Wordle!

Awesome! Wordle

The first is of my del.icio.us tags, the second is of this blog.

Simone Is Counting

Simone has been repeating numbers back to us for a while now, but just Sunday she had a pea pod in her hand - exclaiming "pea!" I handed her a second one and she responded, "two peas!" Pretty amazing to see her learning in action. And it wasn't a fluke, she did it twice.

Not Quite Sure How To React

My company may be bought out... the positive side is that they'd be buying Mentor for my department (Calibre)...

Cadence Proposes to Acquire Mentor Graphics for $16.00 per Share in Cash

MENT is up 25% already to $15.40

Interesting Summary Of Weight Loss Studies

Joe Friel wrote the book I'm using to help guide me in training for triathlons, he has an interesting round-up of weight loss studies: Weight Loss

His conclusion:

So what's the bottom line? It appears that when calories are reduced to lose weight, which is more effective than increasing workload, the protein content of the diet must be kept at near normal levels.

Only 2 weeks left in fit-bowl '08.

OPB, Corporate Shill

While driving to work this morning, I heard this story on the radio: OPB News · Online Site Helps Measure Your Carbon Footprint

It's nearly 5 minutes long, and the whole thing is just a big advertisement for Portland General Electric. It's embarrassing.

I've written to OPB, we'll see if they respond:

This morning I heard the radio story (http://news.opb.org/article/2339-online-site-helps-measure-your-carbon-footprint/) about measuring your electricity carbon footprint.

My response is that I sure hope you got a large donation from PGE, because this was one long commercial. (5 minutes!)

While I appreciate the idea there is a place where we can measure our carbon footprint, this story focused solely on the one created by PGE (as opposed to other, independent, web sites). PGE only offers power in a limited area around Portland, much smaller than your where you broadcast (all of Oregon, and SW Washington). Why not do a story on the variety of renewable energy options available in your entire area (Pacific Power, for example, offers similar options to its customers)?

Kristian Fodon-Vencil asked some questions that sounded like they could be probing (how does PGE benefit from this service (web site)? is this mandated by law?) But the questions were softly lobbed to Thor Hinkley who easily turned the answers into yet more plugs for how wonderful PGE is.

I am embarrassed to know my contribution (and my corporate matching dollars) were used to fund this advertisement.

This was not a news piece, it was not even an informational story. It was a direct advertisement.

I expect better from OPB.

My Work In A Press Release

Just found out there's a press release that talks about what I'm working on:

Mentor Graphics Outlines IC Implementation Strategy to Address Sub-45nm Challenges: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance:

"A new Calibre nmLVS tool with interactive debugging features (to be released to the general market in the second half of 2008) that will speed layout-versus-schematic checking with automated suggestions for fixing the design, improved short identification, and overall improvements to the environment to reduce debugging time."

I'm the one writing the new LVS debugger. woo-hoo

The organisation of denial: Conservative think tanks and environmental scepticism - Environmental Politics

Just saw this paper. No, I didn't read the whole thing. The conclusion is simply amazing, 90% of the environmentally skeptical books are funded by conservative think tanks. Yet another example of how just because there are two "sides" to every story doesn't mean they have equal weight.

The organisation of denial: Conservative think tanks and environmental scepticism - Environmental Politics:

"Environmental scepticism denies the seriousness of environmental problems, and self-professed 'sceptics' claim to be unbiased analysts combating 'junk science'. This study quantitatively analyses 141 English-language environmentally sceptical books published between 1972 and 2005. We find that over 92 per cent of these books, most published in the US since 1992, are linked to conservative think tanks (CTTs). Further, we analyse CTTs involved with environmental issues and find that 90 per cent of them espouse environmental scepticism. We conclude that scepticism is a tactic of an elite-driven counter-movement designed to combat environmentalism, and that the successful use of this tactic has contributed to the weakening of US commitment to environmental protection."

How It All Ends

Global warming, risk management breakdown. A thoughtful analysis of the meta-argument we should all be having. Oh, and bonus, he's a sports racer.

YouTube - How It All Ends

Run For The Hills 2008

Last year Tom and I ran this race. We were both going to do it again this year, but he decided getting a job was more important. Priorities.

This year the weather was a little nicer (overcast, cool, but no rain), and I finished over 2 minutes faster (average heart rate of 173, gasp). The run felt pretty good considering the 8k was the furthest I've ever run.

The oddest thing about the run was how everyone said the view from the top of Bald hill was so beautiful. A view? After walkingsprinting up the backside, there was no time to take in a view because the race was all downhill after that.

Interestingly, I placed 50th both this year and last (there were more folks this year, I'm not sure how many, but well over 100).

I'll shoot for 49th place next year.

Simone Pics May 2008 (and others)

Finally downloaded some pics from my phone, thought I'd share them.

Simone swinging in the swing with a bag of corn chips. This was after a 3.5 hour nap while driving home from visiting the Mattson's in Yakima.

One of our many walks to see the horses, here she is trying to feed the horse from afar.
She ended up getting close enough to actually hand the food over. Luckily the grass is really long this time of year - letting us feed the horses without too much worry of hand-in-horse's-mouth syndrome.
Instead of riding a horse, Simone likes to ride an elephant. We found one just her size in Newport, where we headed for some RnR. You'd see cute pictures of Simone on the beach, only it was freezing and windy as all get out (we weren't expecting that). We went to the aquarium instead.
Simone loves her mermaid - who we've been trying to name "Frida."
Simone's first breakfast as a 2 year old. That's raspberry jam, not makeup.
The grandfathers and Simone (and my finger?). Sorry about the photo Bob, not real flattering, but the other one was so blurry it made you look like a ghost.
Simone and I took a walk to see Matty's new bunnies. Here are the pictures. This white one was the runt of the litter.
They're keeping the black one (little Davie has already named the rabbit .... Hassenpfeffer? - I kid).
This little guy hung out in my hand the entire time we were there, 20 minutes or so. Matty tried to pawn him off on me, but I told her that by the time I got done with the rabbit hutch, the rabbit would have driven the chickens nuts.
Ah, yes, Simone and I went to the waterfront to play in the fountain. I was a bit disappointed that the regular pattern of water spouts wasn't happening. There just wasn't enough spouting for my taste. Simone seemed to enjoy herself. She ran around for an hour.

Fountain!
More fountain!
Simone helped Mary wash the window screens, and herself.
Very sleepy girls.
I'm not sure, but I believe she challenged me to a Sumo match.
We had a very nice walk on the nearby boardwalk.
Simone and her two favorite companions right now. Frida and ... dolly. Still looking for a name for the doll. They're both growing dolls - as Simone feeds them lots of cookies and cupcakes.
Gotta dry off after playing in the sprinkler.
Quick! I see a bug! Follow me!

They were beautiful, those chickens in the mist...
Getting to know our chickens.
Testing out the new bench (er, old bench, new location).
A family photo - pretty sneaky of me to get myself. It was actually planned.