Monday Meanderings - 8.3.2015

Well, we avoided triple digits in ATX for as long as we could, but last week the temps reached that milestone. All in all, it hasn't been too bad, but now the heat index is around 6,000 degrees, so staying inside in the cool is the order of the day.

The Men's National Soccer Team finished 4th in the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament - games they were supposed to win. Maybe we should have played the Women's National Team, instead.

I was killing time at the Starbucks in the Domain, our hoity-toity shopping district while waiting for nearby Dillard's to open, and checked my phone to log onto the WiFi. I counted 34 nearby establishments offering wireless hotspots.

Guess what didn't run into me this week:

The Google self-driving car and I crossed paths. While the car is doing all the work, there are actually 2 occupants at all times,  manning all the instrumentation that records how everything is going. The most noticeable feature of the car is the spinning camera gizmo on the top. When you get close, you also notice the little sensors on all four corners, but they look more or less  like rear-view mirrors.

For the few blocks our paths were the same, it looked to be doing just fine; it even slowed down and moved over for a bicyclist.

There was an article in the paper about an Austin guy "Everesting" - on a bicycle. The feat consists of riding a bike uphill for a total gain of 29,000 feet in elevation. Of course, in Austin, we don't have 29,000 feet of continuous up, so the dude accomplished this by riding up Big View Drive, in the River Place area 70 times. And then of course, down the hill 70 times, but those don't count.

Among the stringent rules, set forth by an Australian web site, is the requirement that it has to done in one attempt - no stopping and starting - so Andy Coulbeck, a 51-year-old software developer originally from Leicester, England started out at 5 p.m. Saturday night and finished about 7 p.m. Sunday evening. Friends brought him food and water and kept him company through the wee hours of the morning. Gotta love this town.

And here's an ad I saw in the Sunday paper:

I'm guessing that overeating is not one of the True Causes covered in the Seminar.