Hey Jerk, who are you callin' a jerk, Jerk? And... progress!

Pardon me while I jump up on my soap box again.   Riding into work today with two other riders on a wide, quiet road (4 lanes with a large shoulder) I was riding partially next to one of my companions.  A man in a white car with a black roofbox on top decided to cut us off, stop on the right blocking the shoulder to give us this important safety message: "RIDE SINGLE FILE!!!!!!!"

Then he tore off again, demonstrated that his brake lights were out and then ran a red light. Way to be a jerk, jerk!

I rarely ride double and never do so unless there is loads of room. We were hardly a large pack, with only two of us sort of overlapping, and the road was wide and relatively deserted.

The good news is, though, I WAS RIDING MY BIKE! :-)  I'm commuting into work 2-3 times a week now with little to no pain.

I've met another one of my goals as well: I have gone on 2 pleasure rides with hills! (Up Steven's Creek Canyon and back)

Oh, and I can get in and out of a car like a normal person !

I've started doing one-on-one Pilates where my instructor is working on correcting a lot of my compensatory behaviours and I'm already seeing results - hopefully some day soon I'll see the bottom of my left foot again! :-)

Smartphones: Is it worth it?

Many years ago, I can remember the delight attendees at DefCon II had at learning how they could easily eavesdrop on others (and make free phone calls) by abusing a poorly installed PBX phone system at Circus Circus in Las Vegas.

It was so simple to use a scanner (or even another cell phone, like my Motorola Microtac Ultra-Light) to listen to people on their cordless phones or analogue cell phones sitting nearby.

I was so excited, then, when I heard about all of the new digital telephony standards that would make such eavesdropping impossible.

Fast forward more than a decade and many of us are carrying smartphones that have a handy built-in GPS.  That GPS is great when you want to find a good taqueria nearby, or get turned around walking in an unfamiliar city - but not great when police start pulling the data off of your phone with no warrant!

Seems far fetched and paranoid, doesn't it?  Well, I found out today that Apple is storing all of your locations on your iPhone (and transferring it to your "host" computer that you sync with) in an unencrypted file, along with nearby wifi information.  I'm sure this is for some future app that will tell you where to go for free wifi, or something, but the privacy implications are staggering!

Combine that with the fact that some Michigan police officers are carrying around mobile phone "extraction" devices that they are using in some routine traffic stops to download GPS information along with photos and text messages from people ... without a warrant!

Surely we shouldn't have to give up this information just because we want the convenience of finding a great place for beer?  Well, we can't say that Susan Landau didn't warn us...many times.

Sheherezade XI: 2010 A Year in Review!

Wow, what a delightful time out last night! My husband and I drove up to San Francisco to catch this year's fund raising installment for the Playwrights' Center of San Francisco at the Stage Werx Theatre, Sheherezade XI: 2010 A Year in Review.

Again, we were presented with 8 short plays, all centered around events that occurred last year. From somber to hilarious, we were taken on quite a journey!  I have never cried so much, followed directly by so much uncontrollable laughter.

With all of the recent news out of Japan, I had all but forgotten the plight of the fishermen in the Gulf Coast, but Rachel Ferensowicz, Charles Lewis III and Richard Egan brought all of that destruction and worry right back into focus in Oil and Water.

And who could forget the San Bruno gas pipeline explosion? I certainly won't, after the great performances by Philip Goleman, Wesley Cayabyab and Shubhra Prakash in Emergency Contact.

Another favorite of mine was Many Winters, featuring Heidi Wolff and Rachel Ferensowicz. Rachel and Heidi took us through a heartbreaking tale of losing a child, and the great weight it puts on the mother's shoulders. Could she have prevented the loss? Was there something society could have done? When does the grieving end?

Lighter plays covered such topics as the psychic octopus, Paul der Krake (played by Wesley Cayabyab), iPads (iWhat), and an intriguing take on Prop 8 (Prop Ate).

The only disappointing thing, for us, was the audience was not full. This is a wonderful show, benefits a great group and should be sold out every night! The benefit runs through April 9 - seven more shows. Go get your tickets now!

Baby steps to recovery! Milestone this week!

Sorry I haven't posted much lately on how I've been recovering from my 3 cm x 1 cm tear in my quadricep tendon, let's just say it's been more than a bit depressing.

Recovery has been very slow, as I've additionally damaged my low back from walking around for 6 weeks with a knee immobilizer on (damage was compounded, I believe, by sitting at a computer terminal, as my leg/low back could never be properly positioned - not even with help of ergo specialist).

I am angry that my orthopedics PA did not give me crutches at first, nor have any advice or help for working at a computer, but that's water under the bridge now.

I don't want to go into details at this time, but suffice it to say that I essentially stopped writing and gave up most hope when both my physical therapist and physician recommended I transition into chronic pain management, as I had recovered as much as possible. In their expert opinions, as my physical therapist put it, "We've been doing this a long time. We know when someone has achieved all the benefit they can from physical therapy."

At that time, I could barely walk without pain and had hardly any strength in my left leg.

For those of you that follow my blog or know me in real life, you realize that getting news that I was not going to be able to walk a short distance to dinner from my house was devastating.

In addition to the low back pain, floating/electric pain down my left (injured) leg, and major muscle atrophy I also have unexplained spasms in my thigh adductor muscles. I've lost total hip flexibility (yoga's been tough!) and am frequently surprised by pain in that area.

I know, plenty of folks have it worse off than I do, so that's enough complaining for now.

On to the bright spots: my sister-in-law is a physical therapist and had examined me over the Christmas break, and she believed I was fixable. Through her determination and my husband's inspiration, I requested a new physical therapist from Kaiser. I was pleasantly surprised when they had no issue reassigning me.

My new physical therapist is wonderful. With her help, plus deep tissue massage and recently chiropractic adjustments, I'm back on the mend.

Here were my New Year's Goals:

• Sit without pain
• Get in and out of bed/car without pain and like a normal person (as opposed to the old lady method)
• Drive my manual transmission Mustang with a heavy clutch
• See the bottom of my left foot
• Sit "Indian style" (which I believe is now called "criss cross, apple sauce")
• Walk all day without nerve pain in left leg
• Ride my bike to work
• Ride a pleasure ride
• Downhill Ski

Now, 2 months in, I've met the following:

• Driven my Mustang (w00t!)
• Walked all day without pain
• Skied (many thanks to my Skiers Edge, which I was able to do rehab/retraining of my muscles in the comfort of my own home). Don't worry, I just did some easy runs at Badger Pass and Bear Valley. No blacks or moguls for me this year :-)
• and..... drum roll please.... Rode my bike to work *both* ways this past Monday! With no pain!

I have to really focus on form and keeping my abdominal muscles really tight to do it, but I did it!

Has anyone ever had their thigh adductor muscles go into spasm? I'm hoping for some insight here - everyone seems to be stumped.

There is hope yet :-)

Thank you all for your support! Every day I am a little bit better. I will keep doing retraining and physical therapy until I am there.

*hugs*

Bourbon Barrel Beer, hard to find!

After my trip to Kentucky in 2009, I've fallen in love with beer that has been aged in bourbon barrels.  While I'm not a huge fan of bourbon straight up, I do like bourbon sauces, bourbon balls, and other bourbon treats - like beer!

Being aged in a barrel softens most beers, and being aged in a bourbon barrel gives hints of the bourbon, along with accenting the natural malt flavor of beer.

My favorite bourbon aged beer is made by Kentucky Ale, both an ale and a stout are available. Unfortunately, it is not available outside of the tri-state area, so I can only get my hands on it by either visiting Kentucky, or begging a friend visiting the area to bring me back a four pack. [hint: if you're planning a visit to KY soon, please leave room for some of this beer for me :-) ]

Fortunately for me, aging in bourbon barrels is becoming more trendy, so I can get some out here on the west coast.

I recently got my hands on a couple of bourbon beers and did a sampling with some friends, who also contributed a nice Firestone Walker porter to share.

We started with the Dogfather's Bourbon Barrel stout - a strong beer. Unfortunately for this batch, it wasn't hints of bourbon, but more like someone had added a shot of bourbon to the bottle before the cap went on. The bourbon aroma overpowered the coffee overtones in the beer and it was a bit too strong for my liking. It was still a really good beer, and so close to being great. We should've had this heavy beer last. (11% ABV)

Next up was the Widmer Brother's Reserve Barrel-Aged Brrrbon, which was just a nice regular amber brew that had spent a perfect amount of time in a bourbon barrel.  I originally mistook this for a stout because it seems that out here on the west coast, brewers only make bourbon barrel stouts. Lucky for us, this was a very drinkable beer with hints of caramel and bourbon. I'll have to get a couple more bottles of this!  (9.4% ABV)

We finished with the Firestone Walker's Reserve porter, which was dark in colour, yet surprisingly light tasting - we could've actually started with that one! I love all Firestone Walker's beers - always tasty, unique and full flavored. (ABV 5.9%)

I know Full Sail just released a bourbon barrel stout, which I still need to get my hands on. Any of you have a favorite bourbon barrel beer? and where can I get them? :-)

Telnet attacks on the rise? Protect yourself on Solaris!

I just read, thanks to Steve Green's "Security News", that Akamai just released a report that said attacks against the telnet port (23) are on the rise.  While this may seem strange at first, it is completely understandable - we're all so used to using SSH (Secure Shell) or Kerberos for secure shell access that many of us may have forgotten about older machines or even newer machines that may still have the telnet service running.

Remember that in Oracle Solaris 11 Express 2010.11 and the OpenSolaris releases, the telnet service is turned off by default, thanks to the Secure by Default project:

ryoga $ svcs telnet
disabled       Jan_24   svc:/network/telnet:default

If you find your service has been re-enabled, well, you'd better review your audit logs and see who did that, and quickly disable it again:

ryoga $ svcadm disable svc:/network/telnet:default

Since Solaris 10 Update 3 shipped, there was a secure by default option at install time, and you can set up that profile after you've installed. Check out netservices(1M) command.

TSA, Thanksgiving Travel and Me

After reading all the articles on the risks of the back-scatter technology (never mind the privacy implications) and watching the videos of screaming children getting "enhanced" pat-downs, I was nervous about traveling for this Thanksgiving holiday in the US. I was ready to 'opt-out', but wasn't sure how I felt about the "enhanced" pat down.

Back in October I received an 'old-style' pat-down from a male TSA agent in LAX. I was fine with it. I did not feel violated, nor did I feel that the agent was missing out on anything by not feeling the underwire in my bra.  The agent was friendly, apologetic for the inconvenience and even found a place he could search my bag where I could sit and watch (my injured knee wasn't up to doing anymore standing after a day at the Women's Conference).

Then I saw the videos of the screaming children and I suddenly became very uncomfortable with this. Many women, including myself, (and men) have an event in their past when they were touched/fondled/groped/etc in an unwelcome manner. To have to relive that moment in public at the airport just to travel is unsettling.

So, very nervous, I entered SJC on Thursday morning... only to find most of the back-scatter machines turned off. The one I saw in use was being used to scan a women's personal wheelchair - I couldn't help but think that was a perfect use for the scanner!  The woman, like all travelers in wheelchairs, was receiving an 'old-style' pat down.

I went through, like everyone else, in the same fashion I have for years - removed my belt, watch, shoes, jacket, liquids, laptop and medications...*whew* and "simply" went through.

It was the same on my return through Seattle. One machine was on, but people could just choose to go through a different line. No questions asked, no extra screening.

What made me angry was all of the main-stream news outlets, including our local KGO, reporting that the back-scatter machines had not slowed down the lines. The main report I heard was that passengers would rather get the scan and get through quickly.

But that wasn't true at all. The machines were not on. The "enhanced" pat-downs weren't happening.  How dare they say the launch weekend was a success when they were not using them?

That's a waste of our money and a gross misrepresentation of the events. I'm afraid Bruce Schneier has it right - the TSA is not going to back down, because they'd seem like idiots.  Another example of how lobbyists for manufacturers are shaping policy, instead of policy shaping manufacturing.

The TSA is inconsistent at every airport I go to. During that trip to LA, the TSA ID checker screamed at me when I approached his podium with my traveling companion.  He would not begin her screening until I returned to behind this blue line, which was difficult as the entire line had already moved up.  Yes, I can read (but thanks for pointing it out) the sign saying to stay behind the line until he was ready to process us - I just assumed that, like every other airport, you could go up with your entire party.  At least the agent that had to do my pat-down in LAX was friendlier.  Oh, yeah, in Seattle, they actually have a sign on the podium directing people to be at each side - they can process you faster if you come up with your entire party or 2 at a time (even with strangers).

Another disconcerting thing I noticed: no where to do a private screening if requested!  Why not have a few privacy screens up?  They could be set up like a maze or other formation to take up the least amount of space while still providing privacy (and room for your witness, if requested).

Boy, am I glad I'm not flying for Christmas!