Jiu-Jitsu

I've been thinking for awhile of expanding my training program beyond weightlifting and cardio machines. It's not that there's anything wrong with that kind of training program, but I felt like it was time to do something which would combine a workout with learning new skills. Since I started regularly watching MMA matches, I've become increasingly interested in Brazilian jiu-jitsu , so I thought I might like to try it.

I searched online for places around Pittsburgh that offered classes, and found Steel City Martial Arts . I've now been taking classes for 3 weeks, and it's great, both as a workout and a discipline. After the first class I participated in, I was so sore that I could barely move, but my condition has improved with each class, and I've enjoyed learning the strategy behind the matches I've seen on TV. Sensei Achille and all of the students at Steel City have been very helpful and encouraging.

I posted a picture of myself wearing my new KF Fighter gi on Flickr.

Thrifting

The weekend before last, I had the opportunity to go "thrifting" for the first time. This involves going to a number of thrift stores back-to-back in search of new clothes. I wanted to find some new shirts and pants, since I'm always getting ribbed at work about how baggy my clothes are. (My clothes were baggy to begin with, and then I lost 40 pounds .)

My guides to the world of thrifting were Cathy and Peter, who are seasoned vets at the game, and have more fashion sense than I. We started off at Peter's house and headed over to Pamela's for breakfast. I had never been there before, so I was glad to go, since Pamela's is one of those places where you must eat at least once if you want to call yourself a true Pittsburgher.

Filled with delicious strawberry hotcakes, we made our way to the first thrift store on the circuit, the Red, White, and Blue Thrift Store . This place had tons of clothes. Alas, there were no dressing rooms, and I didn't feel comfortable buying pants without trying them on. Peter helped me find a nice Patagonia short-sleeved button down shirt, though.

The next stop was the Salvation Army thrift store on the South Side. I found a couple of button down shirts and a pair of yellow dress pants. Peter warned me that, due to their color, the yellow pants were a "limited use item", but they were only 50 cents, so I bought them anyway.

The final stop on our tour was the Goodwill thrift store on Carson Street. While we were there, Cathy threw a pair of blue jeans over the dressing room door and told me to try them on. I did, and Cathy said she liked the fit, so I decided to buy them. I didn't realize until I was out of the dressing room that they were actually women's jeans. I suppose it doesn't really matter, but I would have never tried them on if I had gone to the store alone, so I'm glad Cathy was there to pick them out.

All told, I got 4 short-sleeved button down shirts, a pair of dress pants, a pair of jeans, and 2 pairs of shorts for under $25. Since I'm pretty cheap when it comes to clothing, I remarked to Peter and Cathy that I might start buying all of my clothes at thrift stores, which elicited a horrified response. According to them, that would be taking things a bit too far. I'm afraid they may have unleashed a monster. :-)

Weekend with Mike

My friend Mike visited me this weekend. On Friday night, we went to the Pittsburgh Panthers basketball game at Petersen Events Center in Oakland. Pitt suffered a disappointing loss , but the game was still fun and exciting. Now I know what people are talking about when they mention the Oakland Zoo .

Speaking of zoos, on Saturday we went to the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium . Many of the animals were not out, due to the cold, but we still got to see leopards, lions, elephants, and monkeys, among other animals. And, of course, the aquarium was fully operational. The zoo was larger and nicer than I expected, and we didn't have to fight crowds, so I enjoyed it. After the zoo, we ate lunch at The Church Brew Works . Later in the day, we went to the Carnegie Science Center and saw Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D at the Omnimax theater.

It was great to see Mike again, and it gave me a reason to get out and see some parts of Pittsburgh I hadn't visited before. Hopefully he'll be able to visit again soon.

How to Lose Weight and Get in Shape

On the Tuesday after the Super Bowl last year, I started exercising regularly and monitoring my diet. Approximately one year later, I weigh 40 pounds less (I went from 197 lbs. to 157 lbs.) and I'm in much better shape (increased cardiovascular endurance and more muscle). I think this qualifies me to give advice on how to lose weight and get in shape. Not all of this will be applicable to or work for everyone, but it worked for me.

1. Burn more calories than you consume. If you want to lose weight, ignore stupid fad diets like Atkins, South Beach, or pretty much any other diet that has been promoted in the last 30 years. It's really simple: you lose weight by burning more calories than you consume. You can accomplish this by either burning more calories or consuming fewer calories. Most people will want to do some of both.

2. Be analytical. When you start out, you need to slow things down and think about everything you eat and how many calories you are consuming. You also need to keep track of how many calories you are burning. This is the only way you're going to know if you're burning more calories than you consume. You should also keep a log of your weight, as a check of your calculations. It doesn't matter how you keep track of this information. Use a piece of paper, or a spreadsheet, or whatever you like. I use a program called Calorie King that runs on my Treo, which makes this simple and lets me enter data no matter where I am.

3. Make it routine. Many people claim that motivation and willpower are a key part of losing weight and getting in shape. These people are wrong. The most important thing is routine. I didn't suddenly become super-motivated to lose weight one year ago. What happened is I moved to a new city and a new job, so I had no established routine. I used this opportunity to make going to the gym part of my daily routine. Now, I go to the gym after work out of habit.

   People like to spend a lot of time talking about the downsides of habit and routine, but they can just as easily be used to accomplish something great. I find it easier to form new routines when I change a bunch of things at once, so if you have been thinking of making changes to your schedule other than working out regularly, just make all of the changes at once, and within a few weeks going to the gym will be a habit and you won't have to think about it.

4. Drink lots of water. If you think you are hungry, drink a glass of water and wait a few minutes. If you are still hungry after that, then eat. It's very easy to confuse being thirsty/dehydrated and being hungry.

5. Live alone. This has dual benefits. First, you aren't obligated to eat on any sort of schedule. When you are hungry, you eat, and when you're not, you don't. Second, it means that you control all of the food coming into your household. You won't be tempted by foods that other people happen to be eating.

I'm probably forgetting a few things, but this is the core of my fitness program. It's pretty simple and mostly common sense. If this post becomes popular, then maybe I will get a fake Ph.D. and write a book that has phrases on the cover like, "Dr. Hunter's revolutionary weight loss program!" Until then, you can email me for free advice.

Carnegie Library RSS Feed Generator

Carnegie Library 's email notification system leaves much to be desired. It only notifies you after an item is overdue, giving you no chance to return the item on time. Also, when you request an item, you don't receive an email notification that the item is available until a few days after it is ready. However, your account information web page updates immediately after the item is ready.

To solve these problems, I've been working on a Carnegie Library RSS Feed Generator for the past few months. It works by screen-scraping your account information web page. By doing this, it can add entries to your feed a few days before a checked out item is due and immediately after a requested item is available.

This feed generator was mainly written for my personal use, but since some other people might also useful, I'm pleased to make it publicly available. If you decide to use it, please send me feedback and suggestions, so that I can improve it in the future.

(Sidenote: The feed generator was also an excuse to learn Ruby on Rails . Ruby and Rails are both fun to work with. As a desktop application developer, I used to loathe web apps due to the prevalence of spaghetti code. Rails makes it very easy to create a cleanly factored Model-View-Controller application, so I plan to use it for all of my future web development needs.)

Pittsburgh Geek Night

I attended Pittsburgh Geek Night 44 last Thursday at The Church Brew Works . I spent most of my time talking to a guy about my age that works for Giant Eagle. He told me about their multi-terabyte database tables of transaction data, and what happens behind the scenes when I buy groceries and then immediately go to GetGo to buy gas with the discount I earned. It was an enjoyable way to spend an hour after work, so I'll probably go to Geek Night 45 on February 2.

Pittsburgh Weekend

Phil , Chris, Dana, Angie, and Tim came to Pittsburgh last weekend to visit. On Friday night we met up with Angie's friend Matt, who is a medical student working at West Penn Hospital, and his fiance Beth. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant on Liberty Ave. and then walked over to Matt's apartment and hung out for awhile.

On Saturday we had lunch at The O before visiting the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. We saw The Mysterious Bog People , which is the current traveling exhibit. It was pretty cool, but I was expecting to be a little more impressed, given all of the hype. The bodies were not as well preserved as I thought they would be. We did determine, though, that Tim is a direct descendant of the Bog People, since he is short and has red hair.

On Saturday night we rode the Duquesne Incline to the top of Mount Washington and had dinner at the Grandview Saloon . I didn't think the food was that great, but the view was amazing. We sat outside on the deck, which looked out over downtown Pittsburgh.

On Sunday we made a trip to IKEA, since Angie and Tim had never been there. IKEA is a very unique shopping experience, and it's fun to go there, but only about once a year. The store is huge, and it took us 2 or 3 hours to go all the way through. (There is a reason they have a restaurant in the middle of the store.) I ended up spending a total of $1.03 on a silverware organizer.

It was fun to hang out with the Case gang again, and after showing them around town, I'm beginning to feel more confident in my Pittsburgh "skills". I'll probably make a trip to Cleveland sometime in January to hang out with Angie, Tim, Chris, Dana, and Phil on their home turf.

Startup School

I got accepted for Startup School , along with Jason and Josh . All three of us are going to go to Boston, October 14-17. I think it's going to be very informative, as well as a lot of fun. The school is on Saturday, so on Sunday we should have time for some sightseeing. We were thinking of taking a Boston Duck Tour . Anyone have other suggestions for things to do in Boston?

Video Games Live Concert on Thanksgiving Weekend

A few days ago, Jason told me about Video Games Live . It's a concert tour featuring music from video games performed by a symphony. There is a video promo available. While looking at the tour dates, I noticed that it was coming to Cleveland on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Tickets go on sale this Friday.

I'd really like to go, and I already talked to David and he said he's interested too. I want to order the tickets right after they go on sale, so if you want to go, let me know sometime tomorrow (Thursday). The concert is at 7pm on November 26th, and I expect tickets to be around $20.

Shooting Trip

As you have probably deduced if you monitor the photos in the sidebar, I went shooting last week. A couple of coworkers and I had been planning a trip to the shooting range, and on Wednesday we finally went. I had never shot a handgun before, only a rifle in Boy Scouts, but fortunately one of my coworkers had extensive experience and demonstrated everything to me. I shot a Ruger .22 caliber, a SIG-Sauer 9mm, and a GLOCK .45 caliber . It was fun, and I'd do it again. It's a little expensive (since I needed to rent a gun and ear protection and buy ammo), but I can see myself doing it a couple of times a year.

The Tyranny of the Expense Account

My loyal readers may recall that a couple of weeks ago, I took a trip to Cupertino for work. For the business-related parts of the trip I was able to charge meals and other costs to an expense account. That's great, right? Expense accounts are gravy, aren't they? Well... no. Sure, it's nice to be able to stay in a nice hotel and eat nice meals without paying anything out of pocket, but expense accounts often lead to stupid purchasing behavior. This stupidity ends up hurting me when I'm engaged in personal travel, which is much more frequent (for me) than business travel.

Case in point: broadband Internet access. All major airports now have Wi-Fi available, and nearly all of them charge you at least $10 to use it. [1] This is stupid. First, if you are going to be charged for Wi-Fi, then it shouldn't be more than a couple bucks. Second, providing Wi-Fi is not that expensive, so airports should strongly consider free Wi-Fi, since it builds goodwill and makes people want to use your airport. So why is Wi-Fi $10? My hypothesis is: "because of expense accounts". Most companies will let you expense Wi-Fi. $10 isn't enough to worry about, and Internet access is genuinely useful. Thus, masses of business travelers pay the $10 for Wi-Fi, since they aren't spending their own money. This screws everyone who isn't on an expense account. Get rid of expense accounts and I bet airport Wi-Fi would drop to $2 or free pretty quickly.

The same is true for Wi-Fi in hotels and (probably) coffee shops. I've stayed in $40/night hotels with free Wi-Fi, but the $150/night Marriott I was at in San Jose charged $10/day as part of their "Wired for Business" package. Oooh, "Wired for Business"... sounds like something a serious businessman needs. Better expense that. And I bet that 70% of T-Mobile HotSpot subscriptions are subsidized by expense accounts.

So, yeah, it's nice to travel on an expense account, but I'm overall I'm ambivalent on them. Purchasing behavior might be a bit more rational if companies just gave travelers a certain amount of cash per day and let them keep what they didn't spend. I'm sure that wouldn't always work well, though. So, if you get to travel on an expense account, enjoy it, but try not to screw me too much. :-)

Notes

[1] Fortunately, PIT is an exception to the rule. Wi-Fi is free there.

Carnegie Library Hours

I'm really glad that the Squirrel Hill branch of the Carnegie Library has reopened. It's a great community resource. However, I do have one big complaint about the library. It's only open until 7pm M-W and 5pm Th-Su! Even the library in my hometown (pop. 23,000) is open until 9pm during the week. Sure, the $4.7 million renovation of the Squirrel Hill branch is nice, but I would've preferred that they save some money on the renovations and instead spend that money on staying open later. 9pm would be nice. Even better would be midnight.

Mixed Martial Arts

A few weeks ago, I noticed a show called The Ultimate Fighter on SpikeTV. It was a reality show, where contestants competed for a contract to fight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship . Three bouts were televised during the show's finale, which intrigued me since the UFC is normally only on pay-per-view. I decided to record the finale on my ReplayTV to see if I liked it and to find out how it compared to my previous conception of the UFC.

My sole prior experience with the UFC was watching one of the very early UFC shows (back in the mid-90's) on videotape at a friend's house. It was entertaining due to its novelty (slogan: There are no rules!) and the shear insanity of it all. There were no weight classes, almost no rules, and guys had to fight up to four times in one night. There wasn't much substance to it, though, so although I enjoyed watching it once, I wasn't itching to see more.

The fights on the finale of The Ultimate Fighter were quite a bit different than the fights I remembered from that old videotape. They took place in the same caged octagon, but now there were weight classes and more (mostly common sense) rules (e.g., no groin shots). The fights were also of a much higher strategic and technical quality than the old fights. Instead of two guys with beer guts running at each other and punching wildly, competitors were using proven fighting systems (notably Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ). In addition to being able to take a punch, the fighters clearly possessed a great deal of skill.

I enjoyed watching the finale show, so I decided to rent some some UFC and PRIDE (a Japanese organization similar to the UFC) DVDs from Netflix. I've been really impressed with how far the sport has come. It even has a proper name now: Mixed Martial Arts . You can count me as a new fan.

Taqueria Mi Mexico

A new restaurant opened in Squirrel Hill on Murray Ave. today: Taqueria Mi Mexico. New restaurants are usually exciting, but this one is particularly exciting, since until its arrival there were no Mexican restaurants in Squirrel Hill. Six of us from work decided to eat lunch there. It's unassuming, cheap, and authentic, which are great characteristics for a restaurant. The menu is simple: tacos with a variety of meat choices ($1.50/each), tortas ($4.50), and huevos ($5). They've also got a selection of Mexican soft drinks. I had three tacos: chorizo, carne asada, and barbacoa (goat). They were all good, but my favorite was the chorizo.

Taqueria Mi Mexico has earned a spot in my weekly restaurant rotation for sure. Its arrival also means that there are now restaurants of almost every popular cuisine within walking distance of my apartment.

PeterB also wrote about our lunch.

GetGo Competitors Complain

When I moved to Pittsburgh, I noticed GetGo , a chain of gas stations partially owned by Giant Eagle. At first I didn't care much, but then I found out that for every $50 you spend at Giant Eagle, you get $.10/gallon off at GetGo. (This is all tracked using the Giant Eagle Advantage card.) I shop at Giant Eagle, so I was pleased to learn this, and also admired them for shaking up the stagnant gas market. (I asked my parents a couple of times while I was growing up why gas stations never had sales or coupons.)

So how do GetGo's competitors respond? Do they innovate and improve their business model? Of course not. Why do that when you can use the state government to try to end GetGo's discounts ?

The Petroleum Retailers and Auto Repair Association of Pittsburgh contends that the grocery chain is violating the Unfair Sales Act, a 1941 state law that prohibits selling merchandise "at cost or less than cost in order to attract patronage."

Selling things at a loss to attract business is illegal in Pennsylvania? In that case, all video game consoles ought to be banned. Also, we better stop Best Buy and other retailers from using loss leaders to get people into the store each week. Give me a break. I doubt that Giant Eagle is actually selling below cost, but even if they are, these crybabies need to go home.

Savings Accounts are Pointless

After receiving my monthly statement from Citizens Bank and talking with friends, I would like to point out that savings accounts at banks that have physical presences are pointless. My Citizens Bank Basic Savings account pays me a whopping 0.25% APY. Also, if I don't keep at least $100 in my account, they'll charge me $2/month.

Compare that to my ING Direct Orange Savings account (money market account), which has no minimum balance, no fees, and pays 2.60% APY. It's pretty obvious which is a better deal. In fact, the only reason I have a Citizens Bank savings account is because when I opened my checking account they were running a special offer. If I set up a savings account and scheduled a monthly transfer of $10 from my checking to savings, they'd give me $25 after 3 months. After I get my $25 in April, I'm going to close my savings account.

If you are interested in setting up an ING Direct account, let me know. If I send you a referral you'll get $25 and I'll get $10. You may also want to take a look at Bankrate.com , which lists the highest yielding money market accounts.

Dot-Con Job

The Seattle Times has published an excellent investigative report on the ridiculous business and accounting practices at InfoSpace during the dot-com boom. The report is quite detailed and spans three parts, but it's well worth taking time to read. What makes it especially interesting is the inclusion of company emails and voicemails that were obtained by subpoena. InfoSpace executives played a variety of shady games to boost revenues, engaged in schemes to bypass insider trading regulations, and inflated projections to an absurd level. The fact that none of these people have been investigated by the SEC, while Martha Stewart went to jail, is just stupid.

(The only part of the report not worth reading is the segment on "who lost", unless you want to hear from a moron who invested her life savings in Internet stocks or a day trader who is pissed that he lost $80,000.)

How to Start a Startup

Paul Graham has come through with another superb essay, How to Start a Startup . Reading this essay has reminded me that I've been meaning to read The Six Laws of the New Software .

Health Care as a "Right"

Whenever I get involved in a debate about the state of health care in this country, I invariably run into misguided people who believe that health care is a "right". Now it appears that this kind of stupidity has permeated Congress :

U.S. Rep. Pete Stark, D-Fremont, on Thursday introduced a resolution to amend the U.S. Constitution to guarantee health care as a right for every American.

I'm sorry, but health care can not and should not be a right. Think about some of the rights we do have, such as freedom of religion and freedom of speech. Such rights do not force anyone else to do anything - other than leave you alone. This is as it should be. The rights of one individual should never allow for the coercion of another individual. This is why there is no right to free food, free housing, or a free Buick . If you have a right to free housing, then someone on the supply side (e.g., a landlord) would be forced to give you this housing.

Getting back to health care, if health care is a "right", then who is supposed to provide this health care? Will you be allowed to walk into a doctor's office and say, "Hey doc, I'm not going to pay you, but you better treat me immediately because health care is my right!" Even though a "right to health care" might sound nice, some thought exposes this notion as being nearly as absurd as the right to a free Buick.

Note: The fact that there are so many people in this country that don't receive adequate health care is shameful. Please don't construe the above comments as callous indifference. However, the solution to the health care crisis not more government and socialized medicine. The incredible amount of governmental involvement in our current health care system is a large part of the problem.

Last Exile

Just keep trying, keep on flying, I will be the light...

Last weekend I finished watching the anime series Last Exile . It was the best anime I've seen in quite some time, and I'd rank it just below Neon Genesis Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop in my list of favorite shows.

The first thing that draws you into Last Exile is the setting. It takes place in an amazingly creative world which is a cross between the early 19th century and the future (think Master and Commander with anti-gravity engines). Against this backdrop two nations engage in a war, which is arbitrated by the mysterious Guild. The story focuses on Claus and Lavie, who are vanship pilots (a vanship is a small two-seat aircraft), and their adventures.

The story and character development is generally well done, although it takes awhile for the plot to get rolling. That's fine though, since the world is so interesting. My only major complaint about the series is that a number of plot elements are either underdeveloped or unexplained. This is especially prevalent near the end of the series. It feels like the creators had to rush to fit everything in 26 episodes. Even so, Last Exile is still a great series, with beautiful OAV-quality animation, and I highly recommend it to all anime fans.

Squirrel Hill is Cool

I woke up this morning and need to accomplish the following:

1. Mail a letter
2. Go to the bank
3. Get a optical audio cable
4. Check used Xbox prices
5. Work out

I synced up with the On the Media podcast (so I would have something to listen to at the gym), then left my apartment. Here's what happened:

1. Walked up Murray Ave. to the post office and dropped my letter in the mailbox.
2. Crossed the street and got money out of the ATM at my bank.
3. Walked down Forbes Ave. to The Exchange. Used Xbox: $110.
4. Crossed the street to EB Games. Used Xbox: $130.
5. Walked up Forbes to Radio Shack. 3ft Monster cable: $40. 3ft Radio Shack brand cable: $15. Bought the Radio Shack cable.
6. Continued down Forbes to the JCC. Worked out on the elliptical trainer.
7. Walked back to my apartment.

Total miles driven to accomplish my tasks: 0.

Whole Foods

Today I made my first visit to Whole Foods , the ultimate yuppie supermarket. This is the place to shop if you enjoy paying a 50-100% markup over traditional supermarket prices so that you can feel good about how much you are doing for the native tribesmen of Mek-a-lek-a-ding-dong. Aside from that, they do have a good selection of international and esoteric foods. Here are some reasons you might want to shop there:

• Patak's Cooking Sauces . I really like these Indian sauces. My roommate Brett from Extreme Blue last summer tipped me off to them. You simply cook 1 lb. of chicken, dump in the sauce, and let it simmer for 20 minutes. Combine with rice and you've got a solid meal. (These sauces are available at some Giant Eagles too.)
• Garden of Eatin' Red Hot Blues . These corn chips are ridiculously good (and spicy). I found out about them when one of the Near-Time guys bought some when I was in NC last November.
• Whole Foods Dried Apple Rings. A coworker brought some of these in to work a couple of weeks ago. They are a good snack.

Hopefully I can continue to shop at Whole Foods occasionally without succumbing to the powerful forces of yuppification therein.

Hop the Counter

The current buzz phrase at work is "hop the counter". This is in reference to retail establishments that conduct business over the counter. Sample usages:

If Cafe Tango screws up my order I'm going to hop the counter.

Rite Aid better have my prescription ready, otherwise I'm hopping the counter.

For some reason, I find the use of this phrase intensely amusing.

The Revolution That Wasn't

The Revolution That Wasn't :

"If the history of the Republican revolution were written today, one would have to ask: Whatever happened to the promise of smaller government?"

...

"The era of big government being over is over," declared Marshall Wittmann, a senior fellow at the Democratic Leadership Council, a centrist Democratic research organization.

By the way, there's a Libertarian Party of Pittsburgh meeting on Wednesday at 7:00pm.

Around Town

I recently found out that there is a local Cocoa programmer's group named CocoaHeads . They are having a meeting at CMU tomorrow, so I'm going to try to attend.

For a couple of weeks now, I've been wondering about the sign on the second floor of the building on the corner of Murray and Forbes reading "CyberConxion". I figured it was either an ISP or some lame Internet cafe. Well, it turns out that it's a video gaming center . I'm going to have to check it out, since I've been wanting to play Half-Life 2 on a pimped out machine. It might still end up being a lame Internet cafe, but at least it looks more promising than I initially thought.

Although Squirrel Hill has restaurants of many cuisines, there is no place to get Mexican food. Not even a faux-Mexican burrito joint. However, I did find out today that there is a Baja Fresh over in Oakland. That will have to suffice, since there aren't any Chipotles in Pittsburgh. You can find the Baja Fresh using the new Google Maps , which is awesome (except for some Safari incompatibilities).

Jewish Community Center

For the past week, I've been taking advantage of a free trial membership to the Jewish Community Center (JCC) in Squirrel Hill. (JCCs are similar to YMCAs.) Now I have to decide if I want to pay for a year-long membership. It's pretty expensive, but Apple will pay for part of it. Also, the location is great for me, since I can walk there on my way home from work. Even though it will end up being $50 out-of-pocket per month, I think I'm going to sign up. They have aerobic machines, a weight room, pool, gym, and racquetball courts. It is extremely lame that they charge you extra for group exercise classes (e.g., Spinning) when you've already paid $600+ per year. Oh well.

Pittsburgh Restaurant Micro-reviews

One of my co-workers put together a nice collection of one-line Pittsburgh restaurant reviews . Checking out the places on that list should keep me occupied for awhile. Here are my thoughts on the places I've tried so far:

Gullifty's - Overpriced, mediocre to average American food. This place has a reputation for great deserts, and while they were decent, they weren't special.

Zaw's - Dirt cheap, average to above average Chinese takeout. At lunchtime you can get an entree, rice, and soup for $4-5.

Rose Tea Garden - Really good Chinese food and good (although overpriced) bubble tea.

Kazansky's - A Squirrel Hill fixture. Good corned beef sandwiches and other deli fare.

Mineo's - Excellent pizza. Kind of like Mama Santa's or Valentino's in Cleveland, but more generous with the cheese and toppings.

Napoli Pizza - Reasonable pizza. Good place to grab a few slices on the way home from work.

Pizza Amier - Haven't had their pizza, but their gyros make a solid lunch.

Sree's - Good, cheap Indian. You can get lunch for $5, and it's enough for two meals.

The Wendover

I signed the lease for my apartment in Pittsburgh today. It's at The Wendover . Work is a 10 minute walk, as are shops, restaurants, banks, and movie theaters. Being able to walk to work will be great, since (1) I don't get enough exercise, (2) I dislike driving in heavy traffic, and (3) I'll be able to listen to podcasts.

I took some pictures of my apartment, but haven't transferred them to my computer yet. Next up: getting ready for the moving company's pickup on Monday morning.

UPDATE: I've posted photos of my apartment on Flickr .

Pittsburghese

Phil pointed out to me that Wikipedia has an entry on Pittsburgh English, also known as Pittsburgese . Apparently "yinz" is a Pittsburgh construct. The Wikipedia article pointed me to Pittsburghese.com, where there is an MP3 discussing Pittsburgh English.

Pittsburgh Driving Tutorial

This Pittsburgh Driving Tutorial is hilarious (and scary). My favorite movie is the last example in Lesson 4:

This is the car to watch. He pulls the classic Pittsburgh no signal left turn from the right lane near broadside.

After watching this, I'm really glad that my apartment is within walking distance of work.

Quote of the Day

"This is finance between consenting adults." --Prof. Deeds

The Bootstrapper's Bible

This is cool: Seth Godin is making his entire book The Bootstrapper's Bible available online for 2 weeks only. Download the 103 page PDF .

Debating for Ratings

This is an awesome Flash-based lampoon of election media coverage. We can spend 30 minutes talking about whether sitting down favors Cheney or Edwards, but no air time can be spared for even a brief summary of the platforms of Badnarik, Cobb, and Nader.

New JibJab Animation

It's good to be in DC!

Brainwashing 101

AcademicBias.com has posted an interesting short film called Brainwashing 101 .

Brainwashing 101 is a provocative short film showing how universities use tools such as "speech codes" to force political views upon students.

I don't agree with everything in the film, but in general I think it makes some very good points about political correctness gone wrong.

Illegal Radio Ad

On Saturday, this radio ad will be illegal. Yay, campaign finance reform. </sarcasm>

Big in Japan

My boy Andrew is in Japan for a year through the JET program , and he has just updated his blog with a mammoth post detailing his first month there. My favorite part:

Great news I have new Japanese friends! The bad news is they are in a cult. Well not really but it is a weird religious organization. They stopped by tried to talk to me and then dissappeard because we simply couldn’t talk. They appear like two hours later with a new brouchure in English. Then they called this girl who spoke really great English and we talked for a while. She explained about this cosmic energy and such.

Identity Crisis

Every time I walk through Coventry, especially the area near the Grog Shop, I am reminded of #3 on Maddox's list of video games you'll never play .

It's the year 2004 and nobody knows what's cool anymore! Drift aimlessly from one social trend to the next as you eventually find yourself converging to the ultra-hip world of box-framed glasses and studded belts known as "EMO."

Kids for Kerry

Reading through the New York Times today, I was amused and dismayed by a picture on the front cover. It shows John Kerry in New York with some kids from a group named Kids for Kerry. To me, this is emblematic of just how screwed up our political system is. These kids are maybe 10 years old. I seriously doubt that they have developed a political philosophy of any substance. But that doesn't matter in America! Our politics are more like sports - people pick one of two teams (with little to no philosophical foundation for their decision) and then yell, "go team, go!" without really knowing why.

People allow themselves to take a shortcut and just pick "the lesser of two evils", without thinking much about what our government really should do. It cracks me up to see the number of people walking around campus with Kerry buttons. Of course Bush is no good, with his wars that make us less safe, but John Kerry isn't any better. Every time I hear about John Kerry's protectionist economic policies and talk of "Benedict Arnold companies" engaged in outsourcing, I want to puke.

I plan to vote for Michael Badnarik in November. Feel free to criticize me for "wasting" my vote, but at least I believe in something, instead of just voting against the bigger idiot.

Chipotle Calories

As anyone who goes to Case can tell you, Chipotle is a staple of the local cuisine. I've gone to their website a couple times to look for nutrition info, out of curiosity, but I've never been able to find it. Seems that there is a reason that Chipotle doesn't publish nutrition information. I knew that Chipotle wasn't really good for you, but 340 calorie tortillas? Damn.

Colt 45

This photo is about a month old, but I'm just now posting it. Phil and I decided to split the cost of a Colt 45 just so we could say that we've tried it. Mmm... smooth malted pleasure.

Reason Magazine Cover

This is really cool: Reason Magazine will be customizing the cover of its June issue for each subscriber. The cover will include a satellite picture of the subscriber's home. I let my subscription to Reason lapse, simply because I normally don't have enough time to read it, but after this I may resubscribe.

(Via Slashdot )

Hoax Hilarity

The people in the library might think I'm crazy, but I couldn't help but laugh out loud after reading this headline and first paragraph from an article in today's Wall Street Journal:

Bizarre Hoaxes On Restaurants Trigger Lawsuits

The restaurant industry is struggling to get in front of a bizarre hoax in which outlet managers across the country have been duped into strip-searching employees or customers.

Basically, a guy has been calling restaurants pretending to be a police officer and telling managers that they need to strip-search people. He even got one manager to perform a cavity search. I'd link to the article, but WSJ is subscribers-only.

Long Distance Relationships: An Analysis

Yesterday I somehow got into a discussion of long distance relationships (LDRs), and I offered my view that LDRs where you agree not to see other people are usually pointless. I wasn't satisfied with my argument, though, so I spent some time thinking about it last night, and I came up with this:

Let's view relationships as a market in which you are looking for another person to satisfy certain needs. Different people are able to satisfy those needs to different degrees, and of course you are looking for the person who best satisfies your needs.

Now let's consider two forms of LDRs: those in which you agree to not see other people, and those in which you don't. Then the following scenarios are possible:

See Other People LDRs

During Separation: Obviously you can stay in contact with your original partner via a variety of means, but certain needs cannot be met this way. You can see other people though, so your needs are met to some degree by somebody new. The degree to which your needs are met may be greater or lesser than before.

After Separation: There are three scenarios.

1. Your original partner met your needs better than anyone you met during the separation, so you return to them.
2. You met someone new while you were separated and they meet your needs better than the original partner, so you stick with them.
3. Your original partner met your needs better than anyone you met during the separation, but they met someone else while you were separated, and don't want to get back together with you.

Don't See Other People LDRs

During Separation: You stay in contact with your original partner, but some needs are not satisfied at all.

After Separation: There are two scenarios.

1. You get back together with your original partner, and your needs are satisfied again.
2. Something happened while you were seperated, so you don't get back together. For example, your partner was frustrated that their needs were not being met, and saw someone else anyway. Or you've "grown apart". In any case, you are back on the market.

Given these scenarios for See Other People (SOP) LDRs and Don't See Other People (DSOP) LDRs, what is a rational course of action? Well, scenarios 1 and 2 in SOP LDRs are better than any scenario for DSOP LDRs. You get your needs satisfied at some level during the separation, and then, at a minimum, you go back to your previous level of needs satisfaction. You may even end up finding someone who better satisfies your needs. However, there is a danger, namely scenario 3 of SOP LDRs. Your partner may find someone better than you, and leave you.

Thus, it seems that the choice between SOP LDR and DSOP LDR hinges on how much you fear scenario 3 of SOP LDRs. If you aren't worried about scenario 3, then you should definitely go with a SOP LDR. However, if you are worried about scenario 3, then the issue becomes a little more murky. Going with a DSOP LDR doesn't guarantee you anything: scenario 2 of DSOP LDRs could occur.

If you are worried about scenario 3 of SOP LDRs, then it is probably because you believe that you have benefitted from a "market failure". Essentially, you think that you've found a partner that is much better than the average partner you could expect. Thus, you want to protect this market failure, and might go with a DSOP LDR. The problem with this strategy is that your partner is likely to figure out that a market failure has occurred sooner or later, leaving you with an increased likelihood of a scenario 2 DSOP LDR, which puts you back to where you started.

For all of the above reasons, I think SOP LDRs are usually the way to go. If you are not worried about your partner meeting someone better than you during the separation, then the outcome of a SOP LDR will be better than any possible outcome of a DSOP LDR. If you are worried about your partner meeting someone better than you, and decide to go with a DSOP LDR, then you have a better than average chance of the DSOP LDR ending with you and your partner separated. Thus, the only reason to go with a DSOP LDR is if you are worried about your partner meeting someone new and you are nearly certain that you will be able to get back together with them after the separation. This scenario seems pretty unrealistic to me.

Erotic Photo of the Day

Oh, baby. (Taken from an Apple advertisement.)

Coupling

Now that spring break has arrived, I've finally had time to watch Coupling , the sex/dating situation comedy from the BBC. Although I normally dislike sitcoms and dismiss them as "contrived", I really like Coupling. Of course, the situations in Coupling are contrived, but they are also hilarious. Often times the gags build, so that after you've seen the obvious gag coming, there are two or three more gags that you weren't expecting.

Jeff: "I mean, where exactly do you take your socks off? My advice is to take them off right after your shoes, and before your trousers. That’s the sock gap. Miss it, and suddenly you’re a naked man in socks. No self-respecting woman will ever let a naked man in socks do the squelchy with her."

I'm on a BBC kick lately. First The Office , now Coupling.

The Office

I've been watching The Office from the BBC lately. I just finished the first season, and now I'm watching the second. The show is brilliant. It's a comedy about office life shot in a documentary style. I don't normally laugh out loud when I'm watching a show by myself, but with this show I just can't help myself. Maybe I find it particularly funny because I'm not exposed to British humor that often.

Typical dialogue:

David: "Look whether or not Anton is indeed a midget, or a dwarf-"
Alex: "No he’s a midget"
David: "What’s the difference?"
Alex: "A dwarf is someone who has disproportionately short arms and legs"
David: "Oh I know the ones"
Alex: "It’s caused by a hormone deficiency"
David: "Yeah… bloody hormones"
Alex: "A midget is still a dwarf but their arms and legs are in proportion"
Gareth: "So... what’s an elf?"

Latest ITMS Purchase

Channel Surfing by Feature Cast.

Greenspun on Dean

Phillip Greenspun tears apart Howard Dean 's issue positions.

It would appear that a thoughtful voter could easily write off Howard Dean as a non-entity after spending 30 minutes at his Web site.

I have to agree. Sure, Dean's got a weblog , an RSS feed, and is drawing on the Web for grassroots support. To some people that instantly makes him great. But I disagree. It doesn't matter how much social software you use - I'm not going to support you if your ideas are bogus.

Crazy Hosting Deal

1&1 Internet is offering a crazy deal right now - 3 free years of hosting. The plan being offered normally costs $29/month. It sounds too good to be true, but I checked out the forums at webhostingtalk.com , and it appears to be legit. I'm in the process of signing up right now (waiting for the email with my account info).

Racial Attractiveness

Interesting Question of the Day over on Erik's blog:

Are you as physically attracted to members of other races as you are to those of your own?

I've provided my answer in the comments for that post.

Lingerie 101

Lingerie101 - a man's guide to lingerie. Don't know a chemise from a babydoll? This is your site. Each week an article is posted about a different piece of lingerie.

(Note: Although I didn't see a link to it, an RSS feed is available.)

SmackDown! at Gund Arena

WWE SmackDown! will be taping at Gund Arena on February 3rd. Tickets go on sale tomorrow at 10am. David, Andrew, and I have discussed buying tickets, and I'm trying to nail down the details now. If anyone else wants to go, let me know.

Cheesy Bean and Rice Burrito

Do not eat the new Taco Bell Cheesy Bean and Rice Burrito, unless you like foul tasting shit. Sure, it may sound good, but we're talking about Taco Bell-quality ingredients here. Now, if Chipotle had a cheesy bean and rice burrito...

Notacon

Froggy just announced Notacon on cwru.general.

It's "not a 'con". Well, it kind of is. But it isn't. Kinda. Sorta. Not really.

It sounds like it's going to be a cool event, and if anyone can pull this off, it's Froggy and his staff . Spread the word about Notacon!

Sidenote: I didn't know it until tonight, but Froggy has a blog .

MythBusters

Tim watched a few episodes of MythBusters on the Discovery Channel this semester in our suite lounge. I never paid much attention, but it seemed like a pretty decent show, so I set my ReplayTV to record it. After watching a couple of full episodes, I'm hooked. One of the recent myths they examined was exploding CDs in high-speed drives. The myth was "busted", but it was fun to see high speed power tools used to destroy CDs. Another recent "busted" myth was cell phones causing gas station fires. Recommended addition to your PVR.

NPR Sex Appeal

According to this guy , listening to NPR will get you laid! In that case, I should be getting some any time now...

For both the male and the female, listening to NPR sends a signal to a prospective mate: "Despite my current income, in a few years I will have a house in a neighborhood with good public schools, and I will drive a Volvo stationwagon."

(Via Gawker )

Baker's Square

Before the movie last night, Jason and I ate at Baker's Square . I had never been there before, but Jason had gone last week and liked it. The food is pretty good, with a selection similar to Denny's or Big Boy, but the primary attraction is the pie . You can add soup and a slice of pie to any meal for $1.19. Jason and I both had the strawberry rhubarb pie, which was excellent.

Lego Manufacturing

Somebody has created a Flash animation that takes you through the production process for LEGO bricks.

Everyone knows where LEGO bricks come from. They're scraped off the inside of magic trees by tiny Danish elves, right? Wrong!

Pretty cool.

(Via Boing Boing )

Fleshbot

From the man who brought you Gizmodo comes Fleshbot . It "showcases all the porn that digital technology and distribution has made possible." Oh boy!

(Via Boing Boing )

Innovation Futures

Technology Review has set up a market where you can trade "innovation futures". It's just a game, and it doesn't use real money, but you can win prizes. One sample future is, "When will there be a commercially available electronic device using ultrawideband technology?" I think this is a really cool idea, just like the Department of Defense's maligned terrorism futures market .

(Via Slashdot )

The Psychology of Learning

Josh writes about an essay called "The Psychology of Learning" that he found via a link from Bruce Eckel .

The categorization of people as perfection-oriented or performance-oriented seems accurate based on my experience (although reasoning based on "common sense" is often dangerous). I am definitely a perfection-oriented person when it comes to programming and software development. I like to play with all the latest tools and explore all the features of my development environment. However, unlike the author of the essay, I don't necessarily agree that we should be striving to make everyone perfection-oriented. I think I sometimes waste time by trying to find the absolute best way of accomplishing a task, rather than just getting the task done with my current skill set. Perfection-orientation is good under many circumstances, but you have to understand when you are getting diminishing returns from your perfection-striving.

Stephen Hawking

By getting up early this morning and standing in line, I was able to get a $7 student ticket to Stephen Hawking's lecture next Monday at Severance Hall. w00t!

Guacamole Doritoes

Jason has introduced me to the joy of Guacamole Doritos . Apparently they have been available in California for some time, but they are just now showing up here in Ohio. They were on sale this week at the grocery store, so we picked up a few bags.

Groan

Foxtrot: Query Eye for the Database Guy

Best Dressed Billionaires

Forbes has released their list of best-dressed billionaires . The only reason I know or care is because Steve Jobs came in 5th. Still, I found the comments about Larry Ellison amusing (he tied with Steve for 5th):

He's got a current look. I would trust him with my money. He knows what's happening in the world that he's functioning in. He doesn't waste shareholders' time shaving his beard.

Danny's BBQ

Last Friday I went to lunch at a very interesting restaurant: Danny's BBQ. For those who don't know, I am always searching for new and exciting cuisine. My favorite restaurants are the ones with no ambience, just really good food. Danny's BBQ is such a place.

The first thing that you will notice about Danny's BBQ is the line. When I got there, the line probably had 50 people in it, and from what I'm told, this is normal for weekday lunch at Danny's. When you get to the front of the line, you order your meal, which will probably consist of a plate of the meat of your choosing and two sides. I got the chopped pork plate, fries, and baked beans. The meat does not come with any sauce, instead each table has bottles filled with two varieties of sauce: hot and spicy, and mild and sweet. Both sauces are really good, and the meat is lean and tasty.

Eating at Danny's is definitely a cultural experience. There's nothing like Danny's in Cleveland. So, for any of you in the Triangle, I highly recommend that you visit Danny's BBQ.

Fallacious Arguments

Don Lindsay: A List of Fallacious Arguments

Great for linking to during those Usenet and mailing list flamewars.

Durian

I have never eaten a durian . I want to eat a durian . Someone please tell where I can buy a durian .