Joe

Best09: #8 (Moment of peace)

2009-12-08T19:06:01Z

Read the rules here.

Moment of peace. An hour or a day or a week of solitude. What was the quality of your breath? The state of your mind? How did you get there?

A few peaceful moments:

- Meditating and fasting on Yom Kippur. Especially in the afternoon when hunger really sets in.
- Yichud, right after the wedding.
- Sitting on the beach in Tel Aviv.

Interesting how they're all Judaism/Israel related.

Best09: #6 (workshop) & #7 (blog)

2009-12-07T19:00:19Z

Read the rules here.

Workshop or conference. Was there a conference or workshop you attended that was especially beneficial? Where was it? What did you learn?
I didn't do any workshops or conferences this year. But there's no entry for classes/schooling, so I'll put my Hebrew class that I'm taking. Every week I'm amazed once again at what a beautiful and poetic language Hebrew is, and how the more of it I know, the better I'm able to connect with both the history of my people, and with our vibrant present through our lingua franca.

Blog find of the year. That gem of a blog you can't believe you didn't know about until this year.
Cupid's Poisoned Arrow a psychology blog about the intersection of love, sex, and the brain.

Joke from Isaac

2009-12-07T04:53:24Z

Q: What time do you go to the dentist?
A: Tooth-hurty

best09 catch-up post (#1 - 5)

2009-12-06T06:27:28Z

Read the rules here.

Trip. What was your best trip in 2009?
honeymoon.

Restaurant moment. Share the best restaurant experience you had this year. Who was there? What made it amazing? What taste stands out in your mind?
Dinner at Alinea in Chicago. Just Venessa, me, and 25 courses of food and drink. It was amazing in the number of different taste sensations and the way the food was presented. The grape dessert stands out in my mind, the way it literally exploded in your mouth when you bit it. Also, the aroma pillow.

Article. What's an article that you read that blew you away? That you shared with all your friends. That you Delicious'd and reference throughout the year.
How Not to Talk to Your Kids which lead me into an exploration of the growth-mindset, and pretty much changed my entire outlook on life for the better.

Book. What book - fiction or non - touched you? Where were you when you read it? Have you bought and given away multiple copies?
See above, and also Children Who Are Not Yet Peaceful, a book about a Montessori school in Texas. I was brought to tears by the loving way the author wrote about children solving problems between each other and within themselves.

Night out. Did you have a night out with friends or a loved one that rocked your world? Who was there? What was the highlight of the night?
Tie between the last night of my bachelor weekend (can't really go into more detail...) and meeting They Might Be Giants after the show last month. I probably can't remember the best ones though.

Blue doors and rock rabbits (Honeymoon, part 2)

2009-12-02T21:53:45Z

I forgot to mention that the ranch is in the northern part of Israel. This part of the story tells of us going from about as far north as you can get in Israel, to as far south, over the course of a couple days.

We left the ranch and drove north to Safed, the birthplace of Kabbalah and a current artist colony. We walked around the old city perched up on a hill, but it was pretty quiet. We weren't in the market for art, nor were we very interested in peeking into ancient synagogues in a touristy kind of way.

We drove south through the West Bank for a good part of the day, stopping at Ein Gedi, a natural oasis and nature preserve in the Jordan Valley. We couldn't get the iPod radio adapter working on Liz's stereo so we occupied ourselves by laughing at road signs and not getting killed by insane Israeli drivers, all the while getting tired of the endless Mizrahi and Arabic radio stations.

Ein Gedi is an amazing place. It has a little bit of everything that makes Israel a unique place: history, adventure, and beautiful scenery. We did a short hike through natural pools and waterfalls, trying to take photos of the wildlife. It was extremely hot in Israel due to a heat wave called "khamsini" (the Arabic word for 50, as in "the 50 hottest days of the year"), and the Jordan Valley (home to the lowest place on earth) is just a huge windless pit of heavy, salty air that makes it about 10 degrees hotter than everywhere else. I think the hottest temperature I saw was on a hotel by the Dead Sea that read 38.

It was hard to pick just one photo to accompany this part. Ok, I'll post a bonus one:

We stayed at a hostel between the preserve and the Dead Sea. When it got dark (and cooler) we took a walk along the boardwalk to a swimming area. It isn't as idyllic as it sounds, as the boardwalk is more like a sidewalk of a huge interstate. Orthodox men were singing around a campfire, and the sound of their chanting carried for a long way, getting dimmer as the foreign melody attenuated through the thick air. Here's the area in daylight (none of the night shots turned out):

We sat at the edge of the promenade listening to unseen people speaking many foreign tongues. We watched the stars and lights from Jordan twinkle in the salty atmosphere, wondering if Jordanians were doing the same. Our silence said, "I can't believe we're married and I can't believe we're in Israel."

The next morning we went for a float in the Dead Sea. It wasn't as gross as I remembered it being. It was actually pretty relaxing, though I felt salty for the next couple days, it just wouldn't wash off. Then we started the long drive down to Eilat, Israel's southernmost city, where the rental car was due. It was a race against the clock to get there before the office closed. With about an hour to go, we finally figured out how to hook up the iPod to the car stereo. There was only time for one album, so we had to choose carefully...Tenacious D!

We got into Eilat with plenty of time, but spent an additional half hour trying to find the place and figure out where to drop off the car. One wrong turn almost took us into Egypt.

(At sea-level, looking down to the Dead Sea)

We dropped off Liz, and for the first time in our trip, had to carry everything we brought on our backs. We didn't have a reservation anywhere, but our plan was to spend the night in Eilat and leave for Jordan the next morning. We peeked into a few beachfront hotels and finally settled on a modestly priced place that catered to Russians, a stone's throw from the beach. It had a wifi signal and a crazy hair dryer. It also won my award for best free breakfast.

Glad to get our heavy packs off our backs, we went back out and explored the boardwalk. It has a bustling marketplace of tents, tourists, and trance music. We had dinner at a "dairy" restaurant (dating from the days when laws of Kashrut forced Jews to choose between meat and dairy if they wanted to open a restaurant). I made the mistake of ordering pizza, which was at the same time big enough to feed a family and really gross. The restaurant was on a plaza that had rides for children, and a cigarette toy crane.

After dinner we walked until our legs grew tired. We sat on a planter and watched people being launched into the air on one of those amusement-park bungee rides, the carnival barker trying to entice new customers with his smooth but rapid Hebrew. I left my hat at the ranch, so I bought a new one from a vendor woman who was talking on her phone the entire time I was in her store and purchasing the hat. We stopped at a beach-front bar and got drinks and dessert, served by an expat from South America.

Tomorrow is the side-trip to Jordan first thing in the morning. I wonder if we'll be able to get a good night's sleep...?

"Cellcom Shalom" (Honeymoon, part 1)

2009-11-25T15:36:45Z

Our trip unofficially started on Wednesday evening [October 7], when we stayed up all night for our ride to the airport, which was graciously provided by Copper, at 4am Thursday. We packed, cleaned the house, and got it ready for Autsy--housesitter extraordinaire.

The flight out of Seattle was unremarkable, unless you count the 5 hour layover in JFK. We decided to wait it out in the airport (instead of taking the advice of multiple NYC friends and going to Brooklyn), passing the time with yoga, people-watching (the flight before ours was to Rome), two laps around the airport, and frozen yogurt. And window-shopping at duty free (who needs that much perfume and/or cigarettes at once?)

Before boarding the flight to Tel Aviv, we had to go through security again (welcome to Israeli security), but with a much more strict set of TSA-ish dudes (whatever the Israeli equivalent of TSA is). I almost got a pair of candles and candlesticks taken away. Wouldn't want anyone saying Shabbat blessings on the plane now would we?

The in-flight movie was the new Star Trek, which both of us had already seen (and the screen was so far away it was like watching a moving postage stamp), so we watched a BBC documentary about the ocean, narrated by Pierce Brosnan. I did a little sleeping, not as much as I'd have liked, especially since I was going on over 24 hours with no sleep.

When we landed at Ben Gurion, everyone on the plane gave a round of applause. It wasn't hora dancing in the isles or anything, but that's what you get when you fly Delta.

After a few wrong turns in the airport, we found our rental car place and got our car. It's a cute little Hyundai that I named Liz (after the lizard we met at Vered Hagalil). Driving was a little freaky at first, but I got used to the strange signs and the crazy Israeli drivers.

We got to Vered Hagalil Friday evening just as Shabbat was about to start. It's already daylight savings time in Israel so we lost an extra hour in addition to the time zone shift. More importantly, it means that the sun sets around 5pm.

I tried to call Mindy to let her know we'd made it safely to Vered Hagalil, but the phone we rented for the trip gave me this Hebrew recording that started with "Cellcom Shalom", and went into a bunch of stuff that was too fast for me to translate. Something about the days of the week and hours of the day. I tried a few more times, and some different numbers (Israeli and USA), but kept hearing the same message. I heard it so many times that "Cellcom Shalom" became my catch-phrase for the next few days.

We checked in and were placed in a cabin that wasn't the one we asked for, but they were able to give us the correct one the following evening. The Israeli weekend is Friday/Saturday (due to Shabbat) so most people left on Saturday. The cabins were small but cute and clean (except for the ever-present horse flies).

We lit Shabbat candles in the cabin, and I was reminded how much more spiritual the Jewish rituals are when you perform them in Israel. There's something about being right there at the birthplace of the religion. Once the sun set, we had an amazing view of the entire Kineret, with all the twinkling lights of the towns on the other side.

Everything at the ranch is as authentic American style as possible, including the restaurant. I got a filet mignon, which is a huge treat since one can't get a kosher filet mignon in the US. Venessa got fried chicken, which she'd been craving ever since she started keeping kosher. We washed everything down with some local wine. The wine region in the north of Israel is similar to Yakima valley; the wines are world-class but they don't get much respect.

We passed out early (neither of us had much sleep since Tuesday night) to the sound of crickets, and maybe a frog.

The next day was Shabbat, so we mostly took it easy. At breakfast, we chatted with Yona, the owner. Her husband Yehuda was in the hospital, recovering from an infection, so she seemed a bit more busy and frazzled than usual.

I was reading The Da Vinci Code on the plane (I know...I just wanted a page-turner that wouldn't require much thinking) so I finished that, mostly in a hammock overlooking the Kineret. We walked around the ranch a bit and we saw lots of animals, including the lizard that I named Liz, and later named the car after. There were also some furry animals that look like a cross between a koala and a hedgehog. We later learned they're referred to as "rock rabbits".

In the afternoon we went on a horseback ride around the area. Our guide spoke English well, and was knowledgeable about the hillside, its history, and the wildlife. Venessa rode on Chico, the horse I rode on my last visit. I rode Cashew. We got a view of Domus Galilee, the enormous spaceship-esque compound built to house the Pope during his visit here about a decade ago. We stopped for a snack, picking tiny berries that tasted like dehydrated apples. The horses snacked on the fruit that had already fallen to the ground (and if you weren't vigilant about controlling the reins, they'd stop in the middle of the ride to munch on some shrubs).

For dinner, we split an order of pesto ravioli with a side of house-made bread, and a slice of American Pie for dessert. We got our dinner "to go", which was a bit of a translation failure. I don't know if Israelis have a word for carry-out. We finally got our point across with the British "take-away", whereupon the waitress asked us, "you don't want to sit in the restaurant?", sounding more confused than offended. Venessa gave a simple "No," which I took as a sign that she's quickly learned that the best way to deal with Israelis is to be direct. A native Israeli is called a "sabra", a cactus, since they have thick skin.

Rifle cleaning for biathlon

2009-11-22T02:32:19Z

This came in an email from Bill Meyer last year and I always search the web to find it (forgetting it's in my inbox). Now it's on the web!

As we pick up the training now--and start shooting more--we need to pay a lot of attention to rifle maintenance. Rifles are not things you can use and then leave in the trunk of your car until the next use.

There is some heresy going around--some even in shooters circles-- that you actually shouldn't clean rifles. Or very infrequently. WRONG!! Especially with finely machined rifles like the Anschutz and the Vostoks. They need to be cleaned after about 100rds of firing-- and if that is every two uses--they need to be wiped off with an oily rag after every use or the exteriors of the barrels will rust from the finger prints.

I have seen Fortners that you couldn't force a round into they were so bad. Others with so much black carbon on the bolt the bolt wouldn't close and thus would misfire. Of course--there are those individuals who are simply lazy and use some of those "experts" opinions to justify doing nothing.

You will need the following equipment:

A nylon coated or aluminum cleaning rod--Dewey makes a coated one that is very nice--preferably one piece and it must have brass fittings--NO STEEL exposed.
A brass "jag"- a pointed piece that will hold a patch. We don't use "loops" as they don't apply equal pressure around the circumference of the patch.
Brass brushes for the rod-- again--no steel in these. They will wear out fairly rapidly.
maybe a coupling for the rod to the brushes, if needed.
0.22 sized cloth patches. A lot of patches.
Gun oil w/preservative-- Hoppe's; Shooters Choice or I like Break Free
old wash cloth cut in half for an oil rag--[lint free]
dentist pick for cleaning out the chamber/breach area
rat-tailed kitchen brush [if it has a steel core use carefully] for cleaning out the magazine well
tooth brush or two for all around scrubbing--can heat and bend the handle back on one of them
rod guide for your rifle if you can find one. This slips into the receiver where the bolt normally sits and guides the rod into the chamber.
tools for removing cheekpieces, bedding screws, tightening screws on front sights, magazine wells and trigger housing group screws.

You can get the above products at http://www.champchoice.com

Always clean from the breach end--not the muzzle--no "snakes". Be extra careful with the crown of the barrel, and keep it clean!!!

Steps to clean

Keeping your rifle clean, all the various fasteners tightened, and careful treatment during use- will go a long way toward the rifle functioning properly during training and races. Most malfunctions are due to dirty rifles, including deterioration in accuracy.
Use good cleaning equipment including:
- One piece nylon coated cleaning rod
- A cleaning bolt to guide the rod
- Brass brushes with no steel parts
- A brass jag to run patches
- Flannel cleaning patches - full size to fit bore tightly
- A tooth brush [or two- one with a bent handle]
- A dentist pick
- Preservative oil
- A lint free rag for wiping — old washcloth
Always remove the bolt and clean the bore Hom the breech side. The
crown (on muzzle end of barrel) is delicate and if scratched will affect all accuracy.
Steps every day the rifle is used unless during a race series:
- Remove the bolt and replace with cleaning bolt to guide the rod.
- Swab bore with solvent
- Wet brass brush with solvent and push completely through the bore from
  the breech and pull completely back about 10 times.
- Using a jag and a patch run the patch through from the breech. Repeat several times. Patches can be reused if they are not totally dirty.
- Wet a patch with oil and swab the bore. Using a dry patch or several- continue to clean until the patch comes out clean.
- Scrub the bolt face with powder solvent, wipe dry, scrub with toothbrush,
  and wipe with a light coat of oil. Periodically disassemble the bolt at least
  partially and clean all interior parts. Coat with a very light layer of oil.
- Note: there must be some lubrication 011 the exterior of the bolt to prevent burring the rubbing surfaces
- Clean the exterior of the magazines, the interior of the breech and the
  trigger area with the toothbrush and pick if needed to get into small crevices. Pay particular attention to the sockets that receive the extractors of the bolt that are located on either side of the chamber.
- Coat all surfaces with a dampening coat of oil- just enough to remove the
  fingerprints.
On race sequence days- it will normally suffice to run several dry patches through the bore and then complete the rest of the sequence. This will result in zero groups on subsequent days very similar to the first day.
For more detailed stripping of the bolts on Fortune style rifles and other disassembly and assemble instructions- work with a knowledgeable coach.
Do not attempt to adjust the trigger screws, tighten them [other than the clamp that holds the trigger itself in place] or otherwise remove the screws, springs and levers of the trigger group. Do not use any solvents on the trigger mechanism, Either blow off with compressed air, brash with a soft paint brush or get help cleaning and lubing the parts front a competent gunsmith.

However, keep the two screws that hold the trigger group to the receiver, and the two screws that hold the magazine well to the receiver tightened.
Do not attempt to adjust the location of these parts without competent help.
Periodically remove the action from the stock and clean the hidden areas thoroughly using the above methods
When replacing the bedding screws be certain the rear screw is not tightening into the bolt area of the receiver. Add a washer if needed. Then tighten both bedding screws to about 3 newton-meters or 25 inch-pounds of torque. Use the same amount of torque each time for consistent results. Also consider having the rifle glass bedded to assist in maintaining this relationship and solid bedding of the barrel to the stock.
Check the front sight screws and rear sight clamps for tightness, and check the rear aperture and front collar for tightness.
wipe off the rifle with an oiled rag after EVERY use.
occasionally take a used brass brush and "scrub" back and forth right in front of the chamber with some oil. 20 or 30 strokes to clean out the carbon that accumulates there. In this case you will reverse the brush in the rifle barrel-- so it takes a pretty used up brush to do this.

With the above procedure I have had barrels last well up into the 50-100K rounds while retaining really good accuracy--and the rifles ALWAYS work when you want them to!!!!

Much of this was OCR'd from a jpg so pardon the typos or formatting errors.

Don't Fuck This One Up (an open letter to Mayor-Elect McGinn)

2009-11-16T16:04:15Z

Dear Mayor-Elect McGinn,

First off, congratulations on your victory, you deserve it. I'm sure you saw the signs around the city. They said "Don't fuck this one up, Seattle". Whether or not they're official campaign signs, the sentiment they conveyed is undeniable. You were the only candidate promising to free us from the cronyism, the paralysis to make the right decisions, and the general bullshit that's plagued the city for the past decade and kept Seattle from being the city it could be.

It turns out Seattle didn't fuck this one up. We elected you, in a grassroots campaign powered by the blood, sweat, and tears of volunteer activists. That, and The Stranger.

Now it's your turn, Mayor-Elect McGinn. Your bold stance against the tunnel was what brought me, and countless other Seattleites, to support you. Don't fuck this one up. Don't let them fuck up our waterfront, our budget, and our environment with a tunnel. Don't fuck over the people who supported you because of your stance on the tunnel. Please, don't fuck this one up.

Signed,
The People of Seattle

Bad polyglot joke

2009-11-06T19:45:21Z

Q: What does a Frenchman say when he wants strawberries in Israel, and he's in a hurry?
A: "Tout suite"

("Toot" is Hebrew for "strawberry")

A little glimpse into parenting

2009-11-01T05:14:00Z

Tonight during the usual Trick-Or-Treating run, we happened upon a "grownup" Halloween party. They let us come in and look around because the boys were interested in their gory decorations.

Aaron, to Guy Dressed as Dionysus: What are you supposed to be, Dionysus?
Guy Dressed as Dionysus: Yes.
Girlfriend of Guy Dressed as Dionysus', to me: Congratulations on raising a genius.

(We've been reading D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths)

A song for Yom Kippur

2009-09-27T04:39:40Z

A song about teshuva for Yom Kippur

52 Nights Unplugged (and Unphoned)

2009-09-21T18:49:15Z

It was just the Jewish New Year, which is a time to reflect on the year that ended and the year to come. The unofficial theme from the Rabbis at synagogue (or so it seemed) was finding the intersection between secular self-improvement and becoming more religiously observant. For instance, to eat less meat, keep Kosher. To reduce your carbon footprint, don't drive on Shabbat.

Last year, I started keeping Kosher. This year, I took a few of these lifestyle challenges and started a "Shomer Shabbos Light¹" for Friday nights and Saturdays. I turn off my mobile phone for 24 hours², and don't use a computer or other electronics (with a few exceptions, e.g. looking up an address...but definitely no social software).

It occurred to me that I essentially did a 52 Nights Unplugged and the results are remarkable: every Friday night Venessa and I spend some real quality time together. Right now, we're rereading The Hobbit, out loud to each other, and generally geeking out on all things Middle-earth. Sometimes on the rest of the weeknights, I look at the two of us, sitting next to each other but totally in our own worlds on our laptops and feel this relief that at least one night a week this isn't what we look like.

I haven't missed any emergencies having my phone off (thankfully!), and I get to spend the day having fun with my family, free from interruptions. I don't wear a watch since there's a clock on my phone, so a side-effect of having the phone off is that I don't know what time it is. Again, I can live in the moment and not worry about anything except what's around me.

I'd highly recommend trying this, regardless of your religion/spirituality.

¹ I'm sure a few of you will ask: yes, I still rolled on Shabbos.
² This was actually a suggestion from Tim Ferris, but again it's about the intersection of lifestyle improvements and Jewish observance.

10 Commandments

2009-09-10T15:35:09Z

Venessa and I wrote a 10 Commandments for ourselves, as part of getting married. The first five deal with internal behaviors (between the two of us), and the second five deal with external behaviors (how we relate to the world). Each commandment in the first column has an analogous commandment in the other column (e.g. 1 and 6).

1. Sharpen the saw
2. Be supportive of physical health needs
3. Care for our mental health
4. Have a healthy sex life
5. Allow for personal space

6. Judaism shall be a the core of our home
7. Be good to the Earth
8. Be respectful to everyone in the home
9. Keep our values in what we eat
10. Be a good parent

Today's tweets

2009-08-20T07:04:38Z

15:53 Tell Obama that the public option is not optional. bit.ly/neJh Please sign and RT #

From my twitter account

Say No To SOCALISM!

2009-08-11T17:18:54Z

http://imgur.com/5RkJK.png

This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy.

I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a municipal water utility.

After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like, using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads build by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank.

On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.

After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and Fire Marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.

And then I log on to the internet -- which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration -- and post on Freerepublic and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right.

Untweetable quote

2009-08-05T20:54:01Z

"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea"

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Josh wrote about me joining the Robot Co-op so I don't have to

2009-07-29T20:22:29Z

http://blog.robotcoop.com/2009/07/29/meet-the-new-robot/

Thanks Josh, glad to be the newest Robot.

Job change

2009-07-17T17:21:20Z

Here's the story of the job change:

A few weeks ago I saw that the Robot Co-op was hiring. "Cool", I thought, but not much more of it. I always keep my ear to the ground for stuff like this, but I wasn't actively looking for a new gig. A couple days later, Josh from the Co-op sent me an email and suggested we get lunch.

I lunched with the Robots and we all hit it off really well. I've previously worked with Laurel and Ivan, and I know Josh from Amazon circles, so the team-fit aspect was really there. Michelle was the only Robot I didn't previously know, and I could tell that we'd get along. The Robot Co-op's GTD/getting real philosophy seems like something I can get behind.

I wasn't really itching to leave Skytap, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to work on a website I use frequently, with a tiny team of folks I've known for ages. So here goes a new chapter in life.

מענטש טראַכט, גאָט לאַכט

I stopped sending my tweets to LJ

2009-07-10T19:13:06Z

For a few reasons:

1. They made my LJ look dumb
2. People who want to read them can add me as a twitter friend
3. People who really want to see my twitter updates in LJ can add bostontwitter as an LJ friend

29

2009-07-09T13:38:32Z

Explaining the human race to children

2009-06-29T04:10:05Z

How to explain humanity to children, from a book on the Montessori method

From the first day we humans walked about the earth, we have loved one another and the places where we live. We love our food and our customs. We humans look around us and find ways to help one another and make things better. We can't help wondering about everything on earth, in the universe, and in our minds and hearts. We humans like to decorate everything--our languages, our homes, our cities, our bodies, and even our ideas. We like to stay at home, and we like to travel. We are driven to explore all around us, all the way to the stars. We like to tell one another what we think and know, and we like to hear all about what others think and know. We like to celebrate. We humans are drawn back to the past and forward to the future. We want to know who we are, where we come from, why we are here, what everything means. We want to know about birth and death and God. Our greatest power is love, and we are the best and the happiest when we love the most.

Sometimes we are sick or hurt in our hearts or minds and we need each other's love even more. We cannot let people be hurt or treated unfairly. We must stop the hurting and the unfairness. It is hard work figuring out how to stop the hurting without hurting back. We don't always know how to do that yet, but we will never stop trying.

Aaron is going into a Montessori program for 1st grade and I couldn't be more excited about the new direction his education is going to take.

Today's tweets

2009-06-27T07:07:12Z

10:25 Turns out spanakopita doesn't survive a bike ride very well. #

From my twitter account

Today's tweets

2009-06-26T07:07:33Z

13:31 First tweet from Skytap's new offices. Wetpaint are our neighbors. #
14:03 Tony (nefarious) just paid me a visit. He works at wetpaint and we're neighbors! #

From my twitter account

Today's tweets

2009-06-23T07:09:20Z

19:19 "Where are your shifters?" Taught a motorcyclist about STI, feeling the two-wheel love connection. #

From my twitter account

Amazon Fresh

2009-06-22T15:45:50Z

Venessa and I tried Amazon Fresh for the first time yesterday.

Pros:

Convenience. It was fun to sit on the couch and pick stuff out. And this morning, there were the 6 boxes waiting for us when we woke up, like a pack of rotund, brightly colored children.

Filters. As a locavore it's time-consuming to look at packages. There's a "local" filter which made it simple. There are also "organic" and "no HFCS" filters, but walking into a PCC is essentially the same.

Dry ice. The frozen goods came with dry ice, which I made into a Witches brüe in the sink.

Carbon footprint. I loathe driving to the store, but sometimes time constraints force me to do it. Our order was delivered by a truck that was already in the area.

Free flowers. Not sure if it was a mistake or a gift, but there was a bouquet of flowers in the order.

Cons:

Price. The order was about $25 more than a comparable shopping trip would have been. We got a $20 discount for being a first-time shopper*, so it was pretty much a wash.

Packaging. I asked for no bags, but they shipped stuff in bags. I counted about 6 plastic bags and one paper bag. The crates themselves were packed inefficiently which isn't wasteful, just annoying.

Wrong food. I asked for veggie bacon and I got veggie canadian bacon. It looks good though, so I'm not too upset. Out of the 25 things we ordered that was the only mistake.

Not sure if we'll try this again, but it was fun. The selection was better than I thought.

Bonus section
Grocery stores if they were Seattle radio stations:

Trader Joe's: Jack FM. There's an edgy and iconoclastic facade, but you're really just getting the same mass produced shit as everyone else in the country.

PCC: 91.3. You tell yourself you should listen to it more, but you make it through a couple songs every once in a while and then change the dial.

Safeway: 93.3. Every second you spend on this station you feel yourself losing an IQ point.

Whole Foods: Public Radio. Pledge drives and Whole Foods are both known to rob you of all you're worth.

Grocery Outlet: Internet radio. Shop here at your own risk. Many WTF moments.

Anyone have others?

* Coupon code is "SPROUT" if you want to try it. Expires at the end of June