Ravi Pandya
ravi@iecommerce.com
www.iecommerce.com
+1 425 417 4180
vcard

syndicate this site

ARCHIVES

2007 11 10

2004 10 09 08 07 06

2003 04 02 01

2002 12 11 10 09 08

2001 11

ABOUT ME

Ravi Pandya
Architect
Cloud Computing Futures
Microsoft
ravip at microsoft.com

03-	Microsoft
00-02	Covalent
97-00	EverythingOffice
96-97	Jango
93-96	NetManage
89-93	Xanadu
88-89	Hypercube
84,85	Xerox PARC
83-89	University of Toronto, Math
86-87	George Brown College, Dance
95-	Foresight Institute
97-	Institute for Molecular Manufacturing

DISCLAIMER

The opinions expressed here are purely my own, and do not reflect the policy of my employer.

Orleans: Cloud Computing for Everyone

http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=153347

Our paper on Orleans was accepted to the ACM Symposium on Cloud Computing in Cascais, Portugal, October 26-28. If you're going to SOSP or SOCC, I'll see you there!

06:45 #

When not to think different

Sadly, if Steve Jobs had listened more to his rational side in this case, he might well have lived many years longer:

Steve Jobs Succumbs to Alternative Medicine

"Most pancreatic cancers are aggressive and always terminal, but Steve was lucky (if you can call it that) and had a rare form called an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor, which is actually quite treatable with excellent survival rates - if caught soon enough. The median survival is about a decade, but it depends on how soon it's removed surgically. Steve caught his very early, and should have expected to survive much longer than a decade. Unfortunately Steve relied on a naturopathic diet instead of early surgery. There is no evidence that diet has any effect on islet cell carcinoma. As he dieted for nine months, the tumor progressed, and took him from the high end to the low end of the survival rate."

21:13 #

In memoriam

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by.
And that has made all the difference. *

Thank you, Steve, for everything you have created.

My first computer was an Apple ][+. I mowed lawns to buy it, and sold greeting cards door-to-door to expand it to 48k and buy a 140k disk drive. Adjusted for inflation, it is the most expensive computer I have ever owned. And worth every penny, for what I learned from it and created with it.

05:57 #

Black Diamond Long Course Triathlon (70.3)

This race doesn't start until 9:00, so it's easier to manage getting there in the morning than most races. I arrived at 6:45, and was early enough to get an onsite parking spot. It was shaping up to be a beautiful sunny day, like last year - pretty lucky for Seattle in late September. I had plenty of time to set up in transition, rest, eat, and do short warm-up run.

The water was noticeably warmer than last year. I got in the water and did short swim out and sprint back to warm up. There was a small wave of elites at 9:00, then the men started at 9:01. I stayed in the middle of the pack this year, and was buffeted for a while until everyone spread out after the first turn. Then a thick fog came down over the lake - you couldn't even see from one sighting buoy to the next, so I just followed the pack, hoping they were headed in about the right direction. I tried drafting a few times, but wasn't able to lock on - I'll need to work on that. I'm sure I zigzagged a bit, and spent extra time with my head up trying to sight the buoys in the fog.

The fog lifted and the sun came out shortly after I got on the bike, but the air was still nice and cool for most of the ride. The bike course is mostly easy rollers, and I stayed in aero uphill & down except for a few moderate climbs. I hit the halfway mark at 1:26, and then stopped briefly to swap water bottles into the front. I was a bit slower for the second half, but still came in under 3 hours. I put on my shoes & cap, slugged back half a liter of fluids and headed out for the run.

It had warmed up considerably, and felt humid. It was maybe in the high 70's but I don't cope well with the heat, and am cautious after ending up in the med tent a couple of times. I had put salt & electrolytes in my water bottles on the bike, I took a couple of salt tabs over the course of the run, and I stopped at most aid stations for water, electrolytes, and another cup of water to pour on my cap for cooling. Despite all that preparation, I was only able to manage an 8:00 pace for the first few miles, and slowed down as the course climbed up into the hills. I managed to pick up the pace a bit heading back down from the halfway mark, and passed a couple of people I had been trading places with. The final trail around the lake was a relief to get out of the sun, and the hills didn't seem nearly as steep as they did last year (it was the rocky downhill stretches that were tough). I don't feel particularly sore the day after, so my legs clearly could have ran faster, but the rest of my system rebelled. I think now that I know how to prepare for it, it's mainly a matter of getting used to the feeling of running in the heat - it doesn't happen often around here!

Overall, I didn't quite meet my 5:30 goal, but still finished 40 minutes faster than the same race last year. A pretty good way to end the season.

Time 5:35:39 
Placed 61/148 Overall, 10/18 Men 45-49
Swim 36:48, T1 4:21, Bike 2:55:33, T2 3:03, Run 1:55:54

Thanks to my family for tolerating my habit :-), and to Michael Covey at the Pro Club for his great coaching.

19:49 #

Ironman 70.3 Lake Stevens

This was my second triathlon, after Black Diamond last year. Overall, it was a good race, though I had a couple of problems. I had a flat on the bike course, which took me an unbelievably long time to fix. And I was short on salt & hydration, so I cramped up during the run.

On race day, I woke up at 3:30 with pre-race jitters and couldn't get back to sleep. I lay in bed until 5 minutes before my 4:20 alarm was due to go off, and then dressed, grabbed my bag, travel mug of tea, and PB&Bs I had prepared the night before, and drove up to Lake Stevens. I had reserved a parking place near transition, and it was a good thing too - halfway over I realized I had forgotten to get my wetsuit and nutrition bag out of the trunk, and went back to get them. I had plenty of time to setup everything in transition, and then headed over to swim start to use the bathroom, put on my wetsuit, warm up, and stretch.

The swim was great. I jumped off the dock into balmy 69-degree water, put my face in to get acclimatized, and positioned myself on the inside near the buoys. I started strong to get near the head of the pack, and then just followed the wire - no need to sight on this course, just follow the underwater buoy wire. The only problem was that I kept running into the buoys, or even swimming under them. About a third of the way through, I started passing people from the back of the previous waves. The waves were pretty spread out, though, and there wasn't much contact. I just kept a strong, steady pace, focusing on streamlined body position and a good catch and pull through. Pretty soon the finish gate was in sight, and I put on some extra power into the gate.

Transition was fine, but slow - I'm not fast at stripping my wetsuit, and I don't rush getting ready for the bike. The course is beautiful, through winding country roads, and it was a great day, not too hot, with occasional sun. Part way through the first loop, I felt my back wheel grinding, and pulled over to fix a flat. It took a long time - I wanted to be sure I got it right, since I wouldn't have a second chance if I left in the shard or didn't seat the tube correctly. My pump is compact, but hard to get seated on the valve - it seemed like it took a dozen tries. Finally, 18 minutes later, the wheel was back on and I was riding again. The one nice thing about the forced pause was that I was steadily passing people for the rest of the race. I only had one brief stop, to transfer my back bottles into my handlebar bottle so I could sip it as I rode. I averaged 18.8 mph for the first half at 1:30 ride time, but couldn't keep it up on the second lap, averaging 18.3 overall. The hills weren't quite as bad as I had expected. There were a lot of long, slow, rolling climbs, but only one really steep hill, and it was short enough to power up. There were some great screaming downhills to make up for it. I remember one in particular where a race traffic cop sat beside a 35mph speed limit sign, watching bikers fly past at well over the limit - I hit 44 mph and I was not the fastest. At T2, I dumped the flat tube, pump, etc. out of my jersey, put on my running shoes and cap, stopped at the bathroom, and headed out the gate.

I started the run well, hitting the first mile marker at 7:33, but shortly after that I got a cramp in my hamstring. I had made two big mistakes in setup, and this is where they caught up with me. I had forgotten to put the salt packets in my water bottle, and had also run out of fluids to hydrate properly in T2. A passing runner graciously offered me one of her salt tablets, and that cleared things up. I did make a point of walking or even stopping at the aid stations to make sure I got electrolytes and water. After a few miles, I got my running legs back and the mile markers seemed to get closer together. Even with the aid stops, I managed an 8:03 pace on the first half, but then slowed on the second half to 8:43 as the salt ran out. The last slow climb up Lakeshore Drive was a real challenge, and then after the turnaround my legs started to show signs of cramping. I just coasted back down Lakeshore and into town. I was very happy to see my family at the finish, and high-fived them with a big smile as I passed by. But just as I headed into the chute, my legs turned into wooden blocks, and 10 yards from the finish gate I doubled over with cramps. It didn't hurt - it was just like someone had flicked a switch and contracted my abdominal muscles. I hobbled over the finish line, and then a couple of volunteers helped me to the med tent. Linda had rushed over, concerned, and she and Gavin sat with me in the tent. I sat and rested, drank a couple of bottles of Perform with some ice on my neck, and I was OK after a few minutes.

Total time 6:01:42 (52/82 M45-49, 571/1272 overall)
Swim 37:23, T1 4:21, Bike 3:25:41, T2 4:26, Run 1:49:51

At the beginning of the year, my goal was to improve my time by half an hour over my 6:17 finish at Black Diamond. Going into the race I was more ambitious - 5:30 overall, with 0:35 swim, 3:00 bike, 1:45 run, and 0:10 for transitions & breaks - but I didn't manage that. However, even with the flat, I beat last year's time by 15 minutes, and if you subtract out the 18-minute repair time I cut over half an hour (of course the repair time was also rest time, but anyway) My fitness overall improved significantly: I cut 5 minutes off the swim (partly thanks to the guide wire); I matched my bike time despite a much harder course (after subtracting the repair time); and amazingly I cut almost half an hour from the run despite the cramps. I placed respectably in my age group for the swim and run (#28 and 26 out of 82), but not great on the bike (66 with repair time, 49 without).

I'd like to thank my family for all their support, especially in coming to the race - triathlon is not exactly a spectator sport! I'd also like to thank my coach, Michael Covey from the Pro Club for his invaluable advice and motivation. He put together a great training plan that made really effective use of my limited training time. It was also great to see all the Microsoft people out there - Lars, Ed, Kurt, Jesus, and I'm sure many more that I didn't run into.

06:26 #

The Practice of Triathlon: Three Meditations

Slicing through water
Line from palm to arch of foot
Half-glance back to breathe

Pedals spin like silk
In a compact aero curl
Wake streams out behind

Feet strike light and quick
Earth rotating underneath
Branches pass above

09:11 #