sawing logs

Maybe a month or two ago Golden pointed out something that NJ does on occasion. He will grab his blanket, lie down with his head on his pillow, and make snorting noises. Since I am the only one in the house who regularly snores, we think he is imitating me. This is backed up by the fact that if I make a snorting noise around him he immediately identifies it as, "Daddy."

I don't know how loudly I snore because Golden hasn't complained about it. I know that I do snore, though. It was one of those things that was unavoidable. My dad snores and a lot of people on my mom's side of the family snore as well. It would have been noteworthy had I not become a snorer.

It's funny that NJ points out my snoring because I actually heard NJ snoring ever so softly last night, so he will probably have the same issue in when he is older. I assume I was hearing NJ snore. I don't know what other sound a toddler could make that would sound like that. I guess that not all heavy breathing during sleep is snoring.

I have figured for a while that I'll probably eventually get that surgery where the uvula is cut off if it starts bothering Golden and if the cost isn't a real hardship. The idea of the surgery is a little bothersome, though, because I think I would miss my uvula. Why, I don't know. I just get the feeling that I would.

That's probably a ways into the future, though. I don't think Golden is losing sleep over it yet. If she is, she hasn't mentioned it to me yet.

cause and effect

I don't know how many times I have come across the advice that a person can improve his or her disposition through exercise. People who exercise are happier, statistically speaking, so the best step toward beating the blues is to actually take several steps. It turns out that this may not be completely true, and that the reason people thought this was true due to a common mistake—the opinion that statistical correlation equals cause and effect.

Not long ago I came across an article describing a study that challenges the idea that exercising makes people happier. Just because people who exercise are more happy does not mean that one causes the other. Each may be caused by a common third factor, such as genetics. People who are genetically wired to be more happy may also be genetically wired to enjoy jogging.

This mistake is one that I come across all of the time when I hear or read about scientific studies. Certain research is done, a correlation is found between two sets of data (like hours of exercise and levels of happiness), and an unchallenged statement is made in the media that research shows that one of these measured factors must cause the other.

At first glance, this should not be a big deal. Most people don't care too much what studies say, and they really only bring up the topics for small talk anyway. It is bothersome, though, because important decisions are often made based on the the implications of such research. Governments pass and enforce policies and laws because studies indicate something specific. People are prescribed medications based on the implications of research. A murder case can hinge on what research studies imply about the workings of a mentally unstable person's mind.

With all of this said, I know this is why most published research must go through peer review. Mistakes in data collection, computation, and interpretation can get filtered out there. But what happens if everyone in the peer review process makes the same assumptions in interpreting the data? From what I can see, that story ends with a bunch of depressed people in jogging shorts.

did i blink?

I'm asking because it feels like summer is concluding before it has even started.

While I was taking classes this past semester, and this is really the case any time I am taking classes, I could not wait for summer. I couldn't wait for all of the free time that I would have. I had some grand plans for some leisurely activities, mostof which involved reading some books or writing. Somehow, I got to the end of the summer without doing a lot of those things and I have the feeling that I haven't taken real advantage of whatever free time I was supposed to have.

The reality is that the amount of free time I have does not change that much, regardless of what is going on in my life. I make spare time for myself regardless of the situation. If I have a lot of spare time I fill it with things that are ultimately time-consuming. If I don't have spare time I'll give up an hour of sleep here or there. Also, when I am in class Golden ends up doing a lot of the things that I would be otherwise doing, so my schedule isn't as extremely different as it would seem it should be. I am busier when I have a class, but I am not doing nearly as much around the house.

I am not taking any classes this semester so that I can be around the house more as Golden's due date gets closer. I had been looking forward to having this semester off, but I have a feeling that it is going to speed by the same way summer did without me really doing much of anything. I probably should not go into the next few months with specific expectations so that if I get a windfall of time it comes as a pleasant surprise.

No matter, it is nice not having to go to class for a little while.

human interest

This is not a new or original observation by any means, but watching the Olympics over the last week has reminded me of it. Half of Olympic coverage seems to be trying to convince the audience why they should root for a specific athlete. Everyone worth caring about, it seems, has overcome serious adversity or at least has an inspirational story.

This is not to say that I don't have an appreciation for some of the stories that I have heard. The story last night about the long distance swimmer who was competing even though one of her legs had been amputated was amazing. How you swim competitively when you are missing such a major appendage is beyond me.

I think that it is funny that, while one of the biggest challenges of airing the Olympics must be to condense so much content down to something manageable, so much time is spent on content that is not the actual competition. I have watched some of the coverage on CNBC as well, and I haven't seen as many backstories there. I wonder if this is because the purpose of the secondary channels is just to cover specific events that couldn't fit on the network coverage while the purpose of the network coverage is to present content that has the broadest appeal.

I am trying to imagine what the backstory would be for me. "Dust wasn't always such a superb competitor in the recliner-sitting competition. For several years he had to do the bulk of his training on a couch. Even with this early setback, today he performs like a natural."

If only recliner-sitting was a competitive Olympic sport.

stealth geek

When I was in college my roommate came across an early iteration of this definition of "stealth geek." I liked it a lot, and have since sought to move from a geek to more of a stealth geek.

By definition, a stealth geek is someone who has geek tendencies, but who does not stick out as a stereotypical geek. A stealth geek has a deep appreciation for certain geeky things, but has determined that maintaining a subdued style rather than a flamboyantly geeky style is ideal. The term was initially developed as a way of labeling Fox Mulder in The X-Files. Mulder wouldn't stick out in a crowd, but when you get to know him you can pick out that he has geeky tendencies.

I think that I am still a bit weak on the stealth part of the definition. I am more stealthy now than I was five, ten, or fifteen years ago, for sure. In truth, I probably don't want to be fully stealthed anyway because the goal isn't to disguise my true self, but rather to keep from being completely defined by a subset of my interests.

In short, being stealthy here has very little to do with not being who I am. I just don't want to people's impressions of me to come from their interpretation of one subset of my true self.

painting

When we moved into our apartment eight years ago our contract provided conditions for painting the interior of the apartment. Basically, we could paint the walls any color we wanted, but they had to be white when we left the apartment. I questioned in my mind who in their right mind would paint perfectly fine white walls in an apartment that they do not even own. I did not even fully understand the point of painting rooms that I did own.

Fast forward to today. As of this past weekend, there were two rooms that we had not painted since we moved in. One is the kitchen and one is the bedroom that will be the baby's room. On Saturday we started the process of painting the baby's room. I fully understand that painting the baby's room is part of the standard process of preparing for a baby, so I am not griping that this is something we are working on. There are a few things that make me appreciate the process less, though.

First, I don't know if it is more because I am a guy or because I am colorblind, but I rarely stop and think that the appearance of a room could be improved if the color was just changed. I don't look at white walls and think this makes the decor boring, out of date, or inadequate in some other way.

Second, painting is a process. I don't feel that I can just paint in little bits of a half hour to an hour because there is setup and takedown involved. If I were to take an hour to paint, a half hour of that would probably be spent in setup and take down. This means I have to devote a block of a few hours to the task for my work to be worthwhile.

Third, little things like taping off trim and windows can take forever. I almost took as much time taping on Saturday as I did applying primer to the walls.

One thing that I do like, though, is that the process of painting is relatively straightforward. I do not go into the task without knowing what to expect like I sometimes do in other household projects. So, I don't really have that as an excuse for why I am not done yet.

garbage

As I was carting eight bags of garbage, not including yard waste, to the curb last night something occurred to me. For a family of two adults and one small child in a modest house we produce a lot of garbage. This is even compared to the typical American.

This time, around at two or three of those bags can be blamed on us converting our office to the new baby's room and one bag can be blamed on diapers. We have had a backlog of garbage due to other things we have been doing around the house, so it felt good to get that many bags out to the curb.

Even if there is a reason for most of our garbage, we constantly seem to put more garbage out than the neighbors. Golden noted that the man who lives across the street, albeit by himself, puts a single small bag on the curb every week. The only houses in the area that regularly put out the same number of bags that we do are the ones with multiple kids. It has me asking what we are doing differently.

Two things that we do not do that we may have to if Overland Park sets a tight limit on bags are recycle and use a trash compactor. Do most people recycle and compact? Are we more or less alone in garbage habits? Is this post going to someday earn me the ire of the Sierra Club?

romance

Today is Golden's and my eighth anniversary. We don't usually make too big a deal of it, but cards and small gifts are often exchanged. If I'm not careful I can let it become routine rather than romance, so that is the biggest danger that I have to watch out for.

I don't necessarily understand what romance is, at least as it is typically defined by women. I don't think that most guys understand romance, which explains why this rather cynical work of humor on the subject is funny to a lot of guys. I don't know that most women would find it as humorous. I can personally identify a lot of things that qualify as romance, but this knowledge comes second hand.

My general understanding of romance is that it is something that makes someone else feel special or important. That seems to be an incomplete definition, though, because it doesn't explain to me a lot of things that are romantic, such as candlelight or cute stuffed animals. I think the main problem I have is that my mind interprets "special" and "important" differently than most romantics.

Another possibility is that I am not describing romance properly. Since this is a distinct possibility, I would like to put this question out to everyone. If you had to explain romance, how would you define it?

I have one last, and very important, thing to say. Happy anniversary, Golden!

gymnastics

I am sitting here watching men's gymnastics on the television, and a few thoughts spring to mind.

First and foremost, only during the Olympics would I bother watching gymnastics or admit to it. I have never cared about gymnastics. Even if I did, though, it is an unwritten rule for most straight guys that they don't confess to watching gymnastics or figure skating with enjoyment. Men's gymnastics or figure skating are especially taboo.

Second, I would like to better understand how the men who make the Olympic team originally got interested in gymnastics. Performing at this level obviously takes excessive skill and training. Who are the boys who grow up driven to be a gymnast rather than a football, baseball, or soccer player? I'm not trying to disrespect the dream, but I am trying to understand it. Had I been blessed with the athleticism necessary to be a gymnast there are countless reasons that I would have probably used it to play a sport like football rather than use it to swing around on a pommel horse.

Finally, who created these events? For the life of me, I cannot imagine a rational scenario where the pommel horse was decided upon as an event. I still haven't figured out how specifically it is judged. I also do not understand why do the men have the high bar and the women have the uneven bars. The rings do make sense to me, but they don't appear like they would be a fun event in which to compete. By that measure, the vault is the only appealing men's event. I could get into the vault.

Even if I have more points to make I'm not going to blather on about gymnastics any more. I have probably already lost enough cred as it is.

ant tv

Last night I was watching something on the Science Channel about driver ants. They are a form of army ant found mostly in Africa. Ever since reading Leiningen Versus the Ants in junior high (and maybe before that) I have always been intrigued by army ants.

In watching the hour-long episode of the driver ant two things occur to me. First, I wouldn't want to cross their path. They were shown systematically ripping apart everything in their path, probably the most disturbing of which was a crab that they dismembered from the inside out.

Second, I have a very pertinent question. I wonder how they recruit the cameramen to do jobs like this. Think about it. This person's job is to get well within striking distance of a swarm of millions of these little animals whose heads are basically just big mandibles. Not only that, they have been known to attack humans, though they don't normally do so. If something went wrong it would be an absolutely horrible way to go. That's enough to give me a new appreciation for my office job.

quit stalling

Everyone knows that you aren't supposed to park in the handicapped spot unless you are handicapped. If you are ticketed, the fine is very expensive, and if you aren't, you will probably earn the ire of most who notice you walking healthfully from the parking lot to wherever you are going. I don't park in the handicapped spot, but I do one other similar thing and I am trying to determine how equivalent it is.

In the bathroom at my office there are two stalls. The one that is furthest in the corner is a handicapped stall and the other one is a standard stall. I have noticed that most, but not all, people use the handicapped stall when they have the option. I like using that one as well, too. The main advantage is that the handicapped stall feels quite a bit more secluded than the regular stall.

The question I have is, is there a problem with using the handicapped stall when the regular stall is unoccupied? There are no people on my floor who require a handicapped stall, so this should only be an issue if someone is visiting the office, like a customer or a job candidate. Is the possibility for someone needing to use a handicapped stall a big enough possibility that I shouldn't? Is this like using the handicapped parking spaces in front of the building?

carver and the reptiles

Even though my parents visited us this past week, we didn't do too much tourist stuff. My parents spent most of their time either working around my house or on my grandmother's house. Everyone but my dad did get away Thursday morning when we visited my grandmother. That morning we stopped by the George Washington Carver National Monument and Reptile World Zoo. I didn't really get pictures (the reptile zoo didn't allow them anyway) but I still have some thoughts about the experience.

First, we visited the George Washington Carver National Monument. It is laid out like a park, and has one museum-like structure that we visited. There is more to the park, but that was all outside and we didn't relish walking NJ around in the heat.

I have always held a high opinion of Carver because the things he did were to benefit others rather than himself, especially his work to aid in the plight of the share-croppers. As the museum was created to honor Carver, it did a good job of improving my already good opinion of him.

NJ was drawn to one display that had nothing to do with Carver, but had a lot of buttons. He would push a button, an animal would light up, and we would hear the sound that animal made. That display probably entertained NJ for ten to fifteen minutes solid.

Not far from Carver's monument is a place called the Reptile World Zoo. It is essentially a large steel building housing an animal enthusiast's collection of reptiles. These are mostly snakes, but also include a wide assortment of other reptiles, some birds, some tarantulas, and I am sure some other things that I forget. For a museum that appears very small on the outside, there were quite a few animals.

NJ was a bit interested in the animals, but he was also spooked by a lot of them. Several of the snakes there were larger than he is and that made him uncomfortable, which makes sense because there was only a thin layer of plexiglas between him and them.