If you can’t tell, I have a new template for my website. Many thanks to Trevor for the new design. I’m having some minor issues integrating the template with WordPress. For some reason the navigation bar goes to the left (it’s centered on the other pages) and my footer’s not working. If you happen to know CSS and what I’m doing wrong, leave a comment or send me an email. Hopefully, I’ll have those issues, and a few other minor ones, resolved soon.
I'm Alive
Yes, I am alive. Stay tuned.
A Good Online Visual Dictionary
Don't you hate it when you’re trying to describe something but don't know the name for it? As a writer, this really bugs me. The other night I was tying to find out what you call those pads that hold your glasses to your nose (they're called "nose pads" if must know) and stumbled across a really useful visual dictionary from the good people at Merriam-Webster. I haven't gone through their entire offering but it seems to be at least as good (maybe even slightly better) than my giant visual dictionary I've been refereeing to until I got too lazy to pick it up last night. And what's really cool is that they list the definitions to all the words on the bottom of the page.
One note when using visual dictionaries: Occasionally visual dictionaries use the technical word for or a part or piece of equipment instead of what the part is commonly referred to. If the word sounds to strange, ask someone who knows what it’s really called.
Check out Merriam-Webster's visual dictionary here.
What People Read
Swimming: My Respite from Reality
When temperatures are routinely climbing past 100 degrees Fahrenheit, it makes me glad I’ve incorporated swimming into my gym routine once or twice a week – depending on my workout schedule. Yesterday after giving my abs and shoulders a good workout, I headed for the pool. The water was nice and cold compared to the hot sweaty gym. The water felt so good that after my 20 minute swim, I didn’t want to leave the pool. Just wanted to float in the water and pretend there wasn’t a crushing load of work to deal with back at the office or that I’d be sweating in the hot car again after heading back to the office.
Since there was no one else in the pool I closed my eyes and floated on my back letting my breathing and heart rate slow, enjoying the still water and the silence that comes with having your ears below water.
For a few minutes my mind wandered.
I thought about what a better swimmer I am now than I was when I started swimming last month. I’m still the slowest swimmer in the pool, but my time, technique, and endurance have improved tremendously. Michael Phelps may not have to worry about me in the 2008 Beijing Olympics but he and the rest of the American swimming team better look out in 2012.
I ruminated over a problem I was having with one of the characters in my novel and whether or not I should eliminate him from the story altogether.
I wondered what Marathon Girl was doing and hoped she was taking some time to rest. Between taking care of three young kids and have a fourth one on the way, she needed those afternoon breaks when the kids are down for naps.
I started to think of something else but there was a disturbance in the water. I looked up. In the next lane a swimmer was barreling down the lane, toward my end of the pool. I watched him flip as he reached the end of the pool and headed back to the other end.
My respite from reality was over.
It was time to get back to work.
Join the Dharma Initiative
Admit it. You’ve wanted to join the Dharma Initiative since you saw that first grainy movie back on the first season of LOST. Well, now you can.
Not sure what, exactly, ABC is doing with this, but I signed up anyway to fill that LOST void. If anyone else takes the recruitment test, you’ll have to let me know if some of the images and “answers” freak you out a little.
Join here.
Houston, My Kind of City II
A reader, who knows of Marathon Girl and my fondness for Houston, forwarded me a great article from The New York Sun that compares New York City to Houston.
New Yorkers are rightly proud of their city's renaissance over the last two decades, but when it comes to growth, Gotham pales beside Houston. Between 2000 and 2007, the New York region grew by just 2.7%, while greater Houston — the country's sixth-largest metropolitan area — grew by 19.4%, expanding to 5.6 million people from 4.7 million.
To East Coast urbanites, Houston's appeal must be mysterious: The city isn't all that economically productive — earnings per employee in Manhattan are almost double those in Houston — and its climate is unpleasant, with stultifying humidity and more days with temperatures exceeding 90 degrees than any other large American city. Since these two major factors in urban growth don't explain Houston's success, what does?
Houston's great advantage, it turns out, is its ability to provide affordable living for middle-income Americans, something that is increasingly hard to achieve in the Big Apple. That Houston is a middle-class city is mirrored in the nature of its economy. Both greater Houston and Manhattan have about 2 million employees.
When Marathon Girl and I visited four years ago, we were surprised at how inexpensive the city was yet still provided all the amenities and services that we’d want if we lived there. It was the last thing we expected from such a big city, but our time in Houston and the surrounding area was enough to make us seriously consider living there. (Honestly, it’s just a matter of time until we end up moving there.)
We were especially floored by the low housing prices. The reason for the low housing prices are addressed in the article
Houston… has always been gung ho about development. Houston's builders have managed — better than in any other American city — to make the case to the public that restrictions on development will make the city less affordable to the less successful.
Of course, Houston's development isn't costless. Like most growing places, it must struggle with water issues, sanitation, and congestion. For environmentalists who worry about carbon dioxide emissions and global warming, Houston's rapid growth is particularly worrisome, since Houstonians are among the biggest carbon emitters in the country — all those humid 90-degree days mean a lot of electricity to cool off, and all that driving gobbles plenty of gas.
But Houston's success shows that a relatively deregulated free-market city, with a powerful urban growth machine, can do a much better job of taking care of middle-income Americans than the more "progressive" big governments of the Northeast and the West Coast.
Taking the cost of living, salaries (they’re much higher in NYC), taxes, etc. residents of Houston come out with more money in their pockets and a higher quality of life. That’s not to say that the city’s perfect. Houston does have hot, muggy weather most of the year and higher property taxes than NYC (and Utah, for that matter). But overall, it’s impressive that a city as big as Houston can be such a middle class magnet and a good place to raise a family.
Since I’ve been more vocal about my desire to live there, it’s amazing how many friends, co-workers, and acquaintances have family members who have relocated from Utah to the Houston area in the last five years. All say that the friends/family who moved there really like it.
(It should be noted that I have about a half-dozen regular blog readers who live there or have lived there at some point and have nothing but positive things to say about the city and living there.)
Yeah, I think relocating to Houston is simply a matter of time.
Q&A About My New Running Shoes
The “box man” – what my four-year-old son calls the UPS delivery person – dropped off a new pair of running shoes last week. All the kids gathered around in anxious anticipation while I opened it and tried them on. Then the questions came. I swear the White House press corps has nothing on my kids when it comes to asking tough questions.
Q: Are you going to go running right now?
A: No. I just had dinner. I can’t run on a full stomach.
Q: Can I try them on?
A: Sure.
Q: Will these shoes help you run fast?
A: Yes, they’ll help me run fast.
Q: Will you be able to run fast like Mom [Marathon Girl]?
A: Probably not.
Q: Why does Mom run faster than you?
A: Because she’s a gifted athlete.
~blank stares from kids~
A: Let me rephrase. Mom is very a very fast runner. Not everyone can run fast like mom.
Q: Why?
A: Some people are fast runners while other people are good at baseball players. Everyone’s good at different things.
Q: Can I run fast like mom?
A: One day you probably will.
Q: You’re bigger than mom, why can’t you run faster?
A: That’s a good question.
Q: Can I have your old shoes?
A: No. Dad’s going to throw them away.
Q: Why?
A: Because they’re old and smelly.
Q: Why?
A: Because dad runs in them all the time.
Q: Can I throw them away?
A: Yes.
Q: Can I go running with you when you wear them [the new shoes]?
A: Of course.
Q: Can we go outside and run right now? The sun’s still up.
A: Good idea! Let’s go outside and run.
Q: Don’t forget your new shoes.
A: I won’t.
Randy Pausch 1960-2008
Randy Pausch died this morning after a heroic battle with cancer. If you haven't seen his last lecture, you can watch it below. I'm currenly reading his book.
Giant Moth
The kids and I found a giant moth while taking a walk the other day. Insects this big aren't something one normally finds in Utah. No wonder the kids were fascinated and scared at the same time.