Happy Thursday

- Office Downloads

Facebook Phishing

I just got an email from Facebook saying one of my friends sent me a message. It said "Hello" and "Visit:" and it had a link. I won't put it on here but if you are interested, it ended up being routed to fbaction.net DO NOT VISIT! It's not Facebook. They just want your login. I could be wrong, but why risk it, just login to Facebook from Facebook.com.

*update* I've made the change but it's not fbaction.com its FBACTION.NET. fbaction.com is not a threat, thanks 'the cliff'!

Here is Facebook.com

Here is fbaction.net (looks similar...)

Evening Ride

Living in DC makes real trail mountain biking a little more difficult than being away from the city. There are some legit trails nearby and I hate to say it but I have not touched my tire to their soil. It's ok, I'm still getting some pedal time in but it seems the only trail time I get is the Delaware singletrack I hit up with brother when I visit family.

My latest bike "training" regimen (just something to get my butt used to the saddle again and get my legs prepped) is riding from my apartment in Old Town Alexandria to Mount Vernon. I think it's about 10 miles or somewhere around there, I forgot to check my bike computer but either way, its a nice paved "trail" through the woods and along the Potomac and it doesn't really seem to get too boring because theres always something to look at.

Something I really find great enjoyment in is hunting down roadies while I'm on my mountain bike. Sneaking up and blowing past always feel really good, especially if their in spandex too. Let me point out that I wear spandex as well though, but if they are all geared up and on a road bike, shouldn't they be fast?

Anyway, I just started my ride and I was still on the road, waiting to go under the Woodrow Wilson Bridge then up a steepish hill alongside of it and really get onto the Mount Vernon Trail. I saw this roadie ahead of me and I thought I would make it my goal to catch him.

I like to do that when I run or bike... making little games really helps to not feel tired or get bored. Most athletes have a little game they play or something they think about to not focus on pain or what not.

So, here I am tracking this guy down, he beats me to the underpass so I figure I'll try and catch him on the uphill. I just started my ride so I'm feeling fairly strong and he may not be. As I turn the corner to start the hill, I see him and another roadie. That other guy is struggling so I add him to my list. I get to the top just a few bike lenghts behind them and instead of sitting, I gear up and mash to take over the new roadie.

I flew by him as the first little downhill section started and now had my crosshairs right on my original target. Moving in for the kill, I have to wait because of a narrow bridge and some runners. But I store some adrenaline for times like this, don't give it all, just a teeny tiny bit. I get up on his rear wheel and then shoot around, slingshot style, careful to demotivate him enough to keep from trying to draft and re-slingshot. I look down, we're both going around 18 mph (mostly because of the downhill, on my MTB I can usually only sustain 16 in normal conditions but spurts higher aren't unusual).

After a few second, I look back, hes not close. I won! That's how I see it anyway, but I now he may want revenge. I get cocky and even though my goal was an easy trip to Mount Vernon, I'll race this guy till I run out gas. I'm not ready to give up the yellow jersey just yet.

I look back again, hes gotten real close, within a bike length, so I'm kinda spooked and push it again, trying to put some distance between us. Well, whatever I did, it worked, he was back where was before. But we did this cat and mouse for a while until all of a sudden he was drafting me and and starting to pass on my left.

Now, this is what I think happened. At the end of my run/ride I like to pick a person or an object ahead and just sprint to it as fast as I possibly can and treat it as the last seconds of a race. I think that's what he was doing because after he tried to pass I never saw him again and we came up on a parking lot so I bet he was finishing up.

Ok, hes starting to pass. How did I not even see him get closer?! Oh well, no time to think about it. I wasn't going to pull away sitting down and even though you lose efficiency standing, I had to. I was just about out of fuel from racing and my max was being pushed so that if he challenged me one more time I would probably have to concede but he doesn't know that! Poker face right?! So I stand up and gear up and just pump. Pulling on the handlebars feeling like I was ripping the bike apart I finally gained some real distance.

He's got nothing on me. And that was the last I saw of him. He got beat by a dude on an mountain bike with a full camelbak (3 liters of water, tube, patch kit, tire levers, 2 sets of tools, a gerber multi tool, my gerber lmf knife, wallet, and jacket).

The rest of the ride to Mount Vernon was very uneventful, just cruising, nodding to runners/walkers/cyclists and even a pair of windsurfers enjoying the relatively warm weather. It was downright oppressive the day before but the weather for this ride was great.

At the very end of the ride, there is a small hill and then a steep hill to the parking lot atop Mount Vernon. I was just going to keep a steady pace and stay in my saddle until I head a clickety clack behind me. Another roadie was passing me. I was too out of it to put up a fight and let him pass. Then I stayed on his tail best I could but then I saw the top of the lot, I had to beat him! Just another gear up and standup and I was gone! Left him in the dust! Ok, maybe just a few inches, but thats only because I had to pass him in such little time.

Then I just tooled around the lot for a sec, trying to get my breath back and drink some water. Turning my wheel back towards where I just came, I knew there were some killer downhills waiting for me as well as a hot meal my wife was taking care of to have ready for me when I got home.

A great day.

Bad Guys Die, Hostage Rescued [Guest Post]

On the subject of pirates... someone want to buy me this shirt? Navy Seal Sniper Pirate T-Shirt

AP Photo

My Dad posted this on his blog and I really wanted to post the same here. Very true stuff and certainly something that should be passed on. Enjoy, and check out his blog for more great stuff: Onesimus3

"What great news! A victim/hostage has been rescued. And the perpetrators received the consequence of their actions.

Now, I am sure that there is going to be some pundit somewhere who is going to criticize the USA for being such a monster when it comes to handling international affairs. And so let's keep things in perspective, Captain Richard Phillips was trying to earn a living delivering humanitarian aid to African people. He was not intending to do anyone harm, just doing his job which included providing help to others in need. Nothing he did was intended to provoke 4 men bent on doing evil. These were 4 thugs who deserved what they got.

Contrary to contemporary world culture and even American society, Evil people should be punished for their actions. They are violating not only American law, and possibly international law, but most importantly God's law. Galatians 6:7 states that "God will not be mocked- a man will reap what he sows. If he sows to the flesh he will reap destruction."

For too long now we have been excusing evil, wrong behavior, and sin, It was only a month ago when a pastor was shot and killed in Illinois and the press tried to link the murder to the shooter suffering from Lyme Disease. Pulease! There is evil in our world. And evil reared its ugly head 5 days ago off the coast of the Horn of Africa.

And although the Bible tells us that "God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, He much prefers that they turn from their evil ways" (Ezekiel 18:23), numerous times in His Word He also tells us that"Evil men will be cutoff", Pslam 37:9, and "Evil men will bow in the presence of good men" Proverbs 14:19.

Why should evil triumph so often in our world? Why do we so seldom expect this kind of outcome where bad guys die and the good guys live? And I just wonder if the media, in the days ahead will try to turn the tables and try to vilify the good guys. I pray not this time.

God Bless these superbly trained Navy Seals. They too are a group of good guys who are just going about their job, rescuing lives. Protecting good men from evil men.

Pastor P"

- Source

This would be really cool.

I thought it would be really cool to fly UAV's and this is probably the closest most of us will get to actually doing it.

Too much broken stuff.

Stuff seems to break in groups for me. iPhone, bike, laptop, Xbox... That might be all, luckily. Also, luckily is the fact that almost all of them will be fixed for free! All but the bike really.

Two paths diverge in a yellow wood... one is the anti glare coating and the other is the original iPhone glass screen. On my current and soon to be replaced iPhone I have the anti glare plastic shield. I really really like it but the more I use a friends iPhone that is the pure beauty with no barrier I find myself really liking that one as well. What to do?!

Ok, so that's one gadget, the next is my work laptop. Somehow I broke the "y" key off. I have it but it won't stay on. The little plastic tab is broken on one side. This happened before and they fixed it no problem so I get that fixed at the Apple store at the same time.

The Xbox? Yeah, finally red ringed for good. I was red ringed 4 or 5 times during power outages and stuff but it came back on just fine. But in the middle of a pretty decent game of Call of Duty Modern Warfare it died. Screeching and freezing the video. I was about to call in an air strike! 3 rings mean 3 yr warranty so its getting fixed for free, they even comped the shipping. Which they should! Because 2 in 3 xbox owners I know have had to send theirs back! Jeez...

The bike? Nothing real real major just need new chain rings because I wore out the middle one (won't hold the chain under any pressure) and the big ones gonna go soon too (mostly due to logs and rocks I bet).

That's all for now though, once I get those fixed we'll be ok I guess. And only the bike is costing me money! But I'll go to the Apple store today or tomorrow and get that iPhone squared away and hopefully I'll get a whole new one!

Adventure Racing (not me though)

A friend of mine just completed a HUGE adventure race. Probably the biggest on the East coast. Anyway, his team (HTO/Trakkers) came in something like 7th overall and 1st in their category, so awesome! Here's a pic, hes on the far left. For more info on the race, check out the links below.

- Checkpoint Tracker

- Endorphin Fix (details)

- Dennis' Race page

Music Video Monday

Thanks to Matt for the find (although I swore I saw this before... I just can't remember...).

Also, by the same user, this video is great! There's some really great quality pre production they put into these videos. I mean, theres gotta be a ton of work involved! Check this out:

Testing the post via iPhone as a text. I wonder if this will get cut short? I got some videos I need to share on here. Ok, good for now?