Nice Website

[jkathios]

I was just surfing around the C2 website and I saw the FREE SPIRITS WEBSITE:- http://www.freespiritsrowing.com My hats off to them...nice website. This is where I got the information about Erg League Manager that I added to my profile..Anyone interested in developing a website for Team Rowbo....Check out the free spirits site....I really like their updated meter board....a breakdown day by day..and when you click on their name, a calendar is drawn out showing meters rowed on each day...nice job

[rfahle]

Jim K:

I agree that the meter board and calendar on Free Spirits is great, I've seen a similar report from Ancient Mariners that has been done manually. I talked with Tom B (our resident programming guru) to see if he could get in touch with Mr. Lemon that apparently found a way to work with C2 to mine data from their site.

Bill Patton at C2 has been great to work with on the UNM forum, so, I think that Tom or I will be able to glean insight into the creation of a similar meters board.

On a personal note, do you think the hourly updating/daily publishing of everyone's meters will help promote more rowing or will it be intmidating to some who can't or choose not to row as frequently or as long distances as others?

I think one of the goals of University of New Mexico is to be inclusive, friendly, supportive, and willing to embrace youth and elders.

Thanks for the comments.

Rick

[jkathios]

Hi Rick,

First...Thanks to you and Tom for putting the effort in with Bill Patton and getting our UNM Forum in place...This is a great way to exchange ideas.
As far as the hourly updating/daily publishing of everyone's meters...I don't think it's intimidating. I kind of look at it as sorting and reformatting the information from the C2 website. Last year when I was cranking out a bunch more meters than I am now, I would do several rows per day and enter them in individually. With the calendar option that the Free Spirits have, I would be able to look at a month at a time and see the total meters rowed per day on each day of the month. I imagine it would also be possible to data mine the nonathlon website and create a chart that is similar to the one you generated in an earlier thread (thanks for doing that also) and the results could be updated automatically through software (What do you think Bonnie)...:>just some food for thought. I'm all for promoting motivation and good health...and the only thing intimidating to me is the rower...:>

[Tom Barrick]

It would be great to have all of these utilities already available to us, via the C2 website, instead of having to program a data miner and entire website for the few of us who would enjoy watching the updates. Jonathan Lemon has done a ton of hard work to get those charts, graphs, and statistics up on the FS website. His abilities are remarkable. He's currently doing an all-around team update for the top 25 teams (member losses/gains, meters per day, graphs/charts for all of this.)

Now, in essence, I believe we could do something similar but it would require much time and some additional education(on my part). I work well with mostly graphical design, and I'm getting pretty good at the Javascripts/Flash/PHP etc. I will try to contact Mr. Lemon to get his input on this. My personal opinion is that this is something for Concept II to consider, giving all users access to more specific statistics, or even set up RSS feeds for websites such as the Free Spirits or a future UNM site. C2Bill is most likely extremely busy right now with the inception of the Model E, but it may be worth a shot to ask him about it. In the meantime, I will talk with JL to see what he has to say.

-Tom Barrick

[rfahle]

Tom:

I think you have an excellent idea <light bulb goes on>. Did one of the FS group share the Jonathan Lemon work plan for the top 25 teams with you?

If you agree, I think Bill Patton (alias C2Bill) might consider these attributes (team gains/losses, meters/day, calendar, etc) as the essence of the start of the US version of the UK Team Forum. Each team of the top ?? (25) teams could have their own "statistics pages" as a permanent part of their forum page (like UNM). What a great tool to drive traffic to the Forum.

I have a couple of questions, does C2 want to drive more traffic to the Forum? How does the forum promote healthy pursuits of rowing? Is there a downside for C2 in this concept other than programming the expansion of the current data collection and the reformatting of "daily" information? Do you think limiting the forum to say the top 25 teams is too restrictive? Might this simply consolidate some of the smaller teams into the larger ones so they could gain access to the information?

I would like to propose this as a win-win for C2, the Forum, the Teams and the individual participants....

Anyone's thoughts are appreciated.

Rick

[Tom Barrick]

Rick:

Jonathan Lemon is posting on the freespirits.com website. He makes available his ideas and the top 25 team stats was one of them. Also, apparently someone has just hacked their site(server) and they'll be on the move shortly to another server (meaning chaos for a week or two.) Hopefully there will be little layover period and their meter board will remain intact.


I think it would be an excellent idea to point C2Bill over that way to see what Jonathan has done for an idea of what things could be like for an extended statistics model for the Personal Meter Log.)

As for your Forum thoughts. No, I don't think C2 places much of their investments toward it or its traffic. This is a general PHP board that can be created anywhere, on any website, not something made from scratch by C2, just modified. And I agree that the top 25 teams would be too restrictive. Like I said earlier, this is a prototype that JL is working on and he's starting off with those teams. He may very well catalogue each and every team available sometime in the near future. I believe to make the stats pages more available to every team, it would need to be under the Quick Links on the Personal Meter Log, not the Forum. As much as I like the Forum, it's not the kind of place I'd go to check for mine or others personal statistics. Opinions may vary.

Oh...here's the prototype of the page he's working on for rankings:

http://www.flugsvamp.com:8080/freespiri ... nking.html

Should have put that one up before.

[rfahle]

Tom:

I'll capture the thoughts about the team meters board and calendar from Free Spirits to talk with Bill Patton. I am traveling for a few days, so I'll likely wait until I return next week Thursday to move ahead.

I'm glad to see you have returned from "the cabin" and the I hope you are not too anxious about your upcoming move to the Seattle area.

Finally, my mother bought a Model D for her 71st birthday asking for technique advice (oh boy!) -- She will be back from an African mission the third week of August and I will try to get her signed up.... If she doesn't join the AM's... She is rather independent and I don't have much influence.

All the best... Rick

[Tom Barrick]

Tom:

I'll capture the thoughts about the team meters board and calendar from Free Spirits to talk with Bill Patton. I am traveling for a few days, so I'll likely wait until I return next week Thursday to move ahead.

I'm glad to see you have returned from "the cabin" and the I hope you are not too anxious about your upcoming move to the Seattle area.

Finally, my mother bought a Model D for her 71st birthday asking for technique advice (oh boy!) -- She will be back from an African mission the third week of August and I will try to get her signed up.... If she doesn't join the AM's... She is rather independent and I don't have much influence.

All the best... Rick

Next week is great, there is no rush with this new wave of heat hitting everywhere in the U.S. I hope you return with a whole mess of Montreal Steak seasoning for your meat company. <feels hunger pangs>

Not anxious about Seattle just yet. In about two weeks, however, it will be the only thing on my mind. The cabin was great, but the lack of A/C and electricity made it more of a camping trip than an exciting vacation. The Sound is in sight and that's what the primary prize is. Being and working there will be a vacation in itself.

The pic, BTW, is one that Jenn took back when it was still cold. I have my original model C "oar" in one hand(I had literally received and changed up the retrofit that day but was sad to be saying goodbye to the first one) and my favorite winter hat from the East Coast in the other. Anyway, the sun was shining perfectly at that point where it does hide my features, but I liked this shot the best out of the 3 or 4 she took. My original photo(I don't think you saw it in time) was when I was down to 175 pounds - courtesy of the C2 back in 2000 - and taken in our apartment in Center City Philadelphia. That was way too light and I'm looking to maintain somewhere between 190-200 lbs.


Very cool that your mom is taking up indoor rowing. Looks like you'll have to visit a few times to get that technique down! The C2 also comes with a very helpful video that should nurture her style a bit. If she does join the AMs let her know that she may end up with a beautiful photo of Thomas Brown instead of her own. It could be the Greenbay Packer from Salisbury Steak Park, Maryland or the original T. Brown from South Carolina! Who knows? Not me.

[rfahle]

Tom:

My mom has had the photography bug for the last 50+ years. When I grew up, we had a darkroom in the back of the office with all kinds of neat chemicals and paper and red lights (Oops! that might mean something unintended now). She started with an old Pentax 35mm box camera and everything was black and white.

Technology has changed during the past 15 years and she is now doing all digital stuff (way beyond me!). For the last 8 - 10 years, she has been the official photographer of the "Canadian River Cattle Drive" (a three day "real" cattle drive through the South Canadian River in Oklahoma where about 250 - 300 horsemen and wagon riders (thats her) participate in driving (or following) about 100 head of longhorn cattle (mostly cows, steers and heifers) about 40 - 50 miles.... Nighttime entertainment include guitar players and cowboy poets.

Her other "official photographer" job is for the "Trail of Dreams" which is a day and a half horseback or wagon ride for young people from the "OU Pediatric Oncology Center".... She is continually amazed at the kids who face life threatening challenges every day and the joy they get from the escape of being outdoors, on a horse or riding in a mule powered wagon.

I suspect that she would be technologically proficient enough to upload her own photo (if she did it at all). The photo on my site is one of her's taken two years ago at her induction into the Dewey County Hall of Fame. I presented her biography as everyone else didn't want to do public speaking. Lucky Me!

Weather in Western New York is much nicer today (Rain and a high of 68F for July 22nd--- NOT TO BAD!). Then it is suppose to heat up again.

One more row tonight and off for "Montreal Seasonings".

Rick