Underpants Gnomes Not Required

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Step 1: Have good credit and $yyy money to spend.

Step 2: Get credit card offer from Company A offering free miles for signing up after spending a certain amount less than $yyy.

Step 3: Apply for and be granted free miles card.

Step 4: Buy Stuff(tm) work $yyy you were planning on buying anyway via the card.

Step 5: Pay off card prior to billing cycle.

Step 6: Collect miles.

Step 7: Let card sit on shelf for 12 months, then cancel card.

Step 8: Get new credit card offer from Company B offering free miles...


... You know, even as I'm taking advantage of the system, I know it's skewed horribly: those who have continue to receive with little effort, and those who have not struggle to get a chance. This is a pretty simple example; some might argue that something like "airline miles" is a trivial form of privilege. But my execution of this plan over the next few weeks is going to net me about 50k miles - that's enough for a round-trip flight pretty much anywhere in the US essentially for free. That means that I won't have to spend money to fly, which I can use towards other things (including more of this kind of activity).

(For the record, I'm modifying Step 7 a little: I'm actually going to use the card instead of my debit that gets me miles on the same program, since for 18 months I'll get double miles via the card and I can have it auto-pay from my checking account, thus avoiding any balance fees. Which just means even more miles.)

My parents have been doing this kind of thing for years; it's always felt a little weird to me, so this is the first time I'm doing it. However, the convergence of a few things - the offer at the same time that I'm about to spend exactly the amount they want - makes it too convenient to pass up. Plus, I trust myself a lot more with credit now that I did even two years ago.

Now I just feel weird because I'm exploiting privilege.

Not all who wander are lost

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... just a quick thing.

Walked 6 miles yesterday. The funny part is that two of it wasn't intended. There's a park about 1.5 miles from my apartment, and I wanted to walk down to it, through it a bit, and back, which would have been 4ish miles. However, one of the neighborhoods was pretty cool, and then I walked across the Colorado bridge (which is gorgeous) - and it was only when I was half-way across the bridge that I realized I couldn't easily get to the park I wanted to walk through, which was almost exactly 250 feet below me. So, that led to walking down some side streets to get back around and finally to the park, and then back home.

With a brief stop at IHOP to show down on a cheeseburger and drink three or four glasses of water. Did I mention it was 80-85 degrees and sunny?

This morning, I put on a pair of pants I haven't worn in a month or so, and they're noticeably more loose than they used to be. The scale still hasn't shown much change, and I don't see any change around my waist, but I guess something's working as I'm headed in the right direction.

Anyway, back to work...

365:05:49:16

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Leap day. So I'm leaping over most of February.

Got my tax return; $7600, though a big chunk of that goes to the SEP for last year (that's one of my retirement funds).

Booked my trip to Maui for my birthday.

Thinking about buying the D800.

Also seriously going to look into buying a bike.

Also also decided to start something that is probably a decent idea but we'll see where it goes: I'm going to put 1/3 of my take-home aside in an account with the intention of (hopefully?) saving up and traveling a lot when I'm 39. Like, the ideal plan would be to quit my job (or go on extended leave if they allow it), hit Maui for my 39th birthday, and then just travel around for a year, coming back to Maui for my 40th and then going home.

Yeah, I know. That's a "big deal." In fact, that probably passes "big deal" to "holy fucking shit are you kidding me??" kind of deal. I haven't told anyone; I don't know that I'll pull it off, or that I'll still want to by then, or any number of things. Four years is a long time.

But that's why I want to start now. Assuming I pull off the 1/3rd amount - and that's assuming a lot - that'll put me over $75,000 by the time I turn 39. I think that's enough to comfortably travel around the world for a year while still covering things that would normally be covered by my company (health care, for example). If I do any extra work on the side, that can contribute to the total as well.

Even if I don't go, I'll still hopefully end up with a chunk of money saved up. Which isn't a bad thing no matter what.

Anyway, on other topics, I'm noticing physiological changes from my workout routine: not as much as I'd like, but still noticeable. I'm giving myself until the end of March to notice a weight/mass change before I try something else: I've been doing this two weeks already, and while I see contour changes and certainly have noticed strength changes, there's actually no change on the scale or in body fat percentage. I also haven't seen any decrease in the one "trouble" spot I actively want to reduce (which is also where I seem to carry most of my fat). That's the reason for the deadline: if I'm not seeing any progress in the specific changes I want, I've still got a few months (all of April, May, and June) to try something different. I mean, I know how to lose weight, but I'm trying to convert it rather than just lose it: much harder, which is why I'm doing the test, but healthier in the long run.

We'll see how it goes, but I'm getting tired of protein supplements :)

Old Macdonald had a farm...

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So, I joined a CSA. That's not a political group - well, not directly anyway. It stands for Community-Sourced Agriculture. The idea (if you're unfamiliar with it) is to get produce from local farms and growers, as well as (sometimes) other locally-produced foodstuffs. You generally pay a fee (usually $20-40 a week) and get a Box of Stuff.

This week's Box of Stuff has: apples (6, and they're really sweet), lemons (2), pears (7, bartlett type I think), arugula, collard greens, 3 "sticks" of lemongrass, a couple largish onions, a handfull of russet-type potatoes, a bunch of rosemary, what I think is a huge rutabaga, a couple of turnips, and an acorn squash.

I also got a dozen eggs and some uncured bacon added to it.

I have no idea what to do with most of this. Well, not really true - most of it is pretty typical. Things like the collard greens and arugula I'll probably put into a salad, and if nothing else potatoes make good hashed browns.

It's the turnips, rutabaga, and acorn squash I'll have to get creative with. But that's part of the point: I tend to be slightly unadventurous when it comes to day-to-day meals, so the idea was to end up with random things I probably would never have bought on my own to see what they're like. And I need to eat better in general, so the apples and pears are definitely great snack-type items (I had one this morning, with my breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast).

We'll see how this works out longer-term, but I think it's a fun way to change up the diet a little.

To-Do Lilst (Revisited)

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* Pay off all debt (should be around February / March)
* Move closer to L.A. (April-ish)
* Visit at least one country to which I've never been - likely something in the Caribbean for my birthday
* Get back into my workout routine - I fell out of it with all the stress and traveling this last quarter


Well, #1 is a "go". I paid it all off, and basically just have "maintenance debt" now (a few hundred dollars that gets paid off as I go).

#2, done, if a little late.

#3, nope. The consulting job went way longer than it should have. So, still ned to work on that.

#4, since I was in the gym earlier today, I'd say it's done. It's off and on, but especially with the gym here in the building, I've been a lot more consistent. I've actually gone the last 6 days in a row.

We do what we must because we can...

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Drive-by blogging, nothing really to say other than that I think "Still Alive" is probably the theme song for 2011.

Here's to seeing what 2012 brings.

In dread silence reposes

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My parents cruise. A lot. At this point, they've been to every continent and, if I recall, every nation. They go to small villages, climb isolated mountains, and walk on beaches far from the trappings of modern technology.

All across the world, in small places, on top of hills or in the shadows of cliffs, there are grave stones, carefully tended, and usually some old man in a faded uniform who lives in a nearby shack or hut or old building.

And on a plaque nearby, some version of the phrase, "We remember... and we thank you."

Above these stones, waving gently in the breeze, you'll see the flags. British. Austrailian. And the ol' Stars and Stripes of the United States.

I'm often conflicted on the notion of supporting those in the military. I believe that killing is never a morally valid option, even when it's the best option available, and often people seem to sign up to participate for all the wrong reasons. We get into unnecessary wars for political reasons and sometimes do more wrong than we are trying to prevent.

But on Veteran's Day today, I'll offer this statement: to those who fight for the rights and freedoms of others, who defend the line that should never be crossed, and who bear the moral cost of decisions that are not right but may be the best ones that could be made... To you, whether military or civilian, where living or dead, I salute you.

Stress lines

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Okay, it's been almost a month, and that's a little ridiculous.

Tons happening, but a lot of it "not fun". Mostly work stuff - we gave presentations in a project we've been working on for the last four or five months, so that's done. I'm going out of state to have a meeting with someone high up in a tech company who may be interested in partnering with us on Sunday, so, we've spent a lot of time prepping for that. And I'm having quite a bit of frustration working with certain individuals in my company.

So, yeah, not fun. Oh, I also get to give my self-assessment for the year, and looking over the numbers that my boss gave me for my last assessment, this isn't likely to look good. Though, I have to take that with a grain of salt - apparently, the last assessments prior to that were "so positive" that people were actually yelled at. "We can't have everyone exceeding expecttions," is one quote I heard. Gotta love corporate culture. We also had a conversation with some of it, and some of what she "dinged" me for is cultural difference.

- Let me explain that. I'm a programmer at heart. When developing code, we don't worry about the easy stuff - it's easy. What we worry about, extensively, are the things we don't understand at the start, because those are the things that you can't incorporate into the system as a whole and are, therefore, most likely to bite you in the ass later. So, most programmers mentally review an idea, toss out all the "easy" stuff, and bring up all the potential roadblocks - not to stop the conversation or to say "we can't do this", but because we have to have at least a basic understanding of how to get around them when we start.

Social workers, on the other hand, spend most of their time working with people on emotional or psychological issues. There, the best approach is to generally focus on the positive and deal with the "bad stuff" when you get to it. This helps people not fall into depressive loops and such.

So, I'll sit in a meeting with them, and most of them are all, "yes, we can do this! yay!" and I step in with, "This point here might be a problem we have to look at; we have no plan for dealing with it," and everyone thinks I'm trying to stop the show.

I explained this to her, and then to them, and everyone understands it now - that I'm not being negative, I'm actually being positive (if I was being negative, I wouldn't say anything and let them fail) - but I still have "tends to be negative in meetings" on my review.

Oh well.

On a more personal note, a paleontologist I know from online flew in from Paris (via PA and NV - don't ask), and we pal'd around for a few days. Awesome guy, and it's a blast walking through a place like the La Brea Tar Pits and having the guy next to you know more than what is written on the placard about pretty much everything. Sample comments: "Oh! We dug one of those up in Poland last year." "They always get the taxonomy on this wrong, it's not really a - [video states that they changed the family] ah, they updated it, good." "This is really cool, they only made this find in July and it's already on display here!"

Also, I finally got to hang out a bit with my language geek friend at UCLA. So, that was fun.

I also got back into World of Warcraft, since my consulting project's ended and I have the time once again. We'll see how long this lasts.

Nothing on the dating scene. Changed things up a bit, added a new pic, see how it goes.

Back later (hopefully not quite as much later).

Ten Fifteen

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Typical Saturday:
Sleep 'til 10 or so.
Get up, throw on my workout stuff, hit the gym for 30-45 minutes.
Back, down a protein shake, shower, do consulting work for a while.
Maybe run some errands.
4ish, get "dressed" and head out for the evening, back by 1 am or so.

Typical Sunday:
Fuckall.


Well, that's not really true. I actually do most of my consulting work on Sundays. But I usually space it out so I can relax while doing it.

So, it's October now. Next weekend is Blizzcon. In early November, I seem to be going to Redmond to meet with people at Microsoft for work. Those two should keep me distracted enough until Christmas and my trip to Guerneville.

Uh, let's see. I've been working out steadily for 3 months, and I'm roughly half-way to one goal for the year, so I may actually make it by NYE. That's the "bench press my weight" one, which is a huge deal for me since I've always had crap for chest strength. The 10% body fat one, not so much, but I'm more concerned about building and maintaining mass than about losing fat at the moment so that's okay. Doing both simultaneously is really really hard for anyone.

Nothing much else to mention. Nothing yet on the dating front. Roomie came back. Parents are on another cruise. A friend's script has been approved for purchase by a major production company. This is life in SoCal.

Fly away home

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So, I got a frantic IM from the roomie today:

i need to talk to for 10 mins on the phone..I need a favor, like now

(I'm underground, so my cell doesn't work here)

So, I called him up. He's going off at angles, but I finally manage to get out of him:

1) Someone looked him up through an FBI database
2) His dad did "something stupid".
3) He has to get to Ohio, immediately.

This is from someone who, to my knowledge, hasn't spoken to anyone on that side of his family in maybe 20-30 years.

He was being obviously evasive, so I didn't push. He's been out of work for a while, though, and needs my financial help getting there. So now, he's got a one-way ticket to Ohio (he can't tell me, yet, when he'll be ready to come back), and tonight I'm going to give him some pocket money and help him through packing (he hasn't been on a plane in probably 10 years).

Of course I'm curious as to what's got him so frantic, but he'll tell me if/when he's ready. My job right now is to play the "good friend" and help make sure he doesn't fly off (literally) without something critical.

It does mean I'll have the apartment to myself for a few days, though.

Hey, did you know you can fly from LAX to Ohio for less than $400 at the last minute?