New Tool

Google Earth. Great idea and wonderful program. An interactive satellite display of the entire planet. I've been playing with it for a month, since Emily put it on her laptop. I thought it was just a toy until I discovered the "ruler" feature, which lets you measure distances between points you click on the map, in either miles or kilometers. In many ways, this is easier than a GPS, because I wouldn't be drifting down the stream trying to take a reading.

I've been enjoying looking at old places I used to row and figuring out just how far those distances really were. Was the "Norwich row" really seven miles? How about from I-275 to the boathouse in Cincinnati? What's the distance from bridge to bridge in Pittsburgh? How far away is Sandcastle? It's all there. Cool.

The depressing part has been realizing how short those distances are. Sure, some are really 4 miles, but some rows I swore were 20 were closer to 12. Pitt kids, look up Camp Bob. Some of those days may not be as terrible as you think. It could be worse: we could be out on the main lake!

Anyone want to suggest some rows now that you can see the distance?

Categories: Rowing, Misc

Moving

Just a cool shot of the Blue Angels from the Dayton Air Show two weeks ago.

Anyway, I've got some news. For reasons many local readers know, I'm no longer coaching for Fox Chapel. I will say that I'll always have a fond memory of the time I spent with that crew, because they were the first team I ever coached. I'm still with Pitt and looking forward to the upcoming season.

Central Catholic picked me up to become the new novice coach. The head coach and I have been friendly since I'd started three years ago and I'm really excited to join this team. There is a great record of success being built at Central and I'm really looking forward to adding as much as I can. I can't thank the Diocese of Pittsburgh and the Central Parents' organization enough for taking a chance on me.

There are a few little problems with this new team. First, the head coach is also named Jay. I think that I'll get tired of us both saying "huh?" when one of the kids shouts "Jay!" Also, Jay went to Harvard. We never raced against each other, but I'm not sure what my old Yale teammates will say when it gets out that I'm working with a 'Vard.....

Categories: Rowing, Personal, CC, Photo