i’m traveling again. this should be good. I enjoyed being home for a while, but i crave attention and don’t do a great job of getting it on my own. especially so while my fb relationship status is “its complicated”.

i booked a late flight today to give me plenty of time to get ready, but of course in my panic i got to the gate 3 hours and 16 minutes before take off. a little excessive, eh? i forgot how empty a mid-week airport is.

so now I’m bidding farewell to my between project work and saying hello to random questions from people who often do not understand what I say :-)

today i got a liittle reminder of the value of ad-words. a glossy folded ad in the mail – $500 _off_ a Tag Heuer timepiece!

ordinary people might know them as watches – but if you pay enough, they go all out and call them timepieces for you.

the store is in Chicago. i no longer live in Chicago. the store knows that, they sent it to the right address.

i have not owned or worn a watch in probably 6 or 7 years and only rarely in the last 15. ever since I started carrying a cell phone everywhere …

no, i’m not talking about a modern english translation of the bible. this post is about my health.

last january my doctor found that my cholesterol was borderline high and my LDL level was quite high. so she gave me a 1-year perscription of Lipitor, asked me to eat less pork and beef (she doesn’t know, but the real culprit was eggs and cheese, i probably eat beef about 1/month) and sent me away.

i told her it was probably high because it was the middle of winter and i (at the time) did all my exercise outside, which amounted to very little in the winter.

so i immediately started:

• walking more, even in the cold Chicago snow
• greatly reduced the number of eggs
• reduced the amount of cheese, beef and yes even less pork (which is one of my favorite foods)
• started going to the gym occasionally (1 or 2 times a week)
• taking the lipitor, but not religously

two months in, i realized i had only taken about 50% of the pills. so i set an alarm and left them out on the nightstand. i heard some study found that only about 90% of patients accurately follow their doctors perscriptions – so i am in good company.

later, in the summer IIRC, i started going to the gym more often (2 -4 times a week). that is in addition to cycling, which i do when the weather is good. i never do both more than 4 or 5 times in a week.

now 10 months have gone by and the change is thus:

Jan Nov
202 134 - cholesterol (110-200)
144 069 - LDL (<130)
036 044 - HDL (norm >40, ideal >60)
127 104 - triglyceride (40-160)


much better and very different numbers. maybe i forgot about a chilli dog during my “fast” in january?

anyway, now that i can see the delta is so dramatic, i am driven to keep it up. i wonder what portion of the effect was drug related and what portion was “lifestyle”. of course i want to think that lifestyle dominates, but that is just pride. maybe someday i’ll reduce or stop the statin altogether and find out. but for the next 8 to 10 months i’m just going to keep at it and see if it continues to improve – everything looks good, but my HDL could still be higher to get to the “ideal” range.

the last 2 weeks i’ve been home – some people say on the bench, as in baseball; some people say on the beach, as in vacation.

rolled off of one project, but the next one hasn’t started yet. been researching and writing some papers for work, but not hustling like usual.

it’s Halloween and kids are outside playing, which is kind of a pleasant sound at 7 or 8. i may not feel the same way at midnight when the “kids” will be drunken 20 somethings. hopefully it will be fairly chill. but it was a really warm day (in the 70s!!!) – so people can more easily stay outside.

i’ve been looking for a computer. decided to split my work and personal stuff. i may regret that choice, sometimes that can be a hassle. you are in the middle of work and realize you want to download those mp3s that just got released.

one of the nice things about my company is that my laptop is treated like it is actually mine – i can install whatever i want as long as it is licensed legally and doesn’t conflict with my day job. and the laptop is mine -when our upgrade cycle comes around we have the option to keep the machine. this makes this decision a little more difficult.

one motivation is that i want to try out windows 7. it has been getting good reviews. so i’m looking for a small notebook preferably with a SSD drive. when I look around, an ideal candidate is the mac book air. but that doesn’t run win 7 (at least not without me spending a bunch of time and $s to make it so, and even then, i’m not sure). i’ve been lusting after one of those since they 1st came out. but the tightwad in me won’t go for it. they are $1708 on amazon.

guess i’ll whet my appetite by upgrading to ubuntu 9.1 on the old 17″ laptop. that monster is the reason i want a light weight laptop. it is ok for around the house. but i want something i can bring with me – to the coffee shop or away on weekends without needing another piece of luggage…

so if anyone knows of something analogous to the mb air running win 7 with an ssd drive and camera, please comment. apple fans, this is your invitation to ridicule.

just watched “Let The Right One In” – a vampire movie from Sweden. i usually can’t stand supernatural stuff in movies and i don’t really go for horror movies either (the last one i saw was the Blair Witch Project, which sucked and was very un-scarry). but this movie was great. I want a girlfriend like that, well sort of.

looks like i’m going to be on the bench Monday. usually that doesn’t last very long. given the amount of hiring we’ve been doing, I’m guessing no more than a week and a half. normally i prefer to be billable, but this comes at a good time – i can settle into my apartment and unpack; do business during the week. plus it will give me a chance to catch up on the latest versions of our product(s).

beware, this is a dairy-like post.

just finished watching ‘the wackness’ a coming of age movie about a kid who sells pot in NYC in the 90s. it was good – i’d say a 3.5 or 4 stars out of 5.

around 2:30 my stuff arrived. the guys unpacked the truck and put together the big pieces of furniture by 4.

first thing I did – have a glass of juice – as opposed to drinking out of the bottle. now i’ve a desk, futon and bed. soon an entertainment center. then the world!

what have i learned so far – compared to the last place my neighbors are quiet, chill people. on the other hand i can hear the little details of their lives pretty clearly – right now I can hear the thistle and shamrock behind me, a tv show to the left, a conversation upstairs and some people coming in and out. i’m kind of afraid. is this why people move out of the city? in Chicago most of the time i did not hear anyone, but when I did it was really loud music or movie and it was at bad times. i’m hoping here i will get lower volume for higher frequency.

for pay back i get to practice playing bass, which i did for about an hour today. i just got an acoustic (usually i practice the electric without an amp). the acoustic is easier to play and of course much better for practicing unplugged. given my chops, i’m sure to be a hit with the neighbors ;-)

going backward chronologically, i opened a local bank account with Wainwright in order to deposit the check of my unused electric balance. bought a sturdy stool for $6 at goodwill (i can only sit on a pillow on the floor for so long).

the day started with breakfast at Diesel cafe. this was the first time in a long time i _had_ to go out for coffee. they serve it in a pint glass – with 2 shots of espresso inside and a scone on the side, i was off to a flying start.

Diesel is just one of many great restaurants – probably 20 within easy walking distance. the closest one is Redbones, which specializes in ribs. i like it here.

today i arrived in my new digs. it is a spartan existence, the first 26 hours. no furniture – i’m sitting on a pillow on the hardwood floor. one plate, no cups or silverware (bad planning).

but I’m a northeasterner again (yeah!) while many people make fun of Massachusetts for crazy politics, i like it here. gays can marry and children have health care. besides – where exactly don’t they have crazy politics? it is not like we drive on the left.

i have a laptop, 2 bikes and an acoustic bass until 2 pm tomorrow. so i can catch up on writing and practice a little. should be interesting to see the moving truck try to turn down Oxford St :-)

Wikipedia says that Somerville was the densest municipality in New England in 2000.

Yesterday I spent the day in NYC.

It started with meeting my brother Fred for lunch. It was really great to catch up with him. He is an awesome brother.

Spent most of my afternoon walking around with one of my Russian colleagues. We bought some phone stuff he needs to work remotely. Then wandered around – saw Time Square (i have not been there in 20 years, it used to be a sex and drug filled dump – now it’s just one giant corporate advertisement – if i never go again I will not miss it).

We walked over to the Empire State Bldg where we talked about lots of landmarks and little spots. Then took a cab to Columbus Circle and walked around Central Park. That was excellent and totally relaxing. We left the park at “Strawberry Fields”, near the Dakota where John Lennon was shot. Ended with an Italian nearby.

I wanted to go hear Bill Frisell at the Village Vanguard, but I’m just not a night owl. Big ideas, no follow through. By 9, I’m pretty well winding down. It’s the 3rd weak-assed attempt I’ve made at hearing Mr Frisell over the last 8 years. I guess we’ll just leave it at the recordings.

I was born in Manhattan, but my family split in 2 and my half moved to Connecticut when I was really little. After that, I used to go in on weekends to visit my father fairly often. But I never lived there as an adult.

When I see it, I’m always struck by the awesomeness of it. For me that awesomeness is generally positive. I get a similar feeling when I see Chicago from my roof, but it is of course milder. Certainly going up the Empire State is a great reminder.

I feel comfortable there. Don’t know, but I think many people don’t like it, but I do.

with a title like that, I’m assured obscurity.

But that is ok, a lot has changed my friends, so i’m impelled to write – readers be damned!

• WP now automatically updates – yeah, and thanks to the word press people! you guys are awesome.
• my domain expired, was repurchased, and re-established
• we’ve upgraded to mysql 5.something (i can’t be bothered).
• new work laptop – actually this is surprisingly helpful despite being WinXP.
• i purchased a car – should have gone to the junkyard to get a clunker first
• and I’m moving back east!

yes that’s right, after 3 long years away, i’m returning to my mother land, my comfort zone, my raison d’etre. ok, ok, it is not my raison d’etre – but it does feel like one of the least f-ed up places in the lower 48.

the burning question is – can you ever really go home again?