Eric was asking if there was a way to print directly to a PDF without going through the Print dialog box. I knew that there wasn’t (currently) a way to do this in AppleScript. After some digging on Google, I think I found a good solution with the CUPS-PDF Package for Mac OS X. Now, I have a Desktop Printer icon on my Desktop, on which I can drag any file to create an instant PDF.

Jared Polis, my friend from high school, has made a recent trip to the Middle East as part of his run-up to the Congressional elections next year. I just finished reading his blog post about the use of private mercenaries in Iraq. Unlike most mainstream media news reports from the area, his recount was both refreshing and scary to read.

I have been able to take far fewer pictures than I had hoped; Photographs are generally not allowed anywhere someone official can see you. There are two kinds of photography-forbidden zones, one in which they will warn you to put away your camera and stop taking pictures, and another in which they will shoot you. I do not pull my camera out in areas where they might shoot first and ask questions later, and I’ve only been successful a few times in covertly filming fairly mundane areas before being caught in “warning” areas. Every time I film in a “warning” area I am taking the risk that they will take all my film (tapes) away and I will lose everything I have. So I have some film I will digitize when I get back, but precious little.

Back in 2003, I had early thoughts about doing my DVP Fellowship project in the Middle East. They were never really serious thoughts, and I’m glad that I’ve stayed here. Jared is a far braver man than I am, and he’s the kind of person that I would rather have running this country than the bozos we currently have. Read more about his experiences in Iraq on his website. For those in Colorado and in his district, support him for Congress!

The November meeting for the Camera Owners of the Bay Area (COBA) user group will be held on Wednesday, November 14, 2007, in Cordura Hall 100 at Stanford University from 7:30-10:00 pm.

Eye-Fi

Photos shouldn’t be trapped in your camera. Set them free. No cables, no waiting, no hassles.

That’s the mantra of Mountain View-based company Eye-Fi. The Eye-Fi Card is a $99 wireless memory card. It automatically uploads pictures from your digital camera to your PC or Mac and to your favorite photo sharing, printing, blogging or social networking site.

Founder and VP of Marketing (and longtime COBA member), Ziv Gillat, will be on hand to demonstrate the Eye-Fi card. I’ve used this product and it’s really amazing! Bring your camera and watch it be transformed into a wireless digital camera at the meeting.

In addition, Eye-Fi has graciously donated an Eye-Fi card for the winner of this month’s assignment. Read below for more details.

COBA Holiday Party

COBA is getting an early start on the holiday festivities with our end-of-year holiday party! We’ll have food and drink available. If there is anything in particular that you’d like to see, or if you would like to volunteer to bring something edible and potable, let me know.

SmugMug Monthly Assignment: BIKE

Get on the road with two wheels in this month’s assignment: BIKE

The winner of the monthly assignment will get a free Eye-Fi wireless memory card!

Only new photographs taken from the previous meeting date to the next meeting date will be accepted.

Windy Hill Photography (November 10, 2007)

For those of you who haven’t completed the monthly assignment, there’s a Low-Key Hillclimbs bike race tomorrow, Saturday, November 10. A 1.6 mile time-trial on dirt roads awaits the Low-Key riders up the Windy Hill trail in Portola Valley.

Staging and Registration will take place at the lower Windy Hill Open Space Parking lot Preserve parking lot on Portola Road .8 miles north of Alpine Road. At 10:10 am, the cyclists will do the 1.2 mile dirt promenade to the intersection of the Spring Ridge Trail and the Meadow Trail where riders will be started individually beginning at approximately 10:20am. The finish will be at the intersection of Spring Ridge Trail and Skyline Blvd.

There’s no time to shoot both the start or finish, so if you plan to photograph the event, come to one or the other.

Click here for more information and directions.

Weeks before, I signed up to coordinate Week 6 of the Low-Key Hillclimb Series up Welch Creek Road. Three weeks prior to the race, I drove up the climb with COBA member, David B., and remarked how glad I was that I wasn’t going to be riding this one. It’s a beast at 3.9 miles and 1923 feet of climbing! Some have said that this climb is tougher than Bohlman-On Orbit, which I found to be extremely challenging.

This was my first-time coordinating a race, and Welch Creek offered some challenges from the get-go. First off, there’s no parking alongside Calaveras Road. Permit parking is only available at Welch Creek, due to the fact that the first few miles is through parkland. Thus, my first task was to find a place to stage the race. Talking to other Low-Key members, I discovered the Sunol Glen School, located about 5 miles from the start. The school offered bathroom facilities and ample parking, and it turned out to be a perfect spot to stage. There was a little confusion getting permission to use the facilities, but the school staff and I eventually squared things away after a couple of back and forth trips. Thanks to Dan and Pat for getting me the proper insurance forms to give to the school!

The second challenge was photography and videography. Initially, I had wanted to have this climb well documented in the style of the epic climbing stages in the Tour de France. Unfortunately, the narrow roads and lack of adequate turnouts up Welch Creek made accomplishing this goal very difficult. In the end, I took one car up quickly to the top of the hill and Ron “Dick Demol” Brunner, took the another car filled with three photographers to follow the action. From what he said, it was difficult to follow the action because of the roads and because the leading pack of riders, led once again by Tim Clark, was going to darned fast!

We were first to the top in the Car Division, reaching the summit in 12 minutes. We barely had time to park the car and eat a snack before Tim arrived only 12 minutes later! I had originally thought that the winning time would be 34 minutes, but I must have been thinking about my time up the hill!

The top riders are certainly working for their fast times. I was heartened to see that at the finish, everyone was huffing and puffing. Usually when I get around to finishing 10-20 minutes later, everyone looks so relaxed, sipping on juice boxes, eating pretzels and cookies, and shooting the breeze. “Yes,” I thought to myself, “They suffer too! Muahaha!” Of course, they suffer much more quickly than I do :(

Coordinating a Low-Key race turned out to be pretty fun. I’ll probably do it again next year!

Next week’s it’s time to ride a mountain bike. We’re going up the Windy Hill trail in Portola Valley.

Thanks to all of the volunteers who helped make this ride possible: Marty, Howard, Helen, Genti, Kwan, Ron, Christine, and Pat! Also thanks to Genti who used my camera to take the photos in this gallery.

In Week 5 of the Low-Key Hillclimbs Series we did a time trial up the backside of Highway 84 and West Old Honda road. After volunteering for the previous week, I was eager to get back onto the saddle and test myself against the clock. Unfortunately, I almost pulled a Pedro Delgado and ended up putting it one of my worst efforts. Every year, misfortune seems to befall me on one of the Low-Key climbs!

The start was at the San Gregorio Store at the near Highway 1 and Highway 84. Since I was coordinating the following week’s ride up Welch Creek, I planned to park my car up at the finish on Skyline and West Old La Honda Road. An early ride and drive up to Skyline via Woodside gave me plenty of time to descend 15 miles to the start — a good warmup plan in my mind. I parked at the Windy Hill Preserve parking lot, unpacked my bike, and… inexplicably… went left. I had thought that the intersection of Old La Honda and Skyline was to my left, but in reality, it was less than one mile to the right. I rode… up and up Skyline for over five miles before I saw the signs for Page Mill Road. I realized at that point that I was seriously lost, thinking in my mind that I couldn’t have possibly have missed the turnoff to Old La Honda.

It was already well past 9:00 am, and my time trial had already begun. I had to go 21 miles to get to the start in under an hour. Could I make it? The initial five miles back to the car was fortunately downhill. The mile to the corner of Skyline and Old La Honda — I still don’t know how I missed it while driving — was slightly uphill. By the time I had gotten to the intersection, I had a little over 30 minutes to go the final 15 downhill miles. I estimated my average speed to get there exactly at 10:10 am would have to have been 28 mph. It’s windy, not straight, down West Old Honda, so I had to manage my speed properly so as not to spin out and crash. My legs were already tiring from the effort I had given up to this point; I was openly wondering how much energy would be left in the tank for the time trial. By the time I had passed the 10:10 am mark, I was even questioning whether or not I was on the right road to get to the San Gregorio Store, as I’m not very familiar with rides on the other side of Skyline.

Fortunately, the yellow stickers on the helmets of the riders going the other direction gave me solace. These were Low-Key Riders. I even recognized them as we passed each other: Kelly, Stephen, and Tim. After my little 11 mile detour, I was going to make it to the start!

I ended up being the third to last rider to leave the starting gate at roughly 10:30 am. With such little recovery time, I didn’t have much energy left for the hammer-on-the-flats initial portion of the ride. Looking at the split time results, I came in last place, covering the 7.5 miles in 25:51. My time up 84 and West Old La Honda was a little better, and I finished the remaining 6.5 miles in 34:17. Had I not taken a 25-mile warmup, I think I could have bested both of those times by a few minutes. Next year!