#12. Learn to fold clothes properly

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

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!

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

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

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

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...

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!