Living the Dream

30 days of Music

2010-04-11T21:44:00.004-04:00

We'll see how far I get with this... stolen from Kieron Gillen's blog. And I'm going to do it 5 song increments, so it is more like 6 Days of Music!

Day 01 - your favorite song

Wow. This is a hard one. My favorite song has changed over the years, but in the end it made sense to go with a song from my favorite band, Metallica's Master of Puppets:

Day 02 - your least favorite song

Mere words cannot express the depths of my hatred for this song. Kid Rock is bad enough, but add in Sheryl Crow and you have suckage of epic proportion:

Day 03 - a song that makes you happy

Especially after seeing Tom Cruise dance to it in Tropic Thunder:

Day 04 - a song that makes you sad

Because Aaron Lewis is the most depressing person on the planet.

Day 05 - a song that reminds you of someone

On our second date this song came on the radio and my wife sang along with me. I cannot express how awesome it was to be with someone who likes the same kind of music you do and loves singing along with you.

Random Quick Hits!

2010-03-10T21:14:00.002-05:00

1.

has replaced Frankie the Fish as my favorite commercial. It gets better every time I see it. Best youtube comment I've seen about it: "I've watched this video about 3,000 times. i laugh each time. i wish it was a full length movie". If it was it would outgross Avatar.

2. This past weekend was awesome. Charlie Engle (the ultra endurance runner who ran across the Sahara) gave a great talk and was much less mean in person then he was in the documentary. Wicked the musical, though different than the book, was excellent. Helene Yorke was great as Glinda and the stage and effects were off the charts. Finally, the weather turned and it wasn't freezing for the Splash and Dash!

3. Douchebag of the week was going to be a toss-up between Carl Edwards (seriously bro... handle your business after the race with your fists if you feel the need to get some payback) and Big Ben (seriously... again?). But then Lindsey Lohan came around to take the title, with her ridiculously frivolous lawsuit. 100 million dollars? Really?

4. Horns by Joe Hill is an awesome book.

5. Last night's episode of Lost didn't give us a lot of answers but it was a damn good episode. I actually almost felt sorry for Ben Linus... kudos to Michael Emerson for pulling it off. The line "Because no one else will have me" was perfect. This episode was a great example of why Lost is so awesome... you really care about the characters. Also, Widmore is back bitches!

Lost: Sundown

2010-03-02T22:31:00.002-05:00

A few thoughts on tonight's episode:

1.)Well I guess that's why Sayid was in the Judas position in the Last Supper promo picture. Oh wait! Fake Locke was in the Jesus position. Maybe Sayid will be redeemed before the season's end.

2.)Goodbye Dogen and Lennon... we hardly knew ye. As soon as Dogen started waxing poetically about his son you just knew as soon as he finished the story Sayid was gonna whack him.

3.)I was so excited Keamy returned! And then he got whacked. Without killing anyone. What. The. Hell. He better have had a bullet proof vest on or something. Keamy is like bacon. He makes everything better.

4.)I wrote a Haiku:

Jacob and Smokey
Are Looking for Replacements
Who? Jack and Sawyer

I think at the end of the series, Sawyer will be the new Jacob and Jack will be the new Smokey.

5.)Looks like a Ben episode is coming next week. I hope this means we get some Charles Widmore...

That's it for now! I'll digest tonight and later I'll explain why Penny is Jack's son's Mom!

Rent Review

2010-02-28T22:11:00.005-05:00

Last Sunday, Indian takeout sounded like an awesome idea. Normally my wife and I have a stack of coupons for $7 off a 2 dinner order for both Amar India and Jeet India. However, this time we couldn't find one that wasn't expired. Thankfully there's always one in the Dayton City Paper so I wondered around the strip mall Jeet is in until I found my coupon.

Anyways... while flipping through the paper I happened to see that Rent was being performed at the Playhouse South Community Theater. I had never seen Rent before and we didn't have any plans this weekend so my wife and I figured, what the hell!

The Venue: The theater was located in a building that looks like it used to be a high school but has been re-purposed into a community theater (and a preschool). The concessions were good and very inexpensive ($1 for drinks, 50 cents for popcorn). My biggest issue was there was too much interference/feedback from the microphones during the performance.

The Cast:

Sean Jones as Mark Cohen: I thought Jones did a good job playing Mark. The highlight was probably the Tango: Maureen, where I think Jones did a good job with the witty banter and dancing. At another point he did flub a line I believe, but recovered nicely. On the rating scale provided by the theater (1- Average, 2-Good, 3-Excellent) I'd give Jones a solid 2.

Bobby Mitchum as Roger: I enjoyed Mitchum's portrayal of Roger, however I can't pinpoint what stood out. Perhaps it was his voice... highlights include the duets with Mimi, Light My Candle and I Should Tell You. 2.

Jamal Caan as Tom Collins: For some reason I had a difficult time understanding Caan's Collins. He just seemed a little soft spoken. I thought he did a good job making the relationship between Collins and Angel seem real. 2.

Tina deAlderete as Mimi Marquez: The real standout of the show in my opinion. deAlderete's dance background really showed when she worked the stage during Out Tonight. Her facial expressions really drew me in and I thought her vocals were one of the best in the cast. 3.

Lindsay Sherman as Maureen: I'm torn on this one. Sherman did a great job with Maureen's protest speech. I thought she really nailed the slurping milk scene. And the mooing was hilarious. But... I wasn't a big fan of her voice. At times I think she was overpowering it. 2.

Kelly Campbell as Joanne: The duet with Sherman's Maureen was one of my least favorite parts of the show... the singing at times was so piercing it hurt my ears. However, Campbell did a fine job with Jones' Cohen during the Maureen Tango. 2.

Mike Embree as Angel: Angel seems like a character an actor can really work with and Embree was up to the challenge. The jumping on the table in the drag queen santa outfit was awesome. Embree's bio says he was in Cabaret and I'm going to assume he was the Emcee. I would have liked to have seen that. 3.

Ben Miller as Benny: I find it strange that in a show that is almost all song, this main character never got a chance to air out the pipes. Maybe that's the point as Benny was the bad guy who abandoned his artist friends. Anyways, there wasn't a lot to judge this performance on. 2.

Ensemble: Hard to match up the names with the various roles, but the actress playing Alexi Darling was funny in that role, the The Homeless Woman who told off Mark Cohen was good, and the big tall guy resembled the big tall guy in Doctor Horrible which has to be good for some bonus points. (Now there's an idea Playhouse South... do Dr. Horrible!)

Overall I enjoyed the show. I hope I wasn't too hard on the cast, but I was trying to give a fair and honest review. The majority of the ensemble songs were well done and I would recommend checking it out. The wonderful performances by deAlderete and Embree, the solid showings by Jones and Mitchum, the surreal performance by Sherman during the protest, and the relationships between the couples (Roger&Mimi, Angel&Tom, and Maureen&Joanne) more than make up for a few sound issues, a little difficulty understanding some of the actors, and a duet that didn't quite hit the right notes for me.

Five Ways to Stop Wasting Money

2010-02-18T21:59:00.004-05:00

This list will not be about how I think you should stop buying soft drinks when you eat out or remembering to turn out the lights when you leave a room. You already know that stuff and I think everyone is entitled to choose how they want to spend their money. I blow my money on books and race entry fees, so I can't judge you if you want a 40K vehicle or a big screen. However I do want you to know that you might be leaving money on the table. What can you do to stop?

5. Stop using cash Now this comes with a serious caveat. Only follow this advice if you are not in credit card debt and you can afford to pay off your credit card bills each month.. If you can do that then it makes zero sense to buy anything with cash. Why? Credit Card Reward programs. Last year I cashed in reward points for over $600 in gift certificates to stores like Macy's, Best Buy, Sears, etc. Which cards do I recommend?

The Citi Forward Card from Citibank. This card gives 5 points for every dollar spent on restaurants, book stores, music stores, and the movies. Also, Amazon.com is considered a bookstore so you also get 5 points per dollar when you buy from them. 10,000 points can be redeemed for $100 gift certificates to places like Macy's, while 6,000 points gets you $50 gift cards to Best Buy, Home Depot, Barnes & Noble, just to name a few. No annual fee.

Capital One World Mastercard I use this card for groceries and gas since it gives 2% cashback for those categories. This card is also great for traveling international because there are no currency conversion fees and they even pay the 1% Mastercard fee for you. No annual fee.

4.Score Frequent Flier Miles for Car Rentals I get that not everyone flies as frequently as I do, but that doesn't mean you should leave frequent flier miles on the table. Whenever I rent a car I make sure to visit Delta's website to see what special offers are currently going on. Right now, Avis has a great deal, giving 2010 miles if you rent a car for 2 days from an airport location. Beyond these special offers you can usually get at least double miles (i.e. 2 miles per dollar spent) every time you rent a car. This helps rack up miles and keeps your frequent flier miles from expiring.

3.Ditto for Hotels Join Hotel reward programs. Even if you don't use hotels enough to move up to the next status level, there are still perks and often you can choose to earn frequent flier miles instead of points in some instances.

2. Check if your Company has a Cell Phone deal If you are a student I can almost guarantee you can get a cheaper group rate with your cell phone provider if you have a .edu e-mail address. See here for more details.

1. If the Reward Program is Free, Join it . I'm earning points with Speedway every time I get gas (good for reduced price per gallon). Borders sends me a 33% off coupon every three days and provides me with $5 gift certificates once I've spent a certain amount (and sometimes just because). Ace Hardware give a $5 gift card for every $250 spent. So whenever I need gas I try and hit a Speedway, I shop at Borders instead of Barnes and Noble (with the coupons and Borders bucks it's usually cheaper than Amazon!), and I go to Ace instead of Lowe's or Home Depot.

5. Read My Money Blog. My Money Blog is the site that I got most of these ideas from and boy have they paid off!

Whacky Races

2010-02-15T20:54:00.003-05:00

As you can see over on my goal list, I'm a pretty active person. With a Half Ironman and a Marathon under my belt, I'm eyeing a Full Ironman this year. However I do like to break up the monotony of training with fun races along the way. So far I've done:

Urban Challenge - Solve a series of clues pointing to locations around a city, run there and snap a picture

The Mad Cow Urban Adventure Race - A Canoeing, Rollerblading, Orienteering, Biking, and Running Race

The Muddy Buddy: The Muddy Buddy is a race that consists of a two person team. One person begins the race on foot while the other begins the race on a bike. The person on the bike rides until they reach an obstacle. They drop the bike, complete the obstacle, and then take off on foot. The guy who started on foot completes the obstacle, grabs the bike, and then leapfrogs his teammate. This pattern continues through the course as you encounter obstacles. At the end, you are your teammate meet up and slog through a mudpit to the finish line.

The Tour de Donut : A 30 mile Bike Course with Donut Eating stations. Every donut you eat takes 5 minutes off your time!

And this year I'm signed up for The Warrior Dash

What will the future bring? Well I have some MORE ideas:

10. SkirtChaser 5k The women start the race 3 minutes before the men. Then the men get to chase em down! I think this would be tons of fun to do with my wife

9. Marine Mud Run 3 miles of hills, obstacles, and mudpits.

8. Krispy Kreme Challenge Run 2 miles, eat a dozen donuts, run two more miles all in under an hour.

7. A Bare as You Dare 5K.

6. Escape From Alcatraz A triathlon that starts with a swim from Alcatraz to San Francisco. Awesome!

5. The Survival of the Shawangunks After a 30 mile bike you run, swim across a lake, run, swim across another lake, run, swim across yet another lake, then a run to the finish. All while carrying your shoes during each swim.

4. A Reverse Order Triathlon

3. Loveland's Amazing Race A course that: "challenges the contestants agility, balance, coordination, strength, intelligence, problem solving skills, fine motor skills, and most important their sense of humor"

2 & 1. The Tough Guy Challenge. Summer and Winter Versions Just watch:

Weekend Wrap

2010-02-14T22:36:00.002-05:00

Making lists is a lazy way to blog, but it is better than not blogging at all (well maybe...). So here we go, the Weekend 10!

10. I lost my world record this weekend which sucked. In 2003, my Dad and I attended the Basketbowl between Kentucky and Michigan State. 78,127 of our closest friends also showed up setting the world record for attendance for a basketball game. The NBA All Star game on Sunday this weekend in the new Cowboys stadium blew past that record.

9. Speaking of Kentucky basketball, the ESPN Gameday Crew was a Rupp Arena on Saturday at 11AM. Digger Phelps was in the house and one of my buddies got his picture taken with Digger. Seeing a UK fan chumming it up with Digger Phelps probably has Coach Rupp, Cawood, Mr. Wildcat, and my Grandad rolling in their graves. Regardless, it was awesome to show the world UK has the best fan base, as we filled Rupp at 11AM for the gameday show then rocked Rupp for the game at 9PM with another 24K. The Cats have a great shot at the Final 4, and since it is in Indy, I've already got my tickets! Here's hoping they get there!

8. And back to the NBA All Star Game for a moment.... I always get my hopes up and then they never play defense (well until the 4th quarter... and only sometimes then). I wish they'd pay the winners 250K each so we'd get some more effort.

7. I feel bad for NASCAR. Their Super Bowl suffered through two ridiculously long red flags and then what felt like 20 cautions in the last 15 laps (one of which rendered moot a sweet pass by Kevin Harvick). Little E got me out of my seat with his 10th to 2nd in a lap move, and the end was pretty exciting, but 6 1/2 hours to finish the damn thing? Ugh.

6. I ate waaaay too much chocolate. My wife and I stopped at the Golden Turtle Chocolate Factory and I went crazy. An almond cluster, a cashew cluster, a peanut butter cup, a double dipped pretzel, and a Texas Tortoise later and I have officially OD'ed on chocolate. Yum.

5. While watching the UK-UT game at my sister's boyfriend's house, I had a lovely conversation with a Cincinnati Bearcat fan. After he said he wanted UK to lose I asked him if he remembered where he was the day Kenyon Martin broke his leg. He might still be crying.

4. My wife and I had dinner with my sister and her boyfriend at Chi-nnati's a Chicago Style pizza place in Cincy. I was too hungry to wait the 40 minutes for the deep dish, but the thin crust onion, pepperoni, mushroom, and jalapeno pizza I ordered was fantastic.

3. Was also fun to see my sister and tour her boyfriend's house. I found out that despite my sister's claims to the contrary, she can't keep up with Left Eye during the rap part of Waterfalls either.

2. Driving around the mall on Saturday was hellacious. Everyone was out since the road were finally cleared. But after multiple trips to Bed Bath and Beyond we got the shelving we needed to start work on the hardware display upstairs. Our running pictures/medals/trophies look pretty cool up in the loft. And speaking of hardware..

1. The Wife and I grabbed second place in the Married Couple Division at a Valentine's Day Race 2 Miler. I love that my wife enjoys running and it was fun lighting up suckers, knocking out chumps, smoking fools, and talking noise about it with her.

Friday Foursome

2010-02-12T23:40:00.002-05:00

For no real reason, here's four tunes I love that you might not have heard.

First up is The 1234 by The Start. I saw the Start open up for The Offspring a few years back and I immediately loved this song. Aimee Echo is a one helluva vocalist.

Next is Let Sleeping Dogs Lie by Pop Shuvit, a Malaysian band. I found this song when trying to research the origin of the phrase "let sleeping dogs lie" of all things. I never figured it out, but I did find a cool song.

Third we have Metal by Numbers by Brian Posehn. Posehn's a comedian and this song about bad metal is hilarious. Cookie Monster vocals and yell like a Wookie, Metal by Numbers Cookie Cookie Cookie. And yes Scott Ian is everywhere.

Finally after the ballads but before Gilmore Girls, Supergroup, and Celebrity Fit Club Sebastian Bach and Skid Row was kicking ass with Slave to the Grind.

Snowmaggedon. And Health Care!

2010-02-10T21:09:00.002-05:00

I live about 9 miles from my work. It generally takes me 15 minutes to get there from my house. Today and yesterday it took a little longer to get there (about 20 minutes) but the neat thing is I got there despite the winter storm. How did I do it? Well, first of all I have a deal with my neighbor. I store his boat in my barn and in returns he plows my driveway. Unfortunately after my driveway I still have 9 miles to go. Lord knows I don't have the time, the money, or the desire to plow 9 miles of road. Thankfully, other people need to use this same road, so we all chip in a little bit and the county and city governments plow us out. So instead of paying an arm and a leg every time a blizzard hits to have someone plow the entire 9 mile stretch everyone in the county and city chips in and we can all use the roads. What a great system! When it snows, the roads get plowed. When the roads get pot holes, they get fixed. When something catches on fire, someone comes and puts it out. I love it!

Of course there are some folks out there who disagree...

Me, I think the government does an okay of a job with the plowing the roads. I'm happy to pay taxes to keep that party going. I also know that for six years I had a job that didn't offer health insurance, so I had individual insurance. Every time I went to the doctor my premium went up, and my deductible was so high I ignored my doctor's advice to get an MRI. I also know that the "death panels" are already here. And for some reason I have this crazy idea that a government run system that must answer to the public might just have people's welfare more in mind than for profit insurance companies.

So personally, I am just fine paying a little more taxes so that when the Kyler Van Nocker's of the world get cancer, they can get the treatment they need.

My Top Ten Season 6 Lost Predictions!

2010-02-09T18:27:00.003-05:00

With the first episode under our belts I decided to take a guess at what we might see this season!

#1 The two different realities are not parallel

The first episode provided us with two results of Juliet detonating the H-Bomb. In one, our castaways never crash on the island, and in the other they are still stuck there. I'll call them the on island and off island realities. Most people seem to think these are alternate realities. I call BS! I think the off island reality is occurring BEFORE the on island reality. Juliet (in a posthumous message to Miles) said "It Worked". I think she was referring to Jack's reset plan. However, I think something will happen in the off island reality that will re-reset things and they'll end up back on the original timeline (which we are seeing in the on island reality).

Okay... that was the confusing one... moving on...

#2 Jin and Sun will seek fertility treatment ... from Juliet

In the off island reality Jin and Sun have arrived safe and sound in LA X. And without the island's magic Viagra, Jin is still infertile. Since they've arrived to start a new life together it only makes sense they would seek help in starting a family... and who better than our resident fertility specialist?

#3 Sawyer scams Hurley

Cmon! A con man meets a lottery winner. This has to happen! Look for an off island story in which Sawyer's best cons come to nothing as Lady Luck is on Hurley's side.

#4 Sawyer meets Sawyer

And yes, our favorite book worm will run into Locke's Dad again in the off island reality. And kill him. Again.

#5 Sayid is NOT Jacob

Seriously. Stop. I know Sayid sounded like he lost his accent when he woke up. I know Jacob had a plan to save Sayid. But he isn't possessing Sayid's body. Why? Just a feeling. But the Man in Black didn't possess Locke's body (he just took his form) and since the Man in Black and Jacob seem to be peers, I just don't think Jacob has this ability.

#6 Juliet and Sawyer will meet off island

They will discuss getting coffee. Someone will suggest they go Dutch. That's why her crazy ass rant last episode will end up making sense.

#7 We'll see a different actor playing Walt, and Walt will be shown in a classroom, being taught by Arzt

And it will be a crazy risky experiment. In which Arzt will get blown up. Too good to pass up!

#8 Keamy will be back

And bitches will be pwned. While you are waiting for the best villain in Lost history to return, enjoy Keamy's Paradise.

#9 Vincent, Rose, Bernard, and Hurley all make it out alive

These 4 characters are untouchable. The writers do not have the onions to kill off any of these four.

And finally...

#10 Kate ends up with Frogurt

While Jack and Sawyer pummel each other again and again, Kate finds comfort in the arms of the world's greatest frozen yogurt salesman.

Well... I guess I'm Going Rogue

2010-02-08T21:20:00.004-05:00

If you've read this blog, you know I voted for Obama in last year's presidential election. McCain picking Palin as his VP played a major role in this selection, as I found her very very disturbing.

So when my father-in-law bought me Sarah Palin's book Going Rogue I tossed it aside. After all, life is too short and there are too many books to read to waste time on what almost has to be a ghost written biography of a woman who thinks Jesus rode a dinosaur and that government "death panels" would be worse than for-profit insurance company "death panels".

Then I read this column by Orson Scott Card. OSC is one of my favorite authors (Ender's Game is the classic everyone loves, but for my money you can't go wrong with Enchantment or Pastwatch), but I definitely disagree with the majority of his opinions. However, I still grant him a measure of respect and he made some valid points about Palin's book. I shouldn't assume how stupid it is until I've read it.

The icing on the cake came when I read this column by Laura Miller about reading a book you think you'll hate in 2010. Miller wrote one of my favorite books of 2009, The Magician's Book so I figured it was a sign.

I guess at some point this year, I'm Going Rogue.

Sigh.

Mini Update

2009-07-28T22:27:00.000-04:00

11.Floss once a week - I somehow have gotten into the habit of flossing every night before I go to bed. Yay for habits!

19. Attend basketball games for each cousin - I have now seen all 4 of my cousins who played high school ball play. Bonus points for also seeing the one who played in college.

63. Add 5 new tricks to the rotation - Between pork curry in a hurry, porkzinni, chicken and corn chowder, zucchini pie, spicy turkey sausage zucchini casserole, chicken salad sammiches, and quick chicken tiki masala I've got this one covered.

65. Grow something and eat it - Radishes, Cherry tomatoes, Basil, Zucchini. Yum.

66. Visit Australia - Changed to Visit Europe. It's gonna happen.

91. Make a will - We have created the will and it should be legal even though our notary messed a few things up and we need to redo that. But the will is all set.

The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventure in Narnia by Laura Miller

2009-02-22T19:44:00.005-05:00

I love to read. I have for as long as I can remember. I would sequester myself off in the woods during the summer, burying my head in a book as I solved cases with Encyclopedia Brown and the Boxcar Children, wondered if maybe my teacher was an alien, and wished my school was as awesome as Wayside. In the winter time I would crawl into one of my parents' cars, trying to find a secluded and warm spot as I journeyed off to other worlds. And despite my love for the stories and worlds of Louis Sachar, Bruce Coville, Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, Gertrude Chandler Warner, and Madeleine L'Engle, the world of Narnia was my favorite of all.

I don't remember when I first encountered The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. But I do remember how long and hard I searched for that magical wardrobe that would transport me to Narnia. My grandmother's house seemed the most likely place. After all, the Pevensie children found their magical portal in the Old Professor's house. My grandmother's old farm house, with its many staircases and attics seemed just the place. I still remember the disappointment I felt, when I pushed past dusty clothes in an upstairs closet only to find an old, but very solid wall.

Despite these disappointments, the world of Narnia always seemed real to me when I was a child, and I'd roam around the woods surrounding my parents house looking for places that reminded me of the forests of Narnia. I thought the journey Edmund, Lucy, and Eustace had aboard the Dawn Treader was just about the coolest thing that could ever happen, and I was devastated when I finished The Last Battle and realized there wouldn't be anymore stories. I still enjoyed The Last Battle, but I wanted nothing more than for the story to continue, and I even remember asking my 5th grade teacher if it would be legal for me to continue the story!

Later on, I discovered that C.S. Lewis was a Christian apologist, and that the Chronicles of Narnia contained many Christian religious symbols. I was raised Catholic, so I was dumbfounded that I had missed what now seemed so obvious. The death and resurrection of Aslan represented the death and resurrection and Jesus. How could I have missed that? I also felt a bit cheated. One of my most treasured and loved childhood memories had been turned out to be religious propaganda. I still loved the Chronicles, but they now seemed somewhat tarnished.

Thankfully, the New Yorker reviewed a book by Laura Miller, entitled The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia. The review mentioned that Miller had also loved the Chronicles growing up, had also been disappointed when she learned of the religious symbolism, but then she returned to her love of the books as an adult. I was excited and immediately headed down to the bookstore. As soon as I opened the book and saw one of my favorite passages of my favorite book (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader) quoted I knew I was in for a treat.

I loved hearing Miller's story, and how closely it echoed my own. I also enjoyed her perspective on the Chronicles of Narnia. Most literary critics focus on the Christian symbolism, but Miller focuses on her own experiences and the non-Christian inspirations which are much more fascinating than another long winded explanation about men with beards in sandals. Reading Miller's book made me realize the Chronicles of Narnia are so much more than religious propaganda, and just re-reading some of my favorite passages gave me goosebumps. I was returned, for a few moments, to my childhood, when it seemed that Narnia could be waiting for me behind any door. If you are a fan of Narnia, you will not be disappointed in this well written and thought provoking book.

#97. Start an account for my wife's godson

2009-01-18T22:04:00.002-05:00

So since I started this list, each month I've taken 10 bucks and set it aside for my wife's godson. One I hit $100 I went and bought a $200 savings bond. I'll continue to do this until the kid is 18. Then, we'll take the bonds down and cash em in and give him a nice graduation gift. The first savings bond arrived yesterday!

Unless the kid turns out to be an ass. Then we'll keep it :)

#56. Buy a GPS for running/biking

2009-01-07T23:36:00.002-05:00

I saw a Garmin Forerunner 305 on sale at Amazon last week for around $160 (they normally cost $300) and I just had to pull the trigger. So now I can watch my heart rate, know my pace, and how far I've gone with this nifty little device.

If only it would stop snowing so I could give it a test run....

My Inner Pop Princess

2008-12-11T21:29:00.002-05:00

I have a confession to make.

Deep down I'm a fan of pop music. Me and Avril are tight. Nelly Furtado makes me shake my booty. Shakira makes me want to speak Spanish.

I guess it all started back in 2002 when a girl I was dating wanted to go see Michelle Branch. I reluctantly agreed and figured if I had to sit through the damn concert I might as well listen to some of her stuff. So I popped on Napster (or whatever I was using in 2002) and downloaded The Spirit Room. Much to my surprise... it was kinda catchy. And when I saw her in concert she blew all my expectations away. She could sing and she could play the guitar and well... she rocked.

As the next few years went bye, The Spirit Room was my guilty pleasure. Whenever I was feeling mellow I'd pop it in the CD player and just cruise. Around this time I also started spending more time in the gym, and they were always playing some Top 40 station. Avril Lavigne's Complicated had just hit it big and I can't tell you how many miles I put in on a treadmill listening to that song. It grew on me.

So there I am, secretly rocking out to Michelle Branch and Avril when I'm all alone. Then one fateful day a year or two ago my wife was watching a movie on ABC family or the Life Channel or something like that. Anyways, a Michelle Branch tune is on the soundtrack and I start singing it. Of course this isn't one of her big hits like Everywhere or All you Wanted. This was the song between them on the CD, You Get Me. And I am singing every damn word. I have no excuses and my wife immediately called me a Pop Princess.

So I've been outed. I love Kelly Clarkson's Since U Been Gone, Christina Aguilera's version of Candyman, and Katy Perry's I Kissed a Girl.

My 16 year old self just died.

In his memory I should play some Metallica or some Pearl Jam. Instead, I'll play my newest guilty pleasure Pull Shapes by the Pipettes, a band I first learned about from a funny book

#26. See Metallica Live

2008-11-10T11:12:00.010-05:00

I saw Metallica live for the 8th time last night. In honor of this historic event, I present:

A Metallica Retrospective

Load Tour: April 15 1997

This concert blew me away. I was 16 and had seen AC/DC in 1996 (my first real concert) but nothing had prepared me for my first Metallica show. The Boys in Black had put a lot of money into the stage theatrics and it showed. At one point, the entire friggin stage started blowing apart. Roadies fell from the ceiling. On fire. It was awesome.

After the carnage, James came out and pulled the string on a solitary lightbulb (all that remained after the destruction). "IS EVERYBODY OK?!??" he roared with a grin. "YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" we responded, as they came back out and rocked in a "Garage Inc" days stage.

To this day I don't think I've been to concert that was better. I also love how the Ticket Stub says Riverfront Colosseum instead of US Bank Arena.

Set List:
Intro
So What!
Creeping Death
Sad But True
Ain't My Bitch
Hero of the Day
King Nothing
One
Wasting My Hate
Bass / Guitar Solo
Nothing Else Matters
Until it Sleeps
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Wherever I May Roam
Fade to Black
Seek & Destroy / Fight Fire With Fire
Last Caress
Master of Puppets
Enter Sandman
Am I Evil?
Motorbreath

I have no idea why the date for the Cincy show is wrong on the T-shirt.

Re-Load Tour: July 7 1998

At the time I didn't know how lucky I was to be seeing them again so soon after the '97 show. I loved the Ecstasy of Gold intro video they had. It was pretty much this clip from The Good The Bad and The Ugly:

For some reason Tuco running through the graveyard was a badass way to start the show. I'm pretty sure I gave myself whiplash during Master of Puppets. The acoustic set in the middle was pretty cool too, and hearing Metallica play Sweet Home Alabama was surreal (and is probably why I insist on yelling Play Some Skynyrd! at every concert I attend)

Setlist
Ecstasy of Gold
Helpless
Master of Puppets
Of Wolf And Man
The Thing That Should Not Be
Kirk solo
Where the Wild Things Are jam
Fuel
Memory Remains
Jason solo
Bleeding Me
Nothing Else Matters
Until it Sleeps
King Nothing
Wherever I May Roam
One
Fight Fire With Fire
Low Manґs Lyric (acoustic)
The Four Horsemen (acoustic)
Sweet Home Alabama jam (acoustic)
Motorbreath (acoustic)
Sad But True
Enter Sandman
Creeping Death

Summer Sanitarium 2000: July 8 2000

This show was at the Kentucky Speedway in Sparta. A good friend of mine's father owned a luxury box at the speedway so we had the red carpet treatment all day. We took a limo to the show and had access to the luxury box all day. Seeing the crowds down on the field moshing to Korn from the luxury box was awesome. It was a sea of people jumping up and down in rhythm. Craziness!

This was the show that James missed because he was in the hospital due to a jet ski accident. I was pretty disappointed at the time, but I can honestly say I'm one of the few people in the world who have seen Kid Rock front Metallica for a Rolling Stones cover or Jonathon Davis fronting Metallica singing One. I think the bands pulled together well and put on a helluva once in a lifetime show. No ticket stub for this one because we had to turn those in to get our tickets for the make up show.

Set List
Creeping Death (Jason vox, Kenny guitar)
For Whom the Bell Tolls (Jason vox, Kenny guitar)
Seek & Destroy (Jason vox, Kenny guitar)
Mastertarium (w/Jason and then Serje on vox and Darren on guitar)
One (Jonathon Davis on vocals, SOAD on guitar)
Korn - Blind (w/Larz and Kirk)
Korn - Clown
Korn - Earache my Eye (w/Jason)
Korn - South of Heaven jam (w/Jason)
Sad But True/American Badass - (Kid Rock on vox)
Nothing Else Matters (Kid Rock on vox, Head on bass)
Kid Rock - Fortuante Son (w/Kid Rock and Jason vox)
Kid Rock - Jumpin' Jack Flash (w/Kid Rock vox)
Fuel (Jason vox, Kid Rock on turntables)
Turn the Page (Kid Rock vocals)
Whiplash (w/Kid Rock's guitarist)
Enter Sandman (w/Kid rock on backing vox, Head bass)

Back Again: August 8 2000

I love this ticket stub. "Special Guest: James Hetfield". Hilarious! Seeing the boys rock out Rupp was awesome. One clear memory I have of this show is how the opening band used numbers for the names of all their songs, and all their songs were instrumental. "This one is called #31!" Very catchy....

Set List
Ecstasy of Gold
Creeping Death
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Seek & Destroy
Fade to Black
Sad But True
Fuel
No Leaf Clover
King Nothing
Mastertarium
Battery
Nothing Else Matters
I Disappear
One
Turn the Page
Enter Sandman
Last Caress / So What! / Die Die My Darling

Summer Sanitarium 2003: July 19 2003

I loved the start of this show. Battery and then straight into Master of Puppets. Can't get much better than that. This was a show of many firsts. It was the first time I got to hear Harvester of Sorrow Live. This was the first time my (future) wife and I saw Metallica together (even though she also attended the Speedway and Rupp makeup shows). And finally, this was the first concert I attended where I didn't buy a t-shirt. At $30 they were too much for me (and I've never bought another). This concert marked my last mosh pit as well, as I took an elbow to the throat during Linkin Park's set. My voice disappeared as the day went on and I couldn't talk for a week (which amused my friends to no end). Lowlights of the day included Fred Durst and the Buckeye idiots yelling OH-IO between sets.

Battery
Master of Puppets
Harvester of Sorrow
Sanitarium
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Frantic
Sad But True
St. Anger
No Remorse
Seek & Destroy
Blackened
Fuel
Nothing Else Matters
Creeping Death
One
Enter Sandman

St. Anger Tour: May 1 2004

Whew... the 4 year drought ends. We had to sit in the bleachers for this show, since this was before Cincinnati reversed the ban on festival seating. A few things stick out to me about this show, including one of my wife's friends sitting down at the concert. For shame! Also, I managed to score my first Metallica guitar pick despite being 8 rows up in the stands. I saw one lying on the floor and convinced a bored security guard to hand it to me. During this show we also discovered that Sober James was quite the chatty Kathy. This was also the first show I went to where the band offered a download of the concert from LiveMetallica.com The crowd singing the entire first verse of Sad But True is awesome.

Set List
Blackened
Fuel
Seek and Destroy
Kirk Doodle #1
Fade to Black
Frantic
King Nothing
No Leaf Clover
St. Anger
Sad But True
Creeping Death
Battery
I Disappear
Kirk Doodle #2
Nothing Else Matters
Master Of Puppets
One
Enter Sandman
Am I Evil?
Metal Militia

St Anger Tour: September 24 2004

Ah, the second visit during the St. Anger Tour. After this show my wife and I decided that the next time Metallica toured we'd go see em three times (little did we know that by the time that happened in 2008 we'd have just bought a house and have no money for that). This show was in Columbus so this time we were on the floor. It was probably the closest I had ever been to the stage at a Metallica show. The stage was set in the middle and fans could stand at the rail all the way around the stage. Once again I managed to score a guitar pick (different from the one I got at the Cincy show). Hearing Hit the Lights live for the first time was cool.

Set List
Blackened
Fuel
No Leaf Clover
Creeping Death
Frantic
Wherever I May Roam
Turn the Page
St. Anger
Kirk Doodle #1
Fade to Black
Master Of Puppets
Fight Fire With Fire
I Disappear
Melbourne
Nothing Else Matters
Sad But True
One
Enter Sandman
Hit The Lights
Seek and Destroy

Death Magnetic Tour: November 9 2008

Whew! After 4 longs years I finally got to see them again. Though the guys look a bit older, they can still blow the place up. Kirk just plays the hell out of that guitar. My buddy's wife was 8 1/2 months pregnant and I thought for sure the baby would be popped out by the sound of his playing. I was a bit sad I didn't score a guitar pick or one of the Death Magnetic beach balls they dropped from the ceiling, but the show was great.

Set List
That Was Just Your Life
The End of the Line
Creeping Death
Ride The Lightning
One
Broken, Beat & Scarred
Cyanide
Sad But True
Wherever I May Roam
Leper Messiah
Kirk Solo #1
The Day That Never Comes
Master Of Puppets
Battery
Kirk Solo #2
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman
Die Die My Darling
Jump in the Fire
Seek and Destroy

Concert Review

Wow. 8 shows over 12 years. I've attended four with my wife, five with my Dad, and all eight with one of my best friends. Whenever the Boys in Black tour again, you can bet your ass we'll be there.

13. Become educated on presidential candidates and their stands

2008-11-03T22:10:00.009-05:00

John Stuart Mill was a proponent of an educational qualification for voting. While I admit that such a qualification would almost certainly be used for nefarious purposes (Jim Crow laws for example), seeing things like this give me pause:

Regardless, I felt it was my personal duty to learn about the candidates I would need to choose from on November 4th. And though I lean liberal on the majority of issues I firmly believe in keeping an open mind and not clinging to misguided beliefs in the face of insurmountable evidence to the contrary. So, in order to come to a decision about who to vote for I did the following things:

1.)Subscribed to the New Yorker Campaign Trail Podcast. Obviously this was a very liberal POV coming from the New Yorker whose editors endorsed Obama.

2.)Read frequent "World Watch" columns by Orson Scott Card at The Ornery American. An example can be found here. OSC is a pretty socially conservative dude and as a person who is one of my favorite authors, was someone I felt could provide me with a conservative viewpoint that might be more palatable to me. Unfortunately it wasn't. OSC leans towards paranoia in his columns and ventures into the realm of hypocrisy on many occasions.

3.)Watched the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. Highlights included Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer's speech,

Ted Kennedy's appearance, Mick Huckabee's comedy act, and Sarah Palin's speech which led to this great image:

4.)I read Barack Obama's Dreams from My Father and John McCain's Faith of My Fathers.

5.)I took a ride on the Straight Talk Express,

when McCain came to town.

I even shook his hand

6.)I went and saw Barack Obama when he came to town.

I shook his hand as well

7.)I watched all 3 Presidential debates and the VP debate

8.)I visited the best polling site on the web fivethirtyeight.com daily

9.)And I enjoyed all the laughs, from The Daily Show

to Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, to Obama Girl.

So as I make my way to the polls tomorrow, I will feel very confident as I vote to elect Barack Obama as the next president of the United States. Though I believe that John McCain is a good man and a true American hero, I have come to believe that he and I differ on many significant issues and picking someone like Sarah Palin as his VP has shown me that he wants to get elected more than he cares about the future of this country. I believe that Barack Obama will be the best person to move us forward from the past eight years and I look forward to affordable health care for my family (which I don't have now), a Supreme Court that isn't controlled by conservatives, and having someone who I believe has a keen understanding of the domestic and foreign policy issues that face America in the White House.

I hope you will vote for Barack Obama tomorrow. However, more than that, I hope that you came to that conclusion by educating yourself. If you plan on voting becoming educated is your duty and if you haven't I hope that you will sit this one out.

#85. Buy a House

2008-10-26T23:13:00.002-04:00

Well, this past Monday my wife and I closed on our first home. The house is an old farmhouse (built in 1890) that was extensively remodeled in 1993 (new wiring, plumbing, walls, additions, etc.). Along with the house comes a 1800 sq ft Pole Barn and 4.165 acres.

When our realtor first showed us this house I knew the minute I sat down on the beautiful wrap around porch that I wanted it. I felt like I could sit on that porch for the rest of my life.

I'm still amazed at how fast this process went, and I'm a bit terrified about the mortgage, but this past week has been fun.... despite being filled with hours of wallpaper stripping.

John Stuart Mill

2008-10-13T20:51:00.009-04:00

Today I was on an airplane for 5 or 6 hours, and nothing is better for guilt free reading than riding on a plane. I had picked up a biography of John Stuart Mill by Richard Reeves after reading a review of the book in The New Yorker. I knew of Mill from various History of Psych classes (both undergrad and grad) but had never paid him much mind (there's soooo much to cover in those classes all you can get is a very limited understanding of each famous philosopher) until I read the review. Some of Mill's quotes slapped me upside the head and demanded that I pay him some attention.

So I settled in on my plane ride today to see if the book was as entertaining as the review. 125 pages in and I'm going to go with yes. In fact, I began scribbling notes to myself on one of the in-flight magazines.

I'm treating this more like journal at this point than a blog, so feel free to stop paying attention at this point because this will be very stream of conscious and mostly jotting down quotes from the book, so I have something to reference and synthesize later.

pg 4 Mill quote: "I never meant to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative"

ZING!

pg 33 Mill quote: "Without knowing the language of a people, we never really know their thoughts, and their character, and unless we do possess this knowledge, of some other people than ourselves , we remain to the hour of our death, with our intellects only half expanded"

This is a great comment and is one of the many reasons why I need to get off my ass and start back with the Spanish lessons.

pg 35 - An amusing anecdote about Godwin's thought experiment about who one should save from a fire, one's wife or an archbishop. Godwin, as a utilitarian, would say the archbishop because he would bring the most happiness to the most people. Reeves quotes Bernard Williams who says: "if we have to throw one person over the side of the lifeboat, our wife or a stranger, and we have to think about it, that's just one thought too many"

pg 37 - Reeves writes that for Mills, the important question is not whether or not God exists, but whether or not the belief in the existence of God adds to human happiness.

My wife has tried to explain this to me on the numerous occasions I rant about the irrationality involved in religion. And I think I now see the point she was making.

pg 46 Mill quote "If to have been to the University be the end of education there is no doubt that by going to University that end may be most effectually attained"

As my adviser always says, you shouldn't let school get in the way of your education. I've found lately that I've had a hunger to read as much non-fiction as I can and in as many topics as I can. Nothing stimulates my mind like a book like this.

pg 54 Mill quote To silence any view, "was to say that the people are better qualified to judge before discussion than after it: which is absurd, since before discussion, if their opinions are true it is only by accident, whereas after it they hold them with a complete conviction, and perfect knowledge of the proofs on which they are grounded"

This is Mill discussing the dangers of mainstream opinion going unchallenged. - Reeves

pg 65 Hume quote "Be a philosopher, but amidst all your philosophy, be still a man"

pg 72-73 Mill on friendship "... the greatest source of friendship between minds of any capacity; this is, not equality, for nothing can be so little interesting to a man as his own double; but, reciprocal superiority. Each of us knows many things the other knows not, & can do many things which the other values but cannot himself do, or not so well"

This is such a great thought and is very close to why I think my wife and I are so perfect for each other.

pg 75 Reeves on Saint-Simon: "History passes through alternating eras of stability and change - 'organic' and 'critical' periods; that conflict of opposites led to a resolution different to either; that societies were continually breeding the seeds of their own destruction; and both ideas and institutions appropriate for one age would become redundant in the next and need replacing"

Shades of William James's stain, Pirsig's static and dynamic quality, and maybe a little Kuhn. I need to think about this so more and integrate it.

pg 76 Reeves paraphrasing Mill "The value of any specific law or institution was necessarily contingent upon the social, political, and economic context of the time"

This is actually how I wish people would interpret the bible. In the proper historical context with an understanding of the intended audience.

pg 78 Mill quote: "But to hear a man gravely pledge himself to be always of the same opinion - bind himself by a solemn promise that the arguments which convince him now, upon his honor shall convince him to his dying day - that what he thinks advisable now he will think advisable always howsoever circumstances may change . . . is utterly ludicrous"

I wish more politicians and scientists would read this. Especially those who blast their colleagues for "flip-flopping"

pg 84-85 Mill quote: "Contemporary education is all cram. The danger then was that the mental light of the nations has lost in intensity at least part of what it has gained in diffusion; whether our 'march of intellect' be not rather a march towards doing without intellect, and supplying a deficiency of giants by the united efforts of a constantly increasing multitude of dwarfs"

A bit elitist sure, but an interesting point that is still valid in regards to school today. For Mills, according to Reeves, a genius was not someone who displayed a dazzling intellect, but a person who was fully self-determining and autonomous. I don't think our schools do a good job at training that (see the discussion of Margaret Mead's Coming of Age in Samoa)

to be continued...

Book Review (12/34) Faith of My Fathers by John McCain

2008-10-06T16:21:00.004-04:00

It's an odd feeling when you are purchasing a book that goes contrary to your point of view. I felt like explaining to everyone near me that I wasn't a Republican, that I was planning on voting for Obama, and that I just felt I needed to give each candidate a "fair" shot at gaining my vote. I selected the book entitled "Faith of my Fathers" as I felt it would be a nice complement to Obama's "Dreams From my Father". Both books detail the early years of the candidates. Obama's from birth, through his years of organizing in Chicago, until his life changing journey to his father's native land of Kenya. McCain tells the story of his grandfather, father, and his own life up through his release from a Vietnamese POW camp.

As I mentioned I felt weird, and a little ashamed, as I read through McCain's book in a crowded airport. I was definitely reading the book with a jaded eye as I saw a politician's voice leaping at me from every line. But the more I read the more I liked this Mac Kane (as his Vietnamese captors called him) guy. His admiration for his grandfather (an Admiral in WWII who was at the Japanese surrender) and his father (Admiral and Commander of the Pacific Command during the Vietnam War) is very apparent and you can tell that McCain comes from a different breed of men. Men of honor and determination who would give their lives for America without a moment's hesitation.

I guess the part of the book that impressed me the most was McCain's description of his experiences as a POW for 5 1/2 years. Though he certainly deserves admiration for his own loyalty and faith during his years of imprisonment he continually downgrades his own achievements to relate the heroic deeds of other POWs. I can't imagine going through what McCain endured in those 5 years and the man is obviously an American Hero.

That's what I think really gets confused in this red-blue divided country of ours. Though I disagree with McCain's stances on a lot of issues, I began to see him in a different light in this book. He is a good man. An American Hero. There's a lesson to be learned here. I think deep down we all want the same things, the things that Michelle Obama (in her convention speech) reiterated. We all want an equal opportunity to succeed based on our own merit and the ability to provide our children with a better life than we had. No matter how much Fox News tries to blast Obama for his lack of a lapel American flag, or how much Comedy Central rips McCain I think during the rest of the election season I will try to remember that at the core these two people are good men.

I know some of you are cynical about politicians. But when I read these books I just feel I get a little more than listening to 5 second sound bytes on the news. I'm reminded of a quote by Vaclav Havel where he writes that living normally, "begins as an attempt to do your work well, and ends with being branded an enemy of society"

#41. Run a Marathon

2008-09-22T14:27:00.003-04:00

Why is it on the list?

If you had told me 2 years ago I would eventually run a marathon I would have called you crazy. The thought of running 26.2 miles just seemed insane. But I had this bug up my ass that if I trained hard enough I could maybe ... just maybe... finish an Ironman one of these days. And well you can't do an Ironman without being able to do a marathon.

The Process

As usual, you can find a full break down of the race from the My Space page. But after months of training I finished my first marathon in 4:18:24, which is about a 9:52 pace. This is a little slower than I had secretly hoped, but I did complete my goal of beating Oprah's marathon time. I made it to the 20 mile mark in about 3 hours, but bad leg cramps derailed my dreams of beating P Diddy and the 4 hour mark. Completing those last 6.2 miles was one of the hardest things I've ever done and I was thrilled to cross the finish line in good shape and to be able to celebrate with my wife who also finished her first marathon!

Two days later I am a bit sore, but I'm ready to march on to the dream of becoming an Ironman. The next big step will be the Half Ironman and I'm targeting the Great Buckeye Challenge in August 09. Stay tuned!

#92 Get a passport

2008-09-13T15:00:00.000-04:00

Whoo-hoo! My passport arrived today! About time I got one don't ya think? Now the big question is where do I go first?!?!

Book Review (11/34) To the Castle and Back by Václav Havel

2008-09-06T11:02:00.002-04:00

I first learned of Havel back in 2003 when I read this article in the New Yorker. I was struck by a particular quote of Havel's in the article, so much so that I actually wrote it down (Once upon a time I kept a small notebook where I would write down quotes that made me think or laugh). Havel wrote that all too often, "living normally begins as an attempt to do your work well and ends with being branded an enemy of society".

This quote appealed in the context of Havel challenging the authority of his boss, which I'm sure is what appealed to my rebellious streak. I wrote the quote down and made a mental note to read one of his books someday.

5 years later, (and with my 101 Things to Do List focusing my energies) I decided to finally purchase one of Havel's books. I settled on his memoir, To the Castle and Back. The Castle refers to the Prague Castle, where Havel spent his years as President of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic after the split. To the Castle and Back contains Havel's answers to an interviewer's questions mixed in with memos Havel sent to his staff during his presidencies. The memos provide insight into both the wonderful and the mundane aspects of being the President of a country, and as a playwright Havel does not fail to entertain.

The majority of the book was written while Havel was visiting Washington DC in 2005 and his comments on Americans are hilarious:

"Americans place great store in white teeth, something I find generally agreeable; they have dozens of ways of achieving dental perfection and whiteness, and I don't think it's unusual for people here to have a relatively healthy set of teeth replaced with one that is artificial but more beautiful"

"... American cars, which for unknown reasons, have herds of useless horses under their hoods and are capable of speeds many times greater than is allowed anywhere here"

I also enjoyed the discussion of how absurd Havel found it that he became President, and all his insecurities despite the fact that he is universally regarded as a hero, someone who was instrumental in bringing about the fall of the Soviet Union. The fact that he mixes in memos such as: "We need a longer hose for watering" and "I would ask Mr. Rechtacek to repair and refill my lighter and send it back" with memos dealing with meeting world leaders and setting the course of world events makes it a wonderful reading experience. President Havel, I thoroughly enjoyed your memoir, and promise that it won't be 5 years before we meet again. I just have to decided which one to read next...

#45. Complete a Muddy Buddy

2008-08-25T23:42:00.002-04:00

What is it?

The Muddy Buddy is a race that consists of a two person team. One person begins the race on foot while the other begins the race on a bike. The person on the bike rides until they reach an obstacle. They drop the bike, complete the obstacle, and then take off on foot. The guy who started on foot completes the obstacle, grabs the bike, and then leapfrogs his teammate. This pattern continues through the course as you encounter obstacles. At the end, you are your teammate meet up and slog through a mudpit to the finish line.

Why is it on the list?

I love doing fun races. The Urban Challenge was awesome. The Mad Cow Urban Adventure Race was crazy. And I'm eyeing the Krispy Kreme challenge for next year. But a mud covered obstacle course sounded perfect and as it was as close to Ninja Warrior as I'm likely to get I was all for it.

The Process

Well the official race report will be linked on My Space soon enough, but needless to say good times were had by all as we ran across a balance beam, climbed over a wall, scaled a cargo net, slid down the slide at the other end, monkeyed our way through an over/under jungle gym, and trudged through the mudpit. If you want a good time I highly recommend the Muddy Buddy!

Book Review (10/34) Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama

2008-08-11T20:31:00.002-04:00

#13 on this list is to become educated on the presidential candidates. As part of this process I've decided to read their books. I started with this book because I'm fairly certain I'll vote for Barack Obama and this particular book was his first. I was also hoping for an open and honest story from a man who had no idea he would one day be running for President when he wrote the book.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was divided into 3 main sections, detailing Obama's upbringing in Hawaii and Indonesia, his work as a social organizer in Chicago, and his first visit to Kenya, the birthplace of his father. Obama's struggle as a child of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenyan is poignant. I had no idea that he only met his father once and for such a short period of time. I didn't know he spent years of his childhood in Indonesia. It was difficult to read about his search for black role models and the search for his own identity in Hawaii. Also, the tales from his white grandparents about the racism they experienced in Texas hit close to home.

When I was younger (maybe 11 or 12) I befriended a young black kid on the school bus. He was probably 7 or 8 and I would read to him on the ride home. Soon enough, the other kids on the bus (as mentioned in other posts I grew up in a 99% white community) started making fun of me. I'm ashamed to say I succumbed to peer pressure and gradually started distancing myself from the younger kid. It really gets to me when I think about what he had to go through and the fact that I wasn't strong enough to stand up to the people making fun of me for being his friend.

Barack Obama inspires me. When I listen to his speeches I feel like maybe we can come together as a nation and perhaps my children's children can truly see past race. I hate hearing my family and friends make racial comments. I've seen adults encourage and reinforce children to insult immigrant workers. I've been in cars where people have locked the doors when they saw a 12 year old black girl playing hopscotch. And I'm still ashamed at the courage I lacked when I was that same 12 years old.

Anyways, I think this book does an excellent job providing a look at Obama's early years. I enjoyed reading his journey of self-discovery and the lessons he learned in Hawaii, Indonesia, Chicago, and Kenya. I'm quite interested to see the differences between the Audacity of Hope (written after he became a politician) and this book. I'll also be getting his policy book coming out in September.

But next I must give Senator McCain a chance. As much as I don't see myself voting for a Republican candidate I feel that I must not fall victim to the sentiment expressed by Phillip Wylie: "But you don't know how to read anymore. When you open a book, you do it in the faith and assurance that you are already master of what it contains and that the author has written only so you may prove him wrong". So I plan to read one of McCain's books next, and try and keep an open mind.

#64. Eat at new ethnic restaurants (Korean, Vietnamese, Filipino, Jamaican)

2008-07-28T21:35:00.002-04:00

Growing up in Northern Kentucky did not provide a lot of chances for experiencing cultural diversity. The town I grew up in was about 98% Caucasian and for 16 years I went to Catholic schools that had about the same demographic. Thus, I spent the first 22 years of my life living in some sort of bubble where everyone looked the same, thought the same, worshiped the same, and ate the same. I ate steak, fried chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken tenders, fried fish, French fries, ice cream, and Snicker bars. I pounded Big Macs and the now defunct Arch Deluxe. I thought Red Lobster was the best seafood restaurant in the world and that the perfect Italian meal could be had at the Olive Garden.

Then I went to graduate school.

Within our program we had students from: India, Malaysia, China, Russia, Spain, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Japan, and the United Kingdom. We had Muslims, Jews, Mormons, Hindus, Buddhists, Evangelicals, Protestants, Catholics, Agnostics, and Atheists. We had Vegans, Vegetarians, Kosher, Fish on Fridays, and Fasters. It was thanks to this diverse group of people that I began to see there was more to the world than what I had experienced in the NKY.

Early on in my first year, the graduate students had a cultural evening where everyone brought a dish from their country/region (I brought a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken). And wow… I was amazed. There was so much tasty food that I had never even heard of let alone tasted. The next thing you know I was sitting at Amar India eating Lamb Curry. I was having a gyro at the Greek Isle Deli. I was eating Sushi with chopsticks and I was loving the eye watering spice at Thai Nine (once I gave it two or three tries). I realized that I loved international cuisine and every time I wanted to eat out I found myself heading to Jeet India or the Japanese Hibatchi or well you get it. This also showed me how great local restaurants are compared to chains and led me to discover great local American fare as well.

When I moved to Knoxville I decided to continue exploring different cuisines. I tried Cuban and Korean. Since the last update I’ve had some great shrimp spring rolls from T Ho. Vietnamese, some excellent shrimp noodles at the Philippine Connection (along with a drink that had coconut milk, tropical fruit, and sweet beans that was reminiscent of a drink I had in Hawaii), and falafel, fried zucchini, baklava, and Turkish Delights from Ali Baba’s. (all three of which are located in Knoxville).

So I’ve definitely fulfilled my quota of three new ethnic cuisines (although I have yet to try Ethiopian). However, the fun didn’t stop there! Today for lunch I had paprika schnitzel at Anna’s German Quick Stop (with some great sauerkraut and an excellent salad that had cucumbers and green beans). Then I went to the Jamaican Cuisine for dinner. The Jerk Chicken was fabulous. I’ve had “Jamaican Jerk Chicken” before but this stuff was the real deal. The rice and “peas” was terrific and I’ve decided that I absolutely love cabbage.

So thank you my fellow graduate students for opening my mind and my stomach to wonderful new worlds.

Book Review (9/34)The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan

2008-07-15T23:34:00.002-04:00

I had an interesting IM conversation with a friend a few weeks ago. She had decided to try and limit the amount of processed foods she ate after reading this book. I have often made fun of people who only eat organic and books and movie about the horror of the food industry tend to have the opposite effect on me. Upton Sinclair's The Jungle made me want a hot dog and after seeing Super Size Me I really wanted a Big Mac.

However, as my friend continued to present the argument Pollan makes I decided that I at least ought to give the book a shot, especially considering the deal was that if I read the book she'd consider taking up running (convincing people to join me on my quest for healthy living through exercise seems to be a new hobby of mine). So I requested the book from the library and dove in when it arrived a few weeks later.

Pollan's book is an attempt to answer the question, "What should we have for dinner?". As he points out, this is an easy question for a koala bear, who only dines on eucalyptus leaves. However, for a human who can eat just about anything, the question proves more daunting, especially considering how far we are removed from the process of creating food these days. Pollan sets out on a journey to create and eat four meals, one produced by the Industrial food industry, one produced by Big Organic, one produced by Little Organic, and one that he hunted and gathered himself.

His section on the industrial food industry was eye opening. Basically, it appears that the majority of stuff we buy at Krogers (or whatever grocery chain you subscribe to) is made of corn. Scratch that. It's made of petroleum. See, the way it works is we feed cows corn (which makes the cows sick since they aren't made to eat corn, which makes us pump them full of antibiotics, which leads to strains of virii who are resistant to antibiotics....) that is made by using a shit load of chemical pesticides and fertilizers (made from petroleum). Which if you think about it makes ethanol hilarious. We use oil to grow corn then make ethanol from that corn for a net loss of oil. The more you look at it you see that the food industry has taken what was once a solar driven cycle and turned it into a fossil fuel cycle. Everything comes from corn. Chickens, pigs, cows, hell even salmon are being fed corn. That's why wild salmon is better for you than farmed salmon. Farmed salmon is basically... corn.

Of course the Big Organic industry turns out not much better. As Organic food gained popularity the demand made organic growers adopt the practices and methods of the industrial food industry. Thus, Big Organic is also based on the same bedrock of fossil fuels.

One of the most fascinating parts of the book is the description of the small farm (Little Organic) called Polyface in Virginia. Polyface is a small organic farm that only sells its products locally. The owner raises turkey, chickens, rabbits, cows, and pigs in a manner that is pretty close to the natural order of things. As a result, the products of the farm are healthier and tastier than their industrial counterparts as well as better for the environment. I really want to try eating this way and will check out Eatwild.com to find a local farm like Polyface.

The last section of the book has Pollan hunting and gathering for his meal and contains a nice discussion on the ethics of eating animals. I don't think the discussion made me a vegetarian (or Pollan one either), but I do think I need to discover more about what I'm eating, specifically where it comes from. I think eating meat from a place like Polyface would be a lot better than eating it from Krogers after reading this book.

So if you are looking to have your eyes opened about what exactly you are putting into your body when you pound a Big Mac, I highly recommend this book.

42. Complete an Oly Tri

2008-07-10T14:23:00.003-04:00

What is it?

A 1500 meter swim, a 40K (~25 miles) bike, and a 10K (6.2 miles) run.

Why is it on the list?

Well it's a small step on the road to becoming an Ironman. Why do I wanna do that? Stay tuned sports fans!

The Process

The link to my full race report is on My Space along with lots of pictures from the event. Suffice to say I finished in 2:58:44 and felt great. I'm looking forward to the next big step which is the Marathon in September!

#77. Finish bagging and boarding funny books

2008-06-25T17:15:00.002-04:00

What is it?

Back when I was in 3rd grade I had a tonsillectomy. As I spent a week laid up in bed recovering, my mother purchased some comic books to keep me busy and in good spirits. Around the same time frame, my father found some of his old comics in my grandfather's house, including Amazing Spider-man #121: The Death of Gwen Stacy. Reading through these comics got me hooked. I asked for a variety pack for Christmas the next couple of years and my collection was off and running.

Now in order to "protect" the comics from damage while they are in storage, people typically place them in a plastic bag with a piece of cardboard backing (i.e. bagging and boarding them).

Why is it on the list?

Well, of the 1750 comic books in my collection hardly any of them were bagged and boarded, including some of the most valuable ones my Dad found so many years ago. A buddy who also collects comics called me a heathen and demanded that I start bagging and boarding my collection.

The Process

Nothing too exciting to say here. It takes a long time to bag and board comics, and as the supplies cost some money, I spaced it out over the course of a year. But as of today, the 1750 comics in my collection are all safely bagged and boarded and placed in short boxes (13 of em!). It was a fun trip down memory lane and I got to reread a bunch of good comics.

Nowadays, I still visit the comic shop every Wednesday. It blows my mind that people will watch Heroes on TV, see the latest Marvel Movie, and play superhero video games, but consider comic books to be "kid stuff". This might have a lot to do with the stereotypical comic nerd who is a 45 year old virgin living in his Mom's basement. I wish we could get past this because there really are a lot of great comics out there for all ages and interests.

If you like horror, Stephen King's son Joe Hill is publishing a wonderful miniseries called Locke and Key. In fact, King's Dark Tower series is being adapted in comic book form (with original stories!) and a comic book adaptation of The Stand will be out soon! If you like smart science fiction try out Pax Romana from Jonathon Hickman, the first issue of which can be read for free here (click the page to advance to the next one). If you like Westerns, Dynamite has a sequel to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (the best western ever). We find Blondie immediately after digging up all the Confederate Gold. He's on the run from the Union for blowing up the bridge (in the movie), is running from the Confederates from who he got the gold (in the movie), and now is heading back to the Mission (from the movie) to save them from some bandits. Can't wait for Tuco to show up! And if you like noir, Ed Brubaker's Criminal is a great read.

I could go on and on. But I already know you won't pick up a comic book. But in the immortal words of A Christmas Story, I TRIPLE DOG DARE YA!

#86. Participate in Relay for Life

2008-06-24T23:06:00.002-04:00

What is it?

Relay for Life is an event that raises money for the American Cancer Society. It is usually held at a track and the goal is to have someone from your team walking for the entire duration of the event(usually somewhere between 12-18 hours)

Why is it on the list?

I have participated in Relay for life since the year 2005. That first year I think I walked/ran around what a marathon would have been (26 miles or so). It was really inspiring to be there in the middle of the night with the luminaria (lighted candles in bags with names of cancer survivors and cancer victims) and walking with cancer survivors. At the time of my first Relay, my grandmother was battling lung cancer and anytime I got tired I just thought that no matter how tired it was nothing compared to her fight.

Shortly afterwards my grandmother passed away, and I dedicated Relay For Life 2006 in her memory. I became very involved with our team's organization and raised over $500 personally thanks to the generosity of many friends and family members. That year my team managed to raise the most money out of all the teams at the event.

In 2007 I managed to participate in Relay, but only at a low level. For the third year in a row I helped bag groceries at a local grocery to raise money and I walked some laps, but because I was busy planning my wedding I didn't get to participate as fully as I would have like. I vowed that I would return with a vengeance in 2008.

The Process

Now that I was no longer physically located at my graduate school, I knew I needed to find a different Relay locale. Also, I knew I wanted to do more than just join a Relay team... I wanted to lead one. I decided that I would form a team of friends and family members and do the Relay For Life that was happening in my hometown.

I thought about the team name and what sort of team theme we should have. I remembered how cool it was that a team in 2007 ran the event. As my group of friends are fairly athletic people I decided it was doable. Thus, the 100 Milers were born. Our goal was to run the entire Relay For Life Event from 7PM to 7AM and to ask people for donations based on miles ran. Additionally, we would have several fund raisers at the event to raise money. I found an awesome video game called Re-Mission, where you play a nano-bot who fights cancer cells within a person's body. I decided that at Relay our team would setup a few computers and allow people to play a mission for a fee, with the highest score of the night winning a prize. We also decided that a bake sale would be perfect for an event where people are going to be moving all night long.

I gathered a group of friends from all aspects of my life, from childhood up through graduate school, along with many members of my family. Every single one of my team members was extremely helpful in accomplishing our goals. Before the event we raised over $1700 online through donations and around $200 through other fund raisers. The day of the event, everyone showed up on time and in shape for their run. We smashed the 100 Mile barrier, totally 108 miles from the 7PM start to the 7AM finish. I ran over 14 miles from 3AM - 5AM, which was the longest I've ever ran.

In the process, we raised another $500 from the bake sale, video game, and on-site donations for a total of $2400 raised for the American Cancer Society. I am very proud of all my teammates who ran further and raised more money than they thought possible and also every one of our generous donors.

Relay is always an emotional event, and nothing was better for me than being with some awesome friends and family while my wife high stepped the final lap to complete a very successful night.

#80. Get a barcode scanner and start Project Home Library

2008-06-23T00:11:00.003-04:00

Why is it on the List?

I have a dream. One day my wife and I will own a home that will be big enough to have a library. I've always wanted my own library. A room that has nothing but books from wall to wall and floor to ceiling, with some nice comfy furniture to settle in and perhaps a roaring fire in a brick fireplace.

I already have 4 bookshelves overflowing with books and I have an embosser with my initials and "Library Of". With so many books, the fact that I lend them out from time to time, and because I am a giant nerd, I decided the next thing to do would be to catalog the books. Now, entering in ISBN's by hand is a pain in the ass so I decided that a bar code scanner would be the way to go!

The Process

I've wanted a scanner for a long time, but not just any old scanner. I wanted a handheld USB scanner that could read the barcodes off of books and some software to link that bar code to an ISBN. Unfortunately, a nice scanner costs quite a bit of money. Sure I could have bought some bootleg software for $20 and a Cue Cat bar code reader for $5, but it would have been a huge pain in the ass to scan in the hundreds of books I own.

Thankfully, I married the greatest woman of all time. She not only got me an awesome bar code reader for my birthday (the thing can hold 500 bar codes at a time, which means I can take the reader over to the book shelves and not bring the books to the computer... saves a ton of time) but also a sweet software package that is perfect for my ever growing home library. So Project Home Library is well underway. I've got about 2 bookshelves completed and about two more to go!

Progress Update: Adding tricks to the rotation

2008-06-14T02:19:00.003-04:00

I knew it had been awhile when my wife asked me, "So when are you gonna add some more tricks to the rotation?". I quickly assured her that it wasn't my fault! How am I supposed to add tricks to the rotation when my main source of recipes, The Common Culinarian, has been slacking! With no new recipes in sight and a wife tired of tacos and spaghetti I decided the only thing I could do was type pork (for some reason I'm really comfortable cooking w/ pork and chicken...everything else frightens me) in the search field of the Common Culinarian's website and hope for the best.

BAM! Pork Curry in a Hurry! I read through the recipe and thought, "Hell I can make this". I searched the pantry, found most of what I needed, decided that curry powder couldn't be that much different than red curry powder, and headed to Kroger to score some green beans, a bell pepper, lime juice, and coconut milk!

I cut up the pepper, snapped the beans, and cubed the pork. Now even though multitasking in the kitchen isn't one of my strengths, I put the rice on and started to skillet (that's the technical term) up the pork.

Once the pork was finished I started cooking the green beans and the bell pepper while continuously futzing with the rice. When it came time to add the coconut milk, I realized the electric can opener was broken and I couldn't find a mechanical one. I was "in the weeds" (as they say on Top Chef) as I tried to pry the lid open while keeping an eye on the veggies and the rice. Thank god my wife arrived home from work in time to save the day.

With her assistance I finally got the can open and added it along with all the spices:

I heated it through, added the lime juice & sugar, and then served it up!

(Well that was a blurry photo) I think it tasted great and my wife seemed to agreed when she immediately said, "Add this to the rotation!" My only complaint was a lack of spiciness, which may have been due to choosing curry powder over red curry powder. I like my Thai food spicy and next time I'll try to kick it up a notch.

Book Review (7/34) Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gawande

2008-06-08T20:23:00.003-04:00

The old joke goes something like this:

A tourist is wandering around New York city and he is clearly lost. He walks up to a local and asks, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?”. “Practice, Man, Practice” responds the local.

Despite the groans this joke elicits, there is sure to be a few wry smiles because of how true the statement is. If you want to be good at something you have to practice. Sure it helps if you have some natural talent, but the desire to be good at something and the will to keep practicing is just as important. Chris Ballard writes of Kobe Bryant in a recent article in SI:

There’s a difference between loving basketball and liking basketball. There are only about 30 guys in the league who love it, who play year round. Allen Iverson loves to play when the lights come on. Kobe loves doing the shit before the lights comes on. This thing, this freakish compulsion, may be the hardest element of the game to quantify. There are no plus-minus stats to measure a player’s ruthlessness, his desire to beat his opponent so badly he’ll need therapy to recover. One thing’s for sure: You can’t teach it. Is so Eddie Curry would be All-NBA and Derrick Coleman would be getting ready for his induction ceremony in Springfield, Mass. But people know it when they see it

Despite similar levels of athletic ability, his ability to practice more and harder than anyone else is the reason that Kobe Bryant is the best player in the NBA. The importance of practice isn’t limited to sports. Atul Gawande, in his book entitled Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance states that studies have shown that the difference between the ability of elite performers (from violinists to chess players to athletes) and lesser performers is the amount of deliberate practice. In fact, Gawande cites a study by Ericsson who claims that the most important talent is the willingness to practice! Incredibly, elite performers hate practice just as much as their less able peers. However, they are somehow able to push through and will themselves to practice anyways.

Thus, if a person is to become exceptional at their profession, the best thing to do is to practice practice practice. This is obviously easy for Kobe Bryant; it just means more time in the gym. However, Gawande raises an important question: How do we teach surgeons? Obviously, to become an expert surgeon, one must have lots of hands on practice. However, how ethical is it to allow a surgical intern to practice on someone whose life is at stake? Study after study has shown that a patient is more likely to have a successful operation the more experienced a surgeon is. Yet the fact remains that as a society we need to train new surgeons. Additionally studies have shown that when new operating procedures are introduced, patient mortality increases in the short term (but decreases in the long term). How can we train surgeons on new procedures without putting patients at risk?

Gawande does a great job describing these problems and speaks of how he understands the need to train surgeons but he himself has refused to let an intern operate on one of his family members. I can see how much of an internal struggle this would be. I understand that we need to train new surgeons, but I sure as hell don’t want to be the first person a surgeon has ever operated on.

And all that thought was brought on by the first chapter! As usual Gawande’s writing stimulates the mind and the rest of the book is a quick read. Gawande discusses the problem of bad doctors, what should happen when a doctor makes a mistake (and every doctor will eventually make a mistake), the purpose of medical conferences, and a series of interesting case studies. I found the final chapter (about a young girl who may or may not have contracted the flesh eating bacteria) especially interesting. Gawande compared his successful diagnosis to the situations described inGary Klein’s work on firefighters in the field.

But the dilemma that stayed with me was how can we train surgeons without putting patients at risk? It is clear from studies of elite performers that the only way to become proficient in a profession is to practice practice practice. Yet who would want to be on the other end of the knife when a mere novice is holding the scalpel?

#73. Go somewhere at night where there isn’t a lot of ambient light and stargaze

2008-05-28T03:46:00.002-04:00

Why is it on the list?

I grew up out in the country. One of my favorite things to do as a kid was to lay on the neighbor's trampoline and just look up at the stars. I'd see shooting stars and satellites and what just HAD to be alien spaceships. My Dad was always taking my sister and I outside to look at a lunar eclipse or to point out Venus or something and I think it must have been contagious. I loved looking at the sky (day or night) and my sister even put up constellations in her bedroom (using glow in the dark stars).

Anyways, as time passed, the night sky has grown less dark. As the surrounding towns grew and grew, more and more ambient light filled the night sky wiping out the stars. A guy built a house across the way from my parents and insisted on putting a street light out in the middle of nowhere adding to the problem. When I moved away from home I've had streetlights everywhere I've lived and there just doesn't seem to be as many stars any more... and the ones left are very faint and dull. Nothing like the brightness I used to ride my bike home in. (For more on how we are losing the night sky check out this article that also inspired me to add this item to my list)

So I was determined to find a place where I could once again go stargazing and relive those wonderful moments of my youth.

The Process

Little did I know I was going to be doing this from 9000 ft.

Recently, my wife and I took a trip to Hawaii for our one year anniversary. We visited the Big Island and were amazed at the lava fields and seeing Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. However, one of my favorite parts of the trip was the journey we took to the summit of Mauna Kea.

Mauna Kea is the tallest point in the Hawaiian islands at 13,796 feet high. We decided to book a tour that promised us sunset at the summit and a night of stargazing. Usually we end up adventuring on our own, but lacking a four wheel drive vehicle or proper climbing gear we decided to suck it up and be typical tourists for once.

Looking down on a sunset with clouds thousands of feet below you is quite the experience. It was very beautiful and romantic as my wife and I watched the sunset from the summit of the mountain. After sunset, we headed back to the 9000 ft level where the Visitor Center is. At the Visitor Center they had telescopes set up and had them pointed at Mars, Saturn, and the Moon. Saturn was wild looking through the telescope, you could see the rings but it literally looked like a little sticker you'd find on a grade school project.

Our guide also gave us some binoculars and pointed out many stars and constellations. The only thing that was slightly disappointing was the moon was out and almost full, which added a lot of ambient light. However, the stars were still brighter than they are when the moon isn't out in Knoxville. It was a blast and now I've climbed two mountains (we did have to hike a bit to get to the Summit... nothing spectacular, but it was wild how hard it was to go uphill when you are dealing with the high altitude) and got to stargaze in one of the most beautiful settings I've ever been in.

Book Review (6/34) Coming of Age in Samoa by Margaret Mead

2008-05-24T02:25:00.002-04:00

The first time I encountered Margaret Mead was in a biography about Norbert Wiener. I was very impressed that Mead had written a well received book at the age of 27 in 1928 when at that time science was dominated by men. So, when I came across this book, Coming of Age in Samoa, sitting on the shelf in the local bookstore decided to give it a go.

Coming of Age in Samoa details the lives of adolescent Samoan girls in the early 1920s. Mead spent years observing the girls and provides an interesting look at their lives from birth to old age. Though the descriptions of the Samoan culture circa 1920 is certainly fascinating, the portion of the book that really captured my interest was the last two chapters, where Mead asks the question, “What can we learn about our society from studying the lives of the Samoans”. Mead makes some insights that are just as relevant today as they were in 1928.

Mead set the stage for these latter two chapters in the beginning of the book when she asks the question, “Must adolescence always be a stormy time of rebellion and angst or is that a unique feature of Western culture?”. Throughout the rest of the book the answer become clear. Adolescent girls in Samoa do not have the same turmoil and strife that adolescent girls (and boys) in America have. Mead hypothesizes that this is due to a lack of choice in Samoan culture. In Samoa, everyone believes the same things and the opportunities that a teen girl has for the future are relatively few. In comparison, an American teen is beset with limitless opportunities, and unlimited choices, which her parents, friends, and society constantly pressure her to choose from.

Mead makes a great point at the end of Chapter 13: “In all of these comparisons between Samoan and American culture, many points are useful only in throwing a spotlight upon our own solutions, while in others it is possible to find suggestions for change. Whether or not we envy other peoples one of their solutions, our attitude towards our own solutions must be greatly broadened and deepened by a consideration of the way in which other peoples have met the same problems. Realizing that our own ways are not humanely inevitable nor God-ordained, but are the fruit of a long and turbulent history, we may well examine in turn all of our institution, thrown into strong relief against the history of other civilizations, and weighing them in the balance, be not afraid to find them wanting.”

This is a point I keep harping on, but one I think is vital to how we live and raise our children. The struggles of our youth or our culture in general are due to the details of our culture, not fate or some inevitable part of the human process.

Mead’s words 80 years ago haunt me, because she saw the same problems I see today. “At the present time we live in a period of transition. We have many standards but we still believe that only one standard can be the right one. We present to our children the picture of a battle-field where each group is fully armored in the conviction of the righteousness of its cause. And each of these groups makes forays among the next generation. But it is unthinkable that a final recognition of the great number of ways in which man, during the course of history and at the present time, is solving the problems of life, should not bring with it in turn the downfall of our belief in a single standard."

Unfortunately, it is now eighty years since Mead has written those words and I believe that our society still is filled with these battles between camps of righteousness. Mead stated that:
The children must be taught how to think, not what to think.

And I don’t think we do that.

In Mead’s words, “Education, in the home even more than at school, instead of being a special pleading for on regime, a desperate attempt to form one particular habit of mind which will withstand all outside influences, must be a preparation for those very influences…And even more importantly, this child of the future must have an open mind. The home must cease to plead an ethical cause or a religious belief with smiles or frowns, caresses or threats. The children must be taught how to think, not what to think And because old errors die slowly, they must be taught tolerance, just as today they are taught intolerance. They must be taught that many ways are open to them, no one sanctioned above its alternative, and that upon them alone lies the burden of choice.”

I wish this was how our education system functioned. I long for the day when raising a child to be racist is viewed the same as physically abusing a child. I hope that I can raise my children to be tolerant and to not try and force my beliefs upon them.

Of course, the tricky part is finding where you draw the line. Obviously you need to instill in a child the idea of right and wrong. However, I would argue (and I believe Mead’s writing supports this) that right and wrong are very subjective things and culturally based. So how can I teach a child right and wrong without also inflicting upon them whatever “regime” (as Mead calls it) I subscribe to?

So the questions are:

1.)How can you teach a child to think and to keep an open mind while also teaching them the values that are near and dear to your heart?

2.)Should society as a whole get involved with how you teach your child these things? We as a society already step in where there is evidence of physical or sexual abuse. Should society step in for mental abuse as well? Should we consider it just as neglectful when Dad teaches Little Johnny to hate minorities as when he beats Little Johnny?

Book Review (5/34) The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal by Jared Diamond

2008-05-10T00:34:00.004-04:00

This is the third book I've read by Jared Diamond, and though I didn't think it was as groundbreaking as Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse, I still enjoyed the book. In fact, the ideas that were fleshed out in those two books (Why the European Culture came to dominate the world in the 19th century and why societies collapse) are both present in their infancies in this book.

Basically, Diamond makes the case that man is nothing more than another chimpanzee. We share over 98% of our DNA with chimps, and Diamond shows that everything we consider to be uniquely human traits have animal precursors or equivalents (with the possible exception of drug abuse). Sure humans use tools, but so do some animals (such as chimps using sticks to get termites). Well, humans have language another person might say. So does a species of monkey Diamond discusses that have different vocalizations for eagles, leopards, and snakes. Humans lie! Diamond mentions that some of these monkeys will vocalize a leopard warning when their tribe is losing a fight with another tribe to send their rivals scurrying up trees.

The list continues! Diamond showed that bower birds create "art" and that various animals commit "murder" and even genocide. He also speaks of how ants have domesticated aphids and use them as a food source, thus having a kind of agriculture. In fact, the only thing that seems to be uniquely human is drug abuse, and even that seems to have some animal precursors.

Diamond's main point is that humans have clearly evolved from animals and that the dividing line that we tend to draw between ourselves and animals isn't as distinct as we'd like to think. In fact, almost all the behaviors that we consider to be uniquely human appear to have animal equivalents, or at least precursors.

The next section of the book spends time detailing the evolution of man from our separation from a common ancestor with chimps and gorillas 7 million years ago to the arrival of Cro-Magnon Man 40,000 years ago. The speculation about the extinction of the Neanderthals being caused by Cro-Magnon Man is convincing and the discussion of the spread of languages is interesting as well.

Diamond also takes some time to point out the flaws in the Drake Equation that predicts a universe teeming with intelligent life. The best part is when Diamond makes a compelling case that if we really thought there was intelligent life out there then we should try to avoid it as our history tells us that when two groups of humans meet the technologically superior group wipes out the other. So sending out a radio broadcast telling whoever is out there exactly where we are probably wasn't the best idea ever.

Finally the rest of the book presents some early ideas of Diamond's that were expanded in Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse. If you've read those two books, you'll find some of this repetitive, but the first half of the book more than makes up for it and a little redundancy never hurt anyone.

I guess my only other qualm is that Diamond tends to over exaggerate at times. He has a tendency to make statements like "This evidence is indisputable" or "This theory is unquestionable" which is obviously false. A theory that is not questionable is not a theory. I agree 100% with the majority of Diamond's theories and conclusions, but that does not mean that they should be beyond questioning. We should remember what Norbert Wiener knew at the age of 10 when he wrote of "the impossibility of man being certain of anything".

Book Review (4/34) Dark Hero of the Information Age: In Search of Norbert Wiener the Father of Cybernetics

2008-05-06T13:52:00.003-04:00

Now that my qualifying exams are finished I can get back to my education. For the first time in three years I am experiencing guilt free reading and it is a wonderful feeling. Of course I still have my dissertation to worry about and I believe that this book is a nice gentle step in the proper direction.

Norbert Wiener was an American Scientist who found the field of Cybernetics, which is basically the study of complex systems and has a lot in common with control theory. My advisor is a control theory guru and suggested this book as a way to get my feet wet so to speak. I've always admired authors like James Gleick and Richard Feynman who can turn complex subject matter into easily readable material and I'm happy to report Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman do the same with their biography on Wiener.

I think above all else, Conway and Siegelman portray Wiener as a tragic hero, a child prodigy turned into one of the most influential and prominent scientists of his day, who was haunted by self-doubt and had personal and political influences which had negative effects on his career (and in turn the course of scientific history and with that human history). In fact, based on the description of his upbringing by his father and the machinations of his wife to isolate him from his colleagues it's amazing what Wiener was able to accomplish. It is a tragedy that a lie created by his wife led to his ending his collaboration with Warren McCulloch, Walter Pitts, and Jerome Lettvin.

Despite these struggles (and the United States focusing on artificial intelligence concepts more than cybernetics) Wiener contributions to science cannot be overstated. Reading through the book it was amazing how many different fields benefited from his research. He was truly interdisciplinary. And beyond his scientific accomplishments and his estrangement from his daughters, he was a truly ethical and moral man who was more concerned with improving the human condition than chasing the almighty dollar. Wiener constantly spurned the defense industries and corporations after seeing the devastating effects of the atomic bomb and realizing the negative impact automation could cause humanity when motivated by sheer greed.

Wiener also had some great insights, even from an early age. Conway and Siegelman wrote that at ten, he wrote of "the impossibility of man's being certain of anything" and disputed "man's presumption in declaring that his knowledge has no limits". This brilliant insight (which I didn't accept until I was 26 and had to be pointed out to me) came to him at 10 years old. Additionally, the statement that "There is something against the grain in the ... wholesale acceptance of any creed, whether in religion, in science, or in politics. The attitude of the scholar is to reserve the right to change his opinion at any time on the basis of evidence produced" is something that I agree with one hundred percent.

I definitely think that Wiener's scientific approach match nicely with the philosophical views of James and Pirsig, and may indeed be the place I need to stick my shovel in the ground and say, "Here is what I think is happening". This book is an excellent introduction to Wiener and I think that I will start with his books Cybernetics and go from there.

#58. Cook something from a Top Chef recipe

2008-05-05T23:10:00.003-04:00

Why it is on the list?

It all started when my wife and I started living together. I wanted to watch ESPN every minute of the day and she wanted to watch an endless parade of Gilmore Girls and 7th Heaven on ABC family. Then one magical day we tuned in to Bravo and found a fat man in a bathtub making a movie and we had something we could both enjoy. We stayed on after Project Greenlight wasn't renewed and we've enjoyed everything from the overly dramatic antics of the Hair Sheriff to the insanity of Showdogs Moms and Dads:

But nothing captured our imagination quite like Top Chef. Sure we love food and this show is all about showcasing the talents and skills of some excellent Chefs. But once you add in a cast of crazy characters (Chunk Le Funk, Stephen (Tool and Douchebag!), Miguel (SSSSSSS), Dave (I'm not your bitch bitch), Marcel (foams!), Hung (Crazy knife skills), and Howie (sweating into the food) and make Tom Colicchio the head judge, you have yourself a winner.

For 4 seasons my wife and I have tuned in every Wednesday night at 10PM to drool over the amazing dishes the chefs created, longing for the opportunity to taste them. Well we decided it was time to take matters into our own hands!

The Process

As previously mentioned, I recently purchased the Top Chef Cookbook.

The first order of business was to pick a recipe, and as my wife and I had wanted to cook Elia's breakfast dish from Season Two since we saw it we knew exactly what we wanted to try first. Luckily, the recipe was in the book and looked relatively simple to make.

We gathered the ingredients (doubling everything since we were making two) and made a few substitutions (Pam instead of butter for frying the eggs, regular ole ham for coppa ham).

My wife was the Chef and I started on my Sous Chef duties. I mixed the olive oil with the refried beans

toasted the waffles and then covered em with the refried beans while the Chef was frying the eggs. My wife drizzled the maple syrup over the waffles

and then tossed em in the broiler for a few minutes

All that was left was to toss on the ham and egg, sprinkle with parsley, and serve

It was delicious and a great way to start off the day! It was fun to make and I had a great time cooking with the wife and finally making something we saw on Top Chef.

#40. Run a Half Marathon

2008-05-04T22:20:00.003-04:00

Why is it on the list?

Well, if I want to do an Ironman, I needed to start somewhere. The challenge for endurance races for me is much more mental than it is physical. I have a tendency to give up if I think I won't meet my goals. I decided I needed to change that and I thought that if I could do a Half Marathon, then maybe I could do a Full Marathon, and if I could do a Marathon then maybe.... just maybe... I could start thinking about an Ironman.

The Process

Well, today the wife and I and some friends completed the Flying Pig Half Marathon. An in-depth race report can be found from my MySpace Page. However, I did accomplish my goals of 1.)Finishing in under 2 hours 2.)Finishing without needing to walk and 3.)Finishing before any marathoners finished. Today was the longest I've ever ran both in terms of time and distance.

Now I just need to get my nerve up to sign up for the Air Force Marathon in September...

Random Sports Musings

2008-05-01T19:39:00.005-04:00

Don't Blame the Diesel

Sure he might have missed a boatload of free throws in Game 5, but Shaq isn't to blame for the loss against the Spurs. Two-time MVP Steve Nash was absolutely horrible down the stretch, with 3 or 4 costly turnovers in the game's closing minutes. Tony Parker embarrassed Nash all series long. I sure can't wait to see the Parker-Paul match-up in Round 2.

Long Live Sir Charles (and the TNT crew)

I'm sure many of you have seen this video of Kobe Bryant jumping an Aston Martin

Kenny the Jet Smith decided to give it a go with Bryant looking on:

Man. Every night I'm cracking my ass up at these guys. I can't wait for the Dwade appearance tonight.

The Big Eleven are a bunch of pansies

Once again a potential playoff for College Football has been derailed by the commissioners of the Big Ten and the Pac 10, who know the best way for their schools to get a crack at the National Title is to avoid playing anyone decent until the Championship Game. No way Ohio State wants any SEC team until they absolutely have to. This system continues to punish teams in strong conferences and mid majors, while the Buckeyes can continue to roll up the likes of Akron and Toledo in the non conference season, pound Indiana and Northwestern in their weak conference, make it to the BCS title game undefeated, only to get blown out by a battle tested school from the SEC. A 3 loss Tennessee or a 2 loss Florida will beat an 11-0 OSU or Michigan every time.

Shaun Alexander's Homecoming

I have no idea where Shaun Alexander would fit on the Bengals roster, with Rudi, Kenny Watson, Chris Perry, Dorsey, and Irons all taking up spots. But I would love for Mr. Boone County Kentucky to come home and play for the Who-Dey.

God must hate UK

Jason Parker fools around in the locker room.... torn ACL. Derek Anderson is running down the court against Auburn... torn ACL. Tyler Hansbrough jumps off a frat house into an above ground pool.... perfectly healthy. There's no justice in the world.

#74 Go to a baseball game in a park I’ve never been, keep score, and pound some peanuts

2008-04-30T16:07:00.003-04:00

Why is it on the list?

Although basketball will always be my first and true love (I am from Kentucky after all), at one point baseball occupied a similar place in my heart. My Dad played both sports in high school and continued playing pick-up ball and softball up until he tore his knee to hell when I was around 12 or so. Dad taught me both sports and I remember lying in bed listening to Joe Nuxhall (the ole left hander rounding third and heading for home) and Marty Brennaman (And this one belongs to the Reds) calling Reds games as I drifted off to sleep.

I was both a player and a spectator. I played tee-ball and knothole (Little League), but I much preferred playing whiffle ball or homerun derby in the backyard. However, I did have some memorable Little League moments, including the day I got thrown out at home after almost hitting an inside the park homer. As for being a fan, highlights include being at the 1988 All-Star game (SABO! SABO!), running around the house with a broom when the Reds swept the A's in 1990, being woken up to see the end of Tom Browning's perfect game by Dad, and seeing my best friend at the time take a line drive hit by Wally Backman (whose baseball cards we spent the next several years destroying) off the forehead .

For me not much beat sitting at the ballpark, pounding some peanuts, eating a hot dog, and keeping score. Keeping score is a skill my Dad taught me and as far as I know, no two people keep score the same way. And for some reason I just find it fun to sit there and score the game.

Then the strike of 1994 happened. At the time I was 14 and it absolutely devastated me. I swore off those lameass millionaires and made the decision to never again attend a ball game. That's a big statement, and it's a tribute to my stubborness that I actually refused to go to games until 1999 and only then when it was free. I finally broke down a few years back and actually paid to go to a few Reds game. But the spell was broken for me back in 1994. I no longer follow baseball as intently as I used to and I no longer root for the Reds with the same passion I reserve for the Wildcats and the Bengals.

However, I still enjoy peanuts at a ball game more than anywhere else, and keeping score still takes me back to a time when I really enjoyed the game. So I decided to try and do this at least one over the next 1001 days.

The Process

My original intent was to go to a Major League park that I've never been to. I've seen games at Riverfront, Jacobs Field, and whatever the Diamondbacks call their field. I've also toured the Colorado Rockies facility. So I thought I might go to Seattle and see the Mariners or maybe St. Louis.

However, this past weekend I decide to go watch some Double AA baseball. The Tennessee Smokies are the Double AA affiliate for the Chicago Cubs and play just outside of Knoxville. After a full day of biking in the mountains my wife and I thought it would be a perfect nightcap.

And you know what? It was. It was the way baseball should be. I paid $10 bucks for each ticket and we sat in the 2nd row right on the 3rd baseline. The program was $3 bucks, had a scorecard in it, and when I flipped through it I saw a sticker telling me to head to fan services to claim my prize (free ice cream from Marble Slab!). I headed to where they had the starting lineups written so I could fill out my scorecard and lo and behold there were 3 other folks doing the same thing! I've kept score at several Major League games the past couple years and have never seen anyone doing that! I thought it was a lost art! But here at this AA game there were many of us!

The game was great. Sure the Smokies got beat, but it was fun hearing the crack of the bats, the chants of the fans to the organs, seeing the kids chase after foul balls, and most importantly, enjoying a fun evening with my wife.

I pounded some peanuts, kept score, and for one night, enjoyed baseball again.

1. Finish Qualifying Exams

2008-04-29T08:25:00.002-04:00

What is it?

For my Ph.D program, before you start work on your dissertation you have to pass this thing called a Qualifying Exam. Basically, you form a committee of four professors and develop a reading list for each one of them. The exam has two parts, a written part and an oral part. For the written exam, each professor gets to ask a question. It lasts two days, and on each day you get two questions, 4 hours to prepare, and then 4 hours to write your answer. Then around 2-3 weeks later you get to come back and defend what you wrote in an oral exam.

Why is it on the List?

Well, it was something I needed to do and something that I had been dragging my feet on. I finished my Masters in late 2005 and should have taken this exam much sooner than now. I don't really know why I kept delaying it, but I knew when I made this list that this was something that was a huge priority for me and so it occupied the number one spot on the list.

The Process

About 3 weeks ago I took the written portion of the exam. Yesterday, I completed the oral defense of the written exam, and I passed. Now, I am ABD (all but dissertation) in terms of completing my Ph.D. There is still a lot of work ahead, but now all hurdles in my path have been cleared except this last one. Sure it's the biggest one, but all the other requirements are finished.

Of course, the dissertation process can be broken down into some steps (Proposal Development, Proposal Defense, Data Collection, Data Analysis, Writing it Up, Defending it) but yea... the dissertation is all that remains. I'm starting work on the proposal now and hopefully by Fall I'll have it defended.

Lookee what I bought!

2008-04-25T15:23:00.002-04:00

http://www.amazon.com/Top-Chef-Cookbook-Melcher-Media/dp/0811864308/

Completing #58 and #63 just got a lot easier!

The Physical Activities Update!

2008-04-14T00:18:00.003-04:00

Looking at my list I feel like I have a lot of irons in the fire but I just can't scratch anything off yet. But trust me, I'm working hard! On the physical activities side of things, I have a full schedule this year, with races scheduled for March, April, May, June, July, August, October, and November. In March I did a 10 Mile Run, which was great preparation for the Half Marathon in May. I'm also already registered for a Muddy Buddy (in August) and will be registering for an Oly Tri soon (in July).

You'll also notice I don't have a race scheduled yet for September. If all goes according to plan at the Half Marathon, I'll probably accelerate my plans and try and do the Air Force Marathon in Dayton that month! And if I can get that under my belt, then all of a sudden a HIM in early 09 and an IM in late 09 don't look as far fetched. I still have a loooooong way to go, but I feel very much encouraged by my performance in the 10 Miler (see My Space for a link to the race report) and if the Half Marathon goes just as well....

I'm also reconsidering Heart Rate training. I know it's "good" but I've run a few times recently w/o my stopwatch and I actually enjoyed myself. I don't know if I really want to add another gadget.

#62 Discover 5 new awesome local restaurants

2008-04-13T23:54:00.002-04:00

Why it's on the list?

I think I've covered my love of local restaurants in previous posts.

The Process

Well, I think I'm waaaay over 5 now. With Saya, The Sunspot, Leathas, Market Square Kitchen, and more I think I've found plenty of sweet new places to eat. Of course, there's always more places to find and today it's time to talk about two of my new favorites:

Soups and Scoops Cafe: This is a little restaurant in Knoxville that has some of the best homemade soups I've had the pleasure of trying. My wife loved the Tomato Basil and I enjoyed the chicken noodle soup. The turkey sandwich with apricot chutney was also excellent. They also make their own ice cream (and have an astounding number of flavors). I've yet to try it, but I know a pistachio cone has got my name on it. Plus on Mondays ice cream is half off when you Moo like a Cow! Right up my alley!

Lynn's Paradise Cafe: Our friends in Louisville took us out to this place and it was a blast. We knew from the outside of the restaurant that whatever the food tasted like it was going to be a fun. They had one of those boards where you can poke your head through and get your picture taken (as a fork and a spoon). They had a store of merchandise filled with everything from Sigmund Freud Action figures to Awesome Derby Day Hats. The music was also excellent... nothing beats a little Classic Rock. Finally, each table had an ugly ass lamp on it... evidently there's a local ugly ass lamp contest and the winners wind up here!

On to the food! My wife and I started with the Fried Green Tomatoes. Now, sometimes when you order fried green tomatoes in a restaurant you get more fried than tomatoes. Not here. They were excellent and the spicy remoulade was delicious. Next, I decided to try the Spicy Seared Salmon, which is described in the menu as: Pan seared salmon marinated in garlic, ginger, shallots and crushed red pepper. Topped with a tomato fondue and shrimp jus. The salmon was perfectly cooked and the tomato fondue and shrimp jus really brought the dish together. I was definitely pausing and savoring the flavor. I also loved Lynn's choice of sides. Instead of just the traditional options, they had things like herb braised lima beans and braised rosemary cabbage. I chose those two items and they were great. I especially enjoyed the rosemary cabbage, a dish that was new to me. My wife's dish also tasted wonderful (the Hoppin Juan :a black bean chili and organic jasmine rice smothered with a zesty tropical mango chile salsa, cheddar cheese, sour cream and with cumin scented blue corn tortillas. I'm looking forward to a return trip, and this time I just might get the Jambalaya Pasta!

Restaurant Review: Leatha's Bar-B-Que Inn

2008-03-31T15:15:00.001-04:00

Sometimes, I can't stand the sameness of this country. When you cruise down North Fairfield Road in Fairborn OH, Houston Road in Florence KY, Kingston Pike in Knoxville TN, or Hardy Street in Hattiesburg, MS you are guaranteed to see the exact same damn restaurants. Red Lobster. Applebees. Olive Garden. Outback. They'll all be there. So even though you have travelled hundred of miles you can still munch down the same damn meal you've been eating for the last 25 years.

Thankfully, if you look hard enough, you can find those hidden gems. Places that serve excellent food. Food that makes you start planning your next trip back after your first bite. And 9 times out of 10 the food is not only outstanding but also costs no more than your bland every city in America has one fare.

So when people visit me in Knoxville I feel I am obligated to share the great local places I've found. Come stay with me for a weekend and you will have some of the best barbecue you've ever tasted. On Sunday we'll go have brunch at the Sunspot and you'll be treated to some excellent nachos and a wide variety of innovative breakfast foods.

Recently, I had the pleasure of traveling to Hattiesburg, Mississippi. I had previously only driven through Mississippi on my way to New Orleans and was less than impressed. And after flying into the smallest airport I've ever seen (one gate) and having the hotel's clerk tell me "Applebees" when I asked what were some good local restaurants I didn't see myself changing this view.

Rather than take the clerk's advice, I used my complimentary free Internet access to do a search on Hattiesburg's Restaurants. It was here I found Leatha's Bar-B-Que Inn. The description sounded like a dream, and the website made the restaurant sound perfect.

Finding the restaurant proved a more difficult challenge. It was hidden off of the main route behind a maze of trailers. As I pulled into the parking lot I knew I was in for a treat. The building may have looked a bit old but the smell coming from it was heavenly.

Inside, the restaurant was full of folks enjoying the BBQ and watching basketball on the TV. I ordered the half and half (choice of two meats...I got chicken and pork), the secret recipe slaw, and the baked beans. The slaw was some of the best I've ever had, and the pork slid right off the bones. The meal was absolutely outstanding, and was right up there with the Smokehouse for the Best BBQ I've ever had.

I'm just amazed that the hotel clerk had no idea this little gem was less than 3 miles from his hotel. Or maybe he thought an out-of-towner like myself wouldn't appreciate some excellent cooking. But people I beg you. I implore you. When you go on vacation or business trips, take the time to check out the local cuisine. Don't go to Applebees!

Other places I checked out in Hattiesburg:

Crescent City Grill : As you no doubt know by the name, this restaurant serves up New Orleans cuisine. The service was great and the jambalaya was tasty. If you can only stop at one place go to Leatha's, but if you need another place I recommend this one.

Stricks Original Bar-B-Q : I saw this place on the way back from a run on the gorgeous Longleaf Trace Trail. The sign outside advertised crawdads and I decided I had to give them a try. 5 lbs of crawdads and much sweat and tears later and I've decided that next time I'll order 1 lb and a pulled pork sammich. The crawdads were good, but took waaaay too much work. And I still need to learn how to suck the heads.

Walnut Square Pharmacy and Ice Cream Parlor: This place was located in historic downtown Hattiesburg. They had an old fashioned ice cream counter and I highly recommend the Praline-N-Cream.

#94 Get Neck Looked At

2008-03-22T14:30:00.003-04:00

Why is it on the List?

I had been dragging my feet on it, but whenever I swim, lift weights, or move my neck too fast, I experience some pretty bad pain.

The Process

I finally went to the Doctor and after describing some of the symptoms he suggested I get an MRI. The MRI was my first, and I now understand why those things freak people out. I'm not claustrophobic, but I can imagine how terrifying those machines could be for people who are. It also sounded like I was in a bad techno dance club.

Thankfully, the MRI came back negative. The good doctor prescribed some souped up ibuprofen for when I swim or lift and hopefully that will do the trick.

28. See the Cats in Enemy Territory

2008-03-09T23:45:00.002-04:00

Why is it on the list?

Originally, this item was see the Cats at Rupp Arena. I revised this item because I have seen the Cats play at Rupp on numerous occasions. I've seen them in their home away from home at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati. I've also seen them on neutral sites (in the NCAA tournament). However, I had never gone to another school's gym to see them play in a hostile environment. Living in Knoxville provided me with the perfect opportunity to do so.

The Process

I had scouted out UT's website looking for when tickets went on sale. Of course when the big day occurred I forgot and by the time I remembered the only tickets left were single seat obstructed view.

Well, what the hell. I was determined to go so I plunked down my $21 bucks and braced myself for heading into the Lion's Den all by my lonesome. At least UT doesn't serve alcohol at the games I thought.

Parking for the game was a remarkably easy process and I was delighted to see many blue shirts sprinkled in with all the orange as I made my way to UT's arena. Even better, my seat wasn't too obstructed (only a small corner of the court was blocked) and I had 3 UK fans sitting right behind me.

Before the game started the UT folks showed a video of Chris Lofton, a Kentucky boy who UK didn't recruit. It made me sad, especially when Lofton said, "Thanks for believing in me Tennessee". Sorry Chris! I wish Tubby would have recruited you.

Anyways, the game started and Tennessee came out hot. They went on a run and were up 15, which was what most people expected with it being their gym, with them being the #1 team in the country, and the Cats being without their stud power forward Patrick Patterson (lost for the season with a stress fracture).

Then the Cats began to claw their way back. Billy G's game plan was great and the Cats were executing it to perfection. Run as much time off the shot clock as possible and then score. Using that plan the Cats had made it a game again by half-time and actually took the lead in the 2nd half.

The UT fans grew quiet, and the UK fans in the building starting "Go Big Blue" and "C-A-T-S" cheers. It was great.

Unfortunately, UT made some big plays down the stretch (Lofton's tear drop in the lane comes to mind), UK uncharacteristically missed some foul shots and easy layups, and Joe Crawford's (who had been fighting foul trouble all day long) desperation three to tie in the last seconds missed. UT survived quite a scare from a UK team that showed grit, determination, and courage in the face of adversity. Perry Stevenson and Ramon Harris came up huge (which they must continue to do in Patterson's absence) and even Michael Porter made a few decent plays with Joe in foul trouble.

Overall I was very proud of my Cats. It was a great game and the UT fans were some of the most polite fans I've ever seen. If someone had walked into Rupp wearing Orange I would have given them a hard time, but no one said a word to me even though I was decked out in blue and yelling "Go Cats!" every other minute. A great way to spend my Sunday afternoon and another item has been crossed out!

Restaurant Review: Saya Korean and Japanese Restaurant

2008-03-09T23:27:00.002-04:00

Normally, when you think good Sushi you probably don't think Fairborn, Ohio. Well, I have to tell you my friend that you need to think again.

I admit I had my doubts. It was dark and pouring down rain as I cruised down Kauffman avenue searching for Kaya. I passed two or three other Asian restaurants before I finally found Kaya, sitting with its sign in the dark next to the Clarke station.

My hopes not very high, I walked in to join a group of friends and was pleased to find that one of them was a regular. One of the employees of Saya pointed at him and said "You listen to him. He knows!". My friend suggested I try the "JH Roll".

Now I have to admit I've never been a big fan of Sushi only meals. I usually just order a few pieces of ala carte stuff. But my friend insisted that this would be more than enough. I ordered the JH roll, a piece of salmon, and a piece of tuna. The miso soup and accompanying salad were good (especially the miso on a cold wet evening).

The JH Roll arrived and wow. It was excellent. The roll itself contained crunchy tempura shrimp. On top was spicy crab. My lips are smacking just thinking about it. I quickly polished off the 8 pieces. The spice level was perfect. It got me where my sinuses were clearing up but my mouth wasn't on fire.

Needless to say I plan on visiting Saya again soon. Not only was my meal excellent, but the staff was friendly and attentive. I'm going to go ahead and consider it a new local find. My only problem is that the JH roll was soooo good I'll have a hard time trying some of the other rolls on the menu (which looked equally appealing).

#48. Climb a mountain

2008-02-28T01:18:00.003-05:00

Why it is on the list?

I don't really remember. It just seemed like one of those things that everyone should do once in their life. I love to hike and I love to see the view from high vantage points so this seemed like a no brainer.

The Process

It's weird how things work out sometimes. I had planned on conquering Mount St. Helens on a trip to WA that my wife and I are going to take later this year. However, this past weekend we had some friends visiting us and we decided to go on a hike. My wife and I have hiked in the Smoky Mountains on a couple of different occasions and I figured this hike would be a nice walk through the countryside as usual.

Well I was wrong.

It was a cloudy cool day as we set out for the Chimney Tops trail. I knew that it was supposed to be a nice view at the end of the trail and that it was about a 2 mi hike to the top. What I did not know was that Chimney Tops is a mountain with an elevation of 4800ft. Not that big, but hey it counts!. Especially with what awaited us at the top.

We arrived at the top with a Class 3 Scramble awaiting us to reach the summit. My wife and friend's wife decided to stay below while my friend and I began the ascent. About halfway up, as I saw nothing below me but clouds, I decided that I was out of my mind. No safety gear and there I am hugging the side of this mountain at about a 70 degree angle. Eventually I made it to the top and it was just gorgeous. It was nasty down below, but up top we were above the clouds and it was easily 15 degrees warmers. The top of the mountain was like an island in an ocean of clouds.

The trip back down wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be, but my adrenaline must have been pumping because on the hike back my legs were shaking for a mile or so.

This trip has definitely given me the hiking bug. We're still planning to hit Mount St. Helens, using a day trip to Mount Le Conte as a trial run. But after dangling from the side of the mountain top, I'm officially scratching this item off my list!

Book Review: The Ballad of the Whiskey Robber

2008-02-20T00:53:00.004-05:00

There's just something about crime. Whether it's enjoying capers like Ocean's 11 or The Great Train Robbery, we tend to romanticize the dastardly wrongdoer despite whatever his or her heinous crimes might be. I've yet to meet someone who was rooting for the cops to catch Hannibal Lector when they were reading Silence of the Lambs. Whatever it is, something happens when we hear the story of someone who flaunts authority and just does something so outside the bounds of society's rules that despite our professed outrage.... we admire the audacity.

So of course the non-fiction book by Julian Rubinstein detailing the life and crimes of Hungarian bank robber Attila Ambrus was a fascinating read. A friend had lent me the book a few years ago and I just now was inspired to read it. I'm sorry I waited so long. Rubenstein's story flows so well and the story of Attila's life is so far-fetched you'd swear it was fiction. Rubinstein's painstaking research shows as he portrays the struggle of Attila's early life and his turn towards crime in vivid detail. By the end, you come to view Attila as a victim of the times.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, the power vacuum left behind in Hungary led to corruption at all levels of government and this not only provided the perfect opportunity for men like Attila, but also endeared men like him to the public. Though Attila's life is fascinating enough, the window Rubinstein provides us into the state of Hungary after the fall of the USSR is equally thought provoking. Rubinstein often cites that while Poland had Lech Wałęsa and the Czech Republic had Václav Havel, Hungary did not have a similar charismatic and effective leader.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good criminal tale (and who doesn't?). But beyond that, I love this book for giving me insight into a country I had little knowledge of, and reminding me that I need to read something by Havel who I've admired since I read this quote: "All too often living normally begins as an attempt to do your work well, and ends with being branded an enemy of society"

Additionally, and this will probably only make sense to myself, I found that the idea that Hungary was much worse off than Poland and the Czech Republic because of its lack of a certain type of leader might lend support to the ideas present in The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations, which despite the title, proposes that the most effective combination would be a hybrid organization that contains elements of both decentralized and centralized control. At some point I'd like to explore this thought a little further.

Finally, since it was a non-fiction book and a recommendation I can cross a few numbers off my list!

Progress Update: Adding tricks to the rotation

2008-02-17T23:45:00.003-05:00

Well, after I made Chicken and Corn Chowder a few weeks back (and again this weekend) I was sitting there with half a rotisserie chicken left in the fridge. Well, I once again turned to the Common Culinarian for some ideas. Chicken salad sounded excellent.

This was a very straight forward easy to bust out recipe. Cut up stuff, throw it in a bowl, and mix:

Then spread it on a store bought baguette and enjoy!

The pictures I took don't do it justice. It was delicious! And even though it's more of a lunch item... I'm calling it another trick learned!

If only my next cooking adventure had been as successful. I was attempting to make Linguine with Navy Beans, Tomatoes, and Basil. Well, as you can see, I failed to rinse my navy beans off as well as I should have.

So obviously the beans overpowered every bite, which is a shame because you could definitely taste the potential of a great dish buried underneath all that bean sauce. So I'm gonna give it another shot, and this time I'm gonna rinse those damn beans until I can pour water on em and the water stays clear. And I'm gonna measure out the linguine a little bit better.

23. Watch Goonies

2008-02-11T01:31:00.000-05:00

Why is it on the list?

Based on the facial expressions of folks when I tell them, not having seen the movie Goonies is somewhere below Public Nudity on the Social Acceptance list. How I escaped childhood without seeing what everyone I know refers to as a "classic" I'll never know. Perhaps I was too busy playing outside while the rest of you lard asses where hunkered down in front of the TV living vicariously through Chunk as he pounded another spoonful of ice cream. Suffice to say, I had not only never seen Goonies, but also I had no idea what the movie was about. I had a vague notion it involved baseball, but other than that the word "Goonies" drew a blank in my mind every time I heard it. No more.

The Process

Now, this is what will be etched into my mind for months if not years:

Oh my God. I see what you all were talking about. I'm sorry I called you lard asses. While I was out whacking weeds with tobacco sticks you guys were enjoying comedy gold! Chunk may be the funniest kid I've ever seen. I'm still laughing at this scene:

And yea there was some sort of plot about a hidden pirate ship and evil golf club developers trying to take over the Goonie family homes, but honesty... this movie is all about the Chunk!

Progress Update for #76!

2008-02-07T23:46:00.001-05:00

Whenever I'm cruising up or down I-75 I always see signs for stuff. Boone Tavern. Acres of Land Winery. The Kentucky Fried Chicken Museum. So I decided that I should stop and check out some of these interesting sounding places.

On my latest trip, I decided that it would be a perfect time to stop at Cumberland Falls. In the middle of a weekday in the winter with rain coming down I figured I'd have the falls all to myself. And it really looked that way as I pulled off the Interstate near Corbin and took the long windy deserted road back to the Falls.

There were a few cars in the parking lot and even fewer out checking at the falls (2 couples). It was beautiful despite the rain and you can check out the pics at My Space. After I checked out the Falls I had a lovely conversation with Verna, an employee at the Gift Shop. She was very knowledgeable about the Falls and told me about the Moonbow.

A Moonbow is a rainbow produced by the moon and Cumberland Falls is one of the only places in the world where it happens on a consistent basis. The Moonbow appears when the moon is full and the skies are clear. I hope to return at some point to check out a Moonbow! Thanks Verna!

Duma Key

2008-02-07T23:34:00.000-05:00

Well, this doesn't have anything to do with my 101 Things list, but I just finished reading Stephen King's new book Duma Key. Stephen King is one of my favorite authors, and judging by the amount of Stephen King books on my bookshelves (62 at last count) he far outpaces his nearest rival on my favorite list (Orson Scott Card - 29).

What I really love about Stephen King books is that when I read them I always feel like I've come home. When I'm reading a SK book I get the same feeling I get when after weeks of traveling I finally get back to my own bed. Duma Key was no exception.

I won't spoil the book (and if you want Im sure you can find a plot summary on the Interwebs) , but I think Duma Key is one of the best books SK has put out recently. Though I enjoyed Cell, Blaze, and Lisey's Story, Duma Key was a book that really hit me on an emotional level. I really felt for Edgar Freemantle and grew to love his daughter Ilse. If you aren't a fan of slow buildups this probably isn't a book for you, but I'm very content to settle in and enjoy King's slow simmer with the knowledge that even though things will eventually come to a full boil half the fun is getting there.

And yup all the usual SK things are present. 19s are all over if you look hard enough! There were also several laugh out loud moments (which got me a few interesting looks when I was reading in Market Square).

Also... the 2nd comic book series for The Dark Tower comes out in March. Whoo-hoo!!!

Restaurant Review: Market Square Kitchen

2008-02-02T21:38:00.000-05:00

Well with my wife out of town this weekend I decided last night that I would find me a great place to have a sandwich for lunch. I'm trying to find some awesome local restaurants, and I'd really like to find some substitutes for my typical Subway or Penn Station stops.

I started looking at Metro Pulse's website (Knoxville's City Beat equivalent) and found out about a place down on Market Square called Market Square Kitchen. Looking at their lunch menu I didn't need to go any further than the 4th item on the list: Southern Chicken Salad $4.99 Our own delicious homemade chicken salad with walnuts & special spices on homemade honey wheat bread.

Man that sounded good. And with free parking on the weekends downtown who could resist? It was a beautiful day on the square and lots of people were out enjoying the sunshine. It was still a bit crisp but the sun felt good. As I strolled up to Market Square Kitchen I noticed the 1/2 sandwich 1/2 soup combo on the board out front. On a crisp day like today nothing is better than some hot soup!

I ordered the chicken salad sandwich and the hearty vegetable soup. About 2 minutes later my meal arrived. The sandwich was delicious. Normally I'm not a big tomato guy, but the flavors of the chicken salad, tomato, and honey wheat bread were outstanding together. The soup lived up to its name with huge chunks of potatoes, tomatoes, and green beans.

The staff was friendly (3 people smiled and wished me a good day on my way out) and the food was perfect. I'll definitely be back because I want to try the fried bologna (I LOVE fried bologna), the Cape Cod Turkey and Cranberry, and the Nantucket Tuna.

Afterwards I spent some time reading in the square. A guy was on the stage at the far end singing and playing the guitar and a harmonica. Nothing beats a good lunch, some good music, and a good book.

#63 Add 5 new tricks to the rotation - Progress Update

2008-02-02T18:25:00.000-05:00

I guess the first item to deal with is what exactly do I mean by "Add 5 new tricks to the rotation"? Well, when I first started living on my own, I was ignorant in many areas, specifically cooking. I could "cook" hot dogs, hamburgers , and popcorn. That was basically it with the exception of my Voodoo Pasta which I had made exactly once. In fact, I had an early conversation with the secretary of my graduate program about how to cook bacon (I wanted to know if I needed to add oil).

As you can see, I was pretty much hopeless. But I did have the Voodoo Pasta trick in my toolbox and slowly but surely I began to branch out. Tacos and Spaghetti were easy enough. Shake and Bake and BBQ porkchops and chicken soon followed. When winter came along I asked my Mom for her chili recipe and I think I do a decent job with it. But... then I sort of stopped. For the past 5 years, whenever it's been my turn to cook, you could pretty much bet it was going to be Voodoo Pasta, Tacos, Spaghetti, or a Pork/Chicken with rice and a frozen veggie. And Mom's Chili every weekend it was cold. While composing my list I decided it was about damn time I figured out how to cook a few more things and add these items to my dinner rotation.

Where to begin? My wife loves to cook (she's awesome at it) and has a crapload (less than a shitload but more than a bunch) of cookbooks sitting on top of the refrigerator. I was quickly intimidated by words like "mince" and "puree". I felt a bit lost and even though I had a vague notion of picking up a book recommended in The Flog I still felt a bit scared of cookbooks.

Then a few nights back I was checking out my wedding photographer's blog and noticed a comment from an old high school friend of mine. Out of curiosity I visited her blog, which as fate would have it had a post that started by referencing her husband's blog, The Common Culinarian. While scanning through some of the posts, I found a recipe for Chicken and Corn Chowder. After reading through the post I thought to myself, I CAN DO THIS! Despite the foreign words such as riced, caramelized, and dried tarragon I thought I could pull it off.

I printed out the ingredients and sprang to the kitchen. Whoo-hoo! We had extra virgin olive oil (what's with the extra virgin? Does that mean it's never had oral sex?). We had butter, carrots, and celery. We had frozen corn and chicken broth. It was all coming together. Sure I would need to run to the store to get a few things, but this was looking very promising. I was a bit concerned about the whole milk (we only had skim milk) and thought I'd better check with The Common Culinarian. I im'ed my friend, and as luck would have it, she wasn't around but the chef himself was! He walked me through what the hell riced meant and what the hell caramelized meant. He was a bit unsure about how the skim milk would turn out. I was planning on going through with it but then I decided to call my wife. She told me that the buttermilk we had in the fridge would be a better option.

With that, I ran to the grocery store. I came back and laid out all my ingredients. Thank god the pots we have had the size of em on the bottom because I had no idea what a 2 1/2 quart pot looked like!

Next I had to start cutting everything up. Man I have no knife skills. I wish I had mad knife skills like Hung from Top Chef. I mean look at this guy:

Regardless, I hacked up the onion, carrot, and celery in a manner that probably isn't even close to a dice, dice, and riced.

Next I attacked the chicken. The chef and my wife said to use a fork, but the good lord gave me fingers for a reason. Here is where I encountered my biggest problem. The chicken smelled so good I started eating it. Alot of it. I downed an entire leg and wing. At that rate I knew I would soon be full so I hurried up and got a cup of chicken and tossed the rest of the bird into the fridge. I also looked at the bag of huge potatoes I had purchased and decided 3 big ones would equal about 5 small ones.

Well with everything cut it was time to start cooking. The olive oil and butter was easy enough and then I cooked up the carrots, celery, and onions until the onions started to get a bit brown on the edges. I tossed in the potatoes (whoops! too many! Ah well... I enjoyed some raw potatoes....) and garlic.

At this point, I got a bit worried as I was waiting for the potatoes to brown on the edges because I noticed stuff was getting stuck on the bottom of the pan. I dunno if this was supposed to happen or not. Anyways at that point I said the hell with it and dropped everything else into the pot (save the buttermilk) and cranked up the heat.

Once I had a boil, I cranked her back down to what I consider a simmer (how I do my chili) and set a timer for 30 minutes. At the 30 minute mark I checked the potatoes and decided to give it another 5. It smelled very good. Once those 5 minutes were up I added in the buttermilk and got myself a bowl!

One word: delicious. I was expecting it to be good, but this was great. There was a certain flavor that I hadn't experienced before (probably the tarragon?) and I loved it. I was a bit sad that I still felt full from the chicken and raw potatoes I pounded while making the soup, but you can bet your ass I'll have another bowl tonight. Oyster crackers tasted great with it.

So many thanks to the chef over at The Common Culinarian. This was a great dish that I'm happy to add to my rotation.

#12. Learn to fold clothes properly

2008-02-01T21:54:00.000-05:00

Why's it on the list?

Well, it's pretty sad that I didn't know how to fold clothes. Specifically, I had no idea how to fold a t-shirt properly. Pants were easy and I could just hang up dress shirts, but I had absolutely no clue how to fold a t-shirt.

The Process

My old method of folding t-shirts is depicted below. First I'd fold the shirt in half. Then I'd fold it in half again.

And that was that. I'd toss it in the drawer.

Thankfully, a few days back my lovely wife taught me the following 3 step method:

Wow. Doesn't that look so much nicer? Now I can fit 3 stacks of t-shirts in one drawer instead of 2. And it took all of 5 minutes to learn. Why oh why didn't I learn to do this sooner? The method also works nicely on long sleeve shirts and sweatshirts!

Book Review (2/34) The Best American Science Writing 2006

2008-02-01T15:13:00.000-05:00

As I was pondering what to read next I decided that I would scour the Internet and find someone who had the same taste in books that I did and see if they had any suggestions. I decided to type in the author of the first book I reviewed (Gawande) and the name of one of my favorite fiction authors, Ken Grimwood, (whose novel Replay is the best book you've never read) into Google. From there I discovered a blog called The Reading Diary of John Dupuis. I read through some of John's posts and I enjoyed many of his thoughts and ideas. In fact, the concept of keeping a list of what books one reads in a given year was so cool I've started doing it. After perusing John's posts for a bit I came across a review of The Best American Science Writing 2006. As the book was edited by Atul Gawande and some of the articles in it seemed interesting, it seemed there was a good chance it would lead me to some interesting new books. This made it a no brainer to read for my next book.

The book did not disappoint. Every single one of the articles was entertaining and thought-provoking. "Your Move" by Tom Mueller was about a computer program that plays chess, that often uses strategies that surprise even its programmers. Alan Weisman's article entitled "Earth Without People" reminds one of how fleeting human existence is in the grand scheme of things, and how quickly it could be erased. W. Wyatt Gibbs provides a much needed counter-point to the obesity epidemic that many claim is sweeping the nation with his article "Obesity: An Epic Overblown". Neil Swidey examines the nature versus nurture argument in regards to homosexuality in his article, "What Makes People Gay". Though it seems natural for me to assume that homosexuality is genetic, I also felt that if it was a genetic trait then it wouldn't be beneficial to survival (because homosexuals could not reproduce). Swidley examines this question in depth.

In "The Coming Death Shortage" Charles C. Mann discuss the potential problems that lengthening the average life of a human being will cause. H. Allen Orr provides a scientific critique of Intelligent Design that is sorely needed in today's society. Unfortunately, he does make the point that as 80% of Americans believe that God guided our creation and progression that having come this far on faith alone does Creationism really need ID? Paul Bloom provides us with a window into why we assume a designer with his article "Is God an Accident?". Bloom posits that our belief in God is related to the belief that our mind is separate from our body, which he feels is innate within children. Robert Provine's article on Yawning was fun and definitely yawn invoking (not from boredom but from yawn contagion!) and I also really enjoyed Richard Preston's description of the little world contained in the canopies of Redwood Trees.

Remarkably enough, I left quite a few articles out of the above review. The rest of the articles were also good, however the ones mentioned above were ones that really got me thinking. I have several good leads on what books I will read next and I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in some good science reading. This book provides a nice breadth that I think includes something for everyone. I believe that The Best American Science Writing is a series I will have to make sure to read each year.

Restaurant Reviews!

2008-01-28T00:03:00.001-05:00

As you can see on my list, I have an entire category devoted to food. I love to eat. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love discovering new restaurants and trying new things. So, I've decided that finding new restaurants (local ones... I'm not a fan of chains) and trying out new food was a no-brainer for this list. So with these things in mind I tried two new restaurants lately and here are my thoughts.

A Taste of Havana

Last year when I visited Tallahassee I had Cuban food for the first time. We went to a place called Gordo's (what a great name for a restaurant) and I had a Cuban sandwich that was phenomenal. I also had some spicy appetizer that was wonderful, and I wish I could remember the name. Anyways I enjoyed Cuban cuisine very much and when I saw that there was a Cuban restaurant in Knoxville I insisted that we check it out.

First the good news. The food was good. The Cuban sandwich I had was not nearly as good as the one in Tallahassee, but it was still tasty. My wife really enjoyed hers and the appetizers (we tried fried yucca and fried plantains) were excellent.

However, the fact that the food was good was almost entirely undone by how horrible the service was. After we seated ourselves it took a long time before anyone came over to our table despite the fact that the restaurant did not appear that busy. When a waitress finally came over, she did a fine job. However, halfway through our meal she left, informing us that she didn't actually work there and was just helping out. After we had finished our meal it took 20-30 minutes for us to get our check.

So though I would like to head back and check out some of the enticing desserts that were in the window (they are also a bakery) or maybe a dinner entree, the bad service really turned me off. The owners do have a second location that recently opened so they might have been struggling to staff both stores the day we visited. The food was good enough to give it a second try.

Kaya Korean Restaurant

Neither my wife nor I had ever had Korean food. I asked some friends for some suggestions and armed with that knowledge my wife and I headed down to Kaya on Saturday because on Saturdays they have a buffet. We thought this would be the best way to go because we could try a wide variety of foods.

When we arrived at the restaurant however, we were quickly overwhelmed. They had quite a selection of food laid out. Unfortunately, nothing was labeled. So though I had the names of some things my friends said I had to try, I was out of luck. There would be no matching the names with the dishes. Even worse, I liked several of the things I had very much but I have no idea what they were so I can't order them next time. I know I could have asked a waiter for some help, but the place was fairly packed (lots of folks were enjoying the buffet) so I would have felt guilty taking up a waiter's time.

My overall impression was good. I really enjoyed a few dishes on the hot bar. However I tried several of the cold dishes and I didn't care for them. I was also quite surprised at the large amounts of cabbage in everything. Next time we go, we'll definitely order from the menu and I think we'll also give the hibachi a shot.

#84 Find a Good Realtor

2008-01-27T23:38:00.000-05:00

Why it's on the list?

Well, my wife and I are planning on buying our first home this year. As we're novices in this area we'd like someone who will guide us through the process and help us accomplish this huge goal.

The Process

Honestly, I might have wimped out on this one. Rather than doing the research myself, this past Friday I simply asked a friend of ours who had purchased a house in the area. Our friend highly recommended her realtor, so I thought what the hell. I visited the realtor's website and filled out a request for information form. Within 20 minutes, the Realtor had called me back and was very friendly and helpful. She answered all my questions and promised to have the first set of houses to review to me by the end of Monday. I'm anxiously awaiting the results and based on the results so far I feel confident in scratching off this item on my list. I think we've found a good one!

#35 Go to the Sunsphere

2008-01-27T11:35:00.000-05:00

What is the Sunsphere?

The Sunsphere is a rather peculiar looking building in downtown Knoxville that was built for the 1982 World's Fair. It's a tower topped with a huge gold ball.

Why is it on the list?

It's on the list for a few reasons. One, whenever I visit a city for the first time one of my favorite things to do is to get on top of the tallest building that will let me do so. I've been up to the top of the Carew tower in Cincinnati, the Sears tower in Chicago, the World Trade Center in New Orleans, Skylon tower in Niagara Falls, well you get the idea.

Secondly, the Sunsphere is so odd looking I just felt like it was my duty to check it out. The first time I drove past it on the interstate I thought what the hell is that!?!?! My next thought was, I have to go find out!

The Process

Well, this ended up being a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. Last Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day and my wife was off of work. So we decided it would be a perfect day to head downtown and check out the Sunsphere. We had called the night before and had asked if the Sunsphere would be open on the Holiday and were told by an unfriendly voice, "We're always open"

Well that would be a lie. Because once we got down to the Sunsphere and hit the button for the Observation Deck in the elevator, the elevator wouldn't budge. After calling a few times (the first call a person told us, "We'll send someone right over") someone else informed us that the Sunsphere was closed for the holiday.

Fast forward to yesterday. Once again we head down and this time the elevator works! We get up to the top and though not quite as high as I would have liked it was still a nice view of the city of Knoxville. They had information bubbles every few feet that contained some information about the city, and sometimes the bubble would be placed so that you could see the building it was talking about. The observation deck also contained a nice description of the 1982 World's Fair.

After we headed back down, we hit up the Chocolate Factory, which based on the amounts of awards on the walls inside, is an award winning chocolate shop. My wife, who is a chocolate fiend, bought some and said it lived it to its billing. Next, we headed to the Knoxville Museum of Art. The KMA was fairly small, but was only 3 bucks apiece and did have a cool exhibit on the 3rd floor. It was called 100 Suns by Michael Light and it was a series of photographs of nuclear bomb tests conducted by the United States from 1945 - 1963. The pictures were amazing and terrifying.

All in all it was a great time in downtown Knoxville. Pictures can be found at My Space and another item has been crossed off the ole list!

Book Review (1/34) Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance

2008-01-20T00:58:00.000-05:00

I have a subscription to the New Yorker. Some weeks I read the entire thing cover to cover. Other weeks (notably the week where fashion is a huge topic) I hardly read anything between "Talk of the Town" and the Review Section in the back. Usually, there will be one or two articles in the magazine that will intrigue me. What's really amazing is that chances are one of these articles is about a topic I have never really thought about or cared about. The fact that I enjoy these articles as much as I do is a tribute to the staff and writers of the New Yorker.

Every now and then an article strikes me so much that I scan in it so I'll always have access to it. This occurred a few weeks back when I encountered an article called "The Checklist" by Atul Gawande. Gawande is a surgeon, however, he is also an excellent writer. The article revolved around how much the infection rate in hospitals could be lowered by the inclusion of checklists. Not new drugs. Not new surgeries. Just a simple ole checklist. This type of innovation is the exact type of innovation the field of Human Factors should be making. However, once again the innovation has come from the inside.

Based on how intellectually stimulating I found the article to be I quickly turned to the "Contributors" page of the New Yorker and found that Gawande had a new book out entitled Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance. After looking up a few reviews online I decided that this book would be perfect for me and after I created this list of 101 Things I knew this would be book number 1.

As much as I learn from the fiction books I read (some have really made me think ... Evolution by Stephen Baxter, Replay by Ken Grimwood) I've found that I really get my rocks off with a great nonfiction book. I think it is much more difficult to make a readable nonfiction book because it is so easy to get lost in the jargon of one's field (that's a topic for another day). But when people nail it (Jared Diamond, James Surowiecki, Daniel Dennett, James Gleick) the results are wonderful. For whatever reason I often end up sidetracked and fail to read as much non-fiction as I should. That's why I've decided to shoot for one a month on this list.

This book definitely lived up to my expectations. It's around 250 pages and I picked it up around 7 today and here I am writing my review already. It is a page turner. Gawande's writing is crisp, clear, and very thought provoking. The question he poses is simple, How can we (referring to the medical industry) be better? The solution for him is through diligence, doing the right thing, and ingenuity. The book is divided into 3 sections that discuss various case studies of how those 3 traits (or lack thereof) have affected the goal of saving lives.

The results are fascinating. One would imagine that medical staff would be diligent in following the simple mantra of "Wash Your Hands". But for various reasons compliance is not 100%, leading to the spread of all sorts of nasty germs throughout a hospital. Gawande goes on to discuss the extraordinary efforts to eradicate polio and the way in which doctors and surgeons in Iraq adapted to make the Iraq War have the lowest injured/death ratio of any American War.

He continues into the second section with a fascinating discussion on ethics. What are the guidelines for examining patients? What do the doctors owe if they make a mistake? How much money should a doctor make? Is it ethical to be present for an execution? And finally, how hard should a doctor fight for a patient? This question in particular is very interesting. Gawande presents the case that the fatality rate of babies decreased when doctors began to fight for premature babies rather than just making the assumption that there wasn't anything they could do for them.

The final section on ingenuity is the one that resonated with me the most. Gawande discusses innovations in childbirth, cystic fibrosis treatment, and improvisation amongst the poorly equipped hospitals of India that have resulted in extending people's lives. I loved his discussion of the bell curve and how some cystic fibrosis centers were always exceptional no matter how much the overall average improved. In trying to explain the success of these "positive deviants" Gawande stated "What the best may have, above all, is a capacity to learn and change -- and do so faster than anyone else"

When you combine this statement with the diligence recommended in the first part of the book I believe you have a recommendation for the optimal control strategy. You need enough flexibility to change your control when the system has actually changed, yet you need enough stability in the system to not chase the noise. From the reading of Gawande's book I get the sense that each of these two traits have their proponents and the major success stories have both qualities.

Dr. Warrick, the director of the leading cystic fibrosis treatment center, was both an innovator and someone dedicated to diligence based on Gawande's description. As much as I am a fan of the concepts of decentralization and bottom up processing I continue to be amazed at what the efforts of one determined individual can make in a large organization. Chalk this up as another victory for the hybrid organization favored by the book The Starfish And the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations

Gawande concludes his book with 5 ways to become a positive deviant (one of those people on the better than average side of the bell curve). 1.)Ask an unscripted question - this is getting at building camaraderie among team members 2.)Don't Complain 3.)Count Something -- basically an attempt to get one to notice patterns in the world 4.)Write Something -- even if it is just a blog. and 5.)Change. I love all these recommendations, but change is something I am really fond of.

I try to keep my mind open. I try not to, as Phillip Wylie says in The Disappearance, read a book with the assumption that I am already the master of what it contains and that the author has written it soley that I can prove him wrong. The ability to change is something that is vital in a world that is constantly changing.

So that's a wrap for the first non-fiction book of the month! I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning about complexity and how people deal with dynamic environments. Though set in the medical field (which I and many others believe is the next frontier for Human Factors) I believe the lessons learned can be applied across many domains. I'm taking Gawande's advice and every time I see this word change I'm counting. I'm also sure Gawande's other book: Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science will be on my list.

Next up: I'm not sure. I have a few ideas floating around (an autobiography of a kamikaze pilot, one of the presidential candidate's books) but I haven't decided yet. Stay tuned sportsfans!

And just so you know I haven't been slacking...

2008-01-18T00:50:00.000-05:00

1.)I've played in one iSketch game and I think we might be able to keep it going weekly for a bit even if it is at the same time as Biggest Loser.

2.)I just visited the doctor for my neck and they are scheduling an MRI so that is a step in getting that accomplished.

3.)I've got a tentative date for my quals that I just might stick with.

4.)I've been watching CNN every primary night, listening to Political podcasts, and I have gone through the issues and come up with my stance for each of them so I can feel educated about the issues before I see where each candidate stands.

5.)I've ordered my first non-fiction book and it should arrive soon

6.)I've managed to keep up the ole flossing schedule so far!

7.)I've started planning the whitewater rafting trip

8.)And I've been hitting the Spanish pretty hard as described below.

So I feel like I have a lot of things going on, but nothing to the point where I can start crossing things off the list. Ah well. Slowly but surely!

Plan #2 Learning Spanish

2008-01-18T00:16:00.000-05:00

Spanish has always been my Kryptonite. In high school, I took 4 years and the only year I managed to get an A in Spanish (my junior year) I finished 2nd in the class that particular year. The other 3 years I barely carried a B and I imagine I could have at least made the valedictorian race a little more interesting without it. Oh well.

Fast forward to college. In college I received one grade that wasn't an A. One. It was a C+ in Spanish Conversation.

Of course back then I had a horrible attitude about learning Spanish. It was something I just wasn't interested in doing. For some reason, in my junior year of high school, I really tried and did fairly well. Of course school let out for the summer and I didn't even think of Spanish for 3 months. Then when I got back, senioritis set in. In college, I just needed to fill requirements.

So why now? Why learn Spanish? Well I think it would be cool to be fluent in a second language. Additionally, if I ever travel to a Spanish speaking country I would like to be able to communicate. Finally, at this point in my life I think Spanish is the way to go if I want to try and learn a new language because I at least have some basis in the language. In fact, the more I am practicing the more it is coming back to me.

Since I've started this list I've been using the Coffee Break Spanish podcast as my tutor. Mark and Kara are excellent teachers and the first 10 podcasts I've downloaded have been a great refresher. Additionally, I've been listening to the Inspired Beginners podcast. These guys go a bit faster than Mark and Kara and focus mainly on conversation, which I find invaluable. If you give me a story in Spanish I can usually piece it together. However, I really fall apart in spoken conversation because the speakers go too fast for me.

So I've got my podcasts and I bought an old Spanish Stories for Beginners book from a used book store. Nothing has been quite as exhilirating as being able to understand the story you just read in another language.

My plan is to continue to go through the podcasts (there are 50 lessons to get through on one and 20 on the other). I'm also going to read my book and hopefully engage some people in conversation. I guess I should also practice... so here we go...

Hola! Que tal? Soy muy bien. Mañana voy a ir el cine porque quiero mirar Cloverfield. Desafortunadamente tengo que trabajar mucho mañana. Trabajo en mi casa. Me gusta mi trabajo porque tengo tiempo libre mucho. En mi tiempo libre me gusta leer y me encanta leer libros cómicos. Me gusta aprender espanol!

Or something like that!

#18 Buy a Sweetass Suit

2008-01-06T16:53:00.000-05:00

Why is it on the list?

I've needed a suit for quite some time. For the last... oh 6 or 7 years all I've had were two blazers (a black one and a navy blue one). While those were fine back in the day at this point in my life I was ready for something a little more stylin.

The Process!

I headed to the Men's Wearhouse (which I always want to spell as Warehouse... Wearhouse... so clever of them) with my wife because my fashion sense sucks. However I did have the vague notion that I would like a black suit because I have a lot of shirts and ties that would go nicely with black. I also wanted something with pinstripes.

The guy at the Men's Wearhouse was named Winston (I immediately suggested that as a good boy's name, but the wife said, "We're not naming any child of ours after cigarettes") and he was very helpful in picking out several suits for me to try on. After trying on a bunch I found out the one I liked best was gonna be around $300, which was alright, but the alterations needed to make it a good fit were gonna be another $50 or $60 bucks.

So ... I ended up going with a brown suit with some blue pinstripes that I walked out with for $300 after alterations. I know... that sounds like a weird combination. But it looks pretty damn sweet and it also matches a lot more stuff than I expected.

2 down! And.... I've uploaded a pic (with a windsor knot of course... though I did tie it a little long) at My Space.

Plan #1: Training Up for the Half Marathon

2008-01-03T01:22:00.001-05:00

A few months ago I decided that there would never be a better time for me to train for an Ironman than right now. The physical demands for an Ironman are intense and it is going to require many hours of training. Thankfully, my current work situation is very flexible and my wife is very supportive so I think I can pull it off.

However, there are several things that are working against me. First, I have a tendency to give up during races when I am not living up to the standards that I have set. This leads me to question whether or not I have the mental toughness necessary to complete an Ironman. Secondly, this will be a long term commitment and I have a tendency to leave long term personal projects unfinished. Thirdly, I am currently battling a quad injury that I have had since October. I took some time off after the Thanksgiving Day Race, but I have decided that it is time to start training again. After a month off I feel like a fat slob. I am just going to hope that the quad won't get any worse. Finally, I also need to get my neck looked at before I start swimming again. Luckily, that is one of my 101 things! Well enough of the excuses. Hopefully identifying them and calling them out will allow me to work past them.

2007 was a great year for me. I completed my first 15K (albeit slower than I would have liked). I completed my first adventure race. I set a personal best for a 5K (21:35). I completed my second triathlon (6mi canoe, 5.5mi run, 18mi bike). I'm hoping 2008 can be even better.

With these things in mind I have decided to start with realistic goals and build towards completing an Ironman in 2009. This year, I plan to complete an Olympic Distance Triathlon (1.5K Swim, 40K Bike, 10K Run) and a Half Marathon (13.1 mi) which I will use as building blocks for the marathon, HIM, and IM in 2009.

If you are interested, my entire race schedule for 2008 (and training logs) are located here . Using the great resources of Hal Higdon and Beginner Triathlete I've put together a training plan from now until the Olympic Triathlon in July.

So there ya have it! As my main man Kevin Bacon says in Tremors, "I've got myself a plan!"

#17 Learn to Tie a Windsor Tie Knot

2008-01-02T13:39:00.000-05:00

What is a Windsor Knot?

A windsor knot is a method of tying a tie that in my opinion looks a little more stylish than the standard Four-in-hand knot most people are familiar with.

Why is it on the list?

I first heard about the Windsor knot from my Father when he was teaching me the four-in-hand knot. He didn't know how to tie a Windsor, but he told me how nice they looked and that my Uncle was an expert at tying them. Though this conversation occurred over 10 years ago, the thought of tying a cooler looking tie knot stuck with me and this list finally provided me with the motivation to finally try and learn to tie what I thought of as a Double Windsor Tie Knot.

The Process!

As will be quite common with this list I started with trusty ole Wikipedia. It was there that I learned that the term Double Windsor was a misnomer. The real name was simply Windsor knot, or a Full Windsor knot. Next, I tried out a variety of youtube videos that purported to show how to tie a Windsor. After finding several poorly made videos I found this one:

However, as I was attempting to watch this video and learn, my sister saw me and decided she would learn as well. She busted it out quickly and then proceeded to teach me how. After several days of repeated practice (like I said... I had a slight head start on my 1001 days) I think I have managed to tie a pretty decent Windsor Knot.

1 down 100 more to go! And fear not! I will post pictures of my mad Windsor knot skills when I write my blog about another item on the list I have completed. Stay tuned!

101 Things in 1001 Days: The Beginning

2008-01-01T22:42:00.000-05:00

As an avid video gamer and City of Heroes addict, I'm a big fan of the videos produced by the guys and girls at Watch The Guild. As I was looking through the website I came across the blog of Felicia Day, the actress who plays Codex in the videos. Felicia had blogged about this great idea called 101 Things in 1001 Days.

You can learn more about the goals of 101 Things in 1001 Days here. In the meantime, you can see my list on the right side of this page, and over the next 1001 days I hope to bring you frequent updates on my progress as well as my plans on how to accomplish these goals.

As for why I'm doing this.... well a few weeks back I was a bit bummed out about my chronic procrastination and the fact that I frequently start projects and then don't finish them. I'm hoping that by stating my goals and stating a firm deadline that it will help me achieve my objectives.

Alright! I may have had a wee bit head start, but I am giving today, January 1st 2008 as my official start time. My deadline... Sept. 28th 2010. Let's Rock!

Sunspot

2007-11-12T00:41:00.000-05:00

I love food and I love America. However, in my travels across this country I am usually disappointed in the sameness of it all. Mall Road in Florence Kentucky has the same restaurants as North Fairfield Road in Dayton which has the same restaurants as Kingston Pike in Knoxville which… well you get the idea.

Of course, the problem is that I just don’t know where to look. Or I’m worried that if I choose one of the local places it will suck. One of the things you know about a place like Red Lobster or the Olive Garden is that even though it won’t be anything to write home about, it probably won’t suck. However, I’m a firm believer in the whole variety is the spice of life thing so whenever I’m staying out of town the first thing I do is hit up the concierge and ask them, “I might only be here once. Where should I go and have a great meal?”

Usually that works wonders. However, another method I’ve used to some degree of success is to pick up the local city paper (like Cincinnati’s CityBeat) and check out the ads. Recently my wife found an ad in Knoxville’s Metro Pulse for a restaurant called Sunspot. Every Sunday Sunspot has a different brunch menu and well with a menu that promised “Our famous poached eggs over prosciutto ham and sauteed onions atop a lightly toasted foccacia bun. Finished with cracked black pepper hollandaise and served with zesty potatoes and a fresh fruit garnish” we knew we had to give it a shot.

We arrived at Sunspot around 10:30AM and were pleasantly surprised that we were seated immediately as my experience with restaurants on Sunday mornings usually involves a 45 minute wait amongst a crowd of churchgoers. The first thing we noticed was how cool the décor was. Each table had a plexiglass covering under which were a variety of themes. Our table had pictures of what appeared to be a beard and moustache contest. The winner of the contest had carved his muttonchops into something vaguely resembling the naked lady mudflaps seen on 18 wheelers. Awesome.

The waiter quickly came over and brought us some nachos, which were fantastic. The nachos themselves were great (just the right amount of saltiness and crispiness) but the salsa was outstanding. It was a green tomatilla salsa that I had never tasted before, but it was perfect. We easily pounded the first batch of nachos and were on our way through a second when our meal arrived.

The Eggs Sunspot (the meal I described above) was excellent. Not only was the presentation exquisite for the prices we were paying but the food was truly outstanding. My wife’s Pint’s Pumpkin Pancakes (“Three fluffy, golden brown pumpkin pancakes filled with butterscotch chips and topped with cinnamon sugar”) were great as well. They almost tasted like candy.

So of course this Sunday morning we check out the old Metro Pulse to see what Sunspot has on the menu this time. “Texas toast stuffed with a fried egg and topped with sautéed tomatoes, onions, spinach and prosciutto. Garnished with a jalapeno hollandaise and served with zesty potatoes and a fruit salad.” And let me tell you something. This was just as delicious as it sounded. If you know me, you know that I scarf down my food very quickly. About my 5th or 6th bite in I stopped and paused because the bite I had just taken was absolutely perfect. All the flavors present on the dish had come together wonderfully. I finished the meal around noon this time and I felt full until early evening. The meal was everything you could want in a Sunday Brunch.

So if you’re ever in Knoxville, be sure to stop in at Sunspot at 1909 Cumberland Ave. There phone number is 865-637-GOOD, and I assure you they are not lying.

The Mummy!

2007-08-19T00:15:00.002-04:00

An American Hero: Robbed!

2007-06-27T07:26:00.001-04:00

Like many of you last year I spent the 4th of July in front of the television anxiously awaiting the coming out party of a new American Hero. For six long years we had suffered embarrassing defeat at our own game at the hands of a foreign nation on our Independence Day! But no longer would we despair! 2006 would be the year that we would retain our crown as the greatest nation on the planet! The Mustard Belt was finally coming home to America!

For years Takeru Kobayashi had dominated Nathan's Hotdog Eating Contest. Despite the obesity epidemic sweeping the nation we were hopeless in the face of the jaws of Kobayashi. He sprang onto the scene in 2001, decimating the former record of 25 1/2 hot dogs by chowing down 50 hot dogs in 12 minutes. Kobayashi spent the next half-decade laying waste to the competition, destroying men twice his size in all manners of eating contests. He became more superhero than man:

He claimed five mustard belts in a row and the thought of someone taking him down seemed ludicrous.

Until the man they call Jaws emerged from San Jose, California. Joey Chestnut pounded over 30 some dogs in the 2005 contest, coming out of nowhere to finish 3^rd. He did nothing but improve the next year, winning several contests and being named Rookie of the Year by the Competitive Eating Association. As the 4^th of July approached, one began to sense a change in the winds. Could this be the year that the Mustard Belt returned home? Could Joey take down the legendary and immortal Kobayashi? Was this the birth of a new American Hero?

Finally the big day arrived. I remember firing up the grill to have a few hot dogs to watch the show. As noon approached I became more and more anxious. Finally, it was here! Joey entered to cheers from the crowd and the man from Tokyo was placed right beside him. The gun went off and as the competitors began to chow down the crowd began to chant USA USA! Today would be our day! After 10 minutes of exhilarating mano-a-mano combat, Joey was beating the Paul Bunyan of Competitive eating. Unfortunately, the contest lasted 12 minutes. With the resolution of a champion, Kobayashi stormed back and overtook Joey, setting a new World Record in the process with 53 ¾ hot dogs consumed and claiming his sixth Mustard Belt. Joey finished close behind with 52 hot dogs but a clear message had been sent. Kobayashi was no longer invincible.

All these signs pointed to an epic battle in 2007. Joey had continued to impress at various eating competitions around the world. He set the new world record for hot dogs eaten with 59 during a qualifying round. A showdown of monumental proportions would be occurring July 4^th and this time, the Mustard Belt would be coming back to the USA. However, yesterday news broke the Kobayashi’s body had finally broken under the years of punishment competitive eating had dished out. Arthritis in his powerful jaws was so severe he could barely open his mouth. His chances of participating in this year’s Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest seem bleak.

There is no doubt that Joey Chestnut will dominate the field this 4^th of July, to the cheers of thousands of Americans in New York, and millions more watching at home around the world. Yet, his victory will be hollow. The man, the myth, the legend that is Kobayashi will loom over the event, his absence minimizing Joey’s great achievement. In order to be the best you need to beat the best. I have no doubt that Joey wants nothing more than to stand before the mighty Kobayashi and crush him at his own game. It is unfortunate that fate has robbed him of his chance.