“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”

- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

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Our Slicer

We usually slice ham, but this time I bought a cheap Turkey ham to try out. It sliced well, and tastes good, but looks a little odd and not necessarily appetizing.

The Meat

Slicing is super easy. My slicer doesn’t cut perfectly even, so I rotate the meat every once in a while to keep from having a lopsided hunk of meat.

Slicing The Ham


The Whole Ham, Sliced

We package our meats in little packets of wax paper. It’s about enough for a week or so of sandwiches. We then throw these in gallon freezer bags and thaw them out when we need more meat.

The Packaged Ham

Slicing cheese can be a bit more difficult. It tends to crumble if you freeze and thaw it before slicing, so be sure to buy your cheese right before slicing.

We Sliced Cheddar and Provolone


The Cheddar, Split For Slicing

One tip we picked up after our first cheese slicing was to place slips of wax paper between each slice of cheese. It takes less time than you think, and is highly advised unless you want five or six fused together slices on each sandwich.

Preparing Wax Paper Cheese Slips


The Wax Paper Between Slices

Here’s the result of our slicing, all told it probably took an hour or so and should keep us in sandwiches for several months. Add in some of Darcy’s excellent home made bread and you’ve got a delicious lunch.

The Results of Our Labor

If you ever want to try it out without the up front slicer investment, just let me know and I can loan you the machine.

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“…it’s very easy to confuse the essence of what you are doing with the tools that you use.”

- Harold Ableson
EE & CS Professor at MIT
Overview and Introduction to Lisp

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“Any teacher that can be replaced by a computer, deserves to be.”

- David Thornburg
Educational Technologies Researcher

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Naturally, it’s important that I incorporate technology into my weight loss somehow, right? So I decided to give the Google Visualizations API a spin.

I worked up a quick data format and a method to pop the data out. Nothing fancy, just a fixed width flat file. This doesn’t deserve a database.

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2010-06-30 235.4
2010-06-29 236.8

Easy to read, easy to edit, and easy to consume. Every morning I just hop on the server, add the day’s weight and log off.

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<?php
  // Get the max days back we want to look.
  $max_days = 7;
  if( isset( $_REQUEST['days'] ) and ! empty( $_REQUEST['days'] ) )
    $max_days = intval( $_REQUEST['days'] );
 
  $i = 0;
  $lines = array();
 
  $fh = fopen( 'data.txt', 'r' );
  while( ! feof( $fh ) and ++$i <= $max_days ) {
    $line = fgets( $fh );
    if( empty( $line ) ) { continue; }
    array_unshift( $lines, $line );
  }
  fclose( $fh );

Now I just needed to represent it. The API is very object oriented and easy to work with. I wish there was a less verbose way of presenting the data, but you can’t have everything.

Actually, there may be a better way, I just didn’t come across it while speed reading the docs.

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function drawChart() {
  var data = new google.visualization.DataTable();
  data.addColumn( 'string', 'Date' );
  data.addColumn( 'number', 'Weight' );
 
  data.addRows( <?php echo count( $lines ); ?> );
 
  <?php
    $i = 0;
    foreach( $lines as $line ):
  ?>
  data.setValue( 
    <?php echo $i; ?>, 
    0,
    '<?php echo substr( $line, 0, 10 ); ?>'
  );
 
  data.setValue(
    <?php echo $i; ?>,
    1,
    <?php echo floatval( substr( $line, 11 ) ); ?>
  );
  <?php
    ++$i;
    endforeach;
  ?>
 
  var chart_div = document.getElementById( 'chart_div' );
  var chart = new google.visualization.LineChart( chart_div );
  chart.draw(
    data,
    {
      width: 800,
      height: 600,
      title: 'Weight Over Time'
    }
  );
}

And there you have it, fancy charting in no time.

See it in action at http://static.velvetcache.org/weight.php

Get the full source at http://gist.github.com/459148.

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First off, when they say that a sachet is small, they mean it. However, this stuff goes a long way.

Sachet Size

My first fix was my beloved flip flops. I’ve had these for 5+ years and they are the most comfortable things ever. Darcy would tell you that I only hang on to them because she hates them BUT THATS A LIE! (mostly)

The Sandals (Post-Op)

These sandals had major issues. Before I repaired them there was a rip all the way through (depth wise) and almost all the way across (width wise). Previously I had closed that gap with long nails, which worked for most of a summer, but they were not a long term solution.

Underside Repair

But Sugru was just the ticket, it worked great. I followed the instructions and washed up then opened a packet and got to work. I found that it stuck to me more than the shoe in my case, but with some push and quick pull-back I managed to get it where I wanted it.

I used two sachets on this, but looking back I could have done the job with one. The first packet I put up top and I rushed a bit and got sloppy. Later I put the bottom packet on and I think that’s what actually did the job.

Foot Area Repair

All in all a nice experience. My only issue with Sugru is that is stained my hands for a while, but that’s a pretty minor complaint. My sandal is comfy, solid and ready for years more action.

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“One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.”

- Elbert Hubbard

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Melvin The Toad Lives In Our Backyard

Garden Herbs Drying

Homemade Butter

Darcy Making Flour Torilla Chips

Home Fried Flour Tortilla Chips

For those concerned, the chips were immediately consumed with homemade salsa.

They were delicious.

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I wrote this song quite a while ago. We recorded it for Nikolai but we broke up before it made it to a disc.

I really like this song, and I thought I’d share it again.

Here’s the music.

And here’s the lyrics.

At the edge of the bell curve, I'd hoped there was one for me.
At the edge of the bell curve, I knew I'd love you, statistically.
 
I've got your number, you've got mine, so call me baby.
We're just two big old primes, together live unfactorably.
 
You'll never find another like me.
I solve your equation so elegantly.
 
At the edge of the bell curve, I'd hoped there was one for me.
At the edge of the bell curve, I knew I'd love you, statistically.
 
Unlike the number pi, you are so rational.
And with you, baby, I always know my set is full.
 
You'll never find an angle on me.
'Cause baby, oh baby, we're complimentary.
 
At the edge of the bell curve, I'd hoped there was one for me.
At the edge of the bell curve, I knew I'd love you, statistically.
 
You'll never find a number like me.
And, baby this love's not imaginary.
 
At the edge of the bell curve, I'd hoped there was one for me.
At the edge of the bell curve, I knew I'd love you, statistically.
 
3.141592
 
At the edge of the bell curve, I found you waiting for me.
At the edge of the bell curve, I'll always love you, infinitely.
 
At the edge of the bell curve, I'd hoped there was one for me.
At the edge of the bell curve, I knew I'd love you, statistically.
 
At the edge of the bell curve, I'd hoped there was one for me.
At the edge of the bell curve, I knew I'd love you, statistically.

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