Spring

Rode my bike to/from work most of last week, a final indication that spring is well underway. Hopefully it keeps this up. Still haven't gone to the mountains at all, last year by this time had already done a couple hikes. This year it feels like the spring and hiking season is later than usual, but I don't really know. Most people I'd go with are now gone, and some of the potential new people are so far busy, or not that interested. But admittedly I haven't tried very hard. I've been kindof busy and tired myself.

At lunch today after the dragonboat meeting, 4 of us went for lunch, and without knowing what each other was ordering/considering, two of us chose 23d and two chose 22b. Somehow that seems neat to me (the fact that we happened to choose the same things as each other out of all the choices, nothing special about the actual numbers). Cosmic psychic links.

Saw a mythbusters where they tested the debate over whether the extra power-up costs of lightbulbs offsets the savings of having them turned off such that it could be better to leave them permanently on. I knew for sure incandescents had very tiny power-up costs, but fluorescents have more. Obviously not enough that you would leave them on permanently, but I wasn't sure about if you were leaving a room for a few minutes. Anyways, their tests showed "break even" points of between a fraction of a second and about 25 seconds, so there's pretty few cases where it's worth leaving the light on. The lights would wear out faster with turning them on and off frequently, but still not a significant issue.

Anyways, it reminded me of some other power-saving related things. How much power do you think a turned-off TV uses compared to a turned-on TV? It can actually be pretty significant! Many devices don't really turn off, they go into a stand-by mode. I want to get a power meter and do some tests around the house, I think it would be neat. See what's using what power, what's significant, and even see about some easy ways to reduce your power consumption (like unplugging or turning off the power bar for that TV, though that's a hassle and the TV probably loses it's channel memory).

Actually just read that TVs get the EnergyStar rating based on their 'standby' power consumption, not their 'on' power consumption. That's how gigantor plasma TVs still get EnergyStar ratings.

What kind of a girl are you?

Found this test on Carol's blog. I guess in a way I'm pleased with the results.

You are a Tomboy Girl!

Instead of flirting, you tend to pal around with the guys you crush on. And why not? You can hold your own in sports, video games, and gross out contests. Just make sure and suprise them with a touch of girlishness every once and a while. Then you'll be treated like the hottie you are - not like one of the guys.

What Kind of Girl Are You?

Double decker design

In many small places like residence rooms, the beds are elevated, such that a stack of drawers can fit under them. This is a great efficient use of space, and also achieves the "coolness" factor of being on a top bunk. And often you can crawl under the bed, behind the drawers, in your own secret fort area.

In many new places these days, the TV is placed above a fireplace. I find this terrible, having the TV so high. And if the fireplace sticks out and you have a flat panel TV, viewing it from a couch, the bottom of the picture might be obstructed. That's what gave me the idea of having an elevated couch, in a similar manner as the elevated beds! You could get a bunch more useful storage space under there, and you'd still have a great view of the TV. You wouldn't have to worry about the dog being on the couch either. In an elevated single chair, it would feel like a throne, looking down upon your subjects. A final advantage is if you have a bunch of people over to watch a movie or hockey game, instead of crowding around at oblique angles, you could have another set of chairs set up like theatre seating. As long as the upper people have clean feet. I think it's an awesome idea, and perhaps one day I will get to implement it.

Unfortunately other than the bed and living room sitting spaces, I'm not envisioning the double decker design having much applicability in other parts of the house. Any ideas? Double decker garage would be cool, but not as cool as having a rotating parking pad. And with the top deck, it would be more fun to pretend it's a barn and have hay up there and... sounds itchy.

Bad memory

I forgot the main thing I was going to write this blog post about, so I'll just move on to the assorted additional bits.

There have been commercials, and now I've seen a billboard, for new "diamond shreddies". Instead of the old square shape, they're now diamond shape. In other words, rotated 45 degrees.

Now I feel like talking about how stupid people are. Well, I talk enough about how stupid I am. Like today after work I went jogging along the river and returned to work, then took the bus home. Why not just jog home in the first place, am I too much of a pussy to go jogging with my backpack on? Could've saved $2, that's almost half of a juice juice! Oh well, instead, I drank the juice box from my desk drawer that's been there since before it's expiry date, Nov 20 2006. Who's the pussy now?! Though I took the juice box, I managed to forgot my wallet. Anyways, about other people... Calgary's implementing mandatory curbside recycling, with a mandatory $8/month fee. I have mixed feelings about it, but I'm not here to discuss whether it's good or bad. I'm here to insult (educate) the people who complain using the argument that "other cities do it for free!" That's so retarded! Of course it's not free! Do you think the collectors are all volunteers? Do you think all the equipment and technology was all donated? Is the fuel free? It all has to be paid for somewhere. It's not free, it's simply built in to other fees and taxes rather than being explicitly stated as being a recycling fee.

Weather

Went outside after work yesterday, felt the icy drizzle, and thought "feels like dragonboat weather!" Honestly, it's rarely like that for dragonboating, I don't think it was at all last year, but when it is, you remember it.

Provincial budget came out. People's reaction: "WE WANT MORE MONEY!" Wow, I never would have expected that.

Another one's gone. This time, it's Alvin. He's going to Prague for a year. Slowly but surely everyone I have fun with at Intermap is disappearing. Upon coming back from my trip, David was gone, as well as my officemate Sotirios (though he often annoyed me, it was kindof nice having someone around). Some months ago Jon left, and some months before that it was Steve, and Don. A lot of the people around there are still cool, but rarely leave their offices and just not really people I chat with or see outside of work.

Bike

Got my first ""wet ass from biking" of the season. Yay! I'm sure you needed to know that. Maybe I should get and install splash guards before the rainy season's here. Not like we have much, but I rode on wet roads many times last year and the wet streak up your rear is rather unflattering.

Also encountered one of my pet peeves of bike riding: when I'm at an intersection, and a car stops to let me go. I'm not off my bike at a crosswalk or corner, I'm on my bike in the street. That means I'm following the rules of the road. Sure, stopping to let me go seems like a nice thing, but think about it a little more. Firstly, traffic going the other direction may still be obeying the rules, so I can't just go, so the waiting person might have to wait a while. And more importantly, while they're waiting to try to convenience me, there are several other cars lined up behind them waiting to go. So it may benefit me a little at the expense of several other people. That's why I don't like it. Sometimes it's the thought that counts, but sometimes it's the lack of thought that counts more.

I just watched a mythbusters where they tested how to beat a speed camera. They got to drive a really fast car really fast. Now I'm itching to go drive really fast. I've never actually tried going that fast in my car. I know a friend with the same type got us to 180 pretty easily, with 4 people in the car. Of course, it's probably the electronic limiter not the cars capabilities that will limit it. Oh well, I'm not sure where a straight flat smooth empty (safe) road is around here. And I can totally picture a pothole or rabbit sending me to a world of woe.

InterMint

Ok that's not what they're actually called. It's not even a very good joke name. Anyways, I guess the latest thing for companies to give away at trade shows is packs of those plasticky things you put on your tongue to melt into mintiness. I found we had some with the Intermap logo on the packs. It seems like a neat idea. Unfortunately, the quality doesn't seem to be there, most people were finding them rather unpleasant.

So disappointed

I was really looking forward to riding my bike to work today, I got it out and cleaned it up and stuff last night. But this morning it was still sub-zero when leaving the house, and I don't ride in that. I hate how calgary cools off so much at night, even in mid summer it's often 15-20 degrees colder at 7AM than 5PM.

Yesterday after work did my first outdoor exercise of the year, it was just too nice outside to be on a treadmill in a gym.

Yesterday afternoon there was 0.9 TB of free disk space. I started some work going before I left the office. It failed because it ran out of disk space. I'm always impressed with the ridiculous volumes of data we deal with here.

Alternate

Once again, on the JET alternate list. So what now?

Assorted

Photos are online. I used flickr, so I had to cut the set down to 200. And slideshow disappointingly doesn't display captions. Most photos aren't really that exciting without talking about them anyways. http://www.flickr.com/photos/insoluble_evil/sets/72157600054599404/

Thursday: I couldn't resist anymore. After having fresh fruit smoothies with almost every meal for a couple weeks, I only made it to thursday before needing to visit Juice Juice. (Jugo (pronounced Hugo) is spanish for juice, so from now on Jugo Juice shall be referred to as Juice Juice). Actually other things are more painfully hard to resist.

Also Thursday: Did taxes. Want to guess how much I owe the government? hee hee it somehow really amuses me. Hint: it's not quite 5 digits.

Wednesday: Dragged someone to "Yeomen of the Guard" at the pumphouse theatre. I liked "Trial by Jury" and "HMS Pinafore" more last year, even though I had to go alone. This one was a bit less fun and had a sadder ending than other Gilbert and Sullivan stuff. I still really like musicals. Don't think anything will ever beat seeing Miss Saigon in Vancouver. Haha how typical of me.

Gastrointestinal system seems to generally have more issues coming back to a very 'developed' nation than leaving it. Doesn't that say something about our food (and probably my eating habits).

Costa Rica

Fun/Silly things
MegaSuper
MiniSuper
ElectroMega
"Number of Megas"
Screech-of-death busses
Milking the Tryp Corcobici
LAX-ercise
Dalek rice
"You look like Jesus" cave

Adventurous things
Surfing
Scuba diving (pacific)
Zip-lining
Canyoning (waterfall rappelling)
Caving (spelunking)
Scuba diving (caribbean)
Dentist

Pleasant things
Meeting people
Evening relaxing and chatting
Wandering through rainforest
Flora and fauna
Wandering along beaches
Sunsets
Sunrises
Local food
Fresh fruit! (maraculla is #1)
Ice cream at Puerto Viejo
Music at Baldi

Unpleasant things
Being sick (cold) / weak voice
Occasional sunburn
Occasionally getting Gringo'd

Best parts of being back
Hearing/seeing/eating chinese
Comfort of 'home base'
A few people

Worst parts of being back
Stink of cigarettes
Dry air
Facing reality