Ho hum, another electronic gizmo is on the market. Forgive me for failing to get excited about the latest toy that encourages already self-obsessed Gen-Z'ers to identify themslves through the crap they own.
I want Steve Jobs to stop making toys and figure out how to get the marketplace to provide universal health coverage to all Americans.
That I will get excited about...
Friday, June 29, 2007
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Dead goldfish
One of our goldfish died yesterday. It was 2.5 years old, and part of a small aquarium I bought with my daughter a couple christmasses ago. They had been doing really well and this was a real surprise to find him just resting on the bottom of the tank.
My daughter is 5 and she is not really too concerned about death yet. When our dog died last year, I mustered up all my courage to tell her that our doggie had gone to heaven and she looked up at me and said "Does that mean we can get a kitten?".
Anyway, gotta go to the pet store and buy some fish antibiotics and clean up the fish tank tonight. Might have ben a bacterial or fungal infection.
My daughter is 5 and she is not really too concerned about death yet. When our dog died last year, I mustered up all my courage to tell her that our doggie had gone to heaven and she looked up at me and said "Does that mean we can get a kitten?".
Anyway, gotta go to the pet store and buy some fish antibiotics and clean up the fish tank tonight. Might have ben a bacterial or fungal infection.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Metabolic analysis
A few weeks ago I had a metabolic analysis at the gym where I work out.
They hooked up an oxygen sensor mask and heart rate monitor and had me ride a bike for 30 minutes at increasing resistance rates.
The idea is to try to determine at what heart rate your body crosses over into non-aerobic exercise, and you are no longer burning fat, but rather stored glycogen.
They pretty much told me I was exercising too hard and put me on a program of 4 days per week of exercise (instead of 5). Each day is different and pegged to a different combination of heart rates. One day is ure interval training, alternating between 120 HR and 160 HR. Other days are 20 minutes at 120, 20 at 130 and 20 at 140.
The theory is that you can increase the heart rate at which you are still burning fat. I go back in August for the same test and we will see if I have moved my numbers.
They hooked up an oxygen sensor mask and heart rate monitor and had me ride a bike for 30 minutes at increasing resistance rates.
The idea is to try to determine at what heart rate your body crosses over into non-aerobic exercise, and you are no longer burning fat, but rather stored glycogen.
They pretty much told me I was exercising too hard and put me on a program of 4 days per week of exercise (instead of 5). Each day is different and pegged to a different combination of heart rates. One day is ure interval training, alternating between 120 HR and 160 HR. Other days are 20 minutes at 120, 20 at 130 and 20 at 140.
The theory is that you can increase the heart rate at which you are still burning fat. I go back in August for the same test and we will see if I have moved my numbers.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Work Stuff
I'm getting close to finishing a big project at work. We are adding a whole new line of insurance coverage to the company website.
I have been working on this for about 3 months full time and 3 months part time before that. The programming part is almost done and we are about to begin a long period of testing. It's good to see the new functions coming online and testing is a necessary part of it. The testing phase can get really stressful, especially as the deadline gets nearer.
The company is going to get a good return on investment for the effort though, the payback will be under a year. Not sure what my next project will be, probably a continuation of this one.
I have been working on this for about 3 months full time and 3 months part time before that. The programming part is almost done and we are about to begin a long period of testing. It's good to see the new functions coming online and testing is a necessary part of it. The testing phase can get really stressful, especially as the deadline gets nearer.
The company is going to get a good return on investment for the effort though, the payback will be under a year. Not sure what my next project will be, probably a continuation of this one.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Sopranos Finale - my 2 cents
My opinion on the Sopranos finale is about as worthless as everyone else's.
I liked it. It wasn't what I expected or even wanted but I have to see it as a piece of art.
When I go to the art museum and look at Monet paintings I go to appreciate what the artist did, not to try to figure how he could have done it better. I can only say that I like this painting and don't like this other one. They make me feel a certain way and that is all. The one thing I can't do is say "I really would have liked this painting better if Monet had just done..."
A professional filmmaker has standing to criticize technique or form, as a trained artist might with Monet's work, but that is an altogether different arena of criticism. My only place to stand is "have you entertained or surprised or enlightened me?"
I do think it is interesting/funny all of the symbolism and metaphor that people have been pasting onto the series finale. On NPR Daniel Schorr used the blackout imagery as a metaphor for something or other in modern culture.
My only (so far) unique observation is that maybe people are pissed off about the finale not being what they wanted because the new media technology has been able more and more to give them exactly what they want when they want it. Isn't that the whole point of iPod's, DVR's, streaming video, pay-per-view and YouTube? If you feel like watching a video of a guy performing the national anthem using hand farts, there are at least 25 of them on YouTube at any given time.
I hope that the on-demand world is not reducing our desire or ability to be surprised. If the media stream is flexible and rich enough to only ever give us what we want then what does that do to our ability and willingness to be exposed to new ideas?
I've been bothered by the reduction of the shared cultural experience resulting from the on demand world. I think in many ways the country became a unified society because of the shared experience of popular culture, starting with silent films and newsreels, early radio, the golden age of Hollywood and the glory days of network TV prior to cable. I hate to single out a particular moment in time, but in the 1960's everyone had TV, cable was in its infancy, so everyone watched the same small set of programs. Not to say this was quality entertainment (Gilligan's Island was a number one show), but the point is that everyone from Florida to Oregon had at least some shared cultural experience that was uniquely American.
Many have decried this as homogenization of culture, and I can't argue against that. It does seem however that we have lost something. We still do have the shared experience of "American Idol" and such things, but the fractionalization of the media stream has greatly reduced the number of people sharing any particular event at any given time.
I can't believe I am here defending the bad old days of network TV. I feel like my grandparents lamenting the golden days of radio. It sucks getting old.
I liked it. It wasn't what I expected or even wanted but I have to see it as a piece of art.
When I go to the art museum and look at Monet paintings I go to appreciate what the artist did, not to try to figure how he could have done it better. I can only say that I like this painting and don't like this other one. They make me feel a certain way and that is all. The one thing I can't do is say "I really would have liked this painting better if Monet had just done..."
A professional filmmaker has standing to criticize technique or form, as a trained artist might with Monet's work, but that is an altogether different arena of criticism. My only place to stand is "have you entertained or surprised or enlightened me?"
I do think it is interesting/funny all of the symbolism and metaphor that people have been pasting onto the series finale. On NPR Daniel Schorr used the blackout imagery as a metaphor for something or other in modern culture.
My only (so far) unique observation is that maybe people are pissed off about the finale not being what they wanted because the new media technology has been able more and more to give them exactly what they want when they want it. Isn't that the whole point of iPod's, DVR's, streaming video, pay-per-view and YouTube? If you feel like watching a video of a guy performing the national anthem using hand farts, there are at least 25 of them on YouTube at any given time.
I hope that the on-demand world is not reducing our desire or ability to be surprised. If the media stream is flexible and rich enough to only ever give us what we want then what does that do to our ability and willingness to be exposed to new ideas?
I've been bothered by the reduction of the shared cultural experience resulting from the on demand world. I think in many ways the country became a unified society because of the shared experience of popular culture, starting with silent films and newsreels, early radio, the golden age of Hollywood and the glory days of network TV prior to cable. I hate to single out a particular moment in time, but in the 1960's everyone had TV, cable was in its infancy, so everyone watched the same small set of programs. Not to say this was quality entertainment (Gilligan's Island was a number one show), but the point is that everyone from Florida to Oregon had at least some shared cultural experience that was uniquely American.
Many have decried this as homogenization of culture, and I can't argue against that. It does seem however that we have lost something. We still do have the shared experience of "American Idol" and such things, but the fractionalization of the media stream has greatly reduced the number of people sharing any particular event at any given time.
I can't believe I am here defending the bad old days of network TV. I feel like my grandparents lamenting the golden days of radio. It sucks getting old.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Beadies Site Redesign
I am currently working on redesigning Beadies Beadwork
I am updating the fonts, colors and backgrounds and standardizing the look and feel of the site. Over the years I got lazy creating some of the pages. I use the Smalltalk programming language to generate most the pages, so I bit the bullet and pulled all of the pages into Smalltalk, so I can change the fonts and colors with one method.
I also added context sensitive side links to every page. We really like the new look and feel. Hopefully we will have the changes published in the next 2 weeks.
I am updating the fonts, colors and backgrounds and standardizing the look and feel of the site. Over the years I got lazy creating some of the pages. I use the Smalltalk programming language to generate most the pages, so I bit the bullet and pulled all of the pages into Smalltalk, so I can change the fonts and colors with one method.
I also added context sensitive side links to every page. We really like the new look and feel. Hopefully we will have the changes published in the next 2 weeks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)