 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BBN offers a High Deductible Health Plan + HSA option, with the interesting twist that they fund the HSA to equal the deductible. This is pretty appealing, but I'm wary, because I feel like the HDHP+HSA option is generally structured to be advantageous to healthy young single people with few medical expenses, and while Juniper is healthy, young, and single, it turns out that healthy young single people have substantial medical expenses in their first year or two, what with frequent check-ups and vaccines. Anyone out there have a similar plan, especially with kids? Did you like it?
(Unrelatedly, if you are now jealous of BBN's awesome benefits, and are a talented software engineer looking for a new job, my group is hiring... In particular, up to two people who can both write code of their own and wrangle other people's code, in Perl, Java, and Python, and are comfortable with XML and SOAP; one more like an individual contributor, one more like a team lead. Lemme know.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
So, first week of the new job! It's ok. :^) I spent most of my time getting my computer and stuff set up, coming up to speed on what the hell it is this project is about, and writing wiki pages. It's slightly weird that the most concretely useful thing I did was basically data entry, but in fact it was a very helpful way for me to help crystallize some of the stuff I'd been hearing about but only vaguely understanding, so. (I still feel like I only vaguely understand anything, but the conference next week should help with that, between the conference itself and the reading I need to do beforehand.)
Mon - Wed of next week, I'm in Salt Lake City at the thriceannual meeting for the GENI project, between us (the project office, or GPO) and the various participant organizations, some 250 people I hear. I'm not sure I've ever been to Utah before! Other than perhaps to change planes in the airport, and possibly not even that. I would've thought about staying for a bit longer before or after to see some scenery, but (a) it is likely to be cold, possibly freakin' cold, out; (b) these will be the first three nights I've spent away from Juniper since she was born, and I was not particularly interested in having any more than that. :^p
I've seen various links to pictures of soldiers coming home to their families after a year's tour (or more?), and I can't imagine being willing to do that -- I can't imagine being willing to ask someone else to do that, which almost makes it hard to say thank you, because I'm at least half thinking "jeez, let's find some young single person to spend a year of their life halfway around the world, and find you some amazing heroic way to support your country that involves staying home with your kids". But, yeah.
(I am also sort of glossing over the question of whether I want heroic amazing people to spend their time fighting wars nominally on my behalf, but assume for the moment that I support our troops.)
Anyway, ramble ramble. Off to Utah! (Tomorrow, and back late Wednesday night.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Politics and abortion, what could be more fun. Here's the thing. If you're someone who would call yourself "pro-choice" on abortion, then of course the Stupak Amendment is a horrible, disgusting, perversion of everything right and true. But if you're someone who would call yourself "pro-life" on abortion, then a taxpayer-funded health care plan that covers abortion is exactly the same horribly disgusting perversion to you. Like it or not, this is a topic on which people disagree, and regardless of how right you are and how wrong they are, the fact of the matter is that something like half of the electorate disagrees with you, whichever side you're on. This is what wackball libertarians like me mean when we go on about the politicization of health care: If you put politicians in charge of deciding what kinds of things your health care plan covers, then they are fairly frequently going to decide them in the way that you don't like, especially about controversial issues that you care a lot about. The only way to avoid healthcare decisions being made in ways you find politically unfavorable is to keep politics out of health care. If you agree to play this game in the first place, you've already lost.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Some were buried in the church and some just where they fell, With no markers to declare their place of rest. But the poppies they do grow where they were never sown, And to my mind they do declare it best. And each year when the green corn once again turns into gold And the poppies in the field again remind me, Like the scar upon my hand, the blood spilled on this land, And the hungry earth so eager to confine me. For red and gold, they are the colors, One is blood, and one is power. Though I may find my rest in Cropredy church, In golden fields forever will spring the poppy flower. (Fairport Convention, "Red & Gold")
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I was thinking last night as I woke up "huh, there was that database upgrade they were doing this morning, was that to upgrade elver and fry to the same version as cygnet and gosling? I never actually looked at what they were doing, I should do that" -- and thought "...huh, no, actually, I shouldn't". And then later, I did it again: "Huh, I wonder how that upgrade went? I should log in and check my ... oh. Right."
I think the whole not moving thing is actually a big part of it. I came home from work on Friday, I'm having a pretty normal weekend, and then I'll leave for work on Monday. It'll just be a totally different job with totally different people in a totally different place doing totally different things. But everything else is basically normal and the same. Disconcerting.
Still looking forward to it. It's just an odd experience at the moment.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Juniper's standing continues to improve: She can now pull herself up to a stand almost in one smooth motion from sitting, whereas she used to have to first get solidly onto her knees; and she can cruise consistently well along the coffee table, and sometimes transfer from the couch to the coffee table or back again. Not always -- she'll sometimes slip and fall, and we don't let her do this too much because it's a lot easier for her to bonk her head on the hard table there, but she's gettin' it. She may have done this before, but I heard her laugh in her sleep for the first time yesterday, and it was the best thing ever. :^) If she wakes up in the morning and we're not awake yet, she has now learned that she can pull herself up on the edge of the co-sleeper-in-crib-mode and look over and see us, which she seems to find reassuring. We've now gotten a real crib, and will try putting her in it, in the meeple room, once we get the mattress for it, which will sadly mean an end to this newfound trick. Should be interesting. Tags: meeple
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Juniper has been crawling some, but what she really loves is standing: She'll pull up on anything of an appropriate height, but especially our coffee table (which now has a clutter-free Juniper's-arms-length swath along the edge, since she loves to try to play with our stuff), the couch, her toy box, and us. Oh, and her co-sleeper, which we've already converted to four-wall bassinet mode after she learned to crawl out of it, and are going to need to replace with a full-height crib before she learns to ( climb over the wall. )She isn't yet really crawling to explore, but more when she wants to get somewhere to do something with something she's seen, like a toy or my laptop or the laundry pile or whatever. Which is just as well, as it's letting us take our time about babyproofing (since she isn't interested in scampering off to the kitchen just to see what's there). She'll be running before we know it, though. Amy continues to take most of our pics, and store them at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2008564&id=1100051342&l=fa023afca2 -- reload often for updates. :^) Tags: meeple
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We're in the market for a new Mac laptop, and are considering two issues that we'd be interested in advice about:
(1) We think we just want something with a ton of disk space but otherwise a low-end model is fine. The lower weight of the 13" Mac Book Pro makes it somewhat more appealing than the 13" Mac Book. The one drawback we saw to the MBP is that it has a "built-in" battery, which seems to mean that if the battery needs replacing (which it will), you have to take it to an Apple service center and have them replace it. (And, of course, you can't carry a second battery and swap them, but we don't do that anyway, so.) Any other hidden drawbacks to the 13" MacBook Pro?
(2) We hear that Apple may be releasing some new Macs soon, in which case prices on remaining inventories of older models may drop a bit. I've taken advantage of this phenomenon in the past, but only to buy a fairly stock configuration; we're definitely interested in maxing out hard drive size, which might make it harder to find exactly what we want. So, two questions here: (a) Is Apple in fact on the verge of releasing some new models? (b) Any recommendations on places to pick up older models at a discount when the new ones come out?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In other news, I quit my job today. (Well, gave notice; my last day is November 6th.) After four years at Upromise, it was time for a change; after six months of spending an hour and a half a day in the car thinking "why am I not at home with my baby girl", it was time for a shorter commute. I start work at BBN, working as a Senior Systems Engineer on the GENI project, on November 9th. (Also, if you know (or are) someone who wants to be a Manager of Systems Administration, Manager of Systems Engineering, or Director of Enterprise Operations at Upromise (in Newton MA), let me know. I think it's a fine place to work, and the company will be going through an interesting crossroads in the next 6 - 18 months, so there's a big opportunity to come on board and have a real impact on that.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Taylor Swift (no relation :^) is a perky country pop singer (who I thought had also won American Idol, but I suspect I'm thinking of Carrie Underwood), and one of her songs that's getting a lot of airplay right now is You Belong With Me. The plot of the song is not hugely original, but it's a fine presentation of it: The guy with the annoying super-popular girlfriend, and the girl next door who's secretly his soulmate. One of the things I like about the lyrics is a gimmick that I like in general, where the chorus is slightly different each time; it's only the lead-in to the chorus here, but the first time, it's She wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts
She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers while the second time it's She wears high heels, I wear sneakers
She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers Weird Al does this sort of thing a lot, and I'm a huge sucker for it in general. I like it here, although it'd be better if she also varied the second line; I guess she couldn't think of anything else that rhymed (ish) with t-shirts, sneakers, and bleachers (and fit the message, to be fair; in thirty seconds of thinking about it, I came up with lots of things that rhyme, but nothing that made any sense without sounding forced). Anyway, I like the thing with the minor variation in the chorus, and wish more pop music did it. (My sense is that it's also not uncommon in songs from musical theater, which may be one of the things I like about musicals. :^) Tags: lyrics
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The fall volleyball season has started; I decided not to rejoin Coldplay (Leah's not-very-good Monday team), and Big Dig (the Thursday team that Kaan and Dawn and I started last winter) decided to move from Thursday in Brookline to Tuesday in West Newton (a much better location), so I'm just playing on Tuesday these days (mostly -- see below). The facility isn't bad -- there are actually raised platforms to officiate from, which make it way easier to see the whole court, especially compared to Brookline, where there are big foam pads around the poles, which are good for safety but awful for visibility... but anyway -- although it's a little noisy, and the level of competition is about right for us. We've gone 4 - 4 each of the first three weeks, and could be doing better, so hopefully we will with a little more practice. We're running a 4 - 2 passing right with designated middle and outside hitters; for those who don't know volleyball, that's slightly fancier than a 4 - 2 where you pass middle and don't have designated hitting positions, and less fancy than a 6 - 2 where the setter comes out of the back row. (Most teams in our league don't play a 5 - 1, the even fancier preferred lineup of most high-level teams (apparently); you only need one setter, but at our level we tend to have an excess of setters, or more precisely an excess of people who aren't tall enough to hit and block effectively -- which is fine, it just means the really good teams at this level play a 6 - 2 because there's no point in having someone hit full-time who's not really any good at it.)
Anyway, it's been a lot of fun, and while the location isn't as good as Cambridge (10 mins from home afterwards), it's a lot better than Brookline (45 mins from home -- this is at the Park school, down in the way south of Brookline, near JP and West Roxbury, for those who know the Boston area).
The other thing I'm doing is an eight week "skills clinic" (well, seven, since I missed the first week) on Thursdays, since we're not playing in the Thursday league. It's basically like what I imagine volleyball practice is like (I've never played on a team that practiced, but based on my experience with soccer practice) -- we do drills, the instructor guy gives people encouragement and tips, and then we play for half an hour at the end. It's ok; I'm actually fairly sound theoretically, I just have a hard time with implementation, and this seems like it would be more useful if you didn't really know what you were supposed to be doing, had never gotten any formal instruction. (I did take Archery/Volleyball more than once as my high school gym class.) And in fact I could use some more theoretical advice and coaching about my setting and hitting, so.
Anyway, ramble ramble. That is volleyball, which has become my sport of choice, and which I continue to enjoy. :^)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Over the past few months, I've rediscovered the joys of lunchmeat, particularly turkey, pastrami, and salami. However, there's a lot of salt and preservatives and stuff in there, so we've been trying an experiment with chicken, whereby I bake a couple of boneless skinless chicken breasts, chop them up, toss them in the fridge, and then put them on sandwiches (this works especially well in tortilla-based wrap type sandwiches). It's been good, but pretty boring unless you throw some sauce in there too, which works fine, but still. Tonight, I decided to try to marinate a batch before cooking, so I put a package of chicken tenders, 1/4 cup of olive oil, and a cup of lime juice, into a gallon ziploc bag in the fridge for several hours. Baked for ~40 minutes at 350 degrees, flipping at the 15 minute mark (was aiming for 30, but got distracted after the timer went off), and it's pretty damn good. Very tender and juicy, very lime. We'll see how it holds up in the fridge for a week, but so far, so good. What else should I use for future marinades? I have some preference for non-salty things, but am otherwise pretty flexible.
Today's other main exciting activity was that we went for a hike in the Fells with the meeple, up to the tower atop Bear Hill (and then up the tower, of course :^). A short and easy hike, but it was nice to get out and get some exercise, and we'll doubtless do more challenging things as time goes by. (Among other things, it was a beautiful warm day today, which was great, but once it gets a little cooler, we can more comfortably go on longer hikes through places where there are still mosquitos at this point...)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Saw Steeleye Span at the Somerville Theatre tonight, as part of their forty-year anniversary tour, along with Michael and Lisa. (Amy stayed home to mind the baby; I'll do likewise so she can go to the symphony in a month or two. I should probably write down when that is. Anyway.)
Was a good show, they played both some good new stuff and some good old stuff, with only a few weird things that I didn't much care for. A mixed bit was that one of the highlights was Tam Lin, except that I don't like their version of Tam Lin, in part because I love Tam Lin in general, and their version spends a surprising lot of time on the Queen, and skips the whole part where Janet returns home and confronts her father. Oh, and the Somerville Theatre's balcony seats, despite having been completely remodeled, still suck for legroom. :^P But they're close to the stage, and it was a very good show despite those complaints.
I got to the bus station in time to catch my bus at 22:45, only to discover that it actually left at 22:35, oops. It was a nice night out for walking, though, and I made it home nearly half an hour before the next bus (23:35) would've left, so hey.
Oh, also: ARRRRRR.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I listen to pop music in the car during my daily commute, because it's upbeat and helps me stay awake. I'm sometimes struck by some of the lyrics (either positively or negatively), so I figured I'd write about some of them here. Possibly more often than once a month, but, you know, we'll see. Today's entry covers both ends: Don't Trust Me, by 3OH!3. It's got some pretty sharp lyrics in general, but my favorite on the positive end is Tell your boyfriend
If he says he's got beef,
That I'm a vegetarian
And I ain't fuckin' scared of him. This song got heavily overplayed for a while, but I'd still listen through this lyric at the end of the first verse every time. :^) However, later we get Shush girl
Shut your lips,
Do the Helen Keller
And talk with your hips. This is just wrong in so many ways. 1. Tad bit misogynist, eh? The rest of the song is pretty harsh too, but still. 2. Helen Keller jokes? Seriously? What are you, twelve? 3. Helen Keller was an activist, not a hooker -- she talked with her hands, not her hips. 4. ...not that there's anything wrong with that -- "Do the Mata Hari, and talk with your hips" would've been funny. 5. Seriously? Is there a non-cringeworthy explanation for what they were doing (or trying to do) here? Jeez. Tags: lyrics
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Twenty-four weeks in, parenthood is still amazing and wonderful, and Juniper continues to acquire new skills at an astonishing-to-me pace. She can sit up unaided for long stretches, stand with only handholds for balance, take steps if you hold her hands and nudge her forward, and take a bath in the bathtub (with a parent, of course). She's tried rice cereal twice, and seems to like it more from my fingers than from a spoon, but we'll continue experimenting. She hasn't yet outgrown more clothes than she still has that fit her, but it's starting to get there. Lots of biting, but still no teeth yet. She has also reversed roles with the big orange stuffed meeple, as evidenced by these pictures (taken Apr 7th and Sep 7th). ( Picture under the cut for size )Tags: meeple
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I've been playing frisbee barefoot this summer: I have much less traction than in cleats, but put much less strain on my ankles. (I can wear ankle braces, but that just transfers the strain to my knees. I can wear knee braces, but this starts to get ridiculous.) However, my feet come home fairly filthy, and while the well-cultivated grass field is fairly friendly, they do get a little beat up. I also realized yesterday that one of the reasons I'm not all that enthused about going for walks, as an activity, is that none of my shoes are really good for walking. My Birks are pretty comfy, but don't stay on my feet all that well, and when my feet get sweaty and slippery, I spend most of my time trying to keep them on rather than enjoying the walk. My hiking boots are great, but heavy and hot in the summer. Then someone at work mentioned Vibram FiveFingers as being "like gloves for your feet", and it turns out the City Sports in Porter Square carries them, so I tried on a pair of the KSO variety today, and liked them a lot, so now I have some. I wore them home, including walking across hot asphalt to and from my car, around a grocery store, and driving, and they were very nifty -- very light and comfy, very much as advertised. I might take Juniper for a walk this evening, although so far she seems to be enjoying a concerted attempt to eat Jingle Santa in a fairly adorable fashion. :^) And I hope they'll work well on grass at frisbee too, will find out on Tuesday.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In fighting sports, there are generally multiple divisions, each of which has an upper weight limit. Before a fight, the competitors weigh in to confirm that they're under the limit; if they fail, then the fight might be canceled, or might go on but under different conditions (e.g. if it's for a championship title, the title would not be on the line, or whatever).
This leads to a practice of "cutting weight", in which fighters dehydrate severely before the weigh-in, in order to come in under the limit, and then rehydrate again between the weigh-in and the fight. My admittedly vague impression is that most people think that this is a bad idea, but everyone does it, so it's not particularly unfair.
What I wonder is: Why isn't the weigh-in immediately before the fight? That seems like it would eliminate weight cutting without any obvious disadvantages, except that I suppose if a fighter missed weight, you'd have less time to decide what to do about it if the fight started in five minutes than if the fight started tomorrow.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I listen to pop music in the car during my daily commute, because it's upbeat and helps me stay awake. (In the Boston area, this translates to 94.5, 98.5, and 107.9, at the moment.) I'm sometimes struck by some of the lyrics (either positively or negatively), so I figured I'd write about some of them here. :^) (Hopefully this won't turn into constant complaining about censorship decisions that range from idiotic to incomprehensible, but there will surely be more than a few of those.) To start: "Gives You Hell" by All American Rejects. The title phrase (repeated endlessly in the chorus) bugs the hell out of me, because "give someone hell" doesn't mean "make them fell bad", it specifically means to aggressively attack them. "Gives you hell" is entirely different from "pisses you off" or "makes you sad" or "fills you with a deep and lasting regret at your now-in-retrospect-clearly-foolish past conduct" -- in fact, I don't think it works grammatically in this way, in that the thing which is giving you hell has to be concrete and actively doing it, and it doesn't make sense to describe "my face" as "giving you hell"; or my memory, or my words, or whatever. Giving someone hell is an activity that something performs, not a feeling that can be conveyed. "I'm giving you hell because your lyrics suck", not "my comments about your sucky lyrics will give you hell". My prescriptivist side is further concerned that young and foolish people will hear this song, like the phrase, and start to use it in this Bad And Wrong TM way. Get offa my lawn! Tags: lyrics
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Previous 
