Kirk Petersen

Finally got the site back up. Unfortunately I didn’t have a good backup of the Wordpress database, or even the old export file, so I had to dump the old database (still on Dreamhost) and import it manually. This seems to have confused Wordpress a bit and some themes completely fail to render the site, but this theme is nice and seems to work.

I’ve been backing things up to Amazon S3 because I like the idea of off-site backups, but I’m thinking that I need a more complete local backup system that allows for quicker restores. I love the idea of the Drobo but it would cost close to $1000 with drives and wouldn’t even be network accessible.

I’m coming out of a long period of low productivity, in all aspects of life. I suppose that I often go through this during the winter.

It seems that I often come out of this period when the weather gets a bit nicer. It also helps that I’m just getting over a cold.

One of the few things I’ve been pretty good about is trying to spend a few hours in the garden per week, simply trying to stay on top of the weeds and cleaning things up a little bit at a time. I’m reading everything I can but still have a lot to learn.

The garlic seems to be doing really well. Shanti and I have been starting seeds inside, with mixed results. We’ve planted a few of the seedlings.

The lawn is starting to fill in again. There are several spots around the house where the grass completely died during the winter. I actually sort of like the look of the moss that replaced it, but the weeds started taking over in the late winter, so I pulled them and spread grass seed.

One project for this summer is to replace the rotting wood the serves as borders for the 5 beds in our yard. I’m not much of a handyman, but it should be easy enough. I also need to clean up the area around the beds and some of the lawn borders.

My favorite RSS feed over the past few weeks has been this aggregate of photographs on the Boston Globe’s web site:

• http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/

I decided after the first day to not do NaNoWriMo. I didn’t have an idea that I cared about enough for a 50,000 word novel and I realized that I hadn’t worked on any of my writing skills over the past two years. Sure, I would have learned more about writing doing it a second time, but not as much as if/when I actually take a writing course and/or practice some of the finer points via short stories.

Instead, I decided to take something that I know well and see how it feels to apply the same principles to a project that I’ve never gotten around to finishing… or even starting. So I’m doing Na-Software-WriMo instead.

The project I’m working on for the next 30 days (I’m running a bit late due to the last minute change) is related to parsers and compilers. I won’t go into too much detail until I see that the idea is going to work.

I am going to do NaNoWriMo this year. I’m running a bit behind because I was too busy over the past couple weeks to really think through a plot like I wanted to – fortunately the first day (today) is a Saturday so I have a few extra hours to work on the overall structure before starting. I’ve been reading a few books on writing, including a book specifically on plot and structure, so I’m hoping that this year I create a story that is at least well crafted.

Over the past year I’ve discovered that I don’t carry my Macbook Pro around as much as I used to carry my Macbook.

So I bought an ASUS Eee PC 1000H a couple months ago. It has a 10″ screen and is way more portable than either of my previous laptops.

I thought I’d dual boot Windows and Linux for a while but ended up blowing away the Windows partition in frustration (I always end up doing that for some reason).

I’m really happy with the hardware. There are just a couple issues: the hard drive was a bit noisy, so I dropped in a 32 GB SSD (which is great), and the display resolution is a bit low at 1024×600. Bumping up to 1280×720 would help a lot with most apps and web pages.

When the kinks are worked out of this type of netbook, and the price drops even further, it is going to have a huge impact on the industry. Apparently it already is.

I just finished Value Averaging and found it very interesting. I’m also reading a more generic personal finance book and learning lots.

Shanti and I have been setting up various shared Google Docs spreadsheets for things like budgets and investments. I must be getting old because it has been quite fun.

Even though I’ve never been good with a budget or savings, things don’t look too bad… assuming we can stick with the new budget.

I’ve also put myself on a book budget. Not so much to prevent spending on books but to force myself to just read what I have. Right now we have a good number of books for the shelf space in our house. I’d like to keep that number constant. And I’d like to read all the great books I have. So from now on I can’t buy a new or used book until I read one from our shelves. One possible exception is checking books out from the library.

Speaking of the library, we are moving offices from Pioneer Square to the block just south of the main Seattle library. I’m not sure what the lunch or coffee shop options are around there. Probably not as good as what I’m used to.

I picked up a Honda CB350 engine off Craigslist a few days ago. This is purely for educational purposes, as it is in pretty bad shape and I don’t have a motorcycle to put it in anyways.

My first goal is to just take it completely apart and observe all of the parts and how they fit together. I bought a service manual and read through the chapter on the engine, clutch, and transmission. It won’t help too much right now but it will if/when I put the engine back together.

Many of the screws are in bad shape, especially the Phillips head screws, which all seem to be made of some incredibly soft metal. Some were stripped when I got it and I’ve stripped a few more. Now I’m reading up on various techniques and tools for removing stripped screws. When I put the engine back together, I’m hoping to replace all of these with hex bolts.

I made Tom Kha Gai last Friday night using this recipe:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_kha_gai

(strange that the wiki page contains an actual recipe, but it is a good one so I’m not complaining)

It was well received. I love the combination of flavors and spices and the creamy-ness of the coconut milk. And, of course, the hint of fermented anchovies. Mmm. Everything was just about perfect except I cut the chicken into chunks that were too thick so they were a bit difficult to eat.

It would be nice to limit how much lemon grass get dished into bowls, because that also makes it difficult to eat. One website suggests straining the soup through a colander before putting in the chicken and mushrooms. That is a good idea, as all solids previous to that are inedible, but I’d be afraid that the lemon grass flavor wouldn’t be as strong that way. It would also cut down on the galangal flavor. Perhaps simmering the soup a little longer before that step would compensate.

Shanti and I are dieting. Things are going well so far.

This is one of those things where the issue is obvious – eat less and/or exercise more and you’ll lose weight. But it helps to have some approximate numbers.

One of the most interesting bits of information I’ve ever read about dieting:

For each pound of weight that your body carries, it takes about 12 calories per pound per day to keep it alive. If you weigh 150 pounds, you therefore need about (150 * 12) 1,800 calories per day to keep yourself alive and maintain that same weight.

If you were to eat more than 1,800 calories per day, the surplus turns into fat. It takes about 3,600 excess calories to make a pound of fat.

(from http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/question693.htm)

I’m currently about 235 pounds and that is pretty stable when I eat whenever and whatever I want. That equals 2800 calories per day, which seems like a huge amount. One of the other interesting bits of info I recently learned is that large milkshakes are 1000+ calories. A big bowl of ice cream is probably in the same ballpark.

I probably eat 2400 calories per day normally (still seems like a lot), which would put me at a very nice weight of 200 pounds, but I ruin it by pigging out on a milkshake or three at least once a week.

We’ve been using a Google Docs Spreadsheet to track all of the details. I love its collaboration features, including the new “form” feature. I might use that for some data gathering projects in the future.

I’m currently shooting for 2000 calories a day, which will put me at 200 pounds in about 2 months, assuming little to no exercise.

To recap: 3 milkshakes equals 3500 calories equals 1 pound equals 3 hours of running. Sometimes you just need to make it clear and remind yourself.