I almost had a "Hiro" moment this morning

I've been struggling with some code changes for the last week, converting something someone else wrote and making it run a little smoother. If you've never had the pleasure of trying to decipher someone else's code, consider yourself lucky. You might think there's only one way to write a program to complete a certain task -- but you'd be wrong.

So anyway, there was one particular convoluted piece of code that's been giving me trouble, and when I finally got it working, I felt like throwing both arms in the air, fists clenched, and yelling, "I DID IT!" in classic Hiro form.

Hiro is from the TV show "Heroes" by the way...


-- C.

Book review: "Mindless Eating" by Dr. Brian Wansink

This is an interesting book. The author takes a close look at why we eat the way we do. For example, when do you stop eating? Do you eat all the food on your plate, or do you keep asking yourself if you are full yet? If you tend to clean your plate, what would happen if it never emptied? Or better yet (and easier to implement) a never-ending bowl of soup? He rigged up a big pot of soup with a tube running under a table up into a bowl. It was situated such that the bowl of soup would always have about the same amount in it. Most people ate more than they normally would because the cue of the empty bowl was no longer there.

He found that people make around 200 food decisions each day and he discusses many of the cues that affect our eating: Do you eat fewer M&Ms if there are fewer colors in the bowl (less variety)? Typically, yes. Do people eat more off bigger plates than off smaller plates? Again, usually yes. Do people eat more snacks during happy movies or gloomy movies? Read the book for the answer to this question and to several other interesting questions.

It's part diet book, part psychology, and part marketing. He gives tips so you can cut down on extra eating when you normally don't think about it. Companies in the food industry also use these findings. You can use these "tricks" to eat more healthy food and cut down on the unhealthy food and the amount of food you eat, but in a way that you won't notice it.

Most diets limit what you can eat, but you still get cravings for those items. Cutting back a little bit on each meal, making snacks less convenient (not sitting in a bowl within reach on your desk), and not eating chips directly from the bag, will slowly remove calories from your daily diet. It won't be a drastic change, but over time you will lose weight and you won't suffer.

He reports the results of several studies his group and others have performed. Some studies don't quite go the way they expect, and he is upfront and honest about that, too.

The book is light-hearted and easy to read. If you are interested in becoming more mindful about food and your eating habits, give this book a read.


-- C.

Seperated at birth?

You decide:






PS: That's "The Chopper" from the old 80's animated commercial promoting healthy teeth: YouTube

Jobs

The company I work for has been chosen as one of the 200 Best Small Companies, by Forbes magazine. That's the fifth year in a row we've made that list.

Not bad. Not bad I say.


-- C.

Open House

It's a bit late, but...

Thanks to all who came over for the open house. It was a lot of fun seeing friends, family, and co-workes together. I didn't realize we knew some many people with so many kids. Nearly all of them are boys (I think there were five boys age 6 and under). We do know two little girls, both less than one year. Oh, and one little girl that isn't born yet. (Hm, but if you throw in the out-of-town Q-family, it starts to balance out more).

I enojoyed playing the corn-bag toss. I refuse to call it by it's other name. I see a few of you did, but I don't want my blog showing up on those sorts of search results. Good luck with that!

We really feel settled in. It's nice having a large enough place to hold people instead of the small apartment. We may have to do that more often...


-- C.

"Time for Timer!"

What is that thing anyway? And who named it Timer?

YouTube "Time for Timer" commercials

Cars (and cheese, believe it or not)

No, not the recent popular movie. Real cars. The type that break down and cost an arm and a leg. And break down they do! They have no concern about you – if you recently bought a house and are trying to furnish it with new appliances. They just up and decide to break.

I'm speaking of Paula's car. A couple weeks ago it started complaining and making noise when you turned. We added some power steering fluid and that fixed the sound. For a few days at least. When it started making noises again, adding power steering fluid wasn't enough to quiet it. We took it to a nearby shop and he confirmed our suspicions of the puddle under her car. There was a leak in the steering system. He said it would be several hundred dollars to fix it. This car is about 8 years old with 140k miles on it. Putting that much money into it didn't seem like a good idea. So we started looking around for a nice used car.

The mechanic tried to fix the leak, but it didn't take. Paula had to put all her weight into the steering wheel when turning. Earlier this week she started bumming rides to work in order to avoid driving her car.

We looked at a couple cars, even test-drove one. I've had my Saturn SL for 10 years and have been very happy with it. On Sunday we drove through the Saturn used-car lot and spotted some VUEs that weren't too old and were almost in our price range. Tuesday we went out and talked to a salesman. We found a black 2005 VUE that met our needs and we took it for a test drive. He even let us take it home for the night. We talked it over and decided to go ahead and get it (even though Paula was hoping for one of those new four-door Jeep Wranglers, even though she's speculating it was an error and we should get a discount on it – who's ever seen a four-door Jeep before?).

We met with the salesman again last night and finalized the deal. We now own (read: in the process of purchasing over several months) a 2005 VUE. I've liked the looks of them and have wanted one ever since they came out. I even wanted a black one (Paula wanted green or maybe that burnt-orange/bronze color). She really likes it though. It's pretty peppy (V6 FWD) and has some "get-up-and-go." *

I’d post pictures but it's always dark out when I have access to it (she drives it during the day). And trying to take a picture of a black car at night is rather futile. But expect pictures soon.


-- C.
EDIT: added pic:


* When my get-up-and-go
has got up and went,
I hanker fer a hunk o’ cheese.

If yer headin’ for a showdown,
and yer feelin’ kinda lowdown,
then hanker fer a hunk o’ cheese!

If yer ten gallon hat
is feelin’ five gallons flat
then hanker fer a hunk o’ cheese.

It’s a real winner,
and yet won’t spoil my dinner
I hanker fer a hunk o’ cheese

I hanker fer a hunk o’
A slab a slice a chunk o’
I hanker fer a hunk o’ cheese.
Look a wagon wheel!

It's funny what you remember and what you don't. I can't remember passwords to half the servers I have access to, but I remembered bits and pieces of this song that I haven't heard in 20 years.

PS: The spell-checker nearly had a heart attack going over that song. "What?! That's not a word. You can't do that! And what the heck is this?! Argh!"

Site with lyrics and links

Fund Raising

Every year the company I work for does fund raising for United Way. The last three years they've had a Chili Cook-off and each year they give an extra day of vacation to the participants. I finally made a pot this year (well, Paula did most of it) and got myself an extra day! I'll be sure to spend it with Paula since I probably wouldn't have entered the contest without her help.

There were 18 entries including buffalo, elk, and a Portuguese Kale Soup. Lots of good stuff! And they had delicious pie for dessert.

Also, my brother is participating in a local "Dancing with the Stars" contest. He's been getting lessons with his partner for several weeks now. Tomorrow night is the big night and he sounds nervous. At first there was a cap of 200 people allowed in to watch (at $75 per person). But the response was so good they upped the cap another 200, and then another 100. Potentially he'll be dancing in front of 500 people instead of 200. There are ten couples and the top three will compete again at a later date for the top prize. I think he's telling on his friends to NOT vote for him.

Good luck Mike!


-- C.

Happy Halloween!

Our first night of Trick-or-Treaters in our new house. We had no idea how many kids to expect. We've seen very few kids out playing in the last couple months, so we didn't expect many. We had four bags of candy to give out.

Paula ended up making an emergency candy run because we started running low. Our running tally showed nearly 90 kids! Wow. Have they all been inside playing computer games, or were they bussed in from across town?

Fortunately there was still candy leftover for us.

I hope you all had a good evening!


-- C.