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    July 30

    MSN Homepage test

    MSN is conducting a new homepage test (http://v11.www.msn.com/?vv=600). I used to be the product manager for this property, and ran the process for the current design in 2003-05. This new one isn't much different, and tries to do a little more customization and personalization. To be honest (and with respect for the hard work that's gone into this), I don't like it much. It feels like they shoe-horned in Windows Live modules on the right side, along with a bit of content like weather. Not very cleanly integrated. I think Yahoo did a nicer job with their last redesign.
     
    MSN Homepage July 08
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    July 20

    Fat Salmon

    I swam across Lake Washington on Saturday as part of the annual Fat Salmon event. We started at Day Street park just under I-90 bridge, and finished at Madison Park beach, a distance of 3.2 miles. That's about as far as I think I've ever gone in open water. I signed up early in the summer hoping to motivate myself to train, but Green Lake Acquatic Ducks masters team practices too early - 5-6 am! - and I couldn't will myself to get it into the schedule. So I dove in with no training, and spent probably 15% of the distance doing breaststroke to give my noodle arms a break.
     
    But the water was a nice 68 degrees, and winds were light from Northeast (a bit head on) without too many ripples, and there were 160 others to draft behind, so it was a good day. I enjoyed being greeted at the finish by Julia and the kids, who handed me a towel and gatorade, and then we had breakfast at an outdoor cafe nearby.
     
    Results: 1:37:31
     
    Fat Salmon  
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    July 09

    Breath

    Breath, by Tim Winton, is a coming-of-age story set in the waters and on the coast of western Australia. It's a dark story in some ways, but I loved the descriptions of surfing, and the spirit of surfers who challenge themselves to do something "beautiful and pointless".
     
    I will always remember my first wave that morning. The smells of paraffin wax and brine and peppy scrub. The way the swell rose beneath me like a body drawing in air. How the wave drew me forward and I sprang to my feet, skating with the wind of momentum in my ears. I leant across the wall of upstanding water and the board came with me as though it was a part of my body and mind. The blur of spray. The billion shards of light. I remember the solitary watching figure on the beach and the flash of Loonie's smile as I felw by; I was intoxicated. And though I've lived to be an old man with my own share of happiness for all the mess I made, I still judge every joyous moment, every victory and revelation against those few seconds of living. (pg 35)
     
    The Economist has a nice review.
     
    breath
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