After only ten days break, the factory teams will be at again in Sweden this week. The rally has been moved further north in hopes of having consistent snowpack on the roads — conditions have been variable over the past few years, with loads of ice and frozen gravel instead of the usual snowy bobsled runs. This is another specialist event, as only Swedes and Finns have won the rally since it’s inception in the 50s. It’s also a quick rally, posting the second fastest average speed, just behind the grand prix that is Rallye Finland. Good drivers know how to use the snowbanks to keep speed through the corners, but any lack of concentration will leave you beached in four feet of snow.
The favorite going into the event is Marcus Gronholm. He’s won in Sweden multiple times, and the new 307 was quick in Monte Carlo, so it should be quick in Sweden. A win this weekend would really kickstart Gronholm’s title campaign this season, especially with a string of gravel events coming up. Freddy Loix should also be fighting for a spot in points for Peugeot as well.
Citroen has a good chance of sweeping podium spots on this rally. Carlos Sainz, though he’s never won, can be counted on for a point performance, especially after a disappointing retirement in Monte Carlo. Sebastien Loeb has admitted that this isn’t his best event, but he set several scratch times last year, so he can be quick on the snow. He’ll be competing for a podium spot for sure.
Subaru will be a great unknown quantity in this event. Petter Solberg, despite growing up just over the border in Norway, doesn’t have much experience on snow. Teammate Mikko Hirvonen has more experience, and can be counted on to fight for a finish in the points. Both drivers will be aided by Tommi Makinen, who has stayed on at Subaru as a “coach” for the young drivers. Solberg will no doubt drive all out this weekend in hopes of starting a defence of his title.
The Ford drivers will also be dangerous this weekend. Markko Martin hopes to build on his fourth place finish last season, and Francois Duval seems to have matured since last season with his fine drive in Monte Carlo. The Focus is fast enough to win here, and I think Martin will fight Gronholm for the win.
Despite the fine performance in Monte Carlo, Mitsubishi can’t expect much in Sweden. Gilles Panizzi is far from comfortable on snow, and the new Lancer has had little loose surface testing. If the car runs as well as it did at the Monte, second driver Kristian Sohlberg has a shot at the points. I think, however, that Mitsubishi is just waiting for Sweden to end so they can better prepare for Mexico in March.
My Top 8
1. Marcus Gronholm
2. Markko Martin
3. Sebastien Loeb
4. Petter Solberg
5. Carlos Sainz
6. Freddy Loix
7. Mikko Hirvonen
8. Kristian Sohlberg
Posted on 3 February 2004
Since I’m currently waiting for a client to approve some changes to a site I’m building for them, I’d thought I’d take a few minutes to talk about my new work environment and what I think about it so far (after two weeks).
So far, so good…..
There are roughly 13 programmers in the office. Some function more as project managers and analysts, others are strictly interface developers, and rest of us do a little of everything as needed. Everyone is within five years of my age, and nearly everyone is a dad (which, by inference, means that this place is a member of the Get Rid of Slimy girlS club). Everyone here understands what everyone else is dealing with at home. And topics of conversation include jumpy seats, exer-saucers, and how much sleep your child got last night (though I stay out of those discussions since the boy sleeps 8-10 hours most nights).
The other thing I really like about the office so far is the attitude. The last time I worked at a client-driven office, it felt like a trauma room. Everyone was completely stressed by the work, and when a client wanted a change, or a deadline was approaching people ran around like headless chickens. Overtime was rampant. Not here. Unless something is really going down, this has been a 9-5 shop. My longest day, caused by an issue with a site we were pushing into production, was 8.5 hours. And we left before the issue was resolved. “It can wait til morning” my manager said as he was leaving. Wow! I thought nothing could wait til morning.
I realize this probably won’t always be the case, but like I said, so far, so good. There’s been precious little overtime worked by anyone since I started. Everyone gets on quite well. The work is interesting. What more could I ask for?
Posted on 2 February 2004
I felt like a big tough guy for riding to work in the middle of that cold snap last week…until I read this post. Guess I’m not so tough after all. I would feel pretty tough riding this bubblegum pink CrossCheck. I think it’s awesome that Canada’s top cyclocrosser uses a CrossCheck. Most national level cross machines are super-duper lightweight composite frames, but here’s someone winning races on a heavy-ish steel frame.
Posted on 2 February 2004
Sitting on our dining room table is a contract signed both by us and seller’s of the house we’d like to buy. The wheels are turning now, and if all goes well, we’ll be moving in April 24. There’s much to do between then and now — home inspections, mortgages, insurance — but the deal is done. The final step toward to adulthood is nearly complete.
Posted on 30 January 2004
I finally decided I was sick of waiting for the bus endlessly, so I rode in this morning. Now that I’m downtown, I’m riding on all main roads (Stanton to Butler to Penn to Grant), so everything was wet or even dry in spots. It was a bit chilly and windy, but still bearable. And much better than standing around waiting for a bus.
On the house hunt….it looks like we’ve come to an agreement on the price. Now there are just a few ancillary items we have to hack through before we sign the contract. Woo.
We had a nice long evening meeting with our new masters at work on Tuesday. At least there was food. Some things will better, some things won’t. I think it will really depend how much they allow our current management to do what they do. There are still rumors that we will moving to the Forest Hills office, however. I’m not exactly thrilled at that thought, but I really don’t want to worry about it at the moment.
Posted on 29 January 2004
The boy seems to have snuck out again, and this time he wasn’t going to be satisfied with some piddly waterslide….
Posted on 27 January 2004
(with apologies to jwz)
Ciber Acquires FullTilt Solutions
After three wonderful days of employment, I’m now an employee of Ciber. According to management, nothing is going to change for us, since we all work on profitable projects for large clients. There’s obviously a lot of grumbling in the office, and people are concerned, but I’ve got other things to worry about. Plus, Ciber has such a large army of Java programmers that if things at this office went downhill, I could always move within the company. The good news is that the office will stay downtown, rather than moving to Ciber’s Pittsburgh office in Forest Hills, and the management at the office will stay on, though there will be a general manager from Ciber installed. These guys have been through a couple of acquisitions, and they’ve managed to keep things pretty stable at the office, so I’m not terribly worried at the moment.
Update
Dave pointed out this spelling mistake (I hope) in the Ciber press release I linked to above about the acquisition:
?CIBER is adding approximately 100 employees, approximately 70 percent of which are in Philadelphia. The new operations represent approximately $15 million in annualized revenue and are expected to add approximately one cent to CIBER?s earning in 2004,? according to David Durham, CIBER?s Chief Financial Officer.
Great to know we can add $0.01 to Ciber’s earnings this year. Heck, they could probably take the soda machine out of the break room and add more to their earnings this year.
Posted on 26 January 2004
As expected, Sebastien Loeb won his second consecutive Monte with a commanding win over Ford’s Markko Martin and Francois Duval. Marcus Gronholm held fourth place, one his best finishes in the rally. Two big surprises: Freddy Loix took fifth, and Gilles Panizzi, in the new Mitsubishi Lancer took sixth. Perhaps Peugeot’s signing of Loix wasn’t such a bad idea. Panizzi’s sixth was a great result for the team in its return to the championship. Panizzi was subdued in his praise for the car, but obviously it was quick enough and reliable enough to score a couple of championship points. Petter Solberg looked as if he’d give Gronholm a run at fourth with a stage win, but then a collision with a rock damaged the suspension on his Impreza and Solberg dropped to seventh. Still, not a bad start, considering Solberg had never finished at Monte before, let alone score championship points.
Loeb seems to have picked up where he left off last season, and he’ll be the man to beat all year. Ford has to be pleased with the performance of the Focus, and of David Duval. But the season is young, and Duval is on a short lease with team management, so he’s got to keep up the pace. The new Peugeot 307 looks quick and generally reliable, so perhaps Gronholm will be a threat to the overall title this season. At least the manufacturer’s race will be interesting, with Citroen, Ford and Peugeot all staking their claims.
The championship moves to Sweden in two weeks. This will be a critical rally for Markko Martin and Petter Solberg, as they both have the skill and experience to win it. Solberg needs to land on the podium to stay in the title hunt, even with the season just getting started. Keep an eye out for Freddy Loix as well — he’s proven he’s a strong driver given a good car, and he could be a darkhorse on the snow.
Posted on 25 January 2004
Not much has changed in the top 4 after day two in Monte Carlo. Sebastien Loeb has extended his lead, and he now holds an advantage of over a minute and half. Ford’s David Duval and Markko Martin will fight it out for second place tomorrow, with Duval currently holding a slim lead. Marcus Gronholm is holding steady in fourth, though he’ll need a mistake by one of the front-runners to gain any ground. Petter Solberg is in fifth, with a comfortable cushion. This will actually be a good start to Solberg’s title defence, as he’s never scored points in Monte Carlo before. Freddy Loix should get his Peugeot campaign off to a good start if he can hold sixth place. Gilles Panizzi holds seventh place, and though his opinion of the new Lancer isn’t exactly glowing, the car has been reliable enough for a points finish. Antony Warmbold rounds out the points in eighth. The day’s only real drama was Carlos Sainz shunt and retirement due to a spin in snow. Both Sainz and Loeb complained that they thought spectators were pushing snow into the road, making the conditions more treacherous.
Not much should change in the standings tomorrow, barring accidents. Loeb should win his second consecutive Monte Carlo. It should be an interesting battle for second place, however — perhaps Ford manager Malcolm Wilson will give team orders to maintain the good manufacturer’s race points haul. It will also be interesting to see if Solberg will make a run at Gronholm. There aren’t many competitve kilometers left, but Solberg tends to drive at his best on day three.
Posted on 24 January 2004
Just an update on the house negotiations. We did receive a counteroffer from the owners, and we’re now formulating our counter. We’re getting pretty close on price, it’s just a few little things (seller assist on the closing costs, and some details of the home inspections) that we need to hammer out. Who knows, maybe we’ll have an agreement in place by Monday!
Posted on 23 January 2004
