DonnySpi's Blog

Cats Skinned Alive in Alabama

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:00:00 EDT

This was probably the funniest spam email I ever received. The subject line read "Cats Skinned Alive in Alabama". There was a link to click in the email, so since I'm running Firefox on Ubuntu, I decided to click it. It was an animation of a move loading with text that read "Click here to play movie." Of course that link downloads an EXE file to your computer and gets you 0wn3d -- if you're running Windows hahaha.

The spammers get credit for a clever way of getting you to download an EXE -- the promise of a movie clip to watch. But they totally missed the boat when crafting their subject line. I can think of 10000 things I'd rather see movies of before I'd watch cats being skinned alive in Alabama. I'm not sure who their target audience is. Would people interested in that even have computers? Try again, spammers. You struck out this time.

By the way, I didn't make it to the Harrisburg Mile in time, so I didn't run it. Next year.

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Harrisburg Mile tomorrow

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:00:00 EDT

I'm running in one of the 13 heats of the Harrisburg Mile tomorrow. The race course is a straight shot down Front Street along the Susquehanna River. I used to run the annual mile race in my town growing up. My best time was 6:11. At first I was determined to get a sub-6 time in this race, but then I remembered I wasn't 17 anymore and set more realistic expectations. I have been working on some sprints and fast miles and hope to get around 6:30 or so. We'll see... The main thing is I want to not start off at full blast, run a good race, and have fun. I'll let the sub-5 minute people do their thing and I'll do mine. Sounds traditional and safe, but, well, it is, and I'm cool with that :-)

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Wineberries

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Last year we transplanted some wild black raspberries from my dad's house to our yard. I love wild black raspberries and remember eating them during the summers growing up. It's nice to be able to enjoy them again.

Recently we were introduced to a different kind of raspberry, called a wineberry, thanks to our friends Jeremy and Julie. We were thrilled to find that we have wineberries growing in our own yard! Wineberries are native to northern China, Japan, and Korea. *HoLLa* for exotic fruit growing in our yard! I picked one the other day and tried it. Though not as sweet as wild black raspberries, it was still very good and not as seedy as the wild black ones.

I'll have to make sure I don't mow over them. I'm pretty sure I did that in previous years because I thought the berries were inedible or something.

Yay, wineberries! (Okay, I need to get a life.)

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Roller Coaster Loops

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:00:00 EDT

This year Amanda and I got season passes for Hershey Park. We live about 5 miles away so it has been our Friday evening ritual to come home from work, grab a bite to eat, and head over to HP to ride some rides until the park closes. We love the new Fahrenheit roller coaster and the Great Bear and Storm Runner are awesome too.

While waiting in an hour-long line for Fahrenheit I thought back to my high school physics class. I remember we learned why roller coaster loops aren't circular, but rather a tear-drop shape called a clothoid. The reason is because circular loops require greater speeds to make it through the whole loop. When you increase the speed going into the loop, the passengers experience greater centripetal acceleration through the lower half of the loop, therefore a greater G-force. If the radius is reduced at the top of the loop, as it is in a clothoid loop, the centripetal acceleration is increased enough to keep the riders and the train from slowing too much as they move through the loop. A large radius is kept through the bottom half of the loop, which reduces the centripetal acceleration and the G-forces acting on the passengers. The bottom line is most people would pass out from too many G-forces acting on them if the loop was circular.

Because we go to Hershey Park in the evenings, the lines are almost non-existent, so I don't spend too much time thinking about physics :)

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Back from camp!

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:00:00 EDT

What a fast week! I can't believe my 8th year of HDYC is over already. By now I have lived two full months of my life in a cabin at Camp Victory. I have eaten 154 meals in the dining hall and watched my campers check their blood sugars over a thousand times. Each year the week of camp seems to get easier. I'll post pics soon!

I really enjoyed the mental break I got from work. I love my job, but it's healthy to step away every so often. It was also great to be disconnected from the media and from "real life". I reallllly enjoyed not hearing about three main things: pain at the pump, the upcoming election, and going green. I will do all I can to avoid those three topics now that I know how lovely it is to not hear about them. Real quick, here's my overly-simplistic beefs with those topics:

Gas prices: Many of the same people complaining about this are the very same people that will gladly pay a dollar for a 16oz. bottle of water. That's EIGHT DOLLARS PER GALLON. Also, complaining won't change anything.
The election: Obama is "change we can believe in" -- cutely naive. Will Obama bring change we can all agree on? -- never. And McCain is old. And we don't directly elect the prez anyway.
Going green: It's the new fad. It's an alliterative catch phrase. People will drive 20 miles to dump stuff at the recycling center. They push for ethanol production without realizing it's driving up food prices and contributing to starvation in parts of the world. And they'll complain about environmental policy... all while drinking bottled water.

Oh man, I just got myself all fired up again. I need a vacation! :-)

Greetings from camp!

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Camp is going really well so far. I can't believe that today is already Wednesday which means we're half way thru! We have 8 energetic boyz in our cabin and plenty of staff members. I led a digital photo activity the other day. I took some of the campers around to the other activities that were going on at the same time so they could take photos. I'll gather a bunch of the best ones and put together a slideshow for the last day of camp.

Tonight is cabin wars where the cabins compete against each other in various activities. Each cabin is dressed in their cabins' color -- ours is gray. That's what happens when you're the last cabin to choose a color :-)

Got to run... more updates later!

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HDYC next week

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:00:00 EDT

It's that time of year again! Time for HDYC. Next week Amanda and I will return to HDYC as head counselors in charge of a bunch of some very energetic kids. I'll try to update while I'm away. I'll have my computer and phone with me.

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Best Chicken Ever

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 12:00:00 EDT

I decided it'd be a sweet idea to grill something for dinner in this 96 degree heat we're having. The grill didn't take that long to warm up, and I think that my forearms were done before the food was. Anyway, I made the best chicken ever today and it's especially great because I HAVE NO WAY OF EVER DOING IT AGAIN.

It all started when I decided to make my own marinade. I opened a Ziploc bag and added unknown quantities of peanut oil, vegetable oil, vinegar, dark soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, ginger powder, and sugar. I poked holes in the chicken and added it to the bag. I let it sit for 45 minutes and then grilled it, pouring the marinade over the chicken when it was half way done.

It was soooo good and I'll enjoy eating the leftovers. I wish I knew how much of each thing I put in the bag. Arrrrgh!

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Spiral Path

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:00:00 EDT

This year Amanda and I joined a farming co-op -- or Community Supported Agriculture -- as it's called these days. How it works is you pay a few hundred bucks at the beginning of the planting season and each week for about 25 weeks you get a box of fresh, organic produce. No more buying wilted, chemical-laden junk grown in East Poopistan. You simply go to the nearest drop-off location each Wednesday and claim your box. In yesterday's box we got romaine lettuce, spring onions, strawberries, spring mix lettuce, red-type lettuce, more green-type lettuce, etc. You can still join and pay a pro-rated amount. Go to http://www.spiralpathfarm.com. Tell 'em Large Marge sent ya!

Cheerleading?!

Wed, 21 May 2008 12:00:00 EDT

I have a real job where I really go to work and do actual work. I swear. I know the work stories that I tell people and blog entries like this don't support my case.

I am a system administrator and a Nxtbook cheerleader. I'll explain.

Each year the United Way sponsors a trike race in Downtown Lancaster. Teams from local businesses can enter and try to win the coveted trophy. Our team from Nxtbook was one of approximately 12 teams racing this year. However, we were the only team with a cheerleading squad. While our trike team practiced at lunch for the past several weeks, we practiced as well. We even got the sound guy to play our CD through their system. It was awesome! Here are some pics:

We didn't win, but we nailed the lift which we were all happy about, especially Erika, because we didn't really talk about what would happen if she fell. Go trike team and go cheerleading squad!

Here is a short video montage of the event.

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Running Rocks

Tue, 13 May 2008 12:00:00 EDT

I have finally gotten to the point where I can pound out three 9 minute miles over lunch and feel great at the end. No aches or pains, no crawling across the finish line, no labored breathing. It's awesome. I'm not the speediest by any means, but that'll come in time. I was first concentrating on just *finishing* a 5K. (Remember, at the beginning of 2008 I was working on getting up off the couch without pulling something.) Now I'll work on getting a little faster.

Running is the man. It's one of those things you can't really believe without actually doing it. I know my knees won't always be in as good a shape as they are now, so I owe it to my future self to run (and play hockey) now.

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Your own kind

Mon, 12 May 2008 12:00:00 EDT

I recently corresponded with a potential client of Spidell Tech Solutions. She had heard of me through someone else for whom I did a website. I ended up turning down the project because it was more of a graphic arts type thing rather than making a website or web app. Here is what she wrote back to me... LOL!

"...Would you happen to have an associate/friend who has the software and can do this project? You "computer people" usually surround yourselves by others of your own kind...."

I could choose to be insulted, but it's more funny than anything else.

<robot voice> i tAlK liKe a coMpUTer and hang out with nerds.</robot voice>

**waves arms like robot and spins head around**

Johnny 5 alive! Need iiiiiiinnnput!

heheehe

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Race Against Racism 2008

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 12:00:00 EDT

I defeated racism in 27 minutes and 24 seconds this morning. How about you? Earlier today I ran, along with 2850 other runners and walkers, the 2008 Race Against Racism 5K. It took me 47 seconds to cross the start line because there were so many people. The race was chip-timed (it's like EZ-Pass for runners), but the "official" time they gave me was the time from when the race started to when I finished. We seem to have missed out on the real advantage of chip timing. Whatev.

It was a good time and I ran with other people from Nxtbook. Go team Nxtbook!

I am exhausted now. A 5K last weekend, a crazy week at work with a business trip for three days at the beginning, and then a 5K today. And I mowed the lawn just now. Sleep.

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First 5K - done!

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 12:00:00 EDT

This rainy afternoon I ran my first 5K race. It was the Sam Mizrahi Memorial 5K at Northern middle/elementary school complex in Dillsburg. Sam was a camper at HDYC who died in a car accident. Part of the course was on grass, which was not pleasant. And (I should have known this would happen) my Garmin ran out of batteries midway thru the race. Gah! My official time was 26:34, which I think is good factoring in the rain and grass.

Next weekend is the Race Against Racism in Lancaster. Hopefully my shoes will be dry by then.

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GPS for running

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:00:00 EDT

I got tired of mapping out distances, measuring out mileposts, and timing myself on an analog watch. So, I bought a Garmin Forerunner 205. It receives GPS data from our Big Brothers in the sky and calculates all sorts of information for me such as distance run, pace, elevation, grade of incline, and calories burned. It also tells time!

I took it out for a test run today. I did 2.00 miles in 17:17. The GPS is accurate to about 20 or 25 feet. Rock on. There are tons of other features I have yet to explore. One feature will tell you how to get back to where you started if you're a moron like me and you get lost while out running. Another feature acts like a virtual running partner. Not sure what that's all about. I have to try out the software that lets the watch interface with the computer and the internets. This is exciting.

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DTV Converter Box

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:00:00 EDT

We don't have cable or satellite or anything like that. We have good, old-fashioned rabbit ears and we haven't yet gotten tired of receiving our television programming for free. The government decided to force broadcasters to stop sending out an analog signal by early 2009. This meant we needed to get a a special signal converter box by then or else all channels would be snow and static. The government, in its quest to keep the masses sedated, sent us two $40 off debit cards to use to buy the converter boxen. I went to Radio Shack and bought them. I hooked one up so far and I am very impressed. No more static, shadowy pictures, or weird lines on the screen. The channels come in so clearly and we even get extra channels. w00t!

What I really like is the built-in TV guide feature. You can scroll through the day's listings and even get a detailed description of the shows that are on. The government may not cover some senior citizens' prescriptions, but they do cover the cost of converting to DTV! Holla!

UPDATE: Yes, I'm sure we don't have cable. I don't know why it says "ESPN" in the lower left corner of the screen.

Very Busy

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:00:00 EDT

I have been very very busy lately and haven't updated this blog in a long time. Here are a few quick highlights of what's been going on:

I am still running. I sort of finished the C25K. The last 3 weeks are all very similar (run for 20 minutes, run for 22 minutes, etc.) I have been doing 3-mile loops around my house in the nice weather. The terrible hills I have to run up and down are great practice for when I run a 5K
5K. I plan to run the Race Against Racism in April. Ironically, I predict a man of African descent to win the race.
Work is fun. A bit stressful at times, but fun overall.
One of Amanda's sister's newborn twins spit up on our dog. That was funny.
At Starbucks recently I ordered my usual Peppermint Mocha. They usually write PM on the cup. When I picked up my order it said just M. I said a little louder than I should have "M? Only M? There better be P in here too!"

Good times.

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Ripping People Off

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 12:00:00 EST

I got a letter in the mail from St. Matthews Church in Oklahoma saying that if I followed their specific set of instructions and sent them money that God would bless me richly. The mailing included a "prayer rug" which was contained a picture of Jesus that was an optical illusion. Stare at it long enough and it would look like Jesus' closed eyes would open. The enclosed literature told me that if I prayed using the prayer mat, it would cause Jesus' eyes to open. They said I needed to send them a monetary gift, even if what I was praying for was money because I was broke. The money was said to prove my commitment and faith to following the steps to receive my heart's desire.

This kind of nonsense burns me up. It preys (get it?) on the weak in faith and the gullible. It misrepresents what the Bible says about God's blessings (i.e. there's no deposit required) and can lead people astray.

I wrote on their literature what I think of what they're doing and I wrote out my name as "Liam Duarf". Ten points to whoever guesses the significance of my fake name. :-)

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Outdoor Run

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 12:00:00 EST

Since it was in the mid 60s today, I went out for a run after work today. After running on a treadmill all winter, let me tell you how weird it was to run... and actually get somewhere. I had to get used to that sensation again. Weird. Plus the ground is harder than the treadmill so my legs and feet had to get used to the extra shock. I didn't bring a watch or GPS or cell or anything with me. I headed up the road to run in the countryish part of the Hummelstown area.

And I got lost.

The sun was setting quickly and I had no idea which way was home, though you couldn't tell that from the map of my route. Yeah I meant to run in a nice loop, really I did. No I didn't. I was just glad to make it home alive :-). It was like a scene from a cheap horror flick at one point. It was dusky out, I was tired and lost and I was running down a deserted road. I came upon a house -- it wasn't a house though. It was Appalachian Taxidermy. There was a big sign out front saying so and I could almost hear the creepy soundtrack music playing.

I came home (finally) and plugged my route into a Google Maps / running mashup. I saw total distance: 4.8. I was estatic -- I ran almost 5 miles and didn't feel that bad!

Then I realized it was in kilometers.

Duh.

Still, 3 miles is really good, and I did feel great after the run. Life Lesson #385: When lost -- always turn right :-).

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Perfect Fit

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 12:00:00 EST

The fridge that came with our house had been acting up for a long time. For example, the freezer decided to add a step to the daily defrost cycle. Step 3a became "Dump all of the defrosted ice (water) down into the fridge and get it all over the place -- taking extra care to cover any fresh vegetables as to make them get frostbite and/or rot faster. Don't do this when anyone has the fridge door open though, so that it looks like the water just appeared there for no reason." Well, dear fridge/freezer, I hope you enjoy the hydraulic compactor in the back of the Lowe's store just off of Union Deposit Road. I hope you're not too "crushed" that we decided to get rid of you.

Amanda had carefully measured the available space and she picked out a fridge that has all the features she wanted and would fit nicely. I measured too and knew that it was going to be a tight fit. I was ready for the delivery people to roll their eyes at me while trying to install it.

I'm glad I prepared myself because they thought I was nuts when I showed them where it was going to go. I even began to doubt that it would fit, though I knew it would. The delivery men really didn't think it would fit and I was beginning to feel really dumb. A member of Mensa can't operate a tape measure and compare two numbers to see which is larger. Nice.

After some creative and careful maneuvering, the fridge was in place and the delivery men gave me mad props for such a good measuring job. The credit goes to Amanda though.

I graduated from drinking straight from the sink to drinking straight from the fridge. Yeahhhh buddy.

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C25K: W5D2

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:00:00 EST

After getting off track with our workout program, we're back on and doing well. We repeated some days to catch up. My last workout was terrible so i cut it short, but today's was awesome. I just finished the Week 5 Day 2 workout (run 8 minutes, walk 5, run 8) and I feel great. My legs feel like they're made of steel and I feel like I could punch through a brick wall (but not in a violent way). This is the best way to feel after a workout -- it makes me want to continue. I have been playing music while working out and singing along too. This helps me not push the pace. If I can pass the talking (singing) test, then I know I am at the right pace. Today's music selection was DMB's "Under the Table and Dreaming" -- tracks 1-7 (not 3 -- Satellite is too slow to run to).

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No Love for the Shih Tzus

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:00:00 EST

I entered this cute photo in the Hershey Camera Club photo competition last evening. They had three professional judges, two of whom are members of the PPA of PA (let's hope they stick to taking pics and not trying to design webpages). Each judge scored each photo on a 9-point scale: between 1 and 3 points in each of three areas of evaluation. The top score one could get is 27 and the lowest is 9. I was confident that my photo would score well. The focus is right, depth of field is right, angle is interesting, and the moment was perfect. I'm not sure if my over-confidence is what did me in or that I don't know what the heck I am doing, or maybe a little bit of both. I got one 6 and two 5s from the judges, for a total of 16 out of 27. They said that the shot was cute, but isn't something that should be entered into a competition. They also mentioned something about the line between the sand and water being in a sub-optimal location and the highlights in the sea foam being too bright. They wanted me to retouch it in Photoshop. I thought this was a photography competition, not a digital image processing and editing competition. I'm not a big believer in artificially touching up photos and passing them off as "real."

At first I was a bit resentful and bitter, but then I realized that this is my first photo competition and that I still love my photo and that's really all that matters. Resenting criticism won't help me be a better photographer. And I will try to pick a photo that the judges would appreciate more next time.

Blogging ghetto

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:00:00 EST

The foundation's cracking and the walls are rotting. Bugs have moved in, and there's this terrible odor coming from the basement of this blog. I am a blog slum lord and I need to clean up my act. I used to update this blog 3 or 4 times a week and now it's more like twice a month. Guess I am just too busy lately. Life is moving in fast forward it seems. I will start writing more as soon as the health inspector gives this blog the green light and I get my certificate of blog occupancy back.

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Yard Signs

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 12:00:00 EST

Here's a funny sight i saw on Derry St. The sign in front of one of the houses says "WE BUY HOUSES / ANY SITUATION". The sign in front of the house right next to it says "FOR SALE BY OWNER".

Uhhhhh... does somebody maybe want to ring both doorbells and then run away? Or call both numbers into a conference call and then hang up? Somebody do something to get these two neighbors together :-) What a sight!

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C25K and the 1lb. burger

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:00:00 EST

We are now on week 3, day 2 of the C25K program. Week 3 is run for 90 seconds, walk for 90 seconds, run for 3 minutes, walk for 3 minutes, then repeat it all one time. It's still pretty easy yet we feel that we are accomplishing something and it's giving us motivation to continue.

Yesterday I fell off the fitness wagon just as it was wheeling past Fuddrucker's restaurant. Home of the famous one pound burger. Or something like that. I was ~~totally talked into~~ mildly encouraged to try the one pounder. I tried (yet failed) to eat the whole thing. But at least I tried :-) The burger patty itself was enormous. The top of the bun could have been worn as a hat by a small child. The whole thing was yummy.

Here's to fitness!

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