Salsa Night

Salsa Night in Michigan

2011-10-15T09:59:00.002-06:00

For those who don't know, Amy and I moved to Michigan. I'm teaching economics at the University of Michigan Dearborn campus. Jon and Katie live a few hours away and we got together a while ago for dinner, salsa and trivial pursuit.

Best Abstract

2011-10-14T11:09:00.000-06:00

From the paper "Can apparent superluminal neutrino speeds be explained as a quantum weak measurement?"

Abstract
Probably not.

Journalism Excellence? No.

2011-04-01T19:11:00.003-06:00

I regularly think up topics or come across news articles I decide I should address or respond to on this blog, but I obviously rarely get around to it. But today I just had to show you this article from Wednesday’s USA Today. Some of the relevant text is pasted below in case the link goes bad some day. See if you can see the fallacy. I will explain below the jump.

“[A] USA TODAY analysis has determined that a typical player for a program receives at least $120,000 annually in goods, services and future earnings for his athletic work.”

“But more than scholarships, players receive benefits including: elite coaching; academic counseling; strength and conditioning consulting; media relations assistance; medical insurance and treatment; free game tickets; and future earnings power that comes with some college education.” (Weiner & Berkowitz, USA Today, 3/30/2011)

The article was pretty interesting, but I am pretty disappointed in the “USA TODAY analysis” as well as the authors of the article. The problem is that by counting scholarships for tuition and future earnings power separately they are double counting. It is a pretty glaring error in logic. The value of the latter is the biggest reason for the value of the former. The analogy would be if I give you an apple that would have cost 50 cents. Then I tell you that what I gave you was worth $1.00: 50 cents for the apple, and 50 cents of your own money that you don’t have to pay to get the apple. It doesn't work.

Actual Information about Social Security

2010-12-12T13:21:00.002-07:00

Social Security is in the news again. Let's face it: most people don't really know very much about how it works. They know they have to pay taxes for it, and that they will theoretically get benefits. But that's about it.
Unfortunately, many who don't really understand the other parts (e.g. how benefits are calculated or what the Social Security Administration does with the surplus money that they don't immediately need) seem to have strong opinions about it anyway.

Below is a link to a paper by the American Academy of Actuaries which gives some background on Social Security, details why it is projected to run short on money, and assesses the merit of several ideas that have been proposed to fix it. I ran across the paper earlier this year because it was one of the papers I was tested from on the actuarial exam I took in May. The paper is now almost 4 years old, but I think it should be required reading for anyone who wants to participate in a discussion about what to do about Social Security.

http://www.actuary.org/pdf/socialsecurity/reform_07.pdf

One highlight:

The surplus revenues from previous years has been "invested" in special issue government bonds. As those funds are needed the federal government will have to pay the money back with interest. This fact gives rise to the argument that "Social Security would be fine if the government hadn't already spent the surplus."
This is, of course, a stupid argument. First of all, the federal government will have to pay it back, so the money isn't gone. Secondly, the alternatives to investing the surplus in government bonds are investing in corporate bonds/preferred or common stocks (too risky), or stuffing it in a really big mattress (obviously stupid). You can't exactly do an efficient laddered CD scheme with two trillion dollars.

Married

2010-06-13T19:50:00.002-06:00

On May 22, Amy and I were married.

Here's Amy's sister's post and our photographer's with more pictures.

PSA

2010-02-21T20:37:00.004-07:00

Fred Morrison, the inventor of our beloved Frisbee, passed away on February 9th. His NY Times obituary is available here.

Thank you, Mr. Morrison, for many hours of ultimate, frisbee golf, and general park happiness.

Irony, oh irony, how I love thee, irony

2010-01-25T15:27:00.003-07:00

Friends of Irony: a site dedicated to pictures that are ... wait for it ... funny because they're ironic.

I liked these too:

You're welcome.

Ummm ...

2010-01-08T09:35:00.002-07:00

Has anyone else heard about this?

Apparently an LDS gubernatorial candidate in Idaho is holding a meeting in a few weeks. Ok. But the meeting is for active Elders only, and the purpose is to discuss the "White Horse Prophecy."

I don't know about you, but this seems wrong to me on several levels.

1. An LDS candidate using his membership and perceived authority via secular position in order to gain political capital among other members of the church. Isn't the Book of Mormon pretty clear that priestcraft (using religion for one's personal gain) is a not a good idea?

2. Religion aside, what kind of person running for public office in the United States arranges a meeting and then explicitly states they're not inviting one gender? The article quotes Rammell as saying that "he hopes that the men will take the message home to their wives." Nice. Last time I checked, women in Idaho could vote. I hope they're taking notice of Rammell's perception

3. I perceive the topic—the "White Horse Prophecy"—to be problematic for several reasons. To begin, it's not scripture, it's not canonized, it's not officially taught, etc. It's compositional history (recorded 10 years after the death of Joseph by two men who relied on their memories) is open to criticism and leaves us with a text that cannot be defended doctrinally. (Note: I have nothing against the men and their integrity, but the history of the prophecy does not support a defensible text. FAIR has a decent article on this here.)

If you're going to have a political meeting for members of a specific religion, it's probably best to discuss something doctrinal / canonical rather than engage in speculation regarding a problematic text. Especially one that has been appropriated at times to justify the idea that Mormons need to take over the US government and ultimately institute a world government.

I paid attention to the story because, initially, the whole thing just got my feminine hackles up. I expect it to raise all of your feminine hackles as well. And your church vs. state ones. And your "what the hell?!" ones.

Seriously, am I missing something here? Am I the only one to see this not only as ridiculous, but dangerous? Next time I need evidence of the latent sexism in Mormon culture (not the church, but the cultural mores that has developed in the western "Mormon belt" in the US [Utah, Idaho, Arizona, etc.]), and specifically Mormons of a certain age (because honestly, I don't see this attitude as much in Mormons in their 20s and 30s) this story will come to mind.

Engaged

2009-12-17T16:24:00.003-07:00

For another look with many more exclamation points, see here

Hobofest

2009-09-13T18:38:00.023-06:00

In 1900 three guys decided that Britt, Iowa wasn't getting enough love. They wanted to "do something different to show the world that Britt was a lively little town capable of doing anything that larger cities could do." The natural remedy: Hobofest, as in a festival to honor hobos complete with a king and queen hobo coronation.

The festival still continues today. Amy finished her work in DC on Friday and needed to go back to Iowa for school. Hobofest was on that Saturday so after she finished we took off and drove through the night to roll into Britt in time for the Hoboparade. It was mostly old cars, but there was an actual float of Hobos.

There is a hobomuseum in town

Visiting the museum I learned the following: Hobos travel and work, tramps travel but don’t work and bums neither travel nor work. During the Civil War and then to the Great Depression people would hop on trains and travel to where there is work. They have their own lingo; including catching the westbound for death; and signs they would leave for future hobos.

The town makes up Mulligan stew for everyone who comes, and they don’t mess around.

Each of the bins was full.

People in line all had bowls, pans and Tupperware for the soup and so we thought we had to supply our own container. The only thing Amy had in her car was her wok. So the lone Asian in the possibly all of northern Iowa had to walk around carrying her wok.

The recipe is a bit larger than anything I've cooked,

450 lbs. beef
900 lbs. potatoes
250 lbs. carrots
35 lbs. green-red peppers
300 lbs. cabbage
100 lbs. turnips
10 lbs. parsnips
150 lbs. tomatoes
20 lbs. chili pepper
25 lbs. rice
60 lbs. celery
1 lb. bay leaves
24 gal. mixed vegetables
10 lb. kitchen bouquet flavoring
About 400 loaves of bread are served. The finished stew fills about 5,000 8-oz cups.

but ours didn't seem to have rice or meat. I suppose not even hobos are immune from the recession. The stew was the lead up to possibly the best part: the coronation of the King and Queen hobo (here are the past winners). Before the festivities a hobo got up to sing the National Anthem, but sung the forgotten fourth verse. I wasn't so sure about this even existing, but wikipedia says it's true.

The pageant works by having the contestants get up to give a short speech (some were about 30 seconds) as to why they should be crowned. At the end people would clap for who they thought should win and the judges would determine who got the most claps. The first contestant for the Queen was “Dirty Feet” who looked to be about seven years old. Her platform was to bring the hobolove to the youngsters. Another contestant said she was a hobo at heart but road around in an RV and not on trains. This elicited boos from the crowd. There was a push to give the crown to train riders. There was a young (late 20s or so) punkish group who wanted to give the crown to the tramps, apparently not aware that it’s called Hobofest, not Trampfest.

But the tramp Stray Cat won for queen

and an old school hobo Ink Blot became King.

Afterwards they were in high demand, but I snuck behind for a picture with them as they were talking to other people.

And yes; their headgear was a big Folgers’ can of coffee cut in the shape of a crown. There’s a hobo art gallery that has pictures of all the past Kings and Queens.

There is a hobocemetery as well. Amy and I didn’t go but our friend Kendra did (who supplied many of these pictures). Some die young,

some die old,

and some had dogs.

Along the main street there was a flea market, petting zoo and food for sale, including “Walking Taco’s” and “Loose Beef Burger’s.”

All in all Hobofest was great fun and well worth the trip if you happen to be in the area.

My 1/3 life crisis

2009-09-13T16:31:00.005-06:00

I'm way too young for a midlife crisis, plus I've been planning on buying a motorcycle since I was 25 or so.

It may look fast, but its only a 250 cc engine, so its one of the slowest, gutless bikes on the road. I figure since my work is 14 miles away on a very sparsely traveled highway, it makes sense to get 60 mpg on this as opposed to whatever I get in the honda civic. Yes, gas mileage- that is the only reason I bought it. I just don't think I considered how much fun I would have on it- seriously, I've never enjoyed driving a motor vehicle until now. Maybe its the nerdy physicist in me, but I just can't get enough of the centripetal acceleration as I go around a curve, leaning a gravity defying 45 degrees to the road.

I just can't wait to make a trip to Seattle on this thing.

ps. Don't worry, I'm not stupid, I'm wearing full protective gear- I invested in a fully armored leather racing suit that the professional people race in. When they crash at 150+ mph, they walk away in these things. I rarely top 70.

Wild, Wonderful, Weird, West Virginia

2009-09-08T19:19:00.011-06:00

Amy and I went to West Virginia for a little sight seeing. We stopped first at a place called Colossi. A family decided to collect giant fiberglass figures and show them in their yard. We went there, pulled in the driveway, and made ourselves at home and walked around their yard. Pulling in we are greeted by these four folks:

and you park next to this guy laying on the ground.

They have a mini-rollercoaster with the Simpsons

and a Santa Claus.

I’m not sure what this guy is doing, but here’s a lumberjack

There are various other treasures lying around as well. And to top it off, to the side there were some llamas.

We next went to a tiny house. I’m not sure what it’s for, but it was fully furnished inside, although we couldn’t go in.

We then went to Harper’s Ferry, a more traditional tourist locale and saw the spot where Thomas Jefferson said it would be worth the trip across the Atlantic to see. I don’t think it was that good, but it is still a nice place to visit.

Ramblings on Health Care

2009-09-02T19:28:00.002-06:00

A few points about the health care debate:

1) Health insurance is a funny thing to begin with. Most health insurance covers routine expenses such as immunizations, annual check-ups etc. Some plans even pay for prescription drugs. This is unusual in the realm of insurance. Imagine if you had an auto insurance policy that paid for your oil changes or tire rotations. That would be nice, except that it would have to cost a lot of money in order for any insurance company to offer it. There would really be no point, since you would just be trading checks with the insurance company every few months. In the case of most insurance, you pay regular premiums to the insurer in exchange for them taking on the risk of having to pay for large, unusual, and somewhat random events (for example, a house fire.)

2) Allowing people to purchase health insurance “across state lines” doesn’t seem like it would work. I assume that the proponents of this believe it will increase competition. There are a couple problems with it. First, insurance is regulated at the state level. So part of the reason insurance costs can vary so much from state to state is that each state requires different minimum levels of coverage, different limits and rules for medical malpractice lawsuits (which, in turn, affects doctor and hospital fees), and different procedures that are required to be covered by all insurance plans. Second, if we assume that we can have federal regulation of insurance, insurance companies would simply use territory rating that would mimic their different rates by state.
I guess I don’t understand how you could make insurance companies charge the same price for policies in different states when different laws would apply to those policies.

3) I am skeptical of the surveys I have heard about health care reform. One columnist claimed that a survey showed that most people want universal health care. There are just so many ways to ask the question that I am not willing to take any summary conclusions like that at face value.

4) There was an op-ed (from Senator Harkin) that claimed we don’t spend enough money on “prevention” in America. It is impossible to gauge this. Did he count the money I spent on running shoes, zucchini and green peppers instead of cable TV, doughnuts and potato chips? I think not. Prevention is a personal choice, a habit. Sure we can spend money educating and coaching people, but there is more to it than that. Also, soda pop and french fries taste really good. I am skeptical that any government prevention plan will be particularly successful in changing unhealthy behavior if the plan is to simultaneously mitigate the financial consequences of unhealthy behavior.

5) Have any of you heard this idea that we should be paying doctors based on results instead of number of procedures? The idea is that some doctors to extra tests, etc. so they can make money when the insurance company reimburses them. Paying based on results seems attractive, but it sounds a lot like Six Sigma mumbo jumbo to me. Who decides what results are reasonable to expect? I hope we wouldn’t stop treating people with chronic conditions. In those cases there are no results from treatment except continued survival or comfort.

6) Some have accused the opposition to health care reform (mostly the ill behaved town hall crowds) racist using the reasoning that they are opposing a black U.S. President or that they are opposing a plan that would disproportionally benefit minorities. I find this really tiring. I heard one woman (a Princeton professor, I believe) on NPR claiming that any arguments involving the idea of “personal responsibility” is inherently racist. I’m sure there are many racists in America, and surely many of them are opposed to health care reform, but to accuse all opponents of reform of racism seems especially lazy and, um, prejudicial. You will have to actually address my arguments to persuade me to your point of view. You can’t persuade me by calling me names, especially when they are unjustified as in my case.
If I wanted to be mischievous, I guess I could turn it around. Health care reform as currently proposed will cost lots of money, which will cause more government borrowing, which will lead to inflation which will be bad for people who have large bank accounts and money lenders, which are disproportionately one race (white). Therefore, the supporters of health care reform are racist. I guess I better be careful with that argument: if E.J. Dionne saw it, his head might explode.

7) Some opponents of reform like to use the argument that the government screws up everything that it does, so why should health care be any different? Sean Hannity in particular seems to like to say, “Name one thing the government is in charge of that it hasn’t screwed up.”
If anyone ever asks you this question, your answer should be “the military.” Then you can have fun while they try to figure out whether to admit you have a valid answer or whether to agree with you that the military is screwed up. If you want to go further, I guess you can ask them how their electricity utility performs compared to utilities in other countries.

8) One more thing about opposition to reform: Part of the reason there has been so much room for misinformation from the pundits and talk show hosts is that it is unclear what the actual information is. There are still multiple competing bills, and Obama has been pretty light on the details.
Also, I think there are a lot of people that think there is room for improvement, but are not sure this is the best way to go. The Democratic leadership and many in the media (including “The Economist”) seem to be missing the fact that there is actual opposition to health care reform in its current form that is based on policy arguments, and that can’t be dismissed as racism or ignorance.

9) I do think our current health care system leaves much to be desired. The current system has come about more by accident than by design. For example, I don’t like that you have situations where people get illnesses not related to work, which cause them to not be able to work and lose their jobs, which causes them to lose their insurance. Having said that, I don’t think our system is so bad that a poor effort at reform can’t make it worse. I don’t know exactly how to make it better, but I think we should be able to do it without erecting “a multitude of new offices.”

Anyway, I guess that will do for now. There is obviously a lot more to say, but I don’t really feel up to talking about the theory of vertical (across time) versus horizontal (across people) risk transfer in health insurance right now.

Up on the Hill

2009-08-20T20:14:00.005-06:00

I've been waiting for an experience that would be a perfect introduction my "LA" post and I finally came upon it. Yesterday during a break in my 6 hour electrical training, I went to the bathroom. As I unzipped and let it all out, something in the urinal caught my eye. There, next to the urinal cake, right in the path of my stream was a sticker that read: "Security First".

Security is very important here, so I've been procrastinating writing this because employees are supposed to keep a low profile in terms of their employment. As such, to keep myself less googleable, I will refer to the town as LA, or "the hill"- a nickname given with reference to the several mesas that the town sits on, each mesa connected to others by bridges. The largest bridge, going from town to the lab is called "Omega Bridge", which always makes me think doomsday related thoughts. Another bridge whose name escapes me, spans a canyon (ravine?) which borders and runs parallel to our street which we can hike into via a trailhead at the end of the street.

Have you ever watched Eureka? Neither have I, but yes, this is a nerdy science town. On halloween, some physicists carve elaborate jack-o-lanterns with expensive high power lasers. In the lab's bathrooms there is still graffiti but instead of your usual "for a good time" postings there is science graffiti. What is science graffiti? There was a security poster on the stall wall (kind of like a Mormonad, only promoting security) and it was defaced with sciency, nerdy comments. For school science projects, parents are banned (I'm not making this up) from helping their kids. There were too many explosions before the ban. When I sit in restaurants and listen in on conversations, they are mostly about, you guessed it, American Idol. Is a just kidding even necessary here?

The lab is actually 'labs', as there are hundreds of buildings scattered on the 150ish square miles. Even though the entrance to the lab is right in town, I have to drive about 20 minutes to get to my office. Last week there was a bear sighting about 200 yards from the doublewide where my office is. They advised to keep our office doors closed that day. The landscape is actually quite stunning in many places. The whole mountainous area we are in is the remnant of a supervolcano- go look at it in google maps sometime. Its this big splotch of green in the middle of yellow and brown. We're at 7500 feet, which makes it cooler than Salt Lake- it stays around 80 in the middle of summer (except, apparently, when Randy visits and brings his 95 degree Texas weather with him), and in July and August there is a thunderstorm almost every day. In one thunderstorm, we had hail bigger than golfballs that destroyed my garden just a few weeks after I planted it (the 25 tomato plants are just now back to the size they were when I planted them), and caused $4500 damage to our Ford Explorer. I felt kind of left out that Jenny's car got hail damage and mine was left out, but that was remedied the following week when another, smaller storm hit the area where my doublewide is. I only got $500 from that, though.

The stoplights are all horizontal. Whats up with that?

The ward is huge. 400+ active members in town, plus another 400+ down in a smaller bedroom community. I went to a dinner party at some elderly couple's house, and the conversation was not what you usually hear at Mormon dinner parties. One of the people at the table was talking about talking to deputy secretary of state so-and-so about Russia's such-and-such, and there was a conversation about the differences between various nuclear reactor designs, and then the host talked about his visits to North Korea as part of an inspections regime. Jenny was talking to one of the mom's one day and she was complaining about her husband being away at scout camp, but that "at least it wasn't a total waste of time since he solved the problem on his patent one night".

There are enough people who play ultimate here in the summer to form more than 6 or 7 teams. They play Monday through Thursday, and Saturday.

Our house is nice, in the sense that it is perfect for us. Its a few hundred square feet bigger than our last place, but what makes it awesome is the sunroom with the glass walls and ceiling that can house an indoor garden in the winter, and the backyard which has 3 levels: a lower courtyard including a fireplace surrounded by a a stone seating area, a terraced perennial/tree garden, and an upper area with a big lawn, big fruit trees, and a big garden complete with garden boxes. The back fence of the backyard has a gate the opens onto this pathway that snakes along other back fences, is not accessible by car, and ends up at our neighborhood park that is also not accessible by car. I'd be eating all those apples, pears, grapes, and nectarines right now if it wasn't all destroyed in that hailstorm.

The history of the place is really interesting- I won't go into it here, but I just watched a few things on the history channel that were pretty good, and there's a bunch of stuff on the internet which is decent. The science museum in town as a few decommissioned nuclear weapons that you can touch which is pretty cool.

Well my bladder is full and there is a security sticker with my name on it.

A Crazy White Man

2009-08-12T14:37:00.018-06:00

Amy, her friend Patricia and I went to Natural Bridge Virginia to see some sights in the area. First we went to the Pink Cadillac Café. It came complete with a Pink Cadillac outside,

a King Kong holding an airplane

and Humpty Dumpty.

The inside was just as classy.

We then drove down to Foamhenge. Foamhenge is just like Stonehenge, except it’s made out of Styrofoam, took a lot less time to complete and only required the labor of “4-5 Mexicans and one crazy white man” to get done. Advantage: Foamhenge.

Unlike Stonehenge you could walk around the area. Advantage: Foamhenge.

The Crazy White Man also posited the theory that Merlin anachronistically created Stonehenge using magic and included a fiberglass replica of him. Yet again, Advantage: Foamhenge.

We then went to the Crazy White Man’s other creation: Dinoland.

Don’t let the name fool you, there’s much more than fiberglass dinosaurs in the area.

There’s a story told about some family who found the dinosaurs with their pet monkey Blinky, but so had the North during the Civil War and were going to use the animals as weapons of mass destruction against the south.

Also included (of course) is a cow with a deer on his back with a rabbit on his head with a mouse on his head, surrounded by dinosaurs.

We then went to the actual Natural Bridge. Thomas Jefferson bought it as a tourist place and George Washington surveyed it.

It's a little bit of a drive from DC (about 3 hours) but definitely worth it for a day trip.

A taste of Los Alamos

2009-07-30T21:26:00.005-06:00

We were lucky enough to stop by Los Alamos for a couple days earlier this month. It is a pretty area. Nick and Jenny had only been in the house about a week when we called them at 10 pm Friday night telling them we'd be there early in the morning. They stayed up late organizing and it looked pretty good when we knocked on their door shortly after 7 am.

The yard has lots of potential--Nick already had a bunch of stuff planted, of course. They have a cool sun room where we ate. But I'll try not to steal Nick's thunder too much.

We had some good food, as usual, and Nick even gave me a sampler pack of his canned salsa (is it still called "canned" when it's in a jar?). I'm already done with over half of what he gave me--GOOD STUFF!

Here are some pictures of the action. Sorry for the poor quality, there was a big smudge on my lens.

Willpower

2009-07-17T16:38:00.002-06:00

So Katie and I have both been running. We are so awesome.

We were partially motivated by Nick's progress in fitness. We started out running in the evening about 3 times a week. (One at a time, so there's someone with the kids. You know - parenting and all that.) A few weeks ago, we decided that we would start running in the morning instead of the evening - so it takes double willpower. We each run every other day, but we still get up on the off day to do other exercise. For example I am working towards one hundred pushups.
My goal is to break 21 minutes in a 5K before it gets too cold to run. Katie's goal is more realistic.

In other news, I passed my latest exam. It took me three tries. That's 5, so 4 more to go.

Phone envy

2009-07-14T21:57:00.000-06:00

I'm writing this post with my new phone. It's the new LG enV (pronounced 'envy') touch. While it's not quite an iphone, I think its the next best thing- I'm typing this nearly as fast on the touchscreen as I type on a regular keyboard, and it opens up to reveal a qwerty keyboard with a second beautiful screen. I'm sure smartphones, iphones and blackberries are old news to everyone, but I had to share my excitement with someone, and it might as well be you.

By the way, I've been working on a los alamos post for a few weeks now, so stay tuned...

Oldie, but goodie.

2009-06-18T10:38:00.005-06:00

For the first time in my life, my baldness and general appearance beyond my years have paid off. Today is General Employee Training for new hires, which is scheduled from 8 am to 5 pm. During the first break, I overheard the trainer talking to a classmate who was an older guy in his 40's saying that he didn't have to stay for the rest of the day long class and could just go take the test, since the class was meant mainly for younger workers. I piped up and said, "You mean, us old guys can just go?", rubbing my bald spot for good measure.

1 multiple choice *test later, I was on my way to sweet freedom, or rather on my way back to work.

Footnotes
________________________________________________________________

*I scored 100%. But with questions like:

What should you do in the event of a fire?
a.Notify your manager when you have time.
b.Open all your windows.
c.Call 911
d.Call the environmental protection agency.

my score made me feel minimally competent.

Even more ham of the sandwich

2009-06-02T10:57:00.002-06:00

Two quick updates to my list of clientisms:

-We need to put on the table all the cats and dogs we recognize and give them names.

-You're as lost as a cockroach on a chicken farm.

....

When it rains...

2009-05-21T14:09:00.002-06:00

So I just got an email from a university in California that wants to fly me out to interview for a faculty position. Excellent timing. And it's in San Luis Obispo, right in my perfect climate zone (Low 80's in the summer, mid 60's in the winter).

3 days too late.

Real job, not fake job.

2009-05-18T13:42:00.003-06:00

I was worried there for a few weeks that this was not going to happen. The paperwork process was taking such a long time, with little communication from the guy who hired me, I was starting to think he had second thoughts and was interviewing other people. But no, I called him today and the committee has given its approval, finally. We are indeed going to Los Alamos. Very soon.

Unemployment, its been fun, but I think its time for me to move on. Its not you, its me. We're just moving in different directions. No, don't get emotional, you knew this has been coming. I'll miss the long lazy mornings together, the slow plodding afternoons we spent in each others arms, the vacations I took away from you and yet somehow you hid in my suitcase desperate not to let me out of your sight. You were my constant companion, always whispering sweet nothings in my ear, even as I cursed your name. You were faithful to me, never leaving my side. But you deserve another. Someone more faithful. I gave it my all, but 2 years was just about my limit. So long, my love. Don't try to find me. That would just be awkward.

Motherhood

2009-05-06T12:46:00.004-06:00

I don't have time this year to reflect on motherhood. Luckily, Rosalynde has written what I would, if there only more time, and fewer dishes. http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2005/05/mothers-day-3/

Roadtrip completed, and the result is:

2009-04-19T13:27:00.002-06:00

A job.

Yes, a job. A real job. Not fake, but real. No imaginary jobs here. Just real. It apparently will give me compensation in the form of "money" in exchange for work on my part (is this common?). Occasionally, they will pay me to go on "vacation", and will also subsidize something called "health insurance", all completely new terms to me.

I'd love to tell you what I'll be working on, but the problem is, I don't really know since they wouldn't tell me. Its classified. You see, the job is at a little place called Los Alamos National Lab. You know, the one with all the nukes.

How did I get a job at LANL? I don't honestly know. I've applied to hundreds of jobs over the past two years, all of them I found advertised on various sites like monster and other career sites, occasionally on the site of the company itself like Boeing (curse you Boeing for the 20-30 jobs I applied to with you, and you never gave me the time of day!). This one just kind of appeared out of thin air. I emailed a former student of my undergraduate advisor and asked him if he knew of any postdoc positions open at the lab. He emailed back and said, why yes, I need to hire one right away, when's the soonest I can fly you down for an interview? I said, in about 10 minutes. A week later we were driving to Los Alamos, NM (a much longer drive than it looks on a map, by the way).

It still feels a little surreal, like he's going to call at any minute and say, Oh, sorry, the funding dried up. Or, oops, I just interviewed someone else and I think they'd be a better fit. Or maybe I find out that the guy is just some quack scientist who will be shut down or let go in a few months. But no, this guy is the real thing. He ran a huge research institute at the University of Louisiana for a few years, and has ran a big group at LANL for years now working on classified projects. He showed me his lab, and he has equipment laying around in the dust in the corner that any university physics lab would murder for. His last paper was on making brand new materials in nano-fiber form with a high power laser that no one has ever made before. Its real. He showed me the high power femtosecond laser, patted it and said, This will be your baby for a few years.

He even said that if I'm a good fit after 2 years, I'd be hired on as a full staff member, the equivalent of a tenured professor at a university.

I'm totally not making this up.

I still almost don't believe it, since the job is better than anything I'd dreamed of having- I thought only MIT or caltech grads who did stunning research with nobel laureates get to go to LANL. Not me. Especially now after two years of looking, I thought I was defective.

He wants us to come down within weeks. As soon as the paperwork goes through (which really is the only thing that could derail this, and he said that he's never been denied a postdoc by his higher-ups), we leave. Well, as soon as we can sell the house- if thats even possible to do in a few weeks.

Yes, its not Seattle, but I gave Seattle plenty of time to come up with a job for me. You lost, Seattle, the prize goes to Los Alamos. Even you, Washington, couldn't muster a job- you got beaten by New Mexico. You snooze, you lose, west coast- I gave you 18 months.

Anyway, we stayed in Los Alamos for a full day (a full, blizzardy day), and tried to get to know the area a bit. Its on top of a mesa, several mesas actually, such that each neighborhood is on a different mesa and there are bridges connecting them. It is surprisingly very green (zoom out on google maps and you'll see what I mean), and the weather is really nice for most of the year- only high 70's/low 80's in the summer, but cold (and sunny) in the winter. The schools are amazing, always ranked near the top of public schools nationally. There is no crime. Its hard to commit crimes when there are soldiers with machine guns in humvees making occasional patrols. And most of the 12,000 residents are scientists, who, as we know from many hero/villain movies, make really incompetent criminals.

My work is 12 miles down this deserted, canyon road that looks like it was straight out of a car or motorcycle commercial- weavy, up and down, stunning scenery. The landscape is amazing- red rock, green trees, rivers and streams- all right there mixed in with the neighborhoods and the lab. My building is out in the middle of nowhere, and looks like a storage shed on the outside. On the inside, it is a high tech world class physics lab, but they want to fool potential spies. In fact, the layout of the lab is such that the buildings are scattered on this huge 40 square mile chunk of land, with each many mile apart from the next. They did this originally for three purposes: first, since they were working on the atomic bomb, they didn't want one accidentally going off and wiping out all the scientists- if they're spread out not all of them die. Second, better security- if someone manages to get into one lab, that lab only has a small portion of sensitive material, and third, in the original Manhattan project they kept the nature of the work secret from nearly all the scientists who worked there by keeping them separated- only a few at the top knew what they were working on.

So anyway, still in shock, but I have a job. Or at least a 99% certainty of having a job within a few weeks.

(ps- Julie, don't tell your mom yet- we're going to tell her when she gets here in a day or two.)

Jenny and her Conferences

2009-04-16T22:18:00.001-06:00

Jenny organized, and presented at a conference held at BYU. Here is the news story.

Stay Tuned

2009-04-15T14:07:00.001-06:00

We're off on a road trip tomorrow until Saturday. May post when we return.

Demetri Martin Revue

2009-04-12T19:49:00.001-06:00

I recently saw Demetri Martin, a comedian who has a show on Comedy Central. He plays the piano and guitar during the show, and has a gigantic note pad with graphs and pictures as well. And yes, he uses a pointer on it. Not a laser pointer, but a real one. Here are some bits that I remember from the show; nothing is verbatim but it's all close to what he said.

My friend has coconut soap in his bathroom which is nice, unless your hands are dirty from coconuts. Then you don't know if the soap is working or not. "Do you have some soap that smells like hands?"

When I see a sign for a Talent Show I feel there should be a question mark at the end.

A tree house is so insensitive. That would be like if I killed your friend and made you hold him.

I wish I had cold cereal that was shaped like little boats. That way I could feel like a monster every morning.

If I had a baby I would start putting anti-aging cream on him right away. People would look at my baby and ask "How old is he? Is that a fetus?"

I heard a guy say the other day that he could go for some brownies. This got me thinking. If he is a chef, that's OK. If he's a scout leader, that's not OK. If he's a chef at a girl scout camp, I'm not sure.

I would like to fill a pinata with real animal guts.

I saw a guy eat his own burger the other day. It's not my thing, but I guess it works for him. It has its benefits - an endless supply of snacks. Before you go on a road trip you hope to get a cold so you can have snacks galore.

I like the sign for wet floor, because it has a picture. That clarifies the sign. It's not telling you what to do, it's showing you what will happen.

I always feel like my trip overseas was wasted when I go through customs. "Did you go on a farm?" "No." "Did you touch any livestock?" "No." "Do you have any firearms?" "No." Next time I go overseas I'm going to pet a cow than shot it.

I'm allergic to cats. This means I'm allergic to lions. That's a double whammy. Not only will I get mauled if I run into a lion, but I'll get a stuffy nose.

Without a doubt the best thing ever in existence is definitely exaggeration. No wait, it's qualifying statements. [There were a couple more things after that but I can't remember them.]

I don't watch sports as much as I used to. I think that's because I'd rather watch the mascots fight than the teams.

His show was well worth the price of admission, although not as good as Seinfeld, but who is? He spiced up the show well with the use of instruments so it felt longer than it actually was, a little shorter than ninety minutes. I definitely recommend seeing him if possible.

Video films

2009-03-31T07:35:00.003-06:00

I found this page of 99 videos that everyone should have seen. I went through them all, and I probably had seen more than half. I thought I'd add to the list.

I Met the Walrus

Le Cheval

Kid gets hit in head with basketball

Polish or latvian or russian or lithuanian dive

Large Hadron Rap

Cow abduction

The Schwarzenegger Conspiracy

Gerald Ford Is Dead

Extras - Wizard! You shall not pass!

Comb over expert

Rent-A-Person

All things Terry Tate

Others?

Elizabeth's Point of View

2009-03-29T19:56:00.003-06:00

My sister posted something on her blog about some of the hilarious antics of her 2 year old son. This inspired us to compile a short list of some of the funny things Elizabeth has said lately. She just turned 3 a few weeks ago, by the way.

A few weeks ago, Katie was reading a book to Beth. The book was about a little fish that learned how to share and be nice so he could make friends. Katie asked her, "Do you know how to share?" Elizabeth said, "No." Then Katie said, "Maybe if we learn how to share, we will be able to make more friends." Elizabeth said, "Mommy, I not a fish."
The day after Timothy’s birthday, Katie noticed Elizabeth playing with the salad bowl. Elizabeth had crayons in the bowl and was using the salad servers to "toss" the crayons. Katie assumed that she was pretending to make a salad and said, "What are you making?" Beth answered, "Making treats for Timmy’s birfday." Katie said, "That’s nice of you, what kind of treats are you making?" Elizabeth said, "Timmy likes to eat crayons." So here Katie thought she was pretending, when Beth was actually preparing crayons to feed to Timmy, which he really does like to eat.
Sometimes Elizabeth talks back to Katie using the same language Katie uses. She sometimes says, "Mommy, you driving me crazy!"
Elizabeth out of the blue one day said, "Daddy, I a little bit scared." We know she knows what "scared" means because she told us she was scared of Santa Claus. On Christmas morning, she wouldn’t go downstairs because we told her that Santa had brought presents. She remembered Santa Claus from the Ward Christmas Party and my work Christmas party – in both instances she wouldn’t even look at him because he was so terrifying. Anyway, I was genuinely concerned when I said, "What are you scared of?" She said, "I a little bit afraid." I said, "What are you afraid of?" (I was a little impressed that she knows both words.) She said, "I afraid of elephants." Katie and I raised our eyebrows and looked at each other and at her without saying anything for a few seconds. Katie said, "What do you mean?" Elizabeth repeated, "I afraid of elephants." Then Katie said, "Where are the elephants? Did you see an elephant?" Beth said, "Elephants outside." Katie said, "Then I guess we’ll just stay inside." Beth said, "Okay," apparently satisfied. What’s even stranger is that she will tell us that she is afraid of elephants every few days. Each time she is satisfied with either, "Let’s stay inside then," or "Elephants are our friends." She has seen elephants on videos, but she has seen a live elephant once. They were doing elephant rides at the greenhouse/nursery about a year ago and we stopped to look at the elephant. Elizabeth was definitely afraid of the elephant then, but it really surprises us that she remembers and that she brings it up so often

P.S. Nick: that other blog on my profile is the my parents' and siblings' blog. It wouldn't be of much interest to you.

Company X Unmasked!

2009-03-24T18:10:00.003-06:00

For some who have been doggedly harassing me to reveal the identity of company X (the company with which I interviewed 5 times), your long wait is finally over!
The reason I waited to tell anybody is because I had a fun way I was going to announce it. You see, working at company X was my dream job. I was going to wait until April 1st, and announce that I had finally been offered my dream job and list all the things that is great about the job and how it lined up perfectly with my "perfect job" that I had in mind for years. Well, those jack-holes chose someone else a few weeks ago and it has taken me this long to get over it and let it go. So, with no further adieu, I give you my dream job:

Location: West Maui
Company: Maui Preparatory Academy (a private school)
Job: Start up the AP physics and AP calculus programs there. Small classes (under 10), many mandatory field trips (like to Boston, San Fran, Japan, etc.), I would get to build the lab equipment, possibly teach another class like astronomy, chemistry, etc., be a mentor to a group of about 10 kids, school is about 5 blocks from the beach...
Other Perks: I would get to coach cross country and track. Lucy could attend private school (starting at preschool) for FREE. Jenny would have been able to teach a few senior English or Literature classes part-time. I could have led clubs like the astronomy clubs (taking trips to the HUGE telescopes on the big island), ultimate club, etc..

I'm still blinking back tears as I write this.

The only draw-back was housing expenses, but I've been tracking the housing market there for 4 months now, and it has dropped along with the rest of the country, so we might have been able to buy a tiny house there. Tiny would be ok there since the weather is such that your yard becomes an extension of the house.

And just think of the garden I could have had! Year round tomatos, lettuce, onions, carrots.... just about year round EVERYTHING.

And then the whole joke on April fools day is that everyone would have thought it was a joke! And then, on April 2nd, I'd fess up and say something like "Ok, ok! Aprils fools! Just kidding! I really won't be able to coach Ultimate Frisbee there since they don't even have a team!" And everyone would be like "Uh... so it wasn't an april fools joke?" and I'd be all "Boo-ya!".

Curse you company X! Ruined a perfectly good April fools joke.

Poor Little Former Investment Bankers.

2009-03-22T11:56:00.004-06:00

If you're me (which you are not, but go with me here), you might be amused by all the hardship stories that seem to be pretty popular on all the online news sites like cnn.com, foxnews.com, msnbc.com and so forth. These regularly have headlines like:
"Family eating on $300 a month"
"Couple goes from Malibu swank to trailer living"
"Struggling on unemployment after $100k/yr"
Or, the current lead story on cnn:
"Humbled banker parts with yuppie past"

Can I just say for all of us "experienced" unemployed people: Puhhlease! (by experienced, I mean experienced AT being unemployed, though the other interpretation works well too). Its so silly to see all these articles about rich people who are now "poor". Oh no! You lost your 100k/yr job? And now you only get a few thousand per month in unemployment? And you didn't think to save any of those hundreds of thousands of dollars? Oh the humanity! You can't eat out every night now and have to actually (gulp) "cook" your own food? Whatever shall you poor people do? You have to sell your 3rd car to pay your utilities? Seriously, are the writers at these news sites THAT out of touch that they think these stories of rich people losing their jobs is going to elicit interest or tears on the part of people who are facing, oh you know, ACTUAL hardship? And I don't even place ourselves in the actual hardship category, I mean, we eat very well (less than 200/month, but we cook gourmet dinners almost every night), we manage to scrape enough together for health insurance, and we have managed to meet our mortgage payments. We don't save much, but our house is kind of an investment (ha!). So how is it a major news story that the Johnsons have miraculously managed to cut their food budget down to $300/month?

On another note, I just read a story about how a.)the Obama's planted a vegetable garden at the white house, and b.)how many Americans are planting gardens to save money. On part a, this has to be the first thing the Obama's have done that I really approve of, heck it even makes me like the guy a little. They're doing it to set an example of eating food produced near your home- something I approve of wholeheartedly. As for part b, they've got it all wrong. As much as I love my garden, saving money is not a reason to plant one. They are for having your own fresh source of food that is 10 times better than anything you can buy at the store, and for the relaxing and aesthetic aspect. Again, stupid online content writers (though I suppose the extra 19% of Americans who started gardening this year are being silly too.)

Garden Journal 4.1

2009-03-21T19:16:00.006-06:00

Behold the Birthday Tomato Greenhouse in all its majestic and glorious majesty and glory!

For the ill-informed, my goal this year is to pick a tomato from my garden on my birthday, June 11th, cut it into slices, and eat it most merrily, juice dribbling down my chin a full two months before I had tomatos last year.

I built the greenhouse by shoving the ends of 10' lengths of pvc pipe into the dirt and bending them over to make a frame, over which I taped a heavy gauge painters plastic (2 mils). All the materials cost around $10. Christmas lights were laid on the soil, contributing to a drunken, sensual, party atmosphere to encourage the tomato plants to... be fruitful, and also to provide some heat at night so they don't freeze or go dormant (which is what happens when you plant them before it gets hot). I don't have a thermometer, but it feels pretty hot in there during the day, and not too cold at night- probably in the 50's.

I bought a few early girl plants, a few better boys, a cherry and a beefsteak. Also, the parents of one of the kids I tutor gave me another early girl (except twice as big as the ones I bought). Next week I will also plant lettuce, onions, carrots, and as soon as I can find them, peppers.

As you can see, the adolescent plants greatly appreciate the christmas lights and have started the party in full swing. (photos have been edited for inappropriate content)

In other garden news, my chives appear to be fully established from the past two years and are already half a foot high in some spots. All the oregano survived the winter too. Now that I think about it, it never really got below 20 degrees, which probably helped.

Rather than spend money on new seeds this year (it becoming somewhat of an endangered species around here), I used the seeds I saved from last year, so we'll see what the 2nd year germination rate is. There is cilantro, basil, parsley, petunias, coleus, vinca, and leaf and romaine lettuce.

Big Whoop

2009-03-13T17:00:00.002-06:00

Did you know that Big Love is going to portray part of a temple ceremony? Did you know I would have never known about it had I not heard about it from Mormon friends via email, blogs, facebook, etc? I wonder how many other people are finding out about it that way. It seems like every time Mormons get all huffy about someone talking about us, its just free advertising for the people we perceive as wronging us.

Here's a better reaction: Big Whoop. You can go find the temple ceremony in its entirety on the web. And its not like the producers of big love are breaking their temple covenants by airing this. At worst, they are being disrespectful. Not nice, but not noteworthy.

24601

2009-03-08T18:37:00.002-06:00

I have been thinking a lot about the concept of identity and self-image lately. I wanted to try to come up with a polished essay on the topic, but finally gave up. Below are some of my unpolished thoughts.

Our concept of who we are and what our purpose creates the foundation for the choices we make. I personally think that a lot of people are confused about their identity, and that, as a result, live sort of unfocused lives. In fact, it’s so common to wonder “Who am I?” and “Why am I here on earth?” that it is almost cliché. (Or maybe I’ve just watched too many corny church videos.) I don’t think it is any accident that one of the first things the LDS people teach young children is that they are children of God (and everyone else is, too). In fact, the title of the first lesson in the new Nursery Manual is, “I Am a Child of God.” (I just checked.) We teach our children when they are young that they can become like God by following His plan. In other words, we teach our children some of the most fundamental concepts of who they are and why they are here as soon as, or even before, they can really understand them.
I am not saying that that is all there is to it. Even knowing all that, the concept of identity is hard to define in general, and it is perhaps even harder to define one’s own individual identity.

A few examples of what I have observed:

Katie for many years considered herself a non-extreme “liberal”. She studied English, which is traditionally a liberal subject – so the fact that she was taking these classes at a conservative university gave her a somewhat balanced range of viewpoints from her professors and fellow students. When she would talk about politics or social issues with other people at BYU or her family members, she often found that her viewpoint well left of anybody else’s viewpoint. When she graduated, she rather quickly found out that she is no liberal. When she discussed social issues with most people outside her family and outside of BYU, she found that she was only liberal in comparison with some of the quite conservative people with whom she associated at college. Anyway, the point is that she sort of had to reshape her self-image to accommodate this new information.
We have some friends in the ward whose daughter recently went to college. Her parents really wanted her to go to a church school, but this girl was scared to death of being lost in the crowd. She was the only member of the church in her school, and it became part of her self-image. It wasn’t the size of BYU-Provo that scared her. It was the fact that everyone would be LDS and she would not longer have an identity. She even told Katie and some of the other leaders in the Young Women program that she didn’t want to be just the same as them. This was, of course, funny to the leaders because they didn’t think of themselves as very much alike. She ended up going to BYU-Hawaii.
I participated in a training course at work on social styles. They categorized peoples behavior into four major groups and talked about how to recognize the behavior, or “social style”, of other people and how to best interaction once you had made that recognition. As part of the training, they categorized the participants into the four groups based on surveys from coworkers. Then they had everyone divide up based on their social style. (I was an Analytic. The other groups were Driver, Amiable and Expressive.) I was surprised at how tribal (I don’t know if that’s the right word, but something like that.) most everyone became. People were so willing to adopt the characteristics of the group, (which were, the trainers admitted, not intended to precisely describe everyone). Many people tried to speak their own group with authority derived from their identification with the group, rather than what they had learned in the training. Anyway, it was really interesting to me because it seemed like many of those people really took what their coworkers said about them to mean a lot about their identity, as if they had few other points of reference.
I think that it’s useful to look at many of the social issues from the perspective of identity and self-image. I think the way forward on race relations will become clearer as people realize that self-prejudice, or creating a self-image based on your race rather than on internal feelings and knowledge, is just as damaging as prejudice against others. Regarding sexual orientation, I don’t know. I suspect that when people, usually teenagers, decide (or discover, depending on your Views,) they are homosexual or bisexual or whatever, there are a lot of confusing self-image and identity they have to deal with. I guess that’s sort of true for teenagers even when no sexuality issues are involved. They want to be individual, but most of them also want to fit in.
I guess that’s all I have to say for now.

Visceral Fat

2009-03-06T21:08:00.003-07:00

Some people who know me are familiar with my hypoglycemia. Since I was an early teenager I periodically have an episode where it feels like my blood sugar drops precipitously- I start sweating, I get so weak I can hardly move, and I get so hungry that it feels like if I don't eat in the next 10 minutes I will pass out.
I've mentioned it to doctors, but none of them seemed to care very much since the symptoms didn't really match diabetes and they didn't really have any idea what was going on with me. I just got used to the idea of always being somewhere with ready access to food: if I went on a camping trip, I packed enough food for a trip of double the expected length, just in case. These episodes will happen at least once a month, but usually once a week or so.

But something amazing has happened. About 2 months ago I started my new lifestyle of working out everyday and limiting my calories to 2000 a day or less (something that I was sure would bring on more hypoglycemic episodes). Since then I have had exactly one episode, and I think that one only happened because I had a sugary breakfast. I am now able to eat breakfast (usually something high in protein like eggs, or whole grains like homemade bread or oatmeal), and then go until 3:00, usually working out in there somewhere- running at least half an hour and lifting weights, without an uncomfortable hunger. I mean, yeah, I get hungry, but not hypoglycemic hungry, and trust me, after experiencing hypoglycemic hunger my whole life, being a little "normal" hungry is like a pleasant walk in the park.

Doing a little research, I think I might have discovered one of the reasons this has happened. Most people who know me would not characterize me as fat. My whole life I have never been able to pinch even a centimeter on my arms, legs, or wherever. Nevertheless I was always able to poof out my stomach to look like a drunk old man. I've always had a pot belly, even as a little kid, and its gotten worse as I've progressed through my twenties. After a little reading I've discovered that I must carry all my fat next to my internal organs- "visceral fat". This is apparently the unhealthy kind of fat. Hip fat, arm fat, leg fat- thats all good, but visceral fat leads to diabetes, heart disease, and a bunch of other problems including Alzheimers, and thats the only fat I've ever had (stupid Webb genes!), and I'm starting to think it may be one of the causes of my hypoglycemic stuff.

Now, since I've lost at least 12 pounds of that visceral fat (I measure 12 pounds lost, but I have also visibly put on some muscle mass so I've probably lost a lot more), my hunger episodes have basically disappeared. Apparently excess visceral fat gets in the way of the body's insulin regulating system. Now that my pot belly is slowly melting away, I no longer worry about not having eaten for 4 hours. Hurray for exercising!

A Pile of Words

2009-03-03T21:15:00.005-07:00

Time for another blog post in which my comments are not tied together by a common theme, but rather thrown together into a big steaming pile*.

So after we finished watching all 12 seasons of Buffy and Angel, we have moved on to other tv shows. Lost, I already mentioned we had started, and we are now on season 2. The other one we started, which I think I like a lot better than Lost is Battlestar Galactica. Its filling the void left by Star Trek, but it also has good acting, non-one-dimensional characters and semi-plausible plots (as opposed to the rampant time traveling in 2 of every 3 Star Trek episodes). We're almost done with season 2, and I highly recommend it to all.

My interviews (4 so far) with company X have all gone well, and in my last interview we even talked salary. Am I going to divulge the identity or location of company X? No. Am I enjoying keeping a secret and driving certain people crazy? Yes. I would tell all right now, but A.) I don't want to jinx this one like I have every other job prospect in the past two years by telling everyone, and B.)I have a kick-A way in which I am going to tell everyone. Patience.

In a few days or weeks, I am going to plant my birthday tomato. More accurately, I am going to plant the tomato plants from which my birthday tomato will come. Last year I didn't get a tomato until August, just a few days before we went to Seattle, so I didn't even get to enjoy a full harvest until late August. I vowed: "Never again!", and from that moment I resolved to have a tomato ready to pick by my birthday, June 11th. 'June 11th?' You exasperatedly ask yourself, thinking I'm crazy by trying to get a tomato a full 1.5 months before the earliest normal first tomato date, and your doubt would be well justified. But this year I am going to completely enclose one of my garden beds in clear plastic, and put in several strands of christmas lights in to keep the plants warm at night. That way I should be able to keep the daytime temperature above 80 or 90, with the nighttime temp hopefully around 55 or 60. Around June 1st I will also stress one of the plants by cutting off 3/4 of its roots, making it think that its about to die and that is should ripen all its fruit. I will also use a pollinating spray to force the first flowers to pollinate. Pictures to follow soon...

So remember my rashly-made goal of exercising every day and cutting my calories to 2000 a day? Well shine my head and color me red, I actually stuck to it and it is now a habit. (Feel free to use that shine my head bit. But it only works for me because I can actually shine my head.) As a result of my 7 weeks of stick-to-it-ive-ness, I have lost about 12 pounds, increased my strength by quite a bit (as measured by bench press and pull-ups (I can do 12 now, up from 1 when I started)), and my mile time is now at 5:43, which is 40 seconds off my best high school time. And this is the first time since... ever, that working out has become a habit for me. And all it took was my dad coming close to death. Go dad!

Jenny and I are in the one of the Draper Temple dedication choirs that will sing at one of the 8 dedication sessions right there in the celestial room. Good times.

Why is everyone so upset with Rush Limbaugh? I mean, he has said stupid things in the past that I didn't agree with, but oh well, he's an entertainer as he himself has said on many occasions. But this time Democrats and liberals are just being stupid and dishonest themselves, to the point where it is seriously discrediting them in the eyes of anyone who heard the Limbaugh quote in context. Democrats and Obamabots are getting their panties all bunched up because Limbaugh said "I hope he fails." What he actually said was more along the lines of "If his goal is to create a socialist state, then I hope he fails", not, as Obamabots claim: "I hope he fails in his attempt to stimulate the economy." If that is what Obama's real goal is, then I hope it fails too. Seriously, grow up Obamabots.

Lucy is on her third article of faith, or as she calls them, her "we believes". However, everytime the word is 'that', she says 'but', which renders the 2nd We Believe as: "We believe but man will be punished for his own sins..." and the 3rd We Believe as: "We believe but through the atonement of Christ..."

We're on an asian food kick. There is a family in the ward where the mom was born in Thailand but raised in the U.S., and has taught us how to make Thai soup. To assure the longevity of our eternal marriage, Jenny has learned how to make this soup, plus several other asian recipes that our friend has made for us including this amazing (I was about to say a word that begins with 'or' and rhymes with 'shmasmic', but then I remembered this is a family blog) dish that is basically a tomato papaya salad. I think the recipe called for mixing liquid meth with shredded crack and pouring that over papaya and tomatos.

Speaking of our new asian food repertoire, Jenny learned how to make sticky rice with peanut dipping sauce. This dish calls for a little less crack but more than makes up for it with marijuana infused alcohol.

I'm loling as I imagine the google ads that would appear alongside this post if I were to allow advertising.

Its posts like these that kind of make me a little depressed as I struggle to come up with anything notable that has happened to me or that I have done in the past month, and I'm blanking already. New diet and excersize, check. Asian food, check. Temple choir, check. Birthday tomato, check. Hmmm, not much else going on. Lets rant about liberals and Rush Limbaugh, check. Oh, Lucy's kinda cool... check. Oh, I've got another one:

Someone shot our kitchen window with a paintball. Ok, my life sucks. Stay tuned for next month's pile of words*.

*I openly admit that I lifted the steaming pile imagery from Eric Snider (see sidebar).

She Likes Big Bums, and She Can Not Lie.

2009-02-05T23:34:00.003-07:00

The only way we have been able to get Lucy to be potty-trained is to promise her that when she stops going potty in her diaper then she gets to take a ballet class. She is obsessed with ballet and ballerinas and dancing, and as soon as she heard Jenny say that she was instantly potty-trained- 2 weeks and only 1 or 2 small accidents.

So in preparation for her ballet class Jenny has been watching short ballet clips on youtube with her. Today, when one of the leotard clad male dancers came on, Lucy, always trying to find something nice to say, looks up at mommy and says in a soft, awe-filled voice: "Oh mommy, he has a beautiful bum."

A Lost Post

2009-01-22T15:35:00.006-07:00

I think Lost has become my new favorite show. I have a few comments/questions to bounce of people who watch it. If you aren't caught up, there are some spoilers here.

I'm almost positive Jin is dead, despite what others think. Suppose he managed to get off the freighter before it blew up and survived. The Oceanic 6 didn't see him in the water, so what happened to him? He was further out than the helicopter and the freighter disappeared from the view of the island so he didn't go with the island to wherever/whenever it went. So if he wasn't in the water or with the island, I say he's dead. I wish he weren't, but people die on the show all the time, and if I remember right usually before new characters come along.

Pierre Chang in this video yells about the baby, and then in the premier is with a baby. Is the baby significant or just there?

They had better bring Walt back in an awesome way. He's one of my favorites and I want to know what makes him special. I was thinking that since Ben gave him permission to leave he wouldn't have to come back, but Ben gave Kate and Sayyid permission to leave and they have to go back, so I don't think my theory works. Why isn't Ben concerned about bringing him back?

I was sold on the idea that Ben and Widmore were constants, which was why he didn't kill him. But if Ben is banished from the island, why would he need a constant? Can he still move through time?

Is Charlotte Ben's friend Annie when he was young who moved to England before the purge?

Does Vincent play a role, or is he just a dog?

Any other thoughts?

I thought of you all on my lunch "break"

2009-01-22T14:21:00.003-07:00

For a "good" time, "click" "here."

Happy Inauguration Day

2009-01-21T18:23:00.002-07:00

I know I'm a day late, but oh well.

One of the blessings for which I am most grateful is the fact that I live in this country. There are many great things about this country, but one of the greatest is the peaceful transfer of power established by the Constitution. You don't have to look too far to find places in the world where the leaders refuse to give up power or abide by democratic elections.
Anyway, here's to America, elections, and peace!

I Make Salad

2009-01-18T17:27:00.003-07:00

I invented a salad today. I'm sure if I were to google spinach apple salad I'd probably get hundreds of recipes, so I didn't really invent it, but I had never made it and was just throwing stuff together that I found in my fridge. I chopped spinach into little pieces, grated a granny smith apple, grated a carrot, and then grated about 1/3 of a small onion (I'd add even less next time). I poured a little raspberry vinegar on it (to tie together the apple with the spinach and onion), and a bit of olive oil, salt and feta cheese. It was shockingly amazing. All part of our goal to have a healthy vegetable (ie, besides iceberg lettuce) with every dinner.

(Imagine a picture of spinach apple salad here. In a red salad bowl)

If I had a lemon, I would have soaked the grated apple in lemon juice before I added it to the salad so it wouldn't turn brown.

Taken to Heart

2009-01-13T15:31:00.002-07:00

This year on Christmas eve, perhaps in an attempt at creative gift giving, my dad gave everyone a big scare by letting his heart stop for a few minutes. After coming back to life (and wondering why everyone was standing over him), he proceeded to have triple bypass surgery due to the 2 completely clogged arteries and the third 95% clogged artery.

As I looked at my dad in post-op with a breathing tube, I saw my future and I decided to change it. I've always had a hyperactive metabolism that never showed any signs of slowing, but in the past year and a half (perhaps ever since this post) I've gained more weight than I did in the previous 10 years. I've never really thought about what I ate since I always assumed I was young and indestructible. And while I am still young and virtually indestructible, I'm going to start being more serious about my health.

I'm not talking about starting a diet, or making another ill-fated new year's resolution to start running again. I'm changing how I eat and how I plan my exercise. On the eating front, I've given up my resistance to drinking diet soda. I'm not quite ready to only drink water, but going from super big gulps of high fructose corn syrup to diet soda is a big step for me. I'm also changing my philosophy of eating as many calories as I want, to only eating enough or less to maintain my weight, which for me is about 2000 calories. I'm not going to count my calories, but I'll just eat less than I usually do- only eating until I am no longer hungry and not until I feel full. No more steaks with extra fat on them. I get treats and desserts and candy, but just not as much and not as often. (By the way: family- I left a bag of M&Ms and Reeses in Mom's black box by the computer. Could you mail them to me?)

As for exercise, instead of my usual "I'm going to start running again", which sometimes lasts for several months but inevitably fails because of weather, boredom during workouts, and the fact that I always allowed myself to miss a few days each week (which prevents good habit formation), I'm just scheduling in 1.5 hours of exercise time every day from 8 to 9:30. To tackle the weather problem, I bought a year membership at the community gym which has an indoor track, and for the boredom problem Jenny is lending me her old ipod. I'm not dictating to myself what I have to accomplish in those 1.5 hours, I just have to be there doing something, even if its just stretching. I think this one will stick- I've already done it for a whole day!

My goal(s): Not die from preventable health problems before I'm 95, finally get the body of my dreams while I am still in my prime, and, regardless of what I end up looking like with my dream body I'll at least feel good from being in shape and eating decently.

Day 8: Sabado – Lima

2009-01-05T18:30:00.012-07:00

I was up at 5:45 to catch my flight. When I got to Lima I took a cab to the hotel where Jenny, Tom and Destiny were. The cab driver told me he had an American name and showed me his taxi license and it read “Jhony.” I didn’t have the heart to tell him his name wasn’t exactly American as written.

After I got to the hotel we walked to a few little markets. As we were walking to a restaurant we wanted to go to we walked by Huaca Pucllana which are pre-Incan adobe pyramidal-type ruins. They are just hanging out in the middle of the city. It was built between 200 and 700 AD by the people called the Lima and was used for religious purposes by this peaceful people.

We had a good lunch where they gave us purple corn juice for free since it was our last day in Peru. Tom, Jenny and I went to the catacombs in the San Francisco cathedral, which were amazing, but we couldn’t take pictures. A bunch of the bones were nicely arranged in patterns. The catacombs were below this church and used until 1821 and somewhere between 25,000 to 70,000 people were buried here.

We passed by this colorful neighborhood on the way.

We then walked around some plazas next to the catacombs.

On the way to the catacombs we saw this guy on his bike.

We walked down a street to catch a taxi with shops on either side. I don’t remember this happening, but Tom caught it on camera.

We ate dinner at Pardo’s Chicken by our hotel that had some amazing chicken. We then stocked up on goodies before heading back and going to bed. The Marriott was right on the Pacific Ocean and we had a great view.

Domingo – Home
We were up around three in the morning and headed to the airport, flew through Bogota and then back to DC. We were only in Bogota for a short time, but we had to go through security after getting off the plane to head to the terminal for our connecting flight. Then we had to go through security again right after the first checkpoint. We had to go through yet a third time before we got on the plane. But my favorite part of the airport was the bathroom. The individual stalls did not have toilet paper, there was just a big dispenser on the outside.

At Dulles the shuttle we got on after we landed was blocked in by a plane so we were stuck on the shuttle for a while. I then got held up at customs. Then it took a while to get to our car since we didn’t know exactly where it was. Then none of the toll booths worked and it took forever before we could get out. Finally we made it home and crashed. It was by far the most work I had ever done on a vacation, but it was worth every last bit.

Here is Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6 Part 1, Part 2, Day 7, Day 8

Day 7: Viernes – Cusco

2009-01-05T18:24:00.014-07:00

Tom, Jenny and Destiny flew back to Lima on Friday. I bought my plane tickets after they did and the Friday Cusco-Lima tickets were sold out so I had the day alone. I woke up at 5:30 with everyone else and then couldn’t fall back to sleep so I got out of bed and headed for the Plaza de Armas. I went into the cathedral and saw the famous last supper painted with a guinea pig as the meal which was done to appeal to the Incas. The inside of the church was beautiful but no picture taking allowed.

I then went to Koricancha, a church built atop an Incan temple. Cusco was viewed as the navel of the world and Koricancha was the religious center. I wasn’t too impressed. When the Spanish first came the temple was full of gold but it is long since gone. There were some paintings from the 15th and 16th century that were nice, but nothing spectacular.

I went back to the Plaza de Armas and got a taxi to go to Tipon. On the drive we passed a few people who had filled the gutter with carrots to wash them, which made me question the quality of the food I had been eating, despite the rich flavor.

Tipon is a short drive from Cusco by a little town and has an irrigation system that the Incas rigged. The fountains are supposed to have ceremonial purposes or it was a royal garden (I’ve read both). There was a sign in the front that said the water was not to be used to wash cars. I guess enough people were using this 500 year old irrigation system to clean their cars that it became necessary to post it.

Driving away from Tipon there was a sign for a zoo and so we stopped by. It was private and the guy let me in for 3 soles (a buck) and the taxi driver in for free. It was small, but it had anteaters, monkeys, a condor, a puma and some other random animals. It was worth the dollar.

Here’s the bridge we crossed to get to it. It is typical of smaller bridges that I saw.

After the zoo we went to Pikillaqta, or City of the Fleas in Quechua. These are ruins from the Wari (roughly 700-1000, I’ve seen various dates for them, none of which completely agree) who predated the Incas. The Wari conquered many of the surrounding people and oppressed all cultures of those they conquered. There is support that the Incan culture borrowed from the Wari. Their ruins were similar to the Incas – lots and lots of rocks stacked on each other.

I contemplated going to Andahuaylillas, at town further out that has a beautiful church, some call it the Sistine Chapel of the Americas. But I felt like the cathedral on the Plaza de Armas was good enough for the day and it wouldn’t be worth it to pay the cab fare to walk around a church for half an hour. Instead I had the cab driver take me to the Tambomachay ruins outside of Cusco. Tambo means lodging with the necessary accommodations and machay means place of rest. Tradition calls the location the “Bath of the Ñusta” due to two aqueducts that have clean water all year coming from wells. The bathrooms there were marked with dolls by the doors. I went in and as I was standing at the urinal two girls walked in looking for someone. They left the door open on the way out so I could enjoy the scenery as I was standing there.

I then walked to Pukapukara – Red Fortress, which you can see from Tambomachay. Tradition says that after visiting the baths of Tambomachay Incans would go to Pukapukara for lodging.

I think I would have enjoyed Tambomachay and Pukapukara much more had I not gone to Machu Picchu the day before. Everything seemed less impressive and not as important. But they were still worth the quick visit. I then walked the five or so miles back to Cusco.

Back in the city I went to the museum of ancient history. I was not impressed and could have skipped it and not missed anything. It was small and didn’t have much in it besides some pictures similar to those in Koricancha.

Walking from our hotel to the Plaza de Armas we passed buildings which still have walls build by the Incans. This stone is famous for having so many sides, yet fitting in perfectly.

For dinner I ate alpaca. It was cooked in a lomo saltado fashion and served with rice and was excellent. I planned on having alpaca on Thanksgiving, but the restaurant where we ate on Thursday didn’t serve it, so I delayed my Peruvian Thanksgiving meal for a day. The restaurant where I ate was on the Plaza de Armas and so afterwards I went and sat on the stairs in front of the cathedral to try and write about the trip. But vendors kept coming up to me trying to sell me things. People are everywhere trying to sell artwork, and this kid Pablo Picasso Jr. came by. It was the third or fourth time he had tried to sell me paintings since I had arrived. Some girl came by and told me all the American presidents from the current Bush back to Hoover. I was impressed, but not enough to buy anything. Other people came by and I gave up. I went back to the hotel to pack and headed back to the plaza because I was bored. I saw an internet café and went in, it was the first time I was online in more than a week. The internet was slow and I gave up after less than half an hour. As I was walking back to the hotel some girl stopped my and offered me a massage; these people are everywhere in Cuzco. It was around 10:30 and I said it was a little late. She said she would give me “algo mas private” (something more privado). I just started laughed at her and kept walking.

Here is Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6 Part 1, Part 2, Day 7, Day 8

Day 6 Part 2: Jueves – Machu Picchu

2009-01-03T15:45:00.018-07:00

Eventually we made our way down Huanya Picchu and the mist had all vanished.

Jenny and Destiny went to the hot springs in Aguas Calientes, while Tom and I stayed to walk around some more. After walking to the top of the ruins we decided to go up to the Sun Gate which is on the path that is barely visible here to the dip in the mountain.

It’s another long distance view of Machu Picchu on the opposite side of Huayna Picchu. It took us about half an hour to get to the gate. It was on the trail the Incans used to get Machu Picchu. Along the way there were some structures and at the top there was a building of sorts that made the Sun Gate.

We then walked back and split up to enjoy the site on our own. These are Tom’s pictures.

These are mine.

Despite the thousands of people that visit Machu Picchu everyday for the last little bit I was mostly by myself. I wondered around some buildings that led to other areas that sometimes would dead end. In one building I entered there were two Andean rabbits in the rocks.

We headed back to Aguas Calientes to eat and catch our train. We went to a restaurant called Indio Feliz or Happy Indian. This was our Thanksgiving meal and I had been wanting to eat alpaca for Thanksgiving all week. But they didn’t have any so I had mango chicken instead. It was delicious like all the rest of the food.

Along the way to the train station we ran into a bunch of kids who wanted their picture taken with us. We were a bit confused since there are thousands of tourists that go through the town everyday, but whatever.

We then made it to our train to Ollantaytambo and took a taxi the rest of the way back to Cusco. The trek was amazing and Machu Picchu was everything we had hoped it would be and more, with Huayna Picchu being our favorite part of the day.

After we arrived in Cusco we were surprised to learn that we were supposed to tip those who accompanied us. We gave each of the horseman $10, the cook $15 and Willy $20 which meant we were out $55 extra, so if you ever go budget this in with the cost of the excursion. Even with this it was still more than worth it.

Here is Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6 Part 1, Part 2, Day 7, Day 8

Day 6 Part 1: Jueves – Machu Picchu

2009-01-03T15:39:00.023-07:00

Machu Picchu's awesomeness cannot be contained in a single post. This is the first part of the day.

Thanksgiving was the day for Machu Picchu. We were up at 4:15 so we could be at the bus station by five to be on the first busses at 5:30. Machu Picchu is on a mountain by the town Aguas Calientes and it took about half an hour to arrive. We entered the park about when it opened at six.

Machu Picchu is about 100 miles to the east of Cuzco and means Old Peak in Quechua. Hiram Bingham, a Yale professor, “discovered” it in 1911. The locals knew about it and some were even living in the ruins. Bingham removed many artifacts and moved them to Connecticut, where they still are today. The Spanish had missed Machu Picchu and so it wasn’t plundered like other sites. There was an epidemic of some sort (possibly syphilis) around 50-100 or so years before the Spaniards arrived leading the Incans to abandon it. Being in the jungle covered mountain it would easy to miss, especially if cloudy.

When we entered it was misty and we couldn’t see much. Willy put his hands to his mouth, did some special sounding call and the mist disappeared for a brief time so we could see. He said that he didn’t want to have to do it again. I couldn’t tell if he was serious or joking but I think he was serious.

Willy took us around part of the ruins describing different areas. It is a gigantic place.

The Incans were obviously master stonemasons, but they had different levels of quality for the job. The first wall is a wall of the dwelling for common people, the second wall the dwelling for the priest, and the last wall for the temple. The more important the job, the better the masonry.

Here is a rock carved to look like a llama. There is an eye cut into the top right that is a little hard to see.

The rock in the foreground it carved into the shape of Machu Picchu. The two mountains are to the side and the dwellings in between.

This rock is carved into an Indian head. The line towards the bottom is the mouth. The rock bulges by it since he’s chewing coco leaves.

Willy left around nine or so and Paul and Corah went off to explore together. The four of us climbed up Huayna Picchu (which means Young Peak), a mountain beside the ruins that gives you a good view of the area and has some ruins as well.

The hike was less than an hour, but it was straight up. Some of the stairs went up to my knee.

We were worried about not being able to see anything because of the mist when we got to the top, but it disappeared as we climbed higher and there it was: Machu Picchu.

The view from the top was amazing. We spent around an hour taking pictures, talking to other people and just taking it all in. This rock is the actual peak.

Here is Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6 Part 1, Part 2, Day 7, Day 8

Day 5: Miercoles – Llactapata

2009-01-01T09:58:00.018-07:00

Our tent in La Playa was right next to the Turkish toilet outhouse, which you actually had to flush by pouring a bucket of water into the hole. The outhouse was right next to the water pump. (I didn’t let myself think about that too much.) For whatever reason at five in the morning or so some people were up and cutting wood by the outhouse, or less than five feet from our tent. We then had to get out of bed at 6:00. We were going to climb the Llactapata trail – up the mountain in the background.

Llacta means town and pata height. Even though Hiram Bingham (the discoverer of Machu Picchu) found the ruins at Llactapata they are not well known or excavated very much. One ruin there could be the Sun Temple for Machu Picchu, with the rest being a ceremonial sanctuary and retreat.

We started the hike walking on a road when the bus with our gear passed us. Willy told us to get in the bus and it would take us a short distance to the start of the actual path. Instead we hopped on top. There were no seats or anything resembling a proper place to sit and it was incredibly uncomfortable. We had to duck for the branches along the way. Paul had the worst problem with it. Willy ran ahead and took some shots of us.

We got to the trail, which is from Incan times. We were climbing 850 meters in elevation, and so the path was all switchbacks straight up. The going was mighty slow, but the scenery superb. It was a walk through the forest, but sometimes it would be clear so we could see the mountains in the surrounding area.

We didn’t go to the peak of Llactapata, but to a clearing on the side of the mountain where there were the ruins and a view of Machu Picchu in the distance. When you first come out of the forest there is a building which you think are some Incan ruins (last picture above). But it is a reconstruction and the actual ruins are to the side of it. They are not that impressive since they aren’t fully excavated or kept up. Apparently they are sizeable but work hasn’t been done on them yet. These are the actual ruins.

It’s hard to see, but Machu Picchu is in front of the mountain that is sticking up in front of the ridge.

We stayed here for a while and Willy told us about the Incan civilization and about the ruins. We hiked straight down all the elevation we climbed up.

Although you can’t really see it, on the last picture there is a house more than halfway up the mountain. I’m not sure who set up camp that far up or is willing to take the switch back road up and down to go anywhere, but there they are. We then walked along a creek/river past a hydroelectric plant. The plan of the power plant confused us though. They pumped water up the mountain, then shot it out a hole they created in the side of it.

We eventually made it to the train station area. We ate lunch at a little restaurant along the way and had fried cauliflower.

Willy then taught us a fun card game that we dubbed Slick Willy in his honor. After lunch we got on a train to go to Augas Calientes, the town by Machu Picchu where we were spending the night. For whatever reason partway through the train ride the engine disconnected itself from the rest of the cars and we got a new engine. Willy said that happens all the time, but we were all confused about it.

We arrived at Augas Calientes where we each had our own hotel room. We showered and ate dinner at a local restaurant then went to bed early to get ready for Machu Picchu the next day.

Here is Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6 Part 1, Part 2, Day 7, Day 8

Day 4: Martes – Hiking through the forest

2008-12-31T15:17:00.023-07:00

It rained all Monday night and I slept fitfully and then we were woken up at 5:45 on Tuesday. It snowed in the higher up in the mountains which made our valley even more beautiful. After a small breakfast we packed up to begin the day’s hike.

Today was downhill 16 kilometers through the woods/forest. It was amazing scenery. In the valley where we were hiking we were dominated by mountains on either side with little waterfalls coming down from the glaciers. We heard them falling a few times. The waterfalls fed into the river we were walking by which is a tributary of the Amazon River.

The scenery was spectacular.

The only problem of the hike was that it was rocky, windy and downhill so we had to watch our footing. A lot of the trail was muddy or covered with water which made it harder to enjoy the beauty of the mountains. But Tom took pictures of some of the flora we saw along the way.

Along the way we passed a little village.

We also passed a house with a traditional roof. It doesn’t have a chimney, but the smoke can leave through the roof.

We then stopped at a little place called Wiñaypocco. There were chickens running around, including one at my feet as we ate fried chicken for lunch, among other things. It was a lot of hiking and we were beat.

We then continued the hike until we reached the small town of La Playa at 2,000 meters. But don’t let the name fool you, it’s not really a beach, it’s just a little village with a river passing through it. The town has one dirt road going through it. We started called La Playa the hoyo, or the hole. We wanted to camp out, but instead set up our tents in the front yard of a store. But we started playing cards and invited two of the girls that lived there to play spoons with us. They then taught us how to play a game called nervioso which was fun.

Along the hike Jesus was carrying a gunny sack with a live guinea pig inside. When we got to La Playa they killed, skinned and gutted it and cooked him up for dinner.

Jenny – who had a pet guinea pig – and Destiny – who hadn’t eat meat in a month or so – were not so keen on the idea of eating it.

But we all tried some. It was kind of like greasy dark chicken meat. I didn’t think it was worth the effort of eating it though, not a lot of meat for a lot of bones to pick through. Despite it being a delicacy of sorts in Peru, I didn’t think it was that great.

Our horsemen didn’t go with us the next day, so we took a last picture of all of us together.

Despite the fun playing cards and eating the guinea pig, we were glad to leave the next day. Here’s Bandito Tom’s opinion of La Playa:

Here is Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6 Part 1, Part 2, Day 7, Day 8

Day 3: Lunes – Salkantay Trek

2008-12-31T10:40:00.022-07:00

Monday we were up at 5:00 am for the start of our hike. We did the Salkantay Trek with Apus Peru. We piled into a van and met up with the other people in our group, Paul and Corah, a couple from Ireland. We drove for more than an hour or two to the tiny town Mollepata to eat. We ate breakfast in a little area that had guinea pigs, cats, chickens and dogs walking around. They gave us some tea from coco leaves that the natives use. I tried it but didn’t like the taste.

We then got back in the van and drove to the beginning of the trail at a place called Soray Pampa. The road we took was a dirt/gravel switchback. On the one side of the road was the mountain, and on the other side a drop that was upwards of hundreds of feet down at times. We listened to Quechua music along the way. Part way up we were crossing a creek and bottomed out, so some of us hopped out and I took these pictures:

This was a long drive, hours long. When the Quechua tapes were over the driver put on – what else – Bob Marley, thus getting reggae songs stuck in our heads for the next few days. We finally reached the end of the road and we piled out to begin the hike. Before we began I moved to the front seat to put in my contact lenses. The driver was fascinated and asked questions about them, I don’t think he had ever seen contacts before.

Our group consisted of our guide Willy, our cook Victoriano, two horsemen Jesus and Alejandro and the six of us.

The hike began at 3,900 meters.

It was straight up hill to the Salkantay pass. Salkantay is a mountain over 20,500 feet (higher than Mt. McKinley, but only the 12th highest peak in Peru) that can be seen in the background of the above pictures. It means Savage Mountain and completely dominates the surrounding area despite everything else. The hike up was slow going with many switchbacks.

After a while of going up it started to rain a little and got colder. We made it to a tent that the horsemen and cook had pitched for lunch. They started the hike a bit after us and blew by us like they were strolling through the park. Here’s the view from the lunch tent.

We gathered in as it rained harder and began to hail. I was expecting something small for lunch, but they went all out. We had some soup to start off, then rice, French fries, grilled chicken and vegetables. The potato originated in Peru, and they know how to cook with it. The food was amazing.

We hiked up to 4,600 meters (15,200+) feet to pass Salkantay. The view was spectacular.

At the high point there is a sign giving the altitude 4600 meters or 15,253 feet. There are only 18 mountains with a higher altitude in North America, and we were higher than Mt. Whitney (the tallest point in the continental 48 states). And this was the pass to get around the mountains on either side of us.

This was the highest I have ever successfully used a pointer, and I was left to wonder if anyone had ever used a pointer at a higher elevation.

When we were further down Willy told us to pick up some rocks and carry up the mountain, so we all had some small stones. At the top it is tradition to stack the stones up to resemble a mountain as a sort of offering to the mountain gods.

Willy did a more formal offering where he scattered coco leaves on a pillar of rocks. He did it on three levels, representing different gods in the Incan deity. The first represented the snake or god of what’s below the ground, the second represented the puma or god of what’s on the ground, and the third the condor or god of what’s above the ground. Willy also briefly explained Pachamama, who’s roughly Mother Earth. Before eating or drinking those who follow the tradition pour some of the liquid or take some of the food and put it on the ground as an offering to Pachamama, since everything comes from the earth you give some back.

It was cold at the top of the pass, but going up and back down it was warm enough to wear just a short sleeved shirt and be fine. As we were getting towards the summit my fingers got a little tingly and it was harder to breath, but other than that the altitude didn’t bother me. My fingers felt fine after a few minutes. We then hiked downhill to our campsite for the night.

Towards the end we were in a green valley with a creek running through it covered in mist. Except for the mountains, this part of the hike reminded Paul and Corah of Ireland.

After 12 kilometers of hiking up and down we arrived at the campsite. It was 4,000 meters above sea level and located by some dwellings where some people live.

I can’t imagine living so far out. To get anywhere these people have to trek I don’t know how many miles by horse/foot. And yet they had bottles of water and other things ready for sale for us hikers. We had trout for dinner with rice and potatoes. Dessert was purple corn pudding, which tasted like a purple Jolly Rancher. We went to bed early as there really wasn’t anything to do, we were all beat and we had 16 kilometers of hiking to look forward to the next day.

Here is Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6 Part 1, Part 2, Day 7, Day 8

Day 2: Domingo – Sacred Valley

2008-12-30T15:30:00.021-07:00

There are many Incan ruins in the general area around Cusco in the region called the Sacred Valley.

We were up at 6:00 to meet with our guide for the day who would take us around that we had arranged for the day before. Except when we met him, he didn’t speak English, so he was a driver and not a guide. We felt a bit cheated, but there wasn’t much we could do about it. So we started driving to Pisac.

As we were driving we stopped to take some pictures, and there was a little girl that came by with some llamas. She picked up the baby llama and moved it around like it was nothing. We all decided she was a much tougher nine year old than we were.

We stopped again along the way at a little zoo with llamas, alpacas, and vicuñas. They were in little fenced off areas and we could walk around and pet them.

Next to the zoo was a traditional textile shop. They took the wool from the alpacas and dyed the yarn there and made the cloths and blankets. The people there were dressed up in old Incan garb.

After these brief stops we got to Pisac, or partridge in Quechua. The town is supposed to be in a partridge shape. It is an hour or so outside of Cusco and has a bustling market and impressive ruins. We first went to the market. There were all sorts of touristy things there, but also regular goods that Peruvians would buy. They have more than 100 different kinds of potatoes and twenty kinds of corn.

I bought a chess set with the pieces being the Incas and conquistadores, some animal finger puppets for the nephews and a niece and some old coins. The girl I bought the finger puppets from had to be less than ten years old. There were a bunch of kids there making money selling things and charging tourists to take pictures with them. Possibly they learned the rudiments of capitalism at the school located on the premise, naturally named after Albert Einstein.

We then drove to the ruins. They were huge. The Incans did not mess around in building stone edifices. The terraces that go up from the river are shaped like a female breast which was a tribute to Pachamama, or Mother Earth (which we learned more about on Monday)

After we got to the first site Tom and Jenny walked back to the beginning, while Destiny and I walked up around the mountain to some more ruins higher up.

There were some more ruins further up, but we headed down since we had already been there for a couple of hours. We missed this statue which I had wanted to see, but forgot about when we were there.

It is said that the cacique Huayllapuma had a daughter called Inquill; who had to get married with the man that could be able to build, just in one night, the bridge over the Vilacmayo River (a very significant bridge for the defense of the place). In spite of the hard work, Asto Rimac, a handsome prince, decided to take the challenge and ask for the hand of the princess. The authorities of the place arranged everything so Asto Rimac could start the work; meanwhile, the princess had to climb a hill without turning round; because, otherwise, she and her fiancé would turn into rock. Almost at dawn, the prince finished the work but Inquill could not stand any longer and turned round thus becoming a stone figure up to now.

Our next stop was lunch at Urubamba which we all thought was included, but it wasn’t, so after a mini-fiasco trying to figure out what was going on we went to eat in Ollantaytambo instead. It was a good choice. Here’s the view from our seats:

Ollantaytambo was an agricultural, administrative, religious, military and social complex. It is a gigantic place, but unfortunately we were short on time and couldn’t climb up to explore the town. Nor could we climb to the ruins we could see from where we ate lunch were separate from the rest of the Ollantaytambo ruins. All we could do was climb a little up the massive, massive staircase and take some pictures. It was one of the few places where the Incans were victorious against the Spanish. When the Spanish charged tens of thousands of Incan warriors rained arrows, stones and boulders at them from above. They then flooded the area via a local river where they had built a cannel. The Incans themselves were not very populous. They comprised about 100,000 out of the population of ten million in the empire. The rest were other natives the Incans conquered. The Incans did not use the bow and arrow, but rather the Amazonian tribes that they brought in. The Spaniards used various tribes to fight with them against the Incan uprising.

After spending only about 15 minutes here, we headed off to Moray. Along the way we had spectacular scenery.

Moray has gigantic circular terraces that the Incas built. When I say gigantic, I mean gigantic. Going down the terraces there are slightly different climates and so this is where (supposedly) Incans experimented with which crops grow better where. It is roughly 150 meters deep and almost in a perfect circle. It’s not certain where the name Moray derives from, but it is probably from a word for corn harvesting or dehydrated potato. We arrived after it had closed as it was getting dark, but the guy in charge let us in for a little bit. We only got to see one of the terracings of the four. It is impossible to understand the size of this from the picture, but the top to the bottom is roughly 500 feet.

As we were leaving there was a mother and two kids who had a couple hour walk to their destination and wanted to know if we would give them a ride. Since we had room we let them in and drove them back to Cusco. I was talking to the woman and she said there was a church in the area they went to in Quechua. She had seen a puma in the area, but they were rare in those parts though.

Here’s the four of us, our driver and a random dog (which are everywhere) before we left. We asked the lady to take the picture, but I don’t think she had used a camera before. Her cell phone toting daughter took it for us.

When got back to Cusco we ate dinner at a place called Chez Maggie. It was tasty and we had a crazy (in a good kind of way) waiter.

We then headed off for bed to get ready for our trek.

My only disappointment in the Sacred Valley was we didn’t have enough time. We barely saw anything in Ollantaytambo, were in Moray only briefly and skipped Chinchero all together. We easily could have spent another day, and probably two exploring just these areas. If you ever go to Cusco, I’d recommend (at least) one day for the city and two for the sacred valley.

Here is Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6 Part 1, Part 2, Day 7, Day 8

Day 1: Sabado – Cusco

2008-12-30T13:22:00.015-07:00

For Thanksgiving three friends (Jenny, Tom and Destiny) and I went to Peru. We were going to spend some time in Cusco, go on a three day hike through the Andes, spend a day at Machu Picchu, then end in Lima. After the trip was over we traded pictures and had more than 3,200. The pictures in the following come from all of us. I'm going to blog each day separately.

We had a Friday afternoon flight, flew through Bogota, and landed in Lima around 12:30 Saturday morning. Our flight to Cusco left Lima at 5:40 am, so we stayed in the airport. We couldn’t find seats and couldn’t check in and so we slept on the airport floor as best we could.

We then hopped on a little plane and made it to Cusco, the capital of the Incan Empire before the Spanish conquered it. The hotel where we stayed sent someone to pick us up. The hotel was a nice little place. Our hotel door was shorter than me (I’m 5’11’’) but the showerhead was almost seven feet high. Nearby was a restaurant named Jack’s where we had an amazing breakfast. We then walked down to the Plaza de Armas, which was about a five minute walk total from our hotel.

Along the way we passed all sorts of people trying to sell us paintings, massages, shirts and random knick-knacks. We got to the Plaza and sat down in front of the Cathedral by some elementary school kids from the Lake Titicaca area and started talking to them. We chatted for five to ten minutes, and then when they had to leave they all wanted pictures of us.

After walking around for awhile at the Plaza we decided to go to two archeological sites by Cusco. We walked to them to try to get acclimated to walking at high altitudes. We all live in DC and Cusco is more than 11,000 above sea level. It was slow going up hill. Along the way we saw some women washing their clothes in a creek.

The first site we visited was Sacsayhuaman (pronounced sexy woman). It’s 3,600 meters above sea level and means satisfied falcon. It has massive stone walls, and foundations of some buildings that the Spanish tore down to build the churches in the Plaza de Armas. The Incas built Cusco and the surrounding area to be in the shape of a puma, and Sacsayhuaman was the teeth.

Here you can kind of see the zigzagging of the walls for the teeth. The wall is a thousand feet long with three levels. The largest stone is 28 feet high and weighs 360 tons. At the top there were temples and storehouses that the Spanish dismantled. After the Spaniards overran the Incan empire they occupied Cusco. Manco Inca, the puppet emperor who escaped, led a revolt. There was a massive battle here and the Spaniards overran the natives with their horses and superior armor, securing Cusco.

There is a plant called muña or mint that the natives use to help them breath better at the higher elevations. This is what I’m smelling in the first picture. I used it some more later in the trip, and I feel it helped some. It smelled good at any rate.

We then went to Q’enko, a short walk from Sacsayhuaman. Q’enko means maize with lots of returns is much smaller than Sacsayhuaman. Supposedly it was a ceremonial center and place for rituals. There is an amphitheater at the top that has 19 windows that were used to worship. There was a group of Peruvian high schoolers who wanted to take their pictures with us, so we took at least 20 pictures with them.

There were two stone walls next to each other that Tom and I tried to climb The Emperor’s New Groove style, but it didn’t work as well as it did in the movie.

On our walk back to Cusco we saw these people were playing soccer next to some other ruins.

We made our way back to Cusco, huffing and puffing due from the elevation. We ate dinner at a little place that wasn’t bad, although their avocado salad was basically an avocado with a few pieces of lettuce thrown in.

Here is Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6 Part 1, Part 2, Day 7, Day 8

More free stuff ...

2008-12-14T09:56:00.001-07:00

This is a bit late, but there are 12 really fun giveaways over at Design Mom this weekend! I really want to win the Lego cufflinks for my little brother ...

Christmas Elves

2008-12-11T17:05:00.011-07:00

Evidence the country is in a recession: I resorted to sewing (yes, sewing—me, the non-sewer, wife to master seamster Nick who does all the sewing for our household) Lucy's Christmas present this year. I found a post online with the pattern and instructions, and everyone in the comments said how clear and easy it was ...

... so I thought I'd give it a try. It worked. Mostly. I apparently can't measure, cut, and sew in a straight line, but I think the sloped roof adds charm and character. I made up the bunny and the other interior elements myself. I know, I know, I'm crafty. (Thanks toUK Lass in US, that is!)
And cheap. I used leftover scraps of fabric, and a sleeper with a broken zipper and a hole in it. I'm so cheap, in fact, that most of Lu's presents this year are, well, free. And in the spirit of Christmas Elving, I'm sharing my favorite links there with you, just in case your own elves are running behind :)

1. Wee Wonderfuls has a bunch of fun free patterns for those sew inclined. Check out the bottom of the page—Lucy's getting these super cute paper dolls. (photo via Wee Wonderfuls)

2. Recycled Crayons: there are all kinds of posts out there describing how to do this, but the gist of it is that you take all the broken bits of crayons, peel the paper off, sort them however you want into muffin tins (rainbow, pastel, all the reds/pinks, all the greens, etc.), and then bake them in the oven at a low temp (under 200°) for a few minutes until they melt all together. Cool them in the freezer to make it easy to get them out of the muffin tins and instant fun swirly chunky (new) crayons!

3. Dress-up Paper Doll by Sarah at Kiddley. I love the idea behind this doll—you print it out and then use scraps of fun paper, fabric, ribbon, etc. to create a collage of clothes for it. Or you can just color clothes onto it. I also really like Sarah's blog/site, The Small Object (she's got more fun freebies over there, although they're geared more towards adults).

4. Along that same line of thought, Lucy's getting two special coloring books. The first is made from family photos which I photoshopped into black and white line drawings for coloring (thanks to the instructions at fototiller). That's Lu on the left, and her cousin Elise on the right (Hi Elise!).

The second is a "fill in the face and body if you want" book. I saw these fun books at Costco where the people were only partially drawn, with prompts to fill in what was missing (add a hat, add hair, add eyes, etc.). So I tried it out with Lu and she loves it! I draw the circle and one feature, and she fills in the rest. So I made a few basic sheets of faces and copied them so she has plenty to fill in over the holidays.

5. Fun free paper toys, boxes, etc. at the Toymaker. I love her work! It's saved me time and again ... we've already made the advent calendar here, but I think the elf ball is still calling my name ... as is that little bird ... (photo via the Toymaker) Canon Papercrafts also has tons of (often intricate) patterns that are fun (as in yes, I like to make them). While you're there, click on the scrapbook link if you're looking for fun papers and frames and the like.

Those are probably my favorite ideas at the moment—hope it helps!

December's Post

2008-12-05T21:33:00.004-07:00

Since I haven't posted in over a month, and I don't foresee myself posting for another month, here is some filler.

Lucy had surgery on Tuesday. She had her chocolate spot (birthmark) taken off her foot. The surgeon cut out the rather large mark and stretched the surrounding skin together, sewed it up, and put the whole leg in a splint so she can't walk on it. The only think worse than a very busy Lucy running around the house wrecking havoc is a very busy Lucy who demands to be carried all over the house as she wrecks havoc.

I'm applying to be a professor at a bunch of colleges. The list includes:
Willamette (oregon)
Seattle U
Eastern Wash. U
Columbia Basin College (eastern Wa)
Gonzaga (Eastern Wa)
UC Santa Barbara
UC Merced
College of Idaho (Caldwell)
University of Redlands (Ca)
Kenyon College (Ohio)
Wooster College (Ohio)
Several more small Ohio/Pennsylvania/Massachusetts liberal arts colleges.

I've also started applying to a bunch of private high schools around the country. Several are boarding schools. I'm going to be head of Ravenclaw house. And possibly a x-country and Ultimate frisbee coach.

Is it just me, or is Al Franken just not funny anymore?

Here's a word that I hear far too often, mostly from people on NPR trying to sound a lot smarter than they are: Dialogue. I remember listening to a story about the prop 8 protesters at the LA temple, and one of the ex-missionary gay guys goes up to the security guard, and in his high melodramatic whiny voice asks "Is there anyone here we can have a dialogue with?" Its the new buzz word for people who want to sound informed, progressive and sophisticated, without having to bother with saying anything of substance. No matter what issue you're talking about, just throw in that you want to start a dialogue between the various parties, and anyone with a liberal bent will swoon in progressive delight.

It snowed here once in October, and once in early November, but it is still consistently in the 50's. Best fall ever.

So I think the family of this one kid I tutor every day is trying to subtly convert me. They're evangelicals, and also the nicest people in the world. They came to my concert last night with the Sandy chorus and orchestra, and they've invited me to come to their church's christmas concert, which, according to the flyer, is designed for members to be able to bring their friends and neighbors who "don't know God". It's fun being on the receiving end of missionary work for a change- I'm actually quite flattered that they like me enough to even bother doing it. Unfortunately, I won tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's concert for the same night (yes, you have to WIN the tickets through an online lottery), so I made them a counter offer for them to come with us since I had two extra tickets. And they thought they could out-missionary me.

I am apparently the new favorite person in the ward for many of the nursery kids. There are these two little girls a bit younger than Lucy that want me to hold them whenever they see me. In class on Sunday, one of the girls got off her Mom's lap to come over to sit on her Dad's lap, who was sitting next to me. But when she saw I was there, she reached up for me instead and proceeded to snuggle me for about 20 minutes while her dad looked on and laughed. Life's good when a bunch of three year olds think you're the best thing in the world. Maybe its because I slip them candy when their parents aren't looking.

Jenny was accepted to deliver a paper at a conference to be held at Harvard next spring. Go Jenny and her big brain!

Jenny also just photoshopped a picture we took of my parents while they were here- my dad has a fake eye, and whenever he gets his picture taken it looks like one eye is staring off into space. She made it look like it is roughly looking at the camera. Which reminds me of the time I was sitting next to dad in church when he leaned over to me and whispered, "Can you go pick up my eye? It just rolled down the aisle."

You don't hear much good news coming from the financial crisis these days, but I am pleased to report that our drug dealing neighbors had their house foreclosed on them. Sad for the kids, true, but good for my property value as the new owners (a young newly married couple) are completely remodeling the house. Bonus: no more cars driving very slowly down our street with the driver looking very carefully at our houses through binoculars, stopping, backing up, pulling into our neighbors driveway, going into the house and emerging two minutes later with a small package tucked under their arm. And no more horse-dogs pooping on my lawn.

My wife has decorated our living room wall with a bunch of extended family pictures. That is normal. Above these pictures is the phrase {our.family} spelled out with large black stickers (curly braces and dot included). That is abnormal.

I've cooked three turkeys in 1.1 months.

I'm back subbing at Brighton High school, but this time instead of one teacher's classes calling me Jason Bourne, there are now 4 teacher's classes calling me Jason Bourne. It's like I'm regular faculty there now, except that I have super powers- well, at least the super powers that secret agents have.

I bought three new pairs of pants (since my old ones were exposing my crotchal area with their many holes) at a thrift store. I like them because they really show off my assets. And by assets, I mean my bottom.

Lucy doesn't like going potty on the toilet. When we asked her why she liked going potty in her diaper, she said, "Because it keeps my bum warm!"

There's this kid in one of my math classes whose name is Gray Davis. Thats funny because California voters recalled another Gray Davis, replacing him with one Arnold Schwarzenegger. Its even funnier because this kid is really small and puny, and every one in the class picks on him. Ok, thats not so funny.

Speaking of strange pictures that Jenny puts up on our bedroom wall, along with a bunch of other random pictures and drawings, there is: a drawing of a Victorian era young woman with antlers coming out of her head, and a drawing of a man with a goatee and shifty eyes.

One of the members of our ward has decorated their house and the very large tree in their front yard with christmas lights- probably 20 strands worth. The problem is that they think it is cool that every strand have a blinker in it, such that the entire tree flicks on, off, on, off, on, off, as well as the rest of the christmas lights on the lights. So tacky.

And that is December's post.

Heartbreakingly funny

2008-11-06T09:42:00.002-07:00

Is how I describe Lucy's breakdown this morning- after weeks of rough, mostly unsuccessful potty training, she finally broke down in tears and sobbed "I don't want a bum anymore!!!"

How to fix the Republican party and win a landslide in 4 years.

2008-11-04T20:47:00.003-07:00

So as I write this, Virginia just went for Obama meaning it is virtually impossible for McCain to win, which means we are probably about to experience a huge lurch to the left- a solidly liberal house and senate, combined with a president that has a very non-centrist record.
America will soon see what an unchecked liberal agenda looks like. While there is a small chance that Obama may deliver on his promise of governing as a centrist and restraining a heavily democratic congress, the odds are he will follow the pattern of his career and govern from the left.

This presents the Republican party with an opportunity that it hasn't had for decades. It finally has the political cover to discard some of its more unsavory positions, and toss out its more unsavory politicians (see Stevens, Ted). Voters in red districts who may have been nervous to vote for the new guy in a primary can now do so without fearing a loss and swinging congress more to the left. The party can rid itself of divisive positions on immigration, gay marriage, abortion, and many others, in favor of more centrist (but still conservative) positions. A few examples:

Immigration
Hispanics are going for Obama in a landslide. Why? To listen to the anti-immigrant rhetoric of many republicans, you'd think that we as a party don't even think they are human but are in fact, aliens. In my opinion, the republican party should be the party of immigration. We are the party that thinks of America as the shining beacon, the hope and envy of the world, the city on a hill, etc. Why not translate that into our immigration policy? We are also the party of the rule of law. The law must be followed, therefore illegal immigration must end, period. So I propose that the party adopt the following platform (party leaders: are you listening?): First, that legal immigration quotas be radically increased. Make it so that if you want to immigrate, it is realistically possible to do so legally. Second, end illegal immigration. End. No more. People say a wall doesn't work. Go tell that to the communities on the border that have walls- border crossings are basically non-existent there. Plus, with the new immigration quotas, who would want to risk a life and death crossing if it is relatively easy to immigrate legally? With these two policies, current immigration levels will probably stay the same, the only differences being that we now can track everyone coming in, there will be much more cooperation in the hispanic community with law enforcement, and also, most Hispanics will be republican, breathing new life into the party.

Race
Specifically, relations between blacks and the Republican party. With Obama as president, maybe, MAYBE, blacks will feel that they are now included in national politics, and will feel more willing in the future to vote for republicans, especially if there are more black republican candidates. I think the republican party is the natural home of the vast majority of blacks (in terms of the majority of blacks being religious, and socially conservative). The republican party can help them do this if: a.) we start actively recruiting more black candidates, and b.) actively campaigning for black votes. It might seem foreign to republicans to include elements of affirmative action in its recruiting and campaigning efforts, it might be a necessary, temporary step to bridge the huge racial divide. If the black republican candidates lose, oh well, at least blacks will start seeing that we are making an effort to include them in the party.

Foreign Policy
Simply put, return to the traditional conservative republican position of non-interventionism. Keep the policy of aggressively pursuing terrorists and the countries that harbor them, but as we learned with Iraq, intervention is other states is kinda costly, so there better be a reason to go in on the order of Hitler invading Europe.

Fiscal Policy
Can we please reclaim the mantle of fiscal responsibility? Please? Lets return the balanced budget amendment to our platform.

Abortion
Can we please just get rid of people who want to ban all abortions in any circumstance whatsoever? That is just silly. If someone wants that, then we don't even want them in the party anyway. Lets just limit our abortion bans to people who are just doing it for birth control. I realize that this is tricky to legislate and trickier to implement, but at least get it on paper that the republican party does not want to force women who have been raped to have the baby.

Gay Rights
Many of the arguments I hear from pro-traditional marriage people against gay rights is that it is a slippery slope. I say, the stone is already sliding down the slope, so lets run ahead of it and set up a brick wall to stop it. Lets as a party advocate for sweeping gay rights laws that include things like hospital visitation rights, civil unions, anti discrimination laws, the works. Demographic trends are going to win this issue in the end anyway, so lets own it before it ruins the party. We can still oppose gay marriage, but lets be out in front on everything else.

The republican philosophy of self reliance and hard work is better than the democratic worldview of victimhood and handouts and reliance on government for, well, everything. It is better for prosperity to allow people (yes, even rich people) to invest their money as they see fit rather than redistribute it to others. Low taxes and sensible regulation produce prosperous nations. So over the next 4 years, all the adoring masses and hysterical young people are going to jarringly realize that Obama is: Surprise! A Politician! He will inevitable disappoint, and in the worst case scenario, will recklessly endanger. In four years, if we can make sensible platform changes, and actually nominate someone of competence, charisma and intelligence, then this hiccup to the left can be shortlived. If we don't, we can only blame ourselves for future elections losses.

I endorse...

2008-11-02T18:42:00.005-07:00

none of the above. That is a cop-out though, so I will endorse.

I had a long winded, rambling post already written. But it was tedious, and didn't really get at the core of what helped me make my decision. A conversation with Jenny solidified it for me. She asked me, "So, how comfortable would you be if McCain died and Palin became president?". Without hesitating, I said "Not comfortable at all. She has too little experience to be president." And thats what made me realize that I am voting for.... McCain, dangit. Why? When I realized that Palin had too little experience to be president, the fact that Obama has even less makes me even more nervous. The experience she lacks are areas of knowledge like foreign policy and the like, things that Obama was equally ignorant about until he decided to run for president after less than 2 years as a senator. Palin has at least governed. Palin has made decisions at the executive level. Palin has had to struggle against well established incumbents in her own party. Obama has done none of those things. He has only done one thing at the presidential level- run for president. Once I realized that, my gut told me I can't vote for him, even if his voice sounds nice and he seems competent. So my default is McCain, even though I am not excited about him- just less concerned about his qualifications.

If McCain loses, I will be disappointed, but only somewhat. Either Obama can be successful at being president, or he will not. If he is successful and manages to improve the economy and stimulate growth and in general be a competent president, the country wins. If he is awful and swings the government and the courts far to the left, the republicans have a chance to nominate a competent candidate in 4 years (not very long, after all), and rebuild the party. Either way, the world will still be here in 4 years.

WHO DO WE WANT?

MCCAIN!

HOW MUCH DO WE WANT HIM?

ONLY SOMEWHAT!

postscript:

So did I even consider Obama? I did. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. Associates of his how have worked with him in the past claim he is a fair minded centrist. His legislative history, however, showed me he is not a centrist, but is in fact a solid leftist (not that theres anything wrong with that...). I don't want another repeat of the Bush years: generally incompetent while brazenly partisan and divisive. I think Obama would be a repeat of that. I fear that McCain may be the same, but who is to know?

Note to self...

2008-10-31T09:54:00.002-06:00

Don't read Eric Snider while in the middle of a test question writing phone conference with science professors. Especially if you're on speaker phone.

New poll (finally)

2008-10-27T23:11:00.002-06:00

And I plan on making a long winded, polemical, ranting political endorsement later in the week (believe it or not, I didn't make my final decision until last week (Yes I know I said I can't stand Obama, but I also said I can't stand McCain, so there you go)), so if you are sick of presidential politics, do not tune in until a week from tuesday (I reserve the right to rant in the days immediately following the election, no matter who wins).

Follow up to Intermountain-Midwest Salsa Night

2008-10-26T14:11:00.004-06:00

Pictures below.

As Nick mentioned, we didn't remember to take a picture until after Morgan and Alison had left. It was also so late that my children were very grumpy. Don't ask me why I look so goofy, because I don't know. The last picture is Lucy and Elizabeth having a dance party. Now Elizabeth wants to do dance parties all the time.

More ham of the sandwich

2008-10-23T12:59:00.003-06:00

I just thought I'd share--we had a lunch meeting today and I picked up a few more gems from our two clients that provided most of the previous list:

-efficiual
-Carter to Bush to Reagan to Clinton (I've been getting the order all wrong this whole time!)
-if you bring the monkey, bring the banana

I'll leave you all to ponder that last one.

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

2008-10-21T16:28:00.000-06:00

I seriously want this for Lu so bad ...

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

H2O

2008-10-10T15:25:00.005-06:00

According the Washington State law, the state owns all water resources. "Water resources" means all waters above, upon, or beneath the surface of the earth, located within the state and over which the state has sole or concurrent jurisdiction. (source) This does include rainwater.

But King County encourages its residents to use rain barrels. Contradiction? Evidently the actual amount of water the state cares to regulate is more than the average one-barrel homeowner would use, so those of us with rain barrels are not likely to be prosecuted. However, that is just the choice of the state, since according to the state department of ecology, the current legislation does not define what a negligible (de minimus) amount of water really is. Oh, and item number three here also makes me a little nervous.

But what this really makes me wonder is this: if all of the ground/rainwater in the state belongs to the State of Washington, does that make the state liable for the damages caused by the water too? Floods happen nearly every year, and then there are mudslides, snow damage, rain damage, basements flooding and probably more things I can't think of. Doesn't ownership usually imply responsibility?

Oh, and this also makes me wonder. Do we really modify the weather? If we do, I guess the state controls that too.

Well, so much for my foray into Washington State laws. I'm going back outside - to water the garden.

Peppers

2008-10-04T14:15:00.008-06:00

I really really really meant to do garden posts this year if for nothing else that so I can remember the good and bad things I did for next year. That soon dropped to resolving to doing just 3 posts over the season (I did manage to do the first one). Now, I'm going to make this one my garden journal summary for the year, even though it will primarily be about peppers.

Yesterday, with Jenny gone to Alabama for the weekend, I decided to pottytrain Lucy. So I took her pants and diaper off, took her and the toddler toilet outside (its still in the 80's), and went to town. I thought a good way to pass time with a naked 3 year old would be to pick all the hot peppers in the garden, which she absolutely loved.

This year I didn't necessarily plan on planting a variety of peppers, its just that every trip I make to the nursery I see some new pepper I want to try, which I justify by saying that I don't want to leave any empty space in the garden (which is a good plan- with lots of space between plants, the ground gets less shade and dries out faster.) I ended up with 16 kinds, most of which I remember the names of. In addition to the mainstays of jalapenos, sweet bananas and bell peppers, I gave habaneros one last try. In recent years I have tried habaneros but they have never worked for me- they always stay small and never bear fruit. This year was quite different- nearly all of them grew very large (maybe a foot tall), with many peppers per plant. I think the difference was that I did not plant them next to tall plants, and they got deeply watered.

For sweet peppers, I had green, yellow and purple bells, bananas (good on sandwiches), and pimentos. For hot peppers, I planted jalapenos, serranos, anaheim, habaneros, tabascos, hot banana, hungarian wax (I think), a dark green one I can't remember the name of, another kind a little large than serranos (they look a lot like the Ahi de la Mala Palabra (the pepper of the bad word, which word I will not repeat on this family friendly site) which is common in south america), the ones you find in chinese food, and hot cherries, all of which have pictures below except the habaneros.

Ahi de la mala palabra?

Serrano

Anaheim

Don't know

Hungarian wax?

Hot banana (really good on sandwiches- its not too hot.)

Jalapenos

Tabasco

Hot Cherry

Chinese

Lucy and I picked the hot peppers, which filled the entire kitchen counter. I didn't want them to spoil, so I canned 7 quarts of them, and there is still maybe 1/3 of them left over- mostly the tabasco (not very useful-too small), anaheim (not the best flavor, and too soft and wrinkly), and the ones a little bigger than serrano (too many, and I had to make several cuts to make sure the air could escape).

So the verdict on the peppers:
Keepers:
Habanero (5 plants- about right, deeply trench water, out of the shade of larger plants)
Jalapeno (5 plants- plant more, out of the shade of other plants- don't plant next to the tall peppers plants like the ahi or serrano)
Serrano (4 plants- too many? not very much use for them except fresh salsa)
Hot banana (4 plants- possibly too many, but they're very good on sandwiches, salsa, and can easily, and are very pretty in the garden- possibly my favorite pepper this year)
Hot Cherry (1 plants- plant more, easy to can, good flavor canned (the philadelphian restaraunt near our house uses these on their subs)
Chinese- (4 plants- To be useful, I'd need to plant many more so I can dry them and grind them to a powder- very hot)
Hungarian Wax (1 plant- maybe plant more, decent flavor, very big- could put on sandwiches)

Not keepers:
Anaheim- not good flavor, not very hot, wrinkly
Ahi- Branches fell over, hard to can, only useful in fresh salsa.
Tabasco- too small so they are hard to can. Decent in fresh salsa, but probably not worth it.

Ambivalent:
Dark Green ones (never tasted)

Other Garden notes from this year:

Tomatos.
-The brandywines finally did very well- lots of pollination. Probably because of the amount of water they got.
-Shaking flowers really does help- especially the first few sets. Don't forget next year.
-Dig deeper water trenches
-Maybe buy some rebar to stake the vines to? The cages tip over.
-I really like lemon boys. They are the most prolific plant this year. Plant more (at least 8)
-Plant early girls and fourth of July's. I always think I don't need them, but this year's late crop convinced me I do. They actually taste good too.
-Try romas for salsa?
-I really like the large cherry tomatos.
-I really like the yellow sweet 100. (sungold?)
-Go ahead and plant like tomatos next to each other (the quantum mechanics student in me likes to mix them all up). That way I know for the next year which ones I liked best. As it is I always forget where I planted certain plants.
-Don't plant Cherry tomatos among large tomatos- hard to pick

Onions
-Sets don't work. (they stay small)
-seeds work better
-bunches of small, dead looking onions work best- got very big. Wait for the ones at western garden center where they store them in moist sawdust so the roots start growing.
-Plant in or right next to trench. Don't plant second row next to the onions next to trench (so only 2 rows per trench)
-Carrots work with onions and peppers in the same trench system

Lettuce
-Even with netting, birds still got to them. Need better support system for netting.
-Lettuce seed (in plastic cells only- no peat) worked well- I didn't need to buy any lettuce plants.
-Put in trench system under lettuce, anticipating what crop takes its place.

Herbs
-Cut chives down after flowers die.
-Plant parsley seeds when previous year's parsley starts growing.
-Oregano seeds really don't work sown directly in garden.
-Basil seeds are also hard
-Basil seeds in plastic cells might work (and possibly oregano)
-try Cilantro next year

Squash
-Tomatos don't work next to house- try squash
-We use zucchini, not so much spaghetti squash.
-Plant Butternut, acorn, and possibly crookneck next year.
-I always regret not planting pumpkins
-2 zucchini plants are more than enough

Flowers
-Petunias are the easiest thing ever to plant from seed. Very hardy, no transplant shock
-Don't start Marigold seeds indoors until 4-6 weeks before May 1st.
-Amaranthus worked, but need 50+ plants to really create a nice effect
-Try all petunias for the backyard flower patch- what was there this year worked best
-Miniature dahlia- too much maintenance for small plants
-Impatiens and colius really didn't work from seeds. Don't try again without a professional greenhouse (to come when I get a job)
-It is better to buy one nice $45 fruit tree with a root system, than 3 $15 bareroot trees from costco that all end up dieing.

Miscellaneous
-Just dig out those raspberries. They're in the wrong place. I always hesitate to rip fruit bushes out because they take awhile to grow, but if its in the wrong place, then just do it.
-In the strip by the house, habanero worked. Tomatos did not. Try some squash.
-The tomatos did fine in the shaded garden boxes. Finish the two shaded boxes nearest the fence to increase garden space by 40%
-Tomatos in buckets aren't worth it.
-The 32 tomato plants in the garden boxes supplied about 98% of my tomatos. The other 10 plants supplied 2%. 14 plants per box was good spacing- though towards the end of the season it was hard to see in there.
-I regretted not having a tomatillo plant
-The cucumbers climbing the fence worked great- but dig a better watering trench for them before you plant the seeds
-Don't buy cheap cucumber seeds. Splurge. (I got lots of incomplete pollination). Maybe plant in the box closer to the house.

Paging Dr. Anderson

2008-10-03T10:29:00.003-06:00

I just heard this on NPR: "If people can't buy stuff on credit, the economy comes to a halt." By buying on credit they meant buying consumer items with a credit card and paying it off over time rather than at the end of the month.

Mormons (some of them, at least), and other economically smart people know that in general you should in fact NOT buy things on credit, unless it is an item that helps you make more money (like a car, or an education). Question: what would happen if all of the sudden, everyone became very responsible with their money and did not buy unnecessary things on credit. Would the economy come to a halt? Warren- help me.

Report on the combined Midwest - Intermountain regional Salsa Night

2008-09-30T13:17:00.003-06:00

It was a complete success. Salsa was eaten. Marshmellows were roasted. Conversations were had. Jokes were made. Fights among 2 year olds were broken up. Unfortunately, the only pictures that were taken are on Jon and Katie's camera, and we don't expect them to post those here until they get back to Michigan- plus the fact that we didn't remember to take pictures until after Morgan and Alison had left.

Jumping Tracks

2008-09-25T21:03:00.002-06:00

So its been a year and 5 months since I started applying for jobs and wouldn't you know it, I'm still unemployed. I've therefore decided to channel John McCain and temporarily suspend my campaign for pres.. I mean for gainful employment. Like McCain, I am not calling off my campaign, I'm just shifting my attention to more immediate concerns, namely, our meltdown in my family's financial sector. I have decided that to rescue my families financial crisis it will require a quick infusion of capital to stabilize things and prevent a run by all the creditors on our bank account. My economic advisors have advised me that even though this is not a long term solution to our financial problems, it is a necessary step to restore confidence in my families financial system.

In all seriousness though, I've scaled back considerably the amount of time I spend looking for jobs that eventually will either ignore me or reject me. Instead, I am continuing the subbing, but also added side jobs like installing sprinkler systems, refinishing hardwood floors, and tutoring. What has surprised me is how lucrative the field of tutoring can be- I put a few ads on craigslist, and I already have 7-8 regular clients (1-5 times per week) just 2 weeks after I put the ads up. My schedule is now full.

I'm not a big believer in things happening for reasons- if your dog got run over, it was an accident. God did not plan that. If you lost your job, well, life just sucks sometimes and you just have to pull yourself up again- God is not out to get you, and I don't even think he made you lose your job so that he could teach you neat things about patience. What he does do is help you take the random crap that happens to you and make you grow with it.

However, my job situation is.... a little weird. Lets face it, the unemployment rate for physics phd's is like 1%. Nearly everyone gets a job after they graduate with a physics phd. Am I broken? Could it be that God is causing this to push me in another direction? Does He do that? I didn't think so, but, I have been known to be wrong.

I few months ago, I had this idea pop into my head for a business. When I first thought of it, I couldn't stop thinking about it. That first night I layed in bed for hours thinking about it before finally coming downstairs at 2 in the morning to do a little internet research on it before I could go to bed. It was all I could think about for days. I went on vacation to Seattle, and after being distracted by a potential job offer there for a week or so (and one in Orem), I'm back thinking about it because a friend in my ward I had talked to about it brought it up and told me a business associate of his wants to do something similar- except he wants to handle all the advertising for the company. This same friend told me he could think of a bunch of people who would 100% be customers of this company. Another friend that same day told me he knew people who would definitely spend thousands of dollars with our company. Again, I can't stop thinking about it.

The problem is, I've run some numbers, and the only way for this company to be profitable is for it to become Walmart sized with revenue streams of billions of dollars. Thats just crazy talk to think a guy like me could start or handle something that big. Maybe Walmart is a stretch, but it needs to be big to work- not big at all at once, I mean it will have time to grow over several years, but the model works best at large scales. But people don't come out of nowhere with no money and start a company as big as Google. Do they?

So thats my dilemma. I've got an idea I think will really work. I've got life circumstances that seem to be pushing me to make my own success rather than working for someone else's success at an established company. If all continues as it seems to be developing, our financial situation will stabilize with these odd jobs and tutoring. But I keep running up against the wall of thinking that this is too big for me. I've never run a business. Its just too big. Could I really do it? I don't know.

But I've decided to make the initial steps. I know someone in the industry in question, and he has agreed to meet with me and go over my ideas and business plan. At least then I'll have a professional opinion on whether it is even feasible. I'm going to talk to the advertising guy and see what his ideas are. I'm going to talk to another guy I know who runs his own company and pick his brain on the ins and outs of employing people and moving materials and getting labor done, and how those all might apply to my idea.

After all that, if I get the green light from these people, and possibly Jenny, you might be reading the ramblings of the next Henry Paulson. He is bald, after all.

Or, in a few months one of you will ask me "what ever happened to that idea...", and I'll stare blankly at the screen and type "what idea?".

Midwest chapter - Intermountain chapter Salsa Night

2008-09-25T10:38:00.003-06:00

We are pleased to announce the 2nd annual combined Midwest chapter - Intermountain chapter Salsa Night. It will take place on Monday, September 29th at around 6:00 pm at the Webb residence. Salsa and beverages provided - byoc.

Tooting Jenny's horn (again)

2008-09-21T11:54:00.005-06:00

I remember tooting Jenny's horn a few months ago here when I told everyone about the online seminar on Alma 32 that she was participating in. Well they finished that up, and held a conference at BYU, each presenting the papers they all wrote as a result. It was featured today on the front page of the online religion section of the Deseret News. When the podcast comes out, listen to Jenny's- its quite good, and even pretty understandable for a layman like me (or is it laman?)

Want a Good Laugh

2008-09-18T23:14:00.001-06:00

This is by far one of the funniest things I have ever heard. Enjoy.

It's Alive!!!

2008-09-18T14:36:00.002-06:00

I've always been jealous of Nick's garden - hundreds of tomatoes, peppers, onions, lettuce, tomatillos and more. So this year I decided to plant my own little Washington garden. I chose two spots (as an experiment) and planted the same set of tomatos and peppers in each. In one spot, the plants grew and grew and grew, but there were few flowers and no tomatos. In the other spot, the plants stayed low and bushy - they didn't even seem to need the supports I put around them.

But finally, as summer is drawing it's last breath, my garden is alive. The big plants have a couple of green tomatos, but the low and bushy plants have a ton of tomatos all over them. I picked half a dozen ripe red and yellow tomatos today and another half dozen cherry tomatos. I left the orange tomatos to let them ripen on the vine a little longer. I also picked our first hot banana pepper last week and put it into our taco night toppings.

The only problem is, I grow midgets. All of those tomatos I picked fit in one hand. The tomatos look mostly like cherry tomatos, and some of the cherry tomatos are only as big as my thumbnail. The green bell peppers are about an inch and a half across, and the jalapeno and hot banana peppers are only a couple of inches long.

At least they still taste good. I'm going to leave the peppers as long as I can in the hopes that they are still growing larger. And I'm going to eat my tomatos by the handful.

Science Marches Forward

2008-09-16T08:41:00.003-06:00

A toaster has been made that will take information from the web and burn it into your toast.

What would you burn into your morning toast?

The Salsa Lesson

2008-09-15T15:11:00.004-06:00

In Priest's quorum on Sunday, I gave the "Salsa Lesson". I didn't call it that when I gave it, but when one of the priests gave the closing prayer he said, "and please help us to apply this salsa lesson to our daily lives..." (as the class snickered). One of the boys spontaneously said afterwards, "I don't think I'll ever forget THIS lesson. Thus was born the "Salsa Lesson", which I will probably give this time of year to whatever class I teach in the future.

It started with the class voting for the most manly person in the room- who was toughest, could take the most pain, etc. After we had decided on the victim, we went on a field trip to the kitchen (young men love field trips at church- instant attention grabber), where we sat him down in front of several bowls of salsa, some chips, a cup full of water, and an empty cup. The salsa immediately in front of him was made of almost pure habanero, jalapeno, serrano and tabasco peppers, with a little tomato for color, and some salt and lime. The other bowls had mild salsa with slight differences in spiciness.

I instructed the manly priest to load up a chip with the hot salsa, and eat it. He did. He turned bright red. After he had swallowed, I then had him test the mild salsas, and tell me which one was the hottest, which was the mildest, etc. (he got it right, but admitted he was just guessing). When he finished testing the salsas, he immediately grabbed the water and started chugging. I told him to hold up, and asked him if he was sure he wanted the water- wouldn't he prefer something else? Maybe something that would actually neutralize the heat? He paused for a moment, and asked, can I have some milk? I opened the fridge, took out the milk and poured him a cup- in the empty cup next to his water.

We all then had our own chips and salsa, then went back to the classroom for the lesson. We read Isaiah 55:1, which says:

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

I asked them to interpret the object lesson I gave them. This was the part I liked, since they actually all participated and were throwing out ideas- their interest was piqued. It is funner for a teenager boy to figure out a puzzle than to listen to a lesson. They settled on, with my help, something like this: The hot salsa is sin. When you sin, you desensitize your soul/emotions/feelings such that you no longer can feel the quiet whisperings of the spirit (or alternatively, you no longer are shocked by the "little" sins- you're past feeling). When it feels too hot, you reach for the nearest thing you think will bring relief. The nearest thing doesn't always help like you think it should (ie, drugs, alcohol, porn, etc.) Usually, you need someone to tell you where to get help (missionaries), and you need to actually ask for the help (the boy asking for the milk is like a sinner asking for the atonement). The milk offered was given instantly and free, as much as the asker needed.

We also got into a little discussion about common symbols in the scriptures: water, bread, milk, wine, blood, seeds, sheep.

My question is this: the lesson went over very well, and I think I will use a variation of it every year. What can I do to tweak/improve it, whether in the salsa demonstration itself, or in the lesson that comes afterward?

Discuss.

Political, but funny.

2008-09-12T23:23:00.002-06:00

In all the partisan rancor and bitterness, its always nice to remember things weren't always this way. Oh wait, they have been. This article made me laugh- especially the John Adams 'ad' at the end.

My Baby Makes Me Happy

2008-09-12T13:19:00.007-06:00

No, not Lucy (though she can be fun to have around sometimes...), my other baby- the one I had while I was a freshman at Harvey Mudd College in 1997. This baby's name is The Midnight Echo. It is (now) a really good A Cappella group at the Claremont colleges in SoCal. When I got down there in late August of 1997, I was fresh out of my high school's jazz choir and I wanted to be in another select group that performed a cappella music. I auditioned for the only co-ed group down there at the time, The Claremont Shades. I was turned down. Little did they know they unleashed my vengeful wrath, prompting me to form my own group of shades rejects, which we unimaginatively named "the bitter rejects". We soon changed this name to the Midnight Echo.

We started out small that fall semester, with only about 8 or so members, and we weren't very good (since we basically accepted anyone that was rejected from the other group). Spring semester, we cleaned house a little (I gave a few members their pink slips. Gently.) and we held auditions and picked up 6 or 7 more pretty good singers. We held several concerts, went on tour to Santa Monica, and recorded a cd (several group members were missing, and several others were drunk, so it wasn't of the highest quality). Many people told us we were even better than the original group that rejected us, though I think they were being kind.

I just found them on facebook. They are still there after 11 years, still holding auditions and performing. It's fun to see something that you started last a long time. Here's their face book page: Midnight Echo
And here are the Shades.

Celebration Time

2008-09-10T10:55:00.000-06:00

If you don’t care about college football or about sports in general, then maybe you should skip this one.

First, some background:
BYU’s football team played Washington in Seattle on Saturday. It was a close game throughout. Near the end of the game Washington was down by seven points but was putting together a successful drive. Washington’s quarterback, Jake Locker, ran the ball into the end-zone for a touchdown with 2 seconds left on the clock. This brought Washington within one point and gave them a chance to either tie the game or go ahead (by trying for a two point conversion) on the point-after-touchdown attempt. Locker celebrated by throwing the ball into the air, jumping up and down with his teammates for a few seconds and returning to the sideline. There was no dancing, no taunting, no ball spiking, and no pulling a sharpie out of his sock to sign autographs. The officials called an “unsportsmanlike conduct” penalty for the celebration, which BYU had the choice of assessing on the point-after-touchdown or on the following kickoff. BYU chose to assess the penalty on the point-after-touchdown attempt and so instead of the ball starting on the 3-yard line, it was moved back to the 18-yard line. Washington attempted to kick for the extra point, but the attempt was blocked by BYU. This essentially ended the game with BYU winning by one point, because all BYU had to do was to catch Washington’s kickoff and kneel down to let the clock run out. Also, BYU was also assessed an “unsportsmanlike conduct” penalty for their celebration of the blocked kick.
After the game, the official (realizing the potential controversy for calling a penalty that possibly affected the outcome of the game) explained in a press conference that Locker broke the rules, specifically by throwing the ball into the air after the touchdown, and that they had no choice but to penalize the team – otherwise they would not be doing their jobs.
The official’s comments didn’t head off the controversy, which seems to have been pretty significant. It has bothered me for a few reasons, but the biggest is that people support their opinions with such blatantly faulty logic. By “people”, I mean sportswriters and the people who comment on their online articles. I realize that looking for logical arguments among the online comments is wishful thinking, but the sportswriters should know better. Below I will repeat several of the arguments made, along with commentary and a grade on the logic of the argument.

1. Argument: “Locker throwing the ball in the air was an emotional act. He just gave his team a chance to put the game into overtime or to win. He shouldn’t be penalized for an emotional act.”

1. Response: The idea that “emotional acts” shouldn’t be penalized is pretty stupid. So stupid, in fact, that the people who make this argument don’t even believe it. If they did, they would be also be complaining (which they aren’t) about the penalty assessed for BYU’s “emotional” celebration following the blocked kick. I suspect the real complaint these people have is more along the lines of #4.

1. Grade: 0% F

2. Argument: “Locker should not have been assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty when he wasn’t taunting the other team. He didn’t violate the ‘spirit of the rule’.”

2. Response: There are two ways to interpret this question. One is that the referees should not have called the penalty. Those who argue this point actually are not completely wrong because officials almost always have to use judgment when calling a penalty. However, the idea that he shouldn’t be penalized when he broke the rule (he did) because he didn’t violate the “spirit of the rule” is pretty stupid because it implies that there is some higher law of sports rules that the football rule book can only attempt to communicate in something as quaint as the English language. The rule book is the final authority; its very purpose is to eliminate the emotional and conflicting judgments participants would make based on the inconsistent “spirit of the game” ideal.

2. Grade: 20% F

3. Argument: Same as #2

3. Response: The second way to interpret this argument is that the officials were right to call the penalty, but the rule itself should be changed so that in the future there is a different definition of unsportsmanlike celebration which would cause a penalty. This is a valid point. (This is essentially the referees’ argument.) I actually agree with this one, so I am giving it my stamp of approval too. In any case, there is no logical flaw in this argument: The officials were right to apply the rule because it is their job (logical), and the rule should be changed (opinion).

3. Grade: 100% A

4. Argument: “The official shouldn’t have called the penalty because it affected the outcome of the game. Games shouldn’t be decided based on penalties and officiating.”

4. Response: This is exactly wrong. What are officials for if they don’t affect the outcome of the game? The reason officials have the power to call fouls and assess penalties is to try to offset any influence cheating would have on the outcome of the game with an opposite influence so that the outcome is as fair as possible. How that is best done is certainly debatable, but that the referees’ job to implement those rules should not be. This is an emotional argument that assumes the call was wrong in the first place. One more thing: it’s not very much of a stretch to say that if the referee had not called the penalty, that might have affected the outcome of the game. Therefore, the officials always influence the outcome by deciding when to call and when not to call a penalty.

4. Grade: 0% F

At least two of the sportwriters who have mentioned this in columns have several of these arguments mixed together. See how many you can find in this one, and in this one.

It just makes me mad that people think with their gut instead of their head. They feel something is wrong, then try to come up with reasons they should feel that way. So far, not so bad, right? Everybody does that. But then people don’t wait until they have a good reason to feel the way they do, they just go with the first thing to come to mind that explains their feelings and has a superficial logic to it. Many then argue with each other. They are somewhat surprised to find that no one is swayed by the logic of their respective (illogical) arguments, and instead of reevaluating their own arguments, they just throw insults around. Wait, I forget, are we talking about politics or sports? (Zing!) At least politics matter. If you’re going to get all worked up and emotional about something, at least it should be important. But I guess maybe my getting worked up about the reaction to the unimportant isn't really any better than getting worked up about the unimportant itself…

Regional Salsa Night

2008-08-25T12:05:00.005-06:00

The North America Eastern States chapter of Salsa Night hosted a regional Salsa-making event this past week with special guests Jon and Katie Fredrickson of the North America Midwest chapter. These regional leaders were hosted by Jared and Shark Gillins as well as Warren "Patch" Anderson. Also in attendance were Salsa Night neophytes Elizabeth and Timmy Fredrickson.

The Salsa Night was the culmination of the Fredricksons' week-long visit to the Washington, D.C. metro area. Salsa ingredients were procured at local farmers' market "Eastern Market" on Saturday, 16 August, then the Salsa was concocted on Sunday, 17 August at the home of Shark and Jared Gillins.

The Salsa was consumed over a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit. Various phrases were used to describe the salsa, including "delicious," "not too hot," "naturally sweet," and "needs cilantro."

Timmy Fredrickson did not partake of any salsa due to a lack of teeth.

Ugh!

2008-08-21T12:32:00.003-06:00

I may not have decided what impact I believe humans have on global warming, but this is just wrong. This is summer, people.

No joke - you can look it up for yourself. Seattle, WA.

Oh yeah, I'm crafty ... again

2008-07-26T16:08:00.004-06:00

Spending most of my time with an almost 3-year-old girl who is convinced she is a princess (and that I'm the prince, and should kiss her hand before spinning her around the ballroom), was bound to have some side effects. In my case, when I can't fight it, I embrace it with craftiness ... behold, Lucy's new princesses ... carefully hung above her big-girl bed in all their Crayola watercolor glory ...

If you think Pat is a bad choice for a name...

2008-07-24T09:46:00.003-06:00

This may make you laugh and/or cry.

Articles like this make me sympathize, if not agree, with Oliver Wendell Holmes's support for sterilization of imbeciles.
Also, while we're on this topic, I don't know if anyone has already linked to this site on the blog.

Junk Science and Global Warming

2008-07-19T16:15:00.004-06:00

I was just informed about a very interesting website that I thought at least some of you would enjoy. The link is here. But what I'd really like everyone to read is an article I found on the website, here

Oh, and just as a side note, I really don't like Al Gore.

Wiidiotic

2008-07-15T17:36:00.005-06:00

At work, we all received the following flier advertising a video game competition in connection with our company picnic.

This makes me sad that the people who made this work for the same company as I do. To make me feel better, I will make fun of it.
My favorite parts:
-The implication that being Wiistracted is something to brag about.
-The awkward and unnecessary definition of "Wiik".
-The fact that Guitar Hero Syndrome and Guitar Hero Vision are not the same thing.
-The use of the adjective "obsessive" to describe a duration of time.

Also the stick figures at the right look funny to me. I don't think I'd make fun of them on their own without all the other ridiculous stuff, but given this opportunity... I guess they are representing the Wii Sports bowling and golf games and that they are drawn as amputees because there is no good way to draw the other arm. Other possibilities:

-They are playing football and stick figure #1 is about to tackle stick figure #2 (quarterback).
-Amputee #2 is giving amputee #1 five.
-Stick figure #2 is confused and thinks stick figure #1's head is a volleyball. He goes up for the spike. Stick figure #1 misunderstands what is going on and gets ready to dig the hit, unaware that he is the target.
-Captain-Kirk-Style "Rabbit Punch to the Death" competition.

Anyway, I hope this amuses you without making you sad.

Oh toast ...

2008-06-25T17:47:00.001-06:00

High flying toast, here.

Alma 32

2008-06-22T22:38:00.003-06:00

I just thought I'd toot Jenny's horn and bring to everyone's attention one of her new projects. She is participating in an e-seminar with several other mormon academics- a few philosophy professors, a few economics, classics and various other professors and grad students. The subject of the e-seminar is Alma 32. Every week they discuss about 5 verses, and its been very interesting to follow. Here is the link.

I've been married too long ...

2008-06-20T15:54:00.004-06:00

... because I totally think this is fun and cool. More pics below the jump.

Yours for only $400 :)

I wouldn't have done it if I had known people would find out about it...."

2008-06-08T17:05:00.004-06:00

So Al Franken is is running for the senate. Apparently, as a writer for Saturday Night Live, he wrote some naughty things that offend people. In response to Frankengate, as I like to call it, his campaign manager said:

"At the time he didn't realize how it would affect him later in life. He wouldn't do it again today."

Let me get this straight. Your candidate wrote offensive things several years ago, and now that he is running for office he suddenly has an epiphany and realizes that what he wrote might adversely affect voters' opinion of him, so now he regrets it? I know- all politicians try to distance themselves from previous statements, even His Holiness Saint Barack of Obama, but... wow, I've never heard one say it so bluntly: "I would have never said it had I realized I would one day run for the Senate..." I can just imagine his future press releases as a senator:

"I would have never accepted that bribe if I knew people would find out about it."

"I thought that woman was my secretary, not a female escort..."

"I would have never made fun of that retarded person if I knew he could understand what I was saying."

Chickens

2008-06-03T21:36:00.002-06:00

Lucy woke up from her nap today crying. After about 5 minutes of sobbing in mommy's arms, she stops, looks around and says "Hey! Where did the chicken go?"

I'd love to be a fly on the wall in some of those dreams of hers.

Peanut City

2008-05-23T13:37:00.002-06:00

So I made a rare trip down to the vending machine today. It’s a relatively new one; it has probably only been there for a year or so. Some of you may recall the rocky relationship I had with the last vending machine. Anyway, I decided to get a Snickers bar.

When I pulled the bar out of the chute, I noticed that on the back of the package it had the word PEANUTOPOLIS printed in large blue letters just like how SNICKERS is printed on the front. It didn’t strike me as significant – just some sort of advertising gimmick.
When I started eating the candy bar a few minutes later, I noticed some writing on the inside of the package. I pulled the rest of the bar out to read it:

Peanutopolis \pE-nut-ä-pu-lis\ (noun). A state of mind making you feel very strong and powerful, almost mayor-like.

It induced nausea. I can’t even begin to analyze the badness of it because it is so bad. I understand that I am likely missing something because I haven't seen any advertisements that might explain this otherwise inexplicable drivel. But still, does it have to be this bad? I am considering a Snickers boycott. I guess they won’t care much because I have never been a consistent Snickers consumer. But I’ve got to believe this made other people besides me feel sickened, a little icky, and violated.

A few of my favorite things...

2008-05-20T11:55:00.005-06:00

Having been turned down in the past few days from not one, but two jobs that sounded fun, I was very qualified for, were high paying and were in prime locations (seattle, salt lake), I'm taking a cue from Julie Andrews.

Lucy.

Yesterday, we convinced her that a birdie came and took her binkie away. She went up to the window and started calling to the birds to please bring her binkie back. Hours later after we returned home from costco, she grabbed my hand, opened the front door and in her cute little 2.5 year old voice says "Come on dad, lets go find that bird!"

She still calls me daddy, but now sometimes will call me dad, or even Nick.

When she's grumpy and wants something from us, we make her smile, laugh and say please. Its hilarious to watch an obviously distraught 2.5 year old force out a deep throated laugh with a big frown on her face. We usually just get two 'Ha's'.

One night last month, I heard her moaning and crying in her bed. I went in, and she had kicked off her blankie and lost her binkie. I put the blankie back on her and put the binkie in her mouth. She looked up, pulled the binkie out, and said happily with a big smile: "The sun went to bed! The sun's behind the mountain!". Then she laid back down and went to sleep without another word.

Jenny.

She expanded my gardening budget this year, in spite of our ability to pay for it.

Did you see that dress-up suitcase? I was jealous of Lucy.

In spite of being sick, sitting down to watch our 4th or 5th version of Elizabeth (the first). Even kept her eyes open during one of the executions (the beheading- far less gruesome than the disemboweling)

Garden.

Last year I planned the garden as if I was going to sell it midseason. This year, even though we may still sell midseason, I planted it all for myself. I discovered that I really like my canned salsa and canned jalapenos (en escabeche!), so I went overboard on tomatos and peppers. I've got green, red, yellow and purple bell peppers this year, 4 times as many onions as usual, and the herbs have finally become well established. Everything is now ditch-irrigated- last year everything that was watered by a ditch produced 3-4 times as much as my other stuff. Pictures to follow soon.

Calculus class.

Last Friday I got to sub for the class next door to my calculus class that shares a folding wall. They just took their AP test, and therefore are partying the rest of the year. We kept the folding door open the whole day, and I was showered with cookies, doughnuts, pepsi... the teacher even went to chilis for lunch and brought me back some cheesecake. We played ping-pong, blackjack, and other fun filled activities, as my class stared on in confused wonder (some joined in the games). The teacher even gave me a big hug at the end of the day. I told her to call me in if she needed some vacation time before school is out.

Music.

Having read Cabeza's blog a few minutes ago, I see we share a common goal this summer: I've decided to improve my guitar skills (beyond the 5 chords that I know). I've decided to practice a least a few minutes everyday to harden up my fingertips, learn how to strum and pick better, and learn enough chords to be able to play most songs. I started a few days ago, and Lucy loves to come out on the grass with me in the shadows of late evening and strum the guitar and sing with me while I finger the chords. So far together we can sing and play Edelweiss, You Are My Sunshine, and Give Said the Little Stream. Her singing is a little... pitchy, as Simon would say, but my playing isn't exactly stellar so it all balances out.

Being in shape.

I love being in shape. I'm not in amazing shape now, but I've been running almost every day for awhile. Last Saturday I ran our Stake's 5k. I placed 5th overall, and first in my age group (22-29). 3 of the kids ahead of me are all in track and cross country (one is on some kind of national running team), so I don't feel bad at all that they beat me. I came in at 19:41, which is only 2 minutes slower than my high school time. Go me! Next stop: washboard abs.

Food.

Have I mentioned how much I love steak? Smiths has a sale on ribeye every few months, and I stock up. An argentine friend reintroduced me recently to tri-tip- I had it before while visiting a girlfriend's house in california (YEARS ago! Seriously, Jenny...), but I had this weird tongue inflammation during that trip (it wasn't contagious. really.) and didn't really appreciate the tri-tip they grilled for me. I had it again a few weeks ago and loved it. Its not as fatty and melt-in-your-mouth-tender as ribeye, but its still pretty tender, and very flavorful. And cheap. Smiths also sells these pieces of bread that are just like south american "pan de cada dia" (everyday bread). I forgot the real name of it, but its basically a much smaller, not as fluffier version of french bread that southern South Americans (argentina, uruguay, chile) eat with just about every meal. I bought some for a barbeque a few weeks ago and was in heaven.

Ross.

As I was looking for a way to spend my graduation present from various family members, I discovered Ross. They buy all the surplus and previous-season clothing from brand-name clothing and shoe stores and sell at drastically reduced prices. I finally bought new non-dress clothes and shoes for the first time in.... well, since that one shopping spree that my brother Joe took me on when I got home from my mission in 2000. I guess thats 8 years. (everything since then has been from DI, ebay, or this other trendy thrift store by our house.)

Bingham High

I'm filling in for a math teacher here for the rest of the school year since she just had her baby a few weeks early. I have now subbed for about 90% of all the math classes here (in a school of about 2500) (and all the choirs), which officially makes me a celebrity. Its the school where I had my own classes to teach for about 2 months last october-december so I actually know kids' names as I walk through the hallway. I was replaced by two female teachers who apparently are not well liked (not in the Willie Loman sense) by their classes, so everytime they see me in the hallway they beg me to come back. My walks down the hallways are filled with high fives and shouts of "Its Mr. Webb!" and as I pass them I overhear myself being talked about to friends in a mostly positive manner. Its also interesting when I get that reaction from teenagers in the mall, the grocery store, and the temple. Go me! Again!

Eliot, and her Mom and Dad.

As knows anyone who has heard Lucy pray, she is in love with a little girl three doors down named Eliot. Her parents are our age, and we all have youth callings together. Its become a regular pastime to go on a walk to Eliot's house (or they to our house), and chill in their backyard talking and playing with the girls. They now have a firepit that we light up in the evenings when we come over, and we hang out until well past the kids' bedtimes. I love summer.

Summer.

One of my favorite things in late spring/early summer is when the Kudzu vines in our yard put out their leaves. They have climbed up to our 2nd story bedroom windows, nearly covering them. During the daytime the sun filters through the leaves and bathes the bedroom in an almost forest-like green. At night during the full moon (which I usually have to shut the blinds for since the light keeps me awake), the light is similarly shaded by the leaves and it feels like I am sleeping in Galadriel's woods in Lord of the Rings (it helps that Arwen sleeps next to me). Our big back patio is also partly bordered by the vines, and in the summer we stay out at night playing games back there, eating fresh salsa- either with friends, or just together talking about Lucy, and life.

Before and After

2008-05-18T21:23:00.006-06:00

I'm a sucker for before and after shows—the ones where the house is completely remodeled, or the person loses 100 pounds—basically I automatically get sucked into anything like that on tv.

Good thing we don't get any reception, or that's all I'd watch. Anyways, here's my own before and after project that I worked on this week for all of you who are like me and get a kick out of this kind of thing (I really just wanted to say kick ...).

Step 1. Purchase old suitcase at DI for $5 (I forgot to take the before picture, which kind of makes the whole before and after idea a bit more conceptually difficult, but here's a photo of a similar suitcase—but the one I bought was more beat up and the lining was ripped and stained, but the shape and color are about the same).

Step 2. Rip out lining

Step 3. Wonder how to fix that ...

Step 4. Go buy spray paint and new fabric

Step 5. Line the suitcase with batting scraps, cover with fabric, and paint the outside

Step 6. Add ribbons to the handle

Step 7. Fill with dress up clothes and call in Lu

Ta-da! Thanks for watching :)

S v J

2008-05-06T14:27:00.004-06:00

A friend just spoke with me about sanctification and justification. I feel like these terms are often used somewhat interchangeably, and I don't feel like I have a clear idea concerning what each means and how they relate to each other. How do you define them or understand them? If you had to explain them to a friend who wanted to know "how they worked," what would you say?

Gradumacation

2008-05-02T23:38:00.006-06:00

Nick walked today—making that PhD thing totally official now. Hooray! (top secret video footage below the jump)

Headline: Home values up 31% since 2000.

2008-04-29T10:50:00.004-06:00

And that includes the 12 percent drop since last year this time. The increase is far greater than 31% in some areas such as Miami and Las Vegas. Here is a graph of home values for Las Vegas over the past 10 years: Notice the modest appreciation during the 90's and early 2000's, followed by a sharp (around 200%) jump. The slump that follows looks like a modest correction to that unrealistic jump. Even the endpoint on the graph is higher than the value the homes would have if you extrapolated the modest appreciation from the 90's to the current year. So I ask: Why is everyone so shocked and acting all doom and gloom about the housing market? If something goes up astronomically in value for no good reason, its going to come down. Shocking. Yes yes yes, I know some people now owe more than their home is worth. Guess whose fault that is? (Answer: Theirs). Yes I know that it spills over to other areas of the economy. I just don't understand all the news articles that express shock and disbelief over the modest correction we are having right now. Every news article has a title like: "Largest decrease in home values since great depression!!!!!!!!!" (punctuation included), but they never say anything like: "Largest decrease in home values since great depression, which follows largest increase in home values ever".

The big economic news story that gets buried because of this non-story is how "green" subsidies for ethanol are driving up basic food prices, driving millions around the world into poverty and starvation. Thank you Mr. Gore for your benevolent service.

My best minute subbing.

2008-04-28T13:37:00.003-06:00

Being a high school substitute teacher is not a job usually associated with the word 'fun', but today for about a minute it came close. I was at Brighton high school, not with my favorite calculus kids (the ones who call me Jason Bourne), but with another teacher's classes. During first period while we were working on homework, in walks about 20 students, who I instantly recognize as my calculus kids. The word spread that I was there today so they all asked if they could leave their class for a minute, brought me cookies, talked to me, wrote 'Jason Bourne rocks!' on the board, and then left. The class I was teaching looked at me wondering what just happened. I said "Well at least SOME students like me..." (they were not the best class). Throughout the rest of the day, other students from my calculus classes would pop in one at a time to say hi. Some days I'm even tempted to be a full time teacher, until I look at the pay scale.

Calling all ska fans!

2008-04-22T13:32:00.001-06:00

So I don't know if this will apply to much of the readership here, but I'm trying to get as wide a distribution as possible for this.

I'm writing a paper on ska and its fans, and I created a little survey to help me collect some data. If you are a fan of ska (and only if you consider yourself such a fan), please click on the link and take the survey. It's pretty short--should really only take you five minutes or so. Thanks!

Click Here to take survey

Update

2008-04-02T14:44:00.003-06:00

The start-up had been declared dead (by me), but it now has tiny pulse. They are agreeing to an hourly contract until funding is obtained.

Developing...

The ham of the sandwich

2008-03-31T14:22:00.007-06:00

A long, long while ago I promised a post laying out the grossly misused turns of phrase that float around in the corridors of my client site. At long last, here they are.

I've divided them up into three categories:

1) Simple Grammatical/Spelling/Pronunciation Errors
2) Misused Idioms and Expressions
3) I Don't Know Where the Hell This Came From

Most of these come from two people in particular at my client site. One of them sort of has an excuse because he's Puerto Rican and English is his second language. The other one has no excuse, unless it's possible that chest hair detracts from intelligibility. And now, the list:

Category 1

-revelant
-irrevelant
-instamatically
-hoz poz (in place of "hodge-podge")
-asterkiss
-chronogical
-genericize
-sisteren
-physical year (in place of "fiscal year")
-chow (in place of "ciao")
-per say
-interpretate (Being in the business of treaty implementation, it reflects poorly when you don't know how to conjugate the verb "to interpret.")
-nucular (Again, we're in the treaty business. Arms control treaties. They should probably learn how to pronounce "nuclear.")
-vise (in place of "vice")
-hey or nay
-Respectively, (name)
-Have you did that yet?
-Wallah! (...voila)
-with all do respect

Category 2

-passers byers
-read between the tea leaves
-breathing light back into it
-cut the cheese (in place of “break the ice”)
-we’ve taken a different tactic (Once again...considering that this is a Naval client, you would think that a simple nautical term might be correctly used.)
-whimsical chairs (in place of "musical chairs")
-Run Will Roberts! (My client was flailing his arms like the robot on Lost in Space as he said this.)
-Hulkian effort
-throw out the baby and keep the bathwater
-Nobody wants to touch the pink elephant in the bathtub.

Category 3

8 – 3 = 6 (This came from a presentation that my client was giving to a room full of high-ranking officers. He told them that he had eight slides, but since we were short on time he could cut out three and just present the six...)
-appropriately massaging our customers
-like the stick that doesn’t work
-from Joe to Blow
-hit the stick and see what shakes it out of it
-I don’t want to see you caught like the ham of the sandwich, in the middle of the two loaves.

That last one was my favorite. The Puerto Rican said that to me to let me know that he was looking out for my best interests. I walked away feeling slightly uncomfortable.

To start-up, or not to start-up?

2008-03-21T10:05:00.003-06:00

So after 11 months of a fruitless job search, I'm being approached by a small renewable energy start-up to do a job I am grossly unqualified for. As some may know, I worked for another start-up for three years, after which we swore in our wrath we would never do so again due to the unpredictability of the paychecks (They still owe us $12,000). But all this time of being turned down for traditional jobs in my field of choice (physics research in a laboratory) with regular paychecks has taken its toll, and gotten us to the point of actually considering the start-up.

Its a company with, as far as I can tell, just one employee- the CEO. She has managed to obtain funding from a Texas oil-man, and is licensing some new technologies from various government labs and companies, planning on building some power plants that turn garbage into electricity, emission-free (which, if it really works as claimed, would be the holy-grail of energy). She wants me to basically be her chief technical officer- the guy that coordinates and directs all of the different scientists and engineers at these various labs and companies that she is licensing technology from, and to put all the pieces together into a 50 megawatt power plant. Grossly unqualified is an understatement. I've even told her that using words like: "I believe I am grossly unqualified for this position". She didn't seem to care, saying: "Oh, you'll learn!"

So here we are: she's going to call tonight and make an offer. Jenny and I have sat down and worked though some numbers, taking into account the risk factor, the fact that this is not what I had planned on doing, and what this position should pay if filled by a well qualified person. If she offers a salary below that we'll turn her down. But if our salary threshold is met, what should we do? Its risky. Riskyyyyyyyy! But on the other hand, its a job. Johhhhhhhhb! If I turn this down, how many more months will we have to wait for another offer?

When I think about it, a job like this is actually what I've always wanted. I mean, doing research is ok and all, and it pays well, but lab work gets kind of tedious, and if I work for a fairchild or a micron or an intel, its not like I'm doing my own research and get to go off on whatever tangent I like as if I were a professor doing research, you have to research what the company tells you to. And if its incredibly boring, oh well. But with this job I'd be in charge of organizing and coordinating a huge project. Even though I've gone to school to do research, I always envisioned myself running an organization as opposed to researching in a lab (in the long term). I thought I'd have to "do my time" as a lower level scientist before breaking out and starting my own company or something. But here is the opportunity right now, years ahead of when I thought I'd have it. Maybe that is what is contributing to the sense of riskiness about this whole thing: by all rights I should have to wait years for this opportunity, but here's the shortcut. Risky. What if the company goes down in flames in two years? That's two years I'd have to explain to a hiring manager as I try to come crawling back to a research lab somewhere. I can just hear him say: "Well its says here you were the CTO of company x for two years, but it ended up going bankrupt and sued by the shareholders. And you've been indicted. Why should that make me want to hire you?" Risky.

What I can't sort out is if the feelings of uneasiness I have are just the usual feelings of fear that accompany a new job that one is underqualified for, or are they trying to tell me not to touch this with 10 foot carbon nano-tube. But then I see all these 27 year old CEO millionaires in silicon valley and wonder what makes them so...... able to be successful. I suppose they took the risk. I just worry that the following scenario will happen to me:

Reporter: Uh, question for the barbeque chef. Don't you think there is
an inherent danger in sending underqualified civilians into
space?
Homer: I'll field this one. The only danger is if they send us to
[ominous] that terrible Planet of the Apes. Wait a minute...
Statue of Liberty...that was _our_ planet! You maniacs! You
blew it up! Damn you! Damn you all to hell! [weeps]
Barney: [burps] Oh -- [falls over]
Scientist: Thank you, that's all we have time for.

Or this:

Nerd 2: Oh, man, I can't believe you failed.
Homer: [whining] Oh, I'm going to lose my job just 'cause I'm
dangerously unqualified!
Nerd 2: Mr. Simpson, there is a way. We could -- well, use a computer
to change your grade.
Homer: [surprised] Computers can do that?
Nerd 2: Well, yes...the only problem is the moral dilemma it raises,
which requires --
[Homer kisses one of the computers]
Homer: Oh, I love -- moral whuzzah?

The Peeps of Mormon

2008-03-20T15:29:00.001-06:00

Check this out.

Free Toddler Entertainment Kit

2008-03-15T18:00:00.003-06:00

So. I wanted to teach Lu to play a game, and the one thing she's pretty good at are colors. So, Candyland was an obvious choice. Except for the whole candy thing—I'm personally pro candy, but at the moment, Lu asks for a piece of chocolate every morning first thing upon waking. I thought maybe Candyland wasn't, therefore, the best choice. So instead we're now playing Veggie World. It's simpler than Candyland in that it's all about drawing cards and moving to the next color (I didn't want to try to explain "missing a turn" or "going back to start" to her ... that just seemed to invite tantrums). Just in case you have to entertain a toddler at some point in the future, here's Veggie World for your own enjoyment. :)