First World Problems

Laura said she'd explode if I ever said "first world problem" again, but since I'm writing it - not speaking it - I assume this is OK.

We've had a helluva couple of weeks with things breaking around here:

Our oven stopped working after a self-clean cycle. We had the repair guy out, and he worried that the cost of repair would be 2/3 the cost of a new oven. Regardless, I had him go ahead and order the suspected part. When I hadn't heard from him in almost a week, I cancelled the first repairman and called a different repair company. This one refused to attempt the repair, not knowing what the first guy had done. This is now two full weeks without an oven, approaching Christmas time. I fell on my sword, called the first company back again, and asked them to please re-order the part. He called back on the weekend and told us we need to go see what's available at the local stores - the prices for new appliances are even lower as it approaches Christmas. So we bought a new oven. First world problem solved by money.

Laura was sitting on the couch last week and her iPad fell onto the floor, and promptly stopped working. After several attempts, and a visit with Apple repair, she bought a replacement. First world problem solved by money.

While we were travelling to the Apple store, we were running a bit late for the appointment and it was raining, so Laura (driving) dropped herself off at the front doors of the mall while I searched for a parking spot. Because of the particular way she stopped the car and got out, the remote opener for the car stopped working. We thought this was another expensive repair, but it finally "healed" itself after a couple of start-stop-restart cycles of the car. First world problem solved by patience.

On Sunday, we put Kathryn on an airplane for a year (minimum) in Brisbane, Australia. Travis will be joining her there in a month or two - he has a job now with Virgin Australia. We're sad to see her go, and it was awfully nice to have both kids on the same continent for a while, but she has a life to live and I'm jealous of the one she has. She'll have a great adventure. First world problem solved by money (ie: buy a plane ticket and go see her and talk to her whenever we want via Skype).

Seems to me the only first world problems not solved by money are health issues - been there, done that. So maybe first world problems aren't really problems at all - they're attitude and perspective.

I'm proud that both kids have asked for us to donate some first world cash (Kiva.org and Covenant House are the current choices) this year in lieu of any gifts. This is a first world problem we should be happy to have.

The Low Carb Diet - Day 292

I started eating this way on February 11, so that makes today "day 292 on the low carb diet". I thought it was about time to update my progress.

The primary change has been the elimination of almost all non-fruit/vegetable carbohydrates. I'll still eat the odd potato, but won't have that cracker or slice of bread. When I was a vegetarian, almost all my calories came from breads and cereals, and as I've written here before, I now attribute that diet to my cardiovascular problems. Too many carbs cause too many insulin spikes which cause too much damage to the inside of arteries. Too much damage results in heart disease and stroke. I'm two for two on that count.

Today I'd estimate that I eat twice as much fruit and veg as I did as a vegetarian. Since I cannot get the extra calories I need from grains, I have to compensate with produce. I could just eat more meat and fish, but it has an interesting effect of filling you up rather quickly - so you can't consume the calories you need before feeling satiated.

My "dessert" items now are a piece of dark chocolate, a bowl of Greek Yogurt with blueberries, or an apple with some cheese. A far cry from a big slice of pumpkin pie.

So what are the noticeable results?

1. I have lost, and kept off, about fifteen pounds of weight. I didn't need to lose it, but I did.
2. My blood profiles, last time I checked, were very good - but the more I learn, the less I care. My previous obsession with cholesterol levels and ratios now seems naive. I don't care what my levels are now, I just know that they're better now then they ever were on drugs. And I don't think the medical community really knows what a "good" level is anyway...
3. I'm off all the drugs and vitamins. No more statin, no more Co-Q-10, no more niacin. I still take a baby aspirin every day, and top up with a Vitamin D supplement in the winter.

Most importantly, as time goes on I find my attraction to sweets and grains is getting lower and lower. I now find it takes no effort at all to say "no" to dessert. And I don't think twice about not making a sandwich. Mom's not even making me peanut rolls for Christmas - this will be the first time in about fifty years!

Overall, this has now transitioned from being an experiment to being a lifestyle. I don't think it's a diet anymore...

Serendipity

Could this be the place?

We got off the ship on Sunday morning and took a shuttle to the Tampa Airport. I was conned into "upgrading" the car from a Ford Fusion to a convertible Ford Mustang ... in hindsight it seems pretty frivolous, but you only live once and there is a lot of sunshine in Florida.

We had reservations at a hotel in Fort Myers, but by the time we disembarked, rented the car, and drove an hour or so south of Tampa, it was nearing lunchtime. I also wanted to check the exit number for the Holdway's (my manager at Agilent more than a decade ago) because I wasn't sure it was as far south as Fort Myers.

Turns out I was right, and our lunch (at exit 213) was near the Holdway house at exit 195. Fort Myers was another hour south (about exit 120) and would have been a terrible overshoot to have to check in and drive all the way back.

Regardless, there was another Marriott hotel across the street from our lunch place, and the price was OK so we decided to stay there instead - and cancel our reservation further south. We had a nice visit with the Holdways, and got back to this new hotel late last night.

Today we ventured out into Sarasota and Sunset Beach - which is near the new hotel. It was so attractive to us that we've decided to stay another couple of nights here and forego any trip south to Fort Myers.

This place is what Palm Springs (my previous "best destination") could be if it had an ocean. I'm liking it a lot.

I can now understand the attraction of Florida for anyone living in the North East USA or Central/Eastern Canada.

Maybe these people have got it all figured out.

Now what to do about the hurricane problem??????

Proper Cruise-ship Etiquette

As I'm a huge hypocrite for constantly saying I'll never travel on another cruise-ship  but continue to do so, I have collected these tips on proper etiquette. I thought they might find use if you should ever find yourself on a floating hotel....

• If you ever have to travel either one deck up or one deck down, it's prudent to wait patiently for the elevator for the five or ten minutes, instead of expending the three calories it would take to move your butt on the stairs,
• Since you've already paid for the food, it's best to take at least twice as much as you could possibly eat, and leave half of it on your plate when you pull away from the table.
• If you eat in the dining room instead of the buffet, it's considered proper manners to order two of everything - two appetizers, two main courses, and a minimum of two desserts. Again, don't eat most of it.
• Even if you don't even walk around the block at home, you should take up fitness on the walking track, the stair-master, or a stationary bike while on the ship. Everyone will be impressed with your 225lb body on a 5'6" frame. They can tell at a glance that you are a jock.
• Wear spandex whenever you can. It looks extra good when you're on that exercise bike. 
• All women, especially those over 50, should wear a bikini. Men over 50 are required to wear a Speedo.
• Travelling by cruise ship is all about one thing - shopping. Shopping needs to be your priority in every stop, so you can tell everyone at home how wonderful the port-of-call was. 
• Whether you're shopping or touring (when the stores are closed), it's important to travel as a group. The larger the group, the better. Optimal group size is 400.
• If an ignorant local person doesn't understand what you're saying, just say it louder. Maybe say it slower, but definitely louder. People that don't understand English just haven't heard you speak it.
• The staff that work on the ship need to be given outlandish, extravagant, mean-spirited instruction from you on what you'd like done. They're all overpaid anyway. They prefer to be called "boy".

I've probably missed several other tips on cruise ship survival, but it should get you to thinking...

Dispatch from the First World

This is a short update on our NYC-Washington-Boston-Cruise-Tampa-East-Coast-Extravaganza-Tour travels. We've only been gone for a few days, but there's much to tell. Most of it, unfortunately, is made up.

New York

We arrived at Newark International Airport a little over a week ago. As Laura chose to check her 348kg "carry on", we had to wait till the next day to fetch in on the luggage carousel, all the while being harassed by New Jersey cab drivers: "you gotta ride?", "you wanna ride?", "you don't wanna ride with dat guy, he's from Jersey City". Eventually, after exploring the mostly vacant airport (it was close to midnight on a Wednesday), we caught the shuttle to our hotel in Rahway, NJ. As it turned out, the hotel was a great deal (about 1/3 the cost of Manhattan) and they offered a free shuttle on-demand to the commuter railway station about a half mile away. As it also turned out, the hotel needed to offer a shuttle because it was close to absolutely nothing but the NJ Turnpike. I appreciated the non-shopping opportunity. Laura did not.

The train to Penn Station took about 40 minutes, and was filled with people going to work, shopping, or on a contract hit for someone. We had a great few days in Manhattan, did a bunch of touristy things, and had wonderful (warm, sunny) weather. One of the highlights was a visit to the school Dave would like to attend - the New York Academy of Art. Even for a "finer things neanderthal" like me, I was impressed. I figure if he can get in, he should go - if only so I can see the guy painting with roofing tar and portland cement again.

We were in NYC for 4 full days, and my legs hurt from all the walking. I was also "Art Galleried Out" and wanted to regain a piece of my personal bubble again. So, off to Washington on Monday via train.

Washington, DC

Laura's wonderful new carry-on/backpack/bag-with-wheels has it's limitations - whenever it's moved. We took Amtrak from Rahway to Washington and had to lift her new bag into the overhead space. Easy enough if it weighed, say, 20kg. Not so easy when it's 348kg. They don't weigh your luggage like an airline. Bruce would appreciate all the people bringing car batteries on board, getting ready for Hurricane Sandy.

Our place in Washington wasn't upscale, but it reminded me of the place we had in Istanbul - clean and well run - so that's all we need. But to give it two stars would be generous. Good thing Laura has a sense of humour. The location was great - only 8 blocks down the street to the White House. I had to decline dinner there, as I had to do a blog post that evening, and it would only be Michelle and the kids anyways (awkward!). We spent two days walking up and down "The Mall" and spending the requisite amount of time at each of the 4,325 Smithsonian Museums. On the last day, we rented bikes and took in the attractions that you couldn't easily walk to (at least not me). Arlington Cemetery and the Kennedy Grave Site (man, there's a lot of Kennedy grave-sites), The Lincoln Memorial, The Jefferson Memorial (who knew that a drycleaner in NYC could get his own memorial), the WWII Memorial - I was too upset to do the Vietnam Memorial (flashbacks).

Up at 6am on Friday to hail an Ethiopian cab driver - who pulled a U-turn in the middle of a busy intersection (his choice) to pick us up and take us to the train station. Then another 8 hours on the train to Boston, with stops in Houston, LA, Seattle and Chicago (I got a cheap fare). At least the trains now have WiFi - circa 1985 WiFi, but I manage (one of the sacrifices I make). Pulled into Boston at 4:30pm, and caught a cab to our VRBO. 

Boston

Boston was a hard place for me to find a room for less than $3500/night and within 400 miles of the city. I did find a small one bedroom place right beside North Church in the North End (actually, very central). Because we arrived late in the day, they left the keys for me in their Reality Office mailbox. So I grabbed them, ripped them open, asked the guy next door where the address was, walked to it with all our luggage, and then discovered I had taken someone else's keys. 

Trudged back to the office, got the envelope with my name on it, and actually found the right address. It's tiny - I'm sure the Airstream has more usable space - but it's OK. Again - location, location, location. And our location is right by a laundromat - and Laura needs one today (I've, of course, been hand washing for ten days in a contact lens container). Bought a cup of coffee (Americano - but had to explain just what that was) at the coffee shop beside the laundry, and can now resolutely say that Boston has no idea what coffee is. Tea, maybe (they have a history), but not coffee. Laura tried another Boston Coffee later in the day - same result. Something like discount Maxwell House instant with too much water. Yumm.

We keep monitoring the interwebs for news on the cruise (RCL Jewel) leaving Sunday. So far, it still looks OK. Weather here in Boston should be alright until Tuesday, and the ship should be well out to sea en-route to the eastern Caribbean by then. 

This morning it was bright, warm, and sunny .. but by 2pm the wind had picked up and the temperature had gone down - so the big storm is really on its way.

More later, if Laura lets me....

In A New York Minute

Laura and I are in New York.

Actually, we're in Rahway, New Jersey - but more on that in a minute.

We arrived here three days ago, and spent two full days in New York City. The first day was wonderful, the second day - less so.

I could fill you in on all the sordid details, but I won't. Instead, a few observations from a guy who was last in NYC in 1984.

• In 1984, there were only 3,568 people living and working in Manhattan. Now there are 123,345,874.
• There are only 3 public restrooms available to service all of them.
• There are three excellent restaurants at the Met Art Gallery. There were 1,239,758 people at the gallery today. The restaurants comfortable seat 32. In total.
• The walk from midtown to downtown is only a couple of kilometers. There are 5,349 pedestrian fatalities every 50m in Manhattan. And these are mostly the people that actually wait for the walk light.
• The Empire State Building is a 102 story captive-audience-sales-opportunity.
• There are 38 NYC police officers at every intersection in the city.
• Why is it that the 45 year old woman with a cell phone in her ear can walk straight into an oncoming FedEx truck and not even flinch. And not be a statistic.

Laura insisted that I add a couple of her points as well, and that the advice you get about visiting NYC is worth paying attention to ...

• We're staying in New Jersey, and taking the train into Manhattan every day. If I had to do this again - I would. The 40 minute train ride gives you some decompression time, and forces you to stay out and about all day. It's really the same as a commute at home, only you aren't driving.
• Use a washroom whenever you see one (we've been told that there is one, but haven't found it yet). 
• Take food with you if you don't eat junk. 
• Wear really comfortable walking shoes. Even if you do, your legs will ache after day one.
• Figure out the subway. It's worth the effort.
• If you're functionally literate, figure out the train schedule too - it will save you hundreds.

Payday

 Gisela Giardino via Compfight

As most of you know, I've been trying to commercialize my sleep blog (BuildBetterSleep.com) over the last several months.

I started the blog in November 2011, with the expressed intent that I wanted to

• have a forum to write about everything I learn about insomnia
• journal my own experiences from sleeplessness to sleeping well again 
• see if I could turn this experiment into a stream of income ... if I could, I'd replicate it with some other interests I have (Minimalist Travel is one of them)

An overall theme here is to create work for me that's location and time independent. This means I could do the work from anywhere, at any time. I've been very lucky to have a couple of friends in tech (Dave K and Mark N) who've also offered up some part-time consulting work.

Years ago, Dave K was the one who said "my ideal job would be a whole bunch of part-time jobs" - and that's what I'm aiming for... with a twist. 

All of this is neither here nor there! The point of this post is that the commerciality of BuildBetterSleep.com is starting to pay off. I've received my first cheque from Amazon.com, with another small one from SleepTracks.com in the hopper. They're both very small at this point, but it's a start.

Maybe this whole internet thing isn't just a fad???

The Redneck Antenna - Phase II

Many of you know the grand experiment last fall with the home-made redneck HD antenna I made. It worked pretty well, until I accidentally lodged one of the "whiskers" into the back of the TV and blew it up. So in all, the antenna cost me $5.00 in parts and $750 for a new TV. Let's say that Laura was less than impressed, and our $150/month subscription to Shaw cable was renewed.

But that was a year ago, and with the looming lack of a hockey season this year, Laura agreed to give it another try. This time with some more commercial solutions.

While we were on vacation in Oregon, I found a commercial HDTV antenna at Costco for $30. It looks good, has a very small footprint, and is now stuck unobtrusively in our living room window. I get about 11 channels off the air, with all three local networks (CBC, CTV and Global) coming in very well.

Because we're now relying on the internet for most of our on-air entertainment, I got a US-based proxy service (this means that for all intents and purposes, it looks like we live in Seattle as far as our internet connection is concerned). This provides us with all the benefits that only a US resident could appreciate.

So far, this US-based proxy has given us access to:

• HULU, which is a service which puts all of network TV and cable TV at your fingertips.
• The Netflix feed, which looks at your location and then decides what programs you have access to. We now have access to hundreds (thousands?) of additional programming over our old Canadian feed. I watched reruns of Adam-12 off Netflix last night.
• All those YouTube links that don't work because you're not in the USA. They now all work.

With this proxy service, we can use hundreds of worldwide locations as our "point of presence" for the internet feeds. An interesting aside to this is that I can "look" like I'm in London, England, and have access to all the local BBC programming (like live feed of BBC news). I can also look like I'm in Amsterdam or Africa or Australia or ....

The proxy service costs about $65 a year, and has the important benefit of anonymizing everything you do on the net. Shaw now knows nothing about what I do, including any streaming or torrents I might be viewing. You become invisible.

We've cancelled cable TV again, and our bill has dropped from $150 to $70 a month (I have a very high end internet connection - you  could probably get by with much less).

It's early days, but I think it will work well this time. So far I haven't blown anything up.

BC Depreciation Reports

If you don't happen to live in a Strata (Condo) Property in BC, this post will be of no interest to you.

At dinner last night, we had a conversation about BC's new "Depreciation Report" Legislation for strata properties. Basically, it's now a requirement that any strata property with more than five units (so small properties are exempt) must now:

1. commission a regular engineering report detailing the estimated repair, maintenance and replacement of all the components of common property in the strata (things like roads, roofs, common buildings, painting, fences, etc) for a thirty year time period (ongoing)
2. fund the expected costs of these items through their monthly strata fees

This legislation will parrot the same laws in most other jurisdictions, with the intended outcome of adding predictability to the strata housing market. A new market will be created where you'll know about the long term financial commitments of a strata property, and the funding for those commitments will be in place.

I have no problem with the intent of this legislation, I'm only concerned with the unintended consequences of its adoption.

When I do an online search for "BC Depreciation Reports" the only hits I get are from Engineering firms (doing the reports) and Strata Management Companies (commissioning the same). There are no "anti" or "against" opinions. It's like the legislation only has as upside, and no downside.

The law does give us an out - with a 3/4 vote at regular intervals, a strata can "opt-out" of the reports and the funding.

The Argument For
The basic argument is to analyse two otherwise identical properties. One has a funded depreciation report on file, and the other doesn't. Which one would you buy?

The industry maintains that "of course, you'd chose the property with the report - as a matter of fact, the mortgage provider (banks) will demand it".

The market will provide higher selling prices for those properties with reports.

The Argument Against
Same scenario. Two identical properties. One with a report, one without. The one with the report has strata fees of $500 a month. The one without has strata fees of $200 a month.

The non-report property has decided that major cash infusions will be handled the way they are now - by a special assessment levied against each home owner. That way, you're not paying for repairs that may be needed years after you leave the strata. You pay for the repairs the same way you would if you owned a house. As they happen.

The non-report property has decided to take a "wait and see" attitude. If the market truly does start to differentiate between report and non-report properties, they will opt in. Same if banks start requiring a report (currently, my conversation with mortgage specialists at banks is that they don't know anything about this).

My Opinion
I think the "wait and see" strategy makes the most sense. Sit on the sidelines until you see how this whole thing shakes out.

Currently, this legislation looks terribly pro business (engineering companies and strata property managers). A change in government here in BC (likely next year) might change political will.

Let the market decide if this is important or not. Let the "bulge" of people commissioning engineering reports make its way through the system. Let the "price gouging" that's going on now work through the system.

I don't think now is the time to make a decision which could affect your strata for decades. Now is the time to sit back, vote against the depreciation reports for the time being, and see what happens.

Tell the Strata Property Managers and Engineering Firms

"Thanks, but no thanks, for now. Come see me in a couple of years and I'll tell you if I've made a different decision."

People Watch What You Do ... Not What You Say

Remember the old adage our parents would tell us:

"Do as I say, not as I do"

Seems to me that this is exactly backwards.When I look at all the "advice" dolled out by friends and neighbours, I clearly see that almost none of it is ever considered, much less enacted.

But if we look at children, who are just small adults (ie: their world is ruled by emotion and so is ours) they do a curious thing 100% of the time.

They will take the path of least resistance (the easiest road) to any objective regardless of what you say unless there is a consequence. And the consequence has to be real. Not the fake "wait till your father gets home" or "if you do that you'll be grounded for a week" nonsense. Kids know if you will really follow through. If there's a greater than 50 percent chance that you won't, they'll do the forbidden thing.

It's almost like they have a built-in odds-counter. And so do we. Why do you think people grow pot? Because the odds of being caught multiplied by the punishment that occurs if they get caught is far outweighed by the profit possible. Other factors, like being shot by your competitor or having a life expectancy of 25 years, seem not to enter the equation.

But every once in a while, you'll see someone who doesn't tell you what to do. They just do it.

Those are the people I pay attention to.

I have some examples of people that do what they say, but unnerving to me is that most of them are twenty years younger than me. I find very few examples of someone in middle age who hasn't been compromised by life:

Tynan
Colin Wright
Ramit Sethi
Gary Arndt

Cold Turkey

I wrote a post yesterday for my other blog, BuildBetterSleep, where I talked about what health really is, and how to attain it.

The crux of the argument is, barring something serious like cancer, good health can be achieved by following some very simple rules:

1. Make room in your schedule for sufficient sleep every night. 7-9 hours is what most of us need. 
2. Get some sunlight (not too much, but not too little) every day. Let your body manufacture the Vitamin D you need.
3. Eat well. Nothing out of a box. Best if it was living and breathing a short time ago, or it was pulled out of the ground or off a tree or bush.
4. Exercise every day. Take a bike ride. Take a long walk. Take the stairs.

I truly believe that's all there is to it.

I've been trying to "fix what's wrong" or "find a shortcut" to good health for over a decade. I now think the "secret" has been there all along. Rest, Get Outdoors, Eat Well, and Exercise.

As of today, I'm going to throw out all the vitamins and supplements I've been taking (with the exception of an 82mg aspirin every day).

No more Niacin. No more Fish Oil. No more Resveratrol. No more Vitamin D. Just food, sleep and exercise outdoors.

How We've Failed Our Grandchilden

We've basically screwed our grandchildren.

Unless you are part of a small minority, the legacy you are leaving your grandchildren is a standard of living far below that which you enjoy.

nAnd a standard of living below that of your children.

Here's my thinking.

My generation - the boomers - had parents that likely came from nothing. Through good fortune, good timing, and hard work for many of them they were able to give their children a leg-up in whatever they decided to do. For the most part, it was "hands off" parenting.

Boomers benefited from cheap education, easy opportunity and plentiful money. And we knew far better than our parents ever did how to raise our children. No "hands off" for us. They wanted for nothing, and many of us made the mistake of never saying no to our children. Our kids grew up as the most affluent generation that ever lived.

Now our kids are in their 20's and 30's, and many are having a tough time - for the first time in their lives. A tough time finding a job. A tough time establishing long term relationships. A tough time moving out of the house. Most are amazed at the stage of life their parents were at when they were the same age. When I was 27, I had two kids, a good job, a house, and a wife that stayed at home.

Our kids will be OK, because mom and dad are wealthy. The boomers will die, and leave lots of money, real-estate and expensive stuff for them. Some can help out before they die.

But if the economy continues along much as its predicted to (think Japan like stagflation), our grandkids will face the same lack of opportunity their parents did. Only this time, there won't be anything left because mom and dad (our kids) have had to use all of it to live on.

What do you think? Am I all wet on this one?

We're All Getting Poorer - But Corporations Are Doing Just Fine

In a recent The Atlantic Magazine, they show two graphs about how well Corporate America has fared over the last several years. This would be in stark contrast to how "Average Joe" would have fared during the same period. Take a look:

This one shows Corporate Profits as a whole. Highest it's ever been.

Even as a percentage of GDP, Corporate Profits are higher than since Eisenhower. I wonder why this is???

Gabby Giffords, Aurora, and The Human Condition

I think maybe the USA is just an ongoing, democratic (sort of) version of the human experience. We do nothing until there is no other choice.


I'm thinking about: 

• running out of oil
• alternative energy
• global weather
• the worldwide debt crisis
• the worldwide banking scandal
• realistic gun control

Regardless of where you live, it appears as though we're wired to try and find the "easy way out" of any situation. Nobody wants to admit the difficult truth, confront it, and do something about it.

In our personal lives, when was the last time you saw a person do "the right thing" unless that was their only choice?

Probably after every easier (wrong) choice had been made.

As a species, we're really not very evolved...

Schadenfreude

There's a German word, "schadenfreude" about taking pleasure at the misfortune of others. To help you understand it better, I'll use it in a sentence:

"I take particular schadenfruede watching Enbridge twist in the wind....."

OTTAWA — Enbridge officials made a mounting public relations disaster worse this week by not immediately accepting blame in their official statement issued after an outspoken American regulator compared one of Canada’s energy giants to the “Keystone Kops,” public relations consultants say. 

U.S. National Transportation Safety Board chairman Debbie Hersman’s scathing assessment of Enbridge’s 2010 oil spill in Michigan has also raised questions over whether Prime Minister Stephen Harper needs to distance his government from Enbridge’s proposed $5.5-billion oilsands pipeline project to the B.C. coast from Alberta.
In his initial formal response, Enbridge’s Pat Daniel said that company personnel “were trying to do the right thing” during the leak from a cracked pipeline but encountered “a series of unfortunate events and circumstances [that] resulted in an outcome no one wanted.” 

There was no apology or acknowledgment of wrongdoing in the news release, though a company official said Daniel apologized when speaking to reporters in Washington, D.C., after the safety board’s report was released.

Read more: http://www.canada.com/business/Enbridge+brand+repaired+analysts/6931281/story.html#ixzz20iDZhgdu

Big Oil and EnviroNazis

Vineet Radhakrishnan via Compfight

 I have to admit that this post is aimed squarely at my uncle in Calgary (you know who you are) and his general disagreement with my "EnviroNazi" stance on oil shipping through BC enroute to anywhere else (China?).

Although members of my not-so-immediate family (OK - cousin) are employed by Enbridge, I took particular pleasure in the recent sport of Big-Oil-Bashing that's been going on in BC. Despite the best efforts of our Federal Goverment to push through the Northern Gateway project, I think it just might be political dynamite for whoever touches it Provincially.

This week, two influential pieces in the BC media (actually, one has hit the international media) target the potential damage that could be done by an oil spill (tanker or pipeline) here in BC:

1. A Wilderness Committee (that ought to be unbiased, says the EnviroNazi) report on the affects of an oil spill on Stanley Park
2. The comments of our normally "sit on the fence and scared for her political life" premiere about Enbridge specifically.

So the net-net is, despite my earlier assurances that BetaMax would triumph over VHS, I believe that maybe this time the environment will trump big business. And our kids and grandkids will thank us for behaving like grown-ups for a change....

The News - Or Lack Thereof

This will be another rant. It's been building for a while, so with the Libor news, it's reached a boiling point.

The reason the recent Libor scandal was the tipping point for me is that, unless you actually went looking, you would barely hear a mention of this on our TV news. Who reading this knows what Libor is? If you don't - go find out.

It's likely larger than the financial meltdown of 2008, but it's a little bit difficult to understand. We would rather watch "Trending Now" on the local station and see what Joe Butthole says about Katie Perry on Twitter.

This isn't news!

Why is it that "news" programs pander to us and we reward them by watching? Every network is the same - from Global to CBC to MSNBC to CNN. And god forbid we talk about Fox.

I watched the first three episodes of Aaron Sorkin's "The Newsroom" over the weekend, where he ponders a network news program that, for an hour each day, actually delivers the news. Facts, not innuendo or a left/right angle, and no social media nonsense. Quite the indictment of what we're spoon fed today. If we would actually reward real news programs by watching them, networks might just do it. But they're too afraid to try, so we'll never know.

The closest I've found for real news today is Al Jazeera. It's staggering to go back and forth from CNN to them and see the difference. One is talking about Mitt Romney's Jet Ski, and the other is talking about the possible poisoning/assassination of Yassar Arafat. Guess which one.

I suspect that the BBC News could also be a good choice, but they've shut down their web feed here in Canada, so the only way to get it is via your local cable TV company. If anyone has it, and finds that it's a whole lot better than the trash we get now, send me a note.

So here's a suggestion - reward your local news (and national/international news) by not watching it. Get your information on-line from a trusted, non-biased source (there are some of them out there). This way, you can consume it when you want, and read interesting things to the depth you're comfortable.

It won't be like the baby food you're getting now, but I bet it'll be a lot more satisfying.

PS: Cap yourself at a half-hour a day on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. Your brain is a valuable thing to destroy.

An Average Day - And More Anecdotal Evidence

Ina Todoran via Compfight

I had a conversation with a good friend yesterday about diet.

She has had to adopt a very-high-fat diet over the last twelve weeks because of an intense medical treatment she is on.

A big part of her treatment is a drug that must be consumed with 20g of fat. She had to take this particular medication three times a day (7:00AM, 3:00PM and 11:00PM). Finding 20g of fat in one place that she could tolerate was hard. About the only thing she could keep down was a smoothie she had every day (sometimes three times a day), or a cracker loaded down with butter.

She also had to take other medication with food at various different times during the day (Noon and 7:00PM).  The medication taken at this time also needed food intake but did not require high fat servings.  She consumed these pills with such items as salad or meat. During this treatment she could ot tolerate any type of bread at all.

Anecdotally, In the past 4 months since she's been on this calorie rich, fat rich, carbohydrate poor diet she's lost about 20lbs from her pre-treatment weight, and 30lbs from her highest weight at the beginning of the course of drug therapy - when she could stomach a greater variety of food.

This led me to yet another high-fat/low-carb story I've heard (first hand) about losing weight - without ever intending to lose weight. It is an incidental side effect of this whole high-fat process.

I'm now doubly convinced that everything we've been told about how to lose weight is wrong. Neither my friend nor I can exercise at this point, so burning all those excess calories isn't an option (as all the weight loss people would have you believe).

I'm now down to my high school weight of 148lbs. I seem to be quite steady.

Just for kicks, I wrote down everything I would eat in a typical day:

The surprising thing is the total number of calories consumed is about right for a man my size (almost 2000), and the amount of fat that  used  to make me cringe (133g - are you kidding!!). I'd like to get the sugar/carbs down even lower, but most sources are consumed with lots of fat as well, so the insulin load (the whole reason I'm doing this) is blunted - so I'm not too worried about it.

So take this to your dietician and ask him/her to explain. Either you don't exercise enough, eat too many calories,  or their whole idea of what makes you fat is wrong.

A Seattle Diversion

Ballard Locks

How could something so boring be so captivating?

We were in Seattle for the weekend with friends from Calgary, and due to a missed exit on my part we ended up at the Ballard Locks. We had been in the neighbourhood the night before for dinner at Ray's, so once we found ourselves in that part of town it was easy for me to say "I planned it this way".

Now normally you'd think that watching boats go up and down in a lock, and watching mature salmon migrate upstream through a fish ladder would be really boring. Especially to people who have no particular affinity for boats and boating (or fish and fishing).

But it turns out that all four of us had a really great time watching the whole process. A few times. And the fish swimming up through the fish ladder was a bonus - that's really cool too.

So the net-net of all this is if you ever find yourself in Seattle, don't just do the average touristy stuff - the Space Needle, Pike Place and the Underground Tour, but go have a look at the locks on a nice day (I imagine in the rain it wouldn't be quite as captivating). All it will cost you is parking - access to the locks and park is free.

Underground Seattle - Old Wooden Water/Sewer Line

Here's The Problem With Our Diet

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics. Credit: Lam Thuy Vo / NPR

I happened upon this article from Mother Jones, called "The American Diet in 1 Chart".

The article goes on to talk about the chart, but I don't think it needs any explanation.

If you're searching for a cause of obesity (and the consequential Type II Diabetes, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, and a host of other problems) look no further. Taking processed foods out of your diet (especially sugar) solves almost the entire problem.

On another note, I had a visit with my doctor yesterday, and we discussed the lab results from a few months ago - I had to get a requisition for new lab work to see how things are progressing.

He was quite pleased - my risk ratio is now lower than he has ever recorded for me. When I asked "what's the typical HDL level for someone with no cardiovascular disease" he said about 1.2 in his practice.

My HDL is now 1.8.

HDL and Triglycerides are the best predictors we've got for heart problems, so I've got a real interest in keeping my numbers as good as I can. With as few drugs as I can.

I've been off Niacin for a couple of months now, so am very interested to see what my bloodwork looks like this time. Today, the only thing I'm taking for heart/stroke risk is a baby aspirin once a day.

Results from the lab should be in a couple of days.

ADDENDUM - June 20/2012
Just got the results back and I now have even more questions than before. A link to my results is here. Total cholesterol and LDL are quite high, but not alarming (after all the fat I've been eating - no wonder). HDL is still higher than most of the population, but started back on Fish Oil every day to see if it bumps it up a bit more. Hesitant to go back on Niacin.

Fish Oil Supplements and Heart Disease

Alan Bell via Compfight

Since I've gone off the statin (Crestor) and now the Niacin (2g a day) I was supplementing with 1000mg of fish oil every day to do two things:

1. Try to get more Omega 3 (N-3) fatty acids in my diet - our current diets have a preponderance of Omega 6 (N-6) fatty acids in them, and the ratio of the two should be much closer than it is now. That's why all the encouragement to eat oily fish (salmon, sardines) twice a week.
2. Several previous studies had promoted N-3 as being protective to your heart - something where I need all the help I can get. I opted for fish oil capsules over some expensive pharmaceutical (Plavix, Crestor).

A recent study of 12,500 at-risk people (diagnosed diabetics, which have a high rate of cardiovascular events) called  n–3 Fatty Acids and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients with Dysglycemia showed that there was a very, very small difference in ultimate outcomes (death) between patients receiving the N-3 and a placebo.


The study appears to be really well constructed (double-blind) - and factored out as many variables as possible. The full protocol for the five year study is here.


So now I'm in a quandary - there seems to be no statistical advantage to taking fish-oil supplements if you're a diabetic (I'm not a diabetic, but this is a really high risk group, so if you think an advantage would show up with someone, it would show up here).


The study really is quite interesting to read, and even if all you can handle are the conclusions they reach, there are several of them. But in the end, they wrapped it all up in one paragraph:

In conclusion, the administration of 1 g of n–3 fatty acids did not reduce the rate of death from cardiovascular causes or other outcomes during a period of 6 years in patients with dysglycemia and additional cardiovascular risk factors. Whether similar results would have been observed at higher doses is unknown. Furthermore, these findings may not be relevant to dietary recommendations to consume more fish, because dietary change not only increases the intake of foods containing n–3 fatty acids but is also associated with a reduction in the consumption of foods such as red meats, which may be harmful.21

So I think the best course of action for me (and for anyone, really) is to increase their consumption of oily fish, and ditch the supplements. Much like multivitamins, it turns into expensive pee! 

First Time Author

Nice photo, huh? I took it.

First things first - I submitted my sleep ebook to Amazon for publishing today - it's available as of now in English (I don't know if it actually comes out in any other language - this is a first for me). I had to list it for $2.99 so that Amazon would let me give it away for free five days out of the next ninety. If you price it any less than that, they take away all their incentives. Call me selfish.

I'll be posting a date for a free version as soon as I figure out how to do that ... and would appreciate any comments you might have on the book itself - please post them directly on Amazon.

I've also started to write a second book - fiction this time, and it involves sailboats. So much for anyone who might like to read it ... audiences for nautical books are somewhat wanting ... so I'm trying to make it less about the boat, and more about the story. I'll thrown in a little time travel and some history just for fun. I've been reading up on Captain James Cook and Captain George Vancouver for the history part of the book. Pretty fascinating stuff, actually. These men would think nothing of coming to the Pacific NW, down to California, across to Hawaii, over to China, down to Australia and New Zealand, and then do it all over again. Several times. Amazing.

I'm also thinking I should formally document all the stroke stuff as well. So much to do, so little time!

I kinda like this writing thing. Hopefully, you will too.....

Does Sugar Make You Stupid?

 Socar Myles via Compfight

I read a report in Neuroscience News that was thought provoking, to say the least.

In a nutshell, researchers at UCLA took two groups of rats, both fed a diet high in fructose. Both groups were fed a diet of rat feed, and trained on a maze for five days before the experiment. The maze included landmarks so that the rats could more easily remember their way around it. After the five days, one group was fed fructose only while the other group was fed fructose plus flaxseed oil and DHA (both Omega 3 fatty acids).  This went on for six weeks. The results were interesting.

1. The group that received the fructose, but no extra Omega 3, had a measurable decline in their brain activity, and increased their insulin resistance. This was determined by both how fast they navigated the maze, and in examining their brains after the experiment.
2. The second group (with the Omega 3's) performed much better than the first in navigating a maze. 
3. They never explained how well the rat's performance compared to pre-fructose for either group.

The thinking is that too much fructose changes the way your brain responds to insulin, and that DHA can help mitigate much of the damage. So the net-net is to:

1. Cut down the amount of fructose (sugar in whatever form) you consume.
2. If you do eat the sugar, supplement with DHA or another Omega 3 fatty acid like salmon or walnuts at the same time to help mitigate the damage.

So grab the berries and the whole-fat greek yogurt, and throw away the Coke and the chocolate cake!

The Quantified Self - FitBit

As part of the ongoing process of measuring sleep, I took a leap and bought a FitBit Ultra.

Initially I was interested in evaluating my sleep to see how it tracked compared with the Zeo, and maybe I'll eventually do that, but an initial glance at the FitBit sleep stats tells me that it won't stack up to the way Zeo monitors actual brainwaves.

What it does do very well, though, is count the steps and stairs you take in a day, convert them to miles traveled and stairs climbed, and give you instant feedback on how well you've done that day. It initially sets targets (for me, anyways) of 10,000 steps a day, and 10 flights of stairs. On days when I'm out riding the bike and walking the dog, it's easy to get a lot more exercise than that recommended. When it's raining outside (like yesterday) and you want to take the dog for the shortest walks possible, I find I fall to about 50% of the recommended activity.

I read until 11pm, but FitBit thought I was asleep

Since FitBit can't really "measure" the bike properly, I'm thinking that it considers each pedal revolution as a step, and measures it that way. If you're a real keener, there are ways to more accurately measure activity on a bike.

For those of you who run, FitBit can be calibrated (as it can with walking) to measure your average stride length and give you distance based on that measurement. It will also track things manually - like BP, heartrate, blood glucose levels, caloric intake and weight.  You would enter these values on their user website, where it would time stamp them so you can see progress over time. It might be a powerful feedback tool for self-measurement.

This is on a day I did a long bikeride

The FitBit attaches to your clothing and is pretty unobtrusive. For sleep, it comes with a wristband you wear at night with the FitBit attached to the wrist (it measures motion at night, so that's why it's data is more inaccurate compared with a Zeo).

FitBit costs $100, and I'm using it as a glorified pedometer - but it's got that hi-tech edge which is hard for me to resist.

Learning Through Frustration

The Unintended Rest-Stop

We had been anticipating our annual May Long Weekend trip down to Deception Pass for months. Bruce reserved the sites for us in November, and we had six couples commit.

Last year, we had a problem with one of the brake shoes on the Airstream, and ended up having it replaced. So all the brakes were essentially of the same vintage, I had the other three replaced this year.

Driving down the highway, only a few miles south of the trailer service business, we had to pull over at a rest-stop and call the repair place. Our wheels (well, 3/4 of them) were red hot, and smelled terribly of burning rubber. Fortunately, we weren't too far down the road, and a mechanic and the service manager came to meet us at the rest-stop (bringing half the garage with them - they had no idea what to expect). They re-adjusted the three affected wheels, and after a short test drive, sent us on our way to Deception. When we pulled into the campground, the wheels were hot again. So we spent most of the weekend wondering what was up. We called the service folks again, and said we'd go slow, and bring the trailer back to them on Tuesday for a closer look.

Half of Us

We drove about half way home on Monday, and spent the night at a KOA in Burlington. This is where we discovered that our converter system (converts 120VAC into 12VDC for the trailer) wasn't working properly. It wouldn't recharge the batteries or supply 12VDC to the coach, so the lights in the trailer started to dim. Now we have a converter problem and a brake problem.

And we could smell propane too.

And it's raining.

And the trailer is filthy from having a dog track in the outdoors.

All this was getting to be a bit much for me. I do find I get more easily overwhelmed now, but still acknowledge that getting upset about all this solves nothing.

Fortunately, with Laura and I it seems that if one is down, the other is up. So on the whole we're pretty steady, and one of us can see that the "glass is half full". It's just that I wish these lessons came one at a time, and not in groups of five or six.

Is The Paleo Diet Improving My Sleep?

Photo Credit: Bryan Wright via Compfight

I have to wonder whether this Paleo (Primal, Archevore) eating  I've been doing for the last 100+ days has had an unintended side effect.

Sleep.

• I now get to sleep quickly at 11pm, after reading in bed for an hour or so. 
• I still wake up frequently during the night, but get back to sleep almost immediately. 
• I'm able to return to sleep successfully as late as 6am in the morning. 
• Finally, at 7am, I cannot sleep any longer, and get up for the day. I don't need an alarm to wake at 7am anymore. 

I've noticed all of this in the last few weeks, and this relatively new phenomenon could be related to one of three things:

1. the introduction of calcium and magnesium supplements into my diet 
2. the natural healing of the brain 
3. the change in my diet 

I cannot tell which of the three has had the most significant impact - mostly because I've done #1 and #3 almost simultaneously, and we have no way of measuring the healing of the brain.

My inclination after thinking about it, is that the most radical change I've made in the last six months is the way that I eat. Specifically, I've cut down the carbohydrates I eat by about 75%, and the grain products I eat by nearly 100%. I've also double or tripled the amount of fat in my diet (both saturated and unsaturated, including all the derivatives - polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, etc).

I wouldn't think that diet could have such a large effect on something like insomnia (unless you're eating habits do something to cause you to wake up during the night).

Now I'm not so sure.

Sailing and One and Two Thirds Book Reviews

The weather this last weekend here in Vancouver was wonderful. It was still a bit (a lot) chilly on the water, but when we dropped anchor somewhere it was toasty warm. Funny thing was, there was almost nobody out on the water ... kinda spooky. This is from our first night anchoring at Wallace Island - almost postcard perfect. Thanks again to Andrew M for allowing this incompetent "can't read a tide chart if his life depended on it" sailor to go with him.

And now on to the reading list this week. I've got several books on the go - one I've finished, two I'd like to comment on, and then a whole bunch more that need no comment (at this point anyways).

1. Abundance - The Future Is Better Than You Think. For the longest time I've been a "cup is half empty" person when it came to the world's problems. Global Weirding, Water Shortages, The Financial Crisis - it's a long list. After Harry W's suggestion last year I read "The Rational Optimist", thinking that it might change my mind about all this - but it didn't. This time, even though the authors of Abundance refer to The Rational Optimist all the time, something finally stuck. In example after example, the authors show how we've (the human race) repeatedly pulled back from the fire, avoided catastrophe, and moved on. And this time, we really have technology on our side. Maybe it was the repeated references to technology that got me on board this time, but whatever it was, I'm now a "cup is half full" person. But my money is still in T-Bills.
2. Religion for Atheists. This book was brought back from London for me by Dave K, who thought that I'd enjoy the read. I'm only at the first part of this book, but I can already tell that it will cause me to think in a different way about religion. The premise is to throw out all the standard theology arguments and dogma (free will, suffering children, hurricanes and tsunamis, etc), and concentrate instead on what religions of all sorts have brought to the party. If you take God out of religion, it becomes interesting and and the whole a force for good. Fascinating stuff. More later.
3. The Four Hour Body. This is the second best-seller by a blogger/human experimenter that I follow - Tim Ferris. Andrew's wife, Cheryl, lent me the book while we were off sailing and I read through most of the parts that interested me - but it's encyclopedic in length, so it should serve more as a reference book that you have on your shelf. This morning when I got to my desk, the first thing I did was some research on what the Paleo community said about this book. Tim talks a lot about diet, among a lot of other things, and although I follow much of what he says there's a lot that I don't. The best interpretation of the diet part of this book is that it's a fantastic transition from the SAD (Standard American Diet) to a more Ancient, Whole-Foods Diet (Paleo or, as I prefer, Archevore). He has things like "cheat days" where you eat whatever you want for one day a week, but the comments about this I read were "it takes you a week to recover from the cheat" - and Laura and I can confirm this after an over-the-top meal for our anniversary. He eschews processed foods and "anything white", and I think that may just be the single biggest thing you can do to improve your health. Ferris also has several other sections on exercise and sexual health that are quite enlightening. I'll probably get this book for my Kindle and use it as a reference!

Reconfirming What Has Already Been Reconfirmed

Over the last several weeks, I've been on the lookout for anything contrary to what I've found about the low-carb diet I've implemented.

Fortunately for me, all I can find is confirmation (and I really am looking). Yesterday I watched a presentation from Christopher Gardner, a researcher at Stanford University. Although it was made in 2008, nothing much has changed except more studies that confirm his conclusions. This would all be "preaching to the choir" except for the fact that Chris is a committed, long term, vegetarian - and an actual "stand-up scientist" that believes the data even though it's contrary to what he thought.

The video is worth a look (it's quite long, but very interesting):

Do You Believe?

 Photo Credit: Trey Ratcliff via Compfight

It's been over a year since I posted my experiences with the "Alpha Course". Both Harry and I attended primarily to see what the motivators of Christianity were - such a large part of our society is driven by this religion, so it made sense to try and make sense of it all.


So it was serendipitous to find a recent Science article, co-published by one of our own UBC grad students, Will Gervais (with his advisor, social psychologist Ara Norenzayan). The published paper is called  Analytic Thinking Promotes Religious Disbelief.


Their experiment was to find out that if religiosity and analytical thinking were related. It turns out, they are. From the study: 

 "All they have shown, and all that can be shown, is that when you're thinking more critically you reject statements that otherwise you would endorse," Kahneman says. "It tells you that there are some religious beliefs people hold that if they were thinking more critically, they themselves would not endorse."

I still am held wondering why, in the world of technology and engineering that I come from, so many of my colleagues were deeply religious. It's as though they would "turn off" the analytical part of their brain (the part that earned them an income, and could explain how a cellular phones and rocket ships worked) when it came to religion. The study couldn't answer this one.


My theory (wait for it - it'll piss you off) - You're paid to be analytical - your working life depends on it. When you're not being paid, you let down your guard, and you set lower analytical expectations (probably unconsciously).


I expect I'll get some comments on this one....