Weekend Trip to Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

As we get to the solstice, the days up here in New England are incredibly short. The sun doesn't rise until well after 7 am and it has set by perhaps 4:15. Is it any wonder that a majority of people around here have some kind of Vitamin D deficiency? My friends and I decided to push back our winter blahs with a quick trip down to Puerto Rico, where the warm sun, palm trees (and a reasonable amount of rum) restored our spirits.

At the moment, Puerto Rico is a US territory (though they've recently voted to pursue becoming a state), which means that it's incredibly easy to travel there if you're from the US - English and Spanish are both official languages, they use the US dollar and no passport is required. The high season for tourism there runs from late November to around April, and during that time several cruise ships are based out of San Juan, with a number of additional ships stopping there each week. For a moderate sized island (the smallest of the islands in the Greater Antilles), there is quite a lot to do, but since we ladies only had 2 days or so, we decided to stay in Old San Juan.

Why choose Old San Juan instead of a beach resort? Primarily because it offers the most variety in the smallest area on the island. You can get to the beach easily (and cheaply, $0.50 each way by bus), but if you aren't in a beach sort of mood, you can go to a variety of historic monuments, or museums, or art galleries, or take some retail therapy in the shops which range from tourist traps to nice boutiques.

We stayed at the Sheraton Old San Juan. This property is on the waterfront, just across the street from several of the cruise ship piers. The location of the hotel is unbeatable, as you are easy walking distance to restaurants, bars and many historic buildings and museums. Or, if your foot is broken and you're not up to that much walking, mere steps away from the (totally free) tourist tram, which stops by both of the forts and numerous other sites around old San Juan. On the down side, we were staying on a consolidator rate. Some hotels don't count that against you, but this Sheraton put us in just about the worst rooms imaginable - right over their function room where loud music kept us up two nights out of three. By loud music, I don't mean I faintly heard the bass line, I mean I could clearly hear Psy chanting "Heeeeeeyyyyyyy, sexy lady" while I brushed my teeth and the bass was so loud it was rattling the lid on the ice bucket. Major thumbs down also to the disinterested and unhelpful staff, but, location, location, location, right?

Some highlights of our trip were the fortresses, San Cristobal and El Morro, as well as the old city center. We first went to San Cristobal, which was built to defend the land approach to San Juan and is all about defense in depth. Its fun, it's historic, it's wonderfully located, with great views of San Juan and El Morro. Oh, and in December they allow local craftspeople to sell their wares in the main parade ground of the fortress.

We sat out an afternoon rain shower and then went out to dinner at Raices. We had heard that this place, while touristy, was fun and had great food, which was entirely correct. It does cater to tourists, it is a theme restaurant, and there is a floor show. The food was very tasty, but the real standouts were the drinks. A lot of tropical rum-based drinks are made with mixers and are so overly sweet that you lose any sort of distinctive flavor in the drink - these drinks were clearly freshly mixed and quite tasty.

The next day, we went to El Morro. This fortress guards the entrance to the harbor and, when protected from land attack by San Cristobal, was nearly impregnable. It has six levels, each defended by multiple cannons, plus a dry moat. There is a smaller fort across the harbor entry, which helped create a crossfire to destroy hostile ships. It's not at all as intimidating as the main fortresses, but anyone who wanted to seize it either had to brave the crossfire to attack by sea, or traverse the leper colony on the land approach. Probably a hard sell for any commander.

Post fortress, we toured the Bacardi Rum distillery and strolled through the old city downtown. We got to see (and managed not to stumble over) the old blue cobblestone streets, saw the old cathedral and did a little shopping. There is a beautiful old convent, among other more colorful things, that has been turned into a beautiful boutique hotel that is well worth a visit even if only to gawk at the lobby. Once we finished wandering around, we went out to dinner at Punto de Vista. Unlike Raices, this place has a definite hole-in-the wall vibe, and the food is authentic and tasty. The mojitos are a little weak, but inexpensive and plentiful. I developed quite a taste for mofongo on this trip. I was a little concerned at first, as plantains are in the same family as bananas, which occasionally disagree with me, but no issues. We also had fried plantains, which I loved.

On the way back, I was interested to learn that, although Puerto Rico is in almost all respects a domestic destination, people flying back to the mainland are allowed to shop duty free. Hooray for tax free rum! I will also say that the Miami airport has significantly improved, at least aesthetically, since the last time I flew through. The Admirals Club at the upper D gates is huge, and has multiple showers. San Juan is only a short flight away, but for longer trips, say from Peru if I can convince the girls to go to Maccu Picchu next year, they could come in handy.

Oh, and while we were prepared to greet the end of the world in warm style, it appears that unlike some internet prophets, the Maya actually understood how wheels work and instead of the world ending on the 21st December, we instead started a new Long Count. Score: Maya 1, Doomsday Prophets 0.

Terrible Movies: A New Holiday Tradition

This past weekend, some friends and I participated in a new, but beloved, holiday tradition of ours - Terrible Movie Night! Now, before the Christmas police get all up in arms, I call this a holiday tradition because we also get together for Terrible Movie Night on Columbus Day, the 4th of July and Superbowl Sunday. I guess it's maybe stretching things to call that last a holiday, but it happens to fall at approximately the right time of year for a quarterly (ish) event. Also, most of the movies we watch are actually only terrible if the audience is made up primarily of scientists and engineers. Indeed, many are entertaining and with great special effects... and absolutely dreadful science.

Exhibit A of entertaining but scientifically disastrous is the movie 2012. You know it's really just an excuse to smash and destroy things digitally when they haul out mutant neutrinos (now with special microwave properties!) to explain the end of the world. When you throw in an audience that included an atmospheric physicist, an astronomer, a geologist and assorted engineers, it's like MST3K, only live, and nerdier.

The second movie of the night was the honestly, truly dreadful Star Wars Holiday Special. This is easily the most horrible thing lurking in the back of the Star Wars franchise closet. How bad is it? Well, it originally aired in 1978 and has never, to my knowledge, re-aired since. It is not available on DVD, VHS, or indeed any other sanctioned media. Finding a copy took months and a trip to a very sketchy back alley in Boston. It was worth it, though, because this turkey is really, really, incredibly terrible. Some of the gang were convinced that, had it gone on any longer, their eyes may actually have started bleeding. As a warning to those tempted to go out and find a copy of their own - this is not a "so bad its good" kind of movie. It is pure, unadulterated badness.

One of the reasons we limit Terrible Movie Night to two features is so that we can also throw in a pot luck dinner. This time around, I seized the opportunity to do some baking. I love baking, and I love eating baked things, but when you live alone, it's just a caloric nightmare to make a batch of cookies, cupcakes or whatever just for you. It's an easy thing, though, to put aside a small baggie of goodies (one cupcake, and 2 of each kind of cookie) for personal enjoyment. Leftovers went to the office today, spreading the joy, etc.

After a day of recovery, we are still willing to proceed on to our next movie night. We're trying to decide what is highest on our must see (and ridicule) list - perhaps the inanely classic "The Core"? Or maybe one of the lesser known titles in the immortal Attack of the Killer Tomatoes cannon (say, the delightfully surreal Killer Tomatoes Eat France)? Who knows where our journeys into the underbelly of cinema will take us next, particularly given our current list of nominations runs to some 3 powerpoint slides (yes, we are THAT geeky). So far, The Star Wars Holiday Special is the undisputed leader in the "worst movie ever made" contest. No prize but bragging rights for the winner.

In other news, the year is winding down and it is almost time for another fabulous December tradition - the Girl's Weekend. Of course, most of the girls are married and two now have children, which makes the weekend that much more of a treasured event - a few last days of sanity before the full bore holiday madness descends. We're heading to San Juan, Puerto Rico this year. I haven't actually used Living Social for a hotel before, but Lil found a great deal for us, so here's hoping it goes well.

Spam is not free speech

The internet is very possibly the greatest technology invented in the 20th century (yes, including manned flight), but as it has evolved into the worlds largest shopping mall / school yard there have been some undesirable additions. Spam isn't the worst of these, but it is symptomatic of the worst: the commercialization of EVERY aspect of people's lives.

The worst kind of spam, IMO, is spam text messages because, bluntly, I should not have to pay for someone's stupid insurance advertisement. Or a political one. Which brings me to ccAdvertising, which not only is trying to get spam filters declared illegal (as an infringement of their free speech rights, because they apparently can't read), but had the nerve to declare "it is proper that recipients bear some cost of unsolicited political speech sent to their cell phones". Yes, America, it has come down to this - some people are so sleazy, they actually said this in a public document. It can be seen (and for a short while commented on) via the FCC. 

Now, it happens that I actively hate advertising. It's emotionally manipulative, it's crass, it's shallow, and it's annoying. Obviously, I'm not one of those people who watches the Super Bowl to see the commercials. I can accept, though, that many people are weird enough to confuse their personal identity with what brands they use. I cannot accept, however, being harassed on my cell phone (or, indeed, on my landline) by advertisers. I pay for these services, so I should be able to control who uses them - pretty basic principal. If I pay for a car and someone drives off in it without my permission, it's theft. I see use of my phone lines without permission in precisely the same way. 

Which brings me to the whole "violation of a company's constitutional rights" thing. Newsflash, the first amendment doesn't guarantee absolute freedom of speech - it prohibits Congress (the federal government) from restricting individual rights. Specifically, it says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances". It doesn't say that advertising under the guise of speech can be forced on people against their will by a private company. Nor does it say that a private individual cannot refuse to listen to your speech (which is, in essence, what spam filters and the Do Not Call list do). I can only hope that there is enough sanity left in this country that this odious, vile, thieving excuse for a company is soundly slapped down.

Also, companies like Amazon (and, yes, Google) need to think about how they profile people. For example, 8 years ago now, some friends and I were pulling together some gifts for a friend that included some of her favorite books - romance novels. I am not a fan of the bodice ripper genre. Never was. And ever since, Amazon insists on recommending these dreadful books for me. I've gone in and told their algorithm that these stupid books were gifts, told it I wasn't interested in any of its selections, etc. yet these things are apparently ineradicable. So, I've started tagging all of Amazon's steamy-novel-filled adverts as spam. I love to read, and am a very regular Amazon customer, but they would get a lot more business if they gave me recommendations that there was a snowballs chance in hell that I might actually, well, enjoy.

There is NO Shortage of Engineers

Another week, another near hysterical article about how there is a desperate shortage of engineers. I hate those articles. Really, truly loath them. If you look at the numbers, and engineers are supposed to be numbers people, we are now producing a greater number, and a higher percentage of engineers since the post-Sputnik years of the 1960s. So why, exactly, do companies keep hysterically shrieking to the pols about the coming engineer shortage/apocalypse? Well, it is 2012...

Seriously, though, the answer is simple - they don't want to pay for decent salaries. Now, I realize that the more money spent on engineer salaries, the less money available for executive bonuses, but I also realize exactly how much money my employer stands to earn from my most recent patent. They're not hurting for cash, and the ROI for my salary is probably on the order of 600:1. I easily pay for myself, hell, I easily pay for my self at 10 times the cost. I got a handsome paper certificate and informed that due to the "financial climate" they have eliminated bonuses for things like coming up with patentable algorithms that they can turn around and market for millions and millions of dollars.

Assuming I don't stay in design engineering, that will make me the 94th of 94 of my college classmates to earn an engineering degree and then go do something else with it. Maybe I'm a slow learner, although I do get to (legally) blow things up with some regularity, so there are perks. Honestly, the company is not doing me a favor by asking me to spend 7 weeks away from family and friends to babysit a $300 million experiment. Rather the opposite, really, since, while Idaho is lovely (really, no sarcasm, it is) in the summer, it's not exactly my favorite place to go in the winter. My favorite place in winter is somewhere like, oh, Puerto Rico or Hawaii. I don't really "do" freezing cold with snow up to my nostrils voluntarily.

At least they've given up on that whole "kids don't like engineering because it doesn't seem cool" piece of nonsense because, honestly, there was never a shortage of tax accountants or insurance adjustors or logistics officers and those jobs (while challenging and interesting to do) don't sound cool to a 10 year old either.

Do I regret majoring in engineering, no. But if I graduated knowing what I know now, would I ever have gone to work in my industry? Not a chance. So, next time you see some old man on TV bellowing about the shortage of engineers and how we're falling behind and the world is ending, remember this: Google, which is a major tech company with all different sorts of engineers working for them on a galaxy of products, has no problem hiring qualified people. Why? Because it makes itself an attractive place to work. If other employers did the same, they too would find that terrible shortage evaporate. After all, in the absence of other factors, a young person smart and disciplined enough to earn a degree in engineering is smart and disciplined enough to know that "work here for low pay and mediocre benefits" just isn't a very attractive sales pitch.

On the plus side, the next time I'm scheduled to go to Idaho, it will be summer and my foot should be healed. I'll definitely have to go hiking!

Black Friday? More like Blah Friday

Every year, my family gets together for a trio of Thanksgiving traditions - we play rugby on the lawn, a game we picked up courtesy of a long ago exchange student, then we eat a massive dinner followed by enough desserts to sink an aircraft carrier, then all the women plan their Black Friday shopping (reconvening the next morning to actually shop).

Just personally, I think that Thanksgiving should be a day for enjoying the good things in your life. What it shouldn't mean is running off to work immediately after (or possibly during) dinner so that stores can open on Thanksgiving instead of waiting a few more hours until Friday. Putting it mildly, I do not approve of the decision that some stores made to open that early, so I decided not to shop at any of them. Not on Black Friday and not for any of the rest of my holiday shopping. My two cents.

Anyway, in a good year there are some fantastic bargains on Black Friday and I do a large fraction of my holiday shopping that day, and pick up something for me (this year, I was jonesing for a new camera). Not this year. Oh, the prices weren't bad. But they didn't motivate me to get up before the crack of dawn to go shopping either. My general rule of thumb is that unless I'm going to save over $400, then I go strictly as logistics support for the family. Which happens more often than not, really, I don't really need a lot of stuff, and most of the things I do wind up buying for other people, I can get online anyway.

Normally I'm the "runner" - they go in and get straight on line and I go gather whatever. I only made it through about 6 stores before my foot started reminding me that it's still technically broken. After that, I claimed a bench in the mall and everyone left their purchases with me so they could keep shopping unburdened by bags. As it got later in the morning, right around 7 am, the bags and I were sent off on a special assignment to pick up several Nook e-Readers at Barnes and Noble. Let me say, B & N handled things wonderfully well. They handed out tickets for the Nook that guaranteed you however many Nooks you had tickets for. Since all the Nooks are behind the counter, that meant you could sit in your (warm) car and wait for the store to open, then browse around until the initial line went down, re-caffinate at the Starbucks, and still get the Doorbuster.

Overall, it wasn't a bad day, but I'm feeling some rather strong ennui. I am looking forward to our upcoming annual Girl's Weekend. Maybe that will snap me out of my blahs. Hopefully, I'll find a new camera by then.

Wonder Bread No More

The newspapers today announced the end of an era. Hostess is liquidating in bankruptcy. While I am not one of the people they interviewed, who were stocking up on Twinkies and Snowballs and assorted other cream-filled treats, I am sorry to hear this news. Something like 18,000 people are going to lose their jobs, which to me is more of an issue than the fact that I will no longer be able to buy my own rarely indulged bad habit, Funny Bones (because who doesn't like chocolate and peanut butter?).

By all accounts, Hostess was done in by a combination the rise of militant anti-junk food crusaders (ahem, Mayor Bloomberg), poor management, and a supremely ill-timed strike. The managers didn't get the job done their first round through bankruptcy, so they wound up filing twice in something like 3 years. Not good leadership, but they still got paid, because that's how Corporatism (which is not the same as capitalism) works. On the other side, the Baker's union decided to go on strike. Now, I can completely understand being angry that they're asking for another pay cut from workers who've already given up a lot, but the Teamster's (who had someone look at the company's books) agreed to the contract because the alternative was the end of Hostess. Sometimes, management isn't just bluffing. So now, instead of a steep pay cut, all those people will face a total pay cut. And only a month before the holidays.

The third leg of this tripod of oblivion is, of course, the War on Obesity, which, frankly, is getting really tedious and absurd. I'm not saying that obesity isn't an issue, both for individuals and society. I just think things are getting out of hand, and that all of these draconian moves aren't actually accomplishing very much. For instance, one of our local high schools recently announced with great fanfare that they were banning unhealthy drinks and snacks. So, no sodas, no candy, no Twinkies. But if you walk into the store, you'll see racks and racks of sports drinks. I'm a fairly active person. I've done a number of 5k runs, I've done charity walks (3 - 60 miles), and before I broke my foot I played adult league soccer, which I hope to get back to. The only time I've needed a sports drink was playing soccer full tilt in July. Some kid walking around school needs a sports drink as much as they need a soda - they're roughly equivalent in calories and you just don't need electrolytes, etc. in your normal daily life (unless you play pro sports or something).

As a kid, my mother was into whole grain bread way before it was fashionable. I wasn't allowed to eat sugary cereals, and we only had sodas in the house for parties. In addition to these good habits, my mother was also a serial yo-yo dieter who once passed out in church after eating nothing but grapefruit for a week and a half. As an adult, I think I live a fairly healthy lifestyle. I mostly cook my own food from scratch, I still eat whole-grain bread, my favorite cereal is Special K and I work out almost every day. If I want a coke, though, or some ring dings, or to eat an old fashioned peanut butter and jelly sandwich on white bread, I'm an adult so that should be my call. After all, if I consume too many calories then I need to worry about fitting into my jeans, but there is no way for those calories to magically jump across to someone else.

Anyway, something tells me we haven't seen the last Twinkie, Ho Ho or Ring Ding but I suspect at least most of those 18,000 jobs are gone for good.

Time to Fall Back

It is just barely 5 pm east coast time and it is full night courtesy of the annual end of daylight savings time. It is also, apparently, Halloween at least as far as trick or treating is concerned. As I did not get that memo, I have no candy (I spent most of actual Halloween in the San Francisco airport) so I am vastly obliged to all those parents and children who respect the fact that I don't have my porch light on and do not ring my doorbell - I'm hobbling along much better these days, but am still not up for standing in the door explaining that I don't have any candy to a disappointed 4 year old.

Not that I entirely let the fact that I was in about the least creepy / spooky place imaginable entirely put a damper on my Halloween Spirit - thus I am happy to present a Halloween Coconut (thanks, chief!).

Now, for those who are tempted to complain that it is not a real jack-o-lantern, well, you do have a point there. But by the same token, some people think the original tradition involved putting a candle inside of a carved gourd or turnip, so a coconut is just the latest in a fine tradition of local substitutions.

I am back in the USA, at long, long last, and having a bit of reverse-culture shock. There are so many people! There are so many cars! It's bloody freezing! I am also feeling just a teensy bit sorry for myself as I unpack my suitcase, do my laundry and settle in for two months of gimping around in the cold and darkness waiting to find out what sort of surgery I have to have in December. It is my hope that, whichever option I wind up having to go with, the recovery afterwards is quick since I am not well suited for sitting around and taking it easy.

On that note, I've decided I hate basically my entire house and am planning to spend the late winter and spring doing some rather extensive remodeling. Planning it will take a while, but at the moment I have the time since what ELSE am I going to do. Can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm really looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. Seeing the same four walls gets old.

Something else I'm looking forward to - election day. At this point, I just want the whole circus to be over. I got home and my inbox was totally full with election related calls and every day that I've been back it's been call after call after call - vote for this candidate, take our poll, give money to that candidate, blah, blah, blah. Leave me alone already! There is nothing a phone call can possibly say that will persuade me to vote for a candidate I have previously decided to vote against, and an unsolicited call may very well persuade me to leave part of the ballot blank rather than vote for a candidate who would otherwise have had my support. And, since I know you sell the poll results, you can bloody well stop calling me unless you're planning to pay me for my time. I've started just hanging up on people. I know, I know, it's rude but then, so is harassing someone at home with unsolicited phone calls.

Tropical Storms

We all have good days and bad days, or in my particular case, good months and bad months. October 2012 is most definitely a bad month. First I break my foot (no more running for at least 3 months, grrrrr) then my 2.5 week business trip becomes 1.5 months and then I wind up all moony over one of my colleagues. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Fortunately, while there's nothing I can do about the foot or the business trip, I have kept the hormone problems strictly to myself (well, obviously except this, and I am not naming names).

On the plus side, I have a TON of new frequent flier miles. I'm thinking I might have to spend some time planning a long delayed trip to Australia soon... because 650k + miles is easily enough to make it there in first class. I'm hoping to find a seat at a decent time of year on Air New Zealand, so I can arrange a stopover.

Before I get too deep into planning a future vacation, I must sadly confess to having to have to cancel my hiking trip this year. I broke my foot in late September and have been told it's a 3 month recovery period and probable surgery to fix (don't ask how I broke it, it's an incredibly long story). Unfortunately, some friends and I were planning to hike the Grand Canyon rim to river to rim on the North and South Kaibab trails this year. Had reservations at Phantom Ranch too (so we could spend a few days down at the river). I have been looking forward to that trip all year. It was my reward to me for the assignment from hell this year. So, of course, less than a month before I'm supposed to lace up my hiking boots, I have to cancel out. I was training and everything. *grumbles* They offered to cancel with me, but I couldn't do that to them, so gang I hope it's every bit as wonderful as I remember.

Somewhat after the fact, I discovered that my current business trip was being extended. By 3 weeks. So I am now stuck in the absolute back of beyond / middle of nowhere. It's actually rather pretty around here, but entertainment options in a walking cast are... limited. Fortunately, I've been doing a lot of swimming (it's good for rehab and keeps me from going nuts sitting around being broken). Alas, though, today I seem to have picked up the office cold. At least, that's what I hope it is, as something more serious does NOT appeal right now.

And to my last little problem, I am going to chalk the whole thing up to extreme isolation combined with significant fatigue from attempting to recover from a major injury while working 19 hour days and hope the whole thing is soon nothing but a surreal memory.

Next up on the to-do list: schedule surgery, prep for Puerto Rico (even if it has to be on crutches, I am going on the girls' annual weekend!), stop daydreaming inappropriately during business hours.

First Robin of Spring, meet the first Turkeys of Fall

New England is, justifiably, famous for its fall colors - the leaves and the little towns, warm days and crisp evenings. If you climb up West Rattlesnake (which is a very little mountain in the Lakes region) in New Hampshire and sit on the ledge and look over the landscape, you see a farm with a grain silo and a red barn, and a little town with a white church steeple. It is fall the way people imagine it and, for all that it means that winter is coming, it is my favorite season.

The most classical sign of fall so far was a huge flock of wild turkeys that I passed down by the golf course as I was driving home this afternoon. There had to be at least 20 of them, wandering across the road, eating the seed off the neighbor's lawn. I used to see turkeys on the road when I worked in Bedford, Massachusetts, but I have never seen them around here before. It was so random. Wild turkeys are surprisingly big - one of the neighbor has a big, friendly golden retriever, who was visibly keeping his distance from them. Most of their feathers are an iridescent black. The wattles aside, they are actually quite attractive birds. I'm bringing my camera tomorrow, in hopes they'll be there again so I can get a picture.

This year has been a little strange. First, there has been a plague of "seed bug" in our development. I've seen them in smaller numbers before, but this is almost at the level of a plague of locusts. Big, slow, ugly, clumsy things. They are actually a variety of stink bugs, so even more incentive to keep them out of the house. Being absolutely terrified of bugs, I am sure that my neighbors have been quite amused at my daily yelping and swatting and running out the door rituals. Honestly, I may have to start entering and exiting via my living room windows. I shamelessly called Terminex on Friday, which was particularly bad in terms of bug density. Now, I have a pile of dead, ugly bugs on the stoop. *sigh*  The engineer part of me knows that they are harmless (if smelly), but there is just nothing I can do... they disgust me. I would rather they go away, then have to kill them, but I can't live with them.

I am (working on being) Runner 5

Those of you who already use the Zombies, Run! app know exactly what I am referencing. Those of you who don't, well, probably think I'm crazy (and you're probably right). This is an app, multi-platform though I use it on my iPhone, that provides you with a storyline that you interact with while you run. The basic idea is that you are a post-zombie-apocalypse survivor. In order to support the little outpost of safety you find yourself in, you need to run around and collect stuff (no actual picking up required) while evading marauding herds of zombies. Herds of zombies... that doesn't sound right, sounds too organized. Swarms maybe?

The storyline plays while you run, and your music is played in between segments (1 song or so between segments for 30 minute runs, 2 songs between segments for hour runs). When zombies are approaching, you have to move faster for ~ 1 minute to outrun them. It seems pretty simple, and it is, but it's totally addictive. You can use the stuff you pick up to improve your base and, if you go longer than 1 hour, you can interact with what they call Radio Mode - you still listen to music, you still get story segments and you still pick up stuff. Thus far, I haven't been in Radio Mode long enough at any one time to find out if you also have to sprint from zombies, as in the main story.

Even though intellectually, I know I'm running in a park full of pedestrians and dogs and babies in strollers and the local high school cross country team, it's surprisingly engrossing and realistic... and creepy. I bring this up because if any of you saw someone jump nearly out of her sneakers today because of a squirrel, there was actually a reason that has nothing to do with an irrational fear of rodents. Still a long way from being ready for either a sprint triathlon or a half marathon (not sure which I'm going to set as my 2013 goal yet; maybe I should put it to a vote), but definitely makes training way more fun.

Technical review: The app is stable, with no crashes in ~3 hours of use so far. Ties into the GPS on your phone to measure distance and determine if you've outrun or been caught by the zombies. If you're running indoors, you can use the device's accelerometer instead of GPS, but I don't know how well (or if) the zombie chases work that way. There are a lot of different levels in the app, and they have added new content recently. I don't know if you have the option of starting over once you finish all the levels, as I'm not nearly there yet (perhaps running through once in 30 minute mode and once in hour mode?). The cost of the app is a bit high by app store standards, at $7.99, but given the many, many hours of use, the different features and the motivation boost I definitely think it's worth it.

Think I might go for a hot stone massage this weekend as a reward if I run at least 21 miles this week (note, 4.6 down if so). Date with "Looks Like Lochte" #3 next weekend. Whale watching. At least it's creative and different, right?

The Farmshare Dilema

This year, I decided to sign up for a farm share and go *mostly* vegetarian for the summer. I say mostly because I love sea food and this is the best season for it. At first it was pretty great, but lately it's a little overwhelming. First there was an avalanche of zucchini, then the flood of cucumbers and now I'm buried in greens. I'm not a Cordon Bleu chef, but I'm a decent cook and I enjoy figuring out how to prepare new things. I just don't know what to do with 13 (yes THIRTEEN) ears of corn. 

A few months ago, my friend and I had dinner at a Boston restaurant, Toro, that serves Barcelona style tapas. The house specialty is a fabulous grilled corn-on-the-cob dish that I may try to recreate with my husked bounty. Actually, I already figured out how to duplicate the garlic shrimp (from a place who's name I do not know actually in Barcelona) ... if I can ever make a Spanish style tortilla without burning it and duplicate that corn, I can make my next party a tapas party!

I don't know that I'd do a farmshare again, to be honest. I think it's just too much for one person, so I've had to do a lot of preserving and freezing. I spent a rainy day last weekend canning jars of my very own homemade tomato sauce, which turned out to be surprisingly easy. I've also got a very, very full freezer and Swiss Chard running through my veins. I love supporting local farms, and I love the fact that I get fresh food, instead of food shipped from the other side of the planet, but I think I can do that by just shopping at the local farmers markets. There are some great ones nearby in Litchfield, NH. 

In marginally related health news - I am in the market for a new gym. My current one, part of a fairly large chain, used to be great, but they really expanded their membership really quickly and haven't expanded the facility at all. It's gotten very crowded and the maintenance hasn't kept up. It's kind of... gross actually. I think I'm going to sign up for a sprint triathlon for 2013 - I need to have goals to work toward and I think that would be a fun one.

Salem, MA - Minus the Witches

Decided to kick off Labor Day weekend with a day trip to Salem, MA. Famously the Witch City, I should confess that I didn't visit any of the assorted witch-themed attractions this trip. There is too much to do in one trip, and I figure witches, pirates and graveyards are best appreciated in the fall, ideally on an overcast day during leaf season.

This trip, wandered down to the House of Seven Gables, past a number of really cute older homes and shops. I was persuaded to stop in at Ye Olde Pepper Companie - the oldest commercial candy store in the US. They had a great selection, and I was sorely tempted to just say "Yes", but restricted myself to a few things, some fudge, a couple of peppermint patties and some chocolate-peanut butter varieties. So much better than mass-produced candy. While I would highly recommend the place for the atmosphere, they do have an online presence and will ship.

We decided to wander back to the car (I decided on a parking garage spot, so the car was shaded) to drop our stuff off so it wouldn't melt in the mid-day sun. On the way we stopped at several different shops, mostly variations on the witchcraft and New Age theme, though highly variable in quality. My favorite things tended to be the bumper stickers ("Cats, Not Kids", how appropriate) though they did have quite a number of items that spoke to my inner Goth. Aside from the historic witch trial tie-in, you can tell there is a very active Wiccan community there. Kind of ironic, the town that became famous because it allowed its paranoia and isolation to explode into a fiesta of false accusations and executions is now home to a plethora of the very people they were trying to hunt down and eliminate. Not that things have entirely changed, there is a church in town that hosts "Holy Happenings" every October to compete with Salem's Haunted Happenings events. It hasn't exactly caught on.

Lunch was Salem BeerWorks. I am not a big beer drinker, so I went for the tasting menu instead of a regulation size beer. Still not a beer person, but even I enjoyed the selections. I give them credit, the menu is definite pub food, but well executed. I particularly liked the unexpectedness of the potato, cheese and bacon spring rolls. Sort of like a twice-baked potato in a spring roll shell. I also compliment them on making Pepsi tolerable. When I made a face at the "Is Pepsi ok" query, the server suggested she add an extra spritz of seltzer to cut the sweetness. Not exactly coke, but tolerable. I'll have to remember that trick for later. 

Last stop in town was the Peabody-Essex museum, which is great. Not "great for a little town" great, but really fabulous. The architecture is very light and airy and the collections are extremely well curated. They are currently hosting a selection of Ansel Adams work that is fabulous. Unlike his more famous mountain west photographs, this one focused on his pictures of water. Very unusual, and absolutely stunning. The museum also has a Chinese house, moved here in the 1980s I think, that you can tour. It was really interesting to see the architecture, and to hear the history on the audio tour. The upstairs is getting pretty rickety, though, so definitely watch your step there. 

About that parking garage - cost to park for basically the entire day in a garage in the middle of town: $1.25. Cheaper than a meter, and much more convenient. One note on getting to and from Salem, even though it sounds easy (just take 128 to 114), what that doesn't tell you is that 114 takes all sorts of turns and jogs. I know most of the streets and routes in Massachusetts follow old cow paths and such, but whatever cow blazed this trail was very, very drunk. My GPS (a TomTom) kept up with all the turns, so recommend you either go with a native or bring a digital navigator.

Dating and the Olympics Effect

While I'm a huge fan of the Olympics, why is it that suddenly every time my friends try to fix me up with someone he "looks just like Ryan Lochte"? It's so cute that they're still trying to get me married off, the dears (note: I am still 2 cats shy of the Crazy Cat Lady mark), but even if all these Lochte comparisons were accurate, that still isn't necessarily a good thing. Oh, he's cute enough and has great abs, but he also seems shallow and immature. A grill at the Olympics? Seriously? Rochester is not the Hood and while he is a great swimmer, its kind of hard to be gangster in a speedo.

Anyway, getting marginally back on topic, while I'd much rather a Chris Pine or Jake Gyllenhal type, my friends have thus far suggested three Lochtes in the past two weeks. I had my first date with one last night. No stupid grill, but not a lot to recommend him otherwise.  I would really like to be able to sit down and talk to someone about topics other than a) the Red Sox (I think baseball is pointless and dull) or b) the Patriots (American football is really wimpy rugby). Have I mentioned I'm not from New England and thus have non-standard team loyalties for those sports I do watch? Alas, it seems all he's good for is Boston sports. Couldn't even think up any hobbies that didn't involve "his" teams. I've had more interesting conversations in elevators.

The real killer, though, was the drinking. While I have no issues with a little social drinking, I don't go for sloppy aging frat boys who drink 14 (yes, I was so bored I counted) beers in under 2 hours. I particularly can't stand sloppy drunks who think I'm going to sleep with them on the first date. Ugh. Maybe he really is channeling Lochte. The best part of this date was laughing about it with the girls over lunch today.

In happier news, I've been changing up my workout lately. I hate, hate, HATE intervals, but they seem to be working. My little black dress is a little too loose. Gives me an excuse to go shopping for a new one before next Friday's blind date. *sigh* I am so not looking forward to it after this last one. Maybe I should just get another cat.

Boston 3-Day for a Cure Weekend!

In late January 2008, my stepmother Kathy died after her metastasized breast cancer reached her brain before her doctors could build her up enough to withstand another round of chemo. No complaints with the doctors, she had a particularly aggressive cancer. After crying hysterically for many days and being generally miserable, I got angry. It wasn't fair that a terrific person (no evil stepmother, she) could be taken so long before her time. So, I decided I had to do something to fight back, since she no longer could. I started out that first year as a crew member on the Boston 3-Day (Pit Crew, whoot!). I have participated, as crew and as a walker, in at least one walk each year. This year, I got my 5 year anniversary pin.

I just crewed Boston and (work permitting) will be walking in Philadelphia. This past weekend, pouring rain, thunder and all, was 3-Day weekend. No amount of soggy sneakers can dampen the spirits of the happy pink people, and it is so uplifting to spend a weekend with my 3-Day family. The whole community gets involved in some towns:

And you get to spend time with all sorts of characters:

Even the occasional stray alligator.

Sure, the soccer fields we were sleeping on flooded, turning air mattresses into water beds, yes, the mosquitos have a particular love for my blood, and no, I don't like using port-a-potties (in fact, I spent the entire weekend doing everything in my power to avoid using them), but it's all worth it, and it does make me feel like I'm doing something to reclaim my voice. I didn't have a choice about losing someone I love to cancer, but in some small way, I feel like I'm helping to make sure that some day, no one will have to face this disease or the gaping hole it can leave in families.

Each year, with my feet quaking in my sneakers knowing what's coming, I hope that this is the last year we have to walk, that we'll get the call saying that they've found a cure and we can hang up our sneakers. Maybe there could be one last 3-Day... just a party in pink tents, no walking required. Didn't happen this year, at least not yet. Here's hoping that day comes soon.

A Dark Knight Rises and a New York Weekend

This week, my second must see movie of the year, the Dark Knight Rises, was released. A group of us scored tickets to a midnight screening to the final chapter of perhaps the greatest superhero movie trilogy that has ever, or will ever, be made. I absolutely loved the movie (yes, it plods a teensy bit in the second half, but the ending is amazing) and the experience of seeing it with a theater full of fellow fans. While the entire case is amazing (Gary Oldman is perhaps the most under appreciated living actor), I have to give special points to Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who really is the main reason that the plot manages to hold together. Of course, Christian Bale is an amazing actor and he and Michael Cain play off each other so well, as always, but there are enough plot gaps that they needed an assist to make the movie work. I won't go into details, since this isn't a movie blog, but the quality of the acting was astounding.   Our post-film euphoria was short lived, though... while we were having fun watching a movie, a different theater in Colorado was having a very different evening. Even though we were on the far side of the country, there's a little bit of survivors guilt (why them, and not us).

Already, the newspapers are talking about how dark and violent the movies are, etc. The thing is, people all over the world have watched these movies, and loved them, and only one person stocked up on guns and gas canisters, dressed up in body armor, booby trapped his apartment and killed people. Shouldn't we all be trying to find out what caused this one person to commit mass murder, and not trying to blame it on a movie that millions watched without killing anyone? Also, why is it that someone can go out and buy multiple guns, and explosives, and gas canisters, and gas masks, and body armor and no one anywhere pauses to think maybe he might be planning something violent. I know the NRA would have kittens at the thought, but just maybe it would make sense to have a system that generates a "This looks weird" alert when a cluster of purchases like this is made. Because, not for nothing, but Mexico is in the middle of a drug war, and you're still statistically twice as likely to be shot in the US, and I think that's a problem.

On a different note, last weekend, I took a quick hop down to NYC. Not really time for a full-up trip report, but who would have guessed you'd see something like this:

in the Bronx? New York is full of contrasts. Also, is it really that unusual to cross stitch on a train? I had about seven people come up to me and comment about how strange it was to see someone not my grandmother's age sewing. I guess the hard rock, sci-fi fangirl, engineer cross stitcher demographic is a bit sparse.

Hogwarts in the Office Basement

A surreal experience at the end of my day today. I had stayed late to take care of some things and, around 6:30, headed down to the lab to finish up. That late, the offices are mostly dark, and (since it's been raining most of the day) the hallways are kind of shadowy and vaguely creepy. As I was heading down the (also dark) staircase, I heard someone whistling the Harry Potter theme. Whoever it was actually had really good pitch, but the whistling faded away into the creepy empty offices and I never saw who it was.

It was an interesting if mildly surreal experience, and surprisingly good atmospherics to make it work. Since I'm 100% sure I'm a muggle, I guess I should start keeping an eye out for lurking Slytherins in the halls after hours.

Sharing the pain isn't always the right strategy

Why is it it that you're only a team player if you don't have a life?

The immediate back story - last year the company thought there might be a slowdown and they didn't want to have a bunch of people on overhead for a few months while they found new contracts because that would lower our profit margins and by extension, decrease the executive bonuses. So they laid people off, in weekly rolling waves. Fast forward a few months, and all the contracts we leads said were coming in have arrived. And we are short staffed at least 50 people in one particular area that was hardest hit by the layoffs. And, in an apparent shocker, no one is willing to work uncompensated overtime.

So, a multiple choice quesion. Does our fearless leader:
A. Put pressure on our HR people to speed up the hiring process
B. Allow paid overtime
C. Ask for voluntary transfers
D. Spread the pain around by pulling people off their assigned tasks to backfill the program she didn't think was worth the overhead money

If you chose A, B or C... I would really like to work where you do. But, alas, our brilliant automaton chose option D. Which leaves me in an impossible position - the other program asked for me specifically because of some work I had done for them in the past, but my current job takes up all of my time (including a sickening number of my days off) and Dr. Evil sees no reason why I can't be all things to all people and simply do both jobs. I vetoed that and got the "We need you to be a team player" speech. Shockingly, I remain unpersuaded. Seriously, I don't mind taking one for the team, but this is just too much to ask.

On a happier note - my new favorite cross stitch pattern place just had a big sale. Ok, I have more projects than I can finish in a lifetime - they're still really cool.

Oh, Sudafed, How Do I Love Thee?

Let me count the ways:

1. Because with your help I can breathe through my nose. No one, no matter how sincerely they may try, can breathe through their mouth without looking rather like a trout, which honestly isn't my best look
2. Now the balloon in my head is smaller and more manageable (though I still think my head is at least the size of a large pumpkin)
3. No one wants to go to work and be "that" person snorfling and sneezing in their cube all day
4. While you make me sleepy, you don't make me so sleepy that I spontaneously pass out on the couch and wake up the next morning crackling like a bowl of rice crispies

In somewhat related news, I have found cross stitch nirvana (because nothing says I'm home and sick and feeling sorry for myself like an epic cross stitch project). The site is called Heaven and Earth Designs and if I live to be around 300, I can actually finish all the projects I want to do. A minor problem, I know... I'll have to work on that whole "live forever".

Catching up on vacation news. Chicago stopped only a very little short of being a total disaster. It was totally my fault, though. I had somehow managed to miss the fact that the one weekend I was free to go was also NATO conference weekend. Even after I found out, I thought it would be OK (the conference wasn't scheduled to start until the day I was leaving). But no. Most of the major museums were closed that Saturday. So, no famous Art Institute, no Field Museum, no great views of the city from the Aquarium. *muttering*

The Chicago City Museum was, very fortunately, quite nice and it was still possible to see a lot of the architecture. I also got to see Millennium Park (the bean is actually really, really cool) and the waterfront and do some shopping. A note on being a pedestrian in a city expecting the NATO apocalypse - when you see a platoon of mounted police heading to the place were all the helicopters are hovering, it's best to head the other way.

Stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel - the pool alone is worth a trip to this hotel. It's also right next door to the Tribune building. Chunks of stone from all over the world are embedded into the tribune building, so you can see pieces of the Great Wall, the Taj Mahal, I think I saw a plaque for the pyramids, etc in the facade of the building. I know, nerdy, but I love rocks.

Also loved, despite the New Yorker in me screaming bloody murder about my treachery - Chicago deep dish pizza. Ate at Gino's East (worth the wait, both standing outside for a table and inside waiting for the pizza) - as a hint, unless there are at least 3 of you (or two if one is a sumo wrestler), do not order an appetizer if you get even a small deep dish pizza.

Ultimately, it's not fair to compare Chicago and San Francisco. I saw one on a tough weekend, the other on a perfect weekend, though it was much easier to walk around Chicago... fewer hills. Here are some other good things about Chicago: the people are really, really friendly. The architecture is amazing, and there's a lot of variety, from sky scrapers (Sorry, Willis Co. it will always be the Sears tower to me) to Frank Lloyd Wright. It has great park spaces, and they're spread throughout the city so each one has a slightly different character. Public transit is efficient and convenient, so you can save your rental car money for a nicer hotel or shopping, etc. Pedestrian friendly and great downtown core.

Highlights: Millennium Park, deep dish pizza (I will deny everything if confronted about this back home), City Museum

Adventures in Tires

Although it's been a wonderfully mild winter up here in the darkness of New Hampshire, I recently noticed my rear tires were getting decidedly worn...like, nearly bald worn. It's an all-wheel drive (a 2005 RAV-4) which means the tires must be replaced all together. It is marginally more expensive than a regular car, but being able to pull out of my driveway through 30+ inches of snow so that the plow guy can clear things is well worth the price (7/8 of the years I've lived here, we've had 30+ inch storms; I've only had to replace my tires once before).

Being just one person, I have just one car. This usually means that I get to sit around enjoying the best of last year's Car & Driver magazines for a few hours on a vinyl couch. Exciting! I decided to take an early morning appointment figuring there would be few people in front of me, so I'd wait a little bit less. As it turns out, I could have slept in... the dealership now offers a shuttle service for singles like me. You drop off your car, they drop you off at home (or the mall, or wherever) and then come get you when your car is done. Hanging out reading the paper with my 4th cup of coffee is pretty much what I'd do on a rainy day off anyway.

Of course, there's always a catch. Driving home from work two days later, the air pressure warning light came on. I take the next exit, find a nice empty parking lot and check my tire pressure... no problems. So I call the dealer, who tells me just to reset the indicator and go about my business, which I do. Light stays out the rest of the way home, problem solved. Or not. Today, the same thing happened. Same light, same pulling over, etc. This time, I took the car straight back to the dealer instead of calling. Oh, the fun. "Did you check the tire pressure?" Yup, 29-ish PSI in all four brand new tires. "29! It should be more like 32!" Um, the owners manual says 29. "Oh. Did you check your spare, it has a sensor too." *sigh* Eventually they agree to look at it.

About 30 minutes later, a very apologetic customer service agent comes out with my keys and tells me I'm good to go. The problem? They accidentally forgot to "properly reset" the pressure sensors for the new tires. I may wear high heels, but I have wicket PSI skills.