tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129878112011-12-01T10:55:26.328-08:00Motorcycles, travel, adventure & life hackingQuintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comBlogger1231100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-72311838630692120852011-03-26T20:56:00.000-07:002011-03-26T20:57:57.068-07:00

Quick trip to Hong Kong with some mates underway.  We're just here four days, swooping in to get some custom suits made.  This place is NOTHING like I was expecting.  I expected something like Beijing or Shanghai, instead this is loads like NYC.  The masses of people, the retail options available, number of American stores around like 7-11 and Pizza Hut, English actually gets you pretty far,

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-38414732265928364152011-03-23T19:21:00.000-07:002011-03-23T19:27:25.694-07:00

Of the two racing leagues I compete in, American Federation of Motorcyclists (AFM) is the more competitive one.  It's one of the oldest racing clubs in the country, it's nationally known within the motorsports community.  Last weekend was the season opener at Buttonwillow Raceway Park (where yours truly is the proud Foursquare mayor).  Our race weekend was partially rained out, by Saturday it

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-53210259445411226722011-03-02T13:39:00.000-08:002011-03-02T16:00:15.958-08:00

I have a fun tradition going with my friends, thought I would tell you about it.  Similar in propagation to a chain letter or Amish friendship bread, we have a friendship spider plant.  I first was gifted a branch of this spider plant some fifteen years ago in college. Spider plants are funny creatures.  As you can see above, they have spiky outgrowth on the top like Bart Simpson hair or

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-38577055875750061462011-03-02T12:35:00.000-08:002011-03-02T12:36:44.897-08:00

This is an extremely important infographic about infographics I rather fancy from Phil Gyford

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-9790546837571548412011-02-09T08:20:00.000-08:002011-02-09T13:43:38.121-08:00

Oh, snap!... new twitter wordles!  Apparently "engine" is one of my most blogged words.  ROFL.

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-10184081671557026152011-02-07T23:48:00.000-08:002011-02-07T23:52:04.044-08:00

A friend flies planes and took me up for a tour over San Francisco last night.  Great sunset trip starting in Palo Alto, up the peninsula over San Francisco, over Marin and down over Oakland, touching down in San Jose, then back up the peninsula.  Living in San Francisco as a single person in my mid-thirties is definitely a Peter Pan experience.  All my friends have exotic and expensive hobbies.

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-24676956183815063732011-02-07T23:20:00.000-08:002011-02-07T23:53:05.970-08:00

Racing in January is strange.  Feels too early to be race season already?  Here's updates... I forked my twitter profiles and broke off motorcycle related tweeting to a new profile.  Follow me there for more timely updates, we'll see how much I can keep after this blogging thing this year: Clicky, Click! Scrambling to get the new bike together by January for WERA round one, I was driving

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-23837228139957332392011-02-07T18:59:00.000-08:002011-02-07T18:59:49.011-08:00

First thing I did with the new race bike was dyno burn it in.  When any motor is new, the valves haven't completely set yet, and during the first few hundred miles on the engine it will settle in.  Valves seat with compression on the engine, the "engine braking" action that happens when you take your foot off the accelerator and put negative pressure through the system.  The momentum of the

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-64645733800883398122011-02-07T18:45:00.000-08:002011-02-07T19:39:14.880-08:00

I guess proof that I'm becoming uni-dimensional and incapable of discussing any topic that does not in some way involve motorcycles...  I have abandoned this blog basically since 2010 race season wrapped up.  Hilarious.  Let's catch up... Spent the racing off-season, well... still scrambling around doing racing related things!  No exciting exotic holiday adventure travels this year, I stuck

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-14967010465858114022010-09-11T10:52:00.000-07:002010-09-11T10:54:07.433-07:00

Went to Los Angeles last weekend to race in a WERA event.  WERA is a national club vs. the regional AFM I participate in, but the level of racing is perhaps comparable.  It was fun because the points don't count toward anything and I could just grid up and race.  The track in Fontana, California was built chiefly for NASCAR events.  It's a giant oval with seating for tens of thousands.  The

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-83346285600627575722010-09-11T09:25:00.000-07:002010-09-11T10:30:23.525-07:00

It's official - my race season is over.  AFM round 7 happens in a couple weeks, but I'm off to a wedding in Oregon.  I asked them to reschedule the wedding around my race schedule, I think it's kinda selfish they won't do it, but c'est la vie... he's a good friend so I'll skip my race and attend anyway.  I will drop down in season standings from currently 4th to somewhere between 6th and 10th...

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-41127247986701109202010-08-08T15:12:00.000-07:002010-08-08T15:12:58.641-07:00

Today was a pretty great day.  Despite the jet lag traveling to London - I gathered myself up and hit the adventure.  My hotel is this old castle in a town 75km outside London called Aylesbury.  This is by far the furthest off the beaten path work has ever taken me.  I would have been well within my rights to sleep away much of the day and rest - especially since starting tomorrow I've got four

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-82968427925228523622010-08-08T04:05:00.000-07:002010-08-08T04:05:07.293-07:00

With a few of my friends out of medical leave due to crashes at the track, I have spent a good deal of time lately exploring why is it that I race bikes?  It's completely irrational.  I don't have any realistic hope of making money at this.  I have tremendous risk every time I mount the bike.  The costs are through the roof.  Why then do I do this?  Initially there was quite a bit of, "oh wow,

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-34204180781123742942010-08-08T03:56:00.000-07:002010-08-08T04:05:58.248-07:00

As a couple friends have pointed out lately, I've not been rambling themelessly much.  In my defense, it's been a busy month!  I returned from Rome, had a motorcycle race the following weekend, had another motorcycle race three weeks later, and as I type find myself back in Europe - this time in London for work.  Despite being here for work - I am going to steal out time today to try chasing down

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-43956167670182675852010-07-05T17:50:00.000-07:002010-07-05T17:50:27.263-07:00

Such a short trip, did make it to Vatican City and to St. Peter's square and basilica, but did not make it to the Sistine Chapel.  But this is okay, I'm certain after a few days here I will be back to Italy some day, and to Rome most likely again also.  I love the Italian demeanor, food, fashion, and people.  Still, from the outside, St. Peter's square was fun to see and lit up at night very

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-57662723541076717812010-07-05T17:38:00.000-07:002010-07-05T17:38:47.202-07:00

Did find a place to rent a scooter in Rome today.  A cute red 50cc Vespa (with matching helmet of course).  It is funny riding around on a bike with so little power, starts from traffic lights were like a nightmare AFM start - getting left in the dust by every single other scooter and motorcycle on the grid... er, at the light.  Ha, ha.  100% this thing was incapable of wheelie (evidence below).

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-86903876953051520622010-07-04T17:06:00.000-07:002010-07-04T17:07:39.621-07:00

The downside of traveling for work all the time is, well, traveling for work all the time.  One of the big upsides though is having the miles and hotel points to be spontaneous and do spur of the moment things.  Taking a brief trip to Italy for the weekend, below are a couple quick pictures from this afternoon.  My camera is out on loan, so borrowed from a friend (thanks Tom!)  Tomorrow's

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-66746200951177994622010-06-18T09:35:00.000-07:002010-06-18T09:36:52.339-07:00

Cool picture from last weekend that shows both the scenic backdrop of the foothills around the racetrack, and what is looks like when you're racing for dear life with a pack of angry apes hot on your tail trying to get around you (Quick! God please help me make my bike eight miles wide and impossible to pass and give me the swiftness of a ninja!  Ha, ha.) picture by Joe at 4theriders.

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-61170863784974019782010-06-16T19:57:00.000-07:002010-06-16T19:57:52.293-07:00

Great weekend racing at Thunderhill Raceway Park.  This was the fourth round of seven in the AFM 2010 series.  A couple personal victories this weekend, I improved my best laptime at this track by three seconds, and my best this year and with this bike setup by five seconds.  I got consistent 2:01's in during the Open Production race, and a few 2:00's in a couple of the races....  it's starting

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-58318854719194751242010-05-29T16:30:00.000-07:002010-05-29T16:30:54.698-07:00

While in Cusco, Peru lately we found a super cool boutique hotel/ art bar/ restaurant called Fallen Angel.  One of the highlights of the Peru trip, the experience there really captured my imagination.  If you dropped this place 100% as it is into San Francisco it would thrive.  The tables you eat off were made of a glass top over an old iron bathtub which was a live goldfish tank.  The menu had

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-84839296742298855932010-05-29T11:59:00.000-07:002010-05-29T11:59:13.247-07:00

Well, race season is off to a frustrating start.  Lack of practice time (too much work travel), many bike upgrades and it feels like a completely new bike I'm not "settled" where it's predictable.  Also, some bike downgrades to make myself legal for the "production" class I race in.  Production is a category for not-modified bikes, or in truth highly modified bikes but only modified in ways

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-19709361018519950952010-04-28T22:32:00.000-07:002010-04-29T10:28:17.199-07:00

I still need to post more about Peru, but the adventures keep rolling in and I wanted to update you on AFM round two last weekend at Infineon Raceway.  I've apparently been traveling and working too much and not had time to practice my racing.  I'm three seconds off the pace at this track I got to last year.  I have some significant bike upgrades (exhaust, suspension) but also one major downgrade

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-57516337231684746512010-04-19T05:03:00.000-07:002010-04-19T05:03:49.072-07:00

Tons of great stories and thoughts on a week spent in Peru hiking the Inca Trail and visiting Machu Picchu, I'll have to find time to collect my thoughts and write them out soon before the experience fades in memory.  There are probably interesting posts on: the economics of a Cusco, Peru trip; the experience of hostel culture; and the locals who gain employ as porters for tourists on the hike. 

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-74903750877828210112010-04-12T07:35:00.000-07:002010-04-12T07:35:51.053-07:00

Found a fun zip line course over the river which cost 25 sol (S/.25).  Sol to USD conversion rate is roughly 3 Sol/ 1 USD - so the zip line cost about $8 USD.  Things here are generally quite cheap.  Taxi from the airport is 20 minutes and 10 sol (three dollars).  Found a couple pictures that turned out well and were interesting.

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-43444719761335740962010-04-11T20:47:00.000-07:002010-04-11T21:05:05.984-07:00

Headed out for a day trip river rafting today.  The Urubamba is a headwater of the Amazon, this time of year is apparently good rafting as glaciers in the Andes melt.  It is not dam controlled like the American River in California (and most commercially rafted rivers in the US) so the river can be very different in April than in September.  For most of the year the Urubamba has class I and II

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-21952789994303275972010-04-10T19:22:00.000-07:002010-04-16T13:40:20.444-07:00

Spent the day napping a bit, fueling up with a great dinner, and walking around getting sunblock and sandals and gear for the five day hike coming up and the river rafting tomorrow.  Here's some quick pictures from Cusco.  Cusco is a mountain town - elevation 11,000 feet.  We can feel it, getting short of breath just walking around.  Probably a great idea we came here to acclimate for a couple

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-5096703202728299782010-04-10T09:28:00.000-07:002010-04-10T20:30:02.164-07:00

Got into Cusco Peru today, super excited for a week of relaxing.  I signed up for this trip on a lark, a couple friends were headed down here already and I'm crashing the party.  The plan is to acclimate to altitude for a couple days, then head out Tuesday for a five day hike to Maccu Picchu.  I was debating what summer adventures I would assemble lately, and remiss that river rafting looked to

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-14239059264218347602010-04-02T16:03:00.000-07:002010-04-02T16:07:57.385-07:00

I sent a quick text message to a few motorcycle buddies this afternoon, and was overwhelmed with the ridiculousness of the replies so I had to make mention of it here.  Josh Hayes is a pro racer in AMA's American Superbike class.  He's doing testing today at the track I will race on April 24th, Infineon Raceway.  He turned a 1:36 lap, which is 15 seconds faster than my best ever.  :15 may not

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-27191027807274538162010-03-23T22:35:00.000-07:002010-03-23T22:37:43.728-07:00

 This off season was not cheap!  I traded my upgraded (lighter) wheels for front fork internals, bought a new rear shock, got a second set of wheels which should help maximize useful tire life rotating tires around, got a new exhaust and engine mapping unit, and pre-purchased all my practice track time for this season.  The good news about the track time is that I can resell my

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-76015489990252662132010-03-22T22:10:00.000-07:002010-03-22T22:16:03.548-07:00

My poor neglected blog.  I'm too busy to write, or not having blog-worthy adventures.  Or maybe a bit of both.  But this summer promises great things!  Planning a trip to Peru in April to hike the Inca trail, and motorcycle race season is again underway. Last weekend began the 2010 AFM season, with round one of seven at Buttonwillow Raceway.  Buttonwillow is four hours south of San Francisco,

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-7017745415330560262010-01-29T14:48:00.000-08:002010-01-30T11:21:03.665-08:00

Some fun word graphics made from my Twitter messages.  The bigger a word, the more often it's been used in things I say on Twitter.  Apparently I'm posting a lot of pictures.  twitter.com/415 to find me there, or I think I'll go find a sidebar widget to add now...  I found this by using tweetstats.com which lead me to wordle.com... thanks @dacort!

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-59854439740160651652010-01-16T12:11:00.000-08:002010-01-16T12:47:15.177-08:00

A friend forwarded me a remarkable heat map interactive article from the NY Times the other day, layering Netflix rental queue data to United State Post Office zip code for a display of movie popularity. The article is here. What's interesting to me about this is what the rental trends say about socio-economic data, and how big enough computers with the right data sets can know far too much

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-47474688354049187202010-01-07T09:00:00.000-08:002010-01-09T00:30:36.768-08:00

After traveling to places in the last year like Egypt and China where I listen to the language and honestly can't even tell where one word starts and the next one begins - let alone decipher any meaning whatsoever... it's surprisingly easy to get along in Moscow with zero Russian language knowledge at all. There are certain tricks that any experienced traveler knows (such as buffet restaurants

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-14760886213166608412010-01-07T08:25:00.000-08:002010-01-07T08:56:24.679-08:00

I guess I didn't really realize until this trip to Moscow how recently - in relative terms - religious freedom was expressed in Russia. Only in 1992 was Christmas first (again) openly celebrated. Prior to 1992, Christmas was banned from open/public celebration since the communist rule took over in 1917. So only for the last twenty years has Christmas been openly celebrated, which makes it

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-30183387562695516972010-01-05T03:53:00.000-08:002010-01-05T04:12:50.193-08:00

Saw the Kremlin this afternoon. It's primary attractions are a museum, a cluster of maybe 10 different cathedrals you can kinda make out on Google Maps here, and the grounds overall. You can't get very close to where Dmitry Medvedev lives, but it is one of the buildings within the walled campus area. You can see the senate building, but from where you can see it there were 15 armed guards (

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-23433971866353964622010-01-04T08:47:00.000-08:002010-01-04T09:36:01.993-08:00

Pretty interesting this cathedral we visited today was entirely deconstructed during the communist rule after the death of Lenin, and rebuilt from scratch starting in 1994. To look at it today it would appear a several-century-old building, but in fact the site spent 60 of the last 80 years as a swimming pool. Wikipedia is my best friend when I travel. Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. It is

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-81396125849201647262010-01-03T18:21:00.000-08:002010-01-04T08:47:35.295-08:00

It has become painfully obvious that I have to invest in a new compact digital camera to replace the Leica D-LUX4 I decided to crash test last year - by seeing how well holds up to falling out of your backpack on the freeway and getting run over by a F250 (not well). However my currently... um... seven or so year old Pentax Optio S5i does still manage a moderate picture about once every three

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-6083774942321100262010-01-03T05:36:00.000-08:002010-01-03T06:10:33.504-08:00

Just got into Moscow, Russia this morning for a week of vacation. It's going to be around zero degrees Fahrenheit all week, not sure if this was well timed from a weather perspective BUT I fortunately have brought nearly every sweater, scarf, mitten, coat and stocking cap I own... so I should be set. We got in this morning, took a train to the hotel right next to Red Square, shuffled out to get

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-86294403484113697442009-12-19T09:56:00.000-08:002009-12-19T09:57:43.116-08:00

Some interesting albeit fairly useless graphs detailing my corporate mail behavior. Since I'm typically actually communicating most of the time via several additional channels: personal email accounts (x3) , twitter messages, SMS, phone/voice... this is really only one angle on my overall productivity, however it's fun to look at nonetheless. Clearly I started my current job in about May, and

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-5142536647123463692009-12-19T09:32:00.001-08:002009-12-19T09:42:34.732-08:00

The owner/creator of wheredoyougo.net sent me a note on Twitter, telling me he fixed some bugs and I could run my maps again for different result, which proved to be true, so I made more maps of other cities. I present Miami, Chicago and Plano for your enjoyment. It would be fun to see the whole US, or have the ability to mash up the entire Foursquare database (all users or all users opted in to

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-3624782733460538402009-12-18T17:42:00.001-08:002009-12-19T09:45:08.544-08:00

Possibly the coolest thing I've seen in a while, or maybe I've had too many cookies today and the sugar is overwhelming. Either way, here are maps provided by wheredoyougo.net mashing up Google Maps and my Foursquare check in data. Which raises all kinds of privacy questions about public data, but fortunately I'm not checking in to Foursquare when making crimes happen, so I'm in the clear. Really

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-48736672331468842972009-12-18T07:41:00.000-08:002009-12-18T07:44:04.059-08:00

Let me start by saying I'm technology agnostic, and have no special place in my heart for Microsoft or Google, but I'm just plain tired of trying to avoid Apple's stranglehold. My primary beef with Apple is their philosophy of "pretty but restricted" delivery of technology. I will give the user a simple software and player to deliver music, but I will control it with digital rights management

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-64391526288056651632009-12-16T18:06:00.000-08:002009-12-16T18:13:23.534-08:00

Much to the amusement of my creditors, I maintain a virtual Post Office Box in another state that has no physical mailbox attached to it. This is a service I pay for (about $5/month...) that receives my hard copy mail for me, scans it into an account I can view online, and I can click to make payments. Where e-payment can't be set up, they will print a physical check and mail it out to

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-16348179740691136392009-12-15T08:41:00.000-08:002009-12-15T09:21:18.662-08:00

Recently moving 15 miles North, in effort to get closer to SFO and the city San Francisco itself, I'm also starting to migrate my phone number to a Google Voice interface. Basically how it work is I get a call to this virtual number, it then calls all the other numbers I have registered with it (cell, home, office, home office, etc.) at the same time. Then I answer the call wherever I am. This

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-78121487996888051492009-11-03T20:03:00.000-08:002009-11-03T20:42:32.617-08:00

I guess I have to back up at some point and explain online dating, how we got here, what that experience has been like. I started with online dating when this was a very taboo thing. Before television adds and billboards to help make this mainstream, probably it was 2001. At that point, this was a very fringe activity, and surely my friends who I told thought I was surely going to end up being

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-77469070502140916852009-09-24T06:34:00.001-07:002009-09-24T09:06:47.081-07:00

The final round of the AFM season was this last weekend at Sears Point aka Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. Reflecting on the race season, I can't help be feel overwhelmed with gratitude for my fortune and blessings to have means, health and luck to complete a race season with such success. Though the year I saw a couple very experienced racers cease their season-campaign due to life

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-87807806345104734272009-09-17T22:15:00.000-07:002009-09-18T14:51:03.902-07:00

I guess the crash pictures I posted a couple weeks ago could be misleading if you don't ride bikes. I did have to do some minor repairs on my bike, but it was quite an insignificant wreck. If you ride for any length of time, eventually you're going to have a spill. My off lately was probably the 100% most ideal way to go down - low speeds and really not much damage to the bike.I met a very

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-52443690458539743802009-09-02T07:09:00.001-07:002009-09-02T07:16:24.272-07:00

Trying to satiate my interest in riding motorbikes lately - with business school over I'm getting out to the track quite often. I tried the famous-for-Nascar track Auto Club/ California Speedway in Fontanta, California two weeks ago, which was fun. I have one race left in the season back at Infineon Raceway September 20th and a few friends will be coming out to also grid up for their first race

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-67197965749799337522009-08-11T22:22:00.000-07:002009-08-11T22:39:12.134-07:00

Great race weekend. Last time I was at this track I bested 1:55, I got down to a 1:51 in the Open Production race which is my best ever. For Clubman Heavyweight I place third, which is also my position for the year in the class. With one race left this year mid-September I have a chance at finishing in the top three for the year in Clubman Heavyweight class. While this class is like the

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-45357424827006461902009-08-11T22:00:00.000-07:002009-08-11T22:22:28.700-07:00

Great weekend at Sears Point aka Infineon Raceway this weekend for AFM Round 6. I'll put up another post with more race results, I did quite well in two of my three races... I also laid the bike down in the Formula GP race. Pretty simple crash, I was on the front brakes too long into the turn trying to trail brake and the front washed out. Low speed tip over - no injury to person whatsoever and

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-49073524960296288872009-08-03T22:57:00.000-07:002009-08-05T00:38:42.046-07:00

Last race was at Thunderhill Raceway on July 12th. I'm now experiencing the aftermath of the dilemma I faced at the start of the season, knowing I would be too distracted with new job and finishing business school to really get competitive - and debated if I should start racing this year or just wait till next year. The two weeks leading up to this race I was stuck in Texas and Orange County

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-57433301287642604622009-07-25T22:22:00.000-07:002009-07-25T22:29:24.510-07:00

The Great Wall in China is about two hours outside downtown Beijing. The best way to get there is to hire a private driver. The cars are nicer than the cabs, very inexpensive (roughly $40 USD gets you a driver all day) and you have a better experience than a tour bus. But private drivers are less likely to speak English than a bus driver. In fact this was true in most of China - very little

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-69506653650421510502009-07-24T22:57:00.003-07:002009-07-25T22:29:45.172-07:00

I'm back from China and have a couple posts in my drafts about the AFM race #5 and further posting about Beijing and Shanghai, for now here are a couple quick pictures from the Great Wall...

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-13201792664609574002009-07-06T09:03:00.000-07:002009-07-06T09:07:40.298-07:00

-- Posted After Returning From Trip --In Beijing for the next couple days then going to Shanghai Monday. Currently in taxi headed away from airport - the smog/haze is intense. It's roughly 100 degrees Ferenheit temperature. I'm strictly a tourist through the weekend, Monday is spent traveling, then next week I'm in a class at Fudan University.My first impression of Beijing is surprise at how

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-16480345186628834882009-07-06T08:53:00.000-07:002009-07-06T09:08:07.078-07:00

Just back from a week in China for a class at Fudan University - I have to post some updates soon but I'm behind since blogging is prohibited in China! Pictures to follow later this week...This is not like the blocking in Dubai where you are presented with a blocked page and a link to the acceptable use policy. This is a much more sinister blocking. There's no error message orlittle note

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-60566383915524626292009-06-15T22:21:00.000-07:002009-06-15T22:49:10.428-07:00

Great weekend at Thunderhill Raceway Park for AFM round number four. I had to miss round three due to a wedding in Seattle - and the new job has kept me too busy to get to the track lately - and it showed in my performance. Did have my best laptimes at Thunderhill with one 2:06 in the clubman race, but I got seriously rocked in all three races. I was overly intimidated by my first time out in

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-13647274174443824542009-06-01T19:35:00.001-07:002009-06-01T20:56:58.576-07:00

Whether actually true or not I don't know - but in my own head I am clever, belligerent, defiant, and strategic (read: twerpy). And I like to get my way. Oh and also bull-headed... Heck, I get my way loads of the time by simply tiring out those opposing me. So I don't always listen to words like, "no" or "not now" or "we have a policy against [thing I am trying to do] for no announced reason.

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-34724857177407955002009-04-26T10:05:00.000-07:002009-04-27T01:05:26.881-07:00

Yesterday was a big day for bike racing. I did successfully complete my first clubman heavyweight race, without crashing, and did not end up in last place. I did all my own safety wiring and race prep which is also empowering. Now clubman is the race bracket for the newest racers... so it's not like this is even the junior varsity here... nothing is televised, no sponsorship money, racers all

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-14830238440364431842009-04-22T14:19:00.000-07:002009-04-22T14:50:18.949-07:00

On the heels of my first out of country experience in the Obama administration I am returning home with overwhelming patriotic feelings. This always happens when I travel - and maybe it has something to do with 15 hour flights and sleep deprivation, but wow - how our international image has changed. People I encountered in both Cairo and Dubai wanted to know what I think of Obama, showed

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-83186302902335098422009-04-20T11:56:00.000-07:002009-04-20T12:09:00.337-07:00

This place is surreal in so many ways: geographically, culturally, economically... I need to post more commentary but much of what I'm thinking about while in Dubai is detailed here: clickity click Some pictures from 50 stories above the city streets of Dubai from earlier tonight. Man I'm missing my Leica.

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-62573345894213431772009-04-17T01:27:00.000-07:002009-04-17T01:35:19.546-07:00

My travel partner is Indian (like from India) and the Egyptians all assume he's Egyptian so they talk to him in Arabic. And he refuses to tell them he's American. SO I try to get in a cab and tell them where I want to go - and they just look at me blankly and start talking Arabic to my travel partner. Who both refuses to tell them were we want to go (for fear of disclosing his lack of Arabic

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-86351976892680802572009-04-16T07:33:00.000-07:002009-04-16T07:43:41.812-07:00

Visited markets today. Probably my last post from Egypt more next week from Dubai. of the pictures I took walking around Cairo these capture best the sense of the scene. Everything is grey and drab. Likely started that way but the sun beating down on it must mute all color with time anyway. I guess that's why bright colored things when the appear are so visually interesting. The mosques

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-39038813090074954872009-04-15T10:30:00.000-07:002009-04-15T10:48:30.200-07:00

Some pictures from this afternoon.

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-45273439162101706342009-04-15T09:56:00.000-07:002009-04-15T10:30:55.787-07:00

I love juxtapositions. Today saw one of the most stark and flagrant ones I've encountered. This is akin to Bellevue, Washington or more closely Tech City in Hyderabad, India - Cairo's version is "Smart City." So all of the downtown and area in Cairo near the Nile (95% of Egypt's 80 million people live within a few miles of the Nile) it's mostly 15 to 20 story buildings which look like they've

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-76494466238026215602009-04-14T14:47:00.000-07:002009-04-14T14:57:21.646-07:00

Busy with meetings for MBA project, not enough time for pictures or much tourism today. It is interesting to see a holistic side of Cairo though - both the inside of conference rooms and the business community, the students of American University we've connected with, the retail outlets we're formally studying, the business ecosystem including laws/ regulations/ consumer appetite/ economic and

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-84677993078312157862009-04-13T23:29:00.000-07:002009-04-14T04:08:34.511-07:00

Just got here and combating jet lag, but did get out to a open air market last night which is an entire street of cell phone "stores." I think this is where most cell phones go to die - you can buy second hand phones, buy pre-paid SIM cards, get someone to soldier things inside your phone, get your phone unlocked (for roughly $5 USD in EGP), buy noodles, or check out this guy's pimped out

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-43544770734830981682009-04-10T22:02:00.001-07:002009-04-10T22:17:26.670-07:00

I got out to Thunderhill a few times in the past week, there is a certain upside to having no job. I am somehow eating tires like they are going out of style, this is from two days at the track. And most of the damage was done by three or four sessions on the first day. My times keep coming down, I got a couple laps at 2:06 which was pretty good since I was not pushing all the way - it's

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-84120657427032583802009-04-10T21:20:00.000-07:002009-04-10T22:01:21.183-07:00

I'm updating Twitter these days more often - and finding gaping holes in my blog. Here's some catch up. The rate of change this year is proving to be nearly limitless. Life is moving so quick these days. I started the year moving from San Francisco to Redwood City. This move was motivated by (a) obtaining a garage, (b) averaging 50% of my time in hotels in the last three years, and (c)

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-45444644019176176582009-04-10T21:08:00.000-07:002009-04-10T21:20:44.339-07:00

One of my friends called me on failing to show up in the race results of the AFM Buttonwillow round, so I guess someone does actually read this blog and I owe and update! Ha, ha. I got there successfully and got my bike race prepped including the swap to aluminum wheels and getting the bike safety wired correctly. I did successfully complete a rearset swap in the Motel 6 parking lot at

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-49183237435760017492009-03-20T10:34:00.000-07:002009-03-20T10:46:40.891-07:00

So I don't intend to make this blog all about motorcycles, but alas that's what is occupying the overwhelming majority of my mental space lately so I guess I should just go with it. Over the last couple weeks I've been spending a great deal of effort toward getting my race bike assembled. This means changing out parts for ones that stand up better in an inevitable crash, getting the bike safety

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-70638386708700787162009-02-19T18:27:00.000-08:002009-02-19T18:39:14.748-08:00

Well, the lack of update here is certainly no indication of a stale travel, motorcycle or other interesting tidbits going on... simply just been insanely busy. I will look to post updates in the next week or two about: post MBA career searching in 2009 for corporate finance interested 2009 MBA's, building a race bike, dating in 2009 for 30-somethings with the advent of Internet dating and other

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-4062502792530761522008-12-04T21:24:00.000-08:002008-12-05T08:57:54.802-08:00

What a way to wrap up the track season. I went to Laguna Seca lately for a back to back two day track event with a couple friends. I'm not fast enough to race quite yet, but have started reading the AFM rulebook and understanding the entry requirements... I think at this point I would be able to qualify for Sunday races but realistically need to get past the back of the pack in lap times

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-41546125586113655862008-12-04T19:39:00.000-08:002008-12-05T08:58:38.919-08:00

I'm feeling all time high levels of patriotism currently, despite the hiccup of California's denial of civil rights on Proposition 8. The reason, I believe - is a realization I've been coming to in the last couple months about one of the greatest aspects of Americans.When I was in India a couple months ago, I was being instructed at one of India's premier business schools (ISB) by a UCLA

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-61156494844245579652008-11-02T23:50:00.000-08:002008-11-03T00:00:09.104-08:00

Another great weekend at the track, this time at Buttonwillow Raceway in between LA and San Francisco. Jason drove up from Orange County and we had a blast. Track days are like mixing 1 part camping with 2 parts Nascar hillbilly-ism with 1 part athleticism with 1 part club. The spirit at the track is one of achievement and exhilaration together with camaraderie. Everyone puts so much into

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-52966724529892314682008-11-02T23:32:00.000-08:002008-11-02T23:46:35.885-08:00

I went in for a couple hours to make phone calls for the "No on Proposition 8" campaign. I don't have much background for what a political activism effort should look like, but as compared to other volunteering I've done I would say they were quite well organized. This is encouraging to me because I find the "yes" vote on California Proposition 8 a reasonably crazy civil liberties violation and

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-10667531165694443042008-10-29T22:40:00.000-07:002008-10-29T22:47:55.022-07:00

This track is so much fun. I think one of my favorite things in a track is elevation changes. There are some good sweeping turns on this track, not many high speed runs, and many slow technical turns. The track configuration we ran was non-standard (meaning they eliminated some of the turns that typically exist in professional AMA races) so benchmark lap times are irrelevant - but I was

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-9381953507352024622008-10-19T11:45:00.000-07:002008-10-19T12:06:12.289-07:00

Got out to the track on my R1 for the first time since throwing a rod at Laguna Seca last year. I've now been doing track days for 12 months, 10 track days in that time. 5 more in 2008 I have scheduled will put me well over my 2008 goal of getting in ten - I'll end up with 13. Each time I go I'm making lap time progress, I'm getting consistent with relaxed laps around 2:14 and had a few laps

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-86155352364229027032008-09-30T07:14:00.001-07:002008-09-30T07:29:14.396-07:00

This one is from Singapore this guy put the "R" in Relax...

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-40720749044592217972008-09-28T11:44:00.001-07:002008-09-28T11:44:40.507-07:00

Got into the United States on Thursday afternoon by way of Singapore and Tokyo, just in time to start my second year of MBA studies at UCLA Anderson on Friday morning. I’m looking forward to this quarter, the finance and operations classes are sure to be riveting. I’m sure that sounds like sarcasm but it’s not – it’s going to be a great quarter of class content.The rest of the trip in Hyderabad

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-18989233688835789702008-09-21T10:57:00.000-07:002008-09-21T11:22:41.731-07:00

Having a great time at ISB. Finally adjusting to the schedule and staying awake in class. Was very useful when one of my classmates pointed out there was a switch to turn on the hot water in the bathroom - I was on day three of cold showers and just thinking to myself, "dang, they got cars and the Internet but can't heat up water?" Took a trip to the Laad Bazar after class, it's an open air

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-55030989888606533542008-09-20T20:12:00.000-07:002008-09-21T17:45:09.818-07:00

A crazy schedule. I met up with two other UCLA students from another program on Friday for a day trip to Delhi. We left from Hyderabad at 4:30am, flew two hours to Northern India to the capital Delhi, got in a hired car who drove us five hours South to Agra where the Taj Mahal lives. It was raining as it's monsoon season here now, and the Taj Mahal isn't open to walk through on Fridays... but

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-24020144733088846992008-09-18T06:21:00.000-07:002008-09-21T17:46:18.666-07:00

Wow, sensory overload. I am not nearly as well traveled as I would like to be, but I've visited other developing countries in the past... yet this is like nothing I've ever experienced.Hyderabad battles Bangalore for the tech capital of India. There's an area basically where I'm staying informally called "tech city" housing all the tech company offices. Informally they call Hyderabad -

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-86325759299977646902008-09-17T12:32:00.000-07:002008-09-17T12:41:14.679-07:00

Just got into Hyderabad, India. IATA: HYD is a brand new state of the art airport. Glass and metal and modern construction. There was an egress security checkpoint to pass your bags through a scanner and walk through a metal detector. Funny, 50% of the people (me included) were setting off the metal detector, nobody took computers out of their bag, and they just waved us through. Maybe just

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-18406341619370867372008-09-17T01:50:00.000-07:002008-09-17T03:19:36.589-07:00

I had a layover in Singapore of sufficient time to take the light rail into the downtown and tall building area and walk around for a few hours. Things I must confess in my ignorance didn't know about Singapore before visiting here briefly today:* Singapore is one of the worlds three remaining city-states in the sense it's a city entirely self-governed (along with Monaco and Vatican City)*

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-62465080192632311862008-09-15T23:34:00.000-07:002008-09-15T23:41:25.235-07:00

Been a crazy last week trying to get (a) ready for Anderson to start back up in a week, and (b) get ready for a quick trip to India to take a finance elective at India's ISB. Financial risk management: like how certain finance instruments like hedges and other asset classes can offset risk of holding certain kinds of capital or minimize currency transaction risk for international companies or

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-39961858321823902402008-09-01T21:13:00.000-07:002008-09-01T21:33:52.626-07:00

Amazing day at Thunderhill Raceway today in Willows, California. Went with my primary riding buddy Brad, two guys I met at a previous track day Don and Ben who helped me get my bike working again after an off two months ago, Matt who races AFM and sometimes AMA and is friend of Brad, and Steve who rides on Sundays with us. Quick and fun group to ride with. The highlight of the day was getting

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-46147383555122240702008-08-24T23:14:00.000-07:002008-08-24T23:33:06.161-07:00

Man this 848 is beautiful to look at even without the plastics. I found a guy making fiberglass track plastics, and another guy who paints them. So I tore off all the stock fenders and mounted the replacement unfinished fiberglass ones. This required some drilling but mostly not too big a deal. Then dismounted all the replacement plastics and drove them out to the painter's shop this

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-32651973273653728972008-08-18T22:51:00.000-07:002008-08-24T23:13:59.280-07:00

Great rafting trip last weekend on the American River. Two day event, drove out to Lotus California on Friday - camped out overnight and hit the river 8a Saturday morning. So hot at times it felt like we were drifting downriver into a hair dryer. Still though, the water was icy cold and shocking when it splashed into the raft or (electively... usually) we jumped into the river. At one point

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-73749995897160092502008-08-03T23:31:00.001-07:002008-08-03T23:41:20.561-07:00

I'm not sure yet is this is an investment project, a practical transportation agenda, or simply yet another chapter of exploration in my seemingly unquenchable thirst for toys... but I bought another scooter the other day. When I sold my Chineese scooter a few months ago I knew it would be a temporary step away from scooters and my next one would be an Italian scooter... I just wasn't planning

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-8955461022285685892008-07-23T18:10:00.000-07:002008-07-23T18:31:43.491-07:00

Great trip to MotoGP this year. I was highly over ticketed for this event. First I purchased my own ticket for Sunday only. Then I entered a photo into a Yamaha photo contest and LOST, however by error of Yamaha I ended up getting two 3day passes to the event. Then I joined a friend of a friend's AMA pit crew and by doing also recieved a team pass to the event. Too funny. Anyway it was very cool

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-15180879975672621642008-07-13T18:05:00.000-07:002008-07-23T18:10:06.579-07:00

Just some random pictures taken in Paris.

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-62265035616481078792008-07-11T15:36:00.001-07:002008-07-11T16:15:18.650-07:00

The best thing about Paris so far is the public bikes they have everywhere. I'm going to have to check one of these out tomorrow to scoot around for a while. This city has a fascination with the two wheels. Man do they love their bikes and scooters and bicycles. There's parking everywhere for scooters. It's great I love it. Business people formally dressed and middle aged people on dates with

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-44828709462659532492008-07-11T10:44:00.000-07:002008-07-11T10:55:30.559-07:00

I found my way into a brief foot race yesterday morning with some of my HEC MBA classmates. Being someone who has run several marathons in the past, I consider myself to be a runner. Unfortunately, it was a sad day for me, the UCLA MBA group I was representing, and all of America. In my defense it's entirely a different thing to run 6km than 40km, apparently I'm much better at holding a slow

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-8888784506037304312008-07-05T15:03:00.000-07:002008-07-11T15:32:10.541-07:00

It's been widely publicized about the plethora of cameras (tens of thousands of closed circuit cameras blanket London and feed to central government automated and manual monitoring) but I tell you this: it does feel definatively creepy to feel these cameras swiveling around atop their several story perch refocusing like a robot zooming in on motion watching you. In addition to the cameras which

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-76176392320971305572008-07-04T10:56:00.000-07:002008-07-11T11:02:37.992-07:00

I'm taking the next week to visit briefly London and Paris, taking a class in Paris at a French MBA school HEC and a few days in each city for tourism. Pretty excited, never been to either city before. Hopefully a few blog updates over the week to fill in some details of my adventuring.

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-535787373355758492008-04-19T20:12:00.000-07:002008-04-19T20:36:50.890-07:00

So I'm going to the track as much as I can lately with my motorcycle. I met friends Jason and Red-Star at Buttonwillow the other day for fun day of riding, and tomorrow I'll be at Reno-Fernley Raceway outside Reno, NV. It's funny this sub-culture of guys who ride sport bikes, and more broadly people who have a speed addiction. Traveling up the 5 freeway I was passed by a caravan of four

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-65584563920470523822008-03-23T16:12:00.000-07:002008-03-23T16:19:08.222-07:00

I have a friend who teaches elementary school, no kidding this is an actual note she confiscated from one of her students. Who is 10. I probably shouldn't post this but it's really too good not to share. Super-duper!This

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-69032592515171539512008-03-23T01:09:00.000-07:002008-03-23T01:21:21.801-07:00

Loaded up the bikes and drove three hours to Thunderhill this week. What a great day to be at the track. Great drive out there, great time at the track. We drove out the night before and met up with a group we ride with on the weekends. These guys are all pretty fast riders which is great to learn from. Amazing weather and was the first time at the track since December for both Brad and me.

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-32628239232510421342008-03-19T19:08:00.000-07:002008-03-19T19:11:10.877-07:00

My poor neglected blog has not seen a post in two months. I have so much to update you on: motorcycle adventures, the master cleanse, business school second quarter finals, travel plans...

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12987811.post-89105021820726784822008-01-22T22:04:00.000-08:002008-01-22T23:12:04.278-08:00

I got this scooter from China, over the Internet. It's histerical. It came in a crate - well really a cardboard box - and I assembled it. Not very well mind you, because 100 km into the odometer (yeah, I don't think they realize we're tracking things in mph here in the US) the kludgy wiring of the electrical system started coming loose and it wouldn't run if I turned the handlebars left to right

Quintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00508249048328049737noreply@blogger.com