Odorless&Transparent

"the deadliest bullshit is odorless and transparent" - William Gibson

Sunday, July 25, 2004

Last night i was drinking with some friends and one of them was talking about his job as a camp counselor and how he makes kids write a letter to their parents when they do something bad. He explained how his dad use to make him write letters to various people when he did something bad.

I immediately pictured a father making a kid write a letter to one of his role models. "Billy, you need to write a three page letter to Shaq explaining why you werre shoplifting snickers from the Mini-mart." And i kinda wished my parents had made me write letters when i did something bad. Not that it would have made any impact on my moral development, but my mom might have saved them, and now I would be able to sip a cup of coffee and read my kid letters.

Thursday, July 22, 2004

I just started an official blog for my day job at LEAP Technologies.

The blog WE, ROBOTwill share "thoughts, questions, and links from humans at a small laboratory automation company".

This is definitely an experiment. No one else in our industry is doing anything like this and I don't see that changing anytime soon. I have no idea if it will take hold and other employees here will start posting or reading or commenting. God knows my insights into "Science" are limited at best.

I have no idea how our customers will respond either, but I figure any chance to distingush ourselves from our larger more jurassic competitors is worth a shot.

I'll update the progress of the experiment periodically.

Wednesday, July 21, 2004

I went back to the knee doc today. My progress is slow and positive. I have nearly full range of motion, and my strength is still way out of whack, but getting better. The best news of the day, was that scar tissue appeared to have been kept at bay so far. They put me on a new anti-inflammatory drug called bextra, which apparently work better than ibuprophen for some people. the doc said when he was working with the national women's soccer team that 19 out of 20 of them were taking it for injuries, aches, and pains instead of advil. that was a good enough statistic for me. he also talked about glucosamine, and said that while he hasn't seen enough evidence to sign an affidavit, he'd probably take it if he were me. again, thats a good enough statistic for me...what's one more horse pill a day.

I enjoy being the last appointment of the day. I usually wait longer, but the doc and his assistants and interns and colleagues are always in a better mood, always more willing to talk shop. today, i got to listen to a ten minute debate about some hamstring graft study that went entirely over my head. the doc also gave his philosophy about rehab. I'd heard this idea before, but not exactly in this way. He said back when he was starting out the conventional wisdom was that low repetitions/heavy weight built strength and high repetition/low weight built endurance in the muscle. He said he has to come to believe that this axiom does not apply to rehab. The name of the game in rehab is muscle activation. The biggest problem you face in trying to come back are the neurological hurdles. You can make the muscle as strong as you want, but that does not mean that your body will be able to utilize it at the appropriate moment in the stride, or jump, or cut. He went into great detail that quickly went over my head, but i think i understand the distinction, and why he always tell me its important to really push myself in rehab in terms of what activities i can do.

Monday, July 12, 2004

meet Snowdrop. he's a baby otter, and he makes even ron artest want to snuggle.

Wednesday, July 07, 2004

Insipred by watching some of the Tour this weekend, i just ordered some yellow "live strong" wristbands from The Lance Armstrong Foundation.

"The Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) believes that in your battle with cancer, knowledge is power and attitude is everything. Founded in 1997 by cancer survivor and cycling champion Lance Armstrong, the LAF provides the practical information and tools people living with cancer need to live strong."

I wish I had the ability to write them a hefty check, but until then i'll rock the yellow band to show my support for those fighting the fight.

Friday, July 02, 2004

Whore me out people. or whore yourselves out. just whore something. please.

YouWhores.com is a sort of depraived eBay for services.

for example:

"For £100 sterling plus travel expenses I will push an assortment of garden vegetables through your letterbox.
Jernau Morat Gurgeh
gurgeh31@hotmail.com
United Kingdom - 23/06/04"

i really want to offer up my services in one sick bizzare manner or another, but its friday afternoon and i'm at a loss for an appropriate service or physical feat to whore out. please suggest something for me to offer to the world, you know i'll do it, and if i was independently wealthy you know i'd fly Mrs. Gurgeh across the pond to stuff things through your mail slot.

thanks to Metafilter for the link.

Thursday, July 01, 2004

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who, when presented with a glass that is exactly half full, say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty.
The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: 'What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass! And at the other end of the bar the world is full of the other type of person, who has a broken glass, or a glass that has been carefully knocked over (usually by one of the people calling for a larger glass), or who had no glass at all, because they were at the back of the crowd and had failed to catch the barman's eye."
-Pratchett, the Truth

maybe i could have prevented it by standing up for myself more than i did, but I just got asspunked by people i would have given a kidney to. There's a lot of shit i can take with a big smile, but i can't take being disrespected.
even though I have nothing to blame but my own decisions. this one hurts pretty fucking bad.

please help me always respect the people i work with. it's too easy to slip to the other side if you lose that.