April 2007 - Posts
This weekend I finally replaced the steps at the back of the deck, and the steps toward the boys' sandbox. Both sets were getting to the point where I wasn't thinking they were terribly safe, and I figured I might as well do both at once. The good news is I got it done. The bad news is that I am ridiculously sore now. I have to put up handrails yet, but the steps are done.
Saturday while I was working on the steps, I had three racks of ribs on the smoker. After more than 6 hours of smoking over apple-wood, I put them on the gas grill with a little sauce for the finishing touch. Mmmmm. I'm telling you, there is nothing like slow-cooked barbeque ribs. I think the boys ate a 1/2 rack all by themselves. Good stuff.
Yesterday, after getting some little stuff done (lawn mowing, raking, a little garage cleanup) I took a little nap, then started digging though the fridge to find all of the stuff I had bought to make over the weekend then forgot about. I had a bunch of cherrystone clams on ice in the fridge in manville, so I grabbed those and threw 'em on the gas grill on high. When they opened up, we tried a couple, and they're pretty good (and BIG). I tried a couple with a dash of tobasco or a little chipotle drizzling sauce and that was even better. I think we'll definitely try those again. I think I bought a dozen or so, and we had a couple we didn't eat because they didn't open at first and I wasn't sure what the rule is there (if they open eventually, are they still okay?), but overall, I think the little snack was only about $7. Considering how tasty they were, I think I'll try it again at some point.
If you liked Ren and Stimpy, but have lost track of whatever happened to the creator,
check this out. He has been busy since the days of Ren and Stimpy -- although mixing his great creativity and animation with technology. The best part about the article is there are several embedded videos showing some stuff he has done... Enjoy!
I don't write too much about specifics about work on here, for many reasons. However, there are times when the boundary between work and my personal feelings is hard to discern -- this is one of those times. One of the developers on my team has decided a change in scenery is needed, as their young family wishes to be closer to extended family (and said extended family is not nearby). I am torn between being upset over losing a quality employee with great creativity and excellent communication, and feeling happy for a fellow human being -- who incidentally has been a factor in my own success -- who is following their heart and doing what they can to ensure their own happiness. A bittersweet situation to say the least.
George Webster has passed away. One of the all-time great college football players, and certainly one of the greatest ever to play at MSU. Joe has a nice writeup both in the
Journal and on his blog. First Mad Dog Thornhill, and now George Webster -- unfortunately the greats of the last glory days of MSU football are leaving our midst.
This is so strange I am not sure if I should laugh, be frightened, or just shake my head. It is interesting, that seems certain.
Delvon Roe is coming to Michigan State
This is a pretty big recruiting success for Tom Izzo and his staff. The 2008 class is shaping up VERY nicely. Korie Lucious and Delvon Roe with the possibility of getting Draymond Green as well. Craziness...
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/04/i_want_to_clear.html
Reading the article and several comments following reinforces to me that ignorance and fear are extremely dangerous. When I say ignorance, I am not trying to insult anyone, I am only referring to a lack of knowledge on a subject. Fear is pretty much self-explanatory. I don't expect everyone to feel the same way I do about guns, gun control, or the whole VT school shotting situation. Obviously, there are many forces at work surrounding the whole situation and emotion and fear are right near the top. I will say however, that knee-jerk reactions to situations like this are NEVER good.
Reading some of the comments, I noted that some people are claiming that in Europe, individuals are not allowed to own guns. That's simply incorrect. One of the fellows I have hunted with a few times recently is from England and has owned firearms (and some really beautiful ones, at that) for many years (and still has several shotguns back in England). Handguns may not be readily accessible, and concealed-carry laws may be very different, but it is NOT the case that firearms are illegal throughout Europe.
Secondly, I see people spouting that no hunter or sportsman has any need whatsoever for a semi-automatic or automatic weapon. Well, I guess I can agree with not allowing full automatic -- but then that's an easy one to agree with since it is already illegal in the United States to own a fully-automatic weapon -- at least for the casual hunter/firearm owner. Semi-automatic weapons, on the other hand are any weapon that loads the next round 'automatically' but requires another trigger-pull to fire a subsequent round. This describes basically all handguns in the US (loosely including revolvers), and a large number of rifles and shotguns. My recently purchased shotgun falls into that category ("auto-loading") and honestly, I CAN think of many reasons why it is a good thing and why a sportsman or hunter would need such functionality. Could some of the same functionality be attained with a side-by-side or over-under firearm? Sure, but I couldn't use the variety of loads that I can with my autoloader, saving me money (and actually resulting in me owning FEWER guns). The fact that people who don't hunt or have little experience around firearms don't realize these details and differences isn't surprising, but it does make it more difficult to have a logical and sane conversation on the topic. That is also where fear enters the picture.
People who don't know much about, or at least aren't comfortable with, firearms in general or sporting firearms in specific, often have a fear of said arms that is made more intense by their lack of understanding compounded with what is publicized in the mass media. Several people in my close circles do not like guns and would prefer to not have them around at all. I can respect that, even if I don't understand their logic. Ironically, they don't fear a car or a kitchen knife, both of which are actually more likely to be a cause of harm to them or someone they love.
Having been raised with firearms around and learning how to handle them safely, I don't fear firearms, I respect their potential. I will say I get very uncomfortable when I am around someone who does not handle firearms in a manner that I consider safe. A cavalier attitude toward firearms is no more appropriate than an irrational fear of them. Both extremes create dangerous situations.
Are firearms dangerous? When handled incorrectly, they are very dangerous -- so are automobiles, kitchen knives, table saws, pneumatic nail guns, chain saws, wood-chippers, pitchforks, snowmobiles and outboard marine engines. Not to mention propane tanks, lawn-mowers, nylon ropes, and every electrical outlet in your house.
This weekend I bowled my entries for the Michigan State Bowling Tournament (or the MSUSBCBA Open Tournament, as it were). Saturday I got off to a slow start and put up a low 500 series for doubles, and my partner fared even worse. For singles, I finally settled in a little bit and rolled a 593, which should put me in the cash (719 with handicap) -- although I doubt it will be much. For the team competition I had a little trouble with closing splits and spares, and threw a mid-500 ( five-sixty something, I think?). I made it to the final of one bracket during doubles, so I got my money back there, and I won one bracket each during singles and teams, mostly by luck with bad first games, but solid 2nd and third games both series. Overall, I can't complain about how I bowled -- I was over average for the tournament (I averaged around 185, with a 173 entering average). I think my all events score will probably be short of a cash position, but I should win something in singles -- even if it is only $10 or so.
Since tournament was in Flint, and we were the first squad both days, the weekend was a little tiring. I was on the road by 6:30 AM on Saturday, and by 7 AM on Sunday. Yesterday, I had to drop off a team member in East Lansing on the return from Flint, so I spent a bit of time in the vehicle. Just to make sure I was good and tired and sore, I also had to bowl in my mixed league last night (525 series -- not so great). Today, my left knee, lower back, and right arm are very sore and tired. You wouldn't think 12 games and a bunch of practice shots would take such a toll, but it does, and every year I think I whine about it. 
Ah well, another season of bowling (pretty much) done, and I will have my career high book average going into next season (179). I learned some important things about my approach and release this year, so although I scored poorly on my more competitive league, I think I should be able to improve that next year -- if I can remember the stuff I picked up this year.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article1637528.ece
Using stem cells as a treatment mechanism for a variety of diseases is an area of medical study that we appear to be just scraping the surface of. This article certainly paints a promising picture for the future of the use of stems cells, but of course, a treatment of 15 individuals does not guarantee success across the board. However, the fact that the success rate was extremely high is promising nonetheless, and it should provide some momentum for the researchers to improve the treatment regimen and get funding for using similar tactics on other diseases. I was interested to see that the treatment was mentioned to show benefit to lupus sufferers, but there was no mention of ALS or MS -- both of which would seem to be auto-immune diseases that would be ripe targets for such treatments (in my non-medical opinion, anyway).
Given my lack of formal medical training, I didn't try to read the JAMA articles, so I guess I should have a more reserved excitement, since often the reworking of medical articles for general news makes everything look better than reality. In the end, I consider this article to be interesting because it at least presents evidence that in some cases things can be done to drastically change the course of the disease. We don't yet know what other effects the treatment has had (or will have) on these people, and we must assume that these people were somewhat hand-picked. As more evidence is collected, we can take a balanced look at whether this treatment is blossoming into a holy grail or if it was another news item that never materializes into anything efficacious.
(Did you know that efficable isn't even a word? The word you want is efficacious. I swear I have heard efficable used many times, and even thought I knew what it meant, until I tried to look it up and found it didn't exist! That'll show me for being a smartypants!)
The MSU Spartan Hockey Team has captured the National Championship!
Congratulations to the team, and to all the fans, especially SuperDave: enjoy this one, it has been a long time coming!
The Green and White Hockey team has shown that they can play with anyone in the country, ousting BU, Notre Dame, and Maine in consecutive games in the NCAA Hockey Tournament. SuperDave gets credit for being the first to recognize that they whooped up on Maine, but I still need throw out some props for Rick Comley and the team. I'll be watching the finals on ESPN tomorrow night for sure!
Yesterday a coworker mentioned she was trying to sell a couple of tickets to the Tigers game today and asked if I was interested. I decided to take the offer and get the boys out to the park. Of course, opening day (Monday) was sunny & 70. The forecast for today was cloudy, 40 degrees, 30kt winds, and rain or snow. Joshua and Caleb were stoked to go to the game, but given the forecast, Jodi bundled them up (at my request) in snow suits, boots, hats, mittens -- full sledding outfits, basically. I was layered up as well with longjohns, flannels, huntin' boots, gloves, and a quilt coat under a raincoat. We also took a big throw blanket just for good measure.
It was COLD. I busted out the chemical hand warmers after the 2nd inning and we went to the bathroom to stand under the heaters after the 4th. We abandoned our outfield seats and upgraded to Tiger Den seats (there weren't a lot of people out today -- surprise, surprise), and Joshua was happier since he could see better. I wrapped Caleb up in the blanket and he promptly fell asleep in the seat. I got some peanuts and hot chocolate, and that made everyone happy for a while. At about the 8th inning (when the stupid Blue Jays were making a game of it) Joshua was so cold, I thought we should go, but he threw a fit saying we just needed to go back to the bathroom and warm up his hands -- he wanted to stay until the end. So we did. I think Caleb got tired of it and wanted to go, but when I asked him (repeatedly) he said he didn't want to go home yet -- the men on the grass were still running around (I think Joshua was coercing him a bit). So we stuck it out to the bitter end. I'm not sure how many 3 and 4.5 year-olds (or 34 year-olds) are willing to stick it out to the end in weather like that, but those two little guys sure weren't going to leave unless they had to. In the end, the Tigers pulled out the win (even though Todd Jones AGAIN put the winning run on base -- I hate it when he does that) and we hustled back to the car and cranked up the heater full blast (I turned it down finally when we got to 275 -- the car felt like an oven and it got really quiet ).
One interesting side-story. I took a slightly different way to the park, since I had heard that the Lodge and Woodward both had inconvenient construction. I ended up on John R about 3 blocks from the stadium looking for a spot to park. There was a vacant lot and a guy waving me in, but he was kind of non-chalant about it, and when I asked how much he said $10. I thought that was decent, and it was pretty close, so I pulled in. He gave me a claim check, but didn't wait for me to pay him, and told me to park wherever and however I wanted. I thought, okay, whatever. I parked in the back, near a driveway, so I could get out easily if a bunch of people parked there after me, and got out and started getting our stuff together. I figured he'd walk over and get the $10 from me shortly. Instead, another car pulled in and parked next to me, and they roll down the window and kinda holler at me to get my attention. I look up and the driver waves me over. He says "Afternoon sir, Detroit Police, did that man take money from you to park here?" I'm not sure what to think, so I just blurt out the truth, "Well, no, not actually. He told me it cost $10, but never collected the money. He gave me a claim check though. Is it okay to park here?" He told me it was fine to park there, and thanked me. I went back and started getting our stuff together and getting the boys all ready to go. The dude who gave me the claim check walks over to their car (apparently to try to get money?) and they promptly question him, cuff him, and arrest him on the spot. We started walking... quickly. Not that the $10 would have been a big deal, but it was nice to see that Detroit's finest are out trying to prevent idiots like me from getting bamboozled.