James M. Donohoe

"We don't do it that way here."

2011-10-21T19:57:00.000-07:00

"We don't do it that way here."

"We've always done it this way."
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Like nails on a chalkboard (do those still exist?).

Prior success reinforces the belief that future success will be assured when doing things the same way we have always done them.

It's comfortable. It's easy.

When a company, organization, tribe, marriage, person, whatever-- stops challenging itself and the environment around it, myopia creeps in and decision making is compromised.

Complacency. Denial. Fear.

Change is scary but without it there is no growth.

What are you doing the same way you have always done it? Why?

I ride for people like Michelle because they cannot.

2011-09-06T16:45:00.000-07:00

Michelle is the mother of a kid I coached in baseball a few years back. She shared her story with me when I was doing this ride back in 2005. Some mornings she just lies in bed until her legs will start working and she can get up and move around.

In a couple of weeks on September 17 and 18 I will be riding in the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Waves to Wine Bike Ride to raise money and awareness for people like Michelle.

I ride for people like Michelle because they cannot...

Please help me raise money for the fight against Multiple Sclerosis.
http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/donohoe

Will you please help me to end the disease of Multiple Sclerosis?

2011-08-19T15:27:00.000-07:00

How many of us take for granted the ability to go out and jump on a bike or strap on our walking shoes for a quick stroll around the neighborhood? Unfortunately, there are many for whom just getting up in the morning is a struggle.

Multiple Sclerosis a chronic disease of the central nervous system affecting the brain and spinal cord. Researchers are making progress, but the cause and cure are still out of reach. It is estimated that over 2.5 million people are affected by MS and every week approximately 200 people are diagnosed - or about one every hour.

Next month on September 17 and 18, I will be joining over 2000 cyclists riding in the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Waves to Wine Bike Ride to help raise awareness and money to help end this terrible disease.

Please visit the Multiple Sclerosis Society website to make a donation in my name today:
http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/donohoe

Any amount you feel comfortable giving - even just a "Good luck, James!" - is deeply appreciated. With your support, we can make a positive impact in the lives of the men, women, and children living with multiple sclerosis.

Kindest regards,

// James Donohoe //
Please help me raise money for the fight against Multiple Sclerosis.
http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/donohoe

Rockhopper Classic 2011 MTB race report

2011-05-08T22:58:00.000-07:00

The Rockhopper Classic MTB race is back after disappearing in the mid-90s.

Quick overview: A mix of singletrack and fire road with short steep climbs.
Date: Saturday, May 7, 2011
Total riders: 212 starting, 182 finished (I think 253 signed up?)
Results: http://timeyourrace.com/Rockhopper/2011/Results.htm
Distance/Elevation: Each lap is 9.5 miles with ~1600 feet of climbing.
Website: http://www.monticellocycling.org/rockhopper.html

Good: Challenging course, clear course markings, excellent spectator viewing.
Bad: One minute intervals between groups is not enough. Not a ton of places to pass cleanly.

I had never ridden at Lagoon Valley Park before so I was not sure what to expect. As we pulled up to the park, I thought that the hills did not look too difficult but looks are deceiving. I entered CAT2/Sport which meant two laps. My realistic goal was 2:15 with a hopeful goal of going under two hours.

The intervals between classes were one minute and they clumped all CAT2 racers together. It was halfway through the first lap before things opened up enough for clean passes. The downhill sections were especially annoying and I ended up going off course a few times to make some passes.

Making a pass on the first lap.

Races with multiple loops that come through the start/finish are always a mind trip and this was no different. After finishing the first lap in 1:01, I was pretty smoked. My heart rate monitor had been hovering between 5.2 and 5.4 - basically anaerobic - and I knew my goal of breaking two hours was not going to happen. I would have been happy to go get my burrito and call it a day but I pressed on of course.

Pushing hard to make up time.

During the second lap the wind kicked up and made the course more difficult. I estimated ~20 MPH with 30+ MPH gusts on top of the hills. On a few of the trails my front wheel kept getting pushed around and I had to lean into the wind to keep from falling over. Since the racers had spread out and the CAT3 folks were off the course, passing was a little easier. About 1:35 into the race my legs started giving me signals that cramping was imminent and I backed off my effort and kept my heart rate in zone 5.0-5.2. The muscle cramps kicked in hard about ten minutes later and the last fifteen minutes were pretty painful but thankfully the last part of the course is mostly downhill or flat.

I crossed the line at 2:08 according to my GPS making my second lap six minutes slower at 1:07 giving me 15th out of 26 racers with 5 DNFing (Did Not Finish).
Garmin GPS export: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/84304161
Endomondo: http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/iHpVebTNzYw

Looking at the pictures my lovely bride took I realized just how easy it was for spectators to watch a big part of the race without having to run all over the place. Definitely spectator friendly.

Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/james.donohoe.picasaweb/201158RockhopperClassicMTB#
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-PGhe_Lktc

Approaching the finish line lap

Yep, I'll be back next year to break two hours!

Hey Starbucks, I just want a cup of coffee!

2010-02-19T11:34:00.000-08:00

It took me 20 minutes to get a cup of coffee at Starbucks last night. I drink decaf generally, and certainly in the evening or I am up all night. Starbucks has recently changed their policy on brewing decaf after lunch time (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=aOvUsHxFSAeM&pid=20601082), and I get why but geez - 20 minutes?

So I wrote them a little letter and submitted it on their website.

===================Letter to Starbucks===================

Background:

Recently (starting in January?), the stores I frequent in the San Ramon/Dublin/Pleasanton California area have stopped brewing decaf coffee after lunch time. I get that there was wasted coffee and this was done to cut costs - I have no issue with that and support the fiscal responsibility. The initial response was to offer to brew a full pot of decaf or an Americano for the same price. Brewing a full pot takes about 5-6 minutes and the Americano takes 2-3 based on my experience. While it was a minor inconvenience and added an extra 2-3 minutes to my visit, I felt that offering an Americano was a reasonable solution.

Problem:

Lately the stores have opted to try and brew a single cup with some hot water and a stand-alone filter contraption. The results have been disappointing. It now takes an extra 5-10 minutes to get what used to be accomplished in under 30 seconds AND the quality of the coffee is very poor. On more than one occasion I have found my beverage to be undrinkable and asked for a new one. This results in a suggestion of an Americano (the ORIGINAL solution), and another few minutes to get that going. Last night it took TWENTY minutes to get a cup of decaf coffee and there was no one in line. This has happened twice in the last week at two different stores.

Observation:

The Starbucks employees I have encountered are doing their best but are frustrated and lacking leadership direction with this new change. They want to do the right thing but are not sure what that is and they seem very embarrassed by this.

Solution:

Offer an Americano at the same price as drip decaf coffee. This would give clear direction to your employees, provide a reasonably efficient solution from a financial perspective, and improve your customer service.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Regards,

-James Donohoe

===================Letter to Starbucks===================

Maybe I will get a response. Maybe I will stop going to Starbucks..?

I'm raising money and riding in the Multiple Sclerosis 150 bike ride again! Will you join me?

2009-08-19T07:29:00.000-07:00

I am signed up to ride in the MS 150 again this year. Just a fantastic ride and for a great cause. If you are reading this, I hope you can help us reach our goal this year - it will be tough.

Below is the email I sent out this morning with my plea for help. Will you join me?

Every hour someone is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a chronic disease of the central nervous system affecting the brain and spinal cord. When I talk to one of the 400,000 people who have the disease of Multiple Sclerosis, I realize how much I take for granted. MS does not care if you are a man or a woman, what your race is, whether your parents had it, or how old you are. The disease can strike anyone.

On September 12 & 13, I will be riding 150 miles in the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Waves to Wine Bike Ride to help raise awareness and money to help end this terrible disease.

I have ridden in this event for several years and seen directly the people we have helped - it really makes a difference.

Our goal this year is to raise $1.75MM and we are only a third of the way there today. Even $5 or $10 is helpful!

I recognize that this is a tough year for many so if you can donate a few dollars, that would be appreciated.

Please visit the Multiple Sclerosis Society website to make a donation in my name today:
http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/jamesmdonohoe

The joy of painting the house

2009-01-10T13:52:00.000-08:00

So we finally got off of our duffs and started painting the inside of the house. Kim and Josh are in charge of this while I am the voice of reason in color choice. Purple? Really?

The big pain has been all of the prep work but since Josh is off from school until the end of January, he gets this "opportunity" to excel. Heh.

You can see all of the pictures here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jdonohoe/200911PaintingTheInsideOfTheHouse#

Train of Lights with the family

2008-12-12T06:43:00.000-08:00

Wednesday we embarked on a family evening of dinner and a ride on the Train of Lights:
http://www.ncry.org/

It was a good time all around. We started with a stop for dinner at Bosco's Bones and Brew:
http://www.boscosbonesandbrew.com/
At bit on the pricey side for what you get. Their big claim to fame is a dog that was mayor once and its replica urinates beer. Hey, what do you expect? It's Sunol!

The train ride was pretty cool - starting in Sunol and heading down to Fremont and back via the Niles Canyon Railway. The experience is probably geared more towards smaller kids (Santa makes an appearance), but the boys had a great time. Josh only spent maybe 10 minutes of the trip texting people and Kyle made the observation that "This would be a cool place to pop the question." Umm, dude, you are 14, hang tight for a few more years please!

If you go, get there early (30 minutes should be good), so you can get a good seat. I suggest sitting outside (kind of the whole point of the ride in my opinion), but bring a blanket and warm clothes for sure. Gloves and hats would be good.

More pictures and a couple of videos here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jdonohoe/20081210TrainOfLights#

Soccer tournament pictures - Vallejo

2008-08-29T15:27:00.000-07:00

Some pictures over the two previous weekends where we had our a$$es handed to us multiple times. Kyle still had fun. Josh's season does not start for another few weeks - more pics to follow then.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jdonohoe/20080817VallejoSoccerTournament_Kyle

Santa Cruz Mountains Challenge - 100 Mile Bike Ride

2008-07-28T15:05:00.000-07:00

Saturday some friends and I did the Santa Cruz Mountains Challenge - a 100 mile bicycle ride, also called a "century ride" in cycling circles.
The cast of characters on this journey were: John, Devin, Chad, Guy, Rusha, and myself.

Here's the official website:
http://www.santacruzcycling.org/scmc/

The course was described as 100 miles with 11,000 feet of climbing but my GPS must have been off a bit as I showed close to 17,000 feet of climbing total.
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6373947

The ride was definitely challenging, the heat a bit annoying, the climbing on the painful side, but the descending was AWESOME as I brushed against and then over the 50MPH mark a few times.

The food and fluid support was pretty darn good though I did find it a bit odd that an event sponsored by Clif products had PowerBars at the water stops... I would like to have seen the course marked a bit better as we almost missed a few turns and had to really look for the arrows painted on the ground.

Congrats to Chad for completing his first century and
MAJOR congratulations to Guy and Rusha for their wedding in about three weeks!

Downieville Classic MTB Race

2008-07-15T21:38:00.000-07:00

The Downieville Classic Mountain Bike Race was this past weekend and it was a blast!
Chad and I made the journey in Kim's mini-van (yeah, two guys in a mini-van - chicks dig it ya know?), stayed in a crystal meth house, rode over 40 miles of sweet trails, drank some beer, met some great people, did not crash, did not have a mechanical, and I got a podium spot!

We both took Friday off and left in the AM to beat the traffic.

3-1/2 hours later, we arrived in Downieville and did an initial recon of the area. Much smoke was the order of the afternoon with all of the fires in the California area. Race packet pickup was not until 3PM so we headed to our lodging to see if we could check in early. After we found the place (Kokanne Kabins in Sierra City), we were having second thoughts. The place has seen better days for sure but Terri was nice as could be and told us it would be about another hour before our Kabin was ready. Back to Downieville to pick up our race packets and figure out what the plan for the weekend would be.

Food was the next order of business so we stopped and ate at the Grubsteak Saloon in town, owned by Mary and her husband. Mary was the nicest lady and gave us some great contacts for next year's lodging.

Some of the vendors were setting up their tents so we took a moment to check what was going on there and then headed back to our humble abode to prepare for the next day's contest.
Saturday came much too quickly but at least the smoke had cleared a bit and visibility was improved. We decided to ride our bikes the 1.8 miles to the start of the XC (Cross Country), race which started in Sierra City. The XC race was a 29 mile grueling ride to the top of Sierra Crest at 7100 feet of elevation (3100 foot gain), and then descending down 5200 feet back to Downieville. My Garmin Forerunner 305 gave slightly different results than what was officially posted with ~27 miles total and 6400 feet of total climbing and 7800 feet of descending. I managed to complete the course in just over 3 hours - about an hour slower than the pro class! Chad beat me by about a minute - phucker. After the race, we hung out, drank some beer and and checked out the different vendor tents.

Off to the Kabin to rinse off and get some clean clothes before putting some dinner in our bodies.
Yes that is dirt all over my arms and face - sexy eh?

Enjoying some well-earned frosty beverages after our effort on Saturday!

Sunday was pain. Chad and I were pretty smoked from Saturday's effort but soldiered onward. Fortunately, we expected Sunday to be a bit more than an hour and not the three hours from Saturday. As I took off from the start gate, I realized just how little I had in the tank - legs were rubber and arms were just somehow attached to my trunk but offering little else. The offical course stats were 17 miles for the DownHill with 5000+ feet of descending joy. My GPS said ~14 miles with 6400 feet of descent. Much of the course was similar to Saturday so at least I had an idea of what to expect but I still struggled quite a bit. Exactly an hour later, I arrived in Downieville, spent but happy I had given it my all.

Apparently my "all" was about 10 seconds short of second place but third place seemed assured - or so I thought. I guess there was a mixup and I was given fourth place during the awards ceremony. The final times posted today show me listed in third place by over 16 minutes. No worries, hopefully the folks at Yuba Expeditions will get me squared away.

So, lessons learned - full body armor might be overkill for the course, stay in Downieville rather than further out, do more hill work to prepare for the race, try to ride the course at least once before the race. Yeah, we will be back next year.

Here are links to pictures and GPS output:

All pictures of the weekend:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jdonohoe/20080713DownievilleClassicMTB

GPS for XC race
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6242659

GPS for DH race
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6242660

Evil Dead the musical

2008-07-10T19:37:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I took the family to see Evil Dead, the musical. Go See It!

Even though my family had not see the Evil Dead movies, they had seen Army of Darkness and enjoyed it.
Everyone laughed all through the musical, it was great! Caution to those with children, there are a few F-bombs. The musical covered the story of Evil Dead but had quite a few of the classic lines from the Army of Darkness movie which was great. Our tickets were in the "Splatter Zone" and we were not disappointed in the result. There were big faucets on either side of the stage and during the "gore" scenes, SuperSoakers and a bucket make an appearance as well. Our seats were in the second row (table 101), and we got some "blood" on us but the first row was absolutely soaked.

Go here for tickets:
http://www.willowstheatre.com/evildead.htm

Carmel trip with the family

2008-04-25T20:09:00.000-07:00

At the end of March during the boys' spring break, we took a little trip to Carmel - our first time there. Going during the week was great as the traffic was almost non-existent and things were very quiet. We found a place (The Hosfas House), which took dogs so we brought Zoe of course.

Zoe found a "little" stick to play fetch in the ocean.

Monday and Tuesday we went hiking in Garland Regional Park.
You can see the GPS output by clicking on the days: Monday and Tuesday.
Both days were pretty heavy hiking for the family, especially Tuesday, but everyone did well.

Where's Kyle? Kyle was running a hiding from us but I turned and barely caught him and his big smile, with Josh and Kim out of focus.

Each day after hiking, we went to the beach and let Zoe run crazy. We were a little concerned that she might not like the waves but she actually body-surfed a few of them when she was fetching the ball.

Kyle whipping his slave, Josh. Not really but it looks that way from the angle.

Carmel was definitely a fun time and I expect we will go back though sans kids next time.

My favorite picture from the trip...

For all of the pictures from the trip, click here.

Solvang Century Bike Ride

2008-03-18T21:21:00.000-07:00

Catching up on my world here...

I did my first "century" bike ride back in March.
Yes, 100 miles
Yes, all at once.
I had never been to Solvang and a some buddies of mine from Chevron that I had ridden with previously invited me along at the last minute to come and hurt for about six hours and change.

We (John, Dan, and myself), left the SF Bay Area Friday afternoon in order to miss the bulk of the traffic which was a smart move and arrived in Solvang before dinner time. We met up with Don who was coming up from SoCal and tried to find some dinner. After a nice walk around Solvang for about an hour (working up a good appetite), we settled for a breakfast and lunch place that was serving dinner due to the large bicycle crowd. All you can eat spaghetti sounded like a great idea at the time. It took a bit of convincing to get our fill of all we could eat but we ended up leaving full and happy.
Saturday morning came much too early but we rolled our happy butts our of bed and proceeded through the fog and the cold to the starting line. It was probably about an hour after we left the starting line before I could put on my sunglasses due to all of the fog we rode through.
Solvang is beautiful, click here for some pictures of my friends and I in action
Part-way through the ride, I stopped to grab some pictures of the guys and when I started again, I pulled the classic noob maneuver and failed to clip in correctly. BLAM on my ass I went. Of course a friend from work, John Rhodes, happened to be riding by and saw my humiliation. Oh joy. We rode together for a bit before I took off to catch up with my Chevronite friends, flatting almost immediately of course! After fixing my bike, I was off again and caught up with them at the next rest stop.

The GPS data dump from my ride is available, just click here.
The numbers looked like this:
6,736 feet of climbing
100.58 miles of riding
6hrs, 20mins of total riding time
15.9 MPH average
49.8 MPH top speed!!!

After one of the rest stops, I forgot to kick my GPS back on so I missed capturing the worst climbing of the ride and some of the downhill after that so the distance is a touch short but close enough.

As a reward, the four of us found a nice Italian place for dinner and began the denial phase of how fast we were (not!), and how we could improve for next year.

So bottom line, how was it? Good fun! I will do it again next year if it fits into my training schedule.

Golden Gate bridge and the Haight

2008-02-29T18:04:00.000-08:00

Kim claimed she had never been across the Golden Gate Bridge - what a horrible husband I must be! I took Kim and the kids to walk across the GG bridge and learn a little bit about how our military defended the entrance to the bay years ago. We parked at the Fort Point National Historic Site on the SF side and made our ~2 mile trek across the bridge. After building up our appetites, we headed to the Haight for some food and people watching.

Golden Gate Bridge Pictures

The fam with the GG bridge in the background

Some birds surfing under the bridge on driftwood

Another shot of the fam with the bridge in the background

Haight Pictures

The green dinosaur on Haight Street

A quick stop by "Coffee to the People"

The rest of the pictures are online, just click here.

Baseball season is upon us once again

2008-02-29T17:47:00.001-08:00

Kyle is back in baseball again this year, big surprise!
I grabbed a few shots of him at practice a few weeks ago.

LeMans Karting with the kids

2008-01-29T21:23:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday, Kim and I took the kids to LeMans Karting in Fremont and they had a great time. Check out the pictures here. The program is a new experiment for LeMans as I understand it. Previously they had a 30 minute class and then let the kids loose on the course. The new program is two hours long and consists of a 30 minute class with a test followed by ~60 minutes on the track with a walk of the course, individual, and group driving. Lastly a sprint race and a pizza lunch to finish it off. During one of track sessions, the instructors pulled a kid off the course and removed him from the class since he just did not have the skills to command his kart. I was pretty jazzed to see that they wanted to have decent drivers rather than just anyone willing to pay the entrance fee. Kim and I spent some time chatting with Rick, who owns LeMans with his wife, June. I walked away with the feeling that this is both a business and a passion of Rick's which is great to see.

For those of you not familiar with this type of go-karting, this is a very different animal than the regular go-karts you may have ridden previously in your misspent youth. These karts will hit 40MPH on the straights if you can set up for the turns correctly. Some of you have been to the old SpeedRing in Santa Clara (maybe even with me!), and this is close but those karts were ~6hp and the LeMans karts are ~9hp. The class was only for kids so Kim and I did not get to drive, (though Kim really wanted to do it). They were booked up for about the next 7 hours after we finished the class so we passed on doing a "family run" but will be back one weeknight evening to try our luck.

First race of the 2008 season

2008-01-21T21:24:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday was my first race of the 2008 season and I chose to compete in the TBF Racing Mountain Bike Kickstart in the Granite Bay area. I entered the "sport" division and I managed to place 5th in my age group which was pretty stellar in my book. The results are here.

The race was just balls out as I spent just over 95% of the race above my anaerobic threshold. You can follow my ride here from my GPS watch which includes heart rate, speed and distance.

The course itself was pretty straightforward with minimal technical challenges. The weather was cold and a bit damp which helped with the traction on the trails. I took the opportunity to try out some semi-slick tires and I will not be doing that again. I use more brute force than finesse around the corners and I was pushing my front end too hard for the tires to grab. Lesson learned - they work great for fire roads but not anything more difficult than that.

I tried out my new video camera by mounting on the handlebars and that did not work out very well. Lots of scrambled video and garbled sound. It presented better/smoother video when I was riding down smooth trails so next time I will try mounting it to my helmet and see if that provides better results.

All in all, a great day.

Hike in Sunol

2008-01-19T19:19:00.000-08:00

A buddy and I went for a hike in Sunol-Ohlone Regional Park (link) with the dogs up to Flag Hill. Grabbed some nice pictures here. A much better way to spend my day off than the list of "honey-dos" I have stacking up around the house.

Happy birthday to me!

2008-01-19T19:15:00.000-08:00

The life I have today is pretty darn amazing with so much to be grateful for, what else can I say?

Multiple Sclerosis ride pic

2008-01-03T13:26:00.001-08:00

I was catching up on my old email and came across this picture of me from the Waves 2 Wine Multiple Sclerosis this past September 29-30. I am looking MUCH too serious for a charity ride eh? I raised $1,050 myself and the the Chevron team I rode with raised $20,650 which is awesome!
People often ask me why I ride as hard and much as I do. The simple answer is because I can - I have no excuse not to ride. When I participate in a ride for multiple sclerosis, cancer, Challenged athletes, etc, it brings home what it would be like to not be able to ride. Sure, there are days when it is cold, wet and I have had two flat tires and still have another 20 miles to get home. Usually I can stop whining to myself long enough to remember that riding is a privilege many others will never or can no longer experience.
Some might call that gratitude...

I like goats... and spaceships

2007-12-04T09:34:00.000-08:00

Disappointing Disneyland

2007-11-30T17:47:00.001-08:00

So the fam went to Disneyland last week. Our last trip was in 2002 I
believe. We spent Monday/Tuesday there, avoiding the crowds for
Thanksgiving and got back in time to enjoy the rest of the week. The kids
each brought a friend and had a good time. We hit both Disneyland proper
and California Adventure.

So why was it disappointing? Kim and I were chatting about this on the
second day and trying to figure what was different. Something was just off.
We started rattling off the problems we saw and came to the conclusion that
Disneyland might be starting to lose its focus on detail and customer
service. Many of the costumes were dirty and a bit ragged and some of the
rides could use a bit of attention. Disneyland just had it 50th anniversary
a couple of years ago so I would have guessed things would be pretty
tight... Not so much. But the biggest problem? Attitude, and not from the
park patrons. As we walked through the gates, around the park, through the
security check points, etc, very few of the Disney folks were smiling. I am
just not sure why that is. My theory is that the last few times we went,
the job market was tight and people were happy just to have a job. This
time, unemployment is not too bad and people are less concerned about losing
their jobs. One of the guys at work suggested that maybe people are working
there to make payments on their subprime loans and just pissed about it.
Who knows. Just a bit sad to see.

See the gallery link to the left for some pictures of the trip.

CEO Exchange TV show

2007-08-01T20:41:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across an interesting show the other day called CEO Exchange that
airs on PBS. From what I have seen so far, it showcases two CEOs and
interviews them individually in a talk show format and then brings them both
together towards the end of the show. The one I watched had Sony's CEO, Sir
Howard Stringer and Best Buy's CEO, Brad Anderson.

The link to the show is here: CEO Exchange -

http://www.pbs.org/wttw/ceoexchange/episodes/thisseason.html#507
It has the video for them individually but does not have the video for the
two of them together. You can still read the full transcript however.

I remember reading that Sony had hired its first non-Japanese CEO but had
not really paid much attention. This guy has a really great sense of humor
- talking about the Sony stores and the relationship with big retailers like
Best Buy and music business in general:
"So the relationship is not hostile anymore and the truth is, we can learn a
lot about, for example, the packaged goods business, the music and DVD
business is under stress. We make them and Brad sells them. And you all
steal them (laughter). I had to go there didn't I, didn't I? (laughter) So
the relationship is much more helpful than it is adversarial."

Brad Anderson was talking about his experience in going from a meek
salesperson to running the original store of what would become Best Buy.
Basically saying that you cannot tell what an employee's contribution is
going to be based on an initial impression. Every person has a contribution
to make, it is just a matter of figuring out what that contribution is and
finding a way to use it. It seems like that is the job of a good manager.

One tidbit from the show that I really liked was a comment Howard String
made on career paths today.
"But one of the things that is worth, I think remembering, is you ought to
always look like the job you are doing is the job you always wanted. And
you treat it that way. No matter how humble."
Sage advice in my opinion...

One of the most amazing people I have had the privilege to work with...

2007-07-21T15:50:00.001-07:00

I had the privilege of working with this young man on two occasions as we
grew a couple of fantastic teams a few years ago.

http://dalf.livejournal.com/169478.html

This is one of those people that you get to know and ask why did HE have to
get cancer?
Another reminder that life is truly not fair.

Nice long bike ride through the bay area

2007-06-17T18:55:00.001-07:00

Today some friends and I took a nice long (4+ hours), bike ride through
various parts of the bay area. I have not done much in the way of "long"
stuff this year due to hand and knee injuries so it was nice to get out and
push it a bit. The ride started out with two flat tires by yours truly so I
was not feeling real warm and fuzzy about this. One patch, one tube and
three CO2 cartridges later, life was looking much better. That tire is
going in the trash tonight! We went through parts of Berkeley, Orinda,
Moraga, Pleasant Hill, Lafayette, as well as wending our way through Tilden,
Joaquin Miller, Redwood, and Briones parks. 55+ miles and a max speed of
51.8 MPH - oh HELL yeah!

Click below to see the whole shebang.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/email/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=71388&unitSystemPkValue=2&episodePk.pkValue=3048844

I had been on a few of the roads but most of the ride was new to me which
was a nice change. At the end of the ride, I was glad it was over but I
still felt like I had something left and could have gone a bit longer.

Mountain bikers are not evil!!!

2007-05-30T14:58:00.001-07:00

Here's an interesting article challenging the perceived damage that mountain
bikers cause the environment.
Basically the study says that hikers cause the same amount of damage to the
environment as mountain bikers and horses are the worst offenders.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/sports_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_83_5560106,00.html

Reading the article, I was reminded of the statement "In the absence of
truth, we make up stories."
That sure seems to be the case in this emotionally charged issue.

Witness to a random act of kindness...

2007-05-20T00:04:00.001-07:00

Who says polite people do not exist?

Tonight my younger son and I were riding the BART home from the Oakland A's game, (they beat the Giants), and at one of the stops, a young father got on carrying his little girl.

My son and I were standing so we had nothing to offer in the way of seating but some young man (an A's fan with his banner and related crud), got off his duff, got the attention of the father by calling him "sir" and offered his seat.

A great opportunity to teach my son a "life lesson" for sure.

Who says politeness is dead?

Las Trampas MTB ride - cold, windy and foggy

2007-05-17T19:25:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night after work I got in a quick ride up Las Trampas - a bit over 22 miles. Cold, windy and foggy were the words of the day.

Here's a few seconds of video I snapped where the wind had died down a bit:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jdonohoe/LasTrampasMTBRideVideo

And my route via GPS:

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/email/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=71388&unitSystemPkValue=2&episodePk.pkValue=2743015

The wind was blowing so hard that on the way up it was pushing me over a foot or two and I was leaning over 30 degrees or so just to keep on the trail. The fog was so thick that 20-30 feet was about all the visibility I had. Good times!

I managed to follow the ridgeline and down a trail I had not been on before. I saw a few others worth looking at for next time as well.

More riding this weekend!

Zoe the snake killer

2007-05-16T10:01:00.001-07:00

We live next to a creek and a trail system so snakes seem to find their way into our back yard quite often and my dog, Zoe, hunts them down and then plays with them.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jdonohoe/20070513ZoeTheSnakeKiller

This snake came into our yard this Sunday morning while reading the paper.

To be clear. the snake was not reading the paper, Zoe was reading, I was rolling around in the grass sunning myself.

Zoe's ears perked up and she headed for the fence sniffing the ground with great enthusiasm. When I heard her turning over the river rocks on the edge of our yard, I signaled to my wife inside to bring me my camera so I could catch the "SnakeKiller" in action.

Zoe does not quite understand that the snakes do not enjoy her playing as much as she does as she tosses them up into the air and tries to catch them. She carried this snake around the yard, playing with it in different places. After a short while, the snake played "possum" and Zoe started to prod it with her paw to get it to play more. The snake was done with the play date and Zoe lost interest, heading off to explore her domain for other intruders.