Jet lag

Can't sleep. Stupid jet lag. This is why I don't like to travel.

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This post is almost blank. Not quite, though.

Kim Cloutier

Wow. Just... wow.

Juvenile tactics

DoI have a cousin who had a strange idea of fun. She thought it was absolutely hilarious for her to follow me around, mimicking whatever I did. I'd climb up the stairs; she'd climb up the stairs. I'd sit down on the couch; she'd sit down on the couch. I'd let out a sigh, and so would she.

Mind you, she wasn't a little kid anymore when she did this sort of thing. I can imagine how a five-year-old would find this amusing, but not a pre-teen.

In part, I blame her parents. Her parents should have taught her that this was not polite behavior. Then again, I learned that a lot of adults don't teach their children such niceties. In fact, in my family, they would often blame the child who complained about being mocked or teased. "Be a good sport," they'd say.

There's some merit to saying that people need to learn to be a good sport. However, when the children go out of their way to tease or ridicule others, you need to slap them down. You need to let them know that such behavior is unacceptable. When you respond to these situations by childing the victim and saying "Learn to be a good sport," then you are sending an entirely wrong message. You are telling the tormenters that what they're doing is perfectly acceptable and that they are acting with your blessings. Don't let them off the hook that way.

A vintage Kathy Smith video

So I borrowed this Kathy Smith exercise DVD from the public library. It was titled “Strong, Sleek, & Slim,” and like many of her DVDs, it’s a compilation of three older videos. One of these vids was titled “Ultimate Video Workout,” and it had never been released on DVD before. It’s not hard to see why.

Frankly, this video was kinda embarassing. I love Kathy Smith’s work, but this was clearly one of her earlier and less refined attempts. It’s clearly of 80s vintage, as evidenced by the outfits and the colors, not to mention the dancy and relatively uninteresting aerobic moves. Don’t get me wrong; Kathy Smith is a real pro and I think she’s fantastic. This particular video looks like it came from a time when she was less experienced and had a smaller repertoire, though.

I think that particular video had relatively little appeal, too. One thing that I like about Kathy is the way she creates cardio routines that can appeal to both men and women. Unlike many of Kathy’s later works though, the moves in this video were often distinctly feminine. There were two male performers in this vid, but I think that most men would find its routines to be overly girl.

She did have this very interesting segment in which she and her team built up an extended cardio routine as they pranced around in a parking lot. I have to give her credit for this creative notion. Also, I love the fact that the particpants didn’t seem to be overly choreographed. Oh, they clearly had a pre-arranged sequence of moves, but they also looked like they were pretty much relaxing and having a dance party. Even at this early stage in her career, Kathy already knew how to be creative.

One more comment: One can’t help but notice that Ms. Smith wore an outfit that was tasteful (barring the atrocious 80s aerobic fashions), but that strongly accentuated her figure. Mind you, she’s always had very well-rounded yet athletic curves. In this particular video though, that was much more obvious than usual. I don’t know if it’s because her waistline was a bit smaller back then (if that’s at all possible!), or if it’s because of her attire. I do think that in her later years, she had a tendency to wear dark outfits that de-accentuated her curves. Was this a deliberate attempt to reduce the focus on her figure and emphasize her teaching? I wonder.

Gym jackasses revisited

Earlier, I complained about some jackasses in the gym who like to yell and bark like dogs during our cardio exercise classes. This serves no real purpose, and it's ultimately a mean for them to draw attention to themselves.

Mind you, I like to put some flair into my moves. I like to put some bounce in my steps, and I like to cover a good amount of ground during lateral movements. None of that is for the purpose of attracting attention, though some might perceive it as such. It's all for the purpose of getting a more thorough workout.

Today, I saw an especially egregious example. I was attending this step cardio class, and this one husky guy beside me kept barking like a dog and yelling "Yeah!" or words to that effect. The thing is, half the time, he wasn't even doing the exercises! While everyone else was stepping up and down, he'd be crouching over, but still barking like a dog -- acting as though he were having the time of his life. Sometimes, we'd be doing knee raises, and he would be barely lifting his knees. That didn't stop him from yelling out enthusiastically, though.

Mind you, there are times when I don't have a lot of energy in these classes. There are also times when I don't get the moves right. I would never bark or holler in such circumstances, even if I were the kind of guy who liked to attract attention. Why? Because only a jackass tries to draw attention to himself when he's doing things badly or not making any real effort.

Yet another rant on Windows idiocy

Okay, once again, I have to rant about how idiotic MS Windows is. Just today, I tried to click on an application window -- in effect, switching from one application to another. And what does my computer do? It slows down to a crawl. About fifteen seconds later, the second application window finally appears.

Mind you, these weren't exotic custom applications that I was running. Rather, these were simple Internet Explorer windows displaying very rudimentary content. Nothing spectacular.

The problem is that Windows insists on doing so much garbage in the background that the OS will occasionally grind to almost a halt for no apparent reason. It's the very definition of bloatware.

Last night, I observed the same problem on another computer. After digging around, I found out that one process was reporting a problem to Microsoft, and had slowed the computer down in the process. Yeah, that's great. It wouldn't be such a problem if Windows was fairly reliable, but it's not.

Microsoft Windows, you stink.

Bariatic surgery as the easy way out

I'm watching this documentary on obesity in America. One of the featured characters is this severely overweight fella who has decided to undergo dangerous bariatric surgery in order to lose weight. His physician and family members have advised against this though, stating that he should first try an exercise program.

His response? "It's hard! Exercise is hard!" He figures that surgery is the easy way out.

I always want to avoid feeling disgust toward morbidly obese people; after all, they are humans too, and some of them have serious physical ailments that prevent them from losing weight. When somebody refuses to even try an exercise program though... well, I find that I can't muster up as much sympathy for that person. That person doesn't deserve to be mistreated, but if he's always going to rely on quick and easy (and potentially dangerous) fixes, then that's his fault.

His sister told him, "Just start some sort of exercise program. Everyone has to start somewhere." He replied, "Surgery is a starting point."

I still feel bad for the guy, but what can you do?

Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew

I remember how much I liked watching The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries when I was a young lad. I could only watch it sporadically, though. We only had one TV at home, and my mom insisted on watching this stupid soap opera instead.

Me, I preferred the intellectual challenge of a good detective story.

So cold

It is so cold. So bloody cold.

I've got this parabolic heating reflector aimed straight at me right now, and it helps. It doesn't provide absolutely even heating though, since I can only point it toward one side of myself. Still, I'm glad that I have it.

What can I say? I don't want to turn the heat up.

Jackasses in the gym

There are a couple of guys who get all noisy during my Monday night cardio bootcamp class. I can't speak for anyone else in the class, but I think that they're pretty annoying. They keep yelling, whooping it up, and barking like a dog. Some would say that they're just being enthusiastic, but frankly, I think that they're just trying to attract attention.

Just today, one of these guys was barking loudly, as though trumpeting how much he was enjoying the class. Even as he was doing that though, he was totally cheating on his squats. He was barely bending his knees, and he was leaning forward rather heavily. Yet there he was, barking around as though he was having the time of his life.

I wish I could confront these guys, but that's a difficult thing to do, especially since there are certain ethnic and cultural issues to consider. In my mind though, I want to tell them: "Shut up!"

It's so cold!

I've been feeling the cold so much more acutely lately. It's not just because we're going through an unusually cold period -- at least, I don't think it is. Rather, I think it's also because I've dropped a bit of body fat, which makes me more sensitive to the cold.

I don't miss the extra insulation, but I do wish that I had more feeling in my fingers. Ugh.

R.I.P., Cheryl

I just learned that Mouseketeer Cheryl Holdridge passed away due to lung cancer. What a terrible shame. She wasn't a great singer, but she was a delightful dancer and she seemed to have so much fun on the show. She also went on to a pretty successful television career in her youth.

You will be missed, Cheryl.

About mendicants

Somebody recently shared the following perspective on panhandlers. I think that her wisdom is well worth sharing.

I know of several people who regard begging as their job. There's a community of such people out there, in fact one of the local newspaper columnists occasionally runs a story on some of them. For a while, a popular story was "My wallet got stolen, can you give me a couple bucks to help me get home?" I always offered to buy the "victim" a cup of coffee while I called the cops so that they could file a police report. The "victim" always remembered an urgent previous engagement.

I have also been quite poor, though not homeless. I took babysitting jobs, I worked several newspaper routes (walking them, and with my baby in a stroller with me). I was grateful if someone gave me a tip, or just money in general. However, I never begged, and I certainly didn't get up in people's faces about it. I knew that if I wanted any little luxuries, that I'd have to earn them myself, without depending on others to give them to me. At that time, a little luxury was a cup of tea...I had cut my food budget to the bone. In fact, I had cut all my budgets to the bone.

Some of us are more private than others. Many people, especially women, are not comfortable with a stranger, especially a large scruffy stranger, accosting us in public. Even if the stranger is not overtly threatening, it goes against all of our safety training. Sure, it would be nice if we didn't have to be wary about such things. But the fact of the matter is, that we do have to be careful. Men don't have quite the same worries, but I think that it's reasonable for even a large, strong, physically able man to be wary about a stranger approaching him out of the blue. As it happens, I am willing to physically defend myself, but I am not really in the best of shape to do so.

Some panhandlers are polite and laidback. Generally, I just shake my head without making eye contact. It's IMPORTANT for safety's sake not to make eye contact with strangers. Other panhandlers are more aggressive, and will follow their target for a while. They won't back off, and can be pretty scary. A polite panhandler can turn into an aggressive one if the target makes eye contact. With these folks, I WILL call the cops or notify the store manager or whatever. Obviously, the aggressive panhandler has problems recognizing other people's boundaries, and I don't know how far he'll go.

Basically, I feel that the vast majority of panhandlers could find other legit ways to make some money. I'm sure that there are some folks out there who have no other choice but to panhandle. However, I really don't think that I've come across them.

Yeah, I do give to some charities. In this way, I'm sure that most of my money is actually giving necessities to people, rather than funding another binge.

It is freezing!

Good grief! I have a lot of tolerance for the cold, partly because I work out a lot and have a revved-up metabolism. The cold weather this week is driving me nuts, though. I can barely shovel the snow in my driveway, thanks to these sub-zero temperatures. What's more, my fingers and toes get way too cold when I drive, to the point that I start to worry about getting frostbite.

And I can't close my garage door. I can't really work on this until the temperature gets warmer.

Whither Maylo?

Whatever happened to Maylo McCaslin? She's this fairly obscure actor that had a lot of TV roles back in the late 1980s. Did she just drop off the radar after marrying Willie Aames?

Also, what happened to Mark Thomas Miller of [em]The Misfits of Science[/em]? I know that Dean Paul Martin and Kevin Peter Hall both died, and Ms. Cox went on to major stardom. What about Mark, though?

Put your back into it! (Part II)

I've read articles which say that some people are overweight because they put very little effort into their day to day motions. Instead of bending down to pick something up from the floor, for example, they'll find a way to lean over and pick it up with much smaller movements instead. Instead of walking at a brisk pace, they saunter. And so forth. He looks like one of those guys.

Again, I try to remind myself that he might have some unknown, non-obvious physical ailment. It's kinda hard to think that when watching him move, though. He certainly doesn't appear to be disabled, and he didn't park in either of the gym's disabled parking spots. Who knows?

Put your back into it! (Part I)

When you see someone who's badly out of shape - and I mean severely so -- what do you think? That he's lazy? Or perhaps that he has some sort of physical malady?

I always want to be careful in this regard. After all, some people have disabilities or physical injuries that are by no means obvious. Having said that, when it comes to the vast majority of out-of-shape Americans, disabilities and injuries have little or nothing to do with their lack of stamina or energy.

Case in point: This one guy at the gym who sometimes participates in the cardio classes that I attend. He's pudgy, but he's not severely overweight; that is, nobody would refer to him as a beached whale. Still, whenever he moves, it's always with the slowest and smallest of motions. I've never seen him do a single jumping jack; rather, he always just kinda kicks his heel off to one side. When the instructor commands us to raise our arms into the air, he slowly lifts his hands up to shoulder level. And instead of kicking forward, he kinda steps forward slowly.

As I said, we have to avoid judging people too harshly, especially when we don't know their medical history. In this case though, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that he's just not putting any real effort into his motions. Why do I say that? Because of the way I've seen him move in the locker room. I've been stuck behind him as I was rushing to claim a locker just before our cardio class. Even though the class was schedule to start within a minute or two, he'd be sauntering very slowly... much more slowly than most normal people would walk. He walks at a painstaking, agonizingly slow pace.

Could this be due to a medical condition? Maybe, but it seems unlikely, especially since he doesn't walk with a limp or in any way that suggests pain. What's more, it's not just the way he walks, but all his other motions as well. Heck, there are times when our cardio instructor commands us to walk a few steps forward, and he just stays in place, as though the extra effort just wouldn't be worth it.

More on gym newbies

I wanted to follow up on my previous rant about New Year's resolutioners at the gym.

Having so many newbies around can be understandably annoying for regulars, who tend to view the gym as their own turf. I think we always need to be nice and welcoming to the newcomers, though. It's tough, especially since it's naturaly for us to feel somewhat territorial. Still, let's make the effort.

Not too hard, though. The gym really isn't the kind of place where serious people intend to socialize. In fact, it's often kinda annoying to have someone engage you in long conversation at the gym, especially when you're trying to concentrate on your workout. It can also be annoying to the people around you, especially if you're talking loudly.

So let's strike a balance. Be friendly to the newbies, but don't treat the place as though it were a venue for a gabfest.

Invasion of the New Year's Resolutioners

It's January, and my gym has been invaded by New Year's resolutioners. I was almost unable to find a parking spot at the gym due to the massive surge in attendance. Finding a spot was made even more difficult by the fact that some of these motorists clogged up the lanes by waiting and waiting and waiting for someone to pull out of their spot.... you know, as opposed to driving a little bit further to park elsewhere.

My cardio bootcamp class was overflowing with newbies. We were practically packed in there like sardines. Not a pleasant situation.

Please don't get me wrong. I have nothing against newbies; in fact, when they seem friendly, I like to meet them and introduce them to some of the regulars. I also routinely cheer them on when they need encouragement. It is very annoying, however, that they choose to come in droves right after the holidays. The gym simply isn't equipped to deal with these inflated numbers.

It's especially aggravating because you know that the vast majority of these folks aren't taking exercise seriously. How do we know this? Because if they were, they wouldn't be waiting around for January 1st to start getting into shape. This isn't just idle speculation, mind you. Rather, it's pretty obvious --- especially when you see how much attendance drops when February rolls around.

I'll say more about that later.

Zooey

I just learned that Zooey Deschanel, one of my favorite actresses, is starring in the Jim Carrey vehicle, "Yes Man." I have no intention of watching the show, but I am tempted to do so due to Zooey.

Mind you, she has her moments of serious clunkiness, as evidenced in "Tin Man." She can be pretty darned good though, and she's a spectacular singer. Throaty and enchanting and absolutely wonderful to listen to.

Another great answer

Here's another great answer to the question of whether we should always use the scientific method in our daily activities.

To me that shows why we CAN NOT use the scientific method in our personal relations. Suppose I have a friend at work who's usually polite and helpful. Then one day I notice that she's being rude, ignoring her duties, and so forth. If I insist on judging the situation based only on observation and logical deduction, I would have to conclude that she's somehow turned into a bad person. However, I also have another option: I can have faith in this person. And that's a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Her change in behavior may be resulting from something I don't know about, such as an illness, a family crisis, or something else. It may be something that I never know about. Nobody can ever observe another person thoroughly enough to completely understand all of that person's motivations, emotions, reasons, and thoughts. Hence, forming judgments about people solely by observation and logical deduction cannot truly be enough.

Again, slightly paraphrased. He's right. Human beings are too complex to be treated to a facile application of the scientific method.

Riptide!

This page reminded me of something... I so want to watch the second and third seasons of [em]Riptide[/em] on DVD. This was a great detective show from the 80s that was pretty darned funny at times. The humor was sometimes quite painful to watch, but it had a lot of genuinely amusing moments.

Unfortunately, Netflix is only carrying the first season on DVD. I'd love to watch the remaining seasons, but I don't want to spend money on the DVD sets.

Assay principles

More about the ELISA Spot assay:

The ELISPOT assay can be done with freshly isolated PBMC or with PBMC frozen by certain specifications. Specifically designed 96-well plates are coated with a cytokine-specific monoclonal antibody (e.g., IFN-). PBMC (or purified T cell subsets) are pipetted into the coated wells, and are cultured with the test antigen(s). Control wells contain either irrelevant antigen, or media alone. T cells that are specific for the test antigen when activated secrete molecules that are captured by the membrane-bound antibody (Figure 3).

Induction of maximal cytokine production typically requires 24 h (IFN-, IL-2 and IL-3, IL-10 and TNF or 48 h for IL-4 and IL-5). After the activation culture, the cells are discarded (or transferred for further characterization/propagation), and a labeled cytokine-specific secondary antibody is added. Subsequently the plate bound secondary antibody is visualized via an enzymatic reaction. When ELISPOT assays are optimized (as is the case for ImmunoSpot® assays) each color precipitation (“spot”) represents the footprint of a single cell’s cytokine secretion. Spot number denotes the accurate frequency of the antigen specific T cells among the plated cells, spot size and morphology providing additional information on the magnitude and kinetics of the cells’ secretory activity.

Bravo to this guy

I love what this guy said regarding the profanity debate.

The reason you can't begin to understand is that you're misreading what I wrote. I said "swearing is a habit that lazy people *CAN* fall back on...".

This does not mean "lazy people ALWAYS swear."

This does not mean "all swearing is done by lazy people."

There is no prejudice, except in your mind. It's a very simple statement. If one doesn't want to take the time and effort to think of the right word (e.g., one is linguistically lazy), then swearing is an easy way out. Do you *really* disagree with that?

And, by the way, you said "People who swear do it because that's the way they've always done it; that's just how they talk." How is that not the definition of "habit"? How is that not "remotely similar" to my point?

Again, read the argument. Swearing *IS NOT* equal to lazy. Swearing is a tool for lazy people. It's also a tool for intelligent, erudite people who know just the right time and place for a good profanity, and they can make it really effective.

And some people use it as filler, like um, er, ah, and like. When someone says, "I f*ckin' went to the latest fuckin' Jean-Claude Van-f*ckin'-Damme movie at the f*ckin' theater night before f*ckin' last, but I was so f*cked up I can't f*ckin' remember the f*ckin' plot," the profanity adds nothing to the sentence (not even emphasis, because it's so overused). When such a sentence is uttered loudly in a public place I consider it rude, thoughtless, and obnoxious.

Mind you, I'm not trying to justify the use of profanity. I don't think we should use it. From a purely literary perspective though, I think this guy is exactly right.