

yep, many people in print media struggled to find how to add value in a changing world. same could be said of bike shops.

That's awesome. Departments fighting over you is a great sign. What kind of positions are they?

One is an accounting position (all of my experience) and the other is more of a financial analyst position (what I want to do, my degrees are in finance)

corn starch

I keep bringing this discussion back to triathlon (sorry) but I just saw on strava from someone back home that competed at IM Louisville today. Averaged 100W for the 6 hour bike. 19 miles per hour on 100 watts with 6000 feet of evelation over 112 miles. I'm actually super impressed at that.

Does it require relocating to Wisconsin?

I guess one cant flunk fully out of a community college. Just kinda gave up and failed everything the last semester I did. Got A's the first 2 semesters. Plus I did undergrad at ASU. Just sign up, pay, go.

what size rider?

is the course out-and-back?

I'm not @Ttoc6, but my guess is that it would've been a small, petite woman. I can't see a guy having done that at that power. I've been wrong before, though.

It would mean a move to Wisconin

You might find this video interesting:

Basically, we all used to walk forefoot first, but the advent of rigid soles allowed us to start walking on our heels.

I should add, that was in the days before PayPal, when payment was sent by money order and every purchase was a gamble.

Last I saw her, she was pretty small lady.

Course was a lollipop. Out, 2 loops and back. No real climbs, just altitude accumulation from rollers from what I can tell on strava.

I also just can't imagine pedaling at 100w for 6 hours. I'd fall asleep without music or something.