Mondavi!

Fall?

2009-11-06T14:03:25Z

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.

Health Goals

2009-10-29T16:03:13Z

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.

Context: When I was a little kid (less than 2) I was pretty chubby and my grandparents (and perhaps parents) used to call me Butterball. Later through adolescence, my father would say "if you keep doing X, you're going to get fat" (my father was 30-50 pounds overweight at this time).

I have also watched my father's life be affected by health issues: he had his first back operation when he was ~30, and has had minor knee issues since about the same time. I'm sure the weight didn't help the knee issues, but the back was likely due to him being a very strong farm boy. The problem with this is that he would carry and lift objects because he could, even though it might not be the smartest thing to do. His father also had back issues, but I don't know the history of that...he was also working in the coal mine at the time, so who knows what the conditions were.

Recently, I've also watched father be affected by Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR), which, in his case, has been somewhat debilitating: it takes him 30 minutes of working his hands in the morning to be able to close his fist completely due to stiffness and join issues. He's 62 and this has been going on for 6 or 7 years.

Goals: Based on this context, my overarching goals have been essentially to stay fit, and not kill my back (watching my father be in pain due to his back for most of my life has had some influence).

My metric/goal for fitness has essentially been "weigh less than my father" for the longest time, which wasn't too hard, but kept me honest (and hung around in the back of my head). Well, it turns out this is getting a bit harder as my dad has lost a lot of weight (he's got high sugar and is successfully staving off diabetes by changing his diet and losing a lot of weight). This makes it a bit more of a challenge.

Excecution: So far, so good.

For the back, I'm 36 and haven't had a back operation yet. Woo-hoo! I have attempted to achieve this end by "not being stupid" and only lifting stuff that is probably ok to lift by myself. I haven't been as good about this as I should be lately, and its always when I'm working on VWs when I get into potential trouble. All that said, I think half of not having back trouble is good luck: I haven't been in a major car accident, I haven't twisted the wrong way when lifting something, etc.

For staying fit, my weight is up 5-10 pounds from 5 years ago, but nothing too horrible. Optimally, I'd like to be at ~160 and I'm between 165 and 170 these days (155 is the "goal" but not sustainable, I don' think). Getting/staying here has been a combination of diet and running/walking/staying-generally-active. I don't eat a lot of meat or particularly fatty foods, which helps, although portion size and beer both kill me...maybe my cheese intake as well. As far as running, I'm in pretty good shape right now, but this comes and goes in waves. One thing that has definitely helped is running with the Hash House Harriers, as it gives me an excuse to get out and run/walk once a week and stay in some modicum of shape. (Yes, I know, "round" is indeed a shape. Insert rimshot here.) Generally if I see the weight going up, it gets be back out running or eating less for a while.

I know its likely I won't be able to run for my entire life, but I'm trying to enjoy it while I can and get out when I can. Walking, hiking, biking are also options and stuff I do periodically...and may be better for the long term.

For the joint issues (PMR, knees, ???), I started taking Tai Chi a few years ago. Its been something I've been interested in for a while, but at this point I view it as "body maintenance": something I can keep doing to keep my strength, flexibility, and joint health. I expect to be doing it for the rest of my life. (I'll let you know how that works out)

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.

iPhone apps and health update

2009-10-21T19:40:15Z

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).

life

2009-10-16T07:40:56Z

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.

Kitchen Renovation

2009-10-14T17:09:53Z

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.

Interesting Article on Kristol

2009-09-22T16:38:11Z

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

The Energy Dilemma

2009-08-28T20:00:41Z

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

...

2009-08-18T07:47:26Z

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.

-call KEP about starter and pressure plate/old-bellhousing
-sleep
-diesel fuel lines
-think about buying new hose for lower radiator hose

Wanted: 60+ Gig IDE drive

2009-07-09T17:35:59Z

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!

woo-hoo!

2009-06-16T16:00:36Z

I made the green car congress blog!

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2009/02/netl-report-con.html

Carbon Sequestration

2009-05-22T18:06:24Z

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 )

marathon lingering pain

2009-05-20T14:50:39Z

I've had some lingering pain in the top of my right foot since the marathon. I stayed off it for almost three weeks now, waiting for it to get better, but it didn't. So I finally went to the podiatrist to make sure it wasn't something like a stress fracture (last thing I wanted to do was start training on it and make it worse).

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."

General Update

2009-05-15T14:06:33Z

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.

A wholly biased account...

2009-05-15T14:02:52Z

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". The book contains interviews with and personal accounts from folks on hardware and software engineering teams across different industries. The goal of the book was to provide lessons learned stories - both in the positive and negative - about how different development teams worked.

None of the contributors were paid: Instead, royalties from the book were contributed to PlayPumps International, a truly wonderful charity that digs wells and installs pumps to deliver clean drinking water to rural schools and villages in sub-Saharan Africa.

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

The process of writing this chapter was very interesting: doing the research was pretty phenomenal in that I got to reconnect with a lot of folks I hadn't talked to in a while, I got a greater perspective on how all of MP3.com came together/fell apart, and it gave me a sense of closure on that chapter of my life which I didn't have previously (leaving MP3.Com roughly coincided with me leaving San Diego, and I just kinda moved on without processing or transitioning that part of my life - dropping of the face of the Earth). Moreover, I wrote a chapter for a book and I'm now published in that sense. Very cool and a milestone. It was certainly a lot of work though.

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.

back...

2009-05-04T16:48:45Z

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, I started out slow-ish which is normal for me, although it was a little faster than I wanted to be going (8:30 to 9:15 miles instead of 9 to 9:45s). I pretty much kept it in the 8:20 to 8:47 range for most of the marathon (with some dips and speed-ups) until I hit mile 20 or so.

That's when I hit the wall. I tried to dial back my pace a bit, but it's harder for me to run 10:00s and 11:00s than anything due to my normal stride, and it just seemed like I couldn't downshift. I made it through to mile 24 running all but maybe 20 or 40 yards. After mile 25, though, I wasn't able to keep it together and started loping: run/walk/run/walk/run.

The last .7 was by far the hardest, but for the last quarter mile I managed to dig deep and pull off what was essentially a sprint (maybe 6 or 7 minute mile pace) and passed a few people at the end.

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).

hashing in Boston tonight

2009-04-17T17:55:59Z

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/

Don't Believe the Hype

2009-03-05T18:14:52Z

I love John Stewart.

Jobs in Pittsburgh at NETL

2009-02-27T16:08:39Z

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.

Crazy old universe...

2009-02-05T01:05:28Z

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.

status

2009-01-23T08:06:46Z

1. run for the day: done
2. tai chi for the second time this week (and 2nd time since april): done
3. Beautiful Teams Bio, Story Title, and Figure descripts: submitted
4. Massive 10 month report for work: completed and posted on the website¹
5. 2nd Annual Frostburn: a success (100 people, -22degF actual)
6. Kitchen: 95% renovated
7. Hot Water Heater: fail (slow leak as of yesterday)
8. Sleep: not yet. Hopefully next.
9. Weight lost since holidays: 10-15 lbs (chalk that up to the winter camping)
10. Bars built: 1 (Violet's Roadhouse for Frostburn)
11. Buses Running: 1 (getting closer to 2 though)
12. Garage/House: a mess again due to camping weekend.
13. X-mas cards: still not done
14. Contiguous nights spent at home: 2 (good stuff)
15. Years since I've felt this "Type A"/OCD/non-tolerant-of-BS: ~10-15
16. Shoulder: f*cked. Old injury, just resurfacing after weeks of building shit. May be time for an MRI.
17. Throat: sore
18. Eardrum: possibly ruptured, oddly enough just from a mild kiss.

General state: good, tired, pensive, reflective. It's time to take some time. Figure out where I'm at. Get back in shape. Figure out where I'm going.

¹comment/email if you want a copy and I'll email you a high quality one

avocado_tom @ 2009-01-05T11:50:00

2009-01-05T16:51:15Z

You should sleep late, man. It's much easier on your constitution.

Bookshelves for Trade or Possible Loan

2008-12-29T19:57:22Z

Hey all...

I have a couple of nice, large, teak bookshelves that I'm willing to trade or loan to someone local.

They're ~3'x~7'x2' (WxHxD).

What I really need are some large storage shelves for my garage, and it pains me to use these nice bookshelves for that. So if you've got some shelves you want to trade, or if you want these at a good price (2 for ~$80 so I can buy a storage shelf), or just want some bookshelves for permanent loan....let me know and we'll talk.

Shared Adversity

2008-12-23T05:07:11Z

I've been remiss in not posting sooner, but if you're up for a challenge, Frostburn is around the corner (Jan 16-19).

What's Frostburn? It's the Western PA regional burning man event.

Yes, that's right. We camp in the woods in the middle of winter.

It's actually fun. And community building and all hippy and shit.

So come on down...$35 is a cheap price to pay, it means that you can spend lots of money on winter camping gear instead!

Woot!

Dear Lazyweb: Re-Route Cell Phone Calls?

2008-12-18T15:17:45Z

Dear LazyWeb,

I get 1 to 2 phone calls a day from an "Unknown" number on my cell phone. This is annoying.

What's more annoying is that when I attempt to answer these calls, I get the "Da DA DAAAAAA" sound that your phone sometimes makes when it's connecting you to an operator or you've tried to call a number that's no longer in service. So basically, something's ringing my phone and somethings wrong enough that it's not even coming across as a call.

This is even more annoying (if that's possible).

Has anyone else experienced this?

How do I make the hurting stop? (Ok, I admit, that's probably a different question with a longer answer)

But seriously, I was thinking maybe one "fix" would be to route all calls from an "Unknown" caller directly to voice-mail. Does anyone know if this is possible?

My next step is to call my provider, but I'm only finding that I have the time to do that now (after this has been going on for 3 months) and while I'm hopeful, I don't know that they're going to be any help.

Any thoughts/ideas are welcome.

Cheers,
Avo

report is (mostly) done

2008-12-18T02:47:27Z

...

now will someone tell me how it got to be so that xmas is next week?

Anyway...time to put away some laundry...