<p>I, like <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Berenstain-Bears-Doctor-First-Books/dp/0394848357">Papa Bear</a>, rarely get sick, but this week is the exception to the rule – I only went into the office twice and with no animals.</p>

<p>“Gus wants to go on the ‘big boat’. He hasn’t been in a long time.” And so Gus spent a slow, rainy, start-of-winter day with me. I like Gus and I wanted him to have a good time but nothing much exciting happened. Sorry buddy.</p>

<p>My silence of late is attributable to having spent the better part of last week at <a href="http://www.ebay.com/">eBay</a> attending the <strong>Next-Generation Distributed Systems Summit</strong>. I was fortunate, in time and invitation, to attend, meet some really amazing technologists and learn a Tremendous amount (thanks <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blueberries-Picture-Puffins-Robert-McCloskey/dp/014050169X">Little Bear</a>). I’m still consolidating my final notes and thoughts on…

<p>When it rains, it pours – literally and figuratively. I left the house today in a pretty steady rain, managed to get about a mile from home and then stopped. My rear tire, fine on Friday and over the weekend, went flat! After a quick cyclocross run home, Pig and I made the next boat. Ugh.</p>

<p>Today was rough – I punctured – I will never forgive the hippo.</p>

<p>Sometimes an animal journeys with me with whom I have less history, today was one of those days. The reason in this particular case stems from a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personally_identifiable_information">PII</a> incident which I can’t divulge. Nonetheless, we still ventured out.</p>

<p>No bike, no <a href="/tags/stuffed-animal/">animals</a>.</p>

<p>I look to my left at a fellow cyclist stretching along the railing as I pull the sheep from my bag and secure them for the shot.</p>

<p>The animals arrive pre-packaged now, nestled in their stuff sack, so I wasn’t exactly sure who made the trip this morning.</p>

<p>“There’s the polar bear. The polar bear is on the big boat. The polar bear is eating.”</p>