Virginia Beach

This summer, I went on a vacation to Virginia Beach. It was my first time there, and it was lots of fun. I highly recommend it for a relaxing time.

Walking along the shopping area, I passed this store:


which reminded me of one of my favorite video games from 25 years ago!
I don't know why they went with that name, I really doubt people who shop there remember this game.

The view from the hotel was nice:

See the 'family bicycle' on the bike path? It looks like fun, but it's not. It's the most evil contraption I've ever had the displeasure of trying. The boardwalk is only 3 miles, but it would have been easier to jog than ride the full distance.

Here is a view from atop the historic Cape Henry Light House (built 1792):



That's the "modern" lighthouse (built 1881) in the foreground. What's out in the water just to the left of the lighthouse? That's right, it's a freakin' sub!


After the lighthouse, I stopped by First Landing State Park and ran into this water moccassin:

McCain vs. Obama

Dang, wish I saw this BEFORE the election. It might have changed my vote.

Light Doodling

Here is my first attempt at light doodling. These pictures were taken with long exposure in a dark room with a pen light and a laser pointer.

I Need a Nemesis

Last year, I made a New Year's resolution to make life more interesting. I wish I had thought of this idea that somebody posted on Craig's list:


Nemesis required. 6-month project with possibility to extend

I've been trying to think of ways to spice up my life. I'm 35 years old, happily married with two kids and I have a good job in insurance. But somethings missing. I feel like I'm old before my time. I need to inject some excitement into my daily routine through my arm before its too late. I need a challenge, something to get the adrenaline pumping again. An addiction would be nice, but, in short, I need a nemesis. I'm willing to pay $350 up front for you services as an arch enemy over the next six months. Nothing crazy. Steal my parking space, knock my coffee over, trip me when Im running to catch the BART and occasionaly whisper in my ear, "Ahha, we meet again". That kind of thing. Just keep me on my toes. Complacency will be the death of me. You need to have an evil streak and be blessed with innate guile and cunning. You should also be adept at inconsicuous pursuit. Evil laugh preferred. Send me a photo and a brief explanation why you would be a good nemesis.

Bullshit Bingo

Every now and then I find it difficult to stay awake during a meeting or a presentation. Staring at Powerpoint slides for hours on end can make me narcoleptic. I've tried all kinds of things to stay awake, and nothing works. But this might... Bullshit Bingo. Search the web for this term and you will find a plethora of variants. The basic game is simple, cross off boxes when you hear somebody use the phrase and try to get bingo. Here is a common BS Bingo Card:

Out-of-the-box	Win-Win	Action Item	At the End of the Day	(Take) Offline
Opportunity Cost	Paradigm	In a Nutshell	Ramp Up	Milestone
Bottom Line	Metrics	No Bull (free square)	Quality	On the Same Page
Red Flag	24/7	Proactive	Critical Path	Deadline
Email	Synergy	State-of-the-Art	High-Level	Traction

The Lottery

Here is a recent conversation I had with somebody about the lottery. Let's arbitrarily call this person "Patti".

Patti: I won $7 on the lottery! If only I could build on this!

Brian: If you put that $7 in a good fund with 10% returns for 25 years, it will be worth $85!

Patti: Nah, I think I'll buy more lottery tix with it.

"Lottery games should not be played for investment purposes."
-- Gotta love this Oregon lottery billboard.

Hello 2008!

It's time to review how my 2007 Resolution went and proclaim new ones for 2008...

My New Year's resolution for 2007 was to have a more interesting year. I broke down the resolution to several approaches...

• Try new activities. I claimed victory right off the bat because I started geocaching for the first time. However, I had 12 whole months to try something else new and I can't think of anything significant to add. Grade: C-
• Try something I would "normally never do". Sadly, I completely neglected this task. Grade: F
• Travel (preferably somewhere I've never been). Instead of going somewhere local for my yearly white water rafting trip, this year I organized a trip to Oregon. This was a fantastic trip! Grade: A
  
• Meet new people / Make new friends. I can't say that I made any new friends, though I did solidify stronger relationships with people I met in 2006. I also re-connected with old friends. I went to a reunion of college/fraternity friends and saw friends I haven't spoken to in many years. Also, thanks to social networking sites, I've "found" other old friends. Grade B+
• Be more colorful expressing myself. Other than this sentence, I've done squadouche. Grade: C
• Overall Grade: C
  

I am not pleased with my success in 2006, but I think my 2008 resolution might help. For 2008, I resolve to reduce input in order to be more productive. I find myself overwhelmed with information and ideas. There are just too many good things out there for you to digest them all. Yet I try, and my "things to do" list keeps getting bigger and bigger. Here are a few ideas about how I will accomplish this:

• Less couch/mouse potato - I plan to spend less time in front of the television/computer.
• Less magazines - My pile of unread magazines is growing rapidly. It's time to cancel some subscriptions.
• RSS is evil - I liked Lifehacker much better when there was only a post or so a day, now there are a gazillion. I have about 20 feeds related to science/engineering, free/open source software, and productivity (ironically) that I just can't keep up with. Some of them have got to go bye-bye.