Best and Worst Bands to see Live (1980’s edition)

Ok, ok, ok, so it should read “1970-1980’s edition”.  I’m dating myself obviously.  But I was talking about concerts back “in the day” with my son and he asked which ones were good to see live and which were not.  So here goes…

Bands that Sounded Great Live and were Fun to Watch:

• Frank Zappa
• AC/DC
• Aerosmith
• Jethro Tull
• Genesis (yes, I actually saw them, I admit it)
• David Lee Roth
• Judas Priest

Bands that Sounded Great but were BORING to watch:

• Yes *
• Rush *
• Emerson, Lake and Palmer *
• Jefferson Starship
• ZZ Top
• The Dregs (aka The Dixie Dregs) *
• Kansas
• The Moody Blues *
• Ozzy *
• Robert Plant
• The Rolling Stones
• Carlos Santana *
• Steve Miller Band
• Supertramp

Bands that Sounded Horrible but were Great to Watch:

• Motley Crue
• Van Halen (and Van Hagar)**
• Yngwie Malmsteen**
• Stray Cats
• Iron Maiden**
• Sting **

* Excluding exceptional musicianship, which for a musician (back then, anyway) was “fun” to watch.  But based on pure layman entertainment value, I gave it a thumbs-down.

** They might have sounded great but the acoustics or their sound system were so over-driven that nobody could make out a single note or word.

More Thoughts on Little League Baseball

Last night our team lost 13-12 in OT.  But it was a great game.

What made it great?

• The kids were smiling
• The kids played hard without being pushed to do so
• Nobody was injured
• The umpires were awesome
• The coaches on both sides were in it for the kids
• The weather was nice
• The parents were supportive and behaved on both sides

A note about the umpires:  We typically have the same 5 or 6 officials at our field every week.  But this week we had visiting officials from Umpire Heaven (a fictitious place I refer to as being where awesome umpires come from).  These 2 guys knew the rule book cover to cover.  I’ve never seen that.  They applied the rules thoroughly, but without sacrificing the goal of the game: to have fun and compete.  They took time to inspect the equipment for both teams before the game: bats, helmets, catcher’s gear, balls, even shoes.  Never once showing any signs of nit-picky attitude or resentment.  Their calls were clear and direct.  When a player slid into home, the ump cleared the area with his entire being focused on the action in front of him. A plane could’ve crashed in the next field and exploded and this ump would not have missed the call.  It was professionally done.  Kudos!

I’m an assistant coach, so I spend a lot of time on the field with players and other coaches and officials.  I absolutely love it when the atmosphere is positive and coaches joke with each other on both sides of the field.  When coaches joke and laugh with officials.  When coaches loan other teams a helping hand.  It’s what the game is all about.  And it rubs off on the kids.  This is more true in the 9 to 12 year old range than younger or older kids.  It’s a special transformational age range when they’re seeing beyond the casual attitude of T-ball and Minor leagues to the game itself and what it means.  They start to understand the importance of how they work together and they see what the league above them does and it drives them to push themselves to be better, work harder and enjoy the good times more.

Best moments I’ve experienced yet:

• When the shy-est kid on the team hits a home run for the first time
• Umpiring a game and telling an obnoxious parent to behave or be ejected along with forfeiting their kids game, and the parent settled down.
• Watching the 4-5 year olds chase down a foul ball to get a free drink
• When a player shows up down and out and makes a great play and turns their whole day around
• Watching a group of kids show up on day 1, struggling to make things work and figuring out what to do, and at the end of the season seeing them work together as a team and gain confidence and self-realization
• Being a base coach and hearing the kids joke in the dugout (ok, well, sometimes)
• When a runner is laughing and talking with the baseman during a game.

Dear Baseball Parents…

I posted this on my Facebook page also, but I thought it might be suitable here as well…

Here's a few tips for baseball parents attending their children's games.

- Before shouting obscenities at the home plate umpire, watch the catcher's arm. The strike zone isn't just high-to-low, it's also inside the batter's box lines. If you see the catcher reach across or reach out, it was probably a ball. Get over it.

- If you don't like how your team is coached, coach it yourself. Otherwise: STFU

- If you don't like how your games are officiated, volunteer to be an umpire or ref. Otherwise: STFU

- Don't park near the field borders if it's even remotely possible to hit a ball out there (unless you don't care about your windshield).

- A great player is a "utility" player. Not someone who insists on playing one position all the time. It's definitely not someone who has a tantrum if they can't play that position even one time.

- Keep your kid's age in mind at all times. Don't stress them out about statistics and averages and performance when they're 9, 10 or 11. Encourage them. Support them. But make it fun. Remember FUN? You do remember FUN right?

- Baseball practice is not Daycare. Stick around. Show them you care.

- If you can't make it to the game or practice, call or text someone so they know.

Thank you!

A Comment Regarding BlogcastRepository.com

I have continued to receive e-mail from readers asking about what has happened with BlogcastRepository.com and the video tutorials, etc. Rather than continue to respond to each one, I wanted to post something for all so that it clarifies things a bit.

I was approached by Brian S. Tucker back in late 2007 via email to join his collective venture to provide tutorial videos and blog posts about various Windows Server platform products and technologies.  My role was to record and post 15-18 videos on WSUS 3 and Windows Server 2008, which at the time were either still in public "beta" or only recently RTM/RTP.  My videos were posted and registrations began ramping up.  Brian enlisted a few more authors to cover other products like SQL Server, App-V/SoftGrid, and he continued handling SCCM and SCOM.  Things were good.

Brian S. Tucker (there are other Brian Tuckers out there so I still use the "S." initial to avoid confusion) passed away in August of 2009, while working on a project at a client site in Northern Virginia.  The obituary is posted below.  I'm afraid I do not know a lot of details about how he passed away, nor about his remaining family, nor the status of the web site.  I have e-mailed every contact address I had to try to find out what is/was going on with the web site, existing accounts and pending registrations.  I have not been successful in getting a single response to any of my e-mails.  I do not know if anyone is currently minding the shop, or if anyone is planning to assume the management of it in the future.  I just don't know what's going on at all.

If you have more information about this, please share with the rest of us if you can?

Thank you!  And may he rest in peace.

[original obituary…]

Copied from http://www.veteranstoday.com/modules.php?name=News&file=comments&op=Reply&pid=25962&sid=8661&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

Fairfax, Va. - Brian Straehley Tucker, age 38, of Glen Carbon, died on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009, in Fairfax, Va., of circumstances related to a heart condition. He was born in New York, N.Y., on Oct. 21, 1970, the son of Joyce Hudson of Kiawah Island, S.C. and William S. Tucker, Jr. of Charleston, S.C. and step-son of Martha Tucker of Charleston, S.C. and W. Thomas Hudson, Jr. of Kiawah Island, SC.

Brian graduated from Summit High School, in Summit, N.J., and attended Southern Illinois University, in Edwardsville.

Brian served in the U.S. Navy from 1990 - 1994 and in the U.S. Naval Reserve from 1994-1998 and was the recipient of the National Defense Service Medal for his service during the Gulf War and Operation Desert Storm.

Brian was employed as a Computer Systems Engineer for Intrinsic Technologies, LLC of Lisle, Illinois since 2005.

Brian was an avid motorcycle enthusiast and enjoyed traveling with family and friends.

Brian was a loving and devoted father and is survived by his daughter, Chelsea C. Tucker of Edwardsville; parents and step parents; sister, Lynsey Tucker of New York, N.Y.; grandparents William S. Tucker and Vivian O. Tucker of Blytheville, Ark., and Eleanor K. Casato of Lakehurst, N.J., step-sisters, Lynn Matthews of Charlotte, N.C., and Lisa Grasing of Kansas City, Kan.; step-brothers, Judson Matthews of
Charleston, S.C.; Will Hudson of Portland; and Matt Hudson of London, England; loved ones, Julie A. Tucker; Joshua P. Lager; Brian L. Lager and Chad N. Lager of Edwardsville; and many devoted friends and colleagues. A family memorial service will be conducted in Chelsea, Vt.

Aligning the Facts with the Fax

I hate shitting on anyone’s dream. I really do, but sometimes I just have to say it and be done with it.  I had a friend years ago named Pat, who was insane about electronics and building insane projects in his living room from scratch.  Amazing stuff.  He would spend days, even weeks, building LASERS, Tesla Coils, you name it.  Once he asked me to check out his new “green LASER” project he had spent a week building.  It wasn’t done, but he was close.  When I saw it, I asked him “so, uh, what are you going to do with it?”  It was total silence for a full minute.  Try that.  Sit silent for one full minute.  Awkward, huh?  Yep.  Then he calmly said “f*** it.” and he never finished it.  I felt bad about that for a long time.  I poured water on the fire of his imagination.  Oh well.  Now I look back and the water has become beer.

So, a friend of mine was all pumped about volunteering for some campaign thing and going around irritating, oops, I mean “getting the word out” about his candidate.  When he tried to test his selling abilities on me, he learned it was a huge mistake.  Not only do I hate sales pitches, ANY sales pitches, I hate politics even worse.

Mind you, I don’t disrespect “democracy” and the ideals of “freedom”.  It’s just that we really, technically, legally, do not have either in this country.  What we have is “relative” democracy and freedom.  (sidenote: I handily won an ad hoc classroom debate back in college about this very subject, a-hem…).

Let’s digress upon the facts, shall we?  Let’s…

1. American citizens do not directly vote anyone into the Executive office.  We perform the function of “public voting”, which is used to guide and inform the Electoral College as to how to cast THEIR vote, which is the ONLY vote that counts.
2. Four times in American history, the Electoral College has cast their vote in contradiction to the public vote.  Each time it was said to be due to them knowing better what we wanted than we really wanted.
3. No presidential election in American history has been decided by less than 100 votes.
4. I have yet to find evidence of a single politician in history executing their promises faithfully once in office.  Some of the promise, sure.  All of them? Never.  Not even once.
5. Elections are almost always won as a result of influence exherted upon the public by way of mass media bombardment.  Mass media costs money.  Money comes from PAC contributions.  Most PAC contributions come from lobbyists’ clientelle.  Most clientelle are big businesses and powerful “special interest” groups.  Most citizens are none of these.  If YOU were the politician, who would you listen to?

George Carlin made an interesting and excellent point that by NOT voting, you earned yourself the right to complain about the sucky world of politics.  By casting a vote, you become part of the reason the system remains sucky, and therefore have no right to complain.  It’s a weird twisted logic, that I actually like.  So, after almost 30 years of voting, I think I’m done.  And, statistically speaking, it won’t matter anyway because no election has ever been decided on a single public vote.  Ever.

This time, however, I didn’t try to talk this guy out of voting or even his desire to “make a difference”, whatever that means.  I just helped him to realize he wasn’t ever going to change my mind without a gun pointed at my face.  This same logic works on Mormons and Jehovah’s Witness guys by the way.  Great entertainment on an otherwise boring weekend.

I know that voters out there will do a fine job of making sure our system remains as it always has remained.  Just take a look at Portsmouth, VA mayor James Holley.  I rest my case.  Good luck, and God bless!

Rebuilding

There’s a process that you’ll hear from many walks of life that involves a tearing-down and building back up.  It’s at the very core of so many things that it has to be part of nature itself. It’s the foundation of institutions such as the U.S. Marine Corps., sports, the arts, even music.  Most people have to be led by someone else.  A drill instructor.  A coach.  A teacher.  A mentor.  Others are led by forces unseen.  Some call it God.  Some call it circumstance.  Most of the time it’s not just one thing being torn down and rebuilt, but a loose collection of interrelated things that must all be torn down together and rebuilt again.  In every case, the thing that must be torn down is years of bad habits and misguided intuition.  Whether it’s working as team, or working alone, it’s still the same.  The student must be stripped of all that they know and rely upon so that they can adopt new things to rely upon which are proven and predictably reliable.  Successful.

2010 feels like a turning point for me, personally.  Career, home, marriage, kids, and so on.  From early 2008 until this year, it’s been a rough tearing down on all sides.  Career-wise things turned around for me once I got my legs back under me in late 2008.  Getting laid off was more damaging to me and my family than I ever expected.  It also clarified my friendships and professional relationships.  They say you don’t know anyone until you’ve gotten drunk with them.  You also don’t know who your friends are until you start desperately looking for a job.  No hard feelings, just adjusted expectations and realizations of bad assumptions.  Whatever.  I hope I’ve learned things that will point me in the right direction from here on.  Only time will tell.  As I said: I have more rebuilding to do, but it’s rebuilding, not tearing down.  I’m sure it won’t be the last tear-down I face in life, but I can cross these challenges off my list of things to sweat.

Ok, I promise my next post won’t be so serious.

The Never-Ending Reminder of Being Screwed

Once upon a time, in a land not long ago, there lived a company named SAIC.  And within it’s enormous grasp it held a tiny little company constructed of smoke and mirrors named AMSEC.  In this land where AMSEC once stood were seemingly noble men who wore suits of the finest quality and spoke of the highest esteem about ethics and integrity and the meaning of individual sacrifice and the “good of the team”.  They rewarded those that benefited the bottom line with bonuses, vested and unvested stock shares, and stock options.  And it was good.

Then the king of this little AMSEC kingdom decided it was time to cash in his royal chips and bend his employees over a bench and give them a sound fisting.

It went something like this…

In the months that followed his decision to divest of his own doings, it was decided to make a slight, but noticable shift from mostly cash to mostly unvested shares and options as the vehicle for rewarding employees for their performance.  Not long after, the dissolution of the company (to be split amongst the two parent companies) was announced.  Near the time of the actual disjoining, it was also announced that all unvested shares and options would be null and void.  In other words: “Thank you for your outstanding sacrifices for the good of our ability to live above average means, but now you may kindly go and fuck yourselves.”

In the same breath of this announcement, was included a release form we were “asked” (demanded) to sign, which agreed to the conditions and forfeited our rights to arbitrate or file legal or financial claims after the fact.  It was a classic double-or-nothing offer: Hold out and attempt to sue, but give up all claims on immediate pay-outs of vested shares, or bend over and take it like a sissy.

Most everyone bent over.  Only a small handful fought it, and while it was an admirable feat, it was unsuccessful in the end.  A symbolic win is still a win for them I suppose, but the dragon was unscathed and moved on.

So, I rounded up my scraps, licked my wounds and moved on.  I sold my vested shares and those which were partially vested above a minimum percentage were sold soon after they vested.  I asked again and again if this would empty and close my account and each time the fine Mellon folks said “Yes!”  Alas, it has not.

Every year, I get a sweet tax form for 1.0x shares and a letter asking me to vote by proxy on shareholder issues pending with the board of directors.  And every year I kindly ask them to take the pretty little voting form, roll it up in to a tight tube, dip it in hot tar, roll it in thumb tacks and shove in their ass a hundred times.  They don’t seem to get the message however.

So today I called and asked how to put a nail in the coffin of what was once my retirement plan.  SAIC called me and guided me to Mellon again.  Mellon asked 100 questions, told me the share I have is worth $17.0476 and that the sale fee is $20.00 USD.  Lovely.  Then they passed me back to SAIC where I was greeted with a recorded message saying they’re closed and to call back tomorrow.

Dear SAIC:  GO FUCK YOURSELVES.

“That’s all I have to say about that” – Forest Gump

Spring Cleaning Again, Artwork and Thoughts

This time it was my art work.  I’ve had it stashed away for years.  Actually, 30 years to be more precise.  I also had an itch to get it back out and do some new stuff, but then I got sidetracked again and lost interest.  Doing art is very much like writing or practicing music or other crafts.  It’s not much like software development, even though it may seem to be on the surface.  To do art or music right, even woodworking, you have to have emptiness.  Peace and quiet.  Time to let your cluttered thoughts evaporate and your mind can wander and cool things come out.

I think most people would find they have amazing creativity inside them if they had the chance to REALLY get bored and also be in the right environment to induce the creative outflow.  Sadly, most of us are just too busy.  The few minutes, even a few hours, we may occassionally get to “do nothing” we often spend idling with a mouse and a screen (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) even blogging.  Or watching TV or napping.  Or we find something to do like fixing things that need repair.  It’s all a sneaky distraction and keeps us from finding what we can truly do.

So I put my artwork on Facebook and shared it with a lot of people and that interesting.  I wasn’t looking for compliments.  I was really interested in seeing which pieces drew the most feedback.  Kind of measuring what forms and formats garnered the most interest and comments.  That, to me, is the most fascinating part of it.

But getting back to the “Spring Cleaning” topic: I decided to bequeath it all to my kids.  I just decided it was doing nothing for me to sit in the boxes and canvas art bags in a closet.  Now it can sit in their closets. :)  Some of it will get hung up or mounted properly (it’s been languishing in folders for too long).  It’s so-so.  Some pieces I’m proud of, but most of it is just interesting (to me, anyway).  I asked a museum curator to look at my portfolio and give an honest opinion.  That was interesting.  Her comments were a clear indicator that she didn’t really spend much time looking it over.  She said that since I focused a lot of my work on the human form, that I should take a few classes to hone that part of my skillset.  The irony is that very few of my works even include anything remotely “human form” by any stretch.  Maybe a hand or a face, but not very often.  Oh well.  I join the ranks of mediocre, which is not bad in itself.

In any case, my kids like it, and it has somewhat more intrinsic meaning to hand it down from parent to child obviously.  I’m not averse to doing more artwork in the future, but for now I simply can’t find the time to let my brain out to play.  It’s on too short of a leash.  I will be loading some images up on my Picasa site soon for public access.  I should have it uploaded in the next few days.

Autodesk: Summed Up in a Sentence

So, I figured it was time to do a check-up with our friends at Autodesk regarding our never-ending hair-pulling with packaging their products for mass deployment.  We’ve been doing it our own way for several years (building the admin deployment image, then calling the individual pieces with msiexec and transforms, etc. and installing patches, etc.).  So I submitted a support request asking what the supported method is for performing an “unattended / silent uninstall of AutoCAD 2010 or Inventor 2010”.  We actually bundle more than that into each deployment payload, but I just wanted those two since they’re the primary culprits.

The response?   “We support uninstalls using Add / Remove Programs.  We do not support unattended installs.  Below is a link to a discussion thread that may help…”

So there it is.  Autodesk does not support unattended uninstalls.  This means when you have to remove it from 10,000 computers, they expect you to walk around to, or remote into, each computer and uninstall them one by one.  Given that NO enterprise environments will ever entertain such an insane idea, this indirectly means Autodesk does not support enterprise environments.

In case you’re wondering: NO. running the msiexec /x with the GUID’s in the registy does not perform a clean or complete uninstall.  The language packs, add-ons, hotfixes, and the extras that the SETUP.EXE module performs are all difficult to reproduce with a single package that produces identical results on 10,000 computers.  We’ve done a really good job ourselves, but it sure would help to get some buy-in from Autodesk.  Especially for the incredible amount of money we pay for “support” services.

Maybe it’s just me, but this just seems amazing.  I hate to think what the other competing vendors will say when they hear this.

Now, to be fair, Autodesk responded to my previous blog post about lack of support and have sent us a survey and invite to a customer council initiative.  We’re still waiting for the first real meeting to see where this is going, but we did have a few preliminary interview sessions for them to gather some key points.  Those went very well, and the people they chose to put on the case are very capable and friendly.

But, while we wait for the fruit of that effort to grow into something recognizable, this interim issue pops up like a mole in the midst of a perfectly manicured golf course.  Oh boy.

Chainsaw Brain Extraction vs Saying “A-hole”

I searched, but I cannot seem to find a comprehensive table that defines or describes what is “ok” and what is “not” when it comes to movies shown on basic cable.  So, based on what I’ve seen from watching movies on FX, USA, AMC, A&E and so on, particularly over the past 5 years, here’s what I’ve deduced.

Action/Verbage	Basic	Premium
Brains Splattered	OK	OK
Machine-Gun Body Damage	OK	OK
Nude Female Breasts	NOT OK	OK
Nude Female Buttocks	NOT OK	OK
Heavy French Kissing	NOT OK	OK
Implied Intercourse	After 9	OK
Violent Stabbing and Blood	OK	OK
Limbs Chopped Off	OK	OK
Beheading with Fixed Weapon	OK	OK
Beheading with Chainsaw	OK	OK
Head Crushed, Close-Up	OK	OK
Saying “asshole”	NOT OK	OK
Saying “fuck”	NOT OK	OK
Saying “ass”	NOT OK	OK
Saying “pussy”	NOT OK	OK
Saying “the N-word”	NOT OK**	OK
Showing Drugs Injected	NOT OK	OK
Showing Drugs Smoked	NOT OK	OK
Showing Social Liquor Drinking	NOT OK	OK

** Unless the person saying it is black

Conclusion

The message is crystal clear: Violence, killing and graphic body damage are not only “ok” but encouraged.  Sex, graphic intimacy and drug use are discouraged.

Kids: Any questions?

Scheduling a Task on 500 Windows Computers

Back in 2008, I produced (if you can call it that) a series of training videos on Windows Server 2008 highlighting various features.  Those are still posted on BlogCastRepository.com, but they require a paid subscription to view them.  There are two reasons why that’s not worth pursuing at this point:

1. There are now dozens of video tutorials on the web which do a much better job of demonstrating these features.

2. The owner of BlogCastRepository.com, Brian S. Tucker, passed away sadly.  No one has been able to determine who is (or will) assume management of the site.  It is rudderless.

Anyhow, the video clips are too large to post anywhere that doesn’t charge a fee and I can’t justify the expense.  So they will just sit until the site vanishes.  I have backups, but nowhere to host them. Hint?

On to the subject…

One of my personal favorite features of Windows Server 2008 and R2, as well as Windows 7, is the new and VASTLY improved Task Scheduler.  It simply rocks.  For years I’ve used Cron, even on Windows, because it handled most of my needs better than the XP Task Scheduler or AT or even JT (ugh).  Here is just one example…

Task:  Set an identical scheduled task on multiple computers running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008, but without using Group Policy or Group Policy Preferences.  And without using something like SCOM.

Steps:

1. Create task on first computer and test to ensure it works properly
2. Export task to XML file
3. Store the XML in an accessible share on the network
4. Run BAT file to invoke SCHTASKS /CREATE /XML <xml-file-path> on each remote computer (/S computername)

Bonus:  Modify the same scheduled task on multiple computers

Steps:

1. Edit the task on the first computer and export to XML file (replace existing file)
2. Run BAT file to invoke SCHTASKS /DELETE /TN <task-name> on each remote computer
3. In the same BAT file, invoke SCHTASKS /CREATE /XML <xml-file-path> to import the task from the XML file

Examples of why you might need to change a task configuration:

• Schedule change
• Task change (script, program, etc.)
• User credentials or password

Virginia Beach Bicycling Routes

There are many other paths, but these are a few that I've completed many times and know very well. They are aimed at mixing street and dirt trail riding, not just paved surfaces.  My bike looks like a full-blown mountain bike from a distance, but it’s really a cheap grade knock-off.  But that doesn’t matter.  It’s been a great bike and I’ve put a few hundred miles on it since I bought it in 2006. 

1. Birdneck Loop - Start at Pacific and Norfolk Ave. Take Norfolk Ave West to Birdneck Rd. South on Birdneck down to General Booth. North on General Booth over Rudee Inlet to Pacific and back to starting point: 5.8 miles
2. Cape Henry Trail to Rudee Inlet - Cape Henry Trail from Great Neck, go East through First Landing Park, come out at 64th and Atlantic. Proceed South on Atlantic to 40th and cross over to boardwalk, down to Rudee Inlet. Turn around and go back to starting point: 19.8 miles (go back across Great Neck to the end at Jade St.: Another 1.8 miles
3. Great Neck Road - Great Neck from Shore Drive, go South to Virginia Beach Blvd, and return to starting point: 11 miles
4. Holland, Dam Neck, Laskin - Holland & Plaza, take Holland South to Dam Neck. Take Dam Neck East to General Booth Blvd. North on General Booth over Rudee Inlet to Pacific Ave. North to Laskin Rd. West on Laskin, merge onto Virginia Beach Blvd. West to North Plaza Trail (turn left / South). Follow through South Plaza Trail back to starting point: 23 miles
5. Great Neck North Loop - Cape Henry Trail from Great Neck. East through First Landing Park to 64th St. entrance at Atlantic. South on Atlantic to Laskin. West on Laskin, merge onto Virginia Beach Blvd. Turn onto N. Great Neck Rd. and follow Great Neck back to starting point: 16.8 miles
6. Eastern Loop - Great Neck at Shore Drive. Go South on Great Neck, cross over Virginia Beach Blvd and continue onto London Bridge Blvd. Go East on Dam Neck to General Booth Blvd. North on General Booth over Rudee Inlet to Pacific, up Pacific to Atlantic. Turn into First Landing Park at 64 th St entrance, follow Cape Henry Trail back to starting point: 26.3 miles

Routes 1, 2, 3, and 6: park behind the shopping center where Hot Tuna Grill resides and jump on the trail right there.

It is illegal in Virginia Beach to ride on sidewalks throughout Town Center or anywhere along the oceanfront from Rudee to 40th Street during tourist season.  But they rarely bother bicyclists unless (a) the cop is a dick or (b) the biker is acting stupid.