Canal Riding and Strava Testing

Kate and I started training for the St George Half Ironman about a month ago. We got just a little data crazy and picked up a couple of Garmin 910XT super watches that have GPS, Barometer, Accelerometer, Heartrate, Cadence, and a bunch of other features to help you be a better athlete. We also have coaches who we can upload this info to on a special website called Training Peaks which lets them assign workouts and then see how we did.

Recently I learned about another site called Strava that lets you upload the workout data but with a more social twist. You can follow a number of people including some professional cyclists and runners and see how slow you are compared to them.

Last Saturday I did a long slow ride for 32 miles. I like to ride up to the Arizona Canal and spend most of my time on it as there are underpasses at the streets so you dont have to stop. Here is the Strava breakdown of the ride:

There will be more…

Video Will Greene of Beyond Coal and Net Metering in Arizona

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This week I talked with Will Greene about Net Metering in Arizona and the commotion being made about it. Will is the Phoenix Organizing Representative of the Beyond Coal campaign being run by Sierra Club. He is currently working to motivate people to come out for two important meetings happening next week on November 13th and 14th.
We did a Google Hangout to discuss the events and how you can get involved:

The first meeting on November 13th at 9am is at the Arizona Corporation Commission building:
1200 West Washington
Phoenix, AZ 85007-2996
This meeting will be to discuss the Net Metering policy for the state of Arizona. Currently APS has proposed changes to Net Metering that would help APS make more money but pretty much kill off the Rooftop Solar Industry in Arizona, which employs at least 10,000 people. In addition APS has been caught secretly funding Non-Profits that are creating advertisements that attempt to make non-solar customers thing solar customers are getting a free ride.
We are trying to get as many people to show up as possible at 9am to show a presence that the Commission will be hard pressed to ignore. If you live or work in the downtown Phoenix area you should call in sick or late and come take part in helping to ensure sustainable industry in Arizona will continue growing.
If you have time to stay longer you may have an opportunity to have your voice heard in front of the Commission.
There will be coffee and bagels!

The second meeting is on November 14th at 5pm at the Phoenix Convention Center and involved the EPA and haze over the Grand Canyon. The Phoenix Convention Center is located at 3rd Street and Washington.
Specifically this meeting is going to discuss whether or not the EPA should enforce the clean air laws on the Navajo Generating Station(NGS) near Page, Arizona. The NGS is the states largest polluter and is considered by many to be the cause of a haze in the skies over the Grand Canyon.
Show up at 5pm and stop by the Sierra Club booth for a free Beyond Coal t-shirt and then head into the meeting to give a brief statement about why clean air at the Grand Canyon and all of Arizona is important to you.

Podcast 15 – Talking Treehouse Bakery with Cori and Amanda

300-DS-Podcast-TreehouseAfter talking with Tracy on the Strawberry Hedgehog episode she highly recommended that I get in touch with Cori and Amanda at Treehouse bakery. Tracy is a big fan of theirs since she is vegan but also because they make really good baked goods and on top of that are really nice people.

We talk about growing up in Phoenix and then getting going with their vegan bakery in downtown Phoenix. We cover Grand Ave, creating the best cupcake icing in the land, the Pie Social, customers, turning down Cupcake Wars, taking special orders, taking donation requests, and more. You should take an hour and have a listen to how a local business gets things done in Phoenix.

Link Love:
Treehouse Bakery Phoenix AZ
Pie Social – Nov 16th 2013

Podcast #16 – Reuben Gonzales of Eleventh Monk3y

300-DS-Podcast-16-ReubenWhen I talked with Zoe for Podcast #5 she mentioned Reuben and his store Eleventh Monk3y as someone I should do a podcast with. He allowed Zoe to use his space for her bake sale and he agreed to sit down with me to talk about growing up in Phoenix and the adventures that led him to opening Eleventh Monk3y in its current location on Grand Ave in downtown Phoenix.

Among the topics covered are:
Robotics
Breakin
Quitting Circut City and Subway
VW Restoration
TShirt Design
Running a Business
Each one Teach one
Grand Avenue Festival 2013
Saying no to Bling
Phoenix Design Week
Mark Dudlik

Link Love:
Eleventh Monk3y

Podcast #14 – Cody Landefeld of the Cody L Group

This week I sit down with local WordPress and Web Strategy Master Cody Landefeld of the Cody L Group. We talk about Cody’s youth in Phoenix and how he ended up in web design and strategy.

We break off into a few topics of conversation including:

Link Love:
Cody L Group

Podcast #13 – Dillon Holmes, Cambio Energy, and AZ Residential Solar

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This summer Kate and I decided it was time to get solar panels added to our home to eliminate our dependence on our utilities dirty energy. In Arizona residential solar tends to seem expensive but when you add up the costs and the savings its a 8 year return on investment and a massive reduction in your carbon footprint.

We talked with a lot of vendors. I posted a blog post and did our third podcast on the subject.

Eventually we met with Dillon Holmes the owner of Cambio Energy in Phoenix AZ and chose his company to install the system. In this podcast I talk with Dillon about growing up in Phoenix, going to U of A in Tucson, running a solar installation company, and current issues in the energy market.

Link Love:

Cambio Energy Inc
Residential Renewable Energy Tax Credit

Podcast #12 – Aaron Post, Refresh Phoenix, and Bar Vision

Podcast 12 Aaron Post, Refresh Phoenix, and Bar Vision

This weeks episode features Aaron Post and we cover the gamut of his Phoenix history. From his early freelance career, to helping start Collins College, to the Dot Com Boom, Refresh Phoenix, and his current project with Bar Vision. Aaron is a really great guy and has been involved in multiple aspects of the Phoenix digital design community over the last three decades. His work getting Refresh Phoenix to happen laid a lot of the ground work for what has become a thriving creative scene in the Phoenix area. It was cool to talk with him and learn about how he came to the idea of starting Refresh Phoenix based on a trip to Chicago for a 37 Signals event.

Link Love:
Bar Vision
Local First Arizona
CoHoots
Phoenix Content Strategy Meetup

Podcast #10 – Sarah and Seth from WannaTri

Desertstandard Podcast 11 Sarah and Seth from WannatriThis weeks podcast is with Sarah and Seth from WannaTri a triathlon coaching company located in Scottsdale and Phoenix Arizona. Sarah recently gave my wife Kate and I swim lessons in preparation for a Triathlon we are competing in October of this year. It changed my approach to swimming so completely that I wanted to have her and her husband and business partner Seth on the podcast.
In this episode we learn about how Sarah and Seth ended up together in Phoenix and what led them to compete in triathlons and eventually to coaching. I recommend that if you have any interest in competing in a triathlon that you give WannaTri a call.

Link Love:
List of upcoming clinics and seminars
Overview of services
Swim Lessons
Testimonials
Newsletter Sign-up

Podcast #9 – Jason Ayers and Sub:Conscious

DS Podcast 9 Jason Ayers SubConsiousThis weeks podcast went back to the music theme with Jason Ayers. I have known Jason since 2008 through the Arizona tech scene and further because he is a Drum and Bass DJ, Promoter, and Producer by the name Deepfreq and co-founder of SubConscious. He also has a Soundcloud page.

In this interview we cover the gamut of Jason’s progression from growing up in north Phoenix in the 70’s, to his take on “the 4 things wrong with Phoenix that cannot be fixed so stop complaining about them”, and quite a bit about Drum and Bass and the Arizona club scene.

We recorded at the Lost Leaf which you should go check out now.

Jason’s shout outs go to: