Tour de Schwiiz 2006

We're still months from July, but I'm already in the planning stages for my summer bike tour. This year will be the #9 "Seen-Route" or "Lake-Route" that cuts 500km diagonally through Switzerland. According to an online brochure:

This route takes you right through picture-postcard Switzerland, from Lake Constance to Lake Geneva. Cycle past the lovely lakes of Walen, Zurich, Sihl, Ägeri, Zug, Lucerne, Alpnach, Wichel, Sarnen, Lungern, Brienz, Thun, Vernex and Greyere. Spectacular Alpine lake landscapes await!

Sweet! The route is 500km and I estimate it'll take 6-7 days to finish. This will be harder than previous years since it's longer with more hills. I've sent invitations to my cycling friends and I hope they can all join. It's going to be a great time and I'm giddy just thinking about it!

Canadian Election

Canada has elected a Conservative minority government after 12 years of Liberal rule. It's been a dramatic ride for the conservatives, starting with the fall of the Progressive Conservative party, the rise of the Reform party, the Liberal majority, the forming of the Conservative party, and now the recent election results. The Tories have 124 seats, just 21 more than the Grits. This small margin will force Harper to work closely with the Liberals, who could easily team with the NDP or Bloc to force another election. I'd be surprised if they lasted 18 months in this political climate.

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Ouch! My hands hurt

Losing weight has advantages. Tonight I went rock climbing after a five-year break from the sport. I went regularily between 1998 and 2000 but stopped since moving to Switzerland. I forgot how difficult it was, but I think I did well for my first time back. We went to the Kletterhalle St. Gallen which is a small climbing gym just a short bus ride and walk away. The gym wasn't too crowded but I understood that to be unusual.

For those two hours I climbed simple routes while practicing my technique. Climbing requires strength but good style saves your strength for when you really need it. I had a lot of fun and I hope to go regularily again.

New Hosting Provider

Last week I moved burntlands.org to a new hosting provider. The hosting company is Dreamhost.com and they offer above my previous hosts:

• better price;
• 10x larger diskquota;
• free domain registration; and
  
• unlimited subdomains.

They also have a referrel program which means $97 goes to a friend who also uses their services. Since burntlands.org was already registered until 2008, I was able to register a new domain for free. I was surprised to find schwiiz.org available considering that 'schwiiz' is a common word in Switzerland meaning 'Switzerland'. My photo page is now at http://photos.burntlands.org/ and my blog has been moved to http://blog.burntlands.org/. I'll probably move it all around again in a few days.

Two days in the mountains

It was a perfect weekend to be outside. On Saturday I went on a solo snowshoe hike from Schwagalp (the base of Saentis) to Stein (photos | google earth). Most of the route was in the shadow of a valley, but opened to a gorgeous panorama at Risipass overlooking the Churfirsten mountains. It was very quiet and I met only four other people over the 14km. I'd definitely like to hike here again in the winter and summer.

This morning I woke up sore but determined for another day of snowshoeing. I went with friends to the Graeppelensee area in the Toggenburg (photos | google earth). It was very warm and we hiked for hours in our thin undershirts. By coincidence we ran into friends in the parking lot who were here for a 'ski-tour'. A ski-tour is a mixed sport of using modified skiis to climb up the mountain and then ski back down. We also found the Graeppelensee geocache with the help of Mika. Mika is a dog who accompanied us on the hike and dug through the snow to find the cache. Good job! We finished the day with a deserving meal and beer.

I'm pooped and looking forward to bed.

Christmas 2005

Yesterday morning I returned from a short Christmas vacation in Canada. I somehow managed to drag myself into work just four hours after landing in Zurich. The jet lag wasn't as bad as I had expected, but I did have a moment of the shakes in the afternoon.

The week was spent with family and included games, building kapla towers, standing in line at the passport office, shopping, snowshoeing, eating, and relaxing. It was a perfect break and my brother has posted some photos on his website. Happy new year everyone!

I killed Bryan's blog

My friend Bryan asked that I manage his headline news blog while he is away on vacation. This morning I managed to destroy his blog.

The blogging software is client-based and installed on an Apple laptop computer that Bryan gave me. I had difficulties from the beginning; it took two hours of trial-and-error to figure out that the first line of a blog entry must be blank for anything to display. That was rather obscure.

I last used the laptop 1.5 weeks ago before my Christmas vacation. The laptop booted fine but the clock reset itself to 1970 because it wasn't plugged in during my absence. No big deal, right? Apparently it is a big deal without administrator privileges on the machine. I couldn't reset the clock nor did the 'automatic clock updater' update itself.

I then made the mistake of publishing the blog which removed all the content from the site. I have no way of restoring the site unless I figure out a way to update the clock. Until then the blog sits empty. Oops! Sorry Bryan!

Pixel Ads

You may have heard about the Million Dollar Homepage. The site is the original 'pixel-ad' site that was set-up by an English student to raise money for university. His idea was to sell one million pixels of advertising space on a single 1000x1000 image map for $1 per pixel. He has now earned $999'000 and is auctioning his last 1'000 pixels on E-Bay. Brilliant!

The idea has spawned copycat sites that will likely get a boost from the buzz surrounding the Million Dollar Homepage. I wonder how long this fad can continue and whether there is still money to be made. These concerns haven't stopped my friend Jeff from giving it a try. He purchased some advertising space on the original Million Dollar Hompage and linked it to his own Pixel-Mart.com site. Good luck!

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