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avocado_tom

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Free Stuff From Me [Nov. 17th, 2009|08:37 pm]
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Anyone interested in a UPS? It's an APC Back-up Pro 1400 with a bum battery. Figure it might be useful to someone interested in replacing the battery. Also have a couple of CRTs lying around (19"-22") and an office chair.... Let me know...
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Fall? [Nov. 6th, 2009|08:57 am]
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[music |The Club on Triple J]

First real solid frost this morning. Temperature below freezing on awakening, put on sweats and a fleece vest to take the Moj out for a run. "Watch out for ice, T!" a woman says to her child as she walks him to school.

Quick shower, stopping a half a block down the street to clear a patch of the mild ice on the windshield as I listen to reports of black ice, accidents and patchy fog on the radio.

Driving down the hill in Whitehall, I see steam rising off the roof of each house in the morning sun.
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Health Goals [Oct. 29th, 2009|11:27 am]
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[info]giantlaser just posted about achieving long-ish term health goals, and since I have a tack I take in this area, I thought I'd put it down.Read more... )

Anyway, I know that's all pretty boring, but I just wanted to get it down (for myself) that at least in this point in my life I'm making a concerted effort to address potential health issues. Curious to see how it will all turn out.
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iPhone apps and health update [Oct. 21st, 2009|03:35 pm]
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so...i bought an iPhone 3GS. So far I'm loving it, but of course I'm wondering: what are people's favorite apps?

So far from what I've seen there are lots of things I could download that would result in me keeping my proverbial nose in my iPhone all the time (what i'm actively looking not to do) but there are a few potentially useful apps i've found so far (Trapster, MultiConvert, NPR Station Finder, air phones, remote, 5,800+ drink recipes) that i'm jazzed about at least having, should i want/need them.

In other news my knee is feeling a bit better. Still getting twinges around the 3.6-4 mile mark of my runs, but nothing constant or sharp and shooting. And that's over 19.5 miles in the last three days (after taking a second week off).
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life [Oct. 16th, 2009|03:38 am]
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knee is randomly bothering me: i blame softball and the onset of cold weather (although perhaps i need new shoes or am getting old, as Princess Clarke reminded me).

blew off tai chi (which has been going really well...feel like i'm learning a lot again and my form seems to be coming together as i pick up more nuances) tonight which translated into me getting a metric boat load of stuff done around the house: Two loads of dishes done, stove wiped down, fridge cleaned, cabinets reorganized, 2 loads of laundry done, basement door weatherized, insulating blanket refitted to new hot water heater, dog walked, crap put away....good stuff.

Now: bedtime.
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Kitchen Renovation [Oct. 14th, 2009|01:07 pm]
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Old Kitchen:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/avocado_tom/sets/72157622447521729/

New Kitchen:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/avocado_tom/tags/kitchen/

Still to do:
- new fridge (Stainless)
- new overhead light fixture
- cabinet handles
- ???

RE: Flooring (as had been discussed previously):
I pulled up the linoleum to find soft pine planking that we stained. Looks good but scratches easily.
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Interesting Article on Kristol [Sep. 22nd, 2009|12:35 pm]
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I read this article and was intrigued by the comparsion between the left
of yesteryear and the right of today:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/09/22/neoconservatism/index.html
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The Energy Dilemma [Aug. 28th, 2009|03:59 pm]
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Well looky there..."green" energy sources require 5 to 100 times the amount of land that fossil sources such as coal require. Not saying that we shouldn't pursue these options, but they're certainly not a silver bullet:

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0006802

See Figure 3 in particular.

Source: Nature Conservancy
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... [Aug. 18th, 2009|03:43 am]
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turbo-bus process is progressing but the diesel starter have doesn't fit my bell housing.

And...i'll be damned if i'm going to remove the injection pump (and re-time it, etc., not to mention take off the new timing belt i just installed) just so i can change out the bum motor mount i was going to use as a mount point. screw it...i'll work around it.

going to the metal shop tomorrow to have them fab a mount for me...assuming i wake up at some point reasonably early.

todo, more for my own edification )
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Wanted: 60+ Gig IDE drive [Jul. 9th, 2009|01:33 pm]
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Anyone out there got a 60+ Gig IDE hard drive that's taking up space? I'm looking for a cheap drive to throw in an old machine...just enough to back-up a reasonable music collection. Willing to pay up to $40 or so depending on size.

Thanks!
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woo-hoo! [Jun. 16th, 2009|11:59 am]
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I made the green car congress blog!

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2009/02/netl-report-con.html
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Carbon Sequestration [May. 22nd, 2009|02:05 pm]
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An old friend of mine, Sarah Forbes, did this interview explaining Carbon Sequestration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdLFUNrinG8
(source: http://www.wri.org/publication/ccs-guidelines )
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marathon lingering pain [May. 20th, 2009|10:39 am]
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I've had some lingering pain in the top of my right foot since the marathon. Read more... )

Results: x-rays show no fractures, stress or otherwise. Doctor said it's probably just an inflamed tendon and that I should just train normally, ice after exercise, and do a little massage before and after use. Good stuff: I'm jonesing to get either on the bike or start running again.

As an aside, I suspect that the pain is from my foot swelling and my shoe laces being too tight. Lessons learned.

Quote from the visit: "Did you have any pain during the marathon?" "Well, I did after mile 24, but this is my first marathon and I have no idea what's supposed to be normal."
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General Update [May. 15th, 2009|10:03 am]
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1. Still dealing with some leg issues after marathon.
2. Working on junkyard engine (finally got the jugs on). Note: put the inner retaining clip on first, then put the piston in the jug, then put the jug on the rod.
3. Garden is planted. Need to thin spinach, radish and whatever the hell else I planted from seed.
4. Garden structure is upgraded. Need more fill, need to add two more side walls and it will be done. Feels good.
5. The band is back together after our (normal?) 6 month hiatus and we sound good.

Getting lots of traction on lots of projects and it feels really good.
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A wholly biased account... [May. 15th, 2009|09:40 am]
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Under the heading of "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story", I'd like to let folks know that I just wrote a book chapter describing my memories of MP3.Com.

The chapter was for an O'Reilly book entitled "Beautiful Teams". Read more... )

If you're interested, the book is here: http://tinyurl.com/pp9bes

more about what the book means to me )

All in all, I'm really happy about the book, and it was a great opportunity to reflect on a very transitional and wonderful part of my life, as well as to reconnect with some folks who are amazing and were a big part of my day-to-day.
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back... [May. 4th, 2009|12:33 pm]
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On Saturday I returned from ~9 days in Ireland visiting an old college/hashing buddy, Mr. Mark "H C" Frey, and yesterday I ran my first marathon in 4 hours, 1 minute, and 20 seconds.

Details on Ireland to follow in the next few days.

Regarding the Marathon, more info on the marathon )

Afterwards I had nothing left and Kim helped me walk around and keep moving (she had finished the half marathon a couple of hours previous). Then we sat and waited for folks, seeing how they had done, and eventually ended up in the strip, getting Primanti's and hanging out on balcony in the sunshine having a beer or two with friends and out-of-town visiting hashers.

Today I'm sore and having some trouble walking down stairs, calves and quads are stiff and hurting, but I'm still moving and doing ok.

EDIT: If you go here and fast forward to when the clock reads 4:04:24 (about 5:39 into the clip) you can see me coming up and crossing the finish line at 4:04:30 (clock time).
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hashing in Boston tonight [Apr. 17th, 2009|01:54 pm]
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[Current Location |Kosher's awesome loft apt in somerville]

If anyone is up for a run or pub crawl tonight in Boston, you now know where to find me:

Peggy O'Neills in Dorchester, around 6:30 or 7: http://bostonhash.com/
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Don't Believe the Hype [Mar. 5th, 2009|01:14 pm]
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I love John Stewart.
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Jobs in Pittsburgh at NETL [Feb. 27th, 2009|11:05 am]
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My group is hiring in Pittsburgh. We're looking for folks with an engineering or physical science background to work in energy.

We're also looking for a secretary.

Look here for the listings. The ones associated with the Office of Systems, Analyses, and Planning are with my group.
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Crazy old universe... [Feb. 4th, 2009|08:04 pm]
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[Current Location |downtown Phoenix, AZ]

So I'm walking back the three blocks from the convention center to the hotel and there's this old black cat playing on the sax, all lonesome in the park that's nestled between the convention buildings. It's dusk and the sky is just this amazing southwestern hazy pink, with the air still clear but not bright. I drop a dollar in his case as I walk by...

"Do you know what song that is?" he asks, stopping for a moment?

"Yeah brother, 'To Dream the Impossible Dream' - I gotcha..." I respond.

"It's for the Cardinals..."

I give a friendly laugh and say, "I gotta tell you man...I'm from Pittsburgh. That was a great game though wasn't it?" smiling the whole time.

"No way?! For real...?" single gold tooth shining in the top of his mouth...

We laugh and shake hands, grinning, and bid each other well.

As I walk off, he starts playing again, this time all warmed up, nailing it, sultry and solitary with lots of space as the notes resonate through the buildings and the empty downtown air.
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