(Does snowboarding even still count as an "extreme" sport?) Crashing boarder I tried snowboarding once (once) around two years ago at a ski resort in Tahoe. I don't remember which one it was offhand. They offered a "snowboarding for absolute beginners" half-day course. Though I didn't actually injure myself, it didn't go terribly well. I [...]

(Does snowboarding even still count as an "extreme" sport?)

Crashing boarder

I tried snowboarding once (once) around two years ago at a ski resort in Tahoe. I don't remember which one it was offhand. They offered a "snowboarding for absolute beginners" half-day course. Though I didn't actually injure myself, it didn't go terribly well. I just couldn't manage to stay upright for more than a minute at a time; I'd get going, overbalance one way, overcorrect the other and then BAM on the ground. Luckily I had thick ski pants.



(That's not me in the picture; I never got that far up the hill.)

After a few months (sorry!) of downtime, my SFGate-NoComments Greasemonkey script is back up at Userscripts. I realize the previous sentence makes very little sense to anyone but me, so I’ll expand it: After a few months (sorry!) of downtime You saw my to-do list(s), right? SFGate-NoComments The “comments” sections in SFGate (San Francisco Chronicle’s [...]

After a few months (sorry!) of downtime, my SFGate-NoComments Greasemonkey script is back up at Userscripts.

I realize the previous sentence makes very little sense to anyone but me, so I’ll expand it:

After a few months (sorry!) of downtime

You saw my to-do list(s), right?

SFGate-NoComments

The “comments” sections in SFGate (San Francisco Chronicle’s Web site) articles are disgusting, horrible, rude, homophobic (?!), racist and in every other way awful. I wanted a way to read stories on SFGate without even having to force myself not to look at the comments section.

Greasemonkey script

Greasemonkey is a mechanism by which arbitrary code can be injected into Web pages during load or after they are completely loaded. It’s available for almost every modern browser*. Some common uses for Greasemonkey scripts are adjusting font sizes and colors on pages where the Web developer apparently worked on a 30″ inch screen and has 20/10 uncorrected vision and the color sense of a three year old, removing page elements and otherwise enhancing usability of Web pages.

Userscripts

Userscripts.org is an online repository of thousands of user-submitted Greasemonkey scripts. I placed my script there when I first wrote it early this year.

How does it work, you ask? Pretty simple in concept, a real hair-tearer in execution. Using Greasemonkey scripts’ ability to access the structural elements of a Web page, and knowing (from examining the page source code) how comments sections are named and placed, my code goes through the DOM looking for specific items. When it finds them, it makes them disappear. This was made more difficult by the fact that SFGate is now using a third-party comments solution which loads after most of the rest of the page has already finished loading, so I had to make my code wait until the page, including comments, had fully loaded before executing. The result is that the comments links and sections do show for a second before disappearing, but I find that acceptable considering the outcome.

This was an interesting challenge for me and as usual, it was impossible until it became easy. I would be willing to look at extending or duplicating it for other sites with similarly offensive comments sections. Let me know in the comments below if you’re interested. Yes, I realize the irony.

*Greasemonkey for:

• Safari/Mac: Greasekit** or NinjaKit. I haven’t tried NinjaKit yet.
• Opera: Enable user scripts and point it to the directory where you’ve downloaded your scripts.
• Chrome: Native support, just click “Install” from Userscripts pages.
• IE: See links here. I haven’t tried any of these because I use IE only under extreme duress.

**Use this version of GreaseKit if you are on OS X Leopard. The current posted version was compiled for Snow Leopard.

During our recent trip to Vancouver, BC for the 2010 Winter Olympics, we tried lots and lots of different restaurants. One of the highlights was Incendio, a pizza place in Gastown. Jennifer's pizza and my chicken calzone were both terrific. I tried a Stanley Park Amber ale which I enjoyed very much. Service was super [...]

During our recent trip to Vancouver, BC for the 2010 Winter Olympics, we tried lots and lots of different restaurants. One of the highlights was Incendio, a pizza place in Gastown.

Jennifer's pizza and my chicken calzone were both terrific. I tried a Stanley Park Amber ale which I enjoyed very much. Service was super friendly (a clear trend at almost every place we went) and they happily changed the big-screen's channel to the snowboard cross event we wanted to watch (though there weren't too many other people in the restaurant at the time).

If we'd been in Vancouver any longer I'm sure we would have gone back at least one more time. Highly recommended.

Yesterday we drove home from Lake Tahoe, and, with inspiration I can describe as well-intentioned but mistaken in retrospect, decided to take US-50 instead of I-80 (on which we’d driven to Tahoe). Here’s the route:View Larger MapThe whole point of the last-minute Tahoe trip was to get some snow, which we missed completely on the [...]

Yesterday we drove home from Lake Tahoe, and, with inspiration I can describe as well-intentioned but mistaken in retrospect, decided to take US-50 instead of I-80 (on which we’d driven to Tahoe). Here’s the route:

View Larger Map
The whole point of the last-minute Tahoe trip was to get some snow, which we missed completely on the New Year’s road trip. So, says I, checking the Caltrans road conditions site, US-50 seems to be clear with no restrictions and it’s the scenic route. Let’s try that.

We got as far as South Lake Tahoe and then, wow, sudden stop. I rechecked Caltrans and saw that chains were now required for a portion of highway 50 through Eldorado National Forest. Since we were in Jennifer‘s Subaru Forester, with full-time all-wheel drive, we didn’t actually need to install the chains but had purchased some just in case some well-meaning CHP officer insisted we have them.

I really didn’t know what was holding up traffic, but later I determined that we covered the next 25 miles in a little under five hours. It wasn’t accidents, though there were a few. It wasn’t severe weather, as that didn’t start until we were well up in the mountains. It wasn’t chain-on areas—those were pretty well organized off to the side and not really blocking the road. I think it was mostly just volume of traffic combined with less than competent drivers. Think of how badly the average person drives in the rain, and then double or triple that for snow and ice conditions.

Anyway, Jennifer was driving so I was fiddling with my phone—Tweeting, checking road conditions, getting news, the usual. For some very odd reason, although I had good coverage through most of the drive, my Tweets didn’t arrive until many hours later and, of course, were all out of order. I’ve reassembled the correct timeline here:

• Checked out & heading home via I-50.
• Correction: US-50, not I-50. I’m so embarrassed.
• No rain here (outside S. Lake Tahoe on US-50) just snow. Lots and lots of snow.
• It’s snowing sideways.
• Making average 4mph. Whee.
• Live video: http://qik.com/smartwatermelon (archived video clips here)
• There is something ever so slightly surreal about a Mexican cantina in an alpine-style building in a snowstorm. (it was El Papagayo Grill & Cafe, and we stopped for a quick snack and restroom break)
• Close to white-out.
• Cars & trucks skidding out as we descend.
• We’ve gone from snow to rain.
• Annnnd now back to snow.
• Torrential rain in Placerville.
• I think my Tweets are not going through.
• I suspect a whole load on on-the-road blathering will show up sooner or later.
• HOME.

The trip home took around eight hours, and for comparison it was fewer than four to get there on I-80. But hey, snow!

It's the end of January in a very dry winter and I've yet to see any snow. I want snow before it all melts away! The last time I was in a helicopter was on our Alaska cruise. We did an aerial glacier tour that had us actually landing on a glacier.

It's the end of January in a very dry winter and I've yet to see any snow. I want snow before it all melts away!

The last time I was in a helicopter was on our Alaska cruise. We did an aerial glacier tour that had us actually landing on a glacier.