Matthew’s biggest walleye ever. Where was I? I was listening to some memorable speeches at a work function in Vegas.

My Hitchhiker, originally uploaded by timbu.

Recently I drove from Sunnyvale to Minnesota. I was hoping to get a hitchhiker to come with me. I tried Craigslist but that person decided riding the rails would be easier, faster and safer than riding with me. I picked this guy up near the border of Montana and N. Dakota and dropped him off in Fargo. It was nice to have someone to chat with. He explained to me how grain elevators are built. I tried to explain computers and the web and probably failed.

Great article in the Atlantic talking about how google and the web in general are making us stupid. I think that is what the article is about; I skimmed it so I can’t be sure.

Bus Bench outside BIg Brain Comics, originally uploaded by timbu.

Looks like Obama is doing great with the kids who like stickers and hang out near bus stops. Googling for McCain stickers left me suitably underwhelmed. From a design point of view the Shepard Fairey sticker is pretty hard to beat.

The Road to Pune, originally uploaded by timbu.

I ran into this in the latest print copy of wired. I haven’t seen it online yet, so I had to take a picture. I was shocked that they reported speeds of 170 MPH on the road between Mumbai and Pune India. The road is quite nice compared to other roads in India, but very windy. steep and mountainous. If that weren’t enough by itself you sometimes overtake huge Tata trucks 2 & 3 abreast which meander around the road without regard for the lane markings going at roughly 20-40 KPH. Now my driver got our car up past 100 KPH at times, but I cannot imagine going 170 MPH on this road — not without an ejection seat and a parachute.

Seriously, the rate of accidents in India is something like 7X the rate in the US. I still feel like I was bad for egging my driver to go faster on the straight aways or clapping when he slipped between two trucks with complete impunity.

I sent this off to my friends in Pune and they don’t think it could be possible either. Everyone believes that the reporter mixed up KPH and MPH.

If you have evidence of going 150 MPH or faster on the road to Pune, I would love to shake your hand or at least meet your next of kin.

There are some moments in my life where I knew something has changed permanently.

Last night I got an email about a young woman who died tragically. When you read something like that it either far away or far too close. In this case it was in the middle. I didn’t really know Julie in real life, but I read her blog. She was a friend of a friend. Hearing of her death, clicking on her rss feed and clicking the link to her last post was a moment I won’t soon forget. Her blogspot “Location” left as it always was … “amidst the water & the trees, minnesota”. My heart goes out to those who lost a dear one.

Family friend, Lisa Slotsve, took family portraits in our neighborhood a few weeks ago. See if you can spot us in the her latest blog entry. Did I forget to smile again?

Here is another way for twitter to let you down. You can subscribe to a book via dailylit. They will send you a tweet with a link to the installment of the book you are reading. Now that’s cool, but wouldn’t it be more fun to read “Pride and Prejudice” 140 chars at a time?

Here is another way for twitter to let you down. You can subscribe to a book via dailylit. They will send you a tweet with a link to the installment of the book you are reading. Now that’s cool, but wouldn’t it be more fun to read “Pride and Prejudice” 140 chars at a time?