Author: cdwan

Made the entire eight mile run today, with only a brief break at the four mile point to shake out my legs. I’m really thrilled that the limiting factor is muscle endurance, and not cardio or wind.

Off to mow the lawn, and pick crab grass.

When I quiet the frantic noise around me and engage in some directed but repetitive task, I find that my mind settles from its usual spinning, and that I can perceive the rafters and support beams of my sanity. I’ve got a lot of stuff crammed in among those beams, and the down time tasks like those I’m doing today offer me a chance to take down some of the more precarious stacks of boxes in my mind, and re-stack them in a more stable manner. Usually, I end up with a bit more room up there, as well as better access to the things I’ve been needing.

I needed some of that, so I’ve been cooking and cleaning today. Made a batch of gazpacho with all farmers market and out-of-the-garden ingredients (except for the olive oil, salt, pepper, and tobasco). Then I cleaned the car, which desperately needed it. Now I’m settling in to brew a batch of “whatever’s laying around” ale. Looks like I’ve got about 7.5 lbs of light and amber malt extract (3.3 lbs liquid, the rest dry). I’ve got 3oz of hops (Hellertrau and Northern Brewer), a packet of british ale yeast, and water. This still leaves ~6lbs of dark and extra dark extract for another batch sometime. Have to pick up more hops and yeast for that though. Since I’ll have the sink filled with sanitizer, I plan to bottle the Mountain Brew today. That means that in a couple of weeks, it’s tasting time. Wheeee.

Woot.

A bunch of visualizations of stuff, lain out on a globe. This one reminds me of an ongoing conversation with amnesiadust.

This video mocks both fast food and vegans in the same breath.

While This one mocks the “poly” (read as “swinger” or “open relationship”) “lifestyle”. (Totally not safe for work).

Continuing the mockery, this video mocks both yoga and EXTREME jocks.

I love the “Triple Tofu Tower!”

In other news, I had the most blissful beer tonight. It’s the Dogfish head 120 minute IPA. It’s as complex as a Belgian quad, and still perfectly balanced. If I had to arrange a beer “flight” for tasting right now it would involve the Dogfish 60, 90, and 120 minute IPAs. Wonderful, wonderful. The 120 was huge, meaty, dense, and otherwise superlative.

For dinner, we found (I kid you not) “Guido’s Italian Restaurant”, a dark and mobster-esque restaurant where I had the very best Egplant Parmesan of my entire life.

RIght now, on and around my birdfeeder, I can see a male cardinal, a male goldfinch, and a blue jay. Plus, there’s the usual assortment of pigeons, morning doves, and LBBs.

The colorful ones make me happy.

Here’s todays bit of hackery:

[headnode:~/Desktop] root# foreach i ( 002 003 004 005 006 007 008 009 010 )
foreach? scp /common/node/authorized_keys node${i}:/var/root/.ssh/authorized_keys
foreach? scp /etc/hosts node${i}:/etc/hosts
foreach? scp node.tar node${i}:
foreach? ssh node${i} tar xvf node.tar \; installer -pkg Node.mpkg -target /
foreach? end


Type the password a few times, and voila: Instacluster.

This commercial mocks apple. I love it.

I felt the heaviness in the air when I came out of karate. Looked West and saw the towering darkness gathered there. Heard the distant rumble of voltages being normalized from clod to cloud and air to ground.

I stayed outside until the rain came. Busied myself with taking in the hammock, covering the grill … and finally plucking at the crabgrass in the yard. Waiting, feeling the change in the air, experiencing the energy of the world.

As the big drops began to fall, I strolled back into the shelter of my house. I watched the first huge wave pass…a wall of water marching East. The rain following it was small, it was a thin line.

But the temperature is dropping. The carrying capacity of the air is dropping, and tendrils of mist are snaking off the wet pavement. Drops of water, falling right out of the air that is suddenly too saturated to hold it.

I live for this.

Damn it’s hot. The car thermometer read 90 degrees by 9:00am yesterday morning on the way into Boston.

Big news is that I got a promotion. My new title is “Principle Instigator” or something like that. Given that I’m still the only employee in the US, job titles don’t mean all that much. They also found a couple of nice ways to provide tax free cash for “operating expenses” and such. From my perspective, it’s a larger paycheck, with less of it going to The Man. Always a good thing.

I was driving this morning, and the lights, gauges, and bells started to freak out. I found a shady parking spot and stopped. I was hoping that it was just the heat, but even after I walked to the gas station on the corner to get a drink and came back, the car wouldn’t start up again. The gauges and lights kept going wild, but under it I could hear the clicking of a starter failing to get voltage (amperage?) to turn over the motor. Got AAA to come out and test the battery (apparently the “Cold Cranking Amperage” was half what it should have been) and then jump start me so I could limp to my favorite service station. They’re now in the process of installing a new battery. Hopefully, that will resolve the problem. I’m perfectly willing to believe that if you’re providing voltage across the electrical components that’s half what it ought to be, then things will go weird in a hurry. Hopefully the beasts brain will not have been damaged. That part is where it would get expensive.

Other big news is that my friend Mark appears to be engaged. At least, that’s what he said…and he would be the authority on such things. This is a big step for him, and I think it’s a good one. Yay, Mark!

My parents are moving out of their house in Northern VA today. It’s a big stressful thing for them, so I hope it goes smoothly.