Soak some dried black-eyed peas

Actually, I have soaked dried black-eyed peas before. However, it has been over a year since I’ve done this, so I’m counting it as my “new” thing for today.

I’m going to buy some collards (or some kind of greens) in the morning to go with these black-eyed peas. Yum!

See more progress on: Do something new every day

Meditated for one hour

Not the most successful meditation I’ve ever done, but certainly the longest. It took about 30 minutes for me to hit my stride with the breathing. But then I lost it after a while.

See more progress on: Do something new every day

Made a homemade candle

I cheated some in doing this. A friend of mine had already given me a glass candle holder containing a fresh tea light; I used the new tea light metal cuff, its wick, and some old candle wax to create a candle. I should be able to repeatedly use the metal cuff, and presumably I can create a new wick from some twine. This exercise is designed to be a fun way to use up all the wax that gets wasted when a candle runs out of wick.

However, it involves "playing with fire" in the sense of manipulating hot wax, putting a candle in a toaster oven, and so on. YOU CAN GET SERIOUSLY HURT! This can be a dangerous activity even if you are careful, so BE EXTRA CAREFUL and if you follow these instructions, take responsibility for your actions and don't blame me if something goes wrong. All I know is, this worked for me with my particular set of materials.

Steps:


1) Take an old candle, put it in the toaster oven at about 200 degrees F. You must be very careful to keep pretty constant watch over the candle. DO NOT BURN YOUR HOUSE DOWN DOING THIS, IF YOU DO IT'S NOT MY FAULT! Eventually, the wax begins to melt. In this case, I had an old burned out candle in a clay base that I put in my toaster oven and watched carefully as it melted.


2) Remove the wax candle from the (new) tea light metal shell (cuff), and remove the wick from the candle. Save the wax candle for later use. Remove the old candle with the melted wax from the toaster oven - it's HOT so be careful not to pour it on yourself, be careful holding it, etc. Carefully pour the melted wax into the tea light metal shell, set the wick with its metal base down into the shell surrounded by the melted wax, and then let it all sit till the melted wax solidifies.


3) Voila, the candle is done. I was able to pull the candle out from the metal base, but this is not necessary.


4) From there I dropped the new tea light into a candle holder and lit it. Works!

See more progress on: Do something new every day

First fill-up

Yesterday I tanked up my new Prius for the first time. It's got just about 300 miles on it now.

I don't know how accurate the mileage is. When I got the car, it had about 17 miles on it. The tank was supposed to be full when the car was delivered, and I believe that it was, but I forgot to reset the trip odometer at the time. My best guess is that I got 43.9 mpg, but the car's mpg gauge claims it has gotten 40.7 mpg.

When I refilled the car, I reset the mpg gauge and the trip odometers, so the next reading should be more reliable. Of course now that I work in a new location, and the temperatures are heading up, I should get different readings, anyway.

It's definitely very cool having a new car, but I still find this car far too big for my needs. Yesterday, I managed to scrape the front hubcap while parking, probably because I'm used to the smaller width of my old car. I still miss my old car terribly... *sigh*.

Dissected an answering machine

After my last answering machine died, I saved its corpse in the hopes that I could use its parts in a "junkbot".

It has been sitting around for months, taking up space, and I haven't done anything about it. This evening I finally took the machine apart, it was pretty simple but nevertheless something new. Here are the before and after views:
 

After inspecting its innards, I have some doubts that I can use any of it in a junkbot. Oh well!

See more progress on: Do something new every day

Random vacation observation: ski tip

View from the piste
Originally uploaded by Little duckling.

When skiing for the first time each year, I am overconfident. My memory tells me that I made big improvements last time, and I think that I can start in where I left off. This year, the first day out, I bit off a little more than I could chew. I took a very long green run, got very tired out, and lost some confidence. I was sick with a cold that I caught on the plane ride, which didn't help things.

Here's a recommendation to myself, that I hope to remember next time: Stay away from long pistes to start with. With long pistes you can, of course, always stop and rest if you feel like it. But there's no enforced rest as there is with a short run, where you get to sit down while riding the lift back up. Repeating a short piste over and over again helps to get you comfortable, and practice technique on a familiar run.

Things to do in Val d'Isère

Candy at the market
Originally uploaded by Little duckling.

Since I was sick, I spent more time off-piste then I'd prefer. Fortunately Val d'Isère has some fun alternatives to skiing.

There's a cinema with movies every day of the week. Some of the films have subtitles or are shown in the original English-language version. Of course, we chose to watch purely French films, Je crois que je l'aime and Danse avec lui, to make the most of being in France! It is very entertaining to try to figure out what exactly is going on when there are no subtitles!

Then there's the open-air market on Monday, with sellers purveying traditional food like sausages and cheese, and really scary looking candy. It's fun to poke around there, but it won't distract you for more than an hour or two.

I suppose there are other interesting things to do, but I didn't take advantage of them. In fact, I spent far too much time in the apartment, hacking up my lungs and solving sudoku puzzles. But even that was fun!

Getting from New Haven to JFK

These are some details on my trip from New Haven to JFK by public transport.

My off-peak ticket on a Metro North train from New Haven to Grand Central Station cost $14.

The train ride took me about 2.5 hours. The ride can be much quicker if you get an express train, but there was no choice for me. You should buy your ticket at the station; it will cost more if you buy it on the train. I find the ride pleasant, especially when the weather is good. I can read or just think while the train chugs along, and I like the views.

At GCT (Grand Central Terminal), I got an MTA subway ticket for $2 to cover the trip by subway to the AirTrain.

Details: From Grand Central take the 6 (a local train), uptown one stop, getting off at the 51st St station. Transfer to the E train here. Technically this is the 53rd St station on the E line, so be aware of this when reversing your steps. Take the E to Sutphin Blvd/Archer Av. From Grand Central to Sutphin Blvd took me about 45 minutes, YMMV. Making the transfer from the 6 to the E is a little bit of a hike; I didn't find it too difficult, but it's a drag carrying luggage. When you get to Sutphin Blvd, you have to take another little hike over to the AirTrain, including a short elevator trip (it was large, clean, and working); I think there was also an escalator. Signage is pretty good here.

The AirTrain from Sutphin Blvd to all terminals at JFK costs $5. The ride takes about 5 or 10 minutes. The AirTrain is wonderful, and it's about time that JFK is connected to NYC via something other than taxi service.

In addition, I had to take a taxi from home to New Haven station. The cost of the taxi ride, a one-way trip which averages about 10 minutes, was about $27. I was a little surprised at the expense. Next time I should try taking the bus.

So the total one-way cost was $27 + $14 + $2 + $5 = $48, round trip that's $96. I've never taken a limo ride into JFK, but I think it would cost at least twice that much to do so. I find the expense a little painful. The plane ticket to Geneva cost $650; it seems like transport to the airport should cost much less. Maybe I'm out of touch.

The time spent getting from home to JFK was about 4.5 hours. This includes "waiting around time" - time I spent waiting for the taxi, or sitting at the train station. Not bad. I guess if I took the bus into New Haven, it would take significantly longer, but I find the cost of the taxi ride so unreasonable that I'd be willing to try it. Of course, bumming a ride from someone would be even better, but my bumming skills seem to have atrophied.

Random vacation observation: rudeness

I found the behavior of some of the very young kids on the lower pistes to be appallingly rude. Some of them seemed to have no concept of queueing and pushed themselves directly to the front of the line. So far as I could tell these kids were not attached to a ski school, which would have given them some excuse. Where do these kids get their manners? I don't recall running into such behavior in the past. Maybe it's just that we were there at the peak of the season, although it didn't seem too ridiculously crowded.

Random vacation observation: no smoking?

I haven't been to Europe in about three years, and I quickly noticed a much reduced amount of cigarette smoke in public places. Every restaurant where we ate in Val d'Isère had "no smoking" signs. A big improvement! For years, the French have been arguing about a ban on smoking in public places. Is it finally coming true? If so, I'm loving the result!

Val d'Isère from a ski lift

DSCN0753
Originally uploaded by Little duckling.

It snowed almost every day and night! This is a more typical view, riding down towards the town of Val d'Isère in the Solaise Express ski lift.

A look down the piste

DSCN0734
Originally uploaded by Little duckling.

A view along the piste. Lest we become distracted by all the good food, this is the main attraction! Val d'Isère is truly "le plus bel espace de ski du monde"!

Maison Chevallot pastries in the window case at Les Clarines

DSCN0751
Originally uploaded by Little duckling.

Les Clarines at Résidence Saint Hubert is another very good salon de thé in Val d'Isère. Their pastries seem to come largely from Maison Chevallot.

Lemon meringue tarte at Salon de Thé Moris

Lemon meringue tarte
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

The Salon de Thé Moris is the best salon de thé in Val d'Isère. They carry a varying selection of desserts, especially pies: apple, pear, etc., and this amazing version of lemon meringue. Their hot chocolate is made with real milk. Normally, it would be a bit too rich and creamy for me to drink every day, but with all the skiing my appetite was up.

Potée savoyarde

Potée savoyarde
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

One night we had a potée savoyarde, packaged in a large glass jar and purchased from the grocery store. An excellent dish, it tasted a lot like a traditional St. Patrick's day meal of corned beef with cabbage.

Raclette

Raclette
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Another big cheese dish: raclette.

In this case, the melting of the cheese was done non-traditionally, with an electric appliance. That's too bad; probably the best part of eating raclette is the business of melting the round of raclette cheese next to a fire or under a grill, and scraping off the soft layer onto your plate.

Despite the modern presentation, it was an enjoyable meal.

Tomette

DSCN0729
Originally uploaded by Little duckling.

Another cheese meal. This time we have cheese in its most pure, unadulterated form - the tomette.

In addition, we have four types of regional sausage (IIRC): paprika (red peppers), sanglier ("wild boar", although at first I thought it must be blood sausage), cepes (mushrooms), and beaufort (um...). We got the cheese and sausage at the town market at midday Monday.

I guess the sanglier is my favorite of the several sausages; it may be too fatty for some, though. The cheese is, of course, magnificent.

The baguette and salad rounded out the meal nicely.

Cheese fondue

Cheese fondue
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Let the eating begin!

I'd estimate that I ate more cheese during my one week of vacation in Val d'Isère than I normally eat over the course of a year.

Probably my absolute favorite traditional dish is the cheese fondue. A delicious combo of wine and regional cheeses, it is indescribably good!

View from the apartment in Val d'Isère. It snowed almost every day that we were there. Skiing conditions were great, except that I found it disorienting to ski while it was snowing. It was hard to distinguish the snow from the sky and it felt like I was floating in an infinite field of white.

So I bought a Prius instead

I took the long way home from the dealer tonight, just to spend some time in my new car. I did about a 20 mile trip on some back roads. The Prius says I did about 40 mpg.

I resolved that with my first tank of gas or two, I would not attempt to maximize the gas mileage by tinkering with my driving technique; rather I'd drive without thinking about it, to get a baseline. Despite that, this evening, I couldn't help playing with the accelerator and the brakes to try to get the best mileage.

Apparently the trips that I make most often are exactly those trips which are supposed to get the worst mileage in this car:

The Prius and other hybrids get the worst mileage in the first five to ten minutes of driving...

Frequent short city trips will not produce good mileage, even though the Prius is rated very high for city driving.

I live less than 10 miles from work; it's about a 10 minute drive. It appears that it will be a challenge getting a really good mileage from this car.

Disappointed by the Yaris

Just a few days ago, I was all set to buy a Yaris; I felt sure that taking the test drive was a mere formality. I had seen the car parked around town and I loved the way it looked. It was a small hatchback and cheap, just what I wanted. But I took a test drive last weekend and unfortunately, I was disappointed.

When I got in the car, I instantly disliked the layout of the instrument panel. Specifically, the environmental controls for temperature and vents are laid out in a vertical column of three dials (a reviewer at CNET described it as an "interesting configuration". Hmm). The dials looked like some cheap junk you'd find on a child's toy (IMHO). It was awkward to reach the lowest dial, the one for setting the temperature, because the stick shift was in the way when it was pushed forward. Ok, I'm not in love with the interior, but I can live with it.

When I put the car in gear, I noticed that there was no tachometer. No tachometer on a manual transmission car? Weird - and annoying. Maybe I overly rely on the visual cue provided by a tachometer especially when I'm in low gears; I stalled out the Yaris several times during the test drive. Not the greatest experience.

I rarely drive a car other than my own Geo Metro, so maybe I'm too accustomed to its manual transmission, which I've been using for the past 10 years. As I drove around, I never felt comfortable with the shifting process in the Yaris. The reviewer at CNET described it this way:

The gear ratios in the transmission require some getting used to: First gear should be held longer than in most cars, up to about 15mph, with second gear taking over to about 35mph. Third gear can hold out and even cruise at 55mph.

I am pretty sure I'd get used to the gear shift, but it wasn't nice that I didn't feel immediately comfortable with it.

After the test drive, I had mixed feelings, but I was still interested, so I talked to the dealer about options. I had already decided that I wanted a couple of optional features that I'd pay extra for, but I absolutely wanted them: a) side curtain airbags and b) a bright color: "Blazing Blue Pearl" or "Absolutely Red" (supposedly there is no extra charge for the color, but the airbags do cost extra).

On the airbag issue, it is stupid that side airbags are optional. At the very least, they should be readily available. Without them, the Yaris earned a "poor rating [from the IIHS] in side crashes without side airbags and a good rating with them". I have jokingly referred to my Geo Metro as the "death trap" for years, but it's not entirely a joke. It's not the safest car to drive.

Americans who buy the smallest cars on the market are twice as likely to have fatal accidents as drivers of midsize and larger vehicles [2006 report from IIHS]

Save the environment and your money, but sacrifice your life? Having additional airbags makes me feel better about driving a small car.

I was unbelieving when the dealer told me that I absolutely could not get side curtain airbags. He claimed that Toyota sends out a fixed number of preconfigured cars to each region of the country, and that I would be unable to get airbags anywhere, because there were no Yarii in the Northeast (or practically anywhere) with side airbags... He showed me a book of specs which indicated that he was not lying. He also showed me specs that indicated it would be unlikely that I could get the color that I wanted (only a small percent of Yarii in the Northeast are painted in the bright colors that I wanted). It was weird but I'd almost swear the dealer did not want me to buy this car (unless I bought the one straight off the lot). I can understand why they want you to buy one off the lot rather than ordering one, but does it make sense to discourage you from buying that model altogether? I don't know, but I guess it worked on me. I came away from the dealer disappointed and thinking seriously about other options.

What the dealer did not mention was that it would be possible to get a Yaris special ordered from the factory with your choice of color and options. I was later told by another dealer that I could special order the car, which would be created in Japan for me, and which would cost more and take a "really long time" to get here. Since my current car is failing, I did not feel comfortable waiting a "really long time". I had also read some discussions on the web that left me with the vague fear that a special-ordered car might not ever actually arrive... The whole experience left me feeling uncomfortable, so I crossed the Yaris off my list.

I definitely get the impression that dealers are discouraging customers from buying the Yaris. Maybe they make too little money off these cars. In this case, the dealers who discouraged me from buying the Yaris did not get any further business from me, but I suspect they don't care.

Old car, new car

In my internal debate over buying a new car, two expenses loom menacingly: an increase in my property tax, and an increase in my auto insurance. The increase in insurance will mainly come because I'll have to get collision/theft coverage. I dropped that coverage on my old car years ago, but I'd be nuts not to get this coverage on a new vehicle. I haven't priced this yet, but I know it's going to hurt.

In Connecticut, every town has a different mill rate. The mill rate (which is essentially a percent), together with the assessed value of your property, determines your yearly property tax - in this case, the tax on my car.

Last year my town assessed my car as being worth about $1000. (This reminds me, maybe I can get them to buy it from me? I don't think anyone else will give me $1000 for it at this point.) The associated property tax was about $30, practically nothing.

If I get a Yaris, I'll probably be paying around 15 times that amount - as much as $500 yearly. Which is just awful. The idea of that new expense makes me want to repair my old car and keep it limping along.

The test drive

My car, now 12 years old, has developed a problem that will cost so much to fix that I have 99% decided to get a new car.

I knew that the end was coming eventually; I've been looking around at other models for a couple of years now. Things I want in my car:

• It must be as small as possible. I like being able to squeeze into impossibly small parking spaces in NYC.
• It must get the best available gas mileage.

I also want manual transmission, and prefer a 2-door hatchback, like my current car.

Up until recently, I was unable to find anything with a reasonable gas mileage, other than a hybrid. I'd been considering the Honda Insight, but they're expensive for such a small car, and it's hard to find a used one (Honda actually stopped making them last year, which is a pity).

In 2006, two acceptable cars came out: the Honda Fit, and the Toyota Yaris. My heart is really set on the Yaris. The Fit is a four-door and strikes me as excessively large. It gets slightly worse mileage than the Yaris. The more I think it over, the more I want the Yaris, and the more I want it now.

There's just one little problem: I have to test drive one to make sure it doesn't have any features that are so objectionable that I couldn't stand to drive it for the next 10 years. I am incredibly eager to test drive one, at this point, but my local dealer does not have a hatchback with manual transmission in stock. It's very frustrating... here I am ready to spend huge wads of cash, and there's this seemingly trivial, yet essential, barrier: the need for a test drive. *Sigh*.

French for today

I listened to Radio France's Français facile this evening. Here are some words I recognized:

• le climat - climate
• (une) ville sainte - holy city
• le corail - coral
• l'interdiction de - ban (on)
• acheter - to buy

Français facile has a nice feature: they print their transcripts so you can read along while you listen. I plan to play the broadcast a time or two, concentrating on understanding what I hear, before reading the transcript, in order to develop my French listening skills.

Water is restored

This morning, around 9 am, water was once again flowing in my apartment (in the good, expected way - from the taps, not from the ceiling!). As I suspected, the story from management was most interesting. Well, maybe not as interesting as I had hoped. They had not caused the problem - it was someone from the fire department, who had randomly shut off all kinds of valves to stop a leaking pipe that had burst when freezing/thawing elsewhere in the apartment complex. Oddly, this did not comfort me. And as for the fact that there was no one picking up the phone at the office all weekend long? They had no idea! There must be something wrong with their system. They'll look into it...

I hate apartment living, but I think you get the same sort of thing if you own a home. I suppose it's a toss-up.

Cheese recommendation - Woodcock Farm

 
On an autumn vacation to Vermont a few years ago, I visited Woodcock Farm, and sampled a few of their cheeses. I was positively impressed; so when I saw a few wedges of cheese with the Woodcock Farm label in my local health food store, I didn't hesitate to grab one, barely able to suppress a sybaritic cackle.

I was planning on eating the cheese at room temperature, savoring its solitary goodness. It has a delicious flavor that way and leaves a slightly tingly sensation in my mouth. But I took a leap of faith and tried it in another capacity: I have begun making mini-pizzas with it. Not ordinary mini-pizzas, but gourmet ones, with Seeds of Change organic tomato sauce and Matthew's whole wheat English muffins. The flavor of the cheese doesn't stand up to tomato sauce very well when it's used for this purpose; nevertheless, these mini-pizzas are delicious. Highly recommended. 

Apartment living

I am experiencing one of the many joys of apartment living today. The hot water in my apartment stopped working yesterday. And there's no water coming out of any of the fixtures in the bathroom. The only tap with normal water pressure is in the kitchen - thank goodness for that.

It's sort of like camping... only skipping the outdoors part.

I've called the apartment complex management phone number numerous times over the past 24 hours and no one is picking up - not even voicemail. I suppose the explanation that I get on Monday will be very interesting.

French practice

I've discovered that once I listen to a Radio France broadcast online over my dialup connection at home, I can cut my connection and replay the broadcast as often as I want, provided I keep the media player open. This is great; when listening to French broadcasts it's useful to play certain sections over several times to better understand what is being said.

Here are a few words that I picked up from a broadcast today:

• deuxième - second
• (le) renseignement - information
• les renseignements généraux - police department responsible for political security
• malheureuse affaire - unhappy affair
• ênquete - (police) investigation

I know most of these words and phrases already, but it helps to hear them spoken. "Les renseignements généraux" is a new one for me, and I'm not completely sure what it means still.

Krispy Kreme Class Action Settlement

I bought 100 shares of Krispy Kreme between 2003 and 2004. It was one of my more foolish/unlucky investments; I didn't investigate them much. My investment was based on personal experience. I love Krispy Kreme doughnuts, especially when they're hot, and I just knew they were going to be a big hit all over the world.

By the end of 2005, my shares had lost about half their value. I finally decided to sell and take the loss at that point, since I had some capital gains I could offset that year. I had a feeling that KKD was not going to recover for many years, if at all; taking the loss seemed about the best use I could make of the shares. And indeed they have yet to recover, as you can see by the Krispy Kreme stock chart.

I guess the story's not over. I got a thick packet in the mail this week from Krispy Kreme Securities Litigation, regarding the ongoing class action lawsuit on behalf of stockholders against the management. Here are some choice excerpts:

2. What is This Lawsuit About?
This case was brought as a class action alleging that the Class Settling Defendants manipulated and overstated Krispy Kreme's financial results by disguising debts as income and making other improper accounting adjustments, resulting in the artificial inflation of the price of Krispy Kreme securities between March 8, 2001 and April 18, 2005. Class Settling Defendants deny that they did anything wrong.

(In the words of George Costanza - "Was that wrong? Should I not have done that?")

Settlement Fund: $75,000,000 in cash... Depending on the number and type of eligible securities that participate in the settlement and when those securities were purchased and sold, the estimated average recovery per share of common stock will be worth approximately $0.33 before the deduction of Court-approved fees and expenses...

At $0.33 per share, it is not worth my time to participate in the class action. But after reading through the details, it looks like my shares could be worth more. I'll have to read through the papers a little more to figure it out. And I wonder what happens if I do get some piece of the settlement - how is that treated for tax purposes?

Cases like this make index funds very appealing in comparison to stock picking.

Les carottes sont cuites!

 I love that phrase, and I love my new Living Language French 2007 Calendar. I've been getting the calendars for a few years now, and I think that these calendars have contributed to the improvement in my French skills (despite my irregular study habits). I keep the calendar in the bathroom, by the sink, where I can glance at it while brushing my teeth twice a day.

I am going to get busy with some more intense French study, so that I'm ready for my ski trip to France next month! 

Carbon footprint

I try to be ecologically friendly. I own a 3 cylinder, 1.0 L car that averages about 40 mpg. Last year, I signed up for the more pricey Clean Energy option with my electricity supplier (this is really gonna bite when the 50% electric rate hike takes effect over this year).

I'm sure I could do more; but I try to be aware of my behavior and ameliorate the damage I'm doing. I'm flying from JFK to Geneva this February, and I don't want to feel like I'm destroying my world to do so. So I took a look at the carbon footprint for the flight using this handy flight emissions calculator, which tells me "Your emissions from this flight are: 1.73 Tonnes of CO_2".

I'm doubtful about what carbon footprint calculators really calculate, and whether or not the whole carbon offset concept makes sense at all. The people at Carbon Footprint say: "we believe reduction in household, office, transportation and industrial carbon emissions is far more beneficial in the battle against climate change and has a greater environmental impact than carbon offsetting." That strikes me as a very commonsense approach. After all, if we continue to belch out emissions at the current rate, will it ever be possible to plant enough trees to cancel it all out?

Still, planting a few trees or investing in alternative energies seems like a positive action to take, better than doing nothing. I took a look at a few environmental organizations coughed up by Charity Navigator. The Pachamama Alliance has a great score (4 stars) and piqued my interest, but their site is so vague about what they have actually done that I crossed them out. At the moment, I'm leaning towards Conservation International. They've got 4 stars too, and they've got numerous details on their web site explaining what they do. Here's an example of how they are working to prevent climate change:

With offset donations of various companies, however, CI and its partners are supporting Malagasy communities in managing a protected area and transforming slash-and-burn farming into sustainable agriculture across some 864,900 acres of land.

Sounds good; I think I'll send some money their way.

Concept2 Holiday Challenge t-shirt

 
My new Concept2 t-shirt arrived yesterday, courtesy of Zazzle. I was a little worried that this t-shirt was going to be incredibly thin (for some reason women's clothing is often made of ridiculously thin cloth) - and it was. Nevertheless, I'm delighted to finally get a t-shirt that fits. This shirt cost me twice as much as previous Concept2 Challenge t-shirts have, and I bet it will wear out twice as fast. But... it fits! And I got to choose from a wide variety of styles and colors. I'm delighted! 

This Game of Ghosts

I started in on Joe Simpson's "This Game of Ghosts" again, today. I began reading it several months ago, but left off because it started out slow. Joe Simpson is probably best known for his work "Touching the Void", a book which made a huge impact on me.

Like Touching the Void, "This Game of Ghosts" is autobiographical, but spans many years, going back into Simpson's childhood and detailing his early climbing experiences, which were rather wild. I haven't finished the book yet, so I don't know where he leaves off. The book troubles me; I get the sense that it was written while the author was depressed (something like Robert Pirsig's "Lila"), and it tends to bring me down (although not necessarily in a bad way).

Despite that, I think I've come to a better understanding of what motivates mountain climbers, or at least what motivates Joe Simpson. I've never understood why mountain climbers do it. It seems to me one of the least pleasureful activities one could imagine doing voluntarily. But after reading just half the book, I think I get it.

Joe Simpson was raised a Catholic and early on became an atheist, a history which resonates with me. Here's an excerpt that struck a cord.

p 150: "...I had decided in my mid-teens that I didn't want to do those things that society expected of me. I didn't want to compromise anything and rejected the idea of marriage and parenthood for fear that these would rob me of the selfish desire to do what I wanted with my life; a life lived once, with no reincarnation, no afterlife, heaven or hell, finished at death....

"It never occurred to me that these early certainties would themselves become eroded by time..."

Ski!!!

     I've booked a week of skiing in France this winter! My usual winter exercise program - a combination of weight lifting and rowing - doesn't seem to give me the conditioning that I need to be prepared for hours of skiing.

So I went out and got a step platform and a couple of 5-lb ankle weights. I'd thought about getting one of those platforms to do dumbbell step-ups properly, but the idea of spending $50 on what is more or less a glorified piece of plastic really burns.

Well, I'm glad I finally broke down and bought one. The thing is solid, with a bigger stepping area than the makeshift platform I've been using (a fire-safe security chest, if you must know). And it's adjustable, so I can increase the height to hit my legs in different ways. I did a 30 minute workout today with the ankle weights on, and my legs really feel it.

I have to think about setting a goal so I get a decent amount of conditioning before my trip, which is less than two months away. With this new routine, I should go into it better prepared than I usually do.

Saving for College in Connecticut

I've got two nieces, my brother's kids. When they were first born, I gave them toys for their birthdays and Christmas. I quickly realized that these kids were getting so many toys that they had no idea what to do with it all. What do I mean by "so many toys"? Well, ten times more than I ever got as a kid!

I didn't like the idea of wasting money on toys that are quickly discarded; I never even knew whether the kids would play with the toys I sent because I don't visit them very often. At the same time, I remember that when I was a kid, especially as I grew older, I envied the kids whose relatives had given them gifts of savings bonds.

So I quickly switched over to giving my nieces savings bonds year after year, for birthdays and Christmas. Kind of a stodgy gift, but I think they'll like it when the bonds reach maturity.

A couple of years ago, I decided contributing to a college fund for the kids made sense. I could "afford" it, and it bothered me that my brother had not set up a college savings fund of some sort. I opened a Connecticut Higher Education Trust (CHET) account for each of my nieces. It's a 529 college savings plan. I intend to contribute to the accounts every year, as long as I can, until my nieces go to college (assuming they go; the beauty of CHET is that if the current beneficiary never goes to college, you can reset the beneficiary to someone else).

Up until this year, the only tax advantage to a CHET account is that the gains grow tax-deferred, and earnings that go to pay for higher education are tax-free. Nice.

This year, Connecticut gives people a bigger incentive to save - they made contributions to CHET accounts tax deductible. So you may be able to deduct contributions to CHET accounts (I'm assuming this only applies if you itemize your deductions, which only makes sense if your itemized deductions add up to more than the standard deduction).

Now the really great thing is that my brother opened a CHET account for each of my nieces this year - yesterday, in fact! I like to think it was due to my good example, but I suspect it was the tax deduction that got him there!

200K!

I finished the 2006 Concept 2 Holiday Challenge, today! Yes!! Now I'm going to go see about ordering the t-shirt...

tags: concept2, fitness, rowing, ergometer

You vs the billionaire - NY Times article by Peter Singer

Via Piaw: Peter Singer is back in the NY Times, discussing charitable giving. This article is better than his previous one, The Singer Solution to World Poverty, because it is a little less theoretical and a little more practical in nature. I hope Singer continues to pursue these topics and that people pay attention to what he says.

On a side note, this article introduced me to Zell Kravinsky, apparently a remarkable philanthropist and extraordinary human being. Strangely, I'd never heard of the man before.

110K

I hit a bump in the road on the way to the 200K Honor Board. Last week I came down with a terrible stomach virus that put me out of action for almost the entire week. I couldn't eat for a few days, and still feel pretty weak from it.

But I'm back in the saddle, and I should still meet the Challenge. I started rowing again yesterday, a slow 3K, and did another 7K today. Fourteen days to do another 90K. Piece of cake. I should still be able to hit the full 200K by Christmas, provided there are no further hiccups.

The Wisdom of the Crowds

I'm in a mad dash to finish "Wisdom of the Crowds", by James Surowiecki, in my ongoing attempt to read one book a month (at least one!). Sixty pages to go.

Overall the book is informative and worth reading. But as usual with pop-sci books, I'm left unsatisfied because of the lack of depth. The book is in some sense a string of anecdotes tied together under one topic: how decisions and actions made by a group can be more informed than those of any of the individuals that make up the group.

Quotes of interest:

Chapter 9, p 183: One of the consistent findings from decades of small-group research is that group deliberations are more successful when they have a clear agenda and when leaders take an active role in making sure that everyone gets a chance to speak.

Chapter 9, p 186: ... all the evidence suggests that the order in which people speak has a profound effect on the course of a discussion. Earlier comments are more influential ... there's no guarantee that the most-informed speaker will also be the most influential... In groups where the members know each other, status tends to shape speaking patterns, with higher-status people talking more and more often than lower-status people. Even when higher-status people don't really know what they're talking aout, they're more likely to speak.

10K

I did my first 10K of the Holiday Challenge about an hour ago. I watched London while rowing. It's a good relationship movie, not great for a strong rowing performance, but interesting.

Upcoming Challenge

Time to start prepping for the Holiday Challenge 2006. It starts next Thursday, on Thanksgiving as always. My work schedule has gone completely berzerk, but I'll still make every effort to complete the Challenge this year. I've been doing this since 2003 and there's no way I'm stopping now!

I'll do some high intensity intervals on the erg tomorrow. I'd better put some chain oil on it; haven't used the thing all summer.

Skipped breakfast

I skipped breakfast for Oxfam this morning. I skipped breakfast last year, too, so I guess I've officially got a tradition going.

tags: hunger, poverty

Happy Halloween

Metal bats
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Today, I went for a couple of hikes with my sister and her dog. The first hike was at the Mine Hill Preserve in Roxbury. There are some old mine entrances there that are fenced over. Apparently this mine houses some bats.

The weather was nice enough, except for the ridiculously high winds 50+ mph (so I heard).

A review of "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (Soundtrack)"

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (Soundtrack)

by Angelo Badalamenti

I am revisiting "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me" today; I bought it originally after I first saw the movie in 1992. An excellent movie with an excellent soundtrack, which I’ve played many, many times. Every track is brilliant. Right now, “The Black Dog Runs At Night” is playing, and, as usual, it makes the hairs on my neck stand up.

It’s all quite perfect for my mood this evening: dark, brooding, grim.

See more about Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (Soundtrack)

Long shadows on the trail

The trail
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Fall leaves

Fall leaves
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Tomorrow's weather should take 'em all down.

Perspective

View from blue trail
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

That's what you get when hiking. Unfortunately, you have to come down sometime.

No jacket required

on my hike yesterday. All the rain is keeping the area warm. That would be nice, except that it's bringing down a lot of the colorful fall foliage prematurely (and making the footing precarious on the trail).

A story about "Inside Man (Widescreen Edition)"

Inside Man (Widescreen Edition)

by Spike Lee

I finished watching the movie The Inside Man this morning. It was filmed in NYC at 20 Exchange Pl, where I used to work. That makes it doubly entertaining for me!

I have only one quibble with this film – too many stars, I think it would have been better with unknowns in the various roles. In general, it’s an entertaining movie about a bank heist with a twist.

See more about Inside Man (Widescreen Edition)

Prayer flags at TibetFest

prayer flags
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

sand mandala at TibetFest

sand mandala
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Yup, it's completely made of sand.

TibetFest

TibetFest singer
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I went for a hike today in Litchfield, at the White Memorial Conservation Center. While there, I stopped by TibetFest for music and culture.

The Blade Wheel of Mind Transformation

The Blade Wheel of Mind Transformation
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Many moons ago I ordered tickets to hear the Dalai Lama's teaching "The Blade Wheel of Mind Transformation", sponsored by Tibet House. Tomorrow is the first day.

Now, lately I haven't been feeling particularly Buddhist or enlightened, so I suppose this could work out to be a very uninspiring event. I hope it's the opposite. I have to get up at a truly ungodly hour to make it to the theatre at the suggested time of 8 am; this is the most unappealing part, including all the travelling I'll have to do to get back and forth from it each day.

I have no idea what to expect, but my mind could stand to get sliced and diced by a blade wheel these days. So it could be good.

Buddhist Temple

Buddhist Temple
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

After our hike, we went for a perfectly wonderful ice cream cone at Popey's in Morris, CT. I got a scoop of Moose Tracks (tiny peanut butter cups embedded in chocolate ice cream with chocolate syrup. Drool).

We also picked up some fresh corn from a farm stand, and stopped at a fish truck where I got a small slab of tuna - these items made up my delicious dinner tonight.

On the way out of Morris, we passed this Buddist temple. Their sign reads "Lao Buddha Ariyamettaram Temple". It's quite a strange site in the middle of rural Connecticut.

And it's a fitting segue into my next post...

Memorial

Memorial
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Just after crossing Rt 109, you come to this little stone memorial. It reads:

IN MEMORY OF KEVIN ELLIOTT
1959 - 1992
"PRAY FOR WIND"
GIVEN BY HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS

There's a white seashell on the top of the rock, and a bouquet of plastic roses to one side.

Baby snapping turtle

baby snapping turtle
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Shortly after starting out, we discovered a very small turtle right smack in the middle of the trail. It was about the size of the palm of my hand.

I think it was a baby snapping turtle; its tail was quite long and its snout looked somewhat hooked, and its shell looks right as well (that sort of prehistoric look). It was hardly perturbed by us; it didn't bother to pull its head and limbs into its shell. I wonder whether it was sick, given how little it reacted to us.

We moved it a short way up the trail to the side of a stream where it had less chance of getting crushed by feet. I hope it's not ill; it was a cute little guy.

Survey mark

Survey mark
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

At the foot of the "witness post" was this survey mark. It reads:

U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS
DO NOT DISTURB
SURVEY MARK
BR 74
EL 529.877
1979

I love these things!

Boundary Line Witness Post

Boundary Line Witness Post
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Today's hike: 2 h 30 min | 5 mi | 2 mph.

I did the "Waterbury Reservoirs" section of the Mattatuck with my sister and her dog today. We parked one car at each end of the trail so we wouldn't have to retrace our steps; nice to be able to do that when hiking with someone else.

This is a post planted by the US Army Corps of Engineers. I found the idea of a "Witness Post" especially intriguing, so I had to photograph it...

N.A.S.A. Orbital Tracking Disk - U.S.A.

N.A.S.A. Orbital Tracking Disk - U.S.A.
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This is a new feature on the Quinnipiac Trail. There used to be a USGS marker up along the trail here, but I didn't notice it today. Instead, I found this new artifact. The disk is about the size of my hand, and seems to be embedded in concrete. It reads "N.A.S.A. Orbital Tracking Disk U.S.A.". I searched the web for "orbital tracking disk" and got no results. So it's a bit of a mystery.

View from Elephant Rock

View from Elephant Rock
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I took a day off from work and hiked up to Elephant Rock today (Mt Sanford region of the Quinnipiac Trail). I did a loop by taking the blue-red-dot trail on the way out and coming back by the blue trail.

It was a bit too humid... like a real summer day. Nice, anyway.

View

View
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I've been busy, busy, busy. But I've had time for a few excellent hikes. I did two hours today on the Mattabesett along the Trimountain section. The weather was most cooperative.

This view is taken in the vicinity of "Three Notches"; I lay along the white-blazed rock that overhangs the cliff in order to shoot the photo. From this rock, looking south, you see Ulbrich Reservoir and the firing range. This view is sort of northwest. I think that's the Metacomet ridge off in the distance.

A story about "Red Harvest (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)"

Red Harvest (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)

by Dashiell Hammett

Recently, I’ve needed some escapist literature to get my mind off life before going to sleep at night. A friend of mine has loaned me a few potboilers for this purpose. I’m starting with Red Harvest, by Dashiell Hammett. Right off the bat, there’s mention of the Wobblies and the I.W.W. (Industrial Workers of the World). Thus, it is a very fitting segue from The Twentieth Century: A People’s History.

I read the first chapter last night, and fell asleep soon after.

See more about Red Harvest (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)

The Twentieth Century: A People's History

I finished "The Twentieth Century: A People's History", by Howard Zinn, just today.

It has taken me forever to get through this book. I am handicapped in having taken a dislike to history from an early age (probably because of the way it was taught). In addition, though, the book is brutal: Zinn relentlessly pounds out a laundry list of horrifying American atrocities, from the beginning of the twentieth century until George W. took the White House. There is no way I could call this book enjoyable. I felt like the guy in Edvard Munch's The Scream every time I finished another chapter.

Despite that, I consider this book extremely important. Everyone should read this, if only to get some balance to the history that was written by the victors. At that, it's only a brief intro to the subject, but it's a good start.

See more progress on: Read one book a month

View from York Mtn

View from York Mtn
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Today's hike: 2 h | 3.8 mi | 1.9 mph

I parked at Gaylord Mountain Rd/Westwoods Rd again, and went up the trail to York Mountain, hiking all the way over to Paradise Av. I didn't want to go out too far because there was a potential for thunderstorms, which never materialized. Anyway, it was quite humid, so I wasn't eager to do a long hike.

This photo shows one of the few good views looking out from York Mountain.