Boulder Sunrise Century

A couple weeks ago I rode the Boulder Sunrise Century. This was the second year I rode it and this year was a bit different than last year.

Last year I chose to ride the 100 mile option. This added an extra 25 miles between Ward, CO and Nederland, CO. It's a long downhill which means that the climb back up from Ned to Ward was quite difficult -- I'll be honest, it was GRUELING!. Unfortunately this year my training schedule leading up to this event was not optimal. I was not training consistently because life got in the way. Because of this, I chose to do the 75 mile option instead of the 100 mile option. This was a good choice but even that was not enough latitude because I battled leg cramps for about an hour in the middle of the ride to Ward. Once I hit the aid station in Ward, I downed three bananas, tons of liquid and kept going. From there it's 20 miles of downhill so I had some time to tuck in behind a couple of very strong riders and fly for the entire 20 miles. After downing some food and hitting such a long downhill portion, I felt much better and was able to finish in much better shape. Let's just say the results of this event motivated me ;-).

Since that event, I have gotten into a consistent summer training regimen. Being that my next ride is the famed Triple Bypass, I knew I needed to get my butt in gear. 120 miles over three mountain passes in one day requires it! More on that ride in another post.

Ben Harper Live in Denver, CO

Last night Matt Good, Matt Raible, Trish and I went to see Ben Harper with Relentless7 in Denver and it was an incredible show!

I haven't seen Ben Harper in a few years and the last time I did his original band, The Innocent Criminals, was playing with him. They were an amazingly talented set of musicians that I had already enjoyed for many years on their records. So I was pleasantly surprised at the caliber of musicians who is Relentless7. This show was so good, and Ben Harper was so outstanding, it was like a religious experience! The crowd and the band enjoyed the show so much that they came out for three or four encoures which is fairly unheard of in the live music scene.

Now I'm looking forward to our next show at Red Rocks in July, Soundgarden.

Injuries Suck

If only my footwork was as talented as some of the players in this video, I probably wouldn't write code for a living! Although I have played soccer nearly all my life, I haven't sustained injuries that stopped me from playing since I was in high school when I fully severed my right ACL.

A few years ago, my wife and I began playing in a coed indoor soccer league on Friday nights on a team of friends. Last year, she sustained a hip injury during a game that took her out of all sports for a couple months while it healed. Luckily she healed well and got back to running and soccer. Well this spring it seems is my turn with the injuries.

About five weeks ago I sustained an injury to some ribs that left them pretty badly bruised and they are still not 100% healed (I still cannot sleep on my left side!). Then about 10 days ago, a swift kick to the lower, inside of the tibia just above the ankle and just outside my shin guards caused a sizable hematoma on my leg. It's basically a pocket of blood that forms under the skin when the wall of a blood vessel is damaged and allows blood to flow into the surrounding tissue. Not only is the area of the injury very swollen and discolored, but it has caused my entire ankle and heel to swell and discolor. The photo below looks similar to my injury but mine is on the inside of the tibia.



I applied ice to the injury all week, and then began alternating heat treatments near the end of the week. After wrapping it up good, I decided to play on Friday night. What a mistake that wound up being. Near the end of the first half, I was checked into the boards causing my ankles to smack together right on the hematoma. Needless to say that took me out for the game, barely able to walk on the injured leg.

As I awoke on Saturday morning because of the pain in my leg, I had reserved myself to the thought of rest until it heals. The doctor told me that it could take up to four months for this to heal! I was stunned when he told me this. He also said if the hematoma didn't go away on it's own, it could require a surgical procedure. Geez! As much as I love playing soccer, I guess I will have to stop until this injury is healed. Well I guess I will be playing more guitar and cycling :-).

Playing Guitar

Since we finished the ActiveMQ in Action book recently, I actually have some spare time now. So I've began to get back into playing guitar. I'm not especially talented, but I have always enjoyed strumming chords and playing rhythm guitar.

Every week, my girls take piano lessons from a friend whose husband taught them both kindergarten at a nearby Montessori school. The couple are both accomplished musicians and really enjoy teaching music. She plays guitar, piano and sings; he plays guitar and sings. We've seen them play together and they are very complimentary together. So recently I decided to take some guitar lessons from the husband while the wife teaches my girls piano.

It's funny to learn that collaboration means just as much in playing a musical instrument as it does in writing code. When I collaborate with others and actually write code with them, I tend to learn a lot more than when I just sit in a corner writing code. So far, the same is true for playing guitar. Sitting at home, playing by myself seems so much more limiting than playing even once a week with my friend. He has been a musician for many years, is very talented and is also a gifted teacher.

For many years now, when I'm solving problems with the work I do and I get stuck, I tend to grab my guitar to clear my mind. Playing for even just 5 or 10 minutes can help me see a problem more clearly. I know that taking a walk with my dogs would do the same thing, but I can't go out for multiple walks during the day. But I can quickly grab my guitar, play for a brief period of time and then get back to work. Oftentimes when I do this, I'm able to immediately solve a problem that I've been working on for a while.

Something I know about myself is that I enjoy constant learning. When I stop learning, I tend to lose interest in whatever I'm doing. Getting back into playing guitar and learning again is a breath of fresh air. I have known this for years, but it's nice to be reminded of it again.

Though I'm still playing on a cheap acoustic guitar I bought many years ago in college through Musician's Friend, I'm still having fun. But I'm realizing again why most people don't stick with guitar when they are first learning. Typically, cheap guitars are not easy to play. Your fingers begin to hurt and your hands can cramp rather quickly with a cheap guitar. I've simply been trying to play though this recently and it's starting to become a problem. So now I'm wondering about graduating to a nicer guitar that is easier to play. When something is easy to do, you tend to want to do it more often. Playing a nice Taylor guitar in a shop recently reminded me of this. Though I don't think I want to spend that kind of money, I do have something different in mind. More on that in a future post.

ActiveMQ In Action Now Available

ActiveMQ in Action is now available in print! After the long road of writing the book, it's very nice to actually see it in print. One of the first things I noticed about the final PDF was the color in the images. Manning did a very nice job of adding color. I've already had four people mention to me that they really like the colored images.

One really nice thing about Manning print books is that they include a complimentary ebook which comes in three formats: PDF, mobi, and epub when available. So if buy the print book, you will get an electronic copy include at no additional charge. This can be very handy when you don't care to lug around a print book wherever you go, but you would still like to search it for particular items.

If you want to learn about ActiveMQ and JMS, pick up your copy of ActiveMQ in Action today!

Why I Love My Bike

Ever since I first learned to ride a bike, I have loved it. My mom and dad taught me to ride a little blue Schwinn bicycle when I was four or five years old. I remember learning very quickly to skid down the sidewalk across some gravel and I thought I was so cool. But just riding my bike made me happy and to this day that is still true.

As a kid, riding a bike meant freedom. I could ride just about everywhere I needed to go in the small town where I grew up in Illinois. And nearly everything we did as kids included riding our bikes. We rode to school, to the park, to soccer practice, to swim practice; I even began going out on the road to neighboring towns. Not only did I enjoy it, but it was good transportation until I was old enough to drive. But even then I kept riding my bike when I could.

During my college years, I bought my first mountain bike. Friends and I would go out riding together in the parks and wooded areas around where we lived and we loved it. Then, a couple years after graduating from college, we moved to Colorado. Then I really got a taste for true mountain biking and it has been in my blood ever since.

When we first moved from Illiniois to Colorado in 1995, one of the reasons we came was for the outdoor activities all year round. Mountain biking was number one on my list and I was out riding in the mountains practically every weekend back then. A few years later, we started our family and our lifestyle really changed (raising kids will do that to you).

When our girls were really young, they had miniature big wheels and then small bikes with training wheels. But once they each got old enough, I got to teach them to ride without the training wheels. For me, this was definitely a highlight of their younger years. Seeing how much they loved it is difficult to describe. Seeing the look on their faces as they realized that they were pedaling all on their own is such a memorable moment. Riding a bike is something I hope will stick with them for the rest of their lives. Every time I see my kids on their bikes, it makes me smile.

To this day, I still ride my bike and I still love it. Though I've moved on to more serious mountain biking and road cycling, part of what I love about it is being outside, seeing the beautiful scenery and getting away from the computer. After all, living in Colorado, I no longer need to look in books and magazines to see such amazing sights. I just go outside and ride my bike to see them.

ActiveMQ In Action Going to Print!

This week we received the final cover art for ActiveMQ In Action and the book went to the printer! Yay!!! It's been a long road, but Dejan, Rob and I can finally celebrate all our hard work on this project.

You can check out the cover art here and be sure to mouse over the image and click the link to view the full size.

There are certainly many people to whom we owe a great deal of gratitude including:

• Jeff Bleiel, our development editor - Without Jeff's input, the book would not be what it is today
• Gary Tully For his tireless technical reviews of the entire book
• The Manning staff - For their arduous work on the book
• Filip Hanik - For his assistance with Tomcat
• Jan Bartel and Greg Wilkins - For their assistance with Jetty
• David Jencks and Kevan Miller - For their assistance with Geronimo
• Jaikiran Pai - For his assistance with JBoss

We would also like to thank the following list of reviewers who read the manuscript at different stages during its development and provided valuable feedback:

• Jeff Davis
• Deepak Vohra
• Robert Hanson
• Davide Piazza
• David Strong
• Tijs Rademakers
• Prasad A. Chodavarapu
• John Merryman
• Jeroen Benckhuijsen
• Pratik Patel
• Scott Dawson
• Jason Kolter
• Rod Biresch
• Roberto Rojas

Finally, a big thanks to the readers of Manning’s Early Access Program (MEAP) releases of the book for their comments and input via the Author Online forum.

We authored the book using DocBook XML and it was processed using the Docbkx Tools Maven plug-in on Mac OS X (To those folks who keep asking about my experience with DocBook, yes, it is worth it! Shoot me an email if you have any questions). Other items that went into the book include MacBook Pros, Google Docs, GMail, Foonz (until it shut down), FreeConferenceCall.com, barking dogs during conference calls, company acquisitions, lots and lots of music, loud construction next door, sleepless nights, too much work on airplanes, and plain old exhaustion.