Saturday, April 20, 2013

Miles to Go...

So it's been a while since the last post, so once again, we play catch-up.

Last week, I spent three days in Santa Cruz installing soil gas vapor wells around one of the buildings.  Then this week I spent three days sampling those new wells.

Then on Thursday, I got my first crown.  A month ago I had broken one of the tips on my second lower right bicuspid.  I had a filling there and the inner tip had chipped off from the filling when I bit into something.

So I took Thursday off for the crown.  Friday I ended up staying home because I had not slept well due to lingering pain from the work.

Today, after an amazing night's sleep, Jennifer and I went for a bicycle ride.  I suggested we try the Iron Horse Trail.  So we rode to MacArthur BART, and then got off at Walnut Creek BART.  We coasted downhill to the trail near Ygnacio Valley Road, and then rode all the way to the Dublin-Pleasanton BART station.  We took a nice ride back to West Oakland BART and rode home.  With a detour after missing a turn, we ended up doing 27 miles total today.  It was good to be back on the bike for so long.

Another bonus was a set of walkie-talkies that we bought.  It's really difficult sometimes for Jennifer and me to talk to each other when we're on our rides.  So we bought a set that had headphones and vox capabilities.      It was a great experience   We had to learn radio protocols and remember to wait to respond until the radio had completed transmitting, but it made the ride so much nicer.

Tomorrow, we will decide what to do next.

Monday, April 01, 2013

Reality

So I was going to say I'm watching my first reality show, but I'm not.

I watch "Mythbusters" which isn't quite a reality show, but it's not quite a completely normal show.  I've been watching it since the middle of its first season.  I came across it when I was stuck on the back side of the Sierra when I was working at the Marine Corps Mountain Winter Training Camp.  And I've been watching them ever since.

I watch "Undercover Boss" which is reminiscent to me of the Michael Moore "TV Nation" where he challenged different CEOs to do basic tasks.  He challenged the CEO of Phillip-Morris to roll a cigarette.  He challenged the CEO of GE to change a light bulb.  His only successful challenge was getting the CEO of Ford to change the oil in an Explorer.  Plus I loved the intro song.

I also watched "Miami Ink," "LA Ink," "NY Ink," and just "Inked" which was set in Las Vegas.  All of them were fun shows more for seeing the artists work and hearing the stories why people were getting what they got.  I also learned a lot about reasons for tattoo sizes and how things will change over time.  But the manufactured drama just got too be too much.

I've tried some of the other shows, and nothing has interested me.

But, as kind of a fun thing, I'm watching Penny Arcade's "Strip Search" reality show on YouTube.  It's a contest being run by the guys from "Penny Arcade" who will give the full support of their comic company to the winner of the competition.  And I'm finding out that I read several of the comics from the artists who are competing.

It's really a lot of fun.