Book review: The Martian

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The Martian - Andy WeirIt’s hard for a book that comes so highly recommended to meet expectations, let alone surpass them. The Martian by Andy Weir is one such book. It lived up to its billing and more.

I added the book to my reading list after it appeared in the Amazon recommendation engine, but it was a review of the book by Brad Feld that piqued my interest. I’ve picked up a few other strong science fiction reads through Brad’s blog. and his favorable review encouraged me to move it ahead of other titles on my 2014 reading list.

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Bike ride No. 3 – Pacific Coast Bike Route, Ventura County

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Pacific Coast Bike Route - Ventura CountyFor our third bike ride of the summer, my oldest daughter Amanda and I chose to ride along the coast from Ventura towards Santa Barbara. After doing a little research and deciding how long we wanted to ride, I figured that we could make it from Ventura to Seacliff, just south of La Conchita. My calculations figured it would be about an 18-20 mile ride, round trip.

Since the ride is along the coast (except for a one mile stretch along Seacliff), the biking is relatively flat and the scenery is beautiful. Overall, it makes for a fun, enjoyable ride. Here’s a look at how it went along with a few pictures that I took along the way.

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Book review: Running Lean – Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works

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Running LeanAt some point over the last year, I was recommended Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan that Works by Ash Maurya. While it sounds like a book that would be about running, it’s not about fitness in the physical sense at all. Running Lean is about fitness in the business sense.

It’s the third book I’ve read in the “Lean Startup” series, as I recently completed Lean UX and Lean Analytics. After completing all three, I wish I had picked up Running Lean first.  (On the other, it’s entirely possible I should have got The Lean Startup by Eric Ries first, which I haven’t read yet.)

Here are my observations and a few of the many notes I took while reading the book.

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Bike ride No. 2 – Ventura to Ojai

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Ojai Valley TrailAfter surviving our ride to the rock, my oldest daughter and I decided to ride the Ventura River and Ojai Valley Trails. It’s a little over 15 miles one way and involves a steady uphill climb just about the entire way from Ventura to Ojai, which means it’s a steady downhill ride back. I had ridden the Ojai Valley Trail when the kids were younger, and from what I could remember, the ride (and climb) was manageable. Of course, I was almost ten years younger at the time.

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Book review: Counting from Zero

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Counting from ZeroAnother sub-genre of science fiction that keeps coming up in my recommendations is internet security, cyber-threat, and zero day attack novels. I’m sure it’s linked to my reading of Cyberstorm and Zero Day. Anyway, one of the books that appeared in the list and looked interesting was Counting from Zero by Alan B. Johnston. Johnston is an internet security specialist who has traveled the world speaking at events and conferences about the topic. He’s even spoken to governments about it as well. I figured that the book would be a good balance of fiction interspersed with nonfiction material covering the topic of internet security and online threats.

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My first Kickstarter project – it’s here!

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Pressy PackageLast August, I funded my first Kickstarter project – Pressy, the Almighty Android Button. At the end of June (June 24 to be exact), my Pressy finally arrived. It took about 10 months from the funded date of August 30, 2013. To be honest, I had basically given up on the project since the updates, which started out fast and furious, had slowed to a trickle once they announced they were having quality problems during manufacturing. A couple of visits to their Kickstarter page revealed lots of frustrated backers that, like me, had given up hope on receiving their Pressy. Since I hadn’t received an update in some time, I was surprised to see the package on my desk when I came home from work.

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Book review: The Atlantis World

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Atlantis World by A.G. RiddleEarlier this year, I decided to subscribe to Amazon’s Science Fiction & Fantasy Newsletter to stay abreast of new releases and to pick up some new reading material. I don’t know why, as Amazon’s recommendation engine has done a fine job of filling my reading list to nearly 100 titles at this point. Anyways, my subscription paid off when I saw The Atlantis World by A.G. Riddle show up as a new release. Since I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books in The Origin Mystery Trilogy (reviews here and here), The Atlantis World immediately jumped to the top of my reading queue. In fact, it was tough not setting aside my current reading and starting this one immediately!

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My first ride to “The Rock”

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Point Mugu Rock to MalibuMy oldest daughter Amanda has been doing a bit of biking while at college – it’s her primary mode of transportation while at school. When she came home for the summer, she said that she wanted to do some biking and asked me if I’d be interested in taking a ride out to the Point Mugu rock. Since I wasn’t sure if she was serious, I said “Sure, I’m in!” It turns out she was serious, and we finally made the trip this past Saturday. Here’s how it went.

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Book review: Lean Analytics – Use Data to Build a Better Startup Faster

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lean analyticsIn my quest for ideas to help me with my business, I decided to continue down the Lean Startup path and picked up Lean Analytics: Use Data to Build a Better Startup Faster by Alistair Croll and Ben Yoskovitz. The lean startup craze is in full bloom, and I’ve been trying to get my head around exactly what it means and how it is implemented. Lean Analytics looked as though it could help me along in the process.

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The evolution of Facebook

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Facebook Thumbs UpIt’s no secret that I’m not a big fan of Facebook and their business practices. While I still have a Facebook account, I use it primarily to manage my business pages and rarely, if ever, post anything on it. I’ve also written numerous articles about my issues with Facebook and why I think they won’t last (see here, here and here). However, their decision earlier this year to break apart the mobile experience into separate apps may be the strategic decision that saves them, or at least prolongs the agony of decline.

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