Unresolved Issues

This post marks the completion of a resolution.  I resolved to write every day in 2012 and post that writing on this blog. In many ways I am happy with the accomplishment.  Simply sticking with something for a year is always satisfying but I also know there are elements of the year that still feel undone.

There are posts like O Tanenbaum that need to be finished and many topic lists from the year that went unwritten. I wanted to establish some discipline as a writer which happened in some aspects but I also developed new skills in pretty lame productivity.

A big goal for the blog was for the productivity to spill beyond public posts and accumulate in other writing projects. I did have the opportunity to write for another site once or twice which was nice. I didn't finish my book. I'm not going to resolve to do that becuase I'm on a role with completed resolutions and I dontwant to ruin that. That's not to say that I don't want to finish the book, I just know its been in the air for a few years now and after a year of writing I feel like I still don't know how to start writing, again.

In 2013 I won't have daily posts on the Resolution blog. I hope to still be writing on a semiregular daily basis but use that time to generate more substantial pieces and post every 7-10 days. I also really do hope to have some real productivity and progress on the book. Over the year there have been instances and interactions that have confirmed the need for communicating a harmonious existence between science, evolution and Christianity. There is definitely a lot of good work already out there but both my writing partner and I think there is still an underserved audience in young people.

So with 2013 only about five minutes away if I do have a formalized resolution it will have something to do with juicing. My dad pointed me In the direction of a good deal on the Jack lalanne juice at Costco but if anyone has other recommendations, or even better a good juice that you don't use anymore:-) I'd be happy to hear about it.

Cheers to all and thanks for reading in 2012.  Happy New Year!

Everybody Wins

A mediator usually seams like some one or something that tries to bring two parties to an agreement or final outcome that is acceptabe to both. Inflammatory isn't really a quality that is valued in a mediator unless it leads o an outcome that is acceptable to both parties. 

Inflammatory Mediators are responsible for the cold symptoms that accompany infection of a cold virus. When the cold virus makes contact with certain receptors in nasal tissues inflammatory mediators are also signalled to get to work. As the virus makes copies itself the virus mediators are busy making mucous around the virus receptor sites on the cells and consequently all over the rest of the cell a well.

The mucous and inflammation manifest themselves as cold symptoms but also prevent access to receptor sites and therefore ultimately bring on the end of the cold.  It may seem that cold symptoms are an unfair price doled out by the mediators but considering that viruses kill every cell they infect, the trade off seams pretty reasonable to the host.  This perspective  may lead you to think that the mediators are unfair to the viruses by depriving them of billions and billions of potential cells to infect but the mediators have something to sweeten the deal. Along with the inflammatory and mucous producing properties the mediators trigger the cough and sneeze reflexes which deliver the viruses to a whole world of potential hosts.

Everyone Wins! Further evidence that mediation works. 

Delicious tasteless food

The fate of a stuffy nosed eater.

Resolution Season

It's that time of year again. Christmas is over and the new year is looming which means the resolution season is upon us. Two years ago I hadn't thought of what to resolve on for 2011 until about 10:30pm on December 31 2010. Together with my wife and two friends we decided to give up burgers, and fries. The year went really well and I didn't have a burger or fries or fast food until a few months into 2012. For 2012 I decide I wanted a more active resolution so I decided to blog everyday form a year.  This blog is in fact the product of that resolution.  The genesis of this resolutions can be reviewed in more detail by returning to the very first post. The overall success of this resolution can be judged by reading all the entries. I myself think it has had varying degrees of success but I'm confident that the writing and productivity has definitely suffered since the tragic loss of my laptop and subsequent use of a tablet for writing and posting. 

Anyway, the resolution season is upon us and I'm in the market for something new. So far at the top of the list is juicing but there are still a few days until R-day and I am open to suggestions.

Expression you're not likely hear everyday

The platform, usually almost deserted at this hour, was like a
London platform on a bank holiday.

So it should probably be clear at this point that I really like reading. I heard a great interview the other day with an author walked about the value of fiction, even or maybe even especially for people with serious jobs command things to think about. The interview was with Abraham Verghese on mpr. I tried to link it here but this device (yes the same one that provides cryptic  and comical predictive text insertion) is being quite stubborn.

Maybe ill try to link later (which the predictor thought should have been "like reading")

Out with a whimper. Just in the NyQ of time.

Tonight I start fully anticipating to fall asleep before I finish. I may finish writing this abbreviated post but put I probably won't finish the movie I'm about to start. The book that inspired the movie is actually the first book I read on an e-reader (of sorts). The reader was a Palm Tungston and the book was Last of the Mohekans.  I really liked that PDA. It had my calendar, notes, contacts, and even books.  I read Mohekans because it came free and preloaded on the device. I do say that free books are still my preference and the ones I spend my time with.

Like tonights  movies likely fate I never finished the book.  Not for a lack of desire to finish thought, the book was lost in a crash event that was never resolved. Maybe I'll pick it up again in a paper form factor so as not to lose it to corrupt data and after getting some sleep so as not to lose it to slumber.

Trouble with the cube

Sure he look like a smart guy on paper. The sabermetrics guys get a little woozy when they imagine what he could do as the lead off for their development team. But put him against a skilled word smith and he's instantly schooled in Scrabble or Words with Friends. And let's not even mention the classic 3D logic toy that has amazed and puzzled millions. To put it kindly we can just say he's got trouble with the cube.

Redemption Best Served

Earlier this month I wrote a lament about the loss we all suffered as Hostess closed the magical doors on its magical pastry factories. My regret centered around a lost opportunity and with it lost hope.  Tonight I learned that redemption is a dish best served in 8 individually wrapped packages, purchased on the internet. I am so happy that my some day to be sister in law heard my cry and took the occasion of Christmas, a perfect foreshadowing of the renewing joy that Easter brings, to make my dessert eating joy complete.

Pince-nez

As it turns out pince-nez are the type of glasses that have no ear supports but rather "pinch the nose" which is where the name comes from. Pince-nez are also a perfect example of why I love reading on an e-reader and, as a related matter, why I love Wikipedia. I owe much of the successful posts over the last year to both of the previously described dearly beloved resources.
I do still read paper books and enjoy them for their delightful ability to be enhanced by the available light rather than possibly obstructed. I also enjoy paper for the angst that I don't feel when in my hands while traveling via certain corridors on public transportation. I also appreciate that they can be read during any stage of a commercial flight and that they never run low on batteries. I like being able to hold my finger on one page as I continue to march through the rest in order to go back to it. I like fanning through the pages when going back through to find a  particular passage. I like that the words are always in the same position of the page (this can be a particular problem when reading on a kindle).
There are many reasons I still love paper but I may love even more holding my finger on a word only to have the entire universe of knowledge connected to that word available for instant perusal.  I have always been a well intentioned reader. Bracketing interesting sections for follow up or additional research. Underlining interesting  words to look up. But I seldom if ever returned with a dictionary or additional library time. That's one thing that I really love about the e-reader. My good intentions have seamlessly transformed into well employed actions, and my reading is all the better for it.

Lewis on CAD

“Yet the circle is not less round than the sphere, and the sphere is the home and fatherland of circles. Infinite multitudes of circles lie enclosed in every sphere, and if they spoke they would say, For us were spheres created. Let no mouth open to gain say them. Blessed be He!”

I only wonder what implications this will have on a modified worflow in Creo that favors internal sketches rather than pure and independent parent sketches. I guess Lewis covers this as the relationships work in all ways and in all directions.

We'll really find out when we are in the midst of implementation. Hopefully we won't look for what is right or wrong but rather have our mindset ever fixed on a harmoniously parametric modeling experience that strikes a balance between design intent and user experience.

I love being on vacation!

Hugo

As it turns out Hugo isn't such a bad movie. I'm not sure what qualified it for all the awards but I'm not always sure how most movies rise to the ranks of the "best".

The only downfall for me in Hugo was that once we actually found out what the movie was about we learned that its biggest role was as an extended PSA for film preservation in specific and the film industry in general. Perhaps I was viewing it from too cynical of a position but Scorsese's involvement in both of those efforts colored  my view of the films intentions like a black and white film painstakingly tinted for additional effect. However, where the tinting effect was revolutionary in its time these blatant strokes of the modern film activist stuck out as an unnecessary "improvement" to an otherwise effective film. 

Perhaps the wider audience accepts Scorsese's imagery of the preservation of the film allowing for the preservation of the man. I just found it to be a little heavy handed especially considering the careful attention to detail and steady hand required for a skilled clock maker, magician or storyteller. 

Dressed in the dark

When my chosen wardrobe lacks coordination I often blame the fact that I got dressed in the dark. Often timesthis is true as I get dressed and leave the house before anyone else is up. On those days I leave as many lights off as possible in order not to disturb anyone still asleep.  of course I also have a very high tolerance for looking horrible so my remarks are partially in gest  as well.

It is hard to imagine really performing tasks, challenging physical tasks, in complete darkness. Tonight I've been reading a fictional acount of an ascent through a cave completely isolated from light. The character was described as well, if seen by an outside observer, as taking incredible risks at times and at others being extremely curious. All of these apparent decisions made in ignorance were made without the visual data that would have normally been available to the character.

It could be Perry cool to do a climb like this in the dark but for now I'll just keep putting my pants on one leg at a time like anyone else. In the dark.

Small Save by Position

See relative to the age of the earth (for example).

The ultimate shark jump

Private practice has always been a horrible show.  Horrible themes, morality, acting, writing.  As I'm being forced to watch tonight's episode in its final season all of my previous assessments are being confirmed and redoubled in their correctness. 

It' good to be right but it's even better knowing that it's almost over. Forever!

3 1/2

Days until Christmas vacation

Inches of snow forecasted for Wednesday Months until baseball starts Ounces of lotion is more than you can carrion an airplane

A Night on the Couch

My audible chuckle enlisted an inquisition into its cause.

“It’s this introduction, it’s good… funny.”  I replied.

“To JP and Ashley’s wedding?”  She retorted.

“No, A five part article about C.S Lewis and his sometimes odd place in the hearts of American Evangelicals.”

How sweet it is (to be loved by you)!

O Tannenbaum

Its end began long before we came to meet. It could be said it was born to die, perfectly sacrificial in its purpose. A decade of wild living prepared it for its end though while it grew and spread its branches into the world a careful master kept a close watch. In seasons of its life it recalled grieving its masters correction. It didn't feel like love at the time.

It had grown beyond its cone too quickly at points along its frame. Sources of pride, sticking out, moving into the world. The pride called for pruning from the master, for he had plans that called for orderliness. Organic organs shaped for a purpose beyond the form that contained them.

Its final morning in the field initiated the beginning of its end. Cut down at the base as swiftly as its life had been long it glimpsed a reflection of its fate in the site of fellow fallen brothers and the boots of the master. Why oh Why? I'm Sorry! Please correct me, prune me, but not this! Its soundless cries pierced to the meristems of those that lay beside it. Shivering, lying in the snow, exiled from the land that had been its foundation, its teacher, its home.

The wound that marked its destruction oozed as it lay and with it dread poured in just as quickly as life was sapped out.

As life flowed from its mortal wound it though about its brothers. How it pained it to know that they suffered the same fate. It would have doubled its pain if it meant its brothers could stand again. As pain subsided into the final slumber of death it dreamed the fulfillment of the hope it had for its brothers. In its dream they rose from the ground, standing again, side by side, their height reaching toward the heavens.

And all was dark…

The nerve

Squeezes like a vice without a lever.
Trickles water where there is none.
Stabs without a knife and pricks without a pin.

All reminding what it is to be alive.

Another one joins the ranks

While I will never relinquish the fact that I am the luckiest man on earth I do recognize that another has joined the ranks today. Congrats to all and to all a good night!

15*10*4

Just a quick estimate reveals that my basement is made of about 600 cinder blocks. There are about 20 joists that meet at a beam in the center. These pieces hold untie rest if the house which contains more materials and more structural elements that hold those materials up. We are able to maintain temperature fro the insidentonout of dozens and dozens of degrees with the mechanical systems and insulating materials included in the structure.

Best day ever

At this time 13 years ago I was sitting in a chair under twinkling lights. That was the first night of the last 13 years of best nights ever. I love going to weddings because they remind me of how much I love being married.

I love being married.

I'd like to know

How can the NHL possibly justify canceling all of these games? Their business model must be incredibly broken if they are willing to lose so much in revenue in order to change the way they do business. I suppose the same goes for the players too.

Jumbo Shrimp

I was thinking about shrimp earlier today, well not shrimp but oxymorons.

It’s easy to think of these statements as contradictory but they are really perfectly concise nuance descriptors.

Sweat the Small Stuff

In some cases you should sweat the small stuff. For example when sweat soldering pipes. If you don’t (or even if you do) you're likely to end up back at home depot three times. And if you don't (or even if you do) you're likely to find a leak that must be revisited.

There is a case though of a pipe that is leaky by design. A new fangled anti siphon sillcock is one of these pipes.  The threaded top cap allows air to "leak" into the pipe which prevents a seal and consequently any potential liquid backflow to occur.  It’s not a new idea but it’s a pretty good one. 

Furthermore no one should be without a reciprocating saw when attempting to cut through galvanized pipes. I've got one on loan now but think it may be time for me to find on to take up permanent residence in my basement.

Finally, drilling through concrete never seems like it will be that big of a deal but inevitably it always is.

Back to life

Back reality.

Boy am I tired.

Elevation Training

Living life on top of the world (or at least moderately higher than normal) has provided an excellent opportunity to increase my red blood count and therefore overall ability to perform at elevated levels. It should be awesome.

The Uplifted Planet

Approaching the Rockies is an exercise in an optical illusion of monumental scale. The road ahead is flat and straight and the mountains appear to be close. Yet an hour late the distance seems the same though the scenery to the left and right may have changes.  I last approached through cattle ranches with expansive fields, sporadic trees and occasional oil derricks.

Upon examining the increasingly rural side country the mountains remained looming in the distance until all of a sudden they were surrounding us.  Cliffs and boulders and peaks thrust out of the distance and all around us. And they just keep going. Just as distantly as they loomed up until their arrival they were fully enveloping and continuous and uplifting, the earth and anyone who is in them.

The Uplifted Planet

Agriculture viewed from above is always impressive. The endless rows and columns of crops as seen from the highway give way to the geometric considerations of grander consequences.  The patchwork landscape of an engineered world present polygon after interlocking polygon as far as the eye can see, which is pretty far when seen from above.

Interestingly and often interspersed in the polygons the sky bound observer spies shapes who require pi for figuring interspersed in the polygons. Irrigation is decidedly the driving force for the shapes of these crop circles. A centrally attached access for water to flow through spokes outward across the radius of the field via a crawling pinwheel of wheels and pipes. This arrangement brings water to all reaches of the tended field.

Yet the clipped corners of the quadrilateral plots lay fallow under farmer induced drought causing the observer to wonder what metric won the day when determining the design. More crop, more crops covered in water, more crops, more crops covered in what more crop, more crops covered in water….

And then the Rockies erupt from the ground and all thoughts of agriculture fade away.

On the road again

On the road again I just can't wait to get on the road again and then home again because I miss it already.

Hostess Cupcakes: A Lament

Several months ago I ate a hostess Cupcakes in one bite.  It surprised me to realize that that particular Hostess cupcake was the first I'd eaten as a whole rather than deconstructing it bite by bite. Of course bite by bite was not an unexpected way to eat the cake for it allowed for the careful extraction of the cream filling. The filling was what always brought me back, probably because there never was enough. But still, I am a regular one bite eater of many foods so my first experience, those few months ago, readied itself for future nostalgia and immediate reflection. You see when I popped the pastry into my mouth I shoved it frosting side first. This technique proved its flaw instantly as my ability to chew was handicapped by the frosting that coated the inside of my mouth.  As I slowly and regretfully worked through the cake I thought, "Next time I'll eat the cake cake side first to allow for the frosting to mix with the cake facilitating a faster eating." Little was I to know that there would be no next time because there is no more Hostess. 

Requium for a dessert? No. Requium for a dream.

Its a wonderful life

Just ask George Bailey.