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Showing posts from 2009

Funny Story From The Sandwich Fish Hatchery

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Trout Eating A Fish Pellet A couple of days ago we had a fun visit to the state fish hatchery in Sandwich, MA. It's a fun excursion if you are in the area. My friend Phyllis sent me a story from the Cape Cod newspaper about a seal who (happily) found the hatchery last January. Seal Finds Trout Buffet at Sandwich Hatchery And here's a video of the story:

Can you help? Need a name for a chocolate lab......

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Exciting news - we'll be adding a new family member in a few weeks - a chocolate lab. Lots of discussion about potential names, so I figured I'd get some input from all of you. Please vote on your favorite name, and let me know via the comments if you have any other suggestions. Quizzes by Quibblo.com

Sarah Sk8s

There's a Sk8 park here in Chatham. Here's a short video of Sarah mastering the craft.....

A Time of Wonder - A Story by SAW

Sarah has written another story..... As with Good and Bad Cats, A Story By SAW , I encourage you to use the full screen view to best enjoy the story.

Good And Bad Cats - A Story By SAW

Sarah wrote this terrific story about our family's two cats and I wanted to share it with all of you. I encourage you to use the full screen view so you can fully appreciate Sarah's work. Enjoy!

ILVTOFU - Naughty or Nice?

It's much better with the picture I saw this morning on CNN, but here's a funny story about a Colorado woman's attempt to get a vanity license plate.... Colorado Nixes Woman's ILVTOFU Vanity Plate

NYT: Can You Pass a C.E.O. Test?

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From Corner Office - Can You Pass a C.E.O. Test? , featuring a Q & A with Greg Brenneman . Lots of interesting management/leadership insights which resonated for me, but I especially liked this perspective: "it’s important to talk to people about how we’re in a fundamentally different world. Ask the question, “If compensation isn’t going to be the same for a while, where do you get your fulfillment in life?” Certainly, work is a big piece of that and work is rewarding well beyond compensation. But faith, family, friends and hobbies create real balance. The conversation I’ve had with a lot of people, both in large groups and small, is make sure you have balance in your life and make sure that all your fulfillment doesn’t come out of economic gain. I’ve talked to a lot of people on Wall Street where their entire fulfillment came from the answer to, “Is my bonus bigger this year than last year?” Or, “If I worked 100 hours a week this year, can I work 101 next year?” It’s actually

Some Of My Favorite Photography Stuff

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Bayou City Farmers Market, Houston, March 2009 Had a long talk yesterday with a friend who is interested in taking the plunge and buying a digital SLR. I put together some notes for her about links and products I've found useful which I figured I'd share with all of you as well. As I said to her, I love talking and sharing photography, so let me know if you have any questions. Photography blogs: www.kenrockwell.com (I don't love his tone all the time, but he tends to zero in on what's really worth paying for. There's a Nikon link on his home page which will show you all his Nikon stuff. Photoshop Insider www.bythom.com (particularly good for Nikon stuff) http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/ (check out his video work - particularly a short movie called Requiem - as an example of what can be done with a digital slr with video capabilities B & H Photo - my favorite NYC camera store. Very good and very reliable - be sure you look for products with a USA w

NYT: Growing Up On Facebook

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I'm very interested in the process and journey of personal development, particularly the challenge of leaving behind old behaviors, mental maps, and self-definitions. I'm also interested in how that process plays out in interpersonal relationships, having observed how difficult it can be for other people to see you as the person you've become as opposed to the person you've always been (for them). Peggy Orenstein's article in today's New York Times, Growing Up On Facebook , touches on these issues and how they may play out at a time when we increasingly share the details (minutiae?) of our lives on facebook, twitter, blogs (!), etc.. Orenstein writes: college was my big chance to doff the roles in my family and community that I had outgrown, to reinvent myself, to get busy with the embarrassing, exciting, muddy, wonderful work of creating an adult identity. Can you really do that with your 450 closest friends watching, all tweeting to affirm ad nauseam your pres

Baking Bread

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Inspired by The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread and by Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking , I've been on a bread-baking tear. Pictured above is my first sourdough loaf, which was made completely from scratch (including making my own sourdough starter from rye flour and pineapple juice!). As is often the case, I've jumped in all the way and have become a regular customer at the King Arthur Flour shop online. Last weekend I also made pizza from scratch according to a recipe from Bread Baker's Apprentice with fantastic results. If you are interested in learning bread-making or just love reading beautiful cookbooks, check out Bread Baker's Apprentice.

Things I May Have In Common With Alex Rodriguez

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Image via Wikipedia Saw the physical therapist today for treatment of my ongoing leg/back pain. He thinks maybe it's time for an MRI and that I might have something called FAI.....just like Alex Rodriguez. From cnnsi.com: Expert: A-Rod's pending surgery necessary to prevent hip arthritis As finely tuned a baseball machine as Alex Rodriguez might appear to be, a critical part of his body's machinery has long been working its way toward malfunction. The cyst on his hip that was drained last week is not the problem, but simply a result of a deeper structural problem with the joint itself; one that has developed over years and resulted in a condition that is increasingly being recognized in both athletes -- and the general population -- as a common cause of chronic groin and back pain. According to a rough estimate by Rodriguez's surgeon, Dr.Marc Philippon, who has operated on dozens of pro athletes, perhaps 20 percent of people have a structural abnormality that can impair

Seltzer and Evaporating Clouds

I've had the great pleasure over the past year to work on a key strategic project with some consultants from the Goldratt Group (including a trip to Amsterdam last year (to work directly with Eli Goldratt - see Jamming With Eli ). David Leonhardt's Economic Scene column in today's New York Times ( To Spend or to Save? Trick Question ) addresses the conflict many people are feeling right now between spending and saving; the paradox is that we need spending to improve the state of the economy, but we need savings to reduce personal debt, recapitalize banks, etc. Given all that, it's hard to know what to do, and the natural instinct is to hunker down and stop spending any more than is absolutely necessary. Leonhardt writes: It’s your fault. Part of it is, anyway. You, the American consumer, spent too much money. You bought too much house, took on too much debt and generally lived beyond your means. Your free-spending ways helped cause the worst financial crisis since the G

Maintaining Perspective

During what can charitably be described as challenging times in the business world - when it can feel like the world is collapsing around you and the rules as you understand them are changing, it's sometimes difficult to maintain perspective. Yesterday's Wall Street Journal had a thought-provoking article on the risks of being addicted to a kind of success that revolves primarily or exclusively around career. As the article says: The deepening recession is exacting punishment for a psychological vice that masquerades as virtue for many working people: the unmitigated identification of self with occupation, accomplishment and professional status. This tendency can induce outright panic as more and more people fear loss of employment. For the entire article, see: You Might as Well Face It: You're Addicted to Success In terms of what one can do about professionally focused success addiction, the piece has this to say: To disassociate identity from professional status, therap

Fred Says....

I found this fascinating quote today: We've moved past the time when big institutions controlled what we read, what we thought, and what we believed. And we are arriving at a new place where each and everyone of us will report on our world and share it with others. Sharing is the new truth. A VC , Feb 2009 You should read the whole article.

Ice Skating on Candlewood Lake

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From Outdoors On The Frozen Lake - January 2009 From Outdoors On The Frozen Lake - January 2009 From Outdoors On The Frozen Lake - January 2009 Had the first chance recently in my 40+ years to make an ice skating rink on a frozen lake - see the pictures above. Nice article in the NYT about the weather being cold enough this year for lots of ice skating in the area: Skate, Sure, but Don’t Expect a Zamboni . We could have used a Zamboni to smooth out the ice, but I don't think the kids cared much....

Revisiting Abraham Verghese's Cutting For Stone

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Late in December I posted about my experience reading Abraham Verghese's Cutting For Stone ( A Must Read.... ). The book has now been released - available here and here and here - and the reviews are starting to come in (links below). Reviews in from friends who have read the book are very enthusiastic. This video from the publisher will give you a sense for the scale and vibe of the book ( link ): Reviews: Houston Chronicle: Cutting For Stone By Abraham Verghese San Francisco Chronicle: 'Cutting for Stone,' by Abraham Verghese Washington Post: Healing The Past New York Times: Doctors And Sons

Worth a Listen - Tapes From USAirways Flight 1549

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F.A.A. Releases Flight 1549 Tapes (edited and full-length audio is available at the link). Listening to the audio of communications between the pilot of Flight 1549 and air traffic controllers, I'm struck by how calm everyone seems to be. Hard to imagine. If you're interested in James Fallows' take on what happened, check out these two blog posts: In case you were wondering, about that airplane in the Hudson Two quick followups about the airplane in the Hudson

Loving TED

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Spurred to action by Virginia Heffernan's article in the New York Times Sunday Magazine ( Confessions of a TED Addict ), I've started watching videos from the annual TED conference . You can read Heffernan's article for a more in-depth overview of what the conference is about, but I think the TED tag line sums things up pretty well: Ideas Worth Spreading. I've got a bunch of videos lined up to watch, but my favorites so far are by Peter Reinhart on baking bread and Benjamin Wallace on the price of happiness. Here's the Reinhart video: And here's the Wallace video: (here are links to the Reinhart and the Wallace in case you can't see the embedded videos). If yoy are interested in baking bread, you should also check out Reinhart's new cookbook The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread . The cookbook has won a couple of awards and is terrific. I've not made any of the breads yet but have enjoyed just reading Reinha

On (Back) Pain

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I recently came across two articles that were relevant given that lower back pain has been one feature of my post-marathon suffering (not much progress on that front, by the way). Jonah Lehrer, author of How We Decide , has an article which discusses research showing that the solution to back pain is often psychological rather than physical. An entry yesterday in the New York Times Well blog came at the back pain problem from a slightly different angle. Scans For Back Pain Ineffective addresses research showing that scanning (x-rays/MRIs/CT scans) to find the source of back pain are often ineffective because those interpreting results often fail to account for the normal effects of aging and time. Both are worth a read. I did laugh at this quote from the Lehrer article: Chronic stress is another important risk factor for chronic pain. One back surgeon, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of offending his patients, said that he's seen several men develop lower back pain shortly

Mystery Solved

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Funny story about the source of the maple syrup smell that has periodically occurred in New York City: Map of the Day: NYC's Official Maple Syrup "Odor Reports" . Most interesting to me is that the mystery was ultimately solved by overlaying calls to the city's 311 line on a map with dates and prevailing weather patterns (check the link for a detailed picture). Related articles by Zemanta Maple Syrup Smell Mystery Solved! [Metro] (gawker.com) NYC's Mysterious Syrup Smell Tracked To New Jersey (cbsnews.com) LIVE: Maple Syrup Smell...is FROM NEW JERSEY (gothamist.com)

New David Leonhardt Article on Facing Our Economic Challenges

At the New York Times, an early article from next Sunday's Magazine: The Big Fix . Absolutely worth a read. From the concluding paragraphs: The norms of the last two decades or so — consume before invest; worry about the short term, not the long term — have been more than just a reflection of the economy. They have also affected the economy. Chief executives have fought for paychecks that their predecessors would have considered obscenely large. Technocrats inside Washington’s regulatory agencies, after listening to their bosses talk endlessly about the dangers of overregulation, made quite sure that they weren’t regulating too much. Financial engineering became a more appealing career track than actual engineering or science. In one of the small gems in their book, Goldin and Katz write that towns and cities with a large elderly population once devoted a higher-than-average share of their taxes to schools. Apparently, age made them see the benefits of education. In recent decades,

I Dare You.....

...to listen to this song three times and tell me you are not totally hooked. Thanks, Sarah, for letting me know about the song! Amazon.com Widgets

A Very Tasty Day

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Had the chance with the ladies out of town for the weekend (visiting Cousin Laura in North Carolina) to head down to the Lower East Side on a culinary excursion. For some time now I have wanted to try the restaurant Porchetta , whose specialty is a roast pork sandwich - beautifully roasted natural pork on a tasty, crusty bun. Based on the recommendation in this New York Magazine r eview of the restaurant , I also had the crispy potatoes with baked ends (crusty stuff from the outside of the pork roast). All I can say is YOWZA! The food rocked and I suggest anyone who is a fan of sandwiches and/or pork head down to give the restaurant a try. The only downside worth mentioning is that the place is TINY - as in there is barely room for 6 stools and a narrow countertop. While I was at the restaurant I had the chance to check out Sara Jenkins' cookbook Olives and Oranges: Recipes and Flavor Secrets from Italy, Spain, Cyprus, and Beyond which looks tasty and has great customer reviews. T

Here's A Cool Blog To Follow....

The White House Blog

Way Cool - My Polar Heart Rate Monitor

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Since I'm still on the bench for running given my groin injury, I've been focused lately on spin classes. I've rearranged my weight training day so I can attend spin class three days a week - on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Today's class was the first I attended with a heart rate monitor, and the results were terrific. The five zones pictured above correspond to ranges of % of maximum heart rate. Zone 5 is 90-100%, Zone 4 is 80-89%, Zone 3 is 70-79%, Zone 2 is 60-69%, and Zone 1 is 50-59%. Knowing my heart rate zone during class helps motivate me to push into higher zones and also keeps me from kidding myself about how hard I'm working. Today's class was really tough, and though I never got into Zone 5, I did spend a fair amount of time in Zone 4 (more than 20 minutes). If you are committed to doing great cardio workouts, I suggest you consider a heart rate monitor. I have the Polar RS200 Heart Rate Monitor Watch (Black)

Inspiration

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From the New York Times: Fitness Isn't An Overnight Sensation . Terrific article on the benefits of exercise and the commitment required to make a difference. Here's one great story from the article: Then there’s Charles Reilly, a federal prosecutor in Manhattan and a marathon runner who took a 10-year hiatus from the sport when he joined his local school board. He just did not have time to exercise, he said. Along with exercising less, he ate more. Soon he ballooned from 159 pounds to 282. “It came on gradually, but it came on,” Mr. Reilly said of the weight. On April 18, 2005, he had his last school board meeting — he’d decided not to run for any more terms. Eight days later, he went out for a run. “After half a mile, I had to stop and walk,” Mr. Reilly said. But he kept trying. A month later, he could run three miles without stopping. After three or four months, he says, he could run for five miles. By the end of 2006, he ran 10 miles. In the meantime, he also changed his di

Breaking Through: Science of Sport: Mind vs Matter

Great entry at Science of Sport with a look back at the mental challenge of breaking through the 4-minute mile barrier: Mind vs Matter . Love this quote: we can each improve within ourselves by reframing our expectations, by challenging our beliefs, by identifying our own mental barriers and then breaking them down

Do You Wish You Were Here?

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Vanity Fair - The Devil at 37,000 Feet

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The crash today of the US Airways flight into the Hudson River reminded me of an article I read a few weeks ago in Vanity Fair - The Devil at 37,000 Feet , by William Langewiesche. It's the account of a terrible aviation tragedy in Brazil that is fascinating for its exploration of human/technology interface issues and workgroup dynamics (in this case two pilots who were flying a small business jet), among other things. A fascinating read. Related articles by Zemanta Tightly-Coupled Systems, Airlines and Error

Earth, observed - The Big Picture - Boston.com

Kinda scary....I wonder what it looks like from the ground. Earth, observed - The Big Picture - Boston.com

WARNING: Playlist May Contain Music-like Substance....

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Why Does U.S. Health Care Cost So Much? (Part I) - Economix Blog - NYTimes.com

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There's an excellent series of short articles on health care in the US on the New York Times web site - definitely worth a read. I think it's important to become familiar with the issues given that health care improvement is one of the stated goals of the new President. Links to the series are below. If you have any recommendations of other good writing on health care, let me know in the comments. Speaking of comments - be sure to check out the comments in each of these blog posts. Why Does U.S. Health Care Cost So Much? (Part I) - Economix Blog - NYTimes.com Why Does U.S. Health Care Cost So Much? (Part II: Indefensible Administrative Costs) Why Does U.S. Health Care Cost So Much? (Part III: An Aging Population Isn’t the Reason) Why Does U.S. Health Care Cost So Much? (Part IV: A Primer on Medicare) U.S. Health Care Costs, Part V: Can Americans Afford Medicare? U.S. Health Care Costs Part VI: At What Price Physician Autonomy? U.S. Health Care Costs Part VII: Reining in Doctors

Right On, Fred

I found this fascinating quote today: If I think about all the issues we've had on wall street over the past year (see Michael Lewis and Daniel Einhorn's two part column for a great description of them), I think most of these issues have been caused by investors playing with other people's money without enough of their own net worth at stake. Financial leverage is a good example of playing with other people's money. You put up a tiny amount of your own money and you borrow the rest. If things don't go your way, you write off the little you put up and the lender takes the bath. That's been going on in the financial markets and the housing markets for the better part of ten years and we are now seeing the cost of that approach. A VC , Jan 2009 You should read the whole post.

To Lead, Create a Shared Vision (from Harvard Business Review)

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The short article To Lead, Create a Shared Vision really resonated for me. Some key excerpts: "Being forward-looking—envisioning exciting possibilities and enlisting others in a shared view of the future—is the attribute that most distinguishes leaders from nonleaders" "Leaders on the front line must anticipate merely what comes after current projects wrap up. People at the next level of leadership should be looking several years into the future. And those in the C-suite must focus on a horizon some 10 years distant. ... So how do new leaders develop this forward-looking capacity? First, of course, they must resolve to carve out time from urgent but endless operational matters. But even more important, as leaders spend more time looking ahead, they must not put too much stock in their own prescience" "Yes, leaders must ask, “What’s new? What’s next? What’s better?”—but they can’t present answers that are only theirs. Constituents want visions of the future tha

Photography Links

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Photography meets surfing: Vincent Laforet's blog . You know from previous posts ( If You Have 10 Minutes..... and Photography.... ) that I am a big fan of Laforet. The blog has recently covered a project to film a surfer - Jamie O'Brien - in Hawaii. The posts are a combination of some great video as well as behind-the-scenes details on Laforet's approach to the project. Links to more links: 10 Hot Photography Tips and Tutorials from 2008 and 21 Settings, Techniques and Rules All New Camera Owners Should Know . From Digital Photography School .

New York City Real Estate - Two Views

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From the New York Times Economix column: New York, New York: America’s Resilient City From the Wall Street Journal: New York, Boston Prices Expected to Fall Further The Times piece seems more optimistic while the WSJ piece seems more realistic.....though one could argue that the differences have only to do with time horizon. Related articles by Zemanta NYC Not As Screwed: "Wall Street is just about to...