Convention Roundup 2015

'Vention in my state of residence was very good.  It feels like it's been so long ago (3 months) that I don't have a lot of specifics to share.  But it was definitely edifying, I remember that much.  The weather was a bit iffy on Thursday and Sunday afternoon, but other than that it was great.  Now I remember something else.....because of the change in time of year for this, there were way more campers and tents there.  When I went to set up my tent on Thursday afternoon, there was already a shortage of tent spots whereas in the past I pretty much had my "usual" area all to myself for the first two days.

I faced the storm head-on and set my tent up even though the oncoming clouds looked like this.  Luckily they dissipated and/or went around us.  I did cheat and looked at the weather radar on my phone before I made that decision.

Beautiful scenery on a morning walk.

The next weekend was 'vention in Iowa, so I went there for the weekend.  There were two notable things about that trip.  One was getting stopped by a cop in the corny state for speeding.  I lucked out and got off with a warning.  He did ask a few questions about the large box of peaches in my back seat.  Maybe he thought they were hiding contraband or something.  He didn't call out the drug dog or ask to search my car.  I must be looking more respectable these days.  The other notable thing was the weather was pleasantly cool.  I didn't even need my special feet cooling towel.

One of the few pictures I took there.  This is a dew-covered spider web in the grass on the side of the road.

In mid September I went back to the old stomping grounds for the weeknd of 'vention there.  There is something special about going back where almost everybody knows who you are and where you came from and who your relatives are.  I also find it kind of fascinating that some people that I would say I hardly ever talked to when I lived there (but for sure I knew who they were) greeted me like an old friend.  Besides the spiritual food, it was great to see my youngest niece there as well.

Starting early on her electrical engineer training.

Whoops, maybe I didn't teach her enough safety about not putting metal stuff into the electrical outlets.

Me with Muggles and her little girl.

Nerd Alert!

If you tend toward the nerdy side, this post is for you.  Uncle Bex told me about this website called Nerd Fitness.  It talks about fitness in a way that nerds feel at home.  Check it out here.  One part that made me laugh out loud was the links to the articles on confidence is you feel insecure approaching the grocery store shelf stocker to ask where something is located.

Some dive planning is in the works.  Research has commenced.  To display true nerdiness, I made this little pugh matrix just for fun.  The final weights on the criteria and the criteria are still under discussion.

While scrapbooking last weekend, I ran across this picture again.  I posted it before in this post from 2011, but Bex thought it was nerdy enough to tell me it was nerdy.  I took a picture after I had brushed my teeth during peak blueberry season.  I thought it was funny there was a blue puddle underneath my toothbrush.

All for now, peeps.

Old News

We're talking really old news.  Like mostly more than a year old.  I've had some pictures lingering on my desktop that I felt like needed to be posted at some point, but I never got a round to it.  So now I'm getting around to it.  Here are some random highlights from 2015.

Last year I retired my old phone and got a new one.  The battery life on the new one is much better, and so is the cell phone antenna.  I can actually get consistent service at my house with the new one.

I attended work's annual patent award banquet.  It was the second one I've been to (and the second patent I've received), and it will be the last one for a while since I haven't submitted for any new patents recently.  Unless of course I suddenly become the manager of someone receiving a patent award.

Real farm equipment from back home in ND.

4 out of 5 nieces at 'vention time last year.  A couple of them don't look a lot different compared to now, but the youngest one sure does!

Beauty at one of the local state parks on an October Sunday afternoon.

Next time we'll be back to current programming.

Fruitful Weekend in Iowa

There are so many things to give you updates about, I hardly know where to start.  For this evening I guess I'll tell you about last weekend.  I landed at the O'Hare airport around 2:30 on Friday afternoon, and then I went directly from there over to the corny state to spend the weekend at the house of Uncle Bex.  It was kind of a moderate key weekend.  We did some stuff but weren't super crazy.  Besides me, Bex also had other visitors:  Aunt Kiwi, Sister Harrage, Brogoza, Emmy, and Ellie.  A few highlights:

1. Picking apples twice (mostly off the ground)
2. Picking pears (mostly off the ground too)
3. Making fresh apple cider
4. Stamping a few cards (I'm a novice at this - I think I made 4 or 5 total)
5. Bex's crazy nephews
6. Half a game of Settlers of Catan
7. Goodwill stop
8. Beautiful fall Sunday afternoon
9. Found a pear stuffed in my hiking boot when I got home.  I wonder how that got there?
10. Encouraging Sunday morning.  I love seeing the evidence of spiritual growth in others' lives.  I also love the blend of young, middle-aged, and old.

I did take some pictures:

Emmy watching the turkey fight.

Let the apple pressing commence.

More picking.

 

Towering.

 

Some new clothes from a giant shopping excursion a month ago.  More on that in a different post.  First time wearing this specific outfit.

When you don't buy it at the store, fruit can come in some interesting shapes.

Iowa fall colors

We found a giant wasp nest - it was about as big as a person's head.

Some disrespectful person broke the nest open so we could see the honeycomb.

Attitude Adjustment

Today I was starting to get a little bit of a bad attitude near lunch time.  I was waiting at the car dealership for my oil to get changed and was calling my insurance company to make sure they received the fax from my doctor about my biometrics.  They only had half the biometric info, so then I called the doctor to see when they faxed the info and what the details were.  They said they had faxed all the info.  Then I called the insurance company back to get more details on exactly what they had received, and then I called the doctor's office back to tell them to make sure they sent the second page of the document as well as the first page when they re-faxed the info.  I was feeling very annoyed with all the rigmarole.  Why can't the doctor and the insurance company talk amongst themselves?  Why do I have to mediate all this?

But....then I thought about how those are first world problems.  I'm thankful I have health insurance.  I'm thankful I live in a country that respects privacy enough to make some laws to protect it.  I'm thankful I have a car to drive and a job to pay for it so that I can take my car to get an oil change.  I'm thankful that I have fewer first world problems than some.  At least I only have to make those calls once or twice a year because I'm relatively healthy.  There are some people who probably have to make that kind of call once a week.

And I also thought about others who don't have first world problems.  My heart went out to those paramedics and doctors on battle fields treating wounded soldiers - like one of my friends on facebook.  And to those people who don't have enough to eat - quite unlike my problem of having to wait an extra 10 minutes at Subway for my sandwich because they were having technical difficulties today.

So in conclusion......I'm thankful.  :-)

Linking It Up

Since I've been traveling for various reasons for almost the whole last two weeks, I haven't had time to write many posts.  Here are some interesting links that have popped up recently.

I went to the SWE conference two weeks ago to help do some recruiting.  Before the conference, I saw they had posted a video on how to dress appropriately.  It seems like people may have taken some of that advice.  We didn't see any major faux pas this year in clothing.

Rickshaw sent me this link about time management.  There were a few that I didn't quite "get" what they were saying, but for the most part I think these are true.

If you're not opposed to a little bathroom humor and videos that need some fact checking, check out this infomercial for the Squatty Potty.  Don't skip past the ad - that's half the fun!

More in a day or two once I actually write some real stuff and get some pictures downloaded from my phone and my camera.

That Time of Year

For the record, I turned on my furnace this evening.  The thermostat inside said 61, and the weather prediction was for temps down into the 30's tonight, so I decided to say "uncle".  I could probably have toughed it out and squeaked another week out since it's supposed to warm up a bit during the week (after being 50 degrees tomorrow).  But, I decided I like to be warm rather than hold myself to sometimes pointless personal challenges and chancing getting sick by sleeping in such cool temperatures.  Here is the past history of turning the furnace on.  Mid-October is a fairly common time it seems.

On an unrelated note, I have found in the last couple years that I have an allergy to cats.  It causes sneezing, runny nose, and a feeling of "restriction" in my chest / throat area that can lead to wheezing and feeling like I can't take a full breath.  It seems like Allegra helps with the sneezing and runny nose but does not address the chest feeling.  Does anyone out there have any tips on a something that might help quell that kind of chest inflammation that can cause wheezing from an allergy?

Have a good Sunday peeps.

Chuckle for the Day

Here are a few things that have amused me recently.

Less than 60,000 miles and I can join this club.

Wearing your Active Wear appears appropriate for any occasion - this video shows how.

I don't think I was ever this nerdy.  Maybe.

I did this a few times though.

Labor Day Weekend

I'm only a little behind in summarizing my weekends.  That's what happens when you travel for 6 weekends in a row.  Over Labor Day I went to the cheesy state to see my Brudda Jeddles and his family.  On the way there I picked up Mals so she could spend the weekend with us.  Here are the highlights.

1. I really love the new speed limit in WI.  70 seems so much more reasonable than 65 even though it's only a 5 mph difference.
2. My 4-year-old niece talked about something being awkward and used the word correctly in context.  That cracked me up.
3. I had the Friday before Labor Day off from work.  Having a day off to do whatever you need to do while everyone else is at work is so joyous.  The stores are open and you can do things leisurely rather than trying to rush to get somewhere on your lunch hour or right after work.
4. One evening we went to Xtreme Air and jumped on the giant trampolines.  About one hour is just the right amount of time to be at one of those places.
5. I spent many hours being the commandable sprinkler for two of my nieces.  It's fun to do just to spend some time with them.  And it's better than playing house.
6. My brother's youngest daughter has been a little stand-offish and shy up to this point in her life, but on this visit she got over that.  There's something very special about delighted smiles and hugs from your nieces.
7. One of my nieces wanted me to play on the trampoline with her.  We did a small "workout" routine and played kitty and dead animal on the road and who knows what else.
8. Dirt bike rides
9. Making applesauce
10. Picking apples and pears
11. Dutch Blitz with my oldest niece and Andee and Mals
12. Candyland, memory, chutes & ladders, etc.
13. Neature walk
14. Eyelash lady
15. Watching a music video where a guy gets hit by a bus at the end.  From this my brother's youngest learned about getting hit by a bus and being in the hospital.

I didn't take many pictures, but here are a few:

There was great delight in watching the apple "poopies" come out of the stand mixer attachment.

A better view of the "poopies".

Getting ready to can the apple sauce.

Selfie with my brother's youngest.

SIL-Lan took a better picture of us watching the apple and pear picking.

Being the commandable sprinkler for these two.

Happiness is having an aunt to spray you with the hose on the trampoline when it's 85 degrees outside.

WI pastoral scene.

Bathroom Behavior Observation #14

Well, it's been a long time since I've posted one of these.  I guess my different building doesn't have quite as many interesting bathroom stories to tell.  Although I have noticed two interesting things in the women's bathrooms on the floor that I work on now.

The first one is this bottle of soap.  Was this person doing dishes in the bathroom before there was a kitchenette available?  How many years do you think this bottle has been in this bathroom?  And how many years has it been since the original owner quit working in this building?  The faded sticky label says "Please Do Not Remove."  Whoever she is, we're respecting her wishes.

The second one is this.  I'm not sure how this happens.  Was it a hair curling gone wrong?  Trying to use a Keurig in the bathroom?  Overcharged electric toothbrush?  Hot plate accident?  It's so much fun to speculate.

In other news at work, a CAD guy at work got this message in his candy wrapper the other day.  Dove chocolates are getting a bit racy, huh?  If you don't have a convertible, you'll have to get creative with your clothes or else buy a horse.

Learning Things

Since I was driving several hours this past weekend, I spent some time listening to some podcasts.  One podcast was on "Mindfulness."  According to this lady (Ellen Langer), she was studying mindfulness back in the 70's before mindfulness was cool.  She didn't call it mindfulness, but it's kind of the same thing as her term.  I can't remember what her term was.  Anyway, I guess mindfulness is what one might also call "being present" and paying attention to what is going on around you.  I think it's all the rage these days because we need to take a break from our electronic devices sometimes and do that.

Here are a few little nuggets I gleaned from the podcast.

1. Another term for mindfulness can be "active noticing".
2. One way to practice active noticing is to imagine that everyone can see your thoughts.  That would make you much more conscious of your thoughts, wouldn't it?
3. To keep things in perspective when they happen, ask yourself:  "Is this a tragedy or an inconvenience?"
4. One way to keep things "fresh" in a relationship or when you're doing something familiar is to try to notice 5 new things.
5. If you feel you "need a vacation", then it's possible you're doing your work mindlessly.
6. If you're going to a meeting at work or doing something you don't particularly enjoy, then one way to make it more enjoyable to is notice new things in the meeting and be mindful rather than "tuning out."

This morning I had some leadership training at work, and one of the things they showed was this interesting triangle.  The trainer said this is a very common thing from psychology classes.  Maybe I should have taken a psychology class instead of Intro to Music or Macroeconomics.  There are just so many interesting things to learn, aren't there?

P.S.  The triangle at work was more sanitized and did not include the words sex, excretion, and sexual intimacy.  I don't know who drew this one, but is sex really a physiological need?  I suppose it is for procreation, but I don't think it's on the same level as breathing and water.  Also, "sense of team" was added to the belonging level.

Safety Briefing

Here's your humor for the day.  I'm getting close to being done with my early fall marathon of weekend travels.  Hopefully soon I'll be able to chronicle them.  When I watched this today, I realized that on the four flights I took last weekend I don't know if I even consciously heard them give the safety briefing.  Maybe on one of the flights I vaguely remember it.  Which is kind of terrible I suppose - usually I at least take time to notice where the exits are.  I guess I was too engrossed in my book reading.  Which is a rare occurrence.  ;-)  I'm usually so aware while reading - just ask my parents and siblings.

Have a good evening.

Amusing Tuesday

I know I've been MIA for a while - I've been busy with 'vention and stuff.  To tide you over until I write some summaries, here are a few things that amused me today.

My cleaning service people must have gotten my house confused with the Marriott.

Organic is over-rated.

Book Review: The Blue Zones

A couple years ago an initiative started in Uncle Bex's town where they were trying to make it a Blue Zone, or at least make the community more healthy.  So I've been hearing about this book / research off and on for a couple years.  Uncle Bex gave me the book to read, so I read it.  Overall, it's a decent read.  I didn't find it earth-shaking and some of it seemed like common sense, but it was interesting.

The book talks about 5 areas in the world that have been identified as having a disproportionately large number of people who are over the age of 100.  Five chapters detail the 5 different places with anecdotal stories and some summaries of the research findings from each place.  Then the last couple chapters summarize the summaries and common findings and give recommendations on how to live longer.

The book sort of assumes that living longer is a desired state.  I suppose for most people it is as long as those years are quality years.  This book argues that if you follow the findings, you're more likely to have quality years and live longer.  So I suppose that's a win-win in most cases as long as you're not losing your soul in the process.  Which you shouldn't be as far as I know.

I think I can follow many of the recommendations given in the book for longer life:  exercise, cut calories by 20%, eat more vegetables and less meat, drink red wine in moderation, have a purpose in life, take time to relieve stress and relax, be part of a spiritual community, make family a priority, and be surrounded by others (friends and family) who encourage these kind of habits.

Two things would be difficult for me:  restrict your meat intake and eat early in the evening.  The book recommends eating little or no meat - maybe only once or twice a week.  How about once or twice a day?   I don't like beans and nuts and tofu enough to eat that little meat.  They're OK, but I'm not sure they could always substitute for meat.  I might be able to incorporate nuts as snacks.  The other thing I have difficulty doing is eating an early supper.  I don't like to eat before exercising, I don't like early morning exercise, and I don't like leaving work at 5 but having to go back and do work later (if I wanted to exercise earlier in the evening).  So that kind of leaves me stuck with eating supper later.  Or trying to do something about my work so that I work less or am more efficient.  Or take a shorter lunch at work, but then that usually involves eating lunch at my desk, which isn't a Blue Zones thing to be doing either.  Maybe I should think more about eating a lighter supper if I'm going to be eating later.

One question this book makes me wonder is whether living to be over 100 is really the goal we should be striving for.  Many of those people studied live in somewhat isolated communities.  Are we being all we can be if we're living in an isolated community?  Maybe so, but maybe not.  My dad might say, maybe those people aren't actually living to be 100, but it probably just feels like 100 years if you're not eating meat.  :-)  That's his theory on eating oatmeal for breakfast anyway.  And on eating breakfast early if there isn't a reason to be doing that.

One interesting concept related to cutting calories by 20% was a tradition from Okinawa, Japan.  Before people eat, they often say, "Eat until you're 80% full."  To me it's an interesting concept to eat until you no longer feel hungry (as opposed to eating until you feel full).  Maybe I'll have to try that more often.

If you only want the lessons and want to skip all the anecdotes and stuff, just read the last chapters with all the recommendations.  You'll get most of the worth of the book from that.

The Week's Ponderings

Here's a little round-up of some interesting things in life from the last week or two.

Uncle Bex sent me a link that tugged at my heart strings.  It highlights how young people need old people and old people need young people.  And it kind of reminded of the book I'm reading called "The Blue Zones."  More on that once I finish the book.

This week I designed a T-shirt logo for Uncle Bex.  If you need a hint on what it is, look back to this post.  Let me know if you want a T-shirt of your own with this logo.

You know how people post stuff on facebook or on blogs about how you shouldn't drink Coke because "this is what it does to a hamburger when you leave it in there for a day - why would you want to drink Coke"?  Or how people say "Xxxxx is just one molecule away from Yyyyyyy - it must be dangerous"?  Sometimes this lack of common sense and critical thought and misleading scientific evidence kind of gets to me and I have to log off facebook before I get started on any rants.

I had a brain child today while making refrigerator pickles.  I need to start a big campaign about the dangers of vinegar.  If you trust vinegar to be a cleaning solution in your house, why would you trust it to be put into food?  When mixed with baking soda, it can cause a serious chemical reaction.  Did you know its chemical name is acetic acid?  How can you let this dangerous chemical into your house and into your food?!?!?  :-)  Come on, who is with me on this?  Ready to start a movement?

Maybe I also need to start one around hydrochloric acid and advise everybody to start pumping their stomach every day to get rid of that dangerous chemical in their body.  Nothing on facebook that I saw recently inspired this.  I guess I must have had too much time on my hands today.

These ideas are fully aligned with the "Bread:  The Silent Killer" initiative and the "Deadly Facts About Water" initiative (see below).

Speaking of today, I went to the wedding of one my first robotics mentees.  Going to a wedding where you barely know anybody can be a bit of a strange experience.  But you do it for the people you care about.  And because they thought enough of you to invite you.

I bought this last week.  I'm hoping this will help me sleep better when it's hot at 'vention.  (At night, not during meeting.)  I'll put it on my feet.

 That's enough silliness for one day.  Have a good Sunday!

Cleaning Stuff Up

Last weekend I got on a bit of a cleaning binge.  I had some stuff that needed to be cleaned in the basement because of mice invasion, and I also had some new totes to help in organization.  So into the basement I went.  While cleaning, I also decided to get rid of all the puzzles that I did when I was a kid.

I loved doing jigsaw puzzles when I was a teenager.  It was part of my therapy along with playing minesweeper and playing the piano (although I didn't realize it at the time).  They're good ways to exercise your mind while also allowing it to wander and think a bit.  At least for me.  My parents indulged this hobby and bought me more puzzles and contact paper.  I would put contact paper on the back of them to keep them together, and then I hung them up on the walls in my room.  It was my "wallpaper" that helped disguise the pink stripe wallpaper in the room.  When my parents moved and I moved, they boxed them up and sent them with me.  On Saturday I decided that if I hadn't used them in more than 15 years, then I probably wasn't going to.  So all 40 of them went into the trash.  Yes, 40.  I don't think any of them were less than 500 pieces, and I think I had several that were 2000 pieces.

I almost kept one for sentimental value, but decided it would just gather dust, so into the trash it went.  Inside one of the boxes were two pieces of art that I drew in high school.  I didn't have the heart to throw them away.  I'm not sure what to do with them yet - they're sitting in the living room awaiting a decision.

At work today, I found out about this little new article.  It's quite interesting on the reaction to women in technology fields.  There is no scientific research quoted, but the movement is interesting regardless.

Here is another article on women in technology and why they leave.  You may find it interesting, especially the part about women having a bias along with men toward female employees.

That's all I've got for today.  Farm out.

Going Topless

My boss mentioned this in a team meeting today.  He's originally from Poland, so he doesn't always worry about being PC.  Sometimes that's amusing.

I think a while back going topless meant driving your convertible with the top down.  Sometimes college girls on spring break go topless - along with old women in Europe.  Are there any other meanings you can think of?

Front Deck Project

Over the last couple years, the concrete sidewalk and one step up to my front step have gradually been deteriorating.  Last winter the step started crumbling even more, and I casually remarked to one guy in my BS about it one time this summer that I'd probably need to do something about it sometime.  Either put a deck on or re-pour some concrete or something.  Below you can see its state before any work started.

The guy I talked to took that comment and ran with it and volunteered to help do some planning and to help with the manual labor.  I took some measurements, we discussed some options, he drew up a plan, we bought the material, and we picked a Saturday to get started.

We made really good progress that Saturday.  It was blazing hot, but we kept at it and got almost all the framing done and maybe one third of the deck boards put down.

After two more evenings after work that week, we had it finished!  I put almost all the screws in that deck.  He put in a few and did more of the mental work, post hole digging, board cutting, and finishing touches like routering the edges and sanding the screw holes.

I think it looks good if I do say so myself.  I'm thankful for helpful people who make time to help me with projects.  I'm also thankful they have lots of tools.  Some hostas were moved in this process, but very few were harmed.

Now I need to re-train my body about how far to expect to step down to the deck, how far out and up to stick my foot to catch the screen door, and how many steps it is from where I park my car to where I have to take the first step up.