The Good Old Days

Recently, I found myself with some free time, and a serious hankering to play a video game. Naturally, I turned to the internet to find a free game (not a "pirated" game, but one that was legally free). It soon dawned on me that I could quasi-legally* download and play computer games that were no longer sold or supported. These games are termed "abandonware".

I downloaded DOSBox, found a few abandonware websites (easily found on Google), and downloaded a game that changed the history of computer gaming: Might and Magic: Secret of the Inner Sanctum.


Released in 1987, this game was one of the first (if not the first) dungeon-crawl/role playing games with graphics (most were text-based adventure games). I remember playing this game for hours with my brother and father. Eagerly I downloaded the game, started DOSBox and began playing. Bam. Blast from the past. My smile was 5 feet wide. It grew even wider when I realized that I could play the game in fullscreen mode (EGA graphics on a 20" monitor are awesome; there are less than 20 pixels per inch). And the music! What memories.

I quickly started the game, using the default characters. Running through the maze that is the town of Sorpigal, I had my first encounter with enemies: sprites! My group of adventurers was quickly destroyed.


I then remembered that this game could be difficult. So I started anew, ran through the town, and died again. But the third time, yes, the third time I prevailed! (The game is only hard until your characters get to the second level, and then your group is killed less often.)

Yilin saw me playing and stopped and watched. Then she said to me, "I feel so sorry for you. I want to buy you a Wii."

Pfft. I don't need a Wii, I have DOSBox!

*Technically it is a copyright violation, but most of the companies who produced these games are: a) out of business and therefore do not bring the rule of law into play; b) entities existing within some other larger company, and most of their older copyrighted work was probably long forgotten; c) unconcerned about any fool who wants to play a 20-year old computer game. It should be noted that some software companies actively release their older computer games into the public domain, making download and use completely legal.

Triathlon Results

In 10 weeks I prepared for the Bassman Half Distance Triathlon. In the first week I got on a bike for the third time in 3 years and got in a pool for the second time in 4 years. I learned how to swim freestyle.

My schedule was effectively swimming every weekday morning and running or biking and lifting on weekday evenings. On weekend mornings I would go for long bike rides and on weekend afternoons I would go for long runs. During those 10 weeks I missed 18 out of 100 weekly workouts, and 20 out of 40 weekend workouts. However, I tried to make up for all the missed long workouts by lengthening a few of my weekday workouts. In total, I swam 34,350 yds (~19.5 miles/31.4km), ran 106 miles (171km), and biked 681 miles (1096km).

Was I prepared? Would I meet my goal of finishing the 1.2 mile (1.9km) swim, 58 mile (93km) bike, and 13.2 mile (21.2km) run in under 7 hours? Would I even finish? If I told you that I was not at all nervous approaching race day then I would be lying. I knew that individually I could do any of the distances, and I was very confident that I could finish any two of the three combined. But all three? Seven hours of endurance? I wasn't 100% certain, and that certainty started slipping a little as the final week wound down and I was cutting back on workouts to be rested enough for the main event. Then it occurred to me that If I wasn't ready mere days before the race, there was nothing I could do to fix it, so I might as well just go for it.

Saturday afternoon we packed up the rental truck with our bikes, gear, and clothes. Mike, Hyunmi, Yilin, myself, and Rusty (who acted as our coach and put together our training plans) all drove out to Mike's parents' house in NJ, which was a short distance from the state park where the race would be held. That evening we went and checked in to the race, scoped out the swimming and biking courses, and went home to carbo-load on an enormous meal that Mike's mom prepared. I was the first to go to bed, and the others quickly followed.

Sunday morning. Race day. We woke up at 5am, ate breakfast, and headed out to the race. Yilin went back to bed and showed up for the start of the race (8am) with Mike's parents. During that time we got our bikes ready, got everything sorted and organized in the transition zone (the area where you transition from the swim to the bike ride, and then later the bike ride to the run), and picked up our electronic ankle bracelets (for timing) and had our race numbers written on our arms and calves.

It was at this point, at 7:45am, fifteen minutes before the race began that we found out that the air temperature was 68F (20C) and the water was 60F (15.5C). Understand that I had been practicing in a pool that was about 80F (26.7C). As we walked down to the lake and prepared to get in (you start in the water), I realized that out of the 132 people in this triathlon, there were only two people who did not wear wetsuits to stave off the effects of the cold water. I was one of the two. In fact, I got some crazy looks.

Yeah, the water was cold. I think I had adrenaline running through my veins at first, because it didn't seem too bad. I was actually passing some people at the start of the race, even though I was trying to pace myself. Part way through my first lap (of two) around the lake, the adrenaline must've worn off because my arms started to get cold, slow, and heavy. By my second lap I had 'warmed up', only in so much that I wasn't cold, but I was never actually warm. When I ran out of the lake to my bike in the transition zone I was moving really slow. My body was just sluggish from the cold, and my stride was only about 1.5 feet long. I wasn't tired or winded, so I paced myself well.

The bike ride (58miles/93km) went well also. I initially gave myself 4 hours. I wasn't exhausted by the end either. It took a while to warm up from the swim, but once I did I was moving along at a good pace. It was quite flat, which made it easier.

When I got off the bike to start the run I felt pretty good, and not as tired as I thought I'd be. I was breathing fairly heavy, but not too bad. Then I tried to run. Well, I ran, but it was technically only running because both feet were never on the ground at the same time. My legs were virtually non-responsive, my stride was about 1.5 feet long (again), and I felt like I was moving at a 15 min/mile (9:30/km) pace. This lasted for what seemed like 30 minutes, and then I saw a sign telling me I just finished 2 miles (3.2km) out of 13.2 miles (21.2km), and I was crushed: I was running at a 15min/mile pace. When I reached the 4-mile (6.4km) marker I started being able to move faster, and felt better. The rest of the run went pretty well. I tried pacing myself and not running too quickly because I didn't want to hit a wall. After mile 10 (16km) it got hard, and I had to push myself to finish the last 3.2 miles (5.1km).

The run was definitely the hardest part; not just because it was last, but because the temptation to stop and walk, especially when your legs aren't working at all, was enormous. I think that at various points throughout the run, and for a total of at least an hour, I could only think about how I wanted it to end.

And it did. I came in 110th place out of 132 racers with a time of 6:48:45. My age group was 30-34, and there were 2 guys from my age group that finished after me. Hyunmi finished in a similar time, which made her happy since her goal was to finish in under 7 hours, as well. Mike finished in about 5 hrs 57 minutes, which was pretty darn impressive. As for Rusty, well... Rusty came in second place overall. He finished in 4:45:23. The only person who beat him was a professional triathlete who has competed in the Olympic trials. Lucky for Hyunmi and I, the awards ceremony was delayed by more than an hour, so we were able to finish with maybe 10 minutes or so to catch our breath and watch Rusty collect his trophy. Initially we thought we were going to miss the ceremony (it was pre-scheduled for 2pm, which would have been about 6 hours after the race started, an hour earlier than our projected 7 hour time), and we were fairly certain Rusty would be collecting an award.

The best thing about this course was that I got to see my friends several times (well, except Rusty). I thought that it was going to be boring because the bike ride was two laps down and back on the same road. The run did some weird figure-eights, but had a lot of cul-de-sacs that you would run up, run around a sign, and go right back the way you came. However, it allowed us to all see each other several times during the race and cheer each other on. I saw Yilin and Mike's parents many times, and they were yelling and taking photos. It was great.

Also, even though the course was confusing, there were a lot of staff at every junction telling us the way to go, and there was water or sports drink at almost every mile of the run. They were mostly high school kids from the Bronx, and they were excited to be there, and cheered us on, which was great. On the bike ride, there were cops at every intersection stopping traffic and directing us, which was great also. At the half way point of the bike ride (at the end of the first lap and start of the second), the kids had a bunch of water bottles and you could exchange your bottle a fresh one, refill your own, or even get food (they had food at some of the running stations also): peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Nature Valley granola bars, cookies, and bananas. I didn't eat on the run (but I had some food with me that I ate during the bike ride). It was surprisingly well organized for an event in its second year, and run by a husband and wife team.

Afterward we went back to mike's parents place, took baths with epsom salts, drank a beer (and water), and went to dinner (Mexican). I was the first to go to bed at 9:06pm. Everyone else immediately followed. Yilin massaged my knees and calves (with tiger balm that Hyunmi brought) and then I fell asleep.

We got up at 4:45am, packed the rental truck, climbed in and drove back to NYC. Yilin made me a giant breakfast, and I went to work. It was a long, crazy, fun weekend.

Cable TV: Nevermore!

In the interest of saving money and saving our brains, Yilin and I decided to cancel cable TV. That's right, we don't have TV anymore. We're keeping our "high speed internet", which is only $40/month, but we knocked $70 off of our monthly bills by ditching cable TV. That's an incredible amount of money for something we didn't use that often.

According to the A. C. Nielsen company, who handles the TV show ratings, the average American watches 4 hours of TV per day. Four hours! The only way I could get 4 hours of TV-watching into my schedule would be to stop exercising and start eating dinner in front of the TV every night. Even then it would be tough, as I go to bed around 9:30-10pm.

The average American household has 2.6 people. (Well, kids are smaller than adults.) The average American month (ha) has 30 days. The average American household pays $60 per month for cable TV. Therefore, the average American household pays about $0.19 per person per hour of cable TV.

Yilin and myself definitely watched less TV than 4 hours per day, each, and probably paid upwards of $1 per person per hour of cable TV. Ultimately, not worth the price. Anyone else going without TV, or are we the only Luddites?

Triathlon

On the weekend of July 19th, Hyunmi, Mike, and Rusty competed in the New York City Triathlon. Afterward, there was a party at Mike and Hyunmi's apartment. During said party, I was pressured into agreeing to sign up for a half ironman triathlon with them. It took them all of 5 minutes to get me to do it. How sad is it that my friends know exactly which buttons to push to get me to do anything?

On July 22nd I signed up for the race, to be held on Sunday, October 5th. This gave me about two and a half months to train for the Bassman Fall Half Ironman, aka Bassman Half Distance Triathlon. This race consists of a 1.2 mile swim, 58 mile bike, and 13.2 mile run. Considering that I had only ridden a bicycle maybe 2 or 3 times in the previous 3 years, and swam even less, I had my training cut out for me. With 11 weeks to prepare, I had to get in shape. Did I mention that I couldn't swim freestyle? Yeah, I'd have to learn to do that, fast.

Rusty, who has competed in many triathlons, put together an aggressive training schedule for me. The workload varies from week to week, with the intention of decreasing the intensity right before the race, in order to be fully rested and peaked. I have been following this routine since July 28th, with a lot of success.

Basically, I exercise twice a day, everyday. On weekdays I swim before work. After work I either run or bike and lift weights. On Saturdays I usually have a long bike ride in the morning, followed by a long run in the evening. Sundays are typically even longer morning bike rides, with short runs in the evening. Once in a while I've had a morning off, or even an entire day. (Not counting days I missed entirely due to travel or family events.)

This past weekend was my toughest set of workouts yet. On Saturday I biked about 40 miles in the morning, and in the early evening I ran 9 miles. Sunday was killer. On Sunday, Mike, Hyunmi, and I rode to Nyack (in upstate NY) and back, for a round trip close to 60 miles. I was supposed to run for 40 minutes that evening, but I was dead. The return trip was hot, sunny, humid, and killed me. But it was good.

My goal for the triathlon (besides finishing) is to finish in under 7 hours. I figure it will take me about an hour to do the 1.2 mile swim, 4 hours to do the 58 mile bike, and 2 hours to do the 13.2 mile run. That's actually a slow time. Last year there were 3 people who finished in under 5 hours, another 58 who finished in under 6 hours, and only 18 people who took 7 hours or longer (a 60-year old guy took 8 hours 40 minutes, while a 59-year old guy finished in 5 hours 18 minutes).

It is sad that the medal ceremony will occur exactly 6 hours after the race begins, which means that I won't even be finished before the medalists are finished, rested, changed, and awarded their prizes. Even more sad is that Rusty has a chance at winning a medal, and I won't be able to cheer for him. Perhaps next time.

Surprisingly, my body weight is the same. I've leaned out a lot, and put on muscle to offset the fat loss, keeping me at about 191 pounds. I am in much better shape than I've been in a long time, albeit a different kind of shape since I was mostly a strength/sprint guy instead of an endurance/distance guy. However, I think this has been a fantastic way to prepare me for the winter ice climbing and mountaineering season, where endurance is important.

Yilin has been supportive, but I think she's getting tired of not spending time with me. I wake up at 5am, swim, come home to eat breakfast and get ready for work, go to work, come home and immediately leave to exercise, get home to shower and eat dinner, and then maybe spend 30 minutes to an hour with her before getting into bed at around 9:30pm. Weekends are better, as I can spend more time with her.

I'll be sure to post my results of the race, and perhaps photos if I can persuade Yilin to take some. It's going to be a long, boring morning for her on Sunday, October 5th. :)

New Job Follow-up

The morning that I blogged about my new job, Mike emailed me the following screenshot from CNN.com's front page. Read the top headline under the "Business" section. Needless to say we were both amazed and laughing after the "What the..?!" moment subsided.


The link to the CNN story is here.

My "First" Job

Well, today marks the last day of my first week at my "first" job. I used quotation marks because arguably being a graduate student is a job. (I know this because some grad students have made successful cases for unionization at their universities. Luckily, these attempts have failed at Columbia.) But I don't count grad school as a job.

Starting September 2nd, I became a permanent employee at the scientific consulting firm that I was working for as a subcontractor. (I won't mention the firms name here because I'd rather they didn't find my blog in a Google search, even though it shouldn't be searchable.) My job title is "Manager", the most generic, feel-good, and vague job title one could have. What does that even mean?

I jest. The title doesn't really mean anything to me, and I am sure that I am one of very few people in the world who's actual job title is simply "Manager". In fact, I look at it like I did the idea of being a consultant (which I am still, even if it's not my title): I'm like Mr. Wolf in Pulp Fiction.

Random Guy: "What's your job title?"
Me: "Manager."
Random Guy: "What kind of title is that? What do you manage?"
Me: "Everything."
Random Guy: "Yeah, but what do you do?"
Me: "Manage."

Ha. From now on, if someone asks me that oft-heard but frustrating* question "What do you do?", my new response will be "I manage" or sometimes just "Manage". Ha ha. That won't answer the question at all, which makes it the perfect answer. In fact, I am glad that my job title is that simple and mysterious. At first I thought "How generic and... useless a title." But now I love it.

*This could easily be the topic of an entirely different post. I realize that almost everyone, if they ask "What do you do?" really intends to ask "What's your job?", and the question is meant to be one of identity: how do you identify yourself? I take exception to the idea that my job is my identity, or that it even tells anyone anything about me. OK, you can gain some information about a person by knowing what their job is, but I would argue not a whole lot that really matters. So everytime someone has asked me that question in the past, there was an internal debate as to whether I should answer the question as they meant to ask it, whether I should be almost pretentious and answer the question more philosophically (as a question of identity), or whether to be a smartass and answer it literally ("I live, breathe, sleep, and eat"). I almost always have hesitatingly just given them the stupid answer they want to hear: my "job".

In summary, I have begun my "first" job, it's going well thus far, and I'm happy that I finally achieved permanent employ after 9 months of job hunting. It's about time, right? I'm only 30; I should probably enter the workforce.

Shaolin Temple

As Yilin and I try to figure out which direction we want our lives to take, the talk inevitably turns to one of two things: where we will live, and kids. The second topic is not much to discuss, as we both want to have children. I suppose the total number of children is still open to debate, but there will be more than 1. The first topic, however, is a bit stickier.

We can break the problem down into progressively finer detail:

1. Continent
2. Country
3. Waterfront, mountains, or both (or neither)
4. Urban or rural

Well, that's how I break it down at least. I am open to the possibility of living on just about any continent, but there are preferences. I think Yilin would divorce me if I said Antarctica, so unfortunately that is at the bottom of the list. Next to last would be Africa. As amazing as it could be, it's probably too dangerous for us to raise a family there outside of South Africa. The other five I consider equal contenders, more or less.

That leaves me with over a hundred countries to choose from still. If we eliminate those in a near constant state of turmoil, under communist or totalitarian governments, or in outright war, we are still left with a large number of countries to choose from. Narrowing things down from here requires examination of the next choice.

Yilin would like to live near the water. Be it ocean, sea, lake, pond, fjord, inlet, whatever. Well, probably not swamp or bog, but you know what I mean. I want to live near mountains. Preferably in a mountain range, but certainly within a 30-45 minute drive. I have no objection to living near a body of water, so there's always the option of living near a mountain lake, or amongst a coastal mountain chain. This clearly limits us geographically from the 80 or so countries that would have remained on our list of places to live.

The last choice point, urban or rural, is really sticky for us. Yilin would like to live in a major metropolitan area, I believe in the thick of things, if you will. Those of you who know me well are probably now laughing at my situation. This is where Yilin and I disagree the most, because I want to go as rural as possible. My philosophy is that if I can see or hear my neighbors, they are too close.

At that point, the conversation usually degenerates and no new ground is gained. This is particularly so, since Yilin analyzes the problem differently from me. She looks at it this way:

1. Montreal, or what else?

Egads. There's little to work with there, eh? ;)

Fortunately, I was able to convince her of one thing: If we have kids before we move out of NYC, and if we happen to be here when they reach the age of 4, I am allowed to send them to the Shaolin Temple USA, which is the only Shaolin temple outside of China, and it's in NYC.

This is awesome for two reasons: First, my kids will be raised as Shaolin monks and learn kung fu from a 34th generation master. Second, when I visit them on the weekends they can teach me their kung fu secrets. Clearly this is far superior than sending them to NYC public schools. (NYC private schools cost upwards of $20,000 per year, even for kindergarten.)

So, if we can't figure out where we will leave in the near future, my kids will at least be the greatest fighting machines in the world.

Jay & Kerri's Wedding

This weekend was my brother Jay and Kerri's (his then fiancee's) wedding. I know, I haven't blogged in a while, and probably should've mentioned this at some point in the recent past.

It was an amazingly good time, at a beautiful location (Wickham Park in Manchester, CT), with incredible weather (sunny and warm), and of course a slew of good people. The service was outside, where everyone was under the open sky except the bride, groom, and officiate, who all stood under a trellis.

As I was the best man, I had the remarkably important and unappreciated task of keeping the rings until the appointed time. Somehow, this seemingly trivial act must be one that oftentimes results in the death of said best man at the hands of a furious bride. Why would I write that? Because afterward a number of people congratulated me on my "good job" during the ceremony. Clearly, what they were actually saying was, "You didn't screw up and Kerri didn't strangle you!" (Just kidding; their words were certainly in jest, and Kerri wouldn't strangle me.)

Of course, the "good job" comments could've referred not to the rings, but making sure that Jay was on time, stood up there, and did what he had to do. But anyone who has seen Jay and Kerri together for more than 3 seconds knows that he needed no compulsion to marry her.

The reception was under a large tent adjacent to a cabin (which housed the bar and dance floor). Most everything was standard by western wedding traditions. Of note were a few items:

1. The music to introduce the parents was the Star Wars theme. The music to introduce the wedding party was the theme from "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly". And the bride and groom entered to the tune of "The Anvil of Crom".


2. The food was awesome. It was a buffet-style arrangement (caterers served guests at the buffet) with steak, fish, pork, and some vegetable material. ;)


3. The cake cutting was performed with a battle-ready, high carbon steel, full tang replica of Uma Thurman's Hatori Hanzo sword from "Kill Bill". The cake was pumpkin with butterscotch between the layers. The sword was sharp.
   

Everything went as perfectly as one could hope, and I think we all had a great time.

See photos taken by Yilin here.

Celebrity Sightings

I know I've mentioned this before, but somehow I've managed to live in NYC for 9 years this August, and I have never seen anyone really famous. Yilin sees celebrities all the time, even when I'm with her. She doesn't point them out though, acting like she doesn't see them. I told her to cut the cool, and just raise her arm and point and say loudly to me, "Look it's __________ !" But she won't. After a lengthy discussion she agreed to either squeeze my arm or hand if we were in the presence of a celebrity so I'd know.

A few weeks ago I had my first sightings. We were walking to Claude's early one Saturday morning and we saw Robert Downey, Jr. strolling along, holding hands with some woman. He looked sunburned. I told Yilin that I thought his skin was red from reversing his controversial surgery (watch the trailer).

Then, not 30 minutes later, while we were seated inside of Claude's and happily feasting upon his magnificent pastries, who should walk by but Famke Jansen. She looks better in real life than in the movies, in case you're wondering.

It's about time I saw somebody more famous than Nobel prize-winning scientists.

Sweat

It's been rather hot here in NYC for the past few weeks. Most of the time the temperature has been in the 80's, with an occasional foray into the 90's. However, it has been rather humid.

As it has been hot, and as I walk to work, naturally I sweat. I started off wearing a suit and tie to work, because we dress as our clients do when working at the client site. Well, after a few days I started carrying my jacket instead of wearing it because I would have sweat spots under my arms, on my chest and stomach, all down my back, and even on my arms themselves. Removing the jacket alleviated this grossness somewhat.

Yilin insisted that I wear undershirts. My initial reaction was, "No way! I'll be so hot I'll sweat even more!" As it was, I already got dressed standing in front of the AC, and stayed there, until I had to leave the apartment. So she bought me some undershirts and I tried it out. Sure enough, once I put my button-down shirt on, the sweating commences. However, the undershirt soaks it up like a sponge so that it doesn't show through my work shirt. (I'm still hotter and sweat more, though.)

I could take the subway to work, as they are air-conditioned, but the subway stations are so hot in the summer, that if I had to wait even a few minutes I would quickly be soaked. My walk is about 3/4 of a mile, so it's relatively short. Now, when I walk to work I walk SLOW. At least, by NYC standards. I see guys wearing suits and ties (jackets on) all the time while walking to work. These guys do not walk slow like me; they are in full-speed-ahead-power-walk mode. I cannot fathom why I have perspiration running down my forehead and they do not. Yilin insists that they only walk very short distances, e.g. from the subway station to their office, or from a cab to their office. Perhaps.

So now, I wear an undershirt, which almost always alleviates any sweat soaking my work shirt. I carry my jacket while I walk to work instead of wearing it. I walk very slow, and only on the east side of the street so I am in the shade the entire time. Although I might have some perspiration on my forehead and upper lip, my shirt isn't soaked anymore. The first thing I do when I get to work is go into the bathroom, run my wrists under cold water for a few minutes, wash my face with cold water, and cool off. By outward appearances, I am not sweaty or hot.

But the reality is different. The office AC is set on 72, which is a temperature that I consider hot any time of the year under any conditions. So it takes me an hour or two before I stop sweating (inside my shirt) completely. Unfortunately, although I may appear comfortable, I am not. The worst part is that sweat has been running down my back and butt crack, so now my underwear and lower undershirt are completely soaked all day long. Unlike my shirt, there is no chance for them to dry out.

I did not write this to complain, even though it sounds that way. I wrote it because I don't understand how all of these other guys do this every day throughout the summer, for years on end. Are they wearing ice packs strapped to their inner thighs? What's their secret to staying cool?

Yilin's Birthday

Last Thursday was Yilin's 31st birthday.

I made her pancakes for breakfast, but unfortunately we don't have anything approximating a tray, so I couldn't bring it to her in bed. Surprisingly, she was asleep the entire time and didn't hear me. In fact, she thought I went for my morning run.

After work I brought home a bouquet of two dozen roses for her. In addition, there was a flower arrangement that her parents sent. Needless to say our place has had a strong floral odor since then.

We then went to dinner at a restaurant called "Kuma Inn", that Yilin's good friend Virginia recommended. Virginia met us there, and we dined on some really good, and rather cheaply priced, Asian tapas. The restaurant is BYOB, so we brought wine with us. It was a lot of fun.

All in all, I think Yilin enjoyed herself on her birthday, which is something we should all do.

Global Warming Machine

This morning I went for a run. For the past few weeks, I've been going on long runs (at least, long for me) every few days. Six miles here, nine miles there. This week I've been running three miles every morning, something which I am trying to turn into a regular habit.

As I was beginning my run I passed a billboard that had the time and temperature displayed at the bottom. I kid you not, 5:53 AM and 80 degrees F. Thankfully it wasn't as muggy as the past two days have been, although it was a bit sticky and there wasn't much of a breeze, even along the Hudson River.

When it gets warm outside, I have trouble running. I know, most people do, but I think I have extra trouble since I am such a cold weather person. In cooler weather, I can run at such a pace that my heart rate is hovering around 180 bpm and I'm breathing pretty hard and fast. But lately I've been struggling to maintain my heart rate up above 170 and I'm not that winded when I finish my runs. Perhaps some of it is due to my lack of aerobic conditioning right now. I don't know, but I blame it on the weather. Tomorrow I am going to push myself extra hard and see what happens.

One other thing about running in warm weather: when I finish a run I feel like a global warming machine. If I am standing still, I can feel the air around me warm up dramatically, and the temperature on my skin actually feels like it drops if I take step forward. Then the air warms up again. Further more, I feel like carbon dioxide is just leaking out of my skin, nevermind pumping out of my lungs in huge volumes with each breath. It is very odd. I think I will make myself a vest that has hundreds of small plastic pockets covering it, with each pocket filled with water. I'll throw it in the freezer at night, and put it on in the morning before I go running. Maybe that will help.

Anniversary

Monday was our one-year wedding anniversary. I bought Yilin a dozen pink longstem roses and we went out to dine at one of her favorite restaurants: Pastis.

It was a wonderful evening.

Worst News Ever

Wow. Today Yilin and I found out the worst news ever. She was devastated and in shock for about an hour afterward.

We found out that Claude is closing his patisserie and moving to France at the end of the year!

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

Suffice to say, if he opens a patisserie in France, I'm moving. (I think he's retiring for good. He's been working 12+ hour days all 7 days a week for about 25 years.)

Furthermore, I told Yilin that we now have to eat breakfast at Claude's everyday, so that we can get in a lifetime of croissants now. I don't know if I'll ever be able to eat another croissant, pain chocolat, quiche, or tart (plum or apricot) again in my life.

Earlier this summer he had apple rhubarb tarts which were mind blowing. Alas, it will soon end.

How unbearably tragic.

I (sort of) got a job!

This morning I had a 30 minute interview with a consulting firm that specializes in the life sciences. Afterward I began my first day of work at the client site. I signed about 300 NDAs (non-disclosure agreements), so I can't tell you anything about it, except that so far it is going well. (Oh yeah, I watched a 20-something minute video about insider trading and how I could go to jail even for making innocuous statements about confidential company information.)

Technically I am a subcontractor for the consulting firm (whose name I cannot disclose because of an NDA and the terms of my contract), and this job will last for roughly the summer. I was told that if I do a good job I could get other work through this consulting firm, or even be taken on as a full-time employee. That would rock. Especially since they're paying me at a pretty good rate (but no benefits like health or dental), and only expect me to work 40 hours a week. I spoke to two other consultants I'm working with who are full-time employees of the consulting firm and I got the impression that they always work 40-hour weeks. And here I was expecting to work 80+ hours a week for a decent salary.

Wait a minute, I do get one benefit: free lunch! Ha!

Three years to the day

Today is three years from the day that Yilin and I first met on that fateful night at a bar in Manhattan. It is also two years from the day that I proposed marriage to her.

Tonight we might try to go back to that bar, Musical Box, for a celebratory drink.

PIE!

Yesterday, Yilin and I bought rhubarb at the grocery store. When we got home I printed and used this strawberry rhubarb pie recipe originally printed in Bon Apetite. I modified the recipe slightly, as follows:

1. I used pastry flour instead of all-purpose flour since we had an open bag that recently expired and I wanted to use it instead of throw it away. Besides, we didn't have all-purpose flour.


2. We didn't have shortening, so I ran out to our corner store and bought lard. That's right, a block of animal fat. Is it worse for me than a block of vegetable fat? Perhaps. (I also had the idea of using solidified bacon grease in the crust of a pot pie. How amazing would that be?)


3. I used my hands to press the dough into the pie plate since we don't have a rolling pin, and our improvised rolling pin (a sturdy cardboard tube wrapped in wax paper) didn't work well at all. Besides, the dough stuck to our butcher's block countertop. (I probably didn't use enough flour.)

Otherwise, I followed the recipe, and let me tell you that this pie is freaking amazing. Yilin couldn't stop raving about how good it was. I gave it a 9/10. I feel the crust could've been a little better somehow. It is very flaky and crumbly, but lacks a bit of flavor perhaps. Yilin feels that the crust could have more bite. If anyone has any suggestions on improving the crust I am all ears. I want to make this again and have it be a 10/10.

Chop!

Yesterday Yilin got a hair cut. She recently had her hair cut when we were visiting her parents in Montreal. Yesterday, it got chopped much further, into a bob (I think it's called a bob; what do I know about hair cuts except buzzcut, shaved, bowl, beehive, mullet, and afro?). Without further ado,

The Further Adventures of Dr. Walonoski

This past weekend, Yilin and I went to Connecticut to visit my parents for Easter. We went up to the Norman Rockwell Museum and took a tour with a woman who knew Norman Rockwell, and whose son had posed for a painting. She was ancient. She was also very humorous.

I also got to see my latest diploma. It's surprisingly plain and unadorned for what it represents. It reminds me, in a way, of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. After Indy survives all kinds of craziness, and gets beaten up and struggles to reach the Holy Grail, he finds that there are actually three grails. The bad guy with him grabs the bejeweled gold cup, naturally, as that is what most people would expect the Cup of God to look like. (I mean, check out the Vatican.*) Bzzzzt wrong! It was the wooden cup.

So while I had visions of my diploma being an etched plate of solid gold with platinum accents and my name spelled out in diamonds, I was sadly mistaken. Despite the amount of effort in finishing my Ph.D. (never mind just getting into Columbia), the end product does not adequately represent the struggle. Well, OK, I concede that I didn't have to dodge booby traps in Mayan temples or cut any rope bridges in half, but my advisor did try to rip my heart out. Alright, that's a slight exaggeration, but only a slight one. Yes, I am the wiser for those 8 years, and changing my salutation from "Mr." to "Dr." as well as adding a few letters to the end of my name is helpful in the job hunt, but part of me still thinks the diploma should be so wondrous to behold that the common man must avert his eyes. ;)

*The Vatican. Yes, as you may or may not know, an Archbishop was recently (mis)quoted in an interview with L'Osservatore Romano (the semi-official newspaper of the Vatican) concerning many modern day activities which he views as deadly sins. (He was properly quoted in that paper, but his words were taken out of context and subsequently misquoted into an official list of seven deadly social sins by various media outlets, including Bloomberg.) The archbishop said that certain modern day activities, such as "carrying out morally debatable scientific experiments, or allowing genetic manipulations which alter DNA or compromise embryos" are offensive to God, and therefore deadly sins.

Well, all of my grad school friends, I hope you aren't Catholic, or have repented your scientific ways if you are. Presumably, the Archbishop is talking about scientific experiments with humans, human embryos, and perhaps even human cells. I have manipulated the DNA of human cell lines in culture. Does that make me a sinner in his eyes? Maybe. Maybe not, since I didn't directly experiment with 'whole' human beings. But he also mentions artificial birth control (of course), so I'm doomed from that angle.

Interestingly, he also mentioned "excessive accumulation of wealth by the few". To me, that smacks of hypocrisy. Critics will state the Vatican often has yearly budget deficits in the millions of dollars (in 2003 the Vatican had $251 million in income and $263 million in expenses), but what about all the material wealth? OK, perhaps they've changed their ways, and no longer "need" more solid gold life-size crucifixes adorning the bathroom walls. But come on, the Vatican has tremendous assets, which equals wealth. If I had a ridiculously huge mansion like Xanadu in the film Citizen Kane, my local or federal government would surely consider that property to be wealth, and tax me on it. I wonder if the Italian government taxes the Vatican?

Regardless, I bet that Archbishop has an etched solid gold certificate with platinum accents and his name written in diamonds proclaiming his religious title.

Run run run.

I've been doing some running on the treadmill at the gym lately. As if I disliked running enough, the treadmill is bringing my dislike to a whole new level. The only benefit of running on a treadmill vs. running outdoors is that you can control your speed and incline (although not decline) precisely. It's also very warm in there, which I intensely dislike. This morning, for instance, I was so soaked with sweat after my workout that I don't think jumping into a shower would have made me much more wet.

Furthermore, it's so loud in the cardio room at our gym, due to all the machines being used, music over the pervasive loudspeakers, and the volume from some of the TVs, that I have to blast my mp3 player to even hear music on my earbud-style headphones. Last week I actually hurt my ears from doing that, so I don't listen to music when I am in the cardio room anymore.

But, at least I can pace myself on the treadmill, which is something I cannot do when running outdoors. (I tend to get bored, start running faster, get out of breath, slow down to some ridiculous pace and get even more bored.)

This morning I ran for 40 minutes then biked for 20. I started with a mild jog for about 2 minutes before increasing my speed to 7 mph, which is about an 8:34 minute per mile pace, and I ran a bit more than 4.5 miles total. I then got some water and hopped on a bike, setting up a workout to keep my heart rate at 150, which I am guessing is in the fat-burning zone for me, but not quite the cardio zone, based on my fairly good cardio health compared to other people my age. (I need to sit down, or run around, this weekend and figure out what my target heart rate should be when I am training.) I ended up biking about 7.15 miles in that 20 minutes.

Mike, and a few other people, want me to start doing triathlons with them. I am interested, but I know the swimming will kill me, as I mostly do the breaststroke, not freestyle, never mind that I haven't swum in about a year and a half. Perhaps I'll start doing mini-triathlons at the gym: jump in the pool for a bunch of laps, get out and quickly towel myself down, run up one flight of stairs to the cardio room and bike, then hop off and jump on a treadmill to finish it off. Hmmm, that's not a bad idea...

Car Jack?

The subject of this post is not carjacking, as in hijacking a car, but rather a jack used to lift up a car when changing a tire. A few weeks ago I stopped to help a man who looked like he was having trouble changing the rear passenger-side tire on his retardedly-large SUV. He looked to be in his mid-30's, was a bit doughy and out of shape, and didn't appear to be able to use his jack with any degree of expediency, probably due to poor physical fitness correlative with his aforementioned appearance, i.e., he didn't just look overweight and out of shape, he was overweight and out of shape.

So I asked if he needed help, and he more or less assented. I began cranking away on the handle of the jack, and the SUV was up in the air a few inches. He removed the tire, pulled out the spare, and then he went to put it on, but the SUV was not high enough. (The flat tire had brought that corner of the vehicle down considerably lower than where it normally sat.) So I cranked away and the SUV lifted up. Then it fell. Oops.

I removed the jack from underneath, tried placing it elsewhere, and began jacking up the SUV again. The SUV started moving again. For some reason, when that corner would lift up, the car would roll forward slightly. It's probably normal, and I had a realization that assuaged my guilty thoughts of having caused his SUV to fall by some action of my own. Why on earth was the jack that came with his SUV smaller than a portable bicycle tire pump? I mean, it was miniscule. I've seen asthma inhalers larger than this thing. The base was about 3 inches by 4 inches. Who on Earth would think that a jack with a base that small would stably hold a behemoth SUV up in the air?

And what, praytell, was the purpose of designing an ultra-small car jack for an SUV with trunk space larger than my bathroom? Just put a real freaking jack in there. It's like worrying that a bucket of paint takes up too much room in a garage. Honestly, when looking at his vehicle, I kept thinking about the Canyonero.

Anyway, Yilin and I went to a nearby tire inflating/changing/repair place about a block away and convinced one of the attendants to bring one of those large jacks that you can't even lift (it has wheels) to help this guy out.* Heck, that's the kind of jack the makers of the SUV should have included in the first place. Seriously, you could have fit half of an auto body shop in the back of this thing it was so large, yet they include the dinkiest car jack ever. Given that the road where he was parked was actually quite flat, I wondered if this jack had ever even been tested in the lab before its inclusion with the vehicle. Typical engineers. ;)

*He didn't want to leave his SUV because it was in the middle of a bus stop, and I wouldn't be surprised if he'd have gotten a ticket if he turned his back, despite the obvious difficulty in driving a vehicle with only three wheels.

I am the Muffin Man.

This past weekend I woke up early and baked muffins for breakfast. It was a surprise for Yilin, who had been wanting to make muffins for a few days. I ended up making blackberry muffins from the Williams-Sonoma Muffin recipe book that my parents gave us. I had to modify the recipe, since we lacked a few ingredients, so I'll print my version here, which should not violate any copyright laws that I am aware of. (Incidentally, the muffin recipes from this book are really really good, and I highly recommend buying it if you like muffins.)

Blackberry Muffins à la Josh

Topping:
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp unbleached white flour
Grated zest of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup walnuts, finely chopped

Muffins:
2 cups unbleached white flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Grated zest of 1/2 lemon
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 large egg, beaten
5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 cup 1% milk
2 cups fresh blackberries (or substitute 2 1/2 cups frozen unsweetened blackberries, unthawed)

1. Preheat oven 385°F. Grease 12 standard muffin cups with butter.
2. To prepare the topping, mix sugar, flour, and zest. Add melted butter and stir until crumbly. Add walnuts, mix, and set aside.
3. For the muffins, mix together all the dry ingredients (including the lemon zest, which is moist) in a large bowl. Add the wet ingredients and stir until everything is moist. Do not overstir, and do not worry about lumps. Add the blackberries and gently fold with a non-metal spatula a few times until the berries are more or less evenly distributed. Again, do not overstir, and try not to break the berries.
4. Evenly distribute the batter into the muffin cups (I used large blackberries, so there were about 3 per muffin). Ideally the batter would be just over the top of the cup, but as long as you have half-full muffin cups, it doesn't matter. Evenly distribute the topping (each muffin will get about 1 heaping tablespoon of topping).
5. Put them in the oven for about 3 minutes, and then drop the oven temp to 375°F and continue baking. I did this because opening the oven door allows a lot of hot air to escape, and increases the time for the muffins to heat up. We want to blast them a bit and get them up to temp quickly to help them rise properly. (I learned this trick from Alton Brown's nerdy show on the Food Network.) Total baking time should be about 25-30 minutes. I stopped mine at 25 minutes when a little mixed drink umbrella (aka toothpick) came out of a muffin clean. Let cool 10 minutes before removing the muffins from the tray. (I just wrapped a dish towel over the tray and flipped it, unwrapping it and slowly lifting the tray.) Let them cool a few minutes and enjoy!

It's not rocket science, and it isn't difficult. The muffins are interesting because they have these giant berries taking up quite a bit of space. We both enjoyed them a lot, and hopefully you will too!

Snow!

Yesterday it snowed for the third or fourth time this winter. Yilin and I did a lot of walking in the morning, as the giant flakes were falling, and it was great. I really miss the snow. Of course, snow in NYC is always interesting, mostly because of the things you witness other people doing.

One observation I've made, that demonstrates New Yorkers' lack of consideration for anyone else, or their own future predicaments, is the way people handle parking on the street if there's a lot of snow. You see, the plows, which are garbage trucks with plow blades on the front, just pack all the snow up against and between the parked cars lining the streets. When the owners of the cars go outside to use their vehicle they typically just get in and pull out of the space. Of course, it is never that easy, because there is an incredible amount of snow in between the cars. Rarely do people attempt to remove any of the snow. Often the cars struggle tremendously, get stuck, etc. And when the car finally pulls out, it leaves behind a packed down icy mess, and a large mound of snow for any other car to overcome in the course of parking in that same space. Nobody uses shovels, nobody cares that anyone else might want to park, and nobody thinks, "Hey, maybe if we just shoveled out around our own cars, it would make parking again much easier."

Yesterday, I didn't see any of that as it wasn't nearly enough snow to warrant plowing. However, I did see some odd things. I saw a man shoveling the sidewalk with a spade. I found that odd, and overly cumbersome, as the blade was 5 inches wide and metal. I saw another guy spreading Kosher salt outside of his restaurant, presumably because he didn't have any regular sidewalk salt.

Yilin and I also witnessed something horrifying. We saw some parents out with their young kids, and one of the kids picked up snow off of the sidewalk and started eating it. Mind you, there was no untouched virgin freshly fallen patches of snow anywhere. This was snow that had been shoveled and stepped on, and who knows if any dogs had previously visited that area. (Dog owners in NYC seem to think it's OK to leave dog shit on the sidewalk if there is snow to cover it. There are hidden traps everywhere.) So you can imagine my disgust at witnessing this kid reach down, pick up some tainted snow and eat it! And her parents did nothing! She's probably going to die of viral meningitis, or some other disease carried by rats or pigeons, and the doctors are going to ask her parents if she'd been licking the sidewalks or eating bird feces, and her parents will respond, "No, but we let her eat snow off of the sidewalk! Bwaahhh!"

This morning the snow was mostly gone, as usual. The subway trains, electrical lines, cars, trucks, and buses produce heat, while all of the concrete, blacktop, metal, buildings, and the impenetrable cloud of CO2 surrounding New York trap heat. So snow rarely lasts more than 2 days. I'll just keep praying for snow.

A Jolly Good St. Valentine's Day to You!

Last week Yilin and I traveled to Montreal for the Chinese New Year. If one were to translate the Chinese lunisolar calendar to a western-style calendar, it is the year 4705. (There is a great Wikipedia page on this incredibly complicated sexagenary calendar system.) We had a great time, and I was excited to actually see snow (this winter it has snowed maybe twice in NYC, but nothing stuck to the ground).

One thing that I really like about Montreal is that it is relatively uncrowded. Well, especially in the winter. You see, in Montreal, you can go to work, do all of your shopping (groceries, medicine, clothes, etc.), and all of your traveling entirely underground. Some people don't even wear coats when they leave their houses in the morning, as they never step foot outside. It's amazing. Me, I love walking around on the sidewalks above ground with almost nobody around. More so when snow is blowing in my face.

By contrast, in NYC, it doesn't snow very often in the winter. Instead, it rains. This means that the sidewalks are full of people, with no option to walk underground, carrying umbrellas of various diameters. This is not fun. For those of you who haven't experienced it, allow me to explain. Please keep in mind two crucial points: 1) New Yorkers don't pay attention to anyone or anything, and rarely apologize for bumping into people; 2) Umbrellas are wider than people.

Imagine the hustle and bustle that is the typical NYC sidewalk; it's impossible not to brush into people and narrowly avoid bumping into them. Now imagine that every person is armed with an umbrella bearing no less than 8 spikes at its perimeter, and each umbrella is wider than the average person. This means that umbrellas are always bumping into each other. Everyone takes a minimal approach to dodging and avoiding other umbrellas, just like their minimal approach to dodging and avoiding people. However, if you aren't afraid of a little rain and don't carry an umbrella, you had best have reflexes like Jack Burton. Somehow, carrying an umbrella grants you the right of way (at least in New Yorker's minds). I can't tell you how many times I've been poked in the face by other people's umbrellas. My current tactic is to just knock their umbrellas out of the way rather than dodge them. Basically, it's as pleasant as going to the mall during Christmas season.

Don't get me wrong, there are some people who sidestep, move and/or lift their umbrella, or are otherwise conscientious of others on the sidewalk. These people, the minority, are the thoughtful ones. Thankfully, a much smaller minority is the group of people less than 5'4" who (basically) carry 4 foot wide beach umbrellas at the eye level of most people, and barrel down the sidewalk without trying to avoid hitting anyone or anything. However, the absolute smallest minority are those who don't use an umbrella. I fall into the last category. It's only water. And that is my reasoning behind why winter in Montreal is better than winter in NYC.

Have a swell Valentine's Day. Yilin and I will almost certainly be staying in tonight and relaxing.

The Enemy of the People

I was flipping through the Wall Street Journal the other day*, and came across a full page ad from Morgan Stanley proudly introducing their new Managing Directors. I skimmed through the list of names, and came across one Emmanuel Goldstein. This was truly shocking.

As you certainly know, Emmanuel Goldstein was the leader of the Brotherhood, and therefore the number one enemy of the people, in George Orwell's classic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. My first thought was, "Who would name their kid after that literary character, such that anyone he met would immediately be suspicious?" Let's face it, although he's sort of an anti-hero in the novel, he's not a person you want to be associated with unless you like visiting places like... Cuba, for instance. But not in a vacation cigar-smoking way, if you catch my drift.

I found it odd that there might be people with that name when a year or two ago I learned of the hacker Eric Gordon Corley, who is rather anti-government in his opinion. He goes by the name Emmanuel Goldstein. He's the kind of guy who the government would keep close tabs on anyway, since he is known to rant against "Big Brother", but the fact that he chose that name as his pen name is only asking for trouble.

So here's this other Emmanuel Goldstein, working for Morgan Stanley, who almost certainly was given that name by his parents. The novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, was published in 1949. So unless this guy is at least 59 years old (which would be old for a mid-level position like Managing Director), his parents either never read the book, named him that anyway, or named him that because of the book. Although I can't find any info on how well the book sold at the time of its debut, there were also two movie versions: a BBC version televised in 1954, and a Hollywood version in 1956. The chance that his parents hadn't been aware of the enemy of the people must be very slim. Yet that is his name anyway. Or, at least the name he goes by.

I guess it's like naming your kid "Guy Fawkes", only the name has a literary meaning, rather than historical one. Whatever the story behind this Emmanuel Goldstein fellow, I would bet a substantial amount that the U.S. government keeps tabs on him. One need only take advantage of the Freedom of Information Act, to get ahold of his files, for whatever it's worth. But I'm not going to request them...


*I know, two blog posts in a row about stuff appearing in the Wall Street Journal. It's a big part of my day now. Oh, how things change...

Gotta love marketers.

You gotta love marketers. They'll find a way to spin numbers to wow and dazzle you, no matter what. As Mark Twain said (paraphrasing Benjamin Disraeli), "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." Let's look at an example on the bottom of the front page of today's Wall Street Journal.

ExxonMobil has a small advertisement hailing "the startup of a major new energy project", which means the find of a new oil reservoir. The ad states that the new find will yield "an additional 600 million barrels of oil—enough to fuel one million cars in the U.S. for nearly 20 years." See, there's no shortage of oil anywhere.

When a company like ExxonMobil takes out an ad to announce such a find, you think that it would be significant, and enough oil to fuel one million U.S. cars for 20 years sounds like a lot of oil. Except that in 2005 there were about 247 million total highway registered vehicles in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. If we examine passenger cars only, 136.5 million, this "major new energy project" doesn't look so major. In fact, it is only enough oil to fuel all the cars in the U.S. for 53 days. If we factor in all the highway vehicles, and give ExxonMobil the benefit of the doubt that the oversized-SUVs and trucks are as fuel efficient as passenger cars, we now see that their new find yields enough oil to fuel all the highway vehicles in the U.S. for 29.5 days. Not even one month (unless you count February, which is not a real month, in my opinion).

Who wants to bet that it will take more than one month to suck all of that oil out of the ocean floor? Good job ExxonMobil, you hired a sufficiently sneaky marketing department. But not sneaky enough for the likes of me! Ha ha ha ha!

Does anyone else see a problem here?

Yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, Steve Forbes wrote a piece concerning one particular Republican presidential-candidate's proposed tax measures. That candidate is of no consequence to me. What is of consequence is some of the facts that Mr. Forbes mentions:

"When the income tax was introduced in 1913, Congress adopted a one-page filing form and a maximum rate of 7%. The Office of Management and Budget estimates Americans now spend 6.5 billion hours a year filling out tax forms.

Our Founders drafted the Constitution with fewer than 5,000 words; with later amendments it is about 8,000 words. The federal tax code is more than 9 million words. So the document that created the government is less than 0.1% as long as the tax code that funds it. Such is the state of Washington today."

Absolutely amazing. What I want to know is this: what does the federal government provide to me today that it did not provide U.S. citizens before 1913? In other words, what am I paying federal income tax for?

A military? We don't need a military. At least not as much of a military as we have. I bet we could cut 90% of our military without any undue effect at all. We only keep some minimal amount of troops and all of our nuclear arsenal. This sends the message to the rest of the world that our only recourse in any military conflict is nuclear warfare. Nobody would mess with us.

Unconvinced? Why doesn't anyone mess with North Korea or Iran? I don't think it has been verified that either of those countries has nuclear weapons, yet nobody messes with them. Even the paranoid President of our country hasn't tried to go to war with them, which says a lot. Heck, North Korea has intentionally "missed" every deadline for scaling back it's nuclear weapons and uranium enrichment programs, and nobody does anything to punish them (if there's anything left that can be done).

What's my point? My point is that we have far too much law in this country, for no real reason. Taxes to fund wars that we don't need to fight and we can't 'win', in the historical sense of the word. I won't even get started on the erosion of freedom in this country.

That's Dr. Josh, thank you.

It's been a long time since I've posted anything. I haven't lost the desire to blog, so much as put it off for so long that it isn't the second nature it used to be. I'm going to change that for the new year. (Happy new year, by the way.)

Rough chronological timeline of major events in the past two months:

Dec 1st - My uncle Brian, the youngest of my dad's three brothers, passed away due to complications of cystic fibrosis. It was very, very hard for everyone. My father and his brothers were with him at the hospital at the time, and had been there all day. Personally, it was extremely difficult for me to focus and prepare my presentation for my thesis defense the following Friday.

Dec 2nd - My brother's birthday. I spoke to him on the phone, and he certainly wasn't in the mood to celebrate. I think he sat at home and drank a few beers.

Dec 7th - Pearl Harbor Day. My thesis defense. I went on the 'offense' and Pearl-Harbored my committee (as per Russ's suggestion). It worked. I passed.

Dec 14th - I deposited my thesis, fulfilling all the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Columbia provided me with some letters stating that fact, as my degree isn't actually conferred until Feb 23rd, making me a 2008 graduate, despite the fact that I finished in 2007.

Dec 15th - A memorial service was held for my uncle Brian. My aunt Karen (his wife), my dad, and his three brothers, were all understanding of what I was going through, and believed that Brian would not have wanted me to be unduly stressed at the time of my defense, so the service was postponed until this day. It was emotional, to say the least.

Dec 16th - My dad's birthday. Yilin and I made him breakfast. Again, there wasn't much celebrating going on in our family.

Christmas week - Last year I went to Montreal for Christmas, and this year it was Yilin's turn to spend Christmas in Connecticut. I got to see my family and sit around a lot. It was good.

I'm currently looking for a job. I'll keep everyone updated with how that goes.

On Saturday, Yilin used her $100 store credit from Apple*: she got me an iPod shuffle. It's my first iPod, but not my first mp3 player. I've discovered that I don't like iTunes, because there is no organization outside of playlists. Furthermore, any audio books I had previously downloaded from LibriVox aren't recognized as eBooks by iTunes. So I had to have iTunes convert them to 64 kbit AAC, and then rename the files *.m4a to *.m4b so that iTunes recognizes that they are audiobook files. It took me about an hour to figure out the problem and fix it, even though I used the 'mv' command in Terminal to instantly change all the file names. But the Shuffle is cool.

*Yen-I and I bought Yilin the iPhone for her birthday present the first weekend they were on sale. Shortly after that a new iPhone was announced; all the people who waited in line for hours and hours were pissed, so Apple gave them all a $100 in-store credit.

Not much more to say right now. I am hoping to re-blog regularly. Oh yeah, happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Perhaps you should re-listen to his most famous speech, which I believe to be the greatest public speech ever given.