tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81341052024-03-13T12:16:21.052-04:00May Shrink or FadeA Fortune 500 BlogTurbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.comBlogger573125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134105.post-88034233152143186752012-01-14T10:37:00.008-05:002012-01-15T19:24:27.439-05:00Vision Quest<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUieqvfgbfJMjV2UkJsBx_vIpxIvAYvvpYfiHx7vTGCzLSQ6MdiY6gSqmqF5ZucczbG-SRpiGLJs4gVXzddHyXo6hzJtN9d1K2Jp-c1W7yQDJcHNN32ZuBv72_21PNolsm51_Qxw/s1600/DSC03977.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 256px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUieqvfgbfJMjV2UkJsBx_vIpxIvAYvvpYfiHx7vTGCzLSQ6MdiY6gSqmqF5ZucczbG-SRpiGLJs4gVXzddHyXo6hzJtN9d1K2Jp-c1W7yQDJcHNN32ZuBv72_21PNolsm51_Qxw/s320/DSC03977.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5697524981941251746" /></a><br />Last summer, pal J.T. and I spent a week canoeing down the Allagash. Afterwards, I noticed something strange: for a brief time, maybe a week or so, something about my vision was different. Better. Mostly I noticed it while driving on the interstate through rural Maine. I kept seeing things way back in the woods that I normally wouldn't have seen: an unusual shrub, a bit of bark texture on a tree, a distant leaf falling, a porcupine moving. A porcupine! The porcupine was what really hit me. I know with certainty that I wouldn't normally have seen that. Or noticed that. Or-- well, which was it? Seen, or noticed?<div><br /></div><div>That is where my latest psycho-physical intellectual expedition began. I couldn't say whether I was seeing better, or noticing better, or both. I pondered what, on the canoe trip, could have changed my vision. Was it being outdoors, mostly? Was it being in so much daylight? Was it focusing more on distance, and less on near things (though I did do a lot of reading, at night)? Was it being in a canoe, with the entire world in motion for most of every day? Was it being on vacation, relaxed, unfindable by my patients? Was it the good company? Was it the Canadian whisky and chocolate puddings I'd consumed on the river?</div><div><br /></div><div>Aside: My vision is horrid. I got glasses for myopia at age 8, and have worn them essentially every waking moment since. The prescriptions grew incrementally stronger, almost every year, for 30 years. I am long since past the point where, if it were not for corrective lenses, I would be "legally blind". A person with my vision could not possibly navigate the world normally. I have always considered myself extremely fortunate to live in this century, and in this society-- because if I lived in a time or place without opticians, I'm pretty sure I would be dead by now. The sense of having a severely defective body part (two of them, actually) has been a subtle but persistent part of my whole life. If my eyes were teeth, they would be sticking out of the mouth perpendicularly and useless for chewing. If they were legs, then would only bend halfway at the knees, or one would be 6 inches shorter than the other. Sometimes, it has made me angry-- but, because the problem can be "corrected" (and so miraculously well), and because so many others are walking around with the same problem, I never really considered it a "disability", or something to feel sorry for myself about. </div><div><br /></div><div>Still, it has puzzled me enormously-- how did natural selection let this happen? How did my myopic ancestors manage to find each other in order to reproduce? How did my ancestors even <i>survive</i> long enough to reproduce? Why hasn't this been weeded out? Is there some unsung evolutionary advantage to being nearsighted, a silver lining like sickle cell anemia's protection against malaria? My dozens of past eye-care professionals have not been very interested in these questions. Mostly they have chalked my bad eyes up to, basically, "bad luck". The prevailing attitude has been, "Why worry too much about what caused the problem, when it's so simple to fix?" </div><div><br /></div><div>Back to the post-canoe experience: Something was better. I realized that I could not at all say whether I was (physically) seeing better, or (mentally) perceiving better. I realized there might not be much difference. I thought about how the eyes are directly hard-wired to the brain with nerves almost half a centimeter thick. I thought of <a href="https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/wang18/www/psych334/readings/harris1965.pdf">experiments in which people wearing distorting, inverting, or reversing lenses were able to adapt to seeing the world "normally" again</a>. What else is possible?</div><div><br /></div><div>This all led me to an obscure book by Aldous Huxley called The Art of Seeing, as well as unorthodox reading. I have a strange sense of optimism. More later.</div>Turbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134105.post-44930574711053534092011-06-11T15:14:00.025-04:002011-06-12T10:10:31.249-04:00Book Review, Weight Loss Experiment -- or, How a slightly flabby guy lost 20 pounds in 60 days without really trying[If you want to see the weight- and fat-loss graphs before reading anything, scroll down first.]<div><br /><div>Some months back, my pal 2 loaned me a copy of Tim Ferriss' book <a href="http://www.fourhourbody.com/"><span style="font-style:italic;">The 4-Hour Body</span></a>. She knows of <a href="http://coldhousejournal.com/">my experiments of living in a cold house</a>, and thought I would be interested in a chapter of the book in which the author reviews the idea that chilling your body (e.g., by ice baths) can induce rapid fat loss. (Other people have postulated, from the other direction, <a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/26/central-heating-may-be-making-us-fat/?ref=health">that being too warm could a factor in the obesity epidemic</a>). "The author," 2 said, "is a nutjob. But so are you, so you might like the book."</div><div><div>I left the book in a trunk for a month and didn't bother to open it until 2 asked for it back. After an hour of reading, I was intrigued. Mr. Ferriss immediately irritated the hell out of me with his cockiness, slangy phrasing, and name-dropping. But, I was drawn to some aspects of his personal approach to self-improvement: (1) Question dogma, (2) Experiment on everything, especially yourself, and (3) Data is critical.</div><div>It so happened that at the same time, I was growing a bit displeased with my body habitus. For the first 3 decades of my life, I'd been blessed with the ability to eat anything and everything in sight while still remaining some version of "skinny". I cannot tell you how much ice cream has gone down my hatch. About age 30, though, this miracle started to ebb. At age 42, I was 25lbs heavier than in high school. I wasn't really concerned about the health implications-- I was still well within "normal" body mass-- but three things were bothering me: (1) I had small love handles bulging over my bike shorts; (2) I could feel my thighs touch in the shower, which had never been the case before; (3) As a stomach-sleeper, I was starting to feel like I had a half-deflated beach-ball under me while sleeping.</div><div>I decided to try out the 4-Hour Body "slow carb" diet, along with the author's other whacky low-effort strategies. It has been a remarkable success. Much beyond what I expected. Here I present first the data/results, then the methods, then some observations.</div><div><b>RESULTS</b></div><div>On Mr. Ferriss' insistence, I decided to measure my body fat during the experiment. I opted for the method of a <a href="http://www.tanita.com/en/bf681w/">Tanita scale</a> which uses measurements of electrical impedance to estimate your % body fat (it also reads weight, in 0.1lb increments). This method can be variable with hydration level, and is considered more useful for monitoring your relative body fat over time than for getting an accurate single reading. But it's cheap and easy (going for a DEXA scan didn't really fit into my schedule or budget.)</div><div>So, starting four days before the experiment, and continuing through the next two months, I took daily readings of weight and body fat, always right after I woke up (post-pee, but before drinking or eating.) And here are the two beautiful graphs of what happened. First, simple weight in pounds:</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgflqG_-G3SvzznB_wh-mxsWQFJttVWkoNe_RwycBFwroh2rgXJ2Px8yy5BzliTG5J0ISX_RmUFNh9g1xSPsbZrM4UtjzHN0KfyLy6Zbm3YxL6goChayJbIBew8Jsl7QxT5wD-vWQ/s1600/Untitled.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 245px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgflqG_-G3SvzznB_wh-mxsWQFJttVWkoNe_RwycBFwroh2rgXJ2Px8yy5BzliTG5J0ISX_RmUFNh9g1xSPsbZrM4UtjzHN0KfyLy6Zbm3YxL6goChayJbIBew8Jsl7QxT5wD-vWQ/s320/Untitled.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617052670987567954" /></a><div>So, right. I went from about 168lbs to 148lbs. With some ups and downs, but, in the macro, in an almost linear fashion. The red dot was the day the experiment commenced. The orange dots are my weight the mornings after "cheat days" (see below). Next, a graph of the scale's body fat readings:</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJu-6C3oTQrARw_RNSEb6Fw-kJHswcH0qu-uJKah9ZLECXnhOUhbE0vaCsR4BYNHqcTwzrKFnvw5IXhFv2HRGbUoTCGyAiiRPWdi2QrVRtJHtbtx5vr9nXMCkd10CWDDya_cfLcw/s1600/Untitled2.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 218px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJu-6C3oTQrARw_RNSEb6Fw-kJHswcH0qu-uJKah9ZLECXnhOUhbE0vaCsR4BYNHqcTwzrKFnvw5IXhFv2HRGbUoTCGyAiiRPWdi2QrVRtJHtbtx5vr9nXMCkd10CWDDya_cfLcw/s320/Untitled2.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617053893849129730" /></a><div>Again, a pretty linear drop. Again, I was quite astonished that these things were changing with almost no actual effort on my part. I had not expected much; if had I not seen a clear trend within 10 days, I probably would have quit. But now, in only 8 weeks, I am back to the BMI I had 20 years ago. I feel really good. My three issues have all resolved. I'm amazed, and yes, even though Mr. Ferriss definitely does NOT need your money, I'm proselytizing for his book.</div><div><b>METHODS</b></div><div>If you're going to do this, you really need to read the book (only fourteen bucks on Amazon, or go to the library). I can't do justice to the detail, or the motivation, of the book. But I'll summarize the plan, to give you a sense of how simple it is at the core.</div><div>For eating, five rules: (1) ONE DAY A WEEK, EAT WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT. Really. On the other days: (2) No simple ("white") carbs-- no wheat, rice, sugar, corn, quinoa, potatoes, none of it. (3) Eat the same few meals over and over. These must consist of vegetables + legumes (beans or lentils) + protein (lean meat or eggs). (4) Don't drink anything with calories. Exception, for some reason, for 1-2 glasses of red wine nightly. Diet Coke okay (luckily) in moderation. (5) Don't eat fruit.</div><div>Beyond this, Mr. Ferriss offers other strategies that I employed selectively:</div><div>-- He promotes cinnamon for its salutary effects on blood glucose. I routinely added cinnamon to my coffee throughout the experiment (delicious, btw). Just today I discovered how good cinnamon + Diet Coke tastes. Wish I'd tried that earlier.</div><div>-- He discusses research on the GLUT-4 glucose transporter (discovered since I was in med school). GLUT-4 transports glucose into muscle cells, and may brought into action for a period of time after vigorous muscular contraction. So, Mr. Ferriss prescribes 60-90 seconds of vigorous exercise a few minutes before a meal, and ideally again about 90 minutes after (when blood glucose peaks). This helps move glucose into muscle cells, rather than (via insulin) into fat storage. To comply, I did as Mr. Ferriss suggests: a whacky series of air squats before each meal (sometimes in restaurant bathroom stalls, as he also did.)</div><div>-- He discusses some supplements that increase insulin sensitivity (policosanol, Alpha-lipoic acid, garlic extract, green tea flavanols.) I picked these up at Whole Foods, but used them only on "cheat days"-- and even then, not reliably.</div><div>The plan does not require you to keep track of or limit how much you eat (calorie-wise), and I didn't. It doesn't require any specific exercise, other than the 5-10 minutes a day of air-squats. I did about my usual amount of biking for this time of year, which amounted to an average of 6.75 miles/day over the two months. Pretty much no other exercise to speak of. I did not take any ice baths, either.</div><div><b>OBSERVATIONS</b></div><div>The first and most remarkable thing: I was never hungry. Really, just about never. In fact, I was less often hungry on this diet than I was when I ate my usual way. My "usual way" is actually quite "healthy", but much heavier on whole-wheat bread, granola, brown rice, and other carbs.</div><div>I did get carb cravings now and then-- but I could tell they were more psychological than physical. I missed bread a lot. But it wasn't so bad.</div><div>Plus, whatever I felt I was missing, I knew I could have on Cheat Day-- which was never more than 6 days away. My day for cheating was Saturdays. On Saturdays I didn't go out of my way to seriously binge, but I didn't hold back. I ate stacks of banana pancakes with syrup, I ate danishes, I had lattés, I drank many beers and gin & tonics, I ate halves-of-pizzas, I had big sandwiches with mayo and whole bags of cheezy-poofs.</div><div>I typically gained 3-4lbs on Cheat Day, showing up as a huge spike on the weight graph-- but less notable on the body fat graph, suggesting it was mostly water retention. Invariably, the weight came off again after. Every day-before-cheat-day was lower than the previous day-before-cheat-day. It was hugely, hugely motivating to have this level of data to reinforce that going on was worthwhile. (You might think it could all be done faster without cheat days. Two reasons this is not true: first, you'll go bonkers and quit, and second, according to Mr. Ferriss' theories, you might actually need one day a week to "convince your body that you aren't starving" and keep the weight loss from halting.)</div><div>Outside of sanctioned Cheat Days, I cheated very little. Once or twice I substituted a no-sugar mohito for a glass of wine. Once or twice I had a forbidden beer on a Friday night. A few times I mistakenly ate bits of fruit that came with a salad or whatever. But I was 95% compliant.</div><div>In the book, Mr. Ferriss advises people to eat canned beans and lentils, for convenience. Normally I do use canned beans, but with the quantity of beans I was headed for these months, I switched to cooking up my own from bulk dried. Soak a pound or two Saturday night, boil them Sunday morning, and then you've got enough in the fridge for the week. </div><div>What I ate:</div><div>Breakfast: Always the same. One egg, about 1/3 cup additional egg whites, a cup of chopped frozen spinach, mustard greens, or other veggies, and about 1/2 cup black beans. Occasionally a bit of bacon in there. Mixed up with salt, pepper, seasonings, fried up with a splash of olive oil. Water with a splash of lime, and coffee.</div><div>Lunch: Typically some sort of salad with sliced chicken and beans (I kept a tupperware of beans at work to add to whatever I found for a salad.) Diet Coke.</div><div>Dinner: Some staples were fish tacos (using romaine lettuce leaves as a taco shell), turkey & bean chili, chicken curry, lentil stew or dhal, grilled fish & veggies... pretty much what I'd be eating anyway, just minus the bread/rice/corn/beer. (I did take up the wine option, though. And occasionally I substituted a sugar-free mohito.)</div><div>Snacks: Almonds, celery with some peanut butter... not much. I didn't really feel much need to snack.</div><div>So, that's it. If you have a few pounds to lose, and don't mind having people think you're kind of odd, you should try this.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div>Turbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134105.post-72295679657946412702010-04-23T13:58:00.003-04:002010-04-23T14:06:20.066-04:00Should Have Antique PlatesToday is the third day of commuting on the new-antique bike. Yesterday, at a slow corner on the bike path, a man coming the other way on one of those crazy folding bikes with tiny wheels flagged me down, evidently just to look at the Raleigh. "How many speeds do you have?", he asked. "At the moment", I replied, "four that work, and one that doesn't". "Wow", he said in a tone of voice I generally reserve for admiring large wooden boats built before the Hoover administration , "<span style="font-style:italic;">A Sturmey-Archer five...</span>." Yessir. And 80% functional, too.Turbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134105.post-80925057221340453242010-04-22T10:57:00.002-04:002010-04-22T11:01:29.919-04:00Patient Scrabble™I've been in private practice now for three years. Strangely, I still don't have any clients with last names beginning with E, I, J, Q, U, X, or Y. If you know of anyone with one of these surnames, please inquire whether they need a psychiatrist. I'm trying to complete my file-cabinet alphabet.<br /><br />Equally strangely, I have a dozen clients with "W" last names. And they aren't all the same family.Turbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134105.post-60966202353475978282010-04-18T15:59:00.004-04:002010-04-18T16:07:48.974-04:00I can haz new bike<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOedgmw6omfN5cf6GnuHOlSJZrck59q8J-9i0wjinqVZGrnDGUE5CITVdGbeQMNkCey4FxRPc5SpzByVVE6ck9g9q0RIjL-MWnwGTQWSFr5rmq7EkudogtTQCblLpH75a8GYVRaQ/s1600/DSC03508.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 62px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOedgmw6omfN5cf6GnuHOlSJZrck59q8J-9i0wjinqVZGrnDGUE5CITVdGbeQMNkCey4FxRPc5SpzByVVE6ck9g9q0RIjL-MWnwGTQWSFr5rmq7EkudogtTQCblLpH75a8GYVRaQ/s320/DSC03508.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5461570757090901762" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgstblYB1h7HUTqouhQO8UGsPL02Eo0TFI_YhSDBmPKWjurrCwtyjhr8DJnS5RshvgQ5T6ncFvt4mxJC5SaQMg23d_XrJ9FaUQDKrpUadnk5LkrWHCgGfvFcvGq6VkJML96g6jaGQ/s1600/DSC03507.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 95px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgstblYB1h7HUTqouhQO8UGsPL02Eo0TFI_YhSDBmPKWjurrCwtyjhr8DJnS5RshvgQ5T6ncFvt4mxJC5SaQMg23d_XrJ9FaUQDKrpUadnk5LkrWHCgGfvFcvGq6VkJML96g6jaGQ/s320/DSC03507.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5461570751930865090" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9RsuTq2dnO_FKoY52lHPybxN0eyc7phytd8iEGN8oiICeV5sLEy76gb4kl1rPJKB2AHX-U4AokXVZWDRn-rRNaLD9Y59pev7STbPZNXeh5rYZMHLtlsR35Oru0AM4L6NlYaAc9g/s1600/DSC03510.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 181px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9RsuTq2dnO_FKoY52lHPybxN0eyc7phytd8iEGN8oiICeV5sLEy76gb4kl1rPJKB2AHX-U4AokXVZWDRn-rRNaLD9Y59pev7STbPZNXeh5rYZMHLtlsR35Oru0AM4L6NlYaAc9g/s320/DSC03510.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5461570725705556354" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjBX-tExoGySAxfTbuFJlb8aCRViuH66x8jzz-l2HaNC0XqWbrGXOo74Lo2e55vn6_33958XxLN_t8df_EsmELLeAarKXWbejXcYsZHBPqBiIAKySIAME2NbGpsE8eyR7P1vWWiw/s1600/DSC03509.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjBX-tExoGySAxfTbuFJlb8aCRViuH66x8jzz-l2HaNC0XqWbrGXOo74Lo2e55vn6_33958XxLN_t8df_EsmELLeAarKXWbejXcYsZHBPqBiIAKySIAME2NbGpsE8eyR7P1vWWiw/s320/DSC03509.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5461570444639300162" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS9LRPjOX5xiT7O8h78Qx14GZYV1uRQKMh-ZAuAAIbR1kPY6c5sPmx6pW3tUiMePcGfYeEMnlpKOQzkB0gRSQQQzbyabvdSRxZ6DmhBCElEj-_2tYDpRm5oXpIUq26lF5EP2QxVQ/s1600/DSC03504.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS9LRPjOX5xiT7O8h78Qx14GZYV1uRQKMh-ZAuAAIbR1kPY6c5sPmx6pW3tUiMePcGfYeEMnlpKOQzkB0gRSQQQzbyabvdSRxZ6DmhBCElEj-_2tYDpRm5oXpIUq26lF5EP2QxVQ/s320/DSC03504.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5461570432450865442" /></a><br />I'm pretty excited about this. It's older than me. It has five gears, internal, in a peculiar arrangement. It's a really pleasant ride-- a feeling I don't think I've had on a bike since "10 speeds" became the must-have fashion.Turbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134105.post-11404335892719494522009-12-02T06:31:00.002-05:002009-12-02T06:32:05.586-05:00Xmas<a href="http://stylecrave.com/2009-01-08/slidescooter-by-riminimoto-is-fun/">All I want for Christmas</a>. I'll probably lose my two front teeth, so that's what I'll be asking for next year. Thanks Santa!Turbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134105.post-69390010518710165082009-12-01T22:03:00.004-05:002009-12-01T22:09:13.835-05:00Slight Dilemma of the BurbsSince the recent move, I now find myself in a situation where going to Wal-Mart for a needed item (say, a piece of rope) is a 1.5 mile round-trip drive (or scoot, or bike, or walk), while going to the nearest independent-ish hardware merchant for the same thing involves 10 miles round-trip. Which is the better choice?Turbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134105.post-48674707818029031362009-12-01T09:55:00.002-05:002009-12-01T09:58:58.972-05:00BrrrDecember 1st, and still no snow-- so still commuting by scooter from the New Suburban House to the office! Today was the first below-freezing commute (29º when I left) but it was sunny and fairly pleasant.<br /><br />Here's a fabulous fact I learned recently: if you're using those disposable iron-filings-with-charcoal hand warmer packs, and you only need them for a short period (say, four miles of scootering), you can seal them up in a ziploc afterwards and they abort their heating process until you re-open! This is great. One set of hand warmers can last a week of commuting this way!Turbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134105.post-76914548189318208122009-11-18T13:13:00.001-05:002009-11-18T13:13:31.911-05:00Deflation WarningA medium latté downstairs from my office has been $3.00 since I moved my practice here two years ago. I liked the evenness of the price. I could go down with three one dollar bills and get a latté. No pesky change to deal with. I knew some day the price would increase, and I'd have to go down with four bills and come back with a quarter-pound of annoying coins.<br /><br />But yesterday, they told me the price had dropped to $2.94. What the? For reals?<br /><br />I suggest: Sell your stocks. Sell your gold. Sell your house. Sell every tangible thing you can. Put it all in cash. Housing prices dropping might've been an isolated event; but when coffee prices drop, too, you know deflation is coming.Turbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134105.post-72661718567879270102009-11-12T13:40:00.001-05:002009-11-12T13:42:21.833-05:00Take The Quiz!Take the I-Just-Moved Competition Quiz, and see how you rank against others!<br /><br />[ ] All of my boxes are unpacked or moved in proper storage locations<br />[ ] I have cooked at home at least one of the past two nights<br />[ ] I know where my toothbrush is<br />[ ] The bank knows my new address<br />[ ] The DMV knows my new address<br />[ ] I am registered to vote in my new location<br />[ ] I have keys for all the locks on my house, and I know which lock every new key goes to.<br />[ ] I did not almost trip over an unknown object and nearly kill myself in the dark last night trying to get into bed.<br />[ ] I have finished enough of the items on the first back-of-an-envelope to-do list I made to warrant making a new list on the back of a new envelope.<br />[ ] I have actually calmed down enough to take a walk around my new neighborhood.<br />[ ] I know where the hot water heater, circuit breaker box, and furnace (if any) are.<br />[ ] The hot water heater, circuit breaker box, and furnace are all working fine.<br />[ ] If someone visits and needs a needle and thread, a band-aid, and a box of tissues, I could find these all within five minutes.<br /><br />Now just add up the number of checked boxes. Add to that 1/2 point for each new neighbor you have met. Multiply by 10. Divide the result by the number of nights you have been at your new address. What is your score?!?<br /><br />0-5: You are an utter failure! You should never move again. You should never have moved in the first place. Worse than amateur.<br />6-10: You are basically no good at this. You should consider living in an RV for the rest of your life.<br />11-15: You are below average, but you will probably live through it. Next time, make some sort of plan.<br />16-20: You are mediocre. No one will mistake you for a professional, but there will probably be no long-term psychological damage.<br />21-25: You are doing above-average. You might even fool someone, such as your dog, into thinking you have been at your place several days longer than your really have.<br />26-30: You are an excellent mover. In fact, it's kind of suspicious. Possibly, you were actually "moving" into a house you already sort of lived in, such as a boyfriend's or your own summer place.<br />30 and above: You didn't move. You just thought you did. You're really in the same place you were before.Turbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134105.post-82797090708811482392009-11-02T06:28:00.005-05:002009-11-02T06:41:13.093-05:00ProductMoving to the quasi-suburbs next week. Will have a garage, soon. Need to fix the garage-door opener. Went to Sears website looking for the part. Found <a href="http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00953949000P?vName=Tools&cName=Garage+Door+Openers&sName=Garage+Door+Opener+Accessories">this</a>, for $5.99, and started cracking up:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEPdw6A9KLxySIkXqPjexclAjpBMg5DYQKmATzgBs39jxWmNUO7FKwDyFVpscfA9qP_o-QSUM_hsx2Z33YIWK_wOBDVQhGrNJfl7K6QaT6orvPf0mR-TKYlt9zwxFKeDljb8pw1A/s1600-h/ball.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 191px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEPdw6A9KLxySIkXqPjexclAjpBMg5DYQKmATzgBs39jxWmNUO7FKwDyFVpscfA9qP_o-QSUM_hsx2Z33YIWK_wOBDVQhGrNJfl7K6QaT6orvPf0mR-TKYlt9zwxFKeDljb8pw1A/s200/ball.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399468040481952434" /></a>What is it? It's an object on a string. You dangle it from the ceiling of your garage so it bumps on your windshield when your car is far enough in. A useful idea-- but do people actually <span style="font-style:italic;">buy</span> these, rather than tie an object to a string and dangle it from the roof of the garage? Particularly amusing is that the product is advertised as being "completely automatic" (much in the way that, say, a coffee mug is "automatic") and that "complete installation instructions are included". (I am envisioning the "troubleshooting" section of the "instructions" as being especially potentially amusing.)Turbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134105.post-21941219466254889402009-10-28T07:10:00.003-04:002009-10-28T07:12:22.509-04:00Sad story<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/27/massachusetts.hospital.attack/index.html">A sad story from Boston today</a>. Hard to know what to make of it, without more information. One thing, though-- you'll never read about this happening at Green Acres. Because the security guards there aren't allowed to put their hands on the patients, let alone carry weapons.Turbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134105.post-73210209257566308942009-10-26T07:36:00.007-04:002009-10-26T08:05:10.000-04:00Funny #2Dragonfly's comment on the last post reminded me that, in addition to the carbon-free sugar, J. also brought home this product:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJrnNHoQznT2pZVhGkd6lG9p_KSn_aKPWRULQs6Ch0iejBuwLa3Wp4eN_97oo35Zpb5c2_eny0521lhuSGRuhS9LbF-6PhkAFbBgx7iT6-f_62wQcc890B3ZVYGTMNmwvk0nCxbg/s1600-h/DSC03339.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJrnNHoQznT2pZVhGkd6lG9p_KSn_aKPWRULQs6Ch0iejBuwLa3Wp4eN_97oo35Zpb5c2_eny0521lhuSGRuhS9LbF-6PhkAFbBgx7iT6-f_62wQcc890B3ZVYGTMNmwvk0nCxbg/s320/DSC03339.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396872194557615138" /></a>Yes, it appears to be canola oil in a can-- and yet it is "calorie free" and allows you to undertake "fat free cooking"? How can this be? We view the back of the label:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjySHr4StqYB-4c5NN_hRqz7M0UE6onA8rDatH9vfpoJYUFfSFr_b3kA67bfl_sINJDrEC5y4swyDP-f89L9Cweb447GPZo8Ytnw1QQapiJ-g0rby7zSUnGtep50z3xQu5XHKRpGA/s1600-h/DSC03338.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 141px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjySHr4StqYB-4c5NN_hRqz7M0UE6onA8rDatH9vfpoJYUFfSFr_b3kA67bfl_sINJDrEC5y4swyDP-f89L9Cweb447GPZo8Ytnw1QQapiJ-g0rby7zSUnGtep50z3xQu5XHKRpGA/s320/DSC03338.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396872188018529426" /></a>Here again, confirmed: there are 0 grams of fat in the product. We read further to the list of ingredients:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlaS1J-sSJ2FRIdQTIkSc6-ZzgNeWzCI18TK6JV1fOSqmR-u05uidKLUqP2N-HwrJHGpE9djr3Zwg8pbDUuld1l10xNAP569V7Sm0T6Q_ZaKinZNSgPmJvJ9zTJnJ-p3pl7zXTKg/s1600-h/DSC03337.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 155px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlaS1J-sSJ2FRIdQTIkSc6-ZzgNeWzCI18TK6JV1fOSqmR-u05uidKLUqP2N-HwrJHGpE9djr3Zwg8pbDUuld1l10xNAP569V7Sm0T6Q_ZaKinZNSgPmJvJ9zTJnJ-p3pl7zXTKg/s320/DSC03337.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396872183588244514" /></a>What the H? The main ingredient is confirmed to be canola oil, a substance known to science to have 5g of fat (and 40 calories) per teaspoon. In fact, it is known to science to be fat, all fat, and nothing but fat. So how can the contents of the can be fat-free, calorie free?<br /><br />Evidently, and this makes smoke come out of my ears, if you define the "serving size" of your food product to be so small that the amount of fat delivered is "less than 0.5 grams of fat per reference amount and per labeled serving of a food", then you can call the product "fat free"-- even if it is, in fact, nearly 100% fat. And this is what we find on the canola spray: "serving size" is defined as "1/4 second spray", or "0.25 grams" (or 1/20th of a teaspoon, if you can image a quantity that small). <span style="font-style:italic;">In fact, the little 6-ounce can contains 557 servings!</span> Yeah, sure it does. If you can make a stir-fry using this product every night for a year and half before it runs out-- well, I'll be very impressed.Turbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134105.post-72028591028248816372009-10-25T21:16:00.002-04:002009-10-25T21:21:20.918-04:00Just Funny<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPM3chQAu5f4vMs-k8GuQ-636pNKUFcD3_xJcJ9hP0jx_DRyFR0tF5ow4GRC7ebnRKkVMGduiXoPeGqJEXJj46bhGgf4ErfTzjEKRlQ9VCPrLZaGB5c7BhaleeLCwaHyD9q9FIlw/s1600-h/DSC03336.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPM3chQAu5f4vMs-k8GuQ-636pNKUFcD3_xJcJ9hP0jx_DRyFR0tF5ow4GRC7ebnRKkVMGduiXoPeGqJEXJj46bhGgf4ErfTzjEKRlQ9VCPrLZaGB5c7BhaleeLCwaHyD9q9FIlw/s320/DSC03336.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396712528204903154" /></a><br />J. brought this "carbon-free" sugar home from the store the other day. Hilarious! Carbon-free carbohydrates? What will they think up next-- hydrogen-free water?Turbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134105.post-32615749101520572472009-10-19T16:03:00.001-04:002009-10-19T16:04:52.659-04:00Phone ConversationI called Favorite and Only Nephew prior to his 5th birthday party.<br /><br />Turbo: So are all your friends coming to your party?<br />FAON: No. Only the ones I like.Turbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134105.post-85344726352100384652009-10-14T05:46:00.004-04:002009-10-14T05:52:34.659-04:00Satanic LyricsI was listening to some Joni Mitchell, as I am wont to do-- specifically "This Flight Tonight"-- and was perhaps paying more attention than usual to the lyrics. Hidden deep in the last verse is this:<br /><br />"Up go the flaps, down go the wheels<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">I hope you got your heat turned on baby</span>"<br /><br />(Italics mine.) How terribly disappointing. I may have to re-think my whole Joni Mitchell fandom. I may have to re-think my whole <span style="font-style:italic;">Canadian</span> fandom. Of course, this song was written after she had already moved to the U.S.-- specifically, southern California-- which might explain why she had, evidently, become feeble of mind and constitution and required the heat to be turned on.<br /><br />Or is hoping that her "baby" has "turned on" his (her?) "heat" here not supposed to be taken literally?Turbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134105.post-73143393675887404982009-10-07T05:43:00.003-04:002009-10-07T05:52:36.398-04:00A Green Acres InterludeSuppose someone offered you one day of work, with this job description:<br /><br />- Arrive at 8am, leave at 4:30pm, half an hour for lunch, two coffee breaks.<br />- Candidate will talk to 4-6 people to hear what is on their minds.<br />- Candidate will attend several meetings, 30-45 minutes each. Meeting topics will range from tedious to fascinating.<br />- Candidate will write a 1-2 page report summarizing each interview and meeting above.<br />- At 2pm, a large, unpleasant man unknown to you will be held, by staff, approximately two feet away from you. The man will scroff up a huge guggle of saliva and will spit it all over your face.<br /><br />What sort of payment would you find acceptable for this day of work? Just throw out some numbers. Because I'm having trouble deciding what fair market value is. Sometimes it seems less like going to work and more like being on "Fear Factor".Turbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134105.post-24661431287828562009-10-04T21:01:00.002-04:002009-10-04T21:03:50.981-04:00IdealA scooter is perfect for many things. But of all, the thing it is perhaps most perfect for is bringing home take-out Brit-Indian on a cool fall evening. Because you can just roar up to the place and slam on your brakes and run in with your helmet to get the food, then put the bag in the under-seat compartment that stays warm from the engine, and get home and eat it, still hot. It really is perfect.Turbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134105.post-84702171017141704272009-10-02T21:35:00.004-04:002009-10-02T21:51:21.191-04:00A House DividedYesterday after work I returned to my scooter, which was parked in one of the [fantastic] new Smallish City scooter-parking areas. I noticed that every other scooter there had a little white paper notice attached to it somewhere, but mine did not. I pulled one off a friend's Vespa to investigate. It was a crudely photocopied invitation to the first-ever Smallish City scooter rally! To be held on Columbus Day, at the oceanfront park! <br /><br />At the bottom of the invitation, it said "So that we can all ride together, maximum engine size 150cc. <span style="font-style:italic;">50cc preferred</span>. [italics original]".<br /><br />So. My scooter is a 150. Looks just the same as a 50, just has a little more juice under the hood. Believe it or not, I can ride<span style="font-style:italic;"> just as slowly</span> as a 50cc scooter. But apparently, I will be, at best, <span style="font-style:italic;">tolerated </span>at the scooter rally. Clearly, the person passing out invites purposefully skipped over my little red scoot. Not invited.<br /><br />Well. I don't like the way they play. I may just show up anyway, with my bad-ass monster-engine scooter, wearing my black leather, smoking, and lurking on the fringes of their little party, revving my engine menacingly. They best be careful. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkYaoiwKhBJQeUOeLIB9e1nhD6ZgTOWiiRuNbp4aDpcze0SrCqfSWXQFb7O7bE1xtlrswkMbFNwjZtn0Zcggbgex8T4RQz1nB_fkWVCD-WJtu0RI7uKtMUYEBVt4uRGFm9ow-BWw/s1600-h/vesparossa.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 173px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkYaoiwKhBJQeUOeLIB9e1nhD6ZgTOWiiRuNbp4aDpcze0SrCqfSWXQFb7O7bE1xtlrswkMbFNwjZtn0Zcggbgex8T4RQz1nB_fkWVCD-WJtu0RI7uKtMUYEBVt4uRGFm9ow-BWw/s200/vesparossa.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388184580540526482" /></a>Turbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134105.post-11839548838639782572009-09-27T19:05:00.003-04:002009-09-27T19:06:58.674-04:00Experiment<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBzW-8DCnLqpok1AjI7h0oUE-QkiNBFcJdhF58lbA66eaAxAUJDYJkUUoIgoeFhlUT5K3ZCPBF_NzkKS_D-udhTydOJD2DoKdQSjeRS2D_t-CMGzBGO53FhSzjqnxpze9eVDqv8g/s1600-h/DSC03328.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBzW-8DCnLqpok1AjI7h0oUE-QkiNBFcJdhF58lbA66eaAxAUJDYJkUUoIgoeFhlUT5K3ZCPBF_NzkKS_D-udhTydOJD2DoKdQSjeRS2D_t-CMGzBGO53FhSzjqnxpze9eVDqv8g/s400/DSC03328.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386287596586273842" /></a><br />Wonder what happens if you feed green M&Ms to a neutered animal?Turbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134105.post-81477395211975378462009-09-20T19:08:00.003-04:002009-09-20T19:12:34.423-04:00EscalationAccordion Neighbor is out on his back stoop giving yet another involuntary "concert" for the neighborhood. This time, as a new twist, he has supplied one of his daughters with [what sounds like] a a steel pie-plate and big metal spoon to bang it with. It's really hard to believe this is not some kind of social psychology experiment.<br /><br />But it will not be part of my life for long. I'm moving to the suburbs. Really (sort of. Barely.) <br /><br />Stay tuned.Turbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134105.post-15782484879382973102009-09-08T21:21:00.002-04:002009-09-08T21:29:02.809-04:00Google Maps Bloopers, Part IA few days after returning from 10 nights on the boat (!!), I asked Google Maps for directions to the Knox County Airport (I got a glider ride for my birthday! It was excellent!). This is the map I got:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK7J9Q3OmQxuw5oygdY58LOe_4-Kb0ws70EdoV3VNAsrn1FnJN4y2Qb0P_IsWPtV2q-6ig-IFXwodzwojJzmVI_Uy-wRAY5niQusMGVAxNAs0W141KkUFyw3I5HrVj1wTz0G-YNg/s1600-h/Snapshot+2009-09-04+08-04-31.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK7J9Q3OmQxuw5oygdY58LOe_4-Kb0ws70EdoV3VNAsrn1FnJN4y2Qb0P_IsWPtV2q-6ig-IFXwodzwojJzmVI_Uy-wRAY5niQusMGVAxNAs0W141KkUFyw3I5HrVj1wTz0G-YNg/s400/Snapshot+2009-09-04+08-04-31.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379273517123093410" /></a><br />The corresponding text directions to this route would read, roughly: "Take old abandoned railroad tracks and generally cut cross-country to Rockland. Then hie on out across the bay for Owl's Head. Take a bee-line across Owl's Head, then hang a left out into Penobscot Bay and keep going-- stay dry!-- until you get close to the Fox Island Thorofare. Then sharp right through the water and drop anchor somewhere around Hurricane Island."<br /><br />It's almost like Google knew where I'd rather be...Turbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134105.post-64333135705454424742009-07-14T13:05:00.004-04:002009-07-14T13:16:40.608-04:00Up On The RoofThere's little to no sun in the Turbopalace backyard, and the soil is (I assume) infested with lead, so I've never considered having a vegetable garden. But this year I decided to try farming on the roof, which gets plenty of sun. Getting to the roof involves a ladder climb and some scrambling, which would be a bit annoying on a daily basis-- so my parents kindly sent me a "self-watering tomato container kit" (this was before we knew that any old flowerpot put outdoors <span style="font-style:italic;">this</span> summer would be self-watering). I also planted several pots of peppers and some basil. The tomatoes got knocked down by wind several times, and I'm not sure they're going to produce anything. But the peppers are doing great up there.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCNuLX-kh3Ksmqc03jFXTomaBAzfOQLPCqeiMpWnVPJ0enMlLol3p_10Z0qgmWwzp2UE7G9qXXhjhdvsbUD4ncDbDKUAor0S5XKontl6MVCODXHVSasui8m8VIBblAZkgn6CcwxQ/s1600-h/DSC03148.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 290px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCNuLX-kh3Ksmqc03jFXTomaBAzfOQLPCqeiMpWnVPJ0enMlLol3p_10Z0qgmWwzp2UE7G9qXXhjhdvsbUD4ncDbDKUAor0S5XKontl6MVCODXHVSasui8m8VIBblAZkgn6CcwxQ/s400/DSC03148.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358365421863999954" /></a>There is also another experiment happening on the roof, which you can read about <a href="http://coldhousejournal.blogspot.com/2009/07/warm-house-journal.html">on the sub-blog</a>.Turbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134105.post-45249839876436801402009-07-12T20:46:00.004-04:002009-07-12T21:02:50.637-04:00Kids These DaysFinally had a nice (weather-wise) weekend. My whole family was here for a few days (hi!). After everyone left, J. and I took the kayaks out for a late afternoon paddle up a bucolic river a few towns north. As we came around a bend I saw a group of teenagers taking turns jumping off an old railroad bridge into the river. There were four or five boys, and a similar number of girls. My first thought was, "That's great. Young people outside in the summer, flirting and jumping into rivers in the sun, just like in Springsteen songs and <span style="font-style:italic;">Stand By Me</span>." My next thought was "I hope they don't think we're terrible old people who are going to spoil their fun by calling the police to say there are some delinquents on the railroad bridge." <br /><br />As we approached, one of the kids yelled out "Kayakers!" I was impressed that they cared enough to hold up their fun while we passed, and tried to return the respect by pulling over to the side of the river away from their group as we came towards the bridge.<br /><br />But I had it all wrong. They were waiting not for us to pass, but to arrive. A boy-teen came over to my side of the bridge and waited until I was just at the bridge, then cannonballed himself from the considerable height to land right next to my boat. J. was right behind me, and another youth did the same to her. I was so surprised by the sudden antisocial behavior that I didn't do what I later wished I had-- kayaked back up to the swimmer and beat him senseless my paddle. J. did have the presence of mind to yell "Assholes" at them, but that just brought chuckles.<br /><br />I wished, in the end, that I had brought my cell phone so that I could've called the police to say there are some delinquents on the railroad bridge.Turbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8134105.post-71534913108671122072009-07-08T11:24:00.003-04:002009-07-08T11:26:49.911-04:00Mine. You can't use.I'm amused to see that Starbucks has trademarked the phrase <a href="http://www.starbucks.com/SHAREDPLANET/index.aspx">"Shared Planet"</a>. Just a little ironic to claim intellectual property rights over those two words, isn't it?Turbohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265044671480149502noreply@blogger.com0