And By The Way...

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

Just In Case You Were Wondering

Yes, I can pass 8th-grade math:

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

An Icy Wind

Morning weigh-in: 182#, 6.5% BF

So cold/dry lately, I think I may be dehydrating through my skin. I drank two pints of water in the night last night & still had a low percent of body fat -- which I think is not as accurate for body fat, so much as it is for hydration...

Meantime: car's in the shop, getting an oil change, new tires and inspection. I walked to Which Brew Friday night, hit the gym (via the singlespeed) Saturday, back to WB Saturday night to see the Roamin' Gabriels (very good), then rode Allamuchy on Sunday with Doug, Rich, Bob & Karen, Lee, Dave, and some couple I didn't know. Very cold, but a very good ride. Um, bike needs work.

That is all.

Except this: skin's doing OK but not great. I've pretty reached the pre-selected date where I give up & see the doctor; unless there's a dramatic change I'll probably make an appointment for this week.

Time Flies When You Don't Post

Morning weigh-in: 182#, 8.5% BF

Not much to say...

Wednesday night was the trail maintenance get-together at the Wildflower Cafe in Bethlehem. Not as rancorous as we (OK, I) thought it would be, though there were some rough patches (mainly between two different cliques of downhillers), some of which don't really look like they will end up getting smoothed over any time soon... Step one is communication though. We also started getting our act together for removing the trash lying around up at Sals.

After the meeting, then some bike talk with Dave (he lives in Bethlehem, rode his new bike to the meeting), Doug and I went over to JP McGrady's and met a post-work Eric for a quick beer.

Last night I was extremely tired after work, so no gym/run/etc, just dinner (tuna & wilted greens) and I was in bed by 9:30.

The Man With The Lightbulb Head

Morning weigh-in: 182#, 6.5% BF

Well, the benadryl didn't do much for my skin, but it sure helped with the ol' insomnia -- I basically passed out last night after dinner (chili, rice, salad); even though I had a ton of things that needed doing I just couldn't keep my eyes open, so I just went to bed.

Forgot to mention: Among my errands on Saturday was a trip to the barber. I've been going downtown to this old-school Italian guy named Leo, who cuts it pretty short but leaves the top somewhat longer, ie clippers on sides & back, scissors up top. It has a ridiculous egg-headed look before I brush it in the morning, maybe even after...

Free Milk! Oatmeal In My Hair!!

Morning weigh-in: 181#, 13% BF

Friday night was a run rather than the towpath (wind, time constraints, whatever), then I walked downtown to the good old WB to see the Insidious Rays -- who apparently decided to put their worst foot forward, starting with their lamer and more annoying material, but the show got a lot better when they hit their stride with the "good songs" ...

Saturday was gym/chores. I was in the organic food store, and I wanted to get some milk but they were all out. A woman buying four half-gallons actually gave me one of hers, which was way cool of her. I think it threw a monkey wrench into her planning though, because she sorta forgot that it was already paid for by her, so I got my milk free. Don't know her but the cashier said she's a regular; I'll make sure she's covered next time she gets milk.

Saturday night was a party down by the towpath: "Bad Andy" had a wine-tasting party at the house he's fixing up. Electricity & a functional bathroom, fireplaces & coal stoves but that's about it, no insulation or internal walls except the bathroom. I brought some chilean merlot, sampled a bunch of stuff but nothing really made an impression. Had a nice creepy/scary walk there along the towpath (his backyard abuts the right-of-way), much longer on foot than I realized, maybe as much as 4-5 miles. I therefore left early, a little before midnight, so I could get home at a reasonable hour, be ready for morning.

Sunday was another crockpot of chili, and a morning ride with Doug at Lehigh. I filled the pot before leaving for the party, so all I had to do was just put it on the heater and hit the road. Good ride, though I felt a little under the weather, no real high-intensity endurance right now. Got home, took a nap and then ate chili...

Today I decided to work on the underlying cause of my recent/ongoing itch problem, namely dry skin. The humidifier is back on anyway, but I also went online, found a few home remedies to help with moisture. The key apparently is hydration of the skin from the outside, then preventing dehydration with oils. Showers are out, baths are in; soap is out, colloidial oatmeal is the new clean. I went and got some of that stuff earlier, poured a bath & soaked for 20 minutes, then put on a nice coat of sealant/moisturizer while I was still wet. Right now I feel sticky and greasy at the same time, and my hair is stiff with dried colloidial oatmeal (I don't think I have all the bugs worked out of my methodology), but my skin feels pretty good. Next I'll pop a benadryl to stop any allergy-related itching, and if that bath stuff gets too expensifve I have plenty in the pantry...

Pow! Welcome Back

Morning weigh-in (Wednesday): 182.5#, forgot BF
Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 182#, 9% BF

The Which Brew "Anti-Valentine Party" was pretty cool, but not really much of a party, more like the usual Tuesday night at the WB. I had exactly one beer and a turkey sandwich (after coming from the gym), and gained three pounds -- this after eating chili (and having a beer with it) several days in a row, and losing weight earlier in the week. I must conclude that going to Which Brew & simply breathing the air there is the actual fattening factor...

Last night I went home "early" (ie at the normal time), did a few club-related computer and printing tasks, ran my two mile run, and then went to the Chain Gang meeting. Decent meeting, I think we covered a lot of ground, especially in the areas of trail maintenance and gossip about other clubs.

Tonight is laundry, dinner, the gym, and then grocery shopping while the laundry dries.

Like Deja Vu All Over Again

Morning weigh-in: 179.5#, 12.5% BF (I think I've seen those numbers before)

Went straight from work to the gym to take that spin class, arrived early so I did some major stretching beforehand. Same woman taught as last time (two weeks ago), and it was a similar workout, but the music was radically better -- anything would have been an improvement, but she had a good mix and I was happy.

After that I went home and finshed off the chili. I'll probably make another pot this weekend, or maybe try a diferent recipe. Amazing results -- though I think there's room for improvement in my chili recipe -- without all that much fuss or effort.

Tonight I'm heading back to the gym (running, weights), then I'm off to Which Brew for their Anti-Valentine's party.

Nothing To See Here, Move Along

Morning weigh-in: 181#, 15% BF

Not much to say today since I said it all last night, just thought I'd get my weight posted.

A Quick Tour Of The Weekend

Friday night I was supposed to go riding the towpath, with my friend Mike from up the block, but we were only about a mile into the ride when I got a sudden flat. While I was fixing it he says "there by your thumb, isn't that a slash in the tire?" Sure enough, there was a 2" long slice in the sidewall, no idea how it got there. I put a piece of cardboard behind it and we limped back home. He was OK with the abbreviated ride since he'd done a singlespeed ride earlier in the day, but I was pretty much shot down.

Saturday morning was coffee, then the gym, then I blew off the rest of my "selfish day" errands to do a little trail work at Sals. Me, Doug, Dave, John E and the Joe L, putting in a new trail. I'm not so sure about parts of this trail but we did some good work in other areas. We got to be in the woods for the first hour or so of the snowstorm, very nice.

Saturday night I made tuna & wilted greens over pasta, then got all the ingredients together and started my first crockpot experiment: chili. I put it on the stove at midnight, the it cook until I started eating around 6:00. I pronounce it quite delicious! After dinner (the tuna dinner, Saturday night) I walked in the snow downtown, to check out a surprisingly happening Which Brew, which nonetheless closed early.

Today I slept in a little, played with the computer and then went XC skiing with Doug & Lori at Jacobsburg. On the way back we stopped at Brian's house -- he had two crockpots cooking, the bastard -- to see his new toy the Pinzgauer, a six-wheeled, Swiss army-surplus vehicle. Very cool, he took us around the block a few times.

Went home, had two bowls of chili, took a nap, dug my car out (hours after all the other neighbors did it), and here I am ready to start the new week tomorrow...

Faster! Faster! Faster!

Morning weigh-in: 181#, 12.5% BF

So I worked an hour late last night, leaving at 5:30. My plan was to:

1. Pick up the Iguana (getting new derailleur cables) from Genesis,
2. Stop home to drop off the bike and grab my drycleaning & gym stuff,
3. Get to the cleaner before their 7:00 closing, then continue on to the gym.

Strangely enough, it worked just like that, except I got stopped by a State Trooper, got a warning for speeding, and a ticket for not wearing my safety belt. Could have been worse I guess...

Anyway, went to the gym, arrived a little after 7:00, had a great workout except aerobic (ran on treadmill and did not feel very strong, or fast, or enduring), and was out of there by 8:45. Home, check email, then out again to do get dinner at Which Brew while the regular laundry dried: Gonzo Project were playing, incredible bass player, and I had an interesting conversation with K-Jo's dad, who apparently has been investing in my employer's stock.

A good night, got a lot of stuff done, and was in bed by midnight or so.

Oh, Whoa, Whoa, I'm On Fire

Morning weigh-in: 181#, 6.5% BF

Worked late. Got home last night, ate dinner (baked stuffed tofu, sauerkraut, a salad), did some schtuff, including laundry and computer photo follies, then went for a run around 10:00. Back to the 'puter, then bedtime at 11:30.

Linux Voyager, Navigational Difficulties: My camera's memory card is "double-sided;" there's 128 Mb per side, and which side you're using is controlled by a little sliding switch on the card. I hardly ever fill the card with photos anymore, since I regularly offload the photos onto my hard drive --so what this means that I usually only use one side of the card. Last night I was cleaning up my memory card, and on a whim I checked "the other side of the card" and found a whole bunch of photos dating all the way back to 2003...

What to do? Most of them I know I've already messed with, one way or another, even putting some in galleries, but I'm not sure if I'd archived the full sized files even for those I recognize, let alone being sure about every last photo.

What I wanted to do was check that the full-size versions of the photos are on my hard drive, then erase them from the card, but there are so many of them that to confirm each photo manually would take hours. I'd like to be able to use a simple script, saying something like "for each of these files, look on my hard drive and let me know whether or I've archived it already."

Unfortunately, the directory structure of my photo archives were evolving back then, ie my early file storage didn't follow a standard pattern from photo set to photo set, thus the simple ways to do this are ruled out. To compound the problem, I habitually renamed my photos back then when I archived them, so even sophisticated approaches to "take this file named blahblah.jpg on my memory card, go look for a file with the same name on my hard drive" won't work.

What to do, what to do? I had a lot of fun with find, locate, and grep last night, but those photos are still on my card...

Fire: Meanwhile, my whole upper body is itching like mad, my skin has broken out in some kind of hive/ecxema dealie. This been been going on for about a week; I suspect that it's the result of a minor food allergy -- like maybe that flavored coffee?? -- taken in small doses over a period of time. I tossed the last of that shyte out when I restocked with my normal blend last weekend, so I guess now I'll just have to wait for my body to detox & calm down.

That leaves me in a quandary though: I was planning to do work a little late, do some chores, hit the gym, and finally have dinner at Which Brew while the laundry dries. I'm OK with the rash and the gym, but I'm not so sure about my weight progress and a bar-food dinner; also, though I do want to stop in, see who's there, and say hi, I'm not quite as OK with that rash and socializing. We'll see how I feel tonight.

Hi My Name Is Arnold Snarb

Morning weigh-in: 181#, 12.5% BF

Went to the gym last night directly after work. Felt really good, I was a little surprised but I'll take the win. Dinner was two lentil & spinach burritos when I got home, followed by a little reading and some computer play -- I created a new set of my favorite "nature/outdoors" photos on Flickr.

Reading: Just finished re-reading Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49. Wow, so good it's hard to believe that it's actually his (second) worst novel. Meantime, I'm still working my way through Wittgenstein's Poker, which just keeps getting better and better.

Just thought I'd mention, Steve Gilliard is on fire today. Then again, the world is on fire...

Some Photo Housekeeping

Morning weigh-in: 181.5#, 9.5% BF

No exercise or chores last night: I uploaded a bunch of recent photos to my flickr account, including shots from Sunday's chili festivities and a recent hike at Salisbury; I also upgraded to Flickr Pro, the non-free but non-crippled version of the service. Enjoy! Enjoy them all, now that they are all available...

Back to Reality

No morning weigh-in, afraid of the scale today.

Friday night was Which Brew, with the Company Jazz Trio and a lot of cool people.

Saturday was the gym, followed by many errands. For some reason I had trouble consolidating my movement, found myself going home & out several times, wasting time when I wanted to do a little cleaning -- what are you laughing at? I had friends coming over Sunday and wanted to at least have the place straightened up...

Saturday night (actually, evening) was dinner with the Chain Gang at Cactus Blue, an "authentic Mexican" BYO place near Doug. After that they went bowling but I went over to the WB to catch some of Devil's Shame. Good decision, since I ran into Pieter and Jordan, two kids (now late-twentysomethings) that used to be tagalongs in the early MTB days. They used to win races at the junior level, but I doubt if either has ridden a bike since they got their driver's licenses. Nice to see them though.

Sunday was the Chili Contest. 'Nuff said, but I'll say more: we started with a pretty mellow ride around Easton, checking out the ruins of the suspension bridge to Island Park, the old locomotive and RR junk, and the abandoned train station. More adventure bike than workout. Afterwards we met Brian -- recovering from food poisoning, so he didn't want to ride but did go to the chili contest -- and hit Pearly Baker's. After that we drifted around downtown, Mothers, the pawn shop, the Quadrant coffee shop, then over to Porters before we called it a day.

Meet The New Leaf, Same As The Old Leaf

Morning weigh-in: 181#, 12% BF

No exercise yesterday. I decided to do a ride after dinner, then realized -- too late to change plans and go to the gym -- that all my outdoor exercise gear was in the wash. So I finished the laundry while doing some computer stuff, then hit Which Brew while it dried. Good conversation with Scott U, about the weird adventure we shared with a very strange character on Saturday night. (We ended up walking around Easton about 12:30-1:00 AM with some dude who claimed to be part of Easton's "Center Square hippy scene" pre-1973, after which he decamped to Florida/Jamaica/Tucson. Personally, I think the guy spent a lot of time in Bullshittistan.)

Speaking of Scott, Scott S stopped by the house last evening before I went out. He finally picked up that bike (that he'd loaned to some girl downtown years ago), was riding it to where he parks his car but the tyres were flat. I got the pump & got him going on his way.

Turning the Corner

Morning weigh-in: 181#, 15% BF

Happy Groundhog Day! This ought to help you celebrate. The sun is turning in the sky -- though (and as any subterranean-dwelling groundhog will tell you) the true harbinger of spring is water: dripping from the trees, flowing secretly and seeping up from the ground, whitening your breath in the damp air by the bonfire...

Do you reject the glamor of evil? Today marks the end of the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943. Warnography fans know it as the bloodiest battle in all of history.

Nobody tells me nothin: Get well soon, longtime reader Toni! Rumor has it that you injured your hand, hope it's not too serious.

Well, last night was Mug Club Night. I made it an early one, gothtere early, ate dinner with Brian, kept it to two beers (Bell's Kalamazoo Stout, yum), and was out of there by 10:15 -- in bed by 11:00. Still kind of tired, been that way for a week or so -- maybe the extra work, maybe overtraining, maybe just spring fever come early... Weighed myself before going out (unnoficial wt 180.5#) so I only took a half-pound hit.

Tonight is the towpath, switched from Friday's ride to avoid more pennies from heaven.

Sunlight Growing In The Belly Of The Earth

Happy Candlemas! No morning weigh-in: I overslept and forgot about it in the morning rush. I expected good things, since I was pretty good yesterday (lunch was broiled chicken sandwich, dinner was baked stuffed tofu w/ sauerkraut and steamed asparagus, and I hit the gym after dinner.) Tonight is Mug Club Night, so I don't know what tomorrow's scale will show.

TOPS-20 Voyager: I got an account at twenex.org, started playing around with that. It's so strange, you think you know computers -- and after a few years I think I know my way around Windows, Unix and Mac (the old Mac), at least enough to use them -- then I come across this, and even though I've seen and used similar things, it's really like a foreign language. Can't figure out how to actually do anything yet, but I'm definitely becoming a master at typing "help."

Actually, I don't know how into Teh Twenex I'll get in the near future, since my next project will be "Operation Crock Pot." Stay tuned...

Junkyard Art

Here's a photo of the giant chicken at the junkyard.


















And here is a photo of, well, I guess it's Atlas holding up the World Trade Center and some bikes.

Time For Some Java?

Morning weigh-in: 180#, 8% BF

Lunch & dinner yesterday were the two halves of a turkey sub. I worked late, then went to a spin class at the gym -- my first in a few years. I thought the instructor was supposed to be my old Gangster teammate Kim (she runs their aerobics program, teaches a kickass spin class), but it was some woman I never saw before. Good enough workout I guess, but the music (Loverboy? Loverboy??) was enough to make me gag...

Evening was spent reading about chess, and Wittgenstein, and fiddling with the computer.

(Meantime, something I didn't mention the other day: that blueberry-cinnamon flavored coffee kind of grows on you, and it's also got an incredible kick; I was wired the other day from just two cups.)

So anyway, sudoko. There's a girl in Easton, forget her name but she dates the old singer from Rhino Campground. Super-duper hottie despite the gorilla-girl aesthetic, she can sometimes be found hanging out on quiet nights at Porter's, doing what I originally thought were acrostics, but it turns out they're the hot new puzzle from Japan (via England?). I happened upon some references the other day, looked it up and ran across some interesting Java programs that deal with this -- maybe I'll pick up where I left off, playing with Java... so it looks like I'll be drinking lotsa coffee, typing away, talking faster and faster, playing chess and running shell & awk scripts and java programs and -- help me Too Much Coffee Man!!

Oh, and by the way, check this out.

The World Is My Idea

Morning weigh-in: 182#, 6% BF I think I'm detecting a pattern...

A chicken in the rain: Went out yesterday, took photos (coming soon) of the welded metal sculptures down by the junkyard, and I couldn't help but notice that the junkyard itself was practically empty. No doubt it's because of the high metal prices worldwide, as China's demand for steel keeps rising; there are probably a lot of scrapyards looking barren these days. Sure hope they don't decide to break up the sculptures and sell them too.

Sneakernet: After that I stopped by Brian's house, where I tried my pen drive on his computer. It worked fine, all the stuff I put on it was available. After that we hung out for a bit, had some chili he made in his crock pot: we talked chili, crock pots and slow-cooking recipes...

Tractatus Logico-Catfighticus: After Brian's I went to Barnes and Noble, picked up two books on chess (sigh), a slow-cooking (ie crock pot) cookbook, and Wittgenstein's Poker, a book about an altercation in 1946 between Ludwig Wittgenstein and Karl Popper, at the monthly meeting of the Cambridge (or was it Oxford?) Moral Science Club. Good story so far.

One More Show I Don't Have To Watch: Kung Fu Monkey takes on Lost.

How To Waste Time On A Sunday

Here I am, sitting in front of the computer: rain has been predicted, so no ride is planned; as I'm typing this I'm drinking blueberry-cinnamon coffee (yuck), surfing the web, reading the blogs and news aggregators, checking all my emails, futzing around at the Super Dimension Fortress (just checking in on the bulletin boards, etc), and, um, watching the chess games hosted over at the International Chess Club -- I'm using xboard, and connecting through their internet chess server, didn't even know such things existed.

Needless to say, what that really means is that I had lunch at the Quadrant yesterday, where a bunch of people were all playing chess. They were also out of the coffee I like, only had enough for themselves until the big Tuesday shipment arrives, and so they sold me a small amount of their, um, less popular beans to get me through until then. I feel like a junkie; I guess I'll have to pick up Chess For Dummies or something, create an excuse to hang out there and await my fix. Back home, the computer consistently whoops my butt; I'm not sure I have the patience to really learn the game.

Anyway, good thing I killed my television, freeing up my life like this, I reeeallly learned my lesson, never again will I sit staring at a screen, mesmerized and turning into a mushroom -- a-and this time I mean it! At the rate things are going, I'll be eating breakfast just as the sun goes down...

Kalidasa's Triumph: My job is done here, it's afternoon now and the rain should start soon, though the radar looks like we're in a bubble of dryness for now. It was beautiful out yesterday; I was going to take some pictures downtown and over by the junkyard, but the camera batteries were dead -- keep your powder dry dammit! All batts are now fully charged; I think I'll eat some breakfast, then go out and take those pictures, so I'll leave you with this artist's conception of the space elevator.

Good Days Bad Days, You Know I've Had My Share

Morning weigh-in (Thursday): 177.5#, 10% BF
Morning weigh-in (Friday): 181#, 8% BF

Rode Wednesday night at Sals, with that dude Mike and also Rob W. Started 8:00 PM, rode for 2 hours or a little more -- crowded night in the woods, saw a guy walking his dog, some teenagers hanging out in a car at one of the parking lots, and apparently a dumper or a towtruck at the other lot. Good hard ride though, really glad I did it, and then I came home and crashed.

Thursday I was going to hit the gym, but I felt tired so I blew it off, then got a call from Joe & Cindy: they were down at Which Brew for dinner, and so of course I joined them.

Hung out with them, also Hans (who was there with Heath & Margarita -- they looked very happy together, which was a pleasant surprise). We jammed to the Gonzo Project, featuring an amazingly good bassist, and then after J&C, H and H&M all left I stuck around & mingled, said hi to a few others. Very good vibe last night -- if booze and bar-food weren't fattening it would have been an ideal evening.

Woke up this morning, scale told the sorry tale, and today was a retirement luncheon here at work so I haven't been exactly dieting today. Oh well, keep on keepin' on...

Tonight is a towpath ride, singlespeed most likely, and possibly again with that dude, then back to Which Brew (a friend is DJ'ing) and Porters (for to hang with Doug and Eric).

Tell Me Somethin' Good

Morning weigh-in: 178#, 10.5% BF

Annual review at work yesterday, another good one (as per usual)... Worked late on a rush job, then went home feeling hungry & tired. I was supposed to run out to Staples (shipping replacement Xmas present), felt sooo tired I almost blew it off, but after eating a bowl of cereal I went anyway, saying to myself I'll blow off everything else (laundry, running, healthy food) to just do that one errand and then eat at Which Brew. Felt so good about my decision (and my performance evaluation) I decided to reward myself & bought a USB pen drive while I was at the store.

Cue "New Toy:" One gigabyte of flash memory -- that's about a thousand floppies, remember them? -- fits in my pocket or hangs around my neck lke a locket, connects to any modern computer. Cost me a little less than $60. Got it home; it was trivially easy to set up and use, but now it was like 9:45. I decided to run anyway but was running out of time if I wanted to eat out.

I ran, and I felt good even though I got a face full of rain/snow, and I really didn't feel hungry when I finished; though I would have liked to go down & check out the WB scene, I stayed in and played with the new toy. Of course, there's not much to do with a pen drive: I put some files on it, took some files off, checked the capacity, moved things from one USB drive (the camera's memory card, mounted through the printer) to the other, yadda yadda.

This morning the scale had a present for me...

The Battle Is Joined

Morning weigh-in: 182#, 10% BF

This diet thing seems to be stuck a little, looks like I'll have to go into double-secret overdrive... Had tempeh & veggies stir-fry last night, with another Summer Blonde, then totally crashed, still way tired from Sunday. Funny, that was my weeknight ride in the summer, no big deal, got it done in under three hours (racing daylight) but the other day it took about 5.

Tonight I'm working late, then it's laundry & groceries, plus a few errands (I may also buy a pen drive); don't know what dinner will be but exercise will be a run.

By the way, after Sunday's ride -- where I ended pretty strong, standing sprint up 19th St -- some dude in a pickup followed me into the alley, stopped & called me over when I got to my house. I thought "uh-oh, pissed somebody off," but no, he was a neighbor, saw me riding and wanted to know where I rode. I explained Sals to him (talked to him like he was a beginner), he said he knew it, but had only been there once. He also said he races Sport, and rides with Rob Lichtenwalner a few times a week, and was OK with riding to Sals to do a ride. We exchanged numbers; it looks like I have a riding/training partner! Back to "uh-oh" though: if he's hanging with Rob and racing, he's probably a pretty strong rider.

The Last Of The Summer Blondes

Morning weigh-in: 181#, 10% BF

Typical weekend, but my legs are now totally fried: Thursday was a gym workout (I've been focusing on legs lately), Friday was a towpath ride on the singlespeed, Saturday was another good gym workout, and yesterday was a towpath/Sals ride, which put me over the edge into burning-leg territory.

Friday and Saturday nights were also Which Brew nights, pretty happening crowd both nights.

Had a beer with dinner last night, one of the Summer Blondes (I actually have a few left). I got a variety case at Christmas and have yet to touch it, must finish older purchases first before they go bad, falling behind on my drinking...

Counting Down To Imbolc

Morning weigh-in: 180.5#, 10% BF

It's staying light out a little later now; getting out of work happens in late afternoon rather than sunset or dark. Golden afternoon sunlight yesterday; I decided to go home via Portal Road, Asbury and Harmony Township (what the heck, I have a new clutch & can get up the hills again), and also stop in at Merril Creek.

After crossing Rt 57 and as I headed up into the Harmony hills, I caught a view of one hilltop with sunlight on it. Reminded me of the phrase "from pent-up aching rivers" but that might have been because I was listening to "Bittersweet Symphony." (It did also remind me of the parts in Gravity's Rainbow about sunsets, aching purity begging to be defiled, foundry colors in the sky, thine alabaster cities...)

Anyway, got to Merril Creek Reservoir about 4:55, saw the sign that they close at 5:00, and the sun was going down, so I just walked in a little bit, took the picture to the right with my cameraphone. On the way out I saw some deer, but on the way in... ahhh, on the way in I saw a coyote! At least, I think I saw a coyote, it slunk off pretty quickly.

Dinner was noodle salad, exercise was the gym. Tonight I'll probably be singlespeeding on the towpath.

In The Court Of The Crimson King

Morning weigh-in: 181#, 7% BF

Chain Gang meeting last night, my first as president. I think it went well, but there was a lot of stuff I wanted to cover & things went a little long, people got antsy... After the meeting, it was time for the "guess whose baby pic this is" contest. There were eleven entries; not everyone brought a photo. I guessed 9 of the 11, some people were correct in all their guesses, and some got as few as three right. Anyway, no exercise last night, but dinner was pretty sensible: turkey enchiladas, rice & a salad.

We also had the weigh-in for the Weight Loss Challenge. Fully clothed (sans shoes) and after dinner, I was 184# on the official contest scale. We have 2 months to see who loses the most weight (as a percentage of current weight), not sure what the prize is but the official final weigh-in will be at the March meeting. Weight should be off for Moab...

One last thing: I didn't want to mention it until after the baby pix contest, but I put up two new galleries: my baby pictures can be found here, and some screenshots from my home computer are here.

Rededication

Morning weigh-in: 180.5#, 10% BF

So I got home last night, ate leftover tofu/veggies/rice plus some steamed asparagus, played with the computer, ran and did an at-home workout, then went to Which Brew for a beer & company while the laundry dried. This turned into three beers (two were snifters: small but potent -- & surely fattening) and a trip to Taco Bell. Sigh, gotta keep on track...

Now That's More Like It

Morning weigh-in: 179.5#, 9% BF

Looks like there may be a bit of dehydration going on, but the weight looks about right. Had tofu & veggie stir-fry last night, did a few things around the house, then ran (it was already getting late). I also took care of a few loose ends -- the checks are in the mail, Mom, Amy and Easton Parking Authority! -- and fiddled with my new phone some more, sent some photo emails.

Had a little trouble with the run last night: my right shin started tightening/tiring/hurting, and my right foot started to be a little more "floppy" than my left. I think my right leg is weaker than my left; also, I'm a little out of condition for running -- most of what I've been doing has been like a mile at a time on the treadmill.

Tonight is laundry night, and if it doesn't rain I'll bust out the singlespeed, otherwise I'll just go to the gym, do non-run, non-bike cardio as my warmup.

Youch!

Morning weigh-in: 182#, so shocked I don't even remember % BF

Friday night was a towpath ride. Took the singlespeed out, but only went to the bridge over the boat launch (about a mile east of Freemansburg) because I was tired -- and it was soooo foggy down by the river (& everywhere else) I couldn't see more than a few feet; it was hard to navigate and I got totally creeped out, expecting to see zombies or whatever shambling out of the mist after me...

About a block from home, a car passed me & then stopped to drop off a teenager, and I hear "Hi Don!" Turns out it was my friends Stu & Kathy -- I was confused initially because the house, where they dropped their daughter off, is next door to some other friends of mine, but got it all straightened out. They were going to Which Brew after that, and I said I'd see them there in about an hour - which I did. Dinner was wings and some pasta fagiole, and the band -- Company Jazz Trio -- was really playing well, even when the pianist's chair collapsed underneath him... Maria from Duende was there, eating dinner with her husband, and agreed to sing a few songs.

Saturday was a rainy day, coffee shop, chores, gym, more chores... Was in Circuit City, decided while I was there to get a new cellphone, picked out a pretty sweet one with camera etc. I also decided to look at pen drives while I was there (didn't get one), and I ran into Karen F and her boyfriend Brian, who were in the next aisle, pricing cordless phones.

Back to Which brew for dinner, more pasta fagiole and a white pizza w/ extra garlic. I was hanging out with a dude who reminded me of a cross between Kevin M and Paul K from Englishtown, also a girl who reminded me of Kathleen C from E'town.

Sunday was too windy to ride, so I joined Doug & Lori, and Eric R, for a hike at Sals.

Jane Says "I'm Going Away To Spain"

Morning weigh-in: 180.5#, 10% BF

Two (small) dinners last night, no suppression effect even though I did a killer workout at the gym. Oh well. Tonight should be a towpath ride, maybe on the singlespeed.

Listening: Jane's Addiction, Nothing's Shocking. Been hearing things I didn't catch back when I first got & listened to it, especially "Jane Says." Some of the things that "Jane says" used to make me think "oh that's such a sad epiphany," but now it might just be a song about post-breakup self-pity. Still a sad and pretty song though, and it still reminds me of the girl who once dated Joe Schwenk's friend, manicurist, bartender, last I heard (20 years ago) trying to get her life together...

Making the Connection

Morning weigh-in: 180#, 13% BF

So last night I was supposed to go to the gym, but blew it off when I realized I'd already eaten too much time, would get there too late to get in a good workout, so instead I played more with the computer(s) & read a little more from that book of medieval history. Dinner was the tuna & wilted greens over pasta.

What I was doing was, I'd noticed that a few of my photos in some of my original (ie non-flickr) galleries wouldn't display and wanted to fix them, but I couldn't remember which ones they were -- and I didn't want to search through all my photos one at a time, looking for the bad ones especially over a dialup line. So...

At first I thought maybe the JPG file didn't get copied properly when I first put it on my website (thus it would be empty), so I ssh'ed into the Super Dimension Fortress, ran something like this:

[me@sdf galleries]$ ls -l */photos/*.jpg | awk '$5==0 {print $9}'

This would have listed all my regular (ie non-thumbnail) photos, and displayed any that had zero length, but nothing showed up. OK, the files are probably not empty but corrupt, so I ran something like:

[me@sdf galleries]$ file */photos/*.jpg | awk '$2~/data/ {print $1}'

This goes through all my JPEG's, looks inside them to determine their data type, and display the ones that are just plain "data" rather than "JPEG." Bingo! I found four or five files that were corrupt, so for each of them I ran something like this on my home machine:

[me@local photos]$ djpeg foo.jpg | pnmscale 0.5 | cjpeg | ssh me@sdf 'cat - >foo.jpg'

This "decompresses" the JPEG file foo.jpg, runs it through a scaling program, "compresses" the output back to JPEG and sends that to ssh, which is set to write its input to foo.jpg on the other machine. Badda-bing, badda-bang, twenty minutes of thinking saved me hours of drudgery.

Nika! Nika!

Morning weigh-in: 180#, 11.5% BF

Today marks the anniversary of the Nika Riots in Constantinople in 532, brutally suppressed by Belisarius. Every time I hear "Nika! Nika!" I think of Pauly Shore's "Lisa, Lisa."

Anyhoo, dinner last night was tempeh & veggies stir-fry. A red bell pepper, a cubano pepper, a poblano pepper, an onion, some ginger, some broccoli & a small butternut squash -- surprised it all fit in the frying pan, let alone my stomach... Was going to ride last night, but delayed until 9:45 (stupid internet, stupid big dinner, stupid medieval history book), decided to run instead. Tonight will probably be tuna & wilted greens over linguini, followed by a trip to the gym.

Soylent Green

Morning weigh-in: 181#, 11% BF

Lunch yesterday was grilled chicken w/ pepper jack cheese on a roll, dinner was a lentil & spinach "burrito" with a salad, later dinner was a bowl of cereal -- didn't want to go food shopping hungry, you know. (Um, yeah.) Breakfast: cereal. Late breakfast: yogurt & an apple; there was also a mid-afternoon snack break yesterday, gotta watch myself, maybe schedule in some acceptable between-meal snacks. Anyhoo, been eating a lot of soy (tofu, tempeh) and lentils lately, same stuff that all the different soylents were supposed to be made of in "Soylent Green."

Speak of the devil: I was cleaning out my mailbox at home the other day, found an email from Yoann, the one he sent everyone just before relocating back to France. Had a dream about him the other night after that, and yesterday I got forwarded a message from him -- he's in love, popped the question on Christmas and is now officially engaged. Good for him! Weird synchronicity though.

Ported some shell scripts from the home computer to my SDF account last night, but it looks like the Super Dimension Fortress is crashing pretty hard right now, can't play with them today.

UPDATE: SDF is back up, my homepage is back, the camper is happy again.

Isn't That Pretty?

Isn't That Pretty?
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

I just posted a few pictures from the ride yesterday. Didn't take too many photos but I did manage to get a few good ones. Case in point: We used this trail that goes along Monocacy Creek to get from Doug's neighborhood to downtown Bethlehem, and this is one of the things we saw. Apparently, the gravel (or whatever) plant still had their automatic sprinklers on, and it produced this ice sculpture. When we came back later it had collapsed into the creek.

Monday, Monday

Morning weigh-in: 181#, 9% BF

Saturday night was Which Brew -- sans live music, therefore w/ good conversation. Talked to Heath & Hans for quite a while. Dinner was a cheeseburger, washed down with two Brooklyn Smoked Porters. Ahhhh...

Sunday was a ride at Sals. Me, Doug and John C started from Doug's house, then met Rich, also Eric the VMB member (who rode from his house in Whitehall). We got in a really good ride, 18 miles altogether. Trails were in excellent condition, dry or frozen in most places, with the tiniest dusting of snow on the leaf cover in some places. Kind of struck me at one point, how really pretty it is in the woods, weird juxtaposition to our kamikaze shenanigans. After the ride we (me, Doug & Lori, and Rich) went to JP McGrady's for lunch. "Badass Cheesesteak" and a couple of Rogue Chocolate Stouts, mmmmm...

Back to reality today, planning to keep a clean nose diet-wise, cooking at home for the rest of the week. Tonight is a rest day; I'll do laundry and hit the supermarket.

Weekend Update

Morning weigh-in: 179#, 12.5% BF

Not bad, but then again I did a towpath ride last night -- therefore there might be a bit of "suppression" in that figure -- and I also skipped going out -- therefore no "inflation." That's why I'm posting today even thought it's the weekend, doing a bit of bragging. Also, if things go back up by Monday (yes, I'm going out tonight), I'll at least have this weight documented.

Good day today: Slept in until 9:00, coffee shop for breakfast, killer workout at the gym (no Dawn: she has pinkeye), errands and a haircut; now I'm going to pick up a prescription, then work on my bike for tomorrow's ride. After that...

RIP: strange day today in the NY Times obits. I saw Lou Rawls there, and also Hugh Thompson (helicopter pilot who stopped the My Lai Massacre), and Yao Wenyuan (last surviving member of the Gang of Four), and Barry Cowsill (played in a band that was the inspiration for "The Partridge Family;" his post-Katrina remains were finally identified). I couldn't help thinking that they all seemed connected, as if it were a snapshot of "this is where we are today."

Darknet, Tristero, Naptime

Morning weigh-in: 182#, 10% BF

Got home last night, ate dinner (baked stuffed tofu w/ saurkraut) then played with the computer for a bit. I felt kind of tired so I'd already decided I wasn't going to the gym or anything, but I must have been more tired than I thought, couldn't keep my eyes open so I took a nap. Got up around 9:00, played with computer some more (GnuPG, minor changes to my website), then went back to bed.

Back to the Tinfoil Hat: Turns out that there's a Mozilla/Thunderbird extension for PGP/GPG, think I'll install it but first I'll have to get the latest version of GnuPG. Meantime, I see that WASTE is still available out there...

The Long And Winding Road

Morning weigh-in: 182#, 5.5% BF

Looks like I've been backtracking on my path to weight loss. Not too worried; yesterday was sort of written off anyway & there was also a bit of "bounceback from the exercise-suppressed low weight" going on... Dinner was salad and hot wings (plus two Magic Hat #9's) at the WB; exercise was a two mile run -- the road bike had a flat, which I discovered just as I was about to ride. Since I did laundry and messed with the computer beforehand, it was getting too late to both fix the tire and do a ride -- and I didn't want to ride offroad in the recent muck, so I wasn't switching bikes -- I dropped back and punted with the running option, which has the added bonus of taking less time.

I still managed to arrive at Which Brew kind of late, maybe 9:00 -- that's not really late for me, but I caught Brian just as he was getting ready to leave. He stuck around for one more beer & a little BS while I ate my salad, then took off. I was out of there quickly myself, didn't stay too late after eating, and I was home by 10:30.

Linux Voyager: I've been playing with ssh and scp lately, and now I'm looking again at GnuPG. Something in the air is making me think a lot about security and encryption...

So Far So Good

Morning weigh-in: 180#, 13% BF

Not too bad, three pounds or so in two days... Probably it's mostly water: I hit the gym last night, did a pretty hard warmup & a very satisfying workout, lotsa sweating though I felt pretty hydrated afterward as well as overnight. Had some hummus & pita before I went, threw in some laundry, hit the drycleaner on the way to the gym (opposite direction actually, but you know what I mean), then came home afterwards and had a salad plus the tofu/rice/stir-fry leftovers. Breakfast this morning was the oatmeal granola, then I had my "Monday Night Football Pool $2.00 Donut" when I got in to work -- doh! Tonight'll be tough too, it's Mug Club Night, therefore dinner will be at Which Brew. Well, I plan on doing a road ride before dinner, so I'll at least burn off some guilt.

Week One, Day Two

Morning weigh-in: 182.5#, 15.5% BF (weighed after the shower, elec resistance may have been messed up)

Breakfast, yesterday & today, was oat granola (w/organic whole milk) & coffee. Lunch, yesterday & today, was broiled chicken & pepper jack cheese on a hard roll. Dinner last night was tofu & veggie stir-fry over rice; tonight'll probably be leftover vegetarian chili. There were a few extras on the menu yesterday though: a donut and two trips to the candy machine at work, and some pita & hummus last night. I'm working on it.

Still feeling kind of run down, but that low-level cold seems to be abating. I skipped working out yesterday, played with the computer instead -- looking through Unix Power Tools, one of my Christmas gifts, and fiddling with ssh and scp. I may upgrade my Super Dimension Fortress membership (from ARPA to MetaARPA) so I can use some of the more powerful stuff like rsync, as well as X- and port-forwarding. I have all these capabilities at home, but currently have no place I can connect to, to use them...

Tonight is the gym, plus the start of laundry for the week.

Right Back Where I Started From

Morning weigh-in: 183.5#, 12.5% BF (eighteen pounds to lose)

OK, back at work after 2 weeks off, it's like I never left...

Therefore, Be It Resolved

My resolution(s):

1. Similar to the one two years ago, I want to drop a pound a week until I hit 165 -- tomorrow's weigh-in should tell me how many weeks that'll supposedly take. That's more of a goal than a resolution I guess; my actual resolution is probably more like: eat healthier, eat less, eat at home, skip the pizza & beer, do what you're supposed to to lose weight.

2. I'm also planning to get back into running regularly, and my goal is to run a 5k sometime in the spring, and a 10k sometime in the fall. (I'll also be doing at least one of the "King of the Hill" duathlons at Round Valley.) My resolution, I suppose, is to use running as a cardio exercise, and to build up my speed and distance, ie to train as a runner.

3. Bike more, and train on the bike more, and race. I want to go for distance this year, and I want to win (or at least be the top guy among my friends/peers). I'll be doing the Wilderness 101 again, and will probably do 24 Hours of Allamuchy solo, and the Vermont 50-Miler, and All-A-Muchy -- a-and don't forget my 12th consecutive Michaux race.

Hopefully, I'll forget all about this in a week or so...

A New Page, A New Leaf

I'm back. Didn't see the fireworks: I wasn't as prepared as I thought & so left here late, and it was slow going throught the snow & mud. Heard them though... Turned around at Stefko Boulevard rather than going all the way to Sand Island, figured I didn't want to have to deal with the possibility of drunken revelers. Happy New Year!!

The Book Of The Year

IN a few minutes I'm going out, to ride the towpath to Bethlehem, watch the First Night fireworks and usher along the old and new years right -- with a bike ride. Meantime, this quote I think sums up my internal life this year, or at least lately:

It is interesting to contemplate a tangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent upon each other in so complex a manner, have all been produced by laws acting around us. These laws, taken in the largest sense, being Growth with Reproduction; Inheritance which is almost implied by reproduction; Variability from the indirect and direct action of the conditions of life and from use and disuse: a Ratio of Increase so high as to lead to a Struggle for Life, and as a consequence to Natural Selection, entailing Divergence of Character and the Extinction of less-improved forms. - Charles Darwin

That reminds me very strongly of Isaac Newton and the world view he ushered in, where all the different phenomena of the world could be seen, and demonstrated to be the manifold ramifications of simple, elegant ideas. Add to that a sentiment I saw expressed in the comments to one of Pharyngula's posts: "The essence of science is asking the question 'But how do you know what you know?' " and I think we have 2005 covered. Catch you on the flipside...

Pics, No Pics

I'm baaaack! First came Christmas, then a mini-vacation in Vermont, but now my time off is coming to a close...

Christmas was good, spent it with the family down in Englishtown; I just posted my photos at Flickr. Got some good presents, including a couple of unix reference books, must soon start rummaging in the system again.

Meantime, VT: The camera was not happy with the cold, so there are no pictures from Vermont. Had a good time though: arrived Monday night, dinner, XC skied Tuesday, fell a bunch of times (not used to really steep stuff on XC skis), including once where I got the Stubbed Toe From Hell, think I broke my right big toe. I almost took a picture of it back at the hotel: swollen, major bruising with a red outline at the joint -- almost looked like an x-ray, must have been hematoma or blood leaking out of the damaged place, or whatever. Skied on it the rest of the day but it was killing me. Wednesday I hiked/snowshoe'ed, to um, to give the foot a rest (actually it worked). The weather turned warm and rainy yesterday, so I blew off my last day and came home early. So-so vacation, but hey at least I went.

Festivus

Morning weigh-in: 184.5#, 10.5% BF

Reading: Medieval History: The Life and Death of a Civilization, by George F. Cantor. Verdict: awful, so far. It's a 60's-era college textbook; I got it at The Quadrant (coffeeshop & used bookstore), thinking it would be a good way to fill the gaps in my understanding of that time period. I just keep reading and going "that's not right!" or "what historian would say that?" Very Kennedy-era viewpoint -- if I read "rose to leadership" one more time I'm going to toss it out the window. I guess I'll put up with it, absorb the facts & see if my disagreements with the author won't at least sharpen and develop my own opinions.

Meantime, I also picked up Carpenter's Gothic by William Gaddis. Pretty good so far, but I'll probably put it down until I finish The Recognitions -- and that's been on hold until I get through Caesar's Civil Wars, which I finished today. By the way, something I didn't catch with Gaddis the first time around: he's actually pretty funny.

Hurting: I was going to go skiing this morning, but I woke up and my legs were killing me -- I did Janna's annual Christmas 5-Mile Run (or Bike) and Party, and I chose the "run" option. I've been running lately, but that's about double my typical distance. Better get used to it... (Went for a short ride on the singlespeed later in the afternoon, just to open up the legs a little.) I guess I did better than Brian though: he brought his bike for the event, fell on ice and apparently cracked a rib. I didn't stay too long after the run, even though Janna put on an incredible holiday meal, because their dog was really bothering me.

Went to Which Brew to say hi, also goodbye to one of the barmaids who got "a real job" and would be relocating to Philly. It was her last night on the job. Ran into another friend who poured out a tale of woe -- she got married in the summer to a much younger guy (another friend -- uh oh), and was now having serious "buyer's remorse," basically over maturity issues. This could be bad, could become several different kinds of ugly... all I'm looking for is a good time... so I went over to Porters' and then to Taco Bell (damn!).

One last thing: I posted some miscellaneous photos over at flickr.

Bottom Dead Center

Well, here it is, the winter solstice, shortest day of the year, the Yule (a word that may have come from the Old Norse for wheel, or not). Didn't do much today, went to a "solstice party" last night and slept in this morning; meantime, car is back in shop (the part I was waiting for came in), so I spent the day geeking out with biomathematical models. Ring out, solstice bells!

Roswell And Me

Morning weigh-in: 182#, 11% BF

Adventure Bike! Rode down the towpath today. Big deal, you say? Well, it was a big deal, very hard going, took about 3 hours to do what I usually do in an hour and a half. Much snow, but a lot of it has been ridden on by ATV's or trucks so it's compressed and rideable. Was supposed to ride with my friend Mary from Genesis, but she had to be home for contractors, couldn't make the ride so it was only me and my pilot Roswell. Lotsa crashes in the ice. Beautiful day though.

About what you'd expect: The verdict is in, judge rules Intellingent Design is religion, not science, and therefore cannot be taught in Pennsylvania public schools (at least, it can't be taught as science). Lehigh University's own Michael Behe testified on behalf of the Intelligent Design crowd, and apparently his testimony is what sank them. Ah, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! What a doofus -- and with quality edumacators like that, it's no wonder the Lehigh kids spend all their time drinking...

The Hand vs The Mind

Looks like the mind won this one... I've been avoiding the bike, letting the hand heal and it seems to have gotten quite a bit better over the past week or so, though I've also been gaining weight -- and also going stir-crazy: no bike, no peace of mind, apparently. So anyway, I bled the front brake, did some minor repairs (no need for new seal, looks like) & replaced the fluid -- aka solved the real reason I haven't been riding -- did that yesterday and was good to go for today. There was a little stress on the hand and I feel it now, but I think it was the right call. Gotta watch out though, my mind was the one to benefit from the ride, and my mind, since it gets to call the shots, always seems to win these little head games...

I've been running and going to the gym lately, but I think that they just don't do enough to keep the weight down, especially compared to biking. Stick with what you know works, if you can, so although I'll still be running & lifting I think I'll make sure the biking stays in the mix -- at least until I have to replace it with the XC skis...

I've been thinking about goals and strategies, realistic or otherwise, after running across this guy's blog. He's got a very laudable goal, but I think he might be setting himself up for failure. I remember a saying to the effect that you never really a failure, since you can always get back up, or maybe "it's not the falling but the staying down that marks failure," or something like that. Anyway, that's all well and good, but if you find yourself constantly getting up and falling down you should really check to see that you haven't accidentally tied your shoelaces together. There's also this: "the knee is nearer than the shin," -- that was supposedly a favorite expression of Caesar Augustus, meaning people take care of the things closer to their hearts, or ought to, than they do the other stuff. Healthy is a lifestyle, and if you're serious about it there are things (like diet and exercise) that have to take priority over other things (like working late every night, eating fast food for the convenience, etc); if you don't have time for exercise, or healthy sleep or whatever, you make the time by taking it from other parts of your life. Still, I hope the guy succeeds; I feel for the dude, I'm actually inspired by him and think I'll check in now and then to see how he's doing, keep me motivated for my own weight loss. Now, off to Taco Bell...

Enough With The Pictures Already!

40th Birthday: Chris Acts His Age
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

One last set of photos uploaded, and now I'm all caught up. Here are my pictures from my brother's surprise 40th birthday party. Once again, enjoy!

More Picctures!

Gangster Christmas: Me and Greg
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

I just posted my photos from the Chain Gang Christmas Party; you can find them here. Enjoy!

Pictures!

Pisgah: Scenic View
Originally uploaded by donXfive.

I uploaded the rest of my North Carolina vacation pictures -- or at least, the rest of the ones I planned to upload. You can check them out here.

Full Plate

Morning weigh-in: 182#, 10% BF

I was going to go to the gym last night, but my legs felt tired so I took a rest day, played with the computer & ended up going to bed at midnight anyway. I played with this & that, downloaded some more nonlinear optimization software, also moved photos from the camera card to computer & processed them. I put a few from my North Carolina trip on flickr, but they were experiencing difficulties and the process was taking too long (bedtime! bedtime!), so the rest will have to wait. Tonight, hopefully.

I think it's time for a bike ride, so I'll be skipping the run tonight & taking out the singlespeed. Maybe I'll do some of the towpath, but I mostly plan to just fool around, maybe cruise downtown for a while etc. I have a little work to do on the Turner, must bleed the brake lines & see if I need new seals, I think they're leaking -- that all is supposedly slated for tonight as well, but it also has "not gonna happen" written all over it...

Tomorrow I'll be hitting the gym, and will probably do a run beforehand (I don't want to skimp on the weekly running quota, I'm trying to build my mileage up). Then comes Bill & Jackie's "Christmas Cookie Party" (an afternoon event for me), followed by the Valley Mountain Bikers Christmas Party (WARNING! DANGER! BLOWOUT!) at Greg H's -- I'll be blowing off Joe G's party to do this one, dang.

I may or may not go out tonight; given the stuff I want to do I probably shouldn't, and I've also gone out twice -- on "school nights," no less -- this week, but tonight should be a good night to pass along Christmas greetings, many of my friends should be out & about. However, I've got a huge "third eye" pimple on my forehead (typical cold-weather burn: I've really neglected the humidifier lately, finally turned it on again last night), don't feel especially sociable so maybe I will stay in.

Way back at Beth & Kevin's Chili Party, Kevin broke out his new camera: it's good for photography as well I guess, but its video capabilities were what really impressed me. Smaller than my digital camera, rugged, with a 1-Gigabyte memory card and a remote "helmet cam," the thing was made for cyclists. Kevin is a motorcyclist, so we ended up watching some motocross videos he made on trails in West Virginia. Killer toy, still kind of pricey (approx $400) but it should come down -- wish I could remember the brand and model! Anyway, I'm thinking about getting one eventually, so last night I started messing with the video mode on my camera. Stay tuned...

By the way, things are real busy at work, but I'll be on vacation next week.

Oddly Enough, It Never Ends

Morning weigh-in: 184#, 12% BF (aaaargh!!)

Went home last night, made/ate a healthy dinner & played with computer, then ran, played with 'puter some more, and finally went down to Which Brew to catch The Insidious Rays -- unfortunately they seemed to be busy with some shark-jumping project, so I took off, ended up at Taco Bell (sigh). I expect the beer didn't help either...

I Miss Gilda Radner: I'm driving in to work yesterday, county road and the woman in front of me is driving slowly -- well, not slow exactly but slower than I want to go, not the best way to get on my good side. I see she has a bumper sticker, sez: "Well-Beloved Women Seldom Make History." WTF??!? That got me annoyed, thought up some quick counter-examples, angry analysis & deconstruction, then just decided to make like Amanda and say "well, I blame the Patriarchy." Had a great rant set for it, but googled the phrase and found that the bumper sticker really read "Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History." Oh. Well, that's very different then. Never mind! (And speaking of smart women bloggers, here's the latest from Chicago, and from New York.)

And one final oddment: You can see those "this is a weapon" shirts/tattoos here. Historical interest only I'm sure, though they're probably still printing them at Piccatinny Arsenal.

Odds & Ends #5

Just one more loose end... Here is something about Huntington's disease, a terrible affliction that my cousin Joe suffers from. I found it in Tangled Bank #43 ("tangled bank" -- what a cool quote that comes from!), via Pharyngula of course. Not very close to a cure, but they are starting to understand it.

Odds & Ends #4

This is another graph of the predator-prey relationship, only they are graphed against each other instead of time: the X-axis is prey and the Y-axis the predator.

Odds & Ends #3

This is a graph I made using octave to solve a pair of nonlinear differential equations, namely the Lotka-Volterra predator-prey equations. The prey is the red curve, and the green curve is the predator. You can see the prey population increasing, until the predator population also increases, overhunting the prey and causing a collapse in both populations, until the prey species recovers and the cycle repeats. I chose the parameters (ie reproduction and mortality rates) used to create this somewhat arbitrarily, but this agrees with the ones I've seen for real-world predator-prey relationships.

Odds & Ends #2

This graph shows more samples of curves from the "logistical map," with even higher values for reproduction rate. The population curves start to bounce around pretty nicely as the function gets progressively closer to chaotic behavior, which I didn't actually show.

Odds & Ends #1

This is a shot of some plots I made of that logistic function, the difference equation one found here. I took a few sample curves with different reproduction rates to show the function converging smoothly on different equilibrium levels, and then (as the reproduction rate rose above some threshold) the "equilibrium" becoming more of an oscillation.

Burn Rate

Morning weigh-in: 181.5#, 11.5% BF

Time seems to be moving pretty quickly this week...

Hit the gym last night, then had dinner at Which Brew. The only one there from the usual Tuesday night crew (other than myself) was Scott; even the bartender was an alternate. Food was salad & hot wings, beer was Sierra Celebration Ale, but things seemed harsh (sometimes that happens in the low-humidity winter: sinuses/throat become very sensitive to irritants, hoppy beers especially), and I ended up taking some wings home. Finished the beer though.

The Fox And The Hare

Morning weigh-in: 180.5#, 11.5% BF

It took a great deal of willpower I know, but somehow I avoided going to watch the game at Porters. Instead I did laundry, played with the computer, ran, and played with the computer some more: put together a predator-prey model based on those Lotka-Volterra equations, ran it with various parameters -- I wish I could find that Hudson Bay Fur Company hare-lynx population data, try the model on that. Once again, I got some cool graphs which I may post but probably won't...

Speaking of cool graphics, I parked some old screenshots here; I probably will not make a gallery for them, but have a look anyway.

Tonight is more laundry (of course), the gym, and my Tuesday night stop-in at Which Brew.

Oh, the fox and the hare, and the berries and the bear,
And the sun and the bees, and the lichen and the trees...

Football, You Bet!

Morning weigh-in: 181.5#, 12% BF

Sunday of last weekend, as I was getting ready to leave for the Nesquehoning ride, my neighbor saw me and we got to talking. His daughter, 7th grade or so, is now playing clarinet so well she's in the high school band. The family therefore goes to all the football games, and he told me about the game the day before, when Wilson was down by maybe 9 points but won it in the last two minutes, which meant that they advanced to the state championship game. (Liberty High also advanced to the state championship, but in a bigger division.) Both those games were this past Saturday, and both lost -- Wilson to undefeated South Park, who came from behind to win at the end. Live by the sword, die by the sword...

So anyway, back to last weekend: We stopped to regroup on the ride, also to check out some stripmine reclamation, and one of the guys started going "Woo-hoo, Wilson! My alma mater's going to the championship!" and I was all like "Go Wilson! Down by nine points, two minutes to go and they pulled it off, what a game." Came out smelling like a red-blooded all-American rose.

Caught some MNF at Porter's last week, was able to talk intelligently about the Eagles debacle the next day at work. Saturday of this weekend I ran into a friend at the Quadrant (bookstore/coffeeshop), we shared a table, since the place is cramped, and discussed local HS sports rivalries. Yesterday was my brother's surprise 40th birthday party, the Giants-Eagles game was on, and I was all "hey you see those guys get stomped last week? Yeah, well, you're right, friggin' Giants could still blow it" -- and they almost did.

If this keeps up I'll have to buy some golf clubs.

Other highlights from the weekend just past:

Friday was the Chain Gang Christmas dinner, very nice affair at Everybody's Cafe in Stroudsburg -- we had a cozy room to ourselves, with awesome buffet-style dinner and our own private (cash) bar with bartender. Pretty swank!

Saturday was gym etc, then I was off to Gary & Gina's Christmas party. Was only going to stay a short while, but left around 2:00 AM, spent most of the time gabbing with old racer buddies Joe G and Gary.

Sunday was another mellow morning (rest day, plus more predator-prey population modeling), then my brother's party in the afternoon.

Going Back To Bitburg (I Don't Think So)

Morning weigh-in: 182#, 9% BF

Nothing much going on: worked overtime last night, hit the gym and then went home & fooled around with octave. Amazing how powerful that is, how easy to use to do some crazy-complicated things, and it's free...

Snowstorm this morning thought the sun is out now. Was a half hour late to work, mainly because of stupid truckers and bad roads. Place was empty, at lest in the early part of the day. Tonight is the Chain Gang Christmas dinner.

Today in history: It was the start of the Nuremburg War Crimes trials for Nazi medical experimenters. Hmmmm... international tribunals for crimes against humanity, now that there is a very dangerous precedent -- luckily, history's written by the winners, right?

Imagine

Morning weigh-in: 183#, 12% BF (I hate you, cheap food night!)

Still more John Lennon sightings in the Morning Call; all center around Trexler Park & the Lehigh Parkway, so I guess that means the Easton connection is a dead issue (sorry Doug). Twenty five years ago today, I can still remember the shock of it.

Anti-Anathematization

Morning weigh-in: 180.5#, 8% BF

Nothing much to say here. Worked late, hit the gym on the way home, and had dinner at Which Brew. I try to make it to Which Brew every Tuesday, and actually I think I've been pretty successful at it but last night may have been a mistake: I forgot that tonight is Mug Club Night, and so I'll be back there again tonight, after working late again, and running of course...

Anniversary: everyone's talking about Pearl Harbor, but I think I'll also menton that today is also the day in 1965 when the Catholic and Orthodox Churches "agreed to disagree" rather than just excommunicating each other, like they'd been doing since about the time of the Norman Conquest.

Winter Wonderland (Blood in the Streets Remix)

Morning weigh-in (Monday): 179#, 12.5% BF
Morning weigh-in (Tuesday): 180#, 12% BF

Catching up:

Friday Night I was supposed to ride with the Cycle FunAttic crew but they bailed, and as I was trying out my new (lightweight) tights and found them a little inadequate for the chilly wind, I cut my own ride short. Walked to Which Brew, had a bowl of that Italian chili and a lemon tart, caught a set of the jazz band playing (good, but heavy on the "fake book" standards); it was an early night. More computer follies, both before and after my evening activities. The name of the new game is octave.

Saturday was the gym, some errands, then out to Beth & Kevin's for their chili contest. I felt kind of bad, Beth went all-out as usual (prize packs, unbelievable food spread, backyard bonfire), and hardly anyone showed up -- she had prizes to 4th place, and there were only three contestants. I promised to make a chili for next year, better get learning...

Sunday was "the big ride in Nesquehoning," aka "the snow ride." About two inches had fallen across the whole Lehigh Valley overnight, our first real accumulation of the season. Roads were crazy as I tried to get up to Jim Thorpe: People were driving really slow, then I did a nice 200-yard ABS skid downhill to a red light -- after that I drove slow myself! Saw a serious accident on a curve on Route 248. Red stuff all over the snowy road, probably just some kind of automotive brake/tranny fluid but it sure looked like blood...

The ride itself was fantastic, beautiful scenery & killer trails that I'd never even seen before. Lot of guys there, a dozen riders showed up -- what's up with big groups and nasty weather lately? Pretty good bunch too, most were better than me, & there were some semi-celebrity hotshots in the mix. Hard going in the snow, but not really as hard as I expected, and we followed some ATV tracks on the way back to make time. Did I mention the beautiful scenery?

Yesterday: work (overtime), laundry, run, blah blah. Ditto today except I'll probably hit the gym.

Anniversary: today marks the 2nd anniversary of Mike K's passing. Gone but not forgotten, just thought I'd make a note of it.

Reading: The Recognitions, by William Gaddis. Actually seems easier the 2nd time around.

This Shirt Is A Weapon

Oops, no morning weigh-in...

Got the car last night, then went to physical therapy. Looks like that's winding down, not much more they can do for me... Home, computer, got an email that Art was in the house making some custom chili, so it was down to Which Brew for dinner. Nice night, nice crowd and really good "Italian chili" but I was back home pretty early. Late bedtime anyway, played with the computer until past midnight.

Bring back the crypto wars: So, I see that some researchers have succeeded in making a quantum byte, a major step towards the mythical quantum computer. Oh well, so much for computer security, that'll put a major hole through RSA and pretty much all current encryption schemes.

Once upon a time (early nineties), "hard encryption" was illegal to export from the USA: the technology was deemed a weapon and restricted for purposes of national security -- too bad it was laughably easy to implement, and everyone on Earth interested in the subject knew how to do it. Dudes used to make tee shirts in protest, with simple shell scripts implementing RSA and "this shirt is a weapon" written on them -- I've even seen a tattoo -- and photograph themselves overseas.

Now technological advances are threatening to undermine almost all "hard encryption," and I can't help but notice that this particular cutting-edge research did not happen in the USA. I also noticed that the cure for cancer will not be developed in the USA either, at least not if it depends on the work of the leading researchers, who are decamping to Singapore's Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology. Well, once the Third World is rich and we're poor, I sure hope they'll let bygones be bygones, and practice enlightened drug-pricing policies.

Speaking of drugs and the Third World, here's some good news: I see that the "triple-drug method" has been found to be as effective in managing AIDS in poor countries as it is in rich ones. It's a start...

The Onset Of Chaos

Morning weigh-in: 180#, 14.5% BF

Got home last night, checked on car: almost but still not quite ready, should be done today. Went home, played with computer, cooked dinner: stir-fry of (boiled) tempeh in onions, ginger, thai chilies and broccoli -- I really must go shopping, I'm just tossing junk in a frying pan. Tasted good though.

It was pretty late after that, but I went out for a run anyway, two miles in a little over twenty minutes. I think the "evening run" concept is a pretty good way to go, much easier to accomplish than the morning version.

Thirty-two thousand generations in the blink of an eye: So anyway, I got home from the run, and decided to play around with some more population dynamics stuff, specifically, this form of the logistic equation. I am less than enamored of that particular equation; I have my reasons which I'll maybe get into someday (really, it's just that it's not as emotionally satisfying as some other forms), but this one does have the advantage of being easy to play with, and it does exhibit fractal and chaotic behavior. Mmm, buzzwords... math buzzwords...

Since it's pretty simple, I set up a Gnumeric spreadsheet, a thousand iterations for each of thirty two different values of the reproduction rate, from 0.125 to 4. Copy, paste, blink -- and it was done! The calculation is admittedly pretty lightweight, but I expected at least a second or two for crunching. The results were pretty much what you'd expect from the article; I'll probably graph a few samples and post them tonight.

Other stuff for tonight: get the car, surrender the rental car, go to physical therapy, hit the gym; I'll be leaving work a little early to get it all in. Next week starts overtime.

Meantime, I see that Wikipedia is in a little hot water...

Requiem For A World

Morning weigh-in: 180#, 14% BF

I ran across this interesting but somewhat incoherent paper the other day while musing about Olduvai Gorge, and in that paper I found the following quote:

"The human species, considered in broad perspective, as a unit including its
economic and industrial accessories, has swiftly and radically changed its
character during the epoch in which our life has been laid. In this sense we are
far removed from equilibrium — a fact that is of the highest practical
significance, since it implies that a period of adjustment to equilibrium
conditions lies before us, and he would be an extreme optimist who should expect
that such adjustment can be reached without labor and travail. … While such
sudden decline might, from a detached standpoint, appear as in accord with the
eternal equities, since previous gains would in cold terms balance the losses,
yet it would be felt as a superlative catastrophe. Our descendants, if such as
this should be their fate, will see poor compensation for their ills and in fact
that we did live in abundance and luxury." -- Alfred Lotka

Looks like there may be a misprint or two in there, but you get the idea... Anyway, I looked up Alfred Lotka and came across this set of differential equations for predator-prey population relationships, and this one for interspecies competition. Bingo! This may be just what I've been looking for, for quite some time; more on this later...

Back in the real world: I went to Which Brew last night, did my "Drinking Liberally" thing. Saw Scott U, Karl, Fred & Lara, Ed, Megan, and Kirk, as well as Carrie & K-Jo behind the bar. Apple butternut squash soup, hot wings, Allagash White & an Aviator Red, yummy. Cool conversation with Kirk on nutrition & how tofu may not be that good for you after all, and then another one with Lara on her work, the debauchery I missed by leaving the Halloween Party early, and boobs. I love that place.

Warm and Wet

Morning weigh-in: 177.5#, 14% BF

Tell me how you really feel: Weird weather last few days, drizzly and unseasonably warm. I was in CVS last night, waiting to pay for my stuff, and the checkout dork made a faux-pas joke about Bush and global warming to the woman in front of me (I would have agreed with the concept & the sentiment, but it wasn't the correct time or place -- and the comment, like the dude, was pure dork); the guy behind me said sotto voce to his daughter and me "if this is global warming I'll take it!" Ah, ha ha ha, good one you stupid fsck! You'll take it, eh? Because you're a lazy &^%$# who can't take winter -- you'll take global warming, and you'll pay for it with what, and what will you have left over to leave your daughter? Or do you figure that there will always be brown people far away to foot the bill for your golf-cart lifestyle, people in say Iraq and New Orleans? Complacent, smug, stupid, parasitic -- the more I think about this guy the more burned I get.

Anyway, rant over. Hit the gym last night after dinner, leg workout plus a few other things, then finished laundry, shopping spree at CVS (light bulbs, deodorant, shampoo, salt), then caught the third quarter at Porter's, which is apparently now dog-friendly, while the clothes dried.

Some fun stuff from the Internets: here's Olduvai George (via Pharyngula), and here's Elementropy (via Sadly, No!) -- now that there is certified coffee-out-my-nose funny.

Silverlight

Went out last night; did the pedestrian thing over to Which Brew, where my friend Heath (brother of Hans, husband of Margarita) was DJ'ing. Got an early start because the plan was to have dinner there and I didn't want to reenact Friday's crowded debacle... but, when I got there, the only ones in the place (other than bartenders Katrina and Jen) were Pete, myself and Ed, the place was a ghost town. Heath came in, seemed cool with the situation and started playing anyway, and by about 9:30 the place was satisfactorily crowded. I didn't stay too late, but left after dinner and a bit of conversation (Ed, Margarita, Heath -- who was broadcasting from his iPod and didn't need to physically be on stage to DJ). Probably home by 11:00.

That was too bad because I didn't have anything planned for this morning except sleeping in, but I popped awake fully rested about 8:00 AM, not early really, but much much earlier than planned. Played with the computer, had a few phone conversations and then went out to get coffee. Ran into Judy the Soupmaker at the Quadrant. (Don't know her real last name; she makes soup & bread, sells it to local restaurants including the Quadrant & Which Brew, which is how I know her.) Anyway, she came in, shared my table because the place was super crowded, and we had a good conversation -- she got an earful, which I don't think she expected since she's never encountered the "caffeinated version of Don." Also saw a very smartly dressed Cosmia there as she walked out, but she didn't seem to see me...

I went from there down to Performance Bicycle, south of Quakertown near the Montgomery Mall, my big errand for the day. I wasn't as impressed with the store as the people who recommended it seem to be -- it's just a medium-sized bike store in a stripmall, far as I could see. Picked up new biking shoes, a new Camelbak and some tights, then hit the Whole Foods store in the same stripmall for some fresh veggies.

Dinner (tempeh stir-fry, with all those fresh veggies including Thai chilies -- hot!), laundry and a little internetting, and my long weekend is complete.

And did those feet, in ancient time... Had a phone conversation with Doug this morning, about recent rumors that John Lennon used to frequent the Lehigh Valley, specifically some un-named park, possibly Allentown possibly Easton, and bring his son Sean (a preschooler at the time) to play there. This was something Doug's grandfather used to do with him when he was the same age, at about the same time period, so he was very interested in trying to guess where -- Hackett? Bushkill Park? Probably no way of ever knowing...

By the way, the light the past few days has been that silvery-white November sunshine.

UPDATE: Check this out. Ribbit! Ribbit!

Do You Know What I Know?

It's the weekend, there's no morning weigh-in on the weekend!

Oh, The Embarrassment: I had Thanksgiving dinner at my friend Brian's mom's house. Big group, Brian's sister and her family, some friends & relatives, etc. Anyway, dinner gets going, and I ate something wrong, got mega-whacked with food allergies (something cooked with peanut oil?): my throat swelled up, couldn't swallow, almost couldn't breathe -- I ended up puking in the kitchen sink. Brian's asking me "dude, you need to go to the hospital?" and I'm like "uh, maybe..." I recovered in time for dessert, but they'll be talking about me for the next 20 years. (Brian's poor mom didn't know what to do, or what to think. I told him as we left "Well, I think I made a good impression!") First time I've ever been hungry on Thanksgiving night... Seriously, that was my worst food incident in more than a decade, I think I'll be getting an epi-pen to carry with me from now on.

Other Stuff: Ride! Ride! Ride! (and Walk): Wednesday night I hit the gym for a leg workout, then walked down to Which Brew. Fantastic night: great crowd, lotsa honeys and the band was rocking. Doug & Lori and also Eric & Kris stopped in after dinner at Porters. Thursday morning was a pre-turkey ride at Jacobsburg, with a light dusting of snow on the ground. Singlespeed ride, but I also rode to/from the 'burg, so I got probably in a 40-mile ride on the singlespeed. Later that evening... (see above).

Friday I led a group ride from Genesis, starting first with Breakfast at Coffee Works on the way. There were five of us who rode to Bethlehem, but another fifteen were waiting at Sand Island, and we all went to ride at Sals. Awesome ride there, then came the ride back to Easton -- only three of us left for this -- and then back home, another 40 miles. Naptime, shower, then I went out again, hoofing it down to Which Brew. Crowded again, but I didn't like either the crowd or the band quite as much, left almost immediately. I stopped in at Porters on the way home, but stuck my head in and saw that if anything it was even more crowded and annoying, turned right around and continued home.

Today was the gym, leg workout again, and following a little bike repair I'll be heading to Which Brew -- again on foot, I kind of like walking through town on a cold night -- to see my friend Heath do his "DJ Heath" thing. I think I'll skip riding tomorrow, maybe do a short hike up in the Poconos.

Reading, Hearing: I'm re-reading Elmer Gantry, not sure why because it's kind of boring (Arrowsmith was way better), but the beginning is pretty good, and has one of the best opening sentences ever: "Elmer Gantry was drunk." I'll just read until it's no longer fun, I already know how it turns out... I just got to the part where he gets love-bombed at a revival meeting, singing all those religious songs, and converts, strange parallels to all the Xmas music now blasting everywhere. Said the little lamb to the mighty king...

Another County Heard From

Morning weigh-in: 179.5#, 11.5% BF

Here's another blog I like: Mimi Smartypants. I sometimes feel like I know her and her family, almost like For better or For Worse (the comic strip), always happy to stop by and see what's going on... until I read this post. Now I just feel dirty.

Well, hitting the gym tonight, then seeing the Foolz at Which Brew. Tomorrow is the Thanksgiving ride, followed by turkey dinner with my good friend Brian's family. (He'd heard I was solo and graciously invited me, saying "now you can see my family at its most dysfunctional." Thanks Brian, and readers: stay tuned!) Friday will be my Black Friday ride, which I'm leading for Genesis Bicycles, and the weekend is still a long way away.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! By the way, here's an article about one of my heroes.

-- Linky McLinkerson

I've Got Something To Say

And that is, that this guy makes me laugh. Out loud.

Adding A Little Color To The Play-By-Play

Morning weigh-in: 181#, 11% BF (stupid Taco Bell!)

Not much to say, was going to add some affect to the previous post, which seemed somewhat flat emotionally. Instead, I'll just say: I was very glad (relieved, more like) to get back to the gym, and I've been messing around with the tar program lately, among other things. Didn't seem like the kind of thing you could delve into, but it's pretty deep if you want it to be...

Dropped off the car last night, then hit physical therapy, then home to eat healthy (baked stuffed tofu, saurkraut & a big salad) and finish the laundry -- then came the midnight chalupas, dang...

And It Was Good

Morning weigh-in: 177#, 12.5% BF

Fairly mellow weekend, to wit:

Friday night I walked downtown to Which Brew, had a small dinner plus some Allagash white, good time but I was home by midnight -- considering my pedestrian status, I must have left pretty early even though the band (Midnight Shift) was rocking.

Saturday started with the car-rental rigamarole (actually it started with some very-early-morning computer tomfoolery), then came the gym, Nature's Way, and Genesis Bicycles, and then I went down to my parents for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner. Pretty nice, saw my brother & his family, as well as Mom & Dad & my uncle Pat. The drive home was the Carnival of Stupid though, many, many idiots out on the roads, doing foolish and dangerous things.

Sunday was a ride at Allamuchy: me, Brian, Bob, Greg, and Bob's friend Jim. We went about 14 miles, took about four hours all told, serious technical trails. Karen skipped out of studying long enough to get in a short ride of her own; she met us at the trailhead to join us for lunch. Once I got home, it was time for the typical "Sunday Nap And Laundry" regimen.