Lee Trout

My Struggle With Reality

2012-01-21T03:31:00.005-05:00

I've been putting off writing this post for some time...

I have been floating through the past few months in a daze; letting life pass by (and wash over me). I've struggled to come to grips with everything that happened in 2011.

I've been correcting the course of our finances and focusing on paying down our credit cards as quickly as possible. I've finally fixed most of my teeth which were in quite a state of disrepair after ignoring regular dental checkups all through college and for the first couple years in "the real world". Inevitably I needed some major restorative work (read: 3 root canals with crowns) and unfortunately I paid for this work with credit. I hope to never repeat that experience. So we've worked hard to cut out all major purchasing without proper planning and saving and we're doing good. Of course, I've always been a poor juggler and so my general health took a backseat to my career and home-life so I managed to put on all the weight I had lost. One step forward and two steps back.

But that's not what has been holding me back and it's not what this post was supposed to be about; I'm stalling.

In one year I managed to interview (and somehow flub up) with ALL of my dream companies. Really, in less than 9 months. I interviewed with Industrial Light & Magic, Pixar, Rackspace, and Google. I was flown to San Francisco three times for onsite interviews. Yet somehow I've messed up each time. Some of the interviews made my flaws painfully obvious (lacking a mastering of some of the core Python standard library) and others were both fun and challenging.

I think I'll follow up in detail on some specifics in a another blog post but here's how things played out and what I think went wrong:

ILM- The Post found out I was interviewing with ILM after they called my references. I imagine I was about to get an invitation to come out when the Post offered me a promotion to Sr Developer. Having a wife changes your priorities and I called ILM and removed myself from consideration since it would be foolish to leave at that point. They said they understood and didn't blame me but I have to wonder if I'm on a blacklist now...

Pixar- Speaking of blacklists, I may be on one at Pixar as well. After making it to my second round of interviews with Pixar I blatantly expressed that working for Pixar on their render product would be a dream come true. Maybe I didn't have what they were looking for (admittedly the interview wasn't very technical) and maybe you should never tell a company that they are your dream job. I don't know, but I didn't get a call back after that. Of course there are probably 100 "me's" in NorCal lined up the street and distance may have been a factor.

Rackspace- RS brought me out twice. I've got to say, there are some mighty fine folks working in the new SF office and they may have been the hardest to impress. (Without a doubt more finicky than Google) I was considered for a position working on their flagship monitoring product (CloudKick) and later to work on the core of OpenStack, collaborating directly with the engineers at NASA. This is second only to Pixar. Who wouldn't want to work with NASA? I failed miserably on my first interview question (hint: itertools) and aced the rest of the interview which was all Django related. The second trip out for the NASA gig was a different interview experience with another team and the feedback I received was that my answers were too complicated. So strike two for over thinking the problem. Again, awesome people interviewed me and I managed to squeeze a code review out of them on some personal work.

Google- I actually interviewed with Google twice as well. The first time around I was bounced between several teams before receiving a loose verbal offer for a 6mo-1yr contract doing Django for a Google-related project. There's no security (or benefits) for moving a wifey across the country to a state whose job outlook for educators isn't great. So that was a no go. Google called me back and decided I might be a fit for a full time position and so I entered the "Google wringer" for the second time. If you ever have the chance to interview with Google you HAVE to do it. Without any formal education in computer science (and quite a way out of my league from teaching myself PHP by copying my girlfriend's homework) I made it through three phone screens and all the way to six on-site interviews (over 7 hours non-stop). Truly, without-a-doubt, the most interesting day I've ever had in my life. You have to sign an NDA but I think I can disclose a couple tidbits- I had pizza for lunch and they have some mighty fine pizza. I rode one of the infamous, little, multi-colored bicycles (I figured it was the only time I would be there so I took advantage of everything). Finally, all of the answers to all of my questions were given on the whiteboard in BASH, Python and with diagrams. That should say a lot about how far a Python hacker can make it and how far Python has come.

So I'm sitting here and now it's 2012. I had my shot at every company I've ever dreamed of working for and I've got a pretty awesome gig punching out code for National Geographic. How do I carry myself tomorrow? How do I keep going after staring in the face of every awesome tech company out there doing great stuff with Python? What's the one thing I was missing? Where did I misstep?

I'm pretty much driving myself crazy (and a bit down) trying to figure all this out. At the end of the day I'm getting a paycheck to do something I used to do for fun in high school built on ideas that were planted as seeds at a summer camp. That should be enough to get me out of bed and off to work with a smile on my face but I can't help feel like I messed up pretty big.

It was an honor to be nominated. That's what they say. Still a hard pill to swallow.

Here's to tomorrow and whatever that is going to bring... It's been a great ride so far.

"Welcome Home" - Punch Brothers
Welcome home
-If home it is and well you come-
We've seen the smoke and smelled the fumes
You went for broke
Then under over a couple bucks
Threw down the yoke and put up your dukes

As the world turns

2011-06-25T00:37:00.004-04:00

Well, all things come to an end. (Both the good and the bad, but not the ugly without plastic surgery.) Life's book has to have conclusions and chapters must end so the story can continue. The next chapter in my professional life will be as a contractor in DC with my first gig at National Geographic.

I have been very blessed in my life and was extremely fortunate to work at The Washington Post for the past 2 years. I thank God for the opportunity to meet and work with one of the best christian mentors I've ever had, Steven King, and everything that he did for me professionally, personally, and spiritually. I also enjoyed spending so many hours hanging out, err, *cough I mean working with one of my college buddies, Jesse Foltz. In that time I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming that I was actually being paid to both program in Python and use the Django web framework all while hanging out and working with world class people. I have, without a doubt, grown by leaps and bounds. The largest portion of my professional growth as a programmer is due to none other than Jesse for all the chop-busting :)

When I accepted the original job as an Innovations Developer (internally: Web Ninja) I had no idea that it would lead me to work for a strong Christian manager and eventually a position as a Senior Developer. I also never expected I would get to brainstorm and build just down-right awesome stuff with Jesse. I leave the Post with sadness that our team is no more. I didn't know that I would get to architect and build systems that would power mission critical roles. I certainly never imagined I would have 1 on 1 access to the system administrators and eventually count them as my closest friends. There has, unquestionably, been no other experience in my life that compares to the feeling like you have all the resources of a Fortune 500 company data center at your disposal and getting to use all the cool toys like Isilon storage systems and Splunk. But enough of the nerdy stuff... :D

I'm moving on to a company called Celerity to help start their web practice (which has a strong focus on Django) and, again, my first spot is Nat Geo. Can I just say that it is awesome to walk through halls that have domes that light up like the galaxy and scale models of the Grand Canyon that fill the ceiling space in the elevator lobby? I am very much at home there :)

My new supervisor, Drew Engelson, is a fantastic guy and has years of experience with Amazon's cloud services and large Django systems (he was chief architect at PBS previously) so I can't wait to see what kind of growth opportunities this will provide. I actually took the job to work for him since I figured it wasn't every day that you get to pick your mentor.

I started full time last Tuesday and my gut reaction about Drew is spot on. Top notch, very bright, and considerate. I truly hope I have the opportunity to be more involved directly with him and the growth of our part of the company.

Here's to tomorrow! Cheers :)

Suffering Saturday

2011-05-07T12:39:00.002-04:00

I've been on the bike 4 times already this year but today is the first ride I've done for fun (not commuting). I did 27.18 miles in 2:40:52 for an average speed of 10.22 MPH. The terrain was a lot of fun and had its challenging (to me) spots. Definitely nothing like the rail road grade W&OD.

I'm bummed at my average speed but I gave it everything I had. I don't think my legs have had this kind of workout in the last 6 months. Covered a lot of new ground (very scenic).

Red is my favorite color

2011-03-31T19:15:00.006-04:00

I can't believe I have put off blogging this for so long (but March does include race'n in TN). I sold my Jeep and bought a motorcycle! Happy birthday to me :D A no-frills, fun-in-the-mountains, street legal dirt bike. A Honda XR650L.

I walked into Carmax on a Friday and sold my Jeep to them, went to the airport and rented a car, and drove to Mom's house in KY and bought it the next day from Ashland Cycle Center (who, by the way, gave me an amazing deal).

Of course, the main reason I got it was because it was red. And because the oil is in the frame (called, you guessed it, an oil-in-frame (OIF) chassis) it doesn't have an oil cooler. I looked at a Suzuki DR650 but considering that I am learning how to ride I figure this bike will spend some time on its side at some point and the oil cooler on the DR looked like one more thing to break.

Surprisingly I haven't missed my vehicle at all. I remember one of my professors telling me to sell my Jeep when I moved up here and while it wasn't practical at the time it certainly isn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Without further ado...

On the trailer when I picked it up

At the country store after riding US 421 "The Snake"

Back at my in-law's house

Bike Commute

2011-02-21T00:57:00.009-05:00

The first step to riding 80 miles on the bike in one session is to get back in the groove. And that means if the weather is above 55-60 then I have NO excuses for not being on the bike. So I headed to work Friday morning and snapped a few pics to and from. 30 miles in one day after a 4-5 month hiatus is respectable in my book.

It all started at 6 AM with a protein shake that by 7:15 when I was out and on it desperately wanted to come up for air :-/

My first stop was to snap this picture of the sunrise where Cameron Run meets the Potomac.

Trust me, these photos do NOT give this spot justice. Gravelly point is the best hidden gem in the DC Metro area in my book. You would be hard pressed to find another location in the US where you can stand on the center line of the approach path for a metropolitan airport at slightly higher elevation than the runway with an amazing view. With a Northern wind you are almost guaranteed the chance to be buzzed by a 737 or A320 screaming in at 150 kts just 80-100 feet over your head. Add to that the often cross winds and the fact that this is one of the hardest approaches in the world with 20-30 degree right turn just seconds before landing and you have an experience anyone from hard core plane geeks to the average tourist will enjoy.

Riding by the White House on the way into work is always a refreshing sight.

Finally, the sunset from the bridge where I took the sunrise photo where I495 merges with US 1 and crosses the Potomac.

'11 Goals

2011-02-10T14:47:00.002-05:00

I have 2 things I want to do before I turn 30... I want to climb Mt. Rainier and I want to clear a minimum of 150 miles of the AT in a single session (<2 weeks). If I manage to get in shape I honestly think the climb of Rainier will be the easier of the two because I am much more likely to head out on the AT without conditioning to the same level that I would for a mountain climb.

With that said I need some goals to start on my path... So this year, before summer is over, I want to summit Holston Mountain on the Josiah Trail and I want to ride the entire W&OD Trail from one end to the other and back (~80 miles total) in less than 5.5 hours.

Public declaration complete; now we wait and see if I pull it off.

2011 Weight Loss Check In

2011-02-05T10:53:00.009-05:00

This is a whopper of a post... Sorry :D

I truly believe in divine intervention. And for anyone that chooses not to believe in a supreme being then you can think of it as the universe aligning itself so that I find the path I need to be on.

With that said, let me start the story by stating that I am NOT a book reader. I might read 2 books cover to cover in an entire year. Sure, I read, but it's usually on the computer and usually related to the latest tech. On December 13th I was on Amazon for a reason I don't remember and stumbled on a review for a book called the "4 Hour Body". The title got me... What could a book called the 4 hour body be all about? So I read the review which outlined that chapters and my jaw dropped as I saw something about losing 20lbs of fat in 30 days. I'm no stranger to weight loss or diets or, especially, the gym. I lost about 30 pounds over the course of about 60 days but I was hitting the gym harder than I ever had in my life. Is that what this book would suggest? What about the 4 hours part?

I was hooked. Then I noticed I couldn't order the book as it didn't come out until the 14th. I went home that night and thought about the book and the thoughts continued all the next day to an almost obsessive point and I decided that if my local book store had the book I would buy it. So I headed home from work early and went to the store and couldn't find a single copy. I asked the staff person stocking the shelves and she remembered seeing some copies of the book in a box in the back but they weren't to be released yet. After convincing her (thanks to her coworker) that this day was the release day and someone just forgot to put them out I got my copy and went home.

This is a big book, too. Over 500 pages. Yet it is more of a manual, a reference, than a novel. So I stayed up until 2:30 am reading. I couldn't put the book down. The 4 hour part of the book was about gaining 20 pounds of muscle in 30 days with only 4 hours of gym time total for the whole month. That sounds cool but at the risk of your liver and / or kidneys based on the amount of drugs you take with it I wouldn't be up for trying it. Besides, I wasn't interested in that; I was interested in the other chapter about losing 20 pounds of fat in 30 days. And did I mention that this feat is accomplished with zero gym time. Not 1 second of exercise. It sounded too good to be true and I was completely skeptical. But you can't knock it 'till you try it so I studied the book and made a shopping list and prepared to begin my journey on the slow carb diet.

The start day for my first week was Saturday December 18th. I ate a big protein rich breakfast and avoided all sugars all day. I went out to dinner at Outback and watched Mandy eat a giant ice cream sunday and at that point would have gladly eaten a packet of sugar. Mom has always admitted to being a sugar lover but I never thought I was... I was a meat and potatoes guy. You can keep your cup cakes and pie and pass me another serving of mashed potatoes and gravy. But I forgot one thing. I LOVE soda and soda is loaded in sugar. At this moment it had now been almost 24 hours with no sugar, no caffeine, no starches.

This might be TMI but it is important to the story... I withheld from the sugar and went on home and hit the bed early (amazing how my diet had immediately affected my sleep schedule). That night I got up and peed four times. This is noteworthy because I NEVER get up to go to the bath room. And these were bladder busting trips across the apartment. So the next morning I weighed in not really expecting to see much of a difference, maybe a pound higher since I ate a giant steak with a massive helping of broccoli but instead I found myself SIX pounds lighter. Over night.

I'm still skeptical at this point because that was obviously water weight (albeit a lot of water weight really fast). So I stuck out the diet for the rest of the week and lost an astonishing 11 pounds. Then it was time for Christmas and I completely left the diet. When I got back home I had put 8 pounds back on which shows how easy it is to rebound on this kind of diet. I accept that flaw and consider this a tool to get the weight off, not keep it off, so my end goal is to get 10-15 lbs under my target weight so the rebound normalizes me.

So I began the diet again on January 3rd and stuck to it... As of today, February 5th, I have lost 23 pounds since December 18th and if we want to ignore the rebound, 20 pounds since January 3rd. Oh, and I am tracking inches on my chest, belly, waist, hips/butt, biceps, forearm, and thighs. I have lost over 14 total inches since January 3rd.

So the diet works. With amazing success and no gym time. But I feel that now is the true test- Have I plateaued? Will the weight loss slow down? For every 6 days on the diet I take 1 day off and binge on all the foods I've cut out of my diet. I specifically set out to spike my calories to keep my body from going into starvation mode. After 2 months on the diet I will take a full week off. Cheating adds about 4-6 pounds back on but they come back off quick enough (evidenced in the little spikes in the chart below).

This week was also the first time I have started adding exercise. I will focus solely on kettle bells and rowing this month once or twice a week for not more than an hour at any given time (and probably not rowing for more than 30 minutes). March will see the addition of cycling to work again on moderate days.

Wish me luck and I'll post a check in next month.

Senators and Representatives Can Protect Each Other

2011-01-09T01:23:00.003-05:00

Today's events were tragic.

A public servant should never have to feel like they aren't safe, especially in their own district. But after reading so many stories pointing the finger at right wing conservatives and leaders expressing fear for their lives and families one thing stood out to me:

Our leaders do not feel obligated to protect themselves.

The comments I've seen from leaders lead me to believe that they are now concerned for their safety and acknowledge they don't have security and protection. Well you know what? I don't have a security detail either. But I have weapons for self defense and I know when and how to use them and what the consequences for such actions are. I accept the responsibility of being able to protect myself and my family.

As I understand it, the only representatives that are given protection are the leaders of the chambers (and to be honest I'm not sure why they get it). And that protection is around the clock. Capitol Hill is crawling with police so they're pretty well covered during the day at work.

But what about senator Bob and representative Sally when they are at home in Utah and Kentucky?

Unless they have some special privilege (like not having to accept the public health care option) that prevents them from exercising their 2nd amendment rights there is nothing stopping them from carrying their own weapons for self defense. That goes for their staff, too. Kentucky even has a special section to allow local leaders to carry concealed when others cannot:

KRS § 237.110 (16), concealed carry is prohibited in:
(d) Any meeting of the governing body of a county, municipality, or special district; or any meeting of the General Assembly or a committee of the General Assembly, except that nothing in this section shall preclude a member of the body, holding a concealed deadly weapon license, from carrying a concealed deadly weapon at a meeting of the body of which he or she is a member;

Of course that is just affecting concealed carry. There's still nothing stopping a citizen from going to a town/city hall meeting with a holstered firearm on their leg or hip. And there's nothing stopping a leader from doing the same.

Now I don't think we need to go back to the wild West and go around shooting everyone but I do think if the common understanding is that both a leader and their staff has a weapon (even nonlethal tasers / rubber bullets) someone might think twice about walking up and pulling a gun since they probably wouldn't have the opportunity to get away with it.

If we can give guns to pilots we can certainly give them to our leaders. The only problem is if they try to take ours away in the process. And I'm sure it's been said somewhere today and will probably come up many times in the coming days- why don't we just ban guns. In a nation of absurd, reactive security policies it certainly wouldn't surprise me to see this event used as an example to relight that fire.

2010 Review

2010-12-23T09:47:00.002-05:00

Whew! We're almost at the end. And unless I buy a motorcycle next week I don't expect anything more noteworthy that would qualify for this list so I'm gonna go ahead and write it.

Here's the big stuff that happened to me this year:

Spoke at high school graduation. (Definitely top of the list)
Worked the launch of the fan relations area at Bristol. Awesome experience.
My video CMS survived an entire year at the Post and is still running strong as it is being replaced with a 3rd party solution ("sunsetted" in Yahoo! language). I never imagined I would single-handedly build a system in Python for a company as prestigious as the Post that would handle something as mission critical as video. And I estimate that I saved the company ~100k by doing that but I don't know for sure.
I was on call 24/7 all year b/c of said CMS.
I survived my first year of marriage (Congratulations to Mandy, really. Had to be much worse on her ;)
Moved to Alexandria!
Started working in downtown DC ~3 blocks from the White House
Road my bike >20 miles for fun on weekends and commuted ~25 miles to and from work on several occasions. (NEVER saw either of those coming)
Road trip with Kyle to Hotlanta for Sara's wedding
Lost ~>25 lbs (as of today compared to 1/1/2010)
Beach Week Blowout with all my closest college friends. It was WONDERFUL!
Rode a zipline! (without Mom, unfortunately)
Rode a surfboard! Basically I used it like a giant boogie board but never-the-less I got to feel what it's like to ride a wave.
Took a concealed weapons class and shot the VA DOJ course of fire with a 295/300.
Got my motorcycle learner's permit and rode a KLR 650 over US 421- "The Snake"
Met an amazing group of freelancers / entrepreneurs and got in on the ground of floor of something that is going to be amazing.
Went camping! Found a gorgeous, quaint campsite Wilderness Canoe

And I have absolutely no doubt 2011 is going to be even BIGGER...

Haven't been through this in a while...

2010-10-19T14:24:00.007-04:00

When a firefighter passes away one of the symbols is a ladder with a broken rung. The armed forces use a non-symmetrical flight formation with a missing plane. When Rexel Jackson, a friend of my family from our home town and the fire chief passed away I made an image and posted it as my profile pic on facebook. I might not be the greatest designer but I like to do something with my skills as a tribute in my own way.

Jeff Byrd, President and General Manager of Bristol Motor Speedway recently died after a battle with cancer. I decided to alter the SMI logo to make a mourning version.

I don't know the appropriateness of using the SMI logo for that but BMS (and SMI for that fact) will not be the same without Jeff. So I dropped the car from the logo and put his nick name in its place.

I never knew how to act around Jeff (Mr. Byrd always to me as I could never bring myself to call him Jeff) but he was one of those people that commanded respect without ever saying a word.

I will never forget these specific interactions with him:

1. Making everyone in the entire office watch my rope magic trick and then tipping me for doing it, haha :D That was the first time I ever performed that trick in front of a lot of people and I wouldn't have done it without his incessant prodding.

2. Being upset about the performance of the contracted cleaning crew during race weekend, he sent an all staff email alerting employees that they could find him out picking up trash. I don't doubt that he did, in fact, go out and pick up trash and the message was clear that we all needed to pitch in. This memory is one that I recount often. This summer while attending the Monster Truck Madness I took less than 60 seconds out of my life to pick up trash blowing down the back stretch during the autograph session thinking that Jeff would have done the same thing. I guess my point is that I perceived Jeff as the kind of guy that didn't draw lines. It wasn't someone else's job, it was everyone's job.

3. Opening car doors with his wife Claudia at the drag tower and welcoming people inside. I have never had more than a 3 minute conversation with Jeff in my entire life and I certainly didn't know him personally at the time, but around the time I was interning at BMS I saw the couple back at the drag tower during an event opening doors for guests. Whether they were VIP or what, it still shocked me to run into them just opening doors for people. Servant leadership in a shining example.

4. Never being short with me, even at 2 AM when I was trying to get in the office to take a shower on race weekend. He never ignored me and was never terse even during the most stressful weekends. That is really saying something when someone in his position takes the time to not only talk to fans (customers) but to the employees as well. Following the "we hurt the ones we love" philosophy it would have been easy to drop the act in the middle of the night when no one was around. But it wasn't an act. He had developed virtues and character such that his initial reaction was one of patience.

Lots of people have a lot of great things to say about Jeff and that can give you a perfect picture of the kind of person he was.

Claudia, the children, and extended BMS family and employees are in my prayers.

Slacking!

2010-10-07T22:23:00.003-04:00

Life is getting in the way of losing weight... With Mandy and I moving in 2 days I've been really busy packing and keeping up with work. To that end, I haven't been exercising and I haven't lost any more weight. But I have to say- it feels great to slip my belt into another notch tighter :)

Today was my last "terrible Thursday" where I bike from Reston to East Falls Church. I did 11.8 miles in 53:30 for an average speed of 13.35 MPH (a new personal best). And with that I am inching closer to my 15 MPH average I want to achieve by the end of this month. However, I am not optimistic that I will achieve it with my new commute being what it will be.

On that note, tonight was a first for me. I am pretty much a big wuss when it comes to riding my bike in DC. I value my life over riding a bike in and out of traffic with some of the rudest drivers in the country. Tonight the trains were all jammed up heading out to VA so I sucked it up and rode from downtown (near the White House) out to Ballston. I forgot to plug my computer in so I don't have any stats but with some big hills and nasty traffic in Georgetown I think it was ~6 miles in ~45 minutes. Most importantly I am still alive (and detesting pedestrians that jog against traffic in the bike lanes).

272

2010-09-22T14:30:00.005-04:00

Well this marks 10 pounds down since I started this whole life change (again) at the start of September. I quite happy with the results and it all feels really sustainable which is as important as the results I am seeing.

It still makes me sick at my stomach to think about how I have already done all this; celebrated dropping under 270, then 260, and finally under 250.

But my life took a series of twists that I never saw coming and I made a series of mistakes in my life style choices that I didn't think I would do. (Eating entire pizzas as I worked on freelance through the middle of the night and washing it down with 5 or more sodas.)

But after prayerfully considering my current situation I am left with a desire to turn all that around and so far, so good.

I've always enjoyed the end of summer as the cool evenings and colored leaves usher in the holiday season. And Mandy has me excited to see pumpkins and corn stalks. I think we may actually carve a pumpkin this year...

If someone had told me...

2010-09-17T16:55:00.003-04:00

If someone had told me 2 years ago that I would not only ride my bike 12 miles to work, but actually enjoy and look forward to doing so I would have considered them mad. I thank God that I would have been horribly mistaken.

I rode in yesterday from where we'll be living in less than a month. It is, without a doubt, one of the most gorgeous commutes one could have. I ride through old town Alexandria, up the banks and marshes of the Potomac across bridges and boardwalks to the always thrilling Gravelly Point which precedes the 14th street bridge and the Jefferson memorial. From the Jefferson memorial I scoot around the tidal basin to the Washington monument, followed by the ellipse and a quick coast down Pennsylvania avenue to the White House where I make a turn up 16th and a dash down L street to the Post.

All of that is just over 12 miles and I do it in about an hour. I'm very excited about moving to a more accessible location and glad that I can make exercising a part of my commute.

Checking in...

2010-09-12T17:15:00.006-04:00

I've been doing very well with my cycling. I am averaging 13 MPH or better which is pretty good for my level of conditioning, the path grade, bike dynamics, etc. I would like to see that get up to 15 MPH before the end of October but that might be too large of a cap to cover.

I weighed in this morning at 274. I think I am a touch on the dehydrated side even though I just drank a liter of water and weighed 273.

I am treating myself to Red Robin tonight for doing well. I intend to eat half my burger, all my fries, drink water, and have a banana milk shake. On the RR website it came in at an estimated 2100 calories for everything, but the burger is around 1100 so halving the burger should have me at ~1600 calories. All I've had so far today is a banana and I rode 13 miles on the bike. My heart rate monitor says I burnt 1500 calories so I don't feel guilty about indulging.

My overall energy level is improving and seeing those numbers on the scale go down is a HUGE motivation boost. Here's hoping I finish the month as strongly as I started :)

Tips for this week:

I learned about potassium and how it becomes glycogen in the liver which is concentrated glucose. The DRV for potassium seems to be 3500-4000mg / day and heavy sweating can cause an electrolyte imbalance so I am eating a lot of banana's (~400mg), drinking 16oz of orange juice (~400mg per 8oz), and yogurt (~250mg). I have noticed a marked improvement in not feeling hungry, not feeling tired, and not craving sugar after a work out.

Somewhat healthy fast food to squelch the cravings is Chick-Fil-A. A satisfying meal can be had for 800 calories consisting of 8 ct nuggets, medium fry, and medium lemonade.

Lastly, McDonald's ice cream cones are ~150 calories. As sweet treats go, that's pretty decent. I suspect that it is closer to 200 calories since they always have a healthy amount of ice cream.

Health Month

2010-09-06T12:04:00.006-04:00

Well I am still chugging along at my game on Health Month.

Here's my report card http://www.healthmonth.com/learn/169

I weighed in on Friday morning after biking 22 miles on Thursday and drinking what I thought was enough fluids to be re-hydrated. At that point I was 3 lbs down. I'm going to be really sad if I have went back up when I weigh in again this Wednesday...

But I've generally kept calories under 1500 each day and burnt at least 600 calories except for yesterday. Me and Manders went out to play frisbee, see Machete, and eat at Johnny Rockets. Of course I had soda at the movies with my popcorn and dinner with a Smoke House burger. Hello 1600 calories in <2 hours.

While I'm on the subject of calories here's what I've discovered that's working well for me:

Simply Lemonade
- Same calories as soda and satisfies that desire with salty foods.
- Tastes almost as good as homemade. REALLY close.
- Good for kidney stone prevention.

Member's Mark Mesquite Fillets
- Absolutely delicious out of the microwave! Convenient and good :)
- Only ~200 calories & 30g protein with 4g fat. Chicken rules.

Hormel Black Label Fully Cooked Bacon
- Only 70 calories and 6g of fat in 4 slices.
- Easy to toss on a sandwich out of the fridge or perfectly crispy in 30 secs in the microwave.

Rice Krispies Treats
- Only 150 calories.
- More filling and satisfying to eat.
- Has some vitamins (Folic Acid, B6, Niacin, Riboflavin, Thiamin, D, Iron, A).

Nature's Own Butter Bread
- Amazingly soft when it's fresh & wonderful taste.
- Only 60 calories per slice. Very worth it for a great white bread.

Losing the biggest loser...

2010-09-01T13:16:00.004-04:00

So I weighed this morning (282 lbs) and so I didn't just lose the biggest loser challenge, I GAINED 5 lbs.

My only excuse is that it took me 5 weeks to pass an 8mm x 3mm kidney stone. After that ordeal I had an emergency root canal and then I've been traveling every other week through the summer.

Now that September has arrived I am rekindling my desire to get in better shape. There's a new module on the top right column of the the blog to track my weight loss. There it is, out in the public eye with no place to hide.

I'm playing a game on a new site called Health Month. Each month you pick a set of goals and you get points for achieving them and lose points for not doing them.

Here are my goals for September:
1. Drink at least 35 glasses of water per week (go away kidney stones!)
2. Allow processed food 3 times a week (see below for details)
3. Go to the gym at least 5 days a week
4. Ride my bike at least 30 miles a week
5. Floss at least 3 days a week (no more root canals plzkthx)
6. Allow 3 sodas a week
7. Limit Calories to 1500

So I am considering fried foods and junk food "processed food". So I can only have junk like fries, cake, cookies, doritos, chips, etc 3 times a week. I'm also making a conscious effort to avoid preservatives.

So there we go... Now you know more about me and my flossing habits than I ever desired.

Wednesdays will be weigh in days so wish me luck and check the widget on the right every week or so and see how I'm doing. :D

Biggest Loser

2010-03-26T16:49:00.003-04:00

I put $100 on the line that I can be the biggest loser... I'm going up against one of my uncles and a mutual friend. I'm looking forward to the friendly competition and I hope they take it as seriously as I am! :D

This ties in perfectly with my previous statement about blogging about what I'm doing to lose weight. Which, if you haven't guessed already, has been nothing :-/

So it officially starts today (who starts stuff on a Friday?) and I weighed in at 277 lbs.

Here we go...

Obama in my Building

2010-03-05T11:47:00.004-05:00

Obama is on the 6th floor of my building right now. I'm on the 9th. The living in DC experience is now complete for me. I have had my car bomb-searched and I've been through Secret Service security. Very cool :)

TimeSpace2

2010-03-02T03:17:00.002-05:00

It's officially live:

http://timespace.washingtonpost.com

5831

2010-03-02T01:31:00.003-05:00

It's after midnight and I'm still at work... TimeSpace2 is close to launching and the whole team is sitting here tapping away on the keyboard. I wrote a nice little script to count all the lines I've written in Python for this project so far... 5831

Here's script to do that if anyone is interested...

find /data/washingtonpost/timespace -path '/data/washingtonpost/timespace/lib' -prune -o -name '*.py' -exec wc -l {} \; | awk '{count+=$1} END {print count}'

That will look in the first directory specified, /data/washingtonpost/timespace in my case and will ignore anything in the second directory, which is my python lib and all code I didn't write. Then we pass the or switch, tell it to match files ending in .py and execute word count to count the lines in the file. That then get's piped over to awk where we grab the first field and keep track of those values in a variable and when the program ends print the count. Probably other ways to do that but this one works for me.

I had every intention of blogging before a week passed by but it didn't happen.

It's been a long time...

2010-02-19T10:01:00.003-05:00

I've had no interest in updating my blog in a long time but I've thought about what my motivations to write have been in the past and what they are now.

I'm fasting from Facebook and Twitter for Lent... And I think when Lent is over I am going to focus on Godly, encouraging tweets daily and stop using it for what it has become- everyone's soap box to complain and whine. Thanks Twitter for revolutionizing whining; now to break myself of the habit.

I've been thinking about making separate blogs for the forthcoming experiments in my life but after careful consideration I think it will be better to just throw it all together here and make use of post tagging.

My life is a constant struggle, always has been, always will be. I eat unhealthy food, I work in an unhealthy manner in the hours I keep (too many of them, too), and I am miserably failing to be the person I want to be.

Time to change. Slow as it may be.

So here's the run down of what I am about to embark on...

Weightloss
I started on Jan 5th with an insane goal of losing 40 pounds by March 15. Go big or go home... But I am only 15 pounds down so far with a long road ahead and no chance I'll be down by 3/15. I'm going to start keeping a weekly track here of what I've been doing to lose weight and what I weight is.

God
I'm going to start researching Christian apologetics as much as I can. I'm hoping to combine this with the exercising, reading while on the gym equipment, etc. I'd love to post daily, but I just don't see that happening. I'll at least squeeze in a post on the really interesting things I come across. (Like who Cain's wife is).

Programming
I'm always programming, always working on little projects (Python LCD library for Matrix Orbital displays, Py/Arduino morse code display, iPod apps, etc). So I'm going to start posting snippets, hacks, and frustrations.

But I am not going to post anything about Mandy. I think we need our own blog for the stuff we do together and I want her to write it. We'll see if that ever gets off the ground- she's just as busy as I am.

Thanksgiving Travel 2009

2009-11-30T09:41:00.002-05:00

No, it wasn't as long as last year, but I still ended up in nasty traffic trying to get out of the city. Just shy of 1000 miles and 20 hours...

Upgrades to my Ruger PC9

2009-11-21T18:03:00.005-05:00

I went to The Nations Gun Show today and I had a couple items on my shopping list for my Ruger PC9, most importantly a weaver / picatinny rail and a red dot. I could use a strap but my model is missing the rings on the stock and the barrel band and I needed some cheap plinking ammo more than a tactical sling.

I managed to find 1 vendor out of the whole show that had the rail that I needed. Instead of getting a red dot I found a super cheap holographic sight and got that instead. The gunsmith that did the installation and bore sight could only get the rail to fit one way, but I think the it was designed to go the other direction. Either way, I am more concerned with the functionality of finally having a rail and it was only $25. Pair that with a $60 holo and for less than $100 I tricked it out with everything I've been wanting.

The sight has 7 intensities and 4 reticles: cross hair, dot, circle dot, and circle cross hair (the blurry one in the pic below). I'm heading to the range to try everything out with some amazingly cheap ammo on Monday. I managed to get 500 rounds of Russian steel cased 115gr FMJ 9mm for $100 which is a BIG help to me and actually affording to use the ranges up here.

Too True

2009-08-10T11:02:00.002-04:00

http://xkcd.org/621/

A-List

2009-07-10T01:40:00.004-04:00

I'm officially A-list, which is for "almost on a list". I had the opportunity to attend the DC premiere of Hurt Locker earlier this evening. What a fantastic treat (and another item checked off my list of things to do before I die).

Jeremy Renner was in attendance and he was a class act, saying some opening remarks and telling everyone to enjoy the movie that was about to begin, "Tansformers 2" haha. It was also awesome to see him respond to several questions after the screening, including mine; I wish I had had a pencil and paper to jot down exactly what he said about his performance. It caught me totally off-guard and really made me think about how he viewed his work... He said he didn't know anything about the military, just that he had 37 years of experience at being a human and his goal was to portray humanity. He did an excellent job at that, indeed. Go see Hurt Locker, it is a great film.

Only in DC can you go attend a movie premiere with actors, generals, doctors, soldiers, sailors, and real EOD techs (the role that Renner plays). A big thanks to Slate and The Washington Post for the hook up.

No news is good news...

2009-03-26T21:09:00.002-04:00

When I fail to blog with any consistency it usually means something is up... After a rather stressful start to the new year I caught a big break. I've been struggling to keep up with my monthly financial commitments and have been freelancing pretty much the whole time I've been in Northern Virginia. It's taught me a lot and made me realize just what I had when I was in East Tennessee. With that, NOVA has a lot to offer and I'm not ready to give up on it yet...

I've been very blessed recently with finding a church home and a new job. This past week I began work at Washington Post Digital as an Innovations Developer for the Web Ninjas. I'm part of a small, agile team that does product development for the Washington Post website. My current tasks will be Python / Django development for a project that is currently wrapping up. I'm replacing a very talented developer and have some big shoes to fill. Working for the post will provide a great opportunity for growth and development and I'm super excited to see where this goes. I'm currently working out of Arlington but we'll be moving to the Washington Post office on 15th St in the heart of DC this summer.

I could have never imagined that I would be here in this type of position by the time I turned 24. (I was offered the job the day before my birthday; best present ever).

With all the excitement that comes with a new position on the cusp on what is really a new life with the marriage coming up soon, I still have a lot of work ahead of me and I would appreciate prayers of support. God has been great to me and I trust that since he brought me to it he'll bring me through it.

I'll have to take some pictures next week...

Retrospective on 2008

2009-01-04T00:26:00.004-05:00

What a year... I don't even realize it's 2009 because I have yet to write a date on anything. 2008 Came and went with much ado and was a year of many firsts for me. Here's a list of the big things for me in a somewhat chronological order...

Camped out in my hammock in sub-freezing temperatures
Helped start a praise and worship band (only to drop out just as I was reaching non-suckage)
Met an awesome girl (who will later be my bride-to-be, more on that later)
Wrecked my Jeep
Saw Angels and Airwaves in concert
Completed some awesome website work and actually felt like I was starting my career
Launched custom software with my Mom
Started dating said awesome girl
Went Jeepin' with my boys (the 4d wrangler is a LOT longer—I hit 2 trees)
Saw the White House with my own eyes
Air and Space Museum!!! (I've wanted to go there since I was a boy)
Job interview in the DC area
Moved to Washington DC and left previously identified awesome girl in TN
Decided to do my part to save the planet and my wallet and bought a really nice bicycle
Rode my bike to work for almost 6 weeks total
Gained 15 lbs
Paid $75 to fill up my Jeep
While we're here, paid $25 to fill up my Jeep :D
Stood <100 feet below landing aircraft (It's a rush!)
Bought a diamond ring
Bought a wedding band
Got engaged
Almost climbed to the top of the Holston High Knob Fire Tower (~80 ft)
Watched fireworks from the foot of the Washington Monument on the 4th of July with Mandy
Tried Indian food

And some people have been really helpful to me this year... Beyond my Uncles Ben and Tim for their advice, help, and listening ear, Mom's constant support, and all of my family's love and support, I am so very grateful for Andrew for being there for me when it counts, Kyle for always helping me without question, Elliott for putting our friendship before our professional relationship, Greg for being my only real "buddy" in DC, Scott for always keeping our friendship active even if it's been on my sporadic schedule, Tyson for always checking on me, Dale for solid, honest advice, Tanner, Tiffers, and Tori for all their help and support emotionally, and with my engagement, Mandy's parents and her whole family for welcoming me with open arms, and finally...

Mandy, the woman beyond my dreams with whom I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life with, thank you for putting up with me.

I'm excited about 2009—It's going to be a big year for the Trout and Wood families and I could not have picked a better family to join or have join mine. I've spent the past week with Mandy working through a relationship Q/A book and making some major life decisions about where we will live and how we're going to pull it off.

My fleeting comment is to please pray for me and Mandy and our relationship, and for me and my current job/company.

Thanksgiving week on the road

2008-11-30T23:48:00.003-05:00

What do you get when you mix a week off work, a friend's wedding at the beach, a fiancee 400 miles away, a mother 180 miles from where you spend thanksgiving, and the most horrendous traffic you have ever seen??

Geographically (and cartographically), it looks like this

About 40 hours of driving time when it was all said and done. Traffic was INSANE on I-81 today and after a complete standstill on I-81 at Wytheville we came back via I-77/I-64/US-29 (8 Hours).

Also, worth mentioning, after driving all the way to the beach I had the wrong address and missed the wedding. HA! But I did get to make it to the reception :)

Pittsburgh

2008-10-11T22:33:00.002-04:00

So I've been in Pittsburgh for the past couple days and it's been an interesting experience. It's amazing that I lucked into landing in Reston for my relocation because I didn't like Boston, I didn't like Pittsburgh at first glance, and I have a feeling I won't like New York... I guess I can respect the history and character of the towns, but there's something I don't like about them. But I've warmed up to Pittsburgh.

We had dinner tonight at The Church Brew Works which is an old church (a historical landmark, no less) and it was amazing. I don't know if it was the battered brie with apple and fig chutney or the pierogies that take the award for best food, but it was an amazing dinner. The beer was delicious as well and had a definite microbrew taste. http://www.churchbrew.com/

Mom is in Italy and is blogging about it on her blog, http://deantheslp.blogspot.com/

I am so glad Mom is over there and took advantage of the opportunity to go. You can't be frivelous with money, but you gotta live life. Look at our stockmarkets... even money markets (commercial paper) are having problems. Our government, perhaps to its fault, tries to make our lives secure, but you never know what's going to happen (and I personally don't believe throwing $700bn at the problem fixes anything). As they say, only two things in life are certain: death and taxes.

I'm engaged!

2008-10-09T13:52:00.004-04:00

I had to write the post before this one because I knew I was going to propose and I was about explode, so I had to talk about how I met Mandy, and explain why I proposed. She is my best friend, a truly caring, thoughtful, loving person and I want to spend the rest of my life with her. Basically, if there's anyone I want to argue with until I die, it's her ;)

So I proposed, the picture is NOT staged. I hired a photographer, Tori, to capture the moment and I think it turned out better than I ever hoped it would. Oh, and because you only get engaged once (or so I plan), it's a Tiffany ring!!! I got the best ring money can buy (and now we know why I freelance night and day) :D

So yea, here's to me and Mandy :) My best friend and the love of my life!

The Obligatory Update

2008-09-29T13:20:00.007-04:00

As a general rule, noted through the archives of my blog, when I haven't blogged in a while something is going on.

I've been so busy I haven't had time to turn around. I'm freelancing on top of my day job to try and save up some money and have been working around 14 - 16 hours a day and around 30 hours on weekends. It has been intense and I have learned a lot. That's work, and that's enough of that.

I'm madly in love with Mandy. It's been really interesting and it defies anything I thought love for me would be. I can't put into words the way she makes me feel... I had this mental image of the woman I wanted to find... Nice hair, great smile, laughs at my jokes, driven and motivated, an achiever, lover of God, and generally a caring person. You can't just walk down the street and look at someone and know that they have those qualities. You have to meet someone and get to know them, or try to. I went out with a lot of girls in 2007 and none of them could relate to how I handle my relationship with God... none of them, I felt, really got me. I'm a giver and a doer. I was pretty sure that I would spend the rest of my life trying to achieve someone else's affection, feeling like I had to do acts and spend money to earn their affection. And then at a christmas party I was hanging out with my buddy, talking about girls no less, and the whole room went quite and the door opened- a bright light shining in... ok, gag, no, but really, out of the whole room and all the comotion and saw this girl walk in and walk right past us to sit with her friend. I immediately started elbowing my buddy Dan and asking "who IS that?"

He didn't know, and neither did I, but thanks to me being an idiot and asking to sit with her and "the cool kids" and got her name and convinced her to play wii bowling with me before the night was over. Love at first sight... HA!

So like all relationships between 20-something-year-olds we became friends on Facebook and I ~~stalked her~~ was very interested in her. Wondered who the guy was in her photos... wondered if I would get to spend time with her... wondered when I would see her again.

We ended up seeing each other a couple more times and went to an Angels & Airwaves concert, which was hilarious because it took 5 guys 20 minutes to convince me to call and ask her to go and I paced the floor the whole time. Of course, it went to voicemail and I played it cool ;) We went, I tried to stand next to her the whole time, her friend knew what I was trying to do and tried to make her stand next to me and she was oblivious to the whole thing. It's cute now, it was a bummer then.

I finally worked up the nerve to ask her our for coffee and one thing led to another and a month later we went out for a wonderful sunset on the roof of my office building. I had wanted to watch a sunset up there for over a year and it finally happened (with Mandy to beat it all). We akwardly posed for a photograph as I was scared to put my arm around her...

And I asked her out.

Life hasn't been the same since. I moved to DC, got a new job, didn't get to see her, and it's been very, very stressful.

But I get to see her in 4 days, brief as the visit may be, and we're going to go out for a wonderful dinner.

I guess that's the thing that makes Mandy so special... I can see us both old and gray... I can see her the mother of my children... and I love taking her out and doing stuff for her because she truly appreciates it. More than any other girl I have ever met.

We have this inside joke about butterscotch. She told me that some people are like butterscotch suckers. It's the last flavor to get picked out of an assortment. On valentines day I asked if I could be her butterscotch, and she said yes. She's my butterscotch... the last one picked. And I don't mean that in any negative way. It's like saying you'll find what you're looking for in the last place you look. No point in trying another when you found exactly what you want...

So if you made it this far without gagging, and your name isn't Mandy Wood, congrats. Sorry, but I'm in love ♥

Sucker City

2008-09-08T21:48:00.002-04:00

I love National Lampoon and Mad Magazine. This time MM has outdone themselves. This is pure genius!

Read the whole article at The Consumerist

Rainbows are a conspiracy... California is the land of fruits and nuts, afterall

2008-08-23T01:20:00.003-04:00

We don't know what's in our water and the government is responsible for all the low altitude rainbows...

http://www.break.com/index/insane-rainbow-conspiracy-lady.html

But she's from California and based on the recent decision to disallow Christian school courses credit when applying to a UC school, I don't have much faith in the intelligence of Californians.

My Pillow

2008-08-02T19:24:00.005-04:00

That picture is of my pillow. The brown spot isn't makeup from my mistress, nor ground-zero of a fart gone awry. It's a burn mark. There are 2 of them. The pillow with the sham that was UNDER this pillow has a hole burnt all the way through it. See the picture below.

Too tired to stay at the desk last night, I plopped in the bed with the laptop and webcam (and therefore Mandy, albeit virtually ;). While stretching cords across the apartment, I tossed a double-halogen, under cabinet light fixture in the bed with me. Discovering it was too bright, I only had it on for a few seconds before turning it off and tossing it aside. As our conversation ended (as Mandy decided she didn't want to watch me sleep) we signed off and I tossed everything in the bed beside me and went to sleep.

I woke up sometime around 9:30 or 10 and groggily found my phone and fumbled to send a text message then rolled over on top of all that stuff that was still there. Without thinking I pushed it all further away and sprawled out to continue my slumber. I remembered the weather forecast and debated getting up to go for a bike ride and glanced at the window to try and see the sky out of the cracks the blinds when I thought I saw smoke. Convinced that I must have had allergy eye mucus or something slimy on my eye I wiped them and looked again and there was a lot more smoke. I sat up and then smelled something burning. Followed by verbalizing my excitement with some choice words I started digging through covers and cords to find the pillow with the sham on fire and the burn mark on the pillow next to me. Moving those (read: throwing them across the room) I found the culprit... That halogen fixture was on, and on the highest setting, too. I don't know when I bumped it to flip the rocker switch, but my guess is it wasn't much sooner than this episode happening.

Totally random and I figure it's blog worthy... This could have been a very bad morning haha!

A sample of what I do now...

2008-07-18T12:44:00.003-04:00

I spend most of my days building flash engines to display data feeds from our custom CMS in a visually interesting manner. And I sneak on here to post ;) This is one of the more complex engines I've wrote and features my transition engine to manage mask placements to reveal the next image. More on that in another post...

Tech Specs:
65k due to 2 embedded fonts, no preloader
700px x 210px
dynamic images and text from our webservice
8 sec auto cycle if more than 1 image
ActionScript 2.0

Anyway, here's the link: http://www.leetrout.com/featuresEngine/

My Sweet Baby

2008-07-10T00:36:00.001-04:00

What can I say? My baby's got sauce ;)

This is why I like where I work

2008-07-02T11:07:00.002-04:00

We got this internal email the other day...

Just thought I’d share a cool story with you. Yesterday afternoon while I was still in the office, I had a sales call with a prospective client.

My contact was very excited and impressed with SiteOrganic, and wanted to move forward with two Websites. She told me that she would go back to her executive team with a recommendation, and that they would probably have to spend some time finding the money in their budget.

Right after that conversation, a young family came into their Dallas office to thank them for the services they had received. They left a card. After the family left, my contact opened the card. Inside was a cross with scripture around the edges, and the word “Trust” in the center. The note was written: “Please use these funds for an upgrade to your Website.” It was a check for the exact amount needed for SiteOrganic.

She called me with the news this morning from her car, and was beside herself. Definitely a praise!

The morning commute...

2008-06-30T08:28:00.004-04:00

I HATE crossing traffic. I don't see how people ride in traffic on a bike. Hopefully my confidence will build up over time. I was 2 inches from catching my left handlebar on a pole as came on the sidewalk from the street with too much speed. I feel like I'm going to get run over if I don't get across the street in less than 3 seconds...

Anywho, I'm at the office. Took a little longer because I stopped to help with an older gentleman that wiped out. The consensus among the lay was that he had a concussion based on a nice crack in his helmet (which would have been his head if he hadn't been wearing it) and dilated pupils.

Mission: Office and Back Completed

2008-06-28T14:13:00.002-04:00

I left the office at 1:20 and was standing in the front office at the apt complex at 2:05. I walked up one of the streets instead of riding but pushing the bike kept the distance goin', official distance is 12.4 miles and total ride time was 1:20 which means it's about 40 minutes one way in my current condition. I would like to see that under 50 minutes, or 25 minutes one way. Then I'll be in direct competition with driving as far as commute time goes. I also rode back in the rain. Most of the trail in Reston is under high voltage lines and the sizzling / crackling makes me think about brain tumors and lightning strikes...

Today's summary:
It can be done and I can do it even if it isn't efficient to stick to streets with sidewalks.
Riding in the rain isn't bad at all.
Riding on pavement after a breif rain in the summer is miserable.
I'll have to keep some powerade at the office and initially plan on my commute taking 1 hour one way.
The office has a shower and lockers big enough to use clothes hangers.
Stuart with WFI thinks I'm a hoodlum who broke into the building and doesn't believe my company actually exists in the building... "Edge Media you say?"
I saw more people at the office building today then I do on weekdays...

And then there was a bike...

2008-06-28T12:16:00.005-04:00

The Specialized Crosstrail Sport is now mine. Never being able to escape the desire for a mountain bike, the people at Specialized made this just for me. It looks like a mountain bike, it feels like a mountain bike, yet has greater on road performance (so says the bike shop) with a commuter frame. It's a "hybrid" bike. Front shocks with lockouts, 24 speed, 29" tires, on a 58 cm frame. There's no comparison to Uncle Ben's Trek I borrowed last summer.

Of course, as I knew going into this, it's never just the bike. I needed a helmet, computer, water bottle, and shorts came highly recommended. Suffering from the "do it right the first time" (which usually means bells and whistles in my head) I agreed with myself that I would buy the basics. With the exception of an insulated water bottle (I think I still have Ben's and I need to get that back to him) I got the most basic computer and helmet. The computer only counts time while the wheels are rolling which ended up being something I really like. As for the shorts... I'm trying to imagine myself in spandex. I think of guys I've seen with their garbage all smashed in spandex offering me the rare glimpse of what sculpture might have been like if Picasso gave it a go. I wasn't excited about the idea. Or the thought of how I would look in spandex period. It was bad, nothing good would come from this, but I asked, "Guys keep telling me to get padded shorts and to Vaseline my junk". Expecting a mixed reaction of maybe and some laughter I was responded to with a matter of fact "don't use vaseline we have better stuff and check out these shorts". Further discussion revealed that since I won't be doing 40+ miles a day I don't need to worry about chaffing but the shorts help on anything over 5 miles. I'm still skeptical because these shorts are $90. Told that I could return them with tags and no smell I took a pair. This is starting to be like snowboarding... everything from one brand and why do I like black?

So I'm sitting at the office, feeling like crap, smelling bad because I was too excited to go ride to remember to put deodorant on when I jumped out of the shower, and burning UP. It was 81, felt like 91 at 11 am. I'm gonna drink around 64 ounces of fluids before I head back and the expected temp around 3 is 91, feeling like 100. I guess I picked a good day to try this all out.

It took 40 minutes of rolling time, 6.5 miles, and around an hour to make it in. This accounts for me waiting at crosswalks, going the wrong way on the wrong street, and a 7 minute break because I thought I was gonna have heat stroke. Did I mention I'm wearing all black? But alas, I'm here and now "it wasn't so bad" hahaha. We'll see how I feel tonight... The shorts are AMAZING and definitely worth the money if I do this every day. Will I? Maybe if I get up at 7 and ride in before it gets hot. I can't lie, while not a tree hugger, I like thinking that I am doing my part to make this a better place for all of us.

Oh, and the W&OD trail is really crowded! Here's a google map of my routes. Click on the lines to see the route description and distance.

View Larger Map

Thinking about the gas...

2008-06-16T12:27:00.003-04:00

It's sad to think about the cost of gas and therefore the cost of driving my Jeep to work and back...

17 MPG
$4.ll / gal
10.2 miles round trip
$1 toll fees round trip
((10.2 / 17) * $4.11)+$1 =

$3.47 per day
$24.29 per week
$105.84 per month

Just driving to and from work.

I keep trying to justify buying a bicycle by saying I would ride it to work and that it would pay for itself and I hadn't really done the math. By the numbers, I would have to ride the bike 7/12 months for it to pay for itself in fuel savings. If I committed to not spending more than $100 a month on fuel then It would pay for itself in 3½ months.

On the set of Transformers 2

2008-06-07T00:25:00.002-04:00

On my way to the movies tonight I stumbled upon the filming of Transformers 2 at the Air & Space Museum. My phone take craptastic pics, but here's a shot of the set with Bumblebee and another Autobot in car form in the parking lot... And after that are a couple pics of the camera jib / crane inside. They said they'll be shooting tomorrow but I highly doubt that since this part of the movie takes place "after hours"... and all their equipment and power distribution is already being set up...

I LOVE living here. I wouldn't happen upon the filming of a major motion picture on my way to a movie in Johnson City!

Washington, DC??

2008-05-23T10:04:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the delays in blog posts... I just got off the phone with Verizon. They're coming to install my internet access on Monday. I'm surprised they working on a holiday... I'm soon to have 15mbps fiber to the house :D

Anywho, since I blog for two major reasons, broadcasting info with the world and archiving my life (especially major events), and anytime there's a delay means something big is happening, here's the scoop...

I'm living and working just outside Washington, DC now. (NOVA as they call it). I am a flash developer for Edge Media, Inc. I hope anyone who knew me in college gets a kick out of me working for Edge :D You can see our custom CMS at www.siteorganic.com

I can't give God enough thanks and praise for this opportunity!! And although there are days that are rough, my dreams are coming true and I haven't really accepted it. I remember reading Annie Parson's blog back in Jan/Feb and imagining what it would be like to just up and move. Now I know!! :D

A part of me feels like Fievel hahahaha!

It's been amazing and I couldn't have made it without the support of my friends and family! It was really nerve-wracking and stressful and Mandy was right there for me the whole time. She's a keeper I think... :D

So yea, little mouse in the big city and loving every minute of it now that I'm here. Let's hope Verizon comes through for me and I get my net access Monday and I don't covertly type blog posts on the office computer...

Chattanooga

2008-04-08T23:30:00.003-04:00

Went to Chattanooga last weekend! Had a blast!!!!

We're all in trouble now...

2008-04-04T23:20:00.002-04:00

I came in tonight to find this offline message in my inbox...

9:21 PM Dean: TADA! I set up my own blogspot....check it out http://deantheslp.blogspot.com (geez, I hope it works)

Look out!

Oh, and Mom, go sign up on facebook.com

Centripetal Force

2008-03-26T11:10:00.002-04:00

birthday iii

2008-03-25T11:54:00.005-04:00

Best weekend I've had in a really long time. Definitely the best of the year so far. Friday night was a joint birthday party for Mandy and I, Saturday was her birthday and I got to spend it with her, and Sunday was easter with her family! Had a BLAST! And her family rocks :D We even did an egg hunt which was soooo much fun.

Look what I got for my birthday!!! HAHAHAHA

Me being my usual self acting stupid.
At least I think I'm funny :)

Chip is my hero. I thank God for giving me
friends like him!

Steve isn't my hero, but I still love him.
He's still not too sure about me. HA!

I'm telling you I couldn't ask for better friends!
They put up with the rope trick time after time.
(I need some new material...)

Here's the whole gang!

Trish (against the rules of the party) brought
Mandy and I presents!! Starbucks mugs and cookies!!

I got Mandy a couple gifts, including this
lovely 6'er of Dr. Enuf.

Before we began our hike to the tower.
I thought I would be all suave and take my Bible
and read with her on top the tower... that didn't work out :-/

The tower from about a mile away...

And from 20 feet away...

Mandy brought parachute men!!!!

Raise the roof for parachute men!

And they didn't make it very far :(

We capped the night by coloring eggs with
her mom, aunt, and cousins.

We tried climbing the tower... I'll get the other pics from Mandy sometime, but I made it about 75/80 feet up and Mandy made it 50. There was about a 50 MPH wind and I was climbing the stairs like a ladder because of it. It was quite unnerving. So yea, we didn't get to talk/pray/etc on top the tower like I had hoped. And I was too distracted when we got back down to think to do it on the ground. Shame on me. LOL.

Birthday ii

2008-03-20T00:13:00.003-04:00

On Wednesday before my birthday Mandy had a surprise picnic for me in the park. I can't even begin to tell you how awesome that was. I knew something was up, but I didn't know what, and thankfully I came prepared with tulips for her :D Had an awesome evening hanging out in the park and then baking some cookies. She even put up with me playing with the steady cam I had borrowed earlier that day... So pics of that are first, followed by pics of me, Mandy, and Mom at Krispy Kreme earlier that week while Mom helped me apartment hunt. Great times! :)

Birthday Part 1

2008-03-18T12:29:00.005-04:00

I present a 3 part series of my birfday celebration(s). This was on the 14th after working at the track all day. Mandy took me out to dinner in Bristol after meeting her parents and surprised me with a cookie cake when we went out for coffee after dinner. Had a WONDERFUL birthday! :D She also did something for me on Wednesday but I'll post that later when I'm home and can upload the pics. Until then, here's Fri night...

This is why I'm not allowed to have sharp objects...

2008-03-11T13:27:00.003-04:00

Random post... I've been playing with an Xacto knife in the office. I wondered the other day if they were surgically sharp. Thinking about scenarios ranging from those found in "Shooter" to those in "I Am Legend", what would I do if I needed to do surgery on myself... I put the knife down and continued about my business. Well just now I was trimming plastic from the top of my Advil bottle when I used to much pressure and slipped and stabbed myself in the finger. I dropped the bottle and just stared at the blade stuck into my finger and the half inch gash that resulted. I pulled the blade out and stared at it, amazed that there was no blood on it and when I looked back down at my finger I narrowly avoided blood splashing on to the keyboard. I managed not to lose any to the floor between here and the sink but my hand was soaked by the time I got there. I ran some cold water down my hand and fingers and was eerily amazed by the fact that the water was completely red by the time it approached the drain.

I think this is the most I have bled in a long, long time. I grabbed the first aid kit and got some gauze out and put pressure on it for a few minutes and thought all was well. All I can figure is there must be some good pressure in your index finger because the wound closed up but the blood was weeping from the bottom of the gash. It looked like I was crying blood from the slit in my finger. I debated whether I would bleed out before I could type this post but it looks like I'm gonna make it, hahahahaha. Lesson here: keep the gauze close when playing with Xacto knives.

I'm all bandaged up now and back to the grind stone...

I should probably wash the blood off the end of my finger but then I couldn't milk this for all it's worth... HA!

Cool Illusion

2008-03-04T13:37:00.002-05:00

Today's Creative Break

Sunsets are nice

2008-03-04T00:01:00.009-05:00

So the door to the roof at the office was open today...

Sunset + Roof + Mandy = Awesome! (actually, anything + Mandy = Awesome) hahahaha. Yea, I know I'm a dork. Leave me alone and check out the pics...

Old building + old concrete = OOOPS

I'll never grow up...

2008-03-03T14:30:00.001-05:00

This coming from the soon to be 23 year old who asked his mom for toys for his birthday, I'll never grow up and farts will always be funny. Thank you, David Naster, for introducing me to the power of farts at hand.

10 Second Update - Happy Leap Day

2008-02-29T09:07:00.003-05:00

Can I just share with you that today is a wonderful day?

I'm at sitting in the office munching on my free McSkillet Burrito from McDonalds thinking about how great it was to go snowboarding at Sugar last night and looking forward to this evening. I am choosing to make this a great day (and free breakfast never hurts).

Happy Leap Day!

Oh, and I thought this was funny... entitled "Capital Punishment"

So we went to see Dylan Gilbert

2008-02-27T12:56:00.002-05:00

Photos from my trip to Boone to see Dylan Gilbert with Mandy, Mike, and Trish.

Had a BLAST!! And of course I had to entertain people at the restaurant. I really have some awesome friends to put up with my magic tricks all the time...

I really love to dance.

2008-02-27T11:18:00.002-05:00

Have I mentioned that I like to dance?? And that I like being an idiot?? :D

The day the Jeep stood still

2008-02-14T15:31:00.006-05:00

I wrecked my Jeep.

I've worked nothing short of 30 accidents, probably closer to 50, but I've never been in one myself. I've slid in to ditches driving on slick roads going snowboarding and hit a couple stop signs sliding through Meadowbrook in the snow, but never anything serious.

That all changed last Friday as I was traveling with 14 people in 4 cars to Charlotte to see Angles and Airwaves. Me and Dan were in the Jeep a couple cars behind Trig with a full car load in his 4 runner traveling around 65-70 MPH. It was around 7 PM I think- it was dark. As we rounded a curve on the highway I noticed brake lights in front of and marker lights from the trailer of a semi. I can't describe my thought process here... I started to slow down trying to figure out if they were stopped or just slowed down when I realized, yea, they were stopped. I think what lead to my confusion was the van in front of me stopped abruptly so while I did see their brake lights, because it was dark it didn't register that they were coming to a complete stop in the middle of the highway.

After 4 seconds of screeching brakes and me yelling "DUDE DUDE DUDE" (apparently all I could muster out of my lips in my moment of terror) BAM we hit the van. I looked into the rear view mirror as it happened and braced for impact because I knew it wasn't over yet. More screeching and then BAM BAM and a lot of metal crunching.

Hit in the rear end with remarkable force on the first impact and then that car hit hard enough in their rear end for me to feel it in the Jeep. I was in complete shock. In a matter of seconds the Van pulled forward and I started the Jeep and drove off the front of the car that was up under me and WAY off the road into the shoulder. Dan was yelling for me to stop, I think he thought I was going to drive us clear through the fence. The whole time I was yelling at Dan, "ARE YOU OK? ARE YOU SURE?". After parking the Jeep and turning it off I looked at Dan and asked "Are you sure you're ok?" and after he assured me he was I looked at him and in the most serious tone said "I need a hug." He didn't object, HAHA.

So now I go into firefighter mode and jump out of the Jeep running towards the other cars. One was steaming but the rest seemed OK. I inspected the steaming car, the one that hit me, and found a busted radiator, airbags deployed, and significant damage to the front end in general. I checked the driver of the van I hit and she said she was OK so I moved on down the line making people get out of their cars and get away from the road. Somewhere in all this I dialed 911 and Mom and tried to be as level headed and concise as possible. I told the dispatcher our exact location and a quick size up of the situation. 7 cars, no injuries, definitely need a tow truck, cars in road, traffic is heavy, we need the police ASAP. My conversation with Mom went something like "I need you to listen to me very carefully. I'm ok, I love you, I've been in a motor vehicle accident on the highway. Everyone is OK, pray for us, I'll keep you posted."

About 30 seconds after telling people to get off the road- more screeching and metal crunching as a semi barreled through the accident and hit another car. People started screaming and running away from the road and I pulled out my serious, stressed, screaming tone. In a classic movie quality line I yelled "IF YOU WANT TO LIVE LISTEN TO ME AND GET AWAY FROM THE ROAD".

I think the results were two fold. People got off the road but I think I made a little girl cry. To the little girl on the side of the road, I'm sorry if I scared you but people needed to wake up and get with the program.

I called 911 again and reported the accident as me and another gentleman started getting people to run back to their cars and turn on their hazard lights as we tried to warn oncoming motorists by waving flashlights into traffic. This lady just wandered out to her car and was just standing beside it, the rear end sticking into the left lane with most of the body in the right lane. She was just standing out there. So I yelled at her "Lady, get your hazard lights on and GET OUT OF THE ROAD". I didn't mean to be so harsh, but now was not the time to lolly-gag around.

The state police finally showed up and I took a huge sigh of relief as I didn't feel the need to be responsible for everyone now. I walked back near my Jeep and dropped to my knees praying and crying. Me and Dan prayed for safety on the trip and our prayer was answered.

I didn't want to get back in a car and I didn't want to drive ANYWHERE. But I went on to the concert anyways (we were only 45 minutes from Charlotte at this point). I had to suck it up and practice what I preach... I live everyday like it's my last.

The concert was awesome and Tom Delong is a fruitcake :D

We made it back to Johnson City around 5 am safe and sound. The damage total? Around $1k for 2 new bumpers and a muffler. The Jeep is a tank and God's hand was in the events that transpired that night. It looks like I backed into something, not like I was car 2 in a 6 car pileup at 65-70 MPH. I guess the Jeep also has good brakes :)

Did I mention Dan wasn't wearing his seatbelt? It's a wonder he isn't a greasy spot on the back of the van I hit. Thanks again God!

And then I worked from 8 am till midnight at Pledge2Purity. That was cool because I got to go up in the rafters of Freedom Hall.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I like making my own cards. Or at least ripping off stock photography designs and adding my own text to them ;)

Life is seriously good. I accidentally had a Coke today :-/ Not good for the fast, but I was really trying. Hopefully I won't mess up again.

Here are pics from P2P:

Oh the irony...

2008-02-07T10:38:00.000-05:00

I got picked to do the Nielsen Ratings hahahaha! For those of you that don't know, I don't subscribe to cable or satellite and I don't watch TV, per se. I do download TV shows... So I'm going to fill out my little TV diary and write a note telling them they need to update their survey to include watching shows online. Now that would be some useful information for the networks and even out the ratings a bit, in my opinion. Of all the people to be picked to have their viewing habits examined... But hey, they did give me $5. Five VERY crisp one dollar bills. Many thanks to Nielsen Media Research for the grande marble mocha macchiato and you'll be getting my viewing stats very soon...

Speaking of viewing stats... LOST is back!! The season opener was fantastic and I desperately want to know the whole story and fill in the holes now. I'm gonna be really upset if the disappoint me this season...

And lastly, it's now Lent- started yesterday. I figure this is a good excuse to use 40 days to make some lifestyle changes while I sacrifice my pleasures. Prayers of support always appreciated :) No Facebook, no soda, no alcohol**, go to the gym everyday, get up before 7 AM everyday, and make sure I'm allowing for ample God time for prayer and meditation as well as reading some Christian literature. Currently I'm reading The Ragamuffin Gospel and loving every page. I don't know what I'll read next... Any suggestions?

**not that I am an alcoholic or suffer from an addiction or anything, but I have grown quite fond of fermented sugars derived from starch-based materials

.

2008-01-28T17:06:00.000-05:00

His beard was better... :-/

No Guilt in Life, No Fear in Death

2008-01-25T00:24:00.000-05:00

Those are strong words and they resonate in me. My mantra for 2008. And if I allow my self to think about it and its application to my life, it's already taking place. Well, the guilt thing. And I'm afraid of life. I'm afraid of success. I've been working on a BIG project for Mom's company and it's going to be ground breaking. Breath taking. Eye popping. Well, at least to speech therapists... I hope. :D

I am constantly reminded of my thoughts when I was 19. All I wanted to do was run my own company. Make my own way. And do something different. The opportunity is sitting on my lap poking me in the face right now and I'm looking behind me wondering what was doing that. We might fail. Depends on how you define failure. We've already succeeded in my book because we tried. We have a product that no one else has and we're going to market with it in a month. It seems unreal. And the web presence for the company has to be strong. Strong in design, functionality, and security. I'm scared. The pressure pushes me into researching methods that I use every day and second guessing everything. Will it all come together? Of course it will. But not before a couple more nights laying in the bed worrying about it.

And what about my life? How does this all fit in? I don't know. I have recently felt like time was running out and I can't explain why. I think that's part of the reason I am so firm in my opinion to avoid girls- time that I don't need to waste. I keep thinking about how if things had worked out the way I envisioned I'd be engaged right now (if not married). That's way more scary than anything that could happen to me right now. But is it healthy to accept that there is an end to this life and to live it like I believe it?? I don't know. Live like you'll die tomorrow and plan like you'll live forever. (so they say)

In all of this, I have been struggling with my job and that has put an enormous strain on me. But it's for the best. It's cramping my frivolous lifestyle and I am learning from it. I prayed a lot about it and I have seen some interesting things happen... I am randomly approached with other job opportunities which have made me really analyze what I'm doing with my life. I could sell out so easily. Treat me like a big player- give me some responsibility and keep me in the loop with what's going on. I'm sure there are a lot of companies and supervisors that aren't interested in that, and that's fine, but it won't motivate me. Make me feel valuable to the company in ways other than my salary. I need perks.

In the early 80's Steve Jobs had his employees working insane hours as they pushed out the Macintosh. And he had some shirts made... 90 hours a week and loving it. They were doing something life changing, world changing, inspiring. I would have done it. And loved it. Heck, I've worked 60+ hours a week and didn't even get a shirt. When I leave Syndeo I'm gonna make a shirt that says I worked at Syndeo Alliance and all I got was this shirt. HA! I might make it this weekend and wear it to work on Monday and just change it to present tense hahahaha. I can remember the late nights in the labs. Talks of working "in the industry" and putting in ridiculous hours on projects. I wanted to know what that was like so I pushed my self to do it several times over the course of last year. Setting my own goals and working until 8PM, 9PM, 11PM, midnight, 2AM. I like the feeling of leaving the office in the dead of night tired, but accomplished. They have no idea what they could get out of me if they would keep bottled water and starbursts in stock. Not anything more than they get out of me now at this point because I buy it myself. And they eat it before I get the chance. Me and Sara went to Sams back in the summer and spent less than $20 on a ton of candy and klondike bars. And it was fantastic to walk into the kitchen in the afternoon and get an ice cream out and enjoy it. But I have learned a lot from these experiences. I shouldn't be so easily motivated.

Mark my words, when I direct a company, and I will, every employee is gonna list their comfort snack (within reason) once a month or so and the company will spend $20 and have it around. It's the little things that make the difference. Back before Syndeo gave me my raise Tim gave me a $10 giftcard to Starbucks to thank me for my hard work. I didn't dare tell them how much that did for me because I was worried about being paid in gift cards and not a raise, hahaha, but it was enormous. It was great.

Bristol spoiled me. Work hard, play hard. They have very demanding expectations and some intense hours, but you are compensated and there are perks. $0.25 soda machine in the break room. And the money goes to SCC I think. Free soda would be awesome. A discounted soda machine is a close second.

I applied for a job at Nintendo. I don't expect to hear anything back from it but I hope they'll at least match ILM and Dreamworks and send me a letter in the mail. I am so scared of success. What would I do if I actually got the job? Would I up and move to Seattle? I would have to. I would have to pursue my personal legend. I don't want to spend my life wanting... or wondering what if.

I'm sorry, but I've just got a lot on my mind and I needed to vent.

Until later, life is for the living...

Looking back on it all...

2008-01-22T23:07:00.000-05:00

I was reading this post which was appropriately addressed to me a year down the road.

Here we are.

It's nice to know that some things will never change AND that I will always have the ability to change. I feel like my love for God has grown, my acceptance of His ways has grown, but my obedience is on a plateau. I still don't like going to Church on Sunday mornings.

I enjoyed going on Saturday nights back in the summer, but then again I enjoyed being with Jessyca too... So I was probably going for the wrong reason even though I continued to go long after she ceased.

My character flaw to constantly be motivated by the opposite sex is one of those things that will never change. I accept that. Now is the time to put the reigns on it and take a step back and realize when it is happening and correct the behavior. I'm a hopeless romantic and I always will be. And I digress...

Over a year later I'm still alive. I never would have believed it- HA! Girls are dumb and that whole break up ruined my trust in guy friends. (should have been the other way around) It's a weird place to be with abandonment issues (I attribute that to losing my father) and trust issues. I'm apparently only safe if I'm alone with God. And you know what? That's not so bad :) But I'm also codependent at times so something has to give.

Someone take note of this and come find me when I choose to date someone again - make sure I fully realize what I'm getting into and make sure I'm sane. I have NO desire to go down that path again. And when I choose to date again I MUST choose God over her because she's a human and humans suck. I sit here tonight convinced that while I enjoyed my many, many, many dates of 2007, I don't need anything more than that. Maybe some casual cuddling? Maybe... just a little? Hahahaha. But seriously, if I am stupid enough to get into a relationship before I'm 25 it'll be all too soon.

I don't mean to dig up the past, but I really got get something out here... I hope Morgan marries James so I can send her this e-card. That's the best ecard site ever LOL

So yea, here I am, still alive and kicking. Working. Living. Loving God (contrary to what the people at church may think with my lack of attendance on Sunday mornings). And I still want to move to Seattle. (or Lexington...)

Here's looking forward to years of living in God's grace (and hopefully living in a manner that at least makes me a little deserving) and loving Him as best I can. :)

Character

2008-01-16T23:38:00.000-05:00

I believe you can measure a person's character as the gap between beliefs and actions. Paul had this to say when writing to Titus...

Such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live. They are detestable and disobedient, worthless for doing anything good.
Titus 1:16

You can go read the full context, but that verse illustrates my point. Say one thing (belief) and go do another (action). Albus Dumbledore (Rowling) said "It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." Once again, a rift between our beliefs that would surely influence our choices and our abilities that would be directly related to our actions. As a human being I can take life, create life, and I have dominion over the Earth. God has allowed us to be gods over the Earth. It is ours to do with as we see fit (for now). Point is, I have a lot of abilities, but I don't act upon those. Murderers, psychopaths, and rapists fall into the negative categories while police and doctors generally represent the nicer side of some occupations that allow humans to perform extraordinary tasks on this Earth.

Back to my point, measuring character. I think Paul had some pretty direct words. Very true words. I find myself looking at people and imagining how they must think they are perceived versus the reality of what we all think. I analyze myself, too. Seemingly too often I discover how large my gap is, but thankfully is hardly ever anything meaningful. I think most recently it's been my actions in social settings and while I might think I am funny, or being interesting, or entertaining, I have learned that nothing could be farther from the truth. Sometimes a hard pill to swallow, but accepting it and reflecting on it will hopefully help me better adjust myself. And I'm also careful as to who's opinions I weigh heavy.

A sermon from the summer had this point to make:
Everything depends on leadership. Leadership depends on character.

Is your faith a hobby? Or your lifestyle? Something you do? Or how you live?
I'll address that tomorrow or Friday.

What we all need

2008-01-16T00:21:00.000-05:00

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to the body and soul.”
John Muir

Ran across that quote and was rather fond of it.

How about climbing a mountain?

2008-01-13T13:26:00.000-05:00

So I followed through with my plans for yesterday: hiking on Holston Mtn. I managed to wake up around 11 after being up until 3 AM playing GH3.

Now I've not been on a hike since boy scouts and I've been looking forward to going on a good hike for a while. Where do I begin? How long should I go for on my first attempt (both time and distance)? I've been talking and planning with Josh and getting pretty excited about a weekend hike in in March. If I'm gonna be worth anything I need to start building up some stamina now...

So the first hike I wanted to do was the Flint Mill Trail on Holston Mtn. The only description I read said it was a one mile trail up to Flint Mill Rock which reportedly had 180 views of the valley below. 1 mile sounds good to me. Shouldn't be too bad and the trail head is right next to some parking. So me and Betsy took off a little before noon heading for Camp Tom Howard Rd. I have no concept of time when it comes to navigating around the mountains and especially hiking. We finally arrived and what I thought was the trail head an hour and a half later... We didn't get lost or take any wrong turns, I just didn't realize how far away it was. After parking and walking to the trail we learned that it was the Josiah Foot Trail. I was tired of driving and disappointed that this wasn't Flint Mill, so we decided to hike this trail. We got started around 1:40 and got back to my Jeep around 4:30. Take off 25 minutes for me setting up my hammock, and the rest of that time we were either walking or waiting on me to catch my breath hahaha. Betsy, hiking and biking often, is in great shape; I, eating and video gaming often, am not. I'll admit that I was moving a lot faster and a lot harder than I would have had I been alone. I also pushed myself further and harder before requesting a break because, even though she's been my friend for over 4 years, she's still female and I have an image to maintain. HA! I look forward to convincing Josh to hike this trail with me in the coming weeks when I will break often and not worry about what he thinks about it. :D

Despite her boredom and freezing while we weren't moving, she reassured me it was ok and she was having a good time (read: if she were as out of shape as me she would be tired too). For the first quarter to half a mile I was bored too, felt like me heart was going to explode, and questioned what I was thinking being out here walking when I could be driving on other trails with Elissa (in case you don't know, that's my Jeep, not another girl). Once I got into it I refused to give up. Betsy asked if I wanted to turn around and there was no way I would consider turning around at some random point in the trail. I have to see something, anything, to make it worth the journey. We pressed on. The whole trail was uphill. It was killing me! I was doing good to make it from blaze to blaze without breaking (not more than 100 paces). We stopped at one blaze and it appeared that the trail reached a terminus until you looked up the much steeper slope to discover you had a good little climb in mud and leaves. We pressed on, moving closer tot he sound of rushing water.

I was tickled pink! I didn't confess this to her, but studying the topos before we left I noticed that several blue lines just appeared on the map and I have always wanted to see where a stream starts. I have my answer now :) I little spring was bubbling out of the rocks just below us and I was very tempted to go fill my water bottle (which I intend to do next time I am up there). I'll either have diarrhea for a week or that will be the freshest water I've ever drank. Knowing my luck it will be the best water ever and I'll still suffer side effects.

We found a cool pillar and a wonderful view and were pretty close to the summit when we had to turn around because of the time. Had I been alone I would have summited the mountain and came back in the dark. I later found that the trail is 2.2 miles long. I think it's safe to say we made it at least 1.5 miles up it, if not 1.75. So 3-3.25 miles for my first hike in a really long time (and one of the most technical / difficult I've ever done).

Made it all the way back out with no breaks except to set up the hammock and try it out real quick. I LOVE it.

So I thank God for keeping us safe and giving us great weather to enjoy. We were treated to a magnificent sunset as we drove back across the mountains, but there wasn't anywhere to stop and get pictures. I needed to get out of town and it's always great to have a day of friend time :)

Next hike is either going to be the Flint Mill Trail, which was about 2 miles southwest of the Josiah Trail, or a hike from the fire tower along the ridge to Flint Mill Gap and Flint Mill Rock.

Social Experiment A8-111

2008-01-12T01:10:00.000-05:00

So I decided to go out with the boys tonight. Something I never do. I can count the number of times I've been out and about in JC on one hand (probably for good reason). So we went to Stir Fry for dinner and then Electric Cowboy. Dinner was good and I entertained a friend of mine who was bar tending with one of my cheesy magic tricks. I felt pretty good with her response to the tricks and decided I'd press my luck at the EC with them...

It's only 10:30 when we arrive and the place is deserted. We were fortunate enough to enter with a large group of attractive young women and wound up sitting in the same area. Purely coincidince ;) And since I've never met a stranger I went ahead and had all the girls (about 8 I think) circle around me, laugh at my shirt which read "Attention Ladies: I Enjoy Grey's Anatomy". They got a big kick out of it. I quickly discovered they were celebrating a birthday and I asked if they'd like to see a magic trick. I never get tired of the response to that line. A mix of confusion, second guessing, and shock waves over them before someone enthusiastically says "of course". Once again my rope trick doesn't disappoint. :D One girl in particular was pretty cute so I tried my little "kiss sponge" illusion. It went over well and I decided to leave on a high note.

This is where it becomes an experiment for me. I was confident, entertaining, and calm. I walked away without being silly or trying too hard. But that girl had struck a chord with me. Thanks to Andrew for confirming that she looked like Morgan. Which figures as I am apparently only attracted to tall thin brunettes. Either way I decide to ask her dance about 40 minutes later. As I approached her I was greeted with "Heeeeeey Magic Man". Not a good sign. She doesn't have a clue what my name is and I'm not about to reintroduce myself. So I ask her to dance. "I don't dance. I hate it. I'm too self conscious". It seemed like an excuse to me and I am sure she could read it all over my face. She apologized and thanked me, haha. At this point I have no clue what to do with myself. I think it's the first time I've ever really been speechless. A complete loss for reaction. I think I just grinned, nodded, and walked away laughing. Too much like Morgan, who also did not dance.

All this is highly entertaining because Tuesday night, subject A8-108 said she couldn't go out with me because I reminded her too much of her ex boyfriend. I laughed, I had to (I'm breakign myself of taking life to seriously), and I told her I completely understood. I think she was relieved that I wasn't mad or rude to her about it. Honesty is the best policy...

So did I really understand? Indeed. Tonight was proof of that.

Now on to the point of going out tonight. I'm 22 and I still suffer from feeling like I need acceptance and approval and I try to associate my behavior, attitude, and personality to Dad. I blatantly asked my uncles what I needed to do to be more like him. I confessed that I was highly motivated to grow the beard just to see how much I look like him. They told be I looked and acted just like him. That was a big sigh of relief for me.

I shouldn't seek this approval, it's not healthy, but at least I realize that's a part of how I am right now. I said in the last paragraph on to the point, so I wanted to go out tonight (Dad's bday is 1/11) and try one of his favorite drinks (as I recall), rum and coke. Pretty tasty- surprisingly.

Little did I know and quickly did I discover you have to buy at least $15 to use a debit card. This drink was $4. So I bought 2 drink for 2 random girls across the bar, another for me, and one for one of the guys that wasn't driving.

This leads to the second observation of this evening. Buying random girls drinks can at least score an introduction. Not the kind of girl I am interested in, but at least she was cute. The bar scene is definitely not for me. I can't babble on with pointless conversation and try to get someone drunk. Not the basis for any kind of relationship, just society's idea of functional interaction between the sexes.

Of course, building a solid friendship and discovering that someone is attractive to you doesn't work either. And I blame society for instilling disbelief in women that men can be true to their words and only want to go to dinner, or dancing, with no strings attached.

I keep saying I'm done with the whole mess yet I keep putting myself in these situations. And now I'm sitting here over-analyzing my interactions with the opposite sex. It's the paradox that every "nice guy" (read: not "hot") knows of. Females question where the good guys are and we're the ones sitting here listening to the rant screaming on the inside "right here!!" But I'm not innocent either... I enjoy spending time with girls but want nothing that resembles a relationship or anything that could resemble the makings of one. Maybe some casual cuddling hahahaha. No kissing, no extended amounts of time together, and no girls coming over to my place, just to name a few. And on top of all of it, Mom is right (isn't she always?) A likes B, B likes C, and C is psychotic or gay. Ok, so maybe that's not exactly how Mom put it, but the point is everyone likes someone and that someone generally doesn't reciprocate the feelings. And you have to have C in there. Gay or psychotic, they are attractive from the outside and completely unattainable because of the wiring. HA!

I'm going hiking in the morning and I'm up way too late. Guitar Hero 3 will be a nice night cap...

The Hennessy Hammock

2008-01-01T07:54:00.000-05:00

So I got a ton of awesome gifts for Christmas this year (as I do every year and I am very thankful). This year Mom surprised me with a Hennessy Hammock. She'd listened to me rant about wanting one, then not getting one, and looking for them at every sporting good store between Johnson City and Lexington. So she took it upon herself to get me one.

I've not camped in about 10 years. The last couple times were in the dead of winter and I enjoyed it. Camping in the hammock in cold weather isn't recommended without additional insulation, but me being hot blooded by nature and having an awesome Northface bag, I figured I could handle it. Josh said he'd go camping with me sometime as long as my pride and ego didn't get in the way. I don't really know what he was talking about... ego... ;)

So I went out into the cold wet darkness at 1:30 AM on this wonderful first day of 2008 and set up the hammock (which is as easy as they say). I didn't do it in the 3 minute average, this being the first time and without light. I attached one end with the suggested lashing and the other with a knot. I was curious how the cord handled. I should also note here that we didn't have 2 proper trees, so I used my Jeep and a tree :D

So with the hammock strung I attached the fly. I inspected with a flashlight and everything looked good so I threw my bag in and climbed into the entrance portal and sat down (per the instructions) and BAM. Cold wet ground.

Lashings are definitely better, faster, and easier than knots. ;)

So I crawl out of the fallen hammock, learning what it is like to be lost in a parachute on the ground, and re attach the fallen side with a lashing. Attempt #2 was successful and I wallered around trying to situate myself correctly in my bag. Got all situated, hung my glasses in the included mesh accessory pouch, stuck gloves down in my bag to keep warm in case I needed them, removed my shoes, tied them together and hung them over the centerline, stuck my flashlight up in the accessory pouch and zipped up in the bag, pulling my coat over my face.

30 minutes later... No sleep, cold back, and a flapping fly. The NWS had wind at 17 MPH gusting to 34 at 1:25 AM. I think it was still correct. I eventually drifted into a mild coma as my heart rate accelerated and my breathing sped up and shortened. Am I claustrophobic of this thing now?? No. Apparently I had my sleeping bag too tight around my head with my coat filling up the hole, which was making me hyperventilate from too much CO2. At least that's my diagnosis and once I got a little fresh air I was fine. I win at life.

I go to sleep and wake back up to the wind making a racket in the hammock and freezing me to death. The wind was blowing under and inflating the fly and then just circling around me. I could see straight up into the trees so I figured something wasn't quite right. I put on my shoes and climbed out to find the fly in the wrong orientation. My fault from putting it on the first time. So I unhook it and reattach it properly in about 2 minutes. My fingers and nose started to go numb from the wind in that short amount of time. I quickly hopped back inside and got back in my bag. The wind was slapping the fly around, but it wasn't up in the hammock with me. Much better :)

I finally came to around 7:45 AM, took some pics, and here I set. I survived camping in the backyard with the hammock and a bag in 30 degree weather and mild winds. I would not make the decision to do this again without some more insulation.

Weather last night and then this morning:

Luxurious accomodations...

Rappelling (for real this time)

2007-12-29T01:20:00.000-05:00

!!DISCLAIMER!!
The following is provided for information only. Use of anything described or depicted is at your own risk. Rappelling is an inherently dangerous activity and should only be done with proper training and equipment.

With that out of the way let's get down to business here. I've always loved the opening sequence to Golden Eye where Bond runs across the dam and bungees down the face. I think that is what spurred my fascination with big concrete and steel structures. I enjoy exploring large industrial spaces and I can usually come up with some interesting way to rappel in or around them and rarely ever do it.

Tonight that changed. Rappelling has been on my mind ever since I posted that video a few weeks ago. With a little bit of cool factor (in my opinion) I rappelled from a bridge at the local state park tonight.

I've helped friends do it several times, but I have never partaken of the fun and always regretted it. Such is my life, really. Fear and regrets. I promised myself this time it would be different so 2 days ago I went out to the lake and rigged everything up off a support beam under the bridge and didn't do it. I was alone and afraid I might fall and no one know where I was. So I packed everything up and drove back home disappointed. I had done it again.

After thinking about how I didn't like the anchor because of the sharp edge I wondered if I could park my Jeep on the bridge and anchor off to the roll bar and throw the rope over the top. Let me say now that it worked wonderfully. If anyone was every wondering how well a Jeep's roll bar works as an anchor, I'm quite pleased with my experience.

I parked in the lighted parking lot and took the rear side window out and placed my anchor strap around the D post of my roll cage and then attached my rope with an eight on a bight via a locking carabiner. Then put the rope bag in the window, put on my harness, and drove up to the bridge. Now this didn't go as fast or look nearly as cool as it did in my mind, but I stopped at the predetermined location, got out and put something soft over the edge of the concrete sidewall and tossed the rope over. It would have been awesome if I had just jumped over, haha, but I opted to hike under the bridge and get on the rappel from there.

I dilly dallied around sitting in my harness debating about going over the edge. It's 11:30 at night and pretty dark. I think this was to my advantage. I kept thinking about doing the rappelling training when I was on the fire department in high school and going rappelling after I got all this gear for Christmas a few years ago. It's went virtually unused since.

I have always wussed out. Always let the fear control me. What about everything that has been on my mind the past few days? How I am living my life... How I have been disappointed in the actions of others and how I promised myself that I would put a lot of stuff to rest before 2007 ended. With the exception of visiting my father's grave (I've not been in quite a few years) I can sit here tonight feeling like I have taken care of business.

I leaned on back and slid on down the wall.

And it felt great. I forgot what a rush rappelling can be (especially for moi- afraid of heights and all). So I hiked back up under the bridge and did it again just to make sure it wasn't a fluke. And I practiced locking off (I rappel with an eight with ears) about halfway down.

I am quite pleased with myself. Next stop Holston Mtn Fire Tower! HA!

Here's the set up I used... Note that there is NO redudancy and NO belay. One should always have a belay, even if it's just a prussic self belay or a fireman's belay.

Webbing around the D-Post

The rope / anchor connection with a locking carabiner

For the first time I used a stopper knot as a safety

on the eight on a bight. I felt like this was a very solid knot.

Here's a view in the day. I came down by the second

drain pipe to the left. I estimate the wall at 40-50'

Looking down from the top of the ledge. Doesn't seem so bad.

And looking out across the girders.

I was pretty bummed that I was out there alone
and once again didn't rappel.

And now I am quite pleased to have done it twice. :)

It's definitely the beard.

It's like the movie Sidekicks. Chuck Norris was right there coaching me along. Any man with a beard would rappel. ;)

Let's talk about beatuy...

2007-12-19T23:40:00.000-05:00

So I've always heard sex sells. I come to expect beauty in advertisements because of that, especially when the product is related to skin care or cosmetics or smell good stuff. Maybe it's because I'm a guy and girls don't pay attention to this stuff?? Last time I checked Vicky's Secret is for girls and all the ads feature some very attractive women. That segues us to Bath & Body Works. I wanted to share the picture of the model in a recent ad I saw. This DID NOT make me want to buy anything. In fact, I think I might have nightmares. There is something very scary about this girl.

Is it just me?? Or do you find her looks, or at least that expression, a little shuddersome?

It's her eyes I think.

Well, if nothing else, if Heath Ledger doesn't work out as Joker, she could be a female version... Or play the Joker's lover. Or be in the next Resident Evil Movie...

Until later,
I'll have nightmares...

A broken pc leads to the uncovering of my dark past

2007-12-08T01:42:00.000-05:00

My PC, the one that looks like Darth Vader, is really sick. Running a fever of 230 :-(

So I busted out the ol' standby. The super small Dell. I love this laptop. It doesn't have a lot of power, but it doesn't have a lot of weight either. It has been perfect for school and travel, therefore it has been everywhere I've been the past few years. Why does this matter? Because I'm bored, can't watch any of my movies (there's no disk drive), and no good games. At least I have internet access and YouTube close quarters combat training videos haha!

Out of this boredom I started looking around at stuff I have on the laptop here... Journal notes from the cruise, blog entries from SIGGRAPH trips, and Unpublished SIGGRAPH articles to name a few.

This is as much for my archival purposes as it is to share...

2004 SIGGRAPH Blog... I definitely didn't lose interest in writing about my days LOL

august 7th
I had a safe flight out to LA. I'm not going to blog my entire day, but i'll hit the highlights through out the week. At baggage claim, my friends and I noticed this girl standing at the carosel and it looked like she was checking us out. Well I thought long and hard about it and decided, after we walked away, that if I saw her again, I would go see if she was from LA. As it turns out we saw her like 4 more times, but I never went up to her. After talking to my friends, I agreed to do it if we saw her again. Sure enough we did, right as we were getting a taxi. So i walk up to her, ask if she was from the area, and then wait for her reply, from a concerned look. *drum roll please* She says she doesn't speak english. The rest of the week will be spent with them telling me a girl doesn't speak english when I point out that I find one attractive. Later in the evening I went down to the hotel lobby and then to the club inside and got kicked out. In California, you have to be 21 to be in a club. Mission: Identified. To get into as many clubs as possible. Oh yeah, we also registered for SIGGRAPH today. I am very excited.
aug 8th
The first day of SIGGRAPH was amazing. I don't know where to start.

aug 9th
It just keeps getting better! The floor opens tomorrow.

aug 10th
Floor opened today. I have a media pass, so I got in an hour early.
aug 11th
The floor is losing it's interest. I took a class on HLSL using Nvidia

For the record, I did, infact, get into several clubs and parties I wasn't supposed to. I didn't take advantage of it though.

Let's jump to SIGGRAPH 2005 (also in LA)

7-31-05
AGUA Party

Having one of the largest players in the 3D Software Industry throw a users group party is never a bad idea. Alias did not dissapoint at the annual Alias Global Users Group party on July 31st which helped to kick-off SIGGRAPH 2005, wrapping the first day of activites. Held at the historic Orpheum theater in down town LA, Alias users and intersted persons filled the (number?) seat theater to the rafters. Headlining the event was Rob Coleman from ILM, who talked about his work on starwars episode 3. Very interesting presentations also included the features of Maya 7, launching this week at SIGGRAPH, how Maya is used in scientific visualization at the European Space Agency, and Maya in small production houses including Rob Mchahdusdf and his 2 person whatever numena.

It's amazing how all this stuff runs together. I have a hard time separating the memories of the different SIGGRAPH events. All except 2006 in Boston. Everything about this one sucked. I was in a hotel room alone, which was across town from everyone else. I was scared to be out past 9. I missed my grandmother's 80th birthday party. And lastly, I was on the phone with she who shall not be named every evening.

Let me introduce this video by stating that I am an idiot. I've acknowledged this several times in many posts here on my blog. There are photos to back it up, but not many videos. Thank the heavens we can capture how people look, sound, and act; all to be reviewed long after the event providing the opportunity to ask "What were they thinking?" I present to you the Lee that I never want to be again. The complete sell out and babbling moron ;)

EDIT:
Well the video didn't work. I'm sorry. It's me setting at the desk in my suite pointing the camera around going "there's the couch, there's the bedroom, there's the kitchen, etc etc" then at the end I set the camera down, looking back at my goofy expression and I lean in towards the camera and say "and I miss you" and make this retarded grin and expression. Of course the whole time I'm using a stupid baby-talk / puppy love / sweet talk inflection in my voice. So pretend you just heard me say "I miss you" all sweet and stuff and continue reading ;)

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I miss you too buddy. Don't worry, I just smacked myself for you.

This concludes our stroll down random memory lane.

Until later,
Here's hoping I can get my pc fixed so I don't resort to more blogging to entertain myself!

An inevitable post about me and a girl

2007-12-01T02:24:00.000-05:00

The tagline of my blog is "bits and babes". That's my life in the simplest of terms. I play on computers for a living and I chase girls when I'm not doing that. One of these days some girl is gonna stop and chase is going to be over ;) Until that day, you, my dearest blog reader, will have to suffer through the venting of my joys, frustrations, and general experiences with the opposite sex. It's been a while since my last post about a girl anyways...

I'm completely unpredictable about when I blog about the romantic side of my life, but it's usually only after something has really been stirred up and I'm near the keyboard. If the moment passes I usually won't bring it up again.

So tonight was fantastic. For only the second time in my life, a girl made me cookies. Now, I don't know who reads my blog and I NEVER thought I'd be making this comparison, but I think I've just had the best cookies in all of my life.

And this is the coolest in my opinion...

Yea, those are edible. Yum!

I'm surprised she put up with me tonight and my lousy attempts to sing some classic Sinatra and Bennett songs. I think after the past 2 years and our several "dates" she's comfortable with me singing "hold my hand", "baby kiss me", and "wait till your locked in my embrace, wait till our lips have met". If she is uncomfortable she hides it really really well, hahaha!

But yea, it was a great night and I just thought her Christmas present she baked for me was rock'n and totally blog worthy. There's an entire tin full of seasonal shaped cookies besides the letters too...

It's the beard.

Why wait for Christmas??

2007-11-28T16:53:00.000-05:00

I'm glad Mom got me some presents this year because I've already treated myself to a new phone and an iPod shuffle. While looking weak from the outside, the shuffle is perfect for snowboarding. Unobtrusive, compact design. No LCD to freeze, no major parts to break. It fits perfect in the MP3 player pocket on my new Burton coat. I can't remember if I already blogged that or not, but I also bought myself new Burton threads to board in. Too bad this ski season is off to a rocky start (no pun intended).

Alas, I have lots of toys an entire month before Christmas :-/ I should have wrapped them all up.

The Shuffle. So tiny.

Beard 4

2007-11-26T11:07:00.000-05:00

Well, this is the last Monday in November, so I guess this is the end of the weekly updates. There are certain aspects of the current length of the beard that are driving me crazy so I don't know if I'm gonna trim it all or just the parts that are bugging me come Saturday...

Why in a Manger?

2007-11-21T17:20:00.001-05:00

Did this for Heritage. It's going to be an awesome show and I'm stoked! There'll be a ton of Sound FX for me to screw up, no doubt. Ha!

Beard 3

2007-11-19T11:21:00.000-05:00

I think I like it. I might have separation anxiety if I shave it off. I will admit that I am a little concerned that it's gonna look really scraggly by next week... I need a trimmer. Most of the comments are positive, except for Tiffany. But she's always been vocal about not liking facial hair anyways :D

Happy Mid-November

2007-11-14T10:52:00.000-05:00

Do me a favor:
Think about the name of your company and how it looks when the caller id can't display the whole name :) If you think it's funny, gimmie a call. This made my day ahaha!

And yesterday I got Maya 2k8. Once again, big thanks to Autodesk!!!

And it came with a nifty quick reference cube...

And finally, last week I ran a camera jib at the All American Rejects concert for Kyle. Great times!

Beard Week 2

2007-11-12T10:48:00.001-05:00

The Beard - Week 2 :D

What can I say?? It's growing on me.

Hey, at least I make myself laugh with my corny lines! I've gotten several positive remarks from the females (thanks Mom!) hahahahaha, so I need a good beard trimmer so I can keep it at a managable length after 11/30. And seriously, like at least one other female other than my mother did say they like the beard. ;)

Today is a wonderful day. How are you ?

SNOW!!

2007-11-07T02:36:00.000-05:00

I've just wasted 3 minutes of my life watching machines make snow. Did you catch that? They're making snow at sugar!!!! Will I get to go boarding before Thanksgiving this year???

Thus the beard begins

2007-11-05T09:46:00.001-05:00

NSN

2007-11-03T16:56:00.000-04:00

NSN. No Shave November.

I'll never forget the first time I heard Mike Murphy utter those words. Freshman in college, young and impressionable, I was instantly intrigued by the idea of a competition between men, and only men (unless someone had some hormone problems) that could be so crude, so barbaric, so, uhh, yea, you get the point. You don't shave for the entire month and see who has the best scruff after 31 days. Unfortunately, the time of being comfortable with a scraggly neck has passed as I see the wear and tear on the collars of my tees and this year I'll be keeping the neck trimmed.

Jake Christie said it best:

If the human body were a night of drinking, growing a beard is the point where you can set parts of your body on fire without even flinching. It is awesome.

I've been looking for a good reason to use the new 4 photo setting in Photobooth, so I'll post up pictures Monday when I get to work. It's probably gonna be goofy since the hair on my chin is already longer :-/ either way, it'll be cool to see the difference at the end of the month.

This could be a cool blog competition thing with Luke...

The Word

2007-11-02T23:56:00.000-04:00

And so this evening I did a graphic for Heritage's Kidstuf program. We have a segment called the word and this is going to be the new onscreen graphic. I comped in the concrete lower third so we can quickly superimpose black text as needed. I like this whole making graphics for churches thing...

The Silence

2007-11-01T16:11:00.000-04:00

I did a visual element for Grace's high school ministry today. I still have the whole Halloween, everything's dark mentality. This version has white text. There's also a version with tone-matched gray that I kinda like better...

Snow?

2007-10-30T00:11:00.000-04:00

It's almost time.

Cataloochee opened 11/5 last year. I don't think they'll make that this time around, but Appalachian Ski Mtn is still shooting for 11/16. And my little ray of hope? The forecast for Johnson City on Wednesday November 7th-

Rain / Snow Showers

And I survived 5 miles going up the grade and then the 5 miles back out yesterday afternoon on the Creeper Trail. So now I need this:

How about a mountain bike?

2007-10-24T14:05:00.000-04:00

In my quest to fill what few free weekends I have between now and snowboard season, I am gathering camping, hiking, and biking equipment. Mom risked life and limb to check the attic for my sleeping bag from my scout days and found it, so I'm really ready to go since I can just sleep in the back of the Wrangler :D And as I was shopping around for a bike, Uncle Ben offered to let me borrow his and I gladly took him up on the offer. I think it's safe to say that I haven't rode a bike in 10 years. There was a brief time in the summer of 2000 that I had a bike which disappeared to Canada never to be recovered (for the best) haha, but we won't count that. So 10 years later, my 2nd attempt at riding this bike is not on pavement, not on level ground, oh no, I must go to the trails. After all, this is a mountain bike.

Well, it should go without saying that I got in over my head and enjoyed the ride into the woods with an elevation change from about 1500 MSL to 1300 MSL and hated life on the way out. Whether I attempted a climb in the wrong gear or got freaked out by the bike's tendency to lift the front tire with each pump on the pedals, I wasn't having much luck so I carried the bike up a couple of the hills. And I took a pic of me wallowing in self disappointment to remember the occasion hahaha! *Note the bike on me, not me on the bike LOL

So far I'm addicted, but I am concerned that I might get better performance from a larger frame which means if I am serious about doing some trail riding, I'll need a different bike. But who knows if this will stick or if it's just a fad that will become old when the newness disappears.

I might try to go ride the creeper trail on Sunday which would be closer to my skill level.

Posting against her will

2007-10-15T13:50:00.001-04:00

Chat transcript from one of my friends...

you got it! It's all been an act!

1:43
secretly I'm an actress

1:43
and this whole time I've gone stir crazy

1:44
first you were dating someone else

1:44
and then you go to pieces with out her... breaking my heart knowing I'm the only one for you

1:44
then you run after my friend, all the time pouring your heart out to me

1:45
and what an act I had to keep up

1:45
playing the good friend

1:45
then you establish yourself as a business man, ripping my heart out of my chest in admiration

1:46
and knowing my love for jeeps and hummers... you buy one

1:46
constantly reminding me of what can never be

1:46
OH WHAT AGONY

1:46
the sleepless nights, and tearful days

1:46
all the while rallying my spirits to be that great friend

1:47
Oh my soul what shall I do?!

1:48
she runs away to confinement, forever remembering what could have been

1:48
THE END

GTalk
Lee Trout
1:48 HAHAH!
1:49 That's going on my blog!

1:49DONT YOU DARE

1:49
LEE TROUT!!!!!!!!!

1:49
DONT YOU DARE

My New Jeep!

2007-10-09T01:00:00.000-04:00

I love my new Jeep!! It is the coolest vehicle I've ever rode in :D

55 Degrees

2007-09-28T04:26:00.000-04:00

That's right. It is 1:26 AM and it is around 55 degrees. A 40 MPH wind chill makes it about 30 degrees.

Hoodie... check
Beanie... check
clear sky... check
full moon (optional)... check
stars(required)... check
top down, music up, doors off... check!

Zarah... no check. :( I wish she was here.

Sorry about the quality. All I had was my cell phone.

Salt of the Earth

2007-09-26T16:55:00.000-04:00

I've not posted about what I've been up to in a while. And I still haven't posted about the fact I have a brand new Jeep. More on that some other time. :D

I've been working on a really cool clothing site this week. A little flash, a little PHP, and a database. It's for Salt of the Earth Apparel. Here's the link to our dev site http://www.syndeoclients.com/clients/sote/

It's a been a lot of fun building it out. It's about 80% done at this point. Still needs a preloader, the rest of the non-dynamic content, and some more supporting images and transition animations.

Follow up

2007-09-22T12:03:00.000-04:00

Follow up note to myself-

Yesterday was odd. I was odd. Last night really forced me to think about my priorities and attempt to figure out what I'm looking for and what I want. It was a rather poetic end to the day considering everything I was thinking about.

In the moment post...

2007-09-21T16:44:00.000-04:00

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. - C. S. Lewis

I just got an email from my friend Melissa and that quote was in her signature. For some reason, it just really hit home with me today. I'm in a rather weird mood with no way to describe it. We're busy at work and it's all challenging stuff, so I'm not bored. Luke is on vacation so I've been busying myself with cleaning the past couple nights and getting my junk out of the way (for some reason that seems easier when I'm by myself). I've been hanging out with friends when I'm not cleaning. And this past Monday I had an excellent time in Asheville with Erin and Katy.

Perhaps this whole weird mood thing started that night hanging out with them. Talking about how everyone we went to school with was engaged or married, who stayed home, who moved away, and what everyone was doing. I don't mean it as an offensive statement, but the thought of going back there makes me sick. There never was and never will be anything there for me. (I'm thinking about the never say never idiom...) It was fun to go out on the town with the ladies. It's fun to see where we're all at in our lives, where we're working, and comparing how we have and haven't changed.

I'm so super blessed. Everyday I wake up and I'm excited about going to work. I love my job, my bosses, and being able to stay in East TN. The drive to Asheville is a great reminder that the mountains here can be just a beautiful as those in the Northwest.

I'm getting active in 2 churches and just can't get enough God in my life right now. Just like in school, I'm actually a little over extended. Would I have it any other way? I don't think so :)

Sometimes I kinda worry myself when my only desire, and every urge is to just be alone. Go to the lake and read or take a drive out into the farmlands. And then there's the complete opposite; wanting to hang with friends that will be graduating soon and moving away. It's a really weird place to be. Sounds like I need to figure out what I really want. Which I say I know what I want, but I don't think I'm honest enough with myself.

And every now and then I think about where I was at a year ago and where I'm at today. I get a little narcissistic :D I mean, what can I say. I love me. Who wouldn't? (I actually imagine that would be a pretty long list haha).

As for that quote in the beginning. Something is missing. There's always room for more God in my life, and that may very well be what I need...

So yea, this is a total rambling, in the moment post, but I love reading these things a year or two later.

Oh, and it's almost time for snowboarding again...

Lunch near Toys 'R' Us = Afternoon Fun

2007-08-27T15:08:00.000-04:00

I met up with Anthony for lunch today and we happened to be eating right next to Toys 'R' Us. I asked him to accompany me over to pick out some office toys. I've been eying these little army dudes for a couple weeks now and today was the day to make the purchase...

And now there's now a full-on battle taking place on top my computer :)

Captain of the Cheese

2007-08-24T10:52:00.000-04:00

I've grown up with TV. Most of us have at this point in time. And we've all seen horrid commercials. You know the ones I'm talking about. Big Bob's Used Cars, Uncle Jim's Attic, the Fork and Bucket Finer Dining Experience.

My take on all of this hasn't been merely to complain, but to vow that I would only use my skills for great justice, never for making cheesy commercials ;)

Here I set on this glorious Friday morning with one awesome, super cheesy commercial under my belt. It's only airing for 3 days and I don't get cable so I probably won't get to see it so I'm posting it here. It was a blast making it and the clients are quite pleased with the results.

Don't bring knives to a gun show

2007-08-16T23:03:00.000-04:00

Check out the guns. Koolaid style "O' yea". Did I mention I'm bench pressing 85 lbs? Hahaha. This is what happens when I distract myself at work. The built-in iSight on my Mac paired up with Photo Booth makes for 15 minutes of fun every other day or so.

Things have been really busy at work and it's only getting worse by the day and I'm procrastinating like crazy. Shame on me. I'm really bad when Sara's in the office. I make it my personal duty to keep her entertained while she's here... Hahaha.

Bristol Motor Speedway is coming into the 21st century with a blog! That's Just Bristol is a blog featuring articles from the staff at BMS as well as fans. I enjoy reading about what goes on behind the scenes. I swear there is a market for a video about what goes on during the weeks leading up to the race and while the drivers are turning laps. "Bristol Motor Speedway: The Inside Track" By Lee Trout :D Someday... Someday. Ahh next week is gonna be insane. My day job 9-5 and then helping at the track in the evenings and all day Saturday. But it's gonna be a blast; it always is!

Well, it's 8 PM and I'm still at the office. I need to get some stuff done :-/ Faithful reader, I leave you with more of my distractions...

Back in the day while I was still @ ETSU I used to
eat starburst in the lab all the time while I worked...

I was looking through fonts and found this one

aptly named "Harry P". I had to do my rendition :D

Finally, you can go to simsonizeme.com and
have a pic turned into a simpson character.
(that's me if you can't tell :P )

I fudged up :-/

2007-08-09T23:05:00.000-04:00

My whole life I've watched mom make fudge (and many other dishes for that fact), and I've noticed she stirs stuff with a wooden spoon. It's been one of those things I've taken for granted. Not once have I questioned her age-old wisdom. (Let me emphasize the old part. I love you mom!) Why does she use a wooden spoon? What is it about that wooden spoon? The shallow bowl? The elongated design? The lengthy handle keeping your hands a safe distance from what ever hot substance you may be stirring? Wikipedia has this to say about wooden spoons:

Wooden spoons were easy to carve and thus inexpensive, making them common throughout history. Today, wooden spoons in western cultures are generally large spoons used for mixing ingredients for cooking or baking. Some cooks prefer to use wooden spoons when preparing risotto because they do not transfer heat as much as metal spoons. Unlike metal spoons, they can be safely used without scratching the bottom of the saucepan.

I would like to add to that "Unlike plastic spoons, they don't MELT". See Fig-2.

mmmm, that looks like good fudge!!

notice the end of the spoon off to the right

Plastics Make It Possible (c) (tm) (r)

enlarged to show texture ^_^

"Everything" by Telecast

2007-08-06T16:03:00.000-04:00

No matter what this day will bring
I will lift my hands and sing
Oh be my everything

I'll make my life an offering
In you alone, I believe
Oh be my everything,
My everything

When the world comes crashing down around my feet
And I can't see ten feet in front of me
Jesus, I know that you are strong when I am weak
So please help me, allow you to be
My everything

No matter what this day will bring
I will lift my hands and sing
Oh be my everything
I'll make my life an offering
In you alone, I believe
Oh be my everything,
My everything

And there are times when it seems as though you're far away
But I will hope in you, for this is the day that you have made
And thank you Jesus for this blessed gift of your grace
For helping me to see,
My need for you to be
My everything

No matter what this day will bring
I will lift my hands and sing
Oh be my everything
I'll make my life an offering
In you alone, I believe
Oh be my everything

No matter what this day will bring
I will lift my hands and sing
Oh be my everything
I'll make my life an offering
In you alone, I believe
Oh be my everything,
Oh be my everything,
Oh be my everything,
My everything

and I still play drums

2007-07-06T13:43:00.000-04:00

This has been the best 4th of July I've had in many years. On the 3rd of July the church I've been attending held their annual family carnival in the parking lot (which is across the street from where Johnson City puts off their fireworks). It's a good opportunity to reach out to people that come sit around the church throughout the evening.

So a little back story, I've been involved with the college and 20 somethings community group and we just got a house right next to the church with an awesome bonus room which would be perfect for a music room. So I decided I wanted to start playing music again and asked the people in the group if anyone was interested and we started talking about it casually. Well on Sunday my friend Tanner asked me if I would want to play drums Tuesday night at the carnival for the youth band because their drummer wasn't available. I hesitated, but admitted I would love to. The wheels were set in motion for me to play drums with him and our buddy Chase. I had only heard one of the eight songs we were to play, so I was super nervous.

Tanner burnt me a CD of the songs and we met on Monday night around 10 and practiced parts of all the songs. I didn't feel good about practicing for the first time less than 12 hours before we were to perform, but we didn't have any other options. I messed up several times (as was expected haha) but we all had a lot of fun and we're gonna pursue the whole band thing since we all seem to play well together. Tanner is awesome at leading and with a little practice I will be able to read him and know when to break or fill.

I hadn't realized how much I missed playing music. It's awesome to be able to do that again and hopefully use it to glorify God! :D

As for the 4th, I spent 18 hours in Rogersville, TN (which is a picture perfect, classic American small town) shooting video with Kyle. It was a BLAST (no pun intended)! I got to meet and interview John Michael Montgomery and hang out with the pyro company at ground zero during the fireworks. I ended up wussing out and moving about 800 feet away, though. I seem to have either lost my nerve or finally wised up to how dangerous some of this stuff is... Hopefully Kyle will put some of the clips online.

when clients change their mind

2007-06-29T16:12:00.000-04:00

I knew this day would come. And I dreaded it. But as with most things, if not all things that can be dreaded, it's not as bad as it's made out to be. In fact, in this case, it's quite refreshing.

I'm referring to a client changing their mind after a project is over 90% completed. We pull in our clients throughout the development cycle and seek constant input. I spent 3 weeks punching out and tweaking over 1500 lines of actionscript for a client's website and last week we scrapped the whole site. The original site was an amazing learning experience and there were snippets of the code that I reused, but the thought of restarting the same site was daunting. The previous rendition had a custom, random slideshow which consumed about a week of development and won't be used this time around :-/

But again, it was a learning experience and this time my code is much cleaner and more efficient. I also did the design, so this site, for better or worse, is 100% me. I'll blog and link to it when it goes live...

Lastly, big thanks to Irene at Autodesk for a copy of Maya 8.5! Came in this morning so I have yet to play with it...

Greatest Day of the Year?

2007-06-14T12:30:00.001-04:00

You can't have good if there is no bad to compare it to. I know and accept that the roller coaster has to go down to come back up again. So today I'll bask in the feeling of accomplishment!

Disclaimer: Please don't take this as an ego-trip or a prideful post. I am bad about becoming proud and I am working on not being a proud person.

1 Samuel 2:3
Talk no more so very proudly,
let not arrogance come from your mouth;
for the LORD is a God of knowledge,
and by him actions are weighed.

Psalm 147:10
His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,

So with that being said, all of this has been done to God's glory and it is through Him that any of it has been possible...

So Facebook opened up a new version of their API that allows users to develop small apps for users. I chose to make an app that display's the daily verse on a user's profile. Because I don't have a dedicated server to push out data, I had to cheat to win and use flash to pull in dynamic data instead of a server pushing it out.

It has grown rapidly, and while not coming close to competing with some of the "big-boy" applications, it does have almost 6,000 users after being out for 3 weeks. I am so surprised and excited by this (until I get the bill for my bandwidth overages :-/ ). So I've been updating it as users request features and I've added buttons so that messaging me is a click away. I want to be accessible and I want to serve the needs of the users. So today I got the most wonderful series of messages from one of the users. This was too good not to share on my blog...

I have a hard time setting a routine to read the Bible everyday, but I'm on facebook and my computer in general ALOT. Now, I've added yours and another daily bible verse application. So every morning now, when I log into facebook I click on each verse, read the full passage, and spend some time praying. These last two weeks since I've had the apps have allowed to take a small leap forward in my faith that has been WONDERFUL!

Thank you for creating an application that MATTERS! :)

So many of them are so counterproductive for 'society' (matches??? Since when should we turn to facebook to tell someone we are interested in them? I hate seeing how popular some of those applications are....). I wrote some of these thoughts on the Matches discussion board, had a guy reply, and have kept in touch with him after he looked at my profile, saw my daily bible verse, added it himself and asked me about my faith. He's started reading the Bible more and exploring what Christianity is about.

It's just proof that anything (even facebook!) can be used to glorify God, and that's what it should ultimately be about if you were to ask me. I love facebook for the fact that it's a great tool for sharing things you learn, encouraging others (we all need it so much!), and letting people know you care, where otherwise we probably wouldn't stay in touch as well.

So anyway, all that to say, thank you! It really does make a difference and it really is appreciated! :)

I was stunned. It was an amazing feeling to know that I at least helped 1 person and they have helped a couple more. Ripple effect...

We have had an on going conversation on Facebook and she also sent me this message

It is SO good, read it at least twice! So true too! I loved it! Hope you like it too! :)

"This is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. You can waste it or use it for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever; in its place is something that you have left behind...let it be something good!"
-Author Unknown

Everyday when we get up we have to make a decision to find joy, optimism, happiness and to shine for God's glory. We have to choose to be productive, to make a difference. If not, we are just tossing in the wind. No matter what happens, through prayer and God, we can always find something to appreciate in everything. What will YOU do with THIS day God has so GRACE-iously (remember: grace=the things we don't deserve!) given you? ;D

She has truly been a blessing this day...

I thank God that I have had the opportunity to do His work using the talents He gave me. I hope this is just a taste of what's to come. No project has ever given me this much satisfaction!

Now back to work, haha!

In Him,
Lee

Midnight Bowling!

2007-06-11T21:16:00.000-04:00

Had a BLAST! First time I've ever been midnight/cosmic bowling...

Date, or not a date

2007-06-08T10:38:00.000-04:00

Date, or not a date, that isn't even the question. With the risk associated with the fact that a few people read my blog, I'm gonna go ahead and throw out my thoughts on last night. And of course I will inadvertently make it convoluted and hard to follow. EDIT: I remember in English class learning to write the introduction last. This is a good time to say that I just finished this post and it is a whopper. Sorry.

Johnson City does free movies outside at the lake every Thursday through June/summer (not sure when it ends) and I've wanted to go for the past two summers. And I've tried to make plans to go; I asked the previous significant other to go, I asked friends to go, and for one reason or another it never worked out. So I am bound and determined to go at this point; there is NOTHING to stop me now. Kyle said he and his wife would be there so I knew I wouldn't be sitting out there alone. So I make plans to attend and I invite Charity and Ashlee. Charity had to work but Ashlee could come after she got done babysitting, which would have been close to the start of the movie. I had bought stuff to cook spaghetti on Monday and already planned to make it last night. So I go to the gym to work out and on the way there Ashlee calls and says she doesn't have to babysit and she can go whenever. I tell her I'm cooking dinner and she's more than welcome to join me. She accepts the invite and agreed to come over later. I work out and then head home to shower and cook. My roommate asked who was coming over and I made several jokes about a candle lit dinner and being all romantic. 1st mistake. I probably shouldn't have done that because he didn't eat with us as he was trying give us some space. So we eat and do dishes really quick, pack blankets and lawn chairs, and we head for Sonic...

I don't know who heard the ads on the radio or saw them on TV, but Sonic gave away free root beer floats last night from 8 PM to Midnight. So we get to Sonic around 8:05 and it's PACKED. I couldn't get a stall so I just parked at the end of the building and flagged someone down. As I scrounge for loose bills and quarters to tip the car hop (I really need to start carrying cash) I make some comment similar to "This sure is a cheap date. I cook dinner, free desert at Sonic, free movie at the park". 2nd mistake. And I instantly, even before finishing the sentence regret saying the "D" word. I quickly try to derail the current conversation direction by repeating the sentence with sarcastic inflection in my voice "I cook dinner for you, drive you to the movies, is there anything else I can get for you". I still am unsure as to the success of this tactic.

So we head on to the movie and lay on the blanket picking out shapes in the drifting clouds. The conversation was bouncing around all sorts of topics. One thing about Ashlee fascinates me. I mention the time and she gives the history of the watch. She is a self described nerd (I don't know many beautiful nerds, but her words, not mine) and she is VERY knowledgeable about a broad range of topics. It's refreshing to have conversations with her and learn something new all the time.

So eventually we land on the topic of relationships. For all the readers out there, she is in a relationship, and I'm not interested in anything more than friends. It was awesome to talk to a Godly young lady that shares my perspective on what relationships should be and offer some great perspectives on what relationships could be. She said that the evening could be misconstrued as a date with dinner and the movie. (those are my words, not hers) and the conversation reminded me of someone who didn't want to flat out say "Hey, we're just friends".

We end up sharing stories on past experiences and talking about how we both feel at this point in time. She explained how she could be perfectly content growing old single and I talked about really wanting to have a family. We both agreed that it's best to just be in love with God.

I've really been striving to be in love with God lately and it is work, no two ways about it. I came to the realization that it isn't just going to magically happen, that like everything you have to work for it. So I've been building a routine and focusing on Him as much as possible. I drive out to the lake just to pray and I read the Bible at least 2 times a day now. I'm also going to 2 different churches, 1 on Sat night and 1 on Sun morning and I'm starting a study on Romans with Charity and Ashlee. It's about time I start practicing what I've been preaching. I do want to be a man of God. It's all that is important in this world. I'm trying to stop fearing what He has in store for me and trust that it is all going to be ok. It seems that when your actions for your desires are aligned with God's plan everything just works out. In the book "The Alchemist" it says that when you are following your personal legend the entire universe conspires for you and everything is for the good. Now that's not to say everything is going be easy or that it's going to look like everything is good at the time, but in the end, it's for the best.

Back to the point of the post. Why does everyone freak out at the word date? Perhaps I should just remove it from my vocabulary. Wow, what a long post. Sorry.