First Encounter with Dragons

Digging through email archives, I thought I would post up my original reflection on riding the Dragon.  I somehow got it in my head that it would be fun to put wheels of my ancient, faithful CB700SC into Georgia.  This was a trip I took back in 2008 - pre-GPS, minimal planning, just getting out onto the open road with a loose understanding of where I was going and no particular timeframe in mind.

Here it goes:

CB700SC

I have an old warhorse for a motorcycle -- a 1985 Honda Nighthawk S, CB700.  700 cc, small bikini fairing.  I have about 32,000 miles on it.  It just hums along, requiring about as much maintenance as a shovel.  Designed as a technology showcase back in the 80s, it has some features (hydraulic valves, shaft drive, twin front disc brakes, fuel gauge/gear indicator, 6-speed transmission) which were a bit ahead of its time.  I particularly like the power hit between 8,500 and 10,250 rpm - it makes clicking down to third gear for two-lane passing fun.

From the Stagecoach Trail

It is definitely not designed to be a touring motorcycle, primarily because the gearing is so short.  I spin between 6 and 7,000 rpm on the highway, which has a predictable effect on gas mileage.  Personally, I like being out there in the air - it makes me feel like I'm on a motorcycle.  Eventually I will probably add another bike to the stable, but I don't think I could ever get rid of this one.

The one thing I would change is the location of the oil filter.  To get it out, you have to reach between the four headers.  The engine is so tightly packaged that it only fits out between the number 4 exhaust pipe and the frame.  It is a very tight fit, very un-Honda.  I'm a little surprised it is engineered that way.

Another point of interest - it is oil cooled.  To assist cooling, oil is stored in the frame.  As a consequence, there's a center drain plug, plus two smaller plugs on the left and right frame rails.  Patience (or multiple drain pans) is required when doing an oil change.

Reflections

This trip had everything.  Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia.  1,457 miles.  A cool early morning ride from Lexington to Knoxville, seeing multiple sunrises from my helmet as the terrain got hillier.  Cruising through the early morning fog as I wound my way towards Knoxville.  The luscious, non-stop curves of the Dragon.  Meandering roads, following rivers and rapids.  Curving, climbing, cooling roads as I passed 5000 feet of elevation.  Long, straight roads.  Serenity of making time on the interstate.  Sun so hot I needed to fill my shirt with ice.  Rain so cool that it pitter-pattered on my faceshield and helped lower my core temperature.  The ecstasy of no traffic and beautiful roads.  The challenge of being surrounded by cars on arrow-straight highways.

It made me run the gamut of emotions, but the two that come through the strongest are harmony and thankfulness.

What I am thankful for – my lovely wife, who tolerates and encourages me to do what I must.  My beautiful children, and the thought of sharing adventures big and small.  The truckers who are out there, sharing the roads, making my convenience-filled life possible.  Trees, and how wonderfully cool they make a summer's day.  Entering a glade or forest when you are hot and sweaty, there's no better feeling.  Except possibly for filling your shirt with ice and rinsing off your head.  The police, fire fighters, paramedics, and doctors who take care of us when bad things happen, when we make mistakes.  The depth of experience that travel by motorcycle allows.  Balance.  Harmony.  Slow, quiet stretches and interstate-speed running.

In a single day, I experienced a half-moon and stars shining down on me, the sun come up, lovely, mountainous interstate passages, incredibly challenging non-stop curves, the cooling of elevation, the sweltering heat of mid-day Georgia sun, a rain shower just when I really needed to cool off, more delightful curves, another blissful interstate run in the cool evening hours as the sun set, hot and tasty barbeque with the sounds of live music in the background, and more rain.

I need to write more, but I am exhausted.  It was a blessed trip.  I have lived a lifetime in two days and an evening.  The pictures just don't do it justice – my mental movie cannot be shared.  I feel fulfilled, centered, happy, and so incredibly thankful.  I am at one with the universe.

The Facts:

	Moto Mileage	Trip Mileage	Gallons	Cost	Price	MPG
Starting Mileage	31430.8
Bakers Corner, IN	31559.9	129.1	2.923	$  11.86	4.057475197	44.16695176
1790 Airport Exch Erlanger, KY	31698.0	138.1	3.237	$  13.92	4.300278035	42.66295953
1970 Pleasant Ridg Lexington, KY	31777.9	79.9	2.179	$    8.98	4.121156494	36.66360716
1111 S Main St Jellico, TN	31888.5	110.6	2.994	$  12.18	4.068136273	36.94388778
??	31987.6	99.1	2.225	$    8.63	3.878651685	44.53932584
141 Bank St. Tellico Plains, TN	32098.5	110.9	2.183	$    8.71	3.989922126	50.80164911
4900 Appalachian Hwy Blue Ridge, GA	32162.1	63.6	1.292	$    5.22	4.040247678	49.22600619
2528 East 1st St Crossville, TN	32283.7	121.6	2.447	$    9.79	4.000817327	49.69350225
500 Main Nashville, TN	32401.0	117.3	3.054	$  12.21	3.998035363	38.4086444
553 Duntov Way Bowling Green, KY	32470.3	69.3	1.615	$    6.56	4.061919505	42.91021672
Scottsburg, IN	32611.7	141.4	3.25	$  13.16	4.049230769	43.50769231
4922 S Western Ave Marion IN	32768.6	156.9	3.355	$  13.75	4.098360656	46.76602086
Ironwood and 23 South Bend, IN	32885.3	116.7	2.811	$  11.55	4.108858058	41.51547492
Finishing Mileage	32888.5
Total	1457.7	1454.5	33.565	$136.52	4.059468397	43.33382988

And a few photos:

Approaching the Dragon

View from the Dragon Lookout

Goodbye Tennessee

Hello North Carolina

The old girl made it!

So did I...looking hot and fatigued

Somewhere in Tennessee

"Rollin' down a backwood, Tennessee byway..."

A rainy Sunday start in Nashville

Why not stop?

Love the Car and Driver Corvette

Somewhere in Indiana

A cool underpass/one lane road

A great trip all the way around - it was really enjoyable to head out with no real plan and explore.

Gluecon 2015

Gluecon

I had the good fortune of attending Gluecon this past week.  It is a short, intense conference held in Broomfield, Colorado, attended by some of the best and brightest folks in technology.  There was a lot of talk about microservices, APIs, DevOps, and containers - all the latest tech, with an eye towards 2018.

While the majority of slide decks are available here, this is a quick synopsis of what I took away.

Tweet early, tweet often

I'm a sporadic tweeter, but go into full-on microblogging mode when at a conference.  It's a great way to share information with the public, and a great way to make connections.  By adding a column in TweetDeck for #gluecon, the following image caught my eye:

Per @_nicolemargaret, "Doing some realtime analysis of hashtag co-occurrence among #gluecon tweets. #neo4j #rstats #d3 #nosql"

I love graphs, and the powerful way they communicate relationships.  Through that tweet, I had the opportunity to meet Nicole White.  Come to find out that she works for Neo Technology, the company behind neo4j.  While I have other friends at Neo, I had never heard of or met Nicole before (she is a relatively new hire).  I'm happy to have added her as a new node on my graph, as it were.  Very cool.

Tweeting is also a great way to reflect back on gems and tidbits - simply look at your own history to help organize your thoughts.  Like I'm doing now.

It's always the people

There were quite a few sessions talking about the importance of culture and talent in making for productive, healthy organizations.  Salesforce did a good keynote, illustrating the gap between available technology jobs and qualified candidates.

A challenge for us all

This theme continued through the very last keynote session:

Is this clear?

Almost every session I attended had a subtle undertone of "we need talent."  Most messages were not subtle.

Talking about microservices, Adrian Cockroft made a great cultural point.  When operating microservices, organizations need to fully embrace the DevOps model with a clear escalation chain.

Culture Win: the VP of Engineering volunteers to be on call while expecting never to get called.

Tools?  What tools?

Building on the importance of people, let's talk about tools.  Specifically, let's talk orchestration tools - Ansible, Puppet, and Chef.  I happen to think agentless Ansible is the way to go, but ultimately, it's what you and your organization are capable of doing with the tools, not the tools you pick.  Brian Coca illustrated many possible ways in which Ansible can be used...because he deeply understands how to use Ansible!

You can do this with Ansible...should you?

One of my favorite one-liners from the conference sums up the tools discussion: "Rather than teach everyone to code, let's teach them to think. The coding can come later; it's easier."

Right on - pick a tool that can be successfully adopted by you/your organization, and stick with it.  Stay focused, and don't get distracted.

APIs still rule...and enterprise software still lags behind

APIs have been a thing for years now.  I remember writing the customer profile master data store for a major airline in the late 90s.  As a master data source, many internal systems wanted to access/update said data.  Instead of giving each system direct access to our database, we surrounded it with a cloud of services.  At the time, these were written in C, using Tuxedo.

What has changed in the last 20 years?  The utter ubiquity of APIs in the form of web services.  The concept is the same - encapsulate business logic, publish a defined interface, and let the data flow quickly and easily.  And yes, it is much, much easier to get going with a RESTful API than a Tuxedo service.

Table stakes for software vendors

What else has changed?  Organizations simply expect data to be available via APIs.  If you are an enterprise software vendor and your data/business logic is locked up in a proprietary monolithic application, start opening up or face customer defection.

What a Wonderful World

In his presentation, Runscope CEO and co-founder John Sheehan put this slide up.

Can you imagine life without these tools?

Think for a moment about how remarkably powerful any one of the concepts listed in his slide is.  We live in a world where all of them are simply available for use.  With the remarkably rich tools which are out there, there is simply no excuse for a poorly performing web site or API.  If an organization is running into scale issues, the technology is not likely to be at fault - it's how that technology is implemented.

Talk with Adrian

If you get the chance, spend some time talking with Adrian Cockroft.  I was fortunate enough to spend 20 or 30 minutes talking with him over lunch.  First off, he is a genuinely friendly and kind person.  Second, he likes interesting cars (Tesla Roadster, Lotus Elise, among others).  Finally, he's flat brilliant with loads of experience.

I was able to glean useful tidbits about containers, tertiary data storage, and autocrossing.

Talking cars and tech with the incomparable Adrian Cockroft

One thing Adrian mentioned that stuck with me concerned the current state of containers.  They are mutating so fast that even companies who are working with them full time have difficulty keeping up.  That said, the speed at which this space moves makes for a high degree of agility.  However, every organization has finite limits on what new/emerging technologies can be pursued.  Containerize if you wish, but you should have a clearly defined objective in mind with palpable benefits.

Serious about automation? Take away SSH access.

One of my favorite tidbits was to remove SSH access from servers.  If no individual has SSH access, it forces them to automate everything.  At that point, servers truly become disposable.

Get beyond the tech

I was pretty fried by the afternoon of day two of the conference.  I took the opportunity to skip a couple of sessions and spend some time with Kin Lane.  His dedication to understanding and explaining APIs earned him a Presidential Innovation Fellowship in 2013.

Yes, we talked tech...and proceeded to go beyond.  Kin likes motorcycles.  He was a former VW mechanic.  He's gone through a material purge and enjoys the mobility his work affords him.  Yes, he strives to be all things API, but that's only one facet to his very interesting personality.

Opting to hang with Kin Lane instead of attending a session

Repeat attendance?

So, would I go to Gluecon again?  Most definitely.  It was a worthy spend of time, providing insight into the leading edge of technology in the context of microservices, devops, containers, and APIs.  Not too long, and not too big.

I came away from the conference with a better understanding of trends in technology.  With that knowledge, I am better prepared to work with, ask questions of, and assess potential vendors.

Where no Fiat has gone before

Through work, I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Gluecon 2015.  It is an amazing conference, attended by technology superstars like Adrian Cockroft.  The focus this year was on devops, APIs, microservices, and containers.  More thoughts on the tech in a later post.

My colleague Brandon and I got to Denver in the middle of the afternoon.  He had never been to this part of the country, while I worked for a Denver-based company for about 6 years.  We took this opportunity to go up into the mountains and do some hiking.

Arriving at the Enterprise desk, I was thrilled to be able to select a Fiat 500 - much more interesting than the Hyundai Elantra.   

It is an impossibly tiny car, reminding me of the Civic Si I was fortunate enough to drive in late high school.  As an aside, I loved that little car, it had such a great engine/transmission, and looked something like this:

This was a great little car

Classic Italian driving position, arms way out, steering wheel angled up.  Single instrument pod design.

Nothing says "I don't care about my job" more than the no smoking sticker in this picture

Remarkably thick B pillars.  Nice little engineering touches - rear wiper is on a delay by default, but goes active when you shift into reverse.  2 USB ports (1 is charge only) and a 12V plug.

Plenty of headroom!

We hopped in and headed west on I-70, winding our way up into the mountains.  An uncharacteristically thick cloud cover and rain came down as the powerless little car struggled up the mountains, feeling increasingly anemic with each foot of altitude gained.

Pounding along at 6,000 rpm, barely maintaining speed

That said, things got pretty, very quickly.

We popped off of I-70 and took 6 up over Loveland Pass, where it was snowing.  Nice, fresh, wet, beautiful snow.

The little Fiat that could!

We drove down the other side on 6, watching the skiers and snowboarders enjoying some late May slope time at Arapahoe Basin.

We were surprised to see some camouflaged prototypes running around, probably getting their high altitude testing done.  Not sure what the SUVs were, but we definitely saw some Ford Fusions prowling Route 9 near Breckenridge.

We saw some unbelievable scenery, as the rain cleared off and the sun smiled upon us:

A Colorado native friend of mine pointed us to some great hiking spots, so we proceeded to try and find them.  This should have been slightly foreboding:

Undeterred, we gunned the little Fiat up the mountain like a rally car.  The traction control was going crazy as we slipped our way up the hill...

...until it would go no further:

The problem was the traction control - we couldn't figure out how to turn it off.  Looked all over the place for the button, hunted through the manual.  Made multiple runs at the hill, and I just kept thinking, "wheelspin, I need wheelspin!"

Finally, Brandon found the button - it was right next to the gear selector!  From the driver's seat, it's obscured by the giant shift knob.  Hooray!  Let's charge ahead!

Lots of mud and snow spray ensued as we bounded our way up the track, until it became clear that our Fiat could no longer do a rally snowplow impersonation:

A beached Fiat 500 in the mountains of Colorado

So, after pelting the car with some snowballs...

...we reversed down the mountain, since there was no way for us to turn around.

We tried a few other spots, and got to a place of unbelievable beauty.

Boldly going where no Fiat has gone before

Yes, that is a snow cloud descending

Beautifully flocked trees

We thought we would go hiking past the gate in the background, but the snow was too deep for sneakers:

"foot deep" in snow

Brandon looks pretty happy

Scandinavian Flick?  Rally Turns?  No....

We headed off towards dinner, stopping in Breckenridge to get some Rocky Mountain Chocolate for our respective families.  Shopping done, we headed off towards a tasty dinner at the Mint in Silverthorne.

In no particular hurry, we enjoyed a couple more breathtaking vistas:

Clouds below the mountaintop

Sunny on the left, snowing on the right

After drinking in the scenery like the terrain-starved midwesterners we are, we arrived at the Mint.  One of my favorite places, simply old school:

I bet the decor hasn't changed in 50 years.

We order steaks and giant Fat Tires, and celebrated our amazing fortune at having lived what felt like a month inside of just a handful of hours.

All in all, a great little mountain jaunt before getting down to one of the most stimulating tech conferences in recent memory!

Cayenne Diesel

Living with a Cayenne

The Porsche Cayenne.  The vehicle that made "purists" howl and shriek.  More on that later.

Introduced over 10 years ago, what is it like to live with one on a daily basis?  I got that opportunity over the past couple of days, so allow me to reflect.

First off, let's be specific about the Cayenne I'm talking about - the Diesel.  A paltry 240 hp is offset by an ocean of turbo torque, 410 lb-ft that makes the vehicle feel downright sprightly around town.  Yes, it runs out of breath at high rpm, but as long as you stay in the ocean of torque, it feels plenty quick.

Believe me - it makes all the difference

A couple of things really stand out about this vehicle:

Efficiency

Seriously?  33.5 mpg?

I think the above picture speaks for itself.  On a run from my house to Chicago, I averaged an amazing 33.5 mpg.  That is a very healthy number in the context of efficiency.  It definitely gets better mileage than our van or our sedan.  Heck, there are times when my motorcycle doesn't get 33.5 mpg!

Part of that comes from the diesel engine, part of it comes from the 8-speed transmission.  The entire time, the powertrain was unobtrusive.  It hummed quietly along, whisking us through the night.  The only thing that screamed diesel was the "515 miles to empty" readout in the instrument cluster.

Off boost in first gear, you feel the weight of the Cayenne.  Once speed rises and the boost comes up, there are plenty of ratios in the transmission to keep you in the fat part of the torque curve.

OK, I've been holding back...but here goes:
<rant>
I've been saying this for years: when on when will a manufacturer offer a diesel minivan in the United States?  Please!  With 4 kids, I need a minivan, and given the way I use mine, it is the perfect platform for a diesel.  Lots of grunt low in the rev range, sufficient power for the highway, and great efficiency.  None of the negatives of yesteryear - minimal waiting for glow plugs, no fumes wafting through the cabin, no cloud of blue smoke when accelerating.  Please Honda, I love my Odyssey, and I would love it even more with a diesel.
</rant>

Headlights

The Sun

Simply unbelievable.  This specific Cayenne was equipped with adaptive headlights.  This means that when the road curves and you turn the steering wheel to follow it, the headlights swivel to illuminate where you want to go (the road) instead of where you don't (the ditch, a tree, someone's yard).  Brilliant, even, dark-defying light is all you get.  It even had a setting to auto-engage high beams.  Very useful on the interstate, as soon as oncoming traffic passed, the vehicle would engage the high beams to push the night even further back.

Very good feature.  Great safety feature.  I have a thing for big brakes and bright headlights.  The adaptive lights check the bright headlight box in a big way.

Comfort

The seats in the Cayenne are all-day comfortable.  If I had to be in New York for dinner, I wouldn't hesitate to strap into the Cayenne and just head out.  Very comfortable and adjustable, with both heating and cooling.  Remember the sweaty t-shirt-stuck-to-your-back-on-a-hot-day scenario?  That is but a memory when you spin up the seat coolers.  Regardless of temperature (in the 40s and rainy to 70s and humid), the Cayenne keeps its occupants quite comfy.

Features

This is where the engineering brilliance really shines through.  The display, so crisp and legible!  The screen to the right of the tach is particularly great, with a thumbwheel on the right steering wheel spoke to scroll through vehicle stats, navigation, audio, phone, and probably some things I'm forgetting.

Note the green Hold light

The Hold feature - it seems like such a trivial thing, but it's fascinating how quickly you get used to it.  When stopped at a light, simply press on the brake pedal as though you were setting a parking brake.  The word Hold appears in green in the speedometer, meaning you can take your foot off the brake.  The Cayenne will patiently hold the vehicle in place until you touch the gas, at which point you are on your way.

Speaking of the speedometer, that's also where the headlight/auto-bright light indicator lights are.  And quite honestly, that's the only thing I used that dash space for.  Thank goodness there is a speedometer in the tach, because I never used the analog speedo.

The ease of integration with my iPhone (Bluetooth or USB, take your pick)!  The intuitiveness of the controls on the steering wheel!  Yes, there is somewhat an ocean of buttons on the center console, but those are mainly fire-and-forget items.  The one you are most likely to use is temperature control, which is an easy toggle in close proximity to the steering wheel.

Lots of buttons, but temperature and fan speed are easily accessible

You know what the kids really like?  The ENORMOUS sunroof that stretches the length of the passenger compartment.  It is wonderful, and great for stargazing at night.

So many little details, so well executed.  Truly an impressive piece of engineering that I appreciated more as time went by.

In Closing...

The Cayenne Diesel is a brilliantly engineered and executed vehicle.  Perfect for a road warrior or a family of 5, it goes about its job with quiet efficiency.  Sprightly but not fast.  I didn't test this part, but I bet it's a beastie when towing (rated for 7,710 pounds).  If I had to be in New York for dinner, I would hop in the Cayenne and never look back.  It makes eating miles so supremely easy, and it handles better than any SUV I've ever driven (barring Cayenne S/GTS/Turbo).


The Turbo is a bootful of fun.  Plenty powerful, amazing handling.  But in the States, with our low speed limits and traffic, the thinking-man's Cayenne of choice is the Diesel:  Efficient, smooth, capable, comfortable, and wonderful to use.

That said, it doesn't inspire joy in me the way my now 22-year-old 911 does.  It is something I'd want to use, but not fuss over.  You know, treat it as a normal car.

My 911 is taught, tight, and raw.  I'm reminded of one of my favorite Jalopnik articles I've read recently:

Here is what it’s like to drive modern day automobiles: 

Output = Input x 3^34 x 3e / 2 + 778 / 5xr +2 * 32^74.45 

If the nerdy formula doesn’t make sense to you, basically what I’m saying is that if you’re the input (you know...with the steering, braking, accelerating and such), the computer takes whatever you provide, does stuff with it like figuring out what the car should do in terms of applying power to the wheels, how the engine should run etc., and spits out some behavior on the roads that you will actually find tolerable or even pleasing. 

In most modern day cars, enough tweaks are made to where no matter how crazy of a maneuver you intend to execute, the car can generally take your insanity and turn into a relatively manageable output. 

With the 1971 Porsche: 

Output = Input

That sums it up so nicely.  The Cayenne is an amazing vehicle.  It is incredibly well-engineered, and the details come through everywhere you look, sit, and touch.  It drives better than any SUV has a right to.  And yet, in its quest to be such a phenomenally good car, it sacrifices driver engagement.  I just hope that those fortunate enough to own one of these things appreciates what a fundamentally good vehicle it is.

That said, I feel remarkably fortunate to have choices in life.  I can load the entire family and most of our house into our minivan (the only thing mini about it is the name), use a great sedan in the winter, explore North America on a phenomenal motorcycle, and when an early Sunday morning drive is in order, fire up the loud, raw, sonorous, alive beastie that is my 911 and enjoy *driving* it.

Oh yes, and to the "purists" - the Cayenne is unbelievable.  So is the Panamera.  As is the Boxster, and the Cayman, and the 911.  Building such incredibly useable vehicles allows Porsche to make truly exceptional ones, like the GT4, GT3, GT RS, and 918.

Progress is unavoidable.  Porsche will continue to push the edge of performance and increase usability.  As a company, they are proving that improved performance doesn't have to come at the expense of improved fuel efficiency.

That said, my fervent hope is that there will always be a high-revving, naturally aspirated choice somewhere in the lineup!

Physics Day

I had the opportunity to take my two oldest kids to Physics Day at 6 Flags in Gurnee, IL, just north of Chicago.  What a great time!

We had our own Physics Day on the drive there, as we folded ourselves into the 911.  A road trip in a sports car with my kids has always been on my bucket list, and we checked that off in a big way!  Super fun.

Before the 6 Flags adventure, we continued Physics Day with a little cat and mouse with my brother in a pair of Porsche Cayenne Turbos.  Impressive beasts, those Turbos.  Loads of power, and just so well engineered!

Physics Day itself was really fun.  It was a follow-the-child kind of day, riding bumper cars and rollercoasters.  Late in the day, my brother put $20 up to anyone who would try the X-Flight.  My oldest took him up on the offer, and made the easiest $20 of his life.  After the ride ended, he said that that was the most terrifying start to the most exhilarating experience of his life!

The rollercoaster bug bit my oldest hard!  He proceeded to ride Batman four times in a row, from the first row.  He is now a rollercoaster junky!

We ended the day with a fantastic meal at Smoke Daddy.  I was so proud of my kids!  Despite the exhaustion associated with staying up until midnight and riding rides all day, they were so polite and wonderful at the restaurant.  They were just stunningly wonderful, and enjoyed the dinner conversation.  Ribs, pulled pork, brisket, and burgers - what a meal on which to end an amazing day!

Due to a series of events, I ended up taking a Cayenne Diesel home.  For detailed thoughts on that vehicle, check out my next post.