Pimp my ride

This morning, I did about the most pimpin' thing I've ever done. I took my Kia Rondo to Tint Specialists and had the windows darkened.

I did this for a couple of reasons. Reason #1 is that the interior gets very hot when I'm parked in the sun. It almost feels cruel sometimes to strap The Boy into his car seat, even after opening the windows or running the A/C for a few minutes. The car has a lot of glass -- good for visibility, bad in that it acts like a greenhouse.

Speaking of visibility, that's Reason #2 for the tint-job. When I bought the car, they didn't offer a cargo cover for the stuff in the back. (Nor did they offer tinted windows.) Now there's a cargo cover available from Kia, but it retails for $250. And it's really only cosmetic, to keep your stuff out of sight. It isn't structural, meaning that anything stowed in the back could still become a projectile in an accident. So the tinted windows also serve a purpose of privacy. Whatever is stowed in the back is realatively out-of-sight unless you press your face against the glass.

Reason #3? Well, it looks cooler this way.

I located Tint Specialists, a local place in the back of an office/industrial park that offers multiple ways to pimp your ride. They don't have a flashy website or glossy brochures. In fact, the sparse seating in their office includes a rear bench seat extracted from some minivan. And to top it off, they offered me a significant discount if I had the work done today and paid in cash. But they do good work, and they're not a fly-by-night operation. They've been in the same spot for years and they aren't going anywhere if I need to bring it back with any problems.

How did I celebrate getting the ride pimped out? I did some of the most un-pimpin' things imaginable: Walked to Panera Bread, had a salmon salad*, and spoke to my mom on the cell phone. Bet I'm the first customer they've ever had who did exactly that series of activities while they were working on the car.

*As some of you know, salmon/fish on top of a salad is one of my favorite meals. I'm happy to report that Panera recently added this item to their menu. It comes with way too much syrupy-sweet dressing, which can easily be remedied by ordering the salad with a different dressing. I recommend Greek or Asian Vinaigrette.

Super Mari[Leg]o

Very well-done stop action combining two 80's favorites...

Courtesy of Collegehumor.

Macn Bacn!

I came across an article on "bacn", a newly-coined term for a category of junk email.

Spam is widely used to refer to unsolicited emails that are blasted to millions of people. Bacn is slightly different, in that it's legitimate marketing. Bacn is the result of giving out your email address to airlines, stores, etc: Those offers and email promotions that constantly show up in your inbox. Personally, I get Bacn from at least 3 different banks, 2 airlines, several retail stores, a few charities, and some ecommerce sites. Sometimes the Spam filter relegates it to my junk mail folder automatically, but most of the time it makes it through to my inbox unscathed. (Oddly enough, I find there is no pattern to this filtering - even emails from the same company can end up in either folder with no predictability.)

It's usually easy to unsubscribe from bacn - most legitimate marketers include an unsubscribe link in each email. But I just go ahead and tolerate the 99% that is not relevant to me, in the hopes that eventually the 1% of truly compelling and timely offers will show up. After all, how difficult is it to delete a few messages a day?

By far, the most unusual bacn that I receive comes from GE Appliances. I once used their website to request a service call for our refrigerator, and I've gotten about one email per month ever since. It includes recipes, and often sweepstakes. Each one just barely passes the bar to prevent me from unsubscribing.

What's your most unique (or annoying) bacn?

The Boy - he grows!

I haven't posted in a while about The Boy (or anything else, for that matter -- but I know there's a contingency out there with a particular interest in his life, particularly his grandparents).

He had his nine month checkup on Monday. They measured him at 29 inches, weighing 18lb, 10oz. Personally, I think it's time to drop the oz and just say eighteen and a half pounds. He was squirming mightily, so we suspect he might be a little longer than measured and we also think he would weigh more on a different day when he'd had more to eat.

On the subject of squirming, he's extremely active and fully mobile. He crawls everywhere, and can make it up the seven steps in our house in about 30 seconds. He pulls up on anything that's one-to-two feet tall, and is fully cruising. For the uninitiated, that means he can walk along next to a table or other surface, using one hand to balance on said surface. We're expecting him to be walking by the end of September.

He's still very good-natured. His energy is boundless - he is always happier crawling around than sitting still. Even when he's deliriously tired, he'd much rather be playing on the floor than sitting on someone's lap. With Mommy's return to work this week, he went back to day-care. He loves it there and comes home in a great mood every day. Lots of fun.

Job search update

Kudos to Daniel, who figured out that I wasn't going to post any more entries until somebody solved the 0.00 ERA challenge.

Okay, that's not exactly true - I've just been lazy.

Here's the update on the job search. Exactly one week from today, my former employer will officially cut me loose. This means a number of things: I no longer have an office to go to (given, I haven't been there in a month anyway); I will have to update this blog from our desktop computer after turning in my laptop; I will be back to having only one cell phone - and a very old one at that; I'll need to sign up for COBRA insurance (fortunately, still at the company-subsidised rate); and I'll be collecting severance. Oh, and I get to start saying I'm unemployed.

There are some hot leads right now that might develop into something. This morning, I had a very good interview with a tech/telecom firm. I'm still talking to a large hotelier, and I'm plugged into a couple of staffing/temp agencies. And Stephanie's sister, who has awesome initials, is also sending my resume to her old boss, which could potentially lead to a job within a few miles of home.

I'll keep you posted. If I had to guess, I'd say that the optimistic picture has me getting a job offer by the end of September, and probably ending up with a moderately lengthy commute. Anything under an hour is very reasonable by DC standards, so I probably can't complain.

Flippish Hen sighting!

Several of you have called me out for failing to follow through on my Flippish Hen promise.

Shappy correctly identified Ted Cox as the major league ballplayer who started his career with the longest streak of batting 1.000. Tangentially, I have to mention that I'm a little disappointed nobody has ever done better than 6 for 6. That's not even two straight games of perfect hitting. This is a record that's ripe for the breaking.

I know that Shappy isn't a man who is motivated by the glory of the Hen. No, he is happy to just know that baseball stats are being looked up and that google skills are being tested. But nonetheless, I'm a blogger of my word, and I promised a Flippish Hen.

So Shappy, here it is. Enjoy it. Savor it. And too bad you can't cook it this week, with the kitchen demolition and all.

PS - I'm still waiting for someone to find the pitcher who started his major league career with the longest 0.00 ERA streak.

Content Providers

Isn't that what life is all about: Content Providers?

The mailman provides content to my life in the form of junk mail, bills, magazines and the occasional handwritten letter. The phone company provides the content of my remote voice conversations. Heck, you could even argue that my friends and family provide content to my life.

In the traditional modern (is that an oxymoron?) meaning of content providers, it's usually taken to include internet service, TV services, etc: The electronic content that is piped into our homes. It is in this sense that we decided to reshuffle our content providers at home.

We had local and long-distance phone service ($0.05/min) with Verizon, Verizon FiOS internet, and DirecTV. Our Verizon bill averaged around $85 per month, depending on long-distance usage, and our DirecTV bill ran about $55 per month.

We chose to switch to Verizon for all of this content: Phone, FiOS internet, and FiOS TV. The primary reason for the switch was dollars and cents -- all three services bundled for $99/month, which really turns out to be around $110 per month with service for two televisions -- saving us at least $30 per month. But there were other benefits, too. Chief among them is the fact that this bundle includes unlimited calling within the USA. So expect us to call more frequently, if we like you. :)

Verizon came yesterday and set up the TV service, and I'm already hooked. There are a number of channels that were not included in our DirecTV service (ESPNU, Science Channel, Discovery Times, Military Channel, more MTVs and VH1s than a seventh grader would know what to do with), plus a few other nifty gadgets like Video On-demand, much of which is free, and weather and traffic widgets that are customized to your zip code and appear right on-screen.

I called DirecTV today to cancel our dish service. I feel no ill will toward them - I was very happy with our experience. But the service, which started out around $45 per month, has crept up to $55 per month - and offers fewer channels than Verizon. Their "retention specialist" didn't put up much of a fight once I explained the reason we were switching, although she did offer $10/month discount for a year.

Side note: Verizon and DirecTV must have an interesting business relationship. In most of their territory, Verizon offers phone service and DSL internet bundled with DirecTV, so they can serve as a single-source provider for all three services. However, in the few but growing places where Verizon has installed FiOS networks (and won the necessary approvals to offer TV service), they're probably stealing a good number of DirecTV customers. I wonder if the contract between the two companies offers any compensation to DirecTV when Verizon steals one of their customers.

She doesn't look a day over 112.

Yone Minagawa, the world's oldest person, passed away this week in Japan. Taking her place is Edna Parker of Shelbyville, Indiana, age 114.

This might not be blogworthy, except that Indianapolis' Channel 6 news favored us with this outstanding picture of Mrs. Parker with Sandy Allen, the world's tallest woman at 7' 7" -- who incidentally lives nearby in Indiana.

Cheney: US Should not invade Iraq, c. 1994

Funny how those little policy statements can come back to bite you. Here's Dick Cheney in 1994, defending his decision as Secretary of Defense not to invade Iraq.



He could have been Cindy Sheehan's speechwriter!

A tainted record...

Among the many baseball milestones/records that are falling this year, Bobby Cox will most likely pass John McGraw for the most ejections from games, barring a sudden onset of pacifism. I've noted this feat before, but Log's Blog asks: Can we really believe this record in the age of steroids?

The links between Cox and steroids are unavoidable; let’s start with his body transformation. Cox entered the league at a slender, 180 lb third baseman. ...I’d say he’s pushing 275 right now. That’s even more extreme than Bonds’ transformation.

Streaming video

Here's a novel way to check the sobriety of potential drunk drivers -- male ones, anyway...

FRANKFURT, Germany — A completely new twist on sobriety testing pairs urinals in public restrooms and a video driving game. The game screen is mounted above a urinal, and the driving game starts automatically as soon as the urinal is in use. Most innovatively, the player controls the direction of the game's cars with his urine stream.

(No, that doesn't say "Press" to Start)

Here's the full story, courtesy of Edmunds.com Inside Line.

I think this is a brilliant idea. Only problem is that major video game enthusiasts could end up making group trips to the restroom - and that kind of thing could turn into a big-time pissing contest. (Sorry, had to)

(And yes, I stole Edmunds' headline because I couldn't think of anything funnier.)

Simply Thrilling Part II

In case you didn't believe the veracity of the Philipine inmates performing Michael Jackson's thriller, here's a follow-up story on Cebu PDRC.

"If I was not in prison, I would not be famous," said Wenjiel Resane, the male inmate who plays the role of the girlfriend in "Thriller"

Into the black sky

Although space flight has become fairly routine -- except when it isn't -- I still find it fascinating. I'm fairly obsessed with flight in general, but the notion that people go up into space is quite novel to me.

That's the only explanation for the last hour-plus which I've spent watching the countdown to launch of the shuttle Endeavour (STS-118) on NASA TV.

It got pretty dramatic there for a while - they couldn't get confirmation that the door to the shuttle was latched correctly. Pretty embarassing, if you ask me. Kind of like my US Airways flight a few years ago, which got canceled after they couldn't start the airplane. (This is true.) Trouble closing the space shuttle door isn't exactly what NASA needs these days, with drunk- and jealous-lover-astronaut scandals. Then again, nobody's really watching right now anyway. Except the bored and unemployed.

I don't really understand why the countdown to launch has planned hold times. At T-20 minutes, the clock stops ticking for 10 minutes. At T-9 minutes, there's a 42 minute break. Doesn't this all defeat the purpose of a countdown? Is it just NASA's way of admitting that a 43-hour countdown simply isn't long enough?

Here's where you can see if/when the shuttle will be visible in the night sky in your neck of the woods. You can even host a Star Party!!

It seems odd to me that Seth will probably never remember seeing a Space Shuttle fly. They're scheduled to retire in 2010. Also strange to me is the fact that the replacement, the Orion spacecraft, isn't going to be ready until 2015 or so. That's a long time to go without any US manned spaceflight.

Anyway, kudos to NASA for maintaining a launch blog.

Legoman!

Somewhere, a car made of giant plastic blocks is rolling along without a driver.

Giant Lego Man Found in Dutch Sea [Reuters]

You're invited...

I received this email from Hertz yesterday. I'm a member of their #1 Club Gold program, courtesy of my [former] employer.

I was honored to receive this invitation to join the President's Circle, which in addition to forming a very long program name (Hertz #1 Club Gold President's Circle), also costs $450 per year!

Geez, must be such an honor to receive this invitation. I'm sure that if your average Joe offered Hertz $450 to join the super-elite double-secret superhero president's club, they'd turn him away because it's invitation-only.

PS - the graphic for the top of the invitation must have been corrupted as it never appeared in several openings and re-loadings of the email...

Freeze or you'll barf!!

From the stranger-than-fiction office at the Department of Defense...

The vomit-inducing light saber.

"The handheld device using light-emitting diodes to emit super-bright pulses of light at rapidly changing wavelengths, causing disorientation, nausea and even vomiting in whomever it's pointed at."

Hat tip to Mikey C... count on him to find the stuff on foxnews.com. :)

Minesweeper: The Movie

In this age of remakes, live-action versions of cartoons, and comic-book movies, how far will Hollywood avoid going in order to make an easy and predictable hit film?

That's the question that Collegehumor.com was answering when they came up with this trailer.

Thanks to Yael for noting this.

Losing a part of me

I just received some sad news and wanted to share it:

The Leukemia patient who received my stem cells passed away last month.

Back in March of 2001, before I -- or anyone else, really -- was blogging, I had a very unique opportunity to donate stem cells. Here's a lengthy summary that I wrote last year for a friend of mine who asked about it:

When we were in college, there was a sponsored drive to get people registered in the Bone Marrow registry of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP). Normally, it costs money to get your blood drawn and typed for the registry but since this was a sponsored drive, it was free.

Skip ahead a few years, I'm out of college and working for Staples...

One afternoon, I got phone calls from both my mother and my mother-in-law saying that the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston is trying to get in touch with me. (Since I'd been in college when I got into the Marrow registry, they had my college dorm address, but I'd listed my parents and Rachel's parents as emergency contacts -- so that's how they tracked me down.)

I called and they told me I was a potential match for a cancer patient. They needed me to come into Dana Farber Cancer Institute (attached to one of the hospitals in Boston) for additional bloodwork to confirm that I was a match. I think I went in twice -- once for the bloodwork, and the second time for a complete (free) physical exam.

After all that (probably about 3 weeks have passed total), they told me that I was a match for a 57-year old male with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML). His doctors were requesting that I donate Peripheral Blood Stem Cells (PBSC) -- basically an alternative way to get the same stem cells that are found in bone marrow. They explained that PBSC transplants were still considered an experimental procedure by the FDA, so I had to sign that I'd agree to participate in the study. They explained that this is the way it would work:
I would come in a few days before the transplant to get an injection of filgrastim. It's a medication that they normally give to cancer patients to increase their stem cell production, but that for PBSC donation, it works really well to get more stem cells into the bloodstream of the donor. They also told me that healthy people sometimes reported bone pain and other side effects from filgrastim (although cancer patients usually report feeling better when they got it).

Anyway, they told me I'd have to come in for five consecutive mornings to get a filgrastim injection. On the fourth and fifth day, they would hook me up to a pheresis machine for 5-8 hours per day to collect the stem cells. The pheresis machine is the same one that's used by people who donate platelets -- basically, they draw blood from one arm, put it through the machine to extract the stem cells, then put the rest of the blood back into the other arm.

I remember they asked me to be very certain that I wanted to go through with the procedure before agreeing. Once I agreed to go through with it, they would start the cancer patient on a course of chemotherapy to kill off his cancerous stem cells (in preparation for giving him my own) -- and that if I changed my mind at the last minute, the patient probably wouldn't survive. Obviously, I agreed and they scheduled me for my filgrastim injections and scheduled the patient to receive the transplant.

I had pretty severe side effects from the filgrastim injections -- fever, nausea, bone pain. It felt like having the flu and being really sore. After the first couple days, I stayed home from work and had lots of Gatorade and chicken soup, pretty much spending the whole day in bed or lying on the couch.

The collection procedure wasn't bad. I've donated blood before so I could handle the needles. I had to lie on a gurney the whole time while I was hooked up to the pheresis machine -- I think it ended up being about 6 hours, for two days in a row. I had my own TV and they had a bunch of movies, plus lots of snacks. Several of my friends who worked near the hospital dropped by to visit throughout each day.

They don't allow donors or patients to share any personally identifiable information for 12 months -- so all I knew was that the patient was a 57-year old male. They wouldn't tell me where he was, but they did say that he'd receive the stem cells the same day I donated them. (well, the second day I was hooked up to the pheresis machine)

Although you can't share information, NMDP does allow the donor and recipient to exchange letters anonymously. In fact, they even censor the letters to make sure you don't say anything that could give away your identity. I sent a letter, and received several letters from the recipients' family. Since the matching traits are genetic, I guessed that the patient was probably of Eastern European Jewish ancestry -- several of the things in his family's letters also tipped me off. (Turned out, I was right)

Anyway, 12 months later, we finally did exchange contact information. His name was Marshall Kahan and he lived with his wife in Southern California. They have 2 kids and several grand-kids. He is a retired school-teacher.

We've kept in touch. Last year, I went to San Diego for work (and brought Rachel with me) and Marshall and his wife, Toby, met us and took us out for lunch. It was pretty amazing to meet him. His recovery has been remarkable -- I guess it's pretty rare to recover fully from AML. As of March, he'll be 6 years cancer-free. We still keep in touch via email -- in fact, they're on the distribution whenever we send out pictures of Seth. :)

So that's the big story. Oh, and since the PBSC procedure was considered experimental, they asked me to come in for bloodwork at 6 months, 1 year, and every year thereafter to prove that there are no lasting effects to the donor. I kept up with it for a couple of years, but after a while I told them I didn't think it was necessary anymore.

I'm sure you can find more about PBSC on these here internets if you really want to know...

Marshall died July 27th of Epstein-Bar syndrome, complicated by his weakened immune system. His daughter sent me a very kind email to share the sad news. Marshall lived six and a half years cancer-free, evidently a remarkable recovery.

Being a donor was an amazing experience. Imagine how much more likely people would be to donate blood (or platelets) if you got a thank-you letter from the recipient's family, explaining how you helped to save their life. Powerful.

Chompers on the way in

Seth's still his cheery self, but he's had a rough time with teething the last few days/nights. He's getting his top teeth to match the bottom pair he's now had since May. We've had to apply Baby Orajel to numb his upper gums each of the last few nights to help him sleep. He'd been waking up in pain -- not the usual baby-crying, but a distressed (and distressing) cry, complete with tears streaming down his little face. The orajel has helped, but we'll all be happy when those top teeth break through.

In the meantime, The Boy had his first taste of MEAT today. We had a barbecue (ok, we grilled) today and he got to try some hamburger. He liked it. Must have been my secret mix of herbs and spices...

He's now had all the food groups -- fruit, vegetables, grain/bread/pasta, dairy, meat/protein -- all except for cookies. We'll get to those eventually.

Baseball stats

With the various baseball records and milestones lately (A-Rod 500th HR, Bonds 755th HR, Glavine 300th Win), I've been spending some time on Retrosheet, a phenomenal archive of baseball statistics -- although it's not updated during the season.

However, one of the questions that crossed my mind doesn't seem to be easily searchable on Retrosheet -- or anywhere else, to the best of my Google searching abilities:

What is the record for most ABs maintaining a 1.000 batting average to start a career? There must be someone who hit safely in their first 5 or 10 consecutive ABs...

Corrollary: What pitcher holds the record for most innings pitched while maintaining a 0.00 ERA to start his career?

Flippish Hen for the commenter who finds the answer!

They're watching you...

Okay, so maybe they aren't watching you -- or maybe they are -- but you can watch them, too.

Thanks to the website Heavens Above, you can track which satellites will be visible in the night sky above your location. Search by city or enter Lat/Long coordinates, select the minimum brightness (3.5 is brightest). Then, head outside and look up -- it event tells you what altitude (degrees from horizon) and direction to direct your gaze.

It would be fun to do this in some remote location where views of the stars (and satellites) aren't limited by light pollution.

Lego Dictators!

Outstanding item found on boingboing.net

"The Saddam Hussein doll glows in the dark to indicate his posthumous status."

This Glavine guy has potential...

Don Sutton was impressed with a young Tom Glavine in 1989. So impressed, in fact, that he immediately thought Glavine (then 9-21 Career) might have an above-average career...

"I told him, 'I love your makeup, I love your discipline. I love your commitment. I think you have a chance to win 200 games.' Now I have to apologize for shortchanging him," Sutton said. "He is one of the most special people that I have gotten to know since coming into the game as a broadcaster." [Nationals.com]

The Mets bullpen cost Glavine his 300th win last night. His next attempt will be Sunday, against another former Brave, Jason Marquis.

Elsewhere in baseball news, we're taking the boy to watch a game tonight between two teams that are a combined 31 games under .500. Don't worry, Critter - there will still be plenty of sights and sounds to keep you entertained at the ballpark.

The job search continues...

I'm starting to reach the point of frustration with the job search. It's really not too terrible yet, but I just haven't found anything terribly exciting. When I see postings for something that (a) looks interesting and (b) I'm qualified for, I'll send (email) out a resume and cover letter. It's fairly easy to find (a) or (b) independent of one another - the trick is finding that rare opportunity where both are present.

And "interesting" is a notch or two below "exciting". Much as I enjoy adventure, I'm a big fan of stability. I don't like relocating and I don't enjoy the job search process. So I'm really hopeful to find a job and a company with good long-term potential. Not just potential for career advancement - also potential to be truly happy with the company and the work I do.