Marc’s Musings Reality from Marc’s point of view!

I just got back from my sad, sorry attempt to cast my votes for this election. At the advanced voting station, in this frigid weather (showing 34 degrees by my thermometer), there was a line out a couple of hundred yards and 4-5 strong wide outside of the building.

How incompetent a system are we running that it’s going to take me *how* many hours, business hours, to cast my vote?

I’m originally from Canada. A country which, in many ways, is not as sophisticated as the United States. But in some ways - consumer oriented banking and voting. Was VASTLY ahead of us. I cannot recall EVER having to wait more than 20 minutes to get into the polling station and then be on my way again. Maybe I was lucky, but I was then, as I am now, on the outskirts of one of the larger cities in Canada. If anything, I’m now *farther* away from the urban core. And yet we can’t figure out how to do this efficiently?

Come on! It’s not like this is unusual or a surprise. We have a MAJOR election every 4 years! And zillions of minor ones it seems all the time. Who’s the genius who thinks this is acceptable?

*sigh* I’ll try again at 3 pm… and probably again nearer to 6. I’ve invested the time to be aware of the candidates and the issues, I can’t believe I’ll be stymied by bureaucratic incompetence… oh, wait… that’s what bureaucratic incompetence is all about…

** Update 4:00 pm **
Just got back, the line looks a *little* thinner but was longer yet and, at over 2 hundred yards, was still ridiculous.  I guess this means that only the retired, the unemployed and convicts are able to vote these days?  That could go along way toward understanding the caliber of congress we have…

** Update November 4 **
I have to say that I was impressed. The polling station was open and uncrowded, direction was excellent and it only took me about 15-20 minutes to get in, vote and get out.  So I have to take back some of what I said above. I cannot at all understand what the frenzy surrounding advance voting was all about but I’m glad to see the fears were unwarranted.
Kudos. And yes - regardless of who wins the election, this IS THE BEST COUNTRY THIS PLANET HAS EVER SEEN.

Posted under General, Opinions

Back in January of 2007 I posted about a healthier lifestyle that I’d adopted.

In my visit up to Toronto this past July I found I was becoming pretty overwhelmed with being so full all the time. A part of many visits with friends naturally ends up enjoying a meal together. Light foods or not, I was finding myself perpetually and uncomfortably “topped up”.

So when I came back I determined that I would make some additional changes. To that end I stopped eating all sugary snacks, all chocolate and sodas. Otherwise it was business as usual. The same meals, the same restaurant visits with friends but just having water with lemon instead of a coke. Also, when I feel even vaguely full or approaching full, I just stop eating my meal. 

The difference has been dramatic. After the first few days I had lost that constant “full” feeling. Then it migrated to that wonderful “ready to go” feeling when I’d wake up. It’s hard to describe but it’s that satisfying feeling you get when you’ve spent your day doing productive work and taken care of yourself on top of that. Like I said, it’s hard to describe.

Anyway after several days I began to lose weight. I like to weigh myself at the same time each day so that circumstances are as similar as possible, so I do so right before getting dressed in the morning.

The weight loss has been fairly consistent about 1 1/2 pounds a week. When I saw that I was starting to lose weight faster than that, I adjusted my diet and just ate a little more.

I do not and I have not had cravings for the sweets although I will admit to craving salt more than usual. And those of you who know me know that *that’s* something…

Here I am 3 months later. When I began losing weight too fast and modified my eating to compensate it resulted in my plateauing a couple of weeks ago but I have since started losing weight again. As of today I’m about 15 pounds down from where I began. I’m anticipating another 9 pounds will put me where I think I should be. So in another 6 or so weeks I’ll be reevaluating whether to move into maintenance mode yet.

My ideal “weight” isn’t predicated so much on the weight but on how I feel overall. Weight vs height can be pretty misleading as it doesn’t take into account your muscle mass if you’re anything but a pasty corporate drone who doesn’t exercise at all. So I take the “ideal weights” with a huge grain of salt (mmm… salt…). But it is the most convenient objective size measure available to me so I have chosen this as my indicator.

Of interest was the fact that, as I lost weight, I noticed changes in my gait both when when walking and running. Even more unexpected was that the amount of “material” on the base of my feet decreased leading to greater impact when running and necessitating a change in my technique to smooth things out.
At first I had thought that my sneakers had suddenly worn out, but I noticed a similar change with all my shoes. It was simply more pronounced when I ran.

Maintenance mode will require some thinking. I really *love* coca cola. I’m thinking of how to relegate it to where it belongs in a meal, as a dessert, and how to do this conveniently when eating out. The quantities provided are so huge that I’ll be forced to leave so much behind it will be galling.
Also, I *really* love my chocolate and chocolate chip cookies. How to reintroduce them so I can enjoy them as a treat without falling back into old patterns? In the past, I could *easily* sit down and eat a couple of rows of my favorite chocolate chip cookies and not blink an eye. Is it possible to enjoy one or two and be satisfied? Or am I like an alcoholic in that I’d be incapable of stopping at a reasonable amount?

Suggestions? Comments? Oh, don’t suggest diet foods. I’m not interested in sorry-ass substitutes. If I’m going to indulge in something enjoyable I’m not interested in a poor cousin and trying to “trick” myself into enjoying it. I’ve sampled the diet offerings out there and, if I never taste one of those again, it’ll be too soon!

Posted under Fitness, General

In a word - Great!

The iGolf neo is a compact GPS unit you can use while golfing to let you know how far away you are from the front, back and center of the green. The maps are downloaded from their website to which you subscribe for a modest fee. Once you’ve downloaded a map it’s yours, so if you don’t get around much you may not need to renew your subscription.

You can also map your own courses if you choose.

This is an image showing all the stuff that comes out of the box when you purchase an iGolf neo.

The little booklet is actually pretty useful. It answered nearly every question I had about the gadget as I was walking myself through its features.

I already had some experience with this little gadget, my friend David D. picked one up earlier this year and was finding it very useful. The accuracy of my unit matched his in being within about a yard or two of the markers in the tee box.

I don’t have too much trouble judging distance when I’m playing the short part of my game, maybe within about 90 yards. But that oddball area between about 120 to 160 yards I seem to have trouble gauging and find the neo a valuable aid. I’m pretty consistent with which clubs hit which distances. It’s guessing the distance that was somewhat of an achilles heel.

Also handy is the neo’s shot ability. When at the tee I just click the “Shot” button twice and, when I am at the ball for my next hit I can see how many yards I was actually able to achieve. Great for refining my opinion of how far I hit which club.

It’s supposed to last about 16 hours on a charge and uses the same technology as my bluetooth puck GPS which seems to never run out of steam so I anticipate never running out of power as long as I charge it at least once every couple of games.

Posted under Sports

Went out for a late lunch, frustrated that my DSL is acting up (got a call into bellsouth and a bunch of logs showing it dropping like a rock throughout the morning) and decided to compound things by trying to get some gas as well.

I finally found some at the 6th station I passed, decided I’d get lunch and then eat it while waiting in line. But then I spotted another, bigger station (BP) that was doing brisk business.

No matter that they ran out of regular gas (at all the pumps) when I was about 2 gallons in, I was able to switch to their “silver” gas and finish up. I’ve got my fingers crossed that this won’t be abusive to my nearly 12 year old Odyssey…

At least I’ll be able to get to work tomorrow.

Posted under General, Tech Stuff

TAM6 is “The Amazing Meeting” ’s 6th incarnation. Since I’ve been listening to and reading about many of these folks for years I thought it would be a lot of fun to attend this year to see these folks live and interact with some like minded folks.

TAM spans Thursday through Sunday but my chief interest was with the core Friday and Saturday presentations so that’s what I signed up for. Michelle and I flew down on Wednesday so we could enjoy some time in Las Vegas doing some of the “strip” stuff together before I went off to attend the TAM presentations.
As luck would have it, my mother decided she could join us, so Mich and her could have fun together when I’m not there. For the uninitiated among you, Mich and my mom get along together famously so this is actually a *good* thing… just ask her yourself!

On Wednesday (June 18) Mich and I arrived in Las Vegas at about 3:30 pm and immediately headed out to do a bit of exploring on the strip. Wow! It’s as hot as I remember from my last trip back in 2001. Every time you go outside it’s as if you are opening an oven door. 106 degrees and 5% humidity. Oh yeah baby!

Anyway, after bopping over to Treasure Island to pick up our show tickets for that night (Mystere) we headed over to Margaritaville and enjoyed some libations and split an excellent club sandwich (I recommend it).

Mystere was superb. I’m not sure if there’s a bad seat in the house. I sat 4 rows back from the stage about 45 degrees off of center. What a spectacle that was!

This is the third, permanent venue (not in tents), Cirque de Soleil that I’ve seen and I would recommend any of them. As amazing as Mystere was, my absolute favorite so far is “O” and I would go back and see that one again any day in a heartbeat.

Just one gripe so far, I’m sure this applies to all the hotels here, but I’m staying at the Flamingo (since that’s where TAM 6 is being hosted and I wanted to be close to the action) and MAN, do they ever nickel and dime you to death for EVERYTHING! When I got to my room and tried to access the internet I found that there was a daily charge for it ($13). In checking back to see the room descriptions I see that I had interpretted “Internet Data Port” as meaning actual access rather than merely the (needed to be paid for) potential for access. I haven’t had to pay for internet access in a hotel room in years.
Also, I just came back from attempting to access the fitness center where I was surprised to find there was a $10 a day access fee. Since I had shown up with just my workout clothes room key and my iPod I was not in a position to shell out for this. I’ve *never* had to shell out for a fitness center before.

I suppose it’s truly a capitalist venture. Not everybody who uses a hotel room needs internet access and far fewer still take advantage of the fitness center, so it could be argued that it makes sense to have folks pay for exactly the amenities that they use.

Thursday had us exploring the city (visited the Stratosphere - it’s definitely past its prime). As with the last time we were here, Caesar’s Palace is always entertaining. Enjoyed lunch at “Mon Ami Gabi” one of the restaurants associated with the Paris Casino and Hotel. On the outdoor patio you can watch the fountains of the Bellagio hotel go through their gyrations, something we really love.

That evening we attended “The Blue Man Group” show and, as expected, we loved it too. We saw them when we were last in Las Vegas and they didn’t disappoint this time either. Always lively and fun! Afterwards we had dinner in the Venetian “The Grand Lux Cafe” - another recommendation from me - the food is great. And the server girls in the casino are sporting easily my favorite outfits on the strip.

Friday saw me at TAM 6 so Mich and my mother went on the town. Check out my Flickr set for pictures and some brief opinions from TAM 6. I won’t go into the content because, frankly, many others have already done that and they do a better job of it than I would. I *really* enjoyed watching the recording of “The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe”, Neil deGrasse Tyson gave a great talk and, surprisingly, Alec Jason’s talk about forensics was fascinating. In truth I have to say I loved pretty much everything. The exceptions I noted in my Flickr stream.

That evening we ate at “The Eiffel Tower Restaurant”, again in the Paris Hotel. We had a great view of the Bellagio Fountains which are truly breathtaking at night.
The meal was incredibly expensive, but in Vegas you largely do get what you pay for. I don’t believe I’ve ever had a filet mignon as wonderfully tender as the one I was served. Exquisite!

That night I came down with a terrible cold and ended up missing the 2nd day of TAM 6. I was very disappointed (frankly I just slept and blew my nose all day) I REALLY wanted to hear Phil Plait’s and Michael Shermer’s talks. I understand there was a problem with the audio recordings made of TAM and that there is a chance that the DVDs may not be available for that day. I’m keeping my eyes open, I hope they are able to piece those together from audience-captured audio.
Just as bad, I missed Penn & Teller’s show that night. Mich ended up going alone as my mom had already purchased tickets to see Elton John that night.
Michelle as quite thrilled that she was seated only a couple of rows away from Adam Savage (one of the few TAM folks that she would recognize). Penn & Teller’s show was, I am told, fabulous too. Next time!!!

Later Saturday night Mich came in after having won something like $80 on the slot machines (I was still recovering from my cold so I stayed in), but my mom came in at some crazy hour (2 am?) after hitting a jackpot and cleared $2,940 (before $900 was expropriated by “da gummint” - something puzzling to a Canadian where winnings are not taxable).

So Sunday morning started with a grand room service feast which we enjoyed before packing up to head back home.

Posted under Photos, Science, Skepticism, Travel

At least it’s consistent if not correct.

– Marc Bourassa

Posted under General

Sarchasm - The gulf between the purveyor of sarcastic wit and the recipient who doesn’t get it.

– From Washington Post reader contest

Of course, this has messed up my ability to spell the word “sarcasm” correctly, thank goodness for spell checkers…

This is an example of brilliance that I admire and to which I aspire.

Posted under General