Danny MacAskill Mountain Bike Trials Rider gets 2.5 million views in a week.

I recently purchased an 6″ Amazon Kindle 2.   This is one of the most useful gadgets I have ever bought. It is like an iPd for books. I have read more books in the last 4 weeks than I have in the last 4 years combined.  It is so convenient to carry around.  I carry it in my briefcase most of the time.  It is about as just a bit over 1/3 of inch thick and lightweight at 10.2 ounces.

Some facts:

• Holds over 1500 books
• You can download a book from Amazon wherever there is 3G wireless service. You don’t have to purchase any wireless plan to use the wireless service. It is free with the Kindle.
• Amazon automatically backups all of your purchases and documents. If you ever run out of room on your Kindle, you can delete books, but it saves them at Amazon to re-download later.
• It supports Microsoft Word, PDF, HTML, TXT, RTF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, PRC and MOBI files. So, you can upload personal documents to your Kindle.
• Built in dictionary. Don’t know what a word means. Highlight it and the Kindle with show you the definition.
• Syncs with your iPhone. You can read books from Amazon n your iPhone, by downloading an app.
• Audiobooks.
• the Kindle will read books for you, even if they are not an audiobook.
• Wireless access to Wikipedia.
• Subscribe to blogs, newpapers and magazines.
• MP3 player. Listen to music and read at the same time.
• Downloads books in under 60 seconds.

We don’t have any more bookshelf space in house, so the Kindle is a great space saver. Also, it is a great tree saver. Think about how many trees can be saved by buying all of your books electronically.

In conclusion, the Amazon Kindle is perfect for the techno, book loving, environmentalist.

I ran across this video tonight and had to share it. This is a speech from John Francis who walked the earth and didn’t speak for 17 years. It is his story, experiences and what what he learned over that 17 years. http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/john_francis_walks_the_earth.html.

My quest to learn Ruby on Rails is still at full steam, when I am not swamped with work.  Along with the numerous books, I have been going through an online Ruby on Rails training course at buildingwebapps.com.

I just created an account at JPG Magazine.  Not only can you share your photos, you have a chance to be published in the magazine by entering theme contests.  Wish me luck and vote for my photos.

The most recent theme contest I entered is “Shoot from the Hip”. I submitted a photo from a recent New Orleans trip. This photo was taken while walking through the French Quarter. The subject is a tap dancing street performer. Photo was adjusted using Lightroom 2. I developed it as black and white with a some vignetting to highlight the subject a little more.

Arizona Highways is having a photography contest for the first time since 1966. The deadline for entries is November 15, 2008. There are four categories in which to enter –Landscape, People/Culture, Wildlife and Macro/Close-Up. The grand prize is a trip on an Arizona Highways workshop.

Digital Photography Blogs has weekly photography contests with varying themes.

Digital Photography School has weekly assignments with different prizes each week.

Just launched this site yesterday for a client. The site was redesigned and a shopping cart was added. i used osCommerce for the shopping cart with a couple of contributions.

I was justed tweeted this by another cyclist on twitter.  Lance Armstrong will be coming back to ride 5 races for Team Astana, including the Tour de France.  Should be very interesting to see how good of shape he is in since retiring 3 years ago.   He finished 2nd in the Leadville 100 last month.  Here is a link to the full story.   http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/news/story?id=3576014

I have been meaning to add recently completed projects to my site since last month. So here are a couple of custom WordPress websites I have recently completed for clients.

Cooner Wellness is local company that specializes in acupuncture. Specializing in acupuncture for infertility, he also treats pain, headaches, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, allergies, asthma, insomnia, stress, anxiety, depression, weight loss, PMS, infertility, acne, sinusitis, arthritis, irritable bowel and leaky gut syndrome, pre and post surgery preparation and recovery, and side effects of cancer treatments.

Debt Negotiation Zone - For nearly a decade, Debt Free Partners LLC has helped thousands of people reach their debt free goals. Their mission is simple, to end their clients suffering over their debt and to assist them in achieving a better quality of life. They do this by educating each and every person they serve to significantly improve their financial well being through education and creating new financial habits.

The 2008 Tour de France is over. It has been over for a couple of days, but I haven’t had time to write about it. My prediction of Cadel Evans winning was wrong. He lead the race for awhile, but couldn’t hold onto the yellow jersey. He lost it to Frank Schleck of CSC, but he was not the final GC winner. The winner was Carlos Sastre of Team CSC. Photo by Graham Watson.

One of Cadel’s problems was that his team Silence-Lotto was too weak to help defend the jersey. Cadel was isolated from his team on every important mountain stage. Team CSC was way too strong! CSC had at least 3-4 guys together on every mountain stage. This included Frank Schleck, who held the yellow jersey for a few stages before his team mate Carlos Sastre won it from him on L’Alpe-d’Huez. What can you say about Jens Voight? The guy is amazing. Jens sets a tempo up the mountain that blows the peloton to pieces, sacrificing himself for his team leader. Team CSC’s relentless attacks up the mountains was too much for Cadel. He couldn’t follow every attack those guys threw at him. His final time deficit going into the final time trail was too much to overcome. I am happy to see Carlos Sastre win the Tour. He has always been a top contender.

Overall, the race was very exciting all the way to the end. The 7 different yellow jersey holders almost breaks a record in one of the closest tours in history. Hopefully, the race is as exciting next year, but with Cadel Evans winning.

It’s July and you know what that means. It is time for the Tour de France. The 95th edition has started. I have mixed feelings about this year’s tour. I always look forward to watching it, but I am disappointed that team Astana was not allowed to race in this year’s tour. Team Astana has Alberto Contador (last years winner) and Levi Leipheimer (3rd place last year). It sucks that they can’t come back and defend the yellow jersey.

I’m going to watch anyways, because it is the Tour de France and for the first time there are 2 American teams - Team Columbia (formerly High Road) and Team Garmin/Chipotle (formerly Slipstream/Chipotle). Above photo by Graham Watson.

A list of other American teams in the Tour de France throughout history:

• 7-11 1986-1990
• Motorola 1991 - 1996
• U.S. Postal 1997-2004
• Discovery Channel 2005-2007

My prediction: Cadel Evans will win the yellow jersey. I hope he does, because I have a picture with him from when I met him at the Sea Otter Classic. Back then he was a World Champion mountain biker.