Rick Ford

As some of you may know, a co-worker and close friend of mine was killed in a hit-and-run while riding his bicycle in April of this year. This has been a devastating and eye-opening experience for myself and many of those close to me. While he wasn’t wearing a helmet, he did have front and rear lights and was riding fully within the law. This horrific event has brought to my attention the state of bicycle safety in the world today. Working with my employer, Bazaarvoice, and some co-workers and friends, we’ve set out to try and improve the situation.

We wanted to find a way to improve not only the safety of cyclists already on the road, but the general perception of them by motorists. We’ve teamed up with two non-profit organizations and are helping them raise money for their efforts.

Please Be Kind to Cyclists
Please Be Kind to Cyclists is an organization based on Austin, TX whose goal is to spread awareness of bicycle traffic and safety to motorists and cyclists alike – not only in Austin, or Texas, but globally. They work to educate motorists and cyclists, and even have efforts in place to get bicycle awareness built into state drivers education courses – a measure that will no doubt improve conditions. We are hoping to help them expand their campaign to a national level in support of their goal.

BikeTexas
BikeTexas is an advocacy group also based in Austin, TX that works to not only educate cyclists young and old, but also to influence legislation for more bicycle friendly transportation options. We hope to help fund their giveaway programs – lights and helmets to children and others who ride bicycles – and their educational programs which include working with school teachers to integrate bicycle safety into existing education.

When you consider the benefits of riding your bike when compared to driving – exercise, efficiency, environment, etc.. – it’s a no-brainer that we should encourage this as a lifestyle choice, and protect those that already do it. We should work to not only educate, but to improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians on local, state, national and global levels.

Please drop by the Safe Lanes site and throw in a donation to help these organizations. Our goal is $50,000, but even $10 helps. Please also share this site with your friends, relatives and co-workers. This issue is a serious one, around 700 cyclists are killed each year in the US in traffic accidents. Let’s help these campaigns to spread knowledge and work to improve roads and transportation for everyone.

http://www.safelanes.com/

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted and that’s primarily because I’m lazy, but also because a few months ago, I started in a position at Bazaarvoice here in Austin as an Implementation Engineer. Bazaarvoice is a start-up in Austin whose primary product/service is to provide the ratings and reviews software that runs on many popular retailer websites (Best Buy, Walmart, Home Depot, etc.).

In my time here, I’ve quickly come to appreciate the values of the company, as well as the people within it. Observing the way this company is run has given me a new outlook on small and medium business management, and confirmed my hopes that not all companies treat their employees like crap.

For anyone interested, Bazaarvoice is still hiring! You can find job listings here: http://www.bazaarvoice.com/about/jobs.

I’m pleased to announce that Beer Register, the site for tracking your beer tastings, has gone social! Now you can add your friends and share ratings and comments!

Go to http://www.beerregister.com to sign up!

There are plans in the pipeline to add features that enrich the social experience. If you have any suggestions or ideas, please feel free to let me know!

Follow Beer Register on Twitter @beerregister and on Facebook.

Today, I’m proud to announce the launch of the first iteration of my beer tasting web application, Beer Register.

I’ve been working on it for the last month or so, and it’s ready to go with some basic functionality. I will be working hard to add more functionality in the near future, including brewery information, pre-populated beer data, and social features that let you see what others rate beers, breweries, and even bars!

Visit http://www.beerregister.com/ and sign up to get started today!

I got the idea when a friend of mine, Tyler, showed me that he was using the notepad application on his Android-powered phone to keep track of beers he tasted. This was far simpler than using one of the existing beer applications or sites, which generally ask you a wide array of questions about the beer when you add it to your list.

After doing some research, I found he was correct. All of the mobile applications and beer tracking sites are designed primarily for use by beer connoisseurs. Not to say there isn’t a place for that, because these are valuable resources indeed, but something simpler would be nice.

I set out to create a site that was accessible on both computers and mobile devices that easily lets you track basic information about beers you taste, when you taste them.

In the future, I plan on releasing mobile applications as well, including an iPhone app and an Android app. Stay tuned for updates!

Okay, so I know this isn’t tech related, but I wanted to blog about it anyway.

I ride the bus to work about twice a week. It’s cheaper, easier, better for the environment, and only takes a little longer.  Tuesday of this week was one of those days.

On my morning bus ride on the Capitol Metro 338 Crosstown, a man boarded 7 or 8 stops after me.  He was probably in his mid to late 40′s, long hair, jean shorts, and rode a bicycle.  He sat in the seat right in front of me, the first row of the upper section of the bus.

I noticed after a few minutes that he was staring at other people on the bus.  Normally this wouldn’t be anything to point out, as bus rides are very boring and looking around is pretty much the only entertainment you get, but he seemed to be staring at these people in ways that made them very uncomfortable.  At the time, I couldn’t figure out what he was doing, as he was sitting in front of me, facing forward.

Slowly these people all got off the bus at their appropriate stops (or maybe just to get away from this guy), and it was down to just him and myself.  About 5 minutes before my stop, he stands up (while the bus is moving), looks back at me and stares for a few seconds, then walks down to the lower, front section of the bus, and stands up.  Over the next few minutes, I notice him looking back at me a few times.  Same creepy stare as before.

Finally he reaches up and pulls the “Stop Requested” cable, and as the bus stops, I notice that in one of his hands he’s holding one of those little yellow disposable Kodak cameras.  The bus stops, he looks back at me one more time, takes a picture of me, and gets off the bus.  He goes and gets his bike off the rack, and starts riding down the sidewalk in the opposite direction as the bus.  He slows down when he gets to my window, stares right in at me, and spits on the window!  And I’m not talking a little saliva here, I’m talking a big snotty hunk of phlegm.

What was this all about?  Needless to say, I’m still a little worried to ride the bus again.  I do have a theory though…

This man was God, and I am going to die soon.  That’s it.  That’s my whole theory.

Thoughts?