A Bike, Two Hikes, and a Canon S90

As the title suggests, I have acquired several items in the last month and gone on two sweet hikes. First, my soon-to-be father-in-law gifted me a sweet bike that I'm going to be using for exercise just as soon as we make the move to the other house and the adjacent greenway is more accessible. Anyways, check out this bike, it's pretty sweet:

As you can clearly see, it's a sweet bike. Oh yeah, and those lens flares weren't photoshopped, that's just what it's like to look at the bike. Because it's that pro. I'm actually kind of concerned that it's going to make it difficult to ride since it's so bright. On the other hand, I don't need any lights or reflectors ...

Second, as mentioned in my last blog post, I have purchased a new camera. After a bit of research I concluded that there just wasn't going to be anything in the fit-in-my-pocket class that would match DSLR photo quality, regardless of price. So after browsing around, I settled on the smallish Canon S90, which is the older version of the modern Canon S95. I tend to take most of my photos indoors and so low-light picture quality was really important. Even with the D40, it was difficult to get crisp indoor shots. So here is what I settled on:




As you'll notice, it's still sort of beefy, it's not wafer-thin or nothin', but it does stop down to F2.0, it's a 24mm instead of a 35mm, which gives it wider perspective, and although it's a pain to work them, there are manual controls for everything. Generally I've been pretty impressed with the its performance so far.

The other big news is that I went on two big hikes, one in Virginia, one out in Salt Lake City. The former was with Eric and Erika, two of Rebecca's college friends, the latter was undertaken with Nick and Scott. The Virginia hike was about 1700 feet of vertical elevation gain over 4 miles, the Salt Lake City hike was slightly more than 3000 vertical feet of elevation gain in the same 4 miles. As a result, the Salt Lake hike was a lot harder! Here are some of the photos:

Eric and Erika before setting off, their Dog (Atla) did the entire hike with us!

The highest point in the hike, Atla can be seen wrestling herself free from Eric's vice-grip.

Becca and I posing on the cliff. There were no moms present to tell me not to get close to the cliff! Yay!

Scott giving the camera his best Tourist pose right before leaving for our Salt Lake Trek, it was highly effective!

This is about 30 minutes into the hike. The trail went straight up the hill at at 45 degree angle. We're resting here.

About 3 hours in (total hike time: 8 hours) and we're all sweating buckets. We took 18 liters of water with us and drank 14.

Me at 9,000 ft above sea level, you can't see it well, but the lake is in the far distance in the upper-right corner of the picture.

Both hikes were loads of fun. The SLC hike was the best, because it was so extreme, and I had really missed hanging out with Nick and Scott. I had never done a hike before where I was hitting my physical limit for most of the ascent, and that definitely did it. I think it's partly due to the elevation, partly to my lack of fitness, and partly due to the grueling nature of the trail. On the way back down our knees were in serious pain, and it took me two days to stop walking around the house like a grandpa. The soreness was immense.

We're moving to the new house in a week, and I'm continuing my GMAT prep. Rebecca got into a competitive chorus here in the Raleigh area, and my job search continues. Until next time!

Screw the Economy, I have an AMG

Recently my friend Brandonamp said something about how I don't something in this space as often as he would like or something. Well, Brandonamp, here you are my friend, a little dish about what I've been up to.

There are two parts of George's life right now:

1) Getting ready for MBA school applications. Seriously. I have forgotten all of my maths. I took the practice test only to get the grade back and realize I was mentally handicapped in the math. The test is all about 7th grade math, which of course the fiance teaches to real live 7th graders. This makes me feel self conscious. She tries hard to be supportive, but how do you tell your fully grown fiance that her students know more of the material than he does without whipping out the "damn, you're stupid in the maths" card?

So every night I'm re-learning what some of you might remember from Mr. Wolf and Mr. Cumming's 7th and 8th grade math classes (I guess there's a little geometry in there too, but that's not important. Unless you're Ryan and want to shake your fist and yell "CASSIDY!")

The GMAT delights in giving me miniature math puzzles/riddles. Here's the kind of sample question I deal with all the time:

Jim, Mary, Jon, Joseph, and Jose all have sweaters. Mary has 2x as many sweaters as Jose, who has 3x as many as Jon. Jon has 75% as many as Joseph, who has 4x as many as Jim. Jim has x^2 + 2x - 1 sweaters for all answers where x>0. Which of the following statements is untrue?

I. Jon owns greater than 3 sweaters, but less than 5.
II. Jim owns more sweaters than Mary.
III. Jose has fewer shirts than Jim.

A) I only
B) II only
C) III only
D) I and II but not III
E) I and III but not II
F) I, II, and III
G) None of the above

Yeah, it's pretty silly stuff. You get to wondering why so many multi-ethnic people can be compared by their sweater count, and why someone couldn't just lay out all the damn sweaters and I don't know, count them.

So yeah, I do that a lot.

2) I search for jobs and apartments. Well, I was searching for apartments up until a few days ago when our first choice offered to let us sign a lease. Hooray! So I'll be living it up in a pretty swank pad for the remainder of 2011. It's got 2 decks. I'm on a deck muthafucka', don't you ever forget it!

The job search has been less successful. I'm starting to realize that most people in their twenties move to a place and then try to find work. And apparently unless you are a programmer, there are no jobs available. Seriously. Go out and try to find a job in any field that isn't programming. Ooops, you just sent out 150 applications and got one offer for a telemarketing position at Skeazeway Inc. Yep, that's what happens.

But all is not lost, you see, I have decided to acquire a new AMG S63. I got the custom red custom hatchback version with DTRLs, manual gearbox, and low profile tires. No body kit or nothing, and a big 1300cc under the hood. I just went out and took a photo for you guys so you can see it:

As you can see, it looks a little different than the showroom shots:

But it's got the AMG badges on it, and that's what counts:

So yeah, that's basically what I'm doing nowadays. When we finally move into the sweet new digs, I'll share pictures of those. I need to get a new tiny camera before that though. I sold my big honkin DSLR since I never really used it, and now I need to figure out a replacement that can fit comfortably in my ear canal or something.

A Lack of Pictures

The past month has been pretty eventful, all things considered.

Back in March I was asked whether I wanted to participate in this year's Creativity and Leadership seminar's for newbie entrepreneurs at my alma mater (the great Oberlinsaurus in the frigid northlands of Ohio). Creativity and Leadership-for those that haven't memorized Skritter's origin story-was the fund that gave us our initial investment. I have been trying to participate in the program as an older entrepreneur as much as possible because I like meeting new founders and I want to give back to the program that made our start possible.

Well, this dovetailed nicely with my new status as a part time contractor at a local web consultancy, so I scheduled two trips, one for the first, and one for the second weekends in April. Little did I realize how much it would wear me down to have no weekends.

On both trips I was very generously hosted with a good friend and fellow collaborator on Skritter. He put me up in his apartment on the south side of campus. On my first visit, I was wined and dined by the President's Advisory Council, I then told the story of my startup and why the fund was so darn awesome. I got free steak and a warm fuzzy feeling from the 6 hours of one way airport travel, and the weather was typically awful. I returned to Raleigh with a sniffle but a newfound interest in owning a PS3 after playing Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare (how's that for a title?).

The next weekend, I decided to drive up north because 1) it was slightly cheaper than plane fare and 2) I wanted to stop and visit my parents en route. I made some slight miscalculations about when I had to be in Oberlin, however, so I really only got to spend time with the rents on my way back through the state of Ohio. I did a lot of late night driving and listened to two audio books: All the President's Men and War. Both books are nonfiction, the first is about the Watergate scandal and the second is about what it's like to be a soldier in Afghanistan. Both were pretty solid.

Then last weekend I was again in Ohio, but this time for my brother's college graduation from Wooster College. He graduated with a degree in physics and was appropriately coddled during the weekend festivities. The weather turned out to be pretty oppressive (cold and rainy), but it was definitely worth it to be there for the event. My aunt and uncle from Connecticut came in for the ceremony, as did my dad's dad and mom's mom. It was practically a family reunion. I got to catch up with Pearse and Helen (the cousins) and the grandparent generation. We stayed at a hunting lodge without power or water on the outskirts of Wooster, belonging to a friend of a friend of a colleague of someone I don't know. It was super pretty in the middle of nowhere.

In between the weekends I've been integrating myself into working life at Caktus Consulting. I'm a part time contract project manager, which doesn't afford me much paid time and kinda taxes the flexibility of my schedule. Despite some less-than-perfect aspects to the arrangement, the company is great, I'm doing what I want (project management) and I'm being compensated fairly. Although it would be great to be full time with the cool folks at Caktus, I'll just have to wait and see whether such an offer is forthcoming in July (at the end of my current contract).

This weekend I have blessedly few plans and intend to devote myself to continued GMAT studying, tackling backlog Skritter work, and working on various other personal projects. Becca has kindly arranged a sort of belated "welcome to NC party" for me that will go down on Saturday, so the apartment is going to be cleaned hard, which I'm rather looking forward to.

Oh yeah, and about pictures. I've realized that I haven't taken any pictures for more than 3 months. I have this handy DSLR just sitting here and no inkling to use it. It's dawned on me that I haven't done anything recently I want to take photos of, and this needs to be corrected. Becca and I are looking for a single family home to inhabit for the coming year and I'm hoping this gives me room to do crazy projects in the back yard. Currently I'm interested in creating a huge tarzan swing or perhaps a zip line. Gotta get my crazy on.

Back in the [c]old US of A

So, I got back to the states about 9 days ago, and I've been having a heck of a time getting everything back together. I'm settling into Raleigh, applying to jobs, accomplishing personal goals, joining meetups, compromising with Becca on living situations (ah, the joys of co-existence) and it's only now starting to wind down a bit. All my stuff is still packed away in a temperature-controlled storage unit nearby, but I've got my trusty laptop and my mobile hard drive, both of which I used exclusively in Costa Rica, so I'll be fine until we can arrange for a more permanent living situation.

Costa Rica was fun, but boy am I glad to be back. It could just be nationalism, but it seemed to me that almost everything is better in the states (save the weather). The food is healthier and cheaper, transport is easier and more efficient, consumer goods are of a higher quality and more plentiful, the internet generally works, roads are passable, and the electric stays on most of the time. The impact of language had surprisingly little effect on my day to day happiness. Weather I was hacking together Spanglish sentences or talking in English, a dearth of paper towels appears to frustrate me equally whether I'm in North Carolina or Central America.

I got to surf about 6 times while in Costa Rica, and I got to ride a few small waves standing up, which makes me pretty proud. I saw the rain forests, went zip lining, had a bunch of tasty (and not-so-tasty) food, soaked up the sun (literally, I have a dark tan now), did some hiking (the US has better parks as well), visited with my family and Becca, and now I'm back and trying to create a daily routine which makes me happy. It's surprisingly difficult to build a lifestyle from scratch, but I'm making ridiculously good progress, so here's hoping I'll have reached a sustainable level of social interaction and work in the not-too-distant future.

Quick, look over there!

For the next month or two, I invite readers of this blog (all two of you) to read Scott's blog instead, as he's been quasi-elected our Costa Rica scribe. Regular updates to this blog will begin again upon my arrival back in the states.

Cupcake Eating Competition

It all started with a bet.

Back at the beginning of December, Nick and I were sitting around the Skritter office one evening. He and his girlfriend were using this website Healthmonthly together, and Nick was picking his goals for the next 30 days. After a while, he decided that he was going to go whole hog and created a mega-list of self improvement activities for himself. It read like this:

Read a book for at least 20 minutes 3 days a week.
Walk at least 2 miles a week.
Only eat fried food 1 day a week.
Only eat white flour 2 days a week.
Meditate for 5 minutes at least 6 days a week.
Study Spanish every day.
Go to bed before 11:30pm at least 6 days a week.
Only read hacker news 1 day a week.
Study Chinese every day.
Write 3 pages in a private journal every day.
Exercise for 30 minutes at least 3 days a week.
Only eat white rice 1 day a week.
Only eat pasta 2 days a week.
Get enough Vitamin D every day.
Only eat processed food 1 day a week.
Eat raw nuts, legumes, beans, and seeds every day.
Take a multivitamin every day.
Eat greens every day.
Eat raw fruit every day.

Well, he read it to me and I promptly called bullshit. I mean, look at all that! No way could he maintain all of those goals, especially over Christmas holiday. He said he could do it though and so a bet emerged. The hows and whys of the prizes won't be discussed, but it worked out like this: if he won and completed all the goals for all thirty days without a single exception, I had to compete in a cupcake eating competition with him. If he lost, however, he had to drive up to the candy warehouse up in Cleveland buy me $40 worth of candy.

As the title suggests, he won this bet. Improbably. And so it came to be that I was implicated in the most intense eating challenge I have yet faced. Thinking ahead, Nick sensibly positioned our DSLR on the theater of operations and the following photos were created:

The initial spread. All 6 dozen of the suckers.

Scott has eaten 10 cupcakes and puts on the face to prove it.

Nick hits #10 without slowing.

Scott thinks my nausea is hilarious.

Nick puts on his attractive face for #15.

Scott glories in his fifteenth calorie cake.

I hit critical nausea levels at 15. Nick is unimpressed.

For those of you that don't know Chinese, that's Nick's 20th.

Scott finishes 2nd with 17 cakes. He hides his face in shame behind the guy fawkes mask.

Nick stuff down #25. Good god.

With Scott and I out, Nick just keeps binging. Here he contemplates his incipient fat rolls with #25.

He has suffered dearly, but his efforts yield #30.

Having long since started storing the partially digested cupcakes in his lungs, we see Nick here considering sepuku to end the nausea and shame of his accomplishment: #35.

A stunning success for Nick: 36 cupcakes, 5700 calories, and 36 hours of discomfort are all yours!

I guess we learned a valuable lesson that day: don't challenge Nick to an eating competition.

A New Year's Travel Extravaganza

Christmas and new years have come and gone and much has been done. Here's what has happened:

On the 23rd I traveled from Cleveland to San Antonio to meet Becca's mother's side of the family. Generally things were pretty chill there. I saw True Grit, which was incredible (as I predicted) and much food was consumed. Devin, Rebecca, Kelly (the cousin) and I played a game called Guillotine, which was pretty fun, and Devin and the menfolk (not including myself of course) watched a lot of football and basketball. By the end of the visit I was having trouble determining which sport was which. They all involved overly excited announcers and muscular dudes surrounded by flashy ESPN graphics. I watched a few old movies on my computer in the evening, and all was well.

From San Antonio we traveled to Tampa, and from Tampa to Orlando to visit Universal Studios. I had never been to a Theme park proper, so it was certainly a new experience. Since the only amusement park I've ever frequented is Cedar Point, I had the impression that all theme/amusement parks were essentially an excuse for the owners to build a whole lot of roller coasters. This is wrong. There is an entirely different sort of ride that exists at Theme Parks for which I was unprepared. It's sort of like a combination indoor roller coaster and movie. Universal officially calls them "experiences" not rides, which is somewhat indicative. Some of the rides I believe were engineered solely to cause motion sickness, others were really cool. I liked the Spider Man and MIB rides in particular. I think at heart though I'm a roller coaster fan, so ultimately my favorite ride at the park had to be the newest and biggest steel roller coaster. It was rad.

From Orlando we returned to Tampa where we celebrated New Years in a relaxed fashion and then I flew back to Cleveland after Rebecca's birthday on the 3rd.

Then, on the 8th, I moved out of Oberlin (totally pumped for a change) and put all my belongs into Becca's small apartment down here in Raleigh NC, where I'm going to be based for the predictable future. On Wednesday my brother, father, and I go skiing at Snowshoe in West Virginia (should be good skiing weather) and then on the 20th I head out for 10 weeks in Costa Rica with Nick and Scott via New Yawk. Whoa. So much traveling.

Unfortunately I have very little photographic evidence of all these adventures. I am coming to grips with the fact that the new Nikon D40 is a little less than optimal for situations where I'm on the go. At Orlando, for instance, I would have had to stored it in a locker on each ride (a considerable hassle) and here around NC I find that most of the photos I would like to take are indoors, and the 55mm lens on it only goes down to F4.5, so without a good flash I'm stuck taking 1" exposures which turns everything into artistic-looking blurs. I think I either need a prime lens or a nice flash. Then I can re-evaluate whether the camera is a good.

Anyways, that's a quick update, I'll write a post shortly about Nick, Scott, and my cupcake eating competition when I get some time. We have photos of that!