Instead of sending out my typical “I’ve got a new job” email message, I thought I’d just make the general announcement here. I’ve got a new job. I’ll starting with Full Tilt Solutions near the end of January. Things just didn’t work out with my current employer (to put things nicely), so I needed to move on, primarily to find a nice, stable environment. I will, however, be joining the Dark Side, though the company does do some Java-related work as well. I’m actually looking forward to working with a new platform, as it will expand my skill set. Most good (read: stable) Java jobs these days are typically the same — J2EE applications using the same frameworks and design patterns. I’m sure the same thing exists with .Net, but at least it’ll be a new experience for awhile.

I will also be working downtown again, which means I have to get used to the wide variety of people one sees there. Squirrel Hill is fairly homogenized — everyone is either a college student, a Jewish person, or a Russian immigrant — and the oddity factor is fairly low. I’m looking forward to the easier ride to work everyday (downhill), but I’m not looking forward for the slog back up Stanton Avenue. The hill from Butler Street is much longer and much steeper than approaching our house from Highland/Negley Avenues. I may have to gear down the fixie a bit. There was a time when every bus coming up Stanton from Butler had a bike rack on the front, but those days seemed to have come and gone.

Posted on 9 January 2004

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Though Peugeot didn’t have a disasterous year in 2003, taking second place in the manufacturer’s championship, it was still a huge disappointment after taking both the driver’s and make’s titles in 2002. The team had problems everywhere, so where to begin….

Reliability suddenly become an issue for 206. After an amazing 2002, none of the drivers seemed content with the changes to the car. Marcus Gronholm had a string of retirements, Gilles Panizzi complained of a lack of power, and Richard Burns just never felt comfortable in the car. Harri Rovanpera added a string of mistakes and mechanical retirements. So what happened? More and likely, the team’s engineers rested on their laurels and didn’t do enough to boost the power of the engine. The most telling comment came from Gilles Panizzi during the Corsica rally — he said that if he ran at the pace he was during the 2002, he would have won by five minutes. As it stood, Panizzi was struggling for a top 5 finish.

Things won’t be better in 2004 with the debut of the new 307 in Monte Carlo. Peugeot couldn’t decide if they would wait to debut the WRC until later in the season, but finally concluded it was best just to get some miles on it and make changes as necessary. Releasing a new rally car is never a cause for immediate celebration. With only about six weeks between the Rally GB and Monte Carlo, the engineers don’t have much time to fully test the car. Expect plenty of retirements and poor finishes for the 307 during the first third of the 2004 season.

The driver line-up looks entirely different this year as well, with only Marcus Gronholm returning. Richard Burns decided to leave the team late last season, with the management responding with a “Well, we weren’t going to resign you anyway.” There was no mistaking that Gronholm and Burns didn’t really get on well as teammates, especially with the strong year Burns had. I imagine that at some point Gronholm requested that he be the only number 1 driver on the team in 2004. Peugeot also decided to release Harri Rovanpera, after Rovanpera had a disappointing year. The most mind-boggling choice, however, was why the management didn’t offer Panizzi a full factory drive (remember, Panizzi had only been contesting the tarmac rounds in a factory-spec 206 — everything else was in a customer-spec car). Panizzi showed incredible skill on the gravel rounds he contested (and remember, the playing field was far from level for him in a privateer car), and he’s a danger to win every tarmac event he enters. While Panizzi probably wouldn’t be in the running for the driver’s championship, his prescence on the team still doesn’t allow Gronholm to be the clear number one driver on every rally.

Peugeot’s solution was to sign Freddy Loix, who was left unemployed when Hyundai folded its WRC program before the Rally GB. Loix is a good driver who has been hampered by a less than ideal car (the Hyundai Accent WRC). He can be counted on the score manufacturer’s point, and perhaps still a few driver’s points here and there. But he’ll never challenge Gronholm as the team’s number one driver — he is a clear number two in a supporting role.

And what about Gronholm? He’ll be anxious to make up for a disappointing 2003 campaign, but the new 307 will no doubt hold him back. If the car progresses quickly enough, he may be a threat to win a few gravel rallies, but it would take a small miracle to be able to compete for the championship. I’d expect that if the car doesn’t progress well enough this season that Gronholm will look to move on.

Posted on 8 January 2004

After a fine season in 2003, which saw Sebastien Loeb and Carlos Sainz finish 2-3 in the driver’s championship and a manufacturer’s championship, Citroen is poised to have another fine campaign in 2004. They are clearly the strongest team in the championship, with Peugeot putting all its muscle behind Marcus Gronholm. The Xsara has proven to be very quick on all surfaces, and it has been quite reliable as well. With both Loeb and Sainz returning, Citroen is once again the favorite for the manufacturer’s championship.

Sebastien Loeb has become the most dangerous driver in the WRC. Petter Solberg may have won the championship last year (thanks in large part to his partnership with Tommi Makinen and Solberg’s level of experience), but Loeb is clearly a threat in every rally he starts. He hit some rough spots last year, failing to finish several tarmac rallies (his speciality), but he also won several loose surface events, which was a bit of a surprise. And after his win at Monte Carlo last season (and his near-miss the season before), Loeb is poised to take the crown of the king of Monte Carlo from the now-retired Makinen (who won five straight).

Carlos Sainz, after toying with the idea of retirement during last season, has decided to go at it one more time. Sainz had a strong, consistent year where he was in the running for the championship going into Rally GB (he failed to capitalize, however, crashing out on day one). With Makinen’s retirement, Sainz is the elder statesman of the sport, and that experience shows. Like Richard Burns, Sainz fought for the championship with consistent results rather than a mix of wins and retirements. He is capable of finishing on the podium in every event he enters (and unless things go all wrong, you can bank on him finishing in the points).

Citroen has all the pieces in place to take over where Peugeot left off — dominating both the driver’s and manufacturer’s championship. The team was one point away from taking both titles last season, and I expect they’ll be in hunt for two trophies at the close of 2004 as well.

Posted on 6 January 2004

It was quite a season for Subaru in 2003 — Tommi Makinen’s last season in the WRC, Petter Solberg fighting for and ultimately winning the driver’s championship, and the return of Richard Burns. The team got some bad news soon after celebrating Solberg’s victory, when it was announced that Burns would sit out the 2004 due to treatment for a brain tumor. There were rumors that Subaru would pursue Colin McRae, but the two couldn’t come to terms and Subaru instead signed Finnish youngster Mikko Hirvonen. But before we talk about 2004 any more, let’s talk about 2003 for a moment.

There are many Subaru fans that are happy to see Makinen retire. After starting his time at Subaru off with a five consecutive victory at Monte Carlo, Makinen had a string of bad luck that ran nearly two seasons. He did end his career on a high note, finishing along side Solberg on the podium in Great Britain, but there were many frustrating races in between. But Makinen’s retirement is a great loss to the team, and a great loss to Petter Solberg. Repeatedly over the past two seasons, Solberg was quick to credit his success to working with Makinen. The two had a very special bond as teammates, and Makinen was always ready to help Solberg with advice gleaned from 24 WRC wins. I always thought this image, taken just after Solberg finished the final stage on last years Rally GB to win the title, summed up their relationship nicely. Do you really think Carlos Sainz would have run over and hugged Sebastien Loeb had he won the championship? Solberg will continue to be successful, but both he and the team will sorely miss Makinen’s experience.

That said, Subaru went from a potential contender for manufacturer’s title to another also-ran when Burns took the year off and the team couldn’t come to terms with McRae. This isn’t necessarily a slight against Hirvonen — but imagine Solberg driving alongside Burns and McRae. But Subaru should still have a good showing, as it’s expected that Hirvonen will score some points for his new team.

The Impreza should be quite reliable this year, as the team is not releasing a new world rally car this season. There were some growing pains with the 2003 model, but after a shaky spring campaign, the Impreza carried Solberg with the highest points tally since the Acropolis Rally in June. The biggest question mark for the car is, as always, it’s performance on the sealed surfaces. Solberg scored a win in France this season, but that was thanks to extremely wet weather (in which the Impreza and its Pirellis do quite well). With Seb Loeb in the quick Citroen Xsara, the Impreza has to find more power on tarmac to keep Solberg in the title hunt. Solberg will benefit from the surface switch in Italy, however, with one less tarmac round to contest.

Does Solberg stand the chance to repeat? Yes. The addition of three gravel rallies to the schedule will work to his advantage. Solberg’s proven he’s not just a quick youngster — he had several mature drives in 2003 to win rallies, and he’ll need more of the same in 2004 to stay in the hunt. And Hirvonen? It would certainly be expected that he could scratch out a few good finishes, say in the top 8. Hopefully Solberg will take the cue from his mentor Makinen, and help Hirvonen reach his potential as well.

Posted on 4 January 2004

There’s quite a bit talk going around about how NASA’s latest mission to Mars could truly shake up the way we view the world and ourselves. It goes like this: what if the rovers find that there was once life on Mars? Suddenly, there’s proof that perhaps we’re not alone. This sort of talk scares some people, especially Christians, because hard scientific evidence of life on other planets seems to make them think the Bible might be a sham. But I don’t follow that logic.

Christians, especially those with a theological bent, like to talk about the mysteries of God — the Trinity, the virgin birth, etc. The most popular view of the creation narrative in Genesis is that while it tells a truth (God created the universe) it is not to be taken literally. This perspective allows Christians to hold to the theory of micro-evolution (though most still adamently oppose any scientific idea that is tied to Darwin). Most Christian theology portrays God as omnipotent, and while often theology attempts to paint God into a corner as far as His attributes go, realistically we can’t do that. We can only go on what He’s told us via the Bible.

So, why is the thought that Mars could have sustained life such an earth-shattering discovery? The Bible doesn’t seem to limit life to our planet (at least as far as I know). Aren’t Christians painting God into a corner again saying that there couldn’t be life on other planets? The only discovery on the red planet that could truly rattle the foundation of humanity would be an X-Files-esque discovery of an alien craft with the Bible and the human gene code etched in its shell. If the rovers find evidence of plant life, or water, well, that’s a great find for the scientific community, but let’s not rewrite our history just yet.

And a bike….

I finally got around to getting images to the owner of the Fixed Gear Gallery website, a fine collection of nearly 600 fixed gear bicycles (with pistas, trainers, classics, commuters, and everything in between). See my trusty steed here.

Posted on 4 January 2004

Jen and I are hardly carnivores — we will cook beef/poultry/fish perhaps once a week — but we’ve got a new favorite meat dish to make at home. Braciole. It’s an Italian rolled, filled flank steak cooked in wine and tomato sauce. It’s amazingly good. So good, in fact, here is the recipe:

Braciole
1.5# flank steak
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/3 cup chopped fresh mint
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Juice of one lemon
Red wine
1 batch of tomato sauce (see below)

Tenderize and flatten the flank steak to thin it out. Salt and pepper to taste.

Mix one tablespoon of the olive oil and the remaining ingredients together in a bowl and spread on the flank steak.

Roll the flank with the grain (like a jelly roll) and tie tightly with string.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a pan, and brown all sides of the roll.

Once the roll is browned, fill the pan with the tomato sauce and as much wine as you please (1/2 to 1 cup). Simmer gently, covered, for up to one hour. To serve, cut the roll across the grain and cover with the sauce.

Tomato Sauce
1 cup of chopped yellow onion
1 tablespoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
Red wine
1 28oz can of diced tomatoes

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a sauce pot, then add the onion, basil, and salt. Saute the onion until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or so.

Add the wine. Again, the amount is up to you. 1/2 to 1 cup works best. Turn down the heat and deglaze the pan.

Add the tomatoes, stir well, and allow to simmer, uncovered, for 30-60 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. The longer the sauce cooks, the thicker it will become.

Enjoy!

Posted on 2 January 2004

Well, if all goes well, I may be returning to the dark side for my employment. In preparation for this, I’ve starting playing around with Mono, an open source implementation of the various APIs used by ASP.NET. This project, led by the founders of Ximian, is geared toward a fully functionality .Net library for Linux platforms. This has obviously met with some strong resistence from the open source community, since there’s concern that this gives Microsoft inroads to the open source community. Personally, I don’t have time for this religious discussion, as the .Net platform has some really nice features that are currently lacking in Java and Java-based web frameworks.

Anyway, I think I’ll spend part of my off day re-learning C# and .Net forms (though I had to refresh my knowledge prior to a tech interview). Right now the biggest advantage of the Mono implementation is that I don’t have install Windows on any of our machines at home….

Posted on 1 January 2004

Ahh, the end of a year. I’ve never cared much for New Year’s (and New Year’s Eve) and this year won’t be an exception, especially since we now have a fine reason to stay home and go to sleep by 10:30pm. I am hopefully looking forward to a new job sometime soon, but that’s merely coincidental with the coming New Year (since most companies go dormat over the holiday). I am, however, looking forward to a day off tomorrow.

Things to come….the 2004 World Rally Championship season kicks off in Monte Carlo in a few weeks, so I’ll be starting my annual team-by-team preview. This should be an interesting season, with two new rallies (New Mexico and Japan), a switch from tarmac to gravel for the Rally Italy, and a new, more compact service/recce system (Mille Piste) for some of the gravel events.

Posted on 31 December 2003

After having five days at home with the family, it’s quite an adjustment trying to get back into the swing of work, especially when you don’t particularly care for that work. Things are better than they were before the holidays, but I’m still desperate to find different work. I think I’m ready to work for a big stable company now.

And despite the fact that winter is only eight days old, I’m asking the same question Jen does.

Posted on 29 December 2003

We finally got to the see the last installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy this past Friday night. It does not disappoint. I’m really impressed with what Peter Jackson and his crew did — they made three really great movies, and they kept the spirit of the work and the author. I would have to think that if he were alive JRR Tolkein would be pleased with what Jackson has done.

Quite a few people have said that the trilogy is the salvation of modern cinema. That’s quite a label. The movies were fantastic, and (I’ll say it again) Jackson did a nearly perfect job recreating Tolkein’s world. But Jackson had a huge advantage over the average (or even above-average) filmmaker — the perfect story was already written. It was just up to Jackson to not screw up the telling of that story. We haven’t seen the final Matrix movie, but we’ve heard enough bad things about it that we can wait. The Wachowski brothers began the trilogy as geniuses, but they couldn’t finish the story. The movies are inventive, and at time brilliant, but in the end, they couldn’t bring it together. Peter Jackson didn’t have to worry about bringing things to the proper conclusion — he just had to get us there.

What’s odd is that I feel like I have to constantly say that Jackson is a brilliant filmmaker, as if I didn’t like ROTK, or the trilogy. The trilogy was fantastic, and I hope that Jackson is making a film of The Hobbit. He’s gotten so involved with the story (and with Tolkein) that I don’t think he could do a bad job. But I’ll be interested to see what Jackson can do with any other movie — something that isn’t a work of genius to begin with. If I’m Peter Jackson, I’d hang up my lense now and go out on top. Anything else would be a disappointment.

Posted on 28 December 2003