Ken's Voyages Around the Sun

Duke of Earl

kps1@cornell.edu — Thu, 4 Sep 08 19:51:00 UT

A couple of us took a break at work today to have a snack at Manndible, Mann Library's cafe.

While there I had a barrista special called Duke of Earl: a steamer of Earl Grey tea infused with honey and vanilla milk. Delicious! Warm and frothy and definitely good for a chilly morning (not that today was). On the other hand, it cost $3.35 so I'm not going to get another soon.

Speaking of tea, if you like herbal ones of the sort produced by Celestial Seasonings, you may want to try their vanilla hazelnut dessert tea. It's a great alternative on a night or chilly day that calls for hot chocolate!

And in other news, the oil tanks are out! The reciprocating saw had no trouble at all with cutting through the pipes that connected the tanks to the outside and held them in place. What a great tool that thing is. We'll now try to sell the tanks on Craigslist, find a scrap metal dealer to buy them, or end up giving them away on Freecycle.

Baby's due date has arrived. Baby has not. Who knows the ways of mysterious storks?

Ubiquity

kps1@cornell.edu — Wed, 3 Sep 08 12:10:00 UT

Warning: technical entry!

Have you ever wanted to be able to send an email that includes an actual map, a real restaurant review, and have a date add itself to your calendar without the need to open various web sites and paste simple links from them into your email?

Me too.

Now you can, with this Firefox 3 plug-in: Ubiquity. Watch the embedded video in that page for a splendid example of the above in action. That's what the web should be about.

See also: Mozilla's wiki entry for Ubiquity.

This scheme's still early in development and requires knowing certain keywords to activate Ubiquity scripts, but this meta mash-up generator looks like it could be most useful.

Palin Stuff

kps1@cornell.edu — Tue, 2 Sep 08 23:26:00 UT

Last evening Palin's unmarried teenage daughter's pregnancy made the news. This election's getting more and more interesting I thought.

Reading various articles and comment boards today, it's clear there's quite a range of opinion on this particular bit o'news.

While I pretty much side with the view that candidates' kids should be left alone by the media hounds, and should be allowed their own wide-margin of privacy, I also believe that this kind of news does shed light on a candidate and is therefore fair game. It's not really anyone's business what the daughter's planning to do with the baby, or who the father is, or stuff like that.

BUT... for a governor whose idea of sex "education" is only the teaching of abstinence in Alaska schools and who represents at highest level a party known for promoting and boasting of "family values" the whole idea of a pregnant kid seems way out of line. Obviously a parent cannot control everything a kid does, but I do believe that a kid's behavior DOES reflect family and parents.

Some say that kids' actions should not tarnish the parental glow, but why not? If the kids are not within control of the parent, which certainly might be the case, is it not the fault of the parent? I know I may be setting myself up here for the future but I do believe it is. If Palin's in this situation was she not a good enough parent? Where did she lapse? Was she not around when her daughter needed her? Did she not teach her about the birds and the bees? Do we not attribute good things kids do to their parents? If so, why not the less-good things too?

It is fair to ask these things of someone who would be VP.

By the way, did you know that Palin got her passport only last year? Now there's something I wanted to hear: a VP who's well-traveled and familiar with many other customs and ways of life. Both Kuwaiti and German.

Labor Day

kps1@cornell.edu — Tue, 2 Sep 08 23:05:00 UT

Labor Day's for working, right? Right!

Lots of stuff done yesterday...

We took out a hideous light from our entranceway and replaced it with an Ikea chandelier. We intended the latter for our dining room, like we had in California, but this model's use of both electric lights and candles included components made it too long to hang over our table. Luckily it works well in this spot. Thus, we still have to find something for the dining room and also for the guest bathroom.

We found a good deal on cut and split wood so we ordered four face-cords and they delivered it today. I moved the pile into our woodshed. This will serve well for backup if we lose power during the winter or just want the ambiance of running our wood stove with its front door open (like a fireplace).

The previous owners of this place built a butt-ugly large lean-to out of scrap metal sheeting from the neighbors' collapsed barn and some pressboard out along our upper driveway right where everyone sees it as they arrive. Thanks, losers. Thanks for the chance to use the new reciprocating saw! Woot! Nice toy! No more shed!

The little shed closest to the house has been Kelley's playhouse for some time. Today we started the plan to make it more colorful. Grandma and Kelley applied primer to about half of the outside. This will help reduce the weathering and allow a good base for a more colorful place for Kelley to enjoy her time outside. Stay tuned for more photos as we bring that place up to a girl's standards.

We drained another 30 or so gallons of oil from the fuel tanks in the basement. Gave some away, sent email to everyone I work with hoping someone would want it, but no luck there. No sign of it stopping yet.

The old and the new.

The unpainted playhouse.

Applying primer.

Baby's First Polo Game

kps1@cornell.edu — Sun, 31 Aug 08 23:59:00 UT

One of the guys in my department plays polo in a league and invited us to attend a match. We've been meaning to get out to see him and his horses (called ponies in polo-speak) but one thing or another kept us away. Nothing barred us yesterday, though, so we all attended our first polo match.

The day could not have been better, nor the site, which was atop the ridge west of the lake. The game lasted about an hour and a half. Kelley enjoyed seeing many horsies running up and down the field and of course could not resist the offer to sit atop one for a short stroll.

Today we visited the farmers' market where Kelley quite enjoyed a small jazz band and fed the ducks. Afterwards we visited Treman State Park down the road and took a dip near one of its waterfalls, which Kelley also loves. She turned into quite the icicle before we convinced her to come out and warm up in the sunshine at the park playground.

Braving the cold water at Treman.

Braving the moving step-things.

Braving her first corn on the cob.

Passing Gas

kps1@cornell.edu — Sat, 30 Aug 08 14:50:00 UT

Our new power tool arrived yesterday! Time to cut out the oil tanks and remove them from the basement!

But first, drain the tanks...

And keep draining them...

And panic when the flow does not stop; go to town and buy buckets...

And still the heating oil flows out, and more and more...

Yikes. Finally turn it off.

Call neighbors and invite them to come and get it. They drive their tractor over and we give them some 25 gallons into its tank and their truck.

They leave two empty 5-gallon containers. We then fill those, as well as an additional 5-gallon bucket.

No end to the draining in sight, the stuff's flowing out as fast as ever.

All the tank gauges read empty, but obviously there's a hefty reserve on each of the three 275-gallon tanks.

We need to find more people who want free gas. Turns out that home heating oil = diesel, so maybe we'll go ask other neighbors.

Beautiful stuff in the sunlight, I had no idea home heating oil was so liquidy.

Our three tanks: how much do they have left?

Kelley takes a call from Aunt Brenda during her birthday dinner.

Kelley parks a car aboard her ferry, which is part of a new Hot Wheels car play diorama from Nana.

McCain and Palin

kps1@cornell.edu — Fri, 29 Aug 08 11:20:00 UT

Wow, McCain has really made a zinger of a VP choice: Ms. Palin, gov. of Alaska.

What a smart move to try to capture the female voters who are still upset with Hillary's loss to Obama.

OTOH, what a hypocrite: picking someone even less experienced and younger than Obama. Given McCain's age of 72, I'd certainly criticize the choice in that respect because she very well might have to take over for him.

Not that I say she cannot do the job: just that if the Republicans are going to attack Obama on those characteristics, I find it deplorable for them to go ahead with selecting her when she's even "worse" in those respects.

Obama's speech last night seemed to go well but for me didn't take my breath away as I had hoped it would. To be fair, I'll listen to what McCain has to say in his nomination address next week. Not that I'm at all expecting it will sway me in any manner, but I'll at least give it a chance.

Baby's First Third Birthday

kps1@cornell.edu — Thu, 28 Aug 08 16:21:00 UT

Happy Birthday to Kelley!

We're planning to have a very small party for her tonight. She received a couple packages in the mail, and she's looking forward to opening them. She received a card a couple of days ago that she's been keeping in her stroller with her friends the last few days as well. She's into this whole birthday thing!

Personally, I'm very, very much looking forward to hearing Barack Obama's speech tonight. On the third anniversary of Katrina and the 45th of MLK's "Dream" speech, it will be most interesting not only to hear what he has to say, but also to hear and see the crowd in the stadium.

What really bothers me is that when Shelley and I awoke to the radio this morning, she said it would really suck if he was assassinated. And I agreed.

What REALLY sucks is that that's the first thing that comes to mind about Mr. Obama for us. Why do we have to be so cynical as to make that our first worry of the morning?

Because he's such a ray of light that could so easily be snuffed?

Because the alternative to him is so dreary?

Because the past eight years of secretive, hypocritical, fear-mongering "leadership" have proven they can get away with a great deal and would have every reason to make this just another part of their plan?

Because there are many intolerant people in this country, and it takes only one to get lucky and pull it off?

Anyway, once our house sale closes I plan to make my first political donation to Mr. Obama's campaign.

Epee de Guerre

kps1@cornell.edu — Tue, 26 Aug 08 21:45:00 UT

Starting next Friday the 5th I'll be attending weekly (during fall term) one of Cornell's phys. ed. courses, offered by the fencing program:

Epee de Guerre: This course focuses on "the most noble weapon" of the Ideal Knight: the "epee de guerre" ("sword of war") also sometimes called the longsword, the bastarde sword, or, most accurately, "the-hand-and-a-half sword" because the weapon was designed to be wielded with equal effectiveness either with one hand or two. Since the practice of the longsword is inextricably linked with the ideals ans tenets of chivalry, theis beginning level course may include philosophical discussion and reflection as well as techniques, tactics and strategy. THERE WILL BE NO SPARRING AT THIS LEVEL.

I was psyched to find this in the course catalog!

There's also a another new(?) class:

Renaissance Fencing: The rapier and its consort, the dagger, were the gentleman's constant companions from Shakespere to Cyrano, from Francis Drake to d'Artagnan. This introductory class, intended for actors, martial artists and incurable romantics, focuses on the fundamental techniques of 16th-17th century fencing with an emphasis on safety, balance, line, focus and distance. Students will practice a variety of etudes (pre-arranged movement sequences) both alone and with a partner.

It didn't look quite as appealing as the first, but it's great to see both of them being offered as alternatives to traditional fencing classes, which I find unappealing.

Back in Burbank, a local fencing studio offered instruction in these kinds of swordplay (for actors, stuntpeople, movie extras, etc.), which always intrigued me but I found their cost prohibitive. This one won't be such a good workout but it will still get me off the office chair for a couple hours a week.

According to the director of all PE courses, Cornell's mostly interested in providing introductory courses and not too keen on offering another level of this class, because of costs of armor, etc., but apparently the instructor might be keen on running a more advanced version. We'll have to see whether there's enough student interest to push another level where they do offer sparring (and a better workout).

The PE director says that he's trying to find a teacher for kendo (Japanese sword-based martial arts) but hasn't had success yet. He says that when he does, the fencing program will be complete. I wish him luck: that class would interest me too.

My Cat Eats Grasshoppers

kps1@cornell.edu — Mon, 25 Aug 08 15:21:00 UT

Yesterday afternoon we watched Nimitz stalk and pounce on one of those big brown flying grasshoppers. It was hard enough to believe he accomplished this feat, given his size and general battleship lifestyle, but manage it he did.

And then he ate it. Crunch, crunch, gulp, and swallow. All gone grasshopper. At least we know he's getting his protein.

And speaking of cats, I may have mentioned this site long ago (or maybe not) but it's one I check daily, often more so these days, and highly recommend it for a daily laugh or two: I can has cheezburger?

It may take a little while to get used to the deliberate misspellings and language culture of this site, but once you do and you've spent some time going through the images you'll find why the place is also known as LOLcats (laugh-out-loud cats). If you're not sure what the caption says, try reading it aloud - that will help with the pronunciation.

Hints:

ur = your

oh hai = oh, hi

nom = the noise made when eating something

kitteh = kitty / cat / kitten

akshully = actually

Oh, and for the dog lover, check out Fail Dogs. It has a similar approach (captioned pet photos), but all the images' captions are "FAIL," which loses appeal after a while, unlike LOLcats where they vary.

"How Romantic Are We?"

kps1@cornell.edu — Sun, 24 Aug 08 20:30:00 UT

For our 17th wedding anniversary I got Shelley a new garage door opener, which she installed today, and she gifted me a wicked reciprocating saw, which has just been ordered.

Or maybe it was the other way around... I got the opener and she got the saw. (Sounds like a country-western song title, no?)

"How Romantic Are We?" - Shelley.

Anyhow, we now have a convenient way to shelter the car. The former owners left the place with a non-working opener and we didn't force the issue, so that we could get a model that we liked (rather than insisting on they install a working one before leaving and we end up with something cheap made out of used toy train parts or something).

Since all we had to do was replace the machine (i.e., did not have install the whole mount from scratch) it took only a few hours. This system includes a remote keyless entry as well as a key fob remote, which I will carry when cycling. So yes, I have a garage door opener remote on my bike now.

We've been doing one project each weekend for a while now. Last weekend it was the installation of two motion/heat sensor lights out front and two wireless doorbells to match. Before that it was the bookshelves.

Next weekend: cutting out the three large heating oil tanks in the basement. That's what the saw's for. We tried wrenches on them today but none of the pipes budged even a tiny amount. So... NEW POWER TOOL! Reciprocating saws excel at demolition and this one should suffice to cut the pipes in several places, facilitating removal of the tanks before the rest of the ground source heat pump installation happens.

What project after that? To be determined.

Daddy's First Town Hall Meeting

kps1@cornell.edu — Tue, 19 Aug 08 22:02:00 UT

Baby and Mommy stayed home tonight during a special session of the local town meeting but I went to find out more about all the fuss and see what's what, regarding a situation just down the road.

Apparently - as we found out a couple weeks ago when a State Police officer stopped by to find out what we know - someone threw nails on a nearby dirt-bike track. It seems that a guy down the hill has created a track on his land and he and other neighbors and their friends use it frequently. It may also be the case that these same riders use a public road to get to the track (I'm not clear on exactly where it is or whether that's the case).

Anyway, various neighbors don't like the noise and dust the bikes and ATVs generate, so there's a fair amount of ill will between a couple blocs of area residents. It boils down to the right to quiet vs. the right to do what you want on your own land, and respect from each party to the other's preferences.

For tonight's meeting the board brought in a professional facilitator. About 25 people attended, although not the guy who owns the land with the track on it did not show. No one's sure why, whether hard feelings or schedule conflict, although as far as we know the meeting was set up quickly - the town clerk drove up to tell us about it personally.

Leading the "con" side was a young couple who live right next to the track, which apparently runs along more than one side of their property. They seemed quite reasonable to me. Mostly they wanted limits on hours, number of riders, notification of big rides, and a little track re-routing.

Leading the "pro" side was our neighbor the cop. Although he brought in an offer to not ride before noon on Sunday, 9am on other days, and never past 8pm, that was basically it. He's terribly loud and belligerent and half the "arguments" he made were terrible non-sequitors, like no one should be concerned with dust because the highway dept. does not clean its cinders off the road until June and therefore the road makes a lot of dust too.

I do NOT like that guy.

For one reason he kept on saying that he could not promise that he would not ride on only one weekend day; that he could not promise to limit his pals' use of the track to shorter periods; that he could not tell his in-laws to keep off the track at specific times. I called him to task on this, and said: you CAN promise those things, but you CHOOSE NOT TO, and he copped to that in front of everyone.

He was still on about having moved out to the country for the peace and quiet but liking to ride his machines. That won him a lot of head-shakes from those who prefer no riding. What a piece of work he is.

The current situation is that a guy who volunteered to lend his bulldozer to re-route the track a little will contact the land owner; the riding hours such as they are will stand and some people will be phoned when more riding is to happen; and I think the animosity will continue.

For our part, we hadn't really heard the machines much until this past weekend when there were some especially loud ones there. This may be because they don't ride as much during the summer (only when it's a bit cooler) but I really hope more is done get them out of here.

You have a right to do what you want, so long as it does not impinge on the rights of others. By their very nature those machines do just that, as does the "choose not to" be neighborly attitude.

99 Badges

kps1@cornell.edu — Sun, 17 Aug 08 21:55:00 UT

Late Friday night my main World of Warcraft character finally reached exalted status with a particular game faction that takes numerous multi-hour sessions to achieve by running a dungeon called Karazhan. At the end, she had 99 Badges of Justice: 1 short of being able to purchase a nice robe!

Thus, last night and this afternoon I had her working on some quests that occasionally award a single badge, in hopes of not having to spend a couple more hours in a dungeon just for the last one. That plan worked out and so Myzythra could buy her new gear. (Happy dance!)

And just in time: I've not renewed my monthly WoW subscription (expires tomorrow) and will now take some more time off from the game in order to complete some other major projects. I'll re-subscribe when the next expansion comes out, for sure, although not necessarily quite at the beginning - maybe a week or so after, if I can stand it. But that depends on the projects' progress as well. Maybe they'll get done before the expected November date of release.

Volleyball By the Lake

kps1@cornell.edu — Wed, 13 Aug 08 23:59:00 UT

One of the guys in my group at work plays in league volleyball weekly, and asked me down to join the team for the rest of the summer, filling in for someone who had to leave. My skill level seems well-matched to everyone else there so it should be most enjoyable for the next month or so.

He also invited me to play on his league team in Cortland on Mondays during winter season, which I may do. That depends, however, on whether the Sunday evening group resumes playing in Ithaca, which in turn depends on whether they can obtain insurance. I don't want to play two nights in a row far enough away from home that I'll miss out on kids time.

The Wednesday night games down by the lake mean playing sets of three matches against at least two teams (depending on how long daylight lasts). They take place in Stewart Park, right down on the lake shore: a nice area and setting for playing.

Some 24 teams or so had nets up so there should be plenty of variety in terms of opponents. Apparently at the end of the season they tally the wins/losses to see where each team placed. I have no idea where this team ranks, but we didn't do that well this time around (one of the teams we played apparently is one of the best there).

Paternity Leave Options

kps1@cornell.edu — Tue, 12 Aug 08 21:44:00 UT

Paternity leave is probably not happening when new baby arrives, although I'll probably take a week's family-care leave two weeks after birth (Shelley's mom will be here for the first week).

It's not clear whether paternity leave is available to me or not at the moment.

The policy says that it's available after working at Cornell for at least a year and putting in 1,000 hours over the past 12 months. I have worked for Cornell for at least a year (1991-1997), and have put in the required number of hours since February, so I believe technically I qualify.

The HR department may not agree, though, and I'm awaiting word on their opinion.

The policy also says that leave can be taken up to a year after birth, so if the technicality was invalid for some reason I can still take the leave after Feb. 11, 2009.

The leave itself is half-pay for one month, to be taken in one chunk. If the technicality is valid, it would be possible to take it this fall or early winter.

Still aside from waiting for a determination on the technicality, there's still the final word on house closing and Shelley's job hunt to determine when to take it.

PS. Earl just brought up a mouse from the basement. It's dead. He's playing with it. Maybe he's the one who left two mouse tails and hindquarters down in the basement not long ago.