hot weather != good weather

Why is it that when people say "good weather", they mean 70 degree weather?

Personally, my ideal temperature is about 60 degrees. Anything over 75 is uncomfortable, and 80 makes me want to hide in an air-conditioned room until the sun goes down. Playing sports in 85 degree weather is a nightmare; I'm pretty out of shape anyway, and my endurance probably goes down 5% for each degree over 75.

I guess I'm lucky that I live in the Bay Area, where I can always drive up to the city if it gets too hot. There's always some part of San Francisco that's about 60 degrees during the day. Plus, I happen to be a fan of fog.

Just another item on the list of reasons why I can never move.

taking things for granted

The bathroom right by my desk at work has automated faucets. This is great, except when I walk into a bathroom somewhere else. Often, I stand in front of the sink with my hands held out, expecting the water to start automagically. Sometimes I even stand there and wave my hands around a bit, trying to figure out what's wrong with the (non-existent) sensor mechanism.

John G. Roberts, Jr.

Like much of the country, I imagine, over the past few days, I've been trying to dig up some data on John G. Roberts, Jr. It's amazing how little information there is to be had.

But, from the little I've read, he seems like a good guy. Conservative, yes, and weak on environmental issues, but nothing like Scalia or Thomas, and it appears he may actually be able to separate his personal beliefs from his court decisions, although I do worry about the influence of his wife, who is actively involved with Feminists for Life. He's obviously very smart and seems to base his rulings on law (and the Constitution) rather than moral judgment, which is a plus to me.

My interim conclusion is that things could be worse.

yummy monitor goodness

I just got my work monitors upgraded to the latest and greatest. I am now basking in the glory of two Dell UltraSharp 2405FPW 24-inch widescreen flat panel LCDs, both mounted on monitor arms, naturally. Such goodness deserves lots of productivity, so I guess I better get cracking.

company picnic day

Today was our annual company picnic. As usual, there were a lot of fun things to do and yummy things to eat. I am apparently quite fond of violent games.

My favorites from this year:
- An American Gladiators-style jousting game, where two people stand on (wobbly!) platforms and whack at each other with padded sticks until one person falls off the platform. We actually had to sign a disclaimer for this one.
- The carnival-style machine gun game, where you shoot a star out of a piece of paper.

My favorites from the last few years:
- A water balloon slinging game, where two people get in cages and sling water balloons at each other. If you aim just right, and use most of your body weight to pull back the sling, the balloon hits the far cage such that the other person gets drenched.
- Dodgeball in a blow-up cage. Self explanatory.
- This one is not so much a game as an activity. Basically, two people get into giant plastic inflatable balls that look like hamster balls and walk/run around inside them so as to push each other in different directions.

stop making up words!

I was just reading an article that quoted some presumably important person, who praised an event as "...focused on relevant and impactful training."

Argh!!! Corporate marketing droids everywhere, please note, "impactful" is not a real word. Yes, I know, it's perfectly cromulent, but I still hate it.

glutamate

I grew up eating lots of Japanese and Chinese food, which is probably why I never really thought eating MSG was bad, except in the same way that eating salt is bad. But, I did wonder why Americans seemed to have an unreasonable fear of MSG, which is probably why I found this recent article especially interesting. I also enjoyed the historical part, about the Japanese physics professor who first isolated glutamate from konbu seaweed.

London attacks

I keep seeing headlines that refer to the "London attacks" and for a split second I read "attacks" as a verb rather than a noun, and picture Londoners attacking...what? I don't know.

There's really nothing to say, is there? We live in a world where such events are possible, and we should all know it by now. I think the hard part is not living your life accordingly.

In that vein, here is a photo taken by a London commuter on his cell phone . It's scary and real and in some bizarre way, beautiful. Because, life goes on.

middle of the road

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, is retiring.

I was too young to remember when she was appointed, but I became fascinated by her story soon after I learned to read, and devoured multiple children's biographies about her life. Later on, I admired her stances on abortion, states' rights, and affirmative action.

I hope the president appoints someone worthy of her seat.