Yes, I DID just say that.

A compilation of the TSA things going on right now.

2010-11-17T14:49:00.000-08:00

As you probably know, the TSA has implemented new procedures that many are taking objection to. I'm going to try summarizing & compiling the intelligent arguments being made.

The new imaging technology is now being questioned for it's:

1) Violation of privacy

2) Lack of clear safety

3) Lack of effectiveness

4) shady process of selection

5) Other unanswered questions and Stupidity

Discussion on those topics:

1) Violation of Privacy

The Advanced Imaging Technology, "AIT" is actually one of two types of magines backscatter X Ray or Millimeter wave. The energy is weak enough that it doesn't pass through skin, but it does pass through clothing, and after rastering your body, and an image of your naked body is created.

You can opt out of the imaging, but you get the famous "thorough pat down" If you don't want the pat down - which includes a TSA agent touching your genitals through clothing and reaching into your pants, then you don't get to fly. There have been cases where the TSA has told individuals who have opted out of both and decided to go home, they will be subject to a potential $11,000 fine.

On their blog, TSA attempted to dispel the idea that the pat downs were invasive with a non-sequitur argument about AIT, instead of attempting to show any empathy for those who feel violated or offering an alternative to being seen naked or being groped.

For a while, the TSA said that there was software that blurred out the images of your genitalia and face to the screener, but that seems to be no longer the case. They are in pursuit of technology that simply shows a generic human outline and dots in the places where the machine detects anomalies, but this is not available yet.

The TSA has stated very recently stated that you may
1) have your pat down done in a private room
2) have the pat down witnessed by a person of your choice.

Given the TSA's recent record of disgusting behavior while giving pat downs, I suggest that you request to have it videotaped by a friend's cell phone(update- this will not work. see below). They will say that you are being videotaped now, but that data belongs to them, not you. It can easily disappear.

Very recently, a man in San Diego was arrested for stripping down to tight fitting underwear, hoping to avoid both a pat down after opting out of AIT. He was arrested, and his iPhone confiscated. It does sound like his lawyer is attempting to recover the iphone and video footage.

More information at the TSA website

2) Lack of Clear Safety.

The TSA has said that there have been government groups (FDA/CDRH) and an independant group at Johns Hopkins that have declared these devices safe, however a growing community is challenging those claims.

2a) Backscatter -

A group of Biophysicists/Biochemists at UCSF have stated they believe that the numbers have been fudged to call the scanners safe, and the comparison with xrays during flight is faulty logic.

Here's how the logic is faulty. (I'm a mechanical engineer, heres how I understand it)

Xrays that you get during a chest Xray or even those from space you incur during a flight, pass through your entire body. Backscatter xrays bounce off your skin. Since the backscatter beam is weaker, in order to get an image, they have to scan your body from top to bottom with a thin beam. Therefore the effective volume of your body being exposed during backscatter - a line of skin and the tissue underneath it - is much smaller than that of the Xray, or the "3 minutes of radiation during a flight"

An approximate analogy would be laying on a bed of nails. The force is distributed across the entire body surface. Now lay down on just one nail(or a line of nails) - a very concentrated surface area with the same force magnifies the stress at a given location, and creates a dramatially different result.

The UCSF scientists have stated that these scanners can compromise the health of:
a) Travelers over age 65
b) Women sensitive to mutagenesis-provoking radiation leading to breast cancer.
c) Those with compromised immune systems
d) Children, as the effects of radiation has not been fully investigated
e) Pregnant women, as the effects of radiation has not been fully investigated
f) Men, as radiation can lead to sperm mutagenesis.
g) It is unknown if there has been investigation as to whether it has been determined to be safe to the eyes or the thymus

They have also questioned how the machine is maintained to prevent the amount of radiation from increasing.

Additionally, Biochemists/Biophysicists at Johns Hopkins have stated that they are uncertain if backscatter is harmful or not.

2b) Millimeter wave -

This technology doesn't use XRays, but radiation closer to the Radio frequency. (Remember that ALL waves in the electromagnetic spectrum are technically radiation- including visible light. The difference is whether the radiation causes ionization of the substrate it passes through.)

Los Alamos as made models suggesting that DNA can be torn apart using this frequency of waves

That's about all that's known - it's not used widely elsewhere, or at all on humans, for that matter.

It should be noted that the FDA & CDRH can and certainly has changed their mind quickly about decisions they have made to approve medical devices. A medical device company must prove that their device is both safe and effective, and if the numbers say differently, the device is recalled.

Given the number of people being exposed to these technologies, I see the risk as very high.

The FDA has replied to UCSF.

I'm still reading through the letter. It's pretty detailed, however the UCSF group is has responded saying they're writing a careful letter pointing out their errors.

3) Effectiveness

Many people have said that these machines are ineffective as it only goes skin deep, and doesn't detect anything that has been surgically implanted or placed inside a body orifice - and a gap in the security is now visible.

CBS reported in Sept 2009 that Al Qaida can and has already used methods that will twart the equipment currently being implemented in the airports. That's right, an Al Qaida suicide bomber used a bomb hidden in his rectum to kill.

Pistole has recently commented that cavity searches will not be conducted, effectively leaving a "hole" in security.

Blogger Bob at the TSA blog says these machines can have detected “powdered drugs the size of a thumbprint,” but that they are not looking for drugs.

Can these machines detect Sanitary napkins?

Can these machines detect Tampons -- which happen to look a lot like little sticks of dynamite?

There are plenty more holes in security that have been known by high ranking TSA personnel for quite some time. Airport security is more theatre than it is function.

Myth: There are no better alternatives:
Fact: Israel is at much greater peril than the United States, and has much better security measures at their airports.

4)Shady selection practice of Backscatter X-Ray

-There is a guy named Michael Chertoff who was the head of Homeland Security/ TSA.

-He quit when GWB left office.

-Then he started a consulting/security firm called the Chertoff Group, and using his ties with government officials, advised the purchase of $160,000,000+ worth of Backscatter machines.

-Rapiscan got the contract.

-Rapiscan is a client of Chertoff.

With little irony, Stephen Colbert pronounced them Rape-i-scan. (Very worth viewing, might I add)

Rapiscan is owned by a company called OSI systems, who's stock price has started to track downward in the past couple weeks. Sounds like wall street knows that they won't be getting much more business from the government.

The chances are very low that one of the following two things won't happen given the recent public outcry:

1) Judicial override of pat-down policy.
2) Legislation banning the use of AIT.
3) CDRH/FDA changing it's mind and mandating recall of Backscatter and/or MMW (I work in the medical device industry. Their opinion does change regarding safety and effectiveness of devices)

5) Other unanswered questions and stupidity.

-What if you’re gay?
-If I tell them I'm a gay male, are male screeners still going to pat me down, or will they get a woman to do it?
 -What if I SAY I’m gay to get a woman to pat me down?
-What if I say I'm bi?

Please comment if you know what happens in this case.

-----

There is an "opt out" for the airport, where private contractors may be hired instead of government TSA employees to perform security, but those private groups are still regulated by the TSA, and will have to use their procedures. The agents that groped the screaming 3-year-old at SFO have been private since 2006. A change to private security will not change anything except INCREASE cost, and probably decrease the pay of the security agents (if it's private, someone at the top is taking a big cut.)

---

The TSA has only very recently given Pilots the ability to skip the AIT and pat down. Makes sense, considering that they will be
1) in the cockpit, which has a gun
2) at the controls of a massive steel structure travelling 550mph loaded with jet fuel.

It essentiallly took the Pilot's union to file a lawsuit in order for this change to be made.

---

Do you have an Insulin Pump? "Leave it at home," says agent. The TSA has shown on many recent occasions that have very little sensitivity to people with medical conditions, medical devices, or prosthetics. This goes with people with poor education or social skills given power over the public.

For example, they bring to the surface your emotional scars of losing a breast or the ability to urinate normally, as well as showing it off to the public.

The TSA claims to be professional, but I have personally witnessed plenty of non-professional behavior. From a TSA agent saying "TSA means take stuff away" to another saying "I can't believe I get paid to tell people that they can't have liquids greater than 3 ounces" -- both in front of large public crowds, I seriously doubt their professional credibility.

I think a simple search in to the "professional" background of many TSA agents will reveal fast food, retail, telemarketing, and jail time of many.

Free Software Tools for Mechanical Engineers

2010-10-20T07:35:00.000-07:00

The world is changing.

The garage tinkerer-become-entrepreneur of yesteryear is now a .COM entrepreneur. The men who once spurred economic domination of the western world are now writing lines of code. No longer do you need a factory to build wealth - and so our economy which was once based on manufacturing is now on the decline.

Those who once had a variety of carpentry tools, metal workshops in their basement are now turning to 3D CAD, CAM, rapid prototyping and the internet.

You are now sitting in front of the tinkerer's new workshop. You just didn't know it.

So I'm transitioning in my career, and what will I be doing to fill the time between different cubicles? You'd probably guess I'd be crossing off those bucket list items -- trekking in the Himalayas, ski bum at Tahoe, putting in two killer workouts daily in hopes of pulling off a 10 hour Ironman??

No - I've decided to sharpen my Engineering skills! (and perhaps invent a thing or two-- but that's all I'm telling you). I have certainly been neglecting plenty of things over the past 8 years at my current job as a medical device engineer, but mechanical engineering is a big field, and I have been inspired to become more competitive. Since I expect to have some free time during my job search, I'm going to be honing my skills, digging in books, reviewing old texts, and best of all, trying new things.

One problem. Generally doing many types of engineering from home mandates those expensive software programs available to you by default by working at Corporation XYZ. After all, I'm not going to WRITE software to assist the design of my gift to the world, right?

Fortunately, I'm a problem solver and the best tool any engineer can have is resourcefulness. After scanning the web, I've learned that there is plenty of free alternatives to the tools I've been using.

Here is a list of what I've found so far. I very much hope to make this an easy access point for other engineers, designers, and creators to find tools to solve their dilemmas.

This post will be under construction for quite some time, I imagine.

CAD
The heart of Mechanical design, but we're long past the days of AutoCad 14 and MS Paint. Solidworks is quickly becoming the market leader, followed by the likes of Pro/E and Autodesk's Inventor.

FreeCad - The best completely free 3D Parametric CAD software on the net.

Alibre - Low cost, professional grade. The first release of this software was heralded as "XCAD", and free liscenses were given out to the public. Nowadays, a 3D CAD package very competitive to Solidworks and Inventor is now available to you for $99.

AutoDesk Alias

Numerical Analysis & Modeling.
Matlab is the hands down king of numerical modeling in industry, but again, not cheap.

As always,
Wikipedia is frequently a good place to start.

SciLab is free, has many of the same features.

GNU Octave - numerical analysis program with syntax very similar to Matlab. I've noticed that Wikipedia entries on mathematic topics are beginning to crop up with Octave code included. Exciting!

Imaging

Image J Developed by the NIH, this is great for analyzing Xray photos, but It's also useful for doing just about any analysis of greyscale. Simple and intuitive.

Gimp Photoshops's free cousin. Tons of power and easy to learn as tutorials are showing up EVERYWHERE online.

Blender - 3D graphics modeling and rendering. I haven't used software like this yet, but it appears to be very powerful.

Office Software

A free version of computing tools very similar to Microsoft Office.

Gliffy does what Visio does, but for free, and it doesn't take up any space on your computer.

Way more tools, with much wider scope than engineering.

Another good place to poke around.

What free tools have you found? I'll add anything you as a Mechanical engineer or Product designer/Developer see as useful to what you do.

(as a sidenote, my home computer is an Apple. Many programs of the programs I list will be compatible with multiple OSs)

Guest post.

2010-05-08T09:07:00.000-07:00

A good friend of mine, Matt Mortensen, a both a fantastic chemist and photographer, has asked me to guest post on his photo blog.

You can find it here.

http://doctormortensen.blogspot.com/2010/05/guest-post-iceland.html

The Sweetest Thing

2009-12-15T20:44:00.000-08:00

One thing that's happened in my absence here is that I became an uncle. Here's a photo of my niece Julia in her 8th month.

This was taken while shooting some photos for her & her parent's christmas card.

Performance.

2009-08-18T16:38:00.000-07:00

If you haven't seen this yet, here it is. This guy is my new idol.

The Good news is....

2009-08-16T16:44:00.000-07:00

Good News: EK and I have spent 3 fun weekends in a row out of town, Much of it time for just the two of us.

Good News: My grandfather is feeling well and gaining weight after a few rounds of radiation treatments

Good News: My car is at 165000 miles and working great.

Good News: I just ran 18 miles on a relatively hot, humid day. Despite hitting a hard wall, I finished. Finishing 26.2 feels within reach.

Good News: I continue to discover great people around me.

Good News: I got to see my parents and niece yesterday. My niece is growing so fast.

Good News: 6 months for EK and I passed on Friday. We had homemade Pizza and super good chocolate.

Ancestors

2009-08-06T19:21:00.001-07:00

So there have been some emails flying around amongst my extended family in the run-up to the the family reunion, and some very interesting information about ancient lineage was shared, courtesy of the genealogists.

In fact, 4 different Norwegian lineages were shared, but my direct bloodline was dated back 13 generations.

That's right. I now know the name of my

1. Great
2. Great
3. Great
4. Great
5. Great
6. Great
7. Great
8. Great
9. Great
10. Great Grandfather.

Ready? Drumroll........

Ole Olsson Skjåstad, born in 1585. Yeah, not quite so glamourous that he's literally Ole, Ole's son.
and Skjåstad is literally his address. It was later changed when my Great Great Grandfather, Ole Ivar, moved to a more auspicious location down the fjord ;)

Perhaps even more interesting is the conversations my uncle had (some time ago) with some Norwegian relatives who seem to think/have some shaky research that we are descended from some early Viking chieftains from Denmark, and quite possibly,

Haraldr Blátönn.

You've probably never heard of him, but he's a pretty significant historic figure for a few reasons:

1) Harald is regarded as having united (if temporarily) Denmark, Norway, and Sweden under a single king
2) He's responsible for the Jelling Stones, claiming to have brought christianity to Denmark, and is mentioned in the Icelandic Saga Heimskringla, which I suppose is now going to go on the reading list.
3) Bluetooth technology is named after him.

Its pretty cool to have that reminder right on my desktop.

Now. Given my family's dental history, I'm going to go brush my teeth.

Up Nort at da Laake.

2009-08-02T18:58:00.000-07:00

I had a great weekend in Northern MN at a cabin owned by my Grandfather's cousin's family. My grandfather and his cousin(who just passed last fall) were close, so my father, aunts & uncles, and their cousins spent many summers at this same place. I had been here before, but only as a toddler.

A reunion brought about 40 people together in this small cabin, although today, there are 4 other cabins owned by relatives on the same lake. It felt very strange to see adults who I have vague memories as a child show up as Grandparents, other kids instantly grown up -- and meeting their families and children.

One unfortunate thing is that this was only a weekend for EK and I, and most of the conversations ended up feeling like speed dating rather than wholesome conversations with people whom you share a great deal of DNA. I also, in this melee, missed talking with a few couple people I really have some great adoration for. Fortunately, they live fairly close. (Strange how that can still be a world away)

Anyways, dinner was served on Saturday evening by my Grandfather's cousin's wife -- who managed to cook for the group and still have energy to have lively conversation (one of the few wholesome conversations had) and play with the young (great-grand) kids. Not bad for 94 years old. It's something I genuinely hope for my life.

After everyone retired to their respective cabins, EK and I had the treat of sleeping in THE cabin. Small & spartan, but with 60 years of memories & tradition.

But before that, we walked out to the dock, laid down, made funny faces at each other, curled up, and watched the stars come out.

This is what is important.

This morning was another fantastic meal: mind blowing caramel rolls, quiche, egg bake, fresh fruit, and of course, coffee.

And then we drove home.

Long Lost Brothers?

2009-07-27T18:58:00.000-07:00

I can't decide who might be of closer relation to Alberto.....

The Tour

2009-07-22T19:58:00.001-07:00

My TV watching peaks big time in July. The tour de France is on, and let me tell you: this year's race has been incredible.

The race is stacked with talent, Lance is back, there is drama going on in the Astana team, there is drama for the Green Jersey, Hincapie almost got the Yellow for a stage, Levi L. is out.

Stages you've missed and should probably go back and watch:

3: The entire Columbia team busts off the front of the pack, Mark Cavendish talks some serious smack.
7: Contador asserts diominance over the peleton on the first high mountain stage.
12: Rookie Heinrich Haussler wins an emotional stage. Not a dry eye in the house.
13: Hincapie breaks away early ad goes for Yellow in a nail-biter
15: Contador's acceleration makes a mockery of the best cyclists on the planet. I didn't see a drop of sweat on him.
16: The separation of the men & boys begins. Lance proves that he's still got it.
17: A monster of a day. I'll say no more.

The last few stages are going in with an absurd amount of drama. Tomorrow is an every-man-for-himself Time Trial (and a long one with a stage 3 climb at that) and Saturday ends with a climb up Mont Ventoux -- one of the most relentless mountains in all of France.

Strap in. it will be good.

Absence

2009-07-18T08:54:00.000-07:00

-Watching every minute of the tour
-Marathon training: ~30 miles/week
-Trip to ND/ Badlands w/ EK
-Only triathlon of the season tomorrow

The real effect of income tax cuts.

2009-06-27T12:01:00.000-07:00

How will a decrease in income tax affect your financial standing?

Let's say you, like a large majority of Americans, are not self-employed.

For the sake of round numbers, let's assume

-your salary at ABC corp. is a cool $100,000
-the federal tax rate is 50% (again, for the sake of round numbers, we're going to assume Federal tax is the only tax, but really, it could be ANY tax)
-After tax, you take home $50,000/year.

This feels terrible, because you all that money you're earning is going to the government. After all, it's your money!

So you call your state representative, he agrees, and authors a 50% tax cut bill which passes the house, senate, and white house, bringing the tax rate to 25%.

You now take home $75,000/year, a whopping 50% take home increase! The world is good; Rainbows and unicorns are everywhere.

----

Meanwhile, your employer knew that yesterday, you agreed to work for a salary that brought home $50,000/year.

Now, next week, John Doe is hired with an identical job function to yours at ABC corp. Assuming all things equal, will John be given a $100,000/year salary? Not if your company is in the business of making a profit! His salary will be $66,666.67/year. After the 25% tax, he'll take home $50,000 assuming he's still in the same tax bracket, if he's not, they'll calculate a salary to yield the $50,000 take home. HR and management have just saved the company $33,333.33 for every employee they hire from now on!

Who really benefits here? The business owners, executive management, and "the investor class."

----

In the modern world, people, not materials & equipment, are considered the greatest monetary burden. Companies would much rather have machines do the work that humans do. They don't show up late, take vacation, use facebook during the workday, they're way easier to maintain(i.e they don't get sick), and they don't ask for raises.

Soon enough, your identical co-worker is providing the same amount & quality of work, yet he's costing the company less. Will your company pressure you to work more? Should they? Why not? You're costing them more. Are you sure you won't be "pressured" to leave? You can save the company $$ if you do. As an example, Target corporation is known for getting employees out of the organization by giving them a workload so large that they will fail. That way, they can say it is "performance related." There are no laws to my knowledge against management changing your job function, or its scope.

---

Stepping back to the big picture, the grocer, your landlord, and the gas station know that you're making more money. AND YOU CAN AFFORD TO PAY MORE. What business wouldn't charge more if they knew their employees could afford to pay more? (The kind that don't last very long)

The dollar inflates and the cost of goods go up that year.

Obviously, youll argue that 25% tax cut is unworldly, and that governments hike or deflate taxes incrementally over time to prevent the economic shock to the labor market and cost of goods to spike. touche. Lets go back and run the numbers if it was something more realistic like 5%. Is 5% savings something that would really impact your life? Probably, but not a huge effect. Is 5% of your salary important to your company? 5% times the payroll is a BIG number in many instances.

But then I have a question for you. WHAT IS THE POINT OF THE TAX CUT IN THE FIRST PLACE? Is it not to decrease burdon? How much should income tax be cut?

-----

Here's the rub. It doesn't matter what the income tax rate is. Your take home dollars will always reflect your worth to the company and the economy as a whole(whether your compensation is appropriate or not). Not your pre-tax salary. None of this applies if you are the type of person that can get away with naming your own salary. The company will obviously pay what it takes to get your talent. You are also quite rare.

This goes for everything. People see tax breaks as a shortcut to get ahead. But when everyone gets ahead at the same rate....guess what. Its a zero sum for everyone except the government, who won't be able to afford filling potholes and paying police & educators. The less money that is available to the government is essentially the same as less power.

This is essentially an ingredient in a recipe to create an oligarchy and dynastic families. Money is siphoned away from the government (i.e. the people) and given to a few.

-----

In the end, a tax cut is not going to make you more money. If you want to make more money, move around in your career, learn new skills, gain and edge on the competition, and step up the competition with your co-workers. Remember, It's a jungle out there....

A Tribute to Shane McConkey

2009-06-20T06:45:00.000-07:00

Shane McConkey was a big hero to me. Whenever I've dreamed of skiing, whether it be mid-summer, bad or no snow in the Midwest, or on my indoor bike trainer, I'd be watching ski flicks....and Shane was in all of them.

One of the world's top "extreme" skiiers, he was always pushing the limits of skiing, and is considered the inventor of the fat ski, which has made big mountain skiing accessible to a huge slice of people who don't have skills like he did. He also invented Ski-BASE -- where you ski off a monster cliff, and pull a parachute, making just about any slope with snow skiable.

Shane died in March in a ski accident. Not just any ski accident. He was in Italy, doing a Ski - Wingsuit - BASE jump when a binding failed.

I've really enjoyed watching him over the years, and I'll share a little with you here.

Shane McConkey in Claim from Phil Herbert on Vimeo.

Skeiðarársandur sunrise

2009-06-13T10:04:00.000-07:00

(for whatever reason, blogger is clipping my photo. click on it for full frame)

This is Skeiðarársandur and a small piece of Vatnajökull above.

Skeiðarársandur is a vast sand plain (sandur) in southeast Iceland that has been flattened over the ages by jökulhlaup and high winds. This area is the sight of the most difficult to build roadway in all of Iceland's ring road because of jökulhlaups -- the last bridge over the glacial runoff was smashed in the mid-90's like toothpicks. The wind & sand combination has been known to strip the paint off cars and knock bicyclists flat over.

We spent the evening before in a country hostel, and were up nice and early heading east. This was one of the best views of the trip. To the left of where I was standing was also much more of Vatnajökull. Svínafellsjökull is seen at the very left.

War Stories from a medical device career.

2009-06-13T07:13:00.000-07:00

As if seeing people with bad odds on operating tables wasn't enough to encourage a person to stay healthy,

I attended an industry conference a couple months ago, and heard a very distinguished gentleman named Mark Kroll speak. Mark holds the record for patents among Minnesotans and the medical device industry as a whole, with approximately 290 patents to date. Many of his career efforts have been in the Pacemaker realm. His lunchtime lecture was called "War Stories from a Medical Device Career." A fair amount of it was humorous and light hearted, but it was also informational and did take a few very serious turns.

One of those topics was disease diagnosis. He started by mentioning a fact that all Americans should be aware of. "The first symptom of Coronary Artery Disease in about 50% of the population...is death."

Read that again.

That is bad news for us, but good news for health insurance companies. Because if you die, all that money you contributed to health insurance is theirs to keep! So his point was that "Your Death is the Cheapest Therapy" If you die suddenly, you will never live to an old age and have 8 different prescription drugs to take a day, and get cancer. But let's say you get a Calcium CT scan (HIS suggestion for the best preventative diagnosis today) and your heart is full of calcified blockages? Then you can get blood thinner medication, coronary artery bypasses, and drug coated stents! All that stuff is expensive though, and health insurance gets to help pay. Simple.

So according to Mark, the best thing to date that can diagnose deadly heart disease is something that health insurance companies DO NOT WANT TO PAY FOR.

Life insurance companies will....that is, if you have a big enough policy.

Another example Mark gave: Pacemakers used to only have a few years of life because they used Mercury batteries. When Lithium Ion batteries showed up, the battery life jumped up to 7 years, and there was a belief that improvements could yield a battery with a life of 25 years or more. But who didn't want pacemakers that last 30 years? DOCTORS. They make money from implanting pacemakers, and physicians want repeat customers. Expect today's newest pacemaker to last 10 years. Planned obsolescence---it's not only the automotive & electronics industry.

Today in America, 60% of all bankruptcies are not filed by spendthrifts, but by people who get sick or injured, and put themselves into major debt after being dropped by their insurance.

Heath Insurance companies, medical device manufacturers, pharmaceutical & biotech companies, and Hospitals. They're (actually we're) all after your savings. The wealth you're saving over a lifetime in hopes of passing on to your children to live a better standard of life? We want that. Keep eating fatty/excess food, keep smoking, keep heavily drinking, doing what everyone else is doing..... and we'll get it. The people working at those big medical device companies, pharmaceutical companies....are they really committed to your health and your cure? No. the people making the decisions are focused on developing things that will MAKE MONEY. That's how you run and sustain a business. Simple.

In closing, the best cure for disease........is not blockbuster drugs or new medical device breakthroughs. It's PREVENTION. A healthy lifestyle. Regular checkups. Simple.

Macbook Serial # W8845DR1B0 is STOLEN!

2009-06-10T04:55:00.000-07:00

And there is a $600 reward for its safe return

Ethernet ID: 002332DC3A3A
Airport ID: 00236C8808ED

The police report is filed with the Everett, WA police department, case DD09-6191. It was stolen from outside Sporty's

It is an Aluminum Case, 2.0mhz, 2GB ram, 160GB hdd. The thief only got the charger and a red BuiltNY case to go with it. (and my Nikon D40 camera and my backpack)

This is just a last ditch effort to get it back.

If you've purchased it, I'm sure you hate it because you don't have the firmware password. contact me and we can make a deal.

Why would you go to Iceland?

2009-05-27T20:55:00.000-07:00

So I spent a week with EK in Iceland.

I've been asked more than a few times why I would go to Iceland. Here's just a couple reasons.

I took about 1000 photos, these are just a couple. We were planning on rain, wind, and gloom, and we got sunny days.

I am Scared.

2009-05-10T17:57:00.000-07:00

I was brought to tears last weekend. (and really every time I think about this)

I was visiting my home and my Grandparents. My namesake grandfather was diagnosed with metastasized melanoma in February, and has 3 tumors.

He refused anti-cancer medication. At the time, he felt fine, he had a good quality of life, he enjoys eating, and medication would surely change that. He's 89, and for most people, I guess that's what most people would expect. He's had a very full life, has lived his life on his own accord, has 10 grandchildren.

What just tears me apart is that he and my grandmother (age 94) are otherwise very healthy, independant, and very in love with each other. They just became Great-Grandparents.

They are my heroes above all others.

I've felt for some time that I identify with my grandfather more than anyone in my entire family. I grew up a stone's throw away from his house, and he is just as much of a father to me as my own father is. I recall spending many nights with him getting help on my schoolwork when I was a child, and in doing so passed on to me a love for science and mathematics.

He also has held his core values dear. He was recruited to IBM in Chicago as a young engineer --he was truely one of the original whiz kids there-- but when they wanted him to learn how to play golf and dress up, he sold his tuxedo and returned to the farm. He never looked back after choosing freedom over fortune.

I've had deaths in my family, but this is different. Never has anyone been this close to me. Last week was the second time I saw tears come from my fathers eyes.

I am scared.

Lately...

2009-04-26T20:51:00.000-07:00

I've been really busy. I took a darling girl out on valentine's day and she's all I can think about. For the purpose of pseudo anonymity, she'll be known as EK.

This weekend has been full, and a slice of what I've been up to.

Friday afternoon, we met up with her mother and saw a Swedish film called Ciao Bella, an indy romantic comedy about a nerdy teenage Iranian-Swede who gets a transformation when hooking up with an Italian soccer team in town.
Afterwards, we hit Spoon River and had a killer meal. I had steak and EK had an incredible vegetarian meal. She had the better meal. We had great conversation. I learned more about her, and found increasing similarity on life philosophy.

I ran 7 miles in the morning(while EK ran her Saturday morning ritual 13 miles with her sis-in-law), cleaned up & had a nap, hooked up with J-Mo, and went up to my sister's to see my new niece, Julia Faith, and parents who were in town. I completely abstained from anything but a glass of Shiraz, anticipating a good meal that evening with EK. (she'd been at a shower all afternoon)
We were able to get a seat a Lucia, and had an incredible seared tuna appetizer complete with delectable microgreens. I had some very OK chicken while she had cod and a "saffron fideos" which was also a 10/10.

We called it a night and woke up smiling at each other. We made plans for the day and made breakfast -- oatmeal (with all kinds of tasty nuts, dates, and maple syrup added), grapefruit, super strong coffee, and some cardamom coffee cake her mom made. We did some trip planning for Iceland (oh yeah... we're going to Iceland next month!)

After that, we followed through on our plans to get fitted for new running shoes, catch up with her sis-in-law at her studio @ the U, and saw Kautekino Rebellion -- an incredible film about an uprising that caused many Norwegians to move to Minnesota. We split back and spent some quality time together before she had book club, so I went to Target, Barnes & Noble, and the grocer before heading home.

I'm exhausted. And I can't wait to see her again.

I'm very happy.

Theft

2009-03-29T13:46:00.000-07:00

On 3/22/09, I was on the way back from a day of skiing at Steven's Pass, WA, and was killing time on the way back to my cousin's house, as he was just finishing up entertaining some friends downtown before heading home. I was hungry and stopped in at a sports bar near his house and ordered a burger and a beer.

When I came back to my car, the driver's window was smashed in.

My heart stopped.

I noticed my Nikon D40 SLR camera, which was hidden under my ski jacket, gone.

Peering into the car over broken glass, I noticed that in the back seat, behind smoked glass, my small backpack was missing. The backpack held my new Macbook, my iPod shuffle, my home apartment/car keys and the jumpdrive(full of my writing and training logs) attached, and a letter of recommendation and my scholarship application form.

I was 4 days away from the scholarship deadline, and had all the documents in line to go. One last peak at the drafts and FedExing documents was all I had to do. The loss of the recommendation was huge.

I remembered changing coats before I went into the restaurant, covering my Nikon, realizing the strap was showing, and covering it again. I was being watched, the camera was the thief's target, the backpack was a bonus. A big one.

The police officer on the scene scolded me for leaving valuables in my car. He scolded the bar tender for not having a camera in the parking lot. After all; it was his "what, third time at a break-in in this spot of the parking lot?"

I've been pretty secure with my belongings, especially my laptop and the information kept on it, but why I left them in the car is a mystery to me. I suppose I was bushwacked from a tough 1st day skiing, and a little out of my mind.

When you think something will never happen to you, that's when it usually happens.

Or maybe not.

Here's the strange thing: it's almost like I knew this was going to happen:

1) For no reason at all, on my last day of work before leaving, I scanned copies of that letter of recommendation & application form and emailed them to myself.
2) I knew I would be driving in the mountains, but requested an "intermediate car" because it would be cheaper and have a trunk. The Enterprise agent gave me a "free upgrade" to an SUV when I casually mentioned that I'd be skiing. I was still inclined to just ask for the small car, but didn't.
3) Again, for no reason at all, I backed up all of my photography onto my desktop hard drive.

Can it wait?

2009-02-25T09:46:00.000-08:00

I've been bombarded at work the last couple weeks, and I just wanted a few minutes yesterday to relax over lunch, but was interrupted not less than 6 times in 1 hour.

It was over noon hour.
I was reading a book.
I had earbuds in. (they were not plugged into anything)

A co-worker a few cubes over, observing only the inflection in my voice stopped in late and said, "man....you need to chill."

Thanks, Captain Obvious.

Overload

2009-02-21T07:09:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the complete lack of material here, but I've been stupidly busy lately.

Last week I was trying to finish "The Stone Raft" by Jose Saramego before book club. I knocked down 110 pages within 24 hours but still didn't finish. Fortunately I got much farther than anyone else in the club. My little brother showed up in town that night too.

I'm always trying to manage Rotaract's community service committee better; we have tons of events coming up, including a service project of our committee's creation. It will be good.

I'm still working on the scholarship application, and the essays are coming together slowly. Seriously -- they have to be $25000 good. I'm trying to tie world peace with Biomedical/Clinical engineering. While talking to a scholarship committee guy, he volunteered me for helping him start up a whole new Rotaract club.

Work has been ridiculous. I've been busy working on a side project within our project mandated by our VP that is completely useless. Incredible how powerful & wealthy stupid people can become. At the end of the task, we will know nothing new except for some calculated numbers.

I really sucked at my ski league this year. It's over, and I"ll do it next year. Hopefully I can get some practice in for the 2010 season.

I've had literally such little time that the only time I've had for working out is before work, and 5:10am does just not agree with me. It really hasn't made much difference that all the XC ski trails are trashed. Fortunately, the bike is on the trainer in my room, and I can watch ski flicks on my laptop. I'm going for a run right now in the snow.

After that, it's out & about with my dad & brother in law.

3 very random things.

2009-02-11T20:03:00.000-08:00

1. I just watched Demetri Martin's new show on comedy central. It is very funny, and you should watch it. The best scene not involving Mr. Martin's characteristic jokes or flip charts was (SPOILER) a scene of a fictional movie set, where Demetri is supposed to be an actor that is trying to perfect a scene where he blows up at his cheating girlfriend. Each time they "roll," he acts very passive, but when the director yells "CUT" he flies off the handle. A classic in the making.

2. After that, I saw a trailer for some movie called "Watchmen." I really didn't pay attention to what the movie is about, but what caught my attention was the music--- a song by The Smashing Pumpkins called "The Beginning is the end is the Beginning." The only place you can find this song is on the Batman + Robin soundtrack (the 4th installment in the first series of Batman movies starring Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy and the Governator as Mr. Freeze) Not only is it wildly ironic that the song has been revived as a theme song for a new (non-Batman movie), but even more ironic is that this song never actually was in the movie.....hold onto your pants.....it was a remix of a song that was a theme song for Batman + Robin, and the song actually used in the movie was called "The End is the Beginning is the End." I knew all of this off the top of my head.

*After proofreading this last passage, I've just realized that I may be channeling Chuck Klosterman.

3. I had book club tonight, and nobody finished the book. I was the person who was able to delve deepest into Jose Saramego's nobel prize winning "the stone raft" which I read approximately 120 pages in a space of 6 hours in the last 24 hours before the club started. We planned to meet at La Bodega, but it was closed for renovation (coincidence?). The book has been a very challenging but rewarding read thus far. It will be finished soon.

OMFG

2009-02-10T16:28:00.001-08:00

I found this photo at Bikesnobnyc.blogspot;com

Apparently, someone took a perfectly good Cervelo P2C and turned it into a fixie. And not just a believable track bike, they put riser bars on it and made it into some bmx/ urban abomination. Apparently the owner then tried to sell it on craigslist. I hope someone had contacted the authorities and the perpetrator is in a mental institution.

Why Bicyclists wear spandex

2009-02-02T21:16:00.000-08:00

So everyone outside the know makes the odd assumption that cyclists wear tight clothes "spandex" because it is aerodynamic.

It's true that wearing "spandex" from neck to knee is somewhat aerodynamic, but there are other major considerations going on here.

In the broad scale, the human body is very much not aerodynamic. Aerodynamics are important when cycling at high speed, above 20mph, but bike races are not won at high speeds. When cyclists are racing at high speeds, there's ususally a large pack of riders who ride in other rider's slipstream. They're usually won on long, steep hills....where even the fastest guy might be riding at 12mph. Not so much for aerodynamic considerations at that speed.

If being aerodyamic was the primary goal of such clothing, we'd also all wearing an aero helmet and be on a time trial bike like Dave Zabriskie here.

So why "spandex" then? A few things:

1. You, the casual observer, aren't able to see huge sweatspots. You should actually be applauding the fact that we aren't subjecting you to huge splotches of wetness emanating from our underams, chest, and crotch. We'd probably get way more crap if we wore cotton.
2. It doesn't chafe. Ever go to the gym wearing streetclothes and work out *hard* for an hour? If you haven't, I'll fill you in. Anywhere your body has been moving, the wet clothes will have abraded away your skin and chafed. It even happens with the best of clothes.
3. It doesn't stay wet. Generally, cyclists are rarely on a ride for less than an hour. On just a warm day, you can sweat off a few liters of fluids in an hour. Wet clothes are unconfortable and unsightly (see #1 & #2)

Same goes for helmets. the sculpted helmets you see cyclists wearing are also not really aerodynamic. They're designed keep your head from overheating on a 95F day when you're not cracking your skull to the pavement after being buzzed by an oblivious soccer mom on her cell phone.

Also, people don't wear cycling clothes to look like Lance Armstrong. If anything, pro cyclists are sponsored by performance clothing companies in the same way Tiger Woods & Kobe Bryant sell sporting apparel. When I see a neighborhood game of b-ball, and see some guys wearing jerseys, I don't think, "what a moron! that guy thinks he's Shaq!"

Perspective: Drivers of horse carriages were constantly annoyed by bicyclists at the turn of the century 20th in New York City; little has changed in over 100 years. And should the day come that we're rationing our dwindling petroleum reserves for strict consumption for international air transport and agricultural equipment, I'm sure whatever you're using to get around, a cyclist will find some way to piss you off.