Today is my parent's 38th Anniversary, and they kicked off the celebration by getting up at 5 am to drive me to the airport. ;) Fortunately, I had no problems getting there in time to catch my flight, so no juggling schedules around and spending the day at the airport.
Unfortunately, my bag suffered a bit of damage. Before, I had and used one of those TSA approved locks, and then one day my bag arrived with the lock gone. Great. This time, either the TSA people or more likely the baggage handling system managed to crush flat about half an inch of the teeth of the zipper, making it impossible to unzip the bag fully. On top of this there is a rip so the zipper needs to be fixed or replaced anyway, which would solve both issues. I plan to take my bag into a store and see about repairs, since my bag is a nice one, a Tumi ballistic nylon model. If I could squeeze into a smaller bag I'd do that and just carry it on all the time, to avoid lock thieves and bag crushers.
Since I had the day off, and it was clear, sunny and beautiful out, I hopped on my Trek 1000 and went for a ride through the streets and very modest hills of Heathrow. The Trek 1000 is my PC bike (powercranks) so it is a challenging ride no matter how far I go. It felt great to get outside and exercise after taking a week off. Total ride was 16.1 miles in 1:09.
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Monday, December 26, 2005
Pet Menagerie
I didn't realize my parents bought two more birds after Mom's bird died a few weeks ago. That brings them to two dogs (a pug and a pekingese) and three birds (a maroon-bellied conure and two English budgies). When my grandmother came over and brought her own dog (a chihuaha), I felt like I was in a zoo! It used to be crazier, because before my parents moved to Texas, they also had a turtle.
Mom's pekingese. It isn't cold but this dog is wearing a coat for some reason.
Mom's pug. Yes, this dog is named after the robot from Star Wars. Who knew my Mom was such a fan? ;) R2D2 likes to play catch and dig in the yard, and is highly motivated by doggie treats.
Mom's chihuahua. This dog has a feisty temper and barks all the time. Since the dog bonded with grandma more than mom, Tarzan currently is living with my aunt and grandmother.
Dad's maroon-bellied conure. This type of bird is really for 1.5 people, meaning it will bond with one and barely tolerate another. It bonded with Dad and sort of tolerates me enough to sit on my shoulder for a while. But, it pecks at my neck.
Mom's budgies. Topaz is definitely an English budgie, but we're not sure Sayang is (he has a slightly different head shape and isn't big enough). Mom trained her previous budgie Emas to speak, but that takes a long time. These two haven't been trained and are quiet.
Mom's pekingese. It isn't cold but this dog is wearing a coat for some reason.
Mom's pug. Yes, this dog is named after the robot from Star Wars. Who knew my Mom was such a fan? ;) R2D2 likes to play catch and dig in the yard, and is highly motivated by doggie treats.
Mom's chihuahua. This dog has a feisty temper and barks all the time. Since the dog bonded with grandma more than mom, Tarzan currently is living with my aunt and grandmother.
Dad's maroon-bellied conure. This type of bird is really for 1.5 people, meaning it will bond with one and barely tolerate another. It bonded with Dad and sort of tolerates me enough to sit on my shoulder for a while. But, it pecks at my neck.
Mom's budgies. Topaz is definitely an English budgie, but we're not sure Sayang is (he has a slightly different head shape and isn't big enough). Mom trained her previous budgie Emas to speak, but that takes a long time. These two haven't been trained and are quiet.
Sunday, December 25, 2005
A Maccy Christmas
I set up the Mac Mini, and so far it is going over well. I myself am an OS X novice so I have to experiment to figure out how to do stuff. For example, I don't know how to enter an accented e in "Exposé", my favorite OS X feature so far. (NOTE: thanks to Mac expert John I can do it now!) I could use Exposé at work where I usually have at least 8 or 10 apps going. Instead, the Windows alternative is Alt-Tabbing through all running apps to find the one to switch to, and that isn't as fast or easy.
After using the computer for a few hours, I think it is really sweet: compact, attractive, VERY quiet, easy to use, powerful enough for typical usage. Argh, now I want to get one for myself! It is going over well with my parents, and I see getting my aunt and grandmother one eventually.
A pleasant surprise is DSL - now offered where my parents live, and they signed up for it. Since they have broadband I also bought them a wireless router. What a change, from dialup on Windows to broadband on a Mac!
The acid test will be if this computer resists spyware/viruses and generally remains usable months from now. Unfortunately my parents have spent way too much time, effort, and money keeping their old Windows machine creaking along.
After using the computer for a few hours, I think it is really sweet: compact, attractive, VERY quiet, easy to use, powerful enough for typical usage. Argh, now I want to get one for myself! It is going over well with my parents, and I see getting my aunt and grandmother one eventually.
A pleasant surprise is DSL - now offered where my parents live, and they signed up for it. Since they have broadband I also bought them a wireless router. What a change, from dialup on Windows to broadband on a Mac!
The acid test will be if this computer resists spyware/viruses and generally remains usable months from now. Unfortunately my parents have spent way too much time, effort, and money keeping their old Windows machine creaking along.
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Flight Delays
It took longer than expected to fly to Dallas, but the reality is that it was a self-inflicted problem... I got to the airport and just missed my original flight. I left in the morning with a razor-thin margin of extra time, and it took longer than expected to park.
Orlando airport has two terminals, with a satellite parking lot for each one. Unfortunately, the lot for my terminal was full, so I had to drive back through the airport to the alternate lot. I caught the shuttle soon enough, but by the time it dropped off passengers at the closer terminal and made it to mine, I had the sinking feeling I would miss my flight. With an extra 20 to 30 minutes I would have made it, but I lost that time with my parking issues.
I did find out something interesting. I've had to reschedule flights on the same day a handful of times, and I've never had to pay extra. But flights vary wildly in cost, so how could this be? I never really thought about it, until the very helpful agent told me what was going on. Airlines can make same-day flight arrangements and give them to you for the price you originally paid, even if the new flight would have cost a lot more, as long as those tickets are booked within three hours of the new departure. Basically, extra seats on flights can be moved around this way, but only within a three hour window of time. I had the option of paying an extra $450 to guarentee a spot on the next flight, or wait 15 minutes and trying again (it was 12:10 pm and I was trying to change to a flight at 3:25) with the small risk the flight would sell out. The agent did give a solid hint that selling out wouldn't be problem, so I chose to wait and got that flight. It only cost an extra $30 because this new itinerary stopped in Atlanta, where my original itinerary was direct, and the airline passes the extra landing fee on.
So I waited... and that 3:25 pm flight was delayed until 5:30 pm and then to 6:00 pm and then 6:15 pm. These delays made me miss two connecting flights so by the time I made it to Atlanta, I had to wait until 10:35 pm to fly to Dallas. I ate dinner in Orlando before departing, and in Atlanta all I felt like eating was a strawberry milkshake that tasted absolutely horrible. Not a great diet day.
Oh well, next time I'll add in an extra 30 minutes to handle holiday parking crowds.
Orlando airport has two terminals, with a satellite parking lot for each one. Unfortunately, the lot for my terminal was full, so I had to drive back through the airport to the alternate lot. I caught the shuttle soon enough, but by the time it dropped off passengers at the closer terminal and made it to mine, I had the sinking feeling I would miss my flight. With an extra 20 to 30 minutes I would have made it, but I lost that time with my parking issues.
I did find out something interesting. I've had to reschedule flights on the same day a handful of times, and I've never had to pay extra. But flights vary wildly in cost, so how could this be? I never really thought about it, until the very helpful agent told me what was going on. Airlines can make same-day flight arrangements and give them to you for the price you originally paid, even if the new flight would have cost a lot more, as long as those tickets are booked within three hours of the new departure. Basically, extra seats on flights can be moved around this way, but only within a three hour window of time. I had the option of paying an extra $450 to guarentee a spot on the next flight, or wait 15 minutes and trying again (it was 12:10 pm and I was trying to change to a flight at 3:25) with the small risk the flight would sell out. The agent did give a solid hint that selling out wouldn't be problem, so I chose to wait and got that flight. It only cost an extra $30 because this new itinerary stopped in Atlanta, where my original itinerary was direct, and the airline passes the extra landing fee on.
So I waited... and that 3:25 pm flight was delayed until 5:30 pm and then to 6:00 pm and then 6:15 pm. These delays made me miss two connecting flights so by the time I made it to Atlanta, I had to wait until 10:35 pm to fly to Dallas. I ate dinner in Orlando before departing, and in Atlanta all I felt like eating was a strawberry milkshake that tasted absolutely horrible. Not a great diet day.
Oh well, next time I'll add in an extra 30 minutes to handle holiday parking crowds.
Friday, December 23, 2005
Tyrian Adventures
With the extra time I have from my sports off-season, I picked up another hobby of mine: computer games. I crank up the PS2 occasionally, but over the past few weeks I've been pecking away at Guild Wars. I've played a total of 75 hours in 6 months on my main character, which probably breaks down to 15 hours in the first 3 months, and 60 hours in the last 6 weeks.
I reached a milestone in the game by completing all the missions for "Ascension", which basically grants me access to the last part of the storyline. In the mythos of the game, by Ascending I seek to prove myself worthy of fighting off the evil consuming the world of Tyria - standard game plot stuff, but there have been a few nice twists along the way.
About to Ascend
Here I am before the Ascension trial. Most missions require multiple players to finish (at the very least you can take along henchman which are controlled by the computer), but the Ascension trial must be fought solo.
Holiday Decorations
After winning the Ascension trial and finishing the next mission, I reached a new city that sells better armor. I dyed my earlier armor red (top picture), because I got tired of the default color; now that I bought a new and better set, I am back to brown (lower picture). Maybe I'll try a different color this time like green or blue. Some games of this type make you grind or farm for gear (i.e. repetitiously killing monsters for their loot) but in Guild Wars you can just buy the armor and the dye from in-game vendors.
For the holiday celebrations, a few cities in the game are sporting various holiday themed decorations: snowmen, gingerbread horses, decorated trees, candy canes, giant nutcrackers, and so forth. No gaming while I visit my relatives. Instead I'll read a book or two!
I reached a milestone in the game by completing all the missions for "Ascension", which basically grants me access to the last part of the storyline. In the mythos of the game, by Ascending I seek to prove myself worthy of fighting off the evil consuming the world of Tyria - standard game plot stuff, but there have been a few nice twists along the way.
About to Ascend
Here I am before the Ascension trial. Most missions require multiple players to finish (at the very least you can take along henchman which are controlled by the computer), but the Ascension trial must be fought solo.
Holiday Decorations
After winning the Ascension trial and finishing the next mission, I reached a new city that sells better armor. I dyed my earlier armor red (top picture), because I got tired of the default color; now that I bought a new and better set, I am back to brown (lower picture). Maybe I'll try a different color this time like green or blue. Some games of this type make you grind or farm for gear (i.e. repetitiously killing monsters for their loot) but in Guild Wars you can just buy the armor and the dye from in-game vendors.
For the holiday celebrations, a few cities in the game are sporting various holiday themed decorations: snowmen, gingerbread horses, decorated trees, candy canes, giant nutcrackers, and so forth. No gaming while I visit my relatives. Instead I'll read a book or two!
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Alarm System
I decided to activate the alarm system my house already has installed. Maybe I watched too many episodes of It Takes A Thief on the Discovery Channel - that show generally recommends everybody get AND USE an alarm system. Their point was an alarm dissuades a casual, opportunistic thief. Obviously, you can't keep out someone who is very determined, but an alarm system will make most decide it isn't worth the hassle and move on to some other victim. ;)
What was really interesting was how fast two experienced thieves can clear out a house. On the show, they would find a suitable target (and talk to the homeowner to get permission), rob the place, make security recommendations, and come back to check on the improvements. The interesting part of the show for me is the recommendation section, but the most exciting is the actual robbery, which they filmed for the homeowners and us to watch. Many times, they would zip into a house while the occupant was off doing some errand like grocery shopping or going to the post office, and essentially take 80% of the valuables in just 20 minutes. Jewelry was one thing, but these guys would also make off with big screen TV's, electronics off all sorts - one house had a small safe that wasn't bolted down, so they just took the whole safe! Another guy had a motorcycle collection and they just drove them onto the truck.
Anyway, with the alarm system I now have to visit the control panel every time I enter or leave the house. This really isn't too much trouble. Before leaving I shut all the doors, then type in my combination. Then I have about one minute to leave before the system is armed - enough time to exit and lock up. When I return and open the door, the control panel beeps, signalling I have about one minute to enter my combination before the security company is alerted. It really is pretty simple.
As for the show, I'm taking a break and not watching it for a while. It is interesting, but is also the kind of show where after viewing 4 or 5 episodes, you'll get pretty much all the info you need. Unless of course you just love to watch homes getting burgled!
What was really interesting was how fast two experienced thieves can clear out a house. On the show, they would find a suitable target (and talk to the homeowner to get permission), rob the place, make security recommendations, and come back to check on the improvements. The interesting part of the show for me is the recommendation section, but the most exciting is the actual robbery, which they filmed for the homeowners and us to watch. Many times, they would zip into a house while the occupant was off doing some errand like grocery shopping or going to the post office, and essentially take 80% of the valuables in just 20 minutes. Jewelry was one thing, but these guys would also make off with big screen TV's, electronics off all sorts - one house had a small safe that wasn't bolted down, so they just took the whole safe! Another guy had a motorcycle collection and they just drove them onto the truck.
Anyway, with the alarm system I now have to visit the control panel every time I enter or leave the house. This really isn't too much trouble. Before leaving I shut all the doors, then type in my combination. Then I have about one minute to leave before the system is armed - enough time to exit and lock up. When I return and open the door, the control panel beeps, signalling I have about one minute to enter my combination before the security company is alerted. It really is pretty simple.
As for the show, I'm taking a break and not watching it for a while. It is interesting, but is also the kind of show where after viewing 4 or 5 episodes, you'll get pretty much all the info you need. Unless of course you just love to watch homes getting burgled!
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Weight Loss
I'll probably jinx myself writing this before the holidays, but I recently hit a weight loss goal I've been pursuing for about 3 years.
After I bought my house in Kirkland in March 2003, I went to update my driver's license. At the DMV, the lady took my old license, glanced over it and asked "is all this info accurate?" I nodded in agreement as she read off: "height 5' 5", brown eyes, dark brown hair, weight 130..." She must have seen me grimace at that last phrase, because she smiled and said she could just leave it unchanged.
In those few moments, I realized a) I weighed 130 in college, b) that was about 15 years ago, and c) at 145 pounds (at the time) I was one of those people who had put on one pound a year after college! This despite generally higher activity than the average person.
So I vowed to lose 10 pounds and have been working on it ever since. Last week, I tipped the scale at just under 135 for the second week in a row, so I consider this goal achieved. Now there is just the difficult problem of maintaining my new weight. :)
The interesting thing was that it took me about 1.5 years to lose half of my goal. I didn't really have a strategy for doing it other than eating better and exercising, but I had been doing that all along. Even during ironman training, my weight stayed at a very consistent 140-142 pounds, which was good since that meant I was approximately eating the right amount of food I was burning through exercise.
After my July break, I started up training again with a focus on speed. This let me drop another 2 or 3 pounds, and I consistently weighed in at 137-139 pounds. But those last few eluded me... until I got the laser focus of calorie counting. It didn't take many changes, just cutting out a few things from my diet and even then, goodies are OK in moderation.
I plan to take up a strength training program in January, so the irony is I might gain some weight and get right back to 140 pounds. Of course, if I do put on 5 pounds of lean muscle I won't mind. ;)
After I bought my house in Kirkland in March 2003, I went to update my driver's license. At the DMV, the lady took my old license, glanced over it and asked "is all this info accurate?" I nodded in agreement as she read off: "height 5' 5", brown eyes, dark brown hair, weight 130..." She must have seen me grimace at that last phrase, because she smiled and said she could just leave it unchanged.
In those few moments, I realized a) I weighed 130 in college, b) that was about 15 years ago, and c) at 145 pounds (at the time) I was one of those people who had put on one pound a year after college! This despite generally higher activity than the average person.
So I vowed to lose 10 pounds and have been working on it ever since. Last week, I tipped the scale at just under 135 for the second week in a row, so I consider this goal achieved. Now there is just the difficult problem of maintaining my new weight. :)
The interesting thing was that it took me about 1.5 years to lose half of my goal. I didn't really have a strategy for doing it other than eating better and exercising, but I had been doing that all along. Even during ironman training, my weight stayed at a very consistent 140-142 pounds, which was good since that meant I was approximately eating the right amount of food I was burning through exercise.
After my July break, I started up training again with a focus on speed. This let me drop another 2 or 3 pounds, and I consistently weighed in at 137-139 pounds. But those last few eluded me... until I got the laser focus of calorie counting. It didn't take many changes, just cutting out a few things from my diet and even then, goodies are OK in moderation.
I plan to take up a strength training program in January, so the irony is I might gain some weight and get right back to 140 pounds. Of course, if I do put on 5 pounds of lean muscle I won't mind. ;)
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