Otherwise known as: "When Kitty Beast is away, I will sit in all his favorite spots!" :)
Monday, May 06, 2013
Lancaster Again
Back up in Lancaster for the week. Really, it's for several overlapping reasons: spending some time with Dad (who's going through a rough spot) and helping Mom out with some chores around the house and in at the gallery.
I have to say, this was not a trip that I prepared for very well. Normally I have a list (I love my lists) and work on it during the days leading up to the trip so I know I'm prepared. But this time, there was just so much going on that I never had a chance. That means that when I get back there will be an overgrown jungle where my side lawn is used to be; it also means that I never got a chance to do laundry, so half my wardrobe is shoved into a plastic garbage bag ready to be washed once I get to Lancaster. That, plus there's a lot of paperwork-type stuff that I need to sort and go through, which is all stuffed into a box and crammed into the trunk of the car. Lord knows what's in there.
Anyway, I made it up, and Lucy only puked once, so I guess that counts as a successful drive. I made it up in time to visit the gallery during First Friday Art Walk, which my mom always works. Here she is not noticing for 10 minutes that I've walked in and am standing in "no man's land" behind the desk where all the wine is hidden. We Heberlein's are observant folk! :)
(although technically speaking, since my mom is a Graham by birth and I seem to have inherited it from her, I guess it's that we Graham's are observant folk?
The pleasant surprise of the evening came when Brent, an old high school friend, saw that I checked in on Facebook and made it a point to visit the gallery. We chatted for a good hour or so about where we were in our lives (mostly griping about how owning a house really just means writing out one check after another). A fun little diversion, and hopefully we'll connect with another mutual high school friend who still lives in the area and grab a drink sometime this week.
I have to say, this was not a trip that I prepared for very well. Normally I have a list (I love my lists) and work on it during the days leading up to the trip so I know I'm prepared. But this time, there was just so much going on that I never had a chance. That means that when I get back there will be an overgrown jungle where my side lawn is used to be; it also means that I never got a chance to do laundry, so half my wardrobe is shoved into a plastic garbage bag ready to be washed once I get to Lancaster. That, plus there's a lot of paperwork-type stuff that I need to sort and go through, which is all stuffed into a box and crammed into the trunk of the car. Lord knows what's in there.
(although technically speaking, since my mom is a Graham by birth and I seem to have inherited it from her, I guess it's that we Graham's are observant folk?
The pleasant surprise of the evening came when Brent, an old high school friend, saw that I checked in on Facebook and made it a point to visit the gallery. We chatted for a good hour or so about where we were in our lives (mostly griping about how owning a house really just means writing out one check after another). A fun little diversion, and hopefully we'll connect with another mutual high school friend who still lives in the area and grab a drink sometime this week.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
GI Joe and Physics - yup, still got it
My friend Janeth and I have been trying to see Oz Great and Powerful together for over a month, but one of us has always been busy, so we haven't had the chance. Thinking that this past Sunday might be just perfect for both of us, I called Janeth up, asked if she wanted to go watch it ... and promptly learned that eventually she got exasperated and just went and saw it herself. Hmph.
-But!-, Janeth asked, would I be interested in seeing GI Joe 2 Cobra Strikes instead? Turns out she really REALLY wanted to go see it. Now, usually action movies don't exactly set me atwitter with anticipation, but this one does feature Channing Tatum and DJ Cotrona, men known for their absolutely fantastic, um, acting abilities. That, plus the fact that it's been a crappy 2 weeks
and I was really looking forward to just being entertained for 2 hours, meant GI Joe 2 was in order. (Side note - did you know that after Magic Mike debuted, Channing Tatum was so popular that GI Joe 2 was rewritten to give Tatum a bigger part? Now you do.)
Anyway, off we went to see guys blow each other up. And really, it was about as you expected: lots of explosions, lots of guys duking it out, the hot girl who's a better fighter than any of them, futuristic space weapons, disasters averted at the last possible second, and plot holes galore. (Someone should explain to their script writers that it is not possible for it to be daytime in the US, Britain, France, Russia, Israel, India, and North Korea all at the same time. Nor is it likely that you would design a control pad for your space weapon where the biggest button on the pad is the self-destruct. But I digress) Janeth walked out of the theater and promptly declared herself disappointed, in that it wasn't very realistic, an expectation that still perplexes me to this day.
BUT, (spoiler alert) I have to admit, there was an idea for a pretty cool weapon in there, one that at least seems semi-plausible in terms of the physics involved. Basically, you haul a moderate-sized, pure heavy-metal rod into orbit (one that can withstand the heat of reentry), position it over a major city, then let it drop. Gravity takes over and accelerates it downward, until it smashes into the Earth with enough kinetic energy to demolish said city. Sound in principle (go look at some impact craters from meteors if you don't believe me) ... but do the numbers work? The fact that nobody's done it yet makes me suspect no, but what's the real answer? It's .... PHYSICS TIME!!
First, let's assume that the engineers took care of any pesky problems about angular momentum and keeping the rod on target. (That's what she said! -Zing!) Second, let's assume that the rode has a small enough cross-section that it can zip through the atmosphere with practically no drag, and not bleed off any energy in the form of heat and reduced speed. Both of those just increase the destructive potential, so if we're looking at feasibility, that's a good bet.
Now, for some more grounded assumptions. Judging by the scenes in the movie when it's still under construction, the satellite carrying the rods is about 10 meters tall. The rods look like they're about half that, so let's say 5 meters tall, and half a meter in diameter. That gives it a volume of about 10*pi*(.25)^2 ~= 2 cubic meters. The movie specifically says this rod is Tungsten (a popular metal for military use given its hardness and high melting point), which at 19.25 g/cm^3, makes this Tungsten rod mass out at about 38500 kilograms.
Now, for the speed. Let's assume a standard solar orbit, which is about 700 kilometers, and still close enough to Earth that gravity will accelerate anything towards earth at a constant 9.8 m/sec^2. Integrating twice, that's 4.9t^2 = 700000, were t is the time it takes for the rod to fall the 700,000 meters, and solves to 378 seconds, or just over 6 minutes (again, assuming no drag and falling straight down). Derivating to get back to velocity ... you get 378 * 9.8 = 3,700 meters per second. (If you're having trouble thinking in metric, that's about 8200 miles per hour, or about 11x the speed of sound. Zippy rod!
Ok. Kinetic energy is 1/2*m*v^2, so 1/2*38500*(3700)^2 = 2.6*10^11 Joules. That is a LOT of Joules, but just how big is it, really? Well, a giga Joule is 10^9 Joules, so that's about 260 giga Joules ... or roughly 40-45 barrels of oil. Destructive? To any given building, definitely. But to an entire city? Hardly. This weapon would really only be good at destroying individual buildings, and it's a LOT cheaper to do that by flying a plane over said building than it is by launching a complicated weapon system into space. In other words ... COBRA FAIL. Just as well, really. If it were that easy to destroy entire cities, I'd be walking around a bit more cautiously. You never know when a Tungsten rod will fall out of the sky and hit you on the head.
-But!-, Janeth asked, would I be interested in seeing GI Joe 2 Cobra Strikes instead? Turns out she really REALLY wanted to go see it. Now, usually action movies don't exactly set me atwitter with anticipation, but this one does feature Channing Tatum and DJ Cotrona, men known for their absolutely fantastic, um, acting abilities. That, plus the fact that it's been a crappy 2 weeks
 |
| Fine Acting Abilities |
Anyway, off we went to see guys blow each other up. And really, it was about as you expected: lots of explosions, lots of guys duking it out, the hot girl who's a better fighter than any of them, futuristic space weapons, disasters averted at the last possible second, and plot holes galore. (Someone should explain to their script writers that it is not possible for it to be daytime in the US, Britain, France, Russia, Israel, India, and North Korea all at the same time. Nor is it likely that you would design a control pad for your space weapon where the biggest button on the pad is the self-destruct. But I digress) Janeth walked out of the theater and promptly declared herself disappointed, in that it wasn't very realistic, an expectation that still perplexes me to this day.
BUT, (spoiler alert) I have to admit, there was an idea for a pretty cool weapon in there, one that at least seems semi-plausible in terms of the physics involved. Basically, you haul a moderate-sized, pure heavy-metal rod into orbit (one that can withstand the heat of reentry), position it over a major city, then let it drop. Gravity takes over and accelerates it downward, until it smashes into the Earth with enough kinetic energy to demolish said city. Sound in principle (go look at some impact craters from meteors if you don't believe me) ... but do the numbers work? The fact that nobody's done it yet makes me suspect no, but what's the real answer? It's .... PHYSICS TIME!!
First, let's assume that the engineers took care of any pesky problems about angular momentum and keeping the rod on target. (That's what she said! -Zing!) Second, let's assume that the rode has a small enough cross-section that it can zip through the atmosphere with practically no drag, and not bleed off any energy in the form of heat and reduced speed. Both of those just increase the destructive potential, so if we're looking at feasibility, that's a good bet.
Now, for some more grounded assumptions. Judging by the scenes in the movie when it's still under construction, the satellite carrying the rods is about 10 meters tall. The rods look like they're about half that, so let's say 5 meters tall, and half a meter in diameter. That gives it a volume of about 10*pi*(.25)^2 ~= 2 cubic meters. The movie specifically says this rod is Tungsten (a popular metal for military use given its hardness and high melting point), which at 19.25 g/cm^3, makes this Tungsten rod mass out at about 38500 kilograms.
Now, for the speed. Let's assume a standard solar orbit, which is about 700 kilometers, and still close enough to Earth that gravity will accelerate anything towards earth at a constant 9.8 m/sec^2. Integrating twice, that's 4.9t^2 = 700000, were t is the time it takes for the rod to fall the 700,000 meters, and solves to 378 seconds, or just over 6 minutes (again, assuming no drag and falling straight down). Derivating to get back to velocity ... you get 378 * 9.8 = 3,700 meters per second. (If you're having trouble thinking in metric, that's about 8200 miles per hour, or about 11x the speed of sound. Zippy rod!
Ok. Kinetic energy is 1/2*m*v^2, so 1/2*38500*(3700)^2 = 2.6*10^11 Joules. That is a LOT of Joules, but just how big is it, really? Well, a giga Joule is 10^9 Joules, so that's about 260 giga Joules ... or roughly 40-45 barrels of oil. Destructive? To any given building, definitely. But to an entire city? Hardly. This weapon would really only be good at destroying individual buildings, and it's a LOT cheaper to do that by flying a plane over said building than it is by launching a complicated weapon system into space. In other words ... COBRA FAIL. Just as well, really. If it were that easy to destroy entire cities, I'd be walking around a bit more cautiously. You never know when a Tungsten rod will fall out of the sky and hit you on the head.
Saturday, April 06, 2013
Caribbean Food!
What better way to celebrate rising temperatures than by eating a new Caribbean restaurant? I love Caribbean food - I think it does a fantastic job creating meals that taste good and that are "hearty" but not "heavy". Plus, I'm trying to retrain my tastebuds to be able to taste fruit again, and there's plenty of fruit in Caribbean food to practice on.
Which is to say that I was pretty happy when Danielle recommended it for our every-other-week dinner on Friday afternoon. Unfortunately, Danielle had something pop up at the last minute and couldn't come, but Justin and I decided to go and eat anyway (and get some takeout for Danielle).
So, off to Midlothian, in what Justin described over the phone as "the sketchy part of town". I harumphed when he said that, although I have to admit when I first pulled into the parking lot and saw the giant (and incomplete) "CHECKS CASHED" sign over the restaurant, I did start to wonder. A restaurant that cashes checks? wtf did I agree to? It took a solid minute to figure out that the restaurant shares the building with the pay-day loan shop next door.
Anyway, once you got past the sketchy loan shop, it was actually pretty awesome. Great atmosphere, friendly people, and really REALLY good food. We started with fish cakes as an app, which were pretty much perfect: lots of chunks of fish, light breading, a good fry on them.
For my entree I got pineapple chicken with rice & beans, and steamed cabbage. The rice, beans, and cabbage is pretty much the perfect example of what I mean by "hearty" but not "heavy" ... it's a great side dish that fills you up, it's really flavorful, but it's also very light and doesn't sit like a brick in your stomach after you've had it. In other words, the perfect side for hot weather. The cabbage was great too - it's really easy to overcook cabbage, but this was done perfectly, and still had a good crunch to it.
The pineapple chicken was fantastic. The chicken was cooked really well, lots of chunks of pineapple and peppers, and the whole thing was covered in a pineapple sauce with a little bit of curry in it. Delish! There was a good bit of it, and the fishcakes were pretty filling too, so I brought home about half the dish. I polished that off for lunch this afternoon, and it tastes just as good the second time. Justin got the jerk chicken; I sampled a bit of that and it was fantastic too. (And no, I don't know why Justin is reaching out with his knife in the middle of the picture. Sometimes he's just Justin.)
Which is to say that I was pretty happy when Danielle recommended it for our every-other-week dinner on Friday afternoon. Unfortunately, Danielle had something pop up at the last minute and couldn't come, but Justin and I decided to go and eat anyway (and get some takeout for Danielle).
So, off to Midlothian, in what Justin described over the phone as "the sketchy part of town". I harumphed when he said that, although I have to admit when I first pulled into the parking lot and saw the giant (and incomplete) "CHECKS CASHED" sign over the restaurant, I did start to wonder. A restaurant that cashes checks? wtf did I agree to? It took a solid minute to figure out that the restaurant shares the building with the pay-day loan shop next door.
Anyway, once you got past the sketchy loan shop, it was actually pretty awesome. Great atmosphere, friendly people, and really REALLY good food. We started with fish cakes as an app, which were pretty much perfect: lots of chunks of fish, light breading, a good fry on them.
For my entree I got pineapple chicken with rice & beans, and steamed cabbage. The rice, beans, and cabbage is pretty much the perfect example of what I mean by "hearty" but not "heavy" ... it's a great side dish that fills you up, it's really flavorful, but it's also very light and doesn't sit like a brick in your stomach after you've had it. In other words, the perfect side for hot weather. The cabbage was great too - it's really easy to overcook cabbage, but this was done perfectly, and still had a good crunch to it. The pineapple chicken was fantastic. The chicken was cooked really well, lots of chunks of pineapple and peppers, and the whole thing was covered in a pineapple sauce with a little bit of curry in it. Delish! There was a good bit of it, and the fishcakes were pretty filling too, so I brought home about half the dish. I polished that off for lunch this afternoon, and it tastes just as good the second time. Justin got the jerk chicken; I sampled a bit of that and it was fantastic too. (And no, I don't know why Justin is reaching out with his knife in the middle of the picture. Sometimes he's just Justin.)
Monday, April 01, 2013
I Am No Longer the Best Child
Or, by it's more familiar name:
"My sister and her husband have purchased their first home."
Scheming to reclaim the title will commence shortly, but in the meantime, you should go tell them congratulations.
"My sister and her husband have purchased their first home."
Scheming to reclaim the title will commence shortly, but in the meantime, you should go tell them congratulations.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Penguins Falling Down
Because ice is slippery. Also, need something to take my mind off of the hell that has been the past few weeks.
Sunday, March 03, 2013
When, exactly, did we lose our collective minds?
This morning I decided it'd be nice to peruse the news and blogosphere while having my coffee. So I brewed a pot, put on my hoody, and sat down to discover - this:
An official request to the Vatican to make St Gabriel Possenti the official "Patron Saint of Hand-Gunners."
Pat Robertson advising his viewers to be wary of second-hand clothes, because demons could be attached to them.
A Connecticut state lawmaker telling a high-school teenager, in legislative session, that "[i]f you're bashful I got a snake sitting under my desk here."
Seriously, what the hell is wrong with people these days?
UPDATE:
Oh, and how could I forget to mention, of all people, Dennis-freakin-Rodman visiting North Korea and watching a basketball game with Kim Jong Un. I think "humble guy", albeit one who "loves power" is destined to go down in history.
An official request to the Vatican to make St Gabriel Possenti the official "Patron Saint of Hand-Gunners."
Pat Robertson advising his viewers to be wary of second-hand clothes, because demons could be attached to them.
A Connecticut state lawmaker telling a high-school teenager, in legislative session, that "[i]f you're bashful I got a snake sitting under my desk here."
Seriously, what the hell is wrong with people these days?
UPDATE:
Oh, and how could I forget to mention, of all people, Dennis-freakin-Rodman visiting North Korea and watching a basketball game with Kim Jong Un. I think "humble guy", albeit one who "loves power" is destined to go down in history.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
A Curious Dinner Choice
Blah - today was another day in the long series of what's become the norm: 8 hours straight of meetings, followed by another 2 hours of dealing with all the other things that piled up during the day, and then finally 30 minutes of cardio that I forced myself to go to.
I was drained, both mentally and physically, and on the ride home decided that I did NOT want to cook dinner tonight, and so I pulled off the highway into a shopping center, parked the car, and walked up to ... a Salad Works.
Only as I stood in line did it dawn on me that I was frustrated and stressed out, and that to deal with it I was standing in line ... for a takeout salad.
Wow. When did THAT happen?
I was drained, both mentally and physically, and on the ride home decided that I did NOT want to cook dinner tonight, and so I pulled off the highway into a shopping center, parked the car, and walked up to ... a Salad Works.
Only as I stood in line did it dawn on me that I was frustrated and stressed out, and that to deal with it I was standing in line ... for a takeout salad.
Wow. When did THAT happen?
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Sunday Dinner and Other Notables
Well, I may have gotten off track for part of this week, but today I'm right back in the saddle!
First off: I made dinner :)
That is Asian-Style Scallops, a "recipe" of my own creation that I also shared with the Weight Watchers community (my first ever!) Although really, "recipe" is a bit of a stretch, since the preparation isn't all that complicated. It required a) cooking rice, b) chopping and steaming veggies, c) braising scallops and baby bok choy, none of which is particularly complicated as long as you have enough counter-space and range-space. But, it looks fantastic and also counts as a home-cooked healthy meal a-la my 2013 resolutions.
Speaking of 2013 resolutions, I also signed up for the Monument Ave 10k race earlier this week. I really REALLY want to be able to run without stopping, and that only gives me 3 months to take my run-without-stopping record from 1.5 miles to 6.5. Eesh, that is not gonna be easy. But that just makes it a challenge, and while I'm not always fond of challenges, they do bring about a sense of satisfaction once you meet them. So, onward!
And in other news, it is 70 degrees in Richmond right now, which is officially way to warm for mid-January. I want my winter, gosh darn it!
First off: I made dinner :)
That is Asian-Style Scallops, a "recipe" of my own creation that I also shared with the Weight Watchers community (my first ever!) Although really, "recipe" is a bit of a stretch, since the preparation isn't all that complicated. It required a) cooking rice, b) chopping and steaming veggies, c) braising scallops and baby bok choy, none of which is particularly complicated as long as you have enough counter-space and range-space. But, it looks fantastic and also counts as a home-cooked healthy meal a-la my 2013 resolutions.
Speaking of 2013 resolutions, I also signed up for the Monument Ave 10k race earlier this week. I really REALLY want to be able to run without stopping, and that only gives me 3 months to take my run-without-stopping record from 1.5 miles to 6.5. Eesh, that is not gonna be easy. But that just makes it a challenge, and while I'm not always fond of challenges, they do bring about a sense of satisfaction once you meet them. So, onward!
And in other news, it is 70 degrees in Richmond right now, which is officially way to warm for mid-January. I want my winter, gosh darn it!
Tuesday, January 01, 2013
Resolutions - 2013
This is definitely the CapitalOne process dork in me coming out, but this year I'm going to try something slightly different and make S.M.A.R.T. resolutions for New Years. For the uninitiated, SMART is a framework that helps you make better goals, and stands for Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-specific. Basically, it forces you to be very clear and specific about what you actually want to do, and avoid overly vague statements like "live life better". It works decently enough in a professional setting, so I guess it won't hurt to give it a shot here! And now, without further ado, Nik's 2013 resolutions:
Health & Weight Related:
- Lose an average of 5 lbs per month for the first 6 months of 2013. That may sound like a lot, but when you break it down it's only about 1 1/4 lbs per week, which is well within the 1-2 lb range that's generally considered healthy. Plus, last year I actually did it for 2-3 months before going off track. So definitely attainable.
- Run & complete the Monument Ave 10k on April 13th.
- Limit myself to 1 16-oz coffee per day on 4 of 5 work days - allow myself another cup on 1 weekday.
- Make at least 1 meal/recipe per week that I've never made before. I have a TON of recipes that I've ripped out of Men's Health magazines over the years but have never tried (don't judge).
Social & Personal
- Go to Nu Nightclub at least once per month. This really shouldn't be that difficult - it's within walking distance, I know people who go there so I don't have to go alone, and it has beautiful dancing men. 'Nuf said. It'll also help me meet more guys, which directly feeds into another resolution below.
- Go to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts at least once every 2 months. I'm a member so I get into most exhibits either for free or at a reduced rate, but I go way too rarely. Even if it's just a Wednesday Jazz night, I really should go more often.
- Take a cruise. It doesn't have to be at a particular time or to a particular place, but I want, nay - NEED, a vacation this year. I haven't had a real vacation in 5 years, and it's starting to gnaw at me. I need a break.
- Keep my work-related email to less than 100 at day-end, and don't allow any email to get past 2 weeks. I know, I know, this really shouldn't be on my list ... but it is. I want to do better in ALL aspects of my life, and for better or worse, work is a significant part of life.
- Break the being-single-streak with a somewhat serious relationship. Ok, so this one isn't exactly a SMART goal, but given how important this one is to me, I'm giving it a pass. I don't exactly have a way to measure it, but I'll know it when it happens.
Health & Weight Related:
- Lose an average of 5 lbs per month for the first 6 months of 2013. That may sound like a lot, but when you break it down it's only about 1 1/4 lbs per week, which is well within the 1-2 lb range that's generally considered healthy. Plus, last year I actually did it for 2-3 months before going off track. So definitely attainable.
- Run & complete the Monument Ave 10k on April 13th.
- Limit myself to 1 16-oz coffee per day on 4 of 5 work days - allow myself another cup on 1 weekday.
- Make at least 1 meal/recipe per week that I've never made before. I have a TON of recipes that I've ripped out of Men's Health magazines over the years but have never tried (don't judge).
Social & Personal
- Go to Nu Nightclub at least once per month. This really shouldn't be that difficult - it's within walking distance, I know people who go there so I don't have to go alone, and it has beautiful dancing men. 'Nuf said. It'll also help me meet more guys, which directly feeds into another resolution below.
- Go to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts at least once every 2 months. I'm a member so I get into most exhibits either for free or at a reduced rate, but I go way too rarely. Even if it's just a Wednesday Jazz night, I really should go more often.
- Take a cruise. It doesn't have to be at a particular time or to a particular place, but I want, nay - NEED, a vacation this year. I haven't had a real vacation in 5 years, and it's starting to gnaw at me. I need a break.
- Keep my work-related email to less than 100 at day-end, and don't allow any email to get past 2 weeks. I know, I know, this really shouldn't be on my list ... but it is. I want to do better in ALL aspects of my life, and for better or worse, work is a significant part of life.
- Break the being-single-streak with a somewhat serious relationship. Ok, so this one isn't exactly a SMART goal, but given how important this one is to me, I'm giving it a pass. I don't exactly have a way to measure it, but I'll know it when it happens.
2013 - Starting it out right with a kitchen disaster!
Well, I certainly didn't waste any time on that one - barely 10 hours into 2013 and I've already managed to have a giant pan of liquid custard and boiling water slide off of my oven rack and splash all over the oven door and kitchen floor. Apparently, it also somehow managed to work its way inside my oven door, because after I'd cleaned it all up and shut the door, a magic flow of liquid custard appeared and flowed down between the glass door panes. *sigh - gonna have to leave that one for this weekend, I think.
At least I had enough left over batter that I could do another (albeit smaller) batch of 4 ramekins, so tonight's dessert is still on track.
At least I had enough left over batter that I could do another (albeit smaller) batch of 4 ramekins, so tonight's dessert is still on track.
Monday, December 31, 2012
So long 2012!
Tomorrow will be the requisite 2013 Resolution blog (which will likely look very similar to the 2012 post, meh), but I thought I'd take a minute today to look back on 2012.
2012 was a big year for me - a lot of good, but a lot of not-so-good sprinkled in too, often very related.
The Good:
I got myself out of a bad rut that was affecting me both mentally and physically. Physically, I don't think I was ever unhealthier than in 2011: I had breathing problems, pretty bad allergies, my weight ballooned in a very unhealthy way, I got addicted to coffee and the caffeine in it - just all around a very unhealthy way to live. Stress at work didn't help, neither did some personal issues that I look back on as one of the low-points in my life, and they all sort of jumbled together and fed each other. 2012 fixed a lot of that though: I turned my health around and lost 25 pounds during the first part of the year (even ran/walked a 5k with my sister) which in turn helped with a lot of the other health issues, I switched to another job that I enjoyed a lot more and (at the time) was less stressful, and eventually worked through the issues in my screwed up head.
I took the next step on my volunteer journey and joined the board of directors for the non-profit group that manages the Richmond Men's Chorus and Richmond Women's Chorus, and took an added leadership role as the leader of the 5th Section, the technical group for the RMC/RWC.
Looking back, I also see how I got a LOT done on the house: I rented the downstairs, the back deck was replaced and the front & side yards were tidied up, so that for the first time in my life, I was actually semi-proud of the property I owned and wasn't embarrassed to say that it was mine.
The Bad:
As fantastic as the weight loss was last year, it stalled around April and never really got back on track. Since then I've had good months and bad months, and while I've at least kept myself near my adult-life-low I haven't lost any more either.
Not coincidentally, April was also the month that work-related stress picked back up. The department I manage had a lot change thrown at it in a very short time, and a lot of it fell to me (forced is really the wrong word: while required, it's also something that we wanted to do). That forced me into some roles and work relationships that, if I'm being honest with myself, I wasn't completely ready for and am still not completely comfortable in. It also meant a lot of late nights, which as the year progressed, tended to be at Xtra's, the local bar. Now, don't get me wrong: I LOVE Xtra's. But night-after-night, usually with a beer (or three or four) and a big meal isn't the best thing; not for your wallet, not for your health, and not for social life (honestly, who wants to be with the guy at a bar who's nose-deep into his computer?)
To sum it all up: great strides in a lot of areas, but not so great that I can't point to a number of things in all the areas that I should've (and could've) done a lot better in. So that sets the foundation for the 2013 resolutions.
Now - time to go prep for tonight & tomorrow!
2012 was a big year for me - a lot of good, but a lot of not-so-good sprinkled in too, often very related.
The Good:
I got myself out of a bad rut that was affecting me both mentally and physically. Physically, I don't think I was ever unhealthier than in 2011: I had breathing problems, pretty bad allergies, my weight ballooned in a very unhealthy way, I got addicted to coffee and the caffeine in it - just all around a very unhealthy way to live. Stress at work didn't help, neither did some personal issues that I look back on as one of the low-points in my life, and they all sort of jumbled together and fed each other. 2012 fixed a lot of that though: I turned my health around and lost 25 pounds during the first part of the year (even ran/walked a 5k with my sister) which in turn helped with a lot of the other health issues, I switched to another job that I enjoyed a lot more and (at the time) was less stressful, and eventually worked through the issues in my screwed up head.
I took the next step on my volunteer journey and joined the board of directors for the non-profit group that manages the Richmond Men's Chorus and Richmond Women's Chorus, and took an added leadership role as the leader of the 5th Section, the technical group for the RMC/RWC.
Looking back, I also see how I got a LOT done on the house: I rented the downstairs, the back deck was replaced and the front & side yards were tidied up, so that for the first time in my life, I was actually semi-proud of the property I owned and wasn't embarrassed to say that it was mine.
The Bad:
As fantastic as the weight loss was last year, it stalled around April and never really got back on track. Since then I've had good months and bad months, and while I've at least kept myself near my adult-life-low I haven't lost any more either.
Not coincidentally, April was also the month that work-related stress picked back up. The department I manage had a lot change thrown at it in a very short time, and a lot of it fell to me (forced is really the wrong word: while required, it's also something that we wanted to do). That forced me into some roles and work relationships that, if I'm being honest with myself, I wasn't completely ready for and am still not completely comfortable in. It also meant a lot of late nights, which as the year progressed, tended to be at Xtra's, the local bar. Now, don't get me wrong: I LOVE Xtra's. But night-after-night, usually with a beer (or three or four) and a big meal isn't the best thing; not for your wallet, not for your health, and not for social life (honestly, who wants to be with the guy at a bar who's nose-deep into his computer?)
To sum it all up: great strides in a lot of areas, but not so great that I can't point to a number of things in all the areas that I should've (and could've) done a lot better in. So that sets the foundation for the 2013 resolutions.
Now - time to go prep for tonight & tomorrow!
Monday, December 10, 2012
What a Weekend!
Oooh boy, was this a long weekend. Super fun and super rewarding, but super busy and not-a-little stressful at the same time.
To start with, this weekend was Great Joy!, the annual holiday concert for the Richmond Men & Women's Choruses. I've been helping them out for years, but always in more of a support role. This year, though, I'm on their board of directors, and took over leadership of the 5th Section (our volunteer backstage group) and Production Committee. Among other things, that meant I had to recruit and schedule volunteers, coordinate all the ads & biographies & listings for the program, supply & organize the reception, and also (eek) give the introduction at the start to the audience. Ugh.
It did mean, though, that I had to spend most of Saturday morning running around Short Pump picking up reception ingredients "just in case", since we didn't even know if we were doing a reception until Saturday night, or if supplies had already been taken care of, and the person I needed to answer those questions wasn't returning my emails. And shopping at Richmond's only Costco in the few weeks before Christmas is NOT fun. Argh.
And somehow, while I was doing all of that running around, I managed to put up the outdoor lights, do laundry, pack for my business trip to Sioux Falls, buy 2 new light fixtures for the back deck, put down some patio stones as a temporary walkway to the deck, clean out the car, get my finances updated through this week, have a drink & wings with buddy Todd, and get through 80 emails at work. Yowzas!
So anyway, it was a fantastic weekend and I had a blast, but am also somewhat relieved that it's in the books and done. Now, to see if I can recreate it this week with work-y stuff!
-Nik
To start with, this weekend was Great Joy!, the annual holiday concert for the Richmond Men & Women's Choruses. I've been helping them out for years, but always in more of a support role. This year, though, I'm on their board of directors, and took over leadership of the 5th Section (our volunteer backstage group) and Production Committee. Among other things, that meant I had to recruit and schedule volunteers, coordinate all the ads & biographies & listings for the program, supply & organize the reception, and also (eek) give the introduction at the start to the audience. Ugh.
I'm pleased to say, however, that everything went fantastically. The choruses sounded (and looked) great, and all the behind-the-scenes stuff that I organized went completely unnoticed, which is the best praise you can get as a technical guy. My little speech the first night wasn't fantastic (I have a tendency to rush when I'm nervous) but it wasn't horrible either, and given that I had to do it right after frantically running through the bowels of the church trying to find the chorus because their director decided to bring them up through a different stairway (seriously, how the heck does one misplace a whole chorus of women?), I don't think I could've asked for more.
It did mean, though, that I had to spend most of Saturday morning running around Short Pump picking up reception ingredients "just in case", since we didn't even know if we were doing a reception until Saturday night, or if supplies had already been taken care of, and the person I needed to answer those questions wasn't returning my emails. And shopping at Richmond's only Costco in the few weeks before Christmas is NOT fun. Argh.
And somehow, while I was doing all of that running around, I managed to put up the outdoor lights, do laundry, pack for my business trip to Sioux Falls, buy 2 new light fixtures for the back deck, put down some patio stones as a temporary walkway to the deck, clean out the car, get my finances updated through this week, have a drink & wings with buddy Todd, and get through 80 emails at work. Yowzas!
So anyway, it was a fantastic weekend and I had a blast, but am also somewhat relieved that it's in the books and done. Now, to see if I can recreate it this week with work-y stuff!
-Nik
Saturday, December 08, 2012
The Odd Benefits of Short Legs
I have short legs. For real: my in-seam is 28 1/4 inches, which is 2 standard dev's below where it should be for my height of 69". Generally this is quite annoying, since
the shortest pants you can normally find have 29 inch legs, and even
those aren't all that common. So usually I have to make do with limited
choices and then deal with slightly too-long pants. (Yes, I could get
them altered. But that takes $$, and I don't want to make that
investment until I get my waist down another couple of inches. And
altering jeans isn't really an option anyway.)
Every once and a while, though, it comes in handy at the oddest
times. For example: yesterday morning I went to the gym before work, and
managed to forget my dress socks, leading to this fantastic fashion statement you see on your right. Snazzy.
And yet, with my slightly-too-long jeans, nobody noticed! You know that feeling you get when you know a secret nobody else does? I walked around work all day with that feelin.
And yes, this is what passes for excitement in my life right now. :)
And yet, with my slightly-too-long jeans, nobody noticed! You know that feeling you get when you know a secret nobody else does? I walked around work all day with that feelin.
And yes, this is what passes for excitement in my life right now. :)
Tuesday, December 04, 2012
Nice People
To the random lady at Kohl's who said "Here, I can't use this, you should" and then handed me a coupon that saved me $60: THANK YOU. You are awesome.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Home!
Well, I'm home, which means Thanksgiving is officially over, and the Christmas season is begun! (In my book, Thanksgiving isn't officially over until I pull my car up to my house and get Lucy back inside, which is approximately 30 seconds prior to the Christmas decorations coming out of their boxes.)
The drive home is something I dread each year ... the Richmond-to-Lancaster drive isn't a great one to start with, and when you add in holiday traffic it's an absolute nightmare. One time I tried leaving on late Sunday morning, and the usually-4-hour drive turned into a 17 hour one. UGH. Plus, these past few years Lucy's really started to not do well on the drive; and when I say "not well", I mean vomit and lose bowel control all over the inside of the car. I really don't know what brings it on; I don't know if she gets motion sick, if she's picking up on bad vibes from me or what, but whatever it is, it really drives the poor girl mad.
This time, though, it wasn't terrible. Traffic slowed a lot, but never really came to a halt, and I got back in 5 hours, which is pretty good for a holiday weekend. Lucy did pretty well too. You could tell she wasn't thrilled, but she did curl up and get to sleep for a little. She also got a little adventurous towards the end ... what the people behind me were thinking, I can't really guess.
So anyway, that's one more Thanksgiving in the books! Now, onto that most wonderful time of the year!
The drive home is something I dread each year ... the Richmond-to-Lancaster drive isn't a great one to start with, and when you add in holiday traffic it's an absolute nightmare. One time I tried leaving on late Sunday morning, and the usually-4-hour drive turned into a 17 hour one. UGH. Plus, these past few years Lucy's really started to not do well on the drive; and when I say "not well", I mean vomit and lose bowel control all over the inside of the car. I really don't know what brings it on; I don't know if she gets motion sick, if she's picking up on bad vibes from me or what, but whatever it is, it really drives the poor girl mad.
This time, though, it wasn't terrible. Traffic slowed a lot, but never really came to a halt, and I got back in 5 hours, which is pretty good for a holiday weekend. Lucy did pretty well too. You could tell she wasn't thrilled, but she did curl up and get to sleep for a little. She also got a little adventurous towards the end ... what the people behind me were thinking, I can't really guess.
So anyway, that's one more Thanksgiving in the books! Now, onto that most wonderful time of the year!
Friday, November 23, 2012
Thanksgiving!
Everyone knows the story of the 3 Wise Men on Christmas, but fewer know the story of the 3 Wise Cats. The 3 Wise Cats are Goose, Fluffer-Nutter, and Kitty-Beast, who each represent the yin and yang and dumb of Catdom - all complementing yet opposing each other at the same time. Each year, the 3 Wise Cats travel from afar to visit the Place-of-Beginning, watch the Great Turducken rise from the oven in steamy goodness, and then partake of the great feast. Afterwards, we all engage in ritual meditation to clear our heads and minds.
(In actuality, Katie Brandon and I all schlep our cats up from Baltimore and Richmond to mom & dad's, where we make the turducken, the cats get too many treats, and then we all fall into a food-induced coma. But that's a boring story.)
In a lot of ways it was a fairly normal Thanksgiving: Mom and I spent most of our time in the kitchen and put the turducken together, the cats were spoiled with too many treats, Will spent most of the holiday asleep, Katie subjected the family so some vegan concoctions, and we all ate way too much. Ah, routine :)
There were some things that changed, though.
- Thanks to some prodding, Mom and I started earlier and actually got to bed at a decent hour on Wednesday night. I've forgotten how nice it is to go to bed before 2AM on Thanksgiving. Gonna have to try that again next year.
- I got a week-long gym membership at a local gym, and have actually used it 3 times so far this week. I'm not harboring any misconceptions about losing weight this week, but at least I can keep myself relatively steady.
- While I don't think I'll ever be Kitty Beast's favorite person (not while I have Lucy, anyway), he's started to warm to me this year, and will even let me pet him a bit now (of course, two of those times were when he was half-asleep, and I don't think he knew it was me). The little bugger absolutely adores my brother though, the bastard.
Anyway, that's the Thanksgiving roundup! Turkducken photos will follow once I get them up!
(In actuality, Katie Brandon and I all schlep our cats up from Baltimore and Richmond to mom & dad's, where we make the turducken, the cats get too many treats, and then we all fall into a food-induced coma. But that's a boring story.)
In a lot of ways it was a fairly normal Thanksgiving: Mom and I spent most of our time in the kitchen and put the turducken together, the cats were spoiled with too many treats, Will spent most of the holiday asleep, Katie subjected the family so some vegan concoctions, and we all ate way too much. Ah, routine :)
There were some things that changed, though.
- Thanks to some prodding, Mom and I started earlier and actually got to bed at a decent hour on Wednesday night. I've forgotten how nice it is to go to bed before 2AM on Thanksgiving. Gonna have to try that again next year.
- I got a week-long gym membership at a local gym, and have actually used it 3 times so far this week. I'm not harboring any misconceptions about losing weight this week, but at least I can keep myself relatively steady.
- While I don't think I'll ever be Kitty Beast's favorite person (not while I have Lucy, anyway), he's started to warm to me this year, and will even let me pet him a bit now (of course, two of those times were when he was half-asleep, and I don't think he knew it was me). The little bugger absolutely adores my brother though, the bastard.Anyway, that's the Thanksgiving roundup! Turkducken photos will follow once I get them up!
Monday, November 19, 2012
Deck Update
Hey All,
Quick update on the deck - while not as quickly as I'd like, it's coming along, and should soon be done. You can visit my facebook page for more pictures, but here's where it was 2 weeks ago:
And here's where it is now:
The old deck is gone and the new one is just starting to go up (plus some not insignificant electrical changes), but unfortunately this is the last in-progress picture I'll have before the full thing's up. Part of me wishes I could stay around and watch it piece by piece (my brain's weird like that) but on the other hand, missing Thanksgiving with my family in Pennsylvania would not likely be looked upon kindly.
So, that's all she wrote, folks! Guess you'll just have to wait til I get home to see the final product ;)
And here's where it is now:
The old deck is gone and the new one is just starting to go up (plus some not insignificant electrical changes), but unfortunately this is the last in-progress picture I'll have before the full thing's up. Part of me wishes I could stay around and watch it piece by piece (my brain's weird like that) but on the other hand, missing Thanksgiving with my family in Pennsylvania would not likely be looked upon kindly.
So, that's all she wrote, folks! Guess you'll just have to wait til I get home to see the final product ;)
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Sunday Cat Blogging
Lucy had another of her odd cat moments today. I was folding laundry on the bed, and my comforter was all bunched up on one of the corners. Lucy jumped onto the bed, zipped over to the comforter, promptly shoved her nose under one of the folds, and then proceeded to burrow her way into the blanket one skooch at a time. I don't know if there was a stinky sock in there or what, but whatever it was, she just HAD to get in there. It was pretty funny and I tried to snap a picture, but being only human, I was too slow and only managed to catch part of her tail (it's the little dark spot in the middle-left part of the screen).
Of course, once she was in, she discovered that whatever-it-was was not nearly as exciting, got turned around a bit, and then spent the next 5 minutes trying to find her way back OUT of the blanket. (Note, at no point was she distressed or calling for help; if she was I would've gotten her out immediately.) Anyway, she managed to work herself free, and either she was tired or embarrassed, as she decided to waltz her way right over to my folded laundry and plop herself down in the middle of it. As if to say "Oh yeah? Well, I may get stuck in your blanket, but now you can't put your laundry away. So HAH!'
Of course, after a few minutes she'd forgotten the whole thing, and went back to being a snuggly little angel on the bed. Why do cats do these things? Only Sky-Cat knows, I suppose.
Of course, once she was in, she discovered that whatever-it-was was not nearly as exciting, got turned around a bit, and then spent the next 5 minutes trying to find her way back OUT of the blanket. (Note, at no point was she distressed or calling for help; if she was I would've gotten her out immediately.) Anyway, she managed to work herself free, and either she was tired or embarrassed, as she decided to waltz her way right over to my folded laundry and plop herself down in the middle of it. As if to say "Oh yeah? Well, I may get stuck in your blanket, but now you can't put your laundry away. So HAH!'
Of course, after a few minutes she'd forgotten the whole thing, and went back to being a snuggly little angel on the bed. Why do cats do these things? Only Sky-Cat knows, I suppose.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Fittest ... I do not think it means what you think it means
Whooooo boy, Aaron Schock has got to be PISSED.
I'm on the Men's Health daily email list, which sends you things like exercise tips, foods to target (or avoid), and general fitness tips & stories. And this morning I got an email titled "The 25 Fittest Politicians", a story about men in government who, even with all the inherent challenges, still manage to stay fit.
These kinds of stories aren't exactly my cup of tea, but you never know when you might pick up a tip or two, and hey, pretty guys! So I clicked through and started reading.
Now, as I was clicking through, I was reasonably sure that Paul Ryan would be featured somewhere. Ryan's pretty proud (and rightly so) of how fit he is, and the topic hasn't exactly been off limits from the news. So mentally I was preparing myself to read through the fluff piece, give the man his due, and then go right back to wondering why no one's ever actually told him that his economic ideas are based on mathematical impossibilities.
So I click through numbers 25,24,23 ... 14,13,12 ... and then finally to numbers 2 and 1. And my jaw dropped. Because somewhere, somehow, someone saw these two men side-by-side:
And decided that ... Paul Ryan deserves the title of "Fittest Politician". (For those keeping track, the one on the left is Republican Congressman Aaron Schock of Illinois' 18th district, who's actually been a feature story in Men's Health magazine before.)
Now, this isn't to diminish Ryan's accomplishments, but I honestly have no idea how you look at those two guys objectively and come to the conclusion that Schock deserves runner-up status. Seriously Men's Health, you gotta dial the puppy-love down just a few notches. Your credibility is suffering.
But seriously, how big a blow to Schock's ego does this have to be? He's buffed to magazine-cover perfection, easily in the top fraction of a top percent, and he loses to a guy with chicken legs. I'm sure he'll grin and smile when he meets Ryan next, but inside he's got to be thinking "Seriously, I lost to this?"
I'm on the Men's Health daily email list, which sends you things like exercise tips, foods to target (or avoid), and general fitness tips & stories. And this morning I got an email titled "The 25 Fittest Politicians", a story about men in government who, even with all the inherent challenges, still manage to stay fit.
These kinds of stories aren't exactly my cup of tea, but you never know when you might pick up a tip or two, and hey, pretty guys! So I clicked through and started reading.
Now, as I was clicking through, I was reasonably sure that Paul Ryan would be featured somewhere. Ryan's pretty proud (and rightly so) of how fit he is, and the topic hasn't exactly been off limits from the news. So mentally I was preparing myself to read through the fluff piece, give the man his due, and then go right back to wondering why no one's ever actually told him that his economic ideas are based on mathematical impossibilities.
So I click through numbers 25,24,23 ... 14,13,12 ... and then finally to numbers 2 and 1. And my jaw dropped. Because somewhere, somehow, someone saw these two men side-by-side:
And decided that ... Paul Ryan deserves the title of "Fittest Politician". (For those keeping track, the one on the left is Republican Congressman Aaron Schock of Illinois' 18th district, who's actually been a feature story in Men's Health magazine before.)
Now, this isn't to diminish Ryan's accomplishments, but I honestly have no idea how you look at those two guys objectively and come to the conclusion that Schock deserves runner-up status. Seriously Men's Health, you gotta dial the puppy-love down just a few notches. Your credibility is suffering.
But seriously, how big a blow to Schock's ego does this have to be? He's buffed to magazine-cover perfection, easily in the top fraction of a top percent, and he loses to a guy with chicken legs. I'm sure he'll grin and smile when he meets Ryan next, but inside he's got to be thinking "Seriously, I lost to this?"
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