Lance Armstrong Cleared in Doping Charge, AGAIN!

OLDMAN NEWS

The New York Times is reporting today that Lance Armstrong has been cleared of all charges of doping during the 1999 Tour de France. A Dutch investigator who headed the Dutch anti-doping agency for 10 years, Emile Vrijman, appointed by the International Cycling Union to investigate Armstrong said his report "exonerates Lance Armstrong completely".

Well didn't we already know that?

Here is the full NY Times article.

What do you read...

OK I have a love of reading and in the new media reading blogs. So I thought I would share just a couple of blogs I read. BTW - if you don't use a news reader, I use NewsGator Online, your spending to much time going from blog to blog. NewsGator only shows the blog when it is updated thereby saving you or your companies valuable time (assuming your reading this on company time and not at home) .

The first blog I look for is Ben Saunders. Ben is currently training in Greenland for a 120 day walk across Antartica. He and his friend Tony pull sleds with supplies while sking 10 hours a day. On a good day they cover 20 miles. Now that is endurance boys and girls. Every day Ben has a great picture.

Next, since I'm always looking for a good laugh and I like her weird humor, I look for Heather B. Armstrong aka dooce. Heather by her description is a recovering Mormon, a Stay at Home Mom (SAHM or Shit Ass Ho Motherf$#%&*). She started her blog in Febuary 2001 writing stories about her work place and was promptly fired or dooced. The first recorded blog firing.

Finally since your eyes are now glazing over, I look for Brad Feld of Feld Thoughts. Brad is a VC (Venture Capitalist in Bolder) and owner of one bad ass dreadmill. Brad has a goal of running a marathon in all 50 states by the time he is 50. He has completed 7 to date.

So drop me a line and tell me about your top three blogs.

TiVo it!

Last week I wrote about how the investment world is changing due to the new media and probably bored you to death. Last Wednesdays earnings report and follow-up conference call by TiVo (ticker TIVO) just is another demonstration of the new media changes. TiVo in fact has changed the way we watch TV. It is a product that if you don't use it now in some form you will in the near future.

Here's the high points of the conference call: earnings up 20% due to increased subscription, renewed partnership with DirectTV, TiVo won it's patent-infringement case against EchoStar and best of all, due to the EchoStar case, competing companies like Cisco must pay TiVo for every knock off copy of the TiVo box and Tivo software.... life is good if you're Tivo. Think like Microsoft, a good revenue stream into the future because of software and systems royalties. It gets even better because of this customer acquisition cost go way down and margins go up and profits should be somewhere in the middle.

So here's my point, keeping with my other post, CBS in ten year will be stagnate because they are not a part of the new media. While TiVo has developed a method of growth being the new media.

Did you TiVo CSI? Desperate housewives? How about American Idol?

Overheard

While walking back from the sandwich shop where I bought a Philadelphia hoagie, I was walking behind (about five feet, maybe 2 seconds) a little old lady. She stopped at the light of a busy intersection. Noticing she didn't press the button on the lightpole for the pedestrian light, I pressed the button.

Oldlady: Do you really think that helps?
Me: sure it does!
Oldlady: This is a long light I've been standing here for 5 minutes!
Me: OK
Time passes about 20 sec.
Me: OK our turn now.

Nike and iPod to Marry

OLDMAN NEWS WIRE

It was announced yesterday by Nike (nke) and Apple Computer (aapl) that they have teamed up to make AIR Zoom Moire shoes which connect to a runners iPod. It will show distance, time, pace and calories burned. This will be competing directly with Adidas AG bras and shoes having connections for the Polar Electro heart rate monitors (no jokes please) and Oakley having the Thump sunglasses with a built-in mp3 player.

The Apple/Nike wedding brings two (families) companies together that are making significant headway in the new media markets. Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, said he believes the Nike fitness device is in keeping with the iPod's heritage in entertainment saying "I would like it if iPods were indispensable throughout daily life."

The iPod kit will be in Apple and Nike stores in July with the shoes at Footlocker. iPod is expecting to release 10 million units by 2007. (10 mil boys and girls).

On another note you may now download Lance Armstrong's playlist from the Apple iTunes website along with other professional athletes.

I'm sure Bolder has already tested Air Zoom Moire and the iPod kit. Heck he has probably tested the Polar heart rate monitor and the Adidas bra!

Remember you heard it here first on Oldman News Service with all the news that might not be fit to print.

Flatman can run but not hide

One of my favorite bloggers, Flatman, had a mishap with his site ending in someone stealing his addy. So boys and girls time to update your favorites or your NewsGator feed. He is a link to his site.


http://fl4tm4n.blogspot.com/

Investment World is A Changing

Disclaimer: OK so this post is not about TRI's. I do have other interests!

On a daily basis I read my favorite TRI blogs like Loping LouBob , Nancy Toby, fellow melanoma patient Holly at TRI and Be Happy, and of course I can't forget Bolder In Bolder! I even try to comment on as many as I have time. To keep up with everybody I now subscribe to NewsGator Online so I get updated when you write a new post. I read some fun blogs like Dooce, Durteemartini, and Tales From the Tube. I also read mountain biking blogs like Fat Cyclists.

Lately I have been reading blogs that relate to my industry, investments. More particular VC's...Venture capitalist or Venture capital Firms. On my NewsGator feed is Brad Feld of Mobius Venture Capital, Inc; Venture Blog by David Hornick and Andrew Anker of August Capital; and Jeremy Levine of Bessemer Venture Partners. I have learned from my reading that the VC's are on the cutting edge of how the investment world is changing.

This is now the world of the new media and you are a part of it. Yes, you who I mentioned above that write blogs that I read and yes you who read blogs that I write are a part of the new media. Jim Cramer was humping his show or book but humping something appearing on the Imus in the Morning Show on MSNBC and streamed online at msnbc.com. Don Imus, only interested in himself, asked about a stock he has personal interest in, CBS (ticker: CBS). Since his show is owned by CBS and he has a large CBS holding as a part of his salary Imus wanted to know if he was going to make more money. Jim Cramer said, loosely translated, CBS is trading at $23 something and in 10 years it will be trading at $23 something. CBS is the old media and is not doing anything to be a part of the new media. That was a month ago. Today CBS is at $24 something.

So I found it interesting that in today's Wall Street Journal, yes I still read print media all though I don't buy the paper I get a sample copy, on page B3 of the Media & Marketing section there was an article about two VC firms, Bessemer Venture Partners and Insight Venture Partners buying a 50% interest in IAG Research. IAG is not a Wall Street research firm but a research firm that is a major player in media research. IAG's clients list includes GM and American Express. It seems the VC's are interested in the new media and commercials on new media i.e. blogs, online video, mobile devices and web ads.

So what? That's the change. The change from the old media to the new media. Now I'm not talking about over priced Google. No I'm talking about the new media companies we use on a daily basis. Gone are the days of the print media, circulation is down. Gone are the days of the evening nightly news, viewership is down. Gone are the days of commercial revenue from TV, with TiVo no one watches commercials except during the super bowl and then only because someone else is in the bathroom.

So what are we holding in our portfolios new or old? To make money for our investors are we doing them a disservice by holding positions in companies that like CBS will not really grow in the next 10 years? New or old seems to be an age old question. I kinda like the new prospects for greater returns.

Mt. St. Helens Giant Rock Growing!

Perhaps we can get our man on location, Brian, to do a video for us? It seems a fin is growing at the rate of 4.6 feet per day and is now 300 feet tall and 330 feet wide at the base. You might be able to see if via the Mt. St. Helens VolcanoCam if the mist, clouds, and stuff lift.

Also check out Brian's Trojan Implosion!

Elephant Dreadmill

Well I don't like dreadmills and neither does Maggie a 23 year-old African elephant who lives at the Anchorage Zoo. Her keepers built her this elephant dreadmill to help her get some training in for this summer's road races. Here is the full story in the National Geographic.

Today is a run day for me but no dreadmill. It was a cold cold morning run, 48* ugh. Well I guess it is better than the 70* and humid weather that Naples is having. I ran through the Haverford campus and I'm amazed at the beautiful buildings and grounds. I wound up doing 7 miles. I'm going to try to swim at lunch time. This will be my first official Oldman at the Y swim.

did they really say that?

Recently overheard while attending a street fair in a community with a lot of young families an elderly woman to her friend....

• "I can't see anything because of all of these damn baby carriages!"

While attending a birthday party, one of the guest was discussing his vacation to San Juan over the Easter weakend.....

• "it was not the traditional Easter that I'm use to with the Easter bunny and egg hunts. They made it into a some kind of religious holiday!"

Student cleaning out his apartment and throwing perfectly good "stuff" in the dumpster because he didn't want to haul to his parents....

• "I hate putting this good shit in here, the homeless will come and rummage thru it and steal it!"

Haverford Library Correction

Some one pointed out to me in the comments section of this mornings post that the library while looking like a church building was built in the gothic style but always used as a library.



Here's the college's description:

The Library. 1865 photograph.
The original Haverford School Library was in the southwestern corner of the first floor of Founders. Considered "the centre of the small college," it required more space and resulted in the erection of Alumni Hall, later Library, in 1864. This photograph is the earliest-known photograph of the completed building.


Sorry I got it wrong but it looked like a church to me having grown up in St. Mary's Church founded in 1706. Here is a pic of the "new St. Mary's" built in 1846 to 1848 in the gothic style.



St. Mary's was done by architect Richard Upjohn in the cruciform plan similar to his design for Trinity church in New York City and Grace Church in Newark, NJ. But it is really a copy of St. John's Shottesbrooke a 14th century English parish church...Upjohn used measured drawlings of St. John's to do St. Mary's.

So you can see why I would think it was a church having never seen Haverford College.

BTW - I was baptized, confirmed and married at St. Mary's and will be buried there along with my great grandparents, grandparents, parents and wife.


St.Mary's steeple contains eight bells cast by the same company that made Big Ben and the Liberty Bell, Whitechapel Bell Foundry. They were rung the first time in 1866 and my father as a high school boy rang the funeral bells (yes they are stuck by hammers to allow one person to ring the chimes and are rarely rung by swinging due to the steeple swaying during the ringing). To hear them stop by Burlington any Sunday they are played at every mass and each day at 6:00 pm for evening prayer.

Century

Saturday was the century ride. With the rain on Friday, I wasn't sure if the ride would be held. I left my apartment early, 6:30 ugh, to arrive early enough in case there was a problem with my late registration. Everything was in order, got my T-shirt and got ready to ride.

The ride itself was well marked and the cue sheets accurate. I was a little disconcerted when there was no actual start, everyone just did their own thing. Being from "out-of-state" though not really I grew up around here, I didn't know anyone and hope to hook up with a group. I was either to fast or to slow for the groups so I just did my own ride which really is better training for me.

The ride was through the rolling hills of central Jersey, past the lovely horse farms and tree nurseries. There was just an occasional pasting car but the organizers did a good job of sticking to the back country roads. It did rain for just a few minutes, just enough to get the road wet. At the first stop I had a pb&j sandwich and refilled my bottles. That kept me till the end of the ride since I ate my Cliff Bars while riding only stopping again to refill the bottles and go potty...always a good sign if you have to pee at 75 miles.

On one part of the ride I road past the old barm where my father as a teenage kept horses for his ice delievery wagon (1920's), I rode past the road named for my family, saw the site of my cousin's farm now a developement, and saw signs for my family's plantation now a museum.

At the finish they had lunch but I didn't feel much like eating another pb&j sandwich so I drove back to my apartment. On the way I drove past my boyhood home, my first home I bought when I was 20, then past the home I sold to go to Florida. My how things have changed and not all for the good.

Sunday was a run day for me so I did 14 miles around Ardmore. I went through the lovely Haverford College campus and saw some neat old buildings including a church which is now a library. (Pics coming soon).

Here's the totals for the weak:

Bike 175 miles
Run 28 miles - can't seem to get in the 30's
Swim - Nada - still haven't figured out the pool situation

Moving

Last night I heard police cars and noise like you would not believe. it was moving day for this piece of equipment which took up three lanes of the road. Can you count the wheels?

Hometown Century

I was looking at the Suburban Cyclist Unlimited website, they are a suburban Philly club, for a weekend group ride. As I looked over the list I saw a Century Ride in my hometown of Burlington NJ. My family history goes way back in Burlington to the 1600's when the ship Shield landed with English settlers. Notice the indian sitting on the banks of the Delaware River in the City Seal? That is my great, great, great, great grandfather.

Now you've gotta understand I haven't been home in 8 years so I thought this would be a fun ride to do. so I signed up today! Who's in with me?

It Must Be Me......

Well I've been in Philly, well Ardmore Pa, now going on two months. I thought it was time to get back into some serious training which would now including finding a gym. At home, in Naples, FL., my community has a fitness center with a pool. The membership is included in my community dues. It has everything I want, need or gotta have including 1. pool, 2. dreadmills, 3. elipical machines, 4. free weights, and yes 5. machines. So I want a gym that has similar equipment and a pool.




So keeping in mind what I had, or still have since I haven't sold my house and I'm commuting every two weeks, I went looking. My first stop was the local YMCA, the Mainline Y. While it is "old" looking it was clean and neat. It has a 1. pool, 2. dreadmills, 3. eliptical, 4. weights and 5. machines. They also have spin classes twice a day at 9:15 am and 6:30 pm! I get a nice tour of the facility and they give me a week for fee to "try it out". The cost for a temporary membership is $72 per month no joining fee no processing fee. The Y is a 2 minute walk from my office.







The second place I went was the Philadelphia Sports Club. PSC is a 4 minute walk from my office. It is slick, shiny, bright..... I was greeted at the desk and told I had to meet with a "membership consultant", a guy with baggy pants three or four sizes to big who didn't speak English but streeteeze. He took a look at old me and ask what I wanted here. So I told him I have a cancer and a brain tumor (I couldn't resist) and was looking for a place to workout. "well wes gots us a special today....." and he launches into a sales pitch. "OK....give me a tour" I asked. As we walkout of his office we walk past an office with four guys in suits and ties that look like the local Sopranos meeting. There are just a few people working out but quite a few staff. He shows me the dreadmills room, the eliptical room, the machine room that is for not "serious" people, the stretching area, the free weight room, the "real machines", and yes a spinning room that has spinning classes 3 times a week. I ask about the pool to which he replies "yea we got one but not here it's at Highpoint" I ask "Where's Highpoint I'm not from around here." He says "I don't know, I'm not from around here either...." Well I could have guessed that. Now back at his "office" he says if I joined today I could get the month-by-month plan $99.95 plus $39.99 joining fee plus 39.00 processing fee. Could I try it out? I ask. Well if you do that you will have to pay the $199 joining fee plus the $39 processing fee plus the $99.00 month fee but you will only have to pay 1/2 for the first month since it is past the 15th. Sweet huh? $280 the first month?

Ok so maybe it's me, so tell me. The "older" Y with a pool, spin classes every day for $72 the first month as oppose to no poll , spin classes 3 days a week and the local mobsters all for $280 for the first month. What a deal.

Ok so what do you think?


I want go back to Florida.

Best Bolder Blogs

I came across a recent article from the Daily Camera, the local Bolder, Co. newspaper. The are posting excerpts from local business blogs. However I noticed our own outstanding blogger Bolder was not listed. Perhaps you could drop an email or two to Matt Branaugh at branaughm@dailycamera.com to let him know that when it comes to the business of running, biking or cycling or life in general Bolder is da man!


As a public service announcement... PSA if you will. Unusual spring avalanche watch issued for Colorado peaks. Be careful Bold... Just doing my part to keep Colorado safe.

Morning Ride

Today was a ride day in the morning. I have been trying to find a route from my apartment to the Philly Art Museum, actually the Italian Fountain. It is there either, the back of the Museum (you know the steps Rocky ran up in the movie), or the Italian fountain, that a lot of group ride start. There was a ride last nite at 6 pm with an A group and a B group. I'm told the A group goes about 28 mph and has a few local pros that do it.... but I digress. So I'm trying to find a route that I can ride to the Museum. I had walked from my office to Human Zoom Bikes and met a nice bike wrench (not like the Biketopia meany) there who told me of a route so I tried it this morning. Well I got LOST with no map or cue cards.

Since I kinda knew the area somewhat I stated back at the 10 mile mark. As I turned a corner and went down a hill I saw two "roadies" on nice bikes, a guy and a girl. One had a Victory Brewing /Victory Beer jersey that was kewl. So I treated it like a break away, I had to catch them. Finally I got to them. The girl (college age) turned around and I think was shocked that this old guy was now on their wheel out of no where. I said "Hi, I'm not from around here can you tell me how to get back to Montgomery Ave?" "Straight ahead." That was the only words they said to me. I stayed with them for about 2 miles while we climbed a hill together at the top they turned right I went straight ahead.

Well tomorrow I hope to do a group ride with the Bicycle Club of Philadelphia. The have a whole range of rides....

Treadputer

I want one of these, all though I'm sure Bolder already has one and will write a report for us soon. This is actually Brad Feld's office treadputer... he is the Managing Director of Mobius Venture Capital in Bolder, Co. Note the three 19" NEC monitors.

LBS Attitude

OK I love to walk into a bike shop and look around at the "eye candy" and now that I've moved to the land of the frozen chosen I'm looking for a good local bike shop where I can have Roo serviced. Now mind you I'm a good and loyal customer. I'll buy my supplies, jerseys, and stuff for the LBS even if it is a little more than I can get elsewhere just to support my LBS. I'll tell my friends about the LBS and send people there to buy a bike. I'm also thinking about buying another bike but I digress..... I like to walk into bike shops look around and talk to the owner about his choice of bikes to sell perhaps the local riders and routes you know you've done it too!

So today I had lunch with a friend who rides a road bike. On the walk back to his office we passed a bike shop, so of course I had to go into the store. It was a store with quite a few mountain bikes because with all the mountain bike trails here that's what everyone rides. There were two or three road bikes on display. In the back of the store was, I guess the owner working with a bike on a stand working.

As we walked in the store the owner shout "What do you guys want?" Maybe we didn't fit his profile of cyclists or he got up on the wrong side of the rug this morning but I was kind of taken back by his approach to potential customers. My friend asked what kind of bike he sold and the reply was Jamis.... which my friend had never heard of so he asked what about Trek.... you know the Tour de France winners bike.... "That's to expensive for what you get...." and on he went. So then I asked about Litespeed....nice bike but to many dealers here already.... So then I said I have a Quintana Roo...which by his expression he had never heard of he said "good luck with it!"

My friend and I as we walked out commented on "how does that guy stay in business being so "friendly"?

So scratch one Biketopia in Havertown on Darby Road off my list of potential LBS for Oldman. Attitude my friends it's all about attitude!

PS Now I tried to post a note on his website to let him know I wrote about his store but.... I can't because I'm a gmail user and MSN will not let me. So if you can post a note on his website for me......