DIA-LGA

Heading to NYC for a long weekend. Going to see what all the hype is about.
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Miss my baby...

Summer of 2010 flyin' by

Last 6 weeks has been a blur. Got my first round of golf in with my good buddy Simon. Celebrated my Lola's 95th birthday in Chicago. Danced with my mom who is way better than me. Hung out with the little ones in Chicago, the zoo and even had a powdered donut breakfast with them. Back to Chicago for a good buddy's bachelor party and a couple weekend trips up to Breckenridge. August is just as jammed packed and looking forward to all of it. Photos below of the last 6 weeks.

Gasland: A shocking and disturbing documentary on natural gas production

I just finished watching this documentary and WTF?! When you can ignite your tap water with a lighter you know you have serious problems. This whole time I thought the extraction of natural gas was clean and to find out it's NOT and NOT being regulated is scary. Way more scary than the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. See for yourself. Here's a little clip.

Reactions around the world from Donovan's winning goal

Commercial of the Day (thanks to our team sponsor)

The Underdogs

Today is a big day for the World Cup. You have one of the top teams playing a team that no one knows much about besides their awful political regime. You have Brazil vs. N. Korea. I'm cheering for N. Korea and hoping they pull off what could be one of the biggest upsets in sporting history. Always a fan of the underdogs. Maybe it's because I'm always an underdog racing against pro cyclist? The way I see it is that these North Koreans have nothing to lose and everything to gain. They are great athletes who have qualified and I hope the best for them. I read they have been training at altitude so someone knows something.
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BULLSHIT. Ask me how I really feel?

Driver in fatal crash hadn't been drinking, family says
By Chris Osher, Yesenia Robles and Kirk Mitchell
The Denver Post
Posted: 06/13/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT
Updated: 06/13/2010 01:15:19 AM MDT

Related

* Jun 12:
* Englewood firefighters pull two people from submerged car
* Jun 11:
* 2 people die in I-70 crash west of Denver

The last time Heydi Margarita Hau Chi talked to her family, she still was celebrating her 26th birthday and laughing.

At 1:30 a.m. Friday, Hau Chi called her sister, Ariely Hau Chi, saying she was in a restaurant and would be home soon.

"She was happy. She didn't sound drunk," Ariely Hau Chi said. "I heard a guy in the background laughing with her, but then she just said, 'OK, I'll see you later.' "

Two hours later, Hau Chi was dead. Police say her actions during those early morning hours triggered an accident that ultimately claimed her life and that of a 65-year-old retired postal worker. Three other people were seriously injured.

Less than an hour after fleeing a hit-and-run accident with a parked car, Hau Chi drove her black Nissan Sentra the wrong way on westbound Interstate 70. Her car smashed into a Volvo. The driver of the Volvo was killed when he stepped from his car and was struck by a semi.

Wheat Ridge police Lt. Wade Hammond said Hau Chi smelled of alcohol.

She had been stopped before for drinking and driving. Two years ago, on the same June 11 day, the day after her birthday, Hau Chi was arrested for drunken driving. She was convicted of driving while ability-impaired and sentenced to take an alcohol-education class.

Her family said that when Hau Chi left home Thursday night, the family had no cause for alarm. They said she had not been drinking.

Now they are trying to piece together the events leading up to the accident.

"Everything was normal. We never thought something like this was going to happen," said sister-in-law Wilma Hau.

Hau Chi spent much of Thursday evening celebrating her birthday with family at her home in Denver. At 11:30 p.m., relatives said, Hau Chi received a call and left.

Family members say they do not know who called and no friends have contacted them to say they were with Hau Chi.

Kerry Tucker, 29, said he was still awake in his bedroom when he heard a car race past his house on 46th Avenue about 2:45 a.m. The brakes screeched, Tucker recalled.

He looked out the window and saw a car had rammed into a car parked at the end of the dead-end street. Tucker ran outside.

Without hesitation, the driver, now believed by police to be Hau Chi, backed up, and the tires screeched again as the car tore off down Everett Street with no headlights.

The car that was hit belonged to the mother of Julie Gonzales, 37.

"She hit so hard it pitched my mother's car into a fence and pulled a cemented post out of the ground," Gonzales said.

Just before 3:30 a.m., Hau Chi took her fatal course on Interstate 70, going east in the westbound lane.

She ran head-on into the Volvo. When Woon D. Baek, 65, of Aurora, stepped from the Volvo, he was struck and killed by a semi. The truck then continued into Hau Chi's car, dragging it about 100 yards, authorities said.

The driver of the semi was too shaken to publicly discuss details, said Mike Doty of Texas-based Tenco Transportation, the trucking firm. The truck driver, from Fort Worth, Texas, was not injured, but his nerves remained on edge, Doty said.

The surviving passengers of the Volvo remained hospitalized, but were expected to make a full recovery, a friend and a family member said.

Black Hawk, CO = L-A-M-E

Black Hawk's Board of Aldermen is making it clear that they don't want bicyclists or bicycle events in town. The Board approved an ordinance banning bicycle riding on almost every street in Black Hawk. This includes the only paved street (Gregory Street-formerly State Highway 279) connecting the Peak to Peak Highway with the Central City Parkway.

Black Hawk police are now issuing a ticket to anyone "caught riding" through town.
(Bicycle Colorado)

2 Birthdays, 2 weekends...Tank the Shank aka Diesel and Mak

ze eLEPHANT rOCK

A short video of an organized 100 mile ride I did with my sister, brother, sis-n-law and bro-n-law. What an amazing day with great weather and riding with my family. They really dug deep to finish what was a very challenging course. Lacey just bought a road bike and had limited training time but man did she kill it. John and Claudine crushed it also finishing ahead of everyone. My bro was getting stronger as the day passed so I know he had been training. It's nice to chill out and do rides like this with my family and friends instead of racing. I've got to squeeze a couple more of these epic rides in between races this summer. What's next?

Elephant Rock 2010 from Mark Agcaoili on Vimeo.

Time Lapse Practice

One

My nephew turned one today so it's a very special day. Looking forward to celebrating his first this weekend with a farm animal theme and a special appearance by a real donkey. Don't ask. Given that he's a boy and we call him Tank the Shank aka Diesel I'm sure his smash cake will be entertaining. As my brother would say, "Happy BirTday!"
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Big Game Restaurant & Lounge

This place just opened up about 2 weeks ago off of 16th and Wazee. They label themselves as a higher end sports bar. We went to go check out their scene and more specifically happy hour scene. The food was good but not amazing the beers cheap at $3/pint but not a great selection. The TVs inside were huge and plenty but nothing outside as we ate and drank. The patio scene is weak with only two chairs per table and no extra chairs available. For happy hour you had to be seated for the patio which makes for an awkward time if you have a group of 5. The Thai mussels were outstanding and the flat bread aka thin crust mini pizzas were nothing special. The california rolls were average and the sliders were pretty tasty. I gotta say for a high-end restaurant they claim the bathrooms suck. Nothing is automated so you have to manually flush which means no flushing for me. On a scale from 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest I rate their service a 2 and barely a 2. New or not it wasn't very busy and for being the largest group there was no sense of urgency to take care of us. I think the fastest thing that came was the check. The beers and food were slow and they messed up our tab. I'll give this place another shot when it's time to watch some sports but for now I'll stick to the usual suspects that do a great happy hour.
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The real reason for buying a scooter

I aGREE: RTFM

Facebook Privacy ? Who Cares?

May 19th 2010 11:16AM
Mark Cuban

if you are in the media enough, you recognize that the media lives for the next headline. Facebook Privacy ? What a great headline. We all care about privacy, right ?

Wrong. Privacy is a boogie man for the media to play with. Unless you are in the internet business in some manner, where discussing privacy issues with other internet people makes everyone feel like they are part of the “smart people”. Facebook privacy is a media issue (which in turn of course makes it a politicians wet dream), nothing more.

If you join Facebook, by definition you want to give up some of your privacy. You want to share pictures, updates and statuses with friends. You want friends you haven’t seen in a long time to find you. Items and information that would never see the light of day pre social networks, are now regularly uploaded from our phones. No DRM on those pictures. No requests for DRM on those pictures. No copyright on our status updates. No requests for copyrights on our status updates. Facebook is a social network. The operative word being social.

Let me put this another way. In every FB profile there is a question called “Interested In”. You know you answered the question in your profile. When you tell 500mm people that you are interested in finding something, friends, business, whatever, did you really think that only applied to your immediate circle of friends ? And what about the interests you shared ? Why would you need to share that information to your immediate friends ? They should already know that stuff shouldn’t they ? When you published your political or music views and interests, you didn’t do that for the benefit of your immediate friends did you ? Of course not. You did it to expand your circle of friends. If you want to expand your social circle, you need to share information to people you don’t know. You can’t share information with strangers in hopes of possibly adding them to your social network and then bitch about the lack of privacy.

The privacy advocates among us would tell us that sharing with friends and even potential friends is one thing, making it available to everyone is another. Well guess what, while FB doesn’t have the equivalent of a Retweet function, it doesn’t have a Muzzle function either. Facebook can’t control downstream discussions today any better than you could when you told stories to your buddies at the bar the other night. Whether you like it or not, posting on FB is a publishing function. You are publishing to your “friends” and whether you like it or not, they have every right, opportunity and possibly inclination to share what you say, do and show.

Facebook privacy is very simple at its core. You joined because you wanted to give up some of your privacy in exchange for the benefits that FB offers. If you think its a problem, de-activate your account. If you think its a problem, but really want to be on FB, RTFM (Read the Frickin Manual). The functionality is there. Since when did it become law that software can’t have some level of depth in order to provide the breadth of features and services that all levels of users require ?

The complaints about FB privacy are pretty much a joke. It’s a social network, not your voting record.

Hangin' with ze little ones

Some photos of the little ones from Lacey's surprise birthday party.

Tip of the Day

When it's windy outside just piss in the bushes.

RIP Eva Markvoort

"This is the end of my life, but it's not the end of my love" Markvoort

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/04/27/blog.terminal.illness/index.html?hpt=C1

A great article in the NY Times about a great organization

April 21, 2010, 5:36 pm
How to Help the Young Superheroes
By HILARY HOWARD

In response to Nick’s April 10 column featuring a family of orphans in Zimbabwe, over 100 readers wrote in asking what they could do to make a difference. Many readers, for example, wanted to send a bicycle to the oldest brother to expedite his nine-mile trek to school.
A recent recipient of a new bike, courtesy of World Bicycle Relief.Emily Hoskins
A recent recipient of a new bike, courtesy of World Bicycle Relief.

But in many parts of rural Africa, it’s rarely as easy as sending a bike. For one thing, there’s usually no functioning (or trustworthy) postal system. For another, the bike could get stolen or sold for food, ultimately putting the oldest brother back at square one. And what if the bike got a flat tire or needed its brakes replaced?

Luckily, we not only heard from concerned readers last week; we also heard from on-the-ground organizations already making a difference. One of them, World Bicycle Relief, addresses the above issues…and more.

I’ll be profiling a few of these groups while Nick is in Sudan. So…readers, meet the organizations. And organizations…keep up the good work.

World Bicycle Relief

It all started with the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

F.K. Day, who with his brother built SRAM, a successful global bicycle components company, felt a visceral urge to help when the tsunami killed over 200,000 people and devastated communities across Asia. But when he called relief organizations from his Chicago office to pitch his idea of distributing bicycles to the hard-hit communities, he said he got the stock answer of “No, No, just send money.”
Leah Missbach Day

So he boarded a plane and flew to Indonesia, which made all the difference. “When I went to local relief offices in person and proposed a large scale bicycle program,” he recalled, “they said (excitedly) ‘you can do this?’” Within a year, F.K., along with SRAM staff and World Vision working on the ground, had mobilized the design, production and delivery of bikes to 24,000 Sri Lankans.

After an NGO worker learned about what World Bicycle Relief had accomplished in Sri Lanka, he told F.K. that many parts of Africa were suffering from a metaphorical tsunami of extreme poverty and disease, convincing him to bring his program there. World Bicycle Relief began operations on the continent in 2006, and now has a presence in eight sub-Saharan African countries including Zambia, Kenya and Zimbabwe. To date, it has provided 60,000 sturdy, mechanic-supported bikes to people in need through existing healthcare, education and economic development programs.
Caregivers in Zambia take their new modes of transportation for a spin.Leah Missbach Day
Caregivers in Zambia take their new modes of transportation for a spin.

The organization just completed distribution of 23,000 bikes to volunteer HIV/AIDS caregivers in Zambia (some of whom are pictured above), helping them to access remote villagers faster than their old mode of transportation: walking. “We also just started a 49,000 bike program only geared toward education,” F.K. said. The goal is to provide 49,000 bicycles to Zambian students, focusing on girls. “Without a bike, their walk can be up to 10 miles a day to and from school, which puts them at risk for harassment and rape,” explained Carol Gifford, a spokesperson for the organization.
Leah Missbach Day

But distributing bikes to communities is just part of World Bicycle Relief’s mission. The organization also trains one mechanic for every 50 bikes it provides, essentially setting this person up for a self-sustaining business that keeps the bikes up and running. “If we just did this, it would make a huge difference,” F.K. said.
F.K. Day, president of World Bicycle Relief, teaches bike assembly to workers in Zambia. Leah Missbach Day
F.K. Day, president of World Bicycle Relief, teaches bike assembly to workers in Zambia.

In Africa, World Bicycle Relief is focusing on three areas for bicycle distribution and training: education (getting children and teachers to school), healthcare (helping providers get to out-of-reach villages) and economic development (partnering with micro-finance institutions). “If we can prove the efficacy in these three areas, we can prove the importance of bikes,” F.K. said. World Bicycle Relief tracks its programs and publishes results on its Web site.

Who knows: with a little luck, perhaps a certain family of superheroes will soon be included in those published results.

Being an uncle is great and it will be wonderful...

when the two little little ones are potty trained. Just joking! I love'em and cherish every minute I have with them.

Lin Yu-Chun

I'm sure you've heard of this guy who has become an international YouTube hit. There is no doubt he's a talented singer. An inspiring story behind this guy who doesn't give up on his dreams.

ICEE Theory

I - Inspire
C - Connect
E - Educate
E - Entertain

quote of ze day

By now I'm sure you heard of Gizmodo buying and disclosing every detail about the prototype 4G iPhone. Apparently it was left behind in some bar and those who found it discovered it was more than just a regular iPhone. Apple's lawyers sent a letter to Gizmodo requesting they return the prototype. Gizmodo sent the prototype back and had this to say, "P.S. I hope you take it easy on the kid who lost it. I don't think he loves anything more than Apple except, well, beer."

Ze Shoulder

This morning I was at the Colorado Center of Orthopaedic Excellence getting some x-rays taken of my shoulder. On the wall were some autographed photos of amazing athletes who have gone through the center. Most if not all were Olympic gold medalist in their respective sport and a bunch of professional athletes. As an athlete myself it feels good to know I'm in good hands, great hands. It has been almost a year since my surgery and sitting here reflecting on everything I've done since my surgery I have to be really happy and thankful. I'm inspired by the photos I saw this morning and the comeback stories behind them.. It has fueled my fire and reminded me that I can be great with hard work and a little bit of luck. Bring on the 2010 season!
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Friday Tune...Kinda how I'm feelin' right now. Bring on the weekend!

video of ze day

Drive-thru Parking Kiosk?

Gotta love the folks who block parking lanes to pay and grab a parking ticket. Better yet the folks who park in the handicap spot next to the kiosk. Why they do this you ask? LAZY. They get their ticket, start their car back up and proceed to drive 20 ft. Or 10 parking spaces closer to work. Maybe we should have drive-thru parking kiosk?
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Bust a move in your cube with this Tuesday tune

The joys of weight loss

My stomach is growling as I lay in bed. Apparently the spinach salad and fake-me-out chicken Boca pattie wasn't enough. How do I deal? Lots of diet Dr. Pepper and the dream of winning a pro race this season. Right now I'm way overweight coming into the season compared to the last few years. Skiing doesn't really burn that many calories but it has made my legs stronger like never before. I'm not trying to lose half my body weight like some of those on The Biggest Loser but the struggle is the same. The temptation and urge to sneak a Twinkie in is the same although that's not a great example because I don't eat Twinkies but you get the point. 158 is the magic number and my hope is that I get there by Memorial Day weekend which happens to be my first big goal of the season. Can I do it? I hope so.
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Question of the day

Are healthier fitter people more green?
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The most badass bike exchange and haircut at Tour of Flanders

Did you hate taking naps when you were little?

I did. It felt like punishment. I always just wanted to play and play and play. Now I only dream of the afternoon naps. I still want to play and play and play but now I realize my body needs the rest. Today I get a nap and it doesn't feel like punishment. The best part, I know I get to play tomorrow.
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If only I could fly

Pretty Straightforward Advertising

Wants and Needs

I WANT this!!!

10pm

Every night I make it a point to get to bed before 10pm and every night I fail. Not sure why? It's not like I'm super busy although I have spent the better part of every evening for the last few months working and brainstorming business ideas for M2HD. Maybe it's daylights savings and how everything seems to get pushed back since my training rides go until sunset? Tonight...tonight was more or less my lazy bum wanting to hangout and watch TV. So I sit here chillin' with my 2 liter bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper wondering why I'm not in my bed which is a staircase away. Too late to make that 10pm so I guess I'll try tomorrow night and the next night and the night after that.
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The Premier Wearable HD Cam Rental Service in CO...

WWW.M2HD.COM

From The Tip Of My Ski

ME: Blue SKy Basin, VAIL from Mark Agcaoili on Vimeo.

The day is coming soon...

when my nephews become equally as good as me at skiing. Each time I get to ski with them I'm just so impressed with how much they improve. We have a great time and they love skiing and pushing themselves to get better. Watching Cole ski moguls down The Burn at Breck is so cool. The kid has to wait for me! Watching Luke taking moguls down blue-black runs without second guessing himself is awesome. And to think we have Mak, Quinners and Shank the Tank yet to learn how to ski or snowboard...man we're going to have one heck of a big ski family. Below is a great video of Cole and Luke being the fearless great skiers they are. Love'em!

Skiing Breckenridge... from Mark Agcaoili on Vimeo.

longest training ride of the season so far

Nothing like riding back home to Denver after doing the Gateway ride in Boulder. Ouch that hurt. Legs are feeling stronger with each ride but the endurance and top end is lacking. It's exciting to see my teammates going well and with two months to go before the important races we are on track to do great things.

Fat Nation

It's great to see our First Lady take charge in the fight against obesity and especially with the focus being on the kids. Our country is fat and only getting fatter. We don't see it as much in CO because the lifestyle of one who lives in CO typically involves hiking, skiing, running, cycling, etc... Now head east and you'll find some big folks in the midwest. I'm from Chicago and I swear the Wal-mart isles are wider. Back to the kids. I can only hope more emphasis is placed on getting states to mandate physical education. Kids will eat whatever they want and whenever. If they can't get their Doritos at school they'll get them on the way home from school. That said, we should push to help educate kids on healthier food choices but still place more focus on physical education. It's splits up the day at school, relieves stress, raises their metabolism and keeps them sharp for the second half of the day. If they play after school sports even better but if not well then at least they get their 20-30 minutes of exercise that so many docs say is important in maintaining a healthy weight. Let's see what happens.
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My Sisters Rock!

As much as our family skis and snowboards it's very rare that we get to hangout together but when we do it's fun, a lot of fun. I get a good laugh when I see my sisters face plant and they get a kick out of me taking a digger. I had a chance to ski with my sister Claudine yesterday and man she's a great snowboarder. For someone who hasn't done it for a long time and doesn't get many days in I'm truly impressed. Check her out.

Cruising Around Breckenridge from Mark Agcaoili on Vimeo.

Look for footage of my other sister Christine ripping up the moguls with her skis. I can't wait.

Apple iPad is...

smaller than a MacBook and bigger than an iPod Touch. Price is high but like everything else Apple sells the price will go down after the initial surge of the first production iPads. No contract is a slight improvement but to make things right they need to dump AT&T. 64GB for $829...not sold on it but maybe in a year. Part of me thinks this will be as big as the Apple TV....exactly.
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Wrapped my buddy's cube for his birthday

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Just what I needed...

An ass whooping on the Gateway ride to get my head back on track with cycling. An easy ride up to Carter Lake but on the way back it was muy dificil and fast. We hit a small climb halfway home that caused enough of a leg breaker to split the large group into 3 small groups and who knows how many blown out the back. I could not make the 2nd group with all my teammates so I had to settle for the 3rd group about 50 yards in the rears. The lead group contained all the 'real' pros, my teammate Drew and my good friend Campie. I was able to bridge up to the 2nd group which for me at this time of year and with how much skiing I've done instead of cycling was a HUGE accomplishment...HUGE. I was pretty much riding on the edge of my seat taking pulls full throttle on the verge of getting dropped in the 2nd group. This effort was my first serious effort of the year and damn it was fun. I will be in that first group come end of Feb. I'm looking forward to really training and getting a lot more days on my skis. I actually think tele skiing has helped my power. I may not have the endurance or top-end speed yet but I sure as hell have some power. This could be a really fun year.
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Simon

A great weekend celebrating my good buddy's 31st birthday.

GoPro Ski Video Keystone from Mark Agcaoili on Vimeo.

MKS from Mark Agcaoili on Vimeo.

a positive outlook on life

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Cross Training for 2010 Season