OK, this is just an excuse to post our family holiday picture. We have a red candy cane arch (which the lights finally gave out this year, check out the shots from last year), and I'm wearing a red jacket. This may very well be the last year we don't photoshop our picture, since it took nearly 30 tries to get this decent shot. It would be so much easier just to take our best faces and put them all together, but then I would know in the back of my head that we don't have a picture perfect family, but a photoshopped one!
Here we are at the end of November band I survived NaBloPoMo. It was a blast meeting new friends and keeping up the posting frenzy. I, like many, had a dip is "quality posts", not only from the sheer number of posts (I have managed the feat before), but because I had to travel twice for business this month. I wish I could have spent more time writing and less time relying on meme's , but I did manage to post some long time drafts and bring my total number of posts to 496! The only thing I found a bit limiting is the one post per day rule. Sure I can crank out 30 posts in a month, but not necessarily one a day. When I have time, I can crank out 3 in one night and then actually spend time with my family for a few days. I found myself writing up a backlog posts and then publishing them one a day (especially on weekends). Still it was a great fun. See you all again next year!
This post would only be of interest to someone who has never played a slot machine.
If you have, these are not the droids you are looking for, move along...
In a half hour break during my Better Software Conference in Las Vegas, I went to Casino Royale to get their free "Fun Book" including $50 in free slot play. I was sure that I had enough time to walk there and back and whiz through "$50" at 2 credits (dollars) to play. I sat down, fed my fake money and started pressing the button. Ding ding ding, 7 7 Bar. Oh, so close! Pressed again. And again. Suddenly, I felt like a lab rat, pressing the button for a prize. The prize of watching the wheels spin and the lights flash hypnotically before my eyes. Every once in a while, I got 3 bars and 10 or 20 extra credits (They only pay out for jackpots). I was so mesmerized, I couldn't even take a straight picture of the machine! I managed to finish my rat experiment in about 10 minutes, in time to get back to the next conference session.
Now the free play could occur only on designated promotional slot machines, so I was convinced that these machines were rigged never to win. I'm not sure how they can do this with a mechanical machine, but it would definitely be possible with those video slot machines since it is just software. In fact, software for slot machines came up during a keynote speech at the conference. Slot machines are programmed to pay out around 92% (determined by the gaming board). One company's machine shipped with a software bug that paid out 0.1% more than the allotted percentage. Now the cost of this software bug was exponential. First the company had to pay out $2 million to the casino in lost revenue, then $1 million to the Nevada gaming commission, and finally its stock took a $500 million dollar plunge due to lost consumer confidence. Talk about cost of poor quality! Luckily none of my software bugs will have that kind of monetary impact.
One afternoon after I picked Adam up from a playdate, his friend's mom told me that Adam was an incredible Checkers player. I hadn't played with him in a year or so, and his playing was still a bit shaky then, where I had to show him opportunities and mistakes as we went along. She told me that he was beating her son who was just a beginner so she had to take over. She said that Adam completely analyzed and dominated the entire board and was quite impressive.
I had to take her up on her assessment and try a few games with him myself. During our first game, I only half paid attention and he quickly beat me. The next game, I gave my full attention and found myself backed into corners and having to spend long minutes trying to find a winning strategy. I had to use my full concentration and took twice as long as he did for each move and he still won. No stalemates are allowed with him, he wipes you clean off the board. Now, I was impressed! So I upped my game (after all, you'd think I'd have a leg up on a 7-year-old, he hasn't gone to MIT... yet) and finally beat him. But it took all my concentration and energy. In the last game I played with him recently, he allowed me two redo's (showing me my lack of judgment and allowing me a different move) and he still won with no redo's. We've played chess a few times, but I am not a great chess player (although I can still beat him every time), and he prefers the deceptively simple yet brutal rules of checkers.
Now good as he is, he is an incredible sore loser. As soon as he senses that I am winning, he'll start screaming and throwing pieces and whine that he doesn't want to play anymore. Often it is too early to tell who will win, but his emotions get the best of him. I suppose good gamesmanship will come with time and some more coaching. In the meantime, he enjoys winning and sometimes allows mom to win a few.
I don't follow football, college or professional, but when this piece came up in NPR's Story of the Day, I was riveted and had to dig up the video. I vaguely remember students mentioning this game when I attended Cal, but there was no YouTube then to clue me in. In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, here's the scene:
November 20, 1982, Berkeley California. Rivals Cal and Stanford face off in the annual Bay Area classic. The lead changed hands several times and in the final two minutes the score was 19-17 Cal.
Stanford quarterback John Elway (you know, the one who later led the Denver Broncos to two Superbowl wins) led Stanford on what appeared to be a game-winning drive.
With eight seconds left on the clock, Stanford scores a field goal to give them a 20-19 lead. Announcer Joe Starkey said, "Only a miracle can save the Bears."
With Stanford already celebrating, the band wanders down on the field. But in an amazing series of five lateral moves, Cal keeps the ball alive and runs it into the end zone for a touchdown. Kevin Moen runs down a trombone player in the process.
After the referee decision is announced, Starkey screams "Oh my God! The most amazing, sensational, dramatic, heart-rending, exciting, thrilling finish in the history of college football! California has won the big game over Stanford."
It truly was a spectacular play. Just listening to the announcer on the podcast gave me goosebumps. The NFL ought to remember football's rugby roots and try some lateral moves more often.
Ack! Just a quick post for NaBloPoMo since I really need to pack for my trip to Toronto tomorrow...
If you love sushi and rollercoasters as I do, you'll totally understand this correlation. You know the feeling when you've put too much wasabi on sushi and all of a sudden it goes up your nose and it burns unbearably and you start crying and waving your hands at your face, but then in a few moments it goes away? Afterwards you say, "Wow, that was great, let's do it again!" You get the exact same feeling when you ride a rollercoaster. During the ride, it is totally frightful and you wish you never stepped into it and you just hang on for dear life and hope it is over soon. As soon as you jump off, especially if it jolts to a stop without slowing down for a few seconds, you say "Wow, that was great, let's do it again!" Maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment and a cheap thrill!
While Adam waits for his bus to school, I sometimes whip out my iPhone and we watch something quick on YouTube (I know I know, can't this kid spend one minute without stimulation?). Since most YouTube videos are crap, I decided to subscribe to the National Geographic Video Shorts podcast, figuring that it would be more educational. The first time I suggested watching one of these, Adam rolled his eyes and said it would be too boring (so cynical at such a young age).
I scanned down the list to find a title that was more sensational and chose Blood Initiation. What I failed to do was read the description, "Young men of the Matausa tribe undergo a painful bloodletting ritual as a passage to manhood, shoving sticks down their throats and noses, and piercing their tongues." After about 30 seconds when it was clear that this wasn't something that my kids should watch, I stopped the video.
I scanned down the list again and tried Lizardman. (Note, clicking on this link will bring you to a page which will immediately start the video). I read the description, "A Texas man takes tattoos and piercings to the extreme. He has become a one-man freak show," and figured that tattoos can't be that bad. In reality, this man transformed (i.e. disfigured) his body with tattoos and surgery so that he resembles a reptile with pointed teeth and a forked tongue. Seriously, his tongue can move in two different directions. It was so disturbing, I had to turn it off as well. Of course the kids were fascinated and wanted more more more, but thankfully the bus arrived. I think I happened to pick some of the most disconcerting videos to start with. Since then, we've watched a few others such as Hurricanes and Jesus Christ Lizard which have been great. So just beware and read the descriptions before watching these videos!
Since it's Thanksgiving, I'll take a step back and list things I'm thankful for as I'm fortunate not to have any real needs or wants (sap alert). Often, people are quick to dismiss the obvious such as health, family and home, but if you don't stop to appreciate those things, they may just slip through your hands. Then again, thirteen is a pretty long list, so I have some space for smaller pleasures. So without further ado, here are the things I am thankful for:
My health - I try to respect my body by eating good foods and exercising and have been fortunate to be relatively healthy. Without this, I wouldn't be able to enjoy the rest of this list.
My husband - Doug has always been supportive of me and our family and has taken on the crucial role of stay-at-home-dad and laundry king. Thanks Doug!
Our kids - The most cherished gifts we could ask for. Of course they have their moments like Adam's refusal to eat anything I cook, or Dova's unwillingness to get dressed or clean up, but overall they amaze us everyday with their abundant love and charm.
Our family's health - So many families struggle with cancer and illness and I am thankful that we only need to worry about the little things.
Our home - Our beautiful house is just the right size for our family and has a safe yard for the kids to play in.
My job - It's in the perfect location, pays a great salary and most of the time is not totally stressful.
My friends and family - I'm grateful for all of you!
Blogging - My therapy and it's free to boot.
Knitting - It brings me peace and allows me to creates things with love for the kids.
My gadgets - I love my iPhone, iPod, DSLR, computers, high speed internet, Wii... I'm in geek heaven.
My car - Beautiful, luxurious (heated leather seats are mighty nice this time of year), sporty (5-speed, sport suspension), reliable, kid hauler (although not big enough to keep the kids apart on long trips), nothing beats a 325xiT.
Flickr - Organizing my 9000 digital photos could not be possible without Flickr and it has a great community.
DVR - It completely saves our sanity when it comes to TV. Plus the kids get to watch their shows when they want to and buzz through those nasty commercials.
Bonus item:
Cleaners - One day a month, I can breathe a sigh of relief from the dirt, grease, mold, cat hair, toothpaste and spider webs of our lives.
I was so taken by this knitted kitty from Knitting Daily (you'll have to subscribe to their newsletter to get the free pattern), I decided to knit one for Adam. We used some King Tut Egyptian cotton yarn in Lilac, and Adam picked the Lion Brand Microspun in Lime, his favorite color. The cat's body is much smaller than I had imagined, the head and body section looked like a small sock before stuffing it. I had a tough time seaming the body together neatly with the cotton yarn so I changed to knitting most of the limbs in the round (don't forget to reduce one stitch). Of course I got rid of some more of Dova's hair ties while stuffing it. And the simple instruction to embroider the face was not so simple at all! I had to snake the embroidery yarn in from the back, through the tight neck, out onto the face and then back down through the neck and out the back again. For the ears, I used long vertical stitches and then weaved the yarn horizontally through them. For the eyes, I had vertical stitches but then had to go back and make some cross stitches. The whiskers were the toughest. Originally, I had small pieces of white elastic looped around stitches on the face, but they kept going in the opposite direction, even when I reversed them. Finally I ended up using some nylon beading string, tying a knot onto the back of the neck and then drawing them out of the face. This kitty is happiest when doing gymnastics or flying through the air.
Don't forget to check out Jo-Ann.com for all your knitting supplies and use this coupon:
This chart from St Pete for Peace demonstrates that terrorism really works and that Americans are much more willing to pin their troubles on someone or something other than themselves.
I was totally disappointed when Star Simpson, a sophomore at MIT, had the terrible judgment of walking into Boston's Logan airport with a home-rigged LED device in her sweatshirt. Thankfully she was only arrested and instead of being MIT's first Darwin Award recipient. Of course it didn't help that she performed this stunt in the city known to overreact whenever LEDs are involved as with the Aqua Teen Hunger Force bomb scare.
As I drown under the weight of holiday catalogs (go to CatalogChoice.org to opt out), I perused through Computer Gear and found not one, but FOUR shirts that they offer with flashing lights. The TSA will either have to ban these or get used to a lot of geeks strutting their stuff.
Here's one that is suspiciously similar to Star's shirt:
Here are some others:
Click on the images to get to the catalog pages. Buyer beware when going through airport security!
For those of you who are still interested in purchasing an HP Photo Book, you can purchase HP Photo Books at the HP Store and use this 20% discount coupon.
OK, this person didn't quite deserve a You Park Like an Asshole sign, but there were no cars on the other side of him! I had printed up a bunch of these signs but Doug felt they were too much so I think they "disappeared" from our glove boxes. From the looks of the hate mail this site has gotten, I guess most people overreact after receiving one (check it out for a laugh). But apparently bad parking is a pet peeve of many, including Cory Doctorow of boingboing.net. He spells out the license tags and takes no prisoners (notice I left the plate out of the picture to prevent any retribution!). Now there is also a Flickr group where you can take out your frustrations and commiserate.
When I was a graduate student at Cal (University of California at Berkeley) in the late 80's, I lived in Oakland, two blocks up the hill from the Grand Lake Theater. I absolutely adored this historic theater and loved to wander up the majestic staircase, inhale the scent of butter and popcorn, take in the deep reds of the long curtains and marvel at the chandelier. This "movie palace" was built in 1926 and retains the grandeur and charm of Jazz Age with live organ performances on weekends. Back in the day, the organ would serve as background music for silent films. I would sometimes sneak into another hall to watch a second movie just so I could stay there longer.
A movie that I distinctly remember watching was the sneak preview of Batman. I waited three hours outside the theater for tickets and was part of a huge crowd of fans. A television crew even came to film us lunatics, I mean fanatics. While I waited, I ran across the street to grab a hot dog from an old-fashioned drive-up hamburger stand. Looking at Google's Street View now, that place has been replaced by a KFC. Even stranger for me is the fact that I can see my old apartment from Street View. They installed that reinforcing post on the balcony after the earthquake in 1989. From that balcony, I could see the theater sign blazing at night and the lights of San Francisco in the distance. I didn't particularly like living in California, but this theater is one of the gems of my memories there.
Here's a video about the theater with interviews from the owner, organist, manager and projectionist (who doubles as the light bulb changer for the huge sign). There's even a clip of the Star Wars theme played on the organ to delight the audience. I learned that a movie theater makes its money almost solely on concessions as most of ticket sales go back to the studios and the remainder is not enough to keep the lights on. Unfortunately, I was a poor student and couldn't buy any popcorn or candy to support my favorite theater.
A while back I posted a picture of Dova and Mr. Stegs for the Photo Hunters Plastic theme, but did not elaborate on it. The pattern is from Xtreme-Knitting and the acrylic yarn is from late cousin Ruth. The only modifications to the pattern were to knit the spines and pads for his feet in a contrasting color and to leave out the four spikes on his tail (this dino doesn't need to thrash his prey for dinner). This was my first knitted animal and I had a fun time stuffing it. At first I used some loose fiberfill, but then I realized that all sorts of other (free) things would work as well. I unraveled a bunch of gauge swatches which became nice and fluffy from the yarn being all kinked up. Then I utilized some fluffy hair ties that Dova no longer wears. I didn't bother to find something sentimental to put inside, as it is sentimental enough being a toy that I knitted with love (Doug says I'm the least sentimental woman he knows). After this, I made a knitted kitty for Adam so they'd both have a knitted animal from mom (to be posted soon!). So much to knit, so much to blog, and did I mention I need to take another business trip soon?
Geek alert! I was using a different work laptop and wanted to upload some pictures to Flickr. I prefer to use the Publish to Web interface built into Windows Explorer over the Flickr Uploadr because I have had weird issues with that program in the past. But try as I might, I simply couldn't download the registry file because the virus or spyware protection kept rendering it useless. Later, I checked my other computer and found the file. Here are the contents of the registry file for those of you who may run into the same problem. (Remove the carriage return after "CurrentVersion").
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Explorer\PublishingWizard\PublishingWizard\Providers\Flickr]
"Icon"="http://www.flickr.com/tools/flickr.ico"
"DisplayName"="Flickr"
"Description"="Photo sharing and management"
"HREF"="http://www.flickr.com/tools/wizard.gne"
If you are using Windows Vista, change the key name and use the same values (remove the carriage return after "Current Version":
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Explorer\PublishingWizard\InternetPhotoPrinting\Providers\Flickr]
"Icon"="http://www.flickr.com/tools/flickr.ico"
"DisplayName"="Flickr"
"Description"="Photo sharing and management"
"HREF"="http://www.flickr.com/tools/wizard.gne"
I have not verified the Vista key since I don't have Vista running. For more information on web publishing with Vista check this forum.
December 4, 2009 Edited to add - I updated the Vista key and it works. To access the upload wizard in Vista, open the Windows Photo Gallery (default photo viewer in Vista). From the Print pull-down menu, you will see "Order prints from Flickr..." Then you will see the same export wizard as in Windows XP.
Last month, when the internet was abuzz with the story of a 7-year-old boy getting suspended from school for drawing a stick figure with a gun, I quickly went home and told my 7-year-old Adam NOT to draw pictures of people with guns at school. I don't necessarily agree that the NJ school's zero tolerance policy on guns should apply to stick figures drawings, but I didn't want to take any chances of having my precious boy suspended in first grade and on the road to juvenile delinquency. Adam had previously drawn Star Wars figures at school with light sabers which apparently didn't raise any issues, but maybe that was just a technicality.
So imagine my surprise when he brought home this two-sided drawing from school last week.
"Why you little... Didn't I say no pictures of guns at school?!?!?!?" He said, "My teacher didn't see it" and "There are guns on the ships too." He is really pushing the limits.
On the plane, I got a chance to catch up on the MIT Alumni Spectrum magazine, highlighting the work of MIT professors and students. I'm often amazed at the broad range of talents and ambitions of MIT students, which sometimes leaves me feeling a bit of an underachiever. But then I remember being a student and recalling that the vast majority of us were not superstars, but mere mortals and often very normal (OK, some people would argue about the normal part). In my class, James Worden was a superstar, having already won prizes for his solar electric car. In our 2.70 mechanical design class, we had to design a continuously variable transmission for his car. This caused students to resent his fame - like he needed our help! Anyway, these new crop of kids are amazing and now that I'm an adult, I have no problem highlighting their achievements to the world.
Nathan Ball invented a 20 pound battery powered rope ascender that can lift 250 pounds more than 600 feet into the air at up to 10 feet per second. Batman cool, and extremely useful for firefighters. Check out the video. He also is co-host Design Squad, a PBS show that I actually applied for (hmm, I guess TV wasn't for me!).
Zachary Bjornson-Hooper earned an award from the EPA for reporting that airline water was contaminated when he was 12 years old. He hypothesized that planes fly to Mexico and India, which have contaminated municipal water, then refill their tanks. He tested the water with a kit and the results were later verified by the EPA. The EPA then presented results to the U.S. Congress, which made it illegal for airlines to serve contaminated water.
Raja Bobbili taught an MIT class on poverty in developing countries that produced legislation for HIV/AIDS in Zambia and recently has been approved for the entire nation of Zambia.
Amos Winter is devoted to developing better wheelchairs for use in developing countries by developing a wheelchair in which you can comfortably travel six miles a day, and which can be sold in Africa for under $150.
Jason Katz-Brown - This Scrabble champ sees Scrabble as an endless mathematical problem and not as a word game as the casual player does. He is currently ranked 3rd in the National Scrabble Association (which is international despite the name). He also co-developed Quackle, an artificial intelligence version of Scrabble.
Nicki Lehrer founded the non-profit Children of Guayaquil to build a community center in Pascuales, Ecuador for street children with no food, clothing or education.
Sadik Antwi-Boampong recently established the first library in a poor town in Ghana. With no resources, he solicited donations of books and computers, and connected with a member of Parliament who volunteered to donate a run-down town council building to establish the library.
Angelica Weiner implemented a computer project for young women in Ecuador to teach them skills to land jobs. In the beginning, the girls struggled with the most basic skills, like switching on the computer, and opening and closing windows. By the end of the term, the students were touch typing, making PowerPoint presentations and Excel spreadsheets, and were closing computer windows with confidence.
Jainey Bavishi is working to establish a Gulf Coast funders' collaborative to support and strengthen community capacity in the region affected by Katrina and has traveled to New Orleans 12 times.
Emily Houston won 10 national target shooting championship titles and holds 20 national records, the highest score for her age ever recorded in the US. She plans to go to the Olympic trials in 2008.
Doria Holbrook is a national diving champ who hopes to qualify for the Olympic trials in 2008.
Carl Dietrich invented an aircraft that is a cross between a small car and an airplane. Several distributors are eager for a chance to sell the $148,000 aircraft which has already interested hundreds of customers and investors and it’s not even built.
Anthony Rizos launched his own railroad web site that was devoted to Amtrak train service at age 10. After attracting the attention of the Associated Press, USA Today, and CNBC the chief information officer of Amtrak offered him a job at age 13.
I survived day one of "Team Leadership: Meeting the Challenge," held in Rancho Capistrano. This Dilbert cartoon was shown in the beginning of the course before we did any of our experiential activities. Our last challenge of the day was "Laser Slot". We had seven people on each side of these ropes and had to pass four people from one side to the other without touching the ropes or passing through the vertical planes above and below the ropes. We had to estimate the number of failures or "tilts" we would have, where we would have to start over from the first person. If we went over the number of tilts we would get penalized. We did go over our estimated five tilts and ended up having to pass ten people across without tilting. Here's my turn at it...
SuperMom Action Figure courtesy of Happy Worker (buy me one please!)
Recently I attended an audio brainwashing, I mean training, session for managers at my work and learned these facts:
29% of Employees are Loyal and Productive 55% of Employees are Not Engaged 16% of Employees are Actively Disengaged (troublemakers)
Right now, I fall squarely in the majority. That doesn't mean that I am not loyal and productive, but I simply don't live for my company and my job. At various points in my career I have been all three types, and probably in those percentages time-wise as well. I distinctly remember staying up all hours trying to finish a software project or helping manufacturing get instruments out the door. I also remember feeling completely demoralized when my company had to restate its earnings so I spend long hours playing cards instead of working. But for the most part, I am a decent worker who gets things done quickly and efficiently, so I build in some coast time for myself. What kind of worker are you?
We had the most civilized birthday party ever, even though the kids had to stay inside due to torrential downpours and wind. We had only 6 kids, instead of 21 last year. I even got off pretty easy with the cake. One mom said, "Wow, you've got the official Star Wars font down!" Here's my secret: I printed out the Star Wars logo, carefully cut out the letters with an exact-o knife, and then used it as a stencil on top of the cake. When the letters were semi-dry, I used a toothpick to make the final adjustments. Adam did the honors of putting the Lego Star Wars figures on top. When I asked him why so many were lying down, he said they were dead. Of course, 100% boy.
'Twas the night before Adam's birthday party which means that mom is running around baking him some ridiculous cake and carving the jack-o-lantern. I'm taking a break from decorating his cake (which already broke into three pieces) to post the pumpkin. Believe it or not, this spider was a lot easier than last year's bat. And hopefully this years cake will be a lot easier that last year's Spongebob. As a clue, here is his party invitation:
Is it evil? Is it p0rn? Is it a game? NO! It's NaBloPoMo, National Blog Posting Month. I wonder why my company thinks it ought to be blocked. God forbid that one of its employees is a blogger. (I really ought to be more careful than Jessica Carr who got fired over her personal blog). I suppose most "social" networking sites are banned so that would count. Moms Rising, however, is clearly evil to them as we wouldn't want to empower parents to have more rights at the workplace.
While we are on blocked sites, This American Life and Air America are banned at work (I listen to the former but not the latter, a co-worker pointed it out). At first I thought it was just radio sites and bandwidth concerns but then Fox News Radio is wide open. Just an observation. (OK to be fair, NPR is not blocked either).
Anyway, I hate to miss a party, so I signed up for NaBloPoMo. It'll be tough to post once a day especially while I'm traveling to CA next week (prerequisite - hotel must have free wi-fi), but I've managed to pull it off before. See you everyday until December!
, but I did manage to post some long time 
. 
