L.A. observations

We've been back over a week and many of the images are already fading. I figured I'd catch a few observations I made during our short jaunt out to the west coast:

• the sweet smell of honeysuckle. We have honeysuckle out here, but it seemed like it's everywhere when I went on a run the first morning we were there. I miss the jasmine and gadenias, too. We don't have them here, outside of the garden store.
• there are no annuals in L.A. That is, things don't really die off in the winter. (although I guess some stuff dies off in the summer because it's too damn dry/hot.) It was weird to discover a bed of ground cover that turned out to be a huge patch of morning glories spread thick like ivy.
• the sound of running water. Running down the gutters on the steets that follow the contour of the canyons into the valley. Strange because L.A. is a desert, not to mention that it's 100°F in the middle of summer. I always noticed the water running down the street but never really thought much of it. What's the deal? Then I heard it: a rhythmic chk-chk-chk-chk up in the hills. Right. Sprinklers.
• We rented a convertible while we were out there. We ended up with a Chrystler Sebring; it was a boat ("Hop in my Chrysler, it's as big as a whale and it's about to set sail..."), but the top did come down. It also had a temperature gauge display option built into the dash. The first day out, we drove from the valley to the Santa Monica Pier and we watched the temperature go from 97°F at the parental homestead to 91°F at the top of the Sepulveda pass to 88°F when we got to the west side descending steadily into the low 80's when we hit the 10 until we reached the coastal area of Santa Monica where it dropped suddenly to 64°F. It was completely overcast at the beach, while there hadn't been a cloud in the sky a short 20 minutes and 40+ degrees earlier.
• I have to say, I forgot how hot it gets in the summer. It's been a while since I've been back this time of year. In the last several years, I don't think I've run the A/C as much, other than on a trip to the Mojave in late May two years ago.

Inner Statistician

I first noticed this when I flew United over the holidays. I was munching on pretzels out of one of the foil snack packages they always give you with your drink when I was struck by a moment of confusion. I could have sworn I was eating a snack MIX. A quick scan of the packaging confirmed that I wasn't crazy:

So did I just miss the sesame sticks and cashews? I was eating them somewhat absentmindedly after all. Curiousity got the best of me, and I inventoried the contents of the subsequent package: 6 pretzels, 7 sesame crisps and 1/6 of one cashew. (Hey, so at least the crisps finally came out to represent.) So now several months later, we're flying to L.A. on United and we get the same little snack mixes. So what's the verdict? 14-1/2 pretzels, 3 sesame crisps and 1/2 a cashew. The SOOTTAD fared better with an even 7-7-7 split.

Before we're off...

Things have just been totally crazy over the last few weeks -- our annual summer blowout BBQ/party, "camping" weekend with the frisbee team, and it seems like there's even been something going on every weeknight. This past week it was two frisbee games and two birthday dinners. And this afternoon, we're flying out to L.A. for the week. We're ostensibly heading out for a wedding, but it's also an excuse to take a few days off from work and spend some time with friends and family. And the SOOTTAD is looking forward to the opportunity to sample some of the fine culinary delights that are more readily available in southern California. She's already put together a list of places that well exceeds the amount of time we have -- I'm gonna just put it in neutral and let her lead.

So yeah, I probably should be double-checking my packing list or something right now. Maybe I'll get around to writing about the trip or some the of the stuff that's been going on when we get back. Maybe not. After all, that's what summer is all about -- being active, going out, doing stuff, appreciating the weather before it's gone too soon. Living. (No poker!) Save the computer time for when the outside is less hospitable.

I'll just leave you with a few pictures from the beginnings of the summer harvest:

Break from the office

So I snuck out in the early afternoon today for a short run.

Strangely, there wasn't really a reason for me to be sneaking out... it's not like I didn't come back. And I would have gone during the generally accepted lunch hour but I was in the groove and getting stuff done. Sometimes you're beating your head against the wall and need a break to get a fresh perspective, sometimes you know exactly what you need to do and you have to let the momentum take you where it needs to go. Lunchtime, I was rolling.

So I had worked through lunch, and I was waiting for a simulation to compile and run anyway. But there's something about leaving the confines of the building at two-and-a-half in the post meridian that feels somehow not on the up-and-up. I'm sure that's just what they want you to think. And the Senior VP (previously the CEO of my group/department when it was a startup) was known to look unkindly upon those not in the office working vigorously at their desks, at all hours of the day. (Which barely scratches the surface of his mentality that you should be spending every waking moment doing work.)

But I've been trying to keep up my conditioning, especially after my forced inactivity while waiting for my shoulder to heal. And I was feeling a bit stiff and sore from the game last night, so I figured it'd be a good idea to get the body moving for a bit.

It didn't hurt that it was in the mid-80's and sunny with clear skies.

So 2:30ish, I head out. I figure I'll do a fairly short loop, maybe 30 minutes, since I did want to get back to check the results of my sim. Maybe a good day to check out one of the trails -- it hasn't rained much so it hopefully won't be too muddy, and on a warm day, it's nice to get off the road and run through the shade of the woods.

So I have one route that hits a trailhead through some town conservation land about 13 minutes into the run. I'm feeling a little sluggish and it's definitely work coaxing my legs into a decent pace, but it's always good to be outside. The sun and light summer breeze are just gravy.

So I hit the trailhead (13:25, right on schedule) and maybe 30 feet in -- WHAM! Faceplant. Well, maybe more like an unintentional layout. I'm stretched out on the ground lying slightly on my left side, left arm out, right arm bent next to me, legs straight behind. It wasn't painful, at least not initially, just surprising. And annoying. I just kind of laid there for a moment, surveying the situation. Must have tripped on a root or small tree stump. My eyes were probably still adjusting to the light change or something. Whatever. I did a quick self-check: the knee that I shredded yesterday during the game was fine, but I cut up the other knee (hey, matched set), a cut and scrapes on my left forearm, some nice bruising on both palms. Dirt.

Ok, I'm fine. Good enough, at least. I get myself together and continue on. I mean, it's a short run, turning around doesn't get me back to the office much faster, I may as well finish the run. I did have an image flash through my brain of me lying face down, unconscious with my head split open, but I dispelled that fairly quickly. Otherwise, pretty uneventful. Well, maybe the water hazard and 4 muddy stretches -- so maybe it wasn't so dry after all. I get back, do a quick stretching routine, shower, and I'm back at my desk maybe 64 minutes after I left, none the worse for wear. Well, you know what I mean.

Oh, and I can't forget to mention: while on the ground, I picked up some friends...
(found 'em while in the shower)

Maybe someone is trying to tell me something.

Still, it was good to get outside.

But maybe next time, I'll go during lunch. (And maybe stay off that trail.)

Studying Chinese, again

After finishing up the class at the Boston Language Institute in April, I figured I'd take a short break from studying. The class was a good kick in the ass to really work on my vocabulary and (lack of) conversation skills, but after two months I was pretty drained. Plus, Faith, my language exchange friend (really, informal tutor, since I really didn't feel like I was helping her all that much with her English), was taking a long trip to visit family back in China. Taken together, the motivation to study dropped off considerably.

It also seemed like a good idea to take a break and give my brain a rest. From language study, at least. Work had been heating up, and it really felt like most of my head was filled up with new vocabulary rather than the new (old) design I was supposed to be debugging.

I figure I'd take a few days off and then get back into it. Maybe a week or two, or at least as soon as the project calmed down. (I'm pretty sure it was only supposed to be two weeks or so.)

Two weeks. Yeah. It was two weeks, and then the next week, it was still two weeks. And the week after that... That lasted for about two months, actually.

So anyway, I'm finally studying again. It probably didn't hurt that I got an email from Faith that she was back and wondering when we wanted to meet. So I'm listening to the audio CDs in the car and reviewing flash cards and reading through chapters in the textbook again. It doesn't feel like a routine yet, but hopefully I'll get there.

It's definitely harder to buckle down when the weather's nice out and I've got disc in the evenings, and the weekends are all full. Your basic overplanned summer. But I have come up with one study trick that I feel like I'm going to be able to stick with...

I'm watching Chinese kung-fu movies.

Videos are alright in the short term, but it really is all about the DVDs because you can select the language track as well as easily disable (and enable) the subtitles. I'm not confident enough to get to that point yet, but I figure I'm going to experiment with that soon enough. I originally tried this with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon when I first got the DVD. I guess it's a testament to the quality of its subtitles that I thought I really understood what was being said until I actually turned them off.

The library is great for renting DVDs and videos. And a dollar for a weekly rental (and the ability to reserve a movie) is hard to beat. Unfortunately, the selection of Chinese films, while better than expected, still isn't that great. But it's still a great resource that we highly recommend. Plus, they've got a searchable catalog that's plugged into the regional library network. Also cool.

We did find a decent selection at the new Hollywood Video that recently opened in Waltham, but unfortunately, a several of them only have English-dubbed tracks which I can't understand. (They're also kinda expensive.) I've discovered the same problem with many of the DVDs offered on Amazon.com. I suppose with the recent rise in interest in old kung fu movies, there's been a rush to re-release a bunch of the classics in the same format that many of us remember watching on TV on weekend afternoons.

But as much as I fall into that crowd that fondly reminisces about those poorly dubbed action spectacular, I remember that the whole point is to get more material that I can (watch and) listen to in Chinese.

In some ways, it's a little weird, because in most cases, the original dialog is actually in Cantonese. So I'm still watching a redub. But somehow it doesn't seem as bad as the English dubbing. I mean, at least there more vocabulary and syntax in common. Still, I keep wondering how accurate the dubbing is. I tried poking around on the web to see if there were some native speakers that had an opinion on the subject, but I couldn't find anything. It'd be nice if I could just ask my parents, but it would require them to watch both versions of a given movie and then give me the rundown and frankly, I don't think they'd pay that much attention to the differences. You definitely need a net geek to do the proper in-depth nitpick.

For now, I'm just running with it. I bought a bunch of movies on Edaymovie.com and were pretty happy with them: good selection of DVDs with the original Cantonese and dubbed Mandarin tracks, prompt delivery and good prices. I just put in a second order which included the classic 36th Chamber of Shaolin (also known as Shaolin Master Killer). I'm also branching out and trying to get some more contemporary films, since vowing vengeance after the death of your master seems to have somewhat limited application. (perhaps a reverse of the Korean brother in Better Off Dead that spoke like Howard Cosell)

Anyway, I've found some sites that have been helpful in selecting additional film titles. LoveHKfilm.com has provided excellent overviews and reviews of many of the films. And when I couldn't find info there, I stumbled on hkmdb.com which has been a mixed bag. It's more of a central repository for people to submit plot summaries and reviews, so the quality varies greatly depending on who cared enough to enter a submission.

As far as other on-line stores, I'm also going to check out acmemovie.com which is the only site that I've found so far that carries copies of the elusive Zu: Warriors From the Magic Mountain that have the necessary DVD region encodings, picture format (NTSC versus PAL) and language/subtitle tracks. YesAsia.com seems to be a Asia-centric Amazon wannabe, but it's mostly region 3 (South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan) and region 6 (China).

Speaking of "Zu," it was interesting to discover a whole controversy associated with it's U.S. release (or lack thereof). The SOOTTAD and I saw a preview for it sometime last year at the Belmont and were pretty psyched about seeing it once it came out. But it never did and we eventually forgot about it. Something similar apparently happened with Shaolin Soccer as well. I hadn't really thought about the movie recently, but I remember the buzz when the trailer showed up online (was it atomfilms.com?), and we did get a chance to see it when someone from my tai chi class brought in the DVD.

It turns out that they both figure into a greater issue of the release of successful Hong Kong movies in the U.S. -- and apparently an issue with Miramax/Disney in particular. It's all kind of a bummer and has me just a bit worried about the pending release of Hero. I won't go into the details here since this is already getting pretty long, but if you're interested, you should check out the Web Alliance for the Respectful Treatment of Asian Cinema. (Oh, and I just found this open letter to Miramax.) Here's also an article on the (non-)release of Shaolin Soccer which I found in this post while I was trying to find information on the Mandarin versus English dubbing of Cantonese spoken language films. ...which was unsuccessful, but did turn up this paper on teaching ESL using subtitled broadcasts of the X-files.

Lilies are out

Yay, summer.

Revisiting Reagan

Now that the 24/7 Reagan memorial craze seems to have finally blown over, I figure it's about time for me to post this.

But first, a quick comment (Ok, potshot) at the Bush/Cheney reelection committee that replaced information on Bush with a full page memorial on their website. (You can read about it at Talking Points Memo) What was up with that? It made you wonder whether they really are gunning for this.

Anyway, in the thick of it, I was hitting a lot of cognitive dissonance while listening to all the overly saccharin, warm fuzzies that were lavished over his memory. But it was hard not to get caught up in it either. I do remember the scary nuclear build up, which were hightlighted by movies like Wargames or the TV miniseries, The Day After. But, yeah, we beat the Evil Empire (mark 1), right? Yay us. And reading some of the backstory now, I find I have to give credit to the ol' Gipper for having the cojones to play his hand strong when the stakes included possible world annihilation.

That being said, I did want to go through a list of what I remember from the Reagan administration, having achieving sentience around that time.

• "trees cause pollution" [link]
• the attempt to classify ketchup as a vegetable [link]
• Iran-Contra [pbs.org]
• the aforementioned nuclear arms race and threat of nuclear annihilation.
• Reaganomics/voodoo economics and the resulting record deficits (until now, that is)
• Savings & Loan Crisis (although fully materializing during Bush Sr.'s tenure)
• Oh yeah, Star Wars (the Strategic Defense Initiative, that is)

Then there's stuff that I've found out since then:

• removal of solar panels from the Whitehouse when Reagan took office. [link] [link]
• support of Saddam Hussein
• CIA funding of Osama bin Laden (There's also this article that discusses the Reagan administration's culpability in the rise and spread of Islamic fundamentalism)

I think the last two can both be considered to be the "Reagan doctrine" in action.

Anyway, a lot of this can also be found in this article from the Washington Post (If you've got issues with the login requirements, don't forget our friends over at BugMeNot.com), which I thought was a much more balanced perspective than the rest of what was being broadcast.

And to be fair, here are my memories of the Carter administration:

• double-digit inflation
• Odd/Even days to buy gas
• U.S. embassy hostages in Iran
• middle east peace (Egypt-Israel)
• Something about Salt?

So I suppose everyone sucks if you think about it enough. Which seems to be a fairly accurate starting point these days for a lot of people.

Updates for early June

I haven't been posting much these days, but I suppose that goes without saying. I suspect that part of it is that I've been trying to avoid reading news or hitting politically charged blogs that would get me all juiced up. Maybe it's the hopelessness of it all, or maybe I'm just subconsciously stepping aside to let the better writers say what I want to say. There may be a lot of crap out there in the Blogosphere, but you have to at least give it credit for making people feel less alone out there in the electronic wilderness. Ah yes, the internet, bringing people (and wackos, can't forget the wackos) together since 1969.

So, what have I been up to?

Well, we've been doing our fair share of puttering around the garden; mostly in the mornings... making me late for work, but also on the weekends. We've been doing battle with the evil vine (Black Swallowwort), and the SOOTTAD has been putting in all kinds of native woodland flowers in the back. Off the top of my head I can come up with red lupine, bleeding heart and yellow violets... but I'm pretty sure there's more.

We had the first raspberry blossoms open this morning. The peas are a little thin this year, but there are a number of pods that are already maturing. We also had our first alpine strawberries mature, but we didn't get to actually taste them because they were swiped by marauding critters. Grrr. With the return of the warm weather today, the watermelon mounds which were looking so sad and barren in the cold and rain are finally showing signs of life. No such luck for the two new grape vines that we put in last year.

Monday, I got the green light on my shoulder. I'm still going to be careful with it (I'm trying to avoid any layouts until July), but I can have a little more confidence playing in games now.

Work finally seems to be under control, but I already have to refocus on the next big project.

I told myself when the last project finished, I would get back to studying Chinese. I've been listening to audio CDs in the car, but I really need to sit down and start reviewing characters again. Maybe this week...

Oh yeah, and I've been playing a bit of poker online these days too. I used to play with a bunch of guys in college; I have good memories of stumbling home at the crack of dawn, pockets full of nickels, dimes and quarters. It's not like I was any good, but I would get lucky at crucial moments that would allow me to continue playing.

The folks I played with were pretty hard-core card freaks; I'm not actually sure when those guys actually went to class. Or slept. They all started freshman year, back in the dorm. And when they weren't playing poker, they were playing bridge. (they moved on to blackjack the following year) They'd be playing in the lounge when you got back from class. And they'd still be playing when you went to bed. And the next morning, there they'd be, the scene exactly the same, except for the addition of a few empty pizza boxes.

I hadn't really played much since I got out of college. I have a few friends who play (regular games, even), but I've probably only played three or four times in the last year or two. So maybe a couple of weeks ago, I followed a link at Cardhouse to PartyPoker.com. I'd actually never played Hold 'em before -- it's been fun. And it's kinda nice to play online because you can play with real people, and you can pretty much play whenever you want, what with that whole global network thing and all.

And maybe that's another reason why I haven't been posting all that much...

Yeah, it figures...

You're a Speak & Spell!! You nerd, you. Just
because you were disguised as a toy doesn't
mean you weren't educational, you sneaky
bastard.

What childhood toy from the 80s are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

out on a school night

Last night we drove in to Somerville to see the Hot Club of Cowtown play at Johnny D's.

Back in the day, I went to Johnny D's fairly frequently, between the weekly swing dances with Jump Crew and the occasional local folk act. But the swing dances must have ended at least 3 or 4 years ago and since we don't kick around the Davis Square area much since the SOOTTAD moved out to the 'ham, I don't really go to Johnny D's much these days.

The place is split in two the long way, with the bar on one side and the dining area and stage on the other. There's a small dance floor too, which had tables when we arrived, but which were cleared away by the time the Hot Club took the stage. The only problem I have with the place as a music venue is that the only way to reserve seats is to make dinner reservations. And frankly, the food is generally less than stellar.

They often have things that sound pretty good, but invariably, the reality never lives up to the hype. This is the place where I learned to never order something when the only response to "Is it any good?" is "It's very popular." I bought the line with their fried chicken, and frankly, it sucked. (I must be a fussy eater.) Your basic bar food is probably your best bet, but it's often unnecessarily foofed up. And of course there was the time a friend met me there for dinner and a show and ended up spending most of the evening in the bathroom because she got food poisoning.

But despite all that, I generally like the place as a music venue. I'm not exactly sure why. I suppose it's because it's small enough that the performances feel more personal -- it is basically a bar, after all -- but it's big enough to get a good crowd, and they often have space to dance.

So last night, even though we couldn't get reservations for a table, we managed to snag seats at the bar. The SOOTTAD got the quesadilla -- the *ahem* Garlic Spinach, Mozzarella, and Goat Cheese Quesadilla served with artichoke pesto. Right. Other than the artichoke pesto being more or less superfluous to the dish, she found it quite acceptable. Tasty, even. I opted for the veggie burger and fries. I err on the side of caution. The burger was fine (I avoid their regular burgers because they're just too damn thick and end up cooked unevenly), and the battered fries that came with were actually alright.

The opener (a threesome of banjo, guitar and upright bass from North Carolina) was pretty good. Their first few songs were fun, but they ended up fading into the background as we talked with the friends that started drifting in for the show.

It was a different story when Hot Club started their first set. I was never cut out for the music review gig, so I'll try to keep it simple. They were awesome -- fun, lots of energy, and, of course, great music. We got some dancing in and generally had a grand old time. Two sets and an encore. Some of the high points for me:

• "Dinah" A great version of the song that Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli made famous with the Quintet of the Hot Club of France. A nice touch.
• "Orange Blossom Special" There are plenty of cool tunes that have a train motif, but it really felt like the train was running through the club -- and they're only playing a fiddle, a guitar and an upright bass.
• The pussycat song. Hi-larious. Innocent, and yet... heh.

It was a good night, despite getting to bed late on a school night and having to get into the office early this morning.

Also amusing: they mentioned offhand that they were going to be performing in Annapolis the next night (tonight). I shot an email off to Dr.J this morning and I think she should be heading home from the show as I write this. It's nice to be able to spread the love.

nice distraction

Having been known to become obsessed with Harry Potter on occasion, I was pleased to come across JK Rowling's Official homepage. Despite being flash heavy, it's a cool site with helpful information and a few Easter eggs scattered about as well.

Timely too, since I keep forgetting that it's almost June and the new movie is about to be released.

different responses

For some reason, I wanted to post these together.

• Worth1000's latest photoshopping contest: "work-safe nudes"
• Eric Idle's FCC Song (NSFW)

Ack! Bugs!

So I was posting the other night, and right in the middle of a thought, what should I spy with my little eye?

Holy crap! Big F'ing carpenter ant crawling on the wall!

Man, it was like it was bug night at the homestead or something. Bug in my hair earlier in the evening. Ick. Bug on the keyboard. Another spider in the bathroom. The b'giant ant! And then two three four fly-things buzzing around my head while I was sitting at the computer. WTF?!

* * *

In an only marginally related note, the carpenter bees are back again.

On the whole, carpenter bees are pretty cool. They're big, like bumblebees, except with shiny black butts that remind me of the "Bullet Bill" or "Bob-omb" Nintendo characters. They're fairly non-aggressive and do this cool hovering thing that makes me think of sci-fi alien scout ships. (I'd swear the picture I have in my head is from a movie but I can't think of it.) And it appears that they're good pollinators, too.

But carpenter bees also bore into wood, which is not so cool. And seeing as they're buzzing around the roof near sections of exposed wood (damn, I've been meaning to deal with that), it may be time to start checking out pest control services again.

* * *

The reliance and concord have finally started leafing out. Sadly, the himrod and mars still aren't showing any signs of life (it was a rough winter, we're fearing the worst). But the reliance leaves weren't looking particularly healthy -- they've been stunted and discolored around the edges. Upon closer inspection, we found these little green bugs which we're thinking are some variety of leafhopper nymph.

We bought Pyrenone today. It's supposed to be organic.

Hope so.

Score one for the good guys...

Headline: Mass. Senate Votes to Repeal Marriage Law

BOSTON - The Democrat-controlled state Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to repeal the 1913 law that Republican Gov. Mitt Romney is using to bar out-of-state gay couples from marrying in Massachusetts. [link]

I did find it a little strange that the article framed it as a move by the "Democrat-controlled" state Senate given that the division over gay marriage seemed to ignore party lines. After all, it was a "Democrat-controlled" constitutional convention that passed the initial amendment to ban gay marriage. But I guess that's neither here nor there. It's too bad it probably won't get enough votes in the House to override the Romney veto that's sure to follow. Alas, a small victory.

I've been deeply offended that Romney has been trying to enforce his beliefs (which, he claims, "has nothing to do with discrimination") with an archaic law that, from my understanding, was enacted specifically to bar the recognition of interracial marriages:

According to Mary Bonauto, a lawyer at Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, the law was first proposed in 1912 by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, a body of judges, professors, scholars, and law practitioners concerned with creating roughly equal statutes from state to state. The law, which was adopted in only five states (Louisiana, which later repealed it, Massachusetts, Vermont, Illinois, and Wisconsin), was in part intended to uphold laws in other states that barred interracial marriages Conference documents explaining the law's intent state: "As to marriages against the public policy of any state, e.g. marriages with [criminal intent], or with a minor without parental consent, . . . or between a white and a colored person . . . this act, being general in its terms, will apply to all of these states and give full effect to the prohibitory laws of each state by making void all marriages contracted in violation of such prohibitions." [link]

That's an attack on me personally. It didn't even need to go there for me to care about this issue. But, well... there it is.

"...we are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is."

Kurt Vonnegut writes an article that touches on America, religion, history and the meaning of life, among other things:

When you get to my age, if you get to my age, which is 81, and if you have reproduced, you will find yourself asking your own children, who are themselves middle-aged, what life is all about. I have seven kids, four of them adopted.

Many of you reading this are probably the same age as my grandchildren. They, like you, are being royally shafted and lied to by our Baby Boomer corporations and government.

I put my big question about life to my biological son Mark. Mark is a pediatrician, and author of a memoir, The Eden Express. It is about his crackup, straightjacket and padded cell stuff, from which he recovered sufficiently to graduate from Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Vonnegut said this to his doddering old dad: "Father, we are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is." So I pass that on to you. Write it down, and put it in your computer, so you can forget it.

Check it out -- good stuff. [thanks to Cynical-C]

Top Down

The top came down this afternoon on the drive to practice. It's the first time this season. I'm always a little hesitant to do highway driving with the top down -- the wind picks up dramatically over 40 and it can often feel a lot colder than when you're standing still or even cruising around on city streets.

But today, it's sunny, mid-80's and mostly clear. It's a beautiful day. And the humidity that would have made it gross and miserable to run in at noon makes the open-air ride that much nicer. It keeps it warm, but it's not oppressive. (yet) The air is still refreshing, but it doesn't chill.

You can see the light puffy clouds in the distance. You occasionally catch the fragrance of the spring flowers: lilacs, fruit tree blossoms and I don't know what.

There IS this particular section of 93 South between exits 42 and 41 that smells like ASS, but fortunately that passes fairly quickly. (Does anyone know what that is? It's been bugging me since I started making this commute.) Otherwise it's a good drive down to Waltham.

I play for the first time in over a month. It feels good to run around; although I'm still trying to be careful not to push too hard or to get into situations where a collision will drop my ass back to square one.

Afterwards, the drive home. More lilacs.

For now, life is good.

Vegas, baby? (maybe not)

Shortly after returning from our last desert adventure, I discovered that our friend JB was going to be stuck in Vegas for a week for work. Not that she can't entertain herself, but I figured it'd be cool to hang out, and I really was looking for any excuse to plan another getaway, even if we had just gotten back from one. Plus, the SOOTTAD still hadn't seen O because we never bought tickets far enough in advance, so really, this provided the perfect excuse.

We got the Cirque tickets first, then the plane tickets. The plan was to depart Saturday, May 8th and return Tuesday, May 11th. (Yeah, that would be last Saturday and today. We'll get to that.) We'd save some money too because we'd be crashing with JB.

As the date drew near, I was really looking forward to the trip. I had read a few Vegas stories online (like this one [thanks to WWdN]) and was getting pretty psyched. I'm going over craps odds in my head. I'm imagining myself not being at work. Ahhh, that's a nice thought. No work. Mmmmm.

By the beginning of last week, we realized we hadn't really figured out what we were going to do there, besides the Cirque show, of course. We hadn't even decided if we were going to get a car when we got in. Work has been a distraction; it's been draining. And the lack of exercise (what with the shoulder injury keeping me sidelined) was taking its toll as well. Blood not flowing, senses dulled -- not enough oxygen or something. We needed to get on the ball.

Wednesday morning, I finally send JB our flight itinerary and she floors me with the news: she's been laid off. (I'm sorry, what was that about the economic recovery?) She's still working, at least through the end of the month, but the trip is off for her. Totally sucks. Just having the trip cancelled would be a bummer, but really, it's no big compared to a RIF.

We try talking her into coming out anyway, but she doesn't think she can afford the time or money. So now we really need to figure out what we're doing. The car is incidental, now we've gotta find lodging too, on top of figuring out what we're gonna do during the day. The SOOTTAD finds a couple cool sounding hikes online, but meanwhile, back at the office...

...well, let's just say that things are bad.

We're supposed to tape out the following Friday (that would be this Friday), and basically, there are some loose ends that need to get taken care of. Except, they're not getting taken care of, and in the process, we're finding more ends, as it were. And I'm about to take 2 days of vacation (not counting the weekend that I could also be working). I really do just want to bail. It's not unheard of: another guy on the project took a week off just 2 weeks ago. But things really weren't going as planned with the trip anyway. And as much as I wanted to go, I didn't want to deal with the airports, and sitting on a plane for hours seemed unappealing.

So we bailed.

The SOOTTAD was ok with it; she's good that way. Man, she rocks. Have I mentioned that? She rocks. She's got my back. The company is reimbursing me the costs for changing the plane tickets and (hopefully) giving me an extra day for my trouble. Of course, the moment I made the call, I had buyer's remorse. The hikes seemed REALLY cool. I wanted OUT of the office. But we'll reschedule and it'll be good. And we got to just chill. Which was a good thing, too.

What I really needed was some downtime. Dinner with a friend. Worked on the garden. (melons are in, baby!) Pulled weeds. Reseeded the lawn.

And I got some work done, too.

Vegas, baby. We'll be back.

he said, she said

I swear I'm not a crazed Michael Moore fan.

I know who he his, I think I have a sense of what he's about, and I think he performs an important role in presenting information and viewpoints that aren't always heard but need to be recognized and discussed. But I've never actually seen any of his films, and having read a thing or two about Bowling for Columbine, I'd definitely approach his films with a critical eye. (more on that later)

Anyway, I think I first read about the whole hullabaloo regarding his new movie in a news article on Yahoo. Food for thought, certainly. Accusations of censorship. Troubling, to say the least. But there's also the whole business about the business of Disney; I can certainly understand the argument that as a for-profit corporation, and an entertainment company at that, that they have a vested interest in not pissing off their viewers, customers and visitors. (perhaps more on that later, too)

But there's a lot of stuff going down these days and I've been crazy busy at work and I really don't have the time or the inclination to get myself all worked up about stuff like this right now. I mean, there's that whole Abu Ghraib badness and the Bush administration's handling of it that just seems to get worse and worse as the days pass. Michael Moore getting screwed is the least of our problems. At least he has the resources to do something about it, not limited to opening it up to the media (albeit at potentially considerable expense).

But when I'm busy and stressed at work, I have been known to take breaks now and then and surf around. And on one of those days, I ended up stumbling upon this post, (er, the May 5th post here since the archives seem to not be happy at the moment) which the author originally finishes with:

"Let's not confuse the First Amendement with having standards and enforcing them."

Certainly a valid argument. But in my reading of it, her tone seemed to imply that the film was clearly a load of crap and that any claim of censorship was simply a pathetic attempt at pressuring Disney to release a film that didn't come up to snuff. I'll certainly admit that's possible; I certainly haven't seen it. Obviously, it hasn't been released yet, but has there even been a review written? I wasn't sure where the opinion came from; I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and assume it's based on historical evidence.

This movie sooo isn't important to me. I don't care. I really don't.

And yet I felt that the post had such a narrow perspective that several points (that I thought were important in understanding the issue) were ignored. Thinking about this now, I realize that what bothered me was that without the full picture, it wasn't fair. I suppose that's why my posts get so long. You burn a lot of words trying to cover all the bases.

Anyway, I thought, people might read this and think that's all there is to it. And I thought, hey, she seems like a decent person. she's a local. We must have some common ground. I ended up at her site through the bostonites webring, after all. I'm just going to post some additional, relevant information; it's not like I'm attacking her or anything. And, I mean, that's what the comment links are for, right?

But it's still weird, because you're basically talking to someone you don't know. And it's not like a newsgroup or forum where it's understood that it's a free-for-all. It's a specific response to one person's writing. It's a bit like heckling the TV or a movie, I suppose, except they can actually hear you.

So I posted a comment, and she sent a polite reply via email. I sent a response (that probably crossed a line; I really need to learn to shut up sometimes), and read her own comment response. And the follow-up (Again, if the direct link is dead, check for the May 7th post here) based on a bunch of articles (like this one) about how Moore had just pushed the censorship button as a publicity stunt. (I think I may have even suggested as much in my email.) And that was pretty much the end of it.

Until I stumbled onto Michael Moore's response, posted on his own website: [BoingBoing]

In April of 2003, I signed a deal with Miramax, a division of the Walt Disney Co., to finance and distribute my next movie, Fahrenheit 9/11. ... In my contract it is stated that Miramax will distribute my film in the U.S. through Disney's distribution arm, Buena Vista Distribution. It also gives Miramax the rights to distribute and sell the movie around the world.

A month later, after shooting started, Michael Eisner insisted on meeting with my agent, Ari Emanuel. Eisner was furious that Miramax signed this deal with me. According to Mr. Emanuel, Eisner said he would never let my film be distributed through Disney even though Mr. Eisner had not seen any footage or even read the outline of the film. ...

But Michael Eisner did not call Miramax and tell them to stop my film. Not only that, for the next year, SIX MILLION dollars of DISNEY money continued to flow into the production of making my movie. Miramax assured me that there were no distribution problems with my film.

...

Yep, you guessed it: I posted another comment.

This leads me to a couple of other things that are on my mind, but I'll end this here for now. I'll put the rest in another post to break it up a bit and give folks a chance to go take a bathroom break. ;)

Fat = Good

This may not be the start of the new all-butter diet fad, but a new study has been published that suggests that fat isn't the evil-doer that many take it for and may even be good for you. [Reuters]

"A relatively high amount of fat in the diet may be a boon to a healthy person's cholesterol levels, a small study suggests. On the other hand, limiting fat intake too much could have the opposite effect."

I realize that there's probably a study out there that will support just about any position out there, but it's still nice to have something out there backing me up.

Besides, they're pushing moderation. People should already know this, but this is America, where apparently the only way people can stop Super-sizing their extra-value meals is for Micky-D's to take it off the menu.

CEO president

Things are really busy at work right now and reading news just hasn't been the right kind of distraction. I find it all so depressing and I simply become paralyzed just thinking about it all. It feels like writing about it would just make it worse. But this morning I hooked onto a thought after reading a post on Talking Points Memo that referred to President Bush as the "CEO President" and linked to this post on Washington Monthly.

Bush styles himself a "CEO president," but the world is full to bursting with CEOs who have goals they would dearly love to attain but who lack either the skill or the fortitude to make them happen. They assign tasks to subordinates without making sure the subordinates are capable of doing them? but then consider the job done anyway because they've "delegated" it.

This isn't the first time I've heard that term. I'm pretty sure the President has been quoted saying as much. But it made me wonder, how good of a CEO was he when he was actually a CEO?

This is not the most straightforward thing to find out. If you look at most of the official biographies (like here and here), all you get is that after leaving business school (oooh -- Harvard!) he "returned to Midland and began a career in the energy business." Generally, the next thing they talk about is his work on his father's 1988 presidential campaign followed closely by the purchase of the Texas Rangers with a group of "partners."

Digging a bit, I finally found most of what I was looking for at the Center for Public Integrity, the Washington Post and Arkansas Encyclopedia (of all places). Here's the basic points:

In 1978, using the leftovers from his educational trust fund, W starts an oil and gas exploration company, Arbusto Energy (although active operations don't actually begin until 1979). By 1984, Arbusto (renamed Bush Exploration) is deep in debt, but is bailed out when it is purchased by Spectrum 7 where W becomes CEO.

1986 and under W's leadership, Spectrum 7 is also deeply in debt (the figure of $3.1 million is often cited, but it's not clear whether this is for Arbusto/Bush Exploration or Spectrum 7). One source says Spectrum 7 goes bankrupt. Spectrum 7 is bought out by Harken Energy and W is made a director. He makes $600,000 on the transaction (presumably from the $300,000+ in Harken stock).

It should be noted that this doesn't even begin to get into how the company was run: investors get $1.54 million on $4.66 million in investments, Bush's company collects $678,000 on a $102,000 investment, and yet W is quoted as saying that he "thought we'd developed a reputation as honest operators who worked hard [and], who gave people a fair shake." WTF?! (I know it's old news, but if you haven't already, you definitely need to read the Washington Post article.)

In June of 1990, he wisely unloads almost $850,000 in stock, a mere 2 months before the company announces a $23 million loss. There's an SEC investigation in 1992, but he is exonerated. Well, sorta:

[SEC associate director for enforcement Bruce A.] Hiler, however, was more cautious. His statement said it "must in no way be construed as indicating that the party has been exonerated or that no action may ultimately result from the staff's investigation." (Washington Post)

In 1989 he purchases the Texas Rangers with close friends of Bush Sr. (investing $606,302 of the total $86 million raised for the purchase, according to the Biography channel) and is made managing general partner. He earns $15 million on the sale in 1998.

And there you have it, George W. Bush's professional experience prior to entering government. So, was he a good CEO? Well, I dunno. There's this quote from the Washington Post article:

James McAninch, who joined Arbusto in 1982 to take charge of production, said Bush at that point was operating about 15 wells in the Midland area in which he had a majority interest.

"George was a good operator – very honest and straightforward," McAninch said. "He hired you for what you were qualified to do. He didn't interfere. He turned you loose. He'd say, 'Man, it's your responsibility. You do your job, no problem.'... He could make quick decisions too. ... He had enough savvy to ask almost all the right questions. And [months later] he'd remember what the answers were.

Which sure sounds to me like a person who sits at the top and lets other people do the work and doesn't really know what's going on. And quick decisions and a good memory? I'm not sure those are sufficient qualities of a good leader. Maybe good decisions and a quick memory? But really, who am I to judge? (and, of course, who cares what I think? [yeah, I know, I already used that link before]) But judging from past experience, if we're lucky, he'll get Germany to buy us out or something. I'm sure he'll get a nice bonus for that one, too.