ThBlog

Crazy 8 s

2008-01-03T10:46:00.000+03:00

Yay for 2008! What a year it will be! I'm optimistic about it (just to clarify). It began extremely well for me, and I intend to keep the pluses up and the minuses down. To help remind me to remember this intention, I plan to get
+↑ -↓
tattooed on my forehead, so I'll think of it every time I look in a mirror¹.
During 2007, I fell behind a bit (with bills, keeping up with friends and family, and personal promises and goals), so to catch up, I brought in the new year running hard–literally. Two friends and I ran in the 6th Annual Midnight Express 8k, a road race from 11:30 PM until after midnight on New Year's Eve (no one finished faster than 35 minutes). I don't put much stock in New Year resolutions, but I decided that because I was running 8k (about 5 miles) to bring in '08 (read: "ought eight"), I should set the goal to run 8k-a-day in '08, mostly because it sounds cool: "eight kay-uh-day in ought eight."

I started the race with Mark and Grace, the two friends mentioned above, but quickly realized that the lack of popularity of a road race at midnight on New Year's Eve and the subsequent low attendance rate provided me with a very small field of competition (about 25 people)–I actually stood a chance to place. I abandoned my friends in pursuit of a potential prize and soon trailed only a handful of contenders. At the end of the first mile, six people remained ahead–the first two led by more than thirty seconds, offering little chance to catch them, but the other four were clustered together merely one hundred feet ahead, a distance I might be able to close. A woman from the group of four dropped back a bit, and I leaped forward, passing her and breaking away to take firm hold of sixth place. I ran hard and kept my place, but the three ahead (two guys and one girl) kept their distance despite my efforts.

About halfway through the race, a man in black tights and a red shirt glided passed me smoothly and (seemingly) easily; then he caught and passed the group of three. e was fast, and I knew he would finish before me–fourth place was now the best I could hope for. I still couldn't gain ground on the three just ahead of me, however, and seventh place seemed my destiny. With about 1.5 miles remaining, the woman who dropped back earlier passed me, and I spent the remaining distance trying vainly to catch her. When I crossed the line, seven people had done so before me–I was number eight.

Additionally, my goal was to finish in under forty minutes to achieve a per-mile time of less than 8 minutes. I finished in 39:43, and using the conversion 1 kilometer = 0.621 miles (8km = 4.968 mi), my pace was almost exactly 8 minutes per mile (7:59.67, to be more exact).

To sum up:
I ran an 8k road race to start my 8k-a-day in '08 resolution and came in 8^th place with a pace of exactly² 8 minutes per mile. It would seem that fate (or my subconscious?) either agrees with my resolution or really likes the number eight–either way, it was a good tone to start the year.
'08 \m/

Oh, for the record: 2 down, 364 to go.

¹ I'll need to keep my eyes closed when I'm upside-down to keep confusion to a minimum.
² Within 0.33 s is close enough to say "exactly" in my book

FāvRun: National Forest Road 23 Washout

2007-09-05T08:03:00.000+04:00

Name: NF23 Washout/Closure
Type: Out-and-back
Distance: 2/4/6 miles
Start: Mile 35.8
Washout: Mile 34.8
6-Mile Turnaround: Mile 32.8

This out-and-back route has (nearly) unlimited distance options, but I recommend 2, 4, or 6 miles to make use of the 3-mile section closed to motor vehicles. (Caution! Even though the road is closed, someone moved the barricades on the north end of the closed section, so be alert for the rare vehicle.) Most of the road is shaded in the morning and later afternoon, but you'll want a hat and shades during midday runs on sunny days.

Start at the intersection of NF23 and NF90, about 0.2 miles past mile marker 36 from Trout Lake, and head up the hill past the concrete barricades. The road is paved for about the first 500 yards and climbs for the first ¼ mile. After descending for ½ mile, the road slopes up the remaining distance to the washout (another ¼ mile). Here is this route's main attraction: a 30-feet-wide canyon where the road used to be--the small culvert was no match for last winter's rainstorms.

Turn around at the washout for the 2-mile option, or cross the makeshift path on the right and continue up the (increasingly steep) hill for a longer distance. From the washout, the road climbs for about 1 ¼ miles, passing mile marker 34 (turn around at the top of this hill for the 4-mile route), before descending for about ½ mile, crossing a bridge, and climbing past the (moved) concrete barricades and mile marker 33. Keep going all the way to the 'T' intersection for the 6-mile course.

This run is very pleasant with great views of densely forested ravines and valleys, and c'mon, how often do you get to see a riverbed where the road used to be? For those concerned with such matters, the dirt road continues past the 6-mile turnaround for a few miles to the left and about 10 miles to the right, so longer distances can be accommodated.

Switch to Win?

2007-04-09T07:13:00.000+04:00

This was an actual game show back in the day, and Monty Hall was the host and became the namesake of the logical problem. The setup is this (from Wikipedia):

A thoroughly honest game-show host has placed a car behind one of three doors. There is a goat behind each of the other doors. You have no prior knowledge that allows you to distinguish among the doors. "First you point toward a door," he says. "Then I'll open one of the other doors to reveal a goat. After I've shown you the goat, you make your final choice whether to stick with your initial choice of doors, or to switch to the remaining door. You win whatever is behind the door." You begin by pointing to door number 1. The host shows you that door number 3 has a goat.

The question is this: do you have a better chance of driving home instead of taking the bus if you switch to door 2? Most people reason that there is a 50/50 chance–one door contains the goat, and one contains the car–but this isn't the case. Plenty of sources offer the correct answer ("Yes") and a full explanation, but even after hearing or reading several of them, many people (and some very smart ones) still attest that the odds are even. The solution is confusing to some and infuriating to others (the legendary Paul Erdős fought it adamantly, to no avail).
Earlier today, I was talking to my brother about this (he's the one who told me about ol' Paul's hatred of the thing), and as he explained the problem to me (He had asked if I knew the Monty Hall problem, and I didn't know the name.), I struggled to remember a discussion about it from high school computer class. When he finished, there was still a bit of confusion lingering in the air, so I proposed this version of the explanation (which is pretty much as simple as it can be said¹):

Whichever door you first pick has a 2/3 chance of being a goat. When the host opens a goat door, your door still has a 2/3 chance of hiding a goat, which equates to a 1/3 chance of finding the car behind it.

Then we chatted a bit more about it and decided that this is just one of several ways to explain it (keep track of the chance the first door is hiding the car, for example), and he brought up the idea of considering the problem with more doors (not Mordors, one of those is scary enough). Imagine there are 100 doors, all lined up, and one door hides the car; a herd of sheep (cheaper than goats) was borrowed from a local farmer to put one behind each of the other 99 doors. Pick a door. The chance that you pick the one door with the car is 1 in 100. This means that there is a 99% chance that the car is behind one of the other doors. If the host then opens up all but one of the other doors, that one door has a 99% chance of being the door with the car because 1) there is still a 99% chance that one of the 99 doors you didn't pick is the winning door and 2) you can see that 98 of them are not winning doors. Thus, the one you can't see behind has a 99% chance of being a winner, and your door keeps the 1% probability and its status as a loser.
Increasing the scale simply helps to visualize the problem; it doesn't change the logic (If you have trouble seeing this, get out a piece of paper and try it with 99 doors, then 98, 97, and so on, until you get down to 3.). Of course, newer game shows are more creative and use multiple cases (instead of doors) with various sums of money (instead of goats and cars) with several opportunities to switch, accompanied by the same number of multi-case openings, and they have a lot more show (girls) and hype to attract viewers. I wonder what percentage of people who watch that show understand the math behind it? Maybe I should ask what the probability is that a randomly selected viewer is actually interested in the game and not just the show (girls).

¹Some might contend that tracking the chance you picked the car is simpler, but I'd argue that it's exactly the same thing viewed from a different perspective. I stated it as written to maintain historical integrity.

Random Reasonless Ranting

2007-02-25T09:16:00.000+03:00

Note: Please be sure to read the disclaimer in the comments.

Crawling around the 'tubes today, I found some videos of speakers from TED, called TED talks, and one of the presenters was Anthony Mahavorick, a.k.a. Tony Robbins, his pen name. Who uses pen names these days? Pseudonyms and that. Pfft. Get with the 21st century; we have handles now, like tmarl42 or Acid Burn. There are no more Mark Twains; there aren't even any more Drs. Seuss. George Stark was a bit more recent¹, but he was also fictional. Pen names are a thing of the past; we're in a new era, the time of technology, and we use handles.
Furthermore, pen names are meant for writers of fiction. People like to know from whom the information comes if it isn't fiction, so non-fiction authors shouldn't use pen names. Simple as that.
I must admit, however, that pen names² are useful to certain notable authors to maintain credibility or anonymity while writing in more than one genre (plus, it helps to keep us readers unconfused), but that's not what this is about. My point is, or rather, my questions are: Why? Does Robbins sound more appealing? Does it simply fit on the cover better? Easier to say/spell/type/not mispronounce on a talk show introduction?

With that, I'll stop ranting before the bulging vein in my right temple bursts.

¹Although, Teddy was alive, he wasn't writing anymore.
²A.N. Roquelaure, for example.

Sometimes I just don't care.

2007-01-19T11:26:00.000+03:00

I tried to explain it to an Army counselor once. He was interviewing me because I had just been referred to the Army Substance Abuse Program (ASAP). Apparently, the Army believes that all underage drinkers are alcoholics. Why else would anyone risk the oh-so-terrible punishment that follows getting caught? Surely such an offense requires quite a strong addiction to cause these kids to jeapordize everything. Nevermind that young soldiers are "housed" (I use that term very loosely--actually, "kept" is more accurate) in barracks with hundreds of other soldiers, many of whom are above the legal age to consume alcohol and willingly purchase alcohol for the underagers, some of whom actually promote underage drinking, and very few who ever question anyone's age. Add the fact that these yunguns (that's how it's spelled back home) are told every day that they're not allowed to drink and what will happen if they do. That makes sense--remind them constantly that it's illegal, and they'll never wonder why and conduct a bit of research. Be sure to tell them at every opportunity, though, because you need to keep that picture of a tall, golden, icy-cold, frothy pint in their easily-influenced minds. I mean, if I were a young recruit just out of high school and very impressionable, I'd probably start drinking, too. But I digress; permit me to return to the story:
One of the questions in the interview was, "What do you think will happen?" He was asking about my punishment--what I thought it was going to be.
I shrugged, "I'unno," I grunted, then, "I don't really care."
"You don't care what they do to you?"
"Not really. Sometimes I just don't care." A pause. My eyebrows glanced up, and my shoulders lifted as my palms turned outward. "About much of anything, really."
"It almost sounds like you've been smoking the wacky tabacky," he challenged with a squint.
"Oh no," I assured him, "I've been feeling like this since way before I started that."
(OK, so that's not really what I said, but it sounded funnier.)

Anyway, the point I'm driving at (while talking on the phone and swerving randomly), is that sometimes I just don't care, and the origin of the feeling completely eludes me. I'm sure that some people take it as rudeness, shyness, or stupidity, but it isn't (it's not? it'sn't?).

Lacey Athletic Club

2007-01-06T06:55:00.000+03:00

Since I've been living in Olympia, I've been running more and more, but the weather for cycling is just never any good. Rain I can deal with; a bit of wind is fine. However, riding in a torrential downpour with 50mph gusts is just not feasible. Luckily for me, the Lacey Athletic Club has Spinning, a great alternative to outdoor riding and the closest thing to to the real thing. The weather indoors is always clear and bright! (And the staff at Lacey Athletic Club is always cheerful.)

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome

2006-12-30T01:32:00.000+03:00

I'm fairly certain (99.9%) that I am affected by EDS (Classical Type). I once spoke to a dermatologist about it, and after a few questions¹ he informed me that it's "nothing to worry about" because my symptoms were not terribly great. Further research on my part, however, revealed that he was only partly correct, which did not surprise me as he was an Army doctor and had previously, concerning another condition with which I am mildly afflicted, instructed me to "Google it" if I wanted more information². The correct part of his prognosis is that the symptoms I display are not life-threatening (which, to the Army, meant unimportant), but it is certainly not "nothing to worry about." A sufficient or persistent force (lifting a heavy object or running long distances, for example) will subluxate my left shoulder or left hip, respectively, so I must be careful to not overexert these joints. Many of my joints are double-jointed and/or susceptible to subluxation, including wrists, elbows, hips, shoulders, thumbs, pinkies, and ankles. Also, I have moderate skin hyperextensibility, muscle hypotonia, and joint hypermobility, and I have at least one spheroid on my left forearm (feels like a BB under the skin).
Why should you care? Well, if you're related to me on my mother's side, there is a chance that you, too, are affected by Classical Type EDS because I'm fairly certain (again about 99.9%) that I inherited it from my maternal grandfather (it's autosomal dominant). Because the symptoms vary greatly in severity, you may have it and not notice, but double-jointed thumbs may be a good indicator. If you're interested in learning more, check out the links provided throughout this post or, in the words of perhaps the worlds greatest doctor, Google it. (Hey, at least I gave a link.)

¹Doc: Can you touch the tip of your tounge to the tip of your nose?
Me: No.
Doc: Are you very flexible?
Me: Yes. *places foot behind head*
²Additionally, when I asked how to spell keratosis pilaris (I actually said, "How do you spell that?" because I could barely discern what he'd said), he seemed very agitated that I was so stupid. To that colonel who worked in dermatology at Madigan Army Medical Center in the fall of 2003 (who shall herein remain unnamed), I point out this web comic. Essentially, I mean that that doctor is a jackass.

Which Historical Lunatic are you?

2006-12-17T01:40:00.000+03:00

Which Historical Lunatic Are You?
From the fecund loins of Rum and Monkey.

Arise, Chicken!

2006-12-09T08:36:00.000+03:00

May 9, 2006:

As Jason and I walked up the long hill from the ferry terminal to the path leading through the woods to his house, my weary legs groaned from a marathon two days prior, and I continually forced myself to take in the bright, beautiful day on Anderson Island and not stare numbly at my feet. During one of many transitions from feet to sky, my eyes caught sight of a mailbox with "JOE PEPIN" stenciled in black letters on a white reflective background. Something deep in my brain recognized the name and vainly vied for my conscious attention, but he was lost in the sights of the oceanside farmland mingled with dense evergreen forest, not to mention distracted by my groaning quadriceps. We continued up the hill, and I thought little more about the mailbox and its owner.
At the next building about fifty meters farther, Jason remarked that the owners of this place kept fighting roosters, to which I replied, "No way. We're not in Puerto Rico, man." As we neared the "game cock" pen, there were several of the menacing beasts wandering aimlessly outside the roadside pen.
A rattled and wide-eyed Jason exclaimed, "There out!" and seemed to think that these prized fighters would pounce upon us at any moment like starved wolves.
"They're not going to hurt anything, but someone might want to know their chickens are out," I replied, peering around the yard for the chickens' owner.
Seeing no one in sight, we walked toward the gate and called out a greeting. A man appeared shortly, but I didn't see where he came from--somewhere to the left of my vision as I watched Jason warily watching the chickens. "Uh, hello?" he said, obviously unsure why we were there.
"Your chickens are out," I said flatly, motioning toward the fowl.
The man looked around at the birds and swore, "Damn chickens." If the targets of his curse understood, they hid the fact well and just ignored him, roaming and pecking and clucking.
"You want some help getting them back in?"
"Sure."
As we helped herd the chickens through the gate, the broken latch of which was responsible for the escape, Joe introduced himself, and we chatted for a few minutes. Once the poultry was secure, Joe asked where we were heading and if we wanted a ride, and we graciously accepted--not because it was too far, but because we only had a short time before the next ferry and still needed to paint some of the trim on Jason's house. During the 5-minute ride, a message finally reached my conscious mind: Joe Pepin is the guy who did the voice for the Curious George plush doll! That's right!
"Wait a minute," I said, "I heard you on 103.7 The Mountain last week. You're Joe Pepin, the guy who did the voice for the Curious George plush doll, right?"
"Yeah, that's me," he replied.
The last few minutes of the ride were filled with conversation of his home studio, other voices he'd done, and Anderson Island, sanctuary for celebrities, and we told him some stuff about us, too.
And that's how Jason's house got painted.

Stupid Microsoft

2006-11-16T01:43:00.000+03:00

Proof that either Microsoft is very stupid or very sly.

Mathematical? Thinking

2006-11-04T02:58:00.000+03:00

I stopped reading the Java API for the String class to write this post at this sentence: "If two strings are different, then either they have different characters at some index that is a valid index for both strings, or their lengths are different, or both." There is nothing grammatically wrong with it, but logically, it caused me some very brief confusion. This statement implies that there are 3 possible differences between 2 strings: 1) at least one character is different, 2) the lengths are different, or 3) both 1 and 2. How is it possible for the lengths to be different while the individual characters are the same? It isn't--I thought about it for a while and proved to myself it just isn't.
Then I realized that that isn't what the API stated--it read, "different characters at some index that is a valid index for both strings."
"Oh," I said to myself, "Yeah."

That's not really important, but what it led me to think about is:

I think very much like I write programs. I'm not sure if this is how everyone thinks (though I doubt it), but I'm pretty sure I know several people that think in a similar manner. When I read and thought about the above statement, I set, in my brain somewhere,

condition1: at least two characters are different

condition2: the lengths are different

A flag sprang out somewhere above my left temple, and I wondered why the API didn't read: "If two strings are different, then either they have different characters at some index that is a valid index for both strings, or their lengths are different and [insert condition1]". Then I read over the actual wording for the first condition and realized that repeating it would almost double the length of the sentence.
"Oh," I said to myself, "Yeah," but this time someone else retorted: "They could have actually written, 'condition A."
"Maybe, but that's kinda vague. I'm not sure it would be clear to everyone," I said skeptically.
"It should be if they're thinking like they should be if they're reading the Java API."
My tumbling thoughts wrestled this one a bit before I realized I couldn't argue, but I wondered if thinking like that is common or if it has a name.
I thought about it some more, rid myself of the association to computers, and applied one to math. This manner of thinking is the reason I usually understand new mathematical concepts easily. For example:
In algebra: if x + y = 4 and x + 2y = 5, then y = 1 and x = 3. When I read this problem and start to figure it out, I see, in my mind's eye, two shapeless, colorless blobs, representing the variables x and y, which bounce around and interact to first isolate one and then substitute it back into the equation to find the other one. Sometimes blobs represent numbers or digits in a number or variables or anything, really.

Mostly, thinking about how I think made we wonder if other people think like I think and realize that I know people who I think think like I think. Any thoughts?

Food for (Unconscious) Thought

2006-10-21T02:51:00.000+03:00

The old adage to "sleep on it" when making pivotal decisions received a bit of scientific backing earlier this year. I take it to mean that I shouldn't apply any conscious effort into anything I do, thereby following my unconscious mind guide. Oops! This post is a conscious effort! Wait... I can sort of zone out and think about something else while I type nonsense and then the post came from my unconscious mind and I didn't consciously think about what to write so I didn't break my rule to not allow my conscious mind to keep screwing up my life.

Arise, Chicken!

2006-05-11T00:23:00.000+04:00

As Jason and I walked up the long hill from the ferry terminal to the path leading through the woods to his house, my weary legs groaned from the marathon I ran two days prior, and I continually forced myself to take in the bright, beautiful day on Anderson Island and not stare numbly at my feet. During one of many transitions from feet to sky, my eyes caught sight of a mailbox with "JOE PEPIN" stenciled in black letters on a white reflective background. Something deep in my brain recognized the name and vainly vied for my conscious attention, but he was lost in the sights of the oceanside farmland mingled with dense evergreen forest, not to mention distracted by my groaning quadriceps. We continued up the hill, and I thought little more about the mailbox and its owner.
At the next building about fifty meters farther, Jason remarked that the owners of this place kept fighting roosters, to which I replied, "No way. We're not in Puerto Rico, man." As we neared the "game cock" pen, there were several of the menacing beasts wandering aimlessly outside the roadside pen.
A rattled and wide-eyed Jason exclaimed, "There out!" and seemed to think that these prized fighters would pounce upon us at any moment like starved wolves.
"They're not going to hurt anything, but someone might want to know their chickens are out," I replied, peering around the yard for the chickens' owner.
Seeing no one in sight, we walked toward the gate and called out a greeting. A man appeared shortly, but I didn't see where he came from--somewhere to the left of my vision as I watched Jason warily watching the chickens. "Uh, hello?" he said, obviously unsure why we were there.
"Your chickens are out," I said flatly, motioning toward the fowl.
The man looked around at the birds and swore, "Damn chickens." If the targets of his curse understood, they hid the fact well and just ignored him, roaming and pecking and clucking.
"You want some help getting them back in?"
"Sure."
As we helped herd the chickens through the gate, the broken latch of which was responsible for the escape, Joe introduced himself, and we chatted for a few minutes. Once the poultry was secure, Joe asked where we were heading and if we wanted a ride, and we graciously accepted--not because it was too far, but because we only had a short time before the next ferry and still needed to paint some of the trim on Jason's house. During the 5-minute ride, a message finally reached my conscious mind: Joe Pepin is the guy who did the voice for the Curious George plush doll! That's right!
"Wait a minute," I said, "I heard you on 103.7 The Mountain last week. You're Joe Pepin, the guy who did the voice for the Curious George plush doll, right?"
"Yeah, that's me," he replied.
The last few minutes of the ride were filled with conversation of his home studio, other voices he'd done, and Anderson Island, sanctuary for celebrities, and we told him some stuff about us, too.
And that's how Jason's house got painted.

Scary Thinking 4: A New Low

2006-04-18T19:46:00.000+04:00

It saddens me to think about the diminishing intelligence level of the American populace, the "dumbing down of America" as some call it. Everyone who ever mentions this "phenomenon" blames some organization or individual, often the government or a politician. This is completely understandable as said by our oh-so-beloved president, "The literacy level of our children are appalling," but there has to be something more at work here, an evil force more devious and with more brainwashing, mind-numbing power than even the current governing body: Hollywood. There, I said it, but let's just get this out in the open, cleared up, and leave nothing to wonder. Hollywood is destroying the logic and reason of this country.
Some might ask why I believe this--what evidence exists to support this preposterous claim? Here comes the easy part, although it is the hardest to stomach, taken from a BBC headline yesterday: "Scary Movie 4 tops US box office." The frightful reader who, although nauseated by the title, continues to combat his way through the article, desperately hoping it is some silly Brit's idea of a sick joke, would discover that not only did the movie earn more money for its creators than any other movie in the past four days, but it actually broke the previous record for ticket sales during Easter weekend by more than 33%. This preemptively counters all those who might say, "There aren't any good movies out; that's why Scary Movie 4 was at the top." If people simply went to see the movie for lack of a better alternative, it should not be breaking records!
No, sadly it seems that in this Bush-regime-dominated, no-child-left-behind society, movies like Scary Movie 4, with more toilet humor than even the septic system of Crawford, TX, could possibly handle, are exactly what the blissfully ignorant public desires--nay, craves. It keeps people happy and mindless--mindlessly happy--because it requires no thought, no effort. Sure Social Security might be on the brink of annihilation while billions of tax dollars are funneled into that black hole named "Operation Iraqi Freedom," but if I can just sit here and spend my $8.50 to see people get kicked in the junk a hundred times, I don't have to think about stuff like that and continue complaining about taxes and the price of gas.

What do you think about?

2006-04-06T10:26:00.000+04:00

Nearly every runner has heard this question at some point; I've heard it a few times, especially when talking to someone about running a marathon. I've come to expect the question when discussing running with a non-runner--it only makes sense to wonder what the brainis doing for all those hours. My typical, oh-so-very-clever answer was always, "Nothing. And everything." In a way, this is true, but I never really thought about it until a very recent run (about an hour ago, actually). The question entered my mind about one mile into the run, so I had seven more to ponder the answer and monitor my mind's behavior. Here is what I thought up (as close to my thought process as I can get and still be coherent while eliminating unrelated thoughts):
What do I think of
Nothing. Consciously, I think about nothing except the movement of my feet. During the first part of the run, I think about how I feel, noticing any tightness in my legs or any other soreness. I might also notice the weather and road conditions, but only very briefly. As the run progresses, I continue to monitor my body, but eventually it fades from the conscious to the unconscious, which I trust to let me know if anything goes wrong. Soon, everything is sent to the realm of the unconscious, and I am vaguely aware of the wind in my face and my feet hitting the ground. This is when I think of nothing. Then...
Everything. Without warning, a random thought pops into my head--it could be something that's been bothering me, some random memory, or just an idea to toy with. Sometimes my brain decides to start doing math problems, from the simple--what is 5x5?--to the slightly complex--what pace do I need to run X miles to finish in Y hours and Z minutes?--to the even more complex--how much work am I doing? These thoughts all come without conscious bidding, and sometimes I'm only partly aware that they're even there for quite some time.

I think I might change my answer to, "Nothing. And anything," to make it more truthful because I can't really think of everything.

Calculus Projects and High Fives

2006-03-23T10:25:00.000+03:00

Have you ever worked on a project for calculus class? Actually, nevermind because it doesn't really matter for this story. What does matter is whether or not I have ever worked on a calculus project. Maybe, then, I should have asked, "Have I ever worked on a project for calculus class?" Then I could answer, "Yes, quite recently, in fact," which would lead into the story I am about to tell.
Recently, while working on a calculus project, I needed to make a model of a cup to cut into pieces as a demonstration in finding the volume of the cup (without actually measuring the volume, of course). "Whatever could I make a model from?" I asked to no one in particular (unless my friend standing nearby happened to be someone in particular).
We (Rob and I) discussed several substances which we could fill the cup with--everything from the edible, Jell-O and pudding, to the obvious, modeling clay, to the cheap, PlayDough, to the very cheap, homemade PlayDough substitute made from flour, salt, and water. Partly because I didn't feel like shelling out two dollars, but mostly because we were already in the kitchen and any other option would require us to go somewhere, we opted for the flour concoction.
So we made this stuff, tasted a bit, and filled the cup with some, but there was still a sizeable portion left over. Rob said something about how he had suggested that I cut the recipe we found in half, but I don't remember anything of the sort. Who would've guessed that 3 cups of flour, 1/4 cup of salt, and about 2 cups of water would be more than the amount needed to fill a 4 ounce cup? Well, that's not important, now, but what do we do with all the extra dough? I had a solution, one that would work and would benefit all of mankind (if you consider all of mankind to be Rob and me).
So, following my detailed plan meticulously, I retrieved the crushed garlic, garlic oil, and cayenne pepper from a cupboard and mixed the ingredients into the dough, which was separated into thirds. One ball of dough got both garlic flavorings, one received the pepper, and the last was preserved in its original, super-salty form. Each of the flavors was rolled in turn and cut into round cookies, which were then placed on a greased cookie sheet to be baked for 8-10 minutes or until golden-brown. Oh, I baked the cup-shaped piece, too, because I needed it to harden for... uh, something. I think... What was I supposed to be doing? Whatever, Rob and I talked and laughed and talked some more with some added laughing (the hysterical type) about the following day (which is now yesterday) when I would distribute the "cookies" to my coworkers. We both agreed, through sobs of laughter, that I would need to keep a straight face when handing out the treats, so we laughed some more and talked some more. This went on for 20 or 30 minutes, during which time we had taken the sweets (er, salts?) out of the oven.
We had been talking in the living room and our hands were coated in garlic oil, so we hadn't noticed the atrocious smell emanating from the kitchen until the timer beeped. Uh oh, I hoped my roommate wouldn't be home for a bit. We turned off the stove, opened the front and back doors, and turned on the kitchen's ceiling fan (it's white, and there was a black bottle cap on top of it). Then, of course, we had to sample our creations. Our actual responses were too graphic to even describe here--the cookies were perfect.
The next day, I offered a cookie as soon as I could corner one person because I wanted to test my reaction to the offended party's reaction--that is, I needed to know whether I was capable of constraining my devilish grin, which would warn the target and compromise the mission. He picked one of the garlic-laden varieties from the Tupperware, and my face was stone. With the first bite he cleaved the circle in two, leaving only a crescent. His jaw moved up, down, up, and as it came down again, he spewed the vile thing out, exclaiming, "That's not a cookie! What the hell is that?" It was here that my stern demeanor dissolved as the weakening levy was overwhelmed by the flood of my laughter and accompanying tears.
Several other people fell victim to the "trick cookies" as they came to be called, and several more refused after witnessing the effects. One of the latter asked why I had made the cookies, so I told him about the calculus project... WHAT!? Calculus project!? Um, I'll be right back. I've got something to take care of...
OK, now that that's out of the way, when I told him about the homemade PlayDough and my refusal to waste the leftovers, he responded, "Dude, you got everyone to eat your PlayDough? You rock!" Then, he gave me a high five.

Still alive?

2006-03-23T10:08:00.000+03:00

Yes

Sandwich Artist?

2006-03-13T06:28:00.000+03:00

Have you ever noticed that the nametags worn by Subway (the restaraunt, not mass-transit) employees read "Sandwich Arist?" Well, I certainly have, and I've been subjected to the "art" that the people behind the tags create. Let's get something straight: I like artists and their creations; I like seeing, hearing, and (occasionally) smelling brilliance. I can even appreciate that some chefs are considered artists, and in those cases, I enjoy tasting the art. I do not, however, believe that the workers behind the counter at Subway are, in any way, artists--I patronize their establishment because I want a sandwich, not because I expect to find the next Picasso, Monet, or Warhol (well, OK, maybe Warhol).
So the next time I order an Oven-Roasted Chicken Breast sub, I do not want a piece of art, some charlatan's feeble attmept at a masterpiece. The chicken goes on the bottom!Yes, under the cheese and veggies!

Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins

2006-03-10T07:08:00.000+03:00

All I can say is: "Wow."
If you don't know, Jenny Lewis is an amazingly talented singer/songwriter (and former child actress) who teamed up with Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello (and a few others) to form the Postal Service and who was also the lead singer of Rilo Kiley. (Note: If you don't know any of the bands mentioned, I highly recommend you look them up.) Now she has gone solo--sort of. She's currently on tour as Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins, and she has an album out from the same.

Anyway, I had the opportunity to see Jenny and the Twins(mySpace) play live, and it was simply awesome. Willy Mason opened for them, and even though I'd never heard of him before, I liked his music, an earful of country-roots-sounding tunes described as folk rock. Check out his mySpace page to hear him. The show was everything I had anticipated and more--well worth missing class and pushing my homework back another day.

Shoes

2006-02-20T05:06:00.000+03:00

What is is about buying a new pair of running shoes and taking them for that first "test" run, a gentle 9.5 miles, that feels so good? Is it the comfort? The fit? The stylish, gold-colored Saucony symbol sparkling in the bright sun? The pearl-white mesh that you know will one day turn brown with mud? The UW students who happen to confront you during post-run stretching and ask you to take a survey for their marketing class about what you look for when you buy running shoes? (Very coincidental that happened right after my friend and I both bought new shoes and took them for a run.) Whatever the reason--or combination of reasons--it still feels awesome!

(In case you didn't guess, I got new running shoes today and they're great! Plus, all that other stuff happened, too, with the UW students and all.)

Procrastination

2006-01-29T04:56:00.000+03:00

I've come to believe that some people are destined to be perpetually late. I have also come to accept that I am one such person. This is a problem that I have accepted, but because it has yet to negatively affect my life in some way, I have done nothing to change it--well, not seriously at least. I mean, I have tried a few things: 1) setting my watch ahead, 2) trying to always be 15 minutes early, 3) driving faster (and faster), and even 4) trying to design a time distortion device. Explanations for each follow.

1) This never worked for me. It seems to work for some people because I see so many clocks displaying the wrong time, but I am not one of these people. When I tried this technique, I knew my watch was set ahead, so I automatically subtracted the offset. Besides, now I get the time from my cellular telephone, which retrieves the time automatically from signal towers.
2) This one is just simply impossible for me.
3) This works fairly well, actually. The only problem is that I kept seeing blue lights in my rear-view mirror right before a kind man in a brown hat and blue shirt brandishing a pistol on his hip gave me an expensive, little, pink paper.
4) Everyone knows that it is impossible to build a time travel machine with our current level of technology, but I thought that time distortion would suffice for my purposes. I searched and researched for hours (thanks, Google) and discovered that my time distortion device is completely plausible. All I need to do is get a plane that can travel around the Earth a bunch of times really, really fast. I'm thinking I'll get a Blackbird and strap a few extra gas tanks¹.

OK, I know I'm doomed (or blessed) to be perpetually late, so I am never in a hurry. Even if I know that I can make it somewhere on time by hurrying, I take my time because something would happen to make me late, anyway, so I save myself the stress. Most people see this as indifference or procrastination, but I know it is neither, although it shares a place in my mind with the latter. Procrastination is a peculiar beast--more on that later.

¹Please do not leave comments about my stupidity for this. I know it's dumb; that's the point.

Indescribable Feeling

2006-01-17T00:47:00.000+03:00

In case you haven't figured it out from previous writings, I'm addicted to running, and I love it. It's hard for me to describe exactly why. The relaxing calm and freedom, the meditative state, the physical benefits, and hearing the wind whistle in my ears and my shoes softly striking the ground all reinforce the addiction--the endorphines help a bit, too.
In the natural progression of my running, I recently completed my first marathon, and it was awesome. The heady, intoxicating feeling after crossing the finish line is truly indescribable, very similar to the feeling of completing my first half-marathon, except stronger--remembering the event still gives me a tingle up my spine. The only way to know what I mean is to experience the feeling for yourself.
I recommend running, or any aerobic exercise, to everyone as a great way to relieve stress, get in shape, and just generally feel better. Even if you aren't able to run very long to start with, give it a try, keep at it, and you will improve.
When you do start running (notice, I say when, not if), do it right:
1) Buy good shoes. Go to a running specialty store and ask one of the experts for help. They should look at your feet, stance, and maybe even watch you run a few strides. The mall is not the place to look--Foot Locker and the like--and do not go to Wal-Mart. Also, be sure to replace your shoes every 300-400 miles.
2) Take it easy. This is good running advice for beginners, not just a good song by The Eagles. Keep in mind that nobody starts off in the elite/olympiad class. Do what you can and focus on improvement. It's helpful in the beginning to ignore the distance and try to increase the duration. Try alternating walking and running for 30 minutes until you feel comfortable running the entire half hour.
3) Listen to your body. There is a difference between soreness caused by exercising a muscle and actual pain caused by injury. I use the two-day rule: if it hurts for more than two days and you haven't exerted excessive effort (such as running a race), get it checked out or at least conduct a self-diagnosis.
4) Stretch! After each run, be sure to treat your legs to a good stretch session and include the hamstrings, quadriceps, calves, glutes, inner thigh, and abdominals. There are several methods for stretching--the most basic is to hold each stretch for 30-60 seconds.
4) Keep a journal. A journal is a very useful tool to keep track of how you feel, how far you run, and any pains you might have. It allows you to look back and see how you have progressed and to plan your future training plan.
5) Enjoy it! Have fun! I know it may sound strange, but running really is very liberating and enjoyable. If you can find a good partner to run with, it makes it more fun for both of you. When you feel ready, sign up for a local 5k or 10k race, and don't be discouraged because you don't think you'll finish in a "good time;" just try to have a good time and don't worry about where you place. Use races to gage your progress and meet others who share the passion of running.

Everyone can benefit from running, and it isn't harmful when done right. If you want more information, check out runnersworld.com--they have a section about training for beginners. I strongly encourage everyone to at least give it a chance and maybe even set a goal, such as to run a half-marathon in a year (I think that anyone without a physical handicap can train to run a half-marathon in a year--DisneyWorld is hosting one on January 6, 2007. I'm looking at you, Marie).

Blogger.com

2006-01-05T03:58:00.000+03:00

Do you know what this blogger.com site needs? No, you don't, but I'm going to tell you. It needs a way to list several blogs on one page with the time of the last update for each, so then I could look at one page to see if there's anything new on any of the blogs I frequent. Blogging is a great tool for keeping in touch and sharing ideas, but there should be a faster way to check multiple blogs for updates than simply loading each one into a tab in FireFox.

Final Paper

2005-12-21T06:57:00.000+03:00

My final research paper is about stem cell research. Here it is. Fair warning: it's just over 7 pages long.

About those essays...

2005-12-20T04:38:00.000+03:00

Before I post the link to today's essay, I need to amend a statement from my previous post. In writing about my writing habits, I was perhaps a bit vague. Allow me to provide more detail.
First of all, I don't proofread, period. I know it's a horrible habit, but scribbling a three-page paper an hour or two before it is due doesn't really permit me the luxury of proofreading. Typically, I write the paper straight through with little to no prior planning except for the occaional casual thoughts throughout the week that tend to be something like, "What homework do I have? English. What was that assignment again? Write a compare and contrast essay. What am I going to compare and contrast?" This thought process continues until I have a vague sense of what I'm going to write, and then when it's crunch time, I reflect upon these thoughts and formulate them into some sort of order.
Secondly, I have never considered myself to have excellent grammar, and my writing tends to have mistakes. These mistakes, as well as multiple typographical errors, would normally be caught in the proofreading phase, but if you didn't skip the previous paragraph, you know that I don't have a proofreading phase.

Hopefully this clears a few things up for some of you out there reading my papers, which I have already stated are the uncorrected, raw versions, and slandering my work.
I do have to apologize for uploading the wrong paper for Running vs. Cycling: The Great Divide--when I was renaming the files for uploading I swapped two of them. I uploaded the correct file, overwriting the incorrect one, so the links here and in the "Promise Kept" post are working properly. The file that was incorrectly labeled run_vs_bike.doc is called Dean Karnazes vs. Pamela Reed. Since the first one was supposed to have already been posted and the second one was already posted, here is another one: Imagination, which was meant to define imagination but used by me to tell a story about my niece.

More Essays

2005-12-19T10:10:00.000+03:00

Everyone knows that smoking is disgusting and harmful; here is an essay that follows the path of smoke through the body as it kills: Smoking Kills.

Sight is a wondrous sense, and most of us would be completely lost without it. Have you ever wondered exactly how it works? Here's an essay tracing the path of vision from photon to synapse: Understanding Vision.

Before any of you bash my writing, realize that, due to my procastinating ways, most of these papers were done the night before class (or the hour on Saturday between my morning run and class), so the endings were especially rushed.

Please don't feel compelled to read these things unless you are really interested--they are all at least a couple pages long and you don't have to waste your time with it if you don't want to.

Promise Kept

2005-12-17T07:42:00.000+03:00

OK, do you remember how I said I would upload the essays I wrote for English and then I never did? Well, it's time to live up to my word. I will post a link on this blog to a paper every day for the next week or so, and you can read it if you so desire. I will not, however, be able to post the corrected versions, partly due to my laziness and partly because some of the "corrections" altered the papers and aren't really my work. So, without further fondu, er... whatever, here is the first installment of my writings: "Running vs. Cycling: The Great Divide".
I think you'll like this one, Bill, and you might even agree (or disagree) so much that you feel obligated to write to me, telling me how right (or wrong) I am and how awesome (or super-cool) I am for writing so much about running and cycling.

No news is good news

2005-12-16T07:17:00.000+03:00

All the people (both of you) who have been barraging me with unsolicited requests to increase the frequency of my updates (asked me what the hell is going on) should know that it is not because nothing is happening that I haven't updated in a while--it is because too much is happening. Now that I don't have class every day after work, I have some time to post: Finals Week was kinda rough, but I think I pulled through with a 4.0.

Remember, No news is good news, as they say. Who are "they?" And does that mean that a lack of news is good news or that all news is bad news? It doesn't really matter; what I mean is that I'm fine, just busy is all.

Pandora- No, not the box

2005-11-30T07:59:00.000+03:00

If you like music, you'll love this: The Music Genome Project. I'd describe it here, but I'd just be copying from the website. Besides, if I tell you what it is, you won't be as curious and therefore less likely to check it out. Well, I'm not going to write anything about it, so GO CHECK IT OUT!

You don't have to like your heroes...

2005-11-01T06:48:00.000+03:00

Dean Karnazes is incredible. His story is inspiring to many and almost unbelievable to some. Still others believe that he is "just another self-promoting huckster." It doesn't really matter; it can't be denied that he is a superb athlete and among ultrarunnings finest. Sure, his book, Ultramarathon Man might have a few boastful statements("At less than 5 percent body fat, my body is ripped like a prizefighter’s, nothing left to shed."), but he isn't lying. However, it's not like he's the "Lance Armstrong" of running; that yellow jersey goes to Scott Jurek(even more my hero than Karnazes for several reasons, but I'm ranting/raving about Dean here).

Anyway, if you want, you can form your own opinion; there is a lot of literature about him if you know where to look (uh, how 'bout the library?). I could go on for a long time, but what I want to point out is a quote from Dean Karnazes: "If you're not pushing yourself beyond the comfort zone...you're choosing a numb existence."

English papers

2005-10-16T05:50:00.000+03:00

I decided that I'm going to post the papers I write for English online. Eventually, I will update my site because it is pitiful, and I will put links to the papers I write on it. For now, I will post the link here, like this one that is six pages and about my first half marathon. I am only going to post the corrected papers, and no one has any sort of obligation to read them.

Programming

2005-10-16T04:32:00.000+03:00

Ever have several days in a row that each have some freak coincidence? That's happening to me right now; the last incident was about 30 seconds ago when I read my brother John's blog. He and I had a conversation about a week ago concerning the exact same topic as his lastest post (the one titled "Old programs." It's not the fact that he wrote about the same thing we discussed; that's not a coincidence, but actually makes a good deal of sense. The incident was that in English class today my professor stated that writing is 80% thinking skills and 20% writing skills. She was referring to books and stuff, but I have held the same belief for computer programming for years. John's post reminded me about that and the conversation we had, and then my thoughts sped back in time about seven years to my high school Computer Science class, which was the reason that I started believing that computer programming is more of a thought process than knowledge of an actual programming language (my percentages were a bit off, I said 90% and 10%, respectively). The story goes like this:
Mr. Davidson, my computer teacher, asked me to help Beth Zehner(sp? who cares?), a fellow student, with her computer program. Reluctantly, I obeyed and walked over behind Beth as she sat at her computer. I looked at the Pascal code she had displayed on the screen and I felt like wretching (I probably would have, but I had great respect for that class and the teacher and, of course, the computers themselves). What I saw was probably the worst example of programming code that was actually intended for a purpose, not just gibberish (the kind that might be written by a person who doesn't know the language at all). Now, I've seen some horrible specimins of code and even worse style, but even Braddock doesn't compare to what I saw that day. (For a programmer's example: she was using a recursive function that could have just as easily been replaced with a while loop. That's one of the easier-to-accept errors. My brain almost immediately removed any memory of the real issues.) Then, as I sat there fixing whatever other problems there were, I learned that she wanted to be a computer programmer. "Aha!" I thought, "THIS is why programs crash." My next thought was that programming languages can be taught, programming can only be learned through experience. This led to my current 90%/10% belief.
So, yeah, that was kind of long, but I had to make a point, which was actually a sub-point of my main point, of which I still haven't given sufficient evidence. Well, maybe I'll give more later, but probably not. The freakish coincidences really don't seem as freakish in telling, so I'm just going to change the theme of this post to be that programming is 90% thinking and only 10% actual programming. I'd go back and rewrite it so that is the focus, but that requires effort, something which almost all programmers despise.

It's not the fall that hurts...

2005-10-12T05:46:00.000+03:00

it's when you hit the ground. OK, so I really despise it when people do that. You know, that thing where they start a sentence in the title and finish it as the first line of the body of the post or email or whatever. I just decided that I should try to see it from their points of view, so here it is. I'm giving in and trying it their way. I still don't like it.

Now that that's out of the way, I'd like to say that it really isn't the fall that hurts. The fall is actually quite fun. You get that empty feeling in your stomach as it tries to leap out of your mouth and take a majority of your intestines with it. Of course, it can't fit so you just end up unable to breathe until you get that little devil under control. Falling also gives a nice adrenaline rush. This is most likely because your brain is trying to tell you that you are about to hit the ground, and that part does hurt. Falling can be a lot of fun. I fell through a cloud once. It wasn't all soft and cushiony (I was going to write "cuhsy" here, but I couldn't bring myself to actually use that word.) like clouds seem like they should be. No, it was cold and stinging. Cold because that H₂O is really high up in the air and it's cold up there. Stinging because that same cold factor also has a side-effect; it turns the H₂O into ice. Consider that I was falling through the ice at around 100mph and you might understand what I mean by stinging. Next time it's hailing, get on the freeway and stick your head out the window. Then you can really understand what I mean by stinging.
Ususally, though, falling is fun, and it was that time I fell throught the cloud, too. Hitting the ground will get you every time, unless you have a parachute, then you'll be just fine. Today, I didn't have a parachute. I was supposed to have a spotter, but he happened to be on the wrong side of the railing. If you are confused, please take a minute to download and view the Fall.mpeg (for those of you who don't have DivX 6.0; sorry, but the raw file is 5MB) or Fall.avi (for those of you who DO have DivX 6.0; good job, everyone should always have the newest version of DivX cuz it's free and makes this video only 384KB).

Now that you have some form of a frame of reference, I can conclude this proclamation. I have a couple pictures (higher quality, but taken later) of my head afterwards, but I won't post anything of that graphic nature. If you want to see them, ask. Anyway, my head hurts and I think I'll just go and have a little lie down for a while.

Of Annoyances and Revenges

2005-09-23T10:28:00.000+04:00

For a while, I've been thinking of, and speaking about, using masking tape to affix a rock to my handlebars for use (read: throwing) whenever a motorist honks or yells or whatever (spooking someone on a bike who is moving 10mph slower, weighs a ton less, and is inches from your car is dangerous). Most people are fairly considerate to cyclists, but it only takes one to be annoying.
Even though it may not be as dangerous, it's still annoying while running. Today, I was on a long run coming down a big hill approaching an intersection when a car was waiting at the stop sign to go straight across. (See visual) I was coming down pretty fast on gravel, so there wasn't really a way for me to safely stop or slow enough to let the car cross without hitting me. Naturally, as any sane human would do, the car waited for me to cross the intersection before moving.

Unfortunately, there was some traffic coming up the hill and the stopped car had to wait for this to pass, also, before moving. As the car accelerated with unnecessary speed, I heard someone ni the car yell something to the effect of "You're gonna die, fag!" Now, I thought, would be a good opportunity to use a rock. (OMG! You had to wait 10 seconds. How awful!) But, as I continued down the hill, a thought occured to me that completely eliminated my desire for revenge: Those who mock cannot understand. I was grinning the remaining five miles home.
This whole situation turned my thoughts toward the indescribable feeling that a runner/cyclist/etc. feels while partaking in his sport(s) and how other people just don't understand. I've spoken about this with my Uncle Bill. There's really no way to explain it to someone who hasn't experienced it, or even someone who has, really. I don't think I can explain it in my own head. That's just the thing, though, it can't be rationalized, turned into mere words. It's just something you feel.
Oh sure, there's a scientific explaination that speaks of endorphin, seratonin, receptor sites, and the like (a website), but that can't tell you how it feels, only how it occurs. It's something that you have to feel to truly understand.

HOTS Triathlon

2005-08-30T01:05:00.000+04:00

OK, so it's been a couple weeks since I last posted and that last one didn't make a whole lot of sense. Hopefully this one will be a little more coherent.

In the past couple weeks, quite a lot has happened. I've been to a place on a lake in Ontario, Canada; my brother and I drove there from Washington (the state). On the way there we stopped in Cleveland, OH (AH! FIFO's!) and Erie, PA to see some people we know. The place on the lake and the lake itself were just as great as I remember them. I took my bike and my uncle Bill and I rode, ran, and swam a whole lot. It was awesome! Between all that, gorging myself with food, jumping off cliffs, and wakeboarding, I didn't have time to do a serious update. It went so fast that I decided I'm going to try to stay there for a month next summer.
On the way back to Washington, my brother and I stopped in a few places in western PA, Ohio again, Michigan to see my little sister, Minnesota to drop off my brother, and I was going to stop at my parents' place in Wyoming, but time ran short.

Since I've been back, I've been pretty busy: I completed my first triathlon this weekend (.5mi swim/14.6mi ride/3.6mi run) and I'm going to start work (BLEH!) tomorrow and I've still got that Ride for MS (click the link, have a heart, donate money to MS. I need to raise $250 to participate.). I don't forsee myself being any less busy in the near future, what with school starting and all, so I'll be making fewer posts or they'll be shorter or both or neither. Who knows?

The real reason for this post was to mention that I finished my first triathlon this weekend, which I already did. However, I thought that this would add some credibility and let the people who care know how I did.

Shirts

2005-08-14T09:26:00.000+04:00

I don't like wearing shirts. They suck and soak up all my sweat and keep it there not letting it evaporate into the air as it should. Then they get all sticky and smelly and generally uncomfortable to wear. I think we got the wrong idea with this whole clothes thing. I bet that if clothes were never invented, we'd all have evolved a nifty fur coat like the cheetahs have. (As a side note, cheetahs spelled backwards is shateehc, if that makes any sense. What a crazy world we live in!) Of course, some of us who live in cold places like Canada (adanaC) would be more like a polar bear instead of a cheetah. That'd be warmer than your sweater, eh? I don't know if that would be any better; I don't really like body hair, either, but I guess that if my hair looked like a cheetah's, I wouldn't mind it so much. Fleas might be a problem, however. I don't like fleas; I don't like them more than I expect I would like having a cheetah's cool clothes. They're all bitey and jumpy and not squishy. They pop when you squeeze them, but only when you use two hard surfaces like your fingernails and not soft like the skin on your fingers. I bet I'd still have all the skin on my fingers if I'd quit biting and climbing and suffocating candles with them.

Have you ever had a thought that you thought and it lead to another thought and then another and the cycle kept going until you decided to start documenting the thoughts that lead to other thoughts and then you stop because it starts getting a little too silly?

Cycling for MS

2005-07-24T05:49:00.000+04:00

Hey everybody, go here and click "Make a pledge online" and then donate money to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. If you want more information about why you are donating money, check out the MS Bike Tour.

How to survive in Brazil with 2 phrases...

2005-07-14T15:18:00.000+04:00

Obrigado = Thank You
Taxi = Taxi
Anything more is just superfluous. Sure, it might be helpful, but you can get by with just those two. If one had to be more important than the other, it would be "Taxi." This is because it is your basic mode of transportation unless you have a friendly, really cool, intelligent, well-to-do, famous Brazilian architect to chauffeur you around in his Defender and just generally take care of everything¹. Addresses can be written; business cards help in this case. It isn't important to know what the address you have means, or even how to pronounce it; the driver knows, and that's whose knowledge counts. It is important, however, to be polite to the driver so you end up at the proper destination and not in the back of some alley with the back of you cut open and missing pieces. This is why "Obrigado" is so important. They know you are a tourist. You can't hide that. But you can be a polite tourist. So, say it aloud now: Oh.Brie².God.Oh. Easy, huh? Well, hopefully, if you are reading this in Brazil, you didn't butcher it horribly and the locals now see you as a slightly enlightened and polite tourist. Next time, you need to roll the "r" a little and accent the third syllable. Now you are all set for a wonderful trip through Brazil.
What about eating, sleeping, purchasing sunscreen, renting a surfboard, scoring an awesome 5-bedroom condo 20 meters³ from the beach in Guaruja (we'll get to pronouncing this a bit later) for free? You might not think so, but those things just sort themselves out. Allow each a paragraph to be explained.

Eating. Many restaraunts have English menus and the waiter will most likely give you one just because he can smell the tourism on you (yeah. you're eminating a tourist smell for which the locals have a sixth sense.)⁴ If you receive a Portugese menu, then you need only say "English" and point at the menu. Either you'll be given an English menu or a polite shake of the head. It's good to practice "Obrigodo" here. Of course, on the off-chance that you cannot get an English menu, but you really want to try this place, you can order by price. You can easily discern the appetizer section(beginning of the menu and cheaper) from the entrees(somewhere in the middle and more expensive) and drinks(toward the end and cheapest). All you have to do now is point at a reasonably priced item of each type that you want and hope you chose something that you'll enjoy⁵. If you are still skeptical, just ask your architect friend what he recommends. He'll not lead you astray.
Another alternative to eating in restaraunts is living off the land. Step one: find a fruit tree or other edible plant. Step two: pick food. Step three: eat food. There you have it. The freshest, and therefore best, oranges smell green and that's fine. They have lots of seeds, too.

Sleeping. It's a cinch to find a place to sleep. You'd have to be brain-dead not to be able to recognize a hotel⁶ when you see one in any country. In order to get a room, you need only walk up to the desk and whip out the old check/credit card. You've seen the commercials - "Everywhere you want to be" - "For everything else, there's..." Hotels always take plastic. Show your card and the man behind the desk will gladly overcharge you for a room. You don't have plastic, you say? You will either have to sleep in an alley (not recommended - see above comment half-way throught the first paragraph), camp out somewhere, or put down cash for your hotel room. That is, of course, unless your architect friend's sister will put you up for a few days and take exquisite care of you.

Purchasing sunscreen. Easy. Walk into a store and buy it. Just take note that instead of "SPF" you are looking for "SFP." No one can fail in this. Also, in the worst case scenario, you avoid the sun or wear long sleeves and pants. Realize now that this is not the way you want to experience Brazil, so either pack sunscreen or buy some the first day. The equatorial sun is a bit harsher than that to which most of us are accustomed⁷.

Renting a surfboard. In Guaruja, you have to walk up to the surf school and just start asking people about surfboards. Surfboard, longboard, and shortboard are a few words that are known all over the world, especially at the "Escola de Surf." You can ask "How much?" and hold your hand up, rubbing your thumb against your index finger for added effect. If you don't understand how much he wants, open up your wallet and let him take what he needs. Wait. On second thought, scratch that. Pull out ten reals at a time, each from a different pocket. Hopefully, it won't be more than 30 reals, so that you won't have to worry about running out of pockets. What if you decided to adopt the Brazilian custom of wearing speedos to the beach? Well, pull that money out of somewhere and hope they'll take it. It's probably not a great idea to take your wallet to the beach unless you have someone to watch it for you or you want to take it into the sea and get it all wet and salty⁸.

Scoring an awesome 5-bedroom condo 20 meters from the beach in Guaruja for free. This part is a little trickier. For this one, you really need to know someone who is quite well off and has other friends that are also quite well off. For instance, an architect who has had his work featured in a premier Brazilian architecture magazine, that would suffice. You see, if a friend or a friend of a friend who becomes a friend when you meet, has a place in Guaruja⁹ they might let you stay there for a weekend when they aren't using the place. Then you can eat at a restaraunt with weevils in the bread even though it is sealed in an airtight package from the factory; rent a surfboard (see above paragraph) and fall off of it a lot; unknowingly order three times the amount of you need and (again, unknowingly) non-alcoholic beer at another restaraunt while the waiters all watch you and laugh, speaking in that language you never thought to take the time to learn before your trip; splash and dive into the waves while the real surfers try to avoid hitting you and fall off their surfboards a lot in doing so (which irritates them); or even watch a bunch of kids play soccer at night in the middle of a rainstorm with winds over 50 kilometers per hour. The tricky part is finding those friends, so if you know anyone who knows people like that, maybe you ought to invite them around to dinner more often so you can meet their friends.

Just remember that your trip to Brazil is supposed to be fun. Let nothing stand in the way of your good times, not the weather, not the language barrier, not your friends' indecisiveness, not the person in a club in Rio that tries to kiss you even though you share the same gender, not even the eye patch swimwear¹⁰. Have a good time in Brazil and if you see anyone I know, tell them I said "Hi" and that I'll be back soon to visit.

¹In this situation, you can forget about reading any further. He'll translate anything that matters and if you really want, he'll patiently help drill some common and useful phrases into that dense mass which you call a brain. Also, if there is any situation where any guide would help, he'll one-up him/her/it for certain.
²Yes, the cheese.
³Metric. Get used to it. The Unites States of America is the only country left that still uses that ridiculously ridiculousª English measuring system.
⁴I used parentheses so that you don't have to keep looking down here.
⁵It will most likely be good, unless you have special eating needs, such as lactose intolerance, Kosher or Halal (ham seems to be pretty popular in Brazil), vegetarian, etc. In that case, you probably don't want to risk it. Go somewhere else.
⁶If you are brain-dead, then you probably shouldn't be travelling to places like Brazil. If you are set on going, however, you can recognize a hotel by the bellhops and luggage movers. Still having trouble? Get in a taxi and say "Hotel."
⁷I learned this through my friend's experience. He applied sunscreen, but in patches, which caused a strange pattern of white and red on his chest and legs. Even in his speedos it looked like he was red and wearing white shorts. That's Funneh. Funneh, funneh, funneh.
⁸*read in the voice of Strongbad*Whoa. Made it through an entire paragraph with no footnotes. Incredible.
⁹Gwah-roo-JAH
¹⁰It isn't necessary to give in to this; you can make it through your trip wearing the suit you packed, but you'll be one in one thousand on the beach.

ªIt is redundant and repetitive, but I want to get my point across and I really despise the English system.°

°Yes, I did just put a footnot to a footnote, but I'll stop that train right here so it doesn't keep going and make this post any longer than it already is.

Holy crap! Braddock's married!

2005-07-06T21:00:00.000+04:00

Congratulations Braddock and Panteha!

On, and on, and on...

2005-06-24T10:04:00.000+04:00

about running. If I was hooked before my half marathon, I've now reached full-on addiction. Today I went running with a friend through the woods and we got lost for about an hour, mostly because we weren't really trying very hard to find the way back. It was the best run I've had in a while. Getting away from the city and running in thick forest on footpaths greatly enhances the serenity.

(Sorry for all the recent posts about running, but it really is a huge part of my life)

In addition, I am starting Capoeira lessons this Saturday.

RunBlog

2005-06-20T08:14:00.000+04:00

I decided a while ago that I am not going to maintain a secondary blog for my running. This is because I realized that running is part of who I am and I don't want to segregate it from other aspects of my life. So, if you don't want to read the posts concerning my running, then don't.

Eatin' up the miles

2005-06-13T03:02:00.000+04:00

Twenty minutes to race time and the uneasiness of the pre-race anxiety fades and is replaced by a calm, almost meditative, state. My mind is blank as the brain keeps the autonomic functions working. I am no longer worried about how I will do; I am inexplicably confident, even though this is my first race longer than 10K. Few thoughts wriggle through to my conscious mind. I jog a little to warm up and stretch lightly.
It's a chilly morning, but I don't notice the sting of the cold, now. I line up behind the 8-9 minute/mile pace sign with only a couple minutes until the start. Waiting for the runners in front of me to start moving, I glance up at the sun just as it ducks behind one of several clouds in the sky. People are moving now, bouncing and jostling, waiting for the crowd to spread out so each can find a pace. All that is left to do now is keep the feet moving, enjoy the scenery, and watch the miles drift by...
Mile 1: People are starting to spread out now. I settle into a pace and conciously hold it back so that I can keep it up.
Mile 2: Wow, already over 1/7 done. Someone with a stopwatch says "sixteen twenty-five" as I run past. Work it out and it's 47.5 seconds/mile faster than my goal pace of 9 minutes/mile. Slow it down just a touch.
Mile 3: The people around me begin to fade away; not only are their numbers thinning, but as I settle into stride, I am becoming less aware of the other racers and more aware of the beautiful seaside forest through which I am passing and also the mile markers, which appear to me as billboards.
Mile 4: Past the first hill and still feeling pretty good.
Mile 5: I think that I'll not skip the next aid station as I did the first two.
Mile 6: Almost 1/2 way done. I slow at the aid station for some water. Now I'm thinking about consuming some of that energy gel; it might help later.
Mile 7: I eat the gel. Another hill passed. Still holding pace and feeling fine.
Mile 8: All downhill now.
Mile 9: I seem to be tiring. I think my pace may be slipping a bit.
Mile 10: I definitely feel like my pace is slowing. I hit a wall and my legs feel heavier. The course is along the waterfront from here to the end.
Mile 11: It's taking quite a lot on concentration to keep my legs moving at a decent pace. Now I realize the importance of the long runs that I didn't do.
Mile 12: Almost done. I've got goosebumps and my skin tingles a little. I know I'm not at my goal pace; I can't be. I tell myself that I just need to finish. The two hour limit I set as a goal seems lost.
Mile 13: The end is verynear. I run to it.

One of the volunteers takes my arm just past the finish line. He hands me a sports drink and I fumble with the cap. He aids me as I stumble over to turn in my timing chip. The brief stop to remove the chip is enough to give my legs the consistency of Jell-O and I struggle a little in forcing them to do my bidding. I realize that I didn't hear the time announced as I crossed the line, but I'm not worried about that right now. I need to stretch and eat. More volunteers have a stand set up with bananas, oranges, bread, muffins, pretzels, yoghurt, water, and a few other items. I choose a banana and some bread as I pick out a spot to stretch. I spot an unoccupied picnic table close to the water and I occupy it.
Stretch and eat, walk around some more, eat some yoghurt, drink some water. Oh yes, my time. I hear someone say that the results are posted and I wander over to see how I did. Wriggling to the front, I find my name and read: 1:58:03. About three tenths of a slower that my target pace (9 min/mile) but still under my goal time of two hours. I set a goal and I achieved it. AMAZING! That's how I feel. A shudder runs up my spine and I'm elated. I can't help but smile with joy as I go in search of the bus that will take me back to my car.

But you don't have to take my word for it...

Scroll down and see the 10-year-old girl who ran it in 2:11:40 (Bib #2520 placed 386 overall). Incredible.

*Added 6/22/2005 - Something that I didn't realize before, I actually placed 3rd in my age group, due not to my actual performance, but the lack of men in my age group; there were only six. Still, I got a friggin plaque.

Brazil

2005-06-10T10:55:00.000+04:00

OK, I've been getting a whole lot of questions repeatedly about my trip to Brazil. Allow me a few words to sum up: It was awesome.
I'll write a brief summary here, but I'm working on a much grander telling.

It started in Sao Paulo when my friend's parents' former exchange student, who is now a very successful Brazilian architect, picked us up from the airport. He was accompanied by my friend's cousin, who is studying in the US to be an architect and is doing a sort of intership down there in Brazil. We stayed at the architect's apartment in Sao Paulo for a couple days and then in his friend's ocean-front apartment in Guaruja. We swam and rented a surfboard and tested out the waves. We also went to a great little seafood place where they didn't have English menus and we each ordered meals meant for 2 people because we were without translator at the time. Then we went back to Sao Paulo for a night before going to Rio de Janeiro, stopping by Taubate on the way to pick up his niece and her grandmother. We now had 6 people and luggage in the Defender, which was a pretty tight squeeze. Rio was great. We stayed at and apartment in Ipanema that was a block from the beach. We swam at Copacabana and visited the Christ statue and Sugarloaf. Then we went back to Taubate, hiked/climbed to the top of Pedra do Bau, visited Campos do Jordao, tried some Brazilian pizza, and participated in a capoiera class. We went back to Sao Paulo for a few days and travelled around the city a bit (it'd take a whole lot more than a few days to travel around a city this big). Then we went to Ubatuba for the weekend. Here we were treated to a trip on a boat out on the ocean, tried some muqueca (it's amazing), hung out at some more secluded beaches, and visited a waterfall. We returned to Sao Paulo again on Sunday and then our plane flew Monday night.

It was a really extraordinary trip. Thanks to the friend for inviting me, and thank you very much to the architect for keeping the Americans constantly entertained.

Vacation

2005-05-29T02:43:00.000+04:00

Someone once said to me, "You're going running? But you're on vacation."
Here's a tip for anyone who thinks they know me: Running is my vacation.

Oh, and I surfed a bit in Guaruja, Brazil.
See if this works. It's the beach.
click here

Taking out the garbage

2005-05-18T08:41:00.000+04:00

I got sick of seeing that stupid Yahoo! page telling everyone that my site is over it's bandwidth limit. I took the advice of Braddock, but it didn't cost $50. This is the new site.

In other news, I went to Wyoming a couple weeks ago, and I drove to Minnesota with a brother and our mother. It was a good trip; I got to see a bunch of relatives that I haven't seen since back in ought-three.
Now I'm in New York, NY for a few days until I catch a plane down to Brazil. That'll be fun.

Certifiably Retarded

2005-04-29T07:55:00.000+04:00

Yep, that's me. Check out the newest crapfully craptacular videos. GO HERE!

Sibling Cycling

2005-04-29T02:19:00.000+04:00

About a year ago, my little sister and I decided that we wanted to cycle across this land we call the United States of America. Slowly, a plan has been forming. We have maps from Adventure Cycling magazine. We have a general idea of where we want to ride - most likely from PA to Wyoming. (I didn't type out "Pennsylvania" because it's too long and would take too much time out my busy day. How could Charles II have let ol' William pick such a long, too-hard-and-long-to-type name? They should have had a statute forbidding that sort of thing. Statues that affect the name of a state? Lady Liberty might be big, but I doubt she can really take part in such matters.) Anyway, what we don't have is experience in this sort of undertaking, nor do we have the financial backing to accomplish out goal. Oh yeah, and my sister still needs a bicycle (*AHEM* *COUGH* Oh, hi Dad!). I think that one of our cousins has expressed interest in accompanying us on the trip. Being that he's a triathlete and an avid cyclist himself, that should help with the inexperience part. Also, I've got a ride and I've been getting some decent miles put on it; I'll have to get heavier into training as the time to leave approaches. Which brings me to my point - the finances. I can't speak for my sister, but if anyone who ever reads this were ever to get me a gift in the next year, it should be something for the trip (i.e. money or gift certificates or whatever). Also, if there is anyone interested in joining us, email me or leave a comment and we can try to incorporate you into the plan.

Brother's Blog and Avoiding Alliterations

2005-04-29T01:47:00.000+04:00

My eldest brother has started a blog. I saw The Killers with Tegan and Sara in concert; it was great. I'm headed out to Wyoming and then to Brazil, so I might not update this for a while, but keep checking every month or so and I'll let you know that I'm still alive and kicking.

Marathons

2005-04-18T01:56:00.000+04:00

The Flora London Marathon was run today and no world record was broken, despite the beliefs of Paul Tergat, the current world record holder. The race was won by Lel Martin or Kenya in a time of 2:07:26; Tergat took 8th place with a time of 2:11:38. Great Britain's Paula Radcliffe won the women's race in a time of 2:17:42 redeeming herself in her countrymen's eyes from her performance at the 2004 Olympics; she finished 19th overall.
Tomorrow brings us the 2005 Boston Marathon at noon (11:31 AM for the women's), but it doesn't seem as though it will be as exciting as today's race.

Some older videos

2005-03-28T08:43:00.000+03:00

Both of these videos are from the time I spent in Korea,putting the Army's money to good use. Maybe you've seen them, or even have a copy. Well, this is for those who don't:
ShovelJumper.
Spinning on a buffer.
(OK, having a bit of a problem with that ShovelJumper linking properly. If you can't download from the above link, then just go here and get it.)

Oh, and just to answer the question that lurks behind your confused expression: Yes, but only half-retarded.

What's on your playlist?

2005-03-25T06:59:00.000+03:00

I've decided that I'm going to try to update this thing a couple times each week. It might just be small posts that are vague, but at least you'll know that I'm still alive. Of course, I'm certainly not going to set a schedule; I'm totally against them.
Today's topic is music. What's on your playlist right now? I don't mean for you to list every song, but some or all of the groups would do fine. Leave a comment with either your playlist or some of your favorites. Here's mine, all in no particular order and not at all complete:
Playlist:
Modest Mouse
Death Cab for Cutie
The Killers
Postal Service

Some favorites (and yes, I DO have varied taste):
Pink Floyd
Johnny Cash
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Smashing Pumpkins
Johnny Horton
Marty Robbins
Toby Keith
Dierks Bentley
Kingston Trio
Hank Williams Sr.
Keith Urban
U2

Bike

2005-03-17T23:16:00.000+03:00

"I've got a bike, you can ride it if you like. It's got a basket, a bell that rings, and things to make it lookd good." OK, maybe not, but here's a picture of my new bike. It might look a bit strange with the road bike-ish frame and the straight handle bar, but that's because it's a hybrid type, sometimes referred to as a speed bike, the Felt SR91 (I hope you can read German). It's time for me to ride...

Falling....

2005-03-13T22:41:00.000+03:00

for a long, long way. Level I completed 3/11/2005.

Valley Fliers

2005-03-07T10:15:00.000+03:00

Daily routine? PFFFTT!

2005-03-03T08:40:00.000+03:00

I added a new activity to my "routine" (if you can call it that); I had my first gymnastics class last night. It was pretty good, but because everyone else in the class has taken gymnastics before, they know what is going on. I, on the other hand, just watch someone else do a move and then try to imitate it. When I screw it all up, the instructor shows me what I'm doing wrong and how to fix it. It seems to work all right. Also, I started doing yoga a few times per week and I love it. Both instructors, as well as most of the students in both classes, are already impressed with my flexibility and have asked whether I've done this sort of thing before. Of course, I haven't, and I tell them I'm just naturally flexible. It doesn't appear that I'll have any time for a job in the near future.

what to do, what to do

2005-02-28T05:46:00.000+03:00

What does one do with no job, nearly no responsibilities, and a one-year membership to a climbing gym? Hmm... I think I'll skip that interview on Thursday.

Uploadyourimages...

2005-02-21T00:48:00.000+03:00

...and we'll delete them. Looks like my pictures weren't being used enough and got deleted from uploadyourimages.com. I can't blame them for deleting unused pictures, but it's a bit annoying. It really is a good site, but I need more permanency.

You'll notice (maybe) that the background is different. That's because the old one got deleted from the above-mentioned site. If there are any of the pictures from older posts that you want, let me know. I'm only reposting the sunset pic.

Climbing not working

2005-02-20T23:47:00.000+03:00

Been a while; I've been busy. In the past 2 weeks, I flew to Pennsylvania, bought a car, drove around the state for a few days, picked up a couple friends and drove back to Seattle just in time to catch my flight to Orlando. That was the busy part. For the past week, I've done almost nothing. I did get a membership at Edgeworks, a new climbing gym in Tacoma. I'm going to spend a good bit of time there, as I don't have a job and I don't plan on getting one anytime soon. I've gone off the idea of work; it's overrated.

Another turning point in Life

2005-01-27T19:41:00.000+03:00

About 2 minutes ago I signed out on transitional leave, meaning that I'm done with the Army; I never have to go back there. My sentiment toward this momentous event is nothing less than pure, unadultered elation. There are countless annoyances that I will never have to deal with again.
That is where I stand emotionally, but logically I see the turning point in life. I'm going to need a job soon. I'm starting school at Penn State in the fall and I need to figure out what I want to study. I'm also thinking about joining the Coast Guard Reserves as a rescue swimmer and I need to really start training harder for the school.
It might seem like quite a bit, but I enjoy having options in my life as opposed to the mind-numbing drudgery of the Army.

S.H.A.M.

2005-01-23T04:04:00.000+03:00

Since my return from Iraq about a month ago, I've been hyper just about every day. I'm not sure if it's due to being back in the States or because I'm going to be out of the Army soon; it's probably a combination of both. When I go into Super Hyper-Active Mode, I literally bounce off the walls. I distributed a video of this about a week ago and most people reading this have probably seen it because I sent it to you. If I missed you on the distro list, I apologize; you can download it here. You'll need DivX 5.2.1 to watch it. Enjoy.

Running (Yes, this again)

2005-01-14T19:52:00.000+03:00

There were a few weeks towards the end of my Iraq tour during which my running schedule almost ceased to exist for various reasons beyond my control. I am now back on track and running several times each week. I am posting about running again because I had a great run this morning and I wanted to rave about it a bit.
One of the myriad of aspects I like about running is that your mind and body can dissociate. The legs are on auto-pilot and the mind is free to think about anything or nothing. This is how my run went this morning; I barely remember actually traveling the distance as my mind was wandering. It is really a great opportunity to think.

California

2005-01-12T01:42:00.000+03:00

Last weekend, a few friends and I decided to go to California on a whim to pick up some surf boards at Gus's parents' house. It was a pretty uneventful trip down, except for going through the passes in southern Oregon where snow chains were required. That added about 5 hours to a 12 hour drive what with finding, buying, installing, and readjusting them. We saw Gus's parents for a total of about an hour and then turned around and headed back.
The drive back was nothing short of spectacular. We took the scenic highway up the coast and made several stops at beaches and cliffs. Here is what I think is the best picture fromt the trip. It was taken with my friend's Sony DSC-P93 camera. This is the low quality version. Oh yeah, I know that it sticks out a bit, but otherwise it would be too small. If you want the high quality version or are interested in any other pictures from the trip (such as the ones of me climbing INSIDE the "drive-through" redwood tree at night), let me know.

Of course, as my dad and I have discussed before, there isn't a way to capture the true beauty of a sunset in a photograph; it's just too big.

Back in the States

2005-01-06T18:56:00.000+03:00

Well, I arrived back in the "States" about 2 weeks ago and this is the first real opportunity that I've had to post. OK, that's really a lie; if I weren't so darned lazy, I might have posted a while ago, but it's been pretty difficult to find an internet connection. I won't go into details here because it's not important. What I'm really posting about here is that I am safely back in the good ol' US of A and I'll soon be completed with my enlistment. That's all for this one.

Kuwait

2004-12-10T13:02:00.000+03:00

Three days ago, I took my last step in Iraq. I am now in Kuwait and loving every minute of it, despite the rainy, cold days and the long hours. In the past two nights, I have had a total of about 7 hours sleep. The other 41 hours have been spent washing military vehicles to rid them of all dirt for a customs inspection. Of course, there is the occasional coffee break and one-hour breaks for lunch and dinner, but a majority of the time I have spent being wet, cold, and feeling great; every hour of work is one hour and 1/4 vehicle closer to leaving.

(Note: Sorry for those of you who have emailed me in the past few days, but the internet here sucks and there is a firewall blocking my access to Gmail. I should be somewhere else soon.)

Change of the Job Scenery

2004-11-18T18:22:00.000+03:00

I know it's been a while since I last posted. Sorry, I've been extremely busy. I was moved from my nice little office job where I had internet access, to loading equipment into large containers. I haven't really had a break for a couple weeks and most days are 12 hours or more. It's all OK, though, because everything I am doing at work gets me one step closer to being back in the USA.
Meanwhile, I still have to finish my college applications, get insurance on my car, and take care of quite a few smaller tasks before I get back, so that I can enjoy the plentiful amenities of life in the States.

Pictures

2004-10-29T15:05:00.000+03:00

Hey, this is just a message to everyone who wants me to send some pictures. I have some pictures of some places around here and elsewhere that I will send out soon. It'll probably take me a couple days or so to stop being lazy and put them on a CD or a flash drive to take to the internet cafe, so please be patient, the pictures are coming soon.

Appendicitis

2004-10-20T20:43:00.000+03:00

Well, a friend of mine got appendicitis a few days ago and had to go the the hospital to get an appendectomy. Now he is in Germany recovering from the operation. Now I'm thinking, "How does one go about getting appendicitis?" I figure it's a win-win situation: I get rid of one of my most useless organs and I get a vacation in Germany. How much can it really hurt?
Aside from my plans for malingering, Iraq is still the same as it was before I went on leave. Actually, I think it is worse. Having been deployed for 9 months with no real break from the routine, I grew accustomed to the drudgery and just dealt with it. When I went on leave, I was reminded what life is really like and how great it can be. Well, now that was all well and good when I was on leave, but when I had to return to Iraq, it made it more difficult because that taste of freedom and vision of a beautiful world were fresh in my mind. I guess I should say that leave served to remind me of everything I am missing over here, which was at least in the very back recesses of my mind, if not completely forgotten, beforehand. However, none of this should give anyone the notion that I would take back those two weeks for anything.
Sorry for contradicting myself, but that's usually how my brain works, always balancing the pros and cons of the situation. Overall, leave was great and I can hardly wait until I'm back in the "States" again.

Back Into the Fray

2004-10-14T22:32:00.000+03:00

Well, leave is officially over and I have returned to Iraq. It was great to see everyone, and if I didn't get a chance to see you, I appologize, but I was pretty short on time. I probably tried to get a hold of you. No offense intended.
Anyway, now that I am back to a set routine, I can get back into running, which is good, but I also have to do it in Iraq, which is not good. The few times I did run while I was on leave was much more enjoyable than running in the windy, dusty, hot desert. Running down the "back roads" through the woods in PA was great. The smell of the trees and the colors were amazing. Even running in northern Wyoming was great. There, in the foothills of the Big Horn mountains, there is an awesome sense of natual beauty, especially during one particular occasion that I ran during sunrise.
Well, I promised some pictures to some people, and I'll try to take some to send out, but it might be a week or two. For those of you who didn't specifically ask for pictures, but would like me to send you some, too, just email me or leave a comment on here. (To leave a comment, click the "# Comments" at the bottom of this post, where the # stands for any number)

R&R

2004-09-27T19:14:00.000+04:00

Well, I'm on R&R leave from Iraq and I just got to my parents house last night. It's the first time I've seen this one; they moved since last time I visited them. It's a nice place in Greybull, WY. I was originally going to post this from my dad's computer, but one look at that poor thing and I knew I had to use mine. This is for a number of reasons: 1)My dad's computer is pretty old and a bit slow, absolutely nothing more than what he needs. 2)There is so much adware/spyware installed on that thing that I had to stab it through the CPU with a sharp, wooden crucifix. I will deal with this problem all in due order. 3)There is just something about using your own computer; it's more comfortable and familiar.
Tomorrow, I will be going to Orlando to stay with my big sister for a couple days and then on to PA for a few more days before coming back to WY.

Being a Kid

2004-09-19T10:08:00.000+04:00

It'd be great to go back to being a kid. No worries. No responsibilities. Life was easy. Easier than it will ever be again. Of course, nobody knew that at the time. Oh, no, we talked about growing up and what we wanted to do. Now, I often look back and wish that I could just return to that simple bliss. It was so easy to find joy in the smallest and simplest of things. Going down to the river to catch crayfish, riding bikes or walking to Buell's and climbing up into the hay mow with our bounty, going around with my dad while he made farm calls, "camping out" in the front yard, going over to Faith's house for pizza and to watch McGyver, playing in the sandbox with my Tonka truck. So many memories, so much nostalgia.
I know that it can never be like that again. Not for our generation, anyway. Time only moves forward; there is no way back. It's past time to think about what we might want to do when we grow up; it's time to decide and follow our course. That's the hardest part, though, the deciding. Once on the path, it's relatively easy to stay on it; it's finding the path that's the hard part. Well, nobody ever said that growing up would be easy.

Here is a picture that I'm guessing was taken 15-16 years ago. It is a picture of my two adjacent siblings (middle and right) and me (left) taken by our parents old house in PA. I'm not sure who took the picture (probably our mom), but my brother scanned it a while ago and it's one of my favorite childhood pictures.

Running Blog

2004-09-06T16:01:00.000+04:00

Last month I started a blog to write about my running. The address is http://seetmarl42run.blogspot.com. There is only one post now, but I have some ideas that I might write about in the near future. It's quite a bit different (although the template is identical), which is why I made it a new blog instead of just writing that stuff here. The posts will be considerably longer, also.

Template Update³

2004-09-06T15:53:00.000+04:00

OK, I finally got a chance to fix my template, again. The problem was the new search bar at the top that replaced the old ad-bar. It's better, but it cut off the top of my page with the old template. I was messing around with it for a while, but I was having trouble with it, so I just started over. Well, not completely. I stole the template from the "Dots Dark" prefabricated template and adjusted it to how I wanted it to look. Anyway, I tested this one in IE and FireFox with no issues.

College Planning

2004-08-22T21:12:00.000+04:00

Well, if I hadn't been deployed to Iraq, I would be starting classes at PSU in about a week. Now that my original plans have been crushed under the oppressive heel of the United States Army, I have begun to reconsider where I will go to school and what my area of study will be.
A year ago I was set on going to Penn State and majoring in computer or electrical engineering. Since then, my parents moved out of PA to WY and I found out that tuition at state schools in CA is free for residents. It would be a simple matter for me to change my residency to California and take advantage of the free tuition. I have been looking into UC Berkeley, which is a state school with a great acedemic program and engineering department. I have also been looking into Carnegie Mellon University, a school that I was considering before I joined the Army, but I was, and I still am, skeptical of my chances of acceptance. I would really like to go there, so I am still going to apply. I would still like to major in a subject dealing with computers, because I enjoy working with them and I am pretty good at it. There are a lot more subjects that deal with computers than only the ones in which they are the primary focus; nuclear engineering and aeronautical engineering, just to name a couple.
The only problem is that I need to take the SAT II: Subject Tests in three subjects to apply to Carnegie Mellon and to Berkeley. I am hoping to get some leave in the beginning of October so that I can make it to the test that will be given on October 9th.

Nostalgia

2004-08-09T22:12:00.000+04:00

I called my parents and eldest sister yesterday. They were at the cottage in Canada enjoying the summer. Obviously, I was, and am still, disappointed that I am not there instead of here. There was more to what I felt, though. I felt a great sense of nostalgia for things in the past, not just going to "Canada" as my family always refers to going to the lake. I started thinking of all the people, places, and activities that I miss. Trips to Desert Lake are at, or very close to, the top of the list, as that is probably where my fondest childhood memories are. Also, that's where my earliest memory took place - the time I fell off a cliff when I was 2 years old (I still blame you for that one, Jacquie). I went there every year for the first 18 years after I was born, and once before (my mother went there in July/August and I was born in November). It has changed over the course of time, as all things do, but it was more the people that changed than the place.
Reflecting back on my life brings up a great number of joyful memories and a fair share of not-so-joyful ones. It's strange how the mind remembers events. Bad memories are turned to good by laughing at them and that it's the happy memories that seem to hurt.

Rambling

2004-08-04T23:33:00.000+04:00

Well, it's been over a month since the day I was supposed to get out of the Army and I think that I have recovered for the most part. It's still hard to wake up every morning and know that I am in the Army, stuck in a desert, supporting a "war" that I don't agree with. Oops, did I say "war?" I can't really even call it that anymore; it's mostly a political thing now. We say "Anti-Iraqi Forces" instead of "Anti-Coalition Forces." I think that this is supposed to make the Iraqis feel like they own the place and to attempt to send the message that any insurgents are acting against the Iraqi people, not the Americans. It's all political symantic garbage if you ask me, although nobody here ever does. I digress. Let me return to my original topic. I am dealing with my situation, even if I am having a bit of trouble in doing so. I think that later on in life, no matter how bad my situation is, I will be able to reflect on my time spent in Iraq and know that it could be worse, and it was for a time. Well, I suppose I could end up penniless and living on the street, which might be worse than being here, but I'm still not sure because I'd at least have my freedom, which I don't have here. I guess in saying this I am whining about my situation, which is what I'm tryin to say I shouldn't do. I think that I've done a fairly poor job of getting that point across, which is why I said it outright. Sort of.

Template Update Update

2004-07-28T10:05:00.000+04:00

Well, I checked out my blog with the new template in Mozilla FireFox for the first time today and I must apologize if you use Mozilla (Phil). The box on the left with all the links and stuff was set to have a fixed position so that it didn't scroll with the rest of the page. Having only checked the new template in IE, which does not meet all W3C (the people who make the web standards), standards. IE ignores the fixed position code and I thought that I was not setting the fixed position correctly in my template. I just left the code in there to keep place until I had a chance to come back and fix it. Unfortunately, this was not an error on my part at all (except for using IE), but on the part of Microsoft, again. Blame it on Microsoft. When I viewed my blog in Mozilla, the sidebar didn't scroll and part of it was cut off at the bottom of the screen. I fixed it and made a few other small changes. Sorry if you have a low screen resolution and the sidebar cuts off part of the ads at the top. I'll keep working on it, but I don't have enough time right now.

Template Update

2004-07-25T22:07:00.000+04:00

I can't really call it a new template becuase I just adjusted the one I had to be not so quite as stupid-looking. (Thanks to my brother for the links on his tech blog to the CSS pages that I used) I got rid of those ugly dots and put in a better background image that doesn't scroll with the rest of the page. Notice that if you unfocus your eyes and look at the page like a "Magic Eye" image, the page looks a bit 3-D with the boxes behind the text "popping out." It's a bit harder to read the page this way, but you're welcome to try. I'll probably do some more later when I get some more time to play around with it. Until then, this will have to do.

Changes...

2004-07-24T20:31:00.000+04:00

Before you read this entry, know this: This post will most likely seem very depressing to you. I am sorry for this, but I am feeling more depressed than ususal and I think that it is only fair that I write when I am in a "bad" mood just like I would when I am in a "good" mood. Really, this post is more for me to document my feeling and get my thoughts out in the open than anything else. Remember, you can stop reading anytime you like.

I have spent a good bit of time today reflecting on the changes that being in Iraq has inflicted upon me. I have hit a slump, emotionally speaking, and I feel that it is having an impact on my physical and mental states. For almost 2 months I was doing quite well; I was running nearly every day and I felt really, really good. Then, I passed my 4-year mark, the should-have-been end to my Army carreer. Ever since that day (the same one that I posted the Today is the Day entry), it has been harder and harder to wake up each morning, my motivation for exercising has declined drastically, and it seems to me that nothing in the next six months is going to get any better. I have still been running, but not as regularly as I would like.
I should be starting college this fall. I should be enjoying this summer. I should be doing anything but wasting away in Iraq, and believe me, the whole thing is just a waste of time, money, energy, everything put into it, including me. I need to get out of this rut. That isn't going to be easy. The first step is to wake up tomorrow morning at 6:00 and go running. I always feel better after a good run; it clears my head and puts me in a better mood for the rest of the day. The problem is actually getting out of bed and out the door. Any suggestions? Leave me a comment please.
I don't recall the reason that I fell off the horse, but I desperately need to get back on becuase in my current state, I am deteriorating. I really don't like to emanate a negative feeling to those around me, but I find it hard to appear positive if I don't feel it. I need to start back up again, and in the sentiment of a true procrastinator: There is no better time than tomorrow.

FIRE!

2004-07-23T10:09:00.000+04:00

A couple nights ago there was a fire at work. It wasn't much, really; an old crappy fan shorted out and started an electrical fire that burned some stuff. No one was really hurt, just some smoke inhalation that should be cleared up in a couple days. The real damage was the smoke because most of what was burning was plastic. The fire was at night and there were only a couple people in the building, so getting everyone out was fairly easy. Then we killed the circuit breaker and the fire died. We opened the windows and let it air out overnight. After everything had settled, there was soot everywhere - the floor, ceiling, walls, furniture, everywhere. Fortunately, I was not one of the individuals who had to clean it up.

The real reason for this post is because I haven't posted in a while and thought I needed to get something posted.

First Blog Image

2004-07-14T15:35:00.000+04:00

Well, here is the first image on my blog. I caught the cover of the magazine (there seems to be and endless supply of that issue here) out of the corner of my eye one day and for some reason read "Prison" instead of "Person" (probably because the two words are only a couple letters off). Anyway, I thought that it would be funny to change it to what the image below says. I sent this to a few people; if you weren't one of them, I am sorry, but I just don't like you... haha!

Let me add here that if I didn't send you the link, it's not becuase I don't like you. Also, in case you didn't know, this image is from the cover of Time magazine, the December 29, 2003 issue in which "The American Soldier" was named "Person of the Year," which is what the words at the top used to say instead of "Prisoner For A Year."

Ma Deuce

2004-07-10T00:44:00.000+04:00

Today I got to fire the M2, a .50 caliber machine gun. (At a range, not at people.) It was actually pretty fun and educational; I had never fired one before. If you get the chance, try it out. The only real problem today was the heat. The weapon is metal; the mount for the weapon is metal; the HMMWV (High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, pronounced Humvee) the mount is mounted on is metal. All that metal at over 120 degrees Farenheit in direct sunlight gets HOT. I wish I had an egg so that I could have fried it on top of something. It is not possible to touch bare skin to the metal without getting burned. This spurred some other problems, but that is for another post.

Gus vs. C&E

2004-07-04T20:06:00.000+04:00

This is the tale of a man named Gus and his struggle for justice and liberty against the tyranny of the evildoers in charge of the internet cafe, the dreaded C&E (Communications and Electronics) folks. (It's a bit long - longer than I originally intended. If you don't want to read it, don't. It'll make more sense if you have a working knowledge of the story beforehand. Sorry if you don't, but you might still enjoy it.)
Gus is a good man, and I am glad to say is. He has always believed in the rights and freedoms of his fellow man, and has fought bravely to uphold them. (Note: This has nothing to do with his current deployment to Iraq.) One fine June day, Gus was sitting in his usual seat at the local internet cafe and was trying to use his newly acquired gmail account. He was having problems getting the login page to load and was becoming quite frustrated. Being wary of any Microsoft product, as any sane citizen is, Gus thought that maybe Microsoft Internet Explorer was the problem. Using all of his rescources, Gus downloaded Mozilla Firefox and installed it on the computer. The next step was to test out gmail... IT WORKED! The page loaded with zero errors! Firefox had saved the day! Now, since his usual seat is not always available at the internet cafe, Gus saved a copy of the install file to his thumb drive. Whenever he had to resort to a non-preferred seat, he could easily install Firefox and cruise the internet without his ship crashing into iceberg number 404. He lived happily ever after.... almost.
Now enters C&E. *cue dramatic music* The proprietors of the internet cafe had noticed that someone had installed software on their coveted computers. This they did not like. When they heard Gus talking to his friend about how great Firefox is and that Microsoft Internet Explorer sucks, they interrogated Gus about his involvement in what is now known as the Great Firefox Incident of '04 (sounds like "ought four"). Of course, being a good person, Gus could not lie and admitted that it was he who had installed the program. Immediately, Firefox was denounced and uninstalled by the cruel C&E and Gus was threatened with banishment from the establishment. Thus ends the tale of Gus vs. C&E.... or does it?
We once thought that this was the end of the tale, but new information has come to light, information that could aid Gus in his struggle to destroy the evil that is known as IEXPLORE.exe. The Department of Homeland Security has denounced Microsoft Internet Explorer. Oh, sweet, sweet irony! The evil has been shunned by the very government that would, not so very long ago, allow no alternative! Ah, justice has been done. Keep up the good fight, gents.

Why does my coffee smell like an umkempt dog kennel?

The Day After...

2004-06-28T22:29:00.000+04:00

Last night, as I lay in bed and my watch beeped the official end of my 4-year commitment to the Army, I thought about the past 4 years and how it has affected me. How have I changed during my stint in the Army? Am I better off becuase of it? There is no single answer to this question. Financially and physically, I am probably better off than I would have been had I never enlisted, but mentally? Certainly not; I can almost feel my brain deteriorating. I am forced to change, but I have a bit of control over how I change. Obviously, I am a different person, better in some aspects, worse in others, but there is still room for improvement and I plan to fill that room.

Today is the day...

2004-06-27T22:59:00.000+04:00

Today is the date of my original ETS date. For those of you not familiar with military terminology, ETS is an acronym for Expiration Term of Service, meaning that today SHOULD be the last day of my enlistment. However, since the contract I signed had more fine print than one person should be subjected to in a lifetime, I basically signed my life away for a maximum of 8 years; the 4 years of my enlistment is the MINIMUM time that I agreed to serve on active duty. The military has only to enact stop-loss to keep a soldier in past their ETS date. Of course, the recruiter didn't tell me that; I didn't figure that out until it was far too late. So, here I am stuck in Iraq and likely to be here for several months more. Recently, there has been an attempt to approve a bonus pay of about $2000 per month for soldiers affected by stop-loss. This would be great, but it wasn't approved; supposedly, there will be another attempt to ratify this pay in the next few months.
The reason that I am writing about this is because it was not approved, yet, the US House of Representatives approved a bill granting $417 BILLION for defense spending last Tuesday(June 22, 2004). That amount is virtually incomprehensible and they squabble about a few million that it would cost to pay the people whose lives are being put on hold to serve the military's needs. Personally, I was originally planning on attending college in the fall semester of 2004(read: THIS YEAR). Now, due to my involuntary extension in the United States Army, not only will I miss this fall semester, but I will most likely be unable to submit my application in time to be accepted for the fall semester of 2005; applications are due at the end of 2004 and I will still be stuck in Iraq. I can apply online, but I am unable to take any of the tests that are required by my schools of choice(i.e. SATII). Thus, my life is pushed back 2 years because the Army kept me past my ETS date. That is 2 years sooner that could have had my degree and a job paying at least double what I am making in the military, and yet, the military hasn't even approved paying me, and many others just like me, for my trouble.
None of this would bother me so much, but I actually see how the taxpayers' money is spent. Believe me, whoever coined the term "military efficiency" should be shot; that's more of an oxymoron than "military intelligence." The military, at least the US military, is anything but efficient. I could write a long list of the ways that money is wasted, but I don't think I should. If you really want to know, you should invite me 'round for tea some afternoon and we can talk about it.

gmail

2004-06-20T16:14:00.000+04:00

Today I set up my gmail account. It seems like it will be pretty cool, but I haven't really used it yet. If I sent you the address, then you should email me there so that I can try out all the features. If I haven't sent you my gmail address and you would like to get it, email me at my other email address and I'll send it to you. I'd post it here, but I don't really want to test the spam filters of gmail that heavliy. Anyway, it seems that more and more of my time spent cruising the internet is spent on Google-owned sites; there's Google itself, of course, this site, and now gmail. Hopefully, I can get a piece of Google's IPO so that I can be supporting my own interests, too.

Opportunities Lost

2004-06-17T20:47:00.000+04:00

Have you ever looked back on your life and wished that you had done something different? Have you ever wondered how your life might be better if you could just change one small detail in the past? I've been thinking about this a lot lately, mostly because I wrote about Priceline.com in my last post and I can't help but think that my entire life would be changed if I had taken that chance. This, inevitably, got me to thinking about other opportunities that I have passed up in my lifetime, times that I took the easy route and missed out big. I have already stated that this was a contributing factor in my taking up trading penny stocks, but I'm going to apply this to other aspects of my life as well. In fact, I already have; this is one of the reasons that I have started running. As long as I am stuck here and am unable to change that, I might as well use my time for self-improvement. Running, saving/investing money, reading, etc., all work toward this goal: to make myself a better person. Also, the breaking of bad habits is important; stop biting my nails, stop cursing, etc. This year shouldn't be time wasted, but time well spent.

Risky Business

2004-06-15T08:42:00.000+04:00

When I first began investing a little over three years ago, my goal was to have over $20,000 invested by the time I completed my 4-year enlistment in the Army which was supposed to be June 27, 2004. I was well on my way to achieving this goal before I found out I was being deployed to Iraq. Now, since I make a bit extra money over here and I have almost nothing to spend it on, I am well past my initial goal of $20,000. Because I have already surpassed my goal and I thought it might be fun to add a little excitement to my portfolio, I have been trading penny stocks. There are several different definitions for a penny stock; some consider any stock under $5 to be a penny stock, while others say that the limit is $1. I fall into the latter category. For the past few months I have been trading several stocks that trade for under $1, in fact, I haven't bought anything over 50 cents per share. This is extremely risky because the company could go bankrupt easily, the price per share could plummet, or the company could be a scam. However, I'm not worried about any of this, because it doesn't really matter to me if I lose all the money I've put into my penny stocks; it's all excess, and not even half the total amount by which I am over my initial goal; I only use my "play" money. I have been fairly fortunate so far and I have made a decent bit of money with my dabbling in penny stocks.

*NOTE:I do not recommend that anyone with any financial responsibilities even consider trading penny stocks. Frankly, it is stupid if you have any financial obligations, such as bills, car payments, house payments, etc. It is probably stupid anyway, but I figure my odds are a little higher than I would find in Vegas.

Routine

2004-06-06T11:30:00.000+04:00

Things are getting pretty routine around here. I wake up anytime between 6 and 6:30 (AM, of course) and go for a run. Shower, grab breakfast and get to work by 8:00. I sometimes use either my lunch or dinner break to go to the gym and get some food to take back to work. I get done with work about 6 or 7 PM. Every other day I run with a friend, subject to his schedule. I guess that the routine helps time go by faster for a while, but it starts to get pretty boring after a while. Before I was deployed, but I knew that I would be deployed, I thought that it would be great if I had a tool to erase the year during which I would be deployed from my memory. After further discussion with a few people, we decided that it would be even better if we could erase the memory of one day. This way, we wouldn't remember the day before, so it would only be like spending one day in Iraq. The only problem with this would be that it wouldn't be possible to complete any tasks that carry over to the next day because any previous work would be forgotten. Perhaps the best way would be to alter the memory of the passage of time, but nothing else. If there were a way to make it feel as if I'd been in Iraq for 1/100th of the actual time I have without forgetting anything important. Whatever the case, I don't see any of the ideas I've theorized about here coming to fruition anytime soon, I still have a few more than 200 days and counting.

Back to Running

2004-06-02T13:41:00.000+04:00

Well, instead of editing my previous post about running or adding a comment, I decided to make a new one so that you, the reader, would take notice. Here is a link to my Running Log at running-log.com. It also includes trips to the gym, etc. Also, runnersworld.com seems to be back up and running... hehe. Check it out.

Yo-Yo

2004-06-01T09:42:00.000+04:00

A friend of mine got a yo-yo in the mail yesterday, a Duncan Imperial. It reminds me of the days of yore when my brother and I were semi-into yo-yos, and it's fun to bring one into the office. It's fun to throw it towards someone's face and see their reaction as it passes mere inches from their nose. Yo-yos. Fun stuff.

Big Brother

2004-05-31T21:55:00.000+04:00

He IS watching....

I was running...

2004-05-30T10:45:00.000+04:00

So, I started running again about two weeks ago; I've been logging 2 to 5 miles per day 5 or 6 days each week. At first, it was really hard to get up an hour early in the morning, but now it isn't any easier. I do feel a whole lot better on the days that I run; I have more energy and the stress doesn't get to me as much as usual. So far I've been taking it pretty slow and easy to ease myself back into it. I've also got a few other people to run with me a couple of times. Today, I ran in the morning with someone and I plan to run this evening with someone else; I suppose I'm becoming a fairly promiscuous runner, which isn't a bad thing as far as I can tell. Anyway, I recommend that everyone give running a chance and try it for AT LEAST a month. If you aren't in good enough shape to run for an extended amount of time, try alternating running and walking, but take it easy, you don't want to injure yourself. The benefits to your body and mind are great and many. But you don't have to take my word for it... check out Runner's World magazine for information about running and it's benefits. OK, try that site later, it seems to be down at the moment(3:20AM EST on Sunday, May 30, 2004).

Fixin' Stuff

2004-05-30T10:26:00.000+04:00

Well, it seems as though I am not the only one that is having problems with my laptop. Had a buddy break his DVD drive; he got a CD stuck in it and forced it open, disconnecting the ribbon that attaches to the read laser and assembly and forcing the whole thing off track. I took it apart once and put it back on track and reconnected the cable, but when I put it all back together (with only 4 screws left over...) the drive couldn't open without someone pulling it open. I took it all apart again (nice, found where one of the extra screws is supposed to go) and realized that the mechanism that opens the drive was in the position for the drive to be open when the drive is closed. I set it to the closed position, closed the drive and it works fine. Now if I could only figure out where these 3 screws go...

Broke6n KeyboqzaRDC

2004-05-26T16:42:00.000+04:00

Well, the keyboard is shot on my laptop; I think something was spilled on it, but it was lent out to someone when the problem began. The problem is that when I type, the ouptut looks like the title to this post. When certain keys are pressed, multiple keypresses are sent along with the one that you want. Anyway, I've spent quite some time looking for somewhere to order a replacement keyboard and haven't found one yet. A lot of the online parts stores I visited don't even have parts for my laptop which is a Toshiba Satellite M35-S359. Any suggestions, please let me know. OK, enough of that.

Sunday

2004-05-16T17:51:00.000+04:00

Ah, Sunday. A nice relaxing day... for, ah, relaxing. Yep.
I just want to state here and now that I despise Hewlett Packard. I had to install a HP printer/scanner/fax/copier combo on a computer at work and it made my nice relaxing Sunday more stressful. First of all, the first three times I tried to install the drivers/software (because you can't just install the drivers, it wants you to install all the crap they ship with the printer) the install program crashed and I had to uninstall and reboot. Finally, I copied the entire CD to the hard drive and installed it from there, which worked, but still took a good 15 minutes. How in the world does a printer driver take fifteen minutes to install? Why can't you install just the driver for the device instead of all that crap they give you? Don't ask me, ask Hewlett Packard. You'll notice that I don't link to their site; this is not an accident. I will not make it any easier for people to partake in the evil that is HP. Other that that, everything else is all right. I'm thinking of changing the stupid template that blogger.com gave me. Maybe you'll see a new one in a few days or weeks or something.

HHGG

2004-05-13T19:43:00.000+04:00

Ever have one of those days where everything seems to be going your way? The coffee pot at work is full when you arrive, your jerk of a boss is taking a sick day, your inbox is empty, it's Friday, and you know you'll be able to skip out early. Today was absolutely nothing like that. There was only the mud left from yesterday in the bottom of the coffe pot that no one got around to cleaning. The boss was in a full-blown tirade, mostly about the absence of coffee. I didn't even have to check my digital watch to know that "It must be Thursday. I never could quite get the hang of Thursday." (Thanks, DNA) Anyway, not a good day; enough of that.
Well, I read on slashdot today that there is now a website for the H2G2 movie. Brightens the day right up and all that other crap doesn't really matter. If you haven't read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy then you need to. Soon.

Intro

2004-05-12T12:20:00.000+04:00

Since this is the first post in ThBlog, I will give a brief summary of my current position in life, a sort of introduction. My current position in the physical world is the country of Iraq. I am serving in the United States Army, and let me be the first to tell you, I have no false notions of what a great thing I am doing to make the world a better place. Also, let me add that this view is not swayed in the least by any number of care packages with candy and toothpaste inside addressed "To: Any Soldier" that tell me what a "great job" I am doing and how everyone is proud of me. My mental position in life is a bit disconnected from the physical, as will be seen in most future posts, at least for a while.
I can't really say much about my job and what I do, so most days will probably just be me bitching about life in general. Any random nonsense probably means that I wanted to post something, but didn't have any idea what that something was. If you don't want to read it, don't. I couldn't really care less; I only start this thing due to my brother's persistant suggestions, anyway.