iToph

Google Voice

2009-07-15T11:29:00.004-05:00

I just got a new Google Voice account. The phone number is 630-551-TOPH (8674). It will forward to my cell and work - good for me since my cell gets poor reception at work.

You can also click on the link below and Google will call you and then connect the call to me.

It is free too! You can get an account here.

Directions to our New House

2009-07-07T23:54:00.003-05:00

Bike Ride

2009-05-13T14:07:00.002-05:00

I went on my first bike ride of the season, and I got to try out RunKeeper on my iPhone. It was just a short ride to 4 Lakes and back, check out the map:

Calf Part 11

2009-03-20T16:03:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the lack of updates, but, this has been a case of no news is good news. I wore my compression sleeve all day, every day, for most of January and February, and it seems to have made a difference.

I'm playing quite a bit of volleyball without issue these days. For example, last Sunday I played 7 matches of playoff volleyball on a hard court surface, and then 3.5 matches of league play on sand later that night. Then Monday I played 4 matches of playoff hard court. It was a little swollen, and slightly more purple then my other leg, but, not bad. If anything, I'd say my knees are in slightly more pain then my calf/ankle.

If I don't have any further updates here you can assume I've had no set-backs - knock on wood.

Amy and Toph take a Cruise with Sam and Pat

2009-03-18T23:45:00.002-05:00

81 Best Pictures or All 524 Pictures

Movies:

  Toph Boogie Boarding, Amy Rock Climbing

  Leaving St Martin: 1, 2

  Staff Juggling on Flow Rider

TripIt

2009-03-13T22:56:00.006-05:00

I recently found a great website for organizing trips - TripIt. All you have to do is forward them the e-mail you get from providers (air, hotel, car, etc) and they organize it and present a nice summary on the web. They also have a slick version formatted for mobile browsers. And they have an iCal feed so the info automatically appears on my iToph.com/Google calendars, and thus are synced to my phone. They even sync to Expensd for expense tracking. Check it out!

Here is a "blog badge" for my activity there. I might permanently put it in my sidebar, but, for now you can see it here.

Changing Mac OS X Web Server Root Directory

2009-03-02T02:08:00.003-06:00

This is hardly the first post on the topic... but I'm documenting this more for my own sake than anyone elses.

First, create a backup of httpd.conf:

ditto /etc/httpd/httpd.conf /etc/httpd.conf.bak

Then open it in vi:

sudo vi /etc/httpd/httpd.conf

Find the line that reads:

DocumentRoot "/Library/WebServer/Documents"

Change it to something like:

DocumentRoot "/Volumes/Mac/Web"

Use something like this to confirm the changes in the file after saving:

more httpd.conf | grep DocumentRoot

Ixtapa Volleyball Vacation

2009-02-06T22:58:00.006-06:00

62 Best Pictures or All 655 Pictures
Movies:
Amateur Finals Intro: Men Women
Pro Finals Intro: Men Women
National Anthem, Clouds

Calf Part 10

2009-01-29T23:21:00.004-06:00

I saw Dr Samuel Park, Ortho at the Dupage Medical Group in Lombard. First, let me say that I've been pleasantly surprised with the people and physical structure of the offices of the Dupage Medical Group - very pleasant.

I brought a copy of my MRI images, and gave Dr. Park a quick review of my history. Long story short, he says to keep doing what I am doing. When pain and swelling permit it I am allowed to play volleyball... even encouraged.

He thinks the original cause is because of overuse. He said my mild finger numbness is most likely a bit of carpal tunnel. He said the new minor injury on the other leg is also overuse. We discussed the possibility of getting another ultrasound, but, like everyone else I've talked to he feels that isn't really needed. If there was a clot in there it probably would have already done its damage.

He asked me if I wanted to go back to PT or if I felt like I remembered what we were doing there (I've already been to 15 visits). I did feel like I generally remembered, but, I also said that they do get better results - probably because they know how hard to push me and they keep my technique correct. Dr Park did write me a script for 12 PT visits, but, he did that more so I'd have it available as an option then because he felt I should definitely go.

I asked about the possibility of seeing a vascular specialist. He said that might be a good idea, and gave me the name of one.

In general, I liked Dr Park - he took the time to listen to all my questions and he provided thoughtful answers for them. However, I don't feel that I've really learned anything or that I should do anything differently. I suppose I will probably try to make an appointment with one of the vascular specialists he provided me info on.

Any comments?

Here are a couple snapshots of my MRI results. Plenty more where these came from if you're interested.

Calf Part 9

2009-01-24T23:34:00.003-06:00

Here is an update from sunny Mexico...

On January 15th I saw a new general practitioner... I had been meaning to get a new primary care doctor, and I thought it best to start there with my recurring leg problems. He basically said I could get another ultrasound, but, don't worry too much unless the swelling gets much worse or the problems spread.

On Saturday, January 17th I started to play sand volleyball on the beach here in Mexico. It caused me no major problems until shortly after a clinic on Thursday, January 22, at which time I could feel the swelling going in full force.

I did not play again until Saturday afternoon. I was able to play at about 75% normal speed and force - not too bad. I taped my ankle and wore a brace, not too bad overall. A couple hours after playing, however, I noticed a knot in my calf in my left leg (all the previous problems have been in the right leg). This is not good - all the previous doctors I spoke to had said how encouraging it was that I had no symptoms in the other leg. I also had some pain in the left foot, heel & arch. I will certainly be paying attention to how this progresses... and I am planning on skipping the upcoming Sunday matches.

Another point of concern - I have been experiencing some mild numbness in my fingers this week. Also, Amy noticed that my hands were cold this afternoon, compared to hers - that's odd because usually mine are warmer.

It all seems to be pointing to some circulatory issue... but I'd rather let the experts weigh in and make that diagnosis. While in Mexico I've had the opportunity to speak to a few people with relevant experience... a couple of them have said they'll tell my story to some experts back home and get back to me. I am optimistic something will come of these discussions.

Calf Part 8

2009-01-15T23:14:00.002-06:00

I played volleyball this week on Tuesday and Thursday. Tuesday was indoor hard court, and Thursday was indoor sand. My ankle (and the rest of the leg) actually felt better on Wednesday then it did on Tuesday, so, I guess playing didn't hurt it. It feels pretty good right now, shortly after playing on it on Thursday - so, I'm very optimistic that I'll be ok for Ixtapa - where I'll be playing volleyball in about 40 hours!

I went to a new general practitioner doctor today. I liked him a lot - he'll probably be my new Primary Care Physician. Even though he was running late when the appointment started I felt he spent a while to get to know my and my story, which goes a long way with me. Beyond that, he didn't actually offer any new advice that varies from what I've already heard. Basically his theory is: something happened back in August, there is blood pooling in the leg as a result, it is not leaving as fast as I'd like, it probably doesn't hurt to play volleyball when I'm pain free. There is a possibility that there is a clot in there, but, it is not very likely since this has been going on for a while now with no major problems.

Calf Part 7

2009-01-07T23:35:00.000-06:00

I wasn't planning on writing another Calf Update post - or if I did write one it was just going to say something like "I'm fine". Unfortunately, that is not the case.

Since my last update things had been improving significantly. I started playing once a week and building from there to 3-4 times / week. I still had some swelling after playing, but it was minimal and responded to icing, with no pain.

However, on approximately Christmas Day I woke up with a new pain in my calf. This is like the original pain, in that I first noticed it in the morning and it did not appear to be related to actually playing volleyball. This time the pain was approximately grape sized and located near the surface. At times it was so tender that I walked with a limp. I did play a few beach games in Florida on 12/27.

Next week we were visiting my parents in New York when the pain "migrated" to the inside of the upper ankle. Again, the pain was at its worst in the morning. It got quite painful and very swollen, to the point that it was definitely painful to walk. My Mom, a Physical Therapist, gave me a theraputic massage and it really helped... the swelling was way down, and the pain somewhat reduced.

As I write this I have pulled myself from all volleyball until January 17th, when we leave for our 9 day sand volleyball vacation in Ixtapa, Mexico. I am, obviously, really hoping that I will be able to participate in that.

Amy is quite concerned about my recent flare-up and I can't say I disagree. She has been reading up everything she can, and she is most worried about clots and other vein problems. I had an ultrasound and MRI back in August... and the diagnosis was a calf muscle tear. I can't say I ever really agreed with that diagnosis, but the Physical Therapy I went to for it really did make the leg feel better.

Anyway, long story short - what should I do now? Visit a new Primary Care Physician? Back to my Ortho? See a vascular specialist? Any advice is most welcome.

How Many 5 Year Olds

2009-01-02T01:37:00.001-06:00

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Dating Site

Christmas Beach Update

2008-12-25T17:31:00.002-06:00

Amy and I took a walk along the beach in Destin as our food coma wore off. Here is a map that RunKeeper on my iPhone made of the walk. If you click the "view details" link in the black box you'll get a map you can zoom and pan. It was really a round trip, ending where we started, but, RunKeeper shows us not getting all the way back - not sure why.

Calf Part 6

2008-11-18T01:08:00.002-06:00

It has been a long time since I posted an update regarding my calf. Here is an abbreviated update:

Tuesday, September 23 - I played in the first night of our Tuesday coed league. Felt fine.
Tuesday, September 25 - I played in the third night of our Thursday coed league. Felt fine.
Over the weekend things got worse.
Tuesday, September 30 - By Tuesday it was a lot worse, but I hadn't lined up a sub, so I played Tuesday coed... trying not to jump much. It didn't work too well... it still hurt quite a bit.

... lotsa PT ...

Week of October 19 - We were in Vegas. Lot of walking. Quite a bit of swelling.

... lotsa PT ...

Sunday, November 2 - I played in an open gym. 1 day of swelling, no pain.
Tuesday, November 4 - I played in Tuesday coed league again. 1 day of swelling, no pain.
Thursday, November 6 - I played in Tuesday coed league again. 1 day of swelling, no pain.

Its pretty much been like that ever since. I didn't have PT last week, due to scheduling conflicts... but I do have PT this week. Looking forward to hearing how they receive my status.

Las Vegas Pictures

2008-10-28T01:57:00.001-05:00

Amy and I spent a week in Vegas, most of the time with Sam and Pat. Here are my 30 Best Pictures and All 263 Pictures.

Calf Part 5

2008-09-21T23:24:00.003-05:00

I had a good week. On Thursday I did an 8 mile bike ride. I had no pain after that. Friday I had a good PT appointment - 90% strengthening.

On Saturday I biked to 4 Lakes where Amy was playing in a charity blind draw. I played a pickup game. After an hour I had no pain, so I played another one. After another 45 minutes I still had no pain, so I played 3 more pickup games. I wasn't going all out, probably somewhere between 50% and 75%. I didn't jump a lot, maybe a total of 8 or 9 times. I also wasn't very fast to dive/adjust forward. At the end of the day I biked the 4 miles home.

Sunday the whole leg was a bit stiff - mostly in the upper leg, which I attribute to a lack of use the last few weeks. The lower leg feels good.

I have 3 more weeks of twice a week PT. I think it is helpful, but, I'm not sure I'll need to go to all of the remaining appointment. We'll see.

Calf Part 4

2008-09-14T23:43:00.003-05:00

Things keep getting better with my calf. I haven't used my crutches since September 5th. Each day I am walking better, I am now able to walk heal to toe, instead of shortening the step or putting the foot out sideways.

On the 5th at PT I did a recumbent stepper. When I started I was going at a pace of about 12 steps / minute. After 10 minutes I was up to 24 steps / minute. At the next PT on the 9th I started at 24 steps / minute and finished at about 50 steps / minute. And then on the 12th I started at about 50 steps / minute and finished at about 100 steps / minute. That is about the limit - the machine also moves my arms, and, that is about as fast as I can go without rocking the machine violently.

The last week we've been focusing on enabling me to straighten my leg without pain. That is no longer a problem. Now we are focusing on strengthening the leg and stretching it.

I have two more PT appointments this week, and a doctor's appointment too. I'll see what the doc says - I'm optimistic that I'm on schedule to return to volleyball by October.

Calf Part 3

2008-09-09T01:27:00.003-05:00

On Friday I went to my second PT appointment. It went very well again. I went in being unable to bear any weight on my right leg, and came out able to walk (very badly) without crutches.

I have continued to limp around since then without crutches around the house & office. Longer distances I still use my crutches. Each day the pain and swelling have improved. Now the only issue is that it is difficult/painful to straighten the leg fully.

On Friday I received an ultrasound treatment, in addition to the "normal" heat, massage, stretching and ice. I didn't notice any immediate result of the ultrasound, but, I guess I can't argue with the results.

My next appointment is today, Tuesday. I'm expecting more improvement.

Calf Part 2

2008-09-04T00:21:00.002-05:00

I saw my PT (Physical Therapist) today, Kelly. I was somewhat skeptical going into the appointment, but, I think it helped and future sessions will continue to help. Today the focus was on two things: 1) trying to get me to straighten my leg, and 2) reduce the swelling (the calf, ankle and foot are all very swollen). I got a few exercises to do, and she encouraged me to elevate the leg whenever possible. I am going to try to figure out how to elevate it while at work.

As far as treatment today, it started with moist heat and some massage. Then we worked on some of my exercises. At the end she wrapped it in a large ace bandage for 5-10 minutes, to squeeze out some of the swelling. That was also the point of most of the massage.

My Torn Calf Muscle Story

2008-09-01T23:26:00.004-05:00

This is the long version of my calf muscle injury story. I honestly don't know why I'm documenting it here... maybe because my memory is so bad I'm worried about forgetting the details myself.

Saturday, August 16: I woke up with pain in my right calf. At the time I described it as being similar to the pain in my calf muscle after I've had a bad cramp in the calf. In hindsight I think that this had nothing to do with a cramp, and that was the only kind of muscle pain I had experience with. Anyway, I woke up with minor pain in the calf. It hurt a little bit while standing in line, but it wasn't too bad. I went ahead and played a full day at the blind draw - won the ugly - 13 games played including pickup. No pain once I started playing.

Sunday, August 17: Again I woke up with minor pain in the calf. I went ahead and played pickup at 4 Lakes, about 3 hours, probably about 7 games. Again, no pain once I started playing.

Monday, August 18: Again, I woke up with minor pain. I went to work. I don't recall really noticing the pain for too long. I played pickup Monday night (our regular league was postponed). No pain while playing.

Tuesday, August 19: I don't recall if there was morning pain. Let's assume there was. I did not play Tuesday night.

Wednesday, August 20: I woke up with slightly worse pain, odd because I didn't play the night before. Wednesday afternoon at work the pain got worse, I remember a moment or two where it was really bad - again just miscellaneous muscle pain. No volleyball again.

Thursday, August 21: The pain was much worse this morning. I stayed home from work. I got an afternoon appointment at my PCP. She was concerned about a blood clot, so I went to get an ultrasound. At first they weren't going to give me a Thursday appointment, but, I told them I'd wait around and see if they could squeeze me in, and they did. The ultrasound results were negative for a blood clot, and my PCP didn't really give me much more advice. Take advil, don't use it, it is probably a tear - but I didn't have any confidence in this diagnosis.

Friday, August 22: The pain was bad, but, I didn't want to sit around at home all day, so I went to work.

Saturday, August 23: Again, bad pain, Amy and I went to the EVP tourney at 4 Lakes. I walked around a little, and got some comfort from others who'd been through similar injuries. That night the pain started to move to my high ankle, and it got much worse. At this point I had to start using crutches as I could no longer put weight on the leg.

Sunday, August 24: The pain was horrible in the morning. I considered going to the ER, but ultimately decided against - in part because I know how much they charge, and in part because if I didn't move at all the pain was manageable. When the pain peaks I notice that my right foot is very swollen. It can get very large and red, but, even at its best I can't fit it into my pair of everyday sneakers... even my socks hurt - they squeeze too much.

Monday, August 25: The pain again was really bad. I stayed home from work again and went to my Ortho. He suspected a tear (after hearing about the ultrasound - he too thought it might be a clot). He scheduled me for an MRI the next day.

Tuesday, August 26: Average pain day. By the time of the MRI it was feeling pretty good. I had to do a double session because they couldn't scan my whole lower leg in one shot. I read a bit about MRI's the night before, so I was curious about the apparatus. The tech told me it was a 0.35 Tesla machine - superconducting magnet, liquid helium cooled. Neat.

Thursday, August 28: I had an evening appointment with my Ortho to get the MRI results. The report said severe strain, when I questioned him on that he said it translated to a muscle tear. Ok. I really wanted to get a pic or two of the MRI results, but I didn't. He told me I could take up to 3200 mg of Advil / day. I had only been taking up to 800 mg. He told I should expect to be out for 6-8 weeks. Assuming that starts with the first sign of pain, the 6 weeks would be up on September 27. He also said I should start PT (Physical Therapy) 2-3 times per week. He sent me upstairs at their office to set that up. BTW, my doctor is Dr Marquardt, one of the Ms at M & M Ortho. I just noticed, they have a volleyball net on their home page. He also said that I should start walking on it when I can.

Saturday, August 30: Finally some signs of improvement... after a week of constant crutches and a whole lot of pain, in the evening I started hobbiling around without my crutches. I am also able put a sneaker on my right foot again.

Monday, September 1: I continue to hobble around without using my crutches! My Advil use is also down somewhat - 400 - 600 mg. I now have pain in the back of the right leg, above the knee, but on the back. This is probably due, in part, to the way I've been carrying the leg while on the crutches.

Tuesday, September 2: Today

Wednesday, September 3: My first day of PT... 3 weeks of twice a week scheduled. I'll have to see a) how much they charge, and b) how much my insurance will cover. I'd like to go to all of the sessions, but, if it is going to cost too much I might not.

Click the calf label below to see if there are any updates... for those not familiar, bloggers can add labels (better known as tags) that describe the post, I'll use that one in any future posts about this.

Upchuck Blinddraw

2008-08-02T10:26:00.001-05:00

iPhone Post

2008-08-01T17:04:00.001-05:00

I'm posting this from my new iPhone! Yesterday I went to a Google App
Engine Hack-a-thon and I took this picture from the water taxi.

Chris Hancock - devout Scientologist

2008-07-27T21:11:00.002-05:00

I am not the Chris Hancock mentioned in this article. You probably knew that already - but, I wanted to make sure that was clear. I'm also not this substitute school bus driver.

Toph goes for a Glider Ride

2008-07-21T00:28:00.003-05:00

My parents gave me a ride on a glider plane for Christmas, and I finally took the ride this weekend (having a broken thumb has freed up some of my time).

Here is a link to the club, Windy City Soaring. This is a Google Map link to the runway (zoomed in). And this is a Google Map link to the route from our home to Hinckley.

I have 14 pics and 5 movies on my Pictures page.

It was a really good experience. I did the Eagle Ride which starts the glide a mile above the ground. My glide time was about 24 minutes, which would normally be longer, but there wasn't an opportunity to ride up any thermals. However, since it was my first glider ride I didn't realize what I was missing. I was able to take control of the stick and rudder for about 20 of the 24 minutes. It was a great experience.

USAV Nationals and AVP in Chicago

2008-07-20T23:12:00.002-05:00

In May Amy and I went to USAV Nationals in Atlanta. My team did much better than we've done in the past - reaching the finals of B bronze. Here are my 20 best pictures.

And then in mid July the AVP came to Chicago. Here are my 33 best pictures.

Technorati Profile

2008-07-01T13:39:00.000-05:00

I created an account for myself, and this blog, on Technorati.

ManBabies.com

2008-05-23T10:41:00.000-05:00

ManBabies.com
Crazy!

Broadband Speed Test

2008-04-29T22:27:00.001-05:00

I tested my Comcast cable modem speed via Speakeasy tonight. Via the Chicago server I got much faster speeds then I was expecting: 17,612 kbps down and 1,557 kbps up. I tested again with Seattle and got 12,768 kbps down and 2,162 kbps up.

Nice.

Update: I tested with my Verizon Broadband (Rev A) card (which they claim is like home broadband, and I got 797 kbps up and 250 kbps down.

City vs City Temperatures

2008-04-25T22:56:00.006-05:00

Amy and I were wondering how the average temperature differed between Fairport (where I grew up) and Downers Grove (where we live now). I found graphs showing this on weather.com, Fairport & Downers Grove.

Then I became curious if I could make an animated gif to alternate the two images. I found GIFfun from Stone Design to do that.

On the graph below red is the record high, orange the average high, light blue the average low, and deep blue the record low. Downers Grove is the one with warmer summers, including a July record high of 105 - click on the image to see the bigger version.

Here is the same comparison for Peoria and Benton, KY - Benton is warmer.

TypeRacer

2008-04-23T23:02:00.000-05:00

I just found this typing game, TypeRacer. It is oddly addicting. I am typing about 70 wpm. How fast do you type?

High Praise

2008-04-16T09:51:00.002-05:00

Closing Bracket says "ive been enjoying yor blog", when pressed for more details he clarifies, "mostly that it is there". No wonder over 2 people have subscribed to this blog.

MacBookPro Faster Sleep

2008-02-21T00:45:00.004-06:00

When I close the lid on my MacBookPro the white light stays on for 20-30 seconds... and then starts pulsing. It is taking this time to write the RAM contents to the HD in case the battery runs down or is removed this allows the computer to wake up and resume where I left off. There are a couple of command line options that one can enter to turn this on and off. Per this hint you can also save a shell script to make this process easier. I've included the script text here:

#!/bin/sh

SETTING=$1

if [ "$SETTING" == "off" ]; then
echo "Turning off safe sleep"
sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0
sudo nvram "use-nvramrc?"=false
echo "Don't forget to reboot!"
echo You are now free to remove your sleepimage file at /private/var/vm/sleepimage
elif [ "$SETTING" == "on" ]; then
echo "Turning on safe sleep"
sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 3
sudo nvram "use-nvramrc?"=true
echo "Don't forget to reboot!"
else
echo "Usage: safesleep on | off"
fi

I put this in a file named safesleep in this directory: ~/Scripts/shell/. ~ is a shortcut for the current user's home directory. Then I made the file executable by running chmod on it:

sudo chmod ug+x ~/Scripts/shell/safesleep

I also had to add the ~/Scripts/shell directory to my path, so I created a new file at ~/.profile, into which I put:

export PATH="/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:~/Scripts/shell"

Restart the shell (quit Terminal) and the script is ready to rock. Syntax is either "safesleep on" or "safesleep off". The script will remind you to reboot the computer for it to take effect.

I also installed the Dashboard widget Deep Sleep. This fellow causes the laptop to directly enter deep sleep. Deep sleep is a state that uses no power, the white light does not pulse, it is completely off. You do have to wait the 20-30 seconds for the ram to be written to the hard drive.

The combination of a safesleep off for fast normal sleeping, and Deep Sleep for no battery long term sleeping works well for me.

Waving Goodbye to Hegemony

2008-02-19T22:46:00.000-06:00

This is a interesting New York Times article about the "New World Order" - titled Waving Goodbye to Hegemony. My brother Josh sent this to me.

GMail This Bookmarklet

2008-02-19T21:43:00.002-06:00

iToph.com e-mail is hosted at Google Apps. When that was upgraded to the new GMail codebase (version 2) my GMail This and Compose bookmarklets stopped working. The solution, add ui=1 to the parameters list. Here is my complete GMail This bookmarklet. And here is my Compose bookmarklet. I have made both windows a bit larger than other bookmarklets. Also, you'll need to change the domain after /a/ to your Google Apps domain. Don't know what I'm talking about? Start here.

Using Leopard Time Machine with Network Share

2008-02-14T00:20:00.001-06:00

I just upgraded to Leopard. I want to use Time Machine to back up my laptop, but the only hard drive I have with extra space is an external hard drive currently plugged into my Mac Mini.

My first problem is that I don't have an open partition of the right size. To solve this I have created a 50 GB disk image. I setup that disk image with no encryption and a format of "read/write disk image." It took a few hours to create this image.

Then I mounted this image on the Mini and shared it through AFP (Personal File Sharing). Then I mounted this shared drive on the laptop. I could not tell Time Machine to use this network share... it did not appear. The solution was to change a system preference via the command line:

defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1

I heard about this technique here.

Then I told Time Machine to start backing up now. It failed with the error message: Time Machine Error The backup disk image could not be created. Eventually I found this thread. It advised me to:

1. Start Time Machine backup. Wait a little.
2. On the server, make a copy (cp -r) of the in-progress disk image.
3. Let Time Machine fail and delete the image.
4. Rename (mv) the copy created earlier to the same name of the deleted Time Machine sparsebundle image.

This worked!

Ixtapa Volleyball Vacation

2008-01-31T00:43:00.000-06:00

37 Best Pictures or All 209 Pictures

Geni

2008-01-04T18:35:00.000-06:00

Geni is a cool website that let's you build your family tree and collaborate with family members. Here is a small view of what Amy and I have entered there. Click and drag within the window to see more.

Click here to see more of our tree.

iTunes Skip Algorithm

2007-12-26T12:04:00.001-06:00

I use the Last Skipped date in several Smart Playlists in iTunes. However, a lot of songs that I think I skipped don't show up as having been skipped. I just skipped a bunch in iTunes and found that if you push next before 2 seconds have elapsed the track will not realize it has been skipped. I assume this is a feature in Apple's eye, and I don't really mind it... but I'd like to know the full algorithm. It appears there is also a boundary on the other end... if you let too much play it doesn't count as having been skipped.

Anyone know?

Lemmings

2007-12-21T22:58:00.000-06:00

I loved this game in the 80s - Lemmings

Glassbooth

2007-12-11T22:28:00.001-06:00

Glassbooth is a quiz that asks you your opinions on many presidential topics and that matches you up with the candidates based on their answers.

My results are:
1) Bill Richardson - 78%
2) Mike Gravel - 66%
3) Mike Huckabee - 65%

Other interesting results (for me):
Dennis Jucinich - 64%
Barack Obama 63%
Ron Paul - 60%

Most of the candidates were in the 61% range... with the lowest at 54%.

What did you get?

Engagement Bridge

2007-12-11T14:59:00.000-06:00

Today Google released Street View for Boston and several other cities. Amy and I got engaged on a bridge near Harvard... here it is:

View Larger Map

To see the bridge located on a map, click here.

24 Hour Fast

2007-11-25T16:30:00.000-06:00

I am going to start a 24 Hour Fast on Wednesday nights... Basically, I won't eat between dinner Wednesday and dinner Thursday. Just water. It shouldn't be too hard for me... I haven't eaten yet today, and its already 4:30. Here is an NPR piece on fasting.

NPR : Retune the Body with a Partial Fast

And here is a WebMD link that Amy finds more useful.

3 Point Layup

2007-11-16T01:10:00.000-06:00

This is a question that has bounced around in my head for 20+ years. The NBA 3 point line is (at it longest) 23 feet and 9 inches from the basket. The world record long jump is over 29 feet. See where I am going yet?

Wouldn't it be neat to see a long jump athlete use their ability to travel through the air to shorten a 3 point shot significantly... maybe to the point of a layup?

Ignoring the practicality of it for a second... what are the rules regarding this? The 3 point "shooter" has to jump from behind the 3 point line, but they don't have to shoot from behind it, right? Do they have to be in possession of the ball when they leave 3 point territory? Or could another player pass them the ball after they take off? Maybe a player could have it near the basket and pass it to the jumper as they near the basket. Does anyone know the rules regarding this?

For the record, the high school distance is 19 feet 9 inches, International distance is 20 feet 6 inches, and the college distance (starting this year) is 21 feet 9 inches.

Backcourt Violations

2007-11-16T01:06:00.000-06:00

In the NBA the teams have 8 seconds to advance the ball over the half court line. If, after advancing the ball over the half court line the opponents tip it back over the half court line it is not a violation. This is where my question starts... does the offense have a new obligation to bring the ball back over the half court line in 8 more seconds? Or can they just stay in the backcourt until the shot clock runs out?

Chicken Parmesan

2007-11-01T00:04:00.000-05:00

Its no secret that we don't cook very much... but tonight we decided to - we made
Chicken Parmesan. It was pretty good, and not too hard.

Great Apes by Will Self

2007-10-20T23:21:00.000-05:00

On our recent cruise I started to read Great Apes by Will Self (it was available in the ship library). It was an odd book, as the Amazon reviews suggest. I didn't get very far, and I don't plan to go back and read any more... but just in case I change my mind, I want to remember that I made it to Pg 49, Chapter 4, it starts "In the car-deck room..."

Amy and Toph Cruise in Canada and New England Movies

2007-10-18T00:05:00.000-05:00

79 Best Pictures or All 659 Pictures

Now with Movies:
  Montmorency Falls: 1 2
  Halifax Bagpipes & St Johns Music
  Reversing Falls: 1 2 3 4 5 6 - About

Amy and Toph Cruise in Canada and New England

2007-10-12T17:07:00.000-05:00

79 Best Pictures or All 659 Pictures

Catching the Football at its Highest Point

2007-10-10T22:30:00.000-05:00

Football announcers and analysts like to say that receivers are catching the ball at its highest point or at least they should catch it at its highest point. WRONG! The highest point occurs about halfway between the quarterback and the receiver (exactly where depends on many things, but, it is safe to say about halfway).

The thing they are probably trying to say is that the receiver should catch the ball as high as they can.

Does this annoy anyone else?

Once the Movie

2007-09-11T12:25:00.000-05:00

Amy and I saw Once the Movie at Tivoli with the After Hours Film Society. We both liked it... but did not love it. I give it 3 stars. Here are some Amazon reviews, including one by a guy we know named Jim Hisson.

Here is a movie of a street musician I took when we were in Dublin that Once reminded me of:

And here are a few pics:

Bulls Season Tickets Discussion

2007-09-04T12:24:00.000-05:00

As John has said... this is a possible location for a discussion about how to allocate the Bulls tickets.

HDMI Cable

2007-07-13T17:52:00.001-05:00

I bought a 40 foot HDMI cable from Blue Jeans Cable. I haven't used it yet, but, they were easy to deal with during the ordering, shipping and payment processes.

Space Shuttle and Space Station Pictures

2007-06-21T10:58:00.000-05:00

The Space Shuttle undocked from the Space Station Tuesday morning. As of Wednesday night they were still near each other... I took a few pictures.

USAV Nationals Pictures

2007-06-04T02:19:00.000-05:00

Best:20 pictures
Impact (my team): 22 pictures
Papakoa 60s: 45 pictures
Chicago Coast South: 12 pictures
Other Stuff: 56 pictures

One Place Where Obama Goes Elbow to Elbow

2007-06-03T22:34:00.000-05:00

This is a interesting story in the NY Times about Obama playing basketball.

One Place Where Obama Goes Elbow to Elbow - New York Times

Movies from Tahoe Trip Now Online

2007-05-31T02:19:00.000-05:00

They are here.

Back from USAV Nationals

2007-05-30T22:23:00.000-05:00

I'm back from USAV Nationals. I don't have any pictures up yet. But I will soon. Update here when ready.

Expensive Gas

2007-05-30T14:17:00.000-05:00

I just paid $72.21 to fill up my Mo. That's 19.5 gallons at $3.699 per. Whoa.

The Last Question -- Isaac Asimov

2007-05-26T01:01:00.000-05:00

This is Issac Asimov's favorite short story: The Last Question

Amy and Toph Finish a Session at North Beach

2007-05-25T00:15:00.000-05:00

Success. Here are the details.

NBA Playoffs Seeding Idea

2007-05-18T00:48:00.000-05:00

I have an idea for improving the seeding in the NBA playoffs. In the first round let the team with the best record pick their opponent from the other 7 teams in their conference. Then proceed to the team with the next highest record and have them pick their opponent from the remaining 5 teams. Repeat as needed to complete the first round matchups. Repeat again for the later rounds.

I'm certainly no Mavericks apologist, but, didn't they earn the right to not play Golden State in the first round if they didn't want to? The intent of legislating 1 vs 8 is to provide them with the matchup that is to their best advantage. However, the Mavericks probably wouldn't have picked Golden State since Nellie's had their number all year. Another interesting possibility is that a top team might choose to take on another top team if they have significant short term injuries - say Duncan was out for the first round. Would Dallas or Phoenix choose to play San Antonio in the first round? Either way it would probably lead to much good discussion.

The main point I've heard against this idea is that teams 4-8 would have nothing to play for. I can think of 5 things they have to play for:

Pride - simple as that
The likelihood that most #1 seeds would pick #8, and #2s pick #7, etc.
Maybe #1 will pick #2 and #3 will pick #4. Then #5 would get their pick of the rest. Not likely, but, you never know.
Similar to #3, what if 5-8 beat 1-4 in the first round. Then #5 would have their pick of the rest.
#7 & #8 are probably fighting off #9 & #10 just for the right to make the playoffs.

Another problem with this idea is that all the games (in a conference) from the first round would have to be complete before the second round could begin. This scheduling inflexibility is not TV friendly.

I sent this idea to Henry Abbott at ESPN/TrueHoop. He liked it and posted it. I also sent the idea to The Basketball Jones and they liked it enough to talk about it in the show (12 minutes in).

What do you think?

Amy and Toph Vacation in Tahoe

2007-05-18T00:39:00.000-05:00

43 Best Pictures

All 328 Pictures

Welcome

2007-05-17T11:17:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my blog. I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to use this... but my general intention is to not stick to a regular posting schedule or set of topics. I do plan on posting notices when I have new pictures at iToph.com. I have an idea about the NBA playoffs that I'll post soon. I might post work (SQL) related ideas from time to time.