self imposed rules of jeffkao.net

This being my first website that has lasted for more than a few entries I’m still a little unsure of the direction it is going to take. Obviously, first & foremost I wanted to capture my experiences with racing cyclocross and depending on how my rehab goes I plan on doing it again this year too. Then I went and got hit by a car so that’s been my focus. But more & more I want to write about other things too. I have some ideas that I want to start, but probably not until I start getting a little more traffic & audience participation. There are a few things you will never see though:

- Complaints about work. At my last two jobs when we looked for new employees the absolute first thing we did was google them and read their blogs, myspace, and such

- Call anyone or any organization “Nazis.” Apparently a Briton got sued for doing the same. See also Godwin’s Law.

- For that matter defame anyone specifically. That’s just not my style.

- Talk about super-personal stuff. This blog is not Emo

Really if you want to know about any of the above all you have to do is buy me a coke and I’ll spill the beans. In any case let me know if there’s anything you want to see here or if there is something completely boring.

Note: Despite my best attempts searching for jeff kao on google.com puts me in the 2nd result. I these people.

Technical Difficulties

Believe it or not today was the first time I’ve ever pointed my work’s Internet Explorer at jeffkao.net.  In general my updates are made at home on my kitchen counter while I load pictures on my flickr and rock out to whatever my CD player chooses to play (currently the first The Evens album or Absolutely the Best of Ike & Tina Turner).  So, I was really shocked at how completely fouled up the site looks all thanks to my gigantic picture in the post entitled “15 week update.” 

 I’m even more disappointed that the sidebar thingy is also at the bottom of the screen instead of along the right side.  Stupid pre-built wordpress themes.  Of course luckily for me my career as a user experience designer has given me the abilities to identify usability problems, explain them to concerned parties, and prescribe solutions.  Too bad I’m ill qualified to actually fix the problem.  Plumbers don’t have this problem.

Note: It looks awesome in Firefox.  Teriffic even.   

What’s In Your Bag?

Note: Click on the picture above to view my flickr notes or read below.

Flickr has a tag entitled “what’sinyoubag.” Here’s what’s in mine on a pretty standard
Monday: Note: My camera is not in said picture:
- Laptop sleeve with various folders & documents (I usually have an article printed out from either NYTimes.com or NewYorker.com).
- Personal mobile phone
- Work mobile phone w/ Headset (At work we don’t have standard desk phones, we all use mobiles)
- iPod Shuffle
- United Airlines Business class amenities pouch / Bike kit
- CO2 inflator
- Extra CO2 cartridge
- 15mm Campy “peanut butter” wrench (The only Campy I own)
- Crank Bros. multi-tool
- Spare tube
- Tire levers
- scrap of old shirt for use as rag
- Plastic Bag
- ID Badge
- Eyeglasses case
- OnGaurd Mini U-lock

All thrown into my size M Baileyworks SuperPro courier bag

15 Week Update

Leg is doing good. My limp only seems to come out when I’m tired and have been up and around a lot. Riding every day now. The other night I was riding a bunch and took the Ashland bus home since I was both tired & it was getting late. Still a lot of work to do. As you can see…goodbye crutches.

New Glasses

By the time I was a freshman in the dorms my vision had deteriorated to the point where I had coke bottle bottom glasses; without them I was completely screwed. Every night I would take out my contacts, with glasses on I’d walk back to my room, remove glasses by my dresser and walk across the room to bed. One night I came back to the room to find my roommates already in bed with the lights out. I took off my glasses and got in bed, my visions so bad I didn’t notice that Brett was hiding in my bed ready to pounce. In horror movies victims always see their attacker in the moments before they get hacked to bits. In my case I never saw anything but a blurry black mass and it haunts me to this day.

Later that year I got LASIK eye surgery (no, it had nothing to do with Brett). The surgery was totally painless, but definitely reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange. In any case, I’ve been extremely happy with the results. Perfect vision, no halos, and the lazy part of me was ecstatic not to have to put in contacts every morning.

Now 7 years later I had started to notice that I was holding books closer and closer and that I was leaning closer to my laptop; while my distance vision was fine. So apparently I have developed a slight astigmatism and need glasses. Here they are and as you can see the prescription is very small. In fact my eye doctor says I wouldn’t have any problem with a driving test and I really only need to wear them when I’m at a computer, or reading (or 90% of my waking day). Yes, I’m disappointed that I’m a 4-eyes again but hey if it wasn’t for LASIK I wouldn’t have had those 7 years and my new glasses probably wouldn’t be so cool.

Thank you for supporting Independent Retail

I’m a 27 year old Asian male who works for a high tech company and I have never purchased music online. An exception might be that I bought a copy of my sister Jenn’s movie Outside on iTunes (you can find it by searching “Click List”). It isn’t because I steal music from Napster or whatever is napster now and I’m not a luddite (even though I still own a turntable). I’m just a closet shop-a-holic and I happen to live very close to a great record store. Also I am an admited pack rat that loves having a stack of jewel cases with their liner notes all pulled out while I take in my new purchases. Lately, I’ve noticed a great trend where new records come with bonus materials. Like the new Wilco album came with an extra ep with the above title printed on the sleeve or Chuck Ragen’s new disc including a signed 7″. Really, why do people even bother with Best Buy for music?

Technical Difficulties

If you’ve recently tried to visit jeffkao.net then you probably got some kind of an error page.  Don’t worry no one got hurt, just a small clerical error involving my Visa card.  I’ll have it working soon enough.   If you were one of the many (1 who visited by pointing your internet browser to jeffunderscorekao.wordpress.com two days ago you noticed nothing unusual.  I swear I will pay the bills and keep the lights on in the future.

Blog Stats

Here were the top search items that led people to jeffkao.net  Most people who visit (most probably isn’t the right word for a blog that has had zero views some days) find their way by simply knowing me personally.  What’s nice to know is that I’ve only seen one or two occasions of people finding jeffkao.net by google-ing me.  If you do google me the #1 result is Jeff Kao from Berkley California who owns the .com version of my site.  Actually my first appearence on Google isn’t until the 5th page where a results page from the ChiCrossCup resides.
 
hincapie roubaix fall video youtube - here’s the link again just for kicks. 
 
prelude website chicago - I’m refering to the Prelude to the Tour Da Chicago. 
 
renee callaway - Renee runs MadCross.org and is awesome.
 
wax southern california - Fire!
 
orthopedic screws - Ortho screws suck.  First of all I was told that sometimes they will back out as the bone heals.  If this happens it means surgery to remove said screw, and of course recovering time after that.  Screw that! (pun absolutely intended).  Also now that the swelling has been subsiding in my leg I can see one of my screws protruding out of my ankle. 
 
airport security leg with titanium rod - The titanium plates/screws in my arm have never set off a detector at an airport.  Titanium is a non-ferrous metal which means when I toss the super strong magnets Lucas gave me at myself they don’t stick
 
kingsbury chicago tracks - bad times.  my advice: keep the rubber on the road

leg hurts after tibia titanium rod - a bit sore, but hurt is a strong word