The Tumtum Tree

miscellaneous observations and tales

2009-12-10T12:52:57Z

I'm sitting in Boston's Logan airport enjoying the benefits of Google's holiday gift as I wait to fly home for the last time this year. Yay!

1. I have never before seen an airport Starbucks with no line whatsoever at 7 AM, but that's exactly what I just saw this morning. Shocking! (Terminal B, US Airways, if you were wondering)

2. I got flagged on my way through security for having a Snickers bar in my jacket pocket. Apparently they couldn't tell exactly what it was when it was scanned. The TSA guy, with his heavy Bostonian accent, was a very good sport and we had quite a chuckle over it. He told me to make sure I ate the Snickers bar before security next time.

3. No security line at all this morning!

4. Wonderfully crisp and clear morning here in Boston.

5. Cab ride from the airport was fine, although upon arrival, the cabbie insisted his cab was cash only. I had $25 cash for a $35 fare. He told me there was an ATM inside the terminal. I told him it was credit or $25. He rummaged around his cab and found his card machine and slips and asked me if he could have $25 in cash and the rest on credit. I said if you're already putting it on credit, you can put it all on credit. To his credit, he was still pleasant despite being quite obviously annoyed, so I still tipped him, even though I usually tip little to nothing to cabbies who try to pull that crap.

6. Overheard conversation snippet on a Boston corner: "Boston's a lot like Dublin..." My immediate thought: "Yeah, both of them are full of Irish people!"

7. Morning flight from Rochester to Boston is cancelled this morning, but the plane for my flight from Boston to Rochester is already here, so hopefully it will go on time.

8. In the tunnel on the way to the airport there was a line of 10 cars; only one was not a taxi.

9. Yesterday was long, but a good, productive day. I even got to catch up with someone I went to high school with, who it turns out has family in Rochester! Small world.

10. Discovered pupusas at dinner last night. Two big Yums Up! to El Salvador!

11. Watched the end of Robin Williams' "Weapons of Self-Destruction" special on HBO last night. First, it sounded like he was losing his voice, which severely dampened his renowned manic impersonations. Second, it sounded like a lot of the material was recycled and fleshed out. Overall, it struck me as an old man trying desperately to recapture the magic of his youth and not really succeeding. Much of the audience laughter seemed respectful instead of raucous, but maybe that was part of the problem. A comedy show can often be elevated or ruined by the audience, and this audience seemed a bit too reserved. Maybe if I watched from the beginning it would be different. This guy certainly seemed to enjoy the show he saw in Ottawa.

music library

2009-12-07T17:30:42Z

Those who know me know that music means a lot to me. In fact, music is one of the expenses that my wife does not begrudge me because she knows we get our money's worth from a purchase due to my listening habits (unlike my old comic buying habit, which essentially resulted in hundreds of comics purchases I never got around to reading). I would listen to music almost constantly if I could (yes, even while I'm sleeping).

I'm currently using iTunes to manage my digital music library and although there are things I don't like about it, it does a pretty good job for what I want at the moment, which is daily playback and portability for trips. I use it to play my digital music pretty much everyday on my PC.

I've been looking to get my entire music collection stored digitally for quite some time now, but considering the size of my CD collection it's a monumental effort to get everything ripped, and also a bit difficult to figure out just how much storage I need so I can keep the whole thing on one drive.

My current digital music library consists of 8694 tracks, 1174 albums, 24d:20h:38m:57s total time, 41.67GB of data, and almost all of that is mp3, so it's compressed, and would not be my preference for permanent storage. I want to get everything ripped into a lossless format so I can essentially ditch most of my CD collection, although not having physical copies makes me really nervous about losing my music.

To counter those fears, I would like everything ripped losslessly onto a single huge drive, with a second huge drive as backup, and a collection of physical media to back that up. That's my ultimate goal. If anyone has suggestions on methods, drives, physical media, etc. please let me know.

For the record, I have easily another 1000 albums that have not been ripped (plus some vinyl that I'll want to digitize at some point, but I don't even have a way to play those right now).

Anyway, my daily music listening generally consists of a smart playlist on iTunes that randomly selects songs from those in my digital library that currently have a playcount of 0. I've been working my way through that playlist for about a year and just noticed today that it's down to a mere 850 items, which is just over 3 days of music! It's worth noting that the "unplayed" list only correlates to playcount in iTunes, so it doesn't reflect listens outside of iTunes (on CD, prior to iTunes import, or on prior iTunes installations), but that also means that it started at 0 when I reinstalled iTunes this spring and lost all of the playback data from my previous installation.

I also finally took a dive into the music download waters last week, to take advantage of Amazon's $5 mp3 album sale. I bought:

- David Bowie "Hunky Dory"
- Mike Doughty "Sad Man Happy Man"
- John Coltrane "The Ultimate Blue Train"
- U2 "No Line on the Horizon"
- Funkadelic "Maggot Brain"
- Prince "Dirty Mind"
- The Ting Tings "We Started Nothing"

And I have to say I'm very happy with all of the purchases! I think the sound quality of some of the mp3s is noticeably poorer than I'd expect on CD, but it was worth the lower price. There was a lot of fantastic music available on the cheap during this sale; I hope you took advantage of it!

blog/note/status updates

2009-12-03T13:20:15Z

If it isn't already clear, I'm trying out a new system. I've found myself putting longer and longer remarks into my FB status update, so I've decided to go back to using my blog for anything that's longer than a quick status remark (i.e. 1 sentence).

I have FB and LJ set up to automatically transfer my blog posts into my FB notes. FB and LJ also now have a snazzy app link that will put a link to my LJ entries into my feed, but I don't like that because people have to leave FB to read the posts. For now, I'm denying the LJ-FB feed connection and just using the post-to-Notes functionality.

pain update

2009-12-03T13:06:10Z

I wondered how the knee and ankle would feel this morning after last night's tweaks.

Well, it's not *too* painful but the ankle is definitely a little ginger this morning -- no signs of swelling or discoloration, though. Knee is fine.

Woke up with soreness in my right ring and pinkie fingers but that went away quickly, so it probably wasn't an arthritis flare-up. Although with lots of precipitation in the forecast, including snow Fri-Sun, it wouldn't be surprising.

indoor soccer

2009-12-03T05:02:17Z

Tonight was the first night of our indoor soccer sessions. The club has purchased 2 hours every Wednesday night at the community college on their indoor pitch so there's no additional cost to us. We have two full sides -- an over 30 Men's team and an over 40 Men's team. For the indoor sessions, we split everybody up into three teams and play 10 minute games. At the end of ten minutes one team stays on and one team swaps out with the team that was sitting. It's a pretty good deal, especially for free.

Tonight's total:

1 shift in goalie relief (about 6 matches)
2 goals given up in net and about 5 saves
1 assist from goal
1 complete whiff on a shot right in front of the net while on a full run, which resulted in an awkward landing and a twisted knee
1 partially rolled ankle

I did a shift of goalie relief because one of the two goalies was a guy who always gets stuck in net when he's actually a field player and I could tell he was getting sick of being in net. I did ok for my first time in net since about 5th grade. I actually enjoyed it a bit, but it bugged me a little that the guy I relieved didn't even thank me or seem to appreciate it. Oh, well.

treatment interruptus

2009-12-02T18:09:18Z

Today I finally resumed my UVB narrowband treatments for psoriasis. We're using a more aggressive protocol this cycle, so hopefully I'll see significant progress quickly. 150 mJ dose today.

I was receiving Xcimer laser treatments over the spring and summer but hit a snag when the insurance company suddenly stopped approving the treatments claiming the dermatologist's office hadn't submitted the proper paperwork for approval. The dr's office said they would take care of it. After a few months of waiting and calling both the dr and the insurance company for updates, I finally got a call a few weeks back from the dr saying everything was resolved (and approved) and I could return for treatments whenever I wanted. They even called me back after a week when I didn't call for a new appointment.

Heart-melting parenting pride

2009-12-02T12:43:23Z

G (the 5 year old) told her 4 year old sister this morning as she whisperingly invited her to climb into bed with her: "We're sisters, so we'll always be friends."

Merry Christmas!

2009-11-28T15:01:51Z

Every year, my in-laws have their Christmas right after Thanksgiving when most everyone can get together without the constraints of other Christmas obligations, before the weather gets completely awful, and before some people take off for warmer climes for the season. We get presents for the young kids and the adults and older kids pull names and buy a smallish gift for one person instead of spending on everyone.

This year, Christmas is today, so Merry Christmas! :-)

NaNoWriMo

2009-11-28T14:53:54Z

This is my official declaration that I will not succeed at NaNoWriMo this year. Found out about it 1 week in and was unable to set aside time to work on it consistently. I got less than 1000 words written. Once I realized I wasn't going to come close I abandoned all effort -- I'd rather spend that energy on something else and save the writing for next year's efforts.

Black Friday

2009-11-28T14:49:39Z

I spent yesterday doing light projects around the house.

- Finally hung the curtain rod and curtain in my office.
- Painted the corner in the dining room (still needs some touch-up and a second coat, but at least it's not a completely different color any more!)
- Cleaned up the office some: moved some boxes and the printer, eliminated dust bunnies, changed position of monitor and laptop, etc. still lots more to do
- made a couple of grocery runs for milk and for veggies to make the southwestern chicken salad for dinner (bbq rotisserie chicken, corn, black beans, baby greens, cherry tomatoes, avocado, tortilla chips, shredded cheese and a little ranch dressing)

Also took care of the girls while Mom did a couple of hours of Black Friday shopping in the morning -- I'm very thankful for the magic of Play-doh. :-)

self-serving return to LJ

2009-11-11T04:12:33Z

It has been months since I posted anything here. For a while I got totally enamored with Twitter, but that interest quickly waned, and I've since kept my Twitter account primarily for fitness journaling and on-the-road travel tweets. Facebook has garnered most of my online attention. I don't do quizzes or games, since they expose your account too much to potential attacks, but I update my status a lot and follow what other people post. I have on occasion considered returning to LJ to blog about some thing or other that's on my mind, but just haven't made the time.

But now the holidays (and birthday) approach, so it's in my interest to post my annual wishlist. Hopefully this will re-establish LJ visitation in my online routine and I'll begin posting stuff once again, but I'm not expecting it will. Especially since I signed up for NaNoWriMo and haven't found time to write a single word yet!

Anyway, here's my list, in unranked order.

PS3 games:
Demon's Souls
Dragon Age: Origins
Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed II
DJ Hero
MGS 4
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
BioShock
Rock Band 2
Beatles: Rock Band
Batman: Arkham Asylum
FIFA Soccer 10
Eternal Sonata
Brutal Legend
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
Valkyria Chronicles
Ninja Gaiden Sigma
Lego Indy
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
Band Hero
Noby Noby Boy
Conan

Wii games:
Little King's Story
A Boy and His Blob
Lost Winds: Winter of the Melodias
Swords and Soldiers
~~Cursed Mountain~~
Puzzle Kingdoms

Board games:
Pandemic

Music:
Gary Numan "Pleasure Principle"
Gary Numan "Telekon"
Gary Numan "Dance"
Gary Numan "I, Assassin"
Gary Numan "Warriors"
Gary Numan "Berserker"
Gary Numan "The Fury"
Gary Numan "Strange Charm"
Gary Numan "Metal Rhythm/New Anger"
Gary Numan "Outland"
Gary Numan "Machine + Soul"
Gary Numan "Sacrifice"
Gary Numan "Exile"
Gary Numan "Pure"
Gary Numan "Hybrid"
Gary Numan "Jagged"
Gary Numan & Tubeway Army "Replicas/Replicas Redux"
Bauhaus "In the Flat Field"
Bauhaus "Mask"
Bauhaus "The Sky's Gone Out"
Bauhaus "Burning From the Inside"
Bauhaus "Go Away White"
Catherine Wheel "Adam and Eve"
The Church "Jammed"
The Church "Back with Two Beasts"
The Church "A Quick Smoke at Spot's"
The Church "Beside Yourself"
The Church "El Momento Siguente"
Cruciform Injection "Biomechanical Disintegration"
The Cure "Concert"
Death Cab For Cutie "Plans"
Depeche Mode "Sounds of the Universe" (just saw it's $11.99 at Wal-Mart)
Genesis "Live"
Genesis "Seconds Out"
Genesis "3 Sides Live"
George Harrison "All Things Must Pass"
George Harrison "Concert for Bangladesh"
Howard Jones "Revolution of the Heart"
Howard Jones "Ordinary Heroes"
INXS "Elegantly Wasted"
Joy Division "Unknown Pleasures"
Joy Division "Closer"
King Crimson "In the Court of the Crimson King"
King Crimson "Larks' Tongue in Aspic"
King Crimson "Starless and Bible Black"
King Crimson "Red"
King Crimson "Discipline"
King Crimson "Beat"
King Crimson "Vroooom"
Marty Willson-Piper "Nightjar"
Mike Doughty "Haughty Melodic"
Mike Doughty "Golden Delicious"
Mike Doughty "Sad Man Happy Man"
Monster Magnet "Tab...25"
Monster Magnet "Superjudge"
Monster Magnet "Spine of God"
Monster Magnet "Monolithic Baby!"
Paul McCartney "McCartney"
Paul McCartney "Ram"
Paul McCartney "McCartney II"
Paul McCartney "Tug of War"
Paul McCartney "Pipes of Peace"
Paul McCartney "Flowers in the Dirt"
Paul McCartney "Off the Ground"
Paul McCartney "Flaming Pie"
Paul McCartney "Run Devil Run"
Paul McCartney "Driving Rain"
Paul McCartney "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard"
Paul McCartney "Memory Almost Full"
Peter Gabriel "Plays Live"
Peter Gabriel "Long Walk Home (soundtrack from Rabbit-Proof Fence)"
Pixies "Surfer Rosa"
Pixies "Bossanova"
Pixies "Trompe le Monde"
Primus "Anti-Pop"
Primus "Miscellaneous Debris"
Primus "Rhinoplasty"
Rush "Test for Echo"
Rush "Feedback"
Siouxsie and the Banshees "The Scream"
Siouxsie and the Banshees "Join Hands"
Siouxsie and the Banshees "Kaleidoscope"
Siouxsie and the Banshees "Juju"
Siouxsie and the Banshees "A Kiss in the Dreamhouse"
Siouxsie and the Banshees "Hyaena"
Siouxsie and the Banshees "Tinderbox"
Siouxsie and the Banshees "Through the Looking Glass"
Siouxsie and the Banshees "Peepshow"
Siouxsie and the Banshees "Superstition"
Siouxsie and the Banshees "The Rapture"
Soul Coughing "Ruby Vroom"
Sugarcubes "Life's Too Good"
Sugarcubes "Here Today, Tomorrow, Next Week!"
Sugarcubes "Stick Around for Joy"
Sugarcubes "It's It"
Wings "Wild Life"
Wings "Red Rose Speedway"
Wings "Band on the Run"
Wings "Venus and Mars"
Wings "At the Speed of Sound"
Wings "London Town"
Wings "Back to the Egg"
XTC "White Music"
XTC "Go 2"
XTC "Black Sea"
XTC "English Settlement"
XTC "Mummer"
XTC "Big Express"
XTC "Skylarking"
XTC "Oranges and Lemons"
XTC "Drums and Wires"
XTC "Nonsuch"
PIL "First Issue"
PIL "Metal Box"
PIL "Flowers of Romance"
PIL "This is What You Want...This is What You Get"
PIL "Album/Compact Disc"
PIL "Happy?"
PIL "9"
OMD "OMD"
OMD "Organisation"
OMD "Architecture & Morality"
OMD "Dazzle Ships"
OMD "Junk Culture"
OMD "Crush"
OMD "Sugar Tax"
The Refo:mation "Pharmakoi"
Beatles "Please Please Me"
Beatles "With the Beatles"
Beatles "Beatles For Sale"
Beatles "Past Masters Vol 1"
Beatles "Past Masters Vol 2"
Beatles "Anthology 1"
Beatles "Anthology 2"
Beatles "Anthology 3"
John Lennon "Double Fantasy"
John Lennon "Imagine"
Big Blue Ball "Big Blue Ball"
Afro-Celt Sound System "Vol. 3 Further in Time"
Tom Waits "Bone Machine"
Tom Waits "Mule Variations"
Sausage "Riddles are Abound Tonight"
Mr. Bungle "Mr. Bungle"
Mr. Bungle "Disco Volante"
Mr. Bungle "California"
Dead Kennedys "Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables"
Dead Kennedys "Plastic Surgery Disasters"
Dead Kennedys "Frankenchrist"
Dead Kennedys "Bedtime for Democracy"
Faith No More "The Real Thing"
Faith No More "Angel Dust"
Black Flag "Damaged"
Black Flag "My War"
Black Flag "Loose Nut"
Black Flag "Slip It In"
Circle Jerks "Group Sex"
Circle Jerks "Wild in the Streets"
White Stripes "White Stripes"
White Stripes "De Stijl"
White Stripes "White Blood Cells"
White Stripes "Get Behind Me Satan"
Stevie Wonder "Music of My Mind"
Stevie Wonder "Talking Book"
Stevie Wonder "Innervisions"
Stevie Wonder "Fulfillingness' First Finale"
Stevie Wonder "Songs in the Key of Life"
Robyn Hitchcock "Fegmania!"
Robyn Hitchcock "Element of Light"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Freaky Styley"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Uplift Mofo Party Plan"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Mother's Milk"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Stadium Arcadium"
Blur "Parklife"
Bob Mould "Black Sheets of Rain"
Chris Squire "Fish Out of Water"
David Bowie "Heroes"
David Bowie "Low"
David Bowie "Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust"
David Bowie "Let's Dance"
David Bowie "Scary Monsters"
David Bowie "Lodger"
David Bowie "Station to Station"
David Bowie "Hunky Dory"
David Bowie "Man Who Sold the World"
Gravity Kills "Gravity Kills"
Gravity Kills "Perversion"
Gravity Kills "Superstarved"
Husker Du "Zen Arcade"
Jon Anderson "Olias of Sunhillow"
Machines of Loving Grace "Concentration"
Machines of Loving Grace "Machines of Loving Grace"
They Might Be Giants "Venue Songs"
Tubeway Army "The Plan"
Tubeway Army "Tubeway Army"
Utopia "Deface the Music"
Pretty Girls Make Graves "The New Romance"
Pink Floyd "Wish You Were Here"
Pink Floyd "Animals"
Pink Floyd "Ummagumma"
Pink Floyd "Atom Heart Mother"
Pink Floyd "Meddle"
Yes "Close to the Edge"
Yes "The Yes Album"
Yes "Yes"
Yes "Time and a Word"

DVD:
Seinfeld Volume 3: Season 4
Seinfeld Volume 4: Season 5
Seinfeld Volume 5: Season 6
Seinfeld Volume 6: Season 7
Seinfeld Volume 7: Season 8
Seinfeld Volume 8: Season 9
(each of these is $15.99 at Wal-Mart)

Doctors, doctors everywhere, but how do I get one to see me??

2009-09-09T02:49:49Z

We moved to Rochester last year and finally bought a house in December. In March we started looking for physicians for my wife and me. We got a few recommendations here and there but every doctor that looked even remotely promising wasn't accepting new patients. Eventually we got a tip from our pediatrician that her husband, whose practice is within walking distance of our house, was taking new patients and that we should tell his office that she sent us. I tried calling to set up appointments, but they said they were booked and new patients needed to call back on May 1 to get appointments. OK, fine. I set an alarm for 9AM, May 1 on my phone and waited. And waited. And waited.

Finally May 1 came and I called. When I got through there was a message on the voicemail service saying "as of May 1, Dr. K is no longer accepting new patients." WTF?! I called back and took the options to speak to a secretary. When I spoke with her, I mentioned that Dr. K's wife had referred us and voila! suddenly we were in. I was able to get a new patient appointment for the end of June and another one for the end of July. We were told that if we had any really pressing health issues that we could get a regular appointment sooner than that by calling in, even if we hadn't had the new patient appointments yet.

My wife took the June appointment and it went well. We both liked Dr. K (I went to a follow-up appointment with my wife). However, I had unexpected travel for work and had to cancel my appointment at the end of July. When I called to cancel it, I knew it would be painful but when they told me the next available appointment would be the middle of September I was crushed. You see, back at the beginning of the summer I was helping my wife move some things and I did something to my right arm. Not sure what, but grabbing just about anything in my hand bigger than a utensil and lifting it with my arm causes pain around my elbow, and my grasping strength is severely limited.

I have some other issues, like sinus/sleeping/snoring concerns, but the arm thing has been really bugging me. It's not a constant intense pain, and obviously I've been able to live with it, so I've felt like it doesn't warrant an "urgent" appointment request. Instead I've been living with it all summer. I thought it might be some kind of muscle strain and it would go away after a week or two or taking it easy, but it hasn't. Now I'm concerned it was a muscle tear, torn tendon, or something similar that will either never heal properly or will require surgery. Yeah, I'm probably catastrophizing, but it hasn't healed on its own yet, so what am I supposed to think?

I'm totally jazzed that next Monday I FINALLY get to see the doctor! I have been making a list of my health concerns/issues on my Blackberry so that I don't forget anything. Assuming I actually make it to the appointment, I will have been waiting over 6 months to see the doctor. That is ridiculous and IMO unacceptable.

It's obvious to anyone with a brain that our health care system has problems, but I haven't heard about anything in the health care reform act that would have helped me in this situation. And moving to a public option, or government-run health care, presumably will mean longer waits for anything that isn't urgent care, not just for new patients.

Introducing the kids to Star Wars

2009-05-10T03:08:43Z

The girls are 3.5 (M) and almost 5 years old (G) now and from time to time I have thought about how and when I would introduce them to Star Wars. We try to limit their TV time (they only watch PBS Kids) and we have a variety of kid-friendly DVDs for them. Their bedtime is 8pm, so getting them to watch a 2+hr movie isn’t really going to happen after dinner. Plus, G is our “sensitive” child who gets tense and nervous when things get exciting (“scary”) on screen.

Well, with Star Wars Day this week, I got inspired. I went digging through the moving boxes we hadn’t unpacked yet until I found the Star Wars box set. I pulled out Ep IV and planned to introduce it to them that night. I made dinner and got the girls ready for bed with extra time to start the flick. I even used the promise of a new movie to motivate them. We sat down to watch it while I heard my wife telling her sister on the phone that she didn’t think it was a good idea, especially right before bed, but since she wouldn’t be getting up with them if they had nightmares, she was just gonna “let it go.” I figured we would watch as much as they could tolerate and then just stop for the night.

I read the title scroll to them and they only half-listened, although the music did get their attention. Once the visuals started, M was enraptured, while G just kept asking me questions. “Who’s that guy?” “What are they doing?” “Why are they shooting at each other?” G occasionally got a little tensed up, at which point I would ask her if she was scared and she would say “No, I want to keep watching the movie.”

We watched until Ben and Luke discover the massacred Jawas. They both said they wanted to watch more, but it was time for bed, so off they went. The night was uneventful (i.e., no nightmares or trouble sleeping).

The next night I once again used the promise of the movie to motivate quick bathtimes. M even came out of the shower jumping up and down and singing STAAAAR WAAAAARS! at the top of her lungs. Both girls sat pretty silently this time, although I paused a few times to ask G if the movie was too scary and she said no. We stopped the second night as Han and Luke are about to break Leia out of the detention cellblock, when Han shouts “Luke! We’re about to have some company!”

Again, it was a peaceful, uneventful night.

The next day I asked them if they wanted to watch more of the movie. They both said yes. I asked them if they liked it. M said “It’s kinda scary, Dad, but that’s ok, because I *LIKE* scary movies! Oooo!” G said “I don’t like the bad guys shooting everything.” G also though Darth Vader’s name was “Empire” which I thought was amusing.

The third night, my wife agreed to sit with them while I ran to the grocery store to grab a few things for a cheesecake she was going to make. We started the movie where we had left off. When I returned (it took awhile), I was greeted by two happy kids shouting “The movie’s over! We finished the movie!” and resounding “Yeah!”s when I asked if they liked it. “Leia changed her hair and gave all the good guys necklaces! They were pretty necklaces!” said M.

M says she wants to watch the whole thing again with me. She calls Luke “The Skywalker” and Ben is his Dad. G has been trying to use her Jedi powers (something Mom and I have always kidded around about and now she understands the joke).

Overall, the viewing was a success. The girls both liked the movie, followed the story (mostly), and want to see more. I think there were two things that contributed: 1) I paused the movie anytime G seemed to be scared and talked to her about it, and 2) we broke up the movie over multiple sittings so the it didn’t just clobber them over the head – they had time to digest it on their own terms.

As much as I love the movie, it has been years since the last time I watched it. I never realized just how violent it is, or how bad some of the acting is. There’s also a LOT of reading, which can be an issue for a non-reader or early-reader.

I hope this experience will be helpful for other parents wanting to get their kids started on the road to geekdom, but unsure of how and when to start. I'm also curious to hear other people's stories about the first time their kid(s) watched the movie.

[cross-posting to geekparents]

exercise update

2009-04-28T05:55:54Z

Ran my normal course around the neighborhood today before it got ungodly hot. Also finally got back on the onehundredpushups wagon that I fell off of a month ago.

onehundredpushups week 3 day 1 = 14+18+14+14+20(max out)

The max out set for this week is at least 20 and I had to really push to eke out that 20th. But it's been over a month since I did week 2 and this is the first time I strictly observed the rest period between sets (60 secs for today). It makes a big difference.

I also discovered that my ad-hoc adaptation of onehundredpushups to onehundredsitups has been undercut by the official twohundredsitups program. I'll be taking a look at that and trying it out soon (and abandoning my old onehundredsitups program, which is now a month on hiatus anyway).

Chargers 2009 schedule breakdown

2009-04-15T14:30:48Z

The 2009 NFL schedule was just released yesterday. Here is a breakdown of the Chargers schedule from Bill Williamson, AFC West blogger for ESPN.com. He makes some interesting points, but I think he misses a lot of details. There are a few nasty things, but overall I think this is the most favorable schedule the Chargers have had in recent memory. Let me break it down for you:

Chargers Regular Season Schedule (All times Eastern)
Week 1: Monday, Sep. 14, at Oakland 8:30 p.m.
Week 2: Sunday, Sep. 20, BALTIMORE, 4:15 p.m.
Week 3: Sunday, Sep. 27, MIAMI, 4:15 p.m.
Week 4: Sunday, Oct. 4, at Pittsburgh Steelers, 8:20 p.m.
Week 5: Sunday, Oct. 11, BYE
Week 6: Monday, Oct. 19, DENVER, 8:30 p.m.
Week 7: Sunday, Oct. 25, at Kansas City, 1 p.m.
Week 8: Sunday, Nov. 1, OAKLAND, 4:05 p.m.
Week 9: Sunday, Nov. 8, at N.Y. Giants, 4:15 p.m.
Week 10: Sunday, Nov. 15, PHILADELPHIA, 4:15 p.m.
Week 11: Sunday, Nov. 22, at Denver, 4:15 p.m.
Week 12: Sunday, Nov. 29, KANSAS CITY, 4:05 p.m.
Week 13: Sunday, Dec. 6, at Cleveland, 4:05 p.m.
Week 14: Sunday, Dec. 13, at Dallas, 4:15 p.m.
Week 15: Sunday, Dec. 20, CINCINNATI, 4:05 p.m.
Week 16: Friday, Dec. 25, at Tennessee, 8:30 p.m.
Week 17: Sunday, Jan. 3, WASHINGTON, 4:15 p.m.

The first thing I notice is that there are ZERO divisional games in the last month. I can't remember the last time that happened. Frankly, this is rather shocking. (I just looked it up. Last time no division games in the final month was in 2000, the year they went 1-15, before they picked up LT and Brees.)

They only have back-to-back road games once the entire season.

They don't play New England OR Indy.

They have to play CHRISTMAS NIGHT in Tennessee?! WTF is that?

For the first time since 2002, the Chargers play ZERO teams coming off a bye week. In 2008, the Bills and Dolphins had bye weeks just prior to playing the Chargers, who lost both games. In 2007, the Raiders had a bye before the Chargers game. In 2006 it was the Rams and Steelers. In 2005 it was the Jets, Eagles, Raiders, and Steelers. In 2004 it was the Saints. In 2003 it was the Broncos. (For those who don't know me, I believe that the NFL's completely mysterious method of scheduling bye weeks is patently unfair and could easily be tweaked to guarantee fairness by ensuring both teams have a bye the week before they play each other. Ideally, these post-bye-week matchups would always be divisional games, to minimize the advantage of the extra week of planning for either team. But I digress...)

In addition, a number of favorable things occur for the Chargers:
Wk 3, Miami goes to SD on a short week following a Monday nighter vs. Indy.
Wk 5, they get a bye immediately after the physical sunday nighter in Pittsburgh
Wk 6, Denver comes to town after hosting New England, which will be a media circus because of McDaniels' ties to the Pats, and hosting Dallas in Week 4
Wk 7, KC is coming off the hellish streak of @Philly-NYG-Dallas-@Washington (holy crap, did KC get screwed!)
Wk 8, Oakland comes into SD after facing the Giants, Eagles and Jets (who will be featuring Ryan's new defensive schemes)
Wk 9, the Giants come off a road game at Philly
Wk 10, Philly has just wrapped up a Washington-NYG-Dallas slate
Wk 11, Denver comes off a Baltimore-Pittsburgh-Washington run (of course, the Chargers are coming off NYG-Philly themselves)
Wk 12, KC has to come to SD, this time following a matchup with Pittsburgh
Wk 14, Dallas plays at the Giants the week before
Wk 17, Washington plays at Dallas in Week 16 and has a monday nighter vs. the Giants in Week 15

In other words, a lot of teams should be beat up and beat down when they play the Chargers this year.

Properly hard-boiled eggs

2009-04-15T14:19:01Z

My wife, a trained chemist, can be rather particular about certain things. One of them is hard-boiled eggs. Most people "overcook them" by boiling them for 3 or more minutes and then taking them off the heat to sit in the water they were boiled in until the water is cooled off. This long period in hot water is what causes that sulfurous greenish sheath around the yolk. Here, according to my wife, who makes awesome hard-boiled eggs, is the "correct" way to hard-boil an egg:

1. Place egg(s) in pot
2. Cover egg(s) completely with water. Temperature of the water doesn't matter, but warmer water will boil sooner, so is preferable.
3. Bring water to a boil.
4. Immediately remove pot from heat and let eggs sit/cook in the water for 15 minutes.
5. Remove egg(s) and place them in a cold water bath to halt the cooking process.

You will end up with beautiful golden yolks that taste fantastic, with no trace of a sulfurous smell or taste.

Jbmeuld rianedg

2009-04-09T13:40:07Z

Dunno how accurate the "facts" are in this, but it's an interesting read nonetheless. Seems to me that much of the "brain power" is derived from contextual clues. The brain parses the words and creates semantic bindings that in turn have a predictive power, much like you can often predict the final words of a song verse you've never heard before (although some might say it's just because the songwriter is uncreative and cliched). For example, even if you can read the following, could you immediately read "jumbled reading" as my subject? I doubt it.

if yuo can raed tihs, you hvae a sgtrane mnid, too.
Can you raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it.

If you can read this, your brain is 50% faster than those who can't

LoudQUIETloud: a film about the Pixies

2009-04-05T03:22:15Z

Last night I was trolling my instant viewing queue on Netflix for something short to watch and found that "LoudQUIETloud: a Film About the Pixies" was available. Clocking in at under 90 minutes, it fit the bill, so I fired it up. I expected it to be a restrospective piece about the band, but it's actually a travelogue of sorts for their 2004 reunion tour. The only Pixies album I own is "Doolittle", but it's a brilliant piece of work and I've always been intrigued about trying out more of their recordings, so I was hoping to learn more about the band and check out some of the tracks I've never heard. I got both in spades.

The film checks in with all 4 members prior to their first warmup sessions. Joey Santiago is scraping by doing some independent music with his wife as well as some movie soundtrack work. Dave Lovering gave up drumming after the Pixies disbanded and took up professional magic and metaldetecting(!). Black Francis/Frank Black/Charles Thompson has been doing solo work and living in Eugene, OR with his girlfriend and her kids. Kim Deal had just completed alcohol rehab following a long hiatus from recording with the Breeders.

Charles and Kim, the two most recognizable members, and the two most successful, have both put on some weight. Kim, between her drinking and smoking, has not aged well. Joey and Dave, though, are both still fit and look good (well, Dave cleaned up from a hippy-ish look as they started the tour).

I was surprised at how revealing some of the clips were. For example, Dave's dad dies during the tour, while Dave is on his way back to see him, and we get to see his slow descent into drug abuse and denial, culminating in a bizarre on-stage incident where he continues playing for about 5 minutes while Charles and Kim discuss what the hell is going on. At one point Charles shouts at Dave "Are you stoned?!" and then walks off the stage.

There is also a short bit about why the band broke up the first time and everyone seems to agree it was just because they spent too much time caged up together like animals, and that the crux of the issue was between Kim and Charles. This is followed by numerous scenes of the band members spending time together on the tour and not talking. At all. It's bizarre and awkward although none of them seem to think it's odd or uncomfortable. Kelley Deal (Kim's twin, who co-produced and spends a good chunk of camera time prompting Kim and fans on various issues) remarks that she's never seen 4 people with so little to say to each other. One is left to wonder if that may have also been a cause of their breakup, or if it is more a result of the breakup.

During the tour, Dave's dad dies, Charles discovers that Violet (his girlfriend) is pregnant, and Joey's wife has a newborn (it's not clear whether baby Joseph was born prior to the tour, but Joey clearly hasn't seen much of the kid either way). It really underscores how much they have given up in their everyday lives to go out on this tour together.

Kim records some new Breeders material on the tour, Joey works on his soundtrack gig ("this is a lot tougher to do on the road than I thought it would be!") with some percussion help from Dave, and Charles visits a recording studio in Chicago to review some new material he's trying to get published. I think of Charles in his Frank Black persona as being a very successful indie act with bottomless street cred, but he seems very morose and defeated here discussing his label prospects, as though no one is interested in his stuff.

In addition to some live performances that sound fantastic (both Charles and Kim's vocals are still spot-on), we also get treated to a few less-than-savory shots: we see Charles in all his pasty, flabby, shirtless glory multiple times, and Kim displays her mangled hands following their first warm-up show -- each fingertip sprouts huge bulbous blisters that will haunt my bass-playing dreams for many a night.

In all, I found it to be a revealing, highly enjoyable flick with some fantastic-sounding performances. If you have even a passing interest in the Pixies, I recommend checking this out. If you've not heard of the Pixies but like alt-rock, this isn't exactly a perfect intro to the band, but may be enough to whet your appetite for a band widely considered one of the most influential bands on the late '80's college music scene.

The things I did today

2009-04-03T03:38:11Z

In no particular order:

Helped care for a sick kid (seems to be croup), including holding her in a steamy bathroom for 20 minutes so she could breathe enough to fall asleep
Took care of some overdue work stuff
Wiped a laptop for the first time and reinstalled the OS and drivers from the restore disks
Cut down some trees
Went for a 2.5 mile run
Took out the trash
Called our real estate attorney and got new copies of our closing statement for tax purposes
Tried to find a new doctor (#Fail)
Helped my wife swap out the hallway light fixture for some designer track lighting
Gave one kid a bath and the other a shower, and got them dressed for bed
Ate a picnic dinner on the deck with the family
Dug out the screens from the basement so we could open some more windows without cats escaping
Put the new microwave in the van to be returned (turns out it doesn't fit the old installation kit despite having identical dimensions to our old microwave and being the same brand)
Watched this very funny (but not suitable for kiddos or workplaces) video
Watched Survivor
Blew my nose a lot

Yeah, it was a pretty full day.

exercise update

2009-03-22T17:15:47Z

onehundredpushups week 2 day 2 = 14+16+12+12+29(max out)
onehundredsitups week 1 day 3 = 11+15+9+9+23(max out)

The Stuff of Nightmares

2009-03-22T05:11:47Z

A little over a year ago, I got some shockingly disturbing news. An old family friend was being accused of molesting his two daughters, subjecting them to nearly a decade of sexual abuse. (In the interest of protecting the girls, I’m trying to be as sketchy on the details as possible and I won’t be including any links – he has of course been named publicly, and the girls have only been identified as teenage sisters, not his daughters.) I’ll refer to him as TA (“the accused”) and the girls as V1 and V2 (victims).

When I was younger, TA and his wife actually lived with us for a time, and my parents are actually V1’s godparents. Of course this accusation had us immediately questioning my sister about any inappropriate behavior that TA may have subjected her to, but she said he never tried anything, thankfully.

The whole thing seemed surreal, like something you’d see in the news, not something involving people you actually know. It drove home the fact that no matter how well you might think you know someone, you never really know them. The other thing that struck me was that whether the accusations were true or not, all of their lives (and TA’s wife’s life) are forever changed. Some things cannot be taken back or undone. Whether he did it or not, his life was ruined just by the accusation. If the accusation was fake (there was some speculation that it could have been a vindictive ploy on V1’s part and that she pulled her younger sister along for the ride, as farfetched as that might seem on the surface) then TA’s life was still ruined (how could you ever recover from such an accusation by your own daughters?) and the girls would be responsible. There could be no winners emerging from such a situation, and there would be no physical evidence at all, only testimony (the abuse supposedly stopped a few months prior to the accusations being made). A classic case of simply who do you believe?

I have occasionally wondered about the case over the last year, but it finally went to trial last week. How such a thing takes that long to reach trial I have no idea – jury selection couldn’t have been more than a fraction of that time. After days of testimony, the jury took less than 2 hours to reach a guilty verdict on almost 50 criminal counts including rape and endangering the welfare of children. Indications from the courtroom were that TA was pretty clearly guilty and it wasn’t just a sympathetic jury.

I want to be angry at him for such despicable, vile acts, such a total violation of the trust inherent in the parent-child relationship. I *really* want to be angry, to loathe him, but all I can muster is a terrible sadness for the girls, what they’ve been through during the abuse and then mustering the courage to drag it out into the open, their lost childhoods, and the psychological damage they’ve suffered (will they ever be able to trust or truly love someone, or have normal relationships?). Along with the sadness, though, is also fear; fear as a parent, that anything like this could ever happen to my beautiful daughters (or my wife), fear of what *I* could be capable of if I discovered such a thing had happened to them, and fear of the powerlessness of ever being in a situation where my own life could be destroyed by a false accusation.

exercise update

2009-03-19T14:15:04Z

Yesterday, after dinner, we took a nice stroll over to the house we almost bought last year. We spent a good chunk of time and money on inspections, estimates, etc. and rather than throw out all of that paperwork, we figured the new owners might find it useful, so we gave it to them. We took the girls and the stroller. All told, it was about 1.5 miles probably, including one very big hill. It was a nice walk -- looked like it was going to keep raining, but it never did.

Last night was a onehundredXups night:

onehundredpushups, week2 day1 = 14+14+10+10+25(max out)
onehundredsitups, week1 day2 = 10+12+8+8+25(max out)

This is the week that I should start to see some improvements in my pushup totals.

I also have been getting some passive stretching on my hamstrings with my wife's help. My hamstrings have been so tight/shortened for so long, I can't remember the last time I could touch my toes without bending my knees. My flexibility has never been great, but lack of attention to my hamstrings has put them in a terrible place. Everything is so tight in there that stretching the hammys also makes my calves uncomfortable. I wish sometimes I had a personal trainer who just worked with me on flexibility.

Center for Electronic Games announced

2009-03-18T12:59:43Z

The National Center for the History of Electronic Games has been announced right here in Rochester as part of the Strong National Museum of Play.

The Center is actively seeking additional examples of games, game platforms, handheld-game systems, toys that combine digital and traditional play, and supporting material of all types, including other game-inspired consumer products, packaging, advertising, historical records, and business and personal papers related to the design and production of electronic games and their use.

The Center encourages inquiries from individuals and organizations that have important electronic-games-related material that merits a permanent home where it can help inform future generations.

Very cool.

exercise udpate

2009-03-17T15:43:35Z

onehundredpushups, week 1, day 2 (last Wednesday)=10+12+8+8+25(max out)
onehundredpushups, week 1, day 3=11+15+9+9+24(max out)

onehundredsitups, week 1, day 1=10+12+7+7+29!(max out)

I need to get out and start running soon, too. Can't believe I only managed 19 situps on my exhaustion test last week. Must've had tired abs at the time, or something. So far, so good.

I also did some raking in the yard Sunday, which was good for a lot of core muscle groups, as well as arms and shoulders.

Cramer on Stewart, must see TV

2009-03-13T14:43:47Z

My love of this video is beyond words. Stewart does a fantastic job of articulating exactly what the clips show about "the game." I hope more people watch this and begin to understand the role the media plays in exploiting them financially. I also give credit to Cramer for coming on the show and facing it, even though he continues to lie to attempt to salvage some personal standing. In fairness to him (which you may believe he doesn't deserve, given his complicity as documented on the clips) it would be incredibly difficult for anyone in that situation to drop all pretenses and lay bare your soul. He seemed genuinely interested in not being defensive, nor in outright denials. I also love that Stewart doesn't completely tear him down.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B96vUHKN_I4&e

I want to know where Stewart took those clips from? Financial advisor training films or something?