Weekend Update (9/26/13 to 9/29/13)

Happy Monday!  I hope you guys are doing okay.  We had a busy weekend in Connecticut.  

We had my daughter Hannah’s tenth birthday party at the house Friday night, for which I took Friday off from work.  Friday was therefore a busy, chaotic day getting ready for the party, but that prep time was worth it because the party itself went really, really well.  We had seven girls over, plus our two, and honestly, I think they spent almost the entire night screaming with excitement over one thing or another.

Tennessee Titans vs. New York Jets Preview

Is it weird that the most interesting game of the season--at least for me personally--is a Jets game?  Who'd'a thunk it, right?

Official NFL Preview: NY Jets @ Tennessee Titans

Review: Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy #6

There's a lot going on in the Marvel Universe right now, both in the comics' (616) universe and the TV/movie universe.  Now, the comics and the TV and movie properties don't share continuity, but the stuff that happens in one tends to inform the stuff that happens in the other, so that if we want clues to what might (might!) happen in some of the future movies, one of the better sources we have is the comics.  With that in mind, Marvel re-booted the Guardians of the Galaxy (GotG) early this year, either to feed--or perhaps merely to gain advanced profits from--the hype surrounding next year's GotG movie.

Either way, I personally love the Guardians, and I've been reading the new book ever since it started.

On Swimming Faster: It Never Gets Any Easier

I know I shouldn't complain about getting older.  In the first place, because I have friends and classmates who aren't getting older because they're no longer with us.  Secondly, because it's true--up to a point--that you're only as old as you feel.  Thirdly, because I'm not old.  I'm forty, which is maybe not twenty-two, but it's also not particularly close to retirement, either.  And finally, because most of the time I feel pretty good.  I stay active, and I still have an active, fulfilling athletic career, and most of the time, the highs are a lot higher than the lows.  That's more that a lot of folks can say.

But.  A week or so ago, I wrote about trying to swim faster and get back into a little stroke work, and at the time I wrote that, I figured it was gonna be an uplifting experience.  I figured, hey, I'm in decent shape, and this is gonna be a fun.  Get back into the glory days a little bit, no problem.  It'll be AWESOME!

Wrong.

Pictures from Hannah's 10th Birthday

Yesterday was my daughter's tenth birthday.  We took her out for hibatchi, and tonight we have something like a dozen 5th graders coming for a Superstar-themed birthday party.  Given the chaos on Metro-North these past few days, I even took the day off, so that I could be sure to be here rather than getting stuck in the nearly five-hour commuting Hell that I went through yesterday.

Hannah, Sally, and Emma at the hibatchi place last night.
Hannah LOVES hibatchi.

This Week's Picks (NFL Week 4)

I don't know who's following this, but if you're interested, then so far, so good.  Last week, I took the Giants (Even), Lions (+1), Bears (-1.5), and although the Giants failed in magnificent fashion, I still came out 2-1 with the help of those other teams, and that let me take a two-game lead over the other guys in my office. Winning is better than losing, of course, so...  Huzzah!

So here're this week's picks:

Spoiler Alert! Agents of SHIELD

After reading a ton of reviews online, I finally watched all of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD last night. I'd tried to watch it Tuesday when it came on initially, but the kids' school had it's Open House Tuesday night, and Hannah's math teacher ran a little long.  Bottom line, I didn't get home on Tuesday until well after eight o'clock at night, and as a result, I only caught the last half of the show.

So.  First thing I gotta say is that the show itself was about as good as I could've been expected. I mean, they had to introduce a ton of characters and the over-arching ideas of the show--and by the way, I'm surprised by how blatantly the show is essentially a redesign of Fringe--and that left only a little time in which to have an actual episode of TV.  You figure, that pilot was really a half-hour of what the kind of thing that the show will be once it gets going--a weird police procedural--along with twenty minutes of backstory and a little denouement setting up the characters going forward.  I'm a little surprised that there are now two shows that are essentially trying to run the Fringe model, especially considering that Fringe itself was hardly a ratings winner after the second season, but I'm not unhappy about that or anything.  I loved Fringe.  I just think it got a little weird for most of maintream America there after that first little bit had run its course. 

Anyway, I was also surprised me by how few of the reviewers seemed to understand what the show was doing.  For example, I saw several reviews that said that Agent Coulson's death in the Avengers movie was just brushed off--it totally wasn't--and that more to the point, they were surprised that the show itself was a one-and-done episode.  Apparently, they somehow expected the pilot to carry more than a single episode's worth of continuaty with it, setting up this massive arc.  And, I mean, hello?  They did about as much of that as you could possibly expect in a single episode pilot.

From here I have to say that if you don't want any spoilers, don't click through the jump. 'Cause I'm totally gonna give away at least one of the show's big secrets on the other side...

Random Pics from My Instagram Account

These are a few random shots off of my Instagram account.  It's an open question whether any of these qualify as art.

This is the East River and Manhattan's Upper East Side
as seen during my ride home last week.

Sketch in My Notebook: Remembering Jaynie

I write a lot.  But unfortunately, not everything that I write is necessarily going somewhere.  Sometimes my writing is more like a sketch--or a series of sketches--that capture an idea or a mood.

"The Return of Dr. Necropolis" is one of those pieces.  It started out as a vague desire to write some smut, but... well, that's not exactly where it wound up.

Take that for what it's worth.

***

The Return of Dr. Necropolis

Chapter 1: Remembering Jaynie

“What are we gonna do with all that money, Frank?” Jaynie asked.

“Hmmm?”  In reply, he let his fingers trail down Jaynie’s arm, across her hip, and around her body, drawing her close.  He nuzzled her.  Kissed her neck.

“We could buy a new car, maybe a Mazzerati.  Or move to Paris?  Or a boat?  I always wanted to own a yacht, you know?”

Frank’s kisses trailed up from Jaynie’s neck to her cheek.  He kissed and then caught Jaynie’s ear in his teeth.  Nibbled lightly.  His hand found her breast, circled her nipple through the fabric of her nightshirt.

“Are you even listening to me, Frank?”

“Shhh...”  

Thoughts on the Latest (last-est?) Playtest Packet

Alright.  I haven't had a chance to actually play with the latest--and theoretically last--D&D Next Playtest Packet, but I have read it, and seeing as how the NY Giants are getting blown the Hell out by the Panthers right now, I guess now is as good a time as any to tell you what I thought about it.

This stuff is in no particular order.

I'm trying to be open minded, but this new iOS is driving me crazy

I get wanting to up-sell your customer-base to the newest, best-est thing, but this time I can't help but think that maybe Apple has gone too far. Certainly they've gone too far for me. 

Up until yesterday, my iPhone 4S met all of my phone/mobile data needs perfectly and made me happy as could be. It did social media, let me track my runs and bike rides, took pictures, sent texts...  And, oh by the way, you could use it to make calls. Plus, all of this came in a smoothly functioning, easy to use package.

Then iOS7 dropped, and now my phone is suddenly underpowered and over-cluttered, and while I'm sure I'll adjust, for now, it's driving me crazy. It reminds me of when Microsoft released Vista--an OS meant to run on high-powered machines with great built-in graphics cards--straight into the teeth of a market that was moving towards netbooks that were cheaper, less powerful machines than computers had traditionally been. Because, bottom line, only a tiny sliver of the market actually needs all those high-powered applications that the highest end computer can run these days, and when the current technology suits your needs, there's little incentive to upgrade. 

This, I think, is where the mobile phone space is moving. Devices like the Nexus 5 and even that Nokia phone that's mostly just a camera are starting to look like winners against super-high-powered quad-core phones that cost FAR more in order to deliver services that very few actually desire. I mean, does anyone actually need a quad-core processor in their cellphone? I certainly do not, and I'm not about to be up-sold to one just help the boys in Cupertino make their quarterly numbers next Spring.  I will, on the other hand, move down-market if the trade offs are insignificant, and the price break is large enough. That is kind of the way life works sometimes. 

Last thing I'll say about iOS7 is that for all its "new" features, it's still only playing catchup with other entrants in the market. For example, Air Drop is an add-on inspired by Samsung's Galaxy phones, Safari's redesigned look is a clear imitation of Chrome, and iTunes Radio is a just a competitor for Pandora. That's all fine, but none of it is the kind of killer app that made Apple what it is today, and none of it is worth upgrading over.  Which leaves us with Apple's rather Microsoftesque planned obsolescence program. But while that may succeed in forcing folks off of their current Apple products, it's not much of a viable strategy long-term. Moreover, it may even cost the company market-share over time. 

This Week's Picks (NFL Week 3)

I went 2-1 last week, successfully guessing that the Redskins suck and that the Jets aren’t as bad many would have you believe.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that the Jets are good, but they’re good enough that I don’t think they’re gonna get blown the Hell out of any divisional games this season.

If you’re wondering, my record for the season is now 3-3, even with what you would expect from a trained monkey but a game up on the guys in my office.

Offseason Swim Workouts: Getting Faster

I’m training for the Army Alumni Swim Meet.  The meet’s not some big deal or anything—we’re only swimming 50s and 100s—but then again, I have absolutely zero intention of going up there and embarrassing myself in front of my former teammates.  So yeah, I am training.

Up to now, I’ve been training this season mostly with an eye towards swimming comfortably.  I mean, it’s nice to swim fast, but the reality is that Swimming is the least important discipline in triathlon in terms of time.  For example, in an Olympic distance triathlon you swim somewhere between .9 and 1.1 miles.  For a good swimmer, that’s something like 20 or 25 minutes while a weaker swimmer may go as long as 35 or even 40 minutes.  Regardless, you then hit the bike for ~25 miles—that’s more than an hour, even if you’re a terrific athlete—and after that, you still have to run a 10K.  Which means that even if you came out of the water a full ten minutes behind your competition, you still have time to make up a good chunk of ground, pretty much no matter what.  And that’s just at the Olympic distance.  In longer races, the swim is de-emphasized even further.

So, as the saying goes, “You can’t win a triathlon in the swim.”  For this reason, I concentrate of swimming comfortably rather than swimming fast, and I don’t swim more than twice per week, even though I know that my body could tolerate more work in the pool based on my background.  Because like it or not, all that extra swim training is going to provide at best modest benefits to my overall triathlon performance.

With all of that said, there is nothing wrong with trying to swim faster.  I don’t know that it’s where you should put the majority of your training in-season, but now that the offseason is here (or at least right around the corner), now’s the time you might want to think about doing some more focused swim training.  In the offseason, time is less of a precious commodity.

Geek's Paradise? Fox TV's Sleepy Hollow

Sally and I sat down and watched Fox’s new show Sleepy Hollow last night.  Have you seen it?  To say the least, it was not quite what I was expecting.  When we were talking beforehand about what we were gonna watch, I told Sally, “I think it’s gonna be something like Fringe.”

Promotional Image from the Sleepy Hollow website.

But no, that wasn’t it at all.

This Weekend's Challenge...

...teaching land navigation to Girl Scouts.

Looking forward to seeing how this goes. 

Race Report: 2013 Westport Kiwanis Triathlon

Sally and I did out last race of the season Sunday, the Westport Kiwanus Triathlon.  The race is a short (very short) sprint held at beautiful Compo Beach in Westport, CT, and we've been doing it now off-and-on since 2007.  Moreover, two years ago, this was Sally’s first open-water triathlon, and she’s been wanting to come back ever since.

Triathlon Season in Review

I did my last race of the season yesterday. Not bad. Full race report is coming. 

In the meantime, though, I've been reflecting a bit.  The weird thing about this season was that I finished on the podium three times and won my Age Group once. But statically speaking, those were my worst races. I scored 74.3 and 73.6 respectively according to USAT's age group ranking system. 

Meanwhile, I was middle-of-the-pack at the Griskus Oly, and I got SMOKED by what seemed like nearly everyone.  But that was statistically my best race, 74.4 vs. the national field.  

And my best race of the season?  The off-road Duathlon I did first. I scored a 78.2, and that one didn't even involve any swimming!

So. I finished the season ranked 1040/2093 in my age group nationally with an aggregate score of 74.1. That was goof for almost exactly the middle of the pack. And somehow I still managed to qualify for both the Duathlon & Olympic Distance National Championships, though I attended neither. 

What does all of that mean?  Frankly, I'm not sure I know. 

DC Needs to Bring Back Stephanie Brown

I've never been a huge DC Comics fan. I don't even read Batman regularly, I just try to follow the more memorable storylines when they come out in trade--usually via one of my local libraries. But I follow it enough, and back when Stephanie Brown was Robin and then Batgirl, I used to pick up both of those titles on occasion on account of the fact that I have daughters, and my daughters like superheroes.

Stephanie Brown as Batgirl

It's not particularly easy to find superhero comics that aren't either steeped in dark-and-brooding anti-social loners or continually populated with half-naked hyper-sexualized pin-up dolls--or both!--but for awhile there, I felt like DC had managed to put something out in the form of Ms. Brown that was both kick-ass and female-friendly. Unfortunately, that now seems like an aberration in the grand scheme of things, more like an accident of fate than a conscious decision or good storytelling, to the point where the girls and I don't read anything from DC anymore. I mean, I don't consider myself any kind of feminist, but there are still limits to the kinds of things I'll allow my daughters to be exposed to, and more to the point, I don't want them to feel either intimidated or marginalized by the comics they read. Now, that may not seem like such a big deal, but actually, it's been frustrating to find things for them to read that I thinks are actually empowering for them, to the point that now, off the top of my head, I can't think of a single female-friendly superhero title besides Marvel's Captain Marvel. 

Since today seems to be family picture day...

These are from the summer of 2003, right before our daughter Hannah was born. We were living in Hoboken at the time in a third-floor walk-up. It was a happy but very urban lifestyle. Fine for a couple but not so good for a young family.

I found the hard-copies of these pics at my mom's place after she died, and now I've (finally) got them scanned to digital. 

Enjoy!

Friday Hair Metal: Simple Man

Since we were talking about my folks earlier today, I suppose we ought to put up something that they would've liked.

Dad and I went to see Lynard Skynard together in Atlanta about ten years before he died.  We had great seats, and then he surprised me by wearing ear plugs.

This has been my favorite song for a long, long time.

My Parents, as Newlyweds

Sally found this picture someplace today and left it out for me where I'd find it this evening.

My folks as kids together.  My mother's last words to me were, "Love was good."
I hope it was.

This is my folks as young twenty-somthing's.  Dad has to be a lieutenant in the Marines, either on his way to Vietnam or just back from there.  If I had to guess, I'd say he's just back because of the mustache.  Or maybe this is during his mid-tour leave in Hawaii.

My mother, meanwhile, looked the way that I know that she always looked in her mind's eye, even on the day that she died.  She was beautiful back in the day, and I know for a fact that she took pride in being my father's Beautiful Wife.

***

There were a lot of things that I never really understood about my folks, mysteries that they took to their graves.  But I know that they were happy together once upon a time, and that makes it a little easier for me now as I remember them.

This Week's Picks (NFL Week 2)

Fucking Shanahan.

I can accept that the Ravens maybe aren't as good as I thought they were or that maybe the Denver Broncos are better than I thought they'd be.  But RG3 and the Redskins in general looked like absolute shit Monday night, and for that, I blame Mike Shanahan.  Not only was his star quarterback out of sorts after not having played the entire pre-season, his team was also totally unprepared for the spread offense.  And, I mean, c'mon!  It's not like it was a surprise what these guys were gonna do out there.

Wednesday Notes: Reviewing the Stuff on my Pull List

I’ve mentioned this before, but in case you missed it, I’ve been working on a new short story for my girls.  However, I’ve belatedly come to realize that it’s not gonna be ready in time for my older daughter Hannah’s birthday later this month.  So I think what I’m gonna do is get the first part ready—essentially, Act I of the larger piece—and polish it a bit, and havethat for her birthday, and that’ll hopefully give me enough time to finish the rest of it by Christmas, hopefully without turning the writing process into a mindless slog.  But right now I feel like the intro needs some more work, and I’ve still got to plot out the development of Act II…

Sunset at Montmajour

The New York Times yesterday reported that a museum in Europe just announced that it has found a new, previously-undiscovered Van Gogh called Sunset at Montmajour. 

Leaving Manhattan

The East River, from my afternoon trainn as it leaves Manhattan.

Sally and I Gave Blood Today

I only bring it up because when the girl took my pulse, it was 46.  That's a personal best.  So despite the fact that I've been feeling fat and unmotivated for weeks now, I'm obviously not in quite as poor physical condition as I've been feeling.  On the flipside, though, my blood pressure was 120/88, which is a bit higher than normal.  Seems unlikely that both of those were accurate at the same time, but who knows?

***

As I type this, the Titans are up 10-2 on the Steelers at the end of the 3rd Quarter.  The Titans' defense is having its way with the Steelers' O-Line, which is good, but the Titans' offense hasn't been real good as yet, and Tennessee also gave up a Safety on the very first play of the game.  Not sure how that happens since I was giving blood during the early part of the game, but apparently the Kick Returner came across the goal line, decided better of it and dipped back into the End Zone where he was tackled took a knee, thus giving up a Safety.

Safety on the opening kick-off?  That's not the start we were looking for this season.  A bad sign.

Trolls Gonna Hate

If you've not heard, the rumors swirling around the Internet yesterday said that Marvel might be looking to cast Battlestar Galactica's Katee Sackoff as Captain Marvel in some future film.

The cover for Captain Marvel #1

So naturally, the topic came up at the comic shop this morning.  And one of the trolls sarcastically says, "I thought Captain Marvel was a woman now."

Dystopian Renaissance

In many ways, the current economic and political climate reminds me of the 1970s.  Continual crisis in the Middle East coupled with gasoline price spikes, a series of recent political leaders who haven't lived up to their promise and who come across as shadows of those who came before, a good bit of latent economic misery along with a kind of formless fear about the future of the country, a long war in the recent rearview mirror tainting the nation's approach to foreign policy and engagement...  We haven't got consumer price inflation much, per se--at least not when you correct for the "volatile" prices of food and fuel--but capital asset price inflation is rampant on a global scale and equally destructive in the medium to long term.  And more to the point, no one seems to have the balls to take the steps that everyone seems to know are necessary in order to get it under control.

There's more, I'm sure.

Life Is So Weird...

You know how people say, "Oh, you'll never use all that weird math in real life.  They're just teaching it to you to teach you how to think."  Nothing could be further from the truth.

I was a European History major.  But so far today, I've used two different kinds of trigonometry.  First, in a discussion of shifting phase angles and polarity in regards to standards conventions versus practice in the replacement of a large and expensive piece of equipment.  Second, when I had to figure actual loading on a large transformer, and our typical power factor assumptions weren't exact enough.  The first instance was by far the more complicated of the two, but it was also a largely theoretical discussion that required only the application of basic concepts to understand what the Hell my boss was trying to tell me.  The second one required real math, although I grant you that it was only a combat application of the Pythagorean Theorem.

But still...

Anyway, it's lunchtime on a Friday, and I've still got one--hopefully routine--study left to do.  With that in mind, here's "Football on Your Phone."  Because I feel like I need a stupidity break today.  And also because, let's face it, Peyton Manning is still the man.

Thursday Headlines

Split Senate Panel Approves Giving Obama Limited Authority on Syria.
Despite this, what I read yesterday is that Sen. McCain (finally) pointed out that the President's plan, as it's currently consituted, doesn't actually accomplish very much.  He therefore threatened to pull his support, which is interesting, because if he does that, the Senate resolution will likely fail.

I myself am not much of a proponent of the proposed strike, but I can at least agree with McCain that if we do strike, we ought to strike in such a way as to accomplish something meaningful and begin planning for a transition of leadership in Syria.  But the problem there, of course, is that the rebels aren't a monolithic entity, they're a bunch of semi-aligned militias.  And if we've learned anything from Iraq and the Arab Spring, it's that these guys don't tend to play well together once they've achieved their initial goals.


In Bloomberg’s City of Bike Lanes, Data Show, Cabs Gain a Little Speed.
Cars are somehow moving faster through the streets of Manhattan with the addition of bike lanes and other shared-use facilities?  If that's true, it's only because they now have fewer ways to cut each other off and now must work together.


NFL Roud-Up: First-Round Pick to Start at Quarterback for the Bills.
The Pats are giving the Bills 11-points on Sunday.  And my boss still picked them to cover.

Also: It's Geno Smith time for the Jets.  Something tells me that's not going to end well.


AP Reviews New Smartphones: Samsung Note and More.
Samsung and a few other companies have released "smart" watches this week--essentially massive honking phone-accessories for your wrist.  It's totally unclear who's going to want one of these, but anyway, here's a round-up of news and reviews on them from the AP.


Classes and Subclasses.
"[S]ubclasses also play a key role... We're looking at subclasses shouldering almost the entire burden in D&D Next, which were previously handled by character classes.

When we introduce new types of magic into the game in the future, we won't need to add a set of new classes to the game. Instead, we can present subclasses that tap into that power source. The shadow dancer can be a rogue subclass that dabbles in shadow magic, while the hexblade does the same for the fighter class."
 -- Well, that addresses my thoughts/concerns about the Swordmages and melee-build Warlocks.

Commute Report, 9/4/13

I usually put this out on Twitter, but there's way too much today. 

I don't know if it was the weather, or if school being back in session is making people crazy, or what, but I must've seen every kind of vehicular, cycling, and pedestrian insanity today. Seriously. Every kind I can think of. 

Running red lights, backing up on a one-way street, turning right (or left) directly in front of or behind me, surprise parallel parking, stopping in mid-intersection...  And that was just the cars. Two cyclists ran red lights and almost hit me, a few were riding the wrong way on one-way streets, and one refused to hold his line in a narrow space so that I almost hit him!  And nearly every pedestrian crossed the street without looking, mostly in the middle of the street despite New York's many, many crosswalks. 

*sigh*

Truly a crazy, crazy day.

This Week's Picks

For the second year in a row, the guys in my office are doing a little football picks pool. No money, just pride--and maybe a few beers--at stake at the end of the season. 

Still, we're all competitive bastards, so the thing was a riot last season. 

My Week One Picks:

1. Baltimore (+7.5) at Denver. First off, the Super Bowl champs are getting points?  More than a touchdown?!  That's crazy. I mean, I don't think they're gonna repeat or anything, but they'll certainly play better than that in the first game of the season. 

Also: I'm picking this as the year that Peyton Manning's game really starts to degrade. He's not a young guy, and no one really talks about him being the best in the game anymore. That trend rarely reverses. 

2.  Titans (+7.5) at Pittsburgh. Ross Tucker picked the Titans as the second worst team in the NFL this year in his first Power Rankings this week, but all the actual Titans fans I know seem to think the team is better than anyone has realized. Here's hoping that's true, and they can surprise the Steelers in the first game of the season. Guess we'll see. 

This pick at least gives me an excuse to go to one of the local bars and actually watch the game. 

3.  Washington (-3) at Philadelphia. Philly's getting points at home, but their defense is supposed to be terrible, and I'm not a believer in Mike Vick. Meanwhile, Washington is a good team, and if I don't necessarily think RG3 can make it through the whole season healthy, I do think he'll survive at least one game. 

***

So those are my picks. Your thoughts?

Suite Madame Blue

Heard this yesterday.  It's been one of my favorite songs since I discovered Styx as a senior in high school.

Were You Looking for Something?

'Cause I got nothin', seriously.  I've been reading Erin Evans's Brimstone Angels: Lesser Evils, and it had me in mind of putting up some kind of D&D Next homebrew for Tieflings today, but honestly, I just haven't quite got the dedication for it.

My copy didn't have this cover.  This cover is MUCH better than the
one that comes on the Kindle Edition of this book.
Always put the protagonist's face on the cover.  Is that so hard?

Instead, I've been working on the next Sneax short story for my kids for the past few days, and that's taken pretty much all of the writing effort I've got to spare.

On the plus side, though, I put down a bit more than 800 words on the train this morning.  That aint' bad.

This Morning's Run and Last Week's Tri Training

Sally and I ran a little more than three and a half miles this morning at a shade under 8:50/mile pace.  That's not important for any particular reason, but I can't think of anything else to write about this morning, so there you have it.

This is Stratford's running trail.  It was on our route this morning.

Untappd!

Untappd.  The social network for beer.

The brewers at the Weed Beer Festival kept asking me if I was on Untappd.  So yeah, as of yesterday I am.

Problem is, no one else that I know is on there, so I have ONE friend, and it's the CT Beer Trail guy from Twitter.  Big sad face.  I feel like a loser.

So.  All you guys need to go on Untappd right now and "friend" me.  

Do it.  Right now. 

What are you wainting for?