tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54754222024-02-20T08:33:52.132-07:00polymaniakeeping an eye on the shiny ballErichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.comBlogger149125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475422.post-39370782190396528422008-04-20T15:55:00.000-06:002008-04-20T15:55:26.312-06:00Passed<span style="font-size:-2;">First, the good news. We passed! That is, Cindy passed. The medical test was performed last Monday, and the tubes are all clear, with no blockages. What a relief.<br /><br />In the hours before the test, we were both oddly nonchalant about the whole thing. We both knew how important this was, and perhaps because of that we felt no need to hype the occasion any further. We submitted to it with the perfunctory acceptance as we would have to a dental exam, frankly.<br /><br />The test only took a matter of minutes. In fact, I was with Cindy in the post-procedure room for only about 5-10 minutes when the doctor came in with a few x-rays taken during the test, to show us the results. We knew how it went before we left the building, and I guess Cindy probably knew even before the procedure was even done, as they got to watch the fluid flowing in real time on an x-ray monitor. Needless to say, the drive home was a happy one.<br /><br />The following day, we went back to the center for a consultation, to get some more details on the results of the test, and to figure out what to do going forward. Basically, we just keep trying, and see how things go for a few months afterwards, with the hope that the procedure itself helped clear out any remaining tube obstructions. It's still possible that another test and procedure may be necessary, but by continuing to try the 'old-fashioned' way for now, we make it easier to make a case for having insurance cover any future procedures. For now, we'll see how things go.<br /><br />Another interesting topic we discussed was the idea that, based on Cindy's diligent reporting of her body temperatures (taken first thing in the morning every morning for the past six months), it seems likely that we actually have successfully conceived on a few occasions in the past year. Obviously, however, implantation has not occurred, and the reason for that is what we are trying to determine.<br /><br />For my part, I am heartened to think that it is not because of any physical impairment either of mine or Cindy's that we've not been successful yet. For some reason, I find it easier to accept that it is either random chance that has prevented us, or perhaps a condition that effects implantation (like endometriosis) which can be treated if it isn't overly pervasive. Maybe that's because it doesn't speak to a genetic or congenital deficiency on our parts, nor would it be because we didn't 'do things right'. We're close - we sense that now.<br /><br />tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/" rel="tag"> </a> <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/" rel="tag"> </a><br /></span>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475422.post-88649824967771010932008-04-14T07:28:00.000-06:002008-04-14T07:29:32.656-06:00The Test<span style="">It's been a long road to get to this point. 3 years ago this wasn't even on our radar, although it was in the back of my mind. Now, we've been trying for over almost 2 years. And we kept thinking that we were just a month away, that the previous month we just didn't quite get the timing right. Month after month was the same result, sometimes delayed, often punctual, but always the same - not pregnant. For the better part of the last year we've sought the help of more holistic approaches - herbs, acupuncture, massage. These practices have their own health benefits, and we are grateful to them, but in the end they did not bring us what we are hoping for.<br /><br />The emotional rollercoaster became too rough to ride. Too much dread and disappointment for what has become the inevitable monthly result. Finally last fall, I convinced Cindy that we need to see a medical professional and try to diagnose what is happening that prevents us from getting pregnant. It was not an easy job - Cindy has long been reticent to go this route, with reasonable justification. Still, I strongly felt it has been necessary, just to get us out of the rut we've been in and help us answer the scariest question one can have on a subject like this. One always need to be careful what questions to ask, because in the end you may find out answers that you don't like to hear.<br /><br />We're going in for a more involved test today than the first one we did a month ago. This is the type of test Cindy was reluctant to take, but she has come around to accept as necessary. When it was first spelled out to me, I didn't realize the ultimate nature of the test - the determination of flow constriction in the fallopian tubes. What makes it so ultimate and is that Cindy absolutely refuses to go the IVF route, so that if it is found that the tubes are effectively closed off, then it will be that we can never have children. The tremendous cost and physical difficulty required for IVF makes me very sympathetic to Cindy's concerns, and as difficult as it would be to accept, I would still do so. It would be enormously sad, the import of which I have not fully considered at this point, mostly because I have wanted to be optimistic and have shielded myself from thinking about what this would mean.<br /><br />If there isn't complete closure of the tubes, then hope remains, and we could still go the route of other non-drug or simpler medical procedures that would improve our chances for a more natural conception. I believe this is what we'll actually find with the Test, but I of course cannot be sure right now. Unlike the first test last month, Cindy herself is unsure of the result - this test measures something that not even she can know, which coming from someone who has a remarkable feel for what goes on invisibly deep inside, really means something. We've reached a level where one really can't have much of an intuition for such things. But I have been a 'rock' through this entire effort, offering consolation and hope for as long as we've been trying, assuaging her continuing doubts and fears, as if the act of merely believing that this is all possible can itself be the last hurdle to overcome. And I will continue to be that person, because right now that's all I've let myself be.<br /><br />At least for one more day.<br /><br />tags:<a href="http://technorati.com/tag/" rel="tag"></a><span style="text-decoration: underline;"> <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/personal">personal</a>,</span></span><span style=""><span style="text-decoration: underline;"> </span></span><span style=""><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/pregnancy">pregnancy</a>, </span></span><span style=""><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/couples">couples</a>,</span></span><span style=""><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><br /></span>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475422.post-12061275116521794702007-06-28T15:14:00.000-06:002007-06-28T15:16:32.416-06:00Just taking the quiz in the first place proves something....<span style="font-size:-2;">And while we're on the subject of self-evaluation:<br /><br /><a href="http://mingle2.com/geek-quiz" style="text-decoration: none; background: url('http://mingle2.com/css/img/quiz/badge1_green.jpg') no-repeat; display: block; width: 268px; height: 82px;"><span style="display: block; padding-left: 125px; padding-top: 28px; color: #000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 22px;">77% Geek</span></a><br /></span>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475422.post-5302469542770957302007-06-28T14:07:00.001-06:002007-06-28T14:09:06.895-06:00My Valuable Physique<span style=""><a href="http://mingle2.com/cadaver-calculator" style="background: transparent url(http://mingle2.com/img/bb/body_worth/badge.jpg) no-repeat scroll 0% 50%; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration: none; display: block; width: 395px; height: 184px; padding-top: 121px; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 24px; text-align: center;"><strong style="font-weight: normal;">$4225.00</strong><span style="display: none;">The Cadaver Calculator - Find out how much your body is worth</span></a><br /><br />Frankly I thought I'd be worth a little more, but I guess you need to have been exposed to some pretty nasty things to rake in the big bucks.<br /><br /></span>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475422.post-1167494684301123022006-12-29T08:52:00.000-07:002006-12-30T09:08:27.516-07:00Holiday Travel FrenzyWell, that was interesting.<br /><br />As you have probably heard by now, we had a remarkable blizzard in Colorado on the 20th, just a few days before our scheduled road trip to Kansas for Christmas. After postponing that trip a day so we could dig ourselves out of 16 inches of snow in Fort Collins, we did manage to make the round trip without a hitch. Yet as we prepared for our California trip on the 29th, we saw that *another* heavy snowstorm was on the way for this weekend. Every 6-12 hours or so, the forecast for Friday (our flying day) seemed to get worse and worse. Storm totals began to increase, forecast winds got faster, and the duration of storm kept bleeding further into the weekend. As we drove back from KS yesterday, we began to really worry about how we were going to get out to California (and therefore onto Hawaii early in January).<br /><br />Our airline (Frontier) put up a notice on their company website yesterday afternoon announcing special suspensions of change fees for customers flying Friday who want to reschedule their flights for Thursday, just to get out of town before the onslaught. Even though we'd driven all day Wednesday and only gotten home around 4pm, we decided to try to move our flight day up from Friday to Thursday. However, the published 800 number for reservations was completely unreachable in the early evening. I even tried dialing the local Denver metro phone number for reservations, but only got busy signals. It wasn't looking good for being able to change our flight in time before the arrival of the storm.<br /><br />I then decided to try to call a customer service number, with the goal of simply trying to talk a human being so I could figure out how to then reach a reservations agent. While going through that menu, it allowed me to connect to reservations by pressing 2 or something like that, so I decided to give that a shot. To my amazement it actually worked - I got put in the queue for talking to a real reservations agent. 25 minutes later I had a human voice on the other end of the line - huzzah. I have no idea if this is how all the other people in that queue got through, but I'm certain I would have never gotten through (at least not until very late) if I'd kept calling that 800 number. A helpful hint for the next time you need to reach a number that's impossible to connect to - do an end run like this around it.<br /><br />After some finagling with the agent, she was able to get us two seats on the Thursday morning version of our Friday flight, as long as we were willing to sit in the Exit Row. (Yep, we're able-bodied, and our English is pretty good.) We jumped at it, knowing full well that meant we'd have to start packing right away, and not get any sleep before heading out to the airport in the wee hours of the morning after our 10-hour drive back to Colorado. It was like cramming for a final exam at 8am the next morning - consider it a "travel final". But we did it - we left the house at 2:30am and got to the airport at 4am, at the suggestion of the agent, and made our flight before a slew of Frontier cancellations of flights today, tonight, and tomorrow. And now, the forecast is for this storm to last perhaps all through the weekend! If we'd not jumped at this opportunity, it's quite likely we'd have had to cancel not only our California trip, but our whole Hawaii trip!<br /><br />So now we're in sunny California, and it's beautiful here. We're a day early, but somehow we'll get by. We'll be able to do Hawaii after all, and Cindy is thrilled. And Colorado is shaping up to get hammered by yet another blizzard, a very rare thing for two major winter storms to hit within a week of each other. I'm sure all that snow will still be there when we get back.<br /><br />POSTSCRIPT: we later found out that the flight we were originally scheduled to fly on for Friday was *not* cancelled, and in fact was one of the few flights out of Denver for Frontier that stayed on the schedule. It did leave an hour late, but arrived only a half hour behind the original arrival time.<br /><br />Of course, we still believe we made the right call by leaving early. There was no reason to assume that our flight would have been one of the few to leave, not to mention that getting out to the airport last night would have been very difficult as well. Overnight it appears that Fort Collins received about 8.5 fresh inches of snow, with more on the way as we speak.<br /><br /><font size=-2><br />tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/travel" rel="tag">travel</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/holidays" rel="tag">holidays</a><br /></font>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475422.post-1164921165799257952006-11-30T14:11:00.000-07:002006-11-30T14:12:45.810-07:00Colbert Report - not just for humans anymoreI thought this was cute.<br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QFPYUDl2RSg"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QFPYUDl2RSg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object><br /><br /><font size=-2><br />tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/colbert+report" rel="tag">Colbert Report</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/dogs" rel="tag">dogs </a><br /></font>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475422.post-1163626778652116222006-11-15T20:29:00.000-07:002006-11-15T17:38:42.546-07:00petty and vindictiveNot that this is a surprise or anything, but thanks to Huffingtonpost (and apparently a mole deep inside the FoxNews rat's nest), we get a glimpse at the "fair and balanced" thinking that goes on with their editorial:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thenewswire/archive/ap/memo4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thenewswire/archive/ap/memo4.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />"Be on the lookout for any statements from Iraqi insurgents, who must be thrilled at the prospect of a Dem-controlled Congress." Right-o, Foxies. A little sore about last week's election results, perhaps?<br /><font size=-2><br />tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/fox+news" rel="tag">Fox News</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/unhinged" rel="tag">unhinged</a><br /></font>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475422.post-1163623684866459192006-11-15T13:30:00.000-07:002006-11-30T14:13:55.483-07:00The Broken RecordMany other bloggers have written extensively about the peculiar habit among war supporters to constantly defer on when things might finally stabilize or improve in Iraq. In fact, since mid-2003 or so, a term has come up in the liberal blogosphere, popularized especially by <a href="http://atrios.blogspot.com">Atrios</a>, which typifies this form of punting - it is aptly called the Friedman Unit, or <a href="http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_atrios_archive.html#116014885846435492">F.U.</a>, named after its initial and most common practitioner, columnist Thomas Friedman of the New York Times. A Friedman Unit is defined as "six months", which is usually the amount of time that the proponent says it will take before we can either 1) know how a certain strategy in Iraq is really proceeding, or 2) know if the country is really going to spiral out of control, requiring withdrawal or what-have-you. Of course, many other pro-war columnists and pundits and other ne'er-do-wells often use this same unit, in which case they advocate "staying the course" for at least another F.U.<br /><br />As I mentioned, this kind of deferring has been going on ceaselessly in editorials and conservative blogs for over 3 years now, and we are constantly being told to wait "another six months" or so before making any real changes to our Iraq policy. In that time, the situation has clearly gotten worse and worse and worse, in spite of all the handwringing about "progress". Tens of thousands of civilians are dying every year now in sectarian and terrorist violence, both forms often intermixed to make them inseparable. Whatever window of opportunity there had been to make things better in Iraq with our presence has long since passed, but many in Washington (and even a few generals in Iraq) seem to think we just need to be more patient, even with the recent electoral results that strongly point to a desire to stop this insane policy.<br /><br />So <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061115/ap_on_go_co/congress_iraq_12">guess what we hear today</a> at a Congressional hearing with Gen. John Abizaid:<br /><blockquote>"Our troop posture needs to stay where it is," for the time being, he said.<br /><br />In one of the day's most contentious clashes, Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., challenged Abizaid on his analysis of the situation and complained that he was advocating no major changes in U.S. policy. McCain, a possible 2008 presidential candidate, has called for adding thousands more U.S. combat troops in Iraq to help fight the insurgency and halt sectarian violence in Baghdad.<br /><br />"I'm of course disappointed that basically you're advocating the status quo here today, which I think the American people in the last election said that is not an acceptable condition," McCain said.<br /><br />In response, Abizaid said he was not arguing for the status quo. He said the key change that is needed now is to place more U.S. troops inside the Iraqi army and police units to train and advise these forces in planning and executing missions.<br /><br />Pressed by Sen. Jack Reed (news, bio, voting record), D-R.I., on how much time the U.S. and Iraqi government have to reduce the violence in Baghdad before it spirals beyond control, Abizaid said, "<span style="font-weight:bold;">Four to six months</span>."<br /></blockquote><br />It just never changes, does it? "Stay the course" lives on.<br /><font size=-2><br />tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Iraq" rel="tag">Iraq</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/quagmire" rel="tag">quagmire</a><br /></font>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475422.post-1163373876361823392006-11-12T16:01:00.000-07:002006-11-12T16:24:36.373-07:00I've changed my name to NielsenAt least for a week, anyway. Yep, that's right, starting last Thursday and going 'til Wednesday, our house has become a <a href="http://www.nielsenmedia.com">Nielsen family</a>. We got the call about this a few weeks ago during the time of all those aforementioned robocalls, and I'm glad I didn't reflexively hang up as I'd been tempted to do. After being asked a few questions about our household TVs, they arranged to sign us up and send us a diary to keep for this week.<br /><br />So far after about 4 days, we actually don't have a lot in the diary. The simple fact is that we don't watch very much TV in this house. (But that's OK - they want to know if we're <i>not</i> watching as well.) We do watch a lot of Netflix, and we do record the Daily Show/Colbert Report combo Monday through Thursday. And of course we watch Lost, although last Wednesday was the last show for three months. Now, I do occasionally plop down on the couch and surf madly through channels, hoping to glom onto something interesting. But the Nielsen rules are to write down what you watch if you watch for more than 5 minutes - in my case, I rarely stay on a show for more than 10 seconds, unless it seems promising. (As you might guess, I only engage in this behavior when Cindy isn't home - she can't tolerate this kind of remote-control abuse. I suppose no one really can, unless you're the one with the remote.)<br /><br />So if we don't watch a whole lot (and I certainly knew that going in), then you might wonder why I agreed to participate in this. Well, I want my opinions on things to matter. <a href="http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechnetwork2.html">I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!</a> I'm the kind of person who likes answering polls on the phone, even if the timing of the call isn't convenient. In fact, I wish I got polled more often, but then I suppose that's because I don't fit too neatly in demographic samples. I've always been a "strange duck" - at least that's what 56% of people who know me think.<br /><font size=-2><br />tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/television" rel="tag">television</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/nielsen+family" rel="tag">Nielsen family</a><br /></font>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475422.post-1163376038348452752006-11-11T16:40:00.000-07:002006-11-12T17:00:38.360-07:00Let me guess - they're Republicans?Stilly giddy after seeing the Democrats retake control of the House *and* the Senate last week, I came across an <a href="http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/news/va/20061110/116321844500.html">article describing a lawsuit</a> recently filed by two college frat boys from South Carolina who appeared in the surprisingly successful movie <span style="font-style:italic;">Borat</span>. They contend that they appeared unwillingly, but the really amusing nugget is included below:<br /><blockquote>The scene at issue in the lawsuit depicts Borat conducting a drunken interview with three college frat boys in a motor home. As the four grow increasingly inebriated, they make racist remarks about slavery and how minorities in the United States "have all the power."<br /><br />Before filming the scene, the lawsuit says, producers interviewed the college students at their frat house, then took them "to a drinking establishment to 'loosen up"' and plied them with alcohol. After a period of "heavy drinking," the students were presented with consent forms, which they signed, it said.<br /><br />According to the complaint, the frat boys were then escorted to a motor home for the filming of what they were told would be a "documentary-style" movie and "were encouraged to continue drinking, which they did."<br /><br />"Believing the film would not be viewed in the United States and at the encouragement of (the filmmakers), <b>plaintiffs engaged in behavior they otherwise would not have engaged in</b>," the suit says.<br /><br />"They took advantage of those kids for their own financial gain," plaintiffs' lawyer, Olivier Tailleiu, told Reuters.<br /><br />Fallout from the movie, Tailleiu said, cost one of the students a job at a major corporation and another "a very prestigious internship."</blockquote><br />So let me get this straight - you guys exposed yourselves as being racist assholes, and now you're upset that there are consequences? You're saying that you wouldn't have said things you truly believed if you thought people you know - human resource managers and mentors - might see you? My, how honorable.<br /><br />This is what is called being sorry not for doing something wrong, but being sorry that you got caught. And how Republican-like to not own up to their own bad behavior, and instead trying to blame someone else for "tempting" them into saying obnoxious things. This lawsuit of course will go nowhere, and it's no wonder that these jerks want to remain unnamed in the suit. <i>Borat</i> is making a good chunk of money ($60M at last count so far) at the boxoffice and garnering no small amount of critical acclaim as well. I can't wait to see it myself. <br /><font size=-2><br />tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/borat" rel="tag">Borat</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/movies" rel="tag">movies</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/republicans" rel="tag">Republicans</a><br /></font>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475422.post-1162866711693326122006-11-06T19:30:00.000-07:002006-11-06T19:31:51.706-07:00Robo-blicansI just received another pro-Marilyn robocall about 2 minutes ago.<br /><br />I estimate that in the past month, I've received probably no fewer than 30 Republican robocalls, and maybe 4 Democratic robocalls. I've gotten calls from robo-Bill Owens, robo-George Bush, robo-Laura Bush, robo-Dick Cheney (which of course is redundant), robo-Marilyn Musgrave, robo-John McCain, robo-Anne Yeldell, and several other robo-Colorado Repubs. It is just a non-stop barrage of robo-blicans.<br /><br />I start to wonder what they really hope to accomplish by annoying me and so many other people in the weeks and days before the election. I also find it humorously appropriate that an actual Republican human never calls me - no, instead of having a real conversation with a person, which presumably is the point of having a phone, they use it instead to send a one-way message - we talk, you listen. There's no dialogue here, just badgering propaganda, ceaselessly repeated. And I should also mention, joylessly, by the sound of it - robo-Bush sounded pretty annoyed that he even had to make such a desperate plea for my vote on behalf of one of his robo-supporters in what should have been an easy win.<br /><br />So, yes, congrats to the robo-Repubs, who've figured out how to take the absolute worst of the internet and bring it to my phone. What next, are they going to tell me that I've just won the Polish lottery, or where to get Viagra or a Rolex real cheap?<br /><font size=-2><br />tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/republicans" rel="tag">Republicans</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/robocalls" rel="tag">robocalls</a><br /></font>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475422.post-1162494099868568952006-11-02T11:59:00.000-07:002006-11-02T12:01:39.880-07:00The Garbage TruckI'm looking out my office window into our cul-de-sac, and I see that our Waste Management garbage truck has stalled there. This is the second time in the past year that a garbage truck has broken down in our circle drive.<br /><br />What does this mean??<br /><font size=-2><br />tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/curses" rel="tag">curses</a><br /></font>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475422.post-1160665794351003642006-10-10T08:51:00.000-06:002006-10-12T09:09:54.640-06:00Game 2On Saturday I had my second baseball game in my short 3-game fall season. I was excited to take the field and especially to bat again. The weather was perfect, sunny and very clear with no haze and with temperatures in the upper 70s. However, I noticed early on during warmups that I had some lingering tightness in my right quadricep. I tried to gently stretch it out and relax it, but to no avail. The game started, and I was in right field, hoping that I wouldn't have to run down any line drives. Fortunately, we had a very good pitcher who struck out the side each of the first two innings.<br /><br />I came up to bat in the bottom of the second, and with two on and on a 2-2 pitch I slapped a blooping drive out over short into shallow left-center for my first hit in over 20 years! I was very excited, except when I ran to first my quad seized up hard on me, and I realized that I probably was not going to finish the game. I had never felt leg pain like that before - it was as if someone had pounded my upper thigh with a bat. The inning continued, and I eventually made it to second and even to third, but I gave up then, asking the coach to get a pinch-runner for me. I ended up sitting out the rest of the game, taking some generously offered Advil and icing my quad and gently walking around for the next 2 hours. What a bummer.<br /><br />I had a lot of time to ponder how this happened. After some discussion, I've concluded that I caused this problem by overusing that muscle at the batting cages the previous day. At the cages I sampled some 'fast' and 'very fast' pitching, and found to my delight that not only could I catch up to it, I could slug it. It was great fun - however, I did note that my stance and swing probably could use some adjustment. I didn't feel any pain, but my forward leg (the right leg - I bat lefty) always seemed to be planting very hard when I swung. That's fine and all, except that muscle is not accustomed to being used so forcefully. That <i>had</i> to be the reason I felt this asymmetric leg pain - regular running soreness would have caused both left and right quads to feel some tightness, but batting would definitely not evenly distribute muscle use.<br /><br />I've let 'Coach Nick' know that I'm day-to-day for Saturday's matinee game. The weather looks to be good again, a little cooler but still nice. I want to get out there and hit and catch and throw, but I can't afford to aggravate this quad pull, or whatever it is. Ah, the life of a ballplayer, battling injury just to make his mark.<br /><font size=-2><br />tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/baseball" rel="tag">baseball</a><br /></font>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475422.post-1159712963106066622006-10-01T08:21:00.000-06:002006-10-01T08:29:23.116-06:00Post-game wrapupAs mentioned <a href="http://polymania.blogspot.com/2006/09/put-me-in-coach.html">yesterday</a>, I played in my first baseball game since junior-high days. Overall I'd have to say I picked up pretty much where I left off...<br /><br />The game didn't go so well for our side. The final score was something like 20-6. We fell behind in the second inning, and every inning after that the other side kept piling on a few more runs. Our pitching struggled, walking way too many, and giving up some gappers and bloop hits. <br /><br />For my part, I was a little nervous, but I think I did OK. I was 0-1 in 3 plate appearances, with 2 walks and a run scored. I always walked a lot in little league - pitchers would often never throw me strikes. In the field I started in right field, and had 1 putout in 2 chances. That second chance was a flyball over my head - I had underplayed the batter. Ooops. In left field in the 7th inning, I had another misplay, which I conveniently blame on the sun. In those later innings I really was having trouble seeing the ball off the bat.<br /><br />In the middle innings I actually got to play my favorite position of second base. I only had a couple chances to make plays there as it turns out - on a DP opportunity, the third baseman threw low and wide and the ball skipped out to right field. I probably should have done more to at least stop the throw, but in the end it didn't really matter.<br /><br />We play again next Saturday, and I plan on hitting the cages sometime this week. I'll also use my George Brett glove next time - yeah, that's it. It was that Deion Sanders glove that messed me up!<br /><font size=-2><br />tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/baseball" rel="tag">baseball</a><br /></font>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475422.post-1159630967356981312006-09-30T09:34:00.000-06:002006-09-30T09:42:47.366-06:00Put me in, coachI'm excited - today I'm going to suit up and play my first baseball game in at least 23 years.<br /><br />Neighbor Nick, who I often go birding with, is also a baseball player and coach. He frequently plays in spring and fall leagues, managing his own team and also coaching his son Nick Jr. in little league. He approached me about a week ago asking if I'd be interested in playing in the fall league, which is generally a bit less hardcore and has a shorter schedule. I couldn't turn that down - I've been wondering what it would be like to get out there and face some live pitching after all this time.<br /><br />Yesterday I went to the local batting cages and did 6 sessions with "medium" and "fast" pitching. After struggling through the first one, with lots of whiffs and chopped grounders, I finally started making some good contact, and getting the sweet spot on the ball, and driving it. Surprisingly, I felt that I was seeing the ball better in the fast-pitch cage than in the medium one. Nick did tell me that the pitching speeds in the league will be between 55-85. 85? God I hope not - that's pretty fast.<br /><br />I'll be playing today, as well as the next two Saturdays. If it goes well, who knows, I may play again in the spring. It's like tryouts.<br /><font size=-2><br />tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/baseball" rel="tag">baseball</a><br /></font>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475422.post-1159535109377544432006-09-29T07:11:00.000-06:002006-09-29T07:19:46.143-06:00When do we get to liberate ourselves?This makes me <a href="http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR511572006">sick</a>:<br /><blockquote>By passing the Military Commissions Act, the United States Congress has, in effect, given its stamp of approval to human rights violations committed by the USA in the “war on terror”. This legislation leaves the USA squarely on the wrong side of international law, and has turned bad executive policy into bad domestic law. Amnesty International will campaign for repeal of this act and fully expects the constitutionality of this legislation to be challenged in the courts.<br /><br />In the “war on terror”, the US administration has resorted to secret detention, enforced disappearance, prolonged incommunicado detention, indefinite detention without charge, arbitrary detention, and torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.<br /><br />Thousands of detainees remain in indefinite military detention in US custody in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay. Congress has failed these detainees and their families. President Bush has defended the CIA’s use of secret detention and in the debates over the Military Commissions Act, members of Congress have done the same. This policy clearly violates international law.<br /></blockquote><br />Damn right it does. And remember, when an international treaty is ratified, it <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/05/10/how.works/index.html">automatically becomes US law</a> as well. Maybe Congress should bother reading that annoying Consitution they're constantly braying about.<br /><br />(Note: When Amnesty International sees fit to send out an urgent press release about newly passed laws that violate basic human rights, you really should take it seriously. They know of what they speak.)<br /><br />This bill is odious to me on so many levels, it's hard to know where to begin. First is that the Congress has once again abdicated its responsibility for oversight of the Executive Branch, and that it has done so for short-term political reasons. Whatever bluster that the Republicans made several years ago about rights to privacy and the intrusion of government into areas it shouldn't go is now moot, as they have completely surrendered whatever integrity they had left just to allow Bush the ability to define "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Geneva_Convention">outrages upon human dignity</a>". John McCain, who gets so much "straight talker" mileage with the traditional media, is perhaps singularly responsible for shifting these goalposts. Of all people he should know better, but I guess his torture happened long enough ago that he's forgotten and is now more concerned about shoring up rightwing hardliner support for his obnoxious presidential ambitions than these silly rights protocols.<br /><br />Secondly, for all the talk that Bush made about wanting more "<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060915/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_15">clarity</a>" in the law, the Congress has passed a bill that is in fact quite unclear about the extent to which the law applies. The political appeal of the bill is to make it seem that the Republican Party is going hard after "aliens" and "enemy combatants" - basically, "terr'ists". But the law could apply equally well to US citizens, especially with its suspensions of <i>habeas corpus</i>. (Think that's not true? <a href="http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/09/legalization-of-torture-an_115945829460324274.html">Think again</a>.) The military dictatorship of Argentina back in the '70s and '80s became infamous for "disappearing" people they considered troublemakers - and sadly, the door is now open for similar things to happen here. Even if that's not the real intent of those who approve this bill, it disgusts me that they cannot see past their own short-term political futures to realize what an affront this bill is to the core principles that make (or made?) this country great. What kind of freedom do you really have when the government reserves for itself the option of making you "go away" with no legal recourse left for you to resist?<br /><br />Thirdly, I'm disgusted at the fact that 12 Democrats, including putative Democrat Joe Lieberman signed on to this travesty. Another one of them shamefully enough is my own Senator, Ken Salazar. When an opposition party can't even muster opposition to one of the gravest threats ever posed by an out-of-control legislature since the passing of the Alien and Sedition Acts, I begin to wonder whether Democrats winning back the House or Senate in a month will make any difference. Where's the spine? Where's the integrity? Why not stand up for what you believe? And if torture and suspension of that quaint notion of <i>habeus corpus</i> is what you believe in, why the hell should I vote for you? This is one reason why I just cannot sign on with the Democratic Party, as much as I am disgusted with Republicans. They just never seem to learn.<br /><br />Over at <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/">Daily Kos</a>, you can find a reader diary or two trying to reassure us all that in the end, this bill won't amount to anything because of its blatant unconstitutionality, and that either a new Democratic congress would quickly vote to reverse it or that the Supreme Court would throw it out upon its first challenge. I'd love to believe all that, but as I mentioned before, when 34 House Democrats and 12 Senate Democrats sign on to something as repugnant as this, I'm not confident that these bedwetters would suddenly switch their votes around when their own party takes over. (This of course assumes that such a takeover is a sure thing, which it hardly is.) In addition, I also have doubts that the highly politicized Supreme Court, whose conservative voices frequently blather about "interpreting" the Constitution as opposed to "legislating from the bench", won't simply punt on this issue out of concern for their favorite party's near-term political fortunes - they did it before in 2000 in Florida, and surely the stakes seem similar to them now.<br /><br />What an awful day for this country. It certainly qualifies as one of those issues where, "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention."<br /><font size=-2><br />tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/human+rights" rel="tag">human rights</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/geneva+conventions" rel="tag">Geneva Conventions</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/" rel="tag"> </a><br /></font>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475422.post-1159139872599530022006-09-24T21:31:00.000-06:002006-09-24T21:39:23.293-06:00Blue Sky ThinkingCindy and I went on a hike today to Crosier Mountain. The trail is in the Roosevelt National Forest not far from Estes Park, and is about 7 miles round trip. With the fall color beginning to kick in, and with a cold blustery storm system having just blown through a couple days before, conditions were ideal for a beautiful day in the Ponderosa Pine between 7 and 9 thousand feet elevation.<br /><br />From the summit rock outcrops, we had fantastic views of the Front Range and the high peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park, including Longs Peak. There'd been snow this past week above about 11,000 feet, although it began melting in the midday sun. Mount Evans was also visible, and was particularly wintry-looking. Visibility was great also in the direction of the plains, and we could see Fort Collins, Loveland, and Greeley quite clearly, and even some of the limestone buttes out on the Pawnee Grasslands, 50+ miles distant. And very far away to the south, we even saw Pikes Peak. All in all, the region we call the Front Range was looking mighty fine today.<br /><br />On the hike back, we started talking, of all things, about TeeVee. That would seem like such a prosaic topic amidst all the aforementioned beauty and awe-inspiring vistas. But I brought it up as we traversed a part of the trail that passed through a particularly dull portion of Ponderosa Pine saplings, all about 15-20 years old, and very uniformly and densely distributed so that you could see nothing but these young, vulnerable trees. This section was about three-quarters of a mile long, and appeared to have been either heavily burned two decades ago, or clear-cut. Either way, it had turned into a rather depressing monoculture of trees, although based on the pileup of needles on the forest floor, it probably won't be long before this area goes up in another firestorm.<br /><br />Anyway, back to TeeVee. We're huge fans of <a href="http://www.lost-tv.com/"><i>Lost</i></a>, and we've just begun watching Season 2 on DVD via Netflix. We began talking about the intricacies of the show, and tried to make sense out of the myriad of clues, hints, motifs, and suggestions that make for a typical <i>Lost</i> episode. (Don't worry, no spoilers here.)<br /><br />After a while the conversation got a little more "meta", and began discussing our concerns about how the show might end, and what has concerned us in the past when watching heavily arc-driven TV shows. For example, we were rather disappointed with the way <i>Alias</i> ended in its fifth year, after it's first two seasons were so much fun and so well-written. Given that <i>Lost</i> and <i>Alias</i> have the same creator, it's reasonable to wonder if <i>Lost</i> will also run out of gas before long. And can it stay engaging and taut to the end?<br /><br />Back in the late 90s we became fans of the arc-driven sci-fi show <i>Babylon 5</i>. "B5" as we called it was something of a breakthrough show in that it was really the first sci-fi show besides <i>Star Trek</i> to find an audience, and it did so by portraying a universe riven with intrigue and not as idealistic as the Gene Roddenberry-inspired one. Instead of stand-alone episodes, a real story arc permeated the show, and in fact creator James Straczynski planned out the entire show from the beginning, knowing that after 5 years the show would end. Although the show had lower-grade production values and got bounced around a bit among networks, it did lay the groundwork for a new attitude toward TV series', one that allowed for more story depth and the possibility that important characters may actually (gasp!) die.<br /><br />However, it doesn't take long to think of why network execs would be resistant to this kind of creative freedom. Heavy story arcs discourage new viewers, who require time and annoying exposition every episode to get them up to speed. Also, stories that have an end mean that there's a definite limit to what a studio can make moneywise off its initial investment in production and marketing. A show that runs 7, 8, or 10 years (think MASH, ER or Seinfeld) gets a lot of mileage out of the effort put into creating it, whereas a studio that has to keep inventing new material year after year finds itself struggling to establish any presence on the air. But a show that runs so many years can often only do so if the stories being told always guarantee a return to "normalcy" at the end of each show, to ensure that new viewers keep coming aboard and are not intimidated by not knowing some complicated backstory.<br /><br />So what has saved the day for artistic expression in TV, and has allowed for more arc-driven series? Three letters - D V D. When you can continue to snag viewers on DVD even after a show ends, you still make money. This way, the writer/creator gets to tell more of the story they want, and the studio now has a new revenue stream from the buzz that said story generates - everyone's happy. 10 years ago, before the advent of TV on DVD, shows like B5 had an uphill climb to convince any major network that their story was worth telling. Now, complex story arcs are fairly common - if a viewer really wants to get on board 2 or 3 seasons into a series, no problem - just buy or rent the DVDs from the first season, and you'll get caught up in no time.<br /><br />But really, we don't watch much TV. Honest.<br /><font size=-2><br />tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/hiking" rel="tag">hiking</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/television+shows" rel="tag">television shows</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Lost" rel="tag">Lost</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/writing" rel="tag">writing</a><br /></font>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475422.post-1158967669525696302006-09-22T17:18:00.000-06:002006-09-22T17:27:49.536-06:00Vision of JesusYou often hear about someone seeing the Virgin Mary in a waffle or a hedgerow. And when you actually see a photo of what is getting the true believers all excited, it turns out to be rather underwhelming. I mean really, you have to squint and tilt your head just right just to maybe, just maybe see what these people think they're seeing.<br /><br />Well, <i>finally</i> I have seen a vision of Jesus that stares right back at you. It is one of the most convincing apparitions ever, and I think it is a real sign of Jesus' love for all of us.<br /><br />But don't just take <i>my</i> word for it. <a href="http://getbehindjesus.net/">See for yourself</a>.<br /><br />(Hat tip to <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/09/sweet_holy_jesus.php">Pharyngula</a>.)<br /><font size=-2><br />tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/jesus" rel="tag">Jesus</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/religion" rel="tag">religion</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/apparitions" rel="tag">apparitions</a><br /></font>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475422.post-1158154643078507572006-09-13T07:28:00.000-06:002006-09-13T07:38:17.830-06:00Fulfilling my Bush Bash quotaI've generally stayed away from this topic (and most others, judging from my dearth of posts - heyoooooo! [rimshot]), but I had to include this one. Firedoglake is one of my favorite new online reads - I've been following it for about 4-5 months, and it is a whipsmart, passionate and articulate political blog.<br /><br />One of the regular contributors TRex <a href="http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/09/12/late-nite-fdl-for-gods-sake-please-please-please-shut-up/#more-4461">sounds off</a> and tells it like it is:<br /><blockquote>Every time I am forced to listen to George W. Bush speak, I can feel my I.Q. dropping. His speech is a kind of thought-killing force field that emanates his mouth. Watching him attempt to complete a sentence or to speak off the cuff is like watching a drunk carry a crate of broken glass across an icy street. He doesn’t so much speak English as mud-wrestle it.<br /></blockquote><br />Whatever you think of the man, you have to admit, the assessment is still spot-on.<br /><br /><font size=-2><br />tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/bush" rel="tag">Bush</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/politics" rel="tag">politics</a><br /></font>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475422.post-1157567439013984362006-09-06T12:05:00.000-06:002006-09-06T12:30:39.080-06:00Noxious invasive weedsIf there ever were something to really get me on board the whole "war on drugs",<br /><a href="http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/09/06/MNG77L01HA1.DTL">this story from the San Francisco Chronicle</a> would be it:<br /><blockquote><br />The discovery of 22,740 marijuana plants growing in and around Point Reyes National Seashore last week wasn't only the biggest pot seizure ever made in Marin County. It was an environmental mess that will take several months and tens of thousands of dollars to clean up.<br /><br />The crops seized on the steep hillsides overlooking Highway 1 were planted by sophisticated growers who cleared vegetation, terraced land, drew water from streams through miles of irrigation hoses and doused acres of land with hundreds of pounds of fertilizer and pesticides.<br /><br />Such operations are turning up in greater numbers within state and national parks throughout California. Federal officials estimate the state produces half of all the marijuana seized on public lands nationwide.<br /><br />...<br /><br />Cultivating marijuana on land managed by the Park Service, the National Forest Service and other agencies is a multibillion-dollar industry. So far this year, authorities have found more than 940,000 marijuana plants growing on state and federal land in the Golden State. With the harvest season beginning, officials expect to find more pot farms and surpass last year's haul of 1.1 million plants.<br /><br />Federal officials believe as much as 80 percent of the marijuana on public land is grown by Mexican drug cartels that have turned to places like Point Reyes National Seashore, Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park and Whiskeytown National Recreation Area in this era of tightened border security; growing the drug here is far easier than smuggling it in. The plants found in Point Reyes last week were valued at around $50 million, Dell'Osso said.<br /><br />The federal Office of National Drug Control policy estimates that growing 1 acre of marijuana damages 10 acres of land. Repairing that land is a costly, time-consuming process, and because the National Park Service does not allocate money specifically for the task, the funds come from each park's operating budget -- leaving less money for things like park programs and improvements.<br /><br />"We have no budget for this," Dell'Osso said, noting that it is a problem "the powers-that-be need to start discussing."<br /><br />...<br /><br />Lt. Scott Anderson of the Marin County Sheriff's Department said the pot farm's similarities to those found in other national parks suggests it was the work of a Mexican cartel that probably employed undocumented immigrants.<br /><br />The sites in Marin County are tucked away in remote canyons, sheltered beneath madrone and oak trees and surrounded by thick brush hacked away haphazardly. Trees have been stripped of their limbs to make room for the plants, leaving only a canopy of branches to hide the illicit crop.<br /><br />Irrigation hoses as long as a mile each drew water from pools dug into the ground and fed by the springs and streams that course through the Tomales Bay watershed. The steep hillsides have been terraced, much like a vineyard, and are dotted with hundreds of deep holes that held as many as four marijuana plants apiece. The land is littered with empty 50-pound bags of fertilizer and gallon jugs of pesticide.<br /><br />Investigators believe as many as three people tended each plot, and the amount of trash -- empty soda and beer cans, food wrappers, propane canisters and clothing -- suggests they'd been living there for at least several weeks but fled before officials reached the site. Authorities found animal traps, pellet guns and a rabbit hutch, leading them to believe the growers hunted for food.<br /><br />With the last of the crops cleared away, park officials have begun assessing the damage. Once the trash is removed, the biggest priority will be protecting the land with straw and new ground cover to prevent the winter rains from washing it away. Beyond that, though, it's not yet known exactly what must be done to restore the land and what it will cost.<br /><br />Sequoia-King's Canyon National Park has spent more than $72,000 during the past two years to clean up 81 cultivation sites that covered 10 acres, said Athena Demetry, a restoration ecologist at the park. Authorities have seized more than 100,000 marijuana plants within Sequoia-King's Canyon since 2004. The latest seizure came Aug. 9, when authorities found 2,152 marijuana plants growing within view of Moro Rock, a popular park destination.<br /><br />Over the course of six weeks during the winter of 2005 and 2006, park rangers hauled almost 5 tons of trash and debris out of the park, removed 13 miles of irrigation hose, and repaired deep cuts and terraces made to 35 hillsides, Demetry said. Empty bags and bottles revealed the growers used at least 8,031 pounds of fertilizer, 15 pounds of rodenticide and 7.6 gallons of pesticide. An additional 80 grow sites still must be repaired.<br /><br />...<br /><br />Park rangers have for years stumbled upon small stands of marijuana, but the problem has exploded within the past five years and reached a point where they're having difficulty keeping up, Demetry said. Although individual cultivation sites rarely cover more than an acre, the growers have taken to scattering them over hundreds of acres to evade detection. That, she said, spreads the destruction over a far broader area, with far graver results.<br /><br />"When we first saw them, we thought they were pretty small," she said. "But then we realized how many there were, and it became staggering. And there's a lot more out there." <br /></blockquote><br />I find it stunning that federal authorities are doing virtually nothing (i.e., spending nothing) to combat this, for all their rhetoric about fighting a "drug war". What that tells me is that they're not really serious about it, just like they're not really serious about fighting a "terror war". Not that I'm surprised by such insincerity, but still.<br /><br />I will say though that stories like this make me even more amenable to the idea of legalizing and regulating marijuana. Doing that would create a legal, and more environmentally sustainable industry, and drive these cartel assholes out of our frickin' national parks. Yes, I know that's not terribly realistic in our currently puritanical society, but admit it - you know it would work. Sure, it would require some rethinking on a societal level about pot and what makes its use so stigmatized, but it pisses me off to know that drug cartels feel this free to use our national treasures, our natural birthright and the ecosystems for our wildlife for their own moneymaking ventures, and all virtually without interference from those who supposedly have a stake in the matter.<br /><br /><font size=-2><br />tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/war+on+drugs" rel="tag">war on drugs</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/cartels" rel="tag">cartels</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/marijuana" rel="tag">marijuana</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/legalization" rel="tag">legalization</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/ecology" rel="tag">ecology</a><br /></font>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475422.post-1153170973201299572006-07-17T14:51:00.000-06:002006-07-17T15:16:13.256-06:00We're #1Well, at least that seems to be the opinion of the brains behind Money Magazine, in their most recent rating of the <a href="http://money.cnn.com/popups/2006/moneymag/bplive_2006/frameset.exclude.html">Top 10 Places to Live in the U.S.</a>.<br /><br />I'd love to take full credit for this, considering that the anointment of Fort Collins to Best Small City status coincides quite nicely to my first full year of living here. And indeed, Fort Collins is a very nice place to live, on many levels - affordability, low crime, proximity to the mountains and other outdoor activities, a well-educated populace, a nice downtown, and so on. However, one look at the difference between the <a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2006/index.html">2006 results</a>, and the <a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2005/index.html">2005 results</a>, and you may be scratching your head, wondering just what the previous year's winners did to fall so competely of the charts in so short a time.<br /><br />Last year's #1? Moorestown, NJ. This year, they didn't even make the Top 90. Did Moorestown suddenly become a crappy place to live? And how about last year's sole Colorado entrant, Louisville (down near Boulder)? They too disappeared - and yet Fort Collins, which didn't even muster a blip on Money's radar in 2005, skyrocketed to become the best small town to live in. If these kinds of chart movements make you a tad skeptical, then you're not alone. <br /><br />So yes, it's just plain <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/views/100700-102.htm">rankism</a>. Although it may be that even Money Mag doesn't take these rank numbers all that seriously - I doubt they do, since surely even they recognize that something like "livability" doesn't change that markedly from year to year. Rank numbers are applied merely to supply <i>cachet</i> - it's what makes their readers pay attention. I suspect that what most of the time, Money doesn't even know about many smaller cities in the country to begin with, and in the case of Fort Collins, for them it became the "it" town of 2006, when all its legitimate noteworthy attributes were brought to their attention a year ago (apparently at the expense of poor ol' Moorestown). By next year, Fort Collins will likely disappear off their rankings once they become aware of yet another great small city that no one had told them about earlier. (To their credit, Naperville, IL remained in the top 5 - although whether that has to do with a sustained true livability quotient or just good marketing by the Naperville C of C, remains to be seen).<br /><br /><font size=-2><br />tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/rankings" rel="tag">rankings </a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/meme" rel="tag">meme </a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/fort+collins" rel="tag">Fort Collins </a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/rank" rel="tag">rank </a><br /></font>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475422.post-1150638210409831292006-06-18T06:57:00.000-06:002006-07-13T13:33:47.110-06:00Interstates50 years ago today President Eisenhower signed a bill that created the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_highway">U.S. Interstate highway system</a>. This network of stopless highways is now over 46,000 miles long, and I got to wondering this morning just how many of these highways I've been on. It's not easy remembering which roads I've traveled, and I'm sure I've forgotten a few incidental short segments. I also don't know which interstates if any our family drove on during our long road trip to Georgia way back in the late 70s. But with the help of a road atlas I've pieced together the following list:<br /><br />4,5,8,10,15,17,19,20,25,29,35,43,44,70,75,76,80,90,93,94,95,210,238,270,275,280,285,<br />380,405,435,470,505,515,580,635,670,680,710,780,880,980<br /><br />The most mileage traversed on any interstate for me is probably I-80, with over 1300 miles covered between San Francisco and the Wyoming-Nebraska border. Next is likely I-10, from Santa Monica near LA to central Texas near Fredericksburg, which is about 1250 miles. After that mileage traversed on any given highway drops off quickly, and I think the shortest full segments of interstate I've been on are I-238 and I-780 in the Bay Area, each only a few miles in total length.<br /><br />Wow, isn't that fascinating.<br /><br /><font size=-2><br />tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/interstate" rel="tag">Interstate</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/meme" rel="tag">meme</a><br /></font>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475422.post-1144349360974706172006-04-06T12:44:00.000-06:002006-04-06T12:49:20.986-06:00A Thousand WordsEven his supporters are throwing in the towel:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.brazosriver.com/final.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:10px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://www.brazosriver.com/final.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Tee hee. (Via <a href="http://www.brazosriver.com/#april4a">Juanita</a>.)<br /><font size=-2><br />tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/tom+delay" rel="tag">Tom DeLay</a><br /></font>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475422.post-1143613825241137892006-03-28T23:16:00.000-07:002006-03-28T23:30:25.253-07:00Tragedy of the PrisonersAt the risk of exposing my previous ignorance*, I'll mention that I finally got around to researching the definitions of a couple turns of phrase that I had long wondered about: the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner's_dilemma">Prisoner's Dilemma</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons">Tragedy of the Commons</a>.<br /><br />I had no idea that the concepts were even related. But now I do. I feel so much smarter already!<br /><br />I don't know if I've said this enough, but <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page">Wikipedia</a> kicks ass. In my mind it is perhaps the purest expression of the <i>raison d'être</i> of the WorldWideWeb.<br /><br />* Although I have now addressed this aspect of my ignorance, I have a hunch that I am still quite ignorant of many other things. I'm not necessarily ashamed of that ignorance however. Maybe a little embarrassed at times, perhaps needlessly so, but still, I value learning, and therefore wince upon remembering how many times I have forgone learning in order to, oh, play video games or daydream.<br /><font size=-2><br />tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/wikipedia" rel="tag">Wikipedia</a><br /></font>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5475422.post-1142174244583268562006-03-12T07:15:00.001-07:002006-03-12T07:37:24.583-07:00Discomfort Food<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.quizilla.com/P/plecosaur/1054529510_-bar_small.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 120px;" src="http://images.quizilla.com/P/plecosaur/1054529510_-bar_small.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>We went snowshoeing yesterday. When we head up to the hills we usually stock up on candy bars as snacks, owing to their high energy content and non-melting character in cold weather. Basically, it's a good excuse to eat things we don't ordinarily eat. It's also a throwback to our childhoods.<br /><br />I had a flashback yesterday while on the trail. When I opened up my Hershey bar, I remembered on old TV commercial from what must have been the late 70s. It featured people of all ages and backgrounds enjoying their chocolate bar, set to a catchy tune (as that was the marketing ploy of the day, to write an actual song for your product as opposed to a soundbite or merely borrowing a pop song like what you have these days). The lyrics went something like this:<br /><blockquote><br />Hershey's is, the great American chocolate bar<br />Hershey's is blah blah blah no matter where you are<br />Even if you cross the wide world over<br />You don't have to go looking very far<br />'Cause Hershey's is<br />The great American chocolate bar<br />[fade out]<br /></blockquote><br />And as the song faded out there was this last sweeping helicopter shot of someone or of a parent and child on a grassy hilltop.<br /><br />I remember feeling envious of all these people; they were having so much fun, eating chocolate bars and making real connections with the people around them. This commercial made me sad. Not sad enough to go out and spend lots of money on chocolate bars, as the marketers probably hoped, but sad enough to make me think I was a lonely kid.<br /><br />As you can tell, my trauma continues to this day. So does anyone else remember this commercial?<br /><font size=-2><br />tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/hersheys" rel="tag">Hershey's</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/tv+commercials" rel="tag">TV Commercials</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/nostalgia" rel="tag">nostalgia</a><br /></font>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07680259780228507339noreply@blogger.com0