Mark’s Blog

Maybe that Red Bull at 10pm wasn’t a good idea.

Is Red Bull ever a good idea?

I rode my bicycle to work today.  It’s only about 2 miles or so, much of it on a nice footpath that starts almost at my front door.   A few problems hold me back from making this a regular occurrence.

1. Work’s dress code.   Nice clothes, dirt footpaths, and bicycle chains are a recipe for disaster.   Plus, I start to overheat the minute my ass hits my office chair.
2. Weather.  #1 is compounded by the narrow range of weather that is pleasant to ride in.   It’s now pretty brisk/damp in the morning, and it’s only going to get worse.  Oh, yeah…  it also apparently rains here every once and a while.
3. Daylight.  I didn’t use my eyes to navigate home, I used the Force.   It’s now pitch black around 5pm.
4. Lunch.  I really enjoy coming home to see my lovely wife at lunch time.  It really helps break up the day.

I do intend to ride more… but for now commuting will remain a motorized affair.

A few years ago I kicked the email-mailing-list habit, only to quickly replace it with RSS feeds. At 150+ feeds I’ve created my own internet hamster wheel. I now spend about 70% of my waking hours trying to keep up.

So, it’s time for another purge. Hopefully, I’ll find something more productive to do with my new free time… like heroin.

Update: down to 45 feeds

Websites that have a link “Enlarge Image” which when clicked opens a new window, containing an image no larger than the original.

Thank you Friendster, lj, Facebook, Outlook, Google Calendar, etc…  Enough already.  I get it.  Today is my wife’s birthday.

I’ve been waking up tired lately.  A situation unlikely to be improved by a 6am flight to Frankfurt tomorrow morning.

I live life to the extreme. Latest proof: I just bought an iron.

Oh, yeah… you heard that right.

150g / per minute Steam Boost
5 Bar steam pressure penetrates deep into the fabric
Extra large 1.4L removeable tank for unlimited ironing time
120g / Per minute continuous steam

(I’m over-ridding my inner censor and bitching a bit about work)
lame: presenting (over 3 days) at a conference in a hotel, and not having a room in said hotel.
lamer: instead being stationed in a hotel over an hour away.
(I understand this wasn’t the desired arrangement)

As we tucked ourselves in last night, Deb announced she was feeling a bit unwell after the large, rich dinner (pan-seared duck breast…) she had earlier in the evening. She was actually a little more descriptive than that… which prompted me to ask: “So when we’re old, are we going to be talking frankly about our poo in regular conversation?” Deb knew exactly what I meant.

Until a few months ago we never really spoke of bodily functions, and did whatever we could to hide from each other the fact that we’re human animals (walking, talking, disgusting bags of meat.) Sure, we speak about gross things in the abstract or hypothetical sense (upper decker, brown hole theory, the Norasster, etc…) but never directly. But, I think all of our traveling together has broken down some of those taboos. We don’t have the luxury of 3 bathrooms when we’re on the road. The recent intestinal nightmare suffered on the Turkey trip didn’t help either. Extrapolating into the future it was obvious where things were headed.

Deb: “We should probably never talk about this again, right?”

Me: “Right”

In the last year:

Days on the road (not at my primary residence): 152
Days on the road (not in Pittsburgh either): 94
Countries visited (not US or England): 11
Lost baggage: 0
Hours delayed: 2
Flights canceled: 3 (all United from IAD->PIT)